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  • Join me on Mondays!

    Click HERE for more info on Capturing the Joy, and how to play along.
    Capturing the Joy in Life

    Or grab the code and add it to your page!
  • My love story


    Click on the map to read it!

    See me in action, click below:

    Kristen Duke Photography Session from Jayson Wilkinson on Vimeo.

  • Creative Inspiration

    All of these links below are friends in real life except for the * whom I hope to meet someday. I just want to make sure I am inspired by them often, and you can be too!
    71 Toes *
    Ana White
    Becky Higgins*
    Be Different Act Normal
    Beehives & Birdnests
    Blue Cricket Designs
    Chef In Training
    Cozette Couture
    Craftiness is not Optional
    Dunlap Portrait
    Eighteen25
    Family Ever After
    Heather Walker Photography
    I heart Naptime
    KoJo Designs
    Landee See Landee Do
    Lil Luna
    Little Miss Momma
    Lolly Jane
    Love Stitched
    Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night
    My Insanity
    Paging Supermoms
    Positively Splendid
    Rebekah Westover Photography
    My Sisters Suitcase
    Orange Blossom Frames
    See Kate Sew
    Sew. Craft. Create.
    Sew Dang Cute
    Simplicity Photography
    Six Sisters Stuff
    Southern Lovely*
    Somewhat Simple
    Tatertots & Jello
    The 36th Avenue
    The Crafting Chicks
    The Diary of Dave's Wife
    The House of Smiths
    The Letter 4
    The Idea Room
    U Create
    Vintage Revivals
    Whipperberry
    Your Homebased Mom

  • Old Venice Pasta Salad

    Ok, so this is sortof a repeat from a recipe I shared with my Spring dinner party menu, but I thought this needed it’s own post because I want to share this recipe on Tidy Mom’s salad social link party.  It’s too yummy not to share!  Plus, I didn’t share the picture of the ingredients, and that can really help when out shopping. My friend said this is a family recipe and oh. my. goodness. I loved it so much, I made it a week later. I didn’t even realize there was such a thing as “basil-sun dried tomato feta cheese” My husband just walked up and saw this picture and said, “Ugh, is that supposed to look good?” Wow, thanks.  Yes, the picture is sorely lacking in making this look scrumptious. I usually just snap a quick shot before eating, but I’d love to set up a scene to make food look pretty someday. Someday. For now, you get the ugly picture.  I promise, it is YUMMY! To his defense, he says he doesn’t like the cherry tomotoes and that’s all he saw when looking.  Funny, I’m pretty sure he ate this when I made it…

    Old Venice Pasta Salad

    1 lb. bow tie pasta cooked and drained

    2 2.5 oz. cans sliced black olives drained

    1 6 oz. package basil-sun dried tomato feta cheese

    6-7 Roma tomatoes chopped or grape tomatoes whole

    1 T. Dried basil leaves

    1 bottle girards old Venice Italian dressing

    Mix all ingredients with dressing. Can refrigerate overnight and add a little more dressing before serving (pasta tends to soak up the dressing)

    Ingredients below:

    I’m transitioning over to whole wheat pasta, and currently mixing half and half white/wheat, so that is why both boxes are here.
    Linking this pasta salad up to Tidy Mom’s Salad Social Link Party going on now.

    Come join The Salad Social at TidyMom sponsored by The International Olive Council’s Add Some Life

    EmilyMay 17, 2012 - 7:25 am

    Yum! We do a lot of pasta salads during the summer. I like the idea of mixing the two kinds of pasta. We have tried to make the switch a couple of times and we just don’t like the whole wheat pasta we’ve tried – but a mix of the two, we could do.

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    What I Wore Wednesday

    Playing along with The Pleated Poppy to share what I wore, and get ideas from what other’s wore during the week. I wore painting clothes all day today, my work out clothes all day yesterday, but I did get dressed over the weekend for a baby shower and church! I kinda feel like this first outfit was a “miss.” I didn’t love it. I used to love this skirt, but now it is so big, I can’t even wear it…so I clipped it at the side with my new whippycake trio clip…but I didn’t quite realize how obvious the fold is until this picture.

    I felt like it could have used a long necklace, but with the dangle earrings, and statement clip and scallop neckline, I was perplexed and went necklace free. I’d love to hear any thoughts on how this outfit could have been better. I wore this to the baby shower (and my boys soccer game). I love skirts in the summer, and I’m having a hard time finding some the right length.I just had to share my adorable model. I take a test shot of her, and she often snaps these WIWW images of me. Left to church (dress H&M) right to dance class. Her turquoise clip is from Allora Handmade and her headband on the right is from aluLosa. Mis-matched socks: her moms drawer.Then I got dressed on Mother’s Day for church. I got my top recently from Novae clothing. I like to shop online (though it can be risky with sizing), because generally no one else around me will have it (now you locals, don’t go buy the same shirt). It had ruffles and slits, I just wore my cozy undershirt with it to cover all my un-mentionables. I met the owner for Novae at SNAP. I originally wished I had a long coral necklace, but then thought it would be fun to pair it with the purple.My necklace was a tad too short, so I extended it with 6 safety pins in the back;) Ring is from Pier 1 last year, necklace I think Little Miss Momma, and earrings from Hoopla online.
    Linking up to all the fun at The Pleated Poppy’s What I wore Wednesday. Go check out what others shared!
    pleated poppy

    by Kristen Duke

    5 comments

    cassiMay 16, 2012 - 9:41 am

    I love the purple and teal together!

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    Jen {The AZ Russums}May 16, 2012 - 10:19 am

    Ooh! I love the way you clipped your dress with your Whippy! I have to Whippycakes, so I’m going to need to try it!

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    EmilyMay 16, 2012 - 4:38 pm

    Love both looks (and you had adorable girls). That blue with the polka dots is so pretty!
    Creamy

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    RachelleMay 16, 2012 - 9:58 pm

    Love, love, love the teal shirt!!

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    Rachel @ Family Ever AfterMay 16, 2012 - 10:31 pm

    Love it. Love you. I’m in a wierd mood right now, ha! Ok, my 30 minutes of blog surfing are up. Keep on keeping, :)

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    Summer Fun chart

    Summer is upon us, and I see people pinning checklists and activities like crazy, in hopes that us mothers will have memorable activities with our kids that include skipping and holding hands on a daily basis along with ZERO electronic time. Who needs electronics when we have each other?!?  In all truth, I LOVE summer!  I am not one of those lamenting that the end of the year is upon us, because I actually get excited to hang out with my kids and do whatever we want. But if I don’t have a plan, summer will slip through my fingers and I will have missed out on the opportunity to play with my kids. When my oldest finished kindergarten, I came up with the SUMMER FUN JAR. I made a super long list of activities, games, research topics, treats, & outings. We picked out 5 a week, but sometimes it was 5 outtings and it was just exhausting! We did this for a few years, and I never figured it out….

    But I’ve decided if something is going to happen whether losing weight, exercising, or family fun, you have to MAKE A PLAN!!! So this is my simple plan.  I figure it covers 2-3 hours each day (roughly) and with our morning gym time, afternoon down time, shorter pool visits, and some electronics thrown in (lets be real) we’ve got the days covered.


    {I don’t have a download, but if you’d like to right click and save this, then insert it into a word document, feel free to print it out}

    If you want some ideas for something fun to do, check out my fun with kids pinterest page. I’ll keep adding to it. I also plan to implement the summer snacking agenda I introduced last summer.

    by Kristen Duke

    15 comments

    angela kingMay 15, 2012 - 6:34 am

    love this! i just made up a summber bucket list for my family. :)

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    LindsayMay 15, 2012 - 8:56 am

    This is so wonderful! I am definitely printing one off for our home!

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    Cate O'MalleyMay 15, 2012 - 11:25 am

    We do a Summer Bucket List every year, and this year, we added the other seasons too. I make sure the list is a good mix of things that are free (yay!) and things that might not be. We haven’t done this year’s Summer list yet (still one more month of school to go), but last year’s ideas are here. Can’t wait!

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    Heather W.May 15, 2012 - 2:21 pm

    We are thinking along the same lines. My pinterest board on Kid Activities is brimming and ready to go for summer – thanks for your ideas! Especially the summer snacks, kids always want to eat.

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    ShariMay 15, 2012 - 4:12 pm

    super cute Kristen! ok, because i love you, i have to share this with you… please don’t take offense! when using that font, make sure you capitalize the first letter to close off the little cursive swoopy thing, and then at the end of the word, type a ^ symbol to close off the last letter’s cursive swoopy thing. i love this font and use it often, and so i just had to share with you! xoxo

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    Holly @ My Sister's Suitcase Reply:

    Haha, I was just trying to find this font today for a project I’m working on… can anyone tell me what it is? Thanks! And SUPER fun summer chart Kristen! I’m totally pinning this and creating a version for our family :)

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    Kristen Duke Reply:

    Holly, the font is Clementine, I just got it!

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    Kristen Duke Reply:

    not offended, shari, thanks! It’s a new font, so good tips.

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    JessMay 15, 2012 - 4:16 pm

    such great ideas!!

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    RachelMay 15, 2012 - 5:59 pm

    This is awesome. I need to make one of these for my toddler, since every day is summer with her and the baby. :)

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    jamie@eighteen25May 15, 2012 - 9:23 pm

    k… i think i like mondays and fridays the best. haha. your schedule looks like fun and is getting me even more excited for june.

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    LandeeMay 16, 2012 - 10:01 pm

    Love this Kristen! A *plan* for summer…now that is something I’ve never tried. Maybe we’ll give it a go this year! Thanks for the inspiration!

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    Rachel @ Family Ever AfterMay 16, 2012 - 10:25 pm

    Oh how I love this!!! This is sooo great. I love your logic with the Monday activity, I’m totally going to do that! :) There’s so many fun things to do over the summer. I love all your ideas. I think I’ll add a library day to our summer schedule too. My kids will love you (er…. me) for this idea.

    Ok, and because I really really love you…. and I know its mutual (jk), I have to tell you that you have a typo. I KNOW! I’m a geek. This is like the 5th comment I’ve left to someone in blogland to tell them. But I know if it were me, and it was a printable that people were pinning, I’d want to know too! Ok, its just teeny. Just the word “museum.” Ok I’m getting out of here love you BYE!!!

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    Kristen Duke Reply:

    ugh, typo’s! Thanks for telling me…I really should go in and fix that…but will I? MUSEUM–typo’s really do make one look “un-intelligent”!

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    Rachel @ Family Ever AfterMay 16, 2012 - 10:28 pm

    ps- LOVE what you said about looking forward to having your kids home all summer. I feel the same way! I’m crying already that my little Reese is going to start full day 1st grade next fall. wah!

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    Capture the Joy…in front of the Lens~Get Together #1

    I decided to start this link get together the day after Mother’s Day, hoping that if any day the mother’s would get in pictures with their children, it was this weekend! This project is about getting out from behind the camera and getting in some pictures with your family. This is not just for the mothers of young children, but for grandmothers, or those that are not mothers. It’s just a weekly reminder to be present, so that you will remember better later. The plan is to do this every Monday (as long as people keep coming), so think about it throughout the course of the week and jump in a picture of two, then blog it, and link it here on Mondays. If you want ideas of what to take pictures of, see the button on my left sidebar for my list of 100 ideas, but just smiling and looking at the camera works, too!

    Here are my kids and I yesterday on Mother’s Day. I stop hoping for the perfect shot, and enjoy seeing the candid moments. All of these were taken with my hubby’s phone. It isn’t about the quality of the images I’m looking to see, but just the moments captures.

     My hubby did a great job of planning out meals from my pinterest food board (per my suggestion–I sent him the page and they got to pick and surprise me), organizing a talent show, presenting hand made cards, having them rub my feet/play with my hair…it was very sweet (though the foot massage left a little to be desired). I said all I wanted was a clean house and good food, and they made that happen.

    Then after church, I gave him my “big camera” to take a few of me and my babies…and yes, sometimes he groans at my requests when I ask him to take a bunch so I can get a good one…


    But I’m very glad he’s still willing. I’m so grateful to be a mother, and I want my children to know that–by seeing me in pictures loving them and being happy in their presence. They deserve that.

    I’d love you to share a picture on your blog of you with your loved ones, add my button to the bottom of your post or link back so others can see and play along, and link up (the post, not your main site) below. Share a story with  your moment, or just a picture… I can’t wait to see! I’ll post a few of my favorites on Saturday–based on the emotion and how they made me smile;)



    Capturing the Joy in Life

    Or grab the code and add it to your page!



    by Kristen Duke

    6 comments

    DesireeMay 14, 2012 - 11:12 am

    Hey girl!

    I love this idea… I just linked up and shared your party on my FB page! Can’t wait to see all the photos.

    Have a delicious week my friend!

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    AlishaMay 14, 2012 - 12:12 pm

    HA! “a little to be desired”

    love this idea and reminder to get in the pics too!

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    Rach H at Family Ever AfterMay 14, 2012 - 12:15 pm

    Yay! I’m so glad you’re getting this started! I haven’t posted any pictures with my kids lately, so I’m linking up my post from last mother’s day. I hope that’s ok!!! Love ya!

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    Rach H at Family Ever AfterMay 14, 2012 - 12:17 pm

    ps- your kids are ADORABLE!!! looks like they treated you like a queen :)

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    Heather @ Raising Memories BlogMay 14, 2012 - 6:00 pm

    I love this idea & I’m excited that you’re doing it :)
    So glad you left a comment inviting me to participate, because I might not have thought of linking up- now I will have to remind myself to get photos every week! :) I hope this helps motivate me!!

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    LindsayMay 14, 2012 - 9:12 pm

    I love this series! I need to get a post written so I can take part in it. :) I LOVE all the pictures of you & your family. Beautiful!

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    Capture the Joy, in front of the lens

    Take pictures this weekend, come back and share them on Monday;)

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    by Kristen Duke

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