Monday, May 31, 2010

Pom Pom revisited

She won't sit still and is disobedient.She can be persuaded with a quick "Remember that time I drove you downtown in rush hour in the rain to buy you new sketch books and a Copic marker?" She can be bribed with cheap dog treats. She even kept her eyes open for this shot. Good dog!





Sunday, May 30, 2010

Weekend weeding

After we tilled the garden, we didn't do anything with it. This weekend we did. We started weeding. I'm sure the dogs thought they had found un-explored lands. We weeded for about 1.5 hours, which means just about 1/2 the garden is weeded. Then we ran some errands, and bought some plants and seeds.He found some treasure in the un-explored lands. After leaving some other treasures behind for us to pick up. Gross.A walnut and some weeds. Gross.

Gross.
Gross.
She found a peony.
These 3 are total goofs. And we survived a weekend of teens.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Ahhh...Friday {photo heavy}

I love taking pictures, I'm sure you've noticed. I don't love processing photos, but the end result is so worth it.
I don't know what Blogger does to the photos but they look so much better in my gallery.
Here are a few of my favourites from the weekend... I like to look at the cars, I like to hang out with Kerry, I like the smell of the exhaust, the chirping, and whistling and rumbling of the cars. And it's about esthetics for me, which is why this CUTE little red car was my favourite. And I can pick them, he won the race at the end of the day!
Being a Ford family, it's no wonder this was also a favourite of both Kerry and I. And it's for sale. For a brief second, we looked at each other and then laughed it off.

This was Kerry's favourite. I can see why, it's cute too!


The starting line.
So Saturday and Sunday, we went to the hill climb, and hiked and hiked, and then we went to weddings afterwards. What a perfect weekend!
I'm going to do them backwards, Sunday's wedding first, it's just the way they loaded and it's more work to move them. They are darker here than in person.

Bryan and Tracy, a very good looking couple!
Not the best one on the wharf, but one of my fav's because of the candidness.
I wasn't sure about the guns, but now it's all good.

Again, much darker on the blog, walking down the aisle.
And then on Saturday it was all about Karla. And Vince. But mostly Karla.
I shot these as a friend and guest at the wedding.
Pronounced man and wife.
I embraced the high ISO, and grain resulting from it, and went black and white. I've printed them out and I am so pleased with them. Live and learn.
The good looking guy behind Karla is her brother Chris. He said his favourite song was The Hamster Dance and the MC told all the kids to stand in a circle. Chris stood in the middle and he danced his butt off while doing the sprinkler. I could have cried, it was hilarious, what a good sport! And then Karla got in the circle with her cousin and dance like crazy.
This is Diana. She's a hoot. I have never laughed so much at a wedding, you could feel the love in the room, it was so amazing. This is Ben and his friend singing a song for Karla. I cried. Karla saw me crying, she did not hit me with her bouquet like she threatened to. They also sang the first dance song too. They were amazing. I'm going to cry just thinking about how special it was.
So all in all, we had a great weekend filled with fast cars, friends, lots of good laughs, good food, and love.
This weekend brings a gaggle of teens to our house. I might not feel the love by Sunday!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Wedding Sneak Peek

A couple of sneaks from Tracy and Bryan's wedding
And Karla's dress and shoes.




Whew...

Stick with me. I have so much to upload, and process. The hill climb was lots of fun, but also lots of hiking. My body isn't so happy about the two days of hiking up and down the hill.
The weddings were amazing. So much love!
Karla keeps showing up with more food. Kerry had his hopes on getting some more Cuban Lunch, some chocolatey thing they had for dessert. I'll have to get the recipe from Karla. We have enough cabbage rolls to keep me happy for a month. And enough dessert to keep Kerry happy for a few hours.
I'll upload photos over the next few days or so. I'm recuperating, and I am not going to work today!

Friday, May 21, 2010

28mm

I'm practicing with my 28mm lens. It's taking some getting used to.
I think this is snow on the mountain, but now that I've googled it and seen other pictures, I think it's something else. It's lighter green, almost sage foliage, spreads, is low growing and has these white flowers. It's not a weed. She contemplating...If it's not snow on the mountain, mom, then what is it?
He doesn't give a rat's ass. It doesn't taste good so who cares what it is, momma?


My stick tastes good and that's all lthat matters.

Oh, wait, some grass clippings, they taste good too.



All shots are SOOC, I was laying on the patio. I was covered in dirt and grass clippings when I was done. I love my camera.
I totally forgot to mention that not only do I have a bride getting dressed shoot, a wedding and the hill climb, I'm shooting Jeanette tonight!



The Downside

So now that I have The Essential Johnny Cash, I had to get The Essential Willie Nelson for my ipod too. Big mistake. I have Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson songs stuck in my head. All. Day. Long.
That's right, at stamping last night, I had Johnny and June stuck in my head singing It Ain't Me. And everyone knows I can't sing, so it's pretty useless stuck in my head.
This isn't the best quality video, but you get the idea.


Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Gadgets

What can make a grown man sit on a dirty dog bed to watch tv? This can. Now Kerry can watch the movies he bought on itunes on the tv instead of on his little nano screen. I can watch my one and only movie, A Nightmare Before Christmas, on my ipod, but I never need to as we have the dvd.
I picked up our hill climb tickets today. I'm so excited about this weekends plans. I'm steering clear of germ infested daughter. Kerry and I have to work out an itinerary for Saturday and Sunday. I think it will be something like...
Saturday
8:45 Hillclimb
11 Pics of Karla getting ready for her big day
1:15 get good pew in church
? eat perogies and cabbage rolls
? roll home
Sunday
8:45 Hillclimb
2:30 Wedding
8 Home/Watch Lost
8:15 sleep and hope someone is taping Lost

Wednesday Wonderings

Emily had the sniffles and a sore throat yesterday and this morning she's puking. Is it wrong that the first thing I did, before checking on her, was to check the weather forecast for the weekend? It's improved, cloudy with some sun! Perfect!
And is it wrong that I don't want to go near her or breath the same air for fear of catching what she has? I have lots to do this week and can't get sick!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

More on Tuesday!

The second to last episode of Lost is on tonight, the penultimate, as the kids would call it. I didn't even know what that meant until one of them said it. It was "next to last" in my day.

Did I mention Karla's family gave us homemade perogies as payment for helping Karla and Vince with wedding stuff? They were the best perogies I've ever had. THE BEST! Cheese and onion...potato goodness.

I made weird little brownies today, not those kind, but the kind were you run out of cocoa, and use choc. chips instead, but then put some instant coffee granules in too. And then you add a gob of peanut butter to the top of each before you bake them and you do this in mini cupcake tins. When they came out, I wasn't sure about them, so I gave Kelly-Next-Door a sample, sorry Karla, you have a dress to fit into (who's lookin' out for you?ME) and she deemed them yummy. Then I ate a few more, and still wasn't sure. Then Shaun ate one and said they were delicious. And when Kerry came home he said they were the best little things, next to Karla's perogies, ever! I don't think I could make them again if I tried.

And before all this happened, the soup fairy left Thai Chicken soup on the fence out back. OMG...it's my new favourite. John's a chef at The Grand and he should open a soup shop. I ate it for lunch and again for dinner. And then Kelly-Next-Door gave me another container full. It's like the bottomless soup pot. Coconut, ginger, chicken, shrimp, tomato, cilantro goodness.

Kerry's boss gave our name when he won tickets to The Knox Mountain Hill Climb, so we get free tickets! Before the weddings we will check it out each morning. Lots of excitement this weekend. Busy week ahead.

I've been asked to shoot another wedding in August, one of the derby girls friend's wedding. That's 2 in August, 1.5 in May, 1 in October. Eeeeek.

Tuesday's Tidbits



30 yrs. ago, today, Mount Saint Helen's erupted. I remember the ash on the vehicles, watching the footage play over and over again. A horrible day for anyone living near the volcano. But a new beginning for us. On this day, my dad decided to stop drinking, cold turkey. Happy Anniversary to my dad!The stairs are almost finished, we are waiting 28 days for the paint to harden before caulking the little gaps.

As with everything we do, the dogs are right there. Linus spent most of the stair making days laying at the top looking down at us, or if he was able to, sitting on the step right above us. I think he thinks he's site manager or supervisor.
I love the way Sally is sitting. I have 2 carrots above my head, and that's why they are sitting so nice.
The new hardwood and paint brightens the staircase up, and sooner than later, I want to paint the walls a light springy green, and the door will get a new coat of something.
This is the same wood we put in the living room, hall, and dining room. We have so much leftover that Kerry made his workbench out of hardwood in the garage, and now we've done the stairs and still have 9 boxes left. I don't know what we will do with the rest, I don't think there is anything else left to hardwood. Is that even a correct sentence? Hardwood isn't a verb.

The forecast is still predicting rain for the weekend. 60% chance for Saturday. I know from my time picking apples that 60% means rain, at some point, 70% means rain for sure, 30% means not likely. So I'm hoping for overcast! Please, and thank you!

I stepped outside my comfort zone and joined Terrell for Bunco last night. I was filling in for another friend that couldn't make it. I thought it was a card game. As Terrell explained it "It's Yahtzee on speed!" and it was.

The kids gave Kerry an itunes card for his birthday and he bought The Essential Johnny Cash album, not what I would have predicted. I love it! I had to put it on my ipod too. Not full of shiny happy songs, they won't inspire bright, happy scrapbook layouts. But that's what my Glee soundtracks are for. I'm pushing him towards purchasing Willie Nelson next. I'm so anti-new country, but I love the old stuff from Pasty Cline, some Alabama and right up to and including Randy Travis. But that's it.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Weekend's Fun and Games

So it wasn't a business venture of any kind that Kelly and I did. It was a joint effort on Karla's bridal shower gift. Together we made her and Vince an album for her wedding photos.

I used a photo from their engagement shoot I did in the winter for the cover picture.
And then Kelly and I posed for some shots so that Karla will always remember who made the album for her. You can make out the edge of "Made especially for you by your HOT neighbours." We even did matching tattoos for them.

She loves sheep, can you tell?
We had a great time. She's got some hilariously funny friends and relatives. Her neighbours are killers! They are so funny! I don't think I ever laughed so hard at a shower. I'm pretty sure Karla was crying because she was laughing so hard. At one point, her little cousin put on her brand new red lacy panties, and he did a little dance in them and I thought I was going to die. I'll save everyone the embarrassment by not posting the pictures of that one.

It was Rod's birthday and we had a great time full of food and I got my fill of baby handling in.

Kerry and I went out to Sunday's wedding site and I got a few pictures of him modeling for me. I made him sit beside this old abandoned boat. He humored me, like he always does.



Half the shots have him and his Tim's cup posing together.

I have to find shoes, try on the outfit I think I'm wearing to the wedding, find something to wear the next day when I shoot the other wedding, and try to find time to see the Knox Mountain Hill climb each day before the weddings, get my hair done, and hope it doesn't rain like the forecast said was going to. Cloudy I want, rain I don't.

Friday, May 14, 2010

In the Works

These two are working on something that I can't post yet. A Kelly and Kelli production.I had to crop this one closer, don't want to let the cat out of the bag early.
I love the light at the front of my house. I don't have many pictures of myself, let alone many with any other people.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Motivation


It's amazing how using your brain can help get your creative juices flowing.Heather came over and we used my new Tim Holtz tattered flower die to make these flowers. They are too dimensional to use for scrapbooking. And they remind me of pinecones.