It came and it went

It's always amazing how fast Christmas comes. Little kids in costumes are knocking on your door demanding candy and then the next thing  you know the neighbourhood smells of turkey and everyone is stressed out. It's such a huge holiday, all the preparing, spending, eating, and then it's over so fast. At least I will have my photos to help me remember the big day, made especially fantastic by the newest addition to our family. I don't normally name my possessions, but this one naturally started out as Marky Mark, but then I took a few shots and decided it was a girl. 

So now she's nameless.

 With my other camera, Christmas was a dismal grainy affair. But now I can take shots like this, because she's full framed! ( I was feeling very black and white and lifestyle-ish) 

 Check out the present blur, he must have been pretty excited!

This one asked for that Snoopy months ago, and Grandma was listening, which I noticed by the other gifts we received, she listens very well.

My brother couldn't make it for Christmas, so I had the bright idea to print a huge photo of his head and take him with us. Dad thought it was a great idea. Justin had drinks, hung out after dinner, napped, and played in the tree. He was so well loved, that Christmas morning dad drove back home to get him when he realized he forgot him. 

 I love how much more room I have with the full frame!

 Emily's pretty funny when it comes to filling out her gift tags.

 Dad and Justin were admiring Kerry's new wheels. 

 And in typical Williams' style, I got my "Christmas photo". The same as always, lots of laughs (from them), lots of sighs (from me) and lots of shots like this.

 Sally didn't want any part of the annual "dogs in front of the tree" photo.

Linus posing on our new bedding. Our room is a dark cave but now I can shoot anywhere! (with in reason.)

I hope everyone had a very safe Christmas, and that you spend New Years with the ones you love! 

And then it was December....

In no particular order, this is what we've been doing so far in December. And I guess what we did in November too. Sorry, it's photo heavy. 

Heather organized a crafty retreat at the Greenbay bible camp. I wasn't able to go for the whole 3 days, I had classes planned from before the dates were set. While I was there, I think I was pretty darn productive. I got almost caught up on my Project Life album. There's a few photos I'm missing and I really need to have the album next to the computer so I can print and fill in the missing photos. I took one of the Making Memories Christmas albums I found last year at HomeSense and I turned it into a December Daily album. I've been taking the daily photos, I just haven't been printing those either. While at the retreat, Marg and I watched tutorials for making these tags.

 Now I'm addicted to them.

 That Tim Holtz has me addicted to his inks. I put in a huge order last week and can't wait till I get them. I told Kerry he could put them under the tree for me, so I have to wait a little longer.

 I love this blue snowflake one!

 And the green snowflake one.

 Just this last Saturday, Kerry wanted to go riding, he'd been off all week and hadn't gone out. So I said I'd go to and practice with my Lens Baby. We went to a beautiful spot! We had to cross the river a few times and if I didn't have my camera, phone, and extra batteries in my pocket, I would have just sloshed across the frozen, ice covered rocks or like I told Kerry I'd do...slide across on my down filled vest. But I was scared of dropping the goods, so after I stepped in the creek once, I said that was it, I was too scared. Good thing for waterproof Keens! My ankle and leg were soaked, my foot was not.

 Connie, Lorana, and Misty-Rae came over and we had potluck and wreath making! Shelley has some great tutorials and mom and I watched them last year and made the wreaths for gifts, and the garland for  the living room.

This terrible photo is the 'before' of the downstairs bathroom. After we had the new furnace installed by Kelly's Heating we had a nice hole in the ceiling so I decided it was time to paint. Kerry finished up the wall and doors around the furnace and we painted both the same colour because I'm all about the grey right now (no I haven't read 50 Shades).

 This equally crappy photo is the 'after'. I loved the "Japanese Maple" that it was, but I love love the "Burnished Clay" that it is. So much brighter. Nothing like re-painting the house for better photos!  I'd love to paint the living room for Christmas morning. But I think just buying  a new camera would be easier.

 At my work's Christmas party, the girls got bags of cosmetic samples. I am thrilled with my Shiseido make-up! Who knew tiny bottles of cosmetics could make a person so happy?! And the creamy face wash is awesome, I'll have to check the price on that stuff and see if my face is worth it.

 After Halloween, the kids went shopping for next year and for the convention. Lady Gaga hair bow? Odd, but whatever. And I have no words for the other one. Those two don't shut up when they are together. And don't try to get a word in, because you just can't. I guess that's actually great.

 The best best best part of November was watching my GSP beat the snot out of that other guy. What a fight! I love seeing these guys work for it. I don't love the blood. We don't go to fight night that often, after I fell asleep watching, it just seemed a shame to go and pay to nap. But I will always go to see sweet baby George fight. (sorry Kerry)

 I did a little scrapping for classes and used some of the paper I've been hoarding for over a year. I bought the whole line, and the stickers, in multiples of 12. I had planned on using it for classes but I loved it so much I didn't want to share. It does feel good to share.

I finally made my purse with my fabric from our shopping trip to Vancouver. 

I'd like to say it was peer pressure that made Kerry shave his icky Movemeber stache. But it was not. He said the moustache made his face cold when he rode his bike. It wasn't the looks I gave him and his creepy face, or the fact I wouldn't kiss him for 27 days, or that I punched him in the back when his wire whiskers poked my eyes out.

I've got a few days off so I hope I'm productive. I may even blog again! Kerry's getting sick, Emily's had an upset pukey stomach for 2 days. But my house is decorated, I even hosted Book Club's Christmas party. I'd say more than half the presents are purchased, maybe even 3/4!  I have a box of un-opened Stampin' Up pre-ordered Spring/Sell-a-bration stamps sitting around and I'm going to rip that baby open today and fondle everything before putting it to use for classes this week and next. I also plan on getting my Christmas cards done! Big plans!

November?

Fall is my favourite time of year. But it's going by so fast! 

There's less than 2 months until Christmas, and I have actually started my Christmas present shopping. 

We managed to squeeze in a trip to the pumpkin patch. It was so dark and dreary that I didn't think I'd be able to get any decent shots. These are my favourites.

 Victoria and Walter sent another box of goodies from the US. We need a Trader Joe's here! 

 I haven't tried the See's sucker yet, Emily said it was too big for her mouth.

 The dark chocolate mixed with the sweet caramel and the sea salt was so good.

 I felt healthier eating these!

 We will savour this bag. 

 Not the best photo, but one of my favourites from Halloween night. It was almost dark, but the lights from the garage provided enough light to get this one.

I've got half my to-do list for my day off done. One of the things I wanted to do was buy more Halloween candy for my craft room candy bucket. I can't believe I drove around for that. But now I have an assortment of candies for all the classes I've got lined up. 

 I've downloaded the Book Thief, and want to start it later. I've heard it's good. I finished the Sisters Brothers for book club, I hear it's going to be made into a movie. Should be interesting. I liked the book. 

There's 2 months left in the year, and I think I'm about 6 months behind on my Project Life. 

So busy, and yet....

...I have time to google "busy" quotes!

"Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night." 
--Author Unknown (This is me lately, too tired.)

"Ever notice that even the busiest people are never too busy to tell you just how busy they are." 
--Anonymous (I'm blogging to tell you I've been busy.)

"When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another - and ourselves."  
--Jack Kornfield (I haven't been blogging because I've been busy)

Busy doing what? 

- We decided it was time to bite the bullet and get a new furnace. We figured while we were at it, might as well get a new hot water tank too. This required a wall to be removed in the basement, one that  I had recently painted and finally put a beautiful vinyl saying on. 

 - We went to see Russell Peters with a bunch of friends, thank goodness Shaun came with us, or else Kerry would feel out of place! We got the waitress at Yamas to snap this gem.

 - I managed to find Hi-Chews in bags! Sadly, I eat them by the handful.

 - The weather has been so nice that we've gotten in a few hikes.

 - I've been making cards, and having classes. Feels good to be making crafty stuff.

- We've had lots of family dinners, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. The house had never been cleaner!

- I'm practicing as much as I can with my new lens. 

 - Wedding! Gorgeous bride! I took photos of her getting ready for her big day!

 - I'm still picking tomatoes. Next year I am not planting more than one cherry/grape plant. Very few of my red tomatoes ripened, but the yellow ones were great!

 - We've seen my brother more this year, in the last 4 months, then ever before. He came up for Thanksgiving and we went out shooting and hiking.

 - Iphone update enabled me to take a panoramic shot of the yard.

 - Fall is here, in a way, it's so abnormally warm and dry.

- Tonight we go to Yuk Yuks for some comedy. I've never been so I have no idea what to expect.
- I've gotten a new job at work. Again, no idea what to expect.
- I'm excited to go to a scrapbooking retreat in November. I'd like to get some stuff organized before then. It will be the perfect time to work on my Project Life, as long as I get all my stuff together. It shouldn't be this hard!


Am I the only one 'busy'?

My Testimonial

I loved the Photographers' Workshop! I managed to stay caught up with the assignments because Karen made me want to keep up! I loved every minute of it. Getting my binder in the mail was a highlight! Meeting Karen is on my bucket list!

Jumping Ahead In the Recent Events.

Ever since I saw this picture of a beach taken with a tilt shift lens, I have wanted one. But since I don't have a full frame camera, yet, I had to 'settle' for a Lensbaby Edge 80. I know it's not a really tilt shift lens, I know it's an acquired look. But I love it. I see it so much now, like on the opening credits to Sherlock, on that weird river boat tour commercial, and a few other places.

I got one over the weekend, mom and I went to Vancouver and hung out with Justin. I put my Lensbaby on the camera early Saturday morning and only took that lens out with me. It was hard.

 You can't quickly snap a photo. You have to use live view, which I hadn't done with my camera. And you have to manually focus, which I can do, but I'm slow. We ate lunch at Save-On Meats. It was good, but not as good as Peaceful Restaurant or Meat and Bread. It was also in the sketchy part of town, so it was scary.

 While eating dinner at Granville Island we sat and watched the boats.

 Can you see how the boat looks miniature? That's what I love. I need lots more practice.

 We listened to this girl sing while we sat. She was good.

 On the way home Sunday, I still had the lens on so when we stopped to watch the forest fire, I didn't have time to change lens. I can't believe how close the fire was to the highway.