a MIRiginal life

SOCK it to me

2011-09-22T23:55:00.003-06:00

I did another set of custom baby closet dividers - Sock Monkey theme - so fun!

I was going to post each divider individually, but for some reason Blogger loads forever with each photo I upload, so being that I feel lazy, have to go edit AND have to scrapbook at the same time...

xx, M

Winnie the Pooh Baby Closet Dividers

2011-09-18T18:27:00.010-06:00

Another re-visit of the baby closet dividers...a la Winnie the Pooh style. I also made a door hanger, wall decor and gift tags as well.

Stay tuned....I have another set of baby closet dividers coming up shortly!

xx, M

Hello Kitty!

2011-09-15T15:37:00.009-06:00

a simple Hello Kitty card and album I made as part of a birthday gift (apologies for the picture quality...these were snapped fast).

I thought the album turned out cute - pretty simple with the focus on just the photos and the little hello kitty diecuts.

xx, M

Becoming a Momma

2011-09-10T23:50:00.003-06:00

So I've wanted to peg down my thoughts on becoming a mom for the last 4 months (4 months!! I can't believe I've been responsible for a little being for this long already!) - but (yes the same old adage/excuse) things have just gotten busy and dividing up my time takes more thought now than it once used to.

Tristan is 4 months old. I can't believe it. This little guy is now about 15 pounds and growing. Every day that passes makes me love him just that much more. So....instead of writing paragraphs on motherhood, here they are in point form. You may not agree with everything I have to say, but these are my honest reflections on my last 4 months as a mother.

- Unconditional love. My heart has so much love for this little being that it could burst at any time, but probably won't.
- 20 pounds of guilt. Someone mentioned this to me - I understand it now. There are days when I look at Tristan and although I am doing the best that I can for him, and all that I can, I still feel like I am not doing enough. I get twinges of feeling inadequate some days...although I know in his eyes I am the world to him.
- Appreciation. I now appreciate my mom (and my dad) SO much more. My parents always told me that I would understand once I had my own kids..now I do.
- Regret. It has only been four months, but in those four months, I have learned how my actions have truly affected my parents. Whether your own child means to or not, little things can be so hurtful...not that Tristan has done anything other than cry or fuss :D....so far.
- Overprotective-ness (if that's a word!). Dad...I get this now. I just want to spread my wings around Tristan and never let harm come to him.
- Reflection. No one can ever really answer why they want kids. I could never fully answer that question - just that I wanted a little being to care for and nurture and teach and love. There is so much joy to see a little bit of myself and/or Joe reflected in Tristan. There is also so much joy in seeing that he is also his own little guy.
- Adjustment. I knew having a child would be difficult, but I was unprepared for just how difficult it is. The difficulty, for me, lies in the lifestyle changes....and it's amazing how much sleep can have on this!
- Kid explosion. It is a wonder to see our house, cars, purses, etc. explode with kid stuff. I imagined having a child, but never did I imagine seeing a jolly jumper window shade on my car. :D
- LOVE. Have I mentioned this yet?! lol. I love everything about Tristan - from the growing hairs on his head down to the little long toes, to the fast growing fingernails to his little laugh, to his bright eyes and bright warm smile. His big smiles lead me to believe that he will grow up to have a big heart. There is nothing more joyous or can make me tear up than seeing him, seeing the recognition in his eyes, and then his face lighting up in a big smile...and with that big smile usually comes a body jiggle or something. My heart could explode.

And so....this begins my (our) journey.

xo, M

Win a Photography Session

2011-08-14T20:09:00.002-06:00

Fall is one of the four seasons we are blessed to have in Alberta, but also happens to be so fleeting. I decided to put on a contest for a family or couples photography session held at the Prairie Gardens Adventure Farm....

See the contest HERE...

Spread the word and good luck!

xx, M

Hello ^_^

2011-08-12T19:16:00.004-06:00

One of my girlfriends' is throwing her daughter a Hello Kitty birthday party in a month's time...her daughter absolutely loves Hello Kitty, which kick started a project for me as part of her birthday gift...

This is a sneak peek so far...stay tuned for more ^_<

M

Grandma's PB Cookies

2011-08-07T02:22:00.004-06:00

I have an album that I started two years ago to hold family recipes.

Below is the latest addition to that, which is Grandma Allan's PB Cookies - yum! The recipe, upon review, is not much different from most other peanut butter cookies, except that when she made them, the tasted amazing (don't all items made with love by a grandmother??), and now that the recipe has been passed on, the cookies evoke memories of her and the love that went into them....and really, they are delicious!

Layout materials: Webster's Pages Country Estate papers, Martha Stewart punch, ribbon from Michaels, Wilton's doilies.

xx, M

The Joys of a Label Maker

2011-07-18T22:33:00.009-06:00

In sequel to my Organization 101 post, here are the "after" pictures for my scrapbook area. The surroundings still look the same - unfinished. What is exciting, however, is that I am a proud owner of a label maker, which is what spurred me to organize my working area.

The before pictures from a prior post gave the impression that it was organized, but everything was thrown into the bins I had, and stuffed into the cases and spaces around the working area. What I've done is organize all my photography items (i.e. magazines, books, camera accessories and lenses, etc.) into the 'shelf' space you see to the left of the computer.

I have been itching to purchase a ribbon holder for the longest time, and finally found one that I liked. This one is from Clip It Up and it's great because there is no dowel involved, so you wouldn't have to remove the entire dowel if you needed to change things up. It also comes with extra clips to hang all of your loose ribbons in orderly fashion underneath. I'm telling you, it's fab!

All of my papers are organized in the Cropper Hopper vertical organizer...it's great! All of my papers are now organized by brand and series (e.g. Basic Grey - Cappella) and my cardstock are organized by color.

At the Dollarstore I found these glass jars and thought they would be an inexpensive way to house all of my random and loose flowers, odds and ends and excess ribbons...plus it looks great and I love how the items are visible through the glass.

The next two pictures show my Cricut on full display (so that I will actually use it!), and all the bins underneath are labelled - stamps and accessories, punches, cricut and cuttlebug, etc. So functional and easy to know where all my items are now.

I wanted a great idea for organizing all of my stickles and glitter...and I have alot, at least enough to fill up one of the plastic Iris 12x12 cases. I found this great idea on some online forum...basically using the Iris 12x12 cases and some round velcro stickers. This way, the stickles are held upside down and my glitter right side up...and they don't wiggle around in the case! I thought it was brilliant. Again, inexpensive, as the cases are cheap at Michaels (when they are on sale) and the velcro rounds you can get at the Dollarstore!

The exciting part of this entire thing (and I love organizing...I get it from my dad - he is constantly organizing and rearranging things!) is that it will truly be exciting to scrapbook and edit in my space, since everything is visible, labelled and easily accessible. I still long for a completed and furnished scrapbook room, but until then, this will suffice, and I am happy with it. :)

Lastly, if you don't have a label maker and you are an organizer like me, go get one!!

xx, M

In Loving Memory

2011-07-14T21:26:00.027-06:00

Photo taken by Cori Kalven

I do not know if I mentioned this a year ago, but Grandma "at the Lake", also known as Margaret Violet Allan, passed away a few days after our wedding and a day after her birthday. It was a very emotional day.

On Saturday we celebrated her life. What more fitting place than at the lake where Joe's entire family (on Mom's side) grew up together. The fabric of their lives is so richly encompassed at the lake, with Grandma interwoven throughout.

To celebrate her life, Melissa and I made an album (from all of us) for the parents, in loving memory. The lovely "poem" encapsulating Grandma and the Lake, was written by Melissa. It is super moving. What makes the album super special is the fact that all the photos (with the exception of the loon, the photo of Grandma on the last page, and the cookie jar) were taken by Grandma. Her photos are amazing - she had such a love for the clouds, sunsets, the trees...nature really. The last few pages were open pages for family to write down their favorite memory of Grandma, so that we all, and future generations, may remember and see how special Grandma is.

Without writing much more, below are the poem and scrapbook layouts.

Grandma left a legacy out at the lake, in our hearts, and in our memories. We know you are around us at all times.

We miss you and love you. Here's to you Grandma!

Organization 101

2011-07-14T15:16:00.007-06:00

Wow! Has 13 days really passed since I last posted? Between taking care of our now 2 month old son, our 1.5 year old puppy (ok, Keeva probably is a 'dog' now, but will forever be my puppy), kickstarting my photography business, editing, being a good wife (i.e. trying to keep the house clean and making dinners where I can, etc.), trying to maintain a lifestyle of sorts, now I have decided to go on a rampage and clean and organize a) my closet, b) our kitchen, c) our basement, and d) my scrapbooking/computer area (aka the dungeon).

Every once in awhile I get this burning need to purge...and instead of tackling them one at a time, I decide to do it in conjunction with one another. That's how I like to roll :)

Anyways, I am currently reorganizing and purging my scrapbook area. You'd think it would be easy, but there's alot more to it than you would think! At least to me there is. Things like organizing your papers, stickles, stamps, punches, etc. The better organized, the more visible my products are, the more likely I will use them and not forget about them.

Well as much as I'd like to continue to ramble and make this post even more boring, I better get to cleaning...plus I hear Tristan stirring. Please visit my previous post "I've Been Demoted to the Dungeon" to see the before pics...and I will very soon post the now pics :)

Stay tuned...there are projects coming to see!

PS Thanks for following...I'm alive still :)

Happy Canada Day!

2011-07-01T19:14:00.003-06:00

Happy Canada Day to all!

So I decided to make Canada Day cake pops before heading out to the lake tomorrow - I made them for the lake...what better excuse is there? Let me tell you, cake pops are not as easy as I thought initially...I knew that the more advanced cake pops were difficult, but all I wanted to do initially was make cake balls....and those proved harder than the cake pops...I think it may have to do with the thickness of the candy coating.

Anyways, after the first batch that didn't look so great (and I mean, cake was leaking out of the cake balls, the coating was super thick or thin in some places, etc.), the second batch proved a more visually appealing lot. This is what they look like!

Be forewarned: Cake pops are super sweet morsels - I wouldn't be able to eat more than one (and this is coming from my newly developed super addiction to sugar!)

Gotta go work on a project...and maybe make some dinner :)

Hope some of you are able to enjoy the fireworks tonight...I won't be able to sadly, but we will have our own out at the lake! Tristan's first fireworks show :)

xx, M

Miranda Wensel Photography

2011-06-27T23:40:00.002-06:00

My photography has moved!! I am in the midst of establishing my very own photography business, and have started my photog blog at Miranda Wensel Photography. Click here to check it out! I hope you will follow me in my quest...

Much of the material you will see on the new blog you will have seen here...but new work is coming..and it definitely won't be on this blog anymore! This blog will still be up and running, with posts mostly on a personal and scrapbooking basis. Let me know what you think of the new blog!

Thanks so much for your support!

xx, M

Simplicity

2011-06-23T21:44:00.003-06:00

I cannot believe how much time has passed since my last post! Things have definitely been busy...I have quite the extensive "to do" list and a multitude of projects I am excited to start, or if I've started, to finish - given the time frame I now work within having a lil dude to care for, play with, and love. I have much to blog about, but not quite enough time...

Here are a couple very simple baby cards I made. Sometimes keeping things simple is the best way to go...and a time saver - these were whipped up in a pinch (granted, I had to make 30 of the whale ones...)

'Til the next post! xx M

newborn - baby Carter

2011-06-10T21:18:00.015-06:00

I had the pleasure of photographing 5 day old Carter, a lil' munchkin who just didn't want to catch those zzz's! Now, I don't know if it is just my presence or what, but this will be the third newborn session I have captured where the baby just doesn't want to sleep - maybe it just means they aren't camera shy :)

Grandma Jenn contacted me as she had wanted to capture her new adorable grandson and this precious fleeting moment for parents, Matt and Jenna. When I arrived, her son Matt opened the door and the first thing I noticed were his eyes - it reminded me of that photo of the Afghanistan girl on the cover of National Geographic. I spent the session chatting with the parents and grandparents...and tossing my very experienced motherly advice along the way (which really wasn't much) ;p You could feel the love in the room for baby Carter, coupled with a new parents growing love and apprehension (been there, am still there!), and the grandparents strength, encouragement, and support. A few of my favorites from the session below:

My ultimate fav shot of the day!

Thank you to the Day family for letting me in your lives and allowing me to capture baby Carter. I hope you love the photos and will cherish them for years to come. They really do grow fast (there's a reason why everyone says this!) - Matt & Jenna, if there is anything I gleaned from spending the small window of time with your family, it is that you both will be amazing parents and if there ever was a question (or two or three or more), you have loving (grand)parents to fall upon.

xx, M

Honolulu

2011-06-09T19:03:00.008-06:00

So our final destination on our Hawai'ian Babymoon was Honolulu. I think we probably should've started our trip with Honolulu, ending in Mau'i. We didn't love Honolulu, but it could've been a few factors attributing to the lack of enjoyment: a) we were tired after 11 days and b) coming from a sweet suite (ha!) and a peaceful and (somewhat) idyllic setting to the hustle and bustle of a BIG city made Honolulu not so appealing to us.

Our hotel, the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, was old (think 70s Hawaiian theme) and at the very end of the Waikiki strip. The street Waikiki runs parallel to is called Kukulani Avenue. On the whole, I guess it wasn't so bad, but when you have a deluxe suite to compare our hotel room with, it's definitely a shock to the system! Our hotel room was small (standard to most hotel rooms), and our partial ocean view was just that...partial. Our balcony was about 3 feet wide and 1 foot out (if that!) - very claustrophobic feeling and you had to look to the right to see the ocean. Looking straight out, you could see right into the adjacent hotel rooms - not very private if you had your curtains pulled aside. Our toilet, when flushed, sounded like a turbo jet. Ah well, we enjoyed what we had and can only laugh about it looking back.

We also spent countless hours walking up and down Waikiki - so much that we basically had everything memorized. Along our first walk down the "strip", I discovered Cold Stone Creamery. If you haven't been there before, I definitely urge you to check their website out..and if you have one near you, go! Being 6 months pregnant and having a sweet tooth like never before, I frequented Cold Stone quite some during our stay in Honolulu. To my delight, I discovered that we have one here in Edmonton about 5 minutes away!

We also went to attempt to conquer Diamond Head. I had really wanted to and really didn't think it would be too difficult. When we got to the toll booth to pay our $1 entry fee, the toll lady stopped me and inquired if I was "with child", and warned me that it is harder than it looked, coupled with the fact that it was super busy and that people become "pushy" up top. I took her warning and we decided to proceed. To make a long story short, we got halfway past point 2 and I had to give up. I was very disappointed, but it was so hot out and being pregnant and already feeling tired I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it. So it was disappointing to not get to the reward up top (magnificent view of Waikiki), but at least I knew when to stop.

Our last touristy attraction was to visit Pearl Harbour. I just could not be in Honolulu and not visit a place of such historic magnitude. It was humbling.

Our last day was spent riding it out as our flight didn't leave until later that night. We hung around Waikiki and watched our last sunset on the jetty off the beach. We had fun but were glad to be home after a 2 week trip. We loved Maui and have come to understand why they say 'Maui No Ka Oi' (Maui is the Best!) - because it is! We will definitely plan to go back someday.

Hope you enjoyed following our vacay with us! xx, M

Sneak Peek - Baby C

2011-06-04T19:34:00.005-06:00

Baby C. 5 days.

Keep posted - more to come!

xx. M

Newborn - Baby Victoria

2011-05-31T22:36:00.009-06:00

Baby Victoria Hanna LaPierre - 11 days old.

I recently took photos of newborn baby Victoria - this little girl simply would not sleep even after being well-fed! She was a little harder to "mold" as I felt like she was so teeny tiny and fragile (her birth weight was only 2 oz less than Tristan's). It was nice to be able to spend a small portion of the afternoon with her mom, Esther, and have a mommy q & a session (with me asking all the q's of course). If this little girl looks somewhat familiar, it's because she's the younger sibling of Asher who I also took a few photos of, along with his parents.

Here are some of the best from the session.

xx, M

Newborn - Baby Gia

2011-05-30T20:49:00.011-06:00

Awhile ago (back in April I think), I posted a sneak peek at photos I had taken for my friend's baby - well I have finally found some time to go through them! I can't believe Gia is now about 7 weeks old (if not more?) - time really does fly with a baby!

Gia was 6 days old - with this being my first time taking photos of a newborn, I did not know that the trade secret was to ensure baby was "milk drunk" and sleepy! She was sleeping when I arrived, but we waited until she woke up to start taking photos. This obviously made it difficult to pose her and I had to make do with however she reacted. We live and learn, and only practice makes perfect (whoa, two cliche sayings in one sentence!). Still, I was able to snap a few photos of her...below are a few of my favorites.

Hope you enjoyed these :) Another newborn (Baby V) will be posted shortly!

CD Case

2011-05-29T23:51:00.007-06:00

I was burning a disc of photos for a friend tonight when I decided that I should make my own cd case to package the CD in! What a great idea, really - again, utilizes the immense paper collection I have, as well as makes a nice personalized package for the receiver!

Here are the photos of my first handmade CD case (yet to be embellished):

Finished product outside and inside

Finished product folded/sealed front and back

I will also share my how-to with you all (hopefully it's understandable!)...since I took the time to jot it all down so that I don't forget how I made it in the first place!

CD Case Instructions - see attached image.

Hopefully this was clear - if not, drop me an e-mail or comment and I can (hopefully) clarify!

Happy creating - enjoy :) xo M

PS Do you wonder where I have the time to blog, create, and take photos amidst being a new mom?! I wonder too....lol. Actually, alot of it is due in part to my wonderful husband and a sleepy infant :)

New Finds

2011-05-28T20:20:00.002-06:00

I love discovering new interesting finds - it makes my heart race with excitement! Check out these new blogs/website that I discovered:

Mondocherry - super creative, inspirational, and simply pretty!

Susan Weinroth Photography - I actually have been following her blog (full of wonderful scrapbook layouts!) and JUST discovered that she is a photographer...although I had a feeling she was due to her amazing images she has on her blog.

Also check these up and coming photographers out!

Will Colford of Splat Photography - he's actually my sister-in-law's boyfriend and has a really good eye!

Eee and Bee Photography - This duo shot my maternity photos (and not a day too late!) and will be shooting my brother and soon to be sister-in-law's wedding in a couple weeks.

Well, that's it for today, short and sweet. Happy Saturday! xo

Newborn Photoshoot - Tristan

2011-05-27T21:30:00.005-06:00

Kat from Katch Studios, who, along with Cheryl, photographed our wedding back in July last year, also took photos of our son at 10 days old. Below are a few photos from Katch Studios - as always, we will have a difficult time selecting the photos we want!

Photos courtesy of Katch Studios via their blog

Thanks again Kat - your talent definitely speaks volumes through your work :)

'Iao State Valley Park

2011-05-25T17:18:00.007-06:00

In my never-ending quest to see all that we could see, I wanted to check out 'Iao State Valley Park, situated at the end of Highway 32 ('Iao Valley Road). Again, I convinced Joe to wake up early as I had read that it was best to view the 'Iao Needle early as it can be covered by clouds as the day progresses.

The 'Iao Needle is a natural rock pinnacle presiding over the 'Iao stream and is surrounded by the walls of the Pu'u Kukui Crater. It was once used as a natural altar, and is 2,250 feet high! Apparently, this valley is also the site of one of the most famous battles in 1790 when King Kamehameha I destroyed the Maui army in an effort to unite the Hawaiian Islands.

Well, it took us some time to arrive (but not too long) and the entire park took us about 5 minutes to go through. We also could've turned around and made the drive back as once we got there, we could see the needle from the parking lot...but I made us get out to walk around the park as I would not admit defeat! We paid the parking fee ($5) and really (you didn't hear this from me), we probably could've gotten away without paying for parking.

This is the park. If you are in Maui, and want to kill some time, then I say check this spot out. I'm glad we did check it out, but I don't think we would again. The needle really looked like another hill to me - for some reason, I also thought the "needle" was a huge tree rising high into the clouds...clearly I was wrong! :D

Other than all the touristy spots we checked out, we did spend quite abit of time loungin' around the pool and the beach, and we did alot of whale watching! Then it was off to Honolulu...

xox, M

The Road to Hana

2011-05-24T14:56:00.025-06:00

So excited were we for this day....the majority of it would be spent driving in the car, with intermittent sessions of getting in and out to check out the highlights along the way and snapping some pics. Before we had left for Hawai'i, we were informed of how treacherous this road was and bumpy...it is not! A few years back they had paved the road so it is pretty smooth. However, I do forewarn you to check with the front desk/concierge of your hotel on the road conditions and any road closures the day you intend to travel to Hana. It is very slow going, although Joe probably would've loved to be in a sports car going faster than 15 (or however fast we were going), but at one point we did follow a truck (on the way back) who was going alot faster!

There were tons of things to check out along the way - make sure you stop at the stand where you can purchase your CD and map ($20) - if anything, the map is definitely handy, although overloaded and overcrowded with information and tiny type. The CD was great as it provides interesting information along the way and for first-timers does inform you of when to stop so you don't miss any of the highlights. It took us a few hours to complete the road to Hana - when we got to Hana, we stopped in at the Hana Ranch Restaurant for lunch (food is ok...) and checked the town out for abit, and then headed slightly past Hana to Ohe'o Gulch (Seven Sacred Pools) where we eventually turned around and made our way home. Oh yes, I MUST mention that we ran into Rihanna at the Hana General Store! Actually, Joe spotted her as he was there making a purchase while I was in another store - he came to find me to inform me, at which point, I lost interest in what I was looking at, and beelined for the general store. Rihanna walked out (with her bodyguards) just as I was coming up to the entrance and I had to pretend I was going into the store...so I walked about 2 feet into the store, looked up and walked out. Oh...I also mumbled a small "hi" towards the bodyguard...which I'm sure no one heard. I never think I am starstruck until a celebrity is around....another case in point...when Kaylan and I were at the Gwen Stefani concert and she invited one of the front rowers up with her, we looked at one another and screamed "OH MY GOD!!! I wish!!".....starstuck teenybopper I am. But I digress...

If you visit Haleakala or the Seven Sacred Pools together within a 3 day span, make sure you keep your ticket stub from either one, as it will gain you entry into either of the spots. We didn't know this, and I had funnelled our ticket away into my "items to scrapbook" pile, so we never made it past Ohe'o Gulch. Had we, we would've encountered the bamboo forest, another waterfall, and more rainbow eucalyptus trees. Ok...truth be told, we could've ventured past, but the frugal little person in me couldn't justify spending another $10 (yes $10! I can be frugal!) knowing that we could've gotten in for free with the ticket we purchased just a day ago.

Before I continue rambling, here are the stops we made along the way (we didn't stop at every highlight):

Twin Falls - we actually missed this on the way there, and checked it out on our way back...the entire time, I had marvelled at how few bug bites I had recieved (none!) until we stopped here and while I was waiting for Joe to capture the falls for us, I received 15 mosquito bites in under 2 minutes - no lie! Also, we think the other "twin" fall is the slow trickle you see to the left of the waterfall.

Ho'okipa Beach Park - our first stop along the way, so it wasn't very busy in the morning.

Chinese Bamboo - along the highway.

Haipua'ena Falls

Kaumahina State Wayside Park

Ke'anae Overlook

Waikani Falls

Pua'a Ka'a State Wayside Park

MM24 Waterfall

Wai'anapanapa State Park - Pailoa Bay, Lava Tunnel, a blowhole and some really big spiders!! *I don't really know why Blogger compresses the images so small....

Then we arrived in Hana, did our rounds, and continued past...

Wailua Falls

Ohe'o Gulch (Seven Sacred Pools) - I actually thought there was something sacred about these pools, but Joe did some research on google, and they so named the pools as a marketing gimmick to ensure tourists would travel there - it worked!

Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees

There you have it, our Road to Hana. I would definitely do it all over again, but spend a bit more time in certain locales the next time!

Quiet Time

2011-05-20T22:51:00.005-06:00

Of course, at this stage, being 2 weeks old (already!!!!), our son sleeps alot...and mommy takes ALOT of photos - this is kind of scary considering the fact that he is ONLY two weeks old and I have about 300 photos of him already (shutter happy I guess).

Here are a few more photos of my new subject, whom we love SO very much.

Tristan's favorite sleep position

I wanted a reference point to show how tiny he really is at this stage...next up will be to capture his tiny feet and hands before they grow!

And of course, our puppy...

Til later - xx M

Stylish Blogger Award

2011-05-20T22:40:00.013-06:00

I was nominated for a Stylish Blogger Award by a very talented and creative individual I met via Urban Scrapbook, Roxanne (check her blog out at Projects with all my Heart). It was such a nice surprise, as the other day I had logged in to publish a comment, only to discover that there was another unread comment! It is so nice to a) know that there are people out there following me, b) find what I do to be inspiring, and c) find what I have to say interesting enough to read through it! I definitely feel honoured and humbled to be recognized for my blog, especially since the recognition came from someone who is such an inspiration herself!

So, after receiving the Stylish Blogger Award, I am supposed to do the following:
- Thank the person from whom I received the award and give a link back to her blog (check mark!)

- Share 8 things about myself (in no particular order).

1. Photography is my first love - I tend to live behind the lens attempting to capture all the special moments that occur in my everyday life. I graduated from a point and shoot to a dSLR back in 2009 and since then have been learning all that I can when I can in my ongoing pursuit of bettering myself creatively.

2. Scrapbooking is my second hobby - I started in October of 2009 after a few years of looking through my friend Becky's amazing scrapbooks and wishing I could do that. I always limited myself because I figured the initial investment was too high...ironically, when I did jump into it, it was like jumping off the Empire State building. I figured I had to have just about every tool out there, so I ended up buying most of the supplies an intermediate scrapbooker would have. Thankfully, it didn't turn into a personal fad as I continue to love it today. It's a different creative outlet.

3. What I have also discovered with my growing scrapbooking skills (and arsenal of tools) is that they allow me to do so many other things!! Hence I ventured into cardmaking, and am excited as decor and parties now take on such a different meaning! Then, when all is said and done, I can capture it all!! It is truly a blessing in disguise. :D Even something as simple as making cupcakes for a friend/family member...which once would be sent along its merry way in a tinfoil wrap or tupperware of sorts, now can be contained in its own little handmade box complete with ribbon, etc. Exciting right? It is for me!

4. Joe and I met in 1999 - when we were both 19 (I just aged us I know). We started dating in 2001, engaged in 2008, and were married in 2010. Our friendship and relationship has grown since those early days and continues to grow and flourish before us. It is a wonderful feeling to have married your best friend and to know that he will be beside me throughout our lives. No one knows me like Joe knows me.

5. I believe in love at first sight. This rings no truer (is that proper english even?) than the moment I met my son, Tristan, face to face.

6. I love shopping - it really doesn't matter what for. I can spend just as many hours at the grocery store as I can shopping at the mall.

7. I believe relationships and friendships are a two-way street, both parties need to work at it in order for the friendship/relationship to flourish and grow. To that end, I cherish the majority of my friendships/relationships and strive to do what I can to let those people know how special they are to me.

8. I don't watch a lot of TV. My time is spent on the computer - photography, scrapbooking, shopping, catching up on blogs, posting on my blog, etc. When I do watch TV, it's usually reality shows (I'm a sucker for them!).

Phewf! Are you still awake? :p

- Pass the award onto other individuals that have amazing and inspirational blogs - the sky's the limit - and leave them a comment so that they can pass along the recognition.

I follow so many blogs that this was a difficult decision...but definitely check these talented and inspiring people out (in no particular order)!
* Jaana and Kia at Happy Snappy
* i heart baking
* Tosh of Natasha Dixon Photography
* Hostess with the Mostess
* Krystal of Blue Ribbon Studios
* Little Lovely
* Jody of Creative Authority
* Cassie at Hi Sugarplum
* Chris at Just a Girl

Hope your long weekend was enjoyable! xox M

Snuck away for Craft Time

2011-05-20T22:21:00.008-06:00

I am so very thankful and blessed for a warm, loving, caring and supportive husband. I will expand on this in a different post...

I was able to sneak away to craft some cards - it was nice to have some me time (does that sound selfish?! I hope not) when lately the days seem to start to blend together and all I seem to do lately is feed and sleep.

These two were the Mother's Day cards we gave our moms' - the two that I didn't post from an earlier posting. (please forgive the exposure on some of them, I didn't have time to adjust)

The cards I crafted today...

If you noticed, I have started making my own envelopes out of the papers that I have. This does one of two things: 1) it utilizes my abundant supply of papers that I have, and 2) packages the card nicely in theme (I think anyways). I make my envelopes using Martha Stewart's Scoring Board (can't remember what it's officially called) - a fantastic tool....doesn't Martha always seem to think of everything? It's great for scoring cards, making envelopes and boxes! For $30 (less if you purchase it at Michaels with their coupon), it's a well used scrapbooking tool! If you are a scrapbooker, card-maker, box-maker, all around paper crafty, you definitely want this in your arsenal.

Tristan

2011-05-18T21:37:00.009-06:00

Wow - it's been a hectic week and a half since the birth of our son, Tristan. Being limited on time (since priorities have shifted heavily!), this will be more of a silent blog today.

Hope you are all doing well - I'll be back here when I can!

xo, M

Kula, Ali'i Kula and Haleakala

2011-05-05T01:39:00.016-06:00

So far, you are probably thinking that travelling with me may be exhausting, as I feel the need to cover territory after territory someplace new (it's how my family travelled on vacations - we are a sightseeing family), but Joe can attest that we did have alot of downtime as well (almost too much when we eventually got to Honolulu)!

This next day was one of those days - I convinced Joe to wake up at a decent hour for our sightseeing destinations of the day - Kula Botanical Gardens, the Ali'i Kula Lavendar Farms and Haleakala Volcano. We packed our cooler with beverages and sandwiches, and off we went. I thought it would take us quite some time to visit these three places...little did I know our "tour" was over by noon...and here I had wanted to stay at Haleakala to catch the sunset (as there was no way we were waking up at the crack of dawn's dawn to catch the sunrise!).

Kula Botanical Gardens

We saw many tropical flowers here, although many were not in season at the time, so I can only imagine how lush this garden is at the right season! My all time favourite was the greenhouse where all the orchids were! This is a privately owned garden up in the Kula region of Maui, and I think it cost us $10 pp to check it out. So for something to do, not overly expensive. Another reason why I really wanted to check this garden out (and Joe probably knew this deep down) was to be able to take pictures of the flowers and use my lens :)

Ali'i Lavender Farms

This basically was a farm that grew and harvested lavender. I was really hoping for blooms of purple everywhere, but because of the season, there were no abundance of purple lavender blooms awaiting us. So we took a few photos, checked out the gift shop (where they sell lavender soaps and lotions to lavender brownies), sat and had lunch (as they had the most amazing view of Maui), and then headed off to our next destination. The best part of this was that there were no fees involved! If you wanted to take a guided tour, a nominal fee was involved, which we opted out of, as you can mostly walk the farm yourself.

Haleakala Volcano Summit/Crater

Next was our drive to Haleakala - reason why we also visited the gardens and farm was their close proximity to the summit. The drive up to the crater took about 45 minutes (I'm a bad gauge of time/distance...so it may have been longer/shorter). There are two lookouts you can pull over, stop at and hike/explore. We only stopped at the first lookout "Leleiwi" before heading on our way. I would definitely recommend wearing pants and bringing a hoodie/cardigan as it gets cooler the higher you go. It's pretty cool to see your ascension beyond the clouds as you drive! Once you get to the crater, I recall that you are able to hike/walk around the area - which I wish we could've done, but alas, chose not to for safety. It does get pretty busy up at the crater - at the point we went, it wasn't too bad. Oh yah, you have to pay a toll to get through as it is a national park. Tip for you all - keep this ticket stub you get as it is valid for 3 days. If you choose to drive the Road to Hana within the timeframe, it will save you another toll fee ($10?) to see the Seven Sacred Pools. Had we known this, I wouldn't have tucked it away into my "items to scrapbook" section of my bag quite so promptly!

Phewf! Hope you aren't tired of our Hawai'ian journey just yet! There are still a few more posts and photos to come - at the very least, hopefully you are enjoying the photos :)

xo, M

To the Blowhole!

2011-05-04T04:00:00.035-06:00

Day 4 of our trip - we decided to take a trip north of Ka'anapaali and check out the Nakalele Blowhole. I've never seen a blowhole so this was a great chance to...I think the car ride took about 20 minutes or so to get there? On the way, we stopped at Honokohau Bay to watch the few surfers that were there (it was this little bay just shy of the Blowhole). On the way back, we pulled into D.T. Fleming Beach Park to check out the scene there...which there really wasn't much of. Joe had wanted to show me as he recalled from his trip with his family that it was a pretty pumping place...not the case when we went.

First off, I awoke at the crack of dawn to this...which didn't look like a very promising day with all the grey clouds...but there was hope as blue sky was yonder and the sun was peeking through! (Like Grandma at the Lake loved her clouds, I love it when you see the suns' rays shining down through the clouds...so beautiful!)

Honokohau Bay

Nakalele Blowhole

Hawai'i is home to so many wonderful discoveries, most of which require travel by foot over rocky terrain, etc. MANY of which I was unable to accomplish (as much as I wanted to) being 6 months pregnant. Which just gives us another reason to go back one day :) Joe was able to make the trek down and see the blowhole in action up close *jealous* but at least one of us were able to!

Another quick story, one of Joe's co-workers visited this same blowhole where he came upon a man who fell/was sucked into the blowhole and shot out to the ocean!! Joe's co-worker jumped into the ocean to help save the guy - luckily the guy survived, shaken up with many scrapes and bruises along the way! Crazy eh?

D.T. Fleming Beach Park

Very exciting right?

Various scenic overlooks we stopped at...

On the way back, we decided to head south to Wailuku where the Maui Ocean Center was located. With the day's festivities complete, we still had an entire afternoon ahead of us, so we decided to check it out. I gather if we were super inquisitive, or had kids, this would've taken us more than the mere 15 minutes it took for us to get through. Definitely not anything on par with the Vancouver Aquarium, that's for sure! It was also pretty pricey - together, it cost about $55 USD. However, when you are on vacation, sometimes you just have to splurge...and it was the unknown to me and I wanted to conquer it! The best part was the shark tank with stingrays, sharks, hammerheads, and huge fish!

With new destinations conquered, we headed back for dinner and to relax in our suite, catching a rainbow along the way :)

Lana'i

2011-05-04T02:19:00.025-06:00

Wow...I am pretty slow at getting my Hawaii pics up - just thinking about them and posting them overwhelms me since I take so many photos!! However, slow and steady like the tortoise wins the race (against myself...and time?), right? I took so many photos on this trip (and I really limited myself too), I'm surprised Joe still wanted to stay with me - ha ha - but a patient and loving man he is :)

Here are photos from Lana'i - our excursion via Trilogy. It was a great - we were fed breakfast, lunch and dinner, had an amazing, funny and knowledgeable crew, did some whale-watching (they were in abundance the time we were there) and enjoyed a great time discovering Lana'i! The only regret was not being able to spend more time there!

Of the memorable moments on our excursion:
- My first sail on a catamaran!
- Whale-watching - at one point, we saw a whale breach, a mom and baby whale, and two whales playing together.
- Flying fish..and then another school of flying fish being chased by a Mahi-Mahi (a rare sighting apparently!)
- Snorkelling and showing Joe what a complete dork I am in snorkel gear - only to find out after snorkelling that my gear did need some tweaking (I knew I heard and felt water coming in...)
- Walking around the tide pools and checking them out - live aquariums!

On Our Way to Lana'i

There are hibiscus flowers all over the island - so beautiful! I truly love tropical flowers!!

The West Maui Mountains

Hulupo'e Beach

The Tide Pools

Pu'u Pehe "Sweetheart Rock"
This large chunk of lava rock is located just offshore and to the left of Hulopo'e Bay.

The legend goes that years ago a jealous husband confined his wife, Pu'u Pehe, in a sea cave near the rock, where she drowned. The husband was so distraught over her death that he climbed the rock with the help of the gods and buried her body at the top in the Pu'u Pehe Tomb (which we couldn't see, but the tomb is apparently there), where he then leapt off the rock to his death.

The Sunset Sail Back

Next Up (in the near future of course), our drive to the Nakalele Blowhole and the Maui Ocean Center.

A Hunting for...Side Tables

2011-05-03T11:07:00.004-06:00

Look at these other two side tables I found online at Bed Bath and Beyond!

*Photos courtesy of Bed Bath and Beyond

I LOVE this first one (the black and glass) and it would be super fun in the nursery...but at $150 a pop?! Hmmm....maybe the ones at Bouclair aren't looking so bad for pricing.

This other one is cool as well...but at $130 a piece??

Anyways....back to the drawing board for now!

Guitar Growth Chart

2011-05-02T16:31:00.006-06:00

Our guitar growth chart is done! It is now hanging by the bathroom via the fabulous 3M velcro strips - we wanted to be able to take this with us when we decide to move one day (far off in the future) as it will capture our first born's growth :)

Joe drew and cut the guitar shape from plywood and sanded it, then I primed it, painted and studded it, and mod-podged my skull design onto the guitar. Joe finished it off by sealing it all with the acrylic spray! Super easy and a joint labor of love :)

You will notice that the "frets" are missing - these will actually look "irregular" on our guitar as they will be the progressional height marks we will make as our son grows. Hopefully he gets his daddy's genes in the height department (of course we will love him the same if he is a midget like mama)!

And last but not least, a photo of my favorite puppy...just 'cause I love her so!

Born to Rock - Our Nursery

2011-04-29T23:38:00.020-06:00

The wait is finally over - for you all and for us! After a super long time thinking, planning, creating, and decorating our nursery, it is finally complete. Ok, it's pretty complete (99%) but I will be finishing our guitar growth chart tonight and am still on the lookout for a perfect complementary round (?) side table next to the chair in the room, as well as printing off photos for the remaining frames. If any of you have ideas for a relatively inexpensive round side table and where to get one in an espresso or black-brown color, let me know! I also thought of having these instead, since we already have so much dark around the room. I thought the glass and metal would work very nicely with the colors and theme of the room...what are your thoughts?

Courtesy of Bouclair Home (http://www.bouclair.com)

Bouclair - Glass side tables - from $74.99

Bouclair - Side table - $69.99

As you can see, the tables above are pretty pricey...eeei!

Anyways, without much further adieu (is that the saying?), here are photos of our nursery. We went with a rock star theme, as I discovered that I am more attracted to the "edgier" boy themes and clothing. I would love to know your thoughts!

Details:

The Bedding:

Other views:

Well, time to hit that growth chart! 'Til later, xx M

Maternity Photos - 37/5

2011-04-28T23:52:00.010-06:00

Our maternity photos came back from Elizabeth and Brant of Perspicacious Photography - which is the fastest turnaround time we've ever experienced! I was referred to them by my friend, Krystal, over at Blue Ribbon Studio, as it is her sister-in-law and brother who just started their own photography company and are building their portfolio between school, work and living life!

Here's a sampling of some of our favorites from the shoot.

Check their website (click on the heading) out - they shot my brother and future sister-in-law's engagement photos as well!

Slight Blog Evolution

2011-04-27T22:58:00.002-06:00

Hi blogger friends! If you haven't noticed (although I just did this...so I don't blame you if you didn't), I am slowly changing my blog up. The top of my blog now consists of pages - an About Me, Photography, and Scrapbooking page. I thought it would be a good way for you all to check out any new works of mine in the above two categories (or view something from the past)! What do you think?

There are so many endless possibilities with what you can do with a blog! Not only are the blogs I follow inspiring for their content, but their layouts sometimes are just as inspiring. Being someone who loves organization, this is just yet another step in the OCD department :)

Happy Hump Day!

xo M

Speeding Ahead

2011-04-27T21:00:00.007-06:00

We are counting down the arrival of our son...in the meantime, it has given me tons of time to daydream about...what we will do for his first birthday!! (I KNOW, slow down right!? haha) I definitely don't want to rush things, but since I've been nurturing my passion for all things crafty and creative, I cannot wait to get my hands on party decor!!

No worries, I don't have anything stockpiled in the basement or anything - I am just excited. What pumped up this excitement was coming across Hostess with the Mostess blog via Little Lovely's recent blog. Hello!? I don't know anyone who wouldn't get excited or inspired by this site!!! I don't have a specific theme yet in mind (I do have a year ahead of me...!), but this site will definitely help with ideas!

Check out the Vintage Airplane Inspired Birthday Party:

Photos courtesy of Hostess with the Mostess blog.

Sunrise Craft Session

2011-04-26T08:02:00.014-06:00

Not bad today - 6 am!

Remember that card class I took recently? Well there were leftover papers, and hating to waste materials, I decided to turn as many of the "scraps" into useful cards as possible - I ended up being able to make a set of 5 cards plus three thank you cards out of the remnants. :)

The set.

Here's another baby card celebrating the arrival of one of our cousin's baby boy - using the Teresa Collins Chic Bebe Boy collection (or what I had left).

*In the class, I learned this technique of using stickles (basically glitter glue) and then sprinkling ultra fine glitter over the item you stickled - LOVE (never would've thought of doing that myself). So all the above cards (even though you can't really see it) have this technique incorporated.

Knock Knock...Who's There? Sleep!.....Sleep WHO?

2011-04-22T05:44:00.012-06:00

Well 5 am is not so bad. If this is a pattern that will have any semblance to what life with baby will be like, I guess I can survive. Regardless, I WILL have to survive - lol. Too bad I have a maternity shoot today with Elizabeth and her husband at Perspicacious Photography - here's hoping I don't look weathered and tired - maybe they can edit the bags from my eyes :)

True to form, since I've been on maternity leave I have plugged every minute of every day with something...have this itch to get as much done and see as many people as I can before baby W comes as the "life" we know will be out the door upon his arrival - although not a bad trade-off I guess! My first day really putting my feet up (and even then it was filled with to do's around the house...I just can't stop!) was yesterday. Joe finished his government exam for 3rd year Auto Technician, and came home early - felt like a vacation day. We spent most of it arranging the nursery, washing baby clothes, putting it away, cleaning my car, and setting up the car seat and stroller. Ok - it was really I who did the first three and he did the last three tasks :D

Here are a few sneak peeks at the nursery - it really is coming along now and we are loving it - we just need that one last dang decal to make it to our doorstep and it will be complete!

Part of the decal above the crib...LOVE!

The beginnings of our Guitar Growth Chart.

And last but not least, last night I took a class at Urban Scrapbook to make a set of cards - Pat, one of the owners of the store, designed and led this class - the cards are FAB. What do you think? I am only posting three of the five we made as I am saving those for my moms' for Mother's Day! If you ever get the creative itch, but don't feel overly creative or don't know where to start (or just want to try something new!), I highly recommend taking a scrapbooking class that interests you - Urban offers tons and the ladies there are super friendly and helpful! Plus, it's fun to boot and I always love being in the presence of like-minded individuals. *Of course, there are other creative options aside from scrapbooking to take classes in and get a feel for :)

In my haste to post these, I decided to not adjust the exposure (that's the lazy part of me coming out...):

The card is really pretty with glitter - which you can't see in the above picture.

Maternity Leave!!

2011-04-14T19:57:00.004-06:00

I cannot believe tomorrow is actually coming! Too bad it is snowing like crazy here (like spring never came), but nothing will sour my mood! Tomorrow is my last day of work for 52 weeks *ahhhh*. I will definitely miss work- what? who actually says that!? But when you've worked since you were 17, you don't remember life outside of work! However, I will definitely be looking forward to the next 3 weeks (or so, unless baby decides to pop out earlier) for time to myself.

I have been super busy at work, no minute has been spared - as I really want to finish all the projects I have been working on to the best of my ability and not leave someone to pick up in the middle of things (that's the worst!). I have a massage booked tomorrow after work (a little treat for me) and cannot wait for the passage of life ahead!

Definitely need to spend some time putting my feet up, since they are swollen beyond belief. I'd put a photo up, but you might all lose your dinner, and we want to keep that nutrition in (assuming of course, you had a nutritious meal!)! Who are we kidding though - Joe said to me over dinner the other night that I am just not like every other pregnant woman out there - where most would rejoice and take advantage of not doing much and sitting back, I have to stay busier than the next and plug my day full of to do's. Must be my super Type A personality!! :D Sitting for too long makes me feel like I am wasting my time and day away! BUT I will try to relax, since I am sure there won't be much of that once lil bambino comes along. I am actually frantically (well in my head it's very frantic!) trying to piece together the final pieces of our nursery. It's stressing me out as I am waiting for some decor items to arrive on my doorstep and they have yet to arrive! I just want to see it altogether, complete.

Also, I realized I have had my blog for a full year, with 7 'followers' to boot! How fast a year passes - would love to interest more people in following my blog, but I know there are those that follow privately - so thanks everyone! Please continue to leave me comments - I love reading them and knowing that this is somewhat interesting for you :)

Update: 8 'followers'!! Right as I posted this I noticed another new follower - exciting! Hello Michele!

Bouclair Home

2011-04-10T17:05:00.008-06:00

Driving around the last week, I kept seeing these billboards for a new home decor store, which piqued my interest. I decided to check it out online first to see whether this store was open or not, and lo and behold, it was!

Off I went! This store is called Bouclair Home, located in Mayfield Common, and is a new retail store specializing in all things home decor. I was in love. Not only do they carry a fab selection of pillows, lamps, curtains, prints, etc., the items are all reasonably priced - or priced similarly enough to what you would see at HomeSense/IKEA/Wal-Mart and the like.

I covertly took some pics of the store...just so I could blog about it and show you all :D I've also started carrying around my p&s around...you never know what photo opps just might happen...or when I might get the itch to trigger that shutter (I know, I sound crazy)!

I really liked this pillow as it fit so in theme with the rockstar nursery...but then I thought that after awhile the feathers might all fall off...leaving me nothing but an empty black shell of a pillow (lol).

I also ended up buying a few items for our nursery - good thing they have a 30 day return policy as I like to ponder (some of) my purchases and let them sit in the room to see if I truly LOVE them. Do you ever do that?

Two pillows - one gunmetal grey, the other black, and a lamp in gunmetal grey.

A close up of the lamp shade...

So I guess we'll see what makes it into the final decor!

Sneak Peek at New Life. ~ Gia

2011-04-10T10:29:00.000-06:00

Gia Audrina Tomasi was born at 6:40 AM on Wednesday, March 30 to proud parents, Kaylan and Roger Tomasi. A quick labor and delivery and she was here...well after deciding to stay an extra week in her mother's belly :)

At 7 lbs 14 oz, 19 3/4 inches long, this little girl is precious and beautiful. It is still so surreal that she was growing in Kaylan's belly the last 9 (ok, newsflash, it's really 10!) months.

I am so happy for my best friend and her new family of three. The love and joy that exudes from her is amazing. Congrats guys, and may you enjoy and cherish every moment with Gia.

Create.

2011-04-08T13:36:00.000-06:00

Just a few cards I made as stock for my mom.

I love using my butterfly Sizzlit diecut - butterflies on cards or on a page just create dimension and movement - and is so pretty!

I cannot take credit for the card below as I actually used a template from a scrapbooking magazine, Paper Crafts. The design belongs to a Brandy Jesperson.

Taste. Moroccan Chicken Flatbread

2011-04-07T19:38:00.004-06:00

Today I tried a new recipe for dinner - this is rare in our household as Joe and I always seem to make the same meals time and time again. Mostly, it's because it's a tried and true recipe that is not too time consuming, nor ingredient involving, and they have stuck in our heads without the need for a recipe. Do you find that's true for yourself?

Anyways, I've had this recipe for months, perhaps even years (and many others mind you!), but when we were last making our grocery list, I added the items we required to it. We have started to make our grocery list based on our meal plans for a two-week increment. Sounds obsessive-compulsive? We've found that if we plan out our meals ahead of time and make a list based off that, we don't come home having to a) open the fridge and b) scratch our heads trying to come up with what to make (Joe and I both hate thinking about what to make!). This way, we look at our list of meals, decide what we feel like that day, and make it! Simple. Anyways, I digress.

A long while back, my friend Becky introduced me to this little secret (ok, not so secret) gem of a restaurant. It's a locally owned business and the food has always been consistently delicious and the service great (if you love quiche, you have to go there for it!). For all of you Edmontonians and visitors, this is one restaurant you have to check out. It's called The Dish. They also have a catering side called The Runaway Spoon. So after going a couple times, I signed up to receive e-mail notifications and every once in awhile they send a recipe that's on their menu (how's that for sharing!?). Where was I going with all this? Oh ya, Moroccan Chicken Flatbread.

I'll share their recipe with you too - it's really tasty!

SAUCE:
1/2 tsp crushed caraway seeds
3 tbsp cumin
3 tbsp minced garlic
1/3 cup tomato paste
1/4 tsp Sriracha (chili paste with garlic)
1 1/2 cup favorite tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the above ingredients. For a fuller flavor, let sit overnight in the fridge.
NOTE: Instead of all the spices used above, I subbed in Epicure Selection's Moroccan seasoning (2 1/2 tbsp), used 1 tsp minced garlic instead of the 3 tbsp which I thought was alot, and doubled the Sriracha. Spices get expensive and the Epicure seasoning mix that I used, I figured would incorporate the "moroccan" spices.

DRY RUB:
2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp cayenne

Combine all the above ingredients. Use rub liberally on boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Then grill, pan fry, or bake at 350 degrees F until cooked through and juices rub clear.
NOTE: Again, all I did was use the Epicure Selections Moroccan Seasoning as the rub.

ASSEMBLY:
4-6 flatbreads
Fresh spinach, julienned
1/4 cup dried and pitted dates, julienned (we skipped this as we both don't favor dates)
Roasted red peppers, julienned
Crumbled feta cheese
Fresh cilantro

Spread a layer of the sauce on the flatbreads, then top with thinly sliced chicken breast, julienned dates (sparingly if using), roasted red peppers, and feta cheese. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees F until cheese is melted and flatbread is crispy, about 15 minutes. Garnish with julienned spinach and cilantro.
NOTE: I put spinach on it to cook in the oven and then garnished with some fresh spinach as well. We also took it out after 10-12 minutes.

I hope you give this a try and enjoy it!

Love. Life. ~ Kaylan

2011-04-07T14:48:00.011-06:00

Being 8 months pregnant and feeling "whale-ish" lately (due to having majorly swollen feet, cankles and calves and an ever growing belly) and lacking some motivation, I was finally forced to sit down, go through and edit Kaylan's maternity shoot photos. By forced, I mean that Joe wanted to play his video game so I had nothing to do but go to my "creative" dungeon.

Is Kaylan not the most glowing beautiful mama-to-be in the pictures? She gave birth to a beautiful and healthy little girl last Wednesday ~ Gia Audrina Tomasi. Pics of Gia's newborn shoot and thoughts of Gia will be posted eventually :D

The Grateful Thread

2011-03-27T16:00:00.005-06:00

I am an insane blogger this weekend it seems...BUT I found this online, and am very upset that I cannot get this in Canada - it works perfectly with the theme of our nursery and is tres cute!! The other thing...it has a skull on the back! One word...wanh!

Photo courtesy of The Grateful Thread

The Grateful Thread has cute stuff - do check them out if you are into the rock theme like I am :)

Update: The Grateful Thread DOES ship to Canada! Now the debate is whether I should justify $55 CDN for this...

Lego Craze

2011-03-26T22:43:00.007-06:00

Like any other guy, my hubby, Joe, loves his toys..especially if it centres around automobiles (and the faster the better!). This lazy Saturday, he had the itch to go check out a new car model to build...and came home with a LEGO 3-in-1 set instead (nothing else at the hobby store for car models appealed to him).

He was excited as he could build them, and then our baby could build them later in life - double bang for the dollar! Do note that this set is for ages 9+, so our son wouldn't be playing with this for awhile :) One thing to note about Joe is that he loves building things...and taking them apart. Or maybe it's taking them apart and rebuilding them...? Anyways, here's a little peak at Joe, absorbed in his lego-building.

Joe: No pictures until it's finished, please!

Complete - ***vrrroooommm***

It's cute - sometimes I look at him now and wonder if our baby son will have the same antics as him :)

Wow - 3 blogs in a day - too much time on my hands?? ha-ha.

Next up - Lana'i - slated for tomorrow - I have had our Hawai'i pictures on my to do list for way to long now! *Chat* with you tomorrow!

Handmade Thought of the Day

2011-03-26T12:46:00.003-06:00

It's Saturday and we have no plans this weekend - I love days like these as I get to do whatever I want, whenever I want, for however long I want...it's complete freedom of whether I choose to lay in bed all day, or get up and run around the city, or do nothing but create! I rarely choose the first choice, as I have never been the type to lay in bed all day...ok wait, let's revisit that, I've never been that type since living on my own...I am sure my parents can attest to that.

So I headed out for a few errands, and was just blog-surfing the last few minutes and came across this. I am really big into handmade or custom products lately - I think it's a combination of my love for creating (and being amazed at all the talent out there) combined with the want for something different. That doesn't necessarily mean that every product that I want or purchase is handmade or custom made, as when it comes to these items, I am pretty picky!! With these types of items always come the cost - I am sure many of you have (including myself) balked at the price of a custom piece. I came across the below passage from The Avid Scrapper's Blog. I am not endorsing her opinion/thoughts but it puts things into perspective. Anyways, it's just food for thought the next time we all decide to purchase a custom handmade one-of-a-kind piece that has someone's love, time and effort placed behind it :) M

UNDERSTANDING THE COST OF CUSTOM WORK:
Copied from The Avid Scrapper's Blog

I get emails for custom work all the time. I would say, that on a weekly basis, I get at least 8-10 emails requesting specific themes. I love hearing from everyone and truthfully, I am honored that there are so many of you who love my designs, style of scrap booking and work so much that you would love to make it apart of their memory albums. The part I find frustrating and sometimes hurtful, is that when I reply to these emails and give pricing, one of three things happens: 1) I never hear back from the person 2) I get an email back arguing price and saying they won't pay it unless I drop the price 3) A sweet apology that they can't do it right now (this would be the rarest of the emails, however, it is the most appreciated!)

I understand that in today's economy, that scrap booking pages and albums are truly a luxury purchase. I also understand that everyone is trying to get the most for their money. Aren't we all?

Here is the side I would like you to try to understand.

I am a crafter by trade. I scrapbook for fun and I scrapbook for a living. I need to be home with my family taking care of them and our home, and this is the working relationship that works best for us and our family's needs. Although I get to be home with them, I still spend 30-40 hours a week designing, planning, cutting, hand-cutting at times, and piecing together pages, albums and projects. Pretty much a full time job. Sometimes, ALL of that time is spent on just one album. Sometimes all of that time is spent on just 4-6 pages.

When it comes to my work, I do not cut corners! I only buy the best papers, metal embellishments, adhesives and so on. I take my work seriously, I go over every detail and I know I am not the only crafter who does this. I am simply just one of many who are in this "crafter's boat", if you will. What is minimum wage these days? I honestly do not know. From what I see and know, is it about $7 per hour. Maybe I should look it up... okay, according to US Dept of Labor, the minimum wage is $6.55 hour. The average person making M.W. makes $262 for a 40 hour work week BEFORE taxes, etc. Wow. that doesn't leave a lot for the bring home amount, does it? The average spread, (2) 12X12 pages together, takes me 8-12 hours to design and put together. {There have been a handful that have taken me closer to 16. I keep track for how long it takes to make each.} So let's say I am in "The Zone" and get one done in just 8 hours and I charge $6.55 per hour. That is $52.40. That doesn't even include the materials cost for that spread, that is just my time. Keep that in mind. I actually charge a set fee of $45 for a custom spread. There is extra time and steps that go into each project, like custom names, dates and details. Now, divide $45 by 8. I am making about $5.63 an hour, and then, not even that much because that doesn't include the cost I have already paid for the materials! That is JUST my time. At the end of each custom spread, I am only making about $2-$3 per hour. (REMEMBER, that is only if it took me just the 8 hours, any longer than that and it brings my hourly wage down even more.) That is not a lot for my time, for my design and hard work when it is spelled out that way. What do you think?

Please keep these things in mind when shopping sites like Etsy.com, Ebay.com and personal websites. We crafters put our all into our craft. Each design, every piece is a part our personality and we take a lot of time to put it all together.

I think that everyone, no matter who you are and what you do, wants to have their work appreciated and they don't want others to make them feel that what they are paid for their time and talent isn't worth it. I think my time and talent is worth what little I ask for it. Remember that when you see hand crafted items, time, talent and effort was put into each project. Think about how much time it would take you to do something like that if you were to personally make it, think of professional crafting as some one's career and think about how truly little, the time making it is actually charged for.

Thank you. °Ü°

Lahaina - Front Street

2011-03-24T20:42:00.007-06:00

Lahaina Front Street - we definitely spent abit of time on this street - about a 10 minute drive from our hotel. For any of you thinking of going to Mau'i, I highly recommend renting a car - it's about the only way to get around! For the 10 day duration we were there, we filled up about 3 times - which really isn't so bad considering all the driving we did. It is also super easy to get around the island. The few times I did drive (when the hubby finally let me...my tourist energy is never-ending...although they were short trips to the store or bookstore...lol) was so exhilarating and carefree! I, Miranda, was driving on an island on vacation!! haha.

Did you notice the tree photo in the photos above? How many trees do you think are in that photo? Drum roll...ONE! That tree is called a Banyan Tree, and it is all one entire tree!! Amazing right?! The seeds of this tree germinate and send down roots towards the ground, and may envelop part of the host tree or building structure with their roots, and the cycle continues.

Lahaina was also where we found a pretty decent restaurant called the Aloha Mixed Plate - basically it was hawai'ian food with most of it resembling...chinese food, but all the plates were under $10! A few other restaurants we dined at on Front Street were:

Cool Cat Cafe - amazing burgers - skip the fries, you won't need 'em!

Lahaina Pizza Company - best pizza in town - although when we went, we didn't have pizza, and we vowed to go back, and never did.
Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory - unless you like a lot of shrimp (or as Kaylan likes to refer to them as "cockroaches of the sea" - lol), you can skip this one! We ate and left feeling very...well, shrimpy. Meet the new Forrest. :)

Other restaurants we dined at in Maui were (while I'm on a roll):

Round Table Pizza Company - this was actually in a strip mall area called Fairway, and had really REALLY good pizza...which I think was why we never went back to Lahaina Pizza Co. Order the Maui Zaui if you're around! Best Ham and pine pizza we've ever had, hands down.
Leilani's - a somewhat pricier restaurant but in Whaler's Village - good food, except all I had was soup and salad.
Hula Grill - Whaler's Village - we only ate at the beach front part of the restaurant, they have a fancier dining menu inside - great fish tacos!
Duke's - this was at our resort - delicious eggs benedict and HULA Pie among the few times we headed there. If you go, please do not overlook the Hula Pie - it is beyond amazing!! Of course, I was on quite the ice cream kick on our trip :)

We didn't eat at too many ritzy restaurants - most of the time we weren't overly hungry for a huge meal, and we actually got tired of eating out after a few nights - crazy, right?! We are just simple people, after all (or maybe it was too much ice cream on my part).

Hawai'i: Our Resort

2011-03-24T20:04:00.005-06:00

This has been way overdue, but I am finally getting around to it...s-l-o-w-l-y. There should be a flutter of posts coming about as I scurry to edit our Hawai'ian babymoon photos and get them up for everyone to see (because you all do want to see them right?).

First post - our resort! Jan. 17 seems so long ago - but that was the day we flew out of arctic Edmonton and landed in sunny Mau'i (the apostrophe is like an accent...I'd have to post a sound clip of me saying it for you to hear the difference...lol). I believe this is my first trip where we've stayed in a super lush hotel room - Honua Kai in Ka'anaapali. The room (more like a condo suite) had two sinks (*drool*), a tub, a shower, in-house laundry, a huge lanai (balcony), ample living space (for 2)...it was luxurious - and we definitely enjoyed it.

The last two pics are just a few (of the many!) I took of details around the property - I didn't want to bore you all with all the photos!

I think this is a lotus flower? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was gorgeous! No editing whatsoever was done to this photo - incredible lens that I love :)

This was my first attempt playing with photographing waterfalls...so cliche, but I just had to try to get that "stream" look that is so prevalent in magazines and such. You have to start somewhere they say!

There's more to come - stick around :)

Love Maki

2011-03-24T11:20:00.004-06:00

It's amazing when you start following blogs where it leads you. I found this website via Little Lovely's blog as I wanted to know whether the print (above) was available in boy colors (they aren't *sob*)..but I did find this super cute cloud pillow that I will bookmark for later!

Revisit...Baby Closet Dividers

2011-03-20T22:33:00.007-06:00

After receiving really great comments at Kaylan's baby shower for the baby closet dividers I made her, her mom requested me to make a set for one of her friend's daughter, Sonia, who is having twins (boy and girl). I was thrilled!

Sonia's nursery theme is a farm theme, in camel browns, greens and yellows - so I went hunting for the perfect elements - I knew finding farm animals was going to be tough, partly because from what I've seen in the scrapbook world, there is a very fine line between too realistic and too cutesy...and I really wanted them to be on neither of those extremes. I really hope they are a hit with Sonia and fit well within her nursery!

Thanks so much Lori (mama Chomyk) for giving me this opportunity to do what I love and create something for you and your friend! I hope you love it...and I hope you aren't my first and last interested person (lol). xx

The boy set

The girl set

I also like to utilize everything in the process, so with the leftover papers (and as an added bonus), I have included a shower card, a set of 4 cards, as well as gift tags.

Happy Creating!

Wedding Album Favorites

2011-03-17T20:02:00.008-06:00

Our wedding album has been in the works since, well, our wedding! I finally was able to get around to it a few weeks ago (or more?) and recently completed the entire album! I am so pleased with a) completing the project and b) the end result! It gives me great satisfaction to complete tasks and be able to move onto the next one on my list!

I definitely went above and beyond the amount of supplies I required for this album...I used a good chunk of it, but am still left with much supplies in way of ribbons, embellishments, paper...all in the purple, silver, white and black colors! I guess that's what happens when you go in without a plan - oh well - I'm sure I will find use for it...or swap with one of my friends. :)

Below are just a few of my favorite layouts - the photos aren't the greatest as they were just quick snaps, and it's hard to see the detail - you'd have to see it in person to fully appreciate it :) It was definitely difficult narrowing down 700 photos to the ones that made it into the album!

Voila!

A little bit of Narcissism...

2011-03-07T21:36:00.004-07:00

So I was getting ready and decided to play around...and not even really creatively, just taking shots of myself (narcissistic habit!) and then decided to take "universal" expression/shots you see in Psychology books, well at least I think that's where I recall this from. This actually all stemmed from getting ready, having a little bit of time on my hands, and deciding I should see if I was able to take maternity photos of myself. I had to use my little Canon Elph point and shoot, as there was no way I could hold my dSLR facing myself without dropping it. Have plans to take some maternity photos of myself and Joe, but I know they won't turn out as great as if someone were taking them, as I will have to use a tripod and perhaps invest in a wireless remote. Hmm...we'll see. I only need a few anyways..and am trying to teach Joe how to focus with the dSLR so maybe he could take a few?

31 weeks.

I believe baby Wensel is situated with his head down, bum up and legs curled towards my right side (or arms?). I think he wants to bust out, but I'm holding him in for another 9 weeks!! He keeps pummelling my right side with stretches or kicks or punches (don't really know what body part he is using) but they are getting more fierce! They don't hurt, they're more surprising than anything..and an odd feeling, as it feels so close to the surface and is hard! Can't and don't really know how to explain it. Exciting times - I only have 6 weeks of work left before having some time to really wrap my head around "mommy-hood". Sleeping is also getting tougher as my belly just feels "uncomfortable"...not in a bad way, I just can't get comfy! How I am supposed to get all the sleep I can before he comes is beyond me!

Well, hope you enjoyed looking at me and my belly! :D

Baby Shower/Urban Challenge

2011-03-05T00:27:00.010-07:00

Today is about 2.5 weeks before baby Gia Tomasi makes her debut into her parents' arms, into our hearts and into the world. It just seems like yesterday Kaylan and I were talking about wanting to start a family and looking towards our futures with some little ones running around, and now that day is an eyelash away it seems. Scary and exciting!!

Kaylan's mom and two sisters threw her a wonderful baby shower complete with pink and purple sandwiches amidst the plethora of delicious food (apparently you can special order coloured bread through Safeway...who knew?), shower games and of course, shower gifts!

I had to take photos of my gift wrapping (although nothing overly special) as I incorporated scrapbooking elements into it.

Part of Kaylan's shower gift were the baby closet dividers I made for her, which I had entered into the challenge at Urban Scrapbook! You can see the little blog about my entry by clicking here. I have never entered a contest or submitted any of my scrapbooking/cardmaking/etc., but thought my dividers were so cute (well I at least thought so and were pretty proud of them) I may as well try! They were a pretty big hit at the shower, so that made me happy :)

I also entered a series of four cards. The challenge was to enter a layout, set of 4 cards, or an altered item. Everyone who entered (that I've seen so far) have been super creative! It's amazing what people can do with paper, ink, masks, glue, ribbon...it's endless! I believe the judging takes place over the weekend and possibly on their blog, so if you have a spare minute to check out the Urban Scrapbook blog, please vote for me!

If the dividers look familiar, it's because they are! They are similar to the boy version I made for ourselves, except with the Teresa Collins girl papers. The choice in paper selection really makes a difference (and ease) to the whole creative process!

Well gotta go - off to hang out with our friends and their two little ones - cute lil munsters that they are! xx

Best Layout Yet

2011-03-02T21:31:00.007-07:00

I finally completed the layout for the nursery...and it has to be one of my better layouts to date! I used the same papers that I used for the clothes dividers to keep in theme, plus all the colors work so well with the room. All I am showing is the layout itself...the framed result and final touches will come when the nursery is complete.

Ok...did anyone notice the above photo?! It's a COLLAGE. So I don't know whether this was the easiest way to do it, but the only way I knew how...perhaps there is a simpler and faster way without using InDesign?? Satisfied nonetheless :)

It's painstakingly slow, but the nursery is coming together. I am on the lookout for frames of all sizes and textures, but they have to be in the grey, white and black family. Have a few more decor ideas but need time to do the sourcing, purchasing and making - my head will explode with ideas soon enough. So...less than 10 weeks to go and get it done! Can't wait.

Keeva has also taken to lying under the crib...I think I may have already mentioned this in a prior post, so apologies for sounding like a broken record these days (hey, I can rely on the "pregnancy brain" right!?).

xx 'til another day, M

Life from Love (Expecting) Shoot

2011-02-26T10:00:00.004-07:00

Here are a couple sneak peaks at the maternity shoot I did with/for my best friend, Kaylan. She is about 4 weeks away from welcoming her precious bundle into the world, and I cannot be more ecstatic for her!! This woman has been nesting away and is, for the most part, ready to meet her little baby girl (but we'd like her to try to stay tucked in for another 4 weeks, please).

For my first ever expecting shoot, it went pretty well - we had some great laughs, collaborated on various poses (as much as our tired pregnant brains could conjure), some great photos (my opinion) and just spent some good ol' QT together. It also helps when your friend is as gorgeous in front of the camera as she is out of it!

Kaylan, I hope you enjoy and like the photos. Thanks for letting me capture this unforgettable moment in you and Roger's life. xx

Our First "Baby"

2011-02-25T22:44:00.008-07:00

Nope, not talking about the one in my belly :D

I just thought I'd post some recent photos of Keeva, our puppy. I don't actually know if she is still considered a puppy, and whether she has crossed over into "dog" territory, but she is still very playful and inquisitive like a puppy...and as sweet as ever. Her face is full of expressions, and whenever we are having a bad day, just playing with her and being around her cheers us up instantly. How can you be mad or upset around a face like that?

This morning she was all cuddled and tucked in with Joe - so adorable - made me wish I had my camera to capture the moment, but doing so probably would've ruined it. Well the image is in my own memory banks :D

Proud Owner...

2011-02-24T20:27:00.002-07:00

...of Adobe Creative Suites 5! Finally. I have waited so long to get this in my hands - and am so excited to use it on my Mac!! No longer do I have to rely on iPhoto to edit my photos (or take them to work and edit them on my breaks!) and now I can create things in the comforts of our home :) The only thing I need now is a printer and I'll be set!

Anyways, I will be posting about our Hawai'ian babymoon soon - it's a daunting process as I feel the need to edit the photos and I have SO many photos! So bear with me, and in time they will be up! Now if only someone will tell me the secret of putting up photos into collages for their blog....would really help with the loading process - more pics, less time uploading = happy Mir!

I will leave you with this photo, taken at the Kula Botanic Gardens in Maui. I stumbled upon a little orchid greenhouse and the orchids I saw were breath-taking...definitely not the typical orchids you see at Safeway! Plus, anyone that knows me knows that orchids are my favorite flowers, with all other tropical flowers being my next fav.

The weekend is calling soon - can't wait. Happy Thursday!

Baby Closet Dividers

2011-02-23T22:26:00.008-07:00

I have been dying to use the Teresa Collins Chic Bebe Boy and On The Edge papers since the first day I laid eyes on it many many months ago at Urban Scrapbook. Combining them made a Baby Boy Royalty meets Rock Star...blues, blacks, greys and whites. Love!

When we started planning the nursery...ok by we, I mean I, since Joe basically gives me free reign to decorate as I please (but I always run decor ideas by him...good thing we have similar tastes when it comes to decor), I didn't even know where to start!! I knew that I wanted our nursery room for our baby boy to be different, modern, clean, simple. But where and how did we start?! Paint. With the help of Joe's mom and her great painting skills, we decided on the Behr French Silk paint color - on the swatch it looked like a light-medium silver grey, and a light pretty grey was what we wanted the room to be - something neutral that would grow with our boy in time. On the walls, it actually looks like it has a slight blue tinge - perfect!

So decor started with the paint, and we are slowly evolving the room to how we would like it - we've put up a couple shelves and I have a few frames in progress. I somehow decided that I wanted baby closet dividers to separate his clothes (yes neat freak I am) and figured I could make my own. Enter Teresa Collins paper!!

So check them out - I promised you they would be cute!! The dividers range from newborn to 24 months to one I made called "not mine" (as some clothing is borrowed). I am so pleased with the results - and the color scheme works perfectly with our nursery....although you won't see them unless you venture into the closet! Let me know what you think!!

Just waiting for dinner...

2011-02-21T18:51:00.011-07:00

I can't believe we are into March next week! Things have been busy around the Wensel household - I have been working on a little crafty project and it's turned out pretty well!! I am in the middle of working on ours, but have the other two completed...unfortunately, I am unable to post them until they are utilized, so keep your eyes posted. They're super cute, I promise! I'll post our version as soon as I have it completed. Trying to tidy up where we can and make our home "homier" plus we've been trying to complete our nursery - mostly the decor, so I'm really excited to see it all come together, albeit slowly. We only have 11 weeks left - although the baby won't use it for quite some time, but it's a project...and I like projects. Below is a quick sneak peek so far at the nursery.

Noah had his baby shower two nights ago - it was a great evening hosted by his maternal grandparents filled with good food, family and friends. The best part was when it was time to open his gifts, he was passed right out!

This is little Myah - our friends Amber and Andrew's little girl - she was pretty into the balloons.

Noah holding onto one of his cousins' finger - cute moment!

That's all for now - will post more soon! xo

Sophie Madison Baby

2011-02-15T16:47:00.004-07:00

I don't know about anyone else, but I absolutely love supporting local businesses when I can - people who design one of a kind pieces and you know behind the fabulous piece is a lot of love and attention to detail. One such company is SophieMadison - they make couture baby blankets that are amazing!!! The founders, Jocelyn and Megan (sp?), are the design team behind Sophie Madison. I discovered their company on Facebook, as Jocelyn and I share a mutual good friend.

Below are two of the blankets they carry - the Sadie and the Tristan. CUTE right?! They can also customize blankets and are always sourcing out new fabrics and coming out with new ideas. SophieMadison carries everything from baby blankets, custom baby and/or toddler blankets, ribbon blankets, crib sets, etc. See for yourself and fall in love. What I also love is that they are conscientious of waste - everything is used up with only thread hitting the garbage. Read their story on their website.

The Sadie.

The Tristan.

I am hoping to get our own blanket for our baby boy! ;)

Noah's Scrapbook

2011-02-03T19:35:00.013-07:00

I decided to make a scrapbook for my friends Melissa and Brodie, for little Noah. I figured that the first year of little Noah's life should be captured and being a new busy growing family (and self-proclaimed non-craftiness), what better way than to have it all laid out, with taking the photos and printing them the only thing momma and poppa have to do?

Crafts, No Words

2011-02-01T23:24:00.005-07:00

Aloha in under 30 Hours!

2011-01-16T09:54:00.005-07:00

I would like to wish my Mamee a wonderful, happy and love filled 54th birthday. A little early, but as we are travelling to Hawaii, will be unable to spend time with you (but we will when we get back!) You will be in my thoughts tomorrow as I will be sending you lots of warm fuzzy thoughts.

2011...has been super busy for us - the first two weeks of January flew by - between pulling long long hours at work and trying to get things moved and sorted out between the "nursery" and the basement, I don't really know where that time went...but I do know it was uber productive!

My scrapbook and computer room are now in the basement. As cold as it can get down here and although it's not "homey" with the normal aesthetics of a complete basement, the area I've set up is very conducive for creating :) I will take another updated photo with the computer set up upon my return from our honey/babymoon (along with new cards and a new hobby I am venturing into....I know, like I need another one right?).

We are super excited to get away from all this snow! Bring on the warm weather and the relaxation - I'm really going to enjoy the time spent with Joe all by our lonesomes. Just thought I'd wish everyone a great two weeks and we will try to bring back some of the sunshine and warmth with us upon flights home.

For now, I will leave you with a few photos from Mom & Auntie Shirl's 60th birthday dinner.

Someone's itching to be a Grandma (don't worry, we will deliver...heehee)

Stay warm! xx M

I've Been Demoted to the Dungeon

2011-01-06T01:24:00.008-07:00

With baby Wensel making progress in his foray into the world, we have been busy cleaning out one of two rooms we have to create a homey home for him, a comforting world where he will be surrounded by the choices of his parents, and really, he won't be able to enjoy it minus a diaper change here and there for a few months at least....six is what I've been told.

With this change, and complete nesting ritual of constant cleaning and organizing (how much organizing does one person do in their lifetime, I wonder?), my beloved scrapbook room has been demoted to the dungeon which is our unfinished basement. I will miss the warmth, the soft fuzziness of the carpet on my soles, and being upstairs where no vampires and ghouls reside (and most of all, spiders!).

Ok, it honestly isn't that bad. I can now say that I have scrapped on all levels of our house, and in a sense, our house thus has been creatively christened - lol.

This is what the disaster that used to be at the kitchen table looked like in the second room upstairs...

Don't get me wrong, my set up downstairs is actually better than what I had before, as I now have more counter space and storage space, and the furniture kind of match (old teak furniture). I have a space behind me to place my Cricut and my Cuttlebug, my music, and any and all scrapbooking paraphernalia. I just don't like that spiders may be lurking in the corners or above my head, or that it's so "cold" feeling downstairs and not homey and comfortable. Ah well. What I will live with until we can afford to finish our basement.

I also need to move my computer downstairs, so I need to figure out a space for that soon - weekend project! The next question that begs to be asked is...what do we do with all the space in our nursery now?! We have our dresser/change table and convertible crib in there, and there is still TONS of space. I really have no idea. I guess it will just be super roomy. Anyways, still time to figure that out! Phewf!

Have a good night. I have become a major night owl now that I cannot sleep through the night!

Crafty People Amaze Me

2011-01-04T22:13:00.002-07:00

Yes...ok, short and sweet was the last one and this post, but I couldn't help it....

Since becoming an almost full-fledged crafter and prior to, I am always amazed at how talented people are in crafty areas - whether this be paper crafts, painting, photography, jewelry making, baby hair clips, etc. - people can just turn the simplest of things and really make it their own. Now when I am in stores shopping, I constantly find myself looking at a certain item and "reverse engineering" it in my head to see how I could make it myself...or I'll find myself looking at things and saying "I can make that." Is that cheap? Or is that a crafty person coming out of the closet? I am so attracted to bling/shiny things, that I have also contemplated making my own jewelry from swarovski beads and such...although this would require another "room" of sorts and quite frankly, we don't have space for another such room. Not to mention babies and beads don't mix...

This photographer, Andrea, is also crafty! Pink Sugar Photography is her business and she is a fab photographer - she was actually one of the ones I approached when we were planning our wedding, but she was booked (although as you all know we found an equally talented and probably just as crafty photographer(s) in the process!). Anyhoo...before I ramble on, I came across this on her blog - she decorated her house in complete paper crafts! I thought this banner was cute...and it inspired me to make a similar one for Valentine's Day (heart-shaped of course). Check out the post, you won't be sorry - plus you'll get a glimpse of her amazing work and her cutie pie!

Christmas Past..a Scalloped Nesting Tree

2011-01-04T21:56:00.005-07:00

I know we are into the new year, but I was checking out blogs and ideas and I came across this cute christmas paper tree idea! I thought this would be a good craft for a year down the road (I know too far ahead!). I like it because it is different from the typical "ribbon" trees you see from Michaels and such. It will definitely be on my crafting list in November for sure.

Check out the link to get the full instructions. The only downfall is that you have to buy the nesting scallops online (see the blog link...click the title of this post and it will bring you there) as I don't know if any retail store carries QuicKutz?

Anyways, too cute to resist blogging about. Short and sweet - the way some of you like it!!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T01:56:00.016-07:00

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve! Joe, Keeva & I spent ours with some friends - it was pretty low-key and I spent much of that time photographing baby Noah, Delia and Eli. Honestly, I have problems - anytime I can use my camera and practice is a good thing for me. Midnight came and went, and I don't recall making resolutions last night....so I will make them tomorrow at some point (since today is pretty well past).

Below are some moments I was able to capture. I am learning the lens still...and my camera, but it's all fun in the process. The only frustrating bit comes when I either a) miss the moment or b) capture the moment, but it doesn't turn out the way I want it. I guess I could add a 'c' in there too...being the one taking the photos all the time means I live in the moment behind the lens. Something I am willing to sacrifice I guess - when I don't bring my camera, I always kick myself in the foot!

If we could all be giggly kids again. Enjoying...

Napping.

Playtime. Little kids and pets always just clamor for Joe. Case in point, the Kirsh (Delia and Elinor) girls...

Keeva likes goldfish crackers. Delia had goldfish crackers.

Keeva: "Please just one!" Delia: "You can't have these doggy."

Delia: "Ok, just one...here you go!"

Eli just loved Keeva. She went in for a kiss and received a big Keeva kiss right on the smacker! So cute.

This is what Joe will look like holding our baby boy soon enough. It will take my breath away.

Onto moustache makin', milk drinkin', finger-lickin' cupcakes...

Happy New Year everyone - may 2011 be a fresh year ripe with new opportunities, amazing experiences and cherished moments. xox

The LaPierre Family

2010-12-30T00:10:00.011-07:00

Here are the photos from the courtesy practice shoot I had with my friends, Esther and Mike, and their adorable almost 1-year old, Asher. The photos were quite limited (which I apologize in advance) and thus, there are not very many which I loved. Don't get me wrong, there were many takes which I adored, but the quality of them is embarrassing!! Due to low lighting and fast action, I had to shoot completely in Manual for the first time - shooting in Aperture Priority didn't quite work for me.

Being my first time shooting on an overcast wintry day indoors (indoors not being my first time, but combined) with a fast moving toddler who had his own agenda, you can imagine how difficult (and slightly frustrating for a perfectionist like myself) this shoot was. Nonetheless, we did come away with a few decent shots, and I hope the LaPierre's enjoy what did come of it....or if not, at the very least, the time spent together :)

Little Asher was tons of fun to be around - you would be surprised at how much mommy and daddy can make him giggle...had those photos turned out, I could've shown you!

Thanks for letting me practice guys...maybe you'll let me try again with my new lens?! :D

I love this one of Asher checking himself out...would've been better if I had focused on his reflection instead. ah well. Hindsight right??

New Toy!

2010-12-28T21:00:00.005-07:00

I am super excited as I received my new Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens today at McBain Camera!! I have been looking for a new lens and did some research and came away with this one which is AMAZING for portraits!! Hannah, one of our cousins, had this lens on her Canon (which I noticed right away!) and she let me play around with it for a bit....needless to say, I was left speechless, in love, and was filled with excitement and anticipation of having my own. The quality of photos vs the 17-85 mm one I was using is astounding - the reviews definitely did not lie!!

Anyways here are a few test shots that I took tonight. You can bet that I will be sticking this lens in the face of family and friends any chance I get!

'Nitey :)

...and so this is Christmas

2010-12-28T01:02:00.012-07:00

I can't believe Christmas came and went already - how did it seem to fly by? I hope everyone had an amazing holiday season (a whirlwind for most for sure!) complete with stuffed bellies, and a list of resolutions as the new year approaches!

What I love most about the holiday season is the time spent with family, the laughs, the joy, the love. Next are the christmas decorations that just top off the christmas cheer. Mom (that's my other mother) definitely had some awesome decorations...and for all those that know me, know I love sparkle and shine - and am attracted to it like a moth is to light.

This is our tree - I was playing with lighting, so it's not perfect!

Second to last...me taking a shot of myself in a mirror - i love reflections and frame within a frame kind of look...if that makes sense or if I'm even speaking el correcto. LOL.

and...lastly. Mom is an amazing artist - check out this portrait that she drew/painted (can't remember which or if it was both) of Grandma and Grandpa (her mom and dad). Amazing work right?!!

Hope you all had fun decorating for the holidays...and the joy of taking it all down!!

Noah Alexander Howitt

2010-12-28T00:41:00.017-07:00

As promised a few blogs back, here are a few of my favorite photos of baby Noah...who is already 6 weeks old (and a few) today! This little heartbreaker is surrounded by so much love, most especially from his parents.

Watch out girlies!

I guess hard-working models need to catch a 'zzz' here and there!

Thanks again Melis and Brodie for letting me take these shots for you guys. xox

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!

2010-12-24T00:10:00.009-07:00

Merry Christmas Eve's Eve to everyone!! I was sent upstairs as Joe had to wrap gifts for...yours truly :D Had I the toys I have now when I was a teen, I probably wouldn't object to being sent to my room - I have my camera, my scrapbook supplies, internet, my awesome computer, books, mags, he could lock me up in here for the night and I'd be happy. Although he doesn't have a problem with that, being a domesticated mama now, I hole myself up pretty good without any additional help! LOL.

I took Keeva for a walk at the Callingwood off-leash yesterday and was amazed by the light...and of course, wished I had my camera with me. So I hoped for a sunny day today so that we could go back and take some pictures...the sun didn't seem to cooperate, but by the time I had completed half my gift shopping, the sun was shining bright. I picked Keeva up and off we went. Keeva had a blast as did I. Anyways, I'll leave you with a few pictures that resulted from the walk.

Keeva in action....

A squirrel came away with a pretty big berry....super cute!

Wishing you all a safe, glitzy and wonderful holiday season! Stay warm, and surround yourselves with those you love.

xo Mir

A LIttle Bit about Everything...with a 1-Track mind on Babies

2010-12-19T23:28:00.005-07:00

Wow...christmas is less than a week away! How did it sneak up so fast? I still have gifts to shop for, house to clean, projects to fulfill, etc...and not enough time to do it all it seems. I'm excited for it, our house is decorated (for the most part), the gifts we do have are wrapped and under the tree, bright white glistening snow is outside, and merriment is in the air (sounds cheeseball I know). This next week I'm hoping will go by s-l-o-w as I have many plans for it already, which will no doubt make it go fast!

As mentioned previously, we had our "big" ultrasound last Wednesday....and it turns out we are team BLUE! Pretty exciting, and I had pretty much thought that...lack of weight gain (well until now since I have undoubtedly popped...no matter how much I try to suck in! ha), dream of nursing a healthy baby boy (mmm hmm...they don't lie when they say being pregnant brings about some weird dreams), and well...that's about all I had to go on - lol. Speaking of dreams, it is amazing how the hormones bring about the craziest dreams - I've dreamt of Joe asking me to leave pack my bags and leave as he was doing a thorough investigation on me, carried out by one of our cousins, of coming home and finding Joe with another woman, of nursing, of coming home and finding Keeva nowhere and some miscellaneous three legged dog in place and our house ransacked and then being attacked by a man dressed in plaid (like a hunter) - super weird!! I don't really know what to make of them and the only one I really made something of was the dream of our future son. Would make a good psych analysis, no?

As I was saying, we are excited to have a boy (would have been if we were team pink too), and knowing has opened my eyes to a whole new world of shopping. Now I really understand how you can let yourself go while your kid is dressed better than you. Take UGGs for example (no, I haven't bought these...yet! haha) - they have the CUTEST blue camo ones for boys at E-Children and it took MUCH restraint to not pop them onto the purchased list. My justification? (and this is going to sound so sad and perhaps materialistic) Baby can't have UGGS before mom does!! LOL. I'm crazy. I know it, so it makes me less so in a sense. Ok, my other logical rationale (similar to the average thinker) would be that it is not necessary, and that the money would definitely be better spent on more useful items. Gosh, I just wrote a full paragraph on UGGs. Trouble.

We have stocked up on a few things, mostly necessities like diapers, washcloths, wipes, a few onesies, lotions, etc. I feel like I need to distribute what I have money-wise from now until he is born. Makes sense doesn't it? For the bigger items, we definitely need to save a lot...or rack up our line of credit doing so. Baby stuff/gear is so not cheap!! They really get you with weddings and babies - two ginormous markets where you can really spend a lot on things you need or don't need. Ah tis is life.

On another subject.

Meet Asher.

He's about to turn one in under a month. He's also one fast moving baby. The lovely and adorable son of my friends Esther and Mike. I had called them up awhile ago to see if they would be my muses and let me practice taking some shots on Ash and the parents to which they were totally willing to help out :)

We got a few good pics, but it was super difficult, as I was trying to shoot in natural light, but with a fast moving baby, it resulted in quite a few ghost images. In the end, I knew I needed a fast shutter speed and I wanted a low f-stop (correct?) so I ended up using the 'M' setting at the highest ISO. I was using the 17-85mm Canon USM 4.5-5.6 lens. I am either definitely finding limitations of the lens, or do not fully know how to operate the lens and camera settings to obtain the optimum results. Perhaps a bit of both. I also find looking through the viewfinder and adjusting the focus ring to bring objects in focus to be difficult - what looks sharp to the eye and on a 2.5" (?) screen does not translate well onto a 27" screen.

The pictures ended up looking underexposed, so I am hoping that I can do some editing and brighten up the exposure. The few good ones that we did end up getting I will post after the holidays. If anyone has tips on taking better photos of babies - especially fast moving ones - do advise!!

Well, I better go down and wrap some more gifts and finish up a project! Have a good night!

Thoughts to Capture for our First great Expectation

2010-12-14T22:26:00.003-07:00

I have been debating back and forth since confirming our pregnancy about starting a scrapbook about my pregnancy - I perused so many books to see if I could either lift any ideas, or buy one that I liked. The one that I thought I would love pre-pregnancy was one that followed the course of pregnancy on a monthly basis (perhaps even weekly). I can't remember what it was called now, but it was in the shape of a belly and a page for every week of your pregnancy with spaces to fill in your mood, cravings, feelings/emotions, picture of your growing belly, etc. Much to my dismay (and count my blessings!) I really didn't know that I was pregnant until we were practically 10 weeks in. There went about 10 pages of the book. So I decided not to buy it...also because all the pages for the last 18 weeks would've detailed the exact same thing with a similar photo for each week.

Long story short, I was perusing blogs and websites and I came across this one blogger who made a layout detailing her pregnancy in two pages. What I liked the best were the questions she had...which I am scraplifting for my own baby scrapbook! These aren't all of them, but just the ones that are relevant for myself:

* What made you suspect you were pregnant?
* How did you feel in those early weeks of pregnancy?
* Who (if anyone) was with you when pregnancy was confirmed? What was your/their reaction?
* How did your family react?
* Did you have any cravings? Morning sickness?
* Describe your first ultrasound and seeing your baby for the first time?
* When you heard/saw the baby's heartbeat, how did you react?
* Did you want to find out the baby's sex before birth? Why or why not?
* Have you had any daydreams about your baby?
* When did you first feel the baby move?
* Describe the nursery.
* Describe the trials and tribulations of getting to the hospital in time for the birth.
* How did you know you were in labor?
* Describe your birth.
* Who was present at the birth?
* Who were your first visitors after birth?
* What is your best and least favorite memory of the pregnancy?
* What is your best and least favorite memory of the birth?

I think this would make for a great scrapbook - some of these questions could really even be their own page. Just the inspiration I need to get started....or at least to add to my list of to do's ;)

Tomorrow we go for our ultrasound at 19 weeks - this will be our anatomy scan - so fingers and toes crossed that all goes well! We may also be able to find out the baby's gender....if he or she cooperates!

Have a good night!

Meet the Howitts'

2010-12-12T09:27:00.004-07:00

I was approached by a couple of our good friends/family (friends to start, family by marriage) about a week ago to take some family and baby photos for them - I was thrilled! Not only did I get to practice, I was also able to take as many photos of baby Noah as humanly possible.

Baby Noah Alexander Howitt, born November 12, was just 4 weeks old when we took the photos. He is this one super adorable little red-headed-esque (he looks like he'll be a ginger like his daddy, but babies change alot so we'll see!) who was pretty calm throughout the shoot...except when he rolled off the set up we had on the floor, which gave us a laugh, and him a little cry. Don't worry, he was far from being hurt!!

Photographing a baby is not an easy task - definitely a newfound respect for baby/children photographers - Noah moves fast, resulting in Brodie and Melissa having to make movements to adjust him or hold him, etc. For my first time photographing, it turned out ok I think. I heavily scrutinized the photos when I got home though! (I am still waiting to obtain my Creative Suites for editing...mom...?). In the end, Melissa and Brodie were happy with the photos so that matters. I, always placing alot of pressure on myself, felt like I could've done better. Who needs parents when you have yourself pushing yourself to do better?! lol.

I am only posting the one teaser for now, in order to respect Brodie and Melissa's plans for the photos. I will post some of my favs from the shoot eventually, and would love feedback - whether my e-mail or by leaving a comment - you can gush about how fantastic I am (haha....joking!) or provide constructive comments on how I could do better (whether it's composition, lighting, exposure, settings, etc.). I'd love to hear it all!

Melissa and Brodie - thank you for trusting and having that much faith in me to take precious photos of you guys and Noah. It meant alot to me and I really do hope you enjoy the photos I've taken. Baby Noah - you are going to be such a little heartbreaker as you get older. I really hope that I can take more of you guys as Noah grows. xox

Happy 1st Birthday Keeva!

2010-12-11T17:25:00.005-07:00

Keeva turned ONE on December 9, 2010. We absolutely cannot believe that we have had her for 10 months already, and in that 10 months our lives have changed, for the better of course. I know I speak of her as if she were our child, and in a way, she sort of is. I don't think a day goes by where I don't sound like a broken record by saying "Keeva, you're so cute" or "Keeva, you're so good" or "Keeva, love you!" Super silly right?

It's incredible that an animal (pet) can be so loving, and that you can love it so much in return. I really can't imagine our lives without her. We celebrated her birthday by buying her a cushioned dog bed for her kennel, a new toy (which was destroyed in less than a day...we really should know better!), and some treats. It's funny, but when Joe and I were shopping, I mentioned in passing that she gets more things than we buy ourselves - lol - which really, we don't spoil her that much (aside with tons of belly rubs and hugs) but she still gets spoiled more often than we spoil ourselves. Kinda scary when you think that we will be parents in 5 months!! We'll look like hobos while our baby (and dog) will look like a million bucks. HAH.

Well, can't say that Keeva doesn't have a great "forever" home surrounded by many people that love her!

It's Official!

2010-12-06T19:09:00.006-07:00

Yes, it is official - Joe and I are expecting!! Our little prince or princess has an ETA of May 11, 2011. We are currently sitting at 17 weeks and 5 days and by Christmas we will be halfway there. Pretty exciting and scary stuff! We are treading into the unknown...but isn't that what life is for the most part? It wouldn't be fun if we knew everything and we wouldn't learn, but I digress.

The ultrasound photo above was taken at 13 weeks and 5 days (Nov. 8 to be exact). So this might seem mighty dumb to most people, but when this ultrasound was taken, I remember lying in the bed craning my neck and head to see the screen, and the technician was pointing out the bits and parts of the baby, and she had said, "and there are the eyes" without pointing to anything specific, so I had looked at the screen (and what I thought were the eyes) and thought to myself, "wow they're awfully big". When the appointment was over, and we got the photo, I went to Joe and said, "hey hun, don't you think the eyes of our baby are pretty big? How are the sockets going to size down?" and he wanted to know what I meant, so we pulled the photo out and I pointed the eyes out. He laughed and said, "hun, that's the BRAIN! the eyes are down here." PHEW. We had a good laugh and my bubble of worry popped. You have to understand however, that in my mind (and the pic!), the baby looked VERY alien-esque, and aliens do have eyes that big!! So question justified. HMPH.

Joe always said it boggled him how I could be so smart (or so he thinks! hah) and yet sometimes come up with the craziest (and possibly dumbest) comments. It's a coveted talent, I know. ;p

We have lots to think about, from names, nursery colors, baby scrapbooks (ok that's me), taking photos of my baby (he/she won't even know what hit him/her!), to learning how to change diapers, parent, etc. The list is just so drastically long!! It will be an exciting time for us - I hope the excitement is much stronger than the tiredness we will feel with a newborn! I'm already coo coo enough without being overtired at that.

Even before I was pregnant, I thought about scrapbooking an album of my pregnancy and detailing out month by month...except pregnancy for me isn't the way it seems to be for most people, or the experience(s) they have or went through. I have not gained any weight, have no crazy cravings (except loving fruit and juice, but I liked it before and maybe just want it more for the water factor?), and have no real hormonal changes (i.e. no crabbiness, morning sickness, etc.). So in essence, nothing to really document...at least not for the first four months! So once we find out the sex of the baby (and that's still up in the air, but if it were up to me, I'd be finding out, but it's a 50/50 relationship, so I have to take Joe into account too), perhaps then I can start scrapping for the baby, or at least get it started as I probably won't have much time or energy for the first little while to do it. But I definitely will have my camera strapped to one side and the baby to the other - she/he will be my ultimate muse! heeheehee.

Anyways, before I get too into rambling, that's really all I have today for blog central. I gotta get back to my Christmas card making...only 8 more to go and I will be ready to start addressing and sending them out.

Stay warm!

Where did December 1st Go?

2010-12-05T19:41:00.009-07:00

How can we already be sitting at December 5th today? Why is it that every year I vow to start the holidays early, from gift shopping to decor to parties to baking...and it all gets tossed in last minute! December is just a gong show for everyone I think. The stores are jammed, traffic is non-stop - finding the perfect gift for the ones you love and planning some well-spent time is top of mind for everyone. I finally had a small window of down-time this weekend, and was finally able to complete my set of window decor (similar to the ones I made for my grandparents and parents). Let me tell you - as great an idea as it was to make a set for my grandparents and our parents, when I started working on our set, I started to lose my mojo - it took me so long! Definitely was time for a new project.

So I worked on christmas cards. The weekend prior, I got together with two of my creative girlfriends to have a card makingextravaganza. We each had to come up with two styles, 5 cards each, so that we all walked away with 30 cards total. Well, what we all thought would take us 3 hours tops, ended up taking practically the entire day (it's to be expected between the snacking and gabbing!). Below are the ones we came away with. Pretty cute I'd have to say.

Can't seem to get this one to upload the way it is in iPhoto.

This year also, I decided with all my supplies, I may as well make my gift tags rather than buy them, so I used my scraps and made the following. My favorite is the little Santa tag. Nothing crazy and out of the box, but just so cute.

Officially two more weeks of work for me (well, it's really 9 days) and I cannot wait. Our house needs a serious clean (gotta make it sparkle for the holidays!), and I need some well spent time to catch up on projects, gift shopping, and just some good ol' R 'n' R. Really looking forward to it. Hope you all have some time to do the same :)

Have you heard of Kelly Moore?

2010-12-05T17:33:00.004-07:00

So...being the avid stalker that I am (ok I'm really not! only when it piques my interest!), I was on facebook yesterday and Kat, one of the fab duos who took our engagement and wedding photos commented about a Kelly Moore bag that she wanted. Interest piqued.

What is a Kelly Moore bag, and why have I not heard of them? I like to think of myself as knowing enough about the fashion world (ok, let's make that relevant fashion world) and my curiousity lay in who and what was a Kelly Moore bag. So I googled it....and what I came up with was FABULOUS.

Kelly Moore is a photographer with over 12 years experience (check her out - her work is amazing..and she costs a pretty shiny bill at that! lol) who wanted a stylish bag for photographers instead of the "typical" camera bags you see around (or that you will see me lugging around...not anymore!!). They are amazing. Stylish and practical and they house your camera, lenses, flash cards, batteries, cell phone, gloss, wallet, everything!! It is not only a photographer's dream, but a beginner photographer's every want!! As soon as I checked her and her bags out, I instantly wanted one. In my eyes, gone are the days of lugging my ugly square uncomfortable bulky camera bag on trips...I imagined myself carrying my camera and accessories in a stylish bag trooping around on Joe and I's honeymoon, or anywhere and everywhere. Love. For me, the practicality of it lay in the accessibility of your camera, the storage, the functionality, and best of all, that I could carry my camera around without people knowing that I was carrying it!! This would be especially invaluable when travelling.

I have since told Joe about it...and am hoping that it will become a christmas present (although the one I want is O/S until March!). The ones I have my eye on are the b-hobo and the posey bag - the b-hobo topping my list of course. There are bigger bags, such as the Classic and the JuJu, which would be amazing to double as a camera/diaper bag!!

Anyways, check it out. I fell in love, and am sure you will too. xo

PS Thanks Kat! ;)

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

2010-11-15T20:28:00.008-07:00

I know it may be too early - Joe is always telling me to stop singing christmas carols but I just absentmindedly hum them every so often. He also won't allow me to put up any christmas decorations until December 1 at the latest. ARRG - takes so much control...although I did hang up our door hanger (don't really know what to call it) and there's nothing he can do about it! So in the interim, I resorted to crafting holiday decor. When I last attended the Creative Stitches tradeshow, the Urban Scrapbook display had these little chipboard stockings and they were so adorable. So I decided to make them for our parents - I made a bird set for my parents and a stocking set for Joe's parents, and will be making a set for my grandparents as well. I will be hanging ours in our main window (Dec 1 and not a second later!). Check them out and see for yourself how cute these are!

Reflections

2010-11-14T13:36:00.011-07:00

I recently attended another IACC outing. Again, there wasn't much debriefing or leadership when it comes to the outings and workshops, or maybe it varies with the events. It is a great time to use and play around with your camera as that is all you have when you are out there. I guess that's really the entire point of these outings and workshops is to enable you the time to solely focus on learning and playing around with your camera, etc. With regards to that, I quite enjoy it, as the 3 hours or so are devoted to it. Anyways, I digress.

This outing took place at the top level of the Scotia Place Parkade. I woke up at the crack of dawn (well before the crack of dawn) on a Saturday to go take photos of buildings....that's gotta indicate some sort of dedication on my part! Good thing I grabbed my tripod last minute too - I was rushing out the door when I remembered it would be useful in low-to-none lighting (until the sun came up). Amazing I did! Everyone had their tripod with them. This obviously was an in-demand outing, as there were at least over 20 people there. To say the least, I felt pretty professional with my tripod and fit right in! Haha. I even moved around as if I knew what I was doing.

The photos were taken with my Canon Rebel XSi with 17-85 mm lens mounted on my Velbon tripod. I liked what I took, but would love to see what other people did as well. As always, any feedback would be great - leave me a comment or send me an email!

The sun eventually rose about an hour and a half after I got there....painfully slow. These outings also really teach you patience - something that I would like to think I am acquiring...ssssllllooowwwlly. LOL. in the end, it turned out to be a cloudy day so there wasn't too much of the sunny type of reflection. In my head, I had pictured the sun glinting off the buildings or maybe the sun reflected in the buildings along with everything else. Oh utopia...how it lives in our minds only :)

Watch for another post later! I am on a posting spree. xx, Mir

Scrap This and Scrap That

2010-11-13T00:55:00.008-07:00

Being as busy and tired (and being tired making me lazy), I really didn't get up to as much scrapbooking and cardmaking as I would've liked. I feel like my projects are just adding up, it's almost overwhelming, but I know to tackle one at a time and it will get done. If there's anything about me, it's my persistence. If I set my mind and heart on something, I will get it or I will accomplish it, whole heartedly. Anyways, so I haven't been completely un-creative this past month. Below are a couple cards I made for a friend's birthday and another friend's coming baby (which they had today!!!). I also included a few layouts I did for both sets of parents' scrapbook.

I used the techniques I picked up at the Ink class I took awhile back. Looks like I picked up a few things ;)

I received a new Cuttlebug diecut from my soon to be sister-in-law - with baby animals! Just cute - love her (and not just because she thought of me to get me a Cuttlebug diecut!)

Here are a few teaser layouts from the parents' album. My hope is that our parents will love the album and cherish it for many years to come.

Give Thanks

2010-11-13T00:09:00.021-07:00

Wow - has an entire month already flown by? I guess when the days are so busy, when they're shorter, and when you cut your days even shorter and go to bed by 9 pm (yep...that's me lately), the days really seem to fly by. Not to worry, I haven't fallen off the planet - just had some life changes and have been just really busy, both work and personal life!

I found an awesome quote for Thanksgiving, courtesy of the ladies at Urban Scrapbook:

"Be thankful for what you have, you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you'll never, ever, have enough." -- Oprah Winfrey --

We had Thanksgiving out at the lake over the long weekend in October, and the weather turned out pretty amazing. Going to the lake is a great time for me to practice my shots on people, on kids moving (non-stop), of treasured family moments, of life just happening around me. I think I've spent the majority of my time out at the lake capturing life behind my lenses....and that's double the lenses, if you count my contacts...haha...bad joke. Below are some of the great moments I caught. We, unfortunately, were unable to make Thanksgiving dinner with my side of the family, as we had an unexpected occurrence.So truly sorry for missing Thanksgiving with them, but I know they understand, and I am ever so thankful.

Enjoy the pictures - more posts to come! Be warned though...seriously cute kids ahead!

This clock is antique - I even saw an identical one in a magazine about a couple who collected antique clocks. I remember it used to drive me crazy when I would spend my nights out at the lake, hearing the tick tock and seeing the bird grab the worm and bring it up in tune with the "tick tock"...sleepless nights I tell you. :)

The kids love jumping into the giant pile of leaves...we've been watching them do this every fall for quite a few years now!

They even like being tossed in the leaves!

Photo Walks

2010-10-06T22:08:00.018-06:00

Alright....so since I received a tripod and a lens hood for my birthday (and a whole lotta scrapbooking stuff!), I was itching to take it out and use both. To be honest, I've also been dying to shoot the fountains in the man made lakes (?) we have all around our neighborhood...and I absolutely love the light about an hour before the sun goes down (meaning, I also have to work pretty fast).

The first set of photos came about when Joe and I were returning home from a family event. We drove across the bridge right above the River Valley (about 149st and Summit Drive) and I looked over, and it's one of the most amazing views of downtown. I've always said to myself that I will get to that bridge and shoot it, and so when we got home, I grabbed my tripod and camera and hopped in my car. I HAD to get the photos - no better time than now! The river valley was a technicolor of fall - rich reds, sunny yellows, burnt oranges, and shades of green all over - framing downtown perfectly in the background. I hope you like the photos - fall is one of my favorite times of the year and I wish it would last abit longer before the dreaded 'w' season! lol.

And a sunset photo I took later when I got home (through the window of the spare room)...too hard to resist!

My next photo walk came about just last night. I was driving home after work and just told myself I had to go get those fountain photos I want so bad before they are turned off for the winter. So, I just did it. It was really fun to play around on my camera, especially with the Tv modes and Av modes (shutter and aperture priority) and to see the difference each made. The lighting was gorgeous, the lake practically crystal clear and I'm pretty happy with the photos I took!

Hope you enjoyed! Countdown to counting our blessings ;)

P.S. Once I get Creative Suites set up on my computer, I'll be able to do more of the photo style blogs you see on other photographer's sites. I am assuming that this is how they do it....if there is a way in iPhoto to do this, please someone tell me!

Cherie Howard Shoot

2010-10-06T21:50:00.010-06:00

So here it is...the photos that I liked the most out of the MANY I took from the Cherie Howard photo shoot. They're not the greatest, but I was working in low light conditions with no external flash, no flash hood (is that what they even call it?) and with about 10 photographers around me trying to get 'the' shot with all their external gizmos. A few of the pics I attached my camera to some lighting mechanism and I was amazed at the quality it produced.

However, the models were all really fun to work with, had a great sense of humor, and it was fun seeing all of Cherie's designs. Plus the photographers who were there were always willing to answer a question (or two or three) and ready to help! Anyways, let me know what you think, I'm really open to critique..it's how I learn!

Yes this photo is way overexposed, but...I kinda like it.

I like the next two, the first I think I just like that the model is doing something with her hands, and the second, I caught her in-between poses.

Conversion Complete!

2010-10-02T00:52:00.004-06:00

I am officially an Apple user - and I Looooove It! The iMac is so easy to use...there is a little finagling with controls, but it's pretty easy to get the hang of, and not like a huge alienbeast I thought it would be. The only habit I seem to have, thus so far (6 hours into using the iMac), is hitting the 'control' button on what would've been a PC keyboard, when I have to use 'command'. Also...it appears that iDVD has disappeared out of my applications folder, so I'm sure there was some user mishap there. I am also unable to load my discs from my engagement and wedding sessions onto iPhoto, which is frustrating me (all other discs that I have have been fine so far). Hopefully I will be able to sort this out soon! So far, a very enjoyable experience...and the resolution! Don't even get me started - sooo amazing.

My 30th birthday party came and went....and was a blast in the process. Everyone came out and had a great time, for quite a long part of it, I was running around inside like a madwoman making sure everyone was ok for food and food was topped up, while Joe was outside barbecuing for his life! In the end, all the work and effort was so worth it, and we have still discovered that we have not tapped into the finesse of hosting a party without looking and being frazzled. With practice I'm sure...

Here are a few new cards I made.

Tried iris folding....not loving the card, but was more trying out a new folding technique. Turned out well, but is so time-intensive that I don't think I'd be doing this too much. There's also tea folds, which look super cool, but again, takes alot of time...but would like to at least dabble and try it out...so let's see what I come up with.

Got a new cartridge for my birthday...the Cricut Songbird...here are a few cute cards I made. They are a little different from my usual style, as I try to stay away from the Cricut/Stampin' Up looking cards, but the cartridge was just too cute!

An Unfortunate Mishap

2010-09-29T11:22:00.002-06:00

I haven't blogged for a few days because I've been super busy for one, and for another, my laptop crashed and deleted all of my past work before I could back it up. What happened was this, the last few days I had been noticing that my photo software program was flashing multiple times throughout folders (don't really know how to describe it), so I figured I should back my stuff up as I don't really know how long I have before something bad was to happen. So I took a new datastick (that Joe won from those Safeway things) and cut and paste all of my past work onto the stick. I went into the drive where the data stick was, and found the folder but NOTHING in the folder. I almost threw my laptop out the window. So I basically lost everything of my past scrapbooking/cardmaking work in a matter of minutes. Don't get me wrong, I back my files up, but the files weren't large enough to be stored on a 700MB cd (which is how I typically back files up), so I was waiting. Well I guess I waited too long! I managed to find a program that would restore my files, but it could only retrieve certain ones and I had to be specific as to the file name....so that killed a few hours of my life I won't ever get back! Anyways, pretty traumatic for me, but what can I do but move on, right? This was also just the right nudge to go out and purchase my iMac (what was I waiting for really?)...so before the end of this week, I will be a Apple home-user! Kind of exciting :)

Anyways, when I'm back up and running, I will post some pics of the IACC shoot as promised and possibly some more wedding photos - although I really urge you all to visit Katch's blog. I will definitely post more about my birthday and some pics from that extravaganza night soon! Have a good week!

Thirty Years Ago Today

2010-09-23T09:26:00.004-06:00

Thirty Years Ago

I was given breath, into this world, in the arms of two loving parents
on a Tuesday at 9:49 am (Tuesday's child is full of grace?)
I was 7 lbs and 3 oz and measured 51 cm and 20 in long
and was named Miranda Tak-Yen Wong

Thirty Years Forward

I now have two sets of loving parents
and on a Saturday in July at 4:30 pm
became Miranda Tak-Yen Wensel
and walked down the first path of our lives together with my husband, Joe

Today

I turn thirty today (in case you missed that - lol) and these were my first thoughts as a 30 year old:

Waking up and stretching and cracking...ahhhh I'm getting creaky and old!! Lol.

I am so blessed with the family and friends that I have - for so long (mostly in the later 20s), I struggled with coping with who wasn't there or how many people I wished would be there, when really what I needed to realize was not the people that weren't there, but the ones that were made the difference. They are the ones who have made a difference in my life and shaped who I am today.

I have a very loving, kind, big hearted, loyal, thoughtful husband who is, truly, my bestest friend in the world. There is no one like him.

I looked at Keeva today, and thought "hi puppy...am I ever glad you are in my life today." Then I gave her a kiss on her cute lil nozzle.

I have a loving family, immediate and extended, who are always there and willing to help us out, in good and in bad.

I have a small handful of really close, really great girlfriends I call my best friends (and I don't call just anyone my bestie!). Going through high school with mainly guy friends (thinking I didn't need girl friends), meeting, knowing and growing these friendships with these girls have been the sanity strings that weigh down the insanity.

Driving to work, I began thinking about the conversation I had with my sister about Po-Po and Gong-Gong (Grandma and Grandpa on my mom's side) and what I would say when we eventually made our way to visit them. I instantly started tearing up and wished that they would've been able to be a part of our wedding day physically, although I am sure they are with us at all times. I miss them, love them, and wish I had more time with them.

I miss Grandma at the Lake calling me on my birthday, hearing her loving voice and seeing her. The Lake will be that much more of a special place to me (to all of us). A few weeks ago, I was driving and I thought that I saw her, but I think it was the white hair of another person that turned my thoughts to her.

I am excited to "start" a new chapter in my life. I have many things to look forward to and someone beside me all the way. Thirties is a time of change, of taking the weeds out of life (as best one can), and of enjoying those moments around you that are so fleeting and rare. Making new memories, creating new experiences, discovering my passions and growing and focusing on the relationships I have.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

From this Day Forward...

2010-09-22T08:06:00.007-06:00

First off, before I dive into wedding speak, I want to wish my sister a cyber happy birthday!! Today is the one day of every year when we are twins...ok, well, we are the same age today and only today (September 22) - so long as you don't count the hours and days between us. I can't believe that we are as *old* as we are today (29, for those of you who are trying to guess...) - ack!! We are celebrating her birthday tonight at our parents house and having dinner and just some good ol' family time - what more can you ask for on your birthday but be surrounded by ones you love and ones who love you in return, right? Above was a then photo of us and under, a (not so recent) now. I'll have to get a more recent now pic for sure tonight!

Now onto our wedding photos - Kat and Cheryl did an amazing job, as did Susan and Anita - best friends/sisters power team!! If you are getting married, I would definitely recommend looking into them! I have added Anita Gill (you can contact her or Kat or me for Susan's contact as well, as Susan doesn't have a website). Throughout the day, it was not awkward at all, as it felt like we had another set of friends with us. Thanks girls - it is going to be tres difficil to narrow down pics for scrapbooking! Hope you enjoy - I only posted a few of my favs (ok they're all my favs!), the rest you can see on their blog.

Til later xx

Always a Good Feeling

2010-09-21T21:37:00.008-06:00

The scrapbook for my friend's India trip was dropped off today (well she actually came to pick it up)...the verdict - she LOVED it!! I was so happy - that's one of the most rewarding things for doing/making things for people...the end result. Below are some photos of the layouts in her album - it was alot of research (learned alot about the Taj, Amber Fort, Ranthambore, etc.), hours (26 some hours in total!), and photos to edit (even after we edited, I still had to edit some more). In the end, she was pleased with the result, which is all I could hope for.

One of the challenges I encountered with her album was the sheer magnitude of photos to work with - how do I incorporate the perfect balance that spoke of her experience and encompasses the places she saw? Not to mention I didn't want to "cut" any of the photos that mattered to her or had special meaning or contained a special story. Another drawback with the amount of photos was that journaling was lost - she told me so many intereseting stories and special meanings about certain places or experiences that she had that I couldn't incorporate it all. Please note that this is also given her budget constraints as well. I know I could've easily lengthened her album, but that would also have increased her cost! On the whole however, despite the challenges (which were easily overcome with some footwork), I thoroughly enjoyed designing and creating the album for her, capturing her memories of her trip to India forever. It definitely makes me want to visit such richness...although the crowds and "closeness" (for lack of better word) makes me shudder some :)

The streets of India - in the city and villages - see what I mean? Just busy busy busy!

The TAJ - had to make this page just speak "magnificent" - so grand a place deserved two layouts!

Jaipur - Pink City

I will also try to post some photos from the Fashion Shoot workshop I was a part of last Thursday. I am a pretty hard critic, but I will let you know my thoughts when I post.

Also...our wedding pics are up! Check out Katch Studio's blog - I will also post some tomorrow.

Have a good night!

As Promised

2010-09-17T16:40:00.003-06:00

Backyard before

Backyard now

The patio stones are all laid out - thanks to Adam and Brodie for helping Joe with them two nights ago! This weekend we will work on the steps and path leading to the garage - let's hope the weather cooperates!

Dream, Dream, Dream...

2010-09-16T15:35:00.003-06:00

EIIIII! So I just had to blog quickly as I am heading off to participate in a fashion photo shoot right after work. It is an IACC workshop that I am attending! I am so excited that I have butterflies in my stomach - I am really hoping that it will be a great learning opportunity...and to see a side of photography that I umm...never see in action - mainly because I photograph my own life events! This is a definite step outside the box...and I don't know anyone - (*teeth chatter chatter*). Ok I make myself sound like a holed up maniac...I had the most restless night tossing and turning because all throughout the night, I was dreaming about photography and composition and what the venue is going to be like...and also worried as there will be minimum to moderate lighting available, and I have never shot almost entirely in low light settings before. I guess we'll see how this all goes! Will definitely update here! Wish me luck! Oh ya, we are doing a fashion shoot for Cherie Howard designs.

I'm sure I really don't need to let you all know, but the workshop leader, Gerry, told us that her designs are "goth" like, and so I donned on my eel skin leggings and painted my nails a dark purple, and lined my eyes...just to get in the mood! HAH, I'm so silly....someone, make a reality show of me...you'd all watch wouldn't you??!

Anyways, I will definitely post photos of before and after pics of our backyard tonight sometime. Our internet at home was down last night! boo.

Gotta run...stay tuned! xox