Curtis and Andrea - Engagment

Curtis and Andrea make me smile - I got to spend a little time with them the other morning and was happy to see two people that love and respect eachother. The little whispers in the ear, the laughter and the love was shared by both of them.

Curtis was gracious enough to cancel a day of hunting to give us an opportunity to meet. I was wondering where his gun was when we were shooting though as I had heard that there were bears in the area, but I figured that Curtis would have my back and obviously Andrea's! We did joke that it would have made a great shot to have a black bear in the background while they were getting close, but alas no such luck!

I love it when I can spend an hour or two with my couples getting some engagement photos. It gives them an opportunity to see how the photo aspect of their wedding day will go and gives me a chance to get to know them as a couple and most importantly it gives them an excuse to get close, cuddle, hug and kiss an hour away! I have yet to have a guy complain that he has to pull his girl close and hold her tight while I snap away! I'm sure that most of them are wishing that I'd just walk away at times (which I have been known to do!!).

Anyways, I had a good time and since Andrea is a photo buff it was great hearing her suggestions too. I'm excited to be shooting their wedding in two short weeks, a great couple and a new location which I'm pumped about. So look for a post about their wedding in a couple of weeks.

Enjoy nibbling on all the Halloween candy that you don't give away at your door's tonight!

What I'm Lovin

So I wouldn't call myself a bargain hunter by any stretch of the imagination. I look for good deals when I'm shopping and am somewhat restrained with my purchases, unless it's H&M or Jacob at my favorite malls in Calgary. I lived with a closet filling shoe junkie growing up and thankfully didn't have to share a closet with her... my sister Nikki did. Nikki had like maybe 3 pairs of shoes and Jenni, well let's just say Jenni and Imelda Marcos rivalled each other for shoes. Okay maybe slight exaggeration (it's a running joke in our family)but she did have lots!

Well today Jenni would be very very proud of me - I bought shoes! My lovely amazing sister inlaw Sheila called our house last night and in the middle of her visit mentioned to Garth that there was going to be a coupon for 50% off everything at Payless Shoes. Sheila works at Payless and we often stop in and shop when we hit Calgary. So I checked out oprah.com this morning and there I saw the coupon - 50% off everything... IN THE STORE! So I printed it off at the office and called Garth, picked him up and headed out to the mall.

We power shopped and bought all our shoes in about 20 minutes (that's all the time we had before having to pick Ry up from Kindergarten). Anyways...... I still can't rival Imelda or Jenni, but I am the proud new owner of 3 pairs of shoes/boots. Woo Hoo!

So what am I lovin today? I'm lovin that I got a deal. I'm lovin that I got a new pair of winter boots (good timing due to today's dump of snow!). I'm lovin that Garth spent some money too so it wasn't just me (this is important people, I can't just be the spender- he needs to be involved too!). I'm lovin that I got a needed pair of boots, a sensible pair of shoes (check out my feet at my next wedding!) and a pair of sexy boots, yup I said sexy boots, Garth seems to like them!

And because I don't like not having a photo to post I grabbed one of today's purchase..... aren't they great? Thanks Sheila - you're my fave!

The Best of Friends - Just Because

8:00 AM was a very important time in my day while I was growing up. Without fail through grades 4 to 6 I would receive a phone from my best friend Shelley Mann asking me what I was wearing to school that day. One way or the other I was on the phone every morning I went to school. We would commiserate on what the other was wearing and try to figure out how to best coordinate with the other. You see that is just what best friends did. I would then anticipate the door opening around 8:30 and see Shelley come bounding into my kitchen where she would greet my Mom and we'd head out the door, dressed as much alike as we possibly could. After school involved another tradition, we'd walk home from school (I lived a block away from both elementary and high school- it was great!) and hit the kitchen again. When my mom was home for the day we'd grab some of the fresh chocolate chocolate chip cookies and chow down running through our day. Again something that best friends just did.

In grade 7 Kami Bosch ended up at our back door waiting for me to finish getting ready for school. There was no matchy matchy in grade 7 - you just didn't do that, but you made sure that if one was wearing shorts, so was the other one.

In grade 8 Carolyn Stabbler arrived at my door every morning. Now there were those morning phone calls just to make sure we looked okay, but again not matchy matchy - in grade 8 we were WAAAAY too cool to do that. The cookie tradition reappeared in grade 8 because Carolyn lived just down the hill from me and she HAD to go past my house to get to hers.

Grade 9 saw the reappearance of Kami at my back door, no phone calls, lots of cookies and we dressed as individuals (as much as that happens in grade 9!).

The names may have changed over the years of middle school BUT we were still very much involved in eachother's lives. And thanks to facebook we are now catching up on where eachother is at. We don't call eachother, but those woman/girls are a rather large piece of my history. I can look back over those years and laugh when I think some of things we got ourselves involved in. They were great friends and I will cherish those memories greatly.

The three beautiful girls that I had the chance to catch photos of are in the process of making those memories together right now. They've been friends for a while and after spending some time with them I know they'll be friends for years to come. I'm sure that some of their adventures will bring smiles after they've maybe gotten a little gray and added some lines to their faces. Thankfully they asked for some fall photos so they will be able to remember this time of their lives. I hope to get some more photos of them in a few years when they graduate and I'm sure I'll hear about a few more adventures that took place.

Now I'm not too sure if phone calls were made or not about what to wear but I do know somethings were changed because they were dressed too alike by accident! There is a sign of spending enough time together with your girlfriends when you dress alike without planning!

I know that I posted this one earlier last week, but I had to post it again.... it's my favorite of that afternoon. I love love LOVE it! Aren't they geeeeooorgeous?

Ry giving me tears

Okay, so I love to laugh - ask anyone! Well maybe not anyone, but ask someone who knows me - laughing is part of who I am I think. It's been a crazy couple of weeks trying to get edits done and I have found myself short on sleep which makes me a little short in general so yesterday's break was needed!

So,I found myself laughing out loud a couple times yesterday afternoon which caused many sitting around me to stare as they had no idea what I was laughing about, but I'll share with you!

Rylen has been playing hockey for let's see 3 weeks now? Yup 3 whole weeks and my little superstar has actually seen a lot of improvement over that time. Garth is coaching both Ry and Tysen (they're on the same team this year) and so I get a hour of free time two afternoons a week, but they have to be spent at the rink but I've been really enjoying myself. So much in fact that other parent's around me are thinking that there is something wrong with me.

Now my boys make me laugh quite a bit, I'm often giggling and enjoying myself in their company but this was straight from the belly loud bellowing laugh which then caused me to have a grin on my face for about 20 minutes after the fact.

So Ry has been skating for 3 weeks, but he doesn't skate slowly on the ice, in order to maintain balance Rylen has to basically run on the ice. So picture this little 5 year old running on the ice so he doesn't fall. He is SOAKING wet after practice and asks me to touch his hair to testify to it's wetness. During drills yesterday the coaches had them skate lines back and forth and Ry was doing rather well, his running has slowed down but trust me when that kid masters skating nobody is going to keep up with him! Anyways, during the line drill he was doing great, had skated to the blue line and was now turning around to head back to the boards but was going a little too fast to manage a glide-fall stop. Nope my Ry guy plows right into the boards and bounces off onto the ice. Was I concerned for him? Nope, I was laughing - almost choked on my pumpkin spice latte! This laugh didn't cause too much disruption around me as I reined myself in and composed myself rather quickly.

So after lines had been skated they gave Rylen's line some pucks to practice with. It is kind of chaotic with ten 5 years olds trying to skate and stick handle a puck at the same time, but so far no injuries have occured. So Ry who has a decent shot during street/driveway hockey sets himself up for a shot on net. He's lined up for a shot, squares himself to the puck draws his stick back and connects with the puck and it flies across the ice - BUT so did Ry! Imagine this - Shot - Crash - Mom laughing hysterically in the stands. Thankfully he couldn't hear me as I'm sure he'd be rather ticked off at me, but it was funny! I'm laughing as I type this! The parents around me had no clue why I was laughing and why I couldn't stop - I think all the late night edits have been getting to me - but it was funny. I had a smile on my face for quite a while afterwards - and then when I recounted the events to Garth later that evening tears were rolling down my face again.

I was definitely in a place where I needed some laughs and my poor son falling all over the place provided it for me.

Here is a little peek at another shoot that took place in the last 2 weeks - more photos to follow!

Sweet Dreams

"Mommy, can you rub my hair and sing me a song?" is something I hear just about every night when I tuck my boys in for the night. And I am ashamed to say that most nights recently I've said , "no not tonight, Mommy has to edit". I almost said that again tonight and I am SO GLAD that I didn't. I didn't end up singing to them tonight as I was content to just sit between their beds and rub two heads at the same time. How peaceful to just sit quietly, rub their hair and pray for them. I may have busy days right now trying to fit everything in, but what great perspective to sit on the floor in a semi dark bedroom and do nothing for 20 minutes but care for my two not so little boys. How important touch is and even more important is falling asleep knowing that Mommy is right beside me. It was such a pleasant sound to hear two little people falling to sleep, the steady rythmic breathing that comes with slumber. That question won't last forever and I know that in 5 years from now I am going to be BEGGING for it so now things can be set aside. The dishes will wait, the laundry will wait, even the edits will wait, but what will not wait is my two little boys who just want Mommy around to rub their hair.

It wasn't a big thing to sit there, but it meant the world to me tonight.

And because every post is just a little bit better with a photo, here's what is coming up with my edits.

A Day of Firsts

So I experienced some exciting firsts today.... I made my first batch of turkey soup stock. I know I know "woop dee doo Carly!" but that is HUGE for me... I am not what one would ever ever call Martha Stewart (ish) at all. Apparently the longer you leave it simmering the better the stock so it's been simmering all day long. Ry has come up the stairs a few times today and said "ewwww what is THAT smell?" Which makes me wonder a little bit if I'm boiling water correctly! How can you have turkey stock go wrong? Check back in a couple of days and I may have an interesting story to tell. I'm sure that others could tell a story or two about my cooking escapades but I'll save that for another day when I'm low on ideas of what to post.

So back to my firsts.... I also ordered my first photo album online today. Super Super excited everyone! Someone else designs the wedding albums for my brides, but I decided to squeeze in a little album making time and did an engagement album/reception book. It would be for a couple to use in place of a guest book. I won't go into greater detail as you'll read more about it when I get it in the mail which is going to take like forever!

Another first - I made a lemon meringue pie today too. Again not Betty Crocker here, so this also is huge! I decided that the pie shell that had been hibernating in my basement freezer needed to be used. Let's just say it was purchased almost before Rylen was born! That's for dessert tonight so here's hoping that they like it!

Well, I should get back to my dinner prep, I'm sure the macaroni is ready to go for another new recipe. Wow, I'm kinda impressed with myself, maybe I will drop that Ellie May Clampett reputation yet!

Have a great night!

Here is a peek of what's to come after I'm done this wedding I'm working on right now.

Aren't they gorgeous?

Ben & Nicole - Engagement

I spent a little time with Ben and Nicole yesterday afternoon and even though I got to wear as many layers as I liked along with some gloves I was still chilly. Imagine then how cold Nicole was! BUT, who would want to cover up that jacket? Too cute!

It was fun in spite of the cold and became apparent very VERY quickly that these two love to laugh! I quickly went through all their photos late last night and discovered that most have one or both of them laughing! They enjoy spending time together and put anyone around them at ease rather quickly. Ben is a magician here in PG, you may have seen him around at the Farmer's Market, Fort George Park or other events in town and he performed a trick for me yesterday. Amazing! I'm a sucker for a good trick and this was cool!!! I got a shot of it, but I want to play around with it a bit before I post it so look for it in the near future. In the meantime you can check out more about Ben at www.bengibsonmagic.com .

I'm really excited about their wedding in May as I know I know they are too!! I had a difficult time trying to decide which one was my favorite of the afternoon and think that I'll be surprised when I'm finished with the edits at what I choose.

Have a great Thanksgiving, enjoy your turkey!

This one is in the running for my favorite. Loved the light AND the couple!

Check out Nicole below.... RRRRAAAWWWR! Those eyes can smile or smolder, such fun!

This is the other one that I'm loving, again great light, great couple. Too hard to choose!

Marissa - Just Because - Sneak Peek

I am pounding out edits right now, I've got a couple weddings, family shoots and girlfriend shoots in my pending file. BUT.... I don't like to go too many days without blogging something so here are a couple from a shoot a few days ago.

I will post more later Marissa, along with a story of two about you!

If you are wanting some photos taken in the next couple of weeks, I have a few, few spots open. Give me a call or a comment or better yet, stop by my place with some chocolate!

Have a good weekend, I know I will as long as the snow stays away as I'm outside all day Saturday taking photos!

Ken and Haley - Wedding

She requested that her wedding guests stay seated during her walk down the aisle so she could see her groom from the moment she crossed the threshold of the sanctuary. She caught his eye many years earlier and this day was no exception. He wore the hugest grin and with a glint in his eye he stepped down off the stage and met her at the end of the aisle. They joined hands and stepped up to make it all official.

The ceremony was full of moments, but I think the best was when Haley got emotional during her vows. Kleenex was passed all around the stage and pews as she finished up - and Ken was all smiles as she completed her vows and was ready to put a ring on her finger!

The day was beautiful, full of love and lots and lots of laughter! I have never laughed so much taking photos as I did that day! I must say that I saw Haley do something that I have never seen any other bride ever do and it almost made me drop my camera I was laughing soooo hard! Thanks again Haley - I will NEVER forget that!

Ken and Haley had perfectly planned the flow of the day and gave me oodles of time to shoot them alone - in fact I felt like I was running dry on options and then we came up with another location that enabled them to grab a burger and soda from A&W before we hit our last location and made the drive (which I think was totally worth it!). Ken and Haley allowed me to finally FINALLY get a shot that I've been wanting to try for quite a while now. I didn't post the actual shot because I want to play around with it abit. But I've added quite a few of my favorites from the day and believe me it was hard to choose which to post, I had a great couple and amazing locations and could have shot longer but yet again the bride and groom did have a party to get to!

Thanks again Ken and Haley, I had a great day hanging out with you both. You are an amazing couple and it was a complete pleasure to shoot your wedding. Enjoy the view out your front window!!

Now this girl knew how to have a comfortable day- check out her shoes!

Just beautiful - I was loving LOVING the light that afternoon!

See what I mean? Gorgeous light and beautiful bride make photographer very happy!

Haley knows when to ham it up for the camera, I got lots of smiles from her!

Never ever have I ever seen a bride do that Haley! Too too funny! And never will I forget it!

Just after this shot Ken used Haley as a barbell and lifted out 10 reps. Quite impressive!

Sigh!!

Okay so this view is amazing! I can't say anything else. Just that. Nothing more.

Road Trip

I enjoy road trips, it means a few things - I'm getting out of PG for a little bit, I'm going to drink mad amounts of Coke, eat loads of M&M's, play music and sing along REALLY loudly and stop and take photos whenever I want. (well those last two happen when I road trip by myself - yesterday's road trip was not alone - so I didn't stop and take photos whenever I wanted.)

And believe me----- I WANTED! It was only a three hour drive from PG to Houston (BC not Texas, although that would have been nice!) and the drive was geeeeorgeous! The trees are turning color and around every bend was a beautiful shot, BUT it was raining just about the whole way and I had two extra passengers that didn't appreciate me stopping every few minutes. So no photos taken - but lots of singing and loud music happened (some mine, some the boys) and I ate a few M&M's and drank my Coke. It was great! The views were astounding and they seemed even better when I sing along with Chris Tomlin, Annie Lennox, Colin James or the boys CD's. Just for clarification my boys do enjoy Annie Lennox (walking on broken glass) and Colin James (just came back to say goodbye) all the other songs listened to required some sort of actions.

I just came back from another drive scouting out locations for tomorrow's wedding and in my typical neurotic indecisiveness I'm completely confused and will spend the rest of the evening mulling over the pros and cons of each spot. It takes me 10 minutes to figure out what to order for dinner, imagine how much more confused I am when it comes to photos that will grace the walls of someone's home for years to come. PRESSURE!! But, it's a good pressure, because all the locations are amazing, too amazing. Tys, Ry, Mom and I saw some cool stuff this afternoon - an old wasp hive (show and tell here we come), some real cool mushrooms, a lichen or two, lots of cool leaves and bear scat by the loader full. For those of you uninitiated into the wilds of northern BC that's bear poop. It was a dodge fest while we walked, but it intrigued the boys enough not to worry about running into a bear while walking through the trees!

So I've had two days of beautiful scenery around me and not one photo to show for it! But maybe that's a good thing because I always end up with a sore trigger finger by the end of every wedding - a trigger finger break might be a great idea.

I KNOW that I will have a plethora of beautiful shots tomorrow at Ken and Haley's wedding.

I'll be posting some from their wedding on Monday as I don't have my computer here with me.

But in the mean time I will leave you with a great fall photo - not taken on this road trip but on a little adventure Tysen, Rylen and I took earlier last week. I will post more from that trip another time too, but here's a peek at autumn from where I was standing. It is autumn in all it's splendor with a little attitude to boot.