This past weekend one of my bestest friends and I took to the streets of Vancouver city. We figured we would have a go at it before the Olympics struck and we had to steer clear for the next month.
We took our time, and just milled about, enjoying the city and all that it has to offer. So often I go into the city, tire out from shopping too hard, and want to go home. But we paced ourselves between the shopping and stopped to see through the eyes of a tourist. Beautiful, beautiful. The people, the places, especially the buildings. So many things that when you stop and take the time to really look at, you see with new eyes.
Lately I have been taking a new interest in built structures…I find them so interesting to take stock in…to take in the details, the angles, the colours. I find buildings to be so pretty of late. So when I find an especially lovely one, I go a little overboard. As you can see from the following pics. BUT…it’s good practice. Although my ability with my SLR has definitely progressed, I still have a LOT of learning and practicing behind the lens…but for better or worse, here are some pics!
So my family ventured outside our normal cooked from scratch menu and made a collaborative effort to make some tasty Thai food (one of my favourites).
We made Coconut Jasmine Rice, Pad Thai, Black Thai Pork (a mild curry base) and a Creamy Peanut Chicken, and for dessert, a Banana Cake with Caramel Sauce. They were pretty dang tasty, the Chicken dish was my personal fave, I would definately make again.
Here are the few pics I took.
*I realize that this post is very late in going up on the blog. BUT in my defense, I did have surgery, and did a whole lot of nothing for almost 2 months. Even typing was off limits during that time, so I am just getting around to updating the blog now….so, hopefully, you can still enjoy!
The last little while I have been taking a new interest in cookies. LET me be more specific, because I have been having a love affair with cookies since i came out of the womb…I’ve taken an interest in icing cookies. A friend and co-worker of mine is a big advocate of beautifully iced sugar cookies, and brings them in often. Every time, I am green with envy. So, she recommended that I take the Wilton class at Michaels where she learned her cookie icing skills. Off to Michaels I went to find out that they had quit doing the class! Intense sadness overtook me for abou a day, and then i asked my friend to show me. She agreed. the following is an account of the day i leaned to make cookies pretty.
It all begins with the making of the cookies (which by the way, i have no pics of it, but they required INTENSE rolling with a pin. which although I am actually proficient at, I HATE)
Necessary supplies
Then you make the thick merangue icing to edge the cookies with
then you make a dam with the icing
and you make sure to smooth down the edges with a paintbrush
divide out the white icing so you can colour it!
then get picking how you are going to colour you rainbow!
odd the things one can find pretty
time for a break! Bring on the ‘Bucks!
now we’re all set. let the games begin!
all of mine, and some of my faves!
My lovely friend Tanis is incredibly gifted at catching moments in time. As long as I have know her (which has been a good long while) she has been a pro behind a camera. Lately she has been investing a lot of time and effort into taking her gift to the next level and sharing it with others. She is now offering people the opportunity to work with her as a photographer. And it is something you definitely want to do.
I am of course, biased. But even so, I think Tanis Katie is amazingly talented! My sister and I had the opportunity to get photographed by the genius that is Tanis Patenaude, and it was a great experience. Here is just a tiny sampling, a smidgeon if you will, of the pics she did that day (check out her blog to see more of ours, as well as all the other wicked good pics she has up).
I am so happy with the work Tanis did, and we have gotten lots of compliments. Guess what all family members are getting for Christmas? BOOYA.
If you are looking for someone to capture that handsome mug of yours in a special moment I sincerely suggest you contact Tanis.
All I can say is that she is working for you. She makes anything look good.
CHECK OUT HER BLOG. DO IT! you want to, and you KNOW IT.
I think this is the first time I have ever used my blog to pimp someone out. It feels fine actually.
Falling into rust coloured leaves, breathing in crisp air, any heavy knit sweaters (preferably with any type of turtle neck…yeah, you WISH you got that joke) and ANYHING pumpkin makes me happy on my insides.
And then it shows on my outsides.
These things. These moments. Show on my outsides.
mmm…sprouting water. so much fun!
sometimes I don’t know where I’m headed…but things are lookin up
A tri-coloured arboreal delight in the middle of a bustling city
an almost success at bringing the old world back into the new world. the wheels give it away.
A Claire Colvin bowl full o’ cookies masterpiece
Please note the amazing read in the background. The Sweetnes at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. Review found here.
I want to eat the screen.
Sometimes you need to do what you can to jazz up a cubicle…
LOVING fall and all that it brings. Loving all that it still has yet to bring. Nothing says Fall like a random collab of leftover pictures. Loving Pumpkin Spiced Lattes.
I have possibly the world's largest collection of Knick Knacks and Brick-a-Bracks. Some of them have a great value attached to them. Some of them do not. They simply provide good material for me. So I have began the collection a strong note. I feel a movement in the force. Don't hate on me haters.
I. Love. Star. Wars.
(i also love workin on my photo editing skills)
The other night a friend and I threw caution to the wind, picked up and wandered into the city for an evening. I took the opportunity to bust out the SLR and try and hone my skills. They are still in dire, dire need of learning and fine tuning. Luckily for me, my friend is quite a talent behind the lens, and lent me her time in showing off her skills. I was able to learn a lot more about shutter speed and the effects that I am able to create.
That, paired with the fact that I somehow managed to spend almost no money whilst shopping made the evening a success. Here are a few of the shots I took of the Vancouver night life.
I am an SLR virgin. Sure, I’ve played around a bit with my friends SLR’s in the heat of the moment, but I had never fully gone all the way. Until recently…so I guess technically I WAS an SLR virgin.
Mine, all mine. I very recently entered into a pretty serious exclusive relationship with a Nikon D300. No, he’s not as fancy as some others out there…but he treats me right and we push each other’s buttons in all the right ways.
Being as a I am a camera n00b, I am taking my time to learn all I can. Do it right the first time. I am learning the feel of the body in my palm, the smooth twisting of the lens in my hand. I am learning what all the stupid buttons do! I am perfecting focus and aperature and….sleeping faces mode? I am going to sink time and effort into this bad boy and make a interest into a life long passion.
My person (that means best friend in my books F to the Y to the I) is a skilled photog, and has been patiently walking the ropes with me. She coaches me to test my skills with my SLR, and I coach her in testing her skills in having patience. Fair trade.
I am going to put up some of the first pics I took. Mostly so that I have something to show for all the work, and as well to serve as a scale to measure growth again. Over time, things will get better and I will be able to look back on the documented journey I took in learning the craft.
No, the subject matter is not the most interesting, but it’s in the details that I am looking to!
The other day I was in the midst of having a particularly hard week, and was in dire need of a pick me up. Funny how the Lord works in mysterious ways. Walking from my car to the house, a brief bright spot of shimmer and colour caught my eye. Investigation was needed. As I walked further, to my delight I saw a great winged thing. A Dragonfly!
As long as I can remember, I have had an affinity for dragonflies. As a child and into my teens they adorned my room. I would watch from afar, slowly creeping closer and closer in the backyard, hoping to get a glimpse lasting more than a few seconds. How beautiful they are! I’m only scared of spiders.
What a gift! Unfotunately, my little buddy was in the middle of the road, and seemed to have no intentions of moving. He was trying like nobodies business to get those little wings working, but they were failing him. I picked him up and took him over to the door, away from the mass of cats and crows. When I came back out 15 min later and noted how motionless he was, I ran for the closest camera (my mom’s point and shoot Canon) and took this few and far between opportunity to get some close up views of an amazing creature. A little gift for me, a reminder. And don’t be sad, the next day, our little friend had gotten the strength back to fly away. Dragonfly, fly away home.
Welcome friend. Let me try and explain what drove me to create this space. There are indeed reasons behind it.
Beginnings. Endings. And all that stuff in-between.
There are many facets to me, or so, the perception of the individual that I see myself as. And I wish to seek out and express myself in ways that are conducive to the person that I perceive myself as becoming. My thoughts often take form best when poised above a keyboard or fiercely gripping a pen. My mother passed her poet’s soul to her beloved.
I love to write, and often times hole away my work on shelves never to see any light again.
Be born free literary works.
I love to take pictures, play with imagery. So. Bought a new SLR.
Be a Lonesome Dove no more photographs.
I recently had been going through a very hard time in my life, and to accompany said feelings of hardship, I had entertained in a little self indulgent whining. A sweet co-worker who I count as a daily blessing finally took a step outside her normal character attributes and shouted at me ” just live your life!”. A much heard and simple phrase. And so it was that I remembered that throughout the thick and thin, there is joy, no matter how hard I shut my eyes and try to reject it.
Joy is sitting and waiting to be taken. Who am I to turn my back and deny it?
And so, a blog was born. A segway for personal expression, free of form and confines.
An opportunity to show that I do intend to keep on living out La Bella Vita.
Enjoy, and as always: keep on rockin in the free world.
