Yes, I often get to take photos of handsome animals. A few days ago, I got to take some photos of a super handsome golden retriever! His name is Ty& his owner& I rode together for a few years. We braved the cold& snow to get some photos. They turned out pretty good not to mention it is always nice to catch up with old friends. So, we walked around the park& caught up for about an hour before we even decided that we should probably get to the task at hand- taking some photos! My zoom lens makes photographing animals so much easier. I don't need to get right on top of them to fill the frame. I absolutely love the following shot ..he is just such a sweet, sweet dog. He melts my heart!
Oh, beautiful animals make the world go 'round. Well, at the very least, they make my world go 'round! There is absolutely nothing that can make me happier than taking photos of people& their pets, especially if the people are happy with the end results. It would be great to make the animals happy as well but I think they prefer loving& treats to a good photo of themselves ..just a wild guess on my part ;) I also managed to convince Ty's owner to get in a few shots with him. Have I mentioned how lucky I am that I get to photograph some of the most beautiful people ever? So many of these photos are awesome that it was really hard to pick my top 2 for this post. When both owner& animal are as photogenic as these ones, it's hard to get a bad photo!
Such a fun winter day. Not to mention the weight that is lifted off my shoulders when the people invested in the photos end up liking them. I've never had anyone NOT like the end results but that doesn't really make me any less nervous when I uploading them to be seen for the first time! Does anyone else always get butterflies before hearing feedback from the 'client'?
Also, does anyone else feel silly when they use photography terms/ give advice? When you consider that I've really only been doing this since the spring ..I feel completely ridiculous when I do. I feel like I have to add a disclaimer to let people know they should probably check out some other blogs if they are looking for awesome photos. I have certainly improved but I don't think I should be out here giving advice or using terms like clients!
If you like these sneak peek photos, check out the rest of the shoot over here! They are definitely worth checking out ..Ty is handsome as can be& you can clearly see the owner is stunning as well. If you do visit, let me know what one is your favorite!
That is what we lovingly call the garage where my parents keep their cars. The Mini lived there first, so it's named after her! Last night, we had a family Mini Shack meeting. It was fun ..my uncle bet me $100 I couldn't drink a whole quart. I said 'Watch me.' then he went home& I went to bed after consuming a quarter of the bottle. We're clearly party animals. There were lots of dogs there as well. Okay, three. But that is three times as many as I usually have in my house! Squirt, Joey& Lola. But WHO is Lola you demand? Well, allow me to present to you a photo of Lola in the light box.
Lola is three& has a severe under bite. She cracks me up. So we threw a bow on her head& made her stay in the light box. Thanks, Hodder family for lending me your dog! Also, thank Jess for hanging out with me yesterday& bringing me delicious shortbread cookies to decorate& eat! Using a flash+ the light box = a whole new challenge. I'm going to have to work on this. Hopefully, Squirt will become more cooperative in the new year since he's had a giant break from it.
Turns out my uncle is leaving a few days early. He's out of here tomorrow. Perfect. I don't particularly care if I never see him again. I'm trying not to be sour but he hasn't even told me I'm not getting Joey yet. He's barely spoken to me& as time passes I'm less likely to accept his apology. Oh well. On a brighter note, I'm throwing on some running clothes& going out into the -10C weather with 60km/h wind. I plan on running myself out of this funk completely! Wish me luck.
What do you do when you're in a funk? Any advice to help me shake this feeling?
Joey didn't arrive today. It was a sad day. She will 100% be arriving tomorrow. I cannot wait to play photographer with her :D In order to cheer me up, my uncle came over with his dog+ my aunts dog, Boots! You might remember him from an earlier post. So we went for a very cold afternoon walk to the beach with Squirt, Murphy& Boots. It definitely helped ease the pain of not having Joey around. I brought my camera& snapped some photos. Here is the old Murph ..very photogenic!
Then Mom wrapped presents& decorated the tree while I watched& helped sort of. I held the ribbon in place& untangled lights. I was the backbone of the evening, obviously. I also got my present done for the pool's Secret Santa tomorrow night. I think it's a pretty decent gift considering that we can only spend $10. I'm not gonna lie ..the card+ frame cost more than that by a whole $4 ..which is really blowing the budget when you consider I went 40% over. Aw well, Colin is a good guy. Plus, how sad is it you can't get a card for less than $3.89+ taxes? Incredibly sad. On that note, I'm off to curl up in bed with a book& enjoy a quiet evening with my aching back. Hope you all had fabulous Christmas-filled Mondays!
That's what yesterday was. I barely remember yesterday AM when I taught swimming lessons. Yes, I was that tired. It's times like that I'm glad I keep my kid's lesson sheets up to date because I have no idea what they've done a mere day later. After teaching, I helped mom put the new mattresses on the beds ..which was a struggle when mine wouldn't fit. Since we're geniuses, we made it work. Then it was off to play with Finn! You guys might remember her. This dog has boundless energy! I think for every kilometre Kelly& I walked, she ran two.
After my photodate (like that new word I just made up?) with those two, I headed off to the Black Spoon restaurant with my two girlfriends who used to blog but gave it up. Although you'll remember Meg because she owns La Quaintrelle (and if you're really observant, you might even recognize the photo on the front page ..any guesses where you might have seen it?). Moral of the story is that the food was delicious, the company was fabulous& I need more of these ladies in my life! Then I decided to go swimming ..I managed 6 laps, 2 dives& 45 minutes in the sauna. Hello, productivity fail. Perhaps I'll manage better on Wednesday evening ..tomorrow I have a 10k run in the books for myself. Praying the weather gods decide to be agreeable& give me some decent weather for it!
So now I'm laying on the couch falling asleep& watching a horror movie. I have another busy day ahead of me tomorrow but thankfully, swim at school is over until January! I am going to love every minute of the Christmas break from them ..that much I know. Just thinking about teaching 14 kids at 10AM is making me tired!
This morning I had the chance to photograph a pup named Luca! She is just as hyper as could be& could barely contain her excitement. It was bitterly cold this AM& so we snapped a few quick photos then decided to let it be at that. My hands were frozen plus I had actually managed to get a few great shots of her alone& with her owner! It was snowing by the end so the photos of her+ her owner turned out very wintery& awesome. Sometimes I am start to feel like I might be catching on to this whole photography thing ...and then I check out some other photography blogs& am promptly brought back to reality! That being said, I do love the photos from the shoot today so I figured I'd share one of my favorites with you guys.
How sweet& calm does little Luca look in this? The answer is very ..and that is hilarious because the outtakes from this include all kinds of photos out of focus because she jumped up at me to say hello right as I was snapping the photo. Which proves that photos do lie ;) Thankfully, I managed to get this shot. I just love the colors in it& the look on her face is so sweet! She just adores her owner who was standing exactly where Luca is looking. I will probably share one of the photos with the owner later in the week! Just this one for now.
I think if you look back to some of my earlier photo attempts, this is a
giant improvement! I shoot fully manual now ..something I thought I'd
never do because I didn't think I'd ever learn. Turns out the learning curve was not too awful at all. So my advice to anyone out there with an SLR still shooting automatic? Just switch to manual& learn white balance, ISO, aperture& f-stop! After you know what all that means ..you simply have to make a promise to yourself to shoot in manual regardless of how awful your photos will be at first (trust me on this. You'll need a bunch of photos of the same thing to get one properly exposed/ sharp)! It gets so much easier& now I never shoot on fully automatic. The switch to shooting manual has really helped my photos. Especially when you consider most photos are taken with the kit lens on my Rebel XS. This photo, however, was taken with my portrait lens. I adore it. Cannot wait to move up to a better camera body& get myself some better lenses.
Side note- some men who swim laps at the pool heard about my photography& suggested that if I ever needed models they were available. I asked them would they were Santa hats to which they replied sure. Who wants to buy a 2012 calendar filled with the handsome swimming patrons of the NSCP?! I hope everyone is having a delightful Monday ..or at least as delightful as a Monday can be!
My dog either hates me or feels bad for me because he thinks I'm certifiably insane. No, seriously. The photo challenge for yesterday was You with 13 Things. Uhh ..yeah, okay. 13 is a big number. So I'll give you guys the whole layout. I took my tripod, camera& dog downstairs to my room, where all my self portraits happen. I had no idea what to use. So I started gathering things haphazardly. I have labeled the following photo. Read on to see what each item is!
Dog I painted in grade 8. Yes, I framed it.
Giant giraffe my mom got me for Easter years ago ..she knows me well!
My Rumple bear!
Mirrors in the shapes of circles.
Yup. That's a nutcracker.
It's a diffuser for my curls.
Baby Converse shoes I used to wear when I had tiny feet!
A yoga mat.
So where are 9, 10, 11, 12& 13? Oh. They arrive in my following photo. This photo, I think, accurately represents how most of my self-portrait photos go. Please tell me other people have the same problems? It also explains why perhaps my dog thinks I should be committed and never, ever released to torture him again!
I added my dog (yes, I made him wear the shoes. I am a cruel, heartless momma), a guitar (I look awkward even holding it), a photo album, my eReader& some flowers. You can see me sitting on the bed caused everything to tumble. The giraffe was caught mid-fall in this photo. The nutcracker, yoga mat& diffuser have disappeared and the dog looks seriously concerned about the whole thing! Good dog for staying inside the shoes though. I still can't believe sometimes the things I attempt. I'm counting this as my actual photo because, let's be honest, there ARE 13 things in there. You just can't see them all!
So my next photo prompt was Eyes. If you know me, you know eyes make me want to vomit. So, uh, what is a girl to do?! Abstract time. I was bored with trying to get a good photo after my failed attempts at 13 Things so, of course, I got mad and took a crappy photo for eyes. I readily admit that at this point just completing these themes on time& getting them to the blog is such an accomplishment that the quality of them isn't concerning me so much ;) Mostly I'm kidding but I'm still feeling sick& sluggish so for today it was a true thought. Moral of the story? I got it done. I am a machine. What day am I on again?! I just keep looking up the theme& forget to look at the day. It might be 14 maybe ..is that why yesterday I had to include 13 things in my photo? That would make sense, right?
Obviously I am a goddess with the camera. If you ever questioned it before, I am certain today's post has solidified it in everyone's minds. Don't kid ..you wish you had my skill! Abstract is my friend. Mostly because I don't really know what an abstract photo is so I take shitty photos& label them 'abstract' which instantly means that I can have my very own art show.
The photo coming up really doesn't have much to do with anything other than it seriously cracks me up. Especially when you consider that the dog was still putting up with me by this point. Everything about it makes me laugh out loud. I think it clearly shows that I am well on my way to becoming a superstar in the world of photography. I mean ..who doesn't want a shot like this of themselves& their pet hanging on their wall?!
Obviously, the theme for the day is the title of this blog post. Why? I have no idea. Probably because I'm 100% uncreative when it comes to making an appropriate blog title! Oh well.
The day came& went. I had planned on grabbing a quick shot of the boyfriend while he was here to eat supper but that failed. I went to the barns& to grab a quick tea while still managing to capture no one that I loved. I love my mom. No, seriously. She's great. So I snapped a photo of her about 20 minutes ago but it cannot be saved. I took it wayy underexposed, the focus is off slightly& it is filled with noise. Awesome. I had planned on throwing my dog in the light box but momma informed that Squirt isn't a 'somebody'. Is she right? I don't know! Since the photo of her didn't work out to well, I figured I was using the dog anyway. He doesn't mind posing. Except that the entire time he gives me a death stare& tries to walk away. Sucks to be 5lbs ;) His reward is sleeping in my bed. How does something so small occupy 60% of my bed? It's insane.
Since there was no other living creature in the house besides my momma& my dog, I am stuck giving you guys another photo of him! I have some shoots of actual humans coming up next weekend so there's always that to look forward to if you're starting to get sick of my dog. Then again ..how could anyone ever get sick of him?! Plus today is day 9 of this challenge& I haven't included a photo of him since day 1! I would say I'm doing pretty darn good for not overloading you all with photos of the pup. Especially if you had any idea how many puppy photos I had sitting on my computer.
Autumn colors are slowly but surely arriving in Cape Breton! I cannot wait to get out& try to grab a few decent landscape shots. I hate landscapes. I love this islands fall colors. It's such a dilemma. I'm 100% still on my hunt to master landscapes ..I'm just failing miserably! At some point over the weekend, I'm dragging the boyfriend out to some location to try& snap a few shots. I wish tripods were easier to transport. Like telepathically. Hike to a gorgeous spot then think 'Tripod, arrive.' and POOF- it arrives without me having to drag it around. I actually sort of feel like that with the camera until I get a decent camera bag. The one I have now has no strap so I have to carry it in my hand. Awkwarddddd. I also need an ND filter. I should get on that soon. It would be fabulous. Why is it the more I learn& want to accomplish in photography, the more it's going to become expensive?!
I love you. But I might have to kill you& for that I apologize in advance.
Sincerely,
Your momma."
My dog is SERIOUSLY going to drive me mentally insane if he doesn't stop. I know he's old& needy but come on. He sits near me& whines, whines, whines. When I pick him up to sit in my lap? He jumps down to whine again. When I try to take him out to pee? He hides under the table. I don't know what to do with him. I've tried everything. He's gone for walks until he was so tired he was whining laying down. He has food. He has water. He has a comfy blanket. I just don't get it.
I thought he might be sore. I gave him his medicine. I thought he might be cranky he wasn't getting ice in his water (..I know, I know. Spoiled). I gave him ice. I gave him everything. He is still whining. The only time he stops is when I, very angrily, tell him to go to lay down in his bed. I don't want to be angry at him but oh. my. god. Is there some solution for this? I don't understand. Is he senile& not realizing how completely frustrating this is for me?! I want to cry from this incessant whining.
This probably means I'm not ready to birth& raise a child. If my dog is making me crack ..I can only imagine what something super needy would do to me. I'm sure I'd be running away, screaming& crying while leaving the child with the baby daddy. Ugh. I do still love him though ..especially when he curls up beside me in my bed& rests his little head in the crook of my arm. My heart melts. He also doesn't whine then so that is also a major perk.
Yes. This was mostly a major vent about how my dog is slowly driving me to the edge of insanity (no, not the workout). I'm trying everything I can think of but, sadly, I am not a dog whisperer so I keep falling flat. I just don't understand. Does anyone else have this problem with their animal? Or is this just failure on my part to be a good mom to a senior citizen dog? Or is this an aging dog thing? Do they get whinier / needier as they age? I'm so confused. I'm so frustrated. I feel guilty for wanting to sell him on Kijiji ..so maybe I'll try the blog first. I present to you- the sale ad for my dog.
Anyone want a little 5.5lb, ancient dog? He sheds. He's cranky. He can't be left alone with kids. He has bundles of energy. He doesn't play well with others. He whines a lot. He walks funny& has a hole in his head. You can't clip his nails/ groom him if you like your fingers. Bathing a 5 ton elephant would create less mess than bathing him. He is spoiled rotten. He likes his water with ice in it. He likes to lay in the sunshine. For 10 minutes. Then come back in. For 5 minutes. Then go back to the sunshine. Repeat endlessly in the summer months. He's cute. He is well-trained but probably won't listen to you regardless. He won't die. So you'll probably be stuck with him for a long time.
So, any takers? I'll include a photo so you can see, if nothing else, he certainly has good looks on his side. He's like George Clooney. He gets more handsome with age ;D
Please, dear readers. Don't run away. I promise (sort of) this post isn't just another crazy rambling about how awesome my pup is. In fact, this isn't even a photo of MY pet. It's a photo of a dog owned by someone else. I posted some of these before, including the one I'm going to have at the end of these words.
It's for iheartfaces& I love this shot. When I saw that it was Pet Week, I figured what the heck. I may as well try my luck with it, right? So, here is a shot of Zac the Doberman. He is sweet but you know what isn't sweet? The person I took the photos for has entered them in a few competitions and such and never even gave me any credit. I am trying to not be petty about it but it's definitely the reason I watermark everything I put up on the internet. I learned that lesson the hard way! People are definitely quick to take your photos& not give any credit. So now that I've ranted about that, here is the photo- complete with a watermark ;D
Halfway through the week that is! The weather on the island is fabulous if you like cold, wind& rain. Any takers? I know lots of you bloggers are complaining about the heat ..let's trade! Since I had lots of time to kill today and absolutely nothing to do or no one to hang out with I decided to spend some time with my puppy. AKA we had a photo shoot! He was so thrilled with the idea that he could hardly stand still.
What's that? Why yes, you're right. He WAS trying to run away from me& my camera. Silly Squirt should be used to me taking photos of him now but for some reason he still really hates it. Whatever. He weighs 5 pounds. Just try to stop me, ya little stinker.
Required to have a (semi) cooperative pup.
Much bribery& cushioning for the old fart in order to get a cute shot.
It's crazy to think that I've had Squirt for so long. His birthday is the end of August and I can't wait to celebrate by getting an ice cream cake (for the humans) and a bone (his)! I am super excited to snap some really cute shots of his birthday this year .. he's getting a full photography session free of charge. I know, I know. He hates it but he's just so darn photogenic!
See? How can you not take his photo.
I know I own the cutest dog in the entire world ;)
I wish that he was more willing to play along and sit or lay down quietly for photos. He's friggin' ancient so how does he even have half the energy he does?! It's almost a small miracle especially considering 7 years ago now a vet told us to enjoy the time we had left with him because he would probably never fully recover from his pitbull attack. He is the dog that just refuses to let life get him down. We could probably all learn a lesson from him. Even 3 weeks of bed rest didn't dampen his spirits too much!
Can't you just hear him saying;
'But Mom this is so dumb!'
Winters are hard on my old fart but he always rallies around in the spring and stays good through the autumn for me! I think the crappy damp weather has been hard on him .. we aren't getting in many walks and he isn't getting much vitamin D. Then again, neither are the rest of us. So even though today was foggy& drizzly, we spent about an hour outside running around& taking photos.
Dreaming of freedom..
It's all that keeps him going during photos ;)
I think it lifted his spirits although I know next show he's spending some quality time over at the barns. That's like his ultimate most favorite place ever! Shyann& Squirt used to sunbathe for hours outside in the summers. Shy would stand there eating grass til her hearts content with Squirty sleeping in the shade under her belly (PS did I mention Shyann is for sale?! My heart is broken I can't have her)! It was so sweet .. I really wish I had of snapped some photos of it. With the dogs that live there now completely out of control, I can't bring Squirt anymore because they just run him into the ground. He's too old to be chased around like that.
He prefers his purple pillow.
I love his paws in this photo for some reason
Okay this started out a small, quick post to show some of the photos I took this AM of the pup (yes, there are more) but turned into a huge, rambling post about how awesome he is instead. I'm sorry. I can't help but brag about him because he is pretty great, wouldn't you agree? At the very least he's got something going for him with that shaggy, scraggly look!
Yes .. the island is spoiling us! It's 22°C& sunny. Seriously- I know it's hard to believe. It's GORGEOUS out. I woke up .. put the puppers out& sat on my driveway. Then I made some eggs and took a photo to show you!
This is how I spend my mornings.
Eating plains eggs in the sunshine❤
So after that we headed to the beach. My dog& I interrupted some random couple who were SUPER SERIOUS about fighting. Oh well .. I threw off my shoes, let the pup off the leash and embraced the day.
My shoes without my feet in them!
Toes firmly planted in the sand.
So, I laid in the sand for a good while& let the pup have a run down and back over the beach. I got some cute shots. Since I love my dog more than most everything else? I'm going to share how sweet he is with all of you lucky readers :D
Scoping out the scene and coming back to hang out with his favorite person :)
More than anything I love my little doggy!
And look how cute his little face is :D
So then poor Squirt was dying from heat& thirst .. so we headed back to the house. When we got back, my brother was sitting outside with music, cell phone& a glass of pepsi. And moccasins on his feet. And plaid PJ pants. So very Matthew. I took some photos. Here they are.
My brother.
Chillaxing& relaxing all cool.
Annddd a photo of my brother including my dog.
I sort of really like this photo. They look like they like each other.
So, now that I've flooded you with photos from my beautiful day on the beach ..I've spent too much time indoors! I'm off to make myself some lunch and head out for an easy bike ride. Oddly, my legs aren't even the slightest bit sore from yesterday. I'm taking this as an excellent sign! Thumbs up for progress.
How you lovely folks spending today?! I hope it is as nice where you are as it is where I am! Enjoy today, regardless of the weather :)
You are great. Apparently, I'm the greatest though because my one post on breastfeeding has set us back hundreds of years! And people wonder why I think I'm so spectacular ..it's obvious. I have more power in my blog than any of you do ;)
So, discovering I hold lots of blogging power has led me to wonder what else I can change in the world. I wanted a great topic to follow to my boobie topic, but I was drawing blanks. Apparently being great doesn't mean you always have blog material. Also, writing about yourself is A LOT easier than writing about other things. Thinking up topics is slightly tiring, if I do say so myself. In an effort to try to help me out, I enlisted google& youtube. The result? Neither had anything of substance. So I resorted to going outside and enjoying the sunshine. Cold be damned. Here is my photo story :)
So, Mom points out that it is either smoky or foggy at all the beaches. I concur. We note this is strange. She leaves for groceries and I decide to give up on the blog& take the dog for a walk. Off we head to the Black Track. Here is the tree from my spooky shot from 365. It's less spooky in the foggy daylight.
PS all that foggy stuff is either fog or smoke. I'm still not sure which. So, we walked down& onto the Black Track. I felt like I was in a movie. There was little wisps of fog rolling across the ground. It was so neat to see. So of course, I took some photos. Here is one to show you how neat it was :)
See how cool that is? So then, the dog decided he wanted to go to the back beach. So off we went. Bye bye, black track. I love you& can't wait until you are filled with flowers for my photography! Until then, I will content myself with some berries that are trying to survive despite the crappy weather on the island. It was the lone berry on that plant actually looking like it might make it.
So, after stopping for a quick photo of the berry, we headed towards the beach. We crossed the pond and only got mildly wet. Why I love crossing through the pond, despite the gross marshy land, I will never know. My dog loves it too! So, here is a shot of the pond+ the beach. All the stuff that is fog/smoke should be water. So that will show you just how thick it was!
Mmmm marshy water. That my dog drank. And tripped into. Go Squirt. You really need to work on using those back legs better little man! So, we continued on our way, making it through the marshy land. My socks stayed dry& I stayed happy. When we got to the beach, it was such a neat sight to see all the fog/smoke rolling in! So, seeing as this was a photo op, I stopped& took another photo. I also unhooked the dog so he could roam. He's only allowed off leash at the beaches, so he was super excited.
Pretty, eh? I will admit that though I do HATE our weather 10 out of 12 months, my family has one of the most spectacular backyards ever. I really can't imagine wanting to give that up. Now, I mentioned that I let the dog go to explore. What did he find? An woman& man also taking in the sights of the fog/smoke. They were older and so sweet. They asked about my dog and said it was nice I had a hobby (photography). Then, we parted ways. Except I turned around and creepily took a photo of the woman. For your creeping pleasure, here is my piece titled 'Senior in the Fog':
Not my best work, but not bad for a quickly snapped creeper shot of a woman I had only spoken to for 2 minutes& she had no idea I took it. Ahh .. creeping. You complete me. So, the dog& I carried on ..we walked up the beach and onto the grassy path we spend a lot of time in. It's one of my most favorite spots in the world. It's so nice to lay in grass (or ..dry dirt at this time of year) and be surrounded by the ocean! We met a nice guy on a dirtbike .. he liked my dog. I didn't get a photo of them but Squirt crawled right up on him. I missed that photo op because I was getting a photo of a seagull.
Sweet seagull. So then we continued on our way to my favorite spot. Upon reaching our destination, I promptly sat my arse on the ground and stayed there. What did I do while on the ground? First, I soaked up some rays from sun. It wasn't warm, but the Vitamin D was nice either way. Then I saw the moon. I kid you not. It was just chillin' above the ocean& opposite the sun. PS I know this happens all the time, I was still really excited. So excited, in fact, that I took a photo!
Ahh.. le lune. C'est magnifique, non? Alors, apres ca ..jk. After the moon experience, my dog was running around burning off all his winter energy. He loves when it gets nice enough out that Momma will take him for walks. I know, that makes me a bad mom. I should always walk him, regardless of weather. Sorry puppy. I got some awesome shots of the pupster, I will not show them all to you. This post is already really long& most people have probably stopped reading& moved on to just looking at the photos. Which is okay too :)
My dog is the sweetest dog in all of Cape Breton. Also that photo is a gem .. something so cute about puppy tongues! So, by this point my fingers were going numb& Squirt was anxious to get back home. So, we started our trek back. I turned the camera off, only to have to turn it right back on one last time! I saw a crow. Wow ..seagulls& crows, I am amazing at capturing rare animals on film. He was flying away from the pond. Here's my end shot. I hope you enjoyed my photo story post!
Lots& lots to talk about. What a busy day I had yesterday. I will break them down into their own little segments. There will not, however, be as many photos as my posts have had lately. Sorry about that!
Harlem Globetrotters
Yes. These awesome folks are coming to Centre 200. I am so freaking excited. I am purchasing tickets for the boyfriend& myself later today. I don't even care if he isn't excited. I'm taking my camera& getting some sweet shots. I loved them the last time I saw them and he has NEVER seen them before! This is a travesty that we have to correct immediately. My excitement over this is almost making me forget about just how very sucky our weather is. Almost. So, needless to say I'm so excited for this!
Karli
I played photographer again yesterday& snapped some shots of Karli being a graduate! She even brought roses. Laughing& good times were had by all. We had NO idea how to put on the grad gown ...I'm really hoping we figured it out in the end though! She was a trooper and we got some neat shots. We even managed shots at the beach, where it was super windy, bight and cold. I think she liked them, she made of them her facebook profile photo, which I always find a good sign! Thank you Photoshop, for making it look like I know what I'm doing with my camera :) And thank you Karli, fpr the roses. Mom& I plan on keeping them along as live as possible. Approximately 3 - 5 days :)
Ice cream
Mmm .. my favorite treat. Although I have been eating it so much lately, it's less of a treat& more of a dietary staple. Oops. I promise to cut back. It's just all of a sudden, Lick-A-Treat& Tasty Treat are open for business. And I'm one happy customer. I don't care that the prices are high, that I need to wear mittens to hold my ice cream or that I eat while the seat warmers are on. I'M EATING ICE CREAM. And I don't care WHAT the weather man says. It was delicious. We even got tea& coffee afterward to warm us back up. So good.. minus the part where I had to pee. so. bad. Then we watched American Idol& my boyfriend got frustrated with how much I talk during it. So I made him leave. Hahaha I'm kidding ..sort of. I really did make him leave before the Lakers game. They lost again. What a disappointing 3 games for them. Hopefully they pull it together& win the whole year.
Photo of the Day
I don't have it yet. Check back later / tomorrow. I promise to have it then .. maybe. I would also love to promise that it will be great, but it probably will be just average. Hey, at least I'm consistent. Consistency is the key to being awesome. Right? Oh well, I did one up on the photo of the day. Keep reading and you'll be laughing ..hopefully!
Squirt
So. My dog is the funniest / sweetest dog in the whole wide world. When we were leaving the beach, I yelled for him to come join us. We see him galloping towards us with something in his mouth. Uncertain, I take out my camera and snap a few shots. Brilliant. It's a Pepsi cup and he is SO proud of it. You could see the excitement on his face. I wish I had of had a video recorder. I did the next best thing. I put them in iMovie for the Mac and added a song and a comic book feel. Then I uploaded it to youtube. Between that and this blog, I've never been more certain in my life of my future. Here is what I'm envisioning:
1. Ellen invites myself& my dog on her show. We rock it.
2. Pepsi makes Squirt their new spokesperson. He rocks it.
3. I get a book deal from that& the blog. I rock it.
Yeah. So, for your viewing pleasure .. here is the first view of Pepsi's new commercial. I hope you love it as much as I do. Squirt is such a celebrity.
Today was a day that was filled with many adventures! I will break them down into little stories for you guys ..I may even save a few work stories for later dates, seeing as I know you'll all be going through Cogan's story withdrawals!
Dreams& Wake Up Calls
So, this morning I was all snuggled up in my bed. I was warm and comfy and having the strangest dream. Myself and my husband, Jon Cryer (you know, the guy from Two& A Half Men who ISN'T Charlie Sheen) were in a cooking class with a world famous chef. I had married Mr. Cryer in a secret ceremony while still dating Garret (who was calling me while we were in the class) and this was his attempt to domesticate me. The chef asked a question to which, for reasons I do not know, I knew the answer! GO ME! Except the reward for getting the question right was that the chef left the class in my hands. Literally. He walked out. So, I started everyone on their meals. We were making mashed potatoes in kitchen sink water and using link fence pieces to mash it. All incredibly bizarre, correct? It gets stranger.
So, I'm walking around the room and becoming increasingly more panicked because I have absolutely no idea what the hell I'm doing. All of sudden, Meghan and her dad were there. Being the life saver that she is, she had her laptop with her and I was suddenly able to find a recipe to guide me. I used my favorite recipe place, Skinny Taste, and suddenly I was good to go. I asked Meg to make a special recipe, which I thought of all on my own, called Orange Julius Carrot Soup.
It was MASSIVE amounts of carrots and one large Orange Julius pineapple / orange smoothie. I can well imagine it would have tasted disgusting, except that as her dad was putting it on the stove top, my father came downstairs and woke me up. I blame the fact that I was actively in REM sleep as to why I can remember that dream in such vivid detail!!
*Side note, check out Skinny Taste. Incredibly awesome and, from the few I've tried, fairly simple, delicious and nutritious!
Why, you ask, was my dad waking me up? Oh, it was 8.45AM and I had to be at work in 5 minutes. It takes longer than 5 minutes to drive there. Oops. So I scrambled out of my warm sheets and out of my comfy PJs, brushed my teeth (barely) and managed to make it to the store by 8.59AM. It was opened for business at 9.02AM. Don't say I'm not efficient. Last morning shift ever and I almost missed it ...leave it to me! Oh well, Dad got me tea& a chocolate chip muffin so really .. it was still a pretty awesome start to my day :) We also had our first ice creams of the year at Lick-A-Treat (less scandalously named sibling of the Lick-A-Chick)! I got a chocolate twist in a dish with sprinkles and really wished I had my camera because it was just SO pretty! I love my dad always, but especially when he's taking me for an ice cream!
Truck Adventures
So, then when we got home I got a mysterious text from Karli that read 'Hey whats up? Want to join me on a random drive somewhere?'. Direct quote. Being the adventurous soul that I am, I agreed no further questions asked! We were headed on a cold, long trip to Lobster Galley where Tyler and his friends had broken down on their way back home from the Cabot Trail :( Long story short .. Karli had her alpaca mittens but BONUS! She also had seal skin mittens! My hands have officially worn more types of skin& fur than any other body part. Tyler, being the sweet fella that he is, treated Karli& myself to Pizza Delight. It was delicious, thanks again Tyler! Seems like a short adventure when I type it out on my blog, but in reality it was 4hours and the end result? The truck wasn't fixed, it was still cold, the boys had to get the truck towed and Tyler was out a lot of money! So, it was not a very productive day for him but it ended on 2 positive notes:
1. The boys are getting massive amounts of pizza (with kitty cat faces on them!)
2. They got to ride in the truck which was on the tow truck (I don't know how this can be anything less than awesome)!
So, this post is becoming quite long! My day that was supposed to be ho-hum turned into something much better and more funny! So now, I am supposed to leave you with a photo of the day. Although I DID give you a photo of the day yesterday AND an entire set of puppy dog shots. I play by the rules though, and the rules state that I still owe you guys a photo for this day! So, I am going back to the lightbox. In the lightbox, you will see something very pretty. However, the photo is not yet taken ..so I will be back later this evening with the second edition of my post& a photo! So, until then, enjoy my artist selection for today.
My artist is named Keith Mullins and is Garret's brother! He is talented, owns a farm in Halifax and is generally a great guy with some really cute kids :) I tried to find a better video of him, but all I have is a video from his CD release party. I was there ..it was awesome. Hope you enjoy this video .. this song is awesome!
PS -Don't forget to enter my blog contest! It's super easy ..just click here and leave a comment! Prizes are awesome ...relatively speaking (consider your other option: not winning ANY prizes) ;)
I had a glorious, glorious sleep last night. It started almost immediately after I submitted my post and lasted almost 12 hours. I guess the reason I have been feeling so crappy& chronically tired lately is because I was actually tired. What a novel concept! Who would have thought ..so for now, I'm feeling much better and wishing that I had of just been able to get such a long sleep about a week ago. If I hadn't been so tired, I would have run a 5k in Sydney today. As it stands, I'm going to get back on the fitness train tomorrow, for real this time! I'm going to restart Insanity and keep going for the full 60 days. I am promising this time.. no more slacking.
Okay, so aside from my good sleep& lack of exercise, today is gorgeous! The weatherman tells me it's cold out, but all I can think is:
HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING :)
Or fall, if you live in the southern hemisphere!
The sun is shining, there are no clouds and it seems warmer than it is! What more can you ask for?! Oh yeah, that is stays this way! I want warmer weather and to enjoy some ice cream. I also want to get my motorcycle license.
Why, you ask? Yesterday Garret made the trek to Ingonish to pick up a motorcycle so that I can learn to drive! I'm so excited. Last night was my first official lesson. I sat on it, started it, shifted it out of neutral and into first (maybe?) .. let out the clutch and .. WENT FORWARD! Wooohoo .. I survived my first attempt at driving at motorcycle 4 inches! I also learned how to gas it while it was in neutral. I survived that as well (already doing much better than anticipated)! It was so exciting ..I can't wait to get a new leather coat and pants with studs on them. Also, to try to drive it outside of the garage. You guys just wait until you see me flying around downtown on my bike! I made Garret take a photo& send it to me so you guys could see just how awesome I am:
*Had to blur the background ..so many other bikes, couldn't tell what one I was on!
Isn't that awesome?! I love it. I don't even care that it's super dorky and Garret tells me it isn't very cool! Now, I need some suggestions for my awesome bike.
1. Name?!
2. Color?!
3. Decals?!
4. How awesome (1 - 10) is all this?!
I'll give you a hint for 4 .. the answer is 10 (incredibly awesome!). I'm so much a rebel that my mom even tweeted this:
Thanks Mom!! Definitely made me laugh out loud when I saw that ..too cute :) So, now .. what else is on the agenda for this day? Soon, I have to head to work where I will study for my foodborne test. If I get enough done there, I will write it tomorrow. If not, I'll write it Wednesday. Easy enough game plan ..as long as I don't get sidetracked by Buffy or Easy A! I am hoping for a quiet night -then again, I'm always hoping for a quiet night.
I also have to make myself some lunch in a few minutes and am busy wondering why I ate all the cake earlier. Baking is dangerous for my waistline. No more cookies or cakes for me! I am also promising to start eating healthier again. Such a slacker these last few weeks. Oops.
The only thing left to include in my post for this afternoon is TWO photos of the day, but I have to be honest; I'm not going to include them yet. I need to upload& photoshop them still. Too much work for me right now so on that note, keep waiting. I will add them later this evening when I get in from work.
Oh, before I leave this post go. I have one more thing to talk about: Roll Up the Rim to: lose, in my case. I have yet to win a single thing on this stupid game. To make matters worse, Garret is constantly winning!! I think he has won 15+ times so far and I'm pretty sure I was there for every. single. one. So not fair .. Tim Hortons, why can't you pour my tea into a winning cup?! Just one .. I just want a free stinkin' tea. Please, can you make this happen before Roll up the Rim is over? Would really appreciate it!
So,for now, I am off to hang out with my puppy and make myself some lunch! I hope you all take advantage of this gorgeous day (or not so gorgeous, if that's your luck!)! At the very least, happy change of seasons boys& girls :)
