Seeing double

Last night we had photo shoot #2 for La Quaintrelle! Meg& Sam showed up as good sports along with Momma's Mini Cooper :) The Mini even got a bath for her big photo shoot debut! Albeit, I bathed her so you can be certain she was still pretty grubby. Oh well ..better than nothing, right?! This was my first time ever doing photos that had two whole people involved. Unless you count the ones of Garret& I. So onto the photos.

Love this shot of Meg. I am clearly addicted to black& white photos that are simple. What can I say ..I'm a simple girl! So we got some shots of just Meg& the dress until Sam arrived post-work. These two girls are completely different in style but when you throw their two different looks together in a photo& throw a similar style dress on them ..you get photos that work really! Not to mention they are both completely stunning so I'd have to try really hard to mess up the photos anyway.

Show off your shot

Click to check out other great photos!

Not to mention the Mini! How can you not love that practically spaceship of a car?! Most times I can't even figure out how to use it ..it took me far too long to figure out how to open the trunk last night so we could even get these shots. Seriously ... then I had another mishap post-photos when I tried to put gas in the tank. I couldn't figure out how to get the gas cap off. I literally stood in the gas station helpless until some older man took pity on me.

Sam is hilarious& I love this shot for some reason! Also you'll notice that in all the photos of Sam we had to hide her feet. No, she doesn't have some weird kind of foot fungus. She wore her Nike Frees (a woman after my own heart, clearly) to the shoot! So funny. They didn't exactly match the dress so we improvised with the props& editing so that her shoes would remain unseen ;) Too cute. I guess I can include a few photos that aren't in black& white just to prove that I did leave some color in some shots!

Mini love! Open the sunroof& hang out above the car! Love everything about this, even the headlights ..which, even I wanted to, I couldn't turn off because they sense when it's time to turn on. Which is cool if you're forgetful about those sorts of things! After much fun hanging out in the sunroof, I made them stand in front of the car (don't worry, Mom! They were instructed not to sit on the car or touch it ..haha)

Okay ..I have lots more photos but I figure you guys have been more than flooded with photos from this shoot! Let me know what you think ..do you have a deep, deep love for black& white photos as well? Do you prefer subdued or bright colors or, like for me, does it depend on what you're photographing? Sorry for the crazy long post!

*Linking up with Rub Some Dirt on It for Happiness Is.. in my case, it's having people willing to let me photograph them so I can improve :) Especially all the wonderful people in my life ..stunning inside& out!

Nike

[Before the post relating to the topic ..don't forget today is Monday! That means that there is a new post up on Rounder! Drop Sarah some love!]

Nike is one of my true loves. Seriously. It is actually ahead of Lulu lemon. And considering I only wear Lulu& Nike to workout in ..that makes Nike pretty special. I broke in my new Frees today with Insanity day 3. They are delightful. Here is a photo for your viewing pleasure:

[via]

Yeah. They are a thing of beauty and they help me survive Insanity. Tomorrow I'm on day 4& doing a 5k run ..may be running the Fiddlers 10k in approximately 6 days. Have I trained for this? No. Do I really think I should do it? Not really. Does this deter me at all? Nope. Why? I have no idea. At the very least I'll be running the 5k. A little disappointed that I am not doing the half marathon but oh well ..I will be doing one in the spring. I am determined! 

So aside from my deep love of Nike, I also promised you guys some photos of Meghan from the photo shoot. Granted, no one commented on my last post (are my comments working? I'm really paranoid since Disqus seems to be screwing up on me..) so it probably doesn't matter. I like them though so you're all being subjected to them!

Check out shots all around the world!

Communal Global

So there you go. Three of the 33 shots from my second attempt at a photo shoot. What do you think? I love them and can really start to see myself improving. Funny how that old saying is true& practice really does make perfect (or at least better)! Who knew. I will admit I hated practicing when I first started using my camera because it was really hard to figure out all the settings and such but now that I have that under control? I love it more than ever! Especially small objects, people and animals! I'm trying super hard to learn to love landscape photography (as witnessed by my last few attempts) but I don't. I will continue until I can at least take a decent landscape photo though. Again, determination. It gets me every time! 

What are some of your favorite things to photograph? I'm trying to expand what I take photos of (haven't you all noticed how well I'm doing to NOT flood you with photos of my puppy) and learning along the way. Do you ever get to stop learning?!

Busy Sunday

Today is Sunday. I have (almost) finished the Rounder post for tomorrow. I have been to Halifax& back (8hr round trip+ shopping time) and purchased new Nike Frees and various other workout clothes. My legs are still hurting from Insanity (day 3 tomorrow). I did another portrait session and have edited them all. I worked at the store last night. I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on! Don't forget I also have a blog contest occurring (post below) ..so enter. Seriously, do it! Lastly, I am incredibly tired.

I would apologize for the lame post ..but I said I wouldn't be posting at all so I want some extra brownie points ;D I will also leave you guys with a little snapshot of ones of the photos from the session! Let me know what you think please ..this is my girlfriend who owns La Quaintrelle (remember my post.. no? Well check it out to be filled in) and she is fabulous ..just like her dresses! I'll post a link to the rest in tomorrow's more comprehensive post :) Enjoy your (basically over now) Sunday evening!

Late night post

Well. Today was busy. Woke up .. went to the barns. Had a good ride once we moved inside and I got him paying attention. Dumb horse. So then my momma was like 'get a new pair of running shoes!' and I was like 'thanks, Mom!' so off I went to Sydney to purchase a new pair of Frees. My selection was limited ..didn't want the same pair I just had, didn't want my friends pair so there was a black& pink pair and a black& purple pair. I was torn. Turns out ..all 4 pairs? None in my size. Brilliant. Thought back to my favorite pair:

and decided that frig it. I'll just get the pair I want since there's none on my island anyway that fit my feet. So when I got home I did just that. Built a pair and tried to order them. 5 weeks for shipping. Whatever. Don't ship to Canada?! SO. OVER. IT.

So ..my day was fun until my running shoe dilemma. I known I've needed a new pair for awhile but they are starting to get really hard to run in now. Not sure what I'm going to do but hoping that SportsCheck gets a pair in in my size sooner rather than later! Still wishing Nike would just send me stuff for free.

Oh well ..this will be my last post for the weekend most likely because tomorrow is looking busy& Sunday is looking filled with time with the boyfriend (assuming I don't get ditched for the motorcycle) so ..enjoy your weekend and I'll see you back here ASAP (and by that I mean whenever I get around to posting) Monday :)

Have you ever?

So the other evening I was having a conversation with my boyfriend's mom and her friend. Casual late night chats at 2AM. It was all very interesting and for the most part I enjoyed it all. Then we started talking about natives (is that even the politically correct term?) and their perks just for having certain genetics. I guess it was a sore spot because the friend really got her back up about this topic.

I stated that if people wanted to be treated equally than they can't then complain when some unequal perks are taken away. If you want equal treatment, pay taxes. Get decent marks to acquire scholarships. Grow up and behave correctly. Move off the reservation. People seem to only want equality when we are giving them more things .. not taking away some of the nicer guilt presents. Nothing against natives. I get it. 200 years ago or something a white person stole your land and gave you white people diseases. It was sad. That was a long time ago ..why am I paying for your university education with my taxes again?!

So while having this discussion she was starting to get mean. I didn't really get it but whatever. To each their own. Until she leaned in really close to my face and said to me:

Yvonne, I grew up in foster homes. I know how hard it is. Can you name even one time you were victimized and got over it? Even one. These people have hundreds of these situations. Just admit you can't understand it. You have supportive parents and have never had to face true hardships.

I think I probably looked as appalled as I felt. My first reaction was (thankfully, managed to bite my tongue before these words left my mouth) "Bitch, please. You don't know me." My second reaction was to sit back, take a minute and then say basically the same thing in a less offensive manner. So I basically just said because I was white and my parents loved me didn't mean my life was perfect.

People come from 'perfect' homes all the time that aren't so perfect if you have a fly on the wall kind of view. Now, don't get me wrong. My life is pretty much as close to fabulous as you can get and my parents are amazing ..it was more just this attitude of me being so privileged that how dare I suggest people get over themselves and behave like adults.

You're completely allowed to play the victim for as long as you want. I can't even pretend to care but you won't get any sympathy from me for doing it. Contrary to popular belief, there have been things in my world I've struggled with. Shocking when you consider than I'm a regular white girl who lived the 'perfect' life, isn't it? So, here's to you friend of boyfriend's mom. A toast to being completely inconsiderate and ridiculous*.

Quick crappy edit of my shoes for today.

Hey, it's day 2 and I've completed day 2 .. so I'm way ahead.

Hopefully this helps to perk up the downer post that I wrote for today!

*I apologize for the lack of generally fun upbeat content. Have been trying to let go of this since Friday when it happened. Obviously, I needed to yell about it via keyboard. Regular rant-free posting will be resumed tomorrow.

Still raining..

Yup so it's a few hours later on the same crappy Tuesday. I went to the barns. I biked 15 of my 40k but then my shoulder was sore and it was rainy. I bought some new things for my bicycle (aka computer and SWEET NEW TIRES!) and basically I lived large.

I watched a lot of Jenna Marbles& My Drunk Kitchen. I think I love both of them. Then I watched some Duggars and didn't like them. Oh well, I never have. So now I'm sitting here waiting for my boyfriend to show up at my house and put my new parts on my bike! So excited. I'd promise photos but obviously my camera is still at Meghan's house because I'm lazy and too cheap to pay for gas into Sydney. So sue me.

I decided that to help pass the time while waiting for 2 things;

1. The boyfriend
2. The sun

that I would create the pair of Nike Frees that I want. I couldn't think of any better usage for my time. Productive stuff? NO WAY. So here they are:

Say what you will about them ..I consider them to be a thing of beauty. I currently own purple and gray ones and they need to be updated. May as well go for the '80s look I love right?! Okay, so ..how long til my blog gets enough hits that Nike wants to send me things to write reviews for them?
I WANT FREE PRODUCTS.

Lots of things!

Today is an exciting day for so many reasons. First off, my blog has exceed 4,000 views ..that means it took less than 1 week to get 1,000 page views. Thank you, people who either find me mildly entertaining or something. I appreciate the follows and the comments :) So, now it's time to discuss the things that are occurring today!

April Fool's Day
Ahh .. I love this day. I don't know why, seeing as I never do anything April Fool-ish or anything. I mostly just cross my fingers& hope that either someone will pull a prank on me or I'll get to witness an amazing prank being pulled on someone else. Or, that someday I will be clever enough& think ahead to pull my very own practical joke on someone! Will this year be the year? No, it won't. Since I will have absolutely no stories of malarkey to tell about, I will appease the readers (you) with this clever card instead (because I love when things are funny AND match my website. Thank you, someecards!):

Contest
Today is officially your last chance to get an entry into my contest in some way, shape or form. You can tweet, blog, comment or facebook it! The prizes are great (if you ask me!) and who doesn't want free stuff?! I can think of no one. Most people will take junk they'll never use under the ruse of 'It was free!'. Let's make this work for my blog .. you have until 11.49PM to get your entry in and I'll be drawing for it tomorrow! On the plus side, if you're sick of seeing me constantly posting about the contest and have no plans of ever entering, at least it will be over soon :)

Exercise
In the last 3 weeks, if you looked up the word slacker in the dictionary, I would have been there. Eating bad food and laying on the couch. I have exercised some .. it just hasn't been nearly as consistent as it was prior to that. It is time for me to get my lazy arse up off my couch and back into my Nike Frees and start running and doing Insanity. I am going to restart Insanity for the full 60 days on Monday and actually hang up the schedule as constant motivation to start .. finish .. and stick to the diet. Why have I fallen off the exercise train after so long? I tore a ligament in the top of my foot / big toe. It hurt for a LONG time and is starting to get better. I cannot wait! The other answer lies beneath this post .. which you'll be reading in about 5 seconds!

Weather
Yes. I am going to blame the weather for this. Cape Breton weather has been sucking majorly. It is constantly cold, windy and either snowing or raining. Yesterday it was gorgeous out and I took Boots for a walk. Today started out promising, the sun was shining .. I heard birds chirping .. I was strongly optimistic. Ahh, optimism. You have foiled me once again. My mom had to go to Halifax today to get the Mini from her appointment with the car doctor, so I looked up the weather for her drive home. 5 - 10cm of snow .. freezing rain .. then rain. I love when we get the full spectrum of precipitation. It brings a smile to my heart and warmth to my limbs. It also makes me wonder why people would ever want to live here? Great place to vacation in summer& autumn. Which is 2 months. The other 10 really make me think this place is unfit for human living.

Photos of the Day
Ahh the joys of trying to take a photo a day for 365 days. I should have tried counting to 365 out loud before committing to such an extremely long project. Especially this whole concept of 'variety' ..I need help. My creative juices are NEVER flowing. This leads to a constant battle between what I can easily take photos of (my dog) versus things that will challenge me / not bore you guys (anything besides my dog). I promise to post later with them ..forgive me?

Music
I will leave you with something though, just not a photo. Some music! YAY you must so excited to get another musical pick from me, right? Well .. I will admit, it rocks. You've probably never even heard of this band before, either. Which makes my pick that much sweeter. Enjoy! And check back in a little bit for my post containing some sweet treats (ones you can't win, sorry folks)!



*April Fools ;)

One day .. two photos!

Okay, so as promised I will have two photos for you folks today. It is just going to start out with one (sorry, need to take day 14 photo still!). So today was Thursday and I was supposed to have a test in air quality tomorrow. Now? I don't. So life is good. .. I am officially done with school until after the break. Oh, how I adore you break. So many plans, but will refrain from talking about them until after they happen!

So today I went to foodborne lab and did some testing. Turns out I had a weirdly grown bacteria. It was interesting sort of. Then the lab ended an hour and a half early, so I went and got Garret for a tea and a drive. Then, it was time to go back to school for air quality lab. Which was semi-long, but ended well due to rescheduling of the test :D

After lab, I headed to the gym with Marg for the first time in a few days. It was excellent. Ran a few miles, did some bosu ball and then we headed to the mall where we got Orange Julius and shopped for shoes! I almost bought a new pair of Nike Frees, but I didn't like the guy who was serving us. He was being a jerk and asking me if I knew how to run in the Frees. Even though I had already told him I had a pair currently. That is just stupid. Stupid people frustrate me so much .. please, use your brain before speaking. Especially when it involves interacting with me.

Now I'm home. I am planning on TWO blog updates today. Here's why:
1. I have two photos to post
2. I have another blog post to post

I can't post both photos and posts at the same time because:
1. Photo wasn't taken yet
2. Next blog post will be a review of Insanity Day 1 (yup. I bought it. Oops).

Edit:
Okay, so now I have completed Insanity Fit Test. This was day 1. This was my first realization that the program I have purchased was perhaps a good decision for my overall fitness and a bad one for my sanity. I should have figured that out considering the name of it is Insanity. Here is a breakdown of my first attempt:

The Fit Test is 30 minutes long and you are supposed to do it every 15 days, so a total of 4 times. The warmup is nuts and powers through jogging, jumping jacks, Heisman's, 1-2-3s, butt kicks and high knees. I was winded by the end of it, that is how crazy it is.
After the warm up, we did a quick stretch and moved into the 8 moves of max reps for a full minute. I recorded my results and hopefully there will be improvements! The eight moves are:
1. Switch Kicks
2. Power Jacks
3. Power Knees
4. Power Jumps
5. Globe Jumps
6. Suicide Jumps
7. Push Up Jacks
8. Low Plank Obliques

It seems deceptively easy when solely being written down or explained. It is not. Since it was only thirty minutes, I didn't bother slapping on my heart rate monitor. Oops. I easily hit 85%. I promise to keep better track tomorrow when I tackle Day 2 - Cardio Circuit Plyometrics :( Wish me luck!

So, for now I leave you with my good looking boyfriend as my photo of the day #13:

I need work on portraits of people and I find it awkward to take them. So starting with the boyfriend is a good idea, will move on to others as my skills in this area improve! Hopefully, rather quickly :) And now, photo #14 which was taken this morning after my foodborne lab. So yes, I am too tired to even TRY to take another photo. I basically can't wait to have this post finished and watch X-Weighted!! It also keeps with the theme of having Garret related photos in this post ahaha it isn't him .. it's his one true love: the custom motorcycle he is building!