you say you want a resolution.....

Hello friends! Are you ready for another new year? What's on your agenda this New Year's Eve? Do you like to ring in the year partying it up with friends or do you prefer a smaller gathering? Do you stay up or do you like to snooze your way through the calendar change?

Do you make any resolutions for yourself? Here's my little list to tackle for 2015:

• quality time with mom
• manage grief - seek support, exercise frequently & watch great comedies
• do a photography 365 - I've never finished one yet - this will be the year!
• have a big beautiful travel adventure with my loves
• get fit  - have fun getting in shape - set aside regular workout nights
• explore new places/restaurants/events - So much inspiration comes from trying new things
• put together meal plans on Sundays - to make the weeknights easier & reduce food waste
• try and achieve creative success through writing or photography
• read a tonne
• do something big
• plan lots of fun dates with my love, my daughter & my friends

The older I get, the more I want to just live an authentic life - where the home I live in, the food I eat, the clothes I wear, the people I surround myself with, the activities I participate in, truly reflect who I am. I just like being around funny, bright, kind hearted people who just get it  - that our success isn't measured by our bank accounts, it's measured by being our authentic, best, happiest selves.  I think the older you get, you just don't want to waste what little precious time you have being anything but that. I hope 2015 treats you all to a healthy, happy, wonderful year. xoxo much love & peace.

Some favourite photos from 2014 - part two.

We were stuck at the ferry terminal for hours and were bored to tears. I'm glad we pulled out the camera and caught a family photo to pass the time. 

 I love this photo, not just because it reminds me of a really fun day out we shared, but because we also caught the silhouette of her bunny - her favourite toy in life. 

 This kite flyer had mad skills - and I love the vintage feel of the sky's colour

 The jaw dropping awesome talent of the Snowbirds. 

 A tutu, gumboots & sprinkler lead to some magical moments. 

What can I say, I just love this face. 

 This isn't a spectacular photo, but I love it because it shows how one couple builds an amazing life together, full of friends and family.

 These two lovebirds just adore one another. I love how they look like they're just spending a lazy Sunday window shopping after  their brunch.

Friendship in a nutshell. 

 This face cracks me up. 

 I just think his name should be Wilbur. I could have watched him play all day. 

We hit up three pumpkin patches this fall, and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. 

This was my favourite photo that I snapped this year - I think it just summed up serenity & peace to me.

Happy holidays friends! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are resting with full bellies. xoxo

some favourite photos from the year - part one

I love looking back at the year in photos, making a coffee table book to put my favourites in one spot and saving all the photos on the external hard drive, clearing space for a new year of memories. 

 There's always something magical about sunset & silhouettes.

 She was the bravest warrior I've ever known this year. And pictured here with her grandbabies means the world to all of us.

 Cheek to cheek with our little ray of sunshine who has made this difficult year a whole lot brighter.

 I love photographing her against blue backdrops to bring out her beautiful eyes.

There's is something magical about dancing in a sea of colour after a fun run with an awesome friend.

This event was a giant spirit lifter and I wanted all the colourful aftermath captured on film.

 I love the burnt, desert looking dusty red colour of this staircase, and the adorable couple climbing it.

 This bubble reminded me of a dreamy planet earth. I don't use photoshop, so this bubble is all natural.

 My mom's garden had regular visitors all summer, which added so much happiness to her days.

 Farmer's markets - one of my favourite things about Summer.

 Backyard garden parties - another one of my favourite Summer highlights. 

This was taken on a weekend getaway to Mt. Baker - it rained all weekend, but it was one of the best weekends we had all year  - indoor swimming, fuse ball, rainy river walks.....

I loved this little spot - it looks like the perfect place to sit down with good friends over coffee or wine and talk about life.

random images from the weekend....

Hello friends! Are you ready for Christmas? We finished all of our shopping this weekend, so now I'm looking forward to the build up of the big guy's visit. Tonight she told me that she thinks it would be nice if we left Santa a note with his milk and cookies saying, "Hello Santa, how are you? Welcome to our house. We want to wish you a very Merry Christmas." I thought it was either a very sweet touch, or her way of securing a spot on his nice list. She also said, "I've been good for hours, where is Santa with my doll house?"

three

Three years. It's hard to believe. I remember her birth like it was yesterday - every vivid detail. It wasn't an easy day, but it was my greatest day. She is The Gift of my life. A 5% chance is what they gave us to conceive naturally. And then along she came. You think you know all about love and then this child comes into your life and your heart introduces you to these new spaces that you hadn't known existed before. You've never cared about someone's physical safety and health more, to the point of ridiculous stress. You've never wanted to be a better person, period. You've never wanted to make anyone's days more special than you do with their days - being as creative or resourceful as possible so that each day feels full of wonder. And yet it all pales in comparison to what she gives back in return. She has been my ray of sunshine on this impossibly hard year. She brings us this incredible spark, this amazing sense of humour, this gentle and empathetic disposition that makes us drift off to sleep gushing about how awesome we think she is. I love looking at the world all over again through her eyes, because it's a much better place. She asks me at night what I'm going to dream about (her favourite thing to dream about is cupcakes).....She loves it when my mom comes out with us because she thinks that means that Nana is all better......She lists off all her friends before she goes to sleep and tells me how much she loves them......Whenever her papa gives her a kit kat, she takes one stick, gives one to him, and saves the other two in the fridge for Craig and I, and no one ever taught her to do that....If someone falls down, she runs over to help them up before I've even noticed....If something wonderful happens in her day, she lists off all the people she's excited to tell....she spontaneously tells me she loves me all the time and it lights me every time.
Whoever coined the phrase that "the days are long and the years are short" is a genius. (I'm sure a simple google would lead me to their name...). There are long days, where all you want to do is get a few errands done, and it takes all day, because you forgot to factor in the hours it can take to just get them out. of. the. effing. house. There can be days where apparently every gut instinct you have is wrong about how they want things done - where milk tastes better out of an orange cup than a blue cup, you mother effing idiotic parent..........and yes those days can make you collapse into bed, gazing at the stars above, dreaming about the spare time you once had in days of yore....but as challenging as it all can get, for three years, she been the best part of my days. xoxo

Dec 17

Dec. 17th - Christmas image - the appearance of holiday greenery everywhere in the house.

Dec. 16

Christmas image: Dec. 16th - wrapping presents by the tree. xo

Dec. 15

Christmas Image Dec. 15 - All things woodland. It's official. I'm obsessed.

Dec. 10

Christmas image day 10: decorating homemade playdough using Christmas cookie cutters. xo

Dec. 9

Daily Christmas image: Christmas music and red wine. 

silver linings

At this time of year, I always put together a photo book of our favourite moments of the year. I'm not going to lie to you, this has been the hardest year I've known. As many of you know, about a month into the year, I held my mom's hand in her doctor's office only to have our hearts obliterated when he told her she only had a few months to live, that she had a very rare form of cancer: mesothelioma.
It sat like a pit in our stomachs throughout our days and a heaviness in our hearts. It was a tangible pain. She is the center, the heart of our family. I think it's safe to say I cried pretty much each day this year - mostly in the car on my commute home, where I could let out a day's worth of keeping it in.
But looking back on the photos, while compiling them for this year's re-cap book, this was also an extraordinary year. We spent so much quality time together as a family - every few days we were joined at the dinner table. Cancer taught us to have important conversations, to focus on what's most important in life and to realize how fragile this life of ours is.
Cancer showed us what support looks like. Support looks like my parent's friends who showed up with meal after meal, who cleaned their home time and time again, who threw wonderful parties, who called endlessly checking in. And the support extended to my extraordinary friends, who dropped off meals or gifts for my mom, even though they have never met her. They blew me away with their thoughtfulness.
Support looks like a wall in mom's home, full of beautiful drawings from her grandbabies, who are too young to know what is happening, but just want nana to feel better.
Now don't go thinking I'm pro cancer, because I'm most definitely not. I was just addressing the silver linings from this year. My mantra is actually fuck cancer. Fuck it for seeping into this family and for slowly taking away our favourite person. Fuck it for still existing in all of its multitudes in spite of millions of millions of dollars put into research. Fuck cancer for having no conscience about who it inflicts.
But I'm looking forward to giving my mom this photo book, to show her that in spite of it all, we still shared so many extraordinary days together. Seize the day people. It's not just a catch phrase, there is so much weight behind it. xoxo

dec 8

Christmas image Dec 8: Enjoying our sweet little tree that we hacked off of that tranquil farm.

Dec. 7

Dec. 7: Today was the first time we've ever cut down our own Christmas tree. It was so much fun wandering around the beautiful property with great friends. It's definitely going to be a new family tradition.