catching up...slowly but surely

I am embarrassed to say this, but I totally fell off the 365 day photo project wagon.  Wedding planning swept me up into a hurricane of dress shopping, hall booking, and wedding blog surfing.  I know.  It's terrible.  But I'm determined to hop back on and get caught up.  So, my mom suggested that I do two a day: one from where I left off (in November -- eeeeek!), and one from the current date.  So it sort of messes my days up, but whatever.  So I'm just going to write the date that I took the image, and the date that it was meant for.  Hopefully it's not too confusing.


January 28, 2012 (November 16, 2011) - Empty
A brand new journal, waiting to be filled.  I have a lot of those.

January 28, 2012 (the real one) -- Funny

I've started collecting Sock Monkeys.  They just look like they have a great sense of humour, don't they?

January 29, 2012 (November 17, 2011) -- Irony

Shawn is turning fourteen in February.  It's ironic that of all our dogs, he has been the one with the most problems (cancer, bladder infections, losing weight for no apparent reason, etc.), and yet he's the one that has lasted the longest.

January 29, 2012 -- Dumb
No, your eyes do not deceive you.  The pictures are purple.  I put in an order of 400+ photographs (yes, you read that number correctly), only to return my black and white shots because they were green.  The colour shots looked all right.  Then, the photo lab technician tells us that they were having problems with their chemicals...so all my pictures turned purple in about a month.  Most labs would shut down if they were having chemical issues. So. Dumb.

January 30, 2012 (November 18, 2011) -- Sound

I love this picture.  For Christmas, my mom gave me this little vintage-inspired music box that plays one of the songs from Nutcracker (the name escapes me right now).  Underneath it, she had folded up, very, very tiny, a ticket to go see the Nutcracker the next week.  It's so pretty, and even though Christmas is over, I still play it.

January 30, 2012 -- Reward

For the dogs of course...not for me.

childhood influences: the secret garden

click here to view more pretty edited screen caps (frankly, I didn't feel like posting the tumblr name on my blog).

I started this post months ago, as a companion to my Little Princess post.  I don't know why I never finished it, because it's always been in the back of my mind.  So I figured that now is as good a time as any, because really, I haven't had much opportunity to go out and take pictures because of the terrible weather.    It's either pouring rain, or snowing, or frigidly cold.  I can only take so many pictures of the knicknacks on my shelf, you know?

Anyway.  The Secret Garden.  Another Frances Hodgson Burnett masterpiece.  Another film that I popped into the VCR on a weekly basis, until the tape started wearing down.  And yet another reason why I'm sure I love all the things I do, because nostalgia is definitely a running theme here.  The haunting portrait of Colin's mother, which was always strangely beautiful to me, is probably why I still love portraiture circa 1900 and earlier, and why as an artist, I have always leaned toward images of the human face.  It's probably why I love collecting old photographs too.

Here's a recent photograph I picked up (along with my Notman). I love his expression, and it's in fairly good condition too.  I'm sure the girls must have fawned over him.  Not to mention, that jacket looks awesome.

And how could we forget the key?  Isn't that how the whole thing started?  I remember being instantly smitten with the giant skeleton key that Mary discovers in her aunt's dusty, forgotten room.  The intricate design, and the grating sound it made when she put it in the lock.  It may even have been the sound more than the look that attracted me.  Just like I loved the sound of Mary's mother's ivory elephant as she walked it along wood.  Is that weird?  I don't know.  But I know that I still think of that sound, and when I hear it elsewhere, I still like it.

I've had this key for quite some time.  I used to carry it on my keychain, with all my modern keys, and occasionally I put it on a necklace.  Mostly it sits on my bedside table looking rustic and pretty.  It's obviously not the same size or complexity as the  Secret Garden key that you can see in the screen cap at the beginning of the post.  But it was the closest I could find at the time (and I still haven't come across anything better), and I love to imagine what it might have opened.  Part in parcel with the key, is the jewelry box in that screen cap.  A couple years ago, Luke's mom gave me one of her old jewelry boxes, and it looks a lot like that one.  I absolutely adore it.  I didn't take a picture of it, because well...it's kind of obscured by a whole lot of junk on my book shelf at the moment. 

 Last, but not least, is the clothes.  Pretty much of all of it, really.  I love her pea coat, and the big red tam (I still haven't found one that was just right...but I'll keep looking!).  In the meantime, I have a number of other ones, mostly gray, and one that's a delightful mustard colour.  I love the ribbons in Mary's hair, and the lace on her adorable little dresses.  I wish I was dainty enough to wear those stockings, but alas, I think it would just make me look ridiculous.  I'll stick to the lace, and the long gray coats.

I bought this lace shirt at Christmas-time, but I haven't worn it yet.  I'll either wear it for the rehearsal dinner, or after our wedding when Luke and I go out to dinner (paired with a really pretty lace skirt, both from Jacob).

Well, there you have it.  Yet another book/film that has continued to inspire me over the past twelve years or so.  And I think they did such a good job of that movie, that it's timeless, as far as I'm concerned.  They just got it right.  There's nothing to date it (see, for example, Diane Keaton's attempt at 1940s hair in The Godfather, which really just looks like it's from the '70s), and I think all the kids did a really terrific job at carrying the story.  The ten-year-old in me still has a bit of a crush on Dickon.

via mala-lesbia ; check out her gallery -- it's filled with beautiful, dream-like imagery.

*** I'd also like to note that the pictures I took were processed with Sara Lynn Paige's beautiful Reminisce film style actions.  I bought them a few weeks ago, and they are truly lovely.  Sometimes digital images can be too crisp, too clear.  This puts just the right amount of colour, and depth into my images.

lifetime goal: achieved

Normally, that title would be absolute hyperbole.  I say things like that all the time in jest, but this time around, I actually achieved one of my lifetime goals, and I can't tell you how entirely excited I am about this fact!  But before I get to the actual discovery, let me give you a bit of background.

You may or may not know/remember that I was an art history major for two years, and even though I didn't go through my degree to the very end (I decided to pursue writing instead), I would say I was fairly passionate about it.  In fact, I had aspirations of becoming a professor -- that's right folks, I had every intention of devoting the next ten or more years to education, wherever that may have taken me.  And so when I was considering which topic I might like to explore for a masters degree (and eventually my PhD), I was going back and forth between two topics: Flemish painting (think Vermeer, the artist who created my absolute favourite painting Girl with a Pearl Earring) and early Canadian photography.  I'd always loved Vermeer, but it was an amazing documentary on the "Queen's Photographer" William Notman that began to sway me toward Canadian photography.  His work was different from a lot of photographers at the time, and some of it very complex.   If you're interested in taking a look at his photographs, check out Museum McCord's virtual exhibit about him.

In any case, I was obsessed.  I had print-outs of his work hanging on my wall.  I wrote possibly my best university essay about his influence on the world's perception of Canada.  And I honestly never though I would care that much about anything even remotely Canadian, because while I love living here, our history is not the most fascinating.  Because I was totally hung up about this photographer, I decided that someday, I would find a William Notman photograph, and make it my own.  I'd only ever seen a couple in person (strangely, it was a gentleman exhibiting early Canadian photographs at the mall), but they weren't for sale.  So I could only admire them through a glass case, and then have to walk away.

But for the past two years I have looked through probably hundreds of old photographs at various antique stores with no luck at all.  I was tempted to ask the store owners if they would keep an eye out for any Notmans, but then I thought they probably get so many old photographs that they don't even care about the studio anymore.  Then...it happened.  Yesterday, while out antiquing with my best friend (and maid of honour!), I found it.  Buried in among a stash of photographs, I drew it out, and I stopped breathing as I stared at the studio name at the bottom of the portrait.  It was all very dramatic, I can assure you.  What made it even more amazing to me, was that the photograph was from his Boston Studio -- not even Ottawa or Montreal.  It was one lonely photograph taken in a different country that somehow made it's way to that antique store, and into my hands.  And thus my lifetime goal was accomplished for the price of three dollars.

Funnily enough, I had just told Mary that it would be just my luck that when I found a Notman, it would be of a creepy baby or something.  But no!  Instead I got myself a sharp-dressed older gentleman with a kind face.  On the back of the photo is written the man's name Geo W. Pousland, and what I believe is his year of birth (1814) and death (1894).  I did a bit of research, and the span of  years of the man's life (and the approximate age he is in the portrait) put him in the right time for Notman's Boston studio, as well as the actual name of the studio (Notman Photographic Company).  So I'm absolutely ecstatic that I own an authentic William Notman photograph!  I might just have to pop over to the university to show the professor who made us watch that documentary!

the post-holiday post

I hope everyone had an exciting (and safe) start to the new year!  Mine was certainly buzzing from start to finish, and hasn't really drawn to its close quite yet.  On Saturday we're all going out for a good German lunch with my Opa and his lady-friend Ruth -- always good for a laugh, and there are always stories to tell.  And it'll be the first time he meets Luke, as well as my older brother's lovely girlfriend, Ashley!  So we'll see how that goes.  With my Opa, you just never know.  (P.S. isn't that picture of Shawn with the antlers too cute?  Seriously, that dog will let you put anything on him. I've tied pashminas on him, we've put glasses, hats, and various other clothing and he just sits there with that adorable look on his face. Such a good dog.)

Anyway, I promised you a second Christmas post, and a New Years post, so I've combined them into one post because that felt like the most efficient thing to do.  

My Mom and I take great pride in our holiday table settings. And while I've only included one shot, trust me that there are photographs from every angle imaginable of that table.  It was so sparkly and festive.  I think our Christmas settings are always the best.  Also, that Christmas photo of me and Luke is not quite genuine...it was actually taken on New Years Eve.  Over the three Christmases we have spent together, Luke and I had never managed to get a really good picture of us by a tree, or whatever.  So my mom took some.  And strangely enough, though we both felt that we were making really happy, excited faces, all the pictures made us look like we were bored.  But oh well. I can live with it.

New Years was spent with Marc and Leanne, as I mentioned in my last post.  It was so much fun!  None of us are big drinkers (and I don't know about anyone else, but I generally like to remember special events, rather than lose them in an alcohol-induced haze), so for the final count down we actually toasted with sparkling juice.  But it was delicious sparkling juice.  We did have some wine with dinner though, and I had a small Bailey's because Bailey's is best (mmm alliteration).  Oh...and we made CHOCOLATE FONDUE. So utterly delicious.

That second photo is one of my favourites from the evening.  It just seems really classically New Years to me. :)  And the first shot is Luke and Marc goofing around and pretending that the champanade was not just champanade.

We played this great board game called the Magic Labyrinth.  Basically, you're trying to collect your medallions, but you have to go through a labyrinth that you can't see because it's under the board. Your piece moves on a magnet, and if you hit a wall, you have to start back at your corner. It's definitely a challenge to play at midnight!  And of course I couldn't resist a sparkly silver nail polish to celebrate the New Year. I didn't have any sparkly clothes, so the sparkles had to appear on my nails (which are finally long enough to paint!).

Anyway, that's the holiday in a nutshell!  Now back to our regularly scheduled programming!

miss peregrine's home for peculiar children

I hope everyone had a fun, relaxing, restful holiday!  I do have another Christmas post coming up, but finding enough time to process all the images has been hard to come by, as you can imagine.  And then of course there's New Year's!  I'm totally excited, because this year we'll be spending that particular holiday with Marc and Leanne (you will remember them from Halloween).  It's sure to be an awesome time, and a post about that will be sure to follow!


I thought I'd do a little interim post about one of the gifts that I received this year, from my brother. It's about this book:

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs.  I watched the book trailer a few weeks ago, and immediately fell in book love.  So you can imagine how excited I was to get reading.  I managed to drag it out to the evening of December 26th, and there's part of me that wishes I had dragged it out a bit longer -- because now that it's over, I'm sort of in withdrawal. But let me tell you, it is pretty much everything I love in a book.  The combination of actual old photographs (which sometimes border on the grotesque, so be warned) and a compelling story make for a really interesting reading experience.  It was also kind of refreshing to read a book that isn't a classic.  Don't get me wrong, I love the classics, but sometimes you just need a bit of contemporary punch now and then.

I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, so I won't go into much detail on the plot.  This isn't so much a review as a "I'm so excited about this story, and I want everyone else to be excited about it too" sort of post.  But if you like stories of budding romance (not Twilight-esque budding romance, which is silly), intrigue, adventure, and anything with vintage flair, then you'll like this one.  I'm probably going to wait a few weeks and then read it again, just to see if I pick up anything the second time around that I missed in the first go.  I'm so, so, so excited that there's going to be a sequel...I just don't know if I'll be able to wait that long!

deck the halls!

Decorating around the house for Christmas this year has brought up some bittersweet thoughts for me.  Since I'll be married and in my very own apartment by Christmas 2012, this is sort of my "last" Christmas here.  I know, I know...I'll be coming by on Christmas Eve to celebrate with my family (we no longer celebrate on Christmas morning) for years to come, but I probably won't be here when my mom drags all of our Christmas decorations up from the basement and turns our autumnal living room/dining room into a winter wonderland.  And I probably won't be decorating the Christmas tree with my mom either, after which we always ask my dad "How does it look?", to which he always responds, "It's beautiful!", and then we glow with pride.  I'm excited to decorate the apartment I'll be sharing with Luke, to have our own tree, to watch Christmas specials together on our own couch.  But there is a part of me that will be sorry to leave these traditions behind.  So even though I'm excited for Christmas, I know that this is the last one of its kind for me.  So I want to treasure it even more for that.


One of the traditions that I'm definitely going to carry on with Luke, and with our future children, is buying a new ornament for each of us every year.  That means that each of us have (or will have, in the case of my younger brother) twenty-one ornaments from Hallmark.  It's so fun to pick your ornament each fall, and see the way our tastes have changed over the years.  I went from Precious Moments-esque angels, to goofy Santas (one of which is pictured below), the lovely bird ornaments.  My older brother, collected fishing Santas, Snoopy ornaments, and even has a Muhammed Ali ornament (which, I'm afraid, always gets relegated to the back of the tree because it doesn't go with my mom's decor).  And may I also add that the annual advent calendar is always something to look forward to?

first snow fall...sort of

I feel like every time I write a post these days, I'm apologizing for being absent.  But November, and now December, have sort of taken me by the throat and won't let go.  To add to all the other insanity that's been happening, I found out today that my my grandpa is having surgery tonight (he may be in surgery right now, for all I know), and that he might have cancer.  Again.  And I spent most of my day editing scene change charts, and sticking tabs in for all the lighting and sound cues in my stage manager's script.


And, to top it all off, I am freezing cold. 


The snow did start falling a few days ago though.  I thought it might actually stick around, but it appears I was wrong.  Which is too bad, because we have a few roses still clinging to life on our rose bush, and I wanted to get some shots of the snow on them -- but every time I went to go take the pictures, the snow had already melted!  


I'm not a huge fan of snow, but I'm less of a fan of green Christmases.  Now that it's December, I feel like I have license to watch every single Christmas special in existence, and that the sky owes me enough snow to hide all the nasty, soggy grass.

(you can click on the pictures to view larger!)

P.S. I picked and purchased my wedding gown on Saturday.  I wish I could tell you guys about it because I'm super excited, but Luke reads the blog, and I don't want to blow the surprise!  But I can tell you that I tried on about ten dresses, and pretty much knew right away that it was the one.  Part of me knew because I absolutely did not want to take it off.  And my parents completely surprised me by offering to buy the dress!  I can't wait to be able to share pictures with you -- less than a year to go!