I haven’t thrown a promotion in a while and felt an urge to, so I’ve launched a FREE SHIPPING sale at my Etsy shop for all orders up to an 8×12! Offer is valid until Monday, October 20th. Use promo code: HAPPYSHIPPING. Enjoy! The print below is newly listed.

I wish you a happy thanksgiving (although every day is a GREAT day to reflect and be thankful for everything you have rather than sulk about what you don’t have :)).

Quick documentation of the Pancakes & Booze Art Show! I didn’t really know what to expect at this show from a format standpoint and was a bit underprepared as a result of not asking enough questions and being completely distracted by other things in my life. Luckily, it was more of an art showroom exhibit and therefore, wasn’t a marketplace for selling, which minimized the effects of my underprepared-ness in a big way. I was also fortunate to have caught a gentleman come back to my wall four times, which lead me to eventually introduce myself without feeling intrusive. He ended up buying the oceanside piece for his girlfriend. :) Feels so good every time. You know what else is extremely satisfying? Just watching people peruse through your work and take pictures of it. I can’t even explain. Anyway, thank you to my amazing husband for ALWAYS supporting me through my little side projects that can be a huge pain in the butt.

I’m in the middle of my application to the One of a Kind Show for March 2015. Wish me luck!!! This one’s a big one and I really want to do it. Did I mention that the application process is arguably more intense than a job application? I like it.

I’ve been procrastinating today. I have to get started on a case study analysis that’s due tomorrow. It’s on Louis Vuitton, so it’s at least interesting.

Photo below was taken with my iPhone 4S, so the quality sucks but it’s always better than nothing! I picked up my iPhone 6 yesterday though and I JUST LOVE IT.

Guys & gals, these favourite pieces of mine will be available to buy at a Show Special price at the Pancakes & Booze Art Show this Friday, October 3rd! Tickets are only $5! If nothing else, then just come hang out and celebrate art! The show starts at 8pm.

Side note: I’ve added a section in the Abouts to start covering off shows I’ve participated in. I’d like to do more and more and more. :)

I’m not caught up on the rumours at all but love this performance by Jay Z and Beyonce for what it is. I love, love, love video reels of sweet nostalgic footage stitched together like that and man, what a beautiful touch on their part. “This is REAL LIFE”, it says! Way to turn on the water works.

I’ve always hoped to have enough footage of my life with people I love captured so that I can make my own reel one day. And I’m beating myself up for still not making this a priority. Videos play such a critical role in memory keeping. And let’s just make sure we understand that I’m not talking about skillfully edited, stylish, funky videos by any stretch. I’m just talking about plain, simple raw footage of LIFE. It sounds like I’m stating the obvious but judging by the time it took me to realize what I’ve been missing out on, it may not be as obvious as we think! It takes more effort to capture on video but it’s completely worth it. The last time I had this exact same realization and then went on to harp all about it was in this post from November 2013!! I swear, this blog keeps me accountable. We’ve actually just ordered our iPhone 6’s yesterday (YAY!) and our new video camera with purpose will either be that device or a real video camera but a super compact one like the Canon VIXIA mini X. We’re still deciding but this needs to get done.

Speaking of iPhone 6’s, why am I only hearing about #BendGate today? After I ordered the phone? (Haha.) Anyway, it doesn’t matter. We love Apple too much.

Photo below was shot in Santa Cruz, California. “Forever Young” caption is inspired by Jay Z and Beyonce’s performance of course.

I did not cut my hair for at least 6 months because I was growing it out for the wedding. So as one can reasonably expect, there was a split-ends epidemic going on. It felt amazing to finally get a hair cut!!! And most importantly, I got bored, so I got bangs. I generally love it except for the fact that it takes a long time to blow dry them to the right shape. It’s shocking how incredibly easy it is look stupid with bangs if not styled properly! I don’t have too much patience for the blow drying, so I hope it gets easier. :)

If you haven’t already watched Emma Watson’s speech for the U.N., please do so right here, if not for interest in the topic of feminism, then simply for witnessing an absolutely stellar delivery. Topic aside, she really did nail the delivery. She’s only 24 years old with her best years still ahead of her, yet she has already accomplished something so profound that most of us will never experience in our lifetime. As a fellow woman in her 20’s, I am truly in awe.

I don’t really know where I stand on the subject of feminism (pardon my ignorance) and that is perhaps because I’ve fallen into the very trap that’s so clearly articulated in this speech. We can all acknowledge that a stigma has developed over time around the word “feminism”, making many women feel uncomfortable associating themselves with it, including myself. Agree or disagree, the speech does encourage you to re-evaluate, hence this post. Perhaps all too often, I look at this issue through my First World lens, in my First World bubble, where I’ve been lucky enough not to experience gender inequality. Not enough to be a cause for concern anyway. I tend to think that we are so damn privileged in a million different ways that it seems so trivial to belabour things like.. not having enough female executives. There are bigger fish to fry so to speak. I could be wrong for saying that but it’s one opinion.

The reality is that outside of my bubble, I know there are extreme gender inequalities, especially in countries where women literally have rights closer to an animal than a human being. That level of inequality is what puts a fire in my stomach. It makes much of our First World inequality issues seem like child’s play. We really have it pretty good and there are other groups that need way more help. There are numerous books and films representing the voices of women who have truly been victims of extreme inequality. I’ve read them and I’ve watched them and while it bothers me A LOT and makes me sick to my stomach to hear stories that my mind can’t even fathom, the problem is so “far away” from my reality that it finds a place in my heart for maybe 15 minutes at a time and then gets filed away until next time.

Watson quoted Hillel the Elder: “If not me, who? If not now, when?” How can I make a small dent somewhere?

I haven’t posted since my bachelorette!! It has been an extra large whirlwind since then wrapping up at work and getting ready for the big day! But I’m here, alive and extremely happy!! I had the best day of my life on our wedding day and can’t wait to post pictures. I don’t have much time to write too much right now but wanted to get something up just so the blog isn’t sitting out of date for too long. I’m so behind on pictures in general. I still have so many from San Francisco to post. Now that the Fall semester has started back up and wedding plans are over and I’m not working full time, life will be much calmer. Or so I hope. I’m excited to be spending more time on the business. :) Will be back to post more really soon!

I had a wicked childhood even all the way up to my tween years and my carnival photos remind me of it all the time. I definitely wish I could go back in time and relive those wonder years. :)

It’s only now that the wedding stuff is getting to be a lot more fun than troublesome. For the record, I’m officially enjoying it a lot now. Probably because the tasks are different now being a month out. Or maybe I’m just getting really excited and am in a different headspace. :) We made a bunch of chalkboard signs, picked our songs, bought nice paper to write our love letters on, bought my bridal jewelry, bought chris’ wedding shoes, worked on our wedding favours, and a bunch of miscellaneous things. I will make a point to take pictures of ALL of our DIY items before the wedding and post them here. :) We are getting so excited!!! I can’t wait!

I also went for my first dress fitting this past Thursday and thank goodness I love the dress just as much as I did when I bought it back in November. There was a bit of anxiety there as to whether I’d feel the same about the dress 9 months later! *phew*

Here’s one from Santa Cruz, California beach boardwalk, inspired by an old roller coaster shot here. I LOVE carnivals. They make everything better.

Happy Sunday! And happy birthday to my little sister! <3

I really can’t wait for our next vacation, which will also be our honeymoon. :) Need to get away again! I am so inspired by travel and need frequent doses of it. It’s such a good rejuvenator.

It’s official. I watch way too many horror movies. Chris was up at the cottage yesterday so I spent the night by myself. I went to bed at 10:30pm because I was tired but then ended up tossing and turning until 3:30am. FIVE HOURS!!! That is so unlike me because I usually fall asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow. But not last night. Last night I had all these crazy horror movie scenarios playing in my head with my plans of escape. It was horrible at the time but funny in hindsight of course. I also drank a whole cup of coffee yesterday afternoon, which I never do. Not a coffee drinker by any means and so of course, the one time I have a cup, I have to suffer through 5 hours of counting sheep in hopes that it would help me fall asleep. Who knew that a simple combination of horror movies and a cup of coffee would be the death of me.

Anyway, this is us in Santa Cruz, California. A beach and a carnival in one place? I couldn’t have asked for more. It was too much fun.