Ahhh, I’ve finally taken my long awaited trip to San Francisco and I am SO IN LOVE with the city!!! It’s so beautiful with the PERFECT mix of the ocean, nature, and city life. And the hills. Oh the hills. Walking to the corner store is a complete workout but I love it anyway. I have over 3,000 pictures to go through and I’m so excited to post them and make them available at my Etsy shop. California in general is so beautiful. We road-tripped to a few hidden gems along the coast and everything was just breathtaking. The world is truly a beautiful place, my heart is almost constantly jumping out of my chest when I travel. I have a BUSY few days ahead getting ready for the RAW:Toronto’s Spectrum showcase and so the pictures may come slowly but they WILL come! :) I will try to post 1 or 2 daily. (If you live in Toronto, come hang out at the showcase!)

I’m already thinking about the next trip. I may hit up Nevada and Arizona again in September or October and do a more thorough adventure by the desert. The bigger more costly trips will have to wait until next year since these darn wedding expenses are eating up all the travel budget! :P

I don’t know how I manage to make myself so busy. I’m writing my Managerial Accounting exam tomorrow night and am supposed to be “free” for a couple of weeks after that but instead have a million things to do:

1. Process, pack, and send out the second half of prizes from the Connecting You & Yours contest
2. Prepare for my first showcase ever at RAW:Toronto’s Spectrum (this is really what’s giving me a mild heart attack)
3. Visit San Francisco and take a ton of new pictures (I’m leaving on Saturday so the full week in SF is a write-off and so I really have only one week to do everything else, ha!)
4. Prepare for the start of my MBA internship at General Mills
5. Go to my hair & makeup trial for my wedding
6. Hop on a couple of phone conferences with my professors regarding business and such

All in the next two weeks. :/ Am I biting off more than I can chew? It’s a possibility but we’ll see.

This print is newly listed on Etsy. :) Remember, everything is 25% off until April 19th.

I’ve partnered up with Rusty Mill to bring you a unique Mother’s Day promotion. :) Enjoy 25% off all prints at my shop and your purchase will be followed by a 10% off coupon to Rusty Mill’s shop to seal your gift for mom with the perfect rustic picture frame. :) Mother’s Day is on May 11th this year, so start thinking about your gift!! Happy Saturday!

I am exhibiting as a featured artist at RAW:natural born artists Toronto SPECTRUM show on Thursday, April 24th, 7:00pm at Revival Bar on 783 College Street. If you are from Toronto, come and hang out! :) Tickets are $15 each and can be purchased through my profile right here. Really hope to see you there!!! :)

We delivered our final presentation today on all the work that we’ve done on Charlene Precious Fine Art Photography over the last 10 weeks of the semester. Feels sooo good. We’ve been extremely productive and I am armed with so much information and analysis going forward. I am so grateful to have worked with these guys. TEAM, thank you so much for all your energy and hard work and for choosing to work with me!!!

The team is actually now going through the “adjourning” phase of Tuckman’s stages of group development (lol, yes, I’ve completely just referenced something out of an O.B. textbook). Some of us are graduating and others (like myself) are still chugging along for a few more semesters but I’m feeling quite bittersweet. This course has been awesome. My professor has also encouraged me to do an independent study with her in the Fall to continue building on what we’ve started, so I’m going to take her up on that offer. It’s a brilliant suggestion because it forces me to keep working away at this. Everything is so awesome and exciting!!

Today I did some wedding planning, some studying, and A LOT of cleaning. There are dust bunnies in all the little corners of this apartment and they’re going to be the death of me! I hope you’re not getting tired of these little polly pocket homes yet because I have a few more to get through and share. :)

Managerial Accounting owns my life at the moment. It’s hardly the best thing. I needed a break so I’m posting the “Simple Life” set, now available on Etsy. :) I completely appreciate how different life is in all parts of the world.

And the semester is over. :) Then comes our trip to San Francisco then comes my MBA internship at General Mills then comes our barn wedding. The next 4-5 months is going to be wildly exciting and packed with new experiences and memories. I can’t wait!!!

I’m almost embarrassed to say this but because Chris and I have reached the end of every single show we are genuinely interested in, we didn’t know what else to watch so for fun, we tried out Gossip Girl a few weeks ago and have been hooked in a very guilty way. It’s completely juvenile but has its good moments. It reminds me of Dawson’s Creek. I loved that show back then. In fact, maybe I’ll watch it again! We’re waiting for the new seasons of all the good shows. Until then, we’ll enjoy our guilty pleasure.

Just wanted to pop in here quickly to announce that the Connecting You & Yours contest ends tonight at 11:59PM EST! Be sure to submit your entry here to be entered into the 18th and final draw of the contest! And then head over to my Etsy shop to start picking out your favourite prints in case you’re the lucky winner! :)

I haven’t been able to post as often as I wanted and have been rushing through recent posts because somehow, I’ve managed to get so busy again. Sigh! The semester is coming to an end and everything under the sun is coming due.

Oh also, for those who want to be notified directly of future contest campaigns and promotions, just add your email address to my email list right here! :)