Chris and I watched The Seasoning House over the weekend (in place of Love Actually because we couldn’t find it on Netflix or Zune but how I wish we had seen it instead). I have to say that I haven’t been messed up by a movie in a long time and considering how frequently I watch horror movies and how desensitized I am, it’s a point worth noting. This one was so disturbing. I recommend it and I don’t recommend it. I guess it depends if you want your eyes opened to some serious darkness or if ‘ignorance is bliss’ is preferred. I think the potential realness of the subject of the film and the fact that the events that took place could very well exist in the world, is what makes it so heavy for me. But anyway… I’m still trying to erase it from my memory. We’re getting there…

On a brighter note, Chris and I went Christmas shopping during the snow storm on Saturday (lol), and we got it all done. :)

I’ve decided to transition to Schulich’s full time MBA program starting January 2014 in order to maximize the learning experience and potential of this amazing opportunity. This has been by far the hardest decision I’ve had to make because I had to choose between two things that are extremely important to me and that I absolutely love. I went back and forth on this for months and months and couldn’t have been more indecisive about it – Chris was losing all patience. But after 65 conversations, several versions of our five-year plan, multiple pros and cons charts, and simply more thinking than you can imagine, school weighed in a bit stronger. Ultimately, I want to give either my work or my continuing education 120% of my time, energy, and efforts. 120% in each of these two places is humanly impossible and something will end up giving and that just won’t fly with me, so school is going to take precedent for now! You reap what you sow with everything you do. If you put in 80%, you’ll get 80% in results. If you put in 120%, you’ll get 120% in results.

Truly, it is with the most bittersweet emotions that I part with Canon. The last 3.5 years at the company have been years that I cherish. They were packed with learning, growing, building relationships, and making lifelong friends. The company has been nothing but good to me and for that I am grateful. The photo below is the team that I joined at the beginning of this year and is also the last team I will work with at Canon. We had our holiday dinner this evening. They are amazing and I will miss them so much.

Here are some blog posts to prove how much I LOVED my journey at Canon. There are definitely a whole lot more posts about my work life but these were the ones that came to mind first so I dug for them.
Here I raved about how memorable my business trip to Montreal was.
Here I raved about how my business trip to Calgary was the best trip ever.
Here I raved about the awesome people I’ve met at work.
Here I captured PROM at the ROM with two of my favourite Canon girls.
Here I captured the fun my former team had with Movember.
Here I captured my Easter Seals Telethon experience.
Here I captured my portfolio feature in the myCanon publication.
Here I captured the Canon Experience Centre in Calgary.

Last but CERTAINLY not least, Canon is where I found my soon-to-be husband. Need I say more? :) My last day is December 31st and then I am officially a full time student until December 2014. Life is getting more exciting by the minute and the world has never felt more like my oyster.

Just to loop back on the Finance exam, I wrote it last night. It was difficult as hell but I managed and am confident that I did well enough to finish the course with a strong mark. Hard work never fails. I am a free bird for about 2.5 weeks and can’t wait to get into the holiday spirit and get back into some more wedding planning!

Have a wonderful night. I’ll have more time to blog often next year, I’m sure of it!

The fact that I’ve found a 20-minute window to blog is a miracle. I took the week off to get ready for my Finance exam in about a week and a half and to work on my Skills for Leadership monster of a final project due in a week. I was up by 9am every day of the week and grinded until 11pm. It has been 6 days straight of that grind and I’m still not done. Next week is the home stretch and then this semester is officially over. I’m actually in a working daze and feel a bit disjointed. The dishes in the sink are getting old and gross, my dog is feeling abandoned, Chris is feeling abandoned…

On a brighter note, I do understand Finance better and better every day, thanks to two amazing souls. It is not every day that you find people who are willing to take chunks of time out of their day to help you understand Finance. I’ve been extremely resourceful this semester, more so than before because the course has definitely taken me for a ride and without seeking out the extra support that I needed to learn the material more deeply, I’d have a much weaker shot at doing well.

The notion that “Finance is boring” is absolutely not true and you are totally hearing this from a marketer and photographer. I find Finance extremely stimulating and I think that it is an incredibly interesting and useful field of study. It is also hard as hell, much harder than Accounting, so I have a new found respect for CFA designations. I appreciate the material from the bottom of my heart; my brain is just not wired quite perfectly for it to be exceptional at the subject, although it does try and try.

I’m doing everything that I can to learn the material and all I can say for the exam is, come what may. :)

Oh! I’m also trying energy drinks… I like them. A lot.

The other night in my Skills for Leadership class we were discussing the power of being able to see differently. For instance, the way you see someone (in your realm of influence) has the power to actually impact the way they seem themselves. This may seem common sense but we don’t often consciously think about these things. For instance, if I made you feel smart and capable, you are more likely to feel and believe that you are indeed smart and capable, and because that belief would build your confidence, you are more likely to do more and do well. If I made you feel stupid and incapable, you are more likely to feel or believe that you are stupid and incapable, and because that belief would adversely impact your confidence, you are less likely to apply yourself and do well. Numerous studies have been conducted to show that if you treated criminals (certain types) like university students rather than social delinquents, they will never commit another crime. The way you see, treat, communicate with, or project your thoughts about a person to that person, has an impact on how they see themselves. I think it’s an incredibly powerful tool and is one of many golden nuggets for leaders to hone in on. It’s easier said than done but just the simple awareness of it is sure to make a difference. (Self)-awareness is the first step to any behavioural changes!

On another note, this has been my crazy day: had a meeting bright and early this morning with our wedding decor team, studied, had lunch, studied some more, napped because I could no longer focus, studied some more, blogged, then off to a tutoring session for Finance in about 5 minutes, and then catching a movie. Happy Saturday!

If you haven’t already noticed, I’ve re-named my blog. It is with bittersweet emotions that I retire A Photo A Day. Life has gotten so busy that taking a photo a day is virtually impossible. In fact, it has been impossible for a while but in failing to let go and trying to hold on to the roots of the blog for as long as possible, I procrastinated the re-naming. I was also too busy to think about it, to be honest. But after some brainstorming, I got it done and the new blog name is Picture My World. I tried to come up with a name that I would never have to change again even if my life continued to evolve and I think this one can do just that. The idea behind Picture My World was to capture the photographs I take that portray the way I see beauty around me alongside the random notes and journal entries I write up. My pictures and writings collectively are a window into my world, and therefore, Picture My World. :) I am writing this during my 15-minute class break so forgive the hasty explanation!

I need to update a few areas in this blog like the About section to reflect some of these changes, but we’ll save that for another day.

Side note: Today is Chris and my anniversary – I love the man dearly.

Blogging again, yay! I bought pearl earrings today – I’m going through a phase. I also bought some really obnoxious phone cases.

Today I brought up the fact that I reminisce to old times and look at old photos quite often and that it brings me so much warmth, joy, and nostalgia. I’m a total memory keeper and I want everything in my life documented in some way. Chris on the other hand is not a reminiscer and documents almost nothing in his life. So we made an agreement today. Documenting is easily more important than not documenting, so it was no subject of debate. Starting from our wedding day, he is the designated videographer of our lives while I am the designated photographer. He will learn to take videos. We’re going to arm him with a Go Pro camera and strap it around his forehead permanently so that we’ll have decades of sweet, nostalgic footage and memories of us and our family, :), lol. I’m totally kidding about strapping it around his forehead but we laughed pretty hard at the thought of it. The bottom line is, I want tons of candid home videos on top of photographs.

To rewind a little bit – we were actually at my parents’ house last weekend and my mom and dad pulled out an old home video of my 4th birthday party and it was the most beautiful thing to watch as an adult today. I obviously know how important it is to document events and memories and I value it more than words can say but watching that home video and seeing such amazing footage made me turn to Chris and say, “we’re going to videotape and photograph absolutely EVERYTHING.” It is all you have when that memory chip no longer serves and things get fuzzier as time passes.

Etsy Shop
1. My Etsy sales are directly correlated with the frequency of my blog posts and as a result of my lack of posting, sales have slowed down. I’ve been trying to find time to blog but haven’t been able to until now! I still need to re-name this blog to something other than the no-longer-accurate A Photo A Day, so whenever I get some free time, I’ll be on it!

Wedding
2. After 65 dresses, I said yes to the drop dead gorgeous dress.
3. I’m in the midst of locking down my hair and make-up artists.
4. I’ve finished designing our wedding invitations and will be sending them for printing soon.

Work
5. We’ve just launched this bad boy today.
6. The Canon VIP Video Maker contest with Buffer Festival has been a fabulous ride. Public voting for the grand prize VIP Video Maker winner starts on Monday.

School
7. I didn’t do well on my Finance midterm. But my team did very well on our Sustainability Project for the Skills for Leadership course.
8. Exams and final projects are coming due in the next 3 weeks, so it’s crunch time and I’ve just finished drafting a frightening study schedule.
9. I’m absolutely in awe of everything I am learning at school and I want to share a summary of one of my latest and fascinating readings for class. Food for thought!

A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

“The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind — computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind — creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people — artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, care-givers, consolers, big-picture thinkers — will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.

There is a seismic — though as yet undetected — shift now under way in much of the advanced world. We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear computer-like capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathic, big-picture capabilities of what’s rising in its place, the Conceptual Age. This summary is for anyone who wants to survive and thrive in this emerging world — people uneasy in their careers or dissatisfied with their lives, entrepreneurs and business leaders eager to stay ahead of the next wave, parents who want to equip their children for the future, and the legions of emotionally astute and creatively adroit people whose distinctive abilities the Information Age has often overlooked and undervalued.

There are six essential aptitudes—“the six senses”— on which professional success and personal satisfaction increasingly will depend: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning. These are fundamentally human abilities that everyone can master.

A change of such magnitude is complex. But the argument at the heart of this summary is simple. For nearly a century, Western society in general, and American society in particular, has been dominated by a form of thinking and an approach to life that is narrowly reductive and deeply analytical. Ours has been the age of the “knowledge worker,” the well-educated manipulator of information and deployer of expertise. But that is changing. Thanks to an array of forces — material abundance that is deepening our nonmaterial yearnings, globalization that is shipping white-collar work overseas, and powerful technologies that are eliminating certain kinds of work altogether — we are entering a new age. It is an age animated by a different form of thinking and a new approach to life — one that prizes “high concept” and “high touch” aptitudes. High concept involves the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new. High touch involves the ability to empathize with others, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one’s self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning.

There’s something that encapsulates the change — and it’s right inside your head. Our brains are divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere is sequential, logical and analytical. The right hemisphere is nonlinear, intuitive and holistic.

We enlist both halves of our brains for even the simplest tasks. But the well-established differences between the two hemispheres of the brain yield a powerful metaphor for interpreting our present and guiding our future. Today, the defining skills of the previous era — the “left brain” capabilities that powered the Information Age — are necessary but no longer sufficient. And the capabilities we once disdained or thought frivolous — the “right brain” qualities of inventiveness, empathy, joyfulness and meaning — increasingly will determine who flourishes and who flounders. For individuals, families and organizations, professional success and personal fulfillment now require a whole new mind.”

– – – –

And of course, a photo. :)

It’s a crazy busy time at work with multiple (awesome) projects on the go but I feel like I’m on vacation because there are no classes this week and I haven’t done any school work. It’s funny that I actually feel like I’m on vacation despite being nowhere near a real vacation. I’m still working my butt off at the office every day, I’m running my Etsy shop, and I’m planning a wedding. But yes, I feel like I’m on vacation because my workload tolerance has gotten so high. I kind of really like these reverse effects.

My parents threw Chris and I a small engagement party last night and it was so much fun. Both of our families met for the first time and it could not have gone better. We are both blessed with amazing families and are so, so, so grateful. Thank you mommy and daddy and family for the party!!!

Although these are arguably some of the most unflattering photos of myself, I had to post them for two reasons: 1) a blog-worthy memory despite looking like a monkey in the pictures and 2) I was dying of laughter when this was happening and found it exceptionally funny. You could quickly look at all four pictures and be quite convinced that I could not contain myself, hence the unflattering factor. We were getting our family photos taken and realized that we should bring Chris into the photo. So he made his way into the photo and we all bursted out laughing at the mental image of him standing behind the entire family, significantly taller, and could literally hold us all together with the span of his arms. We felt like little people in a big world for a moment. Mostly because we are actually so little.

Yesterday night was an amazing time. I’ll post more photos later. I still have a long to-do list to get through this evening.

Happy thanksgiving. I am the luckiest girl in the world. Thank you to my unfailing God, my family, my friends, and my one and only love, Chris. Having said that, I’m celebrating thanksgiving by myself with my Finance textbooks and Skills for Leadership project. Don’t you love my life? Sigh. It’ll all be worth it someday.

I love taking pictures of seniors. They have the most awesome expressions. I think the lines on their faces are beautiful. This gentleman is Chris’ stepdad’s father. We celebrated his 80th birthday last weekend. This post reminds me of my grandma – there was a time when I was obsessed with photographing her (flash back here). I miss her.