Yearly Archives: 2010

The first time I decided that I wanted shutters and window boxes of flowers for my dream house was in 2005, when I first fell in love with the houses of the SWISS. Switzerland is breathtaking – there is not a single word that can adequately describe the beauty and perfection of this country. It needs its own special adjective. Eighty percent of the houses and little shops in Switzerland look just like this, but each with their own unique colours, design, and style. Who needs the Home Show when you have countries like Switzerland? Go there for inspiration. I snapped a photo of almost every house I passed by, all so that I have albums of inspiration when it’s time for me to decorate my own home (at least the exterior of my home). I can’t even imagine what these houses look like inside. Oh la la, Switzerland!

This afternoon, I was delighted to be at my first tea party ever, barely knowing what it was. But let’s just say that I’ve become an overnight tea party fan. Ladies, tea parties are a good time and I’d insist that you round up your best girls and make it happen. Tea and sugar have taken over my insides and I’m pretty sure that I can sleep into a sugar coma tonight. A friend of mine is a phenomenal, PHENOMENAL baker and has opened up her cozy condo in Toronto for this enthralling tea party with myself and four other beautiful souls. It was six hours of quality catch-up time while sipping on delicious Toasty Almond & Cherry Rose tea and munching on fatally tasty, mouthwatering, and super pretty cookies, mini sandwiches, and scones (so pretty that it hurts to eat them), all with the sunlight pouring in from the glass windows and perfectly onto the dining table where we sat.

This woman not only bakes delicious pastries but she can make it all look flawless and simply spectacular. So spectacular that you don’t even want to touch them no matter how hungry you are because it’s just so perfect. I’m 100% about aesthetics and how things look. Everything else is secondary. If you win my eyes, you’ve won my heart. I love all forms of art and this is one that was brought to light when I first laid eyes on her baked goods that looked like they came right out of an elite baking magazine. It’s not just in the taste but in the presentation of the goods and how they have to be arranged in a way that screams beauty, much like flower arrangements. Everyone can bake but not everyone can bake like awesome. What great talent!

that my iphone works out in a few days. I’m so close yet so far. We ran into problems unlocking it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I went to the Dutch Mill Country Market today, thinking I would find an old school windmill in a farm to take photos of (I have raging love for windmills and lighthouses). There was an old school windmill indeed, but it was a fake display by the front door – my crappy discovery of the day. The market though, was shelves after shelves of divine little trinkets. I’ll be back there for home decor for my dream house. And then there were goats, sheep, ponies, and ducks hanging out in the outskirts. I learned about this market while driving home from a road trip and catching a sign that read “Dutch Country Market” with a picture of a windmill right beside it. I was curious and so I went.

I am THIS close to buying a brand new, unlocked, white iphone 3GS from @thinkthought.

Why 3GS instead of 4?

Because the waiting game for the iphone4 is annoying more than anything else and my patience is running dry because I don’t have much of it to begin with. Screw Apple’s clever little marketing tactics. Only works on the patient ones. If people are still waiting for the black, I’ll be 65 years old by the time I get a hold of the white. I wish I didn’t want white, but it’s white or nothing.

Because I touched and felt the actual iphone4 for the first time yesterday and I didn’t love it enough and I don’t want it badly enough. I’m just not gaga about it. I am fonder of the curvy hardware on the 3GS. I’m 100% aesthetics. I don’t care about all the technology you’ve spruced up. If the hardware is uglier, then it’s no dice. And I will boldly say that the hardware on the iphone4 is boxy ugly.

Because I’m not phone-techy enough to comprehend and appreciate the full effect of all the bells and whistles on ANY phone. I’m just an Apple girl finding my way back home to an iphone, where I belong. It’s a mystery how I ever got into Blackberrys.

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Cameras on the other hand, is where every bell and every whistle would count for me. I’m going to retire the old Rebel and upgrade to a better body in the next few months. Perhaps Christmas time. If you’re interested in buying my Canon Rebel XSI, let me know.

Photo below is from breathtaking Italy. Every time I browse through my eurotrip photos, my heart fast forwards to the summer of 2011. I still haven’t gone through my eurotrip photos once from start to finish, since I got back in July. And the photos are still in memory cards. I’m too uncomfortable to move them anywhere for fear that something happens and I lose them. If I ever lose ANY of my photos – wow. Just wow.

As much as it feels euphoric to spend money, I think I can argue that it feels just as euphoric to put away a good stash from every paycheque. When you see that number grow, it almost feels better than buying shoes or a camera or an iphone. It’s addicting and it’s a great addiction and I find myself anxious to put away my next stash.

I had four years of debt coming out of university and I was addicted to paying it back. It started with discipline and sacrifices of bigger purchases but then it became an addiction. I wanted to see that number shrink to nothing and then GONE. So, in eight months, I had swam up from the negatives to lovely zero. ZERO was nothing short of perfect.

I like the idea of an idealist, but I can’t help but be a realist. And the reality is, life is expensive and saving is important. You can’t front-load too much because front-loading is short term pleasure, while you screw yourself in the long run. Kind of like cheating: short term pleasure. Don’t forget the big picture. BUT on the same note, you can’t back-load too much either because then you miss out on all the fun of today and right now. Like everything else in life, find Mr. Happy Medium and his brother Balance.

(Unless of course, you’re one of the lucky ones with some sort of an inheritance or with loaded moms and dads, who pay for everything. In that case, none of this applies! Just chill and spend. I would!)

Here is option C for Canon’s internal photo contest. Geometry homework (and some Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul as prop – remember those???). There is still option D because my boyfriend insists that he has a brilliant idea, so let’s give him a chance. Option D will be the last one.

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul – I read a whole bunch of those Chicken Soup for the Soul books as a teenager because it was cool to read them, not because it did any healing for my soul. My soul didn’t need any healing. I was a happy teenager. Who needs a book to tell them how to be happy and appreciate life at thirteen? I just wanted to be hip and happenin’ and in with the times, so I can chime in the Chicken Soup conversations among my peers and say, “Oh yeah, that story was totally the saddest,” and “Oh yeah, that’s my favourite story like, ever,” and “Oh yeah, that story is exactly my life right now,” bla bla bla and then act all deep.

But even still – who needs a ‘motivational’ book to tell them how to be happy and appreciate life at twenty three? Thirty? Forty? Fifty? Not me; I guess because I don’t really understand. Motivation comes from you, not from someone else’s words on paper. But that’s just my opinion and I, on our stage.

When you’re on the road, don’t you love it when…
drivers who do stupid things can’t look at you when they pass you because they’re too embarrassed?
drivers signal AFTER they make a lane change?
drivers wave their hands in the air (like they just don’t care) when they get angry?
drivers give you the finger as if it’s going to make a difference?
drivers tailgate you as if it’s going to make you drive faster?
drivers curse at you as if it’s going to make you drive better next time?

Don’t you also love it when…
cyclists take up the entire driver’s lane and cars that rightfully belong in that lane have to go around them? It’s not their fault that they’re annoying, but you know.

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These are my three new must-dos for the rest of 2010 and well into 2011 and beyond:

1. I want to help people in any way that I can, if it’s in my power. Just please ask me.

2. I want to make time for people and make an effort to never decline another invitation. Except invitations to go clubbing. Time is the most precious thing in the world. And it’s something that disappears day after day and you can’t get it back.

3. I want to make people feel good about themselves. This is inspired by a conversation that I had with an old, old friend this weekend; a conversation of substance and revelation. If I can help boost someone’s confidence, I will do it.

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More photos from the love birds. This is going to go on for the rest of the week, I think.

I really do. I rejigged my RATES and have created two different packages. Guys, I just want to have fun while taking awesome photos for you. If you are interested or know someone who is interested, kindly send them over here! :)

Below are more photos of the two love birds from yesterday. They are choosing the “money shot” to be blown up for their wedding.

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I saw a film called Big Fan and it really resonated with me. 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was about the life of a football fanatic and the way his entire being revolved around obsessing over his favourite football team. He is a 36 year old character, works in a parking lot booth, lives with his mother, does not have a girlfriend, and obsesses over this football team from the minute he wakes, to the minute he crashes. Despite what we know these things for (failure and going nowhere), the character was genuinely and deeply HAPPY and does not desire anything more than the little to none that he has. He was overindulged with this obsession and it simply sustained every dose of his enjoyment of life. He was borderline delusional with the obsession but he was happy, even as everyone around him scrutinized him for “not having his life together”. The message of the film is that you can be anything you want, do whatever you want, if it really and truly made you happy. The only problem is that if you “don’t have your life together” according to the standards of society, you tend to hurt your loved ones along the way, who worry about your unaccomplished life and dodgy future. And you see this in the film. So, it’s not a win-win situation.

Just a side note – when I go through obsessive phases where I love something to death, whether it be Johnny Depp, the Backstreet Boys, the Beatles, Zac Efron, John Mayer, or Twilight, I am HIGH on life. The film is realistic because if you’ve gone through even just a mild obsession, you’d know that it’s a fancy feeling that you wished would last forever. It makes you so giddy and so full of energy. It’s just that normally, the fire ceases and eventually dies. But not for the character in the film. His was everlasting.

I had a FULL weekend and I have so much to cover on this post, you have no idea! I’ll start with the engagement shoot that I did this afternoon and I’ll cover the rest tomorrow. Man, I act like people actually care about what I did on the weekend when they most definitely DON’T. But I’m cool with that.

Anyway, two of my friends are getting married: Apple and Steve. And I am privileged to capture their love on camera. Congratulations to the love birds as they move on to the bigger and better. I’ve uploaded five photos of the day from this shoot because I just can’t make up my mind on any of them. I’ll have more tomorrow. The shoot was quite effortless because these two have so much chemistry; everything that is staged, looks natural. Thanks for a good time, guys!!!

Enjoy these photos. I’m addicted to couples. If you need your love captured, contact me here.

I changed my theme because the other theme wasn’t the most convenient, since you had to keep on clicking “previous” to go through the photos. Now at least there are ten photos in a page – it looks better, too anyway. I would’ve just fixed the problem on the other theme, but it was hardwired not to post any more than one photo per page and I would’ve turned 65 years old by the time I reversed the codes. So I had to tweak a new theme from scratch and it’s SUCH a headache. Mostly because of Internet Explorer 6. Honestly, just go die. That browser needs to go. I didn’t post a photo yesterday because I was switching themes and dealing with Internet Explorer 6 drama.

Last night, my boyfriend dropped me home at midnight and we’d usually let each other know once we’ve gotten home safely. 2:00am comes around and I hadn’t gotten a call from him. I called his cell phone a million times and he wasn’t picking up. So I called his home and asked his brother if he had gotten home yet. His brother said no. At that point, I was sure he was in a car accident. A friend of mine passed away in an accident back in 2007 and ever since then, I’ve been unhealthily sensitive to things like this. When people are late to meet me or are not where they should be at a certain time, I get worried because I think something has happened to them on the road. GAH. Anyway, I was worried sick, so I got into my car and started driving around in a mission to find him trapped somewhere all alone. I was going to vomit and my stomach felt like exploding just thinking about WHAT IF. Halfway through my drive, his brother calls and says that he’s actually in his room passed out. Oh my god. Do that again and die.

Photo below is option B for Canon’s internal photo contest. Found that mini canvas at the Dollar Store and got my artsy fartsy little sister to draw a shapey robot for me.