Sunday, December 30, 2012

enjoying a winter break :)


Everyone knows the best part about 
Christmas is having time off to play with your presents... :) 

 Just kidding, of course the best part is seeing family and blah blah blah, but you know what I mean... 
photo credit: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 

I have been doing nothing but reading, keeping cozy, eating red velvet crinkle cookies, and watching drama-filled TV for the last couple days (with little breaks to sit at my computer and do some editing, answer some emails...etc.) 

I hope you're all enjoying your 
Christmas presents as much as I am!! 
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Thursday, December 20, 2012

weezy wishes you a merry christmas :)


The tree is up;

 The gifts are wrapped and under the tree;

 The stockings have been hung (and the peanut butter cups to fill them have been purchased);
I think our little family is ready for the holidays! 

Weezy would like to wish you all a
Merry Christmas and a fabulous Christmas break :)

This outfit is the best 8 dollars I've ever spent. 


It's hard to be a model. 


Omg my favourite...ahh I love doggie outfits!

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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

kristine | fitness glam session


When my very first opportunity came up to shoot a fitness client, I had no idea what to expect, and to be honest...I thought I wouldn't really enjoy it all that much! But I happen to totally LOVE photographing these amazing people, and documenting all of their hard work! 

Kristine had just finished an INTENSE 90 day program with kick-ass trainer Elisha Rubenstein, of LiFT Studio. 

 Check out a couple of my favourites from Kristine's shoot! 







Kristine and Elisha, you girls gave me such a great afternoon that day :) Thanks for the red wine and peanut butter cups haha!! (Kristine's treat after 90 days of rocking it out in the gym!)

To see more from Kristine's session, 
check out her custom site! 
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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

sometimes it takes a week...


I've come to realize that sometimes it takes a week to get where you want to be in a day. 

 It took me a week to recover from our amazing time in Paris before being able to dive into the photos I took (and I promise, I will have them ready to share soon!). 

 It took a week with no blogging to feel in the right frame of mind to click that little "write new post" button. 

 It took a little over a week to transition my house from everyday-life to Christmas-chic. 

 And it took a week of procrastinating before I FINALLY felt like battling the mall parking lot and starting my Christmas shopping. 

 And apparently every one of these things collided into one day. 

 YESTERDAY.

 Yesterday I woke up thinking it would be exactly like the day before. By now you get the idea...lots of NOT looking at Paris photos, being a BAD blogger and avoiding that pesky button, NOT putting up the garland on the bannister, followed by, you guessed it...NOT buying any Christmas presents.  

 But I was very wrong. I kicked ass yesterday. I felt like a real person. A good person. A person who empties the dishwasher and starts filling it up immediately after. 

 I literally ironed something right before jumping into bed just to put the metaphorical cherry on top of my insanely amazing day.

 And honestly, I can't tell you how enjoyable it was to wake up this morning, make a coffee with my pick of literally EVERY mug in the cupboard (thanks to the dishwasher emptying from the day before), and sit down in my Christmassed-out living room, where all of my shopping is DONE and (get this...) WRAPPED under the tree.

 Take that, world.  

Even Weezy is feeling festive :)

Phew...decorating is tough. Right Weeze?


 Next step: Christmas baking :) 
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

our wedding day...

engagement photographer | wedding photographer | portrait photographer
I feel lucky.

For many reasons, but at this very moment I feel lucky to have ventured out from my boring office job to the bright and sunshiny world of wedding photography.

Not only because I get to spend my Saturdays with people I care about (and share in all their happiness), but because I had the opportunity to become familiar with the concept of a wedding day.

To have a chance to witness, firsthand, the joys of a wedding day and learn a ton about it...is a real gift. I knew exactly what I wanted when it came to planning my own wedding day... I knew exactly how much time I needed for each part of the morning preparations. I knew what it was about the wedding day that I treasured most. And I was able to use everything I knew to put together a day that, to me...was nothing short of perfect.

To be able to say without hesitation that the day I married Mr. Ryan Kelly was the single happiest day of my life...like I said, I feel lucky.

Surrounded by friends and family, on November 20th, 2012, a gorgeous day in Punta Cana, we said "I do." And it is with great delight that I share these precious images from our UNBELIEVABLE wedding photographer (and lifelong friend), Lauren Wakefield...


I save corks from special occasions, like birthdays, NYE, anniversaries, etc. And to represent the 6 years we spent together before tying the knot, I brought 6 corks from miscellaneous special occasions over the years :)










I love this photo :)



Lol...perfuming under my dress. It's just so "us."




Beans' wedding gift for me...a lock and two keys, to be thrown over the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris. I died.






#76: find myself with nothing to do

The morning of the wedding was SO relaxed in terms of timeline, so I literally found myself fully dressed, makeup'd, bejewelled, with about 30 minutes to spare before walking down the aisle.

And also...how perfect is that headline lol?




One of the highlights of my entire life...walking down the aisle with my father.





We said personalized vows to each other (which made us both laugh because it was the first time we heard them):

RYAN'S VOWS

I promise to love, cherish, and appreciate all 
that you do for us and our family. 

I promise to protect you from pain, stress, and being sad. 

I promise to change the flat tires, empty out the garbage, 
and do all of the other miscellaneous "blue activities."

I promise to protect you from birds, 
because I know how much you hate them.

I promise to be your nook when you're sleepy. To be your alarm clock in the mornings (but I reserve the right to use Weezy to help...)

I promise that even when it's cold, and I am freshly tucked into bed at midnight, I will always go out to get your puffer from the car when you decide you need it. 

I promise to be your Beans, always.

I love you.


MY VOWS

I promise never to call you Ryan, 
unless I'm really really mad at you.

I promise to keep your belly filled 
with baked goodies (with no raisins).

I promise to watch the weird movies that I love so much, 
when I'm alone.

I promise to butter your toast...because you're really really bad at it.

I promise to drive you to work as often as I can, 
because I know how much you hate the bus.

I promise to take care of you when you're sick, with the hope that one day I'll be able to take care of you the way you do of me when I'm sick.

I promise to be the best mother 
I can be to our family.

I promise to be kind to you, respect you, 
and love you...all the days of my life. 

I love you.



And wouldn't this be the perfect time to confirm the completion of #1 on my list of 101 in 1001? I thought so :)


#1: get married







Just casually playing volleyball with randoms. 




Besties...forever and always. 


OMG these dashing gentlemen...












The "beans face" made an appearance. Just once. I am proud.










#83: give a toast

Not only did I give a toast...but I gave a toast and cried pretty much the whole way through lol. Just kidding, I think I managed alright.

And like I tell my clients, who doesn't like a teary Bride?!



 Love :)


I can't even express how much I learned about being a wedding photographer by actually spending a day as a bride. If I didn't know my job was important before, I certainly have a sense of that now. 

Our wedding day is over, my dress is hanging up in my closet (completely FILTHY I might add, lol), and things like my table decor and my handmade bouquets are probably still floating around in Punta Cana somewhere...but what remains is this collection of images that we will treasure for the rest of our lives.

Moments that I didn't know where happening...expressions I didn't see from my family members during our wedding toasts...it means more to me than I would have ever expected. What an absolutely amazing opportunity I have in this life to do the same thing for my clients, you know? It really is a gift, and amongst all the photography competitions and our efforts to get our work seen and published and noticed...sometimes it can be easy to forget the real reason we do what we do.

 And as I sit here an officially married lady, in a life that makes me smile ear to ear...how could I feel anything but lucky? ♥

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