weddings i like

It's been a while since I saw a wedding that made me pause and soak it in, then look at it all over again. But this one has a sweet simple charm about it. And it's in Vancouver! I've actually been to this wedding venue before. Enjoy...

A little self-acknowledgement

Over at Los Angeles Love, she writes "I f*cking rule Friday" and celebrates her accomplishments over the week. This week, that sounds really good to me so let's give er a try.

I f*cking rule this week because.... I am letting my ambition run freely and I'm embracing opportunities as they come. So often, something awesome comes along and I find a bunch of reasons why it wouldn't be possible and just let the idea drift away. I've been satisfying myself with the status quo for so long and not even looking for opportunities to be happy and have what I want. Well no more! I am taking this life for all it's got to offer.

So I f*cking rule because....

I am starting my own business. Yep, I am. It's just a little baby business at the moment but I'm taking the steps towards a child size business, and eventually a full grown business. I am starting a wedding photography business. Because you know what? I take good photos, and I like it. And I know I have more to offer brides than just the generic smiling and jumping photos that get passed around as wedding photography in this town. So yep, slowly but surely I am doing this thing. It would have been so easy to tell myself that it's a stupid idea, or i'm not good enough, or i don't know enough, or it just wouldn't work. But I didn't and that pretty f*cking awesome.

I f*cking rule because I am kicking ass in my Masters degree. Yep, sometimes it kicks my ass too but this week I have been proactive, taking control and gettin 'er done.

I f*cking rule because I am kicking ass with the boyfriend. I have managed this week to eke out more time to just hang around with him and honour our relationship. On Wednesday we spent three hours lying in bed and talking. After last week's madness we really needed that time and space and I'm f*cking proud to say that I was smart enough to realize that, and actually make the time to do it. It was lovely, restful, and just what we needed.

I f*cking rule because I am taking opportunities to grow and be more. I found a job posting for a really awesome part-time job that would bring in some much needed moolah this year while I'm in school until the contract expires in March. And it would be great for my career. The time commitment is a little high, but i'm not letting that stop me. I plan to apply and if I get an interview, I plan to sell them on the fact that they  need to hire me because I will save them money by doing the job more efficiently than someone else, in less time, and I'll do it better! A little ballsy, but I like it.

One last thing, I finally invested in the stock market. I'd had money sitting in an online investing account just waiting for me to put it somewhere, anywhere, for months. I finally figured out how to buy stocks and I pressed the d*mn button!

No more telling myself that I can't, or sabotaging myself by not working hard for what I want. No more playing by the rules. I will not take what I am given, I will go for what I want! I will have my cake and eat it too! I will drink every last drop that this beautiful, wonderful life has to offer!

Charity

You guys remember the typewriter story? Well after that I kind of decided I didn't need a typewriter anyway, and where the heck would i even put it? But I did tell my mother about the experience. And she told some friends of hers about it. And I guess they were pretty eager to get rid of their old typewriter, because the next time I spoke to my mom she said there was a typewriter waiting for me in the garage.

Really the last thing I needed was an old typewriter to deal with but apparently I had inherited this one and there was no undoing it. My parents brought it to thanksgiving and left it out on the porch in an old yellowed cover that greeted us when we arrived. A round of jokes were told throughout the night at our expense and we were warned not to try and leave it behind. So we lugged the extremely heavy thing home with us at the end of the night.

At home we got a better look at it. I sat it on our bedroom dresser.

and I'm kind of in love with it.

whooff

hi! yes, i'm still alive! but not for much longer if grad school has anything to say about it. My program is great but i have not worked this much.... ever. I'm not sure how hard I thought it'd be exactly. I guess I thought that the difficult weeks would come and go like they did in my undergrad. Instead after a week or two of luring us in and making us feel all warm and fuzzy they've gradually begun to bury us under papers and books and presentations and extra presentation this very afternoon that you must attend. So, I'm good but feeling the need to catch my breath. We have a week off coming up- reading week- and I plan to work just as hard through that week so I don't die in the following weeks.

One thing is leading me forward.... Turkey! Canadian Thanksgiving is just around the corner, woohoo!

a stunner

This one needs to be savoured.

house wifery

Ever since I started school again I find myself becoming more and more inclined to do domestic-y type things (how on earth do you spell that?). I've started cooking more, and using recipes, which i think the boyfriend is loving. I've also had this fall urge to finish the little projects around the house that i've had on my list forever. The balcony garden is growing nicely, i'm getting acquainted with the new indoor plants (succulents!), my desk is finally organized, the recipe book is growing. i finally put up a shelf in the bathroom today making that the one room in the apartment that is complete, and i dare say, looks damn nice.

I'm pretty sure that attacking my to-do list has been more about trying to get the house in order before i melt away into graduate school. But this whole cooking thing is throwing me for a bit of a loop. I've never been much of a cook so I'm finding it hard to explain this latest urge to actually follow recipes and make .... real food. The other day i made chicken cordon bleu. Just, what? and it was easy! and it was good! i can't explain it. My mother was not much of a cook. She focused more on the healthiness of the food, rather than the pleasure taken from cooking or eating it. So the succession of tasty dinner plates has been a bit baffling. Today i think i finally put my finger on it though. I think that since i am now a student and not bringing home a paycheck, i've been unconsciously stepping up my game on the housework side of things. You know, to make sure i'm contributing equally (even though i have a nice little scholarship which definitely contributes, although a bit less than usual). Part of me thinks that's so very unprogressive of me. And the other part of me thinks, forget stereotypes, it's kind of cool and i might just embrace it... at least i'll learn how to cook.

weddings i like

This couple held their wedding in a forest. i think i'm in love.

a shift

 I wrote this post in July and thought i'd come back and edit it, but it turns out that i don't edit, i just post stuff. so i forgot about this one. I don't want to forget about it though because this sentiment was part of a shift in our relationship, part of extending our roots into the ground together. So here it is.


The boyfriend and I live together. July 1st marked our one year anniversary living together. (Also, it was Canada day. Happy Birthday Canada). Over this year our relationship has shifted. We moved in together pretty quickly, so the beginning was a mad rush of going out for dinner, or to the park, or to watch the sunset, go dancing, shopping, meeting friends etc, etc, etc. As we've grown into our lives together, and added some new financial goals, we've started doing those date- like things less and less. Our relationship has become a bit more about errands and reading books and watching tv. I don't wait in bed until he wakes up all the time anymore, although i still do like watching him sleep if i wake up first. I don't always ask what he wants to do. I spend more time doing my own things in the house. and that's great. this weekend we were struggling for ideas about what to do. we'd gone out for dinner, it was saturday night and we didn't know what to do next. I was struggling to come up with an idea, any idea, that might be entertaining. Eventually, he said he was okay if we just went home. We rented a movie. he fell asleep halfway through. it was our saturday night. I worried that maybe he felt like our relationship was boring, maybe he missed doing all the things we used to. shouldn't our saturday nights be more exciting?


but when i asked him, he pointed out that we live together. And our relationship is more about living our lives together and less about keeping each other entertained, and i felt better. i love that he has the ability to point something out and make me feel better so quickly. 

"those aren't very romatic things to say but they stir my heart"

this is it. this is what marriage is, what life is, what death is. we should all be so lucky.


Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

live the joy!

Okay, for a minute look past the swelling music, the designer gown, the million dollar budget and the fact that she's a supermodel and look at how joyful they look! I want to have the smiliest kiss, just like that one.


Coco + James // Teaser from Americana Cinema on Vimeo.