June 30, 2014

Jamie

This weekend Justin and I had the chance to go and see Beck preform. It was a fantastic show. I love not only when an artist shares their music but also shares a bit of themselves. Beck said that reviewers have been glad that on tour he's not playing too much of the new stuff, which is acoustic, quiet and beautiful. He talked about how he'd always found comfort in those kinds of songs and how he loved playing with this group of musicians, who were a part of that for him. He said, "We shouldn't be afraid of the quiet things."

Shannon
Finally watched Vampire Academy! It poofed from the theatre so quickly, I had to wait until DVD release. As someone whose read the book series, I understood it and got a lot of the jokes but I'm not sure if the non-fan would appreciate it as much. Definitely a repeat watcher, although I'm still mystified that everyone thinks of it as funny which I never got when reading the book. Still, it's great to have a film centred on a strong female fighter-spirited protagonist. I will take that any day!

June 29, 2014 Random

Jamie

Tulips for Mom. I remember how surprised I was that these pictures showed up with that soft focus that Mom loved. I've never quite had my camera steam up like that before or since.

Shannon
Random Google search engine image, World-Cup inspired for one of the games of the day.

June 28, 2014

Jamie

The extraordinary experience of visiting Mom.

Shannon
Visiting Mom.

Suzie

We almost had a showing and then it was cancelled. To destress, I spent time weeding under the mock orange tree which is so heavy with blossoms it is hunched over. I just wanted to be near it and think of mom.

June 27, 2014

Jamie

Yesterday was one of the busiest days! I had a wonderful time filming the welcome for the Full Buck Moon Dreamboard Workshop. I filmed it at the studio door, on my roof, and that was a first! It worked out well except for all of the noise! The birds are welcome, the trucks and planes, not so much. Then I led Pearl-Diving in the afternoon and was happy to get some wonderful feedback at the end. Then off to guitar, where we are making slow but steady progress with classical. It was then the perfect time to go to the pub and sit on the patio.

Shannon
I've been sick for most of the week, but one thing I did was created a film-specific Netflix profile, and with doing that I rated a bunch of movies being curious to see what they would recommend me to watch. What I didn't expect was after a while it asked specific questions like the one above. And that was a pretty mild of the crazy ones!

Suzie

We finally had a quiet day at home and a knock came at the door and there was a big President's Choice box for me! So Reg filmed me as I opened up the box and shared what was inside. Good times.

June 26, 2014

Jamie

I'm so glad I went to co-work with Tanya yesterday. When things are so hectic (I'm delivering 3 classes this week) sometimes I have to stay put but getting out and about was good for my heart and creative mind. And, of course, getting out always gives me a chance to meet cats! This is Taxicat. She is as an absolute sweetie and, believe it or not, 20 years old!

 

Suzie

After having a morning showing and sleeping in the car in an empty parking lot (long story) we got a call for a sudden and very spontaneous showing in the afternoon too. This is us driving home from Starbucks in bumper-to-bumper traffic along the Bedford Highway. Let's just hope it was worth it.

June 25, 2014

We actually had a day at home on Tuesday so I got to work on my coconut video. What was supposed to be a fun and easy foodie experiment to record while house selling ended up being a hell of a lot harder than most YouTube videos portray it. At least it's entertaining!

June 24, 2014

Jamie   I've been having a great time every morning going out and taking one #goodmorninggarden picture. It keeps me connected to what's growing and also gets me outside at least once a day, LOL! Yesterday I sent off my Fire Dance class to the Inner Alchemy Circle, wrapped up almost all of the Full Buck Moon workshop for launch on Friday and started working with the details of Pearl Diving for Thursday. It's a busy, busy week!

Suzie

We had an excruciatingly long day yesterday with getting our gutters cleaned and then having a home showing which I prepped TWO days for! I had a good feeling about this one and came home to see my mock orange (which is covered in buds) had just started to bloom!

June 23, 2014

Jamie 

I had the absolute best time this weekend doing a shoot in the backyard for an upcoming class. It was an amazing combination of so many things I love: costuming, creating an experience, dance, photography, editing, visioning, music, working with the setting and the moment. I was completely in my element on the Summer Solstice.

 

Suzie

On the weekend I started taking photographs of some foodie items Lorraine gave to me, including this retro foodie party invite. When I see images like this I think of Mom of course but I also think of this genre of images disappearing and I don't want that to happen. It is just too cute to be lost.

June 22, 2014: Random

 

Jamie 

Suzie, you inspired me to put "beach" in my picture search and look what came up! I hope you holding a horseshoe is a sign of good luck for you right now!

 

Suzie

I have no recent random pics to choose from so I went back almost a year when we were at The Beaches and there was that woman making giant soap bubbles.

June 21, 2014

Jamie

Jinx doesn't come upstairs too much these days but I'm always delighted when she does. Even if I'm wearing all black and she just has to sit on me, hehe. This is one of my favourite pictures of her and me together.

Shannon
The World Cup has definitely got me re-invigorated to work on my flag project of making little flags for every country in the world. I have a bunch from the Olympics of the teams that are playing, but there are 17 countries competing that I need to make a flag for. Some will be easy (Ivory Coast!) and some way more tricky (Australia, Croatia), but I will try my hand at all of them!

June 20, 2014

Jamie 

We are back at guitar class - yay! Though it is much harder this session. And what does guitar have to do with this photo? On our way to class, we happened to walk by an exhibition Argos game - and the crowd was going wild!

Shannon
It's been so much of a relaxing experience to watch some of the World Cup, I know that's probably not how most people characterize it but I really love to watch the games and just chill. This is a shot of the crowd during the Uruguay vs England game, and all that blue is for Uruguay. It was a great game!

 

Suzie

Reg and I started yesterday with an early home showing. Then I slept most of the afternoon away. Then we got all geared up to see the punk ska bank Reel Big Fish, one of Reg's favourite bands. We had to go to a nasty part of town and here I was wearing my "Cute as a Cupcake" t-shirt. It was all good though and I suspect today will be spent mostly in bed recovering. It was awesome doing something rebellious and totally non-house related.

June 19, 2014

 

Jamie

Dad was able to come in for a visit this week so we were able to have an in-person Father's Day celebration! We ordered Chinese Food, shared some pics from Quebec City and Shannon made these awesome cupcakes for dessert.

Shannon
Smile time... finally, a day with some good news!

Suzie

It's gone! Yesterday we hired someone to come back away this away and it is gone. Fingers crossed we sell quickly now!

June 18, 2014

Jamie 

I had been out in the yard moments before, watching the trees move in the wind. When a branch cracked and fell, I thought it was time to get inside. Was I ever right! I heard and then saw this tree split and fall. (You can see a short video in this Behind the Scenes)  Though we lsot cable and internet for a couple of days I am so thankful no one was hurt and that the tree fell towards yards, not homes.

Shannon
Another one down for the Those Books project/adventure/thingy with finishing The Wind in the Willows, and it was a delightful read. I think going for a kids book when I'm not sure what to read next is a tactic I will come back it. Other than being a bit conformist, it was a joyful read with lots of wild adventures - including Mr. Toad and his Wild Ride ;) !

Suzie

Yesterday was another crazy day, cleaning the house for our 12th showing and going out to see the new X-Men movie after going to Chapters and getting to buy Laura Calder's cookbook for only $10! It was awesome but I am totally burned out.

June 17, 2014

Jamie 

For the past few days I have been tucked into numbers, calculations and record-keeping. Yep, for me it's tax time (As a small business owner, I do mine for a June deadline). It's a lot of data entry and so I had some entertainment playing in the background. I've been watching oodles of Party of Five on Netflix. It is unbelievable how it brings me right to a certain point in our lives and our family.

Shannon
Dinner prep for Taco Soup! I haven't made this one in ages (and parsnips aren't in the original recipe), but I love this one and it was fun to bring it back to the roster. And it has lots of vegetable goodness, which is always nice for summer.

Suzie

We did not have a home showing yesterday so I was busy taking photos for my post on stovetop percolators and iced coffees. I am trying to get more creative with my images and found doing this a lot of fun. BTW, having a milk frother rocks!!!

June 16, 2014

Jamie

It's all about the peonies this time of year! This weekend I stepped into the garden and made another video. I'm loving sharing the garden this way. It keeps me really tuned into the season and what's growing, plus it will be a lovely reminder later on and most of all, this year time in the garden really connects me with Mom.

Shannon
I'm a little surprized to be posting a pic of soccer, er, football. But the truth is I spend a fair amount of Sunday watching the games. Plural. Eep.

June 15, 2014: Random

Jamie

In honour of randomness and Father's Day, I went to my pictures folder and searched for "Dad". Here's the wonderful picture that showed up. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Shannon
I had no idea that my socks were so randomly colour co-ordinated ;)

June 14, 2014

Jamie

I got out for coffee with a friend from art picnic yesterday afternoon. It was so great to catch up. We had a wonderful time sharing.  I was so glad I decided to walk home because I passed by this amazing little garden nook that was full to the brim with plants and flowers. I just had to take a few moments to immerse myself in all this beauty!

Shannon
I don't even quite remember why I took this picture as I was prepping to vlog, but I ended up really liking it. I'm going to even count it as a 'pic of me', which I continue to remember to do. Yay!

Suzie

Yesterday was a crazy-busy day but I am so glad it ended with a visit with our friends Mike and Jen who are in town for a wedding. Felt like old times and man, we miss them so much!!!

June 13, 2014

Jamie 

LOL, I literally had exactly the same picture as Shannon so I thought I'd share another moment on the same adventure. Here's the horse we saw when we voted, hehe. What a crazy night! We made popcorn and watched the developments.

 

Shannon
I voted!

Suzie

I was cleaning the kitchen for our unexpected 9th showing when I suddenly saw the hanging basket outside the kitchen moving like crazy! There was a bluejay inside it attacking the soil, over and over again. This was the best photo I could get. He was moving so fast and then just took off. It was amazing! A lucky sign perhaps?

June 12, 2014

Jamie

Yesterday was such a busy day - and I have more to come. I met this little beauty on my way home from co-working with Tanya. It was funny because I'd just reached a major street and thought, "There won't likely be any photo opps along this stretch," put away my camera and then saw this guy sitting in front of a van! Despite his rather serious look, he was a very friendly guy!

Shannon
I'm falling in to a bit of a reading slump, which is so sad given my recent crazy active interest in it. I'm trying to get re-engaged with this book The Bone Season and there is a readathon on Booktube for it. Who knows, maybe this will rocket me back to reading awesomeness.

Suzie

Yesterday was a major day for me. I was asked to come down to do a photoshoot Chef Flinn's Fog Buster Burger for President's Choice. Made live by the chef himself on the set of CTV!

I learned a lot. 1) Standing around waiting was very hard. 2) I really love shooting events and now I know this also included people (shocking). 3) Shooting other people's food does not engage me very much (shocking as well). I also totally messed up. I was warned but I still gasped when the host took a bite out of the burger and feel terrible that I might have screwed up the shot. I guess I got very protective of that burger! All in all, fascinating. I came home and slept the rest of the day away. Exhausting but very revealing.

June 11, 2014

Jamie (but Shannon gets photo credit!)

Yesterday afternoon Shannon and I filmed stART in the kitchen. We missed you, Suzie! I' working on editing it today and am looking forward to sharing.

Shannon
Setting the stage for stART. We missed you Suzie!

June 10, 2014

Jamie

I thought I didn't have a picture from today but I did! Man, I'm so glad I bought your camera with the zoom, Suzie! The minute you took a picture of the cat I'm calling The Emperor, I knew it would be awesome for the shots I love. Yesterday was so warm that I filmed the behind the scenes with the door open and a robin fluttered right near it! It startled me but I was glad to eventually get this picture of my visitor.

Shannon
I've recently been watching tons of YouTube videos by Beauty Guru's and their how to's and it made me wonder which of my lipsticks would be the best to use. I usually swap between 2 different ones, but had a boo around and found a total of 5 including one of my oldest faves, Juniper. I don't think it's a good colour for me atm or for video but wow, I was happy to see it. It's the one of the very left.

Suzie

Oh Reg with his fake smiles and weird poses! I guess he's tired of me taking his photo all the time which is a shame because here he was really in his element. We had to be out of the house for our eighth home showing and stopped by a real "record" store that also sells CDs. I got some Marilyn Manson and Garbage for a deal, LOL.

June 9, 2014

 Jamie 

Shannon and I managed to have an art day yesterday! We worked on creating pop-up pages. Some of it was fascinating. Some of it was frustrating. I did end up really liking my pag, especially the bird and the cloud in front. Learning to make a pop-up is a fun addition to your journal.

Shannon
I've been having a lot of fun doing the videos for Index Card a Day but over the weekend I wasn't feeling super video-y so I just did them without recording. I worked a litle bit on stippling, which is a technique I've never felt comfortable with, likely because it requires so much discipline. After doing a few cards I got a stronger handle on technique overall, but I still find it unfathomable to make a complete picture this way. But still having more to learn I will try to take as a good thing.

This picture is sideways, I have no idea why Google determined it to be so. But it did. Not even the picture uploader can makes sense of it!!

Suzie

We had a very long day yesterday and it began at Reg's guitar teacher's place. I took this photo at his place. We totally corrupted him. He is from Vancouver and all our talk about moving back there inspired him to pack up all his stuff and move home and he is so happy! He is going to be there before we are. He is Reg's musical mentor and a totally awesome guy so I'm quite thrilled although it's starting to feel like everyone else is getting out of here but us.