Sweetie & Joy » Photography

Our DIY maternity session attempt (a few trees, a couple of fields, some humidity and a whole bunch of mosquitoes)

Sat, 09 Aug 2014 10:00:51 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I attempted my own DIY maternity session. Armed with my snazzy new camera, a tripod, the nursery and rather ambitious and self-assured me-myself-and-I, I attempted to document (via the handy-dandy self-timer function) my bump. Sadly, it didn’t go so well. Of the seemingly gazillion pics I took, I ended up with one that was semi share-worthy. One. And even then it wasn’t particularly spectacular (or, really, in focus.) I was a little bummed.

Then Sweetie lovingly offered to take me out to try a two-person approach to maternity shots (he’s pretty awesome, that Sweetie of mine.) With our trusty camera in Sweetie’s capable hands, off we went to a local conservation area where we knew we’d find trees and fields and all sort of pretty areas to serve as a lovely backdrop to my ever-growing belly.

What we didn’t anticipate? Humidity. If it was a tad humid when we pulled out of our laneway, it was a trillion percent humidity (possibly more) at the conservation area. Positively tropical, you could say. Rainforest-like, perhaps. My hair? It wasn’t at all impressed and immediately turned into a massive ball of frizz (as my normally-curly-but-oft-forced-into-straight-submission hair is apt to do.)

And, as one might expect from a humidity-laden area, we also encountered mosquitoes. Lots and lots of them. Swarms and swarms and clouds of (rather ravenous) mosquitoes. It was unbearable at times, but we plugged right along until we couldn’t stand it any longer.

Yup. Sweetie and me? We’re troopers.

Here are a few of my faves…

(And, yes. I’m holding a flower in that last one. A bit cheesy? Perhaps. Hence the “Sweetie, I love you, but I’m not so sure about this” look on my face.)

All in all? I’m happy. I could have done a professional session and possibly ended up with somewhat better (and maybe more plentiful depending on the mosquito-factor) results, but with money a bit tight at the moment (with me off on maternity leave and a few items left to purchase for Baby), this seemed like the far more sensible solution for bump-documentation. And it was fun! In between hair-obsessing and mosquito swatting, Sweetie and I had a lovely evening out in that tropically humid, bug infested (but pretty!) conservation area.

Which, I suppose, with our time as a two-some quickly waning, is nearly as valuable as the photos themselves. :)

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A quick update (I’m still here!) (and yup, I’m still pregnant!)

Mon, 21 Jul 2014 10:00:10 +0000

Many apologies for my MIA-ness over the past couple of weeks. I’m now off on maternity leave (which makes baby-day seem really really crazy close now!) and you’d think (logically) that this would mean tonnes of extra time to relax/sleep/enjoy sanity pre-newborn, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with me. I’ve had family to visit, friends to catch up with, a hospital bag (Sweetie refers to it as my “bug out bag”) to pack, projects to finish, a thousand obstetrician appointments (or so it seems) to attend, last minute baby “essentials” (ie: cute little onesies and sleepers) to buy, cloth diapers to prep, and (seemingly) a gazillion other things on the go.

So, in short (or, rather, long): I feel like I’ve been super busy, despite my currently newborn-pending, work-free status.

Although I did manage to fit in a quick DIY mat session the other day. For the record, I’m really quite awful at using the tripod + timer approach to self-photography. This was a rather challenging little project! For about an hour’s effort, I ended up with one image worth sharing…

…and even then, it’s out of focus. And my hands are all gross and pregnancy-vein-y. And I’m not sure if I look serene and contemplative, or sort of annoyed. Needless to say, Sweetie is taking me out later this week to try again, with an actual person (Sweetie) on the other end of the lens. Guessing (and hoping!) that we’ll have much better results with a two-person DIY mat session approach. I’ll keep you posted!

The good (and rather timely) news: I’m nearly finished with the nursery (finally!), so a big (likely long-winded) update/grand reveal will be coming shortly. In the meantime, if you need me, I’ll probably be marveling at the size of my belly while hanging/organizing/baking/shopping for something. At 38 weeks, I’m starting to feel really large. But I also feel amazing. And with only a couple weeks left before my due date (and, really, knowing that Baby could arrive at any point now) I feel so lucky to be a mommy-to-be. Can’t wait to make that transition into simply being “mommy”.

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My new camera (for taking pictures of the cats) (and other stuff too, I suppose)

Thu, 19 Jun 2014 13:30:33 +0000

This is a long overdue post about my cats. Which is really a post about my new camera. Someone pretty awesome (Sweetie) remembered me mentioning that I’d really like to own a good camera by the time we have the baby. And so, on my recent birthday, he surprised me with a snazzy Canon Rebel T3i. (I really have no idea what the random letters/numbers after the “Rebel” part mean, but thought I’d better include that info too, just in case that stuff is important.)

The verdict? I love my new camera. LOVE IT! I feel very grown up having options to change aperture and focus and f-stops and such (although I don’t really understand what any of those words actually mean), and knowing that if I want to go all rogue I can switch off of auto mode and (gasp!) manually take charge of my settings (although, honestly, automatic mode seems to be working pretty well for me at the moment.)

And (most importantly) my snazzy new camera takes awesome pictures of the cats.

Which, I’m guessing, means that it’ll likely also take rather fantastic pictures of the baby.

Who could ask for anything more than that? :)

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And now for something completely different (but something completely amazing)

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:34:10 +0000

Once upon a time (we’re talking actual decades ago now, and more than just one) (which makes me feel exceedingly old, btw), a girl (well, me) met a very special boy (my Shawn.) The details of this meeting have been well-documented and what seemed like an insignificant exchange of words at the time has since become a lifelong friendship. And I’m pretty thankful for that. :)

Then, one day, boy had an idea. Boy had always been a good person. That was indisputable. But he felt an innate need to help others using the incredible talents he’d been given (at least this is how I imagine the internal dialogue went, knowing boy very well and for so many years.)

The result?

The Drawing Hope Project.

My friend is truly amazing. I’m unbelievably proud of him.

Please watch! Please share!

Thank you! :)

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S&J’s photo of the day, photo number two (and surprise, it’s a cat! Good guess!)

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:33:19 +0000

So right after my last post (my epic “resolutions” post) where I vowed to blog at least twice per week (since that’s been my goal all along) I dropped off the blogosphere (bloggosphere? bloggingsphere? Whatever…) for a good 10-ish days. Why? We went camping the following weekend (post on that to follow, hopefully later this week!) thus rendering me laptop-free for a few days (since no one likes a sandy keyboard), and then most of last week was lovingly devoted to planning a very special baby shower for Tiff (one of my besties) who is due any minute now (but held out long enough for us to squeeze in a 39th-week baby shower yesterday!)

And while I’m recovering from this weekend’s baby shower still, I thought I’d quickly post my newest favourite “photo of the day…”

I call it: Irwin – Ferocious conqueror of small green fuzzy mice :)

That’s all. Hope you had a lovely weekend and a successful baby shower (if that happens, coincidentally, to be what you were doing too!) And I hope you conquer whatever you need to on this Monday (regardless of whether it’s a mouse, a house, or your 9-5.) Happy Monday!

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Next project? Gallery wall! (The most recent addition to my ever-growing to do list)

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 10:00:21 +0000

I seem to be alllll over the place with projects lately. I may, in fact, have decorating-ADD. There’s my very unfinished (due to newly adopted cat occupation) sunroom project. And my bedroom? It still needs paint (although the walls are all patched now, so she’s all ready to go!) (once I, um, decide on a colour…) So, while we’re in project-limbo for the moment with those two tasks, let’s just move right along to the next item on my list, shall we? :)

And what would that be? I think I need a gallery wall. Actually, I know I need a gallery wall. You see, there’s a big empty wall (temporarily being quasi-under-filled by a rather random green star) that’s begging me for frames. Just look…

Or, more precisely…

(For the record, I’m not sure why the walls look positively peachy in that second picture. That’s a little odd… I promise – they’re most definitely a lovely shade of Edgecomb Gray griege.)

I didn’t notice the abysmal blankness so much when the living room was in its previous configuration. But now that it’s all (awesomely!) rearranged, you see that wall from the couch (where we most often sit in the living room) and the walls are seriously starting to plead with me for substance. And, never one to say no to a wall, I’ll obviously oblige.

Sadly, I’m not one of those people who can ingeniously lay out frames of several sizes/shapes and – poof! – have the whole shebang look brilliant once up on the wall. Truth be told, this sort of approach kinda stresses me out (although it looks lovely when other people do it!) (Yet another example of things I love in other people’s homes! LOL.) Nope. I crave simplicity, a) because I’m too lazy to be bothered with anything more complex than straight lines and identical sizes and b) I have a plan in my head, and it looks just like this (via the good chaps at decorpad)…

Please note the chairs (oh! Look. I have the same Ikea Ektorp Tullsta white slipcovered chairs.) Please notice the configuration (side table between the two chairs? Why, yes. I have that too!) And do you see that wall colour? (Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter, you say? Golly, my walls are the next shade lighter on that same paint card. What a coincidence!) Yep. This may as well be in my living room. (Minus the pink tulips. I’d actually really love some pink tulips please.) Yes, if there was ever a sign that a gallery wall was meant to be in my little living room, I think this would be a big neon flashing florescent yellow one. (This also might be a sign that I should paint my little green side table too.) (I’ll add that to the list.)

For this project, I’ll obviously need a trip to Ikea (yay!) From what I’ve read so far (and, yes, gallery-wall research is super important) the Ribba frames work particularly well for gallery walls.

And then, the big question? What to include in those frames. The obvious answer would be pictures of the cats. Of course. :) And cats may indeed end up in a few of the frames. Cats, and perhaps a few pictures from our wedding – it makes me a wee bit sad that we haven’t put up any pictures from our wedding yet. (Um, almost four years later…)

So yep! That’s the next project in queue. To officially begin whenever we make it to Ikea next. Which could be a ways off still (although I’m always looking for an Ikea-excuse!) Regardless, it’s good to plan ahead, no? “Glorious gallery wall”, you are officially on my to do list. :)

(And little green sidetable? Consider yourself due for a paint job shortly too. Blame decorpad for that one. :)

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Absolutely lovely and inspiring (and likely to get me hated by my one-day teenage child) (teehee)

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:31:37 +0000

OMG. OK. Call me a big huge geek for planning this far ahead (we’re not yet prego, and who knows when we will be) but when I DO have a baby, I would LOOOVE to do something like this…

From "When My Baby Dreams" - Adele Enersen

So absolutely amazing and wonderful and beautiful, eh? :) Read all about Adele and baby Mila (and see more lovely and sweet images) here…

Sleeping like a baby, a bookworm and an astronaut – books – TODAY.com

I actually squealed outloud just a little while flipping through the slideshow. My poor (future) child is probably going to hate me someday LOL. Now excuse me while I go buy a better camera and some pretty grass-green blankets (I like to plan ahead.) :)

PS – here is link to Adele’s blog (there’s even more cuteness there)

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