Wherever You Are.

I was driving home last night, after second shooting two weddings in two days, thinking about nothing and everything when this song came on. And a line that I haven't paid much attention to before jumped out at me...

Home is wherever I'm with you.

Scott & I don't have a permanent 'home' of our own - our nomadic lifestyle has lead us through 5 different houses in 3 years. The only constant? Home, for us, is where we are together.

Wherever that may be. My heart is at home with his. Wherever I am with him.



This next month is going to be crazy busy. The good, dream chasing, reality making kind of busy and I love that this song line was brought to my attention when it was. A perfect reminder that no matter what Scott & I are doing or where we are - we find our comfort and home in each other.

Backyard Beauty: Flowers

I've mentioned before - I practiced and learned a lot about photography by shooting flowers.

A lot of flowers.

So, today's post is a reminder for me to not forget where I started...as well as how far I have yet to go.

Ready to Spray Again.

We needed new bedside tables this summer. However, with our nomadic lifestyle 'new' has some strings attached. We really have to evaluate every single thing we buy to decide if it is worth it because we a)only use it for half the year b) have to pack, store, and unpack everything. The things we do find are worth it also have to fit certain criteria - mainly, Scott has to approve the purchase as I am much more lenient in regards to buying things just because they are pretty :) But really, it has to take up as little space as possible, for storing, and not cost too terribly much as we only use it for half the year!

So, when I found two wooden folding tray tables for ONLY $3 each at the thrift store I felt like I hit the jackpot! Not only were they a steal of a deal but they fold up nice and small - perfect for storing! Scott was very impressed with my find. I knew all they needed was some sprucing up...

After almost a year of avoiding spray paint like the plague - you might remember why - I decided it was time to spray some more.



First I lightly sanded them to get rid of the scratches and rough up the surface so the spray paint would stick.



I wiped them off good and then sprayed away! Thankfully, I barely went through one can of spray paint - NOT sixteen! It did bring back some finger numbing memories though...



TA DA! It's crazy how big of a difference a little paint makes!



They are the perfect little tables to have beside our bed :)

YAHOOOO!!!!!!!

After more than a year of thought, and research, and saving we finally made the purchase. And I am just a little bit more than excited about it.

Our brand new Macbook Pro!!!!!!! EEK!!!!!

We just brought it home late Saturday night and have played around with it a little bit - there are so many amazing features that just solidifies how in love I am with Apple products. We decided on the 13 inch 2.5 GHz because we wanted something smaller to make travel easier and since we aren't using it as our main computer we didn't need a lot of memory. It is the perfect compliment to our Mac desktop.

I, of course, am super excited about it. Scott, of course, wasted no time streaming live golf on it.

Staying Organized: Image Files

I LOVE organization, seriously love it. Anyone remember that show Clean Sweep on TLC? I wanted Peter Walsh's job of a professional organizer - to turn mass chaos into beautiful organized spaces? Yeah, that sounds like a slice of heaven to me!

So, it only makes sense that, once I started taking more and more photo's I wanted to find an organized way to manage those image files. I used to cull the images, export the originals into an 'name - originals' folder, edit, and then re-export the edited images in a folder with the name of whoever those images were of and keep all the images on my external hard drive.

Yes, it was a bit of work but I didn't know any other way to keep things organized! Thankfully I stumbled upon a blog post by Zach & Jody that revolutionized the way I store images...

Lightroom Catalogs.

This rolls all of those separate steps I was doing into one and not only keeps your images organized - it helps speed up your program!

A very simple and quick summary - really, just go to Zach & Jody's blog because they do a super awesome job explaining.

1)Within Lightroom, go file - new catalog.

2)Name that catalog first with the date the images were taken then with the subject's name: YY-MM-DD-Scott & Kari

3)Save to either your desktop or external hard drive or both. I have 'year' folders on my hard drive that I save everything from that year into.

3)Import ONLY the images from that photo session, Cull, Edit all within Lightroom. The catalog saves the original image as well as all the edits you do so there is no need to pull any of the files out of the program! This also enhances how quickly Lightroom works - no excess of images to bog it down.

4)That's it! Any time you need access to the images you pull up the Lightroom Catalog and everything is there waiting for you! This is also great because since each session has it's own Catalog it is very easy to find the photo's you are looking.



If I didn't make any sense just go over and watch Zach explain it all :)

10 Random Things About....

....SCOTT!

Today is my handsome, funny, wonderful husband's birthday! Instead of writing some mushy post about how much I loooooove him and appreciate him (which he already knows - don't worry!) I thought we would do something a little more fun...10 Random Things About the Birthday Boy!

Scott came up with all 10 - okay, I helped a little - but he said I could only blog them if he was allowed to use twitter #hashtags on each; because, as he says #twittersawesome

And so, in a first on this blog, written by Scott himself:

10 Random Things About Scott!

1. My middle name is Jack Nickolas - not intentionally after the golfer. #luckycoincidence

2. Favourite food group is candy. Preferably sugar coated. #sourpatchkidsrock

3. I didn't read a book longer than 30 pages until university - now I've read all 7 Harry Potter's, 3 Hunger Games, and dozen's of others. Kari's takes credit for this change. #bookworm #gryffindorforlife

4. I have a special talent of ad-libbing new lyrics to popular songs. #Mr204 #itmakesherlaugh

5. My favourite colour is orange. #itsthenewblack

6. Hadn't left North America until our honeymoon. #funinthesun #islandfever

7. Never had a pet. #fakingallergies

8. I would take Kari's youngest brother, Michael, as my teammate on Amazing Race before I would take Kari. #suckitaron #sorrykari

9. Have played in a competitive golf tournament in 7 provinces - B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, & New Brunswick. #3togo #lovemyairmiles

10. My closet has more clothes, shoes, & hats than Kari's - and believe me, she has a ton of clothes. Mine is mainly full of golf apparel. #cantfindanythingtowear



I hope you all enjoyed a little insight into the awesome man that I married :) Love celebrating him on his birthday!

Shiny & New.

It's been on my wish list for a long time now. I've been dreaming and hoping for a shiny new cruiser style bicycle. Or 'la bicyclette' as I say to Scott - you know, to up the cool factor even more. Saying things en francais always up's the cool factor.

I wanted a cruiser style bike for many reasons. Besides the obviously cool factor it would add to my life, it would actually make riding a bike more comfortable for me. I have very bad wrists from doing gymnastics and so a mountain bike, where you lean forward and put a lot of weight on your hands, would cause my wrists to ache and hurt after only a couple minutes. Enter super cool solution of the vintage inspired cruiser bicycle.

There was only one tiny hindrance to fulfilling this dream of mine - money. I could not afford the fancy price tag on a Schwinn bike, and to be honest, a lot of the other cruiser's I saw. Then, a co-worker mentioned she bought a reasonably priced cruiser bike - I must have scared her a little when I practically yelled at her: 'WHERE DID YOU GET IT?!?!?!'

Thankfully I was able to have one ordered to our little town's Home Hardware and have my dream's come true. Shiny, new, and perfect. *sigh*



Isn't she beautiful?!?!

I went out to take these photo's and my neighbour was out back - it would have been fine if it was Scott who snapped this photo for me; but, oh no I had to tripod/self time it up with my neighbour and her little granddaughter watching the whole thing. *Embarrassing* Whatever it takes to get the photo right?!



Oh white wall tires, you complete me.





See that? Yup, one speed.



I've already decided this hat is going to be my riding bonnet - for those day's I don't want my hair to billow in the wind as I ride ;)



Now I just have to decide if I should add a basket to this beauty - up the cool factor even more. Oh my heart is just so happy.

Married: Peter & Jen

I second shot this beautiful wedding with Modern Pixel Photography back in May.

They met in the medical lab at the hospital they both worked at - I can picture them falling in love over beakers and test tubes - let's call it lab love. Jen was unimpressed with Peter's lack luster jokes, at first. But Peter persevered and eventually his debonair personality won her over...and he's been charming her socks off ever since.

These two are amazingly kind individuals - it radiated off them the entire day and was impossible to miss. The same could be said for their quiet grounded love. It was an honour to help document their day.

I started off with the boys as they finished getting ready. Peter was hands down the most prepared groom I have ever encountered!!! I was so impressed with how he had all the details laid out and ready for me. Peter, I am giving you an imaginary internet/blog trophy for 'Most Organized Groom'. This is a very prestigious award sir ;)






Remember my family's little oddity? Yeah, anyone who even knows what 'blue steel' is is cool in my books. Whipping it out on your wedding day? Super cool status for sure...




I was beyond in love with the florals in this wedding - Peter's sister did an incredible job!







Jen's smile is infectious...












The reception at Bridges Golf Course was intimate and full of love and laughter.






Check out Modern Pixel's full blog post here.

Life, as of late.

I have a serious obsession. With instagram. I just love it, a lot.

The other day, Scott did something funny and even before the laughter died down he looked me right in the eyes and said: "And no, you may not take a picture for instagram." Yeah... he's on to me.

BUT in my defence, instagram is a great tool for preserving those little everyday moments that might otherwise slip through the cracks. For putting the focus on those little everyday moments that make up this one wild and precious life we've been given.

I'm obsessed. And, I'm okay with it.



If you are also addicted to instagram - follow my feed here.

Graysville Wedding: Darren & Mallorey Part 2

And now for more of Darren & Mallorey's amazing wedding! Catch up on part 1 here.

Mallorey is my type of bride - not only was she ridiculously organized, she values photography. As a photographer herself she knows how important capturing these moments are. So, I was given a lot of time for portraits and free reign to be creative - oh, I was one happy girl! Mallorey, thank you for trusting and believing in me - it means more than I can say.

We started off inside the school house...





And, of course, we had to get a few shots with the cars!




A huge thank you needs to go out to the best man, Jessy, for offering his beautiful yard for portraits. It made the best photo location - I couldn't have asked for more!!









And then I died and went to back lighting HEAVEN!!!!















Then, after I put Darren through almost more portraits than he could handle, it was off to the Active Living Centre in Carman for the fun and colourful reception!





The night was filled with laughter, dancing, and general shenanigans - the perfect ending to a perfect night.