Eli was born prematurely but is doing so well now and definitely gaining lots of weight consistently. He’s an alert little boy, curious about the world and his parents are clearly smitten with him. Who wouldn’t be with a cute little face like that?

Happy Monday!

Today, I met up with Damara of Damara Moe Photography in White Rock for a little bit of fun. We had been trying to organize some sort of meeting well before Christmas and nothing quite materialized until today. I had met Damara before and her open and carefree personality is addicting, so I knew we needed to meet again.

I don’t go to White Rock often and I don’t know why because it’s pretty much a perfect place to shoot. Especially on the pier but the beach is pretty spectacular in itself. It was downright cold but we had some warm drinks to help out and we made sure to get a few shots of each other on the pier before the sun went down. We ended our date with a great meal at a restaurant along Marine Drive before parting ways.

This month has been amazing and I’ve had the chance to meet up with a few wonderful photographers including Lyndsay London (we have regular visits), Jarusha Brown, Damara Moe and Onyx Harris of Amoda Flowers. Tomorrow I’ll be meeting up with Emily Hoskins of Liberty Tree Photography and Alanna Clempson of Alanna Clempson Photography. I think it’s really important for photographers to reach out to each other, get to know one another and make some formal bonds in the industry. And the winter-off season is a good time to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones. I’d love to be able to do more of this kind of thing but life is going to getting very busy very soon.

Happy weekend all!

Throughout this process, I’ve been following up with everything in a Word document ~ it’s kind of a visual branding journal. I began with including an image of the logo and have worked my way up to my new welcome packet for new clients (which I’ll talk more about later on when it’s done). It’s been a wonderful way to keep track of what I’ve done, what still needs to be done, the materials I’ve ordered, what I still need to get and it also helps me see how everything is looking as a cohesive whole.

Something a bit different that I am doing is developing a line of stationary for my business, including a variety of thank you cards and a generic flat notecard. I worked on the notecards the past few days and they are done and all wrapped in twine, ready to be used. I bought some lovely Hahnemuhle paper at Opus and had other intentions for it, but that idea didn’t work out. I really wanted to use the paper. So I turned them into flat notecards with a stamp, a little dotted flourish, a white square-backed envelope and to seal it up, a custom Kraft sticker. I think they’re really pretty and so simple.

My husband and I went out last night ~ our first official night out together in two years that didn’t involve grocery shopping or some other silly errand. And it was long overdue!

We went to Harambe’s on Commercial for some authentic Ethiopian cuisine and I was a little nervous because my first experience with Ethiopian food in Ottawa a number of years ago left me feeling extremely disappointed. Let’s just say I left the restaurant hungry. This time around was an entirely different experience.

Harambe’s was pretty much awesome. The ambiance was fabulous, the food was fantastic. I ordered the Chef’s platter which contained a number of different veggie and meat dishes all topped on injera, a spongy flatbread that is your utensil. No knife and fork here, just your hands. I couldn’t tell you exactly what was all on the plate, all I can say is that every bite was a spicy delight.

And this also completes number 85 on the 101 in 1001!

LINEN

I was browsing around for linen material and came across this wonderful site called Linnet, based out of Japan. It seems as though Japan is one of the leading textile producers from everything from silks, bookbinding fabrics to burlap and that makes sense when you think historically about all those lovely kimonos covered in rich prints. Linnet is operated by Mayumi and her husband who are head over heels for linen. There are all kinds of linen here from the organic variety to ribbon and notions and the international shipping won’t break the bank.Images from Linnet

CUSTOMIZED LINEN RIBBON

And while we are on a fabric trend right now, I came across some wonderful things on Etsy yesterday. I really, really enjoy Etsy and try to support the businesses on there whenever possible. I found this adorable customizable linen ribbon from The Lonely Heart. This sort of thing would be cute in any number of places.
Images from The Lonely Heart

LETTERPRESS

I am extremely excited that my new business cards and select stationary will be in letterpress! I have had a bit of an obsession with the artform for a few years now and am making the leap into it. Kristin of Twin Ravens Press based out of Eugene, Oregon is making my business cards on 220 lb Crane Lettra with a painted edge. So that means nice, thick textured paper with an embossed design. The great thing about letterpress is that not only is it beautiful in its simplicity, but also a lot of the papers used are made by Neenah, a company based out of the East Coast in the USA and uses waste cotton from the textile industry. Left: www.soulellis.com Right: www.dolcepress.com

HANDMADE PAPER

Another thing I go a little gaga over is handmade paper. The deckled edges, the fibrous texture, and I also love the fact that it’s made from recycled fabrics or plant materials that are otherwise unusable. There is just something so raw and organic about it plus something nice to touch. Images from Pinterest

I’m looking forward to making a posting to show my new eco-packaging! It will be a little while for it, but it’ll be so worth it!

On my 101 in 1001 list, number 58 was to bake a loaf of bread that was gluten and dairy-free. My husband is gluten-intolerant and can’t have dairy (well, he shouldn’t anyways!) so eating with our family’s busy schedule can be a challenge. I’ve been on a bit of a health food kick lately, starting off with my Mom’s juicer. This week, I made two different kinds of juices ~ one was carrot/apple/ginger/beet and the other was apple/orange/lemon, essentially an apple lemonade. The first took a bit of convincing but the apple lemonade was delicious! Easily the best juice that I’ve ever had. I also made almond butter with the juicer using a different attachment and today I decided to make some bread.

I do like to bake, however, I can’t stand baking bread or pies or things that require some skill or work like kneading. There’s just something about getting my hands all doughy and sticky that I don’t really like. So I generally look for recipes that are simple, that I can just mix and throw into a pan and bake. Most of my bread attempts have been epic fails, actually all of them, so this is why I don’t really make it. I usually get my own bread from the local bakery, Breka, while Josh gets his gluten-free variety from Safeway. But after today’s foray into the bread-baking world, I think I’ll be making my own more often.

It was actually quite simple. My Mom had bought us a few boxes of flour mixes and I followed the recipe on the back of the box which only consisted of the flour mix, eggs, oil, salt, honey and milk (I substituted rice milk instead). It worked out perfectly! We ate some sandwiches for dinner and it worked out great. The problem with rice-based breads a lot of the time is the texture is really crumbly or dry because of the lack of “glue” holding it together. While the texture for sure is different, the taste was nice and was something that I could see myself eating on a regular basis.

We are hoping to go gluten-free as a family in the fall of 2012 sometime. We’ve done it before (well, not 100% gluten-free for me, but for Josh, yes) and have been slacking on it for quite some time. I’ve been reading a couple articles in the Vancouver Sun lately regarding wheat and how much it has changed from its original form in the past 40 years, which is why we are seeing a large rise in gluten intolerance. You can see an article sample here. I definitely saw a marked improvement in my husband when he stopped eating gluten and now I am looking at my son and wondering if that bowl of Cream of Wheat I’m trying to feed him makes him feel badly. He rubbed his tummy the other day and turned his head when I tried to give him a bite. Which is kind of inspiring me to change our eating habits.

I am creating quite a collection of gluten-free recipes, but could always use more. Anyone out there with food allergies willing to share some baking love on the blog? Leave your recipe below!

Happy baking (and eating)!

Today’s posting is a little bit longer, mostly because of all the flowers! As you all might know by now, I am a bit of a flower fiend. If you don’t, well, you can go check out my Romantic Blooms series here!

I only had a few extra days to do a bit of touring, so I tried to plan my time well and see some things that were important to me. A few of those happened to be the markets in the Mongkok area of Hong Kong. The Flower Market, Yuen Po Street Bird Garden and Goldfish Market were all in the same area, which was perfect ~ so I hit all three in the same day. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed in the Flower Market ~ I was expecting something completely different….some exotic things, a bit more bustling and more like a wholesaler sort of idea but a whole block of pretty colours, shapes and sizes was good enough for me. Most of the flowers were imported from elsewhere and a lot of blooms were things we get here in Vancouver. Still some neat things, nonetheless, like the heart-shaped cactus and those crazy pitcher-type of plants!

Right next door was the bird garden, which was more like a garden-block of men selling beautiful birds of all sizes in these little cages. Felt a little sad about that part. There were also owners that would bring their birds to the park and sit amongst the cacophony of tweets and twitters while making conversation with passers-by. Seemed like a good social thing to do. The songs of some of the birds were amazing and mesmerizing.

A few more blocks away was the fish market. Here, not many photographs were taken, mostly because the shopkeepers forbid it.

This day was topped off with a boat tour of Victoria Harbor on the iconic Star Ferry, a stroll along the Tsim Tsa Tsui Promenade and an iced Starbucks coffee overlooking the water as the sun went down and the city lights got brighter. It was an incredible day!

I was also happy to be able to hit another gem in the city, The Peak, which is accessible by road or by tram. The Garden Peak tram is such a remarkable piece of history and while sitting in its wooden seats, I just couldn’t help but marvel that it’s still in working order, after 120 years of operation. The grade is ridiculous and it brings you to the loveliest area that is lush, full of trails, has spectacular views (when it’s not misty), with well-manicured gardens and impressive homes. I spent a great deal of time here too ~ I found the area refreshing to be in, the air seemed a bit cooler and wandering on the trails for a few hours was very welcome. It remained misty and a little dark all day, which was fine by me. I got caught in a monsoon downpour and hid under a gazebo for 15 minutes until the rain passed. There is definitely something very cool about being caught in a rain so heavy and so warm that you don’t need to bundle up for it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these! If you have, please feel free to leave me a note below! I’d love to hear from you!

This is the first of two installments of personal images that I took while in Hong Kong in October. I’m so glad that I have finally gotten the chance to finish them ~ I wanted to wait until the new blog was done before posting these!

The first part of the storyboard pretty much sums up Hong Kong ~ busy, loud, crowded and just plain intense. I went to visit the Times Square Hong Kong mall and oh my goodness, have never experienced anything like that in my life. It was a ginormous 7-floor mall, not including a few levels of “food court,” which essentially were floors of restaurants. Real restaurants. And beneath all of this, the rapid transit system hums busily along, transporting thousands of people a day all across the city. Even though the MTR was fantastic (some of the best urban transit I have come across yet), I tried to stay out of the underground tunnels as much as possible and take taxis. It began to feel a little too claustrophobic to me and combined with the humidity and pollution just made me want to avoid it altogether.

The architecture in Hong Kong is interesting and plentiful ~ I could have spent so much time just shooting buildings. A great deal of it is reminiscent of Vancouver, which made that aspect of the city very familiar.

I managed to spend a day at the Po Lin Monastery and the Giant Buddha on the island of Lantau. This was certainly one of the highlights for me on this trip and a welcome break into some nature. It’s a bit of a novelty getting there ~ a cable car with a crystal floor whisked us up into the misty hills. The scenery was incredible, so lush, and since I had ventured out earlier in the day, the air was definitely cooler. But what a treat it was to see such a culturally significant piece of history. I spent quite a bit of time wandering around the Buddha, the monastery and eventually making my way down a shaded trail to the Wisdom Path. I was loving all of the different kinds of plants that made up the forest ~ it’s always so neat to see what grows in different places.

I’m hoping to post some more images tomorrow to cap off my Hong Kong travels ~ tomorrow we’ll visit The Peak as well as some various markets. Stay tuned!

A little while ago, I went to Jericho Beach with my friend, Emily and her son, Rohan. We hadn’t seen each other in a while and I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the beach to burn off some energy. It was a cold, overcast day so I bundled Fin up in his Muddy Buddy, ready for anything.

We didn’t get to catch up much because we were busy chasing our kids and I was making sure Fin wouldn’t fall into the ocean on numerous occasions. But it was still a great day out and we saw a lot of neat things like a huge starfish and people crabbing on the wharf.

Happy Sunday all!