Perfect.

Perfect house (in my hometown):

Perfect dog (in my grandmother's hometown):

I want them both. But I have to wait and they'll both be gone by the time we're ready :(

Sometimes perfect will get away from you.

But it's nice to dream.

I love crafts.

Any and all crafts. It doesn't have to be fancy, or particularly artistic, as long as it's cute, easy, and innovative, I love it. I always used to do crafts when I was growing up...now as an adult I find that most of my crafting (besides scrapping) happens during the holidays; there's something about a special time of year (especially Fall/Halloween and Christmas) that makes me want to pretty up my house, make cute things for friends and add to the joy of the Season...it becomes an important part of the Season. However, I also love the everyday kind of crafts, and I thought I'd share a few that I've come across lately (most are from the Craftzine blog, I love that site!):

One day I will have a puppy, and one day I will learn to crochet. And when I do, I'll be making these cute puppy paw protectors.

Easy sewing projects are high on my list of 'want to dos' lately, and this cute craft car caddy seems like a great little project for a beginner (and such a cute idea, I might make one for the car and include travel essentials like snacks and magazines)

This is another adorable sewing project from House on a Hill Road. These would be so cute on a peacoat or on a little girl's dress/shirt (man I hope Sara has a girl!)

I love felt because it's so approachable and versatile, you can make anything out of it! This little bedside caddy is similar to the one above but because it's felt, it feels more homespun and cute, especially for kids (or heck, even adults!)

Speaking of babies and kids, ever since I found out Sara was having her 2nd baby I've been going nuts with baby fever. These reversible bibs are too adorable and would be perfect to make with the scraps I will have leftover from her blanket (which I'm going to start working on soon!)

Lately I've had a thing for mobiles and fabric banners, and this ultra-simple rainbow mobile doesn't get much easier, but also doesn't get much cuter. So perfect for a summer porch!

And these aren't really crafts but I've been loving fairly lights and white lights (for all year) lately, and these images make me want to dig out my old Christmas lights and make them pretty in my home! (Images from Decorology)

I am sooo trying this with my sideboard, I love the look!

Seashell lights from Martha Stewart

Well I guess that's all. I love how the Internet holds so much inspiration, you can never run out of fun, crafty ideas! I've mentioned this before, but I can't wait until the Fall, my inspiration and motivation level goes up by about 150% in the Fall, (I feel like it's time to nest and get ready for winter I guess?) and I'll definitely be posting my Fav Fall projects come September, just you wait! :) Let's just say Martha Stewart is my best friend from September to December...

Do you have any favourite craft blogs/crafts that you're into lately? Please share!

PS-Only 12 days until Italy! I can't believe it, I have to start packing and thinking about arrangements, oh my! So please excuse the lack of proper blogging lately, I'm too distracted and excited!

Because I haven't in awhile...

Flickr Favs-July, originally uploaded by Genevieve_vev.

Since I'm not feeling like being a photog lately, I thought I would post some of my Flickr Favs as of late...so much pretiness. Sigh.

I'm giving in...

...to my laziness lately. And I'm officially deciding today that it's ok. Because stressing myself out about it is useless, and besides, it's summer, isn't the livin' supposed to be easy?

So I'm cutting down my list of to-dos and goals, keeping it simple, and I'm just going to enjoy this lazy, hazy spell. I won't worry if I'm not scrapping pages every week, or taking photos every day, or blogging every 3 days, or filling my head with projects, because I know once the Fall hits in a few months I will be filled with inspiration and wonder and excitement (that's what Fall does to me, guaranteed, every time, that's what I love so much about it.) I will do what I have to do, and leave out all the rest. Who's gonna notice anyway?

(Well, maybe the few people who read this blog, but you'll all just have to be patient, ok?) :)

Anyway, this week I've been editing some photos that I took last weekend at home, I did 2 mini shoots, one with Daf and one with Sara, Dave, and Judah. I'm really getting the hang of Photoshop now, and I'm loving The Pioneer Woman's Actions, they make things go along much smoother (I mostly use her 'Define and Sharpen' Action, then play around with the others...oh, and I'm addicting to Edge burning, I need an intervention.)

Here are a few shots from Daf's shoot, which was taken at high noon so the light isn't as nice as I had wanted it to be, but she was a great sport and pretty model...

And Quincy, who was with us, of course:

I'm still working on Judah & Co.'s shoot, there are a lot of cute shots, but here's one for now (Sara's mother has a gorgeous barley field behind her house-pictured above-I wish I had taken more shots in the field, but we didn't want to crush the poor crop so we just hung out on the edge):

I'll try to finish up the rest this weekend and post later. I also want to learn how to make storyboard/mosaic type layouts with the shots, does anyone know how to do those? What program do you use?

And...

Other random shots from the past couple of weeks (Shimi being adorable as usual, and some moody black and whites I took on Canada Day because it was gray and gloomy and so was I)

Love that shot of me and Dan, totally accidental, totally scrappable.

This weekend I'm planning on going to the Market, finishing up my Dares page (about Twitter of course), and editing a few photos. Oh, and going to a little get together on Sunday with some coworkers...lots of eating involved there :)

So until next time, keep the livin' easy.

Happy Birthday!

Just wanted to share real quick a Happy Birthday to my dear friend Anna! Hope you have a wonderful day sweetums, can't wait to see you in 3 weeks! Kiss kiss. (And let me know if you enjoy your package!)

Aside: This picture was taken in May 2008 and it has got to be one of my favourite pictures of me and her-well, me and anyone, really-ever. We were sitting on the sidewalk somewhere in Toronto, eating street meat and taking foolish pictures of our new sunglasses we had gotten at Kensington Market that morning. It's awesome beyond all measure :)

Bits and pieces:

-I started a scrapbook page last night! And I didn't quit after 20 minutes of frustration! I'm actually doing kind of a hybrid (or at least I think it's a hybrid), and it's quite cool, something new for me.

-I'm taking Jessica Sprague's free online class and it's pretty cool! Definitely more for digital scrapbooking, but like I said, if I get into some hybrid layouts it will definitely come in handy. (I'm using some of the brushes that came with the class on my layout.) And there are some cool effects that we are learning too. All in all very fun :)

-Hubs and I decided to take Friday afternoon off to head home early, because it's going to be sunny and, well, around here lately you have to take advantage of that sun when you can! I can't wait to go home, it hasn't been that long but if I'm not there every 6 weeks or so I start to get antsy. The weekend plans include taking lots of photos, sewing and cutting fabric, playing with Judah and visiting Sara, and all kinds of dog walking. Sigh.

-In one month from today I will be landing in Milan!! In one month and one week I will be in Croatia!! I can't believe it, seems like I've been waiting forever! (well, since March)

-I don't know why I'm using so many exclamation points in this post!!!

-Speaking of my trip, I'm greatly inspired by this travel mini that Elise made for her trip to NYC. I've decided that I'm definitely going to make one to bring to Italy, because I know for sure that if I don't jot down my memories as I have them, they will be gone by the time I get home. I'll keep it fairly plain with lots of room for pictures and room to journal, seems like a perfect thing to do while sitting in a café or before going to bed. I'm excited!

-Like I said, this weekend I plan on taking LOTS of pictures. Daf is on board to be my model, and she said that she wants me to take some pictures of her and her friend, which I'm super excited about. If I can get any shots that remotely resemble the awesomeness of this shoot by Tara Whitney, I'll know that I did well :) I also have to take tons of catch-up pictures of little Judah, I haven't taken pictures of him since Christmas maybe (?!)


Ok I guess that's enough rambling for now. Hopefully I'll be back after this weekend with lots to share and maybe a bit of a tan!

Oh my...

Where am I? Trying to do this^^^ but finding it really hard...my thoughts are swirling, my paper is sitting (unused), my camera is not clicking, and nothing is getting done. Not even laundry. Must snap out of it soon.

Taking Friday afternoon off and heading home for the weekend. This will do me a lot of good. Family and friends and sunshine'll do that to ya. And when I get home, my focus better come home with me.

Out.

Ps-I need a new show to watch whilst I wait for Mad Men and Breaking Bad to return. Any suggestions?

I can't be anything else but random...

...lately. My life is pretty steady and pretty much the same all the time, with random events thrown in here and there, which is usually what I decide to blog about. (That didn't make much sense, but oh well, on with the show.)

PS-I also like to start my blog posts with pictures of weeds. They are good photography subjects, they don't move a lot and don't protest me being "all up in their grill" (quote from Rachel's latest post, I laughed).

So, yes, the randomness that is this post:

-I mentioned a little while ago that I re-painted my kitchen , reverting it from the ugly lime green back to the (nearly) identical beige as when I moved in. It turned out pretty well, I still have some touches to add (curtains, maybe some more prints, etc) but for the most part it'd done and I'm happy with it. Here are some (unedited and uncleaned) shots of the kitchen now, including my super-awesome-o chalkboard, which we use to keep track of our meals for the week. Loves it!

-I've gotten a little scrapiness done lately, though not much. I feel like I have nothing to say, which is weird, so I'm in need of some major inspiration, or I just need to think about it more. I don't really want to just scrap pictures without adding at least a few meaningful words to it, so until I get those thoughts in order the scrappies will be sparse. Perhaps I should take up a non-writing-included craft for a bit, like sewing. Yes, I think that's a splendid idea. In the meantime, here is a page I did that I'm quite happy with, I finally experimented with spraying paint, it turned out pretty well, I'll definitely do it again (on an old work surface though, there was paint all over my floors!) Also, my latest 52Q, question 23: How can I be kinder to myself? (I'm really trying to use scraps to make these cards, so they aren't always my 'style', but I enjoy them anyway.)

-My nails are painted black finally. They go well with my new thrifted shades :) (This photo is to show that it was sunny, one day, last week, for a few hours...I don't think I've seen the sun since!)



-Yesterday we didn't do much for Canada Day. It was cloudy and crummy as usual, so we went to see Transformers 2...umm, yeah, it was pretty bad. The CGI scenes were pretty decent (the fight in the woods was my favourite), but anything and everything that included the humans was mostly just painful to watch. It was what it was I guess, I'm glad I only paid 8$ to go see it though.

-I've been messing around in Photoshop, learning the basics, and I think I have most of it somewhat figured out (the parts I need to know, I mean). I've been following some online tutorials on special effects and things, which has been fun, and I've also been on the hunt for some good actions (not crazy weird ones, just ones that actually improve your photos). The Pioneer Woman has 2 great sets of Actions that I've been testing out, if anyone knows of any others, any help would be great! I'm also excited to take Jessica Sprague's free online class starting next week, I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot!

My new favourite shot of Dan (so handsome he is!), with one of those crazy effects added to it:



One thing I want to attempt in Photoshop this weekend (or tonight perhaps) is to create a new blog banner. I like to switch them up every couple of months or so, and it's about time for a change. I'm thinking graphic and simple, maybe with a photo but maybe not. We shall see.

-I've also been researching and dreaming about my next lens. I'm looking for another good portrait lens, and I have a few ideas, mainly the Canon 85mm f/1.8 or the Canon 100mm/f/2.0, but I'm debating whether or not to get another prime lens, or a zoom lens. I already have my 50mm prime, which I like, so I'm leaning towards another good portrait lens, but that zooms, but maybe all I need is another fixed one with a longer focal length...photogs out there, any suggestions?

-I'm debating whether or not we should go home this weekend. On the plus side, I could work on my curtain valance and start my baby blanket for Sara, as well as visit Sara and hang out with my sister and look at houses, but on the downside if it rains I don't want to be stuck inside, I would rather wait for another weekend when it's supposed to be sunny (right now it's calling for rain Friday and Sunday and a 30% chance on Saturday....not so great.) I wanted to do a photoshoot with my sister outside, to make up for the one we didn't do last time because her poor Kitty got hit by a car, but if it rains then that won't be possible...grrr, this weather is so annoying!!

-This week I'm working on some more Editing exercises and Photoshop stuff, and just trying overall to keep my focus on the work that I want to do in order to accomplish my goals. I stagger and sway sometimes, procrastinate and diverge, but as long as I continue to work on my focus, I think things will work out just fine.

(picture from Ali's blog)

Happy Thursday!

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Birthday Canada!

I'm very proud to be a Canadian (though, in typical Canadian fashion, I don't often show it). I'm proud to live in a country where I have lots of space and clean air and water, where we have peace and safety, where we accept others and welcome them into our society without asking them to change their culture or customs, where I don't have to worry about money if I get sick or want to have a baby, where we speak 2 languages and work hard to keep them equal, where we do our best to help others who are in need around the world, where we watch and obsess over a game in which a bunch of guys slide a puck around on some ice, where we have such diverse Seasons, and where I would never, ever want to leave (though I did in the past).

I love that our humour is dry and self-deprecating, that we don't take ourselves too seriously, that we remain humble and out of the limelight most of the time, that we are welcomed almost anywhere in the world with open arms, that we talk (and complain) about the weather constantly (trust me, if you had to live through some of the winters we've gone through, you'd be talking too!), that we spell 'colour, favour, and honour' with a 'u' and 'centre and litre' with an 're', that we have such amazing talent, that we like to drink beer and bbq and hang out outside as much as possible, that most of us are fairly liberal and a lot of us don't consider things like marijuana a big deal, and that, most of all, I love that we are who we are and we don't have to be afraid to show it.

(Ok, boasting over, sorry to sound braggy, once a year I think is acceptable.) :)

On this Canada Day I will be making chili in the slow cooker, hoping it doesn't rain (though it totally will), working on some editing and photoshop exercises, and generally taking it easy.

To all the Canadians out there, have a happy Canada Day! Get out and enjoy it if it's sunny! And to our American friends down south, enjoy your Independence Day on Saturday!!