Today after soccer we took some time to hang out outside. I was lying out with Lily curled up at my feet. As I took in the sun and listened to nature all around us I remembered doing the same thing when I was a kid. We would lie out on loungers and watch the clouds, sometimes read or nap. It was so nice to take the time to do it again and just relax!

I’ve talked about Lily before, my little Maltese dog. Whenever possible we try to bring her with us to where ever we are going so that she doesn’t have to be alone during the free time we have to spend with her. She is, however, a little bit crazy. Lily is very particular about many things, I know what you are thinking, she is just a dog? And while several years ago I would agree with you…now, I know better!

Do I treat Lily like a person? perhaps.

Is she a product of my own craziness? perhaps.

Should the Dog Whisperer come to my house? likely.

All that said, she is my little buddy and companion. She is the example lap dog. When we go in the car she sits with me  and looks out the window, or hides (in her pillow case or blanket) or sleeps.

When we were in Toronto visiting family she got to meet (for the first time) her dog cousin Winky. Winky is a lively Jug (Jack Russell/Pug mix) who really enjoys the company of other dogs. Lily on the other hand is a loner who wants nothing to do with other dogs. We spent a pleasant afternoon of Lily yapping at Winky everytime Winky moved and Winky trying to be submissive to Lily and Lily not understanding. In this picture Lily looks happy, Winky a little bit fed up.

This past weekend my husband and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. We decided to travel to visit my family in upper New York state for a relaxing weekend of visiting. Of course, Lily came with us. She loves visiting my Nanny and will sit with her for hours.

On the way down we decided to stop at an outlet mall. With the heat wave upon us we determined it was far to hot to leave Lily in the car so my husband suggested just carrying her around with us. I thought of one better, tucking her into my bag…that’s right, I spent an hour walking around with my dog in a bag, wearing sweat pants. Sigh. Fortunately, Lily seemed to enjoy being in my bag and smiled and let people pet her. This was very fortunate indeed and made the trip so much more eventful. Nothing like trying on clothes with your dog hung up next to them, smiling.

Some people may think Lily is only a dog, but she is more than that to me.

I feel like I haven’t been very good about blogging the last few weeks perhaps because I’m in the development stage or not ready to show stage of various projects. Also, with a husband and his cut tendon and a dog with on going illnesses I’ve been feeling sort of exhausted. Plus, it’s summer! We’ve started playing soccer 3 days a week which has been really great exercise!

Other than that I enjoyed a fun birthday week which included dinners out, a mani/pedi, fajitas night, birthday BBQ and dinner and cake!

I got several things to help me prepare for my upcoming holidays including a new lightweight suitcase, Top 10 Tokyo book and gift certificates for MEC (so I can get some nice travel, quick dry, clothing). I know the trip is several months away but I like to be really prepared and I want to ensure I’ve got the best possible plan to see the most things possible without being too busy to actually enjoy what I’m seeing.

A big part of my trip will be to plan what cameras I want to bring. I’ve got several toy cameras in mind, including, the new Holga 135BC, that my sister bought me for my birthday. What I like about this camera over my traditional Holga 120 is that 35mm film will likely be very accessible and I find it to be better when being x-rayed multiple times at airports. If it’s a good fit and has good results I definitely see this as a choice camera.

I will share my results from the Holga 135BC once I get them digitized.

I will also be preparing to do some maternity pictures in early June for a friend. I’m really looking forward to recording her pregnancy with her and her husband. I haven’t done a lot in the area of maternity photos so I’m hoping that we can come up with some ideas for photos that are timeless but don’t fall into the maternity photo cliches that I’ve seen so often.

Well, that’s it for me now – hopefully, I will have something new and exciting to share with you soon like photos or art but until then, definitely check out the Traveling Toy Camera Project blog for lots of great photos from around the world! The camera is currently heading to Sweden!

Last week I was using a new Holga and like with all my cameras I took a photo of Lily on the first roll. Now, this particular time she did not want to cooperate with me and decided to pout. So here is a picture of Lily being annoyed with me…and people say animals don’t have feelings…

more to come…

60. give Lily, my dog, a bath

It’s 11:45PM and it’s been a long day of work and volunteering, Lily wants to head out for a last bathroom break. (Since the snow melted Lily has been fussy about having to pee on the soggy grass which has resulted in extended fussing outside.) After waiting several minutes for her to go on the grass she sprang away over the low garden fencing. I ran over to see where she’d gone but in the darkened neighbors’ yards I couldn’t see her. I called her and finally she came, rolling in the grass and sneezing as she came…that could only mean one thing…skunk.

And No. 60 is complete…

Christmas eve mass was beautiful this year with a winter wonderland theme. It was so great to spend time with my family and friends. I was very lucky to receive some great toy and lofi cameras for Christmas including a build it myself stereo pinhole camera.

The weekend was really icy and wet – here is our Smart covered in ice.

Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend was busy – celebrating LP’s birthday at le baccara (the food was ultra amazing!), BBQed with friends and I was supposed to shoot engagement photos. Unfortunately due to the weather the engagement photos had to be rescheduled. Read the rest of this entry »

In preparation for Holgapalooza I’ve been trying to shoot more with my holga and today I got back the results – here is a taste of the new images. I was really happy with the results and the quality of these images. Here is one of Ottawa from the Chaudiere bridge. Read the rest of this entry »