"no spring nor summer beauty hath such grace..." -john donne

so this fall has been quite a whirlwind too!
we celebrated our 4th anniversary...
had another super cute photo shoot with my favorite model and her cousin...
started a studio lighting course...

spent a weekend in ny visiting the bro's new pad and checking out the apple festival...

go training to toronto for an eaton centre shopping excursion with lisa...
(yes, we tried on a LOT of hats... this isn't even half of them!)

oh, and did i mention WORKING A LOT!?
fall day school portraits are wrapping up but hockey and senior grad photos are in full swing and keeping me muy busy! i'm so very, very, (very) much looking forward to our 2 week vacation that starts next wednesday!

summer reflections part 3

for the first time EVAR i attempted to grow tomatoes in the backyard. they haven't done too bad, surprisingly enough! i've even made salsa and NINE varieties of jam!



i've also been pretty busy photographically speaking, with outings with the hamilton flickr group, a wedding photography workshop, and photoshoots. and i have a contract position taking school portraits and sports photos this fall while still working at my old job one day a week. AND i start a studio lighting course next week.



this summer has actually been pretty stellar and i'm sad to say goodbye. but the fall brings new things and exciting destinations...

summer reflections part 2

the road trip was incredible, i got to see parts of this country i've never seen before and spend some quality girl time.


being semi-employed this summer has also afforded me the luxury of chillin with my dog, working on my tan (ha!), pool time with heather & miss emma bean, and reading.

summer reflections part 1

as i sift through photos, i'm saddened that this summer has rapidly come to an end! just a semi-small update for those who don't know, i quit my admin job in the spring and promptly headed off on a trans-canada road trip with two of the hottest chickies this side of the atlantic. we left hamilton on june 27 and three cars, five stormy (but bear-free) nights in tents, two much-deserved hotel stays, and ZERO moose later, we arrived in vancouver!

long overdue

after a brief (eight year) hiatus, please welcome the questionably triumphant return of... the BANGS! and while they certainly are not bigger, they are better, albeit a bit soccer-mom-ish.



and now i'll leave you with a few pics of my new work "office." (and no, whatever photography skills i had are not deteriorating- i just took them with my cell phone.)
ps. do not, i repeat do not, bring pillars of the earth to work. because, maybe you'll get no work done because maybe when you put it away in a drawer, you will still want to read it. all day. maybe.

a wise guy

My Utmost for His Highest (Oswald Chambers)
February 29, 2008


He said, ’Lord, that I may receive my sight’ —Luke 18:41

...Be persistent with your disturbance until you get face to face with the Lord Himself. Don’t deify common sense. To sit calmly by, instead of creating a disturbance, serves only to deify our common sense. When Jesus asks what we want Him to do for us about the incredible problem that is confronting us, remember that He doesn’t work in common sense ways, but only in supernatural ways.

...If it is an impossibility, it is the very thing for which we have to ask. ...And God will do what is absolutely impossible.

...God will do it if you will ask Him. But you have to come to the point of believing Him to be almighty. We find faith by not only believing what Jesus says, but, even more, by trusting Jesus Himself. If we only look at what He says, we will never believe. Once we see Jesus, the impossible things He does in our lives become as natural as breathing. The agony we suffer is only the result of the deliberate shallowness of our own heart. We won’t believe; we won’ t let go by severing the line that secures the boat to the shore— we prefer to worry.

take it for what it is

i hate when people start their posts by saying something like "wow, can't believe it's been so long since my last post..." or "i promise to start writing more..." like they owe it to somebody to blog. face it, if you post out of obligation, it's just not as exciting to read. plus, who's to say that people actually read your blog anyway? so that being said, i'll start today's post.

wow, i'm not sorry i haven't blogged in awhile! things have been busy and i kinda like it (altho i'm fairly certain i'll be getting prematurely gray as a result). the last (almost) two months have been quite the busy ones, that's for sure. christmas (of course), parental visits, a long-awaited visit from dear melissa, new year's eve wine & game night, supper & chat with globe-trotting cher bear, taking in some theater and concerts with a newly reacquainted buddy(that's you debbie jane!), a very happy birthday spent at a dance competition with mom and the "outlaws," shopping for the birthday present that my darling husband had been canvassing the continent for funds to help him afford (a macbook!), visiting a new mommy, dinner and driving with taiwan-napped naomi, photographing my first "real" wedding with the best assistant ever (again, you debbie jane!), movie with sis-in-law, monday night bible study/gabfest, teaching sunday school... and this weekend jj & lisa are coming up to visit! and that's just on the home front! i'm finding it necessary to invite people over just so that i'm forced to clean my house- otherwise i don't find the time/energy! ;)

at work, we've moved our office to a new location and i've also submitted a proposal to work for them as an independent contractor, which would mean some major changes if they go for it.

both my dad and norm's dad have heard the word "cancer" in the last few months and we're still waiting to hear exactly what's going on. my dad has gotten the "it's not cancer, but we don't actually know what it is" from his doctor but we're not sure yet about norm's dad.

so, thus far, this year's turning out to be a doozy, for better or worse. but God is good so we'll see where He takes us.


ps. if you create a clever scavenger hunt, including 10 creative reasons why you love me, and at the end leave an ooey, gooey, chocolate, brownie, caramel cheesecake for me to find, i will indeed be yours.

snow!

bibs!

fall is a funny time of year for me and i seem to get very restless. maybe it's because i'm so used to having things "change" during this time of year. for seventeen years, school has started in september. i got married, honeymooned, and moved in september. i tend to travel out of country september/october. i've changed jobs twice in october.

but now in my "stable" life-- home, job, life-- you'd think i'd finally settle and relax. instead i get very antsy. i have a huge list of things to do and projects to complete in the near future (like read books that never seem to come off my "to read" list, finish that stained glass project, paint the stairway, finish the baseboards, work on some christmas and baby gifts, throw a baby shower or two, organize photos and put some albums together, put my recipes in some kind of order, get my side job up and running, get my sewing machine fixed, and... oh yeah... finish my photography certificate-- just to name a few of the actually fun ones!) but even when i'm accomplishing something, my mind is constantly jumping and i can't seem to settle.

this week, i start going through "the purpose driven life" (again, apparently i didn't get it the first time!) and God seems to be telling me a few things re: my "purpose":

• that i'm not as clueless as i pretend to be, He's given me so many resources (the Bible, prayer, life experiences, etc.) that will show me the way if i'd only pay attention
• that i have to dig for the good stuff (diamonds need to be mined, pearls are hidden in oysters, etc.)
• i need to give him my open hand as opposed to a closed fist. yes, God can take anything from an open hand, but He can also give.

my socks no longer smell like beer!

we survived yet another trip during hurricane season! here are some highlights from the hamilton-dekker cruise 2007 aboard the carnival valor:

• day 1: depart miami- we'd arrived in miami the day before and stayed at the radisson downtown for uber cheap (thanks to hotwire.com), enjoyed a long walk and leisurely breakfast and then headed to the ship. onboard, we lined up for the muster drill (to inform us where to go in case of emergency. see lifejacket photos- these canadians were melting in all that tropical heat!)


• day 2: at sea


• day 3: grand cayman- after a short stop in hell (name of the town), we went to the turtle farm (uber exciting for jamie) and swimming with sting rays in the wild! it was the most amazing thing and i hope i never forget it.


• day 4: isla roatan, honduras: i was up early and saw dolphins swimming next to the ship! we ventured out on our own. it was very obvious we were in a 3rd world country and the cruise lines hadn't commercialized the port yet. it was a little rough, but very naturally beautiful. it was kinda nice seeing how people really live- kids were getting out of school, playing in the water, and laughing at us tourists sloppin through the downpouring rain.


• day 5: belize- we took a crowded boat ride down the river wallace where we searched for manatees, saw oodles of iguanas, monkeys, bats, and vegetation. it was cool to see these animals really in the wild- not in a tourist zoo type place. then we took a bus ride to altun ha mayan ruins.


• day 6: cozumel, mexico (we were originally scheduled to go to costa maya but the hurricane destroyed most of it) - we snorkled and walked 5 miles to the shopping district. and we found the exact same mexican vanilla we'd purchased on our honeymoon- it's so yummy!


• day 7: at sea headed back to miami- took a tour of one galley (kitchen- the ship has four!), saw my beloved warm chocolate melting cake being prepared (i had it 6 out of 7 nights for dessert!). just before dinner, the ship got a call from the us coastguard about a situation we had to stop and check out. we picked up 10 cuban refugees in their "chug" (homemade boat)- it was kinda sad and i sorta hoped they'd refuse to get onboard but a storm hit that night so it was probably a good thing they did get on the ship. the whole "wet foot" policy is summed up like this: if cubans can make it to us soil, then they can be legally processed. if they are picked up or helped at sea, they get shipped back to cuba... unless they can prove that they'll be persecuted upon their return. it's all sorta sketchy but that's my understanding of it. later at night, during a fairly heavy rainstorm, the cubans were transferred to a us coastguard ship. here's an extremely brief newstory on the cuban refugees we picked up: http://www.wftv.com/news/14188056/detail.html and some interesting reading on the topic of policy re: cuban refugees if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_feet,_dry_feet_policy-.


• day 8: flights back home were loooong. we waited five hours in the airport for our "short" 45min flight from ft. lauderdale to orlando which ended up being delayed because of a storm in orlando, resulting in us waiting for over an hour on the runway. they held our connecting flight for us but two of our suitcases didn't make it onboard. (the ones with the alcohol- suspicious no?) our luggage came on the next flight and was delivered to us at home on monday intact except for one bottle of beer. i'd packed socks (clean ones!) around them to help prevent breakage but... i had some pretty wet and smelly socks!

it was a fantastic trip thanks to God, thanks to the cruise line and thanks to the dekkers for being such great travel companions. it's good to be home and finally caught up on the laundry!

cottaging on keuka...

wish i was still there...

exploding watermelon?

we had quite the busy weekend (hang on, i'll get to the exploding watermelon...eventually!)...

• friday night we were visited by amanda, ryan, alan & heather and enjoyed a lovely marinated pork tenderloin courtesy of the dekkers and some rowdy mario party.
• saturday morning, my dear melissa (from vancouver via orillia) arrived for the reckman wedding. we were off for pedicures (& manicures!) at a new place just up the street. surprise, we chose the same colors.
• saturday afternoon we headed to crystal beach for the wedding. it was lovely to see long lost friends again and to dance the night away to the incredible Garner.
• sunday morning we went to church and after lunch, melissa headed back to orillia.
• sunday afternoon we headed to buffalo's cheesecake factory to meet mom, bob, jj & sarah to celebrate mom's birthday. gooooood cheescake....
• monday after work deb, corrine, rana, and minh came over for supper and taboo! (the best team won... just kidding!) and i broke a chair. so gracefully too, i'm sure.

so today's my day off and i got up early to get some stuff done. i took some pictures and played with my new flash and by 9am i was peeling apples for a pie. i had purchased a small watermelon intending to serve it monday night but we never got around to it so it was still sitting on the counter. maybe i should've put it in the fridge! i heard this hissing sound and i looked around but thought it was just the plastic bag from the apples crinkling in breeze from the fan. a few minutes later, i was still hearing it. i noticed that there was juice coming from the watemelon and thought, that can't be good, maybe i should cut it up and put it in the fridge. thankfully i plopped it in the sink before slicing into it because when i stuck the knife in, it burst open spraying my face, hair, and glasses with stinky rotten watermelon juice! needless to say it went straight to the compost bin on the porch. who knew watermelons could explode?

anyhoo, i'm off to shower (yes, there's still stinky juice in my hair) and run some errands, just thought i should blog about our fun friend-filled last few days!

[insert clever, attention-grabbing title here]

oma's 88th birthday party



i've completed three more blankets...