Week 23 and a half

This blog post is about nothing and everything, so I couldn't think of a title for it, lol. So here's what happened in my photo/scrappy life at the end of week 23 and the beginning of week 24 of this week.

I'm really just here to show you my P52 photo and some recent layouts for my CTs.

I'll start with P52:

The prompt was "in your closet". There are a good amount of closets in our house, and they are all in varying states of mess. The thought of showing my mess here was not appealing, a mixture of shame and despair, lol.

But last week was a very important week for us as it saw the arrival of our new dog. He is an autisme service dog for our son and I spent most of the week training of handling him. As a result, I did take a moment last week to reorganize one of the big messy drawers in my kitchen to store all his things. So instead of all the messy closets, I will show the newly organized drawer :D

It looks pretty good and organized, right?

It used to have a huge mess of random bags of various sizes, shapes and colours that I was keeping "just in case", added to grocery bags, random camping stuff and the old dog things we had from our previous puppies.

I purged the bags and put them all in the biggest one and I put all the grocery bags in the pouch for Provence made for that! Then I stored all the food items for the pooch in the little plastic bin, because he's a lab therefore always hungry and knows how to open drawers, and I put all the grooming tools and products, toys and various travel items on the other side of the bin.

I love a well organized drawer!

(now let's see how long it stays that way...)

On to scrapping :D

Lately, I feel like I have no time to scrap and my schedule is crazy; I feel like each layout takes days (seeing the kit and planning on scrapping, choosing a photo, downloading and unzipping, then actually opening the software and doing it really does seem to happen over at least a few days). But when it comes down to it, I am scrapping my memories and I have a nice spread for you today :D

First, my desktop for the month:

 Credits: Monster Party kit and the Bits of Yesterday templates by Jen Yurko

Then more of our xmas vacation.

A day at Blizzard Beach for a template challenge at Mousescrappers:

 Credits: Summer at the Lake by Jen Yurko and Valarie Ostrom Designs and a template by Keystone Scraps

And the Canada Pavilion at Epcot:

Credits: Everyday June Bundle by Designs by Jen Yurko (lift of a page by nenner1)

And a quick simple page of the first cuddle with our new dog:

Credit: An Adoption Story by Artgal Style and the Super Chunk font by Jen Yurko

You are my sunshine!

Last week was crazy...

I had to get a bunch of things ready, I worked Thursday, I had a BBQ for the opening of the playground at my son's "school" Friday, then we had a surprise 60th birthday party Saturday for my sweet mother-in-law and that same evening, we were getting our new dog!

It all went well and fairly smoothly, though.

My MIL was really surprised and happy, which is always great, and despite being delayed by an accident on the highway, our doggie got to us in the evening (he was driven here from 900km away!).

Sunday was spent getting to know each other and bonding. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful so we took a walk, and hubby took Cédric for a ride and to visit his grand-parents so the puppy could get used to the house without the constant movement and noise our little dude creates!

No scrapping was done last week whatsoever as a result of all this, but I did take my P52 photo :D

The prompt was "sunshine", so of course, the sun went away for the first 3 days and the sky stayed cloudy.

First chance I got, I took a quick photo of the sky. It was a very bright sun, so I lifted the camera, closed my eyes and snapped it. It's not an ugly picture, it has the sun and clouds and it looks fine:

But then I had a brain wave. It happens, it's rare, but it happens :D

As I've said before, I like the photo to really represent our week. And last week had some sunshine, but not as much as the week before. The BBQ was actually really sunny and beautiful, so that would have worked too. But most important last week, we were getting a doggie. And my brain wave was that our doggie is a yellow lab (a fox red lab, to be precise), so he's sun coloured. And because of that, I agreed to the name Hubby wanted for him which is Helio, and Helio comes from the greek "helios" which means "sun". So on a sunny Sunday walk, here  laid our new "sunshine":

Isn't he the most gorgeous, happy looking dog?

Camera phone

We had a beautiful week-end. We pretty much skipped spring and went straight to summer, with temperatures in the mid 20s celsius and a beautiful sun!

So we've been taking rides and walks and spending a little time on the deck.

Went we built our house, I made sure there would be lots of windows in the open-concept main floor, adding a high window in the south wall and choosing a windowed front door. All that to say that the lighting was great for my photo of last week's P52!

The prompt for last week was "camera". I used to have a cute point and shoot that was small enough to carry around easily and did everything I wanted. Then I lost it... and my awesome hubby got me a new one (summer 2012) which did the same things and more.

Then, still awesome hubby got me a iPhone. I had been using a cheap flip phone, and as I didn't work, there had been no strong reason for me to have a smart phone. But everyone else had one and I guess he could tell I's like one too. It has been amazing for me.

Of course, I waste a lot of time playing silly games. But the Calendar app has changed  my life, I use the Notes app everyday for my lists of things to do, hubby and I text instead of calling (which is easier and more efficient for him), I use the Clock app for potty training our son, I use the Music app and the Podcasts app to listen to audio books and podcasts while I clean and cook, and the reason that led me to tell you all this, I use the Camera app to take photos of our everyday!

And that camera is so good, it takes better photos than my point and shoot did. For someone like me who knows nothing of photography, it is absolutely perfect:

- I always have it with me,

- I can transfer, email, facebook, ... my photos,

- it is very fast and therefore I can take many shots of the same thing hoping one will be good (with an autistic hyperactive son, you don't know how precious that is!!),

- the photos are truly good quality and I end having to retouch them less for scrapping,

- I was able to personalize it with a Gelaskins hard case (HP inspired scrap... I'm a nerd).

For all these reasons, since I got it in March 2013, I haven't used anything else and it's funny that was last week's prompt because I just gave my old camera to my mother-in-law!

So here's me with my "camera", probably the way I look to my son when I take photos of him:

Hope you like it!

This week's prompt is sunshine, so let's hope the clouds go away...

Deux

This week started with a holiday. Monday was Victoria Day, which we call May Run, in Northern Ontario. Both Dave and Cedric were off. We took our time, relaxed, took a ride. It was a good way to start the week.

I then worked two days in a row. Tuesday, I spent the day with two grade 8 classes, which went pretty well. Wednesday, I was at the high school and my last class was depressing. The lack of motivation and work done was just sad and they really pushed their limits. It's the curse of the supply teacher! I was grateful for a supper with my girl friends for which I dressed up (we went to a pretty classy restaurant) and which allowed for relaxing and venting (and some caramel cheesecake). The rest of the week has been uneventful :D

Now, from one fancy supper to another, last week was our anniversary! Ten years!!

My in-laws watched our little man and we went out to another nice restaurant where we had venison, and yummy desserts. And the prompt for P52 last week was "two", so I figured a little photo of the two of us on our anniversary was perfect.

The lighting was bad, though, so the photo that the waitress took makes us look very dark. So once again, the best shot is an end-of-arm couple's selfie. And thank goodness for hubby's long arms :D

But then, I saw these "two"...

... and that's an even better "two". My two guys sharing a moment of love :D Cedric is in a very strong Dad loving phase and I don't mind one bit. I still get lots of love and I really enjoyed seeing my little one so happy to see is Daddy get home and giving him hugs and kisses.

Now, while I have your attention, let me show you a couple of digiscrap layouts I made this week!

My new desktop, with Everyday May by Jen Yurko:

This one is a very cute collaboration between Jen Yurko and Triple J Designs, called Bad Hair Dayz, which allowed me to journal the nightmare that is haircuts... Cedric hates them!

The experience is horrible, but the layout turned out pretty cute :D

Finally, I scrapped another photo from our xmas Florida vacation. Cedric and I in front of the iconic Hollywood Studios. I used a template by Jen Yurko and A Little Baby Boy by Mel Hains Designs, a gorgeous baby kit that can be used for much more ;)

Thanks for looking and have a great week-end, everyone. The sun and warmer weather are finally here, so hopefully, we'll enjoy ours too!

Two weeks of photos and scraps

*Something strange happened with this post... I thought it was posted, but it seems it remained a draft... so it was written last week, but posted today*

I was going to post last week's photo on Sunday, but I had the pleasure of going to a baby shower in the afernoon, and as it was Mother's Day, I spent the rest of the day enjoying my little man's presence.

Therefore I once again have two weeks of P52 to show!

The first one was "messy". I have a lot of messy places in my house. Every closet is messy, both spare bedrooms are messy, the garage is messy, ... But it was super depressing to imagine taking a photo of those messes and showing them to the world. So I opted for a totally different photo.

On Thursday morning of that week, we had a meeting with the therapists in charge of our son's specialized program and what she said made us rethink some things (I won't go into detail). I came out of there questioning things, feeling emotional, constantly thinking and rethinking our next step.

So I decided that what was "messy" was my brain, overwhelmed and too full, and I capture it like so:

Hope you like it :D

The following week's prompt was "sign". On Saturday, Cédric went for the first time to a 5 hour respite program out of the home, called Extend-A-Family. I was nervous but excited and I thought I would take a photo of the program's logo as our sign:

We were in a hurry, so it's a horrible looking picture, taken through the car window, badly centered, ... but I will fix it in The Gimp :D

And while you're here, why don't I show you some of my latest scraps!

I'm still working on my photos from our xmas Florida vacation. The first two are in Downtown Disney, having supper on two different nights at the Rainforest Cafe and the T-Rex.

(Both made with the kit Boys Will Be Boys by Jen Yurko)

The next one is at a Brazilian restaurant in Orlando, celebrating my birthday.

(Made with Bloom Where You're Planted by Jen Yurko and Tamy Miller Designs)

This next one is just a random photo of my little dude sleeping. He's sooooo adorable:

(Made with Good Morning 2 U by Artgal Style)

Thanks for looking :D

Well, that was different!

The city of Timmins, somewhat small and very isolated, does not get much in terms of entertainment, excitement and variety.

So it was shocking last week-end to realize that I was going out two nights in a row and neither one was going to be at the movies!!

On Friday, we went out with 3 other couples to a supper and comedy show! Though the food was a bit slow and definitely not diet-approved, it was good! And the show was really funny. One guy was just okay, one was young and therefore a bit nervous and hesitant, but showing promise, and the last one was really, really funny. We enjoyed it and I'm glad a couple of flukes brought us to the show. (Another couple was supposed to go, but couldn't due to illness, and I just happened to supply teach the same day and at the same school as my friend who was going. She invited us to replace my poor sick friend.)

The next night, I went out with some girl friends to supper as we often do. Usually, we then try to find somewhere to keep the night going, sometimes shopping, sometimes going to a bar, ... This time, though, we were going to an exciting burlesque show that was being put together for charity in an effort to save the bees. Thank goodness it was for charity... It was bad, it was oh so bad!

All the acts were the same, the music was not great, when there was some. There was a guy stripping with a Boba Fett mask on, who later came back wearing garbage bags and ended up rolling in teddy bears... I can't even explain how bad it was! I did enjoy the company of my friends, we had fun anyways. But it was bad!

The silver lining is that I had no idea what to do for the week's P52 prompt, which was "bright", and this provided an opportunity! The last girl on stage was grinding (literally, in her underwear, grinding a plate on her stomach with a power tool!). But the light created by the grinding was bright :D

So here's this week's photo, courtesy of the Bee Bad Burlesque Show:

The photo quality is horrible, as is the pose. All of them were! There's even one where the sparks are going out her backside from between her legs! I kid you not!

I'm still happy we went, hoping this will support the growing variety of events in the city. But, man, it was bad... lol

Vintage with a twist

Back for a little P52!

This week's prompt was "vintage". Now vintage is definitely not my style. It's not for clothing, or jewelry. It's even less when it comes to home decor and furniture.

I do own a couple of vintage things though, depending how widely you define the concept. I wear a pair of boots that belonged to my Mom, bought in the late 70s. And I am very lucky to have a beautiful diamond ring that was passed down from mother to daughter over 4 generations, from my great-grandmother to me. It was bought in Paris in the late 20s or early 30s but looks quite modern.

But as I try to keep my photos representative of our life at the time they were taken, as well as following the prompts, I decided to stretch the concept a little.

It just so happens that the word "vintage" is on a couple of the souvenirs I brought back from Florida. So I decided to take a photo of them all together (even though some are definitely not vintage...).

The bags, which cost a couple bucks each at Publix, are a "vintage" design and you can see the word "vintage" on them :D

The rest was actual Disney Parks merchandise. I bought Cedric the snow globe because he likes turning them and looking at the sparkles fall. It's sort of vintage as it has Sorcerer Mickey from Fantasia... And my wallet (my  beautiful, expensive new wallet) has a vintagey feel to it too with the black and white hand-drawn Mickey and Minnie! The Disney family car stickers are not vintage at all, though, but too bad so sad, I wasn't going to take a photo of the souvenirs and leave one out, lol.

This week's prompt is "bright" and I still don't have a photo or the slightest idea what to photograph... I don't do "Photography", I do everyday life memory pics with my phone, so playing with the light and taking a gorgeous artistic photo is out... Now I have to think of a bright idea (get it? "bright" idea of something "bright"! lol).

Guilty Green Model: 3 weeks in one

Here are three weeks' worh of Project 52 rolled into one!

A couple weeks ago, I was feeling overwhelmed, inadequate and useless (which led me to not post week 9 even though I had the photo). Then hubby decided that we just really needed a break from routine, winter and everyday autism hurdles. So we packed up the car and just left for Florida!

We literally decided that between 6pm and 8:30pm, started packing and we were on the road at 10am the next morning! The timing was great because we really needed the change and March break was coming but also because that would allow us to surprise Hubby's father with our arrival on his 60th birthday. We pulled it off: he was surprised and happy, the trip went really well, we had beautiful sunny weather, and we soaked up the sun and all the Disney World we could manage.

With all that, I didn't use my laptop (it was impossible on the 6 days on the road, and I just didn't feel like it during our 5 days of vacation). So I didn't post week 10 either and I didn't make a conscious effort to take the pictures I was supposed to, but as it turns out, our trip provided the right photos anyways!

Now here are the prompts from March To December's Project 52 (and as you see they explain my weird post title):

Week 9: Guilty Pleasure

Week 10: Something Green

Week 11: Role Model

I struggled with finding my guilty pleasure.

I thought of food, but being on a fairly healthy diet, even though I love food in general, I didn't really have anything to be guilty about in that department.

I thought of my love of all things Disney. I could have gone with that because it is childish, and I do end up spending money on the souvenirs. But of listening to the music, watching the movies, going to the parks, etc. I am not ashamed at all. And as this was prior to this trip and the last couple times we went to the parks I didn't really spend that much on souvenirs, I didn't think it was a great representation. If it had been last week instead, I would show you my new wallet :D

I ended up choosing to document my love of all things Lush (a company that makes bath bombs, bubble bars, soaps, ...). I usually get them for gifts, so to be honest I don't feel that guilty about them either. But I do tend to like useful gifts, like clothes and shoes, or things for the house, so they do feel like more of an indulgence! So here's a photo of one of my bubble bars right before I got into the tub of beautifully scented and coloured warm water :D

 I had not taken my photo before we left for the trip, so on the road I kept thinking "I need something green!". And as my little man fell asleep like an angel and I placed the neck pillow to prevent his head from falling, I got my photo of the week!

I really like that it's really representative of our week, and the fact that it's an alligator and we were on our way to Florida :D

I also thought I would struggle with a photo of a role model.

My parents are great role models for the way they made and still make their marriage work, the way they raised my sister and I, the career my Dad chose (which was a passion rather than just a job). They are smart, loving and generous. But they were not available for a photo op, being in France and all...

And I also must admit that while in Florida, I totally forgot about the project prompt.

But last night, looking through our photos as they were transferring onto my computer, I realized I had the perfect photo! A photo of my awesome husband Dave. It was taken on the anniversary of the day we started dating, 13 years ago, which we spent at the Magic Kingdom.

A while ago he made the mistake of telling me he likes Gaston, from Beauty and the Beast and I insisted on getting a photo of him in front of the recent statue of this fun villain in Fantasyland.

I think Dave is a role model to any young man out there. He works very hard to achieve his career and financial goals but does it without ever compromising his integrity by stepping on people's toes, and as a financial advisor, he always does what's best for the client rather than what would make him the most money.

He practices Jiu Jitsu in the playful and gentle way that Gracie Jiu Jitsu promotes. He could use his size and strength to show off to others, but he tries instead to use technique and skill and always tries to grow. I also always admire his lack of competitiveness in sports. He does not mind when others win or are better than him at one thing or another. He tries to be the best he can be and grow, he sees himself as his competitor rather than others and he can be truly happy for others when they achieve something rather than be jealous.

But most of all, he is a role model as a husband and father. He's a great cook and gets right in the kitchen to make supper when he gets home from work rather than expect the meal to be on the table. He works hard to take care of our family financially. He spoils me often with toys and bling (and I do love jewelry...).

And he is the greatest Dad to Cédric! A lot of fathers struggle with an autism diagnosis. Instead, he researches constantly to find ways we can help our son. He gives hugs and kisses, he gets on all four to play, he gives Cédric his bath, he puts him to bed every night and he changes diapers! His fair share! Maybe even more! I love that in him the way La'Shawn loves that her hubby does the dishes ;)

So here he is in front of a character which he resembles in physical traits, but he is much more Beast turned Prince than he is Gaston in personality :D

And I love that in this picture, Cédric looks up to him like the great role model he is :D

Wow, did I ever ramble on in this post, lol

I guess I felt like sharing more than just photos today. I hope some of you out there stuck with me!

Next week: vintage! Come back to see what I come up with!

Lazy week

Hubby went out of town for 3 days at the end of this week. As always when that happens, I try to take it easy to some degree to keep my energy for taking care of The Dude, especially in case he wakes up in the middle of the night.

So I worked Tuesday, but other than that, I felt pretty useless and lazy and found myself doing things, but inefficiently and I wasted A LOT of time on Pinterest. Instead of blogging!
I did end up having en eventful Friday. It was -48 outside with the windchill, so my car didn't start... I had to drive hubby's truck which is huge and I had never driven before, to take Cédric to IBI. Then back home, I had to choose between taking the truck again later or boost my vehicle. So I grabbed my cables and successfully boosted my car with his truck, without dying (but man did I freeze). I was so cold the toilet seat felt warm :D

So at the very last minute, here is my photo for this week's March2December P52:

The prompt was silhouette, and it immediately made me think of those cut portraits they make at Disney World. And as my son has an amazing profile, I thought it would be perfect. So while he went back and forth from his favourite chair to his snack, passing in front of the sunny window, I took a few shots. I would have prefered them to turn out darker and I might increase the contrast if I print one or scrap it, but I do love the result!

Next week is guilty pleasure, for which I have my photo, but I had a very hard time coming up with something...

A little LOVE!

Just a quick post about P52! Last week was valentine's day and it made sense that the prompt for P52 was "love".

I waited until V-day to take my photos and I didn't think too much about it.

I did take a photo of the beautiful flowers hubby got me, which I  love! And of the dessert we had when he took me out for lunch, and I love both our dates and food :D

But it had to be a photo of the love we give each other, of our family. I love our little family!!

And all of us are cuddly, affectionate people, so a family hug made sense.

Of course, it's always hard to get good photos of the three of us, because it requires an end-of-arm type of shot (thank goodness for hubby's loooooong arms, lol) and because Cédric rarely cooperates...

So it's a typical photo of us, but a very happy one anyways!

Me, Myself and I

It's P52 time again:

Last week's prompt was "self portrait".

I don't take a lot of self portraits, but I do have a few. So I wasn't sure how to make it something fresh, a little different than other ones I might have taken before.

La'Shawn who hosts the project mentioned the snow in my photos, so I thought I could keep the theme going and I took one of me outside:

But I find I look like a man on it, lol. Somehow, I never find the right angle when taking a "selfie" (man I hate that word...). I always have neck folds, or my nose looks huge (like in this one), ...

But later the same day, I had an opportunity to take one that I thought had a cute concept.

I was playing with my little dude in the car while waiting for something, and I was showing him myself making faces on my phone, than flipping the camera so he would see himself, and so on. And I thought it would be cute to take a portrait of how he sees me when I turn around in the car to interact with him (not while driving, of course...). And it turned out pretty cute :D

Not Photography with a capital P, but a cute candid everyday shot!

And while I'm putting photos of myself on here, La'Shawn has requested (demanded!) to see my new Harry Potter t-shirt. I figured she would want to see the Harry Potter mug too, so here are front and back photos of both :D

So here's me in my Ministry of Magic t-shirt, using my Marauder's Map mug (note the involuntary alliteration in "m", hehehe):

Hoping to be back later with scrappy stuff!

Teal :D

So it's week 3 of March to December Project 52 and from the title of the post, you could guess what the prompt was this week...

 

Favourite Colour!

I knew easily and right away what my favourite colour was: teal. It's the colour of my coat, of one of my purses, of some of my jewlery, of at least 4 or 5 of my shirts, ...
It makes me happy and if hubby let me, I would paint the walls and decorate the house with it. On two occasions I could have had a teal car and didn't manage :( (the first time, hubby had a say and chose dark green over teal, afraid he would get tired of it, and the second time it was just not available at our dealership).

What I didn't find as easy was how to photograph your favourite colour! Not as easy as it seems, unless you just go for a photo of you in a shirt of said colour. I wanted to avoid that and challenge myself.

I ended up with 3 ideas. The first was a collection of some of my teal things (coat, shirts, ring, ...) and ended up looking so so:

So I walked around the house and found a cute dinosaur on the wall in Cédric's bedroom which was teal and I thought it would be an original way to display it:

But dinosaurs are not very me... And then it hit me: GLITTER!! I have a box of assorted colours of glitter which I use to make glittery shirts, so I went to get the teal bottle. And then I had to decide how to display it and ended up putting it in snow (in -35 degree weather):

 

Which do you guys like best?

Mach to December P52 - week 2

I'va had a busy, crazy week, with 3 days of supply teaching (I've gone back to work recently and was only aiming to do 1 day a week, 2 at the most...). So my house was a mess and my energy level was low. And therefore, no blogging, lol.

But I did have my photo for last week's M2D P52!

The theme was something new and I actually had many choices. Right after xmas, especially having done xmas in Florida, we had lots of new things. I could have shown my new pjs, my new Harry Potter t-shirt, my new watch, my new mugs, ...

But I landed on a photo that includes "new" on a couple of levels.

Last Sunday we went sliding with our son! What's new about that you wonder. Well, first of all, the tube itself is  new. It was a gift from Cédric's godmother. His boots and mitts are also brand new, another gift from his godfather-uncle. But most importantly, us gearing up in our snow outfits and going out to slide is new!! It was a great success, Cédric loved it and went up and down 8 times!

I have a photo with me and a photo with his dad and I can't choose which to show, so I'll show you both :D

I'm really enjoying sharing these and I hope you enjoy seeing them and hearing about them!

If you do, join the challenge and share your too, I'd love to see them :D

Wow... and a new project!

Well, happy new year... I can't believe I haven't blogged here since June, though...

I guess resolution number 1 should be to blog more, lol.

I'll start the year with my first ever Project 52. That should get me blogging at least once a week!

It's an easy photo one from my scrappy friends: La'Shawn :D

You can find the project on her blog, here: Project 52: 2014

The first week was resolution, and I missed it, lol. But it so happens that I have a perfect photo for it, taken in the first week of January!

I follow a pretty strict no carb diet, and while on holidays, I cheated a lot and felt gross. So day one of 2014, back at home, had me and the hubby getting back to our healthier lifestyle. I'm using that as a sort of resolution to stay healthy this year: staying on the diet, going to Jiu Jitsu and yoga regularly, cleaning a bit more to keep the house healthy as well, and even taking some time for myself to make sure I don't lose my mind!

So without further ado, here's the photo in question:

It's of our morning shake, which I like to drink in some kind of fun glass, and as it was New Year's Day we went with a stem glass :D

It's never too late to start the project (especially now, as it's still really early in the year), so stop by her blog and join us!!