The "Imbo" Wedding and Mini X Reunion..

*My amazing friends Kim and James came to visit this weekend and it was an incredible time! They got married Labor Day weekend and I was one of a two-woman dreamteam of MCs with another roommate from X! Well at one point Kim said "You know I was kind of sad I didn't make the blog" and I went on and on saying Yes you did! The post is called The "Imbo" Wedding and Mini X Reunion etc etc and then I went on to my computer and it was done but not actually Published! So that was insane. So here is that post! haha

This is the beautiful couple that Kyle and I and many friends and family from all over celebrated this past labor-day weekend at the Sherwood Golf and Country Club in Chester, Nova Scotia. The weekend was filled with love, golf, amazing weather and a lot of reminiscing about good ole time back in Antigonish. Their names are Kim and James but they affectionately call each other Kimbo and Jimbo and just couldn't be any cuter!

Kim and James started dating in third year while Kim, myself and 3 other lovely ladies were living together. They've been in sweet sweet love from day one and this weekend was so reflective of their love and their personalities it was incredible! Their wedding parties, close family and significant others all showed up on Friday night for the rehersal and dinner and were set to stay in adorable cottages for the weekend. The rehersal dinner was BBQ style and was so relaxed and fun!

This hot mama and current Vancouver resident was the other woman in the dreamteam I mentioned earlier. We were both a tad nervous about MCing of the festivities for the evening but everything went very smoothly and we think everyone had a blast!

At the cocktail hour we got the chance to snag a photo of all the X-ladies we graduated with. Most of us ladies lived in Chillis (a University residence) together in first and second year and ALL of these ladies lived in three houses that were about 30 seconds apart from each other.

It was so fantastic to get together with everyone from St.F.X. and it really got me thinking that we all really need to make more of an effort to keep in touch and visit one another. It seems to be so easy to get caught up with what's happening with you that all of a sudden so much time has past and you've lost touch with so many old friends.

 The great thing about having been so close to all these people and loving them so much is that it really takes about 30 seconds before it's as if no time has passed and we all pick up right where we left off!

These two beauties are Heather and Beaton and are the other two ladies who lived with Kimbo, Erica and I! Heather and I also lived in the 9 x 9 dorm rooms together for two years!

Caught the bouquet!

What was even greater about this weekend was that it was the first time my X girls really got to spend a solid amount of time with Kyle and it couldn't have went better! He got a HUGE thumbs up and he and all the boyfriends got along super well. The fact that the weekend was on a golf course that gave them all free access to the course was a huge help in having all the guys bond throughout the weekend I'd say. 

All in all it was a perfect weekend and I couldn't be happier for The "Imbo's" and the amazing adventure they have ahead of them! In January they are moving to the Cayman Island's for the next two years to work and save and live in a tropical paradise! 

Now the weekend before the wedding many of the girls headed to Montreal for Kim's Bachelorette so I'll finish up with a few shots from that weekend! 

*A

Photo Assignment #3 and Revisiting an Old Photo..

Thanksgiving Sunday was just as fantastic and Thanksgiving Saturday, and was spent with Kyle's fantastic family! My mother and little sister came and joined in on not only the dinner but also an extremely hilarious game of ultimate frisbee before hand!

I WISH I had a photograph of ANY of that game, there were some good plays, there were a few accidental tumbles.. and a couple illegal tackles. All in all it was so much fun and I'm looking forward to another match up! 

The last three questions for my Assignment #3 were more technical based, playing with aperture and distance away from the object as well as focal length and zoom. BUT I did get a shot I really liked while I was doing this assignment. I'm not sure when it happened really but it's cold now on the East Coast. For a few days it was a little chilly in the mornings.. and now it's just plain cold. Fall is here, Winter isn't too far behind and while doing this assignment it was so windy I was freezing my butt off. 

Despite the cold I did take a short moment to capture an imagine of me sitting on the ground, with my subject in the background, but most importantly - the mushrooms growing in our backyard! They've sprung up the last week and they are EVERYWHERE! So weird. 

I also wanted to re-post an image from my first assignment that I have now edited! It was a requirement to download Lightroom and play around with editing and I'll tell you when you just can't seem to get that perfect picture on the camera, you can usually make it exactly what you want in Lightroom! It's awesome and as important to photography as understanding the elements that contribute to a great photo. 

The original photo...

The best thing that editing afterward can do for me that I've found so far is just basic white balance adjustments! I never really use flash so photos often have an orange tint to them (especially in low light situations) and with some slight and quick adjustments in Lightroom this photo looks ten times better! 

*A

Assignment #2 and Some of #3...

So last week I slacked a little on the photo assignment.. The theme was "Something Delicious" and I just had such a busy week I really didn't have much time to try and search for something delicious to photograph! The other technical part of the assignment was to just start shooting in Aperture Priority mode and getting used to that.. I won't for a second pretend I'm awesome at it BUT I have been mostly shooting in AV Mode already so I unfortunately just wasn't able to find the extra practice time.

I did have one meal that was yummy and I thought would photograph well so I snapped a few pictures of it while sitting out on our back porch! But my week in food was a little lack-luster!

Another portion of the assignment was to take a photograph of yourself, and I just completed this yesterday by having my sister Alli take a photo of me while at my Aunt and Uncles for Thanksgiving Dinner!

It's Canadian Thanksgiving and like I said, yesterday we had a big dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house... well not their house... their barn! And it was an incredible time with amazing food, family and a great setting! The barn lent itself to some great shots so I started to work on Assignment #3. Part of Assignment #3 was to take photos of either Thanksgiving themed things OR "My New Desktop Background" themed shots. You know if you google desktop background the type of photos that come up? Well here's some of the shots I got.

Lighting in the barn provided by christmas lights mostly... yes I climbed up the side of the barn wall to get this shot..

Kyle was a tad nervous about this so he had a hold of me while I was trying to get the shot..

 There was tons of piles of wood to shoot..

And of course some old shooting targets in the back barn..

Then there was these two chairs... I fell in love with these chairs. They were my Great-Grandmother's ... Nana Selig's.

They had that antique look that people try to do now by layering paint then sanding some of it off, except it truly was years and years of paint jobs and wear and tear.

You could see they were paint black and one point, white and a light blue.. and they were still in such great shape..

With a little scrub down and very light sanding these chairs would be amazing around a little breakfast nook or refinished desk.. Love them! 

Down the road is this house with a very interesting fence around it's front yard that I just had to stop and photograph.. The lady who owned the house was more than happy to let us photograph their fence and stood watch from the window while we did it! Yes you see it right.. on top of the fence post are chainsaws that have been painted different colours and some still have their chains on them even!

Thanksgiving Round Two is this afternoon so I'm sure I'll have more photos tomorrow as well as the rest of Assignment #3 coming along..

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, truly take the time to think about all the things we ALL have to be thankful for..

*A

Summer In Review.. Fall's Here...

To say the least... I didn't exactly complete my bucket list this summer. However I did do quite a few and I had a great time! It was my first summer in Moncton and I was a BIT ambitious when creating the list, trying to shove 5 years of American summers into one. Also, having a shift-work serving job and a boyfriend with a day job... a lot of spare time was spent squeezing in QT with him and with both of our Fam Jams. Not to mention the weddings. So.. all in all a great summer but the bucket list.. not such a success!

One... let's say... incomplete Bucket List calls for only one other thing: A new and more realistic Bucket List! And I didn't even have to create it myself because the fabulous Jenna created one for me for my 25th Birthday!  25 Things to do while I'm 25! And it's perfect. She threw me a bone and put something on she KNEW I'd complete because it's something we're doing together! #19. Take a class in something new. So Check number ONE - Photography Class. 

So I've got lots to do this year, but I've got a YEAR to do 25 things and not two months to do 60. Jenna gave me my new bucket list in a very lovely thing called a Smashbook. It's scrapbooking for lazy/busy people! It comes with a pen that has a gluestick on one side so you literally can smash things into it. This one is a Birthday themed book and every page has different designs and even little lists and things you can fill out. They are fantastic. I have one from the summer and I gave Jenna one for wedding type things. It's great for all those little things you think you'd like to keep so they get shoved somewhere and moved around until one day you throw them out! 

So I'm excited for this year and I'm also A-OK with saying farewell to Summer and Hello to Autumn because it's my absolute Favourite Season! 

Although the dark mornings and early evenings aren't exactly awesome, the smell of the crisp fall air and the colors of the trees make it worth it! The fashion is the best - I love to layer. And how fun is apple picking, carving pumpkins, getting your costume on and Sunday drives through the country. I will definitely be snapping a lot of pictures this fall! 

Bucket List item already in the works:

#1. Get a tattoo - been thinking about this for years.. almost have it narrowed down

*A

Photo Assignment #1...

Just recently I reached that quarter-of-a-century-half-way-to-fifty Birthday and Kyle got me the Amazing gift of a photography class so I can really get much deeper into what this camera (and what I) can really do. What makes this class even better is that my doll of a friend Jenna (of LYMBURSLIP) is doing it right along with me!

So we both agreed that if we blog about our assignments we will hold ourselves and each other accountable to really get into the assignments.

So... here are some of my favourite shots I took for this assignment.. we have to send him THREE..

Assignment #1:
Subject: Still Life (Not People)
Focus: Composition

Now which do I submit...

*A

It's This Place.. It Puts A Smile on My Face..

Terrible, terrible amount of Blogging has been happening but just you wait... It's-a-comin.

So let's back way way up..

A few days after Jenna and Jesse's nuptials occurred I decided to take a little Solo Road Trip to Maine.  It was "mid-session", meaning that the first session campers had left and camp was preparing for the second session campers to come. So it's a perfect time to get in to visit camp, and especially because I could take advantage of the fact that my good pal M-Jones was visiting Camp at the same time to throw a fantastic Mid-Session shin-dig for all the counsellors.

I'm not sure if I've expressed fully in the past, or am really able to express how much I truly LOVE and well... NEED camp in my life. This summer was very tough having been the first summer since 2007 that I wasn't at Laurel South. I had a great summer don't get me wrong, and love spending so much time with friends, family and Kyle and there were reasons I wanted to stay home this summer and I'm glad I did but I would be lying if I said I wasn't seriously considering (and trying to figure out if I could) go back to Camp next summer.

So I drove the 7ish hours to Camp from NB and I had to get all the essentials before heading out. Coffee, Water, Breakfast Sandwich and Beef Jerky. Because what's a Road Trip without Beef Jerky?

There are so many reason why I absolutely love camp, which I have expressed before but I also just love Maine. It's incredible. Last summer in particular I took many Solo days off and spent a large amount of time in Portland so on this trip I took the opportunity to head there again.

There's this song at camp from way before my day that goes a little something like.. "It's this place, it's this place it puts a smile on my face.." etc etc.. and it's all about how there's just something so amazing about this Camp, you can barely explain it but it warms you up a little bit.


I arrived and one of the biggest reasons of visiting was to see the Owners whom I love and they were amazing and gracious enough to invite me to stay with them in their cabin while I was there. And then they fed me this amazing meal... it was too much.

Where all of camp meets every night before dinner and do cheers, and announcements and sing songs about things on your face like smiles..

The Big Tree where Anything Goes and Where D Staff Plans... If Only Those Adirondack could talk..

It's on the most beautiful lake and has been a place I've found peace many many times...

The stillness in the morning is incredible...

I spent one summer when I was a cabin counsellor teaching Canoeing and Kayaking off this beach between the Swimmers and the Sailers... Not too shabby, eh?

It's the kind of place that takes the old canoes and turns them into flower pots... just cause that's Awesome and Beautiful.. 

Portland is the kind of city where multiple business use Moose as their mascot...

Or where their downtown water front still has cobble stone street..

Or a place that has tiny little sandwich shops that sell Moxie and make incredible enough wraps and sandwiches they're on The Food Network and make me so get one even when I already ate at my other favourite sandwich place outside of camp only 45 minutes prior...

And Maine is a place that can have a very discrete turn off off the high way where you can view Mt. Katahdin as you are about to leave the State and enter Canada... No Biggie..

It is a place I love so much that when Kyle has his vacation later in September I'm taking him on a tour of the state (and hopefully of camp) directed by some sites, a lot of stories, beer and food...

More to come..

*A

Weekend Happenings: Swamp, Kites and Bubble Blowing...

This past weekend was the MacKenzie/Copp family gathering which for years now has been happening at my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Neil's farm. Well it used to be a farm. A pig farm specifically. A pig farm that had a little electric fence that my little sister Alli is notorious for grabbing right ahold of and barely flinching as a toddler.

Kindergarten Alli 

Anywho.. Over the years their property has acquired the name "The Swamp" even though the pigs no longer reside there. Now if there's one thing you would say about my immediate and extended family it wouldn't be that we're boring that's for certain. We are a little wild, a little country, we like to have a few beers and we're full of love for one another. Outsiders may be a bit confused with all the "razzing" that happens between all of us but it's all fun and makes for great stories after any time spent together.

Although Kyle and I dated in high school this was definitely his first big introduction to the family and I'd have to say it went off without a hitch. He was initiated, he was involved in a lot of body humour talk, he played horse shoes, he got into serious late night conversations, and he was given a huge thumbs up from what I can tell. It's a fantastic feeling. We can be tough.

So this Swamp weekend is an annual thing that started on the August long weekend because my Grandmother's Birthday was usually on or very close to the weekend. Sadly, she is no longer with us but we continue to try and get together every summer at the same time. Since I have spent summers 2007 - 2011 working at Camp in Maine this was the first time I had attended in a long while! It was fantastic!

I had a few items on my bucket list that I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to check off! #1: Stunt Kite Flying. #2: Blowing bubbles. Also, since "The Swamp" is a large field behind my Aunt and Uncle's farm. We were obviously... #3: Camping.

So we started with the Stunt Kite. We were very optimistic to start, as you can see. All smiles. I, however, knew the difficulty that two rather than one string brings to the whole "go fly a kite" thing.

We got it all lined up. Both of us giving it a whirl and having maximum 10 seconds of success.

So my Mom jumped in to give it a try. She may have taken not one, but two tumbles in the process.

It was in this position, a lot.

But then Kyle had success!! He had gotten the hang of it! Several minutes of high flying, swirling and twirling and diving but always the kite remaining... IN THE AIR and him on his feet! It was very exciting. I obviously wanted to feel the thrill of Stunt Kite Flying success, and I think Kyle had tamed the beast because my next go at it I also had a good few minutes of flying! So we turned it in. It's always good to end on a high note, I think.

The next evening my sisters and I decided to Blow Bubbles. And what better place to blow bubbles than in a hay field. And what better thing to wear while blowing bubbles in a hay field but long dresses.  So we did.

There was a giant bubble maker...

And a kazoo-esk bubble maker...

The most success came from the giant bubble maker...

All in all it was a really great weekend. Amazing to spend time with family and have some good ole fashion fun with bubbles, kites, horse shoes, relay races and camping.


I'll finish off with a high light of some of the characters you may find at The Swamp...

Elvis often makes an appearance... however he's my Uncle Neil much more often..

Aunt Wanda... or for the day "Lance Armstrong" and her death stare.. She's so scary.. Especially when she....

Falls off a bike...

My lovely parents...

*A