Ashley Kitchen's Blog

update

2011-06-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

For those of you that still check my blog, I hope that one day I will find the time to manage a personal blog again - but for now, here is an update in iphone photos.

Ashley

Gourmet Cooking 101: Brought to you by Chef Kitchen & Chef Claes.

2010-11-24T19:20:00.001-08:00

Chef Emily Claes and I would like to teach you how to create this delicious meal!

Pear Arugula Salad

Goat Cheese Potato cake and Tenderloin Steak

Okay, Okay... I accept the fact that you snickered when you saw that I referred to myself as a chef... and honestly, I laughed about it TOO! While I L-O-V-E delicious food, I still have a bit to learn about cooking it. Okay, a LOT to learn about cooking. Ever since working with some of the most AMAZING chefs in Canada at the Raw Bar, the desire to cook beautiful gourmet food grew and grew! Whenever I have the time (which seems to be like never these days) I like to play in the kitchen. Thanks to my friend Shannon Wiens, I learned of a great website full of pro recipes! It probably seems obvious, and maybe you have all been there before! The chefs that we know and love on the food network have the recipes they cook on television archived online, and the recipes aren't as difficult as you might think!

I hop between both websites for inspiration, because the recipes are different. Check out foodnetwork.ca and foodnetwork.com and try the recipe finder to find what you are in the mood for.

I have tried this recipe four times now, and I think it gets better every time! In my cooking adventures I find that I struggle the most with managing my time, and trying the same recipe numerous times has really helped me understand this.

To make this dinner you will need...
(Yield: 4)

Ingredients:
[Potato Cake]

6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
3 tablespoons sliced green onion
2x113 gram logs fresh soft goat cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions! (I'm pulling these right from the site, so that I don't lead you astray... all the credit goes to Anthony Sedlak of foodnetwork.ca! You can find the recipe here!)

Potato Cake
To prepare potato cakes, preheat oven to 375.
Add whole, unpeeled potatoes to medium pot. Fill pot with cold water just to cover potatoes; season cooking water well with salt (it should taste like the sea) and bring up to a boil.
Boil on medium high heat until potatoes are tneder but not over done, about 10-15 minutes. Drain, peel, and mash roughly with a fork.
When potatoes haved cooled enough to handle, fold in fresh herbs, goat cheese and salt and pepper to taste.
Mix until just combined; pieces of goat cheese should still be visible. Form mix into eight 2 1/2 X 1 inch cakes. Flour lightly and set aside.
Add olive oil to a large non-stick pan and bring up to medium high heat. Add potato cakes and fry until first side is golden brown.
Flip onto other side, fry for another minute and place in oven to finish warming through, about 10 minutes.

Wait until the outside of your potato cake is brown and crispy! The potato cake may fall apart a little bit, but you can always shape it better afterwards!

[Steak]

4 tenderloin steaks 5-6 oz each
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 shallot minced
1 cup port
1 cup beef stock
2 tablespoons butter
coarse salt and pepper

Directions! (I'm pulling these right from the site, so that I don't lead you astray... all the credit goes to Anthony Sedlak of foodnetwork.ca! You can find the recipe here!)

Steak
Preheat oven to 400. To prepare steak, heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pan.
Season steaks well with coarse salt and pepper. When oil is nearly smoking, add steaks and 2 tbsp butter; sear both sides of steak until well coloured. (Depending on size of steak, this may have to be done in two batches.)
Finnish cooking in oven for desired doneness, about 5 minutes for medium rare. Remove from heat, transfer to cutting board and let rest, covered, for at least 10 minutes.
In same pan, add 1 tbsp oil and sweat shallot until softened and lightly coloured. Add port to deglaze and bring to simmer, reducing slightly.
Add beef stock and simmer; reduce volume by half. Remove from heat and swirl in 2 tbsp butter. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Emily also put together a simple but delicious pear arugula salad with asiago cheese. Tossed with olive oil and a bit of sea salt.

***Emily and I find that dressing up & putting on a cute apron really does inspire anyone to get in touch with their creative side. We would recommend and caution anyone who might attempt making this meal at home, to cook ONLY while wearing that dress, a hairband or pair of heels that you can NEVER seem to find an occasion to pull out of your closet.

If you don't feel like working in the kitchen all day - you may want to stop by your local bakery and pick up dessert! The wine in the photo on the right is one of my all time favorite cheap picks! Bear flag smooth red wine blend. Sweet (but not TOO sweet!) and deliciously full bodied. Mmmm. ($9-$12)

Voila!

Since Emily was house sitting this beautiful home for a couple of weeks, I came up for a "girls night in!" It was a lot of fun pulling together a delicious dinner. We managed to buy everything for dinner for under $20 each. Emily's wonderful mom, Ruth let us shop around her pantry for a bunch of ingredients, so we did cheat a little. ;)

Annnnddd... since we really like our Nikons...and cute hats... we did manage to squeeze a 5 minute photo session outside while the sun was setting.

Emily, I still can't get over you in this photo - and I just want to share it with the world!! You are INTENNNSEE - and I want your eyes.

Oh, and I really do dig your new hat ;)

I can never keep these bangs under control - I really can't see a thing... but I like them, okay? ;)

Emily... I love love love you, thanks for having me over for such a fun housesitting adventure!!

Girl Time!

2010-11-09T11:45:00.001-08:00

It was our chance to get some girl time in before the warm days of summer came to an end. We had talked about going to Salt Spring together for some time - and it was one of the only weekends that Mike & I were home on Vancouver Island from Calgary!

We went to Cedar Beach Resort on Saltspring Island, right on St Marys lake. Since we took an early evening ferry over, we went straight to dinner at Moby's Pub Oceanside. The food, music and company were all perfect! The band playing happened to be the same band that played friday nights years ago when I worked downtown Calgary at the Raw Bar - Los Morenos! So random that they were playing at this little pub. These guys create beautiful mood music, their music takes me back to serving couples sharing romantic dates at Raw Bar...

From the restaurant we headed to our campsite, and it was already dark outside. We were shocked when we pulled up to the campsite the camp owners assigned to us - it had a porch with a bistro table, tiki torches all around the fence and a hot tub in the back corner. It was so cute! We were sad though to see that the hot tub had boards on top and couldn't be used. We thought we randomly parked in a communal area, but the owner came by in the morning to assure us we found the right spot. We didn't really make the most out of our cute campsite, because we had big plans for our night & full day on the island. I can't wait to stay at this campground again next summer, or maybe in one of the cabins this winter! This campsite was the perfect getaway.

We had stocked up on all the goods we needed for a successful girls night... wine, more wine, some chocolate and kettle chips. We relaxed and watched some sex and the city on the laptop in bed while we kept warm in tuques and long johns!

In the morning when we woke up we walked down to the lake to explore our campground. The lake was all misty, and we were in love even more with saltspring...

Everything was duey, but the sun was warm and wonderful so early in the morning...

Saltspring Island has quite a few wineries open to the public, and I had it marked in my calendar for almost three months that we should attend the Saltspring Island Wineries Harvest Grape stomp. We came a bit late and didn't have a whole lot of time, so next year I plan to attend with a picnic basket. They had signs saying that they welcome picnics on their lawn, sooo that sounds like a perfect plan for next year. They had their tasting bar open, which was and always is complimentary... while people competed to fill their bottles with the most grape juice. (which was of course made by stomping grapes with their bare feet. )

We had some fun taking pictures in the vineyard! I forgot my camera at home, but Kim was gracious enough to let me steal hers for some shots. Kim set this one up real quick while there were no cars coming... it was slightly scary sitting there waiting for the timer considering her expensive camera was sitting in the middle of the highway!

Julie & her husband Mike moved down the street from us at the end of October. Mike and I couldn't be happier to have such amazing friends so close by! Kim, Julie and I spent our day today sipping tea and playing with Penny in Jewels' living room while we kept toasty by the fire.

Siiiigh... I LOVE being home.

I LOVE these girls!!!!!!

We treated ourselves to breakfast at Kims favorite breakfast place Barbs Buns. It was a busy little bistro, and they had a variety of eggs benedict that did not disappoint. Mine was cooked perfectly, and was absolutely delicious.

We spent the day at the second last outdoor saturday market of the year. We enjoyed sampling delicious goat cheese, listening to music and looking at homemade treasures. The Saturday market on Saltspring is always lovely.

Thanks Kim & Julie for such a fun girly getaway!

Thanksgiving

2010-10-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

Traveling back and forth between Calgary and Vancouver Island certainly has its perks. As soon as Vancouver Island seems too small and we feel like "getting away" it's time, once again to head to Calgary for photo sessions. Seeing our friends and family here in Calgary is just that much better now that it is more rare, and more planned. It sort of seems like we see all of our Calgary friends just as often, but now we plan to get together on purpose and it just seems to be more fun.

On Sunday we had an early thanksgiving get together at Walt&Elaine Wiens' home! They made the most delicious meal EVER... Turkey, homemade perogies, sweet potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin AND apple pie... Mmmm... I could *so* go for round two right about now.

"Boston" the Boston Terrier was in attendance...

Shannon gets all the credit for the homemade perogies... two varieties! They were delicious Shan!

Walt and Elaine's beautiful home...

Daniel Wiens was also in attendance... don't worry, he hasn't passed away or anything, he just lives in Victoria now and his photo tends to make it's way to the table at these "family" get togethers.

The Group minus Ma&Pa Wiens...

We couldn't resist picking up this little treasure at the grocery store...

Harley was there too...

Some sisterly love...

I couldn't resist this mini mother/daughter photo shoot - they matched!

Tonight

2010-08-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Instead of telling you about our night, I thought I would take some photos...

Saigon Noodle Salad (from the fabulous Rebar cookbook)

Homemade Iced Tea

Cute friends that make silly faces...

Little friends that get too close to the camera for a clear photo (allll the time)

tickles

Gotta love that Penny May...

Hmmm...

Sonia - "bean"

Sassy baby bums...

kisses

[favorite]

Happy anniversary Kim&Jamie!

Some Westfalia lovin'

2010-08-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

Kim & Jamie got themselves a Westfalia, and so begins a new chapter of being "hippies" on Vancouver Island.

Kim is learning how to drive standard, and Mike was giving her some tips. I gotta say though - Kimmy, you are doing quite fantastically...

Penny loves the "new" van...

Sorry Kim, the sun ate up your legs... ;)

We spent the day driving around Duncan gathering groceries for our bbq and the evening wih friends. It was great having Julie, Mike & their new pup - Jack sleepover that evening for Mikes birthday, and I seriously can't believe I never took photos of their adorable golden lab! He is the cutest... After dark we went down to the dock to watch the meteor showers, and it was the perfect end to a perfect day!

Thanks friends!

Life is Crazy right now...

2010-08-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

Mike and I just got back from another visit to Calgary. This one was only a week, which was just perfect! I'm excited AND dreading the amount of images that I have saved on my computer right now from our last 4 photo sessions, there are THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of images to edit. During a full wedding day Mike and I will take close to 3000 photos!! Yes, we are indeed a bit snap happy. I love being able to capture the exact right moment with digital. And I would be lying if I said I wasn't obsessed about the feeling of the shutter rapidly firing with the touch of my finger during those magical moments.

A lot of people think that being a photographer is just so simple, fun and easy - because really you only have to work a few days a week, but my goodness it is so not the truth. I will spend about 15 hours on each project after the wedding day is finished, and I am happy to report that I have cut this amount of time down from about 30 hours. I was playing doctor a lot then trying to to fix up imperfect photos, but time and hands on experience has taught me an incredible amount - cutting this time down a lot. Now if only I could learn to keep my camera STRAIGHT! (My biggest weakness in photography -I will admit.) I am totally in love with this business, but I would love some time for me again!!
I have to go get those images together and make some blog posts!!

And just for fun...
a photo of me and our favorite wedding DJ at Anita and Robs wedding
[DJ Mekanix]...

Thanks for stopping in.
~Ash

Summer so far...

2010-07-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

It has been a hectic summer for Mike and I, we have been traveling back and forth between Calgary & Crofton in between weddings! We have been staying with friends while we are in Calgary, and it has been quite enjoyable so far... we get pretty "homesick" after a week or so of being away and are eager to get back home. On Friday we leave to Calgary again after being home for only two weeks, and I'm excited for our photo shoots/weddings but am also feeling like I don't want to leave! I can't explain how great it is to be on the west coast - I am in love with swimming! We have been going back and forth between Fuller Lake and the Cowichan River this last week.

Our friends Kim & Jamie (and baby Penny) are living in Crofton now too, and we are so thrilled to have them here. Kim and I have been the best of friends since grade 5! It has been great getting to know her adorable baby, she is so sweet and giggles all the time.

Our friends Ashley and Kevin (also known as SNAP videography!) are coming to visit us today - we are planning on going to Saltspring Island tomorrow!!! I LOVE visiting Saltspring, and haven't been able to get over that way since our camping trip back in March! We are excited to have our good friends come see why we moved out here, and maybe we could even convince them to think about moving here ;) Haha - I do indeed live in a dream world. I hope to convince ALL of our Calgary friends to move here!!

I haven't taken a whole lot of photos this summer outside of work, so I will just post all the randoms from our last visit to Calgary.

Thanks for checking in even though my blog has been untouched for SO long...

Hanging out at the poolside patio at Hotel Arts - we all have a connection with the Hotel in some way - even Mike who helped out with a few big events! We are all happy to be sitting and relaxing on the patio, we always said we would when we moved on from working there...

This is Christina - she was the bar manager at Raw Bar. She is a cocktail making genius. Like seriously - we're talking award winning, innovative and just overal a freaking genius. I love this girl!!

Nina, Me, and Stacy Stax - Stacy and I were shocked to find out that we BOTH grew up in Duncan and were working at the same spot in Calgary. We were two of three Duncan girls that worked there if you can believe it!

Caryn's working the 1 cent Vegas glasses (good find Nina!) and looking as cool as always... Do you love my reflection in her lense? Hehe...

Also a genius this one - she works at St Germain in the Hotel and is a fantastic designer/artist. I blogged about her here. Just love this girl - she also made my sisters wedding flower arrangements! They were spectacular... I blogged about My sis' wedding here. Alex is the beauty on the right - she, Nina, and I got up to lots of mischief when we worked together. Lots of fun!

Mike and Jason Wiens played hockey at Eau Claire with a bunch of people for a good cause - Five hole for food. Each person brought as many canned goods as they could get together to get in on the game. The person who brought the most weight in cans won a sweet prize! Yah husband!

We also attended a fundraiser at Ceilis pub in Calgary for our good friend Carina Wiens - She is going on a trip to Nicaragua for some outreach opportunities. Shan & I decided it was a good excuse to western it up a bit - since it was our one chance to get in on a stampede party. (We avoided Stampede for the most part - too crazy busy!) The Pancake breakfasts were SO awesome though! It was my first year ever experiencing Stampede breakfasts! Free hot cakes, sausage & eggs, starbucks coffee, coca cola products, concerts - awesome!! There are hundreds of them all over the city during the week of Stampede.

We snapped up this shot on the last day of our latest visit in Calgary. We were hired to document a 50th birthday party at Heritage Park. It was a ton of fun - the birthday boy arrived in a helicopter and was totally surprised. He had no idea his family and friends would all be waiting for his arrival. Heritage Park was an awesome venue! We loved when they opened up the old fashioned candy&icecream stores after dinner and the guests were allowed to help themselves to their hearts content. Our client was lovely and said we could do. Mmm... This is a timed shot that Mikey set up.

I hope that summer has been wonderful for everyone, I imagine that you will see a lot more blogging from me in the fall when things slow down.

~Ashley

The Crofton folk

2010-05-17T19:09:00.001-07:00

Mike and I love our new little town, and our close community of friends. Close as in - we all live within 3 blocks of each other! Yes, we are close in other ways too ;)

Let me introduce some people that we are enjoying spending our time with! Our community of friends isn't complete just yet - we are still waiting for Kim, Jamie, and Penny to move to small town Crofton too! We can't wait to have more Kitchen's in Crofton!!

The BOYS!
Dave, Liam, and of course my Mike.

You will notice that Tara's husband Kevin is missing - he is still naive enough to think that I won't be able to get sneaky shots of him. HA! Does he know who he's dealing with?

The GALS!
Tara, Anna-lise, and Barb

The BABY!
The lovely Sonia.

This isn't the most flattering photo of little sunny, but lets be honest I was having too much fun eating tacos and sippin' drinks to take "professional" photos. Ha! I will post better photos in the future I promise. :)

Saturday was Liam's second birthday party. Liam is a huge fan of all things dinosaur. I don't think the guest knew that...

The Dino on the right is the gift that Mike and I had so much fun picking at Toys r us...

This is Liam's cousin Isaiah - I just love his red hair!

NEW

2010-05-17T18:56:00.001-07:00

It has been FOREVER since I've posted, and I think it's because my blog lacks vision. Eventually I will be changing the banner and title, but I guess I'm still trying to figure out what I want this blog to be about. For now, I will continue posting photos that I want to share and you will just have to wait and see I suppose :)

It seems like there is never any time for the "personal blog" when I'm trying to maintain and keep up the posts on the SNAP blog. This summer is shaping up to be very busy, Mike and I have worked it out that we will be in Calgary for 64 days (and counting) this summer. We are going to be traveling a lot, and staying with friends while we are there.

I just got myself a job at the Mr Mikes in Duncan as a server to fill my "extra time" in between weddings, and I am actually looking forward to being in the serving industry again. I hope to work there super part time, just to get out and meet new people and have fun! My mind goes a little crazy when I am always stuck in the office preparing my own schedule and not being disciplined enough to set apart time for work and time for play. It gets a bit tiring actually. Oddly enough, I think getting out of the house and working with an actual schedule will force me to work with a schedule at home. Ha- or just keep me really busy and drive me crazy. I will keep you posted on that one ;)

New Home!

2010-03-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

Mike and I signed a lease agreement today for our new home! We are beyond thrilled and excited about our new location. It took awhile to figure out where we would like to live here on Vancouver Island, but we are certain we made the best possible choice!

We were sure we wanted to live in the Cowichan Valley, and a smaller town. We loved the Calgary city life, but we had both agreed that it was time for a change of pace.

Although I still think Shawnigan Lake would be a fantastic place to reside one day, we actually came to the conclusion that Crofton,BC would be a lot of fun. When I was younger I always thought -who would choose to live in Crofton?- but now I realize just how silly I was. I just didn't know how to appreciate the simpler things in life. Crofton is a gorgeous town. It is a forestry/mill town - but is also located on Osbourne Bay. Because Crofton is built on a big hill, most of the homes have an Ocean View.

Crofton is located off the Trans-Canada Highway 1, on the southeast coast of Vancouver Island, 5 miles (8 km) north of Maple Bay, and 7 miles (11 km) south of Chemainus. It is central to the larger cities on Vancouver Island, Nanaimo and Victoria. This is perfect for SNAP's new wedding clientele, as we hope to serve the entire island and are willing to meet with people wherever they may be located!

We actually didn't choose Crofton to live in because of it's location, as perfect as it may be - but because Crofton is the home of one of our favourite places in the entire world. Because *most* of you that read my blog have also been to this most amazing place, it is no shock that we would want to be close to Camp Qwanoes. Mike and I met at this Camp, and spent many of our summers by the Ocean meeting fantastic people from around the world. Mike also popped "the question" at Crofton's Osbourne Bay Park back in 2004. Although we don't plan to spend our summers at Qwanoes, we do hope to help out whenever we can - because "helping out" at Qwanoes is (usually) way more fun than it is work. ;)

Mike and I have some great friends that are all moving back to this area, and we are excited to be within walking distance of their houses! Kim and Jamie and their adorable baby Penny are moving back in July, and our friends Barb, Dave and their beautiful baby Sonia are searching for a good spot to settle too! There are too many fantastic people in this tiny town, it's basically an impossible awesome person:house ratio.

(population 2,500)

Although Crofton is a small town, it basically has everything you need. It is expanding too, and just got a cute pub/cafe/liquor store (all-in-one building!) The pub is great, and has that fantastic ocean view, AND there is a great server there too! Barb Blenkin! It may even have a Mike & Ashley one day? We are contemplating getting some shifts to keep ourselves occupied in the slower months...

Now for some photos - (I stole these from the Ad listing in usedcowichan.com, I'll take more when we move in! -obbbvvviously-)

The photo makes It looks tiny, but it's actually quite big! Much bigger than what we are used to. The washer and drier are in the corner.

I love the Kitchen, the tiling is great! The landlords did a great job with all of the details in this apartment. The Kitchen opens into the living room, everything is pretty open.

Living room. That door is the entrance, and has a great cedar 10x10 porch. It'll be perfect for a BBQ, and maybe even a herb garden.

There are two bedrooms that aren't pictured here. That would be two more bedrooms than we had in our last (studio-sized) apartment! We are most excited to be capable of having guests stay with us now that we have the room and privacy.

This spot is on ground level, so we don't actually get the ocean view from our window - BUT - if you take a 2 minute walk down the road you will find yourself at the Saltspring ferry. Which is so exciting for us, we are in LOVE with saltspring. They make fantastic coffee as most of you know, delicious Saltspring Cheese -specializing in MY personal favorite- goat and sheep cheese "Chevres" found all over Canada! Then there is the Saltspring Market where you can find all of the above and MORE! The Saltrspring market starts up next weekend. We will be there with bells on!

We hope to see you all soon in our new home! We will be moving in April 15th, and will be sure to invite all of you local folk over to celebrate with us!

Calgary + Vancouver Island Bride

2010-03-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hello my fashionable friends and fellow BLOGGEES!

SNAP has decided that it would be fun to run an Ad in the Calgary Bride & Vancouver Island Bride Magazines. Since I am unexperienced in design, I would love to know WHICH of the four following colors you like and makes you want to hire SNAP the most! ;) General thoughts/ideas?

Our target audience is the 20-30 female (wedding) market.

Thanks for your help!!!

Hearts,

Ashley Kitchen

Spring has sprung...

2010-03-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

Happy first day of SPRING!
(I started writing this yesterday, don't judge)

It's that time of year again, one of my favorite days of the entire year! In honor of such a beautiful day I started my search for blossom photos worth framing. I don't think I found the perfect branch/blossom combo yet, but it's okay because I could fill this blog with pretty pink fragrant flowers and it would make me smile. I only wish that I could share the smell in the air with all of you Calgarians! It is amazing!

Good News! Our Calgary apartment has rented out for April 1st, I just got the news today, and I am so THRILLED! This means we can start looking for our own place here in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. I have my heart set on the Shawnigan Lake/Mill Bay area, but it will really come down to finding the best that is available! ...and it NEEDS to have an area where we can dig into the dirt so we can learn to garden, we are so excited about growing our own produce!

I don't want to make a new blog post...

2010-03-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

But I will. Why? Because my dear friend Dominique has been very creative about asking me to.
First her blog... now Facebook...

Ok Dominique I won't keep you on your toes!

Heres the deal!

Mike and I are now proud residents of the Cowichan Valley!

We had been wanting to move back for awhile now, and after 6 years living in Calgary it seemed like a good time to just DO it! It was a very spontaneous decision, it really still hasn't hit us! It was just the perfect opportunity. Our next SNAP wedding is in July and we had some good transition time ahead of us. We felt things getting a little too "comfortable" in Calgary and I guess we just felt like it was time to shake things up! It was two weeks from being a crazy idea that popped into my head to ACTION!

Here we are!

It helped the decision ALOT that Miss Kim Lavender Kitchen [my 7th cousin-in-law like 4 times removed slash sister slash forever kindred spirit] is moving back with her darling husband and their sweet as pie baby Penny'cakes. They will be here in July and my heart will be very happy having her and her family near by.

To any of my Calgary friends reading this- don't fret NONE of you are replaceable and I will FOREVER miss having you all nearby. I love you all! I look forward to many trips back to Cow-City.

There is really nothing new to report. We are currently living with mom+pops Rogoza until our place in Calgary rents out, or until June 1st. Whatever comes first! We are getting geared up for the wedding season in the meanwhile, considering potentially getting part time jobs although we are not entirely sure that we will have the time and flexibility. I have been considering bartending, it would be enjoyable to go out and meet some new people!

Sorry for being a lame blogger, I have had like absolutely no desire to post! I *do* hope to get back into the swing of things though and keep all my darling friends (all 3 of you) updated!

Here are some westcoasty photos that Emily & I took at the beach yesterday

After the hype wore off I finally tried a bud light lime... Really refreshing actually! Better when there is sand all over the bottom.

Kisses and hugs and more hugs and then kisses...

~Ashley

Winter oh winter...

2010-02-08T15:40:00.000-08:00

It has been overcast and foggy quite a bit here in Calgary recently...

the hoar frost is really pretty, but I certainly do miss that bright blue sky and warm sun! We keep getting glimpses of spring, then the fog rolls in and we get sprayed with snow and then it's winter again!

I am getting some major winter blues right now, and it doesn't help that it has been a slow start to booking weddings. Mike and I love love LOVE being wedding photographers, but it sure is challenging owning and operating our own business. It is far too easy to doubt everything when things get slow.

On another note, I have a lot of excitement for our future. We learn from our mistakes, dust ourselves and start again! Right? My hope one day is to see this business thriving on Vancouver Island -you know- the land of milk and honey? Haha, at least that is the illusion in my head right now. I like green grass, the ocean, and the general laid back personality of the island.

When you look out our window facing north in our downtown home, you willl see some beautiful trees and some train tracks! these are some photos that I snapped this morning. Photos without people in them get a little boring for me - hehe - so I won't share too many.

Someone forgot their boots over by the train tracks...

I like textures and these colors...

I also like that it didn't dawn on me that I was trespassing until I took a photo of this sign stuffed away in the snow...
haha, I was in my own little world of illegal-ness.

Don't tell anyone okay? ;)

Girls just want to have fun...

2010-01-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

Last night I got together with some of my favorite people for a night of good wine, food, dancing and company! It's not all that often that we have *this* kind of girls night, it was fun to get all gussied up and dance dance dance! The dance party started in my living room, continued in the new "Republik" night club and ended at the Whiskey. Most of us managed to stay awake enough to watch two episodes of "The Bachelor" back at my house that I had PVR'd earlier. Without realizing that they were each 2hours long... we stayed up until 6 wired on sugary martinis and chocolate brownies! Haha... so much fun.

What is a fun night without some girly photos?

I had a great time, and I think having nights like this are absolutely important for everyone's mental state! Life can just get way to serious & stressful. Mike and I always find it refreshing to have these sort of nights to remember that we are individuals even though we are together 90% of the time... plus we are always that much more happy to to spend time together afterwards to share all of our stories.

... Like how Shannon and I decided to go for a run in the snowy weather to burn off some more wine calories after last call. The girls managed to fit into a taxi, but we both had a lot of energy. Plus it was coooold! It was quite loverly. The open toed shoe/tights combo wasn't ideal... but it was lovely.

Thanks for a fun night ladies!

It's a new year - and a really long blog post.

2010-01-07T10:51:00.001-08:00

Happy 2010 friends!!

Mike and I are really excited about this new year, there are a lot of great things that we have been looking forward to! I finished editing our last wedding of 2009 just yesterday, and will be officially caught up after a few loose ends are tied up. I can't explain how great that feels! Mike and I certainly learned a lot about running a photography business, and we anticipate this year to be a lot smoother.

Just a few reasons why I am so excited...

1. Mike and I got professional cookware from Mom & Dad Rogoza, and we are totally THRILLED about that. We have been working towards being better at home chefs, and preparing nutritious, organic meals whenever we can. We are excited for the new energy that this will bring for us. We are slowly getting rid of our bad eating habits. (Late night pizza parties be warned!)

2. A new treadmill and the 30 day Shred! (Thanks to Megan Edelman & Emily Dyck for introducing me!) I found myself a kick-butt work out, that makes me want to cry and smile all at the same time! Also, I got the ultimate gift from hubby yesterday, we picked up a Treadmill at Canadian tire for 50% off, and it is everything this little apartment needs! (It has wheels, is compact and folds away like an ironing board. Yep. Totally perfect.) Sadly though - the neighbors downstairs complained about the noise yesterday, so I'm hoping we can figure something out!! I love running, and more importantly feel totally fantastic and full of energy when I do, especially when I don't have to run downtown Calgary in the cold.

3. Business Growth! Mike and I have placed ourselves in a new price bracket, and naturally were a bit worried about what this might do to SNAP. We are feeling totally blessed and excited to find our calender filling up, and have met lots of great couples that are equally excited about having us photograph their weddings this summer! Mike and I were in over our heads in 2009, too many weddings and not enough time and resources. This year we hope to enjoy the business a lot more, it has been so great and so hard at the same time. We are much better equipped this year!

Just a few wintery photos I took back in December...

Mike and I just got back from an extended Christmas holiday on Vancouver Island. It was nice to finally take the time off so that we could do all our favorite west coast things and see all our great friends!

We walked along the beach on boxing day, and it was just cold enough for a jacket and scarf. It was fun looking at all the houses along the beach, and imagining what it would be like to live there. It was so great being outside by the ocean and not freezing! Our refreshing walk ended short though, the sun goes down way too early in the winter!

We decided it would be a good idea to drive to B.C for the holidays, and it was actually really nice. Mike would argue that I say that because HE had do to most the driving... but it was a fun road trip, with an unexpected casino hotel adventure in Burnaby!

Back in May when we went to California, we ended up staying at the cheapest ever casino hotel/resort in Reno. I would have stayed there for a week if I could have! They had events every night, and the pool was totally chic! We payed $39/night, and the room was really great.

Burnaby couldn't match the deal we found in Reno, but we thought that we might as well try our luck. We had planned to drive to Kamloops that night, but we were both feeling tired and were far too easily drawn in by the massive Hotel with the purple lights just off the highway. I was also dying to shop... and had my fingers crossed that Metrotown center would be open late on a Sunday! We did indeed go shopping and ended our night off playing roulette, and dancing in the crowd with the hotel cover band. For a Sunday, this place was totally hopping! I wasted 20 dollars on a 2c slot machine... does anyone EVER win anything on those machines? I think I just have the worst luck in the world. I hate loosing money at casinos, and I always prefer to people watch and see Mike have fun. (He has much better luck!)

This Christmas the Kitchen family decided that we should do an all homemade Christmas exchange. It was hard thinking of creative ideas, but in the end it was very rewarding to see what creativity there is in the family (and all the money and time spent in a mall that we saved.)

Mike and I bought a mitre box and sawed these babies by hand. We printed the photos here at home, then stained and lacquered the finished product. We have yet to perfect these frames, but we can see ourselves making a lot of these in the future!

New Years was everything I could have hoped for. It is always bitter-sweet to visit Vancouver Island. Mike and I have hopes to move the business there in the next few years, and love the idea of owning some land and a home/studio there. It always feels amazing to spend time with our friends there, but then it's hard to walk away. On New Years Eve we got together with a bunch of good friends and their new babies/toddlers. Mike and I picked up the largest ever order at Panago before heading out to their place in Chemainus! The people at Panago thought we were crazy.

We rang in the New Year with bubbles and of course kisses, laughter and friends! Barb and I sang Christmas karaoke in the living room while everyone went to bed. Haha... you could imagine how good that would sound at that point in the night.

We all managed to sleep in, and woke up ready for a big breakfast. There was a somewhat divey restaurant right down the street from Barb & Dave's home, so we all went for brunch. I think everyone agreed that it was the tastiest cheap breakfast of all time.

Now we're officially back home in Calgary, and it feels good to be home, but I will be eager for our next trip out to the west coast! Time to get on with the year!

Christmas time is here!

2009-11-25T15:26:00.001-08:00

And I really can't think of any time of year that is more exciting for me!

...one more month until Christmas day!

Downtown Calgary hasn't seen snow all month, and to say that I am ready for snow falls, fireplaces, christmas trees and baileys in my hot chocolate is an understatement! I was going to put up our christmas tree today... but then Mike and I remembered that we got rid of our artificial tree last year. It was quite the challenge to assemble, and we thought we would get a new one this year. Since we won't be in our apartment for most of the Christmas season, we thought we might as well decorate everything ELSE. Hopefully that time will be tonight if I can stop searching for Christmas music on the web, and could get some actual work done!4 more weddings to edit and then I will be all caught up! That is going to be a very sweet moment, and just in time for a relaxing holiday with the family on Vancouver island! Woo hoo!!

A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of friends gathered in Banff to celebrate Kevin & Ashley's anniversary! We had a delicious dinner at the Keg (thank-you gift cards!) and then enjoyed some blueberry tea and scotch in the Rundle room at the Banff Springs. The Fairmont was beautifully decorated and was sure to get this girl in the mood for the holidays.

Carina, Shannon, Ashley and THIS Ashley getting in a mini photo shoot at the springs...

Ashley and all the guys on her anniversary. Ow OW!

Carina hates having the camera in her face... so we try to put it in her face for OBVIOUS reasons. She is GOOORGEOUS!

Ah yes... very regal. Haha... my husband thinks it's hilarious

These are the love birds celebrating their anniversary. They had their wedding in Banff three years ago at Buffalo Mountain Lodge and it was AMAZING. (because Banff+weddings=awesome.)

the camera caught Carina as she "pretends" to pose for a photo.

Kevin and Ash, we hope that you guys have a great year together! There is SO MUCH to look forward to in 2010. Watching your puppy (that you get in 3 DAYS!!) grow into a really really big puppy... and not having to move back to England are just two amazing things I can think of!! Congratulations to you both!

Once upon a time...

2009-11-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

This Halloween, Mike and I were looking to do something different. We decided that it was long overdue that we drove up to Edmonton to see our good friends Dominique and Graeme!

We had planned to find costumes last minute and go out for a night on the town! We went to a couple places in West Edmonton Mall looking a different outfits, but sadly... if you want to buy a cool costume, you have to spend $100+ !

...now that is just silly when you can go and buy REAL clothes for less than that.

We thought we would go to Value Village to get creative when Dominique had a brilliant idea!

Dom is a music teacher, and thought it might be fun to check out the costume closet at her school. So that is what we did. We got into the costume closet and had lots of fun picking though wigs and dresses and...

farm animal costumes.

I couldn't resist the plush elephant head & leggings that I found and soon had my outfit put together. Mike found himself a sheep costume, Graham a wolf costume, and Dominique a duck.

We decided that since we had found a cheap way to cheat halloween, we would avoid the cover charges at all of the pubs downtown and opted for a night IN, with our costumes and a few cocktails.

Haha... well that night IN, turned into a night of photographs... because that is what we do best. Sadly, Mike fell asleep before the photo shooting goodness... so I can't show you how hot he was as a sheep.

Shh... Mike is sleeping...

Dominique threw a "superhero" themed birthday party for Graeme last year, and had these HOT costumes. So why NOT get a few photos? I love these ones! You guys make hot models.

We did end up going back to West Edmonton Mall where I found a great shirt at Urban Outfitters! I LOVE that store... it's a good thing that there isn't one in Calgary. Found some boots too!

Has anyone else been to anthropologie? Dom took me there and it was great!!

I hope that everyone had a fun & safe Halloween!

Happy November!

Bliggity Blog

2009-10-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! I hope that you are all enjoying this crazy fall that we've had...

Summer in Calgary was wonderful. Mike and I worked almost every single Saturday shooting a wedding, many Sunday's... and we only got rained on once. For 5 whole minutes. We were VERY lucky, and even managed to get some cute rainy shots for the portfolio!

At first the early snow fall was very depressing, but after gaining some perspective from some great friends, I was able to see it in a different light. I sat at Starbucks yesterday all by myself and treated myself to a Grande Caramel Macchiato. I watched the snow fall as I sipped my hot coffee and I loved it. Absolutely loved it.

Once Mike and I are all caught up with editing/book design and what not - this blog will be a bit more interesting! For now I hope that fall is treating you all well, and that no matter the weather, we can learn to cherish each moment of every day.

Good Bye Blonde...

2009-09-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

It's fall and everything is changing around me.

The leaves are absolutely breathtaking, I just love taking photos at this time of year! The wooly sweaters and tall boots are coming out of the closet and Mike and I are starting to see the light of the long tunnel of editing.

As much as I dread the death cold winters here in Alberta, I do look forward to all of the changes that are happening. Did I mention that Mike and I went to an A.D.D specialist and Mike has been told that he is the absolute poster boy for A.D.H.D. We are totally excited because this means that he can simply take a pill and his life is changed. It's that easy. He can focus, and that is that.

Since taking Dexedrine to stimulate the parts of his mind that were tired, he has been a cleaning, baking MACHINE.

We went to the farmers market on Sunday and bought a full free range organic chicken and Mike learned how to carve it and get all of the best parts of meat ready for cooking. He then cooked us a beautiful chicken curry, and is working on a homemade chicken consomme for soup. He also slow cooked a bean chili for my lunches since I have been REALLY disliking red meats lately... and as we speak he is cleaning all of our cupboards and glasses so that we can send a bunch of our old dishes to the family centre we volunteer at downtown. I am THRILLED with the new Mike. He was always super fantastic, but now he also works really really hard. Love.

With all of the exciting and beautiful changes around me, I was craving a little change of my own. I have been blonde forEVER. Although it is indeed my natural color, it is getting a lot darker as I get older, and I'm just not too sure I want to keep up with dying it light.

I went into chatters to visit my friend Brittany Claus and She made me into a dark haired gal.

Here are some photos Mike snapped for me a few moments ago :)

I will never...

2009-09-17T21:47:00.001-07:00

Own a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes, but that doesn't mean that I can't drool a little over the idea...

Sex and the City is a bad influence on young minds that aren't capable of making millions of dollars. ;)

I think it's genius

2009-09-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

Most of you that know me well know that I enjoy taking short "walks" in my neighborhood to one of my favorite stores - Shoppers Drug Mart. While I was at Shoppers the other day I came across this product that I had seen a commercial for.

After using a product from Bumble and Bumble about a year ago called "hair powder" I was hooked. It is a magical spray that gives your hair thickness, color and absorbs oil making your hair look like it has just been washed. (Yep, even if you forgot about an early morning appointment and just rolled out of bed.)

Although I admit that Bumble and Bumble's product is much more amazing than the one that I found... who can afford 1 oz of product for $20?

Despite the cheesy 80's bottle, Batiste is a "powdery" spray as well, absorbs oil, gives volume, and allows for you to style your hair MUCH easier. It is only $8.99 at Shoppers and I think it's pretty great.

My hair looks awesome today. Just sayin'

Because I can

2009-09-11T18:38:00.001-07:00

Mike and I have been cooped up in the office together all week, and I'd have to admit that I've been a little bit SNAPPY. Don't let this confuse you with me being SNAP-HAPPY, which well lets face it I'm a bit snap happy too... but I don't think i've been the best person to work with this week and Mike puts up with all of it so SO well.

Here is a photo that I just came across in my editing while I was testing the light at Ben and Brittany's wedding.

Aww...

You're cute.

Thanks for putting up with me my darling husband!

I love you!

Into the Woods

2009-09-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

My sister called me yesterday asking if I wanted to go camping. I had been thinking ALL day about camping!! After that phone call I ran around packing all my things as quickly as I could to get into the woods and OUT of the office.

As kids, my sister and I camped quite a bit with the fam... always in tents. We're hardcore like that. This would mark the first camping trip that my sister and I have taken where we were in charge of everything. Directions, fire, setting up the tent, cooking, etc, etc...

I would say that our little venture into the woods was mostly successful. Google maps failed us and led us to the middle of Banff when really we should have kept going on the highway... we both found it strange that a huge campsite would be sitting right in the middle of downtown Banff. We followed the google directions to find ourselves surrounded by tourists and hotels. Hmm...

My very smart older sister pulled out our Banff map that we got at the Park border and saw that Johnston Canyon was actually not at all in downtown Banff, so we continued driving.

We drove up to the Johnston Canyon Campground on a beautiful scenic drive in the trees and it was just starting to get dark. There was mist on the roads and the temperatures dropped from about 18 degrees (when we left Calgary) to about 5 degrees in the Banff area. Brr... it was not only going to be a cold night but also VERY dark and difficult to set up camp.

It had rained before we arrived at the campsite so all of the wood in the wood pile was SOAKED. I knew from my previous camping experience with hubby how dry wood was absolutely necessary to build a successful fire.

Amanda and I searched through the pile trying to get to the middle and found ourselves some dry-ish logs. As much as you would like to think that we didn't manage to build a fire... we actually did!! A big one too! It only took an hour and a bit ;) With my kindling and Amanda's keen teepee building skills the fire was roaring.

Our neighbors were totally entertained by our attempts at setting up camp. They even shouted "we love you girls" when I totally on purpose set off the car alarm late at night when everyone else was asleep. They loved it. We are a class act.

Once we got the fire started and the tent set up we got a phone call from our friend Carina who was on her way to the camp site. She may have gotten a little lost, but managed to use her navigational skills to figure things out. She arrived just in time to enjoy our sexy looking fire and camp site.

We spent lots of time by that fire... it was glorious.

Once it started pouring rain, the three of us moved indoors to our two man tent. It was cozy-ish. I didn't realize just how skilled Mike has always been at pegging the sides of the tent out. We got just a little bit wet in that crazy down pour. We probably would have slept a bit better in the five man tent that Amanda brought if it weren't for her leaving the poles back in Calgary...

This morning we woke up to the soggiest camp site you ever did see. We were a wee bit soggy too. Just a wee bit. We DID manage once again to build a fire (ladies- it's really not as easy as it looks) and even cooked a gourmet breakfast. Scrambled eggs with cheese, Ukranian Sausage, Almond butter spread on whole wheat toast and chocolate milk to top things off. We only lit the propane tank on fire once to achieve that breakfast. We were doing well.

We aborted mission "two nights" at Johnston Canyon and instead found some warmth inside the Starbucks downtown Banff. We will be sleeping in our warm beds tonight. SO excited and I think that sleep might just begin riiiiiiggght NOW.

Some photos in the sticks

(click to see them bigGER)

The lovely and beautiful Carina

Me and the camera bag that i've been drooling over and finally have in my hands!

Amanda and Carina think that they are in an engagement photo shoot. Congratulations?

Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend!

An update filled with cute kitties.

2009-09-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

I snapped this photo this morning while the boys were wresting...

I think EVERYONE needs to see just how cute and hilarious these guys are.

To those of you that read my blog, I'm sorry that it's been so boring lately!

If it weren't for the lovely "site meter" I would think that about four people read my blog but APPARENTLY there are about 30 of you that are checking in daily to see what's going on. Please feel free to COMMENT to let me know that you're here! It makes it alllll worth it.

So I think I owe you all a little UPDATE!!

I don't like to put up new blog posts when I don't have photos... so I snapped these this evening while the guys were sleepy and standing still(ish) for once. While I update I will show you random kitty photos of loveliness.

I woke Jack up for this photo...

Things are going well over here at the Kitchen household, Mike and I are currently on a bit of a health kick and we are hoping that it sticks! We were finding the stress of having our own business to be taking over our lives a little bit, and know that our non existent excercise routines and diet weren't helping the situation!

(Well we always knew that but we all know how hard it is to change routine!)

King of the washroom

The business has been going fantastically. We have had great clients all summer long and NO complaints! Yay!

We are quite happy with the progress that we've made, but the amount of weddings that we took on this summer with just the two of us running the business was a little much! We had a KILLER deal on wedding packages for summer 2009 and in turn find ourselves struggling with keeping up and can't afford to hire assistants to help us out with all of the editing/book designing/emailing, etc, etc. Yikes. I am looking forward to next summer so much! Our prices are a little more appropriate for the Calgary market now, and we look forward to a summer of loving our jobs without all of the stress!

I thought it was about time to take some kitty photos since the boys haven't existed in the world wide web for quite some time! I Hope Jack and Charlie brightened your day. They are WONDEFUL furry friends to have around.

Cross Iron Mills!!

2009-08-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

We got a new mall, a NEW MALL!!! Not just any old mall but a big beautiful MEGA mall!

It is a happy day for me. As pathetic as it may be, I am so excited that one of my all time favorite shops now exists in Calgary!!

I should correct myself... it now exists in BALZAC. Balzac is about 15 minutes North of downtown Calgary. (Now us Alberta folk all have an excuse to say Balzac more often. )

Mike and I were hired by Liz Claiborne to photograph the grand opening of their shop so they can dazzle the head office in New York with their storefront.

Here are a few shots of Liz and a few of the rest of the mall that we quickly snapped while exploring.

Harvey the Hound (Calgary Flames Hockey mascot) was hanging out taking photos with kids in the food court.

Robin Regher was signing autographs!

(Calgarians are ALL about Flames hockey)

We missed Kelly Hrudey during the opening ceremonies. What a shame. ;)

Each part of the mall has a different "neighborhood" and a different theme.

Biggest La Senza in Canada! It is BIG. I only wish it were a Victoria Secret.

Commercial photography is not only fun, but pretty darn easy too. I could see us doing more of this sort of thing in the future!

View from the top

2009-08-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was my lovey dovey's birthday and I wanted to do something to celebrate his wonderfulness.

Mike has never been a big "present" guy- if you have ever gotten a gift from him, you know that it is almost always creative, or have some sort of meaning or adventure put into it! As some of you might know... this can make gift giving very challenging!

This year I decided to get creative with our resources... and planned a dinner on the rooftop of our building for us and some of our closest buds.

Kevin and Jason were responsible for carrying our crazy heavy table up the stairwell and onto the roof (THANK-YOU!) and then distracting the birthday boy with camera stores and video games.

The girls and I chopped boiled and prepared a lovely little feast and seated the guys when they arrived on the rooftop!

It was a beautiful summery day, +25 with a bit of cloud cover (which is always lovely for photos.) A nice breeze but perfect for sitting in the sun.

Shannon presented and served the guys wine as Ashley and I plated the Feta, Sundried Tomato & Walnut Penne. (From the Relish Menus of course!)

It was perfect! Even though it was still just dinner at our place, it was something different and special. The view from the top is awesome, and we just can't get enough of it up there!! Unfortunately just as we finished up our plates a crazy wind blew through the city and we had to flee for warmth!

We got stuck in the stairwell... Perhaps somebody should have remembered to pocket her keys after plating the pasta! It's ok... there is an exit on the bottom floor and I had Mike's cell phone to buzz us in. THANK goodness. Although it would have been sort of fun and adventurous being forced to find fun inside the stairwell waiting for someone to come rescue us! We DID have a lot of wine left over! Haha... Maybe next time.

Inside we had bread pudding waiting for oven time and Ice cream... and we played BANG! around the kitchen table! Fun game - us Kitchen folk like card games.

Happy Birthday to my most amazing and wonderful husband. You put up with more than anyone could ever know! You continue to make me smile and know how to make me laugh even when things aren't funny. You are my BEST friend, and this world just wouldn't be so sweet without you.

Kisses,

Ashley

Excommunicated.

2009-08-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

Haha... Okay a little dramatic but SERIOUSLY! I feel like I've been cut off from social networking!!

Yesterday, I went about my day as usual. Sat at my computer to edit photos, checked for new emails, new twitter updates... then THEN I logged into my facebook account as I do about 5 times on a regular day. To my surprise I found that Facebook had disabled my account. Disabled MY account!

Not being able to take advantage of this free service is absolutely driving me crazy. It's not that I can't live without Facebook for a few days (I think) but it's the fact that I can't even if I wanted to. Geesh.

I signed up thinking, Oh just another online service that I'm going to enjoy for a couple of months and soon enough I'll be bored of it and find something new to do with my time. Not this time! Nuh uh! I have connected with over 500 different people that I have met throughout my lifetime.

Most of them friends, some of them people that I have gotten to know, some of them that are just enjoyable enough to follow. It's fun to know what everyone is up to! And of course the biggest one for me- PICTURES! I love seeing everyone's photos. I am always looking at albums and checking in on friendly smiley faces. I have a TON of albums myself, and Facebook has even become a place an easy place for me to enjoy my own collection of photos from the last 3? years.

I'm still not entirely sure why they decided to enable my account- I wrote an email to the peeps at Facebook yesterday asking for my account back and asking for an explanation...

This is the message that pops up when I try to sign into my account

Why was my account disabled?

Your account was disabled because you violated Facebook’s Terms of Use, to which you agreed when you first registered for an account on the site. Accounts can either be disabled for repeat offenses or for one, particularly egregious violation.

Facebook does not allow users to register with fake names, to impersonate any person or entity, or to falsely state or otherwise misrepresent themselves or their affiliations.

We do not allow users to send unsolicited or harassing messages to people they don’t know, and we remove posts that advertise a product, service, website, or opportunity.

Our Code of Conduct outlines the types of content we do not allow on the site. This includes any obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit photos, as well as any photos that depict graphic violence. We also remove content, photo or written, that threatens, intimidates, harasses, or brings unwanted attention or embarrassment to an individual or group of people.

I can only guess that the line that I've highlighted is the reason for my account to be shut down. Every time I post a new blog post on the SNAP blog I update my twitter which updates my facebook which provides a link to our photography blog.

If you click on the terms of use link you will see nothing quite as clearly written as the above statement. The only thing I could find on the terms of use page was

"You will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications to users (such as spam)."

Ich! Am I a spammer? Sorry facebook friends (or ex-facebook friends? I'm not sure)

ANYWAYS... apparently that was all facebook needed to boot me off. I have a lot of photographer friends on my facebook, and they seem to all be doing the same so BE CAREFUL!!

Ashley (the excommunicatee )

Summer on Vancouver Island

2009-08-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

If you didn't already know, Mike and I are enjoying a short vacation on Vancouver Island right now!

We had the ABSOLUTE pleasure of photographing my good friend Julie's marriage to Michael Willing on Saturday and have been using that wedding as an excuse to stay on the island for a little while until our next wedding!

It has been an AWESOME vacation so far! Mike and I took off Monday evening from Calgary and drove through the night (and through the intense heat wave!) and got to Vancouver on Tuesday afternoon.

Vancouver was fantastic as always... Shannon and Jason were there visiting with Shan's sister Kristy so it was fun hanging out with them there! We went to Granville island for the day and sat on the Bridges patio drinking mojito's and sipping oysters! I got myself a scary looking burn that day... Eeek! Other than that it was such heaven. The ocean breeze was such a relief in the humid high +30's! I'll leave those photo's up to Shan! We put our camera's to rest for the majority of our vacation :)

The crew went Ocean Kayaking and I was lucky enough to catch a date with Miss Keira-anne (and the famous Jordy the dog) last minute! We sipped Okanagan Kettle Valley Pinot Gris down by the ocean (mischieviously hidden in Starbucks thermos') as we watched Jordy run around and play with other adorable pups. I even thought for a moment that I might enjoy having a dog one day? It was sort of a breakthrough for me...

Keira and I just have an incredible bond... it's crazy how life changes and we change, but every time we see each other we can just pick up where we left off.

Since being on Vancouver Island we have had ourselves all kinds of fun.

Yesterday Mike, Dad and I went to Coombs Market for lunch and some magical Island Farms ice cream. We then hit up the sandy beach in Parksville for a peaceful nap in the sunshine.

on Thursday I had one of the BEST birthday's of all time...

My mom and I went to enjoy some time together in Victoria while Mike, Dad, Jay and Shan went golfing at Bear Mountain!

Congratulations Shannon on getting a birdie on one of the HARDEST golf courses in Western Canada!

It was another hot hot summery day in the B.C heat wave, but we managed to keep cool with gelato and various other lovely Vancouver Island Delicacies.

The rose garden at The Empress is looking particularly fantastic right now! I'm not sure how these delicate roses are managing to live through this intense heat!

Mom and I EVEN went to The Noodle Box in Victoria- one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE places to eat. Mmmm... it was everything I remembered and more.

We all met up in the evening at one of my favorite dining spots on the island - Steeples Restaurant in Shawnigan Lake. Since Mike and I had never dined there in the summer time we had no idea that they had outdoor seating in their backyard garden. Dinner was absolutely perfect, and the company was even better. We sat in the garden eating dinner until it got dark and had coffee (and fiery birthday Sambuca) under the stars. It really was just perfect.

Catch my Party!

2009-07-24T15:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got a phone call from a lovely lady named Jillian who wanted to feature our business on her website!

We got talking, and it turns out her website is actually pretty awesome! The website it called Catch My Party and it is a sweet little spot where people are free to post photos and details of their birthday parties, weddings, and other great events.

It goes beyond sharing and tagging photos on sites like facebook... it actually allows people to share their events with tons of friends or anyone browsing the site.

Anyone can sign up to comment, browse or rate their favorite party favors, wedding dresses, etc, etc. (a great idea for people wanting to get ideas for their own events!)

A great way to document your event, share it, and get some fun feedback too. Who doesn't want to recall the memories of the big events in our lives!

Check out what she had to write about SNAP on her blog, and feel free to create your own party page too!

Visit Catch My Party here

S.A.B.C Photography

2009-07-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

Photo by Esther

This past week Mike and I packed up the car and office yet again and drove down to Southern Alberta to teach kids about Photography!

In the spring Melissa asked us if we were available to come to Southern Alberta Bible Camp and we were excited when we realized that we didn't have any weddings during that week! Mike used to work at S.A.B.C before we met at Camp Qwanoes, so he has lots of fun memories of the camp. It was fun looking through old photo albums and seeing lots of our Calgary friends as youngen's at the camp!

Southern Alberta Bible Camp is situated right on Travers Resevoir and in the middle of desert land! Mike and I didn't get a chance to get out in the lake, but it was so pretty! The weather was hot and then rainy then hot and then... you get my point! When it rained it poured! The lightening storms were so awesome to watch.

There was a Juniors camp and a Senior High camp both running at the same time and we were in charge of teaching 12 Senior High students about photo's. They each brought their own camera's and we had about 4 hours a day with them every day! It was a ton of time, and we didn't ALWAYS stick to photography- we got in some great slappy slaps competition (Egyptian Rat tail) and showed off Mike's mind reading ability with some different card tricks.

We didn't have a lot to work with- many of the campers didn't even have manual modes on their point and shoots, but I was really proud of what each of the students seemed to learn! It shows just how awesome photo's can be when you compose them properly! We played with picnik (an online and FREE editing program) a little on the last day to spice up the photo's and here is how some of the favorites turned out!

Photo by Christine
I LOVE this one.

Photo by Caitlin

Photo by Amber

Photo by Megan

Photo by Lana
AND this one! Lana can I hang it on my wall?! ;) It's sort of horror-film esque!

Photo by Katie

Photo by Helen

Photo by Alyssa

Photo by Emma

Photo by Nick

(Some of the photo's aren't displayed because there are faces in them -and we don't have contracts/rights to show faces of minors from that particular week.)

For one of the sessions the group was given the task of posing the entire group and being responsible for lighting, posing and location! There was lots of room around the camp and here is what they came up with! Once they had it all figured out they would jump into the photo and I would click the button! I think they did quite well! Again... you'll have to imagine their beautiful faces/images! Haha... Oh how things have changed! The creativity was great. Kat came up with a shot where Amber was holding the entire group in her right hand. Or so it seemed...
I think that this was the funnest session.

Good work to all of our students! You all learned so much in such a short amount of time!!

The Redwood forrest and some cute little rascals.

2009-07-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

After a night stay at the lovely Honey Bear campground on the Oregon Coast we continued heading down the beautiful coast line. We had been contemplating whether to take the coastal route or the interstate and decided it would be a lot more interesting driving by the ocean!

Unfortunately it was really rainy and grey and we had our fill of the same view after about 3 hours. The ocean was really pretty, but getting stuck behind slow moving trailors and driving around crazy cliffs just wasn't really all that great! I think it would have been a TON better if it were sunny and we would have been able to get out at the beach and soak up the sun!

We wanted to head back the interstate since (apparently) it could have shave about 6 hours off our trip... but we had already gone so far out of the way to get to the coast so we thought we better commit.

Two big highlights of taking Highway No. 5 [coastal route]-

-We went through Dune City which wouldn't you know it was named for their massive sand dune national parks! We got to play in the sand dunes and read awesome bumper stickers like : JUST DUNE IT! and IT'S A DUNE THING. Apparently the people that live in Dune City are serious about their sport. It was still overcast and a bit rainy so the dunes were a bit messy- but still a lot of fun! I can only imagine how much fun it would be DUNE it dune buggy style. We were just running and jumping around and it was STILL a good time.

by dfinnecy on flickr

-On our way into California we got to drive through Redwood National Park. It was awesome! It actually reminded me a lot of Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island. It was so quiet when we drove through the park, when we parked our car on the side of the road everything was still- not a sound. It was almost creepy.

That's a really big tree!

Near the end of the highway through the redwoods there was a touristy museum with this creepy Paul Bunyan statue. The creepy part was how he would talk to you as you got out of your car... like actually talk to you- have a conversation. He even winked at me. Hmmm...

Mike and I were planning on camping at the Clear Lake State Park in California and we arrived just as the sun was going down. We ate our dinner by candlelight and set up our tent in the dark! It is incredibly easy to set up our little tent EVEN in the dark! We lurve our tent.

When we woke up in the morning we went for a walk. The campground was incredible! There were three different areas to the campground and we were at the top of a huge hill overlooking the lake. There was a ton of wildlife! I saw turtles on one of the boardwalks! So crazy...

There were also crazy amounts of THESE:
Lizards are so awesome... I wonder if people in California consider them pests? They really are everywhere! When we got back to our campsite we found some new enemies...
These two little guys had gotten into one of the bags sitting on the picnic table and stole a little container that we filled with olive oil and were gnawing through the lid to try to get to the oil! I didn't know that squirrels liked olive oil? Hmm... we put a couple of raspberries closer to us to get photo's of them. Haha... if you look closer at the photo above the squirrel with the berry is NOT happy sharing with his buddy.

Then we gave them a few more and they seem to be a lot happier.

cute little rascals.

The First Stop

2009-07-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

Summer is slipping past SO quickly and I have so many summery adventures that I wanted to share! I can't believe I STILL haven't written about the highlight of my summer... I think it's probably because there are just SO many pictures that it is just a tad overwhelming! Haha... for now I will just write about the first bit of our trip...

As most of you know Mike and I packed our bags and headed down South on a roadtrip to California back in May! It was awesome... so random and so wonderful! We drove through Idaho first and planned to camp the first night in Spokane, Washington -but it turns out we got into Spokane just a bit too late. The campground closed it's gate 5 minutes early and we missed our chance! We decided to drive through the night and get to our destination SOONER. After Mike drove all that he could drive I would take over and drive all that I could drive. We found a nice rest stop on the side of the road that made for a great quick sleep.

When Mike woke up, he drove us all the way into Oregon where we finally got out of the car around noon the next day at a Safeway. We picked up some dinner rolls and a roasted chicken for breakfast/lunch and ate on a picnic bench in the parking lot. I know I know... we live the high life! Lol... (we went on our trip with the challenge to spend less than $500 for our entire 10 days!!)

While walking through Safeway and getting pumped about all the foreign brand names, Cherry Coke, and wine in the grocery store... I picked up one of my favorite bottles from Oregon and suggested we buy it for our first night at the camp site. It was Sokol Blosser's "Evolution" . Mike reminded me of our strict budget (which he often has to do) and we were excited when we noticed just how cheap they sell wine in the states for! We picked ourselves up a bottle of Cabernet/Merlot from Argentina for $4.50. Yes... that's right. $4.50. We were pretty proud of ourselves. We also filled our cooler with all of the basics- milk, eggs, bread, angel hair pasta, tomato sauce, and peanut butter.
(along with a few other random items we pulled from our cupboards at home.)

While I was looking at the label of Evolution I noticed that the wine was made in Dundee, Oregon.

When we got to the cashier I thought I'd ask about Dundee and see if the winery happened to be along our route to the west coast. We really weren't expecting much. When the cashier responded "just take a right at the next lights." I think my jaw dropped. We were only minutes from one of my favorite wineries!!

The vineyard was beautiful. The rows of grapes went further than I could see! Hills and Hills full of little grapes. We got to the tasting room and shared a flight and shared our stories of serving evolution to customers back in Calgary. The lady helping us mentioned that they just happened to be bottling that day and took us on a little tour.

The bottling took place in this tiny little trailer out back of the warehouse. I couldn't believe how small the space was that is used to bottle hundreds of thousands of bottles!

Boxes and more boxes of Evolution

I think that I would enjoy living in that little red house on a gigantic vineyard.

Tiny little grapes. They aren't harvested until late summer.

Well it turns out that Mike and I DID get to enjoy that lovely bottle of Evolution on the first night of camp after all.

We stayed on the first stretch of the Oregon Trail at the Honey Bear Campground. Just across the street from our campsite was a gorgeous stretch of white sand beach and roaring waves! I could hear the sound of the waves collapsing from our tent. Ahhhh.... relaxation.

Happy Birthday Canada!

2009-07-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been FULL of editing photo's and learning new programs. Mike and I have decided to test out RAW vs JPEG since many of our photographer friends have been saying the only way to shoot is in RAW!

We were skeptical at first... it meant spending a lot more money on memory cards and hard drive space too! As if our computers aren't already jam packed with stuff as it is? Why don't we start making each individual file size 6 times bigger? GAhh! We've also been learning to use Adobe Lightroom instead of Aperture. It's designed for photographer's so it seems like it'd make a bit more sense than using Aperture. Kim's probably shaking her head at us right now going I TOLD YOU SO!! Haha... YES!... yes you did.

Yesterday was an AWESOME day... Canada's BIRTHDAY and the birth of Sonia Faye Dawn Blenkin! I am SO excited to meet her.

I've felt the baby kick and squirm and now it is now a SHE and she is now an adorable little blenkin. Awww... I hope everything went well for you Barbie!

For Canada Day Mike and I had some friends over for a bbq! Some of our friends brought friends which I think should be the new BBQ standard! It was great meeting some new people!

We were a little busy making blue cheese burgers, white chocolate covered strawberries,white chocolate brownies,homemade guacamole and salsa to snap photo's of the delish food but trust me when I say it was DELICIOUS!

My sister and I still manage to show up wearing the same thing even though we rarely shop together OR live in the same building! What can you do? We both have brilliant minds ;)

Thanks to everyone for coming! Thanks especially to Shan and Jay for helping us mash hard avocado's and mush ground beef! Haha... "Just pretend it's cookie dough Shannon!" haha Eww... I hate touching raw meat too.

I love fireworks! It was rainy by the time the fireworks started so we didn't hang out on the roof for very long... or take the camera up for snapshots! BUT fortunately for us we have a spectacular roof view of the stampede grounds as well so there will be many more opportunities for fireworks photos AND roof parties during the Calgary Stampede which is coming up VERY soon!

A Penny for your thoughts...

2009-06-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

This is (another) post about one of my FAVORITE people on this planet and her baby to be - Penny!

I have a gajillion photo's to share with you from our California road trip... but things are getting pretty hectic over here with photo stuff so I guess I better leave playing with the fun vacation pics until we are all caught up with everything else. In the meanwhile I just can't resist the urge to share my latest photo's of Kim! She is so very pregnant- the baby is due to come a day before my birthday! July 29th.

Mike and I were driving through the states to get back home, and we decided that instead of waiting for Kim to visit us at the end of the month like she planned we would make a sllliighhtt (50 hour) detour and show up in Winnipeg and surprise her and Jamie!

Jamie and Kim recently bought a new home in Winnipeg so it was really great to check it out. It is perfect... hopefully similar to something that we'd like to have on Vancouver Island in the future!

I love the big yard and especially the fire pit and garden that Kim and Jamie are starting in the back. Mike and I love living in the city -being part of the lively city centre is fantastic! There is always something going on in our neighborhood! On the other hand- Mike and I can see ourselves really enjoying living on an acreage with a small hobby farm on Vancouver Island. (Hopefully) on some shared property with Kim and Jamie (&Penny!)

While staying at the Kitchen's, Kim and I went for a little grocery shop to find the ingredients for a bunch of different relish recipes! Mmm we made so many delicious meals! Relish continues to amaze me and everyone we share them with! This is a summer squash and zucchini linguini that we made. Mike and Jamie added the chicken for themselves ;)

Homemade lemonade! Mmmm

Kim and I spent our tuesday together running around... Kim had an appointment setup with one of her photography classmates to get prego photo's, so we spent most of the morning at her school playing in the studio. Then I got to tag along for an doc's appointment to hear Penny's heart beat... it sounds more like swooshing. Haha. Then I realized that I wanted to get photo's of Kim too! But outside the studio is a bit more my style when it's possible! We took these photo's all just behind Kim's backyard. A lot of the same... but let me know which ones are best so that I can throw them up on the SNAP site!

I think this one is my favorite! I love the Cowichan sweater/prego combo. So cute!

Thanks for letting me drag you through another photo shoot even after spending all morning in front of the camera Kimberly! You have become quite the easy model to work with Ms Lavender-Kitchen! I must go back to work now... Mike and I are locking ourselves into the elevator shaft for an epic long editing session.

Suite #405

2009-06-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

This blog post is for those of you that have been bugging me (or have given up on asking all together) for pictures of our "new" place! I have been procrastinating-I know!! Haha... I was hoping to have more art/photography on our walls by now, but instead of buying canvases we've been too busy updating camera's and lenses! Aghh! It never ends keeping up with the photographers in this city!!

So here it is... sort of a rush job, but if I got everything perfect this post never would have come ;)

This is our entrance/hallway... our washer and drier are tucked into one of the closets as you come in the door... this is where the kitties like to hang out most-sprawled out on the cool tiles.

First door on your right is the bathroom- a lot smaller than our last gigantic washroom but it does the trick!

We have to make the most of "storage" in our place, it is only 800 sq feet. It feels big because of the high ceilings and big windows, but it is QUITE cozy.

Nice big kitchen... this is always important to us! We are learning to become chefs extraordinaire so we need our space!! Yes... that is a watermelon in a slowcooker. haha-we didn't want to come home to the huge melon rolled onto the floor in a big pink heap! The kitties are smart enough to do things like that!

Living room. We just got our cable disconnected for summer! We want to try to be outdoors as much as possible this season. The "Imperial Lofts" building is right smack dab in the middle of town. (220 11th Avenue S.E) so we want to be sure to get out into the city alot while it is sunny and warm!

This is our bed-area... not so much a room. It's nice to wake up to the bright sunshine in the mornings and NOT have to climb a ladder every time we want to get under the covers. Since getting our lovely Charlie- the big fluffy white ragdoll our bed has been covered in fur. Gaaahh! It doesn't even come off in the wash. Suggestions?

"Dining Room" haha... more like a dining space. The table opens up nice and big so hopefully we can have you ALL over for dinner ;) Well maybe 6 at a time...
Behind the table is an old elevator shaft that was built back in 1912. The building used to be a tabacco warehouse? I think...
Each space has been converted to a unique "loft" apartment. We moved from a suite on the third floor back in February which actually had our bedroom in a loft- but the ladder climb every night got old fast. It's cool how each apartment in this building are so unique and different.

The Elevator shaft rolls open and we've converted it into a sweet little office where we make all of our photo magic happen!
So there you are! I will have to take photos of the patio and views from the roof later! The rooftop of our building is the BEST seat in Calgary for Canada day fireworks and anyone who is interested in joining us this year just let us know!! We like to wine and cheese it up :)

Hope you enjoyed the photo tour- now come buzz our place for a visit or cold beer on the patio!

SHOES!! Part 2

2009-06-15T14:35:00.001-07:00

Check out our sweet sweet shoes at

Snap Photography Blog

Shhhhhoooooesss!

2009-06-10T12:53:00.001-07:00

Mike and I have had a crazy spontaneous AMAZING adventure traveling through Idaho, Oregon, and of course the lovely California! I won't tell you much about it quite yet... because believe me there are ALOT to stories to share, and still tons of adventures to create yet. We have met many lovely Americans and haven't had any schedule, plan or time restraint! I feel that we have been blessed so much by this! There are so many things that we have seen and experienced that we might have never come across otherwise!

Right now Mike and I are sitting in the Firefly Coffee House in Santa Cruz just a block from the beautiful stretch of sandy beach. It's a bit overcast right now otherwise we'd be basking in the salty waves! We are really REALLY excited because in about an hour we will be going back to "Old School Shoes" on Pacific Avenue to pick up some custom painted shoes that are being painted while I type! I'm not telling what it is we're getting done... but you will certainly get to check them out once we have them! I can't wait to have our canvas shoe art photographed on our very own feet! The photos are by the artist that we met, Nick-he works at Old School.

We are headed to Reno tonight. I know... random.

Later!!

You can't afford not to...

2009-05-29T19:42:00.001-07:00

Now that Mike and I are at home more often, we thought we would try cooking more. We would go on our weekly trip to the Calgary Farmer's Market and pick up lots of fresh produce, delicious local cheeses, and everything we thought we needed to feast on for a week. It always seemed though that we were getting bored with the meals we were preparing. You can only eat so much homemade spaghetti or grilled chicken dishes.

Mike was looking online for a solution to our boring eating routine and came across something that has already changed our lives -in just a few days.

This past week Mike and I have eaten exciting dinners at home (almost) every night. We made one exception on tuesday when we ate at JLYS- like we always do :)

So far we've been delighted to try:

Chicken Burrito's with Mango Salsa served with Black Beans with Cumin and Cilantro -(my favorite so far!)

Bacon Mozzarella Burgers served with Romaine and Pine Nut Salad

Slow Cooker Asian Shredded Pork served with (delicious!) Honey glazed Snow Peas and Carrots

I didn't take photo's of all our meals, so I will just leave you with those tasty images for now...

The website that we signed up to is called Relish! You pay $7 a month to join, and we think that it's totally worth it because they make it so simple.

Once you've signed up to Relish! You can browse through a bunch of recipes and decide what all of your meals will be for the week. You can sort the recipes by Quick to make, Vegetarian, Low Calories, etc, etc and make your choices accordingly. Once your selections are made you can then choose how many people you will be preparing for and they will give you an accurate shopping list (that you can print easily) along with recipes that are really easy to follow.

The first few shopping trips might be a bit more expensive if you don't have the basic spices in your cupboard, but we found that our trip cost less than our usual weekly trip. We bought only what we needed, and it looks like we won't have any rotting veggies in our fridge at the end of the month like we usually do! Lol.

I'm really excited about this new program, because Mike and I have been really bad at making good-for-you meals. We will often eat snacks to fill the boring meal-void whereas these recipes were actually exciting and totally filled us up! Haha...Mike and I have been spending a lot of good quality time working on these "projects" together too.

I know... I sound like a commercial, but honestly! I am not getting paid for this ;)

Here are two of the dinners that Mike and I have tried and love...so you should try them too!

Chicken Burritos with Mango Salsa
Prep time: 10 minutes Marinade time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
per serving: 462 calories; 35 grams protein; 10 grams total fat; 5 grams fiber;
4 grams saturated fat; 57 grams carbohydrates; 75 mgs cholesterol; 538 mgs
sodium

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/8 cup orange juice
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 10-inch flour tortillas
1 mango , peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
1/2 jalapeño pepper , seeded and minced
1 green onion , including tops, thinly sliced
1/8 cup cilantro, chopped
1/8 head Romaine lettuce, torn
1/8 cup sour cream

Heat grill to medium high.
[1] In a medium bowl, combine lemon juice, lime juice, orange
juice, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Add chicken and
refrigerate for 30 minutes.
[2] Remove chicken and discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken with
salt and pepper and grill 5 to 6 minutes per side, or until cooked
through. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil.
[3] Meanwhile, wrap the tortillas in foil and warm in the oven, or
spritz with water and heat in the microwave.
[4] To make the salsa: in a medium bowl, combine the mango,
jalapeno, green onions, cilantro and a dash of salt and pepper in
a medium bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.
[5] Cut each chicken breast into slices. Divide among tortillas, add
lettuce, a dollop of sour cream and the mango salsa.
HANDLING TIPS FOR HOT PEPPERS
Always wear thin rubber gloves for extra protection when cutting
peppers.

Black Beans with Cumin and Cilantro
Prep & cook time: 5 minutes
per serving: 157 calories; 6 grams protein; 8 grams total fat; 5 grams fiber; 1
gram saturated fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 0 mgs cholesterol; 452 mgs
sodium

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/8 cup prepared chunky salsa
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

[1] Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat and cook garlic
and cumin, stirring well, just until fragrant, about a minute. Turn
the heat to low and add black beans, salsa, and salt and pepper
to taste. Just before serving, stir in cilantro.

Slow Cooker Asian Shredded Pork
Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 8 hours
per serving: 347 calories; 52 grams protein; 6 grams total fat; 0 grams fiber; 2
grams saturated fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 123 mgs cholesterol; 1535 mgs
sodium

1/8 cup soy sauce (low sodium)
1/8 cup hoisin sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/8 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 pound pork ribeye roast
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup long grain rice
[1] Combine first 8 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a
whisk.
[2] Place pork in a slow cooker and pour sauce over top. Cover
and cook on low for 8 hours.
[3] 20 minutes before pork is finished, cook rice according to
package directions and set aside.
[4] Remove pork from slow cooker using a slotted spoon; place
on a cutting board or work surface. Cover with aluminum foil; keep
warm.
[5] Add broth to sauce in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for
20 minutes or until sauce thickens. Shred pork with 2 forks; serve
with sauce and rice.

Honey Glazed Snow Peas and Carrots
Prep and cook time: 25 minutes
per serving: 156 calories; 2 grams protein; 9 grams total fat; 3 grams fiber; 6
grams saturated fat; 19 grams carbohydrates; 23 mgs cholesterol; 42 mgs
sodium

2 carrots , peeled and sliced
3 ounces snow peas, trimmed
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon honey

[1] Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add carrots
and cook until tender crisp, 10 to 12 minutes. Add snow peas and
cook until tender crisp; drain and remove to a small bowl.
[2] Melt butter in the same pan and stir in cornstarch. Return
carrots and peas to pan and stir in honey. Cook over medium
heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.

Happy Cooking!

Cheers to Jason and Shannon

2009-05-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

Two years ago in May...

We celebrated with muchos tequila and muchos sunshine; the marriage of Jason and Shannon Wiens.

It was one of the best experiences that Mike and I have shared, and we were lucky to share it with many of our closest friends and "family" too. We spent an unforgettable 7 days at the Barcelo Maya Riviera Resort in Mexico and had the all inclusive treatment! I have been dreaming of those beaches ever since...

While Shan and Jay were in Mexico they picked themselves up a bottle of tequila so that they could toast to their marriage and remember the good times with every shot!

I decided to document their shooter experience this time around... I always enjoy a good excuse to reminisce about our Mexico experience.

Now if you look closely... Jason and Shannon didn't choose just any old tequila. They decided to go with the SCORPION tequila. Eeeeww. That's disgusting. As if tequila needs another reason to make your mouth pucker!

A nice closeup of our scorpion friend...

Congratulations on another great year together Jason and Shannon!

Shannon and Jay have said that once the bottle empties it will be time to go back for another dreamy Mexican Vacay. I'm hoping that they start celebrating half and quarter anniversaries too!!

California Dreamin'

2009-05-27T09:57:00.001-07:00

Photo by Patrick on Flickr

I know I know... my blog has been fairly boooring lately! Mike and I have been really busy with Weddings, and I just haven't had the time to take photos outside of weddings, weddings, weddings! Soon though I'm sure I will have tons of photos that I'll want to share... Mike and I decided just a couple weeks ago that we are going to California! ON SUNDAY!! Totally quick last minute decision, but I think that makes it even more exciting.

Our tent and sleeping bags are all set up in our living room "airing out," although they really haven't been used a whole lot since we bought them last year!! Our intentions were to camp ALOT last summer, but it was just impossible with having to work friday/saturday evenings. If you don't show up to the first come first serve campgrounds in kananaskis/calgary area before thursday afternoon you are out of luck! Any campground in the area that takes reservations have already taken their reservations for the year. It's insane-at least in my own experience.

Mike and I wanted to camp so bad one weekend that we drove for 4 hours into kananaskis country stopping at campsite after campsite just to hear that they were full and so were all of the overflows. We finally found one overflow towards the end of our drive, but it was basically a gravel parking lot. At the time I was so desperate to pull out our tent and camp that I was trying to talk Mike into it! Minutes later we saw a caution bears in the area notice AND a fox cross the road. Pretty cool...but pretty scary too. We didn't end up camping once last year.

We are shooting a wedding on Saturday at "The Fort." Here in Calgary and then Sunday we are planning to drive south. We don't have our route planned out quite yet, but we did get ourselves tons of maps and a AMA membership! I still want to take the coastal route, but it will take us quite a bit of extra time. We are hoping that we have better luck with campsites in the states because we have all of our gear good and ready to go!

Not a ton is planned for us in Cali... we are trying to do things fairly inexpensively. The plan is to sit on multiple beautiful beaches and to edit photos and drink plenty of delicious Califonia wine. We have a few favorite vineyards mapped out that we are planning on visiting. SO exciting.

If anyone has any ideas/tips for our travels/camping/to do/see please let us know!!

Stop having a boring life...

2009-05-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

I want it... and I want it.

Buuuuut I really just want to watch the infomercials.

It's good for your heart...

2009-05-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

Mike and I love wine. We really really love wine.
It's a bit of a weakness really... trying a big, rich jammy wine that is good quality can get us both pretty excited! After putting our time in working in the restaurant industry, we would like to think that we've developed a bit of taste for the good stuff. The good stuff doesn't always have to be the bottles that break the bank... I think that the best wines are the ones that taste like a quality $100 wine but sells for under $30. Those are the wines that we look for.

Two of my favorites this year would have to be the Ceago Winemaker's blend, and the Four Vines Zinfandel.

Because it's only 10:30 in the morning, and I do *not* love wine enough to be having a glass this early... I'm just going to use the description that the winemaker's themselves have chosen for these beauties.

"2006 "The Maverick" Zinfandel, Amador County Devious mischief abounds from these dry-farmed, head pruned, old vine vineyards in the Shenendoah Valley. This Sierra Foothill Valley is renowned for its old vine Zin vineyards which produce a wine that is chewy and spicy, rich with blackberry fruit and a hint of velvet vanilla oak. Blended with a touch of Syrah from the Bailey Vineyard. Maverick...The Jam Bomb...mischievous fun!"

This is one of the wines that Mike and I can always agree on. It is juicy, a "jam bomb" is very accurate. Not too sweet though... don't let the Zinfandel part fool you. For new years, we brought a week supply for everyone to enjoy up in Panorama Mountain resort! There about 12 of us, and we went through about 9 bottles in just the first night. I think everyone agreed that it was awesome. Our friends that "don't drink wine." drink wine because of this one! It's THAT good. You should try it. (the biker zinfandel is also lovely.)

"Our 2005 Winemakers Blend has intense color with aromas of black cherry, blackberry, black pepper, cocoa, and violet. On the palate, the aromas are accompanied by layered flavors of plum, black olive, mocha and hints of tobacco and licorice. This wine pair’s great with a rib roast, spaghetti bolognaise and aged Gouda."

Ceago Vinegarden's are something I've been privilaged enough to learn quite a bit about in the last two years. The Raw Bar was one of the only restaurant's in the city carrying their product, and I was totally convinced that it is possibly one of the best (affordable wines) on the market. Jim Fetzer (also the winemaker for the better known Fetzer vineyards...) took things to a new level when he created his new "vinegarden." All of his products are organic and biodynamic. Everything that grows on his property are very natural. No pesticides/chemicals... and he even uses the moon's cycles to decide when he will harvest and plant his crops. Jim came to speak with us a few times, and he is just such a fun loving, laid back guy. Spending a day with the Fetzer's at their gorgeous vineyard on the lake in Clear Lake, California is something I really REALLY want to do one day in the future. They are even building a mini resort on location for people that want to stay for awhile. Sigh... sounds like heaven to me.

These wines might be a bit hard to find... but check out the websites to find their suppliers. For those of you in Calgary that haven't checked out "100 wines by David Walker." You should! Both of these wines are usually in stock, and you will probably find many other great wines on the under $20 wall. Always such good finds.

Girls night

2009-05-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Girl's night at our place! It had been forever since all the ladies got together for martini's, dinner and girl talk... and I'm not sure why we wait so long? We weren't completely boy-less... all the guys ended up coming over -(how did that happen again?) but contained themselves to the elevator shaft with the door shut! I suppose that's what you get when you crash ladies night?! I think that they enjoyed themselves actually. After tampering with a Raw Bar martini recipe and testing it out on all the gals we headed out to FARM restaurant for dinner. I absolutely love this restaurant, and highly suggest that everyone check it out! I just love their macaroni and cheese, and on Sunday's they do a cheese fondue as well! Cheese & Meat plates, sandwiches, and salad's are what they are all about. The restaurant is teeny tiny though, so it was awesome that we managed to get 6 in last minute!

Ashley Hill is back from England for a little while so we have to get in as many pictures and fun as we can until she goes back...

I'm not sure what was happening in this picture, but it makes me laugh...

Thanks again ladies for an awesome time! I'm thinking that we should do this every month? Why not?!

Calgary Farmer's Market

2009-05-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

This last week has been pretty rough... just as the sun started to show itself and the temperatures get a lot more spring like, my body decided that it was time to suffer a terrible cold/flu. I have been SO eager to enjoy my new freedom working from home, but instead i've been lying in bed with a box of kleenex and advil close by. I'm starting to feel a bit more like a regular person again... so first thing this morning Mike and I headed out to the Calgary Farmer's Market! Last Spring/Summer this was one of our favorite things to do on a sunny day, and now that we have a car again it looks like it might become our Sunday morning routine!

Our goal this summer is to eat a lot more organic/preservative free food. It's great to know that everything that we bought today supports local farmers/businesses. We are also trying to take ourselves away from the dining out scene as well, as we used to go out to eat a ton. Not to say that we are going to cut it out completely :) We love good food and wine too much to cut it out of our lives.

This is what Mike and I made for lunch today with our market findings...

Mike's Turkey sandwich on sourdough with sylvan star cheddar

Delish! Pickled Beets with goat feta, Chickpea salad, and my favorite - jalapeno and cilantro hummus on naan bread. All of the salad's we bought prepared from "Irena's brand."

I would LOVE to know if anyone could share a good chickpea/bean/couscous salad recipe? I would love to make them on my own :)

Check this out

2009-04-27T16:28:00.001-07:00

A few favorites from our weekend photo shoot with Barb and Dave,

Goodbye, Farewell!

2009-04-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

Well... not really. I only live a block away, but it feels like goodbye.

This is the loveliest of all managers at Raw Bar. Miss Christina is all rainbows and sunshine and the tastiest gin martinis...

My last day at the Raw Bar was on Wednesday and of course I am completely thrilled to start filling my days with...
whatever I want!

Haha... okay not quite. Mike and I are now working full time as photographers for our own business called SNAP Photography! (As most of you I'm sure know by now ;) )

For the last three years I have been working Full time at the Raw Bar in Hotel Arts as a server. I have learned a great deal about food, wine, and the fine dining experience. I have developed a love for food and wine, and my tastes are much MUCH more sophisticated then I ever thought possible! I have even developed a "like" for sea foods and meats I would dare not have touched three years ago.

Thanks to these guys and all the other chef's at Raw Bar, I have been exposed to so many things that I had never even heard of. They make it all taste so good.

Mmm... this is the New York Steak that they serve at Raw Bar. The boys offered to make me something tasty for my last day, and everytime I serve one of these bad boys to a table I want one! The best steak you will ever have, I'm pretty sure.

This is the lovely Alex who made my Raw Bar days worth while...
I can't even explain the amazing-ness that happens when you put a Christina, Alex and Ashley in charge of a restaurant.

This is her lovely Ian who turns into THIS when you point a camera to his face...

James came along to check out my last day celebration

I think that this is us trying to be fierce, hehe

Thanks to all my Raw Bar friends for making my last day AND the last three years truly special and memorable!!

(...Annnnndddd Sttttuuufff!!)

A day in Victoria

2009-04-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

On one of the last days of our trip...

My sister, Mike and I headed up to Victoria in hopes for a sunny day by the ocean. I had been looking forward to having some noodle box for some time as well. Instead of going to Sombrio Beach which we had originally planned to do... we ended up walking around downtown and along the harbor which is always beautiful and refreshing!

By the time we got to my favorite lunch spot, it was +23!! We managed to find ourselves a hot sunny spot for our boxes of delish noodles in front of the bubble tea shop in china town. I think that this may have been my favorite day of the entire trip! Mostly because I had been craving sunshine like that since LAST SUMMER! It was amazing... I even got my first sunburn of the year.

Mike is hanging out in the garden's at the Empress...

One of the Alley's was graffiti'd with style...

I love this one.

I really really wanted to go to the beach at one point, so we did manage to make it out to Gyro Beach in Cadboro Bay. I couldn't believe how packed it was! Apparently everyone is as desperate for summer as I was (am). There were girls in bathing suits tanning, people in shorts playing frisbee... it was like stepping into another world!!

My sister and I playing with the camera...

After hanging out at the beach and getting sand everywhere we went for a little exploration cruise. Here's a picture I snapped so that you can see our new car!! The reflection of the car is sort of fun, the car is quite a bit darker than what it shows here. It's "Barret Blue."

I was a bit unsure of getting a station wagon, but I really like this one. It's totally comfortable inside the seats are awesome!! We got the wagon so that we can store all of our photog stuff in the back. The seats lay flat which is very convenient for us!

My barefoot boy...

We met this adorable dog on our exploration... he hast to be one of the nicest dogs I've met! He is a Bernese Mountain Dog. Perhaps one day Mike and I would consider a dog like this. For now two kitties are all we need. :)

This chair was just posed at the top of the hill! Miss Emily Dyck always takes funky pictures at this spot, and it was cool to just randomly come across it! The view was spectacular!

Mike and I are hoping that we can start developing a client base in Victoria so that we can make a slow transition/move to the island in a couple of years! We have so many different ideas/dreams for our lives so it's hard to say where we will actually end up! The island was beautiful and we can totally picture ourselves there.

Victoria and Sunny Vancouver

2009-04-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

One of my all time favorite places to go for dinner in Victoria is the Med Grill. Everytime we visit the island we seem to go there... it's become sort of a tradition.

THIS visit we called all of the Victoria girls and had ourselves a girls night out. It's always great to see everyone, and even if it's been years for some of us it's still just as natural to hang out. I love that.

Giggles with Catherine

Dominique and Catherine

Kim and Megan

Bathroom's make for the best photo shoots. I think this is also going to become a tradition. Kim and Julie being cute.

Right after yet another delicious dinner at the Med Grill, my wonderful husband Mike came to chauffeur a few of us around. Thank-you Mike! We were all headed in separate directions for the weekend... and my next stop was at Miss Dyck's home.

I'm not sure if most of you know... but Emily is a part time shark... or at least she wishes she were. Emily is sporting a beautiful Shark designer towel poncho. Haha... Emily's boyfriend Thomas knows how much Emily loves sharks, and bought her this towel for her birthday. I think she likes it...

After a night of hanging out eating cookies and drinking belgium beer... Emily, Thomas and I were all headed to Vancouver for the weekend.

Emily and Thomas on the ferry on our way to Vancouver.

Again parting ways... this time I was headed to see a certain favorite blonde of mine! Miss Keira Anne!

This is one of our favorite spots to visit together. Cupcakes. What could be better? These cupcakes are AMAZING and one will cure a chocolate craving for the weekend.

Our weekend was all about being resourceful and creative with our money. After putting April's budget into a down payment on a new car, Mike and I have been budgeting geniuses!

Instead of going out for dinner and drink's like we usually would... Keira and I decided to go for some uber-cheap delicious Japanese food (about $10 for more than you can eat!) and bought ourselves a bottle of gin to make martini's with at home.

Keira had just moved into a new beautiful appartment and since I was her first official guest, it was quite important that we had the ultimate girly night. Then again... they always are. We watched the Sex and the City movie which was a bit of an upgrade from our usual martini/sex and the city nights... but it was just like the good ol' times. We may have indulged just a bit too much on candy, cupcakes, and gin...

We woke up late on Saturday to a gorgeous sunny day. There is just something about my Keira visits where it is ALWAYS sunny. It was exactly what I had hoped for when I was packing for my west coast trip.

Keira's friend and neighbor Nick had just got a puppy that Keira was dying to show me! The puppy's name made me laugh but it was actually totally fitting once I met the little guy.

This is Digital Thunder. He is a licking/biting machine! He is in that puppy stage where he just couldn't keep still. He was so adorable though...

This was basically the one moment that he stood still and looked at the camera. Awww.

Granville island...

while deciding what to have for lunch we bumped into a certain somebody... she managed to convince me to get a smokey for lunch. Mmmm...
Enjoying some warm sunny weather by the Ocean

We had ourselves some fun that evening at Tania's birthday at Earls in Yaletown... and then early the next morning I got on the Ladner Express to board the BC ferries.
Back to the island to see my hubby and the rest of the family.

Day Three

2009-04-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

Hillary's Cheese has become one of our favorites spots on Vancouver Island. Kim and Jamie showed us this little gem in Cowichan Bay last summer and Mike and I have made it one of our favorites. They make their own amazing cheeses, sandwiches, and soups... the perfect place to go on a rainy day.

After filling up on cheese plates and tea we walked down to the docks and snapped a few photo's of Kim! It was rainy and cold though so it was a pretty quick mini photo shoot.

I had the most amazing nap of my life right after this... burried myself into Kim's comfy couch. There is just something so great about relaxing on a rainy day.

More Vancouver Island Goodness...

2009-04-11T10:52:00.001-07:00

On the second day of our Island visit Miss Kimberly had to go to Victoria for a family appearance, so Mike Dominique and I were left to entertain ourselves in Duncan. We decided that this was the best chance to catch up with the folk down in Crofton at our most loved Camp Qwanoes! Qwanoes was like my second home growing up, and I went to camp every summer since I was 10 years old! I met Dominique AND my husband Mike there. Plus many other amazing friends. It's always strange going back to visit the old stomping grounds... so many memories and SO many changes!

This is the new Q-town stage. It is actually a town now! Chemainus theatre made this amazing set for the camp. All of the doors and windows open and shut, and apparently they have it wired so that smoke can come out of the chimney's too!

Dominique being cute.

The old Q-town/Chapel location has been turned into Cocohut! It is now a chill lounge/foosball/coffee shop! Dominique and I both agree that this is where all the new counselors will find their own future Camp Qwanoes loves.

Just hangin' out at the Qtown Records Studio...

Gangster's of Maple Mountain Inn?

After spending almost two hours visiting with friends, wandering around the property and playing in Qtown we headed out to Victoria to meet up with Kim and Daniel Too.

Dan just bought a new camera... and Mike was showing him how to work with low light (I think?) I like how this one turned out.

Dominique is also learning how to operate her camera and here is one of the artsy ones from her that came off our camera.

Day three to come...

Baby Love

2009-04-09T14:08:00.001-07:00

Vacation is officially over, and now it's time to organize and post a gazillion pictures for you to see (just as I promised!)

Vancouver Island was beautiful. Almost fluorescent green grass and bubblegum pink cherry blossoms! Mike and I were wondering for most of the visit why it is that we still choose to live in Calgary when the island is just so AMAZING.

When we got to Tsawassen to catch the ferry I was so excited to see the ocean. It was sunny and warm when we arrived and there were tons of seagulls, the air was fresh and sea breezy. I felt like I was immediately pulled out of my winter-coma. Winter in Calgary hasn't been all THAT bad, we've had some really nice warm sunny breaks... but it was beginning to feel like it was going to last forever and I was feeling pretty antsy for spring.

On our first full day there Mike met up with Kim at the coffee shop and distracted her and Dominique all day in Ladysmith while I was "spending the day with my mom."
The truth is that my sister, mom and I were busy planning and baking for Kim's surprise baby shower!

The turnout was great, and Kim was ACTUALLY surprised! I am shocked that she had no idea...

Here are some Photo's from the shower.

Stack 'o presents

Penny is kicking!! Ahhh so crazy.

Baby rockstar.
I bet you can guess which ones AREN'T real...

baby Kitchen is going to be a genius mozart baby.

Vancouver Island!

2009-04-04T10:24:00.001-07:00

Photo taken by the lovely Dominique.

Mike, my sister Amanda and I packed up our things last Friday and headed North to Edmonton for the most GORGEOUS wedding ever! When the wedding reception ended we wanted to get to Vancouver Island as fast as we could so we took turns consuming energry drinks and drove as far as we could before getting sleepy.

I have a million new pictures to post and talk about but for now I'm just going to continue enjoying the beautiful West Coast! There are daffodils and cherry blossoms here!! I'm not sure that Calgary will get me back...

The Sixty One

2009-03-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

Right now Mike and I are addicted to this new website and we think you should be addicted to it too...

The Sixty One is a site where you can discover and listen to all kinds of new music, upload your own music, and help local/or not so local artists make it to the top!

The fun part is that you get ten hearts when you sign up. Then you give hearts to the songs that you like the most. You will receive more hearts for listening to more music and signing in daily, things like that. You will also receive reputation when you heart music that other people heart after you. You can also favorite songs, which then end up in your own playlist.

The sixty one is now playing at all times in our new apartment. Which by the way is lovely :)

It's fun... I like it. CHECK IT OUT!

THANK-YOU!!

2009-03-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jason, Shannon, Jason, Ashley, Amanda, Marc, Jason, and Kendra for helping Mike and I make the trip from Suite #301 to Suite #405
(it's not a spelling error there really were three Jason's!!)

On Sunday morning Mike and I woke up to a gleaming fresh white ton of snow that had freshly fallen all over Calgary. We were sure that it would keep everyone from coming to help us move. (That and the massive crane that was being put together in front of our building and blocking off 11th Avenue!)

Sure enough one by one our loyal and generous friends showed up willing and ready to help us move!! It really wasn't totally painful... by 5'o clock in the evening we had our apartment set up just enough to host our first dinner party with our lovely friends! Thanks again you guys!! You are AMAZING!

As soon as we have everything organized and looking pretty I will be posting pictures.

Moving! (again)

2009-03-18T20:34:00.001-07:00

Mike and I are moving again!! I know you think we're crazy because our place is golden... but don't fret because we are not moving out of this awesome building! We are only moving up one floor and to the end of the hallway. Our new place will have more space, a funky old retired elevator shaft, large windows that DO NOT face construction (yay) and air conditioning!! Our south facing windows gave us a really nice view of the city at sunset, but would also completely roast us on sunny days! (Which is almost every day in Calgary.)

The moving party is on SUNDAY MARCH 22 and I think that you should all come!

We will be supplying our movers with cold brewskies and will be making a delicious dinner/BBQ...

Or at least treating you all to some wonderful chow mein/sweet and sour pork from our neighborhood chinese delivery!

Moving will probably start early-ish lets say 10ish? But of course you can show up any time during the day.

Let us know if you can make it!!

it IS a good morning...

2009-03-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Mike surprised me with something fun in the mail yesterday! The best cereal of all time has made it's way back into my life. The only thing that has changed is the color of the box... the rice krispies treats experience may even be better than I remembered it!

Check out this online grocery store to search for your all time favorite long lost cereal.

Mr Breakfast reviewed it best so I will leave it to him to explain this amazing breakfast wonder.

"This is a good cereal. Like the original, this new cereal snaps and pops as you douse it with milk. The texture of crumbled Rice Krispies Treats is a "treat" for your mouth. The milk creeps into the crevices of each clump, so that each bite is a fine collection of moist and crunch. I was worried that this cereal might be too sweet, but the makers found a nice balance, and the new cereal is only marginally sweeter than its namesake.

I also enjoyed the bottom of the bowl. The single Rice Krispies -- stragglers that broke from their clumps -- float joyfully in the flavored milk, and it's like winning a bonus little bowl of Rice Krispies."

I am amused by this...

2009-03-14T02:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why...

Martin!!

2009-03-10T19:24:00.001-07:00

[Click on photo's if you want them to be HUGE!]

Our Friends Kendra and Jay just recently decided to bring home a new member to add to their family! His name is Martin. He is three years old, and was brought to the SPCA after being found in an apartment where his owner decided to leave him! I can't imagine how someone could make a decision like that.

I can assure you that Martin will be loved and maybe even spoiled a bit in his new home :) He is such a nice kitty. He managed to keep his "well rounded" figure even after being neglected and left without food! He is a big boy.
AND quite the model. Wherever the camera was, he was always looking into the lense and striking poses.

Wine and good conversation at Kendra and Jay's house. If you're wondering about the church we go to... this is sort of what it looks like. Pretty rad if you ask me!

Find yourself a furry friend to adopt at the Calgary Humane Society. I was shocked to see how many adorable pets there were waiting for a home!
Haha... this is Fluffy. He is a 3 year old Persian waiting for be adopted. Now THAT is a face that only a mother can love.

3 AM

2009-03-07T01:50:00.000-08:00

It's 3 am, and I've just gotten home from dancing up a storm.

I work with some pretty fantastic people, and lately we've made it our routine to go out for martini's after our long nights at Raw Bar. It has been pretty busy at the restaurant, so we've all been pretty happy.

Last night our one martini night turned into a TWO martini night at the nearest and wonderful martini bar (Vicious Circle) to a raspberry ale at a Maritimer's (our buddies are an amazingly talented band that play there every Thursday!) to breakfast/dinner at a 24 hour restaurant... Gerry's. (Food is pretty limited at 3 in the morning... it's either Tim Hortons Chili, Dim Sum at U&Me, or Breakfast at Gerry's.) The Belgium waffle was superb, even though it was slightly burned on one side...
The crowd at 3am is ALWAYS entertaining.

One of our friends recently opened a club that is BEAUTIFUL just across the street from our Hotel called Habitat. Awesome name hey? I love it! We decided to go for a quick shot of tequila and soon enough we were busting some major moves on the dance floor! Christina and I shut down the place with our sweet moves... it's amazing being the only sober people in a club and just dancing like it's nobody's business.

I just came home to see that Mike had himself a good night as well. (He has probably been sleeping for hours, so I will have to hear first hand about his crazy Friday night, tomorrow morning.)
He hooked up with the Somastate guys for a photo shoot in our apartment and it looks like he's gotten quite creative! Here are just three of the pictures I found on our computer. I am laughing so hard right now...

Amazing. Simply amazing. Lol. Nathan is always working it. (bottom picture)

Man! They are getting SO good. Check out their new songs. I will post some more of the Somastate shoot on the Snap Blog as soon as we have them ready!

I have had quite the work out tonight, so I must rest my head...

Goodnight!

(...Morning! For all of you early birds that will be waking up in only three hours. (yipes) )

Tofino, Famiy, Friends (and their baby bumps!)

2009-03-03T14:08:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to two of my favorite friends!

Kim and Jamie

On one sunny day a long long time ago (or so it seems...) Kim married her best friend, Jamie Kitchen... this is amazing. Not only that she married an awesome guy, but that his last name is KITCHEN.

(No relation, just coincidence... crazy coincidence! Mike didn't even believe Jamie when he introduced himself... they both had to pull out their ID's within minutes of meeting!)

Now they are starting a family! Baby Kitchen's... what could be better?

Yes, this most beautiful lady is having a BABY! A baby girl just to add a big cherry on top! I am SO excited... I can't even explain! I am DYING to see Kim sporting a baby bump. I'm sure there will be [hundreds of] photo's to show of such wonderful things when I come back from vacation.

We decided that now is a better time than any for all of us girls to make a trip back to the island and get together! Kim and Jamie are living in Winnipeg, so we don't get to see them as often as we would like to! I am so excited to see all of my friends and family that are back on the island/mainland, and of course Dominique who will be flying in from Edmonton and wouldn't miss our girly get together for anything!

(two of my favorite Victoria/Vancouver loves...)

I am also super super excited to be reunited with the Ocean! There is nothing in Calgary that fills this void for me! I love the river rafting sunny days in Calgary, but there is nothing quite like the huge expanse of sparkling water and endless beaches of shells rocks and driftwood...

My favorite place to be in Canada is still ...

Long Beach in Tofino of course! We are trying to work out a sunny day-trip to this beautiful spot! I am almost looking forward to this as much as I am seeing everyone again...

My sister last summer dancing in the tide...

Me experiencing Ocean bliss... I think this is what makes me happiest! Throw in some good friends, a hot sun and soft sand and you could keep me here forever.

The Coombs Market on the way to Tofino... always a highlight of the long drive. So many good finds here! And, Yes they do have goats on the roof!

Now if only this month could go by a bit faster that would be great...

Ingrid Michaelson

2009-03-02T14:34:00.001-08:00

Thanks to my friend Emily who introduced me to Ingrid Michaelson sometime about a year ago... I am SO happy that I came across her music. I have been listening to her non stop!

A snippet from her blog... this just shows how quirky she is. Her music sounds just like this:

"i just wrote a song. it is 2:11 am. i am very tired. pray pardon any typos. i don’t know where these words come from. i don’t know where the melodies come from. i think they are not from me sometimes, that they are ingredients in the stars, and bits break off and drift into my jar of nutella or my bowl of tomato bisque and i slurp it up unknowingly. and the sparkles float around in my tummy and infuse themselves into my bones and teeth and into my blood and my blood pumps it’s way up to my brain and my heart and my fingers and my throat and my tongue. and a song comes out. a star-dust-sparkle-song. they don’t keep coming from me. they can’t be. i am lucky. thank you stars. fatten me up. thank you sky. i am going to sleep. with a smile tonight."

This woman has a spectacular voice, and fun real lyrics in every song. She has a new CD out called "Be Ok." and I just love it! If you are looking for something fresh that will make you dance around cleaning your house this is the one!

Ingrid Michaelson "Be OK" (photo version)

Click here if you would like to check out more of her loveliness.

Kitties being cute

2009-02-26T20:05:00.001-08:00

My kitties are SO adorable.

We introduced Charlie to his big bro Jack back in December! The first day they met they were a little unsure of themselves, but once they sorted things out they have been sleeping and playing together ever since.

To get up to our bedroom, we have to climb a ladder. Every night Jack and Charlie make the trek up to the top to come cuddle with us. Charlie is still really small, and can make his way UP the ladder, but hasn't figured out how to get down without tumbling and hitting every step on his way. He climbs to the top and then in the morning, we have to carry him down. It's actually quite funny.

Last night Charlie got into a playful mood and he was jumping and attacking anything he could find. Moving toes, earrings that I left on the night stand... and even a Kleenex box.
He managed to get his head stuck and was running around trying to get it out. Before I could get to him, Charlie had managed to run himself all of the way off the cliff that is the loft!

It's okay, he was running around and playing with Jack with in moments of his scary drop! He is just a little bit clumsy. This is the THIRD time that Charlie has fallen off the side of the loft. He still climbs up every single night to snuggle with the rest of the family. Poor little guy. Jack runs down the ladder like it's a piece of cake!

I wish I could explain to you how funny it is to watch these two lick each other. Charlie looks like he's in heaven. I think they are in love...

Charlie is lounging on Mike while he watches tv.

This is a new spot for Jack... I don't know how he got up to the drier! It is pretty high up. I didn't get to see how he got down either? Mysterious...

BOOTS!

2009-02-26T13:55:00.000-08:00

Just for Ashley Hill...

These are my new boots! I did a happy dance last night when I found out that they arrived when I was at work.

I've been looking for comfy cute flat ones forever, and these babies fit the bill! I'm lovin' the tassels.

Look what Calgary has done to me...

Something to make you smile...

2009-02-23T15:43:00.000-08:00

First post for a new blog! Ahh, it feels good doesn't it? It's like a blank canvas...

I recently made my last blog into a more "professional" blog... if you want to call it that!? There is a link on our new website to it, so I can no longer put whatever I want on it! SO! This means that I can go nuts :) I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show you a picture that makes me giggle very single time I see it. Charlie is clearly going, how do you work this thing?

I have been experimenting a lot with different Photoshop layers and actions, and I'm always hesitant to try them out... I absolutely LOVE grunge/dirty layers, and I can never find the right way to use them... this probably isn't the best picture to use it on, but it's still fun.

I have ALSO been downloading a TON of free digi scrapbooking stuff. I am totally in heaven! I haven't used any of it yet, so I will be using it a ton on this blog. Check out
Shabby Princess and Summertime Designs to get started with your own FREE digital scrapbooking kits! You can start making your own cards, calenders, tags... or whatever you can dream up! They are only for personal use, but they allow you to use them on your personal blogs as well. So much fun!

Check out Aqua Poppy Designs to make your blog pretty as well. It's easy I promise!!