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

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!