brantica

The 90s called...

2011-08-17T20:59:00.003-04:00

...they can't have their steps back, sorry.

I've been dying to get a hair cut since before Krista's wedding but held off because I wanted something a little different, edgy and maybe not wedding appropriate. With 2 weddings coming up and with 2 major roles upon me, Matron of Honour and Emcee, I held off until I couldn't take it any longer.

I've been fantasizing about getting a little side shave.

Honestly making the appointment was the hardest thing, I was a little apprehensive as I've spent close to 2 years growing it to its current length, however I finally grew the balls to call and make the appointment.

All I can say is after a slight anxiety attack with the chunk of hair was initially cut off, I love, love, love it.

It's perfect. It's not too crazy, or too "Tank Girl" as B put it.

And thank goodness for that because that is a look I don't think even I can handle.

On the move, again.

2011-08-08T16:58:00.004-04:00

We are currently gearing up to move, again.

I feel like all we ever do is move.

We're moving from this little baby. Our first home as a married couple. We've grown attached to the comforts of its space.

If it were up to me and I would either A: have an endless flow of cash to pay the ridiculous $1,000/mo. on someone elses mortgage or B: buy it, if I could afford to. Then we'd be in a whole different situation.

When we moved in we knew that our landlords were eventually going to sell it as they had to move to St. Catherines for their jobs and the upkeep and mortgage payments on two houses were becoming too much even with tenants, we just didn't anticipate it being so soon. When we found out that we would eventually have to move, pending it's sale, we began looking into purchasing a house of our own. A daunting task that I don't wish upon anyone sane.

When you hear someone describe it as a "roller coaster of emotions" it's just that, times twenty.I can say that we weren't prepared for all that we were about to be faced with and that we didn't handle the outcome very well.We didn't get the house we wanted, or the mortgage to pay for it. There were a lot of obstacles we faced in the Real Estate world and quite frankly we weren't ready for it just yet.

Having to move from where we are now is both frustrating and a blessing in disguise. We can now begin to realistically pay off our student loans and save for a future house.We'll be moving in just under a month, which is sending me into panic mode.

Hopefully this is the last time we have to move before buying a house, I don't know if I have another unnecessary move in me.

ox. e!

A resurrection of sorts.

2011-08-08T15:08:00.003-04:00

A little bit of a blog resurrection happening here.

There is so much happening in our lives at this moment and it seems like this is the best way to share everything new, exciting and stressful.

The recent months and the ongoing stress that has come along with them has fed my anxiety to at times immeasurable levels and for that mostly everyone has been sort of out of the loop.

Hopefully I can keep this and everyone updated.

Stay tuned.

ox. e!

A follow up:

2009-12-01T14:09:00.005-05:00

Following up to my previous post I have found out some more rather exciting news!
My photo wasn't just printed in the provincial report it was featured in the National report which I've just found out has won an award for the 2009 National Unisource Annual and Corporate Report annual report category.Here's an excerpt from the story that made me cry a little, aw! haha.

"the photography itself played a large part in the report’s success. “The photos are what engaged the viewer,” she said. “Cancer is a difficult subject for people to talk about but literally from one photo to the next, it draws the viewer in. The photography was a huge component.”
Paul Haslip of HM&E Design Communications was the art director and one of the designers for the project. “When I was told that I could use the PhotoSensitive photos for the report, I was thrilled,” said Haslip. “I had seen the show at City Hall in Toronto, I love black and white photography, so when the client told me that they were thinking of using the PhotoSensitive images, I said, ‘This is perfect for you guys.’ I saw it as a no-brainer.”

Apart from ensuring a balance of ages, gender and ethnicity, Haslip’s main problem in choosing the 19 photos to appear in the report was to whittle them down from around 500 potential images – but it was a problem that he was more than happy to have to deal with."

Chosen from 500 photos! 500!

To read the full story check it out here - http://www.photosensitive.com/newsletter/Awards_story.php

It's amazing to me that this image is so powerful to a lot of people, so much to be chosen out of hundreds of amazing photos and to think we shot it in Jay's little living room at midnight using a stand up lamp, glad I had such a good subject for it. Jay rocks.

I'll go back to making Duck Soup and trying not to be too excited over here!

ox! e

What an honour, so excited!

2009-11-26T14:47:00.002-05:00

A few years ago I submitted a photo to be featured into the PhotoSensitive Cancer Connections gallery that is currently traveling around Canada to raise awareness about cancer and those affected. I am both excited and honoured that my image has been featured in the 2008-09 Annual Report for the Canadian Caner Association. Thanks Jason for posing for the photo and letting me know that we've been featured. <3

Visit www.cancer.ca and http://www.photosensitive.com/cc/ for more info on the Canadian Caner Society and PhotoSensitive Cancer Connections.

All you need is love!

2009-11-18T00:15:00.004-05:00

Here are a few shots that Caitlin posted from our engagement shoot that b & i had on Saturday as promised. I love them all and can't wait to see the rest! There are a few more on her blog, you can check them out HERE. I'll post some more as they come. So happy! :)

Visit www.adelitarose.com for more info on our wicked awesome photographer! She was such a trooper, broken toes and all! :)

Sneak Peek(ish)!

2009-11-14T22:10:00.003-05:00

b and i had our engagement photos done today with caitlin, i can't wait to see them! here's a little sneak peek!

(shot on our little polaroid cammy.)

More to come, promise!

OX! e

b • oct 20 • regarding hair

2009-10-20T21:02:00.004-04:00

Krista: "... that hair commercial lies. There's no way your hair would be that glowy."
Brant: "... unless you replaced your hair with fiber optics."
Krista: "I'd want fiber optic eyebrows."
Erica: "... fiber optic body hair."
Krista: "... YES! Fiber optic vaginas!"

Mice, mice, baby.

2009-09-05T12:15:00.004-04:00

Things over here at Brantica haven't been all that exciting but I thought I'd update, to say hello (HELLO!) and put up some pictures and stuff i've been meaning to post. Last night while I was at work a co-worker of mine (HI MATT!) reminded me that I should blog after he said some nice things about it and I thought to myself "Oh shit! people do read this, I should update!"

As I said things have been slow, I haven't been using my last few weeks of summer to their full potential either. I was laid off of work a few weeks ago from the studio so I've been hanging out at home catching up on episodes of Maury, hanging out with Bella and waiting for mail.

Got these little dudes in the mail this week. I bought them on Etsy, one of my favourite sites from Diane over at FusionP. I couldn't resist the cuteness. I usually groan when Brant busts out some type of video game memorabilia to set up in the living room but there's a difference between cute and creepy - and cute wins everytime.

We've managed to make it out to Brant's Granny's farm a few time this summer which is always a nice and relaxing visit. She has long trails behind her house that we like to take walks on to take pictures and such. There's always lots to see.

Like this little guy. Don't worry, I'm not squishing him. He was pretty small and cute. We reminded him that it was a dangerous place for little toads to be frolicking around.

'Specially with this dude hanging out down the trail. He was a small snapper who was really chill and didn't mind us taking his picture. I'm still weirded out by his kinda chin fang looking thins though, ick.

We did breakfast with Ben a few Sunday's ago. It's always nice to see Ben and share our love for MG and music. 'Specially when it's 3 a.m. downtown during homecoming and I'm lost. I haven't seen Ben since then last year. He moved to Whistler since then so it was a nice surprise to hear from and see him while he was in town.

Mansion breakfast is always delicious. This is the spinach and swiss eggs benny. It was the first time I had eggs benny, it's pretty delish and horrible for you, it's balances out nicely.

Aw Boog. You are my favourite cat at my parent's house. He acts like a dog and can open doors, it's awesome.

I've spent the better time of my forced holidays at my parent's house helping them do odd things, visiting and scoring free meals. I Helped my dad build a little deck to his garage, it was pretty cool. He even let me use power tools! SEE!

My dad knows how to build anything, I swear. Give him some scrap wood a few bent nails and some tools and he can probably build anything you want. He is awesome.

This is the final product. Pretty good if I must say. Here's hoping I don;t fall through this one.

As you probably read over at Krista's blog our kitties have been pretty successful on catching up these little guys lately. I was so proud of Tweeter when she caught this mouse I ran for my camera as any good kitty mom would do. Brant was mortified that A: Tweeter caught a mouse and B: I was photographing the evidence.

I need to get out more.

OX! e

I have the best Brant and Bella ever.

2009-08-24T23:30:00.002-04:00

Just a little something, something so the blog doesn't go stale.

OX! e

It was such, such a perfect day...

2009-08-18T12:13:00.006-04:00

COLDPLAY POST, finally!

I've really been stuck with trying to sum up the whole Coldplay concert experience, other than using the obvious words like amazing and epic. But in the end it was exactly just that.

The whole trip was great. We relaxed as best we could after the drive to Toronto and then got ready for the show. I was expecting the show to be really great, but with any concert I go to I feel as if there is always such a build up for the concert, that we wait for so long and then hype ourselves up and it's somewhat disappointing. There's been a few show like that. I tried my hardest not to get too excited, but really, how do you NOT get excited for Coldplay? I was still a bit worried that it would be rather lack luster and normal. But it was beyond that.

I think that the best way to describe the show would be with this;

And these;

My Love.

yellow.

Strawberry Swing!

****

The ride home was super, super long. 5 hours to be exact. Traveling on a long weekend out of Toronto is brutal.

Big concerts are so tiring, but with good family and friends it's totally worth it.

OX! e

Dinosaurs, mammals and birds! OH MY!

2009-08-10T00:18:00.003-04:00

Is there such a thing as posting too many photos? If so, then this post is sure to exceed even that. C'mon!, 40+ photos of awesomeness is allowed right?...right? There really are a shit tonne of photos, I will try and keep the words limited. Try.
Our marathon hang outs have continued and on this KRIANANTICA adventure we headed to Ottawa. We went up on Thursday to check out the Nature Museum, The Museum Of Civilization and The War Museum. We lucked out and the Nature Museum was only $5 admission and the other 2 were free for Ottawa's Thursday free museums between 4-8 dealy, total deals, steals even. The ride there was quick and painless and as soon as we hit Ottawa things got hairy and we sped through the street swerving buses, the boys were yelling and Metallica was blaring. Talk about the recipe for girl panic attacks in the back seat. The panic - or fear, either way - quickly faded as we got to the Nature Museum and all four of us instantly became 5 again when we stepped inside and began our tour.

....ooookay, Looking good, let's go.

I'm like a bird, I want to fly away. See 5, I told you. I pretty much had to force Brant to take this photo and he kept giving me the "are you serious" eye, yes. I am completely serious, this is happening. You have this to look forward to forever Brant, RUN.

Way to ruin a perfectly nice photo Erica, you win. I'm totally pulling a Brant here.

Brant weighs 990 Blue Jays. I totally prefer this method, it seems less embarrassing to say that you weigh 800 birds, birds are little and cute. Where can I get me one of these? Anyone?

There were all sorts of cute little colourful birds there, ones that we see in my parent's backyard. It was kind of cool seeing them all for longer than 3 seconds when you spot them and they fly away.

What do you see Krista? I actually didn't look through these at all, I was way into looking at the massive Sea Gulls and Loons. I had no clue that Loons were so effing huge. I learned something, surprise!

Maybe she sees this, I will pretend that that's what she's looking at. The displays there were so nice, unbelievable even.

The Blue Jay, one of my favourite birds. The blue was much more vibrant than this picture shows. It was pretttty.

Brian, Krista and Brant took in all of the interactive things - I just hung out and tried my best not to punch idiot people. (There's a good zoo story, wait for that.)

HEY GUYS! LOOK WHO IT IS!!! <3 I looked for this one everywhere, we ended up finding it after I walked around the huge exhibit like 5 times. Of course.

Brant doesn't appreciate the Brant bird goose like I do. I think it's pretty rad. As you can see here he really wanted to be photographed with the goose bird.

I forced him to let me take a normal picture with his twin bird, I think it's cute. I love Brants.

Let's go check out the kind of cool, kind of boring space exhibit. The space rocks were cool and looked like cheese, fo' real. No cool photos from that exhibit except these two of Brant and Krista.

STOP! MAMMAL TIME!
The mammal exhibits were really cool. The show cases were super awesome, I spent a good chunk of time just looking at them and pretending like they were real places and living animals. Like these guys! I know, loooooser, right?

The Polar Bears were neat and huuuuuge. I got to touch the fur here on this little display. The closest I'll ever get.

Oh Brant, don't get eaten. I love you! (most days. <3)

Squirrel! I think I just might, some how, maybe, love squirrels. Who takes a picture of the squirrel displays, honestly? That's what backyards and bird feeders are for, seeing these little dinks.

Moose are SO big. I would not want to see these in the wild. Brant doing his best Moose impression, cute.

No, no. THIS is his best Moose impression. Lol. I'm pretty sure all of the people at the museum had no clue what was happening as I took this photo. All the strange looks and whispers were worth it, anything for a funny picture.

One of the best parts of the museum was the Infrared Camera. We totally hogged it and did inappropriate things like check out how hot our crotches were and make suggestive poses. We managed to take a few good picture, one good video.

There's Krista and I and then Brant and Brian. We are totally hot, Krista and I that is.

Me, Brant and Brian with the Dinos. The Dinosaur exhibit was cool, the fossils were my favourite part, aside from these guys. It reminded me of the Land Before Time and naps. On another note, I miss Jason and Land Before Time and naps. sigh. The guys opted to get their photos taken with the T-Rex, classic boys. I stuck with the good 'ol Triceratops.

Then we headed to the Museum Of Civilaization, they were crazy strict with the whole no pictures thing. I snuck this one of the Pegasus sculpture in the Mythical Beasts exhibit. I wish these existed. I would own seven.

We totally took advantage of the kid zones in this museum while the boys went on to learn about Egyptian stuff, we caught up later. Right after we coloured picture inspired by our favourite Mythical Beasts for the giant Dragon Art Tree thingy.

OH! look who it is, TRACI! Traci met us here and also took advantage of of the kid zone and also drew an awesome piece for the tree.

Here are our masterpieces. To the left you will see Traci's kick ass Norwall drawing. Krista and I drew Mermaids, mine is in the middle and Krista's is upside down. Aw.

We took off to the kids museum where you go through the world and make stops at different Countries and learn about them. You also get a little Passport that we got to stamp as you visited each spot. Great for kids, also great for three in-their-twenty year old's who don't want to grow up yet. This is in the theatre in Paris, I believe.

We also visited the Port where there was a giant boat with fishing nets, mops for swabbin' the deck, a communication centre and three crazies singing "I'M ON A BOOOAT!"....and by crazies I mean us.

We then headed to the War Museum and Photosensitive Photo Exhibit - click on the link to see some amazing photojournalism. My camera died and I had to use Krista's for a few shots, but nothing really good turn out which is cool. And probably good for this post. Ha.

I did like this though. The only thing that us girls loved at the museum, the tank covered in art by kids. It was pretty adorable. I said to the boys that if there were tanks like this there would be no war. Brian said it would cause even more, that it was stupid and people would want to shoot at it. I tooootally disagree. We also went through a trench, saw Hitlers car and learned what shrapnel was. A very productive 2 hours.

The trip was great, we got to hit up three museums, see Traci and eat wicked awesome burgers at The Works. Toronto Zoo was a success and there's a post for that coming as well as the Coldplay post which I've been told better be posted soon or else. This week is going to be busy, we go back to work on Tuesday after our week long holiday and that will take some adjusting. Boo.

Thanks for reading this novel sized post.

ox! e.

Holy whirlwind, Batman!

2009-08-05T14:17:00.015-04:00

I know you have all been anxiously awaiting my Coldplay post, ha. It's going to be a doozy let me tell you, I don't even know where to begin really. So it has to wait, I can't half ass it. It'll post it in due time but in the mean time so I don't get backlogged and you aren't reading about summery beaches in December I'll go ahead with this.

Brant and I were forced to take our holidays this week instead of next because the printer at work crapped out and since Brant wouldn't have been able to work, I wouldn't have been able to work either. It's worked out in our favour, I mean how could paid holidays not? ha.

I've been sucked into a whirlwind of family parties, friend hangouts and sushi eat offs - and I'm not complaining one bit!

Family!

Our holidays together (since I started mine earlier to go to Coldplay, more on that later!) started on Friday night when I got back from and excursiating drive from Toronto to Kingston which took 2 hours too long and then another hour and a half drive awaited me when I got back to Kingston as we had to drive to Sharbot Lake to help set up for Brant's Grandparents 50th (yes! 50!) wedding anniversary party. Which was throughly exhusting and totally fun.

It was also Brant's Grandpa's birthday the same day, a wedding anniversary and a birthday, smart guy. He never will forget his anniversary. The cakes were cute, as cute as Costco cakes can be. I was fascinated by the birthday cake, I didn't get a good picture of the fish on the cake but it was so cute.

Family photo time!!! This was the best one out of the bunch - it didn't help that Brant's 7 year old cousin insisted on taking the photo but I think it turned out pretty good. Brant's parents are to the left, his grandparents are in the middle, Brant and I on the right and Brant's brother and girlfriend in the front. I think this is the first family photo that has been taken since the 5 and a half years I've been around and will probably be the last one until we get married.

Brant's family is strange, they never take family photos really - it's such a daunting task for them and then they end up with the sneaky unflattering photos that Brant's mom will take from hip level and they'll complain about it forever.

My family ALWAYS had photos taken. My Grandma always had her camera with her. If you want to see the day I went to the zoo for the first time, got it. The day my eye was viciously scratched out by my brother, got it. The day I first I wore a bra, got it. Seriously every moment we spent with my grandparents there are photos for and I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.

Brant's family better get used to it now, I'm one sparkly belt away from turning into my Grandma.

Friends!

One awesome thing about having holidays this week is that Brian is home from the Navy on his three week leave and so far operation hang-out-with-Brian-and-Krista-everyday is a success! It started with a sushi date on Sunday, they must've thought that we were going to eat them out of business, but it was sooooooooo good, so gut bustingly good!

Brian and Brant loved their lives. They love each others lives. True love always and forever.

This is a true to life, honest to goodness true artists depiction of how we felt half way through. But we were getting our $13.99 worth it dammit!

We then sauntered over to Wal-Mart to walk off our sushi guts and act a fool. The following is case in point.

We tried to get thing boogy boards and beachy things for our Monday Adventure but they have replaced it all with fall and back-to-school crap already, C'mon! There's still good beaching weather. Effing Wal-Mart, bringing us down.

On Monday we went to Wolfe Island to my single most favourite place in the world. Big Sandy Bay. My parents would take us there when we were younger when it wasn't a Provincial Park and we had to work to get there.

When we used to go there we had to walk through waist deep swamps, shoe swallowing mud holes and fight off a million swarming mosquitoes. But then we got to this, soooooooo worth it. Loooooooooooooooooove.

We spent all day here. Mostly in the water fighting massive waves so I didn't take too many photos. Next time the water proof cameras are coming with so we can take picture of the awesome wave fights. We win at life. Tomorrow we are off to Ottawa with Krista and Brian to check out the museums and hang out with Traci, super excited! Hopefully we don't get stuck touring war museums all day and get to see somthing cool, here's hoping.

ox! e.

Traci! You can't have my dream boyfriend.

2009-07-24T00:47:00.002-04:00

Traci and I share a lot in common, our love of music, beards and gut busting laugh fests. But there's one thing I will not share - my Strombo dream love. And apparently in last nights dream I let Traci have it - with I'm not even kidding you - a full on Punch Out brawl. No, No...not us dueling in an intense Nintendo battle. WE WERE NINTENDO! It was probably the single greatest dream of my life. This photoshop job doesn't even do it justice.
And Traci, remember next time Strombo says "Hey it's your boyfriend George Stroumboulopoulos" he's talking to me!

ox e.

You know how I know you're gay?

2009-07-22T22:48:00.006-04:00

I'm FINALLY getting to see Coldplay next Thursday night in Toronto with my bf (best friend, not boyfriend, ha) Jason and my dad. And there's nothing better than getting pumped for your first show by listening to all of the bands music on repeat andscouring the Internet for live videos. Sometimes you happen upon amazing things, new things - like this. An amazing video for Strawberry Swing, one of my faves from the Viva La Vida album, directed by The Shynola. Even if you don't like Coldplay check it out, it's incredible!

*UPDATE: official video was removed from youtube due to copyright laws and such, here's a preview - search for the full length one online if you want to see it. It's bound to be around here some where. So here's this instead, not as good and the video quality isn't that amazing but the sound is and it makes me even MORE excited for next week!!

ox. e

Easy, breezy, beautiful - excuse me while i touch my dick.

2009-07-22T10:36:00.001-04:00

Found this gem today while going through some old discs. If I didn't share it I think it would be considered a crime. Oh, no need to thank me. Your totally welcome for the glimpse in my day-to-day life, forever.

ox. e

Maybe she's born with it...I however, need a little help.

2009-07-21T18:36:00.000-04:00

Krista asked me to review the new Maybelline Pulse Perfection Mascara that Matchstick sent over to her for her blog, I realized that I name dropped this blog and haven't updated in 10 forevs. If you are here for the first time I apologize for the lack of content, that shit's in the works yo. So here it is again, if you want to see me talk about mascara and perusing again click play.

Thanks Krista. Thanks Matchstick. Thanks Maybelline. And more importantly thanks to all of the kids over reading Krista's blog who called me cute. Love you all.

ox. e

(ps, if you purchase Pulse Perfection don't forget to do this. Matchstick will donate $2 to the Redwood Women's Shelter.)

2009-07-15T13:18:00.001-04:00

Not much has been happening recently, really. Still trying to hammer out some wedding details, getting certain things semi-finalized like favours and whatnot. Just a lot of backyard lounging and barbequeing.

Brian's coming back in a week and a half, which is great. At some point he'll have a longer leave in August (I think), where he wants to head east to Montreal for a weekend of nogoodnik-ing. He regaled us with a colourful account of a metal bar he ventured to at some point during one of his visits to the city over a weekend away from training -- 2 dollar beers and speed metal.

Talking the girls into it will be hard. We might have to compromise by looking at girly things earlier in the day. It'll probably be worth it.

- b

2009-05-21T10:56:00.001-04:00

The nice weather is back and so are we! (hopefully!)
I'll try not to turn it into a wedding blog & I'll try not to complain - too much.

SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!

2009-03-19T16:12:00.000-04:00

this is more or less to quit annoying erica everytime she comes to the blog. and another song i've become obsessed with.

- love b.

b - paper moon (again!)

2009-01-08T15:04:00.000-05:00

What you're being forced (muahahaha!) to listen to is Paper Moon, a band that I found about forever ago on CBC Radio 3. Heck, I even had a blog post dedicated solely to get people to hear the song that was stuck in my head. Well, here's their latest single from their album that is coming out soonish.

Sometimes a guy needs to balance his industrial gloom with a little bit of awesomepop.

- b

b - really, really f'ing cool.

2008-10-21T10:22:00.001-04:00

Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

e - the fall leaves are fall, fall, falling.

2008-10-16T16:47:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend and enjoyed the amazingly beautiful weather that we had!
The fall is fading quickly, it always does though.
Fall has to be my favourite time of year by far. What's not to love about the crisp fall air, the beautiful colours and all the scarf wearing you could ever want? I'm not sure and don't think that there's really anything to top those feelings. I'm happiest if the fall too. It's not too hot, not too cold and i can bundle up in my favourite scarfs and sweaters and not look like an idiot for wearing too much or too little, it's the perfect amount of comfort.
The next best feeling to that is experiencing the first few weeks of a new season, even though we go though the same thing each year and it shouldn't feel too foreign to us it always surprises me the way I feel when each season rolls in. In the winter I always have that same feeling of excitement when the first snowfall graces our presence and I'll watch out the window with the biggest smile on my face and sometime venture out to twirl around under the floating sparkles filling the sky and floating to my feet, don't hate me but I'm really looking forward to the snow - and even christmas, gasp. I bet you it's my job that's having this fa-la-la-la-la-losery feelings. Spring on the other hand I have a love hate relationship with, I love being able to peel off layers when it starts to get warm and I love, love, love spring, the mud, the grass, that humidity that lingers through the air. I also hate spring for it's unpredictableness weather wise, the way it makes everything muddy and icky and the way all of the dog poop appears out of no where like a magic trick you don't want to be part of. ick. And summer is a given, everyone loves summer as they should. You can tell when it's summer here in Kingston when all of the pub's and downtown restaurants start hauling out their patios. The first summer bevy on a patio is something that we all look forward to for sure. And there's all the awesome things that summer brings like camping, kayaking, parties, skinny dipping and passing out on your front lawn. Ahhhhh, loves it.

We'll be enjoying some amazing fall weather in Montreal this weekend with a little baseball watching. Jed, Brant's brother plays on the Oshawa Durham College baseball team and they won the All Ontario Championship last weekend and are heading to the National Championships in Montreal. We're pretty excited, so expect lots of pictures and such!

By the way, as I mentioned, I have a new job, SURPRISE. ha, I'm working at Kingston's amazing, Cooke's Fine Foods assembling Christmas Baskets, it's awesome!

Here are some more pics from my Thanksgiving
weekend in Sharbot Lake at Bran't Granny's.

haha, oh i love you b.

Jed & Brant dueling on a beaver dam, crazy boys.

These 3 shots are from the trails behind Granny's house, beautiful.

Have a good weekend kids!

e, ox.

b - for krista

2008-10-10T10:54:00.000-04:00

sorry

for

making

your

boyfriend

look

wario.

actually,

take

that

back.

'cause

wario

e - i am trying to say, what I want to say, without having to say.

2008-10-04T12:57:00.000-04:00

Tweeter!

I ask the question, what does one do when they only work 4 evenings a week?

sleep 'til 10? check.
watch whole seasons of Project Runway? check.
nap? check.

What else is left to do? Luckily I have a lot of friend who like art and I can make things for them that they pretend to like and hang up in their homes.

This is my recent work of crap, er - I mean art. ha. I made this art piece for our friend Brenna for her birthday (surprise) that was at the end of September. It was inspired by the photo, a 1917 portrait of Charlie Chaplin. I wanted it to look antique and rustic as well as beautiful, like royalty.

"Charlie" - gold, green, white and black acrylic paint scratched with a fork, stained with tree leaves covered with white tissue paper and bordered with gold tissue paper, newpaper clippings and a jeweled crown made with random awesome metal squares from Dollarama, also made into the corner pieces.

I've also been on a sort of a health kick recently, this is what I whipped up last night for dinner. Asparagus wrapped with Sole with a tomato on top over a bed of amazing Aztec Rice. Delish.

And lastly, Ansel, aw kitty.

b - war, via msn.

2008-10-02T15:23:00.000-04:00

it's odd, talking to derek over im.

moreso through xbox live. like, i'm about to hit the "invite friend to game" button, when it dawns on me "oh, right. derek's kinda in the middle of a war zone right now."

thing is, talking online, it just feels like he's on the other end of town, or even a couple of hours away back on base at pet.

not kandahar, where it's noon hour there while i'm poking around these parts around 3-4 in the a.m.

and it's so odd to talk shit over msn. just surreal.

like the convo last night:

d: what's up?
b: hey man! not much. how's things?
d: s'ok.
b: what time is it there? must be like, 10 in the morning or something.
d: ehhh, closer to noon.
b: thought so. it's like, 3 in the morning here.
d: i have such a fucking headache - the 155mm's have been firing all morning at some bad guys.
b: ah... oorah? lol
d: lol, yeah.
d: man, rpgs suck.
b: how so? i mean, they're being fired at you guys, so obvs. they suck...
d: well, they're just really random and inaccurate. one bounced off the ground and hit one of our vehicles yesterday
b: fuck me. wasn't yours, though, right?
d: nah. all it did was make a dent in the side.
d: brb

BRB? what the hell? does that mean "brb, incoming. lol"?

*sigh* just quit worrying.
... make it back safe, d.

e - Art(ish)

2008-09-10T14:23:00.000-04:00

Pimpin' ain't easy, 'yo.

I've recently gotten into creating art, not painting because I am not very good at it. More creative things, fun things. Things like I used to do in my grade 11 Material Art class with the best teacher ever, Sue.
I like taking things, putting them together and making it work, not crazy things, or hard things. Nice things, things that are special.
I like working with tissue paper on canvass even though every time I use it I regret it and end up tearing it and having to start over, but it always turns out. It works!
I'm no good at pimping out my own stuff, Krista usually does that. But I'll give it a shot.
If you, all 4 of our readers, like what you see and want me to work something up for you, I'll give it a shot!
....I'm just really bored and want something to do, knitting isn't faring too well but that's another thing all together.

If nothing else, just let me know what you think!

#1
'Untitled', pogded tissue paper, blue and white with printed out fish and kayaks floating together brushed with acrylic paints, green, blue and white. This was done for my good friend Jason's birthday, we go on Kayaking trips each year, I thought it was fitting.

#2
'Loki': Podged on tea stained paper strips in various directions with giant sparkling jewel tea stained stars with a printed paper Loki looking off wearing an Aero chocolate bar wrapper crown with jewels brushed with blue acrylic paint. This was done for Krista for her birthday this year, she is building an erica art gallery.

'Hera': Podged tissue paper, light and dark pink with Hera the kitten poking into the frame wearing a pearl necklace and standing in front of a jingly cat ball (that still jingles!) splattered with acrylic paints, purple, pink and white with wrapping paper hearts about. (again) Done for Krista for her birthday.

...if you are a friend, chances are you are getting art for your birthday, ha.

LOVE. ox.

b - nin!

2008-09-02T12:39:00.001-04:00

just checked the lights in the sky tour page to double-check the date of the ottawa stop, and thank the gods, it's on the 11th of november, not on the 13th, which is erica's birthday. which as she pointed out, would be a really horrible and selfish thing to do to drag her to a show she doesn't necessarily want to go see. on her birthday.

i, of course, agreed. and hoped that for the love of fuck it wasn't on the 13th.

the setlists i've been checking out have been pretty stellar, and i'm afraid that after this tour, he might go on to do another double album of instrumental quazi-lullabies, which would put all the asskicking on hold.

and because i missed the chance to see them in toronto, there is very little to stop me on my quest of seeing mr. reznor live, and it looks like the only way i can do so in the near future is in ottawa.

unless of course, the show sells out before i get a chance to pick up tickets.

... again.

b - jason's black and white birthday

2008-09-02T12:07:00.001-04:00

... that happened a week and a half ago.

this week's been busy with the move and all that blogging has taken a back seat.
as you no doubt saw first in krista's blog, our friend jason decided to celebrate his 23rd in style.

the original plan was to rent a boat for a summer cruise, but that didn't pan out when they double booked the boat for some touristy shit.

so instead, he rented a suite at the four points by sheraton (not the ambassador, krista. :P) here in downtown k-town. it was nice, it had four hide-a-beds that you pulled down from the walls, a lounge with comfy couch and HDTV, basically it was a hot tub short of a hip hop video.

the TV went unused for the most part, if it were my birthday, i'm thinking some Rock Band would've definitely been in good measure.

but we had fun. it was fun to dress up (even if it was half-a-costume) and look all classy with classy friends while acting decidedly un-classy.

after a bit, it was decided that we head out to the bars to take the party elsewhere, as it was creeping up to midnight, and the rest of the hotel guests were probably getting tired. let's just say that paying 5 bucks cover and the privilege of paying 5 bucks for a beer -- shitty beer, no less (budweiser) and listen to DJ Rip-Off spin his Girl Talk plagiarism.

i guess the equation is [80's vocals] * [90's beats] = [00's profit] ?

but i digress. we all had fun. we'll have pictures up of the new apartment once we get our cable hooked up.

e - what would you do?

2008-08-12T20:46:00.000-04:00

My lips will never be the same, ever.

What would you do for Radiohead tickets?

That's the question that our local radio station 98.9 The Drive had been asking for about a month or so. I'd thought about it, nothing good came to mind though but I really wanted to do it for Brant because I knew that he was a pretty big fan and he's pretty much the reason that I even know who Radiohead is.

Well like any good girlfriend I kept thinking, and thinking, and thinking.

Think. Think. Think.

I really had nothing. About to give up and just say forget it my dad encouraged me to just enter with anything because if I didn't I would probably regret it after hearing people who were chosen. So I did it, I entered.

"I will kiss 989 people in one day!", I wrote thinking that they would never choose that. I mean c'mon Radiohead is a HUGE band, people would probably cut off their left arm for that.

Nah, I'll be safe I thought, thought being the operative word here.

On Thursday I actually checked my email, I tend to avoid doing so because I get a million and one 'So and so has wrote on you Facebook wall' notifications. But I checked it, I have no idea why but I did. And low and behold, an email from the radio stations promotions and marketing manager Shawn Whalen telling me that my idea qualified for the prize and asked if I was willing to do it.

Totally. It was a huge prize, tickets to a SOLD OUT Radiohead show at the Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto, return train transportation will VIA Rail - traveling VIA 1, which is first class including all the booze and pillows you would ever want, effing sweet, and a nights stay at the Delta Chelsea Hotel in downtown Toronto.

The day came, Monday, August 11, I was nervous and tired - being up at 530 a.m. was rough! But I made it, had an interview on the radio and then we hit the streets. We hit up pretty much everywhere in town that we could, Tim Hortons, Wal-Mart, Downtown, The Cataraqui Town Centre, Loblaws, bus terminals, any where in Kingston that is busy, you name it we were there.

Most people were nice and let me give them a little peck on the cheek, some were mean and some just didn't want to be bothered at all. The older ladies and old gents were the nicest, the old guys loved it. Another reason why old people rock, they kind of got it and were super cute.

kiss.

kiss.

kiss.

988 kisses later, my lips sore, my body tired and my clothes damp from the rain I was one peck away from giving Brant the coolest gift ever, but I had to wait until 430. A surprise was in store.

My last task and final kiss was to kiss Mike Ried, the afternoon host on the drive. It was fun, I got interviewed on his show, gave him a little kiss and that was that I am going to see Radiohead.

Worst part, Brant can't go. He's starting a new job at Taylor Studios as the print tech on Wednesday, tomorrow, and can't get it off. I guess it wouldn't look too professional to ask for a day off just 2 days after you begin your job. ha. So My dad is going, he deserves it too, afterall I might not have entered if it weren't for him.
YAY RADIO HEAD ON FRIDAY! Weeeeeeeeee! This will make me a sure fan, a forever fan.

b - shooting weddings...

2008-08-07T15:41:00.000-04:00

... takes forrrrever.

The initial shooting of the wedding is great, don't get me wrong. Eric and I have shot a couple for friends and family, and for the most part, it's pretty straightforward.

There's always going to be good pictures wandering around the place - little moments between the bride and groom, if there's any kids attending, that's pretty much like easy bonus points. Kids being kids pretty much means you have a constant source of good photos.

Big thing is just the hours upon hours of editing that has to be done after the fact.

Really, the ideal way to shoot a wedding from a business-oriented point of view is to just shoot the wedding the day of, either develop the film or transfer digital files the next day, and then hand them over. Boom, done. No mess. In and out, on to the next gig.

The problem is, if you're like us, you tend to be a bit ruthless when it comes to editing. You don't want to fork over anything less than your best work. We were working digitally, which meant we could be a little sloppy. We shot about 700-1000 photos (lots of multiple shots when it came to large group pictures - don't want anyone's eyes closed or looking in the opposite direction!), and the first edit was down to about 90 photos.

And those were just the good ones.
After you get all the really nice ones out of the way, you have to find filler shots. Filler sounds negative, I'm sure, but it's not. You need the detail shots, photographs of the centerpieces, the invitations, the decorations, the cake, the presents, all that sorts of jazz. And not to mention candid shots of the mingling between the service and the dinner ceremony. It's a pretty crazy job for just one person, thankfully I have Erica.

The day wasn't without it's craziness, however; when I arrived at the house with the groom and his posse, I was approached by a very frustrated Erica, who told me that the minister was very adamant that there was to be absolutely no photography during the ceremony. Which is pretty much the proverbial money shot over the whole course of the day. I figured she just meant no flash photography, meant to discourage the people in the audience.
"No", I was told.
"Any photography is absolutely forbidden during the ceremony."
I understand the whole sanctity of the ceremony and all, but this is an outdoor wedding just off the back roads in Perth. You could hear cars driving in the distance, birds and squirrels, and all sorts of fauna rustling all around you. A couple clicks of the shutter wouldn't hurt, would it?

Whatever, didn't want to chance it. She later pointed out that the arrival of the bride, the first kiss and the signing of the certificate were fair game. Basically, so as long as she wasn't preaching, it was all good.

... then went and stuck her head in the way of the first kiss. ARGHDEATHKILLMAIMGRRRR.

EDIT: DAWWWWWWW

b - nine day weekend

2008-07-15T16:06:00.000-04:00

it's funny, i was about to update the blog today, when i saw that there was a comment from krista, saying it was time for a new blog post.

so, hello there. long time no type.
the reason for which? not a good one. camping.

mind you, it was camping for an entire week, plus weekends, which ended up being nine notches on a weathered stump at loughborough lake. being friends with someone who knows the owner of said campground, we rented a field for the reasonable price of 10 bucks a head, per night to take part in what was essentially a social breakdown that saw ladyfolk act like men, and men act like men.

manly men.

through which, we learned, that eating bark and sticks and all sorts of nature-y woodness might be appealing for some dogs, but doesn't fare to well for the ol' cleft & palette.

as you can see, mortimer here indulged a little too much in his hedonistic buffet of twigs and such that the poor boy earned himself a bloody lip. awww.

it healed up enough a day after the fact, but the for the remainder of the trip, he had what we affectionately called a "chocolate milk mustache", albeit a mustache actually make of skin, and not hair.

an anti-mustache, if you will. the bizarro mustache.

This is Derek.
He constantly reminds me of Fry from Futurama, with his carefree nature, and knack for saying really hilarious and dumb things that make you laugh.

He's heading overseas come September, and there's lots of time to hang out with him, it's just going to suck not having him around to chime in like he always does. When he comes back next summer, it's going to be a relief for us all.

b - apartmenting

2008-06-20T10:30:00.000-04:00

the hunt is on.

we've been starting to look for places, as we're starting to go crazy living in a single bedroom. and i don't mean a place with a single bedroom, i mean most of our shit is literally piled in to a single bedroom that i once had when i was twelve.

no room to breathe and no privacy kinda put a dampener on your spirits after a while.
i love my family and all, but eric and i need our own space. it's the same with everyone we know.

Part two of two.

2008-06-11T22:03:00.000-04:00

Holla to the world, Relay For Life!

As most (some) of you know our team, The Daffadown Dillies, participated in this years Relay For Life on May 30th. We're always last minute and unorganized but we always pull through. This year our group comprised of 10 people, including brant, krista and Jason (post below). Our theme was Super Heroes and we rocked it pretty hard for being so last minute too! included in this picture that our friend Derek took you can see all of our ridiculous costumes including Elecktra, The Green Arrow, The Flash, The Green Lantern, Iron Man, Eureka (something I made up cause I was SO last minute and a lovely lady Robin. We always have the most people comment on our creativity and costumes which is awesome and makes things a little funner given the reason why we were there.
It's always hard for me to go there, seeing the "Survivour Lap" and taking part in the Luminary ceremony. I lost my Popie when I was 13, he was my bestest friend and someone who I looked up to greatly. And in the fall we all lost one of the biggest parts of our summer lives, Jay's Gramma. Other members on the team have their own personal stories and how they've been affected by cancer and once a year we can get together and take part in the 12 hour fight against cancer.
Our team raised an amazing $2, 295.91. Kudos to all of the members on our team!
If anyone would still like to donate, our team is still taking donation up to the 21st of July, follow this link to make your donation today!

Now for pictures!Luminaries lit in memory Gramma and Popie.

It's a good thing kissing doesn't cause cancer cause I'd be full of it.

2 a.m DANCE PARTY!!!!

Iron Man get's the love, and by Iron Man I mean me in a mask.

Some more sexy times.

Brant's fantasy comes to life.

It's 3 a.m., Krista and Kevin have gone mad.

And then it rained and we hid out in our tent 'til the morning. we rock. Congrats to our team, here's to next year of fun, last minute and randomness!!

P.S - I promise that the next post won't be about depressing cancer, it'll be about sexy fun times. ox.

Part one of two.

2008-06-09T13:11:00.000-04:00

An exhibit worth visiting, for sure.

In February I scrambled my brain trying to come up with a unique and simple idea to photograph for the Photosensitive Cancer Connections exhibit that was taking entries for the launch in Toronto at Nathan Phillips Square on May 2oth. In the end it was a no brainer.

My best friend Jason lost his Gramma, one of the greatest ladies of ALL TIME to a long battle to cancer in September of 2007. We both got tribute tattoos, most of you have seen the yellow canary bird on my forearm and Jay dedicated a good chunk of his arm to his best friend an amazing Gramma.

I wanted the photo not to be sad and it made sense for Jay to be the subject. He's not sad about Gramma's passing by rather remembers all of the great things that they did together. I think that this photo is very reflective of that, because when he looks at his arm he's not sad, rather he smiles and is happy. I think that she would think that his tattoo and my photo was the best damn tribute to the rocking-est, hardcore, drink-your-face-off with the teenagers at the trailer and dance kinda Gramma. She was, and still is amazing. We'll definitely be having some drinks in her honour when we go camping in a few weeks, it's a given.

Here's to Gram.
I took a video at he exhibit, excuse my bad
commentary and man voice. Other than that, enjoy.

Here it is amongst all of the amazing and very touching photographs that people all over Canada submitted.

The mandatory kiss. It's pretty excited, he's almost lifesize!

Here are some people looking at the exhibit, there were lots of people milling about.
Hopefully they looked at mine, ha.

One of my bestests Karen's photo was there as well.
Her subject, Ryan, her boyfriend and also our friend
lost his mother to cancer and agreed to be a part
of this great exhibit. Yay for us!!!!!!!

b - morty the pug

2008-06-07T16:43:00.000-04:00

BAAWWWWW A PUPPY

b - bbq = best!

2008-06-07T12:23:00.000-04:00

Last night was dilemma city. Two concerts, and a BBQ.

On one hand, the Golden Dogs were playing the Grad Club for what seemed to be the 19th time in 2 months. Hardest working band I've had the pleasure of seeing, but been there done that.

Then the ~~New~~ Odds were playing the Ale House. The Odds are amazing, don't get me wrong. But aside from their singles, I don't really know the Odds.

... I fail when it comes to mid-nineties CanRock, I know.

Jason, pretending to be a carnivore.

So that leaves us with the barbeque. Our good friend Jason decided for no other reason aside from being a Friday that a barbeque and drinks were in order.

We ate and drank. And then realized there just wasn't enough beer to go around. So we bought more beer. Then we drank a bunch more. (surprises!)

... and then the beer ran out again.

People fell down, it got dark, and then it was a quarter past 3 before we knew it. Good times all around.

Having the fire table up and going when we returned from the beer run was awesome -- Totally reminscent of camping, which happened to be the dominant subject of conversation last night.

Basically the week of June 28th - July 6th is pretty much going to destroy us all. We will be exhausticated to the point of no return, yet still maintain steady consumption of beverages, and I'm half certain someone will be involved in a accident involving fire, or an axe.