So, turns out I resemble a slight tornado the week before vacation.  I know, I’m taking another one.  This time it’s off to Vancouver, I’ve got SO much stuff planned my head is already bursting over it all. 

I leave tonight, and I’m not back until next Monday, I’m going to try to swing by here if I get a chance, but I might be stuck under wedding preparations and sunny days.  We’re in town for my sort-of-step-cousin-ishes Erin’s wedding.  To say we’ve been waiting for this a long time is an understatment, if you take a wee gander at that there screen shot from my flight you’ll realize I booked this flight seven months ago.  Well, dresses have been altered, shoes have been bought, bags have been packed and the day is FINALLY here.

I cannot say HOW excited and happy I am for this trip.  I’m second shooting a wedding with the wonderfully fabulous Jamie Delaine on Saturday and then Sunday is Erin’s big day, where I’ll poke my camera out in between grabbing a kleenex and throwing confetti the rest of my time will be spent soaking up days with my bestest of friends, Morgan.  I’ve managed to finagle her into a photoshoot and already can’t wait to edit the pictures and show her off here!

Hope everyone else has a fantastic weekend!

A survey, that I hope seems more personal with my scirbbly, scrawly loops…

Sometimes I’m too wordy.  

Layne is one of my favorite people on the entire planet.  

Just Cause.  I could list thousands of reasons, some complex, some perfectly simple.  She is superglued to the deepest layer of my heart, velcroed, stapled, nailed, and two-way taped there for the rest of time.  

I hope I can always make her laugh just like this.  

You know, I’m not always sure how those in long-distance relationships make it work.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m an all-out romantic and in my heart of hearts I believe love can conquer any molehill or mountain (From the fiery pits of Mordor vs. Name brand ketchup issues) but, there is this sense of disconnection that seems to linger if you let it.  I know the friendship part of this problem, as one of my bestest friends Marwa (See: Here) has lived in Edmonton for the better part of our friendship since High School.

In an attempt to tighten the threads between us we found a magican new website (Shout out to Morgan!) www.playlist.com It is magical, have I used that word yet?  Cause I should use it three or four more times, magical, magical, magical!  You combine with your friends and make playlists of all the songs you love.  Yesterday listening to the tracks falling into sleep I felt like the foundation of our frendship was more rock solid than ever, and if we could all for that one moment be on the same page then we’d be alright, no matter what came at us.  

We all have such differing tastes so along with adding our songs we’ve been posting up what we think of each others and why we’ve chose ours.  Needless to say it’s been enlightening and hilarious all at the same time.  I’ve copied a couple excerpts here cause they were too good to pass up.  Anyone who is anyone should bookmark it stat, best of all its free (And I now I have indeed mentioned here before how much I adore, worship and love all free things)

 

 Marissa’s Choice: 1. Crazy for this girl: This song takes me back to junior high every time I hear it. Back to Mr. Brown in the band room, Mrs. Lim and her orange concealer, Mike Steele’s locker, tube socks, watermelon bubalicious and Ms. Porter. Best line: “…and what was I thinking when the world didn’t end; why didn’t I know what I know now.”

Camille on Marissa’s Choice: 1. Evan and Jaron: Crazy for this Girl. I listen to this song and I’m honestly back in 1998, Junior High, at the school dance, DYING for some boy to ask me to dance. Picture me with braces, frizzed electric socket hair and sweaty, sweaty palms. Clearly, I was the biggest babe to ever hit Vincent Massey, that band department didn’t know what was going to hit them! Favorite Excerpt: “She was the one to hold me the night the sky fell down, and what was I thinking when the world didn’t end, why didn’t I know what I know now.”

PS.  Here’s a picture I dug up from the abyss of my childhood, this is actually our Grade Nine Halloween dance.  Can’t imagine why I had trouble making friends?

Camille’s Choice: “1. Ciara ft. Justin Timberlake: Love Sex Magic: Okay so clearly I’m a pop lover. But this, I know, even for me is a bit much. But it’s like From Justin to Kelly, so bad it’s good. I never even really liked Ciara, but BAM throw J. Timb in anything and it’s magically delicious. Seriously, he’s got a midas touch more intense than the Lucky Charms Leprechaun. I made the fateful mistake of watching the video last week, and now whenever I listen to the song, the coherent thought switch in my brain conveniently flickers rapidly. The lyrics are pretty amateur, but to the point, and really, Favorite Excerpt: “What’s your favorite trick that you wanna use on me And I’ll volunteer… “ That pretty much sums up all of my violently inappropriate string of thoughts on Taylor Lautner. Anybody see my Twilight Obsessed theme yet? I’ll openly admit really anyone who sees that trailer and feels nothing is dead inside.

Camille’s Choice: 2. Taking Back Sunday: Ghost Man on Third: As Butter Chicken is to beginner Indian food lovers, Taking Back Sunday is to beginner Screamo listeners. They’re pretty gentle especially in comparison to Underoath or one of those bands that spends about 90% of their songs in a consistent high-pitched scream with pretty unvarying pitches. Their lines cut cleverly and when they do scream, it seems like it’s filled with the perfect emotion and totally fits into the song. I love it, I usually listen to them when I’m bike riding, normally at 6:00 on my ten speed is the only place I can let out a guttural scream of lyrics and no one bothers me. To those living on my commute path, I apologize. In this song my favorite line is like chocolate raspberry gelato, smooth and rich (Am I hungry or why the sam hell can I only make food similes) “Then I’m as smooth as the skin rolls across the small of your back” I would like someone this smooth, more than I’d like butter chicken and gelato combined while walking down Main Street in Disney World. Desperate? Or just descriptive, you can make the call.

Marissa’s Choice: “Remember Me This Way” Jordan Hill: This is the song from Casper when Christina Ricci, her forehead, and Devon Sawa (who got to be human for an hour) dance together at her halloween party. I couldn’t resist the early 90′s nostalgia. Best line: If you loose your way, think back on yesterday, remember me this way ”

Camille’s Choice: I Want You Back: “Back before showbiz and plastic surgery ruined Michael. Need I say more? Who am I trying to kid, when in my life have I ever been able to keep my opinion to one sentence? It’ll be a cold day in hell my friends. I LOVE MOTOWN. I make no secret of it, it was THE best era for music. I don’t care what anyone says, I’ll fight them for it. I listen to Mr. Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Jackson 5, The Supremes, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, you name it, I dance to it. It’s my cleaning music, walk to work music, shake my groove thang music. Guaranteed, your having a shitty day, plug just ONE tune in, and you can’t help but smirk a little. This is one of my most frequently played, that and it gets double whammy awesome points cause it was in Now and Then, which lets face it, IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER (If there were an award for best exaggeration it would be me, but this time I mean it!) Devon Sawa, and Christina Ricci’s forehead, the key to a good movie!

Camille on Marissa’s Choice: To Be With You, Mr. Big: Okay, I CANNOT say enough about you adding this song. I LOVE THIS SONG. LOVE LOVE it. Not just let’s hold hands and giggle when we kiss teenage love, I’m talking fullblown here’s the engagement ring lets spend the rest of our lives together love. In my Mum’s rust colour Volvo we had a tape deck, and I remember rewinding and rewinding this song until one day it broke. I could never get enough, Favorite Excerpt: “Build up your confidence, so you can be on top for once, Wake Up who cares about little boys that talk too much” Marissa this song solidifies our BFF status in cement, as if it weren’t already. ”

Note 2.0: Marwa’s comments aren’t featured on here because she has yet to wax poetic on her choices, but she’s added such classics as All The Small Things (Blink 182), I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock of Seagulls and Today by Smashing Pumpkins

 

So I have this tendency, when meeting new people to curl inwards.  Jokes dance on the tip of my tongue, the corner of my smile fidgets and my palms sweat.  Since childhood I’ve been that kid deemed slightly, shall we be generous and say, “socially awkward”.  And its kind of ironic, my quiet shyness, since after I’m past that self-conscious hiccup I’m the loudest, most outgoing, friendliest social butterfly.  

 

When I sat twenty minutes too early at our table for three waiting to meet Elizabeth and Ryan I tried to do breathing exercises, and run through knock-knock jokes for worst case scenarios, and then they got there, and I had absolutely nothing to worry about.  They were two of the most kindest, nicest people I’d ever met.  After supper, we scurried down the Deerfoot and made our way to Fish Creek Park for their engagement session.

 

I have to say, I had a blast.  Filled with jokes and laughter, I couldn’t help but delight in how happy I felt with the work I was doing.  If you could even call it work.  

 

We spent a couple hours wandering the different grassy paths, and every so often I’d bend down, fiddle with a setting or change a lens, or just scope out a field, and when I straightened up I couldn’t help but be breathtaken by the way they were with each other.  Like love was this tangible thing in the air, simple thoughtful considerations that will fill their life together these next eighty years with smiles.  I cannot wait for the day when all this affection is pronounced in front of their friends and family, it will truly be a day of celebration.  Without further ado, introducing Elizabeth + Ryan. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 SUCH a favorite.  Starting to fall in love with wide angles, and fields, and that wonderful wonderful sky!

 I know Ryan wasn’t really keen on lying on all this prickly hay, but this shot is fantastic, and totally worth it, don’t you think so?

We had an outfit change, and then found THE most delicious ray of sunshine, these next couple are some of my most favorite I’ve ever taken!

 

 This is my current computer desktop I love it so much. 

 Umm, hi, Cute!

 ALL TIME FAVORITE.  I wonder how many times I can say that in this post.  But no really, I mean it right here this time.

 I hope whoever I fall in love with looks at me exactly like this.  Oh, and PS.  Her engagement ring is the most gorgeous thing you’ve seen this week.  True story.

I could go on gushing and gushing about these photos and this couple for hours, have to say thanks once again guys for being so damn wonderful.  Here’s to your Fall Love Extravaganza

 

I’ve been alive for 22 years.  8282 Days.  198790 Hours.  11927434 minutes.  715646103 seconds.  A while now.  And out of every breath and heartbeat I can still think of my most favorite moment. 

 

It was way back in the day J, I was about nine years old, still living in my hometown Medicine Hat.  And to make a long story short I’d had a horrible weekend away in Calgary.  Gone from my home, filled with arguments and several bouts of tears.  I’d spent hours begging, pleading, groaning with my Mum to come save me.  But, she’d insisted I could handle it, and we’d talk about it when I got home.

 

Coming home I had the quivery lip, you know that one that shakes no matter how hard you bite it?  That one.  And red-rimmed eyes, and a sore heart.  I met my Mum on our driveway and clung to a hug of exasperated exhaustion, walking around arm in arm to our backyard I stumbled blindly onto friend after friend screaming ‘Surprise’.  My Mum had organized a Feel Good party.  She’d gathered each of my friends, rented a Trampoline (so, the rage) hung balloons, ordered pizza, and best of all had everyone write their own cards as to why we were friends, what they liked best about me.  It was one of those afternoons where you think your heart just can’t fill anymore up, it’s right up to the brim with happiness and love and laughter and everything that makes childhood perfect. 

 

That was the kind of Mum she was.  Out of the ordinary, unique, original.  Always finding new and old, big and small ways to show me how much she loved me.  Of course we had our stumbles, and things weren’t always easy, but to this day I have never and will never doubt all the love we had for each other.

She passed away three years ago, and finally this April on the Anniversary (April 6th) we stood on a pier and said one more goodbye.  Sometimes the sadness of it all can still sit in my throat, or right in the lowest deepest part of my gut, or the worst; in the direct center of my heart.  But once I swallow it.  Once I let it beat through, I know how lucky I am to have even just one more breath with all those I love still here.  How everytime I hug my Aunty Pam, laugh with Layne, call Karla, think of Morgan, visit Marwa I do it with just a little extra oomp.  I know that hugs and laughs and phone calls are a gift, and one more days is glorious.  So if you’ve scrolled through and read this all, I hope you go call someone you love, hug just that second longer, laugh just that little bit louder.  In the end who you love and how you loved them really seems to be the only thing that matters.

 

  Ps.  Note: There is Grafitti pictured there, and though some may condemn it, it was small, tasteful, and on a part of the small pier that you can’t see until up close.  I felt justified in that I wasn’t just spraying another profanity on there, but that it was a little dedication to the most amazing woman I think this world may have ever seen.