Category Archives: my life.
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WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!
14 Mar 2012When I was in my early 20′s I used to move at least every 8 months, the space was typically no more than just a place to keep my stuff and rest my head. Since meeting Adam, the concept of a home became much more important to me. While every place we’ve lived in together has felt like home, we’ve always been excited to buy our very own place. Last month, while I was in Australia, we closed a deal on a beautifully sunny and spacious townhome here in Canmore!
I couldn’t imagine this little spot feeling more like home. It’s bright, cozy and has a great layout including three stories with a HUGE kitchen perfect for dinner parties, a garage, two bedrooms and an additional space on the first level which has become my office! It’s nestled in a friendly family-oriented neighborhood. On the third day after we got possession, there was a wee little knock on the door. It was three kids, well under the age of 5 wanting to know if we had any children in there that they could play with! As a farm girl who grew up with no fellow kids residing within several kilometers to play with, I think it’ll be a pretty fun place for our future children to grow up!
We moved right in and started unpacking – no painting, no updates of any kind. While I’m more than pleased with the state of our humble abode, I’m also pretty excited to start tackling some little projects to make it ours. This place will likely be a work in progress for several years to come.
Welcome to our home!
Adam’s mum sent us flowers from Willow Haven on moving day…that was 17 days ago, they’re still beautiful!
You’ll notice that I like lots of pretty little useless knick-knacks.
This beautiful bowl was made by Adam’s dad as a housewarming gift! It seriously matches this place to a tee.
Family photos all over the place, as you can imagine.
The pretty piece of art on the left, perfect for a kitchen came from Twig Designs in Camrose. A mega-cute clothing and art shop owned by a tremendously creative girl I went to high school with. I wish Twig would open up a Canmore edition!
The downstairs bathroom: nothing special.
If you’ve got an un-used, un-wanted old camera…our mantle would offer it a happy home.
The tall wooden chair that the globe and phone sits on was a gift from my dad to my mum when she was pregnant with her first kid – me! She loves to cook and this allowed her to take a load off in the kitchen.
I made this photo wall for our last place. Adam grew up on the ocean, myself on the prairies…and we met and live in the mountains.
Adam did the big charcoal piece way back in high school, talented guy!
2nd bathroom: again, nothing special.
LOVE the floors!
Spare room…it’s pretty empty and needs some decorating love in a big way. Who’s going to be our first official house guest?!
JW photo headquarters.
One of the doors in the office is magnetic! When I was living in New Zealand, my dad would often send me letters including old snapshots from many, many moons ago. When unpacking, I found this big stack of photo treasures…this door is a perfect spot to display them all. Also making an appearance on the magic magnetic wall is thank you cards from clients, post cards, travel snaps and a whole heap of 4×6′s of our summer courtesy of Stacey Hedman.
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MOVING DAY.
27 Feb 2012Today Adam & I enter the scary, exciting, grown-up world of home-ownership. We’ve been happily living in a sea of cardboard boxes and unfolded laundry for the past couple weeks in anticipation for this big move. Over the next few days we’ll be shifting over and settling into our very own townhouse. Adam is excited to have a full-sized kitchen and his very own garage while I am looking forward to top-to-bottom hardwood floors and an office which is not also a guestroom and ski boot storage room…just my office, down on the first floor tucked away from our living area, a true workspace. I’m also anxious to finally have place that is all ours…I have some pretty interesting home improvement ideas up my sleeve once we get settled in. If you follow me on Pinterest you surely will have noticed that I’ve been extra enthusiastic with my “pinning” habbits here & here & here & here. [I'm pretty sure my husband would like to outlaw my pinning ability.]
For those of you smarty pants out there who have been speculating: “KIDS NEXT?” Yeah, probably…but not anytime soon, so drop it
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I WENT TO AUSTRALIA.
15 Feb 2012I’m fresh home from a fantastic trip to the mighty land under. Last year, I was approached by my old friend, Lauren wondering if I’d be keen to make the journey to the other corner of the world to shoot her wedding. Despite my extreme love for the Canadian winter and my intense dislike of hot and humid weather…it was an incredible opportunity to pass up. Before I knew it my calendar was blocked off and the flights were booked. I spent four days in Melbourne and about two weeks in the greater Sydney area.
During my time away, I realized just how lucky I am for my life in this awesome part of the world. The Canadian Rockies are such an international destination; throughout my time here I’ve had the chance to connect and stay in touch with so many incredible people from all over the world…namely Australia! I had the chance to rendez vous with so many great people from my ski bum days, photography colleagues and past clients…so cool! Each one of them offered the highest level of hospitality imaginable and showed me some pretty neat sites. Stay tuned for a sunset family portrait on the beach and of course the photos of the wedding in Ku-Ring-Gai national park.
I arrived on Australia Day….we had to catch the fireworks in downtown Melbourne. I fell in love with that city.
Jess [of Jessica and Charlie] playing her VERY FIRST paid gig at the Thornby Local. Such a fun night!
The view from Jesse and Alina’s apartment in the heart of Melbourne.
Flinder’s Lane.
An epic Op-Shop outing with Jesse and Alina. I wish I could have outfitted my entire home with the furnishings in these stores!
Alina Solberg: likely the most photographed gal in Melbourne. Jesse never leaves the house without his camera.
This city is all about the alleyways and high quality street art. And the coffee.
The pretty little Sydney neighborhood of Paddington. Kate, Lauren’s little sister maid of honor [as well as an other old ski bum friend of mine] lived in this cute place and was kind enough to take me in for a few nights…talk about fulfilling her maid of honor duties to the max – hosting the international photographer. Above and beyond! Thanks Kate.
When Ben [the groom] picked me up from the airport he asked how I felt about some 4x4ing on sand dunes…I was so pumped. Our exploring around Stockton took us to an old shipwreck!
His awesome 90 year old Grandma had been wanting to go 4x4ing with him for some time, so she joined us. The poor gal couldn’t understand a word I was saying through my thick Canadian accent.
Tin City. People actually live way out there.
My old friend Shann, and her sister Karly took me out to the Hunter Valley, Australia’s wine country…only about 45 minutes from their hometown. It was a nice, relaxing day of tasting wines, champagnes, cheeses, chocolates and olive oils. Our culinary tastes have most certainly matured and our idea of a fun outing sure has evolved from our slightly rowdy ski hill days, eh Shann?!
I recently met up with past clients Fox and Katie when they were back in the Rockies for a winter vacation. This time I was lucky enough to catch up with them on their turf. Katie’s family owns an incredible historic farm on the outskirts of Sydney. Since the gals are also keen photographers, they knew I’d likely be happily overwhelmed to spend an afternoon exploring the property with the camera glued to my face. The little guy in the photos below is their nephew, Cowen and he’s such a rad little kid.
Complimentary gum boots!
Katie’s grandpa had two sheds filled to the brim with countless old treasures. Every item was carefully labelled. The family refers to the space as “the museum”.
It was SUCH a pleasure to meet up with my old friend Georgie on the steps of the Opera House in Sydney. Georgie and I went to photography school together in Victoria and helped each other through the ins & outs and ups & downs of starting up a photo business back in the early days. Georgie grew up in Tasmania, but is married to a great Canadian guy, Dave. The two of them are in the middle of an amazing six-month holiday…I was so lucky to catch up with them over on the other side of the world and have her by my side to shoot the wedding the following day.
