Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this! I would say Merry Christmas, but since that was a couple of days ago, it doesn't really apply now. So judging from my number of posts, I have been quite busy in the month of december, and I hope to be caught up with everything by the time that school starts again on the 5th (but technically 6th since I don't have any classes on Wednesdays).

This past month has seen me:

• taking pictures of Santa Claus and his visitors at Place D'Orleans, which has been a lot of fun since well I love taking pictures, and kids are a lot of fun to be around. My co-photographers were a lot of fun as well, and I have learned to juggle again, but just need a lot of practice.
• finishing my paper for my Research Methods class, which should have been done on December 9th, but due to the fact that we got an extension to the 22nd, I was really busy with the aforementioned job, and busy with the holiday festivities in general, I didn't get it done until the 20th...which only left me with...
• 4 days to do all of my Christmas shopping, which I managed to do, so that was quite good :)

This holiday season has been quite filling due to the fact that I have a dinner party practically every night, which makes it fun because I get to see a lot of family and friends that I have neglected this past semester while I have been studying and working.

Well, I hope that everyone is having a happy holidays and that you don't have to work too hard (if you are working)...and you don't party too hard (which should be expected for this time of year)...

Hope to see all of you soon!

Geofford and I with Santa

Geofford's Birthday Dinner

Geofford turned 28 yesterday so now he is older than me again...until it is time for my birthday...and then we will be the same age again. I know it's hard to tell because I seem so much more mature. hee hee.... Well, after ultimate last night, we met some of his friends at Bravo Bravo for dinner (because it was close and it has pretty good food).


Geoff's Birthday present...is himself?


The boys at dinner


The girls at Geoff's birthday dinner

It's Snowing!

It's snowing today, which makes me very happy :) Although I got very wet from the snow on my walk to school and I was dripping because it was such a wet snow, I'm happy because it makes it a lot prettier outside and it means that I might be able to go boarding soon. It also puts me in the Christmas spirit (although you'd think taking Santa Claus pictures at the mall would also do that, but it doesn't feel like Christmas until the first snowfall).

I guess the snow this morning put me in a better mood because the past two days haven't been great. Monday was the day that Shanna moved to California with her husband Leigh. Although Shan and I don't talk every day or even every week, she's someone that has known me forever (well at least since we were 8, which is almost 20 years now...) so it's hard whenever your friends move away. But when they do, you realize how much you took for granted their presence. I felt the same way when Rachel moved to Guelph, which wasn't that far away, so I was still able to visit, once in a while. Now that she is out in Thunder Bay, it is even farther to go for a visit. But in the end, it makes our time together that much more special. I can't wait to see both of them in February at Rachel's wedding, which should be a lot of fun.

Tuesday was rough because it felt like we were living a police state downtown. I didn't have class until the afternoon, but I kind of wish that I did, because then I wouldn't have had to walk through one of the Bush protest rallies. There were people with placards and people were shouting. There were media filming the event, and there were police officers everywhere. All I wanted to do was get to school for my class. But I guess the shouting and hooplah drowned out the helicoptors, as I only noticed those on my walk home. The streets had emptied out (although the buses seemed to have problems and were quite backed up, and were even taking detours) around my walk home, and all I could hear were the rotors (is that the right word?) of the helicoptors that were circling overhead. At one point, it looked as if a helicopter was going to hit the DND building it was flying so close. Oh well, it made me really appreciate how lucky we are to live in Canada where this is more an exception to the norm than the norm.

Anywho, back to the snow, I'm glad that it's snowing, even though it makes for yucky driving conditions, but now that I am a student, I don't necessarily have to drive as much, so that's good :)

I can almost see the end!

Phew...I have exactly one week left of school - and only three assignments left (each probably weighted about half of my school year...but whatever...only three left!). School has been a lot busier than originally anticipated (which is probably normal), which is why there has been an absense of posts and also contact with most people. For those of you who haven't spoken to in a while, I am also working part-time (but pretty much full-time starting next week) until Christmas taking pictures at the Santa Picture Pavillion at Place D'Orleans which is a lot of fun. My employers are Japan Camera who have been awesome and are a pleasure to work for. Santa is also a lot of fun, and as André (one of the other photographers) said best "Our job is to make people happy." And it's true, working doesn't feel that bad because you are smiling all day and people are generally in a good mood.

Anywho, I can't wait for the Christmas holidays even though my mom will be away in Hong Kong visiting my grandmother who is in the hospital and her brothers and sisters who will be in Hong Kong. Hopefully my grandmother (who is 93) will have a short stay in the hospital and will make a speedy recovery. But other than my mom being away, it will be nice to not have to worry about anything for a week and a bit :)

Shanna and Leigh's Wedding

Shanna and Leigh's wedding was a beautiful day despite the rain. I was really happy to be able to be a part of the wedding party. Here are some pictures from the day. Here are more pictures from the photographer Marilyn Mikkelsen (posed colour photos) and her husband Ralph (black and white candids) plus Shanna and Leigh's honeymoon.

I guess the who "day" was actually a wedding weekend, as the girls (and I guess boys too) went out on the town on thursday night. So that we could accomodate some of the out of town guests (Rachel), we decided to have the stagette on that day, which actually worked out as we were able to get a limo from Griffen's, which was a nice touch. After bar hopping, the majority of us went home to bed, but Shanna brought her maid of honour Rachel out for some fun. They met up with the boys at Zaphoids, and proceeded to have some fun which involved poutine, and coming in at about 7 on Friday morning.

Fortunately I did not go out, as I had some homework to do (as I knew that I wouldn't get any work done the rest of the weekend). Shanna and Rachel picked me up in the early afternoon, and I helped deliver the bridal gown and some of the bridesmaids dresses to our staging area (aka Rachel's parents place) where we would be getting ready on Saturday. After some confusion between Shanna and Leigh, the bridal party (minus Kelly who was meeting us there) drove out in rushhour traffic to Bells Corners from downtown. We ended up getting about 15 minutes of our 45 minute manicure (although Kelly got her full 45-minute treatment, lucky bum!) at the Spa's Nail Bar. (I would put the link, but they were quite rude to us...we knew we were late, and even called ahead to let them know, but we still got berrated even though we paid for the full 45-minute manicure!) After the manicures, Leigh drove Kelly and me to go pick up Patrick and Shanna drove Rachel, Amy, and Nadine to go pick up the candles, and both cars were to rendez vous at the church for the rehearsal. It was funny because our car was racing to see who would get there first, but apparantly, the other car had no clue. The rehearsal went off without a hitch, and then were headed to the Vietnam Palace (I think that's the restaurant) on Somerset for the rehearsal dinner. It was really yummy, and I think that I would definitely return.

Saturday morning, Shanna came and picked me up with Nadine and Amy and we headed to meet Rachel at the Hair Tech Coiffure Inc salon in Orleans (corner of Innes and Jeanne D'Arc) for our hair appointments. Hair was fun, but expensive (sometimes it is difficult being a student) but worth it because I liked my hair and there was no way that I could put in 48 bobby pins myself. After hair, we headed to Rachel's where we snacked (aka pigged out) before getting dressed (well we had to get Shanna dressed first) and all made up. It was a fun girls afternoon, and we all managed to get prettied up before the photographers came to get pictures of the bridal party. After pictures, we headed up to Divine Infant where Shanna and Leigh got married. It was a beautiful ceremony and everyone did their parts perfectly.

Unfortunately the rain didn't hold off until the reception, so we got a few pictures in at the church before the wedding party (minus the bride, groom, maid of honour, and bestman) headed out to Strathmere for the reception. The reception was a lot of fun, they had some very creative ways of getting the guests involved, I think that every table did some sort of activity (chinese fire drill, funny story, sing a song, impersonated other people) to get the newlywed couple to kiss. It was also really nice seeing some people that I haven't seen in a while.

The next day, the wedding party and family were invited out to Perth to Tony and Lynda's home for a brunch. It was a nice place (that I haven't been to in ages - probably since 2nd year University - my bachelor's) to visit and have the brunch. We also got to see some of the disposable camera pictures, which was always fun.

Overall, I think that the wedding was a success. I thought that this would be last wedding for a while, but Rachel and Clayton are engaged to be married, and we will be celebrating with them on the Mayan Riviera in February. I will definitely bring my SLR and take some beautiful pics of the scenery down there. I can't wait...it should be tons of fun! Now, on to saving money mode...