My New Sister

Today I went with my mom to Vancouver to meet the newest addition to our family. Her name is Abbey, and she is a "Shorkie" ... part Shi-tzu + part Yorkie = 100% adorable. She really reminds us of what Sparkle looked like when she was a puppy. It's funny, because both my mom and I were looking up names on the exact same website at our own houses and both of us came up with Abbey as a possibility, before we had even talked about it! We figured Abbey was appropriate, as it is short for Abigail, and means Joy. It's also appropriate because my mom lives in Abby. :) I already love her to pieces, even if she did throw up on me in the car.
She is a sweetheart. I can't wait to get to know her, and I'm so glad my mom has a little someone to take care of at her place out in Abbotsford!

How I'd like to spend my days off...

I've been so busy with homework lately, I cannot wait until this semester is over and I can actually have a weekend!

I've started to become addicted to perusing Flickr for awesome photos... That's the site my computer's on in the background. Daydreaming while procrastinating leads me to plan out the ideal day... I would LOVE to have a sunny/non-rainy day spent out taking hundreds of photos, and then a stop in at Starbucks to go home and curl up on the couch with the fireplace on. A day where I did not have to be anywhere or get anything done with a deadline. Although by the time I'm finished school I might want something a bit more social, as I'm beginning to feel a bit like a recluse these days. *sigh.

But I did cheer myself up with a reduced-fat eggnog latte. I love Christmas at Starbucks. :)

My New Lens!

I'm in love.

Most of the picture's I've taken with it were at work, and as such I'm not allowed to post the pictures on here unless I had the parents' permission. Sooo, I will post my very first picture taken immediately after purchasing my new Canon 50mm f/1.4

We're talking immediate as in, I bought it, walked to the nearest bench, attached the lens to the camera and shot this picture:



I'll post more when I have a few more that are post-able. I'm hoping it might stop raining one day.

My first family shoot

Ok so I was asked to take pictures for a family from church, to be used in their Christmas cards. We had limited time, for those who know them will know how busy their life is, so I had a window of maybe about a half an hour to take some pictures. The lovely Crystal lent me her Canon 50mm f1.4 so I was pretty excited. That being said, I didn't really know how it worked... but hopefully I will soon because I totally just bought that lens this weekend, I'm so stoked!!

Anyways, I only got about 5 shots I was satisfied with (not even super happy with but oh well), but I had a bit of fun learning how to create a storyboard. Here's my first attempt:

A Year Ago Today....

It was Halloween.

But it was a Wednesday night, (leap year this year) and we were forced to move from a flea-infested basement suite because the landlord lady was going to charge us 2 days rent if we stayed til Friday. We got home from work at 6pm, and had to move everything in our cars. We had to navigate the streets filled with ghosts, witches, dora's and backyardigans to get to the other side of town. We didn't finish til almost 3 in the morning, and had to get up around 6ish for work the next day. We were exhausted, but happy to be in a nice suite with great landlords.

We've never lived anywhere for an entire year as a married couple, so today is kind of special. We feel so blessed to have a great place to live, and even more blessed that we're NOT moving today!!!

Adventures of Hippo

Hippo went camping on the Labour Day long weekend...



Hippo goes hiking!!



Hippo sees a waterfall!!



Hippo takes a bath!



Hippo makes a friend!



Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!!



Hippo climbs Mt. Wiggy.



And that was Hippo's long weekend adventure.

Random Sweet Photo

This is just one fun shot I got at Cory and Bethany's wedding this summer. It's the only one on this computer.

For Cory

Cory my fellow photographer friend wanted me to post some pictures of what I've been taking pictures of. I still am learning a lot, and I keep looking back at pictures from maybe a month ago saying "I can do so much better!!!" ... but here are a few from a month or so ago when I got up ridiculously early to take pictures of morning fog.

Just Testing ...

Just trying to figure out how to post pictures that are bigger and more beautiful than what blogger allows. This is Jason enjoying the sunset in Tofino.

Passion World Tour

On October 6, 2008 I got to experience one of the most amazing nights since I became a Christian. I got to attend the Passion World Tour. I hadn't heard of it before, until I happened to hear about it on the radio, they mentioned a conference for young adults. I was really excited about something geared for this age group, because there rarely is anything specifically for us. I was excited to hear that David Crowder was going to be there, as well as Chris Tomlin. I'd never heard of Louie Giglio before.

Jason and I took Monday off work so that we could go downtown before rush hour. We went to Science World, which was a blast! Just before 5:00 we walked over to GM Place to get in line for the doors to open at 6:00. We had to register our tickets and switch for wristbands, so we did that as fast as we could and managed to get in line near the doors. Here's a picture of the lineup: (all pictures were from the Passion blog, I only wish I could be this awesome)

We got inside and found seats in the bowl area (we could've gone to the floor but I honestly like seeing what's happening, and being short on the floor is less than fun.) When it started I had goosebumps, I'd never been to any Christian gathering like this and it was intense! Chris Tomlin came out and sang Mighty to Save, and then "God of this City" among others. He was amazing. Louie Giglio came out and welcomed everyone and we prayed for Vancouver and also for Mexico City, where they had just left a few days before. A few Mexicans made this sign that Louie brought with him to Vancouver:

Apparently this was on the blog, and each city that has people that have been to the blog made a sign for the next city. It was pretty amazing watching the slideshow they showed us about where they had been and how each city played "pass it on" with prayer and donations. Our event was free because the Mexican group paid for us. It was amazing to feel so connected to other believers in the world. Chris Tomlin sang some more, and then Louie came out to talk. It was an awesome sermon, very simple, talking about how amazing grace really is. He has such a passion for this age group and you can tell. Oh, speaking of Amazing Grace, it was really neat hearing Chris Tomlin talk about his version of Amazing Grace - some people had asked him to add to it for a movie, and he was like "What? I'm not gonna be 'that punk' who messes with a classic song!! What, do you want me to add to 1 John while I'm at it?" It was cute, and that song is so powerful, it was amazing to hear him sing it.

David Crowder came out, and I've gotta say, I didn't realize how weird looking he is. At first I was like "Who is this and when is David Crowder coming out??" .... then he sang ... haha! But he's a phenomenal artist and it was so fun to worship with him. Anyone who can play a rock song and then break into a hoedown is fine by me!! :)

We then had a chance to do a shout out for the next city, Seoul, Korea. (A HUGE cheer erupted from the crowd - we have a lot of Koreans in Vancouver!) I didn't realize but on the other side of our wristbands was "Passion Seoul" and the dates of their conference. We were encouraged to flip them over and keep them on to pray for them through the week until the dates they have their conferences (10th and 11th of October). Turns out someone saw on the blog the "pass it on" nature of this conference and made a sign for Seoul too.

The whole thing was just incredibly moving, and although I've attempted to explain, no words could do it justice. It was simply amazing and since then I've just felt so blessed to have been a part of that night. Here's a few more pictures I stole from the blog because this guy was really good. He uses a Canon too. :)