snickerdoodles

Little details, thoughtful touches, and unplanned moments make a wedding day special.

When I am taking photos that is what I hope to capture.

I've been totally immersed in tackling the edits from Shannon & Marwan's wedding but this shot really spoke to me.
Their arms and hands entwined, a Grandma's purse, a sparkly dragonfly pin on the bouquet as Shannon loves dragonflies, and a bracelet I am very curious about.
Oh dear, better move on before I get teary once again.



oh sheesh...just worked on the next shot and had to share as it includes Marwan more and he's wearing his father's cuff links.  His Dad wasn't able to attend for health reasons.  Bring on the tissues.

oxo

 

so sorry my little Mockingjay...

 

     Poor Katniss, I read the last pages of Mockingjay last night and was sickened by how her story ends.  She became my heroine a month or so ago when I read The Hunger Games in Mexico and became obsessed.   As you can tell from that Hunger Games post .  

  *** IF you haven't read the second and third books stop reading now then come back soon and share your thoughts.***

  Once home my sweetie Liam brought me home Catching Fire from his school library.  I finished that just as quickly.  It had some interesting twists and turns but it was difficult to see Katniss suffer more loss and face such horrible struggles once again...but I still really enjoyed it.  Plu,s she got to get home to her beloved Prim while Peeta and Gale kept things interesting.

   As for Mockingjay, I am not sure what to say.   It was tough to get through.  Not that it wasn't  written fairly well; and I know that realistically no war has happy endings;  but sheesh Collins left us nothing but disturbing questions.   I was happy Katniss ended up with Peeta but she never actually made a choice, having two people thrown together in a mentally-disturbed broken way is no way to end a love triangle....especially with flappy fire-mutt shells. 

 Killing off Prim and Finnick for no clear reason just seemed cruel and neither death was explored.  Prim was the whole reason Katniss fought and to have her die off so suddenly in the final pages left me reeling.  Haymitch was a big flake and I was confused about Gale.  Katniss was such a strong character and role model and Collins ended the trilogy in a way that you felt nothing but regret and confusion for her at the climax of her epic journey.

What did you think???   Gotta get Noah to finish reading the series so I can see what he thinks.   I sure hope they don't make a third film.  I definitely don't need to experience this story visually.

   Now...onto Fifty Shades of Grey.   I haven't read any good erotica since Anais Nin in art school and I am hearing grand things about Grey.

  Ordering the trilogy now from Chapters/Indigo...less than $30 for three books and many nights of racy reading.  Order from my Chapters/Indigo sponsor button on the left sidebar and help support my World Vision Child in Sri Lanka.  They also offer free shipping so it's an easy way to shop.

oxo

 

seriously friends you need to start telling me about typos!

it's so embarrassing when my kiddo tells me days later. i write impulsively and type quickly, often in a flurry or in the wee hours and definitely am in need of a virtual editor!

sorry.

here is a quick image from this week's beach wedding...beautiful paper star lights lit up the palapa roof...what I wouldn't do to be back in Negril right now.

oxo

friends in love....

   Before I head off to our last night gathering on the beach I wanted to quickly pop up a picture of my dear friends Shannon & Marwan.   It's official, they are married and it's been a beautiful week celebrating their special day.   Anyone who knows these two can't help but love them but to see how much they love each other is beyond words.

Congratulations Shannon & Marwan (a.k.a. S&M) we were honored to be part of your day and I can't wait to start working on your images.

 

oxo

it's our last day mon!....

  That's  "Mon" as in man with a Jamaican accent.   Stepping out of the sun and sand and onto the computer has been a challenging task.  Tuesday's wedding was wonderful but a very busy work day and yesterday I finished up all my uploading and backups so I can play today, our last day in this gorgeous place. 

Last Friday we arrived at Beaches and it didn't take Ry long at all to find a new little friend....he adores these tiny frogs that are plentiful all over the grounds.  No time for photoshop on holidays so all these images will be straight out of the camera for now.

My most favourite place to be here, there are plenty of places to tuck away for a little downtime in between the fun, except when Ryan accidentally drops his friend "Horny" the toad on me and he gets lost behind my back!  ...I shot this in the pink sunset light.

A sunset shot on our first night, we ate on the beach that night and got to meet all the friends and family that gathered here to help Shannon and Marwancelebrate their wedding.   The ocean is clear and calm, it's warm  and slightly irresistible when it comes to midnight swims by tiki light.

I have got to meet a lovely new batch of friends and there is always someone to lounge around and chat with, have a cocktail or dance into the wee hours with.  Almost 60 people gathered here for the wedding this week, the staff has given us the royal treatment.   

It's almost rainy season here and a couple of afternoons the heavens opened up and offered warm summer showers.   This day we were at the brick oven pizza restaurant, playing in the warm rain turned out to be a glorious way to cool off and have some giggles.   

A close up of unfortunate little "Horny" before his tragic fate in the hammock.

A stranger on a stroll took this with my camera, we were on our traditional straight out of bed early morning beach adventure digging for crabs and letting hubbie sleep in.

That will have to be all for now, I'm due to play tennis in a few minutes and sunscreen cannot be skipped.

miss ya friends,

oxo

 

 

finally found a card reader that works and managed to pull myself away from the beach....I'm getting to work on yesterdays wedding flow and I'll share some photos soon,

oxo

off we go again...

  At least 2/3 rds of the family is headed off again.

  Flying to Toronto bright and early tomorrow and then to Negril, Jamaica the morning after that!   So excited...it's been a huge challenge getting organized and caught up around here to take off for a week but we pulled it off.   Thank goodness for our Mastercard Adventura card for all it's travel perks.

Anyways, as I packed up all my camera gear for this adventure I realized that I had yet to share some pics from our whole family trip to visit my folks in Mexico in March.   I do love all things to do with Mexico...except obviously the gang violence that bombards our media and those gross worms they sometimes put in the tequila for tourists!   As much as I love Nuevo Vullarta, I am dying to see the Caribbean again, Turks and Caicos is on my bucket list and Negril is not so far from it.   

We did have a wonderful holiday once pre-Liam to Punta Cana and I remembered being amazed by the pure white sand and warm Topaz -hued sea.    While I ran around like a complete spaz this week I kept picturing myself on a stand up paddleboard on the calm blue ocean and was able to take a deep breath and chug along...except for a couple instances when I had a complete hissy (sorry Mom) but I blame that on that darn supermoon which seemed to give me some sort of super-human PMS! 

While at Beaches Negril, I will have the honor of capturing my friend Shannon's wedding to Marwan...her prince of a fiance I have yet to meet.  So, needless to say I will have my camera and computer to stay in touch the next week but here are some random Mexico photos for now.

 

We passed some gorgeously grungy fishing boats in the harbour and I got some of my fave shots of the trip, there are a few, this is just one quick pick.  These are all going to be straight out of the camera...just so you know if they are a tad wonkey...

Here I am with my folks headed out on an eco-tour our first days...look how pasty I am smothered in SPF 60!   I hate getting fried on holidays, especially at the beginning of a trip when everyone knows you are the silly new tourist in town when you show up at dinner beet red with crazy tan lines!  Us Polish people love our wildlife adventures....we are so smiley, it makes me laugh.  You don't ever want to watch Babe or any movie when real animals talk with us...we laugh ridiculous amounts.

It was our first time venturing onto a Mexican river by boat and we were anxious to see some big critters, we weren't disappointed...

We went in the morning and the forest canopy was absolutely covered in iguanas sunning themselves...don't do this tour during rainy season, that's when the boa constrictors join their lizard buddies, no thanks.

Well, good morning to you scaly sir!  

We saw lots of crocs on the banks and that made me wonder how many were in the river and also if maybe our boat was a bit too low to the water...glad there weren't many of us that day.  I definitely kept the kids hands  and faces well away from the sides...I do not have a zoom lens and this bad boy was big.

Back at the beach when the boys weren't looking for more sea creatures they hung poolside styling their Ray Ban knock-offs.  This picture cracks me up because Liam and Ry are the best of friends and play together like a couple of old souls...we are only able to bring Ry this trip and these two will miss each other so much.  Last night they slept cuddled up together like a couple of cats.

Being a huge fan of beach rocks I found this breathtaking, especially when I saw the artist at work...

No, they don't have lions in Mexico but the Puerta Vullarta zoo is pretty fantastic for $10.

Surprisingly none of my boys lost a finger that day...Mexican zoos are pretty hands-on.   We actually got to feed many of the animals special veggies.  The best part of all was definitely the beautiful young giraffe...

Feeding a giraffe a carrot from you mouth isn't something you get to do everyday.

I'll share a few more another day, or perhaps when I get around to editing them.  Any travel website or brochure will show your gorgeous Mexican beaches and resorts but these creature based moments were some of my families most treasured last trip...glad we ventured off the beaten path a bit this time.

oxo

Suffering from a serious case of blossom love....they are everywhere right now in the Okanagan, orchards full of spring blossoms.
It makes me swoon everytime.  At last Saturday's wedding the lucky couple got to have some apple blossom shots in a lovely orchard.  On my way home I couldn't resist pulling over to sit there for a wee bit and take some more images.

Tomorrow is my last busy day before we leave for Jamaica, it's been a challenging week getting organized but it will all be so worth it.

oxo

Guilty of all of these lately...I'll have to share this with hubbie and fill him in on what I've often been telling him in not so clear terms the last 24 years!

bo.ttega...

happy Eco Friday friends....
I am very excited to visit a cool new venue in Kelowna tomorrow called Bo.ttega. It's a super chic retreat tucked into the woods....so gorgeous, beyond words but best of all they have made a strong environmental comittement to being green. http://bo.ttega.com/

Second shooting a wedding with my ever so talented bro-in-law Brian Reilly...getting some serious practice in before Jamaica next week!

oxo