this moment - 2011-09-30

{this moment} - a friday ritual. a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary moment. a moment I want to pause, savor and remember. (inspired by soulemama)

huckleberry

We set out to take a few pictures of Finn at one of our favourite parks (the same park we took this picture of him last year- we plan to go back to same spot every year) but I'm not sure we had much luck. Jeff shot everything on film, so we will see what comes out, but Finn was feeling a little off- slightly sick/ teething/ sleep deprived and definitely not in the mood to be posing for pictures.
(Though the few I managed to steal on my iPhone are pretty cute.)

always a little monkey around my legs

baby brunch

We had some of our favourite little munchkins (and of course, their parents - also some of our favourites) over for brunch last weekend. it was quite the scene - 12 adults, 6 toddlers and a wee pup all smooshed into our little place, but it was such a nice time, there was so much delicious food (we did it potluck style) and it was so awesome to reconnect with everyone after a hectic summer of not seeing a lot of one another. I am definitely looking forward to fall and winter for the slower pace that will allow more mama/ baby hang time, and maybe even a few girls nights out!

we love all of you guys so much and so happy we could spend the morning together!
(Kristen, David and Ellen & Krista, Jamie and Carter - you were all missed terribly!)
xoxo

Carly the cutest little ham

handsome Gethin

Victor having a good laugh with his Mama and Laura

Athena- too freaking cute all the time!

Victor being very serious

The girls having a giggle!

Malek didnt get off Finns Radio Flyer Bike the entire time!

Except for a momentary refuel by his teammate Gethin

Im not sure how, but i didnt get a single picture of Finn from the brunch. These were taken after a long recovery nap.

Cheeeeeeese!!! (also sticking his fingers in his belly button!)

happy weekend, buddies!!

I am so excited the weekend is here!! Finn woke me up at 6:45 this morning and I was actually a little bit grateful to be able to get a jump on the next three days! The weather here is incredible- warm, sunny and just perfect for puttering around! And I am so thankful to have some time away from work to focus on: getting my etsy shop organized- maybe even OPEN!? eeeeek!, taking pictures, editing pictures, getting together with one of my bff's to plan her wedding, sushi with two of my favourite gals, selling finn's too small, super cute clothes on kijiji so i can go shopping for some bigger, super cute clothes for him, having my parents over for dinner tomorrow evening, and catching up on some of my favourite blogs! It's been a hectic week, so it will be nice to make a pot of tea, sit and read all of your wonderful little posts!

Happy weekend every body!

oh- ps- I was bored the other night (and slightly inspired by my pottery teachers super cute hair) and decided to cut myself bangs! I'm loving the change, but as Jeff put it this morning, they are definitely not low maintenance!

Before bed...

the next morning. oh dear cowlicks.

This Moment - 2011-09-23

{this moment} - a friday ritual. a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary moment. a moment I want to pause, savor and remember. (inspired by soulemama)

tiny treasures - vintage cameras

We have a fairly large camera collection- i started collecting vintage polaroid cameras when i was 18 and fresh into photography. i loved thinking about all the amazing images these camera's had once captured- the families and amazing people that once owned them and they places they had traveled to. I had a deep love for land cameras but would pretty much buy anything that looked old. i hunted ebay, junk shops and value village routinely searching and day dreaming; quickly my collection grew. When Jeff and I first moved in together, he too had several old cameras to add to my now vast bunch. We had an awesome old house downtown that had a beautiful built-in open shelving unit in the kitchen- it was the perfect spot to display our ever growing collection of treasures. When we downsized and moved into our condo, we also had to downsize some of the less beautiful or sentimental items from our large collection. Though what is left is something we will surely keep forever- several meaningful and simply beautiful pieces of the past- both ours and that of many others.

this is most of the collection - we have a few more scattered around. the large grey land camera on the left was the first vintage polaroids i bought. i love the flash bulb on top!

two of the cutest in the collection.

i had dreamt of owning an sx-70 camera from the day i started loving polaroids! they are usually quite expensive, so i had never found one to buy. on our cross canada trip in in 2009, we were wondering around an antique shop in winnipeg and i found this one folded flat and tucked on a bookshelf for $15! i was over the moon! at the time, jeff had to order film all the way from germany. it was a lot of effort (and now the film is available at most camera stores again) but we do have a great collection of black and white polaroids from the first few months of finns life!

this video camera was given to me by a friend a few years back - it makes the coolest noises and is so beautful- definitely one of my favourites!

This Canon A-1 was given to me by my dad when i first got in to photography. He bought it around the time I was born and took many photos of me and my brother as we grew up. I LOVED this thing so much, and still do! I learned everything i know shooting endless rolls of film through this friend. Its been back and forth across the country multiple times as I toured with my friends bands,  i have shot more amazing places, musicians and people with this than any other camera. it has so much history and has stood the test of time- over and over again. It also created my endless love affair with Canon cameras.

This camera belongs to Jeff- i absolutely love it and think it is one of the most beautiful cameras in our collection. Jeff's car got broken in to a few years back and all of his camera gear was stolen from the back seat- needless to say, this camera was a replacement for one that was stolen, but i think we both agree its better than the original.

the cutest little boy

A few random things i want to remember about Finn- right now...

• It's so cute to see how much you LOVE trains! when one goes by you try so hard to make train noises while pumping your arm up and down like papa does to try and get the conductors to blow their whistle.
• i love hearing you giggle- especially so when papa does a puppet show for you on the edge of the bed with your stuffed animals.
• i am trying really hard not to freak out when you crawl around on the pavement. in your brand new (expensive) skinny jeans. ugh!
• it's so cute how you want to do everything on your own now- like get your own crackers out of the cracker box, brush your own hair or pulling all your toys out of the toy drawer. you are becoming such an idependent little munchkin.
• i love that you get so excited to go to the park! and even more excited to swing on the swings.
• you are a bottomless pit! you eat so much- all the time, anytime. its hilarious, actually!

love you pal! as big as the sky! xo

Photo: JeffThorburn.com

obviously i'm totally the most biased person in the world, but man my kid is freaking cute.

A few of my favourite things - September 2011

This moment - 2011-09-16

better late than never, right?


{this moment} - a friday ritual. a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary moment. a moment I want to pause, savor and remember. (inspired by soulemama)

 

love love love

I feel like it's been a really long time since I have bought new clothes. Ever since Finn was born, it's just not been the top of my priority list- partly because it took me until the last few months to loose the last bit of baby weight, and I definitely didn't want to buy bigger things (staying optimistic that I would one day be back down to my pre-baby size), but also I just feel like there are SO many other things to buy now. Things I mostly want to buy like,  a new house or a new couch or a westfalia camper van or super cute things from etsy, As well as things I wish I didn't have to buy, like... electricity. Whatever the reasons, I have much pent up fashion wishing going on now that fall is almost here. As I have mentioned before, fall is my favourite season- warm scarves, lots of jeans, cardigans, boots (oh how i LOVE boots!!), beautiful jackets and endless flannel. All of my most favourite things!!

Here is what is catching my eye these days... (All via my Pinterest)

the best bread!

one of my bestest girlfriends recently celebrated a birthday- i am usually not so great at thinking of gifts for people- especially those that have so many wonderful things all ready, so i struggled with what to get her. I recently found an incredible bread recipe that has literally changed my bread-making life. It is an easy (and impressive) bread to take to dinners or make for slightly special meals at home. it requires a little bit of planning, 4 basic ingredients, and a ceramic or cast iron pot, but the result is the most perfect, chewy, moist and delicious bread! so i figured why not share this recipe (and its needed supplies) with my sweet friend on her birthday. It made a personalized gift that had meaning for me, and therefor, passed along meaning to her too.

A gift ready for a wonderful friend

No Knead French Bread (From The Essential New York Times Cookbook)
Ingredients:
3 cups flour (any kind is fine, but unbleached white gives the BEST french bread taste!)
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp cool water (more or less as needed)
Cornmeal (or wheatbran) as needed

Directions:

• Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. 
• Add the water and stir until blended; the dough should be shaggy, moist, and sticky. (I usually need to add 1/2 cup more water.)
• Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 12-18 hours at room temperature. (I usually make this the night before we want to have- around 8:00pm, and then the timing works out to have fresh bread for dinner the following day. I know this makes it sound like a lot of work or a high maintenance bread, but i assure you, its simple and only requires a few moments of your attention a few times over the 18 hour period. easy peasy!) 
• Lightly flour work surface and place dough on it. 
• Sprinkle with a little more flour, and fold it over onto itself twice. 
• Cover loosely again with plastic wrap and leave 15 minutes. 
• Generously coat a cotton or linen towel with cornmeal, wheat bran, or flour.
• Gently form the dough into a ball and place it seam-side down on the tea towel. 
• Dust with a little more cornmeal and fold the sides of the towel over the ball so it is covered. 
• Set the timer for 2 hours and let the dough rise 
• When the timer goes off, leave the dough as is and preheat the oven to 450 F. Put a covered 6-8 quart heavy pot (cast iron, enamel, or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. Set the timer for 30 minutes. 
• After 30 minutes, carefully remove the pot from the oven. 
• Turn the dough over into the pot. If it looks like a mess that's okay - it will end up fine. 
• Cover the pot with the lid and bake for 30 minutes 
• Uncover the pot and bake for another 15 minutes or until the loaf is beautiful and brown. 
• Cool on a rack and ENJOY! 

wrapped in a tea towel for the final rise

the finished product!

papa, finn and his stick

little buddies

we had an awesome day today with theo and his mama. it's so rad watching these little guys grow up- it's crazy to look back at pictures from our first few get togethers when the boys were just months old and compare them to the little men they are now. ugh, time flies much too quickly! we love you guys!

the boys at: finn- 3months and theo- 1 month

pretty little packages

I absolutely love wrapping presents! So much so that there have been times where I have really wished I could somehow make a career out of it! Jeff's brother Kyle is a very interesting guy with a real appreciation for things that are simple and classic. I recently found an envelope full of vintage stamps I had bought at a flea market several years ago and thought it would be cool to make this parcel for Kyle look classic- the way you envision (and wish) things that arrive in the mail would look like. Although the stamps I used didn't actually pay the postage to New Brunswick (most were from Uruguay and Australia and totaled no more than a few cents) the lady working at the post office was really excited to see the vintage stamps, and I was happy to see the end result- A classic parcel for a wonderful brother-in-law!

The Powell's

Today I had the pleasure of taking photographs of one of my absolute favourite familes - David, Kristen and Ellen Powell! Kristen and I have become great friends over the last couple of years- we met during our prenatal classes when we were both pregnant and ended up having the first two babies of the group (just a couple of days apart too.) Ellen and Finn were both born early and therefore always ended up being the littlest of the class babies, but what they lacked in size they made up for in cuteness- just look at this little dumpling! We were so lucky to have been in a class with so many amazing and inspiring women- I feel so luck to have met Kristen, her family, and the rest of the moms from our birth class. I am so grateful to have a group of incredible mom's to regularly keep in contact with and its so amazing to watch all these babies grow up together. It is such a privilege to be a part of their lives and inturn, have them apart of ours. We love you guys so much!

Here are a few of my favourite shots from the day! xo
(click to enlarge)

This Moment - 2011-09-09

{this moment} - a friday ritual. a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary moment. a moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

(inspired by soulemama)

tiny treasures - blue blanket box

I have been looking around our home and realizing we have quite a collection of treasures- you know- little things that mean a whole lot or have an interesting (or sometimes funny) story behind them. And what better place to document these treasures than here, to share with all of you!

We have this little blanket box, we use it as a coffee table. It's robins egg blue and all kinds of scratched and dented up. But I love it- and when I saw it I had to have it. A few years back, Jeff and I drove across the country and back- I have mentioned this before, but we drove from Calgary to Halifax (and everyone where in between). Just outside of Halifax is small town called Windsor where Jeff's amazingly sweet cousin lives with his beautiful (inside and out) wife and their incredible teenage daughter. Visiting them is always such a fun time (as it is with most of Jeff's family) and they have such a great way of making you feel right at home. Downtown Windsor (if you can call it that) consists of a main drag with lots of cute, kitchy shops. We ventured in to the used sporting goods/ consignment shop and found this amazing blanket box! I had been hunting for one for quite some time, but never found that perfect one (or I did but it was a ridiculous amount of money). I was quickly drawn to the blue box and opened it up to see not only was it on sale, but it was on sale for $50.00. compared to other boxes we had found, this was practically free! After a few minutes of pleading my case to Jeff about how we HAD to have it, he agreed. The old man working in the store was all too happy to see the blanket box leave. He asked if we were from Halifax- he went on to tell us that the only reason he is able to stay in business was because folks came down from Halifax to buy his items and take them back to the city- he was flabbergasted when we told him we were from Calgary and that we were going to drive this little box all the way back to Alberta. Needless to say, this little treasure, all the way from Nova Scotia, has found a loving home here in Calgary- a comfy place to put your feet or rest a cup of tea, a nice focal point for our living room, and always a great story to share with friends.

all smiles after our blanket box purchase (you can see a little corner of it between jeff and i)

jeff's mom relaxing with a cup of tea and the blanket box in fredericton before our long drive home.

home sweet home