happy canada day!

It's been a busy month of June. I didn't even realize I didn't get to post even once within those 30 days! Anyway, first things first. I've been working on these two engagement photobooks to be used as guestbooks for our clients' upcoming weddings. You can view them by clicking on the pictures.

I love this picture of Sean and Rael. There's something very summer-y (sp? haha) about it.

This book is for Therese and Alex. I hope they enjoy it as much as we had putting it together!

June is anniversary month. We had originally planned to stay home and not do anything extravagant since we're both so busy with work but thank God for West Jet, we had a really memorable time in....

BERMUDA!

It was sooooo beautiful there!

This is Horseshoe Bay Beach and the closest to where we stayed at. This stretch of beach was phenomenal. Love, love, love the pink sand!

Can you see how happy I am?!

We fell in love with the beautiful rock formations.

....and the colourful architecture

....and the mopeds

...and the clear blue waters!

It was a very short trip but for what it's worth, it was the most memorable one of all. We love Bermuda and would definitely go back there again!

Happy Canada Day!

may madness =)

And I thought April was chaotic!

It's almost mid May and I haven't updated. I hate that it's starting to feel like a chore! Our weekends are pretty much booked with engagement sessions and we've been praying for good weather since it's been crazy the last few days. It's crazy when we get nice and sunny weather on days we couldn't shoot, and cold and gloomy on days we've actually booked for photo sessions! It's been a pain trying to coordinate schedules but at least I am now invitation-free (finished all my invite orders and won't be taking more in for awhile! whew!). Anyway, these pictures are not recent but I just realized I haven't actually posted them. These were taken during the winter so most were indoor shots around Downtown Toronto.

A loves the idea of blurred backgrounds and here, he achieved just that with the people walking around the mall making it seem like there were no other people there except for Alex and Therese. The funny thing is, he had to use a tripod for this trick and we were hounded by security guards everywhere we went because apparently, you can't use a tripod while taking a picture inside the mall. Isn't that a strange rule??

I guess don't even ask how we took this one. It was tricky!

I love the SkyWalk! I always imagined walking along here in my wedding dress.

Taken at Union Station. For some reason, this vintage looking photo is my favorite one.

Also taken at the SkyWalk to CN Tower.

Last year, I made tiny flower bouquets for mother's day. I did the same this year, but with my handmade cards.

I also made cinnamon buns. Oh how I missed the smell of fresh bread!

The night before, we were trying to figure out what to do with leftover strawberries, (2lbs. of strawberries were selling for $4! I thought it was a really good deal ). I had made a mini strawberry shortcake cake the day before which I didn't take a picture of because I felt horrified by my icing skills. I used regular whipped cream and though, it tasted amazing, I didn't think it was photograph worthy. Anyway, I guess, the point is, we had so much leftover strawberries and I had to be creative with what to do with the rest. And since we've been itching to go to Canada's Wonderland just to eat some funnel cake, here's what we came up with.

Credits to my amazing husband for his excellent funneling skills!

Here's what we had for dinner a few days ago. I love stir-frying things! Isn't it obvious? haha. Anyway, I had some chicken breast and I didn't really know what to do with it. So I marinated the chicken in salt, pepper, lemon and a little bit of cayenne pepper. I stir fried some vegetables (baby bokchoy, zucchini, baby corn and whatever else in the fridge) with a little bit of soy sauce and topped the vegetables with the fried and browned chicken pieces. Just to make it extra yummy, I drizzled some thick teriyaki sauce on top.

I guess that's it for updates! Speaking of something new, look what I have to wear.

I say I have to because the last time I wore glasses was at least 6 or 7 years ago. I love the idea of bold frames although I'm not really sure if they suite me. Anyway, I just might post a picture of me wearing them someday. For now, Prada and I have to get acquainted =)

a brand new day =)

Had a nice walk around the neighborhood today. The weather was great and it wasn't too hot to run errands. Naturally I found other things that weren't really on my grocery list. I love HomeSense! There's always so much stuff to see and explore. I could spend hours and hours there! Look what I found!

I read somewhere that this tea blend is full of vitamins and anti-oxidants and is supposed to be really good for you. It was $6.99 for 14 tea bags and with a little bit of honey, it was actually very refreshing. And what do you know, the smart ladies who created this are Canadians =)

Anyway, how cute is this plate??

Are you loving the rounded corners?? Me too! Anyway, it seems I'm addicted to cute ceramic plates. I had to stop myself from buying all the dessert themed plates they had in store!

When I got home, I retried the butter chicken recipe.

Just for kicks, I added some coconut milk. A said it was much better than the first time he tried it. (Of course he would say that! haha!)

Back to work tomorrow! Sigh!

love, love, love...love!

Weeks of listening to Sara's Gravity and JM's Heartbreak Warfare, well, what do you expect? I was depressed as hell! (what does that actually mean?? haha...so typical of me =P). Anyway, I'm glad to announce the depressing air has lifted, thank God to Sara's feel good song, Bottle it up. Go ahead. Have a listen.

See...what did I tell you? Do you feel better already? I do! Learning to play this with Taylor has been fun =)

Anyway, here are some things I've been doing the last couple of days...

This is salmon, pan seared in butter and garlic. Didn't I mention before how much we love salmon? But why stop there. I had some tiny scallops I've been meaning to use and what better way to cook it but as a side/saucy type dish thing. Anyway....I made gravy from the juices of the salmon and garlic and butter (add a quarter portion of a chicken cube and add a little bit of flour, stir with a whisk and voila!) and cooked the scallops in it. The result was this =)

Wedding cookies! I couldn't very well stay with one simple design. I tried, I really did. But I get bored of the normal things and decided to add more colours and styles and this is what I got. Can you guess which one I originally wanted them all to be? It's the most similar style =p

And my first time working with fresh boutonnieres. Aren't single cream roses so elegant all on their own??

I'm loving a new font family, I'm sure you can tell =P But no, I haven't abandoned my original font family! This one was called Hannibal. How bizarre?!

It's the three month itch and though, we cannot afford to travel anymore (no more vacation days + $$$) but the best thing about checking out travel websites is----it's free =P No charge for dreaming! haha! I am one obsessed travel planner! But seriously, if there is one place in the world you can go to, where money is no object and you never have to worry about booking time off work, where would you go?

I would go here...

Greece

Vienna, Austria

Venice, Italy

Paris, France

Sorry, no photo credits for these amazing pictures. I found them randomly through GOOGLE IMAGES.

Funny, I said one and yet I posted more than that. Again, dreams are free!

closed!

A month or so from now, A and I will be celebrating our second year anniversary. Two years! Wow, even I still can't believe it's been that long. I do believe I've learned many things ever since we got married. I mean, sure, we went out for three years before that, but that's not the same as actually living together. I still think there are plenty of things I don't know about A but I love how much we've grown together so far. How much more in sync we are.

And of course, ever so often, I get asked why we don't have a baby yet. And worse, I get mistaken for being pregnant. Just the other day at work, I was asked by someone if I'm expecting and I get it, whereelse would my new-ish love for cooking and baking would lead me? I'm sure our we're-still-enjoying-our-time-alone-together line is starting to get old. But that's pretty much what we've done the last two years. Who knows how often we'll get to travel once we have a little one to take care of. Not that I'm saying married people with kids don't get to travel. I'm just saying, from our point of view and our lifestyle, that it won't be easy.

Anyway, if we have a kid, which I'm sure will be in our future one way or another, we'd both really love to have a summer baby. We just think having a birthday party during winter time is too unfortunate. I mean, harsh weather, indoor parties, winter boots and coats do not exactly spell fun but whatever.

After all, there's nothing wrong about planning ahead, right?

Which basically means, the baby factory is closed, at least until further notice.

Possible re-opening from August to December =P

and that's all I have to say about that!

heartbreak warfare...

if you want more love,
why don't you say so?
(don't hate. appreciate =P)

....listening to my one true love, JM.

Okay, I know, I know. I've been away long enough, this is starting to feel like another abandoned blog. I feel bad...I really do! And not necessarily because I feel that people actually read my blog, but moreso because I feel I owe it to myself to update once in a while. It feels good to know that when life gets chaotic, there are still some things in place that will remind me of when things are not so..chaotic. And I think maybe the vacation pictures were depressing me a little bit. But I'm over that now =P We've been so busy, there isn't seem to be enough time to be depressed!

Anyway, over the course of the month, I've learned a few new things. Like this one...

I have to credit Ree's Tasty Kitchen for this recipe. Of course, my picture is not as appetizing and Indian looking as her's but wow! I was amazed at how well this recipe turned out. And I couldn't have been more excited about being able to do this from scratch.

We've also been busy with invitation orders that are all due by this months' end. Craziness, I know. I am loving the advantage of a new digital printer and amazed at the beauty and elegance a single tiny rhinestone brings. (Seriously, who gets excited about digital printing? Apparently, me! haha) I have more pictures but I am a little slow in the uploading and editing department as well.

At the end of the day, it's nice to go back to your first love....

And mine would be cake! Specifically, red velvet cake! I made this teeny tiny cake (4 inch!) as a reward for A's efforts to do some household chores but I think I made it more for me rather than for him haha!

The month is ending, and May is fast approaching. I'm looking forward to engagement pictures, cherry blossoms, sunshine and ferry boats that the new season brings!

What are you thankful for this spring season?

last stop.....Bridgetown, Barbados

Let me tell you....everything you've ever heard about Barbados, is true. It truly is a beautiful island.

We did lots of fun things. We went boogie boarding.

We saw turtles.

We lost our sunglasses. Well actually, A and my brother in law lost their sunglasses.

We went snorkeling.

We saw lots of fish.

And a parting shot. A on the boogie board.