A photographer friend sent this to me. Too funny not to share.

Making a baby. This is hilarious!
There is not one dirty word in it.

The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a surrogate father to start their family. On the day the proxy father was to arrive, Mr. Smith kissed his wife goodbye and said, 'Well, I'm off now. The man should be here soon.'
Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer happened to ring the doorbell, hoping to make a sale. 'Good morning, Ma'am', he said, 'I've come to...' 'Oh, no need to explain,' Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed, 'I've been expecting you.'
'Have you really?' said the photographer. 'Well, that's good. Did you know babies are my specialty?' 'Well that's what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in and have a seat !.
After a moment she asked, blushing, 'Well, where do we start?'
'Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor is fun. You can really spread out there.'
'Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn't work out for Harry and me!'
'Well, Ma'am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results.' 'My, that's a lot!', gasped Mrs. Smith.
'Ma'am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I'd love to be In and out in five minutes, but I'm sure you'd be disappointed with that.'
'Don't I know it,' said Mrs. Smith quietly.

The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his baby pictures. 'This was done on the top of a bus,' he said.
'Oh, my God!' Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat.
'And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider their mother was so difficult to work with.'
'She was difficult?' asked Mrs. Smith.

'Yes, I'm afraid so. I finally had to take her to the park to get the job done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a good look'
'Four and five deep?' said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement.
'Yes', the photographer replied. 'And for more than three hours, too. The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it all in.'
Mrs. Smith leaned forward. 'Do you mean they actually chewed on your, uh...equipment?'
'It's true, Ma'am, yes.. Well, if you're ready, I'll set-up my tripod and we can get to work right away.'
'Tripod?'

'Oh yes, Ma'am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It's much too big to be held in the hand very long.' Mrs. Smithfainted

putting it all out there

For most of my life I've played it pretty safe. Rarely, if ever going out of my comfort zone, as well as hardly ever taking risks. I've been thinking about this a lot recently and asking my self why? The pat answer is obvious: fear. Obviously I am scared of failing. Nobody wants to be a failure, but I am now beginning to realize if I don't step out and take some risks I may be holding myself back. Back from greater things in life. I've always liked this quote by Wayne Gretzky, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

I want to grow and stretch myself. I want to do things I didn't think I could do. I think about running a half marathon a lot, but I always have this voice in my head that says I wont be able to do it. What if I fail? What if my time is horrible, or I have to walk some... Today I am in a very "who cares" mood. Who cares if my time is horrible or I have to walk. I should be doing this for me, not for anyone else. So I will step out and sign up for a half marathon. Maybe not this spring, as I barely have 10 km under my belt, but perhaps this fall. I will do one.

I've also thought a lot of about stretching myself as an artist and with my business. I want to learn. I want to soak up new techniques of shooting, try new things in Photoshop, and really put myself out there as a business. I am in the process of registering for a 3 day photography conference in March. It will be super intense, but I also hope to come out of it with a renewed passion.

Well if you've stuck with my ramblings this far, thank you.

~Lj

holiday time!

Tomorrow morning I am leaving for sunny San Diego! At least I hope it's sunny:-) We don't have many plans but we do want to do Disneyland one day, some surfing, jet skiing, running and travel out into the country. I am dying to take some pictures and blow them up big for the house, maybe even a canvas or two. This past week has been fairly quiet. Finalizing our 2010 summer weddings, trying to convince Brooke to go to Vegas with me this spring break for WPPI, finishing an album and catching up on the housework. Here are some pics from the last week... love the new little camera... I am actually in some pics and Joel's not afraid to pick it up!







Actually now that I look at these pics, I think Elissa took at least half of them!

Until next week...

~L

The Decade of Change

I often find my myself feeling inspired after reading something Seth Godin has written. Whether it is insprired to create, push my business further or to just stop and think about things. I came across this today on his blog and thought it was worth sharing. It really got me thinking about our future and what our world will look like in 10 years.

Welcome to the frustration decade (and the decade of change)

Here are my picks for the two most important trends of the decade we're just starting:

Change: The infrastructure of massive connection is now real. People around the world have cell phones. The first internet generation is old enough to spend money, go to work and build companies. Industries are being built every day (and old ones are fading). The revolution is in full swing, and an entire generation is eager to change everything because of it. Hint: it won't look like the last one with a few bells and whistles added.

Frustration: Baby boomers are getting old. Dreams are fading, and so is health. Boomers love to whine and we love to imagine that we'll live forever and accomplish everything. This is the decade that reality kicks in. And, to top it off, savings are thin and resource availability isn't what it used to be. A lot of people ate their emergency rations during the last decade. Look for this frustration to be acted out in public, and often.
I think the coolest thing is that just about everyone gets to pick which one of these two alternatives they want to spend their time on. And being frustrated about change doesn't count as doing both.

Okay this is for real now...

Okay, it needs to be a bit re-worked, but it's a start... perhaps I'll have more time tomorrow :-)

testing testing 123

I've been working on this slideshow for a bit now and today I finally had a bit of time to sit down and actually finish it off. I want to post it to our Little Bird website, but I want to make sure it publishes okay... sooo here it is. Hopefully it works!

Life changing quotes

Well I suppose they are only life changing if you actually do something about them. I was cleaning out my mud room closet today and came a cross a Lululemon bag that had a bunch of neat quotes on it. I've noticed them before, but nevere really sat down and read them all. Well I did today, and there were so many great ones, that I thought I would share a few favourites.

"Creativity is maximized when you're living in the moment."

"Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself."

"Stress is related to 99% of all illness."

"Sweat once a day to regenerate your skin."

Mr Connor

I didn't think this shot was good enough for my othe blog, but I still think it's fun. My friend Tobi arrived yesterday morning in this car and I had to take Connor out on it.

Today I want to find richness in being and not having.

A year ago today, my best friend lost her mom to cancer. I remember it hitting me really hard. How soon we forget.

In a world consumed with the thought of never having enough and always wanting more, it hit me today that I want to be content with all that I do have. Sure there are things out there I would love (D3X maybe? Just sayin') or relationships I wish were different, but on the flip side things could be so much worse.

So today I am finding richness in just being. Being who and where I am.

instant energizer

Tonight I decided to be a wimp and not go running outside in the wind. I tried out our new treadmill for the first time and did 5 kms. It is so much more fun running outside, but I felt like I could challenge myself by doing windsprints. Can you even do windsprints on a treadmill? I know I did plenty of them during basketball in the gym, so why not on a treadmill? Anyway, it was okay.

Today I made a juice called the "instant energizer."

4 unpeeled carrots
1 apple
1 kiwi
and a handful of parsley

It tastes really yummy! It says in my book that this drink provides a glassful of brain power and heart strengtheners. Also provides enough protection to fight off bugs for 24 hours! A great energy drink to start off the day.

I'm drinking it now. Maybe it will give me enough energy to finish off my wedding album layouts!

goal #1

So in keeping with my goals for this year, I decided to try a little something different for dinner tonight.

I went to Lepp Farm Market, which I must say, they do a really good job at presenting meat. Even I was getting a little excited about it. So I picked up a roast for dinner. I have only ever done a roast in the crock pot, but I was once told that they are better when roasted in the oven. So I thought I would give it a shot.

First I had to find a roasting pan, which I didn't think I had, but as it turns out I had somehting that would do the job. I cut 8 slices into the beast and filled them with garlic. Wow, that was a lot of garlic!. I brushed some olive oil on it and salt and peppered it a bit. Stuck it in for 30 minutes at a higher heat and then left it for 2.5 hours on a much lower heat. And volia! I cooked a tasty little roast. I also did some roasted veggies and made the best gravy ever! Well the best gravy I had ever made. From the beef drippings and everything!

How could I not take pictures of this momentous occasion? I actually couldn't believe I was taking pictures of cooked meat, but I did!

Juicy juice

I have this great book called Super Juice; juicing for health and healing. My mom gave it to me, or maybe she just lent it to me, but I have really been enjoying reading all about the tremendous health benefits. There are so many diiferent recipes I want to try but right now, one of my favourites is called the "rainbow cocktail."
It includes:
2 oranges
1 lemon
1 lime
1 pink grapefruit

This little cocktail is super rich in vitamin C and A. Contains some potassium and calcium.
"The acidity of all these citrus-fruit juices helps remove some of the unwanted bacteria from the digestive tract and encourages the growth of beneficial probiotic bacteria."

They also say this is a great drink if you are doing a cleanse or if you have a hangover! Who knew?

Happy New Year!

Well here we are in 2010. A decade has passed since the big Y2K media blitz. I have heard a lot of people say recently that they can't believe ten years has gone by already. I am not one of them. So much has happened this past decade, that it seems more like 15 or 20 years has gone by. 10 years ago, we had just moved back from New Brunswick and were living on West 44th in Vancouver. I had just started working at St Andrew's Childcare Centre in Burnaby and Joel was just finishing his first semester at UBC. I was 21. Wow, that seems so young! In ten years we have moved 4 times, had two children, and I started my own business. It is hard to imagine what life will be like in another 10 years. But God has been faithful and has blessed us immensely.

As for New Year's resolutions I can't say I have any really. I have goals. A lot of goals, but resolutions seem to have a way of not happening.

I started running exactly one year ago. I hadn't run since Elissa was a baby, so I pretty much was starting from scratch. My first night out running I did 6 laps around our little park. I'm not sure how far that is, but I would venture to say it may be around 1 km. I did my first race, a 5km one in May. This year I plan on doing a 10 km race and maaaaybe a half marathon in the fall, but I may save that goal for 2011.

I also really want to cook. I want to try new recipes and really embrace good food. Although I got a juicer for Christmas, which I am loving, and it seems all to easy to throw in all my fresh fruit and veggies into this thing and just live on fresh juice.

Okay, another goal is my garden. I want a fabulous garden this year. Lots of fruit and veggies, beautiful flowers and just a really well maintained yard.

And my final goal is expanding my business. I did an all day websummit earlier this week where I learned soooo much about marketing. I am feeling very inspired to take my business up a notch.

I have a feeling 2010 will be a challenging but good year.