It's after school, we're getting out of the SUV to grab a bite to eat at Wendy's and Tim Horton's and my brother comments as he's opening my door, "You have bags under your eyes." Well, gee, thanks. I began to protest, "I do not!" And then I caught a glimpse of myself in the window reflection. Yes I did. I had bags under my eyes. I have NEVER had bags under my eyes. It just seems like everything is running a million directions lately.

We have a lot going on in our family, my Grandpa is in the hospital, my mom is busier than she's ever been in her home businesses, and my Dad is in the middle of a job transition coming up January. And that's just them! I feel like the minute I get home from classes, I rapidly change out of my uniform, take a five minute breather and dive right into Math 12 problems for the 3rd hour that day, or print off extra literary essays and questions to help me adequately pretend I know what I'm writing about when it comes to in-class essays. After less than an hour of that (don't want to lose the light!) I throw on my workout sweats and I'm out the door with my dog and my ipod. I arrive back 40 minutes later, freezing cold, (It won't budge above 0-2 degrees Celsius right now!) tired, sweaty and hungry. A shower, a snack, and back to the homework. Oh look, it's dinner. Help with dinner. Clean up with dinner. Time for more studying/reading. Oh wait, I have a business. Ah! Life, life, life!

But that's just venting. Everything is better on a Saturday. Today is Saturday and it's SNOWING!! So we're doing beautiful. It's SO pretty: the first snowfall of the year. And how perfect! On December 1st! Back to why I started this post, my brother. At the end of my week, I needed a "pick-me-up"--something to get the "bags" out from under my eyes, if you will. I managed to convince my brother to traipse around the neighbourhood with me and my camera and here's the result.

I'm just a blogging machine this weekend! 3 posts in 2 days. That's a record for sure. Last night I photographed the LIVE EP recording for my youth group, Southgate Youth. It was an awesome night of music and fun; here's some of the images!




















P.S. How do you like my new image format? I'm trying like crazy to find one I like. Any comments, suggestions??!

As a little fun, not really having anything to do with photography, thing, I've started a "favourite 5 of the month" post. This could be music, stores, food, books, wallpaper, shoes, feelings, candles, ads; Whatever I feel like! Think of it as a "Grab Bag" if you will. Here goes for November!



Banana Republic
My absolute favourite store. (At the Seattle Premium Outlets they have a killer Banana Republic Factory Store--sometimes its the first and only place I hit!) I love their classic peacoats, scarves, argyle sweaters (I love a good argyle sweater. And I just realized I'm wearing one right now.), t-shirts, dresses, blouses, dress pants, jean jackets, I could go on and on. <3



Tazo Tea
Sometimes tea is a great alternative to coffee. Especially in the fall/winter seasons, I feel like I'm drinking four to five hot drinks a day (because I am!). It's so much healthier to switch to an herbal or a green tea. Starbucks carries this brand and I adore it. My favourites are refresh, passion, wild sweet orange, and of course, a fall favourite, chai!



My New Mousepad
Ok, you may be thinking I am completely lame but that's just fine. I got this mousepad printed at Wal-Mart for $11.88 and I just love it! It turned out great and it's yet again, another way to personalize my space.





Madeleine Peyroux
Search no farther for the perfect "cozy" music. Her voice is absolutely fantastic and classic. It's so rich and full; Madeleine is definitely a talent that'll stick around for a while. It's funny how many different times in my life are remembered through the music I was listening to. I listened to Madeleine's "Half the Perfect World" on repeat during our bus tour through Europe, especially while entering France and Paris. And seen as I absolutely adored Paris and think about the city all the time; it makes listening to Madeleine extra special. My favourite tracks are: La Javanese (the French language is so beautiful!) and the title track, Half the Perfect World.

Reading
In general, I've been enjoying reading lately. In other words, I've been reminding myself to enjoy reading, to find time to read, and using lots of eye drops to keep my tired eyes open! I'm taking a preview English Literature course right now, and the curriculum spans almost a millenium of works. We start with Beowolf in 1066, with the invasion of Normandy and currently we've just progressed into the Romantic Era, studying works by Wordsworth, Coleridge and Keats, to name a few. I've been really enjoying studying an "overview" of English Literature and have developed a much stronger appreciate for poetry.

When you start to delve deeper into some of these poems and develop the skills to recognize social and political stereotypes and problems through the poet's words, it's really neat. Although a LOT of reading, and a ridiculous amount of studying to make sure the info gets into my skull and stays there, I'm not sorry I'm taking the course.

As well as reading for school, I've been making my way through a booklist compiled by photographer/entrepreneur David Jay. For the first time in 2 years, I went to our public library (hey! It's not as bad as it sounds, I do buy books, and borrow books, and read for school--I know what you're thinking...) And I've been having a blast. So far I've finished,

• "Bono: In Conversation" by with Michka Assayas
• "Love is the Killer App" by Tim Sanders
• "Good to Great" by Jim Collins
• "All Marketers are Liars" by Seth Godin
• & I'm halfway through "Naked Conversations" by Robert Scoble/Shel Israel.

That's all for now, hopefully these lists will get a little more creative as the months go on. I'm SUPER excited for this weekend as I have 3 photo assignments! Tonight, I'm shooting my youth group's live CD recording for two hours, tomorrow I have a session with two girls and their mom, and Sunday I have a headshot session with a girl I went to elementary school with. So much fun!