is that a chill in the air I feel?

The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Okay, so I'll admit it - as soon as the first leaves start to turn colour, I start to think about the upcoming Christmas season. A little early, I know, but I thought I would make up this decidedly non-holiday themed pdf sheet as a reference for card orders. I had a couple clients last year surprised by the square card overages, and a couple clients this year whose wedding invitations went over the 30gram allowance. Both situations translated into higher postal costs for them. So I thought I would be preemptive this year and do the research and post it for all to download.

Let me know if you are feeling the Christmas vibe already too! If you feel like jumping the gun on the season as well, we can talk about cleaning up my inventory of the cards I have in stock. If you’re into having a variety of sizes and non-traditional colours, I can certainly accommodate you, and your budget.

home again, home again

“Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep... wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you're just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky his is to have you.... The one who turns to his friends and says, 'that's her.'”
samwilson123 at thinkexist.com ..... below is my guy & me

Well, we're back from our 7th anniversary trip. This time we went from Seattle down to San Francisco along the coast highway in a convertible Mustang. It was a blast. I have a bit of a farmer's tan now, but no burns. And we're a little lighter in our savings accounts, but I think that's why we work... to travel! I would do it all over again, except for trying to drive in San Francisco traffic. I didn't like that part. But everything else rocked.

I'd suggest Seattle Washington, Newport Oregon, Mendicino California to anyone. They were all great and had different things to offer. In particular, I loved the Glass Beach where we found sea glass. I guess the area used to be a dump, and when they cleaned up the dump all this sea glass was there. People have been lugging it out of there by the bucketfuls for decades, which begs the question... why isn't it regulated? oh well. The other strange thing we noticed was the size of the meals - HUGE! Do the restaurants think we don't eat for the rest of the day? It was amazing. I think one place in Seattle (The Pink Door) served a normal size meal that was actually finish-able. Everyone was incredibly friendly (even in San Francisco!) and it was hard to take a bad photograph. The weather was great, until Healdsburg, where it was 100F (so sayeth our car). We just went from tasting room to tasting room and art gallery to art gallery to keep out of the heat.

It was a great trip, and we got to finish it off by picking up our dog, Maggie, from my parent's place. We were both really happy to see each other (thanks Mum for taking care of her and giving her snuggles!) And we're both really happy to be home again. Although I could go for someone else making my bed and cleaning up after me every day! ha!

Out of Pocket

On holidays from Sept 12 - 21. (A great excuse for a photography extravaganza from the Oregon Coast down to San Francisco!)

thought I would include the photo I took at a wedding I attended Sept 6th. I believe this is a Harvest Moon. I had to capture it (as best I could) as my husband and I got married under a Harvest Moon as well. Best wishes to the newlyweds!

summer wedding

Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that. ~Michael Leunig

My old friend Pat got married to a lovely lady this past weekend. Although I didn't get the best photos, I did catch a few that PhotoShop just made better (I love tweaking in PhotoShop). There was a scary photographer lurking in the background of this one, and I cloned him out of there, along with the wall sconces and the ribbons galore.

I tried viewing the wedding with my camera up to my eye, but still able to take in the moment as monumental in Pat's life. Although it was a little hard with the DSLR (it's heavy, and therefore distracting), I did catch a few really heartfelt moments that made my heart go pitterpat. When he pulled a tissue out of his pocket for his bride during the vows, when he closed his eyes as she said her vows, both of them fiddling with their rings after they were put on. And then I had the "ah, this is going to turn out great" moment when they gave each other a high-five after they were proclaimed and did the first kiss. A very intimate moment between the two of them (it's probably something they do all the time and never give a thought to it) and it was on display for us to see.

I didn't attend the reception - I was a B list attendee and as such didn't want to impose on them to pay for an extra dinner at short notice, nor on my husband to attend (he's not much for crowds of people he doesn't know). So I chatted a wee bit with the people I did know, and met a nice lady who made the cake (too bad I couldn't chat more with her; she seemed really nice!) and went on my merry way. A lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Congratulations, Pat!