My first photo book

I have been married for 1 year and 5 days and today, finally I am sitting down to put together my first ever photo book with our wedding photos. Yep, I haven't even printed one photo from the most glorious day of our lives. Fail.

So the photo publishing website comparison is on :

Shutterfly: after looking at the options, pricing, ease of use, look of book etc etc etc I thought that Shutterfly was the one for me. I went to their site, and they are having a 30% off sale, and offering free prints. nice!

MyPublisher: I decided to quickly cruise over to Young House Love to check out some older posts of John and Sherry reviewing their experience with My Publisher and was surprised to see that the side is advertising on their blog, and offering a 50% off deal at the mo'

I'm SOLD (cheap date I know)






It's still early in the game, but as it seems there is a deals war on in the photobook publishing world right now I have an account with BOTH sites... we will see how it goes HAH





FYI: I actually google searched quite a few websites, hoping to use a Canadian one, but narrowed it down to these two sites thinking I'd go a little easier on myself. My relationship with internet/photo editing/trying new things on computer is a want/hate kind of thing. These two are user friendly, and used by bazillions of people, so how hard can it be?

New Directions! (again)

So I've already blogged about my design dreams for this ole Avion trailer here and here, and am about to do it again here.

Basically what it comes down to is this. When I forced my ever tolerant hubby to read my blog so that I could feel some satisfaction (you know what I mean) he saw this photo and just said "oh barf" that's all.
Like he wasn't surprised, and knew he had no say in the matter but that didn't stop him from verbal diarrhea-ing his initial reaction.

And, from an outsider's point of view (by outsider I mean person without appreciation of character, collections and well aged stuff) it probably does actually look like actual diarrhea (I had no idea how to spell diarrhea until now. 0 for 2 on that one, thanks spell check).

I was pretty glum about it and for a few days thought to myself over and over again "oh well, I'm the one that's going to do all the work anyways (so not true) and, whatever, he's a man. As long as he can eat, poop and sleep in there he won't care what it looks like anyways."

Urgh. even looking at this photo makes me want to go out and thrift the shit out of the Lower Mainland and buy mix matched rugs, macrame and lace. Also to paint the cupboard doors with floral gypsy designs.

Anyways back to the new new direction. After a few days of stewing, I realized that all of the layers of decor required for the gypsy theme, layered over by the necessities of daily life (dishes, laundry, towels, computers, dog, puppy etc) would turn this small space into a teeny tiny claustrophobic space. me no likey.

So I went to Fabricland to look for inspiration once again (great deals right now by the way). I could go for the whole bedspread as inspiration thing and bloom out from there, but whenever I see that in new RV's I just feel like it's tacky. More than one fabric in 2 colours for me please.

And then I saw some reds, buttery yellows etc etc and got started on a primary colours but vintage muted train of thought and da da da daaaaaa.... HBC blanket inspired.
Maybe it's my coffee mug                                                      this photo

 or upcoming Canada Day that got me there but there I am. 

and what does Quincy think of all this? I got an optomistically toned "well, that would be better than the one before"

While google image searching the map above I also found this...
Does it get any better than that folks? one HBC inspired canoe for me please! Seriously, I think they should give me everything that I can handle in the green red yellow and black.  

 This little collection came from here

Photo Schmotos

Some more Axel and Buster goodness. I Apertured the shit out of these by enhancing colour, tweaking temperature highlights and lowlights.

Buster Burr

 

Buster is officially a resident of the Burr Gypsy Train!!

Saturday Quincy and I woke up, had a bowl of Cheerios and started the drive out to Clinton BC.  

We brought Axle, and my camera with us and 3 long hours of unbearable anticipation (and a stop off at A&W for Axle bribing burgers) later we arrived at the North Road Trading Post, the store of both Axle and Buster's breeder.

Buster here was Raymond''s favourite pup of the litter and he was sad to see him go... 

Axel too was sad to see him go. With us that is. 

Even four days later Axel is just starting to lose the pouty face and we are seeing a glimmer of his old self again. He has not been pleased with the new arrangements one bit.

To his credit, he has tolerated the annoying little gnat without a temper and even tried playing with him a few times.

He is sooo cute and sweet... I'm sure Ax will come around soon.

I'm telling ya, this pup is an absolute gem. He snores, grunts, talks while he eats (and when he's not eating), cuddles and sleeps a LOT which has been great so far!

Thanks Raymond for 2 of the greatest dogs around!

this post took me 3 days to make happen!! damn you multiple photos, out of date firefox and computer demonds. damn you to hell.

For the Record

Oh, and for the record my blog was brown last week... and this week it is grey polka dots! grey because our trailer is silver (trying to colour coordinate here!) and polka dots because my Baba Helen LOVES them

Obsessions: The first edition

So. Finally. I am motivated, ready and willing to try a link up.

Mrs. Saige Wisdom - my only follower and the only person who even knows about my baby-sized blog I'm doing this for you... and the things that I am obsessed with of course. 

1. Honduran jelly things. I call them jelly because that's what Gerardo called them, he is the bastard that got me hooked! While in Honduras last winter, I became obsessed with the variety of wierd jelly/candy treats to be found in stores everywhere. Typically consisting of jello, and wierd congealed/gelatinized fruit. eeew. They are kind of gross in an oddly satisfying and fascinating way. This week I discovered one of the jelly products that I was hooked on in SUPERSTORE! I bought an 8 pack, in the afternoon.. and maybe I ate them all by the time I went to bed. maybe.

After multiple google searches this is the closest rendition that I could find of what the stuff looks like before it enters my belly. Superstore, Asian foods. That's pretty much all I can tell you about the actual product


2. horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses
    horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses
    horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses
    horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses
    horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses horses

 If you saw my wardrobe of t-shirts in grade six you would understand. And before you ask, yes my mom did put a ban on my use of horses as a topic in any school projects throughout my elementary/middle school years. Teachers were notified and everything. I can't believe I just said that.


WOAH while trying to find a photo of one of my infamous tees, I stumbled across a plethora of websites specifically marketing ... like... THOUSANDS of horse t-shirts. Can you say new post topic/shopping spree? because I can.

3. puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy 
    puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy
    puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy
    puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy
    puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy
    puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy

If you had read one post back and you would understand

I saw a pit-bull jackrussel terrier at the dog park today... Why oh why wasn't I carrying my phone?!  Tell me, what do you think it looked like?

 



4. Kimchi

Yes, we buy this stuff by the box, and would eat it everyday if we did not have voices inside our heads telling us it's bad for you. It's Ichiban with the perfect amount of spiciness, and it is round, not square so I can fit it into one of my perfectly sized pyrex bowls and microwave it! I like mine to still be a little crunchy when I eat it. How do you eat yours? I know you love Ichiban too... who doesnt?!

Newsflash: I just ate some for breakfast.

 
5. Also, I've been buying my dog a LOT of fast food hamburgers for Axle lately. I guess it's only fair that I get to have one too, right? seriously... I've put close to 15000 km on my truck in the last 4 months... I feel entitled to drive through joints while I'm on a mini-roadtrip. Crap.

6. Oh yeah, I'm also obsessed with Pyrex and have an extensive collection. While we're talking about collections lets just quickly mention my trunks, fish bottles, vintage glass bottles/jars, birdcages, polaroid cameras, vintage stationary/cards, fabric, bedding (Wierd, I know. I live in a camping trailer and have 2 sets of sheets and a duvet for like, every size of bed that is available). Maybe I should save the collecitons for another Obsessions link-up. Or an episode of Hoarders.

                                                   STORAGE WARS IS COMING TO KELOWNA

                                        Ahh feels better to get all of that stuff off my chest...

Latest and Greatest

So Silvando (still testing) has really been dominating this blog for the last little while eh? Little did you know there is a lot of other shit going on at the moment as well.

 I have been riding A LOT and am LOVING IT

-Monty, Flame and Kayna are all in Summerland, and happily so. Monty and Flame have been getting lots of time on the trail and in the arena, and I have had a blast riding them with my new horsey friend Gin. Kayna just recently re-joined the crew as her 'pre-sale trial' fell through, through no fault of her own I am assured, they just decided best not to purchase another horse at all (Whaaaa???? don't want more hayburners in the backyard? unheard of!) One of these days I will photograph them for you. Monty has been an interesting fellow as always, but you wouldn't know becasue I haven't bothered to post about him yet!

While on the trail, I have been closely stalked by a rather large coyote twice! I've never had this happen before, and it is quite unnerving. You can see the big boy (or girl) in the photo above... warning: object in photo is closer than it appears - srsly! the second time it came so close that my friend and I could see the coloration on it's nose! ... and then we called Frank the farmer to come and shoot it... we think it was a miss but will be out there again soon to see if he will rejoin us and... well, we'll call Frank the farmer again.



















 Spooky accidental photo taken while trying to catch the spooky coyote on film! (I don't want to name him because we're going to 'get' him)

I got to lend some of my 'stuff' to the leading lady of Saige Wisdom for her camping inspired photoshoot last weekend. I tagged along with her on a location scout (the Kettle Valley Railway was perfection), borrowed her some stuff and even hung around for the first part of the shoot to help with styling and kid herding... although that mostly included applying sunscreen and baby holding. photoshoots = FUN/ obsessive compulsive behaviour inducing. I was having some everything must be perfect in every photo moments.

I HATE having to do laundry at the laundrymat. I just spent the ENTIRE day there and still have folding to do.

 This is the mountain of laundry that awaits....

 And this is how I feel about it....

We are picking up our new puppy, BUSTER Saturday or Sunday... WOOHOOOOOO!!

Here he is at just 3 weeks old

Isn't he a little spitfire! I have a feeling this one's gonna be a handfull.



Here's a selection of Axle photos just so he doesn't get jealous...

He has always been a nervous car passenger, until we got Dilbert the Toyota... He LOVES it! most days I'll open the doors and he naps in the back for hours and hours, snuggly and cute!

Ummm... The roof repair project is still a work in progress, but I'm taking photos as I go as though I'm going to blog about it... we'll see!

Also, we're moving to Hope, BC this weekend. Next stop on the road for the paving crew! I'm going to tag along but the horses will stay in Summerland I think. I'll still try to ride them 2-3 times per week.

I've been playing some good pranks on the paving crew, but I'll let you in on the action when I have a chance to get my hands on hub's phone where the photos are currently being held captive. 

New Directions (continued)

So I really left ya on a cliffhanger yesterday. Said I was changing my design plans and didn't tell you about my new inspiration didn't I?

Well it may not surprise you so much as you think. I'm going for a Gypsy theme!!! I am so excited to let my creative inhibitions loose on this one. I've pinned some inspirations and here are a few of them

   

The transformation is not set to commence immediately, however. We are still dealing with some of the more functional and definitely less enjoyable/clean/odour-free reno projects. Quincy is still at work unclogging the pipes from our grey water tank (the shit literally just keeps coming - you think its clear and blat. more shit). And as for me, today I started to strip the roof of the blotchy, white caulking/sealant that someone haphazardly spread all over the roof of our silvador (just feeling out some names), and will eventually hopefully reach the re-sealing stage - this time with a clear caulking and sealant. good times. You might get a little DIY post on this project in the future, I've taken a few photos and it has definitely been a learn-from-experience-multiple-trips-to-the-store kind of a project!


Until then, enjoy some blogs and a website that I came across while searching for Gypsy inspiration.




    Man in the Maze




Alison Travels




http://gawno.com/2009/07/how-to-fuck-your-interior-in-gypsy-style/






Ok, this last one is so not related to anything about this post, but I couldn't resist! who researched and wrote and published this article! who?!


http://gawno.com/2009/11/interiors-from-vintage-porn-magazines/