Porch portraits: the T family

My Mothership Photography porch portrait mini-sessions have been a huge success, and I’m just thrilled with all the results. I wanted to share some of the best pictures of each session with you.

The first session of the day was with the T family. When I saw this lovely head of blond curls, it was all I could do to contain myself — isn’t she adorable? She’s just as sweet and charming as she looks, and her parents are equally charming. They claim neither one of them like having their pictures taken, but I would have never guessed.

Tyers storyboard 1

Tyers storyboard 2

Tyers 7

When the session was over, I was hoping maybe they’d forget to bring their daughter home and I could keep her for my own, but I was out of luck.

Thank you, T family! I truly enjoyed working with you!

I don’t have too many spaces left for summer bookings, so if you would like to book a porch session, please contact me soon!

In which she remembers to thank the Universe

It went something like this…

*ring ring*

Hello?

Hey Universe, it’s DaniGirl calling.

DaniGirl! Good to hear from you! I’ve been peeking in on you lately, I’m surprised you found the time to pick up the phone.

No kidding! Each time I think I reach a new high in busyness, and think that things can’t possibly get any more crazy, they do.

It’s nice to see that your photography business has taken off. That must feel pretty good.

It feel amazing! It’s been an incredibly busy but validating month with five family portrait shoots just in the last ten days. And the clients have seemed to really love the results – one family bought a print of every single proof in the gallery.

Great stuff, DaniGirl. No wonder you’re feeling so busy. And I hear you had a blast at Social Capital this weekend.

Oh my goodness, it was amazing! So many interesting people, so many great connections. I learned a lot, met a lot of amazing people, and really enjoyed having a captive audience for a while, even if I was a little scattered in my presentation.

Mouth getting a little ahead of your brain, eh? Yeah, that happens to me, too. It’s been a busy vacation for you this year, no wonder you’re feeling a little discombobulated.

Ha, and that’s hardly the tip of the iceberg. I seem to be caught up in a whirlwind of change right now. Did you see that we finally found a new daycare provider for Lucas?

I did see that. She seems like a warm, lovely lady.

I think so, too. I really like the fact that some of the older kids who come for after-school care have been with her for nine or ten years. That kind of endorsement speaks for itself. And she’s literally right around the corner. We start with her at the end of the summer, right around the time I hope to be starting my new job. Cuz, yanno, if you’re going to change one thing, you might as well change everything.

New job, right. I noticed you were working on that. What’s up with that?

Well, remember back in 2007, you were up to your usual antics. The very month that the Canada Revenue Agency created that special social media manager position especially for me, I found out I was pregnant with Lucas. I managed to work in the position for about six months before I went on maternity leave, but then when I left they hired a friend of mine to replace me.

Right, I think you cursed me out for quite a few months on the timing of that one.

Um, yeah. Of course I was delighted to be pregnant because we had been trying for months, but I was truly heartbroken to lose that job. And when I came back from maternity leave, even though I was disappointed, I could completely understand why they didn’t want to just bump the person who had been doing the job for a year. So I took a position in another part of the public affairs branch.

And then you started managing the Army Web site and all the social media channels there shortly after that, right?

Yeah, that’s when I joked I was quitting the CRA after 20 years to run off and join the Army.

Thanks for the history lesson, but what does that have to do with your current situation?

Well, the person who took over for me in 2007 is now moving on to other opportunities and she called me up to see if I’d be interested in coming back.

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? Easy-peasy, right?

Ha, you’d think so, wouldn’t you? You’re such a joker, you know you pulled the rug out from under me again on this one.

Hey, you passed the hiring committee with flying colours. It’s not my fault you forgot to check to see whether your French levels were up to date.

Sigh, you’re right. It’s just painful that they were ready to issue a letter of offer, and now I have to pass my reading and writing exam before we can move ahead. I tell you, the last thing I expected to be doing on my summer vacation is spend an hour or two each day snuggled up with Schaum’s French Grammar and a stack of practice tests.

There’s a plan B though, right?

Actually, I’m calling it Plan E. There’s a chance they can move me to an English Essential position in another directorate and transfer me over. But I’d rather just pass the French test, because I’m not sure how solid that option is. Think you could help me out on that one, maybe make my rusty old brain a little more fluid for the next week or so?

Sorry DaniGirl, I’m just the omniscient overseer. I may be omnipotent, but it would be bad mojo if I rigged the outcome of your French test.

Okay, I suppose that’s fair. And besides, the reason I called wasn’t really about that anyway.

Oh really? Why did you call then?

Well, first to once again commend you for your sense of humour. You’ve got me going literally in circles again, back where I started four years ago if this works out.

It’s not like you haven’t enjoyed the intervening loop, though, right?

Fair enough. And that’s the other thing. I wanted to say thanks. My life may be so busy right now I’m breathless with the pace of it, but it’s all really quite good.

I’m glad you’re happy, DaniGirl.

I am, Universe. I know sometimes I call you up to bitch and complain when things are going poorly, so I thought it would be nice to drop you a line and let you know that aside from being a little dizzy at the pace of it all, I am really and truly happy right now. And I’m proud of myself, too. I think I’m on the right track right now, and I’m trying to acknowledge that out loud, if for nothing else than it will serve as a good reminder when I do something dumb to derail myself again!

Great idea, DaniGirl. It’s important to be grateful for the good things in our lives, the things that make us happy. Keep me posted on the job situation.

I will, Universe. Take care…

Project 365: Eek, slipping further and further behind!

Oh my goodness, do I ever owe you guys a post about the craziness that is my life right now. But first, I have to clear the backlog of posts I didn’t write last week. And um, maybe a few from the week before. Like this 365 post, covering a week now almost two weeks in the past. Eek!

So let’s get right to the pictures, shall we? Lacking any better segue than that, the week started as any week should: with cupcakes! (You might remember this was part of a Friday Family Fun post on how to make rainbow cupcakes.)

197:365 Cupcakes

Here’s how far behind I am – this picture is from Blog Out Loud Ottawa, which happened on July 7. It was a truly amazing night, with 21 bloggers reading one of their favourite posts to a packed house at the Prescott Hotel. I loved that this year the posts ranged from sidesplittingly funny to heartrendingly sad and covered all the ground in between. And yes, I read a favourite post of my own. And yes, I did manage to keep my shirt on this year. 😉

198:365 BOLO readers

Willie continues to grow more tolerant of Katie. I can’t say I blame him for being cautious, her head is bigger than his entire body!

199:365 Katie and Willie, the love story continues...

There’s a trestle bridge over the Jock River off Moodie that I have been eyeing for years. I finally stopped, but didn’t like much any of the shots I took except this one. I like all the triangles.

200:365 Bridge

Oh look, more pet pictures! *cough*low-hanging-fruit*cough*

201:365 Willie and Tristan drawing

This is another one I’ve had my eye on for a while. (Can you tell it’s vacation time, I’m chasing down all the pictures I’ve had stored in my head!) This 1953 Chevy is sitting on the lot at Jack May Pontiac on Prince of Wales, and I admire it every time I drive past. It can be yours for just a little under $20K!

203:365 53 Chevy

And finally, again with indicators of vacation mode — yep, I broke out the TTV contraption again. Something about daisies and TTV just go together in my brain.

202:365 Daisies, TtV

Okay, that brings me up to the middle of last week. Here’s hoping I can make a move toward catching up this week — but I’m not counting on it!

Friday Family Fun: Five crafty ideas to keep kids busy

I was in Costco the other day and they had the back-to-school supplies out already. Nooooooo! I’m not ready!!! Yeesh, summer has barely begun!

And yet, when the kids are restless, those long summer days can seem less like something to be enjoyed and more like something to be endured. For this week’s version of Friday Family Fun, here’s five crafty ideas that will keep kids engaged – for a few minutes, at least!

1. Make-yer-own sidewalk paint

I love this craft, and had no idea how easy it would be to make nor how easy it would be to clean up!! I wrote a post all about how to make-your-own sidewalk paint with nothing more than corn starch, water and food colouring last year.

Fun with sidewalk chalk paint (2 of 6)

2. Make-yer-own moon sand

Confession: we haven’t tried this one yet, but I’ve seen it all over the Interwebs this summer. Apparently, if you mix 4 cups of sand, 2 cups of corn starch and 1 cup of water, you get the equivalent of that mouldable Moon sand stuff. I think this would be really fun to try with that fancy Crayola coloured sand, which would give more than enough for each boy to have his own bin full.

3. Make-yer-own playdough

If moon sand isn’t your thing, how about some home-made playdough? We got this kool-aid playdough recipe from Simon’s nursery school years ago, and I really like how it turns out. You’ll need

1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
1 pkg unsweetened Kool-aid (the mini-ones)
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

In a bowl, mix flour, salt and dry kool-aid mix. Boil water and add with oil to dry mix. Be careful, it’s hot! Allow to cool a bit but while still warm knead with hands for about 5 minutes. Will store for up to two months in a Ziploc bag.

4. Beads

We make a trip out to the local bead store each summer. Once upon a time, I thought of beads as more of a girl thing, but I couldn’t be more wrong – all the boys I know love to make beady crafts. And you don’t have to limit yourself to jewelry, either – the boys make nametags for their backpacks and lunchbags, zipper pulls for their jackets, and even name collars for their Webkinz pets. I usually buy a big bag of pony beads and alphabet beads and some elastic cord at the dollar store, and let them choose half a dozen or so fancy beads each from the bead store, and we’re good for at least an afternoon of entertainment.

Beads

5. Rock painting

This is another one on my to-do list for the summer. You’ll need some bright colours of tempra or acrylic paint (not watercolours), some brushes, and various sizes of rocks. Tip: collecting the rocks can be a great way to waste an afternoon – erm, I mean, another way to spend some quality time with your children! You can be ridiculously fancy like Martha Stewart, or aim a little lower and just hope more paint ends up on the rocks than the kids. You can guess which end of the spectrum I fancy!

I also found this neat idea on Pinterest: Use a stamp kit, stencil or transfer to create a whole bunch of alphabet tiles made from small stones. Isn’t that a fun idea?

So there you go, that should keep the wee beasties busy for at least another week, right? 🙂 As always, please feel free to share your ideas for crafty family fun in the comments!

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

We’ve evolved a new vacation tradition in the last few nights between dinner and bed time: the porch Uno tournament. Lucas is old enough to follow the colours and numbers, and to my delight has recently showed his understanding of the “miss a turn” and “change direction” symbols. He doesn’t quite get the idea of keeping your cards private, though, and each time he picks up, and sometimes randomly, he recites all the colours in his hand: “Green, green, red, red, green, yellow, blue!”

207:365 Uno Lucas

Uno Boys 2

(I love how Simon’s eyes are cutting over to Tristan’s cards!)

Uno Tristan

Uno Boys

Uno Simon

Summer is awesome. Summer vacation is better!

What would you give up for the Internet?

I read an article this morning that said a survey commissioned by Primus Canada found that almost half (46 per cent) of Canadians would give up their television before giving up their Internet access, and 35 per cent would give up their phone to keep Internet and television access.

The survey also found that 20 per cent of Canadians would turn down $1 million in cash in exchange for never accessing the Internet again. At first, I scoffed. A million bucks? I love you guys, truly I do, but not that much. Bah. Then I started to think about it — giving up the Internet forever. I wouldn’t just be giving up Flickr and Twitter and the blog. I’d be giving up g-mail and google, and (gasp!) Pinterest! The million dollars began to seem less valuable the more I thought about it. I mean, what good does a million bucks do if you have to actually drive to a bricks and mortar bank to deposit it and actually visit a mall to spend it? The humanity!

I have to ask, what would tempt you to give up the Internet, bloggy peeps? I’d happily give up folding laundry, eating liver and country music for life, in exchange for the ability to solve arguments about actors in bad 1980s movies and to check the weather of places I’ve never visited nor likely ever would.

What about you? What’s the Internet worth to you?

Calypso winners!

Congratulations to our four winners, and thanks to all who played along. Courtesy of the random number generator, the lucky winners for blog comments are:

Karen
Rebecca
Rachael

and our Twitter winner is
Shawna!

Winners, check your e-mail for details.

Thank you to everyone who left AMAZING ideas for enjoying our gorgeous city. Many things I have done, some I had forgotten about, and some I can’t wait to try! I’m going to be clicking back to the ideas on that post for years to come!!

Thanks as well to Calypso for providing the passes. 🙂 Stand by, I’ve got another great giveaway later this week!

Project 365: A busy week of summer adventures

Yikes, I have been so crazy busy this past week that I’m a whole week behind on my 365 posts. I have managed to take a photo each day (actually, a couple of times I took more than a hundred pictures each day!) but despite spending hours with Lightroom and Photoshop, I never did manage to get a post written about them. So here’s the pictures from the penultimate week, July 1 through 7. With any luck, I’ll get last week’s pictures up by the beginning of August!

This one is the finalé from my Dog Meets Cat love story. This one is my favourite, and while I loved the idea of storyboarding all the pictures, I think this one is lovely on it’s own — the cat behind the curtain has a kind of ethereal quality that reminds me of a Nicholas Sparks / Audrey Niffenegger alternate-universes kind of love story, yanno?

191:365 Dog meets cat - finale (the kiss)

We bought a membership to the Manotick community pool (I know, we’re “club” people now, I can hardly get over myself!) and have been spending a lot of time there. Glen at OttawaStart.com used this picture on his OttawaStart guide to swimming in Ottawa – fun, eh?

192:365 Splashdown

I’ve been reading Judy Blume’s Fudge books to the boys, from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to Double Fudge. In one of the books, the boys go to the mint in Washington, which inspired the idea for a trip to the Byward Market to visit the Royal Canadian Mint, a destination none of us had ever visited. It was okay, not quite stimulating enough for the wandering three-year-old, but the big boys were interested enough in the 20-minute tour. They were a lot more interested, though, in the excellent milk shakes at Zak’s Diner (hadn’t been there in 20+ yrs!) and the visit to Sugar Mountain. In all, it was a fun day downtown playing tourist — if you haven’t done it recently, you should try! We ran out of steam before we made it over to Parliament Hill, so we’ll have to make another trek on a different day for that one.

I love composition of this photo of the boys perched on a box beside the National Gallery, lost in a sea of lilies. I also love the patiently indulgent expressions on their faces, too: I’m not particularly enjoying this, but it makes mom happy, so I’ll endure it.

194:365 Lost in the lilies

This was from our rainbow cupcake adventure day. Hmmm, I think we’re due to try this one again! *drool*

197:365 Cupcakes

We went on this massively weird road trip that was supposed to be a quick trip up to Kemptville to check out a flea market and maybe have some lunch. The flea market didn’t exist, and I couldn’t get a cell signal anywhere in Kemptville so I couldn’t rely on my iPhone map for directions. There must have been a classic car rally nearby, because at one point we gassed up and there was a 1978 corvette, and two other early 1970s vintage cars gassing up at the same station. We decided to truck on to Smiths Falls in search of other flea markets we’d heard vague reference to with no map and no real plan. We found these two old flea markets that were more junk shop than anything, but they had some fascinating stuff. It was a really surreal kind of day!

In particular, I was charmed by this set of 1960s-era salon hair dryers — remember these? I remember being terrified when the hairdresser used them on me when I was a kid. These ones even had little ashtrays in each arm rest — pure vintage awesomeness. I wanted to buy them just for the conversation-piece value of them, and Simon thought they looked like something that might launch him into orbit!

193:365 Flea market find of the day

I finally enticed Kerry all the way out to Manotick (she was fixated on the fact that she passed dairy farms on the way out – she’s such an urbanite!) and we had an excellent adventure involving burgers at the Side Street Grill, a visit to the Mill, a browse in the used book sale that goes on every day across from the Mill in the carriage shed, and ice creams and coffee for dessert. Really, despite the fact that it threatened rain the whole time, it was a perfect little wander. I’d promised Kerry a portrait months ago, and so we set up an impromptu portrait session on the dam. Isn’t she gorgeous?

195:365 Kerry

There are people who do entire 365 projects of self portraits and I have such admiration for them. I can barely stand to take one of myself every couple of months, but I did like the light in my room as I was sitting on the bed teaching myself how to better use my speedlight. (This is a natural light picture, though – the flash is on the bed with a book behind me!) I called it “Portrait of the artist in her natural environment” – with tongue firmly in cheek.

196:365 Portrait of the artist in her natural environment

One of these days, I might even take a self portrait without the camera stuck to my face…

Friday Family Fun: Calypso Water Park – and a giveaway!!!!!

It’s no secret that I love Calypso Water Park. I went on a sneak-peek tour when they were getting ready to open it last year, and I blogged about our first visit last summer. We’ve since been two more times, including on Canada Day this year. This most recent visit was our best so far, because we arrived first thing in the morning and stayed almost until dinner time, and even Lucas, the ferociously fearless preschooler, went on some of the big slides with me!

Rest assured, neither Lucas nor any of us were brave enough to try out the newest addition to the park, the crazy 10-story Summit Tower. Yikes! We did enjoy the giant wave pool, though (apparently the biggest in North America), both the Pirate’s Cove and the toddler-sized Zoo Lagoon, and I think all five of us thought the best part of the whole day was the time we spent floating down the Jungle River Run.

479:1000 Bucket dump!

So did you hear the latest Calypso news? MSN Travel has named Calypso as the best waterpark IN THE WORLD!!!! How awesome is that?

And how timely, because your Friday Family Fun post for today is offers you not only an idea for an excellent summer family adventure, but an awesome giveaway as well. Yes, my pretties, I have day passes to give away, thanks to the fine folks at Calypso!!

Here’s the deal:

  1. I have four sets of two day passes to Calypso to give away. I will give away ONE set of passes exclusively on Twitter, and THREE sets of passes here on the blog.
  2. You can enter on Twitter AND/OR on the blog, but you can only win one set of passes.
  3. The contest is open from right now through 9 pm EDT on Monday, July 18.
  4. The passes are only good for the 2011 season.
  5. To enter on the blog, leave a comment below offering a suggestion for family fun, preferably in Ottawa.
  6. To enter on Twitter, tweet “I want to win #Calypso Water Park passes from @DaniGirl at http://tinyurl.com/66znjt4 “
  7. Only your first comment and/or first tweet will be counted.
  8. Winners will be chosen via the random number generator at Random.org and announced Tuesday July 19.
  9. Day passes will be sent via snail mail as soon as the winner provides a mailing address or be made available for pick-up from me.

Sound good? Good luck!

Crazy times, I tell you. C-R-A-Z-Y!

I have so many blog posts backed up in my head that I’m quite sure my brains are about to start leaking out my ears any minute now. My life is in one of those whirling dervish phases, and it’s all I can do to hang on – there’s just no room for blogging!

Here’s but a sampling of the blog posts I’ve been dying to write but haven’t yet been able (not to mention a few that I’m dying to write and probably won’t ever be able to!):

  • Child care. Ugh. Still looking for care for Lucas for next month. I thought we had a lock on a spot in a daycare centre, but it turns out that we were lower down on the waiting list than they had vacancies. I’m still interviewing, with increasing desperation. Last night I was so sick of it all I cried it out for a little bit, then shook it off and lined up three more interviews for this week. Cross your fingers for us?
  • Blog Out Loud Ottawa! OMG, did BOLO ever rock the house down this year or WHAT? The readers were this amazing mix of raw, gut-wrenching honesty and side-splitting funny and jaw-dropping insightful that it was just a roller-coaster of entertainment. I had an amazing time, despite the fact that I was starting on what would turn out to be a four-day doozy of a migraine. If you get the chance, though, you should head on over to the BOLO site and click through to some of the readers for the night. Man, we are blessed with some amazing writers here in our community!

197:365 BOLO readers

  • Social Capital Ottawa: The SoCapOtt social media conference is coming up fast! Do you have your tickets yet? I’ll be doing a co-presentation with Lara and Vivian on how to choose the best social media tools for your business, whether you’re a sole proprietor, a not-for-profit or a government department. Come on out and check us out!
  • Critters: There are many, many benefits to living out here a semi-rural community. There’s more birds, more trees, more space, more bugs, and more critters. While Willie didn’t turn out to be much of a mouser, what he didn’t take care of a trap did — let’s hope there’s no more of those! But my real concern lately is a GIANT raccoon that keeps tipping over our garbage can and green bin. One of these days I’ll get around to blogging about the time Beloved chased him away from our garbage at 3 am one morning using the swiffer. But in the interim, HELP! I am so sick of picking up picked-through garbage — what can I do to keep this bear-cub-sized raccoon from tipping over the bins? The worst part is that I’m actually thinking of not using the green bin anymore, it’s just too much work cleaning up the food bits from the curb every single week, and now he’s started tipping it over at the back of the house, too. Ideas?

There’s more, oh so much more, and I’m hoping my life slows down enough in the next week or two for me to get back around to blogging it all in real time. Really, I think I’ve forgotten how to live the life unblogged!