Images By Amanda

Making the transition

2009-02-09T22:05:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I will be making the transition over to my new blog. I have put hours into making it just right and think it's finally ready to go. This blog will continue to stay open for clients/friends to look at past portraits.

The new blog is located at:

www.imagesbyamanda.ca/blog/

Let me know what you think!

A

GORGEOUS!

2009-01-28T20:37:00.000-08:00

Well last weekend I got to meet N and her gorgeous little girl, as well as her 2 dogs and cat. It was a bit of challenge to capture her because this little munchkin can move! She is walking like it's nobody's business and is so little.

Enjoy!
A

Catchin up!

2009-01-23T22:13:00.000-08:00

Well I have been MIA for the last little while. Things have been pretty hectic (I'm pretty sure every time I post it includes that line). I'm having an issue these days balancing my full time job, being a mom, and my passion for photography. Most of this last week I was working close to 14 hour days from the time I went to work until I got home. I'm hoping things are going to start to slow down a little bit and allow me to spend more time doing what I truly love. With that I'm going to try and make a point to keep blogging more frequently from this point forward. I'm booked up for quite a few weeks so I should have lots of stuff to post.

Now on to other things, I'm working on figuring out a new way to watermark my low resolution proofs that I provide to my clients for web use. I think I have finally found something that is going to work for me and my clients, which is great. I'm going to try to find some time to update my website in the next few weeks as well. Add some new photos to the gallery and just make it look fresh. As for the fun stuff, I have 2 sessions to post today. This wonderful family was referred to me from a family member of theirs who I had done photos for a few weeks prior. The P family came to meet me on New Year's Eve. I had to squeeze them in because they were in from out of town and it was well worth it. This family is gorgeous. I don't think I could take a bad picture of these kids if I tried.

Now as most of you know I keep myself busy primarily by referrals from friends or past clients. I realize that I could advertise and probably stay much busier that I am now but I love having that personal connection with my clients. Just as the post above this was a refferal so is the next. A really great friend of mine that I met in my new mom's group back in 2007 referred this wonderful family to me. I did these photos of little T a few weeks after his 1st Birthday. He was so adorable and super photogenic. I always find this age entertaining to photograph because they keep me busy the ENTIRE time. I find toddlers are all about making you work to get that one perfect picture. Fortunately for me this little guy let me have a few.

It's a small world...

2008-12-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

Well just about 3 years ago my husband and I made the decision that we'd like to move and try out country living for a while. I fell in love with this one particular house. We went so far as to make an offer on it and have it accepted, although we did have a condition remaining before everything was final. Well it came down to that last night to remove the condition and my husband started reconsidering it because he didn't want to 'do any work'. The house basically just needed paint and new light fixtures, but in any case I couldn't sway the man so we backed out of the deal. You might be wondering why I am bringing this up and how is it relevant to my photography? Well I got a call last week from a Mom wanting me to take some family portraits for her and when it came to the part where I asked her for her address... I was shocked. The house that my husband and I refer to as "the one we let get away" (although it should be 'he let get away') was where I was going to be taking portraits the following weekend. Well after seeing the house I fell in love all over again. I might have even freaked them out a little bit because I remembered a lot about the house and was amazed by how wonderful it looked with their touches. The E family have turned the house into a true home and their little boys absolutely love it. I was so happy to be able to meet them and take their portraits. Their family is absolutely gorgeous and the boys are total characters. Here are a few of my favorites, although I had quite a few.

A

My little monster

2008-12-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to share my new favorite picture with all of you. Yes I am likely biased since this is my little man...

UPDATE!

2008-12-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

Well I've been back to work for just over 2 weeks now. Life has become pretty hectic. Early mornings, late nights, and not having much time to worry about anything other then finding time to hang out with my little guy. Amongst all of the chaos and sleeplessness I'm still finding time to fulfill my passion for photography...

I had a friend call me a few weeks ago asking me if I would come by and take pictures of her new arrival. Some of you may remember little E who is one of the first faces you see when you go to my website. Well little E is now a big sister to a beautiful little girl! Here are some of the pictures from the session.

Just when you think you've got it figured out...

2008-11-09T12:49:00.000-08:00

Well I am heading back to work full time. Just when you think you have things figured out, they change again. I'm going to be starting on November 17th and in turn will be only booking sessions for weekends or the odd evening. I will do my best to accommodate all requests for portraits and still hope to maintain a thriving photography business so that maybe one day I am able to make it a full time endeavor.

Thanks!
A

Changes...

2008-11-05T23:25:00.000-08:00

Well just when I accept things the way there are I get a phone call. I went for a job interview with an affiliate company to the initial company I was hired with today. So we'll see how that goes. Either way, I'm good with whatever happens and have faith that it will all work out how it's meant to in the end.

On another note, I had a newborn session over the weekend that turned out great. I had to make the big trek out to Spruce Grove but I'm so happy I did. It was great to meet S and A with their little girl E. She was absolutely gorgeous and cooperated amazingly throughout the session. S called me tonight after viewing her pictures and I definitely hung up with warm fuzzies after hearing how much she loved them. I've added a few of my favorites for you to look at.

A

What's truly important...

2008-11-02T21:43:00.001-08:00

Over these last couple weeks I've had a lot going on. The full time job that I am supposed to be starting tomorrow has been put on hold due to the upset in the economy. The project that I was supposed to be going to work on has been put on hold indefinitely and so has my job. The real estate market has died off and the desperate sale of my house that I have been hoping for isn't looking too promising, hence the house that we decided to build in March may very well be somebody else's new home soon. I'm trying to learn to take it all with a grain of salt. There is a lot of money at stake but it is pretty much out of my hands. When we began the whole process in March never once did we think the world economy was going to crash and that I would be out of work. It's amazing how times like this can really make you assess your life and what is truly important. My mom came to visit last week and I got pretty upset talking to her about the situation and she said to me "Amanda, it's just wood on dirt" and I thought to myself yea wood on dirt with a lot of money involved but as I got to thinking she made me realize a lot of things. At the end of the day I'll still have a roof over my head, food on my table, my son will still be healthy, and I will still be in a great marriage. It's been a long struggle but I've realized that things happen for a reason and if this just wasn't meant to be for us right now then I should just let it go. My 16 month old son has no idea that anything is wrong and he keeps living his life. He would be just as happy living in a cardboard box as he would in this house or in a fancy new one. When I look at him and realize this I wonder when I allowed my life to be so complicated and to get to the point where I've lost site of what truly is important to me. I might not be starting work for a big company with a fancy job title tomorrow but my other full time job as 'Mom' is 10 times more rewarding and I get to do what I love in my spare time, taking portraits of great people.

Here are a few from a session that I had about a week ago.

A

In the wilderness!

2008-10-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning I met a friend of mine and her family at the Strathcona Wilderness Center. Although it is only 5 minutes from my house I had never actually been there before. Permitting I can talk future clients into making the drive, it is going to be one of my new favorite spots! I grew up in Fort McMurray amongst the trees and trails and it actually reminded me a lot of that. Although I live a bit out in the country, I am surrounded by farmers fields and not so much 'forest' so it was nice to go out there and smell the fresh air and walk some trails. There was a lot of frost on the leaves and it was kind of cold so we literally only spent maybe 20 minutes taking pictures before her little guys nose started to resemble rudolph. Thankfully I was able to accomplish a lot in a short time.

A day of real estate decisions, health and safety, and PICTURES!

2008-10-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a pretty crazy day for me. We are in the process of trying to sell our house so that we are able to move into our new one before Christmas. It's been a pretty stressful process so yesterday morning we met with our realtor and did a major price drop to see if we could spark some interest. We'll find out in coming weeks I guess whether or not it was drastic enough! Then I had a meeting with my 'new' manager as I am getting ready to go back to work full time as a Health and Safety Coordinator on November 3rd. People often wonder why I would bother to go back to work in my day job because I "take such amazing pictures" but the truth is ladies and gentlemen it just doesn't pay remotely as well as my day job does. I will continue to take photographs part time but will have to limit my business to weekends only and perhaps some evenings where it might be convenient for my clients. I truly love taking portraits of people, it gives me some sort of sanctity and personal fulfillment when I send people the links to their web albums and I get an email back stating how happy they are. Anyways, after both of those meetings I rushed home just in time to meet up with an amazing family!!! I absolutely love taking pictures of new families. There is something so great about the feeling you get when there is a new baby around. We had a lot of fun taking pictures and managed to have a few laughs. It was great meeting L and A and there little girl S. We hit it off well right away and it definitely came through in the pictures.

Family fun!

2008-10-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I know it's been a while since I've gotten around to adding anything new. Things have been pretty hectic to say the least but I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I'm posting some pictures that I took a few weeks ago. They are of a wonderful family that stumbled across my work and gave me the pure pleasure of photographing them on a bright and shiny Saturday afternoon. I have so many pictures from the session that I love that I had a hard time narrowing it down to just a few. I ended up picking pictures pretty much at random to post. I truly enjoyed this session and I hope to work with 'A' and her beautiful family again in the future. This session included grandparents, aunts, uncles, children, moms, dads, etc. in one way or another and was a lot of fun.

A

Some fall fun...

2008-09-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

Well I thought I would post some more personal pictures that I have taken recently. The first few pictures are from mine and my friends zoo adventure last week. The kids seemed more interested in the guinea pigs then any other animals there. The weather was hot and it was a great day. The last few pictures are from a random photo session we decided to have while going for a walk in summerside last week. I attempted to get some nice fall leafy shots of the kids but Liam had other plans in mind and spent most of his time running away. Scarlett spent most of her time eating things and tasting stuff while I made every attempt to prevent her from doing it so I could take a picture while my friend chased Liam around.

All caught up!

2008-09-21T21:26:00.001-07:00

Well I am finally caught up on all of my pictures. I still have a little bit of editing to do but nothing major. I have been so busy lately with other things in my life in addition to getting sick that I hadn't really had much time to focus on my photos. Now let's get to the good stuff......

Yesterday morning I had the absolute pleasure of photographing a friend of mines fall family portraits. She is an absolute riot to be around and when I got to her place she had a location all picked out for pictures so I followed her anxiously down the road to see where we would end up. Never in a million years would I have come up with this 'secret' location but the pictures turned out great, although a few pictures required some creative photoshopping to remove background objects. *haha, oh wouldn't you all love to know* She is thrilled with the pictures and I am as well. There were so many great portraits to choose from it was hard to narrow it down to a few for my blog. When I do a family session I usually pray for that one really nice family photo where everyone is looking at the camera and smiling, this time I had about 10 of those.

Ladies and gents... Amanda has once again got her mojo back.

Family...

2008-08-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was all about family for me. I went to visit my brother and his beautiful family and took a few great pictures on our trip the park. It was a ton of fun and the kids had a great time at the park. The last picture is my sis-in-law removing 'Dora' lipstick from my nieces face that she decided not only belonged on her lips but about an inch of area surrounding them too. Fun times...

This is my 3rd session of the week and I have another one this afternoon. I'm on a roll with the blogging this week too, probably because I have so much to post!!!

I <3 this little girl!

2008-08-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well I went to visit my bff today and decided it was about time I took pictures of my self proclaimed niece. She is a cutie and sooooo funny. When she wasn't eating the props she was wiggling away. I had a blast and can't wait to take more pictures of her as she grows up.

A

2 posts in one day! what?!

2008-08-25T20:35:00.001-07:00

So this is a session that I did with a good friend of mine this morning. It was all about having fun and just capturing whatever I could amongst it all. I managed to catch a beautiful shot of my friend too, although she doesn't approve of it. I think everyone should comment on how beautiful she is! haha.

A

So much blogging to do!

2008-08-25T17:05:00.001-07:00

Well as some of you have already noticed, images by amanda got a new logo! I absolutely love it and paid a pretty penny for it too. I sent my information to a company to get some new business cards designed and with that new design came a new logo! The only issue that I have with the business cards is that the designer messed up on my web address and now I have 500 business cards that say imagesbyamanda.com and not .ca which sort of isn't cool. I've figured out a way to sort of mend them until I am able to get new ones printed.

On another note, I've got lots of pictures to post! The first pictures are from a session that I did last week in Leduc. The weather didn't cooperate with us so we had to do all inside pictures but we made do with what we had. Little J is 7 months old and one of the happiest little guys I've ever met. He was a bit challenging at times because he can wiggle really fast! In order to solve the movement issue we decided to put him in the wash tub which he absolutely loved. I think he would have sat in that wash tub for hours playing had we let him. Well here are some pictures from the session...

Uhm yea... he was a cute kid and the pictures are great so I had a hard time narrowing down favorites! haha.

Still more to blog..... I'll put it in another post though.
A

One little princess...

2008-08-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a few weeks since an update. I've been keeping busy and working on getting busier. I've been going to job interviews and will actually be going back to work full time in September. As much as I would love to make a full living from taking pictures, it just doesn't pay as well as my regular day job. Well that and I can't afford all of the really nice photography gear that I want unless I go back to work and make some money to buy it! I am going to continue to take photos on the weekends and maybe even some evenings if clients request it. I love photography and hope to one day be able to do it full time but for right now, the safety industry is calling me.

Now on to other more fun and wonderful things! Last week I had the pleasure of photographing a beautiful little girl with red hair and BIG blue eyes. She is absolutely gorgeous! The session was great and although as an outsider looking in you might not have thought it was an easy session, the pictures turned out amazing. This little girl is as photogenic as they come.

Enjoy!
A

Back at it...

2008-07-26T22:58:00.001-07:00

Well it's been a few weeks since I've had a session. I was out of town with the family for a while and had a few other things keeping me busy but I was able to get back into without a hitch! Well other then it being 29 degrees outside and I was chasing a 1 year old in jeans and a black shirt, can I say stupid me? As for the session itself, this little guy was a total character! He was so fun and kept doing such funny things that I ended up with over 250 photos taken by the end of it!! Safe to say I narrowed it down, A LOT. I have a ton of favorites from this session but here are a few for your looking pleasure!

A

Frustration...

2008-07-08T22:20:00.001-07:00

Well I have officially had my first breakdown of utter frustration with my work. I had a session booked this past Sunday and was really looking forward to it. It was for a friend of mine whose son is now 1! Woohoo... It was really important to me to take some amazing pictures for her. Shortly before I got there little boy S smacked his head pretty good (the joys of starting to walk) and we had a bit of a goose egg to deal with when I got there. Not only that my son is experiencing some serious separation anxiety and it took him a nice while to calm down before I could even begin. The shoot went fairly well, although I've learned white backdrops can make little boys act silly. After getting home and reviewing the pictures I immediately felt they looked less then mediocre at best. I had not captured at all what I was hoping to and so I approached my friend and asked her if I could do a reshoot in order to truly capture S in his element. We did the reshoot this afternoon and it seemed to go much better. It's true what they say you are your worst critic.... Below are some pics from both sessions.

A

New Website!

2008-07-07T23:41:00.001-07:00

Well I have something HUGE to blog about... I now have a website! It took a bit of work and more cash then I hoped to spend but I LOVE it!!

You can check it out at... www.imagesbyamanda.ca

I'm looking for feedback so let me know what you think.

A

M.I.A.

2008-06-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

Yes people I have been M.I.A. for quite some time now. Those of you that know me well know that I've got a tremendous amount of chaos surrounding me right now and my blog has been put on the back burner for a few weeks. I've got 2 sessions that I have yet to post about so you are in for some exciting times! haha jk. The first session was a few weeks ago and it occurred right after little J's pics in my last post. B is probably the most relaxed and laid back child anyone could ever meet. I swear there is nothing that phases this kid. He is a lot of fun and loves to clap his hands. He's not one of those kids that will give you the big toothy grin, instead he gives you his own little grin, lips together and the corners turned up a bit. I really enjoyed my session with J and B, and it was especially fun since their mom's are great friends of mine. Below you can find some pictures of little boy B whose stink face will forever make me laugh.

Next we have enchanted little E. She was so much fun to watch run around and play while I tried to capture her in her element. I honestly will say that she has been one of my most challenging subjects so far, why you ask? Because she is now a walker... You would think that a person of her size wouldn't walk/run very fast but this little girl can move. I had such a hard time narrowing down some of my favorite pics for the blog. It was such a fun session.

And with that everyone, I now have an updated blog... for today. I've got 5 sessions booked over the next couple weeks so hopefully I'll have a lot more to share with you then.

A

In need of a break...

2008-06-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already been a week since I updated my blog. I have been so busy with courses and getting the house ready to put up for sale. I am finding it hard to keep my head above water these days. In the mix of all of this stuff I managed to do 2 photo sessions simultaneously. I only have one set of photos ready to go so lucky baby J will be the first few that I post. It was organized chaos with 3 boys all weeks away from turning 1 running a muck while I attempted to take pictures. I'm going to attempt to get an actual website up and running once things calm down a bit. I've already got another email waiting wanting to book some pictures. If only this paid as much as my day job does.

Enjoy!

A

Fun with a garbage can? huh?

2008-06-03T10:26:00.001-07:00

Well this past weekend was a busy one for us. My husband's sister and parents came into town for the weekend. His sister with her 3 children ranging in ages from 3 months - 3 years. They were staying with his Aunt and when I showed up she told me she'd like to get some pictures done. Fortunately for me I had brought my camera in hopes of getting a picture of all of the kids together. Being sort of in a bind for props (she wanted a beer tub baby picture) she managed to find a not too shabby looking garbage can at my husbands Aunt's place. So we proceeded to take some pictures of the baby in the garbage can and some other random shots. Enjoy!

A

The garbage can is NOT just for babies apparently, haha.

More babies in buckets!

2008-05-30T22:13:00.001-07:00

So I had the liberty on Wednesday of photographing a beautiful 11 month old princess. It was a really fun experience although the challenges of photographing a child that age is beyond what the average person would expect. I definitely had to be quick on the draw to capture the moments that mattered. I really enjoyed the session and am hoping to get a few referrals out of it!

From babies in buckets to the rest of the world! I just need to figure out metering first. ;)

A

Oh what a night....

2008-05-25T18:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the honor of participating as an official photographer for the Relay for Life in Edmonton with some other members from my DLS workshops for ticdesign. It was a great time overall and although I'm quite tired today and my feet hurt a little bit it was worth every minute! The entire evening was a whirlwind of emotion from tears to laughs to cheers. It was great to hear the stories of those that have battled cancer and survived to tell about it and sad to hear the stories of those lost. I have had people in my life battle with cancer and survive and also know people that have battled cancer and after a long hard fight... have lost. It is a silent killer that can creep up on people out of no where festering for years before being discovered. We can only hope that one day all of the efforts put in to fighting this disease will prevail and there will be an unbeatable cure. I will forever cherish the opportunity I was given last night and can only hope to be asked again in years to come. It was a true honor and pleasure to be there.

A

Here are a few images I took at the event. The rest of my images will be posted in a web album at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/amandarmccrea

Rubba dub dub

2008-05-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got around to taking some pictures of the new wash tub. It was an experience in itself with a son that wants to do nothing but stand up all the time in his attempt to one day maybe walk. I've been reading up a lot of photoshop lately trying to get the hang of it. With this particular picture I wanted to give it a sort of old fashioned look which is why I softened it. The wash tub I bought is also white and I colored it blue. It actually turned out pretty good. I've also had 3 other requests from people wanting pictures done since I took the pictures of my niece on Monday. It's amazing how fast word of mouth flies. Too bad I still have a lot to learn and conquer in the wonderful world of metering. Out of about 50 pictures that I take 30 of them are to light or too dark. I'm going to go back and find the DLS exercise and see if somehow I can make some sense of it and what I'm doing wrong.

Have a great day!!

A

Babies!

2008-05-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well I did my first photo session today and it was a 3 week old baby. I'm realizing now it might have been a bit too much to chew. I had a few problems, the first was being able to get the depth of field correct. I have a lot of pictures were the mom and baby are in focus but the dad standing in behind them is out of focus. The second is an issue I'm having with photo shop and using their black and white function. Their eyes look like vampires! The fortunate thing being it was my brother, sis in law, and new niece that I got to take pictures of and I warned them not to have too high of expectations in case I should get absolutely nothing of value today. If there was nothing else I learned today it was that I have a lot to learn about portraiture.

Yay!

2008-05-15T13:21:00.001-07:00

So other then the fact that Liam has been sick for going on a couple weeks now, today was a fairly good day. We had our first birthday party for the kidlets in our New Mom's Network group this morning. I made an attempt to get some nice pictures but didn't fair so well with my attempt to keep Liam in quarantine away from the other children. Fortunatey, or unfortunately, there was another sick little boy who was also sick so Liam had a playmate for a little bit. I'm disappointed I wasn't able to take some nice pictures of the party but such is life when you are chasing a 10 month old around.

Today was also a great day because someone actually offered to pay me to take pictures of their child! That's right... pay me! I refused the money because she is a good friend and I would basically just be using her son for my own personal benefit to get some practice and maybe build up a bit of a portfolio and then slowly take over the world!!! haha jk

Stay tuned for hopefully some great pictures in the coming weeks.

A

It's a start...!

2008-05-13T23:11:00.001-07:00

Well I took a bunch of pictures today. Most of which I ended up posting on my facebook page but I feel the need to share this one particular picture. Primarily because I fell in love with it and am shocked I was able to capture him and his innocence so well. Well at least his innocence at that moment. He later bit me for the first time ever when I tried to take my cell phone away from him and I was not too pleased. We'll see if it becomes a habit...

Working it!

2008-05-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

So I decided this spring would be the start of a healthier life. I registered in a few classes to help me get there. The problem with what I have done is that Monday's I have 2 hours of cardio and strength training chaos. It is 11:30 at night and I'm feeling a bit sore. In the long run I know I will appreciate these moments of stiffness and that they will eventually subside but for right now, it just hurts.

On another note, I was talking to a friend of mine tonight about my passion for photography and how I would love to be able to one day be good enough to make some money at it. I really started to wonder after our conversation where I wanted photography to take me and how far I was willing to go with it. Ironically enough this is the same topic of the final DLS assignment that has been haunting me. I think my problem with completing the assignment is my confidence. I would love to have my own studio one day and be a widely recognized photographer but getting there seems like the impossible road. I'd be willing to settle for a modest home based business if that is where the wind takes me. The one thing I know for sure though is that I really truly deep down want to be good at it. I want people to appreciate what I do and be willing to pay me for turning their special moments into memories. I realize in order to do this I need to develop some serious faith in myself. I have a tremendous support system. My husband encourages me day after day to turn my love into a business. My friends and family are constantly complimenting me on the photos that I take and as crazy as it sounds some have even asked me for tips... me of all people! But before I can even fathom moving towards this dream I need to convince the biggest critic of all that I can do it... me. I'm working on that part... and hopefully one day I'll get there. In the meantime, I'm just going to take pictures and enjoy doing it.

A

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

Well today was my first Mother's Day and I can honestly say it was a pretty good day. I woke up this morning to a wonderful breakfast and got a really beautiful bracelet as a first Mother's Day gift. I was a spoiled lady. After relaxing around the house for a little bit we went to toys r' us and got a turtle pool for the little guy and went for supper. Once we got home we went to the park and for a nice family walk. Overall, a GREAT day. I hope everyone else had an amazing Mother's Day and got the credit you all deserve for being wonderful at what you do!

A

P.S. I just found out that I should be doing my very first newborn pictures next Monday. *fingers crossed* I hope it all works out and I manage to get some great pictures.

Busy, busy, busy!

2008-05-10T19:16:00.001-07:00

Well the last few days have been pretty busy. On Thursday I met a friend of mine at West Ed for some serious mall walking and fun. I actually met her in my prenatal class and our sons are only 10 days apart. L fought sleep and was miserable the whole time but it was a fun trip overall.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with my grandparents who will be heading back east on Monday. I had to bring the little guy to my aunt's house for a little visit and kisses good bye to his great grandparents. He attempted to conquer his fear of grass but was still a little unsure.

Then today we went shopping for flowers, plants, and trees of all sorts. We hit up the Sherwood Park Costco which was absolutely madness but got some really nice stuff which we later came home and planted.

So that is the last few days in a nutshell. Tomorrow I will be enjoying my first ever Mother's Day as a Mom! Should be a great time...

A

On my blog... Of course!!

2008-05-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

I will be the first to admit that I'm not always the quickest to "get" things. There are times when I'm told a joke that I sit there looking blankly wondering what is funny about it. Wondering if I've missed something. Usually it's just me over thinking something to the point that I'm so far gone I will never "get" it. I spend hours lying in bed at night thinking and thinking. I think about absolutely any and everything. Sometimes I think so much that it's 5am and I am still thinking instead of sleeping. It is probably one of those things that if you asked my husband to name one thing that Amanda does that drives you crazy and he will probably say think. The first reaction being wow that was rude but trust me if your brain worked overtime like mine, you'd understand. Last night I managed to get L to sleep through the night. It was great to know his sleeping schedule was back on track but at 3am I was still lying there thinking. Thinking that I should probably be taking advantage of his sleeping but it wasn't happening. And with that... I'm tired.

On another note, after receiving a message from H to go and look at a new website she had created for the Relay For Life event I felt instantly moved to send her a response to my thoughts. I have actively participated in the Relay for Life numerous times in Fort McMurray. I have always found the survivor lap to be an amazing and victorious moment. Watching everyone that has fought and beat the illness which has deceased so many. Of the entire event the part that has always tugged at my heart and moved me to tears is the lighting of the luminaries. It gives me chills and really makes me stop and realize how many have lost loved ones from cancer. My Grandfather was very ill with prostate cancer a few years ago but managed to succeed and every year since both of my grandparents participate in the Relay For Life in Newfoundland. The day I opened my email and saw the pictures of my Grandfather doing the victory lap I felt such pride and happiness that he, just like all those I had seen before, got his chance at victory. I have always feared cancer, feared it's ability to sneak up on people, feared it's ability to quickly ruin lives. Last weekend I found out a friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer 2 weeks ago. He is 30 years old and has a tumor in his chest and was rushed into chemo immediately. It is scary and can change lives that quick. It makes me happy to read about other people sharing the same passion to help fight this devastating illness. H did an amazing job on her website for the event and I no doubt appreciate every bit of effort she and everyone else put into raising awareness and funds to ensure that I am able to keep my Grandfather and my friend for quite a few years more.

A

Margarita Time!

2008-05-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was a fairly uneventful day in itself because my little guy has been suffering from a cold. I decided to keep him in from our usual Monday morning activities and we spent most of the afternoon just playing around the house. On Monday nights I usually do a water boot camp class but a girl in my mom's group came up with the idea that us mom's just get together last night for margaritas at the Earl's in Sherwood Park. I must say after last night, I love those girls even more. It was 3 and a half hours of some of the best conversation I've ever had. I can honestly say that joining the New Mom's Network after I had Liam was one of the best decisions I've ever made. We moved down to Edmonton from Fort McMurray 3 years ago now and the only friends I really had were previous friends that had also moved down from Fort Mac. Since I work in a predominantly male surrounded profession (industrial safety) meeting some nice female friends at work was never really an option. I came to realize quick making friends was much easier when I was 5! So when I had Liam I decided that I would join every and anything to try and meet some new mom friends and I definitely hit the jack pot with my new mom's group. They are tremendous support and just all around a great time!

The downfall of last night was I didn't get home until close to 12 and Liam decided to wake up at 1:00. He was then awake until close to 4:30!!! and decided to wake up for the day at 7:30. My word of the day is exhaustion. The positive of it is his cold seems to be going away and he is in an incredibly chipper mood for a kid that hasn't slept much. Here's to hoping we both can get a good nap in this afternoon.

A

Let's get it started...

2008-05-04T21:43:00.001-07:00

Well here we are. My first blog which means I am now a 'blogger'. (Are you proud of me Hope?! I now have a blog! and the title has photography in it!!) The reason I took the venture to start this blog is to share some of my photographs and just the everyday happenings in my life. I have spent the last few months of my life learning and absorbing everything that I could about the art of photography. I have taken picture after picture and deleted picture after picture. One of my biggest challenges has been my tendency to pay too much attention to detail and focus too much on getting the perfect picture instead of just letting creativity happen but it is a process and I am learning. I have faith that one day it will click and I will have a style that is mine and heck I might even be able to make some money at it...

My first photo of a flower. It is raw and unedited but I thought I'd share something with you all. Funny story about these flowers. I planted them in the fall of 2006 and they didn't decide to bloom until this year. The funniest part of it is that we've shifted the dirt around so much they are literally popping up in all sorts of random places.