All Talk

All talk, not so much action.

By the end of the day yesterday my jaw hurt from talking, stewing, fuming and contemplating.
I can be a whole lot of talk and not always a lot of action, and yesterday was no exception. So many absolutely out of this world perfect things in my life, but one that could be better and I think I am finally ready to start doing something about it.

I ran a million conversations through my head about what I would say to make them listen, how I would articulate my need for change - but nothing felt quite right. Nothing made my jaw loosen and my mind stop circling.

And then my mom responded to my cry for help by telling me to be quiet.
She wrote:

See if your jaw stops hurting and your mind turns to more interesting and fruitful topics, if the world looks differently and the old makes sense. Sometimes we need to observe for a time and then if a decision must be made, you can make it.

As soon as I read it my shoulders relaxed, my mind calmed and my jaw let it all go. For the next little while I am going to be the quiet observer in the situation that causes my frustration and be a woman of no talk and all action.

Wish me luck cause this ain't gonna be easy - I really like to talk.

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A Weekend Photo Shoot

This weekend Mr. S and I had the pleasure of heading back into high park, this time with my cousin and her husband to take photos of their amazing little girl! The weather was perfect and there was still just enough fall color to set the backdrop for a really fun and super cute photo shoot.

She is a really happy little girl, so we pretty much played our way through the park and I clicked away doing my best to capture all the sweet moments. It was the perfect way to spend our Saturday morning.

I hope you had a perfect Fall Weekend.

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Fall Colors

Between the cottage and an amazing park just a 5min walk from our house, Mr. S and I have been able to enjoy so many beautiful fall colors. The colors this year seem to be so rich and varied - deep burnt oranges, bright sunny yellows, warm reds - I could stare at them for hours.

Last weekend after a big brunch of pierogies, cheese blintzes and borscht, window shopping and hand holding, we strolled into the park on the way back to our house and spent the next two hours wandering through. Staring at trees, taking way too many photos of the ducks and marveling at what it would be like to live in one of the homes that overlooks it all.

This weekend we will be heading back to the park to do a little photo shoot for my cousin's sweet little girl. It is the first time I have been asked specifically to take photos and I am pretty excited/nervous!

Happy Weekend!

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puppy love

I don't often post photos of my family, but I just downloaded my pictures from Thanksgiving and came across this one that I took of my Uncle and his sweet little dog Tucker and had to share. Are they not the cutest?

This sweet pup will lay like that all snuggled up for hours, but really only with my uncle who he absolutely adores. You don't need to put him on a leash as long as my Uncle is around because he is never more then a few steps away from my uncle's feet - they make such a cute little team.

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Our Painting!

Happy Friday! Despite this being a short week for us here in Canada, I feel like the days have just dragged on and on... and... on...

Before we break free into the weekend, I wanted to show off our amazing new painting! Ideally I would have posted a photo from its new home on our dining room wall, but that room has now been turned into a large closet storing everything from the basement while the renos are being finished so I didn't think a photo from there would do it justice. So instead I have posted below a sneak peak of one of my favorite parts of the painting - the little sheep and lambs. I can't believe how beautifully they were captured. And to remind you of the inspiration, I have also posted the original photo below!

The Original:


Sneak peek of the painting:


I hope you have a perfect weekend. Ours will be jam packed with a family dinner (just me and my parents), furniture shopping, the hunt for a new pair of jeans (ie. slow torture), a soccer game and some walks in the park near our house. xoxoxoxox

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Palette

Before I show you the final product based on that photo I sneak peeked to you last week, I wanted to share some shots I took of the different palettes the artists at the studio where we picked up our masterpiece were working off of. Each artist had their own method - one was clean and defined, with each color maintaining its original composition, free from the influences of others - and one was blended and blurred, a variety and shades and mixes strewn about.

These palettes are pieces of art in themselves, worthy of a spot on the wall next to the amazing paintings they create.

I can't wait to show you the painting that the palette below created for us - photos and the full story coming soon!

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Sneak Peek and "Vacation" Day

It is just after 9am, the coffee is brewing and I am wearing the oldest, don't worry if they get wrecked clothes I can find. A spinach omelette is cooking to give me as much strength for the day as possible. Strength for my kind of vacation - building and constructing with my dad!

There are about 30 sheets of drywall sitting out back ready to be carried inside and hung on the wall, putting together the shape of what is soon to be a studio for Mr. S and Sibling J. I have taken two days off from work (the first two days in a row in over a year) to get my hands dirty, learn how to hang dry wall and install pot lights and I have not felt this relaxed in a long time!

I will post photos of the work soon as well as the full story that goes with the photo above. The picture is one I took while in Italy and the easle belongs to a family friend who gave Mr. S and I a truly stunning gift!

Oh - And the Sun is finally shining after a few days straight of rain! This day rules!

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Hide and Seek!

What a busy and exciting weekend it was! I am still trying to catch up on sleep and sort through the approx. 1000 photos I took. So while I get sorted and rested up, I thought I would share this really sweet photo from last week when Mr. S and I babysat for our friend's adorable little girl.

We thought that she was just going to be with us for about an hour, so Mr. S and I had about 1hrs worth of entertainment planned. Well, 1 hr turned into about 4, which is so nice for us because we love this little lady - but it did mean we quickly ran out of things to make this busy 1 year old forget that her parents weren't around. Anytime we thought she might be getting a little sad, we would find another sesame street video on youtube or go on a hunt for the cat (always a hit with the one year old crowd).

At one point Mr. S started a really sweet game of hide and seek where he hid behind the curtain and she tentatively found him. So cute and good for about 5mins of entertainment!

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