Surprise Weekend

On my first post in October, I commented that I couldn't wait to see what surprises October had in store for me. I made sure I specifically used this word, because of an even that Emma and I started planning in August— a Surprise Party to celebrate our parents' 25th Anniversary. We had it planned so that our parents had no idea we would even be home that weekend, so seeing us, and everyone else (including our family from Ignace!) was a complete surprise. I will never forget the look on their faces when they saw us!

Planning an event 3 hours from where Emma and I live entailed a lot of hard work and stress, but with the help of friends and family, we were able to pull everything together to create an almost seamless event. We had such a great time celebrating with our closest family and friends. I wish the visiting never had to end!

I wasn't able to take my camera home, so I will share some pictures my dad's friend took.

Anniversary

Congratulations on 25 years of marriage to the most amazing couple I know. I love you guys so much and you are truly an inspiration to all. :)

Print: Boot Camp

Our first Project in my Print Media was called "Boot Camp." We are silkscreening all term, and the focus of the assignment was to get us used to the process. We had to choose subject matter that involved 4 layers, and make 50 prints in total that were completely unique. My subject was a salt shaker, and this is what it looked like:

Then, since I had to have 49 different prints, I experimented with colouring, layering, transparent ink and composition. I had a lot of fun with this project and learned so much about silkscreening while doing so! Here are a few more prints I made:

Thanksgiving Weekend

This weekend, I went home for Thanksgiving. It was very nice because for a long time my sister and I were debating whether or not to actually go home, but eventually the driving situation worked out, and Paul offered to visit me Friday morning, and then we waited for Emma to arrive on the GO Train and we went home from there. Unfortunately, at the exact time we headed out to pick up Emma, there was a major accident that closed the QEW highway and all the traffic was diverted onto the street we were going to. The drive to pick up Emma turned out to be almost two hours longer than it should have been in the first place!

It was such a relief to finally be home! On Saturday, we did some work around the house, and I started printing photo note cards for the art show and sale this fall. I was able to make 60 in total, mostly winter and Christmas themed, since the show starts in late November. Then I went to Paul's mom's house to celebrate her birthday and Thanksgiving with some of his family and relatives.

Sunday morning consisted of church, a delicious breakfast-lunch, and a photo-adventure drive to enjoy the amazing weather! I have a "Super Real" photo assignment coming up where we have to use photomerge and HDR. I was able to get some good ones with the beautiful fall colours. When we went home, the delicious turkey was ready and we helped make dinner. I also made some Annual Events Calendars for the show, but they required a lot of printing and work, so I made 14 in total.

I had a great weekend home! On Monday, we had the long drive back to Mississauga. On the way, we stopped for lunch at a small picnic area area right beside a beautiful lake.

Now that my fun is over, it's back to the books to study for those darn midterms!

Photo: Double Bind

Our first photography project this year was called the "Double Bind" and focused on binaries and dualities. For my take on the project, I decided to explore both by taking two pictures at the same time and in the same place, but it opposite directions. I used my camera and my dad's camera to take them. I had so much fun with it that I ended up with almost twenty pairings. Here are my favourites all together before I printed them:

Little Jars of Happiness

When I was visiting Emma a couple weekends ago, when we were at the mall, we stumbled across this amazing scented candle! We were at a store that sells an abundance of amazing scents - all in candles, body lotions, candles, shower gels, etc. The store is already addicting as it is, but when we smelled one of their mint-chocolate flavoured candles, we had to get them! I started burning it throughout the week while doing my homework in my room, and I absolutely loved the way it was able to disperse its scent throughout my room, and even to some other parts of the house!

This weekend, I recently purchased two more miniature candles in cute little glass jars. One of them was one I have wanted to get for almost a year now — every time I was in the store I would stop to smell it. The scent of that one is called "sweet pea," and the other one I got is "warm apple pie." Obviously, the apple pie candle smells like apple pie, but I can't describe the sweet pea scent at all, except that it's amazing. Especially since the days are getting colder and colder and darker a lot sooner each day, I love being able to burn my miniature candles to give me a little bit of warmth, light, and a great scent while I work!

October

October is finally here! For me, this means one of my favourite seasons has begun. After a crazy combination of hot and cold, cloudy and sunny, nice and rainy days in September, the temperature is finally cooling down into a steady pattern. I am excited to break into my fall wardrobe of long sleeve shirts, jeans, boots, sweaters, and my favourite: scarves! If I had all the money in the world, I would have a few closets dedicated to this addiction.

This is my first weekend since moving to Mississauga that I have nothing planned, and surprisingly, I am happy about that. I had so much fun visiting with Paul, watching my two good friends get married, spending time with Chelsey and going to see Emma, but they did create for some busy weekends. Now I can finally relax, organize, work on my projects and start making study notes for my upcoming midterms. I'm also getting some pictures together to display in the Southampton Art School and Gallery later this fall.

I am very excited for October and all of the people, projects, experiences, events, and surprises it will bring!