time for an update of our lives

Life has been life lately lol.. It has its up and downs which always make each day more interesting. I have been trying new things. Like making 16 dozen perogies with my two bffs.. one featured in picture lol. I also had a card making afternoon at my house with a bunch more bffs lol. Is it still cool to say bff when your 31? Well it was fun we made birthday cards and I got to spend the day with some of the greatest women in my life. We went to banff with my lil family and my mom sisters and brothers.. it was fun. Wes and I got to go skiing and snowboarding at sunshine for one day, I forgot I had leg muscles or lack of till that day.

Alice got into preschool in Leduc.. so K4 or 4 year old preschool. Its at St. Bens eventually she will go to Leduc Estates but not till kindergarten. Or if she likes St Bens and we like it then she can stay. I would have liked for her to stay in Hobbema for K4 but due to being a contractor it means no stability. But we have stability in our home in Leduc so Leduc it is. Now to figure out childare duing the days she in school lol. oh well at least she got in the rest will hopefully fall into place later lol.. hope hope hope.

Abby has been sick.. oh the number of bloodtests and xrays and poop samples this kid has gone thru in the past month. She has brochitis now but today she ate a banana some toast and blueberry puffs so looks like she has an appetite.

The girls relationship is getting so cute. Alice is very helpful to her lil sister and abby won't take any more crap from Alice lol. So there is less fighting I guess all the time outs and putting our foot down is working. Discipline is soo hard but it pays off, must be firm and it works better as a team altough sometimes I admit I am a sucker. My Mom just laughs when girls are being um less than desirable. Karma I guess for me lol.

Well enjoy your day and your life. Spring is coming I can feel it. Why else would the spring clothes be out at the stores already.. lol.

Trying to find Happy Medium.. i am convinced it doesn't exist

Lately I have been trying to find a medium as a person... between being too nice and being an assertive you know what. I am generally an assertive person and let people know my thoughts whether they really like it or not and I am not afraid to speak up. People confuse this with being a "rhymes with Rich".

I have being trying to work with Abbys daycare about her lactose issues but some days it feels like I take one step forward and two step backs. Oh well.. lol darn me for caring about my child. Yes somedays I wish I didn't know any better but I do and I am thankful for my assertiveness. I hope my daughters are never afraid to voice their opinions or concerns. I am sure Mrs Jackson was not passive when she wouldn't sit at the back of the bus. She was assertive and stood her ground. As I will. Yes I just equated dealing with daycare the same level as fighting racism lol, a battle is a battle nonetheless.

The other end of the spectrum is being too nice, helping people and clients and then finding out it was a complete waste of time or they screw me over. People are funny creatures. I remember I vowed to review my relationships and put effort where effort was deserved, but my heart is too kind and I cave sometimes. I will go the end of the world for people I love and if need be hold rally's along the way or burn some bras whatever I can do.

So I continue to try be a nice person but in a assertive way. That's who I am and thankful for those who love me just the way I am.

Cute lips makes for cute card

My bff sent me a picture she took of her son's lips with her iphone. She just wanted the lips red, I did that and made him some cute valentines day cards. The designer at Willette had these freebies on the blog for photographers to use, we just had to give them credit.. They are the cutest thing and hopefully next year I can make these for clients when I have more time. Enjoy Feb..

Two posts 1 day.. must be a deal

I have been blog surfing, website surfing lately. I have been reading a lot of photographer blogs etc. Wow.. There are good people in this world and bad people in this world.. and some pretty damn opinionated ones. I am definitely opinionated but I try not to be arrogant but there are someone people that put that hand in hand. I have ceased venting on fb or at least I try REALLY hard not too lol.. People can read my thoughts here if not they can press next.

So while reading all these opinions and such I started trying to justify myself. I am a lawyer by day and most nights and weekends and drives home lol, I sit on numerous boards and volunteer lots and I am a mom to two wonderful girls and a wife to a great hubby. I love to scrapbook and I like to take photos. This love of taking photos has resulted in a side venture or hobby or stress reliever. Its like painting or scrapbooking cept I click. Yes I do charge now for my services and gasp I even give CD's of High Resolution photos. I am taboo lol. I am charging $100 for family photos and 75 for glamour shots and starting at 800-1000 for weddings (depends) as I get better and more experienced things may change. I am LEARNING as we are all in life and I don't promote myself with a fancy website, I have my blog and a facebook group page and who knows what the future holds.

I decided I didn't need to justify myself to anyone, I am not a professional photographer and I would be offended to be labeled that lol. I am a Mom and Wife that is a Professional Lawyer that moonlights as a budding photographer on occasion. lol. If you like my work both legally and/or photographically the possibilities are endless. I can do a prenup and take your pictures lmao.. kidding.. we all need to lighten up and justify ourselves only to ourselves or at least the lil girls who hold my heart.

Project Life update

I received my project Life kit last week.. it is great. Surprise I have been taking pictures since January 1.. I missed one day but I have an idea to make it up. Last year when I did this project I became unmotivated because I couldn't buy this kit.. now that I have the kit, it will be great. Incidentally they are offering a digital kit to Project LIfe, which is great. Hopefully after today I will have an online album .. my goal is to sort my pictures today and get them printed. Tomorrow is my monthly scrap nite with my scrappy girlfriends, so I can work on my project then.

Otherwise things are good, Alice starts swimming lessons tonight and abby is trying to say more words and loves to sing ABC's lol. We are slowly setting our plans for travel this year.. I am hoping to go to Ottawa in March for work and Wes may go to Seattle, we may have to join him lol. Also we are hoping to take a mommy and daddy trip to Greece in May and in the summer we are going to take a drive down the west coast to California, just us 10 days and a mini van should be interesting. Enjoy your week..

A sneak peak at my beautiful friends and sisters

So these 5 ladies volunteered to do a glamour photoshoot with me. I am learning and in order to do so I need volunteers lol. Not everyone is comfortable with boudoir photos and I am not at that level yet it takes years of practice. I think every women should do something like this, get glamed up and treat yourself.. I have a friend Chevi Rabbit (blog on right) who is a make up artist and he came to my house and I set up and the girls did their own hair and helped each other and then the camera turned on. It was a fun day I enjoyed it and so did they. I will be doing more of these and charging a fee for my services and make up artist services. Contact me if your interested via email..korenle(at)shaw.ca or via facebook. I will post more in an album on the weekend.. but for now i hope you enjoy the sneak peak.

3 People changed their life.

The first picture is of my friends son.. he wanted a photoshoot before he cut his hair.. His mother is my dear friend and I have seen this young man grow up into a great human being.. I was honoured to be asked to capture him in his last moments with his long hair.

The second picture is of a wedding I did in October. I finally am posting the pics, the bride received them along time ago and was very happy..

These people made changes in their lives and I was grateful to be a part of them.. click on the LINK to view them.. Enjoy your weekend

challenges

So I ordered my Becky Higgins project Life kit I am awaiting its arrival.. its similar to what i started last year.. but this year i will have the kit which means I will do the picture a day thing.. I will start an album in my client albums to document it.. maybe or i will just remember to print pics each week.. lol. Now that I have my camera for my purse it should be easier.

I also joined a artist 365 group on fb that challenges you to be creative.. who knows if i will do every challenge but if I do one a month I will be happy. I really do love being creative.. i am just not naturally good at it.. lol i got kicked out of ART 10 lol.

hope these challenges inspire me and keep me sane lol..

my sweety will never be a milk monster

I simply adore abby.. this picture was taken by my friend Jaimey at Jaimeylynn.wordpress.com shes amazing.. So this past year we learned Abby was lactose intolerant. She can't have lactose, so we switched her formula to reduced lactose and all was good in the diaper department. The hard part is this kid lovvveess dairy lol. She can have cheese usually only mozza or cheddar and she can have yogurt that is made with skim milk. We make pancakes without milk and kraft dinner with no milk or lactaid milk. Good thing she loves broccoli to get her vitamin D intake up. The challege we face is her daycare and reminding them she can't have anything containing lactose.. they gave her ice cream one day lol. Its not a serious health issue her ped thinks she will grow out of it. My sister is lactose and so is wes brother and with me being native odds were against her lol.
She can never have Mac n Cheese when we eat out because they always have milk in it. Whens shes bigger she can have lactaid pills so she can have all the fun stuff which includes icing made with whip cream.. (she missed out on same cakes this year) Good thing shes fine with straight sugar icing lol.

Happy New Year

Well the new year is upon us. time to reflect and set some new goals.. I will keep it simple.. this year was amazing.. it was full of friends, traveling and my family. My girls are growing up and turning into lil people its amazing to watch. I had a lot of opportunities this year. I look forward to the new year.. my goals are just to keep on the track I am on. Enjoy everything that comes my way, appreciate the people in my life.. Live healthy and be more organized. And try go to Greece to be specific and maybe mexico again lol.. Hope you enjoyed your year and look forward to the next one.. From my family to yours HAPPY NEW YEAR

Life don't waste it

Soo good ole Facebook assisted me in creating drama lol. I posted something the other day about people selling drugs on FB or partying EVERDAY and that I was sick of it. I chose not to delete people because I don't think that will change anything, but it wasn't just 2 people it was alot more. Maybe I just have wacked out fb friends.
I am all for fun times, there was a time in my life when life was about the party. But I grew up and life changed. I realized there is more to life than partying, my kids are my life, my husband is my life.. life is life. There is so much more to live for. So many things to experience. Whatever you put into your life is what you are going to get out of it. Honouring your self and honouring your life. You only got one chance why waste it getting high or getting insanely drunk. I didn't get this far in life without honouring my own life. I don't think I am better than anyone, I have my own struggles but the difference is I kept going.. life gets hard.. but the rewards when you succeed are amazing. Yeah some people just need to grow up..

Having 2 lil girls provides a lot of entertainment

Wow.. xmas was here and it took over my living room. I made a trail to the couch and I may not move for day or two. Well the holidays were and are great. I have one week left of time off but I have one less kid for a day or two. Alice decided she didn't want to come home from grammas, so she stayed lol. The girls have been doing some pretty silly things lately I thought I would entertain you with their stories.

1. I was shopping (shocking I know) and Wes was watching girls. Apparently they were playing quietly upstairs in my room. We all know quite is never really that good lol. So he went called to them "what are you doing," Alice responds "playing with stickers". Wes goes up to check these "stickers" and finds the girls sticking the stickers to the wall.. the stickers were.. feminine pads.. lmao

2. Wes was watching kids while I ran errand and he fell asleep on couch for 10 min and he heard jingling and he sat up looked in kitchen and abby was siting in the dishwasher while Alice was shouting at abby to get out lol.

3. I was doing dishes girls playing upstairs quietly again.. so i call up to them. What are you doing.. Alice responds.. trying to get these strollers and babies out. Ahhh they found their xmas presents lol.

I love my kids they show me how to laugh everyday.
Enjoy yours

December is coming eek

So here we are November 30 wow.. its mindboggling really. How did we end up here already, seems like yesterday it was summer or even Christmas. I thought it was a good time to reflect on my goals for this year.. see if I can complete it in a month ha.
Goal 1 - project 365 yeah that died a horrible death in February when I didn't get the Becky Higgens kit... new goal is I already bought my kit for next year so maybe now that I have the kit "Life" I can do it. we can hope right.
Goal 2 - To take better pics, I think I have done this I am pretty happy with my work and still wanting to learn more. I am going to try some test glamour shoots in Jan if it works out then I will do a weekend marathon or something.
Goal 3 - be organized .. well yeah no.. lol
Goal 4 - be healthier .. well i feel healthy, pretty much same size but I am happy so this one is a draw.
Goal 5 - Get alice to eat fruit .... well yeah no again.. we buy her veggie juice you win some you lose some..
Goal 6 - relationships.. I am very happy with my friendships and relationships. I know who is honestly my friend and who isn't and I am happy. I am blessed with some amazing circles of friends that include friends I have had since forever and new friends. My family relationships are doing great.
Goal 7 - enjoy my 30's. this year has been great it is great just to enjoy life and everyone in it. I have made some great memories this year..
Goal 8 - career... well this year I became a lawyer I also teach at the local college so yep things are doing well.

So not too shabby with the goals.. now to contemplate what the new year will bring. enjoy your December and you got the okay to put up your tree lol.

A wedding I am working on..

Its Time

Its time for me to start up an alternate photography blog/website.. So I can continue my personal blog without inhibitions. I've seen some Blue Domain websites that i think I could work or stay with good old blogspot. I think I have done a good job building my portfolio that maybe i should take a step. My prices will be slightly adjusting in new year. I still want to be accessible but I also want to be reasonable to myself.

On the Law side of things. I am also thinking my firm should have a website.. Makes it easier to find us. I wonder if firms have type pad blogs lol.. but I think on the firm side I need to get more tech savvy or break down and hire someone. Who knows what changes can come.. but in order to move forward in life we need to take steps.

I am working on posting some Halloween pictures and editing the last wedding I did.

L's Family

Here is a wonderful family that allowed me to capture their cuteness. Thanks Leda I am glad you enjoyed your pics. This family was soo cute. Click HERE to view more of this lovely family.

My two dads

So in less that an 1hr it will be two years since my dad (Walter) passed away. I know i blogged about it before but hey what are blogs for but to put your deepest thoughts on here for people to read lol. I honestly don't know how many ppl read this. But its been a wierd week. So in this life I have been blessed with 2 dads.. the dad that gave me life (Rick) and the dad that showed me life (Walter). My biological Dad Rick and I have never been close I love him but our relationship is not as it is with his other daughters my wonderful sisters. I am glad he is in my life and my girls lives. Grandparents are important and so are parents. But this week on monday my dad Rick had a heart attack.. my heart stopped and I froze.... why? one dad was already taken from me you can't have both God. I was weary of going to hospital because I was afraid. Afraid of dejavu becoming real and having to deal with losing him. Thankfully he is okay it was minor and he has to realize yep you did have a REAL heartattack and you need to take it easy (this will be difficult if you met him you would understand) Now heres the part that breaks me..... Tommorrow my dad Rick will be released from the hospital (yeah) and tommorrow is the day my other dad Walter passed away. The significance of this day overwhelms me. Even though one dad was taken from me I have a chance with my other dad. Life is tricky. I usually keep these deep thoughts to myself lol but my hubby is sleeping so world you get to me my counsellor. Well tommorrow I will celebrate Walter and be thankful for Rick. Hug your Dad.. my cousins recently buried their dad and my heart broke for them because i know how it felt.. the wound never completely heals but it gets easier..with time. Life is about the moments.... have a good night everyone

Google yourself

Have you ever googled yourself.. to see what comes up.. bored waiting for pics to upload on FB I did lol. I do often just to see what comes up. I want to make sure everything is okay.. Well I came upon this LINK (click on it) and I was honoured. Wow.. I almost cried reading it.. but i was speechless.. You can make a difference in anyones life.. :)

Baby T

I was so lucky to meet this beauty 3 days after she was born.. She is my friends baby.. I took a few clicks so I could make some cards for her baby shower.. soon we will be doing a full on photoshoot for this baby when shes a bit more comfortable with the world. Welcome baby T and thanks for letting me be a part of your life.

Viva Mexico

So we are back.. we finally went on a family vacation... oh fun it was. We went to mexico.. playa del carmen.. Princess resorts. I was a great trip. The girls had fun alice got to spend most of her days at the beach and abby got to rule the resort. It was a relaxing vacation, filled with naps, sand, sun and of course pina coladas. I didn't take as much photos as i thought.. I mostly used my point and shoot because i would die if my big camera got sand or water on it.. but hey point and shoots still rock. I just played with the girls and enjoyed the sun with them so most of the time we were sitting on the end of the ocean in the sand or out in the ocean or in the buffet lol. So camera time was whenever sure i would have like to take more pics but i wanted to relax more so i did.. lol. It was trip for memories and alice for sure will remember mexico and the beach.. Alice got bad reaction to all the mosquito bites her face swelled a bit and abby ate all the watermelon the resort had. Me and Wes got to spend the day together at Chichen Itza and a night at Playa del carmen shopping and ppl watching. My inlaws wes dad and step mom came and made the trip that much better.. nice to have extra set of hands with two crazy monkeys running around...

Photography wise i have a few shoots coming up in the next few weeks should be great.. today i am hoping to go get some shots of a 2 days old princess. Let me know if you want to book the fall colours are going to be awesome..