On the Agenda: COOKIES!

Molasses Cookies via Not Martha

I am making these today. Because molasses is GOOD for you. My mother says I should be giving my kids a teaspoon a day... well, she said more than that, but we tried it for a bit and both kids disowned me. I don't entirely blame them. So I am putting it in in cookie form instead. Also I think I will try a gingerbread cake. Because Christmas is in full swing around here, folks! I know, this is NOT what she meant...

Sunday Thoughts: Working Together is Awesome

Awhile ago I finished up a couple of very lengthy and head-banging-up-against-the-proverbial-wall frustrating photo shoots for the other blog. I started with the ideas ages ago, and it was a one thing after another situation where I was trying to make things work the way I wanted them to without the proper resources. I can be difficult that way :) I live in a small town where time moves very slowly and people's priorities are very different than those living in the rat race (read we don't stress the small stuff as much). Normally this is so not an issue for me. But when I try to take the thing that I used to do as a city girl and translate it to the "today me" there are some funny things that come up. Like, say, impatience. I realized that what I needed was a good team.

Heather's eldest daughter, Skye

It happened in a very haphazard and organic way but I found a group that consisted of a few brilliant vendors and a few general keeners. Good balance. The photographer Heather, is pulling together pieces of her portfolio that are outside her comfort zone, and could have been a disaster to work with. She is really sweet and lovely on a day to day basis, but those can sometimes be the people who come out of their nice and into their nasty when you try to work together on unfamiliar territory.  Turns out that not only is she brilliant, but that her daughters all make great models as well :)

The goodie makers are a British couple, Becca and Stephen, who had their mother (in law) staying with them for two weeks from the UK and the first (pink) photo shoot was literally the last day of her visit, so... well... yeah. Tension. But the making of gorgeous and incredibly yummy confections turned out to be therapeutic maybe, because they came through with flying colours... pink, white and red to be exact :) They also helped set a gorgeous table and save my precious belongings when the sky opened up and poured rain down on all of the antique and vintage treasures. (Thank you for carrying the mirror, Stephen!)

the pink shoot

the all soul's shoot

The florist I had never met in person, face to face. She and I have used Facebook (of course) to hash out details and I have never done such good business with somebody that way before. This girl is uber talented and a total sweetheart! When I say talented, I mean the conversation for the second shoot went a bit like this. "I am thinking of doing a kind of goth but not creepy photoshoot of a wedding, but not a real wedding that will be mostly shot in the graveyard AND my garden, and it may be gray and red, or purple and ivory... or both... can you do flowers for that?" And she came up with exactly the perfect thing.

The models were one of those "laugh later" situations. It took me forever to decide on the perfect bride for the first shoot, who then disappeared the day before without a trace (she moved house and couldn't contact us without phone or internet we found out later) so we nixed the bride entirely... which kind of makes the tie in with a wedding blog... er... difficult. When I couldn't get hold of her for her dress fitting, I panicked.

Again, enter Facebook. A woman my mother works with sent me a friend request while I was trolling through my list of people trying to find a replacement. I remembered seeing her with her daughters at the library and asked if she thought they might want to model... They loved the idea, but being eleven at night, it seemed a bit far fetched to start dress fittings in the morning when we were supposed to be doing setup. So they became models for the second shoot...

The pink (still brideless) shoot was all on schedule. The morning of, I called to confirm the wee models... and their mother had been called into work. Ugh. Two of the girls were the photographer's daughters, so I knew we had at least two, but two does not a fabulous tea party make. We went to our location with fingers crossed that the backups we had called in would show up. Somehow, not only did Kate (the mom of the original four girls) show up with her sweet brood of angels, but she also stepped in to be the bride! And what a gorgeous bride she turned out to be :)

There were other small trials (super last minute change of local, major thunderstorm, etc.), well, not so small... but I think this list pretty much describes what I am getting at here. The bottom line is that despite all the drama, stress and eye-rolling, we are ALL happy... more than happy... with how all of the photos turned out. More than that though, the experience of both (well, all three in truth) shoots were all in all positive experiences for everyone involved. Even for the girls that had to spend "an eternity" out in the rain laying on gravestones at dusk in the cold... we all got more out of it than we expected and are all such suckers for punishment that we are willing to do it again. Which means that there may have even been an element of fun in some of it, right? We have found a team that works well together, and asking people who wouldn't necessarily be the first people you would think of, for help... we have all discovered some great raw talent. It has been a great experience for me to realize that sometimes all you have to do is dig a wee bit deeper to find what you are looking for!

If you are interested in how everything turned out and haven't seen them yet, the shoots are here :)
Playing Dressup... (the PINK wee lasses shoot)
After Playing Dressup (the PINK bride shoot)
Not Quite Goth (All Soul's Engagement)
Not Quite Goth (All Soul's Wedding)

In Limbo

I found all my wool while cleaning and now must roll some of the balls to look like this, as I think it's just gorgeous! From Gatherings.

I am feeling in a bit of a state the last week or so. I was SO between a rock and a hard place (sometimes I wonder if that is my favourite place to be since I seem to find my way back so often) what with two photo shoots for the other blog and then Halloween, which this year was a bit overdone in the sense that the reason I committed to having the soiree was so that my disgusting-hit-by-a-3-male-tornado-disaster... sorry, house... could once again begin to resemble a home. I love the idea of having people visit, but I seriously thought that I could bribe these guys into helping put the house together if I promised a party at the end. And for D it was more like a threat. But neither worked. It ended up being me and my super amazing friend Becca (the sweetmaker from the pink glass shoot) who spent four straight days cleaning. I'm not kidding, it was that bad. We moved in and multiple places in the house were just never sorted properly, so when we needed something from those areas, stuff was moved around and never put away because there didn't seem to be an "away".  Add that to the kid's having bunk beds built into their room the day before and the day of the party... sigh. Yup.

Painted pine cones with the boys.

But it happened. We did it. Becca is my new hero and we pulled it off. The photo shoot photos came back better than I had hoped for, the models don't entirely hate me for being stuck in a graveyard in the pouring rain for over two hours... I have emptied my house of all the excess that was clogging up the living areas... we have our home back... life is lovely.

Luminaria by Kelly Wilkinson, author of Weekend Handmade: Place dried leaves and flowers between sheets of wax paper and iron to fuse the paper. Cut out 4 equal squares and fasten with washi tape (bamboo skewers will hold the edges straight)

And I have no deadlines. This confuses me. It's not that I don't have a TON of stuff that could be getting done, and lots of it is... but the fire isn't there. I miss the fire. But it's all about balance, right? Right? Right. So I think that the trick is that I shall take up some crafting. These ^^^ are the first on my list... especially the one that entails sending the rugrats off to collect the leaves before they are gone. They are still so pretty, but they are barely hanging on to those branches and next week they will be scattered to that frosty wind that has begun to hang about. I don't quite feel right about starting up the old Yule crafts yet, although they are already simmering in that area of my brain that doesn't turn off when I sleep... so some late autumn crafting it is. For this week. Next week it will probably snow. Then we are off again... Christmas crafting...

...also... I have a Wedding Show to organize.

A Day Playing Dress Up

Well that was harder than I thought it would be. Sheesh!

Can I just tell you how awesome it is to pile a bunch of pretty things in front of a huge mirror in a park and then let all the gorgeous children you know go to town on it? I highly recommend it as a pick me up.

I wasn't going to tell you about the stress level, but I think everyone should commend these kiddos and Heather the photographer for braving the elements (we are talking BLACK clouds and a serious thunderstorm that broke while we were halfway packed up) and working around frenzied stylists who were setting up three locations at the same time... and trying to keep tiny prying hands out of the whipped cream!

This may be a good place to send HUGE thank yous to Stephen and Becca who not only baked all the raspberry goodies, but carted stuff around and helped set up the table! Also, a special thank you goes to the Green Poppy for her ridiculously stunning, sustainable and organic bo-Ks as well as to Honey Candles for the gorgeous (and divine smelling) organic beeswax tapers. And of course to the Fairies Pajamas for the adORable top hat veil!

Also, I finally got some gorgeous photos of my (un-ironed) quilt! YAY!

If you want to see more (and more) photos, there is a dressing up and stuffing faces (elegantly, of course) post, and a moment with our lovely bride Kate in another post. I simply couldn't fit all the photos into one post. Or two for that matter. I will be giving more details on the members of our lovely team on the other blog... and as well, there will be another post here with some of the lovely details of the behind the scenes. Ok, perhaps not lovely, so much as wet and cloudy... but Yummy! For sure yummy.

Our contributers deserve a HUGE thank you for going above and beyond!

Photography:  Heather MacMillan of  Many Skies Photography
Concept & Styling: Tapestri (Andrea Bell) & All About Afternoon Tea (Becca Hunter)
White Chocolate Mousse, Raspberry Layer Cake and Meringues: All About Afternoon Tea
Cupcakes: Simone from The Kootenay Baker
Sustainable Floral Goddess: Nadine from Green Poppy
Organic Beeswax Tapers: Honey Candle Co.
Tophat Birdcage Veil: Fairies Pajamas
Pink Glassware, Props: Tapestri (Andrea Bell)
Embroidered Wedding Quilt: Tapestri

...and very special thank yous to our models!
Lydia, Virginia, Frances, Paloma, Aeowyn, Aziel and our bride, Kate.

Please leave a comment... I am dying to know what other people think! I really love the photos... but since we will be doing a few more of these, I would love feedback. Be gentle :)

Ahhh... They're Heeeeeeere!

OK, so Heather (the photographer) has just dropped off her son. She is off for a day trip to the U.S. and her boy and my boys are going to fight play for the day. And this is important to you becaaaaaaause....

...she ALSO dropped off the CD of photos! YAY! Yes, those photos... which means two things. FIRST, I am going to spend the next hour fawning over them and won't be writing a post as such today. I will however post a whole bunch of photos here and on the other blog... just cause. When I have loaded them up on this computer which I am not supposed to be doing such things on...

THEN (are you noticing that I am in a capitals mood today? Excited much? Yes...), I am thinking that I am going to be devoting the rest of the month to All Hallows. As it should be! I am so obsessed this year with finally having a yard and house again to decorate that it has kind of taken over everything around here. I also have the help of Dylan... which, in itself is rather miraculous... who is apparently as obsessed (if not moreso) than I am. Of course, we are coming at it from completely different perspectives. He is wanting to buy animatronics from online shops that I can't even look at for the gore factor... I am searching for sophisticated ways to portray a mix of Dia De Los Muertos with Samhain to create something beautifully All Hallows Eve-ish. The Martha in me vs. the H.P. Lovecraft in him. Oh, the joy :) So, I will have some DIYs, some decor posts (of course), and some random Halloween inspired topics I found whilst searching for decor ideas, that I think are rather interesting.

Hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving (if you are up here in Canada) long weekend :) This is the only photo I got this weekend. Yes, the beginning of the centerpiece. Long story involving family politics, lots of rain and having to wash my four year old's hair whilst dinner was being served by my mother. Oh, how I love Thanksgiving.

Sunday Thoughts: Counting Our Blessings...

A few years ago, I visited the Li'l Bee's blog often and one day noticed a pretty button on her sidebar. It took a while before I had "enough time" to click on the "Nie" button and when I did it was because it was so pretty. I had seen references on other blogs, but as I was not familiar with NieNie's blog it rang no bell. What I found was the inspiring story of a young couple who survived a tragic airplane crash over Thanksgiving weekend. This story might have crossed your path as it was picked up in news and media all across North America. It is a story that reminds us of how very lucky those of us who do not live with daily struggles due to injury, illness etc. are. Sometimes we need a reminder.

I only recently gained access again to a computer. It's not mine, it's his. Mine still hasn't been decided on, because I am lame like that and since I now have this one to fall back on, I am hesitant to put my coin into the wrong equipment. I spent most of this year without a computer which is a bit like having an arm cut off if you use blogging as a form of therapy... but I found that I had much to focus on. More than anything over the past months I have been reminded of how blessed I am to live the life that I do with my family and friends in such a gorgeous and bountiful place. And how lucky I am to have two children to watch grow and learn from.

Around Thanksgiving that year (in Cananda we celebrate in October,) I added the little Nie Recovery box to my own site. I am not familiar with Nie Nie's blog as most of her followers were, but I am more than familiar with how tragedy can alter your life. I almost lost my (then two year old) son six years ago as he fell off my sister's deck over twelve feet onto cement and fractured the back of his skull. The doctors told me in the hospital that if he made it there would almost certainly be brain damage. When all you want is to see your baby survive, you don't really stop to consider what the implications of brain damage could be, nor do you have it in you to plan for those changes.

It took over five hours for the local hospital to stabilize him enough that we could be airlifted to the Children's Hospital in Calgary. The paramedic that picked him up had to use a piece of scrap lumber to strap him to when they arrived because they didn't know if his neck was broken and the brace they had was too big. At the hospital, I watched them rip into box after box looking for the right sized whatchamits to use because he was so young and they had only youth and adult supplies on hand. As a result, his trachea was damaged when they intubated him. One of the nurses held his head absolutely still for hours while sitting in a squat position, but wouldn't let anyone relieve him until they had absolutely determined that his neck wasn't broken in case it moved while they switched places. I sat helplessly and watched while they did everything they could to save my baby.

And they did. Regardless of being severely underfunded, under-equipped, understaffed, overworked and exhausted, they made a miracle happen. Rowan made a complete recovery. He went right back to being the boisterous, loving and theatrical child he was before the accident and most people would never see that anything had happened, but something very important did. We all got to see firsthand what is truly important in life. Everyone involved was witness to what a miracle it can be to have so many people pull together in honour of one life and to truly cherish what we have through those we love. Thankfully not everyone needs to live through a tragedy to realize how lucky they are. So often we focus on what we think we need to keep us happy but in the process we neglect or put off what is truly important, thinking that it will always be there to appreciate when we find the time.

This past summer, I have not had the luxury of sitting at my desk filing away pretty photos to create new posts. What I have been able to do though is to refresh my understanding that in the end, what truly makes a house a home is the quality of life being lived inside. Since Rowan's accident I can honestly say that not a day goes by where I don't stop and think about how lucky we all are for what we have, as well as the capacity for understanding the enormity of it all. At such a chaotic and unstable time in many of our lives with the current state of affairs, politics and the economy, and simply day to day frustrations, let's all take the time to count our own blessings, and send our love and hope to those who have even more to struggle with, even if we never meet them.

APOLOGY

This is my big, huge apology post telling you that I am not in never never land, I'm still here. I have been crazy busy doing a photo shoot for the other blog and while I had thought I had scheduled a few posts while away, none of them published, so I guess I still don't have the hang of that. Hmmm...

Either way, I thought it would be fun to show you a few of the images that we have so far (Heather is editing herself silly trying to get me the rest) and perhaps hit you with a bit of raspberry hued inspiration! The story is of a random tea party in the woods. Except that last minute changes meant that it was in a park. And there was no tea. And there was a major thunderstorm. But that's OK, there was raspberry white chocolate mousse cake... and pearls!

Also, this means I have a list of posts for the next few days covered! YAY!

P.S. It was the apology that was meant to be huge, not the post :)