So the big news I had to share got announced via Twitter last Friday night. The news is, Jennifer from Rambling Renovators, and Shannon from What's up Whimsy and I, have come together to create an awesome series of talks all around the topic of blogging - a new series of talks called BlogPodium. [See Jennifer's post on it here] It's pretty fantastic.
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Do you have things that happen in your neighbourhood that just make you love where you live? This past weekend was one of those reasons. A little Santa Claus Parade for the kids - Complete with homemade floats, the local police division handing out candy canes, the Beach Citizen of the year, the high school band - Things like this are what memories are made of - for kids, and adults. :) I'm sure it takes a great deal of effort, and a lot of volunteers but it is honestly, such a great idea for a neighbourhood.

See more pictures from the parade when you click on read more

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I've been up until 2am most nights working. Being self employed you take the work when you can, and push yourself - because around the corner there is likely going to be a slow period. It's part of the thrill of running your own business. So seeing as it's my busy season for work, my "creative" projects around the house have been put to the side for the next week. Anyhow, here is what didn't get blogged about

• I found an old CD Cover I had designed for Markus. (Mine is the one that has the sleeping baby). I totally wish I had more time to illustrate. That is something that I've had to let slide while juggling everything.
• Love these shoes
• Everything in this inspiration board I want. Especially that Kate Spade bag. I'm a sucker for stripes.
• I'm hoping you'll see an announcement from myself and Jen today - we're on the cusp of announcing something that is really very exciting.
• We're going to our neighbourhood Santa Claus Parade this Sunday. We went last year and it's SO fun. Aubrey has to work so it's likely going to be me and Oscar party crashing on other peoples family time. ;)

Have a great weekend everyone. xo Linds

I'm not a Black Friday shopper because a) I live in Canada and b) I would pay almost any amount of money not to battle a crowd and stand in line (yup, not a huge fan of amusement parks), but hats off to you if you braved the fray to score some amazing deals today. With the gift-giving season underway, here are the items on my wishlist this year. What's on yours?

1/2/3/4/5/6

Linked up to:

I get a lot of e-mails about what camera I use so I thought it wouldn't be weird to show you my early Christmas gift. I used to have a Canon Rebel XTi that I've been shooting with for three years, but the camera started to malfunction a bit, and truthfully I was drooling over the features of the updated cameras for awhile. Last week, this beauty came home with me - a gorgeous Canon 60D. For the record, I have a number of cameras in my house including my "purse" camera that I toss in my bag - This camera isn't a "toss in your purse" kind of camera. This is a camera that is off limits to everyone. Even Aubrey. I've VERY territorial with my SLRs. So, the functions on it are crazy cool on this, allowing for wireless speed light control (meaning you can put your external flash somewhere else in the room, and have it go off when you want it to - wireless) This may not seem very important for the regular photographer - but for product photography that I do - this is really cool.

I got my love of photography from my Dad -  a shared joy that we have. I remember my first camera that I got, when I showed interest in photography to get a badge for Brownies. Ever since, I've been an avid photographer. I just really, really like it.

Photos I've taken over the years

Sometimes people ask me what the tricks are to good photography and I wish I could be eloquent enough to explain. This isn't a post about my photography tips - There are a lot of factors, all deserving of their own post. But, what I always tell people about (most) of my shots in our house is that one of my BIGGEST tricks is that I really try to avoid flash.  By not using your flash, you need to allow that shutter to be open just that much longer to allow more light in - so get a tripod. I don't always use the traditional tripod, I use a stack of books, chairs, tables. But having a camera on something steady when you don't have a lot of natural light is a necessity.

But sometimes what you see, is manipulated after the fact. Take for example my pumpkin shot. Shot in daylight, but even still it seemed dark. So I manipulated the levels of the photo on my computer until it seemed right. It's always easier to manipulate photos that have been shot in daylight vs. artificial light, not sure if that's because I'm a novice, or because working with lighting is just overall hard to do.

The big DSLR isn't for everyone. It's big. It's not something  you can toss in your bag (you shouldn't at least) but for someone like me that takes great joy in house shots, product photography, photographing people and events, as well as testing out differen lenses, different settings, it's the best gift ever. :)