Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and your family from me and my family. I seriously hope your day is full of magic.

j

<3

Uncut Christmas Vlog.

I always say I should Vlog about something but I never have anything good to Vlog about and I always feel like my videos are suuuper awkward after I shoot them. Anyways so when Kim asked me to be a part of a little Christmas project she was putting together, it was just the kick in the ass I needed to actually put together a little Vlog.

You can see Kim’s blog with all of the lovely ladies who took part here. Or right on my blog in my post from yesterday (GO!) Like I said yesterday, it is totally worth your ten minutes to watch that video. It is funny and heart-warming and just a lovely little video.

Anyways, I sent Kim over 5 minutes of me awkwardly rambling on about many a Christmassy things. Here, is that full video.

Once again, big thanks to the lovely people at YouTube for picking the most amazing screencap of me as the start image. And yes I know you can change them, this is the best of the three options I was given.

If you make it through the whole awkward thing congrats because I definitely can’t. I dunno, there is just something about watching myself on video – so strange. Also I had to cut out a ton of me laughing after the carollers comment. It was such a ridiculous thing for me to say and I cracked myself up.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy it. I always love seeing other bloggers do Vlogs, its a fun little look into what they’re like in person.

lovelove jer

Ps. I love you Pretty wrapping via ohhellofriend.

one, two

Just for Fun

Its interesting to see how people change over the course of only a couple of years. In keeping with the family pics I posted yesterday I thought it would be fun to post our last family photo with the new one. October 13, 2008. October 11, 2010.

Almost two years to the day. Everyone seems so different. Its so strange/humorous for me to look at these two pictures together. It is especially strange for me to look at myself – personally I’ve come so far in the past two years, this year especially. Just becoming who I want to be, you know being true to myself and really going for my dreams/goals in life. I dunno, its just weird.

So here’s a fun little activity – take a loot at a picture of yourself taken pretty recently and then look at it beside one from a couple of years ago. Its quite the experience both humorous and surreal at the same time. Better yet, blog about it then link me up.

Happy Monday!

xoj

ps. i love you  This photostream (via Elsie) is suuuper pretty. Seriously, check it out.

Kroes Family Portrait Session

When I went home for thanksgiving last month my family asked me to take some pictures of us to update the portrait on our wall (the one I took at thanksgiving two years ago) and to have one for Christmas cards this year. So before we headed off to my Aunt’s for dinner we had a quick (like 15 minutes quick)  tripod, self-timer portrait session. Ok you say, its now the end of November and we haven’t seen any of these pictures yet? Well my family came to visit me yesterday and said the same thing. So needless to say I finally got around to editing the pictures today – which was actually a much needed break from the day to day homework routine that I have found myself in the past few weeks.

So, here are a few shots from the session.

The one where my dad is blowing in my mom’s ear? Yeah that’s the way he can usually be found in pictures – doing something to someone else to make them mess up the photo or making some really strange face himself. I’m pretty sure my grandma (who probably takes a hundred pictures each time we get together) does not have one ‘normal’ picture of my dad because he always makes some kind of a face. And love it about him. I’m actually super surprised that this went as well as it did given his usual antics.

Anyways given our short length of the shoot I was a little worried about not having anything usable even though in those 15 minutes I probably took close to a hundred pictures – but I think its safe to say there are a least a few usable shots from the day.

Now, to choose one and develop a Christmas card from it.

xo Jer

PS. I love you These photos by Natalie Franke of the super sweet Haddox Fam are so perfect. I’ve looked at them like 13 times today. Katie and Steven are one of the sweetest couples I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and these pictures capture them so well.

You Said What?? Overheard Edition

Poppa to Grandma while waiting for everyone to clear out after the reception at the wedding this weekend:

“We should go get Al’s keys, then we can get into his backseat and make whoopee.”

Have I ever mentioned how much I love these two?

You can see a few more pics from the wedding here.

Ps I love you This is my favourite picture of someone I know ever. For serious. How amazing is she??

whirlwind weekend

ever have weekends that go by so fast they seem like a blur. i am coming off one of those weekends. a weekend in which my cousin got married and i got to spend a few hours with one of my best friends who was visiting from out west. if i didn’t have pictures, i wouldn’t even be sure that the weekend actually happened.

the weather for the wedding was literally perfect. i don’t think they could have asked for a better day. the ceremony and reception were really lovely. it was a perfect, small (less than 100 people – just the way i like my weddings) wedding.

here are a few of my faves from the wedding. the groom is my cousin ben and the lovely bride is his wife jenn. the middle picture is my aunt and uncle, cousins and their husbands & wives. the last one is my brother who thought it would be a fantastic idea to take a picture with a pinecone (which by the way were in great abundance at the church) – little did i know it would become probably my favourite picture of the day.

for the record, it felt amazing, to have a camera in my hands. my point and shoot died months ago and since then i’ve been getting by (taking occasional pictures of day to day things and using it to photograph various projects i’ve completed) on my very first digital which i got like 7 or 8 years ago. the thing is gigantic, and the settings wheel sticks so sometimes it doesn’t turn on. i must admit however, it does take a pretty good picture.

aaanyways, it was really nice to have a camera in my hands again. and it reminds me that i MUST get one before i leave for my trip. if you are getting rid of a camera, or you know someone who is let me know and hopefully we can work something out. i’m looking to get a reasonably priced, possibly even used DSLR so if you know where i can find one let me know.

jer

ps i love you

this is my cousins baby at the reception. how cute is he? (that says a lot because i don’t really like babies that much. ok, at all)

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, at the beginning of the 1990s, there lived a young boy. During his kindergarten year, that young boy decided that since his father had a rat tail, it would be a good hair style to have for himself. So, sitting in the family kitchen, his father cut his hair into the infamous rat tail pictured below.


Our young hero loved that rat tail, and regardless of how unfashionable it was then or now, wore it with pride. It grew long and flowing down his back and was even brave enough to pair it with a vibrant, neon blue and black speedo at the public pool (who is dressing this kid?!) He spent many hours with that rat tail getting his mom to braid it for him, just like she did with his father's. One day in grade one, just one short year after the birth of the rat tail, a mean young boy in our hero's class tried to tie his rat tail into a knot! As much as the boy loved that rat tail, he could not bear the thought of it being tied in a knot, so that very night he had his mother cut it off. His mother tied it with a ribbon, put it in a plastic sandwich baggy, and placed it in decorative dish where it remains to this day.

Fast forward some 15, 16 years to present day. That young boy has grown up, has a much more stylish hairdo and is in fact, me. Ha! Every detail in the above story is true by the way, no exaggeration at all. Recently in an RVA slumber party chat, we were sharing embarrassing stories and Elsie asked me to make a layout devoted to my rattail so, here it is.

First of all, I haven't scrapped in so long so it was major fun just to cut and play around with paper again. Second of all this layout is one of my faves in a long time. Woodgrain? Paint? Yellow? What's not to love? ha!

I wanted to include the actual rat tail itself on the layout because, how could I not? But my mom wouldn't part with it yet. So, instead I left a space to put it for when she is ready to part with my hair. Hope you like it :)

Anyways, I was planning on blogging everyday this week, but my computer decided yesterday morning that it wouldn't start, so that will not be happening. I did however speak to someone about it and they assure me it can be fixed and my files will be safe (good because I suck at backing up regularly). I will still be able to tweet from my phone and check email and facebook. I probably won't be blogging as long as my computer is down, except for when my lovely roomate is kind enough to let me borrow her computer when she's not using it. Like now . . .shout out!! :)

I am off to finish reading for class tomorrow, watch AFV (its our Sunday night ritual) and just generally relax the night away. I have some knitting I want to do, plus yesterday I thought of a cutie little embroidery project I want to make - so we'll see what I fill my time with. As much as I love having my computer, not having it is so much more conducive to doing homework and crafting. Maybe my time away from it will be a nice vacation who knows?

Happy Sunday. xo

ps. I apologize for the crappy blog formatting on this post. I'm writing it right in blogger (which I haaaaaaaate but since this isn't my computer and I'm being allowed to blog on it, I'll deal)

awkward.

I’m sure the suspense is just killing you, so here is my layout for the Such Sweet Tierney revealThis is my brother and his friend at their 8 graduation back in June – and this is definitely my favourite picture from the whole night. Every time I look at it I just crack up. How classic? Love it. We did actually end up getting a good one of the two of them, they just had to work themselves up to it – hence, this picture. Here is the good one.

Ps- Wes has style eh? I mean, c’mon, white suit, pink shirt. Veery nice and he knew what he wanted and picked it out all on his own. Although he does have a good style icon to model himself after if I do say so myself. (You’ll have to excuse the awful, aaawful hair style and the baby fat)

Changing the subject. . . . I need to figure out a better way to make those little rosettes – or at least to adhere them to the cardstock – or something because they were tedious, and now the ends keep popping up. I just used Zots glue dots. I tried to use my sewing machine and then pull the top stitch to gather the edge but the fabric i used was too stretchy and that didn’t work out so well. Aaanyways, if you have any great tips for making rosettes I’d love to hear them.

Also, this layout is inspired by a Maggie Holmes layout I saw, I think its in her Studio Calico gallery this month, but I’m not 100% sure.

If you have any questions about process or products you can leave a comment or email me, whatever’s easiest.

I am going to nap I think, and then I think I’m going to see Funny People this evening.

xo j

ps. Check out the rest of the DT reveal here. There is some amazing stuff you will be inspired.

lovelies.

I am back from the cottage. Actually I got back on Tuesday night, late Tuesday night but I worked Wednesday night and tonight. So I’ve been busy and tired out from my little vacation. Sidenote: isn’t it weird how after a vacation you feel so blah when you get back into your normal day-to-day, almost tired out. I’m still working on getting back into routine and I was only gone for two days. It was a good two days though. I loove it up at the cottage so so much. It is so relaxing. Anyways me and my brother had to come back early because we both had to work and the rest of my family is still there until tomorrow – so they still have the camera. Therefore no pics for now except for these ones from my cell on the trip home.

Actually, looking at these on the computer, I’m kind of in love with the last one. One of my favorite things ever? happy accidents like that last picture. love it.

On the way back we listened to a little of everything and a lot of this.

it makes my heart happy.

I am so so excited to see this movie – so excited in fact that I hope I’m not psyching myself up so much that I am disappointed when I actually do see it. I can’t bear the thought.

Speaking of which, how lovely?

Aaaaah. I could do a whole post about that lovely. Definite crush (its all about the indie cred).

Anyways, I am off for the night. I am catching up on the things in the online world and watching old Harry Potter’s to get my mind off of the fact that I haven’t yet seen the new one. ps. The quidditch scenes in the first couple of movies were awful – i still love them.

What are you up to tonight?

ilu.

Meet My Dad.

No, that’s not my dad – that’s me. I was just going to post a bunch of pics of my Dad in honour of fathers day, however, I was super inspired/moved by LA’s father’s day post that I decided to expand on my photos and tell you little bit about my pops. So, meet my dad:He likes to ruin almost every picture that he is in, including serious family photos. My mom is worried when her grandchildren are looking through the pictures they will think that my dad is a relative that we got out of the nursing or group home every time we got together. Seriously sometimes with the faces he makes you can’t help but wonder if that’s where he really belongs . . .

He used to take me on adventures in far off places (aka the bush like 15 minutes away) to hunt for salamanders and other woodland creatures.

He could be in a crowd of 100,000 people, but all he has to do is whistle and I know he’s there. He takes amazing photos (including this one of me and my younger brother). There are so many great photos of me and my siblings because my dad had his camera around a lot of the time when we were growing up. I have amazing photos to look through and to scrap with and at least 75% of those are because of him. I am so so grateful for that.

He is the reason I got a buzz-cut with a rat-tail in kindergarten – I wanted to be just like him. I had you braid mine just like you braided yours. Neither of us have our rat-tails anymore, although mom still has mine in a plastic baggy. He loves my mom with all of his heart and teaches me everyday how to treat women by setting an example with her.

He is an amazing gardener and knows a ton about flowers. His vegetable garden is the best and I know if he had more time our yard would be impeccable (its good now, but if he had more time it would be better).

He is forever correcting my grammar and he always helped me with my homework. He taught me to reply to “How are you?” with “I am well” not “I am good” and you distinguish between desert and dessert because with dessert you always want a second helping (referring to the extra ‘s’ of course).

He is insanely smart and I think sometimes he wishes he could have gone down a different career path (I personally think he would have made a great doctor so does my mom) but if he did he wouldn’t be where he is today, and maybe wouldn’t have been around as much as he was when we were growing up.

He is seriously a jack of all trades. For some it may disappear with age – but to this day I seriously doubt that there is something my dad can’t do. He had an afro in college and wanted to pierce his ear but didn’t because he probably would have been kicked out of Bible college. To this day he sometimes wears a clip on earring. (I don’t have a good picture of either of these. gaaah!)

He was and still is my ultimate superhero. One of my earliest memories of him is at a New Years family get together at my grandmas when one of my cousins fell through the ice on the pond and my dad went in after him.

He is an amazingly talented musician and he plays guitar so so well. He also sings and can play a little bit on the piano as well and he knows a ton about theory. I have some musical talent which I probably get from him, but I would give anything for even half of the talent and knowledge he has. He inspires me to play my guitar more, and sit down at the piano. This is probably one of my favourite things about him.

Me and my dad don’t always get along very well and we don’t have the closest father-son relationship ever. We are so similar to one another that we often butt heads on a variety of topics when we have opposing views but we are working on it everyday, and even so I would never ever replace my dad for anyone else.

Father’s day is always hard for him since he lost his dad (my poppa) 15 years ago. (that is him – and is also another amazing photo taken by my dad). I don’t remember a lot about him but what I do remember, I see in my dad. I am told by my mom and my aunts and uncles and grandma that my dad is so so similar to my poppa. My dad is forever telling stories about Poppa and I am grateful for that.

With that, I want to to say Happy Father’s Day to this sweet little boy who turned out to be an amazing husband, father, and man of God.

xo jer.

A Decade

Earlier this week, as many of you know, I turned 20. It wasn’t too exciting around here, I thought I had to work on my birthday, but then I didn’t so I didn’t have anything planned for it. My day was spent doing a few little projects around here – fun projects which I will share soon. And I had dinner with the family followed by amaaazing coconut lemon cupcakes (just fyi – i’m a huuuuge fan of anything lemon flavoured etc.)

While the real world goings on were nothing exciting – in blog there was a 24 hour celebration in honour of my birthday and also for the birthdays of my almost birthday twin –Margot; and my real birthday twin – Jamie (at least I tell myself it was for us). The party started on May 31 around 11pm when there were a number of us blog bffs online waiting for Elsie’s blog party to start. So we decided to have a pre-party. So we chatted it up and kept each other awake and pumped until the real party got started. During that chat probably laughed out loud –like a real throw your head back belly laugh- a good 76 times. So funny – it was a really good start to my birthday. Then Elsie conducted her blog party all day long and I was soo pleasantly surprised to find my inspiration wall on Elsie’s blog in Holly’s awesome challenge post.

To top off the blog party (which was a visual inspiration overload) I won one of the giveaways. I promptly (ok not promptly I just did it today) sent my shipping info off to Erin and now I am patiently waiting for my little prize. All through the party Margot was cracking me up with her party comments. “pass me the chips” then later “i said . . .PASS THE CHIPS”. haha too funny. The blog party was so fun. I told Elsie she should have one every June 1st so we’ll see. However if there is no blog party next year on my bday maybe I’ll have to host my own blog party. Who knows.

Aaaanyways I’m here chit chatting about the blog party and the majority of people reading this were probably there so I’m here preaching to the choir about how awesome it was. What I do want to say is a big *thank you* to all of my blog friends for making my not so exciting real world birthday a super exciting cyber world birthday. So thank you for leaving me blog messages, tweets and posts on my facebook wall. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Twenty is good so far. I feel like it is going to be a good year. Any advice from those of you who have already seen your twentieth year?

In other less paragraph-y, more point form-ish news:

- this kiddo had his senior prom on the weekend. whaaat? i can’t believe he will be finished highschool in less than a month. i’ll try to convince him to do a wee grad photo sesh. however if you know my brother you’ll know that will be nearly impossible.

- i have a huuuge craving to go to the beach. especially after Samantha’s beach adventure and this lovely pic by Vee

- yay for the good response to the vlog. i still haven’t watched it even with all the positive praise. i’m afraid it would be weird to watch myself talk. even weirder than it was filming the vlog. maybe i’ll make it a regular thing. . . like monthly or bi-monthly? or maybe you’ll get sick of watching me? ahh we’ll see.

-also i started a new creative project this week. i will share it later so stay tuned.

xo jer