I am not a fan of photos taken from smart phones. I know that the Iphones and other smart devices have a pretty decent cameras and they are okay for posting on social media, Facebook, twitter and Instagram, but not for really good quality photos.

I have a DSLR camera that I travel with, use for photo shoots with my friends families, and events. I also at all times carry a pocket Canon Elph camera. I really don’t go anywhere without it.

As you may be aware if you are a friend or follow me on Facebook, I am a foodie, and take food photos all the time. A lot of friends that eat out with me already know not to take a bite of their food until I take a picture of it. I know it is annoying and I am sorry to those who I share meals with.

If I am only posting to Facebook I may use my phone for the ‘check in’ or instant share. Otherwise, I will use the camera for future posting. I foresee a lot of foodie related posts coming this month. This is just the start.

Take these photos in this post for example. I was at an event at The Thompson hotel this summer and they had this amazing cheese display at one of the stations. I loved the way they had the cheeses cut in different shapes pared with the fruit and these really cute baskets for nuts. They also had a nice display of flat breads in glass jars. It was great to take photos to remember these types of displays for future reference. Events, parties everyone is always looking for new ideas to display the same types of foods.

I am not saying that you should run out and buy a point and shoot camera (if you don’t already have one) but it wouldn’t hurt to carry it with you when you are out and about. You never know where the next cool shot will be.

Last week I had sat down to watch The View that I had recorded the day before. Taylor Swift was on that day. She has been making the rounds the past few weeks with the release of her new album, and a tour that is not yet released, but will be (as she said on Ellen).

She told the hosts that she had been spending time on line really reading all her fans tweets, Facebook posts, etc. She founds that there were many common denominators between her fans and herself.

She jokingly said that there are different sources for gossip, but the feelings are the same. That she finds out about herself at the check out line in the grocery store and others finds out other ways. You have to try to let go of the things that you can’t control.

I can agree with many of the things she was talking about first hand right now. It is human instinct to defend yourself when people have the wrong impression of you. That is easier said than done, yet some people are better at doing that than others.

Her words: “Let go of it. Get rid of it. It isn’t yours anymore”. Wise words from someone who is clearly wise beyond her years so far. It may sound trite, but it is truth. What is done is done, and all we can do now is move forward. The hard work is to stop listening to the white noise in your head and work through what you need to in order to move forward.

Her words: “you are supposed to surround yourself with people who will challenge you, motivate you and make you want to be smarter, stronger, better.” Very true. I think that I have groups of people in my life that challenge me on a regular basis. It does not come easy, it takes work.

I think that there are lessons to be learned in all types of situations every day. It is up to us to find the lessons, learn them and then pass on the knowledge. Knowledge is power.

 

 

For those of you who know me, you know that I don’t have children of my own. You know that I have two nieces and a nephew who I adore and would do anything for.

Before my family grew I had other ‘little’ kids in my life. Kids that I can say I was happy to be a part of their life. Spending Halloween with them, birthdays, Saturday nights. Arts and crafts, cookie making and more. I miss those times, and even though they weren’t really that long ago, it feels like so much time has passed.

Now both of those boys are growing up and so busy with their own lives, school and first and foremost – HOCKEY!

Today I went to watch one of their games. It was the first time in a couple of years that I went to a game. I was looking forward to it all week. It ended in a tie, but he and his team did not disappoint me at all.

Before the game we got to spend some time hanging out – usually when we hang out they want to play Jenga and now they want to challenge me to Monopoly.  Today was a new game – I was teaching him Gin Rummy. We used to play Go Fish and War, but he is almost 12 so he can learn Rummy. I knew how to play when I was that age. We didn’t get much time to play but I know we will come back to it soon.

I am telling you this short little story about taking time to share the little things in life. Time moves by very fast and I don’t think we take enough care in the way we spend time. Time is not something that we have finite amounts of. We need to choose wisely.

I am looking forward to more Sunday hockey games this winter. Hopefully more game nights at home, and cookie baking. You can never be too old to bake cookies, right? Of course right.

I will probably write a separate post about this, but I really would be remiss if I didn’t mention the loss of Sarah Watkin. She was a 7 year old #hero who lost a valiant battle last night. She will never know the impact that her gone too soon life will have. Her family will. Even today, through his grief, her father Mark, asked the facebook community to change their profile photos to a photo of Sarah today in her memory. It was sad, and sweet and touching to see my news feed full of Sarah’s beautiful face and the memories of photos that her family has shared through her battle with cancer.

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