02.20 December 28, 2011

I FINALLY got around to editing a few photos (yes, at 1:24am and yes instead of packing, and YES, while lying in bed).

How good I feel right now though...ugh. it's amazing! Although these memories in the photos are far from being pertinent any longer [read: entire life transformation since they were taken] they still serve as a really nice reminder of that first summer I lived in Montreal, exploring parts of Quebec I'd never heard of.

It just feels so good to have some time to myself.

this is what i want to yield for the upcoming year.

à bientôt

xox

02.14. December 1

Today is World AIDS Day.

Noted?

Oh sigh. It's also the first of december, which means...I've been here for eleven months.

i really don't live in winnipeg anymore.

I'm still waiting to find a group i really belong to. I'm content though. i have colleagues. some of which are friends. and, when school wraps up, I'm kind of intrigued with the idea of some self-led expeditions.

my mind, body and soul are all begging for school to finish. these essays are killing us. oh no. Why am I speaking in plural?

Rather, these essays are killing me. Two more essays then two finals (which are actually essays) means I can wrap it all up by December 16th.

Now that it's December and all, I have Christmas on the mind! What would December 1st be without a Christmas wish list? What's that you say? modest? oh puh-leeze!

in case you need more reason, proof: i'm listening to greensleeves and drinking eggnog. FIRST EGGNOG OF 2011! mon dieu, mon dieu!! tellement bonne!

since this is my blog and i'm not exactly world-famous for my humbleness (tee hee, world famous and humble), here's the list:

[click each "this" to see the item]

this

this

this

this

this

this

this

this

this

this

this

this

grey knit scarf

grey knit mittens

this

a variety of this

lots of these

easy-lever wine opener

Soiree Bottle-Top Wine Decanter Aerator

Flowered-scarf (like the ones we saw in France Mum)

Contact lenses

flight to africa.

Dentist appointment

Computer desk

Joe fresh nail polish – purple and/or brown and/or grey

Grocery store gift certs (stores: Provigo, Metro, Les Cing Saisons)

SAQ gift certificates [www.saq.com]

haircut with bangs

maybe this all sounds presumptuous but I'm trying to reinvent myself, right?

I also need a baking sheet and a martini shaker.

this is going out in email form as well, so not to worry.

2012 will be a year of inner beauty, outer beauty, stripes, and photos.

xox

à bientôt

k

02.12. November 19, 2011

alright life followers. here is a picture post produced par procrastination.

I'll walk you through it a bit.

1) I've been doing a bit of promo photography for Newtown. One of our bartenders, Bree, invented a new drink to add to our cocktail list, and I was asked to take a couple photos of the drink, the brains and beauty behind the operation and that's it. Except it wasn't. I loved shooting Bree so much that I spent about an hour taking photos of her. She's had experience modelling, she is a complete delight and very down-to-earth. It also helped that because her new drink is called Cherry-Cola, we were able to have very ambient-appropriate lighting (the whole lounge is red, purple and the lights were dim, giving a brownish-glow). 

I am admittedly awful at Photoshop/other editing software, so I prefer to just try to get the best shot possible without editing. Some of these are touched up in little bits, but for the most part it's just Bree, looking breeutiful (eww. I had to. Sorry.) 

Next, we have a couple of shots from Club Empire - the club on the basement level of Newtown. The shots are from two separate events (including the time I got to shoot Selena Gomez's after-show party!!! Don't know who she is? I didn't either. oops.)

Then we switch to a few shots of the coffee shop where I work. Random shots mostly. Actually all of them are random. There's then some autumn captured. I'm so spoiled by Montreal Autumns, apparently. The weather has been atypically warm (I have never experienced such a beautiful November). Everywhere I turned, I felt inspired and found myself bringing my camera with me even on short trips out. 

Even with such an ominous-looking sky, the colours jump out and literally left me breathless sometimes. 

I've attached a few photos of my random trip to Ottawa a month back - I can't remember if I'd already attached them, but due to severe neglect of blog, I'm attaching some of my favourites (and some of myself for good measure. [gawd. so. vain.] )

you will notice all the ones of me are rotated to the side, and I can't figure out how to straighten them out (instantaneous vain karma?)

and then all the breath-taking photos at the end of the post...those are of my apartment. I wake up in the morning and open my bedroom door onto a long hallway that ends with an East-facing window, so there's a constant stream of sunlight pouring into the apartment for about an hour. I sit and drink my espresso, close my eyes and genuinely smile. 

yes.

i'm back to smiling with my eyes.

Isn't my place beautiful? Won't you come visit? 

This is a really bland post in the sense that I don't explore any emotion, but it's important. I can't wait to have time to be creative again. I'm itching to explore something creative.

Also, I think I'm bailing on law and leaning more towards journalism. I'm so inspired right now I'm doing pliés in the hallwés.

enjoy.

a morning of god-like impressions

crunch.

dinner with my room mate! maple-whiskey infused egg-noodle tortellini with a campofiorin and avocados with herbed goat cheese and balsamic vinegar. 

i, cook.

the first from my fashion show shoot

more to come soon, I hope!

so excited to see my family at christmas! it's not too soon to start getting excited!!!

à bientôt

xox

k!

01.42 - July 11, 2011

Salut!

I sense a huge sense of neglect for la blog. So sorry. I really am.

I'm sorry because the blog is my release and I love writing in it. 

So I finished training at work and tomorrow I work my first real-employee shift and it's a double! This is exciting.

It's funny how I still become nervous (much the same as the first day of grade 7) when something "new" is on the horizon. Last week I completely turned into a shell of my real self...less than a shell..an exoskeleton of myself when the parade of very sophisticated, beautiful, tanned, apparently perfect co-servers came in for the night shift.

Alas. I'm 5 foot four a half for lordy's sake. I don't have to be afraid of anyone.

So this weekend was Folk Fest and I have to admit it was a bit heart wrenching not being there. Do I miss putting my contacts in beer caps? Yes! Yes I slightly do!

What I missed the most though was sleeping/dozing under trees/the brilliant sunshine while listening to the clean, crisp voice of the newest singer/songwriter on the folk scene. 

However, on this side of the St Lawrence (which, actually I think is the same side that Winnipeg is on too...have to work on my geography, apparently), I managed to have a lovely weekend. 

A friend was visiting and we had a lovely time eating Thai food and then getting stuck in a torrential downpour. We found solace in a Mexican restaurant/bar where we dried off with brown paper towels (those horrible rough ones found in most department stores and offices) and two shots of whiskey.

A man asked if I could salsa and began stroking my hair.

"well, no sir. I can't."

mmm....awkward.....move on.

Saw a Johnny Cash cover band (don't worry Eric, they have nothing on you! Does Eric the Great read my blog? Maybe? Hopefully. Let's agree on hopefully.)

and talked to the wee hours when I hopped into a cab and had the most ludicrously fabulous taxi driver who kept commenting on my accent (this is becoming a theme in Montreal. Apparently the accent is a big deal. Especially being tanned right now...I keep getting asked which Mediterranean country I'm from.)

Eventually we had to stop so I could get money out of a bank machine, and it sounds silly but I had a very beautiful moment in the lobby of the bank. They were playing (rather loudly) Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major and it was 3 in the morning and I was alone and I closed my eyes and hummed and smiled. 

Such a silly little moment but I fell asleep with a smile on my face that night thinking about the number of beautiful moments I've been experiencing. I want to collect them all, stream them altogether, and continuously realize I'm living the dream.

Spent Saturday poolside and ate chorizo sausage hamburgers (if heaven is a meat processing plant, these sausages were god). Slept for 13 hours and then spent my Sunday shopping for work clothes.

The weather is humid, the attitude laid back, the environment exciting. I do miss Winnipeg in the summer time, but Montreal sure doesn't make summer too difficult to enjoy!

Now I have to get a bit back on track and start back up with Kwagala-related things, organizing school...real-life things. Though I'm pleased as punch that there are still many, many weeks left of summer and friends and love and beauty and opportunities to photograph.

Which is where I'll leave off today, with some photographs. I want to keep writing as much as possible and, as you, dear readers, may now realize, photograph. I actually was looking into fine arts programs at Concordia but I'm conflicted. So I want to do everything-BIG DEAL. I can be the first lawyer/doctor/photographer/journalist in the world! I just need to live to be 194 which is a pretty reasonable thing to count on.

I have to figure out school - what's more my calling: journalism or law?

I want to call Refugees International and say "hey...should I do law or journalism? I wanna help. I'm on the cusp of the rest of my life."

Maybe I will.

I have nothing to lose except my life if I ran out into traffic or my hat in this windy weather.

The odds are on my side, non?

I hope everyone is enjoying their life to the utmost and know that if you're reading this, no matter the distance, you're in my head, heart and...well that's all. Those are the only places you are. 

I have been taking lots of film and polaroids but my scanner is in Winnipeg so I can't share yet.

But I will.

My friend Miriam playing Patanque (a fancier word for bocci ball)

more heineken then corona. marketing strategy?

I wouldn't mess around with a girl with solid metal balls in her hands either.

cooking with the awesome new air organ we got ($5!) 

cool tree. cool katie. it almost rhymes.

et ca c'est tout pour aujourd'hui!

xox
k