A Day With Grandpa!

Sean's dad came for a visit and stayed with us for the weekend. He went to partake in the Lynn Valley Days festivities yesterday; it's the area where he grew up and his dad had been quite involved in putting it on back in his time. Sean's dad remembers going to it every year since he was a wee lad, being pushed around in a stroller.

Today, we celebrated an early Father's Day with brunch at Lily Mae's in Gastown. Great place, warm and friendly service, fantastic food. From there, we walked all over downtown... with stops at the Woodwards building for some bubbles fun, T&T to pick up some of our favourite instant coffee for Colleeen, Michael's and lastly, a much deserved stop at Thierry after Maddi woke up from her nap. We enjoyed some bums on chairs time since we've been walking quite a bit... as well as some yummy treats. Maddi loves their macarons; today, she tried the ginger pineapple one. I had their millefeuille, one of my favourite pastries, and it did not disappoint! Sean tried their chocolate croissant and dad had their latte. I think everyone was quite satisfied... I love that place!

After Thierry, we walked home so dad can get ready to go home. We had a bit of time before they had to leave for the ferry terminal; since Maddi's been in the stroller most of the time, we decided to go to the playground beside our building for a bit to give Maddi some time to run around and play. She showed dada & grandpa how she can now come down the slide on her own. They were both quite impressed.

When it was time for dada and grandpa to leave, Maddi was quite upset. I guess she had fun with grandpa and didn't want him to leave. Grandpa, you'll just have to come visit more often!

Early Father's Day brunch at Lily Mae's in Gastown

Lily Mae's - cozy & charming

Maddi snacking while waiting for our food

Everybody at Lily Mae's - fantastic food, Maddi ate a ton!

Bubble fun at Woodwards!

Maddi enjoying a ginger pineapple macaron at Thierry

Enjoying the last few minutes with grandpa before he left to go home

Family Outing to the Aquarium

It was rainy out, so we decided to spend our morning at the Aquarium. Apparently, so did everyone else. Parking took forever, but it was all good once we got inside. Maddi and I had been to the Aquarium a few times but this was the first time dada came with us. Maddi enjoyed running around and seeing all the different fishes. She thought the sea otters were "woofs" (dogs). We had lunch there, before heading home for Maddi's nap time... and had the best spot to enjoy our lunch!

Photos are not the best quality, was bummed I forgot to bring my camera; although not the best quality photos are better than no photos at all.

Jellyfish!

Colourful tank of sea life

The best spot for lunch!

We Love Play Dates!

Today was another great day! Maddi and I had a usual start to our morning, then at 10am, we left the house to get my eye checked by the doctor. My eye was 90% healed and I no longer need the patch. Yippee! It was a bit dizzying having to look with just one eye when you're not used to it.

After the doctor's appointment, we had our first play date with Jett & Eden. We met them at the park a couple of weeks ago and found out they lived in the same bldg. Very excited to have met new friends that live so close! Jett & Eden are a bit older, and Maddi loves playing with older kids. They are balls of energy and talk lots. Really great for Maddi to learn how to socialize and definitely a great way for her to learn to talk. Maddi zonked right out when we got home; but again, only napped for half an hour.

Nicole drove in from Langley with Hayley and Nicolas to visit for the afternoon. After some snacks, we packed the kids into the stroller and headed for Emery Barnes park... after a quick stop for some Spanish lattes at Caffe Artigiano for the mommies, of course!

Hayley and Maddi played in the fountain, Hayley enjoyed all the structures she could climb and Maddi learned to come down on the small slide on her own... and I had a great time hanging out with a good friend. Our pinwheel was also a big hit with all the kids at the park, we had so many visitors at our picnic mat!

We had an early dinner, then said goodbye to Nicole, Hayley and Nicky. Come visit again, looking forward to another play date very soon!

A little while later, Sean came home from picking up grandpa at the ferry terminal. Maddi had a short visit with her papa, then was out like a light after such a fun and busy day.

Fun times!

Despite the water being quite cold, Maddi wanted to go in it and play with the fountains

They play so well together

This time, we were prepared and brought a swuimsuit

Bedtime stories with dada & papa

Saying goodnight to papa

Bagel Poke

Injury incurred: scratches in two places on my right eyeball.

Inflictor of pain: Madeleine Rhodes McMillen.

Weapon of choice: toasted bagel.

My morning started unexpectedly early, when Maddi decided to wake up at 5am, 2 and a half hours earlier than her usual wake time. I was up til 2am; so I was functioning with 3 hours of sleep. I'm not sure if it's the lack of sleep, but I didn't even see this coming. At breakfast, Maddi accidentally poked me in the eye with a toasted bagel. And because I didn't see it coming, I didn't even try to blink. My eye was wide open. It hurt! I don't know if she realized that she caused my pain, but when she saw that I was hurt, she opened up her arms and gave me a hug - made getting stabbed in the eye totally worth it!

Although it bothered me, I didn't think anything of it and went through my day as usual.

The Nygard VIP shopping event was today, and I got to go for a couple of hours to check it out. It was a definite learning experience.

Three things I learned today; I need to be prepared on how to engage with people when I've been given a golden opportunity (the store manager has been talking me up to her clients), the first thing out of my mouth needs to offer something of value and can't be an obvious sales solicitation (even though people know I'm selling something), engage - because the worst they can say is 'no'.

Considering that it was in the middle of the day, on a week day... the shopping event went pretty well. I was there from 2 to 4pm, and although it wasn't a crowd of shoppers, there was a steady stream of them. In the two hours that I was there, there were at least 6 shoppers that tried on clothes and every one of them bought something. Megan, the store manager, is amazing. She makes sales look so easy and effortless. I have much to learn.

As each of those 6 shoppers walked around, I said hi to them but searched for how else I can engage with them without taking them away from their shopping experience. I couldn't think of anything that sounded suitable so I just remained passive for most of my time there and let them come to me if they were interested. Towards the end, I relaxed and was chatting with one of the last clients as she tried on clothes. When she headed towards the counter to pay, I heard myself say, "don't forget to pick up a gift voucher for my glamour photography sessions at the front." I got her interest and she stopped to ask me more about it. That was my opportunity to engage. I showed her some samples of my work, generated a real interest and a potential client out of her.

I really am quite uneasy with sales, but I knew it can be done without being pushy and in a way that services the potential client. I've heard it a million times, good sales is really just good customer service. You are not there to sell, you sell by meeting a need your potential clients have. I have been on the receiving end of this kind of sales plenty of times. I just need practice on how to be on the offering end of it.

Before I left Nygard, I asked the manager and the other staff what the response has been to the vouchers they gave out. They said people were impressed and thought the images on the cards were really good. I suspect the rest of the VIP shoppers will be going to pick up their gift bags after work hours today and over the weekend. We'll see how this goes as my first marketing campaign. If nothing else, it was a great learning experience and the start to a great partnership with the Nygard store.

By the end of the day, I could barely open my right eye. Luckily, it didn't bother me too much while at the shopping event. I stopped in at the nearby drop-in clinic and found out that I got 2 scratches from the bagel poke and now have to wear a very fashionable eye patch until I go back for a follow up doctor's visit tomorrow. Such a sexy look! Fortunately, no permanent damage and it won't affect my vision. Thank goodness, because vision would be important for a photographer.

First Beach Day Of The Year!

Today was a holiday Monday for Victoria Day. After breakfast, we packed our stuff to be at the beach all afternoon. We had a ton of stuff and decided that our trek to English Bay would include an Aquabus ride just to make things easier and also to get there sooner.

Maddi fell asleep for her nap shortly after we got there, but didn't sleep for long. There were lots of people to play with and there were also a couple of newborns that came for a visit. She wasn't too sure of the sand at first, but soon enjoyed running around in it as well as experimenting with it's texture in her hands. Our friend Tesom deserves honourable mention for his great charisma with both Maddi and Marcus.

Enjoying the sights from the Aquabus

The vball crew's base camp on English Bay

Maddi kept brushing off sand from her hands

Getting curious

Exploring how sand feels in her hand

Family Session with the Saitos

Angela and I have been friends for years and were house mates at one point in our university days. I'm happy that she has also decided to pursue a career in photography; now I have a buddy to share this journey with... as long as she doesn't make me sniff her finger (inside joke).

When it comes to documenting our own family lives, we also share the same challenge. We have a gazillion images of our kids and husbands, but these images make it look like we are never around. Yet we are! We were there to share the moment in all those images, we were just behind the camera.

Yesterday, we made sure Angela was in almost every frame I shot, and we were blessed with the perfect shooting weather - overcast and not too windy.

I hope you enjoy these images, Ange!

 

Alternative Swinging

On Thursday, while on a play date with Shaila and Zianna at a nearby playground, another mom and baby showed us how to swing sideways! It looked like fun, so we tried it. Maddi loved it!

The next day, while mama was out on a family session, Maddi asked dada to go on the blue swing - it's the next level swing where there is a back, but no front to the seat. My baby girl is growing way too fast... wish I could freeze time, yet I am also constantly amazed at all the things she's learning to do. It really is fascinating to watch her grow, I am so lucky!

Maddi in the big girl swing

Sideways swinging

More sideways swinging

Enjoying a different view from sideways swinging

I'm A Get Shit Done Kind of Mama!

The past week has come and gone with a roar of "get shit done" attitude after feeling largely unproductive on the work front for months. I reclaimed our den as my office last Monday - I tossed, I filed, I cleaned. I have a long ways to go to get it to my ideal work environment, but half an hour spent organizing proved to be a great and worthwhile investment. I love the energy in there, I have spent so much time in that tiny space this week and actually got work done! I would have to say that the one tip I got from a prospective business coach that I met with really worked - put your phone on silent, face down!

It has been a string of late nights; and if I keep this up, I would be headed for burn out. So this next week, I seek to find balance... although I am quite pleased with all the items I got off my to-do list this week, not to mention being able to take advantage of the opportunity to team up with Nygard... which if I hadn't gotten organized, would've been a great opportunity lost.

A couple of months ago, I made a connection with the manager at the Nygard Yaletown store. Last week, she called me. She wanted to help me promote my business to their VIP clients at their shopping event next week! So I came up with a great win-win idea for both myself and the store - I'm giving them vouchers towards a glamour session with me to gift to their VIP clients. I designed the voucher and sent it off to the printers just in the nick of time to get them ready for the event.

Just before I started working so much, I had a couple more days since my last posts where I've enjoyed the great weather with Maddi and Sean, including our early Mother's Day picnic last Saturday, knowing that the rain will come on Sunday.

Enjoying a triple berry smoothie on the library steps. She drank half of it!

Da-da gave Maddi a pretty high fashion 'do

Blowing bubbles after our Mother's Day picnic

Thanks for a wonderful and yummy Mother's Day picnic!

Here's the voucher card I designed for the Nygard VIP shopping event

This is how the back of the cards will look

Mother And Daughter Glamour Session with Sarah & June

On Friday, I had the opportunity of doing a glamour session with Sarah and June. It reminded me of how special the relationship is between a mother and her baby girl, no matter how big the baby has gotten.

It was a fun afternoon of girl time, getting pampered, looking beautiful and celebrating the special bond that a mother and daughter share.

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

Mother's Day Mini Session With The Kaplans

The Kaplans are another family that I have had the pleasure of photographing in the last couple of years. I love seeing this family grow. I love the curls in Oliver and Lucy's hair. I love listening to Oliver talk.

Mike and Nicole, you have a beautiful family!

I think this is my favourite image of the lot!