Burrito West Blog

One of the downsides to not getting married is that we miss out on the chance to document our young, cute selves in fancy photograhic format. This is a concern, as we will not always be this young and cute! ;)

I've had this thought in the back of my head for a while, and then along came an opportunity for a discounted photo shoot with an amazing local photography studio that I'd kind of been stalking. One of the principles, Miranda, is a girl I know through the Vancouver craft scene and I'd been following her blog, amazed by the consistently jaw-droppingly awesome photos they posted. Her company is Blue Olive Photography and they are amazing.

So, I snapped up the offer and we booked a date for the photoshoot in July. Peter and I chose the Olympic Village as our setting, which was awesome because it's pretty and still quite empty. Reilly, the husband part of the husband and wife team of Blue Olive, took our photos and was great, we actually had quite a bit of fun! (I really dislike being the focus of attention, so a photoshoot is pretty low on my list of fun things to do - Reilly gets big props for making it fun.)

Then we went away on vacation and had to wait until we got back to see our proofs. I was super curious to see the photos because every photo they've ever posted on their blog has been pretty spectacular.... was it possible they could make us look that awesome as well?

Uh, yes. Apparently it really pays to have a professional do this. Go figure.

I can't recommend Blue Olive enough, they're great people and happen to be mad awesome at what they do!













These photos are in lieu of engagement photos for us, and happen to arrive just in time to mark our 13th anniversary. Lucky 13!

[Updated to add a few more, at Amber's request.]




















[Family members - we have ordered some prints for you so you can put us on your mantle frozen in time as young and cute.]

I have finally done the deed. I joined the cellular age.

When Peter and I moved to Vancouver we discovered it was about the same price/cheaper to get a cell phone vs a land line. So we lived with 1 cell phone for a while. I treated it as a home phone, Peter treated it as a cell. I was very happy to let him have it as I hate talking on the phone and definitely do not want to be reachable at all times.

Then last year Peter got himself a fancy iPhone. And somehow I ended up with a terrible pay as you go phone. I hated that phone enough to look around at getting a real phone. And, given that I prefer to communicate via email and social networks.... seemed like a smartphone was the way to go. But holy cow are smartphone cell plans expensive! (Apparently we in Canada have the highest mobile bills in the world.) I shopped around a lot and looked at various smartphones. I wasn't particularly interested in paying a fortune for an iPhone (and I like to be different) so I was looking at Android phones.

I found one carrier was offering a great deal on the Palm Pre - they give you the phone for free and you get a $15/month discount on whatever plan you pick (the Palm is not an Android phone, however, it's a WebOS phone). And the phone seemed to fit my needs perfectly (I wanted a physical keyboard and something smaller than an iPhone) I found a retail store that gave me a smoking good plan* and after hemming and hawing about it for a few weeks, yesterday we went out to the store and I came back with a shiny, fancy phone (and a 3 year contract, which is nutso and also something that only exists in Canada).

Here's my phone. Isn't it pretty? I love love love having a real keyboard. And email! And I can stop getting lost all the time now that I have googlemaps+gps!

If you need me, I'll be playing some kind of game on my phone - don't call, email. ;)



* My Plan: 200 local minutes, 500MB data, unlimited talk + text to 10 numbers nationwide, free evenings + weekends starting at 6pm, unlimited texting for $35/month+tax (add voicemail + call display for $10/month)

As prolific as Starbucks are in Vancouver, I think Tim Hortons donut/coffee shops are even more numerous in the Maritimes. At least it's a more affordable habit to form!

It's actually quite neat - Tims have become the 3rd Place for people. My dad has his particular Tims that he goes to where he can hang out with the other retired/semi-retired guys. So he doesn't just go for the coffee, but for the chance to bump into and spend time with casual friends.

Putting my planning hat on for a moment - imagine if every Tims had a plaza out front instead of a parking lot - it might actually be a gracious and dignified community place. I'm pretty sure if you wanted to create/enliven a public space anywhere in Nova Scotia/New Brunswick, all you'd have to do is get a Tims to open up and convince them to put out some patio seating in your public space.

This is the last photo I took before leaving NS - in the Halifax airport.

I made something super cute - details over on the craft blog!

It is eleventy billion degrees in Vancouver right now. Just fyi.

Peter and I got to spend some time playing tourist on this trip to the east coast, which was wonderful.

I do love the landscapes in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick - especially around the Bay of Fundy.

We visited Hopewell Rocks, also called Flowerpot Rocks which I'd never been to see before. There was a hoard of people, but it was still lovely. There's something about that red soil that makes everything extra magical.

Got back to Vancouver after a 2 week trip to the east coast to visit family (and beautiful places). Was lovely to see everyone but I'm glad to be back home. I'm completely covered in cat fur as I've been cuddling the furry people nonstop since I returned (okay, I did take a break to run out and get sushi).

I always feel inspired to take photos when I'm in Nova Scotia/New Brunswick - not sure if it's the nostaglia of being in those landscapes again, or wanting bits of it to take back with me, or just the fact that I'm in vacation mode.... but I have a whack of photos from each trip back. I'm finding for this set of trip photos I don't have to edit them - just resize them and throw them on flickr, so they're getting online much faster than usual. If you're interested - check here.