Do the Monster Mash.

I should have posted these photos yesterday but ended up sick so I never got around to it. I had this idea that I wanted to take photos of Richard and I for our third anniversary. At first I wanted just casual photos of us but then I saw a bunch of stuff online of couples with Sugar Skull makeup and thought Richard and I could do something a bit more fun. I brought the idea up to him and he was a tad hesitant but agreed and so on Monday with Hillary and Valerie in tow we found a tiny cemetery and took the photos. Here are just a few of my favourites.

Yep we are a pretty weird couple, but I love it. Richard, I am so glad I responded to your Facebook message almost eight years ago, and its hard to believe we've already been married for three years. You've taught me so much about myself and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us. Love you.

Little Red Arrow: Thanksgiving Family Session

Richard and I hosted my side of the families Thanksgiving Dinner on the 12th. We usually try to get as many of us to someones house for a pot luck and this year was extra special as my brother who lives in Halifax came down with his wife and their daughter. This was the first time we got to meet Callie and I took the opportunity to take some family photos and work on some portrait poses. With the help of my uncle and niece on reflector duty we got some beautiful photos. See below for some of my favourites. 

Maybe someday we can get a HUGE group photo done, but until then these will do nicely. Hope everyone's October is going well. Hillary and I have a couple more photo shoots this month and then we are done with our Fall Photo Sessions.

Don't forget to follow mine and Hillary's Instagrams and new business Little Red Arrow on IG here:

@littleredarrow

@hilly.bee  @pvaughan86

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

I'm sure if you follow this blog or my IG you can see that I've been dabbling a lot more into portrait photography. I've become a lot more confident with my photography over the last year or so and I can finally admit to myself and others that I would love to do this as a side thing. I follow a lot of photographers and more and more lately have realized this is something that makes me happy and is a way for me to bring my creativity into something I love. Not only is photography a hobby of mine but its also a passion. I would love to try and build up my portfolio and see where this might take me.

So whats the BIG announcement you ask? Well...I'm looking for people who want their photos taken and are willing to model for me. Here are some examples of what I am capable of.

What am I looking for? 

Everything. Individuals, Couples, Families, Children. Like I said I'm trying to build my portfolio so I need a variety of different things.

What kind of photos am I looking to take?
Absolutely everything. If you have an idea run it by me.
You want to do a fun family session? Awesome!
You want to do an at home couple session! Lets try it.
You want to do a cool steam punk session with a bad ass outfit? What week are you available?

What am I offering?
Well this is the catch. I'm not a professional. I'm no where close to that. So if you're expecting Vogue cover shoots...well I can't offer you that, that's for sure. What I am offering is a photo shoot where we can talk through what you're looking for and I will give you all the photos I can take on that day. I am going to be giving you the photos but I will be using them here on the blog and in my portfolio for the future. So I will still retain all rights to the photos. Basically this means you can't sell the photos I've taken for your profit.

Whats the cost?
I will only charge $10 a head, per session, and I will give you a USB (which you can keep) with all the photos on it so you can go and print them out yourself.

If you are interested and willing to help me out please let me know by leaving a comment, facebook message, or you can email me at hp_crazed86@hotmail.com

Honest to Blog- My Anthem

A couple posts ago I wrote about Brittany Gibbons and her amazing idea to give her fans and followers writing prompts for the month of August. I did one of the prompts which was a letter to my 18 year old self, which you can read here. The next one I decided to do was a really easy one for me..."Which song would you pick to be your anthem?"

Music speaks to me. Songs can make me jump up and dance until I'm out of breath. They can make me want to curl in on myself and cry until I have no tears left in my body. Others are ones I play in the car with the windows down while I belt it for all to hear. (Joking the second I pull up to another car the windows go up and I quietly sing the song while using the steering wheel as a drum set.) While others make me just sit in one spot while I soak in the words and make me feel calm. There are some songs that have gotten me through the rough times, while others remind me of the happy moments in my life.

But there is no other artist out there that has made me feel the way I do when I listen to Florence + The Machine. Not only is her voice exquisite, but her lyrics are some of the ones that touch me the most. She has a song for just about everything, but there was one of hers that I heard which I knew was my heart song.

It explained everything, everything, I've ever felt since I was 12 in just over 4 minutes. It's like it was written expressly for me to listen to when I want to give up, or make others listen too when I just can't answer the question "How are you?" Or when I need that boost of encouragement to tell myself "You'll get past this next hurdle in your life. Stand straight and shake it off and put one foot in front of the other. You can do this! You're strong. Just shake it out."

This is my anthem Ladies and Gentlemen and one day I will carry words from this song on my skin for all to see!

Florence + The Machine- Shake It Out

Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play

And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn

And I've been a fool and I've been blind
I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way
I'm always dragging that horse around

Our love is pastured, such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground
So I like to keep my issues drawn
But it's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

And I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart
'Cause I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
And given half the chance would I take any of it back
It's a fine romance but it's left me so undone
It's always darkest before the dawn

Oh whoa, oh whoa...

And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat
'Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me, yeah

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

Honest to Blog- Dear 18 Yr Old Paula

The amazing blogger Brittany Gibbons created an August Writing Prompt for woman to choose from and write about. One of the suggestions on her list for the month was..."Write a letter to yourself 10 years ago. What do you know now, that you wish you'd known then?"

This is the first of her prompts I have written but I plan to write a few more from her list. I adore her and after writing this letter to my past self I felt very calm and almost like a weight was lifted. I wish 18 year old Paula could have read this. It would have been nice to know things got better.

Well here is my letter to 18 year old Paula.

Dear 18 year old Paula,

Put down the fanfiction and lets have a girl to girl chat. I feel a little like the Time Traveller's Wife while I write this. You'll read that book in the future and totally get this reference.  If this is like a Back to the Future type deal, can you please do a few things before reading the rest of this letter. 

1. Be more active, woman! Our family history has a horrible track record for healthy women. Maybe walk around or something. 
2. Love your body more. Learn to dress yourself properly and maybe look up some good skin care regimens. Oh and brush your teeth more or just floss more. The cavity bills sucks ass. 
3. For the love of god pick up a book on cars. Just learn the basics ok? Nothing crazy just learn what the different parts of a car are and what their use is. 

I'll know if this worked when I post it and look down at myself and see a smoking hot bod, and maybe more money in my bank cause I didn't waste it all on crappy cars. 

OK now lets get real. The next couple of years are going to have some major up and downs. Your life is a roller coaster and you'll learn that the terror isn't so much the drop but the climb up to the top. Soon you're going to get your first official boyfriend!!! I know right. CONGRATS!!! You're going to experience a lot of firsts with him. Some will make you happy, like the obvious, others like your first breakup not so much fun. I know, sorry to burst the bubble. It's inevitable though, he was not your lobster. Just good practice.

Enjoy 18-19 because 19-20 is when the coaster your riding crashes in the pond below. You're going to learn the true meaning of heartbreak. That nagging feeling in the back of your mind that you think will one day happen...sorry sweetie but it happens. You'll discover you're stronger than you think you are, and you get through it, but be prepared, it will change you. One day you'll wake up and realize the things you wanted in your life, well, some aren't so important anymore. There are no words to prepare you for this, I wish I had some words of wisdom.

The people around you are going to surprise you too. Some will disappoint you while others will become more important, and even more you'll never see again. The latter group of people will leave because you will shut them out of your life. It wont be until years later that you'll realize what you've done. You won't be able to change it, just know that this is what you do. Grow from it and move on.   

I unfortunately can't help you in the 'Ugly Duckling' department. Even at 28 I still don't feel pretty. If anything I feel worse. Some days I wake up with a song in my head and I have a dance party in the car on the way to work. I may have a little extra sway to my nonexistent ass and I'll feel gorgeous. Other days I feel like shit but I plaster on that fake smile. My advice is the same from above. Become more active, I'd really like to see 30 with 80lbs less weight. 

Silver lining time. Try your best to hold out until 2007-2008. You're going to travel this year. LONDON BOUND BABY. Also you're going to meet someone that is going to surprise you the most. The true Paula who you've kept hidden is going to come out. Your light and your dark, and you're nerdy alter ego. People will question this change in you. Some may even think you're changing for him, but the truth is he brings all this out. He's going to see this side of you and not question it. He's going to let you embrace the hell out of it. He's going to show you things you never thought you wanted in your life, but once you have it you won't want to let it go. Do yourself a favor. ANSWER HIS FACEBOOK MESSAGE! Agree to a date with him and don't look back. The rest of your life, and be prepared cause the coaster is back on track and ready for another crash, it's going to be easier to handle because he's going to be holding your hand through it. 

That feeling of always being stepped on and pushed to the side and walked all over? It goes away; not fully, but it gets better. You'll learn to stand up for yourself and you get more confidence to fight for the important things. It's an amazing feeling and you become way more confident because of it. And that chick you idol so much, the one with the awesome husband and two cute kids, tends to come over a lot for Sunday dinner, ya she becomes one of your best friends. You both may not share everything with each other, a girl needs her secrets after all, but you become closer than just sisters. She is your true soul mate and the other half of your old lady rocking chair duo. One of the only people you will keep in touch with from high school is Hillary. Thank god you have her in your life, dig your nails in deep on that one. 

So advice for the future. Keep your head up and your arms in the air while riding this roller coaster. There are scary moments and exhilarating moments. Bring tissues. Lots and lots of tissues. Maybe some spanks for those ugly duckling moments and a shot glass for the booze. Also throw in a push up bra and some thongs. Trust me you'll need all of these, and you'll thank me for it. 

I wish I could be there for you so you have an extra shoulder to cry on or someone to laugh with, but don't worry you'll have plenty of people surrounding you. 

Stay strong. 

Paula Vaughan (oh ya, you change your name in the future). 

P.S really consider reading up on cars. Seriously trust me on that. Oh and you still don't know what you want to be when you grow up. Don't waste time on college. Just work on being happy.

Long Weekend Recap

As I am writing this post I'm counting down the hours and minutes until 12:00am when my favourite author releases her next book, and finishing up season four of Gossip Girl on Netflix.

I hope everyone enjoyed their August long weekend. Our long weekend was spent hauled up in our condo with our old roommate for a writers weekend. We had been planning this weekend since the spring and originally we were going to go to Niagara Falls but with the new addition of the car we decided to spend the weekend here at home and save a lot of money.

We redesigned the living room by bringing in our small folding table and set up Richard's and my computers. Even now they are still there because both of us were to lazy to put everything back, but I wont be able to stand this layout much longer. There are computer cords everywhere. We did have a pretty nice setup with food and snacks though.

We all got a lot done but, on the large scheme of things we also weren't as productive as we hoped we could have been. Richard and Janine were able to work on their individual writing projects and got just over 2000+ words each. I spent most of Saturday doing crafts and resetting and reloaded my iPod full of movies and music. Sunday was spent on a photo adventure getting caught up on my July photo challenge, and Monday was spent lazying around.

Here is my July Photo A Day Challenge recap. I don't know why it was such a struggle to keep on track last month but I'm hoping to keep on track this month.

January/February/March/April/May/June

Sookie and Lola...A love letter.

Dear Sookie,

It's been five years since I first saw your racing stripes and picked you up in Georgetown. Our first car Ruby was unsafe and dying and you were so pretty and what we hoped would be safe.

It seems like yesterday when after only two weeks of owning you I had you towed because a pulley system under the belt in the engine broke, a common thing in Ford Focus' we later learned. So many fun stories happened with you. Like that time we took you to the drive in and worried the battery wouldn't last so we kept turning you on and off, pissing off the other movie watchers. Or that time I decided to reward you with new winter tires but left them on for over two years. 

Lets not forget the time Hillary, Becky and I drove to Orangeville with you and you decided to have a hissy fit and explode in the drive threw of a McDonalds. At least we got to meet that scary looking tow truck driver, an introduction we would never have had had it not been for you. 

You remember Becky, that wasn't the only time when she was in the car and you went ape shit and had to be towed. For a while I thought you didn't like gingers but no, I think you just didn't like me. The next time you were towed was in Oshawa, when visiting Becky, that you decided after making the whole trip there on a Sunday evening that you just wouldn't start again. After getting you towed for the third time to a ford dealership in Oshawa where I had to miss a day of work I learned your ignition broke, again another common thing in Ford Focus'. 

Lets not forget the time I locked the keys in you while you were still running in a parking lot on Canada Day last year. That was an absolute blast. Don't even get me started with all the upkeep it took to keep you pretty and happy. New coolant fluid piping, new engine mounts, more coolant fluid pipping, new brake pads, new battery, more piping etc etc. This list is endless. 

I think my absolute favourite was early this year when your battery died in -40°C, and I got you towed for what I thought was gonna be the last time. How wrong I was. No it wasn't until two weeks ago when travelling to Oakville that your coolant temperature skyrocketed and we took you to the mechanic again to replace more piping. 

The next day when driving you up the steep ramp in our underground parking you decided enough was enough and turned off and rolled back down. After spending lots of money fixing you up the day before and getting you towed for the fifth and final time, Richard and I had had enough. We just couldn't keep you anymore. We learned that we just weren't the right people to see you to the very end.

Sookie thank you for keeping me alive these last five years. You will remain in our thoughts and we hope you find new owners who can take better care of you and have deeper pockets. 

All our love,
Richard and Paula

Dear Lola,

You beautiful amazing girl you. You are Richard and my very first NEW car. We had one of your great Aunt's as our very first car. Her name was Ruby, and she was a 1999 Toyota Corolla, but she was mistreated by horrible Muggles who didn't take good care of her. By the time we got her it was too late to give her the care and love she deserved, and she was so depressed. But like any good car she tried her best to keep going and did her job of also keeping us alive. Despite not having AC or a gas tank that worked. Or even doors that unlocked properly.She was once even paved around in a parking lot at a construction site. But that's enough about her. Lets talk about you.

You are a breath of fresh air, literally. You're our first car with properly working AC and heat. Your interior is soft and clean and you have no marks on you. You smell AMAZING, and you're exterior is something other cars and Muggles alike envy. Your sound system is stellar and we already know your a bad ass rocker at heart. You warn me of upcoming cars with your intelligent back up camera, and your LED lights that allow me to see in the dark without putting on my high beams. Even after only three days of being with you, I can already tell our love story is going to epic. Herbie the Love Bug will have nothing on us.

Here are my promises to you, I will always keep you well fed with only the best Regular Gasoline, and keep all other liquids full to bursting. I will keep your interior shiny and dust free. There will be no garbage left in you at the end of every day. I will get your regular check ups at the appropriate intervals as told to me by the stickers on the front windshield. And I will keep your windows clean from bugs when ever I can. I will encourage you when I feel  like you need it. For example when we are going up large hills or through deep puddles. In the winter I will do my best to keep you clean from ice and keep safe distances from other cars around you.

My request to you, is please let me know in advance when something is wrong. I don't want to subject you or I with the embarrassment of meeting new tow truck drivers. And please please do your absolute best to keep myself and other passengers safe and arrive at our destination.

Love you Lola Corolla,
Richard (the owner) and Paula (the master).

 

June Photo A Day Challenge

We are now half way through the year, and this month for the FatMumSlim photo a day challenge was the hardest one for me to complete. Not because I found the prompts hard but because this month has been crazy busy that I wasn't even able to take or post the days on time. I ended up having to take about 17 photos in one day just to get the month completed on time.

January/February/March/April/May

You know the drill here are the prompts followed by my photos. Enjoy!

Happy National Doughnut Day

Sorry this is actually a thing?
Well HOT DAMN. Excuse me while I stuff myself full of Tim Horton's Doughnuts and binge watch some Veronica Mars on Netflix.

Photo Adventure- My Neighbourhood

Richard and I were walking around our town a week ago and I had my camera on me, so naturally I snapped some photos. Just wanted to share some of them from around our little street, which was bathed in some beautiful light. Spring finally made an appearance, and its just in time for Summer. Did you feel the sarcasm in that sentence?

Summer is my least favourite season, mostly due to the heat and the fact that I can't stand out in the sun without my trusty 110 SPF Sunscreen, cardigan, and parasol. Seriously it gets worse and worse every year. Screw you Mother Nature. I want to live with the Elves in Lord of the Rings who live in a land where its always Autumn. If you know where I can catch a plane to Middle Earth I'm ready to hang out with Legolas and Kate from Lost. 

                 

 

Photo A Day Photography Challenge

So its no secret by now that I love doing the Photo A Day Challenges from Chantelle over at FatMumSlim. This challenge is amazing, and throughout the 5 months I've been doing them I can see a difference in my photos. I've always enjoyed photography but even in school I found it difficult. Mostly because it didn't matter what I liked but what the teacher liked. My photography teacher was always about meaning. Most of the time I came up with some symbolic meaning for why I took a photo of a lamp post or a field. God forbid I just saw it and took a photo. 

Teacher: "What does this photo mean to you?" 

Me: "I saw it and thought the flower was pretty"

Teacher: "Why is it pretty? What does the flower symbolize?"

Me: "Nothing, it was just pretty?" *shrug*

Teacher: "Well that's not enough information Paula. I want you to work harder on what these photos mean to you."

Me: "You know actually I think the flower symbolizes innocence and ...bullshit...bullshit...bullshit...my feelings...more bullshit...and there's the A+ I wanted...thank you so much psycho teacher, keep sniffing that glue."

However now I can take photos of whatever I want. Yes some of my photos have a lot of emotion and thought behind them. But sometimes I see the sun peaking through some leaves in a tree and think "Wow that's really cool!" Camera click and moving on. I still find myself doing quick photos just so I can get the prompt for the day done but for the most part I'm really enjoying a lot of my photos. For instance in May there are only three photos I don't like. 27-28-29, I could have done better.

Everyday I'm finding myself getting more and more passionate about photography, and whats even more fantastic is that we seem to have gathered a little photography group. We have some days planned throughout the next couple of months devoted to Saturday Photo Adventures which is fantastic.

Anyway back to this challenge, I realized when I was putting together May's Calendar that I never posted my April Calendar. If you want to see my previous months you can do so here. Enjoy. Comments are always welcome. 

January/February/March

So something pretty incredible happened in May. My photo for May 25th Neighbourhood was chosen as one of the top 4 photos for that daily prompt. I've never had one of my photos chosen and while this whole thing isn't a competition, we don't get a prize or anything, its still an accomplishment to have my photo chosen out of hundreds that get submitted. Its little victories like this that make me happy. Also it turns out the person who was choosing the photos, who now lives in Australia, use to live on my street. Small World.

The Meteor Shower...that wasn't.

So last Friday there was supposed to be a meteor shower between the hours of 1am-4am on Saturday Morning. Its been on my Bucket List to see a meteor shower so I was extremely excited when my uncle suggested we go. I went along with my uncle, niece and sister. We drove out to a spot in Caledon, just after midnight on Saturday, called The Forks of the Credit to set up our cameras in hopes of getting some photos.

The weather was extremely overcast but quickly cleared up by the time we got out to Caledon. We were lucky that only once during the night did we have cloud overcast but it eventually thinned out and we could see the stars again. But as you can tell by the title of this post the shower never happened. We were all pretty bummed out. But we all learned a lot about night time photo taking, and my Uncle and niece were able to get some pretty amazing photos.

An even bigger disappointment for me was that my camera just would not focus. Imagine turning off all your lights in your bedroom and trying to see a piece of fluff on your floor. Its not exactly easy. My uncle was able to focus his own lens and helped my niece focus hers but none of us could get my camera lens to focus. It was extremely frustrating and the more I tried the more I wanted to cry. I tried for about an hour and half  to work with my camera taking just under 50 images by turning my lens this way and that, trying to see what I could do. Around 2:00am I just said 'fuck it' and turned off my camera. Out of all the photos I took I was able to play with only 3 of them but like I said it was a learning experience and I'm glad I went.

All of my photos where shot on ISO 1600 at a F-Stop of 4.0 with Shutter Speed at 25-30 seconds.

I edited them in Photoshop Elements 11 changing the White Balance a bit and upping the contrast.

Despite not seeing a meteor shower I did get to see a dozen or so shooting stars. I've never seen a shooting star before so every time it raced across the sky I let out a little 'Ohh' and 'Ahh'. Which was quickly followed by my niece screaming "MAN...my camera was faced the wrong way."