Flashback - Disney trip Nov. 2008

Dahlia's dream came true - she met her Princesses !!

....and a few favorite fairies

Interestingly, Dahlia was about to say - "but Mom..?" when Ariel looked at her and said "haven't I seen you before?" And I quickly added "oh yes, yesterday, but you were a mermaid then - now you have your legs!" (Whew, good save.)

Anybody else notice the absolute glow on Dahlia's face? (The only one more excited to meet them was....um....er.......her mother ;-)

Snow memories March 09 - now that Spring is finally here!

A few weeks ago we finally got Daddy to take a break and after a yummy brunch at a very traditional Quebec ritual - the Sugar Shack - where the sun was warm with a heavy hint of spring in the air - we then headed up north (about an hour & a half drive) to Mount Tremblant.

We arrived at our condo where Dahlia did the monkey thing as we unpacked. This was a quickie 2 day thing but nonetheless still had to bring Zizi (the cat) and all her paraphernalia.

Incidentally, this is the same place where Natasha Richardson had her skiing accident just the week-end before. How very sad - especially for her 2 boys. Just tragic!


If you have never been here - it is like being transported to a Swiss village.

Dahlia smooshing with Zizi. Note the neon eyes. Oddly, I don't have a setting (that I know of) to eliminate freaky eyes.

It was bitterly cold and we're not skiers (so why do we have a condo on Mt Tremblant? Good question.) But we are "let's tumble down this hill" kinda people and the shrieks and squeals of a 6 year old are priceless. So, even though mama had a nasty cold and only wore a spring coat (what!) I couldn't miss any of the hill sliding. So we found this nice little hill away from the skiers. Daddy caught her about halfway down most times as I was a little concerned with some rather large boulders near the bottom. So then I say "Hey Daddy - go to the top with her and push her down at this angle and I'll make sure she doesn't veer off toward those rather large boulders (can you tell what's comin next?) Dahlia is suddently speeding down the hill in completely the wrong direction - heading directly toward said boulders. Mama had no choice but to take a flying leap to stop her and I managed to but I, as a result, have picked up momentum myself and given the angle of the hill with which this momentum was taking place and adding the gravity factor, I opted to continue this momentum in a tuck and roll position. (I omitted a small detail - I just had knee surgery at the end of 08 and had just finished 4 months of physio - but I digress.)

My finger over the lens may have been when I realized she was way too far over. Interestingly - I don't remember what I did with the camera when she came flying down!

All was well in the end - oh - except I developed pneumonia (first time ever) probably due to my choice of coat!!

Back to the condo and then home.

The one good thing about having pneumonia (huh?) is I got to spend the whole past week either in bed, doing puzzles after school with D, or at my computer so I got to read back in the archives of my favorite bloggers and was reminded, once again, what a great group of people we have been blessed to know or know about.

(Always looking for that silver.)

Look what Mama got !!!

No.......not this little piece of cr......p (oops, did I say that?).

This little.................is responible for so much frustration, lost moments in time, fuzzy memories (and frankly....I don't need any added help there ;) and, did I mention FRUSTRATION?

The shutter speed (or lag) is so ssslllllllllllloooooooooowwwwwwww that said subject was bound to move, thus rendering any settings moot. Now, to be fair, perhaps dropping this little..........may have caused some of the problem but returning it to Sony only drew blanks as they said it was in perfect order. Yeah, right! My little Kodak Easyshare (before this one) took lovely pictures but I could hardly see what I was taking with a, what seemed to be, 2 cm screen so I upgraded to lots of pixels (useless) and a 3 in LCD screen. Ahh...bliss - now I can see my crappy pictures SO much clearer.

So, what's a girl to do? Pull out my hair, whine and plead for an early b-day present (really early as I just had a birthday) or just go out and buy one myself?

So.........that's what I did. And.......I didn't mess around either!

Voila!

Mama's new toy!

Now, all I have to do is.........learn how to use it. Easy peasy, right?

So, last week I went to LLLoseau for a 4 hour course on "learning the body of a D300". Now the workshop had only about 5 men and me - all with the same camera but not necessarily on the same playing field. When the intructor began to talk about aperatures I quickly (ever eager to learn a new word) asked "what's an aperature?", the audible groan emitted from my fellow workshoppers confirmed to me just how steep this learning curve would be. But, I plugged on. During a break, a kindly gentleman (actually looked a little like Santa Clause - said he was a pro but just couldn't be bothered to read the manual) gently touched my arm and said, and I quote - "You're very charming (this was the set-up) BUT, what are you doing with a camera like this? - you could take as good a picture with a point and shoot" (WHAAAATT?)

Need I elaborate on what I WOULD have liked to have said to him? I just smiled somewhat sweetly (I was raised properly after all) and turned around and steeled my resolve to learn this thing if it kills me!!!!!! (Don't say I CAN'T do something - oh yeah, just watch me!)

So, I have a plan.

Susan (from our journey to mei mei) was sweet enough to link me to an on-line company who give all sorts of photography courses (she's taken them and it really shows in her work) and I begin a 4 week course next week with Tony Sweet. It's through betterphotos.com and I'm quite pumped.

First, I have to really learn how this baby works and then I can get a little creative. I'm really looking forward to seeing the tiny little hairs on my darling Dahlia's upper lip as well as finally re-doing by art pictures (which are pathetically poor, I know, you don't have to tell me, I have eyes :) And of course, getting some great shots of baby sister...........very soon!

So.........wish me luck!

PS. Ummm.....er.....I just read over this latest post and the thought "spoiled brat" came quickly to mind (and I wasn't thinking about Dahlia). It's mama who needs the time-out here. Let me just say that I am grateful for any camera and the time and opportunities to take pictures - period. Anything over and above that is bonus.

OK, so I'm getting off the naughty mat now ;)

Remembering Wendy

Today I am deviating slightly off topic to remember someone integral to who I am - my twin sister Wendy. We were born 15 minutes apart and were identical twins. Yes, we had our own language and could re-count stories of feeling each other's pain. She was my best friend and really my other half for many years. To this day I still walk down the sidewalk to the right, not in the middle.

Today is a sad day for me as it is one year ago today when we lost Wendy to cancer. I miss her terribly.

This is why I enjoy following twin blogs like Double Happiness, Salsa and others. They are a joy for me to peek into their happiness and a healing balm for me as well.

Then and Now

The passage of time.....

Dahlia turns 2

March 4, 2005

Dahlia turns 3

2006

Dahlia turns 4

2007

Dahlia turns 5
2008

Dahlia turns 6
2009

My beautiful girl is so grown-up!

Reminds me that each minute with our children is precious and should be treasured. (If only I wasn't so 'brain-dead' most of the time.) It's one of the reasons I wanted to start this blog - to force me to pause and really take in everything before it passes. To freeze frame bits and pieces instead of living on fast forward.

I give you permission to remind me 0f my words (gently, of course) - should I show signs of forgetting.

Three Years!!!

This This picture was taken as we exited the courtroom

in Feb 2006, fully expecting to be home from China with Milana

within the year.

Sigh.....

March 15th 2006 - March 15th 2009

3 years

36 months

156 weeks

1,095 days

26,280 hours

1,576,800 minutes

...gettin' the drift?

There's a smell of a rumor in the air!

....and the rumor is we might be looking at Milana's face (referral picture, I mean) sooner than later. There.....I said it!!! And I 'm not taking it back.

Explanation: Rumor Queen (China Adopt Talk) just gave it an R2 (which is about a 40% chance of being true). We could have our referral picture by end April/beginning May on the outside and maybe even earlier!!! For those who don't know who Rumor Queen is - think Holy grail. Oh happy days. I was gearing up for about another 3 months because it seemed like we were in another slow-down (how many does that make it now?) so I was settling for a referral by June/July and travelling in ...aug..g..g August. But now there are distinct rumblings that we could have a speed-up. Oh God....please make it true. Dahlia will be starting college soon ; 0.

To be continued..............

PS. I need help with posting my pictures. I want to move them around and write where I want but it's only giving me templates that I don't like and can't maneuver. I know it do-able - but I can't seem to do it. Directions/advice/tips are all welcome. Thanx

Dahlia's Birthday Bash

I just love birthdays (well....let me rephrase that) I LOVE birthday parties. It's a time to have fun, celebrate something great, see dear friends, eat, drink and be merry and all that. I also love to watch the progression from occasion to occasion. I've been trying to duplicate the same type of image each year for different occasions so I can watch the growth and changes from one frame to another (without having to schlog through a myriad of photo albums or files). I'm very visual so I like to see things.........ayh...that didn't come out right but you know what I mean.

So here are some pix of Dahlia's 6th birthday party (Mulan theme).

My Art Gallery Website

Finally........it's done. After a long time and many requests to get this on the web....here it is.

www.ode2beauty.com

Hope you enjoy it!

Cheers.

Dahlia turns 6

It's certainly an old cliche - but nonetheless true - I can't believe my sweet little baby girl is 6 years old!!! My Mom always said "hang on - it's goes so fast" and of course, she was right. I've blinked and 4 and a half years have passed. We had a great day - quiet - just us. Her big party (Mulan theme - her choice) will be on Saturday with all her buds ( and my buds too....I mean their parents).

This picture is from our Disney trip last Nov where Dahlia met ALL the princesses but meeting Mulan was a thrill. We got to greet her at her dressing room door and walk out through the courtyard with her. I'll rephrase that - Dahlia greeted her and walked out with Mulan hand-in-hand while I did back flips and (rather unseemly) air leaps in an attempt to capture some pix of the event. (I admit I'm a bit of wild thing when I want a picture.) And of course Dan can prove it as he was video taping my lunges. (Not pretty.) I stifled the urge to yell "Cut - can you two back up and walk out a little slower!" Bottom line is we have some lovely pictures of our princess meeting "the princesses" and thus the inspiration for this years birthday party.

And as an aside - it looks like the cut-off this month is March 6th so...........9 more days! That's all - just 9 wee little days. Sigh.