remember..

in times of joy, be with those you love.  be grateful for what you have and what you've had.

in times of hardship, be with those you love.  be grateful for what you have and what you've had.

all those souls to be effected by hurricane irene, my heart is with you. xo

jen + lily / 08. 06. 11

where do i start with this one?  maybe with a warning?  i posted waaay too many images.  note to self: be better at culling images.  but really, i had the hardest time picking which images to blog because jen + her dog, lily are just.. infectious.  ya.

i haven't seen jen for years, back from the good ol' days of youth group.  and lemme tell ya, nothing has changed about that girl.  she is kind, down to earth and did i mention stunningly beautiful?  jen has the total zest for life aura going on.  in the time we spent together, i found out that currently she is working at southgate church and excitedly, is entering the pdp program at ubc this fall to reach her dream of becoming a teacher.  jen, i'm SO pumped for you.. you're totally going to get a thousand shiny apples on your desk from being all the kids' favourite teach.

and then there's lily, jen's 4 year old furbaby.  and man, are they a match made in heaven cos lily totally has the same go get 'em attitude.  particularly for tennis balls.  and water.  

spending the evening with jen + lily on their main walking and swimming trails was so endearing.  to hear all the stories of the crazy things lily has done (and eaten!), how she's always stuck to jen's side and even put on the tough girl act to a police officer for her mama.  it was so uplifting to witness how much a dog can be a crucial part of a person's life, of their family.

even if you don't know me well, chances are you know that i loveLOOOVE dogs.  and i'm a total over-user of the saying, "until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."  lame-sounding?  probably.  accurate?  yes.  if you haven't yet chosen to really truly get to know and give your heart to a creature of a different species, i eagerly encourage you to do so because it will make you a better you.  and it is obvious to me, that jen is better because of lily.  and lily, because of jen.

if you're thinking about loving an animal, please consider saving a life.  please, check out petfinder as well as ocean dog rescue to find a homeless pet that needs a family.

"i can't wait

to move back."  that's been my mantra about langley for the past year.

i mentioned the other week that i'm at peace with not listing our home and that sentiment hasn't changed.  dancing to bon jovi (YES!) in the streak of hot sunlight on the kitchen floor, whilst chowing down on lunch from travis' favourite mug, i can't help but think that life is amazing.

so why is it that i've been looking for an escape?  that i've always been wanting things to get better or be new?  life's not perfect and for many reasons, i would rather not be living in chilliwack anymore.  we all have something of some degree of difficulty and hardship that we're dealing with.  and we're all busy and we're all overwhelmed.  but why do those parts of life tend to overcome us?

not that my problems, our problems, aren't real and don't deserve to be felt - but, there are people suffering.  people like me.  people like you.  like your family, your best friends.  people.  and they are barely holding on, in desperate need of water and a cup of rice.  while you and i are getting up at our leisure to grab a glass of water from the brita containers in our fridges without a second thought.  while i'm sitting on my bench seat, curled up into the corner of the window, slippers on my late grandmother's ottoman, lap top resting on my legs.  i can hear my neighbour cutting his grass, the little birdies singing from the top of the window above me.

and i've been bitching?  wanting to be somewhere else?

it's a reality check i think i'll need to give myself continually throughout the duration of my life.  it's easy to lose consciousness of the fate of the whole world when we're in such a safe little bubble.

life is amazing.  today, please remind yourself and those around you of that.  and please, continually remind me.

ps.  amongst all the dancing and eating this morning, soda and i played a game of scrabble.

pickles:  i don't want to play with you guys.

soda:  c'monnn pickles.  don't be lame!

pickles: i said noo!

kristyna + dan / love session / 08.06.11

they met years ago, when kristyna was dating dan's friend in the army.  she thought he was cute.. but the timing just wasn't right.

life's funny that way.  it can just tick-tock by, waiting patiently, then BOOM.  it's the right time.

kristyna + dan have been together for 2 years now.  and they are so in love, like really.  hanging out with them bright and early, last saturday morning in historic fort langley was rad.

some fun facts we learned about these two during their sesh:

-they are actually a family of 3 with their kitty, gus.

-dan's allergic to kitties but loves kristyna.

-dan wears really awesome hats.

-kristyna is gorg.

-they like to chest bump (see last images).  HAHA.

dan + kristyna's session was so real and so much fun.  which is amusing to me because kristyna is so modest or maybe just truly unaware of how incredibly awesome her + dan are.  beforehand, when i told kristyna that our time together would not be a photo shoot; trav and i simply dream of documenting and celebrating them for who they really are - kristyna was nervous that they would be boring!  girl, you guys are anything but boring.

check out this goofy, endearing, authentic couple..

kristyna had a cool idea of remaking the infamous lying on the street scene from 'the notebook.'

dan thought this was a suicide mission.  bahah.