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Blissdom Canada

Breaking Radio Silence

I could tell you all that I have been up to since August, but truth be told, this is my busiest time of year with my Photography Business and silly me, added another business to the round up, so double that and you will know where I am. Spinning out of control.  I promised myself I would blog on my birthday, but I had to work, for the first time ever on my birthday so instead I am blogging tonight, almost a week later. I haven’t forgotten about my blog as some of you may think, I have been told that people have given up on me. That is Ok because if you know me well you know where to find me: Photography Blog, Twitter, Instagram, email and we would still be in touch. I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth, I have just been working hard.

Since August, I have had Apple start school full time, started my Arbonne Business, Ballet, been to Delaware three more times (and another trip coming up), Birthday parties for J and Apple and Fall Family Sessions along with Photographing conferences, Photo walks and actually meeting people in person instead of online. Phew.

All this talk of Hurricane made me remember that I never shared the after photos of the Beach House. The very Beach House that had us praying for its safety.  You see, our little dream is located on a flood plane on Rehoboth Bay in Delaware. We are mere steps from The Bay, which empties out into the ocean. When we stand on the crabbing pier we look out to the Indian Inlet Bridge that was closed Sunday due to flooding. So you can imagine what we did for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We trolled the internet for any signs that our Beach House was not floating away into Rehoboth Bay. As Rehoboth Beach (which includes us) was evacuated on Saturday we knew we lost any hope of contact with our neighbours, some of which live there year round. Our handyman Rich and his wife, not only have a home in Rehoboth but also in Chincoteague Island, Virginia. We prayed for their safety and are happy that at least their home in Rehoboth was spared, not so sure about Chincoteague but we will find out soon.

Our Beach House was indeed spared. With talks of flooding in The Bay, and the main road into our community we thought for sure the water would be up to the doorway or worse. We had no illusions of grandure, we expected to find out that we had to start from scratch. We were prepared for the worst. When Hubby called the office today after we heard the driving ban was lifted, he was surprised to talk to the ladies in the office, laughing and telling him that it was a miracle that there was no flooding to our houses. The water did come up our street a little but nothing more than a regular summer storm would bring.  Miracles to happen and although I am saddened by the news for others in other States like New York and New Jersey, I can’t help but be thankful that we were spared.  We will make the trek this weekend to check that the roof didn’t leak and that there isn’t anything to be taken care of that can’t wait for Thanksgiving. Yes, we will return later in the month for Thanksgiving (unless there is lots of snow up here) as we have so much to be Thankful for this year.

Here is a little peek into our Beach House, post renos. And honestly all we did this year was replace the floor (which included patching holes), wash the walls and bring in new beds and a couch. Next year we are going to update the bathrooms (which are 1969 old), paint and possibly add an outside shower. After spending three weeks here in June and July it was amazing what you can live without. We had very little with us, a few toys, an xbox (for games and movies) and our computers. We spent mornings on the beach and afternoons by the pool. We alternated nights with staying home and going to the boardwalk.  My cousin even lent me her 1989 Jeep Wagoneer so I could stay longer with J and Apple and she hadn’t even driven it yet!

Our Living Room (with lunch to head home already packed on the table) and the hallway leading from the backdoor to the living room.

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Front Bedroom, with powder room attached (otherwise known as J’s room or the guest room)

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Kitchen, with retro cabinets that will see an update sometime in the future and Apple’s mini room that just fits a bunkbed. Great place for J to sleep when we have guests (which we have had a few times now)

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And the Master Bedroom, complete with ensuite/full bathroom.  We chose to go with Queen beds in the main bedroom and front bedroom so that we could sleep comfortably, it means that there isn’t a lot of room to walk around the beds, but they do move easily on the floor and it makes for a much more comfy sleep in the heat… trust me on that one.

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And that is a little tour of the Beach House. Hubby and I will head down to check it out later this week, while the kids stay home and go to school.

We were thrilled to be at the Beach House for Canadian Thanksgiving, where we cooked a turkey and had our family over for supper, we were tight, but we managed with eight of us watching a football game and enjoying Canadian turkey. We also had two amazing days on the beach before the weather turned cold. A little last fling of summer for sure.

Here is a little Summer Recap from Instagram:

Thanksiving… Labour Day

For this I am giving Thanks #beautifulday Just me and my little man #beachtime

August with my Sister…. Watching the view

Last day at the pool... For this week #beachtime Our view today #beachtime

Borrowing my Cousin’s car in July… at Cape Henlopen with MamaLang (we met through this blog and I cannot express how grateful I am to have met her and her family)

This is me borrowing @annabananagirl 's BeachMobile it's going to be a great week! Together with @mamalang at Cape Henlopen, DE

Now that I am missing Summer terribly, I will try hard not to wait as long between posts. I may even post from the beach again this weekend, we shall see.  Until the next time.

5 comments
Categories: Blissdom Canada, Catching up, Summer, Thanksgiving, The Beach

I am going to out on a limb here and say it outright, I am a day late on my post, but I am going to throw it out there anyway because I know I would be an awesome choice to Blog for the Banff World Media Festival.

For those of you who have never heard of the Banff World Media Festival, I am only going to excuse you because you knew it as two separate festivals for many years. It is formerly known as the Banff World Televsion Festival and the Banff Medial Festival, however, with the way that Television is moving into the digital age it made more sense to combine the two festivals together for one amazing Festival that showcases it all.

When doing research for a post, I like to go to all my sources. Knowing my own Sister attended the Banff World Television Festival for many years with her job at Heritage Canada, I decided I needed to interview her and get her thoughts on #Banff2012. The main question I wanted her to answer for me from an industry standpoint was, what makes this Festival so amazing compared to other festivals, what is it that brings people to Banff? Looking through the schedule, you see many spots where there are Face to Face sessions, these sessions are there for you to bring your ideas and screen plays in front of the decision makers, producers are there to hear all about the next generation of television. These pitch sessions happen, you get to meet the people who can do it for you and will tell you yes or no, right there on the spot. Bringing the decision makers to the Banff World Media Festival is what sets it apart from the others.

I am a little nervous to admit that I remember when television was a Saturday and Sunday affair, when you looked ahead to the TV guide to see what was on and you planned around it. You gathered around the one television (and quite possibly a Black and White one like we had) and watched the Saturday morning cartoons or Sunday Movie special. There was no going to another room to watch a different show, if the Hockey game was on you watched it because that was what Dad was watching. I have seen television grow and change, where households moved from one black and white to multiple colour televisions, from Beta and VHS to DVD and BluRay. We are now in an on demand world where we want our television when we want it and not when the schedule says. The world of television programming is changing rapidly and I would love nothing more than to attend Banff 2012 to see what is coming up next for us.

In addition to the amazing Keynote Speakers, Paul Chard of Mediacom and Paul Lee, President of ABC Television and the In Conversation sessions with Lifetime Achievement Winner Larry King and Nikesh Arora of Google who won the Award for Innovation there are so many more amazing sessions to attend. The biggest problem will be trying to decide which ones to go to with four days packed full of information, it will be hard to decide for sure.

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t talk a little bit about how nextMedia . nextMedia is offering a whole program within the Festival, bringing many leading digital executives to Banff. Discussing branded content, media buying and new technology, organizing Face to Face sessions and showcasing new online media. nextMedia is bringing you together with the brands allowing you to network  with the key players in media and branding. Having attended many blogging and social media conferences in the last few years (BlogHer’10 & ’11, Blissdom Canada’10 & ’11, Blissdom ’12, She’s Connected ’10 & ’11), following the nextMedia track alone would fill my cup to overflowing with amazing information and content.

Add to all of the amazing information that will be there, the Rockies Awards that will be handed out, parties that will be attended is also the fact that it will be held in Banff, Alberta and as a photographer you couldn’t ask for a more amazing place to photograph. I would love the opportunity to blog for #Banff2012, experience the thrill of being a part of television and media for future generations

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Categories: BlissDom, Blissdom Canada, Conferences

Wow that was a long break!

Completely not intended, but somehow life just got in the way. What exactly have I been up to since mid-November?

I had quite a few Fall Sessions to finish up and get ready for my clients, this took up a lot of my time. I had a hard time finding time for myself last Fall, something I am hoping to correct in 2012, making sure there is time for me.

Then we headed south to Maryland and Delaware for Thanksgiving and a Birthday. We took some extra time at our favorite beach after Thanksgiving. Hubby and the kids had never been to the Beach in the off-season, so we spent three rather warm days strolling around one of our favorite places. As hard as it is to leave in the summertime, it was equally hard to leave in the Fall. There is something to be said for lots of parking spaces, lots of room on the boardwalk and beach and just being able to be. Of course we aren’t millionaires yet so we had to come home so Hubby and I could get back to work.

While we were there, the kids had their visit with Santa and we got in a wee bit of holiday shopping. All in all a perfect Fall getaway.

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December rolled in and work was busy, the kids were busy and the holidays were upon us.  Our household fell ill with a stomach virus the week before Christmas and it really wasn’t pleasant at all.  By Christmas day Hubby and I were able to eat solid food again, so although we enjoyed Christmas, we would have enjoyed it more without the getting sick the week before thing.  And I should add how amazing kids are, they both seemed to bounce right back within 24 hours or so whereas Hubby and I took quite a bit longer.

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January started off very quickly with a fabulous trip to California! Where I got to visit and photograph the amazing Brenda Ponnay aka. Secret Agent Josephine. We had beautiful weather, fresh citrus fruit and a wonderful, if fast visit. I saw more of California in the four and a half days I was gone from Ottawa than I have on any of my previous visits. Brenda took me to the desert (she calls it the Sticks), Palm Springs, Idllwyld (a very scary drive up a mountain) Orange County (Newport Beach and Laguna Beach).  If I could always photograph people in the gorgeous California sunshine I would be the happiest photographer in the world. We had fresh lemonade, homemade mexican food, sangria and a trip to the beach, some of my most favorite things all in one fast trip.  I slept all the way home on the airplane.
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Not that I didn’t love being home, but I was only home for two and a half days when I was already back at the airport heading South again. Whew! I am exhausted just thinking about it. I attended Imaging USA a photography conference that was held in New Orleans this year.  I hate to admit it out loud, but New Orleans scared me just a little bit. I was thankful to meet up with another photographer traveling on her own from Rhode Island, Jen Osojnicki and together we took on New Orleans. Well, as much as two women a little nervous about being out after dark could take on New Orleans. We walked the French Quarter and the Garden District as well as experienced Bourbon Street and walking around with a 150 proof rum Daiquiri (that was me, not Jen as Jen doesn’t drink. There was enough alcohol in that drink for both of us so I took one for the team). I had a pretty amazing time and learned lots of new stuff at the conference.
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Although I am happy to be home, I know that in just 35 days I will continue 2012, my year of travel to new places as I attend the Blissdom Conference 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee.  I will give you more details about that exciting experience in another post.

4 comments
Categories: Blissdom Canada, Photography, Travel