Not enough Barbados for you? Check out my other post:
Sneak peek (iPhone), Barbados with my Holga, and Birthday Road Tripping in Barbados.
Hope you have a warm weekend! Much ♥,
In 2012
January 25th, 2012 by Crystal
After the mental turmoil I put myself through last year, I took a lot of time to reflect on all things in my life. After which I have a much clearer vision of the path I am walking down and can really visualise my dreams and the dreams Paul & I have together. This is such an amazing feeling I want to SCREAM!!! The sense that everything will be alright is internally calming. (Even though I know full well on a global stand point everything will not be alright, but I can’t fix that machine!)
So this year my resolution is to BE KIND TO MYSELF. Sounds a little basic doesn’t it? But the way I see it is if I am kind to myself I will have a positive attitude which in turn will help me see the opportunity in everything.
Self-approval & self-acceptance in the now are the main keys to positive changes in every area of our lives.
What are your New Years Resolutions?
Well I am off to my first class of web mastering.
Much Love,
Wrap up of 2011
January 24th, 2012 by CrystalI must say that I am quite happy to end the chapter of the year 2011 as it was by far one of the most mentally challenging years of my life. I feel as though I spent most of the year crying which lead me to made some big life decisions and went back to school for web design & publication. And that is where I realized my true passion along with traveling of course.
Paul’s year on the other hand went much better which balanced out my ‘not so great’ year. He was the designer for the Battle for Beauty game for the launch of the IE9 browser. {Nerd Alert: This game was all coded in HTML5. Wicked Video.} He also did a fun animated commercial for a Swiss Company , the commercial {Take a peek at it you might see me a few times!} for Jay Peak among other small projects that came his way over the year. All his hard work allowed us to go on two very different life changing adventures to Barbados and Costa Rica. He really does spoil me!
To celebrate the good, the bad and the beautiful of 2011 here is a quick photo wrap up!
+ Was lucky enough to be snowed in in Manitoba which is no big surprise. So Paul and I got to ring in the new year with one of my best friends along with taking a nice long drive back to Montreal.
+ February I started 30 Days of Blogging Challenge & made it to day 17! {You should peek through them you’ll see some cute baby photos} I think this February I should finish them up. And sadly for me my dear friend Clare moved back to Melbourne & I cried a lot.
+ I spent most of my time trying to be Optimistic about the direction things are going in the world. The best part of March though was Paul taking me to Barbados, a place he holds dear to his heart as he spent a lot of time there as a child.
+ I sure did turn 28 and created some fun stamps!
+ Took a Magical Bike Ride around Notre Dame Island. I also spent an afternoon talking with a homeless man. It broke my heart.
+ Busy, busy month June was. Paul had travel fever after finishing a big gig & lets be honest I always have travel fever. We made it to NYC for a weekend to visit with my cousin who was up from Mexico City on business. Plus we went to Costa Rica. AHHH…How the mountains, rainforest and people are calling me back. This was by far the most life changing trip of my life. I am going to sit down and write about our day on a farm in Costa Rica which like nothing I had ever experienced.
+ July Paul turned 30 and I wrapped 30 gifts for him.
+ After having the pleasure of hosting The Noble Thiefs and Greg Arcade while they where on tour in Montreal. I felt so home sick and my parents made it happen for me to come home for a few weeks. Oh Friendly Manitoba how I miss you from time to time.
+ I took the big jump and went back to school after finishing up with my Marketing Degree 5 years ago. Web Design & Publication was calling my name and I answered. I also had my first paid photo gig! Photo above is one of the many photos I took.
+ This month seemed like a whirl wind with my first set of exams along with tv crews in our home with Paul being interviewed and traveling for a few interviews.
+ Can we say this month was a blur too? One thing that sticks out is that we got a LomoKino… just a frame from the first film shot in it! Movie to come shortly!
+ We spent a weekend in Toronto just after Christmas. It was delightful to explore a city so close to Montreal and of course we went to see our first NBA game together (of more to come I’m sure!)
Well that wraps up my year in a nice photo nut shell. Did you do a 2011 wrap up or resolutions post? I could love to check it out leave a link in the comments section!
With the turn of a new year we must look back and reflect on what we would like to become. I’ve got some great ‘resolutions’ for myself this year which I will share with you tomorrow.
It’s night night time for me.
Bonne nuit mon amies,
Much Love Monday
January 23rd, 2012 by Crystal
{Photo taken with iPhone & Instagram}
This morning I must say I am loving the fact that I have some HTML & CSS skills. BECAUSE over the weekend while I was trying to fix a few bugs with my WordPress I deleted my whole hand coded site instead. Now you must say to yourself what kind of person does work on their site without backing it up? Well I did have a backup just older than a lot of the major tweaks I made which to say the least made the site look nothing like I had already launched. So a grabbed a theme and made it work for me, just due to lack of time and the fact that I am starting my Web Mastering class this week where I will come up with something even better… so hold onto your britches.
I want to throw some knowledge your way if you find yourself cringe at the thought of lossing your blog.
Katrina over at Pugly Pixel has done some great tutorials on backing up your blogger blog and than how to restore your backups if anything was to happen.
While you are there you should snoop around at her wonderful web graphics and other very helpful tutorials.
Learn from my mistakes I can save you a lot of heartache!
Well I need to get my butt to work. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
I will be back in full force bloggin’ mood by tonight. I have a nice list of posts I have been working on behind the senses.
Didn’t get your does of lovin’ this morning? Check out Anna’s Much Love Monday Post.
Much Love,
A labour of love.
January 17th, 2012 by Crystal
Now it may not look like much BUT this is my first WordPress theme that I fully hand coded and designed. (Paul usually did my graphic since he is a pro.) I feel very proud of myself to say the least. It has not been the easiest task since I knew nothing about PHP before I started but I was up for the challenge and earned a lot through the process.
I wanted something clean, simple & fully mine. I feel I have achieved that although there is a bit of tweaking left to do. So please snoop around and let me know if you see anything that looks a little funny or out of place.
New thing on the blog you’ll find is Sponsorship spots on my right sidebar. You can read all about what your money will go towards and what you’ll get out of sponsoring The House Of Hearts right over here. Along with simplifying my about page if you don’t find what you are looking for on either of these pages then be sure to write me and ask. I’m always happy to answer questions!
I’ll be back with my 2011 photo wrap up.
Until than much love,
Maintenance
December 13th, 2011 by Crystal
{ Our Christmas Card }
I have been having some problems with my site as some of you have noticed in your readers that the Polish hackers seem to love me! This is not the kind of love I am after and will be doing maintenance on my site. Which means I will be shutting it down for a few weeks till I can get everything up to top notch shape again.
This is part of the reason I have not been blogging lately as I get so bumped out as soon as I sign in because there is something to fix that a hacker has done. So I’m cleaning house! I’m sorry for those of you that have seen the hacked posts and THANK YOU for still sticking around. If you want to keep up with my shenanigans Twitter is always a good bet!
With that said, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by the ones that you love! And remember this time of year is about giving, so try giving to someone in need, instead of someone that has everything!
Until next year. Much ♥,
Much Love Monday
December 5th, 2011 by Crystal
I have been one busy girl over here which is nice since this busy finally includes some getting out of the house and doing something other than work!
Right now I’m loving my new thrifty finds, the website I hand coded for my final project for web design (This will be launched live for all to see in the new year, but if you are following me on twitter you already got a sneak peek of the design!), the thought of a vacation in the sun over the winter & of course the bike ride I took on December 3, 2011.
This bike ride is kind of unbelievable for a few reasons. I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and NEVER in my life has there been no snow in December let alone be +7 C (45 F) And they say Global Warming isn’t happening but I am seeing it in my life time so maybe they are lying to us? None the least I will take all the nice weather I can get as winters usually feel a little to long anyway.
What are you loving this Monday?
+Photos taking with my iPhone on the Lachine Canal in Montreal & edited in Pixlr-O-Matic.
♥ Make sure to check out Anna’s Blog for MUCH MORE LOVE this Monday!
Until we meet again. Much ♥,
Google Chrome ROCKS
November 29th, 2011 by Crystal
Alright so I have been using Google Chrome ever since it came out because as a Mac user it simply is the best browser but with coding I have found that some of the tools I use on FireFox where not available on Chrome. UNTIL Paul showed me the Google Chrome Store & I squealed like a grown adult walking into an Apple Store for the first time. SUPER NERD! You can download themes like the rainy window or pick from hundreds of other themes.
There are so many amazing apps in the Google Chrome Store too. I downloaded just a few apps and my favourite is the Pixlr-o-matic which is amazing for photos to give it a different developing look & effects along with THE BEST interface in a photo app I have seen because it is so interactive to the point where the water moves in the development process. It helps you understand the process of developing film if you have never spent time in a dark room.
It’s FREE and well worth checking it out since many of you commented that you wanted to learn PhotoShop to help your photos but money & time is a factor. This will give you a great vintage look. You can also download it to your iOS or Android!
Until we nerd again. Much ♥,
P.S. To see a sampling of a few photos I touched up in this software click HERE.
Quote it up Bruce Barton!
November 25th, 2011 by Crystal
Lomokino will soon be in our home!
November 24th, 2011 by Crystal
{photo taken from Selectism}
Yup you read that right. This amazing analogue movie making machine will soon be in our hands and you can be sure that I will be showing you the results of this killer product. An example of it’s work below & many more in the screening room.
Up, Up and Away! – LomoKino from Lomography on Vimeo.
Leading up the the unveiling of this amazing new product to lomography’s already impressive stocklist, I had a sneaking suspicion that it would be a movie making machine with the clues I was receiving in my inbox everyday. When the Lomokino was unveiled my funds where all tide up in well the costs of life & was super bummed out because I thought for sure it would sell out in a few days. Thankfully it was not and when Paul told me today that he wanted to buy it to shot some footage for the short film he is working on for a dance company I ecstatic. Business right-off, piggy points to use up for a discounts PLUS lomography is having a little thank you giveback so free pins & film are coming our way as well. I do not think it can better then this.
Well I’m off to get ready for my first winter date of 2011/12. It involves buying Christmas decorations & baking cookies!
Until we meet again. Much ♥,
