Author Archives: Nicole

Car Boot Diaper Changes, Old School Buses and a Grown Up Night Out

This week was busy – crazy busy. For 7 months I have been on the planning committee for the 2010 Portland Iron Bartender Event and our hard work all paid off on Thursday night. I will have more photos to share as soon as I have a moment or two to edit them.

But before the Iron Bartender, I had to get through the week… Here are my P365 photos.

On Sunday we made a pilgrimage to the Japanese grocery store to stock up on noodles, sake, saba (mackerel) and natto. I would have loved to take some photos of the rows of shelves stocked with my favourite foods but a little sign out front said no photo or video and I’m too chicken to break the rules.

Instead I resorted to a picture of Samuel waiting in the boot (trunk) of the car for his diaper to be changed while I was rained on. The trunk of the car seemed more practical than squeezing myself into a public bathroom that may (or may not) have had a changing table. Samuel didn’t seem to mind.

I spotted an old school bus after my impromptu playground photo session on Monday. It gave me the perfect opportunity to play around with a few vintage photo edits.

Have I mentioned how much I love Ikea? One of our latest purchases was a couple of ghost night lights – so cute!

I pick Thomas up from school every day and every day we make the same walk down this long corridor to the car. It’s where we begin our “tell me about your day” conversation that often continues in the car. My commute home each day takes a long time now that I make this extra stop – anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes – but I never get tired of the extra time that Thomas and I have together.  The way he talks sometimes is so grown up that I forget that he has only been on the planet for four years.

One of the Iron Bartender competitors from Thursday night. It took me a long time to choose one photo from the 300 or so that I took over the course of the evening, but this one captures the vibe. So much fun! I’ll post more photos from the event soon.

Samuel got an owie at school yesterday, right above his eye. He has been so clumsy lately that I suspect he is having a growth spurt. Samuel is taking it in stride but I am a nervous wreck.

Playground Mosaic

Today is a holiday. A REAL holiday which means that I am at home and the boys are at daycare. I should be cleaning the house or doing something equally productive. Just waiting for the motivation to kick in.

After I dropped the boys off this morning I walked home through the park. The sun was out – calm after a wind storm – and the playground was empty of children. I took the rare opportunity to play – not on the swings but with my camera. It reminded me how much I miss taking photos outside during the winter months and how nice it is to be able to take time for photos, instead of a moment or two between “stop that” and “come here”.

It was ironic then that I focused on the playground instead of a more adult location for my impromptu shoot.

A Family Portrait

This week’s challenge for…

is “we are family”. Sadly it made me realize how few photos I have of my own family – well, all of us together anyway. That is definitely something I’ll have to work on in 2010.

So I chose one of my favorite client family photos from last year. I was incredibly proud of myself for being able to get everyone in the same photo. I love that they’re all doing their own thing but that the littlest boy is the center of attention.

P365 Days 11 through 16

I begin today’s P365 post with another plug for the Iron Bartender Charity event

The event is next Thursday, Jan 21st. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I have it on good authority that there are some fabulous raffle baskets up for grabs. You can buy tickets at the door if you attend. I’m talking about Sunriver vacations, a starter wine cellar, a kayaking trip and some swee-eeet Blazers tickets (my husband will definitely have his eyes on those).

You can purchase tickets here. Plug over. 🙂

I took this P365 photo at our last meeting at the Doug Fir bar in Portland. Very low light so my ISO was cranked way up and it resulted in a lot of camera noise, but I think it’s pretty nonetheless.

Avert your eyes if you’re uncomfortable with potty talk. Yes, we have begun potty training with number two (no pun intended). He said he wanted to pee and then went and sat down and…well…did. Two nights in a row. He was so proud of himself, although he hasn’t done it since. I have my fingers crossed that the second child really is more advanced with this particular skill.

Samuel enjoying an afternoon snack. This kid spends a lot of his time eating so you’ll likely see more of these types of photos during the year. I like how it looks like he was caught in the act.

A little naked playtime after bathtime. Boy, Samuel is really going to hate me for this post in a few years.

Happy year of the tiger. We enjoyed a little taiko drumming and traditional mochi pounding (pictured) at an event at Thomas’ school. I am embarrassed to admit that I did not know that mochi was made out of just rice and water until a couple of nights ago. I still don’t like it although, with the speed that Thomas swallowed the mochi sample, I predict a visit the Japanese grocery store in our future.

And then today. This was the calm before the storm when the boys enjoyed a rare moment of playing nicely together at Barnes and Noble before we took a trip to doctor’s office. I took them for their swine flu vaccination and let’s just say that the older and more aware they get, the harder it becomes to jab them with a needle. Thomas insisted that Samuel go first – and then he cried. Loudly. Then it was Thomas’ turn and who can blame him for not wanting to endure the same experience. Nevertheless, I held him down (yes, traumatic for mama) and he was jabbed. And then he cried too until the nurse gave them both a cookie to help ease the pain. After the tears had subsided a little, Thomas declared that he didn’t want to go back to the doctor ever again. Good thing his birthday and annual checkup is not for another 9 months.

Supporting Haiti

I was listening to NPR this morning on my drive into work and the stories coming from Haiti had me in tears – particularly those of children without parents and parents without children.

Mercy Corps is an organization that Kei and I support – as does the company I work for. The vast majority of the fund they raise goes directly to relief efforts and they have a proven history in supporting women and children – something I am passionate about.

I also sent $10 to the Red Cross this morning just by keying a few numbers into my AT&T phone. T-Mobile and other carriers are offering the same. It will show up on my phone bill next month and I doubt I will even notice the extra charge.

These are just a couple of things that we plan to do to help. You may have other organizations that have special meaning to you. A donation as small as $10 can go so far.

Something to consider on a Thursday morning…

Mosaic Monday: A Little Zen

This week’s Mosaic Monday is brought to you by the Portland Japanese Garden – one of the most beautiful places in the city. We took the opportunity to visit for a special Japanese New Year celebration on Sunday. They had calligraphy demonstrations, rice crackers and green tea.

The highlight for Thomas was when he spotted Chika Sensei, the Japanese intern in his pre-school class. It was about the same reaction that I would have if I ran into Robbie Williams on the street, but without all the screaming and fainting.

It was wonderful day to get out of the house and enjoy the gardens in winter. I really need to make an effort to go back for photo sessions during every season. The colours duiring spring and autumn would be just incredible – the photographer’s dream.

My Favourite Face

This post is primarily for the latest challenge from…

They are celebrating their first birthday this week and the challenge is to choose your favourite face photo from the last month. It provided me with the perfect opportunity to revisit a photo that was lost amongst the Christmas craziness (photo taken December 12).

This photo of Thomas just says so much about the magic of Christmas for a four year old. Santa gave him a tiny little bell on the Polar Express train ride and he was SO happy. A present. From Santa. Of course he was too scared to actually speak to the man in red, and sitting on his lap was out of the question, but when he looked at that little bell and I took this photo, I could see that it meant so much more to him than he let on.

This P365 is a Hodge Podge

Thomas in the bath. He’s always had very long lashes and he inherited them from me. His father can claim the hair, eyes, nose, skin tone and…well.. everything else. I’m clinging to the eyelashes.

This was inspired by a photo I saw on another blog. I just love the red against the white tile. Of course our house is currently being overrun by dinosaurs so it wasn’t difficult to find a subject to photograph. The hard part was deciding between the triceratops , the anchylosaur or the brontosaurus. I love that Samuel calls them simply “Suarus”.

I just love it when little girls wear fairy princess dresses for no other reason than that they want to be fairy princesses for the evening. This one was also wearing her brand new ballet shoes.

I won an award – Not quite an oscar or a Golden Globe, but nearly as prestigious. This was a Jenny Sizzler Golden Facebook award. A couple of my friends play in a band and we take the kids along to see them once a month at a local pizza place. It’s very family friendly and a great night out – especially since it starts at 6pm and includes an easy dinner. On Friday night the band handed out their inaugural Facebook awards for, I guess, people who spend way too much time on Facebook. I guess that’s why I won third place. It’s a small honor, but I am definitely worthy.

We went to the Portland Japanese gardens today – our first visit in about five years. I forgot how calm and serene it is (apart from the children calling Mummy and Daddy every two seconds – oh wait, they were my children). Every time I see a garden like this, it inspires me to grow bonsai and rake rocks. If only it weren’t so high maintenance…

More Japanese garden photos coming soon. I may use them for my Mosaic Monday post this week.

I just realized how many of my photos in this post were in a vertical format. Very unusual for me, but it shows me that I should tilt the camera more often.