not gonna lie..i love USA thanksgiving.. || vancouver wedding & portrait photographer

yes, yes i do.. why? cuz of black friday sales! :) and another reason to eat some MORE TURKEY!!! :) i wish that we (canadians) did thanksgiving like y'all do.. :) or at least took on some of the characteristics of it.. moving right along... ;)

my dear friend lani (follow her on twitter at: @prairiecitygirl) and i are going to make a girl trip south of the border..

first stop - thursday: portland! we're staying at this really funky heritage hotel downtown.

then friday we'll shop about and such and then head up to seattle and stay at our favorite b&b (musical house bed & breakfast) and do some more shopping on sat then head home.

ooooooooooo.. gotta love it. thank you america for being so close.. and thank you america for black friday sales. and thank you america for being our neighbors and friends. :)

THAT is truly something for a canuck to be thankful about! :)

here's a few of the MANY photos i have taken of lani throughout the years. ain't she adorable!? :)

post post post! || vancouver photographer

we leave the philippines in 2 days.. i have been faithful in posting photos to facebook..but that doesn't do you much good if you only read my blog.. so.. i will try and blog a bit of our trip so far.. and give links TO the facebook albums!! :) i know, so smart, right? ;)

last weekend (17th/18th) we all went up to subic bay, where mom and dad dock their 36 foot sailboat. we stayed in the hotel at the yacht club there and went sailing each day..it was soooo lovely. here's a few of the boat trip on saturday.... and the link to see them all..

to see the full album go here: sailing trip

shopping extraordinairy= greenhills shopping centre | vancouver photographer

yesterday was shopping day at the ever-famous greenhills shopping centre..where you can buy cheap goods.. knock-offs, the real maccoy and everything in between. :)

the older ladies (giggle) did the pearl buying thing... i scored a couple pair of converse.. a piece of manila art for my wall at home. good times..

here's a view from the 22nd floor of our place...the ride in the traffic to greenhills and some pics at greenhills..good times.. oh and they have really BIG jewels too.. as in genuine 85 carat emeralds for $500...CRAZY. :) oh and they have crocs - in heals, loafers, etc..it was really hilarious to see.. :)

day one..and a half || vancouver photographer

day one and a half? well we totally missed out on saturday oct 10 whilst flying to the philippines... we arrived sunday morning... at 4 AM!! hello early!

j's dad and evan, j's bro in law, met us outside and we headed to makati to mom and dad's place.

by about 7 am i felt like it was noon! needless to say it was a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG day. :)

by 6 pm us four headed to bed and slept til about 5am.. not bad!

here's a photo i took when jason, my nephew, and i went for a photo walk with the his canon rebel i brought him. :) you can get ANYTHING fastfood delivered in the philippines..mcdonald's, wendy's, KFC..you name it. :)

cannon beach - our last day of our family vacay - july 2009 || vancouver photographer

our last day in cannon beach...we took it ALL in.. :)

we started the morning with a short hike into ecola state park...the views - breathtaking! it was amazing..




then we headed back into CB for some yummy thai for lunch.. mmmmmmm! :)




more kite flying went on during the day along with some beach R&R.. :)





decided a quick trip to seaside would be cool.. :) altho, it doesn't compare to CB. hands down. :)





some yummy espresso and pizza for dinner and off to haystack rock we went for our last CB sunset..











how we love thee, cannon beach.. see you next year..our annual family holiday. :)



check out a TON more photos here!

our family vacay - day 4 - cannon beach! || vancouver photographer

day 4 of our trip we were headed to cannon beach for 3 nights. we left vancouver, WA just after breakfast after coffee at peet's with our dear friends. we then went and got groceries and then headed west for the gorgeous coast..

tap tap tap..there's no place like cannon beach.. :)







check out the public facebook album! cannon beach - 1

our family vacay - day 3, vancouver, wa

sunday...after family portraits in the morning and the spectacular ethiopian coffee ceremony in the afternoon, my darling hubs made us all an incredible dinner on the bbq.. mmmm...

and we just chilled and hung out and relaxed and giggled at cute painted toes..cuz that is what you do on vacay.. :)






i did sneak a mini portrait session with sarsina..she's so gorgeous.. :)

ethiopian coffee ceremony

sunday, day 3 of our vacay, after family portraits sarsina did an ethiopian coffee ceremony.

in short - amazing.

a little longer - 3 rounds of lovely espresso.

longer version - sarsina sets up where the ceremony will be. then the coals are lit and the process of roast the raw coffee beans begin. once they are roasted, they are hand ground until the right coarseness. then the hot water that has been boiled in an ethiopian coffee pot, is removed from the heat and the grounds go in for round 1.
during this time there has been frankincense burning, for lovely aroma to relax with. when the coffee is the right "color" then sarsina pours it in our cups. we then drink up and she hand washes them, and so the process happens again..and again.

it's so much fun and sooooooooooooo great! :)