PHOTO OF THE WEEK #25 - Mmmmm

I'd never made Croccante before, but the video I saw online made it look so easy. HAHA! OK, once I finally figured out how to melt the sugar properly, it actually was pretty easy. The thing I was missing initially was patience. Once I added a bit of that (ok, for me, a lot of patience) and adjusted the already simple recipe, my sugar melted to that nice caramel colour. :)

Yummy Croccante

Thanks for looking and I hope you had a fabulous Christmas :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #24 - Jessica

The Photo of the Week from last week is from the time I spent at Sheri's studio with Model Jessica. Such a great time!

I've actually wanted to do a shot like this for a long time but never had the opportunity to execute it the way I've wanted. Until now :)

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #23: Town of New Tecumseth - New Council Members

A totally new thing for me..... I was at the Town's Inaugural Council Meeting on December 1st shooting photos for the Town. :)

Town of New Tecumseth - Council Members For the Next 4 Years

Once I get a bit caught up this coming week, I'll get a short blog post out about it.

Thanks for looking :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #22 - Anita & Dan

Wow! I don't think I've ever been late in posting the Photo of the Week before........ But I just realized that I didn't post a photo last week from the week starting November 22nd. Sheesh....guess I'm a big slacker!!

So here it is!

I love this photo of Anita and Dan. And it was such a fun session as well! :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PERSONAL: DOUBLE YUM!

OK, if I don't do this now, you won't see it until well into the New Year.

What a fun time I had at Doug's cookie exchange. For those who don't know, Doug is a client of mine, but he also plays ball with the hubby. I didn't formally meet him until he booked his photo session though. AND, I got an invite to his first cookie exchange (and mine too). Woot!

So, here's how it all went down........

Everyone slipped on the hardwood floors because they were polished with Pledge. Shiney, but yes, oh so very slippery. (note to selves.....do not polish your floors with Pledge unless you all walk around in bare feet) *wink*

Wine was tastey..... And I haven't tasted Zambooka (did I spell that right?) since camping with Sue Kluckow many years ago! :) And at that time, I think there gummy worms/bears involved. :D

Treats were SOOO delish!!

YUM!!!! This was our sampler plate!

Karen won for best presentation...she had these cute boxes that her treats were 'wrapped' in.

Sue won tastiest treat. Mmmmmm raspberry something or others. Sooo good.

I think I definitely found those 5 pounds I lost. But oh so worth it! :)

Thanks everyone for the fun times and yummy treats. :)

This is everyone without me in the picture

This is me in the picture minus Susan

Thanks Doug for hosting.

Thanks Paul for finally coming to pick me up!!!!! LOL

And thanks all for looking :)

-- Lisa P.

PERSONAL: Lisa's in the kitchen baking?! What?!

OK, so I used to bake years ago when I was younger. But that morphed into mostly buying baked goods once I started working full time.

So it must have been a moment of weakness when I agreed to be in a cookie exchange a month or so ago.

That brings us to today (well, I started last night). Amongst editing photos, making updates to the Procyon web site, attending the local Santa Claus parade, keeping an eye on sweet Maggie (because she was spay this week and has her stitches to keep track of), etc. etc..... I did end up actually baking something. WOOHOO!

So Doug, here is what I've made.

Some kind of chewy coconut, nut, chocolate square thing

My taste testers said it was good. Well.....Ben, who's almost 7, will eat anything that resembles candy. And Paul, who really isn't eating these sort of things right now, thinks any little bite he can get is heaven. LOL So it will be eat at everyone's own risk. ;)

Perhaps I should bring the camera and dedicate an upcoming blog post to the tastey morsels we will be sampling tomorrow.

See you all tomorrow!

Thanks for looking. :)

Oh and PS: For those of you who are having panic attacks just thinking about having to figure out what to do about your holiday treats, check out Sweet Shellis. She's in Newmarket and her baked goods are sooooo delish. Yes, I may have purchased a few of her goodies last Christmas..... uh yeah...just a few..... ;)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Hello 'C', it's been a whole year since I saw you last

It's been a year since I've seen little 'C'. You may remember him from this post.  Here's one picture of him from last year.

OMG, he was soooo cute! :)

Well, this year he's even cuter and soooo much fun! :)

The first picture I saw after downloading the photos from my camera was this one.

I love when I love the first shot :)

He's so outgoing and he pretty much agreed with everything I said! haha

Yes, including standing inside a gift bag ;)

Anyone for bowling?

He loved playing with the balls and toys ;)

We even got to do a wardrobe change

And he liked hats

What a cool little dude!

I love being able to see the kids grow up each year. Their smiles get cuter and their personalities bigger. It's awesome. I love my job :)

Simon, I hope you and your family enjoyed your sneak peak.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #21: "Do you love me, huh, do you, do you?!"

Yes, I know. I'm so boring these days. Kids or animals.... But that is my life right now (other than editing photos, etc. etc....LOL)

Miss Maggie had her first week with us last week. I know this photo has been posted already, but it is now officially the Photo of the Week for last week :)

"Do you love me, huh, do you, do you?!"

I've been trying to get a photo of Maggie and Ben together during one of their special 'moments', but the two of them move so dang fast that by the time I actually get the photo, they are all but a blur or just gone! ;)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Anita & Dan

What a nice surprise it was to be contacted by Anita and Dan to do a session. They came up on Tuesday and we lucked out with the weather. I LOVE LOVE LOVE when clients are as excited to have me take their photos as I am taking them! :))

Anita and Dan love the outdoors, so it was only right to start off with some outdoor shots. The sun was shining, but it was a bit windy. Fortunately it didn't get cooler until we were ready to head inside.

Great day for a walk

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the trees on our property? ;)

I love this one :)

Time for some indoor shots

Let's get a little more formal

But not too formal :)

OK, last one :)

Thank you Anita and Dan for the opportunity to take your photos. I hope you liked your sneak peak :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PERSONAL: A New Addition To The Family

Those who know me well, know that I grew up on a farm in BC. There were a lot of animals on the farm (cats, dogs, horses, cattle, chickens...), however not many actually spent a lot of time INSIDE the house.

Fast forward to University where I came to Toronto and lived with my Aunt and Uncle in an apartment with 2 cats. Great cats, but they were ALWAYS around! haha I mean really....where else could they go on the 21st floor.... ;)

I convinced my Aunt to let me get a hamster. After all, I was used to having pets of my own. Never had a hamster before, but it seemed like a reasonable addition to the household. It didn't take up that much space. I'm sure the cats wouldn't mind the company.... :)

So finally, after many hamsters, 2 guinea pigs and 2 cats (well, we still have one cat), we've finally gotten a dog. Ben's been wanting one for such a long time, but until recently, when I quit my full time job, it wasn't really an option because no human was in our house pretty much for 10-11 hours a day. Not much fun for a dog, for sure.

Meet Maggie

She Likes Balls

She Also Likes Ears

And Eyes

She also likes the cat....however the feeling is NOT mutal at this time....

She definitely LOVES to run

And she seems to like her boy....

But not so much listening to him read stories...

So we welcome Maggie into our home and know that our lives will never be the same. :)

We adopted Maggie from Aussie Rescue and Placement Helpline Inc. (the Ontario Branch). Thanks Jane for introducing us to Maggie and thank you Andrea, who was Maggie's Foster Mommy, for taking such good care of her until we found each other. :)

For those of you who want a bit more of a peak into Maggie's life so far with us, watch the little video clip below. You'll recognize some of the pictures in it, but it's still cute. :) Don't forget to turn up your sound.



Thanks for looking! :)

PS: If you like Aussie dogs, I still have photos for sale with part of the proceeds being donated to ARPH Ontario.

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #20 - "Back off Fur Ball!!"

Wow, almost forgot to post the Photo of the Week from last week!!

I'm actually overdue to write a blog post about new happenings in our household. Here's another sneak peak though ;)

"Back Off Fur Ball!"

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CONTESTS: The Winners

I just realized that I didn't post the winners of the Facebook contest and Women's Showcase raffle here on my blog yet.

The winner of the Facebook Client Collage Contest is: The Ross Family

Congratulations!!

The Ross Family wins an 8x12 metal print of their collage.

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

At the Women's Christmas Showcase of South Simcoe, I had a raffle at my table for people who signed up for my e-mail mailing list. The winner of that was Gina Heisz. Congratulations Gina!! :)

Gina won a complementary Mini-Session which includes the mini-session itself as well as 2 5x7 OR 1 8x10 print and 4 edited, low resolution, watermarked files for sharing online.

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

And finally, during the Facebook Client Collage contest, I reached 200 followers on Facebook. I had a little draw for people who left a comment on a post I made on the page. 13 people left comments and the winner was Lucia Pandullo.

Lucia won an 8x10 print of her choice from my 'For Sale' galleries on my web site, as well as mitten clips from Sassy Paci. Go check out Melissa's awesome merchandise here on Facebook or on her web site.  She's local in Tottenham, but can mail out her products to you.  Thank you Melissa for the mitten clips in this draw :))

Congratulations everyone and thank you all for participating. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

MY COMMUNITY: Mrs. Claus Fundraiser for "My Sister's Place"

Saturday seems like it was just yesterday, yet it's already Thursday!

The Women's Christmas Showcase of South Simcoe was this past Saturday at the Tottenham Community Centre in Tottenham, ON. You may have read here on the blog or in the Newsletter that I was going to be doing photos with Mrs. Claus for donations to "My Sister's Place". "My Sister's Place" is an emergency shelter for abused women and their children and is located in Alliston, ON.

First, I just want to give a VERY big thank you to Shelley Barlow for volunteering to be Mrs. Claus. She did a super fantastic job and she looked AWESOME!! :)

Thank you Shelley!

I also want to thank Leigh Ross for helping me get everyone's information that day so that the photos could be e-mailed out. I couldn't have done it without you! :) (I forgot to take a photo of you with Mrs. Claus!!) :(

And, thanks to Ben. He was our salesman who went to find people with kids as they came into the show to make sure they knew about our 'get your photo taken with Mrs. Claus for a donation' event. He definitely earned his silly bands and he was relatively patient.....most of the time. ;)

Our Salesman

And finally, I want to thank everyone who participated. Together we raised $171 for My Sister's Place!! :)) I'd say we did pretty well, don't you think?

Here are just a few of the pictures:

Event Organizers - You did a fantastic job :)

Even the big kids stopped by :)

What a fun time!

Thanks again everyone. It was such a fun time. I can't wait until next year! :)

Thanks for looking :)

-- Lisa P.

ON THE BUSINESS SIDE: Happy 2nd Anniversary...To Me!! :)

Wow, I can't believe yesterday was already the second Anniversary for Picture Your Life Photography. It's been such an exciting year and I can't wait to see what year three will bring. :)

There have been so many fun sessions and events that I enjoyed being a part of this past year. This would be a very very long post if I talked about them all, so I've made this video to try and summarize. It doesn't include everything, but does give a nice picture of what Year 2 was all about.

Today I will hopefully be announcing contest and raffle winners on the blog (they've already been notified), as well as have a post about the Women's Christmas Showcase and how we did with the Mrs. Claus photos. :) Oh, and one little new thing that I haven't mentioned yet. ;)

Thank you to everyone who has supported me. It really means a lot :)

I hope you enjoy the video. Don't forget to crank up the sound.



TO VIEW IN HIGH RESOLUTION CLICK HERE.  You may need to wait a bit for it to buffer.

Thanks for looking. :)

 -- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #19 - "Kisses"

There was no contest as to what the Photo of the Week topic would be for last week.

"Kisses"

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS - A Kitchener Wedding Sneak Peak

Last Saturday I went off to Kitchener to photograph Tom and Catherine's wedding. It was a beautiful day! :)

The wedding was small, casual and beautiful. The Bride and Groom were very relaxed and just went about their business at the church like it was any other day.

The Bride's Dress Was Very Pretty

And The Groom Looked Pretty Good Too

The Ceremony Was Sealed With A Kiss

The Happy Couple :)

They had a short reception in the basement of the church before they headed off to dinner. There was food and of course cake.

Congratulations Catherine and Tom. Thank you for the opportunity to photograph your beautiful wedding, your family and your friends. I hope you are enjoying your honeymoon and I hope you enjoyed your sneak peak.

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.