Calgary: Out of the comfort zone

Now that my 365 day project is done, I'm at a bit of a crossroads with the photography thing. I don't want to be forced to take a picture to a deadline for a long while yet. But, I still want to take pictures and get out of my comfort zone.

George and I went to Calgary for the weekend -- a sort of mini-working-vacation. I was helping him out at a tradeshow / seminar event. My first one. I met lots of interesting people and learned that, yes, I could wear high heels for three days straight. My feet actually felt funny when I put on my flat shoes Sunday night.

Because we were downtown Calgary, we were pretty much a short walk from everything. The Calgary Tower was across the street, and Stephen Avenue (a historic walking/shopping district) was a half block away. So, all of this made for some interesting, and different, pictures.

I posted a few of them, including the ones with snow, for my Sunday Stills project.

But, here are some extras. We  hit the Calgary Tower on Sunday night after a very tasty dinner, and a few drinks (I ordered a glass of wine, they brought me a half litre - happy days). You travel 525 feet up an elevator to get to the top of the tower. There, you can stand on a glass floor and look down at the city street below. A little freaky. Here's my self-portrait shot doing this.



And, just to prove George is conquering his fear of heights (or maybe had too many double caesars at supper), he did it too! (Note: He admitted after the trip that he's closer to flying to Europe...maybe even next year! I'm writing this down so I can show it to him in 6 months.)



But, my favourite shot from the weekend is the one I took on the way to dinner. We were walking along Stephen Avenue when I saw this man sleeping on a bench at the base of a sculpture. I took one of him from the front, but as I walked past I saw the contrast between the Indigospirit storefront and this poor guy. (And it was damn cold too.) I've always wanted to have the guts to take a picture like this (strange, I know). And I'm glad that I did it as I think it tells an interesting, if incomplete, story.



For more shots of Calgary...

Happy Birthday George!

A very happy birthday to my honey! I won't reveal how old he is, but I will say that I've known him for FAR more than half his life now. :) Right now he's watching Montreal and hoping for a win. So far, it looks like his birthday wish may come true.

It's here!!!!

February 12, 2010
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

George finally got a copy of his book!! He wrote it with two other authors, but if you look in the bottom right corner, you will in fact see his name on the cover. You can even buy it on Amazon (although they have an older cover displayed for some reason).

All proceeds from the book go to Habitat for Humanity. A big congratulations for all the hard work he put into the book.
He's addicted now and working on book number 2. Stay tuned....

You know tax season is over

George has been sick for the last two days of tax season, so after he got home today (at a decent hour!), he sat on the couch and vegetated.

At one point, I looked over and he was staring at his bare feet propped up on the coffee table. He was closing one eye, then the other while studying his toes intently.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, the golf ball [on the floor across the room] is sitting on top of my big toe, so when I close one eye, it looks like an ice cream cone."

It's official. All his brains fell out by April 30th. Now we have to wait for them to regenerate.

Best friends

I called George as we were on our way to McDonald's to celebrate a good first day of grade 2, I called George to see if he was interested in some salty, fatty goodness. He mentioned that Uncle Curtis was coming over later, so he'd be heading home.

Faith piped up from the back seat:

"Uncle Curtis is Dad's best friend."

"Why do you say that?"

"They talk and drink beer together."

"That means they're best friends?"

"Yeah, that's what men do. Talk, drink beer, and sometimes have a cup of wine."

Happy Valentine's Day

So far, we've spent Valentine's evening in bed...all four of us. George and Faith are both sick, and Blake was just happy to crawl on top of everyone until he went to sleep in his room.

So, enjoy your Valentine's Day. I can only hope it was as romantic as ours.

He's a poet and didn't know it

We headed to my parents last weekend for a quick trip. On Saturday, Faith and I attended Allyson and Curtis' baby shower (our reason for the trip). On the drive down, Faith decided that she wanted to write some poetry. George helped her out with a little ditty for Allyson. Prepare to be amazed....

It farts, it stinks,
It's not just you,
It's baby too.

George was so pleased with this version that he added another line:

It farts, it stinks,
It burps, it drinks,
It's not just you,
It's baby too.

Faith wrote down the poem and gave it to Allyson at her baby shower. She thought Curtis would enjoy this special gift...and besides, as she said, "It's true."

Boxing Day hangover

Christmas was hard on Faith and George. They flaked out the next afternoon after a visit from Uncle Duncan and Deanna and caught some zzzzzs. This was really just a late Christmas present for George, who still misses when Faith would fall asleep on his chest as a baby.