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Photography

August 27, 2007 By 4 Comments

I love photography, as does the rest of my family. When we were younger mom would take lots of pictures of us, and even made us have photo shoots. These photos are really cute to look back on. I don’t think I’m alone when I say that it would be a really amazing job to be a photographer. Be it family, children, or wedding photography. You get to capture memories for people to remember and look back on for years and even generations later.

Finding a wedding photographer was a bit of a challenge. I’m fairly picky about what I wanted, but knew that we would not be able to afford the really amazing photographers out there. Most photographers these days have websites so you can easily look online to find a photographer and assess their work. I decided on our photographer after looking at her website, and meeting with her. I really liked the pictures and could see that she had a creative side, so it wasn’t all traditional photography. Also when we met with her she was very friendly and made me feel comfortable. Here are some examples of her work.. Brenda Coghlin

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And once we got our engagement pictures back, I got really excited for the wedding photos!

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Even though we have a photographer I can not stop looking at photography blogs. Mostly wedding photographer blogs. They are my guilty pleasure and really inspire me to try and start taking pictures like they do. Here are a few of my favorite ones, and no these photographers do NOT come cheap!

The image is found

Scarlett Lillian

Lauren Clark

McLellan Studio

Jinky Art

Filed Under: blogging, katelyn, life, love, personal, photography, relationships, thoughts, Wedding

The wedding planning begins…?

August 26, 2007 By 3 Comments

D & I have heen engaged for 8 days now and although he doesn’t want to start any sort of planning (including setting a date) until I’m done my last classes at school (December), I managed to talk him into going to an open house at a very nice, recently renovated venue in London. So this morning we drove home from visiting D’s parents in Blenheim (sadly sans ring as it is currently being fitted at the jewelers) to meet Mom and Lauren.

Mom is already a fan of this venue – in fact, about 15 years ago she tried to arrange a national farm women’s conference at the very same location. Beautiful grounds, over 100 guest suites, and a great location in general. I thought the hall itself had an interesting, unique layout with a main dining room and two adjacent rooms that could be used as a lounge and as a separate dance floor.

D was not as big of a fan as I was! He didn’t like the layout with the separate rooms, but I think it is the cost that he didn’t like the most. Even though the hall rental would be free (as we are sure to be inviting over 100 guests), the cheapest and most basic menu is $60 per plate. So we made a decision in the parking lot that (sadly) we would not be considering the venue for the wedding…whenever that will be.

On the plus side, we got free hors d’ouevres and tasty treats from the bakery that was there, as well as a free wedding planning guide and various information from the different vendors there. I’m sure I will have boxes full of brochures and business cards by the time this wedding business is over and done with…

Filed Under: life, love, relationships, thoughts, Wedding

When are YOU getting engaged?

August 22, 2007 By 6 Comments

I haven’t written for a while but I have a good reason! The password that wordpress gave me was in a notebook in my bedroom, which is upstairs… and all the computers are downstairs. Not that I’m lazy but it always seemed like something that could wait. Until now I guess!!

As you can see there are now two engaged blondes! And now I get to spend the next who knows how long fielding the question “When are YOU getting engaged?” Since I am going back to school and Kent wants to go back too, I don’t feel the need to get engaged ANY TIME soon. I am just enjoying him being home, and living near me for once! I’ll see how married life goes for my sisters then decide if I want that life!

I’m getting the “ten minute” warning from Kate that we have to leave for baseball. I don’t really have anything else in my mind to blog about anyways, so I’m gonna go get ready to go.

Filed Under: Family, life, love, micaela, personal, question, relationships, sisterhood, sisters, thoughts, university

This is your life, I get copied keys

August 22, 2007 By 3 Comments

This week has been such a big week for us. These coming weeks will also hold big changes for this family. Erica getting engaged, me leaving to go to university, Kent moving away (again). It seems every time he comes over he is permanently here for a couple weeks, then disappears.

So now that I’m going away it will be hard for me to live vicariously through my sisters. It seems that I am always a third wheel in their relationships, and I’d have to say I’m pretty okay with it…the boyfriends may not be, but thats alright.  Having just spent a “weekend” away camping with two of my best friends who are going back to high school for another year has made me think about keeping these friendships when I go away. I think I’ll try, but seeing as how I get jealous easily, I’ll see how much time they spend together and most likely get disappointed or something.

Filed Under: blonde, Family, friends, lauren, life, love, personal, relationships, sisterhood, thoughts, university

Strange Coincidences

August 22, 2007 By 2 Comments

Sometimes in life there are strange coincidences – it may even take you a while to notice them.

On Sunday, Micaela and Lauren hosted a bridal shower for Katelyn at our house. It was a friends/sisters/cousins bridal shower with the theme “Naughty or Nice”, so naturally we had to kick the parents and the boyfriend/fiances out of the house.

Dad went off with a good family friend, Bob (affectionatly referred to as “Dad’s boyfriend”), while Mom and the boys went golfing at The Fox. We girls had a lovely time making honeymoon undies, toilet-paper wedding dresses, drinking mimosas, enjoying the treats made for us by resident chef/Micaela’s boyfriend Kent, and admiring the gifts for the bride!

Later that evening, my FIANCE (I’m still getting used to writing and saying that!) was telling me about their golf game. He noted that he and Kent shared clubs as Kent doesn’t own a set and hasn’t golfed in several years and, among the 4 or 5 sets of clubs at our house, there are no left handed golf clubs.

He then realized that himself, Kent, and Scott (Kate’s fiance) are all left handed golfers who do everything else right handed (as far as I know). Meanwhile, they were golfing with Mom, a righty golfer – but lefty everything else.

What are the chances? Seriously. Three sisters, dating/engaged to three men who are all lefty golfers who do everything else right-handed. Strange coincidence. Or just strange.

Filed Under: blogging, blonde, Family, friends, golf, life, love, personal, random, relationships, sisterhood, sisters, thoughts, Wedding, Work

What a Weekend!

August 20, 2007 By 5 Comments

This blonde had a wild and wonderful weekend!

Friday was my (Erica) birthday – the big 2-5. Mom and dad gave me a digital camera – I’ve been the only one in the family without one forever! I was especially excited to get a camera because my boyfriend Denis and I had a trip to Niagara Falls planned to celebrate my birthday. A romantic weekend getaway! Why Niagara Falls? It’s close enough to make the trip economical, but far enough away from home to feel like we’re really getting away – and of course the Falls are beautiful!

On Saturday we went for a walk by the falls and navigated our way around all the other tourists. Then, we packed a lunch and headed to the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens for a picnic. Denis had been fixated on having this picnic ever since booking the trip, which made me wonder if the picnic was just an excuse for something else…however, I didn’t let myself get too excited because I didn’t want to be disappointed if what I was hoping would happen, didn’t happen. Whether he had ulterior motives or not, we were going to have a great time.

We found a secluded spot at the edge of the gardens – no random people wandering around and interupting our picnic. I began eating (I was hungry!) and Denis…didn’t eat. I didn’t even notice, but he told me after that he was “too nervous”!

Why was he nervous? Well, after we (I mean, I) had eaten, Denis told me to turn around because he had a surprise for me. So I did…and when he told me to turn around again, there were two yummy-looking cupcakes! He sang Happy Birthday to me too, which I thought was incredibly sweet as he usually thinks stuff like that is ‘dorky’.

After singing, he announced that he had another surprise for me. What could the other surprise be? Well, I can tell you what was going through my head: omigodthisisitthisisit…he was already on his knees and asked me to stand up. I did, and I think I may have looked scared (I know I was covering my mouth with my hands) because Den asked, “Are you ready for this?” I didn’t think; I just nodded!!

From that moment on, everything was a blur – mostly because of the tears streaming down my face! My entire body was shaking. I realize now that I have always looked forward with great anticipation and excitement to this moment in my life, but never thought about my reaction. I didn’t expect to be so emotional! Denis was perfectly composed, as far as I could tell at least. He pulled a ring out of his pocket, held it out and told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.

Once I managed to squeak out “Yes!” and compose myself, I actually looked at the ring through damp eyes and I must say is is completely beautiful. It is exactly the right style – and he picked it out himself, with only Katelyn and Scott there for ‘moral support’. We spent about 30 minutes calling family (even the ones who already knew) to share the good news before packing up our picnic. The rest of the day we simply enjoyed our time in Niagara Falls – we went to Fallsview Casino (hey, we felt lucky) and Den won $320! Flush with cash, we had dinner at The Keg. We had champagne and the restaurant gave us complimentary chocolate mocha ice cream cake as a ‘congratulations’.

Well, that is the story of our engagement! It’s “Facebook Official” – I changed my relationship status this morning and the good wishes are pouring in. We’re excited and are enjoying being engaged – no planning just yet!

Filed Under: blonde, Family, friends, life, love, personal, relationships, sisterhood, sisters, thoughts, Wedding

My Ideal Job

August 17, 2007 By 2 Comments

Since graduating University and realizing that the job I now work in is not at all where I see myself in the future I find people asking me more and more what my ideal job is. So here’s the catch, I really don’t know. I have had various jobs in the past and basically loved them all.

Snowboarding instructor

Golf Course Maintenance worker

Farmers Hand (on the home farm)

Research and Development Student for a chemical company

I guess I was not thinking when I accepted a job where 1. I would be working by myself and 2. I’m in an office, all day. I was blinded by the fact that it was a full time job and I was coming out of University, what an opportunity! This job really isn’t bad at times, when it is busy it is actually quite entertaining. However very rarely is it busy and so I’m getting lazier. When I’m busy when I get a new task I get it done right away. But when there’s not much to do, I put it off because I have so much time to get it done later.

Heres what I think I need in a job:

1. Outdoors (either all outdoors or flexibility indoor/outdoor work)

2. People

3. Accomplishment (I need to feel like what I am doing is actually helping something)
I think that I’d like to try landscaping sometime (designing not cutting lawns all the time). You definately get accomplishment in that job!

Whats in your ideal job?

Filed Under: katelyn, life, personal, question, thoughts, Work, writing

What Is The Best Thing That’s Ever Happened To You?

August 14, 2007 By Leave a Comment

DNTO

Lately my refuge from the street sounds on my bike rides to and from work has been CBC radio podcasts. I would say that my favorite podcast is “The Best of DNTO” – that’s Definitely Not The Opera for all you non-CBC listeners. Recent podcast topics have included your mom ‘friending you’ on Facebook (A Facebook Only a Mother Could Love – June 17) – we can relate (in a good way)!

This afternoon I listened to “Respecting our elders with Leslie Nielson, Sarah Polley, and more” (March 22 2007). In the podcast, Sook-Yin Lee visited a retirement home to chat with some seniors living there. One of the questions she asked really got me thinking.

What is the best thing that’s happened to you?

I had to think for a block or two until I could decide on what my ‘best thing’ is. Then, just before I started writing, I came up with another best thing.

Best Thing #1: Getting (re)hired at The Fox. This event, although it interrupted a family brunch, was fantastic because it led up to many other great events, most notably meeting my boyfriend.

Best Thing #2: Learning how to ski. I’m sure there are some people reading this thinking, doesn’t she mean snowboard? Truthfully, no. I do mean skiing – because if I had hadn’t learned how to ski, I likely wouldn’t have learned how to snowboard. I also wouldn’t have many of the great friends I have now, and I never would have traveled out west and had a great time working in Banff.

So, it seems as though my ‘best things’ were the initial events in chains of events. Is that fair? Yes. It’s fair because I say it is.

Do you have a ‘Best Thing’ in your life?

Filed Under: blogging, erica, life, personal, random, review, technology, thoughts, writing

Googling Five Blondes

August 14, 2007 By 3 Comments

Find us in Google!Although choosing Five Blondes as our blog title was a fairly quick and painless decision, there was definitely a lot of thought put into it. Thought, research, and Googling. If we tell someone about our blog and they Google us, what comes up? Are there any other blogs or websites with like names? Could the results be embarrassing?

After a month (and not-too-many posts), the results are in.

Google: “fiveblondes”

We are first! Not surprising. We are also second, third, fourth…of the two pages of results, only the last two links are not us. The last link is, unfortunately, a porn film titled “5 blondes”. Seeing that makes me very happy that we didn’t use “5 Blondes” as our blog name (it was in the running).

Google: “five blondes”

We are…third. Second link is the aforementioned adult film’s listing on IMDB (here titled “Five Blondes” – but I know that’s wrong, I saw the cover of the DVD). The film apparently sucks – that may be the wrong word to use – let’s go with ‘is not very good.’ The film is apparently not very good, judging by the 3.5/10 rating.

The first link is a blonde joke on someone’s Geocities page that was added over seven years ago. Nothing dies on the internet! The webmaster’s page hasn’t been updated in over a year, as far as I can tell. I haven’t visited a Geocities page in years.

What about those inferior links under us? Well, they’re mostly blonde jokes, as well as a few links about that, um, film. So, in honor of those blonde jokes and in good humour (we like to laugh!), I am adding a blonde joke to this post.

In fact, I’ve found a blonde joke titled “The Blonde’s Sister.”

A blonde goes into work one morning crying her eyes out. Her boss, concerned about all his employees’ well being, asked sympathetically, “What’s the matter?”

 

To which the blonde replies…..”Early this morning I got a phone call saying that my mother had passed away.”

 

The boss, feeling very sorry at this point, explains to the young girl, “Why don’t you go home for the day…..we aren’t terribly busy. Just take the day off to relax and rest.”

 

The blonde very calmly states……”No, I’d be better off here. I need to keep my mind off it and I have the best chance of doing that here.”

 

The boss agrees and allows the blonde to work as usual, saying “If you need anything, just let me know.”

 

Well, a few hours pass and the boss decides to check on the blonde. He looks out over his office and sees the blonde hysterically crying!! He rushes out to her, asking, “Are you gonna be ok??”

 

“No,” exclaims the blonde. “I just got a call from my sister. She told me that HER mom died too!!”

BA-DUMP-BUMP!

Umm…love you, Mom! Link love you too!

A final note: If you google all of our names at once (“erica micaela katelyn leah lauren“), we are first…of 48,000!

Filed Under: blogging, erica, google, life, random, SEO, technology, thoughts, writing
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