| Does anyone read this? |
[Nov. 28th, 2009|12:39 am] |
Haven't posted in a looong time, so I'm curious.
What I've been up to:
Chasing Julia and wondering where the heck my time is going. A week now feels like a day before I had Julia.
This week I-
Played tennis at ORC(as a guest-woohoo!).
Photographed a baby http://www.rabbatphoto.com/blog/2009/11/baby-emily/ of some of my favourite wedding clients (they were just super duper nice).
Met with potential clients for Little Blue Lemon, whom I subcontract for.
Went to Rainbow Songs, then to see Santa Claus, then had my friend Joanna and her baby boy Jack over. Joanna's mom was my daycare provider from about 18 mos until I went to school. Joanna went seriously bad ass in high school though, so we lost touch for awhile. It's pretty much a miracle that she even got through high school (7 high schools later because she kept getting kicked out). Now she's over her rebellious phase and is a great mom with a good career, which she is taking an extended break from.
Dropped Julia off at Christina's for daycare today so I could get work done.
Played hockey.
Julia is in her tantrum phase right now. We are having a hell of a time getting her to sleep, especially now that she has figured out how to jump out of her crib. We really need to move a toddler bed into her room soon. |
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| From one blog to another |
[Aug. 13th, 2009|12:41 am] |
Well, I've been slacking on this blog but I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping up with my professional one. I've done some pretty cool weddings this year, so feel free to take a look!
http://www.rabbatphoto.com/blog/
Coming next: Our friends Phil and Yi. You may remember Phil, since he helped us move and has been to lots of our parties (huge rock music fan...tattoos, motorcycle rider, software architect who helped Vu get his first TO job). They had their reception at Sunnyside Pavilion, which I was very excited about because we got to go upstairs (normally closed to the public)! Their post-reception was at Sneaky Dee's.
In other news, I've been playing lots of tennis and chasing Julia around A LOT. |
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| Life in general |
[May. 5th, 2009|03:36 pm] |
My parents on are on vacation, which means I haven't had much babysitting help the past two weeks...so I decided not to work much! It's GREAT!!!
Last Monday I walked about 5KM. First, I took Julia to the park, then I decided to pick up some prints at my lab, which is about 2KM away. I took the back roads and went a little too far east, so we stopped at Great Lakes Brewery first. The girl who was working there poured me free samples of about 3 different beers and we chatted.
I remembered it was 31 cent scoop day at Baskin Robbins, so we headed there after. We passed Shasha bread company on the way and their company store was selling all Shasha products at a serious discount!! We bought some gingersnap cookies, spelt raisin bread and plain spelt bread, before heading to B-R. We got to B-R @ 4:53 and there was already a line-up, but it moved quickly.
Finally, I made it to the lab. I didn't think I'd have the energy to walk back, so I contemplated taking the bus but decided to see how far my legs would take me-all the way back :-)
The next day, I met up with some other moms in High Park. First I bought a digital audio recorder at Long and McQuade so I can record wedding vows, speeches, etc. and do some fusion. We tested it out at Sarah's Muppet Show gig on Sunday and it sounds AWESOME!!! It's the ZoomH2 handy recorder for all you music geeks.
I somehow managed to almost finish processing a wedding really quickly. I just need to get the photos in order and do some special effects, but it will be good to show soon. We redid our website and blog:
www.rabbatphoto.com and www.rabbatphoto.com/blog . We got the pro photographer Wordpress.
This weekend we're off to Montreal to photograph and attend Tanya G's wedding, whom I met through lindyhop years ago. I'm really excited! I'm a little nervous too though, because we are leaving Julia with Vu's parents Friday/Sat/Sun morning and I'm still nursing so hopefully that goes ok....
Julia wants to type now, so I better end this. Hope you're all doing well! |
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| Back in action! |
[Mar. 18th, 2009|12:16 pm] |
Tonight, I am going dancing! I'm so happy to be back in action! I went to the Dovercourt on Sat. night too because the fabulous Drew Jurecka was playing violin. Tonight, Solomon Douglas is in town and playing for a dance. Mom is coming over to babysit :-)
Can you believe I went downhill skiing on Monday? Beth told me she was going to Glen Eden, so I joined her. It was GREAT! I hadn't been in 3 years and was a little anxious, even though I used to instruct (@ Glen Eden) but I got it back quickly. There were no line-ups whatsoever either.
Julia and I went on a playdate on Monday and it was fun, but the mom who hosted e-mailed me later to tell me that her daughter had the stomach flu and was sick from both ends (she came down with it shortly after the playdate). So far, Julia's ok but she has a cold...which I hope I don't get or that'll be #9 or 10 for me in under 1 year.
Vu restaged my computer so I couldn't do any work for the past few days.
The break was nice while it lasted. |
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| Happy Anniversary! |
[Feb. 5th, 2009|02:25 am] |
It's our 4th!!! I'm going to bed so I can celebrate all day, since we're still in Arizona!
The Grand Canyon was magnificent, of course. It is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, after all.
That said, I am definitely afraid of heights. I made the mistake of flipping through a book called "Death in the Grand Canyon" and read about all kinds of people who fell off the cliffs. The saddest was a 4 year old girl in 2007, whose mother said, "Now you stay close." Instead, she bolted to edge and fell 450 feet. Her father, a fighter pilot descended down to save her but it was too late. Her father was rescued with injuries.
I was sooooo glad Julia doesn't know how to walk yet after I read that.
I was also kind of mad that my parents took me up some mountains in BC when I was 8 that featured such thin paths, that at the time, when I said, "One false step and we're dead, right?" My parents said, "Yep." I asked them what they were thinking taking me up those dangerous mountains when I was such a young kid and they said, "Well, you were a really cautious kid. We knew you wouldn't fall." Yet, when I read that Grand Canyon book I did read cases of people who took false steps and fell down the cliffs to their deaths (including a park ranger leading a tour)!
250 people are rescued from The Grand Canyon EVERY YEAR!!!! That's about 2 of every 3 days. I'm guessing most are due to heat exhaustian though. Vu and my mom woke up for the sunrise and they saw a helicopter go down to rescue someone. I hope they made it. |
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| Scottsdale |
[Jan. 23rd, 2009|10:40 pm] |
I'm in Arizona now!
I came here for a convention of wedding photographers on Jan. 10th and I will be staying until February 7th.
Vu is on parental leave now, so he came along with Julia. My mom came with us as well and my dad and uncle joined us a week after we arrived.
We spent the first week in Carefree, which features interections like "Ho Hum and Easy Street." That said, I spent most of that week in classes learning all things photography and photography business related as well as networking with other wedding photographers.
I can't wait for my first 2009 wedding so I can start implementing what I learned!!! Of course, there are a lot of business changes that I want to make as well that I could do right now, but it's kind of hard when I'm on vacation. Life's too short to work all the time, right?
When the convention ended, we stayed at the resort a few more days since we didn't get the house in Scottsdale until Monday. We went to the Carefree Arts and Wine Festival, which is reputedly the best in the west...and I believe it! You should have seen the unique pieces, ranging from metallic cacti to nudes made out of bird feathers (they looked really good, trust me). There were even lamps made out of instruments!!! The wine was really good and reasonably priced too.
We also managed to go swimming outdoors in the pool that was heated to 88 degrees and we even played tennis (also outdoors). In fact, we have played tennis a few times since we got here.
The best thing to do in the evening at the resort was go to the campfires and listen to the Hopi Indians tell stories while eating s'mores. Each night had a different flavour and my favourite was raspberry and white chocolate.
On an unrelated note, Julia is now clapping her hands. We were watching the news today and lots of people clapped after a senator spoke. Julia clapped too.
I'm working on updating my wordpress blog now with an Arizona entry, but it's taking a loooong time to load so check it in the next couple of days:
http://rabbatphotography.wordpress.com |
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| Yay Julia! |
[Nov. 11th, 2008|08:47 pm] |
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Yesterday she stood holding onto furniture for the first time and today when my mom asked her touch her nose (that is, my mom's nose), she did. Then we asked her to touch her daddy's nose. She did. Then she touched mine. When I asked her to touch her nose she still touched mine. She'll be 9 months old in just 3 days. |
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| Breastfeeding Challenge and babies everywhere |
[Oct. 11th, 2008|05:09 pm] |
Today I did this:
http://www.babyfriendly.ca/
I left a msg. with some friends who joined us. Vu came too and carried Julia in the Ergo when I wasn't feeding her. We also took a free CPR course and a free infant massage course, but Julia was too squirmy.
I also found out that my associate and super good friend, HAD HER BABY TODAY!!!! WOOHOO!!! I can't wait to hear from her and find out more (I got a msg. and I assume she was sleeping when I called her).
My other friend whose baby was born on July 29 or so came over with him today too so I FINALLY got to meet him (I wanted to sooner, but every time I planned to go I got a cold-I've now had THREE colds since Julia was born and she's not even 8 month old).
If I have the energy today, I'm hoping to make it to Gordon Webster at the Dovercourt House, but if not, I'll see him at the wedding tomorrow. Woohoo! |
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| Julia is 7 months old! |
[Sep. 16th, 2008|12:03 am] |
I'm a parent. And I'm shocked.
But I am loving just about every moment of it. My baby girl is 7 months old!! SEVEN months.
That may not seem like a long time to you, but it's a long time to me since she went from only knowing how to suck on my boobies to knowing how to transfer an object from one hand to the other, sitting up on her own, responding to her name, saying things like 'dadadadada,' eating pureed food, making funny faces at food she doesn't like and attempting to crawl...succeeding only at moving herself backwards.
Yet, it is a short time. Just 7 months and 3 days ago I was pregnant. Every week seems to go by as quickly as just one day went by before I had her. Many people have commented that I am so relaxed, which is very surprising because people used to comment that I was a 'nervous person'. Who would'a thunk that having a baby would help me relax? I thought babies were supposed to increase stress levels, not decrease them. Now, when I look into my baby's eyes and she smiles at me that's all that matters. She's at the age where her parents are her world and it makes us feel soooooo special, since she is ours too of course (I know that probably sounded really cheesy to those of you who don't have babies, but I'm keeping it so that when she's a teenager I can remember the 'better times' ;-).
I think we thought our life as we knew it would be over as soon as we had a baby, but it's not at all. We are still managing to do just about everything we did before we had her only now everything's a lot more interesting since when we're out with her and there is a lull, we can look at her.
This year we went to Mariposa, Lindystock, Taste of the Kingsway, Southside Shuffle-all with Julia. This weekend we're taking her to our friend's cottage.
Somehow I managed to photograph 9 weddings this summer (and I only potentially have 1 left for the year) and I even managed to throw a baby shower for Janette on Sunday.
We've gone out without Julia too, since we're lucky to have parents who love babysitting.
We went to see the amazing Owen Pallett in Final Fantasy with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bassbeast and liradralyn. It was really awesome to see him in concert. He went to my very small elementary school, where his name was not Owen. It was Michael. We were in the same grade 4/5 class. I should post that class picture sometime. I honestly thought he would become an astronaut or rocket scientist or something of the sort, so I was quite astonished when I learned he chose music but I'm glad he did, because he was truly outstanding. He also had a visual show, which accompanied the music and it was incredibly Froebelian. There was a girl cutting paper onto a slide projector and manipulating them into different shapes/objects etc. If we'd all kept playing with Froebel gifts, what that girl was doing would have been one of them.
I also managed to go to Evil Dead the Musical with some girlfriends, which was really nice and funny and entertaining. A friend of mine was the stage manager so she came to catch up with me in the intermission, but we only got to talk for about 5 mins (which is way better than not at all of course).
Vu and I both made it to mykepizza's last gig. His new band, The Mod Villains is fantastic! I also love the venue-Mitzi's Sister.
Last week we went rollerskating at Scooter's Roller Palace with 4 of our lindy hop friends who live fairly close to there. I hung out at Scooter's in grades 7+8, so it was a blast from the past for me.
Most things, however, we do with Julia, which is great because we miss her when she's not around.
Last week I started Rainbow Music classes with her, which was really fun. I must be the youngest parent by 5-10 years, but that's ok. This week we're supposed to go 'for coffee' after class. I wonder if my age difference will be really apparent.
Every Thursday for the past 3 weeks Julia and I have gone to the Dufferin Grove Farmer's Market. There are plenty of interesting characters there...and great food too.
Every week or two I meet up with a friend who had a baby just 5 days before us. She was one of my wedding clients, but her husband is the nephew of my parent's good friends so they were more than just clients.
Last week I met up with my old babysitter (she babysat me from 18 months-3 years or so) and her daughter, who had a baby in June. We hadn't seen each other in about 15 years but we picked right up from where we left off.
I want to be done album design, and all my other work, so I can just enjoy time with Julia (as opposed to enjoying time with Julia in her Bumbo or sling while I am working on the computer). This week I have 2 client meetings though. I am nearly half way to my booking goal for 2009 already! And I decided to ONLY do referral based advertising this year...of course, I don't have a big goal since I want to enjoy more time with Julia but I'm happy to be almost halfway there.
Vu is going to take a 12 week parental leave in November though, so it'll be really nice to have all 3 of us home.
This week I also have relatives in town from France and our friend Autumn's daughters are in town. Take note: mykesongs, jeffkahl, bassbeast and liradralyn because I think you would all LOVE their music and show!!! You should come..they'll be at the Rivoli on Thurs. at 9PM and they only come once a year because they live in California. http://www.vermillionlies.com/
Oh, here is our 'sweepea': http://rabbatphotography.wordpress.com/ |
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| Quick question re: facebook |
[Jun. 9th, 2008|10:14 am] |
Anyone know how to start a business group?
I've just realized that most of my clients for this summer are referrals and some of those who are not found me by coincidence (ie. on the Wedding Photojournalist Association) and then were like, "Hey, I recognize you...did you go to Lorne Park?" when I met with them. So, I think it's high time I got the word out to my 'facebook friends' and acquaintances that I photograph weddings for a living....
I want to actually start a BUSINESS group, which is different from a regular group...ie. I want people to be able to publicly find it.
Thanks! |
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| Thanks |
[May. 29th, 2008|02:54 pm] |
Thanks for the tip about losing belly weight, ladies. I played some tennis last night and will play again tonight. Vu and I are competing tonight. Hopefully that will help! I'll be honest, I took 1 pilates class and didn't like it at all...maybe I wasn't doing it right?
We resumed our Tues. night Bal practice with some friends and one of them actually commented that I gained weight!! I guess he knew I wouldn't mind though. I've now had 2 people tell me I have a bigger butt since I gave birth to Julia-which is fine, since I didn't really have a butt before. A high school friend of mine's mom saw me for the first time in a long time recently and commented that I look much healthier now that I've put on some weight, so it's all good. I'm ok with the bigger breasts (which will probably shrink when I'm done breastfeeding anyway) and bigger butt, it's just the belly I'd prefer not to have....and it isn't even that noticeable (there are definitely women out there with bigger bellies who never gave birth).
Julia had an appt. yesterday and is now 16.3 pounds (cloth diaper on) and 25 1/2 inches, which puts her in about the 90th percentile for both height and weight. We took her to visit some friends after and she was very sweet, smiling lots and going from arm to arm.
I took her out to 'dancing in the park' a couple of weeks ago and apparently she was really watching the dancers. We went out to a restaurant with a bunch of people after as well and didn't get back until 2AM!!!!
Oh, in another news last weekend was my grandpa's 91st birthday, so we took her to London to see him. He's still going for 2 hour walks every day! |
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| Tennis/Frankie |
[May. 1st, 2008|12:50 pm] |
So, I want to get back into shape.
IMHO I still look about 3 months pregnant (anyone have tips on losing the belly besides crunches?).
Our tennis club had InterCounty try-outs yesterday. I went to wish my friend Kevin a happy birthday the night before and had a severe allergic reaction to his apartment (2nd time, so I'm pretty sure it's his place), and now I have a cold (not sure if they're related), so I didn't want to try-out yesterday. Lucky me, they need more girls and I made the team by default! Woohoo!
In other news, we took Julia to a birthday party for our friend's twin 2 year old boys on Sat. Afterwards, Vu said, "Julia was the best behaved baby there." Of course, she had an unfair advantage because she was the only one too young to crawl! The others were making mudcakes, bringing them into the house, and knocking them over, taking temper tantrums (ok, not really...just a bit of crying here and there) and throwing food down onto the floor. It was mad chaos, but fun-and the twins were very well behaved.
After that, we took Julia to the Frankie Manning dance (her first dance). She did the shim-sham with me and just about everyone wanted to hold her (I wonder if that's where we got this cold...). I introduced her to Frankie and he said, "Oh, my newest fan," and rubbed her on the head before our friend took a family photo of us with the legend (check him out in his heyday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0BHxhUnokU. He's in minute 4:15 if you're wondering which one he is) . I'm a bit embarrassed that he was teaching at 93 almost 94 years old and I was exhausted after only 1 dance class (see, I REALLY need to get back into shape!!!).
In other news, we have ANOTHER friend who's pregnant!!! We only knew a handful of couples with kids until this year and I can think of about 5 2008 babies on the way :-) |
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| Hooray for little sweets! |
[Apr. 21st, 2008|01:10 pm] |
She slept 11 hours in a row last night...and so did I!!! Woohoo!!! She started sleeping 9 hour nights last Wed. and with the exception of Sat. night, she has done 9+ every night since!
On Sat., I had a wedding, so I slept at my parents place away from her so I'd be pretty much guaranteed a solid sleep. That was the first time I'd left her overnight and for so long (the wedding was 12 hours long, and I didn't get home until 11:30PM Sat.) She accepted the bottles of expressed breast milk from Vu (what a relief!!!), but wanted to eat from me when I got home. I was EXHAUSTED. She woke up at 4AM wanting to eat again, but slept solidly the rest of the night.
Here are more pics of the babe: http://rabbatphotography.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/julia-and-friends-two-months-old/
I'm glad I started the wedding season with the couple I did, because they were awesome to work with. They were very laid back and the bride was STUNNING! Before the ceremony, she asked us to tell her she was ugly so she wouldn't cry. It was pretty funny!
We did their photos at The Music Garden in Queens Quay (they'll be on my Rabbat Photo blog soon). I got that wedding through facebook, of all places! The maid of honour (Jen) and I drove our mutual friend to the airport when she left the country. Jen now lives in Korea, but she came back for the wedding and she was super happy for her best friend.
Yesterday I had some clients come to pick up their album (which they raved and raved about :-), then I met with some potential clients. Finally, we had a friend over for dinner...actually she brought dinner, which was awesome!
Now I don't have any plans until next Sat. except editing the wedding and hanging with sweetpea (we have a million nicknames for her).
Someone just called and booked me for their 1 hour wedding, which is great, because I don't want to work too many Saturdays in a row, since I'm busy with Julia and it's super close to where I live. Hooray!
Oh, my parents and uncle are coming back from South Carolina today! My dad said my uncle asked a lot about us and I said, "We're not really important anymore, it's all about Julia now," and he said I still retain my nickname 'rocknenetto' (arabic for-the soul of your grandmother) and Julia gets her own 'sit el sitad' (arabic for-the lady of all ladies). How sweet. |
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| What colour are you? |
[Feb. 9th, 2008|12:21 pm] |
you are darkviolet
#9400D3 |
Your dominant hues are blue and magenta. You're the one who goes to all the parties but doesn't quite fit in at every one... you know what you want, but are afraid of what the world might think of it. You're a little different and that's okay with them, and if you're smart it's okay with you too.
Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right.
Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.
| | the spacefem.com html color quiz |
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| Happy New Year! |
[Feb. 7th, 2008|08:36 am] |
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It looks like our baby will be a 'Rat.' That's ok, because apparently monkeys and rats get along really well (I'm a monkey). Not that I'm superstitious or anything. |
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| Is today the last day of not being a parent? |
[Feb. 4th, 2008|10:57 am] |
That is the question...since we have a feeling baby Julia will come on our anniversary (tomorrow)!
On another note, I read in the paper today that groundhogs are only right about the weather 37% of the time...
Hoping my baby comes in decent weather! By decent, I mean....not a snowstorm. The super wonderful thing about being pregnant is that I'm a good temperature no matter what the weather's like (so long as it ain't too hot). |
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