Tag: Photography

Posted in Monthly Goals and Recaps

What? It’s February Already!?

Posted on by Mama

I can’t believe the month of January flew by that quickly. It feels like just yesterday we were celebrating the holidays. I guess time flies when you have kids.

Today was a pretty okay day, very gloomy and raining outside, frankly doesn’t even feel like winter now. This ever changing weather is driving me up the wall to be completely transparent. Nothing I can really do about it other then take it day by day and make the best of it.

Yesterday I tried my hand at a new dark rye bread recipe and it was good, but something seemed to be missing. Plus it was a really mushy dough, which I’m pretty positive that the dough is suppose to be firm before baking. I asked my cousin who works in a bakery and trained as a chef what I did wrong, she made some suggestions for next time so I will have to try them out. Sorry no picture this time around, but next time!

Today I got my new glasses, which I am pretty excited about. This new prescription is absolutely incredible and for the first time in a very long time, I feel like I’m not straining my eyes to see. My eyes adjusted easily to the change. Plus I adore these new frames! My sunglasses didn’t come in yet so I couldn’t pick them up, but I will take a picture once I do! Also, my cousin (the chef) has similar glasses, can you say two peas in a pod?

Exactly what I wanted! Perfection in frame form ❤

What else today…

Oh Valeria was a chatter box and seems to be dealing with her teething pretty well. Now that I say that, I’ve probably jinxed it. She has been very playful and laughing a lot more every day. It’s nice that’s she starting to find her little voice. I swear she understands everything I say to her or maybe I just like to think so. She smiles and laughs when I tell her I love her, coincidence? What about you guys, does your baby react to things you say or did they when they were babies? Also, I think she is going through a bit of a growth spurt, she is sleeping and eating like crazy. Oh sleep….I miss you…

I finally finished Krampus The Yule Lord by Brom, book review incoming for that today as well. And onto the next one: It Rides A Pale Horse by Andy Marino.

Now I’d like to discuss some goals and hopes for February. I try to set little tasks, hopeful to complete them in my time frame, so let’s make the list!

  • Go through my clothing and get rid of anything I no longer wear, fits or need – i.e. bring to consignment or donate
  • Clean up my desk – It’s a disaster!
  • Plan out blog posts on a weekly basis
  • Finish It Rides A Pale Horse by Andy Marino and write a book review
  • Organize: 1. Our food pantry/fridge, 2. Valeria’s clothing (by age), 3. My clothing (by season/active wear), 3. Get my husband to organize his clothing, 4. The living room and re-arrange
  • See my family on my dad’s side (nonna, zia & zio, my cousin) – They haven’t met Valeria in person yet
  • See my cousin on my mom’s side (I haven’t seen her in 10-15 years, we recently reconnected and talk every day)
  • Photograph Century Manor in Hamilton – Blog post to follow once photos are captured
  • Make a list of 3 places I’d like to visit with Valeria and my husband (day trips) and photograph our outing
  • Sell some household items on Facebook Market place – Trying to declutter. ‘I wonder if I could become a minimalist…’
  • Complete a few wood burning projects – one is currently in the works and the other is a gift idea
  • THOROUGHLY CLEAN – I need to do a deep clean of our living space. I mean scrub, dust, shine, etc. You name it, I’ll be doing it
  • Begin my Sourdough starter – YES! I am so excited for this you have no idea
  • Get back to the gym and keep working on my weight loss and nutrition

I think that’s everything I’d LIKE to accomplish this month. Not in any particular order either. But I will keep you posted on how I do! What are your February plans? Do you have any goals you would like to accomplish?

Ciao!

Posted in Daily Life as a Parent

To My Husband…

Posted on by Mama

This one goes out to my husband; who has been supportive, understanding and a wonderful father/husband.

He buys me flowers for many different occasions, but this was a just because flower purchase.

I try to keep at least one flower from every bouquet he buys me. Some have sadly not made it into my shadow box, but most have. He has gotten me every colour I believe, even black! Black roses are my absolute favourite and then white. But Black is difficult to find.

I want to say thank you to my husband, for always being there and always being my rock. I love you so very much.

I know it’s not valentine’s day or whatever, but I believe you should show your significant other appreciation when you can and ideally every day. So, I encourage all of you to show your partner some small gesture of affection today.

Ciao!

Posted in Daily Life as a Parent

Baby It’s Cold Outside…

Posted on by Mama

This morning we woke up to a wonderful snowfall, actually a little bit of a winter storm. As we gazed out the window, baby girl was mesmerized the the snow; little fluffy pillows of snow fell from the grey sky, blanketing our barren trees and shrubs. Depressing and beautiful all at the same time.

I sat there thinking “Another day inside, how boring…” and it’s true. It’s exactly how I felt, I’m tired of being inside in this frigid cold recently. I miss our daily walks with the baby, now we sit around like couch potatoes. Not ideal when you are a mama trying to lose weight! Our dog on the other hand is loving the snow, the little fluff ball is 14 and acts like a puppy when it comes to this weather. Silly girl!

What a better way to pass the time than to go out in the front yard and take some photos. The photos above this paragraph is the start of the snowfall. It continued throughout the day, stopping only briefly once or twice. The photos below are later in the day.

Valeria had a tough time napping again, taking 20-30 minute naps at a time. Not really sure why, but I’m finding weekends are her toughest days. I wonder if it’s because my parents are home and she hears more noise throughout the house. We are fortunate that she was in a good mood all day, even with the little sleep she had.

Baby girl spent some time with grandma and grandpa as well. My parents love spending time with her. My dad’s face just lights up whenever he sees her, and he adores playing with her and making her smile. Mom doesn’t want to put her down whenever she is spending time with her, it’s so cute to watch them with her.

My husband cleaning his car – FYI this is not his usual winter attire, however not surprising to see in Canada!

This afternoon, I suggested that my husband to clean off his car so it doesn’t pile up too much and potentially freeze. That’s what you are witnessing above.

The rest of the day was pretty quiet and fairly boring. We had hoped to do some errands, but with the weather that changed our plans. I uploaded my photos to my Instagram, I think I got some good shots.

Weight loss journey update – I’ve been on a streak for logging my food and drinking at least 10 glasses of water a day. Sadly, my steps have dwindled since we can’t do our hour walks lately. I should really figure out a workout plan I can do inside for days like these. Maybe I can find some suggestions online. If you have any suggestions let me know! My husband says it seems like I’ve slimmed down, but the scale says otherwise. Who knows!

Baby girl is wailing and I hear mad shushing from my husband, so it’s time for mom energy.

Ciao!

Posted in Daily Life as a Parent

Christmas Llama?

Posted on by Mama

Coming to you live from my living room! Just teasing, but seriously I thought what a good time to get an early blog post in since my baby is napping.

Now let’s talk about the weather, shall we? Yesterday the weather app on my phone called for a huge winter storm, with a wonderful weather warning attached. It was cold and rainy and the rain did turn into some ice. It began to snow early this morning, lightly might I add, and gave a dusting to our little frozen neighbourhood. It wasn’t enough to stop us from going for a much needed walk with our daughter though. 15-20 cm (or 6-8 inches, for those who use Imperial measurement system) of snow fall is what they are calling for, currently not the case. However, the snow is apparently suppose to pick up as the day goes on, but it’s already late afternoon and the snowfall still feels fairly light to me. We will see if the meteorologists are correct.

As stated, we still went for our walk today. We bundled up our baby girl in her little snow pants and jacket, her little fuzzy hat and tucked her all snug in her stroller under her favourite fluffy blanket. Her little eyes didn’t stay open for long, but can you blame her? I’d be passed out too if I was that cozy on a winter walk!

The side walks weren’t too bad for ice, it seemed to cling more on the trees, bushes and signs. The chilled winter air felt fresh and the light snow fall was magical. I decided to take my camera with me, hoping I could get some nice shots. And I did!

Now here is the topic at hand…

What the hell is with the Christmas Llamas?! I saw two on our walk around the neighbourhood, and I don’t get it. Yes, I agree llamas are super adorable animals, but why Christmas. I pondered that thought as I was taking photos and to be honest, my husband and I couldn’t figure it out. So, being the spaz that I am, when I got home I had to look it up. Now I don’t know if this is accurate, if it’s not, let me know please. But here it goes; the significance of the Christmas Llama is NOTHING! Some people believe that they became part of Christmas because there is national Llama Day in December and others just capitalized on the fact that the word llama had a lot of opportunities for puns and they are cute. There you have it folks, the origins of the Christmas Llama. Now when you come across one of these…let’s say unique…Christmas decorations or merchandise, you can laugh to yourself and just enjoy it for what it is.

I’m off to read a little bit, work on getting my measurements and progress pictures done and maybe tidy up a little bit. We will see how much energy I have. Oh and baby girl just woke up beside me wailing. Time to dash and put those to do’s on hold!

Ciao!!

Posted in Travel/Vacations

Day at the Park

Posted on by Mama

Today was a bit of an adventure for our baby girl and a trip down memory lane for me and my husband. We decided, on this wonderful Sunday, to head to a local park in our city. It was actually one of our first dates when he came to visit me. We were long distance for a while, since we started dating at the beginning of COVID and he lived about an hour and a half away from me. Online dating, gotta love it!

We bundled our little bean up and off we went to the park. It also gave me the opportunity to take the camera with me and get some beautiful shots. I prefer black and white, but coloured photos have their place as well. I suppose it’s the old soul in me, loving black and white photography.

The day was crispy and lightly snowing, with a light grey overcast. To be honest, it sounds miserable, but it was perfect. No one was there, except us and a few cars in the parking lot. We put baby girl in the stroller, tucked her in with her fluffy warm blanket and off we went. Let’s just say she immediately fell asleep with the bottle in her mouth.

Bottle removed, baby girl sleeping and mommy and daddy had time to talk, walk and take photos. People are incredibly friendly when you have a baby. Mostly older couples would pass us and say hello, others saw the camera and smiled politely. Strange how people work isn’t it? Seeing how the social dynamic changes once you have a child.

My husband pointed out that I was more of an extrovert today, usually I am full introvert mode all the time, but I was saying hello and asking people if I could take pictures of their dogs. I smirked and shrugged at him. I was enjoying the time we were spending together and the creativity flowing through me. Our baby girl woke up near the end of our walk, as we were passing the ducks. We made our way back to the car noting more people and more cars in the parking lot. It became busy at the park, but we missed most of that hustle and bustle. We headed home, with a pit stop to the grocery store.

The afternoon was quiet: groceries put away, dinner prepped and made, calorie counter app downloaded and set up, photos looked at and Instagram account created. All in between trying to put our girl to sleep for a nap, which she was having none of. It has been a difficult afternoon/evening in that regard. Cat naps just aren’t cutting it and we don’t know what we can do to help her. If anyone has any suggestions, pleeeeeease let us know! We always feel like we have it down, then what soothed her yesterday doesn’t soothe her today. Always a learning process with kids I suppose.

Now about that Instagram…

My husband encouraged me to start one, informing me that I should showcase my talent. I’m an amateur at best, but I’m learning more and more every time. Just having fun with it. If you are interested in checking it out here is the address: https://www.instagram.com/dlightfulsnapshots/

Nothing else really to report, I’m just going to try to get our girl to sleep and then maybe unwind with this new show I’ve been watching called So Help me Todd. Pretty funny, witty and highly recommend.

Wishing you all a wonderful evening or day, depending on where you are in the world.

Ciao!