Did you participate in Earth Hour last night? We did, although I have to admit we ended up watching a movie last night -we must get points for using only candle light though. (By the way, I wouldn't recommend the movie "Barnyard" to my worst enemy; the BULLS had UDDERS for crying out loud, and that was only the tip of the iceberg for this soul-less waste of 90 minutes of my life. For the record, Gav laughed hysterically through most of it, which is the only redeeming thing I can say about it).

Gavin thought it would be a good idea for him to have a candle in his room instead of his night light -I did not think it was a good idea. I thought we could play a board game by candle light, but again, the idea of a hyperactive 5 year old boy and lit candles within reach needed to be kiboshed immediately. (Kibosh is my new favorite word, don't you just love it? Kibosh!)

Here are some press photos I found from AOL, some very interesting ones I wanted to share.

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/major-cities-go-dark-for-earth-hour/20080329114009990001?feeddeeplinkNum=0

In this day of electronic communication, I know how important it is to communicate with our friends & family through electronic media -email, websites, blogs, online photo galleries, online forums- heck, I've got all of the above myself & would be at a loss if I couldn't share my favourite family photos through these mediums.

This is why, I'm now offering your session images for purchase in two different digital formats! 

1)  Low Resolution Digital Proofs $75/set -each of your watermarked session proofs (as seen in your online Proof Gallery) on CD available for emailing, and sharing on the internet in whatever format you choose.  Each of your proofs are sized and sharpened for web display.  Please note, these files are not intended for print and will not produce quality prints at any size.

2)  High Resolution Digital Files $250/set -each of your colour session images on CD, printable up to 8x10 by the printer of your choice.  Please note, I cannot be held responsible for colour casts, or other printing anomolies which may occur, as all images are calibrated to my professional printing lab's specifications. 

Finally hung my disco ball in my office.  Right around 2 o'clock, the light show starts!   

Not sure how it fits into the design of my office, but the colour goes well.  Fun stuff!  

Just wishing my readers a very Happy Easter!

Above; further proof that facial expressions do aid in the creative process.

Gavin has recently taken an interest in the culinary arts; more specifically, he's decided to take on the persona of a "helpful boy" (in his efforts to avoid time-outs, but we don't want to ruin the moment here).  Wanting to help with the dinner preparation, but only having cutting work needing to be done, it was my husband's brilliant idea to let him cut the ends off the beans with his scissors.  Now, this may not be something you want your 5 year old to do, but Gavin has always been extremely adept with his scissors, so the chore was placed before him.  And, in case you were wondering; facial expressions *do* help immensly with the task of cutting with scissors.

He made it about two thirds of the way through two nights' worth of beans (I always cook with leftovers in mind -but that's another post in itself), with slightly more beans in the pot than the compost bowl.  His diligence and efforts did not go unappreciated; let me tell you, any little bit of help can make such a difference to me.  I laid on the positive reinforcement just as I like my icing on a cake; sweet, buttery & *thick*! 

Thank you faithful readers, friends & family for lending your support & votes for the Blog Customization Contest.  Sadly, I didn't win anything, but if you want to check out who did win & see if *you* won yourself a prize, click on over to the Doteasy Blog here:  apps.doteasyblog.com/blog/

Congratulations to:   

Locke's Art (by Locke)

This is my office; I find it a very inspiring place to work.  It's bright, it's clean (in design to be specific, anyways), & I'm proud to say, I designed every square inch of it myself -except for the fireplace, which happily worked very well for me.  As you can see, I'm not afraid of bold design -my husband on the other hand, could be described as slightly more timid, so the wallpaper is only visible from within the office.  I feel deeply that our surroundings can help inspire us and allow our creativity to flow.

The design of my office directly transferred to the design of my blog. Take a minute to think about it; what inspires you?  Do your surroundings inspire you to work, create, produce?  Does this inspiration carry from one aspect of your life to another?  I say; don't be afraid of a shot of colour, don't be afraid of a bold design or two.  Shake things up, get inspired to stay inspired! 

Do you see a reoccurring theme around here??  If you weren't previously aware, a brief history; we moved to Barrie, ON last summer after 12 years of living on the West Coast. Southern Ontario has had one of the worst winters in history; huge snowfalls since November & plunging temperatures -welcome to Barrie, huh?  Anyhoo, this past weekend, we received yet another dumping of snow, along with some pretty fierce winds.  All this adds up to humongous snow drift at our front door & in the walkway.  Gavin quickly dubbed this particular one the "Snow Blob".  Me, praying for a few days of (supposedly seasonal) warmer temperatures which would magically make this beast disappear, didn't bother to attempt to remove it -after all, we could still get in & out of the garage; an inviting entrance for our guests by the way.  So, after 5 days of Gavin asking why the Snow Blob was still there, I decided to don my winter gear and in true snow warrior fashion; declared "Prepare to be annihilated, evil Snow Blob!". 

It started out rough, since there had been some thawing & refreezing; but I soon discovered that by hacking chunks with the metal shovel, that I could then get on my knees & throw the chunks off to the side, thus, sparing my back at least a bit of torture.  An hour and a half of this technique, four tissues, and multiple self pep talks later, I did indeed emerge victorious. 

Take that, evil Snow Blob!  And for the love of Pete, do not darken my door again!

My web hosting company, Doteasy (who I would highly recommend by the way if you're looking for a hosting company) has been running a Blog Design Customization Contest for the past few weeks.  I'm happy to say that "When Choo Choo Blogs..." has made it to the finals!  If you like my blog design, I implore you to head over to Doteasy to vote -of course, if you see someone else's blog design that you like better, by all means vote for it!

Click here to vote:  www.doteasyblog.com/contest2008/vote.php

You can also enter to win the very same prizes as the winners of the contest -how much would I love to see one of *my* readers win a laptop or a camera??

Do you remember having a box of treasures?  I do.  Little bits & pieces of this & that, bringing me so much joy to open & examine time and time again.  This is Gavin's - Curious George's party hat, an autumn leaf (although you may not be able to tell what all those crumpled brown bits are, I remember it well), a feather from Daddy's pillow, a norwal whale, a Fragile sticker, one of many identification stickers from our move from BC (that I keep hoping I've found the last of!), and many more little gems collected from around the house with great consideration.  The most recent additions, the kaleidoscope Easter eggs from Grandma -they must be very special, there are four of them saved here.   What wonderful plunders!

This is my treasure; a soft flushed cheek to kiss, lush eyelashes to watch flutter with excitement; and the fleeting, quiet contemplation of a five year old boy. 

It is with heavy heart that I had to say a final goodbye to my 15 year companion, Annie.  It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.  If you've ever loved a pet, you'll know how hard it is.  I'm glad to say that she didn't suffer for too long and had a very good and adventurous life with us (as adventurous as an indoor cat's life can be, that is).

 Annie(aka; Annie-cat, Mookie, Pukester, Pea Head), you were a sweet kitty, much loved, and will be very missed.