Today is my official last day of being President of the Naturopathic Students’ Association. It’s definitely a bittersweet feeling.

I had a great year with a great group of people working together toward empowering students at CCNM. There were times when it got trying… long meetings (well relative to what we knew, I’ve heard of meetings going 4-6 hours in the past), chaos to deal with in the midst of exams, patient research and assignments and just random things that needed to be handled ASAP.

But more often than not, there were the great times! Amazing, memorable bonds were formed, people learned to overcome their anal-retentiveness (namely, me!) and putting their trust into those around them, and the boardroom was always filled with laughter at some point or another during meetings, no matter the length or discussion at hand.

It wasn’t always easy in trying to engage the diverse students at CCNM but I know everyone gave it their best with the tools that were at their disposal. I have been humbled and feel incredibly honoured to have worked side-by-side with some of the most dedicated naturopathic students at the college. It will be interesting to see where they go.

Happy (and not-so-happy) last day as President!

J.

Well… there was quite a bit of hype leading up to Earth Hour. It was being broadcasted on every form of media: television, radio, Internet and print. When I first heard about it back in mid-February, I didn’t really have a good idea as to what it was. I wondered at the time, if it was going to be something that would just come and go without much notice and participation (like many other endeavours much like this have in the past). Interestingly enough, as the day approached, more and more people, companies, municipalities and countries jumped on-board! Pretty neat!

Graham and I decided yesterday afternoon to go out to my parents’ property in Colborne to do some stargazing. Yup, yet another one of our hobbies, looking at the stars with his telescope. We figured, we’re going to turn the lights out anyways, might as well go out and enjoy the night sky. Have you ever seen Saturn (in real time) through a telescope?!? Fantastico!

But before we got out of the city, I thought a look at the Toronto skyline during Earth Hour would be kind of cool… turns out so did a lot of other photographers. We went down to the Docks Complex on Polson Street and got a really nice look at the skyline. There must have been at least 20 other photographers there with their tripods set up… mine was at school :(, so I had to get a little creative. I ended up lying on my stomach right up against the edge of the cement dock (I’m not sure what sort of bird excrement I was lying on… I don’t think I’d care to know either) and took some long exposure shots of the city. While I was lying there setting up my shots, apparently another photographer took some photos of me taking photos of the skyline… I totally didn’t even notice!

Earth Hour was a pretty interesting experience and I’m glad I had some part in it. From the photos I took below, the skyline still seems pretty bright but you’ll notice the CN Tower is quite a bit darker (especially after it got the LED face lift) and the large banking buildings to the right of the Tower are more dim than usual.

Enjoy!

J.

There have been an incredible number of babies that have popped up around the 4th year class in the last year and they’re all so cute! Then there are all the the preggo mommies (one of whom is Clare), so I swear whenever they’re around, you can almost hear all the non-preggo ovaries screaming! I’ve been fortunate to have my camera around school most days to capture some pretty cute moments.

I happened to be around a couple of days ago when Danielle (mommy of 1 and expecting 1 more!) was on shift and Derek (her fiance) was at school picking Mac up. Who is Mac, you ask? MacAlistair (Mac for short) is Danielle and Derek’s son. He is the most adorable thing ever! Chubby cheeks, big eyes and such a great disposition! It’s been quite the experience seeing him grow for this tiny thing (well, he was never that tiny…) to where he is now. He’s just under a year but I swear he looks like he’s 2! Such a cutie!

Danielle was really happy with these photos because she hardly has any photos with Mac and Derek together.

This kid could be a Gerber baby! I love this photo… I really love it!

 If you want to have a look at a few more photos, check out my gallery, under Photo Shoots.

I just thought I’d post a shot I took of Casa Loma the other day. I’ve always had fond memories of this castle that sits in the middle of Toronto. I’ve been on several field trips to this magnificent castle when I was in grade school and I still remember what it was like… all the secret passageways, gorgeous rooms with high ceilings and its stables.

It’s almost a hundred years old and quite a gorgeous structure… it’s too bad it’s currently undergoing quite a bit of construction on one of its wings. Graham and I drove by there on our way home from picking up some awesome Jamaican food at Albert’s Real Jamaican Food. If you’re ever in the St. Clair West area… you need to stop by and pick  up some real good jerk chicken. But that’s a whole other post for another day!

Here’s a shot I got of Casa Loma from the side of the castle that wasn’t being constructed on… I would love to shoot a wedding here someday!

I thought I would go ahead and post something when I hit a thousand views on my blog! It’s been actually pretty cool to see the number of people who visit my blog grow since its inception. I didn’t know if I would have it in me to continue posting on a regular basis but I’ve surprised even myself this month! Yes, while I recognize that it hasn’t been every day that I’ve posted this month, I’m trying to up my posts on weekly basis. I think I’ve posted 3-4 times this week! Whoo!

So, in commemoration of my 1000th view, I did a random Google search of "1000" and picked one of the first images that came up. I’m not sure who Tony is or why he looks so happy to hold a milkshake in his hand, but I’m happy for the guy! Well, I might be that happy too if I had a large milkshake in my hand! Mmmm… milkshake.

Happy Tuesday!

J.