Well, I must say I’ve been quite neglectful of keeping this blog up-to-date in the recent months. It’s not that I don’t have anything to blog about… I suppose it’s just been downright laziness. But a-ha! I shall lazy about no more! I’ve been meaning to blog this for the last month now (I swear, the photos have been ready and waiting in sheer exhilaration to be posted) and I suppose now’s a good as time as any.

Family reunions are quite the treat… especially when they’re not your own! Though, I must say, I’ve been admitted to this one as an honourary member just as if I were actually a part of the fold. The family to which I refer is Graham’s family… all of his aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings and parents… and what a generous and rambunctious family to boot. Honestly, I couldn’t say more kind words about such wonderful people who seriously love to get together and have a grand ‘ol time. Everything from horseshoe tournaments (there’s even an official trophy… this is very serious business!) to cooking breakfast for the masses with a healthy dose of "Rye Whiskey" to round it all out (the song… and… the drink I suppose, but er, not with the breakfast!). 

It was such a nice weekend to spend with all of them in Rockford, MI before I wrote my final naturopathic board exams (which I PASSED!! Woot!… Dr. Yun in the ha-ouse!!). I really do love this family and their open hearts and every-ready vocal chords so I wanted to share a few images from that weekend.

Interesting shirt… the stars came off later that night!

I told you horseshoeing (is that a word?) is taken very seriously!

The winners! Mike (Graham’s uncle) and Brent (Graham’s sister, Charlotte’s, boyfriend)

Speaking of which (whom?) - Brent and Charlotte, the happy couple. I distinctly remember something about Char saying Brent would be the happiest man alive if he brought home the trophy! It’s all about the right kind of motivation!

And what’s a good family reunion without a great family photo? Don’t ask me why I’m the only one bustin’ a gut laughing when no one else is… yeesh.

Christine sat calmly as she got her makeup done. She wasn’t all that nervous on her big day… okay, maybe a tad nervous. This was the man that she had waited her entire life for and this day was the day she would start the rest of her life with Frank. She would give little smiles here and there, bursts of laughter when her bridesmaids came pouring into her bedroom/makeup studio and tears that trickled down her face during her mother’s heartfelt outpourings to her daughter and future son-in-law during the tea ceremony.

This special day was exactly that… a wide spectrum of emotions stretching much further than any rainbow ever could. There was laughter and laughter filled with tears, quiet smiles of guests who knew the beautiful life the bride and groom were about to embark upon and an unbridled love and support that radiated from Christine and Frank whenever they were near. This was an enormous wedding that could not have happened without the generous contributions from many members of both families and friends. It’s no wonder that the union of these two families and the meeting of close friends coincided on this wonderful day through two of the most generous people I know.

Christine and Frank: Thank you for allowing me to partake in and document such a beautiful day. There were moments when I laughed, cried and smiled along with everyone else gathered to witness the bond between the two of you until the last moments of the night. I know (I don’t even have to hope!) you’re having a spectacular time down in South America… it’s so well-deserved!

So much love… Jenne.

Christine’s dress was by Maggie Sottero… the detail work on the bodice was beautiful.

I love the juxtaposition between the two sets of hands… Graham picked this photo out immediately… such great taste!

I had to include a shot of Christine’s hair… it was so wonderfully and artfully styled.

She looks so stunning!

Caught just before the ceremony started…. all nice and relaxed!

I caught this one of Christine: she was waiting for her bridesmaids to finish up in the limo and was jokingly like, “Let’s get a move on!”

We got some great shots in at The Guild… such a beautiful location. It was a little rushed for time (what isn’t rushed for time on a wedding day?!) but everyone managed to have good times!

Possibly my fav photo of the day! This was after the girls puckered up and pretended to lean in for kisses and Michelle (2nd bridesmaid from right) said, “I feel like I’m really going to kiss him!!”

Another favourite!

The bridesmaids came prepared, flip-flops and all!

The cake was gorgeous! I remember looking at different cake styles with Christine earlier on this year and this was pretty much what she wanted!

Recognize Christine’s engagement/wedding band??

This girl came up as a volunteer for who could hula-hoop the longest and that time would then translate to how long Christine and Frank kissed! I think she had it down for nine seconds! Oh, and she took the task very seriously.

Yet another fav… so many favourites! Christine’s friends from UofT (part of the Folklorico Dance Troupe) had just finished a fantastic dance number and this big group hug ensued!

Christine and Frank addressing all of their family and friends… got pretty emotional (I’m pretty sure there were tears in my eyes… thank goodness for autofocus!).

Stephanie sang a beautiful rendition of Heaven. Her voice left goose-bumps and tingles!

This IS Christine and Frank! So right for each other… I love you guys!

Father-daughter dance… so beautiful!

Dancin’ up a storm!

Just a teeny off-note: I just HAD to add this photo… Sindy and Will were guests at the wedding (Sin’s one of my best friends) and usually, photos come out picture perfect of these two. The first one was perfect, as usual, and then they re-took another one and this is was happened… I LOVE IT!

EDIT: By Sindy’s request (see comments section and ensuing phone call afterwards!), I’ve been persuaded to add the “perfect” shot of her and Will. I suppose that’s fair given that most of the world hasn’t seen the clean version of them yet! Though I will argue that the photo initially posted is Will and Sindy - The Real Deal! Don’t be afraid to rock it!! Love you guys.

“Before” shot:

Originally posted “after” shot (aka The Real Deal!):

To see more of Christine and Frank’s wedding day, CLICK HERE for a slideshow!

I don’t usually do tech commentaries on my blog but for those who know me, I have a bit of a tech geek side to me, partly as an extension of Graham and predominantly in my own right. I think the release of this latest addition to the web browsing family deserves some airtime on this blog given the fanfare it’s receiving in the tech community.

Google just announced the beta release of their own web browser called Chrome for the Windows platform (Mac and Linux releases are said to follow in the coming months).

It’s slick.

I don’t know if I can describe it any better than that but I suppose I could try… It’s open source and free to download. It blows IE 7 out of the proverbial water and as a hardcore, long time Mozilla Firefox user, I’m torn. Oh AND it’s only a beta release. What are these engineers at Google? Robots?

For Gmail users out there or any of the Google web apps for that matter, Chrome will be faster in loading Google docs or email through this browser versus the others. It’s been optimised so Javascript heavy web apps run faster. It’s also being lauded for its stability and security resulting in decreased incidences of entire browser crashes. It comes with a freakin’ task manager so the user can actually check out which of the multiple tabs are bogging down the browsing capabilities. Oh and if that’s not enough, more tech savvy users can hit the "Stats for nerds" link and check out the memory allocation in far more detail than the average joe will ever need… thereby appropriately labelled — stats for nerds.

The user interface is  simple, clean and utilises the window space efficiently. Gone is the window bar at the top informing you of the name of the browser that you have just opened. A feature that I like is the first page which pops up by default upon opening a new window: it’s a "history" page that shows your most visited websites with an updated preview thumbnail/link of the site. Similar to having several home pages to choose from… a nice touch.

The "Home" button on the navigation toolbar is not toggled on by default, but that takes a quick second in the Options menu to turn on. There’s also an "Incognito" browser option that allows the user to open a new window that in which the browsing history and cookies are not stored on the computer. This option comes in handy when on a shared or public computer. Of course as the warning box so aptly disclaims, it’s not fool proof and doesn’t prevent people from looking over your shoulder.

See the little incognito spy guy in the upper left hand corner?

One of the options that I still like about Firefox is the ability to install plugins and as it stands, Chrome falls short in that aspect… but it’s still beta and if it keeps up the way it’s come out hitting the ground running, I might have to pack it in for Firefox and switch my web browser to this shiny new toy when it’s finally released for Linux.

Sometimes, shiny is definitely better.

I love Ontario. It’s only been in these last few years that I have truly come to appreciate the magnificent and abundant natural environment that this province has to offer. It is sprinkled liberally with fresh water lakes, rivers and lush greenery that one can only realise once you leave the urban, concrete playground that is Toronto.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Toronto… it’s my birthplace, my home, my warm apple pie a la mode… and what’s even more, I love that Toronto is in Ontario. Does that make sense?

Graham and I took a four day canoe trip into Algonquin a couple of weeks ago. We were fully armed with your standard camping gear… tent, sleeping bags, food (mmm… freeze-dried spaghetti and meat sauce… I’m not kidding, that’s good stuff!), camera gear, Graham’s trusty water filter (no water from a beaver’s ass over here!)… this list goes on for a bit… I’ll spare you the nitty-gritties!

Four days of canoeing, portaging, swimming in fresh water left me feeling quite fantastico! Yes, I was achy given my lack of exercise over the past six months and I had (oh, I’m even embarrassed to admit this one…) –um.. interesting tan lines from my oh-so-cool-but-stupid sunglasses (yeah, yeah, think Batman, raccoon face… whatever other creatures you can think of that have unsightly mask-like discolourations on their faces) but this trip was so worth all of that. It was a chance for me to, once again, get out into the wild yonderness that is Ontario and really sit back and appreciate everything around me.

Except the mosquitoes… I will never appreciate the mosquitoes.

Happy Wednesday!

Jenne.

NOTE(s): I just finished shooting my second wedding this past weekend and will be posting those photos shortly!! Stay tuned. Oh and I apologise for not having blogged in such a long time…. pure laziness on my part! Hey, a girl’s gotta enjoy the time after spending four days writing the most grueling clinical exams ever (I’d better be a naturopathic doctor in one month’s time!)

Incidentally, it’s pure coincidence that the next two photos show "night and day" from the same location and almost the same vantage point.

The mist and fog that we awoke to the first morning was unbelievable! We could barely see five meters in front of us first thing in the morning… for those who have seen Stephen King’s "The Mist"… kind of like that, minus the oversized bugs that materialised from the mist trying to kill everyone. This shot was taken just under an hour after we woke but a lot of the mist had cleared away.

Takes on a new meaning to a room with a lake-side view… though not a great place to park your tent if there’s ever any plans to get your drink on by the campfire.

Friendly neighborhood grasshopper hoping for some handouts by the food barrel… not a chance! A chipmunk did try a couple of nights later without much luck.

Some long-exposure night photography. Every night was a pretty clear night… we were lucky we had some great weather!

The bright "star" in the middle of the frame is actually Jupiter and three of its moons to the left, right and below it.

Tree graveyards… creepy. You can canoe over some of these fallen trees without even realising it until you’re literally on top of them and in the event of a collision with a well-placed, just barely under the water stump or branch means everything (and everyone) in the canoe is dumping. There’s something seriously creepy about watching these things glide under the canoe as you go by. Graham calls them predatory logs… they’re like fresh water sharks but deadlier.

I love this shot. Something so peaceful and simple about it.

Waaaaahhh… raccoon eyes! Holy stupid sunglasses Batman!