Sky's The Limit!

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to spend an evening with amazing Canadian artist Amy Sky. Amy was singing at an concert event benefiting
Interim Place, which is the very worthwhile charity that we've been supporting at work since 2006. It was a fantastic performance!

But guess what was the icing on the cake for me - the official photographer for the function, a wonderful and talented man named John Goldstein was kind enough to take me under his wing and let me take some shots of the concert from right beside him backstage.

It was a fantastic learning opportunity. In the shot to the left, I spent some time adjusting ISO and shutter speed to try to partially illuminate the audience. John was very helpful. Having much experience shooting in the dark, he carried a tiny flashlight to help him see camera settings in the dark!

Brilliant - I've now stowed one in my camera bag! It was a fantastic night - I enjoyed some wonderful music, supported a great cause and definitely had a fun photography experience. Thanks, John!

If you're not familiar with Amy Sky, see her youtube channel here. To learn more about the wonderful work of Interim Place, click here.

Our Rhine Cruise Slide Show

When we decided to go on a Rhine river cruise, I wasn't sure what to expect. It was the first time in Europe for both of us. For me, it was my first cruise. Stephen and I are both beach vacationers, but the opportunity to get our first glimpse of Europe with a great group of people was too much to pass up!

While it would be tough to select a favourite experience on the trip, if I had to shortlist a few most memorable highlights, I would definitely select Amsterdam (at night in the photo above), with it's history, architecture, canals and culture; followed by the Alsace region of France, with its beautiful countryside and - of course - wine!

Travelling with a fantastic group of colleagues and business associates was a huge part of the great experience. We had the wonderful surprise of finding that our long-time friends Brian and Pilar from Vancouver were on the trip with us! It was also wonderful to spend more time with Shane, to see Andy again and meet everyone from the CityTV offices nationally.
I took over 500 photos during our trip, and still haven't finished going editing all of them, but here is a glimpse at my favourites. You can click on any slide to view the show at full screen.

Enjoy!

A Blast from the Past!

It's a busy birthday time around our house, so (slightly belated) Happy Birthday wishes are coming a number of people's way today!

Not only did my darling husband just have a birthday, but so did his Uncle Danny, our good friend Nicole, and my sweet friend and former co-worker, Heidi (left). Since I left Consilium behind just over 3 years ago, I haven't made the loonnnng trek out there very often - but Heidi's birthday was definitely a good reason, so last week I paid a visit!
Visiting with my former colleagues was wonderful, and it's funny how sitting and chatting with them makes it feel like it's been ages, yet just yesterday - both at the same time. Sadly, my camera wasn't in my purse that day, so I was forced to dig out some older photos for this post. These are from 2004 and 2005.

In the second photo, Jane is posing with me and a few pictures that Evan made to thank her for some little gifts that she sent home with me for him back then. Suitably, the photo I'm holding is his sketch of the office building we're standing in. Isn't it cute? Jane was kind enough to give it back to me when I left, so I'll be able to scrap it one day!

It was great seeing Heidi, Jane, Michele C., Candace, Robin I., Michael G., Josie, Wendy and Andrew, talking to Lisa on the phone (I hope you're feeling better now), and waving to a number of others while they worked. And Laura-Lea, I can't believe I missed you again, but we'll definitely hook up soon!

On a blogging note, technology has not been my friend lately - I've had some blogger access issues, in addition to problems with my slide account and with my access to gmail. Grrr! So those of you I owe e-mails, RAKs or other things to, please bear with me. My head's above water, but barely!

Next post, I will update you on the four final layouts I created for the Scrap Away the Winter Blues challenge at Scraptivity. And yes, I created all four in a frenzied scrapping marathon last weekend! More on that to follow, so stay tuned. :-)

We Were Rocked!

If you haven't had a chance to see We Will Rock You yet, try to fit it in. I saw it a little while ago, and found the performance a lot of fun and the music fantastic! I went with a group from work, and a few scrapping buddies came along too. We had a great dinner before the show, and I still have Queen music in my head to this day.

We were definitely rocked!

Our Whistler Experience

I know I've been remiss in blogging this week, but I have a great excuse. I was away in Whistler, B.C. at the Experience Phantom 15th Anniversary celebration.
And WOW! What a spectacular celebration it was.

Yes, we had some meeting time in there too but outside of that, we were kept busy the entire time with amazing outdoor activities like Whistler's incredible hiking, sightseeing, canoeing, and gondola rides. Talk about a photo buff's paradise!
But truly, a few things really did take the cake:

a helicopter ride to and from our mountain hike around the lake...

a private air show at the top of Whistler before dinner atop the mountain on Friday night...
a fantastic silent auction to raise money for World Vision...

and a breathtaking banquet room for the formal dinner dressed in the white of snow, complete with drinks served from bars made entirely of ice, and a small ice sculpture on every table.

It was truly spectacular.

I've added a few of my favourite slides here to give you an idea of how fantastic the event was. I had a great time taking photos of such a beautiful location - I hope I've done it justice!



We are thrilled and blessed to be associated with such a fine manufacturer and wonderful group of truly extraordinary people. Take a quick break, watch the slide show, and "Experience Phantom" for yourself!

A Little Bit of Nostalgia

In the days before acronyms like CHA, LO, PP and LMAOPIMP were a meaningful part of my vocabulary, I spent my days buried in SPE, SDLC, MLC, DNA, PIT, PDA, and IMEI! If you have any idea what any (or all) of those mean, then you probably shared some time (maybe a LOT of time) with me at Consilium Place. I dropped by for a quick visit there yesterday!

I still find I hard to believe that I let two years pass between my last drive to work and my first trip up to 16 to get a visitor's pass! Wow! And while the building looks very much the same (except maybe the pay parking station!), so much more has changed. The 10th floor was cluttered with so many new faces, and while Robin, Mike G. and I sat in the lobby beside Pumpernickle's, I found it hard to believe how few faces I knew.

That said, I was thrilled to be greeted with wonderful, familiar faces, even on such short notice.

It is always wonderful to see Heidi. I loved seeing Robin's pictures of little Matthew, and it was fantastic to hear that Mike G. is engaged! We did a quick drive-by past Jane, who was in a meeting, and then visited at Michele C.'s cube, where Andrew joined us, and - believe it or not - no-one had to come by and sush us (even though we were a tiny bit loud!)


There were so many more people that I miss, and would loved to have seen this time around. Of course, Candace and Laura Lea, you may be back before my next visit (and hey LL, I KNOW you're reading this - drop me a line!). Crina, Lisa B., Jane and David K., I will plan better next time so that hopefully you won't be out of the office or in meetings. I promise that next time it won't be another 2 years!

Enjoy this photographic trip down memory lane. I think that each of you is in at least one of the photos here. And hey - if any of the pictures don't load, or your browser crashes, I've been told apparently the thing to do is to blame it on Provisioning Re-design!

spe ~ no ordinary folk

Today is the two year anniversary of one of the more recent major decisions in my life. On March 11th 2005 I worked my last day in the Strategic Planning and Execution (SPE) group at TELUS Mobility. After almost 8 years, I left the telecom world behind to join Stephen as a Project Manager in our screen business.

I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. It's been a hectic couple of years for us, both at work and at home, and I can't believe that it has passed so quickly. While it's been wonderfully busy, succesful and happy, I certainly didn't seem to gain back 3 hours in my day from the loss of the more than 100 km daily commute. Also, I haven't done a fantastic job of keeping in touch with my TELUS family. There are so many people who had a tremendous influence on my life - both personal and professional - and I wish I spoke with each of them more often.

Both Laura Lea and Candace are on maternity leave now with new baby boys! And I have gifts for them in my closet, which I hope to get off to them before their kids are in college! I miss them both a lot, and would love to see their little boys. We need to book something soon!

Then there's Heidi. I talk on the phone and exchange e-mails with her once in a while, but I truly can't believe that we haven't had lunch together in two years now. Heidi always has a sympathetic ear and good advice at the ready, and can always make me smile. Heidi was the first person I met on my very first day at Consilium, was always there for me, was pregnant with Harrow at the same time I was pregnant with Evan, and shared so much of my time at ClearNET/TELUS - both good and challenging! I miss her so much!

There are too many more to mention, and I don't want to leave anyone out, but I will add a few names. Lisa B, David K, Jane F, Michele C, Michelle D, Robin, Anissa, Michael G, Tami, and others, made my time at TELUS fun, challenging and rewarding. Then there are also so many in other cities, other groups and many who left before I did. You all were a big part of my time in SPE and TM overall, some for a very short time and some for a long time, but you all touched and influenced me in ways you may not even know! I really miss you all!

P.S. - the title of this post - SPE - no ordinary folk, is - of course - a take on the Mike ad (Mike - no ordinary phone), and the title of a scrapbook layout I plan to one day create with this photo!