Smile!... but don't look at the camera

This past weekend me and my best old pal took a photography courses so we could stop being basic and start learning about these very expensive cameras we have purchased. GTA Photography in Toronto was a great experience. I love the "Field Trip" we got to take aka walk around the city and try and take pictures on something other then the automatic setting. The course was a Saturday Sunday class. I wish we had done that both days but I understand the technical stuff is important too...

Topics we covered.

• Aperture
• Shutter Speed
• ISO

Exposure Meter

As you can see I am still working on my tendency to over expose

Goal: Make the back ground clear and the object close to you, in this case the fence, blurry

My favorite model

Here are a couple more

Being in Toronto allows us to see our other amigo, Shauna! We stuffed our very hungry faces at La Carnita and went home and crashed in front of How to be Single (only 52% on Rotten Tomatoes but 100% to us).

Bye for Now!

E

Champagne Birthday

This Wednesday Taylor and I ventured back to Toronto for Shaunas’ birthday dinner! We had some time before dinner so I made her come with me to St Joseph media where a gift bag full of goodies were waiting for me as a thank you for an event I volunteered for. Queen street east and west are not as close as you would think.

Dinner was at La Carnita. I was obsessed with the food, so much so I made Jon promise we would go back on Friday! Sadly when getting ready to go I decided best to check if they were open for lunch and of course they only opened at 5 pm (I worked at 4:30). So we went to El Catrin in the distillery because they serve similar food.

I loved Shauna’s gift and it was fun to buy. I love using a real bag instead of a gift bag and writing in a book instead of a card!  The fact that everything was color coordinated was just the cherry on top. Happy Birthday love, I hope the day was amazing.

Typi(K)al

Necklace from Aldo, I'm in love

Shauna's Birthday Goodies, Necklace from Aldo, everything else from Chapters 

No card needed here

These lights are on my DIY list for a room at my house

Birthday Girl, 23 on the 23rd 

E

Saint Lawrence Market

Now that I am back in Guelph and out of Toronto every time we go to Toronto we have to make the most of it. I went to the saint Lawrence Market with Taylor the week after we moved out.

Then my parents wanted to see what it was also about. I accidently spent 30 dollars on macaroons. I went up to the counter and said “one of every flavour please!” (Without asking how much they were its not my fault I assumed it was like a 10 for 10 of 10 for 15 kind of deal). What are you going to do, live and learn, or ask before you buy?  Im not going to lie the Atwater Market in Montreal is better and has a bit more variety. It also might have something to do with the city, Montreal for the win. 

Both days were beautiful and we took the go train from Aldershot and Mimico the second time. 

My favourite building and my favourite dad

Expensive but delicious

E

Just the Girls

Everyone should know this past Friday the Faults in Our Stars came out and if you do not shame on you! My bffl and fellow blogger Taylor had been bugging me for a couple years to read it and it took the commuting life for me to finally get around to it. The stone that I am did not cry as hard as the women around me, Emma's faucet (her nose) started about 30 minutes into the movie and didn’t stop again until we got to the subway while Shauna although beautiful put Oprahs’ ugly cry to shame. I shed some tears but I was not unaware to trek home and makeup of the night. When we left everyone’s eyes were red and looked exhausted, I am assuming from emotional drain. Overall, it was a great movie.

Prior to the sob fest of 2014, we picked up Shauna at work and made our way to Yorkville where we ate dinner at TrattoriaNervosa aka Café Nervosa aka the restaurant Beyonce ate at when she was here last summer. 

Enjoy the day visually below.

Source

We decided gaining 10 pounds each would be perfect for this shot

Kipling Station

Two beauties

Always E

Intern Life

I have just finished my first internship. Mejuri is an online jewelry store that connects jewelry designers to jewelry lovers. It is like no other jewelry company I had ever heard of. My role among other things involved connecting with designers who hopefully would one day design a piece of jewelry for Mejuri. Mejuri uses a crowdsourcing concept to decide the winning designs. Thanks to Katherine and I and the rest of our amazing team Mejuri received the most submissions per design challenge to date. I am happy to have had a hand in its success. Mejuri also has a blog I encourage you to follow. 

Source

The Earring Charms was the on going design challenge during out time at Mejuri. We saw it go from concept to completion. We went to sell our products in the CIBC offices in Toronto which were extremely well received.   

Earring Charms short Film Source

I even did a little hand modelling thanks to our amazing photographer Amanda Source

I think internships are an interesting experience and I am glad I was able to work with a friend. I learned a lot and I am happy to have had the experience. I wish continued success to Mejuri and all of their designers.

In our final days, Katherine and I made a stop motion video to show off the beautiful earring charms!

E

Wood Burning Oven

YUM! This by fair my favourite type of pizza and this week I went to a new restaurant on lakeshore. 850 Degrees Pizzaeria is delicious. I was first introduced to wood burning oven pizza in Montreal. California pizza had a wonderful atmosphere and glamourized a very simple meal. Italian food is my weakness and by that I mean food is my weakness. Everything in moderation!

Master at work

Always Ayr <3

El Catrin

Last night I went out for dinner with my sister Emma, Cousin Shauna and my friend Taylor. It is awesome having a girl’s night to catch up. Shauna is a well-educated Torontonian who knows the hot spots to eat. It is always fun to try a new restaurant and El Catrin did not disappoint. 

We got Guacamole en la mesa to start, above there is a picture of my dinner Tacos- Sudados, followed by Emmas Tacos- Gobernador, Taylors Botanas- Gringa and Shauna’s Tostada-Atun. To be honest, when the servers brought out our food we had no idea what they were saying. There was a 360 rotation between what was presented in front of us to what we ended up eating. 

The waitress recommends that you order for the table meaning everyone chooses one thing and you pick and chose off each other’s plates. Eating with one vegetarian and another gluten free makes things difficult so we all got our own thing.

The picture of the outdoor patio is from Blog Spot Toronto which I wanted to include because I can't wait go back when the weather is nicer!

<3 Always Ayr