ACK!!! %&$%&#$&(*#!!!

Don't worry - this is a happy post. The above only means I'm freaking out in a good way :)

Yesterday...ahh, twas a grand event at least for me.
I had an opportunity to have professional photos taken of me by the wonderfully talented David Irvine.

Morning started off as such: hair and makeup at Les Ciseaux at 8:30am sharp (Jenny doesn't like to wait around, lol). My hair was styled by Jenny Luong and I love her because she's so hip and cool and young and modern. I walked in there with what I thought was the most fantastic punkiest idea EVER...and walked out looking edgy and sexy, not childish. The style I had chosen, in Jenny's words, would cause me to look more like a tween than a sexy 30-something.
Fair enough.

I sat in the cushioned salon chair facing myself in the mirror. I slightly resembled what I can only call a hip hag. Jenny stood behind me eyeing up the task at hand and as she fingered my hair (sorry, I suppose that sounds a little tawdry) she says to me "Girl, did you colour your hair blonde recently?" Yes, I said back. On the weekend in fact.

"It wasn't done professionally was it? It's too brassy. I have a solution for that." she proceeded to inform me of a product that thankfully I can find at Shoppers that helps make blondes look like blondes and not, as she said, brassy.

But brassy rhymes with sassy, which I am!, I thought with a smile.

She fluffed, straightened, styled, and product-ed (in other words, put "product" in my hair) until I was perfection in her chair. She's like that though; ANY strand out of place and she will fix that asap. I've never met a stylist as anal as her (I say that with love, I really do) but it's also what makes her so darn professional. :)

It took her all of 20 minutes to help in the transformation of Lisa. I had streaked my blonde hair the night before with Manic Panic red (that looks more like fuschia) and it was a pretty awesome job if I do say so myself! ::snaps suspenders proudly::

"Okay girl, makeup next with Kayla. Good luck today eh!" I smiled and thanked her for her awesomeness and scootched 3 seats down to where Kayla was waiting for me. We exchanged pleseantries and I showed her the eye shadow that I brought along to use: beautiful bright blue.
Srsly.
I was going ALL out today: edgy pink hair styled to funkterrificness. Blue eyes so bold and vibrant. God I love colour!

Might I take a moment at this point to say how incredible it is to get pampered. You know that light dreamy feeling you experience when someone is playing with your hair? I kinda got that same feeling when Kayla was applying with gentle brush strokes the powdery softness of the eye shadow.

Until she said "Open your eyes and look UP."
Riiight. Having someone draw eyeliner on me is not something I enjoyed. Not because it hurt or anything, just because it makes me uncomfortable. It's something that I should be doing because well, I'm not going to poke myself in the eye...not that Kayla did...crap this is going somewhere it shouldn't.

About 15 minutes later she stepped back from working her magic, handed me my glasses and a mirror. I was like, whoa. I had bright-assed blue eye shadow on and it.looked.GOOD! On me! Makeup! Who knew?

Long story short, both Kayla and Jenny did a remarkable job transforming me into VaVaVoom girl. :)

By the time I left the salon I was jacked...emotionally speaking ;)
I weaved in and out of downtown 10am London traffic with ease, enjoying the heat of the day already, slinging my left arm casually out my window all the while shifting gears, dialling my girl friend's number to OMG over my transformation and punching the radio keys to find the right song to fit my mood.
As soon as I heard Sex on Fire, I blasted it and waited on calling Rebekah :)

45 minutes later I arrived at David's house, hot and sweaty from the ride down from not only the weather, but my nerves. I was tres excited!

As I have explained to so many people over the past few weeks, this photo shoot was for ME. It was an ego boost I was in dire need of and no amount of sexy shoes on sale could help, to my chagrin. So I saved my pennies and found images online of the look I was hoping to achieve, and prepared for the day on so many levels.

And 'sides, I ain't gonna look this good in 10 years so I might as well get this shizz on film while I can, lol.

As David opened the door to his house, he complimented my hair and allowed me to walk past him with my props. I was armed with gear and attire; I had prepared for about 3 wordobe changes plus the usage of my props (chains, Fedroa, skulls, stilettos, and dolls my Aunt Carol sewed for me from my childhood).

I was there for about 2.5 - 3 hours and we logged over 400 images. That's not to say I will walk away with 400 pictures; David's going to narrow them down to the best ones based on so many aspects; shadow, light, skin tone, eye colour, atmosphere, personality...he will keep all the images for future reference but what I end up will be the best of the best.

David, I might add was VERY professional. Really easy to work with, made it such a comfortable experience with beverages and music and his overall talent. We did indoor shots in his studio and outdoor shots to take advantage of this beaitful sunny weather we had.

His 2 storey brick country home was located on sprawling farmland; there were 2 barns and a couple other little buildings, one being a small smoke house which was originally used for his kids to play in, but that day we used it to do one of my scenes after clearing out the colourful toys and taking down the art taped to the brick wall.

Near the end of the session I asked that David take some shots of the skulls for an invitation idea I'm working on. He set up the red suede background that I supplied and I positioned the skulls in the way I wanted them to be.

He took several images and when prompted for explanation on different lighting techniques, showed me the difference between general flash and flash with a puffer..?..buffer?...see I can't remember, but it was this white plastic piece that sat in front of the flash and makes certain portions of the props look more...real? I dunno. I can't explain it. :( But it was pretty cool stuff.

I also had him take some pics of my tatoos...they turned out AWESOME. Very nicely done. The whole session was tastefully done too. Yay and yay!

As we wrapped up, we talked shop about how many images I may walk away with, the difference between RAW images and jpegs, and when he figures I will be able to attain said images.

So. I'm excited, still. Another week or so and I get to see Lisa Transformed :)

The Tragically Hip @ Harris Park

Nick surprised me months ago with VIP tix to see my fave band (other than the Pumpkins but they are in limbo between being in tact and disabled so...), the Tragically Hip!

I counted down the days with baited breath and finally July 23rd was here!

We drank VEX at Brent's, walked to Harris Park, saw a guy who was obviously undecided between peeing in the women's washroom or the men's, meandered through the crowd to our VIP area and had at it!

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure. I think they are self explanitory. :) But yes just to clear the air, Nick is definitely drunk-ass in the one photo. Me? Not so much! Still had fun tho!

Road Trip to Tr'anna - The Distillery Edition

Well!

As stated in my previous post, lots has been going on...such as my social life has kicked into high gear! YAY me! I'm popular! :)

One day I was sitting here googling for things to do in Ontario. Originally I wanted to just find some interesting little area that I could hike and some small town shops I could peruse and just find somewhere to have a something for myself.

I found a link on a website that lead me to an advertisement for the Mid-Summer Artisan Fair in the Distillery District in Toronto. I know; small town girl let loose in the big city? Oh dear.

And as usual, I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone. Not only did I plan to go to this art fair, but since my bestest wife ever lived in the area I thought "hey! Bring Amanda!" So bring Amanda I did. :)

I packed up my 12 year old daughter, who I explained the importance of art in one's life is quite vital to one's health, and we headed East bound on the 401. I swung by to pick up Amanda and her BF Roger. Now this is where it gets silly and funny and a little stressed out for Lisa.

I asked Roger, who is a Torontonian, as we buckled up our seat belts (safety first people!) if he knew the fasted and easiest route to the Distillery. He did not. I shrugged nonchalantly as if not at all bothered by this and said "Meh, that's that GoogleMaps are for. I can just head down the Gardiner. No probs, yo."

Well...I shoulda done my research. Not only was it Civic Holiday weekend, aka cottagers on the highways, but it was also Carribanna weekend so THAT added to the influx and congestion of traffic. It took us an hour and 10 minutes to get to the Distillery when normally it would have taken 20 minutes. I was in between 1st and 2nd gear for over half an hour. My foot hurt. My toes were numb. All this in a feeble attempt to expand my horizons! SHEESH! :)

Plus, Roger tried in vain to give me directions. I ended up here and there, he directed me to go north when he meant south so I almost missed a turn off, and trying to get through Front Street traffic!? Yeah right.

I intended to also meet up with my friend Melissa. She and I originally met while waiting in line to meet Billy Corgan for a book signing a few years ago back in 2005. Haven't seen her since although we've always maintained a good online relationship ;)

So I emailed her a week prior and said "Hey I'll be in the 'hood lady let's hook up!"

Things went ahead as planned but she informed me that she had to work that day so she only had till about 1pm. I really thought we would have made it there in time.

Well, as luck would have it, by the time I had got to the Distillery and parked, thanks to the crazy collection of cars I endured, she had already departed. Oh well, I will see her again I'm sure! It kinda bummed me out a bit but once I saw all the booths and the galleries I quickly forgot about that disappointment.

If you've ever been to the Distillery District, then you know how absolutely BEAUTIFUL the architecture is. Olden tyme brick work, exposed rusty piping and cobblestone streets! Yes! Gorj! I wanted to fill my memory card with all these wonderful rustic images but risked looking like a tourist...wait, I was a tourist...ack. Moving on...

The first booth we stopped by was put up by artists from Ottawa called Postart Blooming Collective. Friggin' creative ladies they are! Basically they take anything that can be recycled and make it into art. Fr'instance: an old vinyl record? They put it into a mold and shape it into a bowl! How cool is THAT? Or, they take interesting bits and pieces of fabric, strings, and wires and make the funkiest necklaces! I should know, I bought one. It's totally me: eccentric, bizarre, and colourful.

They also had a small table set up for their friend who bends and shapes old spoons and forks into bracelets. See? Creative folk indeed. You can view more of their fantastic handcrafted bits and bobs at http://www.eclection.ca/

I did NOT want to leave the booth but there was so much else to see and do and eat...

Eat? Yes, at CafeUno. Lunch for my daugher and myself was $27 smackeroos but I tried food that we would normally have available to us in our small town. I drank Aloe. Yes. That same stuff that is in lotion. I drank it. And it was good. And apparently, good for my body. At least according to the colourful lime green label. Who can say no to lime green? I can't.

And Roger apparently was NOT letting me leave the place until I tried Expresso. And not only tried it but he got me this honkin' huge styro-cup of it! And I drank it! I don't even LIKE coffee, but goodness me that Expresso was quite tasty!

After leaving the Distillery, Roger suggested that we take a hike somewhere neat and interesting since I like neat and interesting places to hike! :)

I can't tell you where it was we were as I didn't ask nor pay attention to road signs, but all I know is that on this beautiful sunny day we were under a series of half-moon bridges that were adorned in grafitti. I took pictures because to me, grafitti is art.

My daughter climbed the structures that held up the bridges and dared Roger to join her, which he did easily enough as he himself is pretty agile.

I also caught a moment between Roger and Amanda kissing under the bridge. Ok, truth be told, I kinda directed them to stand next to a word that indicated closeness because I thought it was a great photo op. I see things through the lens that some people might not. If I might be so bold to say that I have an "eye" for photography. Not that I'm bragging. I'm just saying.

After the hike, I really did want to get going home. I missed my son, I missed the comfort only my juice-stained couch could offer (hey man, you have a toddler and see if your furnishings don't get ruined), and yes, I missed my man. (Cue the audience "awww!")

So after dropping off Amanda and Roger who I thanked for a wonderful time out because really, if it weren't for them, the day would not have been complete, my daughter and I buckled up our seat belts (safety first people!) and off we went, West bound on the 401 towards Londontown.

The whole ride home was awesome, due in part to the fact that traffic was jogging along nicely, and also because thanks to the Expresso, I was jacked and had the tunes blaring out my factory-installed speakers. We sang along to all the tween hits at the top of our lungs and just had a great car ride home to end a great day.

Next year we will do it again. :)

Paula Jolly - local artisan

Hello all! It's been a while... I know, bad Lisa. I apologize for the delay in the goings-on. But lots has been going on FOR the goings-on! :)

I wanted to let you all know about a fantastic and truly intelligent friend of mine who is also very much like a sister to me. Her name is Paula Jolly and she's a ridiculously talented artist who at the tender age of 22 followed her dreams and her passion which lead her half way around the world and ultimately has brought her back home where she bought a house and made it into a Gallery!
I know! Twenty Two!
Frick, at 22 I was potty training my toddler...digressing.

Last week was her official open house and naturally I attended to support my girl. I brought along my daughter and my awesome friend Nicole (who's made appearances in past blog postings) as we were also hitting up the Ribfest in Victoria Park in London. Fun times ya'll!

As we approached her house, I saw a large tent in the backyard and a structure I can only describe as a "cage" which displayed her best work. Wait a second, in my opinion, ALL her work is her best work. I've known this girl for ages and have never once seen a piece that I would label as mediocre. Art and talent seeps from Paula's pores like a creative sweat.

People milled about the yard, some entering the house to engage their senses in colour and textures, and some retreating with smiles and praises spilling forth as they nibbled on delicious tidbits of fresh fruit and freshly baked cookies.

I first stopped to say hello/congrats/you rock to Paula to let her know we showed up, and then we headed for the great indoors. I had stopped by a couple times in the past few weeks and saw the rooms-in-progress, so seeing it upon completion really took my breath away. She did SO much freakin' work it was unreal!

Paula of course, has some of her pieces displayed but 75% of the Gallery was dedicated to her artists; digital photograhy, sculptures, and textiles upon canvas. Amazing work. Really. Holy and Cow.

The track lights were perfectly positioned over and above the canvasses, spilling about a gentle light across the colours and textures. Each room was decorated with little funky tidbits and trinkets that just goes to show Paula's true personality.

Her friend had an extensive collection of old-school manual 35mm's and she had them displayed on shelves throughout the house to show the love of photography that was more than welcome in her domain.

I get that, totally. I get that SO much that a few days later whilst shopping for booth supplies at Value Village (BTW, that place rocks), I found an old-school camera myself. I've never heard of the manufacture before, but I think it just looks cool sitting up on my desk, looking down at me promising a world of photographic opportunities. I don't even know if it works, but for $3.99 I didn't care; to me it was a new found treasure.

We eventually made our way to the outdoor gallery and to see this "cage". Beautiful work was displayed and I even took notice to the little details of the yard; the position of the patio set, the interlocking brick for the patio area that was hand-stained, and naturally, all the flora and fauna that added a soft woodsy feel to the set.

Paula's Gallery, Jollyway Studios is located at 1217 Hamilton Road, London, a stone's throw from EastPark. She's open Mon-Fri, 8-5 but suggests you call ahead to ensure she is in the Gallery. You can contact her at 519-851-DRAW.

Fun Times in July - Lawn Bowling at the Jolly's

Tis' the season for the annual Jolly Family SummerFest.
OK, I don't know if that's the proper term because this was my first year in attendance, but hey, that's what I'm calling it. So there. :)

So every July the Jolly family (seriously, that's their real name...now get over it) holds this gathering of family and friends who all celebrate birthdays or something special in the month of July.

Seeing as though my sister Katy has a birthday in July and has literally been another sibling to the Jolly brood since she was a wee lassie of 4 years old, she was of course invited to this backyard shindig. And seeing as though I've been close with the family too (Paula refers to me as her sister; we might as well be) and had the car to drive Katy, the invite extended to moi. Cause I'm a cool cat too ;)

The house was teeming with excitement and people and laughter and conversation and introductions and of course: LOTS of delicious food that would put the honorary Chef Gordon Ramsey to shame...speaking of which, Hells Kitchen is on as I blog this...better hurry...

So yeah. Food. People. Good times. Memories. And...lawn bowling. Never played it in my life and good Lord, might I say how much FUNNNNN it was!! OMG!!! SO much fun that it caused me to exhibit my goofy side (see attached pic). Cause that's what happens when I get in my element and get comfortable: the REAL Lisa comes out! :)

The Things to Do List keeps growing...

Holy omigawd.
I have SO much going on right now it's a little redonkulous.

Currently, I'm working on introducing a new line of invitations called the Card Candy Collection. It's new as in, well, new-ish, but I'm taking some of my favourite designs (cause I have like, 30) and incorporating a little Bling ;) Stay tuned for more information as it comes available.

Then I'm assembling some sample booklets to hand out at the next Bridal Show in late September. See, anyone can hand out business cards; they are what, 3 cents each? But I'm taking several designs and making a little booklet out of them; complete with the front and back covers (front will be hand painted), and wire coil binding for that true urbanLove effect!

I'm also giving my catalogue a face lift not only for the cover, but the guts as well. I've got some page layout ideas rolling around in my head so I am going to design 'em all and see what one I like best so I can take this project to the printers.

And of course, as mentioned above, I have a Bridal Show in late September; ironically enough during the same day my ex-fiance gets married, but my AWESOME friend Nicole 'De-back-that-thing-up' Debakere is going to man my booth so I can attend Jake's wedding. HOLY BUSY! I guess I *can* be in 2 places at once, kind of! :)

So yeah, back to the Bridal Show; so excited!! I have ideas for everything from the table coverings to the contents of the tables and how I will display my little works of art to my attire right down to my shoes (of course!)...so much is going on in my head in regards to planning things in a timely manner and executing them efficiently that I'm spinning with joy! I LOVE my life!

To re-cap:
1. Card Candy Collection - to be unveiled hopefully by Fall of 2009
2. Sample booklets
3. Catalogue facelift
4. Bridal Show AND Jake's wedding

Phew! Just thinking about it is making me go a lil' nutty but honestly, I thrive off of this kind of activity and creative purpose. Bring it on!

Kelly and Al - Sunset Beach Wedding - July 4th

Well!
We've attended two weddings in a row now and have another, for my ex-fiance, on the way! Tis the season for matrimonial bliss!

Nick and I attended his sister's wedding a week ago, Saturday July 4th on the beach in Point Clark. It was a sunset wedding, and just beautifully done in true Kelly n' Al style; simple and classy.

The reception was held in their backyard under a large tent and filled with well over a hundred people. Maybe close to two hundred. I don't know. I was drinking, lol. But there were alot. :)

They had a buffet dinner that consisted of everything from smoked fish and mussels to a wide selection of hors d'œuvres, to shish-kabobs of both chicken and steak, a fruit tray, salads galour, and of course, Champagne that was served by one of the hottie groomsmen who also donned kilts. Mmmhmm...hey, just cause I've already bought my shoes don't mean I can't still window shop! :)

Although the cool air from off the lake was a little breezy at times and caused for me to shiver often (I get cold easily), Nick was ever the gentleman as he offered to me his jacket from his suit.
But the atmosphere around us with all the guests and their smiles and abundance of laughter made the night so warm and comfortable.

And at about 10pm, friends of the Bride and Groom set off fireworks in the adjacent field. Friggin' awesome. I got a good shot of Kelly and Al kissing during the explosions :)

We had a fantastic time and if it wasn't for the fact that Nick had a tee-off time at 7am the next morning (it was a Tournament; he kinda had to be there), we would have saved ourselves the 2.5 hour drive back home that night and crashed somewhere in their yard; picnic table, spot on the grass, wherever. We SO did not want to leave.

But...there's the rest of the summer for us to head up there for a weekend and relax around a campfire as our kids; 2 from us, 2 from them, play. I can't wait for that!