One of my BIG IDEAS (see below blog entry) is a full-on "RED" themed shoot. I have at list of a dozen "Red" photos I'm going to take over the next couple of weeks.
{Taylor Swift, call me.}
But I think I'll carry this simple-but inspiring-shoot through the rest of this year.
I'm loving this pre-overtime season of reading, dreaming, writing, reading and working on personal shoots. The ideas just keep coming!
More RED photos coming soon.
Happy Tuesday, y'all.
Here is a little sneak peak I (Laynie) did with our photo intern Zach last week.
I liked the contrast of Gabbie's black outfit to the whiteness of the snow.
I liked the almost boudoir-esque feel to this shoot.
I loved Gabbie's eyes and make up but went with the black & white anyway, because sometimes simple is best.
{This is Zach, shooting some pics too.}
Okay, okay, 1 colour one just so you can see Gabbie's gorgeous eyes!
Our fabulous and fun friend Rachel decided to host an Easter Eggstravaganza at her home last night and even invited us. It's was the first time we'd seen a few of our friends since we got home a month ago and it felt so good to just sit back and spend a few hours with ones we love so dearly.
Thank you, Rach, for making this lively party happen. You're the best!
Rachel spent hours (I think she must have anyway) making decorations for her party. Hello, Pinterest!
I guess we were all supposed to bring Easter-themed snacks but Jono and I were delinquents with our "chicks and salsa" offering. (Chips and salsa-get it guys?!)
Okay, these cookies, yes these here, were Fabulous. I had...well..more than one. We'll leave it at that. What's not to love about a combination sugar cookie, cream cheese, coconut and dense chocolate eggs? Hmmm? You caught me-I'm not fasting dessert for Lent this year.
Notice most of my photos are of food and decorations and this is my only one of my friends? Oops. I guess I was distracted by all the bright colours....
"Bird baths"
Happy Easter week my lovelies. I am home most of the week if any of you want to come by with a basket full of goodies.
xx.
At least on Saturdays when he comes to hang out with us for his co-op. Zach is a second-year photography student at Fanshawe, Jonathan's alma mater, and we've had fun shooting with him this spring.
We also like saying "We have an intern" because-even though we are legitimately legit [guys, we are!]-it makes us feel...well...legit Legit.
And now we want you to meet our Zach. He patiently modeled/stood for us today while we were setting up lights for our maternity shoot today. (Can't wait to show you those photos.)
Zach likes photography ("obviously"), art in general, cooking pasta (I am trying to schedule in "cook lasagna for the Grimes" into his internship), dogs, people singing in harmony, slam poetry readings, and hanging out, talking about life. OH and working with Jonathan and Layne of course. He forgot to say it...but I can read it in his eyes. I think you can too. See below.
...we spent a lot of time tweaking the lights.
*This is my fave.* Though the next one is pretty sweet too. I must make sure I get copies of these to his mum.
His favorite book is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. [Jonathan and I read this in our book club {our personal book club}, but-and I don't say this often-I think I actually liked the movie better.]
Zach doesn't like country music, Microsoft windows, sushi, 5 gum or clip-on ties. He always claims "red onions are gross."
[He was trying to be pregnant again.]
And his message to the world? "Make your own fun; you can't wait for the fun to come to you." And that's just what we do with him every single time we are together. If you want to find out for yourself, book your session with us today!
Happy weekend, y'all.
xx.
Hello world and Happy Friday!
To give you a bit of a back story to these photos, our "Photo a Day" started on 31 January as we were flying down to Buenos. We originally intended to just take 1 photo each day during our travels, but then decided that every day was an adventure worth recording. Plus, we have a bit more traveling in our future this year.
So here are a few of our snaps from the year thus far.
You can LIKE or share our Facebook page here for future posts, updates and shoots. Or follow our blog by clicking on the "follow" bottom over there to the right. (Thanks for believing in us! We believe in you too.)
Day #45. Target Practice, Idaho.
Day #45b. Drive back to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Day #48. Trespassing during photo shoot, Idaho. Oops.
Day #51. Music Practice. Kona, Hawaii.
Day #55. Jono loves to photobomb. Kona, Hawaii.
Day #65. Not complaining but our dirty dishes seem unending. Home! Brantford, Ontario.
Day #71. Candles! So beautiful.
Day #75. Yes, I recorded a voice over in our bathroom.
Day #79. I'm still inspired to bake. Hello strawberry shortcakes!
Day #80. We decided to have a slumber party in our living room just because. We only lasted until 4:30 the next morning. #notasyoungasweoncewere
Happy weekend, y'all. More photos coming!
We went on a double wine-tasting date over the weekend with our dear friends, Rachel and Aryon. We'd had a coupon to go for ages and it was about to expire, so on Sunday we went.
We got a "wine history tour" in a basement and Jonathan insisted we take photos of the statues as they were one of his favorite parts of the experience. (That's a lie. Truth-they scared him a little.)
Meet some Very Old wine bottles. The one on the bottom right is over 100 years old.
Our cute friends. We toasted our samples; of course.
I tried to be artsy and shoot a photo through my wine glass. I think it was rather a failed experiment, but I'm including it in here anyway, for the sake of being forthright.
We ate dinner together afterwards and drove home in the sunset. (Side note: I am Loving the later sunsets these days. More please.)
We are grateful for such lovely friends and simple adventures. It was certainly a highlight of our weekend.
Here is a teaser video from Kuljeet and Rajiv's engagement celebration last week.
It was such an honor to document this gorgeous couple's special night.
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/62014810 w=500&h=281]
Congrats you two! May your wedding in May be just as memorable.
...because Jonathan never complains. ...because he consistently asks how I am.
...because he Listens to what I say and Remembers.
...because he is constantly, selflessly serving me.
...because Jonathan is genuinely kind and full of grace.
...because he is often the first one to say "I'm sorry."
...because he always moves the furniture around for me when I vacuum.
...because I was going to do laundry on Monday, but he came along and did it all for me.
...because he always pumps the gas.
...because he'll go downstairs early to warm the car.
...because when I showed up at our date night on Friday with a stranger whom I'd just met in the lobby, Jonathan didn't ask any questions, just asked the guy to sit down and offered him a glass of wine.
...and then Jeffrey started to dance for us. It was an amazing night.
Since Jess was coming to visit her over March break, Danielle got the fabulous idea for them to have a photo shoot. They left their men at home but brought the little ones (who will inevitably also be friends forever) to do an all-girls photo shoot last week.
We went for a funky "Spring Snow" feel and loved working with all their brightly-coloured props.
These two gorgeous gals brought me a yummy vanilla latte to start off our shoot and I loved every (freezing!) minute of our time together. What do you think, Ladies, should we make this an annual tradition?!
You can LIKE our photo page for future shoots and updates!
I love this one! Look at their eyes.
We needed multiple "warm up" moments in between shots.
I love these!
A-you are just sooooooo freaking cute.
I mean, come on, some of these belong in a magazine.
Blue eyes!
*Magazine.*
Love, love these.
...not all of our moments were happy.
But that's okay. All our memories of this shoot are now fond. Right, ladies?!
Come back and see me sooooon. And don't forget the latte!
xx.
My friend Rebecca (HI, Rebecca) is the only one who has asked me about the "6 creative projects" I put on my "To Do" list I blogged a couple of weeks ago. To be honest, I really didn't have much of a plan when I wrote that down. I just love creating and love the challenge of new things.
So for my first project, I decided to document our life, alphabet style.
Here goes, a glimpse into our lives, in the simplest of ways.
A-Apartment. We LOVE our cozy home.
B-Books. My reading list is always eclectic.
C-Cup. Shirley gave this teacup for my birthday last year and I love, love drinking out of it. Every single morning...and some afternoons.
D-Dollars. We’ve been saving up since we got married for a trip to Australia and New Zealand in a mason jar. As you can see, it is slow going.
E-Equipment. Hello, Canon. We love our babies. Can you guess who's bag this is?
F-Flame. We are addicted to our candles and burn them almost every night.
G-Grimes we are.
H-Hoodies. We are gangsta like that.
I-Iphones. Even though we “only” have the 4 and the 4s (finally upgraded!) we’re not going to lie-they are pretty addicting. #helloinstagram
J-JOY. In January we each chose one word we wanted to define this year. We both, separately, chose JOY. May it be so.
K-”King Jon.” Just one of my pet names for the hubs.
L-Laynie. Enough said.
M-Macleans. Jono gave me a year’s subscription for my birthday and I’m constantly reading them in an attempt to stay up on the times.
N-Napkins. We only have cloth. Let's just say that this is the one place in our lives an iron would be convenient. (Sorry Chris and Chuck.)
O-Owls. Sister made these for us. I.LOVE.THEM.
P-Photos. We have the everywhere. Shocker.
Q-Quilt. Shirley made a quilt for us as a wedding gift and we keep it on our bed all the year-round.
R-Robe. King Jon loves strutting around the apartment in his warm plaid. He is camera shy in The Robe though, so this is the best photo I got.
S-Shelf. We got a few pieces of our furniture off the side of the road and this is our fave...though we can’t move it an inch even if we want to.
T-Thanksgiving Tree. We had this at our wedding with a note to “write something you are thankful for” and despite the audacity of one soul’s “penis” we’ve displayed it in our bedroom ever since.
U-is for...either Underwear or US. Jono voted for "underwear." I'm going to stick with "US."
V-Vent. We have a couple of these bad boys in our apartment and pretend they are artsy.
W-Wine with dinner? Yes, please. We made 90 bottles bottles last year and have already given away or drank half of them. Mostly given away, we promise.
X-eXtra gum. eXcel flavour. We love our gum and minty fresh breath.
Y-YWAMy. It got it’s nickname from Jono because I brought it into our marriage all the way from my YWAM days. It is my favorite blanket on so many levels and it is perfect for almost any temperature. Jono gets jealous.
Z-Zenfolio. The site we use to host our online gallery for our clients.
And there you go-the alphabet-soup life of Grime.
Happy weekend y'all.
xx.
Holly came over for a quick game of Scrabble yesterday on my "lunch break." (I like to give pieces of my day titles so I can feel more "official." It works.)
We recently had a conversation about how much we both love the game. And I personally get a tad bit lonely playing approximately 7 games against the computer on my phone a day. There's just something missing with the lack of warm personal interaction.
So Holly came to be with me!
We were playing with 3 packs of tiles and this was my ending draw. Awesome. Not!
Also, this hair has nothing to do with Scrabble...unless you will buy the idea that it distracted me so much it was difficult for me to think of creative words?
I wore a hat most of the day (I really don't know how this hair even happened) and Jonathan shuddered (and maybe teared-up) every time I took the hat off.
Meet Holly. She's just so ridiculously cute. We drank tea and ate a few snacks of course.
Jonathan doesn't trust my Scrabble playing and insists on looking up a good 20% of my brilliant words. I guess you won't know if my words are legit or not until you come play with me yourself.
Yep, "POW" is definitely one of my words.
So in case you haven't noticed, ever since I figured out what these hashtag things {####} are, I have gone a little crazy with them. They just make so much sense. So I use them whenever I want, despite the fact they are only supposed to work on Instagram. For me, they work anywhere.
#Ijustdon'tcare
#Ilovemylife
#Iloveyou
#Iloveinstagram
#Ilovethisblog
#snowymorning
#Iloveseasons
#wishIcouldcuddlehubsinsteadofworkingtoday
#Iloveworkingatacoffeeshop
#thankyoululuforhelpingmegetafreecoffeewithallourvisitsherelastweek
See what I mean? There are some things that only #s can say.
On a side note of obsession, I walked to Blue Dog (#localcoffeeshop) this morning to set up office in the corner by the window.
( #seephotowaydownbelow )
And I just...well, I went a little crazy with my camera phone on the walk over.
#Ilovemyphone
#ILOVEtakingphotos
I would have carried my big camera, my baby, but it was a 20 minute walk and I just couldn't be bothered.
#couldn'tbebothered
But the world is so beautiful today that I was Quite Happy to document it with my phone.
#quitehappy
#me!
#roomwithaview
#my"office"
#worldihopeyourdayisasgoodasmine
p.s.
#Iwassupposedtodoaspringphotoshoottoday
#hilarious
Jono and I were recently on a late-night walk with our dear friend Pastor Mat-whom I respect ever so much- when I decided to pick his brain.
I asked Mathu for help in my life. I love the simple but sometimes things just get crazy up in the Grime world. And I am not always sure why.
He said, "You need to organize your life," and I sputtered for 2 dramatic offended seconds because I have more TO-DOs and Lists than any other person I know.
Why would I need to organize my life??!
And then I realized... he is right.
When I am deeply honest, some days I run around like a crazy person and no one-including me-is at peace. I hate those days. So TO DO lists or not, something needed to change.
Frankly, a huge part of the problem is that I am neither a cat nor a Hindu, though the convenience of having multiple lives is quite clear to me. There is just So Much I long to see, experience, do and be a part of in this lifetime.
Since I can't have 9+ lives, I tend to fill, fill, fill my days to the max, only to discover I'm not really living after all- I'm only busy. My hours are filled, but I'm empty, not full.
So I decided to humbly take Mat's advice and organize my life. I am guarding my schedule carefully so my days will be full of peace and JOY and not just full of stuff to do, do, DO.
That conversation was about 2 months ago and I have to say that I have been so happy in the weeks since then. I've slowed down, breathed a bit more and dreamed about our life this year.
I put "reading and personal growth time" into my weekly schedule and some much-needed ME time. I left a couple of spots a week open to grab a coffee with a friend. (Any takers?) I am leaving more than 5 minutes between my "To-Dos" so I'm not always rushing from one thing to the next.
I have heaps to learn, of that I'm sure. But I'm doing it from a happy place of serenity.
So I guess I'll seize my one life and live each day fully, happily wherever I am. I will be here now.
This is me skyping with an out-of-town wedding client yesterday. Don't I look so legit?
She actually said, "You sound so professional!" And it made me smile.
Fortunately our lack of home internet means I get to have fun meetings like this from the comfort of our dear local Starbucks. Amen.
Lulu leaves us today. *Sigh.*
But we've made good use of the days we've been together.
Since her arrival last Wednesday evening, we have baked no less than
1 Batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 batches of Gingerbread Cookies
2 batches of Scones
2 batches of Brownies {okay, this was all Lulu}
1 batch of Banana Bread {soooooo goood}
I promise I washed my hands after this.
*Sometimes* we even share.
(Young adults on Monday night.)
And just because we love you, we'll share our Lulu-Layne Gingerbread Cookie recipe. Guard it carefully and then pass it down to your children's children.
Yield: 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients
2.5 cups all purpose flour {half whole wheat, half white}
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1.25 tsp ground ginger
1 cup sugar
¾ cup margarine or butter
1 egg
¼ cup molasses
Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Cream sugar and shortening. Add egg, molasses and dry ingredients; mix well. Sift six ingredients together and add to wet mixture. Form golf-ball-sized balls and roll in a little sugar. Place on cooking stone slightly fork/mash cookie. Then bake for about 12-15 minutes.
#sogood #yummy #gingerbreadcookies
I met these girls a couple of weeks ago while I was teaching in Kona, Hawaii. When a scheduled photo shoot was cancelled, we decided on a whim to do a creative shoot with these lovely ladies.
The girls and I started out with a "vintage" theme...but in the end it kind of just veered towards "gorgeous girls" and that was that.
These girls are so sweet-beautiful on the inside and out. I loved our wee shoot and wish we could have done a few more. Next time we see each other, Ladies?!
Alright then, it's a date.
xx.
This one is for all their moms.
I LOVE these.
This is one of my absolute FAVES.
Selena was appointed the creative director for our wee shoot.
I [Layne] met Christian and Sharee 3 years ago while we were all working for PhotogenX in Kona. Since then, we've worked together, attended meetings together (hehe), and Christian, Annie & I all worked together with the 2011 PhotogenX track a couple of years ago...
And now we grab coffee or a treat every few months when we are in the same town and enjoy some good conversation. This year we got extraordinarily inspired and added "family photo shoot!" to our list of activities. Haha.
Ms. Maiya and Baby Elijah are sooooooo cute and obviously Christian and Sharee modeled {or should have} at some point in their gorgeous lives. So we persevered despite a bit of rain and a bit of a sleepy babe. {Elijah, not Jonathan.}
I am happy with how the shoot turned out, if I do say so myself.
Love you, Foxes!
{Maiya's message to...the world?!}
Later that night, Sharee and I slipped out for dessert and coffee on the edge of the ocean. {Yes, my life is ridiculous. I know that.} One of my Very Favorite Things about this dear friend is that I leave all of our interactions feeling full of hope and with renewed dreams. Sharee is one of the most peaceful, centered, honest souls I know. Sharee- I am grateful to know you! So excited to see you again in May. :)
As Drake is to YOLO, Layne is to #selfies. I have seen the recent trend with instagram and cell phones in general and have waited on the sidelines with bemused sort of superiority.
It really is cute.
But people, don't you know I started this fad ages ago?
{Cambria, once again Layne =ahead of the trend. That's 2 for Layne, 123,343 for the rest of the world. But who is counting.}
Greece, spring 2010
Canada, winter 2010
My friend Esther (she's so great) has long dreamed of being a mom and last year she and her hubs, Max, became pregnant with their first. Or wait-how do I say that? ..."announced they were expecting their first"? Hmmmm.
I digress.
We spent many a coffee date last year dreaming together about their coming wee babe. She was due at the end of December so we were hoping we could greet Baby before we left...but George didn't come until a week after we left.
I finally got to meet him this week and he is absolutely delightful. He even smiled when I tapped his cheek and cooed "Ah, he's soooo cute." Translation: He understands me and we are sure to be good friends in the coming years.
And Esther is already such a good mum-it was so fun to see her in this new role.
Aggggh, he's just SO CUTE.
Let's just say that L squared {Lulu + Layne} don't seem to have the natural motherly instinctives that seem to come to easily to moms like Esther.
She tried to help us, but....
Sigh.
Don't judge me by this photo-please, please still let me hold your babies. I love them...just maybe more than they love me.
We've been friends with Lulu for 4 years now-she was in Jono's DTS and in my small group oh those many years ago.
Since then, we've hung out in South Africa, her native land of Germany (twice) and Canada (she came over for our wedding.) A fellow photographer, she's been interning at a photo gallery in New York City for the past six months and came to see us on her way back home to the Motherland.
Lulu is here for a bit over a week and let's just say we're taking these days slooooow. She's been over-worked and under-slept for lo these many months, so we Grimes are focusing on a few importants only while she is here:
1. Baking.
2. Sleeping.
3. Eating hot, yummy meals each night.
4. Watching lots of "Big Bang Theory"
and
5. Having consistent walks on snow-lined streets to the nearby Blue Dog. (Starbucks, I will come back and see you soon. Worry not.)
We made four kinds of scone: chocolate chip (of course), apple cheese, cinnamon and cranberry lemon.
Paul and Susi gave us this grill thing for our wedding and we brought it out on the special occasion of Lulu's first night here. Long, leisurely dinners are The Best. You should come over soon too?
xx.
Seth and Kayla have a beautiful story involving years of friendship, a sad breakup, months apart and handwritten letters.
We did their after shoot on a gorgeous grey day in Idaho and had so much fun exploring the wild with these two lovely souls.
CONGRATS, Seth and Kayla. We are sooo happy for you and can't wait for another photo/sandwich date. Let's dream of next week?
xx.
{Their first wee home.}
