Thursday, December 28, 2006

Big White

Sunrise Big White
The sunrise from our condo in the morning at Big White. It was so gorgeous to drink your coffee and look out these gigantic windows and see this multi colored view.

Night Skating

Skating is the first major sport I did as a child, I always really enjoy have a bit of time on the ice. Especially on an outdoor rink, it's a treat.

Night Skaing

Here I'm trying to do just a basic spin and we thought it would be neat to do a longer exposure.

BigWhite
Icicle tress on Big White's Apline. Conditions were phenomenal today with the bluest skies I've ever seen!


BigWhite1

Here we were at the ski in ski out village in the morning. It was very exciting to wake up to such stunning conditions after experiencing a white out bone chilling snowstorm the night before. In the fresh bright morning everyone was dancing around the condo from excitement.

IMG_3822

The afternoon sun just about to start setting onto the horizon, the lighting was incredible.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Hey Everyone



Just wanted to say Merry Christmas!!!!
Thanks for reading my blog this year and for all your comments, I really enjoy and appreciate every one of them!!!!

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Air Boxing

At a party last night, someone brought a Nintendo Wii and it was great party fun. Sorry the video is so dark but it's kind a neat just to see their silhouettes

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Two of Talia



Here's baby Talia discovering mirrors! I thought this was so cute and that we had to take a video. Oh and of coarse the boys made a joke in true Dunsmoor style, which always catches me off guard and then I'm the last one to get it.


Friday, December 22, 2006

Donald Trump vs Rosie O'Donnell

This is so funny, almost my entire family watched it twice today in the office. Rosie you're hilarious you got Donald cold!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Snackers for 2 Days



We had Snackers for 2 long days and 2 long nights. Although he was incredible cute when sleeping or chewing on your finger we decided a puppy needed more time and attention than we were able to give.

Here's a quick clip of our puppy suffering some separation anxiety and somehow still being cute.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

I have no name...


Last night the door bell rang, I opened the door to my youngest brother Bradley speeding off in his car and a kennel left on the doorstep with this Mini Pinscher puppy inside! At first I thought I had to take care of it until Christsmas, but soon I read the note saying the puppy had no name and reasons I should want to keep it.

1. I provide more entertainment than cats, who just sit there.
2. I give you an excuse to go for a walk, take me to the park etc.
3. I'm small, I don't eat a lot, so I'm cheap to take care of.
4. From what I've heard, the family rarely goes on vacation together so there would always be someone to take care of me.
5. I will provide countless happy moments, from doing stupid things around the house, to wrecking some little piece of furniture... I have more character then a cat, and will make any household, "more fun".

The note continued to say:

Anyways! Have fun with me. Brad told me that you will for sure be mad at him so he won't be picking up your phone calls or sticking around because he wants you to get used to me.

I'm not sure what to do, but he is adorable. Maybe I can name him Snack or Donut because it kinda goes with Muffin's name, our cat.

Currently, as I write this post, he's trying to work his way through my housecoat from my lap into my arm and then down my sleeve to my wrist.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Blackcomb with Cabby



Cabby and I at Spanky's Ladder Blackcomb. The conditions were amazing, while it was windy storms and power outages in Vancouver, Cabby and I were in 2 feet of fresh powder with clear crisp conditions.



Crystal Ridge, my absolute favorite part of Blackcomb. If it wasn't for things like snowboard/skiing I would never witness scenery this beautiful. To be on a part of a run all alone when no one else is around gives this incredible feeling of relaxation and excitement at the same time.



Watching the sunset on the mountain.



Getting suck in the snow, it took us awhile to get out of this run.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Still love being in front of the camera!


Spotlight adjustment, originally uploaded by Lisa Marina.

Quentin took this picture in the mirror and in order to adjust the focal points in the picture we tried using the lighting effects tool in adobe. I wanted a light on my cheek, belt and hair.

Christmas Parties



This year Quentin's work party was at at the Flying Beaver near the airport in Richmond. For all the Pan Pacific parties that they usually host, this one was the most fun.



My new purple shoes!



Lounging around.

Quentin and I tried something different to get home last night, we phoned a company called Operation Red Nose. They pick you up in your car, drive you home, and it's by donation as it's government funded. So we used the service last night, and it was really fun. The driver told us of all the other people him and his wife were taking home (new cops who were celebrating) and it was so nice to not leave my car in a parking lot for the night.
I think Quentin and I should volunteer for one night, return the favor and laugh at all the partiers.

Here's the number put it in your phone if your heading out.
604-532-0888

Thursday, December 07, 2006

I'll be home for Christmas

This is chessy I know but one of my tasks today is to print and bind 20 copies of 50 Christmas carols for our office party tonight, and this is my ultimate favorite. I cut and pasted I'll be home for Christmas and it even has the guitar cords thanks to my father in law.

Hope everyone has a festive weekend :)

I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

C Ebdim Dm7 G7
I'll be home for Christmas

C Gm6 A7 Dm7 Edim
You can count on me

F6 G7 C Am
Please have snow and mistle - toe

D7 Dm7 G9+5
And presents on the tree

C Ebdim Dm7 G7
Christmas Eve will find me

C Gm6 A7 Dm7
Where the love light gleams

F6 Fm6 C A7+5
I'll be home for Christ - mas

D7 Dm7 G7 C Dm7 G7
If on-ly in my dreams Repeat Last line 2nd time through:

D7 Dm7 G7 C Ab7 Cmaj79
If on-ly in my dreams

CHORDS:
Ebdim: xx1212
Edim: x12020
A7+5: x02021
Gm6: xx2333
Fm6: xx0111

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Playing with White Balance


uploaded by Lisa Marina.


Trying to give the photo a blue hue, it's great if you have hazel eyes and you want to bring out the green tones.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Plam Tree and Snow


The Christmas spirit caught me this weekend; I decorated the entire house, baked, addressed cards, and even listened to Sarah Mclachlan's new Winter Album. Here's a picture of the plam tree in my front yard that I decided to dress up.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Something I love about the cold icy snow!

The fact that when it's icy every guy I know has this uncontrollable urge to pull e-breaks around any corner instead of driving normally. I might pretend I'm annoyed but it's always fun!

Monday, November 27, 2006

Me


Here I am playing with the wireless trigger for the camera and a soft box before heading out for the night.

Brad


My first male subject, my baby brother. I always say he got the best of our Greek/German genes with his strong German Jaw line from Mom and big pouty lips from Dad.


Sunday, November 26, 2006

Tubing/Snowboarding in the Snow!



Who's who

Tom - Orange and black jacket
Jon - Grey, orange and black jacket
Quentin - Blue jacket
Darryl - White jacket
Michelle - White jacket

and me using the video from my little canon point and shoot.

Hot Tubbing in the Snow

What a day in the snow, we had a great time sitting in the hot tub and then jumping in the cold. It even gave me an opportunity to get mad at my brother for being mean to his girlfriend, good times!

You have to love the snow!



Saturday, November 25, 2006

Monday, November 20, 2006

Coolest Show On TV Right Now!

Monday nights Quentin and I watch Heroes. The premises revolves around select individuals who're learning about their new super hero powers and slowly are finding each other. Save the cheerleader save the world is theme of the movie, yes it sounds cheesy but they've made it cool.

We just watched an episode tonight and Claire is my one of my favorite characters. Her ability is to regenerate. A cute scene is when her brother puts a deep staple in her hand and as she pulls it out her skin regenerates. Also she's totally cute and adorable and I love how's she's smaller and athletic looking.



Another favorite character is Niki who's actually Ali Larter. She has a split personality who's called Jessica. Jessica is Niki's dark evil side, she has super woman strength and goes around beating everyone up to get her way. Hmm I wonder if split personalities actually exist.

My 5K in the Wind and Rain!

Well I completed my run on Sunday, which started uphill and into the wind and rain. It was wet and miserable but only 5km so I just did it to get it over with. We were suppose to run the 10km but my knee has been bothering me lately so I thought it would be better to run half as far. I also wore an old knee brace from high school which I hate, and I swear it slowed me down.
Here's the graph that Nike+Ipod produces for you when you upload your runs. I choose an 800 calorie run of which I burned 405. The program is kinda neat as it interrupts whatever song your listening to and says, "200 calories burned", very motivating. Also if you have a record workout, then Lance Armstrong all of a sudden starts talking in your headphones saying what a great job you've done. The graph says that I ran 5.98 kilometers which is odd because you'd think the people at the race would have measured out the race properly and I swore I turned the senor on and off at the appropriate times. So if I ran pretty much 6km in 36 minutes my time should have been ummm (36.04/5.98)5=30.13 I don't know if you can use math to make your time better but whatever it makes me feel better to see 30 minutes instead of 36, ouch!


Saturday, November 18, 2006

Saturday Night At Home Alone, Self Inflicted

Well everyone I know is out doing something fun and exciting tonight and I get to stay at home alone, and do laundry (bla...) and the dishes that obviously my other half wasn't inspired to do either. (phew) I have a race in the morning at UBC 9am, so must be fresh in the morning. I know I'll thank myself a 1000 times when the alarm sounds at 7am and I didn't just get home 2hrs ago.

Well here is something I found on a friends myspace in the comments section that sounded exciting. Well I thought it was exciting until I read the end, Happy Saturday Night everyone!

I just thought I should be up front with you.
I Want To Have My Way With You!
I will seek and I will find you ...
I shall take you to bed and have my way with you.
I will make you ache, shake & sweat until you moan & groan.
I will make you beg for mercy, beg for me to stop.
I will exhaust you to the point that you will be relieved when I'm finished with you.
And, when I am finished, you will be weak for days.
All my love, . . . . . . . . . .

~The Flu~

More interesting trivia

-thanks to my December edition of Psychology Today
London School of Economics reviewed data on the attractiveness of 2972 men and women who were rated on a five - point scale and found that the fives had significantly more daughters: 56 percent for the couples with one or two hotties versus 48% for the rest. Why the propensity for pink? Parental traits that server one gender better than the other can influence the sex of the baby (though no one's sure exactly how). Because girls have historically relied on beauty for reproductive success, pretty parents have a better chance of passing along their genes through daughters.

It's amazing in psychology what type of experiments they will conjure and find significance for. I was surprised to read this!

Another article talks about character traits that may or may not change in a lifetime.

Being organized, self-discipline, goal-directed - rose across the board over time. The biggest increases being during the 20's.
Agreeableness, shown by generosity, selflessness and helpfulness, and mostly commonly linked to building relationships, increased most during the 30's.
Neuroticism in women declined with much older age, but not so with men. Openness declined persistently over time for both sexes. Extroversion dropped among women but not for men.

Last statement that's interesting, I never thought of it as pessimistic!

Being self-critical, which is a form of pessimism, is a very good thing. A mix of discontent is a healthy thing: it creates striving."

Thursday, November 16, 2006

5 Toughest Questions a Woman Can Ask a Man

The questions are:

1. What are you thinking about?
2. Do you love me?
3. Do I look fat?
4. Do you think she is prettier than me?
5. What would you do if I died?

I opened a FW email and I just couldn't help but laugh when I read the questions. I read them out loud to Quentin along with the recommended do and don't responses. It's funny how questions can indeed be overwhelming.

Yummy Mommy

Driving to work this morning I listened to an AM channel which I usually never think to do and the featured lady was Erica Hhm who used to be a DJ on Much Music. She talked about her newest career and her website the Yummy Mommy Club. I really liked her definition of a yummy mommy, a women who's continuing to inspire herself, to learn and grow. Her children and parenting are a huge part of what she does but it's not all that she does. She talked about when she had her first son and said, "I didn't love him at first" wow I've never heard someone admit to something like that, and that she cried for the first 4 months.
She spoke about photography and how she thought it was a good idea for Mom's to take time for themselves and in particular to get dressed up once in awhile and do a photo shoot. This woman is so up my alley!
So Erica has my attention and I'm looking forward to listening to more of her radio talk shows and reading her website.
Here's a photo that I just can't get enough of this morning from Erica's featured photographer. Look at that foot, it's memorizing!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Return of the Leonids














Meter shower possible this Sunday Nov 19. I love hitting the hottub on a night with the increased possibility of meter showers. So this Sunday night it will be great to set up the telescope right by the tub and hang out for a bit.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Slobs Make Better Lovers

I'm a bit of a neat freak and for the most part I think this makes my life easier. I googled the word slob today just to check the spelling of it actually and I found this article posted by CBS from 2002. I think it's pretty funny especially the part about husbands and pj on the floor!

Slobs Make Better Lovers
October 25, 2002
(CBS) According to a recent poll, guys with messy sock drawers have sex three times more per month than those who organize their socks. I never knew there was such a direct connection between socks and sex. Maybe soon, schools will be offering courses in socks education. The poll was conducted by IKEA, the home furnishings people. It was part of their "You Can't Be Too Organized" survey. I guess this "more sex" result was not something that the pro-organized people at IKEA predicted. And those who are disorganized don't just have more sex. According to the poll, their relationships might be better in other ways, too. Those couples that don't have closet organizers argue three times less per month than those who do. (I don't know what a "closet organizer" is, so I guess we don't have one. I could ask my wife if she thinks we should get one, but that might just cause an argument.) Also, men who don't own Palm Pilots are more likely to remember their wives' birthdays than men who do own them. These results are not all that surprising. If you spend all your time organizing your socks or entering data in your Palm Pilot, you will have little time for anything else. Also, if you are compulsive, and must do things like make sure all the dishes are clean before going to bed, or check to see that all the doors are locked several times before you can relax, your spouse will probably be asleep before you're ready to settle in for the night. Being organized seems almost by definition to be un-sexy. How many people fantasize about a romantic stranger who makes lists? How many people dream about a sexy somebody who has a calendar on his watch? How turned on would you be if you heard, "I'll be right with you. I just have to color-code my shirts?" On the other hand, while a disregard for order might be sexy in the beginning, what about a long-term relationship? According to the survey, married men were four times more likely to leave their pajamas on the floor in the morning than single men. I wonder what percentage of wives find that sexy. There are other curious results of the poll. Registered Republicans were three times more likely to color-code their T-shirt drawers and organize their closets than registered Democrats. However, Democrats were five times as likely to color-code their files at work than Republicans. What conclusions should we draw from this data? That Republicans are less likely to have sex at home and Democrats are less likely to have sex at work? I don't think recent history supports this. Despite the messy socks-good sex connection, the people at IKEA maintain that being organized is a good thing. They believe that you can gain a great deal of quality time by reducing all the minutes and hours you spend looking for keys, glasses, or the remote control. (By the way, according to the survey, men spend an average of 80 minutes per week looking for the remote control. Women spend 7 minutes.) I'm not so sure about this quality time benefit. Almost daily, while I'm looking frantically for my keys, glasses, or the remote control, I'll come across something that I lost a week or two ago. I might never have found that thing if I had a regular place for my keys, glasses, or the remote control. Let's put this whole survey in perspective. It was conducted by a home furnishings company. Is this really where we should be getting our information about sex and relationships? Traditionally we learn about these things on the playground or from daytime TV. Besides, how unbiased can a company that sells organizers be about organization? And this isn't just any furniture company. It's IKEA. That's the place that sells you furniture in a million pieces that you put together after you get home, working from directions that always seem upside down. I'm not sure that this company should be considered experts in sex. If I bought a bed from IKEA, I'd probably spend more time trying to assemble it than I would using it.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Brazilian Girls



Last night we ventured out to Richards on Richards to see Brazilian Girls who are Hadley's absolute favorite band. They're slightly different, the lead singer wears a mask for most of the show and sings in German, French, Spanish (I think) and English of coarse. They were incredibly different and unique. They had lots of hyper energy but seemed to sing mostly cool mellow songs. One song towards the end was in French and I really like it. I can read a bit of french (thanks to French 11) but can't understand it spoken at all, so Quentin interpreted that the lyrics were, "I want to wake up next to you". Awww that's cute :) Anyways it was a really good show and I'm definitely a Brazilian Girls fan.



She kept putting her lipstick on over her mask, that was funny!



Hads and I



Here I am loving my black slouchy boots, black tights and long comfy sweater, perfect Monday night bar wear.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Cleanse Dat!


We'll I'm officially staring to feel like crap on this cleanse which I started this morning. I have to take 4 pills from each bottle and 30 drops once a day. I know the real reason I'm not feeling so happy is because I can't just eat whatever I want. I can 't have bread or cheese which are big staples in my diet, no pasta either. It's a big list of food that you need to avoid and it's tricky finding the right kinds. I bought this special frozen bread because the store clerk said it's a special ancient grain and when I showed it to Quentin he said, "what is it ancient because it was made last year"? and it tasted about as good as it looked.

But according to Hadley I'll feel so much better at the end of the 12 days and since she was starting one this morning I thought I'd give it a whirl so we could whine, complain and be cranky together. We'll see how it goes.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Trying out new Blog Amps

It's at the bottom of this page, can you hear it? Or I have to figure out how to put the code at the top of the page otherwise I'm leaving it below. I'll be changing the songs once I figure out how. The current song comes from Deep Dish and I've had the chorus of this song in my head all day. Very techno not my usual but great for dancing.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Super Quentin



I sent Quentin to work today as Superman. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's super Quentin coming to fix your PC.



Quentin saving the ladies at work...

I had to dress up for work today too!


I'm trying to be a pink punk rock cowgirl for Cloverdale.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Halloween 2006



I did it, or Hadley made it, I became Jane Fonda - Barbarella for Halloween.



Here I am in the basement of the Roxy downtown pre-evening, these are the coolest boots ever made!



Oh boy, this is what happens when all your drinks are free.



Here's Hadley and I, and the perfectionist in her making sure my collar was standing up straight. She put in many hours sewing my costume, it was incredible sweet and caring of her, thanks Had! She was a glittery Victoria Secret Angle.



I really really wanted to reproduce this exact picture in a studio and I was so close as we found a local photographer who was taking Halloween photos and then you could order prints. I even made the gun from PVC pipe and spray painted it silver. Unfortunately the man was completely narcissistic and thought that insulting women was a fun hobby, so we gave him the riot act (which was actually very satisfying) and highed tailed it out of there. It was very unfortunately though, and I'd forgotten how vial and mean people can be. Oh well maybe another year.



The next day with morphed unexplainable hair! Posted by Picasa

Friday, October 27, 2006

You have to think about this and comment with yours!

What movie star would you have play your autobiography movie!

I say I'd like Kirstin Dunst -
She's so happy friendly and warm, but down to earth and real at the same time. She also has a hint of craziness to her, which I like.

Haldey Warner said Sandra Bullock -
She can come across as kinda aloof at first but underneath it all she's a huge clown just waiting to crack the next joke.

Quentin said - Steve Carell

Cute Life Story

My Mom dropped this on my desk, such a thing she would do.

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered anyways; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well.. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off! Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.

Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.

Live simply and appreciate what you have.

Give more.

Expect less.


Enough of that crap. The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

Moral From Today's Lesson:

When you do something wrong, and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you.

Okay I liked the first bit of the story without the donkey coming back to bite him in the ass, but I thought I'd post it anyways.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

PM Dawn


I was driving in the rain recently on Hwy 99 and this song comes on the radio. I thought wow his voice sounds so nice and calming and it put me in a mellow mood. So tonight I googled the video on YOUTube expecting to listen and be taken back to those thoughts that day.

Yah well as soon as I saw the PM Dawn I couldn't help but laugh, I bet you can't watch this video with a straight face. Oh how can you not miss the 90's. The outfits in this song remind me of my first dance in grade 8, red jeans and black shirts, and being squashed up against grade 8 boys during the slow songs.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Happy Birthday Steph



Tonight went to Vancouver to visit Stephanie for her 28th birthday and a whole bunch of us went for a big bike ride along the sea wall from about Science World to English Bay to have dinner. Stephanie and Andrew have 12 funky old bikes in the bike room at their apartment and you can ride any bike you want. Here's Steph and I on an old banana seat bike, just like the one ones we used to have when we were kids, cool! Posted by Picasa



Hanging with the girls.



Me on the Bananna bike again, I totally want one of these!



Steph and her cute skate shoes, they always look great on her.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Sunday night sunset



I looked out my window and caught this sunet decending over my deck tonight, so beautiful! Posted by Picasa