Spring is in the air! Well in Toronto it is springtime, although right now the city is covered in a blanket of ice and snow. But if you look closely enough there are signs of spring and new beginnings everywhere.

Speaking of new beginnings Carrie and Joseph reached out to me for me to photograph a  Maternity Session. With only one month to go until they welcomed their first child together, it was lovely to see this couple relaxed and clam they were . You couldn't have met a more prepared couple. They had everything organized and ready for their new addition to their family.

I couldn't help but think that it was such a contrast to how I felt at that stage of my pregnancy, which i could only describe as a little anxious, which would be an understatement.  At the end o f the session these two even asked me if i had any advice that could offer. All I could say sleep,  get as much sleep as you can before the baby arrives, uninterrupted blissful sleep (oh how I miss you). 

Happy Easter Everyone!

I hope that you have all enjoyed your long weekend relaxing and indulging far too much chocolate and hot cross buns. We spent the afternoon roaming around the Edwards Gardens in Toronto, searching for eggs and bunny rabbits, meeting a few squirrels along the way. I have never seen such excitement, our little man was shaking with excitement so much that the chocolate from the eggs was cracking as he tried to eat them.   

When was the last time you were that excited?  Our little man has finally collapsed after trolling for eggs, bunny sightings, a soccer match, swimming and a very loud public tantrum about eating carrots. Although he did not have a nap, I sure could have used one. 

I haven't had sugar for some time and after today my sugar high I am now feeling a sugar low.  Still, I'm not sure that even if I had known the effect that eating the sugar would have, that I would have avoided it.  

I hope you and your little bunnies are all safe and tucked in bed getting all the sleep you can. Enjoy your long weekend. xo

Yes, I am still here, making some changes to things and will return to my weekly posts this week. 

Oh Canada, you are so cold.  When I arrived last year I was warned that the Toronto winter had been pretty mild as far as Canadian winters go. And although as far as winter is concerned I haven’t really experienced the “true cold” yet, I can see why Canada the is known as The Great White North. 

When I look out the living room of my condo onto the blanket of white covering the Harbour Front, through the sea of glowing twinkle lights I can see everyone braving the cold and enjoying the ice skating with natural grace like they were born to skate. Lately, I have been besieged with invitations to go ice skating, but alas for me I was graced with two left feet. 

In fact, the very same two left feet that caused me to trip and fall in a pothole on the sidewalk in Montreal last year. Only after three days of pain and a giant elbow, I thought that I should get a doctor, who informed me that I had fractured my elbow and dislocated my arm. Which as a result has made me a little gun shy when it comes to walking on a slippery hard surface balancing my entire body weight over two sharp blades less than 1 cm in diameter. But, I think that its pretty reasonable as most of my experience with Ice is in melted form as Australia has more water then it has ice.

So I’m not sure that the ice and me will be a good fit, but I am determined to get my skates on this season. I would love my little guy to have fun on the ice but unless I can stand on my own skate without falling how can I how can I teach him. Luckily, Daddy was more than happy to oblige.  After 35 minutes on the ice and only covering about 15 meters, we finished our afternoon on the ice and like magic Elliot was able to stand up only with the promise of a hot chocolate. 

As both a mum and a photographer I think that Halloween would have to be my favorite time of year, the costumes, the excitement of the children, it is almost too cute to handle. Capturing the adorable cuteness of these children in their Halloween costumes was one of the best experiences  I had working as a photographer all year. I can't believe that it has been a month since the fun crazy times of Halloween. This was my second North American Halloween, a tradition, that I hope stays with my family wherever in the world we might find ourselves in the future. Getting my little guy ready absolutely loved getting ready my little guy for Halloween this year, planing his outfit, practicing what to say, watching him parade around the neighborhood in his outfits with all of his friends.  I know that next year (as he gets older) I will have very little say about what he chooses to wear on the day so I made sure that this year I got my way.

We don't have forests like North America, Australia has rain forests, beaches, deserts and the bush, so therefore we don't have the same animals.  No chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons, bears, moose, wolves, coyotes, skunks or any of other creatures featured in most animated afternoon children's television programming can be found in the Land Down Under unless you head to a zoo.  So with that in mind, it was decided that he would have two Halloween creature costumes, a hedgehog, and a skunk. 

Growing up in Australia Halloween wasn't a huge celebration, although it was acknowledged but unless your neighborhood was full of parents creating the magic behind the scenes the celebration was usually centered around school activities.  However was lucky enough to have a lovely Canadian lady living on the same street with her young family, and her enthusiasm for the Halloween tradition spread through all the houses in our street.  Being here in Canada during the festive October months has been wonderful. It seems like everyone is willing to dress up and embrace the tradition. If only you could do it everyday.

My parents arrived in Canada on Thanksgiving Day, and it seemed as if all of the celebrations during the month of October centered around the humble pumpkin. They are everywhere, tiny little ornamental gourds in amazing shapes and sizes, in pies, in most baked goods, in lattes, in tins, out the front of every grocery and convenience store, outside peoples houses and even a lot of front stoops, both real and fake. So much so that we were awestruck when we came across endless pumpkin patches while driving through Prince Edward County on our way to Bloomfield.  Aside from the agricultural show every year I had never seen so many pumpkins of that size, all grown for the purpose of carving the famous Jaco Lanton. This iconic Halloween tradition of the carved pumpkin faces has made it to Australia, our pumpkins are slightly different is carved but never on the scale of these massive orange bulbs. It was magical to see a pumpkin patch on such a large scale

Anybody who knows me well knows I am not a fan of the glorious pumpkin. Many hours were spent by my family not allowing me to leave the table and no dessert would be served until I had eaten the small amount of pumpkin on my plate. It was always a standoff and I was always the winner, not a fan of dessert. Although I have been known to eat an odd pumpkin scone, because sometimes pastries have their own rules, and I did indulge and enjoy the North American classic Pumpkin Pie.