We have our own APP… and it’s free!! Justin & I have been working on this for awhile now because we wanted all of our iphone / ipod touch clients to be able to download this app so that you can share our photography with your friends and family.  I’m sure you’ll find yourself somewhere on the app… which makes this such a convenient way for you to show off your sweet photos

Let me share a few photos of the actual app.

1. this is my iphone with our app on the first page … When you open it, you’ll see the HOME page.

2. I am so happy with our PHOTO page.  The people at SMUGMUG really help make this page GREAT! …. And the BLOG page (so you can read our posts on the GO).

3. There’s also a VIDEO page & a MORE page (which includes our twitter feed and facebook fanpage).  You can download it to see more of those

4.  And here’s a screenshot of the itunes store… (you’ll notice that I only have $0.01 in my account, but that’s OK, the app’s FREE!) ** You can click on the image and download yours today **

Lastly I must thank 2 people: Justin (myownphotoapp.com) and Adrian (Visual Though Communication).

Of course this was Justin’s idea (from last APRIL), but he couldn’t have done it without our developers at Visual Thought Communications, especially Adrian.  So THANK YOU!

** Also for you PHOTOGRAPHERS out there, Justin & Adrian worked really hard to make this app customizable for any other photographer who would like to have their own app for their clients to share with their sphere of people (at a way lower price than it would to have yours done on your own = sweet).  Head on over to myownphotoapp.com, where you’ll find more info on how to do that!

I had many people questioning why I wanted to throw the party or why I’d want to even know the sex of our baby.  ”Keep it a surprise!” they said.  But… there’s something in me that really wanted to know and to prepare.  And so we asked some of our friends and family to join us for a GENDER REVEAL party on Saturday.  There were a few steps that had to be taken to keep it a secret (mostly from ourselves).  Here’s what we did:

Step 1: At 19 weeks, I had an ultrasound and the technician sent the important information to my midwife.

Step 2: My midwife put the gender of the baby in a SEALED envelope.  (It was so hard not to look in the envelope… but I knew it would ruin the whole surprise!)

Step 3: I then gave the sealed envelope to Diane Tavares from Have Your Cake and Eat it Too.  Her job was the most important… she had to make a FABULOUS cake, and the icing INSIDE the cake would be the colour of the gender of our baby (pink or blue).

Step 4: We invited all of our amazing friends and family.  But no big deal if you couldn’t make it, because Justin setup a LIVE feed which streamed during the night so that our far away friends and family could be part of the surprise too!

Step 5: PARTY TIME!!  Everyone who was invited came dressed in blue or pink, depending if they thought we were having a girl or a boy.  Justin & I both thought we were having a boy… so we dressed in blue!  (I’m still shocked that we were right!)

Step 6: CUT THE CAKE

We had the best night ever.  We didn’t know whether it would be as exciting as we had hoped… but it was.  And everyone who was there made it so special for us!  THANKS AGAIN!  Here are some photos of the night:

The main event: Our CAKE!

Ustreaming LIVE to friends all over including my sister Amy in Australia!

The ICING was BLUE!!!!! It was such an amazing moment

Justin & I just minutes after finding out we were having a BOY!

Photobooth FUN times…

My crazy dad and lovely mom (drove all the way from Timmins to find out with us!!)

Here’s a familiar face… Christine & I holding our baby colours.

Me and some lovely ladies… and I’m the only one who’s actually preggo!

Suggestion:  If you’re wanting to find out the sex of your baby, but would still LOVE to make it special…. Consider having one of these parties.  SO FUN!

Call me sappy (or maybe it’s the hormones from the pregnancy! ha!), but every time I see a montage of medal deserving clips to the tune of “I Believe”, or see an athlete succeed in the sport they’ve been training in — SO many emotions well-up inside!!!  I think it’s the fact that the medals they’re collecting for themselves are a part of our Canadian heritage as well.  And it’s also the inspiration these athletes give because they are so EXCELLENT in their sport. This is their thing.  This is what they’ll be known for.  It makes me think of what I will be known for…

Anyway, this afternoon as I spent the day on my computer in front of the TV watching the ladies’ snowboard cross qualifications through to the GOLD medal winnings of Maëlle Ricker… I couldn’t help myself but yell ALOUD.  Mr. Reu freaked a little, I may have shocked myself as well but I couldn’t help it!  I have a hunch that as these Olympic days continue, my Canadian PRIDE may get out of control

GO CANADA GO!

#1 Simple Pleasure of the week: I can’t get enough of Cherry Blossoms… I don’t know another soul who likes these as much as I do… but I don’t care.  (I’ve eaten 4 this week!!)

Are there any other Cherry Blossom lovers out there?  I. love. cherries.

#2 Simple Pleasure of the week: Malcolm Gladwell’s book “BLINK”.  I loved  Outliers so much that I asked for his other two books for Christmas.

Tell me you’ve read his stuff.  If you haven’t… I’ll let you in on a secret.  It’s shameful for me to share.  I feel like people judge me when I tell them.  So I hate saying it… I don’t like to read.  Almost ever.  I mean, I read my Bible… and blogs…………. but other than that, I have a hard time sitting down with a book to read.  BUT if you give me something by Malcolm Gladwell or Donald Miller, I’m usually loving my life (because I’m actually reading).

#3 Simple Pleasure of the week:  And with this, I digress  Thanks to my lovely mother who showed me how to play Bubble Pop on her phone.  I quickly found a similar app for my iphone and I’m hooked.  I’m laughing out loud thinking about last week when my mom was visiting and wanted to go to Square One.  So Justin and I went with her… except I didn’t shop at all.  I was like a total guy, sitting outside the stores on the nearest bench and playing Bubble Pop.  My mom (and Justin) were stunned at my lack of shopping interest.  They wanted to have a Bubble Pop intervention for me… but I didn’t want anything to do with that

So I guess I have no complaints for this week.  I mean, really, I don’t think I’m allowed to complain… It’s been good.   There’s obviously a lot going on in the world and so I sit here and I just feel blessed wondering what can be done for some of those Haitians who will never have the chance to experience some of our simple pleasures.

But amazingly enough, I’ve been overwhelmed at how people are coming together to give…. generously.  AWESOME.  I love it.

I hope you have a pleasing weekend enjoying some of your simple pleasures

Mel

Here are a few of my favourites from the night!

For those of you who are wondering who puts this great event on???  It’s Anne Warren and her amazing team from The Wedding Ring.  Anne’s the one who interviewed me for MY REVIEW on theweddingring!  She’s fab and so is her daughter (you know I’ll never forget her Anne!! She was too cute!) ha!

Christine Martin from Pure Potential organized the event and brought her own GLAMOROUS style to it!

We were going to try and get some nice shots of the ladies walking to the Ball… but downtown Kitchener is under construction!

Elements nightclub let us GLAM up their venue for this event!

Mmmmm what’s a party without cake or sweet treats??? Thanks to Sweet Sweets, Too Nice to Slice, and whoever else who provided all the yumminess! Our tastebuds LOVED you!

Seriously Ida, your cakes are amazing!

Ladybug Bridal in Guelph provided the dresses on display!  WOW!

Kim from The Creative Bride was looking hot that night and helped make the place look hot too!! Kim, your decor and flowers were beautiful…

I wasn’t the only photographer on site… Paul & Anita from Images with Attitude were running the photo booth!

Here’s Kim in her gown that I wanted to snatch from her!

Because of the dark nightclub lighting… I was in search for any kind of dramatic light.

A few more thank you’s to Etched in Time for videography and to the guy who kept the people dancing, DJ Kyle from planet goodtime!
And last but not least THANK YOU for those who came out to support the Grand River Hospital!

First, I’ve recently been reviewed on The Wedding Ring!! It went up this week and I’d love for you to click HERE, check it out, and give me some feedback  For those of you who don’t know, The Wedding Ring is “…changing the way brides plan weddings…”. It is a great place to find all the help and resources you may need to plan YOUR wedding. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should. I personally like the tips&tricks section!

Secondly, for you sweet as iphone users out there… you’ll be glad to know that our blog is iphone friendly
This is what you’ll see when you type in our blog address:

There you have it!
I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

I have an amazing friend Angela who has been putting on this sweet girls conference (Perfectly Flawed) for the past 4 years.

This years theme was “Awake” – emphasizing that we can BE THE CHANGE; one person CAN make a difference.  She asked me to share some of my story of doing missions work in Africa and how that affected my decision to be part of an awareness rally on Saturday (The Rescue of Joseph Kony’s Child Soldiers).  Story after story, we were all inspired to actually do the things that make our hearts jump.  I was telling my girls that sometimes it feels like there’s SO much that can be done and it can be a LOT overwhelming – but if we each do a little… it will make a BIG difference.

One of my favourite parts of PF is the fashion show that they put on.  The wonderful Lisa heads this up with tons of help from her youth girls…  Here are some photos from this “modest is hottest” show

This is the very talented Angela

The girls makeup was soooooo amazingly done!!

Don’t you love the feathers on their eyes

Everyone who made it happen…

Dearest Sarah, I’m so happy that I was able to sing with you this past weekend! You rock!

The very talented sisters… Lisa & Gloria.

Thanks to the lovely Laura for snatching my camera and taking the next two photos of me, Angela, and Sarah singing it up!

Let me encourage you to find an organization that you believe in… and help support it.
Here’s a really amazing one that I learned about this weekend. Check it out! Oppurtunity International

Anyway, we had a GREAT day.  He talked for hours… then he did a short shoot with Justin & I (since the models didn’t show up), then he took headshots of us…

I learned so much and feel so inspired!

He’s quite the funny guy

Here’s [b]ecker taking a headshot of Emma Smallbone of barebonephoto

Another new friend… Sandra Regier (mother of 5 – I know can you believe it… I’m still shocked!!)

David Biesse and [b]ecker chatting it up

I’m pretty sure Dave just showed [b]ecker a shortcut in photoshop Definitely worth a hug!!