Ship Island

Last week we packed up a picnic, all our bathing suits and some towels and boarded a boat for an hour long journey off the gulf coast to a place called Ship Island.

It is a small island with nothing but beaches and a little brush and the boat drops you off in the morning and comes back for you in the afternoon. Nobody lives here and there is only one or two attendants working a little shack that sells sunscreen and floaties and such, but the island is just big enough that despite arriving with 40 or 50 other people we felt like it was our own private island!

It was slightly overcast when we arrived for the day but the heat was amazing and the water is warm.

Wren collected hermit crabs, we examined starfish and even saw dolphins swimming just off shore throughout the day! If I had to imagine what paradise looked like I would guess this is it.

The waters on the south side of the island are really shallow and Wren and I loved walking knee deep and just seeing all the fish swim around our ankles.

We had such a fun, relaxing day stranded out there, it was one of those days you imagine you will never forget the feel of.

Hello from New Orleans!

So we packed up a jumped on a plane for New Orleans a couple weeks ago! I have never in my life been here and to see it all for the first time is nothing short of spectacular. 

[ 7 am flights are probably the least glamorous thing... ever]

We are here for 6 weeks so we rented a little house in one of the older neighbourhoods, just a couple blocks off the Mississippi River. This way we fully settle in and have some sort of routine during our stay as well as getting a full New Orleans experience. 

All our neighbours have a front porch as well and it has been amazing to see how neighbourly and friendly EVERYONE is here. I honestly keep saying to Sean "it feels like we went back in time 40 or 50 years!". The little girls on the block all love to go catch bugs, everyone has welcomed us with open arms and we even had invitations to come over for dinner after only a day here. The reality is that I know nearly every person on our. whole. block. on a first name basis which is not common back home. It has a lot to do with how close houses are here, but I think that it is also that southern hospitality that people here are raised with.

I could spend days just admiring the houses here. Our own house, although small, has incredibly tall ceilings (it goes up another foot or so from the picture rail in this shot of Wren squished between the pocket doors LOL). Every room has a fireplace and every door has a transom window over it, and I cannot get enough!

Some of our neighbours are so creative in their gardening and house paint colours that I have to document it all for future reference! I would love to bring back a little of this flavour somehow in a future project at home.

Wren in particular has just taken to New Orleans. She has a love of plants and animals and between the gorgeous blooms everywhere and the countless friendly dogs and cats that call our street home she is just in heaven.

This beachy blue house down the street has stolen my heart!

But really, every house is special and makes me fall in love.

We live across the Mississippi from the French Quarter so on the days we want to go into the city we catch a 5 minute ferry ride then take trolley cars where we need to go.

The faded out chairs on the ferry deck just make my heart sing!

And of course Wren thinks it's amazing!

You really could get lost just taking in how beautiful everything is down in the French Quarter! From the creole cottages to the townhouses to the taller buildings, everything is dripping in beauty. 

I have been so busy and excited to get out and explore that I actually haven't even whipped out my Canon at all, just shooting with my iPhone, but I definitely need to make a point of snapping some more of our little neighbourhood and I can't wait to share the rest of our stay in my next post!

Happiest of Fridays guys!

2 Months

Wow, I can't believe it's been 2 months since I've shared here! I even went a week without posting on Instagram which is unheard of in my world but life is moving at warp speed right now and I am doing everything I can to just document it when possible. The sharing stuff can come later (or now!) but I just want to make sure I don't let the sands of time slip through my fingers without at least capturing a few to cherish forever.

We had a great Spring Break a couple weeks back. Sorely needed by all, as Wren is one of the youngest grade 1 students and between the long days and the long winter she was starting to get a little bear-like by dinner time. So we headed just a few hours south and did a fun couple days in Calgary. We made reservations at the Aloft hotel and stayed there the whole time, just enjoying the amenities. Wren is a water baby and we enjoyed most of our stay pool side.

Wren has also become really interested in photography! I'd say it's probably her first true hobby and so I've been teaching her some of my limited knowledge. It's incredibly fun to scroll through her memory card every week or so to see what she has captured, including plenty of less than flattering shot of Sean and I LOL, but it's kind of nice to finally be the one not stuck behind the lens, even if most of her shots catch us in our jammies and without our hair or makeup done for the day. But she manages to capture a lot of our 'real' life.

Life with three dogs is also adding a lot of fullness to life! We are working on training and containing the madness but there is such an abundance of love that I can't complain. 

There have been birthdays on top of birthdays, but even an otherwise quiet Tuesday can deserve a little celebration. The memories of an average day being ended with a little love and making them special are what I aim to leave Wren with of her childhood. This past year of full school days really drive home the fact that her days of being little are really really limited and I need to make the most of them.

In other, more vain, news. I dyed my hair back to brown! I loveeeeed the purple but it was a) a ton of work, and b) not the look I was aiming for with an upcoming project. So I went back to my natural colour and kept it interesting by adding bangs to the mix.

I had to adjust to the bangs, but I have really been digging them so I think they will stay for a bit. They add a little more style to my usual top knot or ponytail. Try as I might, if I wear my hair down it is usually up by lunch time...

And that's been our March/April. Bring it on May!!

Pinned Bob

I have done long long mermaid hair, shorter, chin length hair and pretty much everything in between. I always LOVE LOVE LOVE my shorter hair, but about 3 or 4 weeks in I start to miss the versatility and ease of just being able to throw my hair up in a pony tail or messy bun and begin the long process of again growing it out. About 2 years ago I discovered the awesomeness of pinning my longer hair into a messy bob for the day. No more craving shorter hair since I can play with it for a few days then go back to long, easy hair.

The secret is having layers that are the length of the bob you want. Specially in the front. Mine are between shoulder and chin length.

Some gentle teasing around the hairs on my neckline and some pins are all I use. Just pulling three or four sections up in total. I simply tuck the hair under then secure with two pins criss crossed over each other and it seems to hold all day!

A little messy length in front keeps it fun and easy to pull behind my ears.

You can adjust and play with it until it feels about right, there's no wrong way to do it 

And now I am patiently going to wait a few more washes for my hair to tone down to the perfect pastel (oops! got a little carried away with the last colour touch up LOL).

Memories

We had the best weekend at the cabin. We had our best friends out and made it a relaxing weekend to remember. There were 2 kids, 4 adults, 4 dogs and lots of laughs. They are more like family to us so it doesn't feel like entertaining, just everyone taking it easy and enjoying the moment.

One of the highlights was the boys deciding to throw us girls a private fireworks show. I think they had more fun orchestrating the whole thing really, but it was incredible. 

Lots of warm snuggles by the fire.

It was definitely the kind of weekend I treasure.

Photo Fun / 1

Sometimes when I'm looking for some inspiration I play with my photos. It's an awesome way of coming up with a cool colour combination that may not have naturally come to me when I play with the hue adjuster on my favourite photo editors ( I like using Pixlr when I'm on my computer at home, or Afterlight app on my phone). It is also a great way to take your photos to a cool new level if you wanted to have them all be coordinated and cohesive for a gallery wall!

I usually save them for myself, but I thought I might start sharing some of my play time creations, just because.  Literally the only thing altered is the hue, it's not a photoshop trick or time consuming process. You just scroll the hue meter back and forth until you think the colours look good! Definitely give it a go.

PS: all these photos were taken on my phone, so don't feel like you need to be using the fanciest equipment to make something beautiful.

And lastly, who wouldn't want a cute little purple dog??? Sounds like every little girls dream.

xoxo

   Holly

life's short.

Too short to not go on an adventure, each chocolate, or have purple hair. At least for a little while!

Nothing is permanent, but I am not one to take my hair really seriously anyway so I bought these pretty little colours at Sally last week and did a mix of mostly Lavender with just a hint of Azure mixed in to add a little more cool ness to all the warmth in my hair. I barely used any actually, but I did a couple test strips of hair and the straight Lavender was a smidge too reddish on it's own so I'm really happy with my little mix.

I also diluted it all with a little conditioner to tone it down from being too vibrant, and more on the pastel side (but not too pastel off the bat since it will fade naturally to that colour on it's own)

Looks like 2015 is shaping up to be my year of shape shifting hair colours LOL.

xoxo