Check it out! Tim is Peterborough famous!
http://trailswag.ca/blog/2013/7/31/chalk-talk-tim-rollwagen
Wednesday 31 July 2013
Wedding Project: Guest Book
While trolling through Pinterest just after getting engaged, I found multiple Pins of photo guest books done with the engagement pictures. (Just search 'Photo Guest Book' and you'll get tons.)
It helped that our photo package from our wonderful photographer, Charlotte Clements, had engagement photos included. It didn't help that Tim and I are crazily busy ALL THE TIME. And somehow it worked out that on the odd days that we weren't busy, the weather was just crap. That made photos a no go, since we knew we wanted to do them outside. I had High Falls stuck in my mind as a site for photos. It's gorgeous, it's where Tim first told me he loved me, and we even have photos of Tim's grandfather at High Falls with friends after World War II. When we were having such trouble scheduling it, Tim actually suggested we just do the photos at Jackson Park in Peterborough. Jackson Park is a beautiful spot, but so many people do their photos there and it just didn't really have any particular significance to it for us.
We found some great spots to shoot - a low lying area of ferns next to the river, a rocky outcrop overlooking a small lake, multiple spots at the falls. Charlotte was really great at giving direction without sounding bossy, and I LOVE how a lot of the shots turned out. It was great to get the engagement shots done, because Tim and I got to have a really honest conversation about which shots we loved, which ones we thought weren't flattering, and which poses we thought looked unnatural. We both have specific things we're self-conscious of and now we know what to avoid doing in the photos to not have those things be front and centre. Like my weirdly crowded lower teeth, or when Tim pulls his head back and gives himself a double chin.
Charlotte had the photos back to us yesterday, nine days after the shoot. I think it was a really good turnaround, especially considering she gave us a disc with almost 200 photos, at least half of which were edits. As soon as I got home from work, Tim and I picked out our favourites, then I arranged them into Artifact Uprising's online photo book creator. The upload time was fast and the editor was pretty easy to use. Only a couple of improvements I'd like to see: some indicator showing whether the photo is already in the book and some tools to automatically align elements like text and photos. It took me about five hours total to arrange the book and put in some text. Tim finished off his areas of text this morning, then we submitted the order!
I really, really hope we get it in time for the wedding - we're really down to the wire now. It says they have an eight work day processing time and then a possible five day shipping time. If it takes the max, we'll only get it four days before the wedding. Fingers crossed!
I also found a Pin for a company called Artifact Uprising, who sells the most beautiful cloth-covered photo books. You can check out their website at www.artifactuprising.com. I fell in love with their products. I knew I wanted one for our guest book for the wedding. I can just see creating these for all the big moments in our lives - the engagement photos, the wedding, vacations, babies!
A promo shot from Artifact Uprising's website of the same photo book Tim and I have ordered.
It helped that our photo package from our wonderful photographer, Charlotte Clements, had engagement photos included. It didn't help that Tim and I are crazily busy ALL THE TIME. And somehow it worked out that on the odd days that we weren't busy, the weather was just crap. That made photos a no go, since we knew we wanted to do them outside. I had High Falls stuck in my mind as a site for photos. It's gorgeous, it's where Tim first told me he loved me, and we even have photos of Tim's grandfather at High Falls with friends after World War II. When we were having such trouble scheduling it, Tim actually suggested we just do the photos at Jackson Park in Peterborough. Jackson Park is a beautiful spot, but so many people do their photos there and it just didn't really have any particular significance to it for us.
Tim and I just at the beginning of the trail to High Falls
We finally managed to schedule our engagement shoot for July 21st and everything was perfect, including the weather. We managed to come out of a crazy heat wave that would have made it impossible just a few days before the shoot. We should have warned Charlotte a bit better . . . It's a 6 km hike. And a bit of an up and down one. And Tim forgot the bug spray in the car. Eeek! She was amazing, though. Lugged her gear around like the pro she is, just sweating buckets. Luckily the bugs weren't too bad.
We had amazing light at this point, overlooking a small lake/bend in the river.
We found some great spots to shoot - a low lying area of ferns next to the river, a rocky outcrop overlooking a small lake, multiple spots at the falls. Charlotte was really great at giving direction without sounding bossy, and I LOVE how a lot of the shots turned out. It was great to get the engagement shots done, because Tim and I got to have a really honest conversation about which shots we loved, which ones we thought weren't flattering, and which poses we thought looked unnatural. We both have specific things we're self-conscious of and now we know what to avoid doing in the photos to not have those things be front and centre. Like my weirdly crowded lower teeth, or when Tim pulls his head back and gives himself a double chin.
Actually in the falls - the water was so refreshing after the hike in!
Charlotte had the photos back to us yesterday, nine days after the shoot. I think it was a really good turnaround, especially considering she gave us a disc with almost 200 photos, at least half of which were edits. As soon as I got home from work, Tim and I picked out our favourites, then I arranged them into Artifact Uprising's online photo book creator. The upload time was fast and the editor was pretty easy to use. Only a couple of improvements I'd like to see: some indicator showing whether the photo is already in the book and some tools to automatically align elements like text and photos. It took me about five hours total to arrange the book and put in some text. Tim finished off his areas of text this morning, then we submitted the order!
It wouldn't be a hiking trip for Tim and I if we didn't take food and drinks. We also had a full cheese course with cheeses from Chasing the Cheese in Peterborough, arugula, crostini, and some preserves.
I really, really hope we get it in time for the wedding - we're really down to the wire now. It says they have an eight work day processing time and then a possible five day shipping time. If it takes the max, we'll only get it four days before the wedding. Fingers crossed!
If you want to check out Charlotte's photography, her website is http://www.cfcpix.com/. I really recommend her.
**UPDATE** It took the full eight business days to be processed. Now we'll see whether they are within the five day shipping estimate. I'm cutting it close!
**UPDATE** It took the full eight business days to be processed. Now we'll see whether they are within the five day shipping estimate. I'm cutting it close!
Tuesday 30 July 2013
Secret dreams
Or perhaps not so secret, since I'm sharing them online for all the world to see.
I occasionally have extremely vivid dreams. I used to have nightmares, but sometime after university, they changed. Now I'll have what would classify as a scary dream, but I'll somehow manage the situation during my dream. I've had a dream where men were trying to murder me, but I calmly managed to stay one step ahead of them. Or where I've fallen off a mountain, but then managed to grab a outcrop at a crucial moment. Or I've gone out indecently clothed in public, but everyone acts like I'm just normal. I guess I've always had a vivid imagination.
This morning I had a dream just before my alarm went off. I find dreams like this are the ones I remember best. Which is why I'm frantically typing a blog post, trying to get it down for posterity before 6:30 a.m. on a workday.
I was dreaming about the Ride for Heart, only it was a kind of off-road, obstacle-filled Ride for Heart. Not like the real Ride, which is done on the Don Valley Parkway and is actually a very nice, easy route. Except for the on-ramp at the 25 km turnaround, which just about killed me, but that's a story for another day. In my dream Ride for Heart, I was riding with Sarah and she was just ahead of me on a really narrow railroad bridge with sides. I was super tired and wanted to go slow, but for some reason my peddling was making me go faster and faster. So I passed Sarah as soon as we got off the bridge. I was biking through a rail yard on the water's edge with piles of ties everywhere. There was another slow kid in front of me who wouldn't get off to the side, so I went off the path and biked over a big pile of ties BMX style! Then I whipped around a corner, cut across an open patch of water, and then did a wheelie up about forty feet of stairs. I got about halfway up the giant set of stairs in the air before I started to lose momentum, but I managed to reach out and grab the railway, even though it felt like I was ten or twelve feet off of the stairs at that point.
Then my alarm went off and I woke up. I need to copy and paste all of this into a dream analyzer. Do I have a secret dream to be better than my sister? Hard, considering she's a successful planner in Edmonton flying all over the province for her job, in a relationship with a great guy where they always have crazy activities and travel planned, and she has more of her loans paid off than me. Which is pathetic, considering I graduated four years before she did. Maybe I have a secret ambition to be a trick bike rider, even though the few times I've gone offroad mountain biking I've been terrified of falling off or running into a tree.
I occasionally have extremely vivid dreams. I used to have nightmares, but sometime after university, they changed. Now I'll have what would classify as a scary dream, but I'll somehow manage the situation during my dream. I've had a dream where men were trying to murder me, but I calmly managed to stay one step ahead of them. Or where I've fallen off a mountain, but then managed to grab a outcrop at a crucial moment. Or I've gone out indecently clothed in public, but everyone acts like I'm just normal. I guess I've always had a vivid imagination.
This morning I had a dream just before my alarm went off. I find dreams like this are the ones I remember best. Which is why I'm frantically typing a blog post, trying to get it down for posterity before 6:30 a.m. on a workday.
I was dreaming about the Ride for Heart, only it was a kind of off-road, obstacle-filled Ride for Heart. Not like the real Ride, which is done on the Don Valley Parkway and is actually a very nice, easy route. Except for the on-ramp at the 25 km turnaround, which just about killed me, but that's a story for another day. In my dream Ride for Heart, I was riding with Sarah and she was just ahead of me on a really narrow railroad bridge with sides. I was super tired and wanted to go slow, but for some reason my peddling was making me go faster and faster. So I passed Sarah as soon as we got off the bridge. I was biking through a rail yard on the water's edge with piles of ties everywhere. There was another slow kid in front of me who wouldn't get off to the side, so I went off the path and biked over a big pile of ties BMX style! Then I whipped around a corner, cut across an open patch of water, and then did a wheelie up about forty feet of stairs. I got about halfway up the giant set of stairs in the air before I started to lose momentum, but I managed to reach out and grab the railway, even though it felt like I was ten or twelve feet off of the stairs at that point.
Then my alarm went off and I woke up. I need to copy and paste all of this into a dream analyzer. Do I have a secret dream to be better than my sister? Hard, considering she's a successful planner in Edmonton flying all over the province for her job, in a relationship with a great guy where they always have crazy activities and travel planned, and she has more of her loans paid off than me. Which is pathetic, considering I graduated four years before she did. Maybe I have a secret ambition to be a trick bike rider, even though the few times I've gone offroad mountain biking I've been terrified of falling off or running into a tree.
Sunday 28 July 2013
Our recovery time isn't what it used to be.
I don't know about you, but I'm quickly approaching the thirty mark and something about aging has destroyed my ability to recover after partying. I used to be able to drink heavily Friday and Saturday, barely sleep, and still operate decently well on Sunday. Whereas today, after just one night of drinking, I got out of bed at 9:30, went to the washroom, walked downstairs, and had to immediately lay down on the couch. I was lucky that the remote control was in reach, because I'm not sure I could have gotten back up to get it. I put on cartoons and dozed back off until it was afternoon. I'm glad at that point I decided to get up and get some juice, because there was a mirror on the way and I got to see how terrible I looked. That at least convinced me to shower and put on some makeup before Tim got home and decided he didn't want to marry me after all.
This is the point where a lot of people moan and say that they'll never drink again, but I've never been that type of hungover person. All I have to do is pull out the camera or phone and look at the pictures from the night before to start laughing and remembering what an amazing, fun time I had. And given that last night was my bachelorette party, I earned my hangover the honest way.
After Lindsay got a pretty little veil tucked into my hair, we headed downtown. I think they were originally planning on checking out a few bars, but we went to Riley's first and I never wanted to leave! Ever since I moved back to Peterborough, Riley's has been my bar. My Cheers, kind of - where at one point, most of the servers and bartenders knew my name. Now, since Tim and I have been together I don't go out as much (damn boy cramping my style), there are only a few of the old staff still there who recognize me. But it's still my place. My favourite bartender, Guy, was working the bar and had my rum and Coke ready for me as soon as I stepped up. He even gave it to me on the house, seeing as I was wearing a veil and all. After that, things get a little blurry - four hours went by AWFULLY quick. I do know at one point there was four shots in front of me, and at another there were three rum and Cokes. That there is a video floating around somewhere of me doing a muff dive - which is a shot out of a pile of whipped cream that you're not allowed to use your hands to take. I believe that one was on the house as well. I know the guy at the table next to us bought all of us a round. And there was one really geeky guy that kept offering to pay for whatever we needed - until he passed out in his nachos and got escorted out of the bar. Ew - and then another group of people started eating them! He had drooled in those!!
By the end of the night a few of my other friends had popped into Riley's as part of their own nights and it was good to mingle and visit. We wound up being one of the last to leave around 3:00 a.m. when they had already turned on the lights and were cleaning up. All the staff there are wonderful. Polite and friendly, even when we were keeping them from their own beds. Cory was a sweetheart and drove downtown to pick us up. I don't really remember getting from there to bed, but I woke up all cozy this morning, snug as a bug.
Time to reflect. This is my second bachelorette. My first one was everything I had asked for - a laid back cottage weekend with the girls, just very low key. This one was completely different, but I loved every second of it. I was chatting with my sister, Sarah, about it earlier and she said, "It sounds like everything you didn't know you wanted, but did." And she's right.
It is helping my hangover a little bit to see Tim's. My bachelorette was one night - Tim's was Thursday through to this morning and he is looking like it. It's evening and he's been passed out on the couch already for three hours. Poor guy. Celebrating a wedding is hard work, and it's not even the wedding yet! I can't wait!
This is the point where a lot of people moan and say that they'll never drink again, but I've never been that type of hungover person. All I have to do is pull out the camera or phone and look at the pictures from the night before to start laughing and remembering what an amazing, fun time I had. And given that last night was my bachelorette party, I earned my hangover the honest way.
Jenn (and baby!), Lindsay, me, Lisa, and Alana all dressed in black to celebrate!
It helped that my friend Lindsay did a great job setting up the party and I got to celebrate with a few of my favourite girls. The theme was a night in black to balance out my day in white! Lindsay and her husband Cory cooked us a delicious meal and Lindsay had the whole place decorated - even the bathroom! There were funny favour bags with candy, personalized shotglasses, condoms, and penis playing cards that had little tasks on them for the night ahead. After dinner I opened up the gifts that the girls had gotten me. Let me tell you, I think Tim is really going to enjoy some of them! Ooo-la-la!!
Completing playing card tasks - steal a guy's hat for a photo.
The only embarrassing moment of the night (if you can be embarrassed when you're just with your girlfriends) is when I exclaimed over how I was the only one drinking and Lisa said she thought I was just drinking the punch. Which I was. And it didn't have any alcohol in it. Yikes . . . A few of us mixed up drinks shortly after that. At least I didn't say that I was feeling really drunk!!
Wait, is no one else doing a shot? Okay, I'll just cheers myself!
After Lindsay got a pretty little veil tucked into my hair, we headed downtown. I think they were originally planning on checking out a few bars, but we went to Riley's first and I never wanted to leave! Ever since I moved back to Peterborough, Riley's has been my bar. My Cheers, kind of - where at one point, most of the servers and bartenders knew my name. Now, since Tim and I have been together I don't go out as much (damn boy cramping my style), there are only a few of the old staff still there who recognize me. But it's still my place. My favourite bartender, Guy, was working the bar and had my rum and Coke ready for me as soon as I stepped up. He even gave it to me on the house, seeing as I was wearing a veil and all. After that, things get a little blurry - four hours went by AWFULLY quick. I do know at one point there was four shots in front of me, and at another there were three rum and Cokes. That there is a video floating around somewhere of me doing a muff dive - which is a shot out of a pile of whipped cream that you're not allowed to use your hands to take. I believe that one was on the house as well. I know the guy at the table next to us bought all of us a round. And there was one really geeky guy that kept offering to pay for whatever we needed - until he passed out in his nachos and got escorted out of the bar. Ew - and then another group of people started eating them! He had drooled in those!!
A natural inability to keep my eyes open in photos, plus a lot of drinking, PLUS a crazy bright iPhone flash = photos where I look more hammered than I am. Lisa looks very happy about it, though!
By the end of the night a few of my other friends had popped into Riley's as part of their own nights and it was good to mingle and visit. We wound up being one of the last to leave around 3:00 a.m. when they had already turned on the lights and were cleaning up. All the staff there are wonderful. Polite and friendly, even when we were keeping them from their own beds. Cory was a sweetheart and drove downtown to pick us up. I don't really remember getting from there to bed, but I woke up all cozy this morning, snug as a bug.
There were actually three of these in front of me, but I couldn't figure out how to pick them all up at once!
Time to reflect. This is my second bachelorette. My first one was everything I had asked for - a laid back cottage weekend with the girls, just very low key. This one was completely different, but I loved every second of it. I was chatting with my sister, Sarah, about it earlier and she said, "It sounds like everything you didn't know you wanted, but did." And she's right.
It is helping my hangover a little bit to see Tim's. My bachelorette was one night - Tim's was Thursday through to this morning and he is looking like it. It's evening and he's been passed out on the couch already for three hours. Poor guy. Celebrating a wedding is hard work, and it's not even the wedding yet! I can't wait!
Aw. Poor hungover Tim.
Saturday 27 July 2013
Back on air, folks!
So after a year's hiatus, I decided it was time to get back into blogging! I have really missed having a blog since I stopped last year. Life just got away from me a bit. But within the next month I'll be moving to a small town and getting married (Eeee!). It's time to reevaluate my priorities and I definitely want a blog to be back in my life.
I can't say that I'll be focusing on any one area. You'll probably get some recipes, some hiking and camping stories, a few features on stores, restaurants, and bars in the Kawartha Lakes/Peterborough area. Maybe some DIYs or reviews on gear or makeup and skincare products. Most definitely silly little stories and catch-ups from mine and Tim's lives.
If this isn't enough and you want to see more of us (so exciting!), you can follow us on Twitter at @trollwag and @lolastephenson or follow me on Instagram at @laurarollwagen.
I'll leave you with a few pictures of my farmer's market purchases this morning. The start to every perfect Saturday!
I can't say that I'll be focusing on any one area. You'll probably get some recipes, some hiking and camping stories, a few features on stores, restaurants, and bars in the Kawartha Lakes/Peterborough area. Maybe some DIYs or reviews on gear or makeup and skincare products. Most definitely silly little stories and catch-ups from mine and Tim's lives.
If this isn't enough and you want to see more of us (so exciting!), you can follow us on Twitter at @trollwag and @lolastephenson or follow me on Instagram at @laurarollwagen.
I'll leave you with a few pictures of my farmer's market purchases this morning. The start to every perfect Saturday!
Cherry and vanilla custard tarts - one of my favourites, but these are for Dean and Wendy.
Fresh beets and kale! You can't tell really from this photo (nothing for scale), but this is a ton of beets. The greens took up fully half of my gigantic size market bag.
Three pounds of fresh sweet cherries. All meant to be pitted and frozen for the cherry mustard for the cheese course at the wedding. We'll see how that goes with my dinky little cherry pitter. First world problem, given that I even have a cherry pitter.
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