LIFE: CAPTURED masterclass with Ronnie

Ever since I heard about their new venture, I've been so excited for Ronnie and Trish. These two women are seriously motivated and it's inspiring to see. After running several LIFE CAPTURED workshops they've just launched a beautiful website, LIFE: CAPTURED Inc. I love their mission and their tagline, 'The modern school of memory keeping.' On October 17th, I will be attending Ronnie's masterclass, Photo Organisation with Lightroom, and I cannot wait!

In her own words:

This masterclass is perfect for anybody who feels overwhelmed by all the photos and other media files that they have. Together, you will learn how to consolidate, re-name, organise, manage, and keyword every one of your photo files - from the past, present and the future. "No file left behind" will become your mantra. You will leave this masterclass feeling confident in your own ability to keep your photo library well-organised.

- Ronnie

I'm looking forward to learning from Ronnie; she is the most organised and efficient person I have ever met, and if even a little bit of that rubs off I will be grateful! As I take on professional photography work, I find that I'm documenting our lives less, and I'm not very happy about it. I'm hoping that establishing a really solid system will help me in my own memory keeping efforts. And I have to say that I'm also quite keen to catch up with Ronnie (it's been a while) and have a day on my own in the beautiful Northern Beaches…

If you're interested, they're offering a $75 discount for this first round of masterclass. You can sign up here or email ronnie@lifecapturedinc.com

I hope to meet some of you there!

simple

These days I'm craving and relishing simplicity. It might have something to do with the lingering cold I've had for the last 2 weeks, or it may be because my energy has been low, but whatever the reasons, I'm rolling with it. I've been meaning to give my blog a makeover for 6 months now, but I'm a procrastinator so I've only just gotten to it. I loved the pink, but it's nice to have a clean, fresh, simple look. I hope you like it too.

Over the last 5 weeks I've been doing this course through The Red Tent. It's been eye opening and full of practical advice. I've learned a lot! It's really changed my approach to feeding Clementine. I used to think that if I wanted her to be a good eater, I had to expose her to every food under the sun in her first years of life. She's never been a great eater and I've been stressing over it since she was 1 month old (seriously). I've been learning, however, that from a Chinese Medicine perspective, children need simple, warm food. I've been changing Clementine's diet to include less dairy and fruit, and more easy to digest, nourishing foods like chicken congee, home-made bone broths, steamed vegetables and oatmeal. She's been responding so well! My husband (ever skeptical of "alternative" methods like Chinese Medicine) was just saying that he can't believe how well Clementine has been eating lately. He's a total convert now. Mealtimes have become so much more simple and she's eating so much more. I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

I hope you're all having a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

motherhood around the world

a photo from my very first trip to Australia, when I was your typical Canadian backpacker

Today I am so, so excited to be featured on one of my favourite blogs, A Cup of Jo. Joanna's lovely editor, Caroline, interviewed me about my experience of being a Canadian mother in Australia. When she sent over the first round of questions, I found myself writing an essay in response to each and every one. It was the first time I've ever sat down, reflected on and put into writing all of my thoughts on being an expat. I had so much to say, and I kept thinking, "I should write a book about this!" For now though, you can read my interview here.

And if you've found your way here via A Cup of Jo, welcome! I hope you can make yourself a cup of tea and stay a while.

p.s. As a disclaimer, I know that my experience does not speak for all expats in Australia, or even for all Canadian expats in Australia. I did my best to keep that in mind as I answered the questions, and also to keep in mind that while I have travelled throughout Australia, I have only ever lived in Sydney. 

family photography: Theresa + Mason

Earlier this week, Clementine and I drove up to Terrigal to spend some time with Theresa and Mason. While we were there, we met up with Jodi on the beach early one morning. She took photos of me and the little one for my first sling diaries post (can't wait to share!) and then I got behind the camera to shoot Theresa and her sleeping babe. He did eventually wake up and the babies enjoyed some beach time, which resulted in a few of my favourite photos ever.

In between photo taking the three of us chatted about life and blogging, travel and babies. It's so nice—and so important, I think—to have other mum friends. Both friends who are right at the same stage as you (and can commiserate as well as rejoice in gummy smiles and tiny toes) and friends who are further along in their parenting journey (who can inspire and reassure). Today I'm grateful for friends, old and new.

p.s. the winner of the Love To Dream™ INVENTA Sleep Bag™ is announced here

Kinfolk Australia

This week I was lucky enough to attend two Kinfolk events: a media day and a dinner at Glenmore House. I had been trying to get along to one of their events for ages, so I was pinching myself that I got to spend two days in a row in the beautiful world of Kinfolk.

Earlier this week a small group of bloggers, artists, photographers and creatives gathered in the stunning home of Jessie James to meet Kinfolk's Co-Founder, Katie Searle-Williams, and Community Director, Julie Pointer. In between bites of yummy food (thank you Mario's Kitchen) I got to chatting with the girls about life in Portland, travel, family, and celebrating Christmas in the "wrong" climate. I was delighted to hear that Kinfolk is doing a feature soon on just this — alternative ways to celebrate Christmas, going beyond the traditional Christmas tree. I was also excited to learn of Kinfolk's Canadian connection; its Founding Editor, Nathan Williams, is Canadian and the magazine is printed in Vancouver.

I find it amazing that Katie and Nathan were able to create something so wildly successful pretty much straight out of college. And that their work has spread way beyond the magazine is also quite impressive. Their vision to foster small gatherings has quite literally become reality with dinners, workshops and events being held all over the world. In no small part thanks to Julie, who organises so many of these gatherings worldwide. Talking to Katie and Julie, it was obvious how driven and passionate they are about their work, and about their co-workers and contributors, who seem like family to them.

The next day my friend Katie and I drove out to Glenmore House for the largest ever Kinfolk dinner. The venue was completely perfect; Katie said it made her feel like she was back at home in the English countryside.

After getting snacks from the grazing table — a big farmhouse style table piled high with bread, cheese, nuts, crackers, strawberries, grapes, cherries and more — we sat down at the longest table I had ever seen. As you would expect from a Kinfolk gathering, every little detail from the menus to the flowers was perfect . Like a pinterest fairytale. The food came out family style, and as we shared with our neighbours we got to know and laugh with new friends. The highlights? A fig, mozzarella and caramelised onion pizza and a rose and almond rice pudding. It was a truly memorable evening and I just have to say thank you again to Luisa, and to Jaclyn for organising it.

tips for photographing your baby

Today you can find me over on Trish's blog, Under Lock and Key, talking about tips for photographing your baby. I loved putting together this guest post for her and I hope you find it helpful!

lately

 

 For the last few weeks, I've been collecting photos in a folder called 'Summer.' Today I bring you a random assortment - perfectly illustrating how we've been spending our time. Lately we've been all about soaking up the end of summer. Eating alfresco, letting Clementine hang out naked, going to the beach, exploring different neighbourhoods, and lying in the hammock. Ahhh I just love summer in Vancouver.

We also got the chance to hang out with Veronika (formerly of Girl & Closet, now of By the Shore), her husband and her cute pup last weekend. She shot that last photo of me and my girl, and the photo of Clemmie asleep in her sling.

How have you been celebrating the end of summer? Or if you're in the southern hemisphere, the beginning of spring?

our day wander with pia jane bijkerk

 

On Saturday I gathered with five lovely ladies as we braved the elements and wandered Sydney with Pia Jane Bijkerk as our guide. Jodi, Luisa, Sophie, Steph and I bought this wonderful day during the campaign for Pia's latest book, Little Treasures: Made by Hand. We started with visits to several Surry Hills shops, where we admired handmade creations and vintage bits and bobs. Over a long lunch at Garden Life the conversation turned to motherhood, babies and birth. Only natural really with one babe in arms (Clementine) and one soon to be born (in Sophie's belly). Lunch was also the perfect opportunity to pick Pia's brain, and what an inspiring lady she is. She creates so much beauty, all the while with an eye to reducing, reusing and recycling.

With full bellies, we walked through puddles to get to Tracey Deep's studio. Behind a door in Redfern - one I never would have noticed - is a room bursting with colour and texture. Aussie blooms, branches, hessian, twine and even safety pins caught my eye. While we were there, Tracey made each of us a little floral sculpture of our very own. I ended up with two when Jodi suffered an allergic reaction to hers (sorry lady, I'll dry yours out for you!) and I can't stop staring at them. Tracey's work is just stunning - perfectly imperfect and so very Australian.

Finally we enjoyed a fairytale tea while listening to the pitter patter of rain on a tin roof. Beautiful, generous Steph gave each of us a handmade flower press and Pia sent us off with one more little gift: a glass bottle with a write up of our day. Like a mini holiday, I left exhausted but inspired to enhance the everyday. To my fellow wanderers, thank you for the company and for the helping hands with Clementine. I hope we can do it again someday, maybe in Queensland next?

Photos 2, 7 & 8 taken by Luisa with my camera. Photo 9 taken by Pia, also with my camera.

on becoming a mummy blogger

I can't help but notice that ever since I became a mom last month, my blog has morphed into a never ending series of photos of Clementine. I feel kind of bad that when you come here now it's all baby, baby, baby!

I suppose I've always struggled to define exactly what my blog is about. When people ask me I've always answered simply, "It's about my life." And right now, as my life is all about motherhood I suppose it's only natural that my blog reflect that as well. That said, I do hope to find a better balance of baby/non-baby related content. I know that as Clementine grows bigger and less dependent on me I'll have more time for adventures and creating, and when the time comes I'll blog about that.

I'd love to know if any of you have experienced the same thing with your blogs. What would you say your blog is about? And has this ever changed with time?

Photo by Gui Jorge

guest post: easy recipes for new mums by kacie

Hello, This Little Port readers. I can't even tell you how truly thrilled I am for Gaby! Clementine is such a beautiful baby and I'm so excited, as I'm sure you are, to see Gaby thrive and grow in her new role as a Mama. As the mother of one little girl, and another set to arrive any day now, I am truly over the moon for her!

Gaby asked me if I would share a recipe that would be easy for a new mama to make, or for a friend to drop off for a newly expanded family. I know it's heading into winter over in Australia, so I'm including three of my favorite comfort food recipes that would be easy to make at home and drop off for a friend in need, and also easy for a new mom to whip up. Both the soup and the casserole can be easily doubled, with one batch to go in the freezer.

First up, this completely healthy and wonderfully comforting Butternut Squash Soup...

Next up is this gourmet version of Tuna Noodle Casserole, the ultimate comfort food...

 Finally, this is my recipe for Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins! They're so yummy and easy...

I hope this gives you (Gaby) some ideas for easy comfort food, and you (readers) some ideas for ways to support someone in need! 

Gaby, congratulations on the birth of your beautiful daughter. Whether you know it or not, you're already an amazing mom.

Love,

Kacie

* Thanks so much Kacie! If you don't already know Kacie's blog, A Collection of Passions, do yourself a favour and go check it out asap. She takes beautiful photos, features amazing recipes and has the cutest family that's set to expand any day now...