Happy New Year! Well...Happy Chinese New Year- which I guess I always feel connected to having been born in China! I was born under the sign of the Tiger so this is my year!
Its a grey and chilly Monday here but I'm not complaining! It seems as though my childhood dream to be able to enjoy the Fall and Spring but skip Winter entirely has been realized! I am in shock that on February 15th we have yet to see a single flake of snow and that the cherry blossoms are in full bloom! It has been about 10 degrees every day and drops to about 8 at night...I love it!
Matt and I had a great weekend together for Valentine's...we skipped the Hallmark side of things and got out of town for a night instead. Our friends Darren and Ali had rented a room in Port Renfrew (which is not a dream destination but oddly enough is about a 20 minute drive to excellent surf...hmmm...I smell a surf trip disguised by hearts and champagne...) and we managed to get the room right next to the theirs - cute little place - good off season price and the rooms were complete with kitchenette and lots of space. It was great to catch up with our friends as we hadn't seen them since Hallowe'en! Sunday started off rainy and misty but we headed to the beach anyway- I chose not to 'surf' and hang with Ali on the beach instead. The god's were on our side as the clouds broke and the sun came out in full force- what a unbelievable day- the guys got 3 hours in the water. I took the camera from the studio for the weekend with the hopes of getting some pictures of the trees at Sombrio to blow up and hang in our home- I will share those later! Matt and I cooked an amazing Indian dinner together and watched a movie at home to top off the weekend perfectly.
Speaking of the studio- its basically finished and ready to go!!! All we need now are babies to photograph! I'm sure we'll be very busy as soon as we hit the button on the marketing materials and get the advertising side of things out there. I must admit to being very nervous but excited as well. My boss has been here in Victoria for 3 weeks now and plans to stay for another month he claims to help me get things going. He's been very good to me through all of this- he picks me up and brings me home every day and takes me out for breakfast and lunch most days. He also treats Matt and I to nice dinners once in a while - which is very nice of him. I'm sure he appreciates the company as well...living alone in a hotel room can't be too exciting. I will be keeping a blog of our shoots once we get going - if you care to have a look at it- I had started one a while back when we were doing the "in home" shoots - before the studio- and I had started it off with the Jen/Jer maternity shoot I did- as that was my very first time! You can see that here: http://www.justarrivedstudio.blogspot.com
I will be updating it as often as I can with shoots from the studio sessions!
Matt has finally made the next step with his work which is starting to break away from the company he has been employed with (of course he kept the ties open for work but on less of a regular basis) and has chosen to go under his own company now! It was a decision that he did mull over but I think from my perspective the decision made itself...Matt is so good at his job and it shows- he has been offered so much work and I really feel that he will have a solid client base that will spread his name proudly. He has actually taken on too much work at this point and has been working really long hours to try and hit all his deadlines and make all his clients happy. I suppose that's where I need to step in and make sure he is balancing this all out with some down time.
Speaking of which - we hit up China Town this past Sunday for the New Years celebration which was a really great day! The weather was 17 degrees and sunny downtown and we had an early dim sum before watching the dragon parade! I remember being scared of them as a kid but the kids here seemed to love it! Victoria boast's Canada's oldest China Town - its quite small compared to Toronto or San Francisco but it has charm that's for sure!
We have really been discussing the prospect of finding a new place to live a lot lately as we both feel we can do better. Aside from the ongoing construction outside our home every day for the past 7 months...we feel that we need a place where we don't have to be concerned about our noise level (if Matt wants to play music or if we want to have people over etc.)and that we don't have to listen to everything that goes on upstairs- we have also just had our main light source cut off as the landlord had a 'privacy fence' built on the edge of our tiny cement block of a back patio...yes, we may have more privacy (as will they if they ever want to use their backyard) but it cuts off our access to natural light. We are both getting frustrated- so we're going to take our time and seek out a house to rent if we can find one!
I wonder if everyone is watching the Olympics? We don't have cable- so the only thing I've seen was last nights Russia vs Canada hockey game and the women's bobsleigh - Go Canada! I love the national pride that has been evoked here and I do wish I would have had the opportunity to head over to the mainland for a little more of a taste! I had a wonderful weekend with my girl Monica who flew out the week before the games began- it was so great to see her and to explore Vancouver in the sunshine on our bicycles! The city was alive and buzzing with energy and so many people! It was incredible. I suppose we know that I am the city mouse in this story and Matt is the country mouse! I can take both but definitely come alive when surrounded by big city energy!
We will have a house guest this coming week as Derek booked a flight out to Vic! He'll be arriving on Sunday- so hopefully Matt will be all caught up by then and will be able to make some time to hang with him.
Well I suppose that's all for now. Hope you are all well and happy and looking forward to Spring temperatures and maybe less snow?
As always - much love,
Matt, Wendhi and Ruca xo
