Take me out to the ball game!

Thanks to Katrina, we've been playing some baseball!!! She's managed to round up enough of our crew for a couple of games within the last month...super fun!!! It's been a great chance for us all to get some exercise and an even greater excuse to hang out and share some laughs and the odd home run! Here are some shots from our last game which we held last week at Woodland Park:

Darren up to bat & Jeff back-catching (beer in hand)

Gregg pitching

D'Arcy, Colin and Jenn! (Krysta was up to bat!)

These aren't the greatest shots, unfortunately, and don't do any justice to the amount of fun we had! It's nice to get out and enjoy the wee bit of summer we've been getting recently! Hoping for another game this month!

My first outdoor climbing trip!

Wow, what a fun long weekend I just had! Chris and I, along with two other couples, went across to Vancouver Island on Friday. Our destination: the breathtaking Strathcona Park, about 45 minutes northwest of Campbell River. Our friend Dylan suggested we head here as his dad and stepmom own and operate the Strathcona Park Lodge. Chris took me on the back of his shovelled and, along with Emily on her bike, we met up with the rest of the group at the ferry Friday afternoon and we were off!
We had beautiful weather for the ride up, some rain on Saturday afternoon but a great day yesterday and an amazingly sunny and warm ride home today!
The weekend was absolutely fantastic- great food, great friends and I enjoyed my first outdoor climbing experience with the enthusiastic persuasion and encouragement from everyone. I'm most definitely a novice climber and only started climbing at the gym about 5 months ago...so I was totally freaked out as I stared up at these huge crags and rock faces that I was supposed to somehow climb! But, much to my surprise, and with Chris' constant reassurance and positivity, I successfully climbed my first outdoor climb. What a rush!!!! I can't describe how absolutely terrifying and exhilarating this was...but I did it!
Chris, Emily, Dylan, Arlin and Adrienne are all very experienced climbers and it was incredibly inspiring to watch them climb countless top-rope and lead climbs...sometimes even repelling back down after!
I hope to continue to push myself to become a better climber and trust my feet and my strength (both physically and emotional!). Here are a few shots from our much-needed mountain get-away! More to be posted later when I get some shots of our climb from Dylan:

Chris and Dylan figure out the climbing routes/map as we wait for our ferry!

The beautiful Emily Beach! Sexiest lady on a bike!

Shintysix xo

Chris, Arlin and Dylan on the ferry

Em and Arlin

Now onto planning our food map....

What this food map needed was more bacon!

From the back of Chris' bike, I took a bunch of Hipstamatic shots of Em in action!

Sweet old truck we caught up with in Courtenay at a pit stop. 

more and more of Em...

super fast!

Prepping for a climb in the rain!

Entrance to the trails

Chris, Dylan, Em and Adrienne all geared up!

Chris! Hiker babe.

More photos of the climbs to come very soon!!! Now back to reality....

Things are happening!!!!

These past couple of weeks have been c-r-a-z-y!!! So many things are happening and it's been hard to find the time to brush my teeth let alone blog...

Many great things are happening, though, and here are a few of them:
1. I was contacted by one of the coordinators from the One of A Kind Show (oh which I'm a part of this upcoming December) and she asked for me to submit two garments from my Fall/Winter line for a Press/Media boat cruise which just happened on Saturday. Apparently a few designers were contacted to submit their product for a "sneak peek" event, so I was quite happy to be selected as part of this event. As well, one of my garments is shown on the OOAK website's main page: http://oneofakindvancouver.com

2. On Friday I was really surprised and excited to find out that the Cedar Coat from my Fall/Winter collection was on the Etsy main page as a Featured Product. Kind of a big deal...
And now, as a result of this, four of my pieces from that collection have been featured in 4 different Treasuries: "Back to Cool", "Fall is Near", "Days of Carefree Living and Good Underwear", and "Soon the Seasons Change". The latter is the newest of the Treasuries to be listed. I'm really grateful for the increased exposure these Treasuries have provided for my Fall/Winter collection and for my line in general.

3. Chris and I have found a new home! We move in mid-August!!!! We're beyond excited to have a place to call our own! I can't wait.

So there. Those 3 points sum up the major points from the past 14 days or so....

This week should be interesting as well. I'm completing the muslins and (hopefully) half the samples for my Spring/Summer 2012 collection which is being shot at the end of August... I will also ship out my first big shipment of garments to Victoire, in Ottawa, as well as a number of local distributions. We are going on a camping/rock climbing trip over the long weekend...all in time for Jenn, Krysta and Ava to arrive early next week for a visit! Horray!

And it continues...

(ps: sorry for all the text and no photos to accompany this one...)

J xo

to the beach!

Chris and I took a leisurely motorbike ride around Stanley Park last week on our way to Third Beach for some sunshine! He's got a great king/queen seat on his bike so it's really comfortable for me! Here are some shots I took while he was driving:

...and some more Sled Island photographic funnery!

Behold the lost photos from Sled Island! Well, they weren't necessarily 'lost'....just misplaced in my super clean car for a few days...ha! We had some disposable camera fun times and here's proof:

Jill and Paddy take on a few quads....WHISKEY

HAD to go to Peters Drive In...Yummmm! Vanilla for the win!

At Wurst for Kyle's birthday! Mega beer!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Cameron, Dan and me! Shippy.

UH OH!!!!!!

"Hot Chicks with Douchebags" photo! (I'm the DB)...

                                                                       I love you Chris!