March 31, 2008

beyond p!nk


A few weeks back, Brina and I were invited to participate in the beyond p!ink, personal and professional development conference held over two days at the Sheraton Wall Centre. One of the organizers found us through the City TV Diversity online database, which was created as "an online tool for helping the media better reflect the changing face of Canada", as my contact information has been listed there for the past few years.

Our actual invitation was to present ourselves, our story and our company at the Friday evening event called the Connect! Young Women in Business Tradeshow, where they would be "featuring 50 of Vancouver's most outstanding female entrepreneurs sharing their stories of success and challenge". We were included as part of the outstanding female entrepreneurs! How COOL is that?

With an initial feeling of excited apprehension, we said YES, filled out our paperwork, bios and submitted it to the organizers.

Although both of us had no idea what to expect, with words like "women" and "tradeshow" and "conference" floating around in our heads, we decided that we would bring our wide array of business cards, our portfolio, one of our display boxes for our stationery and two very open minds :)

The night proved to be a pleasant surprise of really good times! We entered the Wall Centre's assigned hall for the show and saw the lovely layout that the awesome ladies of the YWIB organization prepared for us. With showtime excitement, we introduced ourselves to the organizers who lead us to our home for the next few hours.


We met our neighbour for the night, a fellow awesome woman named Heather, who calls herself a firestarter...which is a term that gets people talking to her and let's her explain that she's a life coach. (I would use a better term as she doesn't like the label "life coach" but I can't think of a better way to explain what she does. Sorry, Heather!)

The organizers scheduled it so that we would have a half hour or so, before the delgates (the women attending their conference) arrived, to meet the other women presenting and check out each other's stuff. We quickly found ourselves stopping to talk to some really interesting and amazing women as we moved from table to table and because the conversation was so great-both ways-we would end up spending way more time at one table and not getting a chance to see everything.


As the show kicked into full swing, we realized how awesome this event was for promoting women like us as well as showing other women out there that a network of women in Vancouver exist who are doing it and making a mark in the business community.

A large portion of the delegates were in their final year of university, with a few knowing what they wanted to be when they grew up and a lot still trying to figure it out. It was great to be able to tell our story to a captive audience and reassure them that it wasn't just all blue skies & daisies :) The best part was meeting some of these amazing women who actually set out to find us at the show, once they knew we were participating.


With an event of this magnitude being so successful, especially the first of it's kind in the West Coast, our hope is that the ladies of YWIB continue to promote, encourage and organize events like this for the next generation of women thinking about their future and what kind of impact they will have on the world.

Let's face it, wouldn't this world be so much better with more gals like us? :)


Thank you again to Ealeen and the rest of the ladies from the Young Women In Business Organization. It was both a pleasure and an honour to participate in your conference.

March 27, 2008

the joke's on us

So did you happen to flip through the georgia straight this morning and want to pee yourself from laughter once you got to page 12? Were you shocked but intrigued all at the same time at this "lululemon ad"? like looking at a pigeon with one bunged up leg? you wanna look away but you just...can't...help...but...stare. It doesn't help that the man in the onesie is a good friend of ours.

Let's see what reaction you have.

Good luck.

May the force be with you...

bon iver at the media club

I feel so sorry for anyone who didn't catch the show on Tuesday night at the Media Club. Bon Iver melted my heart into a pile of glowing warm goo. It was one of the best shows I'd seen and heard in a long time. Not too often do I feel overwhelmed by such beauty...which is kind of sad because there is beauty to be found everywhere. I wish to feel this overwhelming sense of happiness more in my life.

So back to the show. Bon Iver was amazing but so was Phosphorescent. They were two solid bands that have beautiful songs and a great deal of talent. Thanks Derrick for coming out with me and thanks to John for standing with me in the corner for the last hour. Oh I should really thank the bands for sharing...Thanks!

March 24, 2008

The Pemberton Music Festival?

On my way to work this morning I passed by a wall of posters, per usual, but this time there was a poster for the Pemberton Music Festival (July 25th - 27th) and I saw there was actually an amazing lineup! Who knew! Pemberton!? Music Festival!?

This is the lineup:
Coldplay, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Nine Inch Nails, Jay-Z, Flaming Lips, Interpol, Death Cab For Cutie, The Tragically Hip, Serj Tankian, My Morning Jacket, Metric, Sam Roberts Band, Vampire Weekend, Black Mountain, Minus The Bear, Wintersleep, Buck 65, Secret Machines, MGMT, Brazillian Girls, SIA, Fiery Furnaces, Mates of State, The Airborne Toxic Event, Carolina Liar, Grand Ole Party, Monte Negro, Low Vs Diamond, Annie Stela, The Crystal Method, DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist, Junkie XL, David Seaman, Booka Shade, MSTRKRFT, M.A.N.D.Y., Tommie Sunshine, Chromeo, Deadmau5, 3 OH! 3, Kevin Shiu, Timeline, Tony Pantages

www.pembertonfestival.com

Savvy Brides Unite

On April 20th Kerry Reid will be hosting her 2nd annual Savvy Bride Showcase...and YES we will be there! As we have been involved in designing most of her print and online advertisements, we know she is putting in every ounce of herself into this savvy event.

There are 3 very different weddings to be showcased at The Kirkland House in Ladner, BC. To get all the information on where to buy tickets (only $10 in advance and $15 at the door), how to get there, who will be there and any other question you may have, just visit Savvy Bride's website

We hope to see you there. We'll be the two girls laughing at ourselves in the corner.

March 21, 2008

Family Comes First

Happy Easter weekend!! I hope you all enjoyed the couple hours of sunshine we had this morning. Well I thought it would be nice to blog about my time at home. I rushed home to spend time with my brother, Dwight, and in the end realized that maybe it was me that needed to go home more than my family needed me to come home...or not. I can't speak for them. Being so far away from my family, it's really important for me to be able to go home and be part of the family in a way that only being present can accomplish. Obviously, I'm still part of the family in Vancouver, but to help out and talk face to face and laugh and play games with these crazy people that you love more than anything, it's worth more than gold.

Here's a couple pics of my family. They'll all great and funny and so important to me...including all those that aren't shown.




Back in Vancouver I was pleasantly surprised to see the cherry blossom trees blossoming. This last picture is from my walk into work. Gorgeous!!

March 18, 2008

two blogs in one day, but soooooo worth it!

Yesterday I got a fantastic email from one of our most favourite couples, Jen & Chris! They first contacted us back in the summer of 2006 to help them design their wedding stationery. Not only did we design them beautiful Westcoast invitations for their March 31st, 2007 wedding at the Capilano Suspension Bridge, but we continued the designs through to their reception pieces including a table chart, place cards and very fun custom trivia cards!

Well! Coming back from the holiday season this year, Jen contacted us, again, with fantastic news! They were expecting and wanted to commission blue skies & daisies to design and print a custom canvas for their nursery. How FUN is that?!

We threw ourselves two feet in with this first ever project, and with the help of Jen & Chris, designed and printed the first ever BSD canvas! YAY!

Yesterday's email was the first of many announcements and updates: on March 11th, 2008 at 11:12am, Jack Cormack Thompson opened his eyes for the first of many times to come! Jen & Chris are doing well, happily taking on the new challenges of parenthood.

Introducing Jack Cormack Thompson


the canvas


say hello to the happy family!


Congratulations to the both of you and Happy Happy Birthday to baby Jack!!

ever start to feel smarter than everyone else?


Really? I mean, I know most of you are like, PLEASE TEEN, like I'm that self-absorbed! Come on...you know as well as me there have been situations, socially or professionally, where you're standing in a circle of random people you may or may not have known before that very minute and you're staring around the room and thinking to yourself, "am I the only person here with conscious thought?"

:)

Okay maybe not but if you're like me: a dragon with a big mouth and a lot of attitude, it's only natural to think hey, I'm a fairly smart individual!

WELL, if you're ever in a situation where your head starts to get just a wee bigger than it should, PLAY A GAME OF TRIVIAL PURSUIT.

Last Sunday night, Ben's brother, Joel, and his little lady, Ella, came over to visit, catch up and play a rousing late night game of Trivial Pursuit 90's Edition. You're thinking to yourself, whaaa? 90's Edition? NO SWEAT, right?

WRONG.

Although I've not only lived through the 90's but completed secondary school AND got through a majority of my post secondary, apparently through most of the decade I lived in a cave with cotton balls in my ears and a sleeping mask over my eyes.

There were questions about movies (which most I've seen but still answered wrong and I'm using the "my memory sucks" card), fashion/trends, TECHNOLOGY (....I have to digress here because, as most of you may know, I have a degree. Not any degree, mind you, but a degree in computer science. I know, I'll give you a minute to take it all in. Good? Okay...I don't think I got ONE QUESTION RIGHT in this category...), current events, and blunders (An oops! category).

I'm telling you, if you ever need to come off that high horse of yours, play a round of this boardgame. Any edition. The classic, the pop culture, the 90's. It doesn't matter, the game always wins. It takes your dignity and then laughs at you for even thinking you're all that (and a bag of chips).

Trust me.

March 5, 2008

show and tell #3

It's our destination wedding invitation show and tell!! It's about time.

These are just 3 of the many destination wedding invitations we've worked on, but maybe lesser known. The theme and design usually reflects the location of the wedding, but this isn't the case with all three of these pieces.


1. Kristi and Justin: This Vancouver couple got married on Kauai of the Hawaiian Islands just less than a month ago. They LOVED the idea of the boarding pass invitation and wanted tiki masks represented in the design as well. Congratulations Kristi and Justin!!


2. Mike and Melinda: Good friends of Albertine and Ben were married in Vegas last September, surrounded by a good small group of friends and family. These guys know how to party. Albertine blogged about her experience in Vegas.


3. Melissa and John: Melissa and John didn't necessarily have a Vegas wedding, but they do love traveling to Vegas. Their wedding had a Route 66 feel to it, and didn't want their invitations to be left out of the theme.

March 4, 2008

a quick trip up the sunshine coast

Scene: Somewhere in Vancouver on Saturday night.

Rod: "so what do you want to do this weekend?"
Brina: "mmm I don't know"
Rod: "That's cool. I like that we don't have plans."
Brina: "How about renting a car and going somewhere?"
Rod: "You're so smart and awesome and beautiful. I'm so glad I'm dating such a cool person with such unique ideas"
Brina: "I just thought of it now."

And so we rented a car and drove up the sunshine coast. Destination: Powell River.

End scene.

The dialogue wasn't exactly that, but it was similiar ish.

We drove the rented Accent on 4 ferries in 2 days, played lots of cribbage, saw a few seals and I took lots of pictures. It was the best weekend ever. This brings our Flight Pass time to an end. We're a bit sad, but then we think about summer and how it's riiiiight around the corner. More good times will be had.

It was my first time up the coast and now I understand why people go there and love it and say "it's so beautiful". I get it. I have now been to one of the most beautiful places in Canada. I also met 2 wonderful people who put us up for a night, thanks for their B&B, and I encourage anyone to look up Adventure B&B next time you're in Powell River.

Here are some of my favorite shots.




March 1, 2008

Introducing to you: Laugh Lines


When I was a teenager I would spend countless days on one 8.5" x 11" sheet just drawing all over it. I covered every inch of it. My teachers wouldn't like to hear this, but most of my time spent on these drawings would be during class or at home when I was supposed to be doing homework. Designing Laugh Lines reminded me of those days of meticulously placing lines and squiggles. I bet Mr. Hall thought I was wasting my time and energy on all that silly doodling. LITTLE DID WE ALL KNOW!!

Laugh Lines is dedicated to all those doodlers out there. You know who you are!

You can check out our Laugh Lines wedding stationery in our Ready2Wear catalogue (page 2). Enjoy!