I used to say that the only way that you could find me running was if someone was chasing me. Two years ago, I inexplicably decided to start. I was probably trying to impress someone. I had heard a lot of great things about the Couch to 5K program, and I was definitely starting on the couch. Or the floor. Or bed. Whichever is the laziest.

I spent 8 weeks doing the program, and by the end I was running for 30 minutes straight, with no stopping. It’s such a great program, it helps you build up your endurance slowly, alternating between walking and running. It’s especially helpful for girls, because we can’t run for long periods right off the bat like men can.

Unfortunately, I put my neck out shortly thereafter, and quit running altogether. Life happened, and I decided it wasn’t a priority anymore, that it took up too much time. Even though it made me feel great after, it was always a struggle to get to the gym, and running outside in Calgary can be tricky.

I’ve picked it up a few times since then, but never with much enthusiasm or intensity. So, I’m trying again. It’s NOT a New Year’s Resolution because I started a few days before 2012, lol. The program is called Ease Into 5K now, and you can download a handy app for your iPhone. I also use Nike+, a little sensor for my shoe that downloads my runs onto the Nike+ website. I need this kind of stuff to stay accountable. I bought a treadmill so I now really have no excuse not to run.

I also feel like a good playlist is important for running. It makes it tons more fun, and half the time I think I’m more looking forward to having alone time to listen to music than the actual exercise. I like stuff with a good beat, but what really helps me run is angry music. I’m a total weirdo, because the angrier I feel, the easier it is for me to run. I’m sure I’m a sight to behold. I sweat terribly when I’m NOT exercising, so imagine a sweaty, pigtailed girl in short shorts and tube socks, running on her treadmill in the basement, glaring at the wall. That’s me!

I’m on week three of the program and it’s going well. Not super easy but not super hard, so hopefully I can keep up with it.
I would love to hear recommendations for running music or any running tips you may have, leave me a comment to tell me your faves!

Here are the links to:

My Running Playlist

Ease Into 5K

Nike+ App

I just finished reading Mindy Kaling’s book ‘Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?’ and she mentioned in there loving Joni Mitchell’s cd ‘Blue’. Well, she didn’t exactly say she loved it, she actually said it makes her cry whenever she listens to it. But what normal woman doesn’t try to make herself sad once in awhile? There’s a reason why Nicholas Sparks’ movies are still being made.

So I downloaded the album from iTunes (sorry Mom, you know that I always need a second opinion) and gave it a listen while having a bubble bath. Once in, I was suddenly angry at myself for forgetting to light candles. Can’t I even do tired cliches right?

Once I stopped berating myself, I noticed was that I couldn’t understand a darn thing that was being sung. I worried that my iPod stereo was acting up. Then, no word of a lie, I wondered if maybe she wasn’t singing in English. I could catch a random word here or there, but maybe they didn’t have that word in whatever language she was singing?

Then I realized it could be like reading Jane Austen or Shakespeare. That you had to get your brain used to the way it sounds before retention could actually happen. So I listened to the whole thing again. I liked the sound of the music, the melodies. But again, I didn’t have a clue what she was saying. A singer in a bar? There’s one song that she said Canada and I got that. My ears even perked up thinking I might really relate, being Canadian and all. Nope, ’cause I lost what she said after that.
I can honestly understand Bob Dylan better, and I really think that’s saying something.

I’ve never claimed to be a sophisticated musicado. In fact, I don’t even think that’s a word. I might have just made it up. I recently told a friend that I need lyrics that plainly state what the person is doing and feeling. Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ really spoke to me.

I promise to keep giving Joni a try, because I might get a lot of mean blog comments if I don’t but mostly because Adele’s cd is getting old and doesn’t make me cry anymore and I need something to go with my ice cream in bed. Take that, tired cliche. I am your master!

Anyway, I have a TON of sessions to post. I think over 20? I might need to combine things. I’m almost done with the holiday season, the last orders of the year go out the door this weekend! So that means lots of time to blog. Or read blogs. Or visit Pinterest. But I’ll try to blog. Promise.

Since I am a rebel and a rule-breaker (I’m not at all), I’m not even going to post a session for this post. It’s just going to be about a fun little thing that’s going around my neighbourhood. We were ‘Elfed’, which is exactly like when we were ‘Boo’ed/Ghosted’ last year at Halloween. Except maybe a bit cuter and with more fun presents.

Here’s the link to the most adorable printables that I found: http://andersruff.blogspot.com/2010/11/free-printable-youve-been-elfed-door.html

The girls and I had a great time running around leaving presents on doorsteps. As Charlotte put it: ‘Is this where we ring the doorbell and run away? I LOVE that game!’

It’s that time of year!

This year I’m doing something a little different. As some of you know, one of my very dear friends was diagnosed with ovarian cancer just under two weeks ago. I took a trip to Portland this past week to be with her during surgery and I plan to go back several times to help her through chemo.
Jen is a fellow photographer, and as you can imagine, this will put her out of work for several months. I would like to donate the session fees from both days of mini sessions to her and her two boys to help ease the financial burden just a bit.

Her blog is http://www.amistillagirl.com/ and it’s been a very real and emotional journey.

If you are interested in booking a mini session, please just email me at info@freshsugar.ca and let me know your preferred date and time and we’ll set you up. Because newsletter subscribers and previous clients get first crack at things like this, I’m very pleased to say that we only have 2 spots left this Saturday and 5 left in October, so please email me right away if you’d like a session!

Mini sessions are $250 and include a 20 minute session and 10-15 images in your gallery. You will also receive one digital image to use as you choose! The sessions are on Saturday, September 17th and October 1st. 10am-4pm.
Thanks so much and I can’t wait to see you all again this year!

-Brandy

Sorry about the large post, there were a LOT of kids this year!

I get to spend the day meeting real kids who have spent a lot of time within the walls of the hospital. As a parent, the thought frightens me to death, but to see these children have such sunny personalities and a resilience that is truly amazing, it makes me realize just how important this hospital is to Calgary.

Last month I spent another full day meeting these incredible children, but before I blog those images, I wanted to show you a few of last year’s photos.

Pinterest though, has created a monster. I’m constantly pinning food, just to look at it. So when we decided to have an end of summer party – I decided to give some of my favorite pins a whirl.

The most involved recipe was Fancy Pink Lemonade Jello Shots. Mine turned out a tad messy, but they were still super fun and my friends were suitably impressed.

Another big hit was watermelon cubes with a balsamic reduction. See how fancy I am? This one was really, really yummy. The balsamic really adds something awesome to the watermelon.

I also made personal 5 layer dip cups, personal veggie dips, salsa cream cheese wraps and lemon pudding for dessert. There was some BBQ’ed meat and other things that the men did too. But it wasn’t as cute as my stuff so I didn’t take photos.

The kids played a bunch of games; sponge water fight, water balloon toss, egg races, trampolining, etc.
Even the grown ups got involved. Hee.

At the end of the night, the kids watched a movie in the playroom and the grown ups had some great conversations using Table Topics, which features some really cool conversation starters.

I know there are a probably a lot of you out there having your own End of Summer parties this coming long weekend, maybe some of these ideas will help!

When I was little, I stole a packet of jam from a restaurant and it exploded in the pocket of my new winter coat. I had sticky, jammy things in there for months. You will NEVER catch me taking jam, peanut butter or honey (which is my personal favorite and I would love to steal some honey) because I was quickly informed by the retribution squad that you are not supposed to do that.

On a recent flight, I decided to forgo wearing undergarments because I have had some friends (I know a lot of weirdos) tell me they do it and it’s wonderful and MY JEANS WILL FIT BETTER. And also because I packed all my clean stuff. I have a lot of reasons why I prefer wearing underwear, a large one is that I constantly think –

‘What would my mom say?’

So what happens when I arrive at my destination? It’s burning hot, I’m in heavy, dark clothes and want to change into a dress and some freaking UNDERWEAR but as you may have guessed – my luggage is nowhere to be found.
The universe went as far as to steal my luggage to tell me to get my act together and slap some underpants on.

Another time, I had just received the worst haircut of my life. IT WAS REALLY BAD, YO. The girl who had done it was super sweet though, and it was her first day and her dad even came down to take her picture at work. Awwwww. So of course I say I love it and pay and smile and do all the fakey, fakey things to make her feel good. Except then I went into the bathroom and practically cried and talked smack about my hair for a good 10 minutes. Never noticing that the stylist had come in and heard everything. UGH.

Which brings me to yesterday. I did something that women keep doing, over and over again. I have learned my lesson on this, multiple times. It really should be one of the commandments.

THOU SHALT NOT CUT THY OWN BANGS.

And I know better. I really do. From my mom cutting my bangs when I was little, to being drunk in the bathroom with my equally drunk friend with scissors, to cutting my own right off – I KNOW BETTER.

Yet, this didn’t stop me yesterday when I was looking at my too-long bangs and thinking I didn’t want to go make the trip to see my stylist just for bangs.

“How hard could it be?”

“It’s only a little bit of hair. It’s easy!”

and the worst one of all:

“I will look so cute in Vegas this weekend!”

Well let use this time to remind myself and all of you that it is, in fact, not easy. My bangs look vaguely ridiculous now, and they are much shorter than I expected because I kept cutting every time I made a mistake.
And while I don’t have any desire to show you what they look like today, I will show you some of the bang disasters throughout my years. Oddly, all the truly terrible photographs have disappeared though. Weird.

This is me in kindergarden. My mom did those bangs herself.

I think I was 21 in this photo. I cut my own bangs, didn’t like it, so decided to swoop them to the side. Do you see what depravities you resort to when you trim your own bangs? Actually, now that I think about it, this is kind of what my bangs look like today.

27. This is Halloween and actually a wig, but I have cut my bangs this short. I did it myself because of course no stylist would let me do this. (My costume is Uma Thurman from Pulp Fiction and I had a syringe sticking out of my chest but you can’t see it. Trust me that it was awesome.)

This is just a few months ago and I didn’t cut them myself. I just included it because I think Charlotte’s face is hilarious and more importantly, I look kind of cute, even with all the beer in front of me.

I have introduced quite a few people to Pinterest since joining at the beginning of this year. Most people love me for it, but some are decidedly not happy because it’s a PROVEN FACT that Pinterest is addictive. I grab a cup of coffee (or three, lol) in the morning and browse all the pins that come up in my feed.

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard.

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

I have 44 boards and 2471 pins in my Pinterest account. I look at my boards daily, and am adding to them constantly.
I have home decorating ideas, craft projects, a bazillion things to do with my kids, my photography inspirations, clothing, hair & makeup, recipes, quotes and tons more. You can view all of my boards here: http://pinterest.com/freshsugar/

I love Pinterest because of the people there. It’s amazing bunch of really tasteful people who like cool/beautiful/awesome things.
If you are already on, make sure you add me so I can follow you too. If you aren’t, send me an email or leave a comment here and I’ll hook you up. You won’t be sorry. Unless of course you have things to do. In that case, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

PS – There’s an iPhone app too!

Not only did the magazine feature my maternity work, but I was also interviewed for their business article Profit Center – it seems a little surreal that people are actually interested to hear what I think, haha!

When I started Fresh Sugar six years ago I can absolutely tell you that I never in a million years expected to be in not only one magazine but TWO! 2011 has been an absolutely incredible year for me and I really need to thank all my wonderful clients because without them I would never have the gorgeous subjects for my images! It means the world that you have all trusted me to capture all the joys of pregnancy and having a new baby.