Facebook Page!

Hello Little Maple Leaf readers!
I'd just like to take a moment to thank all of you who come here and support my photography.
It's a serious passion of mine and as much as I love taking the photos, I also love sharing them!

I finally felt confident enough to create a facebook page for my photography. I feel I have a strong portfolio and even though I didn't put up every picture I've ever taken, I put up my favorites on the new facebook page.

If you have a minute, I'd really appreciate if you'd head on over to the page and hit "like" to show your support!
Love love love!

https://www.facebook.com/LittleMapleLeafPhotography

Pink & White Flowers

These beautiful flowers came from John's family when we had them over for dinner last week! I finally got around to snapping some photos of them. They're so beautiful and have lasted a long time without dying! I love flowers like that :).

I have to work this evening but so far I've had the most relaxing day. I woke up and made some egg white omelettes for John & I and sipped on some coffee. Now we're headed out for a run. It seems that lately I've been working a lot of later shifts so I've just been sort of living the good life. Waking up when I want, drinking lots of coffee & indulging in plenty of exercise!

What are you up to this weekend?!

At the Cabin Part IV

Reading: Right now, I'm reading the book "Wave" by Sonali Deraniyagala. It's seriously heartbreaking, guys. I had to put the novel down a few times just to sit beside myself and cry for a minute. It's a true written story about a woman who lost her whole family in the 2004 Tsunami in the Thailand area. It's about how she copes with her grief during the darkest time of her life. I definitely recommend it...especially if you like a heavy read (and by heavy I mean heartbreaking).

Listening to: A lot of country music!! As I write this I have a country music station from Galaxy Music. That's whats on the TV about 90% of the time. During the summer months, there's no other music for me besides country. It just screams warm weather!

Feeling Thankful: For my health, I think. For some reason, I had to think about this for a while. I feel healthier than I've felt in a very long time. I don't always feel that I look my best but that's just stupid female insecurities. But I'm in decent shape, I eat pretty well, I always have a healthy breakfast every morning and (usually) a healthy dinner. I try to snack as much as possible throughout the day and I hit the gym often. I haven't had a cold all winter (I've had almost colds but that doesn't count) so my immune system is obviously killer now. I attribute that to my active and healthy lifestyle and I'm super proud of it and definitely thankful.

Thinking About: Photography, always. With new sprouting vegetation & amazing nature and views, I'm loving my camera lately. I just wish it didn't die so fast & that I had a DSLR. One day, I'm going to splurge and purchase a camera for myself with a kick-ass lens. However, right now my Nikon point & shoot on manual will have to do. It takes some awesome photos, it's just a little bit harder to capture the picture I want. But it's worth it and requires a lot of hard work on my end.

Eating: Lots of egg whites & candy. I know, weird combination. I've never been a huge fan of eggs, especially omelettes. However, lately I've discovered removing the yolks and I'm obsessed now! Egg whites are so delicious and don't create that weird mushy texture you get when scrambling with a yolk. The only time I like yolks is when it's a fried egg (over hard). I LOVE EGG WHITES! Who knew?! However, I've had an annoying obsession with candy lately. I can't stop eating it and finding myself buying little candies almost everyday. Gross, I know.

Watching: I just (finally) finished The Office - the final season. I cried so much on the very last episode. It just broke my heart that I've been following along for all these years and now it's just over. I always get like that with final episodes of my fave shows. Plus the last episode just pulled at my heart strings. I'm also watching the Bachelorette for the first time ever and I'm obsessed. I find myself so involved with a few of the guys on the show that I'd like to see win. I love Zak W. He's so funny and I never would have expected to like him as much as I do. I also love Bryden..talk about a sweetie! And I like the guy who gave Des the daisy. I hated that guy before but as soon as that scene came on, he seemed super funny and laid back and I liked that :).

Bummed Out On: The fact that I can't afford to jet off once a month on a vacation, haha! I love to travel and I haven't been to any of the places I've dreamed of going. We're hoping to do some sort of all inclusive this winter and we are also headed to Halifax in September (if I can get the time off). So those are some travels to look forward to... however I'd love to go to a million and one places but it's just not in the budget right now. We really need to save so that's number one priority right now.

Loving: Summer in general. I love heading out to the lake or going out camping with my family. Or just in general spending a lot of time outside, having barbecues non stop, and catching up on reading! :)

Thanks to Danielle for the Currently post ideas.

Copy your link in the comments if you do these posts also! Have a great day :)

At the Cabin Part IIII/Book Chatter

Ahhh the life.
I'm going to be living back in the dream pictured above throughout the weekend and I couldn't be more excited.

On another note, I just finished the book "Gone Girl". Has anybody read it? I was so not a fan. The ended had me feeling a bit...cheated? I won't give anything away but I was less than impressed.
Right now, I'm reading "Wave". A true memoir written by a survivor of a 2004 Tsunami in the Thailand area. So powerful and also very depressing.

What are you reading?

At the Cabin Part III

This is probably my favorite batch of photos (especially the last one).
It reminds me of all things summer stands for: water, flowers, docks, boat launchers, "sun kissed" skin (however mine are still very pasty... I'm working on it).
To me, summer brings happiness! It's my all time favorite season. It's the time when I see family & friends the most and it's a time where I run for the outdoors rather than hide from it. However, summer is the season where I am the least active, eat a ton of food & drink like a fish. Good thing I've been hitting the gym a ton for the past few months. Still, I'm not seeing the results I'd like. I feel really healthy although my eating habits could really use an improvement. It's difficult though.. I love my pad thai & pizza. Oh well, can't win em all.

At the Cabin Part II

Another Tuesday, another day off.
I feel like lately I have so many days off I don't even know what to do with myself.
Today's agenda: Gym (I hope), catch up on Bachelorette, and finish up the last season of the Office!
I'm also trying to figure out an italian sausage dish to throw in the crock pot that doesn't have tomato sauce in it.. hard to find, people!
Hope you have a great day.

At the Cabin Part I

The first batch of many cabin photos to come :)
It's so worth it to just take a look around at your beautiful surroundings!

Chipmunks, Wasps & Hornets

I found out some devastating news the other day that there are barely any bees out there anymore. So sad!! Bees are the one insect with a stinger that I don't run away from. They're so beautiful and I feel like all they want to do is sit on flowers and (make their pollen?) I know that bees serve great purpose.. although I'm not 100% sure of the details so I'm sad to know that there are now people pollinating instead of the bees.

Instead, we see wasps sitting on dandelions when we should be seeing bees!!! Such beautiful insects.

On a side note, today is super rainy outside and it's making me feel insanely gloomy. I just want to sit on my couch with my two little furbabies and cuddle all day. Which reminds me, Bachelorette is tonight! 

Spiders

Normally I despise Spiders. Even if it's the smallest, teeniest little creature, I scream and run away. But when I saw this little dude at the camp this weekend, I saw him as a photo opportunity and he immediately became my friend. He was huge and his shell was amazing. I was just watching him as he created his enormous spiderweb and what I witnessed was captivating. I'm glad I got to capture it through my camera.

However, as I was done snapping his photo and walked back to my chair I ran right into one of the webs and ruined all of his hard work. He just sat on the railing for a good 10 minutes with no web... all of his hard work destroyed. I swear I didn't do it on purpose but for the first time ever, I felt extremely sorry for a spider!