Lisa Kwan Images

Looky, looky everyone, Sumo is 5 today! Time has flown by and I can still remember bringing him home and fitting in the palms of my hands. I treat him like my own child, is that wrong? – I don’t think so…Am I a little crazy about pugs – YES!!! Ask anyone. Hmmm, perhaps buying a farm and breeding pugs will be in my future? Imagine that, surrounded by pugs everyday, being snorted on and listening to a harmony of snores at night….heaven…told you I was crazy.

I bought him a decadent dog cookie from the pet store for his special day. Mmmm, looks good enough for humans to eat. 

Happy 5th Birthday my Noonie, I love you SO MUCH!

What can I say about these two special friends that are close to my heart? They are two of the most kind, caring and generous people I know. I wouldn’t have missed their wedding in Kashmir, India for the world. The wedding was beautiful, full of rich crisp colours, and the turning of the leaves made an amazing backdrop for their portrait shots. Having the ceremony and celebrations at Rishi’s family’s retreat, Green Acres, made it feel even more welcoming and special. I hope to go back there one day. 

Stay tuned for some more pictures on my travels through India.

“Hug hug, kiss kiss, hug hug, big kiss, little hug, kiss kiss, little kiss.”

Wahoo Canada Day! – our country’s birthday with fireworks!!! Gotta love those fireworks. As this holiday comes around it also means I get another year older, and this year was a biggy. Yes, yes, everyone, the face behind that camera has left her sacred year of 29 and is now 30. As a matter of fact, as I write this I am 30 years and 5 days old. *Sighhh…

I wasn’t sure how to take on this new number attached to my life. How did it creep up on me so fast? Should I embrace it? Should I hide and try to shoo this day away along with it’s pyrotechnics? or was I supposed to feel something supercalafragilisticexpialidocious as the clock turned 4:54p.m.? – like a bolt of lightning going through my entire body?!…Ummmm, nope, didn’t feel that.

As I let this number marinate in my mind, I thought back to the years leading me up to this point in my life. Where did the time go? I went to school, established a career as a graphic designer, and I have a loving family supporting me in my new budding career in photography. So what more could I ask for? That is a fully loaded question I’m not sure I can answer…yet.

In my mind, I still feel as though I’m still in my early 20s – young, and ambitious yet still confused about life. Today I can say I have more assurance of who I am and what my likes and dislikes are with reasoning. Although with the future blurry, my magic future jar holds a precious wish to travel the world with my trusty camera in hand, and loved ones to experience it with me one day – A wishful image I want to come true.

With that said, there is a hopeful future lying ahead of me. I’m not going to fight this scary number anymore. I’m going to embrace this new chapter called “30″ and invite all the roman candles, bottle rockets, firecrackers, and sparklers that come along with it. So move on over Canada, those boistrous fireworks aren’t just for you, they’re for me and all the other people with an optimistic outlook to their future!!!

Below are pictures my fiancée Adam took of me before we went home to a surprise birthday party he set up just for lil’ ol’ me! It was one of the best, most priceless gifts I have ever received…what a great start to 30! Thank you Adam and my love to all my friends and family that were there…and for those who didn’t get to attend, a big thank you for your best wishes!

Do I have a second shooter in the making?

p.s. I still get carded and I love it. When I’m asked, I smile, stand a little taller and happily hand over my license that states my date of birth, July 1, 1979 – yup, you read that right, you just carded a 30 year old!!! Baaaaaaamm Son!!! Hollaaaaa!!!