Oh hello there! Remember me?
No, I haven’t stopped blogging. Or thinking about blogging. I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.
Two things happened – the first was FBC2014, the Canadian food blogging conference we put on over at Food Bloggers of Canada every year . It becomes all consuming in the month leading up to the conference but it’s worth it. I was pretty proud of what Ethan and I managed to accomplish this year along with our tremendous volunteer team.
It was also great to get up and speak again – it’s been a while. I was pretty excited to sit on a panel on finding your blogging niche with two tremendously sharp and talented ladies who I admire greatly (and who are pretty darn nice to boot!), Laura-Jane from The Rawtarian and Aimee from Simple Bites. It was a lot of fun for all three of us!
Laura-Jane, Aimee and Melissa
The second was… dental emergencies! Ugh.
Pretty much the entire month of November has been devoted to going to the dentist. And not eating much food as a result – or at least not much solid food!
You can only take so many photos of soup, grapes and bananas! And there’s really no motivation at all to get in the kitchen and cook or bake knowing you won’t be able to eat any of it. And so, there really hasn’t been much to blog about.
Food Husband Sean has helped by taking me to my new favourite ramen spot in Vancouver the last two weekends – Marutama Ra-Men on Bidwell, just off of Robson. Ok, so Vancouver has some of the best ramen spots in Canada – an abundance. And I have sampled many good ones but this… this is my new favourite. It’s made with chicken broth instead of pork and I’m in love with the soft boiled egg… it’s the silkiest broth ever, especially with that egg yolk blended into it.
It makes everything better.
On Friday I had my specialist appointment to pinpoint the cause of everything and I finally know what’s wrong but it means a few more weeks of coping before getting it all sorted out.
The really cool thing? They did a 3D scan of my mouth! It was pretty freaking awesome. I almost wish I had asked if I could have a photo of it!
The good news is, the issues causing all the pain have almost healed up and solid food is slowly making a return to the rotation (just in time for a delicious trip to Toronto and Montreal this week!). Hopefully I’ll get through the trip without a flare up and when I get home they’ll get me all fixed up permanently!
So in the meantime, I’ve been spending a lot more time doodling.
half finished doodle
I mean that literally.
And just generally creating stuff. Whenever my brain goes into overload – like with planning a conference – for an extended period and I don’t get an opportunity to create just for myself, things go squirrely. Creating on demand for a living is very different from creating because the mood or the feeling strikes you. I need to balance both.
It’s been a huge stress reliever and I feel much happier now that I’ve got a few pockets of free time to sketch and photograph. There is something really therapeutic about doodling.
One doodle finished, another started
That, not being able to eat (and therefore cook or photograph food), taking time to browse magazine and prepping for a panel on niche blogging got me thinking about my own blog. I seem to have forgotten my original tag line over the last few years: food, photography and my creative life.
I’ve got the food, I’ve sort of got the photography and I seem to have dropped the “creative life” part. Which is weird… because my whole world revolves around being creative. It’s how I support myself for pete’s sakes! So I’ve been thinking that part might be making more of a regular appearance.
On that note… combining food, photography and my creative life, I read a post on David duChemin’s blog about Artifact Uprising. I have been thinking about printing more of my photographs a lot lately but just haven’t gotten around to it. I hear so often how in a digital world it is important to have tangible pieces of your work to hold or share or post on your wall or your desk.
Artifact Uprising had popped up on my radar a few times in the last few months so… far be it from me to ignore a sign. (plus, David has a code for a discount good until the end of November!). I printed up 25 square prints from my instagram account. They arrived lickety split and…
I Love Them
There… I said it. I love them…
There is something so incredibly satisfying about curating your own work and looking at images you’d forgotten and the images that you take hoping others will like and the images you took for yourself. And then choosing the ones you took for yourself because you love them. It also makes you realize that who cares what other people like. If you’re producing something just because you think it fits a certain aesthetic that’s popular right now, you’re doomed. (unless you love it!). I fall into that trap every now and then.
But when I look at the images I chose they’re very consistent. Geometry, vibrant colour, white space. Anyway… it’s an exercise I highly recommend doing – plus it’s an easy little treat for yourself.
Print them, hang them on your wall and remember why you fell in love with photography in the first place!
Until next time – I promise the gap won’t be as long!
I hope all the dental hassles work out soon so you can get back into the kitchen and blogging.
meeeee too! lol. Thanks Gary!
I’m so glad that your dental issues are getting worked out! The picture of you, Aimee and Laura-Jane is wonderful and your “doodles” are works of art, as our your photographs.
Wishing you well.
it was so fun getting to work with both of them Paula – such sharp ladies that I always learn from. Thanks for your kind words as always 🙂
I feel you on the ‘who cares’ what other people like!! Photos are always backed up mentally in a moment, a feeling or a memory. Honour those and you can’t go wrong.
Exactly! The represent a moment that mattered to you for some reason, even if it’s not immediately apparent!
It must be something in the air! I’ve had the exact same feeling about having physical copies of my pictures. I even bought a photo printer (for half price, too.) I love being able to print out photographs, give them to friends, put them on my mood board…
Glad to hear that your dental issues have almost healed!
it’s just so nice to hold them in your hand or look up at your wall or bulletin board and see them there!
those prints look amazing! I haven’t ordered any real prints since our summer holidays and have only taken a few photos here and there. This post has inspired me to make that calendar which could replace the one at school that will be finished in a month.
you absolutely should! I was thinking of you and Sunne when I ordered them 🙂
Man, I relate to this post. I’ve been at the dentist more times in the past 6 months than the previous 35 years of life. It’s traumatic, despite the fact my dentist is my friend (and a great dentist). As I type this, I’m recovering from (another) root canal. Teeth, such a terrible design.