I was in line at my all time favorite tea shops- yes, Starbucks (i know, i know- but their Herbal London Fog is to DIE FOR, well that sounded a little extreme,
ok, I would wait in line for it even if there was still 8 people ahead of me.), anyways, I heard this little boy talking to his little sister…
about things they were afraid of. And well, that got me thinking….

Things I am afraid of:

::: Heights- anything higher than 5 feet off the ground makes me slightly nervous and my fear just escalates from there to a point where
I almost feel a  little dizzy and my stomache starts to turn.  However I am really good when it comes to flying in a plane, or when
I am harnessed (rock climbing), or jumping on a trampoline.
::: Anything creepy crawly unless it is in its proper surroundings- nature, and still even then…
::: I am afraid that I will start taking life too seriously.
::: that I saw yellow leaves forming on trees on tonights walk with Mr. Burgess.
:::  That my feet will never have a pedicure this summer. just the thought makes me shiver.
::: that all SIX of my alarms won’t go off on a Saturday morning (to shoot a wedding).
::: that Oodle Noodle will go out of business because it is the bee’s knees.
::: That Matt’s piggybank (from his teen years), which is a spikey haired angry lookin’ gangsta’ , will fall off the bookshelf and break…. not.
::: The dark night. Like my mum always said, nothing good happens after dark.
::: That Mr. Burgess will get his hands on my Highschool play DVD- where I played a spoon. yes, a spoon. like the kind of spoon you eat cereal with.
::: Deep water- If I can’t touch, I am very hesitant to swim… and if I finally get brave and get coaxed into it I will ONLY do it if there is  a wall or
ground a few meters away…
::: The weigh scale. scccarrryy.

Mucho Love,
Kari

Matt and I just returned from a fabulous trip to the USA.
It was alot of driving. Normally, not my cup of tea.
But anytime Matt and I drive somewhere,
we have a disgusting amount of fun! Thats right. A disgusting amount.

We sing. Whether he’ll admit it or not. We BOTH sing.
He’s Sonny and I’m Cher. Minus the mustache and a body that is size 1.

….and we Dance. Oh, how we dance. Lets just say, I caught a few driver-by-ers, staring at our saweet moves. jealous.

However, as fun as driving is, I know that a certain somebody doesn’t trust another certain someone behind the steering wheel…
Just because I like to go a little bit faster than the designated speed limit, and  sometimes I brake suddenly,
AND just because I have hit a curb…or two…or three, while turning corners does not mean that someone should
worry for their safety.
Afterall, I would be wearing a very cute pair of high heels.., (does that help my case at all??)

Its kind of funny because we both secretly know it that he has hestitations about my driving.
But it has never been said. Outloud.
Whenever I am behind the steering wheel, Matt isn’t able to fall asleep.
He claims: ‘I can’t sleep when anyone else is driving’…. ‘Its not you,It is if anyone is driving’….’Its hard to sleep in a car’.
So, you’re telling me that after 11 hours of driving, singing, dancing and NO redbull you can’t sleep for 15 minutes??
Common Mr. Burgess, you have to come up with a better story than that.  I’m not buyin’ it.
On our drive home. He was pretty tired, so I suggested I drive.
Well he can’t say no… or what would that imply?
As I was driving safely I told him to close his eyes for 15 minutes straight, and just let your mind go into a total state of relaxation,
and you will automatically fall asleep.
BUT.
I saw that terd peeking.
More than once. After the 15 minutes, he ‘woke’ up, and said ‘See, I told you I can’t sleep in cars.’
Oh, Mr. Burgess you are a sneaky one.

I drive how I drive. And their ain’t nobody who can reign in this wild horse………. except police officers.
They can bring a gallop to a trot. Temporarily.
( yes mom, I know ain’t, ain’t a word..)

Sometimes life just kicks our trash. Sometimes it just seems like it is too much to take on.
I felt like this for the past few days.
I felt as though I had been run over by a train followed by a kid on a bike. With training wheels.
It boggled my mind that all these things came in one huge clump.
You know that terribly redundant saying… When it rains, it pours… ? Well clearly, its true. I am a believer.
The past few days the rain  just poured down and the water  kept rising.
From my knees, to my belly button, to my chin… if it goes much further, i’ll have to bring out my snorkeling gear.
While I was looking on our bookshelf for something to read, my eyes were drawn to a certain book.
I had read it before, so I passed it, looking for something new to read.
I couldnt find anything. Not one thing that would keep my interest. My eyes were again drawn to the same particular book.
I pick it up. Start thumbing through the pages.
Tears came to my eyes.
It was exactly what I needed to read.

Richard Carlson famous author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…, passed away a few years ago. He had written his wife the most
beautiful love letter. She compiled it into a book and added her thoughts to it as well.

It is so easy to get so involved in the fast paced world, or get caught up in misery when life seems to let us down,
or to just not acknowledge the most beautiful things around us- Whether it be nature, family, friends, our spouse.
We need to be living in the NOW. We need not to worry about the past or the future… but instead, relish in today.

The question in the book that is asked:  “If you had an hour to live, and could make just one phone call, who would it be to,
what would you say… and why are you waiting?”

One of my favorite quotes that stuck out to me while re-reading this book was:
‘If I had an hour to live, I also wouldn’t be calling anyone who owed me any money,
or anyone who had wronged me in anyway during my lifetime. I wonder how much time
I fretted away, over the years, thinking about that kind of stuff. It’s not worth one second’s thought.
With the time I have left, I choose to allow my thoughts to rest in total peace,
right her, right now in this precious moment’

It helps put the puzzle pieces together. It makes life simpler.It makes you realize where your priorities need to be.
I can’t stop someone elses rude actions and rude comments, but I can stop how much I allow myself to be affected by it.
I can’t stop life being unpredictable, but I can stop to remember that I need to ‘right now in this precious moment’.
These are things that I CAN do.
Life is too short.

I am choosing to live my life, and only let those people/things into my life that lift me up.
I am going to exert energy into that which will only bring joy.

” What is going to make us happy and content is that ‘critical inch’,
the stuff we will talk about in that final hour of our life.
We need to make choices in our lives right now based on what’s truly important.
So, who would you speak to if you had only an hour to live?
What would you talk about in that final hour?..”

Mucho Love,
Kari

Maybe if I get brave, I’ll show you the backside…. not!

For May long weekend, Matt and I along with my sister Krystal and her husband went Camping in Jasper.
We arrive to our campsite and we set up the tent we had just bought. A 3 person tent… as cute as can be.  (We ALL know that a 3 person tent=2 person tent)
We were prepared. We were going to camp in comfort. We brought blankets- so that we could snuggle…
and also because we only have one sleeping bag. We also decided to bring our air mattress, yes, so what of it? We’re divas.
Our tent looked nearly as good as a hotel. no, really. The Hilton.
It screamed comfort.
So after our first evening of dinner, fire, smores and what-not, its time to hit the hay.
(for those of you who aren’t experienced campers, as we are, and don’t know the camping slang, Hit the hay means sleep)
I make sure I put on my red fuzzy socks, my lulus and a hoody. I wasn’t going to be cold. There is nothing worse than being cold.
Mr. Burgess puts on a clean t-shirt, and wears and old pair of basketball shorts to bed. Fool.

So as we are getting into our REM cycle, something hits me. Literally. whhatttttt??
Why are we on the ground. Why is there a little rock in my back… and why, oh why is there no air in the mattress.
Its probably near 2 o’clock in the morning. I turn to Matt and whisper  ‘we’re on the ground…!’
He tells me that the air mattress must have a slow leak.
Friends, we had  NO extra room in our ‘2 person’ tent (the Air Mattress was hitting every side of the tent. It was a
double air mattress in an actual 2 person tent’)
So we have to get our shoes on, to go outside, so we would be off the air mattress to fill it back up with the automatic pump.
Oh sweet mary, there is snow on the ground. My socks are getting damp, well because I tried to shove my sock covered feet into a flip flop..
and we all know how that works out.
The pump batteries are nearly dead, it takes 10 minutes to fill up this air mattress.
Boy was it getting cold.The wind was hitting my face, with little pellets of snow. And to top it off, I heard something in the bush…a bear? a Deer? Squirrel?
I got into a karate like stance. ( I have never taken Karate, but I have seen it in movies). I know you think I am kidding when I say, I went into a Karate-like stance.
But I actually did. My brain wasn’t quite awake yet. *yes, Kari, because a Karate stance is going to reallyyy scare a bear away*

FINALLY, the mattress is filled enough to support both our weight… we’re lards.
We snuggle back in.
But now, there is no warmth left in our bodies. Any ounce of our body heat was escaping through the edges of the blankets.
There was no way to get warm. I bundled up in all my clothes that I had brought, and still froze.
Matt stayed in his t-shirt and shorts, and of course, he froze too.
We snuggle together for body heat… but still nothing.
We were like Ice cubes snuggling together for heat. Which doesn’t really work out.
As I just lay there, waiting for morning to come, I can feel the air mattress slowly deflate below me.
We just went from the Hilton to the Motel 6 faster than you could blink.
Every time the air mattress deflates a little more, I roll into Matt. He weighs more, and so I am forced, by the laws of Physics(?), to roll into him.

We ‘woke’ (we never really slept. We were so worried that if we had fallen asleep under such extreme circumstances we might not wake up again)
up again at 6:00 AM, and the mattress had deflated again, we finally just decided to wake up and start a fire and warm up.
We were zombies coming out of the tent. We barely spoke a word regarding what happened that night. It still haunts us to this day.

Next time we are going to do it right. With no expectations. Because with no expectations, there is no disapointment.

Here are a few photos of from our trip:
Thank You Krystal for the photos!

We went into Jasper, to see the town. Krystal and Booker went into and Art store, but Matt and I were so exhausted that we
plunked down on a bench and fell asleep- Yes, my hat is over my face. The sun was in my eyes. I will embrace the term, just this
once.
Hillbilly.

So for the past couple of weeks, I have been arranging with Radelle to do a photoshoot for Matt and I.
The details are all coming together perfectly! And I am very excited about it!
So yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to inform Mr. Burgess about two things:
1. That we are doing the photo shoot. I guess I got so excited about it, I forgot to tell him.
2. To mark it on his calendar.

So as I am telling him about the shoot, he says to me:
“Ok, it sounds great, so where are we going…Sears?”

He was serious.

Huh?

I am sure that I had the most puzzled look on my face,
big deer eyes, and my mouth gaping openI was stunned...Sears? Huh?
I think he then realized what he had said.

Yes Mr. Burgess…. we are doing our very boutique, chic, romantic photo shoot at Sears.
In fact, I even have the turtleneck picked out that you are going to wear. And I have my
broach already polished.

We met in the Kitchen a few minutes later and just nearly died laughing on the floor.
Oh I hate it when I have Blonde moments (which I have too often), but I sure do get a
chuckle when Mr. Burgess has his (he averages 1 every few months).

Here is a shot Mr. Burgess got of me, while shooting Shannon and Tylers Wedding in Mexico.

When I read this Thank You, tears sprung (is that a word?) to my eyes..
I seriously have the best brides.ever.
After shooting Shannons Destination Wedding in Mexico, I felt like a part of her family.
I might just show up on their door step on Christmas Day, with a Santas hat on my head and an apple pie in hand.
Thats how much I feel like a part of their fabulous family!

Shannon and Tyler (after Mexico) had a reception in Edmonton for friends and family who did/didn’t make it for their
Mexico Reception. Sadly I wasn’t able to make it for it, but if I had… I would have tore up the dance floor with my amazing robot moves.

I feel so blessed to have such amazing, fabulous, beautiful people friends in my life…
———————

Hey Kari!!!

My mom said she facebooked you to thank you for the Amazing job you did!!!
She won’t even let me see your slide show because she’s going to play it tonight!!
She balled her eyes out because everythng you did was perfect!!!!
I was able to look at the 2 disks of photos you did & they are absolutely stunning! I can’t thank you & Matt enough!
you are an extremely talented couple and we are sooooo lucky to have met you!
My parents kept saying that out of all of our wedding expenses….you&Matt were the BEST investment & worth EVERY penny….I absolutely agree!
I wish we had more of your business cards to we can decorate the hall with them…we will be referring you to Everyone we know!!!

You didn’t miss a detail! The way you decorated our package was so creative & beautiful!

Thank you Again and Again & for being such Fabulous people!!

Keep in touch cousin & have a fantastic long weekend:)

Muah! Xoxo
Shannon

——————

I took the liberty of putting Matt and I in your family photo- I hope you don’t mind…