I know, I know. Blog teases are no fun! I intended to get this post up much earlier...a pattern with me it seems. Forgive me for stringing you along, but at last, here are the photos that accompany the Big News! On November 18, 2007, a wintery evening in Victoria's downtown Inner Harbor, James Dean asked me to marry him, and I said yes! And then, I cried. It's hard to describe the impact a girl feels when she realizes that someone is actually "choosing her". And what a great guy to be chosen by!

So, after stumbling around the Empress Hotel, in shock, for about 1/2 an hour, we decided we had to go break the news and have a celebratory drink! It was Sunday night, 9pm in sleepy Victoria. Businesses were closing fast! But we found a place to buy a bottle of champagne, and went to wake up my sister Janet to tell her we were engaged. So fun! She jumped right into the excitement with us, and you all have her to thank for these photos!

Us and our celebration bubbly:

This is James, getting ready to "sabre" the Champagne. From working in a restaurant, I learned that each bottle is produced in a way that if you strike it at a certain angle, it makes a clean break, and an impressive dinner party trick! At the restaurant, they do it with a ceremonial sword, but you can actually do it with a butter knife if you need to. So if you catch me at a party and want your Champagne sabred, I'm your girl!

We kept the cork. See the bottle rim from a perfectly executed sabre-ing:

A toast!

And here we are, texting and calling our friends and family to tell them our happy news!

Our thanks again to my fabulous sister Janet, for having her wits about her enough to take some photos. I certainly didn't. What a night! 

So these pics are for the ladies, cause we know we all wanna see the ring!

I LOVE everything about my ring. I love that James chose it, and I love that it is a family diamond. James' mom, Sandee, had a beautiful pair of diamond earrings that she rarely wore, so she gave one to each of her sons, James and David.

Here's how it looks when it's on:

The next day, we went downtown and grabbed some Fish & Chips on the Inner Harbor. While we were waiting for our food, we started joking around trying to re-create the proposal in pictures. So here's a composite of how it might have looked, except it would have been dark at night, with the Parliament Buildings all lit up:

Ha! I am so excited to marry this man...

 Stay tuned for more wedding details my friends!

-Karen 

On November 17, 2007, my dad turned 70 years old. I can hardly believe it! For such a milestone, I just had to fly out to Victoria to celebrate with him. We took some family photos, starting with the 3 generations of Doherty men:

My Dad, my brother Brian, and my nephews Gavin (2yrs) and Kieran (2 months),

Dad & Kids, Janet, myself and Brian

Dad, his kids, & his grandkids:

Janet & I out with Dad for a LOVELY dinner at Cafe Brio in Victoria:

Creme Brulee, stand-in for birthday cake!

On Sunday, James flew in and joined us for brunch, and a drive by the waterfront:

Another great trip out to BC. Happy 70th Birthday Dad! =)

But this is only 1/2 the story of a great trip! Next entry will have some VERY big news!! =)

Cheers,

Karen

I've just arrived back from Victoria, and have about 30 minutes before I have to go pick up James at the airport, so I thought I would post a few photos of a recent family shoot I did for Tom and Rachel Lam. Their son Malakai turned one year old on November 6, so they had me come over to their house for a little family photo session. What fun! Here are some portraits of the li'l guy:

Cheeky little smile!

Tom and Rachel:

Saving the cutest for last! Malakai's birthday is quite close to Halloween, so they decided to have a costume party for his birthday. Rachel found this amazing little costume for Malakai!!

As you can see, it was a pretty great day with the Lams! Many thanks to the three of you.

I am downloading photos from my trip to Victoria as I am writing this. Soon, very soon, you will have full details on my Westcoast weekend. Ciao for now!

-Karen 

I am in Victoria, BC right now. I flew out on Thursday to celebrate my Dad's 70th birthday this weekend- amazing!! Unfortunately, I left my CF card reader back in Calgary, and I'm too busy/lazy to grab a new one while I'm out here, so photos will have to wait until Wednesday or Thursday, after I get back home. Check back, cause it'll be worth it! Pics of my dad's birthday, my cutie little nephews, and an unexpected "once-in-a-lifetime" event will be following shortly! =)

Soon,

Karen 

OK, confession: I am obsessed with being chronological. I wonder if we, as humans, are all somewhat built that way? I've been thinking about it lately for two reasons. First, because my love to do things "in order" has kept me from posting on this blog for the last few weeks. I want to post about photography and life over the past several months in the "order it happened" bringing you up to speed, but as life continues to unfold daily, it means I am not blogging the present, and the catch-up list gets longer and longer! Silliness.

I have also been thinking about it because I have been very busy with designing albums lately to meet holiday deadlines. (Another reason for my temporary blog-abandon!). I consider myself a visual story-teller and love my albums to communicate the progression of a wedding day. So I have a mini freak-out if I catch a photo appearing in the wrong order! For example, if there is a portrait of a bride wearing her pearl necklace, and then on the next page, there's a photo of her mother putting on her necklace- I simply can't have it! More silliness...

I doubt I'll ever shake off this quirk with my album designs, because it's a degree of excellence and consistency I want to offer each of my clients. However, for the sake of the blog, I am bucking my chronological obsession for this post (and vow to do so more in the future), and giving you a peek at some of the Album Designs I have been working on.

Roxy & Matt:

Berenice and Jeff:

And Beth & Luke:

Their album cover 

So there you go! A blog post about what I've been up to very recently. More blasts from the past to come!

Cheers, Karen

PS. I've decided a more realistic goal may be to catch you all up on 2007 by the end of 2007. I'll do my best! =)