12 | 28 ... 3/28

The morning started on the wrong foot - 2 cameras with dead batteries. What a way to start March 28 - the one day of the month that I take photos for the 12 | 28 photo project. So, I decided to download a couple of apps for my iPhone and charge up my Canon SLR. I had been using my Lumix Panasonic almost exclusively since I received it as a gift for Christmas 2010. Using different cameras ended up being a fun, creative departure from how I usually take photos.

This is the first "test" shot I took of my desk lamp and bamboo.

I love the contrast of colours and the texture of the wall.

Citadel Hill 

Downtown Halifax - blue skies...

The Citadel

So cold...

Downtown Halifax...cold, sunny day.

Same photo - 2 ways

I love this shade of orange/red and found it all around the city.

When is the last time you used a pay phone?

Peacock

Pizza at Morris East - the capricciosa

Do you like arugula? 

I made an arugula pesto, which I used as a 

dressing on this arugula salad with tomatoes

 and goat cheese. Yummy and fresh!

Shadows outside my office.

trio

You'll notice that I played with lots of settings. I highly recommend the app CameraBag. It is $1.99. New York Times says, "If you buy just one filter app, make it CameraBag."

Creative displays

My aesthetician is Saskia Roch (Agricola Street, Halifax). She is not only incredible at her job, but also one of the most wonderful people you'd ever meet. She kindly offered to sell copies of twentythree in her shop. I think she nailed the display ; ) twentythree has its own nail polish palette! I love it.

The twentythree collection is also available at Carbonstok on Barrington Street in Halifax. Carbonstok is a bright, fresh and fun place to shop. They are the only shop that carries the collection of products - books, posters, cards, prints and conversation cards.

 

 Later this spring, Love Me, Boutique - (Dresden Row, Halifax) and Four Mermaids in Port Hood, Cape Breton will also be carrying copies of twentythree. My uncle also has copies for sale at his house - how sweet is that. There are about 50 limited edition copies remaining. 

12 | 28 ... 2/28

Tuesdays are jam packed days: day job, lunch workout class and evening job. For the 2/28 blog post there wasn't a whole lot of veering from my Tuesday schedule so I really had to take notice of my direct surroundings a little bit differently.

This week I've been focusing on fresh, colourful fruit and vegetables to make me feel like spring is close. And I discovered the tastiest oranges - heirloom oranges from Pete's Frootique (Halifax). Juicy & fresh with NO seeds.

Beautiful snowy walk to work.

I've been going to Tuesday lunch workout class for a number of weeks. I noticed the lockers but never really took a close look at the walls, windows and funny stickers.

 


Teals and purples brighten up a cold February day.

The contents of the vase shown next to the door in the top right changes with the seasons. It's a nice little surprise on my walk to work in the morning.

Morris East restaurant has a wood-fired oven. It's so perfect on a cold winter evening!

12 | 28 ... 1/28

Saturdays often include visiting the Seaport Market and cooking dinner while listening to Vinyl Tap - listening to that show makes me feel like I'm living in a different time and place. I did visit the market but Saturday night I went out to a Supper Club with friends. An exciting and relaxing Saturday all around. One of the reasons I create 12 | 28 is to inspire myself to take photos. I hadn't taken a photo since December 30. So terrible! And, also to try to look at things and life from a different perspective. Because it was a Saturday, I spent some time drinking coffee and puttering around the house taking notice of our living space.

There's quite a bit of colour and interesting toys on various shelves! I still remember the day my mom brought me home the smurf on the far right when I was in elementary school. I have a Papa Smurf too!

Little collections find their way onto window sills and shelves.

A visit to the Halifax Seaport Market. Lots of people, food and products.

Some of my favourite market products...fresh flowers, beach glass jewelry & artwork and chocolate bar soap.

Fresh and cheerful market flowers.

Neighbourhood Supper Club at Local Jo. The folks at Young and Dublin (Natalie & Virgil) cooked and served flavourful Mexican soup, tacos, re-fried beans and rice. YUM. Follow Young & Dublin on facebook for updates - they had Korean and Mexican open air dinners in their backyard last summer. I know, so good!!

Delicious desserts created at Local Jo. Our group tried coconut cheesecake, pecan pie and coconut cream pie.

Once again, my love of beach glass. Picking beach glass (and beautiful pebbles) at home in Cape Breton is one of my favourite early morning activities. 

winter...

Winter at our house means sweaters, scarves, leg warmers and cozy slippers for guests.

A reminder to go skating at the oval...

Top 5 Highlights of 2011

2011 was quite a year - personally and professionally. I started working as a graphic designer at Dalhousie University in January, a little over a month before I launched my book twentythree. I'm thrilled that almost 300 people have a copy of twentythree either on their bookshelf or coffee table. I didn't really have specific goals set, or a communications plan or a marketing plan. It all kind of unfolded. Looking back on 2011, these are the top 5 missbrenna highlights.

1. The arrival of twentythree

100 copies of the book arrived a few days before the launch. They sold out in 2 weeks.

Pretty, pretty, pretty happy...

Seeing twentythree for the first time - This is a video of me opening the box. I forgot it existed.



2. Launch at the Hub & Inverness County Centre for the Arts

The Hub, Barrington Street, Halifax (February 25, 2011)

This wall was the inspiration for printing the pages of the book as posters. I wanted to see the entire book on one wall. Also, I wanted people to be able to interact with the images, questions and answers.

The poster wall. It turns out the posters are extremely popular. People have spent up to 15 minutes looking through the posters deciding which one they want to buy.

Launch in my hometown (Inverness, Cape Breton). I'm very proud of where I come from and was so happy to have this event in Inverness at the Arts Centre. It was truly the only other thing I wanted to do after publishing twentythree. The best parts were having both sides of my family present, my favourite teacher, and Frank MacDonald (yes, the author, Frank MacDonald introduced me).

3. Lumiere 

Lumiere was held, for the first time, in Sydney, Cape Breton in October. Lumiere is an "Art at Night" event, very similar to Nocturne in Halifax. It was a terribly rainy night but people came out by the dozens. This was an incredible event. People were really into answering the questions and reading the answers from twentythree. Now, to figure out what to do with all of these responses.

4. Shoptalk in the Coast
My all-time favourite column in the Coast is Shoptalk. It is a sweet little column that gives snippets of information about local shops, restaurants, artists, etc. twentythree was included in the December 3, 2011 column of Shoptalk.  
twentythree in Shoptalk

5. Carbonstok
Just recently, I contacted Carbonstok to see if they'd be interested in carrying the suite of twentythree products. They said YES! So now, twentythree - the book, posters, prints, cards and conversation cards - are available at Carbonstok on Barrington Street in Halifax!! I love Carbonstok - it's a cool store that supports local. twentythree is also available at the Bearpaw in Inverness, Atlantic News on Queen Street in Halifax and online: http://missbrenna.bigcartel.com/.

2011 has been an awesome year. I'm so appreciative to my family, friends, co-workers and the contributors who have supported me and gave me the confidence to "go for it!" Because of those first 100 books I sold, I was able to order 150 more and then another 100. People have shared the book with family and friends and slowly the word is getting out about twentythree. 

Someone from British Columbia told me they heard about twentythree on CBC radio. A girl stopped and took a photo of my logo - missbrenna because her sister's name is Brenna. A woman told me she was going to share the book with her family on Christmas morning. Teachers have bought the book to use in their classroom. I've witnessed people cry and laugh while reading twentythree. Someone told me, "This is like Post Secret but much cooler." Wow, what a compliment. 

I'm excited for 2012...


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