Away with April | Goals & Favourites

What a crazy month! From finishing school to moving home it's just been one thing after another! I loved every second of it.

As the month draws to a close, it's time to reflect on what I've been loving throughout this month as well as the steps I've taken toward accomplishing my goals for 2016.

Favourites

1. Dangerous Woman Ariana Grande

I've always been a huge Ari fan, but something about this song makes it my favourite! The chorus sounds so strong and sexy. It's definitely a good vibe song.

2. 7 Years Lukas Graham

I think everyone has been obsessed with this song. It's so good!! The lyrics are absolutely genius and the message speaks to everyone. Lukas Graham sort of came out of nowhere and took the world by storm with this song.

3. Thich Nhat Hahn books

I've been on the path to becoming a more mindful person and Thich Nhat Hahn's books have been such a blessing for this journey. I've bought Peace is Every Breath and True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart. I highly recommend looking into his books!

4. Hazel ChewingSand YT

I've become a huge fan of miss Hazel Hayes! I discovered her through a video posted by Phil Lester and have been hooked ever since. She's so funny, has amazingly wise thoughts, and a beautiful voice for singing. Check her out!

5. Pregnancy Announcement

BOTH of my beautiful cousins have announced that they are expecting babies! Ashleigh and her husband are expecting their second and Ila and her husband are expecting baby number one! It's such an exciting time of life for everyone involved. I wish them safe and healthy pregnancies and I can't wait to meet their little ones.

6. Moving Home

I've been home for five days now and I couldn't be happier. I've seen quite a few of my family members as well as some of my best friends already. I took that photo just yesterday. My best friend and I decided to drive all the way around the island and we found this beautiful little spot!

7. Walt Before Mickey

This movie is perfect. I don't even have the words to express how much I enjoyed it! All I can say is watch it. It will change the way you see every Disney movie from here on out.

8. My Facebook Page

I made an official page on FaceBook to promote my photography work. You can check it out here; go on a give it a like!

Goals

1. Strengthen my faith: read a book on spirituality

I bought and read both of these books this month and I couldn't recommend them more. Even if you aren't on a spiritual journey I feel like these books would be beneficial for anyone who chooses to read them.

2. Love my body: appreciate my nude body in the mirror daily

At first doing this was uncomfortable. I had never taken the time to really look at my body like this. Now that I've done it every day for a whole month I feel like I really appreciate every mark and curve that I can see. I recommend doing this for a month and seeing how much more love you have for your body.

3. Explore new creative mediums: sketch something

I'm not good with a pencil so showing a sketch I did would be very embarrassing haha. However I've grown to love it. Whenever I have a photoshoot idea now I sketch it out so I don't forget what I want to create. I never leave home without a pencil and a notebook.

4. Find more joy: enjoy my last month in Ottawa as best I can

I definitely enjoyed my last month in Ottawa! I went to all my favourite places and spent good quality time with all my favourite people there. I left on the best possible note.

5. Have an open heart: be honest

This quote was what I had in mind when I set this goal for myself. I think a lot of people justify damaging comments as honesty. My goal was to be truthful in everything without ever being harmful to another person. There are definitely ways to be kind and loving whilst still being honest and I've learned that through this month. I feel closer to my friends and family and I feel like our mutual trust has grown.

What have you been loving this month?

What goals have you set for May?

Please do let me know in a comment!

Thanks for reading & check back again to see what KatieDidd, xo

Last Capital Adventure | Photo Diary

I have officially moved home!

My cousin, his girlfriend, and my brother all came down to Ottawa on Friday and spent my last weekend there along-side me. We packed up all my stuff into a U-Haul and drove 11 hours home on Sunday. 

During our weekend in the Capital we had such a blast!

Friday night we went to Bayshore mall to go shopping. Despite all of us being adults, we all built a stuffed animal at Build-A-Bear! We ended up with two Minions, a Dragon and a CareBear. After we got home Friday night we laughed our butts off playing Cards Against Humanity.

Saturday was a busy day! In the morning we went to the Museum of Aviation and Space, in the afternoon we went to the Canadian War Museum, and after dinner we went to glow in the dark mini putt at Putting Edge!

Of course I took a bunch of pictures haha, so here are some of them!

Museum of Aviation and Space

Canadian War Museum

Glow in the Dark Mini Putt

I hope you enjoyed looking through this little photo gallery. We had an absolute blast this past weekend! If you're ever in Ottawa I highly recommend visiting all these places. 

Have you ever been to Ottawa? What did you do? 

Where do you live? What places do you like to visit there?

Please do leave a comment!

Thanks for reading & check back again to see what KatieDidd, xo

Vegan Dinner for Meatless Monday | Recipe

Hey y'all! Today I want to share with you this DELICIOUS recipe that I concocted... that just so happens to be completely vegan! 

Before beginning on the main recipe, you'll need to make or buy some vegetable broth. I made mine by combining water, carrots, celery, leeks and a bay leaf in a big pot. Once it came to a boil, I reduced the heat down to a simmer and let it do it's thing for about an hour. By this time all the veggies in the broth were pretty mushy and so I scooped them out with a slotted spoon. I added salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, and rosemary to the broth and let it simmer another hour or so. I put it in the fridge and let it sit overnight.

To prepare the actual meal, I began by dicing a sweet onion and two vine ripened tomatoes. I placed the onion and tomatoes into a skillet over medium heat and covered it all with vegetable broth. I then covered it with a lid and let it simmer away for about 10 minutes. 

After 10 minutes, I seasoned the onions and tomatoes with basil, oregano, garlic, and red pepper flakes. I put the lid back on, reduced the heat to a low temperature setting and let it simmer whilst I cooked the rice. I used the vegetable broth for cooking the rice instead of water to infuse flavour into it. 

Once the rice was finished cooking, I spooned it onto a plate and topped it with the tomato/onion mixture. I served the dish with a garden salad. It was a huge hit- everyone loved it!

If you try this recipe do let me know! It's delicious! If you have any recipe suggestions for me to try- meatless or not- leave them in a comment!

Thanks for reading & check back again to see what KatieDidd, xo

First Year Finished | Recap

I seriously can't believe that my first year of photography at Algonquin College is over. Yesterday was my final interview discussing my first year portfolio. It was a presentation in front of five of my first year professors. 

I was SO nervous! It's one thing to display your work, it's a whole other thing to have to defend it. But, nevertheless, it went very well! My teachers gave me lovely feedback that I will definitely be applying going forward. 

Today I'm going to share with you the eight photographs I chose to display in my first year final portfolio. First year is very tech-oriented and with that comes strict guidelines about what has to appear in our final portfolio. We had to include, in this order:

1. Commercial Advertisement or Interior Architecture

2. Glassware

3. Metal/Chrome

4. Self-Directed Commercial Image

5. Consumer Portrait or Environmental Portrait

6. High Key Portrait

7. Low Key Portrait

8. Self-Directed Portrait

Commercial Advertisement

Glassware

Metal/Chrome

Self-Directed Commercial Image

Consumer Portrait

Model: Jameson

Low Key Portrait

Model: Paul

High Key Portrait

Model: Kendall

Self-Directed Portrait Image
Model: Spencer

Looking at these photos makes me so proud- I took these! I learned so much over these past eight months here at Algonquin and I will treasure every bit of knowledge and memory that I have made. 

Good luck to all of you who are going through final exams- you're going to rock it! If you have any questions about photography or college/university in general please do leave it in a comment!

Thanks for reading & check back again to see what KatieDidd, xo