It’s so nice to be home!
Toronto was great, but I always miss Vancouver after just a few days.
I missed Quincy quite a bit this trip….always so good to see him.
He’s sitting on my lap licking my arms and neck as I type. Apparently he missed us too.
Flight home was pretty good, except for the 1/2 hour delay taking off. Apparently something was wrong with reverser in the engine and it had to be fixed before we took off.
Umm, yah good idea.
At least it wasn’t longer than half hour or I would of started to go a little wonky on that plane with 400 people. I had some great reading material for this flight, so that helped! I picked up a SIGNED copy of Kat Von D‘s new book and read the entire thing from front to back on the flight. It’s such a rad book! It’s a mini-autobiography, which includes a bunch of other awesome stuff like a tattoo directory of all her tattoos and the meaning behind them, her biggest inspirations, tons of her personal designs and favorite work….all kinds of stuff. The design and layout of the book is seriously sick. Fantastic attention to detail and strong focus on a unique visual appeal….every single page is a piece of art in itself and I found myself with butterflies turning each page, anticipating what would adorn the following pages. It was that good! You can really tell a lot of time went into creating a book that is so perfectly “Kat”. Her photographer, Lionel Deluy is bloody incredible too. His work just blows me away and is so inspiring. Oh, and I had no idea Jeffree Star was her make-up artist….no wonder she looks so damn good all the time. Anyways….This book just reaffirmed my mild obsession with her. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and her personality and work are both so rad. I’d LOVE to have her to a portrait tattoo of my granz on me someday.
The book:
/Kat Von D tangent
The other book I picked up was The Hot Show Diaries by Joe McNally. Also an awesome read. First 1/3 of the book was a bunch of basics I was already aware of, but that was followed by LOADS of cool uniques on using your small flashes in almost any situation, really showcasing the amazing flexibility of Speedlite. Highly suggest the read!
Ok so back to the trip…..it was fantastic! The awards gala that I went down to attend was absolutely amazing. It was quite a huge production!! So much bigger than I anticipated. I had no idea there would be celebrities there! Theo Tams (Canadian Idol winner) opened the show which was cool. George Stroumboulopoulos was also there which was pretty rad as I love him! He did mini interviews with some of the award recipients throughout the night….but not me!! Kinda thankful for that as I probably would have been a nervous blubbering fool. lol Then at the end of the night, Chantal Kreviazuk performed an 8 song concert – soooooo cool. I really like her and was quite a nice surprise to get to see her play live at such an intimate event. She is quite an amazing singer live that’s for sure. They capped the night off with a suprise gift – a Birks silver watch for all the award winners….again, so awesome! All in all it was a really fabulous event and I’m so honored to have been a part of it and to receive such recognition.
The rest of our trip was good. We spent 2 days visiting with family outside Toronto which was really nice. I haven’t seen the in-laws since our wedding so it was great to catch up again. Was really good to see Kevin and finally meet the new lady too! Heather rocks!!Monday night we got a big group of Toronto friends together for some drinks and catch up time at the Madison Ave Pub. Was an awesome time seeing old friends and making some new ones too. That John Edgar guy is one funny character I tell ya! Had a blast with him and his buddy Taylor Jackson.
Good times all around but I must say I am super glad to be back in Vancouver. I absolutely love my city and it always so good to come back here. The ocean, the mountains, the people, the neighborhood I live in……it’s all so wonderful.
That wraps my travel spurt for a few months. Wedding season is upon us and about to hit me full force so right now is all about finishing up some previous sets and getting some important things in order before I get mad busy. Oh, and taxes. Those darn, dreaded, evil taxes. Must get on that ASAP!!
Ok, I’ll leave you with a few photos from the trip….
by John Heil
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