5 years ago.

5 years ago today Steve and I arrived in France for our biggest adventure yet. 

It was an incredible experience that I'd highly recommend to anyone.  

I miss the salty smell of the Mediterranean, the very mild winter, the friends we made and unending varieties of pastries, wine & cheese!

Here's hoping our future adventures only get even better - I'm pretty sure they will.

Working on Music Videos

This weekend is a busy one. 
My friend, classmate from film school and favourite music video director Derek will be directing another 2 videos this weekend. 
The videos are both for an up and coming Toronto artist Dirty Radio.
I'm excited.  It's been a while since I've worked on a crew.

Here are the videos we've worked on before.
I was the assistant director for each of these and they were all shot in Thunder Bay, ON.

The first video doesn't exist online!  It was made in 2004, and my younger sister and her friends were dancers.   It was fun but maybe just too embarrassing for everyone involved now.

The second was for the young punk band Amelia.  No idea if these guys are even still together.  It was 2005.



Then we did Alright Okay for Webster Death.   This video is my favourite.  


And the last one, in 2008, was also for Webster Death. This is The Script.


Both of the videos that we made with Webster Death went on to win awards at Cravefest in Toronto. 
The shoots are always a ton of work, but in the end it's so worth it. 

This is dedication - the director, hiding behind the wrapper and holding moose antlers that weigh a ton.   It's all about getting the shot.

I'll share photos of this weekend's activities soon.  Hope your weekend is great!

The story of Smiles from Mel

Once upon a time, when the internet and I were much younger... 

I wanted to create a hotmail account. 
Now my parents, being protective as they were and perhaps having watched an episode or two of Dateline, said no.  Clearly they didn't understand the difference between an email address and chatrooms just yet.
I, a respectful and obedient teenager listened to their wish.  For about a week. 
Then I went to the library on my lunch and made one. 
Unfortunately melanie at hotmail.com was already taken.   So was mel, melg (damn Spice Girl trend) and even melanieg.   I refused to be known as melanie_g_3457, as hotmail so brilliantly suggested, and had to come up with something truly unique to me. 
I thought about how I would often sign my letters to penpals and notes passed in class. 
I always put a smiley face and my name.
 :) from Mel

Smilesfrommel@hotmail.com.
It was perfect.

And in the years that followed, the email address became part of my identity.   Everyone that I ever met at a conference, or new job, or debate club meeting or drama club knew me by that email address.  
I am not going to count how many years I've had it. *shudder*

So a few years ago, as I was moving to a new city, starting a new life and a blog, I just went with it.

Do I still love it now?
Oh no. 
I do think of changing it, to something less 'teenage-girly' but I haven't come up with a new blog name yet.  Suggestions welcome.

While we're strolling down memory lane, I may as well share a photo.  Circa the early days of the smilesfrommel account.

I'm second from the right.  

The day - Retro Day - as part of one of the Spring Fling/Spirit Week activities that year.   In the yellow is my best friend at the time.  Behind her, her other best friend/my first boyfriend.  She thought it would be genius if we were together.  Didn't quite work.

Funny enough, I would wear this outfit on a regular basis, just with a few less accessories.   

I rightfully deserved the nickname Austin Powers, but that's another long story for another post.

Do you have a dorky email address from back in the day?
How did you come up with your blog name? Do you still love it?

Childhood Christmas Memories

I've been busy crafting like Santa's workshop around here. 
And I can't show it off, in case the gift getters happen to stop by.  Will have to show you in the new year :)
For now though, here are some photos of Christmases long gone.

Painting the windows of our house was an awesome decoration tradition.   It's just tempera paint, which you can easily wash off after the holidays. 

Evidently I cover my mouth and gasp when I get a gift I like. 

 I remember this cardboard house being the best thing ever.  The windows and doors opened and my name was written on the door and everything.  lol.

I was cool with my Papa dressed up as Santa (with shades as a disguise from the older kids!) but strange Santas at the mall could not be trusted.

 

Hiking in the snow to get our tree and then decorating it at home with all of our handmade ornaments was so much fun.  We would take turns every year with who could put the star on top. 

The big exciting tradition was always seeing all my family at my Mama and Papa's house on Christmas Eve.  I think it's a French tradition to celebrate late on Christmas Eve.   We would meet around 10pm, Santa would come around midnight.  We'd open and exchange gifts and then eat our giant meal, turkey and all, in the wee hours of the morning. 

Proof that I've never been a night owl and turkey makes me even more sleepy.

What made Christmas magical for you as a kid?

30 days of getting to know me. day five.

day 5 - a picture of your favorite memory.

 this picture is one of my favourite ever.  it captures a truly great evening perfectly.  the event was the wedding of our friends ryan and jasmine.
we were in Toronto for the last time before moving to France for the year, some friends were in from out of town, and we had an incredible send-off with these hilarious and ridiculously good looking people.
and a great hair day ;)

and! i have so many favourite memories that are not photographed.

sitting on my grandma's lap at her sewing machine, as we turned peach baskets into beds for my dolls.

screaming "go lisa go!" at my sister in the one second of silence before her dance performance and getting to see her whole body laugh from my view in the balcony.

playing lego with my brother.  flying kites with my dad.  baking cookies with my mom.  watching the magical model trains of my grandpa. and that's just before i turned 5. 
the list could go on and on - i am blessed with wonderful people in my life!

in 2010 I...

had my own english class in france

attended the cannes film festival

wore the "wardrobe hat" on a historical film

visited Berlin

met and shopped with a penpal in london

was inspired by a fashion design high school

got a lot of vitamin d on the beach ;)

saw snow fall on palm trees

reunited with great friends to party at a wedding

danced with my cousins in rotterdam

went for gelato with my family - in Italy :)

shopped too much...

i like to scrapbook. :)

and i even used to do it.

my scrapbooking supplies and i have been apart for a long while, and while the weather seems too nice to sit inside and create a page, i am reminiscing about my love for the craft and looking forward to spending chilly nights with a silly girlie movie, my paper cutter, gluesticks and stacks of paper. 

here are some of my fave pages:

my papa (grandfather) in a photobooth circa 1957

my shoes (though this page is a few years old now, i may have to match it with a whole new set - i can only see 3 pairs that i still own!

i made a scrapbook for steve for our 1st anniversary.  i love papers by bampop!

i think this one takes the cake as my fave page ever.  thanksgiving 2008.

from the time i tried to call steve from a payphone in paris.  he didn't get to the phone on time and i left a machine message.  my credit card was later charged $42.00.  super lame!

this is my cousin melissa, in a pic i took ages ago.  but it was fun to use rockstar papers, because you know, she's like that ;)

if you'd like to see more - my set is on flickr here.

and do you scrapbook? i'd love to see your layouts too!

Playing dolls

hello all!

this is a fun flashback.

my good friend shannon is a photographer. we met when working together at a camera shop and bonded instantly. before i moved away we would try to plan a photoshoot once a month.

we'd pick a theme of some sort, get dressed up, and model for each other so that we could practice.

eventually we even shot weddings together.

this is one of the theme shoots: dolls.

chelsea

kristen

shannon (poor girl had short hair and all we could find was the cheap blonde wig.

she never did like the shots all that much)

and moi. photographed by shannon lepere.

i'm really looking forward to doing a couple fun shoots this summer, now that we're in the same city for a while.

flashback - learning from the domincan republic

i propose a new feature - flashbacks.

when i can, i'll post an old photo - something from the archives of my hard drives.  maybe something from my childhood, from when i started photography, my high school life, college, or even just from before i started to blog.  you can learn a little bit more about me, and soon i'll be leaving europe and having less big adventures to tell of anyway :P

 this is one of my favourite pictures i've ever taken.

in 2000 & 2001, my high school organized "experiential learning exchanges" during spring break.  

i went twice, fundraising all year to be able to make the trek with about 6 others and a chaperone to Consuelo in the Dominican Republic. 

we didn't go to build a school, bring medicine or educate the locals.  

we went so they could educate us.
we stayed with host families who were 'middle class' in the DR, which is a developing nation.

we spent our days communicating in broken spanish, and sometimes with local translators, getting to know the people and their way of life.  

we toured sugar cane plantations and talked to people who had no food and water. it broke our hearts. 

incredibly, and the thing i remember most, is how happy these people were. 

this mother, holding her newborn son marcos, was so proud and hopeful for his future.

i haven't kept in contact with them, and i have no idea if marcos has even made it to his 10th birthday.

i look at this picture and it brings me back to earth.

it makes me realize i have it pretty damn good.