In 2011, I took a photography course to get more comfortable behind the lens. Something that I’m very glad I did, but in recent months, I haven’t been taking too many photos. So, for 2012, I plan to take many more, to try and hone my craft just a little more.

As usual, in 2011, I ran the Vancouver Sun Run with my Mom, and our trusty running partners/good friends Leslie and Danica, like we do every year. I also ran the Times Colonist 10K in Victoria with my Mom, my aunts and my cousins (The Behan B*tches, as we like to call ourselves). It was a short, but fun, trip. Both runs I completed in under 50 minutes. In 2012, I will most definitely do the Sun Run again, but I’m hoping for a time under 49 min. I would also like to run a half marathon. It’s a sure-fire way to stay in shape, if I have something to train for.

In March, I went snowboarding in Whistler on my 29th birthday, with some of my closest friends. It was a day to remember, for sure. This year, I turn 30. (Eeep!) I’m not quite sure what I would like to do to celebrate this year, BUT, I do know I want to get in many more days of snowboarding before the snow melts. Mt. Baker, anyone?

This year, I also got more involved with the Vancouver Tech Community, through working with InitioGroup and Bootup. I loved every minute of it, as I always feel inspired when surrounded by smart people doing amazing things. I hope to stay involved, and to go to more tech events this year.

This past summer, I was once again a bridesmaid, in my dear friend Diana’s wedding. We’ve known each other since we were 5 years old, and have stayed great friends for almost 25 years. That’s an accomplishment in itself! I also planned her bachelorette party, which was held in Tofino, BC. It may not be the most solid thing to be proud of on this list, but everyone who came had such a great time, and everything went off without a hitch. I couldn’t believe it. A bachelorette party – where everyone involved had to travel to get there – and no drama. Just some girls, getting along, surfing, (oh, 1st time surfing!) and having a blast. Nice work, team.

bradyclarkephotography.com

2011 also marks the first time I have ever been an MC at a wedding! Now THAT I was proud of. I didn’t even crap my pants. No seriously, though, it was fantastic, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. As long as I get to do with my co-MC, eh Jerra?

There are also a few other personal “resolutions” that I have for myself, that I plan on keeping throughout 2012. I’m hoping, anyway! (Some hints: career, travel, fitness)

What are you proud of from the past year? Do you have any New Year’s resolutions? In any case, here’s to bigger and better in 2012!

January

I did a contract gig from January to March for AdHack. Some of you might remember.

I also started doing more contract work for Alex Lee PR, Wesley Behan, RE/MAX Crest Realty, & Tell Ten Friends.

February

There was this event that took place in Vancouver that was pretty huge. You might have heard about it.

Oh yeah, and my Mom carried the Olympic Torch in Powell River on February 4th, right before it made its way back to Vancouver for the Opening Ceremonies. KIND OF A BIG DEAL.

March

Always the best month. My birthday! I celebrated at Sanafir with some of my best girlfriends. Photo courtesy of Erin Buttler.

I took photos of Jerra’s baby belly for her, a month before she gave birth. I love this photo of her.

April

Twestival Vancouver, held at the CBC Studio. Photo by Jonathan Hanley.

April 26th, my best friend Jerra’s baby girl, Halle, was born.

May

The Vancouver Sun Run fell on Mother’s Day. As usual, I ran it with my Mom, my friend Danica, and her mom Leslie. We were even featured in the paper, and I wrote a post about it.

Chelsea came to visit BC, all the way from Minnesota!

June

Launch Party Vancouver 9 put on by Bootup. Photo of my brother Jordan and I, by Jeremy Lim.

Conviction Kitchen Season 2 started filming in Vancouver.

The last get-together with Liz and Di, before they took off for summer holidays, and before they both moved away from Vancouver. *tear*

July

Fun times with fun peeps.

Our annual family getaway to our cabin, Kokanee Cedar, on Powell Lake.

We were also in Powell River for Sea Fair weekend.

And on the 27th of July, my niece Ava Lorraine Hyunseon Behan was born. Love at first sight.

July was a good month.

August

Conviction Kitchen Season 2 wrap-up party for the last day of filming in Vancouver.

Then back to Powell River for Ava’s christening and for her to meet all of her Behan + Adams family.

On August 27th, my good friend Liz had a little boy named Micah. He was born a little bit early, and there were a few complications, which required him to be flown from the Powell River Hospital to Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. But that boy had a big heart and will to live, baby, and he is now as strong as ever, keeping his parents mighty busy. <3

September

Amanda’s birthday, Stacey P’s birthday/housewarming party, my Dad’s birthday, my cousin Cooper’s birthday, etc. Lots of people are born in September.

October

I got my new-to-me Nikon D90! Hence, the increase in photos in my Flickr stream. Gobble, gobble.

There was gorgeous weather in October, if you remember.

Oh yeah, I got a new job!

November

Riot Fashion Show at Guilt & Co. to play around with the new camera.

December

First trip to Mt. Baker and first ride of the season with Buttler! So snowy and delicious. And it was like a mini vacation because I had to take my passport. Yippee! Photo courtesy of Erin Buttler.

Some kick-arse holiday parties.

Christmas with the fam in PR.

Jaxon’s very first time on skates. He loved it. And it was Ava’s first Christmas.

Happy New Year!

What was your “Best of 2010″? Or rather, what are you looking forward to in 2011?

This photo was taken in October of 2006, when my mother and I went on a backpacking trip through France and Italy. I still can’t believe she went backpacking, and neither can my Dad.

Above, we were sitting at a little restaurant on the ocean in Riomaggiore, Italy, which is part of the Cinque Terre (the five villages). These five little towns are all connected by a little trail, and there are very few, if any at all, vehicles in the towns. It’s one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We sat there and had the most wonderful meal, and drank Prosecco (I’m pretty sure I got my Mom to love it just as much as I do), staring at this beautiful view.

The next day, we hiked the Cinque Terre trail through the five villages, jumped into the ocean to celebrate, and then took a little ferry from the last village, Monterosso, back to Riomaggiore, where we were staying. We traveled to Venice, Florence, Rome, Nice, Antibes, Cannes, Monaco, Eze, and Ville Franche sur Mer as well.

So many times, I’ve wished I could go back to this moment. Oh, how I love the Mediterranean! It was the best Mother/Daughter bonding trip you could ever ask for. I would do it again in a heartbeat, Mom. Just tell me when.

Photo credit: Jordan Behan

Another one of my favourite moments was just this year. My Mom had the opportunity to carry the Olympic Torch through our hometown of Powell River, BC for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. When I watch the video that Jordan made of that early morning on Nootka Street, I still tear up, and I think I will continue to do so, every time I watch it. I am so happy I was there to witness your glorious moment in person, along with the rest of the Behan mafia. We were so proud of you, Mom! You are world class.

This Mother’s Day, we are running the Sun Run together, along with our favourite mother/daughter team, Leslie and Danica. We’ve been running the Sun Run as a foursome for the past few years, and I hope we will continue to do so for many years to come. On Thursday, May 6th, the four of us were featured in an article in the Vancouver Sun for this very reason. I am going to make a conscious effort to get a great group photo of us this year, because clearly we don’t have enough!

Ha ha. Circa 2005?

Happy Mothers Day, Momsie.

Love Big J
xoxo

It would have been much easier if I did a few posts throughout the Olympics, but alas, I am doing it all in one long post now that I have no plans taking up my evenings. This means that I will leave out a lot of details, but that’s okay.

I am not alone in my depression of the Olympics being over. My Facebook, Twitter, and blogging friends feel the same way.

Wow, where to begin? 7 years ago? Okay.

July 2, 2003. I would have been in Boston, Massachusetts working on a yacht at the time when the IOC announced in Prague, Czech Republic that Vancouver won the bid to host the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. I gloated to my American, British, Czech, Australian, and South African co-workers. Mind you, my South African friends later on won the bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, so we both had reasons to celebrate.

Let’s bring things up a little closer to the present. June 12, 2009. My Mom e-mails myself, my two brothers and my sister-in-law with the subject line “Olympic Torch Bearer!” At the time, I don’t even think I realized what this meant, but I was so unbelievably excited for her. I wrote a blog post about it even!

Okay a little closer. February 3, 2010. Myself, my 2 brothers, my sister-in-law, and my nephew all made the trip from Vancouver, up to our hometown of Powell River for their Torch Relay Community Celebration. We had a few family members who performed in the Ceremony – Cousin Monica & her husband Max, and our Aunt Christine.

We then woke up at the crack of dawn to watch my Mom be the first torch bearer on February 4th, 2010 at 6:00am.

What an experience! Of course we have numerous photos (mine are here) and lots of video footage, and my brother Jordan even threw together a great video that still puts a lump in my throat everytime I watch it.

After my Mom carried the torch, it was just a few short days until the Olympics. And what a blur.

On Thursday, February 11th, I got to see the torch for the second time with some good friends, as it was carried into David Lam Park at LiveCity Yaletown. We also saw the first of many fireworks displays.

The next morning, February 12th, I walked to work taking photos along the way, and I got to see the torch relay for the third time as it traveled east on Hastings St. A lot of security was was traveling with it, as it had to divert a protest at Cambie and Hastings.

Friday night I stayed in to watch the Opening Ceremonies. I thought they were a great representation of our country from coast to coast and terrific way to welcome the world to our fine city.

The rest of my time was spent hopping around town trying to get into venues, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not. I didn’t always have my camera with me, but did manage to snag a few shots here and there. Here’s a few of Sheralyn and I on February 14th on Granville Island where we visited the Atlantic Canada House.

February 16th, I’m pretty sure I went to the Irish House, but there’s no photographic evidence to share. I’m kidding. There is, just not on my camera.

On February 18th, I watched Canada beat Sweden in men’s hockey with my friend Erin and some of her out-of-town friends at Ceili’s. This was not one of them.

I was lucky enough to see two medal ceremonies. Unfortunately though, both ceremonies were ones when Canadians were not getting medals! Of all the luck! The first one I saw on February 19th, was the night Theory of a Deadman performed. Not a big fan of them, and our seats were waaaay up in the nosebleeds. We did see Aussie Torah Bright get her gold medal for snowboarding, though – sorry Rob! And we met up with more friends afterward at Dix Brew Pub where we watched John Montgomery win gold in Skeleton!

My friend Seanna invited me to go to the Russia vs. Slovakia women’s hockey game with her and some family friends on February 20th, because her friend Natalie plays on the Slovakia team and left her four tickets at will call! W00t! Lucky me.

February 21st was the day Team Canada played against the USA in men’s hockey and lost! My friends and I watched it at Shark Club, which was a crazy, crazy scene. We didn’t lose hope though, and even made friends with some Americans.

Photo credit: Amanda Haines

I had a few quiet nights after this, and I even skipped watching the semi-final men’s hockey match vs. Slovakia (because I knew they would win anyway), and went to my second medal ceremony on February 26th to see Great Big Sea perform. And I’m so glad I did, because they were fantastic. I think there a lot of Newfoundlanders in the audience because everyone was singing, clapping, and stomping along to the music. For some reason, this was a really happy moment for me. Maybe I should have been born on the East Coast…. Nah.

After the ceremony, my friend Erica and I snuck into Library Square to share in the celebration of Team Canada making it to the gold medal match for men’s hockey. There were a few Swedish girls who had the same plan, and they were nice enough to let me take their photo.

Finally, February 28th was the gold medal men’s hockey game of Canada vs. USA, and the day of the closing ceremony. My friends and I were up bright and early to watch the game at Earls Yaletown. We drank mimosas and had a delicious buffet breakfast, then sat back to watch the best hockey game ever.

Photo credit: Stacey Parsons

I have more Olympics photos that I still have to update here.

It was a great couple of weeks Canada (& the world!), and I’m never going to forget it. Thank you Vancouver for throwing such great party.

At Tell Ten Friends, we help small businesses with their marketing and social media. There’s a whole list of services that we provide, and can tailor just for you. We also teach you how to do it yourself. Seriously. Check it out. And contact us if you need our help.

Ta Ta for now.

My first project as Wes’ new Marketing Manager (I totally just gave myself that title, btw), was to create a simple flyer targeted towards people living in his own building (above).

The next step was to create a Facebook fan page for Wes. Since we’re talking about it, why don’t you go ahead and become a fan of Wesley Behan, RE/MAX Crest Realty (Westside) right now? This is another medium, besides Wes’ blog, where people can re-connect with Wes, or find out what he’s up to. It’s not going to be Wes updating the page himself, tooting his own horn all day long; it’s going to be more about family and friends sharing links, photos, and video that pertain to Wes.

And, while we’re on the topic of social networking, if you’re a fan of twitter, and you’re not already following Wes, head on over to Wes’ twitter page and give him a follow. This is one of the best ways to see what Wes is up to on a daily basis. He updates his followers on new listings, open houses, market trends, when he’s celebrating a deal gone through, or even when he’s catching a Seahawks game. :)

I’m very excited about this new endeavor, and to be working alongside my big bro. I think that our family makes a great team, and things can only get better from here!

My Grandpa is the king of gadgets. He’s the hardest person to buy gifts for, because when he sees somethings he wants, he just buys it immediately. He’s also the first guy to get anything, whether it’s a satellite dish, digital cable box, handheld GPS, iPod Touch – you name it, he’s got it. Although, the iPod Touch surprised us all. He one day complained that everyone had an iPod and he didn’t, so he went out and bought himself the latest and greatest thing on the market – just days before Christmas. Mind you, he had no idea how to set it up and put music on it, so my brother Jordan had to do it for him. Once he had music and some pictures on there, though, he was showing anyone who would pay attention to him. He’d throw on a Johnny Cash song, and then show you pictures of his fishing trip. It was hilarious.

So, I was going to just put this photo on Facebook and tag my Grandma Dot, who yes, actually is on Facebook, but Jordan suggested putting it on my website so that he’d always know where to find it (at least I hope!). So here’s my Grandpa Glenn, with “Grandpa’s girl,” at the BC Lions game.

Anyway, rather than waste my time explaining what I’ve been doing for the past couple months, I thought what better way to write a quick post about everything summer related, than with a bunch of photos that can speak for themselves? They do say a picture speaks a thousand words.

And without further adieu, here is Summer 2009 in pictures:

JUNE:

Dale & Jerra’s wedding in Las Vegas.
(The rest of this set is here.)

Volleyball Saturday’s on Jay’s rooftop.

My running club.

JULY:

Dale & Jerra’s “Powell River” wedding reception.

Taking a break on the drive up the Sunshine Coast.

What I LOVE about Powell River. Momsie, you da best!

Liz + Chris’ wedding in Powell River.

Our cabin, “Kokanee Cedar,” on Powell Lake, a.k.a. Paradise.

AUGUST:

Trip to the Okanagan.

Catching a Canadians game at Nat Bailey stadium.

Pool party at Uncle Bill and Auntie Joanne’s.

Thursday night Urban Rec soccer champs.

SEPTEMBER:

Wedding shoot in Kelowna with Emily.
(The rest of this set is being updated and is located here.)

Well, that’s it – the highlights, anyway. Here’s hoping that Autumn will bring some more new adventures my way…

Posted in Family, Friends, Life, Photography, Weddings Tagged: nat bailey, okanagan, photos, powell lake, Powell River, summer, vancouver, volleyball ]]> http://janisbehan.com/2009/09/27/summer-2009-in-pictures/feed/ 0 Janis IMGP3292 IMGP3303 IMGP3623 IMGP3760 IMGP3785 IMGP3790 IMGP3840 IMGP3849 IMGP3950 IMG_1799 IMG_1819 IMGP4062 IMGP4093 IMGP4292 IMGP4318 IMGP4429 IMG_1922 IMG_1924 IMGP4465 IMGP4495 IMGP4536 IMGP4569 IMGP4587 IMGP5015_2 http://janisbehan.com/2009/06/19/mom-to-carry-the-olympic-torch-in-2010/ http://janisbehan.com/2009/06/19/mom-to-carry-the-olympic-torch-in-2010/#comments Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:43:02 +0000 Janis http://janisbehan.com/?p=545 Continue reading →]]> It’s crazy, but it’s true. My Mom applied to carry the Olympic torch in 2010 – she entered contests, she wrote essays, and finally her hard has work paid off. She got an e-mail confirming that she would indeed be carrying the Olympic torch next year on February 4, 2010 for 400 metres through our hometown of Powell River where she lives, in honour of the Winter Olympics being held in Vancouver. All she has to do is fill out some documents and mail them in, and it’s final!

She e-mailed my brothers, my sister-in-law, and myself, on June 12, 2009 with the subject line “Olympic torch bearer!” You could actually feel her excitement through the e-mail… “I’m jumping up and down!”

We, of course, all responded to her immediately to congratulate her, and then we let the internet know. Jordan thinks that the greatest thing that will come from this, is that my Mom will actually start using Twitter. And she has! A little bit, anyway.

Stay tuned for more updates regarding my Mom and the Olympic torch relay. Us kids have already vowed to make the trip to Powell River in February to watch her carry it proudly, and video her in process, obviously, so we can share it with all of you!