meet me on monday

melanie godecki

melanie is a 27 year old gal from toronto, who recently packed up and moved to - get this - france! she is a crafter, french linguist, and photographer, and her blog is so lovely! let's get to know her, shall we?

what is your favorite craft?

oooh i love crafting. scrapbooking involves so many crafting techniques + you get to create precious mementos and there are no rules, which i love. close seconds would be jewelry making and sewing. i also got to work full time at a scrapbooking store last year. sadly, it is no longer, but it was great while i was there!

what are the five most played songs on your itunes?

i'm addicted to these:

dance dance dance by lykke li

posters by peter katz

gobbledigook by sigur ross

whoo! alright-yeah...uh huh by the rapture

i will follow you into the dark by death cab for cutie

i will be posting a new favorite song every week on my blog :]

describe your personal style

i think anyone that knows me can tell you that i wear what i want. i love wearing things that other people are afraid to try on. it's always colourful and usually vintage inspired. although my wardrobe is much tamer than it was in high school - i'm more afraid of spandex now - i still think carrie bradshaw would be proud.

as for the rest of my life, i love vintage made modern - old items with new life, a mix of found treasures and simple modern touches. and colour...always colour!

what was it like moving from one hemisphere to the other?

in some ways, not as difficult as you'd expect. thankfully i still have all the modern conveniences and the internet to keep me connected to north america. the 6-8 hour time difference is a little tricky when trying to arrange phone calls with family and friends, so we talk a lot on the weekends. the difficult part is all of the little secrets that the french keep from you until you get here. there are a lot of unexpected expenses. (i need insurance to walk down the street?!? yes.) and a lot of paperwork and meetings. the infamous french red tape is real. but i did get really homesick at halloween. they don't really celebrate it here.

what prompted you to move to france? a job, a man, or a whim?

literally, all three. my boyfriend steve and i love to travel. he wanted to take a year off school before beginning his PhD and one of us suggested moving to europe for the year. as for france specifically, i have always wanted to become better at french, an i have a cousin who did the language assistant program a few years ago. she helped me to apply for the job, and the job means you are actually allowed to stay for a while - voila! the job placement was actually an unknown...we could have ended up anywhere in france. however, my experience with film production had us end up in cannes. ahhhh, yes.

your photos are so beautiful. what gets you to whip out the camera and start shooting? where do you find inspiration?

first off, thank you for the compliment :]

i always have a camera with me. i will not buy a purse that will not fit it. i think it's partly obsession, and i find inspiration everywhere. traveling is so easily inspiring, but when i'm in my hometown, i treat it moreso as a hunt. when i photograph people, i ask them questions to peek into their personality and use it to jump-start the shoot. i also love browsing magazines...the more adds the better. i try to dissect each one to figure out what lighting techniques they used, etc. ads are definitely where photography is allowed to progress. i also get incredibly inspired when i get a new toy (lens, light, filter, gadget...)

what are some of you favorite photos that you've ever taken?

here are my top five:

my friends braydan and amanda, as they are about to be introduced as mr and mrs

seeing the tulips in holland in the spring - incredible

my cousin, his wife and their daughter

steve and i do a light painting photo on canada day every year

paris, this christmas

if you had a genie to grant you three wishes, what would they be?

assuming that the genie says you can't wish for money or more wishes, and has already granted someone else the wishes of world peace, ending world hunger and stopping climate change...

1. hair that grows on command. i could try any hairstyle and never regret it!

2. to be a member of the product testing panel for canon (get a free one of everything!)

3. unlimited travel i.e. being the child of mr. hiltona an ms. british airways :]

thank you so much mel for sharing a piece of you with us! be sure to check out mel's blog and flickr! she has some very beautiful and inspiring things to share with you! :]

if your interested in being featured in a future meet me on monday post, email me at emjay0121(at)gmail(dot)com :] there are still spots open for february.