2016 SO FAR

I'm such an absentee blogger.

To ease back into it I thought I would give you a brief summary of my year so far!

What I'm reading:
The Neapolitan Novels
The Chronicles of Narnia (for the first time since I was a child)

Where I've been:
California (San Francisco, Carmel, Monterey, Yosemite National Park)
Prince Edward Island
Halifax

What I'm listening to:
The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast
Candi Staton (a really good 1960s/1970s find - some gospel, some disco)
Japanese Breakfast (a band I discovered from a podcast)

What I'm watching:
The Olympics (specifically diving and gymnastics)
Bloodline on Netflix
The Gilmore Girls (this could fall under the 'listening' category because mostly I leave it on as background noise)

What I'm doing:
Working (a lot)
Playing board games (especially Pandemic Legacy and Tikal)
Pilates (as of tonight)
Going to Dee Wilkie's launch party on Thursday

What I'm thinking about:
Setting up my office
Completing my CME credits this year
How skimpy all the Olympics gear is (male and female)
To vacation or not to vacation...always the question

I'm also going to make a big effort to keep the blog running! Fingers crossed!

LEROY IN A BOOK

Shout out to my best friend T who sparked the most hilarious idea.

Her little guy is our godson (cue the aaaaw's) and a few months ago I bought him this book at Wal Mart of all places. It is a really adorable book that is very interactive and slightly hilarious with fuzzy puppies, crinkly paper, and scratch and sniffs. So cute.

When I told T about this book she asked if there were pictures of border collies like Leroy. She said when she reads dog books to her little guy she points out "There's Leroy!" and "There's Maddie!" for all the border collies and golden doodles. Well having Leroy spotted in a book just seemed like the best idea.

So clearly I had to alter this book in some way. I took a photo of Leroy, cut around it and taped him onto a grey dog whose proportions suited Leroy's head. I like to think when we pulled this out at our godson's baptism it was a hit all around. Haha! Can't wait to read it with him and point out our favourite furry man.

THINGS THAT LAST FOR SEVEN YEARS

All photo credit in this post to Jordan and Judith Photo/Film. 

Hubby and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary last month and every time we reach a new year I always think about what I've learned about marriage since we wed in 2008. I was nineteen when we got married which is just shocking to me now but thankfully I would do it again a hundred times over. Even more thankfully God must have really guided that decision because holy - nineteen!! I don't like anything that I liked when I was nineteen!

I certainly am no marriage expert - heaven knows I lose my temper far too often and to be honest I don't think anyone ever accused me of being low maintenance (oops!) - but I do feel like we have learned a lot together over seven years of marriage (three of those being long distance).

We think the most important thing is to keep God at the center. If both people focus on their relationship with God and being more Godly themselves you will be a better partner. And we believe that being focused on God (and spreading His love) is what is most important in life.

Though one can be overpowered , two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:12

Don't get me wrong - marriage can be really hard. We have had difficult days and difficult months/years, to be honest. Thankfully we always get back to good days eventually but at times that takes a lot of work. Once we were at a wedding and a groomsman said, "Most people say marriage is easy." At that point we had been married for a few years and maybe only just began to live together. The two of us looked at each other incredulously as if to say, "We must be doing this all wrong." HA! Hubby and I still laugh about that.


So to take a totally different direction (I'll quit while I'm ahead sounding very sage and wise and hope you skimmed over the temper and high maintenance part - hehe), this anniversary has got me thinking... what are things that last for seven years? I know you've been wondering the same thing. :)

1. A high quality vacuum - we spent almost all of our wedding money on an Electrolux Oxygen vacuum. We bought the Oxygen 3 at the time - the link is for the Oxygen 12. Worth every penny.
2. Santa's Solution Tree Stand - we have this baby which was created and fabricated near my hometown. It's called Santa's Solution and we swear by it. It holds more water than any other tree stand by far and your tree will not fall over. It is literally THE BEST. Made in Canada. (Just like me!)
3. Books - some of my best friends are books! Books will stand the test of time, I tell you. They are beastly to move though. (My apologies to all of our friends who have ever helped us pack!)
4. Hubby's free tshirts - I actually typed this last week and then tonight got hubby to cut back to max ten free tshirts. After we counted them I realized he had less than I had thought...I would have been better off to ask him to keep five... :)
5. Childhood stuffed animals - Dumbo and Theodore (mine and his) are still sitting beside each other on our dresser. Besties. Dumbo is far better looking.

And of course to complete the list, things that do not last seven years!

1. Sheets/towels - I followed someone's advice when we first got married and I only used some of our towels so those ones are pretty much worn out and now we can move onto the stack of unused wedding towels. My mom bought us really nice sheets and we used them exclusively for three or four years. I threw them out about a month ago - just shy of seven years.
2. A futon - the bane of my existence. We watch TV while sitting on the futon in the basement literally every night. I mean, it doesn't owe us anything but let's just say one of the supports has been held together with butter knives and duct tape for many, many years now. It will not be making the next move with us.
3. Drinkware/coffee carafe - we broke all of those suckers in the first year or two of marriage. Glass cups? One by one we slowly whittled them away. Coffee carafe? Lasted less than a year.
4. Unity candle - this momento from our wedding survived three moves. The fourth time we moved (ugh) was one month after the third move (ugh). Strangest life decision yet. Sorry unity candle. I hope this doesn't mean we're not unified anymore.
5. A coffee table - it would have held up for seven years (and it's just from Zellers or Wal Mart!) but unfortunately I was talking to my best friend on the phone and spilled nail polish remover on it. Better days, better days.

HALLOWEEN 2014 - INSPECTOR GADGET

Happy Halloween!

We were pretty excited to announce our Halloween costumes on facebook last night. This year we were: Inspector Gadget, Penny, and Brain. I had the theme song stuck in my head all day today!

This took some serious DIY effort to make Gadget's hat and took a ton of fiddling tonight to get it to stay on hubby's head tonight. In the end we had to take one of the "go go Gadget arms" off the hat so everything would stand upright. Penny's costume is incredibly easy - a red shirt (with a white stripe if you are domestically inclined unlike myself), green pants, sneakers, pigtails, her watch to correspond with Brain (Leroy) and a grey messenger bag. And Brain - well, Leroy told me he likes years when he doesn't have to wear a costume to be part of the trio. He also helped the team remotely...from his kennel. Let's just say trick or treaters definitely weren't going to sneak up on us with Leroy/Brain around.

We had 56 trick or treaters tonight (down from >70 a couple of years ago) and a few definitely knew who we were. And some definitely didn't. My favourite costumes besides our own? A dead Hawaiian girl and a homemade Stitch costume. Poor homemade Stitch. He told us I was the only one to recognize his costume. It's hard not being appreciated in your own time. I'd give anything not to be appreciated in my own time. ;)

So here it is - Inspector Gadget, Penny, and Brain 2014!

A FEW THINGS

Hello! Nothing too exciting around these parts at the moment - just looking forward to Thanksgiving long weekend! (And I'm taking Tuesday off to give me an extra long weekend with my boys.) I'm waiting to receive a couple of parcels in the mail that will be big blog contributors in the next week. Hopefully they come soon!

In the meantime, here are a couple of photos I snapped last week!

1. My birthday card from hubby. It's no secret I love princesses - of the Disney and real life variety. And this princess card talks. So cool. When I read it a little closer I had to laugh. I think someone might be hinting I'm a bit of a diva? Or princess if you will? ;)

2. Halloween washi tape I put on cards for my family!

3. The last hydrangea of the season from the abandoned house next door. They're especially pretty when they turn pink! (Our bridesmaids carried white hydrangea in our wedding so I have a soft spot for it.)

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! See you  next week.

I'M BACK

Hey guys!

I know I have been totally AWOL for awhile (from both this blog and the gym, unfortunately) but I'm back!  It's been a bit of a roller coaster the last few months - graduating, starting residency, moving (twice - and even a third time if you're being exact), back and forth for rotations, etc but I need to get back into a routine and I've missed the old blog!

For the next two years I'll be living between two cities - my residency site AND the home you've seen in pictures for the last four years.  I'm mostly home on weekends if I'm not working so I don't exactly know what form this blog will take over the next couple of years.  I would really like to focus on my favourite thing - interior design - but as a part time homeowner that might be difficult.  So we'll see!!  Bear with me while I figure this whole thing out.  And check back because I have a few posts planned for the near future.

Also you might have noticed I've made a few changes to the layout - I hope you like it.  I just added links to my Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram (that one's new) so go ahead and follow.

YES I HERD YOU

I have a few things to post soon, including hubby's birthday cake and some (not so great) family news.  In the meantime I thought I'd just post quickly on a little purchase we made last night.  I have started to "favourite" items on Etsy that I like for future reference.  Almost all of them I'm sure I'll never buy, but it's kind of nice just for inspiration.  Anyhoo, a week or so ago I noticed a border collie magnet from PopDoggie and hubby actually insisted we buy it for our fridge.  I thought you might like to see it. :)

We thought it was oh so punny.  And since Leroy is such a sweet little man, I'll leave you with a couple of photos of him from September 2013.

Have a great weekend!

SNOWSHOEING

Today we went snowshoeing for the first time ever!  Hubby's mom bought us snowshoes and after Christmas all our snow melted so I've desperately been waiting for snow.  It was sooo cold out and I was still in love!  What a fun winter activity - I am totally sold.  A walk with a twist.  What's not to love?

It was such a great chance for Leroy to get to run around off his leash, too, which is too rare in the winter time.  (I'm always cold so I just hate bundling up and going outside in the winter!)  We went to the nature park and found it to be incredibly blustery and windy which was bad (because it was freezing) and good (because the wind had packed some of the snow down in drifts).  Anyway, we had a ball and it was the perfect end to a Monday work day because we all know those are the worst.

That little blob by my side is my baby running beside/ahead of me.  He was in his happy place.  Hope you found something to make your Monday a little less bleak, too!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

Hello, world!  Happy New Year!  I can't believe the holidays have come and gone and I miss Christmas like you wouldn't believe.  So much that today, January 17th, my Christmas tree is still up and looks just as beautiful as it did four weeks ago... for the most part!

I just went through my photos and thought I'd give you an update of our Christmas through a photo recap.  First of all, the three of us did a lot of cuddling (and after Christmas most of the cuddling took place while watching Downton Abbey - or "going to Downton" as we call it in this house).

We hosted a dinner party for four and I tried my hand at baking fruit tarts with custard.  Not too shabby.  The pears really made the dessert.

Next, we had our own "Christmas morning" together the three of us on December 23rd before heading up river to the in laws' and eventually my family's on Christmas night.  I don't care what you say, Leroy understands everything.  Hubby and I were getting ready to open stockings, I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and literally Leroy (on his own) went into the living room and lay down beside his stocking.  He totally gets it.  Totally.

Around that same time, the 23rd or so, we had a big ice storm that resulted in the neighbour's tree falling down into our yard.  We were nervous to leave the house to visit family because we weren't sure if the power would stay on.  Turned out our house was fine, but many in the area lost power for days.

Then we spent a few days at my parents' house with the siblings.  Sister, hubby, and I played a friendly game of Life.  (I won... as per usual... not competitive or anything.)  And why is it in that game you end up with soooo many children!?  And whyyyy do they force you to buy a more expensive house when you're Game of Life middle aged?!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a happy, healthy, and exciting (in a good way) new year!  We have dubbed 2014 "the year of the resident" but as one of my classmates pointed out, "the year of the paycheque" is just so much nicer! ;)

SKATE CANADA 2013

I was lucky enough to be able to come home this weekend before I leave for my next elective, and hubby surprised me with tickets to Skate Canada!  What girl doesn't love figure skating, and especially what girl doesn't love figure skating a few short months before the Olympics?  We are a huge Olympics family - big fans.  The biggest.  So having the chance to see some of our Canadian athletes skate was super exciting and the fact that we saw our 2010 Vancouver ice dancing gold medalists?  Icing on the cake.  Icing.  Get it?  Kind of more of a hockey pun, I guess, but let's make it work, people.

Definitely the skaters I was most excited to see were Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, the above mentioned ice dancers who won Gold in Vancouver 2010.  They're awesome.  She's pretty much the Canadian Kate Middleton - stick thin, beautiful brown hair, etc.  And her name is Tessa Virtue which to me is so pretty and unique it sounds like a stage name.  Whose last name is Virtue?!  That's awesome.  My favourite moment of the 2010 Olympics was when they won Gold and Scott's brothers lifted him up into the stands to hug him.  They skated beautifully last night (or so I think with my totally limited knowledge of ice dancing/figure skating).  If you don't remember their Olympic performance, here's a clip to remind you.

We were sitting three rows up from the ice and I was able to get a few photos of them.  This one is definitely the best.

After the show Tessa and Scott found me and invited me for a little skate with them.  They had heard what a fab skater I am (totally kidding - I haven't been on the ice since I was literally 13 and I completely sucked then).  I can only assume this poster of them is to scale.  I am approximately 4 times larger than her in real life as well.

Long story short, this totally pumped me up for the Olympics!  Can't wait to watch them competing in Russia!

A SIMPLE ART PROJECT: HEY YOU

I thought I'd share with you a super simple art project I made hubby a few months ago.  He was away for something (can't remember what) and I decided to surprise him with a little something for when he got home.  When we were first dating and we would talk on the phone or write letters, he would always start by saying, "Hey You".  Wouldn't it be nice for him to have a cute little daily reminder of that?

 
I always have some Mayfair Paper on hand for art projects.  It's a nice, thick paper best for drawings that you can buy at any art supplies store.  It comes in big pieces, basically the size of a piece of bristol board.  I used a fine tipped sharpie to write my message in messy writing, coloured in the heart with your run of the mill Crayola marker, and voila.  (I always make my quick little art projects a typical size like 4x6 or 5x7 so you can easily and inexpensively frame them.)  This frame came from Winners Homesense.

Hopefully this inspired you to be a little creative with one of your favourite sayings.  Right now this little doodle is sitting on our dresser so we see it every day.

MORE GRAND MANAN

This summer has been extremely low key.  I get zero days of vacation and so hubby has kind of been forced to have a boring summer because of me.  I anxiously await the day when I have vacation to use at will... Wouldn't that be nice?  In the meantime we've made a couple of quick weekend trips - one for a wedding, one to PEI with friends, and our anniversary trip to Grand Manan.

Currently I'm studying for my next exams which are two or three weeks away.  I'm not sure which...I'm trying not to think about how much time I have left to study!  So the last couple of weeks have been particularly uneventful.  The best part of my week was Leroy cuddling in bed with me this morning.  He laid on my chest for a long time before I got out of bed.  Makes a mummy happy!

Here are a few more photos from our anniversary weekend trip to Grand Manan.

Looks like a little father/son pep talk.  We saw a beach from the car so we pulled over to the side of the road and took the little path down to the beach.  It was a pretty spot, covered in hundreds of seagulls.  We thought this path was pretty cool.

This is at a different beach.  There is a provincial park on Grand Manan with a campground and a beach, and we went to that beach twice.  It was a pretty beach and nice for Leroy to be able to run around and catch the frisbee.

We think he's the cutest.  Like, really.  The cutest.  You have a baby?  Oh wait - mine's cuter. :)
 

He has a pretty silly dad who is willing to run around the beach with him.  Leroy is way faster.  And a little bit cuter.  Hubby is a close second.

Beautiful Grand Manan!  This is very close to a lighthouse at the western side of the island.  There is a little trail (not very well groomed) that follows the top of the cliffs and it really is gorgeous.  We followed the four wheeler trail and found a little lake with one cottage.  When I told my friend C about our little trek, she said she had found that cottage before too!  I thought that was pretty cool.

There's my sample of summer photos!  Hope you enjoyed them.

FIVE YEARS

Happy anniversary, hubby.  Can't wait to see what's in store for the next five years.

"Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." Ecclesiastes 4:12. 

BIG CHANGES

Nothing too major...just became a redhead!

FLIP FLOPS AND CUT-OFF JEANS

I just discovered the problem with ripped jeans, (or in my case, jean shorts).  When they acquire a new hole you're totally oblivious.  We were away to see Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean in concert recently, (hence the new camo hat), and we did a little shopping beforehand.  When I was trying things on I realized my jean shorts had a hole right on the butt/groin region.  Quite embarassing.  I've been wearing those shorts all summer and I have no idea when this happened, so if you saw more of my bum than you wanted recently... I apologize!  In the future I will be counting the holes in my ripped jeans! :)

IT'S A BIRD...

I was quite a lucky girl this week.  My friend K came to visit!  We met when I was K's RA (resident assistant) during her first year at university (and my second year).  Two years later we actually ended up being RAs together and we hadn't seen each other since I graduated.  It's so wonderful to catch up with friends, isn't it?  Our visit consisted of playing guitar outside on the lawn, being introduced to new music, going out for butter chicken, a long walk around a local park, youth group, henna tattoos, a movie, aaaand...flying a kite!  Apparently K did this a lot last summer and she reintroduced me to the art of kite flying.  I hadn't done this since I was a kid (and I remember most attempts being unsuccessful as Mom tried to run with the kite to get it into the air).  Somehow K had that kite flying in all of a minute and we had lots of time to take pictures.  It was sad for me to watch her leave today but we had a nice visit for a few days!  Thanks for coming, K, and we wish you well on your adventure. :)