Eight Favourite Characters

Today I'm linking up with Tuesday Topics to share my eight favourite characters from books/movies. Before I unveil my choices it's important to remember that I'm a quirky person and my menagerie of favourite characters completely reflect that trait.

1. Ted Mosby I relate to Ted and his plight to find true love so much it hurts. I love that he is an eternal optimist and never loses hope. I also love that he has quirky interests and his friends sort of think he's a ridiculous person, but also love him because he's a ridiculous person. I relate to his extreme nostalgia and sometimes getting carried away with the idea of how life is supposed to look at any given time.

2. Stargirl I read this book for the first time in elementary school and it was a little over my head. By the time I read it in junior high I got it but didn't love it. When I re-read it in high school I fell head over heels for Stargirl. I mentioned before that I ended up using a Stargirl quote for my senior quote because not only is the character great but the writing is beautiful.

3. Charlie Brown I love that Charlie Brown can't catch a break, I get it. Again with the eternal optimism though, even if he winds up throwing chocolates into the river it didn't stop him from buying them in the first place. 

4. Meredith Grey Meredith knows how to put on her big girl undies and get things done. Bad things happen to her frequently and on an alarming scale but she deals with it and moves on. Not always in the best ways but she does what she needs to do even if she's not confident it's what she wants to do. 

5. Meeko I love Pocahontas, but the real star of the show for me is Meeko.

6. Phoebe Buffay She knows who she is and doesn't let a darn thing stand in her way of doing what she thinks is right. She puts everything she has into everything she does (cups & ice anyone?) and even though things can get a little weird she goes with the flow. 

7. Princess Mia I feel like I grew up with Mia, we're close to the same age and as each new book was being released it felt like she was growing up with me. The first movie is great (we'll pretend the second one doesn't exist) but I love the Mia from the books. 

8. Amelia Bedelia These were my favourite books to read when I was first learning how to read. I loved reading about Amelia's misadventures and I still love reading these books to the littles in my life.

Doesn't that sound like the guest list to the best dinner party ever? Bonus fun fact, Amelia is my absolute favourite name for a girl and if I ever have a daughter I want her name to be Amelia. I attribute this love in large part to the two Amelia's above, which I happen to think are excellent namesakes.

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What's Up Wednesday: September Edition

This whole 'I'm going to start blogging again' has (obviously) not been going well. I haven't totally abandoned it just yet but there is a lot of room for improvement. I realized that it's the last Wednesday of the month and What's Up Wednesday felt like a nice easy post to put together as I drink my coffee this morning.

What I'm Eating This Week: I'm still in the phase of being so excited that I have full control over meals after a summer of camp meals. I made a big bowl of broccoli salad to have for lunch this week and suppers so far have been homemade pizza, chicken & baked potato and mac & cheese. 

What I'm Reminiscing About: I've been working on playing catch up with my Project Life album which has lead to a lot of reminiscing about my trip to Toronto back in the spring! 

What I'm Loving: Sparks, Carmel Coffee, Project Life, The Happy Planner, Pretzels & Tzatziki. 

What I've Been Up To: I've mostly been job hunting and crossing my fingers that 2017 will be the year I finally end the cycle of contract jobs. I've joined a new Spark group closer to home and we've already had two meetings which have been full of fun and adorableness. 

What I've Been Dreading: I can't say I've really been dreading anything. 

What I'm Working On: I made a Project Life album specifically for camp and it's about 75% completed. I have 3.5 weeks left to add journalling and embellishments to before it can go on the shelf. 

What I'm Excited About: Typically I don't enjoy Octobers but this year I'm kind of looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend, a Spark Camp and a Friends-giving weekend. 

What I'm Watching/Reading: I've jumped on the 'This is Us' bandwagon! I'm also loving this season of Survivor, after spending the summer with a bunch of 20  year old counsellors I feel Zeke big time, I'm rooting for him. I've also been watching the new seasons of Deadliest Catch & Ice Road Truckers. I've also been watching 60 Days In, which is totally fascinating but also nightmare inducing. I watched the premiere of Grey's Anatomy but I was so horrified by it all I was just filled with longing for the days of Derek & Meredith. 

I'm working on finishing a few books that I started this summer and never finished. 

What I'm Listening To: My most played Apple Music playlists right now are "2016 CCMA Awards Nominees", "Minivan Hits: Family Roadtrip" and "Country Caffeine". 

What I'm Wearing: Leggings & hoodies! I haven't broken out the boots yet, I'm wearing flip flops for as long as possible. 

What I'm Doing This Weekend: Saturday I have an afternoon Girl Guide Cookie Booth but that's the only thing on my agenda! 

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Moth: See all the things listed in "What I'm Excited About" and hopefully add a job interview to that list! 

What Else Is New: I can't think of anything else to add, September has been a fairly slow moving month!

What's My Favourite Fall Recipe? I don't like soups and I prefer to keep my pumpkin spice in pumpkin pie where it belongs. So I'm going to choose mac & cheese as my favourite fall recipe...even though it's an all year round type of meal. 

October Currently

Reading... Almost finished As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Carey Elwes  and about to start Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton 

Playing... Can't say I'm playing much of anything!

Watching... Mostly documentaries, I've also been watching YouTube videos about Project Life organizing systems.  

Trying... To get organized and research some possibilities. 

Cooking... I've been doing a lot of experimenting with waffles.

Eating... Thanksgiving. Mostly stuffing and gravy with mashed potatoes because that's the best part. 

Drinking... Perrier! And Pepsi Next. 

Calling... Fellow Guiders trying to coordinate camp for this weekend and organize drives/supplies. 

Texting... The usual suspects. H. & R. and J. and N. 

Pinning... Lots of Spark meeting plans.

Tweeting... Is a very rare occurrence. 

Going... Camping this weekend! And I am super excited about it, it'll be cold but also a lot of fun. 

Loving... That I'm going camping this week. The only thing I love more than being outdoors is being outdoors with a bunch of girls who are essentially learning how to camp and enjoy the outdoors.

Hating... That winter is fast approaching. 

Discovering... I'm accustom to planning camp days and camp weeks and while sometimes it can feel like a lot of time to fill with fun. Sparks is only an hour each week and it goes by so fast! I'm discovering time management in shorter length of time is a challenge. 

Thinking...  Life isn't perfect...but I am pretty content with this season of life.

Feeling... A tiny bit overwhelmed but also thankful that I have so many things in my life that make life full.

Hoping (for)... A successful weekend camping trip. 

Listening (to)... The country radio station when I'm driving. Otherwise, not much of anything. 

Celebrating... I spent this weekend celebrating Thanksgiving and after this weekend I'll be planning some little Halloween festivities. 

Smelling... Fall is in the air! This past week the air has really turned crisp and has a chill to it along with leaves and a hint of fog.  

Ordering... I haven't ordered anything lately. Although I would like to enjoy one last iced coffee before it gets real cold.

Thanking... I love October Thanksgiving so I'm thankful I live in Canada. I'm also very thankful to the more senior Guiders who have been there to answer all my questions as I get my little group of Sparks up and running.

Considering... So many things! 

Starting... A lot of different projects! Some are pretty lofty goals, others are a little more short term and just about everything in between. 

Finishing... I've been starting a lot of project lately but I haven't finished many. I am close to finishing my scrapbook for this past summer. 

High Five For Favourites!

It's been a week riddled with anxiety thanks to more grant setbacks, an impending quater-life crisis and nights of tossing & turning instead of sleeping. Luckily last night I did sleep for a solid eight hours and when I woke up this morning I felt rested and had a productive morning put on a cute outfit and went out into the world to get groceries and pay a bill. In an attempt to put all that behind me and start the weekend off on a happy note I'm going to take a few minutes to write about five of my most favourite things.

Ice Cold Pop

Via

We all have our little guilty pleasures/vices. Mine is dark pop. Sure it's bad for you but so are a lot of other things. It's not as though I have a full out addiction drinking litres of the stuff each day. 90% of my pop drinking takes place in the evening while watching a favourite show and on weekends. I don't usually drink it during weekdays and even if I go out to eat somewhere other than fast food I usually opt for water. I have given it up before, I think I went about a month without having even a sip. Then I realized that life is short and if I want to indulge in some delicious caramel syrup, caffeinated, carbonated beverage I will. 

Squirrels

Forgive me for the terrible picture, figuring out camera settings for the snow is tough!

Maybe a little unconventional compared to most peoples favourite animals. Then you remember I am a life long camp person and suddenly it makes sense. When you factor in my own small stature (I'm barely 5 ft), my hoarding tendencies  enjoyment of saving things for later and hiding treats around the house so my brother won't eat them, there's really no question that squirrels are my spirit animal.

Books

Novels, coffee table books, children's books, Bibles, notebooks. I love all books. I've been doing a lot of reading this year and it's making me super happy! I do have an ereader and an app on my phone to read books which is great for borrowing books from the library, but nothing beats a real book. And books just look so pretty.


Sharpies

Pinterest

Who doesn't love colourful, multi-purprose writing utensils!? I will confess that I think my favourite colour Sharpie is the classic black. There's just something so lovely about using a black Sharpie fresh out of the package.

Pinterest Humour

No matter how bad your day is it's hard not to laugh within seconds after scrolling though the 'Humour' pin on Pinterest. I have an especially soft spot for puns, inappropriate jokes and anything to do with cats. 

Linking up with Lauren and Five on Friday!

Meet Peyton

This is Peyton (Peyton Juliet if she's in trouble, which is often).

Peyton is extremely curious and gets into all kinds of trouble has all kinds of adventures! She loves people food and will eat just about anything if you give it  to her. And if you don't give it to her she will help herself. Her favourite human food is chocolate milk, she will go to great lengths to stick her head in a glass of chocolate milk and as soon as she hears the fridge door open she is there to check out what you're eating. 

She loves to be up high, she was around 6 months old when she figured out how to jump up on the kitchen table and then to the top of the fridge. (That's also where we used to keep the cat treats, but more on that later.) Recently she's decided she likes to hang out on the banister at the bottom of the stairs. She reminds me of one of those gargoyles you see on old buildings when she hangs out here.

She has a ridiculous amount of toys. I do mean ridiculous, she has a full toy box in the living room, not to mention she got her very own cast-iron cat bed last year for Christmas. Crazy? Yes. Absolutely Adorable? 100% Yes. She carries her toys all over the house and has a few favourites that she more or less takes everywhere with her. I snapped this picture last spring when I was packing for camp. I had gotten out my suitcase but hadn't put anything it in yet, I heard her coming up the stairs with a toy and she jumped in my suitcase with it and gave me this look. My heart seriously melted. The worst part about camp is being away from her! 

Peyton is seriously smart, she plays fetch and has figured out how to open cupboards to get the bag of treats. She prefers to drink out of the faucet rather than her dish and if she decides in the middle of the night she's thirsty she takes a toy into the bathroom and meows and meows until I get out of bed and turn the water on for her. She may be a bit of a spoiled brat. 

One of my favourite things about her is what I call her "Disney Princess eyes", they are so expressive and too big for her face, but I think it's adorable. She such a huge personality and even though she is an active cat and will play for hours she sleeps with me every night and purrs like crazy.