Winter Waves

Friday night I officially finished off my Project Life albums!

Look at all those finished pages!! I didn't do a final count but it's close to 100, which means there are thousands of photos printed and documented within those pages. I'm working on a post to share some of my favourite pages but my spread photography needs a lot of practice. 

Saturday I started the morning off with coffee, a cinnamon roll and more work on my puzzle.

The trickiest part about the puzzle is the sheer number of Mickey Mouses, Cheshire Cats and Chip & Dales. Plus since it's a pile of trader pins everything is sort of upside down and sideways. The rest of the day Saturday I watched far too many episodes of 'Lock Up' on Netflix. I don't know why prison shows fascinate me so much, but they do. Except for Orange Is The New Black...after a few episodes of that I was thoroughly disturbed and stopped watching. The book was a good read though. Saturday night I continued with the Lock Up episodes and did some serious decluttering. I went though all of my scrapbooking stuff and got organized to start Project Life 2017. And tackled the photo boxes I had been dumping memorabilia in, anything that didn't get put into an album over the course of the year went in the trash. And the pile of ticket stubs and cards from J. also got tossed. A quick swiffer and I was ready to continue my 2017 streak of thankful thoughts and bedtime devotional reading. 

We were supposed to get a storm Saturday night and into Sunday but we ended up only getting 20-25 cm of snow instead of the predicted 40+. Everything was cleaned up by the afternoon so I headed to my grandparents to take some photos. The waves were huge from the storm and if it wasn't so bitterly cold I would have spent a lot longer on the beach. 

Just as I was starting to loose feeling in my fingers the sun started to poke out and the sky went from grey to blue.

I would have stayed longer but there was coffee and more cinnamon rolls calling me from my grandparents' house. Not to mention kitty cuddles from their cat who was very interested in my wool socks. 

Last night I watched more Lock Up (Seriously, I'm glad there's only one season because it's starting to give me crazy dreams) and got ready for the week. Which consisted of choosing my word for the week, setting up my planner and planning out some blog posts. 2017 is still a winner in my books, let's hope the trend continues!

Linking up with B Loved Boston

Watching, Shopping & Partying

I don't have a lot of weekend excitement to share today but for the sake of blogging and documenting I'm sharing anyway. 

My Friday night looked like this:

Me, Peyton (that's the cat for those of you who might be new to these parts) and the second season of Grey's Anatomy. I went to bed fairly early because early Saturday morning I went to the city with my aunt, cousin and grandma to do some last minute Christmas shopping and visit another cousin. It was a whirlwind trip but I managed to hit all the main stores and finish my shopping expect for dad...but I'm still counting it as a win. 

Sunday we drove home and I made it just in time for our last Spark/Brownie meeting before Christmas break. The girls didn't have to wear their uniforms and most showed up in their Christmas dresses and sweaters and it was a whole lot of adorable. They decorated cookies, had a dance party and did Secret Santa. Which is everything any good Christmas party should be! 

We're supposed to get a snowstorm tonight and another on Thursday which should make for an interesting week, or at least a snowy one. 

Linking up with Biana.

Weekending: Golden Rainbows Edition

"Golden Rainbow Edition" make it sound like I spent a lot of time with unicorns this weekend but (unfortunately) that is not the case. My weekend centred around two main events, my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary and our Spark/Brownie Enrolment ceremony. Now is also a good time for a friendly reminder that it was not Thanksgiving here in Canada...we celebrate Thanksgiving in October. 

Friday we were busy decorating the hall for the anniversary open house on Saturday. I also squeezed in a little bit of 'Black Friday' shopping on this side of the border. I took advantage of everything being half off at Old Navy and ordered a few more gifts (and a pair or pyjama pants feature kittens wearing boots for myself, because that is something I need in my life) and ordered some planner stickers on Etsy and cut myself off because I do not need anymore stickers. 

Saturday was the open house and even though it was technically only two hours it was a busy two hours. When we counted the names in the guestbook afterwards over 100 people had signed, which I guess is what happens when you're married for 50 years. When everyone had left and the hall was cleaned up our immediate family went back to my grandparents to watch them open their cards before we all headed home. I was exhausted and even though I had originally planned to Skype with H. & R. I cancelled and went to bed early. 

I had anticipated Sunday being a pretty low key day apart from Sparks/Brownies but as it turned out I went to the elementary school's Christmas Market in the morning and then to town with my grandmother, her friend and my cousin in the afternoon before Sparks/Brownies in the evening. It was a shorter meeting than usual but it was fun to have the girls' parents there to watch them officially become Sparks/Brownies and they were so excited to get their badges. Heck, I was excited to get some new crests for my camp blanket! We had cake & lemonade to celebrate and that was that. 

I was home with plenty of time to Skype with H. & R. who filled me in on Gilmore Girls, I had been seeing some "Can't believe the ending!" posts on social media and wanted to know what the surprise ending was, but didn't actually care enough to look into on my own. I stayed up way past my usual bedtime getting calendars finished for my grandparents and uncle before I missed out on the Black Friday sale and watching Oak Island.

I'm cautiously optimistic that I will be able to finish the rest of my Christmas shopping this week. And get some cards ready to send out.

Linking up with B Loved Boston.

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Halloweekend

My weekend started on Thursday when I headed out on a little road trip to visit H. & R. I arrived just before supper so the first thing on our to do list was to make quesadillas. We were so busy cooking and chatting that I neglected to take any photos but it was a pretty low key night. H. had to work on Friday so R. and I hung out for most of the day. We ended up getting lunch at a little restaurant downtown and then R. insisted I watch an episode of Gilmore Girls with her. My verdict is still that it's not the worst show, but I'm pretty uninterested in the whole thing. Once H. got home from work we picked up our other friend M. and headed out on a little mission to camp to take our annual sign photo. We didn't get around to doing it this year (possibly because we don't even all work there anymore) but it's a fun tradition so we made it happen.

We all headed back to H. & R.'s to make pizza which became a hilarious process and a lesson in practical math because we all like different things but it all worked out in the end. The four of us spent the rest of the evening playing Creationary (it's like Pictonary, but with Legos) and drinking a lot of wine into the wee hours of the morning. 

Saturday we had a slow start but it was probably for the best. We made a quick stop for happy meals and then headed to Old Navy, Costco and Cabela's (the last one was just for me, the other two tested folding chairs while I perused the camping gear). We headed home after that and made Pad Thai for supper. The weather was pretty rainy all weekend so that eliminated a lot of the entertainment options so we scrolled through Netflix and ended up watching The Fundamentals of Caring. I was totally on board with it up until towards the end when it got a little weird, but I think it's still worth a watch. I would really like to read the book because I suspect that some of the plot points that seemed rushed or odd in the movie are portrayed in more detail in the book. 

I left after breakfast on Sunday because I had to be back home in time for our Spark/Brownie Halloween party. It was just as chaotic as you would imagine. We have 19 girls and most of them had spent the afternoon at a birthday party and then came to us...sometimes I'm pretty thankful I didn't have to take any of them home with me and try to get them to bed. Although I am pretty excited to see some of them tonight for trick-or-treating and to eat some of my own treats!

linking up with B Loved Boston

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Back on the Bright Side

If you happened to stop by on Friday it will come as no surprise that last week was not great. Big thumbs down to last week. The good news is that it's a new week and this week I'm back on the bright side. 

I had forgot that weeks ago I agreed to help chaperone a sleepover for a group of Rangers (the oldest group of Girl Guides). Help chaperone is probably a bit of a stretch, more along the lines of hang out with a group of incredibly awesome young ladies. Since I didn't have to be at the sleepover until 6:00 I spent my Saturday tidying up my make shift craft room and then I spent some time watching The Pioneer Woman and eating chicken wings in my most unflattering of $10 Wal-Mart jogging pants. It was lovely. 

The sleepover started with pizza and then we headed to do an Escape Room. If you're not familiar with the concept, the easiest way to explain is a giant, physical puzzle. Our group of six entered a room and had an hour to solve two questions related to the mystery we had been given at the beginning. There were about a dozen locked drawers, boxes and closets within the room and by solving clues found around the room you were able to figure out the combinations to the locks, which would reveal another clue or lead to more locks. It was so much fun! They seem to be gaining in popularity so if there's not one near by you now there probably will be soon.

We ended the night the way all good sleepovers should end, huddled under blankets in a dimly lit living room discussing insider info about various Guiding events and general life. Sunday morning we woke up and ate pancakes before going our separate ways. I stopped in to pick up a few groceries on my way home and then got to work on my to do list, but not before eating samosas for lunch which I've been craving for the past two weeks. 

I unpacked, put on a load of laundry, showered and had every intention of continuing the string of productivity. Instead I took a nap. It was lovely and I didn't feel even a little bit guilty! When I woke up I set to work making Sunday supper - roasted asparagus, roasted potatoes and cajun seasoned chicken breast. And cooked enough chicken to have for work lunches all week, which is always a win. I did a bit of Project Life-ing before watching Big Brother and crawling into bed by 10:30. 

So I'm going into this week feeling overall better about life. It's amazing what a weekend of tasty food, good company and exciting adventures can do for a person's mood. I've two and a half weeks left of my office job contract and then I'm off to visit H. for a few days before switching into camp mode for the summer. So here's hoping I can stay planted on the bright side! 

Linking up here & here. 

Deer Weekend

The only reason I knew there was an 'important' football game on this weekend is because of all the recipes in blogland last week and a vague memory that J. had plans for Sunday. So it goes without saying this will be the only reference to football in today's post. It's 10:00 a.m. on Monday and I can honestly say I don't know who won. 

Saturday afternoon I faced off once again with the Wal-Mart photo lab in preparation to finally start my January Project Life pages. It took two tries and a little bit of frustration (but some great customer service) before I got my photos printed. Once I was done with that J. and I headed to Swiss Chalet for supper. As all true Canadians do, I have a deep love for Swiss Chalet dipping sauce. When we finished supper we went back to his house and watched a few episodes of The Curse of Oak Island. I was home by 10 and happily in my bed by 11. 

Sunday my day was a little more exciting (depending on your definition of excitement). It started with some wildlife photography practice. We happened to look out the window and notice a few deer in our back yard. So I decided I'd take my camera and see if I could get some good pictures. This would have been much more successful if the snow wasn't so crunchy, it was pretty easy to hear me coming. This gal didn't seem to mind my presence until my camera started making noise. 

For some reason my first instinct is always to 'talk' to animals, try and make friends. So I stood still for a couple minutes and engaged in an awkward staring contest while I said things like "Hello, Friends. I would like to take your picture." In retrospect I probably should have just kept quiet. I probably don't have much a future in wildlife photography. 

And then I clicked my camera one more time and they decided they did not want to be my friends and ran away. Disney has given me unrealistic expectations of forest creatures. 

Since I was already outside I decided to explore a little more. I didn't cross paths with the deer again but found some rabbit and raccoon prints in the snow. And heard a squirrel, but I couldn't seem to locate him. My adventure ended when I attempted to cross the stream and ended up sinking in the mud. We've had some weird weather around here lately. After last weekend's snowstorm it warmed up and a lot of the snow has melted. There's a blizzard headed this way tonight/tomorrow so the signs of spring will be short lived. 

Once I came inside and warmed up (the wind was still cold even if there's not much snow on the ground) I got to work crossing off some things on my to do list. I did some laundry, started working on my Project Life pages for January and sent off a volunteer application for a summer Girl Guide camp that just happens to fall during a break from camp. We got pizzas for supper and had cake for my birthday and my moms because we really didn't need multiple cakes in the span of three weeks. 

Today I'm watching the weather (keeping my fingers crossed for a snow day tomorrow), getting Valentine's Day cards in the mail and making the most of pre-storm Monday. 

Linking up here & here! 

Forward to February

My weekend started a little earlier than anticipated. There was a storm forecasted for Friday but it didn't start in time for work to be cancelled, instead 20 minutes after I arrived at work we got an e-mail saying we were closing at five. The roads were far from ideal so it was close to six by the time I got home. I had grand plans to spend the evening catching up with TV and doing some crafting. Unfortunately we lost our power at 9 p.m. Friday night and didn't get it back until Sunday afternoon. Thankfully we have a generator so we had some power, enough to run the heat, water and a few electrical outlets for most of the day. 

I spent most the weekend reading, colouring and eating storm chips. I briefly went outside Saturday to take some photos but the adventure was short lived. We had about 35 cm of snow fall on top of the snow we already had from earlier this month. It was impossible for me to take more than a few steps in the snow without sinking up to my waist. It was also very cold out and I was much happier indoors with a blanket and a book. Except that half way through the book it stopped being interesting. Now I'm halfway through though so I feel obligated to finish. Maybe it will take another turn and I'll be interested again before it ends. 

Sunday afternoon when the power did come back on I took a nice long shower and set to crossing a few things off of my to do list. None of those things were particularly strenuous...I had some things to put in my online shopping cart and leave there until I decide if I want to invest. (Is anyone reading Savor by Shauna Niequist? I'm looking for a daily devotional type book that I has daily readings and ideally I can use year after year. Suggestions welcome!) I also got all of my January Project Life photos organized and ready to print. Ideally I'll get them printed this coming weekend and then craft to my heart's content! 

The snow was the wet and heavy type, perfect for snowman making...not that I made any snowmen but I thought about it a few times. I think this weekend J. and I will try to have some sort of outdoor winter adventure, unless the temperature rises and come next week all the ice is melted and the world is covered in slush. 

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for February. I think Groundhog Day is the best 'holiday' in all the land, my mom's birthday happens in February and regardless of the commercialization aspect I happen to love Valentine's Day. Plus, it's Leap Year! And I really love Leap Years. If you haven't seen the 30 Rock episode with Leap Year William you need to make that a priority this month. And of course the Leap Year movie with Amy Adams. And it just so happens I published my first blog post in these parts in February of 2013. All things considered I think February is going to be a good month.

Sharing my weekend here. 

Holly, Jolly Christmas Weekend

I almost didn't post today. I had a very Christmas heavy weekend and did lots of things but didn't do anything that warranted taking a lot of photos. Then I reminded myself that documenting is better than not documenting. It's a mindset I'm trying to get myself into as I prepare to dive in to Project Life for 2016!

Friday evening I made one last trip to the mall and only bought one more stocking stuffer for J.. Technically it was 'midnight madness', but our mall is smaller than some of your Wal-Marts and there really wasn't a whole lot of shopping I needed to finish. I was home and in bed by 11 p.m. 

Saturday I spent the day making a final Christmas to do list and went to J.'s work party. It was a pretty uneventful evening. J. and I drove around to look at the lights, although frankly I think it's kind of a weird tradition. It seems odd to aimlessly drive around and look at strangers homes. Regardless, it was something on J.'s Christmas Bucket List so I played along and we drove around the fancier neighbourhoods and looked at the houses before we went to dinner. We ended up being the first ones there so I snapped a quick photo of our fancy place cards and then spent the rest of the evening being social. Afterwards we made a quick trip to a grocery store because I needed a bag of marshmallows and once again I was home by 11 p.m., which is really the way I like to live my life. 

Sunday I wrapped presents and got them out of my room and under the tree. For some reason the only photo of the tree I could find was the very beginning stages of decoration. The angel no longer looks like she's about to take a tumble and there are more than just lights. While I was busy wrapping I ate some dark chocolate and really wanted to enjoy the instant Starbucks Caramel Latte I found on clearance at the grocery store. Maybe I followed the directions incorrectly, or my expectations were too high either way it didn't dissolve the way it should have and was all grainy in the bottom of my cup. Here's hoping round two will be more successful.

Sunday J.'s parents had their Christmas party. I made a pan of squares (hence the quick trip for marshmallows) and did not take a photo because just as I was getting ready to leave it started snowing pretty heavy and I wanted to leave before the roads got too bad. I ate my favourite kind of Christmas meal which involves sweet & sour meatballs, wings and multiple kinds of dips. J. and I ended the night with this weeks episode of Oak Island which I am still extremely fascinated with and I don't want the season to end. 

This morning I was up bright and early and made one final trip to Wal-Mart to finish J.'s stocking. It was super successful and I can now say I am 100% done Christmas shopping! The only disappointment is the calendar I ordered for my grandparents hasn't come in yet. I ordered on November 23, so I thought for sure I would be safe. Apparently I assumed incorrectly.

Tomorrow I'll be revealing and sharing my One Little Word for 2016 and then take a few days to soak up all the Christmas! 

Today I'm linking up with B Loved Boston!

A Canadian November Weekend

This weekend I learned that 90% of Americans have no idea Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving over a month ago. So it only seems fair to add another disclaimer to the beginning of this post - I did not celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend. Not because I have anything against Thanksgiving but because I am Canadian and in Canada we celebrate Thanksgiving in October. If you did come here looking to read about Thanksgiving you can travel back to the archives and check it out here. Spoiler Alert: there was a lot of pie. 

Now that we've gotten Thanksgiving out of the way I can tell you about my weekend, which was full of Christmas parades and date nights and I completely failed to take a single photo. 

Thursday I set off to the mall on a mission to finish my Christmas shopping. I was pretty successful and basically all I have left is to pick up a couple of gift cards. I met up with J. at East Side Mario and we had lunch. I always like when our schedules align and we get to have a mid-week lunch date. It ended up being a really productive day and I feel much more prepared than I did this time last week. 

Friday I ventured out with my aunt and cousin for "Black Friday". I use quotations because like I said it was not Thanksgiving in these parts and everyone had the same deals on all weekend long. The only slight difference is a few stores opened early and some of the big box stores had "door crasher deals" or offered no tax until noon. Nothing worth writing home about and it was the grocery stores that had the best deals. I was home by early afternoon. That evening my mom and I went to a neighbouring town's Christmas parade to see my cousin who was on a float for her work. I didn't take any photos because it was dark and cold. When I came home I happily climbed into bed and binge watched this season of 90 Day Fiance. 

Saturday I was up early again to go shopping with my grandma and cousin. The two of us were along to help pick out some Christmas gifts and then the three of us had Chinese for lunch. It's been ages since I had Chinese and it was so good. I think I could eat beef and broccoli everyday and be completely happy. The big town Christmas parade was Saturday night and both J. and another cousin were participating. Originally I was going to go with J. but then the forecast was rainy and cold so I opted out. The parade was always in the afternoon and last year they decided to change in to the evening. I didn't go last year so I was curious to check it out this year and was pretty disappointed. Everything just kind of looked the the same with lights and more lights, it was hard to see any of the details on the floats that did go the extra mile and decorate with a theme and more than just lights. I didn't take any photos because everything pretty much looked the same from where I was watching. When I got home I Skyped with H. & R. and we tentatively made plans to see each other over Christmas. We have a pretty small window of opportunity and if the weather is bad then the whole thing is off. Fingers crossed for a mild December and a successful reunion!

Sunday my weekend ended with a somewhat lazy day spent with J. we made a trip to the grocery store, cooked supper at his place and watched some T.V.. I intended on going to bed early last night but instead I stayed up until 11 to watch the new episode of The Curse of Oak Island. I don't remember the last time I was awake at midnight watching a T.V. show and I'm not sure it's going to become a frequent habit. I like early bedtimes!

This week I have got to get my winter tires put on and I am optimistic about finishing Christmas shopping. I also need to navigate switching cell phone carriers, which is going to be a pain and will probably take a full day (or two). So look forward to hearing about that production. I know it's sacrilegious not to include a photo in a post but I really didn't take any this weekend and I have too much to do this morning without adding "find photos for post" to my to do list. 

It's All Food & Games

Friday I headed to our community market (think farmer's market, but much smaller) and luckily the samosa people were there so I got to have a delicious supper. I live in a really small town so our market only happens once a month and the vendors aren't always the same. Much to my happiness the people with the samoas were there on Friday and it kind of made my weekend. I also bought some soft pretzels that escaped being photographed because I was too busy eating them. 

I spent the rest of Friday night watching Friends and reading up on Florida. Our November road trip didn't work out but we have plane tickets all booked to go in January. We haven't made any firm plans yet but I spent about an hour reading about Disney World before I felt completely overwhelmed and needed to step far away from Pinterest and helpful bloggers with a million different tips & tricks. If you have any input on the whole Disney thing that doesn't start with "plan your trip five years in advance" I would love to hear it. It's by no means a mandatory part of our trip and realistically we would only want to spend one day (maybe two days) there. There's also the fact that neither J. or I like rides so I'm a little unconvinced that we need to spend that kind of money to walk around a park all day. 

Saturday morning I had an appointment at the bank to finally switch names around on the Sparks account. I will be sooo happy to hand all the financial stuff over the the other leader tonight trying to do that and plan meetings was way too much. I love Guiding, but it can not be my full time job.

Saturday evening J. and I made chicken parmesan for supper and got sucked into a marathon of The Curse of Oak Island on History Channel. We tore ourselves away long enough to make a trip to the mall so I could use another Bath & Body Works coupon and a 50% off coupon I had for Michael's. I'm happy to report my candle stash is full and I have all the necessary pieces to document life using Project Life next year!

We got home and watched more Oak Island because it's just so darn cool. I'm fascinated by the whole thing and can't wait to watch the new season. It premiered last night but I wasn't staying up until 11 o'clock to watch it so it's on my list for this afternoon. Since we had seen most of the episodes before we played Trivial Pursuit Steal while we watched with proved to teach us that neither of us know anything about Broadway plays. 

Sunday I spent far too long trying to choose twelve photos to make a calendar for my grandparent's Christmas present. I thought I had plenty but really I didn't take a whole lot of photos last year and even though I had a lot there wasn't a lot of variety, almost all of them were taken on the same three days so they all kind of looked the same once I put them side by side. At one point my mother, brother and I were crowded around my laptop arguing over which photos to use and which to omit. After two hours of the same debate I saved it as was and walked away. I'll take another look this evening with fresh eyes and I'm positive I can have it finished, ordered and crossed off my to do list by tomorrow. 

For the first time since September a full list of things to blog about this week! I also have two nights of the week committed to Guiding and what feels like an exorbitant amount of things on my to do list. 

Linking up here. 

Corn Maze, Chicken & Cleaning

I spent Friday evening snacking on pretzels and watching Chopped. I have zero regrets about that decision.

Saturday I woke up at my usual time but lingered in bed while I read for awhile. I feel like I've been reading the same book (Americanah) for decades now but I'm trying to finish it before I post about the books I've read this month. I'm over halfway through but it's really dragging. There are chapters that are really interesting but they always seemed to be followed by chapters that are decisively not interesting. More on that later in the week (hopefully). What I really did on Saturday was shiver my way through a corn maze, pick out mini pumpkins for my Sparks to decorate tonight, admire some fish and eat fried chicken. Also, zero regrets about my Saturday.

J. and I went to a corn maze/family farm about an hour away. My main motivation was to get little pumpkins for Sparks. The weather was so weird. You can see from the photo below that the sky was full of grey clouds but the sky behind it was clear blue it almost felt like rain but it was also very cold, we didn't waste any time in the corn maze (except of course pausing for the obligatory corn maze selfie). 

The farm has a bunch of playscapes for little kids and we planned our visit during lunch time assuming we'd beat the crowds. It worked out perfectly, we got the pumpkins and did the corn maze before it got busy. And we got a chance to check out the fish without feeling bad/awkward for being the only adults who weren't accompanied by toddlers. I've always had a thing for goldfish and when I think about my dream home/yard it always involves a little koi/goldfish pond in the backyard. With lilypads and frogs. Because if you're going to dream big you may as well go all out. 

The real highlight of the day was our stop for fried chicken. It just so happens that in order to get to the farm we had to drive by my favourite (and the best) fried chicken place in all the land. We got chicken to go and I should probably be sad that my car now smells like chicken, but I'm really not. Some day I'm going to go on a ridiculous road trip in the southern U.S. that is planned around eating fried chicken. #goals

Post chicken we caught up with Jon Oliver's Last Week Tonight. J. really only watches sports on T.V. and I stick to cooking shows and the occasional reality show depending on the season. Last Week Tonight is the one show we watch together on a regular basis. I left around supper time and headed to the mall in hopes of finding a birthday present for J.. His birthday isn't until the first week in November but he's hard to shop for, luckily I found a couple of things that I'm pretty confident he'll love. I'd like to find one more thing but if not Christmas is just around the corner!

Sunday I dedicated my day to cleaning up my scrapbooking area. I'm 99% finished my camp scrapbooking so it was time to regain some order with my supplies. My newest scrapbook love is stamps, but I refuse to spend $20 on a single stamp so my collection is pretty small and mostly made up of alphabet sets. Peyton was of course eager to assist  get her paws on various ribbons and papers and not nearly as helpful as she would like you to believe. 

This week I have my usual Sparks meeting, a weekday lunch date with J. and an old friend has moved back to town so hopefully we'll be able to coordinate our schedules to catch up. I've also got a full list of blog posts planned with Shay's What's Up Wednesday, The Blogging Elite's monthly link up, an update about about what I read this month and another round of monthly goals! 

linking up here & here. 

October Weekending

Friday night I laid  low. I watched the first part of Human. The cinematography/photography and music is out of this world. It's stunningly beautiful. The movie itself though is a little disappointing (I watched Part 2 Sunday afternoon. I'll watch Part 3 eventually.) I was expecting it to be similar to BBC's Human Planet doc-series that aired a few years back but it wasn't like that at all. I was left wanting more information about what exactly was going on during all those amazing shots.

Saturday morning I drank my coffee and replied to e-mails. I met J. at three and we went to the afternoon showing of The Intern. I'm not a huge movie go-er but this movie was worth seeing! I thought it was wonderful and J. liked it just as much as I did. It was funny and sweet and I would highly recommend it for a date night! After the movie we went out to supper at a local restaurant and had a delicious meal. J. had ribs and I had an amazing Cajun chicken sandwich with avocado, chipotle mayo, hot peppers on a homemade bun. It was so good. I can't wait to go back and have it again. After we ate we went on a quick trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a cord for my printer and then headed back to J.'s, he watched the Blue Jays game while I read because baseball is boring. #realtalk

Sunday I got sucked into a 90 Day Finance marathon on TLC which took up most of my morning. When I finally pulled myself away from that train wreck I got to work on prepping some things for Sparks tonight. We're making rainbows with cotton ball clouds and playing a rainbow toss game. I do as much prep as I can before hand and I make sure that I can do the craft in about 5 minutes. If I can do it in five they will be able to complete it in 10-15 minutes. When I had that straightened away I spend some time scrapbooking. I'm really making more of an effort to include journalling and better explanations about what's going on in all the pictures. Yesterday I got out my favourite black pen and wrote on some of the journalling cards I've been sticking in along side the pictures. It's also motivated me to learn to love my handwriting and get better at calligraphy.

I spent some of the afternoon updated my MacBook to El Captain, which seemed like a good choice but this morning I'm having an awful time getting edited photos to save to my computer.

While my computer was updating I made Sunday supper. Steak, roasted potatoes & carrots (fresh from the farmers market) and broccoli. There are photos but every time I try to join them together and save them Safari freezes. My frustrations are mounting and I really hope I can get it figured out, otherwise I'm going to really regret updating. Has anyone else updated and experiencing similar?

Blogtember 2015 : Grace & Galoshes

This has been my view for the majority of the last couple of days. I'm spending Labour Day Weekend fully appreciating summer and absorbing some Vitamin D. I'll be back Tuesday with a full weekend recap complete with the many reasons why summer is my very favourite season. 

If you're visiting from Blogtember and are wondering why I call my little corner of the internet "Grace & Galoshes" the answer is rather simple! When I decided I wanted to make blogging a serious hobby I sat down with a pen and paper and wrote down dozens of words. Some adjectives that I thought described me, some that I felt a connection to and some that I just thought sounded pretty. I focused on 'rainy days' because I love rain and rainy days are some of the best days for writing. Those seemed too wordy and after a lot of thought the word 'Galoshes' came to me which is a common name for rain boots around here. I knew I needed another word to go with it and I anticipated blogging about my faith, I also like alliteration and so "Grace & Galoshes" was born. I love that the name of my blog incorporates or hints at things I love; rain, outdoors, faith...and that it doesn't limit me to one specific genre. I've never once regretted my choice or considered re-branding and becoming something different. 

I hope everyone is enjoying their extra weekend day!

Mountains, Sky, Seals & Goals

My first weekend back in the real world was surprisingly busy. I thought I'd spend most of it watching Netflix and snacking but I ended up venturing out into the world! Friday night I went for a walk and then came home and watched a few episodes of Mind of a Chef. I know I've mentioned it here before but I feel the need to mention it again (the third season is on Netflix) it's so interesting to see how chefs interpret ingredients and how intertwined food is with culture.

Saturday evening J. and I went to an exhibition hockey game and then out to eat. I continued my quest for delicious chicken tacos and was pretty satisfied with the ones at Boston Pizza.

Sunday J. and I were tourists at home and went for a drive. I was hoping to take lots of great photos but it turned out to be sort of a hazy, foggy day meaning the views weren't overly spectacular. 

We were lucky enough to spot some seals playing in the waves at one look off. It was definitely the highlight of my day! It was hard to snap a photo because the waves were a pretty decent size and they were pretty far away. My lens is good, but it's not that good! 

Sunday night I had a Skype date with H. & R. and was in bed by 10:30. The weekend really consisted of a lot of driving which is why there's not many photos. What I do have is September Goals! I took a break from setting goals this summer because I had enough to do without worrying about reading five books or anything above and beyond getting my work done and taking a few minutes for me every now and then. 

Now that September is here and camp is over I'm ready to set some goals and get some things done!

I'm going to participate in Blogtember  this month but I know that I probably won't write everyday or follow all the prompts. I'm aiming to participate in 20 out of the 30 days. That gives me enough flexibility not to feel guilty if I miss a few days but also enough of a challenge to get all 20 posts published.

I've been reading a lot more lately and I want to maintain that. I have quite a few books on hold at the library and a few more that are just hanging out on my bookshelf waiting to be read.

I need to get prints of all the photos I took this summer. Very self-explanatory, it'll probably take the better part of an afternoon to sort through all the photos and decide which ones to order but it's something that needs to happen!

J.'s sister is studying in Ireland so I want to add her to my usual list of snail mail recipients! I'll also send some thanksgiving mail to H. & R. since neither of them are coming home for Thanksgiving. If I get them mailed out by the end of September they should arrive on time for Canadian Thanksgiving in October.

I'm working on getting involved with Girl Guides again but if for some reason that doesn't work out I'd like to find another community organizations to get involved with a few times a week. 

Tomorrow is the beginning Blogtember so I'll be jumping in with that first thing tomorrow!

Today, I'm linking up here and here! 

Bonfires & Burgers

For the second time this summer the stars aligned and session break fell on a weekend. I drove home for the weekend since this is our longest break of the summer and pulled into the driveway at 7:00 Thursday night, perfect timing for a long weekend to officially begin. It's also finally starting to feel like summer around here. May and June have been cold, damp and rainy. We've spent a lot of time indoors and when the sun has been shining it's often still too cold to be outside without pants and a hoodie. Being able to wear flip flops without fear of frost bitten toes was a true highlight of this past weekend.

The focus for Thursday night and Friday morning was rest & relaxation. I took a nice long hot shower complete with great water pressure. I then proceeded to bed where I stayed until 9:00 Friday morning. I leisurely spent the day Friday drinking hot cups of coffee, finally catching up with blogs and enjoying every minute of being on having some real time off and away from camp. J. was house sitting this past weekend at his parents so I headed over there Friday evening for BBQ Burgers and maybe most importantly, Salted Carmel Ice Cream with chocolate sauce. I cohersed him into watching Love It or List It with me and then we got sucked into the last hour of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 that was playing on a different channel. Even with all that excitement I was home in bed by 11 p.m.. Sleep was very high on the priority list this weekend. 

Saturday morning I got laundry crossed off my to do list and enjoyed drinking hot coffee for a second morning in a row. J. and I had supper at Boston Pizza and then headed back to his parents for a bonfire. I'm not a huge fan of toasted marshmallows, I enjoy two or three and then after that I just feel gross. We toasted a few obligatory marshmallows and then opted to eat more salted carmel ice cream with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. And for the third consecutive night bedtime happened before 11:00 p.m. and all was well with the world. 

Sunday involved a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for camp and then home where I Skyped with H. & R., ate supper, prepared some blog posts for the week and watching the Food Network. All and all a great weekend, and it's not over yet. I'm not heading back to camp until Tuesday which gives me another whole day to focus on rest and relaxation. 

Linking up here.

Monday Mish-Mash

It's a rare occasion during the summer when my days off are actually a legitimate weekend but wouldn't you know that's exactly what happened this past weekend. Staff Training ended Thursday afternoon and our first session starts on Monday. We did have a rental group on site from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon so I didn't exactly have free roam of the place but I made it work.

Friday evening I went into town to pick up a few groceries, put my cheque in the bank and run a few errands. I ended up cooking a frozen pizza for supper and spending the rest of the night hiding out in my room with chips & dip catching up on my Bloglovin' feed that has been neglected the past two weeks. 

Saturday I did all my favourite camp things, jumping on the trampoline at dusk, watching the sunset and walking along the shore with my camera. Plus I indulged in the simple act of sleeping in a little later than usual and laying in bed with a book for an hour before I really started my day. Savouring the simple things will be a theme this summer. 

Sunday I slept in (and by sleeping in I mean 9:00 a.m.) then did some more reading in bed before finding the motivation to get up and start my day. I did two loads of laundry and cooked a big batch of chicken and rice to freeze in individual portions and did a major tidy and organization job on my bedroom. I love spending Sunday preparing for the week ahead and recharging my batteries. Sunday evening I went to see Pitch Perfect 2. It was by far the best movie going experience I've had in recent memory and if you liked the first movie you should definitely check out the sequel. I'm not a huge Rebel Wilson fan, but I love Anna Kendrick and overall it was a pretty cute and fun movie. 

My goal for the weekend (break) was very much to fill my time with the things that make me happy, to prepare as best I could for the week ahead and start the week feeling refreshed and relaxed. And I definitely consider that goal to be accomplished. I'm looking forward to our first session and I'm optimistic that a more consistent schedule will allow more time for blogging!

Linking up here & here.