Called To Be Woven

I had one of the best weekends I've had in a really long time. It seems like it's been so long since I've experienced God Moments but this weekend I seemed to be surrounded. I found them in the most unexpected places, but I am so grateful that I did. 

I'm grateful for the peace of not knowing the specifics, but knowing that I need only to keep listening and watching and following 'the call'. 

I'm grateful for coffee on rainy Monday mornings.

I'm grateful for fulfilled promises.

I'm grateful for songs that give me goosebumps. 

I am full of hope, praise, celebration, faith and delight that I know there are big things ahead. 

I am grateful for passion and opportunities to use that passion to make a difference. 

Friday Five

Do you ever have one of those weeks when you just feel like you've got a lot of stuff happening in your head? I'm having one of those weeks. So forgive me if there is no logical order or connection to my Friday Five and it doesn't even really feel like a Friday.

{one}


Via

I miss youth ministry so bad it hurts. My current job is pretty amazing and I am so lucky to work with some pretty extraordinary people. Camp is what I love, but church camp is my passion. There really is added magic in the atmosphere when you're at a church camp. I've made some incredible friends working where I am now but they are different from the connections I've made at church camps. I miss worship being a daily part of the camp schedule and I cringe every time we sing a grace before a meal but replace "God" with "earth" to be inclusive. I get that we aren't a faith based camp and our campers come from all kinds of faith traditions but I want to be in a place where faith is celebrated and not awkwardly dealt with in the most PC way possible.

{two}

I went out for Frozen Yogurt with H. last night and realized when I got home I didn't take a picture of it to use on my blog. Part of me was annoyed with myself...another (larger) part was more annoyed that I even considered being annoyed because I didn't take a photo of something I was eating. Instead I was focused on eating and being with H. And if being in the moment instead of planning future blog posts I'm okay with that.


{three}
I'm starting to feel overwhelmed about the next few months. I really want to enjoy the summer but I know that I'm going to have to spend some (maybe a lot) of time this summer figuring out when I'm going to do at the end of September when my current contract ends. It's pretty unlikely it will get extended because that's when the grant money runs out and I don't want to put myself in a position where I'm jobless. I'm trying to be excited about it and convince myself to really step outside of my comfort zone and have an adventure, but it's a fake enthusiasm. My real goal is to find something, somewhere that pays well enough I can keep paying off my student loans and still have enough to live.

{four}

I committed to going to a work related thing all weekend. Starting tonight at 6:30 and ending at 2:00 on Sunday. I'm trying to keep an opened mind because it's an informal kind of thing...but in reality all I want to do is watch Friends reruns in my yoga pants.


{five}

Nothing annoys me more than having things on my to-do list that I can't 100% complete because I'm waiting on somebody else. And right now there are six things on my to-do list that I could check off...except that a document needs to be approved before I print it and a reference needs to get back to me before I can hire a girl, and someone else needs to get me the information to put into a manual before I can print that...I have a lot of patience when it comes to most things. Waiting on other people is not one of those things.

I'm typing this on my lunch break and I just realized I still have another 4 hours left of work. And then two hours in which to pack for the weekend, eat some sort of supper and mentally prepare to spend the whole weekend not doing weekend things. So I'm going to cut things short and see if there's any coffee in the break room before I get back to doing actual work.

Linking up with Lauren Elizabeth and the lovely ladies at Friday Five.

Let There Be Light (But Mostly Shadows)

I was finally reunited with my camera this weekend after spending months and months apart. I didn't get to play with it as much as I would have liked because I was busy with family stuff and Easter things (mostly eating junk food in my jogging pants).  But I did take it out during Easter Dinner at my grandparents' house and took a few shots.

There are also a series of photos I've been referring too as "unphotogenic grandkids", which although on my camera I am not responsible for (I am one of said unphotogenic grandkids) that prove just how hard it is to get seven people between the ages of 24 and 9 to look at the camera and smile at the same time.

I wanted to take photos of the stack of lobster traps that were in my grandparents' backyard and when we first got there the lighting was awesome but I was being lazy and snapping away from the deck. I figured I'd have lots of time to take photos after dinner. But then of course the sun changed and when I returned it just wasn't in the right spot and my manual shooting skills aren't strong enough.

Before lunch, lovely bright colours, lots of potential.

After lunch, things looked much less bright and much more gloomy.

 

I made several attempts to capture the awesomeness of my cousin's camo boots against the snow and the traps but the shadows kind of thwarted my efforts.

The good news is that I have full access to my camera all the time and with summer coming there will be plenty of opportunities to practice and learn and get better. Depending on where life takes me in the fall I definitely want to look into taking a basic photography course somewhere!

Let It Goooo

 

I confess that I chose "Let it Go" as the title of this post so that I had an excuse to listen to the song while I write.

While we're on the topic..."Let it Go" is not my favourite song from Frozen. (Fixer Upper for the win!)

I should really go buy groceries after work...but I don't need groceries. There is enough food in my cupboards/fridge for me to eat the rest of the week. I may be eating perogies and spring rolls for supper Friday night but that's okay.

A month ago I signed up to go to this open house/networking type event that is sort of related to work, but not really. It starts Friday night at 6 and ends Sunday afternoon. It's either going to be really awesome or really not awesome.

I'm moving to camp for the summer in 22 days...I'm not even sure how time went by so fast. And I have no idea how I'm going to get everything checked off on my "Pre-Camp To Do List" in the next 22 days.

I have a major fast food craving happening but I'm trying to resist. Even though it's hard, because food and weird groceries.

I'm moving out of my apartment next weekend so I'm purposely not buying mass quantities of groceries that I will then either have to leave behind for the roomies or pack. And I draw the line at suitcases full of frozen chicken breasts and half full containers of sour cream.

I started writing this Tuesday night and now it's Wednesday evening and I still haven't hit publish. So I'm just going to keep on confessing.

Every week I tell myself I'm going to start eating breakfast. And every week 'eating breakfast' translates to coffee.

I am really freaking excited to watch Deadliest Catch while eating popcorn just as soon as I've waited an acceptable amount of time between supper and snacking.

For those of you dying to know…I did not go to the grocery store after work. I remembered I had pasta, broccoli and alfredo sauce…I can't promise perogies and spring rolls won't happen at some point. 

Also, I'm pretty sure I love Kathy's link up so much because it's basically an excuse for me to ramble about my ridiculous thoughts, slap a button on and call it a post. 

40 Days of Life

I was going to post about my weekend at home but then I realized I need to recap and reflect on Lent! I loved the idea of doing a Lenten Journal but I missed the boat on ordering one online and I couldn't find exactly what I wanted in stores. So I got out my markers and felt tip pens and got crafting! 

First I found a weekly template that was meant to be used for to-do lists on Pinterest. I used this one and you can find the free PDF download here. I did some quick math and printed out enough sheets for the entire season of Lent plus extra to keep going. Then I hole punched the whole works and put them into a duo-tang. 

My goal was to take 10-15 minutes each day and fill in the circle for the day. I didn't give myself any rules about what could and could not fill a circle. Some days it was full of random doodles, others a verse, sometimes a single word and sometimes a combination of everything. I used the "Notes" section of the page to add in any extra prayer requests for that week or praises as the week went on. 

I'll be honest and admit there were nights I missed, but I made a point to catch up the next day. I never let myself get more than two days behind and for the most part I stayed on top of things. Overall it was a positive and productive experience. So much so that I am going to continue with it, it really doesn't take that much time and I really like having that quick snapshot of each day. 

Honestly it's hard for me to believe that 40 days are over. It's one of those things that seemed so long at the beginning but in retrospect went by fast. It has become part of my routine though and I am so happy that I was able to fully establish a meaningful and positive new habit during Lent!

Sunday Social #98

Linking up with Ashley & Neeley for this week's Sunday Social.

Five songs you'll listen to the rest of your life:

• Slide - Goo Goo Dolls
• The Crane Wife 3 - The Decemberists
• The Luckiest - Ben Folds
• Tim McGraw- Taylor Swift
• Konstantine - Something Corporate
• *Honourable Mention : Play it Again - Luke Bryan

Five things on your bucket list:

• Get Married
• Have Babies
• Publish a Book
• Visit Stonehenge
• Visit Auschwitz 

Five celebs you'd love to hang out with for the day:

• Ellen DeGeneres 
• Taylor Swift
• Neil Patrick Harris
• Rick Mercer
• Brent Butt

Five things you always carry in your purse:

• Wallet 
• Sharpie
• Gum
• Lip Balm
• Hair Elastic

Five books on your reading list:

• Guitar Notes - Mary Amato
• Everything Beautiful - Simmone Howell
• Send in the Idiots - Kamran Nazeer
• I Don't Care About Your Band - Julie Klausner
• The Ramen King and I - Andy Raskin

Share the last five photos on your phone: 

//Starbucks Mocha Fappachino//

//Chocolate Milk in my new cow print tumbler//

//Delicious M&M cookie//

//Volunteer thank you gift for Day Camp volunteers//

//Random screen shot from a FB group//

Things That Make Me Weird

Happy Wednesday! I have plans to go outside and appreciate spring weather after work...but there seems to be some sort of rain storm happening outside. The universe is against me. The good news is that tomorrow is really Friday! And soon I will be jumping in my car, with an iced coffee in the cup holder and Luke Bryan on my iPod headed far, far away from the city for a whole 3 nights.

 

Moving on to the main point of this post...things that make me weird when compared to most of my peers.

 

• There isn't a cell in my body that finds the idea of being massaged or touched by a random stranger inviting or relaxing. I have no interest in paying somebody to paint my toes or massage my back or apply goop to my face. Spending a day at a spa sounds like torture. Awkward, uncomfortable torture.
• I would rather sit alone in a cardboard box than spend a night at a crowded club and wasting money on expensive drinks. $7 for a drink?! That's like 1/4 of my grocery budget for a week. That's almost a full hour of work! Just for something you're going to drink and never see again!
• I tune out as soon as someone starts ranting about feminism and raising girls to be powerful career women. If that's what you want good for you. I'm hoping & praying the majority of my "prime working years" are spent raising babies. And if some of those babies want to be CEOs that's great. But if they want to be spouses and parents that's great too. I shouldn't be made to feel bad because I want to be a mom and not a business woman.
• Another contributing factor to my dislike of the bar scene is I hate rap/techno/dubstep/whatever you want to call it music. Why is there so much swearing? Why is it so loud? I much prefer my dance parties to involve 90's pop and Taylor Swift.
• I love names. And have very strong opinions on which names I do and don't like. Sometimes the only difference between a name I do and do not like is spelling. Isaiah = Good. Izaia = Terrible. Spell names correctly.
• I kind of want it to rain on my wedding day. I really want a photo of me in my wedding dress and rubber boots standing in a puddle. I also would like to get married outside (at camp). I'm not sure how well those two things mix.

 

What makes you weird  interesting? Confess your quirks and link up with Kathy! And then join Liz for The Hump Day Blog Hop!

 

 

 

            

Tuesday Weekend Update

I’m  a day late to the party (of course) but I didn’t get a weekend recap post written Sunday and by the time I got home from work yesterday the only thing I wanted to do was eat supper and go to bed. Which is exactly what I did.

I can’t not blog about my weekend though because it was pretty great and needs to be shared with the world. Even though I didn't take a single photo of my weekend. 

Friday I was not a happy camper (as you may have guessed from this post). So I watched three hours of Top Chef Canada and by the time I went to bed at 11:00 I was in a much more agreeable mood. Cooking shows have a seriously calming effect on me. In fact I fall asleep to reruns of Good Eats pretty much every night.

Saturday morning I woke up around 9 and went through my usual Saturday morning routine of coffee, bagel and catching up with episodes of Ellen. I’ve really grown to appreciate quiet, unrushed, lingering mornings. I’m not exactly sure why, I’m never rushing to get out the door to work in the morning. I always have my clothes picked out and lunch made the night before. Knowing that I have to be somewhere by a specific time just sort of adds pressure to the morning. Eventually I showered and headed to the mall in search of a spring jacket.

I got lost trying to get to the mall because I hate driving in the city. I hate the city.

Once I rerouted myself (and got lost in the parking garage) I headed to Sports Check only to discover the jacket I was on a mission to buy wasn’t there in the colour I wanted. Womp womp. I opted for my second choice and so far no regrets.

I wasn’t in a big hurry to go anywhere so I browsed stores and tried on a few things. I bought another zip up hoddie at American Eagle because it was 70% off and I couldn’t leave it there. Eventually I decided it was time to find my way home but first I made the executive decision to treat myself to Starbucks. Because I’ve been living in the city for 3 months now and I haven’t had SB once. I opted for my go to Mocha Frappe and then had almost instant regret and remembered I should have ordered the iced Passion Fruit Tea. Next time.

I had left over pizza for supper and ended up ooVoo-ing with R. until midnight. It was delightful.

Sunday I had another lazy morning (and lazy afternoon too). My roommate’s Mom was in town for the weekend and she made us Sunday Supper. It was the perfect way to end the weekend/start the week. We had lasagna, salad, bread and for dessert she made homemade ice cream cake. I really wish I had of gotten a picture of the epic-ness that was the cake. But I was too busy eating to get my phone and take pictures. (Side Note: I’m going home for Easter and will finally be reunited with my camera!)

Yesterday was brutal. I was in such a good mood when I started the day and by the time 11 a.m. rolled around everyone else's crankiness had totally rubbed off on me. I really need to work harder on not letting other people's attitudes influence my mood. I think that'll be a summer goal! 

Luckily today was an improvement and I'm hopefully catching up with a friend later this week and then first thing Friday morning I am getting the heck out of the city and returning to the land of green grass and trees and back/front/side yards and miles away from any apartment or office buildings. I could not be happier. Seriously, I gave this whole living in the city thing a really good try but it is not for me. That's a whole different post though!

(Some of) The Best Things Ever

After my little rant fest and minor tantrum on Friday I think I should really join in with this week's Sunday Social and blog about of few of the best things!

1. What was your best birthday?

I have the worst birthdays. (This is really not off to a good start!) 

That being said this past summer I had a wonderful Half Birthday Celebration at camp! There were cards and decorations and people sang "Happy Half Birthday". It was super ridiculous but also the best.

2. What was your best vacation?

I haven't been on a lot of vacations recently. In a lot of ways my entire summer is one big vacation (only without the relaxing parts)!

3. What is the best date you've ever been on?

Maybe I should have read the questions before I started answering them…I've never been on what most people would consider a proper date. So again, don't have a lot of experience to pick a best from. 

4. What is the best movie(quality) you've seen?

Schindler's List wins this hands down. Everything about it from the story to the acting, the way it was filmed. Best movie. Everyone needs to go watch. 

5. What is the best TV show ending of all time?

I was really satisfied with the way Dawson's Creek ended. I'm not sure that it was the best ending that has ever been, but as far a teen dramas go it was good. A little death, a little love, a dash of the unexpected. The characters didn't necessarily get the happy ever after ending but I think they all got pretty great ending to their stories. 

Things That Fill Me With Rage

It's been a long week but it's Friday and I need to let it go (cue song). Part of letting it go is ranting in list form because sometimes that's just what needs to happen.

I can't find a stream to watch last night's Grey's Anatomy.

People who dole out passive aggressive insults on a daily basis.

I hate living in the city. I need some trees and green grass in my life.

I want to watch The Princess Bride but every time I do I think of him and why things didn't work out.

I bought a new kind of K-Cup to try and they're gross. It tastes like dirty water.

It's rainy out and I have nobody to cuddle.

I have a craving for coconut that I just can't satisfy.

I've been biting my nails so bad lately and my fingers/hands are a mess.

My hair is too long but I don't want to cut it.

My jeans are too big but I don't want to spend money buying new ones.

7 o'clock is too early to go to bed.

This is my last free weekend until September.

I want iced coffee but it's too cold for iced coffee.

I have no interest in starting to worry about September right now, but I can feel it inching into my mind.

On the flip side I swung by Sobey's on my way home from work and picked up ingredients to make homemade pizza (with extra spicy pepperoni), pop, a bag of ketchup chips and some dark chocolate peanut M & M's. So in the words of Liz Lemon, "I'm going to go talk to some food about this."

Weekend Happiness

I had all the best intentions of posting a Five on Friday, instead I came home from work made supper watched Grey's Anatomy and was in bed and asleep by 11:30. 

Part of the reason I was so ready for some serious sleep on Friday was that I spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week at a training workshop about healthy childhood development and program evaluation. It was a long three days. And involved a much longer commute than I've grown accustom to. I was super excited when I checked the mail on Friday and found the prettiest card from Rebekah over at Living Lavender. Snail Mail makes me so happy!

Snail Mail is the Best Mail!

Saturday afternoon I headed to the mall with H. for something to do. I wasn't really planning on buying anything but we had planned to hang out and the weather was not cooperating with our plans to stroll in and out of stores downtown and get frozen yogurt. I ended up buying a dress at Eclipse that I am kind of in love with. It's dressy enough that I will be able to wear it to the office and casual enough that I can wear it during the summer and not feel over dressed. And in my books that is perfection!

Via

I also invested in a new pair of sneakers. They were at Payless for $25 and I am in need of real sneakers that aren't Chucks or Toms or anything else that either have terrible support or that I've had since high school. Not that I have any plans to take up running but I spend a lot of time on my feet during the summer and towards the end of last summer it was clear my feet were not happy. It's probably worth noting that my feet are tiny. As in these shoes were so cheap because I fit into girls' size 2 sneakers. It's both a blessing and a curse. 

Via

Sunday morning I woke up to what I'll call "almost sunshine", which after almost two weeks of April Snow Storms and Ice Storms followed by a lot of rain is almost tropical. Rumour has it Wednesday might but a whole 10 degrees! Rumour also has it that Dollar Drink Days start back at McDonald's this week. If there's one thing I love more than iced coffee it's cheap iced coffee!

I'll end by bragging just a little bit about my productive Sunday afternoon! I planned out blog posts for the week, made a meal plan and did a yoga video. Near perfect start to the week!

Linking up with Dateless in Dallas and Showered With Design!

 

 

Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy

I love lists. I love things. It only makes sense that lists of things I love make me extraordinarily happy! So I'm obviously joining in with Erin  and Sarah to list 32 things that make me happy!

1. Dinosaurs
2. ooVoo dates with H. & R.
3. Office Supplies
4. Inspirational Quotes
5. Luke Bryan
6. Frogs
7. Puns
8. Jumping in puddles
9. Vanilla Coke
10. New Crayons/Colouirng Books
11. Driving Country Roads
12. Converse High Top Sneakers
13. Comfy pants
14. Curly hair
15. Cuddling
16. Camp
17. Camouflage
18. Country Music
19. Things that start with the letter 'C'
20. Veggie Tales
21. Cooking
22. Handwritten notes/cards.
23. Iced Coffee
24. Homemade mac & cheese
25. Sunshine
26. Thunder & Lightning Storms
27. Batman
28. Reading
29. Reality TV
30. Writing
31. Poetry
32. Blogging! 

Just making that list made me smile! And now I'm off to enjoy a delicious supper followed by one of my most favourite/happiest things an ooVoo date with H. & R. ! 

Happy Thursday! 

Confess (And Be Healed?)

Airing all my dirty laundry last week for Humpday Confessions was just so much fun that I'm going to do it again this week!

Speaking of dirty laundry…my underwear dictates when I do laundry. Down to the last pair of clean undies? = Laundry Day!

Last week I went (at least) 48 Hours only drinking coffee & coke.

I have eaten cookies for supper at least once in the last six months.

I was going to do yoga tonight but then my roomies asked if I wanted to go out for frozen yogurt…so I'm going to do that instead.

I haven't finished emotionally processing the How I Met Your Mother finale. 

I lack the will-power to ignore/delay responding when certain people message me, even if it's after 11 p.m. and I'm almost asleep.

I'm going for frozen yogurt in less than an hour but I'm still trying to justify eating a handful of chocolate covered almonds between now and then.

I finally met a coffee k-cup that I don't like. Unfortunately I paid $7 for the box of 12 and my budget conscious self won't let me buy new ones. It's going to be a long 2(ish) weeks of terrible coffee.

As per usual when I got home from work today I immediately changed into jogging pants & a hoodie. I'm now trying to figure out how I can make myself presentable enough to go out in public (i.e. frozen yogurt) with the least amount of effort.