February Life 2017

Personal Life// January was a weird month because there were clearly two different outcomes. Now that I know the outcome February is going to be a weird month because there's going to be a lot of new-ness. I like routine but between training and moving and the learning curve I realize that won't happen instantly. I'm going to do my best not to let myself get stressed and anxious but it's probably going to be easier said than done. I know that the first two weeks (and really the whole month) is going to be the hardest so if I can get through that things will start going smoother. 

Hobbies// I completed my 2016 Project Life album and have made a start on 2017. I'm still going the monthly route which is a choice I'm happy with. I'm anticipating getting 'behind' this month but I'm not worried. I am a big fan of using my Happy Planner so even if I get behind on Project Life I know that I still have that creative outlet. Bonus being that keeping up with planning will be helpful when I do get to catch up with Project Life. I don't have a great internet connection so I'm anticipating getting through a book or two. 

Career// I have one of those now! Officially! It's going to take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to transition between myself and the person leaving. They are leaving the position but not the organization so there's sort of a big domino effect happening. It's not what I had in mind but it does come with stability and isn't on the other side of the country. So I'm going to focus on the good parts and get through the rest. 

Spirituality// I'm still following through with my bedtime routine consisting of three thankful thoughts, question a day journal, Savor devotional and journalling. It sounds like a lot but most nights it doesn't take me any longer than 20 minutes. The past two weeks or so Savor has been disappointing. I'm not a mother or a wife and a lot of the blurbs have been related to those topics. And the past few days have involved the term 'hustle', which I despise. So I've skimmed over them but haven't really taken anything away from the readings. I'm contributing a lot of my journalling success to the fact I didn't make any rules for myself. Some days I write three sentences and some days I write three pages.

Health// For the first three weeks of the month I didn't drink any pop, only water. And then birthday week happened. And I sort of fell off the rails and returned to having pop a few times a week. I'm not being too hard on myself though because I still drank lots of water, I only drink one cup of coffee a day and I do think treats are ok in moderation. My attempt at doing a yoga challenge lasted three days before I got bored. 

Goals// I accomplished 2/3 of my January Goals. I ended up reading two books and I watched one documentary. I didn't try any new recipes or restaurants though. I had lunch out for my birthday but it was at a restaurant I'd be to before and the other three times I ate out this month were at Subway and A&W where I had my standard order.  As far as February goes I'm a little hesitant to start placing demands on myself. Surviving February is really my own priority. 

Linking up with Gretch & Kristen!

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February Currently

Reading... Nothing that I felt very passionate about in terms of novels. I did start reading the Savor devotional and even though I'm only a week in so far I'm pretty happy with my purchase. 

Playing... Still playing 1010!

Watching... I've been watching Top Chef on a weekly basis. I've caught up with the last few episodes of Big Bang Theory and caught up with Criminal Minds.

Trying... to catch up on sleep. I am all over the map lately and I would love to get back on a regular sleep schedule. 

Cooking... I haven't been cooking anything elaborated lately. 

Eating... Lots of pitas with tzatziki, chicken and feta cheese.  

Drinking... Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Water and the occasionally Pop for good balance. 

Calling... Nobody! Which is great, I hate calling people. 

Texting... The usual crew. H., R., J. and N.. Sometimes the ladies I carpool with to work. 

Pinning... Craft Ideas, quotes and project life ideas.

Tweeting... Mostly just the automatic tweet from Bloglovin' when a post is published.

Going... Still waiting to find about work before I make any plans. I was hoping to know this week but it doesn't look promising. 

Loving... Winter is half way through. I would say almost over but I assume we'll have our typical April snowstorm. 

Hating... The weather. It's cold, it's warm, it's snowing, it's raining. There is green grass and blue sky, there's freezing rain. I don't know what's happening and I never know what shoes to wear. 

Discovering... I don't think I discovered anything life altering this month.

Thinking... About what I'm going to have for lunch. 

Feeling... Sleepy. 

Hoping (for)... Concrete information about work being extended or not extended so I can get on with my life. 

Listening (to)... Podcasts! Camp Code has been my go to this month and I've also discovered Bringing Up Betty which I'm enjoying so far. 

Celebrating... I ate a lot of cake in February. A belated birthday cake for me, birthday cake for my mom, leftover cake my brother's girlfriend brought over, Valentine's Day cake at work,  cupcakes at work because of a storm.

Smelling... Still enjoying the Winter Sun B&BW candle, although it hasn't matched the weather which has kind of been bothering me. 

Ordering... I ordered this stamp set on a bit of a whim (mostly to use up a visa gift card) we'll see what happens when it gets here.

Thankful for... The local news. This might sound weird but whenever I happen to click on news for a big city or when I was in Florida last month I'm always surprised by the news. So many murders and standoffs and robberies. Around here it's weather and animal stories 75% of the time. The other 25% is pretty depressing but I'm thankful to live in a pretty safe part of the world. 

Considering... I know it's way early, but I'm going to say it anyway...post-camp plans. Sigh.

Starting... It felt like a started a lot of things this month - books, Project Life layouts, lists, camp projects...

Finishing... You might assume since I started so many projects this month I would have finished a lot of them. This assumption is wrong. I have ticked off a handful of stuff on my "Things to do Before Pre-Camp" list but other than that there is a lot of half finished stuff lying around. 

Linking up with Stuff & Things

Tuesday Plus One

Remember back at the start of the month when I was all gungho about February? I have since lost all enthusiasm for the month.  #reallife I can't even blame the weather because compared to last year February has been almost tropical. It's still -6 and there are patches of snow on the ground but this time last year there was six feet of snow on the ground and I was convinced spring (or summer) would never arrive. 

I have made zero progress on by 52 in 52 list. I read one book (largely because I was forced to earlier in the month when we lost power for 2.5 days during a snow storm) and completely missed the boat on my plan to start a good habit during Lent. I'm not even sure I bothered to fill a single page in a notebook this month. I did get Valentine's Day cards mailed and made a few Project Life pages, I need to print some more Disney photos though before I consider that fully accomplished. I'm also failing to remember a time this month when I went to a new restaurant, tried a new food or made a new recipe. 

I was also anticipating knowing if my contract will be extended past March 31 this month, but so far there's just be rumblings from the rumour mill that nobody will be extended. Which is fine but rumours don't do me any good I need to know for certain so I can make pre-camp vacation plans. #priorities I've said it before and I'll say it again but this whole contract position situation is for the birds....or at least people who unlike me don't feel the need to plan ahead.

At this point I'm more or less ready to write off February's productive and focus on getting in gear for March. Dusting off my planner, perhaps making a list of blog post, definitely making multiple to do lists. In various colours, stamps and washi tape...or scribbled on the back of a post it depending how things play out. 

That's all I've got for today. I thought I had photos but as it turns out they're on my memory card in my camera and not on my computer. Wishing you a Wednesday more productive than mine! 

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! 

February Currently

I want to be more intentional about blogging, which has got me thinking about the reasons why I blog. I turn to blogging as a way to process my thoughts, to connect with others, to preserve memories and as an outlet for my introverted tendencies. I was staring at my planner the other day trying to be proactive and plan out a few post ideas for the month when I had a revelation. So often blogging gurus advise to write posts that readers will want to read, and if you're blogging to attract a million followers, gain sponsorship opportunities and make money blogging that advice makes sense. Except, that's not why I blog, I blog for me. I want to write posts that I will find interesting months or years from now. And hopefully by writing about those things I'll make those connections in the blogging community who are in the same stage of life or who have been where I am and can offer their wisdom.

All that to say I've decided the first Saturday of each month will be a 'currently' post. I did a quick Pinterest search for 'Currently' questions and combined a bunch of questions I thought I'd be interested in knowing and might connect me with others who happen to be reading this. 

Making: Valentine's Day Cards/Packages to mail to friends. I never did get around to sending Christmas cards so I'm making Valentine's Day happen. 

Cooking: My work schedule really limits my cooking and I hate that. I'm itching to cook a batch of mac & cheese and some homemade pizzas. 

Eating: My go to meal is chicken breast with cajun seasoning and rice. I make a dipping sauce for the chicken that's just ranch dressing & hot sauce mixed together but it's delicious. 

Drinking:  A lot of water since I've been sick. And treating myself to the occasional glass of pop.

Reading: Not enough. I don't have any books started at the moment all my reading has been online with blogs and various news articles. 

Wishing: The office would close when bad weather starts. I'm tired of driving home in snowstorms. 

Appreciating: Me Time. The past few weeks I've become acutely aware of just how much of an introvert I am and how much I need time by myself to recharge.  

Waiting: I don't feel like I'm waiting for anything in particular right now. I'm definitely waiting for the snow to melt, but that's not something I have much control over. 

Enjoying: Saturday mornings when I can enjoy a cup of coffee, catch up on blogs and watch the Food Network. 

Wondering: What I'm going to get my mom for her birthday. And J. for Valentine's Day. 

Loving: The names Lila/Lilah and Layla. Totally random I know, but I recently had the name 'Lillian' ruined on me so I needed a replacement girl name to love. 

Hoping: The worst of the winter weather is over and the sun will start shining again!

Needing: To make time for me. Not just on weekend mornings but a specific time during the day to be alone. I would love to get back into the habit of reading my Bible and journalling everyday, that may be a goal for March. 

Smelling: I got a great candle in my stocking that smells like currants. I forget the exact name of it, I know mom bought it at Winner's and it was a great find. 

Wearing: My go to work outfit is jeans, a top and a cardigan. 

Following: World events/local news. I used to watch the news every night and then I got out of the habit but I'm getting back into it. I think it's important to know what's going on in the world. 

Noticing: I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but how important me time is to my well being.

Knowing: I need to balance pre-camp preparations with my current job and not letting myself get burnt out. 

Thinking: The above balance is going to be hard to reach. 

Feeling Anxious About: Lately I've been managing my anxiety pretty well, but I've had some bad days where I feel overwhelmed because I have a lot of stuff to do and I feel like I don't have enough time to do it all. 

Watching: I reinstated my Netflix this month so I've been watching lots of Friends and documentaries.

Listening to: Podcasts! Specifically Grown Ups Read Stuff They Wrote As Kids and Vinyl Cafe. 

Obsessing: The first thing that came to mind was Peyton. She really is an awesome cat. 

Celebrating: Valentine's Day! 

Shopping for: I need to buy an external hard drive. 

Learning: I've been learning a lot about people lately. I was reading up on Julia Child's life, I've been watching The Book of Negroes and learning about people in that time period.  

Talking About: A lot of camp related stuff. 

Praying: More than anything I've been praying for peace and calmness in my life and in the lives of those around me. 

Working on: Doing more praying, noticing & appreciating the peaceful moments. 

Looking forward to: Summer!