Epiphany Friday Favourites

It's been an odd start to the year, but I think things are (finally) headed in a good direction!

{one}

I'm going to be a little 'cryptic blogger' right now because even though I've tentatively started wandering down another path I'm not sure how it will all play out. I do know that even if it's not at all what I had in mind six months ago it feels right. And yesterday I came across this verse which kind of gave me goosebumps.

{two}

I bought Savor last year but it was March by the time it arrived and even though I would occasionally read a few pages here and there I never made a habit of it. This year I got to start from the beginning on January 1st and it's become one of my favourite parts of the day. 

{three}

Over the course of the last week I've lost track of how many eagles I've seen. During my drive home from H. & R. on Monday I spotted at least six (maybe two more but they also might have been seagulls) and yesterday I saw another one while I was driving. Eagles aren't necessarily a rare sighting around here, but close to a dozen in one week is out of the ordinary. Since one of my intentions for 2017 was to listen to the universe I'm going to go ahead and be encouraged that eagle sightings are often interpreted as a sign of new beginnings, stamina and courage. 

{four}

Monday R. & I went on an adventure and checked out a local bird sanctuary that I sort of knew existed but have never actually investigated. Turns out there are all kinds of hiking trails, friendly chickadees that will eat from your hand and so many squirrels. At one point I was standing on the trail and there were eight squirrels surrounding me. It was magical. I felt like a Disney princess.

{five}

I got the last of my 2016 photos printed yesterday so I'm excited to spend the weekend adding the final few pages to my Project Life album and getting started on 2017. I love that I've found a memory keeping system that works for me. When I counted a few weeks ago I had close to 100 completed pages! Do you know how many pages I have completed for 2015? None. I have one large Smashbook  from the summer but that's it. I don't think I'll ever be a retro-active scrapbooker but I'm happy that I have a system moving forward!

The Hard Times Put The Shine Into The Diamond

Towards the end of 2015 I declared that my word for 2016 would be RISE. I was all gungho to participate in Ali Edward's One Little Word prompts and spend the entire year rising. I wrote out specific ways I wanted to rise during the during and how I would incorporate the word into every aspect of my life. I wanted to focus on being more successful and more confident. Connecting with nature and rising above. That was in January. Eleven months later I'm starting to find the humour that the vast majority of the rising I did this year was not really about success... 

In the beginning the two things that kept reappearing as I searched for quotes that contained the word rise were this quote:

"Don't carry your mistakes around with you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as stepping stones to rise above them. Never regret, if it's good it's wonderful, if it's bad it's experience." 

And the song 'Riser' by Dierks Bentley neither of which was what I was looking for, but they kept coming up over and over again. At one point Riser was playing on the radio every time I got into the car. The quote that I officially picked was "If you're going to rise you might as well shine" which my mind had interpreted as "If you're going to get up in the morning you might as well be confident, talented and noticeable." 

It's only in the past few weeks that I've started to accept that Rise did not play out the way I wanted, but the universe was trying to manage my expectations from the very beginning, I just chose to ignore them. I envisioned climbing a staircase, easy and intuitive. Instead, I built the staircase...and I will be the first to tell you that carpentry is not my strength (or of any particular interest). 

The opposite of rise is descend and although rising didn't look the way I wanted it to I don't think I did much descending this year either. 

This year rising looked like birds...

And radishes...

Not a staircase in sight. And maybe it would have been nice to know that a year ago I like to believe that there's a reason I didn't. Things aren't as intuitive or straightforward as I imagined but I chose the word rise for a reason and I'm glad that I did, even if I didn't know what I was getting myself into. 

Linking up with Alyssa's Back to Blogging Non-Challenge//One Thing About Today You Wish You Knew A Year Ago.

Adventures in the Big City

Last Wednesday I finished work at the office job, headed home for a quick nap and then hopped on a plane to Ontario to visit H.. When we first started planning this trip we were hoping for a week long adventure but in the end our schedules only allowed for a quick Thursday - Monday visit. We crammed all the tourist highlights, lots of good food, hours of life chats, multiple glasses of wine and sangria and it was the perfect little getaway to transition from office life into part-time vacation mode before camp. 

I landed in Toronto at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning and after a quick pitstop at H.'s to change out of airplane clothes we headed for Niagra Falls. We didn't stay long because the weather was cold, rainy and foggy. We hung out long enough to be impressed by both the falls and the amount of selfie sticks. So.many.selfiesticks. 

We called it a night early on Thursday because Friday we had big plans to hit up the Toronto Zoo and visit the twin panda cubs that were born a few months ago! It ended up being an awesome day at the zoo because it wasn't at all crowded and even though it was a little chilly it was perfect weather for walking and getting to enjoy everything opposed to thinking about how uncomfortably warm it was. In addition to the baby pandas we saw their parents and I think I could have spent all day just at the panda exhibit. I wish I looked that cute laying around all day eating. I could also spend all day watching meerkats, back in university I binge watched Meerkat Manor and ever since then I have been fascinated with those little critters. We also got to see the gorillas, which I've recently become more interested in after watching a lot of documentaries about the gorilla conservation efforts. 

Saturday we were up bright and early to spend the whole day in Toronto. We purchased City Passes, which gave us admission to almost all of the main tourist attractions in the area, we saved a lot of money and at a few places we got to skip the lines because we had already purchased our tickets! We headed to the Royal Ontario Museum and prioritized what we wanted to see, we easily could have spent the whole day there but we were kind of on a tight schedule. We checked out the dinosaurs, the Canadian history section, Chinese Architecture, Ancient Egypt, quick tours of the mammal displays and a few smaller exhibits. It was the first time I had seen dinosaur displays in person so that was really cool and the history geek in me was overly excited about all of the Canadian History stuff. 

From the ROM we headed back through the city with a pitstop for Poutine and another in front of the Toronto sign so we could take a selfie for National Wear Your Camp T-Shirt Day. Did I mention we spent the entire day roaming the streets of Toronto and all of the attractions wearing matching shirts so we could have photo ops? Because we totally did. And that's why we're besties. 

We went to the top of the CN Tower where I confirmed my theory that I did not want to ever live in a big city and then headed next door to the aquarium. The aquarium was a little bit of a hilarious experience for this east coast girl who grew up on the ocean. When we first walked in there was a big crowd around one particular tank so I got really excited thinking it was something really exotic....turns out it was a tank of halibut. I laughed a lot and then took a discrete photo of the hoard of people admiring fish that I have seen my entire life. It's the little things in life you never really think about being different from place to place. There were lots of other cool marine life, we were able to spot a turtle in the biggest display of fish, and turtles are always a highlight. They had several tanks full of jellyfish that were completely hypnotic. I kind of felt like sitting right there and spending hours watching them float around. 

By the time we got back to the apartment each day were were more or less exhausted and didn't have any interest in changing clothes and heading back out to supper. Which was just fine but us and it meant we got to spend time cooking and eat supper with H.'s boyfriend while telling him all about our days adventures. He only judged us a little bit for our matching outfits. We did eat out a few times  including amazing sweet potato pizza that sounds weird but was delicious. 

It was hard to say goodbye Monday evening, but hopefully it won't be too much longer until we see each other again.

Ten on Tuesday: Things I Like Learning About

I genuinely enjoy learning. Maybe that makes me nerdy, maybe that means I'll will never be diagnosed with dementia, maybe that makes me weird and maybe I don't find any of those consequences particularly motivating. Learning is just something that makes me happy. I don't like learning about just anything though. You won't ever find me reading up on complicated math formulas or surgical procedures but my interests can definitely be summed up in a top ten list, which leads me to this week's edition of Ten on Tuesday...

Things I Like Learning About

1. Countries & Cultures. Specific shoutouts to Nepal, Cambodia, Northern Canada, Norway and Russia.

2. History Mysteries. Roanoke, Franklin Expedition, The Mary Celeste, Dyatlov Pass Incident, Oak Island...It's all fascinating in my book.

3. Disability. I'm always interested in reading up on the newest therapies and I love seeing cool things people are doing to make the world a more inclusive and accessible place.

4. Food. Beyond learning new recipes I like the history of food, why certain foods are eaten (or not eaten), how food travels from one place to another, farming, access to food.

5. People. This is maybe one of the reasons I enjoy blogging. I genuinely like learning about people. It relates a little to the countries & cultures thing but on a more personal level. I love reading day in the life posts and currently posts. I'm always curious about how people live their day to day lives.

6. Animals. Currently I'm into sled dogs.

7. Marketing/Advertising. This is kind of intertwined with food because food packaging fascinates me.

8. Religion. This could, in theory get lumped into countries/cultures because often so much of a person's culture is related to their religion.

9. Adoption. Ever since I read about Karen's adopted sister from Vietnam in the Baby Sitter's Club Little Sister books I've been fascinated by the idea. I'm always curious to read adoption stories, books on adoption and watch documentaries.

10. Socio-Economics. The ties in to a lot of different topics I've already mentioned but I think it also deserves it's on category. Inequality plays such a huge role in society and I find it interesting to read about why things are the way they are and how they can be changed.

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! 

Three Things of Friday

This week felt LONG.

There were a lot of bright spots though so let's celebrate some of them.

{one}

Groundhog Day! I love a day dedicated to celebrating little critters. Especially when it's little critters who are supposed to be forecasting the weather. And the official groundhog for my area predicted an early spring, which is an added bonus. The groundhogs above are the ones that live at camp, not the the ones responsible for predicting the weather around here.

{two}

I broke down and ordered Savor, it should be here by next week! It's been on my radar for awhile but I wasn't completely sure I wanted to invest. After reading through a ton of reviews on Goodreads and seeing that it was on sale for $15 online I went ahead and ordered. According to online tracker it should be here by the end of next week.

{three}
I keep forgetting that it's Super Bowl weekend. I can honestly say I have never watched a football game, I've seen glimpses on highlight reels and occasionally J. will turn the game on when we're together but I can handle it for about five minutes before I demand we find something else to watch. I can appreciate the snacks though...if someone wants to invite me over to spend six hours eating various dips and appetizers I can totally get on board.

I really thought I had more than three things to say about this week, but I'm drawing a blank. And I really need to eat some breakfast. Maybe next week my blog game will improve.

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! 

What I Did This Summer

I had nobel plans of blogging on a regular basis this summer but the reality of blogging without a reliable internet connection is a few posts a month. The Blogging Elite is hosting an August Adventures link up today, which is the perfect chance for me to share a sort of summer recap. 

What I read this summer...

I didn't read as many books as I would have liked, it averages out to a book a month, which is pretty disappointing. Especially considering Grace's Guide was a really easy read and I skipped one or two of the chapters because they really didn't appeal to me or apply to my lifestyle.  The Poisonwood Bible was a re-read. It's one of my favourite books and I like to re-read it every few years because there's always new details I pick up on and as I age I find myself relating differently to the characters. I finally got to read Wonder and came away with a lot of mixed feelings. There were parts of it that were wonderfully written and other parts that really made me cringe. Similarly, Say What You Will (not pictured) which I was totally in love with for 80% of the book but didn't care much for the eventual plot twist. The best book I read this summer was Call the Midwife I am eager to get my hands on the other two books in the trilogy after reading the first one. I loved that it was really easy to read a chapter or two at a time and the stories were a great mix of joyful and sad.

What I ate this summer...

I've never been a big breakfast person but this summer some of my favourite memories revolve around shared breakfasts. N. and I spent a lot of time at her cottage during break and cooking breakfast each morning while we watched Canada AM and got caught up on the outside world became a ritual. Breakfast always involved bacon, hash browns and coffee. When we didn't make our own breakfast we ventured into town and ate at the local breakfast/lunch spot. When we were in the city one break I had the most delicious Pink Lemonade drink on a patio. I love how many new restaurants I tried this summer! And when there's no restaurant in sight pizza and pop at the picnic table can make for a delightful dining experience. 

What I saw this summer...

I saw countless amazing sunsets and blue skies. I spent days sitting in the sand and being surrounded by water. I hung out with adorable duckings at the near by park and watched a guinea pig family at the zoo. I watched campfire flames and roasted marshmallows with friends. 

How I felt this summer...

This summer ran the full gauntlet of human emotions. I was challenged by difficult situations and felt scared, worried, frustrated, angry, sad, relieved and happy. Taking a step back from it all I am grateful. The challenges taught me a lot about how to deal with professional/work related issues and improved my problem solving speed. I got to spend two months with my best friends. I worked with some fantastic human beings. I won't say I loved every minute of my summer but I can say that I found something to appreciate during every moment of the chaos. 

Chicken Strips & Groundhogs

{one}

There's a family of groundhogs that live at camp and we hadn't seen them this year, presumably because there's been a lot of construction happening after the winter. During break though I was strolling around camp with my camera when I accidentally stumbled upon the happy family. I spent well over an hour quietly observing and taking some family photos of Mama Groundhog and her six littles. Sitting outside and watching animals go about their business is one of the most relaxing things for me. Especially if I happen to have my camera and can take photos. It's occurred to me that I would love to be a wildlife photographer. Although I have no idea how to go about that. And I'm pretty happy with my current job. 

{two}

I love cooking and making balanced meals. I am also a connoisseur of chicken strips. Go ahead and judge me. Tuesday I went into town to pick up a few groceries and decided to grab some chicken strips from the deli counter to have for supper that night and lunch the next day. When the lady at the counter took my order for 8 chicken strips she was kind enough to inform me that the special for the day was 10 strips and medium wedges. So for an extra $2 I could get two more strips plus wedges. I thanked her for letting me know and said I'd take the special. As she handed me the box she let me know that she threw in some extra strips because they were only small. She was pretty much my favourite lady for the rest of the day. And I got 3 meals of chicken strips instead of two (don't judge).

{three}

Today's Friday Favourites post marks 300 published blog entries! I don't have any deep thoughts or reflections on the matter, just seems like something that should be acknowledged!

{four}

Via

I love lime all year round. Summer makes me love it a little extra though. Slices of fresh lime in ice water, lime flavoured popsicles, Pepsi with lime, coconut lime drinks. Everything lime, all the time. Plus, it's a pretty colour!


{five}

Last, but not least, the mandatory sunset image of the week.

 

Bumble Bee Philosophy

Saturday afternoon I spent some time hanging out with myself and my camera. As I sat on the picnic table with my camera hoping to catch a glimpse of the family of groundhogs that like to hang around our property I noticed a bumble bee zig zagging between the random wild flowers.

I started clicking away trying to capture the impressive balance  of purpose, busyness, beauty and calm the little bee displayed as it when about it's business. My attempts to capture the bee were largely unsuccessful. And now taking the 'perfect' bumble bee picture has somehow crept into my summer to-do list.

I've always appreciated bees. Maybe it stems from a childhood love of Winne-the-Pooh or maybe it's got more to do with their contrasting bright yellow and black shapes. Whatever the case may be seeing one buzzing by doing it's thing makes me really happy. I was googling suggestions on how exactly to photograph bees and I came across this quote:

Pinterest

An instant new favourite as far as I'm concerned. Camp is a collective of small teaspoons. All mixed together to form something big. And sometimes when the 1/12 of a teaspoon is emptying a garbage can, cleaning spilled paint off the floor or cutting out 45 construction paper stars so that every camper goes home with an award it doesn't feel like you're doing much. I fully intend on writing that quote on a post it and putting it where I can see it everyday this summer. 

I thought this quote made a good point too, especially in the midst of making time for me this summer and practicing good self care. Spending my time wisely and being busy for the right reasons. 

 

Pinterest

That's my bumble bee philosophy for the day. And odds are it will probably be a reoccurring theme for the summer. 

Favourite Florida Photos

It's going to be a post of few words around these parts today. Yesterday I wrote about my Florida vacation and today I just wanted to share five of my favourite photos from the trip. I didn't take an abundance of photos. Partly because we did a lot of relaxing and I didn't feel compelled to document me reading a book by the pool and partly because I really tried to focus on enjoying the experience and not getting the best shot. I've recently realized I absolutely love wildlife/animal photography. Busch Gardens was the highlight of my trip and a contributing factor to that is certainly because that's where I got to take the most photos. 

{one}

This meerkat was bopping around with a flower on it's head. I'm choosing to believe that it was on purpose. A little flower tucked behind her ear as a little pick me up because who doesn't feel extra fabulous with a flower (or bow) in their hair!? I love meerkats regardless of their accessories and this one was just the best. I could have happily stayed next to the meerkat display for the entire 8 hours we were at the park!

{two}

Apes and Monkeys are high on my favourite animal list but this Mama and Baby Gorilla kind of stole my heart. It was so sweet to watch them interact and to watch the little one explore its surroundings.

{three}

I don't share a lot of photos of me on the blog and as a rule I avoid posting photos of others without their permission but I'm sharing this one because it makes me happy. Without getting into a super mushy aside about blown away I am that I found myself on vacation with a fabulous boyfriend I'll just say that this guy makes me happy. I'm so thankful our paths crossed (in the most unexpected of ways)!

{four}

I'm not sure why I like this photo so much. Tigers aren't top of my favourite animal list and there's nothing particularly extraordinary about this photo but I really like it so I'm going with the flow. 

{five}

I really like turtles. One of my favourite parts about Florida was that there are turtles everywhere! I didn't go a single day without seeing multiple turtles. I thought this guy was hilarious. After a very long winter I sort of felt the same way as this fellow when I reached the Florida sun. Stretched out as much as possible to soak up maximum sunshine!

I'm a little bit stunned over the fact April is gone! I swear I blinked and now it's May, which means my pre-camp to do list needs to be tackled. I'm excited about by May goals though (check back early next week) and I'm going to continue to enjoy this mini-vacation until camp is in full swing! 

Stuff & Things: Florida Edition

For ten hot seconds I had elaborate plans for a lengthy vacation recap post full of giant high resolution photos a detailed itinerary of each day and overflowing with "must sees" and "must dos". And then I realized that sounded like a huge chore and something I didn't actually want to spend hours doing. So instead here's some Stuff & Things I ate, did and saw during my time in Florida!

What I Ate

Photos taken from company/brand websites

Publix Chicken, Cinnamon Swirl Bread (Toasted for Breakfast), Peanut Butter Cup Oreos (Plus a bag to take home and share with H. & R. when we reunite!), Dunkin' Donuts Coffee, Applebee's Four Cheese Mac & Cheese with Honey Pepper Chicken. 

I'm aware of how super nerdy it sounds but a visit to the grocery store was so much fun. The food lover in me was fascinated seeing all the different things that just aren't available in Canada. I had that Cinnamon Swirl bread toasted almost every day for breakfast. And we ate Publix chicken no fewer than four times over the course of 10 days. I didn't make it to Chick-Fil-A but there's always next time!

What I Did

I spent a lot of time by the pool at the condo reading and lots of time in the pool. The highlight of my trip was probably the day we spent at Busch Gardens! I know there's a lot of controversy around SeaWorld, however there are two sides to every story and I'd never been before. I'm glad I went and experienced the park for myself. Plus, we got an awesome package deal on tickets to Busch Gardens and SeaWorld buying things online definitely pays off. I also spent a lot of time at Siesta Key Beach after a very long winter it was lovely to feel sand between my toes again!

What I Saw

Alligators, Palm Trees & Turtles! I love animals and spending time in a place where it's perfectly normal to see turtles every time you leave the house and spot alligators hanging out in people's backyards was super cool. I'd also never seen palm trees before so I happen to think they're pretty cool as well!

I didn't take as many photos as I had planned. I was nervous about getting my camera wet or full of sand when we were at the beach. And I really wanted to experience things more than I wanted to make sure I had photographic evidence I was there. I did snap a few photos (mostly of the animals at Busch Gardens) and I'll be sharing my Favourite Five tomorrow on the blog!

Spring Weekend

I got a new lens for Christmas but between work and weather I really haven't had a chance to put it to use. Saturday was the first full day of spring, but you'd never guess it was March based on the photos. Everything is covered in snow and the sky was grey never the less it felt good to spend the day outside.

I found it interesting that this sea gull was so inclined to sit on top of the pile of snow and ice rather than the rocks. I took it to mean seagulls don't get cold feet? 

I don't like snow. There is something kind of magical about foot (or paw) prints in fresh snow.

I'm not sure what kind of birds these are, ones that don't mind cold ocean water. I really appreciated that they organized themselves in a pattern. And then I thought maybe they were out on a double date. And then I decided I should stop thinking about the courting rituals of birds.

Last year around this time I went through a phase where I was really big on the colour purple. This year I have similar feelings towards orange. The orange bouys against the white snow made me pretty happy. 

I took a lot more photos of my grandfather's boat and more identifying scenery that I'm not willing to post online, when all was said and done I snapped close to 200 photos. It served as a great reminder how much I enjoy taking photos. And it's a hobby I need to make more time for on a regular basis. 

My goal for the week is to take more photos, follow some prompts on instagram, experiment with some tutorials on Pinterest and exercise some old fashion trail and error. 

Linking up here & here!

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!