Florida Vacation Highlights

I'll preface this whole post by saying that I am a full on Disney convert and totally plan on doing a full out Disney vacation at some point in the future. I was skeptical about the whole thing because I don't enjoy rides or huge crowds. This trip to Florida wasn't intended to be a Disney trip but since we were staying in Orlando we decided to visit two of the parks. Next time I do Disney I'll go full Disney vacation, staying at one of the resorts and visit all of the parks. 

This time we spent a day at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom and made multiple trips to Downtown Disney  Disney Springs. The highlight of the whole thing was that I got to meet Meeko! I love Pocahontas and Meeko is my favourite is my favourite character. Prior to Disney I did a ridiculous amount of research and the consensus was that aside from Pocahontas the other two characters from the movie (Meeko and Radcliffe) are extremely rare and aren't usually spotted around the parks. So I was shocked when after being in EPCOT for all of fifteen minutes J. turned to me and said "It's that Meeko? That looks like a giant raccoon." I was mid-way through replying "Probably not." when I looked over and sure enough there was Meeko hanging out at the Character Spot. I waited in line for thirty seconds and then got his autograph and took some photos and the five year old inside of me was the happiest. Unfortunately the photos didn't turn out the greatest (I blame the way the sun was shining) but they're good enough and it was a phenomenally great moment. 

I really enjoyed EPCOT and thought the mini train tracks were the cutest. I especially enjoyed the little gecko who was hanging out on the roof of one of the houses. I was a little let down by Animal Kingdom but it was partly because a lot of it was closed for renovations, which is clearly a downside to visiting during the off season. The Lion King show was wonderful though and I'd like to go again and be able to experience the whole place. One of the most fun things we did was go on a mini date one afternoon at Disney Springs. We went bowling and I'd highly recommend it as a fun, low key and affordable Disney date. We also don't have a bowling alley around here so it was extra fun. 

Aside from meeting Meeko the food was probably the highlight of the whole trip. I finally got to try Chick-Fil-A!! It was everything I dreamed of and may or may not have had it three times over the course of our ten day trip. I also tried Panera Bread and was pretty impressed with the wonton soup thing that I ordered. I also got my fill of  Vanilla Coke and tried Vanilla Pepsi during the trip. And it wouldn't be a trip without the obligatory Starbucks in the airport photo. 

We didn't have great weather while we were there, but it was still nice to get away from the snow happening at home. We missed one full storm and half of another.  It was a little less relaxing because it didn't involve any poolside reading but it was fun to do a little extra sightseeing. 

On our way back we hit some bad weather and ended up stranded in Ottawa for the night. At that point I was totally done with travelling and really just wanted to get home. We got a hotel room for the night, ordered pizza and watched Oak Island. The next day we headed to the airport and ended up delayed again. When all was said and done we got home a full 24 hours later than planned which made this week much more hectic than I was anticipating. 

When all was said and done it was a good trip and I was really happy to get home.

2015 Loose Ends

I fully intended on blogging between Christmas and New Years but obviously that didn't work out. Before the clock strikes 12 and everything switches to new years goals and resolutions I did want to post about Christmas and tie up a few loose ends before I jump into 2016.

My Christmas first started when Alex's package showed up! Alex blogs over at Whitehall & Rose and we were paired together for the Blogging Elite's Christmas Cheer Swap. I had the best time exchanging e-mails, reading her blog, following her on social media and getting to know her during the month leading up to the swap. Alex put together an awesome box and included scrapbook paper, stickers, an alpha stamp set, pretty metallic markers and two of my favourite treats - Reese and dark chocolate. Plus an adorable card. I can't say enough wonderful things about Alex. It was probably the easiest swap I've ever participated in and I really wish we were closer and could arrange an awesome blogger date! 

Christmas Eve afternoon J. and I had our own unconventional but awesome Christmas. 

Originally the plan was to go out for lunch when he finished work and then go back to his house to exchange presents. He ended up working a little later than anticipated and town was absolutely crazy by the time he was finished. We opted for McDonald's take out back to his house and a fast food lunch before presents. It wasn't the least bit fancy but I kind of love it. I'm positive that McDonald's lunch on Christmas Eve will not become a forever tradition but in this moment, when it's just the two of us it felt fitting. And knowing that I want to focus on documenting the everyday moments during 2016 this felt like a good start. Anyway, after we had finished our fries we got to presents. We had already determined that Christmas would be small since we're going away next month so I was pretty darn surprised when I opened my FitBit. Thankfully J. was equally as happy with the somewhat random assortment of stocking stuffers and gifts I had compiled. Shortly after gifts we went out separate ways to spend Christmas Eve night with our respective families. I headed to church and my aunts and was happily in bed by 11 p.m..

Christmas morning we opened our gifts, Peyton had the time of her life playing with wrapping paper, jumping in and out of boxes and bags and generally causing as much havoc as possible. We had Christmas dinner with my Dad's side of the family and then visited with my Mom's side. On Boxing Day (which I've only recently learned is mostly a thing in Canada and the U.K. and not so much anywhere else) I woke up bright an early and headed to the city to be reunited with H. & R.!

As per usual our time together included wine, Twisted Teas, hot tubbing, shopping (purchasing matching t-shirts) and a snow storm. My drive home on Monday was pretty sketchy but it was worth the time we got to spend together. 

Since I got home I've been visiting relatives, colouring in my adult colouring book, organizing my supplies to tackle both Project Life and One Little Word in 2016 and squeezing in time to stay caught up with The Curse of Oak Island and Top Chef!

I don't have any big plans for New Year's Eve. J. and I are going to make supper at his house (or go to his parents for Chinese that part is to be determined) and then spend the evening watching Harry Potter movies (we started the first one last night after homemade pizza) and playing boardgames. There is a supposed to be a fireworks display in town at midnight so we might check that out but it really depends on the weather. I have no interest in being outside in the cold for hours, especially in the snow. 

Midweek Menagerie

I've had an unexpectedly long to do list this week but most of the things on my list have been fun things or at least things I want to remember so today's post is going to contain a whole lot of seemingly unrelated things, a "menagerie" if you will. Fun fact: menagerie is my third favourite word.

I'm a bit of a Halloween grinch. I hate anything gruesome or violent and as a general rule I don't like being scared. I do like pumpkins and candy though so I tolerate the "holiday". I planned to spend Halloween helping J. pass out treats at his house. Now, before I tell you my tales of Halloween it's important to note that J. and I are complete opposites in a lot of ways and the story of our first Halloween together really demonstrates that fact. I had made treat bags for my parents' house Monday and they were all organized and ready to go in our spare bedroom. Saturday afternoon at 3:30 as I was leaving my house J. messaged me to say he was busy at work and asked if I could stop and pick up Halloween treats for the trick or treaters on my way to his house. I was not impressed. And so I found myself at the grocery store in search for Halloween treats at 4:00 p.m., exactly an hour before trick-or-treating started. This is not the way I live my life. I managed to find some candy and hurriedly put it into treat bags just as the first tiny jedis came to the door. 

And then I experienced my first city Halloween! It was weird. I'm from the country and around here the houses are far apart and there's no sidewalks so parents drive kids from house to house and since there aren't all that many kids you pretty much get a treat bag at every house containing a can of pop, a bag of chips and a handful of candy. I looked out J.'s front window at 5:15 and there were just kids everywhere walking up and down the street. When all was said and done there were 60 trick or treaters (which apparently is pretty low)...J.'s parents live in a newer subdivision and they had close to 100. It's a big year when we hit 25 trick or treaters and my parents'....and 75% of those kids are cousins. We spent the rest of the evening eating wings and watching hockey while I recovered from the Halloween hoopla. 

Yesterday was J.'s birthday so we had dinner at Swiss Chalet with his parents and then we had cupcakes back at his house. The cupcakes were a bit of an afterthought but he assures me it was a good birthday regardless. I've been working on finishing my summer smashbook and realized I am pretty satisfied with the way it's turned out. I made more of an effort to add journalling beside all those photos and it was the perfect way to incorporate Project Life cards and since I used cards from one kit it helped make the whole thing flow together. 

Today everything on my to do list can be done wearing yoga pants which is really the best kind of to do list. Going out into the world basically means being bombarded with Christmas and I think one of my biggest pet peeves in life is Christmas decorations in November. Christmas belongs in a box until December 1st, unless you're doing some advanced Christmas shopping and even then I'd argue shopping for a gift does not have to involve Christmas carols blaring form store speakers. I'll stop myself now because I know I'm in the Christmas minority on the subject.

So with that I'm off to make a cup of tea and settle in for a productive afternoon of Spark planning and catching up on shows. 

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?

Hello, Friday Favourites!

I was going to take the day off today but then yesterday I saw that Oh, Hey Friday had a new button that I am totally in love with and really wanted to use and so a post was born. 

So that brings me to my first favourite of the week:

The paisley and the colours...the best. Tied into this favourite is the fact that I'm writing this blog post because I genuinely want to and not because I am consumed with guilt and determination to blog a bunch of times in one month. 

My second favourite this week...

J. came home from Florida and brought me my beloved Vanilla Coke (some of which he put in his fridge for me so it would be cold when I went over last night) and a super cute bag. I told him numerous times I would have been perfectly happy with just the coke but his extra thoughtfulness is also appreciated. Last night we had pizza and garlic fingers then went for ice cream and watched some Jon Oliver. Definitely a low key night but a great way to spend a Thursday evening.

My third favourite this week...

Wednesday I went to a local farmer's market and I bought this amazing cupcake. It was a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting. My mouth is watering just thinking about the icing. Seriously, it was the most delicious dessert I've ever tasted. I would eat it by the spoonful if possible. I need to stop thinking about it now because I'm just making myself sad that I don't have another one to eat right now.

My fourth favourite this week....

Tuesday I spent the day at my grandparent's house and took a bunch of photos. There's something magical and therapeutic about adventuring with my camera. I looked into taking a photography class this fall but it's on Saturdays and I've already committed myself to some Guiding events so I know I'd have to miss classes and it just doesn't seem logical to sign up when I know I'll miss classes. I'm hoping that they'll offer it again in the winter because I'd love to learn more about my camera in a more interactive way. Pinterest and photography blogs are great, they're just not the same as an actual class.

My fifth favourite thing this week...

Pinterest

I love summer. September is stressful and a huge transition month, but October...October I can get on board with. The leaves are pretty and I do enjoy sweaters and boots. And hot drinks and loads of fresh vegetables. I like Octobers. This year I'm hoping to make a trip to the pumpkin patch with J. and do lots of hiking and camera adventures in the midst of all the fall leaves. 

Coffee Chat June 2015

I've been trying really hard not to drink coffee on an empty stomach and to sort of limit my carb intake. So if we're going to have coffee first thing in the morning chances are I'd also have some vanilla yogurt along with mine. 

The first thing we'd talk about is how camp is going. I'd sigh and respond that it's going well although I often feel like there aren't enough hours in the day. I might confide in you that it's near impossible to find time to talk to J. before 11:00 p.m. each night and by that point I'm practically falling asleep. These long distance relationship type situations are hard work. It is without a doubt worth the effort, but I'll be relieved when it's over. I'd ask about your experience with long distance relationships and hope that you might have some words of wisdom or advice to offer.

I'd tell you that I recently discovered a Vanilla Carmel flavoured creamer and it's been making my coffee extra delicious. I never use creamer at home but camp coffee needs a little extra boost. I know it's not a great choice health wise, but I think we all deserve an indulgence here and there. I choose to make mine Vanilla Carmel Creamer. And also thick cut, rippled, plain potato chips. What have you been indulging in recently? Or will your answers only make me want to rush to the nearest grocery store for more treats opposed to veggies?

If you're a regular blog reader you might ask how my summer goals are going. I'd be honest and tell you I was off to a really great start and then things quickly spiralled downwards. I haven't totally abandoned the blog and I've been getting to bed a little earlier than previous summers, plus most nights I read for at least 10-15 minutes right before bed. Lately though I've lost track of the Fringe Hours. I find myself acknowledging the fact I would love to spend 10 minutes taking photos of an amazing sunset and then hurrying away to fold laundry or prepare evening snack. I'm hopeful that this is the week I reclaim those minutes and use them for me instead of always prioritizing work.

I might share with you that my biggest, boldest, scariest and sincerest prayer right now is to find a full time position with a summer camp ministry near my hometown beginning this fall. I know it's a lot to request and in many ways it seems almost impossible, but I know that God can do the impossible. So I'm continuing to pray. I'm praying that specific prayer but also that God will lead me to the place He wants/needs me to be and that I can continue to trust Him. 

Even though I'd love to chat well into the afternoon or late into the night this month I probably only have time for one cup of coffee. Here's hoping that next month I'll be able to suggest a refill so we can discuss a few other things that have been on my mind lately. 

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! 

Show & Tell Tuesday {Love Story}

Sticking with the spirit of Valentine's Day I'm linking up with Momfessionals today for Show & Tell Tuesday to share my love story. I'll preface this post by saying J. and I have been "official" for a little over than 3 months. We went on a few dates prior to being in a relationship which brings us up to about 4.5 months and we've been working together since October. All that to say our love story is still in the beginning chapters. I think it's still worth documenting though, we've still got a lot of dating ahead of us before any sort of engagement or wedding chapter is written but I thought I'd share the story of how we started dating, especially since it was during a blogging break.

Via

When I started the job at my current office my expectation was I would have a steady job until spring and the contract would allow me to return to camp in the summer. I wasn't interested in making friends other than what I would describe as 'work aquaintences', my priority was to do my job and once the contract ended move on. Within the first few weeks the guy whose desk was diagonally across from mine would make casual conversation with me during our breaks. We discovered we had some mutual friends and we had actually gone to the same high school but neither of us remembered the other. That may not sound like a big deal, but our high school had about 900 students from grade 10-12, even if you didn't know everyone you at least recognized them. J. was in the grade ahead of me so we were in the same school for two years, but neither one of us have any recognition of the other during high school. 

He was very consistent with making conversation with me when he had the chance but I really wasn't interested in a relationship. There was nothing about him that really stood out to me, sure he was nice and seemed like he could be interested in me but again, I wasn't looking for a relationship. And if I was looking for a relationship it would be one that had long term potential. J. didn't necessarily strike me as someone who thought about long term relationships.

That changed when one day we were chatting during break, he asked about my favourite movies and the conversation progressed in a direction that lead to me asking him if he had a favourite Disney movie. His response will go down in history as "the moment I knew". He told me that he didn't really have one (my first thought = deal breaker) because he doesn't remember them very well. At which point I must have made a disapproving face because he elaborated. He refuses to re-watch the classic Disney movies from childhood because he was waiting until he had kids of his own. He wanted to be able to watch those movies with his kids because it (re-)watching for the first time would be more special and something to share opposed to showing a future child a movie he'd already watched a million times. 

I could have melted. It was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard someone say and of course I loved that he clearly thought about the future in a meaningful way. It wasn't until a week later that he asked for my number. We texted for another week or two continuing to get to know each other, as it turned out we had quite a few similar interests, beliefs and long term goals. He finally asked me on a date mid-Novemeber. Originally we had planned on going out to eat but the day didn't go quite as planned and we ended up hanging out at his place and watching 'Cops'. The next two weekends we went on "real dates". We had previously agreed that we enjoyed hanging out with each other but didn't want to start a relationship while we were stilly working together, luckily his contract ended in December and shortly after that he asked me to be his girlfriend. 

Maybe not the most romantic or extravagant meeting that's ever happened but its ours, and I'm kind of partial to it. Now head on over to Momfessionals and link up your own love story so I can read them while I sip my coffee on this cold winter day!