Happy Canada Day!

Be safe wherever you go to enjoy Canada's Birthday!



R & R was the mantra of my day which ended in watching Parliament's Fireworks on the 17th floor balcony (edited at about 10:30pm to post the fireworks):





























Until next time :)

Today - June 28, 2009

Outside my window... The rain is falling lightly on the earth.

I am thinking... that it is going to be a great week!

I am thankful for... a sweet man who loves me for me.

From the kitchen... yummy tomato & cheese sandwich with mayo as it's pretty hot outside.

I am wearing... a pretty dress, black and white print with a scallop sort of bottom

I am creating... an entry in my art journal

I am going... to go to bed soon so when 5am comes I'll be ready to crawl out of bed.

I am reading... My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

I am hoping... to be able to fit in both a free Stevie Wonder concert at Jazz Fest in Montreal June 30th and a free concert on Parliament Hill on Canada Day where Sarah Mclachlan will be performing!

I am hearing... The humming of the portable fan, Not My Time by 3 Doors Down on my laptop

Around the house... Dishes to do, lunch to make for work tomorrow, a warm bed I want to climb into... soon.

One of my favorite things... photography!





















Until next time :)

And I thought I loved you then o/`

Love the new song on the radio from Brad Paisley's upcoming album - American Saturday Night being released on June 30th, 2009.

I will always deny being a country music fan, but my parents always played it and it is still the main station in my mom's van. Hank Williams Jr., Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, George Strait, Martina McBride, Kenny Rogers, Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn are just a few of many artists my parents listened to at home.

I must have mellowed in my older years because although it's not the main station I listen to, I have it programmed too. I guess it's hard not to be influenced by a music genre when you've been listening to it since you've been a little girl.

So I must admit, I was not surprised how much I love Brad Paisley's new song: Then. I guess what surprised me was how much it reminds me of my relationship.

Every time I hear this song, the lyrics make me think of the man I love and how I know I am lucky to be loved like this. I hope he always knows how lucky I feel to have him in my life, how much he means to me and that every moment we spend together is so special.

Then By Brad Paisley

I remember trying not to stare
The night that I first met you,
You had me mesmerized,
And three weeks later,
In the front porch light,
Taking 45 minutes to kiss goodnight.
I hadn't told you then,
That I thought I loved you then

And now you're my whole life,
And now you're my whole world,
And I just can't believe the way I feel about you girl,
Like a river needs the sea, stronger than it's ever been,
We've come so far since that day,
And I thought I loved you then

And I remember taking you back to right where I first met you,
You were so surprised.
There were people around, but I didn't care,
I got down on one knee right there,
And once again
I thought I loved you then

And now you're my whole life,
Now you're my whole world,
And I just can't believe the way I feel about you girl,
Like a river needs the sea, stronger than it's ever been,
We've come so far since that day,
And I thought I loved you then

I can just see you, with a baby on the way
I can just see you, when your hair is turning gray
What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more
But I've said that before

And now your my whole life
Now your my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you girl,
We'll look back someday at this moment that we're in
And I'll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then
And I thought I loved you then

Dreaming Of Far Away Places ~ Jamaica Day 1

So in May 2009, my sister and I took a week long vacation in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Her Husband is from Jamaica and has some family there who visited us during our stay. It was a fantastic vacation and has my wanderlust in full throttle as to where I could possibly go next.

I thought I'd post a few of the 1500 photos I took while there - yeah I know that's a crazy amount of photos, but I wanted to remember every moment. Also, I was taking photos for myself and my sister. No pressure in taking the photos of her husband's family to bring back home, thankfully he's liked my photos of their children at home.

The first day we relaxed once we finally made it to our destination, and let me tell you how glad I was to see my sister's name on a poster attached to our driver. Once we got to the apartment we were staying in and unpacked a bit, we enjoyed a lovely nap as it was soooo hot. Then our driver collected us to go grocery shopping at the Supermarket where we bought lots of liquids - water & juices, and a few staples like bread and coffee.

Some of the staples: Great Blue Mountain Coffee





















Last but not least in our food shopping for the day - we stopped to buy some fruits at the local market with our driver.





Our first dinner adventure was at the Pelican Grill:






















It looked pretty nice on the outside, a little upscale from the other restaurants we saw on the strip a few blocks away from our apartment complex. My sister ordered curried goat, I had chicken and rice & peas and we both had a drink to celebrate Mother's Day and our safe arrival in Jamaica. Dinner here was our first lesson in the laissez-faire attitude of the island - Soon Come - meaning things happen when they happen. Dinner tasted pretty good when it arrived.



My sister enjoyed the goat but the rice was a little dried out. My chicken was tender and yummy, but the rice & peas was different than the dish my sister's husband makes - I thought it was missing the coconut milk that he uses. Overall it was still a good meal, the drinks were pretty strong, and although it turned out to be a bit expensive it was a great end to a long day of travelling.






















Until next time :)

Try, try and try again...

So it's been a little while again...

Story of my life - I start a huge project as I get all inspired and in the beginning I get all swept up in the process of creating until life gets hectic and said project gets left by the wayside...

However, I loved the idea of a place to post my photos more and talk about them and the moments that make life precious, so I am going to do my best to post on a regular basis and we'll see how it goes.

In May I went to Jamaica with my sister for a week, it was a beautiful vacation where I took almost 1500 photos - a little crazy I know, but I wanted to capture the beauty of the island and all the moments of our trip that we enjoyed together.

This is the apartment we stayed in for the week. My sister's husband is from Jamaica and his 2 daughters who live in Mandeyville were joining us for a few days in Montego Bay. They were lovely, fun and so friendly to us; we couldn't have asked for better companions in part of our stay.



Until next time :)

The Sun Is Always There, Just Behind The Clouds...

I took this picture of the sun rising last Sunday, April 20th at 7:00am when we left home to start the drive to Toronto for a doctor's appointment I had on Monday. We picked up my mom in Kemptville and then started out on my journey.

It was a quick trip with us coming back Monday night, but was definitely worth the travelling. We were lucky and had beautiful weather and were lucky to stay with my aunt and uncle in Burlington overnight who we had not seen in some time so as well I got to enjoy their company the night before a stressful appointment with the surgeon to discuss gastric bypass surgery. We sat out on the patio, my uncle barbequed pork tenderloin and my aunt as always had made a lovely dinner for everyone.

The appointment went well, the wait was worthwhile as I am now on this waiting list for surgery and although I have many things to do before that, I am happy to hear that the wait is six to eight months and not one to three years like I had originally been told. I feel like things are finally going my way - my new government job begins in less than two weeks; I was so unsure about this appointment and it went well; and I still have an appoinment in June in Utica, New York to see about perhaps having surgery sooner, perhaps within a six to eight week period instead of months, but we'll see as I won't make my decision until I have all the information.

I feel as this sun is rising on a new day, that the better life I want for myself is within my grasp and the journey although long is very worthwhile.

Until next time :)

101 things in 1001 days

So I decided since I had really not accomplished enough on my list and that I had thrown the list together to get it up and running by January 1st, 2008 that I would amend the list a little and then start again on my birthday, April 18th, 2008.

I hope to update more about it, and actually be able to complete more now that the better weather is here. I really dislike that I was not able to get it done and need to start again, but better to try again then to completely abandon the list as a failure... besides I have completed a few of the items - went to a concert in February, try to laugh more, been trying to sort out my health more, going to my consult for wls on Monday, went to a support group for wls, use my flickr account more and so I will begin again and try to fulfill another goal - procrastinate less!

And so all my posts are not text only lately - a photo of my recently updated magnet inspiration board:


















Until next time :)

What goes up, must come down...

So I've been a little busy...

After having my contract extended twice at the company I was working for, the company was bought out and in the first 30 days they have made many, many employee changes - including not renewing any terms for contract employees. I had been told numerous times not to worry too much when the first talk of them being bought happened as my boss wanted to hire me permanently as soon as the circumstances allowed. Unfortunately, that never happened - might have been a good thing as knowing what one of my co-workers made, I doubt they would have offered me enough money to make it worthwhile...

I finished my last day Friday March 28th and advised the employment agency I was working through that I would again like to be on their available list. I started the job search Monday morning, hoping to find something more fulfilling and a bit better paid without having to work in a call centre. Most of my experiences in the last few years were in a call centre, and I am good with customers, but I did not want to do this again as I am tired of being chained to a desk, tethered by phone cord. I am going to miss the flexibility of my last contract and how it felt to be trusted to get my work done and not worry about when I took a break as long as the work got done... And the people were great too.

So my time since has been spent job searching, following up with the employment agency, helping with my nephew when his sister, my niece, goes to school every day and sorting out the doctor appointments needed to pursue my wls surgery journey.

In trying to take care of my health, I had an appointment with my sister's gynecologist; he was not taking new patients, but with my doctor's referral he did so as a favor to my sister as I have not been able to find one here in the city since I moved back. He was great, I was worried I wouldn't like him as I have usually had a female gynecologist; but he was really professional; friendly and straight up. He has referred me for an ultrasound and blood work and then we'll go from there... so I feel better about taking care of my inner workings and that it is another step in the right direction to a healthier me.

And then on the very same day, I had my appointment; I received some good news that afternoon... In October, I worked for a month as a clerk at Passport Canada in Gatineau before budget cuts ended our contract for about 60 employees. I really enjoyed the job, was good at it and worked independently, listening to my mp3 player. So I was a little upset when it ended so abruptly as I was hoping it would lead to longer employment and a way into other government jobs... Shortly after this ended, a close friend who works in HR in the government and is always keeping her eye out for available positions to send to people she knows, forwarded me an email letting me know that the Passport office was hiring again for 2 positions. I quickly applied and prayed that it would be my way back in. However, the government hiring process can take some time and since it was not the first government job I applied for, I wasn't holding my breath.

The website the government uses to post jobs and their status; kept postponing the results by a month every time I logged in... and then in March, the hiring process was put on hold indefinitely... So to say I was surprised when they called me on Thursday, would not be a strong enough word to describe the shock I was in when I was speaking to the agent from their office. I wrote everything down just so I would not think I was dreaming when I got off the phone.

Well after many hoops including an exam in early December that had me freaking out and a very thorough security check, I secured a year long contract with the Passport office starting May 5th. I am so excited about this, estatic might not even describe how happy I am to finally have made it through to the position since I have been on another government list for their pool of administrative candidates for almost 3 years without any headway.

And funnily enough, when it rains it pours as later that afternoon I not only received confirmation of a one day reception contract I fulfilled for 10 hours on Friday but as well was contacted about another job in a technical call centre...

Alright, well I'm off to do some errands and take care of my emissions test for my vehicle so I can renew the license plates before the end of the week...

Until next time :)

Beautiful Butterflies...

Recently Kay and I decided we wanted to try completing the Weekend Creative Prompt from Ali Edwards website to make a Spring Mobile. I asked Kay after looking at other photos of mobiles on Flickr what kind of mobile she would want to make, and she liked Ali's butterflies so much that she decided she would like to make a butterfly one as well.

So Friday night last week, I stopped at Michael's to pick up a dowel to hang the finished butterflies from, and some wooden butterflies. I was sure I had enough paints, sparkles and embellishments in my scrapbooking and craft supplies to finish the butterflies. I bought 8 butterflies but we only ended up using 6 and I think that will be more than enough to space across my bathroom window.

So Saturday afternoon, we decided to paint the butterflies. Kay decided on yellow, purple and blue, so I painted mine the same colors. We finished the painting the next day and then began to decorate the butterflies. We added stamps, glitter, sparkles and even mettalic daisies:

My first yellow butterfly - painted, then mod podged to hold the glitter sparkles on to the paint and then I added a daisy to give it some depth.














Kay's first buttefly - painted blue, then stamped with ink on star and heart foam stamps, then she added glitter and her own daisy.


















So even though I am not a great artist when it involves anything besides scrapbooking, I thought we did a great job, it makes me smile whenever I see it as it reminds me of the fun we had making it too.

Until next time :)

Oh What A Night!

Sean and I spent Valentine's together at a Blue Rodeo concert at Scotiabank Place. I was lucky enough to be one of the few people to respond to the email that went around offering free tickets to Blue Rodeo, I think it had to do with the fact that I responded a minute after it went out.

I only found out I got a pair on Monday morning after Sean had suggested alternate plans of dinner and a chick flick :) And then I lucked out some more in being the first one to pick up our tickets, so I also received a free parking pass in one of the closer lots to the building. This is key in not spending an hour afterwards getting out of the parking lots and onto the road for the drive home.

The music was great, I couldn't have asked for a better date night. Sean and I enjoy spending V-day together but don't always go all out for this crazy holiday, we're happy to take the time all year round to remember to show that we love and appreciate each other. Our tickets were for a box seat that the company I am on contract with holds jointly with 2 other companies. We had the 2 seats in the first row on the right of the box, it was cozy and a pretty good angle to the stage. I think if we were on the other side of the box we would not have been able to see as much. The box was in the 100 level, so it was a great location.

The opening act, Cuff the Duke, was not a band I've ever heard of and as I was anxious to hear Blue Rodeo, I probably was a little more harsh in deciding if I liked them or not... the lead singer was pretty good, but some of their songs were a little hard to hear. We found out later that they don't usually play such a large venue. I enjoyed them when they came back out for the last few songs with Blue Rodeo at the end of the night.

I have loved Blue Rodeo's music since highschool and I have seen them live a few times now, but they never get old, and I really enjoyed their new songs they played as well. It was a very good show... my pictures were a little dark, but I was estatic that Sean thought to use my video option to record part of their last song of the set - the last encore which closed the show - Lost Together.



Until next time :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love you monsters :)

Pretty as a Picture...

Okay so I'm a little behind in the challenge as I'm starting from scratch on the 13th day of the year, but life is not defined by accomplishments or failures, but what you do with the lesson you learn from those good or bad experiences... so I shall try again.

I am participating in a quest to keep a paper journal for a full year as part of the livejournal community challenge called embodiment.

The community closes each January 1st and I believe 2008 makes my third attempt for this challenge. Last year I sort of stopped writing in March, so this year I would really like to hang in there for the whole year. Especially since I want to document my 101 things in 1001 days challenge I am participating in.

So this is the simple journal I've created for myself - it is just some paper from a Costco paper stack I had with some glitter chipboard letters from the dollar store and a piece of 4x6 cardstock I cut down to cover a blank lined composition book to create this:


Until next time :)

Getting Back on Track...

So I'm working on my 101 things to do in 1001 days - you can check out my 101 things on the side of my blog. I haven't gotten much done yet, I don't want to make excuses, but a friend passed away recently and I've been a bit discouraged and sad since her death. However, I've realized that she was the type of person that would not really let anything get in her way, and probably would kick me in the butt to get busy, so I am determined to get back on track starting today!

I've managed to write in my written journal almost every day which I hope to keep up with. I've been drinking more water. I cleaned the bathroom pretty thoroughly in the last week which is a task I hate doing. There are a few goals that are easier than others on my list, but some require time and planning and/or money.

I think the next one I will complete is sending a Congratulations card to my cousin as he got engaged over Christmas. You would think this would not need to be a goal, but we don't talk and haven't seen each other in some time. He's on my dad's side and ever since my dad passed away when I was 15, I've had very little contact with that side of the family. At one time in life, I would have said this cousin was my best friend as we were only a year and 3 days apart in age, and I had always wanted someone who was like a big brother to me, but we moved away and I saw him less and less. There has been so much drama over the years with my grandmother that most days it is just easier this way, but I want to at least try to resolve the ill feelings that are there. All I can do is try, and if they are not willing than I can at least feel good about trying.

I never really got going on the photo a day but I am going to start that again. I have posted a few times between this blog and my livejournal, and I've taken some photos, but not enough to feel like I've worked on my goals. Well as they say, today is a new day and I won't give up on being successful. Besides, this list is for me, not anyone else, so the measure of my progress and how I feel about failure and success at this is all up to me. I signed up for this challenge to see what I could accomplish, so we'll see where the JOURNEY takes us!

Until next time :)

One Little Word

Inspired by the talented Ali Edwards I decided to choose just one word to describe what 2008 will mean to me. I thought of many words that might apply, but the one that I kept coming back to again and again is a word I use often to symbolize and describe many aspects of my life.

I believe the word that will mean a lot to me this year will be:

JOURNEY

I am on my journey to wls, my journey to living a healthier life, to showing I can do something for myself, to being a wiser and stronger me.

As always, I am on a journey in exploring my faith and beliefs.

My employment options have brought me on quite a bumpy journey the last few years, but I truly believe the journey this year will be professional development where my job will be concerned.

I will believe I can journey towards my goals to fulfill my list of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days that begins today!

And above all in this journey, I will believe in myself.

So thank you for sharing yet another JOURNEY with me ;)

Until next time :)

o/` Auld Lang Syne o/`

So it's been awhile, the holidays have been a lil hectic but good.

We were lucky to get to celebrate two festive days of Christmas this year. My mother is such a giving woman that she agreed to hold our Christmas dinner on December 23rd so that I could join Sean, my partner with his family in Kingston for Christmas Day.

The tree at my mom's - she has yorkshire terriers, hence the yorkie angel on the top of her tree:

We enjoyed a Christmas afternoon dinner with my mom, where I gave my niece her big present (a little tykes digital camera) and we received so many nice gifts from my mom and her partner too. My mom bought me cute pjs, winnie seat covers for my van, a cute 'girls night out' themed piggy bank, little hersey travel mugs, a vaccuum that we received in the fall, and many other little things.

I worked Christmas Eve while Sean was off running the rest of our errands to pick up last minute gifts and pack the car to head off to visit Sean's family until Boxing Day in Kingston. We shared Christmas with his mom and grandparents. It was lovely as it was not too busy and was rather relaxing. His grandparents treat us both like gold and his mom is always easy to talk to.

The lovely set dinner table at Sean's grandparents:













We don't have set plans for New Year's Eve as we're both working and may not be able to getaway early; so as long as Sean and I start another year - 2008 - together, I'm happy. I am a true believer of the old wive's tale that if a couple is apart on New Year's Eve, that they may not spend the rest of the year together either.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year!

Hoping 2008 is full of many wonderful moments of love and laughter!

Until next time :)

Sisters and Brothers...

It just doesn't get much better than this! My niece giving her little brother a big squeeze.

Happy December 1st!

Until next time :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I love the holidays!

It's one of my favorite times of year. I love the holiday tunes and could listen to them all year round, although that would drive the people around me crazy. I get excited about what surprises I can give and how I can help to make other people full of the Christmas spirit as well. I just can't help getting caught up in the festive mood of the holidays.

And this year, we've actually just had our first snow storm, as last year I don't remember there being much snow before Christmas... My sister took some photos of our first snow.

The snowman made by our neighbor's son:


My niece's version of a snowman:

Until next time :)

Journal a quote... or two

Well in my effort to work on the thisisme journal challenges, I completed a page about my favorite quote which I talked a bit about in my previous post.

Here is the lay out I completed for the quote challenge:



I have to find a better surface to use to photo my layouts. I made this one fairly simple as not to draw away from the quote.

The title letters for life were chipboard with glitter accents which I've never used before. I don't usually like my own handwriting but I didn't want to have to use that many letters and my printer was out of ink.

The photo below the quote is a picture of the planes that often fly quite low in our area as we are close to the airport. I love how the clouds look in the photo. The photo in the top left is a moo card of one of my florida pictures, and the small sun is a rub on I had as I am trying to use the supplies I have instead of buying new ones without knowing where I will use them.

Until next time :)

Little Moments

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

Way back in high school, I chose this quote for my yearbook graduation blurb as a reminder of those awkward growing years. I believed that life would not wait for anyone.

No matter what decisions I tried to make at that stage in life, I really had no idea how things would work out. As time has gone by, I have learned that no matter how much you try to plan things, life happens and it's our reactions to those events that help us to grow into the people we are meant to be.

When I was looking for the perfect quote for the yearbook as I was approaching high school graduation, these words were painted on a wall as graffiti in the movie 'Kuffs' with Christian Slater. They jumped out at me, screaming for me to brand these words into my memory.

I knew this would be my quote.

I don't think I really understood back then how applicable this quote would be to my life. When I do take time to reflect about the past and where it has brought me to today, I remind myself that life is not about having everything mapped out that we forget to just enjoy the little moments that happen day to day that bring our big picture into focus.

So when I realized along my journey that those words I attributed to Christian Slater's character were indeed the lyrics of a great musician, John Lennon, I was even more in awe of these profound words.

I have to laugh because I believe it was another movie that I felt strongly about - Mr. Holland's Opus - that led me to realize the lyrics were from the song 'Beautiful Boy'. I've always been partial to music, it invokes such strong emotions in me as I tend to associate a memory with a song, or a catchy upbeat tempo has the power to take me from a miserable day to a happier place.

So in all this, I guess I just wanted to say that sometimes when I'm not able to get creative when I want to due to time, work or other distractions because life is happening all around me that I am just busy enjoying the little moments...

Speaking of moments and people that capture my heart:



My nephew, Zack, who in January will be one year old (it goes by so fast) hanging out with the love of my life - Sean.

Until next time :)

Journey into the Unknown...

Yesterday was a pretty productive day for me.

I've been in the process of changing jobs in the last week, so it has been a little hectic. The new position is data entry for Passport Canada.

Of course like many of the government positions, I'll be there on contract through an agency, but it was an opportunity I just couldn't turn down... My first day of training was Monday and although the trainers and the session were great, they had neglected to inform our agency that we needed to get security clearance processed directly through Passport Canada, whether we had security clearance or not. My enhanced clearance is valid until 2010, and I've successfully cleared reliability testing in the government selection process in the past. It was just a little frustrating as I had to make a second trip yesterday to show my original birth certificate so the project manager could make a photocopy and process my clearance package. Until all of our clearances are processed, we are not allowed to work due to the nature of the position and information we will be handling.

So after dropping by the Gatineau office, I made my way back home. I had taken the camera with me, as although it was a bit cloudy, I thought it would be a good photo day... Here are some photos I snapped while crossing the bridge back to Ottawa.


It was close to 11am when I turned off the main road to park a little ways from the path to the river not too far from my house. I grabbed my camera, a bottle of water and my cell phone and wandered down the path to the water. I thought it might rain as it was a bit hazy, but it held off while I was meandering.









Once I finished my short walk and photo taking, I wandered back to the van to get back home where I met up with my sister who was waiting for the school bus with my niece. Once my niece was on her way to school, we grabbed some timmy's, came home and cleaned the kitchen up. At the end of the day, my Mom passed by to visit for a cup of coffee as she had been shopping in the city, we had dinner and then played some scrabble on www.facebook.com

I am currently working on a quote layout after cleaning my crafting space again this past weekend, and hope to post it soon.

Until next time :)