Did you all have a good Christmas? A few days before Christmas, I was a bit depressed and stressed out (with buying last minute gifts, family stuff, and moving couches, which a long story on its own that I'm in no mood to get into now). But, the magic of Christmas morning made everything feel good again. It may sound cheesy, but it's true.

I was very spoiled by my parents this year. On top of getting me a cutlery set, socks and underwear, and two beautiful ornaments (as is the yearly tradition), they also got me THE SILHOUETTE!!!!! I was really, really surprised, and of course, delighted. I didn't think they would get it, I actually thought I was getting pots and pans or Martha plates. But the Silhouette... wow! Patrick set it up for me 2 days ago, and man, is it ever cool. I also got the Making Memories tote carry-bag from Patrick's mom (who had me in the gift exchange), so now I'm all set to transport my scrap stuff to crops.

Patrick loved his gifts from me, in particular the personalized book that I made for him from Blurb. He was really surprised! In case you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about, he invented a mythical world a few years ago, and then he made a card game out of it. So I compiled all the rules and the history into a book for him. I think he was really touched by that. And of course, he also loved the mini-book that I made him, which you can see here.

It was actually a pretty low key Christmas, since I was sick thanks to the germ that had been going around the daycare all last week. Normally there is a big party at Pat's house, with all his uncles and cousins, but not many people ended up going, and those who did weren't feeling top shape. It was alright for me since I didn't have to dance or sing karaoke for hours (thank God!).

Then on Boxing Day, I convinced my mom to go to Scrapbook Centrale with me since I couldn't resist the amazing sale that was going on. Plus, I had two loyalty cards filled with stamps (thanks to the Silhouette purchase) and 15$ from a sketch challenge I had won, so I had 55$ right there, and another 50$ from my grandmother. In the end I walked away with over 200$ of products and only spent 25$ out of my own pocket. It was soooooo great!!

This weekend I have to work at the library, but it's not so bad since the girls are planning a crop on Saturday night, so I have that to look forward to. Also, we are celebrating New Year's Eve at Alex and Ryan's new place, so that should be a lot of fun.

Hope everyone's having a great holiday!

EXAMS ARE OVER! WOO-HOO! I'm off until the 3rd of January. I did well in everything, although I don't know my Policy mark yet. But I'm confident that I've done okay, as in, not below a B+ or even an A-.


I am not yet ready for Christmas. I have tons of last minute running around to do, completing gifts and what not. I also want to re-dye my hair and get a hair cut. And I want to bake this weekend, and have confinced Patrick to partake in baking as well. And.... my mom's new couches are coming this weekend, which means that we have to move the old ones downstairs and pack up and store the downstairs couches somewhere... headache. But we will do it because Pat and I are getting a free couch set out of the deal, so it's all good.


In other news, today was the daycare Christmas party. The kids opened gifts, and then had pizza and ate the gingerbread house we made a few days ago. They looked soooo cute!! I can't upload any photos because I don't have permission from the parents. Thankfully the party went smoothly, although it was a hectic morning, and one of the kids barfed all over just before we went upstairs to open gifts... let's just say that I don't do well with barf!! but it was all cleaned in no time, and the party could go on!


So, I'll leave with a picture of the newest edition to our family. Isn't he cute? My brother brought him home from his friend's farm (his friend was going to eat him, sniff sniff). He thought he would give it to his girlfriend as an x-mas present, but her dad wouldn't let her keep it. So now he's living in our basement until further notice, although my mom really doesn't approve and keeps asserting that he must go. But he's just sooooo cute!!

So, the event was a smashing success! Congrats again you two, it was really nice. They had the widest selection of cheese I've even seen! Here are some pics. If you like the digi photo frames, you can find them here.

So it feels like the only time I ever write on my blog is when I'm supposed to be busy doing something else, mostly studying. This morning I should be studying for my up-coming Math exam, but I just don't wanna. Like REALLLLLLY don't wanna. Because essentially I've been responsible for teaching myself 900 pages of material, and now I have to go about organizing all that in my brain in a systematic, easily accesible manner. I just don't know how it's all going to happen before Monday afternoon at 2 pm. It probably won't. But in truth, I don't care that much because I've caculated that even if I get a 60% on this final, I will still pass with an 80%. So when you look at it from that perspective, who really cares???

Tomorrow is Julie and Ken's engagement party, woo-hoo! So exciting!! I know that Julie is a bit nervous, but I'm positive that everything will run smoothly and everyone will have great time!

That's all for now. I'm decorating and making Christmas-related things today. Listening to Christmas music, of course.... I've had the Christmas playlist going for a good three weeks now, actually, and it's driving Patrick nuts. But I will instill holiday tradition in the man if it's the last thing I do!

And if you're feeling depressed about all the snow and the cold temperatures... here's a little something to remind you of tropical climates:

YAY! Classes are almost over; as my Policy teacher said last night during our final lecture: there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Well, okay... still gotta study for finals, but putting that aside... it feels great to know that I won't have to buy a bus pass for December, that I won't have to walk up the hill, that Christmas is almost here and I have a ton of fun gifts and crafts planned, and that I won't have to work with my annoying lab partner anymore.

Last weekend we celebrated Cindy's (Pat's sister's) b-day, and we went to Hot and Spicy. It is a nice restaurant, and the food was good, but the service was TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!! We were there, I kid you not, from 5-9 pm, waiting on our various orders to actually arrive at the table (and a good number of them never came). It's a sitdown buffet, so everyone orders what they want, then it gets placed on a lazy susan and everyone can dig in. I like the theory, but in pratice... it wasn't working for us. Don't think I'll be going back there for the hefty price of 27$ per person, no matter how much (or how little) you eat. But besides that, it was fun. Cindy and Jason had rented a hotel room for later that night, tsk, tsk, so I think she had quite an enjoyable birthday.

Saturday night was also the online crop at Scrapbook Centrale, which was so much fun! There were lots of fun challenges that kept me occupied all night and into the wee hours of the morning. Believe it or not, Ken (Julie's fiance) actually got inspired to scrapbook, and then the next night, I asked Patrick if he would make a page, and he actually agreed!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is going on here?! I keep joking that it is the scrabooking revolution. Here is what my artist produced (with some help from me for the title and the journaling spot). I'm really impressed with what he did.

Here are the other pages I made for the challenges. This was for the mixed-alpha challenge:

And this was for the old-supply challenge:

Have a great day everyone. Smile, it's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!

Not too much to say this morning - I'm still in my pj's and am being incredibly lazy since I don't actually have to go to school or work today. I should be working out or reading my Math book, but it's so much funner to browse the Internet for anything and everything. I plan on going clothes shopping this afternoon because I've reached one of those "I have absolutely no good clothes anymore" type of stages... It's true though, a lot of my clothes I've had since the end of high school, and they have sadly reached the end of their life. Plus, I'm trying to buy "adult" clothes, which is really hard for me. I am always drawn to bright colors and patterns that are much too teeny-bopper. I have to remember that I am 23 now!! But I still love Roxy....

Since Patrick had made plans with Dave for a guy's weekend, I decided to make my own plans with girlfriends. On Friday night I went to Alex's to scrapbook. Yup, got the tour of the new house, so gorgeous! Unfortunately, I wasn't very productive or inspired, however, which came as surprise becuase I had shopped at SC that very afternoon and had a bunch of new products and page ideas. Sometimes I guess I just need to be in my own space.


Other than that, I worked at the library all weekend, so nothing exciting there. No exciting stories this time, sorry to disappont. The he-she was there briefly, but didn't have any kind of breakdown. It was a pretty laid-back weekend.


Alright, I should stop procrastinating and face the day! But I'll leave you with some recent scrapbooking layouts:

So here is my Christmas wishlist so far:

Martha Stewart plates:

Making Memories runway tote:




And this wonderul piece of equipment (yes, I know, super expensive....)

Hope Santa has me on the "nice" list!

So - I am no longer a blonde! Julie dyed my hair last weekend and I am very pleased with the result. I was really afraid of doing in, incase the color didn't come out uniform, but in the end it actually looks really natural. It's something I had been wanting to try for a very long time... So, I went for it! Despite the initial shock and look of disgust on my mom's face when she first saw me, I think we are all adjusting to it. I like it, and so does Patrick, so really that's all that matters.

In other news, I am glad to be passed midterms and papers, so I can breathe easy for a few weeks before I need to start cramming for finals. I think I did well on everything, but have yet to receive any marks.

Julie came over today for an afternoon of scrap-booking, and it was really fun! I can't reveal my creations yet because they are a surprise for somebody for Christmas.

Well, I must depart, supper is almost ready! Cheers.

As promised, here are some of the photos from Ken's Halloween/birthday party.

And here is the highlight of the night! Congrats Julie and Ken!!

It's been a while since I updated my blog, bad me! Well, I am presently at Pat's house and he's watching hockey, so I figure I might as well write.

This past weekend was very packed with stuff. We had two Halloween parties, one for Ken's birthday, and one that Pat's sister hosted. They were both very fun, but working at 9 am on Saturday morning just sucked.

Guess what?!?!?!?! My sneeky little friend Julie has gotten engaged with her longtime boyfriend Ken! Can you believe that she kept this secret for 2 long months while they were waiting for the ring to arrive (long story, too complicated to rant about here)!? I was so shocked when they announced it at the party. I have pics to show you all but I unfortunately don't have them on Pat's computer. I am so happy for them and I can't wait to help with all the planning.

Happy Halloween everyone!

should be studying but a five minute break won't kill me (it will actually keep me sane and i recall some random tidbit of info, probably from school, that studying in small increments works best). so there you go. i don't feel like using capitals right now, so i'm not gonna. who cares since nobody reads this blog anyways besides my future children (since i'm assuming they'd think it's cool to know about the daily life of their mother when she was younger).

i have 2 midterms this week and one lesson plan. then next week i have another midterm, and the week after i have an article review. so much fun. i just can't wait for it to be over so that i can have more free time blocks and less zits caused by stress (apparently that is inevitable). did you know that the federal government plays a minimal role in education? okay, i will stop reciting the notes that are right in front of me beforing boring everyone to death.

the scrapbooking salon was fun, although i was overly hot and in consequence, irritable the majority of the time. in exciting news, my scrapbook centrale bill was surprisingly low for the amount of stuff i purchased, and julie had her layout selected as one of the top 25 for the ruban rose contest! how exciting! people had to vote on their fave, and there's a chance she could win 1500$ to spend at la scrapbookerie. i told her that i'd better get a commission if she won, considering i was promoting her!

in other news, my super amazing boyfriend made me a personalized hypno-relaxation tape, and it's awesome. i listen to it before bed and i'm ultra relaxed and feel great. thank you my lover like no other ;)

Sleep will not come to this tired body now....

For the past few nights, I have had so much trouble sleeping. I toss and turn for what seems like hours, and my injury is really bothering me. All summer it was fine, and now a month into school and it's acting up again. I have been doing the regular (applying rubbing alcohol, using heat pads, etc) and still no relief. I think it is a combo of lifting babies, typing notes for school, scrapbooking bent over without realizing, and forcing myself a little hard during my workouts. I am trying to "rest" it by not taking it easy with training, but this has resulted in the familiar "I'm a balloon" syndrome. Anyways, enough on that.

SCRAPBOOKING CONVENTION ON FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited! I can't wait to meet all my online friends in person and to see all the new goodies on the market. It will be hard to limit myself to a certain amount of money. If all goes well (in terms of studying), Julie and I will be cropping Saturday afternoon after a morning of training at the biblio.

Alright, off to do my morning stuff, i.e. train, study, do laundry, put away dishes.

Here are some new pages:

Today is a Friday so I am happy (even though I have school and have to work this weekend). Fridays always have that feel of freedom and escape, so that is why I like them. Presently I am spending time on the Internet instead of working out and then practicing Math problems. My back injury is really acting up today, so I don't know how much of a good workout I'd even be able to have. I might scrap it altogether, although I know I should try to do something.

Today I thought I'd share some insights with you. They are not my own, but my boyfriend's. I think he is a wonderful, philosphic writer. We had this deal where we were to write a thought/observation/insight/whatever every day for 1 month, and then at the end of the month, we would share them with each other. So yesterday I received all of his thoughts in one big email attachment. (I'll be honest, I wasn't as loyal to the task as he was. I missed many days - sorry Pat!). So here are some of his uplifting thoughts:

If you can read, then write
If you can hear, then speak
If you can feel, then touch
Never limit the ways you can say I love you

If you can’t do a good action voluntarily for yourself or others in a given moment, then pretend you are someone who can. In the end it doesn’t matter how you come to achieve positive things; those you influence will never know the difference.

One coherent thought destroys absolute entropy. If a doorway of escape appears in a maze of absolute self destructiveness, please take it. Some things are not worth second guessing.

Why do we tell others that what we do so easily is easy? Is that not ignorance of everyone’s uniqueness?

If you choose to walk your own path without shoes or socks, do not be so quick to run, or you will step on the shards of others' broken dreams, and will be forced to live their pain as your own.

Pretend to smile and you will soon forget you are pretending.

If a monk is forced to live in the city, by his own means, can he still feel the same peace of mind as in the monastery?

Wow I'm behind on keeping my blog updated!! But since nobody ever reads it anyways ;) it shouldn't matter so much (leave me comments you lurkers!).

I've been doing these P90X dvds, ever heard of them? Wow, will those ever kick your butt into shape. The idea is that over a 90 day period, you will become as fit as you've ever been. The workouts are really intense, but there is a lot of variety (different weight routines, yoga, cardio, kempo, core, plyometrics, etc) - so it's designed in such a way that you will never plateau. It's pretty darn intense, but it's really good. The guy is really quirky and entertaining as well, so that helps. There's also a food guide and a schedule telling you the order you're supposed to do them in, although I'm not following those perfectly... Still, I think I will see results.

School has been so-so. Lots of little annoying projects and group work (what Education is famous for - oh that that annoying hill to walk up). Besides that, not much to say about the subject.

I'm super excited for this weekend!!!!! I don't work at the library, YAHOO (as Hiro would say). Tonight we're going out for supper at a classy Italien restaurant downtown with Danny and Cinzia. Tomorrow I'm going to shop in Burlington with my parents and Julie, and maybe Patrick. So fun!!!! I can't wait. It's so nice to have 3 days off in a row!

I'll leave you with some photos we took almost 2 weeks ago now, when Pat and I went for a hike at Mont St-Hilaire. I downloaded these photo frames off 2peas, aren't they fun?! (I was inspired to do so by Josie - thanks!)

Better days

Good morning all! Well, things are better than they were in my previous post. I've noticed that every year, the same pattern occurs. I start school, freak out drastically about all my courses and how hard it is to give up the long summer, and then after about a week or so, things fall into place. I organize my schedule, get on top of my school work, and then it feels okay. So that's where I'm at right now.

Not much to say this morning besides it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day. I do have classes, but that's okay because I'll be with my friends, so it's not so bad. Plus, after today I have 3 DAYS OFF in a row!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy. I want to go for a hike or something this weekend, and will try my hardest to convince Pat to go. We wanted to go to the tattoo convention since we thought Kat Von D would be there, but turns off she's too busy with filming. The two gals from LA Ink will be there, and I would love to see them, but I have a feeling there will be a ton of people. On the website it says "come get tattooed" but I'm not sure how that works. There must be huge waiting lists for those artists. Anyways, I will call today to find out more.

So, here is some of my recent work:

The agenda that I altered:

And some pages:

Have a great day!

It is so hard to be back to the daily grind

I am simply exhausted being back at school... I forgot how much I despise the god-forsaken "Education" hill. Yes, I have to practically hike the last 5 minutes of my brisk 25 minute walk to school - try it with a 15 pound laptop in your bag 4 days a week. It's peachy. And it's not even winter yet. arrgh! It depresses me to know that we're only the first week into the semester and I'm already fed up. I guess that's what happens when you're entering your 5th freakin' year of University... so, so depressing (NO, I didn't flunk out or anything of the sort. For those of you who don't know, I already have a BA in Psychology but am now in my second year of Education).

I haven't even been to 2 of my classes yet but know that I will hate them just from reading the course outlines over the Internet. In one class we were required to read an entire chapter and DO about 50 Math exercises before even going to class. HAHAHA. Let's just say that's not happening.

And I haven't even vented about the bookstore. I won't. I already sound like a disgruntled biatch.

The only things making me happy right now are 1. My amazing boyfriend 2.the wonderful hobby of scrapbooking and 3. Rome Season 2

Alright, enough venting for today. Must go pick up my lover like no other. Cheers

Much ado about nothing

I'm procrastinating - checking up on Internet stuff because I'm not mentally ready to train yet... Well I'm also digesting my breakfast, which is a perfectly valid excuse as to why I'm still sitting on my butt.

My eyes are disgustingly filmy this morning; man, allergies suck! The thing is, I'm not used to it because I never, ever suffered from allergies in the past. However, for the past few years, it seems I have become more sensitive. I can go days with "cloud head" (as Pat and I have named that drowsy feeling that leaves a constant pressure on your brain and inhibits any concentrated thought processes). Patrick has suffered from allergies all his life and is now taking shots which he says are helping him somewhat, but it's years before the full effect kicks in.

Anywho....... am planning on scrapbooking on my last day off (sob, sob!). Hopefully Julie will join me! Pat is participating in "man" activities with Dave all day. In other words, they are playing video games and/or role-playing and/or going to see some action or horror flick that I refuse to watch.

I haven't purchased ANY school supplies but I'm not going to overly freak out about that because in the past few years, I've learned that it's best to just wait it out for the first week or 2 to find out what type of classes I'm taking, and whether they require notebooks or not, and even if they require the "mandatory" reading materials or not. I don't like to waste my money, but I also like to be on top of my reading when it's necessary. Dilemma, dilemma. Most of the time, especially in my program, you can slack off BIGTIME and still pull an A. Last year, I frequently skipped many classes or left early (because they were completely useless and involved about 2 hours each day of "peer discussion") and still got A's in everything. I guess you just have to know how to play the game.

The ridiculously slow speed of my supposedly high speed Internet connection is driving me mad as of late. Every day, I have problems with it. Sites take f-ing ages to upload, and often times, when I turn on my computer, I have no connection at all. If my boyfriend wasn't a super savvy tech (notice I didn't use the term "nerdy"), I would be more than screwed. Even with all his expertise, I still have problems. I think Videotron sucks.

Alright, here are some pics from this weekend. My wonderful boyfriend surprised me with shaving his head recently, and I love it! :

And here are some pics from my mom's garden: