Checking in on a Friday morning in an effort to keep the blog updated. Why am I home, you ask? Because I am voiceless and generally feeling under the weather. I thought I was doing pretty well in the last two months - avoiding any colds, finally building up the immune system... But alas, it has caught up with me. It's not terrible at the moment; it's definitely not as bad as it could be, but since I have to work at the library this weekend, I figured a day of rest would do me some good.

I used my morning rather productively, planning the up-coming school week. There are just so many exciting activities coming up! It's reading month, Valentine's Day, and 100th Day! We are going to do an author study on Eric Litwin, play with cloud dough and hunt for buried treasures, and hopefully, if all goes well, make our own book using Book Creator. Yup, I bit the bullet and bought the app for our class Ipads. Hopefully we'll get some good use out of it. All this might sound a tad ambitious, but I'm pretty hyped-up about it. Have I mentioned that I love teaching Kindergarten?

As for a wedding update, I have finally finished putting together almost all of our invitations. I am only missing a few peoples' addresses, but it's okay because I'm only planning on sending them by the end of the month or early next month. I know it's a bit on the early side if we're following strict wedding etiquette, but I would rather be a keener than having to rush and stress out at the last minute. Some sites and books seem to suggest that if you send them too early, you risk people misplacing or forgetting about their RSVP. After discussing the idea with Pat, my mom, and my trusted bridesmaids, I figured that most people would rather know sooner than later, and I think getting all the RSVPs back on time will be a challenge whether I send them now or in a few months. Also, I wanted to get them out before my shower invitations go out (I don't know exactly when this is happening since the shower is a surprise, but if I had to make a guess, I would think March).

Here is sneak peak of the invitations.

I bought a few do-it-yourself invitation kits from Michael's when they were on sale for $9.99 (regularly $39.99). I think mine were being discontinued, so I guess that's why the were so cheap. I can't seem to find any link to them online. Then I used Photoshop to play around with the design and fonts of each element of the invitation. The front of the invitation states that we are getting married, and also includes the location and the date. As you can see, I also added a little starfish made using this Martha Stewart punch. On the back of the invitation, there is a pocket to hold the RSVP card and envelope which guests will need to send back. I also added some extra information like driving directions and hotel accommodations. Even though it took quite a long time to design, print and assemble all of these aspects, I can't deny that it was lots of fun.

Tonight my mom is supposed to come over to help me assemble some favor boxes that I am in the processing of making with my silhouette. Another time-consuming - but oh so rewarding - DIY project to embark on! It's going to be a busy weekend. Cheers!

**Great, just great. While spell-checking this blog post, I realized that I mispelled one of the words in my invitations. Good times. I guess I jumped the gun when I said the invites were almost all ready. It's going to be a busy weekend indeed.

A bright Saturday morning awaits me. The house is a mess, but I'll get to that later. Right now I am enjoying cats purring, coffee, and blogland. I have discovered that She & Him tickets go on sale at noon - the concert is July 3rd! Ohh that will be a delightful time of year. School will have just ended, I will be in full-throttle wedding mode, and an evening on the town to see such great performers will be just what I need. I am assuming my lovely sidekick will be a good sport and tag along (let's hope!). Too bad none of my friends seem to share the same musical tastes, or would want to go.

Last night, right after work, I went for a quick trip to Plattsburgh to help my mom finalize her dress choice for the wedding. She had gone down the week before and found a dress she loved, but was worried about the color. Pat and I had to convince her that the shade option (which was slightly different than the color of our invitations) was fine, and that she wouldn't want to be matchy-matchy anyways. She was debating between a lighter and darker teal color, and we steered her in the direction of the darker, which will look better on her based on other dresses that she tried. Because of course they don't have the actual size in the actual color that you need, that would just be far too convenient. Anyways, I'm glad that we were able to get one more thing checked off our list. Here's what the dress looks like. Ignore the ridiculous gloves (what is up with that?). It fits my mom very well and she was quite thrilled when the lady in the dress shop kept referring to her as a hip momma, and how she wouldn't look good in any of the frumpy, traditional mother-of-the-bride assembles.

 

Today I think I will (hopefully) finish assembling the invitations and maybe work on some favor boxes. I am attempting to make them myself with my Silhouette, but I have had less than perfect results so far. We'll see how that goes... I may abandon the idea soon and move on to something more simple.

 

Have a great weekend folks! 

Well hello there world! Oh how I have missed blogging! I have been so terrible at it over the last few years. There was a time I used to update weekly... ha! That feels like ages ago. I would like to think that I could go back to that, but I won't keep any promises until I get back into the groove of it again.

What I like about keeping a blog is looking back at it over time. Seeing what went on, what we were going through, what I was thinking, feeling, doing. I like feeling that I've left a mark, that I capture the moments in some form as they passed. It all goes by so fast. I think I spend too much time browsing the blogs of others when I could be focusing that energy more productively.

Here is a bit of what's been going on lately.

We are selling (or at least trying to sell) our house! Long story. Not something that was foreseen, but we are going to go through with it in the hopes that we will be happier elsewhere, in a detached home. Having shitty neighbors really sucks. This is all happening, hopefully, within the next few months before the wedding. Oh right, of course, did I forget to mention?? Since my six month blog-hiatus, we got engaged!! Kinda big news around here!

Patrick proposed while we were on vacation in Bermuda. We went on a cruise last July, and he popped the question on the bow of the boat one evening after a romantic dinner.

I have been documenting the process in this gem of a book, which I highly recommend to anyone planning a wedding.

We are getting married on July 20th. It is an exciting time, but also a very busy time. I would like to share the process on here, so maybe that will be my motivation to keep the blog going.

As for right now, it's time to unwind after a long, dreadfully cold week. Temperatures reached -40 with the wind chill. We feel like hibernating! Thankfully, we made it to Friday night! We are just about to cook some salmon and open a bottle of wine. Here's to weekends, even if they do pass by all too quickly.

There's a new guy in my life. His name is Bowie. He is a big boy. He is getting along just fine with his sister Jade. They love having wrestling matches and on a few occasions, I have caught them nestling against each other while they relax. I had to really force convince Patrick that getting another cat would be a good idea. He slowly warmed up to the idea when he realized that there was no way around my crazy cat lady desires, which had only grown stronger after having been repressed for 27 years in a home with no animals. So there you have it, that's how we came about our second fur child.

In other news, there are 15 days of school left!!! Can I get a woot-woot. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to June 22nd - the celebratory events will be quite something I dare say.

Now I'm off to do some yoga and get ready for an afternoon of work at the library. Cheers.

My brain is exploding with the amount of content it has just taken in from blog hopping. Among my faves today: 6th Street Design School, Everything LEB, House*Tweaking, How About Orange, August Empress,  and Eighteen 25. I think I have a serious internet addiction. Like, really. And I haven't even been on Pinterest yet today - I was only getting up to speed with design blogs. Oh dear...
Of course, I did throw in a little side project along the way. Just fooling around in Photoshop.

But now that Patrick's back from work, it's time to catch up with some other addictions. So many pretty faces to be watching. Sigh.

Alive and Well...

Suddenly I feel the urge to poor my heart out to the world again on this good ol' blog. Had been a long, long while. I debated giving it up completely - I just wasn't feeling it anymore. And of course now with Pinterest, well, you know...

So here I am again, wondering where to start, how to bring you up to speed with this whirlwind of mine. I don't know why I kid myself with the audience. The few folks who tune in probably already know most of my life anyways. I'm really I'm writing this for me, to keep track more, to document the every day and be able to look back and say "oh yes, remember...". So I am doing this for me, as a gift to my future self who will one day be grateful for these little fragments.

Since last August, the start of a new school year, it's been quite the ride. Allow me to summarize. I found out shortly after my last blog post that I was getting a grade 3 class at a new school, about a half-hour away from where I live. To make a very long, complicated and not so great story short, it was a really rough start to the school year. I had a hard time with the new grade level, and discovered that I had a very demanding, oversized class with little outside help at the time. Thanks to some amazing, life-saving friends and family members, I was able to pull through. It was really hard at first and there were days when I was absolutely faking it until the routine of it became normalcy and eventually comfortable. At first I hated it and was really on the verge of quitting my profession. I just wasn't feeling it any more. But thankfully, I stuck it out and am in a much, much better place now. A place where despite the daily challenges, I feel confident, happy and I just know I doing what I should be. It may not be the ideal circumstance, it may not be my favourite grade level, but I could not be doing anything else than this.

Something else happened during the long, depressing winter months. I started car-pooling to work. And it just happens to be the best thing ever! To be able to bond, to vent, to tell secrets, and to laugh like crazy has been so therapeutic to me. It makes work so much more fun. I have come to appreciate my colleagues and my environment so much more. We have a word of the day every day (if we remember). We tell jokes. We sing and scream at the top of our lungs if we feel like it. We do what we want. Here is an example of our awesomeness:

In other exciting news, Pat and I have a new kitty named Jade, who is the sweetest, most affectionate little bébé ever. She loves to play fetch with her scrunchy ball, to drink from the tap, to run after treats, and to cuddle. We love that we found her. She is friendly and adventurous, pretty and petite. The only annoying habit she has lately is meowing in the morning when she wants us to wake up and play with her. She's been a bit more vocal because we think she might be in heat. We actually took her to vet tonight to be operated, since she was too young to go through the process when we bought her.

It's funny how much I miss having her around right now. She's really part of the family.

I've got lots more to ramble about but I'll hold off for now until another time. Cheers maties.

we all float on

I want to float on these last bits of summer for as long as I can. I am in between, that place right before the change, before the priorities are re-aligned. It's coming, there's no doubt, and soon. The first stage is already here, but more on that later. Right now, I still want to lie on my back in the pool staring at the light, fluffy clouds above me, my only worry what we will eat for dinner or finishing another chapter in my book. I want to feel the freedom of the whole day, the whole week stretched out in front of me, countless possibilities to be had. I want to wake slowly on the trail of dreams, when I feel good and rested. I want to sip my coffee as I visit my favorite sites, inspiration swelling inside of me and spurring creative projects that can all be realized. I want to eat melon and corn, cheeseburgers, roasted pepper, onion and zucchini. I want to try new recipes every week, with all the time and patience I need to devote to them. I want to kneel and dig in the dirt, pulling weeds, planting flowers, re-arranging a garden that will take form as the years go by. I want to drink Pina Colada on my parents' deck with the sun rays streaming in through the branches of the maple that has grown towering over the backyard since the days I was a little girl. I want to eat food from the BBQ. I want to watch fireworks, I want to bike ride and roller blade, take drives down to the countryside. There is still some time. If only this last little bit of August could last forever... Holding on to these glimpses...