Friday night, Patrick and I ventured to the West Island to spend some long overdue time with friends. First, predictably, there was a quick trip to the best scrapbooking store around, Scrapbook Centrale, where I purchased these lovely Making Memories stamps. I'm drooling over them.

Then, we went to Portovino with Dave & Gina, and Danny & Cinzia. It's been so long since we've all done something as a group, and it was really great to catch up. Danny & Cinzia's girls weren't there, but we heard great stories about them and how much they've grown. I can't get over how quickly time goes by. Olivia is already finished Kindergarten and Juliana is talking and walking! Amazing. Thanks for a great time guys!

Saturday night, for the first time in 6 years, my parents invited Patrick's parents over for dinner. I was very apprehensive about this event, because both couples are so different, but it ended up going very well. They got along and talked a lot. My mom went all out with the meal, and it was much appreciated.

Yesterday was a lazy day around the pool, which is finally ready after a month of liner troubles. I forced my dad to come in, and he managed to get in and out by himself. He is nervous in the water because he can't swim after the stroke (he used to be an avid swimmer). I made him do some leg and arm work, and I also made him practice his balance on a float while kicking his legs. I am trying to get him to do more and more. We also took him to see this movie last night, which he enjoyed.


Well, time to scrapbook!

Happy Birthday Jessica (the one person who is sure to read this)!! I hope you're having a wonderful trip... I'm sure you are. What better way to celebrate your birthday?!

Today I slept in. I am still in my pj's. And drinking coffee. And it's good. I don't think I will work out today - need to give it a rest. Yesterday, Patrick did water aerobics with me, and it was really fun. We were actually coming up with our own moves - Pat's good at that, he really has a knack for isolating muscles and such. Fun times, but my butt is sore today. You wouldn't think that water aerobics could do that to you, but it can. There's a lot of resistance to work with in the water. And now that my pool is finally fixed and filling up with water as we speak, I will be able to work out in the pool a lot more often. It's better when the temperature is lower, because that way you burn more calories, since your body is working hard to warm up. Or so I'm told by June.

I'm also in the process of backing up my computer, because Patrick has promised me that if I clean out one hard-drive, then he could convert it into Mac format. Don't ask me how that works, it's all very complicated for me to understand, but apparently I can be both a Mac and PC person. It's very exciting. I'm a sucker to Apple and their fun and intuitive technology, but at the same time, I'm turned off by how it's so difficult to upgrade and add programs and such, and how expensive it is. Well apparently now there is a way to bypass those negative aspects and get right to the goodness. Gotta love that my boyfriend is such a tech geek. Anyways, in backing up my hard-drive, which contains photos from the year 2007, I've realized how much crap is on my computer, and how disorganized it is. I mean, where does it all come from? I would like to be able to organize things in a more logical and pretty format. I hope I will be able to do that with the Mac thingy on my computer.

Cleaning up my PC also put me into cleaning mode, so last night at 10 pm, I decided to organize Patrick's room. He thought I was crazy, but it just needed to be done before I could get peace of mind. Crazy? Perhaps a little, but sometimes there is just too much clutter, and I feel like I can't relax before it's taken care of. I can't wait until we have a bigger space. His room, and entire house for that matter, is the polar oppostive of good Feng Shui. So yeah, every once in a while, it drives me crazy. In the process of cleaning his stuff, I found all this change that Pat had accumulated over the past year or so... and it totalled 230$!!! Insane. Now it's just figuring how where it can be converted to bills. Patrick insists that the bank won't do it. I said maybe the Casino, but then there's the risk that we don't even make it to the teller if we have to walk past the slot machines...

I will probably post some fun daycare photos tomorrow, since yesterday was a graduation party for two of the children. I took 481 photos. Is that crazy? It's just so easy with the Rebel to get carried away and keep snapping shots. I've been experimenting with angles lately, and I'm liking the results.

A lot of random rambling this monring, no? Time to go do something productive, like finish editing an article for Patrick.

Here's a layout that I made yesterday while at Julie's place. (Thanks for having us Julie, it was really fun, and we must make it a regular occurrence). While packing my scrap supplies to go there, I realized just how much stuff I really have. It's a lot. But it's not even that much in normal scrapbooking terms. Which I find really sad. I have so much paper, I still haven't touched some that I bought months ago. And yet, I still struggle to find stuff to put on each layout. I guess it's all about the perfect combo of products, which isn't always easy to come up with.

I'm super tired all of a sudden. I'm telling myself that it's ridiculous to be sick at the end of June. I can't be coming down with something! I will mentally block out the possibility. It could be allergies I suppose. I finally bought Visine, Patrick was so proud of me.

Did you see Oprah yesterday? Yup, all about regression therapy, which Patrick is able to help clients with. He actually got a client this morning because the woman had seen the episode, and found his ad. The program seems to have generated a lot of interest. I am disappointed that I missed it because I was scrapbooking. I really wanted to see it and I can't seem to find Oprah episodes online anywhere. Oh well, I guess I will just have to be filled in with all the details.

Well, I'm off to veg on the couch.

Here is the mini-book that I made for Patrick for his birthday. It features our favourite TV shows. Gotta love the Sultry line by Basic Grey! Click on the photos to make them larger.

Today I worked in the morning, then came home and edited a ton of photos to send off to Walmart, since I'm supposed to be scrapbooking tomorrow with Julie and Alex. I also did some cardio on the elliptical. I've been eating a lot of junk lately, so I have to be vigilant in the exercise department!

Aside from that, I'm planning some fun projects, such as recovering my scrapbooking chair with a fun pattern that I have yet to choose, making a bulletin board out of an old photo frame and cork board, and making things with some extra material from the daycare. We shall see. I'm not a sewer by any means, but I've always wanted to start. I have to hem Patrick's pants and that seems a daunting task at the moment. But my mom is a talented seamstress, so hopefully she'll be able to help in that department.

Time to go eat supper. Cheers maties.

Well I've been a little slack in the blogging department for the past few days. We had a nice time escaping to the hotel on Thursday night... just the two of us relaxing and having fun in our very own little space. It was well-needed and Pat really appreciated that for his birthday. Here are some of the things that I made him. I had seen these boxes in the BG newsletter and decided to make them. I also made him an altered clock.

Here is "the most ugly cake ever" made by his mom. She couldn't find the right pan, so when she flipped the cake over, it crumbled, then she decided to just go with it and made this. Haha!

There are a lot more photos to share but if I don't go work out now, I risk not doing anything at all today. So, here I come P90X...

Happy Birthday Patrick!

We are on our way to a hotel, so I won't post any photos until tomorrow.

Last night Patrick and I had our butts kicked by my friend Kacey at her new gym! We went with my "boss" June (she hates when I call her that) since Kacey is her daughter. It was really fun, albeit really hard! Kacey is an amazing person - she's an artist, personal trainer, power-lifter, and now an entrepreneur. She is super good at offering one-on-one help, and she has a lot of cool equipment that you wouldn't find in an ordinary, every-day gym, like kettle bells, foam rollers, agility latter, gymnastic rings, and so much more... she had us doing a really fun circuit last night and we are all super sore today! But in a good way, of course. Anyways, here is her website

And, Happy Birthday to June!

I brought my camera to work today and was fooling around. Not like I had that much time to be creative, because the kids always need your attention. But still, I managed to get a few. This is my favorite.

Also, Patrick's website is continually being updated. You should check it out!

I never posted images of what happened in my backyard last week during the huge storm that we had. Well, here's the damage. Luckily, Hydro came 2 days later to chop down the branch and tighten the wires, and miraculously, the wires held the entire time. We never even lost power.

It just so happens that the storm caused the power to be off at the school where I was supposed to sub last Wednesday... so I lost out on a whopping 179$ that day, too bad isn't it! Yes, subs get paid really well...

I'm in the process of making things for Patrick's birthday, which is on Thursday. I'm quite happy with the way that they've come out so far, I'll post them as soon as I can. But he reads my blog regularly, so I can't share quite yet.

Well, I should be back tomorrow to upload more photos from a shoot I did with Pat last week, but I'm going to go take a shower now and then relax, because I work early tomorrow.

Cheers!

Today is Father's Day. I feel like such a crappy daughter because I didn't officially get my dad anything. I made him a card, which was totally from the heart. I also invited him to an afternoon out and lunch at a restaurant of his choice, but still, I feel bad about the whole thing. Mostly because my mom made me feel shitty about it, by saying "you're only making his card now??" with a flabbergasted tone, followed by the question "what did you get my father", to which I responded "Nothing", which resulted in a very slight grimace, nonexistent to some, but highly detectable to me. It's not like I didn't WANT to get him anything. It's really because he has been showing very little interest in anything lately, so what are you supposed to get for a person when he's feeling that way? I also wanted to take him out for lunch yesterday, but he didn't want to go. So I'm at a loss... I also feel shitty because I have to work today, so I won' t be able to spend much time with him. So yeah, in general, I'm feeling pretty guilty about Father's Day. But probably not as guilty as my brother, who is still lying in bed and likely has failed to remember the occasion entirely.

In other news, I'm playing around with the layout of my blog, pretty unsuccessfully as you may have observed. I was sick of the dreary black background, and wanted to lighten things up. Well I like the whiteness of it now, but I haven't quite nailed the blog banner. So sorry for constantly changing things around. I will stop when I'm more satisfied.

Patrick and I went to our long-lost friend Mike's new condo last night. Wow, what a great space! It turns out that his fiance is into scrapbooking and has this amazing little scrapbooking nook on the upper level (which is an open concept) that overlooks the kitchen. Totally inspiring! And of course, she just happens to have these shelves from Ikea.

I sooooo want those shelves. But it will be a little weird since Julie and Alex also have them in their scrap spaces. Oh well! Anyways, we had a fun time - had a bar-b-q, played some Scene It on X-box, which is super fun. In general, we just did some catching up. Patrick was lucky enough to explain hypno-therapy to another friend, Ben, who was there with his girlfriend. He was so interested in learning about it and willing to try it that Pat actually put him in trance 3 times, and super quickly at that! He was so amazed by it, and it was really cool to watch. I'm so glad that Ben was there because it really inspired Pat and reminded him that he's really good at what he does. (You are amazing babe, don't let anyone tell you or make you feel otherwise).

Some serious self-pampering will take place shortly as I venture to the best scrapbooking store, and possibly to Winners. Yesterday I had one of those "I have absolutely no clothes" type of moments, which happens, oh I don't know, at least once a week or so...

Yesterday's event (Pat's dad's b-day) was fun, played some volleyball, lawn darts, even swam for a good hour at night. So it just goes to show that if you leave yourself open to it, you can have a good time. I will upload some pictures of the evening later on.

Don't be surprised if my blog changes color sometime soon. I am getting really tired of the black background. I'm thinking white, to freshen things up. We shall see!

I thought I would be a little Ali Edwards-ish and make it a Mosaic Monday... here's some eyecandy from Flickr. Have a splendid day, enjoy the heat while it lasts.

Is it ever hot out this weekend! We went from rainy and 15 ish, to sunny and 30 just overnight and it's a huge shock to my system. Today is even hotter, I think it's about 35 with the humidity. I can't complain too much because I adore summer and even the hottest of hot days. However, both our pool and air conditioner are out of order at the moment, so it's not quite as fun. At least I was able to swim in Pat's pool yesterday.

We are celebrating Pat's dad's birthday today, which means that a group of rowdy uncles will be over swimming, playing games, listening to extremely loud music, possibly singing karaoke, and drinking and eating a whole lot. Meanwhile, I am going to practice the much needed skill of being open to activities that don't necessarily tickle my fancy. At least I can hide behind the camera and try to get some good shots! No, seriously, his uncles can be a lot of fun, it's just that I tend to be anti-social, especially with the whole language barrier thing. But I will keep a positive outlook, and alas, there will be cake!

Pat and I went browsing garage sales yesterday morning. We found an exercise machine for 15$, so we couldn't resist. The woman had bought it from an Infomercial for over 100$. It's that one that "swooshes" from side to side, kind of similar to the StairMaster, except the motion is on a slant, sideways. My description is so great, I know... Anyways, it's kinda fun and it activates different muscle groups. Also, it doesn't take up much room at all. My parents were horrified that I had acquired another piece of exercise equipment, but I found a compact little spot for it in the basement, so it's all good.

Well, I'm off to scrap.

Patrick and I are currently watching The Office (American version). We were hesitant to start this series, since we were under the impression that nothing could compare to the beloved Ricky Gervais. But we finally bit the bullet, and were more than pleasantly surprised! We are on season 3 already and wow, that's entertainment!

My favorite character is Dwight, but then again, they are all so special in their own ways. Here are some memorable quotes:

Dwight Schrute:
When my mother was pregnant with me, they did an ultrasound and found she was having twins, and they did another ultrasound a few weeks later, they discovered that I had resorbed the other fetus. Do I regret this? No. I believe his tissues made me stronger. I now have the strength of a grown man and a little baby.

Michael Scott: You don't call retarded people retards. It's bad taste. You call your friends retards when they're acting retarded.

Dwight Schrute:
I think one of the greatest things about modern America is the computerization of medical records. As a volunteer sheriff, I can look up anyone's psychiatric records or surgical histories. Yeast infections... there are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we''re downriver... from that old bread factory.

Michael Scott:
Presents are the best way to show someone how much you care. It is like this tangible thing that you can point to and say 'Hey man, I love you this many dollars worth.'

Creed:
In the sixties, I made love to many, many women. Often outdoors. In the mud and the rain. And it's possible a man slipped in. There would be no way of knowing.

Michael Scott:
Business is like a jungle. And I am like a tiger. And Dwight is like a monkey that stabs the tiger in the back with a stick. Does the tiger fire the monkey? Does the tiger transfer the monkey to another branch? Pun. There is no way of knowing what goes on inside the tiger's head. We don't have the technology.

Michael Scott:
Okay. This is it. This is exactly what Michael Moore does. Famous documentor. He goes up to people with a camera and he's like 'Why did you do this? Why did you pollute? You are bad. Bad person.' It's very dramatic. Oh I can't say I was a big fan of 'Bowling for Columbine', because I thought it was going to be a bowling movie like Kingpin. And it wasn't. It was something else.

Dwight Schrute:
When I die, I want to be frozen. And if they have to freeze me in pieces, so be it. I will wake up stronger than ever because I will have used that time to figure out exactly why I died, and what moves I could've used to defend myself better now that I know what hold he had me in.

Michael Scott:
Did you know that gay used to mean 'happy?' When I was growing up, it meant 'lame.' And now, it means a man who makes love to other men. We're all homos. Homo sapiens.

Well, it's June believe it or not! School's out until the fall, I'm subbing a little here and there, and working at the same old: library and daycare, but not very many hours per week.

Patrick's parents are out of town until Friday, wooohooo, that NEVER happens! So we have the house to ourselves and I'm sleeping over tonight. His cat is going nutso though without her mommy being there. She'll never very affectionate, but she's even worse now, and she's been nervously hiding under chairs and in corners all day. She won't let us touch her.

Well, I've been scrapping a little lately (will upload some layouts in the next few days), and fixing up Patrick's website. Basically I've only got the first page made so far, so it's not much, but we just wanted the most important info to be there for the time being. I have to fix the links - I'm learning the program slowly but surely. Anyways, it's pretty exciting, and he's starting to get more and more clients, so I'm happy about that. One of his clients is a very boisterous mechanic, and he asked for a huge stack of his business cards, so word of mouth will be getting around.

My scrapping friend Jessica has tagged me. I have to report 3 random things. Well, here they are:

1. I've been having a lot of back pain lately and it's because I have terrible posture. I've been wearing a brace around the house to force my shoulders into the correct position.

2. I've straigthened my "side-burns" (straggly hair that doesn't seem to grow out properly in the place where men have side-burns) twice today already. They get all curly and pouffy if I don't, and look really bad.

3. My next scrapbooking page may be based on my favorite TV shows.

Alright, enough for now. Here are some garden shots that I played around with on picnik. The first one is my favorite.