spa heaven

new pics of the girls.

today we're going to the spa. the rodeo gave us all a day. i am so excited.

tomorrow i'm heading to greg's farm. it's supposed to be +6. i can't wait to take pics and walk around outside in the fresh air.

vote

please.
save us from the conservatives. or at least from a conservative majority. if we have to have them at all i hope that their power is limited.

more love

friday was Wendy's birthday. she's 29. i can hardly believe it.

we went to medieval times. it was a total blast, as you can see from the photo. it made me realize how lucky we are to have such great friends.

sunday was lisa's birthday and we went over for her annual lobster feast.

we really are blessed to have such amazing friends in our lives.

kitty love

i am so in love with our kittens i can hardly stand it. these girls have only been in our lives for 9 days, and i can't imagine them not here. this morning i woke up with both of them lying on me. i really didn't want to come into work - i would have loved to have just spent the day with them!

resolution time

generally i am not the sort to make resolutions, but this year there are a few things that i'm planning on targeting in the self-improvement arena.

budgeting. i'd like to make one, and then i'd like to try to stick to it, so that i don't get late notices from bill companies, and so i can buy a new pair of shoes every now and then. mama likes her new shoes.

walking. i want to walk to work. it means i have to get my ass out of bed early, and get moving. not easy to do. especially when i want to stay home and watch the kittens til the last possible second.

the bible. yup. i want to read the whole thing this year. i have never done it, and i think this is the year. i'd like to explore my spirituality a bit more. if i get the bible done, i'd also like to read the qur'an. that might have to move to 2007.

cooking. i want to become a master chef. or at least a great cook. i'm a fine cook now, but i'd like to be great.

hmmmmm... that was done without too much thought. i guess there's a lot i can be working on!

happy new year!

wow! it's been a long time. i can't believe it.

we had a great holiday at home in simcoe with our folks. we had a quiet new year's. now i'm back at work and wishing the holidays were a little bit longer!

some highlights:

our cousin alison renewed her vows, with my dad as minister, which was beautiful. they were married on december 13th in the dominican, and not many of us could be there, so it was great to be able to see that.

we went away for a few days with our folks to frankenmuth, michigan, which is a bavarian town close to a big outlet mall, so we had some after-Christmas shopping!

we got some babies on new year's eve. we've named them beatrice & lilibet (short for Lady Elizabeth) and we love them.



there are more photos of our beauties on my flickr site:

wedding bliss

my cousin alison is getting married next tuesday, december 13th in the dominican republic. due to my finances (or lack thereof) i can't head south. i was really disappointed to miss the wedding! happily she and les have decided to renew the vows on december 30th at my aunt & uncle's place in owen sound, with my dad officiating. hooray!

sanctuary

wendy and i went to the leslie spit last weekend. it's just about 10 minutes from our house, and this is the view.

heaven.

it's nice to know that we can get there easily, and in moments the shoulders can drop and we can be near water and nature, and can have such a break from the city.

hey jude productions (part 2)

my friend kate designed this. i think that i'm going to use the flowers, but i may use a typed font as opposed to handwritten....though she's got gorgeous handwriting. i think that whimsical essence is shown in the flowers...
thoughts?

the holly & the ivy

my countdown has already begun. i can't wait for christmas. only 29 more days of work, and then hopefully 2 weeks off. it'll depend if the rodeo play on new year's eve. right now, we're off, which means i'm off. hooray.
i'm already starting with the christmas decorations, and i'm making my christmas card list.
now i need to buy eggnog on the way home!

vivaldi

i'm sitting in our new office, listening to vivaldi, while wendy does report cards. she's working hard, and i'm sitting here in solidarity with her on a computer, but my typing is for pleasure, where she's about to pull her hair out.

what a nice weekend. we had friday dinner with judy, jeff & the kids. we went to the humane society (twice) and saw some cute babies. we went to dinner at our friend lorraine's, we saw matt mays, we had brunch with jeff, judy & the godkids, and i drove out to greg's farm to bring him into the city. basically we had a chance to see many friends, new and old, and we listened to some great music, and we enjoyed time in our new house.

not too shabby.

dogs and thunder

what a glorious day. the fog is blanketing the city. the rain is falling. it is beautiful.

No matter how old I get, and no matter how clearly I know better, I am a queen of procrastination. I can't help myself. If I can put something off for another day, hour, minute... I will. It is one of the qualities about myself that I need to put on a list to change since I drive my own self crazy.

hooray for hallowe'en

i love hallowe'en.

it has become a tradition to go to our godkids house, and be with our favourite little people.

here's a photo of Bobby and I. he looks adorable. there's also a photo of Wendy and Judy, and one with Gillian and all the loot.

we love those kids so much.

queen anne's lace

my friend Candis wanted to know what Queen Anne's Lace was. Here it is!

and a bit of a history:

http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/queen_annes_lace.htm

I love it.

i like the way you move

well, moving day was yesterday. it went very well. loved our movers. because so much of our furniture is nice now, it's a little more worrisome, and a lot heavier! we're going to be living out of boxes for a few days, but once we're settled it's going to be amazing.

we're really going to feel at home at our new little place. it's a lovely house in the east end that the band bought, and we're 'property managing' for reduced rent. truly brilliant. we have the most gorgeous backyard that i'm praying for another bit of a heat wave so that we can have dinner out there once before it snows!

the colour of leaves

Wendy and I went apple picking a couple of weeks ago. It was a lovely way to spend the day together. I took about 40 pictures of apples, trees, and queen anne's lace. Wendy asked if I would be picking apples, or just documenting. I was 95% documentation, 5% picking.

rain rain rain coming down down down

it is a really dark and rainy day today.

i'm already dreaming of a wonderful thanksgiving dinner. i'm heading off to buy the cranberries in mere moments. this is the first time wendy & i have hosted mom & dad at our place instead of making the usual trek to simcoe.

sounds a little too grown up to me...

hey jude productions

i need to create a logo for my company. it is a daunting task. something that not only resonates with me now, but will do so in 5 years. something timeless.

no wonder i'm feeling pressure.

wild mountain thyme

when i got the bad news last friday that Granddad had died i was out at greg's farm. we had spent a wonderful thursday night just hanging out, and talking and having a beautiful dinner and far too much port. we were sitting there on friday morning having coffee and looking out over the fields and enjoying what was truly a perfect september day.

greg turned off the music that had been playing, and took up his guitar, and sang me the most beautiful song - "wild mountain thyme" - while tears streamed down my face.

that song will forever remind me of that day, and will always be comforting. his voice, combined with those beautiful words, filled me with love.