These are memories people!

You know how in the movie Can't Hardly Wait Melissa Joan Hart's character runs around with her year book getting indignant because people don't seem to grasp its importanc? "These are memories people!" she shouts at one point. Well, that's me. Sort of.

I love pictures. I always have. I was the first one of my friends to have a digital camera. Our teenage years are mainly immortalized in my photo albums. I still love taking pictures and think that they're a wonderful way to preserve memories. I take my camera almost everywhere and my phone is full of pictures of my family. (Especially my fur babies.)

When I was a kid my parents took us to get our pictures done professionally (usually at Sears) every year just before Christmas so they could mail out family photos with their Christmas cards. As my brother and I got older (and less cute) the pictures became infrequent. Now, every year, I drag my husband to get professional pictures taken.

He put up with the engagement photos and the wedding photos, but the next summer I decided I wanted a family photo that included the cat. Eventually he gave in and off we went to a studio downtown. The pictures turned out great but it was traumatic for all three of us. (Plus we paid a ridiculous amount for the pictures, and waited far too long to get them back.) The following year I searched for a photographer that would come to our house and I found Tammy.

We've now had photos done by Tammy five times now, and I've never been disappointed. Her prices are super reasonable and she is the least pretentious person you will ever meet. My husband hates having his picture taken, but you'd never be able to tell from looking at the finished product.  I always feel like more than a client with Tammy.

I highly recommend having portraits done professionally on regular basis. I don't think it's an investment you'll ever regret.

And those of you in the Halifax area should definitely consider having Tammy (http://infinitecreationsnaturally.weebly.com/) take your next family photos! (You can find her on Facebook too.)

Summer Lovin'

Top: Hubby and I in the pool. (Can't believe I'm posting a
picture of myself in my bathing suit!) Bottom: Hubby tipping
 his brother off the floating chair and into the pool.

We finally got some summer weather here in Halifax! The past four days have been absolutely gorgeous. (Almost too hot, though I hate to say that after all the rain we had in June!) We spent three of the past four evenings relaxing in the pool or on the deck at my parents' place. Today my husband's two younger brothers came and joined us. The three of them were just like big kids playing around and splashing in the pool. Daisy came too and splashed around in her kiddie pool and relaxed in the shade. It was so nice to actually spend some time outside in the sunshine.

We're heading to Prince Edward Island this coming weekend to visit hubby's brother and his wife. They're in the process of adopting two children from Africa and there's a chance that they'll be heading over there before the end of the summer so we want to make sure we spend a little time with them before they go. They're two of the loveliest people I know and we always have a great time when we get together. I'm really looking forward to a weekend away too.

Happy Canada Day!

Hubby & I on Canada Day
a couple years ago.

So, it's been a month. I have yet to get into that "routine" that I talked about back at the end of May. (Obviously.) I'm going to try again though. I want to thank Melissa at Dreams & Colour for co-hosting the Canada Day link-up that reminded me of my blog.

Today we're off to our annual church Canada Day barbeque/picnic. Wishing the weather was a little bit better (it's been raining for a week straight here in Halifax) but I'm sure we'll still have a good time. Lots of food and fun coming my way.

Here's hoping I can be a better blogger from now on! Maybe meeting some new Canadian bloggers will help me with my motivation.



My weekend recap

So, I'm a day late, but I actually had a pretty great weekend.

Friday night Jonathan and I decided we needed a date night. My new job is still going well, but I'm exhausted at the end of every day. (Not so much physically as mentally.) We got some gift cards for Christmas for restaurants and the movies so the plan was to head to Boston Pizza and then up to the movie theatre to see either Oz or Identity Thief. Unfortunately we only made it to dinner. By the time I got home from work, and got ready it was later than we thought it would be. And of course there was a wait at BP. So by the time we finished eating we would have had to see a late movie and I still had to get up and work on Saturday. Even though we didn't get to the movie it was still nice to get out and relax over a meal that someone else prepared and cleaned up.

Saturday was a pretty steady day at work. I'm still trying to make things my own, plus do all the day to day stuff, so time is flying. We had signed up to play floor hockey at the church Saturday nights but missed the first two weeks. Jonathan was really looking forward to going this week, but truthfully I was dreading it. Driving home in the car I ran through all of the excuses I could use to get out of it. I got home though and Jonathan had cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed and made supper. Plus he bought me a beautiful necklace because he knew I had a couple stressful weeks. How could I not go to floor hockey now, especially when he was so looking forward to it?

So off we went to floor hockey. We go to a pretty small church so the floor hockey group was a mix of ages; from Jonathan's uncle to 10-year-old Emily and every age in between. In the end I was so glad I had gone. One, I need more physical activity in my life. (I'm definitely a couch potato.) And two, it was fun. We laughed and made jokes and no one took the game too seriously. At "half time" we all had fruit punch and rice krispy squares like a big group of kids. I can't wait for this week.

Sunday morning was church of course, but then, since the weather seemed to be turning spring-like, Jonathan and I decided to take Daisy out for a walk. She loved being in the new SUV, she had tons more space in the back but she could still get up close to us. We tried out a new path and Daisy loved it. Sunday evening was church, groceries, and the Amazing Race. And I was happy with how the race turned out too.

Pretty much a perfect weekend I think.

Hope everyone's week got off to a great start! I'm heading out for lunch with my old boss and then off to work. Hopefully I'll have an chance to get some posts scheduled this week.

Thrift store fail

One of the goals I set for myself for this year was to be more fashionable. I thought about it a little more, and my goal really isn't to be more fashionable, it's to be more put-together and more confident in my clothing. Five out of seven days I'm in a uniform. I'm off Tuesday but tend to spend the day around the house either reading and relaxing or cleaning so I don't worry too much about what I'm wearing. Sunday is church day and I actually have a few decent outfits to wear. It's all the other times that I struggle: going out to dinner, going out with friends, showers, parties, funerals, errands... But, because so much of my time is spent in a uniform I don't want to spend a significant amount of money on my wardrobe.

So today I decided to try some thrift store shopping. My options are limited. (Very limited as far as I can tell.) I had some free time this afternoon so I headed to Value Village to see what I could find. Fail. Big giant fail. I think I was overwhelmed. There were racks and racks of clothing. I wasn't looking for anything in particular so I just picked a section randomly and starting looking at things. And there was so much... crap. In the end I tried on 4 things (two of which originally came from Reitmans, where I do the vast majority of my shopping) but didn't take anything home except a couple of books.

Is there a trick to this whole thift store shopping thing? Am I missing the particular gene that makes somebody good at it? Or is it just one of those things that require practice? Because I have to say, the idea of paying $5.99 for jeans instead of $49.99 is really appealing...

Love life

My goals I set for 2013 were things I want to do to improve myself.

Reading more and watching more movies seems a little silly in that sense, but I think spending time on actitivities like those will help me become a more rounded individual. They'll give me things to talk about and help me relate more to other people.

Fifty new recipes will help me become a better cook/baker and a better wife. My husband deserves more home-cooked meals. And while I don't believe that women belong in the kitchen or anything that, I do want to take care of my husband to the best of my ability.

Obviously eating better and exercising more will help me become a healthier individual. Being healthier will give me more energy and again, help me be a better wife but also hopefully a better friend. I want to have the energy to go out after work and on my day off instead of feeling like I need to use that time to catch up on sleep.

I've thought a little more about my goals and plans for 2013. I want to do a couple other things for me. I'd like to take more pictures. Pictures with an actual camera, not just my Blackberry. I also want to feel better about myself. I think if I do manage to eat healthy and exercise it will definitely help, but even as a "plus size" girl I can still look fashionable. I need to learn how to do that though, and how to do it on a budget. (Suggestions?)  I want to be more organized as well - I had a rare Saturday off today and spent the entire day doing laundry and cleaning my house. I've seen lots of pins on Pinterest about weekly cleaning lists and how to keep your house clean just by spending 20 minutes a day working on it.

There are things I want to happen this year - I want to get pregnant, and I want a promotion. But I have to  remember that those things will happen in their own time and I need to continue living my life.

I think I could sum all my resolutions up that I way - this year my resolution, my ultimate goal, is to live my life and to love my life.

A.W.O.L

Yup, I've been totally AWOL. I'm a little bit disappointed in myself actually. I really thought I would stick with it last time. Apparently I was wrong. However, instead of doing what I usually do and totally scrapping this blog and starting over somewhere else I'm going to try and revive this one.

 I've made some goals/resolutions for 2013 and I think a couple of them will actually help out with giving me things to blog about.

My first goal is to try 50 new recipes this year. Jonathan (my husband) gave me a really nice cookbook for Christmas (Joy of Cooking) so most of the recipes will probably come from it. I still spend a lot of time on Pinterest though so I'm sure there will be some from there too. I've actually tried one already this year, I made a yummy chicken tetrazzini. It was all from scratch (no cans of soup) and turned out really well. Even better was that it made enough for 3 meals, so I froze what we didn't eat and now I have two meals ready to go in the freezer. Hoping to do more cooking ahead this year too.

My second goal is to read 50 books this year. I love reading, but I find in recent years I've spent more time watching TV than I've spent reading and I don't like that. Not that there's anything wrong with watching TV, I enjoy sitting down and watching a good show with Jonathan, but I want to make sure it's not all I'm doing. I've decided to start by re-reading Harry Potter. It's been a while and I really enjoy them. I am looking for suggestions for later though, if anyone has any.

My third goal is to watch 24 movies this year. I know it might seem silly, but I've never really been a movie person. I don't know if I have a really short attention span or what but even if a movie looks really good, I still have a hard time making the decision to spend 2.5 to 3 hours sitting in one place to watch it. I actually saw my first movie of this year on new year's day. I went to see Les Miserables with Jonathan, his sister, and two of his brothers. (For the record, I loved it and definitely recommend it. I was a tiny bit disappointed with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean but I thought the rest of the actors did a wonderful job, especially the little guy who played Gavroche.)

As always, I'm also going to try to eat better/exercise more. Together Jonathan and I have also decided that we're going to be more fiscally responsible this year. We both have pretty good jobs (I actually got a nice raise right before Christmas) but we are irresponsible when it comes to spending. (Me way more than him...) I'd really like to work on paying down some of our debt this year. And of course, one of my goals is to blog at least a couple times a week and find some good blogs to read.

Happy new year!