Monday, September 26, 2011

A Weekend Recap

Between birthday celebrations, gorgeous weather which meant long afternoon walks, youth, church, and breakfast dates, the weekend flew right by.

Friday, the family came over for dinner to celebrate Derek's birthday. Between us kids and 3 animals, it was a loud and busy evening. Can you just imagine what it's going to be like when there are kids added to the mix one day???? Crazy!

The birthday boy!

Sunday morning at about 6am, I got a lovely text message from my sister-in-law, Dominika, suggesting that we go for breakfast at Cora's later that morning. Even though I was woken up from a most enjoyable sleep, I will never turn down a breakfast at Cora's. The company was pretty great too!

For the first time in years, I ventured away from my usual "April '89" meal to the "1990's Harvest". It was worth the switch!


 To end of a perfect weekend, Aleah and I got together to skype with Rachael and Heidi in Abbotsford all while enjoying Portuguese wine together. The only thing that was missing was our balcony in Portugal! 
I am sooooo thankful I was blessed with these 3 lovely women on my TREK team last year and I continue to be reminded of that. Two and a half hours of solid conversation passed us by far too quickly. Ladies, hopefully we can make the Remembrance Day weekend work for a road trip. Oh how great that would be!


Friday, September 23, 2011

Chalkboard Fun

This summer I found a fun picture frame at a garage sale, but upon buying it, taking it home and  needing to get glass cut to and trying to find the right picture to go in it, I decided I didn't like it as a picture frame. It needed another use. I've always wanted to work with chalkboard paint, so I figured, hey, I can turn this completely useless picture frame into a completely functional chalkboard. So here's how it turned out:


frame: $0.50 - garage sale
white acrylic paint for frame: $0 (already owned)
wood board to go inside frame: $0 (found a scrap piece in the garage)
chalkboard spray paint: $7 (Rona)
Total Cost: $7.50

Pretty awesome deal if you ask me!

Monday, September 19, 2011

PSL Goodness

These little cupcakes seem to be all the rage on Pinterest, so I figured, I should probably try them out. Especially since PSL's are a pretty big love of mine. Here is the recipe I used:
http://annies-eats.net/2011/09/06/pumpkin-spice-latte-cupcakes/



 Instead of using just a heavy cream like the recipe called for, I decided to amp it up with whipping cream with a splash of white vanilla.

The nice thing about these little treats is that they taste amazing just on their own, sans icing. I chose not to ice all of my cupcakes, just in case I felt like being a little more healthier :)

 They taste just as incredible as they look. I would definitely recommend trying these out. I can guarantee you that these are now going to be a fall staple around this house, that's for sure.

My house is now filled with the aroma of pumpkin and coffee. Fall is here and it is oh so good.


Sunday, September 18, 2011

My Little Piece of Heaven

It's hard to believe that a summer has passed by and I did not venture out to the cottage at all. Let me just say, that was not by choice. One of my favorite places on earth is still currently under high water levels and it makes me very sad to think that this is the place I grew up spending my summers. It still seems somewhat surreal to think that this is our cottage reality. But as I watch the news and hear of others whose homes are completely destroyed in the area, I am thankful that I still have a roof over my head and I am not being put up in a downtown hotel. However, it still is sad.

My dad has been going out to the cottage on a semi regular basis to check things out and move more personal belongings back to the city. It's hard to say when we might be able to start rebuilding as we have to wait for the water to go down quite a bit more. I'm hoping that next summer we might be able to spend at least a little bit of time there, even if it does involve doing a ton of clean-up. 

Our poor deck.


our new view off the deck.

ugh. lots of clean up ahead


The main road to the cottage

The waves can get pretty intense on windy days



As far as our actual cabin goes, it is still fine and dry inside. Thankfully our deck, in it's damaged state is protecting the cabin from the waves. However, we still don't know if there is structural damage that needs to be repaired - something we mostly likely will find out later this fall when the water recedes.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Feeling Settled

After 2 months of being home and trying to establish a new kind of normal, I am happy to say that it feels like it's almost there, and it only took a few days of work to make it feel that way. Summer was great - we had record high temperatures and many of them, but for those who know me, know that my head does not do well in extreme heat or with humidity, so I stayed indoors for a good chunk of those so called fabulous days. I won't complain though because our summer truly was fabulous.

As of September 1st I started back at work, which felt GREAT! For the first time since being back home I felt like I had purpose in my day. I am a girl who enjoys her routines and schedules and so it is good to have that back in my life. I realize that I will probably never have 2 months off again in my life, so I tried to enjoy the time and space to find my feet again. But being back at work is wonderful. I love my job and I love my co-workers and I love my clients. It's been a good week and a half of reconnecting with people. I am still taking it quite slow with work - I am only seeing 1-2 clients a day in order to make sure my wrist does not over do it. My wrist is feeling good. No pain, just some tiredness at the end of my massages, but that is probably do to the fact that I have not used these muscles for a year. So until I have the go ahead to increase from my surgeon, I am taking it slow and one day at a time - not a bad way to get into things either :)

September brings a myriad of goodness with it. Not only is it the beginning of my favorite and the best season ever...FALL, but it brings new beginnings like work, volleyball and youth and delicious drinks like pumpkin spice lattes (which I have been privileged to indulge in twice already). I am ready for crisp fall days where when you walk, the leaves crunch beneath your feet, I am ready for jeans and awesome boots, sweaters, scarves and beautiful fall coats. I get all giddy just thinking about it! I say bring it on!!! I am entering this new season with contentment and much peace and that feels soooo good.

Now, time to fill up my coffee cup and do some crosswords and enjoy a lazy Sunday.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

A Rainy Afternoon

A rainy and cool weekend is a perfect time to make some of this heavenly goodness.


Add in a cup of Portuguese coffee and a crossword and you have perfection!