christmas goodness

Have you ever wondered how it's possible to get so much satisfaction out a full cupboard? I opened my cupboards today to find them filled with christmas goodies and snacks. After feeling like mother hubbard all exam season, this is a wonderful treat.

We have been decorating for Christmas. The Christmas tree is up, which looks a little different this year but I love it so much.

I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas season and enjoying the company of loved ones.

welcome winter. i am not ready for you.

umm, it's cold here. And not a good time to have single pane windows. Check out the inside of my bedroom window.

 

That's my kitchen window. There's no way that thing's opening.

So, yep. Let's all cross our fingers for a bit of a thaw shall we?

gypsy love

How, I wish I could pull off this kind of style. Since our trip to Hornby Island this summer, i am in love with the hippie, nature-child life. Anyways, i love this photo. What an adorable engagement pic. You can see it all here.

happy thoughts

this video is so so so sweet. And apparently much needed around here. I am stuck at the computer today writing a 3000 word paper on an ill-defined topic and it's due on Tuesday. I just went to visit my boyfriend in the bedroom where he's taken shelter from my ticky typing and odd growling noises. He wrote me a song on his guitar which he calls "when my girlfriend is grumpy on Sunday mornings".  Ah yes. There's nothing I'd like to do more than prove him wrong but this paper isn't going away. Ah, well, I enjoyed the rest of my weekend.

Be prepared to smile.


Postcards From Italy from ForYouLoveMe on Vimeo.

One flew over

Recently I have been feeling a bit, well, shall we say antsy. I have been prone to sudden, yet subtle, pouty mood swings in which my subconscious begins to ponder whether or not the boyfriend really loves me as much as he says he does. Meanwhile, my conscious-self tries to hide the crazy from the boyfriend while also trying to elicit soothing, loving gestures from him to soothe the angst of my subconscious. Since there is nothing i am more sure of in this world than the fact that we love each other like shooting stars and rainbows, this terrible display of ridiculousness has been a bit frustrating.

The trouble is, I don't like waiting, and I don't like not knowing how much longer I have to wait. I just want to tell people already and shout from the rooftops that WE ARE IN LOOOVE!!!*&#^!%!!!!

So today, I tried to have a conversation without having a conversation and it ended like this:

him: well, we'd kind of lose the surprise.

me: yeah, but it's happening?

him: it's happening.

And now I can wait, happily, hopefully non-crazily, until it really happens.

weddings i like

It's been a while since I saw a wedding that made me pause and soak it in, then look at it all over again. But this one has a sweet simple charm about it. And it's in Vancouver! I've actually been to this wedding venue before. Enjoy...

A little self-acknowledgement

Over at Los Angeles Love, she writes "I f*cking rule Friday" and celebrates her accomplishments over the week. This week, that sounds really good to me so let's give er a try.

I f*cking rule this week because.... I am letting my ambition run freely and I'm embracing opportunities as they come. So often, something awesome comes along and I find a bunch of reasons why it wouldn't be possible and just let the idea drift away. I've been satisfying myself with the status quo for so long and not even looking for opportunities to be happy and have what I want. Well no more! I am taking this life for all it's got to offer.

So I f*cking rule because....

I am starting my own business. Yep, I am. It's just a little baby business at the moment but I'm taking the steps towards a child size business, and eventually a full grown business. I am starting a wedding photography business. Because you know what? I take good photos, and I like it. And I know I have more to offer brides than just the generic smiling and jumping photos that get passed around as wedding photography in this town. So yep, slowly but surely I am doing this thing. It would have been so easy to tell myself that it's a stupid idea, or i'm not good enough, or i don't know enough, or it just wouldn't work. But I didn't and that pretty f*cking awesome.

I f*cking rule because I am kicking ass in my Masters degree. Yep, sometimes it kicks my ass too but this week I have been proactive, taking control and gettin 'er done.

I f*cking rule because I am kicking ass with the boyfriend. I have managed this week to eke out more time to just hang around with him and honour our relationship. On Wednesday we spent three hours lying in bed and talking. After last week's madness we really needed that time and space and I'm f*cking proud to say that I was smart enough to realize that, and actually make the time to do it. It was lovely, restful, and just what we needed.

I f*cking rule because I am taking opportunities to grow and be more. I found a job posting for a really awesome part-time job that would bring in some much needed moolah this year while I'm in school until the contract expires in March. And it would be great for my career. The time commitment is a little high, but i'm not letting that stop me. I plan to apply and if I get an interview, I plan to sell them on the fact that they  need to hire me because I will save them money by doing the job more efficiently than someone else, in less time, and I'll do it better! A little ballsy, but I like it.

One last thing, I finally invested in the stock market. I'd had money sitting in an online investing account just waiting for me to put it somewhere, anywhere, for months. I finally figured out how to buy stocks and I pressed the d*mn button!

No more telling myself that I can't, or sabotaging myself by not working hard for what I want. No more playing by the rules. I will not take what I am given, I will go for what I want! I will have my cake and eat it too! I will drink every last drop that this beautiful, wonderful life has to offer!

Charity

You guys remember the typewriter story? Well after that I kind of decided I didn't need a typewriter anyway, and where the heck would i even put it? But I did tell my mother about the experience. And she told some friends of hers about it. And I guess they were pretty eager to get rid of their old typewriter, because the next time I spoke to my mom she said there was a typewriter waiting for me in the garage.

Really the last thing I needed was an old typewriter to deal with but apparently I had inherited this one and there was no undoing it. My parents brought it to thanksgiving and left it out on the porch in an old yellowed cover that greeted us when we arrived. A round of jokes were told throughout the night at our expense and we were warned not to try and leave it behind. So we lugged the extremely heavy thing home with us at the end of the night.

At home we got a better look at it. I sat it on our bedroom dresser.

and I'm kind of in love with it.

whooff

hi! yes, i'm still alive! but not for much longer if grad school has anything to say about it. My program is great but i have not worked this much.... ever. I'm not sure how hard I thought it'd be exactly. I guess I thought that the difficult weeks would come and go like they did in my undergrad. Instead after a week or two of luring us in and making us feel all warm and fuzzy they've gradually begun to bury us under papers and books and presentations and extra presentation this very afternoon that you must attend. So, I'm good but feeling the need to catch my breath. We have a week off coming up- reading week- and I plan to work just as hard through that week so I don't die in the following weeks.

One thing is leading me forward.... Turkey! Canadian Thanksgiving is just around the corner, woohoo!

a stunner

This one needs to be savoured.