In memory

Last September my Step father Denis passed away. It was sudden and it was awful but it could have been a lot worse, he could have suffered longer than he did. This lead to my brother Dan and I going to France to be with our mom. Both of us had been to France before and had always wanted to go back but never thought this would be how we would get back there and together no less. When I got home there were cards in the mail box and one of them was from the girls participating in social fund on the unit I work on. They gifted me a gift certificate to a local nursery. I decided, that in the spring I would take my mom out to the nursery and we would pick a tree to plant in my yard in memory of Denis. I wanted a magnolia. These trees can be pricey, so my mom and grandmother decided to pay the difference for my birthday. Finally a week ago Saturday my mom and I went to pick out the tree. This tree called to me right away "take me home."
That evening I dug a hole and planted the tree. Digging the hole wasn't too bad, until I hit rock....solid rock. I did manage to get the hole big enough and I planted the tree (I'll add that my legs hurt so bad the next day, it was hard to walk).  I'm so happy with my little tree, I've planted it in front of the living room window, so I can enjoy it even when I'm inside. I can see it perfectly from my favourite place on the couch while I watch the DVD of the week (currently obsessed with Heartland).

In other news, I got a new cousin yesterday, that I can't wait to snuggle. And my box of Brave Girls goodies arrived...with chocolate (and it wasn't even melted). I hope everyone is enjoying their Monday so far!
xo

Photo shoot.

Hey all,
About a month ago I had the amazing pleasure to have some professional photos done by Julia Busato. Please check out her web site and look her up on Facebook.
These photos were intended to celebrate who I am now. I'll never be in this place again, as humans we are constantly changing. I may not be exactly where I thought I would be at 31 years old but I've learned that I'm exactly where I'm suppose to be. Everything else that I might want, will come when the time is right.

Having these photos taken was a life changing experience. I usually consider myself as plain. My beauty comes from the inside. These photos opened my eyes to how the world really sees me (at least those who matter). My sister Patti says that Julia captured my inner beauty perfectly. I think she did too.
Peace.

Faith Fridays - Counting my blessings

This weeks faith Friday prompt from Courtney Walsh, over @ Telling stories was to document your blessings.
I am a contradiction; I'm an optimist but I also worry a lot. I sometimes tend to focus on what I don't have. I think this is very true of society as a whole, always wanting more, always wanting to do better and we forget about the amazing stuff that is standing right in front of us.

After a wonderful weekend spent at two showers for my sister Patti, hanging out with my niece, a long car ride with Katie, chats with my brother Dan and meeting alot of new people (which btw I really struggle with meeting new people, I always feel so awkward), this LO was really easy for me. One of my biggest blessing is my family and I know Patti, Dan and Katie would say the same thing. Whether that family is the one we were born into or the one we choose.

These are my blessing in no particular order;

A sister in law who speaks her mind.

The chance to travel.

A profession that will allow me many opportunities.

A sister who was my first friend.

Women to women relationships with my Nana and Grandma.

A sister who is more fearless than anyone gives her credit for.

A very special niece and goddaughter.

A huge extended family.

A few very good friends.

A mother who is my biggest fan.

The gift of music.

A brother who is a calm cool head just when it is needed.

A strong father.

A brother in law who has loved me and annoyed me like my own brothers.

A home to call my own, in a town that I love.

A brother I wasn't sure I wanted but that GOD knew I needed.

A GOD who knows me by name.

These are alot of things to be thankful for and that is only the half of it...there are many many more.

Well, I better run. I've got pies to bake for the church BBQ and I better check to see if Dad needs any help installing my new tub surround.

Thanks for stopping by!



My journey through SR2 - Week 6

Well, we've arrived at week six of Soul Restoration 2. Technically it's the last week but the work will go for many months beyond this. This week focused on the work we will continue to do.
I finished up my vision board.This is were I will track my progress, on living the life I was meant to live.

In a box that I made, are activity cards, labeled 5mins, 15mins, 30mins, 2 hours and 1 day. Each card has an activity that will lead me to living the life I was meant to live. When I complete one, I'll glue a token to my vision board. Each card also has a reward on it and an indicator stating how many times I have to complete each activity before I get the reward. Some cards wont have a reward on them because they are a reward in themselves (spend one day with Alexis). Some activities are things I have to do anyway (cut the grass) and I might as well reward myself for it. Other cards are activities I wish I would make more time for, reading a book for 2 hours uninterrupted. I can add cards as I go and get rid of them, if they no longer fit.

I also still have lots and lots of stuff to add to my Life book and lots of goals I want to achieve. I think this will keep me going until @ least the new year. I wont be bored! I know that sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do but I plan on filling my life with as much stuff as I want to do as I can. Everything I do, I'm going to do for me and not feel guilty about it. I'm so excited about that!
Thanks for stopping by.

Faith Fridays - Be Brave

Hi everyone,
Last week Courtney posted this faith prompt "Create a layout or project that focuses on one word or key phrase you know God wants you to focus on. Could be for this season of your life, this week, this month... What is God's plan for you in this moment?" on her blog. Here is my LO.

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I've been taking online classes with the amazing girls @ Brave Girls Club. One thing that I have learned about myself, is that I am much braver than I thought.  I have done a lot of things that have required great bravery. Owning my own home, calling my grandmother from the hospital early in the morning when my grandfather was dying and she needed to come, being a nurse, these things are very brave. But so is cutting the grass of that home you own, having glamour shots done, joining committees even though you are shy, going to a wedding when you are sure the only person you will know is the groom. Something else that is brave? Living the life you were meant to live, even if that means that for now you'll have to wait for your husband and your babies.
The journalling on this LO is from the movie We bought a Zoo. " You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Literally just 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery and I promise you, something great will come of it."  I'm going to try to live like that.

Thank you for coming by. Love you all!

My journey through SR2 -Week 5

Well week five of Soul Restoration 2 is complete, week six starts today.
The lesson this week was all about decisions and rules. We made this little book;

When faced with a decision, no matter how small, we are to go to this book and ask ourselves the questions in it. For example "Will I feel like I have to hide this decision from anyone who I love and respect? Why would I have to hide it?"  OR "Is this something I really want in my life?" It might seem like common sense but we often ignore these questions or know the answer and refuse to listen to it. It might mean letting go of things that I thought I wanted but are no longer right for me or it might mean doing something that scares the crap out of me. If it will lead me to the life I was meant to have, I'll do it. :)

It also comes with rules.

Like, " I will make the BEST decisions only and not settle for good enough." I am looking forward to trying these out.

Thanks for stopping by!

My journey through SR2 - Week 4

Hi everyone, here is week four's instalment of Soul Restoration 2 by Brave Girls.
Week four focused on identifying our road blocks/landmines that keep us from completing our goals.  I have a lot of them.

My landmines.

I wont go over all of them but here are a few:
Feeling guilty for sacrificing other things to work on this goal - in order to work on some of these goals, that will mean that my house will not always be tidy, laundry wont always be put away, my lawn will be cut but might not always be weeded and I'll have to say no to other activities, this is hard for me because I want to be able to do everything.

Paralyze myself thinking about my fears - goals can be really scary sometimes and not just that but they can be very overwhelming. Like my garden for example; It's huge, so that's why I only picked a small part to start with. I've learned that sometimes the most scary things are the most worth it.

Get discouraged when a few amazing days are followed by crappy days. I ask myself, what's the point? - Like last week, I had an amazing weekend and then last week sucked, I was sick and spent most of it on the couch. But I have to remember that that's the way it goes sometimes.

Get lost on the computer or television - I love TV. I can almost always find something on and if not, I've got DVDs I can watch. I'm glad that the regular TV season is almost over. I don't revolve myself around TV as much as I use to and have learned that if I'm resorting to talk shows or reality TV then I need to go and do something else. The computer can be bad too, I waste a lot of time on it. It got better when I moved into my house and the computer was moved into the spare room and not in the living room anymore. I'm trying hard to limit my time on it and it's almost always turned off by 8 in the evening.

So those are a few of my landmines and now that I have identified what they are, it will be easier to stop them from happening. It's also comforting to know that I'm not alone, others have these same landmines as me.

I feel like we have done soooo much work in this class already, I'm looking forward to what Melody has in store for the next two weeks!

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful day!