in the blink of an eye...

january has come and gone.

i feel pretty good about it though.
i had chosen the word HAPPY
as my focus for 2016
and january, which is normally
not a great month for me,
has been pretty
damn happy.

january brought::
-good news that i was not expecting
-windows of time to see both family and friends
for suppers and coffee dates and trips to the farmer's market for....

waffles!!!!

a trip to see star wars in 3D with this guy that i love...

a date night in the big city...and a new coloring book!

and now we are coming into february...
for this month, i want to try to focus on a few other things:

so many things, so little time!!
:)

hello 2016!

and so long 2015...it's been fun!

i love going back & looking at the past year...
what worked, what didn't...what changed and
what i realize now that i want to change.

this year, instead of reading through journals
i re-read all of my facebook statuses and
went through my photos...
sign of the times.
(well, for someone like me anyway...
who posts probably more than anyone needs to, heh).

2015 RECAP

i read 8 books in 2015.  EIGHT books.
i mean seriously.  that is embarrassing.
i used to read 8 books in a WEEK.
 

LOVED the land of decoration...was a little disappointed by Adult Onset (but the bar was raised high with Fall on Your Knees & will likely never be met again).  LOVED the museum of extraordinary things.

STUFF I WAS PROUD OF:

  • started this squarespace website and imported my blog onto it...which was terrifying for me to do.  Almost as terrifying as the decision to allow people to know about the blog. :)
  • tried improv and it was fun!!
  • told a story at storytelling circle which made me feel ill but was glad that i did it.
  • VOTED FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER
  • did nablopomo for November and only missed one day!
  • auditioned for a part in a play...and got one!  (which...is also terrifying).
  • shot 3 weddings in 3 days (& i did not cry)
  • did school photos for the first time and it was so much fun! 
  • planted two little gardens
  • made a cucumber!

this guy graduated (& I couldn't have been prouder) <3

these were my most liked photos on facebook...hahahaha....from sock monkeys to middle fingers to burn outs and snails...this is the story of my life.

2015 was the year that I

  • made a firm commitment to take 2017 off from photography
  • saw the counting crows
  • waited with the world in anticipation of the muppet comeback
  • got really really lost on a dirt road
  • made a pugosaur for halloween
  • realized i loved blueberry bagels
  • had my lost fitbit replaced and then FOUND my lost fitbit a couple of months later
  • made my whole family into Peanuts
  • dyed my hair black again
  • followed geese
  • looked for F18's and snowbirds
  • took pugsley for his first dairy bar ice cream
  • tried to get photos of a flock of seagulls in a McDonald's parking lot
  • fell twice, for the SAME wedding
  • began a solar toy obsession
  • survived both emma and campbell going away on trips
  • did photo-a-day project until May this time!  Better each year!
  • complained on FB about my lilac shortage so long that someone made a sweet delivery of lilacs to my doorstep!

2015 you were a fairly good year
and 2016 is looking pretty damn promising already! :)
Moving forward with an open mind/heart and a
sense of humor...I'm a man with a plan, stan....bring it on.
I'm ready! 

i feel pretty lucky...

i don't know what else i can say about my dad
that i have not said before...
funny and sweet, smart and creative...

i absolutely adore this man.

and then there is the man that i married...
the man that makes me laugh even on the days
when i don't think i can...
the guy that convinced my somewhat hardened heart
that we should get a dog again,
even though after putting Hobbes down,
my heart didn't know if it could stand it.
the sweetest, funniest, smartest dad to our two offspring...
he jokes, he roars, he teases, he listens...he loves.

and i love him with a love that cannot be explained in words...

there was a graduation...

3 years ago in June,
my heart nearly stopped
and my life was changed
in many, many ways
but every day, i remember that it could
have been changed in a much worse way.

my husband was involved in a very bad motorcycle accident in 2012
and, although his leg will probably never be the same as it used to be,
it has come a long way and he is alive...
for that alone, i am incredibly grateful.

he was told he can never do construction work again
which was also life altering...
that's what he has done his whole life.

2 years ago, my husband went back to school
to be a computer programmer.
a huge change in directions...one of the oldest in the class,
still dealing with leg issues and physiotherapy and constant pain...
there was a kid in his class
who was in our daughter's grade one class,
who had played at our house as a kid...
which doesn't help you feel young.
plus it was a steep learning curve...like learning a new language,
and he started later than everyone else in the class...
it was definitely a challenge.

Sunday...he graduated.

i am incredibly happy for him and proud of him.... :) :) :)