Can it really have been over 3 months since my last post?!? I can't believe it but, the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the blog! This could be a long one since there has been a bit going on around here! Our summer was much too short and the weather never really seemed to co-operate and when it did, it seemed to be a work day when we couldn't take advantage of it. Our fall has been a completely different story and has been beautiful. We've had some visitors for the last few weeks. My Mom & Dad arrived on the 29th of September with my niece, Leandra! My sister, Patti, was working here in Calgary for a week so, Leandra came out with Mom & Dad and she & Patti spent the weekend with us! We went to Banff and had a great time visiting. Dania loved her BIG cousin Leandra and I'm really looking forward to the next time they are together!
Our next adventure with Mom & Dad was that we had our family pictures done! We got pictures done with both sets of grandparents and it doesn't seem like much of a challenge until you remember that my busy little boy is not quite two and has a hard time sitting still for very long! They turned out great and we will have some great keepsakes for the kids! I love that we were able to get these done while Mom & Dad were here. I never got pictures done with Nana & Cayden and it is one of my regrets so, I decided to take advantage of having everyone here and I just booked the appointment & we did it!
Work has been going well but, I have been picking up a few additional shifts. Working 3 days a week is perfect but, financially it is really tight! The one day extra a week actually makes a huge difference so, until we get that big lotto win, (wink, wink, karma are you listening!) I'll keep picking up some extra days. It's a good thing I love what I do!! Today was a perfect reminder of that! I had a first-timer(a mammogram virgin, if you will!) and when we were done the exam, she gave me a big hug and thanked me for doing what I do! It is definitely moments like that which make everything I do worthwhile!
Dania turned 4 in August, how can that have happened?!? We had a birthday party for her and, yes, she got a bouncy castle again. We actually had it for about 3 hours longer than we thought we would and the kids were in it for every single minute of it. It is definitely money well-spent since I know she won't like bouncy castles forever! This year she had the Princess castle Deluxe so she felt like a pretty special little girl, thank you Daddy!!
So, I think that's about it to catch everyone up and I am sorry it has been such a long time since I've blogged, it's feels good to be back and getting stuff off my chest! Hope everyone has had a good weekend and I'll be updating again soon!
Wow, it has been a long time since I've written a post. I can't even blame it on being super busy but, time does seem to get away from me lately. Cayden is 18 months old now. He had his last set of shots until he's 4.5 on Wednesday and he weighs 27.5lbs and is 34" tall. Good and healthy!! He is definitely a boy through-and-through. He climbs EVERYTHING and gets into even more stuff. Dania was busy when she was little but, she had nothing on this child. She learned the word "NO" really quickly but, Cayden thinks "NO" means, I'll just try it when they aren't looking! He's not really a bad child just terribly mischievous.
Work has been going well, getting used to the couple of hours I spend on the road each day getting there and back. I've learned to appreciate that time and enjoy listening to MY music or the radio and not listening to the latest Princess movie playing in the background. It's been nice getting back into a routine as well. I function much better when I have a bit of a schedule. I feel like I have the perfect balance of work-home life! Trust me though, if I win the big lotto I won't turn it down, LOL!!
Things otherwise are really good. Dania turns 4 in just over a month and I'm not sure where that time went. She has been invited to her first birthday sleepover on Saturday night so, we'll see how that goes. Does that mean she's not my baby anymore?!? Won't be long now and she'll be starting kindergarten, that is a hard thought to imagine but, it will be here before I know it.
Graham & I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on July 13. Even that seems hard to believe. Who would have thought that a blind date through an online dating service would turn into this!! It's been a busy but, wonderful five years and I am looking forward to many more happy years with him! It's funny how our lives seem to turn out exactly how they were meant to, some of us just takes a few detours along the way to get there! I have had my fair share of detours but, would do it all again to end up here!
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, it's Stampede week here in Calgary! It's so great to experience the different vibe in the city when Stampede is here! Hope everyone enjoys a beautiful weekend with people they love! Take care all xo
Mom & Dad are on their way back home to New Brunswick. I hate the "good-bye day" almost as much today as I did that first time 15 years ago. The only thing that makes it a little easier is knowing I have my little munchkins to make it all better. They are at the dayhome today but, I'm sure Dania will be missing her Noni & Poppa tomorrow. Cayden calls for Poppa all the time but, I'm sure he'll get over it much quicker than Dania. As for me, I am like the water fountain, I cry so much when they leave and just feel so down for a few days afterwards.
We had such a great visit and I know they'll be back before I know it but, the first few days are always hard for me. Makes me appreciate my little monkeys just a bit more because I know sooner than I can imagine, it will be me saying good-bye to them! I think it is harder for Mom & Dad to say good-bye now because of the kids. They really notice the changes when they come to visit and everytime it gets more fun for them. I'm looking forward to their next visit in the fall!
Now if only the weather would get better so we could start enjoying some outdoor time as a family! Let's see how that goes but, don't hold your breath, just in case! Enjoy your week everyone!
Mom & Dad arrived in Okotoks yesterday around 3 pm. They left Sussex, NB on Tuesday and headed across Canada to get to us. It's something they've always wanted to do so, now they can check it off their bucket lists. We didn't tell Dania they would be arriving yesterday so, when the doorbell rang we let her answer it! There was a moment of disbelief and then, "Noni, what are you doing here?". It was so great! Neither of the kids have let Noni & Poppa out of their sight since they arrived.
They always seem to notice big changes in the kids when they come to visit but, this time there have been a lot! The biggest one is that Cayden is mobile and into EVERYTHING! There is definitely a huge difference between our son and daughter. Dania was busy as a baby but, Cayden gets into things that Dania never thought of. His favourite place right now is the pantry! He gets in there, shuts the door and pulls as much as he can off the shelves before someone catches him in there. Once he's caught he just gives you his dimply smile and runs out! A few minutes later he's right back in there!
Looking forward to a great visit with Mom & Dad. Hoping the weather is going to keep improving so we can do some stuff outside. They will be heading home near the end of April and driving back through the States. We are planning to join them for a few days in Montana and then we'll say our goodbyes there.
Hope everyone had a great weekend! I'm looking forward to a great week!
I have returned to the real world after my whirlwind trip! It was a great 36 hours but, it was also nice to come home to my family, just wish the Santa Monica weather could have been packed in my luggage! I'll give you a bit of a run-down of the get-away!
I left Calgary Thursday around noon and got into LA at about 3pm. I flew First Class and what great treatment I got! It's really too bad the airline personnel don't treat every passenger the same. We got to board first, we had real glasses & mugs, real plates and silverware for the meal. Yes, that's correct, we had a MEAL on the flight! Our snack was mixed nuts (almonds and cashews) and then strawberry cheesecake for dessert! It was a nice treat. My luggage was the first onto the carousel when I arrived in LA and my driver(a wonderful lady named Marina) took me to the FitOrbit head office.
I finally got to meet Hayley, we had been exchanging emails since I won the contest, and she gave me my itinerary for the next day. I had Thursday evening to myself to do what I wanted.(if you guessed I went shopping, you guessed correctly!!) After the stop at FitOrbit head office, I headed to the hotel where they didn't have a reservation for me. (The one downfall when all the details are left in someone else's hands, LOL!) Luckily, they had lots of rooms for the night so they put me into an ocean view room! Once that was all settled, Marina took me over to the pedestrian mall (the 3rd Street Promenade). I did a lot of window shopping and people watching and checked out the new mall in the area called Santa Monica Place. It was a nice evening and the weather was perfect. After that I headed back to the hotel and had supper sitting out by the pool. It was a great day!
Friday started early - breakfast arrived at 6:30, shower and then Marina picked me up at 7:45. We headed to "The Gym on Nemo" where I had my workout with celebrity trainer Holly Perkins. The gym is quite exclusive with lots of celebrities as members. (There were none there while I was working out, imagine my sad face!!) Holly was amazing and worked me out for about an hour and a half. She sent me home with a workout that I can easily continue to do at home so, I'll keep you posted with the progress. When we win the lottery I'm going to get myself a membership to that gym so Holly can be my personal trainer, she was so GREAT!!
The next part of the trip was lunch with Jake Steinfeld, he's the founder of FitOrbit. He is famous for Body by Jake products, Exercise TV and he is the owner of the professional outdoor lacrosse league. We went to an Italian Restaurant that was so good! It is a bit of a celebrity hang-out, John Mayer was there for lunch, it was fun to people watch and have Jake point out the important people. He is such a funny, down-to-earth guy and it was a very enjoyable lunch. I was a bit nervous to meet him but, he makes you feel like you've known him forever when you're with him!
After lunch it was time to start heading home. Marina took me on a bit of a tour of Venice Beach, Malibu and Marina Del Ray so it was nice to see a bit of the sights and then it was back to the airport. Got checked in and through security with LOTS of time to spare. Had a quick supper and just relaxed with some magazines. We had a bit of a delay out of LA, we had no pilots, and we made our connection in San Francisco by only a couple of minutes. (It kind of felt like we were trying to get to the Pit Stop on Amazing Race!)
I arrived back in Calgary at about 12:30am and again had my luggage come first off the plane but, then had a bit of a delay for customs to go through my luggage. (Guess they thought I was smuggling liquor or tobacco, LOL!!) Got home just after 1 am and have never been happier to be home with my family.
It was such a great experience and I feel very lucky to have been the Grand Prize winner (apparently there were over 100,000 people who entered the contest). It was a treat to get the night away, thanks to my wonderful husband who stayed home to parent. The weather was gorgeous and it was hard coming back to the -30 weather but, not hard to come back to the family!! Now, I'm back to my real world but, I have some wonderful memories of my few hours of being a VIP!
Hope everyone is having a great week!
As most of you know, a couple weeks ago was a bit of a bumpy ride for me. With everything bad there was actually a little bit of good. After my ultrasound that confirmed the bad news about the pregnancy that wasn't to be, I went home to check my emails. I had almost 200 emails to go through(I get ALOT of spam!!) There was one with a title "Congratulations" from Hayley Maxwell (not a name I knew) that almost got deleted but, it wasn't marked spam so, thought I'd better check it. About four emails below it was one from Groupon with a title "Congrats! Groupon and FitOrbit Grand Prize Winner". I was going to delete it because I had already had a pretty bad day and didn't want to hear about the person who won the Grand Prize because I was pretty sure it wasn't me. I gave in to my curiosity, opened it and to my surprise it was ME who was the Grand Prize winner.
I barely remembered entering the contest but, once I thought back, I realized I had won a trip to LA. I am leaving on March 3rd (by myself) and fly to LA first class. I'm staying at The Viceroy hotel in Santa Monica and I get to meet the man who started FitOrbit, Jake Steinfeld. I have lunch with him and then I have a workout with one of their elite trainers. FitOrbit is an online training program so, I'm pretty excited (read, scared to death) to work out with one of their elite trainers!
I was going to post sooner about this but, I was having a hard time believing it was true but, I now have my airline tickets hotel reservation so, I guess there is no turning back! I'm very excited to go on this trip but, I'm nervous because it's the first time in a long time that I've travelled by myself. It is a very quick trip but, it will be a nice getaway for me. I'm staying just a few blocks from where we were a couple years ago so, at least it's familiar territory for me. (Plus, there is a brand new mall about 3 blocks away that I'm thinking about checking out!!)
I promise that I'll let everyone know how the trip went when I get back, that should be an interesting post, LOL!
Enjoy your weekend everyone and I'll be back soon!
One of my favorite apps on my iPod right now is called Top 100's. It plays the top 100 songs by year starting at 1947 and it goes all the way up to 2010. Before bed last night, Graham & I were playing our version of "name that tune", the 1980's version. It was so funny! It amazes me how many memories can come flooding back just by hearing the first few lyrics of some songs.
You can deny it all you want but, I bet everyone of us can remember a song that brings back those awful memories of the Jr High or High School dances where you waited patiently and hoped that special guy(or girl) would look in your direction so you could catch their eye(even better, they might come ask you to dance). Then, if you were lucky enough for them to ask you to dance, remember how awkward and uncomfortable it was that first time.
I have one song, 99 Red Balloons, that always brings back skating memories for me. It was one of my last years of skating and I got to be the finale to our Ice Show. I skated to that song and at the end we had my Dad strategically placed behind the boards so I could grab a balloon(red, of course) and let it go at the end of the program. I know it sounds so cheesy but, I felt so important to close out the Ice Show and was a star in my own mind.
What about all the great love songs of the 80's?!? How many of us can't link at least one of them to our first great heartbreak, at least what we thought at the time would be the heartbreak that would keep us from ever finding anyone AGAIN! God, we were so melodramatic as teenagers!! How many of us can't say we danced with the ONE(at the time) to "Stairway to Heaven"? It seemed to always be the favorite at the end of the night. I have a few unpleasant memories of that song because it's a LONG song and it seems to double in length when you are uncomfortable with your dance partner.
I loved the music of the 80's-90's and I know I'm dating myself by saying that but, I don't care. I'm am loving my musical trip down memory lane and hope everyone is having a great weekend.
Our next adventure with Mom & Dad was that we had our family pictures done! We got pictures done with both sets of grandparents and it doesn't seem like much of a challenge until you remember that my busy little boy is not quite two and has a hard time sitting still for very long! They turned out great and we will have some great keepsakes for the kids! I love that we were able to get these done while Mom & Dad were here. I never got pictures done with Nana & Cayden and it is one of my regrets so, I decided to take advantage of having everyone here and I just booked the appointment & we did it!
Dania turned 4 in August, how can that have happened?!? We had a birthday party for her and, yes, she got a bouncy castle again. We actually had it for about 3 hours longer than we thought we would and the kids were in it for every single minute of it. It is definitely money well-spent since I know she won't like bouncy castles forever! This year she had the Princess castle Deluxe so she felt like a pretty special little girl, thank you Daddy!! 