My first outdoor Halloween decorating

I have never been lucky enough to have a front yard to decorate

during the holidays, so when we moved in our new place back in

June, I knew I was going to enjoy Halloween because it would 

mean I could deck out the front yard and stoop with all fun,

spooky things for the trick or treater's to enjoy. 

Today was one of those days where, although it wasn't a

sunny day, at least it wasn't raining like it has been, so

I set out for a few hours of fun and decorating. I figured that

most of the decorations I have collected over the years 

would withstand our climate and after a few hours, I had

what I believe, to be an awesomely decorated yard.

I was so proud of my spooky creation, that I had

Tim snap a picture of me afterwards, just call me

the nice witch on the block, hehehe!!!

The tree just outside our yard allowed me to hang not only

spider webbing, but also some shrunken heads I've had

for a while that I found at the dollar store.

I lined our fence with a string of leaf garland, and then 

topped it with some rubber pumpkins that I had totally

forgotten I had got last year on clearance after Halloween.

Add a few plastic rats and mice, and you already feel

a bit eerie walking up to the front door.

And well, why not be greeted by a scary, gruesome head

just resting on the hedges at the front of the house.

Up at the front of the yard, there is a pirate graveyard, 

protected by the heads of said pirates, protecting their

kin from grave robbers and the like. 

Unfortunately, they didn't do a great job of protecting the

graves and most of the bones have just been scattered

around the site, making a great feeding site for the

cockroaches seen walking along the bones. 

The front stoop is a mixture of things,

with my hanging pirate, my headless

horseman and a bit of witch things, like

straw brooms, a hat and a cauldron

full of eyeballs, and fingers.

Beware the angry, scary black cat that

feels a bit threatened by strangers.

A close up of those pumpkins on the

fence line, they also look a bit questionable

as far as their personalities, as they look a

bit suspicious to me.

I so can't wait until Halloween night, I want

to see those little tricker treaters enjoying the

spooky house and feeling maybe a bit

scared at the same time. Oh the fun of this

special time of year. 

Love etching in the sand

I have always loved etching hearts in the wet sand whenever

I've walked the beach, from a teenager on. Maybe it's 

because I've been blessed with the best husband in

the world, and feel that love best expresses what

I am most blessed with in this life of mine. This photo

was taken on our California vacation this past week,

and the evening sun  hit the wet sand so perfectly that

this photo just glows and has so much feeling to it.

I will share more of our vacation photos and memories in

the coming weeks, but for now, just bask in the warmth this

photo evokes. And may you all be blessed with love in

your lives, whether in a soul mate, a child or a loving

mother or father. 

Below is the same etching but at a lower angle, and

the sun has set a bit lower in the sky. Love the colors

in this one, the shadows, the feeling, and the warmth.

Finally Fall has arrived

Now that fall has arrived, I am looking forward to finally

finding that balance between home, work and some

time for myself. This past summer has seemed so hectic,

crazy and without any form of normalcy at all. It seemed 

to not only fly by, but we worked so hard and so much

that when the sun was shining and we could escape from

reality for even just a few hours we were out the door, 

to seek whatever adventure awaited us.

That being said, and don't get me wrong, I enjoyed our

summer adventures, but I am a creature of habit, of

routines and I like order in my life, and I have not had

that these past 3 months, and now I feel that it's time

to return to things that make me whole, keep me sane

and make me feel at peace with myself and with those

around me. And the shorter days, cooler nights,

will help bring some of that back to me. Those nights

with warm hot chocolate, candles aglow and the 

fireplace going will help me regain some inner balance

that I've been lacking these past few months.

For those of you who know me well, you would be

very surprised to see the state of things around my

home right now, there is no order to things,

vacuuming and dusting are just a thought in the

back of my mind and my usually clean and very

organized home just doesn't exist these days.

So this simple leaf, fallen off it's tree, covered in

water droplets, that I took a picture of yesterday, 

helps me focus on what is to come, Fall, my favorite

time of year, and hopefully it will find me back

in balance with myself and my surrounding.

He loves me

Nothing say I love you then a random stop on the way home

by hubby after running some errands, and then when he comes

back to the truck and is standing by your door holding

a wonderful bouquet of flowers. How awesome is that?

I honestly was thinking he was in a snacky mood and ran

in to get his usual snack of cheese nibs, so while I was

cruising IG waiting in the truck, I had no idea I would

be so happily surprised in a few short minutes :)

When I asked him what they were for, he simply said, because,

you haven't had flowers in a while, and I felt like getting you

some. How sweet is he...and I guess I'll continue to

keep him around....lol...

Thank you dear hubby for always keeping me guessing

and for always showing me how much you care.

love you back.....xoxo

Whistler Jeep Adventure

On Saturday Tim and I went on a spontaneous road trip up

to Whistler, and we splurged and went on a wonderful,

off road jeep tour. This was the pamplet that got it all 

happening for us. 

Our chariot awaits!!! Our driver Georgie was 

full of info and we lucked out and didn't have

a full jeep, just another couple so lots of

interior leg room for us all.

Tim had the better side of the Jeep for views, so 

most of my photos are taken out his window.

As we got higher, the snow became more

apparent, and the temperatures dropped enough

that it was nice to feel the blast of heat

coming from the front of the jeep's interior

fans. I'm sure they were turned up as

high as they could go, but with the top

off, you could only stay so warm.

And then we were up about 6000 ft above

sea level and there was still a significant amount

of snow that hadn't melted this summer. Not

sure if you can see it, but there is a pinkish

tinge to the snow top layer, and that

is an algea, cool little tidbit of info.

Once we got to the vantage point for viewing the

sunset, we got out and took pictures and 

realized just how cold it was up there, to the

point that Tim was shivering so much his hands

wouldn't stop shaking to take non blurry photos.

My poor cold hubby, trying his hardest not

to turn into an ice cube...lets just say when

we started out our day we had no idea we

would end up at the top of Blackcomb Mtn

surrounded by snow, so we were not dressed

appropriately at all to say the least.

Our awesome guide/driver insisted that photos

were to be taken with us inside the jeep, so that

is what we did. Oh and doing this made us want

a jeep even more so then before.

This is our wonderful, knowledgable tour guide, 

Georgie, whom I asked to get a photo of, so

she posed as the lazy slacker driver....too funny.

I don't think we could have had a better guide, she told us

stories, was full of historical references, and even told us

about the Native tale of the Hemlock tree, who hangs

his head in shame. We now now about the different

terrain, trees, berries and floral growth of the mtn,

and all the while doing so with a good sense of humor.

At one point she even started calling for the local

bear she had seen a few times earlier, and luckily

he was actually spotted on the side of a grassy

cliff, but it was too dark to take a good photo.

A great couple of photos taken by Georgie of us

by the edge. what an amazing view.

And this was the best of the sunset we could get

since Mother Nature didn't cooperate and the

cloud cover was thick. But the sun did manage

to peek through. I did manage to snap a few nice

shots though, so happy with the whole experience.

On the way back down the we both used

the warm blankets to keep warm. A great

idea to have when you are uptop of a 

snow covered mountain.

Happiness in the mail

today the mail was filled with bills, lots of them and a few pieces of junk mail as well....but poking through all those business like envelopes, I caught a glimpse of the handwriting I know all to well, that of my dear friend Erika, and suddenly the pile of daunting bills didn't seem so bad to open...but I waited until all the other mail had been opened and sorted before enjoying opening the one from her, the one not only with a house warming invite, but also her annual Christmas letter/card, which this year is being called the Valentines Card because of all the craze in her life the last few month of 2011.

I had just made myself a nice hot mocha, and sat down to enjoy once again a wonderfully written non fiction story of her past year, wish I could write so eloquently and with such beautiful handwriting as well.

This is one of the few people in my life that can lift my spirits and brighten my mood just by seeing her hand written word.

These boots

Yup, glad I got the girls rubber boots on Sunday, because

this week has been a snowy, slushy and now soggy mess

outside, and wet feet is just no fun. I got my pretty

flower ones (in middle of picture) in the summer, and

they did me great especially when geocaching in some

nasty weather, so as soon as the snow started

falling, I knew they needed them too.

Now Amy was totally content getting hers from Walmart,

the white and black ones, and although they aren't the most

comfortable to walk around in, she does appreciate dry feet.

Jordyn on the other hand had trouble finding ones that

fit her wide feet and didn't want them high, so she was

lucky and found a size at Aldo that fit, and wasn't out of

my price range. I am sure we will still get a bit more

use out of these rubber boots. But one thing I am happy

for is that they have come a long way in style since I

was a kid.... :)

Wow!!!

I came home from work today and decided it was time to de Christmasfy the house...I figured a few hours and I would be done....lol..what little I knew when I started 5 hours ago. Because most of the stuff was in the living room and Tim is addicted to his xbox right now, I piled everything into the dining room, vacuumed and dusted so I was clear of the TV...lol and off I went into pack everything up mode. This is a big portion of what was around the house, but not including the tree.



I asked Tim to snap a photo of me taking down the tree decorations, lights etc because as I was doing so, I was enjoying a trip down memory lane, different ornaments having a story, the homemade garlands each with there own history....you see, when the tree goes up and it's decorated, it's the girls that get to take their own trips down memory lane and it's all them in the decoration process....for me, its when it comes down, and I carefully package it up safely to be stored til next Christmas.












Okay, what's up with a box that seems to be laughing at me with the question, "you expect all that to fit into me?" I know it fits, does each and every year, but it amazes me that it is at all possible, crazy tree, 3 separate pieces, and the stand all fit into this box, with the help of lots of duck tape to hold it all in there. There are literally layer upon layer of old tape strips from years gone by.




I carefully piled all the ornaments onto the floor, placing them on top of the tree skirt for fear they would roll over over the place. Carefully wrapping up each and every ornament took me a very long time, and then of course packing them into containers to bring to storage is a chore in itself, trying to conserve as much space as possible.





And this is how the table will stay tonight, I am dog tired and have no more desire to tidy, clean or put away another thing...tomorrow is another day....

First time :)

We got our new Espresso machine on Boxing Day and I set it up a few days later, made the counter area a little mini coffee bistro :) I have been scared to try it out, so last night Amy read the little book that came with it, and made Tim and I our first lattes from it. Not too bad, a bit weak, but right now it's trial and error. So today when we got home, I wanted to try it myself, and boy did I make a mess.




I did manage to make 2 little cups of espresso, to add to our lattes, I made Tim's his usual caramel, and he said it didn't turn out too bad, just have to get used to heating the milk up hotter is all, but it foams so much, I have to figure that part out. But just for the espresso brewing part, look at the mess, argh, hopefully that gets better as we go too.





And talk about milk spillage, just a bit on the base, the counter and the cloth, I am sure I will get better at judging how full is too full to make the little steamer jug. I know it says half way, but that doesn't fill the travel mugs, so I did 3/4 full, and spilled a bit, but it was the perfect amount of milk.






This is my drink, I used eggnog as the milk, and added gingerbread syrup (don't tell Jordyn, since it's hers from a Christmas gift... :P) then added some whipped cream, and it turned out pretty good I must say.








A view of our brewing station...can't wait to see what other combinations I can come up with as I get more confident with our new machine.

And a big thank you to Linda, my mother in law, and my dad whom helped us out with the purchase of this via Christmas money :)

Gold Star baby

Well after weeks of waiting, I finally got my

Starbucks Gold Card :) and it's a well deserved

card at that, heck, we should have shares in

Starbucks by now. Can't wait to flash it later

today when we make our regular coffee stop.

This is a dorky post, that's true, but something

that brings a smile to my face.

Starbucks at Christmas

So I have recently seen a couple of mini albums

made out of Starbucks cups, and thought they would

be fun to try, but I wanted to add a twist to mine and

use all the different sized cups, and even the paper

elements in the form of their treat bags and gift bags.

So today, at our usual Starbucks, I got all kinds of goodies

to make this album happen, so I will try to get to it this

weekend, and hopefully all going well, I will be able to

post a finished album soon. I have no idea what I am doing

so this will be a surprise even to me when it's done.

But doesn't the picture just make you happy? something about

Starbucks at Christmas time makes me feel all warm inside.

I love the snow, especially when it's still falling, so
I braved the cold tonight, took my point and shoot camera and went outside to take a few photos.


Just simple photos actually, but I always hate when we get a snowfall at night, only to wake to it all being gone in the morning. So tonight, with the help of my flash, I captured a few photos of the first snowfall of the season.

For the love of Fall

These are my new geocaching boots, and I really like them, they are warm and waterproof and means I can get into any spot to find a cache. But this weekend, the thing I liked most about them was how they made wonderful crunching sounds on the bed of dried leaves as we walked along many different trails. We had a wonderful dry weekend, and the sun even came out to shine down on us. I also seemed much more aware of all the smells, textures and sounds this weekend, from the honking of the flock of geese overhead, the barking dogs, the neighing of the horses as they passed by us on a few trials or the simpleness of no sound of all, just the quietness of the forests and trails we wandered in search of the cache. I have always loved fall, the brilliant color palete, the warmess of layer clothes and the slight chill in the air that allows us to see our breath as we discover new outdoor places. This weekend was a break from routine, from work, and even from the normal rain that usually encompasses us for most of this time of year.

This is one of the last pictures I took today on my phone, just as we were coming back from finding a cache, the sun shining just slightly on some of the leaves, capturing natures simple beauty. How could you not love fall, with it's abundance of color and texture.