boxing day bliss...♥♥♥

I know it probably seems like I don’t like Christmas
because I leave everything to the very last minute….
but…I actually love Christmas.

Not the shopping. I hate the shopping.

But I love Christmas day…the excitement
and wonder, the silliness and surprises…

And this year definitely did not disappoint.

Some highlights included:

♥ watching a muppet family christmas with a friend
WHO WAS SEEING IT FOR THE FIRST TIME!
(watch out for the icy patch! always makes me laugh)

♥ my mother in laws eagle brand squares

♥ knowing that the kids had a great time celebrating with both sides
of their family…that really does make me happy ♥♥

♥ 20 telling me not to look in my stocking when he left Christmas Eve…
this was what was in it….and I couldn’t have been more excited. Heeheehee

♥ 24 surprising me with a stocking full of toys and candy…a kinder egg as big as my head…
a charlie brown book, a little sesame street purse heehee…and this smurf quilt which almost made me cry

♥ going to my parents is always my favorite part of Christmas…
my mom saved the big bird ornament for me to put on (which was
even a little more bittersweet this year) and the doll head for 24…heehee

♥ my dads excitement over his new headlamp…heeheehee

♥ sweet unexpected gifts from my brothers & parents…gift cards, lots of candy, maritime hardcore hoodies, sweaters and scratch cards and this…heeheehee…

My brother Sandy is the real artist in our family…
I doodle a bit but Sandy really has the talent…and he made each of us
a drawing of one of our favorite childhood stories that we mainly tease
each other about…mine goes like this:

Once upon a time, a poor stressed out 16 year old girl who was
uncannily very amusing and witty and quite brilliant was forced to spend
her summers babysitting her 3 sometimes rotten younger brothers
for little pay and much pain.

After a hard day of slaving over a hot stove to provide a healthy nourishing lunch
to this little group of ungrateful heathens, one of them said he was still hungry.

Being the sweet, caring older sister that she was…
she offered him her spaghetti-o’s which she had not eaten yet.

But, being the rotten little sulk that he was, he turned up his little snub nose
at it because “she had a cold and he might catch it”.

So…she threw the plate at him.

The end.

heeheehee….he will tell you there is a different version
of this but his memory is not to be trusted. :)

……………………………………………………………….

And now…another Christmas is over…
and I am completely happy. ♥♥♥
I was able to spend it with people that I love…
and my heart is just really, really is full right now.

I am looking forward to 2020…
2019 had a few speed bumps but it’s sure out going out
better than it came in. ♥

Merry, merry Christmas to you and yours!

grateful in a nutshell....

a random grateful list in which i try not to be too sappy or lame::

• family & friends that are always there for me…even when I seem to push people away

• my kids…i know they fall under family but really, they get a line of their own. There is literally nothing that makes me happier than these two humans. Sometimes it takes my breath away a little bit…how much I love them. I would be lost without them.

• a job that i love

• health

• home (even though it is acting like a temper tantrum-y 2 year old lately)

• books that provide me an escape from real life occasionally

• dirt roads

• microwave popcorn

• geese

• fall leaves

• hot chocolate

• polka dots

• people who make me laugh really hard (even if it is sometimes at my own expense)

• ice cream

• early morning texts/late night phone calls

• homemade (not by me) chocolate chip cookies

• turkey dinner (not made by me)

• new-to-me treadmill

• a working furnace

• naps

• that people are always so sweet & supportive about all of my little “interests” (ie cards; 50 before 50; blog; patreon; etc, etc, etc)

• lemon squares…well…lemon anything really….

• heated blankets

• good conversation & connections

• cold diet coke in a can

• music (that also provides an escape sometimes)

View fullsize

Happy Thanksgiving…and I am not sure it has to be said
but I am seriously grateful for every person that stops by this
little space in the internetsphere to read my ramblings…so…yeah..you!! :)

friday adventures are better with a friend!

I don’t think it’s a secret that I usually do my
Friday adventures
solo…
not really for any reason, it’s just a thing I like to do.

But a really good friend of mine
was home from away a little while ago
and she bravely agreed to come along on a Friday adventure
with me…
I did warn her that there would be no map,
no plan and, also, no air conditioning in my car…heh…
AND she might have to sign a waiver…

Heehee. :)

We started with the most amazing, delicious
HOMEMADE raspberry flakie that was literally mouthwatering…
this photo does it NO justice at all but if you are interested
in buying some of these, let me know and I will
totally hook you up with my dealer…heehee

We decided to go west
because, honestly, that’s where most of the dairy bars are…
we stopped at wharves and beaches and lighthouses…
(&…all these photos are with my phone…so meh…but still had to share them…
heehee…what’s a blog post without photos?)

We went all the way to North Cape
to see the windmills….I had been there before
but I had never tried the trail before…
I wish we would have had more time to do the whole thing
because it was beautiful!
but…it was also looking like thunder
and I did NOT want to be around all that metal
if there was going to be lightning!

it was very windy….hahahaha

Our last stop was at
Southside Scoop Shack in O’Leary…
cause…
the best way to finish your day
is with ice cream…
I had the apple pie sundae
AND IT WAS SO GOOD

and the truth is
i did get us lost and, for a second, i thought
maybe we might be getting shot at
for trespassing on a beach
(skeet shooting close by, I think…or at least,
that’s what I told Ange…heehee)
and we had no air conditioning
but we did have a lot of laughs,
sang along to some loud 80’s music
and reconnected…
and the waiver was never mentioned again.
:)
all in all, a successful friday adventure!

2019::Unfold

every year
i choose a word for the year…
a word to help
push me or gently guide me
depending on the need.

some years,
it has worked amazing…
other years, i may or may not have forgotten
what the word was
before the last sunset in
the first week of
january.

and that’s ok.
i don’t worry too much about it.
if it works, that’s great!
and if not, well, maybe i just picked the wrong word for that year.

looking back::

2018::Embrace - yeah…not so much. But, in my defense, the year kinda sucked no matter what word i would have chosen.
2017::Adventure - this one went really well for me…it was when i started my Friday Adventures :)
2016::Happy
2015::Risk - the year i decided it was time to cut back/stop shooting weddings
2014::Balance
2013::Brave
2012::Leap
2011::Connect
2010::Play/Expand
2009::Dare - this was another one of my best years related to my word
2008::Focus - looking back, I think this was helpful for the following year…

and this year, 2019, I am choosing a gentle word.
unfold.
a passive verb, if there is such a thing…
i need to let go a little, to relax, to stop holding on so tight
to what used to be….
and let a new beginning unfold.

i don’t want to force it or plan it or rush it or demand that it match
some preconceived picture in my head….
i just want to take my time and allow things to happen
as they happen.

which does not mean that i won’t be setting goals and
creating habit trackers and devising blueprints for taking over the world… :)
i do have a lot of things that i want to shift my focus to this year.

mainly in the creative areas of my life.
that’s where i feel excitement and fire and butterflies in my belly….
(all in a good way)…

but…in other areas, the areas that are murky and blurred and
sometimes, a little scary…the areas that involve change
and transition and how do we do this now when we are no longer “we”…
what happens next? how does one move forward?
what does moving forward even look like for me?
well. that part i am going to let go of.
i think that going through our first Christmas apart
might have taught me that it is ok to let go of any expectations…
to just let it happen….don’t worry about what new tradition should
replace one that you feel you lost…let the new tradition find you…
maybe it will be jamming a christmas tree in the back seat of the car
every year…maybe it will be picking up breakfast at a local gas station
coffee shop and then laughing about how you froze in the
drive through and ordered everyone some sort of weird (but good) vegetarian garden bagel…

maybe it will be playing a rousing game of parcheesi at the end of the day.

regardless, i have resolved to just let it find me.
and the same with new relationships and friendships…
i am going to stop panicking that i will be alone for the rest of my life
because i am incredibly awkward and far too forthcoming on social media…(this post is proof of that)
and
just
let
whatever
happens….
happen.

let it unfold.

View fullsize