it's been a long time...

it’s been a long time since I have been here…

and honestly…I’m not even really sure why.
I feel like I kind of fell off the radar a little bit…
I don’t even really know what has been filling my time.

Sleep maybe.
Sleep has been filling my time.
I come home and it’s cold & dark,
and all I can think about is getting in my
warm bed…and hibernating til spring.

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But the days are starting to feel a little longer now…
this weekend I actually got out of the house….
stayed up past 8:30 pm to play card games with family
and it was soooo much fun…
Saturday morning I got up early to take my daughter to
Charlottetown so packed my camera and
made a day of it…

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Also met up with a new friend
(we have been online friends for a bit
but met up in real life Saturday)
and, seriously, it was so awesome. :)

You know how sometimes you meet someone
and you just feel like you have known them
FOREVER
(even though, just moments before, you worried that you
might not recognize them in Starbucks)
and you spend the whole hour and half laughing hard
and randomly exclaiming “OMG, I knowwww! Me, too!!!”
Well…that’s how this went.

The main reason that Melissa & I planned to get together
is because we both share many of the same interests
(photography, bullet journaling, watercolors, etc etc etc)
and thought that it might be fun to see if we might be
able to create a little network of other people
who have similar craft/art related interests…

We have created a Facebook group called
Creative Collective (PEI)
and, while it’s just in its baby stages right now,
we are hoping to create a space for people to
join & come together to share what their interests are.
The plan is have some meet-ups happen,
both in Summerside & Charlottetown,
to give people a chance to get out and network
with other people and maybe have their own
”I knowwwwwww!!! Meeee, toooo!!” moments.

We are pretty excited about this so watch for much more to come!

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whatcha readin' 2019 {book 2::goal 25}

I really didn’t know what to expect from this book.

I really only picked it up because
it was available to me.

But I was totally and pleasantly surprised
at how much I actually go out of this.

(Mostly, due to timing, you know with the stupid separation and all…)

But, all in all, I did find it helpful and interesting
(and also very amusing which is incredibly important).
There was a whole section on the phenomenon
and mystery of online dating
which, as you might know, I have been dipping my toe
into (very, very tentatively, because really…it’s a scary place out there).

And sometimes, it’s just nice to read something
that you can relate to
and, if all you can get out of it is a sense that you
are not alone…that there are other people out there stumbling around
in the dating world trying to avoid fake profiles
and offers of unwanted photos and forced small talk/awkward silences…
then that is probably good enough.

I know it made me feel better.

4 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s
NEXT UP: EVERY NOTE PLAYED - LISA GENOVA

tuesday truths...trying something new...

It’s scary to try something new.

But it’s also exciting and intriguing,
fun and interesting to push yourself out of your comfort zone
just an eensy-teensy bit.

I have been doing a lot of
new things lately
that have scared me…
but in a good way….mostly… :)

Change scares me.
I fight it, tooth and nail.
I always, always have.

But I think I am getting a little better.
(I don’t cry nearly as much, heehee).

In the spirit of “trying something new”
I thought I might push myself COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone
and try something that I have been considering for a long time
but did not have the guts to try…
I am also just coming off a 5 day cold so
it’s possible the effects of the children’s cough and cold
will have worn off by morning
and I will have totally chickened out on this whole idea.

But…for now…

I have created a Patreon account.

If you are not familiar with Patreon,
it is a way that I can share more of my photography and artwork
and maybe push my creative side a little harder
by forcing myself to be more accountable.
Patreon allows me to offer perks and treats for
anyone that chooses to follow me on that medium…
which means, I am forcing myself to focus
and stop spinning my wheels in 22 different directions.

If you check it out, please feel free to let me know
if there are things that you would have liked to have
seen offered as treats/thank yous…
and there is no pressure to sign up there.
This is really just an experiment, a new venture,
you never know til you try…
so today,
I try.

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tuesday truths....the music edition

If you follow me on Facebook,
(not only do you know that I post WAY too much but…)
you probably also know
that I love music.

I can’t sing.
I don’t know a note.
I can’t tell pitch or tone or anything else…
but I know what I like
and I can’t go a day
without listening to music.

I have to have a playlist
on all night while I am sleeping.
I listen to music in the car,
while I’m painting, cooking, cleaning, working…
and sometimes
I just lay on the
couch or the
bed or the
floor
and lose myself in the darkness
and the words
and the
heartbeat.

And I will listen to almost anything…I’m pretty open…
I can honestly say there is no genre that I refuse to listen to
anything from…though there are definitely songs that I don’t like….
(and…I hate dire straits. Let’s just get that out there and move on)
:)
Here’s what I have been playing on repeat lately (and, um, I should warn you…I like songs that
say the eff word sooooo….just be careful if you are clicking links)

• she is beautiful - andrew w.k. (I listen to this every morning loud as soon as I get out of bed)

• seagulls stop it now - this is not actually a song…it’s a bad lip reading video but I have a weird taste in music and listen to this constantly as well. And, yeah, I still love what does the fox say sooooooo….I warned you. I have weird taste in music. :)

• whiskey - joey landreth

• armour - soul filter

• she - dodie

• figures - jessie reyez

• seeing all red - shakey graves

• patenipat - charlotte adigery

• jekyll and hyde - five finger death punch

• whistle stop - roger miller

• chop suey - system of a down

• sweet sixteen - billy idol

• video games - lana del ray

• little bit stronger - leighton meester (i forgot about this song. I don’t listen to a lot of country but this song…well….it speaks pretty loud to me right now…so…it’s on the daily playlist)

And I looooooooooove recommendations for new music! :) Hint, hint…heehee.

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whatcha readin' 2019 {book 1::goal 25}

I loved the first two books in this set…
I don’t really want to say series because,
although they are related, they are very distantly related,
like 4th cousins 3 times removed that heard of each other
but just vaguely….

You really can read these independent of each other…
but it’s better to read them as they were written even
just for the timeline…but
do you have to read them all to know what happened
with the earlier characters? Yeah…not so much.
Did I need to re-read 2 one thousand page books
before I started this one?
Definitely not.
But they are good books and I did enjoy re-reading them.

However, I do wonder it might have been overkill.

I found myself a little irritated and wanting to be done
of the third book. I don’t think it was the writing or the
characters, I think I had just been in Kingsbridge for
too long and should have taken a light-quick-read-book-break in the middle maybe.

Which makes me feel a little bad about
only giving this one
3.5 ♥’s out of 5 ♥’s.

But…not bad enough to change it.

NEXT UP: MODERN ROMANCE - AZIZ ANSARI