Done

Well, at long last, the day has come.

I stitched up my final dress for costume construction,
I wrote an anthropological analysis of George Carlin's comedy,
I wrote the most pointless history final ever, 
And I completed my undergraduate thesis,
And presented it to a bunch of professors,
And defended it.

And I got a really good mark. 

And now I'm done.

I'm still not ready to wrap my head around the idea of the end of this chapter of my life, leaving that big ol' concrete campus in the coulees, and not being able to sit and learn from some of the amazing professors there... but ending it on such a high note helps a little.

And it feels a little weird to say, but I'm proud of myself for accomplishing something I never expected to accomplish, for sticking it out when my brain felt like it was going to burst and my fingers felt like they had run out of words and I felt completely and utterly clueless (not smart, like I thought I should have felt).

Completing my own research project (and university overall) was quite the adventure.

And maybe now I will find some room for this blog in my life again. :)





(crossing this one off my 25 before 25 list)

Hello Again

Happy New Year!

It feels like ages since I've sat down to type up a blog post, and rightly so. I'm glad I took the month off. When I decided to take the time, I did it because I knew keeping up with this would be hard, but in hindsight I know it would have been near impossible. It's good to be back, though. I'm looking forward to this year!

The one thing I did take the time to write up in December was a "25 before 25" list for myself. You may know that I'll be turning 25 in August, which is one of those more significant birthdays. I wrote the list up earlier in the month and had the chance to cross a few off on my break and a few apply to our Hawaii trip in February, so I'm not being really strict about it... it's just for fun! 



1. Finish my thesis
2. Get my degree
3. Watch the sunrise above the clouds (like from Haleakala)
4. Climb a mountain
5. Snorkel somewhere tropical
6. Try surfing
7. Go on a big trip with Gavin & Mason (Hawaii!)
8. Get some work done on my back tattoo
9. Reach my goal weight
10. Go to the dinosaur museum with my boys
11. Compile a personal cookbook
12. Start my "grandparent project" idea
13. Throw Gavin a birthday party
14. Make cake pops
15. Go one month without any TV or movies
16. See The God That Comes 
17. Give Gavin his first live theatre experience
18. Learn one song on guitar
19. Fill a journal
20. Get a "grown up" job 
21. Try 25 new recipes
22. Be silent for 24 hours
23. Go vegetarian for a month
24. Take Gavin to an art gallery
25. Visit my grandfather's grave (which I've never been to, as far as I know)

What do you want to do this year?

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful time last night welcoming the new year, whether you were sleeping through it or having some wild fun (or anywhere in between). In the spirit of the occasion, I figured I would share my new year's resolutions. Honestly, I'm just as guilty as the next person for failing to live up to any resolutions, but it's still fun to make them. I have three this year.

1. Run.
    There have been many times over the last few years that I have gotten myself motivated and gone to the gym. From those times I have learned how amazing running is. It makes me feel so fantastic and when I do it, I'm so glad that I did. Somehow, though, I always just let it go again and drop the routine. So hopefully this year I can incorporate it permanently. I'm not making the goal to lose weight or run a marathon, I just want to run on a regular basis because I know it makes me feel good.

2. Live in the moment.
    That very simple principle also entails a lot more for me. But basically, I want to continue to get better at loving the here and now instead of looking to the past or future for something better. It's very easy to take a simple, routine life for granted even though it is so amazing and beautiful. So I would like to get better at embracing the beauty of the everyday.

3. Do what I do.
     I have trouble being me sometimes. I mean, I am me, but I have trouble embracing myself fully, as I am. Many times I act from my ego, or based on what I'm thinking rather than what just is, or based on what I think other people in my life would think is best. So I want to get better at just doing what I do, not what I imagine others think I should do (because I'm not a mind reader and my life isn't about them).

Do you have any resolutions for the new year?

Summer in Review

Remember this post from April? I decided to set myself some goals for the summer. They were simple, flexible and not hard to accomplish. Plus the lack of specificity left me a lot of room to define them as I went. Since I set the goals on the blog, I decided I should go over the results...
{note: ok, I used photos to make the post more interesting, but I'm generally the one with the camera... so there aren't actually photos confirming I did these things}

1. Get outside

I did really great at this for May/June/July. August, mmmaybe not quite as much, but I'll give myself a pass anyways. In May I would take Gavin to the park almost every day, which was awesome. In July I brought my bike out of storage at my dad's place and rode it a couple times a week. And in August we went camping, so living outside for 3 days really should count for a lot!

2. Walk

What I meant by walk was exercise. The majority of the park trips Gavin and I made this summer were after daycare when I would walk to pick him up, walk to the park and then walk home. I also hit the gym in July and worked off 3 pounds which brought my weight loss this year up to 10 pounds! So that felt like a big accomplishment. I think that means I can check this one off the list too.

3. Read

I read. I didn't read a lot. In fact, I don't think I read a full book for each month I had off school, but I did read a couple full books which is more than I can say for the past couple years. And I did read a lot of children's books with Gavin, so we'll just give this one a big check as well!

4. Go Camping (more on this soon)

Yay! We went camping! It was Gavin's first camping trip ever and our first time camping in the mountains. I'm so happy that we had that experience as a family and made so many fun memories.

5. Get a Job

For the first time in almost two and a half years I worked! It was... okay.... Honestly, it was really nice to get a pay check though, no matter how much smaller than Mason's they were (my hours were much, much less too). I only had full time work for about 2 weeks, then the rest of the summer was part time. In the end, it was a new experience (a job I hadn't done before) and I didn't spend the whole summer stressed about the low numbers in the bank and high numbers on my credit card.

Success! I accomplished all of my goals this summer! It feels great and I have some great memories. I also learned some good stuff about goal setting by doing this: specific, difficult goals are totally overrated. Why set myself up for failure? Making it easy to succeed is so much better.

What small (or big) successes have you celebrated lately?

PS- today I get to hang out with Gavin and my nephew Ben then check out my sister's new classroom with them... I'm sooooo excited! :)

Summer!

Good Morning!

Guess what? I finished up my last two final exams yesterday! That means I'm officially done year 2 of university. Phew! I'm almost half way done, which is pretty nice. We're going to head home to visit family today for a few days because it has been over two months since we've been home. That means I won't have much for posts until I'm back, but I promise to get back on the creative band wagon as soon as I return!

I decided that I should put together a few goals for this summer. Nothing crazy, this is supposed to be my time off after all. So here we go...

1. Get Outside

When summer heats up, I tend to shy away from the heat. We do get crazy wind here, which is a fair reason to stay indoors, but just heat isn't. I want to stop being such a sissy about the heat and spend more time outside this year.

2. Walk

This plays into the last one a little. Gavin loves walking to the park, to and from daycare, and really anywhere outdoors. I've found it really hard to commit to the gym, so I'm not going to fork cash over for a membership this summer, but I hope to do a lot more walking when the weather is good.

3. Read

Being in university means that you have a million pages of (often) boring reading every week. So even when I'm not doing the assigned readings, which is most of the time, I just can't justify reading books for leisure. And I miss it! I used to read a lot. So I hope to read a little more this summer.

4. Go Camping

Mason and I went camping the summer before Gavin was born at Waskesiu, and we had such a great time. We wanted to take Gavin on a camping trip last year, but it didn't pan out. This year I plan on making it work out, it would be so much fun!

5. Get a Job!

[My last job, serving at BPs, can you believe that's even me? I'm the one with the glasses.]

Ok, this should have been number one. Last summer I didn't find a job! So as nice as it is to say that I haven't worked for almost two and a half years, it isn't nice to look at my bank when my student loans run out. This year I will get a job, even if I have it is a crappy one, it's only for 4 months!

And that's it. There's more that I would like to do, but I'll keep it simple. What are you planning to do this spring and summer?

To Do!

Good Afternoon!

I just thought I'd let you in on my to do list, or at least my inspiration. I've been coming up with new projects like crazy lately. It only took me all summer to get into creative mode! Oh well.

Anyways, check out this awesome post on How About Orange for a clue on what is on my to do list for the next few days.










Also, take a look at this amazing wall mural at ohdeedoh that inspired the decor for Cookie Crumb's room (which is still a work in progress!).

:)

You Are What You Keep, Again...

While resorting my old things, I got rid of a bunch more stuff!

140-147. Old paintings by me.
148. Decorative baby booties (from my babyhood)
149. Stuffed, decorative kite
150. Mercury Maze
151-152. Two pairs of squashed Minnie Mouse ears
153-154. Disneyland cups
155-156. Frilly fabric photo frames
157. Canada millenium keepsake tin (I already have another)
158-162. Cups with Disney characters (you know those ones with water between two layers of plastic? And glitter and stuff that floats in the water? Yeah, they are all dried up!)
163-229. Yes, that's right, 66 birthday cards from when I was 1 until 11. I even kept some special ones, like those from my parents and sister!
230. Toddler size bunny slippers (pink, so not really reusable with my son)
231-232. Thank you cards from old teachers
233. Pink baby blanket
234. Poem by a high school boyfriend
235-247. Crafts made by Gavin. You can only keep so many!
248. Picture of Deana Carter. (Come on, you know the song "Strawberry Wine"?)
249. Paper hat that says "I am face" on the front
250. Dream catcher I made as a small child that is falling apart.
251. Bike bell
252. Brass mouse whose purpose I do not know
253. Set of 1999 Western Canada Games Alberta pins
254. Set of Minnie Mouse corn on the cob handles
255. Grade nine report card
256. Script from my modelling class
257. Etiquette manual on how to eat certain foods (from my modelling class)
258. Disney Adventures that I was featured in as a child (I already have 2 other copies)
259. Newspaper story about a girl who became a model (this was once my dream)
260. Various faded movie tickets
261. Various bookmarks
262. "To a Special Teenager" poem on a credit card size piece of plastic
263. Random ancient wet nap, still in package
264. Orange, blue and crooked pocket mirror with my name on it.
265-266. Two photos of boyfriends I had at the age of 13 and 14
267. Bag of fancy rocks.

Phew! More stuff gone. However, I don't know if I'll ever get to 2010. Maybe when my sister has her baby, then I can count all of our old items that she will use!

School, Work, and What Not.

To start off, I still am in my little uncreative rut. I have made cookies and supper. That's about it. I have been taking a summer class though, it's my first ever education class. This class is what my future as a teacher is hinged upon, if I don't get a recommendation from this class, I can't even apply for the Faculty of Education!

But let me tell you, this class is SO great! In a three hour class or workshop I never feel bored or tired. While my other university classes have been interesting and taught me a lot, they are just information from a book. This class is so practical, it's teaching us how to be teachers, and what teaching is all about. The teachers who speak to us seem proud of the fact that they devote almost every waking moment to something related to their job, while only being paid a pretty small salary considering the value of their work. You can just tell that these people love their job and they want to help others get to that point. They are the kind of teachers that students remember their whole lives. Sigh. I hope that I can be that someday. This class is really making me realize that this is where I want to be. Next week I start a practicum in a grade 4 classroom. I can't wait!

Also, I am still unemployed. Apparently jobs are really hard to find in Alberta. Especially when I can't work full-time, or at least have some hours any time. It is definitely making me miss Saskatchewan. I'm just hoping that something will come along soon!

So, onto what little creative things I have done lately. I made another batch of my "Healthy Cookies" last night. I modified the recipe a little bit (see the original here). I added the half cup of coconut that I missed last time, and I substituted one mashed banana for the two eggs. They are kind of like a tropical version of the original! I found out that you can use 1/2 of a banana, mashed or pureed instead of 1 egg in a recipe. (AS LONG AS the recipe does not need the egg to help it rise, or to be light and fluffy.) If you need your item to rise and want to use the banana substitute, you can add a little baking powder. However, this might take a little experimenting. But the great thing about using the bananas is that it allows for a vegan version of the recipe! I will also update the original post with this new discovery!