One Small Step

Signing the final papers in purchasing our home today, it still felt surreal that Shawn and I have bought our first home officially tomorrow.

You think so many things might have got us excited. Getting pre-approved, putting in an offer, getting it accepted, going through all the lil details of buying a home? None of those... We just weren't getting excited.

...until we found ourselves on a last-minute road-trip to Medicine's Hat's Costco to buy some amazing flooring. Somehow in between Shawn lifting 38 boxes of flooring from the display to the trolley to his truck (while I watched each time, ever so helpfully), we got excited. Really excited. 

Bake-Off

In my mum's back-yard there is an apple tree that is ridiculously run rampant with apples so Shawn and I thought we'd nice and help her out by taking a bag of apples off her hands...

Once we got home, we decided to do the most natural thing next:

Apple Crisp Bake-Off!

It was the battle between "The Recipe Nazi"(me) and "The Free Spirit" (him)... I don't know what Shawn has against measuring cups and spoons but as I scooped and measured he just free poured and spooned here and there and wouldn't you know it, his Apple Crisp looked darn good. Curse him. I was still confident that recipes would prevail over willy-nilly eyeballing.

So we brought our home-made best efforts and presented each of our jury one scoop of each and we waited for the verdict.. And the winner is....

A TIE??? 

"They taste the same" "They're both good" "Hmm, I can't even tell the difference"

Say what?!?! 

Can they not tell that Shawn's was a mis-matched stack of layers while mine was amazingly proportionate?? 

Apparently not...       

I think I might appeal the verdict... 

So much for justice.

Where will you be...

2.14 weeks from now?

Shawn and I will....

Be moving into our first house!!

Yes, in Taber 

but contrary to previous jokes

Shawn didn't trick me, I am actually quite excited!

Shawn is Mr. Fix-it and so I am so excited to watch him flip our house from this:

to this:

My expectations are totally reasonable eh?

But seriously,

I am so excited for our first home

Our initial plans are to rip out the floors and repaint all the walls and then...

MOVE IN!

But Shawn has a lot of teaching to do because renovating homes is as natural to me as doing algebra... or breathing underwater... or playing basketball (just learned how to dribble 5 yrs ago)..

Wedding Pictures Take 2

When Shawn and I got engaged last September 4th Shawn wanted to get married right away, in Sept or October while I wanted to wait until July. We decided to compromise and get married December 30th. 

My one condition was that we would take a second round of wedding photos in the summer and Shawn agreed, probably partly agreeing because he never thought I would hold him to it.

Cue end of August when I called in his promise and despite grumbling and groaning he held up his end and I love him so much for being so fantastic while we spent 3 more hours taking photos.

And I LOVE them... 

For any of you who got married in the winter, I highly suggest getting some bridals in the summer. You get a second opportunity to get all dressed up in your dress and try out another hairstyle (my veil went missing on our wedding day so this was my opportunity to wear it). 

The best part of bridals is that you are completely detached from the stress of the wedding day and you get to relax and enjoy dressing up and getting some pictures where you aren't freezing in -30 C weather. 

But if you do choose to get some pictures taken, trust me, go with Photography by Kels... She is awesome!

Time For A New Hobby...

One day when I was reading random blogs I came across this quote...


"The real growth comes not from doing what you already do well, but from trying what you suck at enough times that you get better." 


It kind of hit me and I loved it. How many times have I  been afraid to do something new, old or in-between because I suck at it? Let's pretend none ;)


But my new goal is to get into sewing. My sewing experience is limited to home ec in high school (I rocked those pajama pants!) and making jean blankets. Not really the most prestigious sewing resume but I am bound and determined to try and get some-what proficient at it. 


My new goal project???


These adorable things...

How freaking adorable is this quiet book? I love it! And the best thing is that there are 10 other adorable books for me to practice and try and make one semi-presentable book! I am thinking they will make excellent presents for all our nieces and nephews.


You can buy the patterns yourselves on Etsy here, or just wait until I get good enough and maybe I can make one for you! Might be a bit though because I have to wait till I get a sewing machine, hopefully for my birthday or christmas or anniversary (three occasions in 30 days, bound to get it for one of them right?)

I Need To Go Shopping...

Rewind four months ago...

Shawn and I were moving back to Lethbridge for the summer with the plan to return to Saskatchewan in September. 

It made sense to leave all our belongings in a storage locker save two small suitcases, one for me and one for him. 

Back to present time...

Rather than return to Saskatchewan, we have now bought a house in Taber (yay) and are planning to stay in So. Ab. for the next foreseeable future. (Let's not mention how guilty I felt quitting my Sask job)

All our belongings are still in Sask. which means we have a v. limited wardrobe evidenced by the last four pictures I have put on facebook that have been take over the course of the summer.

That's not the worst part. I can explain away those pictures. Perhaps I am just feeling more inclined to pictures the days I wore that T-shirt or sweater... Maybe it's just a fluke.

But then I went to my optometrist for my eye check-up, then tried on some glasses. Two days later I went back in to finalize my pick for new glasses and I noticed... 

I was wearing the same shirt both days!

Yep, an intervention needs to be had... I am having it with myself...
I am actually quite good at having a limited wardrobe. I have never been the type to have two closet's full of wardrobes, and I am used to backpacking around with a few pants and shirts. Usually it doesn't bother me but it's slightly different when you are in the same town/place seeing the same people. Think back, when was the last time you saw me? Odds are I was prob. wearing either that t-shirt or that sweater... Maybe both!

It is officially time to expand my very limited wardrobe. Whether it's driving to Saskatchewan or going shopping, I don't care which happens first (wouldn't mind the shopping option tho) but this is getting ridiculous.

p.s. let's hear it for my awesome amazing sister Chelsey that is letting us crash at her place till we move into our new house... Love her... 

A Nice Welcome to Come Home To...

When I came home from my shift tonight at 11:30 pm, I was greeted by this:

Love him....

Distracted Driving Poster Child

If you are from Alberta, you have heard about the new distracted driving law. As of September 1st, it is illegal to do basically anything while driving. Good-bye cell phones, texting, make-up, reading, etc. while driving.

I am sure many people are excited about this. "Good riddance" they'll say, "It is so dangerous! Who would do something as stupid as drive distracted?"

ME

I am the poster child for distracted driving.

This is not something I am proud of, just a fact. Name a stupid thing to do while driving and I have done it. 

"Well", you'll say, "many people talk on their phones, text or eat something in the car."


Perhaps, but have you ever;

-Done your make-up (mascara, eye-liner and all)
-Eaten a bowl of cereal, stir-fry, subway, etc.
-Watched a t.v. show on your laptop
-Read a book
-Slept (that did not end well, I especially don't recommend that one)

Good, neither have I............ ok, maybe that's a lie....... 

So, you can see why I was nervous come September 1st. I am perfect bait for tickets. So, that's why when I got in my car September 1st to drive to the bank I was very careful to leave my phone in the purse but I wasn't about to not eat my PB toast... Don't worry. I checked. Simple snacks are allowed. (Thank-goodness, or I would never be able to eat breakfast before morning shifts.) But, then I came across a police line-up out of no-where (sneaky cops set up right after a detour's turn) and I realized my mistake. 

I wasn't wearing my seat-belt... Still illegal to do that I guess as he pulled me over without a second thought and I was left sheepishly on the right side of the road.

This was a real downer to a good day, I was wearing my super cute 18" hair extensions I had bought the day before.
------------------------> sidenote: if you ever need a pick-me-up of any kind, throw some clip-in hair extensions in, they automatically make you feel like you went

from this 

 to this... 

Ok, maybe not that much but I do love wearing them. 

So the cop came up to my window to chastise me for my unsafe driving habit and by the end, he let me off with a warning and I knew why.

I texted Shawn and let him know that although I did get pulled over for not wearing my seatbelt, the good news was that my new hair extensions have now officially paid for themselves as they played a big part in my getting out of the ticket... I know it.

It's only a matter of time till I get pulled over again tho. You can only go cold turkey from distracted driving for so long.