Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

Maggie and I have been bestest friends since we were about 6 or 7 years old. She came up to me and asked if I wanted to be her friend and I said yes. I guess, on some level, I appreciated her upfront-ness and knew she'd be someone I could count on for her honesty and genuineness for the rest of my life.

You know how everyone says you shouldn't move in with your best friend because that always ruins friendship? That rule (or any other rule, for that matter) does not apply to us. We lived together for three years when we moved to Ottawa to go to college or university.

Then she moved in with her boyfriend, now husband, and we kept in touch with nearly-weekly coffee dates or crap-food-eating fests at a nearby Denny's.

Maggie also encouraged me to "go for it" and give in to my feelings for Js. When Js and I were finally good and ready to admit we dating she was thrilled. As the universe wanted it, we'd have something else to bring us even closer together. Both our husbands-to-be were in the Air Force.

Now only once province away, we make a point of visiting each other every chance we get and spend countless hours emailing back and forth in the mean time.

The above picture was taken at Maggie's wedding - it was a gorgeous day!

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts.

1. I live in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
2. I am being shot at with a Nerf gun.
3. I'm married to the man of my dreams, Js.
4. Said man of my dreams is currently shooting at my cat with a Nerf gun.
5. I have a cat names Jack and a dog named Nova.
6. I get really annoyed by Nerf guns.
7. I have been blogging for a little over two years.
8. I'm a military spouse.
9. My first language is French.
10. I'm short.
11. I really enjoy Indian food.
12. I love to bake and cook.
13. I love my job.
14. I am, yet again, being shot at with a Nerf gun.
15. I can be surprisingly patient, at times.

A challenge to get out of this rut.

I've been having a hard time putting words to computer screen lately which is really odd for me. To help me get out of this rut and hopefully get back into the blogging swing of things, I've decided to complete a small challenge.

Pretty much a million Facebook friends of mine have been posting about this (mind you, most my Facebook friends are geeks so this may be totally lame) challenge and I woke up this morning with the silly idea to do it and post it on my blog. Hopefully, it'll also keep me motivated to post during the Holiday season.

So here's what it's all about :

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts.
Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show.
Day 04 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day.
Day 05 - A picture of your night.
Day 06 - A picture of your morning
Day 07 - A picture of you over ten years ago.
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh.
Day 09 - A picture of you in your room.
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most messed up things with.
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate.
Day 12 - A picture of something you love.
Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist.
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die.
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you.
Day 17 - A picture you're tagged in on facebook, but not actually in
Day 18 - A picture of you had no idea was being taken.
Day 19 - A picture of you drunk.
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget.
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at.
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book.
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change.
Day 25 - A picture of your day.
Day 26 - A picture of the last vacation you were on.
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member.
Day 28 - A picture of you on your birthday.
Day 29 - A picture at a time where everything was changing.

Firstly, I don't really know why it's called the 30 day challenge but it only has 29 days to it. If you have a revised list, please feel free to let me know.

Secondly, I'm not sure I'll post an actual picture for all of them but I'll try - this is after all, a blogging exercise for me so I'm going to focus on writing a little sumthin' sumthin'.

There goes nothing...

Holiday Preps

The Holiday preparations have officially started at the "L." household! :) Last year, we waited until the last possible moment and then got hit with a monster snow storm so the lights never went up outside. This year, my nagging worked and we produced a very disorganized and amateurish display of colorful lights tangled in the branches of our dying tree. Oh, the joys of the season.

Nova was there to ensure the quality of our work.

 

And behold, the glamorous results :

Freezing Fog

The view from our backyard last week.

Quiet

I know I've been slacking in the blog department recently. I'd like to say "I've had so much going on!" but that's not even an excuse. There really isn't that much happening... well... that much worth writing about. Life is just trucking along - business as usual.

But what have I been doing with all my free time? I haven't had that much, seriously. I've been keeping up with other online and offline projects. New job requires me to sit in front of a computer for most of the day so when I get home, I just want to sit there and turn off my brain.

I've been learning a lot about my surroundings, about myself and about my family within the past months since Mom passed away. I'm still taking it all in and most times, not really in the mood to share. I've been a bit more introvert than usual and I think it's a good thing.

I find lately I've been longing for silence. I find myself needing "quiet time" during the day - either when I get home from work or at night after dinner. I want to turn off the TV, unplug everything and just sit there with a cup of tea or a book. I've never had this longing before and it's really strange. I've just been rushed through so many emotions, I want a couple minutes to allow my mind to sit still.

I am not so much looking forward to the holidays this year. I'm going to be visiting my Dad and family mid-December and returning to Saskatchewan just in time to spend Christmas day with Js, Jack and Nova - a Christmas we didn't get to celebrate together last year. I know we made the right decision with regards to my trip home but I'm still struggling with knowing that my Dad will wake up by himself Christmas day.

Dog vs Mat

I was quietly preparing dinner (zapping some left over lasagna I slaved over the day before) and I heard a weird noise coming from the side door. Kinda like a "hacking" noise but I knew Jacko was upstairs. "Shite! The dog's about to puke and she's asking for the door!" *runs paper towel in hand*

I slammed on the breaks before I got too close when I saw what was really going on. We'd given Nova the end of a raw-hide in the morning so we could play video games - yes, we're horrible pet owners. My precious, brilliant dog had decided she wanted to bury it somewhere in the house. After searching high and low, she decided behind the side door was the best option. She could then cover it with the mat.

The noise I heard was her trying to push the little mat around with her nose... front paws solidly planted on it. So there she was, pushing with all her might and holding it down in place blinded by her determination. I stood there, laughing and waiting to see what she would do next. In my defense, I didn't know how bad it was at this point - it was just horribly cute. After a while she figured it out (!!) and started scratching and nudging the mat in place. Eventually she had done it, the little raw-hide was (almost) entirely hidden under a giant pile of mat.

She looks over at me with so much pride and happiness like she was saying : Look Ma, no one will ever find it now! Tell me I'm a good girl! I look a bit closer and notice something is a bit off on her face and the mat and floor are covered in streaks of... what is this? Blood?! Nova rug-burned her nose. Like, bleeding and all. She worked so hard she never felt a thing but now she has a little bald spot on the top of her nose, it's kinda scabbing and a bit gross but healing.

Nova : 0
Mat : 1