six little loves

The other day I took a second to read through all my old blog posts. It's neat to see how my little blog has grown and changed in its short life on the web.  But, man, can my posts ever be long winded!  So today, you get short and sweet!

I wanted to share with you the small things that I love. My little treasures, if you will. Enjoy.

another sign that i've got baby brain

I have an (almost) daily ritual. A ritual that I didn't even really realize was a ritual until recently: lunch time walks. I get an hour for my lunch, but in my efforts to save money and eat healthy, I usually pack a lunch and eat it at my desk while working. This means, I have a whole hour to do whatever I want. Sometimes my hour is filled with errands - running to the bank, shopping (that's an errand, right?), making phone calls, etc., but most of the time I have one whole delicious hour to spend however I want. I love going for walks around our beautiful city, Vancouver is so amazingly beautiful that I take it for granted sometimes.

Lately, my walks have been leading me to Chapters. I find that spending a whole hour browsing through the books is such a great escape from a busy work day. Bliss.

i have a dream

Most of the time I feel like I'm 19 years-old.  I don't feel like a married woman working in career; I feel like a young girl fresh out of high school - which I guess I still kind of am, in some respects.  Lately, though, I've felt much older.

Remember my baby brain?  Well, it hasn't gone away - not even close to going away, actually.  So, Hubby and I decided to take a look at our finances and make sure that we'll be financially ready for a little one in a few year's time.  After meeting with our financial advisor (how grown up does that sound?),  we discovered that we are.  Actually, we could have one now and we'd be okay.  Man, that was a HUGE weight lifted off of our shoulders. 

After we were done at the bank and got into the car, Hubby and I both had huge smiles on our faces.  We couldn't stop grinning about the fact that our hopes and dreams were finally coming true:  Hubby recently got a new job (one that he has been wanting for a number of years now), we realized that we will likely be able to afford a town home when we sell our condo in a few years, and I'm (hopefully) going to be getting promoted this summer once I finish my schooling.  Three words:  life is good.

wonderful wedding moment number eight

The First Dance.

The song that I had picked out for our first dace as husband and wife was The Best is Yet to Come.  However, the day before our wedding, Hubby changed it to Everything by Michael Buble.  I'm so glad that he changed it.  As we danced, Hubby sang the words to me; it felt like it was just the two of us, yet the room was packed with our loved ones.

happy winds day

Vancouver has been very blustery lately.  Days and nights like these make me think of Winnie the Pooh.

"Now the very blustery night turned into a very rainy night. And Pooh kept his lonely vigil, hour after hour, after hour - until at last, Pooh fell fast asleep - and began to dream."
-Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, 1968

cinnamon sugar sunday

Today marked a very momentous occasion:  I christened my rolling pin.

I received the rolling pin last Christmas from my Mom and Dad.  I've been wanting to use it ever since, but I felt that I needed to make something epic for it's first use.  Something that is worthy of the virgin rolling pin.  Then, earlier this week I found it.  The perfect recipe.  Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread.  Done.

This bread is all kinds of ridiculous.  I don't think I could have picked a better recipe for the rolling pin's inaugural run.  Even if you're a baking novice, like me, I hope you will make this.  It's delicious. Seriously, cinnamon sugar dough, how can it be anything less that heavenly?

grandma classy

Sometimes I think that I should have been born in a different time period.  Maybe the 1920s or 30s?  In case you haven't noticed, I kind of love the homemaker, dinner party hostess with the mostess role; I think I would have thrived in a time period where staying home and looking after our children would have been my expected job.  At the same time, however, I LOVE working.  See what I'm dealing with?  I'm a mess.

Yesterday, I got to live the homemaker life, minus the children (wait, do cats count?).  Yes, I had the day off, and Hubby was out working hard to bring home the bacon.

letting go

Is anybody else watching Oprah religiously lately?  I don't know if it's because it's the last season, or just because I have it PVR'd, but lately, I can't stop watching Oprah.

As I was watching the other day, Ms. O said something that really struck a chord with me.  I'm not quoting her exactly here, but it was something along the lines of "If somebody doesn't want me, than I stop wasting my time with them".  Now, I'm pretty sure that she said it MUCH more eloquently, but that's the gist of it.

ebbs and flows

All relationships have their own rhythm, and with this comes the inevitable ebbs and flows.  Hubby and I, like all other couples, have our own routine and our own way of interacting with each other.  Sometimes we're on our game; our communication is air tight, we don't snap at each other, and we're just generally kicking butt together. Other times, we're just off. I can't really explain it, but it's just like for that brief period of time, we're not in sync; we're in an ebb.

I know a girl who insists that she and her significant other never fight. I don't buy it. Not for a second. ALL healthy relationships have peaks and valleys. I get it though, there is a certain amount of pressure to have the "perfect" relationship. You want everybody to think that you're rock solid, and that nothing could ever happen to your twosome. It's not reality though.  Hubby and I aren't perfect and neither is our marriage. We both have moments where we aren't being the best spouse that we can be.  However, we can't look to the relationships of others to gauge our own; what works for one couple probably won't work us.