Guilty or Innocent

This is from Facebook, but I thought I'd steal it for my blog. :) Feel free to add to your blog as well.

RULE 1 You can only say Guilty or Innocent.
RULE 2 You are not allowed to explain anything unless someone messages you and asks!(So people reading this, if you want an explanation.. comment.)

1. Asked someone to marry you? Innocent

2. Kissed one of your Facebook friends? Guilty

3. Danced on a table in a bar? Innocent

4. Ever told a lie? Guilty

5. Had feelings for someone whom you can't have? Innocent

6. Ever kissed someone of the same sex? Innocent

7. Kissed a picture? Guilty

8. Slept in until 5 PM? Innocent

9. Fallen asleep at work/school? Guilty

10. Held a snake? Guilty

11. Been suspended from school? Innocent

12. Worked at a fast food restaurant? Guilty

13. Stolen from a store? Innocent

14. Been fired from a job? Innocent

15. Done something you regret? Guilty

16. Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Guilty

17. Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Guilty

18. Kissed in the rain? Guilty

19. Sat on a roof top? Guilty

20. Kissed someone you shouldn't? Guilty

21. Sang in the shower? Guilty

22. Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? Innocent

23. Shaved your head? Innocent

24. Slept naked? Innocent

25. Had a boxing membership? Innocent

26. Made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry? Guilty

27. Been in a band? Innocent

28. Shot a gun? Guilty

29. Donated Blood? Innocent

30. Eaten alligator meat? Guilty

31. Eaten cheesecake? GUILTY!

32. Have/had a tattoo? Guilty

33. Liked someone, but will never tell who? Guilty

34. Been too honest? Guilty

35. Ruined a surprise? Guilty

36. Ate in a restaurant and got really bloated that you can't walk afterward? Guilty

37. Erased someone in your friends list? Guilty

38. Dressed in a woman's clothes (if your a guy) or man's clothes (if your a girl)? Guilty

39. Joined a pageant? Innocent

40. Been told that you're handsome or beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said? Guilty

41. Had communication w/ your ex? Guilty

42. Got totally drunk one night and you have an important thing to do in the tomorrow morning? Innocent

43. A total stranger treat you by paying your bus fare? Innocent

44. Get totally angry that you cried so hard? Guilty

Sooooo hot!

Last night I ended up taking my sarong, soaking it, wringing it out and laying it on top of me to help me sleep ... and it worked!!! Well, until 4 am when it was dry and I was sweating again. Ugh! I really do like summer better than winter, but when it's this hot I just feel lazy. I'm sweating just sitting here typing this, so anything above that is just over exerting myself. ;)

I hope you're all surviving the heat. For those of you with A/C in your house, don't take it for granted. You're SUPER lucky!

Oh, and is anyone else having trouble breathing lately? I've heard them say on the radio that the air quality is really bad right now and I'm feeling it ... and I don't have asthma, so I can only imagine how bad it is for those of you who do.

Try to stay cool, everyone. Oh, and at least our pools aren't as crowded as this one!

Sweet release

I'm not feeling real joy at the moment. In fact, the longer whatever this oppression is hangs around, the more discouraged I get. There's not a lot of peace here either. Not like a river. Not even a rivulet. Whatever this cloud is I'm under, it isn't bringing with it the fruit of the Spirit. I can't get back to the clear air I normally have. Something is in the way.

God had me read that part (page 51) of Walking with God (by John Eldredge - I talked about it a few posts ago) on Sunday for a reason. It's exactly where I was at. There's been something bothering me for awhile now and I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. I've let myself get stressed over it and the effects have been showing. I haven't been able to be myself and experience true joy. Unfortunately, I can't go into detail about the actual situation, but God revealed more to me.

You'll soon discover that if you want life and joy, if you are moving into deeper intimacy with God, you are going to attract attention. The enemy will not like it. That's okay. Don't surrender. Don't back down. As Scripture says, resist. Rise up. Fight back. If you do, you can be rid of the attack. And best of all, it makes you holy. Because it strengthens your will and draws you closer to Christ. It causes you to mature, for you have to be intentional and deal with assaults directly. - pg 56

So that's what I've done. I've acknowledged that I've been listening to that voice in my head that's beating me down and calling me a bad person and I'm no longer going to listen to that voice. God wants me to find His peace and have joy. He came "that we might have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10 I feel that I have been getting closer to God lately and it didn't even cross my mind that Satan wouldn't like it and would attack me. I hate how cunning and subtle he is and how he can make us feel bad about ourselves. Yes, we do need to take inventory of ourselves and desire to become better people in Christ, but if it's from God, He won't beat you down to get you there. He'll do it in love and bring peace from it.

Thank you, God, for revealing that to me and helping me to bind Satan and the accusations he was gently placing in my head. Those thoughts do not come from You and do not produce fruits of the Spirit.

ONE ARTIST

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. Enjoy!



Pick Your Artist: U2 (of course ... did you expect anyone else?)



Are you male or female: Party Girl



Describe yourself: Lady with the Spinning Head



How do you feel about yourself: Love and Peace or Else



Describe where you currently live: Don't Take Your Guns to Town (haha - if you know where I live, you'd know how true this is - in a pleading way)



If you could go anywhere you wanted to go: New York



Your favorite form of transportation: Fast Cars



Your best friend is: The Sweetest Thing



Your favorite color is: Paint it Black



Favorite time of day: Night and Day



If your life were a TV show, what would it be called: Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For



What is life to you: Magnificent



What is the best advice you have to give: Sometime's You Can't Make it on Your Own



If you could change your name, what would it be: Elevation (ok, I could've gone with Grace or Gloria, but I wanted to be different)



Thought for the Day: The Saints Are Coming



How I would like to die: Miracle Drug



My soul's present condition: Rejoice



My motto: All Because of You!

Transformation

I didn't mean to leave you hangin' for so long. Thanks to Sonya, Rachel, Lea and Jode for their kind words and to anyone else who prayed for me as well. Your prayers were felt. 2 weekends ago I went away for the weekend by myself to deal with this anger. I had an amazing time away. I started reading Walking with God by John Eldredge.

I don't know if you can read the small print at the bottom of the book, but it says, "Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really." That's what I needed that weekend ... well, I always need it, but especially that weekend. You may say, "but you're single and live alone, so why would you need to go away for the weekend?" Because there are too many distractions at home and I know myself ... I would've allowed myself to be distracted. I hate that I have to go away to feel like I can really talk and listen to God, but that's what I needed that weekend. So, away I went.

There was another book I read the first night (which I'll tell you about in another post) and then finished in the morning, then I went for a walk and took a few pictures, which I'll throw in throughout this post.

Sometimes we feel so alone in how we're feeling. God knows and is there for us.

I picked up this book not knowing what I would find, but being open to whatever it was. I was only in the Introduction when I found myself already underlining things. He talks about Adam and Eve and the relationship they originally had with God.

"...whatever it was they were, and whatever it was they had, we also were meant to be and to have. And what they enjoyed above all the other delights of that place was this - they walked with God. They talked with Him, and He with them. For this you and I were made. And this we must recover. It is our deepest need, as human beings, to learn to live intimately with God."

This is something I want. Intimacy with God. I continued reading and reading about intimacy with God revealed to me how intimately God knows me. That didn't scare me ... it excited me! The fact that God loves me THIS MUCH (even though I'll never completely fathom how much) is overwhelmingly awesome. Even when I sin, God comes looking for me.

The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. 2 Chron. 15:2

I'm going to write what I wrote in my journal at this point.

That's all we have to do. Seek Him. God is ALWAYS with me. That isn't a new thought to me, yet somehow I forget that "with me" doesn't mean up in the clouds whenever I need to talk. He was in the car with me on the drive up here and is sitting across the table from me now.

I sat and thought about that fact for a second. God is sitting across the table from me right now. I thought, "Ok, let's talk," and this is literally the conversation I had with God about my anger.

Me: What do I do with this anger?

God: Give it to me.

Me: But for some reason, I feel I'm entitled to this anger. You love (this person) so You'll be nice to them and they don't deserve Your love.

God: You don't deserve my love.

Me: I know, but it's so hard to grasp Your concept of "all sins are equal."

God: Let me be the judge and jury.

Me: Ok, right. That does make me feel a bit better knowing that You'll judge them.

God: That shouldn't bring you joy. You'll be judged one day, too.

Me: I just don't get how they can do this! How can they be so selfish?

God: Haven't you been discovering how selfish you are just this past week? (refer to previous posts about God revealing my selfishness to me)

Me: Wow. You're right. That's a good slap across the face. Help me to pray that all of our eyes are opened to our selfish ways and that we see how ugly that is and how that DOES NOT bring honour to Your name.

I can't say that I'm not still upset with what's going on, but I honestly don't feel the anger anymore. Luckily ... actually, no, I don't believe in luck ... by Divine appointment, I had a counselling appointment scheduled for the Monday after my weekend away. My counsellor helped me to see what this person may be going through and really opened my eyes and I actually left the counselling session with compassion for this person ... who just days before (although I'm not proud to admit it) I couldn't have cared less if I ever saw again.

That night we also had our wind up Care Group for the year. We had been given a bit of homework and when I opened it up while away for the weekend (yes, leaving my homework until the last minute), I had to laugh when I saw the question in bold at the bottom of the page. It said, What is a transformation story you have that you can share? Hmmm, let me think ... !!! Going through a bit of transformation RIGHT NOW I'd have to say. I went back to reading my book and while I'd like to type out all of pages 18 and 19 for you right now, I'll just give you a taste so you go read it for yourself. :)

We may not know exactly what God is up to in this or that event in our lives. "Why didn't I get the job?" "How come she won't return my calls?" "Why haven't my prayers healed this cancer?" I don't know. Sometimes we can get clarity, and sometimes we can't. But whatever else is going on, we can know this: God is always up to our transformation."

Transformation isn't always fun and it can be a lot of work, but if it brings me closer to God in the end, He promises it will be worth it.

Opinions, please.

Well, there's a first time for everything and yesterday at church, I had a first. I was listening to our Pastor speak about how we are meant to be a community and that we were saved to be part of a group. We should be "other" oriented. This resonated with me because as I briefly mentioned in my last post, just this past week, God has been showing me my selfish tendencies. I was chuckling to myself (not out loud because the person next to me might've thought I was a little off my rocker) that this point was being driven home to me yet again. I was telling God, "Yes, I get it," but not in a cocky way. I really do want to learn and change my ways. I did mess up this week and just had to say, "Doh!" after I realized that I had asked God to show me ways to be less selfish this week and I missed the mark big time. Luckily God is gracious and I can learn from that. When we run contrary to our design, dysfunction happens and I felt that as soon as I realized how I'd missed out on being selfless.

So, we know that's not a first for me. Being selfish is one sin I'm unfortunately, too familiar with ... but working on to rectify. What was a first was at the end of the sermon it was time to take communion. He went through the "instructions" about how if you're not a Christian you may just want to let the bread and cup pass you by and how if you have an issue with a "brother" you may also want to do the same until you make it right. All of a sudden I was confused. I'm dealing with anger right now towards someone who hasn't done anything directly to me, but to someone I'm close to. Is that enough to make me let the communion pass me by? It's not like I can go and make it right with this person because, like I said, they haven't done anything directly to me and therefore, if I went to them, they may tell me to butt out. But the anger I have in my heart isn't right and I know that. Do I hold off on communion until I've dealt with this anger? I didn't know what to do. I've never had this feeling before. Since I was unsure, I left during communion and decided to not take it. This was a first for me. Something I really do not want to repeat. I hated not taking communion and feeling that special bond with God. It left a hole in my heart, but not enough to drive out the anger yet.

Anyone have any good advice for me? I'm all ears.

Inspirations

This weekend I have had 2 major inspirations. One is by a girl I went to High School with who is dying of cancer. Her name is Rachel Barkey and I'm sure a lot of you know her. This video of her speaking is from March 2009 and she was only given a few months to live. If you have an hour to listen, I really encourage you to do so.

http://deathisnotdying.com/fullvideo/

She has encouraged me to not be so selfish and to remember my purpose. I have been put on this earth to please God. I'm going to seek ways to do that this week.

The other thing that inspired me this weekend was a movie called Running the Sahara. Here's the preview for the movie.




This movie is about 3 guys who run across the Sahara desert. For me, this was not an inspiration about running (although I do want to go for a run tonight). It was more an inspiration that if you truly set your mind to something, you can do it. It has also inspired me to go to Africa. I've always wanted to go, but I'm really going to try to make that happen. In what capacity will I go? I don't know yet. I just hope to get there.

This weekend I got to meet Ray Zahab, one of the guys who ran across the Sahara. He is an awesome guy. 8 years ago he was a pack a day smoker and says he "kept Guinness in business." One New Year's Eve, he and his brother said they needed to start a new life and he took it to the extreme. He's only been running for 5 years (at the time he ran the Sahara he'd only been running for 2 1/2 years) and has also run across the Antarctic and has many races planned to education kids about other cultures and the water crisis around the world. If you see this movie somewhere or want to buy it online, I encourage you to do so.

Fiona needs ...

I saw this on Keri's blog awhile ago and thought it was funny, so I thought I'd try it.

Here’s how it works: Google “[your first name] needs” (don't forget to include the quotes) and share the first 10 results. That's it: it is that simple. But be honest...

Fiona needs URL

Fiona needs to ______. I want to ______ Fiona. Fiona can ______ my ______. If I could describe Fiona in a word: ______. Fiona will never _____.

Princess Fiona needs her Shrek

Fiona needs support

Fiona Needs is on Facebook

fiona needs to go on a diet seriously

Fiona needs money!!!

Fiona needs new hips.

Fiona needs insperation

Fiona needs a HOME!!!

Ha Ha! Some of those are SO true ... and some of them I have no idea what they mean, but it was funny, so I thougth I'd post it. :)

I'm back! (I should look and see how many times I've used that as my Title)

Hey Everyone ... if you're still there. My friend asked me today, "When you said on your blog that you'd be back in April, did you mean April 2010?" After we had a good laugh about that (thank you, Karen), I tried to explain why I haven't been back, and I'll try to explain it here as well. At first, I didn't come back right away because 40 days away from the computer really made me realize that I don't need it as much as I thought I did. I could live without it! Can you believe that? :) I would go for days without even thinking to look at my emails or Facebook, but slowly over time, it's creeped/crept back in. Not like it was before Lent, and only on my email and Facebook. I haven't looked at my blog or anyone else's since the end of February. When I thought about why that is, I think it's because I'm a little ashamed. I had big plans for myself during my break, but I think I somewhat wasted my time and I'm dealing with some shame over that. Without my computer, I'd have a lot of time on my hands to do good things with. I'm going to admit that the only good thing that I feel came of my break was that I visited with people I hadn't seen in a long time and I made time for that, which I was happy about. Other then that, I'll be honest and tell you that I filled my time with crap TV. I did do some reading, but mostly I sat (or layed, depending on my mood) on my couch and I flicked through channels. I didn't read my Bible more like I intended or have more quiets times and pray and I know that I missed out on some great opportunities. Then why didn't I do it? I've asked myself that question so many times and I can only come up with that I didn't want it enough, which makes me sad. I know only I can change that, but for some reason, I don't. I know that God still loves me and we have a wonderful relationship, but it can always be better.

Anyways, there it is. Now that I've admitted that, maybe I'll be here more often.

Oh, in the time that I've been gone, I've transferred to a new job and it's been wonderful! God's timing is perfect, as always, and He knew what I needed well before I did. I'm so glad that I didn't get that job that I talked about earlier. I'm also glad that He's in control and not me. :)

See you in April!

Well, now that I'm all caught up, I thought I'd take a break. :) I know I'm not Catholic, but a course I took about 8 years ago talked about Lent and what the meaning behind it is. Ever since then I have given up something every year and most of the times it was sweets. It was hard at the beginning but I admit that it got easier every year. For the last few weeks I've felt God challenging me to give up something harder this year and I felt Him telling me it was my computer. So, starting Wednesday morning, in case you email me, Facebook me or leave comments here on my blog and I don't respond, I thought I'd let you in on what I'm doing and that I'm not ignoring you. I will only be available via telephone (phone or text).


In the meantime I will be heading to Ottawa for a few days for work, hanging out with my parents for their last few days in town, figuring out what to do about my job situation (oh, I forgot to mention that I didn't get the job that I had you all praying for. I know God has something else in store for me, but I do admit that I was disappointed - thanks again for all your prayers) and counting down the days until I go to Vegas at the end of March.


Have a great 40 days and I'll see you in April!

Great quote

for a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. but there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. at last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. this perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. happiness is the way. so treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. happiness is a journey, not a destination ...

- souza

10 things I like ...

Sonya did this on her blog and she gave me the letter N:



Nations - it's my way of saying I like to travel without having the letter 'T' given to me. :)

Now - there's no time like the present!

Notoriety - I'll admit it. I don't go seeking attention, but if it comes my way, I don't run from it, either. My face will usually go a million shades of red, but I'm usually not actually embarrassed. It's just how I handle the attention ... that's the part I don't love because I'll hear, "I've never seen someone's face go THAT red" or "You must be SOOOO embarrassed!"

Novels - I LOOOOOOOVE to read. When I was a little girl, my friend, Susie, and I would each have 10 books and we would read (out loud) a chapter from one book, put it to the bottom of the pile and start with the next one. We had 20 books on the go at the same time and somehow we kept all the story lines straight.

Nativity - because it's God's love for us sent down in human form

Nutrition - ha ha! Had ya goin' there!!! :P

NBC - because this network has brought us great TV shows such as The Office and ER.

New York City - one of my favorite cities that I've ever travelled to. I could sit and people watch all day ... or go to a Broadway show ... or go to the top of the Empire State Building and sight see ... or walk over the Brooklyn Bridge ... the list goes on. I would highly recommend a trip to New York.

Number Nine - it's three 3's :)

Nerds - the candy, not so much the people ... and not because I don't like them ... I doubt they would like me because they are WAAAAAY too smart for me.

So there you have it. Wow. That was harder than I thought it would be. Maybe it was just the letter N that was particularly hard. I'm sure for the rest of the day things will just randomly come to me and I'll think, "Oh shoot! Should've said Northern Ireland because my friend Lisa is from there, or Narnia because those were great movies." Oh well. This was a fun one. Thanks, Sonya.

February ... most of it

To kick off February, Karen asked me to go to her school for a fundraising basketball game - the Mouat Hawks (and a few other local players) vs. the BC Lions. One of the Hawks was diagnosed with leukemia and one of his team mates is closely connected to the BC Lions, so they put on this fundraiser. I always forget how much I love the game of basketball until I'm inside that gym and hear those shoes squeaking and see that ball being fired at that basket. It was a lot of fun and had a very touching half time speech from Jeff (the boy with leukemia). Here are a few pics (I forgot my camera - what kind of blogger am I? - so the pics I took during the game were really bad with my cell phone because I couldn't zoom in). The Lions names that I can remember are: Geroy Simon, Ryan Phillips and Paris Jackson.

The highlight of the night, for me, had to be reuniting with my 2 high school basketball coaches. I made a hard decision in Grade 10 and left MEI and went to Mouat. If I had stayed at MEI, I would've played with great players, but little did I know that going to Mouat I would be coached by 2 of the best coaches in BC ... ok, maybe Canada! Allison McNeil was my coach in Grade 10. We had no Jr. team so I had to play on the Sr. Girls team that year. We weren't so good, but we had fun. She's now the Head Coach for the National Women's Team. For Grade 11 and 12, my coach was Pat Lee. In Grade 11 we had 2 players, so Mr. Lee sent us out in the halls scouring for girls to join our team. We did eventually get enough players, but they were fresh. Most didn't know much about basketball or the rules, so it was an interesting year, but we made it through. I think we won 1 game. Grade 12 was a little better. Mr. Lee has coached all over the Fraser Valley and has a great reputation. He's an excellent coach. Anyone who's had him as a coach is extremely lucky.

Last weekend I went to see Linda and Drew's new arrival, Joseph. He was their beautiful Christmas gift, born on Christmas Day at 4:00 am ... and she was home by 4:00 pm! Crazy, hey? At first, my excuse for not having seen him was all the snow. I couldn't tell her that the real excuse was because I hadn't finished his quilt yet. I finally got it done and off I went to meet this fine fellow.

Isn't he adorable? I was so proud that he smiled so much for me and now Linda tells me that he smiles at their teddy bears all the time. Hmmm. Thanks, buddy. :)

Joseph is a little brother for the beautiful Sophie and cute, little Adam.

Look what I did! Yes, that's me holding him, swaying away until ...

Awwww, so cute! :)

Next up was a mini Borne reunion. My parents have come to town for almost a month so my cousins decided to have whoever could make it out to their place for supper. I was so hungry that I completely forgot to pull out my camera until the food was all gone and my Grandma and parents had left. Oh wait, there's my Dad in one pic, so maybe I just didn't get good shots of everyone. Sorry about that. It was lots of fun and how better to end a night then by playing Dutch Blitz! Thanks, Rosie (and Gord, of course) for having us over. I can't wait until Bornefest this summer.

My Mom promised me that while they were out here she would make me my favorite meal ... roast beef. She did not disappoint. I forgot my camera so I took this pic with my cell phone. The meal looked MUCH more appetizing than this picture shows (and I got 3 sandwiches out of the leftovers! YUM!). Thanks, Mom. You're the best.

I took this picture because it made me laugh how interested my Dad was in my T4 slip. I heard about how when he started working he made $1.25 an hour and they paid $50 in rent a month ... or was it $25? I can't remember ... all I know is thank the Lord times have changed. :)

Almost caught up!

The month of January was filled with MORE snow ...

A baby born for a dear co-worker. Welcome, Brayden ...

Games night with great friends ...

Reconnecting with old friends (via games night again ... my first time playing Settlers ... and seeing their toddler again) ...

A birthday party where I got to see the old gang ...

And it ended with a bang ... Blogger Get Together!!!

What would a blogger get together be without great food and taking pictures of said great food. :)

Lots of chatting ... Looking through old pictures ...

and trying to get a good group shot with a timer ...

There we go (this one courtesy of Kori's camera ... and hubby)! I had a lot of fun, ladies. Next time ... Dutch Blitz!

I must say, though, that I was a tad disappointed with the lack of cameras with this many bloggers in the house. What? I'm just keepin' it real, ladies. :P Love ya!

Christmas in February!

Ok, it's not really Christmas in February. I'm still finishing my recap. In mid-December we had one of our first snowfalls. Everyone told me that since my car is front wheel drive, it will be totally fine in the snow. I didn't worry when it started snowing because I believed everyone. Remember, I used to have a 4 x 4, so I'd gotten used to being able to go where I want, when I want in the snow. Let's just say that the place I'm house sitting at now is atop a very steep hill and after my 3rd attempt, I had to abandon my new little car at the bottom and walk up ... in the blizzard that it was. This is how it looked the next morning when I walked down to it. I did have to shovel it out as the snow plow had blocked me in, but it wasn't too bad.

The other 2 pictures above were taken on Christmas Eve morning. I went out and shoveled very early in the morning before work and an hour later you couldn't even tell I'd shoveled. Needless to say, I was a little nervous about my flight that was supposed to fly out that afternoon. We got sent home from work at 9:30 because there were only a few people in the office so I went and sat at the airport hoping to maybe catch an earlier flight. Pretty much all flights were cancelled.

Lucky for me one of my best friends lives just down the street from the airport and they welcomed me into their home to spend Christmas Eve with them (collage below) and she even got up at 5:00 am to drive me back to the airport in the morning. Thanks Rachel!

My flight was supposed to leave at 6:30 am, however, we didn't board the plane until 9:45ish and after de-icing, we hit the runway and got up in the air at about 11:00.

FINALLY descending into Calgary!!!

I was so happy to get to spend time with my wonderful family. Parents, one sister, one bro-in-law, a niece and a nephew and even a crazy cousin that they let out of the loony bin for the day (just kidding, kind of). We played Chicken's Feet, napped, ate wonderful meals prepared by my wonderful mother and just generally had a great time.

The 3rd last picture is of the quilt I made my sister for Christmas. I was also making 2 baby quilts for friends. These are the reasons I didn't blog much in October and November. I couldn't tell you about them as they were supposed to be a surprise.

As you can see I got quite a few books for Christmas. I've already finished one of them and the others will come in handy starting next week. I'll tell you why ... soon.

The days of Jennie (oh, and Jon, too, of course) :)

A shower, some pampering, a rehearsal, getting ready and finally ... a Wedding. Couldn't get a better post for Valentine's Day!

In October my dear friend, Jennie, got engaged. I felt SO privileged to be asked to be her Maid of Honour. We didn't have a ton of time, so in November, as per my duties, I got to throw her a shower.

Then in December, just a few days before the wedding, I also got to accompany her to the spa for some pampering. Aaaaaahhh!

Then there's always the rehearsal the night before.

And then the glorious day. We gathered together to get ready and it all came together SO well. She looked stunning.

As I was in the wedding (and my friends forgot their cameras), I only have pictures from the reception.

Jennie, it was truly an honour to stand by your side on this special day. You mean the world to me and I am so happy for you. May God bless you and Jon with many wonderful years and may you always look above for guidance on your journey together.

Catching up via pictures - Round 2

For Thanksgiving I was lucky enough to go to my sister's place and spend some time with family.

Although these animals technically aren't family, I always enjoy playing with the fuzzy creatures so I had to include them in my pictorial.

They have 3 miniature donkeys, 2 horses, 2 rabbits, a bizillion cats and only 1 dog at this time.

Here's me and my beautiful niece, Bailey.

My Mom, my sister and I.

Me and my Pops.

The weekend after Thanksgiving I decided it was time for a change and I dyed my hair dark auburn. The day I got it done was also the day of my Bible School get together. Not everyone could make it, but we still managed to have fun.

I then had the distinct honour of accompanying Jennie on her quest to find THE PERFECT wedding dress. I believe she did a wonderful job.

These were the only real Fall pictures I took this year. I know, strange for me to not have a million pics. This old car stands on my friends yard and it looked so great with all the colours around it.

Then it was time for me to say one last good riddance ... errr ... I mean, goodbye, to my truck (I had it for 7 years which is the longest I've had any of my vehicles) and hello to THE MINI!!!

Ta DAAAAAA!!!

In October we also celebrated Karen's birthday. Happy Birthday, Karen!

At the end of October my boss retired. Her and I have been friends as well as co-workers, so although it was a lot of work, I was happy to make her a scrapbook ... here are some of my favourite pages.

Then we went out and partied at The Sandbar on Granville Island. The food was very good and everyone seemed to have a great time.

I'm going to have at least one more review via pictures and then I'll hopefully be caught up. Thanks for indulging me. :)