In Hopes Santa Will Soon Be Here

Wow, where has this past month gone?  I can't believe it's been a month since I've visited my blog.  I know one thing which has kept me busy this past while, I've been doing a ton of baking in preparation for our Christmas celebrations. 

Here's a bit of what I've done thus far. From left to right on the top is Butter Tart Bars, Hawaiian Cheesecake Bars, Date Squares, Gluten free Cheesecake cookies and on the bottom is Nanaimo Bars. 

I've also made gluten free brownies, whipped shortbread, both regular and gluten free and last weekend I had a helper in my kitchen.  We did up Elyssa's special cookies and had us some fun doing so! 

Some of the finished cookies...

And perogies are also in the freezer, the kids came over and we spent an afternoon pinching perogies, which is always such a good time and an early feast! I'd also prepared an elk stew and was it ever delicious! 

So now that most of the cooking is done, all of my holiday gifts are bought I'm wondering what in the heck can I get into next?  I have to behave or Santa won't bring me anything...
 sigh, what to do! 

Campbell River, British Columbia

Last week I went for a short trip out to Campbell River and my goodness, what a stunning place!  I have a friend who moved there a few months back and he invited me so off I went. 

One of the first things we did was I grabbed my camera and off to the shores to take a walk, my friend lives two minutes from the shore and it's absolutely stunning! 

A large piece of driftwood to me is an excellent photo opportunity... 

One of the days I was there we went out fishing, it was gorgeous til we were on our way back and it started to rain, I was shivering cold but it the fishing was worth it.  I caught three fish, now that's a first since I was a teenager. 

This is the boat we were out on, a friend of my friends took us out and even though I was a bit leery at first I soon saw how competent he was and relaxed.  We pulled the boat in here and the only place to go was up so off I went climbing places which I probably shouldn't have been but the view was breathtaking. 

Another day we took a drive out to Elk National Park and went down to the waterfalls, there's a suspension bridge which only freaked me out when I looked down, so I tried really hard not to look down as I crossed. 

Everything from walking down the piers, hiking to the waterfalls and braving the suspension bridge, you bet I had an amazing time.  The only complaint I have is my trip wasn't long enough, but as I told my friend, I shall return! 

The trip was one of those trips where I just don't know which pictures to post, but I'll stop right about here, if you're ever in B.C. definitely take in the Island, you won't be disappointed! 

Thank you Jerry, your hospitality is immensely appreciated!  

Children - Our Gifts

I had the sheer enjoyment of doing yet another baby photo shoot and what a handsome wee man he is!   It's hard to pick one or two of my favorite shots but I'll try to limit myself here, try being the key word! 

Engine, engine number 9...

Get this thing off of me! 

And Santa don't forget my Harley please...

See why I had so much fun, my friends boy is an absolute doll! 

Children truly are our gifts, they bring a sense of joy which lies deep within the heart and I believe children keep our spirits youthful.  

See you in January little buddy, then look out, it's cake time! 

Autumn Daze

Today my children came over for brunch, it's a real pleasure for us to all come together but me being me asked if we could do family portraits before we had our meal and my children all obliged.  It's a fantastic time of year to be outdoors taking photos with the colors of autumn enhancing our world. 

We have a new addition within our family unit, meet Star, Elyssa's new puppy who I fell in love with already! 

My amazing family...

Having a bit of fun with Elyssa

And the kid in my comes out more often than not, life's too short not to play! 

It's been a fantastic day, one which I realize how blessed I am and I appreciate my amazing children.  No matter how old they get, they always bring joy, love and laughter into my world and for this I'm eternally grateful. 

I'm glad we did the photos before our meal, as per our usual there was an abundance of food and it left most of us in that Autumn daze! :-)

Precious Wee Girls

Today I reconnected with a friend I hadn't seen in at least 15 years, if not longer, she used to work with me back in my bartending days and thanks to facebook we found one another.  My friend, who is the same age as my oldest son,  has three children, two are still fairly young and her young son is in school but she had her precious daughter with her and what a cutie! 

My friend also babysits a friends daughter and she's just as adorable! 

After I saw this photo my new name for this princess is 

Hollywood Baby! 

My friend had also stopped off at Timmy's, she got the kids Timbits and chocolate milk, not to worry, it's not coffee in the cup, it's milk but it sure made for an adorable photo! 

Now to try to get all three girls together one day, my granddaughter and these two girls and the fun I could have with these precious children, not only taking photos but playing with them and the bonus, I'd be visiting with a long lost friend at the same time!  

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Wishing Upon a Star

My beautiful granddaughter came to spend Saturday evening with me, her mommy and daddy were going out of town to look at a puppy, they figured it was time.  Elyssa was getting discouraged and informed her mommy that wishing on a star doesn't work, apparently she kept on wishing on a star for a puppy and one never showed up, a true disappointment for a 5 year old girl.  

While Elyssa was with me it was time for one final photo of her with the sunflowers I planted for her.  The skies were overcast and grey so we put some color in our world, Elyssa chose the colors for the sky in this photo.  I thought I'd planted mini sunflowers again this year, apparently I bought the wrong package...

This is the first time I'd shown Elyssa how to edit photos, she started to play with the photo of the sunflower I cut down so she could see what it looked like.   I use a simple editing program with presets and as Elyssa was clicking away she came across the 180 reflection, we played with it a wee bit and came up with a sunflower heart! 

And on Sunday lo and behold when Elyssa arrived at home she found that wishing upon a star actually works...   

And what's really cool, the name chosen for this adorable puppy is Star! 

The moral of this story, never give up wishing upon a star... wishes can come true! 

Until We Meet Again

A young lady whom I studied with and quickly became close friends to was taken from us far too soon.  I learned of this tragic news a few nights ago and my heart is heavy, she was a remarkable young lady.  

We convocated on the same date. I took some photos of her, some with her Mom and some with her Grandmother, both who had flown in from our neighboring province to watch their girl graduate with her Masters Degree.  That's the last time I saw my friend in person yet we shared texts as she wasn't from Edmonton, she lived in a smaller town about 2 hours from here.  When we had classes on weekends she would spend the night with me and her company was more than welcomed.  

I wanted to do something special in memory of my friend; this collague the bottom left  photo is some of us on our final day of classes, we went out for lunch to celebrate.  The other two photos are of my friend on our convocation date.  The photo in the middle was the sun setting as I was heading back home from the convocation.  

Until we meet again my beautiful friend: I love you yesterday, today and always. May you Rest in Peace Steph. 

Sand Dollars

A friend of mine gave me some sand dollars and a few sea shells.  I brought them home and wanted to first find out if there's any symbolism in the sand dollar and lo and behold I found something about them.  I discovered within each sand dollar are five white doves, each dove represents the basic elements of life; radiance, freedom, nature, beauty, and peace.  This got my creative mind in motion and I set out to display my new treasures, then I took a few photos and this is what I've come up with...

I've set this display on my nightstand so it's one of the last things I see at night and one of the first things I see in the morning.  I'm now thinking maybe a tattoo of a sand dollar.... just in the thinking process for now though. 

Growth

My wee garden is now producing veggies, today I pulled a carrot to see how they are doing and I'm impressed... 

as I am with my tomatoes...

When I'd returned home from my weekend away I came home to this...

One of my huge sunflowers had snapped and this might upset some people, not me, I viewed this as a photo opportunity so I grabbed my camera and this next photo is straight out of the camera, no edits at all.  I love how it turned out! 

"I want to be like a sunflower; so that even on the darkest days I will stand tall and find the sunlight." (M.K) 

Growing not only flowers, veggies and plants is amazing, I love to watch things grow... and as for me, I hope to always be on a continued growth journey. 

My Semi-Colon Tattoo

I was going to include my latest tattoo in my last post but decided this one deserves a post all of it's own.  There's a story behind my latest tattoo and those of you who follow my blog are more likely than not to know my story, or a part of it.  I've been wanting this semi-colon tattoo for some time and while I was visiting my friend in Sylvan Lake this past weekend he set this up for me as he has a friend who owns a tattoo and design shop in Sylvan Lake.  

And me being me, well I didn't want just any ordinary semi-colon so here's what I chose...

I absolutely love it, I love it so much that when I first saw it when it was done my eyes leaked a wee bit.  I can't thank my friend enough for this amazing gift, the gift of a lifetime which will last a lifetime!