quinoa?

good morning!

as i mentioned yesterday, i was going to attempt to make some quinoa with dinner last night. and it was somewhat a success! garrick wasn't a huge fan... i think cuz it wasn't very flavoured.. i just boiled it like rice then added some pepper and he put soy sauce on.. so we'll have to try something else with it next time. i didn't mind it though! and you know where i found the quinoa? winners! haha. but the grocery stores have it in bulk too apparently.. which is probably cheaper. i also stumbled across this "no-more-snore" (natural, of course!) that i'm making garrick try.. last night didn't go so well.. but maybe we didn't put enough on? you're supposed to just massage into your sinuses and across the bridge of your nose. we'll try again tonight.



and here are some pictures of the avocado plant i've been attempting to grow since early summer! it finally started growing...

 

this one is actually an upside down picture
of the roots beginning to grow

 

root system last week

  

beginnings of a stem!

 

yesterday's stem.. growing toward the sun!



and my love all dressed up for work this morning!

this is where motor sits when he says good bye to "daddy"

and that's all i've got for today! it's back to work.. with another late shift of course. gotta go make my meat loaf sandwich for lunch!

<3

day off

good morning!! it's tuesday, and my day off. i'm excited to be able to spend the evening with garrick.. i have all closing shifts the next two weeks (except for next thursday, the day before we leave! which is really nice since we'll be up at around 4 am to head to the airport).. and probably the week after that too. boo.. i've never worked a retail job where my schedule has been all closing shifts! how is one supposed to have any semblance of a personal life. i'd prefer to see my husband more than an hour and a half every night.

anyway.. enough grumbling.
ten sleeps til our wonderful trip! hooooooooowww exciting <3. AND garrick's mom and stepdad are coming for a visit for new years! but i'll be working late and miss a lot of it.. good grief. at least i'll have new years off to spend the day with them. oh, and garrick's christmas party is this saturday! i'm really excited for that too. i feel like this year will be even more fun than last because i've gotten to know some of the wives a tiny bit better of the last year. i'll be sure to try and snap a few photos.. at least one of myself and garrick! i've been lacking in the picture taking lately.. i think it's partially due to unruly work hours.. and also partially due to my lightroom program uploading my pictures funny! they're going into individual photos sorted into the day they were taken... sooo annoying. i just want them organized by month! it makes me sad though cuz i feel like i've missed documenting the entire fall! i guess nothing super exciting has happened though. i'm starting a yearly recap post, so i should be able to muster up a couple of memorable moments of 2011!

on my to-do list today:
- i'm going to make meat loaf for us for dinner (one of the few meals i can create.. i'm quite proud of it though) and was thinking of things to have with it.. we normally do mashed potatoes, but are out of potatoes at the moment. this morning we decided on rice.. but now i'm thinking it'd be a good opportunity to try some quinoa! so i'm going to go out and buy some.
- i've got one or two more little things to buy for garrick for christmas
- wash our bedding and the duvet cover for the spare bedroom; garrick bought some really nice sheets for the spare bed (for when his mom's here) because the old ones had a hole in them! haha. so we washed the sheets and put them on, but i want to wash the duvet cover too so everything is nice and fresh. and our bed could always use a nice wash.
- i've heard that basil tea is supposed to be good for the complexion, so while i'm at the health food store getting quinoa, i might buy some of the tea as well.
- look at natural hair dye. i want to return to my natural hair colour and i hate the red that my hair has faded into (although i get a lot of compliments on it for some reason..) so i thought if i used a natural hair dye to cover up the red, i`ll live until i`ve grown it all out!

on another note: i`ve been thinking about what i want my blog to consist of. and i thought it kind of funny that i`m more likely to "censor" what i write based on my family reading, than complete strangers! and i think that's kind of sad. for instance, most of my family doesn't know that as of this week i'm no longer on birth control. or that i've been taking prenatal vitamins for the last month and a half in preparation to have a baby.. and i still refrain from mentioning it because it seems like an un-necessary thing to talk about, even though this baby fever makes the topic almost an obsession of mine. but then to think of sharing this with the online world, and secretly indulge in all the wonderful mama blogs i've grown to love seems just so awesome to me. oh, and things about work.. that's a source of some stress in my life.. but what if someone from work starts reading one day, and is offended in some way? but this isn't for other people.. it's supposed to be for me. so i can release all my thoughts.

anyway. i should really finish getting ready. i get sooo stuck on the computer on my days off.. for example, i find a new blog and must read it from the beginning. right now it's sometimes sweet that i'm super into.. and i've got about a year left to catch up on! all the while forgetting about life outside of the digital world. it's almost noon and all i've done is eaten a sandwich, drank some coffee, showered, and blow dried my hair!

<3

christmas card

(click for larger image)

this is the christmas card we sent back home to family and friends this year.

we don't actually have all that snow (in fact, as of right now we have none what-so-ever!). we took this up on silver star mountain at the ski resort.

it looks a little blurry on the screen for some reason... but it printed out really nice!!

apparently i still don't know how to work my blog properly.. if i make the photo bigger, it overlaps onto my side bar! wtf....

<3

missing red

i miss my super bright red/pinky hair!! *sigh* but it's sooo incredibly hard to keep up with.. and now i'm stuck with some faded, ugly version (although another lady today asked me where i got my hair dyed?)

it's cute how the tops of garrick's eyebrows and bits of his beard get soooo blonde in the summer time!

ohhh, first picture of myself in the blog... and i choose an old one.. silly...

<3

Christmas nails!

wednesday - day off

hmm.. sometimes i'm not so good at posting! but i guess that's okay, cuz i don't actually have any readers at the moment anyway lol. but i still want to keep myself updated!!

first, i wanted to share some photos of our christmas tree we set up! (and p.s. i really need to get an external hard drive for all my millions of pictures)

 i have noooo idea how to organize pictures on here! i want them next to each other and in nice columns and what not and it never usually works... ohh well... so that's our christmas tree. this last ornament (bottom right) came from garrick's collection and it's one of my new favourites.

we spent our first christmas together as boyfriend/girlfriend, second as an egaged couple, and third now as husband/wife! i love how each christmas has been different... first we went home, second we stayed here, third we're going out of the country!

i also started making smoothies for us every night, and freezing them for the next day.

ugh.. stupid pictures... anyway.. yes, plastic containers, i know.. but they're BPA free! and they're the only container suitable that had a wide enough opening to be able to properly clean. so it's justified.

we went to my christmas party on the weekend.. and i got to wear my new thigh-high stockings! i was super excited. so here's me on saturday. i haven't been taking as many pictures as i usually do lately.. it kind of makes me sad! but i kind of don't want to be in pictures cuz the colour of my hair isn't what i want it to be.

anyway, i'm off to get my nails done, be back soon!

<3

Counting down

I just started the last week of my last pack of birth control!

19 sleeps til vegas <3

recipes i need to try

artichoke crusted chicken

grilled balsamic-garlic crusted pork tenderloin

pulled pork sandwiches hubby makes a delicous pulled pork already, but here's a different one for us to try!

crispy smashed potatoes

garlic chicken puffs

creamy grilled chicken piccata

new things

yay! we made a trip to nature's fare and i spent a good deal of time searching around for wonderful things.. and this is what i came home with!

natural lotion



new lip balm



natural, local honey





natural gum! didn't hold flavour for thaaaat long.. but oh well



yummy fruits

points card from nature's fair

oh, and some more flax seed oil.. i forgot to take a picture of that though. and i spent a considerable amount of time searching around on kijiji. and WOW. i'll be able to find so much gently used baby stuff for cheap! crib, bouncy chair, diapers, clothes... i wish i was actually pregnant so i didn't feel like such a freak buying things haha.

thursday musings

i wish i had my blog at my fingertips at all times (i guess i could access it from my phone, but... *shrugs*). i always think of random things i'd like to put "on paper" but then when it comes to writing, i forget. perhaps i should write things in a notebook then transfer them once i'm at the computer.

- one thing i remember...
i work in a pet store. i find it very interesting that people are always asking such question as "is there dye in this?" "is this food all natural?" etc. about certain pet products... but then what about the food we put into our own bodies? it's strange that people feed their pets better than themselves. i love that people are taking such great care of their pets, but what about ourselves and our families??

- i need more snack ideas; for both the husband and myself. he spends most of the day driving, so he needs easy to eat food that doesn't require heating up. i just need something quick! no matter how much i eat before-hand, i am always starving 2-3 hours later.. and it's usually 4 hours in between breaks/going home. again, going along with the goal of eating more fruits and veggies, i guess i could start making some salads or something. simple fruits like bananas are easy to eat. i'll take crackers today. but then i usually have some sort of craving! sweet, salty, or chocolate. i have some cashews that i love, but.. why are nuts so darn expensive?!

- acquire more basket-type things. the gingers (my two cats) keep stealing things that don't belong to them.. such as my newly upcycled cloths to use in place of paper towels. (ohh, by the way, attempt number 1 = fail. i had an old towel i decided to cut up and use as rags... it left green fuzzies all over the counter. so i decided to wash them?! pulled them out of the washer only to find their all tangled in the center with a big ball of string. so i cut them all apart.. but i bet that will happen every time i wash them. obviously not a very good quality towel.. hmph)

off to work now.. perhaps i will leave a few minutes early and snoop around the value village next door. i wanna buy baby things sooo bad, but it's a little early for that

mexico - may 2011

<3

books i'd like to read :: movies i'd like to watch

books i'd like to read

1. a holistic guide to embracing pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood - karen salt(i've ordered a used copy of this online. found it on one of my current favourite, inspiring blogs "my little loves" - link found on the right)

2. natural family living - peggy o'mara
(also found on "my little loves")

3. gentle birth, gentle mothering - dr. sarah buckley
(suggested to me by my friend KM. she is currently pregnant and is having an at home birth!)

4. swing voter of staten island - arthur nersesian
(i actually began reading this on the beach during summer! i'm only about 30 pages in, and haven't seemed to find time to continue reading it. maybe soon)

5. the diaper free baby: the natural toilet training alternative - christine gross-loh
(totally seems like a great idea!)

Wishlist

I know.. i'm probably too excited/too-thinking-ahead-ish for someone who isn't even pregnant yet.. but I'm starting a wish list for things that I want... this way i won't forget once i have "baby brain"!

now that we ARE pregnant, i can actually make use of this list!

first off... i really want to avoid Winnie the Pooh.

1. the moby wrap

i think we may have changed our mind about the moby.. but any other sort of
sling to carry baby in would be excellent! a popular one i've read about on
many blogs is the sakura bloom sling. they're expensive though.. i wonder
where i could find one on sale...

oh, and another good carrier (garrick's more interested in this type) is
something like the baby bjorn or ergo (although i've read they only really
fit babies over 6 months) there's one called the lillebaby Nordic Carrier

2. cloth diapers -

we don't want to use disposables! so far we've got 20 cloth diapers, but are certainly

going to need a lot more!

3. Bumbo

4. Rockabye Baby!

we bought this exact cd! i'm super excited to play it. the radiohead one

would be good too!

5. Breast Feeding Pillow

there are so many out there! the Brest Friend pillow seems to be talked about a lot

the Simplisse Gia Nursing Pillow is rather intriguing to me! i've heard good things about this one

THINGS WE'VE BOUGHT SO FAR

- convertible crib (thanks to my mom and dad!!)

- dresser/change table/changing pad

- rocking chair

- pack & play

- jogging stroller

- carseat

- bouncy chair

My "TO-DO" list

Some goals for myself:

- floss my teeth more often :S

- starting in the new year, be more diligent about sending birthday cards back home. cards are wonderful to receive!!

- eat more (local!) fruits and veggies. starting next grocery shop

- eliminate paper towels from the household (and using cloths instead... which i plan to buy towels from value village and cut up into cloths. upcycle, yay!)

- start using 100% recycled toilet paper... "If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 423,900 trees"

- thrifting! i've read such wonderful things in other blogs.. i haven't done it yet, mainly because i find all the racks so overwhelming. but what a good idea, especially for baby and maternity clothes! i can expand my wardrobe on a small budget. wonderful.

- look further into cloth diapering. i found a good article about the dangers of disposables.

- learn to meditate. any good tips?

- find some really nice, natural soaps, lotions [found a great one - nov. 20], shampoo/conditioner

- oh! find a nice, local, natural shop that would sell the above. is there such a thing in vernon?

- (way further into the future) live in sustainable housing. once we find (and can afford) the house of our dreams, i hope to gradually include solar powering, etc. into it to leave less of a carbon footprint. plus, get rid of the pesky electricity bill! hehe

In other news...

I don't know if I mentioned... we're going to vegas for christmas this year (38 sleeps!) and that basically marks when we're gonna start trying for a baby! i'm sooo excited. and of course, i'm hoping to conceive right away. i've learned so much in the past week about natural things that will help have a smooth pregnancy. i think some people think i'm crazy for looking into so many things before even being pregnant, but i think it's prepared-ness. it's what i do! and i think it helps me avoid a lot of un-needed stress in the future.

if all goes to plan and we conceive in the early new year, that means i'll be quite pregnant in the summer.. and i love the idea of spending the summer in a bikini with a big belly sticking out. of course i'll still be working a ton (hopefully, anyway. i hope i can handle working [as close to] full time. if not, then i'll have more time to enjoy my pregnancy!) but when i can, i'll be at the beach/in the backyard.

i've discovered the book stores in the okanagan are sucky! recently i've discovered many books i would love to read, but they're not available. huff. do i have the patience to trump through a used book store looking for such things? hmm...

one thing i'm alittle worried about once i'm nearing the end of my pregnancy is a lack of close friends and family around. actually for the whole pregnancy this will be a little saddening. no one face to face to share the excitement with (other than hubby, which of course is very very wonderful for the two of us to experience). does that make my mom and dad sad? to not be able to watch their first grand-baby grow in person? i plan to do lots of picture posting, etc. on here, but they're not computer nuts like i am. will they keep following? will we all make an effort to video chat more? will they come for visits? we definitely plan to go home for christmas next year (hopefully with a new little one, if things go according to plan) but what about when the baby is actually born.. will i be surrounded by loving faces? and after baby.. can i handle everything on my own? *sigh* i will have to do my best to stay positive when the time comes! and who knows, maybe we'll have visitors! but not too many... lol..

<3

NEW!!!

Okay.

I started another blog.. we'll see how successful i am at keeping it updated! and it might get too confusing to post here as well as the secret private blog that kathryn and i have. but we'll try it for now. it's purpose is more for when i'm pregnant and i want to share my thoughts, photos, etc. hopefully it will spark the creative side of me a little bit. and maybe it'll make me feel a little less lonely? i've been really enjoying social networking lately.. i feel like i'm on the hunt for another person that has things in common with me.. of course i have my wonderful husband and we are very much alike, but we of course have our differences too (thank goodness). and i have my best friend/honourary sister kath.. but we also have our differences! of course i'm not looking to replace either of them.. i'm very satisfied with our respective relationships.. but i'm looking for other people who share other similarities with me.. photography, potential mama-hood... etc. and i feel limited to finding such people in this small city.

also, i like to rant. when there's something bothering me or i'm obsessing over some thought, i want to talk about it. but there's not always someone available! and sometimes i should give those closest to me a break lol.

how am i feeling right now? anxious. and excited, of course. i'm almost done the last week of my second last pack of birth control. it's 43 sleeps until we go to vegas, and after that time to start trying to make a baby! part of me feels like because i want to get pregnant so bad, it's going to take FOREVER. but i shouldn't think negatively, right?! POSITIVE THOUGHTS ATTRACT POSITIVE ENERGY. i started taking prenatal vitamins just about a week ago (i love that they're pink.. hehe. it would be better if they were purple, but they could also be boring and white. so i'll settle with pink) just to make sure my body is in tip top condition for little one. on the other hand, i remember when i got the prescription for my last 6 months of birth control.. december seemed so far away! and now, it's just about here. so one month will go by fast. i've found a few really good mama blogs online and have been gathering ideas on how i want to document my own pregnancy (for family/friends, for myself, and for little one to look back on.. also, i suppose to compare future second pregnancy to the first!). it almost gets me choked up to think about what awaits me. i'm sooooo excited. i shared my documenting thoughts with the husband, and asked if he would gladly participate, and he said he will. i think he's a little tired of my baby obsession lol.. but i'm sure once it's actually here, it'll spark his interest even more.

for right now, i've got to get ready for work! but i've decided to try to include at least one photo with every post. what to share today....

pirate enjoying a wonderful daytime snooze by the window