Swimming

On thursday we went for a little swim at sainte anne's university. Adam was at work so he couldn't go which was too bad cause i think it would've been a bit more fun for me with another adult there for me to talk to. Most of the other parents there already knew each other so i was left out of the conversations....it was not fun.

See how happy she was to go swimming:
And once we got there and we stripped her off she was ready to jump in:


The lifeplex in cornwallis has a family swim on saturdays and we were going to take advantage of that but the pool ended up being closed! I guess that's what you get for not calling ahead. It should be open by next weekend so we'll head back and have a little swim then.

Christmas leftovers

Ok, so I'm not gonna lie. We still have our Christmas shower curtain up and it's the end of January. Don't mock, you know you also have some sort of Christmas paraphernalia that got left up by mistake that you're too lazy to take down because all of the other Christmas themed items have been packed away until next year. So, now what to do? I would rather have up the Christmas curtain than the crappy dollarstore one we had up before it but I don't want people to think we're crazy christmas folk who can't let go of the season. If real, non plastic shower curtains weren't so expensive (the non ugly ones) then we'd just go get a new one (there's one at walmart i saw a long time ago that I really like). So tell me, is it really that bad?

Clinique

Ok, so I am one of the many Canadian women who suffer from bad skin. I'm not afraid to admit it. I am afraid, however, to appear in photos because of it. I have tried all kinds of remedies and cleansers but none of them seemed to work. I even contemplated getting some ProActive everytime I saw a commercial for it but then decided against it. I thought one day that it might be worth it to invest in some clinique. After all, everyone I know who uses it raves about it and it's not some drugstore brand of cleanser so it must work right? Wrong. Back in October I went to the store planning to buy some new clinique make-up thinking that it was my make-up that was making me break out since it was the only thing I hadn't tried changing. The woman behind the counter convinced me that it wasn't my make-up, that I was just using the wrong "cleansing system". Ok.

She almost fainted when she heard that I didn't use a "second step" in my cleansing routine (ie. the toner) and assured me that it was necessary to include that step if I wanted better skin. She had an answer for every question and a reason to back up her brand for every skepticism I dealt her. I ended up walking out of the store with zero make-up but a new cleanser, a toner, and "a dramatically different moisturizing lotion" (that is actually what it's called!). I was instructed to only use the moisturizer where I needed it (ie. my cheeks) and not on my t-zone (ie. forehead, nose and chin). Do you want to take a guess as to whether or not this new system worked???

It did not. Surprise surprise.

I should've saved my receipts and taken that woman up on her offer for me to bring it all back if it didn't work. My skin was so dry and itchy where I wasn't allowed to moisturize and as a result I was breaking out more! Stupid clinique lady.

I decided to take things into my own hands and have biffed the "dramatically different lotion" (pfff!) and started using an oil free moisturizer all over. Result? Much better skin!

Conclusion: Clinique=not so bad if used in the right combination, clinique lady=moron.

Does anyone else seem to suffer with bad skin that you were hoping you had left behind in your teens? Does Clinique work for you?

PostSecret Success!

Tuesday night we were hit with a snowstorm which cancelled school on wednesday. I wasn't sure if i was still going to be able to hit the highway for halifax to see the postsecret show with suzanne or not but i was determined to try! The plows had gone by in the morning so by afternoon i thought it would be ok to head out. I packed an overnight bag just in case i had to crash but i was hoping i would be able to make it back home. Had i known what the roads were like at midnight i would've gladly stayed over night and then just gone home the next morning, but alas, i didn't know and drove home through the messy snow. alone. at night. in a storm. with the gas light on for the last 30-45min. without a cell phone. (never doing that again!). I eventually made it home around 2am (a little later than i wanted but safe and alive!) and crashed in my nice, warm bed with my nice, warm husband.

Ok, so. PostSecret. It was awesome! At first i was worried that it wasn't going to be worth the $30 i paid to go but it so was. Frank Warren was so funny! and so were some of the secrets. Some of the secrets were sad. Some were shocking. At the end of the show Suzanne bought one of his books and then we waited in a reaaaaaalllllllllly long line (like, probably 100 people) to get this:
If we had been smarter we wouldn't have been so indecisive about whether or not to wait in the long line because in the beginning, Frank was personalizing people's books and making small talk but by the end (#18273) he was looking very tired and probably just wanted to get it over with which is why we just got an autograph. Still, I was very happy.

On a side note (and a cute one!), who sleeps like this?!


This is how she was sleeping, all bent over with one leg folded underneath and the other stuck straight out, when i went to check on her when she was napping the other day.

So cute.

Inservice Day

Today was an inservice at the high school which isn't as good as it sounds because adam still had to go in. The good news is that he was sent home as soon as he got there because of an incoming storm! I love having adam home unexpectedly on a monday, but sometimes he gets too hands on and today he decided he would dress the baby and pick out her outfit by himself.

Clad in a pink christmas "deck the halls" onesie, pink pants with pink flowers, pink socks with pink hearts, and pink shoes she was ready to start the day. There was no worry someone would mistake her for a boy today! At least Mya seems to like it.

Two blogs!?

Who has time to write two blogs? I barely have enough time to write one, let alone have enough interesting stuff to write about. One of the bloggers I stalk (unshamefully so) has twins (BABY twins!) and manages 2 (two!) blogs! Am I impressed? Yes. Am I inspired yet again to make mine suck less? Yes also.

Speaking of being a blogger stalker, I always wonder if people who blog know that there are strangers reading their blog. I mean, I wonder if amateur blog people know that there are friends of friends of friends reading their blog. (Is there anything less than being an amateur blogger cause if there is then that's me). I always wonder if there are more than the 2 people I know about who read my written rants and I always get excited when I see I have a comment...sad, I know. I've often wanted to comment on an amateur blogger's blog (did I just use the words blog/blogger too many times?) but I worry they'll start to think they're being stalked (which they are) and snub the comment! It's their fault really. They should stop writing things that are so interesting to me.

Wait. Maybe it's not them. Maybe it's me! Maybe I'M the one with the problem. Maybe I have a stalking problem! Nah, that can't be it. I would LOVE if my blog was being stalked! (and who wouldn't?!)

Birthday planning

So, I've had to start planning my kid's first birthday party. Have I ever had to plan a birthday party? No. Have I ever had to plan a first birthday party? Heck no. I started worrying that there wouldn't be a lot of kids there, (considering this whole thing is for a kid) and then someone told me that kids' first birthday parties are for the grown ups anyway. That made me feel a bit better and it's kind of true since she won't remember it and she doesn't know it's her birthday anyway. I'm going to take it upon myself to try and make a pull apart cake, or cupcake cake (as I like to call it)! I thought it would be a nice, personal touch to make the cake myself...even if it does end up looking like Mya made it herself. I'll be sure to post a picture of the finished product so you can see! The other day I mentioned to Adam that we should probably buy her a birthday present as well...cause y'know...I think that's what you're supposed to do but I have no freaking clue what you're supposed to get a 1 year old for her birthday. I had this dilemma last year when we were invited to someone else's first birthday and we settled on a cute pair of pajamas and a bath toy. I thought that was a good birthday gift...but as the parents I think you're expected to step it up a notch. Any ideas?!

PostSecret Lover

That's me!

Frank Warren started the post secret project back in 2004 when he printed 3000 self addressed stamped postcards and invited people to mail in a personal secret anonymously. He would leave them in public places and hand them out to strangers in the hopes of seeing some of them come back. Out of the 3000 he printed, about 100 of them found their way to his mailbox and to this day he's still receiving secrets from around the world. He started compiling them into books and there are 4 books out now.

I was lucky enough to receive 2 of them for christmas!

Frank Warren does event tours and speaks at university campuses and this year he'll be making a stop at Dalhousie!! It's the only stop he's making in Canada and I just so happen to be lucky enough to live nearby so that I can go! For anyone else who thinks they might be interested, it's on Jan. 20th from 8-10pm at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium and tickets can be bought at the box office. Suzanne and I are gonna have a date night and I can't wait! I'm so excited!

Check out www.postsecret.com to see some of the secrets that have been sent in. It's updated every week with new secrets.

Julie & Julia

The other night we watched the movie Julie & Julia. In the movie Julie has a blog which I thought was well written....much more so than mine and it sort of inspired me to make mine better and more interesting to read. But who are we kidding? I will try but it will still end up being all about Mya.

Julie sets herself a challenge to cook every recipe (all 524 of them!) of Julia Chlid's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year (365 days!) and blogs about it along the way. I've gotta say, I felt like I should try a challenge like that! Mind you, I'm not one to cook nor have I ever tried cooking anything from that cookbook. If it was a book full of baking then I would definitely be on board! Baking is so much easier than cooking. Anyways, it made me want to try cooking every recipe in that book but then I realized that I don't even own that book and I have a 10 month old who probably doesn't care about any challenges I want to set for myself. So, it's not likely to happen although I am open to suggestions if anyone can think of a neat idea/challenge I could undertake to make 2010 stand out! I need to have something to set 2010 apart from the other years since I have the feeling that this year could end up rather blah.

2005-met adam
2006-moved in together
2007-got married and moved to ontario
2008-got pregnant and moved to england
2009-mya was born and we moved back to canada
2010-?

It seems as though I've got a pretty good track record of making at least something happen every year. This year can't disappoint otherwise there will be an empty spot in my timeline and we can't have that.

So, does anyone have any ideas they could throw my way?

10 months old!

Well? Can you guess who's 10 months old today??! If you guessed this beauty:
you'd be right! I can't believe how big she's getting...our computer has a picture slideshow as a screensaver and the other day I was watching it show me pictures of her when she was just tiny and new and then it would pop up a picture we took of her just the other day standing up at the coffee table. I couldn't believe it was the same child. Not only does she look different but she's just so much bigger! And, she can do so many things now:

-she can pull herself to a standing position while holding onto furniture
-she can give kisses
-she says "mum mum mum"
-she can drink from a sippy cup all by herself
-she can feed herself cheerios, cut up veggies, fruit and toast
-she can officially crawl on hands and knees
-she can walk while holding onto only one of my hands or by holding onto her walking toy
-she can play peekaboo and will hold the blanket up to cover her face
-she has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom)

Some other Mya things going on:

-she gets her teeth brushed every night before her bath (and is only cooperative when being pinned down)
-she likes to play alone in her room like a big girl
-she loves to read stories with mom and dad
-she loves to try and play on the laptop (adam is hoping she'll become a 'computer nerd'. uh, no.)
-she likes to splash in the bath and her favorite toy is Cedric the duck
-she crawls to her booster seat and pulls herself up when it's lunch/supper time
-she loves going for walks outside
-she has outgrown her bumbo and jumperoo
-she loves to play in the tupperware and pot/pan cupboard

Whew! That seems like a lot and the list only gets longer all the time. Pretty soon it'll be her first birthday we'll be celebrating. Amazing, eh?

Happy New Year!

Well, it's 2010...! I can't believe a whole decade is behind us....it kind of makes me feel old and then I think of all the things this decade has brought with it (high school graduation, a husband, a baby, our first car, the opportunity to live in Halifax, London, and England, being able to visit New York and Scotland) and it doesn't seem so bad. I'm hoping the next decade will bring more good things our way (like a house, another baby, a new car, a new job)...that would all be very exciting!
Last night we didn't do anything special to ring in the new year. Seeing as we're the ripe old age of 26, we just sat home and watched some tv before tucking into bed at 11pm. We were so tired we couldn't even stay awake for one more hour!
We took the tree down yesterday and holy moly there were a lot of needles! I fully expected to come back from Christmas vacation to find a dried out, dead/dying tree because of the lack of water it received while we were away and there were plenty of needles on the ground when we got home, however, there was still plenty of water sitting in the tree stand. I don't understand it, but that's fine with me! We've got it sitting outside the front door now just waiting until we figure out what to do with it.

I was pleasantly surprised this morning when Adam offered to get up with child at 6:30am to give me some extra sleep time. I had planned to only doze for another 15min and then get up to get miss mya some breakfast but when I opened my eyes I saw that I had been sleeping for a half hour. I got up to find her strapped safely in her booster seat munching away on some toast and Adam measuring out her cereal. He assured me he had everything under control and sent me back to bed, which is where I happily went only to be woken up with breakfast in bed a little while later! Breakfast was yummy and when I was done, I got to leisurely read my magazine all alone in my comfy bed, in my quiet room without interruptions (well, there was a quick visit from my beautiful girl who came in to give out her morning kisses...love her!). Then my dirty dishes were wisked away and I was left to finish my reading and crawl out of bed when I felt like it. What an awesome way to start the new year!! I have the best husband ever!

K, time to get this new year started!