Crock A Doodle

For a Christmas present for Mom we decided to take her to a Crock A Doodle studio. Crock A Doodle studios have pottery pieces that you can paint using a wide variety of colours. We had a lot of fun with it.

I just picked up our pieces and since Jennifer is back in Halifax, I thought I would post pictures here to show her the final products!!

The finished product!

A cute little penguin plate!

A Monet inspired picture frame

Things I would have Tweeted if I wanted to bombard everyone with Tweets all day

And I don't even like tweeting that much. I am never sure if I need to include a #hashtag, or if it is ok not to include one. So these are more of..... 'short remarks on events that occurred throughout my day'. Maybe you won't feel so bad about your day after reading these, or you will become super jealous on how awesome my days are if they are like this everyday. {Which they are not, it is actually very hard to describe a 'typical' day here so I am going to include a disclaimer that says this is not a portrayal of a typical day}


Disclaimer: The following 'short remarks on events that occurred throughout my day' are in no way a portrayal of a 'typical' day for me.

• Maybe I should just pretend to still be asleep so I can continue reading my book.

• SOMEONE STOLE THE WHEELBARROW! (You know, the one we take the garbage down to the street in). Oh wait, Jen just put it away this morning.

• I hope we have stock in a paper towel company: these cats make a huge mess.

• Nothing says ‘change your baking plans’ more than finding an entire mouse skeleton in the container you were planning on using.

• Being surprised to find something where it should be is never a good way to show your appreciation for your mum’s cleaning.

• Standing at the door for three minutes, waiting for the dog to come in, finally giving up only to have that same dog bark one minute later to be let in.

• I am not embarrassed to admit that I am so very excited to register for my classes! 

• Nor am I embarrassed to admit that I have three different schedules laid out in case I can’t get into a certain course.

• Does asking your boyfriend to quit work so you can spend every single day together qualify as being too clingy?

• Taking rain jackets on a beautiful, sunny day with no clouds in sight is sadly not the craziest thing my mum has done.

• Quote of the day: 'Now that is an aggressive fountain'.

• Cherry passion Tic Tacs, why are you so tasty?

• You know your baking skills are atrocious when you don’t think twice about purchasing a cake mix in case baking the cake from scratch doesn’t work out.

• Buying clothes at the grocery store; something just feels so wrong about it but that certainly didn’t stop me!

• And no, that wasn’t me buying shoes from the children’s section. 

• 
  

Marshall and CiCi

Marshall is getting so big! It is hard to tell from these pictures but he is enormous! Hopefully he is finished growing but even if he has stopped growing he is still in his kitten phase. Everyday he does something crazy, I will try and write some of it down because it is often quite amusing, even if Mum doesn't think so. 

CiCi is getting old, we think he might be slowly losing his mind! We often find him just staring at the water, sometimes for ten minutes. His favourite thing to do is curl up in the tightest ball on the couch and sleep all day. 

Reading Week!

Here we are, the Thursday of Reading Week. Today was a bit of a wake-up call as today was the first day I actually sat down to get some work done! 


The weekend was a relaxing weekend, hanging out and doing nothing. 
Monday was Family Day, once again a 'do nothing' day. 
Tuesday was shopping in London for what seemed an eternity. 
Wednesday was more shopping and a movie. 


And of course, today I am struggling to make up for those relaxing days. Not that there is anything wrong with just spending time with my family, especially as Jennifer came home for Reading Week. But this means that my plan for getting a start on three essays this week is starting to look slightly out of reach. 

[On the plus side, I have seen two movies and read a book this week]

'This Is Where I Leave You' by Jonathan Tropper was included in Holly's book list of 2011. It was only a good book; it was funny and intelligent but I did not fall in love with the book. I enjoyed reading the novel but I could not relate to the middle-aged man whose wife cheats on him with his boss around the same time that his father dies. Judd Foxman, while having a ridiculously awesome name, is quite pitiful and while I am sure that was the intention of Tropper, it was only for the writing that I continued to read and not for the characters.  

I have heard some really great things about 'Crazy Stupid Love' from some friends but always just ignored the advice to see it. Until this past weekend that is. Kirk and I were at the video store for the longest time, not finding anything that interested us. As I became frustrated I grabbed this movie, having reached that 'I do not care anymore' stage. I was not really sure what to expect but I am sure glad I picked this movie. It is now my new favourite movie. I loved everything about it. I am still in that stage where I don't have any words to describe how much I loved it so all I will say is that everyone should watch it. Sorry Kathryn for not going out and renting this movie right after you told me about it! 

Yesterday Mom, Jennifer and I went shopping again and then to see 'This Means War'. I had seen quite a few trailers for the film and thought it looked hilarious. I was really excited to see it, but I quickly ran into problems when I tried to find a theatre that was playing it! Our normal theatre wasn't playing it and the only theatre in London that had the movie was SilverCity. I was really disappointed that there was so few places showing it but we did end up going to see it, despite the longer drive. I believe I could have really loved it, if it were not for 'Crazy Stupid Love'. Yes, I am blaming 'Crazy Stupid Love' for ruining my ability to enjoy a romantic comedy. My standards have been raised now and I have a feeling it will take some time before I stop comparing everything to 'Crazy Stupid Love'. 'This Means War' was cute; Reese Witherspoon is cute, Tom Hardy was cute [his accent, on the other hand, was fantastic] and Chris Pine was cute. Overall, cute. I believe it was the chemistry between two characters that saved this movie from being horrible. And that chemistry did not Reese's character, who just seemed an odd match for either Hardy or Pine. It was the bromance that gave the movie something interesting and exciting as their friendship seemed realistic and honest. 

My essay is coming along nicely now, so I should probably start to focus on it a little bit more than I have been. But to conclude:

• 'This Is Where I Leave You' - good, read it if you need something to fill your time. 
• 'Crazy Stupid Love' - go now and watch it! Seriously, go now! Stop reading this and go! 
• 'This Means War' - worth renting for a girl's night. Cute. 

Have you seen 'Crazy Stupid Love' or 'This Means War'? Or have you read 'This Is Where I Leave You'? Drop a comment with your thoughts! 

You make me smile

It has been quite awhile since I last blogged but here I am! I am still alive and very much kicking. Midterms at school are now over but now papers are going to be due soon than I want to admit! 


As I am starting to become more and more stressed out, I decided to start thinking about things that make me happy. There are so many things in a very ordinary day that can make your day extraordinary if you let them. As I found on Friday I came across many things that could have made me cranky but as I was focusing on finding things that make me smile, I changed my perspective on things. For example, it was freezing Friday morning! I am talking -4 Celsius freezing! But instead of complaining about how cold I was going to be I decided to smile about the fact that I am going to be wearing my winter coat for the first time this year! And seeing my breath the first time this year was smile-worthy because I chose to make it smile-worthy.  


I had a great day on Friday. The little things didn't make an enormous difference in my day; I wasn't walking with a bounce and I certainly wasn't whistling (mostly because I don't know how to whistle). But I was walking around with a smile on my face for the majority of the day and I felt happier. 


Here is my list of things that made me smile:

• The light changed green right as I walked up
• I could see my breath for the first time this year
• Being able to wear my wonderful winter coat again
• Receiving an average mark on a midterm but being so nervous about my mark that the average mark was turned into a wonderful mark
• Coming home
• Having 4 cats coming running up to me as I come in the door
• Getting mail {yes, it was only a bank statement but who doesn't love getting mail!?}
• Seeing Kirk walk up the drive way with a smile on his face
• Laughing so hard with my mom over some pictures even though Dad was asleep in bed

As you can see these are just ordinary things that happen in most people's lives, everyday. They certainly happen to me often but this was really the first time I took the time to realize how these things make me smile. And this very simple decision turned my day from ordinary to extraordinarily ordinary. 


Trying this out for one day was a success and now my goal is to go an entire week, making a list of all the little things that make me smile during a day. If a day made a difference in my mood, I think this upcoming week is going to be a great one! 


I created a sheet that I will use to write down anything that makes me smile. 

I would love to hear your own Day of Smiles! Print off the sheet or use your own and write down anything and everything that makes you smile! Let me know how your Day of Smiles went and I hope your day is filled with smiles!