Mini-Vacation

This past week will (hopefully!) have been my last "Reading Week". I say that in quotation marks because very little or no school readings are accomplished during this time, so the title is more than a little ironic. It is just so nice to have a little time away from the stress and being able to relax before final essays and exams. They will undoubtedly be plaguing me again soon, and this year I really appreciated the time away. This past week, Jeff and I were able to reconnect in a way that reminded me of when we first started dating - it was awesome. We headed up to Blue Mountain for a few days, which will always be a special place for us, as it was where we took our first real 'vacation' together, and we both just love it so much. It's really one of the best places to ski or snowboard in Ontario, and it has a Whistler-esque feel to it, which makes it really really fun. We took in the shops, went to dinner, swam in the pool at our hotel, enjoyed the outdoor hot tubs, and hit the hill. Although I did very little snowboarding due to my back, it was still a really fun time. I really appreciate this time with Jeff, and I hope we're always able to escape up to Blue Mountain, if only for a day or two.

Our room at the Blue Mountain Inn 

Two excited snowboarders about to hit the slopes!

I felt a little patriotic waiting at Tim's

A happy student

Vacations are awesome, even when you don't go very far away.

Time

Today I was thinking about time - how fast time flies by when you aren't keeping track of it. One minute, you're eighteen years old, carefree; just a girl on a golf course serving beer and various other beverages to hot and sweaty golfers. You're just going about your life, and then you meet a boy, and suddenly it's been two and a half years and you're still together, more in love than you've ever been before. Yes, yesterday my boyfriend and I surpassed that small milestone. I remember, in the beginning, how I used to keep track every month that we'd been together. That changed to keeping track every six months, then every year. Which is why, yesterday, I only remembered it was precisely two and a half years because my boyfriend reminded me. And I started wondering why I hadn't noticed. Today, I think I realized why that was. In the beginning, when I wasn't sure of our future, I think I wanted to celebrate each milestone because I wasn't sure how many more I'd get to have with Jeff. But now, I guess we're so sure of each other that it doesn't seem as necessary to celebrate. I kinda like it. The milestones I'm excited to celebrate now just seem so much bigger, like when we moved in together. 

I'm in love. It's as simple and wonderful as that. I'm so in love, it's kind of ridiculous. 

I hope it's always this way.

He's Still Got It!!

Although this is my blog, I know a number of posts will be influenced by my boyfriend. With that being said, my boyfriend wanted me to post this photo I took at his basketball game on Monday. Out of a sense of pride and accomplishment I suppose, and I'm very happy to oblige him. He used to play a lot of basketball back in high school and in college, but now that he has a time-consuming desk job and a girlfriend, it's harder to get out on the court. He's still got it though! I know that if I could 'dunk' a ball in a net, and somebody took a half-decent photo of me doing it, I'd want them to post it too. This is my first true attempt at sports photography with my telephoto lens that I got for Christmas... and I'm not so great at it. Half the time my photos come out all blurry, and I'm not entirely sure how to fix that problem. Hopefully I'll get better with practice. I have lots to learn, so any tips would be so helpful! 

Let's go #44!!

Christmas Photos

I've been a little slow in posting these, but with my birthday and New Years, and trying to finish our redecorating before I go back to school... it just never happened. I have so many cute photos from Christmas though, so I thought I'd post a few from all of our wonderful family Christmases this past year. 

Me opening my new telephoto lens!

Jeff opening one of his presents

Jeff and our nephew Mason

We had some time waiting for everyone to arrive, so  we goofed off a little :P 

Mason in Jeff's boats.... I mean.. shoes... 

Our nephews Kelton and Mason

So cute - Christmas Day 

Playing around with my lens. Sam was not amused.

Lily didn't mind a quick pose for the camera

A cute photo of Layla

More kisses!

Kelton still.. a rare occurrence. 

Playing around with my telephoto lens

Snow!

Living Room Results!

We finally finished pulling the living room together! I was waiting for the right light to take photos since, of course, we finished when it was definitely dark outside and none of my photos showed any of the furniture or the wall colour in the right light. But here it is! When we're finished the bedroom (and when it's clean enough for me!) I'll post our results there too. I could not be more thrilled with how everything came together in the living room. I've taken to sitting on our new sectional and smiling up at my new decorated wall. :) I love it here. It's feeling more and more like home.

Our make-shift couch

Our Ikea chairs

Sectional! We painted the wall, hung photos, added pillows, and included another light

Our funky pillows

Living Room/Bedroom Redecorating

As my boyfriend Jeff and I move on from our distinct "college/university" collection of eclectic and unmatching pieces of furniture we've collected, to something a little more classy (and something that isn't green leather from the nineties!), we also decided to do a little painting. We live in a high-rise apartment where everything - the walls, the floor, the cabinets, the doors - is beige. A really bland, boring, beige. They even painted all the trim and baseboards the same colour. I guess there must have been a sale on that particular colour of paint! To really shake things up a bit, we decided to go really bold. Chocolate brown kind of bold. It actually looks like we melted a bowl of chocolate and smeared it all over the walls with a paintbrush. I guess it's a good thing we're only doing the one wall since it's a dark colour and because we're just renting at this point. A person just gets tired of beige after a while. I sure hope it all turns out! I decided to post some 'before' pictures... so no judging us by the mess!

Living room wall. 

An apartment in shambles. Definitely a 'before' shot. 

The bedroom - before. It's just a feature wall....for now! Soon to be painted. 

Wall painted - first coat. And my boyfriend :) 

First Post!!

Well here it is, a momentous occasion - I am a blogger! This is my first post in what I hope is a fairly regular practice. I am too much of a procrastinator to keep a journal, and I never seem to have enough time to scrapbook or print off most of my photos, so I figure a blog is as good a place as any to post and to share. I don't think I have a particularly interesting life to blog about; I'm in my twenties, I'm in my final year of university (yay!), and I have a long-term relationship with my awesome boyfriend. Those are probably my most defining characteristics at this point in time. I have just an everyday, ordinary, life. And it's wonderful. So this blog is dedicated to all of us out there who are wonderfully and happily normal. I'll admit to being a bit of a blog-stalker, so I'm sure not all of my ideas for this space will be 100% original, but I'm fine with that. So here I go!

Here's twenty-five very random facts about me:

1. I love to make snow angels. 

2. I despise tomatoes, but I love ketchup. A big understatement there. 

3. I love love love to read! 

4. I'm fairly addicted to my Blackberry. 

5. I could live off of juice, cheese, and crackers. 

6. I'm a terrible liar. 

7. Banana popsicles = love. 

8. I can't watch Criminal Minds unless Jeff is with me.  

9. I'm an incredible hand-talker. Once, when I was really excited, I was waving my hands around and I smacked down onto a can of Arizona on the end table next to the couch I was sitting on. Whoops. Jeff nearly died laughing at me. 

10. I have some fairly interesting dance moves. 

11. I'm really good at baking/cooking, and I'm always looking for new recipes to try. 

12. I find walking in a snowfall incredibly romantic. 

13. I believe in happy endings.

14. I can now gamble in American casinos. 

15. Legally Blonde always cheers me up, no matter what. 

16. I can type on a keyboard with my toes. 

17. I wish I knew how to sew/use a sewing machine. There's still time for me to learn though! 

18. I think shoe shopping is one of the most enjoyable things to do. 

19. Or any kind of shopping actually.

20. I am not patient. 

21. If you see me driving around in my car, I'll most likely be singing. 

22. I have this thing with tea. If you want to be in my good books, bring me tea! 

23. I'd love to live in another country. I don't think it'll ever happen though.

24. One of my biggest wishes is to be able to play the guitar. 

25. I have a love/hate relationship with surprises.