I ♥ Faces - "Autumn Beauty" Photo Challenge

This is my submission for the Autumn Beauty weekly contest on I ♥ Faces. This is my friend Rebecca... she is both beautiful on the outside as well as the inside. Check out more beauties here or submit your own.

Flashback Friday - Our last big holiday!

Traveling... I lOVE it! This weeks Flashback Friday is from our honeymoon in 2005, and our last big holiday. In May of 2005, 8 months after Kevin and I got married (that will be another post) we decided to go on our honeymoon. We went to England, Ireland & Greece. It was awesome. We did go traveling with my uncle and aunt when we met up with them at their home in England. We started our vacation in England and spent a week there. After that we went off to the Greek island of Kefalonia to spend a week there and then we went to Ireland for a week. It was 3 weeks of relaxing, sight seeing and visiting with family. Having grown up with family in England and Ireland my whole life, I have visited there many many times, but my husband had never. So it was fun to introduce him to my family and for him to explore his Irish heritage while in Ireland (not to mention the pints and pints of Guinness). I think my husband and I enjoyed Ireland the best... the landscape is so beautiful and the people are great. Kefalonia was really pretty but Kevin and I aren't really sun people. In fact we usually try and stay out of the sun as much as possible in the summer. Kevin is a ginger... so the sun is his enemy. We really enjoyed the heat and the scenery in Kefalonia, but a week was enough for us.

This was a wonderful holiday and we made the most out of it because we were planning on trying for children after this holiday and we knew it would be the last one for a while. Not only is it too expensive to travel with children for us right now (having been off work for 2 out of 3 years) but we don't want to go through the hassle of traveling with children until they are a bit older and will remember some of it. I have a bunch of places that I would like to visit on my bucket list . These are some of the places I'd like to get to...A lot of the places are warm places, so we'll have to visit on their "winter" season.




Oh...sometimes I wish I was kid free again so that I could spend all my money on travels.. of course this wish only lasts about 5 minutes and then my 3yo gives me a running hug and Lottie smiles at me... my heart melts and I would trade all the stamps in my passport to be with them.

Want to read more Flashback Friday's... check out more here.

Flashback Friday - S is for snake.

S is for snake... that my father killed. First off, if you know my dad.. you know that he is like me and tends to panic a little under emergency situations. This picture was taken sometime around the 7 or 8 year old mark. We lived in a old stone house on the edge of the city that my parents purchased when my brother was born (he was born at 24 wks gestation... and blessed us for 1.5yrs...but that is another post). They didn't want to be in the suburbs where there were tons of kids and loads of germs that would be killer for his tiny sensitive immune system. Anyhoo.. we lived in a old house with a dirt basement. While my dad was in the basement one day he spotted a milk snake. We didn't know at the time that milk snakes were harmless, so when my dad spotted it in the basement he freaked out. Grabbed the ice pick and strategically placed himself so that he could cut the head off. It wasn't a clean cut, but it did do the trick. I remember the adrenalin pumping through my body when I found out a SNAKE was in our house.. WOW. My dad and I thought that it would be hilarious if we took a picture of me holding the snake to show my mum and to send to my grandmother (a proper old British lady)...I guess it was pretty exciting and funny to an 7/8 year old... my mum just thought it was gross with a touch of cuteness. Anyhoo, this is the most dangerous reptile I have ever encountered here in the Great White North... and that's ok with me!

Head over to Christoper & Tia for more flashback Fridays.

Flashback Friday.... Halloween 1984 (I think?)
Since tomorrow is Halloween, I thought it was appropriate that I dig up an old Halloween picture. Here I am somewhere in the mid eighties... I think it was '84. This year I was a My Little Pony... the only thing I remember about this Halloween was that my mom thought I was too old to be a My Little Pony, but I didn't care...she bought me the costume anyways. It was one of those scratchy plastic suits and cheap masks that were everywhere back in the day. The other girls were Ragedy Ann, Princess and I'm not sure what Becca was in the front but I think she might have been a cheerleader. I'll have to ask her when I see her next.

These were the good times... the times of running around the streets with your friends filling your bag with candies, and if you lived at my house and never got chips or pop you prayed for the houses that gave you those items at Halloween time. With my dad being Swiss we always had a sufficient amount of great quality Swiss chocolate floating around, so those were still great but not as exciting.

And... I was one of those kids that LOVED getting raisins!!!

Friends are the best gifts.

On October 8th this year I turned 33 years old. With each and every passing year I find myself not wanting or needing presents and find myself cherishing my moments with my friends and family more. Last year was the first year in what I hope to be a new birthday tradition. I have decided that in lieu of gifts I asked my friends to spend the day with me for a birthday hike. I also stated that I wanted it to be without children and without husbands so that we could all have a break and relax without having to deal with feedings, diapers or filling sippy cups. Fall has always been my favorite time of year, and the colours that the Canadian forests produce is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen.

This year we had a pretty good turnout. At 1pm 13 ladies met at my place and all 14 of us car pooled off to a near by trail where we walked and talked for just over an hour (next year will be longer)...we then headed back to my place and all crammed in my tiny little house for a cozy pot luck dinner and drinks all around. There are few things that money can't buy...one of those things are good friends and family...I have been blessed to have both of those.

I love traditions, and hope to pass these on to my children. What kind of traditions do you have?

Flashback Friday... 1982

Traditions are big in our family....and the biggest of all is the Smartie birthday breakfasts. Mmmm what more can you ask for then waking up to a breakfast of presents and smarties. As a child it was almost better then Christmas. Each and every year on my birthday (October 8th) I would wake up with the anticipation of eating smarties for breakfast... no other day could I eat chocolate for breakfast, so I usually ate them all up in a hurry :) This tradition was passed down by my dad who grew up with the same tradition. The picture above was a picture of my "special" birthday... it was special because I was turning 8.. the number of my birthday day October 8th. Because this was my special day we invited my family from overseas. Grandma and Grandpa from Switzerland and my Aunt/Uncle and cousin from Japan. Having grown up with two immigrant parents I wasn't fortunate like most of my friends to visit grandparents every weekend. Although it did mean I visited Switzerland and Ireland quite a bit...so I was very fortunate in that way.

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday and I woke up to smarties on the table just as usual... I still love it as much today as I did back in 1982. I have passed this tradition down to my girls now...I hope they continue it with their children.

25 Random Things About Me

Just for fun. Here are 25 Random Facts About Me

1.My favorite colour is pink, and I love sparkly stuff

2.Most people think I'm bitchy when they first meet me cause I'm quiet and shy, but soon warm up!

3.I lived in Switzerland for two years as an au pair... had loads of fun.

4.The two people I would most like to meet in my lifetime would be Ani diFranco and Joss Whedon.

5.I secretly love my husbands beard <3

6.I love to watch my children sleep at night.

7.My favorite ice cream flavor is Hevenly Hash.

8.I hate skinny jeans and feel they went out of style a long time ago for a reason... come on... they aren't flattering on anyone!

9.I love love love teeny romance movies and musicals... its almost an obsession!

10.I love my two girls and husband so much it actually makes my heart ache sometimes... don't know what I would do without them.

11.I really really really miss the mountains and beautiful scenery.. K-hole is just so ugly... I'd move in a heartbeat if I wouldn't miss the rest of my family so much.

12.My ideal job would be a hausfrau... I just wanna stay at home with my kids. I dread having to go out and find a new job in a year.

13.I love love love to sew... if I could make a living sewing from home I would.

14.I have an addiction to fabric... I really do, I have tons and tons of fabric and I just can't stop buying it. It wouldn't be too bad... but I love the japanese fabrics which are really expensive... I bet it would take me a year of daily sewing to finish up all my fabric I have.

15.I'm also addicted to etsy and shopping on etsy... if you haven't checked it out... do so NOW! www.etsy.com

16.I dream daily about living in a small community or in the mountains and having a little house like this one for my studio http://prettylittlethings.typepad.com/tiny_house/ I'd like a house for me like this, and one for Kevin and each of the children... wouldn't that be so fun!

17.I listen to the buffy and Dr Horrible soundtracks WAY too much... its almost unhealthy.

18.I secretly think I'm a slayer... the next chosen one maybe... and yes.. I believe in vampires.. but in my world they don't sparkle like diamonds... that's just lame!!!

19.One of the most fun jobs I ever had was in a photolab...its fun to look at random peoples photos... man are there some twisted people out there.

20.If I could own any car it would be a powder pink Golf with brown racing stripes

21.I was raised catholic, but have chosen to not raise my children with any specific religion.

22.The three places I would like to visit before I die are, Egypt, India and Japan

23.I love thai food and Indian food, although I hate seafood.

24.I don't read as many books as I would like to, reading makes me tired. So I stick to reading blogs and news online and also craft or DIY books. Short things that require no commitment.

25.I wish I could spend more time with my friends... and I really want to go on a "girls only" cruise with my girlfriends in a couple of years when we can spend time away from our kids.