My Sunday and My Family

I am combining My Sunday and My Family together for this My Life photo entry.  Tonight I got to celebrate Easter and several birthdays with my mom's family.  It was such a great time.  It was my second time getting to meet Owen James Michael, my cousin's new baby who was born on April Fool's Day.  Paige who is 3 just loves being a big sister.  Here are some photos from our evening together.

Paige cutting and pasting

Paige and Owen with their "Grandma Great" 

Owen with his mom and dad

A birthday message from Grandma

Owen and his proud Grandma

Beautiful Family

Paige and Owen with their Grandma and Papa

Olena, Leah and myself with Paige and Owen

My Morning

The last two mornings I got to wake up to this little sweetie.  How I love having a dog around.  I especially enjoy having him snuggle up next to me in bed.  I was sorry to have to return him this evening to my sister-in-law.  What a great dog! :)

My Evening

It may have been Friday the 13th and it may have been dreary and drizzly outside but that didn't stop the fun times for Olena and I.  We had all sorts of plans that revolved around the weather being nice outside but we didn't let the rain stop us.  

Here was the plan:

• Olena would come over after work with Buddy for supper
• Use my new BBQ to make dinner
• Take Buddy for a nice long walk
• Get ready for a social
• Walk to said social (5 blocks or so from my house)
• Stumble our way back and spend the night at my place

Here's what really happened:

• Olena came over with Buddy and some hard as a rock freezer hot dog buns
• Olena threw out these buns and headed to Superstore for some fresh buns
• I barbecued for the first time ever on my new BBQ, which works fantastic by the way
• We had a delicious dinner of hot dogs, noodle salad, regular salad, and baked yams.
• We washed dishes where Olena cut her finger on a piece of broken glass from a cup
• Olena put on 3 Band-Aids to stop it from bleeding
• She dried dishes and had to add two more Band-Aids on top of the old ones to stop the blood from seeping through more than it already was
• We got ready for the social
• We grabbed our umbrellas and headed to the social
• We arrived at the social, bought some prize and drink tickets and then added another Band-Aid or two to Olena's growingly fat finger. (It may have been a worse cut than we originally thought...)
• We drank, we danced, we said hi to some people from high school, we ate, and then...
• My number was called for one of the social prizes.  Could it have been for the little make-up collection or the Yoga pack or any of the other smallish prizes... No apparently not.  I of course won the microwave and Epicure prize pack.  As the girls helping with the draw asked me if I would have enough room in my vehicle for such a large prize I laughed.  I had a fair bit of difficulty just getting the huge box and spices back to my table where Olena was in a fit of laughter seeing me with the largest prize there.  
• Luckily the spices came with three Epicure bags that allowed me to take apart that section of the prize and make it easy to transport home.  There was no way of making the microwave any easier to carry however.  Olena and I devised a plan where we would each carry one end of it and somehow manage to maneuver around puddles down the streets back to my place.  Just the thought of this put us into fits of giggles.  
• As we carried the winnings out of the social the bride-to-be stopped us and refused to let us carry the microwave home.  She was very kind and offered to have someone drop it off for me the next day.  I am glad we agreed to let her drop it off, as our walk home would have been very difficult around all the puddles and I'm sure anyone driving by would have been laughing as hard as we were seeing two girls carrying a microwave at 1 in the morning on a Friday night.  
• When we did get home we looked through the prize that we were able to carry home, made some dip with one of the spices, watched SNL and then headed to bed.

Giddy Girls after a Great Night!

The spices I won, no Microwave yet.

My Favourite Shoes

They may not be super cute or stylish but I LOVE my rubber boots, as they allow me to get out in my yard and get started on my summer plans for it.  You can see the start of my work on getting ready for my new deck.  I have been out pulling up the sod so I will be ready for when my dad can come bring some stones and we can start putting piles in, leveling everything and start building this deck.  I am also planning on putting in some raised vegetable gardens in my yard and separating off my raspberry bush area that is alongside my house.  I know it might be dorky, but I am SUPER excited that I have been able to start on building my deck and can't wait for it to be complete.  I know a few people might be annoyed from all my "deck talk".  Just so you know we are on Version 4 of the deck and the plans may still change once more before it is actually built.  There has definitely been a lot of discussion among my dad, brother and I in planning it all out.  I'm so lucky to have them be so willing to give me a hand with this project. 

My Reflection

So I haven't had a chance to catch up on the April Photo Challenge but here is one more post until I get a chance to.  This is a picture of my reflection after getting all done up for a social I went to this weekend.  It was a great time with my sister-in-law and brother.  I bumped into a few people I haven't seen in a while there as well.  I still have two more socials I plan to go to before the end of April.  April is going to continue to be a busy month for me with several family gatherings, work in my yard to do and school.  I'm sure the rest of April will fly by and summer is going to be here before we know it.  Hooray! :)

My Smile

I am loving life and enjoying where things are right now.  I would love to meet Mr. Right but for right now I am having fun looking for him.  Being single is alright.  I love my home, my roommate and my friends.  I love my students, my colleagues and the school I am able to work at every day.  I love that the weather is getting warm so early and that I can enjoy some time outdoors this early in spring.  I love being able to make plans to improve my home over the next few years.  I love that I have so many wonderful people in my life willing to offer me their help, their advice and their time in all aspects of my life. I LOVE my family and the addition of my cousin's newest little baby, Owen James Michael, into our family.  I love that I live in such a wonderful country where I can enjoy the freedoms and luxuries that I have.  I love that I have so many reasons to SMILE! :)

My Handwriting

I thought you would appreciate this next post Krista.  I was trying to think about what I could use for a handwriting sample but when I thought of this I knew I had to use it.

My Home

So I know this is totally late but I figured I will take you up on your April Photo Challenge, Krista.  Be prepared for a lot of posts over the weekend so I can catch up.  Here is what I decided to do for "My Home."  These are before and after shots of my house from before I bought it and fairly recently.  There are some things that have been changed but I didn't have time to take pictures so you will have to do with some from a few months back.  Sorry. (The Before is always first in case you can't tell)

Basement (to the left)

  

Basement (to the right)

Dining Room:

Living Room:

Bedroom:

 My Office:

My Kitchen: