{doodle}

I bought a fun book.



Gotta love doodling.

{this & that}

I'm hardly ever in our photos 'cause I'm usually the one taking the pictures. I think it's important that Sienna will have pictures of her mom too. So every once in awhile I try to remember to snap few for her.

Today I had fun with her tiger hat. :)

Have you tried these yet? So yummylitious!



I just finished reading this one. I really liked it. The ending was kind of blah but still an interesting story.

Happy Thursday everyone! :) 

{this & that}

On Saturday, we went to watch Chinese New Year celebrations at West Edmonton Mall.

The guy in this picture was fun. He moved mysteriously and kept changing masks so fast. It seemed impossible that he could change the masks without us noticing how he did it. Magical!

Other things we saw: lion dancing, Chinese music performances, kung fu (loved it! so much energy and it's incredible what they were doing), Chinese theatre and dancing.

 

We also watched the sea lion show for awhile. All I can say is: wow! One talented sea lion!



Christmas is over but I thought I'd share with you these. One of the teachers in Sienna's school had charicatures drawn for each of her students.



A theatre group came to Sienna's school and helped the grade 1 - 6 students perform Romeo & Juliet.

These Shakespeare drawings were made by grade 2 students. I think they are so adorable!

{flowers}

Flowers from two of my favorite people in the world.

This blog post is part of:

{so many amazing things in our world}

ice & snow festival in China



Brugge, Belgium

Molokai, Hawaii

Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim, Ireland



Nagano hotel's tunnel of light, Japan



somewhere in Croatia



North Coyote Buttes



Sapporo snow festival, Japan

Pfeiffer beach, California



 Cinque Terre, Italy

Ramona Falls, Oregon



Cataluna, Spain

So much beauty in our world.

See more here.

Happy Friday everyone! :) 

{font love}

Gotta love fun fonts!

I made this list of some of my favorites so that I won't forget to use them. I thought I'd share them with you while I'm at it.

There's no link to the fonts but I'm sure you can find them if you do a Google search. All of these were free downloads.

It's so freezing cold here in Canada. We went from -3C to -30C. Add windshield to that and it feels like -40C. Brrr!

 But we aren't sissies. School, work, etc. goes on as normal. :)

ps. i looooove my car starter! :D

{so, so green!}

Guess who's green?

Me.

I'm green of envy today.

I was browsing artist Mindy Lacefield's blog today and found out that people send her REAL MAIL. Pretty envelopes with personal art (!!).

How long has it been since you received REAL MAIL? It's all about facebook and twitter these days.

I even thought of posting my address here and begging my blog readers to send me REAL MAIL (I know you guys are out there somewhere even though you don't leave comments).

The problem of course is the question of sharing my address online. Never know if some weirdo will find me if I do that. Stinkin' weirdos! :)

What a dilemma.

Me wants REAL MAIL but don't want to share my address.

I guess I'll live even though I'm not a popular artist who receives cute art mail. Life will go on, right?

{spread the love!}

Valentine's Day is coming. Yey! I love all the lovey dovey stuff.

My spread the love pinterest page  has some great ideas for spreading love. Feel free to leave a comment and share a link to any Valentine's Day ideas you have.

Let's go out there and spread some love people!

{let's have a picnik}

yet another free photo editing program:

picnik

{ :) }



ON GOALS

By Evalyn Bennett

As every young woman approaches marriage and child rearing, she sets up goals, hoping to make her home a little bit of heaven. As the years roll around, these specific goals have to be re-evaluated and changed with the changing times.

My goals twenty years ago included:

Keep an immaculate house that would be an ideal setting for the Spirit of our Heavenly Father to dwell.

Read at least one excellent book a month and become well informed about the world around you.

Prepare well-balanced, attractive gourmet meals, experimenting with at least one new recipe a week.

Bear many children who will be well dressed, well pressed and well behaved.

Keep an optimistic outlook on life. At the end of every week try to evaluate what created in you good feelings or frustrations.

Tell your husband, once a day, that you love him.

The first two years of our marriage, before children, was like a fantasy. I was so organized, orderly and adorable. We ate such creations as Gordon Bleu and capon under glass. Our discussions were stimulating and the house was hygienically spotless, not a thing out of place.

Then came the first child. With the demands of burping, changing, loving, bathing, rocking, washing, praying, some of my goals needed to be modified. I must give up my immaculate house. My revised goal now reads:

As you pass a table, blow hard on the top to rearrange the dust.

Put the vacuum in the middle of the living room floor so that anyone calling on you will think that sometime soon you intend to get the debris from the floor.

Then came the second child. With the demands of burping, changing, loving, bathing, rocking, washing, praying, some of my goals needed to be modified. I must give up my reading books.

But not my newspapers. I still snatch time for a little worthwhile reading of my favorite funny paper characters, Mary Worth and Dr. Rex Morgan, but only every other day. And who can live without Ann Landers.

To keep well informed, I rush to the door when I hear the mailman, to discuss some pertinent problems: “Has the garbage been picked up down the street yet?”

Then came the third child. With the demands of burping, changing, loving, bathing, rocking, washing, praying, some of my goals needed to be modified:

Serve at least one hot dish a day. This means if you serve hot soup for lunch, you can get away with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. When I do find an extra hour and decide to go all out on a roast, potatoes, gravy and baked bread, the children ask, “Who is coming for dinner?” or “Is it Thanksgiving already?”

Then came the fourth child. With the demands of burping, changing, loving, bathing, rocking, washing, praying, some of my goals needed to be modified:

Instead of reading “Well dressed, well pressed and well behaved,” my goals simply read “Dressed”. If the diaper is hanging around the knees by noon, my neighbors know that I pinned it properly earlier in the day. I haven’t seen the bottom of my ironing basket for three years, and really don’t know when I ever will. Praise be for polyester!

Then came the fifth child. With the demands of burping, changing, loving, bathing, rocking, washing, praying, some of my goals again needed to be modified:

Keep your voice down until noon. At the end of every week, count to see if you still have five children. Check your mind to see whether you have lost it or not. Check your varicose veins to see if your legs will take you through another mad week. Try to speak to your husband once a day. With Cub Scouts, Little League, watching football, basketball, baseball, track, violin lessons, PTA board meetings, United Fund drive, Primary Blazers, Relief Society Visiting Teaching, Bar Auxiliary, Law Wives, University Women’s Club, chicken pox, roseola, hepatitis, Asian flu, and tonsillectomies, I feel lucky to call out to him as we rush past each other going in and out of the front door: “Golly dear, I am overdrawn at the bank again.”

Twenty years later my goals are summed up by reading: “Sustain life and endure to the end.”

{who are these people?!!}

1. Hi! I'm Charles. Friends call me CK. I'm vegetarian and I love yoga. I've been to India four times. I work at a bookstore. I love to grow herbs in pots. I've taken some cooking lessons and my latest passion is to make my own salad dressings. I'm thinking of selling them at the local farmer's market. 

2. Hi! I'm Anne. I'm a violinist for the city symphony orchestra. I love romantic movies and gardening. I love to visit France and I always bring home all sorts of flea market finds.

3. I'm Esther. I have six grandchildren whom I adore. I like going for nature walks and knitting has always kept me busy. Lately I've picked up a photography hobby. I belong to the theatre club in my small town. My favorite was when I got to be Queen Elizabeth for the play "Grays Have More Fun".

4. Hi! I'm Bob. I have a boring 9-5 job. Lately I've been wanting to do a career change. I think it would be nice to work as a grocery store manager. I'm taking part-time management courses online. I don't really have any hobbies. Well, I do love to collect rare coins.

5. I'm Randy. I love my huge pick-up truck. I love to blast the music real loud while I'm driving. Chicks dig that. I work at a lumber yard but I dream about being a country singer. I'm known as "Roaring Randy" at the local karaoke bar. I know I'll never be famous but at least I can say that I know the words for over 500 country songs. Yeah baby!

6. Hi, I'm Susan. I just turned 16 and can't wait to become a teacher. I love to babysit. The kids always love me because I make balloon animals for them and tell silly jokes. I love to go camping with my family. Last summer was nasty though - those ants, I tell ya. Who knew we set up our tent on an ant hill. Anyways, I gotta go. Someone's texting me. Yey, it's Jason!

7. I'm Isabelle. You might recognize me from the Sprite commercial. I do some acting on the side while finishing up my law degree. People give me a hard time about wanting to be a prosecutor. They say I'm too cute to be one. I think I'll be ok. I've seen many crime shows and I often practise in front of the mirror. It's all about the eyes. You just got to stare them down, that's all. If I had some spare time, you'd find me on the beach.

8. It's Rob here. I'm a real estate agent. Business is a bit slow at the moment. I do some security work on the side until it picks up again. When I was younger, I was very athletic. I still play badminton with my buddy Ed.

{meow!}

the above two pictures: testing photo markers

{road trip}

We spent the New Year's weekend with our besties in southern Alberta.

These pictures are from our drive between Lethbridge and Calgary. Taken through a dirty car window.



Tämä Eino Leinon runo sopii hyvin näihin kuviin. Runon bongasin Clarissan blogista. 

Kuka tietävi, mistä me tulemme

ja missä on matkamme määrä?

Hyvä että me sitäkin tutkimme,

ei tutkimus ole väärä.

Mut yhden me tiedämme varmaan vaan:

me olemme kerran nyt päällä maan,

ja täällä meidän on eläminen

miten taidamme parhaiten.

...

Ken kerran itse on onnellinen,

se tahtois onnehen jokaisen

ja antaa ja antaa ja antaa vain

oman onnensa aarteistaan.