Monday 31 December 2012

   So here it is folks....your last day to do all those things you planned to do this year! 

   How is your day going to play out?  Will you pick up the phone to make the call you've been avoiding for months?  Will you drop those letters down the mail slot and be done with the nerves, the stress, and the apprehension you feel about the words written inside?  Will you make a bold move and tell that special someone in your life you  love them.
   Emotions tend to run high when you know you're coming to an end of something.  Courage has a way of grabbing hold when you feel like you're under pressure.  It can be scary, adrenaline pumping, nauseating, or it can some how make you feel as though you've been set free!
   Wherever you're at today, this last and chilly last day of the year, enjoy!
   Tomorrow is another day, and chances are you can live your dreams, fulfill your aspirations, and work hard to attain your goals when the sun comes up!
   
   I love you all for tuning in every week and diving into the randomness that is nestled in the corners of my mind!  Thanks for jumping aboard this bizarre journey with me, and for the encouragement you've been in doing just that! 
   I wish you all a fruitful New Year filled with joy, happiness, and peace.  I hope all the dreams you aren't afraid to dream soon rest in your outstretched open palms, and that 365 days from this moment you might look back and say you had the courage to reach out and grab them!

   Happy New Year!  See you soon.....xoxo

Saturday 29 December 2012

Hello, faithful friends!  

    Once all the presents have been unwrapped, the turkeys packed tightly into your bellies, the cookie tray slowly picked away at, what are you left with?
  A New Year!
  That's right folks, did you forget about it?  Some people are all about the turn of the hour when midnight blends the old with the new.  There is something transformative in the idea of starting a new year.  It's the time for a fresh start, out with the old in with the new.
    Are you a resolution maker?  If you are this must be your favorite time of year! 
   So what qualifies as a resolution in your mind?  Do you  make unattainable goals all the while knowing you'll get another chance 365 days later?
   I'm not really one to make resolutions, or maybe it's better for me to say I try everyday to make small ones.  For example: be more generous with my time, try not to shout at my children in that awful voice that too often comes out, be more patient, run a little farther before I give up and walk..... Things like that are easy to bargain with yourself. 
   There is some things I love about this inbetween time of year, but here is the best one; the countdown charts, the best of the best from the last 365, (yes, I know, I love a list!)
   So here are a few of my "favorites" lists from this past year!

   I've known for a long long while that so many of my favourite things revolve around food, my fav day's are no different.  I've tried to use discretion, but who really cares, they're my favorites! 

Favorite days

1~ Strawberry picking- all those beautiful gems just waiting to share their juicy goodness
2~ The day I harvested my garden.  All those vegetables fed us for weeks
3~ Shopping dates with my Grandma!  It's always a fabulous day
4~ Every "hot summer day" we enjoyed eating outside on the patio, running through the 
      sprinkler, eating popcicles and freezies, playing baseball in the backyard, and enjoying 
      the sun.
5~ The day I woke up to my three boys shoveling pea-gravel to make way for my garden...
   I mean our garden!  
   

Top Songs
  By now you know how much I love music, so here are a few tunes that have been on constant loop this past year.  It's seriously hard to narrow it down, but I've done my best.  Here is what I love in all it's glorious randomness.

 1~ That Wasn't Me - Brandi Carlisle
 2~ Till Kingdom Come - Coldplay
 3~ Advice - Jesse Ruben
 4~ Can I Stay - Ray LaMontagne
 5~ Kiss Me- Ed Sheeran
 6~ The Sound of a Million Dreams - David Nail
 7~ Simple As This - Jake Bugg
 8~ Hands Are Clever - Alex Clare
 9~ I Found A Boy - ADELE
10~Not With Haste - Mumford & Sons ..... (This was a tough one to narrow down for me,
        I could have filled, in the least, 5 slots from this album alone, but for the sake of being 
        selective I chose one!)

   So there you have it.....some of my favorite things.  I encourage you to take a minute to reflect on your year, and maybe instead of putting all the focus on the things you resolve to change in the New Year, take a moment to say thanks for everything you were blessed with this past year!


Friday 21 December 2012

Ellie Goulding - All I Want For Christmas Is You Fearne Cotton Christmas...

   I warned you all earlier in the season that this song was one of my favorites, and today I am ubber pleased to bring you this new, happy, easy listening, softer, sweeter, more heart warming version of the tune!
  So have a great weekend, turn on your twinkling lights, grab the one you love, and enjoy these last few days before the grand celebration!

Wednesday 19 December 2012

Winter Snow Song - Audrey Assad with Chris Tomlin

 The snow was falling softly this afternoon, the perfect sort of snowfall where you could pick out each individual flake, and if you allowed yourself to steal a moment, you would stick out your tongue to catch them.  It was beautiful, it was calm, it was so peaceful you could smell, feel, even taste it.
  Moments like that often need to be sought out, and time needs to be set aside to embrace the beauty and appreciate it with a thankful heart.
  I've been feeling mushy and sentimental the past few days.  I want to tell everyone I love exactly what they mean to me, I want to tell the women in my life how beautiful they are and how much I learn from them; how much I appreciate them, how they make me better.  I want to hold my babies so close they have to squirm to breathe.  And my husband, well, he's not complaining about this mood I'm in!


  The picture above I managed to snap the other day on a run.  The trees were coated by a thick layer of hoarfrost and the snow was gently making its way to my path.  It was perfect. The air was thin, but in it was something that was replenishing and energizing, and at every turn my eyes couldn't help but absorb beauty that seemed to sweep my troubles away.  It took me out of myself and allowed me to focus on the Gifter of all that beauty.
  This is the season of love joy and peace.  I find it easy to feel in moments like that, and to be honest, the gratitude I feel is difficult to contain.  
I'm thankful for the love I feel
I'm thankful for the love I have an opportunity to share
I'm thankful for the love I receive
I'm thankful for the peace my heart feels when I stop thinking of myself
I'm thankful that when I think of Christmas, and what it means in my heart, I over flow with hope, joy, and love.

Monday 17 December 2012

Ben Howard - Silent Night

  A week to go and it's beginning to look a whole lot like Christmas!
I could blah blah blah for a long time about how incredible Ben Howard is.
I wish when I tapped my guitar it sounded a tenth of what it does when he does.
You get it--I'm a fan!  If you scroll back through previous posts you'd see.
  Anyway, this isn't about me!
  Enjoy a little piece of Silent Night, and start your week a thankful heart.

Wednesday 12 December 2012

O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Pentatonix -

  I love a bit of talent, don't you?  Well this gang is loaded with it, it's amazing actually.
Take a listen, enjoy this seasonal offering, and if you're looking to add to your Christmas music collection, head on over to your favorite shop and give them a chance.

Sunday 9 December 2012

  Merry Almost Christmas

    My home is filled with boys again, their giggles, their messes, and their perfectly normal disregard for my pretty things!  All is right in this Mama's world, or at least as it usually is, ha!
   My favorite thing this weekend was family time.  It was pleasing to set aside time to decorate the Christmas tree, listen to our favorite carols, and of course do it all while eating copious amounts of unhealthy food.
   I am thankful.
   Over the years my love for Christmas decoration has faded.  My husband jokes that it is the one time of year I wish I had daughters....he is wrong, and in fact, I have never felt I was missing out because I didn't have daughters.    Anyway that is way off topic.
   I love a beautiful tree, that I won't deny, I've simply for the time being given up having one of my own.  Here's a quick story to give you some background.  It was our first son's second Christmas, he was about 20 months.  I had left him  to be entertained by his beloved Dora the Explorer while I had a quick shower.  When I opened the door to the bathroom, my dear sweet, angel boy was standing there smiling up at me, holding with both of his chubby little hands the angel from the top of my tree.  At first I was confused, then my heart started beating and I checked to be sure he wasn't hurt or bleeding from the bottom of his feet.  All of my beautiful decorations were glass you see, and I  had a horrific vision of the tree coming down on his head with smashed fragile glass shards strewn across the floor like a fresh snowfall.  
   Thankfully there was not a scratch on him, and once I was certain he was nothing less than pleased with himself for  getting that angel from the top bough, my gauntlet of emotions turned to blatant and unsympathetic anger.  I flew up the stairs, as fast as my 6 month pregnant body would take me and sure enough, that meticulously decorated tree was angled across the living room floor in complete disarray.  I was not a happy lady.
   I packed away my fragile glass balls and have not considered them since.  The tree is now completely in the boys hands.  They decide which ribbon will lace through the branches, they choose which of the sparkly plastic accessories will take center stage.  It is their triumph when it is complete, and though it may not be the most beautiful tree I've ever seen, it's perfect for us.
   Family isn't about perfection, it's about learning along the way and getting there together.  We had a great night together, starting new traditions, laughing together, working side by side, and enjoying each others distinct personality.

   The hum bug, scrooge, or grinch in me is gone.  I may even put a bit of effort into some holiday baking, who knows!  
   In the mean time, enjoy the time you have with the people you love!  Make holiday memories, find a hill to slide down, sip hot chocolate, deliver some goodies to someone you know wouldn't have them without a bit of help, make plans to sing carols throughout your neighborhood.  There is so much that can be done to make this season special.  Slow it down, enjoy, share a bit of love, joy and peace!


   

Wednesday 5 December 2012

A Little Thankfulness

  I've found myself over the last few days in the unusual circumstance of being home alone.
I will say first and foremost that I knew I needed a break, but being able to feel the changes inside of me after only the first day, I now know I won't ever doubt the power and importance of quiet aloneness again!
Ha!
  Being home alone is something I've dreamed about for probably close to eight years, maybe more.  My family returns today, and though I am thrilled that they are, inside of me there is also this small part that isn't quite ready to embrace the frenzy of energy and activity that they will bring with them, and yes, even embody in their sleep!
  What I do know is that I will not let nine years go by again before I indulge in this battery replacement!

  This Week's TOP TEN

1~ Sshhh.  Oh wait!  There's no one here at 10:45pm, turn the music up!
2~ I couldn't sleep so I got up super early and worked out on my loud machines, watching
      a very loud movie filled with explosions 
3~ I sat down to eat, not when it fit into the schedule, but when I was hungry.  
4~ I absorbed the silence more than I would ever have thought I would.  And yes,
      I loved it!
5~ For some very strange reason, when I don't need to get up in the morning I wake up
      much earlier than I regularly would....it's great!  I eased out of bed, made coffee, sat down
      and drank it hot.....(this does not happen in this mama's world)
6~ I found myself appreciating my family more than usual
7~ I made a cup of tea and watched the miserable weather just beyond my window
8~ I visited some fabulous people I don't often have time to and was recharged further
9~ I stayed home, every second I could
10~ I wasn't in a hurry to do anything

  These may all seem super self-indulgent, ridiculous treats, and you know what?  They totally are!  I feel better, I'm excited to see my husband, and fingers crossed, my children will be right behind him.  That is a good thing, because as much as I was sad I wasn't going with.....I couldn't wait for them to go!
  This time to myself gave me perspective, and I'm ready to finish this year off strong and enter a new one with fresh eyes, a thankful heart, and a recharged battery!
  
  It's not possible to take time like I've had all that often.  So thank you to my fantastic, loving, favorite one, my sweetheart, for recognizing how badly I needed it.  It has been one of the best things you've ever done for me - love you!

Monday 3 December 2012

Bonnie Tyler - I Need a Hero (Lyrics)

  If you could pick up a microphone who would you want to be?  If you could choose any of your favorite singers to sound like, who would it be?

  I would want versatility and an endless range that I could manipulate, so I could transform myself into whatever I felt like at any given moment.
  I don't have the ability to convey the throaty, raspy quality many can.  I don't have that stand out personality in my voice that would enable you to say, that's so and so, or I'd know that voice anywhere.  I definitely cannot make my voice sound like this or have it last through the whole song when I try.  In truth by the end I'm croaking like a frog and need a hot cup of tea with lots of soothing honey!
  This is not a woe-is-me monologue, I'm just saying, there are a lot of things I can't do to my voice when it comes to singing.  But it definitely doesn't stop me from trying.
  Singing is one of my favorite things, I'm sure I've said this before and it won't likely be the last you hear of it.
  I love this song.  Not only does it take my memory reel straight to Footloose and my long gone crush on Kevin Bacon, but it makes me want to run.  It makes me want to run really, really fast!  And if I find myself really feeling the song, it makes me want to dance....(now don't get me started on who I wish I could dance like.....that is a truly hopeless dream!!)
  If you want to indulge this music lover in jumping back a few years with me AWESOME! (I sang that word for ya!)  If not move along!  No, only kidding, please don't jump ship on me now!
  Just because we're not good at doing something we love doesn't mean we need to stop!  
  Look out folks.....I'm gonna be croaking soon, but the tea and honey will help.....don't worry, I already put the water on to boil....!

Next up....Manic Monday by the Bangles!
  
Enjoy!