Learning!

OK so I was doing so well before school started.

I'm learning lots. Not only about Infants and Toddlers, but also about matters concerning Christianity and where I stand, what I believe, etc. I have taken to listening to podcasts, radio shows, and reading transcripts of past sermons from various preachers and I must say I have never been so thirsty for knowledge.

Maybe one day I will feel confident enough to post what it is I'm learning and what my thoughts are.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

I've always loved fall, I used to absolutely adore going to school, getting new stationery, pens, pencils... literally I was the Staples guy singing "It's the most wonderful time of the yearrrr!" ... and I was a student. Yes people, I was (am?) a nerd.

I find myself in that place again, only this time I didn't buy new pens and pencils, I bought myself a laptop! It's not the mac that I've coveted from others for quite some time, but it will do... It's a Dell, and it has a swirly pattern on the front, which I think is pretty. I also have a fancy bag to put it in, which is also pretty. What can I say, I like pretty. And it works, which I suppose is what I need.

I also find myself in a bit of a different place than I have been in the past before heading back to school. I'm not terribly excited about it all, whereas in the past I've hardly been able to wait. Maybe because I know what kind of work awaits me, papers, readings, etc... That being said, there is still a bit of excitement at being able to be called a student again. I love to learn, and this new chapter of learning will present a new challenge. I'm taking online and teleconference classes. I've never been a self-motivated learner. I've relied on the awesomeness of teachers to guide me and interest me. This time I'm on my own, (so to speak, my friend at work is taking these with me) and will need to learn some motivation skills, as well as time management skills. I think that's what makes me less excited. I know that one of my greatest skills is going to hinder my progress... that is, the skill of procrastination. I'm really good at that.

My first "class" will be on Monday night, I'll be on the phone from 7-9. I'm nervous, but the commute makes everything ok. Class on the couch in my pajamas, and then to bed. :)

Waiting.

Sooo we had an offer on a place.

Long story short, we were about $4750 short of what we needed for a down payment because we didn't qualify for 100% financing. All in all, it was confusing.

So we're renting.

In Maple Ridge.

Until we buy, maybe next year.

I'm really not that disappointed, other than not having the plasma tv that came with the place we had an offer on, and the fact that we can't get a puppy til we buy...

We considered renting in Mission or Abbotsford, but that just means an extra move in the next 6-8 months, and I hate moving. So, now I will look for a laptop to do my school assignments while I wait for Jason to pick me up from work, and pray constantly for patience while we commute. I don't love waiting, but I'm sure that we'll find something even greater when we're ready.

A Picture In Words...

Because I didn't bring my camera to the Jack Johnson concert on Thursday, I thought I would describe to you the picture I would have taken.

Looking down on Thunderbird Stadium from the bleachers, the ocean of people that grew denser towards the stage and moved to its own rhythm.

The stage lit in blues, reds, greens, and yellows, with screens displaying photographs of waves crashing, flowers in bloom, and a starscape that, as Jack says, look like the "holes to heaven"

You can't smell a picture, but if you could you could smell the puffs of smoke rising from the crowd...

The background would be a beautiful sunset, soft pinks and oranges behind silhouettes of our west coast trees. Clouds speckled the bluish grey part of the sky, a reminder that it was raining only hours before the concert began.

And of course on the stage in his red Culver City Dub Collection T-shirt (they opened for him) would be Jack Johnson, singing all my favourite songs. :)

And THAT my friends, would be my picture of the most fantastic Thursday night this month! :)

Pic of the Week

These are our friends' puppies, Wiggy (short for Mrs. Wiggles) and Zuki. Wiggy is the pug, they've had her for several years now, but they just adopted Zuki into their family, so we went for a walk on the dikes. She's 7 months old and very playful, as you can tell from this picture! :)

It made me smile, so I thought I'd share this one. It was a rare moment where they weren't zooming past me, chasing each other.

2 Years...

2 years ago this past Tuesday I married the love of my life! It was the ultimate Adventure Day!

We celebrated by going to the Keg for Lobster Summer... It's become a bit of a tradition. I'll use any excuse to eat lobster (however so far the anniversary thing seems to be the only one that works) and so far we've gone to 3 different Kegs to celebrate our marriage. On our honeymoon we ate lobster at the Keg in Whistler, last year we ate lobster at the Keg in Kamloops, and this year we ate lobster at the Keg in Maple Ridge.


... Next year, Abbotsford?

Busy busy

So that was a great idea a few days ago, if I could actually stick to a plan.

I don't have a picture from last week but I do have a picture I've worked on this week, it was taken at the end of July when we went up to Penticton to witness our friends from Kamloops get married. Andrew and Kailyn were our adventuring friends in the 'Loops, always up for a crazy adventure or guitar hero. Made us feel more at home while we lived there for sure, and we were so happy to able to join them on their special day! Here's my favourite photo so far. (These aren't on Facebook yet, I'm not done editing them... It's been a crazy week.)

Freaking Out

Jason and I have been casually looking around at condos to buy out in Mission/Abbotsford. We went looking today and found one we like, it's the first one we've wanted to put an offer on. It's not very big but it has everything we need for now... and it's in Mission, which is better for us anyways... I think? uuughhh there are just too many things to think about in this whole process!!! My brain is going to explode. And we aren't even sure we can GET a mortgage. We saw one we really liked, it was HUGE, but it's way out of our price range, and already has an accepted offer.

This one we like IS pretty nice, it's just small... we can make small work right?? It's bigger than our place now... Gah... I guess we just wait and see. So stressful!

New Ideas

So I've been thinking about my blog lately, which I guess is a good thing! I had a new idea for it, because creating that title banner was a lot of fun, and I actually ended up with a few different ones in the process... So I decided that I will try to change that banner every month, perhaps with a monthly theme, or perhaps just one I like at the time. We'll see... It will help me with my design skills though, so that's a good thing!

My other idea was to do with my newfound love of photography. I want to post a weekly favourite photo (or two), so that I actually get out and shoot pictures every week. I can't promise the quality, but again, it will help me build skills! I might try to do this on Sunday for the week previous. (Which basically means I don't have a picture picked out right this moment, but I will find one tomorrow...)

New layout

Ok so I'm just playing around a bit here, as you can tell... this may change, it may stay. Not really sure yet.

I'm home sick today so I just decided to play around with some photoshop stuff. :)