A Journalist in the Family

I introduced Mike's blog Samsquanch to you last week and now I am very excited to show off the article that he had published in the Georgian Bay Today thanks to his first post!

I opened the mailbox this afternoon, snatched up the pile of goodies and spotted the newspaper immediately. There was Mike's article on the first page of the paper! I bolted home and made him read it to me... that just seems like the right thing to do once you've been published, a public (even if the audience is only one) reading. How cool is this?


We were both thrilled to find that the article continued beyond the first page and better yet, it took up an entire additional page!
Mike was planning to head to Blue Mountain tomorrow to hit the trails, how perfect is it that his article on Blue arrived in the mail the day before he heads there?

Getaway

After receiving some terribly sad news last week (which I will share with you at a later date) Mike suggested we get away for the weekend. He swept me off my feet and took me to Niagara Falls for a two night escape; it was wonderful.

We stayed at the Marriott and when we walked through the doorway into our room we sighed "WOW" in unison: the view was spectacular! When they say "Fallsview Room" they mean fallsview.

Yes that's a shot taken from the floor to ceiling window in our room; breathtaking isn't it? Here's another from our window:


The weekend was ultra relaxing, we ate, slept, laughed, relaxed in the whirlpool, ate, enjoyed the view, ate, wandered the cheesy streets, laughed, ate and snapped a zillion pictures of the view from our room.




The Maid of the Mist is the boat shown below, we didn't hop on for the tour this year but one day we will!

I'm posting more pictures than is probably polite in the land of blogging but I like to go against the grain... so there.

This shot makes me laugh, read the sign carefully and then look at the surroundings. Something tells me that the WWF and the Rainforest Cafe might not be an 'authentic' part of Niagara Falls


Mike and I were talking about how badly we want to visit Egypt about 20 minutes before we stumbled upon this Pharaoh. With only a little prodding from me Mike hopped up on his lap for a pic; I should have taken a picture of the looks on the faces of the people around us. Hilarious!
No the picture isn't supposed to be rotated, this is the top of the Museum. I remember visiting the Ripley's museum when I was a kid but I don't think King Kong was on the roof then.

I love this one!

I was a bit disappointed to find out that what I thought was an old school Ferris wheel was actually the new and 'improved' version where you sit in a pod. Rather than taking a ride I took a picture.

After taking a nap Saturday evening I hopped out of bed to grab my book and what to my wondering eyes did appear? A rainbow!! This is my favourite shot of the weekend.

A mega-big thanks to my fabulous husband for a great escape weekend! It was a wonderful break from reality.

Samsquanch

Sam who? Samsquanch.

Have I piqued your interest? Check out my husbands blog to find out what the heck a Samsquanch is and to learn a bit about his two greatest loves: electronic music & mountain biking. He has even posted links to some of his freaking awesome tracks here near the end of the post. Not only is my husband smart, funny, handsome and athletic, he has some serious talent in the music department.

Oh and his first post caught the attention of the editor of a newspaper up in Georgian Bay; since then he has written an article based on the post and it's going to be published! Very cool!

14 Million Dollars!!

My brother-in-law Paul participated in an amazing fundraiser this past weekend: The Ride to Conquer Cancer. Participants rode 200 km (124.27 miles for my friends from the USA) on their bicycles in just two days!

Although tired and sore from his journey Paul crossed the finish line with an ear to ear smile plastered on his face. Seeing him and hundreds of other participants (2850 in total) cross that line was really an amazing feeling. It might sound cheesy but there was a real feeling of hope in the air. Although there were many seasoned cyclists taking part in the ride the majority of the participants were average Joes: people of all shapes, sizes and ages. Unbelievable... 200 km!

This was the first year the fundraiser took place and a jaw dropping total of 14 million dollars was raised for The Princess Margaret - one of the 5 leading cancer research hospitals in the world - the money will go directly to the highest cancer research priorities! 14 MILLION DOLLARS!! That just blows my mind.

Kudos to you Paul! I am in awe of you and your accomplishment, congratulations!

Happy Father's Day!!

My dad is the best dad on earth. Seriously.

I love him more than words could ever express. He is a wonderful one-of-a-kind man who I am proud to call not only my father but my friend.

I love you dad!! Happy Father's Day!!

Flashback Friday

Sticking with the rules of Flashback Fridays, this is a shot of me pre-1985. I figured it was appropriate to post a pic of me looking as if I'm celebrating something special in honour of my recent graduation. A noise maker and mickey mouse ears?! That's a celebration get-up if I've ever seen one.

Keep 'em comin'

The positive thinking and prayers have paid off for one on the long list I posted a few days back. The test results are in for the 'important person' I mentioned and all is good! What a relief!

The little 8 year old men still need your positive thoughts. B goes in for surgery this Monday to remove the mass on his brain and H is still in intensive care. Things with H are very serious and it is hard to say how things will turn out but there is a thread of hope and we are all holding on to it, keep those prayers coming.

I did it!

I am officially a university graduate! It was an absolutely fabulous day. This picture pretty much sums it up:

A big thanks to my cheering squad!

YAY!!

Theme Thursday: Wildlife

A few years ago this creepy crawler was attached to our bbq. He was definitely one of the biggest spiders I've seen in the 'wild' here in Ontario. That's a playing card I'm holding up behind him and his web, it gives you an idea of the size of the little beast. Ick.

Check out some other takes on the Wildlife theme over at Stacy's blog.

Just call me Ella Fudd

Fabulous photo found here.

pparently Jeremy isn't a very effective scarecrow.

Monday morning I sleepily wandered into the kitchen, opened the curtains and glanced in the direction of my lovely garden; I was jolted awake by what I saw. A very fat (probably pregnant) rabbit was plopped smack dab in the middle of my lettuce chomping away. Needless to say, I was not impressed.

The poor bugger was terrified when I whipped the door open; he proceeded to run back and forth bashing himself off the bird fencing (it's plastic and no he wasn't hurt) until he finally managed to rip one of the bamboo sticks right out of the ground. Silly rabbit.

The nasty little creature entered Jeremy's home by chewing a hole in the plastic fencing - the fencing that took me a ridiculously long time to set up - I wasn't pleased. Jeremy has been fired, he is no longer acting as security, he's just a pretty (creepy) face amongst the veggies.

Thankfully I caught Peter R. when I did, he must have just broken in because there was barely any damage to my plants. My garden now resembles a high security prison, the rabbits won't be getting in and Jeremy won't be getting out. Why didn't I use chicken wire and wooden spikes to begin with? It took an eighth of the time the bird fencing took to set up and is much more secure.

Lesson learned, I know now to skip the bird netting and go for the chicken wire next year... that's assuming Peter (rabbit) doesn't find away past the new security measures.

This is... my favourite travel memory.

My husband and I were married in Mexico on February 1st 2007. We were wed next to the ocean on an absolutely perfect day surrounded by 39 amazing people: some family by blood, others family by choice, all friends.

Rather than spend just one day celebrating our marriage we took three weeks to do so. We started off by spending one week in Mexico where our wedding took place.

One of the pics from our pre-wedding shoot courtesy of Tammara & Grant from Tamms Photos.
This was taken at a beach near Tulum. There were fewer people on the beach that day than I could count on one hand. Amazing!

Then we headed to Jamaica where we spent two weeks at Sandals Whitehouse aka heaven on earth. Those were the best three weeks EVER; not once since then have I wished we had done things any differently. Three weeks of absolute bliss was the perfect way to begin our married life together.

Theme Thursday: Time

A Moment Frozen in Time... Square

I snapped this photo a year ago while visiting NYC with a group of 100+ teenagers. One of the perks of working in a high school: amazing field trips. I look forward to returning to NYC one day, I love it there!

Check out some amazing photos and other takes on this weeks theme over at Stacy's wonderful blog.

It's Not Fair!

I used one of my least favourite complaints more times today than I would like to count. Here I go again: it’s not fair.

In the last couple weeks I’ve heard more negative news than good, I’ve been handed one nasty bit of info after the other. The bad news can stop flowing anytime now.

My cousin’s little boy goes for surgery on June 16^th to remove a mass on his brain that was discovered a couple weeks ago. Thankfully the mass is in a ‘good place’ and the doctors are being very positive, they expect a full recovery and are hopeful that the surgery will put an end to the terrible seizures the wee man has been dealing with for the past few months. Scary stuff.

My feline nephew (Joanne & Paul’s kitty) Aristotle was diagnosed with cancer last week. The poor cat has an aggressive tumor on the side of his face and things are not looking good. Anyone who has an animal of their own knows how awful it is to see your pet in pain; I feel terrible for Joanne, Paul and the boys.

Waiting for major test results for a very important person in our world and although positive thinking is taking place the not knowing part stinks, we’re human and can’t help but worry.

I found out today that a little 8 year old boy I know, the son of my colleague, aspirated on Friday evening and was air lifted to a nearby children’s hospital. He has been in intensive care since Friday and has been heavily sedated since then. I don’t know any more details but I do know that he and his family could use some prayers sent their way.
 Update: Apparently there is light at the end of the tunnel, it has been determined that the doctors' worst fears have cleared. They are going to begin to slowly bring the little guy out of sedation, well wishes for full recovery would be helpful.

UPDATE June 4th:  Unfortunately things have taken a turn for the worse with the little man mentioned above. Please send extra prayers his way. 

Finally, the most recent piece I was delivered this evening that just threw me over the edge: my good friend’s mother passed away on Saturday. Amber my heart aches for you sweetie.

I’m not posting this for pity or with the hope of upsetting you but I would love some of your positive thoughts. Whether you prefer to pray or simply to send positive energy to others when they need a lift I ask you to please send some in my direction, I promise to dole it out to all the people surrounding me who need it.

Sometimes life really isn’t fair and this is one of those 'times' for far too many of the people I care about.

Sewing the Day Away

I found this super cute fabric about a month ago at Fabric Land. I eyed the pink ribbon immediately when looking for trims but wasted another hour digging around wanting to be sure I chose the right accent. I really need to learn to trust my gut.


I haven't sat at my machine in a couple weeks, it felt good to get back into the groove.
This was my first attempt at a purse of my own design and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

It's a good size for an every day purse and I like the shape but and I'm going to make a few minor changes: add a magnetic snap, shrink the pocket size and place the pocket on the back side of the interior of the bag rather than the front.

Ta da! Now I've got the itch again so you'll be seeing more soon.