today's inspiration

AGAIN - another week has come and gone and I haven't taken the time to WRITE! Huge bummer - must, MUST schedule this into my daily routine. Feeling good today and so happy it's Friday ... and a long weekend to boot! Heaven :)

Enjoy your long weekend friends. Hope you are feeling inspired today! xo

a friday funny

Ha ha ha! Happy Friday friends - any big plans for the weekend? I am meeting up with this lovely lady tomorrow for brunch and I'm looking forward to catching up ... and eating food! :)

what is with the lip service ladies?

I have been noticing a lot of women in Hollywood who have these huge, bee stung, fat lips these days - out of the blue - they are staring me in the face every time I watch a stupid reality show or scroll through Perez (don't judge - I know you do it too).

What is up with this trend? Is it just me or do you agree that this does not look good on any of them. It doesn't look the least bit natural and if they try and say it is natural (due to pregnancy or anything else) they are straight up lying.

Kim Kardashian

I am 30 weeks pregnant and have had zero changes to my lips. Did she feel that she needed to make her lips proportionate when she gained the baby weight? I'm so confused.

Lindsay Lohan

Just looks super unnatural but I don't know what I would expect from Ms. Lindsay. And yes, I will admit it, I am VERY excited about the interview with the big O!

Gretchen Rossi

The only OC Housewife to never have cosmetic surgery but I'm pretty sure her body is filled with every synthetic formula known to man-kind. Just because there wasn't an actual knife involved, doesn't mean she hasn't been altered. Have you seen her on the show - her lips stick out so far from her face now. Again - makes zero sense to me.

What are your thoughts on the bee stung lip look? Love it or hate it (clearly like I do)?

today's inspiration

Again - the weeks, days and hours seem to be flying by at hyper speed. Not sure if that is due to the pregnancy or what but I am feeling it more than ever these days. I haven't written for almost a week now - no blog posts, no journal entries, no letters, etc. I find when this happens - when time slips by and I haven't made time for a creative outlet - I go a little off balance and stir crazy. Writing centers me. Note to Self: Carve out a bit of time daily to write. Just do it!

What's inspiring you today and what keeps you centered?

PS - 30 weeks today! Here is last week's photo:

just one of those days (and today's inspiration)

Today has just been one of those days. Filled with weird phone calls, random emails that seem to disappear right before my eyes and tons of miss-communication. I am not sure what is to blame - we just past a full moon phase, we did have a long weekend but this is the middle of the week so we should be over it by now and it's weird because it doesn't seem to just effect a few people - it seems to have messed with everyone I have come into contact with. Days like this are just weird.

Here's some inspiring images that are getting me through. Happy hump day!

What's inspiring you on this short work week friends?

pregnancy // side effects

photo via

I'm due October 25th and with less than 3 months left, I am pretty anxious and feel like I'm not as prepared as I should be. I am a planner by nature (my occupation is an event coordinator) so I love my lists, being organized and being able to complete a project and check it off my list. That is my heaven.

But because my pregnancy side effects have run the gamut, I have only felt "okay" for a while now and I feel like I was kind of robbed of the "pregnancy experience". I feel like I would have been able to do my research, get the nursery ready, plan my budget and spread out my pay cheques when buying stuff for the baby much more effectively if I was able to start sooner. Even now at 28 weeks, my days are determined when I wake up, not planned ahead. Even this weekend, I was supposed to go to the lake to spend time with my family but when my alarm went off early on Saturday morning, there was no way I was making the trip. It makes me mad, sad and frustrated but I know that this time won't last forever and it is all part of my journey.

Here's the good, the bad and the ugly of my pregnancy so far:

• Morning sickness (who are they kidding with that? It should be called all day sickness if I had a vote) until about 17 weeks (extreme nauseous feeling and the occasional throw up session) and then just a dull sick feeling all the time - especially when I am tired and/or when I have eaten enough.
• Then the heartburn set in (I feel so bad for anyone who has to deal with this on a regular basis. It is almost as bad as the morning sickness ... almost).
• On medication for both the morning sickness and heartburn (even now at 28 weeks).
• I have had fairly nice nails the whole way through :)
• A lot of fine extra hair on my body.
• Heavy breathing. My husband thinks there is something wrong but I can have trouble catching my breath even after getting up out of a chair!
• Random heart fluttering (doctor assures me this is normal - just a lot of extra blood being pushed through my system).
• Tired ... oh so tired ... all of the time.
• Horrible skin. Chad was sure she was a she because they say boys make their mothers beautiful and girls do the opposite. This is so true in my case. Horrible acne and extra oily - especially along the chin line.
• This one is random but my bottom right saliva gland dries up all the time. I can never seem to hydrate it enough with my own saliva or water.
• Leg cramps. Not as often as others seem to have them but I feel like they are always threatening to spasm at any given second.
• Bad taste in my mouth. All the time. Even after I eat something delicious, I cannot get a bad taste out of my mouth. Nothing seems to help this and I can't wait to eat food normally again.
• Puffy, sore feet. This is one hot (and beautiful) summer we are having so I am swollen everywhere but especially my feet. If they were hairy they would look like hobbit feet at the end of the day. I wear dress pants every day to work (yes - the same pair from Monday to Thursday and then jeans on Friday ... maternity clothes are expensive!) so that no one has to look at my ankles or feet. They gross me out even!

What pregnancy side effects did you experience?

And this just makes me smile :)

photo via

hi ho, hi ho (or is it heigh ho, heigh ho)

Not sure which is officially correct - hi ho, hi ho OR heigh ho, heigh ho. Either way - off to work this little garden gnome goes! We went to The Clay Cottage in Abbotsford in January with friends for Chad's birthday. We JUST finished our projects a couple of weeks ago - ha ha. I picked a complicated little guy but then I got pregnant, was super sick and it took us forever to get back. When we got home last night, our little treasures were waiting for us on our front bench. I so thought that he was going to be a disaster but both my gnome and Chad's treasure chest were amazing. Can't wait to go back and work on something for baby girl's nursery. Relatively inexpensive entertainment, relaxing and we both love painting so painting pottery is a good date night for us!

What's your favourite way to get artsy with your loved ones?

my grandma

Last Sunday my mom and I went and visited my grandma who is in a full care facility in Burnaby (my dad's mom). It was a beautiful day for a drive and since the pregnancy has really hit me hard, I haven't been able to visit her nearly as much as I would like.

I am always anxious driving up to her place because I am never quite sure what I am going to find when I enter the doors. She might be having lunch with the other residents or she might be sleeping in her room. She might have an injury of some sort or not be feeling well or she might be feeling good that day. No matter what we find when we see her, she always looks amazing and put together. I really hope I have my dad's side of the family genes - almost no wrinkles and gorgeous skin. 

On Sunday we found her with her table mates waiting for lunch. Her hair was curled and she was in a kimono type gown so she was cool in this summer heat. A lovely lady named Linda comes in to help her with her meals. We caught up with Linda while she fed my grandma her lunch - and grandma insisted on holding my hand the entire time :) She has had a couple of strokes so her speech isn't quite the same as it once was and she gets confused. The woman is 90 though so she has lived an amazing, good, strong and supportive life. 

After lunch she was still holding my hand and stared right into my eyes and said, "I have absolutely no clue who you are." It hit me hard - like I ran into a brick wall. I knew this day would come but I wasn't fully prepared for the emotional roller coaster it was going to take my on. Memories flooded my brain - chicken noodle soup, knitting, playing cooking school while we made my grandfather's lunch, swing sets, cupcakes, homemade Christmas wrapping paper ... the list just kept scrolling like I was being forced to remember every good moment with my grandmother.

She did figure out who I was a few minutes later and seemed to slip in and out of it during our visit. She can't say Chad's name, she says Shawn instead. She doesn't really remember my step-dad much but at the same time, I said that my cousin had visited her two weeks ago and she said it was longer than that. She was right :) 

The road ahead will be challenging but that random scroll of memories remind me that we have had so many good times. She helped raise me, she is part of the reason I am who I am and part of the reason I will be the mother and grandmother I will be. She is such a beautiful soul and even if a day comes and she doesn't remember me ever again, I will always remember her. xo

**Photos from 2011**

happy friday friends!

Have a wonderful long weekend! Be safe, healthy but most of all, have tons and tons of fun! xo

pregnancy // dreaming

photo via

One of the side effects of pregnancy is crazy dreams. No one really knows why this is a thing but apparently the closest they can guess is that it has to do with the extra hormones surging through your body when pregnant. Hmm - I thought the hormones were just making me a wee bit crazy and emotional but turns out, they are effecting me in a variety of ways every single minute of every single day!

My pregnancy dreams have run the gamut:

• I have, on more than one occasion, cheated on my husband in my dreams. With me, with women, with old people, with young people, with friends and with famous people. I have to admit - I have enjoyed some of these dreams but some of them, I would have to classify them as straight up nightmares!
• Sometimes I wake up and can't remember what I was dreaming about but I can feel pure stress from the top of my head to the tips of my toes ... just a big ball of anxiety and stress. It hurts physically and I can feel my heart slow as I finally realize that I was sleeping and not awake the whole time. Not a fan of these dreams at all - and really wonder what the heck I am actually stressing out about!!
• I have also had several dreams about past events - from elementary school, to high school and about different stages in my relationship with my husband. Kind of feels like I am re-living my life all over again in my dreams. Hope this isn't a sign of my life slowing flashing before my eyes - ha ha!

What was your weirdest dream when you were expecting?