to the moon

I love coming home from work to pencil-written love notes. It's so lovely, and I do have the loveliest husband.

V. xo

New Years List

I've never been much for New Years Eve, a feeling I assumably share with many others across the nation. Along with these less than fond sentiments about the night in general, I have also never been one known to make New Years resolutions. In thinking about this, and being asked the question a lot recently with my response consistently being no, I have decided that it is funny that I don't make New Years resolutions because it would fit my character so well. I love making lists and using agendas in general. So this year I am going to make a small list of things that I would like to improve upon and accomplish.

Voila:

- take more photos
- blog more often
- get more things done (like declaring a major FINALLY...)
- actually do readings for school (this will never happen but aim high right!?)
- take more time to make handmade gifts, cards, decorations, etc.
- be thankful

I feel as though these are attainable things to do. Now that they are recorded, I am in some way, as small as it may be, accountable to do these six things. I am going to really focus on the sixth. I think that it is so so very important to be thankful in life for, well everything really. I asked God to make me more thankful the other day and I have been trying to maintain the mindset ever since.

The year has been started on a very good note and I am banking on it lasting throughout.

With a thankful heart,
V. xo

Back to School

Well you heard it. Tomorrow (or today?) is the day my nightmares become a reality - book buying, professor meeting and French speaking. Nightmare may be a word slightly too strong for this stage setting, but it is indeed far from a dream. Last semester was one of my toughest in workload and morale which makes it that much more difficult for my eyes to see this glass half full of life. To encourage this attempt at positivity is the fact that this will be my 2nd last first day of university. At this time next year I will be a newly graduated lady and I will be staring blankly into the eyes of adulthood. It is hard to imagine this actually taking place, but I will keep reminding myself that it could be a reality if I don't succumb to my very strong desire to drop out of school and get a head start on homemaking and the career in the service industry that is oh-so-appealing... So school it is then.

Tonight the Fleet Family celebrated back to school with sushi, candy, and Rummy Cube. It was just what the doctor ordered, though the sleepless night that I am experiencing at the moment is not.



Dreaming of sweet dreams,

Sleepy V. xo

The Happiest Christmas

Well, another Christmas bites the dust. With fond memories still fresh in my mind's eyes, the recently acted acts scroll through and certain events and people stick out as reasons to why this year's Christmas was so very merry. This Christmas season beheld many festivities, more than usual, which only encouraged the jolly feelings already present in my home. I have two jobs which means two Christmas parties, this year they were both a wild success. Laughter, red wine, smiles, delicious food, and good friends were all part of these events, and I have to say they were my favourite work Christmas parties to date. If I have to choose - The Junction Thai food and hilarious re-gift exchange stole my heart.

December 22nd was the night chosen well before the season was upon us, for the Fleet Family to celebrate our love for eachother. Post-exams, spirits were high and our decidedly formal evening took place at a delightful restaurant, which we had mostly to ourselves, feasting on black bean balls, chicken skewers, and shrimp and grits. It was a tasty treat, one I hope to re-love shortly.

The next day brought more celebrations in the company of, yet again, very dear friends. Potluck style food and wine, we dined until our stomachs would allow us to dine no more. Pasta, hummus, cheeses, cupcakes and cakeballs were only a few dishes, among many more, that were present at our annual Friends and Family Christmas gathering (minus two).



Christmas Eve, the night I look forward to from Boxing Day until December 23rd, met every expectation I had expected through the long year of expecting. Visiting, laughing, eating, visiting and more laughing are what make this evening all that it is to me. I love and cherish it and already am eagerly anticipating what next year's eve of Christmas will bring.

After a much needed coma, from days of over-eating no doubt, Christmas morning was upon us and off we went to skate the Downie rink and drink coffee with my parents and siblings. From there we went to celebrate the day and evening with Landen's family, and celebrate we did. It was lovely and I enjoyed every minute.

This year was slightly different in that we waited until Boxing Day to have my family's "Christmas Day". A new tradition, but a good tradition, this day was wonderful. A full day with the people I love most in the world, in all honesty it would be hard to ruin. My family has traditions that most other families do not, and with them come honesty and bonding - products that are surely meant to be noticed.

Though this account is missing so many moments shared and bites taken, I felt is necessary this year to set my feelings in stone. To have down the content, no, bliss that my heart felt this Christmas, seemingly more than any other year. It was one for the books and now it is recorded so that if my memory fails, surely these written words will re-kindle at least some of what this Christmas entailed.

Blissfully yours,
V. xo

Someday at Christmas

In my life, there is nothing greater than Christmas. No matter what the comparison, Christmas trumps all and I mean it. Some times I wonder why I am head over heels for Christmas, why just thinking about it (even in July) makes my heart beats faster and my eyes grow wider. I think what it comes down to is that Christmas represents all the ideals in my life, everything I wish I was, thought and did, my picture perfect life is all wrapped up into one terribly joyful season.

For starters, Christmas means tradition, and in my life, that means family. Every single memory I have starts and ends with smiles, full and thin lipped alike, at my parents lovely abode. Gathered together, our family is a force to be reckoned with, and I love it. Boy, do I love it. Baking is next, a hobbie that is new to me, but nonetheless a favourite. My Mennonite bones, try as they might, thrive in the kitchen and during this jolly season I have an excuse to busy myself with nothing else. Presents wrapped with papers so pretty they deserve nothing less than to be preserved though their fate is torn with clean lines. Lyrics proclaiming truth with no shame, and melodies that are so wrong they are right. The other seasons of the year claim my attention with, among other things, travel and homework. The Christmas season however, focuses my attention on baby Jesus and the miracle of his life and mine. It's not boastworthy, but it's rare for me to sit and contemplate the absurdity and honour that is life through Christ. Philanthropy, parties, the soft glow of cold winter nights, dresses, friendship, etc. etc. This is what makes Christmas for me, a reminder and model of all of the good things in life.

My advent calendar is up and the countdown is on, I'm a happy girl.

Blissfully yours,
V. xo

C'est la vie

Sometimes, just sometimes, things go right. Clarification: things go right all the time, but when many big things go right, one after another, and the sighs of relief don't seem to be stopping, it's easy to believe that there is someone up there looking out for you.

Lately I have been feeling as though my life is un-balanced. That I haven't found balance. Attending school, homework, exams, job #1, learning job #2, keeping up relationships with friends and family, attempting to keep the dishes washed, the laundry done, the clothes off the floor and dinner on the table is proving to be quite the feat and I catch myself wondering how I got myself into this year of undeniable disorganization. I try whole-heartedly to keep from dwelling on that which could lead me down a path that I'm not willing to give into. When halves full turn into halves empty, you know you're going the wrong way. It's obvious that this is not the year of plenty, in dollars in my bank account or in A's on my report card. No, this year is about subsisting; it's about learning how to live in this time of my life. What it means to sacrifice on so many levels and what it means to go like go and not waste time. That being said, it's also about rewards and seeing beauty and finding joy in things that last year at this time, I may not have. The question is where my priorities lie - a question that, try as I might, is seemingly impossible to answer. Though I can't seem to muster up a hierarchy of max importance to getting shoved down down down under the couch importance (right now that would be my biology textbook), maybe next year when I look back I will recall events and dates that I chose what was valuable and hopefully I will be glad I did. Maybe I'm learning what it means to prioritize without knowing it. I know I'm learning how to live within the means of two shifts per week at the cafe, and that must be worth something.

This is my life as of late, if given the chance to contemplate, I sit in stress.

Today, however, I feel like I've been cut a break. Lucky V is me, and I will not let it pass me by without a word of thanks. Oh no. So thanks today, it has been wonderful and I've enjoyed every second of every sigh.

Here's to tomorrow, it shall be just as grand.

Stressfully yet hopefully,
Yours truly xo

September Summer

I have a love/hate relationship with these rays that have come far, far too late in the year. On one hand I would like to thank thee for allowing me to mingle in dresses bought at the beginning of supposed summer that had yet to be free for the sun to see. On the other hand, I am cursing every step taken in sandals, wishing for nothing more than covered toes, and for that matter, covered everything else. As my legs long for tights, my heart longs for the weather that is hibernation in my home. Turned coop, these 700 square feet will be my dwelling place with nothing more than companionship, textbooks, the www, and sweat pants to keep my eyes opening and closing each and every day.

I wouldn't say that school is easy this year. No, I'd dare to say difficult. With a schedule such as mine, one would expect a breezy semester from my end of things, but 8:30 comes early and when you're 5 classes deep and it's 3:45 breezes are few. Red faced and hungry, my legs couldn't carry me home faster if they were dared. Double dogged even, it seems like an eternity. When home comes home, it's feet up and fed that make the clock tick tocking and the daily dozens delivering. Sheesh, life is wonderful. It is a smallish time frame that the student subsists and when that time is up, the real world becomes more real than it already is. Far from Scum, Big Boss is me and I'm taking the night off. Homework heavy but happy, this chosen burden will willingly be worn for as long as it fits - no time-frame needed.

With my husband fast asleep, I can blame him freely for the caffeine injection far too late in the evening that was tonight which is obviously why this ramble keeps on rambling, and why the bed is only half occupied on this wee early Sunday morning. Tomorrow will be a day that is for sure, and if these eyes don't close tonight I'm wondering when they will close tomorrow. Surely not during math test studying or game numero uno taking place in none other than memory lane. It shall be remembered once more. Oh please close dear eyes.

Thank you.
xoxo Sleepy V.