Has it really been two weeks?!

Wow!! Time sure does fly and some of it was fun!

We did Easter a day early because my sis and bro-in-law were going on a trip on their own, no kids. We colored eggs on Friday night and it was so much fun having little ones around to color eggs again. Although my grown kids colored eggs and so did the rest of the adults too. Egg decorating is some serious business in our family.

My daughter using the dip technique to get multi colored layers

My son did one egg with his fave band and it turned out great

You know shit just got serious when Dad puts on his glasses to decorate eggs!! LOL

 It was also another first.....our first Easter without my Mom. I found it very hard as I have with all the other "firsts" we've already gone through. I pulled out the cups that we used as kids and that my kids used for eons to color eggs and took them over for my sister's boys. They are only 6 and 2 so the Easter egg dyeing cups will get a few more years of use and that makes me happy.

Can you tell which one is used for the blue dye every year?! haha

Getting the dye ready and using Mom's old china cups ♥

Then on Saturday night we had a big dinner with family and my sis made the potato salad that Mom always made for Easter, I made the rice salad she used to make and Dad did alot of "Remember when..." and teared up a few times. But he did okay and then spent the following week looking after his little grandsons while their folks were having some time away.

Dad has gone back to PG and to give his notice this week. He is finally retiring at the end of May and moving down here, so it will be good to have him close to all of us.

Last week was busy busy with work and aches and pains but it seemed to fly by and my evenings were just gone with napping and lounging. Not terribly productive last week, but I'm hopefull this week will be a better one.

The weekend just past, my kids and I continued our "Sunday Afternoon Adventures" and went to a great little British Car Show in Fort Langley. I'll add pics of that tomorrow evening :)

Hope you all have had a wonderful start to a wonderful week!! And for all things glittery and creative, please go and check out Effy Wild's April Blog Along post, she is truly such an inspiration on so many levels

Almost Easter time....and Blogging Along with Effy

What a nice relaxing weekend spent with family. Well Friday evening was spent making some new friends at a Stamp n Swap evening hosted by Anne Sanderson, a Stampin' Up! demonstrator just a few minutes away from me. It was nice to stamp and visit with other crafters, haven't done that since I moved here.

Saturday was spent helping my sister in her garden, yes I actually did some gardening! And got to spend time with my nephews, which is super important to me. And thanks to the swap part of the night before, I was able to have a few dollars in my wallet and I got to treat my nephews to a treat from the ice cream truck that came through the neighborhood. Doesn't sound like a big deal to most I'm sure, but to me, it was a very big deal to be able to get those wonderful little guys a treat from Auntie. Then my kids joined us and we had dinner with family and played some card game called "Spoons", new game to us but I see it being a dangerous game if it was all adults and alcohol was involved lol It was a very good day with some of my favorite people.

Sponge Bob Ice Cream and a Snowcone

Sunday was spent adventuring with my kids.  I am very lucky that my son likes to drive a lot, makes adventuring more fun because I do not love driving into the busy city or anywhere I don't know.  But we google mapped the route and headed off to a little area my sister mentioned called Deep Cove.  What a cute little neighborhood! And right on the water! Strolled down through the little park, by the yacht club and then up the little main street that had a great little coffee shop for us to try out.

Nothing too exciting, but a good weekend. I didn't create anything this weekend, except a couple little projects on Friday night, so I best get back to that this week. Have two cards going out for a monthly swap I signed up for, want to get a card made for my son's bff, pretty much my other son and get that in the mail too.

I am glad that we kept busy on Sunday since it was the 13th and it was 8 months ago on August 13 that we lost our Mom, very suddenly and unexpectedly. I still miss her everyday, and I'll probably mention her alot on my blog, she was such a huge part of my life and my kids too. I can't believe we are coming up on another holiday and she won't be here with us, I know that it's real, I was with her at the end, but it still seems so surreal that my Mom is gone.  I see all the ads for Mother's Day stuff and things like that, and I pinned a few things thinking ohh Mom would love that for Mother's Day.....then it sinks in, she's not here. This Mother's Day, I won't have a Mom. Do the rest of the the days get easier to handle? Or is every Mother's Day going to be this hard?

My beautiful Mom on her 64th birthday, just a few weeks before she was gone ♥

Well I think it is time to go check on the moon and see what's happening, wonder if the eclipse is noticeable yet. Thanks to Effy Wild and her Blog Along posts for inspiring me to get posting, I have missed a few days but I have made it for more than I thought I would!! :)

Have a great night everyone!

Be Positive

It is something I need to work on every day!! Things have been a struggle for awhile and I need to work on thinking positively on a daily basis. And I need to consciously make the the effort to stay positive. Even if it is only a baby step forward, it is still a step forward.

I think it is time for changes, small, large and all sizes in between. I am going to work on a vision board for myself and put on there the things that I want in my life, I have put it off for months but I think it's time to get to it. I signed up for a card exchange and I haven't done anything like that in years, so it is a positive step to being creative on a regular basis! I have a small girls night of stamping and swapping coming up, yup just found a demo in my area and contacted her and signed right up!! And that is out of the norm for me since I don't usually do things like that unless I know someone!

And this time next year I am going to be part of a couple of online art classes that I have been following and reading blogs from the various instructors, that is my creative goal that I am working towards. Maybe even by summer I'll be doing some classes with amazing teachers like Effy Wild or Suzi Blu These are just amazing talented ladies and I just love what they do, how they relate to all of us and how accessible they are to learn from. Definitely on my bucket list going to do list because it's something I love and want to learn!

And today I went and got all my hair chopped off and dyed it back to a darker brown color. I will post pics of the new do soon, but right now I have an infection in my mouth and my jaw is swollen up to the size of a large orange..lol I'd rather not have pics taken right now. But I went from having hair almost all one length and to the middle of my shoulders at the back to having it chopped, layered, thinned and now doesn't even touch my collar in the back. Big change but I think I like it! :)

No pics to add tonight, but tomorrow I will as I've finished a couple of small mixed media canvasses and I have pics of my cards for my card exchange.

Have a great night all

A Day At The Beach

Well it was a nice quiet Sunday. My kids and I decided that we were just going to go out and wander today. So we went out to White Rock Beach and walked the boardwalk and out to the end of the pier. I took a lot of pics, as I always do! So many things reminded me of my Mom while we were out there today, the beach itself, the daffodils blooming all over, just being out there.

One of my Mom's favorite flowers ♥

Heading onto the pier, love the arches

The train tracks that run along this part of the beach, have some ideas for more pics here

Seashells on the seashore, love the shells

After we strolled and chatted and had ice cream, well gelato, strawberry cheesecake for me, tiramisu for my son and peanut butter snickers for my daughter, we left the beach and headed out to a little spot called Fort Langley. We actually used to live in Fort Langley about 12 years ago, but moved away to Calgary. Love the little shops and artisans storefronts there. One of the best little places is in Gasoline Alley, called Cranberries..Naturally, great place!

Cranberries Naturally in Fort Langley, BC

Was a great idea to just go and get out of the house.....next Sunday maybe a new neighborhood out in Vancouver to adventure in?!

Hope everyone's week starts well :)

First Week, New Job, My Ass has been kicked!

Well holy smack!!

First week at my new job has thoroughly kicked my ass....and then some!! That said, I am very grateful to have finally found a job here and earning an income again!! Next step, catch up on bills, purchase art supplies and oh yeah get out and see my city. Well I did live here before but didn't really see much of what there is here. So this time, once the income is regular, I want to head into downtown Vancouver and go see some sights and take thousands of pictures of the architecture and windows and everything! and maybe try to sketch some of them too?! We'll see how that one turns out :)

And maybe I can be the cool Auntie that I want to be and take my nephew to interesting and new places too!! I think he would get bored fast but I would like to take him to the Vancouver Art Gallery, hopefully that would be something new for both of us. Or maybe just a trip to someplace new and a special lunch at diner that he would remember and pics for scrapbooking of course.

So many hurdles along the way, but am so glad to be home in Langley, close to most of my family and best friends. Time to enjoy what is here and make memories ♥