New Digs!

I have decided to say good-bye to this little 'ol blog and start a new one. I would love it if you decided to join me on my new journey.

Counting my blessings.

Enjoy the Ride by Studio Mela @ Etsy.

In June I was grateful for:

♥ Joan Jett
♥ new hair colour
♥ long walks with my husband
♥ naps
♥ surprises!
♥ perfect Sunday afternoon
♥ all day bbq @ my brother-in-laws
♥ no cavities
♥ sleeping in
♥ text messages from James that make me giggle
♥ the smell of rain on the warm night air
♥ great music on my iPod
♥ getting a good nights sleep
♥ feeling somewhat on top of things @ work
♥ falling in love with my husband
♥ being invited to a summer wedding
♥ getting through the week-end
♥ staying up until 3:30 am reading
♥ a Saturday to do nothing
♥ cool breezes after hot hot days
♥ mad crushes on young celebrities
♥ wonderful friends to be girly with
♥ cold salads prepared the day before
♥ reading with my husband

Decompressing*

tiny flowers, originally uploaded by Melanie Jennifer.

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.
- Beverly Sills


This speaks to me so much right now. I have been finding myself closing in on myself more and more as I get older. I have created so many limitations that I find I am unable to just enjoy simple things.

I have started taking more photos lately, both with my ancient Canon Powershot S30 and my krazr cell phone. But I find that when I get home I am so critical of almost all of the photos that I delete them.

Why do I do this?

Why can't I just post the photos (like the one above) even if they are a bit blurry, or are overexposed or are not just right? If I keep waiting until everything in my life is as good as everyone else’s I will never accomplish anything.

I need to seriously decompress.

I think a trip to the park to swing swing swing is needed!

*photo taken with camera phone

A great weekend was had.

Mickey, originally uploaded by Melanie Jennifer.

This weekend has been amazing. So very relaxing and so very needed.

Friday night James and I went for an hour long walk around our little neighbourhood. I love Kerrisdale very much as it is usually pretty quiet and peaceful. Friday night was no exception.

Yesterday we went over to James's brother's house in Lynn Valley for an all day barbeque. There were tons of great people and so much good food. I am always envious of the amazing salads Gergana makes.

There was much talk about Shawn & Gergana's up-coming wedding in August. They finally have all the details nailed down and the only thing left is for them to email us the name of the Inn where the wedding will be taking place on Galliano Island.

I can't believe how excited I am for this.

James's parents will be coming down for the wedding (both his Dad, and Mom & Stepdad) as well as our close friends Darren (who I haven't seen since 2002 (?), and Dave & Amanda.

I have exactly 2 months to get in better shape and find an amazing outfit to wear!

The Diary of Virginia Woolf: Volume One

Today I finally finished reading Volume One of The Diary of Virginia Woolf. It took me a little over two years to do so.

I would crawl into bed each night and gingerly take the book out of my bedside table. I would just manage to get comfortable and read a paragraph or two if I was lucky. It would be at this point that my dear Domino Bunny would hop onto our bed and run over to snuggle my nose for nighttime cuddles.

I would never say no to my bunny so I would gingerly put my beloved book back into my bedside table and this ritual would repeat itself night after night for two years.

I am a little sad to finish the book finally because I do not have her next diary yet to start reading.

I find it funny that I have tried to read her fiction in the past but I find it quite boring, drab and the plot quite pointless. Mrs. Dalloway is one of the few books that I actually could not finish.

And yet her diary I find fascinating. In it Virginia Woolf shows more talent writing about simply going to town to by writing paper than most authors’ have writing entire novels do today.

Here is one on my favourite passages describing life after the end of World War 1:

Peace is rapidly dissolving into the light of common day. You can go to London without meeting more than two drunken soldier; only an occasional crowd blocks the street. In a day or two it will be impossible for a private to threaten to knock out the brains of an officer, as I saw done the other day in Shaftesbury Avenue. But mentally the change is marked too. Instead of feeling all day & going home through dark streets that the whole people, willing or not, were concentrated on a single point, one feels now that the whole bunch has burst asunder & flown off with the utmost vigour in different directions. We are once more a nation of individuals. Some people care for football; others for racing; others for dancing; others for – oh, well, they’re all running about very gaily, getting out of their uniforms & taking up their private affairs again. Coming home from the Club tonight I thought for a moment that it must still be sunset, owing to the sharp bright lights in Piccadilly Circus. The streets are crowded with people quite at their ease; & the shops blazoning unshaded lights. Yet its depressing too, we have stretched our minds to consider something universal at any rate; we contract them at once to the squabbles of Lloyd George, & a General Election. The papers are unreadable. One’s sense of perspective is so changed that one cannot see at first what meaning all this gossip of parties can possibly have; one can’t be interested.