A Christmas to Remember

So I have officially been on my Christmas break for a few weeks now and I am loving the fact that there is a lack of all nighters, projects, deadlines and long lecture in my life right now! Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year and winter is my favorite season of the year so you can imagine how excited I have been for the past little while. Today is boxing day, but also the day Doug (my boyfriend) and I celebrated our Christmas!

I celebrated with my family yesterday which was a great time to fellowship and just stop our busy lives to come together in the same room for more than 30 minutes!

Anywho, back to today! It was my first boxing day experience and I loved it! Getting up at 6 am to get ready for Doug's arrival at 7 am was worth it! It is crazy how many people were out that early (and how dark it still was). My one purchase was a brand new pair of Coach shoes I have been drooling over for a while! Unfortunately they weren't on sale but my birthday money (which I will receive tomorrow =P ) will pay off for this splurge. Doug ended up getting a new 'house' amp for his speakers and TV...a splurge as well! Other then that, we mostly just browsed at the amazing prices, especially for some Canon SLRs =]. After a few hours of shopping we headed out to Priddis to where Doug lives and cuddled up on the couch in front of the TV. We watched "Sweet Home Alabama" then took an hour nap to re-energize. After a bite to eat and an energy drink (it was a MUST!) we headed out for a drive to the rink which was extremely busy so we took a nice drive in the country =]. We got back and decided to go for a winter walk in which we had a mini photo shoot.

It is amazing at how busy the city is on boxing day but in the country the birds and cows could care less about this fiasco! It is so serene and refreshing with the warm weather and sun shining. I loved having this opportunity to escape technology and sitting around and to take part in a physical activity while sharing in amazing fellowship! I learned a lot about my lovely boyfriend that I never really knew before. If only more people would do this!

Once back at home we (or should I say 'I'...Doug ended up making a huge dinner for us) watched "Pride and Prejudice", another movie I got from Santa. For dinner Doug made steamed veggies with a cheese sauce and I had Salmon in a creamy Greek herb sauce while Doug had Chicken.

Wow, I am so blessed by having an amazing chef in my presence!

For a fire we stuck little candles in the fireplace and lit them, created such a unique setting! (the fireplace needs to be cleaned and we didn't want to risk polluting the house with smoke! =P). Suddenly night arrived and the chariot awaited! We stopped at Walmart and browsed at some awesome DVD sales (My sister wanted the 4th season of "Gilmore Girls" which we picked up for her) and then headed over to Michaels where I picked up a cute box to hold all my new stationary supplies (Yes, I am trying out the quill pen with ink!! Tricky so far).

Home sweet home, where I have gazed back at the day and find myself very content with my first Christmas with Doug and my first boxing day experience! I have been so blessed this past year with getting into the program of my dreams, being with Doug, growing closer with my family, and meeting a handful of new people! Now my only wish is to head back to Italy, but that day will come...in the FAR future! =P

Hope all your celebrations were blessed by the presence of friends and family!

hmmmm...

Where shall I begin....

So I am heading into my 4th week of good ol' university and things are starting to turn into a routine which is great! I have been struggling trying to prioritize and balance everything but since I went home this weekend I had time to refocus and get my head on straight! I am ready now to come back and attack things at a different angle!

Classes are starting to become a bit overwhelming with all the new daily information being drilled into my mind! I definitely miss having tests because they gave you an excuse to actually learn and memorize! I am quite enjoying the amount of projects though...puts me in a creative mindset 24/7 =].

It is great to start having some 'theory' behind what I enjoy! Now when I watch design shows I can understand the process they are taking and the lingo that they use. And now when I get my style at home magazine I have a new level of excitement! haha So in short, this is where I am suppose to be =]

Hmmm I don't really have much else to say! All in all, things are going great and I am still loving it! haha

1 week in!

Wow, I have been here for a week and I am LOVING it! So many things have happened such as...
-Daily tennis matches
-Meeting some more people at the Res BBQ
- Playing Catch phrase till 3:30 am
-Two stepping!
-Rez Wars...HUMAN SIZED FOOSBALL!
-shopping trip!

AND SO MUCH MORE!

I have been having a blast in residence and all the activities but of course, I am here for school as well! =p
I have had Histroy of Interior design, English, Design 1 and Art history. So far so good! Lots of assignments/essays though and I haven't even had all my classes yet! I am very intrigued by all of it though...definitely in the right program=] haha

For History of Interiors we had a quick introduction where we looked at different chairs throughout the centuries!

The Ara Stool - Philip Stark

Bauhaus Director's office chair - Walter Gropius

Caquetoire Chair "Gossip Chair"

Plywood chair 'Potato chip' - Charles & Ray Aemes

cross check - Gehry Collection

Fauteuil Chair (Rococo style) - Nicolas Heurtaut

Hat trick - Gehry collection

High stick - Gehry Collection

The Lily Chair (Japanese inspired) - Masanasi Umeda

King Tut's Throne!

BEST THINGS EVER!! SOO COOL!
Malitte Lounge - Roberto Matta (1960s)

After spring - Ron Erad

Tree Trunk Bench - Jurgen Bey

It was neat to see how religion,economics, and the culture affects the design of furniture!

I am a bit nervous for English. I use to love it and do so well but in Grade 12 I struggled with the essay assignments! Hopefully its because I had a tough teacher but I found out that you cant have more than 3 mistakes per page or else you cant get higher than a D on your paper =[. AH! Scary =P My Prof is pretty cool....very dry sense of humor haha

Design 1 was fun. We had a workship on reverse-design process. We analyzed a piece of furniture starting from the production process all the way to the inspiration process! We present that on Friday to everyone. Also, for one of the assignments we have to keep an art journal where u sketch, write, etc. ! I am excited for that =]

Art history will be amazing!! Going to Italy definitely sparked an interest in it which is good because without it I probably would have dreaded this class! I may even declare a minor in art history...we shall see!

All in all my experience here has been soo great (too great! I have forgotten to talk to my family this whole entire time haha).

Out come the textbooks

5 Days In...I am still alive!


Other than having to hand wash my dishes and the lack of actual 'meals' res/uni life has been amazing! I feel so at home and I have met a bundle of really nice people whom I hope to get tight with over the years =] I will recap what I have been up to with residence:



My Roomies: Charmaine, Taiba, and Vanessa! They are all wicked =] Charmaine (shes pretty quiet!) came from a town just south of edmonton, Vanessa is from Red Deer and Taiba is all the way from India (she just got here today =]). Vanessa (most similar to me) and I are room neighbours and the other 2 are on the other side of the living room! I have hit it off with all of them and we seem to really connect well. No problems with dirty dishes...we all wash them right after we use them so that is wicked =]



Building D: We are located right across from the tennis courts and so I have been going out every day to play tennis with my friend Ashley and roomie Vanessa. We plan on getting really good before it snows haha. My RA is a wicked guy named Hez. He is soo funny and wants to do a lot of floor outings (going to the Zoo ont he 18th!). I have connected with a lot of the girls in the building which is awesome and I love it here!!



Res Activities!:

-Sunday: we had our floor meeting with our RA and the people on the floor and then went over as a group to one of the theatres to watch a 'loose moose' improv show which was funny!

-monday: Mini Olympics! By far the best ever! I bonded with my teammates soo much and laughed a ton! We didn't end up winning first place but we did have a pizza party at my RA's place ( which is right next to ours!) at night. Watched Fresh Prince!

-tuesday: Movie in the park! It was also our first orientation day which was kind of long but good to get a grasp of the campus and what goes on. The movie was at night outside projected onto a screen and there was free popcorn!

-wednesday: Ikea trip! and last day of orientation. The orientation for me was just with the interior design department so that was a lot better haha After dinner buses came to take whoever wanted to go to Ikea! I walked around with Ashley and Vanessa looking at all the neat stuff and ended up getting a few things that we needed for the apartment.



TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF CLASSES! I have an art history class at 9:30 am and then English at 3 so it isn't too bad! But I guess I should head to bed.

Degree...here I come!

So tomorrow I set my foot out of the place where I call home and into a place filled with 3 roommates, a shared bathroom,meal plans, and open textbooks. Residence...here I come! I started packing a few weeks ago (I always seem to get way to ahead of myself!) and am just finishing the final touches to my assortment of filled cardboard boxes. It still hasn't hit me that I am conquering my dream program at my dream University! I am sure I will realize it when I am hit with my first paper,project or test. But till then I am just basking in the new chapter of my life. I have soo many mixed emotions! Excitement to learn more about something I love, nervous for how demanding it will be and the time management involved, sad that even though I am still living in Cow Town I will miss my parents and their involvement in my daily choices, and I am anxious for the overwhelming intoductions and the numerous names I will have to remember =P . I know God has put me in this spot, and it is a great spot to be in! I have full faith that he will get me through the next years and guide me every step of the way. My faith is fully in Him and I want to reflect his Glory and honor through everything I do. Well, updates will come!

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IT HAS BEEN A WHILE! My summer has been flooded with doing day camps at my church and taking on many adventures to complete my summer to-do list! I have 3 weeks left till school and so little time! Anyways,my favorite part of prep for camps was decorating the stages for gradeschool and preschool. Here is what I did!

 

 

This was the stage for our wednesday skit.
We had to make a gorge! We used a plank of wood and
turned it into a waterfall then when we knock the tree over
it lays in front so it looks like we are actually walking
across the tree!

Our normal stage!

I decorated tables for registration, memory verse station, and the
candy jar guess station.

I taped ENORMOUS leaves onto poles to place beside
the decorated tables. filled the hallway leading into the big room
and made it feel very tropical.

Turns out that my sister deleted the preschool pictures off of her camera and so I don't have what I did for that stage! I must admit, there was a lot more time and effort put into it so it turned out better.

It has got me pumped for University! I cannot wait to learn even more about design and decorating! I got my textbooks the other day...atleast 50 pounds altogether...and it looks like I will be learning some interesting stuff!

Also, I will be living in residence for the first semester (due to limited funds) and am already starting to pack. God has been so good to me! I know this is the program that he wants me in and lately I have been stressing over having a student loan and being in debt but today I recieved almost $2000 in the Rutherford scholarship and I know for a fact that God has something up his sleeve to get me through the next 4 years! Praise be to HIM!

Blanket, complete!

One thing checked off of my bucket list...Knit a blanket!! It took me probably over a month to do this but I find great peace in knitting for hours on end =]. Chloe seems to quite enjoy it but I may store it away for a future baby blanket or something haha.

OH HAPPY DAY!

I hope everyone had a great Canada day! Mine was spent with my lovely boyfriend =]. He taught me how to drive a standard car, let me watch an episode of Cupcake Wars (that he lovingly recorded for me on his TV!), took me to a Stampeders football game (row 10!), and then went to nosehill park to see fireworks! All in all, it was a very memorable day.


Goodbye June, Hello July!
* The weather has finally started to take a turn for the better...hopefully no more rain this summer!...and I have spent many mornings out on the deck..with a yummy summer salad.. scrapbooking, reading and knitting!

What could be any better! I also started my new job at the church doing day camps. Kids don't start coming till the 18th and so we are doing lots of prep. My sister and I spent 3 hours wrapping string around popsicle sticks! The summer is just getting started =]

WELCOME ROYALS!

*Seeing the welcoming ceremony for Will and Kate on the News made me miss London so much!
I had so many flashbacks as to when I was there =] I also spent the afternoon recapping on their wedding. I cannot wait to look back and say to my children that I witnessed this 'day in History'. It is also great that they are on Canadian soil!

Summer Fun, Here We Come!!

My To-Do list

So far I have 60 things to accomplish!

WISH ME LUCK

Belated First Day of Summer!

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SUMMER EVERYONE!

In order to get me excited for my first summer spent in Cow Town for the past 4 years I have decided to not let myself waste this summer...get wrapped up in work...or get stressed! For this to happen, I have created an exciting Summer 'To-Do' List filled with activities for memories to be created =]. I am so excited to start checking the boxes! My goal is to look back on this summer and say that it was the best one yet!

Tea Parties

Whenever I see teacups I am reminded of the days where I would raid my mother's makeup bag for lipstick (it was off limits EXCEPT for tea parties!), put on my dress up pearls, pull out the long gloves, and wear my best dress in order to attend an annual tea party with my sister,mom and sometimes grandma.
This made drawing teacups even more meaningful! And now I have a great memory to add to my room =]

Sparkles from the ceiling

I have always been captivated by chandeliers and looking through my Cali pictures I noticed I captured a few pictures of some!

In the future I want to have one but I know they can be quite expensive! Therefore, I will make one =]
There are some pretty easy DIY chandeliers out there...just a matter of attempting this challenge.
Here are a few ideas:

My Favorite! All you need are strands of pearls,
string, hot glue, and a wire coat hanger =]

Perfect for a little girls room! All you need
are paper/foam butterflies, fishing string, ribbon, and a wreath
of some sort (or just use a wire coathanger again).

I would put this outside on a deck or sitting area.
All you need a tealight candles, mini jars,chains,circular
cooling rack, and string.