:: Today ::

:: I'm up to my eyeballs in paper work...from all different things, kindergarten applications for JJ, bills, magazines, paperwork from the kids class' & coupon, and as I look there is still some other stuff I didn't even realize was there! ::

:: Here is what this mess looks like! ::

:: I'm going to take a moment and get in my running gear so I can be finished my run for today and try and get dinner going, thank goodness I was able to do all of my grocery shopping yesterday, so hopefully that will be an easy job ;) ::

:: Happy Wednesday to y'all, hope you saw the sun for at least a small portion of it! ::


*Edited to Add*

:: Run completed, see here is my ugly-I've-just-finished-2-mile-run face -HA! Now on to a shower and dinner! ::

:: Mundane Monday ... Muah! ::

:: Today is a mundane Monday, it's pouring cats'ndogs here in the land of the lush green trees & grass..and all I would like to do is crawl back into bed. Just being honest here ;) ::

:: ...Or go to Starbucks and finish the book I started back in Arizona, or blog my to my little hearts content without inturruption - HA! ::



:: But I've got carpets to be cleaned, food to be prepared, dishes to be put away, boys to read to and love on, kindergarten to register JJ for {can you believe that!?!!?} plus menu planning and shopping for this week. Along with a 2 km run that I've promised myself I'm going to do every day, so off I go to do all of these things..Pray I do them in love and with grace{I'll be a hot mess for the running portion of my day, but that's just fine with me} ::

*Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God - Colossians 1:10[commentary version]*

:: 2011 ::

:: My word for the year 2011 is {CHANGE} ::

:: Honestly, I don't know what this looks&feels like, but I do know that along with change come pain, peace & eventually pleasure. But the process doesn't always feel so good! ::

:: 2010 I planned to live life with a purpose - that happened and honestly I felt good about my year, but this year I want to be a little more raw and specific with things I want to change, whether it's in my mind, heart, spirit, body, family, home, relationships...I want to change to make it all that it can be ::

:: The funny thing with change is that it just has to be you {me} that changes, really it doesn't matter how anyone else responds to your change - it's all about what God has put in your heart and seeing you {me} be all that we can be ::

:: {CHANGE} to me through the Bible ::

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy~Ephesians 4:21-24

:: I hope that the first 20 days of 2011 have been awesome thus far, and that you have amazing expectations for the next 300 and something days we have left in 2011 ::

:: Happy Friday Lovelies, hope I can hop on here and update you on a our little escape to a vitamin D filled mini-holiday! ::

:: Things I'm loving ::

:: I know it's Saturday, so the above title on the photo does not apply, but I used it anyway ;) ::



:: I'm loving actually taking time to read one of my stocking stuffers from Mr. L...it's a great issue that Instyle January! ::


:: I'm loving that I just ordered a new bamboo blind for my big-huge-entirely-too-big-for-our-kitchen window...inspired from a few different movie kitchens (It's complicated & Somethings Got to Give & The Proposal) -- then just the other day I was reading Eddie Ross' blog and came across this photo, I was sold! So I hopped on here this morning and ordered me up a $112.00 special order blind for my big-huge-entirely-too big window {as seen below} - just so you know it measures 70"x40" - told you it was HoooGe! ::



:: I'm loving my new do, it was time for a change {thinking about 2011, hint hint} and thus thought I would overhaul my lovely locks and change it up for the New Year. Here is the before - sorry for the crappy phone photo ::



:: And here is the after - I love it, I love my hair stylist too. She does a great job of listening to what I want and I don't think she has ever let me down and I've been having my hair done by her & her hubby since I was 12. That's a stinkin' good track record! ::



:: Lastly, I'm loving my Citrine earrings I received from Mr. L for Christmas. They are beautiful and quite different to anything else I have. I also love that they are my birthstone and mean hope, cheerfulness, fidelity, youth and health - what great meaning! ::



:: Hope all you lovelies are having a great weekend, we were out last night with out the babes {thanks Aunty L & Uncle J for taking them for us} celebrating a families going away to another country for missions - we had a fabulous time! And tonight we're going over to other friends for a nice chill night of Chinese food and to watch Wall Street - Happy Weekend Y'all! ::

:: Oh, and just a little praise report, we have dear friends who got to see their son ski down hill this last week, you can go here to read all about their story - they are lovely people and we celebrate with them as they see God's plans unfold for their family ::

:: Yesterday ::

:: Yesterday, yesterday was a bad day for me...no specific reason as to why it was. It just was. Too much schedule {this coming from the girl who loves to schedule scheduling} to my boys being at each others throats from dawn till dusk. To things needing to be back to "normal" and having no time to create "normal" - blah blah blah, you get the point ::

:: I'm generally a really positive person and thus not getting too down about anything, but yesterday I just couldn't shake this overwhelming feeling, feeling useless yet overworked and yet through that valley, I know that God is with me walking with me every step of the way ::

:: So, waking up this morning, I thought "ahhh, at least it's not yesterday" - Ha! I woke up feeling like a tonne weight was sitting on top of my head! But the party must go on, people must get dressed, beds made, snacks prepared, laundry completed...you know how it is! Finally though, my head ache is gone and I'm hoping some time alone with hubby for dinner will make me feel even better ::

:: Here's to new tomorrows and a large dose of patience ;) ::

:: Mish Mash ::

:: Life currently feels like a bit of a mish-mash; we've just started back to school - which while it feels good to be back into routine, it also means we're rushing out of the house every day. The house is in the between stages of having Christmas decor up and having it down. So currently I have no dining room table - along with taking down the Christmas decor, I like to re-decorate and re-organize. This makes the job 10x more fun, but more work too ::



:: We're also thinking of moving and thus putting our home on the market, not sure where we would move to or if we even want to move; but we are mulling it over and praying about it ::

:: We're also waiting for another snow day here in the lower mainland as of this morning they {the weather peeps, that is} said it was supposed to snow this afternoon. We have yet to see anything other than a little freezing rain. Boo! ::

:: Oh well, the boys are snuggled up in their beds still and quiet...Mr. L has fallen asleep watching some show on the discovery channel. So all is content and perfect in my world. I'm going to head to rest sooner than later too. This mornings routine came quickly and without warning, must try to do better tomorrow morning! ::

:: Blessings y'all ~ hope this year has been wonderful thus far - we're only 4 days in..it should be ;) ::

:: Back Dating ::

:: I'll be posting a few posts that I didn't have time to get up during our busy Fall 2010 -- here is the first of many about our date night to Jack Johnson and another one of Halloween - enjoy and happy 2nd day of 2011! ::

XoXo * Shawna

:: Happy New Year; 2011 ::

:: We had a fairly low-key New Year celebration, but fun non-the-less ::

:: Here is what I wore yesterday, the last day of 2010...and it's probably what I'll wear today, the first day of 2011 - Ha Ha! ::

:: This is the same top I wore last year for New Years, I'm that kind of girl...not afraid to wear something on the exact same celebration year to year. However last year I wore the top as a dress with leggings - okay too much info...blah blah blah ::



:: I am wearing my nice *new birthday riding boots from my parents...I love them, don't often love boots as much as I love these, hope they last..I'm brutal on my shoes, but I'm trying to be nicer to them ;) ::

*More on my birthday celebration(s) later on, geesh - the last three months have been a whirlwind of celebrations & work, but I'll get to it!*



:: Here are a few more official shots aka: not taken with my phone, from our little NYE celebration. We ate yummy yummy Indian food and had a few sweet treats and some delish fruit for dessert ::






:: I picked up a few movies and one of them was Australia -- neither of us had seen it, yes apparently we do live under rocks! It's been released since 2008 ~ geesh, where the heck does the time go! ::



:: At any rate it was a phenomenal movie and would love to sit down and watch it again! Thanks for celebrating with us M&L! ::



:: Today we're just hanging out this morning, enjoying watching a new movie while the boys play with their new train set. It's a gorgeous day - clear and sunny - "cold like Calgary" said Mr. L this morning. And he's right, almost too cold to even go for a brisk walk ::

:: We're off to family events later this afternoon and for the evening..We've got very little going on for the next two days. I'll be cleaning up the Christmas decor and enjoying my three boys - the perfect way to start off the new year I think! ::

:: Happy 2011, I'll be back with my resolution word for the year and some reflection on last years word - here is a link to my 2009 word too ::

:: Fetching our Tree ::

:: We had a rather long Cranberry Creek year and didn't end up finishing our years worth of sales until the 15th of december - so we didn't get our tree until the 16th ::



:: We had a GREAT time rain and all, going to Ikea to get our tree and having dinner. Paul's parents were able to join us which made it extra special ::



:: Our family with the beautiful tree ::



:: I got the boys to stand still for one moment, the moment after they both ran through a 1 foot deep puddle...if you can't tell from their water-logged pant legs ::



:: Everyone watching the boys steer the tree out to the van ::



:: Great night full of the traditions that make up our family - including the $2.99 meatball dinner at Ikea! ::

:: 2010 Holiday House Tour ::

:: Christmas may barely be over, but boy am I itching to clear out the clutter, and take down all the beautiful decor we put up just to celebrate Jesus' birth ::

:: So I thought that before I remove it I should post about it - just for memories sake ;) ::

Shawna's Holiday Home Tour 2010

:: The wreath on my front door is one I made from a tutorial you can find here. It cost me a whole whopping $3 - totally love it and hope it lasts until next year! ::



:: We have two different trees, one in our Living Room {front room - just off of our entry way} that is fake and this year, my friend Lisa found this awesome mesh at one of our local Christmas shops, and so I got white, other than the fact that I LOVE white, it was also on for more of a deal than the metallic mesh. I thought it would be beautiful as just a white and silver tree, and of course it would have. But once we got putting on the decor, the boys needed to have some colour - so we chose red, and I love how it turned out! ::

:: We get the boys a new ornament every year, and this is what we chose this year ::


:: My aunt passed down some of her old Christmas ornaments, and this little birdie along with two others found a home on my metal tray ::




:: This was the very first Christmas wreath I put up this year, it was a snowy day in November that we had, I've borrowed this lovely white and green holly wreath from my Marm...and I think it looks perfect in my kitchen window ::

:: A few of our most very favorite Christmas candies ::

:: I picked up some white button mums along with some white tulips to place around the house in canning jars and loved how they turned out ::

:: Lastly, here is our real tree in our family room. It's a perfect little tree from Ikea - it was the perfect little tree for us. All decked out in white and silver along with our beautiful tree skirt and stockings, this is definitely my most favorite room during the holidays ::

:: Beyond the decorations, our home was filled with a joyous celebration for Christmas ~ hope yours was too! ::