: What I LOVE Wednesday :

Here are just a few {random, very random} things I am loving these days! Really anything to keep my mind off the fact that I'm moving in two days!

I found this site {if you don't already know I have a slight obsession with Royals...not just the British ones, all of them!}. There is a new website called theroyalpost.com that gives me just the perfect amount of "royalness" Ha Ha!

{click on photos for links}

My girlfriend commented on my scarf in the last picture in my last post, I love it too! I got my scarf from Army & Navy {a local all sorts of random items store} for $5.99 --- I guess seeing all the Missoni for Target all over the place got me into the the colour/pattern mix...however sadly I didn't make it to a Target store or grab them online prior to the Missoni being sold out! So my A&N scarf will have to do ;)
As we are moving in the next few days, I am itching to get my hands on all things FALL!!! I don't know about you but I'm all for getting deep into Fall, bring on the pumpkins! I was reminded of how much I can't wait for this when I went over to Dear Lillie's blog, she has such a great eye for decorating and absolutely adorable daughters to boot! Check it out a free canvas {just pay shipping (aprox. $12)} I ordered one last year for Mr. L and put it under the tree for him..it's now in his office - gonna order another one for me as I gave my free one away last year :)

I absolutely CANNOT wait for our church's women's Fall program {starting today!} -- It's going to be great! I love the God time, Girl time, time to be me; Shawna again. It's so refreshing and uplifting!

Thanks for coming by Lovelies. Hope you have a fabulous Wednesday, I personally can't believe it's already Wednesday! Seriously, where does the week go!?!?

{XoXo}

*Oh, and I almost forgot!!! Happy Anniversary My Love! 9 years ago - can you believe that!?! 9 years, wow! Love you more and more each day...

: Anniversary Celebration Weekend :

We start off our weekend by heading to the spa to have a couples massage {we had bought this massage through groupon so it was only $90 for two 60minute massages- DEAL!} - it is seriously the best investment! Melts all the stresses of life away and is such a great way to start off our weekend of celebration. Notice the no cell phone rule on the table --- ahhhhhh! So great!

After our massage made us have rubber legs, we walked around through Granville Island and enjoyed all the sights that Granville Island has to offer!

We then enjoyed dinner @ Dockside in the Granville Island hotel {had no idea there was such a hotel!} This was the view from our table! So great!

Yummy espresso&biscotti

Beautiful restaurant, check out that chandelier!

We checked into our suite, and this is what the view was...spectacular!

And at night, just as amazing!

I had put together a little gift basket for Paul. Since the weekend away is really our gift to each other we're not supposed to do "gifts" -- but this was kinda a "gift-to-you-for-me-too" type gift. It included two mini bottles of champagne, a container of macadamia nut caramels, Starbucks Anniversary blend coffee, a VW magazine & a new stainless Starbucks travel mug for Paul.

We did a whole lot of lounging around, at least we felt like we did. It's amazing how much time you actually have in a day when you don't have little ones to worry over and take care of!

We shopped our favorite shops and used up some gift cards I had been holding on to for years {like 5!} and had fun doing it! Our favorite stops when downtown are Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Urban Barn, Liberty, Mienhardt's, Anthropology & Urban Fair.

We drove through the most beautiful places of town

Had a picnic in the Stanley park while watching a game of cricket which after watching for almost 2 hours we still didn't understand it any better then before!

This is right close to where we got engaged 9.5 years ago, ahh memories!

We walked part of the seawall...and the sunshine broke through. So we stopped and enjoyed the last little bit of Summer peaking through the clouds!

Headed out to eat again for our official Anniversary dinner - We ate on the patio at Cardero's -- it was lovely as we didn't have to pay anything out of pocket cause we had a gift card..ha ha!

The next morning we headed across the bridge and walked around West Vancouver window shopping and enjoyed a Starbucks...well at least Mr. L did, mine was GROSS, I was so disgusted by it I couldn't even bother to go and get a new one {if you know how much I love my Starbucks, you know how bad it was!}

After we had shopped through West Van we headed back over the water and headed to sushi for lunch to find that our favorite sushi joint was under renovations and we couldn't go there! We were SO disappointed but thankfully there was our no.2 place to eat sushi and it was just around the corner!

We then walked down to the sea wall closest to our suite and enjoyed a nice long walk. We went back to the suite and packed up our stuff then headed back to Pottery barn to purchase something that I couldn't live with out ;) then off to Ikea to do some shopping for the new house.

After Ikea we headed back toward home, just to find out that the boys were just being put down by G&G and to not come home...really! So we headed to Tim Hortons for a bowl of chili just before we saw the movie "Contagion" -- I enjoyed the movie but since I woke up on Sunday morning with a cough it made it a little unsettling to Mr. L as I was coughing through a movie that was all about a cold/flu epidemic! Ha Ha!!!
And that's it!!! It's been a bit of a mad house around here since arriving home, I now have a full blown cold and I feel horrible!! But no rest for the weary, we have lunches&homework, packing&papers-to-sign for the new place as we're moving at the end of the week! What a crazy life we are living right now!

We are so thankful for the time we got to escape the norm and enjoy each other and the beautiful city where we first fell in love!

*Babe - Thank you for your love & devotion to me and our little family! Every year I fall more in love with who you are. God is so faithful and I am so thankful. With all my love, honor & respect, Your Gurl xo*

Ps. next year you don't have to buy me such a big gift, you really outdid yourself by buying me a new house this year ;)



~ HUGE thank you to my parents for taking care of our boys so we could get this time away, we're so thankful you survived ;) ~

: d.o.n.e :

: warning : If you don't want to hear about parenting, skip to tomorrow's post...it's much more fun ;)

* * *
Tonight, I am done, exasperated, frustrated, and exhausted! Parenting is not easy -- the past few days has been a testament to that!

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my boys with all my heart but there are times that my children's disobedience and lack of listening skills just fries my brain!

For instance Cole and I walked into a local super-mart this morning and we proceeded to the veggie isle and he took a huge bite out of a stalk of celery, I mean really a huge bite!!! Who does that!??! Apparently my child.

I say to them go to bed, I tell them the consequences of them not obeying me...they disobey, I HAVE to follow through on the consequence. Why can't they understand I don't want to discipline them and obeying makes things easier on both of us!?!

Obviously I have to follow through, cause Lord have MERCY if I need to do this type of discipline for much longer I might check myself into the looney bin!

Ugh.

Oh well, I'm sure this will pass and life will continue on and things will be great...tonight is just not that night!

* * *

Thanks for listening {or ahem, reading} -- I hope your day had more sunshine than mine and that if it didn't, that we all remember tomorrow is a NEW day {thank the LORD!}

{XoXo}

: Cole's 1st Day :

Cole's first day of preschool {4 year old preschool} was on Friday. He was SO excited but it had been a long week of no school for this little guy and patience isn't exactly my little 3.5 year olds forte!

Here he is with his "vinder" -- and his photo on the front...this was a HUGE deal as big brother had a vinder last year and he was mortified that he'd have to wait a whole year to get a vinder!

I gave him a sign to hold, this is how it went:

All ready to go, snack in tow, water bottle in holster and vinder in hand, can you tell what his favorite colour is?

Here is big brother with little brother both holding their appropriate signs {thanks to pinterest for the idea!}

Here he is all ready to go, into class -- he knew the drill from last year, just this year he's at school for an extra morning!

Finally one shot of them both getting their signs right ;)

Cole has had a fairly rough Summer adjusting to not being at our old house, he cries often about it and doesn't quite get that we're going to make the new house our home just like our last house was...it's sweet that he loved our old house so much but this momma is ready for him to adjust to the new house and get used to his school schedule!

It's cooler today so I'm going to make up some healthy cookie bars, yogurt scones and pizza buns so we can have some easy go to lunch bag snacks!

For those who asked in my Friday post, we'll be moving on the 23 of this month. Exactly a month from the date of our offer being accepted! It's been a crazy few weeks since all that, but it feels good to look forward to moving ahead and getting settled into our new little home!

Have a great Monday lovelies! Hope it's a great one!

Ps. I edited this to add all the recipes I'm using today...maybe you'll make some too!

{XoXo}

: Black|White :

Today is Sunday
Today is 10 years ago that the fateful day in NYC happened
I received this in my inbox today
It simply states the way I feel

I shed many tears today, from being elated that a little boy was returned to his family, to having a great time of worship and celebration at church, to being moved by all the memorial shows for 9.11.

Not sure why 9.11 moves me so, but I had to step out of the room today while we were watching the memorials, it makes me shake all over. Mr. L says he must be desensitized because it moves me so much more than him. Maybe I'm just super sensitive; either way, where I was and what I lived that day was real and I will never forget.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and were able to love on the ones you touch daily. I know I did and it proved to be therapy for my soul.

{XoXo}