"Will you follow me one last time?" - Thorin

So, I saw The Battle Of The Five Armies on Saturday.....Good lord I want to go again and again and again. It was amazing. I loved it. I actually found myself chewing on my finger nails a bunch because of how intense it was. Or literally on the edge of my seat. Can you believe I actually teared up at the end? Good lord haha. It's just so sad that those movies are over now. I wish they could keep making more and more. I remember being about 10 or 11 when the first movie came to VHS and my dad rented it for us from Joysticks and Paddles. I remember my mom making me look away when the orcs were on the screen haha. But I was hooked. I remember not understanding why my dad couldn't just go and rent the second one. How was it fair I had to wait a WHOLE YEAR for the Two Towers?!
Ryan and I watched the two towers yesterday and it was so cool re-watching it after having seen the whole The Hobbit series. How they talk about all the stuff that happened and what not. Tonight were watching Return of the King :D 

On Sunday I went with Ryan to my work Christmas brunch. IT WAS DELICIOUS. I ate waaaay too much food but I couldn't help it haha. My boss got me stuff from David's Tea. I used the mug this morning on my drive in from Fort Langley and I quite like it :) We walked around the town and did some shopping at the book store and the antique malls. Did I mention I love where I live?!

This morning was a busy one. I went with my mom to two EE's and got some groceries. Then went to Tisol for the pet's Christmas presents (Yes, I buy my pets Christmas presents). Then after work I have to drive to the mall (good lord wish me luck) and buy my dad's christmas gift and I am DONE. 
Work tomorrow and then the 10th annual cookie day with my lovely ladies <3 

Also....Look at these cute little shits. Look at them! I love my boys :) <3 

FRIDAY!

WooooOoooOOOooooOOOooooo! Today is Friday. And this weekend has many awesome things planned. Then, back to work for Monday and Tuesday and DONE for 2014. I am so excited. I plan to spend most of my days off in my pajamas. Baking, watching moves, drinking tea. It's going to be glorious. 

Yesterday was a super busy day but my uncle took us all out for dinner afterwards which was really nice. It's been a long time since we've all been together like that.


Some pictures from the past week I felt like sharing :) ....

 Our third xmas tree together :) <3

 Fort Langley/Glenn Valley - I love you <3

opposite of feeling down

Feeling happy happy happy! 

Less than 10 days till Christmas

Less than 7 days till holidays and the 10th annual cookie day

Big day planned tomorrow and I get to see my uncle

Going to see the hobbit this weekend with my family! SO EXCITED. I keep seeing trailers on tv and I get goosebumps everytime. So sad it's the final movie!

'How To Ruin Your Life' By: Bianca Sparacino

 I didn't copy and paste all of it, just the parts that really stood out to me. If you have some time, read this article. I cried while reading most of it. This is brilliant stuff and pretty much my philosophy on life.

- - - - - - - -

We choose a program right out of high school because the proper thing to do is to go straight to University. We choose a job right out of University, even if we didn’t love our program, because we just invested time into it. We go to that job every morning because we feel the need to support ourselves abundantly. We take the next step, and the next step, and the next step, thinking that we are fulfilling some checklist for life, and one day we wake up depressed. We wake up stressed out. We feel pressured and don’t know why. That is how you ruin your life. 

You ruin your life by choosing the wrong person. What is it with our need to fast-track relationships? Why are we so enamored with the idea of first becoming somebody’s rather than somebodies? Trust me when I say that a love bred out of convenience, a love that blossoms from the need to sleep beside someone, a love that caters to our need for attention rather than passion, is a love that will not inspire you at 6am when you roll over and embrace it. “But I don’t want to be alone,” we often exclaim. Be alone. Eat alone, take yourself on dates, sleep alone. In the midst of this you will learn about yourself. You will grow, you will figure out what inspires you, you will curate your own dreams, your own beliefs, your own stunning clarity, and when you do meet the person who makes your cells dance, you will be sure of it, because you are sure of yourself. Wait for it. Please, I urge you to wait for it, to fight for it, to make an effort for it if you have already found it, because it is the most beautiful thing your heart will experience. 

 If you allow for every negative event in your life to outline how you view yourself, you will view the world around you negatively.

You ruin your life when you compare yourself to others. The amount of Instagram followers you have does not decrease or increase your value. The amount of money in your bank account will not influence your compassion, your intelligence, or your happiness. The person who has two times more possessions than you does not have double the bliss, or double the merit. We get caught up in what our friends are liking, who our significant others are following, and at the end of the day this not only ruins our lives, but it also ruins us. It creates within us this need to feel important, and in many cases we often put others down to achieve that.  

There is something breathtakingly beautiful in the moments of smaller magic that occur when you strip down and are honest with those who are important to you. Let that girl know that she inspires you. Tell your mother you love her in front of your friends. Express, express, express. Open yourself up, do not harden yourself to the world, and be bold in who, and how, you love. There is courage in that. 

 You ruin your life by tolerating it. At the end of the day you should be excited to be alive. When you settle for anything less than what you innately desire, you destroy the possibility that lives inside of you, and in that way you cheat both yourself and the world of your potential. The next Michelangelo could be sitting behind a Macbook right now writing an invoice for paperclips, because it pays the bills, or because it is comfortable, or because he can tolerate it. Do not let this happen to you. Do not ruin your life this way. Life and work, and life and love, are not irrespective of each other. They are intrinsically linked. We have to strive to do extraordinary work, we have to strive to find extraordinary love. Only then will we tap into an extraordinarily blissful life.

thinking:pondering:wondering

what a wonderful world that would be...

It's unhealthy -

24 days!!

Hello December! 

Over the weekend I finally got to get excited for Christmas! I've been so damn busy lately that I just haven't had the time to focus on anything. So on Friday I went shopping, spent too much money on Christmas gifts, went home, wrapped them, and Ryan and I got out the Christmas decorations and starting decorating! We plan to go get our tree this Wednesday to make sure it's all set up for the weekend as we want to have my parents over for dinner. On Sunday I went with my brother and mom to IKEA and again, spent too much money. It was a nice day tho. After IKEA we had lunch together and watched an episode of Sherlock together.
I arrived back at the apartment and put together my picture I had got from IKEA and now our tiny little entrance looks so cute!


Some pictures from the past few days..

* Change your perspective - -

Some people are so boring.
I feel bad for them. 

- - Rocket Man and Stay with Me * *

So, my best friend and I went to Seattle over the weekend...
These pictures pretty much sum up our weekend : 

 Haha, no, but really, I had an AWESOME time. I'm not one who loves the city life all that much. But indulging in it every now and then is pretty cool. And Seattle was an awesome place to do it. We stopped along the way to our hotel at some outlet malls and I spent too much money. But we found some awesome deals and some awesome items. We stopped at the Lululemon outlet which after I found three awesome things which were all on sale, I made myself leave as I knew I would blow my budget in that one store alone. Christina got some cool Dr.Who stuff and I got some Sherlock stuff!! Made me super happy.
We arrived at the hotel and it was beautiful. Super old style which I loved. We walked around town for a bit and found a Barnes and Noble! It was so cool. I love book stores and this is now definitely one of my favourites. I even bought my first book on London to slowly prepare for my trip! We had dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant which I can't remember the name of but the food was delicious. Maybe it was because I was starving by the time we ate but either way I enjoyed every bite.
We got back to the hotel and relaxed for a few minutes as we were both SUPER stuffed. We finally decided to go downstairs to the Hotel bar and order a drink. Well....Let's just say it was MOST DEFINITELY a drink. One was enough haha. So after we finished we went back upstairs and eventually passed out.
The next morning we woke up to a horrible downpour of rain. But we pretty much said "F*** it" and got dressed and checked out of the hotel and went down to pike place market. We found the original starbucks and got a drink and then a cinnamon bun and sat in a cute little cafe and waited for the market to start.
The rain had stopped by now and there was blue sky and sunshine! I must say, we were pretty lucky weather wise this trip as it was supposed to be horrible outside, but I think we had sun for 85% of it!
The market was pretty cool, we didn't buy anything but it was neat to just walk around and see some of the cool stuff.
We started our route home and stopped at Cabela's on our way! I was in love with everything in that store. I want it all. I even found Ryan a cool thing for Christmas which I'm very excited to give to him.
So, all in all, it was a great trip. I don't think Christina and I have been on a big adventure like that for far too long. It was much needed and I'm so happy we did it.

- - Mr. Brown *

Rest in peace you big old wonderful man you <3
You were one of the most loving and giving dogs that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.
I still remember the days when I would sleep over at Christina's house and you would come and keep me company and sleep by my side. Or when you would escape from your yard and wonder on over to my house and say hello to Sparky and have my mom give you a treat and then make your way back home.
Please give Sparky a kiss for me and we will see you soon XOXO
Love you to pieces

A quick catch up of days past :

Friday I went with my friend Tess to get....my next tattoo!! The one I wanted from the beginning. Sparky's paw print <3 It feels so good to have it done now. Now I feel like I'm carrying him with me always and it also resembles every other dog that has come into my life. And how dogs are such a big part of it. Geoff did a wonderful job. The way he made it look so close to his actual paw print is incredible. I gave him the picture of the next tattoo I want and he says he will draw something up for me. Tess got one as well when we were there and hers turned out beautiful to. 

This past Saturday I went to Steveston with my parents.
We shopped a little in a few our favourite shops and then had lunch at Dave's fish and chips. Then went for a walk along the water. It's been awhile since I've been back to Steveston. When my aunt died I didn't think I would be able to go back there without feeling sad the entire time. But it turned out being alright. It felt nice to be to there and have those memories come back. 

 Sunday I went fishing with Ryan and Mark. We went out to Chilliwack and fished three different spots. They were all beautiful and the water just looked great. A couple little guys and lots of bites. Made it an extra fun day. On our way out there Mark's mom facetimed all of us as she is back in England for awhile. I got to talk to her for a bit and then a nice surprise was that she was with Louise! A friend I had made at Mark and Julie's wedding. So we got to catch up!
When I've saved enough money to go to London in the next few years I hope I will get to meet up with her and her family again to say hello. They were such wonderful and welcoming people. Louise keeps pressing me to come this year or next but unfortunately my wallet would not allow that anytime soon. Fingers crossed though!

Also, the best part about the past couple weeks....I finally watched Sherlock for the first time.....

If you haven't watched it yet...watch it. I am in love with the show!! The writers are just incredible. And the acting is superb. So unfortunate to hear that they haven't even started filming for the next season and won't be until January. SO LONG TO WAIT. But I guess I can just keep re-watching the old ones. Definitely no complaints there.

Also, Have you seen this man?! If you were looking for a good reason to watch the show....This guy is definitely one of them. My future husband :)