Love, Michelle

On my way

I am on my way to Inuvik tomorrow. Off to learn about caribou. And see some friends there too I hope. And get all bundled in the many layers I am currently packing!

Pots and a pot rack

Aubrey and I are full of romance. I got him a new pot set for his birthday, and he returned my gesture with this stylish pot rack. Isn't it pretty?

The most wonderful

I had the most wonderful birthday party tonight. My friends were so generous. Gift certificates to the quilt store and the book store. Offers for lunch dates at the sushi resturant. Scrapbook and quilt magazines. It is amazing that people can know you so well when your friendship is still so new. Michelle made me a cake. Bernice brought me orange tiger lilies. Aaron and Lori brought me a beautiful plant. And Paul brought me beer :-) I have photos, but they're film, so it will take a while.

Last Year was my first year of marriage. I bought a new house. I really loved my work. I went to Tuktoyaktuk for the first time. I spent a lot of time getting organized. I rode across the Yukon North Coast by boat. I walked Padfoot many, many times. I made a few quilts. I made some wonderful new friends. I endured living in a construction site. I started a St. FX scrapbook. I visited Nova Scotia. I watched two close friends get married. I hiked in the Tombstones. I rode in the bike race. I gave away my old sewing machine. I took lots of pictures.

Today I slept in a bit. I am meeting Aubrey for lunch. Taking the afternoon off work to go to the spa. Eating sushi for supper. Renting movies to watch tonight. Talking to my friends and family. Getting ready for my party tomorrow.

Next year I hope to pay off my student loan. To spend time with Aubrey's family. To visit the North Slope again. To be at Andrea and Steve's wedding. To finish organizing my house and my office. To spend the winter skiing. To travel south. To play with Padfoot lots. To finish my wedding scrapbook. To plan a birthday trip for next year. To take lots more pictures.

We love other dogs too

Here are two other dogs that Padfoot would be buddies with, if only they could meet. Silver and Shadow at Pugwash. Pretty cute, eh?
 

Baby shower

I had a baby shower at our place on Sunday for a friend, Lori, who is due in three weeks. I had so much fun making this baby quilt! Because every baby needs a quilt. We all contributed for house cleaning for three months after the baby is born. And we made frozen meals to help out in those first few busy weeks. Practical gifts for a practical girl. The shower was fun - tons of good food and lots of laughs. Of course Marisa won the "what's in the diaper bag" game, since she's the only one with a baby and all. Padfoot was the token male at the party. He did very well and only licked one plate. LOL.

This is why I scrapbook

A few weeks ago I was working on a scrapbook project for a friend. She wanted a page with advice: what I know now that I wish I knew when I was 20. Of course, when I was 20 I was at St. FX. So to get some photos for the page, I started digging through my St. FX pictures. All of a sudden I felt very inspired to get these photos out of the box and into a scrapbook. So I started pulling and organizing and cutting and making pages.

Tonight I was trying to decide how to do the "friends" pages. I pulled all the photos of my friends and put them in piles. I thought it might work to combine all the photos of Cory, Janet and Shalon over our years at St. FX to see if that inspired me. I laid them on my table and this is what I saw. Isn't this cool? This is why I scrapbook.

Oh, and one of the pieces of advice I had for my friend in Ontario was "These friends will be with you for life. Spend time with them while you can." How true.

My favorite wedding pictures

Doesn't Janet look beautiful? It rained on and off for days before the wedding, but the day they were married was incredible. Beautiful sun. Warm weather. Just perfect.

Home is the place

"Home is the place where we've felt the most. And that can be anyplace. Or anyone. It doesn't matter how long you've lived there. It's what you'll always want to come back to."
- from The Lost Garden

If you are looking for something to read, this is a beautiful book.

More fun Baddeck pictures

 

Now that it is below zero here, and we have snow, it seems a bit funny to be posting photos from the east coast in summer! But I will keep going because I still have lots and these are so fun to share. I have also been playing around in photoshop a bit, and to be honest I'm not sure it is better after I'm done. But practice makes perfect, right? I love the picture of Ryan, Aubrey, Cory and Shalon in front of the school bus.