tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81489412731769315132024-03-05T14:40:35.316-04:00duchess diarieslessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-1385957396055716562016-06-17T15:29:00.000-03:002016-06-29T17:16:55.735-03:00Ten MonthsTen months ago my husband and I made the decision that would shape the rest of our lives.<br />
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We decided to adopt.<br />
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Many tears and much prayer and SO MUCH TALKING went into our decision. We are adopting domestically, we are hoping to adopt a pair of siblings 6 years old or younger.<br />
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Ten months have passed since we made that first phone call, throwing our names into the ring so to speak. <b>Ten months.</b> If we had been announcing a pregnancy at the same time as we announced our plans to adopt we would be holding our child now. We would have made a birth plan, picked out names, decorated a nursery, decided between cloth and disposable diapers and so much more. Most of these are things that we're not going to be able to do. Someone else is going to name our children, and they may even be out of diapers before they come home to us. And some days that makes me incredibly sad.<br />
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<b>But</b> I am going to teach my children to read, and print their names. We are going to teach them about love and about the Lord. We are going to talk to them about how they want their bedrooms decorated and create a room that reflects them and will be a haven for them. I am going to be the one cheering when they cross the stage at graduation and crying when they are walking down the aisle on their wedding day. I can already see Jonathan teaching them to ride a bike and hammer a nail. I am going to buy cute outfits and give good night kisses. We are going to take dorky family photos in matching outfits. My fridge is going to be covered in art work.<br />
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Ten months have passed, and I have no idea how much longer we'll be waiting. Things are moving forward right now, but at some point they'll pause again. <b>And I'm okay with that.</b> This is my journey, this is my path. Someday I'm going to be a mother.lessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-42172993279212772442016-06-15T14:51:00.001-03:002016-06-29T17:19:38.358-03:00Adoption (and Life!) Update<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7T1dxZGOEpkemQuI4NN1CJMHV2NNVM9XvE4w2i-Ltq5-BXF2Adj_uMBUEzfJRn5656sa0KgvWTDWiDurwAzT4TppZjAJPH21jTAf1xWXkgjZf2N3UoFDtsZPzeUn75xQzB8Y_ts5n09g/s1600/babydaniel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7T1dxZGOEpkemQuI4NN1CJMHV2NNVM9XvE4w2i-Ltq5-BXF2Adj_uMBUEzfJRn5656sa0KgvWTDWiDurwAzT4TppZjAJPH21jTAf1xWXkgjZf2N3UoFDtsZPzeUn75xQzB8Y_ts5n09g/s400/babydaniel.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J & I with our new nephew in the hospital</td></tr>
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Well, I'm alive.<br />
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And I have a new nephew. He's pretty darn cute!<br />
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I don't even think I wrote about Jonathan's brother and his wife (David and Tracey) being pregnant. Probably because when they first announced it I was pretty darn devastated. It was August, they had gotten married in July. J and I had been married six years and been trying to have a baby for five of them. It was like a punch in the gut.<br />
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But, the sort of weird thing was, that we had reached our decision to begin the adoption process and made our "we're expecting" announcement on Facebook less than two weeks before they let us know that Tracey was pregnant.<br />
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Still a punch in the gut, I can't lie. But so much easier to handle than it would have been otherwise. And, I think if we had made our decision after their announcement we would have questioned ourselves about whether or not adoption was truly the right decision for us, or if it was just a reaction to David and Tracey's news. (Anybody else see God's hand in this? We totally did!) It was tough at times, watching them prepare for the arrival of their tiny human, but it was also exciting. We were finally going to be an aunt and uncle! And so we focused on that, and we focused on preparing for our own tiny humans. And we survived. (More than survived!)<br />
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Speaking of our adoption, things are moving along more quickly than we had expected. We finished our PRIDE training course at the end of March. We were told it would likely be a <b>minimum</b> of two months (but closer to 4 or more) before we heard from a social worker about beginning our home visits. Well, we got the email last week looking to start setting up our home assessment, and our first meeting will be this coming Monday. Totally freaking out, but totally thrilled to begin the next step in the process.<br />
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And, while we wait for our own children, we're going to spend as much time as possible snuggling and spoiling our nephew!<br />
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xo, Saralessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-31300729326568906492016-01-29T19:06:00.000-04:002016-01-29T19:09:35.827-04:00Book & a Cuppa A couple weeks ago I <a href="http://nsduchess.blogspot.ca/2016/01/book-cuppa-swap.html" target="_blank">mentioned</a> that I had signed up to take part in the Book & a Cuppa swap over at <a href="http://cgswaps.com/" target="_blank">Chaotic Goddess Swaps</a>. I was pretty surprised when I got the email with my partner, I had actually been paired with another blogger from Nova Scotia. I didn't think I was the only blogger in NS by any means, but I figure there probably aren't too many of us. So to be matched up with one was pretty neat. My partner was <a href="http://aphonicsarah.ca/" target="_blank">Sarah</a> and I definitely think you should check out her blog, especially if you're a book lover.<br />
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I was <b>completely </b>spoiled with my box!<br />
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My mug was this awesome Kate Spade travel mug which will be perfect for filling with hot chocolate to take to work for the rest of the winter. (It probably is going to get used tonight simply because it's so cute even though I have no plans to travel anywhere since we're in the midst of another snow storm.) Sarah also sent a couple boxes of delicious looking hot chocolate that I can't wait to get into.<br />
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I received book one and book two of Rick Yancey's <i>The 5th Wave</i> series. I am so excited to dive into these it's not even funny!<br />
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And then, on top of two hardcover books, the adorable travel mug and the hot chocolate, Sarah also included this book for my future kids. I couldn't have asked for a better partner for this swap.<br />
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<b>Thank you Sarah!</b><br />
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<a href="http://cgswaps.com/2016/01/book-and-a-cuppa-swap-show-off/" target="_blank"><img src="http://cgswaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2016BOOKANDCUPPAButton.png" alt="Book & a Cuppa Swap at Chaotic Goddess Swaps" /></a>
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xo,<br />
Saralessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-49422292977669252612016-01-13T12:08:00.001-04:002016-01-13T12:10:53.837-04:00Snow Day Binge WatchingWe got our first real snow fall of the season last night. I think we ended up with about 17cms where I live just outside Halifax. Wednesdays are my day off so thankfully I didn't have to attempt to drive in to work. I hate driving in the snow, I had a couple bad experiences (including a 360 on the highway a couple years ago) and so now I get panicky every time I think about having to drive in the white stuff.<br />
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Somebody in my house absolutely <u>loves</u> the snow though. Our beagle, Daisy, gets so excited to run and play in it. She sticks her nose right in the snow trying to smell it and she has this cute little two foot hop she does when she's trying to get through the deeper snow. I'm kind of glad she likes it though, because if she didn't I wouldn't get out to enjoy it either. And it's really not that bad, as long as I don't have to drive anywhere!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd9VZwy7Xia1lVZ9e3Jf3zjlNqCdnmuC7wAtM5yZtY3e7dKKM3BLRbyd3QHiup-M9moxnp3mdn7gWVXcxsT9614e84Q7m70ESEFd0dRzjopjrUuEIDP5kCReKjoILRLk3vVLx3TdjeGdA/s1600/snowday01.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd9VZwy7Xia1lVZ9e3Jf3zjlNqCdnmuC7wAtM5yZtY3e7dKKM3BLRbyd3QHiup-M9moxnp3mdn7gWVXcxsT9614e84Q7m70ESEFd0dRzjopjrUuEIDP5kCReKjoILRLk3vVLx3TdjeGdA/s320/snowday01.JPG" width="238" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJwC2qaOlGePwSK1p263wqxjxUvwWTkS4IsPFFQTRvr-Lo1T-WPe1Xi96-PtEIPqRJGL6Wxlj72GAwQ0L4gOe8Bsk_qfuh83gosgPi9kLE1PUWfuMdj_HXxuY2DeJ5FGFMM4FkAy6rc7w/s1600/snowday02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJwC2qaOlGePwSK1p263wqxjxUvwWTkS4IsPFFQTRvr-Lo1T-WPe1Xi96-PtEIPqRJGL6Wxlj72GAwQ0L4gOe8Bsk_qfuh83gosgPi9kLE1PUWfuMdj_HXxuY2DeJ5FGFMM4FkAy6rc7w/s320/snowday02.JPG" width="238" /></a></div>
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If you're stuck inside today other because of snowy weather or just being under the weather (I swear I've had a never ending cold since Christmas) I do have a few TV series recommendations for you. These are shows that we've watched from start to finish and have really enjoyed for one reason or another. Here are three shows I recommend you check out the next time you're looking for something to watch.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. White Collar</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0tT2saQ9Jf5alFX4H5pAqXpRIZ8wyVEbx9eEZfMuESqL7a688WPkWZMqCav3pduXz8iJVdpqMeYSx94qKM4eBpnVKsRp4IXEW9Iadv_uAdg6Gh-y1um5IFq53dfzvF6Z0jCV-y3IinY/s1600/white-collar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0tT2saQ9Jf5alFX4H5pAqXpRIZ8wyVEbx9eEZfMuESqL7a688WPkWZMqCav3pduXz8iJVdpqMeYSx94qKM4eBpnVKsRp4IXEW9Iadv_uAdg6Gh-y1um5IFq53dfzvF6Z0jCV-y3IinY/s400/white-collar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We just finished the final season of <a href="http://www.usanetwork.com/whitecollar" target="_blank">White Collar</a> over Christmas and I completely bawled my face off during the series finale. This show is about a con-man turned CI named Neil Caffrey (Matt Bomer) and his partner at the FBI, Peter Burke (Tim Dekay). Neil helps Peter solve white collar crimes in order to keep himself out of prison. The show has a great mix of humour and action and the relationship between Neil and Peter feels very real. The supporting cast are excellent, especially Peter's wife, Elle (Tiffani Theissen) and Neil's partner-in-crime, Mozzie (Willie Garson) being my favourites. White Collar is available for streaming on Netflix.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1imlxPoeTZ9-ic-j25dGZ4p5z5KNugYFm1BbyfpFRwNcAUvvJszVUR4hVe8uBZq_oIrBUPlI6G-wzj1_vmvMEPaHqxlUwjaF0C8lR1ey21Rn3YIo0xfgLYXNe3nyEhXbaiJq7J3u8bW0/s1600/wc_finale_1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1imlxPoeTZ9-ic-j25dGZ4p5z5KNugYFm1BbyfpFRwNcAUvvJszVUR4hVe8uBZq_oIrBUPlI6G-wzj1_vmvMEPaHqxlUwjaF0C8lR1ey21Rn3YIo0xfgLYXNe3nyEhXbaiJq7J3u8bW0/s320/wc_finale_1.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">{ <a href="http://www.usanetwork.com/whitecollar" target="_blank">USA Network</a> }</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. Burn Notice</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.usanetwork.com/burnnotice" target="_blank">Burn Notice</a> is another USA Network show. (Apparently I really like their programming or something.) It follows the life of burned spy Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) as he tries to find out who was responsible for burning him and why. It's been a while since we watched this show, and we've watched several series since, but it's one that still stands out to me. It was action-packed and kept you guessing until the end. Each show had Michael helping out someone, but also gave us another piece to the puzzle of how and why he was burned. I also bawled my face off during this series finale... (I'm a crier, it's just who I am.) And again, this show has awesome supporting cast, especially Mike's spy buddy, Sam Axe (played by the one and only Bruce Campbell) and Mike's mom, Madeline Westen (Sharon Gless). Burn Notice is not currently available on Netflix, but it was in the past so hopefully it will come back. If not, I'm sure you can find it somewhere else. (Like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Burn-Notice-Complete-Jeffrey-Donovan/dp/B00ECGEGGM/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1452700118&sr=1-1&keywords=burn+notice" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">{ <a href="http://commonvee.tumblr.com/post/119331990589/rachael-and-i-have-been-watching-a-lot-of-burn" target="_blank">commonvee @ tumblr </a>}</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. Chuck</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy17zfZ3obzowhyphenhyphenhfJwUkg9wkpiE9_LA2vAv5MSgoanwNO1oIiALUbYzNl72KcNcGzlFjaKRxi6LmcXNA6JAQ_6DZdHSiWQ4Mslq4YDnr6HZ9M7AaG1LTy4ZBSLHY4_eWRw54mCsWbhZY/s1600/chuck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy17zfZ3obzowhyphenhyphenhfJwUkg9wkpiE9_LA2vAv5MSgoanwNO1oIiALUbYzNl72KcNcGzlFjaKRxi6LmcXNA6JAQ_6DZdHSiWQ4Mslq4YDnr6HZ9M7AaG1LTy4ZBSLHY4_eWRw54mCsWbhZY/s400/chuck.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.nbc.com/chuck" target="_blank">Chuck</a> is another series that we watched a while ago, but it's one I continue to recommend to my friends and family. This series is more of a comedy than the other two, but it definitely has it's share of action too. It follows the life of Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), after he downloads a computer program/database into his own head and becomes a CIA asset. Full of lots of cute, awkward moments this is another show that is really made complete by the supporting cast. Chuck's best friend Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez) and Adam Baldwin as Major John Casey are two of my favourites. Chuck is currently available on Netflix, and you should definitely watch it.<br />
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Hope this helps you out if you're looking for something new to watch. I think I'm going to spend the rest of my snow day binge watching Arrow.<br />
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xo,<br />
Sara<br />
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lessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-24960291938267894012016-01-11T15:11:00.002-04:002016-01-11T15:15:58.961-04:00An Early Christmas Present<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My husband, J, and I made the decision to adopt around the middle of August 2015. It was a decision years in the making and one that we didn't make lightly. There were a lot of late night conversations, a lot of prayer, and a lot of tears. We know that this isn't going to be an easy process, and it's definitely not going to be a quick process. There is definitely going to be a lot of waiting. (After five years of trying to conceive, I think we're pretty good at waiting, but this is a whole new situation so it's really hard to say!)</div>
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During our intake interview (a quick phone call with a social worker) the process was explained in brief. After the intake interview would be an information session. After the information session would be a 9-week training course. After the training course would be the home assessment. And then after the home assessment would be the real wait. There was no time line for how long anything would take. The social worker who completed our intake interview told me that she didn't know of anyone who had waited for more than a year to get accepted into the training course, and during our information session they explained that the seats in the course were prioritized based on certain conditions. Based on our desire to adopt two children under the age of six we figured we were in for a bit of a wait. When we were being cautiously optimistic we hoped to hear something about our course mid/late February and when we were feeling less optimistic we expected we'd be starting our course in the early spring. </div>
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A week before Christmas Eve I took a break from wrapping presents to quickly check my email and was completely shocked to find an email from community services inviting us to a training course. I actually couldn't even open the email - I handed my phone to J and told him to read it first. We were invited to a course beginning January 11th. </div>
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<b>That's today. </b></div>
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We're attending our first session tonight, I'm scared and excited and a lot of other emotions that I don't even have names for yet. I'm looking forward to connecting with other families in our area who are in the same phase of this journey and I'm looking forward learning more about this process and about what to expect as our journey continues. But I know everything isn't going to be easy to hear, I know there are going to be heart breaking stories and scary stories shared in this course. And while I can't claim to be "excited" about that part, I know that it's necessary and so so so important to know as much as possible.<br />
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This journey is like nothing I've ever experienced, but I love knowing we're a little bit closer to bringing our children home.<br />
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xo,<br />
Sara
lessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-22502157588891687362016-01-10T15:43:00.002-04:002016-01-10T15:43:59.423-04:00Book & a Cuppa SwapI am a reader. Ever since I was little, I've loved reading. I love curling up with a good book and spending hours losing myself in it. There's really nothing better. And it doesn't matter to me if it's a paper book or my Kobo, I just <u>love</u> a good story. That's why I'm so excited about the <a href="http://cgswaps.com/2016/01/book-and-a-cuppa-swap-sign-ups/" target="_blank">swap</a> that I just signed up for!
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<a href="http://cgswaps.com/2016/01/book-and-a-cuppa-swap-sign-ups/" target="_blank"><img a="" and="" book="" cuppa="" src="http://i2.wp.com/cgswaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2016BOOKANDCUPPAButton.png" goddess="" height="320" swap="" swaps="" title="”Chaotic" width="320" /></a>
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I love swaps in general, but with this one you're exchanging a mug and a book with another blogger. I'm excited about shopping for my partner, and I'm excited to see what I receive.<br />
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Signing up actually got me to start thinking about books I might want to read and I realized I'm sort of out of the loop. I spent probably a good hour between Goodreads and Amazon looking up books that looked interesting and adding them to my to-read list.<br />
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If you think this sounds like fun, you need to act fast. Tomorrow is the last day to <a href="http://cgswaps.com/2016/01/book-and-a-cuppa-swap-sign-ups/" target="_blank">sign up</a>!<br />
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Oh, and if you have any must-read books to recommend I'm all ears. :-)<br />
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xo,<br />
Sara
lessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-84903220982582206992016-01-08T09:53:00.000-04:002016-01-08T09:53:08.566-04:00Phone Photo Dump: Dec. 31 - Jan. 6<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Growing up I was always the one with my camera out, snapping away. Didn't matter where we were or what we were doing, I always had my camera. My friends used to call me The Paparazzi and J's uncle used to call me Flash. I got away from taking pictures the past few years, but since I upgraded my Blackberry for an iPhone I've been snapping away again, only now all my pictures are on my phone.<br />
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One of my favourite parts of blogging is seeing a little bit of other blogger's lives. I figure by sharing the photos from my week (or at least a handful of them) I can share a little piece of my life more easily. These aren't the only pictures I took this week, but they're definitely some of my favourites.<br />
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<b>1 & 2</b> were taken New Year's Eve. We decided to use my new selfie stick to try and take a "family" picture. Daisy (our beagle) and Sydney (our cat) weren't particularly cooperative. Daisy doesn't usually get that close to Sydney, we think she's actually a little afraid of her.<br />
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<b>3 & 4</b> are what most of the pictures I take every week look like. Daisy likes to sleep, and she's pretty adorable when she's all curled up on the couch with us. Every time I take a picture of her like this J laughs and makes a comment about how I must already have enough pictures of Daisy sleeping. But can there ever really be too many pictures of an adorable beagle flaked out?<br />
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<b>5</b> isn't exactly a picture obviously, it's a text message I took a screen shot of. It's from one of my staff. I know you can't read it but he basically thanked me for being a lovely person to work for. Most of my staff are university students and I always try to be accommodating to their changing availabilities and flexible with time-off and shift-switch requests. Dorky, I know, but it's nice to know they appreciate it. (I took the screen shot to text to my husband because I was that excited. DORK.)<br />
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<b>6 - 9</b> were taken on New Year's Day at my parents' place. We had dinner there with my brother and his fiance. Two of the cats (the boys) stayed pretty close to dad while he was cutting the ham. My brother brought his BB8 over to show off, and Maggie (mom and dad's third cat) wasn't quite sure what to make of it. My brother was also in charge of dessert, he and his fiance worked together and made a delicious carrot cake from scratch. He enjoys the baking and she enjoys the decorating so they're a good match.<br />
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<b>11 - 13</b> were taken on my father-in-law's 60th birthday on Sunday. 11 & 12 were taken at the church (he's our pastor) during the party we threw for him and 13 is of him opening his new iPad from my mother-in-law and all his kids. (J is one of six kids so if they all go in together getting big ticket gifts is do-able.)<br />
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<b>14</b> is probably my favourite picture from the week. Daisy is totally a daddy's girl - she loves getting as close to J as she possibly can!<br />
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Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend!<br />
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xo,<br />
Saralessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-27936019214815695452016-01-07T14:54:00.001-04:002016-01-07T14:54:30.586-04:00Monthly Goals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I love the idea of setting goals each month, but I've never been super great at actually achieving them. I'm going to try and take it a little easy on myself this year, and only set three goals each month. One will be a blog goal and two will be goals that relate to one of my <a href="http://nsduchess.blogspot.ca/2016/01/hello-2016-my-resolutions.html" target="_blank">2016 resolutions</a>. I'm cautiously optimistic that tying my monthly goals to my resolutions will make me more inclined to work on them. And hopefully by the end of this year I won't be writing a post and how (once again) I sucked at keeping my new year's resolutions. </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">January Goals</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">1. Try out at least three new recipes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">(One using the veggie spiralizer I got for Christmas.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">2. Completely organize and de-clutter <u>at least</u> one </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">of the </span><span style="font-size: large;">following rooms: </span><span style="font-size: large;">office, </span><span style="font-size: large;">laundry room, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">rec room, </span><span style="font-size: large;">master bedroom, spare bedroom. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">3. Blog at least 10 times. </span></div>
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Pretty straightforward and hopefully pretty achievable. I'd like to get more than one room cleaned and organized but at the same time I want to be thorough so I think I'll aim for one a month to start, I'd also like to blog at least three times a week, but I also don't want to be posting just to post. Plus, I think I'll be more motivated next month if I achieve all my goals this month. I'll try to gradually make them a little more work, but this is as tough as it's going to get for now.</div>
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Wish me luck!</div>
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xo,</div>
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Sara</div>
lessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-34937897398879911552016-01-04T09:58:00.000-04:002016-01-04T09:58:02.244-04:00Hello 2016! (My Resolutions)While I was getting ready to write this entry, I decided to look back and see if I had blogged about my new year's resolutions last year. <a href="http://nsduchess.blogspot.ca/2015/01/more-my-2015-resolutions.html" target="_blank">I did</a>. And they were great. No, really. Completely in line with what I had planned for this year, but written much better. Yay last-year me! ;-)<br />
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But at the same time, it's not really a "yay" moment. Because if those were my resolutions last year, why are they my resolutions again this year? Apparently it's because I suck at keeping my new year's resolutions.<br />
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I thought about calling them something different. About doing a whole post on the difference between resolutions and goals. And then making goals instead of resolutions because maybe resolutions are just too much pressure. But that's a little ridiculous.<br />
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So, here are my resolutions for <strike>2015</strike>. I mean 2016!<br />
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<b>1) Be healthier</b><br />
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<li>I want to eat better. I need to cook more meals at home, and I need to try to use healthier ingredients.</li>
<li>I want to drink more water. And not just drink more water, but less diet coke (sob) and less energy drinks. </li>
<li>I want to move more. One ringette game a week does not do it. When the time comes I want to be able to chase my kids and play games with them without feeling like I'm going to pass out. </li>
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<b>2) Be organized</b></div>
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<li>I want to do planning. I want to have meal plans and I want to have a plan for this space. At work I am a super planner, everything figured out down to the last detail, but at home I'm pretty much completely disorganized.</li>
<li>I want to keep my house clean & organized. If company were to show up unexpectedly I would be mortified. We're not dirty people or anything, but things are cluttered and things rarely go back where they belong when we're done with them. (True confession time, we basically live out of laundry baskets instead of putting our clean clothes in our drawers. <u>So bad</u>.)</li>
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<b>3) Be disconnected</b></div>
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<li>I want to step away from my phone more. I want to step away from the TV more. I want to step away from social media more. (That last one might seem odd considering I'm also wanting to blog more, but I waste so much time being unproductive when I'm online. I could spend half the amount of time and still get posts done and leave comments.) </li>
<li>I want to read more, and I want to "wife" more. I want to spend quality time with my husband. I want to play games, I want to chat, I want to go for walks.</li>
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I guess my 2016 resolutions aren't exactly the same as my 2015 resolutions, but they're definitely close. Here's hoping I do a better job with them this year!</div>
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Do you make resolutions? Do you stick to them or do you find yourself making the same ones every year? (Or is that just me?)</div>
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Happy New Year!</div>
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xo,</div>
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Sara</div>
lessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-86594695320947276712016-01-02T20:53:00.000-04:002016-01-02T20:54:49.511-04:00Trying Again<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I have decided to try this whole blog thing again. I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure it will stick, but here we are. </div>
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I'm going to attempt to be organized, I've pinned some blog planner printables and I already have some ideas for posts. I like having a space to share things, and I think as we get further into our adoption journey I'm definitely going to want to have a space to share my feelings. I'm hoping that in the coming months you'll see this space filled not only with updates on our adoption journey but with book reviews, recipe reviews, the odd DIY project, and with a spattering of my random thoughts thrown in.</div>
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Welcome to Duchess Diaries - here we go! </div>
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xo,</div>
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Sara</div>
<br />lessons-in-patiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17945405518313976234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148941273176931513.post-51782618522496903962015-08-31T11:28:00.000-03:002015-08-31T11:28:50.291-03:00Camp WeekendWhen J was a kid his church did family camp every year. For the past several years they haven't been able to do it, but God worked it all out this year and we were able to go. I don't think it was quite the way J remembered it, but it was nice to get out of the city and spend some time away from the world.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTvqAH2vKxmWkkY4nA2uU38zIe5AzKRT_JxV32l03_yUPhkI1LE37NGXRJ21uFya7ByZDcZTmZbW-r9KytIy0GKAw1xyQ-ejPRvph3M9aJMBFG5xeAGtJFVV9eyDX91sT1W_IIPRzQBY/s1600/camp14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTvqAH2vKxmWkkY4nA2uU38zIe5AzKRT_JxV32l03_yUPhkI1LE37NGXRJ21uFya7ByZDcZTmZbW-r9KytIy0GKAw1xyQ-ejPRvph3M9aJMBFG5xeAGtJFVV9eyDX91sT1W_IIPRzQBY/s1600/camp14.JPG" /></a></div>
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The location of the camp was perfect. It was less than an hour away from home, but it felt like you were so much further away from the city. The cabins and grounds were clean and well-maintained. We certainly didn't spend the weekend at a luxury resort, but we were comfortable and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. </div>
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One of the neat things at the camp was the human fooseball. We had a ton of fun!</div>
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All of our usual doggy sitters were at camp with us. So after much debate we decided to take Daisy with us. She had a ball! She made new friends, and she certainly didn't lack for attention.</div>
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We spent a couple peaceful hours outside relaxing Saturday afternoon while J's uncle and cousin played and sang. </div>
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Saturday night we had a devotion around the campfire and then roasted hot dogs and made s'mores. </div>
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Sunday morning we were able to have our church service outside. I was worried about Daisy distracting everyone but she curled up on her blanket and slept through the entire thing. (Apparently she was tired from being up late at the fire the night before.)</div>
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The end of camp was a little bittersweet as J's youngest brother, Joseph, headed back to school in Florida early this morning. We won't see him now for about 16 months. We've already started filling a piggy bank though for a trip to Florida. He graduates in May 2017 and we're hoping to be there. </div>
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I am covered in fly bites and have a ton of laundry, but I wouldn't have changed a thing about this weekend. I am so grateful to belong to a church that is full of members who enjoy spending time together both in and outside the church building. </div>
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Hope you had a great weekend!</div>
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<i>Linking up with: <a href="http://www.herheartlandsoul.com/weekend-snapshots-25/" target="_blank">Her Heartland Soul</a>, and <a href="http://www.lifeofmeg.com/" target="_blank">Life of Meg</a>.</i></div>
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Back in early June my husband and I traveled to Washington, DC. The main purpose of our trip was my sister-in-law's wedding in West Virginia, but since we had never traveled together (in almost 6 years of marriage) we decided to extend our trip and be tourists for a few days. Well before we left we had decided what we were going to do with our three days as tourists: see the sights of DC, visit the Smithsonian Zoo, and spend a day at Six Flags America.<br />
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Six Flags was a super fun experience. I hadn't been to a real amusement park since I was a kid, and J had never been to one. (The closest thing we have in Nova Scotia is <a href="http://upperclements.com/en/home/upper-clements" target="_blank">Upper Clements Park</a> and it doesn't even compare to Six Flags.) We went in the middle of the week so there weren't any crowds. We didn't have to stand in line for any of the rides. We rode everything at least once and rode our favourite roller coasters a couple times.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So hot & sweaty, but having so much fun!</td></tr>
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We got a discount on our park tickets by buying them at the hotel before we left. It wasn't a huge discount, but we saved $20 US. (The exchange right wasn't quite as horrible then, but it was still pretty bad!) We ended up using our "savings" to buy refillable sports bottles. They were a bit pricey but I don't regret the purchase at all. It was so hot and all the concessions were really expensive so I don't think we would have kept ourselves properly hydrated if we hadn't bought them.<br />
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I was a little nervous about heading to the park after reading some of the reviews online, but our day at Six Flags was probably my favourite. It even beat the zoo and I loved the zoo! It was a very experience for us, the weather was fantastic, and the lack of line ups was so unexpected that we really felt like we had lucked in. Watching J's face on his first real roller coaster was something I'll never forget either!<br />
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On Thursday we announced to Facebook that we had started our adoption journey. It was something <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibrtIFew962TLpnD7WvrFQQmBYp_YiE_5wRyAHVx6r5ttMcNLfXNQ0Jj30KSDBSieezfVFg9sgAd2wUpQA0W7JIl1pAB6o5vG18SJB5vskkYcx2jWyZKinLGpm8uE6o6Mz5Ayvyyc2_c/s1600/fbannounce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibrtIFew962TLpnD7WvrFQQmBYp_YiE_5wRyAHVx6r5ttMcNLfXNQ0Jj30KSDBSieezfVFg9sgAd2wUpQA0W7JIl1pAB6o5vG18SJB5vskkYcx2jWyZKinLGpm8uE6o6Mz5Ayvyyc2_c/s320/fbannounce.jpg" width="320" /></a>we debated for a while. We are so so so early in the process that it felt a little like announcing a pregnancy before the end of the first trimester. And we have no idea how long the process could take. There is a very real possibility (and kind of a frightening one) that it could be six years before we have our child. However, we are so excited and I am a colossal over-sharer, so we went for it.<br />
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And we were blown away.<br />
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I've never posted anything that ended up with over 100 likes. And the comments were so unbelievably sweet and supportive. And they came from people I hadn't talked to in years, and people J has never even met. We also learned that an old friend of J's is in the process of adopting internationally. The experiences that led her and her husband to adopt are very similar to ours so we are looking forward to getting together with them in the near future. My staff, my co-workers, and especially my boss are so 100% behind us and I'm pretty sure I can already feel the prayers from our church family.<br />
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It is going to be a long, bumpy road and I know that. There are going to be mountains, there are going to valleys and there are going to be prairies when we feel like nothing is changing at all. I can't say that I'm ready for all that - I am impatient and and I am emotional - but all of the support is going to make it so much easier to bear.<br />
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<a href="http://www.embergrey.com/p/grateful-heart-monday-linkup.html" title="Grateful Heart w/ Ember Grey"><img alt="Grateful Heart w/ Ember Grey" src="http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad295/embergrey/Jan2015GHMButtontransbkg_zps55af070d.png" style="border: none;" /></a></div>
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Back in June my husband and I traveled to Washington, DC. His sister Rachel was getting married in West Virginia so we thought we'd spend a few days in DC before the wedding. Months before we left we had basically decided how we were going to spend our three days as tourists: seeing the sights of DC, the Smithsonian Zoo, and Six Flags America. For our first adventure we decided on the zoo.<br />
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After talking to the staff at the hotel and people we knew who had traveled to DC we decided to take the Metro into the city. It was a little intimidating. I'm not from a "small town" by any means but the population of DC is pretty much double the population of Halifax so our public transportation system is pretty tiny in comparison. We were really impressed by how easy it was to take the Metro - it was actually probably less complicated than taking the bus here. We parked our rental car at the station, boarded a train for downtown and less than an hour later we arrived at the zoo.<br />
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I had a fantastic time roaming around the zoo and visit all the animals. J struggled a bit since he's still recovering from his <a href="http://nsduchess.blogspot.ca/2015/03/grateful.html" target="_blank">broken leg</a> but he was a really good sport!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As soon as we started making our plans for our trip I started talking about the<br /> "giant baby pandas" so of course I posed with the sign. :-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speaking of giant pandas!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The one picture I absolutely wasn't leaving the zoo without. :-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is an American Beaver, and they are much small than their Canadian counterparts. <br />There was a zoo volunteer by his enclosure when we got there and we mentioned being Canadian.<br />She seemed very surprised when we told her we don't see beavers every day back home... </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And of course, a selfie!</td></tr>
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We definitely enjoyed our visit to the Smithsonian National Zoo. The park was clean and the staff were friendly, If you're ever in DC it's definitely something I recommend checking out. (Especially since it's free!)<br />
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I think it's fair to say that I'm going to be talking a fair bit about our adoption journey in this space. Where before my blog was a jumble of all kinds of things, I think it's probably going to be a lot about this new chapter in our lives. (And I'm probably going to blog more regularly, at least during the times there is something going on!)<br />
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J and I talked a lot about whether or not I would use this space to talk about our adoption journey. The final verdict was yes (obviously) but I will only be talking about <u>our journey</u>. I think Emily at <a href="http://www.embergrey.com/" target="_blank">ember grey</a> said it best, I don't want to share a story that isn't mine to share. I will talk about how we got where we got, and I will talk about the process (in part because I found it extremely hard to find blogs/resources for Canadians adopting within Canada and in part because I have a feeling there are going to be times I just need to do that!), but our child will have their own story and how they share it ~ or don't share it ~ with the world will be their choice. <br />
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Please don't think that the only thing I'm ever going to talk about is our adoption journey though! Once I get my blogging groove back I am hoping to also continue sharing book reviews, recipe reviews, and bits and pieces of my life and experiences. This is still my space, and I am still hoping to grow it.<br />
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My life changed today.<br />
<br />
Or maybe it was yesterday.<br />
<br />
Yesterday we made the decision, today we made the phone call.<br />
<br />
My husband and I have made the decision to adopt.<br />
<br />
And when I say "we made the decision," what I really mean is that we've spent a lot of time in prayer and in discussion and we've come to the realization that we are being led to adopt.<br />
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And it feels amazing.<br />
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Other than our parents we haven't really told anyone yet. For now it's just us, until we know we're approved. (If I can keep the excitement to myself!)<br />
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This afternoon I called the Nova Scotia adoption line. I spoke to a kind woman who took our names and contact information. She gave me the basics and I was told we'll be contacted within 10 business days.<br />
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The waiting has begun.<br />
<br />
I hung up the phone and cried.<br />
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I am scared.<br />
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And I am excited.<br />
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My life changed today.<br />
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J and I just got back from 8 days in the US. J's sister Rachel was getting married in West Virginia and we decided to use the wedding as an excuse to actually go away. The town Rachel was getting married in was less than 2 hours from Washington, DC so we thought we'd spend the first couple days of our vacation being tourists before things switched to wedding mode.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-11-_WdiE4rPSEIb9K9O5HT32Y0AcLgaPI9kBqn_fWmb3gVVpv3YqrsbhojuX2SlDaBzyotSFqh0OKZoJsrOfxoXYOoXZH7-DP_JP2WQr-kWmkMMB_AJhC8BAl22u3aZo5UJtpTnOAA/s1600/blog01.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-11-_WdiE4rPSEIb9K9O5HT32Y0AcLgaPI9kBqn_fWmb3gVVpv3YqrsbhojuX2SlDaBzyotSFqh0OKZoJsrOfxoXYOoXZH7-DP_JP2WQr-kWmkMMB_AJhC8BAl22u3aZo5UJtpTnOAA/s1600/blog01.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our flight from Halifax to Philadelphia was J's first time on a plane.</td></tr>
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Getting from the airport to the hotel ended up being our first challenge. We had borrowed a GPS to use only it hadn't been completely updated with the area we were travelling. (My dad felt awful!) J talked to the guy at Budget about renting one, but he suggested we head to Walmart and just grab a cheap one to save some money. We got directions from two different people but ended up hopelessly lost before finding the Walmart. To make matters worse, it was dark and it started raining. Not just a little rain, but torrential rain with thunder and lightning. It was super scary.<br />
<br />
We eventually made our way to a gas station where J ran in to try to get directions. The clerk at the gas station didn't speak strong english, but we headed in the direction he pointed. We ended up stopping for directions again at a Starbucks. We found a shopping centre and the first store we came across was Best Buy. It was getting late, so rather than try to find the Walmart we just ran in there hoping they'd have something cheap. The staff there were wonderful, but we definitely ended up paying more for a GPS than we planned. At that point we just wanted to find the hotel though so we didn't care.<br />
<br />
By the time we got to the hotel we had been on the go for about 11 hours. Luckily, the staff at the hotel (the <a href="http://www.metropointshotel.com/" target="_blank">Metro Points</a> in New Carrollton, Maryland) were awesome. They were friendly and helpful and we were checked in and on our way to our room in no time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLiqRPinKZlthproR6AnipGVovaWvY3SIdMnLwxZETCarW_doNcV9N2O4glqowXQqP7b5IfwGfWlSoKpPj75C79ghHY2Ed3YarzJbe48-Mbw8tHC_JqZ0Der6KDgI0ErgTedbmUjS4SBA/s1600/blog02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLiqRPinKZlthproR6AnipGVovaWvY3SIdMnLwxZETCarW_doNcV9N2O4glqowXQqP7b5IfwGfWlSoKpPj75C79ghHY2Ed3YarzJbe48-Mbw8tHC_JqZ0Der6KDgI0ErgTedbmUjS4SBA/s1600/blog02.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am definitely missing having a king-size bed to sleep in!</td></tr>
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<br />
Fortunately, the non-updated GPS ended up being pretty much the only hiccup of our whole trip, and things definitely got better from there. We decided to visit the <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/" target="_blank">Smithsonian National Zoo</a> our first day but it's going to take a whole post of it's own.<br />
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Hello!<br />
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I'm still here, I promise.<br />
<br />
I've been absent due to a major lack of planning. I was getting ready for vacation, on vacation, and getting everything ready to go back to work after vacation,<br />
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J and I had an amazing time on our first real adventure, but I'm not sure travel is totally for me. You would not believe how stressed out I got every time we were driving in Washington (so many more people so obviously way more cars), and when we went through customs coming home. (And all we brought home were a few souvenirs and a bottle each from the duty-free store!)<br />
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I'm working on a recap of our trip and hope to share it with you soon.<br />
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Not a whole lot happened over the past week, but I think it's important to document even the not-so-exciting weeks. They're definitely part of life. And a good part - I can't imagine how exhausted I would be all the time if I didn't have those weeks where I spend the majority of my evenings at home on the couch with J!<br />
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1. Our church celebrated it's 15th anniversary on Sunday so after church we all stuck around for lunch and of course some group pictures. It was great to hear some of the memories of people who were responsible for the "birth" of the church. I've only been going since shortly before J and I got engaged but he's been there since the beginning. (J's dad is our pastor, I'm not sure if I've mentioned that here before or not.)<br />
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2. One of my many purchases during my <a href="http://nsduchess.blogspot.ca/2015/05/confessions-of-shopaholic.html" target="_blank">shopping spree</a> last week. I love the way this top flows, it's very flattering. I'm looking forward to wearing it on our vacation in a couple weeks.<br />
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3. I still love these sunglasses. I wore them to church yesterday and got a ton of compliments. J still doesn't like them, but he's not the one wearing them. ;-)<br />
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4. I may not have any kids to let lick the beaters (which I totally plan on doing) but if I'm making anything with peanut butter I always let Daisy lick the spoon. I made <a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/no-bake-peanut-butter-pie/" target="_blank">peanut butter pie</a> for the church potluck and it was a big hit!<br />
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5. Thursday night I just didn't feel like cooking so J and I decided to use one of our Christmas gift cards and headed to Boston Pizza for a last minute date minute. After supper we did a bit more shopping for our trip. (We splurged and bought us both a t-shirt from <a href="http://eastcoastlifestyle.com/" target="_blank">East Coast Lifestyle</a> to wear when we're in the US.)<br />
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Hope you had a great week!<br />
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I guess it's not an entirely true thing either. I've gained a little weight since last summer. Enough that I don't feel fully comfortable in all my warm weather clothes. Since we're heading to Washington in (let me just check my countdown app...) 17 days I figured I needed to bite the bullet and head out shopping for some outfits that I felt good about having my picture taken in.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbbx-hwW3fLNSBpIOxBUMwQZL8EqQqh-zs1tzuOveCeEzDY_oVOlRW_T6C_fmCrgQQYV3syEm-ZHFiDu54PnzFSEVXvgbyeD6HL3jAIQYut6aLd5hzazFJS5wzfINu8q3hgAEzoB1BSU8/s1600/heartshapedsunglasses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbbx-hwW3fLNSBpIOxBUMwQZL8EqQqh-zs1tzuOveCeEzDY_oVOlRW_T6C_fmCrgQQYV3syEm-ZHFiDu54PnzFSEVXvgbyeD6HL3jAIQYut6aLd5hzazFJS5wzfINu8q3hgAEzoB1BSU8/s320/heartshapedsunglasses.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the two new pairs of sunglasses.<br />
(J hates them, but I love them!)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I spent about $200 yesterday, the bulk of which was at <a href="http://www.marshallscanada.ca/en/index.asp" target="_blank">Marshall's</a>. This was my first trip to Marshall's, but it felt just like being in Winner's. I was super successful there though, and came home with a pair of cropped jeans/denim capris (I have no idea what the correct word is, all I know is they're longer on me than they would be on a normal person but I love how they fit) and four tops. Three of the tops are casual and one is a little dressier and will be perfect for a nice dinner out. I also ended up with five pairs of flip flops, two pairs of sunglasses, and four head bands from <a href="http://www.ardene.com/" target="_blank">Ardene</a>. I also bought a pair of capris from Reitman's but ended up taking them back when I found a pair of denim bermuda shorts that I LOVE at Wal-Mart of all places. (The Wal-Mart shorts were by far my favourite purchase of the day.) I grabbed a couple plain t-shirts at Wal-Mart too, I just can't pay $20 for black v-neck tee when I can get one for $7 at Wal-Mart, it just doesn't make sense to me.<br />
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The shopping continued today with two tops and a necklace at Old Navy, and two necklaces and two earring sets and Icing. (How I managed to get out of Icing with only four items is a mystery - everything was on sale for $5. One of the necklaces I bought was regular $22 and I spent $23 total including taxes.)<br />
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I was so excited to find so many things I actually felt good in! I was going to order a couple other things online but I think I'm just going to wait and do a little shopping when we're away. (I have to admit that I can't wait to check out <a href="http://www.torrid.com/torrid/Homepage.jsp" target="_blank">Torrid</a> in person - there are definitely a ton of things on the website I want to try on.)<br />
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Now, I know a good fashion blogger would have pictures of all of her purchases. But I am so not a fashion blogger! So you'll have to wait to see my purchases until I recap my Washington/West Virginia trip in about a month.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Summer-Rental-Mary-Kay-Andrews-ebook/dp/B004RCNS9M/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1431953777&sr=1-1&keywords=summer+rental" target="_blank">Summer Rental</a></b><br />
<b>Mary Kay Andrews | June 2011</b><br />
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<b><i>Amazon Synopsis: </i></b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes, when you need a change in your life, the tide just happens to pull you in the right direction…</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ellis, Julia, and Dorie. Best friends since Catholic grade school, they now find themselves, in their mid-thirties, at the crossroads of life and love. Ellis, recently fired from a job she gave everything to, is rudderless and now beginning to question the choices she's made over the past decade of her life. Julia--whose caustic wit covers up her wounds--has a man who loves her and is offering her the world, but she can't hide from how deeply insecure she feels about her looks, her brains, her life. And Dorie has just been shockingly betrayed by the man she loved and trusted the most in the world…though this is just the tip of the iceberg of her problems and secrets. A month in North Carolina's Outer Banks is just what they each of them needs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ty Bazemore is their landlord, though he's hanging on to the rambling old beach house by a thin thread. After an inauspicious first meeting with Ellis, the two find themselves disturbingly attracted to one another, even as Ty is about to lose everything he's ever cared about. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Maryn Shackleford is a stranger, and a woman on the run. Maryn needs just a few things in life: no questions, a good hiding place, and a new identity. Ellis, Julia, and Dorie can provide what Maryn wants; can they also provide what she needs? </span><br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">My Thoughts: </i>I picked this book up at work on a day when I had forgotten my e-reader. Truthfully, I think I grabbed it because the main characters were all in their mid-30s and since I recently turned 33 I felt like reading something about characters my own age. (I read a lot of YA dystopian fiction, so it's rare for me to read something with characters who aren't teens.) Anyways, long story short, I couldn't put this book down. I wouldn't say it was super deep and thought provoking, but by the end of the book I felt like I really knew the characters. Their lives felt real to me. (They could have been my girlfriends I wrote about <a href="http://nsduchess.blogspot.ca/2015/05/grateful-for-history.html" target="_blank">yesterday</a>.) The setting and the situations all felt very real. Yes, things were all neatly tidied up by the end of the book, but it didn't feel contrived in any way. I definitely recommend this book for a beach/patio read this summer. I don't think you'll regret it!<br />
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The best part of the book for me though, was that it got me thinking about a weekend away with <b>my</b> girls. We're just trying to nail down dates now, but it looks like we'll be spending a couple nights away together for the first time in close to two decades of friendship. I can't wait!<br />
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What are you reading this summer? Anything I should check out?<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1. This is Lil Eatily. It's one of the "food trucks" at </span><a href="http://truckside.biz/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Truckside</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, a new indoor food truck food court in Dartmouth. We had supper there Saturday night. I had pasta from Lil Eatily and J had fish from U-Pick Fish. We both enjoyed our meals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2. I was in charge of the nursery Sunday morning at church and I couldn't resist snapping a picture of these two cuties colouring together. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3. For Mother's Day J and all of his siblings gave his mom a family ring with all their birth stones. She burst into tears before she even looked at the ring. As soon as she saw the box from People's the waterworks began. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">4. My amazingly smart friend Jenn was interviewed in the local paper as part of a nurses' week feature. She's a labour and delivery nurse and a strong advocate for breast feeding. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">5. My staff spoiled me with lots of birthday treats. (Including chocolate covered jujubes which are my absolute favourite.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">6. We are finally starting to get some sunny, warm, spring weather here in Nova Scotia. Two evenings in a row I laid outside reading while Daisy played in the yard. It was wonderful!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">7. At work this week we presented a cheque to <a href="http://threadsoflife.ca/" target="_blank">Threads of Life</a>. We raised $1305 as well as providing a barbecue for participants in their annual Steps for Life walk. I love that my job allows me to do stuff like that. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">8. After supper at Truck Side Saturday night we headed to the <a href="http://www.themiddlespoon.ca/" target="_blank">Middle Spoon</a> for dessert and drinks. If you're local and you've never been I highly recommend it. Dessert ended up costing more than dinner, but it was totally worth it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">9. This picture shouldn't even be included because it was taken today but I absolutely love this picture of J and Daisy and I couldn't wait until next week to share it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I love that it's so easy to take pictures with my phone, but I find I never get pictures printed anymore. I need to start getting prints again I think! (And I might start with that shot of J and Daisy.)</span></div>
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I have so many memories with these girls and on Saturday night I was lucky enough to make more. We all went out for supper together with our husbands. (It sounds so weird to say that, Kerry only got married about a month ago and this is my first time we've all gotten together since they got married.) We don't see each other nearly as often as any of us would like, but when we do get together there are never gaps in conversation and we laugh harder than should be possible. (I have to admit the conversations were a lot different with the guys around though!)<br />
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These girls were there for me when my brother was diagnosed with cancer and they were there by my side when I said "I do." I am so grateful to have them in my life. Our lives are all so different but we can always make time for each other. We decided this weekend to plan our first ever girls weekend away and I couldn't be more excited. I can't imagine a life without them in it - they remind me of who I am, and they made me who I am too.<br />
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<a href="http://www.embergrey.com/p/grateful-heart-monday-linkup.html" title="Grateful Heart w/ Ember Grey"><img alt="Grateful Heart w/ Ember Grey" src="http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad295/embergrey/Jan2015GHMButtontransbkg_zps55af070d.png" style="border: none;" /></a></div>
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Last Saturday I threw my first ever wedding shower, and I am <b>so</b> happy with how everything turned out!<br />
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My brother-in-law, David, is getting married in July and J and I are both standing in the wedding. In a short period of time David's fianc<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">é</span>e, Tracey, has become one of my favourite people. They've decided to have their wedding in our church which is older and hasn't had many updates over the past 15 to 20 years. In order to get the church ready for the wedding without spending a fortune David and Tracey have been doing a lot of the upgrades themselves. The church is looking amazing, but it's taking a bit of a toil on them and their wedding planning/preparation is a little bit more stressful than it is for the average couple. Because of the added stress I really wanted to make sure Tracey's shower was perfect and something she would really enjoy. (I like to think I was pretty successful.)<br />
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I decided to go with a morning shower and serve breakfast type foods. I think this surprised some of the guests, but it worked really well. Months ago Tracey had pinned an image of a yogurt bar to her wedding planning board on Pinterest but in the end they decided to go with a candy bar. Since I knew she liked the idea of a yogurt bar I knew that was something I wanted to incorporate. I served vanilla yogurt with three different types of berries and granola. I love the chalk board easel and galvanized pail that I picked up at Micheals. The serving dishes all came from Dollarama. It was a big hit! We also served four different types of muffins made by my mother-in-law, some fresh fruit, and mini cinnamon rolls.<br />
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For the decorations I tried to go with a bit of a rustic theme. I made two banners (one said "Thank you" and the other said "From Miss to Mrs") using a free printable. (You can find it <a href="http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2012/10/free-printable-whole-alphabet-banner.html" target="_blank">here</a>.) It was so simple, and I love how they turned out. One of the other bridesmaids painted the "62 days" canvas and I just love it, it worked perfectly.<br />
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I also made a display of pictures of David and Tracey using paper doilies, twine, and clothespins. (I totally got that idea from Pinterest, you can see the original post it came from <a href="http://emmalinebride.com/how-to/plan-a-rustic-bridal-shower/" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br />
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I painted mason jars and filled them with artificial flowers for centre pieces, and I covered water bottles with pretty duct tape so they'd look a little classier sitting on the tables. (I used <a href="http://masonjarcraftslove.com/painted-mason-jars-pink-ombre/" target="_blank">this</a> tutorial for help painting the mason jars. I ended up deciding not to distress them because I liked how they looked as they were.)<br />
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For the favours I bought little bottles of shower gel and stuck tags on them that said "From Tracey's shower to yours" and for the guest book I had everyone sign a white plate with Sharpies. (I used the oil ones as I've found they tend to fade less than the regular ones.)<br />
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And of course we played games! Tracey's sisters created a "Who Knows her Best" game and a "He said, She said" game that used their past Facebook statuses. We also played wedding pictionary, "What's in Your Purse" and of course we played the clothespin game. I put all of the prizes in brown paper bags with purple tissue paper so they would match the theme of the shower.<br />
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I will admit that the shower may have consumed my life for a couple months. I work full-time so it felt like every day off was spent doing something shower-related but I didn't mind in the least. It turns out I really love planning events like this! Luckily one of the girls at work is going to need a baby shower soon and my brother is getting married next year. ;-)<br />
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I hope that this post helped a little if you're planning a shower! Let me know if you use any of these ideas, or if you have any ideas for the next shower I'll need to throw.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlV1H36QhyvhvPEhBVQUDhQVCwbiupZQSbmnSel7ngxbhyLLGR4DGn4UEefwI_un-1yZ5ki88yuoPNoaMxCIKrfxTfjonceNgHs9OAHDMH14ngxzGC37p6A2gde_tJ8CL7G8NgQztNyyQ/s1600/may+1985.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlV1H36QhyvhvPEhBVQUDhQVCwbiupZQSbmnSel7ngxbhyLLGR4DGn4UEefwI_un-1yZ5ki88yuoPNoaMxCIKrfxTfjonceNgHs9OAHDMH14ngxzGC37p6A2gde_tJ8CL7G8NgQztNyyQ/s1600/may+1985.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My third birthday... 30 years ago!</td></tr>
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My birthday was on Tuesday. I turned thirty-three. <b>33!</b> I don't know how that happened. Didn't I just turn 23?<br />
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J and I celebrated quietly at home. We had lobster and cheese cake and caught up on some TV shows we had missed. Not the most exciting birthday celebration, but life has been pretty hectic lately so I think it's what I needed.<br />
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We're going to continue the celebration Saturday night and go out for dinner with a couple of my girlfriends and their husbands. We're planning on checking out a new place called <a href="http://www.truckside.biz/" target="_blank">Truck Side</a>, it's an indoor food truck food court. I'm pretty excited about it!<br />
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I'm not where I thought I'd be at 33, but I'm happy with where I am. Life is good, and I'm excited to see what this next year brings my way.<br />
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