Denis was planning on taking a couple of days off this month – he took today off so that he could be there for ‘our girls’ as they start their recuperation. He called me at work to let me know that he was “going to pick up the girls” and that the vet has assured us that everything went perfectly. “I made a cozy spot for them to rest” he told me after picking me up from work -  Sure enough, he had taken their little bed, a fluffy blanket from our bed, and set them on top of an electric heating pad in front of the fireplace.

He laid there with them for several hours this evening, carefully noting their behavior, funny faces, appetites, etc…

Can you believe that three years ago he didn’t want a cat at all? Boys!

One morning I was getting ready for work and this is where Levi chose to watch me from.

He found this little bowl in the kitchen to be near me while I made brownies last week.

He hung out in the empty laundry hamper yesterday while I folded laundry in the bedroom.

Kind of makes me want to strategically place Levi-sized bowls throughout the house and take pictures when I find him in each of them. I could put out a coffee table book…

P.S. Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my exciting news! All the comments on the blog, Twitter, and Facebook have been making me smile for days.

and this one:

These have way better support than the bathing suits Mic and I used to wear:

Speaking of new fashion trends I’m getting into, big/embellished shoulders is really one of them.  Before my drive to Toronto on Monday for the fashion show I stopped in Kingston to go to Urban Outfitters for a dress.  I actually ended up with 2 (thanks tax cheques!).  One being the one I wore to the show, and also this one.

Recently Tmo and I moved from the “problem house” in with one of my best friends for most of my life Emily.  So far it’s been good. Tmo is having a bit of trouble adjusting to living with a dog (remember Kardi?), they get in fights, Kardi eats her food, Tmo hides under the couch, you know, the usual.  Living with Emily again is pretty funny.  We both think the same things a lot, and are used to being around each other 24/7 from high school.  Today she made me supper (steak, corn and noodles), and in return I fed her mini eggs. Hopefully living here will be better than the old living arrangements!

First thing, this movie is for Aley. Puppy vs. Cat We were talking about what I should write about, and her suggestions were something along the lines of “me, puppies, me, kittens, procrastination, me”, so there you go Al. I also have to post this video, because Nicole Kraumanis is my amazing cheerleading idol. Nicole Team Canada Audition

Second, my car died yesterday. It was a sad day spent at home, not being able to go to school without scrounging up $3 to take the bus there, and probably $3 back.  I hardly got any studying done there, because T-Mo distracts me at every chance she gets…so does the lure of my comfy bed.  I called CAA this morning to go to school, and they told me it would be about 4 hours. Thank goodness it only took about 1.5 hours.  So I drove around Ottawa for about 20 minutes because the CAA man told me to, and I would have done whatever he said to make my car okay again.  During my drive I realized that Ottawa is an awesome city in any season.  Most cities are only fun to walk around in in the summer, and dreadful during the winter months (if they do have cold, snowy winter months), but Ottawa is just so nice.  In my opinion there are 3 things that make Ottawa so beautiful during the winter.

1) Parliament.

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If you can find something in your city that looks as amazing as this during the winter send ‘er over.  Otherwise this wins the prize. Here’s a better picture of the lights on Parliament:

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2) Rideau Canal.  For those of you who don’t know, Ottawa has the world’s largest skating rink (Winnipeg has the longest, but I guess it’s skinnier),  measuring 7.8km (4.8 miles) long.  Along the way they have Beaver Tails, hot chocolate, skate rentals, and it’s the focus of  the Winterlude festival.

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Me and my friend Andrena skating last year.

3) The Byward Market.

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To be honest I don’t know a lot about the Market.  I know that most of the good bars are there, there are some super cute shops, and they have cute vendors on the sidewalk.  Oh, and my favourite restaurant- Lonestar!  It’s a nice place to take a walk, which is what Kaylee and I do a lot there.

Anyways, this post just justified my love for Ottawa.  I do love it a lot, but I will love going home on Monday even more I think! Especially once my exams are all over and done with!

This is my last post for NaPoBloMo and it’s been fun to see updates by my sisters every day, but I’m actually very glad November is over. Kent and everyone at his restaurant have been celebrating “Movember” this month, growing mustaches to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer. Of course I support the cause, but I’d prefer not to have my kisses with a side order of mustache! On the other hand, I don’t even recognize my dad without his mustache, so maybe it’s something you get used to. Kent has been trying to tell me that next he will be celebrating “Mothousand and Ten” so perhaps it’s something I’ll have to get used to… (no way.) He even has the handlebars goin’ on:

The end of November also brings us closer to BABY SEASON! Our good friend Laura’s is due on December 29, and Kate’s is due on January 18. How am I supposed to get ready for Christmas when it’s so much more fun to just sit around and ask Kent, “GUESS HOW MANY MORE DAYS!?!?!” and “Look at this picture of Kate’s belly for the 43895th time!!!!” Luckily he’s just as excited as I am so he plays along.

It’s also made me realize how much more fun it is to not find out the sex of your baby in advance. I realize there are advantages and disadvantages to both, but the suspense in not finding out, to me, is pretty amazing. It wouldn’t be nearly as suspenseful, I don’t think, if we already knew what Katelyn or Laura were having. People always say “it’s the only surprise left in life,” and I was reading a book (I forget which one, maybe it wasn’t even a book*) where someone said something like, “What, no one throws surprise parties anymore? No surprise flower deliveries? What surprises have fallen by the wayside in the past few years???” which made me laugh because of how true it is. It’s definitely not the only surprise left in life – but it is sure one of the most exciting! Previously I’d been unsure if I’d want to find out or not when I have kids, but now I’m sure that I won’t.

*I remembered, and it was a book – Love the One You’re With by Emily Giffin

1. I’ve been trying to embrace Toronto life and do lots of sightseeing while I’m living here. In the past couple months I’ve visited Casa Loma, a Jays Game, the Ukranian street festival, and to the “Creativ Show.” It’s been a busy couple of months getting back into life post-wedding, so this is just the beginning. Here I am at the Jays game!

2. We had a child! Sort of… Kent surprised me by getting us an adorable little kitten which I named Levi and he middle-named Maclean. Levi is much less maintenance than the real deal, although he does scratch and bite quite a bit more. The nicknames for our little ball of fluff are endless. Example: Levi = Leviticus = Levitate = Tater = Tater Tot = Baby Potato. Here’s one of our endless selection of pictures of him. Cutest little thing ever:

3. There was a few celebrations: Our first married holiday (Thanksgiving) which included lovely outdoor and seasonal things like pie baking, dog walking, apple orchards, and a campfire. My town fair, a celebration that I haven’t missed in all of my 25 years. And, Kent turned the BIG 3-0 yesterday! I can’t even belive that he is 30 and that I’ve known him since he was 26. Usually it feels like I’ve only known him about two days. I took him out for a little surprise dinner and took this quick family photo. Tomorrow we will celebrate with friends and family. This is our family, circa 2009,  complete with a coat over our heads (thanks Kent) and a kitten considering which part of my neck to bite into.

4. A little foray into being an artist! My mom called this morning and invited me to a crafting show with her and my Oma. They are avid sewers and quilters but I picked up none of these genes or much interest in them aside from loving all of the quilts I get as gifts. Still, since my previous plans included house cleaning and new job hunting, I could not say no. Spending the day with these ladies in their element was a great time, and I even did a craft! We saw a (dutch! booyah!) booth called Paverpol where people were making these amazing outfits on little dress forms using cloths covered in some sort of textile hardener that looks like mud. Mom and I signed up, paid $10 each and here are the photos of our journey.

Dress forms before shot:

About to drape the cloth:

 ”Sculpting!”:

And the finished products! I don’t know if the photos do them justice, but they were so easy and look so amazing!

Mom’s:

Mine (less awesome… but still okay!) – the final version sitting on my mantle tonight:

That’s just a few bits and pieces of my life, and I promise to get back into my weekly blogging so I won’t have these huge recaps. I do love blogging, really. 

Question pour vous: What crafty/artsy thing have you done lately or been really wanting/planning to do?

I’m not much of an animal lover but I have some serious love for my cat, Dragon Baby. I’ve had him for about five years, although he lives on the farm with my parents. I was visiting for a couple days and yesterday my dad came in the house to see me and asked, “Have you seen Dragon Baby lately?” Turns out he had seen an orange cat resembling mine that had been hit by a car down the road. So of course I looked for Dragon throughout the house and didn’t see him anywhere. I hopped on a bike and very nervously biked down the road. As I got closer and closer the cat looked more and more like Dragon. I got off my bike, looked closer and sure enough it looked exactly like him. Sadly, I biked back home and told my dad the sad news, and we drove the truck over to pick up his body.

My dad took a look at him and agreed that he looked an awful lot like Dragon.  We brought the body home and dad started digging a grave. We talked about my cat and how wonderful he was (well, I did, dad said things like “Dragon was a real whiny cat!”), and I thought about how he followed us around on Erica’s wedding day and how I had been looking forward to that on my wedding day, and now it wouldn’t happen.

I went inside to get my mom to tell her the sad news and to come outside for the funeral, when strangely enough, Leah called. She loved Dragon too so she was very saddened by the news. I talked to her as we laid Dragon’s body in the ground and covered it with dirt.

After the funeral, my mom and Katelyn’s husband Scott both mentioned that for various reasons they weren’t convinced that the cat had been Dragon. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up at the front door,” said my mom. Dad and I both told her she was wrong. The thing is, mom doesn’t even like cats and doesn’t pay attention to either Dragon Baby or their other cat.

But sure enough, half an hour later as my mom was fitting my wedding dress on me (I know, but I had to move on with my life), Scott called out, “Mic? Come here.” I did.. and guess who was at the front door? DRAGON! Happiest moment of my life. I ran outside and scooped him up, and said I was going to find dad to show him. Scott and my mom thought the situation was hilarious and didn’t want to miss dad’s reaction so they came along. He was suitably shocked.

So now we have an orange cat that is definitely not ours buried in the backyard. I guess I need to go home more often and look at Dragon a little more closely. Sorry, Dragon.

WE HAVE PICKED A NAME (Well I let Scott pick a name, because I named our other cat [Chase])

The cute little black kitten’s name will be:

Co Co Beans Tlastname

Or

Co Co (for short)

Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions, I really liked lots of them, but Scott is a picky man.

Scott and I are the proud owners of a new kitten!
Our friend’s cat had 4 kittens and I some how convinced Scott that it would be a fantastic idea to get another kitten. I’m still wondering how this happened. We have a cute orange cat at home- Chase, of whom you have seen pictures. But I think that cats are happier when there are 2 of them so they can play together! So we got another!

So here is the new addition to our family! He’s been pretty scared so far, so no great pictures. So far he likes to hide under the couch and the bed in the spare room.

I promise I’m not strangling him..

But friends and readers we need your help!

We need a name for our cute black kitten! It- is a boy, and he has a a white patch under his neck, but otherwise he’s totally black.

Any suggestions?

Take a look at some of my before and afters.. got any pointers?

First up: My cute cat Chase.

2nd Example: I took this during the floods we had.

3rd Example: Scott planting corn. I am alone lots during the evenings now because Scott spends his time getting field work done, spring is a busy busy time for farmers! So when I bring him dinner, sometimes I decide to do photoshoots of him planting. So very exciting. (Getting fancy in this edit, I even straightened the picture!)

Another one from the field series. I tried cropping this one. I’m not really good at cropping, I always make it look awkward. And normally I’m happy with how the picture was in the first place. This one worked though, I think.

I actually showed you this picture before.. but what I didn’t tell you was that I edited the sidewalk! See in the Before lots of stuff on the path and I erased it like magic in the 2nd one. Skills I tell ya!

So there are some of my examples. What are your favourite editing tools on photoshop? Any tricks to teach me? Anything you would have done differently in my pictures?

1) Before I started university I had never had Starbucks…like ever. But my roommate wanted me to go with her one day before class and I got a White Mocha, and needless to say, I never looked back.

2) I have ski raced for 12 out of the 18 years I’ve been alive at our local ski hill. Also 11 out of 12 of those years I won “High Points Female” on our team-that is the girl on the team who had the most points at the end of the season. Also at that hill I, along with 3 of the other fiveblondes ski/snowboard instructed, and I also coached a ski team of 10-12 year olds last year. I pretty much used to live there in the winter, and unfortunately I can’t this winter because I’m 6 hours away.

3) Two summers ago I worked in Minden for the Ministry of Natural Resources as an Ontario Junior Ranger. I stayed from July 1st until August 18th in cabins in the middle of nowhere with about 20 other girls.We did things like making hiking and cross-country ski trails, go on canoe trips and camping trips, and visiting the other camps around the province. It was a greaat summer and I’m still in touch with the girls I worked with.

4) I bite my fingernails. It’s horrible and I know, but I just can’t stop no matter how much I’ve tried. This past summer I stopped for a couple of weeks because I was cleaning bathrooms and thought it was pretty gross, haha. Even though I’ve started biting them since then, for some reason I still don’t bite my right pinky fingernail. Who knows why, I just don’t. Looking back to my Lent post, I always try to stop biting my fingernails for Lent, but I’ve recently realized that it doesn’t work, so I’ve given up giving that up.

5) I’ve never had a haircut that I’m really happy with. I always bring in pictures of what I want my bangs to look like, but it never looks like it. I try to explain how I want it different, but I’m really bad at it. I’ve decided that next time I’m going to just take charge and say “no. I want it exactly like THIS picture.” Probably going to be hard for me.

6) I love my big, manly, fat cat named Herman. He’s the cutest thing ever, but you would never think so to look at him. Recently when I was at home I walked in on Herman licking Dragon Baby’s (our other, younger cat) face. It was super cute, so I said “AWW boys!” and grabbed my camera, but all I got was this picture:

okay I have another one…

7) I LOOVE baking! Every time I come home for the week or weekend I bake something. When I went home for reading week I baked cookies at night, then when I woke up they were gone . D (Ericas fiance) got a cookbook for christmas from Oma, and I saw cakes in it that I reallly want to make someday. Something like this maybe? haha: It’s a Louis Vuitton purse cake!There are my six facts! Sorry they’re so late by the way. I couldn’t think of any, then the formatting kept messing up. I should probably learn how to fix all that eh?