New Blog!

Ok... so I decided to completely revamp my blog instead!

Here's the new address:

http://lindiv.blogspot.com/

There's lots of tweaking that still needs to get done - and none of the pages are written yet, but it will all come in time :) Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Special Delivery

Yay! Christmas time is here!! I'm so excited for Christmas. I thought at 25 maybe I'd be less excited, but I think that having Mr. A around has made this year even more exciting! I've been spending time with his family (from here and visiting) so much that they're really starting to feel like my family. It's been a great vacation. If I can't be home with my mama and papa in Ontario, I don't think I could ask for anything better than this!

Also, this wonderful package arrived from home :) with stockings for me and Mr. A!

The last few days have been great (I'll. give more details soon). I can't wait to see what the next few days hold!

Ps - sorry for all the exclamation marks! I'm just really happy!!

New Layout

I'm experimenting with a new background. I'm also contemplating changing the name, but I may just change the URL... So many decisions. I know some of you like my blog name. It'll stay as long as I can't think of another name! Thoughts?! Ideas?!? I'll take anything you've got!

One Word

If you could use one word to describe me, what word would it be? Just ONE word.

....

5 Reasons

Here are 5 reasons that I'm thrilled that my bestest friend of life is here!

In no particular order....

1. It feels like home has come to GP!

2. We got to exchange awesome Christmas gifts

3. She'll now understand all my random references over skype or the phone

4. She could give her "A-OK" to my Mr. A :)

5. It had been a while since I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe

I love her and I'm super happy that she took the time to come and see me! Hopefully there will be some pics from her visit to follow... Thanks friend!

Apartment Christmas

Christmas has invaded my life and apartment. Here's a sneak peak of what I've done with the small amount of free stuff that I've collected this year.

Stockings that mom and dad sent me last year :)

The mini-Christmas tree that we made, free lights (on the balcony), and the blanket I (or rather Mr. A) won at a Christmas party. Joop is clearly enjoying the Christmas fun.

Presents!!! (these just magically showed up!)

I know I've been posting a lot of Christmas things lately, but I just love Christmas time! It's been such a great time of year. I feel like I'm at home this year and it's been wonderful to fill up my life with Christmas joy. My bestie visiting from Ontario also makes it feel a bit more like home :) I'm enjoying the holidays so much already and they haven't even started!

Hope you're pre-holidays are going fantastically as well!

More Treats

I was inspired by my friend who is a soon-to-be-baby-mama to make some Christmas bonbons!

They are basically little balls of sugar. So good! But you can only eat one at a time. Unless you are me and my brother, circa ages 6 and 8, sneaking them from the garage fridge five at a time.

If you really wanna make them...

1. Get a brick of cream cheese

2. Add a tsp of vanilla

3. Add icing sugar until it gets to the consistency that when you scoop some on a spoon and turn the spoon upside-down it doesn't fall off

4. Split in two and add food colouring as desired

5. Scoop up with a spoon and drop on parchment paper

(6. roll bon bon in coconut if you want)

Super easy. Aaaand delicious! (one at a time). Yumm :)

ps - I also made nuts & bolts!

Tasty Treats

I've been on a bit of a crazy baking kick lately. I think it's due to a combination of five main factors:

1. I miss my mommy (who I did all the Christmas baking with!)

2. I no longer have homework or exams at Christmas time

3. I have a real job to afford all of the ingredients

4. I have a manfriend and his family that I like baking for

5. They're delicious!

They're just rice krispie squares but they look prettier :) You can find the link to the recipe for the treats I made here. Enjoy!

Christmas Cards!

I tried to make all of my Christmas cards this year. If you're lucky, you just may end up with one of these lovely creations :)

ps - none of the cards have money in them... just so you know.

pps - I made duplicates of most of them so there are lots to go around!

Epic Baby Prediction

Ok folks... just remember that you heard it here first. These are my epic baby predictions. Above is my beautiful pregnant friend (that hopefully doesn't mind me stealing her photo...) who is expecting a little baby this month (probably... or next month).

These are my predictions:

Birthday: Dec. 28th

Sex: Female

Weight: 7lbs, 4 oz.

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blonde (but it'll turn red-orange when she's like two)

Cuteness: 10 (out of a possible 10)

Let's see how close I get! Feel free to make your own predictions...

5 Reasons I Am Happy It's December 1st!

1. Gonna put up the Christmas Tree (someone.... made me wait 'til December....)

2. Holiday Baking :)

3. Joop's Christmas bandanas

4. Presents are bought

5. MY BEST FRIEND IS VISITING GP THIS MONTH!!!

....ok so this list is gonna be a bit longer...

6. I'm making a fresh batch of Nuts and Bolts on Saturday

7. I'm gonna send out home-made Christmas cards

8. I get to celebrate with a family again this year!

9. Christmas music starts on the radio

10. I get presents too :)

So, 10 reasons I'm happy!

Letters to Santa

Just in case you didn't know what Russ or I wanted.... Merry Christmas!

Scrapbooking Again

I was not gifted in life with artistic skills. Drawing, sketching, painting, scultping... I am awful at all of them. Scrapbooking is my only artistic outlet. I don't know why I enjoy doing it so much. I find it very satisfying to keep a book of the finished products though. I recently got into scrapbooking again after a somewhat long hiatus.

Here are the pages I've done recently:

This one is a page of pictures from my mama and grandmama's visit to Grande Prairie! We had a great time :)

This is a page of some pics of my manfriend and I. The colours are a bit brighter than in the picture. I pictures make me smile and the owls that we made look amazing.

This is a page of Joopers! I can't believe I haven't made a scrapbooking page about the pup yet. Watching him run around with his boots on outside had me laughing so hard I was snorting. So I decided to make a page of his cute pictures!

If anyone ever wants to scrapbook with me let me know. I think the dog one is my favourite of the three pages I just did. Fun, easy, quick, relatively inexpensive hobby. Maybe I'll post some more pages as I make them :)

From Someone Special

I'm dating the best boy ever! I was home from work sick today and someone amazing brought these to my place after he finished work today. They are beautiful and they smell amazing and they absolutely did make me feel better. I am a lucky girl :)

Cheesecake Is Not Easy To Make

So I tried to make a cheesecake this week. I attempted it with someone who we will call... Mr. Awesome (only cause he will love that if he ever reads this). Basically we saw a recipe in a kraft baking flyer and really wanted to make it cause it sounded amazing! "Chocolate Chip Black Bottom Cheesecake". Half cake, half cheesecake, filled with chocolate chips. What's not to love about that?? Neither of us had ever made cheesecake, or baked with a tube pan... but it can't be that hard right?!?

The recipe all ready to go. LOTS of ingredients.

The MOST important ingredient!

Mr. A baking for the first time, making the chocolate cake portion.

Using my lovely hand-held mixer and mixing the cheesecake batter!

CAKE!!! Ok, so it doesn't look all that appetizing, and we couldn't get it off of that tube thing from the pan for the life of us. BUT it tasted amazing!! If we could just perfect the look of it, we would be dessert geniuses! Seriously, we greased the pan, and baked it for the right amount of time, and the edge piece slid off nicely, but how in the world do I get it off the middle part without breaking it?! We may have tried once, and a hidden portion of the cake may or may not have fallen off... hard to say what really happened... All the cracks may have been caused by that incident as well... or maybe not. Who knows? Anyway, the point is that it tasted amazing and we will continue out quest to be master dessert bakers. Practice makes perfect!

Welcoming The Snow

Winter has arrived! Well... I don't know about the rest of Canada, but winter has arrived in Grande Prairie. The snow poured down, the roads are slippery, the temperature has dropped. True winter! Actually, the last couple of days have been absolutely beautiful. It wasn't windy so it wasn't that cold, and the sun was shining all day long. Lovely winter days :)

These couple pics were taken on my street yesterday at about 4:45pm. The sun is almost down, and the snow covers the ground. Joopers was enjoying the walk.

Just wanted to give everyone a picture of what they're missing up here in northern Alberta!

The crappy thing that comes along with winter is the colds and flus. I unfortunately have already caught a small cold... I'm now pumping vitamin C and NeoCitran into my body and hoping for the best. I'm guessing my early bedtime will be the most helpful of all :)

ps - tomorrow is suppose to be -24 degrees, with a high of -15. Lovely... Alyssa, if you're reading this, don't forget to bring a warm, warm coat when you visit!

Sidewalk Prophets - You Love Me Anyway

I cannot get this song out of my head lately. I love the message and the lyrics. So powerful. I'm a huge fan of having a local Christian radio station (ShineFM).

"I am the thorn in Your crown

But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss
But You love me anyway
See now, I am the man who yelled out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking
ground
Yes then, I turned away with a smile on my face
With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night, I still called out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life
But You love me anyway"

Beautiful lyrics. Enjoy :)

5 Things

I decided to make a list of 5 things I like to do with my alone time. Don't get me wrong, I'm a super social being. If being super social was a type of super hero, I would be that hero. Buuuut occasionally I need a night to myself to relax and unwind. Here are 5 my the things I do almost every time I get one of those nights:

1. Drink wine or tea (depends on my mood)

2. Read a good book

3. Take a bubble bath

4. Make an amazing meal or snack (like... I'm talking elaborate Holly Housewifey food!)

5. Blog

True story. The combination of these things often leads to a perfect night, and an even perfecter sleep. I know you all want a night to yourself now.

Preparing for the Christmas Season

It may be a bit early for a Christmas prep post, but here are my reasons...

1. It's the next holiday

2. The first snowflakes fell in GP today

3. I love Christmas time :)

So... another Christmas season that I'm gonna be away from home and I'm already sad about it. Skype is a huge blessing in my life - I really don't think

I'd be able to live this far away if I couldn't skype my mama once a week. I'm already anticipating the hard times being away from my family for another holiday season. It's strange to join with other families and learn about other families' traditions. I am going to miss having eggs and bacon in the morning, and having big piles of "stocking stuffers", and sitting around in my pajamas for 3/4 of the day, and eating Christmas bon bons.

Things I am looking forward to as we enter a new season:

1. Making Christmas cookies

2. Buying gifts for people I love

3. Making Christmas cards (hopefully!)

4. Sending Christmas cards

5. Getting new boots

It is going to be a great season, and I'm grateful to be surrounded by amazing people to spend my holidays with here :) (One amazing person in particular...)

Hope it wasn't to early to grace you with some festive cheer!

Fall Leaves

Well, I've officially made it to my second fall in Grande Prairie. It has been a very full year. Some ups, some downs, some very exciting things. I thought it would be a huge transition... moving all the way to northern Aberta. But I find that I don't feel all that far from home. I guess I've made my own life, and found my own family out here. Having actual family out here helps as well!

It's the little things that make me feel far from home. I love the fall in Ontario. It's always been my favourite season. The colours are so beautiful and the leaves cover the ground so perfectly. Fall in GP is not the same. It only lasts 2 weeks. The trees turn yellow, the winds pick up, and then all the leaves fall off the trees. Its short and swift. The leaves are still beautiful, but it's not the same. I miss the red and orange. I miss maple trees in general. I miss sitting on the back porch drinking something warm, and wearing a sweater. I miss walking with my mama. It's funny how one thing I miss leads me on a string of missed memories.

I'm very glad that I've moved to GP. Wonderful things are happening in my life, and I am very happy. It's just different. Some days I miss home more than others. Hopefully GP will soon be the home and I miss when I'm away.

If you're in Ontario, try to enjoy the leaves for me!

5 great surprises

It was time to add a new list, and I was thinking about all the great little surprises I've gotten over the last week. Here are 5 of the best ones:

1. A white rose left for me after volunteering

2. A bottle of red wine to share

3. Unexpected snail mail (in the form of birthday cards!)

4. Someone (who shall remain nameless) taking work off to spend time with me :)

5. A preschooler hugging me at the end of his therapy session

I heart surprises like these ones :)

Three Generations in Grande Prairie All At Once

This past week I was lucky enough to have some visitors in GP. Not only one, but TWO of them! My mom and her mom (my grandma) both risked the long layovers to see where their long lost daughter was hiding these days. It was a great week and I'm so happy that they were both able to come.

We stayed busy each day and I finally had the chance to show them around my world. I think we did everything we could have in one week, except maybe visit the dinosaur tours in pipestone.

I can just hear my mom on skype now... "Oh! Muskiseepi park? That's where we went right?" or "Beaverlodge! That's where we saw the giant beaver, right?" Oh she makes me laugh. But it really will be great to talk about people and places and to know that she actually can picture those things. It feels like they are much more involved in my life, even though they may be

4000 kms away.

So glad they came :) Here are some pics from our adventures!

Chillin' out with the giant beaver.

Standing in front of the roller coaster she conquered!

Some rickety old houses at the McNaught (mom's maiden name) homestead.

Hanging out by the bridge at Dunvegan

Waiting for our turn to lose at the horse races at evergreen park :)

Clearly it was a pretty great week!

Quality Girl Time

Girlfriends are SO important, no matter how old you are, and what stage of life you are in. I've have been more than blessed with amazing girlfriends in every town that I've lived in. GP is no exception to that rule!

These are a couple of my gorgeous ladies! I was blessed to meet these beautiful women at my church. We've only known each other for a few months, but already we've been there for each other through thick and thin. It is so important to have people in your life who will be honest with you, support you, and tell you what you need to hear (whether you want to hear it or not!). I believe everyone women needs other strong women in their lives for many reasons:

- Accountability

- Prayer

- Fun

- Venting (we all do it!)

- Wisdom

- Excitement

- Support

So far I think these women have been there for me whatever the reason. Hopefully they know how much I appreciate the friendship and that I gladly will return the favor whenever it's needed!

Here are some pics from our fun in the park:

Beautiful smiles ladies :)

5 reasons I am smiling

1. Mini-golf

2. Joop's new bandanas

3. Good conversations

4. Avocado (it's just delicious)

5. My mama and grandmama are visiting in less than a week!! (fun things ahead for them!)

Happy as a Clam

I'm pretty happy right now.

And I can't sleep.

And I have to get up in 6.5 hours.

But I don't really care.

I'm pretty darn happy tonight.

Middle Steps

Here is what I know about life from my 24 years of inexperience: Life will throw you curve balls.

I find that I am constantly trying to map out my life. I start something new at work and immediately I'm imagining everything falling perfectly into place in record time. I start dating someone and immediately I'm getting attached and imagining our future. I think of a new hobby and immediately I picture myself as an expert.

Obviously these things don't work out or I would have the perfect job, be married, and be an amazing guitar player/baker/runner. The problem is that I miss all the middle steps. I'm so busy trying to make it to the finish line that I forget to enjoy the middle moments and embrace them. I feel like I'm one of those people who would miss my entire engagement because I was so focused on the wedding day.

How do we learn to live in the moment and enjoy?? (seriously, I'm asking! I sure don't know!).

I realized recently that if I keep living for the future instead of the now, I'm missing out. Especially since the future never quite turns out the way we plan it. Life throws us unexpected curve balls that we just were not prepared for. I'm trying to live in the present so that the curve balls aren't curve balls, there just natural changes of course. I think it's easier to take each day in a stride that way. Anyway, this is just a mumbo-jumbo of thoughts but it's been weighing on my mind a bit. Why am I so focused on the next step? I'm learning to live life again.

ps - I think this calls for a donald miller book (don't you think jenny?!)

Slacker

Wow, I really have not been updating this puppy! My bad. There's not much going on right now. Here are my updates in a nutshell....

I'm swinging nicely into my summer therapy schedule at work

I'm going camping this weekend with friends from church

Mosquitos are taking over Grande Prairie

Joop is incessantly trying to dig his way under my stove but I can't figure out why cause I can't find any food there

I will never go to a movie on a Tuesday night again in GP (insanity!!!!)

My mom and grandma are coming to visit me in one month exactly :)

That's about all. My life is good. Everything feels pretty mundane these days. It'll be strange when my entire office leaves for vacation and there are only a couple of us left. Luckily I've schedules myself to be fairly busy so it should be alright.

Later gater :)

5 more gooder things

Here's another mini-list.

1. Heels/wedges that don't hurt your feet

2. Surprise texts from friends just wanting to say hi

3. Putting bandanas on my dog

4. Fireworks (I will like this no matter how old I am!)

5. Weddings & sharing someone's special day with them! (I heart you Alishia!!!)

These lists bring joy to my life :)

Giant Queen Size Bed

I don't think that there is any better feeling in the world than returning home to your own bed after travelling. That's how I know that GP feels like home to me. Whether I'm gone for two weeks, or two days, I'm always excited to get back to my own space and my own giant queen size bed :)

Most people I know don't know a thing about Grande Prairie. The size, the entertainment, the people. Zip, zilch, nada. In fact, most think of it as a small town with a bunch of cowboys riding around and nothing to do for fun. In some ways they're right... lol. But actually GP is much more than that. I feel like I've been defending the town forever, trying to find good things to say about it and get rid of people's misconceptions. But recently I realized that I'm not just saying those things to stop people from thinking that I'm crazy for moving here. I'm saying them because I actually really love it here. I do have a bit of a propensity for getting sick of places and moving on after a few years, but so far I like GP (as the cool kids say).

I'm honestly happy to get back to town every time I'm away. And although the giant queen size bed has a lot to do with that, there is a lot more that pulls me in these days as well.

So happy to be home :)

Coming Home

I'm just sitting in the Calgary airport, waiting to board my plane for London, Ontario. It's so great to be going home. Yesterday I was busying myself all day:

- cleaning

- packing

- getting Joop ready

- throwing out all my trash

- saying Good-bye

Mostly, I was trying to keep myself from going stir-crazy waiting to head home. I'm so excited to get back and see all the people I love in Ontario (and even a few that aren't from Ontario, but will be there at the same time, lol). I'm so excited!! And one of my very best friends is getting married :) I'm so happy that I can be there for her special day too.

This is a little something I'm bringing home with me too. My good friend has been waiting quite a while for this gift and I finally will get a chance to see her and show it off! YAY!

It's gonna be a busy couple of weeks!! CAN'T WAIT!!!

Everlasting Love

"For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only son, that whoever

believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16

Best. Weekend. Ever. True story. This weekend included watching chuck wagon racing (pictures to follow!), rollercoasters, amazing worship music, youth from across Alberta being positively impacted, roadtriping, and hanging out with good friends. What more could you ask for?!

YC (youth conference) Alberta is an event where youth from across the province, and neighbouring provinces, come together in fellowship. Thousands of youth gathered to praise God and learn from the wise speakers. A man named Reggie Dabbs spoke about being created to have a personal and loving relationship with God. He spoke straight to everyone's hearts when you asked people to stretch out their shame, pain, frustrations, hands to God because he wants to carry our burdens. He spoke about it not being our fault that our relationships fail, that people were abused, that people's parents fight, that people's family's are broken, that we aren't strong enough to handle what's thrown at us. God wants to love and protect us, but we have to let Him in and accept His love. It was very impactful, and most nights ended with me praying (and crying) with my girls. Those are moments that I don't want to forget - I pray that those thoughts and feelings stay with me and with the youth as YC moves further away. Here are some pictures from the fun times:

Here's my ticket from the lovely YC event!

Rexall Place was COMPLETELY packed with 17,000+ teenagers!

STARFIELD!!! My favourite worship band EVER was there :D

Hanging out with some of my youth girls outside of the rollercoasters in West Ed Mall! Totally rode them. Total awesomeness.

I heart this picture. Look at all those teenagers praising God! Makes me smile :)

Un-Wallowing

In case you couldn't tell, I recently needed to unwallow. So, my friend, PJ, went with the puppy and me on a little roadtrip. We intended to make it out to a friend's cottage, but got a little sidetracked. First on purpose, then by accident.

We first went to Dunvegan cause it was sort of on the way, and because I had heard it was beautiful (PJ confirmed this). It was so nice there, and the day was so perfect that I swore to go again soon! The pictures below are from there (all taken by PJ!).

Then, we attempted to find my friend's cottage (which for all you Ontarians, does

not mean the same thing here!). We got a little lost... well actually a lot lost. Somewhere in our roadtrip we saw a moose! That was a definite highlight for me. First wild moose. Eventually my friend managed to see us driving around aimlessly and called us to meet her at the main road and follow her in, lol.

The wandering was worth it. I had such a great time out in the wilderness. Just hanging out outdoors without the noises of the city. I also got to experience a truly albertan hobby. Quading. Yes friends, I learned to drive a quad this weekend. It was wicked. Turned out to be an awesome day. I'll definitely need some more adventures this summer :)

Aren't these pictures awesome! Who knew this was so close to home! Thanks PJ for helping me un-wallow :)

Fear

fooling ourselves

expecting greatness

expecting mediocrity?

wallowing in fear

chained by helplessness

self-induced helplessness

black future

scorned by past disappointments

no oxygen

no room to breath

enveloped by loneliness

caged

the lies that surround

Foolishness

Sometimes I do things I'm not proud of. I don't always know that I'm getting myself into these situations, but I know when it's over that it was a mistake. And often I feel like I'm all alone in searching for these things. Except, I'm not. We are all looking for the same things aren't we? Happiness. Joy. Satisfaction. Love. A greater purpose.

I feel like I fail at these things more than the average person.

People are the best and worst things that ever happen to me. I expect a lot out of myself. I expect myself to be held to my high standards and to honor my beliefs and to have my actions reflect that. I also hold others to these standards. Most usually do a better job than I do. Some fail miserably. And then when they fail I blame myself, like somehow I shouldn't have expected the best out of that person. Certainly I allow others to make mistakes - we wouldn't be human if we didn't. But some people make it a pattern, and I allow them to hurt me by expecting more.

I'm so grateful to many of the people I have in my life that are there for me to hangout, or have homemade pancakes, or eat junkfood, when I'm in a low. I feel like I have these friends and family all over Canada. To those friends, I'm sorry if I ever put you up to an unattainable standard.

Sometimes I do things I'm not proud of. Sorry to myself for failing to live up to those expections. Thank you to God for the grace that you've given me. You help me pick myself back up when things go wrong. You're love oh lord, reaches to the heavens. You're faithfulness, stretches to the sea.

Bull Riding Mayhem

Most people that know me are aware that I have a sense of adventure. This in turn leads to my love of roadtrips! The problem with having a real job is that you can't just take off a bunch of time and go on trips. I have to save my precious days for important things like weddings and birthdays. So I got to thinking, "where can I go near Grande Prairie that won't break the bank?" Then I found out about a Bull Riding event in Dawson Creek (yeah... its a real place)!! Fun is implied.

Next step was rounding up my friend J-Dawg, getting our plaid shirts on and heading out of the province. I was a super fun time. We ended up with totally awesome seats, and bull-riding experts near-by to provide explanations. If we didn't wanna ask we just looked it up on my iPhone, haha. There is a lot to learn about this Albertan rodeo culture! Many more lessons to come! Here's a few pics from the day - sorry there aren't any good bull ones; I was too focused on the people getting flipped around to take pictures!

Here I am leaving the province!

An uncontrolled bill and a full audience enjoying the fun!

A bull charging at the helper-guys (sorry I don't know the lingo, lol)

All the cowboys waiting for the fun to begin

J-Dawg and me in front of the giant beaver in Beaverlodge (yay, it's a real place). True story. Adventure complete.

Here's a video of one of the bull riders. I don't know if it'll work, but we'll give it a try! (He had to stay on for 8 seconds to get the points) This bull was pretty tame compared to the rest!

ps - unfortunately, I did not see Pacey there :(