September 29, 2014

Another one of those proverbial days from hell, all redeemed by some cozy soup, cuddles from my love, and his insanely comfy bed.
 

And even on the worst days during this season, a slight step outside in the crisp weather with a glance at the changing leaves will always brighten my spirits.

September 28, 2014

A Sunday without a photo - but a lovely Sunday nonetheless. 

 

September 27, 2014

The very happiest 90th birthday to a woman who has been the center of such a very big, generous, amazing, and loving family.  That is one wonderful lady.

Carrying on to celebrate (and surprise!) another lovely woman on her birthday, a woman who happens to be an extension of above mentioned family, who I tried on several occasions to take a proper picture of, but instead they all turned out to be blurry white messes... hmmmm, I wonder why...

I chose this one instead, 1) because it wasn't blurry, and 2) because today made me so very happy to see this guy overwhelmed meeting over 30 members of my family (he took it like a champ) - and I was also overwhelmed with the happiness I felt at him simply being there, and seeing how well he fit right in.

As a side note:  why can't every day be a lovely autumn Saturday?

September 26, 2014

Love from the boyfriend: Dinner at a lovely restaurant downtown.
Love from work: Canucks tickets.

Basically, a pretty sweet Friday evening.
 

A very lucky girl I am, indeed.

September 25, 2014

"I spend so much time in here brushing my teeth, I figured I could study in here."

 

Fair enough.

September 24, 2014

Leave work early for a field trip to the courthouse, finish earlier than expected, go to coffee shop, read a new book until my main squeeze finishes work, whilst enjoying a peppermint tea by the window...
  

...happy days.

September 23, 2014

I started celebrating a long time before this date, but now that it's official:
Happy first day of Autumn, y'all!

 

Seriously, the best day of the year.

September 22, 2014

Nostalgic Mondays...
 

My first boyfriend?  Apparently?  I actually have no idea what this kid's name is, but it looks as though I was as affectionate as a child as I am now as an adult.

Now that I'm at that age with having children of my own is something that I think about from time to time (ugh, go away baby fever!), it's cool to look through all the photos of when my brother and I were kids and see things from a different light.  Memory lane is fun.

September 21, 2014

I surprised this guy with a trip to the Museum of Flight in Seattle (pretty geeked out, whatever).  As soon as I saw his favorite plane was on display, I had to take him.  While I can say the visit was more for him than it was for me, I can really say I enjoyed every minute, and it turned out to be a very sweet Sunday spent amongst planes, old & new.

However, there is always a downside to a weekend trip to Seattle: long border line ups.

Always bearable though, waiting with good company.

September 20, 2014

We clean up nice, I'd say.

Grateful for: exciting adventures.

September 19, 2014

Thank goodness for very wonderful friends with very vast wardrobes.

September 18, 2014

Back to wearing big knit cozy sweaters...

Words cannot express my elation.

September 17, 2014

Early evening drinks at the Shangri-la Hotel (I dressed up more fancy for drinks at this hotel than I did for work).

Not only was happy hour at a fancy hotel quite enjoyable, being downtown on a rainy Wednesday evening amongst the city lights was simply wonderful.

Not bad, Wednesday... not bad.

September 16, 2014

Evolution at the office...

New phones for the first time since I started working, many moons ago.  Fully equipped with those magical sounding cheap Japanese ringtones.  That'll take some getting used to.

September 15, 2014

Ah, yes... practice makes... well, it makes me not so shit at doing my own nails.

I was also introduced to 8track today, and it is the best thing ever.  I cannot stop searching for new songs and playlists and it is fantastic to realize how many beautiful songs there are out there that I have not yet discovered.

September 14, 2014

My parents know me too well...

I AM a bear in the morning.  Thanks, guys!

September 13, 2014

After having a little huge panic attack about how much getting my car fixed is going to cost me (so long, budget - I had the best intentions of staying on track, I swear), I went on to enjoy a sunny Saturday afternoon with my beau's family, and a Saturday night out on the town with him and our friends. 

Weekends, at their best.

As a side note:  I've never really gone clubbing with a boyfriend, but I had such a great time getting to enjoy the company of him and our friends together.  Now we'll just need to figure out a way to go out when both of us can get white girl wasted.

September 12, 2014

An evening of yummy food, chick flicks, and good company (and a really cute pup - it's almost like he tries this hard to be so cute, but I think it comes naturally).

I wish I had caught the Aurora Borealis sighting, but nevertheless, it was an ideal Friday evening.  For me, anyway.

September 11, 2014

Cozy socks season is back!!!!!

<3

September 10, 2014

Trying to save money by starting home manicures.

Note:  it sucks.

September 9, 2014

Having a late night talk about a very wonderful future with my very wonderful significant other made making a budget seem really very important (having an accountant as a boyfriend does have its' perks... I am positive he'll make me stick strictly to this budget).

Anyone who knows me knows I am absolutely awful with money, and that I have a bit of a shopping addiction problem.  To give myself credit though - not a credit card - I have been doing a lot better  as of late and am slowly chipping away at my idiotic, pointless debt.  Slowly but surely, clothes and junk food are becoming less important, and thinking about buying an apartment, getting married, and having children one day are becoming everything.  I do not want to take for granted having found someone that I want to do all those things with, and even more, I do not want to take for granted someone who wants to do those things with me.  At some point, it's time to grow up and start being responsible.  I am quickly realizing that time is now.

September 8, 2014

Nick and I needed a little "pick-me-up" today, so I thought today would be as good a day as any to book our first weekend getaway.

Don't mind if I do...

September 7, 2014

A lovely Sunday morning breakfast with sissy at a small little cafe:

And ridiculously cute S&P shakers! Weeks can pass, as they do, without seeing this lovely girl and it will always be like no time has passed at all.  To have a friend like that is one of my favorite things in life.

I also wanted to mention - what I think - is a pretty big milestone.  I went to go look at a few open houses today with my beau (as he is way more financially smart and stable than I - thank God one of us is).  Even though this purchase will not be mine, he wanted me to be a part of the whole process and it was just so surreal for me.  Are we really at that age where we are looking for an apartment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to own?! 

Why yes.... yes we are.  

And it is pretty amazing.

September 6, 2014

These are a few of my favorite things...

A very perfect Saturday.

Song of the day:  Autumn Tree - Milo Greene

September 5, 2014

I consider myself amongst the luckiest for the most amazing people in my life.  I don't have many friends, but the few I do have, are better than 1,000.

What's that saying?  Quality over quantity.  

Love these three, and a good Friday night.

September 4, 2014

That is one loooooooong to-do list. 

September is lookin' pretty busy.

Which I will not complain about, because it is seven billion (no exaggeration) times better than being superbly and painfully bored at work.

September 3, 2014

Solitude. 

Pajama pants, netflix, tea, and a ridiculously comfy bed; a few hours spent all alone.  All that was missing was rain hitting the window.

This little picture came to mind when I was writing this out, so I thought I should also include it:

September 2, 2014

Trying something new for the next 28 days: a resolution that starts in September instead of January.

I was going to post the "before" photos I took of my tum, but was way too embarrassed to have that forever imprinted on the internet, so I opted for just the tea bags.  Also, as it's not a proclaimed "weight loss tea", I don't think the "after" photos would be any less embarrassing unless I really started committing to being much more active and eating much less delicious food.  Even though that is my end goal (more the eating thing than the gym thing though), ridding myself of my bad habits won't happen overnight so I will just have to take it one step at a time.

(Hopefully) So long: bloating, shitty skin that has completely broken out during the summer, toxins that give me headaches every day, and afternoon drags.  A big fuck you, to you.

As another side note:  It was absolutely pouring rain today, and I brought out a pair of my boots, and while everyone hates me for willing it to happen, it was the best feeling eeeeeeever.

September 1, 2014

Celebrating (in my own special way, even though Autumn does not technically begin until the... what, 21st...? of the month) the first of September!

Can you feel it???  Can you feel the autumn chill?!  That disgusting heat dissipating, the leaves slowly changing, Starbucks bringing back the Pumpkin Spiced Latte ridiculously early?  Aw yeah.  Here is to my most favoritest thing in the world. 

As a side note:  I cannot believe how quickly this year has passed.  As I was uploading this photo for this post, I realized I have been writing in this blog for nine whole months and it seems like I just started it a few months ago.  What a funny thing, time.

August 31, 2014

The little things... 
 

August 30, 2014

Grateful for:  random date nights at Cardero's in Vancouver's beautiful Coal Harbour.  I would have taken a photo had my phone allowed, but since I was unable to, here is a generic one! 

August 29, 2014

Celebrating this special kid today:

As the classic "brother-sister relationship" goes, we were not fond of each other as children (especially because he's so annoying) but as we got older, we grew up and well, I actually almost enjoy his company now.  (JK bro, I actually do enjoy your company)

He is an animal-loving, crazy neat freak/hypochondriac with the warmest and gentlest heart I've ever known and I am very lucky to have him as a big brother - and seeing as I build his furniture and cook him dinners, he's lucky to have me as a sister too. 

So a great big happiest of happy birthdays to you, Paulchev!

August 28, 2014

I am... unable to contain myself.

Apparently.  However, as this is my blog and it is about things I love and am grateful for, I will choose to force summer to be over on here.  Yay!

August 27, 2014

Alright, so here's the deal:  my phone is a piece of crap, so it has stopped allowing me to take photos without me deleting a whole lot of things from it first to make room, so for the next few days until I do so... it will be random and old photos featured.  Which is fine for me, because I'm not a very interesting person and I likely didn't do anything interesting on a Wednesday anyway.

In honor of summer coming to a close...