...please leave a message after the beep.

“Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So, to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise.” - Maya Angelou

I took this picture one afternoon at the cottage in Canada. I love it because it's not a black and white picture, it just looks that way. The world at that moment was very much in black and white. (With a teeny tiny bit of blue sky peeking out over the trees.)

I'm taking a break. I found a link for NaBloPoMo last week and then I remembered that it is November and that means NaNoWriMo is happening too. I got all excited thinking about which one I could do. Then I took a good long look in the mirror and realized that I ALREADY have A LOT to do! So I giggled a little bit at myself and shook my head and decided that rather than leap out into a month of imposed deadlines, I would pull back into some work of my own.

So I am taking a blogging rest. I need to get out and live some life so that I will have more to write about. A year ago I went on an amazing journey and met some wonderful women. The months since then have been a whirlwind of good and bad and creative and dry and friendship and loneliness. I decided then that there was a lot I wanted from my life. I think that the anniversary of that trip is a good time to pull focus and get back to the heart of what I want and what I need to do to get there.

Keep me posted on you and know that I will be back in a month. I hope to have an exciting project started and a book nearly finished by the time I return. But until then I will be 'out of the office.' I'll see you when I get back!

33 years.

"A few years back… not so long ago, heaven and earth erupted into a major celebration with the news of your impending adventure into this very time and space. You see, someone like [you] doesn’t come along all that often… in fact, there’s never been a single one like you, nor is there ever ANY possibility that another will come again. You’re an Angel among us. Someone, whose eyes see what no others will EVER see, whose ears hear what no others will EVER hear, and whose perspective and feelings will NEVER, ever be duplicated. Without YOU, the Universe, and ALL THAT IS, would be sadly less than it is." - my birthday wish from the Universe

As this is MY blog I will not feel one eye-ota (I don't know how to spell eye-ota!) guilty about wishing myself a happy birthday!! I am 33 years old today! It's been an interesting year and a lovely day! I woke up to a sweet version of 'Happy Birthday,' had some lovely presents and birthday wishes, spent the day shopping with a friend and had a nice meal out with Mark and friends. I feel ready and willing to walk boldly into my 34th year with gusto! Watch out universe - this year is going to knock your socks off!

sharing some niceness

The more you flow you into existence
The more existence will flow into you
It is always in the same proportion.

Whatsoever you sow, you reap,
And whatsoever you give, you get.

So, if you want to get more energy,
Give more energy.

If you want to get more love,
Give more love.

If you want existence to shower on you
Great torrents of Bliss,
Then make people Blissful
Wherever you go.

-Osho

I've been surfing the web and found the most yummy site! Amazing deliciousness... maybe someday they will deliver to the UK!

(The photograph above was taken near the cottage Mark and I went to with my parents. This stump is usually submerged but the water is so low this year, it was standing on the beach - beautiful!!)

Hope you are having a good week, wherever you are!

xo

hello there!

We're back!!

(We were actually back on the day before yesterday but required some time to re-boot the system before I attempted anything coherent!!)

Canada was wonderful! We managed to see nearly everyone I am related to. (At nearly 100 people, that is no easy feat!) But they were kind enough to have big family reunions while we were home, so it was easy! In fact, I also managed to spend some time with my oldest girlfriends too! Now that I sit here and think about it, I saw A LOT of people over the last two weeks!

When we arrived we stayed over night in Brampton so that we could visit my Oma and our possible wedding venue with my parents the next day. And I am so glad we did because we booked our wedding for next October!!!! (weird!) It's going to be at a conservation area that does sustainable energy education programs. The food is all Canadian and "realistically organic" (heh heh heh) and any profit that they make from us goes straight back into programs at the site. We are keeping our fingers crossed for "sunny and warm" for next October because we hope the ceremony will be outside under the fall colours!

Then we had family reunion number one, and then we went to the Norwood Fair (the second photo of the taffy pulling) with my brother and sister-in-law and our niece (the cuteness in the picture at the top!)
THEN we went to a cottage for the middle week with my parents. It was very rustic, very relaxing and very cold. Both Mark and I went swimming, we all went canoeing, I slept and read in nearly equal amounts, and we ate lots of barbequed food. Despite the body count (one mouse and one worm) it was a great few days!

It's strange to be back here again. Even though the flight was only 8 hours, we were traveling for more than 18. When I walked in, I couldn't rest. I needed to fuss and open the doors and windows and unpack. I always feel like our house shifts a little while we are away - like it begins to slide away from us - and I need to make a little noise and bustle to bring it back to us again. I always feel like things are in a different place from the way I left them. I can't explain it any better than that. I've forced myself up early this morning and it feels like it's all back in focus again now.

Sigh! So that's where I've been. I'm feeling quite jet-lagged still, but excited about our year ahead. On Thursday I turn 33!! In less than two months I will be back again for Christmas. A year from now lots of things are going to be different! When I turned 30, my friend Karen gave me a card that said that 30 was going to be MY year. I didn't believe her. But for some reason that card has been haunting me over the past few weeks. I hear it whispering at me. Yes. You know what? I think that maybe it's THIS year that will be MY year!

So how have YoU been???