Tuesday, 18 November 2014

Wow!! I need to do this more.

Hello everyone,

It's been a crazy few weeks here and I can't believe I haven't posted since September!  That is terrible.  There have been little boys with colds, Halloween, Remembrance Day and lots of regular days in between.

I talked in my last post about how I am trying to loose weight and get fitter, that has continued with a few interruptions because of sick munchkins. I started taking a Zumba class which I absolutely love but am going to have to find a new time because Thing 2 now has swimming lessons during the same time... that was a scheduling mistake on my part. I also had two sessions with a personal trainer who provided me with a couple of great programs so I am been doing a lot more strength training and about 30 minutes of cardio instead of up to an hour.  I can already feel the difference in my muscles and my trainer noticed a difference after six weeks. 

I said that I would post a before photo in the hopes of holding myself accountable.  So here it goes....
Left: On the treadmill after a hard 20 minute hill workout that I found on the Instragram feed for Livy Love.  Right: the dreaded before photo.
Hopefully I will be able to schedule a few more training sessions as I found it very helpful and motivating but the $64 price tag isn't great.

I have also been doing a lot of work trying to catch up on my Project Life.  I kind of have a love - hate relationship going with Project Life.  2014 is my first year doing it, I decided once we found out that we were moving that it would be neat to try.  I am finding that it takes up too much of my creative time and actually stresses me out.  I have decided that next year for sure I will just do a monthly highlight layout.  I am spending less time worrying about making it all embellished and just getting the photos and stories in.  I have completed up to October 4 which has me over the moon!  Only a month behind, if I can get all caught up I will be able to do traditional scrapbooking with all the kits I have piled up.  I can't wait!!!

Alright, time to Project Life for 30 minutes before off to get Thing 1 and take him to swimming lessons.

Hope you have a wonderful day!
Gwynn

Sunday, 14 September 2014

Hello!

Wow I can't believe it has been so long since my last post but then really so much has been happening here at my house that I definitely haven't made this a priority.  The times they are a changing!! If you have been following my blog (or my previous 3 posts..oops) you know that my family relocated this spring.  We are now an hour away from my in-laws and only two and half  hours including a ferry ride from my parents!! Love this after living more than 10 hours away by car for the past five and a half years.  We are loving our new home though there are lots of things that still need to get done.  The previous owners didn't show this house a lot of love which is sad really because it is a great house.  Unfortunately I am not that handy and my poor hubby works full time as well as working as a tutor for his professional organization.  Oh and he travels a LOT for work.  Needless to say our list of things to get done is slow going.  If the house is exactly how we want it within the next six months I will be pretty impressed with us.

With this move I have committed to staying home until our youngest son is in school which happens September 2015.  I was supposed to stay at home with the boys after we had AJ but I couldn't handle it.  I wasn't having fun and the boys definitely were not either.  I don't know if it was the age they were at or the place I was at in life but it just was not working.  I was lucky and found a great part time job after working as a casual full time for seven months. Now I have been home with the boys since March 1 and I LOVE it!  They are so much fun!

This was outside Telus World of Science in Vancouver in June.


As part of staying home I have made a commitment to myself to start exercising more, my goal is five days a week and trying to be more healthy in general including more home cooked meals and snacks.  I really want to cut out the crap out of our diets.  I have signed up for a gym and this coming week my goal is 4 days at the gym.  I am also thinking about trying my hand a baking bread.  I know the gym and fresh baked break don't really go together but I am going to try a whole wheat blend and see how I do.  I will share the recipe and results with you once I have done it.  I am also going to do something even scarier and share a before photo. 

The other big thing I have wanted to do for a long time and that was the original reason for starting this blog is to scrapbook MORE and share my work.  I love to scrapbook and know that there are millions of men and women out there that love to do it was well.  I may not been the best at it but I want to share.  Most of my time this summer has been spent trying to catch up with Project Life something that I started doing this year...hopefully I get all caught up once both boys are in a school and then I can get back to my first love of 12 x 12 full layouts.  I need to find balance in this area.

Okay, the before photo will come sometime this week after I get hubby to take a picture.  I will leave you with some fun photos from our summer!

Hope you have a wonderful day!
Gwynn

Statue garden at Coombs.


Tuesday, 22 April 2014

Good morning!
Things have been pretty quiet here for the past week just waiting out our moving dates. As a result I have had some time to scrapbook! I was inspired by Creative Scrappers sketch 265 so I thought I would give it a try.
I used my latest Memory Workshop and a couple of things like washi tape from my stash. (That I can find because most of it is packed.)

Hope you have a wonderful day!
Gwynn



Wednesday, 2 April 2014

Wow and the house is SOLD!

Well it has been a few months since I lasted posted and lots has happened.  We listed our house on December 1, 2013 and it was officially sold on March 31, 2014!  This is great because while down on the island for spring break and our "search and view" we found a house that while it isn't perfect will definitely work for us for the next few years. 


One of the things that was important to me during this process was to keep Thing 1 and Thing 2 really involved.  Thing 1 is in grade one and we know he has a hard time with transition.  We took them both to the new house and showed them where their rooms would be, checked out the cool backyard, there is a playhouse with bunk beds!!  We also drove around the neighbourhood showing them the places that we will regularly visit like the elementary school, local parks, grocery stores, daddy's office and the recreation center.

This year I decided to take the plunge into Project Life as it has been and will continue to be a year of big changes for us.  I feel like I am doing a pretty good job of keeping on top of things.  I picked up a a journal at Target and I sit down at the end of each week and document what happened.  I am also using the Collect App on my phone which has been a great reference point for me.  I might even send those photos off to Persnickety Prints at some point.

When Chris and I were out with the Realtor she printed off the property information sheet and then a few of the photos from the listing.  I thought it would be a neat idea to document the house search for Project Life and I think it came out pretty well.  Check out the photos below!

These are all of the 11 houses that we looked at, we loved #10 out of 11!

These are the inside photos from the printout we were provided with.  
I think this was a fun way to document the experience.

Hopefully I will get back to writing more frequently now that life seems to be coming together.

Have a wonderful day!!
Gwynn