Summa Summa Summatime...

I LOVE SUMMER! I wish I had one of those jobs that you got to take the summer off.. you know like a teacher.. or a person who owns a snowboarding shop.. Just to be  able to have the whole summer off to just lounge around and sit on a beach somewhere... (not that teachers really get to do that) Wouldn't that be great?!

Soo this past week I started a crazy diet... (well not crazy as in cut out all carbs or don't eat anything that has red food colouring--I don't think the food colouring one actually exists..) but one of those diets to balance out hormones and get your body in to the balance it's supposed to be in. Well it's hard.. like really hard.. it was only day 3 when I started craving some delicious chocolate.. or ice cream.. or cookies.. or candy.. really just anything that isn't good in the first place. So I thought I would put my diet out to the world.. I need to be held accountable and this I figured is one way for people I know to know that I am doing this and (maybe) keep me in check.. I think it helps to know that other people are watching what you do too! As I sit here eating my Spinich and Berry Salad with some sort of vinaigrette dressing I really am tempted to ditch the whole thing and buy a Big Mac.. or something else disgustingly unhealthy.

One other thing I am really wanting to try is the 30-day Shred.. with the trainer from the Biggest Loser (yeah she seems pretty hardcore). I bought the DVD the other day and I will be heading out those efforts probably today... because really you can only ever start things on a Monday. You know maybe that is why Monday is the most HATED day ever!

Well my life has been pretty busy and fun these past couple of months. I went to Vegas with my Mother-in-Law in May and had an awesome time spending way more money than I should and enjoying some much needed sunshine. Then June 15th I went to Arizona for the first time. I went down to see my sister and help her family pack up the house and also help her fly back to Calgary with her 4 kids. My BFF Brigitta came with me. (On a side note I went both of these places without Matt and he was a little more than a bit miffed)--I think my husband works too much. Arizona is hot! Seriously.. that's the hottest I have ever felt in my entire life.. I am pretty sure on multiple occasions I told my sister I was melting, literally. Arizona is also, not very pretty... I expected more. Maybe it's a different kind of pretty (a line my mom used to say to me when I would get discouraged as a teen by the beautiful people in the world that I could never live up to). I think I just didn't realize that it's really too hot for anything to grow without great help! It was a really good trip. It felt like years since I had been able to see my sister and talk to her for more than 5 minutes on the phone. I seriously suck at talking on the phone. It was really good to see her and her awesome family. They are back in Calgary and it makes me soo happy to have them close! 


I also made a very tough decision this past month. I quit working as a Dental Hygienist. I actually quite enjoyed cleaning teeth, it's the people that got me down. Ever since I was a teenager I had anxiety issues and going through school for Hygiene made them worse. The teachers were not always nice, you were terrified during every clinic that you were going to fail every single thing, and the teachers made it seem like 1 failure in any part was a huge deal! I had multiple occasions where I came to tears (really that's not a hard thing for me to do considering all my emotions are tied to my tear ducts-even anger). But I gave working a really good run. I tried for 2 years to enjoy what I had spent money, time, blood, sweat and tears on to no avail. So finally at the end of May I sat down with Matt and talked about it. This was probably one of the hardest things I have had to do so far in my life. I had to give up on this part of my life, and I am not a quitter! I felt like I was letting everyone that had supported me down. I felt like my parents would be disappointed and that my husband would be upset about the loss of income. It took a lot of guts for me but I finally decided to do it. If something makes you miserable, isn't it better to eliminate it if you can? Well I don't quite know what career I will be taking in the future, hopefully stay-at-home mom some day but until then I am working in an office (I think I'm pretty good at this) and trying to figure out what in life makes me happy. I wanted to write this in case my parents read my blog.
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Dear Mom & Dad, 

I want you guys to know that I love you! I appreciate how hard you had to work to put me through school. I am grateful for the support and help you gave me financially, emotionally and mentally. You were a great driving force in getting me through and I promise it didn't go to waste. I want to thank you for raising me with values that help to lead me to my wonderful husband. You showed me that I deserved to be treated right. I am so grateful that you raised me in a church that showed me the value of families. I am grateful to have you both and I look forward to getting to know you better as an adult (yikes.. I'm an adult). I hope you are not disappointed in my choice but I understand if you are. I love you very much and I am grateful to have you in my life.

Love, 

Emily

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Alright enough sappiness. I apologize for the randomness but such is life! Enjoy summertime! Get out there and soak up some sun for me!

Peace and blessins! Peace and blessins. 

(if you don't know what that is from you are missing out so click here)


Happy Monday (if there is such a thing!)

Emily

An Ode to Matt

Sooo I can't sleep. I have far too many things running through my brain. I attended (and am in the process of attending) a Dental Hygiene conference here in Calgary and it got me thinking about a lot of different things. It's been a while since I had to learn stuff.. I'm off topic.

So one thing I appreciated today was Matt. It was a really long day. I had a headache all day that turned in to a migraine (I hate it when that happens). Anyway when I got home my awesome husband took care of me, he went out and got me some Ben-Gay (which really helps with my shoulder tension), bought me a fruit tray (fruit is pretty much the only thing I can eat with a migraine) and got me some Pom (a drink I love..). Anyway that got me thinking. I don't show as much appreciation to him as I should. I was laying in bed trying to sleep and I just couldn't shake this feeling that I should write down my thoughts. So here we are.

Meet Matt. He is awesome. I will start by telling you Matt is a painter. Now I feel I need to make a case for this. A lot of times when I tell people this, they have a predisposed notion about painters (they are uneducated, when are they going to university to get a more professional job, they don't make a lot of money). This makes me mad. I'm not going to get in to that. 

Matt is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. A lot of people would love if work wasn't happening for a week or two due to weather or other factors (myself included). Matt goes stir crazy after just a day. If something needs to be done, he will do it. If he has to work seven, 10 hour days one week, he will (I can't say he loves these times but he is willing to what has to be done). I don't know many people that would take that on. He works so ridiculously hard and I appreciate it. I cannot say I have the same drive.

Matt is skilled at what he does. How many of us can say that we can paint a perfectly straight line between the wall and ceiling or even wall and baseboards without tape? Definitely not me... and not a whole lot of people I know. That takes skill. 

Alright, I love my husband. But I also have a huge amount of respect for him. I am grateful for his talent and skill along with his work ethic and drive. I don't think he hears me say that enough. So I am proclaiming it to the world. My husband is awesome. He's the best.  He's just right for me.

Just thought you all should know.

I am now going to crawl in to my nice warm bed and try to sleep. I apologize for  spelling mistakes, uninterpretable (that's a word right) sentences and confusing paragraph structure. It's late. I'm tired. I just had to get words down. Alright all you internet surfers. Goodnight! I hope you look at those who are most important to you and take time to let them know it. It's a great feeling to be appreciated.

Just a treat. He doesn't always look like this.

This is the Matt I  know and love.

Goodnight,

Emily

A Little Update

I know it's been a while and I am terrible at actually writing in my blog but here is an update on the past couple of months!

Alright in January we went on a cruise. Our first cruise (and probably last according to Matt). I thought it was awesome! We went to Universal Studios in Florida first and had an amazing time (Harry Potter World!!!!). The cruise left out of Florida and was a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas! Which was amazing! The weather was gorgeous and we had some awesome friends around. Oh the reason for our cruise? My friend Sandra was getting married! It was an amazing wedding in the Bahamas and she looked gorgeous! We got to know her hubby and he is a pretty great guy... (this makes me happy because Sandra is also pretty great). Soo the cruise was awesome.. not nearly long enough for me but also too structured for Matt (being on a boat and not able to leave.. also having to eat at a specific time --not really Matt's cup of tea).

On to February... Well February is a special month.. it's my birthday... it's also Valentine's day--a double whammy. So Matt planned an amazing birthday celebration for me and although 1 plan fell through he still made it an amazing day (last year on my birthday I had to work.. so that sucked... this day was 5000000000000000000x better). So he surprised me with Dinner at Joeys, then tickets to The Vow and then a visit to a hotel so it could be just us (we were still living at his parents). So that was my birthday/Valentines day, the rest of the month is a little bit of a blur. My family celebrated my birthday (the 14th) along with my little bro's birthday (on the 15th of February) at the Cheesecake Cafe and had an awesome dinner which Matt was too sick to attend sadly.. he seems to get sick a lot.

We moved in to a new apartment, we had been living with Matt's parents to try and save money for a house. After 6 months we decided we could probably wait a couple more years for a house and live in an apartment for a while. Really good choice. It's hard to not have your own space. We are really grateful for Matt's parents letting us live there though!

And now March.. Well the middle of February we moved.. March I unpacked (along with some help from my Mom) and Matt got sick.. for pretty much the whole Month. He had Bronchitis which (we think) turned into Pneumonia and then his lungs were inflamed.. he was on antibiotics twice and nothing seemed to work. I was making him take handfuls of pills a day trying to get rid of whatever the heck it was! Then one day.. it was just gone.. not sure what it was, not sure what cured it but still so very glad it's gone!

Lastly an April update. So I wanted to prank Matt on April Fool's day but I am not a very good pranker and totally forgot until the day of, which was a Sunday.. and apparently you can't prank after 12:00pm so I was too late.  Well we got a fish! His name is Scofield. For those of you who were not Prison Break fans.. Scofield was the main character in that TV series. He was also nicknamed Fish by the inmates as well as Pretty by one in particular (T-bag). Anyway Matt and I loved that show and it is available on Netflix, we got in to watching it a while back and when the opportunity came to name a pretty fish I thought of Scofield (pretty good right?). We were fairly worried about this little Scofield because he wouldn't eat. You see I thought he hated us. He would take the little piece of food in his mouth, chew for 2 seconds and spit it out! How frustrating! We thought "if we kill this fish, we can't ever have kids". Well it turns out he was getting used to the place and now eats like 5 of those little pebble things a day. He is a healthy happy fish and we love him!

Well that is pretty much it for life updates. Matt also started painting Condo's this month. He is in charge of a crew and has a lot of new responsibilities along with some definite perks! It's pretty great. He is amazing at what he does! Me.. I am still working as a hygienist as well as a administrator and for the most part I like it. Some days it is rough but it's pretty good.

Hopefully that update was sufficient and I apologize it's not more comedic. I wish I was a comedian but it seems I try to hard! I hope everyone is well! If you want leave me a note to let me know I am not just writing to myself!

Much love,

Emily

When Planning A Bachelorette Party.. Make Really Cool Invitations

Soo the creative genius in me has created some awesome things (just kidding I am not a creative genius) but I thought it would be cool to share my ideas. I have been planning a bachelorette party for my cousin the past couple of weeks and was trying to figure out what to do for it, what invites to make etc and I came up with these super cute invitations that I just have to share! So here are some pictures of the invites. I also figured I would share the other couple of things that I made from ideas on pintrest (a website that I love). I found an envelope tutorial and thought I would spice it up by using double sided paper.. that way the inside is as cool as the outside! One more item on the list of cool things to make was a canvas with paper hearts. I think it looks cool!

A few of the invites I made

One of my faves.

The inside of the invite

My Canvas

Envelopes with Double sided Paper

Soo just in case you are wondering how I made this awesome stuff I will tell you!

DIY Bachelorette Party Invites:

What you need:

12 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 paper -- should be colourful and ideally cardstock  (depending on how many you plan on making 1 sheet = 1 invite) 

12 sheets of 3 1/2 x 5 white cardstock

12 envelopes (approx 5 1/2 x 8 1/2)

A selection of ribbon

Scissors

Glue/Adhesive of some sort

A hole punch

Pencil

Black Pen

Ruler

Decorative scissors

Instructions:

1. Find the center of your piece of paper using the ruler and mark it with a pencil (you should be measuring the side that is 11")

2. Fold each end into the center of the piece of paper. You should have a piece of paper that now has a back and the front will have 2 flaps that open to reveal the middle.

3. Using your pencil mark out the shape of a corset (See the picture for what it should look like, it does not have to be perfect. The top is supposed to look like a heart and then on either side you mark out a curve of the body and leave a gap between the curve of the body and the downward curve (the downward curve goes somewhat in to a point but not quite)

4. Take the decorative scissors and cut along the top lines you have made (the bust of the invite)

5. Using normal scissors cut out the rest of the lines.

6. Using decorative scissors again cut out the very bottom (you never made a line here but it gives it a better look)

7. Using the pencil, mark out 5 spots to punch out with your hole punch. Make them line up on both sides of the front flaps. You will be making 10 punches total, 5 on each side of the invite.

8. Punch out your holes.

9. Take your white cardstock and write out the invitation details (you can also use a printer and then cut them to fit the invite)

10. Using your adhesive glue/stick the white cardstock in to the center of the invitation

11. Pick a colour of ribbon that matches or compliments your invitation paper. 

12. Cut out an approx. 20 inches of ribbon (I just measured by eye)

13. Thread the ribbon through the holes starting at the top as though you were threading shoelaces.

14. Tie the ribbon together at the bottom into a bow.

That's it for those! For envelopes I had some envelopes that were left over from wedding invites and they fit perfectly in those but you can always find envelopes at craft stores or card stores.

Love Canvas:

What you need:

Large Canvas (it's really up to you the size)

A supply of scrapbook paper

Scissors

Glue/Adhesive

Instructions:

1. Choose multiple kinds of scrapbook paper that work together colour-wise.

2. Cut out different shapes and sizes of hearts from each piece of paper

3. Place hearts on the canvas in a pattern that you like best

4. Glue each heart (one at a time making sure to put it back in the spot it was) on to the canvas.

That's it! It's really simply and looks pretty cool. If you wanted to add a bit more you could paint the canvas before adding the hearts and you can add letters that spell out whatever word you might like. I just used paper and cut out letters but you could use vinyl stickers as well!

Envelopes:

To get a tutorial for the envelopes visit the website:

Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

http://kelleighratzlaff.com/featured/free-envelope-template-and-a-tutorial/

These envelopes are darling and super easy!

Waterfalls

Alright so when we left off I was on my way with a group of boys to a beautiful place just outside of Calgary called Elbow Falls. When we got there we explored the area, took a bunch of pictures and just enjoyed the Falls. This is where I learned how fun Matt was (My husband Matt not my friend Matt, but my Matt was my friend, to lessen confusion we will call my friend La Chief which has kind of a funny story behind it). Matt and Mitch decided to go across the Falls (which I thought was crazy considering it was freezing!) but they had a blast, froze their feet and just laughed about it.

So that trip sold me on it. I wanted to go on a "real" date with Matt. Well a couple days (or maybe a week) later I got my chance. Now there is some background to this, Matt and I have a lot of people that are mutual friends and acquaintances. One of those friends happened to be awesome and had discussed with me who I liked in our Ward, what was going on in my life and a whole bunch of different things. Well he also had spoken with Matt and after a little bit of talking me up to Matt, I got a phone call. It was about 10:00 at night. It was Matt calling and wondering if I would like to go out to eat with him. I was ecstatic so of course I said yes regardless of the time and the fact I had to work in the morning.

So Matt comes to pick me up and we head off to Boston Pizza. Now when Matt had called I wasn't hungry but there was no way I was missing out on this opportunity so I told a little lie. I said of course I was hungry. So here we are sitting in Boston Pizza and the only thing I can even think about eating is a salad (typical of a snobby date that is watching her weight, which I btw was not) but I ate as much of that salad as I could and just had an amazing time talking to Matt and learning all about him.

On our way home we talked a bit more and listened to some great music. Matt dropped me off and before I left his car asked me out! A real date! Needless to say I was pretty pumped! So I got into my house and did what all silly girls do (at least I think they do) I jumped up and down and squealed. It would have been an embarrassing moment if anyone had caught it on film, luckily it was late and I squealed softly.

Our date was on Friday that week, well Matt and I went on our first non-date on a Tuesday (if I remember correctly). I didn't want to wait to see him and apparently he didn't want to wait either. So the next day he called me and we watched a movie, in fact every day up until Friday we did something.

So I am going to title this next section.

OUR FIRST DATE:
was awesome. The end.

Alright lets get real. Our first date was awesome but I will share some details. First off, I love Biology, this is important to note. I never told Matt I loved it, I just told him I thought it was really cool. So a couple days before our date I ask him what we are doing on our date and he will not tell me. So I don't know how to dress or how to prepare he just tells me he will pick me up at 5:32 or some strange time like that. So sure enough 5:32 he picks me up and I ask him where we are going.. still no use. So we finally arrive at our destination of the Calgary Science Center (cool right? I love Biology!). As we pull up he tells me that they are having an expedition called Body Worlds (I didn't tell him that I had seen it once before in Grade 11 and LOVED it). It was really cool, we went through all of the exhibits and saw some amazing things like a lamb that had only the blood vessels intact. It was a lamb shape and let you see how amazing the body is to provide blood to every area! I loved it! We then watched the movie at the end that was pretty cool but also kind of funny. We laughed through it and held hands. Then onward to our next location.

Matt took me to a Japanese Steak House (can you say expensive?? I mean dates don't have to be expensive to be fun but I was super impressed and knew he had to like me quite a bit to be willing to spend this much on me!) It was amazing, they cooked the food right in front of you and put on a little bit of a show with fire and food. It was great! I ate barely anything (It was 4 courses basically salad, soup, dinner and dessert) and spilled water all down the front of me which is a trait I believe I inherited from my Mother and have continued to do since that very first date.. Always spilling water on myself.

After the Japanese Steak House Matt and I went to a bonfire at Mitch's house where there were a bunch of people. We talked and had fun, watched a movie (It was a really long date clearly) and then it came time for Matt to take me home. Like a gentleman he walked me home gave me a hug goodnight and we went to our separate locations but not before I asked him if he was going to a party the next night and asked if he wanted to carpool. He did and with that it was time to hit the sack!

Alright the next couple months of dating are all a blur to me. We did something together every night basically. There was bungee jumping, eating out, movies, trips to Banff and a lot of talking. By the end of 2 weeks Matt had said I love you. It was out of the blue and completely unexpected but AMAZING. I was soo happy and felt the exact same way. By the end of 3 weeks we were talking about getting married. We didn't want to rush so we figured we would wait 2 months and then get engaged.

Crazy how fast things happen eh? (Throw in a little Canada for everyone)

The rest to come when I am done cleaning the house! (Or maybe a bit later...)

The blurry fadeaway...

Alright so where did we leave off? Oh yeah we left off a month ago with a blurry fade away. Well better late than never. So here goes.

Back in Jr. High I wasn't the most popular girl in the world although I am sure you already guessed that. I had a few close friends and we had a lot of fun. One of my friends [Megan] introduced me to a new student. He just happened to be a member of our church and had a few classes that were the same as mine but just at different times. So when I was leaving a class he was going in. I immediately developed a HUGE crush. I loved red-heads and what was even better was that he had an English accent! I was immediately head over heels. Needless to say countless sleepovers were spent discussing this cute new student [Matt] who had just moved from England.

As the days went on I finally got my chance to start hanging out with Matt. We became good friends and he asked me to go to our Grade 9 Graduation with him. I was ecstatic! It was a dream come true. We had a lot of fun, talked quite a bit [which was new for us even though we had become friends because believe it or not Matt was quite shy -- I know what you are thinking "Yeah right" but it's true really!]

After that night we talked a lot, hung out in a group quite a bit but nothing really happened. Then came Grade 10. Matt met Mitch [His best friend to this day] and things changed. We stopped hanging out in our group, I got new friends and so did he. We were still friends but not in the same way. At the end of Grade 10 my parents dropped a huge bomb on me. We were moving. Not just a little move, as there had been plenty of those in the past, but a huge move, almost to the opposite end of the Country. We were moving to Ontario, Guelph to be exact. My first thoughts "Guelph, what kind of a name is Guelph! It sounds awful!" and I held on to that thought all the way across the Country and for quite a few months after that.

So Guelph wasn't all that bad, I met some great people, made some great friends and became particularly good friends with one of the girls in my ward at church, actually we became BEST friends. She has stuck by my through thick and thin, but that is another story.. we are supposed to be talking about me and Matt!

Anyway quite a few years and boyfriends later I was finishing up College in London Ontario. I went to Fanshawe for Dental Hygiene and worked extremely hard to get good grades and Graduate on the President's Honour Role (I am a nerd, what can I say, granted English was not my best subject as I am sure you will notice). I finished up school and moved back to Guelph where my parents were still living and searched for a job. I didn't have to look long before my parents informed me that they were moving to BC (I of course was going with them, Ontario still wasn't home even after 6 years). I figured this move would get me at least a little closer to my true home, Alberta.

So on to the move, this wasn't a first or last for me. In the few short years we lived in Ontario I moved 3 times. Living in Calgary we moved 3 times as well, before that in Edmonton I can't even remember how many times we moved (but believe me it was a lot, I mean I moved twice in Grade 1!) Onward we went to the beautiful Kelowna, BC. It was gorgeous, summers were hot, the mountains were beautiful and I got to live at home rent free. Life was pretty good! But then came Winter. Now I don't mind the cold or the snow but the cloudy overcast, I mind! I hate not seeing the sun for months at a time, sure it keeps the city warmer but I would rather have the cold!

So I looked for a job in Kelowna and with no luck, I settled on a job working for Suzy Shier. It was retail and the pay was decent and it helped me have something to do in this small little town where I had zero friends. I slowly became friends with some Young Single Adults in our ward and I even dated a few boys but I still didn't love it and really didn't feel like I fit in. So after months of looking for work in my field and countless nights spent sitting at home I decided it was time for a move. I looked online for jobs in Alberta and found quite a few. It all seemed to be working out perfectly, I could live with my grandparents and transfer my job at Suzy Shier for a bit so that I still had income while I searched for a Dental Hygiene job. So there it was, after less than a year of living in B.C. I was moving.. again... But this time to the place I still considered home!

So I packed up my tiny little VW Golf as full as I could get it and my Dad drove me out in the middle of Winter to beautiful Calgary, Alberta. As soon as I got there it felt like home. I settled in to my Grandparents house and my job and continued my search for a Dental Hygiene job, after all that was why I moved here right? After months of searching for a job, making new friends and reuniting with old ones I met a boy. And not just any boy, a recent RM whom I had known since I was 14. He was just as cute as I remembered him and after only one unofficial date I was smitten. I thought about him all the time, I tried to be around him (I mean if he didn't like me too he would have considered me VERY clingy) I tried to play it as cool as I could but it was HARD!

Our first time hanging out was with a group of friends. I knew another guy named Matt and had been spending time with him because he was fun and we were friends and got along well. He invited me to go to Elbow falls with him, Matt Whiteley and Mitch (Matt's aforementioned best friend)

And that is it for now because I have A LOT to do! More to come in a bit! (Hopefully less than 1 month)

Forever can never be long enough for me, to feel like I've had long enough with you...

Our photos were taken by an amazing photographer Tanis Anderson.
http://www.tanisandersonphotography.com/

I know what you are all thinking.. her best friend? Really?? That is beyond cheesy! As much as I realize it is very cheesy I still truly believe it. Matt is my best friend. He loves my quirks and even understands me when I don't! I think that qualifies him as my best friend. Now on to this blog thing. I figured blogs are all the rage right? I should try one!

So here goes it. I thought I should start by telling how our story starts. Ready? Okay go! [blurry fade away moment] Now here we are standing in the hall of a [pretty much] brand new Jr. High School. Just let your imagination run wild! What on earth are we doing here?? (More to come when I finish work!)