5 on Friday: 5 things saving my life right now

I love this annual link up that Modern Mrs. Darcy hosts around this time every winter. I think I lean particularly towards cuddling up indoors during the Canadian winter months and I absolutely revert to comforting things to get me through to spring, summer (and my all-time favourite - FALL!).

Today I'm reflecting on 5 things that are really bringing small amounts of joy to my life during these winter months.

ONE

Connecting with others. 

I consider myself an introvert, but I probably really am an ambivert. I love connecting with my close friends, and it's harder to do that in the winter. If I've been replying to your instagram stories more lately than usual or e-mailing you or texting you, that's because I am seeking some chatter about books or life or something! I have a few plans to see some good friends in February and I already can't wait - it's so nice to be in the present of wonderful women and just catch up and laugh and share a glass of wine. I've made a special effort this month to send a few things in the mail to family and friends too and drop off a few easy birthday gifts to girlfriends. It's simple, but it has brought me so much joy to connect with these people. I have also made a couple of new friends and I am working to deepen those friendships! :) I have also been avidly reading blogs but I need to get caught up on commenting and replying to e-mails!!! That's my goal for tonight.

TWO

Sleepytime tea and a warm magic bag. 

I absolutely love curling up in a comfy chair with a cup of sleepytime (any herbal) tea before bed and with a magic bag to keep me warm. Our house isn't exactly cold - we keep the heat at 20 degrees most of the time with the heat pump, but this feels so cozy and nice :)

THREE

Yoga.

This is helping my neck pain and posture so much - I did quite a few of the Yoga with Adriene videos in January as well as my regular class on Monday nights. Yoga is the best.

FOUR

Fresh Air.

I tend to prefer the indoors in the winter months but we have had some lovely days with fun snow this year and I have had more time to be outside with the kids (or on my own). It has remarkably cleared my head on more than one occasion and dare I say I have actually enjoyed being outside in the snow more than usual?? Overall we have had a somewhat milder winter (in my opinion) than other years, so maybe this has helped??

FIVE

Romantic Comedies. 

Both in book format and movies that I hadn't seen in years. My husband has a poker night with friends every second Friday and for some reason I have considered those nights to be prime time to have a mindless movie on in the background and get a few things done on the computer or whatever. It's kind of a nice routine. I am also thinking of starting This is Us (I've only ever seen the first episode) which is huge because I literally never watch TV anymore. I read 2 books by Penny Reid in January and 3 books by R.S. Grey - both of these self-published authors are pretty funny and the books are a fun way for me to pass the time. Not for everyone - and not for me all the time- but kinda fun nonetheless.

Honourable mentions: Audiobooks, and wonderful children's chapter books. The audiobooks have gotten me through the January organize-the-house bug I caught and the chapter books are SO fun to curl up with and enjoy with the whole family every night before bed. We've had a few GREAT ones lately that are not about fairies (bonus, in my opinion).

What's saving your life lately? Big or little - it's fun to think about!!!

5 Thoughts on 5 Years of Marriage

Today marks our 5th wedding anniversary. On one hand, I feel like it has really flown by. On the other hand, a lot has happened since that day, and I feel that too. The thing that I know for sure is that I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

Here are a few reflections on our first 5 years as a married couple. A lot of these pertain to our own relationship with two young children. We had Molly before we were married so we don't know any differently, but a lot of these have a slight undertone about children :)

1) Your relationship is yours, and yours alone. 

I know all about the saying Comparison is the thief of joy and I absolutely try to put this into practice in my own life, but I definitely fail sometimes. I have met couples over my lifetime and thought, "wow, why isn't that me and Brian? They always seem so happy and we were just arguing on the way over here!" I've also spent plenty of time thinking that all happy couples go to bed at the same time every night (we often don't) and have a date night once a week (we should try to do this more) or do everything together (this just isn't us). When it comes down to it, we are happy doing what we're doing. We strive to be partners in parenting. We involve each other in all of our exciting, mundane, interesting, silly moments and big life decisions. Just because one thing makes someone else happy doesn't mean that it's what we need to be doing. I've realized this a lot over the past year or so and it has improved our lives considerably (Brian is very much a "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" kind of person).

2) Learning more about your partner's love language, personality, and life goals can be quite eye-opening. 

I love learning about stuff like this because my background is in psychology and I enjoy self-help type books. Brian is an engineer and couldn't care less about this stuff, but he does answer my questionnaires and I share things with him. We recently came across a house listing (even though we're not planning to move anytime soon) that Brian told me was his DREAM HOME. Problem: It was not even CLOSE to being my dream home. This was hilarious because we are both going to have to make some compromises down the road, but it just taught me that there is something new for me to learn about my husband all the time. Even though we have very different personalities, learning a bit more about this stuff has helped us to understand each other a little bit better, and isn't that the point?

3) Even though Brian is a top priority in my life, he may not always be the most immediate priority. 

If I ever have any news to share or need advice, Brian is the person I turn to first (my parents are a close second :P). He is absolutely the most important person in my life aside from myself (because if you don't look out for yourself, who's going to?!). However, on the many nights of feeding and rocking a new baby over the past 5ish years, there were other things that I needed to do. Likewise, there were times when I could have spent extra time with him after the kids went to bed but I needed alone time to recharge and relax. We spent ~40 minutes of quality time in the car everyday talking about anything under the sun, so sometimes I feel okay if we do our own thing in the evenings. However, he does need to be made a priority sometimes, obviously, and that's what this weekend is about :)

4) When things get too busy, it's important to take some time together. 

We are going away this weekend for this first time in a LONG time and I can't wait. We need this time alone together to just relax and enjoy each other's company during the time of day when we are not exhausted (i.e. evenings). We are blessed to have both of our parents nearby who are happy to watch our children on a regular basis so we do date nights about once a month, but it's very easy to do date nights at home too and sometimes we just relax with a few board games and a glass of wine and that's enough.

5) Having close friendships with other couples is wonderful. 

Growing up, my parents had quite a few wonderful couple friends, most of whom we knew quite well and whose children I am still close with. I can't speak for my parents, but I know that in my own life, it is AMAZING for us to have couple friends who we can turn to and lean on and learn from. I remember something the priest mentioned on our wedding day about all of the people who were present to support us in our marriage, and we have been abundantly blessed with fantastic role models and other couples who are a testament to the love that surrounds us.

What do you think? Do any of these ring true in your own marriage? I'm always interested to hear other's thoughts on these things because I definitely know I am NOT an expert at any of this!!!

Happy anniversary Brian! Can't wait to relax and celebrate this weekend.

5 on Friday

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but I am looking forward to some down time this weekend. I think my kids just need some time to explore their toys again, although we will probably venture out a bit if it ever stops raining :) Rain makes great reading weather though, so we will probably curl up with some books and we might even watch Trolls for the 50th time or something...who knows??

Here are 5 very random thoughts on my mind this week!

ONE

My sister-in-law's wedding last weekend was WONDERFUL and we had such a great time. I hope to be able to share more of it soon. The girls did really well, especially staying up so late and being well behaved during the ceremony/speeches. It really helped that they were bribed with a trip to the playground (at the wedding venue!) between ceremony and dinner and it was also nice that some of their cousins were around to play with :) I will say that it took us a few days to recover from being tired, but it's all good!!!

TWO

Over the long weekend, we got to see SO many different groups of friends (and family at the wedding, of course), and my heart felt so full. Many of these people were friends we don't see nearly often enough and it reminded me to really make the effort, especially now that our girls are older and more flexible during the day (i.e., no naps). It was also great that one of the people we saw was our friends' new baby girl (SO ADORABLE and special!!!). 

THREE

We are SO stoked for summer in our house. We bought a new tent this week and this will be our first summer camping with the girls. Can't wait. Side note - is camping one of those things that sounds super fun but then is actually a lot of work? Yes, yes, it is, but we still can't wait. We have a few weekends planned already, and Brian asked me this morning if we can go sooner rather than later so we might end up in a campground (or the backyard) in the next week or two! haha.

FOUR

A few links:

• how awesome does this book clamp look? 
• I love it when Jenn talks about Gretchen Rubin. Her new book comes out in September! 
• I love MMD's summer reading guide and look forward to it every year. Janssen's is also great though!! 
• This chicken sounds delicious!! I'm going to try it soon. 

FIVE

My next 10K is in a month! I've really started to get back to running and yoga more consistently, but I need to put a bigger push on. I had a terrible race at this event last year due to lack of training, extreme heat, and a wedding the night before the race...I am determined to do better at it this year!!!

What are you up to this weekend?! 

5 on Fri-YAY

I have a few posts I've been working on this week and I'm hoping to share next week, but I feel like today is a great day to share some random thoughts in list form. We'll make it 5 thoughts because it's Friday. Happy weekend, everyone!

1) Has anyone watched Me Before You? I have the dvd from the library and I am looking forward to it but I KNOW it will be sad (having read the book), and I'm wondering if I should make my husband sit through it with me or watch it alone tonight. The book made me sob, for what it's worth. 

2) We have been battling the stomach flu that ends in a massive congested cold in our house, but I'm HOPING we are all starting to get our health back this weekend. The last two nights I've resorted to the cold sock treatment - don't knock it til you try it! It sounds super weird but for some reason it really works. I love finding natural remedies.

3) My reading is totally scattered all over the place right now I have 3 books on the go, two of which are for Erin's challenge, but I'm antsy even to get into something else. I'm not sure if being tired is just not allowing me to turn to books the way I normally would, or if I just need to read something more enticing, but I'm hoping to resolve it this weekend and finish up Valley of the Moon. Reading shouldn't be stressful and I was feeling pressured to finish some great library books before they are due on Monday and then I realized - so what if I have to return them unread? No big deal. They will always be there another time. 

4) I like to save links on Facebook, Feedly, and in my e-mail drafts. I will sometimes use Pinterest or Pocket for these, but any blog post or article I see shared ends up in an infinite abyss that I can never find again. Any tips for keeping all of these in one place? I'm thinking of labeling my e-mail drafts better. I like saving these things in my gmail because I find them so easy to search for again. Thoughts?

Anyway, I found a few fun articles that I enjoyed 4 years ago in an old e-mail drafts folder. 

Feeling stuck: a fun exercise that might change your life

The Happiest Facts of All Time 

45 Quotes from Literature that will actually change your life

How to get smarter

5) I can't wait to spend the weekend reading, colouring, and doing crafts with my two favourite little buddies:

Happy Friday!!!

Friday Favourites/Five on Friday :)

It's been awhile since I linked up on a Friday, but this seems like a good way to blurt out some thoughts today!!! Linking up with Amanda (Meet at the Barre) for Friday Favourites and April for 5 on Friday!

ONE 
Happy birthday to one of my favourite bloggers KRISTEN today!! She has a fun post over on her blog. Hope you have a great birthday, friend!!!

TWO
Happy Valentine's Day weekend!! We don't do too much to celebrate but we will be seeing some good friends and also most of my mom's family this weekend so that will be pretty fun :) We also have a holiday on Monday so that will be nice to have Brian home :) Here is a list of 10 great romantic reads for Valentine's Day. Check out Alexandra's post about Valentine's Day "around the world" themed dates, too!

source

THREE
I made these waffles this morning & the kids gobbled them right up! They were a nice chocolate treat and they weren't too sweet!

FOUR
I registered Molly for primary (kindergarten aka regular school) today. AHHHH. How do kids grow so fast?!?!

FIVE
A few fun links from this week:
This post on marriage is funny.
A great decluttering project.
8 brillliant books that are impossible to put down
Some great advice for mindfulness when you're feeling overwhelmed.

Hope you all have a great weekend, and a very happy and love-filled Valentine's Day!!

5 on Friday//Friday Favourites

I am still in disbelief that it is already December 4!! I just dug out our Advent Calendar & some decorations for Molly to play with last night, but we are doing full-out decorations and getting our tree this weekend, so maybe that will make things a bit hollier and jollier around our house. Time is just slipping away and Christmas will be here so soon!

Here are some of my favourites this week:

ONE -- my little Christmas kids!! <3

TWO -- Christmas cookie exchange tonight!! I am so looking forward to meeting some new moms from my area & playing a few Christmas games. I baked The Pioneer Woman's gingerbread cookies for the occasion :)

THREE -- This yoga sequence below before bed and this GREAT free guide to beginners strength training a la IIFYM.

FOUR -- I love this list of Christmas book recommendations for children...Janssen's 2014 list is also awesome and we have enjoyed many of the books in the past few weeks including these two absolute favourites:

FIVE -- This made me LOL. I can totally see my husband doing this to me sometime, haha. 

Any fun plans for the weekend? Any fun current reads? I am starting on All The Light We Cannot See tonight - can't wait to share some of my recent favourite books on Tuesday with Steph & Jana!!

5 on Good Friday!!!

I've missed 5 on Friday link ups lately, but today I'm back for it!! Although people probably won't really be reading blogs on the holiday, I still have some things to say, so why not post? I am also joining my fun blog buddy Amanda (Meet @ The Barre) for her first Friday Favourites link up today - so I'll be posting 5 of my favourites :) I have loved reading Amanda's Friday Favourites posts for months now, so I think her link up is a great idea!!! AND check out how cute the link up button is! :)

ONE - Favourite Funny

This picture basically sums up my life these days (and made me laugh out loud because it is SO true).

VIA

TWO - Favourite Festive (Easter) Recipe

Molly and I are making bird's nests with mini eggs this morning to bring to "Fish Cake Friday" which some of our friends host every Good Friday. Here's a link to the recipe we followed and a picture of our nests in the freezer setting right now:

THREE - Favourite post-baby purchase

Brian's parents bought us an Ergo baby carrier to use with Lucy. They had offered to buy it before she was born and we went and got it last week after I could try it out a bit in the store. We decided when I was pregnant that we weren't going to invest in a double stroller because we have a double jogging bike trailer/stroller to use when Lucy is a bit older. So for now, I will put Molly in her stroller and walk with Lucy in the carrier (and we'll see how this goes). We went for a short walk the other day to the playground and it was GREAT. The carrier is extremely comfortable, and Lucy slept all snuggled up the whole time. It really frees up my hands to help with Molly too. The only thing is that it kind of reminds me of being pregnant again with the belly ;)

I've also used it a bit around the house to cook breakfast etc. when Lucy is fussy and Molly needs to eat ASAP. Definitely a worthwhile purchase :)

Here's the one we got:

FOUR - Favourite TV lately

We are still pretty hooked on Homeland, although I haven't been able to stay up past about 8:30 lately to watch it with Brian. We finally caught up a bit last night because Lucy was feeding so I couldn't go to bed right after Molly (lol)....we just started Season 2. Honestly, the show just sucks you right in. I really like it.

FIVE - Favourite spring music

Molly and I (and Lucy) have been listening to music to make the days inside go by a bit faster. I will probably bring music out to the backyard when we start venturing out there more too. Often, I am a bit stuck listening to toddler music but here are a couple of songs that make me happy:


 

Happy Easter, everyone!!! We can't wait for this weekend. The Fish Cake Friday event tonight will be a great chance to see a lot of our friends, then we are having Easter dinner (turkey) with Brian's family tomorrow, and egg hunting with Molly on Sunday! Brian had to go into work today, so he is taking Monday off and I am looking forward to having a NAP! lol :)

xoxo

5 on Fabulous Friday

Hi everyone!!

I haven't really had the energy or spare time to post on the blog much this week, even though I have a LOT of posts half-written or planned out. I had an incredibly busy last week at work, and then busy times with Molly, a crazy snowstorm on Wednesday (Brian and I both worked from home WITH Molly - busy day), and a lot of sleepless nights due to the baby belly!!  Anyway...today is my last day at work (phew) and after today, I am really going to start pushing for natural labour induction!! (i.e. lots of walking, some spicy food ;), squats/bouncing on the exercise ball, and stair walking!). I'd like to go into labour on my own and have the baby around 40 weeks rather than go too long overdue (says EVERY very pregnant woman EVER). :)

Our current chalkboard message at home :)

I also just wanted to say that I really appreciate everyone's kind thoughts and messages lately as I near the end of this pregnancy - I love the support of the blogworld and I can't wait to share our news with everyone soon! :)

Here are my 5 on this lovely Friday:

ONE

Last poorly edited elevator selfie ever - 39 weeks and new haircut!

TWO

My boss brought us all back these little decorations from Africa this week, which I showed to Molly and she decided it was a hat. She cracks me up.

THREE

I discovered The Piano Guys on Youtube this week and love their videos! I love cello & piano, but the videos too are just really epic - a grand piano on top of a mountain type thing!! Pretty entertaining if you're into stuff like that :) Here's one example:



FOUR

Brian and I used to watch Jeopardy almost every night when Molly was a baby or even before that. I loved it but we obviously got out of the habit once we got a bit busier tending to a 2 year old. We started watching it again semi-regularly and now I find it a nice way to hang out - so I'm thinking I need this Jeopardy app for my phone. I *love* trivia :) We also have Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune for the Wii, which we used to play all the time.

FIVE

This pin made me laugh this week :)

(Via)

Have a great weekend, blog world!! :) Here's what I'm listening to this Friday!!



Linking up here and here today.

5 on a long-awaited Friday!!!

It's been a busy week with a few poor nights of sleep, but I guess that's my body just prepping for April! lol. I am so happy to see Friday :) I even noticed this morning that there seems to be a bit of spring in everyone's step. It's not super warm out, but it feels better than it has. Brian said this morning that he feels more rested and like himself than he has in weeks (I'm not really sure why he feels this way but good for him!) haha. I'm joining the usual Friday link-ups today here and here.

And here's a picture of Molly and puppy from this week to get things started ;)

ONE

I LOVED the Veronica Mars movie. If you haven't heard about how it was funded, check it out here...it was all through a Kickstarter campaign that was completely fan-supported. I am not under any illusion that the movie was award winning or anything like that, but it tied up a lot of loose ends from the show, it made me laugh, and I loved seeing all the characters again. It's a fun TV series that I could watch again and still enjoy. I also love the strong female lead and Kristen Bell totally fits the role of Veronica Mars to a T. There were also some funny cameos including Dax Shepard (Kristen Bell's IRL husband), and James Franco as himself. I am definitely going to watch the whole series again someday and the movie too - it was available for download on the day it came out in theatres!!

PS - Overall, I was happy with the ending, but I don't want to add any spoilers here!

We had planned to see Divergent this weekend in theatres, but I think we're going to let that go and just see it sometime after the baby is born. No huge rush...loved the book, looking forward to the movie, but just not up for another "opening weekend" movie event.

TWO

If you've never heard of PinterestFail, you are missing out. Basically, people post pictures of things that they pinned and they try themselves. Usually their version will say "Nailed it!" but it looks completely different, or very funny. This one here is a favourite of mine, hahaha. I've had this experience before myself...and I think here is my own Pinterest fail from this week:

Left is from Pinterest, right is two of our best attempts

Here are a few of the other shots that Brian (engineer, not photographer <3) captured of Molly and me and the baby:

Haha.  A few of them are a bit creepy and weird angles, and these have all been a bit edited, but overall, you get the gist. I don't know why I decided to take these after one of the longest workdays of my life...but I just wanted to get them before the baby arrives!! And Molly is pretty photogenic ;)

THREE

It's Burger Week in Halifax so 50 restaurants are selling burgers for $5 or more and some of the proceeds go to Feed Nova Scotia. So a few co-workers and I are getting burgers for lunch today...yum! Can't wait!

FOUR

I can't believe that we will have a new little life in this world in 3 weeks or less (they are letting me go about 1 week overdue MAX). I am so excited, a little bit anxious, but mostly very, very excited. The funny thing is that I am trying to keep our house clean "in case" I go into labour unexpectedly, but it is next to impossible with a little 2 year old on the loose!!! I guess I'll just have to do some cleaning when we come home from the hospital - or leave it to my mom when she visits in April ;)

Not the best selfie but this is today :)

I'm also bouncing on the exercise ball as much as possible, at work and at home...so let's move things along that way!! ;)

FIVE

Can't wait for the weekend...ours is going to include a playdate with Molly's future St FX boyfriend, a housewarming party tonight for an hour or so, watching Frozen and having popcorn with my little munchkin (we'll see if she lasts the whole movie at home), final hospital bag packing and some R&R!! :) One more week of work!!

Have a great weekend, everyone!!!

5 on Friday :)

Hope everyone survived the week!! It was another snowy one in Halifax, but I realized today that spring is just one month away!!! Can't wait!!

I'm linking up today with the 5 on Friday girls...Check out the other posts with Darci, April, Christina and Natasha!

--ONE--

Go Team Canada!! 
We had a nail-biting game against the US Women in hockey yesterday, and today's should be the same for Canada vs. US in Men's hockey. Overall, I am so proud of how my country is doing at these Olympics though! I'm not sure if we will get the same number of medals as we did in Vancouver, but I think our athletes are excelling and some lesser-known players achieved great things!! I really think we need to medal in men's hockey though...just a personal opinion. :) My hubby is considering taking the afternoon off work to watch the game today...haha I might just do the same ;) Day date?! I could get on board with that.

I think this picture on Twitter sums up our feelings about today, but I'd rather the men make it a little bit less stressful for us than the women did yesterday:

(Via)

--TWO--

I am seriously considering adopting the no-shampoo method sometime this spring/summer. I don't feel like I can try it yet, because I know my hair is going to go through some crazy changes after I have the baby, but I am pretty intrigued by it. I've read a lot on Amanda's blog about her experience with it, and although my hair is really OK right now, I definitely think it could be fuller and healthier. I have always steered away from trying this because I am scared of the transition phase, but I'm thinking that if I give it a go while I am on maternity leave, it won't be as big of a deal to have gross hair for a week or 2 (I will be spending time mostly with a 2 year old and a newborn who don't care how my hair looks!). Has anyone tried it? I'm going to look into it more, but I am really very interested in the method. In case you aren't familiar with it, you basically "wash" your hair with a baking soda mixture/vinegar rinse every 4-5 days, and the natural oils take care of the rest. It's very interesting :)

--THREE--

Molly had her first dentist appointment this week and she was so good! When it came time to pick out a "prize" at the end, she OF COURSE picked a bouncy ball out of all the toys. She actually wanted to take about 6 things home (she's a bit of a hoarder), but settled on a ball (we only have about 500 balls at home - no big deal, haha).Our new dentist also has a TV screen on the ceiling for kids (and adults) to watch while they are getting their teeth cleaned. Unfortunately, no Bubble Guppies, and we (apparently) have very little interest in My Little Pony, so Molly was still very squirmy but she did well!!

Having fun :)

--FOUR--

I found this Buzzfeed list about 30 things everyone does that you'd never realized and it made me laugh. I don't do all of these things, but Brian does A LOT of them, and it is funny to realize that we are all alike in some ways!!

I also saw this list on Pinterest this week and it totally cracked me up. The things that make toddlers cry or throw tantrums are hilarious and I can completely relate this photo roll to the random events that make Molly melt down sometimes.

--FIVE--

Molly had her supper one night this week in a muffin tin. I used to do this for her all the time, and it's great because now she is old enough to understand that she has to try at least one food item from each cup. There are tons of ideas for muffin tin meals here on this blog (a resource I had totally forgotten about!). This one wasn't my most creative muffin tin, but it is oranges, whole grain spaghetti, strawberries, and meatballs :)

The baby bump appears in this pic too - so I didn't edit it! haha

Hope everyone has a great weekend - any fun plans?? We are getting together with both of our families, which will be nice, and it's supposed to go up to 6 and 7 degrees Saturday/Sunday, which Brian considers to be "t-shirt weather" (haha!) so I'm thinking we will do something outside!!

Linking up with Whitney this week too...here's another Canadian song for our hockey men today!!!

Bloglovin' // Twitter // Instagram // Pinterest

5 on Olympic Friday!!

It's the time of the week that everyone loves...the day that your Bloglovin' feed is full of fun lists of 5 things! Check out the other posts here with Darci, April, Christina and Natasha!

{ONE}
Today is my baby brother's 24th birthday. I won't be anywhere near him to celebrate (Him = Calgary, me = Halifax, 6 hour flight & 3 time zones), but I'm definitely thinking of him! I can still remember when he was born and he was also the cutest baby ever (until Molly came around, that is! ;) j/k). He is a wonderful person, and I am so glad he is in my life. Hopefully he's coming out to visit us in NS this summer, because I haven't seen him in a YEAR now!

Excuse the blurry scanned picture from 1990!

{TWO}
Today is also the start of the Olympics in Sochi! We are going to have a nearly impossible time watching events live because Sochi is 8 hours ahead of Halifax, but I still can't wait to watch some hockey (of course!) and figure skating. Here's the official CBC link for Olympic updates (Canada based), but I think I'll be following along on Twitter instead. Go Canada Go!! Here's me cheering for Team Canada in 2010 :)

The little guy on my shoulder is Quatchi and he was one of the mascots (in case you were wondering ;))

{THREE}
I know I'm not the only one out there who loves Google, and I really like the Google doodles that teach you a little something about someone. Google ran a contest this year in Canada in which kids drew a doodle and the winner will have their Doodle posted for a day (along with other cool prizes). If you're in Canada (or maybe in the US, not sure!), you can go HERE to vote until Feb. 14; they have been narrowed down to the Top 5! There are also awesome descriptions about the invention that each Doodle represents...they made me smile :) I like this one best:

(Via)

Speaking of Google and the Olympics, check out Google's Doodle today, which also encompasses a few lines from the Olympic Charter and another reason to love Google - they are showing their support for all athletes, straight or gay, etc. etc. 

"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." –Olympic Charter

{FOUR}
On this weekend in 2013, we moved into our house!!! It's hard to believe we have been living here for a year! Here's a funny picture of what happened to one of our (two) sheds on our first night that we slept in our house (note: it was during a blizzard!):

It wasn't really funny at the time, but it sure is now!

{FIVE}
In our house, we have all been battling a bit of sickness (of varying types/degrees) this past week, including the dreaded MAN-COLD which caused hubby to actually take a sick day today. Because of this, I am going to be pumping THIS concoction into all 3 of us to curb the coughing this weekend (posted by Kathy at Vodka and Soda- a hilarious fellow Canadian). I also highly recommend using a Neti-pot if you find yourself sick and you're looking for a natural solution...definitely clears the sinuses :)

Exact words (mostly) from Kathy's blog post

And finally...I'm linking up with the wonderful Whitney because it's Friday funday!! Here's what's in my head this week...a little Joel Plaskett (from Halifax) because my hubby and I both love this song and it's an upbeat one for the weekend!!

Friday's 5!

Linking up as always today! Thanks for the link-up Darci, April, Christina and Natasha!

{ONE}

Molly has a bunch of stuffed animals that sleep with her (she really only requires about 3 when we are not home though). We've started calling them her "posse" and now she calls them her posse too. It's pretty funny and really cute. Her favourite this week is a Cabbage Patch kid that she thinks is Oona from the Bubble Guppies (her favourite show).

Here's Molly doing some cooking in her kitchen for her "Oona":

and here's the real Oona:

(Via)

{TWO}

I have been CRAVING breakfast food this week. Yum. I had a bowl of cereal in the middle of the day yesterday and then we had homemade breakfast sandwiches for supper last night. Yum yum yum. Fruit is my best friend these days too and I've had a fruit smoothie every day for at least a week.

Brian was confused about having a breakfast sandwich for supper with a side salad...haha I just said "don't ask!"

 {THREE}

My pregnancy hormones are a bit through the roof this week, and I chalk it up to being sick one day and being generally overtired. I sent this amusing article to my husband to make him feel less alone in the battle of being married to a pregnant woman ;).

{FOUR}

We're catching up on How I Met Your Mother Season 9 this week. I'm still not sold on it being all on the same day/weekend, but I want to know what happens with the mother so I'll stick with it!!!

{FIVE}

This post really made me think about what matters in a marriage. I can't imagine her not being annoyed with a room that hasn't been painted in months because I would lose my mind. It also made me want a self massaging chair!!!

Also linking up with Whitney to start the weekend off with a fun acoustic version of one of my favourite tunes!!




Happy weekend, everyone!! We are having one of my cousins and her husband and baby tonight for supper (possible new recipe to share if it turns out well!), then having another play date tomorrow afternoon. I also have some nesting and home organizing to do :)