Week 23 and a half

This blog post is about nothing and everything, so I couldn't think of a title for it, lol. So here's what happened in my photo/scrappy life at the end of week 23 and the beginning of week 24 of this week.

I'm really just here to show you my P52 photo and some recent layouts for my CTs.

I'll start with P52:

The prompt was "in your closet". There are a good amount of closets in our house, and they are all in varying states of mess. The thought of showing my mess here was not appealing, a mixture of shame and despair, lol.

But last week was a very important week for us as it saw the arrival of our new dog. He is an autisme service dog for our son and I spent most of the week training of handling him. As a result, I did take a moment last week to reorganize one of the big messy drawers in my kitchen to store all his things. So instead of all the messy closets, I will show the newly organized drawer :D

It looks pretty good and organized, right?

It used to have a huge mess of random bags of various sizes, shapes and colours that I was keeping "just in case", added to grocery bags, random camping stuff and the old dog things we had from our previous puppies.

I purged the bags and put them all in the biggest one and I put all the grocery bags in the pouch for Provence made for that! Then I stored all the food items for the pooch in the little plastic bin, because he's a lab therefore always hungry and knows how to open drawers, and I put all the grooming tools and products, toys and various travel items on the other side of the bin.

I love a well organized drawer!

(now let's see how long it stays that way...)

On to scrapping :D

Lately, I feel like I have no time to scrap and my schedule is crazy; I feel like each layout takes days (seeing the kit and planning on scrapping, choosing a photo, downloading and unzipping, then actually opening the software and doing it really does seem to happen over at least a few days). But when it comes down to it, I am scrapping my memories and I have a nice spread for you today :D

First, my desktop for the month:

 Credits: Monster Party kit and the Bits of Yesterday templates by Jen Yurko

Then more of our xmas vacation.

A day at Blizzard Beach for a template challenge at Mousescrappers:

 Credits: Summer at the Lake by Jen Yurko and Valarie Ostrom Designs and a template by Keystone Scraps

And the Canada Pavilion at Epcot:

Credits: Everyday June Bundle by Designs by Jen Yurko (lift of a page by nenner1)

And a quick simple page of the first cuddle with our new dog:

Credit: An Adoption Story by Artgal Style and the Super Chunk font by Jen Yurko

You are my sunshine!

Last week was crazy...

I had to get a bunch of things ready, I worked Thursday, I had a BBQ for the opening of the playground at my son's "school" Friday, then we had a surprise 60th birthday party Saturday for my sweet mother-in-law and that same evening, we were getting our new dog!

It all went well and fairly smoothly, though.

My MIL was really surprised and happy, which is always great, and despite being delayed by an accident on the highway, our doggie got to us in the evening (he was driven here from 900km away!).

Sunday was spent getting to know each other and bonding. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful so we took a walk, and hubby took Cédric for a ride and to visit his grand-parents so the puppy could get used to the house without the constant movement and noise our little dude creates!

No scrapping was done last week whatsoever as a result of all this, but I did take my P52 photo :D

The prompt was "sunshine", so of course, the sun went away for the first 3 days and the sky stayed cloudy.

First chance I got, I took a quick photo of the sky. It was a very bright sun, so I lifted the camera, closed my eyes and snapped it. It's not an ugly picture, it has the sun and clouds and it looks fine:

But then I had a brain wave. It happens, it's rare, but it happens :D

As I've said before, I like the photo to really represent our week. And last week had some sunshine, but not as much as the week before. The BBQ was actually really sunny and beautiful, so that would have worked too. But most important last week, we were getting a doggie. And my brain wave was that our doggie is a yellow lab (a fox red lab, to be precise), so he's sun coloured. And because of that, I agreed to the name Hubby wanted for him which is Helio, and Helio comes from the greek "helios" which means "sun". So on a sunny Sunday walk, here  laid our new "sunshine":

Isn't he the most gorgeous, happy looking dog?

Camera phone

We had a beautiful week-end. We pretty much skipped spring and went straight to summer, with temperatures in the mid 20s celsius and a beautiful sun!

So we've been taking rides and walks and spending a little time on the deck.

Went we built our house, I made sure there would be lots of windows in the open-concept main floor, adding a high window in the south wall and choosing a windowed front door. All that to say that the lighting was great for my photo of last week's P52!

The prompt for last week was "camera". I used to have a cute point and shoot that was small enough to carry around easily and did everything I wanted. Then I lost it... and my awesome hubby got me a new one (summer 2012) which did the same things and more.

Then, still awesome hubby got me a iPhone. I had been using a cheap flip phone, and as I didn't work, there had been no strong reason for me to have a smart phone. But everyone else had one and I guess he could tell I's like one too. It has been amazing for me.

Of course, I waste a lot of time playing silly games. But the Calendar app has changed  my life, I use the Notes app everyday for my lists of things to do, hubby and I text instead of calling (which is easier and more efficient for him), I use the Clock app for potty training our son, I use the Music app and the Podcasts app to listen to audio books and podcasts while I clean and cook, and the reason that led me to tell you all this, I use the Camera app to take photos of our everyday!

And that camera is so good, it takes better photos than my point and shoot did. For someone like me who knows nothing of photography, it is absolutely perfect:

- I always have it with me,

- I can transfer, email, facebook, ... my photos,

- it is very fast and therefore I can take many shots of the same thing hoping one will be good (with an autistic hyperactive son, you don't know how precious that is!!),

- the photos are truly good quality and I end having to retouch them less for scrapping,

- I was able to personalize it with a Gelaskins hard case (HP inspired scrap... I'm a nerd).

For all these reasons, since I got it in March 2013, I haven't used anything else and it's funny that was last week's prompt because I just gave my old camera to my mother-in-law!

So here's me with my "camera", probably the way I look to my son when I take photos of him:

Hope you like it!

This week's prompt is sunshine, so let's hope the clouds go away...

Deux

This week started with a holiday. Monday was Victoria Day, which we call May Run, in Northern Ontario. Both Dave and Cedric were off. We took our time, relaxed, took a ride. It was a good way to start the week.

I then worked two days in a row. Tuesday, I spent the day with two grade 8 classes, which went pretty well. Wednesday, I was at the high school and my last class was depressing. The lack of motivation and work done was just sad and they really pushed their limits. It's the curse of the supply teacher! I was grateful for a supper with my girl friends for which I dressed up (we went to a pretty classy restaurant) and which allowed for relaxing and venting (and some caramel cheesecake). The rest of the week has been uneventful :D

Now, from one fancy supper to another, last week was our anniversary! Ten years!!

My in-laws watched our little man and we went out to another nice restaurant where we had venison, and yummy desserts. And the prompt for P52 last week was "two", so I figured a little photo of the two of us on our anniversary was perfect.

The lighting was bad, though, so the photo that the waitress took makes us look very dark. So once again, the best shot is an end-of-arm couple's selfie. And thank goodness for hubby's long arms :D

But then, I saw these "two"...

... and that's an even better "two". My two guys sharing a moment of love :D Cedric is in a very strong Dad loving phase and I don't mind one bit. I still get lots of love and I really enjoyed seeing my little one so happy to see is Daddy get home and giving him hugs and kisses.

Now, while I have your attention, let me show you a couple of digiscrap layouts I made this week!

My new desktop, with Everyday May by Jen Yurko:

This one is a very cute collaboration between Jen Yurko and Triple J Designs, called Bad Hair Dayz, which allowed me to journal the nightmare that is haircuts... Cedric hates them!

The experience is horrible, but the layout turned out pretty cute :D

Finally, I scrapped another photo from our xmas Florida vacation. Cedric and I in front of the iconic Hollywood Studios. I used a template by Jen Yurko and A Little Baby Boy by Mel Hains Designs, a gorgeous baby kit that can be used for much more ;)

Thanks for looking and have a great week-end, everyone. The sun and warmer weather are finally here, so hopefully, we'll enjoy ours too!

Two weeks of photos and scraps

*Something strange happened with this post... I thought it was posted, but it seems it remained a draft... so it was written last week, but posted today*

I was going to post last week's photo on Sunday, but I had the pleasure of going to a baby shower in the afernoon, and as it was Mother's Day, I spent the rest of the day enjoying my little man's presence.

Therefore I once again have two weeks of P52 to show!

The first one was "messy". I have a lot of messy places in my house. Every closet is messy, both spare bedrooms are messy, the garage is messy, ... But it was super depressing to imagine taking a photo of those messes and showing them to the world. So I opted for a totally different photo.

On Thursday morning of that week, we had a meeting with the therapists in charge of our son's specialized program and what she said made us rethink some things (I won't go into detail). I came out of there questioning things, feeling emotional, constantly thinking and rethinking our next step.

So I decided that what was "messy" was my brain, overwhelmed and too full, and I capture it like so:

Hope you like it :D

The following week's prompt was "sign". On Saturday, Cédric went for the first time to a 5 hour respite program out of the home, called Extend-A-Family. I was nervous but excited and I thought I would take a photo of the program's logo as our sign:

We were in a hurry, so it's a horrible looking picture, taken through the car window, badly centered, ... but I will fix it in The Gimp :D

And while you're here, why don't I show you some of my latest scraps!

I'm still working on my photos from our xmas Florida vacation. The first two are in Downtown Disney, having supper on two different nights at the Rainforest Cafe and the T-Rex.

(Both made with the kit Boys Will Be Boys by Jen Yurko)

The next one is at a Brazilian restaurant in Orlando, celebrating my birthday.

(Made with Bloom Where You're Planted by Jen Yurko and Tamy Miller Designs)

This next one is just a random photo of my little dude sleeping. He's sooooo adorable:

(Made with Good Morning 2 U by Artgal Style)

Thanks for looking :D

Whirlwind of a week

Wow, last week went fast! It was super busy and it felt like I had no computer time.

Hubby was out of town all of Monday and Tuesday, so I had to plan everything well and conserve 

energy for when my little dude is home.

Wednesday morning I worked, until noon, then cleaned a little because someone was coming over, and in the evening we went to the library to read to the therapy dogs and then to the grocery store for a few things.

Thursday started with a one hour and a half long meeting about Cédric's program, how things are going and where we need and want to go with it. These are time consuming, but also overwhelming as they trigger all sorts of thoughts and feelings, and then I had to go clean the house quickly before teaching 7th grade French immersion all afternoon. And when I got home, it seems like I didn't stop until midnight, cleaning, packing, preparing, and doing some scrapping that had to be done before our week-end escapade.

On Frriday, we flew to Toronto. The plane left late, so I had to go to the embassy to renew my passport without eating lunch, then we met up with friends until supper, which was with a business partner of hubby's followed by the highlight of the day: the Lion King musical. I absolutely loved it! The voices were amazing and the songs were great (most from the movie and some added). But the greatest part was definitely the costumes and decor. It was just beautiful. I did really well and respected the no-photo rule. Plus I had promised myself I would enjoy it in real-time rather than try to take a million photos to remember it and therefore not be really present. It would have been impossible anyways as nearly each second is a piece of art!

And on Saturday, we had a brain and body explosion with about 10 hours of Gracie Jiu Jitsu within a 12 hour period. It was great to meet Rener Gracie and his protégé Brian Ortega and to learn from them.

Our flight was leaving at 8am on Sunday so after a short night, we got back home and tried to enjoy the nice-ish weather and stay awake.

With all that, I didn't post my P52 photo for last week... So here it is now:

The prompt was "a favourite place".

It's actually two photos. Timmins is not really pretty, and most of the year, being outdoors is not an option for us as we don't like the cold. So one of my favourite place is not due to its beauty, at all, but to what it represents: date-night with hubby! We try to go at least every other week, and most of the time we end up at out local Montana's steakhouse, which is fast and always really good, followed by a movie. We both love watching movies and it's a great way to relax and not think og anything else.

Our movie theatre really does not look good, so I chose a photo of us in front of the screen: more representative of what I like about it:

So there you have it! Last week's prompt was "messy" which was sadly way too easy with way too many options... I'll be back with it later!

14, 15 and 16!

Three weeks since my last post, means three weeks of photos to show if I'm going to complete my Project 52!!

The first week I missed was week 14 and the prompt was "growth". I hadn't really thought about it and it just hit me as I was taking a photo of my son: hair!!

He himself is growing like a weed, and the photo does show that he looks more and more like a big boy. But I focused on the hair. His hair grows pretty fast but he HATES having it cut. No hairdresser will do it, because he moves too much, and we end up having to do it ourselves. We use clippers, because it's faster, easier and less dangerous than scissors. We usually clip it really, really short, to have to do it only 3 times a year. This photo, taken the first week of April shows that it was getting thick on the sides, and too long around the ears. As we left for a vacation, it actually grew two more weeks and was getting in his eyes too before we clipped it last week-end (something to do on Easter Monday, lol).

The following week was week 15 and the prompt was supposed to be "childhood". But we were on our vacation, just hubby and I, visiting Lisbon at a work conference. That didn't invite many childish topics. And more importantly, week 16 was "skyline" and I thought it would be way more fun to show the skyline of Lisbon than the one of Timmins (which is a small and not very pretty town...).

So I decided to cheat and swap them.

So here's the first photo I took from the balcony of our hotel room in Lisbon.

And because why not, here's the Lisbon skyline at night with the castle on the top left, the cathedral in between our heads and the river on the right. This was the view from the restaurant we ate at on the second night :D

So week 16, which was supposed to be "skyline", became "childhood". And if I'm honest, I forgot to read the prompt and take a photo. But when I realized and looked back, I could have used 4 different photos of my little man. One was him making faces, one was him eating Easter pancakes with his fingers, one was him eating chocolate cake with no shirt on. All were pretty representative of something a child does and enjoys that adult might not (although I know a few adults who will eat with their fingers, and a good bunch that make faces!).

But here's the one I chose:

Nothing says childhood like curling up on your Dad to get hugs and kisses :D

It is also very typical of our little dude, who just loves physical contact and is very affectionate.

So there you have it, three photos which are pretty representative of the last three weeks!

Next week will be "a favourite place" (but it's Friday night and I got nothing yet...oooh, just thought of something as I typed, yay).

Well, that was different!

The city of Timmins, somewhat small and very isolated, does not get much in terms of entertainment, excitement and variety.

So it was shocking last week-end to realize that I was going out two nights in a row and neither one was going to be at the movies!!

On Friday, we went out with 3 other couples to a supper and comedy show! Though the food was a bit slow and definitely not diet-approved, it was good! And the show was really funny. One guy was just okay, one was young and therefore a bit nervous and hesitant, but showing promise, and the last one was really, really funny. We enjoyed it and I'm glad a couple of flukes brought us to the show. (Another couple was supposed to go, but couldn't due to illness, and I just happened to supply teach the same day and at the same school as my friend who was going. She invited us to replace my poor sick friend.)

The next night, I went out with some girl friends to supper as we often do. Usually, we then try to find somewhere to keep the night going, sometimes shopping, sometimes going to a bar, ... This time, though, we were going to an exciting burlesque show that was being put together for charity in an effort to save the bees. Thank goodness it was for charity... It was bad, it was oh so bad!

All the acts were the same, the music was not great, when there was some. There was a guy stripping with a Boba Fett mask on, who later came back wearing garbage bags and ended up rolling in teddy bears... I can't even explain how bad it was! I did enjoy the company of my friends, we had fun anyways. But it was bad!

The silver lining is that I had no idea what to do for the week's P52 prompt, which was "bright", and this provided an opportunity! The last girl on stage was grinding (literally, in her underwear, grinding a plate on her stomach with a power tool!). But the light created by the grinding was bright :D

So here's this week's photo, courtesy of the Bee Bad Burlesque Show:

The photo quality is horrible, as is the pose. All of them were! There's even one where the sparks are going out her backside from between her legs! I kid you not!

I'm still happy we went, hoping this will support the growing variety of events in the city. But, man, it was bad... lol

Productive

Happy Monday!

 I have been super productive today: I got my dude up and ready, cleaned the kitchen, made homemade almond buns for him, washed and dried three loads of laundry, changed the sheets on our bed, made a couple of phone calls and even started packing for our upcoming trip to Portugal!

So I have guilt-free time for a little blogging.

I feel like I've been pretty productive as far as scrapping goes lately, but I haven't shown too much here, so that's what today's post is about :D

I've been focusing on scrapping my photos from our xmas vacation in the Orlando area, so that eventually I can print them and make an album.

Me doing what I do best, or most, while at Disney World, scrapped with Your Sweet Smile by Jen Yurko:

Cedric in front of the troll in the Norway pavillion of Epcot, scrapped with Oh Snap by jen Yurko

The three of us and my parents with Mickey and the Gang at Epcot, scrapped with The Pretenders by Jen Yurko and Triple J Designs:

And finally, my little dude on our way to Christmas mass, all dressed up and with the most gorgeous smile, scrapped with Indigo by Artgal Style:

It's amazing how many more layouts I have to do to cover the whole vacation, but I love scrapping them and reliving the happy moments :D

Thanks for looking! Let me know what you think!

Vintage with a twist

Back for a little P52!

This week's prompt was "vintage". Now vintage is definitely not my style. It's not for clothing, or jewelry. It's even less when it comes to home decor and furniture.

I do own a couple of vintage things though, depending how widely you define the concept. I wear a pair of boots that belonged to my Mom, bought in the late 70s. And I am very lucky to have a beautiful diamond ring that was passed down from mother to daughter over 4 generations, from my great-grandmother to me. It was bought in Paris in the late 20s or early 30s but looks quite modern.

But as I try to keep my photos representative of our life at the time they were taken, as well as following the prompts, I decided to stretch the concept a little.

It just so happens that the word "vintage" is on a couple of the souvenirs I brought back from Florida. So I decided to take a photo of them all together (even though some are definitely not vintage...).

The bags, which cost a couple bucks each at Publix, are a "vintage" design and you can see the word "vintage" on them :D

The rest was actual Disney Parks merchandise. I bought Cedric the snow globe because he likes turning them and looking at the sparkles fall. It's sort of vintage as it has Sorcerer Mickey from Fantasia... And my wallet (my  beautiful, expensive new wallet) has a vintagey feel to it too with the black and white hand-drawn Mickey and Minnie! The Disney family car stickers are not vintage at all, though, but too bad so sad, I wasn't going to take a photo of the souvenirs and leave one out, lol.

This week's prompt is "bright" and I still don't have a photo or the slightest idea what to photograph... I don't do "Photography", I do everyday life memory pics with my phone, so playing with the light and taking a gorgeous artistic photo is out... Now I have to think of a bright idea (get it? "bright" idea of something "bright"! lol).

Guilty Green Model: 3 weeks in one

Here are three weeks' worh of Project 52 rolled into one!

A couple weeks ago, I was feeling overwhelmed, inadequate and useless (which led me to not post week 9 even though I had the photo). Then hubby decided that we just really needed a break from routine, winter and everyday autism hurdles. So we packed up the car and just left for Florida!

We literally decided that between 6pm and 8:30pm, started packing and we were on the road at 10am the next morning! The timing was great because we really needed the change and March break was coming but also because that would allow us to surprise Hubby's father with our arrival on his 60th birthday. We pulled it off: he was surprised and happy, the trip went really well, we had beautiful sunny weather, and we soaked up the sun and all the Disney World we could manage.

With all that, I didn't use my laptop (it was impossible on the 6 days on the road, and I just didn't feel like it during our 5 days of vacation). So I didn't post week 10 either and I didn't make a conscious effort to take the pictures I was supposed to, but as it turns out, our trip provided the right photos anyways!

Now here are the prompts from March To December's Project 52 (and as you see they explain my weird post title):

Week 9: Guilty Pleasure

Week 10: Something Green

Week 11: Role Model

I struggled with finding my guilty pleasure.

I thought of food, but being on a fairly healthy diet, even though I love food in general, I didn't really have anything to be guilty about in that department.

I thought of my love of all things Disney. I could have gone with that because it is childish, and I do end up spending money on the souvenirs. But of listening to the music, watching the movies, going to the parks, etc. I am not ashamed at all. And as this was prior to this trip and the last couple times we went to the parks I didn't really spend that much on souvenirs, I didn't think it was a great representation. If it had been last week instead, I would show you my new wallet :D

I ended up choosing to document my love of all things Lush (a company that makes bath bombs, bubble bars, soaps, ...). I usually get them for gifts, so to be honest I don't feel that guilty about them either. But I do tend to like useful gifts, like clothes and shoes, or things for the house, so they do feel like more of an indulgence! So here's a photo of one of my bubble bars right before I got into the tub of beautifully scented and coloured warm water :D

 I had not taken my photo before we left for the trip, so on the road I kept thinking "I need something green!". And as my little man fell asleep like an angel and I placed the neck pillow to prevent his head from falling, I got my photo of the week!

I really like that it's really representative of our week, and the fact that it's an alligator and we were on our way to Florida :D

I also thought I would struggle with a photo of a role model.

My parents are great role models for the way they made and still make their marriage work, the way they raised my sister and I, the career my Dad chose (which was a passion rather than just a job). They are smart, loving and generous. But they were not available for a photo op, being in France and all...

And I also must admit that while in Florida, I totally forgot about the project prompt.

But last night, looking through our photos as they were transferring onto my computer, I realized I had the perfect photo! A photo of my awesome husband Dave. It was taken on the anniversary of the day we started dating, 13 years ago, which we spent at the Magic Kingdom.

A while ago he made the mistake of telling me he likes Gaston, from Beauty and the Beast and I insisted on getting a photo of him in front of the recent statue of this fun villain in Fantasyland.

I think Dave is a role model to any young man out there. He works very hard to achieve his career and financial goals but does it without ever compromising his integrity by stepping on people's toes, and as a financial advisor, he always does what's best for the client rather than what would make him the most money.

He practices Jiu Jitsu in the playful and gentle way that Gracie Jiu Jitsu promotes. He could use his size and strength to show off to others, but he tries instead to use technique and skill and always tries to grow. I also always admire his lack of competitiveness in sports. He does not mind when others win or are better than him at one thing or another. He tries to be the best he can be and grow, he sees himself as his competitor rather than others and he can be truly happy for others when they achieve something rather than be jealous.

But most of all, he is a role model as a husband and father. He's a great cook and gets right in the kitchen to make supper when he gets home from work rather than expect the meal to be on the table. He works hard to take care of our family financially. He spoils me often with toys and bling (and I do love jewelry...).

And he is the greatest Dad to Cédric! A lot of fathers struggle with an autism diagnosis. Instead, he researches constantly to find ways we can help our son. He gives hugs and kisses, he gets on all four to play, he gives Cédric his bath, he puts him to bed every night and he changes diapers! His fair share! Maybe even more! I love that in him the way La'Shawn loves that her hubby does the dishes ;)

So here he is in front of a character which he resembles in physical traits, but he is much more Beast turned Prince than he is Gaston in personality :D

And I love that in this picture, Cédric looks up to him like the great role model he is :D

Wow, did I ever ramble on in this post, lol

I guess I felt like sharing more than just photos today. I hope some of you out there stuck with me!

Next week: vintage! Come back to see what I come up with!

Happiness is...

As usual, I am being a blogger copycat! La'Shawn is as always my inspiration, because she always picks projects that seem fun to me, and because I like joining in what she does, so that she learns about me what I learn about her :D

So I'm joining in Second Chances Girl's "#30 things that I want my kids to know" challenge.

I don't really plan on doing them all, to be honest. Partly because I just won't have time, and partly because some don't speak to me for one reason or another.

You can find La'Shawn's blog here with her participation in this challenge and much more, and the original challenge here.

I'm starting with the second prompt, because at the moment, trying to make a list of 20 things about me seems like too much. I'm also choosing the second one because it's about what makes you happy and I've been in a foul negative mood and it would do me good (and people around me) to focus on the positive :D

So here are 5 things that make me most happy right now:

1. The first one is fairly obvious, as it must be for any mother. My son Cédric makes me happy. But more specifically, his smiles and his hugs. There are moments when he makes me less than happy... But a genuine smile from him can light up a whole room, and his is the best hugger ever!!

Need proof?

Here's a smile:

And here's a hug:

2. The second thing that makes me happy is digital scrapbooking. I've been doing it for years now and I've had times when I struggled, felt stuck, didn't have time or really just didn't feel like doing it. But right now, I'm really enjoying scrapping. Partly because of being on a new team for Jen Yurko and playing with really fun new goodies, partly because I'm scrapping mostly my Disney photos and that brings me back to very happy moments, like this one of my birthday:

3. The third thing that comes to mind is Jiu Jitsu. When I started, I thought I would complete the self-defence women's program and call it a day. But now that I have my pink belt, I still really enjoy learning new techniques just for the fun of it. It's an hour where I socialize with people there and really don't think at all about all the stuff I have to do or anything that worries me.

4. The fourth thing is my regular date nights with hubby. Every two weeks minimum, we go out for a meal and a movie. It's nice to be together, relaxing, eating without having to cook or clean. And we've always enjoyed movies, so it's nice after a few years of not going very often, to be able to catch most of the movies we want to see on the big screen! I guess I should add that I'm happy about respite funds and great respite workers.

This photo is of a special date night we had in November to a murder-mystery party with a fairy-tale theme (we were The Beast turned back to prince and a Fairy-Godmother):

5. The fifth thing that makes me really happy and even excited is the prospect of upcoming trips. I'm really tired of winter and bored of the town we live in. But I'm lucky enough to have things to look forward to in that department. Next week we're taking a short trip to southern Ontario for a medical appointment for Cédric. That's not really exciting, but it'll break the routine a bit.

In early April, though, hubby and I are going to be spending a week in Lisbon, Portugal, for an all expenses paid work conference! We're staying at the Four Seasons, making excursions to Sintra and Cascais, visiting palaces and eating in cool restaurants and the guest speaker is Colonel Chris Hadfield, the canadian astronaut who was commander of the International Space Station.

Then in early May, we're making a super quick escapade to Toronto for a Jiu Jitsu seminar with Rener Gracie and as luck would have it, the Lion King Musical comes back on stage a couple days later and we're going to go see it :D

At some point in the summer, we'll have our annual cottage week-end reunion with our friends from southern Ontario, which is always a super relaxing, music-filled, too much food, campfire and river swims kind of time:

And finally this summer, we're going back to Orlando, mainly to try hyperbaric treatments for Cédric, but also to make very good use of our annual passes to Walt Disney World :D :D

And boom, just like that, I'm happy!!