Would Your Past Self Be Proud Of Who You Became?

“Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” – Unknown

Last Wednesday I started and finished a book. It was by no means an incredible read, it wasn’t all that well written, I hated the characters, really I didn’t like much of the book. I did however, like the idea of it. It made me think. It made me really ponder my life.

The book (which I wouldn’t recommend) was titled “What Alice Forgot”; the premise of it was that Alice fell, hit her head, and forgot the past 10 years of her life. She was shocked with how her life had turned out and the things which her future self now likes/does/has.

I am 22 years old, if I forgot 10 years of my life, I would think I was 12. Would that 12 year old be proud of who she became, or would she be mortified? Would she have changed anything in the past 10 years to prevent the current outcome? Is there anything she wouldn’t want to remember of the past 10 years?

I feel like it is almost too hard for me to think about forgetting the past 10 years just because I am still pretty young. Your teenage years are supposed to be the most pivotal; so anything that happened during those years truly shaped who I have become.

Overall though, looking back, there is nothing which happened which I wouldn’t want to remember. It is all those little things who made me. So without those moments, memories, experiences, who would I be?

What about you? Would your past self be proud of who you became? Is there anything you would like to forget? Is there anything you would like to change?

Jenna wrote a letter to her future self, she filled it with everything she hoped the Jenna in 10 years would be. In the end she just wanted her future self to be happy.

Happiness seems to be the biggest want that people have for themselves.

I think wondering if your past self would be proud of who you be came is slightly might not matter, as long as you are happy and are surrounded by the people you love, what else really matters?

—————-
+ What do you think your past self would think of what you became?
+ If you could go back would you do anything differently?
+ What is one thing you hope of for your future self?

Currently…

“A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.” – Denis Waitley

Currently it is 7:30 AM…. And Currently I am…

Reading// I just jumped on the band wagon of Mary Higgins Clark. I think she is the Danielle Steele of mystery. I didn’t want to jump on the band wagon. I thought it was too cliche. But I jumped in. I am really enjoying her. I am in the middle of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” cray cray.

Listening// I newly found, and am quite obsessed with Josh Woodward. On his website he allows you to download all of his songs – for free. Wait what? Yes. Free. And he has that soft coffee shop/singer songwriter thing which I love. Jamie refers to my choice in music as “slow, sad, and depressing”

Thinking// This is a pretty stupid question and that I would sound like an idiot for saying “nothing”

Drinking// Homemade hot chocolate with freshly whipped, whipped cream. Be jealous; I would be.

Smelling// My newest fall scent from Bath and Body Works, “Tailgate”. I love the cologne-y scents.

Watching// Aside from the usual suspects in my line up (Greys, Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder [Clearly I’m obsessed with Shonda Rhimes], Chicago Fire, and Parenthood) last night I discovered “Stalked” holy shit balls. That show creeped me out quite a lot. Obsessed.

Wishing// It wasn’t raining or being gloomy outside. I would have liked to go out and take some pictures. I guess I still could, but I am not really a fan on the cold.

Wearing// My favourite PJ bottoms from Target, furry slippers, a tank top, and a heat gear hoodie.

Wanting// Chinese food. Specifically the fried rice and general tso.

Loving// Fall, and the Indian Summer we are having even though I might have just said it is cold out…

Needing// Probably just Chinese food.

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Do you have any favourite singer-songwriters I might enjoy?
What is your favourite thing to to on a gloomy day?
Hot Chocolate or Apple Cider?

Weekend Sunsets

“The biggest cliche in photography is sunrise and sunset.” – Caterine Opie

This weekend I had this awesome idea to go outside and take pictures of the sunset because I apparently like cliches. About 70 feet from my house is essentially a giant open field which allows for some pretty cool sunsets, and since it is close I figured it would be a perfect spot. Friday night I packed up my camera and my lens and took the 70 foot journey, got all ready to go and realized I wanted to use a different lens. FAIL. Walk home, got my other lens, walked back, and knew I was set. Got in position and realized my memory card was not in my camera. Back home I went, got the lens, almost leave again and realize I didn’t have my camera. 3rd time is a charm and I finally made it back in time to get a few shots before the sun went down.

I went home for a final time, put my memory card in my computer, opened Lightroom (I have 5, if anyone is wonder, but probably not), Instagramed what I was doing, and then miss Jenna requested I post the pictures. Wait what? I mean, I think they are good, and Jamie’s favourite word is “Beautiful” so I mean, they can’t be half bad. She told me she would also thing a picture of a rock in dirt would be good, so with that push of confidence, I am posting the pictures. Mostly for her. Even though I am sure I could have just emailed them.

If anyone was really wondering (since I usually do), they were shot on my Canon Rebel, with my 50mm prime 1.8 lens.. Close ups were taken with an f-stop of 1.8-2.5, ISO of 400, shutter speed of 1/4000. Landscapes were taken with an f-stop of 11, ISO of 800, and shutter speed of 1/50

Sorry Not Sorry; A Canadian Story

“The use and abuse of ‘sorry’: Americans do not not say it, the British do not mean it, and Canadians overdo it” – The National Post

I read this article a little while back basically saying how Canadians overdo it when it comes to apologizing. We say it a lot. Although I never really noticed it until reading this article I realized just how much we do.

It’s funny though, a few years ago while I was in Mexico people would say to me “you must be from Canada” and I would ask how they know that since I do not say “aboot” and make a point of not saying “eh” . They would all respond the same “you are so polite and apologize for weird things”

So here is a list of things which I have apologized for.

+1. I say sorry when I walk into someone, when someone walks into me, when I nearly walk into someone, or when I walk into a mannequin at a store

+2. I say sorry when writing an email which is too wrong, a comment on someone else’s blog which was long, sending a really long text….basically speaking in general.

+3. I say sorry when responding to a text anything but immediately after receiving one.

+4. I say sorry for asking a question, for directions, where something in a store is located, interrupting someone who is working to help me.

+5. I say sorry for not swiping my debit card the right way and the employee has to tell me to flip my card.

+6. I say sorry when asking someone to repeat themselves because I couldn’t hear them.

+7. I say sorry when I cough, sneeze, hiccup, my stomach gurgles, or any other weird sound my body can make which is out of my control such as my nose whistling from having bad sinuses.

+8. I say sorry when I have paid for something (say a pack of gum which is $1.00) with a larger denomination (say $10.00), when I pay in mostly change, when I have to use my debit card for something under $3.00.

+9. I say sorry for calling someone, answering the phone in front of someone (as well as when I hang up for having taken the call), for missing someones call, for having to call someone back… Or my favourite, saying sorry to someone who dialed the wrong number and getting me instead of their intended person.

+10. I say sorry for someone holding the door open for an extra 3 seconds for me since I am not walking fast enough and they had to wait.

+11. I say sorry while after purchasing something taking a few moments too long to put my debit card in my wallet and then my wallet in my purse, causing the person behind me to wait.

+12. I say sorry when I am in a store and an employee asks me what the weather is like outside and I have to break it to them “I am so sorry, it’s raining/snowing/cold/anything but perfect”

+13. I say sorry when we go out to eat and I ask for Coke and they only have Pepsi products, when the waitress asks if we are ‘all set to order’ and I have to say ‘I am sorry! Can we have an extra few minutes?’, when for whatever reason the restaurant cannot make the food I ordered since they were out of something and I wasn’t aware.

+14. I say sorry when I am in someone’s way, when I walk past someone, and when there is a lineup for a washroom stall which I was in.

+15. I say sorry, for saying ‘sorry’.

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+ Do you think Canadians say ‘sorry’ too much?

+ What do you say sorry for?

I love fall!

“I loved autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it.” ― Lee Maynard

I love fall. I just love fall. I usually start celebrating the day after labor day so I can get an extra 2-3 weeks in there of fall. On my official “start date” I was telling Jamie about all the things which I love about fall; he basically looked at me like deer in headlights as I went into the girl in the mirror.. You know, “If you look in the mirror and say ‘Pumpkin Spice Latte’ a girl will appear in yoga pants and tell you all the things she loves about fall”.. I was that girl. I am that girl.

So just to be that girl again, these are just a few of the reasons I am in love with fall.

//1. Sweaters, sweater weather, being cozy. My favourite weather is the one where it is too chilly to just have a t-shirt on, but not cold enough for a jacket. Sweather Weather. Put on a sweater and you are good to go. I love sweaters. I love Sweater Weather.

//2. Blankets. I don’t think there is anything better than curling up under a blanket on a cold fall night, or morning, and being all bundled underneath it.

//3.  Changes colours. So pretty. The end. I don’t understand how people can live in places where there are no seasons and cannot see and feel the change in the air…… but then winter comes and I think I start to get it – especially being in Canada where we all live in igloos.

//4. Scarves! I love wearing scarves. I have more than I would like to admit. I think they totally finish off an outfit. A scarf and a sweater; what better weather would you like?

//5. Fuzzy socks and leg warmers. There is nothing better than being cozy.

//6. Kindle. I adore my Kindle, and although I use it all year, there is just something special of being bundled up with a book on a cold fall morning o r night.

//7. Starbucks seasonal drinks. Nothing goes better with a cozy blanket, socks, scarves, sweater, and a good book, like a Starbucks. I mentioned I don’t like the Pumpkin Spice Latte (Love the frap though), but I do love the Salted Caramel Mocha (lactose free!), and although not seasonal the Caramel Apple Spice (Half sweet, no whip)… I think I just realized I like Caramel. I guess I need to stop telling people “I hate caramel”.

//8. Candles. Bath and Body Works. Like I said in number 7, “nothing goes better with….” just add “candles” to that list.

I just love fall……
– Just not as much as Christmas.
….And don’t get me started on  the fact I hate Halloween.
Seriously, it’s the one day which stands between ME and decorating for Christmas.
I am not American, and No I will not wait for the American Thanksgiving to be over
before I start decorating. Seriously what kind of BS logic is that? 
I do not understand Canadians with that logic. 
Jamie’s stepdad is  American,  so maybe I should should follow that ‘logic’.. But I won’t.
Okay, that rant escalated quickly.

———————
& What is your favourite thing about fall?
& Do you like the Pumpkin Spice Latte?
& What books are you reading right now?

 

A Random MishMash of Life..

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.” – Stephen King

Wow, it has been awhile since I made an appearance over here. There is really no reason for it other than I have been “busy”. I feel like you are as busy as you want to be; you can make time for the things you want to be doing. Lately, I just haven’t been feeling the whole blogging thing. Maybe it is because it was the end of summer, or because I just kept putting it off. I once read “the longer you go between blogging, the less you have to blog about”. So true.

Let’s have a quick catch up sesh shall we?

//1. My mom and I went out a lot the past few weeks to take pictures. Everywhere from by the lake, to the abandoned Drive In, to a Farmers Market, and a Church.

//2. We are coming to the end of the renovations – finally! So lately I have been doing a lot of DIY’s and other things which make my body feel like crap for the next few days. Pictures will come when everything is complete. 2 days ago I tiled for 12 hours, at this point I don’t believe my knees and shins will every fully recover.

//3. Jamie started playing Lacrosse again after a 3 week break between seasons.

**don’t strain your eyes. Somehow he didn’t make that picture**

//4. It was officially fall for me on September 2, when I had the Pumpkin Spice FRAP from Starbucks. I really hate the latte.

//5. Speaking of Starbucks. I finally received my Gold Card. I am officially a somebody.

//6. I am so pumped it’s officially fall (in my mind at least). I love fall. I love scarves. I love the colours changing. I love the coolER weather – I don’t like cold though let’s be real.

//7. I have been binge reading. I love reading.

//8. In my spare time I find myself at grocery stores, convenience stores, drug stores, rummaging through bins of Coke bottles on the hunt for “Julia”. I have so far, found 2. There seems to be an abundance of “James” though. I see it, I buy it, I drink it, I worry about  the effects later.

Really that has been all I have been up to!!

———————
How have you been?
Do you like pumpkin spice everything, or just some things?
It is officially fall for you?

A Rainy Summers Day

“Don’t be angry with the rain; it simply doesn’t know how to fall upwards.” – Vladimir Nabokov

It was rainy day yesterday. I woke up to the pitter patter on the window,and listened to it again as I fell asleep last night. I secretly love rainy summer days when you have no where to go – ie yesterday. I do get headaches from the pressure in the air so once I pop a few Advil I am good to go. I think there is something so cozy and comforting about being inside under blankets watching Netflix and hearing the slight pitter patter on the window.

That was my day yesterday. I woke up, I made a tea (David’s Tea; I combined “Pink Lemonade” and “Pink Passion fruit”), I sat on my couch with a fuzzy blanket and indulged in Netflix until about 2:30 when I switched to my “rainy day” playlist on Grooveshark while I did some blog reading.

I couldn’t help but find the humor in this sign that I made and hung on our wall. I suppose it is supposed to be interpreted in a figurative way but the literal way is more ironic.

My rainy day playlist is very slow, soft tempo stuff. Jamie says “slow, sad and depressing”. I disagree – it makes me happy. You can find the playlist here.

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+ Do you like rainy days?
+ Do you have a favourite rainy day movie?
+ What is your favourite music to listen to on gloomy days?

Geocaching!

“Old geocachers don’t die, they just get archived” – Unknown

Lately I have wanted to take more pictures but it is a little frustrating living right in the middle of cottage country. I can only take so many pictures of water, trees, walking trails, and train tracks before that gets really boring. The issue though, is that I didn’t really want to take a drive anywhere to shoot – I live in the centre of cottage country surrounded by more cottage like places.

I have wanted to try geocaching for awhile now, so I asked my sister if she wanted to go – she said ‘sure’ even though she wasn’t too sure what it was. My mother thought we were basically going to go walking on a trail aimlessly.

Geocaching is basically a big scavenger hunt with GPS locations.

I went to the website and searched for a decent looking one close to us, wrote down the coordinates, grabbed my camera, purse, Cristina, and we headed out.  We parked and started walking to the trail.

We are not really hikers or even knew what this geocache was all about as we were in flip flips and had to start by going across what I would call a swamp – I think Cristina called it a muddy ditch. Tomato/tomahto

We somehow survived the swamp crossing and we were able to continue on. After walking for a few minutes we realized “oh yeah, maybe we should map the coordinates so we are not walking down a trail aimlessly like mom thought”.

I had the camera, Cristina had the coordinates, and we began walking. We walked for a good 20 minutes before I took Cristina’s phone from her as she was reading the map wrong – she was zoomed out so we basically walked until the dots hit each other not realizing when you zoom in the dots were actually getting further apart. Yes, we were going the wrong way.

We turned around and continued our journey.

We continued back to roughly 50 meters from where we started.

The “clue” was that we would find the container at the base of a tree.

We found the tree – it was covered in weeds and other swamp like things. I was not going to dig through it so Cristina had to be brave and start digging.

A bug ended up landing on her which caused her to literally gallop/prance/frolic around. It was at that moment, we looked at each other and realized geocaching was not for us.

We decided to leave without finiding the cache.

To reward ourselves for at least finding the tree we went to Starbucks for a drink.

I had a Cool Lime Refresher, and Cristina had a Hazelnut Macchiato.

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+ Have you ever gone Geocaching?
+ Did you actually every find the cache?

New Blog, New Look, New Chapter

“A smile is a universal welcome” – Max Eastman

Hello everyone!

Yikes, it has seriously been over a month since my last post. That is was the longest I have ever gone without posting in almost 2 years – still trying to wrap my mind around that one!!

A lot of changes have been happening in my life as of late. So what happens when my life is in the midst of a 180? I decided on a whim to self host and plunge into this crazy unknown world of coding, self hosting, and being in total control yet feeling completely out of control.

Once I ‘learned’ this coding stuff, I was pretty excited with out quickly everything came together and I was able to focus strictly on pretty colours and fonts.

Originally I was going to recreate what I previously had – and it was okay – but I felt like it was almost pointless to be in full control and to have exactly what I had before..

So, this is what I came up with..

I wanted something simple, a big content area (so my pictures can look larger), a smaller sidebar on the RIGHT not the left, a header, and a pretty menu bar. Seems easy right? Not so much.

I literally spent days on the couch trying to wrap my brain around everything. I had a vision of how I wanted it to look yet no idea how to transfer it to code. With God’s Grace something just ‘clicked’ and I was good to go. Jamie called me his little computer whiz..

After I figured all the big stuff up it was time to pick colours. My favourite. So I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. I wanted something soft, elegant, and feminine, but I also wanted warmth for accent colours.

 

I think it turned out pretty okay!!

Since I love hearing the details about everything I thought I would share:
– Built on the Genesis Framework
– Font size 16
– Helvetica font,
– Raleway font for titles
– Lato font for menu bar

 

 

I Moved!!

Well, I did it. I finally took the plunge and made the switch to self hosting.

It was definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. You coders out there are pure geniuses as far as I am concerned.

You can keep up with me over at:

www.lifefullofjules.com

or follow me on BlogLovin’

and of course Instagram and Twitter as well!