More Scrapbooking!

More hobbying... for those that enjoy seeing my latest projects :) I finally got around to doing a couple of Christmas pages. One of Mr. A and I, and the other of his whole family :) I really like the last layout. It's some pics of us when we went skating. It was a really nice, sunny day, and I loved getting out on the ice. We've been out more since then, but I just used the pics from the first time for the scrapbook page. I'm soon gonna have a whole album from GP finished!

Now I need to find some more people in GP that want to scrapbook with me :)

Spring Cleaning?!?

It's official. I'm growing up. I've fought this off for as long as I could, but unfortunately it just keeps creeping up on me. This time in the form of early spring cleaning.

Below you'll find some lovely pictures of an empty fridge, and the previous contents of said fridge that weren't thrown away in the process. Apparently I had the urge to clean out the fridge that actually doesn't even belong to me! I live in an apartment... Nevertheless, I did it!

How this happened I don't really know. I certainly didn't have these urges to clean growing up. I can't remember ever saying, "Hey mom, our fridge looks kind of messy. Maybe it's time for me to give it a good scrub!". My mom certainly didn't instil a love for cleaning in me (I think she use to dread it as much as I did). Maybe my cleanly university friends rubbed off on me a bit.... Who knows. Regardless, I was overcome for the last week or so with the urge to do some serious cleaning. Washing everything. Cleaning out drawers. It's not even Spring yet!

Either this is a sign of the apocalypse, or this is what growing up feels like. The jury is still out.

Fitness Schmitness

Oh the joys of running down the street on a sunny day with a light breeze blowing past you... not.

I really wish that I could be one of those people that enjoyed activities like running. I'm really not. Despite that I've set this goal for myself that I want to run a 5K! Some of you may recall that I set this goal last year as well... however, multiple wrist injuries prevented my training from getting too far. Also, some of you may think "push posh Lindi! That's so easy!". False. Actually not easy for me, lol.

Nevertheless, I'm trying to find my motivation again. I always think that it's motivating to have other people around you who are active and want to me active with you. My BFF is one of those types of people - she motivates me to stay on track with my goals and encourages my fitness by joining me when she can. Unfortunately she lives 3 provinces away now... not so easy to take fitness classes together. There's no one that I know out hear that is at my level that wants to be fit with me... or at least no one I can think of. So now my only option is to motivate my self. I find that particularly difficult for the following reasons:

1) I don't enjoy working out by myself

2) I don't have money for a gym membership

3) I like eating junk food

4) My boyfriend already thinks I'm hot

So I had to come up with a new plan of action to target each of these difficulties! Here goes...

1) I've been doing some fun active activities like bootcamp and dodgeball. They're also relatively cheap, so it's like win-win!

2) I'm motivated by my goal to run 5k (and hopefully will stay motivated!) which I can mostly do in my free gym (for now) and outside once the weather is nicer.

3) I've given up snacking for lent. This doesn't mean I have to give up all the foods I like if I eat them at appropriate times and in appropriate portions - but hopefully I won't snack unnecessarily. Lent is just added motivation to eat healthier :)

4) Well... there's not much I can do about this one... I'll just plan on looking even hotter :)

So that's the plan. Now it's everyone else's responsibility to make sure I keep up with it!

Wish me luck :)

Love xoxo

This is my belated Valentines Day post. I think there are many mixed feelings in the world about Valentines Day. When I was single and lonely it wasn't particularly my favourite day... but I use to find ways to have fun with my girlfriends. These days I have the love of my life, and I'm excited to celebrate love with him - although he doesn't really need a special day because he does a good job of expressing that to me on a regular basis. But I still like so celebrate Valentines Day the way I use to - by thinking of it as a day to celebrate love in general - mothers, fathers, friends, boyfriends, children, etc.

So instead of posting about my love-life, I thought I would share some of the things that I've learned about love from the people who showed me everyday: my mommy and daddy.

• Love is beautiful
• Love means putting others first
• Love means taking off other people's gross, smelly socks after they've worked a hard day
• Love means making sacrifices
• Love is smiling & laughing at his jokes even if no one else gets them
• Love means encouraging one another and telling her that she's "hot" (especially when she feels like she's not [although she ALWAYS is])
• Love can be expressed through hugs, kisses, ass-grabs, and sweet nothings - even if your kids are grossed out
• Love is not only shown with flowers (although they are much appreciated when they do come!)
• Love is in the little things - getting a plate of food, getting up early to make coffee, encouraging her decisions, making time to watch silly tv shows together
• Love needs to be expressed every day
• "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

Happy (belated) Valentines Day everyone!

Job Changes & Challenges

For the first year and a bit of working as a real-life professional speech-language pathologist I worked with a caseload that was 100% child-based and I've enjoyed this position a LOT more than I thought I would. When I graduated I thought that I wanted to work solely with adults. I took the position in GP because it was available, it paid good money, and it was something different, but I've actually come to love the schools I work in.

However, last week when one of my colleagues left, they gave me the opportunity to shift into a new caseload. This would mean that I continue to work with children, but also gain a significant adult community caseload. It's only been a few days of reading through files, doing some observations, and answering some adult referrals, but I already know I love this position. Community is ideal for me because I get to see some of everything (although the majority will be dysphagia, or swallowing, for you non-SLP types). I just find the medical side of our job to be fascinating. I thought about applying for a hospital job that became available at one point, but I'm pretty sure that the learning curve will be a bit too steep for me at this point.

This job provides a lot of challenges for me: new medical conditions, new protocols, new charting systems, new referral methods, etc. Plus, since I have a greater interest in these cases in general, I already find myself doing more individual research. I can tell that I'm going to be quite busy.

I'm hoping that I can adjust quickly to the pressures that come with this new position. I'm blessed to have a really great work environment and really great colleagues that can help me make a smooth transition. Wish me luck!