It's 2 sleeps until the big day. I cannot wait. Have some more packing to do today and my throat is a bit scratchy so I am loading up with zinc lozenges and echinacea. Taking a lazy morning card and watching a couple shows from this week. And then it's time to start loading up the boxes with all my kitchen treasures.

Eep

Soooo if we can make it through moving week, I can start on more fun wedding plans!

Yeah!!!!!

(p.s. Private Practice and Grey's . . . love those coffee mornng shows)

The Spare

I can see the light

It started out quite faint

But it's getting brighter

I am getting closer

There are a lot of empty cupboards

My bathroom is pretty bare

I just packed my handbags

I kept out one handbag though

After all, moving day is still 4 sleeps away

Cape George Auxilliary Coast Guards

We had a very important rescue mission one evening when we were in Nova Scotia. Brent and Jimmy had stopped in at the wharf on their way to pick up the truck when they met Uncle Gerard. We had been summoned to help a poor family that was stranded in the middle of the ocean.

Well, this mission was not for the faint of heart and no-one knew the severity of the situation so of course Brent and Jimmy bee-lined back to the cottage to pick me up, along with my camera. After all - someone needed to be the acting photojournalist.

Uncle Gerard was waiting for us on the boat. The motor was running and the ropes were untied. We quickly jumped on the stern and were off. The time it took to reach the family felt like an eternity. You could feel the tension on the boat as we all prepared for the worst!

Finally after 10 or 15 minutes (I know - they were a long ways out there) we spotted them. The family was huddled together trying to be calm. My camera was ready to capture this miracle in action. The next few minutes was a flury of activity, Jimmy and Brent threw the to-line to the sailboat's port side while uncle gerard checked and rechecked his knots to ensure they would hold. The family frantically rearranged their buoys to ensure the least resistance and damage for the ensuing tow.

Uncle Gerard was ready to bring them in. He revved the motor and started at a steady pace. These waters can change in the blink of an eye - all sea faring folks know this - and so uncle gerard wasn't going to waste a minute. The sailboat's captain in his greenback ways was concerned about the speed. But we all knew that Uncle Gerard's knowledge of the seas was where we were placing our bets.

Our timing was perfect, just as the sun started to drop (an no-one wants to be out on the atlantic at dark) we floated them in port side. Someone was looking out for that family that night!

(You can see how serious the guys are)

(don't the skies look ominous)

Julianno the Tyrannosaurus Rex

I met my dear friend Colleen at the Calgary Farmer's Market on Saturday. (as a total aside - I absolutely love the market everytime i go and always wonder why I don't go more often). She was going to be busking and so we took the opportunity to have coffee first.

I absolutely love spending time with Colleen. and watching her at work is a delight as well.  There was this little guy around the 4 mark I would guess that only roared as he was a tyrannosaurus rex, silly. So Colleen made up a song on the spot for Julianno the t-rex. The next thing I know, his hands take on the look of ancient creatures of past, he starts to circle Colleen stomping to the beat of 'his song'. It was absolutely adorable.

Colleen you are a delight in my life and judging from the faces on the people you met today - you are a delight to everyone who has a chance to see even a small glimpse of your soul!

Fall is here

I know fall is here because all my favorite shows are back.

That and the fact that my toes are freezing in flip flops.
(But I refuse to put the flip flops away cause I am not ready for winter yet)

And already I am in love with Lauren Graham and her show, Parenthood.

20 minutes into the second season and I had tears.

Counting down the days until Grey's, Brothers and Sisters and Private Practice!

Just have to get all settled into that new house.
(But I kept out my Gilmore Girls so I have some packing company and such delightful company they are!)

YEAH!!!!

The signs

Jimmy and I have each been on a budget for well over a year. And in case you have forgotten, I have had a few lows and highs that have impeded the progress at times but in April we made the big leap and were pre-approved for the mortgage. Next step - finding a realtor and figuring out our must haves!


To get an idea of the communities we liked and what might possibly be available, we went for a Sunday afternoon drive. Wildwood was our most favorite location, and there were numerous listings but once we came home and looked them up on MLS, very few were actually within our budget. There was this little yellow house in particular that we quite liked. From the exterior - it fit all our criteria including being a 4 level split. (Sign #1 - the perfect house in Wildwood)

Jimmy and I tried to keep our chins up; we had talked at length and were both comfortable that we had lots of time to find the perfect house. In the meantime, we were not going to stress about it. Rather we would enjoy our summer trip back to Nova Scotia and plan to start looking seriously in September and October.


The Sunday before we left for Nova Scotia, we called our realtor (who, if anyone is looking, is absolutely amazing - I am quite confident we wouldn't have necessarily had the same success with many others), Tracey and forwarded over the master spreadsheet I had created (okay, I am a bit of a spreadsheet geek . . . ). This was all done in hopes that by the time I got back from Dallas (4 weeks later) we would have a few places to check out. I was ready - I had made us spreadsheets for everything. The deal breakers, the nice to haves, the important details we needed to check out when we looked at the house!

It took a couple days for our registration to kick in to receive the automatic property matches and so when the house we had spotted in Wildwood showed up, it was the Wednesday before vacation and we were leaving first thing Friday morning. Incredible - it had dropped a hundred thousand dollars! (Sign #2 - our dream house was within our price range after a crazy price drop) I emailed Tracey to let her know that if it was still free, we would like to look at the house.


Then we were off . . . both of us were sooo excited for our vacation and the warm weather in Nova Scotia that we really didn't think much about house shopping. In fact, I had totally forgotten about the Wildwood house. It wasn't until a couple of days before we came home that we had any further discussions.

We were only supposed to have 2 nights in Calgary together before Jimmy left for a golf trip to Vancouver Island and I was leaving for Dallas less then 7 hours from when he was supposed to fly back into Calgary. This didn't leave us any time for checking out places but through a few random events his golfing trip was cancelled. (Sign #3 - we were able to look at houses together)


It worked out perfectly as this opened up Wednesday night to go house shopping. Tracey was leaving Thursday morning for an extended weekend and we just wanted to get out with her once so that she could have a better idea of what we were looking for.


I sent Tracey a list and at the last minute, remembered the house in wildwood and went searching for it (Sign #4 - God wouldn't let me forget about it). We had a list of 6 houses and Tracey asked us to sort them in order of preference. Since 5 were in Dalhousie I thought it easiest to start there and so put a couple of houses in that community at the top. As luck would have it - our top pick and then our second top pick were both conditionally sold by the time we headed out. (Sign #5 - the houses were conditionally sold earlier in the day so that we didn't 'think' we were in love and rush into an area that wasn't our first choice) The first 2 we looked at were quite a disappointment and I was trying really hard not to get discouraged.  The next one was okay. The fourth house we saw restored my hope as we quite enjoyed the living, dining and kitchen area. Then we headed to Wildwood.


About half way through checking out the house, I ran into Jimmy and we both expressed how much we liked this one. (Sign #6 - without speaking to one another we each felt that it was 'the one') We each went our ways again and circled back to talk to Tracey about it. By the time we left the house, Tracey had a feeling there might be another offer on the table and so we briefly chatted about next steps. (Sign #7 - Tracey had an intuition that we needed to seriously consider putting an offer on it soon) We went from 'let's sleep on it' to 'okay Tracey will head home and pull some comparisons and we may put in an offer tonight' to 'Tracey will go to her friend's house to pull comparisons' to 'Tracey will come to my apartment to pull comparisons and we will put in an offer'!  (Sign #8 - throughout the process, Tracey's intuition got stronger and stronger) None of us were prepared for all of this to be coming together so quickly.


The next two and a half hours are a blur. It involved signing a stack of papers, agreeing on a price, Tracey calling in the quote, Tracey handing in our official offer as they were about to sign the other offer (Sign #9 - our timing was impecable - 5 minutes later and we wouldn't be at the table), Jimmy and I heading over to sit outside the house and eat A&W in the van with Tracey, the sellers realtor coming out and asking us to each put in our best offer and that 'God will decide' (Sign #10 - assurance that none of this process was in our control), the sellers realtor mentioning how emotional the couple were; Tracey telling the sellers realtor about our new engagement (Sign #11 - Jimmy's timing was also impecable) and driving past the house wishing upon it, the sellers choosing us (Sign #12 - need I say more - they chose us!!!) - - - financed offer for less money then the other ladie's offer - - - all because they wanted to give us a break! I still get goose bumps!!! This story has God's gracious hand all over it.

p.s. It happened so fast we didn't have time to bust out my spreadsheet once . . . hee hee

p.p.s.  Possession is in two weeks from tomorrow

p.p.p.s. I haven't started to pack yet . . . eep!

A love letter a day . . .

It is stories like this that grow my trust in love everlasting. Stories like this that reminds me that I cannot take a moment for granted. Stories like this that fuel a burning desire that all of my loved ones can experience the same kind of love.


Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Remember to tell your special someone how much you care for them today.

I love you Jimmy!

The Camp

Brent took us up to The Camp again this summer. I must say, the camp is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to visit when we go home to Nova Scotia.  There are a few others that can be included in this list: the cape, the beach, the wheel . . . so I was quite excited to take a trip up Brown's Mountain.

It was my first trip up during the day. The trees were a rich green and the ferns so lush. You could breathe it all in! It was the perfect afternoon to listen to Brent's tall tales, snap a few photos and enjoy the sunshine.

If you are dying to see the inside of the cabin, you can check out these pics I took last time.  Thanks Brent for the perfect afternoon!

A tale of things to come

So . . . I am back - finally!! Hee hee

It has been such a fun month though that I can't possibly wish to trade a moment of it for anything else.

Sneak preview of some posts to come:

Nova Scotia in all it's beauty (i love spending time with family and friends)

A little PEI (and some raspberry cordial of course)

Dallas and all my drawling friends (they are quite a delight . . . it is true!)

Wedding plans (eep . . . no we don't quite have a date yet and I am not positive on the colors but I am thinking about bachelor buttons . . . )

Road trips to the Gorge for a little Dave Matthews and Ben Harper (sigh . . . I do enjoy them)

And last but not least . . .

A new house (for the grown up painting of course)