1. I have realized that I am not fan of travelling. I hate flying – scared of it, and I hate being confined to one tiny seat for long periods of time. I don’t like the bus – I get motion sick, and again, stuck in one seat for long periods of time. The train isn’t too bad because you can sort of get up and move around, and I don’t get motion sick. But any trip over about 3 hours, and I start to get antsy and claustrophobic. Same goes for car trips – motion sickness if I try to read anything, or look at anything in the car. But at least it’s our own space, and we can stop and get out of the car whenever we want to. We just did a pretty epic one, and by the end I was ready to never see the inside of my car ever again. Even before we left, I was dreading the trip HOME. Thankfully the worst of my aches and pains and anxiety didn’t hit until the last leg of the trip and for that one we had about 4 hours to go. So travelling, coupled with having to sleep in beds that aren’t my own, and take showers in showers that aren’t my own, and having to live out of a suitcase… not my thing. The longest flight I have taken (that I can recall, so I am not including the flight to Alberta when I was 4), was just over three hours long – to Orlando, Florida. For Disney World. If I am going to fly, you can bet your bippy it will be for a freaking magical reason. I felt like I was trapped and wanted OFF that plane. Even when I do go places, it’s to visit someone and not to sight see. I am not a sight seeing person. Nor is Shawn. Sure, I’d like to see some places (Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Nordic countries) but until someone invents teleportation, I think I’ll pass on those trips for a while.

2. Back in early November, I got a Wake-Up Light. It’s an awesome alarm clock that wakes you up gently by simulating sunrise!

I have been meaning to blog about this for a while, and kept forgetting. A friend on Facebook mentioned having a magical, whimsical alarm clock, that has sunrise and chirping birds. I looked into this and thought that it might work well for me – because aside from not travelling well, I also don’t wake up well. The shock to my system from our alarm sound every morning always upset my stomach. It’s awful. So I mentioned to Shawn I might like to try this, and I thought it would make a great Christmas gift, but he gave it to me early because, well, November is dark and gloomy and triggers my PTSD. So this clock starts to get bright about 20 minutes before you want to get up (I have it set for 7am, so it starts to lighten at 6:40), then at 7 I have a soft, piano sound start to play, but honestly, I am generally awake way before then. It even had a sunSET setting, so you can set it to turn off after x- minutes and it will gradually darken the room. This is also cool for settling down to sleep after reading or something. I love this light to pieces.

3. We decorated our front yard Dalek for Christmas.

So far it has held up pretty well, even with all the snow we got a few weeks ago. The point of this monstrosity in our front yard is to try and protect the tiny twig of a tree we planted in the spring. Honestly I started doing this as a joke, but I think I’ll keep it up for a while. I kind of like the bow on top. heh.

4. I failed big time with Christmas cards. I didn’t get many done at al, so aside from a few close friends, I didn’t give or send any out this year. I had high hopes though. I started working on them towards the end of November. I got about 6 made. Oops.

The problem was with all the Big Things sort of dragging me down, it was difficult to find the motivation AND time to get them done. I just wasn’t inspired this year. I already knew I wasn’t going to mail as many cards this year due to the insane increase in the price of stamps, but I’d wanted to send out a few. Oh, well. I hope my friends and family forgive me. If they don’t, well, Christmas cards are a pretty petty thing to give up a friendship over. =P

5. On the topic of holidays, I never did post about what my Halloween costume was this year! Well, I was my own version of Madeline Hatter from Ever After High (the Mad Hatter’s daughter!)

Turns out there were no adult-sized costumes for this character (drat!) and she’s my all-time favourite one from that series. So I found some similar-type items at a costume shop, made it a little less slutty by covering up the cleavage drop and had fun with this in the office all day on Halloween! I even took minutes at a meeting like this. I might get frustrated being in a job that I don’t particularly feel is the right fit for me, but by golly am I lucky where I work that everyone there puts up with me and enjoys my shenanigans.

6. I love watching my husband play video games. I know this is odd, but it’s sort of like watching a television program. I don’t play many games myself (LEGO Harry Potter notwithstanding), but watching Shawn play games on his new PS4 has been very fun. He did have this one zombie-like game that I couldn’t watch too much of because it gave me nightmares (the sounds. Gah!) but even years ago, when Shawn would play other games I’d like watching, and commenting. It’s a silly way to spend time together, but I am sure other gaming households will understand. 😉

7. I made Shawn a Sophspirational Quote calendar for Christmas. This started out as a joke to cheer him up over a couple of bad days, but after I’d send them to him, I’d post them online and everyone seemed to want more. So I made about 2 weeks worth of quotes. It almost broke my brain. But now Shawn has a nice monthly desk calendar to help cheer him up when he’s having a bad day at work. After all, #NoSophie is a great motivator!

1. I used to think Summer didn’t mean much unless you were able to spend your days in the country, near the water. Summer time in the city was never appealing to me and I always moped around waiting for autumn and winter. But the last few years, thanks to the help of Jinx’s Garden and the way my body and mind have changed due to exercise, I’m appreciating the summer months way more. The more muscle I build, the less over-heated I am when it’s warm out. In fact, some days I can wear a light sweater because I’m chilly. I haven’t experienced this since I was a teen. I feel grounded and calm when I walk through the garden barefoot. I am spending way more time outdoors this year than ever before. Reading, walking, running, whatever. I still long to be able to do all of this near water, but at least I am learning to enjoy the season no matter where I am.

2. I have just finished the first week of my two-week vacation from work. There’s an odd sort of guilt associated with vacation time that I can’t seem to shake. I have done almost nothing productive this past week. I have sat  outside, inside, and read. I read nine books in the last 7 days. I keep feeling like I should be doing SOMETHING with my time off other than sit around and read, but right now, that’s all I want to do. Why do we feel like we need to do stuff around the house, or be productive when we take time off? I realize that it’s often during this time that we can get stuff done, but it should also be ok to just relax when you’re off from work. Without feeling guilty. Right? I will be home alone next week as Shawn starts a new job, and that’s when I plan on puttering around the house (getting ready for a garage sale, cleaning stuff, etc). But this past week, I just needed to recharge. Since I don’t have a body of water to gaze out over, I got lost in books. I haven’t been reading like this for a long time, and it’s just nice to get back into it.

3. On Tuesday, it will be three weeks since we said goodbye to Jinx. It’s been a very difficult thing to get through our heads. Since it was so sudden, it almost feels like it never happened. We’re both constantly looking up and thinking Jinx is there, in the room with us. Jinx’s absence has made it hard for me to tend to the garden. I feel like the wind is knocked out of me each time I go down to check on the tomatoes and coocumbers. In fact, the cucumbers just aren’t growing much this year. It could just be a bad crop, but honestly, I think it’s because Jinx wasn’t down there walking through them and snuffling them. This is the first year they have not thrived. I also find it so empty when I am outside on the back deck reading. Jinx would also come out with me and just lie on the deck, enjoying being outdoors. He’d watch for squirrels and protect me from them. He’d wander down and snuffle his garden. I keep looking up from my book to talk to him and tell him he’s handsome, and a good boy. But he’s not there. Sophie does not like spending time outside at all. I’ve tried having her out there while I enjoy the air, but she just paces in front of the backdoor, waiting to be let in. It’s sad. I’m trying to find peace in the outdoors without Jinx at my side, but it’s a painful process. Still, the backyard, and Jinx’s Garden are healing me, slowly.

4. Summer time means sitting on the back deck, in the evening, with a cigar and a beer. Or wine. Or a rum and coke. Not often. Very occasionally. But it’s still something we like to do when the evenings are warm and the crickets are chirping away, and the sun is setting. It hasn’t been too humid this summer, in fact, I feel like this summer has had the most perfect weather (but that’s because it hasn’t been humid and 30C+). There have been very few mosquitos this year, which makes sitting outside in the evening a blissful experience. The spring was late and wet, so the bugs were bad then, but so far, July and August have been lovely. Shawn and I laugh and talk about everything and anything. We cry over missing Jinx. We listen to playlists on music streaming apps. We decide we need to groom Sophie. (Sophie isn’t as big of a fan of these ideas as we are.) It’s peaceful, and although we bring our phones outside with us (to capture these moments on instagram), we are disconnected from our computers for a while and we just enjoy being with each other.

5. I love the sounds of summer. Chirping birds, chirping crickets, wind in the trees. Lawnmowers in the distance. Kids playing (as long as they aren’t screaming and really loud). The distant sound of motorboats on the river. I like those sounds better when they are closer and I am near a beach, but still. The sounds of summer make me happy. The best part about this cooler-than-average summer is that we have been able to have our windows open more often and these sounds drip in throughout the day. The summer breeze brings in sweet smells of grass, water, flowers and boat fuel (I like it, ok?) and sounds of summer. Much better than the constant drone of the air conditioner (which is actually on today because it’s humid and hotter than it has been. Totally ruining the point of this post. =P)

6. I long to spend my summer in a cottage, near water. That hasn’t been a reality for years (since I moved out on my own), but I know that one day it will happen. Even if we just rent a cottage for two weeks somewhere. It’ll happen eventually. We’ve had too many summers of having our vacations not line up, or not having employment or money to do anything when we do have time together. I’d love to own a cottage, but aside from being a lot of money, it would be a lot of WORK and to really make it worth it, it would have to be close by so you could get the most out of it during the summer months. One day. We’ll have a cottage summer one day. It’s a goal.

7. For many, August marks the end of summer. And while the official season end isn’t until the middle of September, August is so different from June and July I can understand why people feel this way. August’s colours are more golden and darker greens. Shadows bathed in golden sunlight. Yellows and oranges. Not the same as fall colours, but August isn’t bright yellow, blue, and green days like June and July are. I have always loved August. It fills me with this inexplicable hope, even though I don’t seem to ever hope anymore. It fills me with an energy that makes me feel like I can accomplish anything. It’s a wonderful time to take vacation from work and just reset. I love August and its golden glow. It’s calming and perfect for lazy days of summer.

August is perfect for bath time! Even if Sophie doesn’t agree. 😉