Feeling like a little Pioneer

“A pioneer is not someone who makes her own soap. She is one who takes up her burdens and walks toward the future.”
~Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

This weekend was really great. I mean, it was extremely busy; but it was really great.

I may not be an amazing cook or have the patience to bake, but I LOVE pretending to be a little pioneer; who lives in a small cabin in the middle of the woods jarring preserves to survive. What?

No, seriously. I had so much fun cutting up tons of apples and waiting forever for them to turn into something ouber healthy and delicious. Not a lot of ingredients in these sorts of recipes but a lot of time that needs to be set aside to accomplish the yummy, rewarding outcome.

This week has been insanely busy at work, so I am somewhat slacking on the blog posts. I am overtired, overworked and overnotreadingenough! I apologize for my slackassness; but sometimes I’ve just got to take it easy! Though some of you had a nice relaxing long weekend, [not that mine wasn’t relaxing, well…no it wasn’t. It was fun though] I had to squeeze in work with all the fun stuff; so that definitely sucked the life out of me and I am suffering this week because of it.  I might not even be making sense right now.

I also discovered this weekend that I quite enjoy blogging with pictures. It was fun to document my apple butter process. It’s exciting to get to share with you guys the stuff I run into –like Mom’s coffee find at Winner’s. Seriously, that shit is getting me through the week!

So, here’s a HELLO from ME to YOU. This little Pioneer is hitting up the Bathtub!!

Nighty Night!

Quote Note: I’m both - the pioneer who’s making her own soap and working to be the pioneer who’s walking toward her future coffee shop. 

Crisp and delish

Our relationships with others are important.  And also important is our relationship with food.  It's not just something that is necessary for survival, but a vast array of deliciousness.  All food can be beneficial for your health and enjoyment if you will let it.  That means not stressing out about what you eat and picking foods that you feel will be best for you.  If you are going to eat something which you believe is unhealthy make sure you don't feel guilty about it.  Guilt and stress are much more toxic for your body then any desert or salty schnack out there.  So every time you eat, treat food as your friend and remember to savor... every... last... bite.

Just a yummy thought

-Alon Attal

A walk in Mapleton Park

Pumpkin Butter and Cream Cheese = Amazing breakfast food!

Absolutely Delectable coffee that my mom picked up at Winner's. Definite fall treat! 

My afternoon snack today: Apple Butter, Balkan Style Yogurt, Mom’s homemade granola.

Yumm!! And- Full of good stuff!

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”
~Maya Angelou

This is going to be a picture post ~ ENJOY!! 

 Jars of Pumpkin Butter and Apple Creme Sauce that I made Friday night

The weather was amazing on Saturday. A little 'hot' for Apple picking; but we'll go again when we can wear scarves! 

Wagon Ride to the Orchard

My bag says, STUFF. The F just happens to be the only letter in the picture ;o

We celebrated out Nephew's 3rd Birthday along with Thanksgiving at my Sister's

Then it was time to make the Apple Butter:

Started with this.

Finished with this - yummy, appley goodness

So, these are the goods we brought to the LeBlanc's with us :
Pumpkin Butter, Apple Butter, Apple Cake, Apple Pie and Cheesy Mashed Potatoes! 

It's cold outside.

“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.”

~Robert A. Heinlein

Seriously? Is it really this cold out?

It even hailed yesterday!

Happy Friday!

Being a Maid Of Honour

“Why did you do all this for me?" he asked. "I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 
You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.”

~ E.B White, Charlottes Web

I think someone found her Wedding Dress tonight!!

I’ve been there, done that. I’ve experienced that moment- my eyes welled up, I felt butterflies in my stomach and my whole entire self knew it was the one. It was the most calming, blissful and exciting moment of the wedding planning process. Once I had the Dress, I knew that everything else would fall into place. It’s something that until you actually experience as a bride, you can’t fully understand.

To stand by and witness my best friend feel that, is an entirely different thing. It was such a cool moment to realize that, oh wait a second, what’s going on here? Why is she being so awkward right now? Why is she looking away from me? Wait….umm…are those tears!!! What’s happening? Is this it? Is this the one? She cried, I cried, her Mother-in-law to be cried.

I am so, so, so glad I was there with her for that moment.

Love you M. 

[and it's not one of these ones! ]

Gotta slow it down

“That is my problem with life, I rush through it, like I'm being chased. Even things whose whole point is slowness, like drinking relaxing tea. When I drink relaxing tea I suck it down as if I'm in a contest for who can drink relaxing tea the quickest.”

~Miranda July

I bet you were worried for a minute weren't you? Don't worry! My posts aren't going anywhere!

I have decided that I ought to take a tiny break from reading. Well, not necessarily a break, I'm going to slow it down a bit. I just started this really great book, The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern and it's excellent, but I also have to have The Lantern, by Deborah Lawrenson, read in time for my next RBTW meeting and I also have a million and one FUN FALL THINGS to accomplish this month. So.....taking a break from the books until at least the 20^th of October.  I am totally ok with this because it's time to knit! It’s time to make pie and get out the crock pot!

I love lists and I have decided that listing is going to become part of my blog. It seems as though I have a list in my post every couple of days so you might as well get used to it!

This is what I have planned for the Fall!

• ·      Knitting - My sister in law and I are partaking in the Botsford Christmas Bazaar; so I have a TON of adorable laced/knitted bookmarks to get cracking on! I made 1 last night! 4 finished in total, 96 more to go!  
• ·      Apple picking
• ·      Apple butter making 
• ·      I would also like to try making Pumpkin butter -- hello YUMMO!
• ·      PUMPKIN CARVING
• ·      Thanksgiving Dinner! - aka: TURKEY eatin’ time!
• ·      Halloween costume making
• ·      The hubby and I are throwing around the idea of hosting a Halloween party -if we do, I intend on taking full advantage of our empty basement space and look forward to setting up some super fun games -ex: Bobbing for apples!
• ·      Running in the cool crisp fall air!
• ·      Taking long walks with my hunny and Beaner!
• ·      Squeezing in one last Hike at Fundy!
• ·      Celebrating a few more Birthdays!
• ·      Lots of Pumpkin Spice latte drinking!

Speaking of Pumpkin Spice, my hunny and I are headed to Starbucks in a bit for just that kind of latte! Happy Wednesday!!!! 

Apple Butter from Corn Hill. I need to make my own! Love it!

Long winded on a Tuesday

“There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.”

~ Bertrand Russell

There I was last night, all motivated to get my run on and now I'm like....eeek.....I have 54 days to prepare myself for this. Is that enough time? If I run at least 3 times a week, that is only 24 runs; am I going to be able to do this? Sure! It's only 5 k, no biggie. BUT - I haven't had a good run since June. I took too much time off, I slacked off big time, I had too many [1 scoop cotton candy, 1 scoop turtle tracks] ice-cream cones this summer and that is sure to weigh me down! No, no, I can do this! I have an amazing support system; I have a super stellar sister-in-law that's doing it with me. I have the memories of how good it feels after each run and the pride in myself that I feel after I accomplish a long run! I can do this!

There it is - totally unedited - that was my brain this morning; full of yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no?! [Picture Chris Kattan, from the movie, Corky Romano here]. The thing is, I knew that if I paid the fees and registered for the run, I would have to make the commitment to do it. There is no turning back now. I have to!

The nice fall weather will be awesome to run in!! And it's just one more reason for me to get out and enjoy the fall weather on a regular basis. Plus, I'll be all in shape and feeling wonderful come December! I'm not always the little bubble of life that everyone thinks I am once the cold, dreary weather hits, so this will get me geared up and prepared for the winter. I'll be going into it feeling fit and great, which will hopefully trigger some 'let's keep this good stuff going' thoughts and help me to work hard to keep up with working out during the cold winter months.

It's funny how must of us understand ourselves and our bodies enough to know what's good for us, to know what we need to do to keep our body and minds feeling good. It's also very interesting how although we are very aware, we still let go, neglecting ourselves and our goals; only to fall into a slump where we get mad and regret the choices we should have made but didn’t. That's me! I have a bad habit of doing that to myself and I need to kick it!

Yesterdays post title got me thinking about motivation --- what does and doesn’t motivate me? 
Given all the super cool things in this world and in my life, I should have a ton of reasons to be motivated!

Things that motivate me:

• ·      Making a commitment and having to stick to it - having paid hard earned money to 'be able' to participate does the trick!

• ·      Sunshine or crisp fall air - weather that makes me want to get outside and exercise or just enjoy the great outdoors!

• ·      Rain - this kind of weather keeps me inside, able to accomplish things like cleaning out closets, organizing cupboards, getting some work done in the basement, whipping up some comfort food. Stuff like that.

• ·      Weddings - gotta look good in those pictures!

• ·      Being angry/frustrated/fed up - I clean sooooo fast when I feel this way. [To note: I am aware that this is not positive behavior; but, it's true]

• ·      Doing something that I know for sure is going to make someone else's day. [That’s a really great type of motivation] 

• ·      The fact that someday I am going to run my own adorable coffee shop.

• ·      Last but not least – The quote above is so true!!! I'll go a little bit farther with it though because once I started keeping track of the number of books I was reading each year, I pushed myself even harder to keep it up. [Except now it’s kind of gotten out of hand. I am on my 32^nd book this year and I’ll admit- I don’t really have time for that! I’ll also admit that because of that, I spend way too much time in the tub and not enough time with my hunny! Hee Hee!]

What motivates you? Take some time to think about this question and I bet you'll feel a whole hell of a lot more motivated!

***********************************************************************

One more thing—

I didn’t mention this yesterday, but I had a really great weekend with my hubby, friends and family! 

Above is a picture of us at Corn Hill Nursery in Corn Hill, NB.  We decided to go on a Saturday morning adventure for brunch instead of the Market this week. If you’ve never been, you should go! They have a great little café and it’s just a really lovely place!

More pictures below! 

A Cedar cafe Picture

Another one. Lovely eh? 

Got to see how apple juice was made

Little Beaner even got to come along for the ride!
Here she is,  chilling with her Auntie in the backseat.

Happy 25th!!!!!! xoxox

We also celebrated one of my wonderful lady friends 25^th Birthday over the weekend! It was definitely a night to remember! There was a limo ride included in this evening; so, if you can only imagine how fun that must have been! It was!!!! Happy Quarter Century Girly!!!

Tomorrow's HUMP day!!!