Life by the Sea

Vacations Are Necessities, Not Luxuries

August 6, 2013 No Comments

The first vacation of the summer was a combination of relaxation and fun activities. We began with a pint at the local watering hole, The Foggy Goggle, to help celebrate a friend’s birthday on Friday evening. Saturday saw us taking in our first ever Pride Parade with our friend, Shawn, in downtown Halifax which the boys really loved. It was so wonderful to see the city come alive with colour and love and just all around joy for life. I am so glad that our boys get to grow up knowing nothing but acceptance for loves of all kinds. After the parade we dropped by the Seaport Farmers’ Market and picked up some local goodies then had dinner at the newest location of the Lower Deck Bar & Grill in Clayton Park. We ended the day on a high note with ice cream cones for dessert from What’s the Scoop […]

Cottage Life, Holidays, Local Travel, Memories

Summertime and the Livin’ is Easy

July 19, 2013 No Comments

Well the first half of 2013 flew by didn’t it? *averts eyes in shame at the lack of posts* We’re now well into summer and here on the east coast we’ve been graced with lots of hot, humid weather peppered with multiple days of rain. We’re forever guessing what to wear and an umbrella has been used as much for keeping the blazing sun off our skin as the wet rain. We’ve been enjoying weekends at the family cottage on the lake by swimming, reading, campfires and relaxing with a slower pace of life and been spending our weekday evenings swimming in the local swimming hole, walking on the nearby beach boardwalk, flying kites and enjoying some ice cream to cool off. And the great part is we haven’t even taken our vacation yet! 🙂 We’re scheduled to be off most of the last week in July when family […]

Marriage, Mental Health, Parenthood, Photography, Reflections

The Happiness Quotient – Finding Balance Amidst The Chaos

January 26, 2013 14 Comments

Identifying your true passion in life Passion is defined as “a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept”. There are things we encounter in our lives that we are inexplicably drawn to. We seek them because they provide us with an overwhelming sense of fulfillment and joy. We tend to think of a passion as something we do in our “spare time”. Something we wish we could do on a constant basis and get paid to do it. Sadly, we spend many hours of each day doing something we’ve become complacent about and that pays bills but does not bring us that innate sense of pleasure. Eventually, something acts as the catalyst for you to pursue your passion further. After weighing the pros and cons of it all you decide to jump in, feet-first and take the plunge. You take a leap of faith, […]

Reflections

2012 – A Year In Review

December 31, 2012 2 Comments

My word for the year Looking back over 365 days of memories and trying to properly pay tribute to all of them is impossible. Thankfully our brains have a neat little organization system in place. Using dates as benchmarks it allows us to pick out the highlights reel of the wonderful and the challenging moments so we can reflect and then refile them in our big filing cabinet of life. Like most, I had my share of visits to each end of the virtual spectrum of emotions. I had moments of jubilation and moments of despair. I experienced joy and I experienced heartache. I laughed and I cried. I was hopeful and I was hopeless. My word for the year The contrast between two opposing forces shows, for the most part, a sense of balance and ironically that was the word I had chosen for myself in 2012 – BALANCE. […]

Holidays, Parenthood, Reflections

Lives Unfinished – When the Unthinkable Happens

December 15, 2012 2 Comments

It started like any other week day Yesterday my alarm went off. I got up, got dressed and rushed out the door to catch my bus. It was the last day of the work week and I knew that despite having to leave for work before the rest of my family gets out of bed that at the end of the day I would be picking my kids up from daycare with their dad and we’d get lots of “Mama…Daddy!” as well as big hugs and kisses. I knew that we’d have the weekend before us full of possibilities of activities together as a family. Maybe some baking of Christmas goodies. Perhaps a walk in the park. We’d no doubt cuddle up as a family and watch a holiday movie together. Share some popcorn. Have breakfast together. It was these thoughts that got me through my work day… …until lunch […]