Vay-Cay!!!

My alarm rang at 6:30 a.m. so I could let the dog out. It's pouring rain - I mean POURING - with a dash of thunder and lightning thrown in for effect. I've got a hair appointment this morning but then it's a solid 24 hours of chores and packing (minus sleep) to get ready for the cottage. But all that doesn't really matter, because as of 6:00 pm last night (ya, leaving the office at 5:00 didn't really work out after all), I'M ON VACATION!!!!!!! Have a great weekend, everyone ... I'll be checking in once in a while, see ya around!

I can almost taste it ...

Only two more sleeps! I'm not sure if I've ever looked forward to a summer vacation more. Don't know if it's because work has been so busy, and I'm tired; or if it's because I sense this might be the last official all-four-of-us summer vacation (next summer the girl will probably be working, might not want to follow Mom and Dad anymore...); or if it's because I need some relax-with-the-husband time; or if it's because I need some scrapping time; or a combination of all of the above. All I know is, I NEED MY VACATION! And in less than 48 hours, I will officially be on vay-cay.

There is so much to do between now and then! Lots of loose ends to wrap up at work. Laundry and packing and assorted cottage preparations to be done at home. And preparatory work for the painter who'll be coming to paint our master bedroom while we're gone. Instead of blogging tonight, I should be making my cottage lists (what to pack, and a menu plan for the week). But I did accomplish two things this evening - library and ironing - so I'm indulging. After all, I need to update y'all on happenings around here!

So firstly, we held our garage sale on Sunday since Saturday weather sucked. And now instead of having half a garage full of crap, I only have a quarter garage full, lol! Actually we did ok, made around $240 or so I think? But still so much left. We may attempt another sale before giving up - and then we'll cart everything left
to Goodwill.

Then on Sunday night we tried out our new barbecue spit (we had to purchase a new barbecue a couple of weeks ago, because ours, which was only 2 years old and had been regularly cleaned, caught fire and basically self-combusted in a fairly major way. Got a full refund from Costco for it though.). Anyhow - check out the meat on this baby. Two lamb roasts and two pork roasts! We ate leftovers til today! It was fun watching the meat spin and slicing off yummy bits. What can I say, we are easily amused! Wine helps. Lol.

Yesterday, I had coffee with Barb and Marlene. We meant to have coffee with Chris, too, but due to an unfortunate Starbucks location mix-up ... we ended up Chris-less. Which was really too bad, but there'll be a next time. It was great to get together and catch up; while I stalk these ladies' blogs, I can't even remember the last time we had gotten together in real life. I think maybe 2006, at a crop. Yikes. So having coffee with these smiling faces was a great way to start my day:


Today, my staff and I had an off-site team-building event. That's what we public servants have to call it. Normal people would call it a picnic. It was an absolutely perfect day for it. Not posting any pictures of people (gotta protect the not-so-innocent!). But check out the food spread. It went on for two, maybe three picnic tables. Yummy. We held the - ahem - off-site team-building event at Rockcliffe Park, which is an absolutely gorgeous jewel of a park just a few minutes past the Prime Minister's residence.

And that's about all the news I have for now. So I'll finish up with a surprise ... yes, I finally got some layouts scanned! It's been weeks since I completed these (basically, it's been weeks since I've scrapped!). The first layout is of the trip the girl and I made to Montreal last summer; and the second one is about how the dog loved to lie down on the boy's hockey equipment.



Almost time for me to go to sleep ... oh yeah, only two more sleeps til vay-cay!!! Ciao!!!

Ten Things I'm Looking Forward To

1. 5:00 pm Friday (which is when my three weeks of summer vacation officially start!)

2. Going to the cottage.

3. Meeting Barb, Marlene and Chris for coffee early one morning next week.

4. Having morning coffee in the backyard with my husband during holidays. And joining him on the morning walks with the dog.

5. Finally getting our garage sale over with ... was going to be today but the forecast sucks ... so hopefully, tomorrow! Our double car garage is half full of stuff that needs to go.

6. Scrabpooking. Not sure when that's going to happen ... next week is bound to be busy, AND we're having some rooms painted so the scrapbooking room will be used to store stuff from other rooms. And then the room will be painted while I'm on vacation, so will be off-limits for a few days. I have so many projects and ideas inside my head!!! They need to come out, lol!!!

7. Sleeping for more than 5 hours a night. I've got high hopes that this might actually happen during vacation.

8. Going to the spa for some pampering during vacation.

9. Learning how to kayak (at the cottage).

10. Breakfast (lol - I'm hungry!!!)

Have a great weekend, everyone! I will once again make an attempt at posting some layouts this weekend. :o)

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day everyone! Hope your plans don't get rained out. I think maybe ours will!

Well, at least the dog is getting into the spirit of the day, what with the bandanna and all ... yes folks, the dog is wearing an item of clothing! Maybe there's hope for Halloween now ... maybe by then we'll manage to wear down the husband and go for full gear!

So our plans for today are up in the air, but I've get enough food in the fridge and freezer to manage a last-minute get-together with friends. Or a really big pig-out for just the four of us, lol. I am just thrilled with having one day off and can taste my upcoming vacation now ... 17 more sleeps and only 12 more working days!

I still haven't managed to scan those layouts I promised to share, but I did spend some time this morning uploading pictures to the computer (a long overdue chore), including some pictures of my gorgeous girl all dolled up for prom. I just can't wait to get those printed out and scrapped! Here's a sneak peak ...


She's the Greek goddess standing in the middle. Sigh. Little girl all grown up.

Have a great day, everyone!

PS - I hope y'all like the new blog design. I think the pictures and layouts look better against a white background. But it seems a little bit narrower than the old blog ... stuff looks a bit smushed. Unfortunately, since I suck at anything computer related, I have to live with whatever templates are offered by blogger without a hope of doing any customization.