Happy December! Have a freebie!

I cannot BELIEVE it's the first of December already! Holy smokes. Okay, so I said I had a new digital scrapbooking freebie for you, and here it is...

Ta-daaaaa!



DOWNLOAD>


Want to learn how to digi-scrap? Check out some of Digital Scrapbook Place's fab tutorials and get busy!

Check out the rest of the Worldwide Christmas Scrapbooking Freebies here (I'm probably the first one to post, so please check throughout tomorrow in accordance to various time zones and designers' personal schedules):

30 Days of Thanksvember - Days 29 and 30

Day 29 - I am so thankful for support.

I've received countless messages, phone calls, and comments since my mom passed away. I have so many wonderful friends and family members who care for me deeply, and many with their own memories of Mom and their own shared grief. And yesterday, Trevor's manager made him stay home with me, which I desperately needed.

I don't think I could have gotten through the past two days without all this support, comfort, positive light and prayers buoying me above the darkness.

My mom's obituary can be found here. Her picture should be added sometime today.

It was my mom's wishes to be cremated, her ashes mingled with my dad's and eventually freed over the Atlantic Ocean, which she dearly loved. This funeral home will mix the ashes for us. My biomom wants to get some of the ashes divided into small vials or other containers so that each family member can have Mom and Dad with them. A private memorial service will be held later on and filmed for family members who can't be there.

My husband wishes to take our vial of ashes of my parents around Toronto and Canada, since they never got to adventure with me. Mom and I always talked about her getting healthier and her taking a train or plane up here to see all the things I've told her about.

One thing that Mom kept saying over and over to anyone who would listen? "I'm so thankful that Mary has Trevor."

She knew I would be okay, even before we told her she was free to go join Dad.

And I will be okay. I will have bad days, and good days, and all the days in-between. I miss her so much. But think of the joy and pure love and light she is experiencing right now! I am not sad for her at all. I'm just sad for me and the rest of us left behind in her wake.

I am thankful to everyone who has supported me.



Now, I know I'd said that Day 30 was going to be a bit special, but my heart isn't in it, unfortunately, so it's going to be toned down a tad.

Day 30 - I am thankful for Leonie Dawson.



Leonie Dawson is a mentor to women wanting to create + grow massively successful and heart-centered creative + soulful businesses. She is also an author, retreat leader, visual artist, mama and guide for the tens of thousands who receive her free “SHINE IN YOUR LIFE + BIZ” ezine each week.

Leonie has taught alongside such luminaries as Arielle Ford, Julia Cameron, Gay Hendricks and SARK. Her client list includes successful shining women such as Rolling Stone Woman of the Year, singer-songwriter & “Offspring” actress Clare Bowditch to Australia’s Fat Loss Queen Kat Loterzo, master manifesting coach Denise Duffield-Thomas and best-selling author & crystal healing mega star Stephanie Hibiscus Moon.

Her strategic musings and practical wisdom have been featured on Problogger, Tiny Buddha, magazines like Spellcraft, Life Images, Goddess and Spheres, and in three of SARK’s best-selling books on creative fulfillment & freedom.

Purposeful, passionate & unendingly prolific, Leonie published her first book at 22, held her first solo art exhibition at 23, began leading women’s circles the same year, created her first retreat at 25, launched the Goddess Circle — a subscription-based women’s art, soul + biz community — at 27, and has guided thousands of women through transformational experiences over the past 3 years. She’s also released 5 e-courses — including her signature workshop for entrepreneurs, Become A Business Goddess program — 4 meditation kits and 2 workbooks into the digital ether. Her latest book “73 Lessons Every Goddess Must Know” shot to the top of the Amazon bestseller list.

In the process, she has created a half million dollar a year company that doubles in size each year and helps thousands of women every single year. Her mission is to help as many earth angels – women with creative or spiritual gifts – to have profoundly profitable businesses so they may nourish themselves and heal the world.

Previously, Leonie has worked as editor of the Australian Government’s business website business.gov.au which garnered a United Nations award during her time there. She has also previously worked in Minister’s Offices at Parliament House and as a legal secretary. Leonie was formerly a top-achieving economics + art history student at Australian National University before dropping out to become a successful artist.

Leonie has walked labyrinths in the moonlight, wept atop mountains in the middle of a storm, danced with a baby in an old cow shed as a Filipino tribal chief sang, and once married herself in a public commitment ceremony — witnessed by goddess maidens of honor that she’d met on the Internet.

Best-selling author of “Succulent Wild Woman” SARK has called Leonie “a gifted goddess and illuminated creator. I happily recommend her and her lilting work.” Hay House author of “Oracle Tarot”, Lucy Cavendish has said “Leonie Dawson is an amazing artist and spiritual teacher. She’s inspiring, wise, kind and oh-so-talented.”

Pretty much everything she's done has made a positive impact on my life. I would LOVE to meet her one day. She is so full of life, love, and light; so much so that it just radiates from her every pore and especially from her brilliant blue eyes. I may not know her in person (I wish I did!), but she is a mentor to me and a huge, huge inspiration.

You can find her on Twitter @Leonie_Dawson, Facebook www.facebook.com/leoniedawsonpage & at her blog www.leoniedawson.com.

I am so thankful for her dancing right into my life, wild mermaid hair (which she's since changed to a pixie cut) flowing in the Australian rainforest wind.






Thanksvember has taught me a lot in gratitude, happiness, and simple pleasures. Finding something to be thankful for every single day has been a joy, and I'm glad that you all were here to share the ride with me.

Thank you, beautiful souls!

Tomorrow (or possibly late tonight) I have a brand-new digital scrapbooking kit to share with you all. It's FREE, just like all of my kits! It's also Christmas themed! :) Stay tuned!

30 Days of Thanksvember - Day 28

As I only have two days left of Thanksvember, I will finish this month off in continued gratitude. Today it's very hard to. It's so damn hard that I'm light-headed and feel like I'm going to pass out.

After we all let Mom go, told her to go in peace and to leave this broken earthly avatar, that we would all be okay and would forever honour her, she slipped away and died this morning.

She died exactly how she wanted to: peacefully, painlessly, filled with the intense love of her family. Debbie (bio mom) had a long talk with her last night, telling her she could go be with Dad and the rest of our family that have gone on before. As she left the room, she had the sensation of many people rushing past her. Our family was coming to meet Mom.

Late last night I was meditating, sending out all my thoughts to her. I don't know if it was possible for them to reach her or anything like that, but the last thing I thought to her was: "I release you to Dad".

She'd been ready to go for a long time, but I think she was hanging on because we all wanted so badly for her to get better.

I can just imagine her great joy right now, freed from all physical limitations and suffering, rejoined with her loved ones on a plane of super-existence that we can't even begin to imagine. Knowing that she is with Dad is a huge, huge comfort to me.

Me, Mom, and my biological mother made up the Triple Goddess in the flesh.


And we will always be this sacred trifecta, even though Mom is no longer with is in body.

For this trifecta I am endlessly thankful.

The three of us have been together my entire life, which not everyone can say about both of their mothers, even if it's within family like ours is.

Mom always wanted us to move on. I'm going to turn on my beautiful Christmas tree so hopefully her spirit can see it. Like I said yesterday, Christmas was her favourite time of year, and she always wanted a big white tree like what I have. She would be so glad to see it.

I am thankful.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Day 27, A Tribute

Today, I am so very thankful for my mom.

She has endured a lot in her 68 years of life. Amongst all of that she has battled illness after illness since she was a child, has been in the grips of crippling depression, and has come through a difficult life with a brazen smile and a very hard-headed attitude. She has been once of the strongest people I've known.

She has always felt the need to take care of people and things.

She is a matriarch.

Once she got something in her head, she was determined to see it through.

Has she been perfect? Of course not, but none of us are. She has made mistakes, some of them dire, and her hard-headed personality has been difficult to deal with sometimes. But that's part of who she is.

She raised me as her own child (when I am biologically her granddaughter). She made sure I had everything I needed and then some. She stuck up for me, taught me, told me I could do anything I wanted in life if I tried. I wouldn't be the person I am if it weren't for her.

She helped me onto this interesting spiritual path. She made me into a big Star Trek and Star Wars fan, raised me on older music and films, and taught me how to be a smart woman. I would watch her crafting abilities since I was a small child, and I think I got my creative bones from her.

We would talk for hours on end, whether in person or on the phone. In my adult life, she easily transitioned from a mom into a friend as well.

We liked to go up to Walmart in the middle of the night and shop when no one else was there. We would buy pocky and we would have Star Trek and Twilight Zone nights. We'd usually get up at the same time every morning and enjoyed a cup of coffee together. We would chat in depth about prophecy, Edgar Cayce, theology, and she wistfully talked about how cool it would be to be picked up by (friendly) aliens and see foreign stars and worlds. She wished for advanced space travel to be available before the end of her life so that she could do just that.

She adored my husband. She adored all of her grandchildren. She always offered to help, and even when she couldn't, her heart was still there. She made all my Christmases incredibly magical.

She cared unceasingly and unquestioningly for my dad, her soul mate, after he suffered a massive stroke in 1997 and experienced declining health from then on until his death in 2009.

She had open heart surgery in July of this year and survived when no one expected her to.

She has been through a great deal since then and has struggled and suffered much. In the past 24 hours, a hard decision was made, her wishes were respected, and she will be kept from all further suffering. She is being kept comfortable, pain-free, and breathing easily. In the past few months while she was still cognitive and aware, she has been begging to be let go, to be freed from this life. Her desperate wishes are being heeded, but tonight my family and I are struggling with the knowledge that she will most likely not get better. The doctors say this is best, and my family agrees. I want the bright lights out of her face, the poking and prodding and invasive procedures to be ceased, and her soul to joyously fly into the arms of my father.

I'm not ready to let go of her. I never will be. You never think that your parents will die, and as stubborn as my mom always has been, I kind of thought her physical form was immortal. We had talked a lot about her coming up here after her health had improved; exploring Toronto together, spending time with me and my husband. We had talked about her moving into senior citizen apartments in the city, where she would gain independence (in the last couple of years her vision declined so much that she could no longer drive). She was so proud of me for starting my life up here, and she was excited for Trevor and I to start having kids. When Christmas rolled around, she and I were always excited about it and couldn't stop talking and planning.

May she always be greatly blessed and her path be bright and clear and lit by the silver of the moon and the gold of the sun. May we also be blessed, those of us who know her and are a part of her. She will no longer suffer.

May she see all of the stars and other worlds that she always said she wanted to see. And one day, when my time on this earth plane is completed, I hope to see them all with her.


I love you so much, Mom, and I am so grateful for you.


Mom and my dad when they were children.


Mom and her brother


Mom at her grandparents' stead in Salem, Virginia



1986


2010

30 Days of Thanksvember - Day 26

Today I am thankful for holiday spirit.

The glowing lights, sweet music, all the decorations in the stores and the excitement that builds up in everyone's hearts and spirits. It's just delicious and I drink it all up!















I look forward to this all year long. :) If only the lovely spirit, goodwill, and kindness at this time of year could last all the time.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Days 23, 24, 25

Sorry about being behind again, everyone!! I'm terrible! On Day 30, I will go into great detail about a very special gratitude of mine and why I keep forgetting to update, LOL (and no, I'm not pregnant or anything like that). :)


Day 23 -
I am very thankful for my little altar and everything on it.



It is my sacred space where I pray, meditate, use my crystals, and smudge with sage incense. It's in our bedroom, so it's very quiet in there and can be a much-needed escape from all the electronic draining I feel every day between the tv, my computer, and Trevor's computer. Everything is there because I felt it needed to be. Nothing is there accidentally!


Day 24 -
I am so, so thankful for the good times I was able to spend with my mom in those last eighteen months before I landed here. Somehow, in my heart, I knew it might be the last time I would ever be with her. Unfortunately, it looks like that is coming to pass. She has stage 3 congestive heart failure, stage 4 COPD, is no longer responsive to anyone, her kidneys aren't functioning very well, and a DNR has officially been issued (my mom's wishes which were confirmed several months ago, when she still had a clear mind). Now, I know that these disease stages don't always mean imminent death, but my mom's health has always been very poor and has been just horrible in the past few years, especially after having open-heart surgery in July.

The doctors said there will be no improvement in her condition. I wish I could go say goodbye to her, even though she probably wouldn't know I was there.

I'm going to miss her so much when she does leave this earth plane, but at the very least, she will no longer be suffering, and I hope she will be with my dad who she dearly loved since she was a child.


Day 25 -
I'm thankful for the friends I made at The Meeting House who didn't forget about me. I'd been absent for a very long time, partly because of my anxiety and partly because I was... well... lazy, I guess. And, of course, unsure of where I stood in my spiritual journey. But whatever path I take, this is a part of it right now. And the people I befriended who joyously welcomed me this morning after not seeing me for many months... well, that was a truly wonderful feeling I had.

Today was a good day, for not only did I reunite with these friends, but I saw another friend baptised, and it was a bit of a party! :)


I am thankful.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Happy Thanksgiving!

Be Thankful
Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don’t know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you’re tired and weary
Because it means you’ve made a difference.
It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfilment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.
GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.

Author Unknown
I hope all my American readers, friends, and family have a wonderful Thanksgiving today and can find much to be thankful for, no matter the situation.

Today I am thankful for all the things that one wouldn't expect.

I'm thankful when I have to clean up after five cats and more foster kittens, because so many people have lost their precious pets and can't clean up after them anymore.

I'm thankful that we don't yet have children, because we would be under such financial strife right now that we wouldn't be able to provide everything our children need.

I'm thankful that my mom in still in the hospital, because it means she's still alive and is being very well taken care of. Especially because she survived her open heart surgery when there was a very low chance of her doing so.

I'm thankful when I'm so confused and unsure on this spiritual journey, because it means I'm on the journey and I would have it no other way.

I'm thankful when I clean the house, because we have a happy home to come to every single day and night.

I'm thankful when I have to walk to get everywhere I need, because it means I'm healthy enough to do so, I have two functioning legs, and I live somewhere where I don't have to rely on a car all the time.

I'm thankful for those eighteen months I was back in Virginia, away from my husband, because I got to spend my dad's last months with him and his last Thanksgiving. I got to spend quality time with my mom and help her heal after Dad's death. I got a huge boost onto this current path of my spiritual journey. I forged a crucial, deeper bond with my husband when I finally got to come home as a permanent resident.

I'm thankful for how isolated I was until coming to Canada, because I see everything with fresh eyes and a sense of adventure and accomplishment.

I'm thankful that I don't have everything I desire, because I have lots to look forward to!

I'm even thankful when I can't spend Thanksgiving with my family, because so many people don't have family at all, or aren't on speaking terms with theirs, and I'm just a phone call and a Skype video chat away.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Day 21

Today, I am thankful that we could afford a nice Thanksgiving and can afford a nice Christmas.

Our financial situation is a lot better this year than in years past. I'm still working on getting a job of my own, but Trevor is finally working full-time and really enjoys his job. We no longer have to worry about the rent being late, or about buying groceries. We can buy gifts and treat our friends. Shoot, we can even get little extras every now and again.

I'm not into fancy things, name brands, or new things all the time. But it's very nice to be able to afford some extras sometimes. And it's DEFINITELY nice to not have to worry about bills or groceries, which are the most important things!

Having children will create a whole new set of financial insecurities, but for now, we are settled into the edge of comfort.

And any kind of financial comfort is definitely something to be thankful for.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Day 20

Day 20 -

I am thankful for health.

Yes, I am overweight. I'm not a goddess of all things vegan and organic, and I don't get up at 5am every day and work out for two hours. I'm working on getting my weight down, battle that it is.

But otherwise, I am physically healthy.

All five of my senses are intact and in optimal shape. I have no autoimmune diseases, no disorders, and everything works in ideal fashion. My blood panel always looks great. The only thing my body suffers from is extra weight, but as I said, I'm working it off.

My mom has had at least five heart attacks since 1995, has high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, very high cholesterol, and has such severe emphysema that right now she's back on a ventilator because she can't breathe even with oxygen assistance. She's been on 9-10 meds at a time, but last I heard, that number was over 20 to keep her alive. She abused her body her entire life and never, ever took care of it. She was a chain smoker, would go through a 2-litre of soda every day, loved fried foods, at one point was eating bacon sandwiches 3 times a day, and disliked exercise.

When I get to be her age, I'd much rather be like my husband's grandmother, who is 70 and works out every day, plays tennis, is in optimal health and is constantly on the go; than my mother, who is 68 and lying in a hospital bed, attached to a ventilator.

It's incredibly distressing and awful to see my mom deteriorate when she has already suffered. I'm constantly praying for her health. She's under an amazing team of doctors and they've been working hard to help her in every way they can. Not being able to talk to her every single day has been awful, and being 800 miles away doesn't help.

I'm taking care of myself now so this stuff doesn't happen to me (or, at least, is much less likely to). This body is the only organic avatar I've got for this lifetime, and I plan on making the most of it and keeping it functioning the way it's supposed to! And I am so, so thankful that I am currently so healthy!!

Health is a very fragile thing. I'm so thankful. So very thankful, and blessed.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Day 19

Today I am thankful for sunny days.

While I said a few days ago that I'm thankful for rainy days, sunny days are definitely needed after a while. The sky is blue, the pale white-gold sunbeams of winter or the strong gold rays of summer leave nothing untouched but for cooled tree-shade, and the earth is warmed. It's very cheering to see after many overcast or cloudy days. And being able to feel that warmth while my body cheerfully produces vitamin D is one of those little blessings that many people take for granted.

We can't survive without the sun.

While I may prefer cold rainy days for crafting and comfort, I love to get outside on sunny days, no matter the season, and enjoy those bright rays. They can lift me right out of a depressed funk.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Days 17 and 18

Hi guys! I didn't have much time to post yesterday because we went to Cavalcade of Lights at Nathan Phillips Square, so once again, here are two days of gratitudes posted together :)



Day 17 - I am thankful for wonderful outings with my husband as the holidays approach. Some days are just so perfect, so festive and so awesome that I truly forget myself for a while and just feel pure, unadulterated joy.

Today was one of those days. Trevor's mom and her sister came back from downtown and gave us the family day pass that they'd used for the TTC. Trevor and I went out and had lunch at our favourite Vietnamese restaurant. Then we went downtown, said hello to our friend Alex (who is Toronto Batman), got Peppermint Mochas, wandered around the giant Chapters-Indigo at the Eaton Centre where Trevor picked up a couple books for me, and bought Godiva chocolate. We walked over to Nathan Phillips Square and got really good positions near the Cavalcade of Lights stage. Oldie Christmas music was playing, the night was fairly mild. We enjoyed the show and the fireworks, took the subway to our close friend Kent's place, and hung out with him for a while before he drove us home.

It was a spectacular day.



















I am grateful for days like these.


Day 18 - I am thankful to be able to wake up next to my husband on weekend mornings and get to cuddle. We don't get to do this during the week, since he has to get up at 6am to get ready to go to work. I love just lying there in silence, stirring together, stretching, touching. I cuddle up to him and he puts his arm around me. As we start waking up more, we start drowsy conversations. There's no rush, no alarm going off. It's precious, uninterrupted time.

We eventually get up and go have coffee together, greeting our cats and laughing over some silly thing or another.

Ahh, yes. I always look forward to weekend mornings, and I'm thankful for them.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Days 14, 15, 16

I'm behind again in posting! Fortunately, I've been writing down my daily gratitude in my diary, so I didn't really miss a day ;)


Day 14 - I am thankful for laughter. It can hold depression at bay. It can chase away anger or tears. It can heal.

What else can it do?

- Lower blood pressure
- Reduce some stress hormones, such as cortisol
- Improve alertness, memory, and creativity
- Increase the response of tumor- and disease-killing cells such as Gamma-interferon and T-cells
- Helps the pituitary gland release its own pain-suppressing opiates.
- Eases anxiety and fear

So yeah, laughter is wonderful. Our house is full of it and it's an integral part of our sunny atmosphere, part of what makes each of us so glad to get home after a long day. Trevor is a goof and will do or say something or pull some crazy facial expression that can get me rolling around in hapless giggles until my eyes are streaming. I am so thankful for that.


Day 15 - I am thankful for grey, rainy days.

Yes, really!

Nothing boosts my creativity and cozy level more than a dark day or evening with rain gently tapping on the windows. I'm more inclined to make a heartier dinner. I feel my writer's block and artist's block vanish. I can concentrate on a good book while drinking hot tea or coffee. Yep, I just feel so good and happy! I can't explain it, but hey, I'm not complaining!



Day 16 - I am thankful for bird song.

Now that we're in the middle of November, I don't hear much bird song anymore. It's usually silence, unless a cold breeze is whispering through naked branches, or if it's a sunny afternoon and a flock of little brown birds have gathered to chatter. But in spring and early summer? It's a sweet symphony that makes my heart soar and brings peace to my soul.

To me, there's hardly anything that sounds more beautiful in this world than robins singing on a spring evening, or a loon's mournful cry on a lake. These sounds are ancient and sacred, and I am thankful to be able to hear them.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Days 12 and 13

Day 12 - I am thankful for my creativity. I crochet, sculpt with polymer clay, write, draw, digital scrapbook, make beaded jewellery, and I'm just getting into knitting, sewing, and making little plush things out of felt. I'm beginning to integrate recycling and upcycling into my projects, too.

I've been artistic and creative ever since I can remember. I've never NOT been crafty! My mind is perpetually spinning with ideas, stories, and plans, so getting them out is not only a relief, but a tangible reward! And being creative has always been an escape for me. From life, from depression, from bad times, from myself.

It's a blessing and I can't imagine not being creative, because it's part of who I am.

*See my art here*

*See my ever-growing crochet and knitting projects here*


Day 13 - I am thankful for journals and diaries. Any blank notebook will do. Softcover, hardcover, covers made of raw silk, pretty paper, or leather. Lined or unlined, recycled cotton paper or regular. All of these books have been blank canvases for me, ready for me to spill my soul into. They are healing tools, discovering tools, creative tools and spiritual tools.

I first kept a diary when I was eight years old. It was a little lock-and-key diary, pastel blue in colour, with a fluffy tabby kitten on the cover and gilt page edges. At the age of 11, I used a Lisa Frank 3-ring binder with unicorns on the cover, later switching to a little red notebook where I would draw the daily weather and write about what was on my mind at the moment.

Unfortunately, I tossed those diaries during our move from Kentucky to Virginia in 1996, when I was 12.

In 1998, I started keeping a journal again, and this time I didn't stop. Nor did I toss any of them! I began with composition books and then moved to hardcover. I even did a scrapbook layout about them!


With the exception of a few that didn't make it into the pic, these are all my journals from 1998 to 2010. There have been two more since then!

These journals are full of dreams, realizations, memories, happiness, angst, fury, despair, fear, confusion, sadness, lists, weather, prayer, love, and discovering what mental illness was and how I fit into that category. My journaling slowed down as I began to blog more frequently, but some things are just better left unsaid in a public place, and so it's back to the journals I go, running my pen over their welcoming, awaiting pages.

Ardene Surprise Bags!

This is just a short post for now, lovelies, but I haven't been able to do a Surprise Bag post in a long time and I love to show off their contents!

Ardene stores have a bin that contain small blue surprise bags, full of jewellery and hair accessories, for $5 for two bags. In an adjacent bin, they have big pink bags full of clothing accessories, two for $8. I decided to get two of the pink bags since I hadn't in so long!

BAG 1

1 scarf
1 winter toque (this is too small for my huge head, so I'm going to donate it to the next Really Really Free Market day)
1 pair of super-soft, thin fleece gloves - Black. These are surprisingly warm!
1 pair of sunglasses - Floral print
2 pairs of socks



BAG 2

1 scarf
1 winter toque
1 pair of super-soft, thin fleece mittens that are SERIOUSLY cozy!
1 pair of sunglasses - Bright yellow-green
2 pairs of socks

Ardene and Claire's both cater to teen girls, but I love them both and always manage to find really cute and stylish things there. Ardene's Surprise Bags are just one of many deals that keep me coming back for more. They usually have scarves 2 or 3 for $15, cute flats and heels 2 for $20, jewellery and hair stuff 3 or 5 for $10, socks 3 for $10... the list goes on!

I also got three pairs of knee socks to wear with my fall boots:


The grey pair is my favourite and you can see me wearing them here:

I need to start posting outfits wearing all these cute things! :)

30 Days of Thanksvember - Day 11

Today I am thankful for all the adventures we've had with our friend Jeff this summer and fall.

We've been so busy, which has been wonderful! I've seen and been to places I've never gone before. I've seen more of Ontario. I've seen more of my shining Toronto. I've been to lots of flea markets, hidden gems in downtown Toronto, fun rib fests, and more. I've been distracted when Trevor was out of work and I was in my deepest stage of depression yet.

And I've got some awesome memories of an amazing couple of seasons.

Here are some highlights!


Ancaster Fall Fair, October


Cheltenham Badlands, October


Toronto from the Centre Island ferry, July


Centre Island, July


St. Lawrence Market, June


St. Jacob's, June


Georgian Bay on the Bruce Peninsula, August


Tobermory, August


Dorcas Bay's shallow waters into Lake Huron, August


Glen Williams Canada Day Parade, July


Big on Bloor, July



Scarborough Bluffs, August


Niagara Falls, October