Today is the last day to enter for my Blogiversary Giveaway, the draw will take place tomorrow morning!
Today, I am going out on a limb. I am not one to usually use my blog to further businesses that I have, but I really, really want to go to California this September. You see Hubby has a conference in Anaheim. Three years ago it was in San Diego and J and I tagged along. We had a fabulous trip, met up with some fantastic online friends and would love to do it all again and maybe sneak in a trip to Disney while we are at it.
Staying at home with the kids means that I usually don’t get to join him on fun work trips, but this one means a lot to me and I would like to be able to pay for myself, J and Apple to go. Of course, it so happens that the trip is two weeks after Apple’s second birthday, so we would have to pay for her as well. I am not asking for donations but, I am going to offer a 25% discount on any of my Photography packages until the end of the Summer (August 31, 2009), just click on the “California or Bust” photo in my sidebar and it will take you directly through to my photography site. You can use the contact page to book a session with me, just be sure to mention that you are one of my blog readers when you contact me in order to get the discount.
If you are not up for getting portraits taken I do have my Etsy shop stocked and will be adding new items in the next few weeks. Or if neither of those suits you and your kids will be heading back to school in the Fall, I am an Agent for Stuck on You Labels (I have a button for that on my sidebar as well).
I will take any help that I can to make it to California, there are a couple of Ladies, I would like to meet and I have been hoping to go for sometime, but just got word that Hubby will definitely be going with his new job.
Two very efficient flight crews, One plane held, Two sleeping Children, One Tired Mama…
…Two Happy Cousins that didn’t leave each others side all day long…
…PRICELESS.
I was so busy after the Tulip Festival planting our own flowers and packing for our trip that I haven’t had time to post. Yesterday was flight day and once we left Hubby at Security and headed to our gate, it was then that we found out that the flight had been delayed by an hour. I pulled out the computer and we watched a movie to pass the time. Apple used up most of her pre-bedtime happiness, so I was very worried for the four hour flight to Calgary. I was also worried that we were going to miss our connection and I would have to haul these two to a hotel in Calgary at 10pm at night, all by myself.
Halfway through the flight when Apple had finally fallen asleep (after a few tears) and J was trying desperately to stay awake the wonderful Westjet flight attendants informed me that they were going to hold the flight back to Regina (yes we flew over Regina and back again). I was thrilled. We landed in Calgary and I had to carry a sleeping Apple and wake up an overtired J. He was such a trooper he managed to stagger quickly to our gate.
The Westjet Crew in Calgary were nothing short of fantastic. When I casually mentioned to the ticket agent that I didn’t have time to call my Sister back to let her know we were going to make the flight, she offered to do it for me. She took the number and called! By the way, this was when the agent was carrying my bags so I could push the stroller and drag J along. Then we get to the plane and our bags are stowed, J is comforted and most importantly… I was not rushed. Apple stayed asleep and I felt like the Crew actually cared that me and my children were happy. One of the attendants was so caring that he almost made me cry.
My Brother-In-Law met us and we were in bed by 1am (3am Ottawa time). Apple was up at 5am!!! Yes, Mama had four hours sleep. I woke J when his cousins were up in the morning and the fun did not stop until they were asleep at 8pm. And that alone is worth the price of a ticket right there. J and his cousin LJ are seven months apart in age, but glued to the hip when they are together. There were no tears, no fighting, nothing but fun and laughter. I hope to report more fun and games as the week goes along….
Here is our cottage. There are two levels, both exactly the same with different furniture. I know it doesn’t look like much, but it is wonderful. Last year we stayed downstairs where the porch has a front door, a little nerve wracking when you have toddlers that can reach the lock on the door. This year we stayed upstairs where you can only exit through the kitchen at the back. We found things with both that we liked. We prefer upstairs because you can sit up on the stools at the table and watch the world go by. We enjoyed downstairs because it had much nicer furntiure and no stairs. We booked in for upstairs again next year because, well, the porch won out.
This is one of the views I had from the porch. There are actually two houses here, the white one on the left and a dark brown one hidden in the trees on the right. As I sat with my coffee the first morning all of a sudden I could see my characters in my
novel living in these cottages. I started working on the
rewrite of my novel back in March but, I just couldn’t get unstuck from where my characters were and how fast I wrote it. I needed inspiration, but was getting nothing sitting here in suburbia. Within a day, I had a whole rewrite going in my head. And since Hubby decided we didn’t need to bring out laptop because wireless was scarce last year. I had nothing but paper towel to write on. So off I went to the bookstore to purchase a journal. For three mornings I saw my characters and their stories intertwining. Some of the novel has changed a bit, but that is good because it wasn’t working for me the way it was.
Not only did my writing get inspired but so did my photography. I didn’t take as many photos as I wanted to, because carrying around my camera bag with my belly was a little more difficult than I first thought it was going to be. And Hubby was so inspired by my inspiration that he bought me another lens for my camera. I feel so blessed because our trip was gift enough, but he knows how much I love taking photos and how often I use my camera that he figured it would be best to make the purchase down there where our dollar was almost the same, there is no sales tax and the actual merchandise is a third less than up here. It may just become an annual event. And Bob at the photo studio was fantastic. Nobody sells DSLR’s and accessories anywhere near the beach. Everyone told us to go to NYC, which would have been great if we hadn’t been at the beach for a week. But, Bob has a supplier that could UPS me a lens overnight. It ended up that I missed the first truck, but got to extend our beach time on Saturday while we waited for the lens to come in. I didn’t get to take any photos with it at the beach, but I have been playing with it since we got home and am in love with it.
All that inspiration has already led me back to my sewing here at home. I just didn’t feel any creativity prior to vacation but it is back and I am so thankful. I don’t like feeling like I have lost everything all at once. I knew our trip was going to be tough, travelling at eight months pregnant is not ideal, but it was so worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
