I'm Happiest When...

I'm doing 30 days of lists again for this month.  I purchased the whole pack of lists and chose to do the September 2011 one for July.  I thought today I'd share one of my favourites from the past week.

#2. I am happiest when...

• I am on an adventure
• Exploring a new place
• Traveling
• Making something
• Reading a good book
• Listening to oldies
• Watching movies from the 1930s-1960s
• Standing with my feet in the ocean
• Picking out supplies for a new project
• When my nails are painted cutely 

I found this one fun to do because I hadn't really thought of things that make me happy quite like this before.  Now when I'm feeling sad and in need of some cheering up I can look back on this list and see what I can do.  

xoxo, R

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

FIVE...Things I'm really liking right now: Kites, trees, whales, bunting, and anything patchwork.

FOUR...Things I'd like to do this summer: Have a bonfire, spend as much time as possible outdoors, sew my first quilt, and start learning Norwegian.

THREE...Favourite Bible verses: 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.", Jeremiah 30:17 "For I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds, says the Lord, because they have called you and outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no one seeks after and for whom no one cares!", Psalm 29:11 "The LORD gives His people strength.  The LORD blesses them with peace."

TWO...Books I want to read: Alice in Wonderland and To Kill a Mockingbird.

ONE...Favourite devotion from this week: How to Survive the Stress of Summer.

I'm thinking of making the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 posts a weekly thing every Tuesday for the summertime.  I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.  And like before, you can join in too by posting your own list on your blog and leaving a link, or share your list in the comments.  I'd be happy to hear what everyone else's lists are!

xoxo,
R

Random Things on a Monday

Lily of the Valley embroidery I made a while ago from a free Wild Olive pattern you can find here. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.

A sailboat that anchored itself across the lake from us and spent the night a few weeks ago.  This shot was taken in the morning.  It's a rare thing for sailboats to spend the night around here, so it's a treat to see one when it does.

Momma deer with her baby fawn.

A closer look at the little cutie.

xoxo,

R

P.S. Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!!  I hope you all have been having a wonderful long weekend.

Colourful Crochet Inspiration

Here is some amazing crochet work to look at today that I seen yesterday on Twitter: Rainbow Crochet

It's a beautiful colour feast for the eyes!  Even though I can't crochet right now, I'm still looking around for ideas and inspiration for when I'm able to again.  I can't help myself, I need yarn in my life in one way or another!

xoxo,

Raili

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

FIVE...songs I've been enjoying this week: Good Day Sunshine, When I'm Sixty-Four, I've Just Seen a Face, Can't Buy Me Love, & You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, all by the Beatles.

FOUR...things I'm thinking about: The first and second world wars (long story), embroidery floss, hexagons, & memories.

THREE...exciting things: There's a new baby in our family (my cousin had an adorable baby girl), the weather finally feels like summer, & I just found out my sister is coming to stay with us for a week next month while she teaches VBS at camp.

TWO...favourite blogs: Wild Olive & Anna Maria Horner.

ONE...thing I will do today: Have a shower.

I got this idea from the Wild Olive blog and I thought it was fun. Want to play along?  Think of 5 things to list and either leave a link to your blog or share you list in the comments!

xoxo,
Raili

Rather Blue

Hello,

These last few days I have felt very tired.  Like I want to climb back into bed and not get up again until next week.  I don't know if it's the treatments I've been doing, or from going to bed late for the last while, or what it is exactly.  Maybe a combination of the two.  I've cut my to-do list down to 5 things I have to do today and 5 things I would like to do if I can, but yet, looking at my list of just 5 things tires me out.  Tomorrow I have some appointments in the city and with the way I'm feeling right now I just want to cry when I think about it.  I read Lucy's blog post this morning, and I can totally relate to how she feels.  There are so many things I want to share with you all, so many things I want to talk about, so many things I want to do, but yet I don't have the energy at the moment to do any of it.  I don't want to complain, but I do want to share how I'm really feeling.  I feel like when I'm quiet for a while and don't post, people may be wondering what is going on, and one thing I like about my blog is that I can be honest here.  So please do forgive me for my pity party.  I promise to try and be more cheerful again soon!

With the way everything has been going this last while I totally forgot my blogiversary.  It was June 3rd.  When the day rolled around, I kept thinking to myself that it was a special date for some reason but I couldn't put my finger on it.  I was wondering if it was someone's birthday or something all day.  I just finally clued in yesterday.  I usually do a giveaway, and I want to do one again this year, but I'm going to aim for probably sometime in the first week of July.  That way I have time to get my mind around it and put something together.    

Well, I think I will have a little rest before I finish doing some tidying up.  I promise to do my best to be in a better mood when I post next.

xoxo

Picnic Tea

Hello,

Today Mom and I had an impromptu picnic tea out on the lawn.  She had been planting flowers all day and I thought I'd surprise her with a little snack break.  It was nothing fancy, just something quick, but it was fun to sit down together and have a little rest out on the grass.

I thought the light coming through the trees looked all fairylandish.

The forget-me-nots are still blooming and create a nice blue tinge to the one corner of the lawn.  You can see them a bit in this picture up towards the left.

Mr. Bingley decided to join us.  He thought since it was a little warm out he needed a nice cool drink of water before he went back to his hunting.

See that crick in his tail?  One day not long after he came to live with us, I noticed that he had this crick in his tail.  I thought maybe it had gotten broken or hurt somehow.  However, it wasn't long before it was gone and his tail looked completely normal again.  I didn't think much of it at the time, but after a while I started noticing that every so often it would be like this.  I would watch to see when this would happen and why, and after a while I started putting two-and-two together.  When he is mad or when he is planning on doing something bad (like for example, beating up our other cat Mittens while he is sound asleep on the chair completely unaware as to what is about to happen to him.) Bing will get "the crick" in his tail.  It will vary in degrees, sometimes it will be just a little crooked, and other times it will be completely bent, which usually happens when he is planning something really bad.  I find it all funny though because now we know when he is thinking about acting up so we can be prepared, or at least warn Mittens to be on the lookout!

I hope that you have all had a lovely day too.  I'm so glad that I took the time to stop and have our picnic tea.  It really made it feel like summer even though the breeze was still on the cool side.  Hopefully it warms back up again soon!

Till next time,
xoxo