Happy Canada Day! but also, take a moment to remember…

01 Monday Jul 2013

Tags

It’s Canada Day and there are loads of fun and exciting things happening all over the country so Happy Canada Day to all my local and mainlander friends!

(note: Newfoundland is the island portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Since we are out here in the middle of the Atlantic we call the rest of the country the mainland!)

Here in Newfoundland July 1 is also Memorial Day.

Unlike Remembrance Day on November 11, Memorial Day is specific to Newfoundland and the First World War. At that time, we were a Dominion of the British Empire, not part of Canada at all. And on the morning of July 1, 1916, 780 Newfoundland men left to fight at Beaumont-Hamel during the Battle of the Somme.

90% of them perished. Only 68 men were able to answer roll call the next morning.

So today, here in Newfoundland, we remember, before we celebrate.

No regrets…

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by Sara in This & That

≈ 9 Comments

I’ve never believed in regrets.

I’ve always believed that everything we do makes us the people we are now and how can you regret who you are now? Plus, my grandfather always told me, “Everything happens for a good reason.” And I’ve almost always found that to be true.

Let’s be honest, I’ve made some pretty bad decisions in my life (who hasn’t?) but since they’ve brought me here, they obviously weren’t that awful. In my whole life I’ve only had one thing that I would say I actually regret. I think that’s pretty good.

With that no regrets policy in mind, I have always chosen to focus on the things in life that I love and am grateful for. The good things.

Here’s a list for 2012 of my top Good Things:

1. M started school and loves it. Really loves it. Plus she has the best imagination ever. I love to watch her play.

Molly, the dancing queen

2. G is still my tiny, funny boy and is as ridiculous as ever. He makes me laugh every day.

Monster Boy!

3. We are lucky enough to have 3 sets of parents/grandparents in our lives who live close by. I’m even more grateful that they are all involved and always more than happy to help out.

4. I left my retail career a year ago and I have loved having nights, weekends, and holidays off for the first time ever. I’ve been able to make weekend plans and go grocery shopping like a regular person. It’s been awesome!

5. The Paperie and its owners, Janna, Wendy, and Chris have continued to support and encourage me this past year. I’ve been able to design and teach classes that I love and they once again sent me to The Collins Rep show for workshops with the industries best people. They are awesome people to be connected with and I only hope I come close to giving some of that back to them and the shop.

Wendy & I

Chris & Janna

6. I’ve made it a point to take more classes and have more fun friends time this year. I have loved the memories and laughter. I can only imagine how much more is to come in 2013!

Friends & Chocolate – very, very good things!

7. This blog has to make the list. It’s been almost a year and I’ve loved the documenting, the relationships, the people. I’ve laughed and cried over blogs I never would have heard of without the visitors here, and can’t wait to see what else I discover in the next year.

8. Bar none, the top thing I’m grateful for this year was reconnecting with one of my oldest and best friends after many years. Is there anything better than someone who knows almost everything about you and still thinks you’re fabulous? I think not!

I hope you all have a thousand and one small things from the past year that you love. A thousand and one great memories. And I wish you more in the next year.

Thank-you all for being part of my life, the things for which I’m grateful, my Good Things.

2012 – My faves!

31 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Sara in This & That

≈ 2 Comments

A lot of bloggers out there are rounding out the year with their favourite posts, or LO’s, or art pieces. I’m going to join in but give you my top 5 faves of the year – be it blog post, LO, whatever!

5. My 12 on Twelve posts, as a whole. I didn’t start this project until March so I missed the first 2 months of the year, but overall I love seeing a basic day in our lives each month. It’s usually nothing special except what we do everyday and that alone makes it pretty darn special anyway. Plus, I get to see my everchanging hair colour at a glance! 🙂

4. My ICAD posts, as a whole. (I feel like I’m somewhat cheating by not narrowing down these two project posts but since it’s my list, I get to make the rules!) I loved the small canvas, I loved having to/making myself be creative every day, and I really, really loved the awesomeness that came out of the experimenting I did. Some of the cards were among my favourite art pieces of the year.

3. This LO. I love the colours, how the blending worked out, using the whole stencil, and mostly, I love that picture. It all came together to be one LO that stands out to me over this past year.

2. This canvas. I had been itching to do… more. More than just scrapbooking. I did some mini albums, a couple of basic altered projects and home decor, but still…. And then I signed up for Christy Tomlinson’s SheArt Workshop and haven’t looked back.

But without a doubt, my favourite of the year is:

1. The Garbage post. This was among the top 5 in viewed and commented on posts this year and a lot of that is because of the subject and the timing. I wrote this post not long after the world heard about the horrific news in Connecticut and it was uplifting to hear about something good. Bob Fitzgerald, the garbage man, to me simply personifies the ordinary person out there doing little things to make a happy difference in someone’s life. I’m so glad he touched so many of you as well.

Did your favourite of the year make my list? Let me know if I missed it!

And Happy New Year to you all.

Christmas Randomness

21 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by Sara in This & That

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christmas

Remember the story about G asking for a lightbulb? This was the Santa he asked:

Always good for Santa to have a good story to bring home to Mrs. Claus, I guess! And seriously? My kids are the cutest… 🙂

I went to a concert on Wednesday night with a couple of friends. A local group, The Ennis Sisters always do a Christmas concert in local churches around the province with part of the proceeds going directly to the churches they perform in. These girls may have the best harmonies I’ve ever heard – love them!

Joyce, Karen, me, Theresa, Tricia, Maureen

My sister-in-law sent me this blog the other day:

photo and ornament credit: Michele Pacey

Aren’t they the cutest? You should see what she did with egg cartons today!

I have a feeling that posts are going to be very scarce next week, both D and I are off and there are *lots* of family things planned – plus my brother and wife are home, yay!

So to all of you, Merry Christmas. I hope you all have exactly the one you want this year!

Chocolate Heaven – Complete with Friends!

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by Sara in This & That

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Newfoundland Chocolate Company, NL, St. John's

On Sunday night past, 11 friends and I had the most delicious and amazing and fun 4 hours ever.

We made chocolate. Real chocolate.

Downtown St. John’s has a small local Artisan chocolate company called the Newfoundland Chocolate Company.

They make all their chocolates by hand, using small farm cocoa beans from around the world, and local NL ingredients for almost everything else.

The fillings they have are incredible – all local berries, for example, and their packaging is beautiful – go check out their website, you won’t be sorry!

The 12 of us did the three hour class (we were there for four) that included learning how to temper chocolate, making our own, and learning about and tasting their single origin chocolate. It was worth every penny and more. And the chocolates we made look like a pro did them! 🙂

First step, we had to pick and fill our moulds to make the shells – half of us were die hard dark lovers, the other half were milk lovers. I went dark!

Can I rock a hairnet or what?!?

Of course, we all got well covered in chocolate during the process…

… but that was easily ~~licked~~ cleaned off!

Our good-natured and very patient tour guides/hosts/teachers for the night were Andrea, one of the chocolatiers…

…and Christina, who co-owns the company with her husband:

On a side note, Christina is also an amazing potter and sells the most beautiful pieces at the shop – such as mugs that look like dark, milk, and white chocolate all swirled together.

Once our shells were set, we added our chosen additions to the chocolate filling – I went with partridgeberry powder, crushed hazelnuts, and cocoa nibs – filled the shells, and then topped them off with another layer of chocolate.

Can you tell how excited Rae Lynn and I were? 🙂

While we waited for them to set, we had a tour of the building, and sampled their Single Origin Chocolates. Wow, what a difference using single origin beans makes! The 5 we tried were all completely different. Although all were dark, the underlying flavours ran from black licorice, to mango, to cherry, to banana. This is not your cheap little Hershey bar, my friends!

By that time, our chocolates were done!

Now, don’t they look great?!? Luckily, we didn’t fancy them up – that would have ruined the whole pro look altogether!

We ended the night by getting certificates and asking them to hire us. We got the paper, but no job offers – sad. Still have my fingers crossed though.