Pumpkins

I do miss the days in school when we would celebrate Reformation Day... 95 theses and all. But I guess it's not really appreciated by all, but rather is taken over just like all of the holidays. Easter becomes bunnies, Christmas becomes Santa... But I do love the pumpkins of Halloween. Here's a sampling of the pumpkins from the carving contest held at work. Who would have known I work with such creative individuals?

Happy Birthday to Me.

My search for a new winter jacket and computer has finally ended. Now, I realize that these are small items in relation to those of you purchasing home appliances and dream homes.... but consider these some of my dream purchases of the year. Me likey... and you'll notice the common theme of the colour green. That addiction is not going to end any time soon (well, I hope not at least) So, does anyone want an old laptop that has absolutely no use anymore? It will make a fine paperweight!

Wedding Bells

I think it's safe for me to finally tell everyone that Emily and Josh are engaged!!! He proposed on Sunday while in Kananaskis... and I have never seen those two smile more in my life. I guess the wedding fever has hit my family. I am so excited for them!

Boston in the Fall

Just like the the pirates who don't do anything, I've never been to Boston in the Fall..... but I'm on my way next week. I can't wait to see the showroom, but more importantly the beautiful colours of fall.

Mending

I cannot pretend
that I felt any regret
Cause each broken heart
will eventually mend
As the blood runs red
down the needle and thread
Someday you will be loved

You may feel alone
when you're falling asleep
And everytime tears
roll down your cheeks
But I know your heart
belongs to someone
you've yet to meet
Someday you will be loved

**Death Cab For Cutie**

Changes...

I'll cut out the excuses for my absence and get right to the point. Life has definitely thrown me for a loop these past couple weeks, what with so many changes. It is a very weird feeling when one of the only consistent things around me is my job. Which is a testament in itself, seeing as I have been all over the place for work lately. A couple weeks ago I took another short trip to New York. I am happy to report that with this visit, New York finally lived to all it's hype. If you like a city with lots of excitement, people, noise and activity... then New York is the place for you. But this visit was very rewarding as I was finally able to see the site where my showroom is under construction. Alas... mysteries were revealed and I was able to see the space for all it's potential. I am very excited (and now even MORE nervous) for the completion.

Then there was a very quick move to the new basement suite (Thanks SO much to Mom, Dad, Duane, and the Dee's' family....) I've got my own room again, and cable t.v.!!! but I miss my Stephanie.

I was off to Holland Michigan for the week. It was great being back in Michigan, especially when we were treated to all the best restaurants.

Our first night in Saugatuck, on the Pier.

Relaxing in the HUMID heat.

My brewskey of choice... how appropriate!

You could smell the money in the air...

This was at the Blue Moon Cafe, where we were eaten alive by mosquitoes eating our highly overpriced (but so very delicious) meals.

Haworth Headquarters Renovation underway, this is going to be an awesome space.

Monte (Design Studio co-worker) and I on our hard hat tour.

Holland Michigan by night, such a quaint town. I loved it.

Okay, here we are back in old Cow town for Priscilla's' B-day. I thought it was hilarious that she was singing along to the Happy Birthday song... happy birthday to me.

Priscilla and I... working off the sushi. I think I swallowed a bug here.

Perhaps I should clarify that the one thing that is consistently consistent in my life is God. I brought home a rock from climbing the other day, sort of a silly reminder for me to keep building my foundation on God.... the One who never changes. So, life keeps ticking by, and I am taking it one day at a time.

Soon, and very soon.

The Blue Eyed Boy (I owed him a good picture... and clearly not of me!)

So, a little bit of advice that I'm sure most brilliant people would already know. Banff, on a holiday monday: stupid, stupid busy. Duane and I hiked along Johnson's Canyon, up to the inkpots, which was a very moderate hike. Once we got onto the actual trail we started dropping people and it soon felt like we had the mountains to ourselves. Lucky for us semi-out of shape people (I'll speak for myself, I was getting tired at the end... sad I know) it really isn't very long. But I will say it again, as I probably am repeating myself, I absolutely love to be in the mountains. So, now I'm set for the week ahead: which proves to be very eventful. Reuben and Tannia are getting married on Saturday. Holy crap! I don't think it's really going to sink in that I will officially have another sister until they are standing up in the church; looking all googly-eyed at each other. It's a wonderful thing, and to say I'm excited for the whole thing would be an understatement.

Summer lovin'

It's been far, FAR too long since I've been able to take the time and sit down in front of this here comput-air screen. Steph and I moved into the basement at the beginning of July for our two month-in-limbo state. This is the only valid explanation I have for my absence... as the Internet connection has been temperamental to say the least. I'll try my best to be short and sweet here.... but the summer is busy with activity, therefore bringing many things to tell about.

Duane and I were in Lethbridge to celebrate my parents 25th wedding anniversary. This is taken in Henderson Lake park.... Duane's first visit.To celebrate my parents anniversary we had fire at Reuben and Tannia's house, where Michael proceeded to once again be the center of attention. This was his "thing" that weekend... playing dead. Seriously... who's kid is this? It's hilarious.
And the classic family picture had not been updated since the days I was sporting what resembled a hideous mushroom cut. It's very hard to get this group of people organized, let alone looking gorgeous all in one shot. This is my family and I love them to bits. It's very cool hanging out as adults. I'm sure Reuben appreciates not being told on every hour by his sisters...

Canada Day weekend... Josh hosted a pool party in his bEEEEautiful backyard. Little bit of b.b.q, pool and hot tub time, eating ridiculous amounts of spits, lame-o Lethbridge fire works, and some laughs to be sure. Emily and Josh... whom I have aptly named the model couple, probably one of the most sincere and fun couples I know.

That same weekend, Mom, Emily and I drove out to the Hat for Tannia's wedding shower. I love this girl and it's awesome that she's going to be my new sister. Tannia is a gift from God... oh and the shower was pretty sweet too. She looked priceless trying to whack down her pinata.

Duane and I at Josh (Duane's brother) and Sara's wedding in Edmonton. 07.07.07... Josh should definitely not have a good reason for forgetting his anniversary. This was a super casual wedding, where I was privileged (and sooo very nervous about) to meet the rest of Duane's family. They were an awesome group of people, and they welcomed me with open arms.

Dianna and I in Edmonton.. about to take the train to downtown. I spent half the weekend at Dianna and Steve's place, which worked out marvelous. It was great to see them again, and get some awesome girl time in with Dianna. We hit the shops on White ave in the afternoon after a couple games of squash. I'll let her tell you the outcome... That evening Marc and Tara joined us for dinner and then we all biked downtown to take in some street performers at the festival. I don't think Marc appreciated the Acrobats in their spandex attire, but there was some amazing performances there that night. Some had me laughing so hard, I swear I felt some tears welling up a couple times.

Last weekend in Waterton, we camped with Emily and Josh. It was so stinking hot, but swimming in the fresh water lakes and eating ice cream did the trick. This my proof to the world that Duane does in deed know how to make me laugh....

And I rest my case. Duane LOVES his ice cream.

Umm, I'll explain. Steph did a little photo shoot of me during Stampede week. I don't think I actually ever wore the hat out in public... I guess this is technically now in public. So, don't look.

I made it out to the Grandstand show at the Stampede this year, I tagged along once more with Duane's family.

Finally we are this weekend... almost there. This was the trial beer for the night: Richards White... served with an orange slice. I really enjoyed the beer, as did Rodd and Steph: the crew for the Seanachie Friday night patio.

Steph, my room mate, and more recently: dream interpreter. She's been hearing a lot of talking at night from me, sleeping in the same room. And we haven't killed each other yet!

Alise, Meaghan and I took a hike around Upper Kananaskis Lake on Saturday. It was absolutely beautiful out there, it was so great to be out enjoying God's amazing creation. The hike is great... following the edge of the lake most of the way.

Isabelle, is leaving me to go back to England this week. A mutual friend of ours from church hosted a b.b.q (my Strawberry spinach salad was a hit!) It was good food, and was so very good to see Isabelle before I don't get to see her again for a very long, long time. I see a trip to England in the future.

The ridiculously large carrot cake Dan dragged out for desert... this cake had disaster written all over it. Evidence could be found on Dan's icing decorated face, or the hand print right on top of the perfectly symmetrical cake.

Sunday.... today! The Young Adults from First CRC headed to Boston pizza for lunch. The poor restaurant, there was at least 25 of us.... but no one had to cook and worry about running out of food. Then it was off to Bowness park for an afternoon of SUN, multiple games of Frisbee, snaking and the best part of all: floating down the river. We'd jump in and the current takes you to a very shallow edge under the bridge, where we'd scrape our knees and other such body parts on the rocks trying to get back to land.

Duane, I'm sure he can get quite annoyed, what with me constantly taking pictures of us... more specifically him. But here he's being a good sport about it. This was the perfect day, hanging out with friends and enjoying the beautiful Calgary weather.

So, there it is.... the crash course of my life for the last little while. I know, overload.... but I wanted to assure you that life is still ticking, and that I even thought it's been busy, I am loving the many blessing that God has been granting to me. This week I am heading to New York for business, which I am very excited about. It will be a short trip, 3 days, but just enough to get my feet wet. As for the outcome of Neo Con, my last past... I can honestly not track down the pictures. In my attempt to get you to really see this... I'm directing you to the website.. and enjoy! http://www.haworth.com/Brix?pageID=862

Chicago and back.

Many thanks to this great company for sending me to Chicago!

View from one of the Haworth showroom windows.

Water Tower Place

Water Tower Place, I took the night to wander the city alone...

this is what I found!

Eating dinner in the rain, we insisted on sitting it out..
until our dishes starting pooling with rain water.

Trump towers, upon completion it will be the tallest building in Chicago...
beating the Sears Towers

In front of the oh so grand Merchandise Mart.. in the rain.

Marina City (More like parking city...)

Now that the world has stopped spinning for t-minus 60 minutes, I will attempt to inform you of my recent voyage to the beautiful city of Chicago. Kim (my boss) and I flew out on Thursday morning, morning is generous... I'm not sure the birds were even up yet. And always, when it came to preparations and packing, it was all last minute. I think I had convinced myself that if I didn't pack, I wasn't really going to have to go. Don't get me wrong. There was excitement prior to the trip, but it was choked out by nerves and insecurities. So, needless-to-say, I didn't get much sleep that night.

I have to say, I love Chicago, or what I saw of it for that matter. Kim and I took one afternoon to go on an Architectural boat tour along the Chicago river. That my friends, was one of the most fascinating parts of my trip. There are a plethora of beautiful buildings that are all so very unique. And it's true, I am a sucker for architecture. I definitely got my fix. Over the course of my 5 night stay, I was fortunate to dine at some fine establishments. My favorite place was Au Bon Pain, this deli of sorts on the bottom floor of the Merchandise Mart. One of the great things about travelling for business is everything can be expensed. So, expense my Au Bon Pain, I certainly will (along with the outrageous taxi fairs, and steep boutique hotel rates)

As for work... as usual in the world of construction and showrooms, there is a lot of collaboration between trades and every other designer and their dog. In short, it was a bit of a gong show at the showroom and there wasn't much for me to do at the start of my arrival. Once the installers started to get more product in, I was able to occupy my time easier. But what a treat to see everything coming together finally in front of my eyes. Just not sure if it's worth the many days away from home yet... still deciding on that one.

The actual building that houses the Haworth showroom is the Merchandise Mart, done in art deco style, it allows for over 4 million square feet of occupancy space. Along with our competitors are hordes more showrooms, some of which were also caught up in the frenzy of preparations for Neo Con. It was great to be able to stop in and see them. But I'll cut the ramblings off there and let you see Chicago. I will post the pictures from inside the showroom once Neo Con has gotten under way, until then it's top secret.

Congratulations Mom and Dad!

25 years of marriage and still going strong.

Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century. Mark Twain

Successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. German Greer

And at last, from the oh SO famous The Princess Bride:

Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam... And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva... So tweasure your wuv.

Family and the Hulk

Ezra, Ezra, Ezra

Duane and Ezra... Ezra is the drooling monster.

Kids, they grow up so fast these days, hey!

The two monkeys.

Noam and the Hulk...

This weekend started off with a visit from some of my favorite people, ever. Dianna, Steve, Marc and Tara. They all spent the night Thursday, a stop over from Edmonton on the way to Vancouver. It was awesome to see them and catch up a little again. And, I finally got to meet some more of Duanes family this weekend. It was his nephew Noam's 3rd birthday on Friday, so we headed up to St.Albert for the celebrations. My nerves were unecessary as Duanes family accepted me with open arms. And he wasn't lying to me, his two nephews: Noam and Ezra are two of the cutest kids I have ever seen. It was absolutely great to spend two whole solid days with Duane, can't seem to get enough of this guy. I had a very low key weekend though, played a lot of Lego with Noam (Duanes birthday gift to him) and enjoyed seeing Ezra laugh at almost everything and anything. There was a lot of lazing around the house as well. Which was the perfect end for another rather stressful week at work, and the perfect start to an upcoming busy week. On Thursday I will be flying out to Chicago for business and will be spending 5 days preparing the showroom for the upcoming World Trade show: Neo Con. That's the excitement for the time being, that and I just finished talking to Emily... she was walking through the aiport with Josh. Safe and sound, and she sounded extremely happy to be home.