A long post

I am seriously overdue for a post. I have been having too much fun gallivanting around the lower mainland, decorating for Christmas and organizing my cupboards (yes, I really enjoy bringing order to chaos). But now here I sit, reminiscing about all the good memories I have made over this past week. I took a lot of awful pictures and I am a little embarrassed to share them with you. I am still figuring out my husband's little camera. It seems to work well outdoors where there is good lighting, but indoors the pictures look very blurry and pixilated. Any suggestions. Perhaps it is time for me to take a photography course.

After a seven hour drive to Maple Ridge, Amelia and I spent the week catching up with as many people as we could fit into our schedule. In between naps, eating out, swimming and socializing we did a decent amount of shopping.



Amelia particularity enjoyed value village where she happily tried on purses and shoes for the better part of 30 minutes.

We went swimming with Oma...





The weather in the lower mainland wasn't terribly wonderful but I did manage to go for a few walks, a run and take Amelia to my favorite park.

I had a delightful visit with a family I used to work for. Here are a few snapshots...

My mom, sister, Amelia and I went out to one of our favorite cupcake/tea shops in Abotsford and had a lovely lunch together. I am looking forward to making a little scrapbook of that special little outing.










And this would be a picture of my daughter having a meltdown......



Much to my delight, I was great deal of time with my dear friend Cristina. We ate butter chicken, cheesecake, drank excessive amounts of tea, watched the movie "morning glory" in the theatres, scrap booked, and shopped. She also got to accompany me to my ultrasound which was a first for her. She could hardly believe that the baby on the screen was small enough to fit into a toilet paper tube. I will post some pictures from that ultrasound at another time.





I also got to spend time with another dear friend of my mine..... Loretta. We drank peppermint tea, visted her chickens, enjoyed an impromptu mandolin performance from her husband Micheal, ate a lovely meal, and ...... just enjoyed each other's company.
Visiting her home is always such a blessing. Here are a few pictures and a video.







One of these days I am going to have to do an entire post on Loretta. She is amazing!



It was such a blessing to be surrounded by familiar faces and spend time with my family. How I miss close companionship, and the ease with which I could chat away the hours. One of my favorite memories from that week was a three hour marathon conversation at Starbucks with a girlfriend I hadn't seen in over a year.