press and seal

Annie, Alex and Brian- the last feast-gathering at the yellow house! On the porch, Easter Sunday dinner

I feel like I have a lot to do. Planning a wedding is a large project with an even larger amount of small but necessary details.

But I am not stressed out. Rather enjoying the process actually. Next up... receiving our invitations in the mail from the printer and addressing and stamping and sending! I actually really like addressing envelopes... when I hand write someone a letter (which I do still do on occasion!) I often skip to that part first before I write anything. Odd, perhaps. Ah well.

Excited to have these little envelopes travel from Newfoundland to Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, New Zealand, Australia... it also makes it seem like the wedding is that much closer.

roof over our head

House-hunting is interesting. Brian and I are in the process of finding a place to set up our little 'nest'. I do really see it as that. I'm really excited to set up our first home as a married couple. Makes me all warm inside. Maybe it's an internal thing, the nesting instinct? Hehee.

Really, though, this is a big change.
I lived with my parents, then I lived with various roommates- lets see, from when I left for Halfway lake through university all the way till now I have had... hmm how many roommates. I am curious, lets write them out...
Mikayla- Halfway Lake
Shazi- first year UWO, London
Kristen- tent mate treeplanting
Lindi, Lisa, Monique, Steph- Pink Flamingo gals
Rita- first half of 4th year
Uncle Joe and Aunt Janette- Victoria first part
Elisabeth, Andrea, Aiden- Victoria second part
Carly, Jill- Kitsilano, vancouver
Hillary, Reba, Jana, Jessa, Hannah- Georgia St, van
Nanc, Ingrid, Shiloh, Melissa- Broadway, van
Cat, Esther, Danielle, Amanada- St. John's

... that makes at least 28 people I have shared dwellings with.... all over the country too. Northern ON, London, Victoria, Vancouver, Newfoundland.

And now I am going to have a new and permanent roommate-- my husband! Pretty excited about that. Which is also why I want to make sure that we find a great little house somewhere. And I know that we will. It's fun. This is where we are going to spend the first bit of our married life. See the sun rise and set, linger over coffee and breakfast, discuss over dinner, entertain friends and strangers... live day in and day out, figuring out all the little habits of everyday living that makes the other tick. I'm sure it won't always be easy. But it'll be an adventure.

Will keep you posted on the house hunting...

alive

I had a great Easter weekend. Some highlights...

- Hiking with Brian- we didn't even plan to hike, just started off as a walk, but when you lived on a rock next to the ocean walks often turn into hikes- love it

- baking bread and decorating an Easter cake

- running in the sunshine... there is a road just up the hill from my house that goes for 3.5 km through the woods, with sporadic houses along it.. makes you feel like you're running in cottage country or something. It is the saving grace of my neighbourhood as living 3 minutes from the biggest mall in the province (which isn't very big, but still) isn't my first choice

- just living alongside Brian-- he fixes his bike, I look up apartment listings online and read my book- I look forward to that very much when we get married, the everyday, day-in day-out life, together.

- Easter morning sunrise service-- blue and pink and golden over the northern Atlantic as the first rays of light to hit this continent were revealed before our eyes, and we marvelled at the risen Saviour... what better picture of that in creation than sunrise..

- Easter dinner with friends-- a potluck, delicious food and good conversation with 15 people from all different parts of our life, all crammed cozily into the living room

I am happy. Sometimes I am overly impatient for August 13 to arrive- but overall and by far I am doing my best, and I would daresay succeeding, at enjoying life for what it is right now. And it is very good. I feel like our decision to stay in St. John's has allowed me to stop holding my breath, and let go of my frustrations with this city and province which I was tightly clinging to as my last weapons in the decision/struggle about whether to stay here or not. Sure, it's not perfect.. but nowhere is.

What a wise friend told me recently is true.. wherever you are, you need to recognize the good things and make the most of it. Perhaps that seems simple enough, but when I have moved around so much in the last few years and put down roots only to uproot them for somewhere else, I really need to remember that. All that moving also makes it harder to commit to a place, I think, because the thrill of adventure is there with moving, in a sense, if you don't look too closely at all the adjustment and awkwardness and change that comes with it. But there is also a thrill and a great joy in choosing to put down some deeper roots.

There is still a huge part of me that insists that I don't want to stay in NL forever. And I really, at this point, am quite sure of that. But who I am to say where we will be in 5 years, 10 years.. perhaps I will be completely surprised.

it's all part of the adventure.