Love Fall Days.

On Saturday, after a wonderful morning of shopping for myself (yay!), I came home and decided on the spot that I wanted to go and do something outdoors-ey, so Dan and I bundled up and headed out to a nearby lake (Dollar Lake) just outside of the city, and we spent the afternoon walking around on the trails, talking and enjoying the perfect Fall day. We talked about 'going off the grid' (my dream, not his) and about nothing mostly. On the way home we went to a Sub shop we both really like. Nothing special, but it was one of the most pleasant days I've had in a long time.

Sometimes an unexpected activity can be the most rewarding, and as this little bump grows I'm realizing how I need to take advantage of days like this, while it's still just the 2 of us and we're still free to wander with little preparation or care. It's something I know I'm going to miss, but it's making these last few trips 'just the 2 of us' seem all the more sweet.

A few pics:

(I love how he looks in a vest.)

Once I got home I fell in love with these pictures and printed them off on my printer, I couldn't wait to get them in my hands and scrapped. So that's what I'm working on now, hopefully I'll have something to show later this week.

Happy Monday :)

Habits...

Before the beginning of summer, before this little being in me took over and made me completely useless (not that I'd trade it for anything!), I had several creative/fun habits that I managed to keep up, and I'm now realizing that I'm completely out of, well, the habit of doing them. And I want to get them back.

Some of these include:

1. Taking photos and uploading them onto Flickr. I used to carry my camera with me everywhere I went, and I took pictures almost every day, if not several times a week. I went out yesterday and took some shots in the yard, and it was fun, if a little weird. But I need to get back into the habit of loading them off my camera, into Photoshop for a quick edit, and then onto Flickr/my blog. I used to do this daily, automatically. I miss sharing my life visually (which is sometimes so much easier than words.)

2. Being crafty. I need to get re-acquainted with my scrap/craft desk, it's been sitting gathering dust for far too long. Again, I used to scrap at least 3 nights a week, but besides the layout I made earlier this week I haven't touched it at all. Last night I went through the new Toast catalogues though, and ripped out all the beautiful images (seriously, I don't look at the clothes to buy, I look at the photography and styling!), so I may do some pages/home decorating projects with those soon, but there are other crafty things I want to get into as well. I have a sewing machine that has been sitting in its case untouched since June, and I need to bust it out and learn to use it!! And with a little one on the way now there are sooo many cute baby items I'd like to try and make, and blankets/bibs to get finished, and curtains for the nursery, so much! Not to mention knitting and crocheting, embroidery...just being crafty! My mom and grandmother might be coming next weekend, and I think it would be a perfect chance to get started on some of these things.

My little crafty corner, how I miss you.

ADORABLE baby vest and hat made my Soulemama

3. Thifting/shopping. Yep, might sound weird to say that I need to shop more, but lately I really do! My clothes are getting to that not-quite-too-small-but-kind-of-tight stage, and I imagine that in the next 2 weeks or so I'll be down to about 50% of my usual selection (which isn't much to begin with, especially for Fall clothes!). Sooo, that means I need to get a new wardrobe, yay!! But, like everything else, I haven't been to see my dear old friend, Value Village, for a good long thrifting excursion in quite awhile. I'm hoping that this will change this weekend, and that I find some cute Fall clothes. Top of my list: Some cute tights/leggings, maybe a plaid skirt, new jacket, shoes of any kind and some cardigans.

(Shopping Aside: It's also getting harder and harder for me not to want to buy baby clothes, there are so many cute items out there, just look! Adorable onsesies! Birds, trees, flowers...and a bear costume! Beyond adorable!)

[From Fawn and Forest, Old Navy and H&M)

There are other things I should get back into the habit of doing too, like cleaning, but I don't consider those things a priority ;) So yeah, just some things I've been thinking about lately with the coming of the new Season. I also need to get OUT of the habit of certain things too, like zonking out on the couch in the evenings, going to bed at 9:30, and generally being a lazy bum.

Anyway, this weekend should be pretty laid back for the ole' Flynns. We got some good news earlier this week that has settled some of the concerns I'd been having for the last little while; Dan, who had been laid-off from his job a few weeks ago, was hired back on with his company on Monday (with a raise!) and it looks like we'll be able to stay here until the baby is almost due (Jan/Feb), which was our original plan. We were thinking for awhile that we would have to move home sooner, which was fine by me, but this plan is better/more practical.) So that's nice, having things back to normal, and not having to worry about money again! We're still trying to keep things low-key though, we need to start saving for some baby basics as well as for an eventual down payment on a house. Geez, when did I get grown up all of a sudden?? So yeah, we'll be staying a home, I have some projects I'd like to get started, some baking/cooking to do, and maybe a bit of sleeping in, we'll see :)

What are you plans for the weekend? Anything Fall-ish? (Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice Fall day, maybe I can convince Dan to do something outdoorsy with me.)

Happy Friday!

Quickie Monday

Quickie #1: Shimi has obviously outgrown her bed but insists on sleeping in it. She usually only lasts for 30 mins or so before jumping out to stretch on the floor. Silly cat.

Quickie #2: I finished a layout on Saturday night. It's definitely nothing to write home about, it's a random layout I've had in my mind for a few weeks now, but boy getting it done was HARD. Even being as simple and as "Geneviève" as it is, I struggled to get it done. But I'm glad I did and I may attempt another this week. I got my TOAST catalogues on Friday and the pages are just begging to be ripped out and art journaled on, so I may even make a little Fall mini like I did last year.

Quickie #3: Here's my 15 weeks shot, compared to the 12 weeks shot. Not much of a difference, I can't say that I have a much of a 'bump' just yet (espeically compared to some people I've seen online, wow!), but I'm definitely noticing the top part of my torso getting bigger and feeling firmer and weird, you can see it in the picture, it's an all over roundness now...something's definitely in there alright! Now if only I would gain some weight...maybe once I stop throwing up and feeling too gross to eat every week!! ugh.

Well that's it for today. Still waiting to hear on a few things regarding our immediate future, I hope to have a final answer later this week so that I can actually plan for this coming Fall, because right now it all feels very much up in the air, something I'm not used to and do not like much.

Speaking of Fall, I made butternut squash soup and ginger molasses cookies over the weekend so it's feeling quite Fall-ish around here. Now if the weather would cool down a bit today and tomorrow I could enjoy the coming of my favourite Season a bit more!

Until next time.

The Name Game

Now, this might not be the wisest thing to do, but Dan and I have come up with a 'shortlist' of names that we are currently liking for the baby. Even though some of these will probably change in the next 5 months, I thought it might be fun to document what we are currently loving and see if one of them sticks, and if not, we can look back and say 'why in the world did we like THAT name?!'

People are quite opinionated about baby names, I've learned, and a lot of people don't like to reveal what they are going to name their baby for that reason, but I'm not too worried about it, since a) we might not pick these names anyway and b) who cares what other people think, you are the one who has to live with the name forever, so if you like it and it's not too weird/cruel, then it shouldn't matter what others say. Also, I'm not worried about anyone else 'stealing' my names (Sarah and Sara, this is for you! ha.) So flame away if you wish, or share the love :)

So, instead of just showing you a list of names, I thought it might be fun to play a little game. Below are some famous (and not so famous) people with names that we enjoy. See if you can name them all and leave them in the comments (if you want.) I wish I could think of a prize to offer, if I think of something I'll be sure to edit the post, but until then it's just a silly thing to do on a Friday night.

(Note: These aren't all the names on the list, just the ones that I could associate with a real life person, there are plenty of other names that don't have famous associations. Also, keep in mind that a lot of these names will be pronounced 'frenchly', which makes a big difference in some of the cases, at least for me. And the spelling might change too.)

We'll start with the girls:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

And now some of the gents:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Could you guess them all?

If you have kids, how did you come up with their name?

Have a happy weekend, I may be back in Sunday with-shock!-a layout to share.

3 years ago today...

I was about 15 pounds lighter, Dan's hair (and mine) was about 4 inches longer, it was 25 degrees outside and we got married under the grapevines.

Every year that has passed since that day has made it seem that much more magical and special to me, and every year that passes makes me realize what a good choice I made in marrying him. How lucky I am, truly, to have him.

Today we are going to the doctor to listen to our baby's heartbeat.

I think that it's a perfect way to celebrate.

Woah random.

So this is probably as close as I (and Shimi) will get to giving you a self-portrait these days. I picked up my camera a few days ago for the first time in forever though and it felt...odd. Foreign. And I didn't want to take any shots of myself (kind of unlike my usual vain self.) I must get back into the swing of taking pictures though, if at the very least so that I'll have some blog material! Plus Fall is coming and the leaves are starting to change, so I have the perfect subject.

Anyway, I have had the past 4 days off (took Friday off from feeling crummy and Monday was my Modified Day Off), so I've been trying to be somewhat productive during that time, and I managed to get a few things crossed off my list. I:

-Made an apple crisp (which is sadly almost all gone)
-Went to Value Village and bought a few baby items at 50% off
-Recorded my Week 8-14 vlog (see below)
-Took Dan out for his birthday (Inglorious Basterds and appetizers, yumm)
-Started editing some pics from Italy and Croatia (see below)
-Did a bunch of laundry and changed the sheets on the bed
-Cut a piece of paper for scrapping and laid it out...and nothing else. I'm working on it!

Not too shabby compared to my usual blob of a self. I think this 2nd trimester will agree with me much more than the first. Let's hope so anyway.

Ok, on to the goods. I finally got around to editing some of my Italy and Croatia pics, all using PW's Photoshop Actions, thank goodness for those! I mostly just used the 'Boost' action to increase the saturation and sharpness and then finished them off with a Quick Edge Burn since it seemed to fit shots of Europe somehow. I played with some others too, but I didn't want to make it too complicated, since I have about 60 more to do and I don't want to spend a lot of time on them. Once they are edited, then I have to print and scrap 'em too, oye! Anyway, so here we go, the first batch:

Picture of me at some ruins on the Brijuni Islands in Croatia. This place was about as near to paradise on Earth as I have ever seen. We came upon these ruins by accident, they used to be a wine making district back in Roman and Medieval times. It was silent and deserted and magical.

My lovely and dear friend and hostess, Jelena, on the shore of the Brijuni Islands.

Some ooooold looking hourses in Rome. I kept asking Jelena "so people actually live in there?" because it seemed so crazy to me that they could live in an old house like that in downtown Rome, next to the Vatican, that kind of thing (used a vintage action on this one.)

The Coloseum in Rome...I saw 3 of the 7 coloseums in the world while I was there, it was cool.

The Spanish Steps in Rome...I remember this night because it wasn't deathly hot and there were so many people out (the street you see below was via Condotti, where celebrities go to shop...Prada, Hermes, Chanel, you name it)

A simple street in Padua, where Jelena lives. It was a beautiful old town in itself, we were only there for a few days though.

A crazy bridge/street in Florence. The colours were amazing and it was sooo busy there, but I enjoyed it all the same, especially after the chaos that was Rome.

So that's that, hopefully I'll get another batch done this week and post them later.

Also, if you want to see my jabber on about the last 6 weeks in this pregnancy saga of mine, here we go (and could Vimeo have chosen a WORSE screencap for the video?! Geez.)

Weeks 8-14 from Genevieve Flynn on Vimeo.

Today it's back to work and back to trying to figure out what the next few months will bring for the Flynns (nothing is set in stone yet, once things are more finalized I'll probably share.)

So until the next batch of photos or next baby related ramble, adieu!

Happy Birthday my nerdy twin!

So, today, 09/09/09, my dear friend Heather is celebrating her birthday (which, usually, she doesn't like to celebrate or acknowledge, but I keep telling her to be a big girl and get over it like the rest of us...lol), and since I am a bad, tired, nauseous friend at the moment, I did not send her anything. [Seriously though, sending things to BC is so far!] Anyway, apparently her boyfriend is taking her to the rodeo for her birthday, and I'm sure he'll spoil her with something else, which sounds just lovely, so Heather, I hope you have a great time, and I'm so sorry I didn't send you anything, but expect an AWESOME Halloween package next month!

So in celebration of this wonderful, beautiful friend, who I'm missing more and more as each cool, Fall day passes, I thought I'd share some of the many shots I've taken of her over the year.

Halloween-themed shoot, October 2008

"Last" shoot, February 2009

"Indoor Insanity" Shoot, April 2008

"Winter Beach" Shoot, January 2009

"Playing with Props" shoot, May 2008

LOST-inspired shoot, February 2009

"Winter Beach" Shoot, January 2009 (one of my personal favs)

I so dearly miss being a nerd with you, Hea-tha, and I can't wait to see you in December!! We'll photoshoot it up for sure!

Happy Birthday!!

Random thoughts on this whole baby thing [@ 13 weeks]

(from this shop)

So, now that I'm allowing myself to finally think about this whole baby thing in real-life, it's-gonna-happen terms, I have a lot of thoughts going through my mind, and even though I can't say that they are very organized at this point, I still figured it might be nice to jot some of them down. Who knows, could turn into a scrap page eventually or somethin'...

Or it could just be that I just spent the last couple of hours reading through Loving Care. Who knows.

Anyway, here we go:

*I realize that it's still too early to really think about, but today on the bus I imagined what birth will be like for me emotionally; it'll be like going up a roller coaster that, as you are going up the first big hill, you suddenly think "I don't want to do this! I want OFF!!", but then once you go down and it's over, you realize how worth it it was. But that initial fear is gonna get me for sure.

*This afternoon, however, I was reading Emily's blog and she referenced a book that looks really good called "Spiritual Midwifery", I may look into getting a book like this at the library. I'm not so sure about all the supposed "hippy"ness to it, but I think that I could still learn something from it for sure. Now, a home birth would be ideal for me, since I'm not so big on hospitals, but unfortunately our provinces do not offer midwives as part of our health care, and even if they did, there aren't any around, so it's not really an option for me (I'm still thankful though that everything else is covered, I could not imagine having the added stress of trying to figure out how to pay for having my baby!!)

*I'm currently debating whether I should take prenatal classes. For anyone who took them, were they helpful? Remember, I do work for the Department of Health Promotion and Protection, and I spend most of my days having to [proof]read books about babies and pregnancy, so I have a pretty good basic understanding of what constitutes a healthy pregnancy, birth, etc. Also, I'm anti-social and haven't 'aww'ed out loud once about my pregnancy, so spending time with a bunch of 'awwing' pregnant women doesn't sound like the best time for me.

*I'm about 60% sold on cloth diapering (we'll probably end up using a mix of both), 100% sold on breastfeeding, 100% sold on co-sleeping and NOT bed-sharing, and only about 50% sold on the whole attachment thing (from what I know about it-does anyone have any good links explaining it more?)

*My coworker has generously agreed to give me a bunch of her baby stuff and I'm so thankful for that, since money is going to be tight as it is and we really won't be able to go overboard with the baby stuff for the first little while. Right now we are planning on saving up for a car seat, stroller, crib and maybe some sort of swing, and hoping that everything else will either be given or bought 2nd hand (especially the clothes). Still, she's telling me about all these things she has for me, and mostly I have no idea what they all are...

*My co-worker is also pregnant, [5 months], and she was talking about her "extreme" worries over whether to get a bassinet or crib because of all the recalls and safety concerns and blah blah blah, and also all the research she's been doing on car seats, and I'm like "huh?" I am SOOO not going to be that type of mother-to-be (not to say I won't look for safe furniture for my baby, but I ain't spending 3 hours of my time checking to see which cribs have a 0.2% chance of my baby getting caught in between the bars or gate that lowers. No thank you.)

*Absolutely no preference on boy or girl at this point, all I know is that I kind of wish I were having a baby in the Fall because the clothes right now are sooooo cute! My baby would be decked out in forest friends gear, no question. (My mom told me that having a baby in March though-the same month she had me-is a good time to have one because by the time the baby is 3 months old and 'ready' to get out of the house, spring is here. The first 3 months you don't really go far anyway so having him or her in the middle of winter isn't such a big deal.)

*It's unfortunate that I won't know where we are going to be living up until about a month before the baby is born, because I won't be able to set up the nursery until the last minute. That doesn't mean that I don't dream about it though. Etsy provides lots of inspo, and Ashley Ann's nursery for her daughter is probably the nicest one I've seen so far, lots of inspiration there.

Here are a few things from Etsy I'm loving right now for a nursery (trying to be gender neutral at this point.)

(Poms from Pomlove)

(ICK bag from Petunia's)

(Personalized Name print by Penny People)

(a bit creepy-but still lovely-by my fav, Art & Ghosts)

Well I guess that's all. Other, non-baby randoms:

*I want a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks like nobody's business. Sooo many people have been talking about them on Twitter, it's nuts!

*I may scrapbook tonight! Shock! The Scrapmojo challenge looks really fun and easy, scrap about your name, the perfect way to ease back into a hobby I haven't touched in months...

*I also need to get to the fabric store this week to buy some fabric for Sara's baby blanket, which I hope to start working on this weekend with my mom. It's the long weekend and it's supposed to be nice and we are going home and I CAN'T WAIT.

Happy Mid-week everyone!

I love the Internet.

There are so many wonderful things on the Internet, it's always such a treat when you find something as great as this. The Feed Your Soul: Free Art Project is a site I found through SimpleMoms yesterday, and I love the concept. Artists offering free, downloable, printable art. There are some wonderful prints on the site by some great artists (many of whom are on Etsy), but here are my favourites:

Unfortunately I don't think my printer is good enough to do these prints justice, but I may try to print one off on some white cardstock or photo paper just to see how it would look. Maybe I can find a crafty friend nearby who could print one off for me. But how cool is this?

I'm totally getting into a nesting mode now that Fall is here (YAY!!), and my picture wall in the living room definitely needs an update, so this may be a future weekend project.

Today is Shimi's [made-up by me] 1st birthday. We bought her a little candle, we may stick it into a treat or something, and I'm going to attempt to get a picture with her next to it, maybe wearing a birthday hat, wish me luck (and yep, I'm that weird).

Happy Tuesday to you.