Long weekend musings...

It's a long weekend here in Ontario, which means I'm parenting with my partner, my hubby, for an extra day on Monday. While it has always been awesome to spend extra time with my sweetie, it's extra awesome now with a baby. An extra set of hands!!! Woohoo!

We had some friends over for a BBQ yesterday and it was the first social event I've ever hosted that didn't feature at least one homemade dish. It's just one of the many things I used to love to do that has seemingly fallen by the wayside ever since a certain someone has entered my life! I know this exhausted feeling is just temporary, which is great because I'd really love to feel a tiny bit like my old self soon.

Even so, I've begun to really think about how motherhood changes you. Mentally, and also physically, I am almost a completely different person, and there is nothing wrong with that. Look what I (maybe I should be saying we?) did, I created a new life! And when I did I accepted that it meant that my role as mother would mean shaping my child's life and putting mine on the back burner for a little while. 

Interestingly, the things I miss from my old life are not the things I expected to miss. I expected to miss traveling on a whim, going out to nice restaurants, poker nights with friends. In reality, I mostly miss cooking, baking, and cleaning. Seriously. The level of grossness in our bathroom is horrifying to me. I should possibly be doing that right now instead of writing this blog post... Hmmm... Anyways..

The good news is that these things I miss will come back shortly. Madeline is taking better naps and I am starting to feel human again, it's at the point now where I don't feel like I need to be napping when she's napping, so there's a little room for cooking, baking, cleaning, and BLOGGING. There's also a career/professional task (paperwork to become a P. Eng) that I've been putting off for so long that needs to get done before I head back to work, so that needs to occupy some of my free time too. 

This was kind of a jumbled mix of thoughts, but after reading this post today, I think that's ok. 

I'm back!

These last three months have been such a whirlwind of emotions: happy, excited, frustrated, tired, confused, insecure, inadequate… I could go on and on. I’m pretty sure I’ve felt almost every emotion or feeling there is since Madeline has been born. I have missed the blogosphere so much and am only feeling human enough to make my way back here now.  So, hello friends J

Madeline is napping and I am spending way too much time watching Gossip Girl while she does. It’s so bad but so addictive, isn’t it?? This is the second series I am embarking on, I watched the entire series of Friday Night Lights first. Some day my sweet baby girl won’t be napping this much so I am trying to take advantage of the “me” time I am being given for now.

I have been pondering the level of online privacy I would like for my family. In the past I have been pretty much an open book, but it’s shocking how different I have felt since Madeline came along. I feel so protective of her and that is why I have yet to share any photos. I’m scared of putting her pretty little face out there, when the internet is so vast and I have no idea who will be looking at my photos, or what they might be doing with them. I never thought I would be this paranoid, but that’s where I’m at right now. I hope you will all understand and continue to read my blog. I’m working on some baby posts, some tips and tricks, and just general ideas I have about parenting. For now, no photos L

If you do want to check out some pictures of Madeline, you can add me to instagram (mcsarahanne)… it’s a private profile but I’ll add anyone who doesn’t look like an internet creepo :P

Happy Thanksgiving! (and some news)

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian readers! My husband and I have been in my hometown and it's been an awesome long weekend. Halifax is a wonderful place to visit, and the weather has just been amazing.

I know it's been a long time since I have been active on this here blog, but guys, I swear I have a good excuse. You see, this happened:

We're pregnant!!! Come April 2013 we're going to be first time parents :). We're over the moon with excitement, but my all day horrible sickness has prevented me from doing much blogging or even blog reading. I hope you can understand, and I am hoping to be back in full swing now!

Friday Blog Favorites...

Happy Friday to everyone!!! It's a long weekend here and we are headed camping. Wish us luck. Leroy has never been camping, and my husband and I have never been camping together... hopefully putting up the tent doesn't result in a giant argument!

Last Friday I wrote a post with my favorite blogs of the week. This week I was thinking of changing it up a bit, and instead of listing my favorite blogs of the week, I will be listing my favorite blog posts of the week. This way I can spread the love to the same blogs more than once! I just recently participated in the GFC Blog Hop, and I made a ton of new friends. My blog reader is getting insanely full! It's hard to keep up, but everyone is just so awesome, I have been spending my evenings with Breaking Bad and blogs :)

Via

There was so much to chose from this week. It was really tricky for me to come up with the top 5 but here they are, in no particular order:

1. The Anatomy of a Campire... over at Life on LeRoy (The whole LeRoy part is, by the way, the initial reason I started following this blog! Our dog's name is right there in the blog name! haha). I think since we're camping this weekend this post really drew me in. Love Alli's writing style and the cute dog pictures help too! We'll definitely be smore-ing it up this weekend, even if we have to do it over a stove and not a fire (stupid drought, stupid fire ban).

2. Classic peanut butter cookies... over on Kitchen Trial and Error. There are so many yummy sounding/looking recipes on this blog, but this one made it into my favorites this week because I am a SUCKER for peanut butter cookies! This recipe looks and sounds awesome and I can't wait to try it.

3. My dog picks up trash... over at The Coffeehouse. Just loved the humor in this post! Also, I can relate because Leroy is a garbage dog too. I should start taking pictures of the gross things he picks up.

4.  Adrian's Summer Entertaining Series: Easy Decor... over at oh, hello love! All of the posts in this series have been awesome so far, and I am excited to try the guacamole recipe shared last week for sure! Loved this post by Emily on easy decor ideas for summer though, I love when I go to someone's house and they've put effort into table and party decor!

5. A deep post... over on Daisy Girl. I really loved this post, it was very insightful, and eye-opening. I might have to write about something similar. I often feel like my entire life is a competition. Here's the comment I left on this post: "Love this post! It's so hard to stop going through life that way. It seems like there's always a sense of contest, competition, who can wear the best outfit? Who has the best relationship? Who makes more money? Who's winning at life? It's never ending , and I am really hoping to just STOP, and live my life as I want it." Head on over there and check it out!

So there you have it, my favorite blog posts of the week!!

Is anyone finding this useful? Should I keep this as a Friday regular? Would love your feedback!!!!

Have a great weekend everyone :)

The Liebster Award!

I am honoured that Ashley at we loved here has nominated me for the Liebster award!

The Liebster award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. What is a Liebster? The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

Here are the rules for receiving this award:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs!

Questions:


1. What is your favorite cereal? Life! We never had super sugary cereal growing up, so I like the plainer varieties :)
2. How old were you before you stopped believing in Santa Claus? I honestly don't remember... and I would ask my parents, but they're on vacation without cell service!! I am thinking maybe 7?
3. Who is your favorite author? Sadly, I don't think I have one! There isn't one author who stands out, I don't own multiple books by the same author, I always try different things! I do have quite a few Sophie Kinsella books, but I wouldn't consider her my "favorite", just some fun reads :)

Via

4. If you could travel anywhere in the world and money was no object, where would you go? Why? Definitely Bora Bora. Always wanted to go there, it just looks so beautiful and relaxing.

Via

5. If there was a zombie apocalypse and you had to choose between staying in your home with ample food, but little protection (meaning you don't have the supplies to board yourself in completely) or hitting the road with a full tank of gas, but very limited supplies, what would your coarse of action be? I laughed at this question because I always hate conversations about what you would do in a zombie attack! Don't hate me but: Zombies aren't real. Haha. Anyway, I suppose I would go with hitting the road. At least then I would feel like I was doing something, rather than sitting at home hoping for the best.
6. Favorite designer brand? I'm loving Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs right now!

My new favorite shoes - Michael Kors

7. If you had to live in a decade other than the current one, which would you choose? The 1950s. Mostly for the fashion!!
8. Any current events capturing your attention as of late? The Olympics, of course! Unfortunately my husband doesn't really like watching them, so I haven't seen much.
9. Sailboat or cruise ship? Cruise ship. I get sea sick, so I am thinking the bigger the boat, the better.
10. If you were Joey Potter, would you have picked Dawson or Pacey? (If you didn't watch Dawson's Creek, you can skip this one!) I didn't watch Dawson's Creek!
11. Share your favorite summer color palette with us: Aqua and red. Just awesome. Bright a cheerful!!!

That was fun! Now it's my turn to come up with 11 questions and tag 11 bloggers. I am so bad at this kind of thing, so if my questions are awful, that's why, and sue me, but I don't care ;)

Here it goes:
1. What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?
2. Where was the last place you went on vacation?
3. What's your favorite mixed drink?
4. Favorite childhood memory?
5. Favorite Summer Olympics sport?
6. How long does it take you to fall asleep at night?
7. What time do you get up most mornings?
8. How long is your commute to work/school?
9. What did you eat for supper last night?
10. When was the last time you exercised? What did you do?
11. Why do you blog?

And I'm tagging these 11 bloggers!!
Strawberry Blonde Life, Adventures with Rogue Baby, Bungalow960, Disco & Bows, The Lewis Life, The Osbott Spot, Becoming the Barrs, High Heels City Streets, My {not so} Glamorous Life, I Am Pisces, a moment of wonderful.

All such wonderful blogs, go check them out!!