This is January.

Things we have enjoyed this first month of this new year of 2014.

Highlights:

*I have enjoyed having our family over for a few visits this month. Most of the visits revolve around the Wii!! but hey, I don't blame anyone at all!!! We even had Dan's cousins come over one Saturday afternoon and we had a ball with their little guys playing Wii!

Dan's Dad came two Saturdays to help us get the bathroom ready!!

And its official: We love Crepes!!! We missed Jay, but we had fun filling our crepes with fruit!

And of course, the main event this month at our house is the Wii that we borrowed! We can't say enough how much we have enjoyed and appreciated using this!!!

*Snow Days: We have had so many snowstorms this month! I have missed a few days of work because of it, but truly its a Canadians greatest joy to check Storm Watch and see that the schools and businesses and classes are closed for the day! As long as we get to stay home and enjoy a cozy day in our pjs watching our fave shows and movies!!!

Speaking of: Here's the new faves we have watched this month:

This show is just plain good. I can't say enough of how awesome this pair is! They are awesome.

Due to the fact so many people in both of our families are watching and LOVING this show, we totally fell for it hook line and sinker too! It took me a few eps to totally get into it but we have seriously watched all 3 seasons in less then a week! (the seasons are short, but the eps are a hour long!!)

This was recommended to me and I love it for so many reasons. Its a WELL DONE CANADIAN DRAMA. Seriously well done! Dan doesn't watch it with me unless I happen to be watching the tale end and he comes in! But I love it! Its a great show to get into. 

We like another show called Scandal, but I won't really advertise that I like it. Theres a bit of sketchy stuff! 

*Things that we do for fun in this snowy and cold month are: Games nights with our siblings! We had an epic night with Dan's sister and bro in law and played the following games in ONE evening: Carcisonne, Seven Wonders,  and Ticket to Ride! And we got our Settlers fix one Sunday night with Kris and Jay! The game Dan and I play in our free time on the X Box is called Might and Magic (its a puzzle game that is a mix of 4 in a row/Tetris) and I LOVE IT!!! and we also just recently got back into another 2 player board game called Bohnanza! I just love sitting at our kitchen table with Dan and playing a game! (I never win though..boo!!!)

* I have really enjoyed reading and journalling through a few blogs this month as well that are very encouraging: The first is called: 

1. Women Living Well: I didn't buy the book but I have really enjoyed journalling through some of the questions and thinking about this topic of being a Woman...who lives WELL!!

2. Donald Miller's Free Week of Life Coaching: Not everything in this week of life coaching is really extremely beneficial to me as I feel like I just did a bunch of personality profiles and goal setting through our marriage counseling last year, but its always a good thing to remind yourself of who you are and where you want to go! Plus I'm always curious about what life coaching really is, and this was a good taste from a cool guy who wrote some cool books so it was neat to be inside his head a little as he explained the process! 

*A few yummy recipes I have enjoyed this month are:

1. Chicken Sweet Potato Chili: Hands down the best thing I've ever made in my life!!!

2. Orange and Herb Turkey: Followed this to the T!!! It was my first turkey I brined with apple cider instead of the beer and Dan was VERY impressed!!!

3. DELISH Double Chocolate Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks: These seriously tasted like cake! haha Soo good though! My trick is to press the  white chocolate chunks in after they are on the cookie pan! They look alot nicer once they are baked!!! but do as you please!!!

( I've made another recipe once that was a bit more chewier by the Pioneer Woman: here)

Life really is filled with lots of goodness. I don't blog all the time but I regularly read lots of encouraging and inspiring blogs. Blogs that show me a few ideas for renovating, blogs about newlyweds and mamas and christian women, blogs about God and life and people! I like perusing them through the day! Its like browsing through a magazine and you never know what will pop up on your feed!

This month has had a few hard days and all through them as I (**Should...that is I am TRYING to***) cast my cares upon Jesus and also upon Danny, I realize there are many blessings to count each day. Many many beautiful memories are being made in my home. The best part of my day is when my best friend walks through my door! We are newlyweds, and we still have a lifetime of things to work out and work on, but when it all comes down to it, we are truly blessed to live together, spend most of our free time together and come home to eachother every single night. I know there are many women who don't get to do this so I am truly thankful. 

I am VERY excited to do a Love/February/Valentines post! My house has hearts sprinkled all over, and Danny just sighs when he spots another little "decoration" that I found!!! Can't wait to show you soon!

One of my fave Rooms

I am very different from my husband. When he was a single guy working out west in a nickel mine, he would eat the same thing EVERY night. Pasta, grapes and a bag of chips! I mean...come on!!! He would pack the same lunch every day. It probably never even crossed his mind to rearrange his room. He is very adamant about not buying new shoes...because he doesn't need them! He only buys new clothes if I force him to and he doesn't need excitement or adventures! He welcomes them, but doesn't need them like I do! 

So a few things have changed now! hahah I can't stand having the same meal two days in a row! I usually freeze leftovers to avoid it! I have started to embrace the "easiness" of it though! Its VERY nice! I love packing Dan's lunch for him every morning! He may not need something different but its my mission to make his lunches delicious and nutritious! And we did buy him a new pair of shoes for running that are waiting patiently for the spring to come!! 

And rearranging furniture is the whole reason I am posting today! I just LOVE the feeling of moving things around! When I lived in the smallest room in the family, I loved putting the puzzle pieces together to make things fit and feel fresh in my room! I'm not sure my parents appreciated the scrapes and dents that sometimes occurred from doing it myself, but I LOVED the feeling when I was all done!

On Sunday, I decided it was the perfect time to do it in our living room! It wasn't the smoothest or fastest transition, but the end result is that we BOTH love it! And I have said Thank you a million times to Danny for the trouble it caused him of re wiring and resetting up all the speakers! He is such a good man!  

Here's the before and afters of it!!!

Old Way: complete with the cutest gamer you ever saw!

Because we have a sectional, there really is only about 3 ways it could possibly fit...

and only 2 have optimal viewing of the TV!!!

 

I've started a little collection of plants for my window! 

We broke up our sectional to create a little chair for the corner!!!

Now when we are on the couch we have a great view of the snowflakes falling, and we can easily shut our blinds so the neighbours can't peek in!

When we first looked at the house this little shelf had another shelf on top that was very dated! We removed the shelf and I now store my good china and glassware (haphazardly) in here for now! I am dreaming of a floor to ceiling barn wood bookshelf some day!

This bookshelf just simply is NOT big enough! But it will have to do for now!!! My entire bottom row is cook books! I have 3 faves that I use the most! One is childhood recipes from Dan's Mom, and childhood recipes from my mom and the other is a little red binder that my roomie gave me of all my recipe cards sorted into categories! I could do without the rest, but I'll keep them just in case!

Dan's a little embarassed of all the pictures of ourselves we have around the house, but I say, why not!!! I'm so happy with the engagement shots we got and I had them all framed for our wedding so I'll keep them until we get something to replace them!!

So thats our living room! Its definitely the place we spend the most time! I have loved the 3 seasons of being married so far! Summer was filled with outdoor adventures on our canoe, to the beach, camping and picnics! Fall brought us a few hikes, mowing the grass, and making arrangements from our weeds/flowers in our yard. Winter has brought us so many cozy nights of watching shows, playing games on our kitchen table and shovelling snow as need be!!! 

I am so thankful for our cozy little home! Don't look too closely because there are still so many little things we need to finish, but its the happiest place in the world to me! I am so thankful for 46 Hilltop Drive!

Pretty songs for January!

There has been 13 days of January. Each one filled with a January-ish kinda feeling! I always feel a bit down after Christmas. I was listening to this song as I was taking down the Christmas decorations on REPEAT for hours! seriously! I don't know why but it was the perfect kinda sadness as I was packing up! I absolutely loved my little tree! I loved every ornament. I did NOT love the millions of needles that I am STILL finding!!

I have been loving the app SONGZA and have been so grateful for their Christmas playlists and they have a million for every mood you could imagine! I have found some BEAUTIFUL tunes from this app or you can also use it on your laptop/desktop computer!!!

Here is another absolutely amazing tune that I listened to on Friday night while I was waiting for Danny and journalling a bit!!!

If I could only have one album to listen to for the rest of my life, hands down it would be this guy!!! Danny can't stand this music anymore because its all I want to listen to!! hahah

During Christmas season I was a little disappointed at the lack of REAL Christmas carols in the Advent Sunday services! I just adore that music and posted a few of my fave songs on FB but I have to say that the Little Drummer Boy is one of my fave Christmas tunes! Done right by: J Beibs and Bing and Bowie! I also love Silver Bells and On This Winter's Night by Lady Antebellum. I will always love this BEAUTIFUL...um I think I need another adjective!!! song by Sara and Ingrid called Winter Song!!! plus the video is adorbs!!!

I thought long and hard about the love songs that I wanted at my wedding! I made lists in my journals in high school and saved playlists on Grooveshark for years about the prettiest songs and imagined that I would use each and everyone of them somehow!!

The songs I ended up using were all pretty special: The one I asked my bridesmaids to be in my wedding was Us against the World by Coldplay and I will always think of those special 7 girls whenever I hear this song!! The girls all walked into this BEAUTIFUL!!! song by Sigur Ros Hoppipolla and I chose to walk down the aisle to my man to this song and I  mean this with all my heart: Àll this time I was waiting for you (Dan!)!

I just love pretty tunes! I remember hearing this one at the end of Scrubs and wanted to use it too, but didn`t end up!

Just wanted to document a few of my fave songs as of now!! I`m sure I`ll discover a few more!! Music is such a gift and I`m so thankful for BEAUTIFUL songs and the repeat button!!!

Have a great day!

Welcome 2014

I am always so happy to write in a fresh new year and always have a journal waiting in the wings for the first day! And I just happen to have lots of wonderful sharpie pens in all assortment of colors that make it even nicer! I sure do love fresh new starts!

I've read a variety of reflections, goals and resolutions in a few different blogs and I am a big fan of these. I love to do them too so here I go.

Reflections on 2013...

January to June was a tad stressful. There was the wedding planning...there was the church split. There was work and financial strains. All of these things weren't my favorite things....but amidst them was blessing too. I can honestly say that my wedding day turned out better then I ever thought possible. I did not enjoy planning that much but it all fell together and I really did love how it turned out. And I absolutely ADORE being a wife! I think it truly is the best thing that ever happened to me and I am thankful every day  that we found eachother!  Here's a few special pics out of 100s!!! hahah

Technically: December 14th 2012...but pretty much a highlight of my life!!!

January: Dan's hair is getting out of control!!!

February: We welcome our newest nephew William Walker Hebb...

....and also celebrate Dan's parents 40th anniversary!!

March...we take these amazing engagement shots!! (our bro, Justin took these for us!!)

March

March

April 26th, We close on our first home together!!! 46 Hilltop Drive

May...we are finishing up our wedding details! So much help from our family and friends! My dear friend Julie Bennett made that little label happen to put on our honey jar favors!!

June 1, 2013...got hitched to my best friend

My new Stretch family 

My Bredin family, minus sweet Levi who was sleeping!!

Honeymoon in BEAUTIFUL Cape Breton

July...filled with perfect beach days! I seriously think this day was the warmest water and BIGGEST waves! It was SO FUN! ***a little blurry, but can you see Dan???***

August 3rd, My baby brother got married to the sweetest gal ever!!!

September...Canoe Trips with this handsome guy....

and nature walks 

October....decorations....

...and first time handing out treats in our new neighborhood...these four were our favorites!!

November...visits from our nephews, Jonah and Levi (first sleepover),,,,

and Willam!!!

December...our first Christmas together!!!

**********************************************************************

2014: Goals and Resolutions

Danny and I made 2 pages full together!! (mostly I did but he did agree to most of them!) I truly do want our marriage to be strong and our bodies and minds to be healthy.  I want us to love God with all our hearts, minds and souls and be willing to do anything we can to make His name blessed. I want to be a good wife, sister, daughter, friend and neighbour. 

(first morning of 2014)