Drama Queen

This photo was taken with my iPhone camera.  It is the sight that greeted me this morning when I got out of the shower.  Dalwhinnie milking the fact that her fur was completely shaved off.  Daniel covered her in this blanket when he got up and as you can tell she is quite cozy and comfortable.  LOL  And when Amanda came in to say good morning she pathetically reached out a paw like she was saying "Please, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. You must love me, love me nowwwwwwwww"  Did I mention our dog has a flair for drama?  

We Got Ourselves a New Dog

This morning I dropped Dalwhinnie off at the groomer.  This afternoon I picked up an entirely different dog????   

Here is Dalwhinnie last Friday.  Going for that shaggy, unkempt look.  Pretty much the look she was sporting when I dropped her off this morning.

And this is the dog I came back with this afternoon.  A little less furry and I am sure she weighs much less as well.  Groomer said she was pretty bad.  We kind of put it off too long.  I know I know.  Bad dog parents.  LOL

That is a look of trauma of being shaved right down to barely nothing.  At least she got to keep most of her tail.

A Full Easter Weekend

We have had a busy Easter Weekend around here.  And because today is a Tuesday, pretending to be a Monday, I am thoroughly confused.  

Our weekend started on Friday morning, celebrating Dave's birthday.  As is our tradition, the day is started with breakfast in bed and presents.  Followed by a day where the birthday person can relax and enjoy.  It is a chore free day for them.  We ended the day with homemade chili, bread, and coconut cream birthday pie.  All requested by the birthday boy himself.  

Here Dave is trying to "guess" the present by putting it on his head.  LOL  Not sure if worked or not.  He never tells me.  

Saturday was a little more low key, and the kids colored their eggs.  This appears to be a tradition that none of them seem to want to give up, no matter how grown up they are.

Easter Sunday, we had a leisurely morning at home, Daniel and Amanda did their Egg hunt.  Laura is too old for it now, but she had fun helping to hide all the eggs.  All three kids gorged themselves on chocolate at lunchtime, just before we all loaded up the van, went to Woodstock to pick up my mom and then on to Sarnia to get together with Dave's family for Easter and to celebrate Dave's & my Mom's (hers will be tomorrow) Birthday.  And to eat more chocolate and drink pop, and eat cake and more sugar and more sugar.


This is Dave's birthday cake.  From what I understand a lady in Dad's church, her daughter made it. (right???)  It appears to be a guitar shaped cake pan was used and she made it too look like a telescope and the night sky complete with a moon.  Beautifully done.  And the cake was quite tasty too.

Since we had all  five of the Jenkins siblings actually in the same house at the same time, and it has been awhile since they had a group shot and since the picture on mom's fridge of them is very very small, especially next to all the enormous pictures of the grandchildren.  We decided to line 'em up and take some pictures.

Here is Dave and Greg waiting for the sisters to show up.  Aren't they a cute pair.  Can you tell who is the serious Anglican priest?

Here they are, and nope, you cannot tell at all that they are brothers and sisters.  No way.

After some good shots, well........things went downhill after that.

Jersey Shore anyone?

Poor Mac, pouting in his cage.  It was dinner time and he had to be separated from the food.

My adorable youngest niece, ( I do have more adorable nieces,  two are out west, and the others are pretty much all grown up)  As you can tell poor Brianna developed a case of pink eye over the course of the afternoon/evening.  She was in good spirits overall, just the red puffy eye.  Still a cutie no matter what.

Dave, getting ready to open presents and more  importantly EAT CAKE!!!!

And of course Cindy remained on her perch the whole time expecting to be catered to  and loved by all who passed by.

 And yesterday, Monday, I have no pictures, we slept in, did laundry and caught up on things around the house and at work or school.  And those 3 dozen eggs that got colored on Saturday, I made them in to Devilled Eggs.  Yummmmm

I hope everybody had a fabulous weekend as well with friends family and laughter.  

Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone.

Ok, this is going to be a lengthy post.  And opening myself up a bit here, more than I normally would.  Another step outside of my comfort zone.  

These are not photos I have taken, but ones that were taken of me for a change.  Since I am usually the one behind the camera, there are few pics of me.  And if there are any, well, candid could be a good way to put it.  Kind of like the photo of me in this post from my Running With Scissors Blog.  

When my friend Sandra Enns, who owns and operates Blessed Memories Photography, announced she was including women's portraiture under the name of Fleuri Modern Women's Portraiture and she had some dates available at a special introductory price, I took a really really really deep breath, and sent Sandra an email to count in me.  And afterwards I thought to myself, "What the hell am I thinking, I am not a model.  When I try sexy, I end up with comedy"    

I don't like having my picture taken, usually because I don't like what I see looking back at me.  And talking to more and more women I see that I am not alone.  Motherhood is an amazing experience, but the body is left with what we see as less than desirable attributes.  And day to day life can leave a woman feeling less and less feminine. Seeing the magazine covers while in line up at the grocery store with those gorgeous models, can sometimes get the most confident woman to doubt her appearance.  And at times it feels like that around every corner we are made to feel less than worthy because we don't live up to society's "ideal" of how a woman should look, dress, and be.  How many times have you seen that gorgeous outfit in a shop window, and said to yourself "Love it, but I don't do or go anywhere to wear that outfit"   How many times have you looked in the mirror and thought "My face is too fat, my thighs are too fat.  If I could just lose the weight." etc.  Or asked yourself "Why is it that every other single wife/mother/woman out there has it more together than I do?"  I don't know any woman who hasn't.  

After some soul work via some online course from Brave Girls Club (If you are looking for some Soul Restoration, I highly recommend taking their online courses. Worth every single penny and more.)  I have decided to stop living my life in fear of my own power.  That we all have this glorious inner light, and I am going to let mine shine.  After 30 years (yes, that is my age (cough cough)) of negative self talk,  These portraits are a big big step on my journey, of loving who I am right here, right now in this life of mine.  This life that is what I make it, and I am going to make it amazing.  You cannot put a price tag on this experience  It is a truly amazing experience.  Worth every single dollar we spent on this.  

The photo shoot is at a secret location, couple of outfits from casual, to formal to even lingerie (I wasn't that brave..........yet) from your wardrobe that you love, or use this experience as a means to justify some shopping.  At the location you are the Queen for the day.  The amazing and stunning Gigi, our local aesthetician, did my make up, while I sipped champagne and nibbled on chocolate covered strawberries.  Champagne helps with the butterflies, and I had about a million of them fluttering in my tummy.   And the gorgeous and phenomenal Sandra and her equally gorgeous and phenomenal assistant (thank you Barb) get your outfits ready and the magic begins.  

The nerves disappeared and I ended up having so much fun, we laughed, we giggled, we weren't quiet!!   I left feeling re-energized and thinking that I DID IT!!!  I really DID IT!!!!  And it wasn't so bad.

And then to see the proofs.  Oh my!!!  I couldn't believe that was me, seriously, that was me.  Sandra helped me to lose 20 lbs instantly!!!  What a miracle worker!!!  LOL

Below are some of the pics that amazing day.  You can see my before and after shots on Sandra's blog here .  If you want to feel like a Queen for a day, or just need a boost in how you feel about yourself, I highly recommend a session with Sandra.