Attitude of Gratitude V4#21 - New Boots

Last year I got Uggs, well, fake Uggs. Soft Moc ones but I love them. In 2009 I got my red boots. This year I got these gems (apparently new boots is a November tradition :D)

For my birthday my friend Rachel (pictured with me on my birthday below) gave me a gift certificate to the shoe store Spring. I would never have considered that for someone but I think it's brilliant!

I have noticed this style around campus and really liked them. It seemed like everyone I spoke to had gotten their boots at Spring so I made my way over there and found this pair. I love the neutral colour and they are SO soft. They're not snow boots by any stretch of the imagination but they are good for walking to the bus in the rain or on cool dry days when you don't want knee high boots. I usually wear them laced up to the top (like the one on the right) but I have seen lots of  people wearing them open (like on the left). I really like the plaid inside too and I wanted you to see that ;)

Yep, I am thankful for new boots!

Attitude of Gratitude V4#20 - A Sense of Humour

I'm having trouble keeping track of all the people I know who are engaged. This isn't a new problem, I generally have tons of weddings to go to but it seems like recently there's been a bunch more. I can't help but wonder though, if all these people are getting married, why am I still single? Well, let's look at WHO is getting married.

Of the seven weddings I know of that are coming up:
Two of the guys are my brothers
Two of the guys are my cousins
Two of the guys are over ten years younger than me
Two of the guys are gay and marrying each other.

Alrighty then. Let's just forget it :P

Anyway, lately I've really been enjoying Terri Clark's newest single called "The One". It really captures where I am right now.

I hear the whispers as I walk by
They always start with bless her heart
She’s still single and that’s such an empty life
She must not be lookin’ all that hard
They’ve all got their stories of why I’m still alone
But the only truth that matters is my own

I want fireworks to paint the sky
A kiss to burn my lips
I wanna feel the touch that pounds my heart down to my fingertips
And twenty years from now it still won’t be as good as it will ge
It might be a lot to ask for but I won’t take any less
 Just because I won’t settle don’t mean I won’t settle down
I don’t need a love that I can live with I want the one I can’t live without

 Momma’s always getting on me
She says I don’t give anyone a chance
But if I can’t feel the music when somebody holds me
How am I supposed to dance
There might be a few more lonely nights
But I’m not keeping score
It’s worth the wait for what I’m waitin’ for

 Fireworks to paint the sky
A kiss to burn my lips
I wanna feel the touch that pounds my heart down to my fingertips
And twenty years from now it still won’t be as good as it will get
It might be a lot to ask for but I won’t take any less
Just because I won’t settle don’t mean I won’t settle down
I don’t need a love that I can live with I want the one I can’t live without

 And just because I won’t settle don’t mean I won’t settle down
I don’t need a love that I can live with I want the one I can’t live without
No I can’t live without

 So, I'll keep singing, and be grateful that I can laugh about it.

Attitude of Gratitude V4#19 - Christmas Music

 I titled this Christmas Music but really I'm grateful for Christmas music, live music, and great friends who are flexible and open to adventure.

First the music, I have four friends who have joined a celtic fiddle club and they participated in a Christmas concert on Friday night. Granted only one of them plays the violin. The others play flute, clarinet and mandolin. The music was a lot of fun. Lots of good toe tapping fiddle tunes with just enough Christmas standards thrown in to make it feel festive.

My friends Kinsey (left) and Heather (left) joined me. Kinsey had invited us over for a Christmas dinner that she was hosting on Thursday night but I had to work so I suggested dinner on Friday and then invited them both to this concert. It was held in a church in Acton which, with traffic, is well over an hour away (although it was a lot less getting home) so we had dinner and then just visited in the car. They both said that they really enjoyed the show, but for different reasons. Kinsey posted on Facebook: "Had a great time tonight at a Celtic Christmas Concert with Heidi and Heather! All those jigs and reels really made me miss PEI!" Heather said she enjoyed it because she used to be in band and was familiar with some of the music. In any case it was a fun relatively inexpensive night out and we all said we'd be game to do something like that again!

Attitude of Gratitude V4#18 - Good Days

Today was just an all around good day. Let's see if I can remember all the wonderful things that happened. I guess the big one is that I finished my last paper of the term. I probably could have still worked on it for awhile but it was due at midnight so around 6pm I just decided it was done and submitted it.

I also talked to my landlord. She has been STRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSING out over renting the other room in my basement suite. I can't remember if I've posted about this but the current tenant had decided that she wanted to move because she thought it was too expensive. Well she looked around and realized that it's actually pretty middle of the road (especially considering everything is included, heat, hot water, laundry, parking, internet, tv, etc) Plus she didn't want to deal with the hassle of moving so she's decided to stay. She managed to talk our landlord down on the rent though and since we both pay the same amount, it means my rent will now be $35 cheaper for the next few months. Not a huge savings but every little bit counts right now so I am thankful. Plus this chick is pretty easy to live with so that is nice. My landlord had been considering renting to some of the guys that have inquired and the last person that looked at the place was a guy with a girlfriend so there would have been three of us here. I'd prefer to not live with a strange guy so this really is an answer to prayer.

Let's see, oh yeah, I also managed to change a tutorial I have next term to a better time slot. It was at 10:30am on Monday mornings when my next class isn't until 2:30pm. Now I have it on Wednesday with a bunch of other classes which is much better for my attendance potential.

I also realized that with my current grade in French, if I don't write the final exam AT ALL, I'll still pass the course (not by much, but I'd pass). Of course I will write so it's almost like bonus marks!

And then to end it all, I found out that my friends Angela and Matthew got engaged last night. It was their three year anniversary and the engagement isn't a surprise to anyone but it's still exciting. That makes five weddings for friends and family so far next year. We'll see how many I'm actually able to attend!

Attitude of Gratitude V4#17 - Cookies

Because what is Christmas without a cookie exchange? I certainly don't NEED a bunch of cookies but they sure taste good! I made Cinnamon Sugar Crispies which have pecans on top. They were kind of small but tasty. I hope everyone liked them! These are the ladies I exchanged with. Sandy, Bev (in front), Ruth and Brenda. In the first picture Ruth was looking at Bev for some reason. In the second we were all tickling each other hence the huge grins LOL I love these ladies, and not only because they make great cookies!!!

Attitude of Gratitude V4#16 - Twilight

Heidi's Tips for Enjoying Books that are Turned into Movies

1. don't read the book for at least a year before you see the movie so you don't remember every specific detail and don't get annoyed by minor differences in the plot

2. Set your expectations low

3. Decide that you think the lead actor is cute and is perfect for the part

With these three tips, I can say that I really enjoyed seeing Breaking Dawn on Saturday with my friends Sharlaine (back) and Elizabeth. Sharlaine didn't follow rule number three so she had a hard time with the movie as a whole. Elizabeth didn't follow one or two so she was a bit disappointed as well. For me, I really enjoyed it. It was like seeing old friends and I have to admit, I am wholly back on the Team Emmett bandwagon! ;)

Timing is everything too. This movie focuses on Edward and Bella's wedding and I couldn't help but thinking of my own brother's weddings that are coming up. Seeing Edward, Emmett and Jasper (did he make one?) make speeches just made me think of my brothers. Those guys are like brothers to me anyway, even if I do think they're cute ;)

I am looking forward to the second part of Breaking Dawn even though it contains a lot more "vampire" stuff which I don't enjoy. I am interested to see how it all plays out on screen though. I was discussing the movie with my coworker and was reminded of a blog post I wrote two years ago. It's my stance on Twilight, for the record :)

And, to make this an official "Gratitude" post, I am thankful that I have friends who I can go see them movie with! Sharlaine and Elizabeth were technically on a double date, in that their husbands went to see another movie while they saw Breaking Dawn but they allowed me to join them which I appreciate. It's always fun to see films with people who can appreciate them.

Attitude of Gratitude V4#15 - SS Sisters

For the past few years I have participated in an ornament exchange on ScrapShare. I received this year's ornaments on Thursday after a very long day. I left that morning at 9am and didn't get back until almost 11:30pm. It was wonderful to be greeted by a lovely package like this.

When we sign up we fill out a brief questionnaire about how you celebrate Christmas, any colours you like, anything you collect, and any ornament that is special for any reason. I said that they're all special but that I like the ones that represent where my SS sister lives.

This year my name was assigned to Amy in VA, aka "greeneyes". She sent two ornaments and a beautiful card. The ball with the H was hand painted by a friend of hers and interestingly very closely resembles an ornament I was eyeing in the bookshop at school earlier that day!

The second one is the town hall in in her town, Vienna, VA as it looked in the 1950's. I immediately Googled it and was tickled to see that the town hall still looks exactly the same (except the trees are a bit bigger). Take a look! Here's the address: 152 Center Street South, Vienna, VA, United States

The ONLY thing wrong with this ornament? Now I want to take a road trip to Vienna, Virginia!!! Thanks Amy! Don't be surprised if I end up in your town some day ;)

Attitude of Gratitude V4#14 - Farmers Markets

One of the things I loved about living in my apartment in BC was that the local Farmers Market was within walking distance of my apartment. There was nothing better than walking downtown on a sunny Saturday morning and loading up with fresh veggies.

One of the reasons I chose to move to Waterloo, Ontario was that it is close to the little town of St. Jacobs is so close. St. Jacobs has a huge Farmers Market that runs throughout the year on Saturdays and on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the summer. Unfortunately between school and work I can't always get out there so this year I was super excited to get involved in the student run Farmers Market on campus! There is a group of students (mostly in Geography interestingly enough) who work together to source local food (not always "organic" but definitely local) and sell it in the Concourse once a week. Local means seasonal so this time of year it's a lot of root vegetables (beets, turnips, sweet potatoes) which I have been having fun eating. They sell each item piece by piece. For example, 25 cents for a potato or apple, 1.25 for broccoli, etc. and focus on small amounts. One of the issues with the bigger Farmers Markets is that you often get massive amounts of food. Like two pounds of green beans or ten apples. Well that is great if you are feeding a family but for a student, on a budget, buying huge amounts of food doesn't make sense because it goes bad before you can eat it. This way you only really have to buy for the week and you can load up again next week!

I was able to volunteer for an hour and a half between classes for about a month and a half. I got off track when I got sick but I'll be back next year for sure. I stopped by the last market booth on Wednesday and they gave me a little bag of chocolates as a thank you which I immediately devoured :)

I look forward to next year and in the mean time, I'll try and take a trip out to St. Jacobs again. It's only about 15 minutes from my house so it makes a nice little trip.