Last Published on May 4th

Gosh... it has been a long while, hasn't it? So much has happened in the last 2.5 months... both good and bad, exciting and sad. I've been wanting to get back on here but haven't had much motivation. It's always hard to get back into things like this when you feel like there's just so much to catch up on but where do you start???

I'm choosing to start randomly, listing things in no particular order. I miss blogging... nothing but to get back into it, head first.

What's been going on since I last posted:

1. The greatest reason I quit blogging for a bit: we lost my aunt Caroline on May 7th. After 5 long years courageously battling cancer, she is finally at peace. Those left behind will forever feel the hole that she once filled in our family and in our hearts. I made a sketchbook page similar to the page I made for my grandpa last year - that deserves its own post though, so more later.
2. Another reason I quit blogging: my laptop was so old, it just became extra frustrating to use it. I don't think I used it more than once or twice in the last 2 months (and only because I absolutely had to). Lucky for me, Pat bought me an early (very early) birthday gift: a new Lenovo ideapad S400 touch. A beautiful laptop that runs at lightning speed (at least compared to the old one!). Pat even made it better by switching the hard drive to an SSD one and installing Ubuntu on it (no more Windows!). I love it!
3. Promotion and raise. I love my job!
4. A few of the girls at work and I wrote an abstract about our program and submitted it to a large international conference. It was accepted within days. Unfortunately, no one expected us to get in, so we can't go present it because there isn't money in the budget to send us. Frustrating and disheartening to say the least.
5. My brother and his girlfriend came to visit and we went to Wonderland (among other tourist-y Toronto things). I love roller coasters! We had a great time! I especially love when our family stays at our place: they get a taste of the big city (and visit us here as opposed to the usual opposite where we go North to visit them) without having to worry about crazy hotel costs.
6. Pat and I took a few days off to make Canada Day an extra long weekend. We went North for about half of it. I was able to spend a night with gramma at her cottage. We had a lovely time. It had been so long since I was last there. I went swimming (alone) for approximately 7 seconds, visited with family, had a delicious supper (and wine) and had a great chat with gramma, spending the evening (and half the night) in the gazebo. I wish I could spend 2 weeks there like the old days...
7. We bought a new car! Pat's been wanting a new one for almost a year now... and he finally settled on one. We pick it up on Thursday. I can't wait! It's beautiful!
8. We hosted Pat's aunt & uncle for supper last Saturday. It was such a nice visit. We always say we need to do these things more often... let's hope we do. If point #1 has taught me anything, it's to spend more quality time with family. 
9. I started a book club at work. This was one of my goals for a while now and I finally organized it a few months ago. It's been quite a success so far! More on this later (probably when I recap my 28 List).
10. Pat and I celebrated 13 years this July. We went out for dinner and the waitress was shocked - no, not just shocked, she was absolutely flabbergasted - with how much food we ordered. Which was basically an app and meal each (Greek food, so there was salad, rice potatoes and meat with each meal + the app - hummus for me & a souvlaki skewer for Pat)... and although the portions were big, it wasn't that much food. Very odd. You'd think she'd try to sell us more food, not less...?

OK... that's all I can think of right now - I'm sure there's more, but these are the high(& low)lights. I have quite a few posts lined up in my mind though, so I think I'm back in the blogging groove. Fingers crossed anyway!