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- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
I had low expectations for today because it started out pretty rough, but things actually came together amazingly well! I took a bunch of pictures as my afternoon progressed, but the cord to connect my computer and phone are lost so I cannot upload them. That will be another post.
The great decision that spawned all the rest of my wonderful day was to cancel a massage appointment I had made for right after work. I went for a short run and did a bit of yoga last night, so my body felt better than it has for a few weeks. At 3 1/2 months pregnant, I am finally (fingers crossed) past the roughest parts of first trimester nausea, and eating more and better food. That is helping my energy levels be better, and I hope that I can maintain a reasonable level of exercise to stay limber and feeling healthy and strong. I know there will be new discomforts and complaints to come, but I'm enjoying the good while it lasts!
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
I cannot think of any time that I am more efficient than when I am procrastinating. For example, the last/only time I scrubbed my bathroom floor was in the middle of a big paper. Now that I'm out of school, there is a lot less to procrastinate, but every once in a while opportunities come along, and last week that opportunity was needing to unpack. Matt and I didn't check any bags for our vacation this year, which I found to be very impressive and certainly make the whole process of packing a lot easier. Technically, it made unpacking easier than it could have been, but I spent a few days overwhelmed by all the clothes on our bedroom floor and the impossibility of sorting it all into different loads of laundry.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Matt and I have been home from our vacation for a couple of days and I am slowly settling back in to working/sleeping/thinking about unpacking.
In very exciting news, I am also settling into the idea of becoming a mom in February! That's right, little old me is almost through my first trimester :D All in all everything has gone smoothly, and I have begun to gain a little bit of weight. I wouldn't say I'm showing yet, since no stranger would look at me twice, but I am definitely more comfortable in loose clothing and have been known to wander around with my pants undone (thank you Bella Band!). Matt and I are both so excited to become parents and have had a lot of fun finally sharing the news with many of our family and friends over the past few weeks!
That is all the news I have to tell - I'm sure I'll have stories and pictures to share along the way, and I still hope to find some kind of rhythm for blogging to share/process life as it happens, but I'm taking things day by day, so I'll avoid making specific goals/promises for now ;)
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Matt and I had dinner with friends of ours last night and enjoyed some alone time while our friend Nick picked his wife up from the grocery store. We sat in the living room and chatted and drank water (it was 40 degrees outside and neither our apartment nor our car have air conditioning, so we were basically in survival mode for the drive there, not chatty, share thoughts on life mode). When our friends got home, Nick apologized for not showing us how to turn on the TV or something, but I said that after Matt being away for 4 of the last 5 weeks, it was really nice for us to just be in a room together for 20 minutes.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
My sick day turned into a sick week, so I'm glad I basked in all my alone time while it was so nice! Now that I am back on my feet it is still nice, but I am glad my people will be home tomorrow night so we can do some catching up before I do some travelling of my own to visit family back home :)
Meanwhile, being on my own has usually meant going to bed early, and that ended up in me getting out of bed at 5:30 this morning after an hour of tossing and turning in frustrated half-sleep. THAT ended up in me going to the 8am service at my church instead of the 10am service, and I really enjoyed the feel of a smaller, closer gathering and a very simple service. The 8 o'clock has no singing, which was very different, but not boring like I thought it might be. I'd really like to go back if I ever get myself out of bed that early on a Sunday again! Anyways, at the end of the service, the only thing I felt missing was that we hadn't sung any songs, which I mentioned to God, and then all of a sudden this hymn came into my head: The love of God is greater far. I didn't even know most of the words, just half of the first verse, but I am doing some journalling and looked up the lyrics to write down (and now I am blogging.... oh internet!), and I will just share the third verse because I LOVE the images in it - every time I've ever sung this hymn I love the third verse the most. Also, somewhat morbid maybe, but I think I want this song sung at my funeral. Just throwing that out there....
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Nimoy and I are both sick today. I'm glad I was home so that he wasn't stuck in his crate, but it has been rough. I just thought I'd mention that for today at least, the magical glow of being on my own was definitely not glowy. At least there's no one around to be grossed out by how garlicky I smell :)
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
It used to confuse me that personality tests usually identified me as an introvert. After all, I'm not shy, I enjoy connecting with people, and I like to think I'm pretty good at it! However, when I heard the difference between extroverts and introverts defined as whether a person is energized or depleted by spending time with others, I realized how truly I am an introvert. I also see it in the contrast between myself and Matt, who is a strong extrovert. While I love spending time with others, I need downtime alone to recuperate afterwards, and although I may feel energized by a conversation in the moment, my resources are in fact being used up, which I really feel at the end of the day.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
It has been a month filled with slacking off! Today I was reminded though that all it takes to stop slacking, is... to stop. I read my Bible for the first time in weeks - didn't get much out of it, but I did it, and I'm happy I did. I read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, to be exact, and what struck me was that of all Paul's instructions he kept emphasizing for them to keep loving each other. No matter what other improvements or warnings he had to offer, he kept reinforcing that their love was foundational and excellent and praiseworthy and worth keeping.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Summer solstice always makes me a bit sad inside, to think that the daylight is going to decrease when it still feels like the whole summer is still waiting to happen! Yesterday and today have been baking hot in Toronto - walking to a bank machine after work today I felt like the soles of my shoes were melting with every step I took on the sidewalk. Yesterday evening after it cooled down to maybe 28 or 30 degrees (from 41 with humidity), I enjoyed sitting out on the balcony with a warm breeze blowing and heat still radiating up from the concrete into my feet. And, now that it might be too little too late, I think I'll give Nimoy a haircut. We are hoping for a big thunder storm tonight to clear the atmosphere and help reset the temperatures back to just hot, not baking humidity. The heat has made me feel like a great wife though, because I can empathize with Matt who is nearing the end of a two week trip to the Middle East. He has been having a great time from what I hear, and he thinks that us not having air conditioning in our apartment has given him an edge over the other Canadians when it comes to adapting to the very humid climate there. I am very excited for him to come home so I can hear more of his stories and impressions and ideas!
As for this passing solstice, I will try to focus not on having peaked, but on passing a milestone and still anticipating all the great things this summer and beyond have to offer :)
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
It seems like life has been really full of great, non-blogging-related activities lately.One such activity was teaching Esther and Josh HOW easy it is to debone chicken breast. I first learned for myself from this site but have since discovered that it is even easier and more efficient to pry the meat off the breastbone with my thumb instead of cutting it with a knife. Suffice it to say that this method of deboning is down and dirty, but so gratifying, and now we have a lovely pot of chicken broth simmering on the stove, and a fridge full of boneless skinless chicken that we got for CHEAP :)