Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year. The leaves are changing, you can distinctly feel the seasons changing, there is football everywhere (yay!!), and there are the most delicious foods ever ready to eat (pumpkin and apple everything!!!). Also - who doesn't love Thanksgiving dinner?

My family ate Thanksgiving dinner last weekend, as my dad left for Newfoundland on Wednesday and we wanted to eat together. We had turkey (and ham) and all the trimmings. Mom, dad, Stephen, Scott, myself, Nana, Mrs. Keddy, Alicha, Kristin, and Mathew were all there. Sean, unfortunately, had to work. But the rest of the family gathered and we ate. And as I sat there with my immediate family, and people that will soon become my family by marriage, and people that just are my family, with no blood relation, I realized how truly thankful I am to have such a strong support system.

I have always told anyone that said to me, "Three brothers? And no sisters?" that I was thankful for no sisters. I mean, have you met me? You can't become a spoiled princess if you have sisters (well, maybe you can, but not as spoiled as me!!). I have always, and still, enjoy(ed) have the sole focus of my mom and dad, save for the few times the boys are causing a ruckus and needing some quieting down. (I'm not being fair to my family here. My parents spend all kinds of time with my brothers and have fantastic relationships with them. But, if you're an only girl, you know what I mean. The second you want attention you try parent 1. If they're too busy, simply head over to parent 2. Someone will pay attention to you!!)

Not only that... but I have THREE brothers. THREE!!! People should be jealous! I have grown up around such varied personalities of males that I feel now I relate better to men. I also have every sort of male I need at a second's notice.

Stephen is the protector. He is soft and sensitive but he protects. If you need help, Stephen is there to help you. Whether it be needing him to beat someone up on the playground for you, or helping you out because there's a june bug in your room (no lie, I actually called his cell phone one time and made him come home to get the june bug out!), or you need a shoulder to cry on, Stephen is that guy.

Scott is the guy that makes you feel good about yourself. He kisses you and hugs you and shows you huge amounts of love. He's just as soft and sensitive as Stephen. He will always stand up for you, and he'll always help you out. Need some money? Go to Scott. Need a drive somewhere? Go to Scott. Need someone to not ask any questions and just listen? Go to Scott. After I was sexually assaulted, Scott was incredibly angry. He wanted to take justice into his own hands. But mom and dad told him to sit on it, and just show me love. I remember being in my bedroom and Scott bringing me food and sitting on the edge of my bed just to be close to me. He leaned on his Lord instead of his own understanding, and said that God will judge, and will punish accordingly, and instead, he took taking care of me into his hands.
Sean... he's Sean. He's the youngest in the family in age, but the oldest in wisdom. Sean has advice for every situation. Sean is smart, smart, smart. Sean asks all the right questions to get to the right solution. Sean never judges quickly, instead he always waits for all the details before making a sound judgement. Sean is the kind of guy you'd want to be your lawyer... except, he's becoming a Chemist. He's just as soft and sensitive as my other brothers, except even more so. Sean is the brother I ALWAYS had a friendship with. Now that I'm older I'm friends with all my brothers, but when I was younger, it was always me and Sean, going to movies together or doing stuff with mom and dad together, or playing games together.

I thought nothing could be better than those three brothers. But, last May, Sean asked his girlfriend of three and a half years to be his wife. And Alicha, someone I said was like a sister to me in my livejournal, said yes!!! And so now, I'm gaining a sister. And to be honest... I didn't think I'd be excited about it. But I am! I'm ecstatic. Alicha is the person that I always catch the eye of when someone has said something crazy. We both roll our eyes and know we'll talk about it later. Alicha is who I go to when I need advice. Alicha is always calm and patient and incredibly forgiving. She is kind and sensitive. She is wise beyond her years. She is one of my closest friends, and I am so glad that next June, she will officially, and finally, be my sister!!

Kristin isn't becoming my sister anytime soon, or anything, but, she's just like family to me. Kristin's the kind of person that tells you straight up if what you're doing is stupid. Or if she doesn't like it. She lets you know. She listens to your entire story, she always wants you to stand up for yourself, and she's always willing to stand up for you if you don't want to. I have watched Stephen become a happier person with Kristin - she brings that out in people. She always makes me forget my troubles when I'm with her, just let go and be happy.

These five, my three siblings, and my two "just like siblings"... I am thankful for. For all the reasons I said. Because I know I can be 100% honest with all of them. Because I know they'll always tell me the truth. Because I know they always have my back, they're always cheering me on, and they always want to see the best in me. I have been so blessed that God has chose three wonderful brothers for me, and that He put two wonderful sisters in place for me. I am thankful beyond words.

I know this blog is getting long, you don't have to read it all. But, here I am, typing it out and will continue to until I feel good and ready!

I'm thankful for my parents. I hear about peoples parents, and they're great, but nothing in comparison to mine. My parents go out of their way for everyone. For me, my brothers, our significant others, our friends, their friends, their church.... they do everything they can to help everyone else. They just give, give, give. I love my parents. I am friends with both my mom and my dad. I love that they both put time into personally fostering relationships with us (their kids), they`re not satisfied just being parents, but being the best parents in the world.

I am thankful for Mathew, a man whose endless patience never ceases to amaze me. Who always does special things for me, whether it be surprising me at work when he's done school, showing up on my door step with flowers, or promising to make me dinner. Mathew's love knows no ends - and not only for me. Every person he comes in contact with knows of his kindness and his friendliness. He always has a smile on his face, a spring in his step, and he wants to help everyone he can. I'm always amazed that a man as good as him fell in love with me.

I have so much to be thankful for. And my dear blog readers, I know you do, too. I'm thankful for every one of you. Knowing that you read this means you look at my facebook, see I'm doing something, and you're interested in what that is. Thank you for taking the time to read about my life because you're interested enough to.

I hope you all fill up on turkey, or various other animals (I had chicken today), or just vegetables (if you're a vegetarian). And be thankful! The Lord is good and He has given you much to be thankful for!!!

Grad photos

Yesterday I got my grad photos done.

I'd be preparing for this for awhile. They're my GRADUATION PHOTOS!!!! I will never again graduate with a B.A. I wanted to commemorate this.

I, of course, contacted Matt & Chera Yorke - who else could possibly do amazing grad photos in Moncton? Chera told me that the best time for fall colours was around Thanksgiving. So we booked yesterday. I called The Head Shoppe in Moncton so I could get my hair dyed (my natural colour) and cut and styled the day of my photos. I figured this would be easiest, and stress free, and the Head Shoppe has a deal if you get your hair dyed and cut on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday - it's only $46.95!

I was starting to feel a little hesitant about letting someone other than Glenna dye my hair. Glenna's only been my hairdresser since June 2009, but, Glenna is MY hairdresser. Like, what I've been waiting for all my life. Having your best friend do your hair can be a bad thing (some people feel they can't be honest). I've never had that problem. When I don't like something Glenna's done, I tell her, and she fixes it. She's the best hairdresser ever. I go in with a rough idea of what I want, and she completes the vision. She's the hairdresser I've been waiting for all my life, and I was feeling hesitant trusting my hair to someone else. But, I didn't really have time to go to Halifax and last time I was home (this weekend) I had no time to meet up with Glenna to get my hair done.

So, I went to the head shoppe.
It was a disaster.
First of all, it took about two hours longer than it should have.
Second of all, she dyed my hair darker than my natural colour. Glenna told me I am naturally a 7. The hair dresser told me she was going to mix a level 6 and a level 8 dye to make my natural colour (I figured this was fine because I know in the past Glenna's had to mix colours to make my colour). It looked beautiful after until I realized... wow. This is DARK!!! I think it turned out more of a 6 than a 7.
Third of all, the hair dresser made me look like a poodle! I told her I wanted big loose curls, which is what my hair is naturally, because I wanted my hair to look natural! I wanted it done with a flat iron because I find the curl looks more natural. The curls were small and tight. I had to go home, take it all out, and redo it.

In the end, my hair looked beautiful. I donned a bright pink cardigan (really, what other colour could I wear!) and my pearls and Mathew was able to come to the shoot with me.

Matt and Chera were awesome! So encouraging. I did formal shots first, which were a little nerve wracking because I know this is a photo that will be on my parents wall until I graduate again and fill it with a different one. Then we went to Irishtown park and did shots of me by myself and shots of Mathew and I together. We had lots of fun and joked around a lot, and in the midst of it all, I fell in love with Mathew a little more. I know I love Mathew more every single day, but it's great when you can pinpoint exactly WHY. Yesterday it was the way he looked at me, and how easily he made me laugh. His beautiful smile, and how close he held me to him when we were sitting in a field. Mathew makes me feel safe. I never forget that, but sometimes I am reminded of it

My last photos were of me and a vanilla cupcake with a fall leaf on them. Mathew thought that was geeky, but I LOVE the Cake Box. I love my job, and I love my really awesome bosses. And I love that I am making a living by selling cupcakes! Could anything be better!?

Now I`m super excited to get my proofs back! Chera said it would be about 3 weeks, so you have awhile to wait, blog followers!

I`m working so I`m going to leave you all for now, but thanks for reading :)

Decided to blog again

A long, long time ago, I used to keep a blog on livejournal. I saw The Social Network this weekend and Mark Zuckerberg was using livejournal and I thought, huh, I wonder if I still have mine. I checked around, and I did. I read through it and laughed at myself. I started it in grade eleven and wrote in it till the start of first year at ABU. I said lots of silly things, had about a million best friends through the run of the blog, and shared an amusingly large amount of my personal life. I probably won't be that personal on this one (seems a little immature re-reading it. I hoped most of it was jokes, but fear it was probably serious).

I've decided to keep this blog, starting today, because in re-reading I enjoyed reliving that part of my life. The part of my life where I worked at Empire and had a hundred close friends, and did all sorts of cool things all the time.

My circle of friends have changed drastically since then. Living in a new city can do that. Growing up can do that. Unsurprisingly though, the truest of my friends stayed with me.

Kelly is living in a different country & I miss her but I know she is always there for me whenever I need her. Corey is in Newfoundland and same thing... he's always the best friend when I need him. and Kyla's in Antigonish and we still get to spend lots of time together.

For those of you NOT in the know (which can't be many of you) - I have a boyfriend! a wonderful boyfriend. His name is Mathew (yes, with ONE t). I really believe God spent my whole life preparing me for him. He is everything I have ever yearned for in a man.

I'm now in my fifth year at ABU, now known as Crandall. I'm a Psychology major and am so confused about what I want to do when I graduate. Sometimes I think I'd love being a sex therapist, but then sometimes I am so drawn to the question "what else could I be?" I hear the professions other have chosen and yearn for that. Except teaching - so shocking, the one thing I always thought I wanted to be, I realized I truly don't want to do.

We had Thanksgiving this weekend at the Collins house because my dad is gone away over Thanksgiving weekend. It was absolutely lovely. Alicha was there and Mrs. Keddy joined us, it was so nice to see our two families becoming one (not that Mrs. Keddy hasn't always been "just like family").

It's shocking how much things change. I'm still reading my old livejournal and am shocked at the things I read, or the relationships I had. People I don't even remember being close to. And people that I do remember being close to and it hurts to realize we're not. That we lost so much.

I need to let it all go. It isn't easy to let it go, but its necessary. I have to move on. And, so, my dear friends. I am telling you now. From this point forward, I have let go of old relationships that I am no longer in and am going to try hard at building the relationships I am in and repairing old friendships that I'm half a foot in. I want to be close to the people that matter.

My depression has affected some friendships I wish it hadn't, but I am coming around the bend now and am starting to see a bright light. I am so hopeful for the new life I can live!! and thankful to the friends that stuck by me!

Okay, I'm going to go work on Geography, but this is the first in, what I hope to be, a long series of blogs!!!!