Planning.

The planning has begun. Europe this spring. Fingers crossed that it all works out. I feel like if we just get the big part of booking the tickets done we will be set, we will be certain that we are going.

So we are in the planning stages. We are debating what is worth seeing and what is not. Where to go and what route to travel. If we want to fly or take the train and where we should spend the nights. Can I just say this is MUCH harder then I anticipated.

My type A personality is on overdrive. I don't want to miss any detail. I want to go there and be able to know all about the random monument we are staring at. I want to be educated on where to go and how to get here. I don't want to get stuck in the tube (I am guessing this is a subway) and have no idea what direction to go. On that note can I just share that Toronto, my only real bus and subway experience is greatly lacking and in comparison to London looks like a child created it.

So this is our potential route/destinations:

London
Scotland - Edinburgh/Glasgow
Ireland- Dublin
Paris
Venice
Florence
Rome

Two and a half weeks. Maybe three. Therefore this seems a little extreme for such a small amount of time, but I have the feeling that it might be my one shot, or at least my one shot for a while to see any of these wonderful sites. I try and debate what to cut, however as I lean towards Paris I then look up what there is to see and I fall in love. Also, I did not take six years of extended French to only use it that one time on a ski trip in grade 11. On the same note however other then the french, and the bread and the Eiffel tower and arc de triomphe, its scoring pretty low. I hear rumors its dirty and expensive, but it cannot be called the city of love for no reason.

So we will see what happens. We are still researching and debating. Any must sees or suggestions of what to skip? I am completely open to suggestions.

Resolutions.

I can honestly say I have never before made a resolution. I hate to fail and have never felt convicted enough to know I would follow through with one, so why bother.

I have dreaded the gym in January because of the resolutioners, or those who for the first two weeks of the year its all they talk about. I do not want to be one of those people because 99% of them fail. They made something be their resolution simply based upon the fact that they felt they needed one. That it was the thing to do and so they did it.

This year is different however. It is not so much a resolution per-say  but a goal. It is simple and measurable and attainable. This year I plan to take more pictures of everyday life. I have a million and one pictures of my niece  and as I was organizing picture on my computer last week, before she came around I used to take a million pictures of my dog, and before that I actually took pictures of people and events. So my goal is to go back to a time when I took pictures of a multitude of things and do that. I want to be able to at the end of next year make a picture book of the year and have it not look like a baby book for someone who is not even my child.

Yes in my goal to take more pictures of everything, I know I will also end up with more pictures of my niece, but at least maybe I can put some other people in the pictures with her. She is so cute I cannot resist taking the pictures.

This goal was brought on by a number of things, one I was actually making a picture book of the year and had like two events when my niece is not the star of the show (ie she was not there), and I got a new camera for Christmas.

So here is to a new year and new pictures. We will see if I succeed.

Sidenote: I am also praying about reading through the Bible. I am still trying to find the proper plan that fits my life and my goals (I am leaning towards a two year plan). This however is not something I would consider a resolution, it is more so something that has been on my heart as of late. I figured I would mention it however so now it is something I should follow through with because well, I have told the world. So hopefully within a month I have started (a post on this to follow).

HartfordChristmas.

Christmas in the Hartford house is busy. It is a wonderful time spent with a lot of family, over great meals, but it is busy. This year we had five Christmas's over the course of a week. This made it feel rushed, made my vacation from work seem almost non-existent and now has made us take a look at our apartment, at the mess and the haphazardness of boxes and gifts and wonder slightly was it worth it. 

To be honest, I would love a little less. I love my family and I love spending time with them however, once you throw in friends and new years and my birthday, the stress starts to add up. I feel like their is no time to enjoy it. That going from house to house and big meal to big meal, there is not time to eat left overs or appreciate the time together. 

Don't get me wrong, I feel extremely blessed to have so much family close and I am thrilled to be able to spend time with them and love them. But as I head back to work today, I cannot help but feel exhausted. And then I think, its just the husband and I. Imagine all of this with our own little one. So then that makes me think again, that by the time we have a child I know things will need to be different. That I will not want to be going a million miles an hour and visiting everyone under the sun. I will want to be starting family traditions and spending quality time together. 

So with that being said, for now I am thankful for the craziness that the holidays bring. I am thankful that we have people to spend our time with and to share with and I know that it will not last for forever. 

Check out the pictures, its funny to see the quality change as I received an awesome camera from my mom for Christmas. So hopefully the photo quality on the blog will now improve as well, no promises. 

Little Miss and I at Christmas #1.

We spoiled Little Miss this year. 

Little Miss and I at Christmas #2.

Christmas #3. 

Husbands family, Christmas #3.

Husband and Little Miss at Christmas #4

ChristmasDecor.

I know this is late, but  by the time I had the pictures taken and the apartment actually decorated, Christmas was in full swing around here and there was no time to actually finish the blog. So here is a little bit about how the Hartford's decorate for Christmas.

I'm a minimalist when it comes to decor of any season really. I like pieces that are multipurpose and that do not require a lot of work or change and I hate to spend much money. On the same note however, I love crafts, DIY and keeping on top of what is hot and popular.

The husband and I decided to choose Christmas colours that were timeless. Things that we could easily add to and that we would still enjoy even ten years down the road. I love the fuchsias, turquoises and bright greens that have been popular as of late, however I knew that with time the colours would fade and I would not be so thrilled to have them screaming brightly at me each Christmas. We picked our colours before we were married and bought a bunch of decor for half price on boxing day (and we have then added to it each year since). We went with silver, red and white. I love it and am  happy with what we chose.

Last year we were in a small apartment. Hence the tree fit the space and we found a little went a long way. I fill a vase we keep out year round that was actually left over from our wedding, as well as a bowl my friend brought back from Africa that is always on our coffee table with a mixture of left over bulbs.

Last year I made a Christmas wreath for the door. I wired in the bulbs and used the bow that was originally on the top of our card box from the wedding and was able to create a wonderful wreath. I love to display the various Christmas cards we receive on a ribbon on our wall.  The location this year was not as ideal as last, however I still love the idea of it and then we are able to enjoy all of the wonderful cards.

This year I was feeling creative and with our new balcony door and a number of extra bulbs I thought up a creative way to display them. I took simple ribbon (I am thinking of switching this for better ribbon later) and simply tied one end to the bulbs and stuck the other end into the ceiling. I hung them at different heights and used a variety of styles of bulbs and it is just the perfect match while still leaving the door and draps completely functional.

So those are just a few of the ways we add a little festivity to our apartment over the holidays. I love the Christmas season. I love the sentimental aspects of it and the reason behind the celebration and I love how the husband and I have been able to make it so meaningful while still taking into consideration the issue of space and storage.What do you do to decorate? I would love suggestions and easy, cost effective ideas to incorporate into the decor for next year.

Wedding vase filled with ornaments. 

Our mini tree beside a large pile of presents

Our Africa bowl.

The lighting is terrible, but I promise it looks cute, especially at night.

The Christmas cards. Since they have multiplied ten fold and I am thinking next year we may need two. 

Headaches.

As I write this I am debating just going back to bed. I am currently experiencing a terrible headache and to be honest, for me to say that its actually bad. I have headaches most everyday, they very in severity, but they are always there.

My headaches started the summer between third and fourth year university. I spent the first two months of that summer taking summer school (which I loved!), followed by working in the corn fields in Chatham for a month and then  heading back to McMaster for an end of summer field camp course. This was when I noticed the headaches. I had never really had a headache before and I was not handling it well. I was taking a lot of Ibuprofen and trying my best to get through it figuring they couldn't last too long (I could not have been more wrong).

I did not even clue into the consistency of the headaches until my mom mentioned to me one day about going to visit the doctor as I had mentioned to her enough times about my head hurting that she was starting to get concerned. Shortly after the first week of classes, I had enough of my head always hurting and made an appointment at the schools clinic. This was the beginning of a long road to nothing.

I went to the appointment, he prescribed a muscle relaxant type drug and wrote a referral to physiotherapy. The physiotherapy after three sessions determined that she could not do anything, but recommended massage therapy. This was where I saw the most improvement and actually loved my biweekly appointment. A follow up with the original doctor saw a change in prescription and a referral to an osteopath. As the year went on I was taking about 6 pills a day, and seeing the osteopath and massage therapist biweekly. After yet another follow up with the original doctor, an appointment with a neurologist was finally booked and in three months I had an appointment at the hospital.

I was excited to have answers, but more excited to hopefully get rid of these headaches. It was about February by the time I met with the neurologist. At this time the headaches were consistent, a daily pain that I was learning to deal with. They got worse at certain parts of the day and about once a week they actually disturbed my daily routine. The neurologist appointment gave no answers, but I was sent for tests, blood work and an MRI to try and determine the actual cause of the headaches. I was happy to be having this done and thought nothing of it. I went for my MRI at like 3:30 am, the morning of a midterm in downtown Hamilton at the hospital beside the prison (read: scared to death and exhausted), I had blood work done with a room mate holding my hand, and had a number of tests run from looking at flashing pictures to being hooked up to multiple cable in my head.

A month after the tests, I had my follow up appointment to find out the results and hopefully make some steps towards recovery. I went into the office of the neurologist and the med student who was working with him goes over my charts to which she responds, "Congratulations, it's not a brain tumor." Upon hearing this I am completely taken back, no one EVER said it might be a brain tumor. I did not know it was a possibility and on the one hand I am happy it is not, but on the other I am shocked that no one told me before. She could tell that I was confused and quickly followed up trying to explain that that is why I got in for an MRI within a month when the wait list was supposed to be six months or more etc. So with brain tumor ruled out, the neurologist came in with the bad news.

I have had concussion in the past. Yes I knew that, two to be exact. One playing hockey and one playing rugby. They were close together and to be honest what I feared was causing the headaches. In that regards I was thankful to have always been wearing a mouth guard or the end result could have been much worse (I totally support mouth guards in ALL contact and potentially contact sports). However, the tests showed that I had concussions  not that they were effecting anything today, just that a concussion had occurred in the past. So again, that was disappointing  The results showed nothing that should be causing me to have consistent pain and pressure on my head. He prescribed a dose change on my current medications and wrote in my chart some future medications to try include an anti-seizure med.

I left feeling confused and frustrated. Nothing seemed to work. I continued with massage and osteopath through the remainder of fourth year. Upon returning home to Chatham, I visited my chiropractor which helped slightly and stayed on my medications, introducing the anti-seizure med after a few months of nothing changing. I was confused, frustrated and in pain, but the plus side was that I was learning to cope with the headaches. I figured out that Advil liquid gels in extra strength were the only thing to have ANY effect on the headaches and was determined to not let it effect my day to day routine.

Since then (two and a half years later), I have stopped taking all medicine for my headaches, with the exception of Advil  and I have become better at ignoring the pain. When I was no longer on my parents insurance the medicine for my headaches was costing over $300 per month. It was no longer feasible to be taking so much and to be honest, the difference is minimal. I now have more 'bad' headaches, but the constant every day is still the same.

So that is an update, and a long exhausting story of what is going on with my head. I am starting to figure things out a bit, for example, if my neck is in an awkward position and starts to hurt, that will lead to a bad headache, or if I am stressed and tired and my body is exhausted that can effect my head for days. Overall I am thankful that I have been able to rule out anything major, yes the pain sucks, but it could be worse, I don't have a tumor!