August 30, 2012

Holy smokes today was a long day! I worked the lunch shift and the night shift. But in between was great - went for sushi (mediocre at best...after living in Van for 5 years I've been spoiled with the good stuff...I'm officially a sushi snob) with a few friends from work and then to Dessart for soft ice cream and to look at all the imported/vintage/specialty candy (and then felt old). Yum! Thank goodness I had a nice and fun break in between, because the night was long. Not terrible...it just seemed to go on forever and didn't slow down until the very end. Oh well, it's all for the greater good - South America I'm a comin' for ya!

August 29, 2012

It was another solo day at the lake. It kinda sucks working opposite hours of all of my family members! It was a good but quiet day - I exercized, painted my nails, and read my new book. The first real social interaction I had was when I got to work at 5:00 PM! I guess down time is good once in a while...but that is definitely my fill for the week. Well, if I include the previous evening, maybe even month.

(This has been posted from my phone because I've been staying in the city and my really old mac that I've been using whenever I'm here finally officially died...a sad but inevitable moment. I shall fix the formatting at a later time.)

August 28, 2012

It's the end of August and today was 35 degrees! I could hardly believe it. I had the best day ever. Woke up, went for a run along the beach road with the dogs, got ready for work and had time to kill so I played my guitar for a bit - all before 10:30! I also had a good afternoon at work...was off at 2 and back to the lake I came. The fam was all working so I spent the afternoon with my book in one hand and a beer in the other,  soaking up the sun like it was my day job. And it gets better!! Dad and Ali got out here and we BBQ'd burgers (a veggie for me), cracked a bottle of wine and took off for a sunset cruise in the boat.
I love everything.

August 27, 2012

Today I got paid to hang out on the Royal Regina Golf Course for a charity golf tournament. My work was sponsoring a hole - we provided delicious drinks and delicious food to all the golfers. And we basically just got to chill in the sun, have a couples beers, eat the yummy food, and chit chat all the day long. Not a bad Monday at the office!

(Crave has a GIANT foam wine bottle...of course?! Um... This is actually sitting directly on the tee box...just so you know for scale purposes [Haha I almost typed "tea" box. Could you imagine?! Golfing out of a box of tea?! ...did I mention it was a long day in the sun...])

August 26, 2012

I actually posted this yesterday but the internet at the lake sucks and just stopped working last night.

This is my little slice of prairie paradise. My happy place. A place of family, fun, people, and beauty.

August 25, 2012

These are our "we're losing real bad and this game sucks and where did our team go" faces. 

August 24, 2012

Cruisin' in Ali's brand spankin' new Mazda 2 out to the beach. Jet really wanted to drive! Hehe.

August 23, 2012

Oh man I have the cutest puppies in the world. We played in the park out back all morning!
Today was I think my first real full day in the city. And it was a really hot one. I made the mistake of going for a run mid-day. I realized how much it sucks to run in 30 degree heat and not have the lake to jump in right after. 

August 22, 2012

Halleluja - one of Mom's favourite songs since I can remember. It's late and I'm exhausted, but I'm playing this for her because she's far away in New York City celebrating her birthday and I'm in little ol' Regina wishing she were here. This one's for you, Mom!
I've nearly aced it on the guitar...now it's time to learn the much more intricate piano version. 

What a classic.

August 21, 2012

Siblings.

These two are the best in the world. But actually.

At the risk of sounding like Ali and her facebook status (hehe just kidding Al), I wouldn't be where I am without 'em.

August 20, 2012

Today was SUCH a great day. Got to sleep in. Hang out. And Matt had the day off so we went for a wake surf and chilled in the boat. Unfortunately the day was cut short and I had to go to work. But even work was pretty good! Oh and I showered under the garden hose today because our septic tank was full. It was very funny and VERY cold.

August 19, 2012

Man, beach life is just the best. So are days off. So is the sun. So is family.

Doing a little hair wrap in Matt's hair. Followed by an afternoon on the boat, delicious dinner, caesars, an awful Rider game, and watching The Hunger Games. 

Sunday FUNDAY at its finest!

August 18, 3012

This pictures is hilarious. It makes me laugh every time I look at it.
Ali, Kyla, Trish, Britt, Mom, Mel.

A smokin' hot Saturday afternoon spent on the boat and in the lake. It was ridiculously disappointing when I had to leave this to go in to work.

August 17, 2012

A beautiful and relaxing Friday afternoon!

August 16, 2012

Today I felt more content than I have felt since I moved back here. I'm not sure why, it was just something I realized during my post-work-alone-at-the-beach reflection time. But I mean, when this is your view, how can't you feel even somewhat content? 

August 15, 2012

An early posting - can you believe it?! 

In light of yesterday's realization that I've not been seeking inspiration, I picked up my guitar today. I haven't been playing much lately, and for no good reason. Today I had a solo day at the beach and figured it's time to get back to doing things I love and adding them to my slowly developing daily routine - starting with picking up the guitar.

August 14, 2012

A late night, post-work commute back to the beach.

I think it's time I start seeking out adventure and inspiration again. I seem to have got to this point where I feel as though it should just come to me. Even though I'm in a different place (geographically) and there's not nearly as much going on here, it's time I find it. 

Like really, who wants to look at a picture of a late night commute?! Sheesh.

August 13, 2012

An insanely calm day at the lake this morning. So calm, in fact, that it looked like glass and reflected its surroundings. Beautiful.

August 12, 2012

Sunday: drinking iced tea and eating dill pickle spitz like it's our day job.

August 11, 2012

Water level is going down. These rocks always make me giggle...it looks like they have beards. Or green hair. Or something. It's just funny!

August 10, 2012

When I first took this I did not think it would end up being my photo of the day. But at the end of the day I realized that I didn't really have any photos because I didn't do a heck of a lot other than work and come right back out to the beach, make dinner and watch the Rider game. I probably should have taken one of the Mario family faces as we frustratingly watched the Riders lose to Edmonton. Apparently I was too in the moment to think that far ahead though. So this here is embarrassingly my picture today - red cabbage. The reason I snapped a shot of it in the first place is because of how COOL it looks! Am I right?! 

...Here's hoping tomorrow's is slightly/a lot more interesting...

August 9, 2012

Sibling vehicles. Youngest - Oldest. We have never really all been in the city at once. I thought this was cute.

August 8, 2012

I was inspired by my lovely ex-roommate and dear friend who I miss terribly, Kindie, to read this book. 

I finished work and had a ton of time to kill until my workout at Level 10, so obviously I went to Chapters. I was walking through the fiction isles and was stopped by this book. I had a flashback to sitting in the kitchen of the Graveley house with Kindie, drinking coffee at the the table, typing away on my computer as she read her book beside me, and at random she would read sentences and small excerpts. And these were not your average exerpts. They were striking. They were beautiful. In the few sentences she read I managed to be incredibly inspired by the writing and knew one day I needed to read this book. 

Now is the time.

Miss you, Kindie!

August 7, 2012

A beauty of an evening. Got called off work when I was 5 minutes away from the city... so I came back to the lake, went for a rip on the sea doo, and took Matt for a ski and wake surf. 

August 6, 2012

Our 2nd annual sibling summer jumping photo.

Another gorgeous day on Last Mountain Lake.

We actually spent almost the entire day on the boat. 

I wake surfed!

Making every nice day left of summer count.

August 5, 2012

Finally getting caught up in picture-posting! It's been a busy long weekend and I've been pretty unplugged the whole time. I think the last time my computer was open was probably Thursday night, actually. Anyway...here I am.

Today was a day of recovery after the big night. The fam hopped in the boat and took a 20 minute boat ride down the lake to a beach you can only get to by boat and met a bunch of family friends. Everyone we know calls it Cow Pie Beach...but I'm not sure if that's what it is actually called to be honest. 

Can't complain about a recovery day like this one - smokin' hot, very little wind, and being able to do absolutely nothing as we drank water and gatorade and ate lots of chips.

August 4, 2012

You know those momentous and awesome times when you look back and think, "Man! Why didn't I take more pictures?!" Tonight was one of those nights. 

For the last year my dad and siblings and I have been planning a kind of surprise 50th birthday for my mom. It's been a very busy and somewhat stressful past couple weeks trying to pull this off, but we somehow succeeded. It was one of those "gradual" surprises - people kept showing up that she least expected! It was incredible. Immediate and extended family members, friends from her youth, friends from down the lake, and every other kind of friend imaginable came out to celebrate. 

The highlight of the night? We had a live band on our deck...no big deal. That's what's going on up there in that photo. Our front deck at the cottage was PACKED with people dancing up a storm.

But I must say, it was one of those nights that I looked back on and thought REALLY Britt?! This was the best picture that you took that sums up the crazy, awesome party that took place? And then I thought, actually, this is the perfect one. It's blurry and funny and somewhat disorganized. People are obviously having fun. It's not very representative of the almost 100 people that showed up, and you can HARDLY even see my mom (though she is in the back left corner in white there), but it is representative of people in this small frame that showed up and had a great time.

It's definitely one to remember (or not...). Happy almost 50th, Mom!

August 3, 2012

I always seem to get very behind in posting photos on weekends. I'm either working or in the boat! This day was a particularly hectic one. I worked a double (the Friday kind are the worst) and also had to do some running around with Ali to get ready for our mom's surprise party at the lake the following day. In between my shifts we managed to grab lunch, plan our next 24 hours, and go to Winners to get a gift. I also managed to make it back to work with plenty of time to spare, so I took a short jaunt downtown and chugged a coffee.

August 2, 2012

The best way to take the dog for a quick and exhausting run? Rip up the beach road on the quad. 

Oh and yes, those are terribly dark and stormy clouds in the distance. Drove through a massive storm on the way to the beach this evening. It was crazy. Also, if you don't already know this about me, I hate storms. So it was not the most enjoyable drive out. Rain I can handle any day. But when I can see the lightning touching down in the fields around me and hear the thunder that nearly shakes my vehicle, I don't really love life.

August 1, 2012

Family dinner on the deck. At the beach. Watching the sun set. Not too shabby...see yesterday's post...

July 31, 2012

So I have officially been back in Sask. for a month now. This fortune I guess is suitable because my enjoyable beach vacation has basically been the last month. I also read this fortune when I was in the city for work today not having a very good day (locked my keys in my car for the second time in a few months [WTF?!], late for lunch with the siblings, had a terrible night at work) - so maybe it was telling me to get the heck back to the beach! Because here at the beach is where I can be in my happy place.