Getting to Know Me - 2015 Edition

Browsing through my blog post, I came across this quiz, sent to me from a friend.

Since I want to do a better job of documenting the Here and Now, I thought it would be interesting to see how my life has changed in five years...


1. What is your occupation right now? 
2010: Accountant. Writer. Photographer. Teacher. Mom.  Take your pick.

2015: Mom. Wife. Accountant. Scrapbooker. Event Coordinator. 

2. What colour are your socks right now? 

2010: Pink

2015: Black

3. What are you listening to right now? 

2010: Beautiful Day by U2

2015: Prayer in C by Robin Schulz

4. What was the last thing that you ate? 

2010: Marshmallow egg

2015: Red seedless grapes

5. Can you drive a stick shift?  

2010: But of course!

2015: Definitely.  It's a good skill to have!

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? 

2010: Gary, via BlackBerry Messenger

2015: My nephew, Cory, via iMessage

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? 

2010: Absolutely!

2015: Still like her, although I haven't seen here in years!

8. How old are you today? 

2010: 42.  And holding.

2015: 39.  I don't know how that happened...

9. What is your favourite sport to watch on TV?  

2010: Hockey, with soccer and football tied for second place.

2016: Football, hands down!  Probably the ONLY sport I watch on TV.  Even with the Blue Jays in the finals...

10. What is your favourite drink? 

2010: Lime Margharitas and Bailey's on ice.

2015: Gin and tonic, Bloody Caesars

11. Have you ever dyed your hair?  

2010: Ever since I was 19 - heck, I can't even REMEMBER my original shade!

2015: Out of necessity now. So. Much. Grey. (although the "Granny look" is trending!)

12. Favourite food?  

2010: King crab legs

2015: Still crab legs, with salted butter. Also a thick, juicy steak is delicious!

13. What is the last movie you watched? 

2010: Up In The Air

2015: The Princess Diaries (trying to keep Aili awake for her sleep-deprived EEG test the next morning) and Back to the Future (in honour of yesterday - Oct 21, 2015!)

14. Favorite day of the year? 

2010: First day of school! :D

2015: First day of summer!

15. How do you vent anger? 

2010: I'd say yoga... but there's nothing like a good cleansing scream.

2015: See above.

16. What was your favourite toy as a child? 

2010: Easy Bake oven.  Barbie Stylin' Head.

2015: See above.  And my Hot Wheels race track.

17. What is your favourite season? 

2010: Fall

2015: This answer will never change - I LOVE fall weather!

18. Cherries or Blueberries? 

2010: Cherries

2015: Cherries. Unless I'm super hungry and don't want to chew around the pit! :)

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? 

2010: I want them to post their answer on THEIR blog, with a link in my comments so I can see! :)

2015: n/a

20. Who is the most likely to respond?  

2010: I dunno!

2015: n/a


21. Who is least likely to respond? 

2010: I dunno!

2015: n/a

22. Living arrangements? 

2010: Hubby, son, daughter.

2015: Hubby. Son. Daughter. Still waiting for the hubby to agree to another Golden Retriever...

23. When was the last time you cried? 

2010: January

2015: Last week.  Stupid commercial.

24. What is on the floor of your closet? 

2010: Bag of clothes to donate.  Basket of shoes.  Laundry Basket.  Clothes that missed the aforementioned item.

2015: Framed university/college degree/diplomas. Sconces to be hung up. Basket of mismatched socks. (WHERE DO THEY GO!?!?!)

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to? 

2010: n/a

26. What did you do last night? 

2010: Easter dinner with family, then played Wii.

2015: Event planning for fundraiser crop (April 2016!! Save the date!)

27. What are you most afraid of?  

2010: Something terrible happening to any of my family members or friends.

2015: Same

28. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburger? 

2010: Cheese, please - but make mine mozzarella and don't be afraid to add some sauteed onions and mushrooms, and a bit of bbq sauce, too!

2015: Cheese - more specifically, a Big Daddy Mac from Mamo Burger!

29. Favourite dog breed? 

2010: Golden Retrievers, of course.

2015: Still love 'em!

30. Favourite day of the week? 

2010: Friday.  The only day where we don't have swim practice or gymnastics or meetings... it's our Family night.

2015: Thursday or Friday - depending on when the football game is! :)

31. How many countries have you lived in? 

2010: One

2015: Still one... unless I win the 50 millions dollars and then I'm moving to Bora Bora.

32. Diamonds or pearls? 

2010: Diamonds - much less pretentious and a whole lot more sparkly!

2015: Diamonds - it's all about the bling, baby!

33. What is your favourite flower? 

2010: Gerbera Daisy, Stargazer Lily, Dahlia, Iris... I'm not particular, if you want to send them...

2015: Peonies. And orchids.

Dragon Fruit

Last week, Aili and I tested our tastebuds with a new exotic fruit - pitahaya, or dragon fruit as it is more commonly known.

It's a brilliant pink and looked so yummy (even if it looks kinda wonky in this photo... iPhone pics!)  We couldn't wait to dig in!

But... how does one exactly EAT one of these things!?

Google to the rescue!  We watch a video and it seemed easy enough - tear off the "scales" (yellowish-green flaps), cut off the end and peel the pink hide skin off!  A few slices and we had a plateful of dragon fruit, ready to be devoured.

The actual experience was less than exciting.  The texture of the fruit is similar to that of a kiwi, but there's not much taste to it.  A few of the softer (hence, more ripe) pieces were a bit sweeter, but all in all, the general consensus was that for $2.50, it was just "meh"...

But at least we tried something new!

Cheers,

P/S:  Don't forget about the other challenges on my blog for a chance to win:

Sketchy Challenge:  May 2013 (deadline May 31/13)
Leave Your Legacy:  Pet Peeves (deadline Aug 31/13)

It's the End of The World

Or so the Mayan Calendar says.

[source]

But Australia's still around so I guess we're okay for tomorrow...

Thank goodness - because we're having our annual Christmas potluck at work tomorrow. :)

Cheers,

P/S:  Don't forget about the following challenges on my blog for a chance to win:
It's a Sketchy Challenge (deadline:  Dec 31/12)
Leave Your Legacy: What You Fear Most (deadline:  Feb 28/13)

Hmmm

Anyone remember Sharon, Lois and Bram from the 80's?

Lately, I've been walking around humming this song:




With good reason!!   Something tells me it's not going to slow down much until after Christmas... :s

Hope your Wednesday's happy!

Right Now > June 15

Right now (at 8:23 am), I am...

listening: to the silence
eating:  nothing
drinking:  my morning smoothie
wearing:  purple/blue/grey top, black pants
feeling:  rushed
wanting:  to go back to bed
needing:  a jolt of caffeine, instead
thinking:  that life would be so much easier with a nanny and a maid
enjoying:  the peace and quiet now that the rush of the morning is over
learning:  to let some things slide, without the guilt
creating:  a list of things still left to do prior to our guests' arrival
wondering:  how much my new tires will set me back...
procrastinating:  cleaning the bathroom counter.  where did I get all this makeup/skin care stuff??
loving:  my new camera!
anticipating:  my new commitment to taking bi-weekly photo walks with my neighbour.  hoping to get more photo time in!

What's happening in your life RIGHT NOW?

Right Now > Jun 8

Right now, I am...

listening: to the quiet... ahhhhhh

eating:  nothing - it's 11pm!

drinking:  water - trying to get my 12 glasses a day in

wearing: pyjamas.  with a grey turtleneck sweater, because it's freezing in the basement and I'm too lazy to go upstairs and grab my hoodie and this was the first thing I found that was warm and clean in the laundry room!

feeling:  bummed.  received some sad news today...

wanting: to stop time for a little while

needing: 48 hour days

thinking:  about my honey, who's away for a few days for business.  

enjoying:  life, despite its' ups and downs.  because it could always be worse, right?

learning:  to make the most of each day

creating:  a list of things to do in the next few weeks before our guests arrive!

wondering:  if we are moving.  maybe.

procrastinating:  ironing.  despise it.

loving:  my new myStamp BOX stamps:  Repeat After Me and Seal It!  Just wish I could find time to play with them... :(

anticipating:  the fundraiser tea party this weekend that my sister is hosting - I'm the "official" photographer so stay tuned for photos soon!

For more details on this list of Right Nows, click here.

Right Now > June 1

Thanks to my friends, Lee and Christa, for their inspiration for this new weekly list that I'll be including in my blogging every Wednesday.

The idea here is to capture a point in my life, every week, and to include them into a mini-album that will chronicle my life each week in a brief snapshot.

So here we go!  Right now, I am...

listening:  to Lady Gaga (Edge of Glory)
eating:  nothing
drinking:  ice cold water
wearing:  black yoga pants, pink T-shirt and zip up hoodie
feeling:  tired
wanting:  to scrapbook, but don't have the energy to clean off my desk
needing:  new tires for Lola
thinking:  about looking for a housekeeper
enjoying:  my new job, even though I didn't get home until 8:30pm tonight!
learning:  that often a hug can head off a tired, grumpy child's tantrum
creating:  nothing at the moment... but I want to!
wondering:  when I'll finally get into a routine with working full time.
procrastinating:  folding the laundry
loving:  this beautiful weather
anticipating:  summer holidays with Amanda and her family! 29 more sleeps!

I am going to attempt to use Photo Booth at the time of blogging (or at some point during that week) so that I will have a photo to go alongside each entry in my album.

As it turns out, today's photo in the photo challenge is a self portrait:

Ooooh, this is gonna be fun... :)

Time Flies...

When you're gearing up for a yard sale!

We're having the "Mother of All Yard Sales" this weekend at my dad's (in honour of Mother's Day, of course! ;)) Only Friday and Saturday, though so we can enjoy some family time on Sunday! Or more likely, we will enjoy some downtime as the last few weeks have been jam packed with activities and tasks!

In the last few weeks, we revealed a kit (see sidebar at right - isn't it yummy? You should definitely check out the Cre8ive Crew's designs this month - so inspiring! I even managed to get a few done:

A few layouts of my baby girl - she looks so young in those photos!
I also made this sweet (or should I say "tweet"?) little canvas for my sweetie to put in his office at work... of course, I love the colours so much that it's still sitting on a little shelf in MY office... :D

I made Gary this in honour of introducing me to Twitter! You can follow me on Twitter under sugarskyes - and check out Just Cre8 on Twitter too for updates, sneak peeks and more fun!

If you're wondering why my username on Twitter is sugarskyes... No, get your mind out of the gutter - it's nothing to do with that!! :) The "sugar" part comes from mixing our names together (Sue + Gary = SuGar). The "skyes" is because at least once a day, someone (usually a telemarketer!) calls us Mr. or Mrs. SKYES instead of SYKES!!

A bit of useless trivia for you: I almost named my company Sugar Skyes instead of Just Cre8!

Connor also started soccer this season (Aili decided to forgo it this year, sadly... but we're going to start with dance lessons soon!) - Gary signed up to be an assistant coach and due to lack of participation, is now a coach!! It's not really something we have time alot of time for this summer, but both he and Connor are looking forward to it! They had their first practice on Tuesday and seem to have a pretty good team! He's, once again, #13! :D

This summer is the summer of athletics for Connor, as he's also starting golf lessons on Saturday! He's looking forward to it - and I think Gary's even excited at the prospect of the two of them getting up early on Saturdays for early morning tee off times!

It's going to be a hectic few months for us, trying to coordinate it all, as he still has swim practice twice a week (until mid-July) and to top it all off, he's tried out for the Track & Field school team! The track meet is tomorrow and will decide if he makes the team! Fingers crossed - he's quite excited about it!

I'd better head to bed - I have a full day tomorrow, marking, packing and moving stuff out to my dad's for the yard sale. If you may remember, all of our hard work paid off at our last yard sale... anyone want to place some bets on this year's total? We're clearing out ALL of the kidlets' baby toys and clothes (no looking back now!!), as well as a few big ticket electronic items! I'm hoping to make enough to get some custom-made blinds for my front room!

Just to make it fun, post your guesses here before Sunday night (10pm EST) and the person with the closest guest will receive a little gift from me! ;)

Catching up...

on my posting!

In editing the photos from my sister's Hallowe'en party, I came across a bunch of photos from prior months that I hadn't posted!

In September, we went to Thiessen's Apple Orchard in Leamington. I had spent the night at Liz's, scrapbooking with her and Sarah, so Gary drove out on Sunday to pick me up and we all went apple picking.

More like apple tasting...

Niko came along for the walk, too...
They have a huge hill of straw bales... this is just so typically Aili:
Queen of the hill!

And for an unplanned weekend out, we ran into a surprising number of friends! Dawn noticed that Gary's Twitter was updated to say that we were there and she emailed him to say they were heading there as well, with Suzie, Derek & co. We also ran into our neighbours, Jay and Diane, with their family!
It was a lot of fun! Even though we just finished off the apples a week or so ago... ;)