First Day of Spring!

What a beautiful day we're having! Spring is one of my favorite times of year...breaking free from the cold and grey and dark that means winter to me, coming alive with the plants and trees and flowers all around! You can smell the buds coming out, the earth warming up. It's not as drastic here on the west coast as it was in Nova Scotia (where you had to defrost and melt before you could even see brown grass!), but still feels just as exciting. It feels like time for new beginnings, to wake up, to feel the possibilities of life again. Winter always brings me down, but this year it wasn't as bad now that I live somewhere that stays green all year round. It makes a huge difference to my sense of self and piece of mind- not sure why really.

I had a great weekend away on Vancouver Island. It was wonderful to catch up with my little sis, see her play rugby and hang out with her. She works for my friend who just had surgery, so I got to see her as well and she is brilliant. Very positive about everything and healing nicely. We watched "Best in Show" one night and it had all of us in stitches!! If you haven't watched this movie, you must. My sis and I absolutely love it, have seen it tons of times, and knew they would enjoy it. It was such a gift to see them howling with laughter after all they have been through these past few weeks. I definitely believe its the best medicine. I finished a great book as well, check it out here. I couldn't put it down!!

I got home Saturday night, so got to spend a gorgeous day with my Love yesterday- out for a walk, window shopping, enjoying the sunshine. The best part was being able to go into a shop, see something we like and know that we will be able to buy it soon if we want. It was so hard when we were living on one pay check- we felt so restricted and came from a position of lack...something we are now finally starting to move out of! We had so much fun! We have been able to learn how to live without "stuff" and both enjoy the simplicity of it. We know we don't need these things to be happy, to live a full life, but it will still be nice to get a few things for our home and ourselves. (There's that fear of wanting something for myself again! Meg is so spot on about this stuff!!) We've never been 'collectors'; we are more into spending money to travel, to see and do things instead.

It was so nice to have a long weekend, but it's been hard being back at work today. Especially when it's so beautiful outside. Maybe I need a job where I can work both in and out of doors. I did work in a vineyard for three months in NZ with my sweetie. It was one of the best jobs I've had! Even though it too was monotonous and could be pretty hard on the mind having all that time to think, I loved being outdoors and using my body physically everyday. And the view around us was magical- mountains and a sea of green vines as far as you could see. We worked for a great contracting company as well, they took good care of us. Doing a job nothing like anything either of us had done before was a gift in itself. Such freedom from expectations, from the pressure of places we'd been before.

I'm starting to ramble on now, not sure where this is going. Working hard not to fall into my usual Monday sea of negativity, so I think I'll go and read my favorite blogs for some inspiration. Keep smiling and happy first day of spring everyone!