Best Nine – April Recap

 

best nine memories: friends visit
best nine memories: shakeology 
best nine memories: harry potter puzzle
best nine memories: succulent growth
best nine memories: congo
best nine memories: baseball 

best nine memories: mom and daughter trip

best nine memories: novel 
best nine memories: stag and doe 

Best Nine Memories from April

The best nine memories. Honestly so many good things happened this month, it’s hard to nail it down to the ‘best nine’. Why nine? Well, it looks good in a grid, so why not nine? Here’s a bit about all the photos above and the memories attached to them. In trying to live a more mindful life I want to document all the things I’m grateful throughout the year so that when I ask myself as I undoubtubly will, “Where the heck did this year go?” I have a place to look back on and remember.

One

It’s nice when you don’t have to say much for your friends to realize you need them. April had my emotions going all whacky, and I made a few drastic changes in my life. I was feeling unsure and my confidence was pretty low. When Karen messaged me about making the time (and that’s a lot of time because she lives so far!) to come see me simply because she knew I needed a friend, it really touched my heart. Not only that but then Beth was available the same day even though it was so last minute! It was wonderful to see them, because it doesn’t happen often, and to talk and have them be there was a big deal for me this month. We even did our daily workout together and pushed each other to get it done! Thanks girls!

Two

Shakeology. My breakfast of choice. I’d dropped the routine and had been having it as a snack, then with dinner, sometimes after my workouts, sometimes before bed. This photo was in the morning when I had now for a couple of days gotten my routine in order again and was happy to check in for a week of having it in the morning!

Three

Sometimes it’s nice to just relax and do something chill. Like a puzzle! Better yet, make it a Harry Potter puzzle! We got this bad boy at Universal Studios when we went on our East coast Roadtrip. Surprisingly though, we had yet to put it together! I knew I wanted to frame it and put it up in the home office, which is the room full of all fandom trinkets. But not having the frame kept us from opening it, until this month when we were like, what the heck, let’s do it, it’ll be fun!

Four

This is a Pinterest attempt, and let me tell you, it’s working! I followed these instructions and at first, I thought I killed the poor succulent. Stripping it of all its leaves seemed harsh and then expecting leaves to grow new plants seemed impossible! Especially knowing how great I was at taking care of green things in the past…(hint, I killed all green things) For a few weeks, it looked as if nothing happened. The leaves looked exactly the same! No shriveling up, but also no blooming going on. Then, right when I was about to give up on them, we woke up one day to notice roots and small baby succulents growing from the end of the leaves! It still blows my mind. We’re well on our way to growing a little succulent forest!

Five

This little furball is the cutest little companion. I love that I am able to take him to work with me every day. He mostly sleeps and gets some love when people come talk to me at my desk. Our little family has our routine down, Congo included! He comes down to eat while we make our morning shake and gets so happy when he sees his collar. He walks with me from the parking lot and he settles in place as soon as we get to my desk. When I hurt my back a while back and had to work from home often he lay like this by my legs as I worked.

Six

We had some beautiful warm sunny days. With baseball season here Christian and I have been getting outside and throwing the baseball around. At first, I told him to call his dad to throw the ball with him because last year I had tried to play catch and just couldn’t for the life of me catch a ball. He encouraged me to try again and we went out to our backyard and threw the ball a few times and guess what? I caught them! I’m actually half decent! Anytime it was sunny after getting home from work meant going outside with Congo and Christian and throwing the baseball around! It made me wonder if there were any adult leagues in this new city of ours. We’ve both never been a part of an organized adult sports team. We played sports and were in teams in grade school and high school, but I always thought you had to be really good to be in an adult league. Who knew there were co-ed recreational leagues? Apparently everyone but us! Luck have it we found a team with two last spots remaining and signed up, not only that but it was a fully funded team and there was no cost for it! We’re so excited to start.

Seven

In April, Christian was away for a few days to Halifax for work, and while he was gone I moved in with my mom (because I am not accustomed to sleeping on my own, and because why not move in with mom?). We had lots of fun together, and I successfully got her hooked on one of my favourite shows Once Upon A Time. I have a thing for Hook like, I can’t even describe it. He just does things to me. Since there was a holiday there we toyed with the idea of going on a drive someplace, anywhere. Just hitting the road and going nowhere in particular. As the day of this destinationless road trip came I remembered one of my favourite places! I learned about it a couple years ago. And that’s the Grotto at the Bruce Peninsula National Park. It’s about four hours away but mom was up for an adventure. We made some delicious snacks at home and packed a backpack with our water bottles, my copy of You Are A Badass, because I love that book (and so did she!) our food and some sweaters. We drove north and it was so nice to just drive and not have a certain time we needed to arrive by. Along the way we stopped at a garage sale we found in a little town and happened upon some super cheap and super beautiful treasures. Then, we found the coolest and dirtiest haha, store that sold antiques. There were some beautiful old signs there. We arrived at our location and mom LOVED it. It made me so happy to see her so happy. It’s actually a miracle we didn’t die because we’re huge clutzes and the Grotto is made of slippery smooth rocks and cliffs and just, many ways to die. So that was a huge success. We drove back home after sitting for a while and just watching the water hit the rocks, we ate our snacks and wore our sweaters. On the ride home, we read the book for the full four hours and shared stories and were badasses. Overall it was a wonderful day. Love you, mom!

Eight

These are the names of the characters of my novel. I started writing it about a year and a half ago. It’s something that brings me so much joy. It’s quite magical, the writing process. These characters are so real to me. I wish they were, I want them all in my life. Except maybe one of them. I write because I have to, it’s such a part of who I am. Communicating, with words is what I’m good at, and I also happen to have a creative mind that dislikes sleep. It’s constantly running and coming up with new things for me to do. I’ve been writing stories consistently since I was 13. Always fiction, and for the early years, a lot of it was fanfiction material. I wanted to be a part of my favorite books, so why not write myself into them? When I started high school I had a website recommended to me, GaiaOnline. I met many important people in my life on that site. And two remained friends to this day, I actually get to see them again in June and I’m super stoked about it. Who would have thought these kids I met on this writer’s forum would become friends for life? It happens. I learned so much on this website. I wrote with some incredible writers whom I learned pacing, character development, plotting and how to really embody my characters. I learned so much more than I ever did in school about storytelling and collaborating with other writers. We wrote stories together, we developed characters together and I give so much credit to this site and the people I wrote with for over a decade. Today I write on my own. Sharing chapters as they are ready with my bestie because she enjoys my style and I enjoy her commentary. Also, she’s super supportive of everything I do and I love her for it.

Nine

We had the pleasure of celebrating our friends Sean and Danielle at their stag and doe. It was actually pretty sweet as it was in the very same location we hosted our stag and doe. It’s wonderful to see friends that love and respect each other get married and I am looking forward to their wedding! I know it’s going to be stunning. Christian is in Montreal in May for the bachelor party and I know they’re going to make some memories and have a blast. We were the first of our friends to get married, and it’s been wonderful to see them all through their weddings and be a part of many of the weddings. Christian and I are celebrating our 4th fourth year of marriage this June, and our 9th year together. It’s quite fascinating how time works, and how much time you can spend with your soulmate yet still miss them when they’re away for a day.

In April I was grateful for…

  • Great weather, sun, and warmth on my skin
  • Plants that thrived and grew beyond my expectations, so much so that I needed to repot them and give them more breathing room!
  • Working from bed when my back pain was too unbearable
  • Friends who drove long distances because they knew I needed their support and hugs, I love and appreciate you.
  • Christian coming back safe and sound from his work related flights!
  • Netflix and amazing shows with spectacular storytelling
  • Work benefits, chiropractors, physiotherapists and massages to help my injured back
  • Acupressure and its working!
  • A vehicle that allows me to travel to see friends when I want to
  • The time to be able to take my mom on a random road trip and for having her near me to be able to make memories together.
  • Canada and its beautiful sights.
  • Congo’s good health and the fact that he doesn’t shed
  • Late night campfires to celebrate birthdays.
  • Another year of life for both my dad and my father in law. Grateful that they are still around and close to me.
  • Trips alone to chapters to roam the aisles aimlessly and have the time to do so.
  • Work for allowing me to organize with the help of others a road trip to see the Blue Jays.
  • Rice Paper because it’s the easiest wrap to hold all my spare veggies
  • Christian for being supportive every moment I need him
  • My cousins for keeping my spirits high, for brightening my day, for chatting daily, for being inspirational and strong beautiful women that I can learn from.
  • My home, for making me feel grounded and safe and grateful every day.
  • For Azra and how much she knows me and knows when I need her and how much I need her.
  • My makeup skills getting slightly better.
  • Kike finishing his school for the summer and doing well in school
  • Daniel being a superstar at work and allowing him and Michelle to travel the world together and make so many memories!
  • Courage to step out of my comfort zone and do something risky

Look out for another Best Nine next month to hear all about May!

Mariangelica

 

 

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2 Comments

  1. May 9, 2017 / 7:19 pm

    I love all your photos. It’s also so important we take moments to to say what we’re grateful for. Thanks for sharing 🙂

  2. May 10, 2017 / 9:24 am

    Oh my gosh, I like this post! What a great way to reflect on the past month 🙂