http://shanna-faulkner.blogspot.ca/

Check out the new space...
:)
http://shanna-faulkner.blogspot.ca/

New blogging space!

The Burj al Arab-- Rooms range from $2000-$28,000/night. So beautiful though!

I am super excited to start a new blog soon! 

There's a fairly large turning point coming up in my life in less than a month(like, getting married and all), and I feel like a new blog is in order!  

This new blog will get off to a rather exciting start... there will be a trip to Iceland to report on! 

But... I have no idea what to name it! Ideas anyone? Seriously, any idea at all! 

Current thought:

love and bugs/ love 'n' bugs 

Rationale:

love- aww

bugs- i keep bees/Daniel is a programmer so he deals with computer bugs... not that I'd ever be blogging about computer bugs though...FYI)

Battling cookies into submission!

Taking on the world!

Photo download

                                             Here are the last couple of months in pictures!

 Some snow found us after all... more up in Nanaimo than here in Victoria! 

 A great day for a drive with Mom up to see Monica.

 Hmmm... not a bad mattress!

 Daniel took me out for lunch on Valentines day after I picked him up from school:) It was a nice surprise! We then made our way to the park to dodge some hail and swing on the swingset:)

 Double rainbows over Gyro Park. The octopus looked right at home in that giant puddle!

 Inside the octopus.

 Monica, myself and Chelsea and Erika all have big trips coming up within the next few months... all three of them are going to England together, Erika leaves then Monica and Chelsea travel France, Scotland and Ireland... and then Chelsea leaves and Monica stays on in Scotland for a year! I am going to Iceland with Daniel a few days after our wedding:) So... we made a list of travel goals. 

 Kylie's golden birthday! We went to Rebar for dinner and then went to Fire It Up to paint our own ceramics:) All the coloured butterflies on the wall are colours of paint that you can choose from.

 Such a cool looking space!

 Jolynn came all the way from Coombs for high tea at the Empress with us! It was so delicious. There were strawberries and cream, a variety of fancy sandwiches, raisin scones with jam and cream, and the top level of the platter was all sorts of decadent sweets. My favourite was a lemon tart:)

 Miniature world!

 The circus scene.

 We took the double decker tour bus to Butterfly Gardens in Brentwood Bay. We had "Be a tourist in your own town" vouchers which entitled us to a bunch of great deals:)

 Oh to be a pink flamingo!

 Sun coming up after a night shift at work... the mountains were really clear this day!

This is me! With my head photoshopped out:) Photo by Kristie at kristiejean.com :)

Happy Wednesday! 

There was a notice in the mailbox saying we are not to use any water from 8am-2pm because they are working with the water pipes. My productivity has suffered because I can't start a day off properly without a shower! Or maybe that's just an excuse;)

Monday, monday, monday

Here is a very adorable African based, burrowing insectivore who has clearly had a very long day and would just like to sleep, thankyou! 

Click HERE to see the meerkat(s) in action:)

What I'm looking forward to this week:

A new day, every day

Having some Nanaimo girls come visit on the weekend 

Doing some crafty things... perhaps visiting Fire It Up for some pottery experience

Daniel made some chili, and from past experience, it's going to be DELICIOUS

Deciding on wedding flowers (ok, I'm more excited to get it over with than anything! I'm finding flowers to be very difficult to decide on. There are a lot of different flowers to choose from!)

Our Wed. evening bible study

I'm rather excited to clean house in preparation for company coming- nothing like a clean smelling, clean space (pleasant odor courtesy of Young Living Essential Oils- I am hooked!)

Virginia (the place, not my Grandma!)

As promised, and in no particular order, here are some more pictures from our voyage to Norfolk, Virginia- the city whose official logo is the mermaid! And yes, my Mom's mom was named Virginia:) And might as well put a little picture of her up here, too:) 

Grandma Hanks with her first great grandchild (Kasen) in 2004! Grandma made potholders, told the same stories again and again, and hoarded salt and sugar packets from restaurants:) 

Back to the place Virginia:

Pillow case stockings... personalized with fabric paint:)

Christmas breakfast pancakes.

In the air!

Randy surveying the area.

Virginia Beach.

I get to marry him! 

Family photo! Kona probably couldn't figure out WHAT we were doing!

This particular gingerbread man got lots of attention... he was the last one I think. 

Candlelight... and lots of it!

Statue of Poseidon

Wintertime...!!!

These are cool. You stick them on your glass so it doesn't lose you. My favourite was the blue scuba guy:) His name was "deep". Some others were "cool", "curious", and "cuddly".

Lately I've been doing lots of stuff... swimming (New Years Resolution was to swim 52 times in the year 2014), wedding planning (invitations have started to go out and shoes purchased, etc ), saying goodbye to good friends, making food (carrot soup and chocolate chip cookies are the latest), watching the "Bee Movie"... seriously one of the most awesome movies ever, purchasing a new cell phone (I am now the owner of an IPhone 4S!), and a number of other things, including:  

A wonderful time with aunts, uncles and cousins (pictured) in Stanwood, WA for a Christmas Eve family reunion AKA "Hanksfest"

Tea after our Wednesday night bible study:)

Dinner and games with the Lachmanecs, Kylie and Kristie:) We played "grunt, piggy, grunt"... look it up if you havn't played it! It's pretty entertaining. 

So in the spirit of my computer being near broken and it taking roughly 30 minutes to upload three pictures, I will keep it brief! Here are a few pictures from Virginia, USA. I do intend to put some more on here. Daniel and myself, and Daniel's sister and brother in law (Alison and Mark), traveled to Norfolk, VA to spend Christmas with the Faulkner parents! They have a lovely, cozy home which backs onto an estuary with an abundance of wild life. 

 The Botanical Gardens- a perfect place for a CD cover photo shoot, right?! At least that is what it looks like to me.

 Virginia beach. One could rent horses to ride the beach on horseback.

 Christmas decorating

 Daniel and I wrapped in lights...

Botanical Gardens again!

xo ciao!

Rock and Rolly Christmas

So today I parked myself in front of the coffee table and painted 11 picture frames! It was nice to do something with my hands... (other than work or typing or dishes). I had Songza going with some good Christmas tunes.  Neil Diamond's "Cherry Cherry Christmas" is one of my new favourites:)  

I am excited for Christmas this year, and am looking forward to spending it in Virgina, USA! I've never been there before! I don't think I've ever had Christmas without my family before, but I'm thankful that Daniel's family feels like family too:) 

PS- Really do click on the link to listen to the song, it's awesome:)

Ray LaMontagne- You are the best thing

My walk home from the hospital sometimes passes these wonderful landmarks:) It's always a gentle reminder that there is art, creativity and kindness in the world!

The common garden- strawberries and herbs for everyone! And a pile where you can drop your leaves in the fall.

Wise Crow's Book Nook:) 

Ornamental kale.

On the job. It's cool to wear your name tag sideways- ya know? 

Halloween 2013

Just a few snapshots of Halloween by request! We asked the landlords upstairs to please send the trick or treaters back around the house so we could give them candy too. They said that usually there one or two dozen children come by. Not this year! Forty-four costumed kids!

Some of my favourite costumes:

Fuzzy dinosaur

Broken china doll

Santa (there were a few of them!)

I painted "trick or treat" in glow in the dark paint on that sign... no glowing happened however!

I was having a bubble bath! It was a fun, simple costume that caused my hair all sorts of static until I put the shower cap on at which point I felt like I belonged in the operating room! 

I thought the little rubber ducky was a nice touch:)

We used some cobwebs...

Daniel was into the safari look.

"Beware of attack gecko"- the older kids thought this was neat. The littler ones probably didn't even see him!

Today I dropped the pumpkins off at the base of Mt. Doug where pumpkins from all over come to convalesce after a hauntingly busy halloween season!