Runs on Coffee and Cream

I haven't shared a turtle update since September so forgive me for all the baby turtle photos! We've had Tank and Koopa for about 7 months now and they've grown so much! Personality-wise too.

We no longer stress out over them not eating or about Tank burying his head in the rocks when we come near them. They're full-blown pigs. They race for pellets and will push each other out of the way for a shrimp. We've been feeding them different types of lettuce which they absolutely love. We find leaf stems at the bottom of the aquarium the day after giving them a couple of lettuce leaves. We also gave them a quarter of a strawberry which Koopa absolutely devoured.

They get super excited when I approach them because they think it's feeding time so it's incredibly hard to get clear, in-focus photos of them. Their little legs go crazy as they try to swim at me. I'm at the point where I stop to watch them numerous times throughout the day so they get used to my presence and hopefully they eventually won't necessarily think it's feeding time when they see me. I need to photograph them hanging out on their platform as they dry themselves. They stretch right out and their little legs lift right up while they balance on the bottom of their shell. It's so cute. But as soon as they spot me, they dive in the water.



The next photo is of both turtles... they climb on top of each other when they're in this container (while Adam cleans their aquarium) and try to get over the edge. They're so incredibly spazzy while in here.




You can somewhat see their size difference in the bottom picture. Koopa is at the bottom and he's quite heavy in comparison to little Tank, who's on top. But Tank was a picky eater for the first couple of months. He also wouldn't fight for his share of the food so Koopa grew quickly. There's nothing to worry about though. Tank grabs 3 pellets at a time now. He's learned to fight for his share of the food. Though, we still catch him digging through the rocks to hide.


I've been practicing using my Nikon DSLR camera on manual, so I've been taking photos like crazy. But these guys move around so much, it almost seems impossible to get a clear photo of them!

xo Jen

So I'm officially 31 years old. It's not too bad. It felt harder last year turning 30. I celebrated my birthday pretty low-key this year. I unfortunately had to work a day shift but then afterwards we hit up one of our favourite chip stands for hamburgers and french fries and headed to a new beach.

We checked out a new lake, Whitewater Lake. It was so nice! Sandy, shallow, and warm. The beach area was a bit small but it was surrounded by grass and picnic tables. So it was perfect for our dinner and swim.




Once we got home, we had cake. I requested something with chocolate and cherry and holy crap did Adam pull through. He made the yummiest cake! Look how pretty it is!



He also spoiled me rotten this birthday - he bought me my Nikon D3200 camera with accessories! I am SO excited to finally have a DSLR camera and to learn to take better photos. Of course I pulled it out right away and charged the battery. It was dark by the time I could take photos, but even on 'Auto' and with a flash, the photos look better. The cats are not washed out at all.




I apologize in advance for the extra photo spam that's going to be happening now on my blog. This new camera has made my love of taking photos more extreme.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!
xo Jen

Tomorrow is July 1st, which is Canada Day here. I'm hoping the rain will hold off tomorrow evening so we can go see some fireworks. It does blow my mind that June is over though. It was a jam-packed month, which looks to be the trend for the Summer.

My Mom and cousin came up to visit for a couple days earlier this month. Since Mary hadn't seen the Big Nickel yet, we went to check it out. It was a gorgeous day to be out so it was perfect.




Before they came up to visit, I whipped up a batch of classic peanut butter cookies. For whatever reason, this batch turned out perfect! The cookies were delicious.



I'm still reading lots and lots of X-Men comics, but I've also started Ms Marvel and Lumberjanes this month. Both of which I LOVE!


I also picked up the first two issues of izombie when I was last at the comic book store.




Was June a good month for you? I'm pretty excited for July.... my birthday is in less than two weeks and we get the keys to our house at the end of the month!

xo Jen

May was probably the fastest month of the year so far. I think it's because we started the month off coming back from our trip to NYC. We had catching up to do when we got home and then I had to plan for my Mom's birthday and I had to finish up comic con prep. It was a super busy month.

First of all, sorry for all the NYC photos, but I just couldn't pick a handful to share. We went to so many cool places and NYC is incredibly photogenic. And second, this is my last post for NYC photos. I'll be back to my regularly scheduled program next week. You can see my photos from day one here and photos from day two here.

Our last full day in the city was a little wet. There were torrential downpours ALL day. It just didn't stop raining. Thankfully we saved The American Museum of Natural History for this day. So we spent the majority of the day inside. We showed up at the museum an hour after it opened and stayed until it closed and we still didn't get through the entire museum.


 

February is a short month to begin with, but with prepping for my first comic convention of the year, the month went by so quickly! I won't lie, February was a fun month but I'm looking forward to Spring. I'm hoping we see some semi-nicer days this month. So far, it's been freezing again but Mother Nature has 19 days to get her stuff together for Spring!

Through IGGPPC, we organized a Valentine swap last month and it was so much fun getting them in the mail! They brightened my day!


And after falling in love with all the Valentine products at Target, I picked up some discounted treats after Valentine's Day! The Vanilla Cupcake popcorn was so good!


I had a few more photos on my camera from our road trip to Hamilton a couple weeks ago. I love driving back home and seeing the Canadian Shield and hilly landscape. It makes for a beautiful view.


Snow has definitely piled up here... There's a snow bank completely surrounding the Costco/Indigo plaza turning their parking lot into a snow fortress.


And then there's the snow bank outside of our building. It's officially taller than me...


I started watching Escaflowne last month. I'm about 10 episodes in and I'm really enjoying it so far.

A few days ago me and Adam went to our favourite second-hand store here and I found this game for $5. Did anyone else watch the Pucca episodes online years ago?


Seymore is currently fighting a cold and Logan has been sneezing more than normal today. I really hope he doesn't get as bad as Seymore. My poor kitties. I think they need some fresh, Spring air too.


It's been decided, I'm starting up a superhero team with Emily!


How was February for you?
xo Jen

This month and year have been off to a great start, but December was a lot of fun. Busy, but fun. How can it not be when Christmas is during the month and I get to wear big sweaters and drink hot drinks all day long?!?

I wore a ton of sweaters and layers all month:




I also dyed my hair a different shade of red... it's a much brighter red:

I worked on some sewing projects and other crafts:


We did more holiday activities:


We also got a ton of snow:



And I caught one of the many kitty fights:


You can see my Christmas photos here, December was a great but very cold month! I'm excited to see how the rest of January goes since there's a couple of fun things in the works (personal and professional)!
xo Jen

Umm I seriously don't know where November went. It was a great month filled with prepping for Christmas, and other fun adventures.

Let's start the November pictures off with our Jack-O-Lantern from Halloween... He got a little soggy on our balcony and turned into an old man:

Snow showed up:




Target opened and I bought so many Christmas items:


I've been stocking up on gingerbread things (see previous picture too):

I reorganized my craft room and sewed up a bunch of pouches: 


We went to Hamilton for a weekend where we hit up Kool Stuff and went to a wedding: 


The photo booth was so much fun at the wedding: 

I mailed away SO many Etsy orders this past month!! And a few IGGPPC packages:

I bought stamps for the Holiday Card Swap and they're so adorable:

Logan being a handsome boy:

A cleaning session:


Did you enjoy November? It's exciting that tomorrow is December and there's only 25 days until Christmas (ahhhh!). I have baking plans and a date with a Christmas movie and a stack of holiday cards this week.
 xo Jen

August was the month of sewing for me! Preparing for the biggest comic convention of the year took up a lot of time. I ended up with blisters on my fingers from scissors and burns from my iron. The majority of the time I was in my craft room, Logan hung out with me. He always tried to get his furry little body on every piece of fabric I left lying around.






























We finally went wild blueberry picking last month. I'm going to post more about that soon.



I got bangs! I'm pretty happy with them. I've had them pinned back a few times now because of the heat, but overall I'm managing with them!



Just one of the gorgeous skies in August.



We finally hit up a local ice cream spot for sundaes. Adam was pretty happy that they has lactose free ice cream. Mine is the one with coconut on top and my ice cream was called 'Moose Tracks'.



We made another trip to Moonlight Beach. Gulls were trying to take over the beach but we had a nice lunch and swim that day.






I missed this guy while in Hamilton for Fan Expo Canada. I came home to him having a cut on his cheek... probably from a fight with Logan. It broke my heart. And I'm still dealing with it because he keeps scratching the scab and ripping some of it off.



Autumn and Halloween stuff is popping up everywhere already! I found pumpkin, ghosts and bats, and Fall leaves sprinkles at the Bulk Barn. We also spent a bit of time at Walmart looking through their Halloween and toy aisle.



I cannot believe summer is over and it's now September. I start a new job on Wednesday (eek!) and I'm already planning to get a pumpkin spice latte at some point this week. Hello September!
xo Jen