Secrets of the Tilley Hat

As most people in my life know, my darling fiance Mark has a tilley hat.

It is a fabulous hat. Really. It floats and has a lifetime warranty. Apparently one tilley hat has passed through the digestive system of an elephant 3 times and still survived.

Mark wears his EVERYWHERE.

He experiences a little anxiety when it comes time to clean the hat because it means that he will have to let it air dry...and not be able to wear it that day.

Here's what Mark does to prolong the time between washes.

Step 1: sniff test
Step 2: sniff test while on his head
Step 3: air it out
Step 4: Febreeze it
Step 5: smoke it out (see below)

How to Smoke Out a Tilley Hat
One smokes out a tilley hat by following these simple steps. First light some incense. Put your hat over the nice smelling smoke until the hat smells like smoke. Then put the hat on your head. This should extend the time between washings by at least a week.

http://www.tilley.com

email from Thomas' mom...

"WOW did you impress the Acadia Divinity Collage faculty and staff when you took Thomas up on 'sunday'. The staff couldn't believe the ease, confidence, the natural flow between you and Thomas, the graciousness, comfort and on she went so much so that they would like you to very much to consider entering their Masters program where you can become a counselor for addictions, poverty, disabilities, grief and much more. They felt that counseling and empathy/compassion without pity was natural for you. Tracy said there are students of all ages and faiths in the program including a Buddhist and others who have been completely unchurched. I said nothing of your faith as I felt it unnecessary with all your glowing attributes. I knew I was blessed when I saw your name on my e-mail on that desperate day. I see that you are all those things that the staff instantly noticed and I would suggest seriously thinking about b/coming a counselor or some thing along those lines. (Leave the high school kids to another teacher.) I think you have gifts that few have that will help you help others. Just a few things to think about."

Thoughts?

Weekend to-do

Saturday

• wake up
• do dishes
• feed and bath Ruby, feed Marinara (my fish)
• catch up on this week's taped TV shows
• deposit my pay cheque
• take a nap
• think about what colour I'd like to paint Anna Howitt's toes...
• attend Sarah's 2nd birthday party :)
• volunteer at Oktoberfest with Feed NS, Pavilion 20!
• snuggle with Mark

Sunday

• wake up
• do dishes
• feed the kids
• decide if I am going to attend church - Real Life Church...for the second time, but alone this time
• do homework with Thomas
• put on my new blond wig 
• plan Megha's birthday present
• go to my Dad's for supper with my step-grammie
• do 2 weeks of laundry (at my Dad's)
• steal some baking ingredients (from my Dad)
• make some cookies
• decide to eat healthy beginning on Monday
• snuggle with Mark

Happy 2nd Birthday...

...to the cutest and sweetest neice ever!

Miss Sarah Anne Martin

She's a little bit of sunshine,
She's a smile to light your days,

She will steal your heart and

keep it with her warm endearing ways,
She's your precious little Sarah,
With a sweetness from above
Who will fill your years with laughter
and your lives with lots of love

-Unknown

Ode to Josh

Josh is my little brother.

He and I are 5 years apart.

I really like him.

We think very similarly on a lot of things. Sometimes his music yells a little too much for my liking, but overall...he has good taste in most things. He is always around to listen to me and chat when I need him. Some of the biggest decisions I've ever made in my life, he's helped me with. He supported me through my first real break up, moving outta my mom's house, and he always gives me pretty solid relationship advice about all things Mark ;). He's also a really good dad.

I love my brother.

Here are some blog memories of Josh:

Jessie bangs on Joshes door.
Jessie: "Josh!! Wake up! You should be up by now!
Jessie opens Joshes door.
Josh: "I'm up."
Jessie stops. Joshes music is playing.
Taylor Swift: "I was ridin' shot gun with my hair undone..."
Jessie bursts out laughing.
Josh: "IT'S ON SHUFFLE!!"
Jessie closes the door.

Josh was in charge of the nativity scene this year. Each wiseman thinks that a different farm animal is the baby Jesus and Joseph stands in the corner with his back to everyone because he has just realized that he isn't the father. I should probably fix this soon. There's a fuzzy line between funny and disrespectful and Josh flirts with it every year when he sets up the nativity scene.

Josh: "Jessie, you having money is the best thing that has ever happened to me!"

Josh, on So You Think You Can Dance:
Josh: I want the football player to win! He moves like a swan!!

Josh- "Oh, it's not a good song. There are swear words in it, like hell and shit."
Jessie (jokingly)- "Aw, they aren't thaaat bad..."
Josh- "Jessie!! Don't lower your standards! Don't let your London bridge DOWN!!"

After supper, Josh and I played outside. The best game we made up was rock baseball. One person stands on the dock holding a stick, and the other person throws rock lightly to them, and then the stick holder tries to hit the rock in the water. I won cause I hit a rock the farthest-into our neighbours lawn where it bounced off their swinging chair. We stopped the game shortly after that ;). Josh put his bare feet in the lake today, I wasn't as adventurous. One of my favourite things to do outside in the summer is play cards on the deck while the sun is setting. It was still too cold to break out the cards. We finished off our brother/sister bonding evening with watching Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. I thought it was ok, but he really liked it. I think it made him feel smart when he finally understood the plot. However, I was proud of myself when I started to understand it too :).

Fav Sayings

"There are long courtships which are performed in absence. The panorama revolves with him and he hangs in this long silent courtship, her absence making him look everywhere." - Michael Ondaatje (In the Skin of a Lion) "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." - Dr. Seuss "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." - the Bible "Neeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh!" - Jordan Barnhill "Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are' is true enough, but I'd know you better if you told me what you reread."- Francois Mauriac "There is ALWAYS time for gas." - Chris Fraser "Bbbbtttttttt" - Sarah Martin "Not a single salty tear, Not a feeling in my chest, Baby, I'm feeling no stress, I'm too fly to be depressed." -Neyo

"Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it." - unknown

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom" - Anais Nin

"You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it" - unknown

"Judging a person does not define who they are, it defines who you are." - unknown

"You is kind, you is smart, you is important." - The Help

"Let's begin by taking a smallish nap or two..." - Winne the Pooh

My Little Girl

my new fav song...care of the latest episode of Vampire Diaries

A drop in the ocean,
A change in the weather,
I was praying that you and me might end up together.
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert,
But I'm holding you closer than most,
'Cause you are my heaven.

I don't wanna waste the weekend,
If you don't love me, pretend
A few more hours, then it's time to go.
And as my train rolls down the East coast,
I wonder how you keep warm.
It's too late to cry, too broken to move on.

Still I can't let you be,
Most nights I hardly sleep.
Don't take what you don't need, from me.

Just a drop in the ocean,
A change in the weather,
I was praying that you and me might end up together.
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert,
But I'm holding you closer than most,
'Cause you are my heaven.

Misplaced trust and old friends,
Never counting the regrets,
By the grace of God, I do not rest at all.
and New England as the leaves change;
The last excuse that I'll claim,
I was a boy who loved a woman like a little girl.

Still I can't let you be,
Most nights I hardly sleep,
Don't take what you don't need, from me.

A drop in the ocean,
A change in the weather,
I was praying that you and me might end up together.
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert,
But I'm holding you closer than most,
'Cause you are my

Heaven doesn't seem far away anymore no, no
Heaven doesn't seem far away.
Heaven doesn't seem far away anymore no, no
Heaven doesn't seem far away.

 A Drop in the Ocean - Ron Pope

I like:

Rebecca Smith

drinks

a boat

all the other BEd students at the Mount

dancing

pizza

Bright Light

I'm trying a new thing.

My mood gets a little low in the winters...so I am starting my work day with 30 minutes of light using a personal UV lamp my papa purchased for me.

I just finished my first flash and I feel like I have just been sun tanning for half an hour.

:)

It's me, Mario!

Ãfter much consideration...I've decided that Mark and I will be Mario and Princess Peach for Halloween! Some people (Mark) say that it's a little early to start thinking about this. Well, I put up a Halloween wreath on my door yesterday and that means that Halloween season has officially begun.

Shopping List

Mark

• white gloves
• fake mustache
• mario hat

Jessie

• blond wig
• white gloves
• crown/tiara
• pink dress

Oh yes. I almost forgot. Ruby is going to be Harry Potter.

Studies

This semester, I am working as a note-taker, tutor and personal care worker for a remarkable man named Thomas. He (and I) are taking 2 courses together this fall through Acadia Divinity.

Survey of the Bible and Christian Spiritual Formation.

The survey class will be pretty low key and broad.

The spiritual formation class scares me a little, to be honest.

The prof wants to dig deep in to our lives and help us spiritually develop. We briefly touched on things like unity, anger, forgiveness, and personal conduct last night. It's based on the idea that each individual connects with God in different ways...and it explores lots of ways to do that. Interesting. However, reading something like this in the syllabus makes me uneasy...in a good way.

"The desired outcome is evidence of the student's life being transformed, seen in changed perspectives and living in keeping with God's revealed purposes as image bearers."

Yikes!

Notable quotes:
Jessie- "So what did you think about that? I think the class will be really good."
Thomas (smirking)- "I think I just had a 3 hour panic attack."
Jessie rolls her eyes and tells him to wheel faster to the car.

Boob Tube (n.)

according to http://www.urbandictionary.com/

1. American slang (circa 1980) for the television, and serving as a bargaining tool by parents in disciplining their children, who referred to the time wasted watching it, and lowering their IQ too, hence "boob tube".

2. A party involving lesbians floating on the Rio Grande with little more than their innertubes, sunscreen, and a cooler of well-chilled beer.

3. Television with boobs on it.

4. A magical tube that when opened makes all the girls in a 50 foot radius breasts get 4 times larger than normal. Size effects are permanent.

Goodbye:

• Big Brother
• Bachelor Pad
• Combat Hospital
• The Glee Project

Hello:

• Survivor
• Sister Wives
• Grey's Anatomy
• House
• New Girl
• Parenthood
• Bachelor
• Glee
• Gene Simmonds Family Jewels
• 2 and a Half Men (for the first time)
• Ellen
• Vampire Diaries

I anticipate a successful transition.

Mark + Jessie

The first hang out: A silly last night of work led to Mark giving Jessie (who he had never had an entire conversation with) an after hours tour of the Stadium. A 2 hour long conversation on the roof resulted. Platonic cuddling and a hug goodbye.

Our first date: An official rooftop picnic at the SSS. A surprise kiss or two.

Going steady: On June 25, 2009, two weeks after our first date, I visited Mark at work while he worked the night shift for a Safe Grad.

This conversation happened...

Mark: Some of the kids were asking me if they could go on the ice. I said no. And then they said, "but we saw you and your girlfriend on the ice earlier!". Then I said, "if you were me and you had your girlfriend here, would you go on the ice?" Then the guys smiled and said yes.

Jessie: "That's funny, but who's your girlfriend?"

Mark: "Jessie, will you be my girlfriend?"

Jessie: "Yes!"

For the rest of the story...and some wedding details, check out our wedding website :)!

http://www.mywedding.com/markandjessie/index.html

PS We like it when people sign the guest book.

Spiders

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Don't be scared, it's only spaghetti and hot dogs.

Ruby Times

This is Ruby, the bearded dragon. She's our new pet/child. We use "he" and "she" interchangably right now because we don't know if she's male or female yet. Mark and I have started to baby-talk her...sometimes if I am in another room, I can't tell if Mark is talking to Ruby or me. Ruby is really sweet and likes to be picked up and cuddled. She's about 7 inches long right now...and will grow to oh, 2 feet long. She has some interesting behaviours: she likes to swim in the bath (a cooking bowl filled with warm water)...until she starts to relax and then her belly inflates and she floats with her arms and legs spread out...and falls asleep. He also really likes looking at his reflection in the windows of his tank...to the point that he gets distracted by himself and forgets to eat the crickets we have just put in his tank. They call them bearded dragons because when they grow up, they flair their chin skin and it blackens when they are angry.

I never thought I'd be a reptile person...and I'm not, I just love my lizard.

Candid Megha

FB chat history:

road trips were fun because we could visit both Tim AND Wendy

ive been put on a very strict diet and exercise regimen because i have 5 identifiable and distinct rolls named Candy, Gertrude, Big Bertha, and the two ones on the back are Roland A and Roland B

you need help. i think it would be in your best interest if i became a psychologist. or a psychiatrist.
you'd be like that patient in Because I Said So who just wouldn't leave Lauren Graham's office.
did it sound like i needed love?
because i don't.
well, that's a lie, i do need love.
but not in a needy, send your friends sappy msgs way.

ok can't you all just wait 2 years?????
geez I leave for 5 minutes and you all go marriage crazy. :p
it's going to be so hard assimilating back to Halifax....maybe I should pick a new city and start over?
that said I really would love to come back. now. today.

websites I go to regularly (aka. daily or close to it)

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/

http://www.pintrest.com/

http://www.kijiji.ca/

http://www.beardeddragon.org/

http://www.postsecret.com/

About Me

THEN:
When I grow up I want to be a high school teacher. My life is all about my family, my friends and my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I like long walks on the beach and candle-lit dinners.

NOW:
I am in my mid-20's and excited for the next steps in my life. I like life.

Everything I said then still applies now.

Back in Town

Since everyone's doing it, I've decided to resurrect my blog.

There are a few things that have changed since I've last written.

1. I reconnected with my Dad.
I have never felt more loved in my whole life. My Dad is the best man in the world.

2. I have a Cindy, step-sister, and step-brother.
Cindy is "the Queen" and I am "the Princess"and I like it that way. Nadia is a true older sister to me. Nick lives in Yukon.

3. I'm an aunt.
My nephew saved my family. Without him, there is a good chance we may not have gotten back in touch with my Dad and his side of the family.

4. I pierced my belly button.
It got infected and I let it grow over.

5. I graduated from Dal.
May 2010!

6. My brother got married.
I like my sister in law. We whisper about the other people in my family, especially Mark.

7. I got engaged.
Mark Cunningham is the love of my life. I think we fit together so well.

8. I changed my last name.
Christenson to McGrath.

9. I got a tattoo.
It's a cherry. On my left bum cheek.

10. I moved out.
Hand me down furniture and DIY decorations...doesn't quite feel like home yet, but I trust it will.

11. I bought a lizard.
Her name is Ruby and she's a bearded dragon. She just had her first shed. She's been moody...I think it's cause she's a teenager now and hates everything.

Now we're up to speed.