Just Jordan

I can't remember what chapter in The Happiness Project that Rubin talks about relationships, but today I was reminded of how much they make me happy. I had my bi-annual final exams lunch date with Deena . She is definitely one of the people in my life who are kindred spirits and no matter the time between visits we have a great time catching up, but also ALWAYS have meaningful conversations where we talk about more than just our day-to-day stuff. She touches my soul. On my way back to the school today I realized that not only do I need more of Deena in my life, but I need more of all my people. In working out how to make the time for this, I realized that coffee and lunch dates are just much too hard to organize. We are too busy. I hate that phrase, but, well, it is what it is. Way too many commas there, but I can do whatever I want on my blog. Anyway,  I then remembered that with our billet/son, Brad, Hugh and I have a phone date every week or two. These are always great visits...

Yesterday I had a guest post on my beautiful friend, Deena's, blog . She is running a great series on love and has had a number of contributors with honest, bring tears to your eyes, kind of posts. Definitely worth scanning back and reading if you haven't been following. You can check my post out HERE . Happy Wednesday!

On Saturday, thanks to Hugh and Deena, I went on a whirlwind shopping spree. Deena posted about it HERE . There are a few pictures on Deena's post if you want to check it out. I am going to do a bit of returning, exchanging, and a bit more shopping before I post my new wardrobe! Deena is amazing. She scooped out all the stores before we went and had me take pictures of a bunch of my current outfits. It was great because it forced me to go through my closet and see what I really had and in my case what I was lacking. The last time I shopped was in Toronto with Deena 2 years ago in the spring. For the last 6 years I have either been pregnant or on Maternity leave in the fall (save the one after Tripp died), so most of my fall/winter work wardrobe is from 2007. After trying on most of my clothes I made a pile of things that HAD to go. All but 2 pairs of dress pants hit the dust. Not only were they out of style, they didn't fit. I lost my bootilicious bottom somewhere between Cal...

If you follow Deena's blog, this post might seem a bit familiar. In fact, you may even have a feeling of deja vu when you peer at the photos. My camera was at Tobin, but unfortunately didn't have any working batteries. All photos on this post were taken by the talented, Deena. See Deena's post HERE .  This was our second ANNUAL trip with the Simairs. Dan was adamant that we couldn't call it annual before we actually had 2 under our belt!   We love hanging out with this family. Deena is always good for snapping a few selfies! In fact, I left my phone unattended and ended up with one of her on there as well! This photo of Boone is the only one of him not crying or grumpy. He was sick when we were at Tobin. He actually had a fever for almost a week with the tail end of it being on our trip. He slept like crap while we were there, crying unconsolably multiple times during the night for all 3 nights. He was under the weather for so long, I thought I had lost my...

Deena and her sister Kyla are doing a really cool thing over on their new blog Shoes to Shiraz. They have photographed 30 women and had them describe their 30s. Check out me today, HERE . UPDATE: Here is the write-up I did. I wanted it here so that it would appear in my blog book. Click the link to see the picture attached. I love being 33. Maybe that's not saying much, since I remember loving being 12 . . .17. . . 19. . . 25. . . 28 - Actually I pretty much have loved every age I've been! But 33 is pretty darn good. One of the best parts about 33, over any part of my 20s, is the stability in my life. My husband. My job. My permanent residence. I am so over having my eyes peeled for a potential mate and wondering where I should move to so that I could find a suitable job - that was so 24! I also like the confidence I am gaining in my 30s. I know way more about myself today than I ever have before. Twenty year old Jordan had no idea she was introverted, a writer, ...

My friend, Deena, and I spent 3 days in Toronto this week. We had grand plans of doing some touristy stuff before the Blue Jay's games on Monday and Tuesday night - until we arrived in TO. It turns out shop-till-you-drop followed by America's favorite pastime was just what the doctor order to rejuvenate these two moms.  Shopping is something I don't do very often. Hugh and I usually do one large shopping trip in the fall to gather all the missing links to our wardrobe (Hugh is actually so set on shopping once a year that one summer he was down to 4 pairs of socks, but refused to purchase new ones because it wasn't "back-to-school shopping" time. He blamed his situation on Santa. Apparently, during his fall shopping the previous year he banked on getting a package of socks in his stocking and it didn't happen. Believe me, Santa got the message loud and clear. No one needs to see Hugh wearing the same yellow/brown hole-ridden socks day after day).  T...

The Rosthern Corn Maze  with the Simairs ( Deena , Dan, Willis and Lucia). I couldn't stop staring at those darn pigs while we were at the corn maze, and now I keep scrolling back to the picture! :-) lol Some random field on the way home. Deena posted about our adventure yesterday. She has some other great pictures of our day. . . She also has another picture of that pig. Check it out HERE . You know I have been back more than once!

I went over to my friend, Kerri's, yesterday morning for a visit.  Her 6 week old son, Drew, is colicky.  The first thing that popped into my mind when she told me this was, I should over to hold him, rock him, and listen to him scream for a few hours so Kerri can get some rest or even get out of the house.   Thats what friends do.  Nope. Not me. Not yet.  As perfect as that offer would have been for Kerri's situation, I knew I couldn't do it.  So today, I did what I thought was the next best thing.  I took her oldest, Dylan, for the morning, so at least that way, if Kerri got a quiet moment with Drew, she could really have a moment to herself. Calder and Dylan played like champs. We were out in the yard all morning and I got a ton of yard work done.  The sandbox and Calder's cars are great playmates. * * * This afternoon Calder and I soaked in some sun in Deena's pool.  Ahhhh. . . The only thing that could have made it more perfect woul...