Oct 26, 2011

Hey everyone
First of all, sorry for neglecting you all. Yes, I realize that it is October,,, and I also realize that my last post was back in July. You know, that wonderful summer month that everyone who lives in a cold place is currently dreaming about... Also the month of my birthday. Speaking of which, I turned 16 this year. And on  August 2nd, two days after my birthday, mom and I drove down to north bay and I wrote my drivers test at 4:35, 25 minutes before the agency closes for the night... there was a sign on the door stating that in order to write your test you must show up one hour early. I explained my situation, how I had driven an hour to get here and it was only because of a wrong turn in our directions that we were late. They were wonderfully gracious and allowed me to write my test. 15 minutes later I walked out with official temporary papers stating I could drive as long as there was an adult driver possessing a full G licence with me. I was so happy I felt like I was skipping on clouds made of bouncy material. It was a good day. Anyways, that was a few months ago now, and I have been driving every chance I get, and am very proud to say that I learned to drive on a standard 5 speed car, and I’m getting very good at it :D
Oh, while I’m thinking about it, yesterday was the birthday of a beautiful, intelligent, amazing girl who just so happens to one of my best friends, Constance Turnbull. She turns 19 this year, very exciting! And I would just like to say thank-you to her, for always being there for me. For the late night [early morning?] talks online when we spoke of boys and houses and everything in between... remember the fun we had planning our dream house? With our fabulous plans for Tuesday nights... and our personal jet... the best part about me writing this is that no matter who reads this, they won’t guess the half of it :D  So thank you. So much, for everything you are... including an amazing poet who is pretty good at pretending she doesn’t know it... but if you had read any of her pieces you would know why I think she is so good at it :D I love you girl! Here’s to another wonderful year, and God’s richest blessings in the future. Oh, and don’t forget to give me your shoe size so that I can add to your crazy-amazing collection, all lined up along the wall. J
But of other things, I am constantly meeting and getting to know more and more people up here, and to be completely honest, although I really miss certain individuals who live down south, I really love it up here. This town is the perfect mi of everything. The people here are from all walks of life, and from all over the continent. But in the end, when everyone gets together for some social time and coffee, it’s the absolute perfect mix of complete looney bins, sweetheart old ladies, cool dude teenagers, humorous single women in their 30s, creepy old men that are always watching you, and absolutely everything in between. If I didn’t know for certain that absolutely nobody in Temagami read my blog, I could probably write entire posts on some people here, and some of the daily occurrences that make me laugh. And they would make you laugh, too, I’m sure... or roll your eyes in the least.
I have been working full time in my parents store still, and we have greatly enlarged our stock, having over 3,000 different items in our system. Of course since all of the summer residents have gone home things in temagami have really slowed down. I once heard someone say that in the fall it seems that the very sidewalks are swept off, rolled up and put away until spring. And it’s true, it really is. Temagami feels like a ghost town during the winter. Which, for us and all other business owners, means that business is extremely slow. However, if more residents here would come in and realize how much stock we have now and start supporting us by buying their groceries at Our Daily Bread, then maybe things would go better for us. Actually, because so many people didn’t realize how much we have grown since we first opened with next to nothing, this past Friday we had a open house, complete with free coffee and hot apple cider, as well as sample baked goodies from our instore bakery and 5 door prizes. It was a good day, a lot of people that hadn’t visited our store since it opened came in and enjoyed refreshments while sitting at a table by our coffee bar and chatted with each other. Many people commented on how great the store looks, how it is always very clean, and the shelves are nearly full, and very neat. All in all, it was a good day, and we just hope now that the people that came in on Friday will start buying all of their groceries here, and coming in more often.
Sadly I haven’t had as much time lately to take as many pictures as I used to. I still take a fair amount, but it’s not the same. However Sundays are a nice treat, since I have the entire day off, and between church services I like to go for long walks with my camera, and that partially makes up for my lack of photography during the week. However if I plan to study photography at a more professional level, I do need to broaden my portfolio. Does anyone need some pictures taken? J I’ve been looking into buying a new camera, but I don't know what one to get. Of course I have to have a camera with higher then 14.2 megapixels because my current camera is 14.2... and what is a new camera if it isn’t an upgrade? Anyways, I’ll have to see what kind of deal I can get on one of those new Pens. I do wish they were waterproof though.
Is it just me, or is high-school extremely dramatic? Just an observation that I’ve made... without even attending a high-school! I think that those four years have got to be the most drama-filled years of a teenagers life. Crazy. Oh, speaking of names for school, I especially liked what a friend of mine called it, a glorified babysitting facility :D [thank you, Katrina] I must say, I found that highly amusing. Ah, well, on to other things I suppose.
It’s raining to-day. I have always had mixed feelings about rain. On one hand I find it extremely depressing... and an excuse to curl up, blanket clad, in front of a fireplace with book in one hand and hot drink in the other.  I suppose the type of rainy day for that is the bone chilling cold ones when the sky is as grey as locomotive smoke without a hint of sunshine. The other type of rainy day is the comfortably warm ones during the summer when the skies open up and drop great drops of moisture onto our sun-kissed heads. That’s the perfect rainy day for dancing in the rain, and jumping into puddles, or, if you live by a lake, the perfect day for swimming in the rain. As a random side note, you can take the very coolest pictures with raindrops... I mean, think of the beautiful reflections portraying amazing scenes, all shown through a tiny little droplet of water fallen from the dreary sky.
Well I suppose I should get back to my school work now. I’ve been procrastinating nearly all day now. Not good, I know. My excuse is that I don’t understand it... any volunteer tutors around? ;)
Have a great night all!
Heather, aka Violet Moonbeam

Jul 13, 2011

of weddings, moving up north, youth camp and contacts.

Hullo!
Well. My last post complained about March being here already. Now it is suddenly July! A lot has happened in the last few months... in the beginning of April I got a job at Droogendyk Market Garden in Harley, Ontario and worked full time from then until Saturday the 9th... However, in the middle of April after much prayer and consideration, my parents decided to accept the challenge of re-starting a grocery store in Temagami. There had been one there until September 2010, when it went bankrupt for various reasons. In late December the board of the chamber of commerce of Temagami got together and made a proposal to my parents, get the store here up and running again, and we will help fund it. Mom and Dad spent many hours and days praying about it, and discussing it with many different people. Finally in April we put our house up for sale and put an offer on the store building in Temagami. Within three days our house was sold and we owned a store. Near the end of April mom and dad went up to begin cleaning and preparing the store for opening. They spent three long and diligent weeks scouring that building from top to bottom. It was nasty. But they got it done, and Our Daily Bread is now open, stocked with as many basics we could get in this amount of time. Until now, I stayed in Burgessville so I could continue working on the farm. However, I said that I would move up after my brother's wedding. Yesterday was the big day! And let me tell you, it was amazing :) Naomi made a stunning bride, and Richie an equally good looking groom. They are currently on their honeymoon :) And yes, I will post pictures when I get them.
A little bit less recent, but still very fresh on my mind, was the HRC Youth Camp, which took place in Michigan. I would post the pictures from that, but I took just over 500, so if you want to see those, you can look at them on Facebook. :) But I will say this much, I had the best of times this year. I met a lot of really amazing people, and reconnected with other amazing people. I heard topics and went to prayer meetings and workshops that were extremely uplifting and helpful. All in all it was an amazing 3 days. Although, I really think that in future years we should have it last an entire week... it was much too short :P
Oh, right, I have contacts now! Apparently they improve my looks... so that's good I suppose! :P
Other then that, although there is a lot more that is new, and has happened over the past few months, I believe that covers the most recent basics... And I need to be at the store by 6 tomorrow morning, so if I want to be anywhere close to awake by then, I should probably get a little bit of shut-eye.
Goodnight!
Heather

Mar 4, 2011

It's March... already?!

Hello Everyone!
Wow, it's been a long time since I have posted anything on here! And I can't believe it's March already! Time sure flies!
Well, what's new? I think the biggest piece of news that I have [at least that I can tell you all!] is that my brother, Rich and his girlfriend, Naomi are now engaged!! The big day is set for July 12, 2011. Oh, and I'm a bridesmaid! :D here are a couple pictures of the gorgeous couple and her ring:




Mom had her birthday on February 25! Rich and I got her a mini shop vac, and she got lots of flowers from everyone!! She also got some very cute wall hangings from Aunt Steph. Here are two pictures from her birthday. :) 


hmm, so what else is new? well yesterday we [as in Mrs. K, Jacinda, Naomi, Cheryl, Heidi, Jacinda's mother in law, Mom and I] went shopping for fabric for the bridesmaid dresses... and we got it!! Absolutely gorgeous colour! And I'm loving the design we are using for the dresses :) Here are a couple pictures from yesterday:





Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, there is now a new tab right under my big picture at the top, and I have been posting pictures of some cards I've made in it. I'm thinking about putting a bunch of them up for sale as well, so if you are interested in any of them, just comment on one of my posts here on the main part of my blog, and I'll get back to you.
Anyways, I can't really think of much else to say right now, so I'm going to go... Although I might post some songs later...
bye for now!
Heather aka Violet Moonbeam

Jan 13, 2011

Pictures!!


































beautiful girl!







cutest couple ever! :D


Temagami from the tower
pure gorgeousness right here! :D <3

Rich carving...

his 'precarious' foothold



looking down from the very top of the tower.