Father's Day Camping

For Father's Day, Rob and I went up north to Slave Lake for some camping with his dad, step mom, nephew, and uncle. It was a really great weekend of relaxing, fire watching, cherry eating, fish frying, tent napping, and visiting family. We're apparently going to make it an annual thing, to go up there for Father's Day. The weather was really nice when we got there and only rained for about an hour on Saturday evening. Rob's dad was well prepared for the rain, so it all worked out for us. 

xo. Nicole

Week's End || June 12

SNAPSHOTS:

1|| I had a subpar experience at a nail salon here in town that is also in every city. I used to like them a lot, but since that experience, I decided to try and go locally owned and operated. I found a lady who does gel nails out of her home and I'm still so in love with them! I'm super happy that I found such a wonderful lady in town, as I know I'm supporting her family rather than some CEO's yacht fund. #supportlocal

2|| I snagged this pink tumbler from Starbucks when I met an old friend for coffee last week, and I'm so glad I did. Drinking my water out of a straw seems to help me get more water in throughout the day...just me? I've been getting in 3 of these every day during my work week, and it's 709ml/24oz! In this picture, I put mint leaves and some frozen blueberries - my favourite!

3|| Despite attempting my fifth round of Whole30 and only making it to day 13, I still try to eat as clean as possible. I've found a lot of recipes for their mayo but I like mine the best! It's almost a ranch, but it's more like a garlic mayo. I've been obsessed for 2 weeks now with dipping my home made french fries in it. So. Good. Would you like me to share the recipe?

4|| I went into Michael's to grab some craft supplies...so like, 3 things. I ended up coming out with 10 things including this mug! I love the floral pattern and the message. It's my new go-to mug in the mornings.

WHAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:

1|| I blogged once this week...and here it is!

2|| Cara is back to blogging, and she's starting out with a giveaway - maybe I shouldn't share it so I'd have a better chance of winning ;)

It's been on my mind, like everyday. I want to jump back into blogging! I would love to make this Week's End a link up, but I'm not quite there yet. I only have 12 instructional days of work left, then it's Summer break and I'll definitely have more time, and hopefully more energy. My body basically shut down from a wicked sinus infection that traveled to my wisdom tooth, and I haven't run or exercised really in almost 4 weeks. My infections are gone (gosh, that sounds gross, haha!) and I really don't have an excuse anymore. I'm lacking motivation, I think.

Do you have your own blog? I'd love to read your latest post!
Would you be interested in doing a Week's End link up every Sunday/Monday?

xo. Nicole

Lately || April, May, and uh...What else have I missed?

I came across a post this morning about how to keep yourself motivated when you're in a blog slump, and I'm totally there. It mentioned a few things to do, which I always think about doing but never do, like keeping a running list of post ideas. I think I'll remember them, but half an hour later that post idea is gone. Perhaps I should really take the advice and start writing/typing them out, because I really miss the blogging community and all the opportunities/relationships that it brings. My plan and goals are to post more than just product reviews, because those aren't that fun to read for anyone. An easy post idea, but nothing more really!

On that note, here's a little update on the past month or so.

We hosted our first holiday dinner in our home, and it was Easter. It was pretty exciting to have people come to our house rather than us drive to different cities for different dinners. We bought some cheap folding chairs from Wal Mart and a folding table from Costco, which are also coming in handy for my dad's 50th birthday party that I'm planning for May 21st. A good investment ;) The Easter bunny visited our house too for our nephews and niece! Koshka wouldn't stop checking them out, but they were a hit! We don't have toys or anything here for them when they visit, so the Easter bunny put some magnet games and colouring books in there to keep the kiddos occupied during the dinner evening. 

Work has been going well. Only 35/36 instructional days until Summer break! I'm too excited! We went on two field trips this past week. Staff and students were equally exhausted by the end of the week, but we made it. We went to see the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday, then on Thursday we went to the Devonian Botanical Gardens. The gardens smelled amazing and it was so beautiful. We actually got some rain for an hour or so and it was quite chilly until about 2pm. 

My in-laws came out in April for 10 days and it went really well. It's nice to see them every April, and we'll see them again in December when Rob and I go that way for Christmas. While they were out, we started the renovations on our side entrance! It had some hideous 70's vinyl that was warped, peeling off, and full of paint splatters. It took about 6 hours to get all the old adhesive and vinyl off before my father in law started sanding the wood to make it rough/free of debris to get the new adhesive to stick. I plan to post about the process, but I'm not posting anymore about it until I finish some painting there and Rob finishes the baseboards!

I may or may not have ordered my second Charmed Aroma candle. It's addicting! I at least wait until the candle is burnt out completely before buying another one. Rob thinks I should space it out through the year, buuuuuut I didn't listen.

I've organized all my snail mail a couple times because it was too overwhelming to find a card to send. I organized all my Happy Mail by event/occasion! It's helped a lot and I've stuck to my goal of getting all the birthday cards mailed out at the beginning of the month. I love getting snail mail and I love sending it out. We also let Koshka venture outside without a leash. The first time, she lasted about 10 minutes before I opened the door again and I've never seen a cat run so fast to the basement. She likes to go out for a little while at a time and it's really nice :) She's definitely happier!

You can totally see all the dog hair on the blanket, but it was still cozy. I put cinnamon in the coffee grounds this morning and it's something I am definitely going to do when Fall comes! 

My plans for the weekend are to tidy up some stuff around the house, maybe start some painting on the side entrance, and just relax. It was a physically and mentally exhausting week at work, so my self care is priority this weekend.

How do you stay motivated to blog? What does your self care look like? 

xo. Nicole

Well, It's Been A While...

Goodness, do I even remember how to blog? My last post was September (obviously you know that...) but I've been so busy! Since September, I've switched jobs, had my first spin on the highway into the ditch, started training for my first half marathon (!!!), celebrated some birthdays, and we got some work done on the house.

It's so nice finally having a house to call our own, that I can decorate however I please. Money's been tight, so the dollar store has been my go-to place for decorations. I got into the Fall spirit, as any blogger does, and loaded our place up with pumpkins and had some harvest spice melts going on our warmer for the last 2 months. I did some fun foot painting with our nephews and niece, and they turned out really well! They're supposed to read "Trick or treat, small [name]'s feet." It's nice having their footprints while they're still so young. We don't have any kiddos of our own to make those memories yet, but we can focus on just being a really cool Aunt and Uncle for now.

As you can tell by our Halloween costumes, we really love each other. I was originally planning to be a butterfly (as I was for work, complete with my sequin black blazer), but Rob came across this Cards Against Humanity costume on the internet and finally agreed to do a couples costume with me. It was a simple last minute DIY of poster board, chalk pen, and some yarn/twine. I was in the middle of my 4th round of Whole30 and may or may not have gave in that night to the spinach dip. Oops.

We finally got some pictures done!! Rob's sister is a photographer (Treasured Forever Photography) and her business has grown SO much this past year, and I was glad she could fit us in. She did such a wonderful job, and we had some decent timing. The leaves were almost all gone and the snow was definitely on it's way! She sent me a photo to use for our "new home/address" cards...which are still sitting on our kitchen counter, waiting for stamps. It's only been a year, what's another month? Haha! Also, Rob loves me. He doesn't love getting his picture taken though. Hence his expressions in said photos ;)

Rob started his 2nd year schooling for his electrician apprenticeship in October, and he has since completed it. Work doesn't want him back until after the new year, so he's had some time to do some work on the house over the past couple weeks. We finally painted the side entrance and are now just waiting for a steady income again before we decide on some new tile and getting the stairs done. Rob's been working on the baseboards too, and the living room already looks nicer with them on! Our floor is apparently terribly uneven, so there's more work to do. We have a few projects to finish up before his parents come out in April and I can't wait to have it all done.

The biggest change since September has been me switching school divisions. I definitely miss the old school, students, and staff, but I don't miss the 45 minute commute. I switched to our own town's school division and I'm finding the 10 minute walk a lot better on my self care, and our bank account. No more filling up the gas tank twice a week and I have an extra 2 hours in my day to fit in my exercising...and FarmVille, ha.Things are definitely working out, and I don't regret the switch at all!

Well, that's it for today. I'll be sure to update on my fitness journey and Whole30, along with whats going on this month. I really want to get back in to blogging, it's one of my resolutions for the new year...along with continuing my healthier lifestyle, but I'll be sure to share my list of goals for the new year :)

What have you been up to? I really need to catch up, so link me to your posts or just let me know in the comments!!

xo. Nicole

Embracing July

Having the Summer off is something that I look forward to again. Working in a school definitely has it's advantages, whereas working in retail doesn't really offer a whole 2 months to lay around and do nothing. The dogs are certainly enjoying having me around all day. 

I've spent a lot of my days just hanging around the house, doing the odd little job. I have a big list of things that need to be done before I go back to work, but it's really hard to find the motivation to sand, prime, and paint when I could be laying on the couch watching Netflix. It really sucks when I finally do do a job, like painting the office, only to have one wall look like utter crap and have to redo it (note to self: sand drywall before painting). 

I've been complaining about the length of my hair for a while now. It got so heavy that it would give me headaches when it was in a bun or a ponytail, and would get stuck in things when it was down. It was also pretty dead and would knot SO easily. For my birthday, Rob let me go spend all that $$$ to get my hair cut. I wanted it died a really light, ice blonde, but it didn't turn out that way. I'm going to get it done again before going back to work, I'm thinking bright purple or fire engine red! I'm in a love/hate relationship with my hair right now, too. I thought I wanted it shoulder length, but I wish I got it a bit longer. It hits my shoulders and curls outwards right now because of the length. Oh well, you live and you learn!

We had a huge heat wave pass through a couple weeks ago, and now we're getting a bunch of storms. It was really nice to get rain, considering the agricultural disaster that was declared in Alberta. I used to love storms a lot, though I still somewhat enjoy them. Now I have a house, a husband, and our fur babes to worry about in the event of a natural disaster, so I always get some anxiety when I see clouds like the ones above rolling in. A funnel cloud touched down in Calgary last week (that's about 3 hours from my house), and a super cell 1km wide tornado lasted almost 3 hours in Manitoba (far from here...) last night. The prairies are being hit pretty good this Summer and it's only July.

Spencer is fitting in just right here. Him and Gunner play each other out, and seriously love each other. It's like they really are brothers because they do snap at each other from time to time, but always turn it into playing again. We're having a hard time controlling his barking, so we're attempting to muzzle train right now. Our last resort is a bark collar, and we don't want to have to go there. He's a mom-suck though, always cuddling me! They're also like leeches. You can't walk around our place without both of them following you to see what's up. I love having him be a part of our family! 

This weekend, Rob and I are going camping to his dad's fiancee's lake lot about 2 hours from here. I'm pretty excited! I'm going to try to eat Whole30 style (kind of doing another round...more on that tomorrow!), but I know it's not completely realistic for me. I'm bringing wine and I've been craving a really good sandwich, you know, the kind with lettuce, tomatoes, and all sorts of condiments that totally aren't compliant on Whole30. This weekend also marks my Summer being half over, and it's bittersweet. I miss the routine of work and I'm looking forward to meeting all the new children in our classroom, but I'm enjoying the lack of stress right now.

Also, does anyone know how to make my sidebar picture NOT blurry?! I've tried everything!

Are you enjoying your Summer? What has it included so far?

xo. Nicole

Week's (Month's?) End || July 6

SNAPSHOTS:

1|| My friend and I started our own little book club that no one else wanted to join...so we're both reading Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. I'll post about it when I'm done, but so far I seem to read 6+ chapters at a time. When I find the time to read, I go hard and the book's pretty good. Next, I'm hoping to read a book on Autism.

2|| My first official day of summer vacation! I mean, I had the weekend but does that really count if I already get every weekend off? ;) It was soo gloomy, cold, and wet that day that even the dogs were lethargic. 

3|| Our office/future-nursery-one-day wasn't painted when we did the rest of the house before we moved in because it's where we had all of our painting supplies, haha! I thought I completed my first Summer project, but it turns out I should have sanded the one wall before painting...ugh.

4|| My younger sister arrived last night from BC. She drove all by herself for the whole 14 hour drive, and even brought tea. She won a gift basket so we tried some of the tea - and it's Whole30 compliant! Win-win :)

Well, a whole month went by without any blogging. I mean, random ideas pop in to my head to post about, but then I forget to write them down and I forget them. I've also had a huge writer's block and I've been so busy with trying to find time to exercise and to keep actually cooking my meals. I'll find a balance but it's taking a long time.

xo. Nicole

An Update + A Giveaway!

As you've probably noticed around here, Allison from Crafted Love re-did my blog's design. She's always done my blog's layout designs, and always does such an amazing job! I'm loving the purple :)

Part of the design's update was to go along with my updated name change! It used to be called "A Broke Bride", but seeing as how I'm no longer planning a wedding, I wanted to keep my name up to date with what's going on in my life. My married name is Maxfield, so "a la Maxfield" it is! You'll now find fun outfit of the day posts, recipes, DIYs, and other posts that pertain to my every day life. 

I hope you follow along and enjoy our journey as Maxfields :) To get you even more excited about my blog's name change, I'm hosting a small giveaway! It will end on Saturday, June 21.

There's some press on nails from ImPress, a thin nail art brush, and some nail stickers! I hope you're the lucky winner. I love my ImPress manicures :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tomorrow, we're hosting a HUGE 28 people family BBQ to celebrate our first wedding anniversary (which is actually Monday)! My sister in law, who also photographed our wedding, is bringing her camera tomorrow. I'm excited for all the wonderful pictures that we'll get, and I can't wait to share them with you!

xo. Nicole

A New Title!

My friend and I have come up with a more appropriate name for the blog! Instead of Alberta or Bust, it is now A Broke Bride! It generally sums up what the blog is about and who I am.

Hopefully I can get Photoshop and start creating banners and Ad space and maybe even my own template!

I found this on Pinterest and I find it so adorable. It could make as a great table marker for the wedding!

Also, I think that I'm falling in love with burlap.

xo. Nicole

A New Concept

Since restarting my blog, I've gotten some feedback and have come up with a new concept for Alberta or Bust. I'm going to figure out how to have a wedding with a budget of only $2,500. (We're perfectly okay with anyone donating or helping us fund our wedding, too) ;) Rob and I have about 13 months to plan, plan, and plan!

Now, that budget may fluctuate, but it's all we've got so far. For a couple of 20-something's, having a wedding is no easy feat, financially. I thought that two thousand dollars would be plenty but I was wrong, so wrong. Since being engaged, I've had so many different ideas run through my mind. I've come up with the conclusion that we don't exactly need:

• Favors
• A DJ
• High-End Caterer
• Paid-For Photographer
• Fancy Centerpieces 

Rob and I still have a LOT of planning to do and I'm 98% sure this wedding is going to be considered one of those 'DIY weddings'. I'm not even sure where to start, though visiting our potential venue would be a great start. For now, here are some of the things that I've been looking at on Pinterest. (All pictures were found and are linked to Pinterest)

We were thinking of doing something like a 'goal' chart...#1 would be "Walk in the Park", haha

Vegan, of course.

Pictures like this make me so excited for an outdoor wedding!

Perfect for a bonfire!

So romantic!

xo. Nicole