My house is a MESS!!!

I don't know what happens, it seems to sneak up on me but...WOW! I think someone has been sneaking into our home when we're not home and throwing clothes on the floor, making soup and leaving the pot in the sink and stacking up the mail in various piles around the house. Why would anyone be so cruel??? HELP ME...I'm DROWNING!


Ok...enough of my wining (oops! I meant whining:). It's actually been a fantastic summer and there are good reasons for my house to be messy - I haven't been around much to clean. This is the best summer I can remember having for a very long time - lots of swimming, sailing, cocktails with friends, visits with family, travel...
I know there will be a day that I look back at this summer with envy or maybe awe:) Hope you're also having fun days - my lurky friends.

Heavenly Days at the Lake...

My friends invited me to join them at Sproat Lake this past weekend and since George is away in England all week, I decided to take them up on the offer. It was a fantastic time - one of those 'everybody-gets-everybody-lots-of-laughing-singing-dancing-drinking-swimming-eating' kinds of times. I didn't know everyone very well which made me a bit shy about crashing their party but it worked. I made some great new friends.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE swimming in lakes??? Well, in case you haven't heard, I LOVE SWIMMING IN LAKES! I even fulfilled my summer goal of skinny dipping (quickly and alone last night while everyone else was around the camp fire). How magical is that - I just laid in the water laughing to myself - feeling all free-spirit-y and naughty! (The pic above is me in a swimsuit so don't waste your time trying to enlarge:) Hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying this cleansing rain.

last night's yummy dinner (Kathleen and Wilma's delicious chicken with rice, salad and corn-on-the-cob) I learned a brilliant new trick about using a big lump of butter on a slice of bread to butter your corn (apparently its from Martha Stewart)

Click here for more pix...

Me, my toes and family resemblance...

Ok, all you foot fetish people out there (I'm pretty sure that's not anyone who actually reads my blog but hey...you never know), this is for you. I just had my toes done the prettiest blue ever - and now I'm ready for swimming in the lake this weekend!!! Can't wait! I'll tell you all about it after the weekend.

This other pic I took of myself so I could check my eyebrows - I think they'll do for another few days...(I think I really look like my dad and my brother in this one). What do you think?...thin upper lip, intelligent high forehead...(but I have the best eyebrows:)

My life these days...

Well...I'm exhausted! But if you think I'm complaining, you've got another think coming:) My days have been filled with
swimming at Kits pool in the mornings,

swimming at the lake with good friends,

sailing with my family
and hanging out with my 11 year old (soon to be 12!) nephew (I have been able to keep up at work as well but it's great to have flexible work hours).
It's been a fantastic summer so far - I know I'm spoiled - but also know that I'm enjoying every moment and appreciating all the gifts that life is bringing to me! How's your summer going?

Monday, Monday...

I went for my first swim of the year at Kits pool this morning - what a fabulous way to kick-start the week. It took me a good 10 minutes to convince myself to jump in and when I finally did, the water was perfect. Not cold at all as I was expecting. As I say every year, if you haven't been, you must go. It's so beautiful and really - the best Vancouver has to offer - with the ocean and mountain views... The only thing I'd ask is, "hello mr. handsome lifeguard - please don't be all friendly and chatty with me as I'm clumsily swimming past you and trying to clean off my foggy goggles!" I never said I was the most coordinated girl in the pool:)
We had a fantastic weekend on and around the boat. Saturday we just hung out there and fixed up a few things. It had been a few weeks since we'd been out and we wanted to get it into shipshape (I can use that expression for real now!) before my nephew and sister-in-law came on with us yesterday. They were our first official guests on the boat (meaning we actually left the dock) and it all went very well. My nephew Ryan is pretty fearless so the only challenge was to keep him out of the water. Everyone had a job to do (our boat is too small to just have people lounging around watching the scenery) which worked out great. We had to be very careful of the tides as we can't get back into our slip at a very low tide so all was timed out perfectly. We ended up being out on the water from 10am-1pm. Sue and Ryan left promptly after docking so George and I did our clean-up which takes about 45 minutes and then enjoyed the rest of the aft. just relaxing/snoozing/snacking/snooping at other boaters...

My captain!

We didn't get home until after 6 - just in time for George to bbq up some delicious buffalo burgers! Yum.