It was the most ironic day when we had to saw Liv the Christmas Tree into a pile of pieces to fit her dried out corpse into our green bin. She was a beautiful tree we cut down at Drysdales Tree Farm one non-snowy, abnormally warm December afternoon. After painstakingly searching for what felt like days, Scott finally spotted her and the Heavens shone down their approval. We drove her home with pride, atop our SUV, and cherished her all the more after doing a side of the road rescue when she nearly fell to her premature highway death. She will always be remembered as the first real tree Scott and I have ever had, as well as the first Emberly tree. I forgot to post any photos of her, so here she is now...in all of her 9 ft glory. She decked our living room with boughs of Balsam Fir and our floors with needles of the same kind. She was pleasing to all of our senses, especially to Milo's tastebuds. Our first Christmas tree will forever "Liv" on in our hearts.

Happy 2015! I hope this new year is inspiring you to do great things.

I feel very determined to make this a year of personal development, especially in making time for my hobbies. I have decided to start a monthly program where each month I do one activity every day. For example, February could be the month I do yoga everyday and March could be the month I read a chapter a day. I have a different activity I want to focus on each month. 365 day challenges are too daunting for me and I find my attention wanders after around 60 days, so I figured a 365 challenge but doing something different each month would keep me inspired and interested! I've got try a new recipe each day, go for a walk or bike, take a photo with interesting lighting, watch a critically acclaimed movie, and work on the yard/garden on the list too! I am so excited. I have realized that living away from the city really frees up your time, which is wonderful, but I am part of a generation who never really had to find creative ways to entertain themselves. I wanted to make sure I was using my free time wisely and not just lazing around and wasting valuable time. Each day is an opportunity to get better at something and to work on developing skills and creativity.

This is a random subject and story but one that will definitely be taking up a lot of time here at Emberly so I thought I would share! Our friend and tenant here, Nathan, was homeschooled but did not complete his highschool education. Now at the age of 24, he wants to learn more and possibly pursue post-secondary education in the future. This is something that has been on his mind and discussed often around our house for the past two years. After seeing this desire in him, but with his work schedule not really permitting time to take courses at night school, I decided I could help him. I think it's amazing he wants to learn what he didn't when he was younger and wants to make sure his dreams for his career path are possible. First things first, I am not a certified teacher - which he knows. However, I am so very passionate about learning and education, not for the sake of climbing any corporate ladders or hanging fancy framed diplomas but simply for the betterment and development of our selves. Wisdom and knowledge can help us become informed and compassionate people, able to bring change to the world around us. Education is power. Most of our lack of involvement in the world around us comes from a feeling of powerlessness and not feeling equipped enough to make a difference. I want to help Nathan feel ready for informed, meaningful, relevant conversations where he can be confident in what he knows. I am really excited about this! I know as I go along, I will also brush up on my own education which also excites me.

So we are continuing his education, starting this week. I have my highschool diploma, where I had great grades throughout and took University level courses. I was planning to go into teaching or writing and kept most of my course work from high school. I also completed a year of college, where I finished on the Dean's List. My strong subjects in school were literature, writing, history, creative arts, philosophy, psychology, and business. My weak subjects were science and math. Scott, thankfully, was much better at science and math and will help Nathan where I cannot.

Nate's goal is to get his GED so he can continue his education as a Mature Student, possibly taking courses in Woodworking or even something with animals. He isn't quite sure yet. My goal is to help him fall in love with learning, as I believe that opens so many doors in itself.

So if you are wondering what we do out here in the boonies, we are finding ways to keep ourselves busy!


We had a NYE party here at Emberly, and my best friend Danielle happened to get ENGAGED right here in our living room! It was crazy awesome.


She also later got down on one knee and proposed to me, asking me to be her maid of honour. It was such a fabulous way to ring in the new year! I took some photos of her stunning ring the next morning - check this thing out!




So that's the news around here as we have entered into this new year with new goals.
I am gifted with a lot of time to myself...which I would easily waste. But I know this time is a gift, and is gifted to me with a purpose. For some reason, down the road I know I will be thankful for the time I took to learn more skills and better myself. I know in the city it's hard to find the time, but if you can, I highly recommend having monthly goals for yourself! Yearly goals can be so daunting...break it up a bit and see how easy it is to accomplish something each month!

Cheers to a great year.