Anna Elizabeth Shirley

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Trip to Vancouver

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Well, it finally happened… I visited British Columbia! Up until this point, the furthest west in Canada I’ve visited is Toronto. I stayed in Richmond, spent time in Vancouver and visited Nanaimo.

We arrived on Monday, November 6th. That night we took the Canada Line Train to Gastown. We saw the Steam Clock and had supper and drinks at Smith’s Irish Pub.

On Tuesday, I spent my day on Main Street. I worked at the JJ Bean Coffee Roasters cafe in the morning. For lunch, I grabbed a slice of pizza and visited a second hand book store; Carson Books & Records. In fact, the day was really planned around going to this book store. 😉 After this, I finished my shift at the Artigiano Main St Cafe.

One of the books I purchased at the book store was the first Harry Potter which I finished recently — so good! Now to read the others. It is a goal of mine to catch up reading a lot of the non-fiction classics!

After work on Wednesday, we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant in Gastown. When we were on the elevator at the hotel about to head out, a group of people asked if we were going to the KISS concert that night. We had no idea they were playing. KISS is one of my favorites so on our way to Gastown, I looked up to see if there were any tickets left. We purchased the tickets shortly after. The venue was not far from the restaurant. It was meant to be and a lot of fun! 🖤

One of my colleuges came to pick me up early Thursday morning at my hotel and brought me over to Nanaimo to meet the rest of the BC team. We checked out some of the shops in downtown Nanaimo. Lunch was at the Cactus Club Cafe. The food and company were exceptional.

On Friday, we went to the Aquarium. So many amazing creatures… I especially enjoyed the jellyfish. I don’t mind their company when there is glass dividing us! After this, we did the horse-drawn tour of the east side of Stanley Park. Supper was at the Flying Beaver.

Saturday was another full day. We took the Aquabus to the Public Market. After spending a couple hours there, we headed to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. We were fortunate that the rain held off until the very end. But this way, we got the full rainforest experience!

If you haven’t been to Vancouver, I strongly recommend it. I would love to go back someday during the warmer months. Next time, I’d like to visit Victoria.

Cheers.
xxx

First Snowfall

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Today I woke up to a beautiful sight of some fresh snow. I love the contrast between the sunlight and shadows. Do I love it in the dead of winter with mountains of snow, short days, and freezing temperatures? NO. But I do enjoy the sight of a fresh snowfall.

You know how we sometimes feel nostalgic from a smell or sound we hear? I often feel it when there is a certain lighting in a room or outdoors. I don’t necessarily go back to a certain event or point in time, but I do feel like I am in a familiar place that I haven’t visited in a while. That is how I felt this morning with the this particular sunlight pouring into the house. I feel like I am in a cozy and safe place.

❤️

Baby Sun Rose

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I absolutory love this new plant of mine! It is a Baby Sun Rose succulent plant.

In the town I live in, they have petunias and Baby Sun Rose plants in some of the planters. I took a cutting recently of the Baby Sun Rose, not knowing what it was, and put it in water. Within about 3 weeks it sprouted roots. It did take a while to root. I got some more cuttings and this time I am putting them directly in moist soil,

It is a beautiful succulent plant that flowers year-round. Apparently the blooms attract hummingbirds. I also love that it is a vine/crawling type of plant.

As you may of guessed… It loves the sun. For now, I have it on our kitchen island that gets a few hours of direct sun. The long term goal is to have a nice full vine and to hang it in a window.

I am not sure if they are fast growers or not but I am planning on getting cuttings from my own cuttings once they grow and are more established. I think it would make a great plant to share as it’s not as common in my area.

Have a great weekend! 🌸

Engaged

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Mod Gents Belle Engagement Ring
Anna Elizabeth Shirley

I haven’t shared the news with a lot of people yet, but I am officially engaged! My family does already know about how myself and my boyfriend plan on getting married but not many people know about the engagement itself, which just took place over the weekend. ♥️

I am under the impression that not many people read this blog so I felt like writing here. I don’t mind if anyone is reading this. I understand that this is on the internet, but since I know there isn’t much traffic, I felt comfortable talking about my thoughts on marriage and the wedding.

Before meeting this person I was indifferent to marriage. It never came up at all in my previous relationships. It’s not something I thought much about. I am not sure why that is the case. What I do know is, when my boyfriend first brought up the subject… he seemed very genuine and determined (he still does!) and this brought on a new dimension of how I could feel for someone. It’s also very flattering. It does feel great to have a man be this open and transparent about his commitment to you for life. I should note that this topic started early on, so for most of our relationship… the idea of being seriously committed was baked in the foundation and set the stage.

Now, of course, you don’t have to get married to show commitment to someone but I now have an appreciation for the idea… the symbolism, and gesture. This isn’t to downplay anyone’s previous commitment to me but I feel as though, especially now that I am older, that this is extra special. I see it all in a new light.

One thing I am not really on board with though is having a wedding. I would have preferred to elope. But now that the family knows, with some of the responses, it seems as though we will have to have a wedding of some kind… for them. I know that at the end of the day this is my decision (ours) but I feel like because getting married is the union of two families… that they should be involved in some way.

After the eloping idea was tabled, the idea was to get married at the courthouse (or wherever!) and our family could come, if they wish… But.. that ends up being a wedding, doesn’t it?

Why don’t I want to have a wedding? I am not interested in having that much attention, honestly. Weddings are bride-focused. I suppose they don’t have to be but all eyes, at some point, go on the bride.

Another reason… Even though, my fiance and I are guilty of regular PDA. I don’t like the idea of having a bunch of people watch us kiss. I know, it’s just a kiss… but that being the center of attention and people clapping is not appealing to me!

Weddings are costly. Again, another point where it doesn’t have to be the case.. but I find even just something small could be costly. I’d want everyone to have good quality food at the very least…

One other idea I had was still eloping BUT have a reception of some kind at a later date. The families could meet then, but it seems as though some family want to be present for the exact moment of union… So, I guess that idea is tabled too.

By the way, this is by no means to criticize anyone including family. I understand their point of view. It isn’t wrong.

Anyway, I am still unsure of how to proceed here but there is no rush and I will continue to think about it.

Thanks for reading.

xxx

Wildflowers in the Gaspésie

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Since the beginning of July I have been living back in Québec in the Gaspésie. I moved in with my boyfriend and so far I am loving it here. I moved back to the east coast to my hometown in New Brunswick from Montreal last Fall to be somewhere more quiet… and now I am in a place that is even smaller than that! One thing I love seeing is all the wildflowers. Spring and Summer were slow to start here this year. I appreciate seeing all the flowers blooming now. I bought this strawberry vase recently which I adore. I put the wildflower bouquets I pick in it for the dining room table.

I hope you’re all having a lovely summer.

Oh, hi! What the heck happened to me in 2022?

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Looks like I did it again…

I write a blog post, and then I disappear. Not a peep from me during 2022, and now it is 2023!

The last blog post I wrote here was on December 31st, 2021. A lot has happened since then. I will attempt to give a brief overview of the main events in my life that took place last year in 2022.

What happened to being a life coach?

The last time I wrote here, I finished off by saying I had decided to become a life coach. Last year, I did get my life coach certification and launched my first life coaching program. Seven people signed up, and it was lovely!

However, with time, my own personal issues came up and became unmanageable along with everything else. My financial situation kept getting worse and worse with time, and I didn’t have the capacity to be there for others when I felt I was drowning in my own stress and despair.

I made the decision to find a remote WordPress related 9-5. I was tired of inconsistent income. It took me a couple of months–a couple of very stressful months, but I finally found a position that I am still in today. I am doing this along with running my own WordPress development business, Alien Girl, on the side. I will expand more on this in another post… how I feel about my current career situation.

Meet Bowie

Oh, and during this stressful time, I made the decision to get a dog… It certainly wasn’t a smart financial move but he has been a good companion. Now that I live in a house (which I will talk more about later) I feel more comfortable having him around. I will write a blog post dedicated to him at some point as I did for Bebe.

Bowie the Boston Terrier Dog

Relationships

I ended the relationship mentioned in my last post. I respect the person, and he was very good to me but it wasn’t working out AND I kept having the feeling that I needed to move back home. This feeling had been lingering for a couple of years.

When I moved back, I decided I would attempt to check out the dating pool here. Before making this decision I thought about the three long-term relationships I had been in and looked for a common thread for what didn’t work for me as I ended all three. Once I was clear on what it was that didn’t work for me in previous relationships and what I would like to have in a partner… I decided to try again!

I did end up meeting someone, we started chatting in mid-October and met in mid-November. It’s going very well, today is 2 months since our first date. I won’t say much more at this time as I don’t want to jinx anything! 😉

Moved back home

About a month or so after ending the relationship, I moved back home. I lived in Montreal for 10 years and I was finally ready to come back. I am now back in my hometown and see my family on regular basis as opposed to not seeing them at all.

I moved back to New Brunswick at the end of September and stayed with my mum and her husband until I found my own place. I moved into a house for rent at the beginning of December. It is an old house with a lot of charm and a decent-sized yard. I will definitely share more about this with time. For now, I will say that Bebe, Bowie, and I are really enjoying having a wood stove.

Oh! And, during that time I also got a car. It is a used car but it works just fine.

That is all I have for now. Thank you for reading and Happy New Year!

What did I accomplish in 2021?

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While I will be writing about my own year in this post. I encourage you to reflect on your accomplishments too. I would advise against JUST thinking about it. Write it down! Trust me, once you starting writing things down, you’ll start remembering things you have done that you have forgotten about! I wrote this post out in multiple sittings over a couple of weeks – things would come to me. ✨

I know there are people out there, maybe it’s you, who are feeling down and telling themselves that they did not do enough these past 12 months, they should of done this, they should of done that… We can spend our time thinking about all the things we wish we did or did differently… but why not choose to celebrate what we did do instead? You have the power to choose what you believe about yourself.

A year, while it seems to have just disappeared in the blink of an eye, is a long time. I’m confident that you have done at least one thing that you are proud of.

AND, please, while reading this, do NOT compare what I have done with what you have done or not done. We all have our own journeys, they are our own experiences and no one can take them from us, nor can they fairly be compared to anyone else!

Colorful clouds at sunset

Invested

Finally, for the first time I invested some money into stocks. Also, cryptocurrency. This is for long-term income. I kept putting it off for so long even though I knew inside that I had to at least try. Sure enough, once I took the time to do so… I was super into it!

The cool thing about investing into companies is that you get to choose what companies you put your money into. Successful investing requires research. Surprisingly, I found the whole experience empowering. Every now again, I check in on my investments, but I mostly sit on them and wait!

Moved into a new apartment

At the end of 2020, I started looking around for bigger apartments. I loved my little place downtown but it was getting tight in there! I found an apartment in a building I had cleaned in before (I was a maid from 2016-2020) so I was familiar with it and remembered the fantastic view! The price, although was $300 more a month than what I was currently paying, was cheaper than I expected a place like that to be. It was manageable and I had the urge to check it out – so I did.

I fell in love instantly, of course. And one of the walls had Victorian wallpaper – something I had always wanted. I took that as a sign. I did take a couple days to think about it. I wrote down why I wanted it and why I needed to move there. I felt that I needed the space to be more inspired, energetic, and productive. I successfully convinced myself to sign that lease. And I did.

One side of the apartment was just windows and they went from the floor to the ceiling so there was a lot of light. Being there did give me energy, I was waking up earlier and feeling better.

I did not capture it on camera, but my favorite moment in this apartment was waking up at 3AM to a full moon shining down on me. Oh, and witnessing a sun shower one summer evening! ☀️

— Oh, and I buzzed off my hair in February… it always feels good to do this. 😁

Ended a toxic relationship

I don’t think I am going to write much about this. But it’s noteworthy enough to be listed. For anyone out there who is in a relationship that they feel deep down isn’t right… know that your are NOT alone. Know that for some of us, it does take time to break free. Don’t beat yourself up over this. You’ll leave when you’re ready.

Became an assistant to a life coach

Earlier this year, GeekPack opened a new program called GeekPOWer which we run with Helen Henley. It is a group coaching program. I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to work alongside her. So far, we have done two rounds. Third round coming up in the new year! So far, my role has been her assistant, managing the Facebook group and the Zoom calls… but the goal is for me to shift more into a coaching role next round.

I did have some opportunities to lead sessions but I would say they did not go so well! 😅All of my training and learning on coaching so far has been on 1:1 and the emphasis with 1:1 is to let the client do most of the talking. As the coach you listen and ask questions. With group coaching, though, it is a bit different and I only just understood my problem with it a couple of weeks ago. In a group, you can also teach… I did not realize this. But this simple realization, I think will help me moving forward.

Spoke up

While most of the time I do not speak politics on my social media, I did share my opinions on some current issues this summer. My only regret is that I was bit fiery at first when expressing myself. But overall I put a lot of thought into what I expressed and did so over a period of several weeks to try and be clear as possible. In the end, I gained much more than I lost. I made more friends and strengthened existing relationships.

While at times, I felt bad and felt regret for doing so… In the end I learned a lot from this experience. By putting it out there I have been able to see my opinions more clearly so I could critique them and further develop them. While I did speak about specific issues, I wanted to just include some of the ‘bigger picture’ ones here:

Tried a Dating App – Met someone

I am not sure why, but I had be a skeptic about meeting someone online. Despite having close friends + family who have had success meeting their person this way. I browsed dating apps a few times before, but that was the extent of it. I browsed but I did not initiate any interest or contact in anyone.

One night, May 24th to be exact, I was in bed and unable to sleep. I felt an urge to check out Facebook Dating. I followed through on this urge and swiped through what was probably hundreds of profiles BUT this time I did swipe to show I was interested on several people. One of them was a handsome fella named Vladimir…

The next morning, I woke up to a new message “Howdy Miss 😊” and it grew from there. Now we are living together.

Wildflower Bouquet from Vladimir

Saw the Milky Way

As a result of meeting the handsome fella mentioned above. I had the opportunity to see the Milky Way. Where he had been working was in a very remote outfitters in woods of Quebec. Very little light pollution. On the night of my arrival the sky was clear and I saw more stars in the sky than I have every seen before! 🤩

Took a plane to visit home

For those who don’t know, I live in Quebec but I am from New Brunswick. Two different provinces in Canada but they are next to each other. I hadn’t been home in close to 3 years, and when I’ve visited before, I’d take the train. The train ride is long, about 16 or so hours… Now that I have a cat that doesn’t like to be left alone, I had decided that I wanted to take her with me BUT – 16+ hours is way too long to be in carrier.

While of course taking a plane was more expensive than the train, it was certainly worth it. We were in New Brunswick in less than two hours, it was wonderful!

I don’t have much experience on planes, only a handful of times so far but I do enjoy it! Whenever the plane is about to take off and starts accelerating down the runway I get an adrenaline rush.

Moved…again!

When I moved into the apartment I mentioned earlier in January, I took over someone else’s lease. A lease that ended September 30th. I had a month before this date to decide if I was going to renew or not. My apartment was not quite big enough/laid out in a way that would have worked well for two people so we decided to look for an apartment together. (He had been working away so did not have a place of his own.)

Within a week of deciding to move in together I found a place, we checked it out and agreed to sign the lease. I am proud of myself for being so efficient with that – but heck, I do have the experience with apartment searching and vetting now! 😉

I absolutely love it here. It’s spacious but also has a lot of character. It was built in the 20s and a lot of the original flooring, wood, molding, and paintings are in tact. We have a backyard, we intend on building our first garden in the summer!

Started building consistent habits

With the except of a few days, over the past few months I have been consistently taking vitamins daily! I’ve also been drinking more water, being more mindful about drinking enough.

Another habit I have been working is reading more. I do have it my to-do list every day but it doesn’t always happen. I have been reading more and I am super excited about that! Reading daily is the goal.

AND, the latest habit I’ve been working on is daily journaling! I only started this a few weeks ago but I have been journaling every day. Even if I just a few lines in, it still counts!

Baked my first loaf of bread

This has been on my bucket list for a long time. It is empowering to bake your own bread and not have to buy it from the store. Vlad is a chef so I am fortunate to live with an expert. He regularly bakes bread and I finally tried it myself. I really enjoy this recipe so far.

Followed my intuition

Overall, this year, my biggest achievement was following my intuition. I felt a nudge to this, do that, despite sometimes it seemingly uncomfortable or nonsensical at first. I’ve been trying to let go of limiting beliefs and following what I feel to be right. While I have come a long way, I still have an even longer way to go, and that is okay with me. 🙂

Decided to become a life coach.

Over the past year I have been receiving life coaching from Viviana Coscotin. I had never received coaching before and it was not something I ever considered for myself. Initially, when I heard the word coaching, I only imagined it being for those in fitness and sports. As I started my entrepreneurial journey a couple years ago, I learned that having a coach was common place for every aspect of life.

With Viviana we started by working on finding my purpose and during out last session we worked on uncovering what my inner most desire in life is. To say my experience with her and learning about myself has been life-changing, would an understatement. I have developed a lot as a person and feel more clear on what I want to do with my life. Something I hadn’t been sure of in the 31 years of my existence.

One thing I have noticed, though, is that coaching isn’t as common for every day folk. In my network, most of the coaches target business owners/entrepreneurs. It got me thinking about how nice it would be to offer this life-changing magic to everyone else.

While my coaching journey is only just beginning, my goal is to at least have one program/offer that is accessible to everyone on a budget. I am actually working on my first program now and planning to launch in at least two weeks. I will be announcing here and on my social media when it’s ready – stay tuned!

>>> Feel free to contact me in the meantime though if you have any questions and are interested in working with me! 🙂 <<<

At the beginning of this post, I encouraged you to reflect on what you accomplished this year… please feel free to start that reflection here in the comments, I’d love to learn more about you 👇🏻

Happy Holidays! 💖

Walk to the Mountain

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I decided to go for a walk today. I left early so I would not have to worry about being around too many people. Since my last post, I have accomplished a lot as far as educating myself. My life has taken a turn in a positive direction despite there still being some negativity afoot. I launched my own web development and design business a couple of weeks ago and I have been working on it every day. I work my 9-5, then I work on my own business. I genuinely enjoy doing what I do and it seems like I may have finally found something that I would like to do for a living. I have been undecided for so long and that has caused me a lot of sadness. I reached the point where I did not want to get out of bed anymore but now I have something productive and enjoyable for me to wake up for.