Professional Carpe Diem-er

In June I did not hike, but our family went for a couple of short hikes in the mountains in Jasper in July. In July I didn't do much that would be classified as art but I did organize a craft for the cousins at our family reunion and do portraits. In August I did not bike but my DH took 5 minutes to teach our 5 year-old to ride her two-wheeler, and he organized a 'bike rodeo' for 22 children in the neighbourhood - it was fantastic, complete with a jello mould of a pinky-grey brain and safety vests. So that's my retro-active list of accomplishments in my unobserved areas of focus. Butt what I DID do was carpe diem. I was able to really value life and embrace what it had to offer. I looked around and recognized activities that I wanted to do, and I did them. I booked a 1-hour rafting trip in Jasper. 

I bought a family membership to the art gallery. I took a bike ride in the river valley with my DH. I took my 4 children to WEM... by myself - that's pretty adventurous for me. I basked in the delight that my DD radiated when she got her ears pierced. Funny story: the second night that she had real earrings in, having done her time with the original studs, my DH and I were out on a date. Just as dessert arrived, my cel. phone rang. My DD wailed into my ear, "but my bwaddohs don't know how to get my eawings out!" After instructing and encouraging said "bwaddohs" we returned home at the end of our date to find her sound asleep, on her back, in her "sweddoh" AND her jeans AND her socks since she couldn't get her tight-necked sweater over her head with her earrings still in... I don't know how that affected her inability to get out of her jeans. Age 5 and she's already been introduced to the price of vanity. Tee hee.

AND I finally got around to the job of re-painting the trim and doors upstairs - that professional painter/handy woman goal that I skipped so many times. I don't have a large house, but what I recognized is that I can have a well cared for house. A house that shows pride of ownership. A tidy, clean, uncluttered, creatively decorated house. Now that my youngest has begun kindergarten (sigh) I'm going to work this month (professional home organizer!) to streamline this house. I now have a label maker, so I'm ready! And our community is having a garage sale to raise money for the new community hall, so perhaps I can declutter my  house AND help them out.

How did you carpe diem this summer?