BACK WHERE IT BEGAN

I feel like we have done full circle with our adventure here in Canada. We are back at the lodge. Back where it all began. (See some of our story here, here,  here & here)
We will spend a few weeks here with Dave's family before flying home. This place is beautiful. Remote (I'm talking a 12km driveway remote). But beautiful. I find it hard to do nothing, so this pace of life is different for me. But I have to remind myself that a forced holiday after all the crazy packing and moving, is actually a gift.
My children are loving having a huge backyard here after life in a 4th floor apartment. Fishing, riding bikes and getting dirty is what it's all about to them. To see Levi's grin each night as he goes to sleep, really does make the remoteness worth it!
We are planning to head into town this weekend, quite the event in these parts! (hello Laura Ingalls! : )
I hope you have a great weekend!
xo

DREAMS THAT TURN OUT, & DREAMS THAT DON'T...(& OTHER WAFFLINGS!)

This post turned out to be a lot more text and photos than I'd first planned...just a warning, but read on to hear where we are & what happend to the lodge :)

Today is my 500th blog post. Kinda crazy. Kinda cool. I don't even want to go back and look at my first post, I cringe! I am so thankful I've grown and changed over the years. I wish I could share more of life with you, but I am learning to just be in this season of raising young children. I have more ideas than time allows which can be frustrating. And it's hard at times when I'm tempted to look around & see what accolades and accomplishments I could achieve, but I am reminded to keep my blinders on, look straight ahead, be me, live in the 'now' with a vision of the future. So much more like me.

I was going to write about our first year of living in Canada today, so when I saw the old 500 post mark, it couldn't be better timed I don't think. While my sister was visiting, we marked our one year anniversary here. On the actual date, we went out for a bit of a ten pin bowling session followed by dinner. It was such a fun family activity. We need to do that more!

When I reflect back on our move here; we left Australia with a 3mth, newborn baby, who is now walking around & chatting; We had all our stuff in packed up in boxes for months, and now I feel like we have created a home. We knew nothing of the banking, phone, and health systems here, let alone the different grocery brands and products, and now I'm feeling a little more pro in all those things. It's interesting that you can live in an English speaking, developed country, but still feel a sense of culture shock! Oh those early days...I'm so glad they are behind me! (Have any of you moved overseas and felt like that?)

Originally you may remember we moved to Canada for this lodge. Making it a little more mod, and running it with my hubby's family. Well, lets just say things didn't work out the way we planned (let's hear it for family business - haha!!) and so last August we moved to Edmonton for work for Dave. I never really mentioned it here because we thought it was just temporary. But we've been here for 8mths now. When we arrived in Edmonton we knew two couples, and now I feel like we have connected in with a church, school and a social group of friends. It's becoming so much more familiar and is better for our family than the remoteness of the lodge.

We have been living in a two bedroom apartment for the first time in our married lives...I'll have to show you around sometime.  But that will be for another day!

We don't know what the future holds for certain (but who really does anyway?). We have some dreams and plans, so we are just wisely waiting to see when & how that all works out, and we really can't say where we will be in a years time from now, coz honestly I never thought a year ago I'd be living in Edmonton of all places. (I hear Bamuda is lovely though...that's tempting after experiencing the longest winter of my life!) But I'm not complaining. Living 10 mins from one of the biggest malls in the world is kind of a perk, and does something in balancing out the 'too cold to even go outside' moments.
I don't know if you even care about where I'm living, but there is a part of me that feels like I've been keeping a secret from you for the past few months. Of course that is never my intention. Like I said earlier, I don't have time to post all I want to about my design world, let alone my personal world! But, I have had a few of you lovely regular readers asking me about the lodge, so I hope that fills you all in. And the rest who didn't ask....thanks for reading anyway! Here's to adventures ahead, I've kind of just invited you all in on the journey! :)

Thanks for being here!
Jordan xo

Images :: Top to bottom, L-R // Family Bowling night to celebrate our one year in Canada // The lake just steps from our lodge // The bear bell I put on my pram when going for a walk at the lodge...no joke! // Logging country // Canada Post // Even the toilets are different // Yellow school buses are for real, not just the movies // Moose & snow plows on the loose, just everyday signs here // Quadbiking at the lodge // Setting off to Edmonton // Dave & Ellie reflecting on life // Our first 'Fall' was beautiful, I now know why people love it so much!

LODGE PINNED

Happy Monday friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I think I had the best day yesterday since moving here. Spent in town; church, park, lunch, shops, dinner, home. It was a little bit of perfect!

This week I'm really trying to pull together my ideas for this lodge and the look I think that works the best. Trying to not get carried away my too many options but staying true to my original concepts. Here are a few key pieces that keep me on track. I'm thinking light, airy with glass and a few wicker and timber elements. Neutrals with texture I think.

The biggest thing now is to track down some shops that stock this kind of thing. If I was in Australia, I'd know exactly where to go. But here...I'm such a newbie. I need your help! What are some great stores here in Canada for this style of thing? Thanks in advance!

Images // 1:: Butlers Tray // 2:: Shelf & Mirror // 3:: Glass Pendant // 4:: Rustic Neutral bedroom // 5:: Grey Chair

WEEKEND WHIPAROUND

Well we finally arrived at the lodge this week. A home that doesn't yet feel like home. To say it's a culture shock would be an understatement! When we arrived, there was no running water (but was internet...get that!), our driveway alone is 20mins long, and our nearest supermarket is just under an hour away. This is totally different to the city life and Australian environment I'm use to. If I've ever needed one of my happy places like here or here, it's now! :)

It's been tough. I have missed things from home, but for the first time earlier this week, I actually wanted to get on a plane and go home. I didn't know how I'd go sharing this - this move has been something I've looked forward to for so long, so I feel ungrateful for feeling this way when I have been given this amazing life opportunity. It's strange that you can feel like something is the right thing to do, yet feels so hard.
This is life though complete with ups and downs and I know I will look back on these first few weeks and laugh at what a greenhorn I was!

This is part of the reason I opened the shop this week. I needed my creative outlet back, and something that felt normal. It is good to be back, and thank you for your encouragement over on Facebook too. I hope you have some lovely events planned for this year to create memories and bring a sense of tradition and love to your home. I hope my designs help you do that. Really family is so important, and if we can just make it a little more beautiful, then why not.

That's going to be my plan during this time of adjustment - keep making things beautiful, focus on the joy in the little things so that it changes my perspective on the big things. I don't think I can go wrong if I make a choice to be thankful in all of this, do you? xo

Here's a 'little' thing that I'm grateful for this week - Dave built a small campfire one evening and we toasted marshmallows. It felt so idealistic when inside I was feeling homesick. So here are some photos from a 'joy moment' this week - un-showered in all our glory! : )

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

(P.S. We now have running cold AND hot water, hooray!)