I’ve been kinda slacking on the posts and updates lately. I haven’t been working on simpleillusions.ca either. I just haven’t felt like doing much. I have been playing around with Adobe Illustrator. Right now I am just trying out a couple of tutorials and getting used to using it. I’ve never really used it before. I’ve only ever used Photoshop and a while back I used Paint Shop Pro (years and years ago). But I love Illustrator and the things you can do with it. Once I get the hang of it I am going to try creating a few backgrounds for download.

I’d like to be able to create and use some of my own illustrations and vectors. I’ve been playing around with themes. I found a couple of great tutorials on creating your own themes from scratch and how to mock them up on paper and in Photoshop. I also have Dreamweaver CS4 (the link is for CS5 but you get the idea). I know it’s a powerful tool so I would like to learn how to use it too. When I took webdesign years ago I never really learned anything other then Photoshop. If I had the money I would love to go back to school part-time and take some more web design courses since everything I have and know is so outdated. I can teach myself and have in the past but it would be nice to have some sort of degree behind it. I guess I should start looking into it. I just don’t want to go in one direction and then change my mind again. Since I have a really bad habit of doing that.

It’s not so much that I get side tracked or that I do not know what I really want to do. It’s more that I tend to give up easily and move on. Then I tend to look back and start wondering “what if”. If anyone has been stuck in that cycle it sucks. I have an idea of what I want now. And I know technically how to get it. It’s just all the hurdles in between that seem to deter me. I guess that can be said for all aspects of my life. I know who I want to be with. I know what I want from him, from myself, and from our relationship. I know I love him more then anything in the world. Now if I could just figure out how to get everything in between going in the right direction. I’m really good at panicking and going in the wrong direction now I need to learn how to get back on track I guess.

My friend Erin and I decided on Tuesday since I was off and she was off to pool our money together and drive to the town of Truro which is about an hour away and go for a walk. We both love just driving aimlessly and taking pictures. Since Nova Scotia is mainly valleys and Oceans we decided to head the other way into the “mountains” and go for a hike.

My mom suggested Victoria Park which is essentially a 400 acre wooded park in the middle of the town! It’s really pretty. There is 2 sets of waterfalls in the park and lots of beautiful woodlands. Hills and ravines and lots and lots of green. We are having the greenest, warmest April on record here. It is like mid June weather already. Warm and sunny. Except today of course which was cool and sunny.

We walked up one side of the brook to the falls and took some pictures there.

Then we continued up to the second set of falls and onto a set of wooden bridges and paths set into the side of the falls and over the top. It was beautiful!

We went down into a little area at the pool at the base of the waterfall and sat on the rocks, it was so tranquil and peaceful. I love being near waterfalls…

It was a nice walk. About an hour and a half total. I definitely want to go back there sometime this summer and get some more pictures. It’s made me want to go explore some more waterfalls and trails in Nova Scotia!

I am working on getting about 10 images per gallery set up from all my trips with Erin (or anyone) to display on the site.  As soon as I do so I will blog about it. In the meantime check out my photos on Facebook for this and other adventures! I think I have them all publicly available… if not let me know.

In 3 months from today I am going to be 30. I can’t believe it. That also means that my younger brother is going to be 19. I can’t believe that either. I sometimes wonder where the time goes. I am starting to feel old. I remember when I was in my early and mid 20′s I kept saying I can’t wait to be 30. I figured I’d be married to my boyfriend and already have a kid or 2 by then. Instead I am 6 months into a new relationship. The old one ending after almost 5 years.

It’s not where I expected to be but it is not unpleasant either. I’m much better off in this relationship then I ever was in that one anyways. Now thinking back if I had of married him where would I be now?? Probably no where near as good as I am. I think things would have fallen apart anyways no matter how much I wanted them to work. I found someone who made all this worth it. Someone that made me believe that it’s never to late to have what you want and what you dream for. I can finally say I am where I want to be.

Sure there is still some things to be worked out. Things to pay off, bills to catch up on, and goals to set. But at least I finally feel like I am moving in a forward direction. Going backwards all the time is annoying. I am looking forward to us finding a house with a deck (even if I can’t afford to buy and have to rent) or an apartment with a balcony and 2 bedrooms. Being able to do all the things I have always dreamed of doing. To save money and go on vacation. To think about having kids and starting a family together. All stuff that we are not in a hurry to do but that at the same time we want to work towards. To look forward to.

Boy has it ever warmed up over the last few days. Last week there was mornings I woke up and it was around 0. It’s like 15 degrees today in Chester. And in the city (where I live) it is like 24 apparently. Celsius… just in case your wondering. 24 is like 75 in Fahrenheit. It’s a beautiful day out. We took the puppies outside for some air and let Billy run around a bit. I got a couple of good pictures.

I have been trying to convince either my boyfriend or my brother to go down to the beach at Queensland Beach. But since they wont go my Mom and Mary-Ellen went with me.  We spent about an hour and a half at the two beaches and then a small drive just to spend some of the afternoon outside. I got a few more pictures there. As well as a video. I’m going to try posting the video… hopefully it will work, if not let me know.

Not bad huh? At least I got something to blog about. Keith and I are leaving in a few minutes to go back to Halifax and then drive over to his brother’s place for a bit. Then I have tomorrow and Tuesday off. I have no idea what I am going to do with myself.  I guess I’ll figure something out. At least the weather is good. I can’t wait to go swimming and go to the beach and walk in flip flops and shorts or capris.