It's one of my favorite times of year.  The trees turn all colours of fire and ochre, the sun is still glowing and warm, a chill settles into the night, the mornings are cloaked in a wispy blanket of fog and the non stop onslaught of over the top Christmas marketing has yet to crash it's consumerism down our throats.  I love October.  The kids have been back at school long enough that routines are established for all involved and we have yet to enter the long, seemingly endless, dreary, grey days that are our famously wet winters.  I am always the mom that shows up at school on Halloween in full costume, the ONLY mom to do so EVERY year as I was reminded by a very sullen 9 year old last year.  On the plus side of that, I now have leverage forever.  If he thinks it's embarrassing on Halloween, imagine how bad it would be if it happened on random other days, as "incentive".
This year, I've had the opportunity to share my love of this season with some truly remarkable people.  After someone let my preschooler play a zombie video game, he was plagued by nightmares for weeks.  I exhausted several more traditional methods for dealing with them with no success.  As a last ditch effort to get a full nights sleep, I decided to take him down to Victoria's annual Zombie Walk and introduce him to some "real zombies".  After a quick explanation from mom, everyone we met was super helpful in showing him that zombies were friendly and nothing to worry about.  He happily did sommersaults with a bunch of zombie kids and posed for pictures with assorted walking dead.  It worked like a charm.  I think he might have even had a bit of a crush on one cute little zombie princess!

I got to dust off some long unused skills and do both the make up for and appear in some fantastic photo shoots with local photographer, Darren Labiuk, of VL Photography.  I've made some amazing new friends from it and had an amazing time.  We did a highly demanded series of sugar skull style pin up editorials spanning an entire month of weekend to fit everyone in and I haven't run out of ideas for the make up yet.  It's a good thing there's still one shoot left.  I'm pondering a bit of a departure from my usual glam-centered, glitter and rhinestone encrusted, frosted, sugar faces and delving into a darker side of the season by trying out some of the zombie stuff myself.  But not too far.  I'm still going to wear all the glitz, just adding some of the gore to see how it goes.  Feel free check out the truly amazing work of one of this city's hidden treasures on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/VLphotography0202?ref=stream&viewer_id=100003596165309, but I do have to warn you if you're squeamish, you might want to wait until the Christmas season is in full swing and you can see how gifted a photographer he really is.  For the heartier souls out there, keep your eyes peeled for the calendar coming soon.

January, 2013, a new beginning.

As January 2013 comes to a close, we begin to settle into the new year that starts to feel like your new favourite jeans finally being perfectly broken in.  We can all look back and safely say the world didn't end as so many people outwardly scoffed but cringed nervously on the inside.  We can now look forward to a more stable year as housing prices and unit sales stabilise and mortgage rates stay low.  For buyers it is a great time to get your feet wet in the market or at least dip your toes in and sit down with a mortgage broker and take a look at the options currently available.  As prices have become more appealing it means that the reality of home ownership becomes more feasible but it's like wanting to drive across the US from coast to coast.  You can just point yourself in the correct direction and start the engine and eventually you'll arrive at the opposite coast but there will probably be many detours and you might not land where you had originally hoped to, or you can sit down with a detailed map and plan your course before you leave to ensure the shortest and most direct route between where you are and where you want to end up.  A qualified and knowledgeable mortgage specialist can give you the road map that will give you the best possible chance at a successful outcome, and point out any obstacles, hidden or simply forgotten about, like a completely overlooked old cell bill that never got resolved, so the bumps can be smoothed over and ensure a more comfortable journey.  It's time to get focused on the years to come and take advantage of the fantastically low mortgage rates and our very stable housing market before it jumps back to a sellers market, as it will inevitably will.  www.primemortgageworks.com

Balancing mom and career.

As I embark on this new journey, it is becoming ever more clear that finding balance is critical in achieving success and happiness.   Juggling career and motherhood is a herculean task and everytime I think I've finally got a handle on it a new hurdle lands in my path.  My desire to excel at both at the same time often proves overwhelming and exhausting, unused to failure, I am often unwilling to compromise at either.  Planning my son's fourth birthday party for forty people, including making eight cakes from his favorite painting, (Wayne Thiebaud's Cakes, 1969) with client meetings and property showings alongside volunteering at church and dealing with the emotional wake of a seperation has left me feeling exhausted.  How does one balance a budding new career with the endless rounds of winter colds and flus?  How does one reconcile an absolute faith in God's path when confronted with the irredeemable in man?  Knowing what needs to get done and being able to accomplish it are two entirely different things.  We all struggle and we all toil,.  What, in the end, is it that divides those that succeed from those who fail?  What is the definition of success?  Being able to get your child to sleep through the night?  A comfortable bank account?  Being able to look around your living room and realize you belong to a community of amazing friends?  Knowing when to cut your losses and walk away?  When you recognize the great and critical difference between being a loving parent and a good parent?  When somebody figures it out, please let me know.  www.angeliquetroyer.ca