Currently...

watching: Call the Midwife! Every Sunday night my sister and my mom and I watch this very cute BBC series. It's on the second season, but the first is on iTunes. It's about these midwives on the east end of London in the 60's who live, work and study midwifery with some nuns at an abbey called Nonnatus House. It's based on a true story and you can even read the biography (of the same name) written by one of the midwives, Jenny!
listening to: Panic Cord by Gabrielle Aplin. I came across this singer by accident on YouTube and fell in love with her music!
thinking about: I've been thinking about my grad off and on this month, we've had to bring in a baby picture for the PowerPoint that's playing during the ceremony and I've been trying to find a good song clip for my 30 sec I get to walk down with my escort! (It's more difficult then you would think!)
looking forward to: I'm looking forward to next Friday when we are going to Edmonton to pick up Christian from University and maybe do a bit of shopping…?!!
reading: I just finished Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth (which was really good), but I am currently reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, I decided to jump on the bandwagon (I'm a little late!) and read it before the movie comes out.
making me happy: the return of the Canadian Geese! In Canada, well at least Northern Alberta, spring is not marked by blooming trees, green grass, 20+ weather or budding leaves because all of that marks the beginning of summer, but the melting of snow, big lake sized puddles, mud, slush and Canadian Geese are what suggests that spring has sprung! There is a fairly big puddle in a farmers field by our property that is housing a flock of Geese returning from warmer weather (they are probably keeners because it is a bit early with all the snow we have left, but they'll get first pick on nesting grounds once they settle in their homes a little farther north -- their not so dumb!) ;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and if you live further south where the grass is green and the sun shines strong, soak it in and enjoy it for all the northerners who have to wait a couple weeks longer!

Pinterest Inspiration 6

1. Kris Atomic 2. Unknown 3. Janelle Burger on etsy 4. Savor Home 5. The Bay 6. Unknown 7. Unknown

I just watched this video and I thought it was cute…if I had an extra day and it remained special, because that's the catch I think, Everyday must be special always or it will very soon just become an extra Saturday or Friday, etc. If it remained special I would make a point to do everything I never have time to do or put off or always wanted to do, just on that day. I would make it a day where nothing was too great or insignificant, where I would do at least one thing that I have never done before or don't do often enough, like going to the local museum or watching the sunrise or taking a day trip with no destination. 

I think despite the fact that not every week are we going to take time to do these things, even if we should, the idea of Everyday is a nice thought and perhaps every so often we should set an Everyday to do all the things we can't in a regular week.

1. This picture is of Brighton, there must be some sort of fair going on…anyways I thought it was so pretty and I can't wait to see and experience these things when I go to Europe for my Grad trip!

2. Oh! Marion Cotillard, why are you so beautiful?! After my graduation I'm going to grow out my hair into this sort of bob, blunt, and long enough that I can curl it like this. It's going to be tough I think…a lot of growing pains to go through I think!

3. This watercolour…it's very french and I love it so!

4. I think everyday and I don't mean Everyday, we should be reminded of this…

5. I don't think I need to explain why this dress is here. Oh! just look at it…I would love to flounce around in that…

6. I love the simplicity of the girls outfit and that she has left her nails and lips as the main focus. Plus I love the pose that she is in and the focal point…just all around lovely :)

7. This picture makes me ache for summer slash spring slash the snow to be gone!! Ugh, if only I could take my bike out and feel my legs burn and the breeze on my face and the crunch of gravel beneath the tires…one can dream…

xxoo Bronté

A new position…and Spring Break!

Guinness Chocolate Cake

Peanut Butter Bars

White Chocolate Almond Biscotti

A couple of weeks ago I got a job as a baker in one of our local café's! It's been a lot of fun! I've been meaning to post some of the pictures I took for their Facebook page on here as well, but have been caught up with all of the busyness prior to spring break. We have 10 days off and it's going to be a welcome break from the semester! 

The senior high travel at my school is going to do a tour of the Canadian Battlefields in Europe during the break and it has gotten me excited for my own trip to Europe this summer (if all goes well)!! 

Christian has made his way up from the city for Easter and we've been enjoying the warm weather outside (it's a muddy/slushy/wet mess out there but it's definitely better then more snow and thirty below!) Amy, my cousin's wife, has come west from Ontario to spend a couple months here before her baby is born! She is originally from England so her accent and warm personality is refreshing and we are so looking forward to having a baby around -- it's been a long time!

I have spent the afternoon making Hasty Tasty Hot Cross Buns and I am looking forward to spending the day tomorrow at my Auntie's house for Easter dinner with all of the family!

In the meantime enjoy the season and the warm weather it brings, but most of all I hope you enjoy a happy Easter with friends and family celebrating the life of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he made for us!

One Year Today :)

It's been quite the week (or two), I was sick and missed a week of school (fun times!) and have been trying to catch up since then. But guess what? If you haven't already guessed by the GIF above (I'm really proud of that GIF by the way) a year ago today I wrote my first post for a blog I had been thinking about and creating in my mind for awhile prior to that day and I've never looked back! I had been following various blogs before I started this journey but it has since grown and I feel happy to be apart of this community. It feels good to be able to do something creative with my free time that I know people can enjoy at the same time. This blog has expanded my knowledge of photography and helped me keep up with and improve my writing. It's exciting to think of the coming years and the things I will learn and the people I will meet :)

So lets just feast on this cocunut cupcake to celebrate!!

I don't think I love very many things, but here are the ones I can think of…

I love the first few notes of a song starting to play and knowing it's my favourite
I love to see the stars as I lie in bed
I love to dream
I love the smell after rain
I love the moment after I finish reading a book, before the spell breaks
I love the feeling of cold water on my skin, like a reminder that I am here.

Bronté Collett

Once Upon a Macaron

“You'll never know everything about anything, especially something you love.” ~ Julia Child

I'm pretty proud of these sweet little things. For Christmas I received Gesine Bullock-Prado's book Sugar Baby, I've watched her video on how to make Parisian Macaron's and after my first failed attempt at making them, I was excited to finally try her recipe which looked much easier. There was a couple hiccups mainly just figuring out how to work with our oven and knowing how to adjust the way I was baking them due to the results I was getting. My first pan was really good, the feet were a little lopsided but I read that it was due to uneven temperature in your oven --- nothing much I could do there, I did read that using the fan for the confection setting didn't always work well so I adjusted my settings to bake, I don't think that made much of a difference.

 I only had one pan that I was confident in using for these delicate little pastries so for my second batch I made the mistake of not letting the pan cool off, resulting in cracked shells. I remedied this, however, by sticking the pan in the snow outside of the kitchen door for a couple of minutes! After that most of my pans came out amazingly!

I kept the flavour pretty simple, vanilla Italian meringue buttercream for the filling and I kept the shells plain (the almond flour does add some flavour to the batter) adding just some violet food colouring. I'll be a bit more adventurous next time I make these!

I put some away in the freezer so when my brother comes home for reading week, he can try them too. I don't know how that will turn out...the recipe said you could freeze them tightly sealed for up to two weeks, but we'll see how things go.

***

I am back to school today after having 6 days off for Teacher's Convention, it's hard to get back into the groove of waking up and attempting to actually learn things so early in the morning, it helps though that the days have been getting longer and it was actually light outside as we drove to school at eight this morning! I can't wait for spring, we have so much snow outside though that it probably will be a couple months before we can see the grass, albeit brown.

We went ski-dooing before supper a.k.a. shoveling/stomping the snow around the ski-doo trying to get it unstuck, and the snow was more than half way up my thigh in some places! It was such a relief to get back into our yard, we probably got stuck at least 10 times --- so tiring...I guess we got some exercise! It's warming up so hopefully a bunch of snow melts before we get some more.

Anyway what can you expect, we live in Canada, eh? ;)

To Grandmother's House we go...

“My idea of good company...is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.' 

'You are mistaken,' said he gently, 'that is not good company, that is the best.” ~ Jane Austen, Persuasion

I always have trouble trying to start off my blogs, in school it's been drilled into us to have good transitional phrases, a flow that will help the reader follow your line of thought. A hook is also essential, it grabs the reader's attention and if effective they'll keep on reading. This blog has really helped me develop my writing and kept me up to standard. I've finished my High School English and I miss creative writing, my favourite part of English was the short stories we read. You can read them in one sitting, they often have twist endings, cliff hangers. I guess I admire how one can convey so much in such a short piece of writing, how they grab the reader and suck them into a story so quickly. It's also one of my favourite things to write…maybe I will share one with you someday :)

Almost a week ago I stayed at my Great Grandma's house for two weeks while her daughter and husband (my Grandparents) were off gallivanting across the country side! They actually didn't go very far just to Fairmont Hot Springs with my Grandma's siblings and spouses. However my Great Grandma always asked, "I wonder where my little wanderer's are today" :) We spent our days, while I wasn't at school, reading, crocheting, baking and watching old movies like Anne of Green Gables and episodes of the Walton's.

Looking after my Great Grandma worked out perfectly, during exam week I could sleep in and walk to school when I was ready to study, I was able to bake little goodies for my Great Grandma and provide her company! We had a good deal of great times, times where we sat and I listened, where she would tell me stories of her youth, a sparkle in her eye. Times where we would eat pancakes for dinner for the third or fourth time, where we ate much too many brownies and rhubarb muffins. Needless to say, we had a good time :)

I'm home now and have 6 days off from school, yesterday I made some Macaron's and I've taken some pictures to share with you later on this week. I was so excited about them…but anyway I'll let you know how they went in my next post.

Well I am going to start some of the homework my teachers so willingly piled upon us before this long break. I hope you have a great day!

Bronté xo

P.S. If you follow this link you can see a photoshoot my mother and I did for her film project!