Today is a very special day for a certain four-legged, furry friend in our household: Ginger Lily, the English bulldog, is celebrating her fifth birthday! Now when I say “celebrating”, what I really mean is napping most of the day on the (Lily-fied) leather couch interjected by sporadic eating, drooling, and snorting, which is the norm for the day in the life of a bulldog. She’ll get belly-rubs, love, affection, and whatever crumbs drop her way. To be honest, every day is like a birthday to one who is The Princess.

It may be the after effects of the mountain of Easter chocolate I consumed this week, but I’m thinking about my heart. Yes, I’m hoping it’s healthy (in spite of said chocolate) but more than that, I’m kind of hoping it’s a bit shattered. A bit broken. Ready for more love…

So it’s officially spring on Sunday, and not a moment too soon. Do I hear a “yay!” or a “finally!” or an “Amen!”?

I’ll admit, I’m a sappy, happy, hopeless romantic, and one of my favourite things to do in the whole, wide world is go for beach walks with my man. Yes, I am a living, breathing “I enjoy long walks on the beach” cliché…

Apparently, we all just survived “Blue Monday”. Who knew that was a thing? The third Monday in January is supposedly the most depressing day of the year; Christmas is well and truly gone leaving only the bills in its wake, the sugar cookies are still on the hips, the gym has lost its sparkle, and its freezing cold. Boo. Whatever are we to do, poor us?

Happy 2016 everyone! The Christmas tree is hibernating for another year, the yummy goodies are pretty much gone (oops), and school’s back in… normality reigns again!

No, I’m not talking about any issues I may or may not have (although that would make for a very interesting blog post)— TEARS, FEARS, AND FAME is the name of my brand new book, and it’s been published just in time for Christmas! Best author Christmas present EVER! Allow me to introduce you to my third Christian teen fiction book…

Hello December, you stealthy, surreptitious month, you! Every year without fail, you coyly hint at your upcoming arrival as soon as the temperature plummets; yet your entrance always manages to catch us by surprise.

…but now I think it’s a blessing of epic proportion. You see I, like many others (maybe even you, dear one), have long been a people-pleaser who just can’t seem to utter the word “no” when asked to do something—anything. It’s taken me many, many years to realize I can...

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Plump pumpkins, crunchy red leaves, a nip in the air, and turkeys on sale all remind us that it’s that time of year when we need to press the pause button and count our blessings.