Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Calgary, Canucks, Crazy

A late minute unplanned trip to Alberta would be the explanation for my recent blogging absence. But this also means there is much to blog about. Of which I will not do right now, because I need to go back to go back to Alberta tomorrow...

This past weekend was filled with dinner theatre, an Oilers game, making new friends, freezing to death, watching my first grey cup ever, football in the snow, movies, sushi, soap shopping, roadtrips, flights, and much much more. Stay tuned.

I got tickets for the Canucks game tomorrow.. In Calgary. So I will wake up tomorrow morning, put on my jersey, fly to Calgary and go cheer heartily for our Canucks as they play Calgary. I am in row 6, so if you are watching, perhaps you will see me on tv amongst a c of red whenever Vancouver scores. And it is my sincere hope that they score many times, else I might not live it down.

Go Canucks Go!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Guest, Gyoza, Games

The last couple weeks have been filled with Canucks games, connecting with friends and just laying low and reading a lot and enjoying my down time.


The other night at the Canucks game, it was military appreciation night and my friend Destinye and I were lucky enough to meet a group of them outside in the parking lot. We took some photos for them and chatted awhile and it was well.. random. And really funny. We took a picture of them on their camera (and one of us so they knew who had taken their photo) and then we figured we'd take a picture with our camera to remember how funny and random our parking lot banter was.


What a great evening! The Canucks lost, but I honestly felt like they won, because the whole night was fantastic. I hadn't seen Destinye in months but spending time together was like a breath of fresh air in that moment. Exactly what I needed. I'm thankful for good friends who you can connect with regardless of how much time has passed between seeing each other.


But then Finn bit her head. Thankfully she was okay.


I should probably start a collection of all the photos I have with Finn.


At the game ready to get on the big screen which wasn't working during the first couple periods!


During first intermission a guy climbed into the jumbotron.. And then I stayed up there for 2 periods. Haha. Thankfully he got them fixed during second intermission, but then he was still stuck up there during the 3rd period. Hope he had a good time stuck up there. Haha


The night before that, Jannie and I went to the Canucks game to enjoy their 7 - 1 miserable LOSS. Boo. But Jannie is on the road to becoming a Canucks fan, so it's probably best to start loving them when they're losing, and then you're a fan for life, right?


Before the game, we went to my favourite Japanese place in Vancouver, called Hon-Jin. So tasty! And such good service. And the people beside us were probably talking about us in whatever language they were speaking. Only because we recommended some menu items and I hope they didn't hate them...



And here's a photo of precious Paisley. Just because she's a perfect pink bundle. And now I will stop using the letter "p" in excess.


A couple weeks ago, Cheri and i had a gyoza night at our place and it was fantastic. Cheri is pretty awesome and can make amazingly perfect looking and incredibly tasty gyoza! Mmm.. so good!! And fun to hang out with everyone too!


I think these were some of the best gyoza I'd ever had. Mmmm..











I always forget to take photos of myself to show I was there...


About a month ago I got a special invitation to join my mom and aunt's during their birthday dinner. Usually it's all sisters but one of them couldn't make it, and they had an extra ticket for a concert, so I got to come along! We went to a Thai place in the states and then to the Celtic Thunder concert. Was really great to hang out with all of my aunts together and enjoy being their special guest. :)


And so concludes a random post with random photos I have taken off my camera. A bit of what I've been up to. I'm excited for what's been going on in my life and for what I've been learning and being stretched on. Ahh.. not easy, but oh so good.

Enjoy this beautiful sunny day!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Book, Belated, Bravo!

It's finished! After a month and a half of being neglected and lonely on my to-do list, it is finished!

After doing a dumpload of cleaning yesterday, I decided to just sit down and finally make my photo book for my trip to Australia and New Zealand. A few hours later, it was all done! I love Blurb! If you want to check out the online preview, click here. Let me know what you think! I can't wait to get it in the mail!


And now on to making all the other millions of books I need to make! And trying out some new recipes in the next few days as well! Stay tuned!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Colossians, Comfortable, Called

Have you ever read a book that God uses powerfully to change the way you think and view life? A book that brings scripture alive in a new way in understand how it applies to your life today, right now?

I've been reading more and more of these types of books lately. And they leave me uncomfortable, because I know my life has to change. I've been making changes, but continually as I come before God, I see how far I am, and although it can be discouraging at times, I know that by God's grace, He will continue to change me.

I have been memorizing Colossians since September. I have wanted to memorize more Scripture and figured I would do it in big chunks to get more context and greater understanding of the passage. And it's been wonderful. Hard at times and slow sometimes when my memory fails me, but you have to chew and think about it so much more when you're memorizing it. And sometimes it's the smallest words that make a difference in the meaning of what's being said.

Anyway, I have some friends in Australia who told me about a book they had just read called 'Colossians Remixed', so I ordered it when I got home and started reading it.

It was a bit hard to get into at first because it was quite heady, but as I continued reading, it shed new light and understand on Colossians. Colossians was a letter calling Christians to subvert the empire and live a completely different and radical life from the projected lives the empire around them called for.

My life makes sense. If other people observe it, it fits in with our North American Empire. I'm not okay with that. And this book has helped me to understand the society into which Paul spoke and how that in turn translates to me today. And it calls me to fundamentally change the way I live. And I know it's not going to be easy.

I won't go into a lot of the details of the book, because I'm still processing it and need to read it again, but one of the things that has struck me again is talking about fighting against violence subjected on others. It talks about where we buy stuff from, and to look at what companies we're buying from. I have often heard this and resisted it, because it's so much EASIER and CHEAPER to run to Wal-Mart and pick something up that I need.

It talks about the countries where there are sweatshops and how child labour is continually being used. And we continually support it. I support it. After reading this part in the book, I went over to the new baby clothes I had just bought for my niece. Made in countries where child labour is being used. Then I pictured my niece and nephew slaving away in horrible conditions making clothes for other kids. And it made me feel sick inside. Yet it's easy and comfortable and so I go along with it and ignore the realities facing other people in the world. I want to be more aware of what I am spending my money on and where it's made and what the companies making it represent. It's a lot more work to do so and perhaps might cost me more money, but perhaps that's part of what being a good steward of my money involves.

Anyway, just a few crumbs from what's been floating around in my head these last few weeks.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Anne, Andrea, Adventures

I like random. And I like people who are likewise random.

Anne is my random friend. We met when she stayed at my house with a friend of mine. Then I slept on her couch when I was driving through Edmonton. Then we roadtripped to the East Coast. Then we had coffee in BC on Thanksgiving weekend. And last week, her and her friend Andrea came to stay for some fun, random and crazy adventures. I feel like we've been friends for years and always enjoy our time together.


Christmas came early!! I love gift giving. And sometimes I have such a hard time waiting until Christmas or birthdays to give people their gifts, because I get so excited about how much they will love it (hopefully). Anyway, I was glad to be able to legitimately give a gift early. :)


On one of our trips to the grocery store, we talked about how we were sad that the icing with rainbow bits wasn't sold anymore. So we had a moment of silence. And then we figured we should take a sad picture with the icing. So we did. Random. Love it.


Sushi! With perhaps the worst service ever and the most unwelcoming atmosphere ever. I love their sushi, but I think that was my last visit!


At least we still had fun!


And it looked pretty.


And tasted good.


And at Strabucks we discovered some really nice signs to take pictures with!


Lovely.




One day we headed to Granville Island for some more random fun.


And lovely hats.


I love monkeys.


Beautiful herd.


And then we found some nice hammocks to lie in.




And I found a door made just for me!


And a mirror that does wonders for the image. :)


And we went for the best sushi in Vancouver.


And the best gelato too. 218 flavours.. like garlic, curry, balsamic vinegar.. mmmm


This lady was having a bad day. So we listened while she kept giving us different samples.

Then we came home and had a highschool musical marathon. I had a great photo but just pushed the backspace by accident and deleted it. So you can picture us holding all the dvd's with excited looks on our faces. Because we're cool like that.

And so concludes crazy adventures with Alberta, Ontario and BC all mixed together!

I'm already excited for the next visit!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Newborn, Niece, November

November 14th. The day 9 lbs and 2 oz of perfection entered the world.


The day she stole my heart and made me an even prouder Aunty! {if that were even possible}


The day P loved on his little sister for the first time.

I love November 14th :)

{And in the first photo you'll notice that they have upped security and have an alarm anklet to prevent baby shoplifting}

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Eggnog, Ecstatic, Eggs

Christmas is coming! What does that mean? Well, lots of things, but one exciting one is that... EGG NOG IS HERE!!!

I enjoy a glass of egg nog mixed in with some skim milk and it always makes things feel festive. For the longest time I have wanted to make homemade egg nog. In fact, it's on the bucket list. My chance came this last weekend when Anne and Andrea came to stay with me and we decided to take Christmas by storm and make our own batch of fresh homemade egg nog. Loved it and thought I'd share the recipe.


Make sure you have eggs. And don't eat them before making the egg nog.. {I forgot to tell Anne..}


Andrea and I were pretty excited about it.


Favourite part: separating the eggs.


Beat until thick...
12 egg whites
add and beat until thick...
1 cup white sugar


In separate bowl beat until thick:
12 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt


In separate bowl, beat until thick:
3c Whipping Cream
add 2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
Beat until mixed and thick {i see a theme...}.


Add 7 cups milk....
nutmeg to sprinkle


Add rum and whiskey @ leisure


When making this recipe, be sure to have a very LARGE bowl. We had to split ours up until two.


Also, make sure you have more than 3 people. Cedric definitely did not drink his share.


Partway through, I turned to Anne and said, "This seems like a huge recipe... I guess there wasn't a smaller one?" Then we laughed quite hard over the whole thing and worked at drinking our 2 massive bowls of egg nog. So make sure you have a lot of people. Either that or drink 3 cups each and make egg nog lattes {we each had 2 cups that night and another cup in the morning for breakfast!}


And make sure your egg nog is thick enough to make mustaches when you drink it.


And nutmeg makes all things festive. Unless there's no lid and most of the nutmeg goes into your friends' glass. Oops.

And yes, it is raw eggs, no, you probably won't get sick. If you want cooked egg nog, listen closely to the song playing and try that one. ;) But if you're daring and want an amazing batch of fresh egg nog to share with friends, choose this one.