Cake, Couple, Cooks

One of my favourite things about working at a Bible School is being able to connect with the students. I don't really like hanging out in groups (although I do from time to time), so I'm not always around a ton when group stuff is happening, but I love having students over or going out with them.  

Jenn is a student who came for winter term from Nebraska. Her and I connected immediately and have enjoyed some good hang outs and great chats.  Anyway, she is an excellent cook and we were talking about baking and she was talking about how much she enjoys making her chocolate amaretto ganache cake. So I invited her over one night and we baked the cake and then feasted with my roommates. So tasty! 

Something new with living in consistent winter is having to start your vehicle ahead of time before you leave. Or else you have to sit in the vehicle and wait. So the other day I was trying out new art forms through the frozen chunks on my windshield. Not sure why I was taking pictures instead of scraping ice off the windshield, but they weren't quite as successful and visionary as I would have expected. 

I have also loved being able to do some fun photoshoots for people. I don't really edit my photos but I have fun taking different creative ones. And I enjoy telling people how to pose. Anyway, after taking some save the date photos for Matthias and Steph, I had them pose by the gigantic snowman just for fun.. haha.

 Right now the students are on spring break, so it's a bit of a change of pace here. The weather has gotten nice and sunny and it looks like the snow will be rapidly melting!  Have been sick for a while with a lung infection and then the flu, so hopefully now I will be able to do a bit more out and about. Three cheers for better weather! I feel like I haven't taken many photos in the last few months, but I hope to remedy that soon, so stay tuned (and I'm working on becoming a better blogger).

Broadway, Bess, Business

A couple weeks ago, my mom and I went on a last minute trip to New York!  It was so wonderful to see her, hang out in New York, eat at some really tasty restaurants and see a few musicals!  The trip would have been more full, but I came down with some weird lung infection that caused me to not be able to breathe very well and hack a lot, so it limited our walking, but we still had fun!

My mom looked up some of her favourite celebrity chef restaurants and we went to check them out. The first was Bobby Flay's 'Mesa Grill'. SO tasty!  Service was excellent, food was amazing and the decor was fun as well. 

Went to see Sister Act which was fantastic. So much energy! I loved how a few people in the musical looked so similar to those in the movie!  

Then there was the heartwrenching Porgy & Bess. So well done. The cast was incredible and the story is really moving. Some fun songs but good slow ones as well. Lots of emotion mixed in. 

Went for a dinner at The Lambs Club which is Geoffrey Zakarian's restaurants. First off, loved the decor inside. I love red (as was the colour of my kitchen before) and it was a great blend of funky and classy.  Had a three course meal which was pretty good. The meat wasn't cooked the best, but the flavours were exceptional. And the ambience was delightful as well. 

Times Square!

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, starring Nick Jonas (how can you go wrong? haha). It was a musical I had heard a lot about before so it was great to see it. It was probably my favourite of all them (although they were all great). I later watched the movie and love it as well. The writer is the same guy who did music & lyrics of Guys & Dolls, so I figured I would love it because that's one of my favourite musicals.  

And our fourth musical was Spider-Man. Music by Bono. Exceptional. Loved all the music and also all the special effects. The amount of flying around the audience that was done was pretty spectacular. They even had battles over the audience.

My mom and I laughed because the shows we saw would probably not be the first pick for a lot of people going to New York, but because I have seen a lot of them, I wanted to see new ones. And they did not disappoint!  They were all incredibly different in music and style, but each one was so well done in its own way.

We're hoping to return to New York when it's a bit warmer and at a time when I can walk around more thanks to clear lungs. :)  The 'Shake Shack' was right around the corner from our hotel so we went there a couple times. Excellent shakes, fries and burgers! Always a line outside the door no matter what time of day! 

And thus concludes some adventures in New York. More frequent updates will hopefully follow :)

Shoes, Snowman, Sushi

Greetings from the land of snow that probably won't melt anytime soon!

I keep glancing at the piles of snow and am kind of in shock at the prospect that the snow will at least be here for another month.  But it hasn't been as bad as I originally thought it would be. This has been helped by some night-time snowshoeing, evening games of broomball, random adventures with my roommates and fun photoshoots.  

I love the people I work with and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them through living and working together. Recently all the students went on a trip to Quebec City for the day, so the remainder of us decided we would go on our own little adventure.  We called it code:green and each put on an article of green clothing and set out on our merry way. 

Whenever we approach a stop sign or intersection, whoever yelled out a direction first, that is the direction we would drive. The result of this is often getting lost and exploring a lot of little town where you've never been.  In the small towns of Quebec, there's always a really beautiful church in each town as well as a lot of other fun random things along the way, such as the giant snowman pictured above. 

And to my pure joy and elation, we found a gigantic guitar with a cowboy beside it. One thing I especially love in life is giant sized items that seem to serve no other purpose but to bring me joy (well maybe it is there for a few other reasons but I like to focus on that reason). 

The other day I had the privilege of taking some photos of some friends who recently got engaged.  We had a lot of fun tromping through the snow and I was reminded again of the beauty of God's creation, especially when everything is covered with snow.  And at one point I thought it would be a brilliant idea to step off the path to get a better photo angle. My brilliant idea was proved wrong when my entire leg disappeared into the snow. And instead of helping me out of the snow, there was a picture taken of me instead. So I thought I would include it to give you an idea of how the deep the snow is. 

I remember taking pictures of these in the fall and I thought the backdrop was beautiful again-I was thankful to enjoy their beauty in a different context. 

Normally the snow here is really dry, but the other day we had fairly wet snow, so the students decided to build a giant snowman after workday. 

A few weeks ago, I had the best birthday cake made for me ever! One of the downfalls of having a birthday on Christmas Eve is that you aren't around a lot of people for your birthday and it often gets forgotten about. Upon returning after the holidays, I was blessed with having a sushi birthday cake made for me! I felt so special and honored to have such a beautiful cake made specifically for me as someone I really love. 

Another honor that was recently bestowed upon me was being the staff of the week. I decided to start the staff of the week by posting horrible or funny photos of staff members and keeping them up in the office for the week. It has now been dubbed the "wall of shame". However, it slightly backfired on me when my photos suddenly appeared on the board.  And they are lovely photos indeed-I thoroughly enjoyed staring at them throughout the week.

Just a few highlights from the last few weeks. Hopefully I will get out soon during the day to take some more good snow pictures!

Babies, Ballard, Booth

At present, things seem a little foggy from jet lag and tiredness, but I am back in Quebec and thankful for an amazing week in BC.  I got sent out for work to represent our booth at Vancouver Missions Fest and got to spend a couple of my days off hanging out with some friends and family.  When I reflect back on the week, I am so thankful and overwhelmed with the Lord's blessings in my life.

 I got to spend some time playing with my niece and nephew, enjoyed lunches with friends, got a lot of newborn snuggle time with my cousin's baby, and got to attend a Canucks game!

And at the Canucks game, I discovered that my big screen enthusiasm has finally paid off!  The cameraman (I think he gets to choose-and he is one who often puts me on the big screen) selected me to be the gameworn jersey winner! So not only did I get on the big screen, but I also got to go downstairs later on to meet a player and get my jersey.  

It was an incredibly exciting game and so great to watch the Canucks win in the shoot-out. Then my brother and I went downstairs after and got to meet Keith Ballard and he signed his game worn jersey. It was kind of surreal standing down there and saying hi to all the players as they walked by randomly.  And I got a nice, damp jersey out of the deal!  Okay, I have washed it since so it now smells like laundry detergent, but soon I will hopefully frame it and find somewhere to put it on display!  

Below is pictured the newest little love of my life. He is super tiny but a sheer delight and I loved snuggling with him!

And more babies!  At the baby shower it was so great to be able to see a lot of my family and also catch up with some of the little ones. :)

Who wouldn't take a self-portrait of themselves and the baby??

After a few days of enjoying friends and family, I headed to Vancouver where I set up our booth and stood by it all weekend.  Other than my feet being on fire and incredibly sore, it was a fantastic weekend.  How wonderful to be able to meet so many people, see old friends and share the life of Christ together.  Every day I went back to my hotel room feeling incredibly blessed and grateful that we serve an incredible God.  It was neat to see all the different organizations that are sharing Christ in so many different locations and capacities.  I find it ironic that I had never attended Missions Fest in Vancouver until I moved away. But if all goes as planned, I will return next year!

And that is all for now!  Thankful for a wonderful week and excited to be back in Quebec along with the freezing cold and snow. Must put away the flip flops for a while again.  Until next time!

Back, Break, Blog

 I'm back!!  Just when you thought you'd never hear from me again, here I am.  As I mentioned on my other blog, one of my new year's resolutions was to blog more. So here I go.  Not totally sure how to catch up on the last few months, but here's a few pictures.  In the fall things were beautiful, now it's beautiful and snowy. 

 Here are two photos of my room. Tried to make it as cozy as possible as I tried to fit the objects of an entire house into a small room. I think I was pretty successful. Feels like home.

Just got back after three weeks back in BC visiting my family and it was lovely. And now it's back to the grindstone. Lots of changes around here but it's exciting to look ahead and see what God will continue to do in His faithfulness.

And that's all for now as I have a five year old coming for a sleepover in a few minutes (will probably be the only time I ever go to bed before 9pm.. haha)

You can be looking forward to more blogs posts!  Until next time! :)