Happy Halloween

Halloween has been good. The kids I work with got all dressed up in costumes (most of them) and trick-or-treated at school today. They were very very cute, even if the whole event was a bit stressful for the teachers!

We haven't had any trick-or-treaters here tonight, but we made a wonderful feast. We have a bit of a halloween tradition of having a special dinner and watching movies. It started because the first halloween I spent on the island was sad because I was used to having big bonfires and fireworks and caramel apples when living at my parents! So, Daryl and I started doing a special thing to make up for it :-).

So tonights dinner was:

Peppered wine salami.
A small round of brie baked with a wonderful blueberry jam that my sister in law made.
Roquefort blue cheese (SO good!)
A German white soft cheese (also good),
pears,
wine,
multigrain rice crackers and bread.

Just little bits of all of the above. Of course, all from Trader Joes, so all for about what we'd pay to eat at McDonalds together!

We also just found out that two of our dearest friends are probably coming to visit us for a WHOLE week for my holidays!! I have 9 days off starting this coming Friday, and P and B are coming Friday.

I can't possibly explain how happy this makes me. They are those types of friends with whom we have an ease that makes spending time with them so relaxing and enjoyable. They are in Ottowa, so it's about a days' drive for them to come visit.

Good dinner and the promise of time with dear friends. I'm so happy :-). So, it's a happy halloween. Off to watch movies and eat some "left -over" chocolate.

This is hard.

There are so many great things about being here. We do really like the area we're in, the east coast, and the New England surroundings. It's beautiful. We've just had the pleasure of experiencing a New England fall. We've seen so many things that we hadn't before. This upcoming week we're hoping to go into Boston, and New York.

We miss our friends though. We miss having friends to fill with food laughter and wine.

We miss our Church communities so much I can't even begin to explain it. We had no idea blessed we were with them. I look at pictures on All Saints, and Saint Herman's websites and blogs, of those people we love gathered together, and I almost can't look because I miss them so much it's painful.

It's just hard. That's all.

Outlet Stores Ho!

I rediscovered one of the wonders of the USA today - Outlet stores!! There is a whole group of them about half an hour from our place. We were headed to Providence, RI, but got side-tracked at these stores and never made it there!

My favorites by far were La Creuset, Williams-Sonoma , GAP, Banana republic, and Barney's. Very good. We are getting incredibly good at looking and not buying though. All we bought in about 2 hours of shopping was one pair of pants (for me, from GAP, that were only 12.00!!). Granted, there was a martini shaker and set at Williams-Sonoma we were going to go back for but forgot :-(. Next time! My mother-in-law mailed me the fabulous martini glasses she bought me for Christmas last year, so I need to pick up a shaker! They are currently in-use as decoration on our bookcase. There was much else to "go back" for throughout the day, but we managed to escape with out money intact :-).

The problem with black Lululemon yoga pants is

That they look almost exactly the same when you accidently put them on inside out. That is, until you try to put something in your pocket, and can't find it. But because the pants look identical inside out, in all other respects, you think you are losing your mind, and maybe these pants don't really have pockets, maybe you're just crazy. You paw at your hips, examining the waistline closely, pulling the pants out, stretching them, hoping to find the pockets.

Then you see the drawstring on the inside of the pants. Oh. Right.

Today...

I passed Brian Iwata in the hallway at work. Functional analysis guru. One of "the" people in my field.

I think only one person who reads my blog will understand my excitement about that.

I'm a nerd.

Squash and Ginger scones

I had a half of a butternut squash left over from a previous nights dinner...and I thought "Hmm..you can make pumpkin scones..why not squash scones??" After a few different searches on google, I came up with this recipe:

Squash and Ginger Scones
Time: 30 minutes preparation, 30 minutes baking
Serves: 10+ (yields 24 extra-large scones)
Level: 3

Ingredients
6 cups hard flour
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp powdered ginger
1 Tbsp salt
3 Tbsp baking powder
2 sticks butter, cold, cubed
1 lb cooked pureed squash
1 qt half-and-half

Let's cook!
• Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the butter with a fork until it looks like breadcrumbs. Mix in squash and half-and-half. Roll out 1/2 inch thick. Cut into circles.
• Bake at 400°F 15-20 minutes on parchment paper or greased cookie sheet. Eat while warm.

Editor's Note: The sugar, butter, and half-and-half make this recipe a true "treat"in the sense that it's not low-fat—something you eat once in a while (not every day)!
Recipe created by Westtown School Baker, Suzie Dudas

Here is the link for the recipe. You may ask what "Hard" flour is...I did another google search to find out if I could substitute regular flour. Sounds like it is fine and won't affect the quality of the scones too much.

I made these this morning, but modified the recipe slightly based on what I had. I used 2.5 cups of regular flour, and 2 cups of whole wheat flour, skim milk instead of half and half, and replaced the butter with part margarine and part olive oil.

It's a huge recipe - I cut everything in half and it still made about 18 large scones! They were pretty good, though I think could have used a bit more ginger, and maybe some nutmeg or other spice as well. Turned out fluffy and yummy, but much lighter than scones usually are -that was probably due to my substitutions though.

Anyhoo...thought this was a good way to use up left-over squash if you have it :-)

"That's your big boy"

I totally stole this stellar blog title from D.

Those of you who are Seinfeld fans...or fanatics, as some may judge you will have immediately, upon hearing that phrase, pictured Jerry sitting in a hospital, next to his comatose neighbor, looking admiringly at a Drake's Coffee cake. You'll remember that this phrase was part of his attempt to bribe Newman, using the Drake's coffee cake, in an attempt to keep him from telling the aforementioned comatose neighbor (CN) that Jerry had kissed CN's girlfriend right in front of him (in a romantic joining over the body of the comatose neighbor).

You may also picture Elaine ravenously shoving a Drake's coffee cake into her mouth, crumbly cinnamony topping flying every which way, after fasting for blood testing for two days. This of course occurred right as the CN woke up and attempted to strangle Jerry, with completely wonderful Seinfeldian pandemonium breaking out.

So, why all this talk about Drake's coffee cake?? You see, until two days ago, I had believed "The Drake" to be a made-for-TV invention. I have news from the East, fellow west-coast, Canadian Seinfeld fans - Drake's coffee cakes are a real, American, boxed pastry! As we wandered the grocery store the other day, we came upon them. In complete disbelief we turned the box over and over, looking at it from all angles. Eventually we had to believe - this was indeed THE Drake's coffee cake talked about on Seinfeld. And I have to say, after trying them, they are really pretty good.

Magnificent M - be aware, you may be receiving some Drake's in the mail for Christmas. I think you are the only person I know who would appreciate such a gesture enough (you know..the sending of cheap fatty bagged up pastries that are akin to twinkies via post).

Click here and select the "Concord trip" album to see the pictures of the Drake's coffee cakes. Blogger wouldn't let me post them :-(.

I can't believe I forgot!

To mention that we made our first visit to The Container Store. This is a store that I had read about in Real Simple, that is not as of yet in Canada. I have drooled and browsed online, and dreamed of one day going there. I realized very quickly that there was a Container store here in MA, and only about 45 min away from us. So, the other night we took a trip out there, just to browse. It was fabulous! It is the organizational mecca. I loved it!

Turns out, convieniently enough, it is located right next to Natick mall. This is one of the large, up scale malls here, very similar to the one I went to in Atlanta. Macy's, all the great shoe stores. That's a big difference here...all the brands you see in stores in Canada (or the West Coast at least) have their own stores here. So, that was pretty exciting...I'll have to head out another time and spend more time window shopping at the mall.

Anyhoo..I just felt so remiss in not blogging about visiting The Container Store!

Bits and Pieces

Who needs sleep? Well your never gonna get it.

That's from a BNL song. Why can I never sleep on Saturday nights? It seems to be becoming a regular thing, that no matter when I go to bed on Saturday night, I usually don't get more than about 3 hours sleep if I'm lucky. I think I just get wound up and anxious about the start of my work week....and I get anxious about not sleeping because today (Sundays) is my 11 hour day at work. Anyhow... that's alright, I always make it through my day no matter how little sleep I get, and I can sleep in tomorrow, since I don't start work till 2pm.

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

We were going to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with our other Canadian friend here, but it came along much faster than I'd expected, so no turkey for us I think. It's actually a holiday in the US too, Columbus day. I work late-ish today and tomorrow though, so not really conducive to a dinner celebration. The good thing is we get a second chance at thanksgiving in November!

Friends and family...

I had two great conversations yesterday. I got to catch up with my friend Rach - it was so good to talk with her. She's one of those people who I always reconnect with in minutes despite not talking for a while. We always have such rejuvenating conversations.

I also talked with my cousin last night. We haven't talked on the phone in ages, but we managed to reconnect when D. and I visited her on our way down here, and have kept in contact since then. I'm so glad that we had the chance to visit and get reacquainted when we did.


That's all for today...

I just had my favorite breakfast ever.

Apple pie with ice cream.

Yes, I had apple pie with ice cream at 6:00 am in the morning.

Now I'm ready for the day.

Apple Picking Pictures

Here, finally, are the pictures of our apple-picking adventure. As it turns out, the actual picking of the apples is not a lengthly process. We had a 1/2 bushel (about 20lbs) within about 20 minutes. We also picked raspberries though, and that was a more time consuming process. It was fun though, and there was a little petting zoo and pumpkin patch as well. They had this neat thing where the goats could walk up onto a thin bridge, and visitors could haul a cup of food up to them via a pulley system. There are a few pictures of this below. We ended up with 3 apple pies, and three apple crisps, which used only about half of our apples! I made another apple crisp last night to take to a friend's house. It was tasty! I think we'll make yet another crisp to freeze, and maybe some platz as well, and that should just about take care of the apples. They are such yummy, juicy apples too!

Where did the week go?

I can't believe today is my Friday already! The weeks seriously disappear so quickly, I don't know how or why, but htey just fly by.

Yesterday, we went to a liturgy at this Orthodox Nursing home that's about 10 minutes from us. It was quite an experience. Those in attendance were primarily residents of the nursing home, and volunteers there to help with the service, but we felt very welcome. The priests in the area trade off from week to week, and this week Fr. Michael, the priest at St. George's (the Church we're going to vespers at and Daryl is going to Sundays at) was there this week.We had a good talk with Fr. Michael, and other parishoners, and I got to "talk shop" with another prosphora baker, which was great. I think that we may have found our Church home here. Now to really try to get involved! They have a women's group, a men's group, parish events, a youth group, Choir, Church school, and lots of other places to get involved.

Tonight, we're going to Danika's house to watch the first two episodes of Grey's Anatomy! I got totally addicted to this last year, but don't have TV here so I missed the season premiere last Thursday. Luckily for me Danika has on demand cable :-).

Tomorrow I think we'll be going to pick up the rest of the furniture we're taking from Danika. I'll be getting a desk (yay!), which I'm hoping will provide the needed space and motivation to get moving on this research I have to finish writing up. We'll also get a kitchen island similar to this, but with drawers and a few other things in it as well. We'll also pick up a mirror, and some bookshelves. We'll be all set once we have all of this. I'm so thankful we have such a genrous friend moving into a smaller space!

Must get going though, time to get off to work.

Pictures!

Here's the link to our online album of our pictures from the trip from Victoria to Boston, and the rest of the move!

Enjoy!

"Espresso pots are fun..."

That's a quote from Trader Joe's online brochure about the coffee they carry, and coffee in general. I had to hop online and check it out, because we just picked up some coffee there yesterday, and I just made the first pot of it this morning. Can it be true? They have fabulous coffee too! A beautiful, strong, dark roast coffee called "Volcano" is what I'm drinking right now. It's a very good thing.

We had a great time at the orchard yesterday picking apples and raspberries. We ended up with a "1/2 bushel" of apples (about 20lbs), and about 9 lbs of raspberries. The raspberries are such nice, big, juicy berries too. I've frozen about 3/4's of them, and we had raspberries with vanilla ice cream last night. I'm going to put some of the rest of them into pies. That's the plan for today - to make the apple pies and apple crisp, some to freeze.

I also made a stew yesterday - a beef stew! This is, as you probably know highly unusual for me. In fact, I've never made a stew in my life. For some reason I decided yesterday that I wanted to make one. So, I picked up the fat free beef broth and meat I needed, and followed the handy directions on the back of the broth. I accidently put the vegetables in too soon (about an hour too soon), but that turned out to be a good thing I think, as the potatoes kind of disintegrated and made the stew thicker. In the end, the stew actually turned out really really good! So simple and inexpensive, but so good. I know for most people this is probably not a big discovery, but for me it is. I don't typically cook typical meat and potatoes type food. We rarely eat red meat actually. Anyhoo. It was a successful experiment.

As a side note - I really appreciate when various food items have recipes on the back/side of the packaging. Mostly because you can tell, while your at the grocery store what you still need to buy before you go home. I'm horrible for deciding, while at the store "I'm going to make ____" but then not really knowing what I need to make it and having no recipe on hand. So I end up going home, realizing I don't have half of what I need, and that half of what I bought I don't need! This would have most definately happened with the stew, were it not for the recipe on the side of the broth container.

Anyhoo...being that it's almost noon here, and I'm still in my PJ's I'd better get going on prepping those apples for baking.

Fall fun ...

Today's my Friday! I'm almost finished my first week "on shift" on my own. I'm excited for the weekend.

It's chilly this morning. I do like it when it's cold in the morning, and I can get my favorite snuggle blanket (this really warm fleecy blanket) and curl up to blog or watch the morning news. No tv right now, so no news, but I can blog :-). I'm thinking of soup and the butternut squash that is in my cupboard. Hearty warm comfort food is what I'm thinking of. I was thinking of making butternut squash soup, but to make it properly a food processor or blender is really necessary, both of which I did not bring with me when we moved....so I may have to leave that for later in the fall for when we have money to buy one, or get ours shipped to us.

The first official day of fall I believe is September 23...and apparently it falls at a specific hour and minute? 12:02am on the 23 of September this year, according to this site, which gives this information:

The date (near September 22 in the northern hemisphere) when night and day are nearly of the same length and Sun crosses the celestial equator (i.e., declination 0) moving southward (in the northern hemisphere). In the southern hemisphere, the autumnal equinox corresponds to the center of the Sun crossing the celestial equator moving northward and occurs on the date of the northern vernal equinox. The autumnal equinox marks the first day of the season of autumn.

To celebrate the start of fall, a little ahead of time, I think we're going to go apple picking tomorrow here. It looks like lots of fun. They have peaches and blueberries still as well, so hopefully we can pick up some of those. The plan is to make a bunch of apple stuff on Saturday (pies, crisp etc) and freeze a bunch of it, but we'll see how much energy we have :-).

One down...

I made it through my first day. Whew. Exhausted. Didn't sleep at all last night. Long day. I had a bunch of evaluations (that I wasn't expecting!) , which seem to have gone well. I still felt like I had no clue though. It will all work out in time though I'm sure.

Now to bed for a movie and sleep...sweet sleep.

Day to day...

It's been four days since I've posted! I made it through my initial training (last day was Thursday), and my first day "on shift" is tomorrow (ah!). I can't believe that we've been here fro just over three weeks already. Time passes so quickly when things are changing.

God is truely good. When I was initially given my schedule I was completely panicked, as it has me working 8am to 7pm on Sundays (=cannot go to Church). I talked to my supervisor about it, and there was no way to change it. I was devestated. There seemed to be no options. Then, a few days later, Daryl happened upon another Orthodox Cathedral in the area. We stopped in and talked with the priest and as it turns out, the Churches in the area hold a joint liturgy every Wednesday morning (in addition to regular Sunday services). They run a nursing home, and hold it there for the residents, but it is open to anyone who wishes to come. So, I will be able to go to liturgy weekly (I don't work till 2pm on Wednesdays). I'll hopefully be able to switch enough of my shifts around so that I can attend on Sundays at least semi-regularly, but it is one of the most difficult shifts to switch.

So tomorrow starts the normal schedule of 8am-7pm on Sundays, 2-9pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, and 8-4 and 9-4 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'll have Fridays and Saturdays off. Aside from the Sunday thing, I actually like this schedule, because it gives me time to get stuff done during business hours. It also means I get to do about an equal amount of time at the house with the kids, and at the school, which is great.

We've also scored more free funriture. Our friend who lives here (who helped us move the couch) just moved recently, and has a bunch of furniture she doesn't need anymore. So, we picked up a Lack coffee table (Ikea), a cupboard, and next weekend will move over an Ikea kitchen cart, a desk (yay! I get a desk again!), an entertainment centre (not that we have any TV or other such entertainment-type things, but it's nice and ikea so...) and some bookshelves. It is amazing how genrous people, are, and how easy it is to furnish a house for almost nothing. Had we realized (or just been patient enough) we could have also taken a dining room table and chairs from her ,and not had to buy that. Though I do REALLY like the ones we got from Ikea. lol.

I'm excited, as I just stocked up the pantry. We were doing way too much convenience food, because we didn't have the basics on hand to throw things together. So, I'm excited now, to be able to cook and bake again. I have some mature banannas calling out to be made into bananna bread. I think tonight willbe home made pizza night. Have to love the pizza dough from Trader joes!

So, right now it's just continuing to try to get settled in, and used to the new job, and find work for Daryl and get settled into a new Church community. Just day to day living.

Batteries not included

So, I just got a scale. Not just any scale, but a scale that not only tells you your weight, but also tells you your body fat content, and body moisture content, AND graphs it for you. It also stores and saves information for up to 4 people so you can track progress. It was super cheap (especially compared to other ones with similar features). I was so excited to try it out (despite my fear of what it would tell me), got home, ripped open the packaging only to realize that BATTERIES ARE NOT INCLUDED. That is definately in my list of top ten most frustrating things. And, not only are they not included, but the batery is that weird rectangle one that no one has just lying around the house. I have AA's, I have AAA's, but none of the freaky rectangle one. Oh well. I'll have to wait till tomorrow to step on the pink and silver scale. Not that I'm bothered by it or anything. Patience is definately not a virtue I posess ;-).

U-Turn Day.

Well the day didn't start quite right. We realized late late last night that we had moved on to the unground bag of coffee beans, and that a piece of the coffee mill (crucial apparently ... since the mill won't work with out it) is missing. I remember taking apart and washing it before packing it. Apparently I lost the crucial piece in the process. So, this morning, there was no coffee. And therefore...there was no motivation for me to get out of bed whatsoever. I literally lost all will to get out of bed. When the alarm went off, I actually physically pulled the covers over my head, and let out a yell of agony - well, actually, more of a loud whine "There's no coffee, I don't want to get up, there's no point." Yes, I do actually whine like this in the morning to my husband. Poor husband.

It ended well though, as it meant that instead of coffee and breakfast while I checked email etc...Daryl and I headed to the cafe and had coffee and one of their baked egg/pastery brioche things. Mmmm...

I didn't work till 10 today, and had an early end at 3pm, which was really nice ( I did work 12 hours yesterday though). I was able to get some cleaning and organizing done, and decided that yes, we definately need to paint the apartment (it's all very white right now). I painted my toes red, and watched arrested development later on with Daryl. It was good. And btw - if you haven't checked out Arrested development yet, you must. It's SO funny. One of the funniest sit coms ever I think...close runner up to Seinfeld in my books (which as you know is a strong statement for me :-).

I feel happy and content tonight.

As a side note - U-turns are legal here. Half the people in the left-hand turn lane are typically doing U-turns. This is very conducive to my directionally challenged driving. I like that, and I like the fact that people drive fast, and that the highways move even if they look full. Most of the time anyways. It's fun to drive here :-). Don't worry, I'm safe...I just enjoy driving within the legal limits of MA law ;-)

Furniture, music, and an intriguing restaurant.

Furniture

We have a sofa couch and matching chair! I think they may be the nicest couch and only comfy chair we've ever had. And guess what?? They were FREE. Where could I have found them you ask? Where else... www.craigslist.com . I saw the posting this morning, called them, and a our wonderful friend Danika, who met us there with her SUV. We loaded the couch on the roof rack (made me VERY nervous!), chair in the back, along with two drawer dresser type unit they had as well. Managed to get it all back here. I'm SUPER excited. So, we now offically have a sofa bed, so we can officially ahve guests, so please come visit :-).

Music

Check out www.pandora.com . My cousin showed it to me when I was visiting her in Hamilton oun our way here, and I just now started playing around with it. It is this great site, where you input an artist you like. They then play you something by that artist. Then, they play you something with similar qualities, by another artist. You tell them if you like it or not (thumbs up or thumbs down). Based on the information you give them, they continue to modify the music they input into your "station." So, you end up with all this great music, that you love, but have never heard before, or would never have found otherwise. It's fabulous! You can set up differernt "stations" too, based on what artist you start with. So, different stations for different moods :-). It's an awsume website. Addictive too, because you're always wondering "what will be next?!"

Intriguing restaurant.

So we went to a place today for lunch called "Bugaboo Creek." Danika (also from BC origionally) said we had to try it, as it was "Canadian themed." Apparently it is specifically Western Canadian themed. So, you might ask, what do East Coast Americans think of West coast Canada? Well, I'm not sure where to start. Here are the highlights:
1) A talking, moving moose head above the bar. Yes, talking. He made jokes jokes about the fact that he was just a head on a wall. And yes, it was more than a little creepy.
2) A talking, moving Bison head above the bar. On the other side of the bar. So, I didn't hear his quips. Thankfully.
3) A moving woodpecker. He pecked the pillars between the tables.
4) Numerous dead, stuffed dear heads (one directly above my table).
5) there was a dead, stuffed pheasant about 12 inches from my face.
6) Black and white photos of fishing, hunting, and snow. There was a picture of a deer strung up by it's hind quarters with a proud Western Canadian hunter staning next to it. This picture was exactly next to my face. Nice.
7) A creepy talking wooden Mountie in the entry way.
8) A giant moose head that they bring out and stick on your head if it is your birthday, while they sing to you and everyone gawks and feels sorry for you, but at the same time thinks "We have to bring ____ here for their birthday, they'd love having a stinky moose head on thier head!"

Those are just the highlights. It was seriously hilarious! We made sure to inform the waiter (after he told us all about this being a "Western Canadian themed restaurant") that we were all from Western Canada, and that it was not like this there.

A P.S. to this post:

They don't know what Americanos are here!!??!! I went into the Panara (a very respectable cafe and bakery) and asked for an Americano. The person looked at me like I was insane and said "A what? I don't think we have that." I, in turn, looked at him like he was crazy, and said "you don't have one?" hoping this would prompt a more acceptable response, or that the other employee would turn around and say "YES we do...I'm sorry, he's new here." But no. He pointed to the menu, and sure enough, there was no americano. So I said "okay, well, it's just espresso and water. I think you have it." He said again "We don't have that here." Seriously. I mean, come on, even if you don't technically have it, couldn't you at least know what it is?? But again, no. So I responded with "Okay, well then, can I get a tripple shot of espresso in a large cup filled about 2/3 of the way full with hot water." Okay, they could do that. So, after much adieu, I obtained an americano of sorts. Sigh. It was a sad day in Tyla land.

Internet and the Seinfeldian twighlight zone

We have high - speed again!! I have one question though - how does it take a week and a half for them to get to us, when it literally only took 2 minutes to connect us. They brought the modem, they plugged it in, and they phoned to activate it. Why does this require specially trained men with mondo tool belts and tank tops? Could I have not just gotten the modem, plugged it in and phoned them to connect it? Would that not be more efficient? Either way, we're connected and online with high speed and that makes me smile.

It's my Saturday today. I made it through week two of training. Up until now it's all been observation, but starting this coming week, I'll be observed working with the students. A little nerve-wracking, but it's odd - I think there is something about going to a specific place for 40 hours a week to work that makes it easier for me to leave work at work. I'm finding that even though I normally would be agonizing and stressing over everything, I'm not. Maybe it's just that right now, there is nothing at home that connects me to work, and there is so much to get done and set up at home, that I don't have time to worry about work at home. Not sure. Either way it's a welcome change...even if temporary.

Last night we went for a walk around our neighborhood, along Lake Quinsigamond (try pronouncing that). It's a beautiful lake, with beaches and parks and lots of houses along it. We say a beautiful house right on the lake for sale, for an unbelievable price, and drooled. We bumped into the owner, out for a walk with a friend and chatted with them for about 20 minutes. They were so friendly and helpful. We got advice on:
a) Best place for Indian food,
b) Best place for Middle Eastern food,
c) Best breakfast place,
d) Liquor store (owned by an old couple and apparently looks like an old candy shop) open on holidays,
e) The best place for desserts and phenomenal pastries (so they said anyways).

Then, something funny happened. When we told them where we were living (while getting directions), Marguerite said "OOhhhh....so - have you run into STELLLLLAAAAHHHHH yet?" She did say "STELLLAAAHHH" in exactly the manner that Elaine says it on Seinfeld. This line from Seinfeld as most of you know, is the source of endless amusement for myself and Magnificent M., and is my code name on her blog, and my husbands blog.

So, my jaw dropped. I thought "How does this stranger know about our inside Seinfeld joke??!" Daryl and I looked at each other, and back at these two women who apparently landed from the twighlight zone. They then went on to explain that Stella is the condo mangager here and is apparently a bit soup-nazi like (not their reference, mine). Then i remembered the woman who owns our Condo mentioning her. OK. So this isn't a freaky Seinfeldian twighlight zone situation. I was almost dissapointed.

So we had a very pleasent conversation with strangers while out for a walk, and we now have a long list of eateries to try out. It was good.

A good day...

I got to spend a whole shift today with the girls I'll be working with at NECC. It was great. It was so good to get to spend a good chunk of time with them and get to know them a bit. I'm so excited to be working with them. They are all so unique and so lovable in so many ways. Also very challenging at times, but I think this is a great team for me to be on.

Not much else to say today. I got to sleep in a bit, and study work stuff this morning. Then work, and now bed.

I think that's really all I have to say. lol.

Dial me up...

While buying a vacuum at Wal-Mart yesterday, we "happened" to end up in the electronics/computer section and passed by a display of the various companies providing disks you can set up dial-up internet connections with in minutes. We caved. The disks cost nothing (we've been known to use them as coasters before now) and the Netscape one we grabbed has a 30 day trial period for free. We've signed up, logged on and now have dial-up connection over my laptop for the next week until our real internet is hooked up on Friday. So, if you call and can't get through send us emails and msn's telling us to get off the internet!

We went to our potential new Church today for the first the first time. It's a beautiful cathedral-type building, and a fairly large parish. They seem friendly (though coffee hour was cancelled today, so we didn't get much time to chat with them), and there is a lot of "extra-curricular" stuff going on. Women's and men's groups, child care centre, parish get-togethers etc. The service is about 70-80% in English, and the rest in Albanian. I love that, despite some of the service being in a different language, and not knowing one person there, that Church always feels like home. The chanting, inscense, iconography, and flow of the service (and in fact all the content of the service) is the same. We walked in and felt at home. It's a little bit of continuity that we can always count on despite all the other changes. There are other Orthodox Churches in the area, but I think this is the closest to us. We're not sure if we'll check out the others or not.

We'll try to get pictures up soon. My comp is really slow with them, but we're not sure if Daryl's comp even has an internal dial-up modem, so we may have to wait till Friday. Soon though I promise!!

How can that hurt, is there even a muscle there?

Where to start? Well, we're here. And as a dear friend blogged after arriving in her new home...people are still people here. They talk a little differently, and drive much differently, but they are still people.

The Whining

I've just finished my first week of training. Wow. It's kind of like boot camp. You may think I mean this metaphorically...but actually I mean it literally as well. My whole entire body hurts more than it ever has before. Ever. I am feeling quite overwhelmed, inundated with information and challenges. It will be good for me, soon, but right now it is about the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I don't do very well with change and upheaval and having a home that isn't settled (does anyone?), so the combination of the move and adjustment, the lack of friends and family close by, the complete and utter physical and mental exhaustion is making me quite homesick. I think I actually am getting sick too :-(. I knew it would be hard, but that doesn't really make it easier.

Unfortunately, though we had expected to have internet connected today, we found the company had meant NEXT friday. So we are still cut off, or so it feels. But I am continually thankful for this fedex-kinkos accross the street.

The Ikea Trip:

We went to Ikea on Sunday. And Tuesday. And Tuesday night.

Sunday: Sunday afternoon, we decide to go for the trip. We're excited - Ikea makes us happy, makes things better, and feels like home (that's probably because the furniture is the same). We hop on the highway, transfer to another, and another, and are nearing Ikea. Traffic starts to back up. We see a sign saying "Expect delays on Weekends." An actual road sign says this. So we bunker down for a wait thinking "Well, it must be people going into Boston for the weekend." Then we realize that the back up is for our exit. The exit to Ikea..as we near it the other lanes clear, and the exit lane is backed up. Then we see a set of traffic cops. As we procede closer to Ikea, the traffic thickens even more, and there are more traffic cops. We're thinking "Must be an accident." Then we are practicallyin the parking lot, and there are MORE traffic cops...but no accident. Then it dawns on us...the traffic sign, the cops, the traffic...it's all because of IKEA. Seriously. We asked around when we got there. You see, THIS is what happens when you only provide people with one IKea for several states. They all migrate there on the weekend and cause pandemonium. As we entered we realized we were in for an entirely different IKEA experience. No more calm stroles throught the show room, latte in hand, no relaxing over a glass of wine and 99 cent dinner for a break. No no. This was every ikea shopper for themselves. They were running out of things, people were manovering at break neck speeds around the show room (the store was close to closing). It was worse by far than any Christmas eve shopping I've ever done. Then, enter the self-serve area. Insanity. Utter maddness. I'm amazed there weren't casualties. There were thousands of people with carts and large boxes and pointy objects pushing through to get to their needed items. Things were mixed up in the bins, you couldn't move your cart to the object, so had to carry it (heavy as it was) accross the floor to your cart. I had to duck under an aisle to get to the as is section. We made it through, barely though, and managed to stuff: a kitchen table and 4 chairs, a bed, a matteress, a desk, two night tables, various kitchen implements, a lamp and other things all into our car in the pouring rain. Then we tried to set up the bed...and realized we had the wrong mattress. Daryl went back while I was at work (that's a whole other blog). We then tried to set upthe bookshelf....and realized that in our haste, we hadn't bought the shelves for it. Back we went. Finally, I think we have it all. Keep in mind it is about a 2 hour trek out to the Ikea here. I think it will be a while before we return :-(.

Must go though...as this is unfortunately still costing money :-(.

Miss everyone muchly.

Approved!

We made it!! My visa was approved at the boarder, after MUCH discussion and debate over why exactly we had MA plates on our car when we'd never lived or worked in MA before ( "So, you were that sure your visa would be approved hey?"). Sigh. It was stressful, but not at all as traumatic as I had anticipated. I learned a few things:
1) Boarder guards are not allowed to be pleasant under ANY circumstances..even after they approve your visa.
2) They refuse to actually tell you they are approving it...they just send you to pay the cashier - that's how you know your approved.
3) They don't care if you have a cat, or what is in your car at all (not one question or glance at the inside of the car).
4) They can't quite understand that the female is the one getting the visa.
5) They care nothing about your spouse, except to tell him that you will be deported if he tries to work in the US.
6) They like to make fun of your salary..."You know you're not making very much..."
7) They make mistakes too, but will never admit it. At one point the guard called Daryl over and asked him the exact question he'd asked me 5 times already, I'm sure in an attempt to trip us up and get a different answer. Except he asked it wrong. He asked "So, why do you have a MA drivers liscence?!?" Daryl looked at him, we looked at each other, and Daryl said "Do you mean liscence plates?? Because I don't have a MA drivers liscence." The guard looked down and moved on to the next question. Said nothing. I thoroughly enjoyed it though :-).

So we are in our apartment, which we love. We are within walking distance of everythng, some of which are:
-3 grocery stores including Trader Joes, which a friend told me about. This amazing organic/natural food store with better prices than the regular grocery store...I'm in love.
- Cafe/Bakery (essential, we've already tried it out).
-Liqour store
-Southwestern, Japanese, Chinease, North American, Fast food, Italian, etc restaurants. Amazing.
- A fedex kinkos (where I am now using internet)
- Used CD store
-Pet food store
-Hair salon, nail salon, tanning place.
- Bank,
- Dentist

And when I say walking distance, I mean under 5 minutes. So, we're all set. Must run now though, we're off to find my new work, and make the first essential visit to Ikea. And wash the dead bugs off of our poor poor car.

Night driver

OK, so we've realized throughout this trip that Daryl is the day time driver, and I am the night driver. I can't stay awake during the day driving (??), and he is sleepy at night. So after we disembarked the ferry last night at 12am (well this morning tecnically), I took over the driving. My body failed me though...my eyes were drooping and I had to pull over, then start again, then pull over. Daryl kept trying to take over driving, but I was not willing to give in. I am the night driver THE night driver. I pounded back another Sobe Arush drink (mmm), but it was not helping. I was praying for the first town to appear, with a Tim Hortons or something. Finally, over the horizon, I could see the glow of the white sign with red writing, and the yellow sign below. I pulled in just before Owen Sound, and decided desperate times called for desperate measures. I loaded up on coffee, tim bits (it has been like years since I've had those!), and changed the tunes. I had to bring out the big guns - MJ. That's right, Michale Jackson. Some of you know how much MJ inspires me, and wakes me up. So, we piled back in the car, MJ cranked ("Billy Jean..." "I'm Bad, I'm Bad..."), timbits and coffee in hand and I went into the zone. I was amazing. At one point, shortly after we got going again, I reached to get something and Daryl looked at me and said "what was that?" - he had thought my reaching was a sweet dance move reminicent of Elaine from Sienfeld. We laughed. I then, of course felt compelled to demonstrate the Elaine dance. Picture it: Bombing down the highway in no-where Ontario at 1am, coffee in hand, doing the Elaine dance in my seat, to MJ's "Bad." Stellar. It was beautiful. We rolled into Hamilton at 5am and crashed. We meant to get up earlier to decide if we wanted to go further today to the boarder. Ya..we slept till 2:30pm. So, no travel today. We'll head for the boarder at about 4am tomorrow, then on to our new home! We may be without internet for a while though.

Here we are...

...sitting in an internet cafe in South Baymouth, ON hungrily devouring blog updates and emails. I have been terribly remiss in chronicling our adventure..mostly because it's been almost exclusively driving and sleeping since we left Edmonton! We have SO many great pictures which I'll upload at a later point. So for now...I'm just going to list it off...

Places we've been:
1)Langley (Late arrival, early departure - I'm so sorry to everyone we didn't get to see while there).
2) Kamloops - Caught up with my family, many good long talks on the patio with wine and a great dinner out. Tearful goodbyes.
3) Edmonton - Had a wonderful but much too short visit with dear friends Bean and P. It always amazes me how easily Bean and I reconnect. We go months and sometimes more than a year without seeing eachother or talking. When we meet up again though, we always have an excellent time. Also visited my cousin and aunt, which was great.
4) Saskatoon - not much to say..we got in late, we left early. Nice hotel.
5) Dryden (ON)- Gross motel. Waxy towels, red shag carpet, yellowed duvet covers and just...ick.
6) Wawa (ON) - My favorite town EVER - mostly because of the name. Just say it. Wawa.
7) Eventually tonight we'll end up in Hamilton..well early tomorrow around 4am. Sigh.

Animals I've almost killed driving fast on Ontario highways at night:

1) A bear. Yes, a bear. Ran right in front of my car.
2) A fox (as above). ]
3) 900 Dear. There are a lot of dear. They line the highway faking you out. It's a little game they have called "make the tin animals flinch." I think they get bonus points for making you vear into oncoming traffic.
4) NOT a moose. I'm both thankful and disappointed. I really wanted to see a moose. I was totally petrified of hitting a moose.

Things I've had to drink:

1) Starbucks..mmm...
2) Zack's coffee...mmm...
3) Tim Hortons...eh...
4) Espresso at Beans (made by her!) - to die for
5) "Complimentary" coffee at cheap motels - disgusting. Seriously. This was of the "toss it out the window as fast as you can" variety.
6) Sobe Energy drinks. A -something. They are amazing! And SO tasty!! Way tastier than any I've had before. They came up to bat after I winged the nasty coffee out.
7) Flavoured water...love it.

Bugs.
I need to take a moment to recognize the moths of Saskatchewan and the varied bugs of Manitoba. Seriously. The moths/butterflies pummeled our windshield and blanketed our radiator for the duration of our drive through Saskatchewan. During they daytime!?! Daryl took pictures. I refuse to post them on my blog..but if you must, you can see them at his blog eventually.

Bastet.
She is amazing. Turns out she a)Will just sleep all day in her carrier if in the car, b)Has astounding constitution. c) doesn't like the carrier at night when she usually is tearing apart our house d) Has no problem wth a harness but e) Is kind of freaked out by being outside and f) Is so super cute when we leave her free in the car while we go in to eat at a restaurant. We are nerds - we sit in a window seat by the car so we can watch her. So she is handling the trip SO well. We are amazed.

The "Lakes"
We've been fooled. There is a whole other ocean in the middle of Ontario. It looks like ocean, there are rocks, sailboats, seagulls (dont' they need a SEA?), sandy beaches, cliffs, there are even FERRIES. It's beautiful!

Onwards...Well, I can't believe we are this far already, and that I start work at NECC on Monday. It's hard to believe and hard to adjust to. We've had a good time on the trip so far. The only regret we have is not having had more time for the Ontario portion of the trip. The drive over Lake superior is SO beautiful. So, onwards to Hamilton tonight to stay with my cousin, and then make a run for the boarder. Wow. Those of you inclined please pray for our crossing. We're a bit nervous about it..I have to do my visa interview, and all that. I'm sure it will be fine, but it's just a bit nerve wracking.

Must run before the time is up, but will update and post pictures later. I wish I had time to formulate this blog better!

New beginnings.

Well, we actually made it out of our apartment and onto the last ferry last night. I am astounded. And sad. And excited.

We only got through the last few days by the grace of God, and with such amazing friends and family. I have wonderful pictures to post, will post later today though. Monday night, several friends from Church came over and helped us clean our apartment (even though it wasn't packed yet!). You know someone loves you when they scrub your toilet and pull rotten cucumbers out of your fridge!! I scrubbed the stove at 2am, then we collapsed on our air bed and didn't sleep until about ummm I think 3am.

We were going to a 6am liturgy on Monday morning (perfect way to end our time in Victoria) and our priest was picking us up at 4:45am. We had thought we'd set the alarm for 3:30. So, I woke up to the sound of our priests van...and Daryl still in the shower, and me NOT WOKEN up!! Turns out we set the alarm for 4:30. Anyhoo...it all worked out - we got to Church, had a beautiful service, were anointed and prayed for for our travels, cried a lot, had breakfast, and went home.

There was a huge debacle with the liscence plates. So, the liscence plates for our car arrived at 4PM. So, we had to get the car, pack it, wrap everything for shipping, ship it, finish cleaning the apartment, figure out how to attach the roof top carrier (which also just arrived yesterday). It was impossible. But not with our friends and family. Daryl's aunt and cousin, and my dear friend showed up to help us out. They wrapped and cleaned and organized like a storm. Julie packed our whole car, and got more into it then I we could ever have done ourself I think. I managed to put the car top carrier on UPSIDE DOWN and FILLED it, and closed it. Daryl and his cousin went to put it on and realized it was upside down and had to flip it, totally full! Ya, I won't be asked to do that again. I, unlike Magnificent M. am NOT a stellar packer.

So, we pulled into the ferry terminal at 8:45, and drove on the 9:00 ferry. We had a long LONG day after only an hour or so of sleep. So we crashed here, and are just about to get ourselves ready to head to Kamloops.

Bastet did amazingly well with the pandemonium. She was great in the car, and is doing wonderful being at Daryl's parents house. This is a huge relief!!

So, we are tired, emotionally drained, and excited all at once. On to our next stop today. I'll post pictures of the moving fiasco (I have a nice before-after sequnce of packing the apartment ;-) later on.

Once again, goodbye Victoria, and soon to be goodbye lower mainland.

Missing Victoria already...

Why is it that we never appreciate things until we are loosing them? D. And I just went for a walk to get a coffee...I was tearing up the whole way thinking of leaving our quaint (sp?) little "avenue," the apartment that was really our first home together and the west coast air. I haven't appreciated all this until recently though. Does anyone else have trouble living in the present? I find I'm usually longing for the past, or pining for the future. Rarely am I ever really absorbing the present; being truly thankful for what I have, where I live, and the wonderful people I'm surrounded with. Maybe it's the downside to being very goal oriented. I think that one of the benefits of blogging is that it gives you a venue that is almost exclusively devoted to describing, enjoying, sharing your present life. It allows you to bask in your day-to-day joys and struggles, and to reflect on them. This type of reflection is what allows me to live "in" my life, rather than just observe it, or completely miss out on it. One thing each day that is beautiful and joy-creating - that's what I want to try to blog about.

Today. We had one of my favorite "in law"s over. Daryl's aunt, who he lived with when he first moved over here came for dinner. I love her. She is a wonderful, warm, dynamic, FUN person. I feel completely at ease with her, like I can talk to her, be myself with her, and really enjoy her company. She came for dinner tonight, and I just really enjoyed our time together. I have such fond memories of coming to visit Daryl while he was staying with her - she always took such good care of me. I remember one valentines we went for a nice dinner, and on a carriage ride. I had dressed up in clothing not nearly warm enough, and it was FEBRUARY, and really really cold! When we got "home" (back to her place), she brought out a fleece sweater, these amazing slipper-socks, a blanket etc, and wrapped me all up and made tea for us. It was lovely. She also knows Victoria like no one else - knows when and where all the fun events are happening. I have told her many times that she MUST open a B & B. It would be perfect. I would SO pay money to stay with her ;-).

That's it for today. I'm in denial about the 5 days till we move. I can't handle it. I'll let you know when I can :-). Today I made a big pot of soup. I used a lot of our food that needs using up, and it was pretty good :-). Tonight my contribution to the moving task will be making some oatmeal raisin cookies. This is progress because 1) I found a recipe that uses banana, oatmeal, honey, sunflower seeds, raisins etc..all of which I have large quantities of that I need to get rid of, and 2) It keeps me from crying or yelling, which allows D. to keep his sanity. It also provides us with nourishment. Yes, I know it's 10pm. So I like to bake at night.

A party, two friends, and a lazy morning.

We are leaving Victoria in 6 days. SIX days. If you could see how full our apartment still is and how completely un-ready we are to leave it you would understand my mounting panic.

We had our "Take away our stuff" get together on Saturday. We had a wonderful time visiting with many people, and were overwhelmed by the generosity of our Church family. We will miss our community here so much. I am sad that we haven't gotten to know more people more deeply while here. There are so many astounding people we've had the joy of knowing, and I only wish we could know them more.

So, the only downside was that only a limited amount of stuff was "taken away." So, we have a lot to clear out still. The good thing though, is that it is sorted, and at least we know WHAT we have to get rid of. That's a step anyways.

It's been a busy last few days. We had Mag here for a few days, and spent time visiting, watching some Buffy from the "glory days" as she called it (Read: Season 2), celebrated her birthday with her (this is becoming a tradition...she better fly out to Boston next August!), and said a tearful goodbye. It was a wonderful visit, and it was so nice to spend some good quality time with her before we go. I'm only sorry we were so wrapped up with preparing for the Saturday get together and moving events.

She left on Sunday, and my dear friend M. arrived Sunday. We had a mad couple of days of work and play together, both of which I enjoyed more than I can describe. I was saying to my mom on the phone after she left that M. is the one person who, no matter what else is going on or how stressed out I am, can make me laugh. It's interesting too how most people in my life know when I need some "M. time." My mom commented on it - "You really needed some good time with M. I knew you'd feel better after you saw her." Daryl has, on numerous occasions shipped me off to the mainland for some time with M. when I was debating whether I should go or not. They both know that somehow, no matter where I'm at, after seeing M. I'm in a better place. That's just the way it is :-). As always we had good food, good wine, and good conversation...all of which both of us love.

After M. left I found two things: 1) She'd left a bottle of Desert Hills Gamay Noir on the counter in the kitchen. We used this to celebrate the recent discoveryt that our applications for interest relief on our student loans has been approved. It is an amazing wine. Sooooo good. Thanks M. :-).

2) I discovered a pile of presents and cards on my desk behind my computer. I read the card - so completely appropriate for our friendship...and her additions to it...and cried. I will miss her so much...and it means so much to me to know she's behind me in this move. She also left a beach picture of rocks to add to my planned wall of west coast beach photos (It's my inexpensive decorating project for when I get to Boston), a Sonya Kitchell album (songs that are SO "us" on it - an excellent new driving tunes album!), and a starbucks card. Could she know me any better?!? So, as I'm driving on the freeway, with Sonya blaring, downing my 10th tripple americano of the day (this would be during hour 15 of a driving day), I will think of M., and of the amazing supportive friend she's been to me.

So, now we ahve 6 days to get things in order. I have the day off today, so, I slept in till 9:30 (so wonderful), snuggled with my DH (also so wonderful), watched grey's anatomy (I just discovered re-runs are on CH at 10am on weekdays!!), and ate salt water taffy. It's now 11:30, and I'm still in my PJ's, and have done nothing constructive today yet. But I think that's ok. I will shower and get going after this, sit down and outline a plan of attack for the next six days, and start in on it. Aiyaiyai!

OK...off I go.

Goodbye to UVic..

I turned in my keys at the Psych department yesterday. It was sad. I went in in the morning meet with the prof I'm TAing for and hand in exams. We talked for about an hour....got on to new research ideas, debating and discussing. He was on his way to a research meeting to discuss what another student was going to do for their honors thesis in the coming year and said I should come along. I thought "I have a thousand things I need to be doing...I have scheduled in other things for this time"...then I thought "YES!" So off I went and spent another 2 hours discussing research etc...a quick trip to drop exams turned into a 4 hour morning. But I just couldn't leave. I LOVE the process of discussing and planning new research projects. It's so exciting...coming up with ideas, and pondering how they would pan out...thinking of what we could find, getting excited, and listening to two very intelligent profs argue (can they ever argue) over the best way to do things. Excellent. I'm sad to leave :-). I"ve learned so much from them, and from this process, I have so much more to learn! But, I will have new people to learn from :-) . I've gotten a good degree at UVic. I'm very glad I came here to finish it. I think the research experience and coursework in my area that I've been able to get I couldn't have gotten anywhere else. Also, the two profs I've been working with really took me under their wing and have pushed me, guided me, and helped me to learn and grow immensely.

Goodbye UVIc.

Much to say about nothing?

Well, I felt it had been too long since I last posted...but I don't have much to say! I finally finished a stack of marking last night, I feel like I can breath again. Whenever I have marking on the go I feel like I can't do anything else until it is finished. These exams were a little fun to mark, but also a little painful. They are for a class that is exactly "my" area of psychology and I was appalled at how little some students seemed to have learned. The last one I marked was the worst. The student literally stated the polar opposite to the correct answer for each and every question. Arg! There were some very good exams too though..and they were fun to mark.

So now I must get on with the packing and cleaning and moving stuff. We're getting down to the wire now - 13 days exactly till we leave. That is frightening! This weekend will see most of the stuff we're not taking with us leave our apartment. We decided to do the open house/come take away our stuff get together this Saturday, and we've heard rumors that it will be crashed by Church friends and turned into a going away party ;-). So, hopefully most of our stuff will sell/be taken away on Saturday. What doesn't go will be carted off to BB or VV or something. After that, all that will be left will be our bed and a few additional things to store, which my parents will pick up the following weekend.

The "last time" s are starting to happen now. We had a wonderful weekend last weekend with two of my dearest friends and their significant others. We had a BBQ...lots of talking, a jam session, arguing about Meyers Briggs personality profiles, and walked to the beach to see the fireworks. I think this was the last time I'll see them before we go, and it was a wonderful visit. I got to hug J. and R. and congratulate them on their engagement (possibly the single most exciting event of this year for me), and have good catch up time with two of my "chicks." We've been friends for so long, and have watched each other grow from 13 to adults. We've stayed close through all the life changes, graduating highschool, graduating university, kids, weddings, everything! I know that a large part of the person I am today, is tied to them. I said to Daryl after we left, that when I am with them I feel like I can breathe. It's hard to describe, but I think it's something that just comes from growing up together.

This weeknd we also had a short but reviving vist with another couple who are moving accross the continent days after us! They have been such an unending support and comfort throughout the process. B. has been my "packing buddy" and despite being a "J", I don't think I could possibly have gotten through all of this or made any headway at all without her! We were all tired and stressed out when we met up..but we managed, by the end of the evening to have some laughs, and bolster ourselves for the coming weeks.

I'm so excited too, as this week we have TWO dear friends visiting back to back to say goodbye., Today Mag comes, and we'll have some therepeutic evenings watching..hmmm...I'm not sure what we'd watch together? She is my "safe"friend. I say this because whenever I see her when things are stressful and hard (umm...at wedding rehearsals and mid-moving maddness) I end up just crying. I'm not entirely sure why...as I don't "just cry" often. But I think it might be because she's one of those people who never puts demands on me...and she's not involved with any of the stressfull parts of my life.

Then on Sunday, I get to have M. here for two nights. I can't quite believe I have to say goodbye to her yet. Since I've moved here, as with many people, we haven't seen too much of each other.But...we still have our record length phone calls intermittently, and recently have been able to see each other in person fairly frequently. Which is no fair, because now we have to go back to rare visits! She's my dance partner, my nerdy graph buddy (we both love them a little too much), she loves decorating, good food, good wine, good coffee, ikea, God, and her work (which happens to be the same as mine) - could we be a better match? I remember once as we were preparing food for one of her amazing dinner parties, we found ourselves finishing each other's sentances, exclaiming the same comments in stereo, laughing hysterically (as we frequently do), and oohing and awing over the dishes she had chosen for the evening. We were amazed by this - since we literally hadn't seen each other for months. I mean I was expecting us to laugh hysterically...but finish eachother's sentances and speaking the same?? We decided at that juncture that it was a tragedy that we'd never been roomates. I don't think I have more in common with a single other person I know, and because of that she gets me in ways others don't.

Ah..friends, glorious friends. I truely am an extrovert! I really believe that so much of who we are is influenced by those close to us. All of my firends have given me a part of themselves. I hold it for safe keeping :-), and it strengthens me.

Ok ok..enough of all this smeepyness. And I thought I had nothing to say!?!

Bus rider....

(If you've heard that take off on "cab driver" you'll be humming it in your head right now. If not..that's okay).

Today on my bus ride home, the bus was quite empty - only about 5 or 6 people on it when we left university. Included in the bunch was an elderly lady, and several UVic-ites. There was one student type fellow sitting in front of me. When he got on the bus and sat down in front of me I somehow knew I'd have something to blog about tonight. I'm not sure why...just something about the way he carried himself. So...we pull out away from the stop...it's silent, everyone is looking out their windows, dutifully avoiding eye contact with anyone else (myself included). Suddenly, fellow in front of me just yells "holy _ _ _ _ " (the one that REALLY gets your mouth washed out with soap). He continues reading his newspaper without looking up. Everyone looks at him. He looks up...says "Oh, sorry, but you won't beLIEVE this!!" And proceeds to describe to the 5 or so of us how some developer wants to put in condos in the old Bay building downtown I think it was. He tried very hard to engage everyone...eye contact, holding up the paper, waving it around, madly gesturing towards it. It was funny to watch all of us squirming...no one wanted to talk, but it couldn't be avoided, he clearly needed a response involving outrage comparable to his. So gradually...quietly the elderly lady said "has it been approved?" and immediately looked down again. It was so funny!! He also, unfortunately was wearing a sweater and scarf in 30 degree weather, and had his arm up and wrapped around the seat infront of me...positioned just so the air conditioning blew underneath it towards me. Nice. You can imaging sweater+scarf+30degree weather does not = smell of roses. Anyhoo..he was an interesting guy, and I was appreciateive of the bus ride adventure.

I was laughing to myself on the bus and thinking of all the mini-adventures I've had and people I've met, while riding transit.

I remember once discussing theories about a mysterious coffee shop on my old bus route with a couple I'd never met before (the shop has been closed for years, but things move around inside it, the florescent light is always on). We started discussing the coffee shop, but ended up being "those" people on the bus laughing hysterically about I can't remember what the whole bus ride. It was like I'd known them for years. Then it was awkward though - when we'd see each other on the bus after that I'd be thinking things like "I won't say hi unless they say hi to me," and wonder "do we know each other well enough to go for coffee, or is that weird." It was like I was trying to date them. LOL!

Then the man that I see all the time. He looks a bit intimidating...very rough around the edges, older. He always likes to talk to people, and I admit I'd always avoided standing next to him. Then one day I couldn't avoid it, and ended up talking with him. He was so nice...I really enjoyed the conversation. I kind of look forward to bumping into him now. Regardless of how many times things like this happen...I still seem to avoid interaction with people who I don't know. I'm a chicken.

Then the old lady who has crazy teased hair, bright pink blush, hot pink lipstick, excellent 80's clothes too hip for most her age, and an awsume attitude. I DID want to talk with her. I got an opportunity to one day, and she told me that she was 22 (she is at least 65/70 I think), and was going to meet her boyfriend...and told me about graduation and all kinds of things.

And the tiny lady in all red, with cowboy boots and a giant cowboy hat (both also red).

And so many more. That doesn't even cover the adventures...just the neat people! That is the one thing I'll miss about being a bus rider... getting to talk with and meet people I never normally would.

What's your best bus rider story?

A little much-needed reinforcement...

The last week has been challenging. Today was good. Things have been bit by bit starting to feel like they are falling to pieces for our move, the house is in caous, and I had this guest lecture to prepare for the class I'm TAing in. It involved video, in digital form, which, as it turns out my computer cannot play, and cannot be inserted into power point without 4 different types of software and about 100 hours of time - neither of which I had. I managed to figure out an alternate set up though, and the presentation is done! The prof I've worked with for the last year and a half or so (research and TAing etc) gave me a very kind and encouraging introduction when he introduced my presentation...would have made me weepy if I hadn't been infront of a group of 30 people. He's not one to really tell you what he thinks about you, or whether you are doing a good job - very reserved and kind of shy. So, it meant a lot that, even if only in this context he told me what he thought.

The presentation went really well. The other prof from our research team did a presentation as well, and the prof I'm TAing for took all of us out to lunch together. It was really good. They were both so encouraging and provided me with lots of postive feedback which was desperately needed at this junction in life. Then, while discussing our research and what to write up for submission etc....they decided that I should "tweak" my final report, send it to them for revisions and review, and submit it for publication!! The report I WROTE is the one we'll be using!! And I'll get to have the awsume learning experience of getting their feedback and coaching as I prepare it for submission. Now, this in NO WAY means it will be published at all, and definately not any time soon. It could easily be rejected after all the work put into it. It's a lengthly process. And there is a gargantuan amount of "tweaking" to do before it is anywhere near ready to be sent in. Apparently I'm supposed to be doing this "in my spare time" while in Mass. Lol! Good thing I don't start classes till January. Anyhoo...the prospect is exciting, and though it's a lot of work, I can't turn down the opportunity to not only have my name on something, but to actually have written the majority of it!

I actually finally had the time to clean the kitchen, somewhat assemble the living room (broken down ikea furniture and half packed boxes littering it), go grocery shopping and prep veggies, tuna and salad for snacks/lunches this week. We've totally been comfort eating this week - which means increadibly unhealthfully. Forgetting to eat, then eating really unhealthy food, and drinking lots of coffee. We have kept up our running though, so that's good. Our office room is still a disaster, but most of it is the "get rid of" pile (now covering half the room), so there is not much I can do about that till we have our "come take away our stuff" get-together. Sigh.

Deep breaths. I really do need some breathing room right now. It's hard.

Trip planning

It's been an eventful couple of days... nothing huge, just a lot of business with the packing, saying goodbye to our stuff, and planning the trip. Thursday, Daryl's dad came and picked up a truck load of our stuff to store. It was sad to wave goodbye to our beloved mementos, books, and a lovely mirror Daryl gave me for an anniversary present. Yesterday, my dad arrived, all the way from Kamloops, to pick up a truck load of stuff to store at their place. We actually had a good evening, packing, organizing stuff, and getting it all ready to go. I had an encouraging and comforting talk with dad on the patio while Daryl did some of the packing. We are so lucky to have such wonderful and supportive parents on both sides. Another night of little sleep though, as our apartment was just roasting. SO hot!! So this morning, we had breakfast, loaded up the truck and dad took off around 10am. We decided that after all of the packing and sorting and saying goodbye to our things, we needed to contact some reinforcers related to our trip (this would be the way I put it, not Daryl ;-). So, we sat down at the patio table with coffee, maps (tons of free ones my parents scored at BCAA!), paper, highlighter, pencil and calculator and planned out our travel route. Being that we want to go to Kamloops and Edmonton "on the way" out, it seems the fastest, most enjoyable route will be: Victoria, Langley, Kamloops, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Kenora (ONT), Sault St. Marie (ish- we've heard there is great camping just before Sault St. Marie along Lake Superior), Hamilton, then accross the boarder at Buffalo and through to MA. We had heard that the route below, via the US was faster, but when we timed it out on the maps, going through Canada was faster by a few hours, and the trip is much more picturesque that way. Besides, both of us have a fear of travelling though Chicago (which the US route would require). I was stuck there twice for hours on end at the O'Hairball airport, and Daryl was stuck there due to car troubles for a matter of days! So, we'll avoid it.

It was quite amusing planning the trip out. Once I had highlighted in our route (a necessity for me), I was very rigid about it. I could not entertain the idea of taking a route that was off the highlighted roads. Daryl was almost as bad, in that he was seriously disturbed when I accidently got a pencil mark on the map. We are an odd couple.

Anyhoo...onwards we go. Half our stuff is gone, now to get rid of the rest, and pack what we're taking with us.

Take away my stuff party??

So I had this idea...I thought - wouldn't it be great if we could combine (stay with me it IS a good idea) visiting with people before we go, and getting rid of our stuff? Like an invite-only-donate-money-to-our-move-and-take-our-stuff-away thing??

Then i was talking with a friend (who's also moving, though not so far, so can cart extra stuff)...tonight and hadn't even mentioned my idea. I was telling her I had spent the afternoon taking pictures of our furniture to post on craigslist. So she got all excited and asked if she could come over and look at our stuff first and have first dibs on buying our stuff. I said "SURE." So, her, and her new baby and her friend came over. They wandered through our house (while I got some "baby action" and) and between the two of them, they are taking 8 or 9 pieces of furniture, and paying for it!! And we had a wonderful visit! They just put post-it's on the stuff they decided to take, with the price we told them. They're picking it up!

So - NO garage sale, NO strangers in your space, NO carting things to a new home, NO listing adds, NO anything!! Just some time visiting with friends, and the potentially (not in this situation) awkward situation of telling a friend how much money they should give you for something. That could be avoided though, by stickering things ahead of time and having a few people over. Some nice coffee and baking and you have an inexpensive social event where you make a little money!

love it? I do!

We have a car!!

Here it is!! We have our new car!! It's a 1998 Nissan 200Sx. Low miles, perfect on the inspection, and it will be a perfect little car for us. A bit small for our galavanting across the continent, but the pefect commuting car. The biggest plus is that it is a US car - so there are no importing issues (yes we've checked into this in great detail :-). We can't actually DRIVE it yet, as we don't have the insurance. We will be able to insure it in MA from here though (miracle of miracles) and will start that process tomorrow. We're hoping to have the plates within the month. I can't wait to drive it! So, bit by bit things are coming together. Oh happy day...we are once again with car. Did I mention that I really do love driving.

Down on the avenue...

If you happened to spot me walking down Oak Bay Avenue today, you may have thought to yourself "who is that delirious looking woman wandering down the street with a coffee cup in her hand."

I did one of my favorite things today...I went for a walk on the avenue to "run" some errands. Not run though, walk, and walk slowly which most know I don't do often (despite all M's efforts to shape my inappropriately fast walking behavior). I picked up some packing things at the hardware store, stopped at the bakery, then the italian deli (for fresh local veggies and other nice treats) and the grocery store (for boring things like milk and bread). On my travels today I had what was possibly the single best cup of coffee of my life thus far. That is saying something - I have had many outstanding cups of coffee. Before I say much more I must confess that I am an unadulterated coffee snob. Here are two scenarios that emphasize my point:

1) DH and I walk into a little bakery, hoping to get a nice cup of coffee and maybe a pastry. I look around, see yummy pastery, but no clue as to what type of coffee is served. There are large generic pots brewing away (often, though not always a bad sign) and generic paper cups. Suspicious, I casually ask the counter person (unfortunately, I can not use the term "Barista" here) "So...umm...what type of coffee do you brew here?" Counter person stares at me blanly (warning sign # 2), and eventually says, "Umm..I think, ah you mean what BRAND do we have?" Sighing, I reply "yes, what brand" knowing the question is now totally unnecessary. Counter person says "Umm..Canterbury I think." Tyla - "Hmm..(high pitched hmmm)..okay, thank you" and wispers to Daryl "let's get out of here." Daryl looks appalled and replies "you can't just LEAVE now" and I say "well I'm not paying 2 dollars for canterbury coffee." We leave.

2) DH and I have a bit of a wait between buses downtown. There's a (usually) decent coffee place nearby, and DH runs in to get us some coffees for the trip. He comes back, hands one to me. Both of us take sips, turn to look at each other, shake our heads and comment on the absolute disgrace of a cup of coffee we are drinking. I try very hard to keep drinking, as does DH. Finally DH can take it no more (he has been corrupted by this point) and marches to the nearest garbage can and tosses the entire venti coffee. Seconds later I do the same. This is not the first, nor will it be the last time I have tossed a coffee (I once winged a nasty cup of gas station coffee out the driver side window of my car I was so disgusted. Luckily it didn't cause an accident).

Okay. Now that you understand what a good (and bad) cup of coffee mean to me, you will appreciate the experience I had this afternoon. Well, maybe not in the same way that I do...but...

I finally walked by this new little bakery while it was open (I've passed it many times in the evening after it is closed). I decided I needed a pick me up and wanted to check it out, so went in for a coffee and a peak at the pasteries. Firstly - the pasteries and cakes were of the absolute highest quality. The cakes were complete works of art. I was amazed. After gawking with my mouth open, I ordered my coffee. Here's what made it so special:

First - it was Illy coffee (the finest italian coffee - to DIE for). Second the barista (no hesitation here) pulled the shots three times, before she decided they were good enough to use. Having worked in a cafe, and loving straight espresso, I often see people pulling the shots for my drinks and am thoroughly dissapointed. These shots (the good ones) had a beautiful dark coloring, with a thick, creamy caramel coulored creme on top. I love the creme. When I get americano's or straight espresso I sip it off before anything else :-). Today though, I had ordered a double macchiato. Now I must clarify for the Starbucks fans (of which I frequently am one) that a true macchiato is not full of milk and topped with whip cream and caramel sauce. A true machiato is a double shot (or more) of espresso topped with foam (foamed milk). No actual steamed milk is poured in,and it is not sweetened in any way. The machiato I had today had beautiful thick foam (the best kind) - I knew it would be perfect as she foamed it slowly, and tamped the steaming jug down several times. I was served only the best shots of espresso, from the best coffee, with the best foamed milk on top. I walked out into the sunlight, removed the top, and drank in the first sip. There is nothing that compares to the perfectly drawn shot of espresso filtered through thick creamy foam. It was bliss. So, I walked slowly the rest of the way, in order to fully enjoy this creation.

I picked up the groceries and am now off to unpack them and get dinner prepped before we go for our run. Huge to-do list for the evening, but first things first :-).

Purging, running and cooking

Today was productive, but for some reason I"m left feeling somewhat "blah" - like it wasn't productive. Not sure why...Anyhoo.

I worked in the am, then spent the afternoon 1) Purging our kitchen 2) Cleaning 3) Cooking a roast and 4) Going for a run with Daryl.

I managed to pull out 3 boxes of dishes and odds and ends that are non-essential and we do not love enough to store, as well as several small kitchen appliances that are partially broken, old, or almost never used. I also started sorting through a rubbermaid bin of old school/work stuff. I think most of it will be chucked and/or shredded. I'm keeping the larger papers I wrote and stuff, but that's about it. So, Hoping to get one rubbermaid down to one folder of stuff.

I cooked a roast!! This is a rare thing for me. We rarely eat red meat, mostly b/c I really don't like or no how to cook it without a recipe. But we had a certain type of roast at a friends house that we loved. So, standing in front of the meat counter I phoned her and asked "what type of roast do I get??" I then googled it, to try to get some ideas for cooking it, and melded several "recipes" together to come up with this:

1 Cross Rib roast - I rubbed it with a paste of fresh rosemary, crushed garlic, thyme, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and olive oil. I then seared it in a frying pan (they say you're supposed to do this), then put it in a baking pan with potatoes, carrots, garlic, and 2 cups of water and covered with foil. Cooked for about 2 hours, and it was done! Pretty tasty. I think I overcooked it a bit - I didn't have a meat thermometer and was afraid of under cooking it.

It was ready early, and we went for a run when Daryl went home, then had dinner. The cheese man came today at Daryl's work...so we had some brie and smoked cheddar with our wine for dessert. I ate too much of it though!!

We've just completed week 1 of our "couch to 5 k" running program. It starts off very easy and gradually builds you up week by week until you're running 5k. You run 3 times per week, with the difficulty building on a weekly basis. So, next week we up the intensity a bit. It feels good to run again (well, really "Jog" not "run"). I always forget how good it feels. And it's really nice to run with Daryl. I love working out with him :-).

Anyhoo...laundry and more packing calls...

Holiday at home weekend...

This weekend has felt somewhat like a holiday, even though it's been jam-packed, AND I worked. Thursday night, we spent with friends having dinner and watching a mutually favorite, now-retired TV series, (ehhem...Buffy). We haven't spent much time with them, and I so wish we had before now. It was so relaxing and enjoyable. Good company, good food, good chocolate, good TV viewing. Good times :-). Friday night we had movie night togehter and Saturday I worked in the morning. We went for a run together afterwards, had the afternoon together, went to Church, where we prayed a beautiful Akathist to Christ - it is my favorite one, and so wonderful to pray. We then went over to another friends house for a games night afterwards. Again, people we don't spend enough time with! We had wine, games, snacks, and good conversation. Very fun. Our priest and deacon were both away this weekend, so we didn't have a liturgy this morning, but had a reader's service (a prayer service). We had a liesurely morning, breakfast (yummy cereal and fresh blueberries) and coffee on the deck, then went to Church. There was something very special about so few of us gathering together to pray. It was an intimate service, with almost everyone in attendance "doing" something - be it singing or reading or otherwise. It was a peaceful and strengthening prayerful time.

After Church, we had some lunch and coffee with everyone at the Church. Oh - as a side bar - someone brought potato salad (WAIT!) but made with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, green onions and olives with potatoes. It was really really good!! Ok, so AFTER Church, we went accross the highway to Elk Lake, and we rented a WATER BIKE. It was excellent!! It seats two, is impossible to peddal, and takes gargantuan effort to get anywhere. BUT- It was a great workout, and very amusing and we had a blast!! I decided, once we were in the middle of the lake that the water felt warm, and that I should hop off for a swim. Ya, the water was warm...but ummmm...water bikes are not designed for re-mounting mid-lake. I was literally hanging with my legs wrapped around the bars leading from the back to front wheels, with Daryl hauling on my one arm while trying to keep the bike from tipping, flailing my other arm trying to wing myself back up onto the bike. I somehow managed to make it back onto the bike, but it was a serious escapade. If daryl had come swimming too we would have had to tow the bike back in! We had an afternoon of purging/organizing and planning the move, and a good dinner. I have figured out how to make panini type sandwiches at home! Sourdough bread - one side spread with pesto, then tiny bit of shredded cheddar, then sliced chicken breast, tomato and artichoke hearts, then a bit of feta, and another tiny bit of cheddar. Put the second slice on top, brush one side of the sandwich with olive oil, and put it in a grill pan. I put a pot, with an unopened jar of pickled in the pot on top of the sandwiches to squash them, then brush the second side with olive oil, flip and replace the pot/pickle contraption. Cut in half and serve with mixed greens and a glass of wine. SUPER good!

So, all of this combined to make this weekend feel a bit like a holiday, even though we were at home, accomplished quite a bit, and still worked a bit. I think it was the lake visit, and spending time with friends. We often cut out socializing, due to time constraints, and being so tired etc that we just want to curl up and watch a movie together. Have to remember how reviving it can be to spend that time with friends instead.

I am so thankful that we are able to find peace and joy in the midst of the scary and busy moving maddness. God is good.

Big decisions, little victories.

It feels good to make decisions. We have been agonizing over every little decision, debating and weighing pros and cons and expenses. We are finally getting to the point that some type of decisions are being made. We've found the apartment we want. It's a really nice one bedroom 7-800 square foot "victorian" apartment in an area of town recomended by the people at NECC as one of the better areas in Worcester. It is the 2nd floor in a 3 family building. These are the pics we have of it. I'm excited. I think it will be a good little place for us. It's relatively new, clean, in a good neighborhood, and within our price range. We're just going through working out the details of basically renting an apartment from the other side of the continent. Luckily, we are dealing with a real estate agent, which makes me a little less nervous about it than if we were just dealing with someone who posted an add. This picture (<---) is the view from the porch. I like :-). ANYhoo...so, we've decided on an apartment, now we just have to wait for the real estate agent to confirm my work situation (call them) and do our reference checks etc. So we'll see, hopefully it will work out.

We've also decided on a car. We found a car that a couple brought here from California, but now want to sell, as the importing fees are so high. So, it's a US car, so WE don't have to import it going into the states. It's a nice little 1998 Nissan 200SX. Good commuting car, in mint condition and it came through with a stellar mechanical inspection. So, it will be a huge relief to have a car we can rely on. SO good stuff.

And can I just give a huge recomendation for Craigslist!! It is basically a huge classifed website where you can post adds and view adds for almost anything. They also have discussion forums around certain topics related to this stuff. I have found, for our move on this website:
1) A car.
2) An apartment.
3) Potential jobs for Daryl.
4) Advice about housing costs, heating costs, living expenses in Worcester.
5) FREE moving boxes from someone who is moving to Victoria this weekend!
6) That we can pretty much furnish an entire apartment when we get there for next to nothing through craigslist.

I think we will list our furniture we're selling on the Victoria Craigslist soon to sell it. You also don't have make any of your personal information available to those who are looking at your post. You can set it up so that they reply to a Craigslist address that gets forwarded to your email. Excellent!

Little victories include 1) Free moving boxes, 2) Sorting through about half the storage closet and heaving out a bag of trash, and another bag of give aways, and a box to store..and well, I think that's it for now :-).

There is still much to do, but making headway in little bits.

Sand between my toes.

I like the feeling of sand between my toes. I also love the feeling of sun beating down on me and fresh, clean salt water to swim in. So, it was a good camping trip. I think Miracle Beach is the absolute best place to camp. It has the wonderful tall, old trees surrounding the campsites, and the stunning open ocean views at the beach. It has those stumps that huckleberries grow out of. I remember sitting on stumps with a childhood friend on camping trips and eating huckleberries. As I was saying to Daryl this weekend...how exactly did I know they were huckleberries?? I couldn't tell you today what a huckleberry looked like, and wouldnt' trust myself not to eat poisonous berries! But then I guess I wasn't thinking about potential poisonings at that age.

We went for a wonderful walk around an estuary. It was a beautiful combination of forest and beach! We spent one whole day on the beach - myself laying on the beach in the sun tanning (LOVE it!), Daryl spending most of the time in shadier area reading and relaxing.

Two of my favorite pictures: The rock picture. I always end up taking pictures of rocks and sand. I think "that would be perfect to blow up and hang up to decorate." I HAVE done this once with a set of postcards. I color copied 3 beachy post cards and enlarged them (60 cents each!) and framed them. It worked well. I'm collecting pictures for a beach theme wall. I won't of course put this together till we're settled in in Boston, but at least I'll have the pictures. I have some great ones from our camping trip last year too. So, Daryl took this fabulous beach picture below the rocks. It is truely stunning there. Here too. It really is a little bit of paradise here.

There are many more pictures to share, but this is just a sampling. We had a good weekend, and managed to pack a lot in to it. We visited Cherry Point winery on our way down, and bought our wine for the weekend, then had some friends meet us at the campsite for Friday night. We were, ehhem, a *little* bit later than planned (umm...around 9pm) and our wonderful friends had talked their way into our campsite and had a fire going for us when we arrived!! We all had drinks and roasted hot dogs and smores over the fire (and some brie, artichoke dip, and chips and salsa) and had a great time. It's too bad they lock the gates to the campground at 11pm. It was sad to see them go - we don't see them often at all.

We went to Campbell River for some of the Canada day festivities. There was wood carving...and a "parade." There was no "Miss ___ " float, as in osoyoos (see Michelle's post), but there were some shriners driving around like crazy men in formation in these little mini race cars!! It was SO funny! There were all fairly old, but they were MOTORING in these little mini cars. It reminded me of the clowns in the tiny car at the circus. They were going so fast!! Anyhoo, we had the famous ice cream on the pier and headed back to the campsite.

I'm kind of excited - we kind of have a camping "tradition" now. On the last night, we get fresh salmon and cook it with sliced lemon, dill, and salt and pepper in the fire. Then I make up potatoes mixed with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper etc and we roast them in the fire. Both are in foil packages, and we have some type of vegetable (this time it was green beans) with it as well. We did this again this year, and it was SO good! We had a nice Ortega wine from Cherry Point to go with it - it was a treat!

We had a good last day too, amazingly. We were packed up and out of the campground by 11am, and had time to stop at several markets and pick up produce, and make another stop at the winery. We also went for lunch at what we consider to be "our" restaurant. We went to it several times on our honeymoon. It's called the Beach House and is right on the beach route in Qualicam. The patio is literally 50 feet from the waves. Unbelievable food too, and amazyingly reasonably priced. I sat on the patio, sun beaming down on me, wine in hand, waves lapping at the shore only feet away, with my husband next to me. It was a good time. I had a candied salmon pizza with pesto and cream cheese. Super good! We love this restaurant.

So, all in all it was a good weekend. It gave us a chance to step back a bit, have some fun, and have some more in depth talks about the "Big picture" of the move and such. This part really helped me key downa bit about it all. There are still just as many unknowns, and it's still blinking scary, but i have a some more perspective on it now.

Well...off I go - this is what happens when I wait too long between blogs! There is more to post just from the last few days! It will have to wait till another time though.