We are off to Canada tomorrow to celebrate Christmas and New Years with family. We are in Lethbridge for most of the time, but we are hopping up to Edmonton for a few days. For New Years, we are going to the Flames/Oilers game IN CALGARY! So, we will have to be brave fans and cheer extra loud for the Oilers.
We had a Christmas party last night with our new small group from church. We joined this group about a month ago and it has been so great to get to know them. They have really made us feel right at home in the group.
Well, I should go and start packing. Merry Christmas to everyone!
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Things We Learned In NYC
We went into New York this weekend to do some Christmas shopping. Here is a list of things we learned while there:
1) Never get on an empty subway car. There is a reason why it's empty. Our car happened to smell like it had carried livestock previously. I can't even describe how terrible the smell was, in fact, I start to gag if I think about it.
2) You can actually see celebrities in NYC. We had our first celeb-spotting in New York. We saw Ethan Hawke walking in the Upper West Side, talking on a cell phone. Sorry, no pictures. You'll just have to take our word for it.
3) If it's cool, you'll have to wait. I had found out about this tea room that I wanted to go to for tea. It was cozy and quaint, and the scones looked amazing. And there was a 45 minute wait to be seated!
4) Hot dogs are serious food. In our "Not For Tourists" guide book to New York, a hot dog fast food spot is listed as a landmark. We stopped in at another serious hot dog spot for New Yorkers, Gray's Papaya, for the recession special. Two hot dogs and papaya juice for $3.5o. That may seem like a strange combo but it works.
5) Even Canadians can blend in to look like New Yorkers. We had a few people ask us
for directions during the day. Maybe it was because we weren't waving our camera around or wearing "I love New York"...
We did take some pictures however. One of them is of the Canadian Lounge that I wrote about in a previous blog and the skating rink that is located in front of it in Bryant Park. There are also a few dinosour pictures as we spent the afternoon in the American Museum of Natural History.
1) Never get on an empty subway car. There is a reason why it's empty. Our car happened to smell like it had carried livestock previously. I can't even describe how terrible the smell was, in fact, I start to gag if I think about it.
2) You can actually see celebrities in NYC. We had our first celeb-spotting in New York. We saw Ethan Hawke walking in the Upper West Side, talking on a cell phone. Sorry, no pictures. You'll just have to take our word for it.
3) If it's cool, you'll have to wait. I had found out about this tea room that I wanted to go to for tea. It was cozy and quaint, and the scones looked amazing. And there was a 45 minute wait to be seated!
4) Hot dogs are serious food. In our "Not For Tourists" guide book to New York, a hot dog fast food spot is listed as a landmark. We stopped in at another serious hot dog spot for New Yorkers, Gray's Papaya, for the recession special. Two hot dogs and papaya juice for $3.5o. That may seem like a strange combo but it works.
5) Even Canadians can blend in to look like New Yorkers. We had a few people ask us
for directions during the day. Maybe it was because we weren't waving our camera around or wearing "I love New York"...We did take some pictures however. One of them is of the Canadian Lounge that I wrote about in a previous blog and the skating rink that is located in front of it in Bryant Park. There are also a few dinosour pictures as we spent the afternoon in the American Museum of Natural History.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Teas and Christmas Parties
I went to my first Ladies' Tea at church. I was a little hesitant, thinking perhaps it was a little too grown up for me. But it wasn't (I can be quite mature at times). It actually felt a little British, with little finger sandwiches, scones and china for the tea. And I'm pretty comfortable around the British stuff after living in it for 3 years. (The sandwiches looked better than these ones in the picture. Not sure how you make bread pink.)
We also went to a little party on Sunday with some friends from church. We played darts, which I haven't done for EVER! You may be surprised, but Jason and I actually got into darts quite a bit while we were in Edmonton. We would play at this scary pub on 99th Street. W
e even bought some darts of our own as well. But then we moved to England, and I didn't play at all there. But I did watch dart competitions while I was there (on TV). Who knew it could be so much fun to watch? I ended up winning two games and coming in second on the third game... not too bad for a gal that hasn't thrown in awhile.I just finished a book I had been reading, "David Copperfield". It was really great to read. The way Dickens describes David's childhood is so funny. I was entertained throughout the whole book. I have now moved on to "Tom Jones", which I have only read the first two pages. It doesn't seem like it will be as easy of a read as "David Copperfield". I have a few books lined up to read and I love that. I also love this time of year, as it gets cold and the days shorter, as the holidays come upon us, it just makes me want to curl up on the couch and read all day.
But I haven't been reading all day long, I have also been sewing some curtains for our bedroom. They are made from king-size sheets, but I think they look pretty good. They block out the light, which is the most important thing. Next project, mittens- for the cold Canadian winter.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Winter Crowds
We went into New York City on the weekend to see the sights of Christmas in the Big Apple. We went to see Rockefeller Center's big, beautiful tree and skating rink. It was sooo crowded. And the line-up to go skating was insane! So, we just squeezed through to take a few quick pics and then moved on. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera (although I took plenty of pictures on my cell phone).
Another cool place we saw was Bryant Park. They had a huge outdoor festive market, a skating rink in the middle AND a temporary restaurant called 'Celsius'. This restaurant was described as being a "Canadian Lounge". It was a pretty cool-looking restaurant, which is a huge feat: to look cool in the middle of Manhattan! Made me proud to be Canadian. What was on the menu, you ask? Well, Canadian Cheese Fondue, British Columbia salmon, and much more (but I've forgotten).
We also walked through Little Italy (had a slice of pizza there) and China Town. Found out that China Town is THE place for cheap deals. Wish I could buy all my Christmas gifts there! We also walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, which was recommended to us. It was pretty cool. It took us about 15mins, stopping three times to ask for directions and doing a full circle before we figured out how to get ON to the bridge. But hey, if you ever want to walk over the bridge, we can show you the way. Oh, we also saw the Courthouse, you know, the one that is always in Law and Order. We were so excited for some reason. It doesn't take much I guess.
Another cool place we saw was Bryant Park. They had a huge outdoor festive market, a skating rink in the middle AND a temporary restaurant called 'Celsius'. This restaurant was described as being a "Canadian Lounge". It was a pretty cool-looking restaurant, which is a huge feat: to look cool in the middle of Manhattan! Made me proud to be Canadian. What was on the menu, you ask? Well, Canadian Cheese Fondue, British Columbia salmon, and much more (but I've forgotten).
We also walked through Little Italy (had a slice of pizza there) and China Town. Found out that China Town is THE place for cheap deals. Wish I could buy all my Christmas gifts there! We also walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, which was recommended to us. It was pretty cool. It took us about 15mins, stopping three times to ask for directions and doing a full circle before we figured out how to get ON to the bridge. But hey, if you ever want to walk over the bridge, we can show you the way. Oh, we also saw the Courthouse, you know, the one that is always in Law and Order. We were so excited for some reason. It doesn't take much I guess.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Oh Dreary Day!
Today is grey and rainy outside and all I want to do is stay inside. But, I can't. I need to make a 45-min excursion back to IKEA. I bought a bed from them yesterday and then we found out at 10pm that there was a piece missing, so we couldn't sleep on our new bed. So frustrating!
Today is the perfect day to read a book and drink hot chocolate. After talking to friends and family (and seeing pictures of snowy landscapes on a friend's blog), I am actually missing snow. I put my Christmas decorations up yesterday and now I feel that I need a little cold weather to go along with it. I hope to get my fill of snow when we go back to Canada for Christmas.
I finally did it. I have been meaning to do something meaningful with my time and I have had good intentions to do some volunteering for the last few weeks (but it's taken some time to work up the courage). Yesterday, I finally went in to the hospital to drop off my application. I have applied to volunteer at a hospital that I would like to work at in the future. AND- they have a volunteer position that deals with educating cardiac patients. That would be perfect for me and help me make those all important connections with cardiology staff. I won't be starting until the end of January, but I would be thrilled if that worked out. Am I crazy for making myself spend more time in a hospital than I have already (and not get paid for it)?
December 1st- only 3 weeks until we fly home for Christmas! I've got some major shopping to do! Don't think that we are going to buy a Christmas tree this year. Does that seem Scrooge-like? I may just buy an artificial tree at the post-Christmas sales. That seems like the financially smart thing to do.
Today is the perfect day to read a book and drink hot chocolate. After talking to friends and family (and seeing pictures of snowy landscapes on a friend's blog), I am actually missing snow. I put my Christmas decorations up yesterday and now I feel that I need a little cold weather to go along with it. I hope to get my fill of snow when we go back to Canada for Christmas.
I finally did it. I have been meaning to do something meaningful with my time and I have had good intentions to do some volunteering for the last few weeks (but it's taken some time to work up the courage). Yesterday, I finally went in to the hospital to drop off my application. I have applied to volunteer at a hospital that I would like to work at in the future. AND- they have a volunteer position that deals with educating cardiac patients. That would be perfect for me and help me make those all important connections with cardiology staff. I won't be starting until the end of January, but I would be thrilled if that worked out. Am I crazy for making myself spend more time in a hospital than I have already (and not get paid for it)?
December 1st- only 3 weeks until we fly home for Christmas! I've got some major shopping to do! Don't think that we are going to buy a Christmas tree this year. Does that seem Scrooge-like? I may just buy an artificial tree at the post-Christmas sales. That seems like the financially smart thing to do.
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