Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Year

Well, I've been a very bad blogger as of late and will remedy it as soon as I am back in WA and have access to my Hawaii photos and can upload photos from our visit home. We leave here (Ottawa) on Saturday and I'm already sad to be leaving. I hate leaving. It's snowing right now and my suburb looks like its been captured in a snowglobe. Everett is the complete antithesis of a snowglobe...anyways...I am happy to be returning to my Moose and the new adventure that awaits me on Monday.

What adventure is that you ask? Well, I got a job. A real full-time permanent employee status job! And I start on Monday with what appears to be a week of orientation and then maybe expected to hit the ground running after those 5 days of grace. I'm looking forward to starting anew and to learning all the ins and outs of my new company and new field, it will be both interesting and a challenge - exactly what I've been looking for!

Anyways, this is my last post for 2009. 2009 wasn't a totally stellar year so here's to 2010 - may it be fun-filled and spent with those I love!
I hope to get online with photos at the ready on Sunday!

Peace out and Happy Happy New Year!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Mele Kalikimaka!!!

Or the alternative title of: Robyn has a lucky feather stuck up her bum!

This is just a quick check in to say that tomorrow morning mike & I will be flying off to Honolulu for the week! Hellzzzzz yessssssssss! How did this all come about? Well, Mike will be in Honolulu for a week long training course and I'm tagging along because this is one of those trips that the Navy says its ok to bring your spouse! Yay Navy! My accompanying him was a last minute decision - we decided Monday and I don't really feel prepared or like its actually happening but we're getting up at 4am tomorrow morning so I guess its real! :)

In other news and lucky feather related - I have an incredibly thoughtful and generous husband! I got my Christmas present today - 20 days early but for good reason - Mike bought me a digital SLR Nikon camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!! I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Its something we've both been wanting for a few years now and Mike already owns 4 Nikon lenses so that's how he came to purchase this camera. Nikon has been pretty consumer savvy, they could have made the SLR models with their own specific lenses thus forcing consumers to buy all new sets of lenses, but they didn't. If you have a Nikon lens that was made in the last 60 years, it will work on today's SLR models. I like things like that. I haven't figured out how to use it yet (we've been busy packing and tidying) but that's what the 6 and a half years of flying time is for!!!!

I'm bringing my laptop so I'll post photos of this weekends activities and Hawaii in the coming days!

PS - Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaiian for Merry Christmas! Think Bing Crosby...

Thursday, December 3, 2009

So many little things...

To get caught up on! I've been both busy and at times a little lazy! But here's a little catch up from the past few weeks.

1) I finished my year-long contract on November 17th and while I'll miss some lovely friends I made there, generally, I'm relieved the year is over. It was a bit of a rough go.

2) I've been keeping myself busy with applying and interviewing for work and being a little Susie Homemaker as evidenced below...

3) American Thanksgiving was last Thursday and my mother-in-law prepared a lovely and tasty feast! I contributed to the celebration with Paula Dean's Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle! It was very tasty y'all!

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4) I really like to bake, its fun and I like the level of concentration it requires, focus without intense focus. Anyways, the only hindrance to baking is that it leads to high caloric consumption! Therefore, with my extra time, I've decided to fatten up my puppy instead of myself! I've taken to creating dog biscuits for my Moose.

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Check out my newest toy! A 3 cup Cuisineart chopper/grinder! De-lightful!

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These tasty treats are the result of leftover chicken thighs & drumsticks from Mike's birthday dinner (frozen raw, not caked in jambalaya!), pinto beans, whole wheat flour, chicken broth, canola oil, grated carrots and grated apples. Moosey approves of them and when I pull them out, he actually licks his lips! He will be sharing them with his buddy Angus.

5) Lastly, last weekend I went to this neat little shopping area in the city of Bothell called Country Village. Country Village is a little western looking 'town' that was built in the 1970s. It has been and continues to be home to a variety of antique, decor, clothing and toys shops owned and operated by women. In one of those antique shops, I found a vintage travel poster for my favourite place on earth, Edinburgh!!!! I saw it and absolutely had to have it. Sarah, brace yourself!

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Edinburgh is (in my opinion) one of the best places on earth. It is beautiful, majestic, historically rich, fun, and filled with kind and cheerful people. I was very lucky to spend a year and a half there, doing my master's degree, working and meeting some of my nearest and dearest friends - Sarah (http://themcwoods.blogspot.com/) is one of those people and Mike & I are thrilled to be crashing in on her family's Christmas on our way back to Ottawa for our family's Christmas! You should check out her blog and Christmas card, which is fantanbulous!

Anyways, at a later date I'm going to do a Edinburgh post! Bonne nuit.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Update from the Colbert Nation...a few days late...

As of Monday of this week $202,000 had been raised for the American Speed Skating Team in 6 days since Stephen Colbert and his Nation/Legion of Fans agreed to sponsor the team! Impressive!

In addition to this achievement, Monsieur Colbert put "Canadian Iceholes" on official notice - apparently the Vancouver Olympic organizers won't let the American team practice at the Richmond Oval in the lead up to the games. Letting teams practice on the ice ahead of time is apparently the norm in speed skating competitions but for some reason, the VANOC and/or the Canadian Olympic Speed Skating Team are being less than hospitable and this landed Canada on Stephen's 'notice' list. I guess the American team is just going to have to bring its A game.... :)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Lest We Forget

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www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca

Monday, November 9, 2009

20 and 1 years ago today

Twenty years ago today my parents called me and my sister into the living room to watch as Germans from East and West of the Berlin Wall reunited joyously for the first time in 28 years. The Berlin Wall had come down and with it came the beginning of the end of Communism and what had once been the USSR’s vast empire. As far as elementary school-aged children went, I was a news junkie. I watched the news in the morning as we got ready for our days at school and work and I watched the local news every night after dinner. I distinctly remember watching this particular broadcast and I knew, without being told, that this was a huge event.

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Taken from a google image search

I was 9 years old when the wall came down and based on what they taught us at school, I knew about 8 things about the USSR: 1) Berlin and Germany were split in half, 2) people had to line up for food and/or sometimes just bread, 3) everyone is the USSR drove the same model of car, 4) the government told when your family was going to take your holiday, your parents couldn’t decide that for themselves, 5) you couldn’t leave the USSR unless the government gave you permission to and it was very very hard to get permission 6) Pawel S. in my grade 2 class was from Poland and could only speak Polish and Russian because they (the government) wouldn’t teach the children English, 7) Ronald Regan and Mikhail Gorbachev had a lot of meetings, those two were always on the news and lastly, 8) Mikhail Baryshnikov, the premier ballet dancer in Russia and the world throughout the 1970s and 1980s, had defected from the USSR, which meant he could never go home to visit his parents again and I remember this making me feel very sad for him. This is what I learnt/retained from the elementary school teachings on communism. Fast forward 18 years to when I began working in Brussels and one of my counterparts was from Latvia and only a few years older than me. I took the opportunity to confirm whether the information I had been given as a child was Western propaganda or actuality – standing in line for bread, laundry detergent, red meat and chicken were all part of his daily life as a child. And yes, his parents only took vacations when the government told them they could. Fascinating. I could throw my poli-sci degrees into this post and write a few long paragraphs on what it meant then and in the intervening 20 years but I won’t because you can go to the BBC or The Times or The Guardian for more in-depth analysis by people who were actually there and lived it.

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Taken from The Guardian's website

Switching gears…

1 year ago today my little monkey-butt, Moose, was born! My, how he’s grown! We’ve bought him a pile of new toys, which he will have in tatters before bedtime tonight. We’ve wised up and will very rarely buy him toys at the pet store because while he’s only an 11 lbs dog, he can chew through anything! Dollar store or bust! So Happy 1st Birthday to our Moose!!! Sniff, you’re growing up so fast!!!

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This is Moose on his first night home with us, he was 12 weeks old, he hated us (seriously, you should have seen the comtempt in his eyes) and had walked himself into his cage and passed out from a day of nerves and new places.

Friday, November 6, 2009

One of my many mild obessions...

There are a number of things I have mild obsessions with: stationary, art prints, the UK, France, lamps, cheese and tea towels. I've labeled them mild, instead of full-on-full-blown-oppressive-yet-exhilarating obsessions because while I love them I manage to restrain myself from packing our apartment full of these things. Instead I'm a very keen window shopper who occasionally indulges by giving in and buying one or some of these things...except the UK and France, I looked into it, I simply can't afford the mortgage to acquire both swaths of land...shame...

Anyways, in the last few days and apart from my Olympic chatter, I've come across some absolute gems in the realm of tea towels! They're pretty and cute and sophisticated… or at least as sophisticated as a tea towel can get! And there’s lots of them…and this why they stay a mild obsession and do not come home with me…where would Mike keep his clothes?

From the awesome online store Keep Calm Gallery and in their new(er) shop ToDryFor.com


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Branch Handmade

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www.etsy.com/shop/branchhandmade


Brookish - um, how awesome is this? Mr. Darcy's 1st proposal to Lizzie

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www.brookish.etsy.com


Humble Collection

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www.humblecollection.etsy.com


Mr. PS

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www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5091410


Nesta Home

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www.nestahome.etsy.com


Oola Designs

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www.ooladesigns.etsy.com

Petit Coterie

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www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6505304


Show Pony

My mom would love this one...
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www.showpony.etsy.com


Skinny La Minx

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www.etsy.com/shop/skinnylaminx


Teresa Sheeley

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www.etsy.com/shop/teresasheeley

Hello Handmade Paperie - the photos of this aren't great but its a 2010 calendar, pretty no?

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www.hellohandmadepaperie.etsy.com

Emma Bridgewater


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www.emmabridgewater.com



Bon Weekend!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

I stand corrected, Ralph Lauren throws it back to the 30s and apparently we're hackers...

So, apparently I stand corrected! When I was in Vancouver on Sunday and took the photo posted below of the Olympic countdown clock which read 131 days until the Olympics, it was wrong. Because today, the news and The Bay in their email to me (me specifically don't you know) announced that there was only 100 more days until the start of the 2010 Winter Games! Well that's dandy, but does VANOC know? And is this a sign of things to come? Brace yourself Vancouver, brace yourself...


In other Olympic related news today, Team USA revealed its uniform/gear for the Games - 1930s inspired pieces created by Ralph Lauren. They are nice, if not a little plain but what I particularly do not like about them and quite frankly find Mr. Lauren to have exercised poor taste, is that they are festooned with the enigmatic branding of polo player and horse and his initials. I think the term I'm looking for is... egotistically tacky?

America’s Olympians are representatives of America. They are representatives of their respective sports and they are representatives of their states, towns and families. They are not representatives nor models employed by Ralph Lauren Polo & Co. And while Mr. Lauren’s rise to fashion world stardom and riches follows the story of the ‘American dream’, I wonder if his designs and logo strewn clothing is representative of America and American athletes going about their daily lives outside of Manhattan? Moreover, given the economic climate and the hardships many Americans have faced over the last 12-18 months, how inviting and broadly representative are these portable symbols of athletic and sporting pride when the men’s sweater pictured below is priced at $385 and the women’s is priced at $165...i mean, really?


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(BTW, what is up with Ralphie cutting off people's heads? We already have headless manikins, are models next? How will they smoke to stay so thin?)

America’s Olympic strengthen has always been in the actual matter and substance of the Games, athletic prowess, but if the US Olympic Committee and teams want their compatriots to take a more active part and investment in their athletes and their organization, than they need to bring the Games to the masses - and one way would be through broadly appealing and affordable branding. I simply see can't large segments of the population with 'Get R Done' bumper stickers picking up one of these jaunty sweaters...just saying…

Anyways, Ralph Lauren rant aside (and please note I do generally enjoy Mr. Lauren’s clothier creations), an update on the American Speed Skating Team and the Colbert Nation!!! Apparently, Canada is to blame for the initial technical difficulties the donation page experienced in its first 24 hours… Stephen said that the donation links had been removed and a note reading, "Sorry about this" had been left in their place – ergo, the politeness of the note meant that we North of the 49th Parallelers must have been to blame…good times ;) However, all was not lost, as Monsieur Colbert announced last night that with technical difficulties resolved, a healthy sum of $40,000 had been raised already! Awesome!!! I think this is very exciting and a fantastic way to get that buy-in from the general public that I mentioned above. They, the skating team, too have been hit by the economic fallout of market-speculation-gone-wild and need more than a vintage/WASPY-esque uniform to get through the Games. And by the by, I wonder what Monsieur Colbert thinks of the new threads?

Lastly, and just for total clarity, while I support the Colbert Nation in their support for the American Speed Skating Team, once the opening ceremonies start, its red-and-white-maple-leaf pride all the way baby! I will be rooting for the home team!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Canadian expats...we're everywhere!

So to keep along the lines of all things Canada...because no one ever gets bored of that subject...on Saturday I will be going to my first ever Canadian Expats Living in the Seattle area event! Whoot-whoot! :)

I recently discovered this crew of Canuk's through another Canadian here at work. She and I met rather accidently about a month ago when she asked me for directions to someone's office and noticed my antique postcard of the Parliament buildings pinned up in my cube (good eye). She then sent me the link to the aforementioned group and I've been waiting for an event or meet-up to come up ever since. Anyways, this Saturday there will be a ladies only brunch at the very yummy Portage Bay Café, just a stone's throw from my work. I'm looking forward to meeting ladies from the true north strong and free...hehehe...hopefully none of them are hosers ;)

Monday, November 2, 2009

Only 130 more days...

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Till the world comes to Canada and Vancouver more specifically. Yesterday we made one of our quarterly-ish visits back 'home' to Vancouver to top up my supply of Shreddies and Alberta steaks...as you do...and decided to put my birthday present from my Nanny to good use by swinging through The Bay to get ready for my preferred Olympic sport - armchair obnoxious fingernail-biting fan!

In order to partake in this particular Olympic sport, one must first be kitted out in highly fashionable and super cool clothes:

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Thanks Nan!!!!

And if The Bay hadn't run out of these, I would totally gotten this too...

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Aaaannnnddddd, if I had seen these, I would have to snapped these up too! WICKED!

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Aaaaaannnnnnnddddddd, as I type this I'm watching the Colbert Report and Monsieur Colbert just announced that his show and the 'Colbert Nation' aka his legion of fans will be sponsoring the US Olympic speed skating team! Awesome! What happened to get a Comedy Central show to sponsor a Olympic team? Well the Dutch bank, DSB, went under yesterday. There was a run on the bank as well as truck loads of bad debt and voilà, the bank, which was the American speed skating team's sponsor was no more. So tonight, moments ago, Stephen Colbert stepped up and the speed skating team will now (hopefully) have all the money they need to make it to and through the Olympics! I'm going follow this story and therefore, so are you!

Lastly and more Canadiana propaganda (!), The Telegraph (London) has named Montreal as the second happiest place live in the world! Tabarnouche!!! I really like MTL, we have often gone there for shopping, weekends away, enroute to family in Odanak and for the reason that the newspapers vote of confidence, the very awesome Just for Laughs festival! Mike and I also went there the day after our wedding for a very mini honeymoon. Next time anyone's in Montreal, you need to stop by Reuben's for a smoked meat sandwich and Pier Gabriel for amazing French food!

Félicitation!!!
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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

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As you can see Moose is less than impressed...however, his disgruntled-ness has provided us with much entertainment! This was the only photo of about a dozen I took where he doesn't look like he's in extreme pain! Poor Moosey!

Anyways, here's the pumpkin I carved and the Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Cinnamon Icing cupcakes I made for the potluck lunch we had at work yesterday.

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And if I had a large property with a large budget I would set up my yard like this and wait for tricker or treaters in style!


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From Country Living