Part 2 - Christmas!!!

I'm finally getting around to posting Christmas photos...on the last day of January...

Anyways, Mike & I headed home to Ottawa for Christmas and New Years. On route to Bytown, we stopped in Burlington to visit with dear friends, Sarah and Lee and the McDowell family. Sarah & Lee were home for the holidays as well as they live over the in the UK. You can also find Sarah over here www.mcwoods.blogspot.com

Whilst down in southern Ontario we visited Niagara Falls - my second time and Mike's first visit. Having been there now in both the spring and winter, I think it is way more impressive in the winter - all the ice and microclimate is very pretty. After spending a few days with them, we took the train up to Ottawa where we hung out with family and friends and ate and ate and ate some more! :) We also learnt that my cousin Shaun and his bride Chrissy are expecting a little boy in July!!!! Yay! A new baby in the family!

So without further adieu, here's our Merry Christmas!

Niagara!




Ok, where's the hot water...




Check out the ice!




My Aunt Joan had a great idea to make us all wear wacky/tacky Christmas themed hats for Christmas Eve dinner!


Sad elf....!!!


All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth! My godson Payton!








Moosey unwrapping one of his many Christmas presents! He's not the least bit spoilt!


Happy New Year!

Craft Hope

For all us of who can only watch the devastation in Haiti from the comfort of our safe and structurally-sound homes, there is yet another way we can help outside of texting and making other donations. Craft Hope. It's an Etsy shop set up by volunteers and by crafting folks donating their goods. All proceeds will go directly to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. I watched a very distrubing video on BBC today about one of the field hospitals in Port-au-Prince there is no anesthetic, no sterilization, and very little supplies for the international medical teams to work with. Gut wrenching. I hope all those working tirelessly at the Port-au-Prince airport can make some head way today and tomorrow in getting the much needed supplies out to the people and those working to help them.

Here's the link: www.etsy.com/shop/crafthope

I just purchased these:

December 2009 Recap - Part 1: Hawaii

That is so long overdue! Here's a not-so-brief recap:

As previously mentioned at the beginning of December I got to go with Mike to Honolulu! Mike was there for work and I got to be a lady of luxury! Sleeping late, hanging out poolside and checking out the beaches. The following is a boat load of photos - enjoy!

The view from our room!



Kailua Beach





Bellows Beach - this is a stunning beach! Mike & I spent 2.5 days there because we loved it so much. The beach is located on the Bellows Air Force Base so a portion of it is opened to the public and the remainder is open to military personnel and dependents!















We also went to the Dole pineapple plantation - tasty!







And here are some randoms:















Christmas photos next!

It ain't just for breakfast anymore...

You need to check out this website! It is hy-ster-ical!!!

www.theoatmeal.com

Be sure to read:

Why I'd rather be punched in the testicles than call customer service

Why I believe printers were sent from hell to make us miserable

How a website design goes straight to hell (this one gets funnier as it goes)

There's also a bunch of genuinely informative little scripts about grammar, coffee and beer.

Anyways, check it out - you will enjoy it!

Words of the Day

Nefarious:
extremely wicked or villainous.

The word originated between 1595 - 1605 and was used to describe as against divine or moral law. And apparently a synonym is flagitious.

Flagitious:
shamefully wicked, as persons, actions, or times.

This gem of a word originated way back between 1350 - 1400. Geez, those middle-age folks really knew how to have a verbal throw down!

I came across Nefarious while reading an article on Facebook security/privacy changes and it lead me to Flagitious, which I thought was too good of a word not to share.

"God, you're being ssssoooooo flagitious right now!"....or something like that.

Oh and in addition to these fantastic words, apparently every year for the last 15 years the University of Lake Superior in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (who knew there were two Saults?!) releases a list of words that should be banded in the new year for being overused or just plain obnoxious in the previous year. Their list of words that should be banded in 2010 are:

shovel-ready,
in these economic times,
stimulus,
toxic assets,
too big to fail,
transparent/transparency,
czar,
tweet,
app,
sexting,
friend (as a verb),
teachable moment,
bromance,
chillaxin’,
Obama-prefix words (such as Obamanomics)

I have to say I agree with all of these picks and would have also added socialists/socialism to the list because that term has been so compulsively misused by America’s right (ie: Fox “News” and the GOP) that every time I hear it I want to slap the user with a 2x4. Just saying.

Anyhooooo, I will be posting in the next day or two all my photos from Hawaii and Christmas - be forewarned, it is going to be a very lllllllllllooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg post!