GOODBYE 2009 HELLO 2010

well parts of the world of the world have already begun to ring in the new year ... this year it's pretty low key ... j and i are going to get the popcorn popped, the pellegrino poured and get ready for a pirates of the caribbean marathon to ring in the new year ... it's much too cold to go anywhere ... happy new year and best wishes to you and yours

cheers ~n

EXCITING NEWS

j and n are in the new year going to start taking conversational french lessons to prepare for a visit to paris in the fall as part of an exciting grand plan for 2010 ... more about the plan to come later ... in the mean time we have a new year to welcome and then begin planning, planning and planning

cheers ~n

POSTCARDS OF CHRISTMAS

the gifts of entertainment

the gifts of golf

the gifts of cooking

the gifts of things n likes

the gifts of fitness

the gift of style

the gifts of warmth

cheers ~n

A LITTLE CHRISTMAS CHEER

wishing all a merry and happy christmas and hope the time spent gathering with family and friends is enjoyable ... off to our festivities ... be back soon

our christmas shrub this year ...

we had no room to put one up with all of the renos happening right now

cheers ~n

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK MAKES

well j and his dad spent a week and a bit putting on all kinds of different trades hats and got the basement almost finished to the point of being able to drywall ... they were plumbers, electricians, framers, and h-vac installers ... i must say the progress is beautiful ... we have about 600 square feet in the basement and we have achieved a miracle ... the space feels gigantic, open and airy just like the rest of the house and it doesn't even look like the old dungeon it used to be ... it just feels like a natural extension of the rest of the house ... we have squeezed every last inch of space out of the basement and we have a laundry/freezer room under and through the stairs, a 3 piece bathroom, a 9 x 9 bedroom with a big closet and a 23 foot long living room which will be our tv area and gym ... pictures will be coming soon to show off all the hard work ...

in the meantime merry christmas (or in our house merry chrimpsis) ... we have presents to finish buying and to wrap, a delicious christmas morning breakfast to plan and cook

cheers ~n

A YEAR IN REVIEW ...

i know that it is still a bit premature seeing how the new year hasn't even started but each year like so many others i make a new year's resolution each year to keep ... previously in my foolish youth i made the typical resolutions ... diet, exercise, no dessert and like so many others i would fail to make it past january...

... this resolution revolution started when i was a new university graduate and began my teaching career and was so super busy and was trying to figure out how to balance my life without giving all of my time to teaching, marking, planning, planning and more planning ... and a few years back i had a brain wave 'how about picking a resolution that i can keep and be successful at and one that's good for me' ...

... one year it was to drink more water in my day, the next year to eat more vegetables and i have been able to be successful at each of these and this past year i thought i have got a great grasp on the healthy eating, drinking more water, and the exercise part of my life came into play 2 years ago on its own even without a resolution and i have been able to keep it up faithfully 4 times a week and it is such a part of my life that is just there now ...

... this year i decided to work on my reading just for me and the resolution was to read 1 book a month ... only 12 books for the year ... and it couldn't be a teaching book, manual or a student book ... just a book for fun! (definitely made more attainable by this see point no. 5)

i am happy to report that i have more than conquered my goal and am excited for the reading list in 2010 ... so without further adieu here is my reading list for 2009:

1 The Three Musketeers . Dumas . 1844

2 The Magician's Nephew . Lewis . 1955

3 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe . Lewis . 1950

4 The Horse and his boy . Lewis . 1954

5 Prince Caspian . Lewis . 1951

6 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader . Lewis . 1952

7 The Silver Chair . Lewis . 1955

8 The Last Battle . Lewis . 1956

9 Twilight . Meyer . 2005

10 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas . Boyne . 2006

11 Sense and Sensibility . Austen . 1811

12 The Tale of Despereaux . Dicamillo . 2003

13 New Moon . Meyer . 2006

14 Pride and Prejudice . Austen . 1813

15 The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Dicamillo . 2006

16 Eclipse . Meyer . 2007

17 Breaking Dawn . Meyer . 2008

18 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone . Rowling . 1997

19 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets . Rowling . 1998

20 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . Rowling . 1999

21 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire . Rowling . 2000

22 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix . Rowling . 2003

23 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince . Rowling . 2005

24 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows . Rowling . 2007

25 Little Women . Alcott . 1868

26 The Awakening . Chopin . 1899

27 Great Expectations . Dickens . 1861

28 Sherlock Holmes . Conan Doyle . 1887

29 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass . Caroll . 1865

30 Persuasion . Austen . 1818

WAY TOO SPOILED

well i finished off the first part of my fabulous school year and the christmas vacation season is upon me ... time will be spent visiting with family and friends, consuming copious amounts of food and drink, watching movies, playing cards and games, gifting presents ...

twas the last day of school and i had such a great time with my two kindergarten classes ... we decorated christmas trees, gingerbread houses, watched the nutcracker movie, ate popcorn and had a great time of excitement and merriment ... it's no secret that i know i have the greatest job in the world and yesterday i couldn't believe how spoiled i was from my students ... i received about 40 presents!!! ... lots of chocolates, homemade baking, candles, lotions and bath stuff, gift cards to movies, coffee shops, and christmas ornaments ... i could go on but i will let the pictures do the talking

i had to bring home all the loot in big black garbage bags!

way too much

so spoiled

cheers ~from a relaxing and cheerful n

LA LA LA LA ... LA LA LA LA ... ELMO'S WORLD

this weekend my cutest niece little h had her birthday party ... she will be turning 2 in another week but mom and dad wanted to celebrate the day earlier before all the christmas festivities begin ... little h is obsessed with elmo and she had a sesame street themed party complete with a 3d elmo cake (made by her talented mom) ... all her kidlet friends and her family came over ... presents were opened, faces painted, food and cake eaten and miniature gingerbread houses were made (courtesy of auntie n who is doing this idea with her littlest ones on the last day of school) ... all in all it was a great day

cheers ~n

BUT THERE'S WORK TO BE DONE

well the city and i'm sure a lot of this wonderful country called canada is in a current state of a deep freeze. the roads are slick with black ice, the wind bitterly cold, cars reluctant to start because we have been so fortunate to dip down in temperature to -30 degrees celcius and even lower with the wind chill factor ... but that never stops things from happening in our house ... while most people would be inclined to curl up in bed with movies, books and hot chocolate and try not to leave the house for the entire weekend ... we are dealing with a totally different situation ... when it comes to renovating our house it is never done in a traditional manner ...

take last year for instance ... windows in our house don't get put in during the warm summer months instead huge gaping holes are cut when the temperature is -30 ... this seems to be the case with the projects this year ... j and his dad's business busyness is winding down and holidays are being taken which is the perfect time to cut a gigantic hole in the roof and put up the bathroom dormer ... right in the middle of the winter ... seems logical and totally sane to me :)

the ice fog surrounding the city

j bundled up with his new christmas presents

(and trying not to freeze)

right now the walls are sitting outside waiting to be lifted up and j and his happy helper are working on the basement stuff until the temperature gets just a little bit warmer which according to environment canada will be the end of the week... i just know that whenever the day comes that i can see and touch the sky from the bedroom because there is a hole in the roof i will be going to the mall and relaxing with a latte there ... until then some pictures of the basement which is starting to resemble less of a dungeon and more of a basement (even the troll under the stairs finally moved out)

do you dare to enter the dungeon?

very soon this door will be gone, the tunnel opened up so it doesn't feel so much like your trapped in a maze

this wall will be opened up between the posts

with a half wall going down the stairs

all the ducting is now finished in the basement ...

and the entire house has heat again ...

just in time for this terrible drop in temperature

well some bits of the basement still look like a dungeon ...

can't wait to put the new windows in :)

the future laundry room that is accessed under the stairs

(you may recall the dilemma about this)

the bathroom backing onto the laundry room

future bedroom now occupied by the washer and dryer

(who are waiting patiently for their new home)

future living room

other side of the living room

(probably going to be the gym)

cheers ~from a frozen n

DREAMING OF AN UNTRADITIONAL BEACHY CHRISTMAS

for j and n one of our favorite times of the year is the christmas season ... for the past 3 christmases we have been super spoiled to ditch the cold canadian winter and trade it for the warm weather, beaches, waves and laid back hawaiian culture ... this has quickly become one of our favorite christmas untraditional traditions ... it was nice to spend the time unwinding and relaxing by the sand and surf with family and friends

this year we are trading our flip flops and bathing suits for our snow suits and boots and celebrating with a more traditional white christmas ... exchanging presents, having a christmas tree, sitting by the fire, watching cheesy christmas movies, playing games and partaking in canadian winter activities like skiing, snowboarding and tobogganing ...

the ghosts of christmases past

the ghost of christmas present

the hopeful ghosts of christmas future

cheers ~n

FOR AN INSTANT WONDERLAND JUST ADD WINTERY SNOW ... AND LOTS OF IT

in the last 2 days we have gotten so much snow ... probably as much as what we usually get in an entire month ... yesterday j and n went out to shovel the sidewalk and driveway and with the solid team effort it took 2.5 hours! it was a lot of fun especially in our brand new winter coats, toques (or knitted caps for the american readers) and mittens ... now there is for sure enough snow to go cross country skiing and to try snowboarding ...

here's a peak of the winter wonderland

cheers ~n

IT'S GREAT TO DO A JOB YOU LOVE

over the past few weeks there have been lots of changes happening at the school where i work and these changes directly affect me ... even the schools have had to do some cutbacks on programs due to the 'current economic climate :)' (a direct overused quote from j's recent year end bank meeting to justify all the layoffs and pay structuring that will be taking place in the new year ... but that is a whole other issue to deal with) ...

... anyways these changes have totally changed my day and whenever people see me they keep asking me how i am doing and they seem somewhat surprised to hear a positive response ... i love my job and of course that makes it much easier when dealing with change ... but i have also decided to take the positive spin on things instead of complaining bitterly about the inevitable

so with that little rant over i must repeat again that i love love love my new job situation ... i now am teaching at 2 different schools (which are very fortunately only 10 minutes away from each other) and i now get to spend my entire day teaching kindergarten which i absolutely love ... extra bonuses are the super staff at both places, wonderful teaching partners to work with and fabulous kids to teach every day ... i feel so fortunate that i get to go to work everyday and do something that i absolutely love and am passionate about ... it's a wonderful feeling

cheers ~n