Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 - A year in review

I love looking back on the year and reflecting on what has happened.  Problem is, as I get older, I need some visual reminders of what exactly went on :)  Sadly, our picture taking was at a minimum this year (no x-mas pics at all...what a shame), but here's what I got anyway.

 
 
Pre-show drinks (and dinner, not pictured) at the beautiful Palliser Hotel.  My sister and I have seasons tickets to Vertigo Mystery Theatre and meet up at the hotel before the show.  We had such a good time last season that we convinced my husband and our mom to join us this season.
 

Crabapple trees in bloom.  Except for the three days of the year that they're in bloom, I HATE these trees.  Every bloom means an apple...and there's a ton of them (some are still on the trees now...gonna be gross when it thaws).  I did make crabapple jelly with some of the fruit in the fall...so I guess there's that.
 
We took our good friend Morgan to California with us on vacation.  She was a trooper and her and Jet did really well together for the week (it wasn't without it's crying, temper tantrums, sulking and screeching...but in retrospect not all that bad). 
 

 

Disneyland continues to rock our world. 
 

 
Saw a ball game...or two.

 
And I shopped at Trader Joe's for two dollar wine.  TWO DOLLARS!  That alone makes me come back to California every year.  I also bought lots of clothes.
 

 
Then there was Little League.  And it was cold.  And windy.  And I hated every game and practice. Adam coached and I got to "help", that might have had something to do with the hate.


 
Calgary Stampede!  This was at the parade, timestamp 9:23 am.  By the time the longest parade in the world was over (4 hours later) Adam and I had consumed far to much and then had to meet up with my family for mom and dads anniversary dinner.  Jet was bored within minutes of getting there.  He played games on my phone the entire time.

 
Same day...in the hotel where mom and dad were staying.
 
 
Next up, flag football season!  At least it was warm-ish for these games and practices.  Jet's team won again...triple overtime.  I'm sure the ball of nerves that I had while watching will get better as he gets older...right?
 
 
Cruise time!  This was in the Air Canada lounge in Toronto.  $35 unlimited food (appetizers) and booze, plus comfy seats and not a bunch of noisy people.  An excellent way to spend our three hour layover.


 First look at the new Disney Fantasy.  Beautiful ship, loved the look and feel of it. 

 
Jet on the ride to the boat.  For whatever reason he refused to take off this sweater, and it was HOT in Florida (even by normal standards I'm told).
 

Jet relaxing on the balcony.  Adam was the one who wanted this the most, and he did spend the first two evenings having a drink and lounging but then he didn't really use it again.  I liked having the option to hang out there, but I'm not sure it was really worth the money.


Tea and after dinner treats at Remy, the adult only restaurant on the Fantasy.  This dinner was fantastic, totally worth the extra money ($75 for dinner and $100 for wine pairings).  I've never seen so many different types of flatware...and the service (and the food) was superb.

It was also on the cruise that Adam discovered his love for Champagne.  And I discovered my love for really good, really expensive (for me) Champagne.  $30 a glass Champagne.


Christmas presents!  Sadly, not for me this year, but for my sister.  I couldn't even squee in glee over getting the box because she'd totally know what it was and who it was for.  Next year there's talk we'll spend the holidays in London.  The fun London, not the fake Ontario London either.

And that's about it for pictures.  I also got back into fitness, started running and convinced myself to try a half-marathon.  More on that next year.

Here's to a Happy New Year!




Friday, December 21, 2012

First day of winter


Hello first day of winter (and possibly last day ever...if you're into that kind of thing), here's why I dislike you so:

Sunrise:  8:37am
Sunset: 4:31pm
Length of day: 7h 54 min

Good news is it all gets better (albeit colder) from here on out.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Now with 100% more stove!

So last week I left off bemoaning my lack of stove.

Here's the replacement!


It's everything I hoped it would be.  And there's even a (not so) Hidden Mickey in there as well.

The less said about Week 2 of Elf 4 Health the better, I never got it together last week at all.  This week shall be better though!


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Without stove for the week

Friday evening I got home from work, did a fantastic workout and, once done, turned on the oven to make our traditional Friday Frozen Pizza dinner.  Then, upstairs to shower (it was that good of a workout) and just as I was about to step under the water I heard a loud POP! (and I may have seen a flash of light...but that could also have been my imagination). 

So, half dressed, I go and check it out.  It didn't actually explode, but tripped the breaker.  Odd.  Flipped the breaker back to on and then the stove started beeping like when you turned the timer on. 

But I hadn't done that.

It was cycling through it's test program (I presume) and would. not. stop. beeping.

Off, goes the breaker to stop the noise and then I realize that we're without oven (and range...since OMG! the beeping!) until either a) hubby fixes the damn thing, or b) we buy a new one.

Saturday we do some research and fixable, but no guarantee it will work.  So I'm the proud owner of a new convection range.

However,

It won't be at my house until Thursday.  That's a lot of days without "proper" cooking.

So far we've:

 - Ordered pizza

 - Went to a friends house for dinner

 - Made Thai curry in the crock-pot (with microwaved rice)

 - BBQ'd in the snow.

Not sure what's on the menu today and tomorrow.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Elf for Health - Week one review



Week one of the Elf for Health challenge is done and my final grade is less than stellar.  I tried...I really did, but I let life get in the way a bit too much.

On the plus side, I did some hard workouts 5 days last week.  And that's better than I had been doing before.

So, to review:

Monday:  Go Meatless Today. 
50% on day one.  Breakfast - Berries, yogurt and granola.  Lunch - Vegetable (with pasta) soup, cheese and salad.  Dinner - Chinese take-away  ::sigh::  I'm going to try again on another day.

Tuesday: Send a card or handwritten note to a friend.
Done and done.  Gold star to me.

Wednesday: Try a new workout today! 
New-ish workout.  Increasing walk/run intervals and then a bunch of ab work after.

Thursday: Get up 15 minutes early to meditate and reflect.
How hard can getting up 15 minutes be?  Answer: Very hard. 

Friday: How many colors can you eat today? Challenge yourself!
I didn't eat them all in great quantities but I think I got them all in :)

Weekend: Clean out your closet! Fill a bag with clothes to donate to Goodwill or send some belongings to Sandy victims.
Sadly, this didn't get done either.

And the new week starts today...