Amanda visits and Kindergarten all in one week

I am now back in Port Alberni again, after visiting my Dad in Vancouver for 2 days last weekend. It was a lot of fun, and I finally found a dress to wear to Mike's grad in Regina. (I'll be there on July 7th). I also had to say good bye to my sister Megan and Billy as they headed off to Ottawa. I am informed that they arrived on Wednesday without having thrown each other into Lake Superior--way to go guys! Hopefully they will find a nice place to live.

This week was nice and relaxing, but busy at the same time. On Monday morning, Amanda (from Ontario) met me at my Dad's house in Vancouver. We went out for breakfast and then took the bus together to the ferry, and then the ferry to Nanaimo. I was lucky enough to be able to hog her for 4 whole days of her 2 week visit, and we had a lot of fun in PA together. On Tuesday, it was a beautiful day so we went to the Harbour Quay for a walk and some donuts from the Donut Shop. Then, we checked out some book stores, and saw that yes indeed, the guy with the really blue eyes still works there. That evening, we had dinner at Batstar, a short walk from my house, and then watched Dreamgirls, which, we decided had way too much singing.

I got asked to teach kindergarten all week, so I taught from 9-12 each morning, and then we hung out afterwards. On Wednesday, the weather wasn't as nice, so we drove up to Parksville to go mini golfing (neither of us are meant to be pro golfers) and then walked the beach, stopped for ice cream at Whiskey Creek, and took a stroll through Cathedral Grove.

Yesterday was the hottest day I've seen since California, so we went to the lake for a picnic. It was hot enough to tan in a bathing suit, but the water was still like ice, so we didn't swim. Then, last night we went to see the Pirates of the Caribbean . I couldn't believe that it actually started on opening night in Port Alberni! Usually we have to wait a few weeks to get the movies here. And, alas, now Amanda is on the bus on her way back to Victoria. We had a goodbye breakfast this morning before I went to work, and then I drove over to the bus stop to say good bye. Amanda, it was lovely having you here and I can't wait for our next visit! Have fun in Victoria with everyone!

I would post some of the dozens of pictures of the week, but I'll have to wait until Amanda sends me them since they are on her camera!

Hope all is well...stay tuned for next week when I get to teach music and a grade 3/4 split class!

Oh, and some recent news from Mike--no word on the city yet but his troupe has finally earned their "blues" today, which means that they get to wear the blue pants with the stripes now, after about 6 or 7 weeks of trying. So, congrats to troupe 46!

Where are we going?

Well, it's not the North west territories, although mike scared me by asking about whether I knew how to build an igloo, did I like husky dogs, and other questions, and then after 10 mionutes of torturing me with questions and making me think we were going to various provinces in Canada, finally told me that we are staying in BC! Yeah! So, now we are sending in a list of 15 possible detachments where we might want to go and hopefully they will actually choose one of them. At the top of our list are areas in the interior, okanagan, and southeast part of BC, as well as some lower mainland detachments like Hope and Chiliwack. We shall soon see!
(well, in about 4 weeks at the most....) So, it's another waiting game for a little while!

In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for somewhere not too tiny or up north...

Adventures in Regina and California

Pictures from California...

Here are me and Bronson at Huntington...he liked to play with the locket Mike gave me...

Bronson in his cute new outfit Jenn and I found at Gymboree...plaid just like Dad

And, here we are at Venice Beach...Bronson liked to eat the sand...

I am now in Port Alberni and have some excellent news...I just returned from the school board office and my meeting with my old principal Greg Smyth, who is now doing hiring for the district. He told me that I am definitely on the TOC list and that I could get a full time french position possibly for September. The only unfortunate thing is that I still don't know where Mike is going to be posted and I don't want to accept a position and then let them down.

My trip to California was amazing, it was so nice to relaz and suntan and read a really good book (Inkspell, the sequel to Inkhear--very good books). I also had a lot of fun visiting with Matt and Jenn, playing Niagara finally, and playing with baby Bronson every morning so that Matthew could have a shower and Jenn could get some more sleep.

Pasadena is a beautiful warm place. The university is just gorgeous, I couldn't believe how nice the campus was. Even the water fountain has coloured tiles behind it. There is a turtle pond, and roses and gardens and courtyards to sit in, and the buildings have amazing architecture. We also went to Huntington gardens one day, visited the pool three times at Caltech, which was loveley, nice and cool, with the mountains and palm trees in the background, and went in to Santa Monica to go to Venice Beach on the Thursday. The beach was nice and warm and I even saw some dolphins swimming by. We did some shopping of course in Old Town and some other places and I got a few nice things. We also went for dinner in Little Ethiopia and lunch at Caltech where we got to sit and watch a free concert. It was a lot of fun, and a perfect way to end my 6 years of school. I even saw a celebrity on my plane ride back from Burbank to san Fransisco. I kept looking at this woman that looked just like Jessica Alba, and was trying really hard to hide (big sunglasses, scarf, long sleeves when it was 30 degrees out) and she had a woman following her around carrying her stuff who was obviously her assisstant. Then, I heard a guy talking about how hot she was and how she was on the cover of Mazim, and I figured that I must have been right. Mike was pretty jealous when I told him. Ah, hollywood. Can't wait to go back and go to Disneyland next time!

It's hard to believe that I am no longer a student. I graduated once last year, but I knew that I was going back to school, so this time it feels very strange as I am actually finished this time! No more working for free!

I'm hoping that I get called this week for tocing--it would be great as I really need the money to pay for the move until I get reimbursed from the RCMP.

Well, here are some of my pictures...actually, they are above, because I can't figure out how to move them to the bottom...sometimes I am still blogger challenged...and apparently i can't turn them the right way either...any tips on putting pics on blogs? I usually don't do photos, so I could use a tutor...for instance, how do you move pics around, and delete them once they are there?

Above, you see the turtle pond at Caltech, the auditorium with the mountains in the background, me and bronson at Huntington, the Japanese gardens at Huntington, Bronson in his cute new outfit, and then some pics of us at Venice Beach. There you go!

In other news, Mike is doing well in Regina and will find out on Friday what province he will be posted too...so keep your fingers crossed for BC or PEI! Also, I got a great seat sale and have booked my flight to Regina leaving July 7th and returning to Victoria on july 17th...which means Jenn and Matthew and Bronson, that Mike and I will be able to visit with you that weekend!

Well, off to do something, not sure what though, I'm jobless and not a student...weird feeling, but it's sunny and warm here so maybe I'll go and read!

I'm back

So, I realize that it's been a long time since I've been in the blogger world, but I am now officially finished school for good. No more practicum, no more classes. I have now stopped working for free.

And, I'm on holidays. In california!

A lot has happened since I last posted and here are some higlights:

I went to visit Mike in Regina, after 10 long weeks of missing him. It was an awesome weekend, and it was really cool to see where he lives and goes to school and to meet some of his friends and troupemates. I even got to get fingerprinted. He's doing really well there too, and I can't wait to go back for his graduation in July.

Then, I worked really hard packing and cleaning and marking for a month straight and moved out of my apartment on April 30th, thanks to a lot of help from my mom with the cleaning. I stayed with my friends Sarah and Fraser for the last week of school and then I had an awesome last evening on the 4th, which included a picnic in Beacon hill park with my friends and then dessert and a game at the Medds house, who drove me to the airport at 4 in the morning for my flight. Thanks!

It was hard saying goodbye to everyone, but I know i'll be back to visit. Also, I'm just so excited for this part of my life. I'm done school and mike is nearly done, and I have nothing to worry about for the rest of the summer...I can relax, hopefully toc in PA and read lots of good books!

My students and soul cafe girls were so sweet when I left-thanks for the flowers and cards and presents!

And, now I am enjoying the 30 degree weather here in Pasadena. I'm visiting Jenn and Matthew and baby Bronson, who is a lot of fun. On my first day, we went out to a pottery painting place. Then we went shopping yesterday and I bought a dress and a book. Last nnight we drove in to LA and I saw the hollywood sing for the first time. We then went in to Little ethiopia for dinner. It was my first time eating ethiopian--it was delicious.

Well, today is the pool day....more about my california adventure soon!

Spring Break

Well, a lot has happened this month, some of it good, some of it bad.

On the bright side, next week is spring break and I'm heading home on the monday for a few days. It will be nice to relax, although I also have to plan two new units for French and English. Plus, I have to mark the Macbeth assignments they've been handing in all week, although I will admit that I'm actually having fun with that since they are very creative so far. I've gotten poems about Lady Macbeth, volunteers to perform soliloquy's for the class, and newspaper articles from the "Castle Times". I'm having a lot of fun teaching English, and I can't believe how fast time is going. It's the only time in my life that I am going to want time to go by quickly, other than, maybe, during labor or a dentist appointment.

I'm also going to be visiting Mike in 24 days, and then in May am heading off to California for a week to visit Jenn! Yeah for big income tax returns!

On the sad side, as I've told many of you already, Mike's Grandpa (Dave's Dad) died on February 28th, of a massive heartattack. He was found that day by Mike's Grandma. I went to the funeral on Saturday, which was nice, but very sad, especially because Mike couldn't be there since he's in Regina. It's hard to have bad things and family emergencies happening when Mike is away. His mom also is fighting breast cancer right now, and although things are looking good, since she had a lumpectomy to have all the cancer removed and there is no sign of it in her lymph nodes, she is also going to have radiation in Victoria sometime. So, let's hope that everything goes well for her and that the cancer doesn't spread.

One cool thing though, is that Melissa (Mike's sister) has organized a team out of family in Port to run in the relay for life in Port Alberni in June, so we will be doing fundraisers and all sorts of things for our team to raise money for cancer.

I've also been dying to do some writing lately. I can't believe how long I've gone without really writing. I mean, I've done some, but not nearly enough. I went to a reading recently though, which was a lot of fun, and I am planning on going another night too, and actually reading a poem myself.

So, that's what's new in my life. 6 weeks left of practicum, 3 1/2 weeks until I get to see my hubby! Let's hope the plane gets me there on time for my visit!

The groundhog was wrong

Okay, so as far as I heard, there wasn't supposed to be 6 more weeks of winter. But, today on my way home from Oak Bay, it was snowing like crazy and blowing my car over the wind was so strong.

My practicum is getting better, and I'm finally able to control my difficult French classes. My supervisor came today and said I was doing really well. There are only 36 days now until I get to go and visit Mike, so I'm really excited. There is also only 2 and a half weeks until spring break, which is great. I get nine days off to relax a little and do some planning. I'll probably go and visit my mom in Port Alberni too.

I can't believe that I'm leaving Victoria in only 2 months. I'm very excited but at the same time sad to leave all the friends that are still here. I'm especially sad to leave my church, because it really is like my family. But, the idea of not knowing where we will be moving or what people we will meet there is very exciting. I've never lived anywhere other than Victoria for school, so it will be a whole new experience to move somewhere new and be looking for a job. I can't wait to find out where we will be going!

Well, I am off to see a movie tonight with some girlfriend, as long as they aren't all still sick. Everyone is sick here, except me so far, thanks to a lot of ginseng and Vitamin C. Here's to 36 more days!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Haven't posted in a long while. Just wanted to say I'm still alive, but just barely. Practicum is taking up all my time, and missing Mike is taking up the rest. He's now been gone three weeks almost, and I'm counting down the days until I go to visit him, which is exactly 50. Will try to post more often now, but I currently am part of 6 blogs. Yes, 6. Sounds crazy I know. But I've got one for my Macbeth class, so that is keeping me busy. Anyways, not much else is new. Just lesson planning and talking to Mike. Although I do have a new roommate to keep me company--my friend Elissa is staying with me for a while. So, all is good. Must go, as I am on my way to a Valentine's day dinner with a friend who is also missing her husband on Valentine's Day.

Success!

Wow, blogger actually let me sign in to my own blog today! That's a first, as I've been trying to post my exciting new for a while now. On Friday afternoon, while Mike was in Port Alberni visiting his mom, he got the call we've been waiting for from the RCMP, and it turns out that he will be starting his training on Monday the 29th of January. He will fly out some time on Sunday, but won't know the specific time until a meeting with the Recruiter on Thursday. We're very excited and I am so happy that he finally gets to do what he's been waiting years for. I'm really going to miss him, but hopefully the time will go by quickly and I will make it through my practicum alive!

We are now madly rushing around trying to prepare everything for him and I've also given him a list of the things I need him to do before he leaves, since I get the daunting task of moving out of our apartment by myself--yikes.

So, we spent two hours at the mall today and ended up finding him another pair of dress pants, three ties, two dress shirts, some black dress shoes and thanks to my shopping skills, a reversable belt. yes, it's black on one side and brown on the other. So, he has most of the things he needs, but there are still a few more stops to make. It should be a very busy week in the L'Heureux household!

And, don't be surprised if my blog becomes slightly more depressing once Mike is gone, and feel free to come and visit me often!

Blogger frustrations...

Does anyone know how the new blogger thing works? Why do they have to go and change things just when I finally figure them out? My other blog with my practicum is in the new account and I can't seem to sign in even though I created an account yesterday. I really hate it when they update things and make everything more confusing--it's just like what they did with hotmail.

In other news, I've been trying to remember to post this for a long time now, but I found out some good news about my church. On Christmas eve, we decided to take an offering since it was a Sunday, and all four services' offerings would be sent to an orphanage in Kenya that one of our missionary couples works at. Well, it turns out that we managed to raise 33, 500 $ in one day! I think that's so amazing, so now the orphanage can purchase the land they wanted to use for farming for food and money for the orphanage. It just shows what a difference one group of people can make at Christmastime.

I'd write more about how my practicum is going, but if you are interested, you can always read the practicum blog some of my friends started (the one I haven't been able to log in to successfully). It's quite funny: www.shmacticum.blogspot.com Check it out for all of our teaching adventures!

G'night!

First week

Well, I'm finished my first week of practicum and very happy that it is the weekend. I went to bed before 11 last night and it was Friday! That's how tired I was. And, I slept in until nearly 10. I'm not a fan of getting up at 630 to drive Mike to work so that I can take the car and be at the school before 8:30. But, hopefully I'll get used to the early rising soon.

The week went pretty well I think. I got two keys and a room with a desk in it to do work and keep my stuff. I also got to teach a few surprise lessons since the snow kept my teacher from being on time two days in a row. It was okay though since they were just writing a test. I'm looking forward to actually doing the teaching myself, although I'm not enjoying all of the planning. Right now I'm about 1 act into making notes on Macbeth, and I'm thinking it's going to be hard to get my grade 11 classes to enjoy it. They seem kind of lazy so far. Hmm. I'm going to start a blog for them though for discussion of Macbeth rather than having them write boring scene questions like we had to do in high school.

Today is Mike's last day of work at Tim Hortons, which is awesome. I'm looking forward to spending some more time with him until he leaves for Regina. I think we are going to go out for dinner tonight to celebrate since we got a gift certificate from my sister to go for dinner at Moxie's. Yum. Bellini.

Hmm, what else is new? I still haven't taken down the Christmas decorations, although that is my goal for this weekend now that I have some more time. I'm trying to get organized before I actually start to teach. Also, since Elissa is coming to stay with me soon, I want my house to be clean.

Last night Megan and Billy came over to visit since they were in Victoria for the day. We played a board game that we got for Christmas called Artifact. It was pretty fun, although I messed up the rules. Afterwards I went to the mall with them and got a really warm tuque that I am planning on wearing in Regina, although right now it's cold enough in Victoria to need it. When will our crazy weather end in Victoria? It sure felt like Saskatchewan the other day with the frozen snow and the incredibly blue sky--quite beautiful actually.

Well, since I have nothing interesting to share, I think I will go do some reading!
Happy weekending

Back to high school

Well, today is officially my last day of freedom before I start at Oak Bay High School until may. And, I accidentally slept in until 1030. I woke up around 9 and meant to get up, but then somehow managed to fall back asleep. Must have been tired.

My holidays have been great though, when I really think about it. Went over to Sarah and Fraser's last night for a game. We played Cleopatra and I kicked their butts. Yeah! I never win games unless it's the first time I've ever played them--and then it's usually a fluke because I really don't know how to play yet.

I still have to take down the Christmas decorations. I'm trying to think of an excuse to keep them up a little longer, but I should really do it before I get too busy with lesson planning. I read over my first French unit this morning and already have lots of ideas, so that's good. It's a unit on inventions, and I think I'm going to make them create their own invention out of old recyclable materials and things they can find for free. Makes me think of mine and Jenn's first invention--the flying machine. Can't remember what worked better--the helium balloons or the coat hangers with shirts for wings?

Still wish I could fly. What I wouldn't give for a firebolt 2000. Okay, I just read the 5th Harry Potter book. It was actually the first one I read, can you believe it? They are very good. I need to get the 6th one now. Hopefully JK will write another soon.

Speaking of writers, check out this post that my favourite author put on her book blog. Sad but true for all you fellow writers out there. What can we do but have two jobs? (teacher as writer or writer as teacher?)

Buon Natale and Happy New Year!

Well, this is my long overdue Christmas post. I'm home now and just had a great New Year's nap. Even though Mike was also taking a nap on the couch, which means that I squashed myself into the love seat. Still a good nap though.

Last night was a very mellow New Year's. Mike and I went to Sarah and Fraser's house to play some games and eat food. We did do a dutch tradition that I recently heard about called Olie Bolen, (sp?) which involves deap frying small balls of dough and then dusting them with icing sugar on a platter and sharing them with friends before midnight. Oh, and eating A LOT of olie bolen. Today my pants smelled of olie bolen (similar to the smell you get when you make french fries). It was a lot of fun though and I enjoyed being the traitor (once again) when we played Shadows over Camelot.

Christmas was an exciting adventure as well. We went to Port Alberni on the 23rd and Mike went to play hockey while I visited with my mom and sisters. Then, we went to Ashley's house for an early birthday party since her birthday is on Christmas day.

On Christmas eve we had famlily portraits taken with Mike's family, then went to see The Nativity Story. It was good but Mike kept falling asleep near the end and I had to elbow him a few times. Afterwards we went to Mike's Dad's place to have our Christmas with them. We opened present and had a big fondue for dinner. It was very yummy.

We then spent the night at my mom's house and had Christmas morning at her house. My little sister woke us up at 7:19 am and we got up to open our stockings and presents and then my mom made us waffles with strawberries (our Christmas morning tradition). This year she made so many that I froze the extras and ate them throughout the week. Very yummy.

At lunch time we went to Mom #2's house to open gifts and see Mike's sister and our nieces, then to the nursing home to visit Mike's grandma, then my nonna and nonno. Christmas is always a busy day for us since we have 7 parents between the two of us!

For dinner we went to Mike's sister's house and ate a delicious turkey dinner and cranberry stuffing. We played a game and then since we were so tired we decided not to spend the night (the nieces are tiring after a while and require a lot of energy). So, we made it back to my mom's in time to catch the end of her Christmas dinner and visit with the Italian side of my family. For those of you who don't know, this is the side which includes Crazy Uncle Bruno. They are also the side that always gives cash and since me and my sister's are the only "kids" in the family, we tend to get spoiled. Hence the fact that I've been shopping every day for the last three days....
It was nice to see them quickly before they went home though, since nearly every Christmas I wonder if it will be my nonno's last. He will be 95 this year, so he's getting very old and is just starting to lose a bit of his memory. As my nonna puts it, "nonno repeats a lot". (In Italian accent). I always enjoy visiting my nonna though, it usually gives me some new little tidbits about her very exciting life before she came to Canada and more ideas for my novel about her life and the many poems I have already written. This time, she told me about how when she and her family fled Ethiopia to go back to Italy, she had to leave everything behind in their house. She remembers, 67 years later, every memento from her wedding that she lost. Her Dad hid them in the attic in a box--her high school diploma included. She still has a beatutiful black and white photo of the two of them on their wedding day though, with lips and cheeks tinted pink.

So, Christmas was lovely as usual. Enjoyed the build up, the lights, seeing family, and thinking about the true story of Christmas.

Then, on Boxing day the craziness began. We were awoken with 2 phone calls. The first informing us that Mike's mom, who hadn't been feeling well since Christmas eve, was in the hospital and possibly having her appendix removed. The second, informing me and my sisters that my Dad (who worked Christmas night in Vancouver General hospital) was now a patient in the hospital and they believed he had the Norwalk virus. So, he couldn't come to Port as planned for the boxing day dinner we were having with him. It sucked because we were really looking forward to it. But, we tried not to let the bad news ruin the relaxing boxing day we had planned. For the past few years we've always had to work boxing day, which kind of ruins Christmas since you have to get up at 5 am to make it back to Victoria in time. So, we slept in anyways and stayed in our pyjamas and played board games, waiting to hear back from either of our hospitalized parents.

In the end, my Dad ended up coming to Port for our Christmas with him on the 28th instead, which worked out well. We had an awesome ham dinner (thank goodness) and opened presents and played games. He gave me a lovely hard cover boxed set of the Lord of the Rings, with illustrations.

Mike's mom ended up having major surjery to remove her appendix and part of her bowel where they found a tumor and just went home from the hospital last night. Thank goodness they are both okay though.

Well, that was our Christmas. It was the longest Port Alberni visit we've had in the past few years so it was very nice and I'm looking forward now to a week off before it's time to start teaching!

Hope all your Christmases were a little less exciting and that your New Year's is very exciting!

p.s. Happy Birthday to Emily Noelle Linde, our youth pastor's new little baby, who was born on Christmas Day! What a nice Christmas present. :)

Going home...thank you Port Alberni

Last night Mike and I had our Christmas date. We went ice skating at the Butchart Gardens, and then walked through the garden to see the lights and the 12 days of Christmas display. We drank peppermint hot chocolate, and then had hot soup and listened to the Christmas carollers and the festive brass band playing bluesy Christmas carols. It was perfect. I love the Butchart gardens, and so when you add the lights it was just magical. My favourite was the 9 ladies dancing. They included little bo peep, little red riding hood, snow white, the witch with her apple, cinderella, little miss muffet, and a few others. Hey, why is it that all the nursery rhyme ladies are named "little..."?

The funny thing about this Christmas is that there was a long list of Christmas things I wanted to do in Victoria, but I wasn't sure if Mike would be able to do them all with me. The Butchart gardens was my main one, so since we got to do that I wasn't going to worry about the other things. One of which was going to see "The Nativity Story" before Christmas. Well, mike called me from work just now and said "I think we should go see the Nativity story tonight" since it's our last night in Vic before Christmas. I was so excited because he just asked out of the blue without me even hinting. So, I went to check the theaters, and a few minutes and many websites later, discovered that THE NATIVITY STORY, the true Christmas story, is not playing at a single theatre the weekend before Christmas! I was very upset, but immediately started to brain storm other ideas. I wondered if it might be playing while we are in Port Alberni, since the thing we always complained about in town as teenagers was how the movies always arrived three weeks after they came out everywhere else. But I thought, with all the movies out, what are the chances of that?

But I checked anyways, and whaddayaknow, good old small town movie theater came through. It is playing all week at the matinee and the 7. So, that's my Port Alberni story. We may get the movies late, but sometimes they are just on time.

So, now I'm happy again. This Christmas has been amazing so far compared to the rush of last year and the short time at home. This year, I got to see all my friends in Victoria, have a Christmas party, I actually have a tree and my house is very festive (all the ornaments I've been purchasing the past few years have finally added up into an entire apartment's worth). All we need now is some snow to keep us in Port a little longer! I wouldn't mind getting snowed in this year. Might be fun to be stuck somewhere. As long as we don't lose power. I was thinking about that earlier, how all the people without power on the island might not be able to cook their turkeys. What will they do? I guess you could always barbeque them outside? Hmm...let's all hope the power comes back soon enough.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

TQS...BCCT...BCTF

Ack! Too many acronyms.

Today is the day I finally stop procrastinating and get on my applications to the TQS (Teacher Qualifications Service ) and the BCCT (British Columbia college of teachers). I just hate filling out forms, but I want to get it over and done with before I go home for Christmas. So, now I just need to go to Uvic, drop off my transcript forms, then get someone to notarize my marriage certificate, find two references, and send it all away to the people who will be paying me for the duration of my teaching career.

I really should have done this sooner, but school was so busy and then once school was over I got all giddy with Christmas and with doing whatever I want that I forgot all about this!

So, now today and tomorrow have become errand days.
1) clean up from Christmas party
2) TQS BCCT
3) get pants hemmed
4) get eyebrows threaded (they are beginning to look like caterpillars!)
5) wrap presents

But, they are all on their way to being done. Might be closer though if I wasn't completely involved with my next book "The lovely bones". Very good and addicting so far.

Off to change the dish load over!

Christmas Party, and lots of food....

Mike and I had a Christmas party last night at our apartment. It was a lot of fun, although out of the many people we invited, we ended up with a small group, just 2 other couples and us. It was perfect though. I had the whole place decorated with Christmas lights and a tree and candles. It was very cozy and we had sooo much yummy food. Mike made his famous mushroom caps and I made crostini, cookies, shortbread and chocolate fudge. We also had veggies and fruit and cheese and bread and everything I love to eat. Plus cranberry punch. Needless to say, we ate a lot.

I tried to make everything "Christmasized" as our friend Sarah (Matt's sarah, not Fraser's) put it. I thought that was the perfect way to describe it. I even had the movie A Christmas Story playing in the background while we ate. Such a Christmas classic.

Then, we introduced Matt and Sarah to the game Shadows over Camelot. And, of course, after I said that it sucks to be the traitor the first time you play the game, Sarah ended up as the traitor. It was still fun though, and afterwards, we played a new card game they bought for us called "Wizard".

Then, today I finished the last few items I needed for Christmas. Mike and I went shopping yesterday before the party and got all of his family's presents. I'm very happy to be finished and I think we got some great presents in the end. I spent more than I was supposed to, but oh well.

Myana and I went out for lunch at the Tapa Bar this afternoon as well. I don't think I've ever gone out for food so much as in the past week, with all the Christmas parties, shopping, and friends who, like me, love going out to restaurants. Just since Friday, I've been to a dinner party, a birthday dinner at The Reef, breakfast at the Blue Fox, lunch twice at Paggliaci's and lunch at the Tapa Bar, plus my Christmas party dinner. I guess that's why people make their New Year's resolutions dieting.

It's all been great though, I love Victoria restaurants. It's also nice to have time to see friends before Christmas. In two more days Mike and I get to go home for Christmas as well, so I'm getting very excited to see everyone. I also finally finished the book I've been reading since September, and can move on to others! I have a huge list waiting.

Well, that's all the Christmas fun so far. Plans for Butchart Gardens tomorrow night, just so long as it doesn't get blown away by the next wind storm tonight.

Also, Happy Birthday Mom!

All it takes

All it takes to make me cry is page 406 of the Time Traveller's Wife. If you haven't read it, you must. It is the best book I've ever read. There are a few things I wish were different, or that we had more of, but I think it is only a sign of how good the book is.

In other news, I did some Christmas shopping today. I thought my arms would break off near the end. Too much walking with heavy bags. Plus my purse is huge. I should have brought a back pack.

Tonight is the start of my busy nights out. I'm going to a dinner party tonight, then a birthday dinner tomorrow, then breakfast with a friend sunday morning, then a matinee show! It's going to be a busy weekend, but it's all good as I have no homework!

10 Days until Christmas!

My Library Thing

If anyone is interested, I've been using my library thing for a while now to catalogue all my books. So, if you are looking for a good book to read, then check out TEXT'>my catalogue. Or make your own. It will even give you recommendations on what other books you might like. I hope that link works. I only know how to post and put up photos, so I've never tried making a link before. Does anyone know how to put permanent links on the blog home page to other blog and homepages? I've always wanted to know how to do this, and since everyone else has them on their blogs, I figured it shouldn't be that hard, right?

It's Christmas...in 11 days!

Okay, so not having school is actually kind of boring. I got waaay too many things done by lunch time. I got all my laundry done, tidied up the house, put up all the Christmas decorations, set up the tree, sent out all of my emails, read, and it was still only lunch time. So, then I went to my practicum school to talk with my sponsor teacher. I had some questions I needed to ask her about the units I will be teaching. It was raining so hard that by the time I walked the three blocks from my bus to the school I was drenched from my coat down. Thank goodness I found my umbrella as it would have ruined my hair, which is still nice from the hair cut yesterday. I'm hoping it will be nice again tomorrow, although it might do that weird greasy thing that happens after a day of not washing it. But, since I got it cut yesterday afternoon, it might be good tomorrow. And, I actually have plans for tomorrow, so that's good. I won't be so bored.

I need to do most of my Christmas shopping still, but it's just too hard. It stresses me out trying to decide what to get people. Especially since I have a very strict limit, so I can't just pick out anything that looks nice. You have to be very creative.

It was dark out today at 3:30. It's very strange, but I don't think the sun came out today at all. I woke up at 9am and it was still pitch black in my house. When I went out at 2:30 it was very gloomy, and then by the time I left Oak bay around 4 it was dark. Very depressing. I'm hoping it's nicer next week so I can go ice skating.

Man, I'm starving. But I don't want to go anywhere since I just got off the bus. The bus in the rain with wet stinky people is no fun at all. And, Mike has the car at soccer so I can't even go out for food.

Lately all the TV episodes are the Christmas ones. It's fun because there is always something Christmacy to watch. Right now there is a Seinfeld episode. It's the one where Elaine sends out Christmas cards that have her nipple showing. I guess that's a little worse than not knowing what to buy for Christmas! I think I should watch a Christmas movie. Have to get them all in during the next 11 days. Hey, it's the second day of the 12 days of Christmas. Hmmm. Should I watch the Nightmare before Christmas in honour of Jenn? Or Love Actually? Or A Christmas story?

Isn't it weird how we can watch the same Christmas movies every year and not get sick of them?

I'm back

I've been putting off writing on my blog for the past two weeks. When I finally started to feel better (I didn't have mono after all) it was then the final week of school. I've never done so much reading, studying and writing as I did from December 1st to the 11th. But, it's over now.

Today was my last day of school at Uvic. In January I start my practicum until May 4th, then I'm leaving Victoria and off to who know's where! I'm nervous about my practicum but excited about not having to write any more essays or exams. It felt very weird last night with nothing to do since I'd handed in my last essay on monday. I didn't know what to do with myself. It feels different from last year when I graduated because back then I knew that I was going to be starting a new degree, so it wasn't really over. But soon I think I'll find myself missing school. I already don't know where to start when I get home. So, basically I've been Christmas shopping ang planning and spending way too much money.

I just got my hair cut this afternoon and I love it. But, I have nowhere to go and show it off! Here I am all dressed up in Christmas colours with a new hair style and my only plans are to sit and watch TV, since Mike has a dinner with his boss tonight :(

So, what's new lately? Well, Mike is nearly through all the RCMP hoops. He just redid his PARE test on Sunday and was still the fastest one there, and then did his first aid course yesterday. I'm hoping they'll get through his file quickly and hopefully he'll be going to Regina in January sometime.

We also went to see the Winter Harp concert this past Friday. It's my favourite Christmas thing to do. I love the Celtic harp. It's such a good way to start off the holiday season. I dragged Mike along with me this time too since he ditched me last year. We also have plans for a Christmas party next week and a trip to see the lights and go ice skating at the Butchart gardens. We're hoping that Sarah and Fraser will be able to come with us.

My apartment is almost decorated, but I still have to do the tree. I'm still using the old fake tree Jenn and I carried home on the bus when we lived together in 2nd year. It's done good over the past years, but I think next year I will be retiring it for a real tree.

I was watching Jeopardy last night (that's how bored I've been) and realized just how ignorant some Americans can be. Jenn was telling me that people in the US don't do the whole poppy thing for remembrance day, but I didn't realized they don't even know why we wear them. THe Jeopardy category was poetry, and the question, or answer rather was something along the lines of: In flanders fields, the (this flower) grow, between the crosses row on row. I thought at first glance that they were asking for the author and was getting mad at myself for not being able to remember the poets name. Then, I realized they wanted the flower. I thought, boy is that easy, it's poppies. The first man rings in and says....What are pansies? I laughed and then the second man rang in and said Ah, what are cornflowers? Ahh! At least pansies sounds like poppies. I couldn't believe they didn't know the poem. I'd been made to memorize it in grade 11 socials studies and I see it every year in November. But, thankfully, the third player, a woman, got the right answer. Even Alex Trebek looked surprised.

Well, that's my rant about poppies. On to other things. I sent my first short story out on Monday to the Fiddlehead contest. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get something published in the next year, and I realized that I have a lot more good writing than I realized. I can't really complain about not being published unless I'm getting rejection notices now can I?

So, all you writers out there, send your work out! It's the only way people will read it.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Buried in snow

I know I've been complaining a lot about the weather, but sometimes there just isn't anything else to write about. And, like Pamela, I too like to write about the weather on my blog. Mike and i went home on Saturday for a wedding reception, and like usual, the weather went crazy. As we made the drive around Cameron Lake the first snowflakes brushed the windshield, and I thought, it's a good thing we left early to miss the snowfall. As we got closer to Port Alberni, we could see it had been snowing for a while, but not so much that it was hard to drive. We got into town and it continued to snow and snow the whole reception and all night while we slept at my mom's. In the morning the snow still hadn't let up and the car was buried. We were determined to make it home to Victoria though and Mike thought his soccer game might still be on as someone on his team told us it wasn't snowing in Victoria. (He must not have looked out the window as it did indeed snow here).

So, we made the drive in just under 4 hours through the snow and about 4 or 5 accidents. Even saw a guy trying to drive a motorbike. What kind of person drives a motorcycle on the highway in a snow storm? I don't know, but good old tercel made it all the way home with no problems. Except that we almost ran out of gas as it took us so long to make it to the first gas station we could actually drive into without getting stuck. Scary drive, but the irony is that when we finally pulled onto Richmond and were about 30 seconds from home, we saw home bad Victoria is at dealing with snow. I know we never get snow, but do you think we could hold onto at least 1 snow plow? PA has no problem when it snows. They plow the road, ppl shovel their driveways and sidewalks, and life continues. Even despite the fact that they still can't drink the water. But, oh no, not Victoria. Here, we don't plow or shovel, so that as we approached our street, which is a hill, I could see we weren't going to make it. The street was completely snowed in and ppl were parked all along Richmond. We sat in the car and watched 3 people get stuck on their way up the hill. The thing is, even if you make it up Mayfair, you then have to turn up the driveway, which is also a hill, and by then you've lost momentum. So, we decided to join the cars on the side of the street and walk our bags up to the house. After falling on my face in the snow a few times, we made it into our apartment only to discover that we had no power.

So, it was a lovely time. We lit a lot of candles and then discovered that for some reason two of our power outlets worked. Mike managed to stretch the computer and phone to those outlets so we would have something to do. After calling Sarah and Fraser we decided to brave the weather to all go see Casino Royale together. It was actually kind of fun going out at night in the snow to see a movie. And the theater was absolutely PACKED. I couldn't believe it. But it was fun. And shortly after we got home the power came back on. This, however, was after the fire alarm in our building went off. I'm pretty sure it was the people I could smell down the hall who were most likely hotboxing their apartment. What else is there to do in the snow? I guess that's what they were thinking.

Mike and I camped out in the living room though since we were worried the power might go off again and we needed to use the working outlet to set his alarm. Poor guy, had to wake up at 6 am on a snow day and then found that although last night after the movie we managed to get Tercel up the hill and the driveway (such a good little car :) the doors were frozen shut and he had no way to get the car out of where we'd parked in the guest spaces, worried we'd never get out of our undergroud parkade. So, he had to walk to work. Plus he was working at the Shelbourne store, so it wasn't exactly a short walk in the snow. Meanwhile, I managed to get my internet and keyboard working again, and have plans to do homework since classes at Uvic are cancelled. I have a reserve book out that I was supposed to bring back today but since the number 14 bus is currently stuck at the bottom of the hill, I don't think there's any way of getting to the school.

So I guess it's a snow day. Haven't had a real snow storm in ten years. Funny, too, because I was just saying this last weekend, and thinking maybe we were due for another. Ha. BC finally knows a little of what it's like to live in Canada. It's actually -40 in some areas of the province and is even going to get close to -15 on the island and in Vancouver with the wind. I know it's nothing compared to the rest of the country, but we're catching up. Too bad I don't own a tuque, boots, or winter gloves.

Well, it's back to work. I mean, to start doing work. Maybe school will be cancelled tomorrow too. That would be nice since Mike has the day off. We could have a real snow day together. Going to call my mom now, since she was stranded in nanaimo yesterday. Hope she's made it back to PA alright.

Maybe we will finally have a white Christmas?