Nothing says a relaxing Saturday morning more than taking a shower with your 1 and 3 year old while your husband is at work...
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Our new (to us) table
Last night, before we went to play squash in workout clothes I've had for more than 15 years (you can tell they get a lot of wear), we picked up this new (to us) table and chairs. Now we actually have enough chairs for our family. Hooray!
Monday, November 21, 2016
There goes my life savings
Haha just kidding, sort of. But I did enjoy a lovely trip to the dentist today to complete the next step of my dental implants. YAY. My version of The Devil Wears Prada's "one stomach flu away from my goal weight" is I'm one dental procedure away from my goal weight! #silverlining ...?
Sunday, November 20, 2016
So long Facebook (for now)
Facebook has been a dismal place for quite a while. I was hoping it would improve after November 8, but alas, its only gotten worse. There is just way too much America on my Facebook and I just can't handle America right now. So here we are. I am going to try to revive this blog. But don't expect long posts on anything. My aim is to post Facebook style. Short posts. Mostly photos. Here's hoping the blogger app works well for posting photos. So here's to the rebirth! Ha!
Here is a photo of Amy tonight in her west African waxed cotton (ankara) dress. 3 going on 13! :/
Sunday, March 1, 2015
My 20s: A reverse bucket list
A couple of years ago, a dear friend of mine turned 30 and created a 'reverse bucket list' of all sorts of things she'd done in her 20s. I loved the idea as a way to commemorate and celebrate the end of a decade and all the crazy and fun things she'd done during her 20s. So I decided to do the same thing. Of course, my list is nowhere as crazy, hilarious, and unbelievable as hers, but if you know both of us, that is to be expected. But alas, I made a list none-the-less - even if it's not as cool :D
So, without further ado - and in no particular order - I give you My 20s: A reverse bucket list!
-Push a greyhound bus out of the snow
-vomit in a garbage can on the street
-plunge into a frozen river (into a hole cut in the ice)
-ride the Wonder Wheel and Cyclone
-go snowboarding
-visit the Canadian parliament
-buy genuine cowboy boots and hat
-dance the night away with girlfriends at a club you frequented in your late teens (and feel really old)
-try punting in Cambridge
-attend a fancy Cambridge college dinner
-birth 2 beautiful (big) babies
-marry my college boyfriend
-eat haggis
-learn how to pronounce and spell ceilidh
-dance in a ceilidh
-evacuate a German hotel at 3am...with a 6 month old baby
-dance at a wedding until 4am...
-...with a 6 month old baby
-raft down a glacier-fed river
-drive over a median in a blizzard you didn't know was there
-witness the Montreal Fire Department set up a rope to cling to to avoid slipping while crossing an icy street
-learn the true meaning of bored to tears
-spend 8 weeks collating and binding reports
-work in NYC's financial district
-rock a sick baby to sleep
-see the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth
-see U2 and Arcade Fire live
-watch bulls get de-horned
-run through the streets of Coney Island in the winter at 2am looking for homeless people
-be so broke you can't even buy a pair of earrings at Claire's
-throw a karaoke party
-attend a temple dedication
-go to Hogmenay...and convince drunk men to give you their toques
-go snow tubing
-play laser tag
-eat at Junior's innumerable times
-visit more than 1/2 of Canadian provinces (AB, BC, MB, QC, ON, NL)
-invite a stranger from a flight to your parents' house
-go to Disney World
-wear a white (faux) fur cape
-witness a real live NYPD chase that ends with a small female cop throwing a large man to the ground
-call the cops on twothieves in a car plotting their next robbery teenagers getting frisky in their car behind our house
-take 2 small children on a non-direct flight by yourself
-take a tour of NY harbour on a 15' sailboat
-leave my 2 kids for a solo trip to NY
-learn to make chicken tikka masala
-spend over $5000 in one day at the dentist
-buy a house
-spend more money than you want to think about at Ikea
-fall in love with south Florida
-learn to drive
-learn to drive stick
-invest in a pair of Spanx
-make my own Junior's cheesecake
-learn how to cook an egg over easy
-Get stranded at a Wal-Mart in Edinburgh
-stay in a hotel room truly unfit for human habitation (I'm looking at you, Sigiorno Pitti)
-give in and get a Costco membership
-go on a road trip solo (twice)
-work in the same building as my husband
-experience -40* and live to tell the tale
-live and work in 3 countries
-become a Canadian citizen
-travel to the UK, France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Austria, the Vatican, Mexico, Haiti, the Bahamas
-present data at NYC's city hall
-organize 3000+ volunteers, hundreds of police officers, and hundreds of DHS employees for an overnight homeless count
-survey drivers in the rural midlands (England) for a week
-buy a car
-finish my BA
-get a master's degree
-go skating at Rockefeller Center
-see the Metropolitan Opera perform
-go to a Messiah sing-along (and laugh hysterically through half of it due to your own poor singing)
-live with best friends in a "Friends"-style apartment (5 girls across the hall from 5 guys)
-get a custom-made wedding dress
-figure out how to get from EWR to Carroll Gardens for less than $5
-Go to a real live rodeo (twice)
Well, my 20s were great and I definitely have my work cut out for me in my 30s. It may be a few months late, but here's to the next 10 years!
So, without further ado - and in no particular order - I give you My 20s: A reverse bucket list!
-Push a greyhound bus out of the snow
-vomit in a garbage can on the street
-plunge into a frozen river (into a hole cut in the ice)
-ride the Wonder Wheel and Cyclone
-go snowboarding
-visit the Canadian parliament
-buy genuine cowboy boots and hat
-dance the night away with girlfriends at a club you frequented in your late teens (and feel really old)
-try punting in Cambridge
-attend a fancy Cambridge college dinner
-birth 2 beautiful (big) babies
-marry my college boyfriend
-eat haggis
-learn how to pronounce and spell ceilidh
-dance in a ceilidh
-evacuate a German hotel at 3am...with a 6 month old baby
-dance at a wedding until 4am...
-...with a 6 month old baby
-raft down a glacier-fed river
-drive over a median in a blizzard you didn't know was there
-witness the Montreal Fire Department set up a rope to cling to to avoid slipping while crossing an icy street
-learn the true meaning of bored to tears
-spend 8 weeks collating and binding reports
-work in NYC's financial district
-rock a sick baby to sleep
-see the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth
-see U2 and Arcade Fire live
-watch bulls get de-horned
-run through the streets of Coney Island in the winter at 2am looking for homeless people
-be so broke you can't even buy a pair of earrings at Claire's
-throw a karaoke party
-attend a temple dedication
-go to Hogmenay...and convince drunk men to give you their toques
-go snow tubing
-play laser tag
-eat at Junior's innumerable times
-visit more than 1/2 of Canadian provinces (AB, BC, MB, QC, ON, NL)
-invite a stranger from a flight to your parents' house
-go to Disney World
-wear a white (faux) fur cape
-witness a real live NYPD chase that ends with a small female cop throwing a large man to the ground
-call the cops on two
-take 2 small children on a non-direct flight by yourself
-take a tour of NY harbour on a 15' sailboat
-leave my 2 kids for a solo trip to NY
-learn to make chicken tikka masala
-spend over $5000 in one day at the dentist
-buy a house
-spend more money than you want to think about at Ikea
-fall in love with south Florida
-learn to drive
-learn to drive stick
-invest in a pair of Spanx
-make my own Junior's cheesecake
-learn how to cook an egg over easy
-Get stranded at a Wal-Mart in Edinburgh
-stay in a hotel room truly unfit for human habitation (I'm looking at you, Sigiorno Pitti)
-give in and get a Costco membership
-go on a road trip solo (twice)
-work in the same building as my husband
-experience -40* and live to tell the tale
-live and work in 3 countries
-become a Canadian citizen
-travel to the UK, France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Austria, the Vatican, Mexico, Haiti, the Bahamas
-present data at NYC's city hall
-organize 3000+ volunteers, hundreds of police officers, and hundreds of DHS employees for an overnight homeless count
-survey drivers in the rural midlands (England) for a week
-buy a car
-finish my BA
-get a master's degree
-go skating at Rockefeller Center
-see the Metropolitan Opera perform
-go to a Messiah sing-along (and laugh hysterically through half of it due to your own poor singing)
-live with best friends in a "Friends"-style apartment (5 girls across the hall from 5 guys)
-get a custom-made wedding dress
-figure out how to get from EWR to Carroll Gardens for less than $5
-Go to a real live rodeo (twice)
Well, my 20s were great and I definitely have my work cut out for me in my 30s. It may be a few months late, but here's to the next 10 years!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Remembering their childhood
Thomas, holding up my Costco card: How come we never go to this place anymore?
Me: Because our membership expired
Thomas: Can we pay for a new one or do they not let us?
Me: We could pay for one but I don't want to
Thomas: I forgot what this place is called
Me: Costco?
Thomas: Yeah, Costco. I want to go there!
Me: You want to go to Costco?
Thomas: Yes I want to get some free food!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas at dinner, upon seeing french toast on his plate again for the 3rd time in 3 days: That agaaaaaain?
Me: Yep, sorry Thomas. We don't have any other food.
Thomas: Why don't we get any food?
Next morning....
Me: Ok you need to get dressed so we can go to the grocery store
Thomas: I don't want to go! We can have french toast again!
Monday, November 25, 2013
Overheard
Hey guys! Look how long it's been since I posted! Who cares. Let's move on. The only reason I am posting today is because I overheard something today that both breaks my heart and makes my blood boil just a little bit. And I have to say something. To respond. But I don't really know this person and have no way to really respond. So consider this post a yell into the dark void. That is what I'm calling it, anyway, because I'm pretty sure no one will read it ha.
Anyhow, I heard this woman relate overhearing members of the young women's presidency in another ward talking about what anti-depressants and anti-psychotics they were on. She then added her commentary "why are these people in the YW presidency?!" [I HATE overhearing this sort of comment when I have no way to respond without seeming overly aggressive and like I was eavesdropping.]
It makes me both sad and angry the way mental illness is stigmatized in our North American culture as well as Mormon culture. As Elder Holland put it in his talk in the last general conference, "...neuroses and psychoses, ... genetic predispositions and chromosome defects, ... bipolarity, paranoia, and schizophrenia[:] these afflictions are some of the realities of mortal life, and there should be no more shame in acknowledging them than in acknowledging a battle with high blood pressure or the sudden appearance of a malignant tumor." THANK YOU! Do you honestly believe that someone who is depressed should not have a calling in YW? Or was it the possibility of psychosis that was really over the line? What other health problems should prohibit one from serving and teaching the young women of the church? If you, as a YW president yourself feel that way, maybe you shouldn't be in the YW presidency. If there's something YW don't need more of, it's unrighteous judgement. There's enough of that in junior high and high school already.
I am sure this woman didn't think she was making an unrighteous judgement. She probably didn't think about it at all, in fact. Because it's just so commonplace in our society to write off people who suffer from mental illness. And that's why it breaks my heart for all those out there who do suffer from unseen stigmatized illnesses and life experiences. Working with people experiencing homelessness in one way or another over the past 8 years has certainly made me very aware of these issues.I just hope that we can move toward a more loving and inclusive culture, especially in the church. Like President Uchtdorf said, there is room for everyone in the church, even those who suffer from mental illness.
Anyhow, I heard this woman relate overhearing members of the young women's presidency in another ward talking about what anti-depressants and anti-psychotics they were on. She then added her commentary "why are these people in the YW presidency?!" [I HATE overhearing this sort of comment when I have no way to respond without seeming overly aggressive and like I was eavesdropping.]
It makes me both sad and angry the way mental illness is stigmatized in our North American culture as well as Mormon culture. As Elder Holland put it in his talk in the last general conference, "...neuroses and psychoses, ... genetic predispositions and chromosome defects, ... bipolarity, paranoia, and schizophrenia[:] these afflictions are some of the realities of mortal life, and there should be no more shame in acknowledging them than in acknowledging a battle with high blood pressure or the sudden appearance of a malignant tumor." THANK YOU! Do you honestly believe that someone who is depressed should not have a calling in YW? Or was it the possibility of psychosis that was really over the line? What other health problems should prohibit one from serving and teaching the young women of the church? If you, as a YW president yourself feel that way, maybe you shouldn't be in the YW presidency. If there's something YW don't need more of, it's unrighteous judgement. There's enough of that in junior high and high school already.
I am sure this woman didn't think she was making an unrighteous judgement. She probably didn't think about it at all, in fact. Because it's just so commonplace in our society to write off people who suffer from mental illness. And that's why it breaks my heart for all those out there who do suffer from unseen stigmatized illnesses and life experiences. Working with people experiencing homelessness in one way or another over the past 8 years has certainly made me very aware of these issues.I just hope that we can move toward a more loving and inclusive culture, especially in the church. Like President Uchtdorf said, there is room for everyone in the church, even those who suffer from mental illness.
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