Lesson Learned

While grocery shopping yesterday, I happened to spy a little treat I just had to have. It was a passion fruit. I can honestly say I haven't actually seen a passion fruit since I came home from Tanzania and I was overjoyed at the idea of actually having a passion fruit and not just 'passion fruit flavoured'.

I balked at the price of $1.99 per passion fruit. The last time I bought one is was 3 for 200TSH (roughly $0.25) but I so desperately wanted to taste actual passion fruit again.

After I put the groceries away, I popped on the kettle for a cuppa and then set about enjoying the passion fruit. I cut it open, it was exactly how I remembered them looking. I dug my spoon in to one half, eagerly anticipating the moment.

I knew that it wouldn't taste as good as an actual fresh passion fruit, that the taste would be a little duller, but the instant I put that spoon in my mouth I regretted it. The last thing I had done before going for groceries was brush my teeth. 

*Sigh*

I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for that passion fruit experience.

Introductions and Resolutions

First, a very important announcement: I have named my Venetian Cat Marionette. Ladies and, well, probably just ladies, let me introduce Sir Mountcatten von Pussenberg GBE.

Part of me wishes I had been this creative when naming my actual cats instead of just naming them after hockey players, but how often am I going to have to shout at Sir Mountcatten von Pussenberg to get off the counters? Point taken, self.

I actually took the time to set a few resolutions this year. More importantly, I actually sat down and thought about how to achieve them. That's usually been my problem in the past, I come up with these goals but I don't actually think about what is needed to reach them. I assume I'll figure it out as I go about living life. Well, my German is only a smidgen better than it was this time last year so obviously the idea of just bumbling along and letting it sort itself out isn't working. Shocking, I know!

There are a couple of fitness goals but they're going on the other blog because that's where they belong, but for the non-fitness ones:

1. Get German back to a fluent level - I said at one point that if I wasn't done this by the end of last year, I'd walk away from this goal but I let this goal get pushed to the side for French (long story). Once the urgent need for French passed, I dropped them both. I will spend at least four hours a week on German, whether that be going over my old textbooks, reading, conversations in German, or watching German movies/TV shows. Using the CEFR guide, I am aiming to successfully pass a B2 German practice test before the end of the year.

2. Read 20 books for fun - Thanks to the Great Book Challenge, my goal for this year should actually be 24 (2 a month) and although that would be doable if I stuck to a normal sized book, there's one book I want to read which is 1979 pages and another one that's almost as long. Although I'm still going to aim for 24 overall, I'm setting the goal at 20 so I don't feel too much pressure to skip the big books.

3. Cross 20 items off my 101 in 1001 list

Anyone else have some resolutions/goals they've set for 2011 they'd like to share? No? How about a pint of ice cream you'd like to share?

Merry, Holy Cr@p, It's 2011 Already!

Before I completely leave Christmas behind me and dive into the new year, I figure a few photos are in order.

Baking Grandma's Cookies means we drink tea from Grandma's Silver Tea Pot. It just makes good sense.

Lemon Meringue Pie. The official dessert of Christmas in our house.

There were never religious icons in my mom's house until they bought this carved nativity scene in Mexico a few years ago. It was more for the carving and less for the religious aspect that they bought it.  It will never be as awesome as my dad's nativity scene however. Scared he was going to lose the baby Jesus on one of his moves (as he has all the wise men and the angel), he decided to affix the figurine by nailing it to the manger! The mileage I have gotten out of that story, let me tell you!

My mom, Big Bro and I made these when I was about seven. Twenty-three years later, they're still looking pretty good

The thing I miss most about growing up now that I'm living in my apartment is having a fireplace. There's a warmth and comfort from a fire you just don't get from central heating. I also don't think you get it from a gas fireplace but that could just be a prejudice I have against anything that replaces memories from my childhood.

This is proof that my Baby Bro actually stopped playing FIFA 11 long enough to do dishes. Years from now, historians writing his biography will look at this picture and gasp. Debates will rage about whether or not it is photoshopped. I am here to settle the score: this picture is not photoshopped, he is actually doing the dishes!

During the summer we could never figure out the point of the man-made gully in my stepmom's backyard. Then the rains came. This mini-river leads to a pond which was empty this summer. The pond is currently overflowing and the backyard is still a little soft. I'd hate to think what the backyard must have been like before they dug the gully!

Before driving me and Baby Bro down to Victoria on the Tuesday, my stepmom treated us to lunch at the Dinghy Dock Pub on Protection Island (off Nanaimo). I was glad our original plan of going on Monday was thwarted by it not being open. Monday was bucketing down with rain, Tuesday was gorgeous and sunny. The food was decent although the service was a little slow, but on a sunny summer's day I'd go back in a heartbeat. Having a beer while looking out over the harbour really can't be beat!

This is the best completely-useless-but-it-looks-pretty present ever! It's a marionette cat in fancy dress. My stepmom and Baby Bro met up in Italy last November (he had been backpacking for eight months). When they found this in Venice, they agreed it must be mine. Useless and feline. Yup, that sounds exactly like something I would covet! Now, to find a permanent place where the living, useless felines can't get to it.











The first day of 2011 was fabulous. It was gloriously sunny all day although still very cold, I had a fabulous brunch with a fabulous lady at a place I had never been to before but would definitely go to again, and I wrote up and planned out all my resolutions and will be discussing them on here very soon but for now, it's getting late and I want to read before bed.

I hope you are all having a fabulous start to 2011!

Four Day Christmas

In about twenty minutes, Christmas will officially be over for me. In about twenty minutes, my stepmom, Baby Bro and I will be done watching A Child's Christmas in Wales and with it we will have finished all required Christmas traditions.

It was lovely to spend time with family both in Victoria and Nanaimo. I also got everything I asked for: a housecoat (which I put on hold for my mom to go pick up) and a copy of Romeo Dallaire's They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children (I'm so uplifting in my non-fiction choices). I wanted so much this year ;) We started Christmas Day with our traditional waffle breakfast. Waffles always taste better on Christmas morning, it's a scientific fact! The day was very relaxing and I managed to almost finish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest before dinner.

On Boxing Day, full of good food and still humming the tunes of the Chieftan's the Bells of Dublin, my mom and stepdad drove me up to Nanaimo for my second Christmas with my stepmom and Baby Bro. I finally got to play Christmas carols on the piano which pretty much made my Christmas complete.

I've spent the last twenty-four hours relaxing in a very rainy Nanaimo watching BBC's Sherlock (which I can not say enough good things about although the second episode is a little lacking but the first and third totally make up for it and I can't wait for the next mini-series to be released in roughly 10 months because OHMIGAWD can you say annoyingly awesome cliffhanger?!?!? Plus it totally makes me want to read the originals which I'm a little ashamed to say I've never won. Very strange seeing as I love mysteries. At any rate, I'll be checking out some second hand shops for cheap copies.  However, as always, I digress so I'll close these parentheses now) and letting my stepmom win at rummy. It's only fair being Christmas and all that I let her have a little joy when it comes to cards.

We had plans to head out today but when we learned that the Dinghy Dock Pub was actually closed on Mondays, we opted instead to stay inside, drink copious amounts of tea, and make fun of each other because that's how we interact as a family unit.

I would have various pictures to include of all this but, of course, the one thing I forgot when packing was my camera cord. C'est la vie! I guess I'll just have to drown my sorrows in another cup of tea and an episode of Doctor Who. That's right. We've just officially finished Christmas so now it's back to regular family programming: dinner and then Doctor Who. Some things never change.

...And To All A Good Night!

The problem with not being at work this week is that I keep forgetting what day of the week it is. More specifically, I have routinely been a day early. On the downside, I'm a little disappointed that tomorrow isn't Christmas Eve. On the upside, I have very little left to do because, well, I thought I had less time. Yay extra day for all those chores I was hoping I could somehow 'forget'. Sorry, did I say upside?

Obviously, with it being Christmas, I'm not going to be online much... well, for me, anyway. It will be good to unplug for a few days and just enjoy being with family. I'll expect that to last for about three hours and then we'll all be dying to get away from each other... which is when you open gifts to distract yourself for a few more hours.

I hope you all have a fantastic holiday weekend.

Merry Christmas

Joyeux Noel

Frohe Weihnachten

Feliz Navidad

Nollaig Shona Dhuit

Mele Kalikimaka

and in case I'm not back before then, Happy New Year!

Two decades later...

Baby Bro is 10 years, 8 months and 16 days younger than me. It's easier to just say 10 years. I still remember seeing him for the first time in the hospital. On the one hand, I was so excited that I was no longer 'the baby' in our family. On the other hand, he was another brother. I already had a brother who tickled me until I peed my pants, made me lie to my parents that I still believe in Santa under the threat of no more presents, and yelled at me when I got Junkyard (the dog in G.I.Joe) stuck in the hovercraft. Okay, maybe I deserved that last one. But did I really need another brother?

Family from out of town meant that I was sleeping in the cot and Baby Bro was on the ground.

He had a nightmare so he joined me in the cot.

In the end, I wouldn't trade Baby Bro for all the sisters in the world. He is, as I often often described him, me in male form. We share the same love of Star Wars, Stargate, and Doctor Who. We never cease to find the humour in South Park, Simpsons, or Monty Python. We have a shared language only we understand like twins separated by 10 years of cryogenic freezing. He tried to explain to his mom once "you don't know what it's like to always have a song in your head, to hear a phrase and have it immediately remind you of some obscure song, then to feel the need to sing that song out loud." That is every social interaction I've ever had summed up in one sentence.

Standing beside an elephant skull in Tarangiri NP, Tanzania

Twenty years ago today, my best friend was born. Happy birthday to my 6" tall, rugby playing, baby brother.

Traditional Traditions

There are certain things I need to do to really feel like it's Christmas. I'm a sucker for traditions and I have a lot of them all year round but especially at Christmas. I am, after all, a self-proclaimed Fauxman Catholic. I started one of the traditions Saturday night by watching White Christmas and another one on Sunday by baking Grandma's Molasses Cookies with my mom.

The scene with the bells leading up to this scene used to terrify me.

Actually, it still does.

My step-mom always watched certain movies leading up to Christmas. Eventually these films became a must for our family: White Christmas, A Child's Christmas in Wales, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Carol/Scrooge (depending on what country you're in). We have certain rules that have to be followed for each movie. The order in which we watch them is carefully selected as only White Christmas or A Child's Christmas in Wales are allowed be watched after Christmas. A Christmas Carol has to be watched as close to Christmas Eve as possible. On Christmas Eve is the best night but with two households to plan around, that's not always possible. Unfortunately, my step-mom moved up to Nanaimo earlier this year so many of these films are being watched alone.

They're about to fulfill their destiny of being tasty, tasty cookies!

Grandma's Molasses Cookies recipe goes back to at least my great-Grandma. My grandma always had them year round in her house (obviously not with Christmas designs like ours) but we only make them at Christmas. I like it more that way. Like Starbucks' seasonal flavourings, it builds the anticipation. I eagerly await for my mom to suggest a baking date every year and then I talk ad nauseum about how we're going to bake Grandma's cookies and how they're the best cookies ever (which they totally are!) and that the recipe is over 100 years old. It's not just that I love eating these cookies, I love making them. I love the process of rolling out the dough and fitting the cookie cutters to get as many cookies as possible. I love icing them and then adding sprinkles. There's something about that last step that just really seals the deal for me.

Best. Cookies. EVER!

My family is full of traditions, these are just two of them, but there's too many to talk about them all so I'll just leave it to the ones I actually participated in this year. Besides, who really wants to hear about my Baby Bro almost falling from the ladder with the chainsaw during our family tradition of cutting down our own Christmas tree?