She's The New Year's Eve Birthday Girl!

A Summer Flashback

Ah memories. Memories of taking the bus all over. Some of the seats suspiciously didn't recline. The smell coming from the bathroom. There were some positives of course, the people on the bus were very kind. One man gave me a drink, another very fashionable girl gave me her magazine to read and a myriad of people were willing to make some nice chit chat and also leave me in peace when it came time to take a nap or find something to read. Another plus was texting TWN. My hardwon tips for taking the bus over a long distance are: 1. bring a cold drink or two (one to give away to someone), it can get unbearably hot on the bus and a cold drink is very refreshing. 2. Sit in front of the toilet. For some reason the seats there never failed to recline (which makes sleeping so much easier) The smell isn't too bad and it is the same as being in the middle anyway. 3. Make sure your carry on bag is smaller, you can bring several small carry on bags, but the large ones don't fit overhead and you will have the bag uncomfortably on your lap. 4. When in the uk sit on the left side of the bus, so you can see the signs to know where you are. 5. Never, ever, ever shut the emergency exits if the bus driver has opened them for ventilation. Not even if it is raining. Cutting off access to cool, fresh air - why would anyone ever do such a thing?

Pink and Brown, Brown and Pink

It was a good craft day today. I finished 3 hats, all for special orders and several granny squares for a special order. Its a shame that I copied down one person`s email address incorrectly or there is something wrong with her email address. Teach me to get phone numbers and email addresses! Brown and pink are a very popular combination! Most of what I am working with is in that colour range.

Polar Bear Cap

This little cap turned out alright, but I was wondering if the nose was a bit too big and if I should add ear flaps.

Crafting tonight.

I spent the evening and the majority of the day doing some crafts, making some owl, piglet and duck baby bibs and I finished up some cowls/snoods/infinity scarves. Those are the bibs above- I found the pattern on the lion brand website. I still have a lot of dastardly ends to weave in and to sew them all together of course. I leave them until the end because they seem such a hassle, but once I get going they are not so bad. More on the finished products tomorrow perhaps.

More Thanksgiving

I was the one who was in charge of the food. I started cooking the night before and had recipes planned to cook all day. Some people gave me a hand, especially with the dishes.

We brought games for the children and movies to watch, but having timed races back and forth when everything was cleared off was the most popular activity of the night. Even the adults joined in.

Sarah took up my camera for a candid shot of me. Most of my pictures were blurry too. I really have to work on that.

We all sat at one big long table and I really enjoyed that! It wasnt so great for conversation though shouting from one end to the other. Perhaps it would have been better to put short tables together in a square. Overall it was a success and a fun Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving this year in the basement of a church, because it was decided that no one had a house big enough to hold us all comfortably, except my brother and he has been doing renovations.

My cousin Reina had boundless energy and was running and jumping everywhere! She took a bit of a breather to pose with some pies for me. Thanks Reina!

Winter Jackets

My trusty down winter jacket is on its last legs. I have been looking for a worthy replacement and when there were none to be had at JACOB, I switched it up to JOE. I have possibly hit paydirt with this green number, its very good quality and is a great price.

I got this red one from the sale racks at JOE last year for a steal of a deal -$11!

My favourite.

This charm is my favourite. I love the colours and I am especially fond of the two love birds in the faux cameo.

Long Necklaces

I made alot of long necklaces because that is the type of necklace that I would like to wear myself. Im not so happy with the quality of chain and I like some charms more than others, but overall I am happy with what I have so far.

Look here! I made some Jewellery!

I have also been busy making necklaces, rings and earrings which has been great fun. These pictures are pretty dark - it is overcast today and I didnt have much light to work with.
Although I have found that it is pretty hard to take a decent picture of a necklace under any circumstances!

Crochet Madness!

I have been crocheting and doing as many crafts as I possibly can for my very first craft sale! It is to be held on Sunday in between church services at a decent size church. I have so many more things to make, well ideas that I would love to see become real and sold at this craft sale and I still have a day and a half to make it happen! The top two photos are some bows that I have made into pins to be worn in a myriad of ways and the bottom two photos are two baby girl hats that I still might add some embellishments to.

Wasp Nest

There is a wasp nest in the backyard. I have never seen one before and it is fairly interesting. It is made out of paper and wasp saliva. The picture above is upside down - it is hanging from a narrow concentrated piece of paper. You can see once wasp is sort of underneath the hive. Eventually the wasp grubs are supposed to grow in each of the cells. We noticed the nest, because our dog Toby was very disturbed by its presence. The wasps arent all that interested in him and they arent stinging Toby or any other passerby they are just getting along with their work. It seems a shame to knock it down, but it might be dangerous to leave it as is with a growing number of wasps. I am not afraid of most insects- as long as they dont crawl on me, so I was considering knocking it down and then running away like a madwoman indoors. On closer inspection I would prefer that someone else does it, maybe if I asked really, really nicely TWN would fly over and do the deed for me. Umm... not so much.

The Canada Goose flew back for the winter.

I am back in Winnipeg after a very, very long journey. It was much longer than it needed to be due to a long layover in Toronto and a cancelled flight. I left a week ago today. It has been hard to adjust to the jet lag. Even old Winnipeg has seen some changes in the time that I have been away, the Greyhound bus services are at the airport rather than downtown and Ellice Theatre is being reinvented into a foreign and independent film house. I have been told that this summer was a cold and wet one in southern Manitoba, but other than the first day I arrived it has been hot and dry. Ideal beach weather. Maybe I will head out this weekend to Patricia beach, it would be nice to have some 2009 shots of one of my favourite places in Manitoba!

A weekend of sabbaths.

This weekend I went to church three times, to three different churches. The first was on a saturday at a seventh day adventist church. My young cousin Sophia was graduating for this year's daily vacation bible school program. The theme was "Kids in the Kitchen". She brought us back oatmeal cookies one day and another day we went fruit picking in the english country side. It was a long bus ride almost everywhere we went. Hooray for ipods!

Next up I visited my Aunt's church. It was a traditional afro-carribbean church, so the women wore hats and skirts with a modest hemline. I didn't have a hat so I had to improvise and wear my scarf around my head.


Lastly I went to Hillsong Church London on sunday evening. It was the most like my church at home. I go with grand plans of meeting new english friends, but this time was a bit of a bust in that regard. I read a book in starbucks for awhile on my own, which was alright. The rest of the service was lovely and while in the church itself I met some people.

TWN at the V&A

TWN and I on the Millenium Bridge

Nothing could replace this happiness

My t-shirt reads nothing could replace this happiness. I bought it last summer and have not worn it much this year, although my sisters have worn it quite a bit.

Some of the colourful shapes on the tree have raised bumps and I like the texture. I think I will bring it along in my 20kg baggage allowance on the plane. It could be a theme for the summer.

I am so excited to be going away to another country for two months taking in the culture and the tourist sights, spending lots of time at the beach and of course summer camping by the sea! That sort of thing just does not happen in the keystone province- lakes dont count. I am determined to be grateful for such a wonderful opportunity and not complain at all. Not even anything more about my luggage. Shhh!

A few days to go!

I am sorting out what clothes to bring and going out with friends one last time before a grand trip!

Got myself a prairie girl t-shirt

I didnt mean to put this picture in half cropped like this, but once it was in the post I decided that I liked the shape. The last part of the day was great fun at the Forks and the at the Radisson downtown.

Happy Birthday Canada!

Got myself a free tattoo!
I went out to the Osborne Street Festival for the first part of Canada Day.
It was hot, but not uncomfortably so and I was looking to get pretty bronzed... so I wore a strapless top. I didn't get very tanned, I am certainly not confident that it is enough to compare to TWN's forearm.

I did however get enough sun that I was sleepy and came home for a nap. I am off to the Forks soon for more adventures!

Ten things I am grateful for today.

1. Friends that email and call me on the telephone to shoot the breeze and make plans.

2. My Mother spending time with me as a shopping companion.

3. Fresh vegetables and fruit.

4. The internet for its vast bounty of information that yielded some tasty recipes today.

5. The rain and cool summer breeze.

6. Crochet, especially the light blanket that I was working on last year during the summer 2008 Olympics.

7. My camera/ photography.

8. Perennials, that faithfully bloom year after year (like that vibrant poppy up there).

9. Books.

10. Blogs and google reader.

Praise the Lord - I did it! I finished!

Today I ran in the Intrepid Denzine Half Marathon. I got a medal!
I jogged the first 12 miles, but after a long stretch of hot highway I did a bit of walking with a sprint at the end. That pink cap was a Godsend as were all of the people who came out to support the runners some even offered to spray us down with the hose from their houses as we passed by! I took advantage of EVERY single one of those offers.
I didnt get my camera until the end after I had eaten some yogurt, a bagel, an apple and part of a popsicle. I have to wait and see what pictures that other people took.

By the time I got into the van for the ride home, I was so tired. I stretched myself across the backseat and held on for some turns, as I hoped the air conditioning would reach me faster. I was also sticky... very, very sticky. As I was running I spilled Gatorade on myself, also a local restaurant Bucchinos (very tasty food at that place) was handing out oranges so I spilled some juice from that on myself too and of course sweat. The shower was calling my name. I have a bit of soreness in my legs, but stretching every so often really helps. It is a challenge to walk up and down stairs, but the majority of my pain at the moment comes from my lower back. Good thing I have a spinal adjustment appointment for 8am tomorrow!