Girls Just wanna Have Fun........

So the girls and I headed out on a rainy Saturday morning to the soundtrack Juli burned for us and with HOT coffee on board and great tunes we sang our way through the Border and into our weekend getaway!

I took relatively few photos this weekend and those I did take are...... well........um....... NOT going on FB or this blog.......although some are hysterically funny but in a "you had to be there" kind of way.

We did all the things we planned to - we shopped , we ate good food, drank coffee and wine, sang, walked, slept (sort of), found EVERY bathroom between here and Seattle and came home to families we missed and who missed us.

But most of all we talked and laughed - ALOT!  I cried more tears of laughter in 24 hours than I have in 24 months - more than once, in the middle of hysterical laughter someone yelled "Don't crash the car Nicky, don't crash the car" !  I managed to keep the heavy laden M5 on the road but is was close a few times.....one of the quotable quotes we recorded this weekend was after taking the spooning photos on the king size bed in the hotel room I said "My tears are in my ears" and they were rolling out of my eyes and into my ears......

And just as quickly the conversation can become very serious and vulnerable and things of the heart are shared and everyone tells their story on the topic and bonds grow deeper between us.

And then the laughter returns with hoots and hollers......

I am so grateful for the opportunity to talk with other women about the things that make us tick...... I am grateful for the stories the girls shared and told and and grateful to have been heard.....

I think we all felt we'd had alot of fun - sometimes silly jumping on beds, spooning, soap art on mirrors, underwear flinging fun, also fun shopping for our families, our homes, ourselves..... and fun from the deep sisterhood of shared stories...........

We are all looking forward to doing it again!

This is for you girls - with my thanks for an EPIC weekend.....

L,L,J,J and I

My fabulous friends Leslie, Laura, Jenny, Juli and I are off on a Girls Weekend Getaway that has been months in the planning.

These young Mom's are amongst my favourite people on the planet.  They are beautiful, smart, sassy and super fun to be around.  The banter on our event page for this weekend has been stinkin' hilarious.

Last night I started a thread in which we each wrote what we were hoping for from the weekend. For two of these Mom's it is the first time they are leaving their little ones overnight so the lists had some common themes..........

some fun times in the car, coffee, no children to wake us up on Sunday morning, and a few good chats with my favorite ladies.

I'm stoked about shopping without a stroller to maneuver around, sleeping in, laughing till my belly hurts, being with some of my fave girls and not doing dishes!

having my hands free for once in forever and spending some good, quality, cozy, loving, lovely time with my dear and beautiful friends!

I need a break and couldn't be happier about escaping with an amazing group of women.

I am driving and with 5 of us in the M5 plus our luggage not to mention our shopping..... it's going to be cozy indeed!  I have devised a weekend road trip game that should be loads of fun with prizes and forfeits........I wonder what constitutes public mischief in the USA? 

Of course we are hitting the Outlet Mall and Alderwood Mall on the way to Seattle and we all have lists of things to get....... I know if I don't get a pair of pants that fit Allan will have a fit! And I buy my Godson a red jacket every Fall and I need to find it!


Then we head into Seattle to a 2 bedroom suite at the Homewood Suites - bed allocation has been a topic of MUCH discussion and I would not be surprised if a pillow or two were thrown at some point!  


We plan to have dinner like grown-ups , wander downtown Seattle, talk, sleep late and then do whatever we want on Sunday before hitting Trader Joes in Bellingham on the way home....... we are literally guaranteed to be given a grilling at the Border coming home...... there will be shopping bags everywhere!


I feel so incredibly blessed (and a tad bit ancient) to be hanging with these young women..... I love them all to bits and look forward to tripping the light fantastic with them and making some memories together....... Hopefully this will be the first of many Girls Getaways.


And on behalf of us all, I thank our spouses, for loving us enough to let us go!  Hats off to Sean, Sean, Spencer, Graham and Allan!

Ok girls.......let's do this thang.......!

Angry Birds

Every day I utter the phrase "That's impossible".

And every day - usually within a few minutes of saying it (ok maybe within an hour or two) you hear me say "YES! Take that your arrogant, grinning, black-eyed pigs".

And seconds later you once again would hear "That's impossible"

And so it goes and goes and goes........

Hello, my name is Nicky and I am addicted to Angry Birds!  (If you do not know angry birds this post is not going to make much sense).

It struck me yesterday that Angry Birds is a metaphor for life.

No really it is........

This is what Angry Birds teaches:

1. Perseverance - there is now a known injury to fingers and wrists from the repeated firing of angry birds...... people do NOT give up on killing those pigs....... they try and try and try and then when you do clear a level you go back and back and back until you have three stars..... am I right?   If we wanted to teach this generation about perseverance then this is a great way to do it....... IF we tell them that's what they are doing.... persevering......

2. Physics - everything I know about angles and force and structures falling (not to mention the effective use of explosives) I have learned from Angry Birds........ ok ...... so I don't know much about physics clearly...... and my husband is likely banging is head on the table in frustration that I am even referring to this as physics at all - Sorry Honey!

3. Building materials - I can tell you this - building with sticks is useless, ice is a little better but man when you build with stone that's the ticket!  You want to be safe - you encase yourself in stone.  Some of those pigs are clever enough to hide inside wood, ice AND stone.... little buggers.

4. Pigs are indeed green and very hard to kill. They also smile menacingly and irritatingly.  Ok so they messed with the "facts" a bit here but that encourages both critical thinking and creativity....... bonus!

5.  Practice makes perfect........ Ask a kid to practice doing something, the same thing,  over and over again and...... well.... it doesn't usually go well but with Angry Birds they will do one level over and over again and again until they GET it.  Life skills!

6. The value of time.  Nothing, ever, in my life has helped time pass as quickly as playing angry birds does.  Whole chunks of time pass swiftly away.....so  I have learned to budget my time more efficiently....... so as to have maximum time to play Angry Birds have quality time with my family.

7. Good sportsmanship - you can share your scores and track your friends on Game Centres - this builds community and camaraderie around a common goal...... of beating the pants of your younger, more tech savvy friends.........but be nice about it - don't go posting screen shots of the one day you are in the lead.......;)

So you get it right?   Angry Birds is good for you, good for the community, good for the world.......

Now please excuse me I have somewhere to be....... really I do........ gotta go!

Genius Halloween Costumes!!!

Working from home

I am working from home today.

I have pink eye and seeing as we don't let kids with pink eye come to daycare I didn't think it was best practice that I sit in the office at the front door with my red, goopy eye!

Here are some great things about working from home!

1. I did actually get dressed but not dressed up...... no shoes on, yoga pants, no make-up........ you get the picture.  This is a particular delight for me as I have no pants that fit me at the moment. I kid you not...... people are actually commenting on how ill-fitting my clothes are.... If I see Stacy and Clinton from "What not to wear" I am running away!

2. It is soooooooooo quiet.  Almost eerie quiet.  It's the "crying season" at daycare.  All the new kids are settling in, some better than others, some with more noise than others....... I actually become deaf to the crying after a while but some days I have to close the door to the infant room and my office just to hear myself think....... but here, at home, I don't even know how to use any of the electronic gadgets that may play music so I sit in the quiet kitchen and hear only myself typing and the tick tock of the kitchen clock. (and the washing machine :)

3. No line-up for the bathroom.

4. Endless coffee..... just making my second pot..... no need to leave the kitchen....... it's not Starbucks but it's just fine!

5. Endless snacks - this is a problem seeing as I am no longer snacking...... I have to avert my eyes from the cupboards that are calling my name and taunting me with their snacky contents........ (maybe the quiet IS getting to me??).

6. I can do laundry.  Fresh sheets for all today!

7.  No phone ringing.... and when it does I have call display!!  Seriously at work I have no call display which is crazy but keeps me honest.  But the lack of a ringing phone allows for uninterrupted writing.  I am in the process of finishing up a huge document that needs to be submitted this week so it is perfect to have this day to finish it!

8. Did I mention no bathroom line-up?

9. Focused work - I only brought home the work I need to get done TODAY and so I am not distracted with other, more interesting or "fun", work on my desk....... my TO DO list will actually get done....all of it.... for today anyway..... those other tasks can wait their turn.

10.  Sitting next to the open french doors listening to the birds sing and the neighbours chat.........

I do miss my colleagues and watching little people skip up to the front door ready for the day...... but I'll take this day of quiet at home.... with my pink eye!

Bwaahahah....... "home office"

PS - I just realised it's supposed to be a Wordless Wednesday........ oh well........ ;)

Eat your veggies

As previously mentioned I spent some time clearing out the veggie garden on the weekend. 

It was bittersweet.

Squash

Lots of bunching onions - nice mild flavour

I seemed to have fallen so far short of my kingsolver-esque dreams of bounty and canning and vegetable self-sufficiency.  You can't even make one bottle of tomato sauce from my harvest..... and while our lettuces defied expectations (as did the kale) nothing else really did.  We actually grew 5 lbs of potatoes which is an accomplishment in itself.....but hardly self-sufficient in a family with as many Irish genes as ours!

But on we go..... determined that we can grow more stuff in the Fall.

With that in mind I headed over to a new little farm stall / farm that has emerged on the side of Steveston Hwy just a few blocks from our house.  I  love that we live in a village close to loads of farmland and yet only 20 minutes from a big City, 5 minutes from a beach and 45 minutes from a ski hill!

Urban Edibles is a great story and a great resource (if you are a local). Check them out here!  I can't wait to grow the broccoli, bok choy and lettuce I got from them.  And the local organic peaches I bought there were amazing! ( Tip: Take cash or cheque if you are shopping there!)

At work this week I read a documentation that my staff had done about the blackberry bushes in our yard.  The Educators and the children had several conversations about why the berries on the bush were different colours - green, red and black - there were some interesting theories but the Educators summarized them like this:

Educator’s Reflection and Interpretation

When I think about the children’s responses and ideas about how blackberries grow, I wonder how much they know about where the food we eat comes from. I can see from the conversations that some of them probably have done some gardening before, but it was amazing to see them actually analyzing the process. I was so glad we had the opportunity to observe something wild transforming in our own backyard. I also wonder if this will inspire conversations at home about the origins of the food the children eat, or inspire the children to grow their own food. It really is an everyday kind of magic.

Seeking Other’s Interpretations

I found the conversations between the children very interesting. Some of the children knew that the berries went from green to red to black and other’s thought that the red berries were raspberries. I grew up with berries in my back yard and I always really enjoyed watching them grow and of course eating them. It is great for our children to have the same experience here at daycare.

Allan is also in the process of writing a big paper for school on this emerging trend of people growing veggies for themselves, of community gardens and local farmers markets and the 100 mile diet etc.   It's so interesting that we see this all as innovative and emergent when really it harkens back to when folks had more land and less readily available grocery stores and worldwide produce shipping was not available.  What is remarkable is how quickly we got removed from our food production.  To the point that children don't know what berries look like on a bush as they are growing? 

I don't think we are really going back to those times of homesteading and self-sufficiency (although Allan and I dream of having some land one day) but I do love that my kids will know what vegetables look like when you grow them yourself and what effort goes into growing food.

Carpe Diem

(I really have to get better at thinking of  titles for my posts...... I was on a roll for a while but now I often feel stumped - this is why I don't tweet - I don't do brief and witty ;)

Anyway.........

At family dinner on Thursday night I declared that Allan and I would be going on a date this weekend to see the movie "The Help".  He looked surprised but its been a while since we had a date and I wanted to have a date.  Immediately both kids chimed in that they were both "owed" dates with their Dad.  David and Allan tried to see the latest HP movie but it was sold out (weeks after opening) so they still have to do that and apparently there is something Allan has promised to do with Lindsay that is also still pending. 

I wanted to assert my seniority, "top-of-the-list-ness " but secretly I am so very grateful the kids and Allan have such good and strong relationships and that they have their own special Dad things they do.  I did not resort to yelling "pick me pick me"!!

I was still hoping we'd get that date.

As it turned out the weekend filled up with "stuff".  The job Allan is doing for one of my daycare centres has turned into a bit of a beast and took both days of the weekend (can I say, again, how lucky my employer is to have an ED with such a handy spouse!).  On top of that he had university papers to write and reading to do.  David had soccer and a soccer meeting that took ages.  The kids both had lists of school supplies they needed. I worked out and cleaned house and worked on the veggie garden and ran errands.

We took the gap on Saturday night to have a big family night at the beach.  My parents are just back from a few weeks away so it was lovely to catch up..... and to be on a sunny beach in September.....and what a sunset and moonrise it was....... I love squishing my toes in the sand.....and looking out at the boats going by....... we live in a beautiful City.

So the weekend was quickly running out......... and no date.

So I decided rather than just run up to Quizno's and grab Allan a sandwich for lunch, as I had promised I would, I would pack a lovely picnic in our wicker hamper that was a wedding gift and we would have a date on the playground at Terra Nova Children's  Centre .

real plates and glasses

This hamper can tell a few stories I tell ya!

I was feeling very pleased with my idea and got everything organized and was just ready to head out of the door.

No car keys........ anywhere.........until I remembered where they were........ in Allan's truck from the night before........ ARGHHHHHH.  I felt utterly deflated.

He popped home to deliver them and said he would just grab a bite at home.  I headed him off and said I would be up at Terra Nova in half an hour.  I dashed into Steveston and got some goodies (Thank you Sweet Spot) to fill up the hamper and voila...... we had a picnic lunch..... a date...... and it was lovely.

Smoked salmon ricotta quiche, demi baguette with goat cheese

crispy, sticky, melty macroon deliciousness

I love you Allan Byres......... pick me pick me!!

Transition

The last week was all about the transition of life from holidays to school/work days and yesterday I spent the first of many crazy Saturdays to come rushing around from soccer to Staples for school supplies and any number of other errands.  The endless forms from school are all completed with help from Allan and I think we are pretty on top of things.

The house on the other hand is in need of attention....... I just cleaned the kitchen, multiple loads of laundry are going and I am planning the changes that need to be made to the veggie garden to clean out the end of the summer veg and plant for the fall/winter crop.

It was our goal this year to add variety to our summer crop...... which we did.  We also wanted to extend our growing season into the Fall as far as possible.  This warm September has made it perfect for the planting so I am off to buy some plants today.  I am only buying plants of things I know we will eat..... no more experiments with growing a vegetable we have no idea if we will like or not - made me a bit ill to toss the kale out today.

So last night we headed to the beach to squeeze out a last beach picnic ( I am away next weekend the and the one after that is booked solid already)...... it was lovely.......