D.O.N.E

Today was one of those days there were many hats to juggle......

I started my day dark and early with a meeting at UBC for my event planning work (check out our new website at http://www.eventability.org/) which started late but blessedly finished on time!  The meeting are ....well....meetings but I get to drive there and back with my business partner Joyce and I love the time we get to chat and catch up.
 
Then back to work at my regular Executive Director job - the last day of work before a 2 week break is always hectic and given its the end of the year there was alot on my to do list today......but most of it got done! And I managed to record my "extended absence greeting" on my voicemail in one try......that is an accomplishment in itself - so often I have record that thing 50 times as I suddenly become tongue tied and inarticulate and forget the date etc.... anyhoo today I did it in one! 

Then wife/nurse as Allan seized his back and I managed to get him into the Chiro.....because one cannot surf with a seized back......fingers crossed he feels better pretty quickly...like by tomorrow!

Then I played Santa for a bit as I handed out Christmas bonuses..... preloaded VISA gift cards.....well received.  It was great to give an unexpected gift to women who do such great work....it just never seems to be enough....but what would be enough really?  I don't know.....I just hope it brightens their day a bit.

Then to be Mom Taxi followed closely by being Dance Mom......Lindsay has a showcase for her Musical Theatre class in Vancouver tonight and I am anxious to see her perform at this new studio.  She has enjoyed her classes so it should be fun although I will likely be the only mother no wearing Lulu Lemon gear..or some name brand coat and boots......sigh....never was a Yummy Mummy....never will be..... 

Then to be "just Mom".  Lindsay and I have fallen into a happy ritual of having sushi together after her class on Wednesdays as the boys are already at soccer once we are done at dance.  I love this girl time with her and we chat and catch up and connect....she is so beautiful and smart and witty - I do adore her.  She might never speak to me again after she sees this.

Then home to try and let it sink into my head and body that my vacation has begun....the longest stretch off work I have had all year.  I have a couple days to get alot of Christmas stuff squared away and alot of packing stuff (like the swimsuit UGH) to get done and the car needs an oil change and a new headlight bulb... just ordinary stuff! (except the swimsuit...that is torture stuff).

So goodbye to the 2011 work year - it's been a rollercoaster as always....but I made it....

Cookies

I am not a great baker and I tend to find one or two recipes and stick with them....well....I have a new one! Thanks to my friend and master baker Janice who put together a weeks worth of amazing recipes. 

Cranberry Cookie Coins are now firmly on my "for sure" cookie list.

 Ingredients

    1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
    3/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
    1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries

Directions
 

1. Beat butter, icing sugar, and vanilla with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add flour and salt; stir just until combined. Stir in dried cranberries. Divide dough into quarters.
    

2.On parchment, shape each portion into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 4 inches long. Wrap logs tightly in parchment or plastic. Chill 30 minutes or up to 1 day. (Dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic and frozen up to 1 month.)
   

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. With a sharp knife, slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Rotate log as you cut to keep it from flattening. Place rounds on parchment-lined baking sheets, 1 inch apart.
   

4. Bake until edges just begin to turn golden, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks.
    

YUMMY!!  Oh so YUMMY!

The Twinkling of Twins (Guest Post)

I am excited to introduce my friend, fellow blogger and all round talented lady, Jackie.  She is going to share some insights into being a twin....Thanks Jackie!

When Nicky asked me to write a guest spot on twins for her blog, I didn't know what I should write about.  The blessings and challenges of being a twin? What not to say to a twin? The fun twin stories? The special ‘twintimate’ bond?

But I figured there’s a lot of stuff like that on the web so I decided to write about the twinkle. That’s right. The twinkling of twins.

There used to be about 6 pairs of twins in my high school at any given time, and we also knew other sets of twins from camp and elsewhere. Some of them became friends, but mostly, acquaintances. But one thing my sister Krissy and I noticed was that there was a special bond between us all. Many of these twins, upon discovering we were twins also, would do the ‘twinkle’, which is essentially a nod with a twinkle in their eye, when we passed them in the halls.

This gesture was like a knowing wink, a nod that extended community to us.  Here were others who related, others who automatically knew deeply what it is like to share the experiences of twinhood. These fellow twins also endured the scrutinizing stares, the stupid questions, the lame jokes, the good/evil labels, the comments meant to differentiate which often stung (I mean would you really go up to anyone else and say ‘you have the yellower teeth’!?!)…but I digress..

Yet these fellow twins also shared the joys, the grace, the deep emotional attachment, the built-in best friend, the hijinks, the knowing what the other is thinking without saying anything, the buying each other the same birthday present, the understanding of the importance of a name, the breaking out into the same song at the same time in the same key and thinking nothing of it. They were ones who, like us, must have wondered what it was like to not have a twin.

And in thinking about this 'twinkle'…I realized it was also about a commonality in knowing something about human nature, primarily, the need to have things figured out, to make sense of, categorize, label, and differentiate. Twins confound people's perceptions of identity. Twins confound people’s assumptions of self, of being, and of relationship norms.

My thought is perhaps that's one of the reasons why God made twins. To challenge our assumptions. To think about identity in terms of relationship. To wonder at the uniqueness of people who seem in many ways so similar. And perhaps, to reflect or ‘twinkle’ in some small way, the mystery of His being.

My sister and I spent over 5 months living apart when we were 23.  I traveled to the islands of Hawaii, Fiji, and New Zealand, whilst she went to Australia and East Timor.  What did we bring back for each other?  The same colourful striped tank top, with the word ‘Sista’ on it.  I bought mine for her at an indie surf shop in New Zealand.  She bought hers in Australia. In both cases, it was the only one left on the rack.

ps. Some people comment to twins 'you don't even look like twins' which I feel is a moot point.  Many twins don't look anything alike but that doesn't make them less twins. A twin is a twin is a twin. ~Jackie

Frosty Friday

I have had a very challenging day...... a lot went really wrong......but how we face these trials can depend on our attitude......so although I had some down moments, some angry moments, some sad moments today I also had some really good moments, saw some beautiful things and enjoyed the company of my kids at one on my favourite places this afternoon - a little shopping excursion to Granville Island. So I acknowledge the bad but choose to focus on the good.......today it was a battle!

David walked to school this very frosty morning and instead of being grumpy and cold he decided to take the camera and look for beauty on his way.  I think he did very well.

Here are some of his photos and some of mine on this Frosty Friday!

Frosty Fields

Seagulls Skating

Frosty Fraser

Frost!

Foggy River

David's Walk begins

River Sunrise (David)

New Dock (David)

Ripples (David)

Frosty bridge (David)

Frost (David)

Cold Green Boat (David)

Wedding Photos

To end off the epic celebration of our 20th Wedding Anniversary (actually we are going to celebrate one more time in Hawaii.....) some old, blurry photos.......it was 1991 people........puffy sleeves and bows were IN....

Epworth School Chapel - Rev. Alan Smedley

My sister Jill in green and Cousin Jessie in tartan

Mr and Mrs Byres

Sheltering from the 38 degree heat

The Parents

L-R Sarah (now a Dr and just had her second baby), Jessie, Rosemary (about to have her first baby)

The Boys - Colin, Garth, Allan and Hamilton

Being piped into the reception.

I realise I don't have a picture here of the whole wedding party..... I will torture with that at some other time!

GRACE

IF 20 years of marriage could be summed up in one word I would choose "Grace" today as Allan and I celebrate that we have spent 20 years trying to figure out this thing called marriage!

In many ways we are able to celebrate today because of the multiple times we have failed, in big ways and small ways, over the last 2 decades. Equally so for the many times we made a choice to keep loving one another when it was not a feeling but an act of will.

And we did not do this alone.  If we had tried, we would have failed long ago.

I feel like this could turn into a Oscar acceptance-esque speech if I let it, but there are truly so many people over 20 years who have played a part in our story, who were with us when great and fun memories were made, who were with us through big life-changing events and who stood with us through the storms. I made a list last night and it was so long and I am thankful for each of you.

Deeply thankful.

I do want to thank our parents for their own examples of marriage and for loving us through thick and thin. We love you.

To our wonderful children Lindsay and David who are the greatest gifts of our marriage and we are so grateful to have them to love and cherish.

And to my husband, Allan, I said I do then and I would say it again today.  It's been a journey with much love, much laughter, rich experiences, pain and suffering, forgiveness and growth.  I  believe we are both more worthy of each other now than we were then.  I look with hope at the future we have together.

I love you.

To God be the Glory - Great things He has done.


Dancing in the minefields

I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway

We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago

We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin
'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found

And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me

'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear

'Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you

True Story

When: 1991 - December

Where: Pietermaritzburg (say it with me Peter-mer-its-ber-g) Natal South Africa

Who: A family of four:  Mother of the Bride (MoB) Father of the Bride (FoB) Sister of the Bride (SoB)   and the Bride.

What: MoB, FoB and SoB have packed up and sold the family home as they are emigrating to Canada. They are currently homeless so are house sitting a large but odd house that comes with a demented dog. While living here they are organising a trans-world move and their eldest daughters wedding.  There is more to be said about this but suffice to say it is a STRESSFUL time for all.

250 people rsvp to attend the wedding....many also coming to say farewell to MoB, FoB and SoB.

Enter stage right: The groom.........in the final days of his first year end of teaching - maxed to eyeballs in marking and year end events.  Also 24 and very handsome. And stressed.

Enter centre stage (duh).......the Bride......just emerging from 2nd year university exams, moved house, rented first apartment, preparing for the departure of MoB, FoB and SoB to the other side of the world.  Also 21 and cute.

6 days before the wedding...........

MoB, FoB and SoB in whirlwind of activity and emotion over imminent departure and planning massive wedding.

Bride begins to feel unbalanced.

Really unbalanced.....as in crashing into doorways, listing markedly to starboard in an attempt to make the world stop spinning......starting to feel quite ill from the world which is starting to move faster and faster.

Bride reluctantly informs MoB of this development although she may have caught onto the whole thing as the Bride was stumbling around like a drunken sailor.  MoB informs Bride "This.cannot.happen".

Bride retreats to bed in attempt to make symptoms disappear.

Next day....... Bride falls out of bed, crawls to bathroom as legs won't work and is violently ill. SoB informs MoB.  MoB administers medication and continues with wedding prep.  Bride lies in darkened room all day.  Groom worries from afar.

Next Day......symptoms persist, possibly worsen.......Bride cannot be upright, cannot focus on anything as eyes flick from side to side as brain tells body it is riding the high seas.

And tonight is the bridal shower

MoB straps Bride in car and takes her to Doctor.  Doctor makes near fatal error of finding the Bride's condition to be so extraordinary that he asks if he can bring his colleagues in to observe.  MoB offers to punch his lights out if he doesn't fix the Bride instantly.  (She possibly didn't use these words - the Bride was trying not to fall off the examination table at the time but there was a tone..... and the tone said fix the Bride or else).  A large syringe of medicine was plunged into the Bridal rear end.

For the Bridal Shower the SoB and the 2 SoG's (sisters of the groom - stay with me here) prop the Bride in a chair and hand her gifts to open while whispering into her ear who the gift is from and in which direction she should give her pale smile.  The grooms plentiful and seemingly never-ending relatives think he has likely made a dreadful error by marrying this off kilter whack job who can't even look straight and seems to have decided lean to the left.  It's a total blur of an evening but the medication seems to be kicking in and the talk of calling off the nuptials is shelved.

Next day the Bride and Groom manage to see one another and reassure one another they will survive the madness.  Bride can now remain upright unassisted for short periods and eye flicking is slower.

Next day just as MoB's stress over the Bride's raging middle ear infection is subsiding the FoB's parents arrive 24 hours early and with 10 minutes notice.  Notoriously challenging house guests at the best of times and slated to occupy the room the demented dog prefers to have to himself......the MoB loses the plot.  The Bride takes to her bed and the SoB hides with her as the MoB rants and raves as to the insane behaviour of the GoB (Grandfather of the Bride) as she evicts the demented dog, vacuums and makes beds in 10 minutes flat.

Next day......TDBTW........the day before........ok...you got it........ The Groom has his last day at work so is unavailable until midday.  More family and friends arrive.  It's 35 degrees C and the hall must be organised and decorated and while the Bride is feeling much improved the MoB is certain that any exertion on her part will cause a relapse so the Bride watches the busyness as the SoB, SoG's, MoG and various friends and other family pitch in to get the reception venue decorated.

Bride has words with FoG and Groom arrives and has flaming row with MoB.

Bride and Groom go to the grocery store and take off the exhaust of their new Toyota Corolla on a speed bump.  Groom is unhappy.

Wedding rehearsal seems to be going well until the Bride and Groom turn around and the SoG's are having a tiff and the older SoG is sobbing.  MoG and MoB sort them out.  Bride is thrilled to be able to walk down the aisle without listing to starboard.


Bride and Groom go their separate ways for a last evening of singleness.

What could possibly go wrong with the wedding?