Weekend Flyby's

I can't believe it's Wednesday already - and on top of that the weekend flew by!

Paul and I had planned a weekend (along with Carole and Ereka) conference called the Gospel Weekend based out of some of what we learned this summer at the School of Ministry in Nashville. The turn out was smaller than hoped but we learned a lot, we were obedient and we both had a chance to practice speaking!

Plus it was a great excuse to hang out with some rad people. 

Sheila, Jenna and Ereka

Sheila and I

Ereka and I

 Me and Carole

Rainbow, Arlene, Patricia and me

Jeff and Vic

Then Sunday I did things around the house and then headed out to Langley for a bridal Shower. Sara is marrying Paul's step-brother Tyler. She'll be my new step-sister-in-law. It was a great shower and it was nice to see how loved she is! Can't wait for their wedding next month.

Random Tidbits:

Thursday night we had friends over and played Settlers - oh I like that game. 

And I finally won!

Apparently we store crack in our house.

Who knew.

At least it will remain fresh in my Tupperware!

I bought a noteboot and then using Washi Tape made it awesome.

I've also re-fallen in love with my black boots.

Especially worn with leggings.

We're in love, my boots and me.

 

Here's the note Paul left in the car for me a while back. It makes me smile.

Also that heart looks like a bum. 
When I first read it I read, "I bum you very much"
Sweet.

Bike riding has been wet.
Food has been warm.
I have been tired.
That is all.

Lately

Oh man – work is BUSY. I LOVE it. For realz. The ADD in me works super well with fast paced.

Monday I rode my bike to and from work in the rain. It was unpleasant. But I came home to Slow Cooker Taco Chicken Chili [http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/11/crock-pot-chicken-taco-chili-4-pts.html ] so that helped. I made a plate of nachos and it was a very happy meal time. I spent the evening prepping for my talk at the Gospel Weekend this coming weekend.

Tuesday it was beautiful. Cold but gorgeous. The sun was hitting the mountains and snow and windows in such a beautiful way – my bike ride in felt like more of an adventure than a commute. The ride home was equally nice, despite it being all up hill. Then it was time to make Butter Chicken for lifegroup, which was super tasty.

Today it has been cold but dry, so riding has been mostly pleasant. Tonight after work I will continue to work on my Gospel Weekend talk – I need to have it nailed down and soon and tonight is my last big chunk of time to do it! I was supposed to through some food in the crockpot but Paul vetoed the recipe so I’ll be throwing some wings in the oven when I get home and making something easy. I think I’ll chop up some potatoes to roast and serve it all with veggies. After I throw things in the oven I’ll drive over to my parents to drop off dinner for them since my mom is having surgery today to remove the cancer that they found in her breast. I’m thankful she has my dad for support, and I wanted to find something to do to help support him!

Tomorrow we’re having a young couple over for dinner – Nellie goes to UBC and John lives in Calgary. He goes to the Every Nation Church there and when we heard he had a girlfriend here we told him he could stay at our place anytime, so he’s stayed a few times since this summer and this will be our first time to hang out with the two of them. We never mind him crashing at our place and we love that it can help provide a safe context to the whole long distance dating thing. I’ll be making Pesto Orzo, Roasted Veggies and roasting some pork loins.

Then this weekend is the Gospel weekend. This is an event that Paul and I are planning based out of a conference we went to this summer. We’ve enlisted the help of the campus team here. We’re both speaking at it, which makes me super nervous since I’m new at this! Paul will not only be fine, he’ll be awesome. But we’ll see. Thankfully my talk is based off of a course we were taught and a book we read, so it is really just piecing it together to share in 20 minutes rather than trying to make a whole sermon or something.

I’ve got plans to make different meals that can be cooked in the crockpot and served from there so that I can feed our students without us being home.

Friday I’m making Crockpot Italian Chicken

Source: sidetrackedsarah.com via Tara on Pinterest

And Saturday its Slow Cooker Sloppy Joe’s

Source: family.go.com via Tara on Pinterest

Sunday is hopefully seeing a friend in the morning and then a bridal shower in the afternoon and then the evening at home, complete with a chicken taco recipe that I’ve been wanting to try for ages but that has to be made on a weekend due to its cooking time.

Source: thefarmgirlrecipes.blogspot.ca via Tara on Pinterest

And that is some of what I have to look forward to.

PSA on busyness (or why we can't hang out)

Sometimes I wish I could issue a public service announcement about my life. I am busy. Normally this is completely my own fault. Sometimes, like now, it’s half my fault and half life circumstances.

In the next two months (or 10 weeks, which is 2 months from today), I have:

3 weddings to attend, with one as event coordinator

5 Bridal showers to attend (3 of which I am helping to host and/or contribute to)

1 conference at church that I am helping organizing and speaking at

1 weekend visit from Paul’s Mom and her husband

1 major holiday - Easter (meaning multiple dinners with family and an International dinner at our house)

1 Womens Retreat, that I am helping organizing and helping host.

That’s 7 of the 10 weekends filled straight up with the showers scattered throughout the rest. I have one Saturday free in that time, but it is most likely a friend’s birthday party. Not so free after all.

These things bring me such joy and I’m excited to be a part of all of it. I love seeing the life that comes from relationship.

I also wish there was a way to announce to all my friends that honestly, this schedule means I can’t really see any friends one-on-one for the next two months. I work full time, I feed 6 people at home each day (including lunches), host and feed lifegroup each week, serve on multiple ministry areas through the week and try to spend time with my husband somewhere in that. I love love love my friends, but in this random season of more busyness than normal, I don’t know how to show people I love them when I know it’s pretty impossible for me to carve out the time to see them.

And before I get a thousand comments telling me I’m doing too much, duh! I know that. I definitely know that. You don’t need to point out to me that I over commit. I know. I do. Over the past years I’d been getting so much better…I’ve learned to say no! I’ve learned to do things halfway (as long as that’s an appropriate option). But life is also out of my control and there is no way I can or want to say no to so many of these things – if saying no to being in my friends weddings or saying no to helping in their weddings or declining to go to their showers meant that I’d have way more time, I still wouldn’t do it. Relationships are what drive me.

So I am busy. I also have a God who is bigger than my little crazy world. And I can see the ways in which I’ve taken steps back and honored the fact that he doesn’t ask me to run at a crazy pace. I also trust that in this next two months of a sprint he will be there with me.

I will make sure that each day I take a bit more time for God. That’s something I always struggle with, and that is a major reason that busyness is bad for me…it can take away from time with God. So I will commit to taking that time in the morning before my bike ride in to work to be with God. This will be sacred time. I’m not writing this here to somehow boast about my plans to do this, but for accountability. Now I have to actually do it. When my alarm goes at 6am and I think “if I skip my devotional time I can sleep until 6:30”, the next thought will be “oh crap, I told everyone online I was going to do this”. If that isn’t motivation for holiness then I don’t know what is.

Can I tell you though, despite the busyness that I love my life?

Friday night I got to hang out with Kathleen and Prakash on a double date. It meant not sitting at home in my PJ’s and resting, but it also meant a great night of good food at Caffe Barney and great conversation with valued friends.

Saturday I woke up bright and EARLY and headed over to Richmond to pick Lindsay up for a day of USA shopping. Yes, I was up at 6am on a Saturday. Stupid.

But there were so many little things to brighten up my sleepy world:

-As I drove to pick up Lindsay on came the “Thrift Shop” song by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis which always inspires big grins, crazy dancing and a firm thankfulness that at 6:30am no one was around to see me grooving in my car.

-While I waited in Lindsays driveway for her arrival I opened my glove box to get out my GPS and what did I find? An energy drink and note from Paul; “To my little chipmunk”, wishing me safe and fun travels. Happy heart.

 -We crossed the border in quick time and ease, our border guard informed us that a new WinCo foods was being put into Bellingham and described it’s location as “across from the big ass empty lot”. Classy.

-Target had bright happy organization tools that will revolutionize my command center, and they were found in the dollar section!

- Crunchwrap Supreme! Crunchwrap Supreme! Crunchwrap Supreme! I don't even need to tell you why that makes me happy. It should be obvious, it's a Crunchwrap Supreme!

- Chatting rapid fire with Lindsay the entire way there and back – I love a friend with instant connection who isn’t afraid to laugh out loud at my jokes and tell me I’m hilarious. Thanks friend!

-Cheap American prices that help me feed lifegroup and my house for reasonable amounts!

-Beautiful sights as we crossed back into Canada

And if all of that isn’t enough, I got to enjoy an evening with John and Lindsay and Paul eating great food and playing Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights.

Sunday Paul joined me at Costco and Superstore for a speed shopping time – he knew I had a long day ahead of me (3 meetings and church where I was hosting and our lifegroup was in charge of coffee service) and offered to come with me – to help and boost spirits. It totally worked. We grabbed Timmies on our way and made great time through both stores. I got home in time to shower and wash my hair, throw dinner in the crockpot and tidy the kitchen, starting coffee and making drinks.

At 12 women started arriving for a womens ministry meeting/lunch to plan our upcoming retreat. Not only did we cover much ground but we had a fun time of chatting and eating.

We made it to church for 3pm for Coffee set up. We mingled and enjoyed coffee and snacks and then everyone headed upstairs for church where I was hosting (which I so so so love). Church was very full and it was so fun to be all together worshipping.

After church and coffee cleanup we headed home to grab dinner from the crockpot – only to realize the new recipe I’d tried was barely mediocre at best, and didn’t produce nearly enough food for us all. It was Crockpot Mac and Cheese. So I boiled up another batch of noodles and used some ragu cheese sauce and mixed that all together with the Crockpot Mac and Cheese and man, then it was super good. Win! I threw together a salad and made some garlic biscuits and Ana and Josh joined us for dinner.

Ana and Josh are getting married one month from this past weekend and one thing I like to offer my engaged friends is my services as plan checker. So a month before weddings I like to sit down with my friends and make sure they’ve thought of every details. I have a big ‘ole checklist that I go over and we always unearth things that would have been forgotten. Ana and Josh were so organized though, I have to say it was a pleasure working with them! Plus they brought some tasty wine, so that helped the process.

After they left at 8:30 Paul cleaned the kitchen while I made 5 lunches. We make a good team. AND at 9:30 we had a gospel weekend team meeting at our house – the conference is next weekend so we needed to firm up the details again and go over roles and talks and such. It was productive time and I still managed to be in bed by 10:30. 

Yes...it was a busy weekend. But I finished up the weekend feeling thankful for my friends, excited for upcoming events (weddings, showers, retreats, oh my!) and so in love with my husband, who is willing to sort through my jumble of thoughts to help me find peace and God. 

It is good.

Of babysitting, outfits and housemates

So a couple weekends ago I mentioned having my nephews over for the weekend. I can’t seem to find a blog about it, though I totally felt like I’d written all about it.

Anyways…it was my sister and her husband Colin’s 6 year wedding anniversary so I had Connor (4) an Austin (2) over for the weekend. Paul ended up having a bunch of work added to his homework list at the last moment so he spent almost the whole weekend holed up in his office doing work. I was basically alone with the boys!

Friday night they arrived just after dinner. It was Martina’s last dinner with us and Duncan’s first dinner. I made Creamy Chicken Taco’s. Then the boys arrived! We played and wrestled for a while and then it was already bed time. They were going to be sleeping in our room with us, so we made up some beds, did the bedtime routine and I took a few minutes to pray with and cuddle each boy before sleep. Then Paul stayed home to do homework and I headed out to my friend Leah’s place with a bunch of lovely ladies to celebrate our friend Sarah, who was back in town for the weekend. It was lovely!

But sadly, when I got home at 11 Austin kept waking up with a cold. So I brought him into my bed with me to help cuddle him to sleep in the midst of the sickness. Paul slept downstairs on the couch so he wouldn’t get sick and I got to share my bed with a sick but super sweet little boy. Between the coughing and the sickness we barely got any sleep, Austin and I. And then both boys were wide awake at 5:30am. Ugh. I brought them both into bed with me and let them just wiggle around while I laid there sooo tired. Finally at 6:30 I decided it was better to just try getting up. So we did that. I went to go find Paul to tell him that he could go to our room to sleep more since we weren’t there anymore, but instead he told me that I should go back to our room to sleep and he’d play with the boys. Hero!

I slept for 2 hours and it was awesome. Paul wrestled with the boys, as pictured above. Then it was time for the rest of the day – we made cookies and went to the pool.

Also Austin and Connor played hide and go seek with Uncle Paul a few times. They don’t really understand the game but they sure look cute peeking out from behind things

Saturday night the boys were tired – between being sick and being worn out at the pool they slept well! I briefly went to a friend’s birthday party (yay Christina!) but was exhausted also from the pool, so I headed home to get some sleep before the AM. They woke up at 7:30 instead of 5:30! I was so happy. I made them breakfast after our morning cuddles and at 8:30 Paul woke up to let me have another nap while he played with the boys. Great teamwork!

Then the boys were pretty chill, so we cuddled on the couch for a while and then I folded laundry while Austin napped on the couch and Connor sat RIGHT next to me playing airplanes. It was sweet.

Fast forward to this week:  we had our first official house dinner on Wednesday with all of our “roommates”. We have Miho from Japan, Chloe from China, Rachel from Kelowna and Duncan from Ottawa. We also had Mac from Kelowna with us, who might end up living with us this summer. She was here visiting Rachel. We ate well!

I made Beer Crockpot Chicken, Ravioli with Spinach and Shrimp and Roasted Vegetables. I didn’t love the beer chicken, though the rest did. And I have to admit, it melted in your mouth, for sure.

As a house we talked over guidelines and chores. We hadn’t done that yet, so it was good to set a system into place and make sure everyone was on the same page. In the end we sat around the table talking and laughing long past being done eating. Then we headed into the kitchen – the rest of the gang cleaned up and loaded the dishwasher and I made lunches. Then people sat around talking in the kitchen. It felt nice, like family.

Thursday was Valentines Day. I had plans that evening with my sister and Jodi, so I knew Paul and I weren’t doing much. But Paul was very sweet and surprised me at work with flowers – they were delivered and it was pretty awesome.

We did have dinner together before I headed out and most of our housemates were out, so we ate together while watching Jeopardy (romantic, eh?). I made Marinara Pasta and Shrimp Tempura Nests. It was all very tasty!

Currently Paul is in his practicum at St. Thomas Aquinas in North Vancouver. That means he passes through downtown each afternoon and evening. If I’m ever driving, rather than cycling, that means he gets a ride with me. That makes me happy. This week that happened again and this time he had an hour to kill on the way home, so he set up a laptop and did homework while I finished work. It sure was nice to have him as a deskmate!

Speaking of Paul’s practicum, while he’s a student teacher he has to dress according to the school’s dress code. Dress shirt and tie (and pants, obviously). He’s been looking mighty fine!

I’ve also been having lots of fun getting dressed but I think you’ll notice from the photos I post here, that I’m kind of in a rut. Not a bad rut, but a rut none-the-less. My outfits are generally a version of the same thing. And I wear my brown boots 3 out of 4 days in life. I still love them.

I meant to mention, once a year I get a Purdy’s ice cream bar. It’s always a BIG treat. Last time I had one was November 2011…somehow November 2012 came around and I’d forgotten to go get one! I had to run an errand at Grand and Toy which is right next to Purdy’s and bam, I remembered. So February 2013 I had my annual ice cream bar; Vanilla Dipped with sprinkles. And oh my was it good.

Of weekends, Port Alberni and kitchen revamps

So this weekend I have been in Port Alberni. This is where I grew up. Port Alberni holds a very special place in my heart.

I lived here until I was 19 and then I moved to Tofino for 4 months and then to Nanaimo for school. I never lived here full time again after that. When I lived in Nanaimo for school I was less than an hour from Port and still had many friends and family that lived here, so I visited often. Even when I lived further away in Victoria I visited Port Alberni very often – it helped that my parents still lived here – so holidays were guaranteed here as well as extra visits.

Once I moved to Vancouver I still came home for most holidays (aside from the ones my family celebrated in Vancouver) but it definitely lessened as the ferry boat is all that connected us. I LOVE riding the ferries but my pocketbook can’t stand to take the cost of it often. When I was raising support to go into ministry though, I came to Port Alberni a lot. And as I got married and had a cousin that got married, Port Alberni was still a hub. Since then my parents have moved and the rest of the Port Alberni family (minus my Grandma) comes to Vancouver for holidays I rarely make it over. In fact with being gone for 3 months last summer, and being busy packing up to leave for the 2 months before, and being busy unpacking and settling in for the 2 months after, and then moving I haven’t been here in almost a year and a half, September 2011.

I miss the people and the city. A lot of people tease about Port – they make fun of the Mill we have that used to caused it to smell like poop each afternoon (that was unfortunate). They make fun of the fact that at times there aren’t a lot of jobs and that can make for lower income people. But I can tell you…this city was wonderful to grow up in and has the makings for a fantastic place to live. It’s home to the best lake in BC – absolutely wonderful. Sproat Lake is my favorite place in the world. It has wonderful views, great places to explore and is a great size. And the people are lovely. I am constantly amazed at what a gracious group of people live here. Whenever I come to visit I am so blessed by the people. They love my parents well, even through the Alzheimer’s diagnosis and they shower me and Jenna with love when we come back.

And what Port doesn’t have due to its size, Nanaimo (only an hour away) does have. Costco? Sure, in Nanaimo. Mall? Sure, also in Nanaimo. It’s win win. Plus it’s on the way to Tofino and that’s always a positive.

Anyways, I am loving being home. I have come this weekend to hang out with my Auntie Sandy and my cousin LeAnna. LeAnna and her family live in Cambridge, UK and I don’t often get to spend a lot of time with her. We are the same age and went to school and youth group together and even got married the same summer. I love getting to spend time with her. The trip was also planned because my Auntie Sandy wanted some help getting her kitchen cupboards in order and I LOVE to organize. We planned this trip before Christmas and I have been looking forward to it ever since. I took the Friday off of work and Monday is a holiday, so it is a nice LONG weekend.

I took the ferry over Thursday night after work and enjoyed a time of blogging (which later deleted itself) and working on notes for a talk I’m doing in two weeks. Then Auntie Sandy and LeAnna (and baby Walter) picked me up in Nanaimo – we went to ABC Country restaurant for dinner and then headed to Port. We stopped at Whiskey Creek for ice cream (oh my childhood dreams come true) and then stayed up late Thursday talking.

Friday I slept in. I didn’t set an alarm. I didn’t have a plan, other than to sleep in as long as I wanted. After a Christmas spent moving and travelling, and then a January spent filling our house with students and getting the house ready. Last weekend I babysat my nephews so had limited sleep. Man, I was ready for a real rest. I woke up feeling so rested. It was LOVELY. LeAnna and I sat in our PJ’s and talked with Sandy while she cooked us up a breakfast and man, it was awesome. So spoiled!

And of course we played with Walter...a lot

[He loves his Jolly Jumper]

Then it was work time. We emptied out the kitchen cupboards into a few piles. Throw out, Keep – every day use and Keep – not every day use. Then LeAnna wiped down the cupboards and shelving, which was harder than I expected since there’s a wood stove in the kitchen and that makes things messy! While LeAnna did that I sorted through the two keep boxes sorting like things together. Once each pile was sorted I started working on what containers to keep things in. Rather than have a bunch of sauce bottles or vinegar bottles it’s much easier to have a plastic basket that contains all the vinegars and sauces. It helps things stay organized and you know where to look for things. Slowly we made sure things all had a home.

[BEFORE]

[Walter supervising us]

Then it was time for a nap – spoiled! And then we headed into town for dr’s appointments and Walmart trips. We grabbed a few more baskets that we realized we needed and headed back out to the Lake. After a delicious Spaghetti Dinner we started the process of putting shelf liners onto the shelving and then started putting all the contents back in. By the time this was done we were ecstatic with the progress. It looked awesome! And by that time it was most definitely bed time – it was long after midnight!

All Organized!

Again we slept in – Auntie Sandy headed to Nanaimo for the day for a course and around noon I headed into town to see an old friend. I haven’t gotten to hang out with Jenny since our 10 year reunion summer of 2011 so it was great to connect. They’ve recently had some sad things in their family, and I was glad to be there to support her and her family and to reconnect. I swung by Walmart afterwards and picked up two super cute $5 shirts and then headed back out to the lake. After another nap I spent time babysitting Walter while LeAnna went to mass. I also decided it was time to tackle the cupboards in the pantry. I pulled everything out while Walter played with the plastic lids.

Then eventually when Walter started to fuss we went to lay down and play together. After Sandy came home to play with him, I continued my sorting and organizing. These cupboards housed the baking supplies, plastic containers, Tupperware and canned goods and snacks. We again threw away anything that was gross or old and made sure to only keep containers that had their appropriate lids.

Then it was dinner time – Mmm pulled pork sandwiches. While Auntie Sandy was in Nanaimo she stopped at Micheals to get the chalkboard sticker that I swear by. So after dinner I began the process of cutting out labels. We needed a lot of them! I know from experience that I needed to make all the labels we could possibly need or it wouldn’t get finished, as I’ve experienced at my house. They are all shapes and sizes so it takes some time. Micheals Chalkboard sticker is really great – it has a grid on the back, so you figure out what size you need and cut accordingly. Then you just peel off the back sheet and stick the chalkboard sticker where you want it. It’s repositionable if you want to move it later but it also does a great job of sticking in one place. There were a few baskets and containers that I knew it wouldn’t stick to, so for those we cut out some cardstock and put the sticker on that and used super adhesive to stick that to the baskets. It worked perfectly. And this step is where you realize that presentation makes such a difference; the cupboards looked so much better once labelled!

[Which means it is time for a final before and after:]

[And with the middle step...]

While we cut out labels we watched Murdoch Mysteries and Restaurant Impossible. I also took the time to finish sorting through all the plastic container and Tupperware, making sure everything had an appropriate lid and then determining with Auntie Sandy what pieces she wanted to keep and what she wanted to let go of. Finally it was time to figure out how to house all the containers and put away the cans and food goods. I always swear by storing types of things together, as mentioned above. So the different types of plastic containers and Tupperware were grouped by type – lunch containers, storage containers, etc. The food stuffs were sorted into type – plastic baskets to pull out – one for chips, one for pastas, one for breakfast spreads, etc. Then the random cans of things were store in a shelving system in the back, behind the basket pullouts. Now everything was visible and easy to access.

During this stage we also took apart the canned good storage next to the Tupperware Cupboard. We'd grabbed some risers from Walmart and added some plastic baskets from the dollar store with more chalkboard labels. 

[Here it is the start:]

[And after:]

[Here is the before, during and after:]

We also took a moment to sort through the coffee and tea supplies to make a coffee station – always a helpful thing to have. We labeled and sorted the coffee and tea items, and grouped them together. This freed up space in other cupboards and better maximized the cupboard that currently housed the coffee. Now there is a legitimate coffee station for guests and house members to easily make drinks.

[I forgot to take a before picture...but basically just the coffee and Keurig cups were in this cupboard - we brought over the rest. This is the during and after stage.]

After writing on all the labels we were finished! And tired as it was late. I went to bed and had an amazing and sound sleep.

This morning it was up by 9 for church at 10:30. I went to Arrowsmith with them. I love going there – the people are wonderful. I think that’s one of the best parts of coming home to Port Alberni – both of the churches I grew up in here have such wonderful congregations. Jericho Road and Arrowsmith were both churches that I grew up going to and were huge supports when I went into ministry and when I go back to them now they make me feel so loved. I’m thankful for that.

As I sat in Arrowsmith I was reminded that God moves in each church in different ways. Here is a church that is packed – there are so many signs of life there! Not only is the sanctuary full but there are small groups and home groups and clubs and youth meetings and young adult meetings and luncheons and bible studies and people coming to know Jesus and people growing closer to Jesus. It is a fruitful church. This is also a church that hasn’t sped up it’s music since I started going there. There’s no clapping, there are only a few people with raised hands and yet Jesus is alive and well in that church. And I love that. I’m thankful that each church doesn’t have to look the same or follow a certain style to be successful.

It’s always fun to talk to my Auntie Sandy about churches. She loves the people at her church AND she loves the people at our church. I love the people at our church AND her church. I love the style of worship and service at our church. She loves the style at her church. We are both in the church where we encounter God. Neither church is better, they are just different ways of meeting God. That is pretty cool.

After church we headed home to have beef dips for lunch and then take naps (oh that was nice). Then it was time for dinner – Pine Café! Tasty, greasy, Western Chinese Food. Oh man, it hit the spot. 

We brought Grandma with us – she was the same as always. She asks the same questions about heaven and Jesus. No matter what our answer is, no matter if we don’t answer, the questions still get asked over and over again. For this visit she decided it was easier to just call me LeAnna and not remember my name. So there were two LeAnna’s and no Tara’s at dinner. But she was so glad to see me, despite not wanting to use my name. She asked all about Paul and life – and though she didn’t wait for answer – you could tell she was glad to see me. Also she made a very funny joke, which we all enjoyed.

And now it’s the last night of my weekend – Auntie Sandy (Baba – Ukrainian for Grandma) and LeAnna are bathing Walter in the sink as we listen to John Denver and Uncle Jake putters around doing Uncle Jake like things (starting fires, moving wood, etc). It’s restful and it’s a nice way to spend my last night here, especially since I’m so so very full. After Walter is in bed we will watch old home movies of us.

[Walter is adorable in his Tiggy pajamas]

[So much love]

Monday we’re leaving here before 10. I have a Chiropractic appointment in town at 10:15 and then we’re off to pick up Grandma and head to Nanaimo. I’m meeting up with my friends at 3pm in Nanaimo, where Lisa and Gwyn and I will eat at Gina’s Mexican Café. Woo! And then I’ll be headed back home to see my sweet love and meet our new student, Miho, from Japan, who arrived while I was away. 

Edited to add:

The trip to Nanaimo was a success! Lots of familiar sites...

and then a great lunch together at Montana's. Tasty and fun.

[Auntie Sandy had a tricky time getting all three of us in the photo]

[The gang of us]

[LeAnne, Walter, me, Grandma and Auntie Sandy]

[Rib Tips!]

Then it was on to Gina's Mexican Cafe with Lisa, Tony and Gwyn...flauta's and sangria!

I caught the 5pm ferry and ran into a new friend, so it was great for conversation and I was glad to make it home to Paul safe and sound!