shark

I'm off to my first Sharks game of the season. This is about to be me:

Luckily I look amazing in Kelly green spandex

Nothing takes me back home as fast as the smell of a hockey rink, the snap of the cold and the sound of a blade cutting into the ice. The second I walk in the door I'm five years old again, and I'm eating old rink burgers (a truer delicacy has never been found) and fries with salt and vinegar, with gummy cobras for dessert, and then running around through the entire rink, under the bleachers and back to the zamboni playing tag with my friends.

I don't think I went on a single date that wasn't to a hockey game until I was 18, and let's be honest, why would you want to go anywhere else? Plus they serve Canadian at the Shark Tank, and to be honest I'm not much of a beer girl, but I'll take my Canada where I can get it, and I haven't found anywhere else in California that serves it.

Plus he plays for the Sharks. Enough said.

Dibs.

homesick

I met up with a new group of ladies last night, and we were getting to know each other and talking about where we are from. We started talking about winter and the leaves turning colours and it made me really homesick.

Then today I saw this:

"A Canadian can be English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. A Canadian can be Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan. A Canadian may also be a Cree, Metis, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Sioux, or one of the many other tribes known as native Canadians. A Canadian's religious beliefs range from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or none. 

In fact, there are more Muslims in Canada than in Afghanistan. The key difference is that in Canada they are free to worship as each of them chooses. Whether they have a religion or no religion, each Canadian ultimately answers only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

A Canadian lives in one of the most prosperous lands in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which recognize the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

A Canadian is generous and Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. Canadians welcome the best of everything, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services and the best minds. But they also welcome the least - the oppressed, the outcast and the rejected.

These are the people who built Canada. You can try to kill a Canadian if you must as other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world have tried but in doing so you could just be killing a relative or a neighbour. This is because Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, can be a Canadian."

I can't find the original link where it's from, but I wanted to re-post it anyway. Obviously this is idealized, Canadians aren't perfect, but they are pretty great and I'm proud to be one of them.

Excuse me while I go sob in the corner and hum the national anthem in French. Humming is the same in every language (probably?).

oh canada

Happy Birthday to the greatest country in the world.

nanaimo

I finally got around to making the nanaimo bar cupcakes I was salivating over here. They were really good, chocolatey and nutty with that delicious nanaimo bar filling as icing.

Next time I make them I think I will leave out some of the almonds though, I only put about half of them in, and it was still a bit too nutty for me, but if you love nuts then by all means, add them all in.

The icing is sooo good, the situation rapidly devolved into chaos, and we ended up eating most of the bowl with our fingers

favourites...

Things that are making me happy right now:

I bought us tickets to go see The Nutcracker at The Opera House in San Francisco. My mom took my sisters and I to see it when we were younger, and it is one of my last good memories with my Great-Grandma Dolly before she passed away.

It's also something that we definitely haven't done together yet, it will be a festive date and a good excuse to get dressed up and drink champagne with the boy.

 

There are only a few weeks until we leave for 8 days in Ixtapa with my family. Bring on the sun, surf, and other tropical things that start with 'S'.

Me in 2 weeks. Probably.

The above the knuckle ring I got from Etsy. I am constantly afraid it is going to go flying across the room every time I gesture, but it actually stays put.

Essie Turquoise and Caicos Nail Polish

The most expensive mushroom soup ever. Canadian Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup is sooo much better so I made Derek bring me back two cases in his suitcase, but then his suitcase was overweight and he had to pay $75.00 to get it on the plane.

He didn't even get upset, he is pretty much a keeper. He did say that I better eat it for every meal, but since I know I won't be getting more for a long time I've only eaten one can, and I am squirreling it away in the back of the closet like a doomsday hoarder.

home sweet home

Thanks to all of the Amerrrrcans and their celebrations, I got to go home for a few days last week. It was amazing to be at home, and I've lost two toes to frostbite, so right on schedule, then.

That one guy came with me, and I got to show him around my hometown and introduce him to some of my friends from high school. The whole weekend was filled with hockey, food, family and fun, we got to watch the Grey Cup, and also spent some time stuck with the truck in a snowbank so it was really the full Saskatchewan experience.

This stuff will kill you, stay away

Pasty Mcpaste

My girlfriend

Taken by my 4 year old nephew

This one too

My boyfriend Bristol, he will eat your face if you aren't careful

 hockey game

Best friend's from high school, we used to be very bad kids

canadia

In honour (with a u) of my upcoming trip back to the Great White North, I have amassed some of my favourite Youtube videos that remind me of home.



The first time I watched this video during the 2010 Winter Olympics I sobbed. Hysterically.

And this video is just amazing.



True story.

Also, this:

i'm leafing..

I found this leaf while I was out for my run this morning and it filled me with a burst of patriotism as I sweated and wheezed my way up the big hill by my house. I am so excited for this week, on Wednesday I leave for home, I get to go back to Canada for 5 days to see my friends and family, and hopefully do some frolicking in the snow.

I don't get to go home very often and when I do there are always so many people I want to see and so many things that I want to do that it never seems long enough. Even though it can be a little rushed and frantic, and I constantly feel like I am disappointing someone because I have to pick and choose and I can't do everything and see everyone, I always have so much fun, and I always leave feeling happier, and more like myself than I do anywhere else.

favourites...

Things that are making me happy right now:

This recipe for chocolate cheesecake that I am going to make for our company Thanksgiving potluck. I bought a spring-form pan to make Pumpkin Cheesecake for Canadian Thanksgiving this year, and ever since then I've been wanting to make a new cheesecake recipe every week, and then eat the whole thing myself. I feel very accomplished when I pull out my spring-form pan, they only let you buy one if you are a professional chef. Probably. All I need now is a set of ramekins and I can basically open my own restaurant.

This Rose Gold Michael Kors watch I've been wanting for a few months now. It is soooo gorgeous but I always feel guilty spending so much money on an item for myself, because there are starving children in the world, still a girl can dream. Maybe if I am a good Santa will put it in my stocking?

The fact that there are only 9 more days until I get to go back to Canada to see all of my family and friends. So far on the agenda: perogies, a Grey Cup party, hockey games,  a bachelorette party for one of my oldest friends, and massive amounts of cuddling with my niece and nephew.

The best part is, that one guy is finally going to get to see where I'm from, which is probably slightly overdue given that we've been together 3 years and are already married. He is from California, and had 1200 people in his graduating class alone, but I'm from a very tiny place, I only had 36 people in my grad class and that was considered a lot. It's going to be lots of fun to show him my lovely little town.

And this picture, that I found on Pinterest with no link and no attribution. It looks like it was just painted on a wall somewhere, but I'd love to have it on canvas for my house.

Love Sick

The Boots that Started It All

It's been over a year since I left my lovely little island to move to the Bay area (I still miss it every day!). I get restless very easily, and I love to travel and explore so when I found out we were moving, I was sad, but also very excited. California? Sure, that sounds like a good place to hang out for a bit. I don't know if I really realized I was LEAVING Hawaii and not coming back. As we slowly got settled here, and that realization started to dawn on me, I was definitely sad, maybe even depressed.

I couldn't work yet because I didn't have my work visa, I didn't have any family or friends, no classes, no home, nothing. It was very hard for me to meet people, or to warm up to the people I did meet, because stripped of the things that I used to identify myself (country, home, school, friends, family, work) I did not feel like myself, and I didn't want the people I met to know me the way I was then, but the way I was before. I remember thinking a lot of the time, "I bet you would really like me, if we ever met." This went on for a lot longer than it should have, even once I started working, and doing things for myself, getting out and exploring, I still felt like a friendless little orphan a lot of the time.
 

Then one day, I found The Boots.

Now a pair of boots, while I'm sure they can be stylish, comfy, even sensible if you get the kind that have steel toes, or keep your feet dry, but they don't have actual magical powers. These ones didn't either, but they did have something else. They were chunky black motorcycle boots, boots that I'd wanted for years, probably since the first time I saw Daria on MTV but I never bought them for myself because I didn't think I was someone who could pull them off.

I'd even told my quite a bit more stylish younger sister how much I wanted these boots, and she made fun of them, and I promptly realized she was right, and put them out of my head.  This has always been a recurring theme in my life, in all areas, but most easily noticeable when it comes to fashion. I've always loved fashion, and held a deep admiration for people who were able to wear anything they wanted and look stylish and effortless, but I have never personally felt that I was able to wear a lot of things, really for no other reason than I told myself I couldn't.
 

Fast forward to about a month after I had had my dreams of ever being Gemma Teller crushed mercilessly, and I was at the mall, in the Macy's shoe department, when I saw the same boots I had fallen in love with online. They were black, Steve Madden and completely gorgeous. They were also on sale. And they had one pair left in my size. Now I wouldn't say I am the most spiritual or intuitive person in the world, but I can take a hint.

I bought them immediately, put them on as soon as I got home, and proceeded to fall in love, while pointedly ignoring the obvious looks of disdain being directed at my feet by That One Guy (also known as my lovely husband Derek). I thought I would feel weird wearing them out of the house, or have trouble finding any of my clothing that would go with it, but they seemed to fit right in with me and my life, my new best friends I could wear on my feet.

What I realized then, was that whenever I am feeling orphaned or friendless (which I am not, I have the greatest friends in the world, they just happen to be scattered all over North America), I should try to appreciate the amazing opportunity I have to experiment with style, with hobbies, with eating, with fitness, with the people and things I spend time on. I have a completely clean slate to do anything I want to do. And while it sucks sometimes to be so far away from the people and things you love, I can take comfort in the fact that whether I leave the house in black motorcycle boots, a see-through white blouse, or ass-less chaps, nobody can judge me because nobody knows who I am.
 

Following this epiphany, I've really started to get into this really neat place where I've started living, and trying to make the most of my time here. I bought black leather leggings, and I love them every time I wear them. I bought a cheetah print cardigan, a peblum shirt, a leather skirt, a mini sweater dress, a mini cheetah print sweaterdress, blood red lipstick. I ran my first half marathon without my mom (she usually does the pacing, I thought I was going to die), I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity,  I started blogging.

I've taken an interest in eating healthier (except for chocolate, there will always be room for chocolate) and started experimenting with quinoa, kale and coconut oil. We took a road trip down the coast and stopped at every beach along the way to Carmel. I signed up for a writing class. We went to a free concert in Golden Gate Park, and watched the Giants with the NL championship surround by San Franciscans at a Haight Street bar.

I guess the point is, there is so much in life to do and so much to explore, it's better to focus on the things we can do, rather than the things we don't have. And if you're not sure who you are, or what you really want, there is no time like the present to find out.