Virginia

Landlocked No More

Posted on September 21, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized .

With a recent absence of posts, I have a very good reason why… Matt and I have moved to St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador!

It’s been an insane couple of months, but here’s a quick overview:

Sadly, I was laid off in mid-July due to an organizational restructure caused by financial changes at Kids Help Phone. No hard feelings. I’m still very much in touch with previous coworkers (they’re like a second family to me) and I continue to support the organization and the important work they’re doing for kids in Canada;
After said layoff, I hopped on a plane and went home to St. John’s visiting family and friends and ramping up my local job hunt and expanding my network;
The second weekend in August was filled with bachelor and bachelorette fun as friends for close friends getting married the following week (we were in Oro and/or Collingwood for pretty much the whole weekend);
Shortly after, Matt received a job offer from an employer in St. John’s. The offer requested he start employment in St. John’s on September 7th… and so the crazy #mmvmNLmove began!
The previously mentioned wedding was on August 14th and WOW was it fun! Two great friends are now hitched and spending their lives together;
In mid August, I received a job offer from Memorial University (yay!);
Our only free weekend in August had us hosting a “Mr & Mrs Middleton are moving, so come drink our booze and take our stuff” party. Seriously, that’s what we called it. AMAZING weekend was had by all;
During the last weekend in August, my sister-in-law (Matt’s sister) was married in Barrie (another weekend out of town and just three days before the movers were arriving);
The first week of September had movers arrive on August 30th (after an all-nighter of packing), Matt and I staying in a hotel for a couple of nights in Toronto (thanks to Hotwire.com), going up to Barrie on September 2nd for my mother-in-law’s birthday, and then flying out of the Greater Toronto Airport (YYZ) the morning of September 3rd.

So needless to say the past month+ has been a blur. I’ll try to write more about some of the above mentioned events, but it could take a while.

Being back in St. John’s has been amazing. We’re finding a good rhythm here and are settling in nicely. We even bought a new car! More details on that later…

Bell Island, Newfoundland & Labrador (2007)

So that’s it for now. Still alive and doing very, very well. :) And just to tease you a little, enjoy this photo taken from my uncle’s yacht back in July 2007. It was a beautiful day and we sailed around parts of Bell Island, NL.

Gone Fishing

Posted on July 1, 2010 Posted in 2010, Canada Day, iPhone photos, Ontario, Toronto .

While walking home last week, I saw this sign up at a local restaurant. It was so cute and endearing that I had to take a picture if it.

I’m today’s world, it’s not very often you see a business close up shop for a actual vacation. Far too many of us work day and night, Monday to Friday – barely able to function, let alone recuperate on the weekend… Only to do it all again on Monday.

It made me smile to see this sign. So what are you doing right now? Gone fishing? If not, any special summer or vacation plans.

~Virginia

P.S. Happy Canada Day!

It’s Been a Busy Month and a Half

Posted on June 20, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized .

I just realized that it’s pretty much been a month and a half since I last updated here. I swear the time flew far too quickly and I don’t know how it happened…

I have a few posts that are in the drafts and at least two updated in my head, so I’ll try to find time to actually make those into a reality soon. Next weekend seems like a potential time as it’s the first weekend since mid-May that hasn’t been action-packed or full of insanity.

But I don’t want to leave you empty handed if you’re taking the time to read this. After posting so many photos over the years to Facebook, I’m finally starting to make a better shift over to Flickr. The photo quality is so much better (and I have a Pro Account to boot) and I don’t have to worry about rights or ownership because Flickr is much more reasonable than Facebook.

There was a wedding shower for my sister-in-law and her fiance and it was up near Dorset, Ontario. My husband’s aunt and uncle moved there last year and their new home is beautiful. It’s a bit of a drive to get there, but the afternoon was lovely and a good time was had by all. It also gave me an opportunity to take lots of photos (especially since I only knew around half of the guests, so it kept me nice and busy).

More photos are available for viewing on my Flickr page.

The happy couple

Love this photo of Aunt Lorraine

The bride-to-be

L-R: Aunt Darlene, cousin Chris, his wife Margaret, Louise (my mom-in-law)

Louise with Willie the adorable puppy (there were actually SIX dogs in attendance!

In the back is Sam and Cooper is in front as they keep their eye on the prize. These are my in-laws dogs. Such good boys!

This is an adorable card that Brynn, who is a younger cousin of Heather and Matt (that's my husband) made for Heather and Colin

Unanswered Questions

Posted on May 10, 2010 Posted in 2010, Cascade 220, iPhone photos, Toronto, TTC .

As the graffiti asks: Do you know where your children are?

I saw this earlier today after popping into Romni Wools for a skein of pink Cascade 220. While waiting for a streetcar, this sight caught my attention and drummed up some questions.

Who wrote this?
Why did they write that question when the rest of the graffiti on the wall is pretty random?

When was this written? Was it last week, or a few months ago? I’ll confess I don’t know the lifespan for graffiti on an old building in downtown Toronto. Does it handle weather well? Do most buildings get this stuff removed if it’s worth their time?

So many questions left unanswered. But I’ll still keep asking and will probably come up with a few more questions.

So tell me… do you know where you’re children are?

Update May 12: My dad being a smart ass (and I’m a lot like him when it comes to my sense of humour) had this comment when I posted a link to this post on my Facebook: “The answer: maybe writing graffiti or may be taking pictures of graffiti and the other one is in Boston. LOL” Nice one Dad! ;)

The Fantastic Four

Posted on May 8, 2010 Posted in 2010, Food, Recipes, Weight Watcher's .

For anyone who has been on Weight Watcher’s or another weight management program, no doubt you’ve often heard, “Oh it must be horrible that you can’t eat anything good!”

I joined Weight Watcher’s last year at the end of April because I was fed up with some weight I had that just wouldn’t go away. I only wanted to lose around 20 lbs, and because I had semi-followed the program when I friend was doing it a few years back, it was already compatible with my lifestyle.

Since October 21, 2009 I have been a Life Time Member of Weight Watcher’s. Having successfully reached my goal and as I continue to maintained it, I’m really proud of the accomplishment. Granted, there are people who have lots MUCH more than myself and have overcome greater milestones and struggles, but it’s still a personal goal that I set and made happen.

Sometime last year I bought a couple of the Weight Watcher recipe books and one specifically was Hit the Spot.

You’ll see four different tasty treats in the photos and they include:

Coconut Green Beans,
Garlicky Bean Dip and Sesame Wonton Crips,
Creamy Chocolately Walnut Fudge,
Honey and Cornmeal Butter Cookies.

ALL of these came from that book and all of them are very, very tasty!

In fact, they’re so good that I’m sharing them with family and friends. Well… not the green beans because I’ve already eaten most of them, but I did take some to work and a coworker was able to see how awesome they were! The bean dip and wontons are going to a friend’s birthday / house warming and the two sets of cookies are being shared amongst my in-laws, my grandparents who are visiting from Newfoundland & Labrador, my cousin and his wife (who my grandparents are staying with) and my great aunt who we’re visiting today in Newmarket. I’ll let you know what their reactions are.

So what about you? Have you ever made anything that was healthier than people expected? Or maybe you made something that was veggan friendly and fed it to the meat eaters in your life… did they enjoy the animal-less treats? I’m sure someone must have a fun story out there…????

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