Fun and Games at Work

Work has been super busy lately. Luckily, my company has also had some really fun things going on as well, so I've been able to maintain my sanity through some busy deadlines with this fun stuff:

During my company's United Way campaign, we do an activity called Show the Way. Basically people can create teams and participate in various campaign activities to earn points for their team. You can also earn points by getting other people to participate and give points to your team. So basically, it's a way to make sure lots of people participate in the United Way campaign. I created a team called the United A-Team and our goal was to be as hard core as these guys: The A-Team

Our team got super organized and decided who was going to bring stuff for the bake sale, who would create a mini-golf hole, and who would put together a booth for the Taste of AESO (more on that event in a later post) and because we were so organized (and let's face it, the other teams were scared by our intense photo) we won! The prize was a half-day off with pay, which I plan to use soon.

At the beginning of November, we had an offsite meeting at the Calgary Zoo for my whole department. For a team building activity, we got to feed the giraffes! It was a little scary at first (I had been told that giraffe slobber is really sticky and gross) but the giraffe's tongue wrapped right around the carrot stick I was feed it and didn't touch me at all! Those of you who are familiar with my views on animal slobber will know this was a great relief to me.

Isn't that tongue crazy long? They tell you that a giraffe's tongue is purple, but I thought it just looked greyish-brown.

Mission Trip Part 2: The Great White North

After our adventures in Ukraine, we went up to Finland for about a week. I had been really nervous about going back to Finland, I was pretty sure my Finnish would be terrible and I wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone and that no one there would remember me.

We got off the airplane in Helsinki and we had to find a store in the airport that would carry a SIM card for our cell phone. It was so exciting to see the R-Kioski (like a 7-11 in Finland, they're everywhere) - I was able to ask the girl at the counter for a SIM card and chat a little bit, and when I told her that I had lived in Finland for 15 months about three years ago, she complimented me on my Finnish. So I guess it wasn't terrible ;)

We attended church in the Haaga ward, where I served the first 9 months of my mission. It was so surreal to be back and see the people I had known there and to take the same walk from the train station to the chapel that I had taken so many times. After church I took Benjamin for a walk around the neighbourhood (our apartment was only a few blocks away from the chapel) and point out the corner store where we bought milk, the park where we went runnign eveyr morning (including the dirt path where my companion fell and injured herself), even going to our old apartment complex and pointing out the balcony where a companion had climbed up my shoulders and let herself in the balcony door when we locked ourselves out. It was mostly those kinds of little details that I loved seeing in Finland.

At the train station right by my old apartment

The second day in Finland we went to explore Suomenlinna, a fortress built in the Helsinki harbour from the 1600s-1800s that was designated a UNESCO heritage site. There are battlements and tunnels everywhere, and they are almost all open to the public to explore. We climbed through the fortress and up an old lighthouse and watched cruise ships sail by through the tiny lane between islands. We enjoyed a picnic in the Nordic sun sitting on fortress walls hundreds of years old and climbed through the tunnels and through the old cannon holes in the wall to get the best views. When I was a missionary in Helsinki, we used to come here on our P-day to play capture the flag, and it was the best place for capture the flag I have ever seen.

I loved going to the grocery store in Finland and finding my old favourite foods. We ate rye bread every day for lunch and when I woke up in the morning, I always had granola with vanilla yogurt, my favourite mission breakfast. I even bought a mustalaatikko (liver casserole) for Benjamin to try, and he liked it as much as I did! Now I need to find a recipe...

We took a day trip to Turku, one of the cities that I had visited for zone conferences but never really seen. We took a tour through the almost thousand-year-old castle and ate dinner on a boat in the river. We followed it up with ice cream in a sunny park.

One of my most frequent memories in Finland was eating the ice cream. I don't know how they do it, but Finnish ice cream is creamier, richer, and more delicious than any ice cream I've ever had anywhere else. I loved picking up a cone after an evening of tracting or contacting in the park in the summer. I loved sharing all those memories of ice cream on a long golden summer evening with Benjamin.

I personally think that the Helsinki temple is one of the most beautiful in the world. I remember going there often while I served in Helsinki and attending the temple there with Benjamin was another of the favourite memories of this trip. 

After the temple, we went to a restaurant in downtown Helsinki that I had found out about online before we even left on our trip. It is one fo the few places that serves reindeer year-round, and I was not about to let Benjamin go to Finland without eating any reindeer! We got fed all kinds of reindeer and elk and moose by members in Finland, and it is so tasty! We ordered a sampler plate that had reindeer, elk, reindeer sausage, and one other piece of game that I forget. Benjamin got a kick out of "eating Rudolph" as he now claims.

Mmmm, Rudolph is so tasty!

 The only other place I served in Finland was Oulu, about 200 km south of the Arctic Circle. In planning our trip, I was thinking that a flight up to Oulu would be too expensive, so I didn't think we would go. Daddy convinced me that compared to our flights over to Europe, the short flight was cheap, and besides, when would we next be in Finland? I'm so glad he talked me into it, and especially glad that one of my Finnish friends from Oulu pointed me towards a super discount airline over there, because taking Benjamin waaay up north was definitely worth it.

We spent a day in Oulu, wandering around the city (which I had never seen without snow, despite living there for 6 months) and visiting a few members that I had known. It turned out that the night we were there was Institute, which was perfect timing because we were able to get into the church building to show Benjamin around and see lots of the youth that I had known in the branch before, there at Institute! It was also the night of a Branch Presidency meeting, and who should be there as the branch Executive Secretary but a wonderful young man I had tracted into only 3 weeks before I left to go home! It was such a blessing to run into him there and see how well he was doing. I also enjoyed seeing the branch president, who had served as the branch mission leader while I was a missionary.

After a day in Oulu, it was up north for a visit to the Arctic Circle with a quick detour to Sweden. We drove this little beauty about 250 km into the great white north and Benjamin surprisingly fit quite well! You can see in the background the quintessential Swedish institution, IKEA. The little Swedish border town isn't really much of a destination, but it houses the only IKEA for hours, so the Finns from Oulu drive up there and give it plenty of business.

At the Arctic Circle we got to visit the REAL Santa Clause (no pictures, though - we didn't want to spend 30 euros for the official photo) and take our picture standing on the very edge of the Arctic. It was a long day of driving there and back, but I always think that it's such a fun trip to say you've been to the Arctic Circle. Benjamin loved it too.

From Oulu we flew back to Helsinki and then on to Frankfurt. We had one night in Germany before our trans-Atlantic flight, so we put it to good use by finding a beautiful German restaurant in the applewine district. We drank the most delicious apfelsaft (homemade apple juice) and I ate schnitzel, while Benjamin had bratwurst. It was the perfect way to end our holiday, sitting in a sun-filled garden and sipping homemade cider and talking about our favourite parts of our amazing vacation.

MIssion Trip Part 1: The Former USSR

Back in May Benjamin and I went on a 17-day trip to visit our respective missions in Ukraine and Finland. And I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures. 

Our first destination (by default) was Latvia. I had found some cheap flights within Europe on Air Baltic, so we flew through Riga, Latvia three times. The first night we had a choice of either a 6-hour layover with a 2 am departure or a 16-hour layover with a flight to Ukraine at around 11 the following morning. After a red-eye to Frankfurt, I thought we'd enjoy a night in real beds, so we booked a room in the gorgeous Hotel Monika Centrum right in the historic city centre, about a 15-minute walk to the town square. 

I loved Riga. It was a beautiful city full of turn-of-the-century Art Nouveau buildings. 

We ate Latvian food and were completely charmed by the long spring evening that we enjoyed on our long walk around the city. I was sad to leave. Maybe we'll go back someday, and actually see the country. 

Next stop was Ukraine, where Benjamin served about 7-8 years ago. We visited church in the small town where he started his mission, Kherson. So many of the members there recognized him, even after so long! We got to see the lovely little branch building that was under construction when he served, and he also took me to see the old Soviet kindergarten where the branch met while he was a missionary.

The quaint/sketchy kindergarten

The beautiful new building

It was so fun to see this little city and meet some of the wonderful people that Benjamin knew there.

Next we spent several days in the Crimea. We did a little sightseeing (including riding a cable car up to the top of a mountain with a gorgeous view) and went to the Super Secret Submarine Base in Balaklava. This was such a cool museum. There was a Soviet Submarine Base there that was literally so secret that the town of Balaklava was not on any official maps. People from the town worked in the front end of the base all their lives and never knew what was behind the doors. I spent the majority of the day learning how to say "Super Secret Submarine Base" in Russian. It is now one of my best phrases in that language.

One of my favourite days in the Crimea was the day when we drove to the cable car mountain. It was beautiful and sunny and we took a small highway through the mountains instead of along the coast. We found some hidden gems:

Benjamin buying honey from a truck at the side of the road

An old soviet bunker from WWII

Benjamin insists that it's not sketchy to buy jars of honey form some old man on the side of the road who keep his hives in an old trailer, but I maintain it's kind of random. That won't stop me from eating the honey, though!

We had a quick 24 hours in Kiev, where we visited the temple and ran into some girls from a branch where Benjamin served! Some might call it coincidence, but we felt so blessed that Heavenly Father arranged so many little miracles like that throughout our trip.

Outside the Kiev Temple

The Kiev Temple was beautiful. What a wonderful experience to attend the temple together where Benjamin served.

We left Kiev by night train to the city of Kharkiv, a city in northeast Ukraine. The overnight train ride was definitely an adventure!

Our train compartment

 One of the highlights of our Kharkiv visit was a trip out to the dacha (cottage) of some members that Benjamin had known and loved on his mission. This little cottage was out in the country and had a gorgeous garden. The couple that brought us out to visit made a delicious lunch of borscht, salad, and bread that was some of the best food of our whole trip.

Another wonderful experience in Kharkiv was when we made arrangements to visit another family from the branch. We showed up to their apartment and there visiting at the same time was an investigator that Benjamin had taught and become quite close to. This investigator was from Russia and happened to be in Kharkiv for a few days and on a whim (which we know was a prompting from the Spirit) decided to go visit his old friends at the same time that we had arranged to visit. It was a very happy reunion for Benjamin.

From Kharkiv we took another night train to Kiev and were on our way to Finland. But that's a story for the next post!

My Little Pedro

My little brother ("Pedro", as I have lovingly nicknamed him) has a birthday coming up in a few days, which will be his last before he leaves for a mission at the beginning of June. I will miss him so much, although I promise to write him more letters than he wrote me (so at least 2). Pedro and I have always been and still are pretty close - I remember taking him out for brother-sister dates when I was a teenager, where we'd usually go for pizza and a movie. Lately he loves to come over to our place and play board games with Benjamin and me as we are total board game junkies and there's only so many two-player games. Last weekend, he came over just to hang out with me while Benjamin was away for the weekend, and we watched Bollywood movies and ate perogies. Because Pedro and I are cool like that. We also love to take pictures in kung fu poses:

Showing off our ninja skills in Christmas jammies.

Kung Fu poses are appropriate for all occasions.

The bathrobes in the Tokyo hotel were begging for our classic shot.

Mummy asked me if I would make Pedro's birthday cake this year. Let me insert a small account of the history of birthday cakes in our family. Growing up in my family, we all ate a lot of birthday cake in November. It started with Daddy's birthday on the ninth, then sisters' birthdays on the eleventh, eighteenth, and twenty-third. Needless to say, by Nenzie's birthday on the twenty-third, we were all pretty sick of cake. Kudos to my amazing Mummy who made four birthday cakes every November growing up.

On the other hand, Pedro and I were born in April, one week (and seven years) apart. We always got awesome cakes by my Mum as well, including probably 3 years in a row when I was little that she made panda cakes for me. Now that my sister and I are both married to April birthdays and my other sister had an April baby, we have another birthday season in the family - the entire month of April, which also requires the few requisite cakes.

I've always loved baking, but I started really loving cakes in particular when I took a cake decorating course at Michaels with Nenzie and Mummy. I'm not like all those people you know on facebook who make fondant cakes with perfect gumpaste replica's of their child's favourite cartoon characters, not by a long shot. But I do love making delicious cakes is scrumptious flavours with tasty filling.

Two weekends ago I made a devil's food cake for Benjamin with raspberry jam filling and chocolate buttercream frosting. We shared it at Mum and Dad's place for a combination of Benjy's and Little Skinner's birthdays. I had so much fun icing it. However, my cakes are usually big enough that they last a long time, so we had leftovers for my birthday last week.

I especially love making cakes for Pedro. He somehow appreciates my cakes even more than most people. It started many years ago when I made him a lemon curd cake from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, which, now that I think about it, I think he even bought me for Christmas. I knew we had some sort of connection over my cakes! He's made so many of them possible through the gifting of my favourite cookbook ever!

Anyways, He loves this lemon curd cake. I've made it for him several times, including the variation that he requested this year, raspberry curd cake. I've had a great morning making it for my favourite brother (just because you're my ONLY brother doesn't mean you can't be my favourite!) who I will miss so much when he leaves for his mission. I can only let him go because I know he will love it and he will be amazing. Happy nineteenth birthday Pedro, I love you!

Blast Off, Baby Luke!

At the risk of having you all think that this has turned into an exclusively crafty blog, I want to post one more project that I worked on over the Christmas holidays. Last summer when Benjamin and I went to Spokane, I absolutely had to go to Jo-Ann's. I found all sorts of great fabric on sale and brought it home, even though I had no sewing machine and had no idea what I would do with the fabric. Once I got my sewing machine in October, though, I decided it was time to put the fabric to good use and started making a baby quilt with some adorable fat quarter bundles I got that had a little spaceman theme. Check out the patterns, aren't they awesome?

I especially love the one with the alien googly eyes and the little boy in the flying saucer with the three-eyed alien.

While I was working on this quilt, I had a phone conversation with my sister Katey, who is expecting. She already has three boys and although she and my brother-in-law insist quite truthfully that they would be ecstatic no matter what the gender of their next baby was, I kind of knew they both thought a little girl would be nice. I told her that if their fourth did turn out to be a boy, then at least they could count on getting an awesome spaceman quilt for him.

Katey found out that they are having a boy (with a delivery date coming up pretty quick, I'm really excited!) and I promised her the quilt. What was even more perfect is that they are naming their baby Luke. And his parents are big Star Wars fans (maybe Jason more than Katey, but I know at least that Katey likes Star Wars). They are very keen to point out that their baby will not be named after a certain main character from the movies, but I think it's appropriate that Luke have a space blankie.

They were going to be in town over Christmas, so I had to stop procrastinating and put the top together with the batting and backing and quilt it and bind it before they came. This is my first binding ever (the only other quilt I've finished was a simple turned inside out edge) and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It didn't take nearly as long as I though it would (probably more because of its size than anything else) and it turned out really nice. The backing and the border is a really nice soft flannelette that is so snuggly, I almost wanted to keep the quilt for myself. I hope baby Luke likes it!

Christmas Stockings

Ever since I bought my sewing machine a few months ago, I've been dying to have a sewing day with my sister, Emily. She was the one who told me how great the BabyLock machines were and I totally covet her giant sewing room with built-in shelves for fabric and a cute little orange desk for her machine. Once I found out that I had a few extra vacation days from work, I figured that the best way to use one of them would be to go down to Emily's house and sew. I ordered fabric online to start some quilts and was super excited. However, by early this week, the fabric hadn't arrived yet and I had to decide on another project. Emily was planning to make a Christmas stocking for her youngest boy, so I figured that a stocking for Benjamin was in order. 

Mum made this gorgeous stocking for me when I was a little girl and I love it. I love that it's Christmassy without being too childlike. I love that it's kind of sophisticated, but still fun. Even tough Benjamin says that it's too small, I think it's just the perfect size. I decided that I would make a similar one for Benjamin for out first Christmas as a family. 

I found some perfect red velvet at Fabricland and also got some perfect gold rickrack and white edging with tiny pompoms. Emily refreshed my memory on chainstiching and french knots and by the end of the afternoon, I had his stocking finished. (Although halfway through embroidering his name on the top, I wondered why I had to marry someone with such a very long name.)

I've hung our stockings on the wall for now, since we don't have a fireplace or any kind of mantle-like place in our little apartment, but it'll do for this year.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas Candies

(mine will not be wrapped in anything near such a picturesque manner)

Since this was my first Christmas with a family of my own (yes, I view Benjamin and myself as a family, not just a couple) I decided I should make some Christmas goodies. I've been collecting Martha Stewart Holiday Special Editions for several years, and there was a recipe in one of them for gingerbread caramels that I had been dying to try. Never mind that I've never made candy before and had no idea what soft ball stage was supposed to look like. All you need is a recipe and a candy thermometer, right? Right?

Turns out that although those will suffice, I'm sure, it helps to have someone around with a modicum more candy-making knowledge than oneself. When it turned out that my largest pot was too small for Martha's giant recipe (as the boiling sugar, butter and cream threatened to bubble over onto the stovetop), Benjamin was the one who warned me that taking it off the heat would only cause the sugar to "crystallize wrong" - whatever that means.

Despite having to move half of the boiling batch into another pot to prevent a sticky mess and only having one incorrect candy thermometer for two pots of caramel, the candies seemed to turn out ok. As long as you don't try to unwrap them when they're not freshly chilled in the fridge. Oh well, they taste good, and that's all that matters, right? Ok, maybe most of what matters.

No More Lonely Commutes

It's a little late, but I have some great news to share - Benjamin got a new job! He started as a Materials Specialist at Fluor Canada two weeks ago and is definitely loving it.

Benjamin graduated with his Commerce degree back in April and started looking for work. We were incredibly blessed that I have such great work and that he had something waiting to keep him busy (his part-time employers at Rona were virtually ecstatic to have him work full-time hours while he looked for career employment) but we hoped that a job would come along quickly. Benjamin is a super hard worker and I personally believe any company would be lucky to have him (although I will admit to being a little biased). 

Benjamin sent out resume after resume and contacted everyone he knew that might have a position open for him. No luck. So he visited the career centre at the university, sent out newly-updated-resume after newly-updated-resume and contacted everyone who was an acquaintance of an acquaintance  that might have a position open for him. By this time, full-time work at Rona was starting to get really old. We were getting more than a little tired of the job search and were praying that an opportunity would come along soon, but still nothing. Benjamin had had only two calls back and two accompanying interviews after 6 months or more. 

One Friday, Benjamin called me at lunch to say that he had heard from two companies. One of the previously mentioned interviews wanted him to go to a second interview, and the other wanted to set up a first interview. We were so excited, then when he picked me up from the train station that afternoon, he told me that he had just gotten off the phone with a third company that wanted to interview him. "When it rains, it's a monsoon." he wryly noted.

When he interviewed with Fluor, he was told it would take about 3-4 weeks for them to get back to him. Imagine our surprise when he received a phone call less than 24 hours after the interview ended, telling him that a job offer would be forthcoming. It was such a blessing to have this job come up - it's a perfect opportunity for him, doing exactly what he wants to do and learning from a great mentor. It even worked out that he'll be working from downtown instead of driving a 45-minute commute to their main south office. I know that our prayers were answered.

My favourite thing about this new job is having Benjamin coming downtown with me. It's so fun to have a buddy on the bus and meet up with him sometimes during our lunch breaks. Mostly, though, it's great to see how happy he is and how much he loves his new job.

Thoughts on the Flu

This week the flu bug struck at our house. Now when most people say that, there follows a story about kids and husband getting sick and then mum getting sick while caring for all of them. I am thankful every day that I fell in love with a man with the constitution of an ox. Seriously. A few months ago, he was feeling tired and a little listless in the evening. I asked what he wanted to eat and he told me he had no appetite. Coming from a man who usually eats three helpings at dinner and then sometimes still has to make himself a pot of oatmeal to stave off "The Hunger" at 8 pm, I was worried. "I must be getting sick." he told me. In my frame of reference, getting sick means feeling like garbage for several days, trying and sometimes not succeeding to get into work, sleeping and dosing myself with copious amounts of vitamin C. Needless to say, Benjamin woke up the next morning raring to go and feeling perfectly fine. "That's about as sick as I ever get." he told me.

As someone with the immune system of a flea (please don't ruin this analogy by telling me that fleas are remarkably hardy or something) I was a tad jealous. Let's just say that I get sick more than a previous roommate of mine, and she was a preschool teacher. If something is going around, I'd better batten down the hatches, because I'll probably have it within 48 hours.

This week, I came down with the flu all of a sudden on Wednesday morning. Thank goodness for a company that lets me log in and work from home, otherwise my entire floor probably would have my bug by now - except for the guy who sits a few cubicles away, who I suspect was the one who gave it to me (shaking my fist in his general direction). After one day of complete misery, one day of alternating napping and working on Information Documents from my laptop, I returned to work Friday. I was well enough for work and for a ton of errands Saturday, until we went to chaperone the youth dance. After several futile attempts to convince girls that leggings are actually not pants and having to explain to two very angry mothers why their daughters were not allowed in the dance in their current attire, my voice was completely gone. So far today I have been speaking almost entirely in whispers, and not by choice.

Next time I start to feel better, can someone remind me of my current predicament and convince me not to extend the flu for several days by attending a youth dance? Much appreciated. Now, off to take some more vitamin C. Daddy will be so proud.

My New Favourite Toy

I grew up with a sewing machine in the house. My mum was a handy lady who sewed her own curtains and lots of our clothes. Once I was old enough, I was also sent over to my Grannie's to learn to quilt. I've loved making little projects here and there, being able to mend things, and I especially loved sewing a few details for our wedding last February (that's right - Ben's tie and my jacket were just a few things that I whipped up during my two jobless months leading up to the wedding). Of course, any sewing I wanted to do necessitated a trip to my sister's house on the other side of the city or my mum's house, provided she had the church sewing machine signed out form the library. As fun as it was to squeeze projects into a day at someone else's house, I really wanted a sewing machine of my own. This desire was magnified after a trip to Spokane where I visited Jo-Ann's, which I have decided is pretty much the best fabric store ever.

I started to look online for sewing machines and because I didn't want to spend much, I was looking at Brother machines from Project Runway, which seemed to be a pretty good deal. The only problem was the shipping. My Mum and sister suggested that I go to Sewing World on Crowchild Trail to see what they had available. I promised Benjamin that I'd just look around, see what they had, then I'd come home and read reviews and compare prices online.

Imagine my excitement when they had a Baby Lock machine with even more features than the Brother I had been looking at online, on sale for about the same price I would have paid for the Brother with shipping. Not only that, but the Baby Lock is a way better quality machine (according to the friendly saleslady).

After a thirty-second call to Benjamin to let him know that I was coming home with a machine that very day, I was headed home with my brand new Baby Lock.

Thank goodness for supportive husbands.

On the Road Again...

Benjamin and I decided to take a our first real holiday together over the July long weekend. We had originally planned to go to a family reunion of his in Seattle area, but when it was cancelled, we ended up keeping our plans for a Washington state holiday anyways.

We left Wednesday night and drove to Fernie, BC. We drove through several large rainstorms on the way, so we were not hopeful that our campsite would be dry or that we would be able to light a fire. When we arrived, the last rainstorm had been through almost an hour before and the sky was clear, so we had a lovely evening around the campfire (once Benjamin got it going with the slightly damp wood we had picked up – about an hour's effort).

The next morning, we drove to Spokane. I had offered to drive the first leg of this portion of the trip, since Benjamin had driven the entire way from Calgary to Fernie. This meant that Benjamin was in charge of getting the directions from my iPhone. After entering in the address of my cousin in Spokane, he directed me onto a highway heading south and we were on our way. It wasn't until we were crossing the border at Eureka, Montana that I realized that we hadn't gone through Yahk, BC, which my original trip research had indicated was the fastest way to Spokane. Turns out that the iPhone had confused Upriver Drive, Spokane with Riverside Drive in Eureka, Montana. We ended up taking quite the detour south through rural Montana to make it over to Bonner's Ferry and back to the main highways to Spokane, but it was a beautiful drive! We drove right along Lake Koocanusa for over 100 km and passed the huge Libby hydroelectric dam.

Spokane was great. It was so fun to see my cousin Karen and her family, Doug and Charles, again. Little Charles was adorable. We ate delicious food and had a fun Canada Day picnic in a park by the river. We also were very lucky and got to see my other cousin, Monica, and her husband, David (whom we had never met before).

Since the highway from Spokane to Seattle is fairly well-travelled and well-marked, we avoided a scenic detour on that leg of the trip other than to stop at the Petrified Gingko Forest site in Washington. It was so amazing! A really small little National Parks site where they've found some of the only petrified gingko trees in North America. I love stopping at random roadside attractions.

We spent the 4th of July in Lynnwood with Benjamin's cousin. I enjoyed visiting the temple in Seattle, one I've never been to, and it was great to meet so much of Benjamin's family.

Throughout our entire drive through Montana, Idaho, and Washington, I had noticed stands set up in parking lots everywhere selling fireworks. I love fireworks. I love watching them and have always wanted to be able to buy my own and set them off. We made a stop in a parking lot in Lynnwood and bought a ton of sparklers, Roman candles, and spinning ground flowers. Lighting them on Independence Day was one of the highlights of the trip. We attended a 4th of July party in a neighbourhood where everyone seemed to be competing over who could put on the best fireworks show. Everywhere I looked, there were fireworks, and they started at 8 pm and went almost constantly until 11.

After staying up late watching the fireworks, we had to get on the road before 7 the next morning to get home in time – a 12-hour drive. It was incredible to go for such a fun trip together and squeeze so much into 6 days, but we were glad to get home again. I almost wished I had left a day afterwards to recover from our vacation!

Graduation!

In my last semester of school, I decided that I wanted to take an accounting course. Of course, I couldn't take it at the U of C, so I had to do a correspondence course from Athabasca University. I finished it and applied to graduate with my economics degree.

Benjammin was also set to graduate this April and was really excited to go to his convocation, so I booked a day off work to come. I decided that it wasn't worth taking two days off work for convocation, so I figured I'd have my diploma mailed to me.

Last week, I was in a team meeting and once we had gone over our various projects, my boss reviewed the upcoming time off, reminding the team that I was going to be off the following day for my convocation (somehow he had thought that I meant I was taking the day off for my own graduation ceremony). I piped up to tell him it was actually Benjamin's convocation and decided to add a funny story - I got an email about one week before convocation, telling me that I was one credit short of graduation and would not be able to receive my degree the following week. Really, University of Calgary? You tell me this one week before I had planned to receive my degree? Couldn't have pointed this out to me a month ago or something so I could remedy the situation? I mean, I did apply to graduate back in November.

After telling this story, my coworker Joe said in pseudo-disbelief, "WHAT? You didn't graduate? You don't have a degree?" Ha-ha, Joe. This was followed by my boss raising his eyes to heaven and wondering aloud, "What else in the interview was a lie? Oh great!"

I then spent the rest of the day being teased about being a college dropout.

Benjamin, however, graduated and received his Bachelor of Commerce degree on Friday. It was

great to see him in his gown and walk across the stage, even if the rest of the three-hour convocation was kind of boring. Congratulations, Benjamin! I'll catch up to you when they award the degrees in November. Although I think sitting through one covocation per year is probably enough.

Songs in My Head

Sometimes I feel like my mind is like an iPod on shuffle. Today I had 8 separate songs in my head, most of them for no discernible reason – I didn't hear any of them or even listen to any music at all today.

I woke up to "Just Haven't Met You Yet" by Michael Buble. I don't wake up to a clock radio, otherwise I might have had some reason to have a song in my head very first thing. An hour into work, I suddenly was singing Backstreet Boys to myself – nothing that I do at work should remind me off "Backstreet's Back". As I microwaved my lunch, I tapped my toes to the background music of a Chevy commercial that always plays when Benjamin watches the hockey game on cbc.ca. As I settled back in after lunch, into my head popped "Zero to Hero" from Disney's Hercules. You start to see the randomness of the iPod in my head?

Oddly enough, within 15 minutes of my Disney singalong, I was listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing their hearts out to "I Believe in Christ" which actually did make sense. We didn't sing it in church yesterday, but we did sing the song right next to it in the hymnbook. Next came "YMCA", as I checked the online schedule at the Y. It was at this point I decided to start making a list of all the songs I'd had in my head that day, which prompted the DJ inside to switch tracks to Greg Hanna's "Song in My Head". Go figure.

After getting home, I was soon back to singing Disney tunes with "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan while I made dinner. However, soon, and completely without reason, I whistled the Beatles' "Come Together" (not even a Beatles song that I actually like that much!) while doing the dishes.

I'm torn between being curious about what's coming next and turning on some real music to stop the madness.

The Lights of Las Vegas

My office is right across the hall from our floor's large conference room. Unfortunately, this conference room has only sliding glass doors that do nothing to block sound. I've been privy to the details of quite a few meetings, especially those meetings on which the door is not fully closed. Let's just say I've gotten used to pulling my headphones out when a particularly loud group takes over conference room 2923.

Sometimes, though, I get to hear little gems of conversation during my inadvertent eavesdropping. Like today: A group or market forecasters was in a meeting. While they waited for all the attendees to arrive, one was asked about his recent vacation. "I was in Vegas" he replied. Many others chipped in with their anecdotes about Sin City, one commenting on how bright it is to walk down the strip. Suddenly, one of the mused, "I wonder what the total electric load for Vegas is?" Another pulled out the relevant statistic. A third chimed in that each hotel on the strip averages approximately 8 MW. Suddenly, stories about wild vacations in Vegas had turned into dorky shop talk.

I work with a bunch of nerds – and it feels like home.

Reading List

My new job requires a 30-minute bus ride every morning and every evening. During my first few weeks of work, I usually spent at least the bus ride home getting carsick, as I have done on buses for years. However, after consistently riding almost every day and learning at which stop I was most likely to get a seat at the front, I've been able to get to the point where I can read on the bus. This is great, because for the last several years, I've been so busy with school that my reading has dropped off a little (although not enough to stop me from devouring Stephanie Meyer's Host in the 24 hours before my Economics of Taxation final – don't worry, I still passed).

The past two months, I've read over 14 books (not quite back up to my high school level yet)

from such a scattered assortment of genres, the list looks like it was created by a butterfly with ADD. It's just reinforced what I told people years ago in high school: if it's got pages between two covers, I'll probably read it. Here's some of my favourites for those of you who are looking for a good summer read:

The Host, by Stephanie Meyer

The Host tells the story of the world after an alien invasion. These aliens are a completely peaceful race and have implanted themselves in our brains to prevent violence, war, and anything else nasty. The main character, Wanderer, has arrived on earth after the aliens' dominance is mostly complete, but is implanted in the brain of on of the last human survivors, a girl named Melanie. Melanie is strong-willed enough that she remains present even after the insertion and Wanderer begins to feel some sympathy for the human race and the remaining survivors. They go off on an epic adventure to find the rest of Melanie's family, who are still on the run. Yes, I know it's the same woman who wrote Twilight. I know that amongst my acquaintance, Twilight has gotten extremely mixed reviews. Let's just say that I do enjoy Twilight, but I'm under no impression that it's a work of fine literature. The Host, on the other hand, is much better written than Twilight. The drama that pervaded Twilight is still there, but feels less hokey and more believable. Even though I was reading it for the second time, I couldn't put it down.

Frederica, by Georgette Heyer

My sister Jaima got me into Georgette Heyer books after I got home from my mission, and I've been reading them whenever I can find them from the library since. Heyer started writing in the 1920s and most of her books take place in the Regency era, the same time as all the Jane Austen books. Frederica is my favourite so far. It tells the story of a girl in her mid-twenties, Frederica, who is left in charge of her family when her father dies. Determined that her younger sister will not waste her beauty on their insignificant country circle, she takes her siblings to London to attempt an advantageous marriage for her sister, who although beautiful, is rather stupid. She prevails upon their distant relative, the wealthy Marquis of Alverstroke, to sponsor them in society, which he does, mostly to spite his other scheming relatives. Adventure piles on adventure as the Marquis finds himself increasingly involved in the exploits of all members of the young family as they caper through Regency area London. As with all Georgette Heyer stories, the wit is plentiful, the characters sparkling, and happy endings abound for all.

The Firm, by John Grisham

I first read The Firm is high school, and for the following few months, took out every Grisham novel I could find at the library. Grisham has the ability to keep his readers glued to the page, throwing twists and turns and describing everything in compelling detail. The Firm is one of his earlier novels, from 1991, and has all the appeal of his very early stories without the dated feel that I've gotten occasionally from some of the very first. It tells the story of Mitch McDeere, a young Harvard Law graduate who gets an incredible job offer from a small sized firm in Memphis. They offer to pay off his student loan, arrange a mortgage, lease him a car, and pay him much more than any other offer he's received. It's only after a few months there that Mitch realizes that the offer too good to be true came from a firm that is really not what it appears to be, when he is approached by the FBI to assist them in an investigation of the firm and its number-one client. Caught in the crossfire and blackmailed from both sides, Mitch has to keep on step ahead of spies, goons, federal investigators, and lawyers to do the right thing and save his family.

Happy reading, and if you have any suggestions for my next book, let me know!

I love my job, I promise!

I should probably clarify from my earlier post... I've had a few people ask me about my job with looks of sympathy, apparently under the impression that I trudge off to work every day with a heavy heart and tearful eyes. I actually really love my job. Sure, I have the odd day every now and then when I'm bored, and getting used to a new schedule always has its blips. But in case you interpreted my earlier post to mean that I was dissatisfied with my job and life in general, I promise that I'm happy. Especially with my job.

We actually had an offsite meeting on Wednesday this week, where our department booked meeting rooms and a gym at the Talisman Centre. We got fed a custom-ordered lunch from Jugo Juice, had two hours of presentations from our VP and directors, and then we were let loose to play basketball or badminton. They had even booked a yoga studio and hired a yoga teacher for those who weren't into getting body-checked under the hoop by their supervisors.

I was invited to join our group's basketball team, the Market Operations Hawks. Or, as we liked to call ourselves, the MOHawks. Despite an ill-fated attempt by the Market Design Dream Team, or M-DDT (apparently the only thing they could think of that would kill hawks was DDT – I know, how nerdy can you get?) the MOHawks were triumphant in the end, thanks to our lovely cheerleader, a co-worker who grew up in Ireland and didn't even know the rules of basketball, having never played sports at her convent school.

There are so many reason why I love my job.

The Racy Chart

At work, a few members of my team are working on a system that outlines our project planning process. It outlines the different required tasks along the way and tells you who is responsible and accountable for each task, and who should be consulted and informed each step of the way. What can I say, I work for a large company with a very complicated approval process, but we do it to keep YOUR lights on.

On one of my first days, we had a team meeting where everyone gave updates on their projects. I was still adjusting to my new work schedule and, as usual, was drifting off in a meeting. Suddenly, I started awake when I heard a co-worker say, "... and the racy chart is coming along fairly well."

First, I should clarify that I work in an environment of very lovely, but fairly average people. Most are somewhat middle-aged with families and we don't work in the sexiest industry. Most of my days consist of separating authoritative and informational content in procedural documents that outline the Alberta transmission line system or trying to determine a satisfactory definition of the term "acceptable operational reason". Not the most glamorous job in the world, but I like it.

Now imagine my surprise when my colleagues start talking about some racy chart. I started wondering what I had gotten myself into.

Fast-forward through about three minutes of bewilderment. Apparently we have a RACI chart (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed individuals), not a racy chart.

At first a relief, in retrospect, maybe a bit of a letdown. It would have really spiced up my workday.

How do you know when you've arrived?

I've always thought that the epitome of being a responsible adult was having a security pass to a building that was attached to the waistband of your pants via a yo-yo cord, a health and dental plan, and my very own workspace. My sister Elena has always thought it meant having real business cards that you can hand discreetly to people, like they do on TV. I guess that although I've had some jobs that definitely had their perks (like the practically free clothes when I worked at The Gap and getting paid to take kids to the library as a nanny) and others that met some of my grown-up requirements (being a receptionist for Dad meant my own desk, while my internship last summer gave me a snazzy key card complete with yo-yo cord), I never had the full package, until now.

In late January, I got a call from my previous boss from last summer. I was hoping to hear great news about them having a full-time position available for me, but unfortunately that didn't pan out. However, she did have good news. Through some industry networking, she had passed on my information to the Market Services Division at the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), and from what she had told them about my summer internship with her, they were interested.

Over the past few months, I've had lots of opportunities like this come up. It seems like all over the place, people have leads for me on the job front. I've even had an interview come from them. But until recently, none of them came to fruition. I went to two interviews at the AESO and from what I heard about the position, it seemed like my dream job. I tried to stop myself from getting too excited about it, but it was in vain. I remembered my previous disappointments and prayed that this one, finally, would work out. Not only would it allow me to support Benjamin through school and pay off my student loans, it was a great job in the industry I loved. I got the call from HR at the AESO just a week before my wedding and started as soon as I got home from my honeymoon.

It's been an interesting challenge to catch up and try to learn everything that I need to know to function in this position, and I've gotten frustrated once or twice as I struggle to understand what exactly VArs standards are. Whenever I need a little pick-me-up, I look down at my security pass and for some reason it's so exciting to think that I'm a grown-up now! Friday morning I was having a particularly boring morning as I ploughed through technical and regulatory documents, trying to get some context for the work I'm going to be responsible for, and even my key card couldn't stop me from feeling like I was going crazy. Just then, I got an email from reception, telling me that my business cards had arrived. I went down right away to pick them up, and as I looked them over, I thought to myself, "That's right, you're Janine, Market Rules and Policy Analyst. Not just a student anymore!" And I knew I had arrived.

Get me to the Temple on time...

Elena and I had a fun time singing that song from My Fair Lady in the car on the way down to Cardston. I had always looked forward to my wedding (I've got a box of wedding magazines that I've been collecting since I was maybe 13, that has now been passed on to Elena) and it was everything I could have wanted. The best part about it was of course my wonderful husband, Benjamin, and our temple sealing, but so many other parts of the day were incredibly special. Like taking pictures with all my sisters and making sure we caught Peter and I doing oursignature kung fu pose. Like coming out of the temple and seeing my best friend Aurora. Like trying to round up all the ibbi (most of whom were either waaay too tired or else sick) for a few shots. Like walking into the chapel in Leavitt and seeing how gorgeous all those paper lanterns looked, and watching Ben's cousins attack the candy bar. Like dancing with my prince to the Sleeping Beauty waltz and then groovign with Daddy to Frank Sinatra's Swingin' on a Star, and seeing tons of other parent-child duos join in (I especially loved seeing Karen andbaby Charles on the dance floor!) I am so happy to be married to my lovey, Benjamin.

Even though these photos aren't from the wedding day, they're still lovely. Enjoy!

Battle of the BBC Series

I have been, for a very long time, a fan of BBC movies, especially those based on pre-1950s literature (I would say pre-1900 literature, but that would exclude Horatio Hornblower and early Agatha Christie, which will never do). I've seen the 5-hour version of Pride and Prejudice numerous times (and it IS five hours and not six, as everyone claims—there are six episodes of 50 minutes each), watched both old and new adaptations of Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, and my favourite, Persuasion. I had also eventually branched away from Jane Austen into the Brontë sisters, C. S. Forrester, and Elizabeth Gaskell. I loved them all, with the exception of a few of the later Horation Hornblower episodes. I will be the first to admit that I mostly enjoy the movies. The novels that I've read from the above list have tended to be somewhat dull and I can never get quite as invested in a book that leaves so much to the imagination.

Somehow, though, I had never discovered Charles Dickens. Well, I had seen Oliver! the musical and countless stage performances of A Christmas Carol, and even read a graphic novel of Great Expectations, but my exposure to Dickens was very lacking.

Last week, Elena took Little Dorrit out of the library. I had never even heard of it before, and suddenly there it was; over 450 minutes of miniseries there for the watching, most of it featuring Matthew McFadyen, which is never a bad thing. It was while watching this that I realized why Dickens has his very own adjective. The characters, settings, and plots were so very Dickensian that there was literally no other word to describe them. Every scene at the Circumlocution Office was brimming with satire and scathing judgement on the British civil service. Characters like Flintwinch skulked through narrow, crooked halls in a manner that can only be described as Dickensian, while Andy Serkis played a masterfully creepy Rigaud. In some movies, the side characters are so interesting that one loses sight of the main plot, but with incredible performances in the lead roles of Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clennam, I was riveted almost the entire 7 hours (minus a bit of a slow part in Italy towards the end of the movie). I would recommend Little Dorrit to anyone with either a weekend to kill, a series of boring evenings, or a love of BBC miniseries. I promise that once you start remembering who all the characters are, it gets really good.

The worst thing is, on every BBC production, there are previews for even more tantalizing movies. I've added several to my list, including The Way We Live Now, Bleak House, and Lorna Doone. At this rate, I don't think I'll ever be able to watch them all—every time I discover a new one, there's three more waiting.

Bless you, BBC, for your prolific miniseries making.