Hockey and Shopping!

As some of you may know, my little sister Sarah, who is 17, went away to Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario for grade 10 on a full hockey scholarship. She went back this year for her grade 11 and is still loving playing hockey. I love watching her and am sooo proud of her. I think she is really really good but she is the humblest (if that is a word) person I have ever met and works really hard for her accomplishments. Because she is a Nova Scotia resident, she flies home pretty often during the year for different tournaments and hockey camps. She has made the female Team Nova Scotia every year since she was 12 and out of 5 years, Nova Scotia has only lost the championship once! This year, Team Nova Scotia tryouts were the week before Mother's Day so Sarah flew home for the tryouts in Upper Tantallon. Mom and Dad also came up and everyone stayed at my place for the weekend. But this weekend's tryouts were a little different than all the other years tryouts. This year, Team Nova Scotia will be the Canada Games Team in February of 2011!!! Sarah had to be in tip top shape because there were scouts everywhere and 80 girls trying out. Only about 25 make the team. So even though it was a gorgeous weekend outside, I spent it wrapped up and freezing in the rink cheering Sarah on. Here are a few pics of Sarah in action.
She's #18 in red







She found out a week ago that she made the first cut! The second round of tryouts are June 25-27 at Dal and if she makes the second cut, the third round of tryouts are at the end of August. I'll keep you all posted!!

While Mom and Dad were up for the tryouts, Mom and I got to spend some quality time together. While Dad took Sarah to her practice on Saturday afternoon, Mom and I went to the mall to do some shopping! I had mentionned to her that I wanted to start looking for a nice set of grown-up dishes since I still have the mix match set that I got when I left home 8 years ago. And since I would kind of consider my grand-mother on my mother's side and my mother mini dish-snobs, what better person to go with! My grand-mother had like 3 sets of Royal Doulton that no one was allowed to eat out of and my mom now has some of those dishes in the china cabinet (a place where things are not allowed to be touched and never make it out into the real world of place settings). Mom knows all the names of all the patterns on the dishes and what exactly consitutes a place setting. (I, on the other hand, could eat almost everything without even using utensils and using the same plate for everything). But I thought it was probably time to grow up and buy or at least look for some real dishes so that I can actually have people over for meals. So we headed to The Bay. One of my cousins got married about 8 years ago and they were registered at The Bay. When Mom and I came shopping for their wedding gift, Mom noticed they had registered for Denby dinnerware. I had no idea what it was but when Mom showed me, I fell in love with it. So that's what we went to look at at The Bay. There are a lot of different patterns and shapes and sizes in the sets. I am not ready to buy it now but I am going to keep my eyes and ears open for where there is a sale at The Bay and that might just be the perfect time to get it! This is my favorite pattern at the moment but I am trying not to fall in love with it too much because Denby changes their stock pretty often and once a pattern is taken out of the store, you can no longer order it either.


I also really like this one but I think I might get tired of the polks dots....


Which one do you guys like the best??

While we were at The Bay, I just happened to look at the duvet covers. I have been wanting a new one for a really long time as I have had my red flowered print one from IKEA for like 5 years now. It's not that I am sick of my old one, I just wanted to change it up. I have seen lots of nice ones over the past 2 years (yes, that's how long I have been looking) but none that I really fell in love with. Until then.

This is the pattern close up!



The best thing about it is that the duvet is reversible!! This is what the pillow shams and the other side of the duvet look like.


I can't wait to buy accessories that will match it! I am thinking a lime green bedside lamp and purple throw pillows.

"I don't see any reason for marriage when there is divorce." - Catherine Deneuve

"I admit, I have a tremendous sex drive. My boyfriend lives forty miles away." - Phyllis Diller

"After you're older, two things are possibly more important than any others: health and money." - Helen Gurley Brown

"I enjoy kids but not for long periods. I think they're adorable and funny and sweet, and then I have a headache." - Kim Cattrall

"Being a housewife and a mother is the biggest job in the world, but if it doesn't interest you, don't do it. I would have made a terrible mother." - Katharine Hepburn

"Ugly is irrelevant. It is an immeasurable insult to a woman, and then supposedly the worst crime you can commit as a woman. But ugly, as beautiful, is an illusion." - Margaret Cho

"A marriage is no amusement but a solemn act, and generally a sad one." - Queen Victoria

"Freedom is a funny word because when we think we're free, we're not really. I think freedom is quite illusory ... When I stop thinking about myself all the time and put other people before me on a regular basis, that's real freedom. When I can love unconditionally ... then that's real freedom." - Madonna

"I'm a mother first. And I'm going to be at parent-teacher conferences, and...I'm going to be at the things that they want me to attend. I'm not going to miss a ballet recital." - First Lady Michelle Obama

Sex and the City Partay!!

A little while back, my friend Nicole was invited to celebrate one of her colleagues' birthday's downtown. They were a gang of about 10 so they rented a limo to drive around in and drop them off at the bar. When Nicole told me about it, it sounded like a blast so since Leanne was home from Australia (as if we need an excuse to have a party...ha!) all the girlies came up to Halifax for the weekend and we decided to do the same. So here was the deal, you could rent a limo (which would pick you up wherever you wanted to),stop at Citadel Hill to take pictures of everyone, drive you to the night club Taboo, where cover was paid for and included 2 martinis and VIP seating along with appetizers during the evening all for the crazy CHEAP price of $45 a person!!! Well let's just say we had a BLAST! We decided to doll ourselves up and all wear dresses. We got ready at my place and had kind of a pre-party there before the limo picked us up at 11pm. Here are some pics of the evening!

Ghislaine, Lea and myself

This is a pic of Suzanne squared, Lieanne squared and Nicole squared...people were running out of names down home....

Sara excited that the limo is here!

Pumped for the ride!!

Can you feel the love?

Citadel Hill!

Arriving at the bar!


There were a couple downfalls to the evening though. One was that one of the girls' purse was lost/stolen. She had it with her up to the near end of the evening but then couldn't find it anymore. We searched ALL over the bar and she retraced all her steps but to no avail. Her camera and all her other pursely possessions were in her purse so that put a damper on the night. And then when another one of the girls woke up Sunday morning, she immediately grabbed her camera to look at the pics of the night before only to find that her memory card had been taken out of her camera! Like seriously, who does that? If you are going to steal something, at least steal the camera. So if any of you see questionnable pictures of me anywhere on the internet, some pervert has probably posted them. Both girls had really good group shots of all the girls so that really sucked because I only had pics of some of the girls here and there. Oh well, lesson to be learned I guess, don't ever let go of your purse of camera at the bar!

"Just because a man has something that sticks out doesn't mean he's got to put it anywhere and everywhere." - Goldie Hawn

I've just been inspired....

..by all my blogger friends. Everyone has posted on their blog in the last few days and it's time for me to stop slacking off and post! Cause let's get real...some of the quotes that I post are not all that insightful and some of them don't even make sense to me. So I'm going to provide you with a little recap of what has been going on since the end of March!

I decided to go home the Wednesday before Easter. This meant that I would be home on Thursday April 1st which in the articled clerk world meant D-Day. The day that the Bar exam results were released online by the Barristers Society. I knew that if I stayed at work on Thursday I would be checking the site every 5 seconds and refreshing the browser every 2 for the results. My mom was home from school that week so I decided I would spend the day with her and not check the computer until like 4pm. So I slept in Thursday morning until about 9:30 and went downstairs to make breakfast. Mom had a doctors appn so no one was home. When she got back home around 10:15 she wasn't even in the door before she asked me if I had heard anything. I had actually gone to check when I got up but there was nothing there. I told her I wasn't checking it again until later on that afternoon and that we were going to enjoy the day together. I told her it was her job to keep me busy...hahaha.

Side note : As most of you know, I don't cook. It's always something that Joel loved to do and more power to him! When I lived on my own, I made food to not starve but never took pleasure in making meals (probably because it always turned out gross). I have developed a love for baking since that seems to be enjoyed by more people and funner to do. I have come to the conclusion that the reason I don't like to cook is because

1. you actually have to watch and concentrate on what you're doing and
2. after all that hard work, the food is gone within minutes.

I have trouble with number 1 because there is nothing more annoying for me than standing in front of the oven watching something boil or making sure something else doesn't burn. I like to multi-task and/or watch TV at the same time so this causes a problem. A good example is last night....I was making pork chops in one pan, boiling peas in another and boiling turnip in a third pot. There were only a couple of pieces of turnip so I decided to use a smaller pot to cook it in. It wasn't cooking fast enough for me so I put the cover back on top (I thought maybe the steam would cook it faster) and sit down to watch TV. All of a sudden I hear this weird sizzling noise so I get up and see in the kitchen. I lift the cover to the turnip only to find that all the water has evaporated in the pot and the turnip is burning itself into the bottom of the pot, basically frying the turnip and my pot. Moral of the story: I can't handle more than one burner being one at a time.

So, back to my story. Even though I don't have a knack for cooking, I still like to try new recipes and do not let my previous experiences get me down. A few months back I decided to try this really cool recipe from my Weight Watchers cookbook - Eggplant Rollatini. I forced myself to stay within the confines of the kitchen and not put the TV on while making it for the first time and who knew! It came out amazing! So now I have to make it for everyone I know. Since my mom has celiac disease I thought it would be a perfect dish to make for her and I as a late lunch AND it would FOR SURE take my mind of my exam cause I wouldn't have time to focus on anything but the casserole. So that's what I did and boy did the afternoon fly by!

After lunch Mabyn and Mya came for a visit! I wanted to bring Mabyn to the Trading Post before it closed so they mosied on down from Digby after Mya woke up from her nap. We had a great afternoon and Mabyn found some really cool stuff at the Trading Post. Oh and another thing, if you are looking for something to take your mind off things, babies are excellent! So when we left the Trading Post it was 4pm. I was starting to get really nervous as I knew the results would be up anytime. While Mom was talking to Mabyn and Mya, I went to the computer to refresh the browser and noticed that the results were there!!!! I screamed and Mom came rushing over. I said : the marks are there but I can't look!!!!!!! Mom asked me for my ID number, I told her and she started to scroll down the page. I found that it was taking her an awful long time to react and then all of a sudden she let out the biggest WHOOPPP I have EVER heard!!!!! She started to dance around the kitchen and I got up out of the chair and we hugged and danced around for a long time! Mabyn came to join the group hug and Mya started to clap her hands..it was the cutest thing EVER!!!!!! I was soooooo excited!! I then realized that Dad had been waiting ALL day to hear from either Mom or I and was probably having a heart attack just wondering what was taking so long and imagining the worst. I went to grab the phone but turned around cause Mom was yelling again!!!...she already had Dad on the phone and was screaming that I had passed!!!! Then she called Christopher and Sarah, who were on their way home from Halifax. Sarah had just landed for Easter and Christopher had waited there to pick her up. I'm SOOOOOOOO happy I got to share that moment with Mom and Mabyn. I definetely wouldn't have had the same feeling or reaction, being alone in my office at the end of the afternoon, knowing that I would only be able to celebrate when I got home, 3 hours later. It's a moment I will never forget! I'm so happy Mom was there cause both my parents have been there every step of my journey, financially and emotionally and it is because of them that I am where I am. I love you both soo much!! I called my grandmother after that and after I finished yelling that I had passed, she says "I don't understand you!!" So I had to calm down a bit and tell her again. She was just as excited as we all were and said she would be right over. Dad, Sarah and Christopher arrived at about the same time about an hour later, Dad with champagne in hand! We had an awesome supper and I was so thankful that my whole family was there to celebrate with me. Here are some pictures of the evening. I wish I would have taken more!
This is Grand-mere and I celebrating with champagne!! I love her, she's the coolest :)


Sarah was even allowed to have some champagne because it was such a special occasion that needed celebrating!


***************

So after that very exciting news, it was time to celebrate! It was really perfect timing because down home it was the annual Clare Canoe Trip. I think the Canoe Trip has been going on for the better part of 40 years. It always happens on Easter weekend so sometimes the lakes are still frozen and only the hardcorest canoers venture out in the cold weather and do the lakes that aren't frozen. But this year, there was tons of water and GORGEOUS weather. I missed the past couple of years because of exams so this year I was pumppped to be home for it. Now, this weekend isn't exactly a "dry" weekend. Just to give you an example of how crazy this weekend is, there is usually a line-up out the door to the liquor store in the days leading up to the weekend. I know, pretty bad for a religious holiday.....but what can I say, there's nothing else to do in Clare and we're hicks!

The way it works is that on Good Friday, everyone that wants to participate in the Canoe Trip meets up at a designated spot around 7:30am and the canoes start taking off around 8am. Here are a few pictures of what this stop looks like. Not only were there over 150 canoes but there are also people who follow the Canoe Trip with their four-wheelers and vehicles...basically, they are mud-bogging. The girls and I did it a couple years a few years back but with everyone in different places and not always home for the weekend, I hadn't done it in awhile. But I REALLY wanted to do it this year. Lianne didn't want to because this is her first year teaching and she knew there would be some of her students in it and she didn't want to be seen and be a bad example. So I disappointingly accepted her reasoning and settled with going to all the different stops the canoes make along the way. It's a 2 day trip with about 10 stops where the canoes stop and rest and everybody gets to see everyone else. One year, Cla's brother even flew home from BC just for this! It's crazy how big this weekend is down home!! Christopher gets more excited for this than Christmas!

So we went to Nicole's aunt's house which is on the river where the canoes pass by. We got there around 9:30am and the canoes had already started to pass by. Here are some of the pics from there.
There are a lot of people who come to watch the canoers go by at Nicole's aunts, there is always a big breakfast and its lots of fun:)

My and my girlies waiting for the canoes to pass

Sarah and her buddy Nigel in their canoe!

Nicole's brother Jacques stopped for a few minutes to chat with us.....

and this is what happened.....hahaha....his girlfriend and her friends rammed into him cause they couldn't stop!


We then left and made our way to the next stop which was only about a 2 minute drive from Nicole's aunt's. There are always ridiculous amounts of people here! I was busy taking pics cause this year was the first year Sarah was participating in the trip as well. She did awesome by the way! Here are some pics of this stop.
The is the bridge that the canoes pass under. There is also a little current so it makes it a little harder.

A pic of just some of the canoes after going under the bridge.

Christopher and his canoeing partner Joel still dry!

The guys in this canoe....not so dry...

And since they didn't move the canoe out of the way in time, this is what happened next! It was a crazy few minutes!

These guys fiberglassed their two canoes together...it's awesome!

Oh and the BEST picture is this one.....Nigel(Sarah's canoeing partner) with his broken oar, which means that my awesome sister Sarah navigated through the rapids and steered the canoe all her herself!! Power to the girls!

While we were there, we met up with one of our old classmates and he told us he was doing the rest of the trip in a motor-boat and asked us if we wanted to come along. So Nicole and I went and got our "supplies" and headed out. It was THE BEST DAY!! Not only did we not have to do any work and paddle and stuff like that but we got to catch up with Philip and the rest of the people on the lake and give them a tow when they didn't feel like paddling anymore. I had a blast! And it was sooo warm that I even got a suntan! So I leave you with a few pics of the rest of the day and encourage you all to come down with me at some point and experience this event for yourselves!!
Philip, me and Nic in our boat!

Sarah enjoying being home and the nice and relaxing day it was!

Working hard!

Me and Nicole NOT working so hard :)

All the canoes we are towing

Almost to the second stop of the day...

A few of the canoes pulled over for a stop

I, of course needed a pic with the King of the Canoe Trip!

Sarah and I also found one of our cousins, Lorianne!

Lianne also got in a canoe after the second stop!...she also didn't have to do any work...we always have everything all figured out!

At the third stop, the canoers have to haul their canoe up this VERY steep hill. Unfortunately, Nic and I had to help bring the boat up...it was NOT an easy haul!

And then you have to drag your canoe for about 1 km until you reach the next and last lake....it is exhausting!

Some people are smarter than we are and actually prepare themselves for this stop so they don't have to drag their canoes

This is the only picture of the boat we were in. This is our captain in the pic..Russell :)

The last lake!

And the last pic of the day...Lianne calling her mom I think to tell her that we made it safe and sound!


Here are some pics of the next day....we didn't participate in it cause there are too many rapids and really, one day of canoeing is enough for me. But Christopher and his buddy Joel do it every year and are a blast to watch!

The girls walking to the Mic Mac Falls, the biggest rapids of the trip

I love playing in the mud :)

Here they come!!

And yes, that is a Christmas Tree in the back of the canoe...it has empty beer cans as ornaments!!

Down they go!!

He has it all under control!


So that was my Easter weekend....I know it's a little bit late but keep checking and reading cause I am going to do some serious April and May blog catching up this week!!

Suz