Posts

March

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So I guess I am falling into a once-a-month routine with writing here. I think I’ll just embrace it. 🙂  So here are the updates for March!

Earlier this month, we got back from a week-long trip down to Florida (my first time visiting that particular state)!  Trevor’s parents were renting a house down there for the month, and invited us to come stay for a bit. It was a nice trip.

Wesley is not nearly as easy to manage on a plane as he was the last time we flew.  He was only 4 months old then, and he was awesome, mostly slept.  He did okay, but now he’s a big strong writhing ball of kiddo, and it’s harder to keep him happy in our laps for any length of time.  Next time we fly, even if he’s not 2 yet, we’re getting him his own seat for sure.

Southwest Florida is nice, but if the weather isn’t super hot (it was warm, but not beach-going-hot most of the time we were there) there’s not a lot to do. We did some shopping and did visit the beach, but mostly we stayed at the house. This was actually a good thing, though, because it was nice to be able to just sit and read as much as we did.  Going outside without coats on was a huge plus as well (and spring would do well to arrive here anytime now!)

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Work has gotten nice and busy the past few weeks!  Lots of exciting projects on the go.   That, combined with singing holy week services for choir means I’m looking at a pretty busy upcoming week, but it should be good.  I’m looking forward to the long weekend from work though. Also in the work category, a presentation that a co-worker and I proposed for a conference got accepted, so we’ll be doing a presentation in May! Should be good.

I got in touch with Family and Children’s Services about volunteering, and went for an interview there recently.  It’s a really amazing organization, and I’m kind of fascinated with their programs. I have to do some paperwork and training before I can be a proper volunteer, but I’m pretty excited.  I also got to see a presentation about another awesome local organization called Strong Start, and I’m really blown away by their programs as well, and hopefully will be able to help them out in some way. So many cool things happening here, if only I had unlimited time to volunteer!

Speaking of volunteering, I’ve been asked to be the costumer for a show that’s going up next year, so I’m pretty stoked about that. Hooray for costuming, my biggest theatre love! I might have to get a tuneup on my sewing machine- it’s been running pretty clunkily for a bit. It’s a really sweet workhorse of a machine- one of the older Singer school machines that have decent speed and are more heavy duty than what is produced now.

TedX is next week as well (falling during my busy week of busyness)! I’m really stoked about going, especially since I went last year and I know a little better what to expect. I hope that the talks are super inspiring!

Swerving right into the oncoming holiday season

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Plowed through most of of November already! I know lots of people like to hold off on holiday celebrating as long as possible, which is fine, but I’m already getting ready. I’ve done nearly all my Christmas shopping, we’re working on Advent music at choir, and we went to the local Santa Claus parade is this weekend!

Today is foggy and the sunlight looks thin and cold, though the temperature is going to be fairly mild. No notable snows yet, but those don’t usually come until the first bit of December.

Wesley and I both picked up a bit of a cold- He’s got snot from his nose to his ankles, and mine is more of a sore throat and desperate need for extra sleep so far. Hopefully we’re both all cleared up soon.

I’m getting used to the idea that I’m heading back to work soon. Nervous about the logistics and the transition, but excited to be working again. Lots of other things to look forward to in the new year as well- my parents are coming to visit in February, and we’re likely heading to Florida in March for a vacation with Trevor’s parents (as soon as dates and details are sorted out). I’ve never been to Florida (despite having been to most of the other states) so I’m excited about that.

New bed and other hedonism

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Since we moved in together nearly 8 years ago, Trevor and I have not had the most awesome of beds. Our first bed was a futon (which we still have), but it was fairly low, and not super comfortable.

Then, we bought ourselves a proper bed, which we’ve had ever since. It’s quite comfortable, medium firmness and euro-topped and all, but it’s double size. Our apartment at the time was a decent sized one-bedroom, but we didn’t have quite enough space to go for a bigger size.

So we’ve been sleeping in that double bed for quite a while. Staying in hotels while traveling though, we’d gotten some tastes of the king size, and quite enjoyed it. Tons of space to move around. We could hang out with Wesley in the mornings for a morning bed cuddle! With us and the cats in the double, it was starting to look a bit like a clown car compared to the hotel beds.

So we went for it and bought a king size. It’s memory foamy and non-motion transfery and such. We also got some hardcore gel pillows that feel like down pillows without the annoyingness of down.

For the full hotel-like experience, I bought all white linens, too. It was all delivered yesterday. We slept in it last night and it was pretty comfortable! It’ll take a little getting used to though. The pillows are pretty blissful. And the linens. I had a cup of Calming tea in bed last night and it was pure hedonism. After a long bath in my sweet soaker tub. Yeaaaaah. Highly recommended.

bed in bedroom
BAM.

It’s SO huge compared to our old bed. Like, we can barely reach each other. But it’s awesome. Our double bed has been relegated to guest room use:

guest room
Come on over!

And the futon now lives in the office:

office with futon
Seating!

I feel like a dork going on and on about it, but sleeping is a third of our lives and all. Anyone else done a huge bed upgrade like that? How long does it take to really get used to it?

Weather and other awesomeness.

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The weather has been absurdly beautiful the past week or so. Just clear and sunny and perfect. Spent some time out on the deck, walked down to the grocery store with Wesley, went to Trevor’s soccer game last night (though we walked around a lot during that too to keep Wesley quiet). A picture!

This time of year has such gorgeous weather and it just makes you pine for everlasting summer. Fall is gorgeous too though, thankfully, so I hope I won’t be too sad when I’m staring down the barrel of the middle of September. That’s when my birthday and wedding anniversary are as well, so that helps. 🙂

Swimfit today, which may or may not be the last class- my schedule says there’s one more after today, but the instructor said last week that this was the last class, so we’ll have to sort that out. I’ve definitely enjoyed it, thinking about signing up for a mommy and me water yoga class this fall.

Entering the tablet world

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For a long time, I didn’t really have a use for a tablet- I have a laptop, and am not a huge fan of touchscreens (aaaaahhhh fingerprints). But just this past weekend, I got one of my own, because I found a use for them finally! I like to read in bed before I fall asleep, and I have an e-reader, which helps me avoid the otherwise inevitable stack of books on my nightstand. But sometimes I want to read blog articles or Facebook or whatever other internet, since those things work a little more nicely when my attention span is shorter. I don’t like using my laptop in bed though- so enter the tablet- it’s my ereader for the internet.

I got a BlackBerry Playbook. It was a fairly easy choice for me, since I like to support RIM, but I particularly like the size of it- it’s similar in size to my Sony ereader and since I have small hands, I find it a lot easier to handle than a 10″ tablet. I took it with me when we went to Trevor’s parents’ this past weekend as well, and it’s really nice as an alternative to lugging the laptop along or using my phone to check my email and such. It’s nice out on the deck as well, if I am not wanting to avoid technology out there. 🙂 I’m pretty pleased with it, and the price is pretty awesome too. Hooray!

Virtual Choir 3!

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The final video of Virtual Choir 3 is up!

I have been looking to see if I can see me anywhere in the video, but I haven’t found me! My name is in the credits at about 6:31.

TEDx Waterloo

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On Wednesday, I went to TEDx Waterloo. I applied this year thinking I’d either not be accepted or not be able to go due to needing to take care of Wesley, but I was accepted and a friend of mine was able to watch Wesley during the day, which was awesome.

If you don’t know what TED is (how could you not!), it stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design” and has become a format for conferences that are held around the world. Talks are on a huge variety of subjects- speakers are charged with giving the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less. You can see a ton of examples at TED.com.

I got to the Centre in the Square just before the first round of speakers started. I particularly enjoyed Scott Chantler and Krister Chalm of the first set of speakers. One of the really cool things about the day was Mr. Chantler’s project- he spent the day working on a representation of the day and the speakers in comic form.

I also enjoyed Taylor Jones of Dear Photograph, from the second set of speakers, and Jean Béliveau, whose story of his walk around the world was super compelling.

My favourite speaker of the day was Karen Morris, who gave a really well done talk about love, connection, and innovation, which is hard to describe but it really spoke to me. Overall, it was a great day. If there’s a TED in your area and you haven’t been, you should go!

Virtual Choir 3

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I mentioned a while back that I recorded a track for Virtual Choir 3, a project run by Eric Whitacre where huge numbers of people record tracks of themselves singing a part of one of his choral pieces, and they’re all mixed together to make this huge choral recording. It’s awesome. Anyway, I missed out on Virtual Choirs 1 and 2, but managed to make a recording for the 3rd by the skin of my teeth (they extended the deadline and I got my recording in that day)!

The actual video/recording is going to be released on April 2nd, but today they released a huge photo of all the members of the choir, and I found myself! Click on the picture to see everyone. I’m in the 4th row from the bottom, 25th from the left.

Weekend, first aid, Muppets

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It was a pretty busy weekend! On Saturday Trevor and I took a long first aid course with St. John Ambulance, and we’re now both certified in emergency first aid for adults, children and infants, and use of defibrillators for same. It was a decent course, I’m glad we did it. Made for a long day though- practicing CPR on plastic dummies can be pretty tiring.

On Sunday, we saw The Muppets, which was pretty good! I didn’t get to watch much of the Muppet Show when I was smaller, though I did enjoy pretty much all the Muppet movies I’ve seen. Anyway, if you haven’t seen it, and you like Muppets, go, because it’s awesome.

Things that are awesome

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Christkindl Markt – I’ve been to the Christkindl Markt in downtown Kitchener for the past 4 years or so, and it’s awesome every year. This year, I didn’t have to sing there, which was nice. I got a funnel cake for lunch on Thursday when it opened, and it was delicious.

New desk at work – Our office is expanding, and everyone is moving around to best make use of new spaces. So my team moved down a floor, and I wound up in a pretty nice desk! I am pleased. I’m by the window, but not facing it, which is nice as I prefer to face the room anyway. Though I’m only at work for a few more weeks before my leave starts, it’s nice to spend them in a workstation I like. My keyboard tray is coming tomorrow too, so that will be good!

Trello – Over the past little while, I’ve been using a service called Trello to organize tasks for myself, and I’m finding it pretty nice. I was using Google tasks before, but this is nicer and has a lot more options, and it works nicely on my Blackberry. Check it out if you regularly make to-do lists!

Blackberry 9810 – I got a new Blackbery recently, with the new OS (OS 7) and I am a big fan! It has a better camera than my previous device, the navigation is nice, I still have the sweet keyboard, bigger screen… I dig it.