Oooh Book Ideas!

Looking for some good book ideas for over your Christmas holidays? Well, the Canada Reads list was just announced. Fall on Your Knees, one of my favourite books made the list, too.

Grab a chocolatine, a cuppa tea and start your engines!

Sneak peak

On a lovely chilly (snowy) September Labour day in Banff, what better fun than to do some online shopping with a blanket and a cuppa tea?

I’ve purchased a few things off Etsy to spruce up ‘lil Jean Beliveau’s room (pictures to come. Someone soaked her camera this week. It is now resting calmly in a bowl of rice.)

The theme right now is “Rocky Mountains outside my window”. I was hoping to be able to point out a picture of an elk, then be like “hey, what’s that outside?!”

These are the new prints I just purchased (8×10). The goat is eating his tie! The turtle is wearing a fez! Oh man, they kill me. Sometimes I wonder how we lived without Etsy…

What’cha readin?

In a continuous effort to be a cheapskate this year I’ve been trying to take out more books from the library instead of buying as I normally do. It’s hard when places like Indigo have giant “Buy 4 paperbacks, get the 5th one free” type deals. Yikes am I ever a sucker for those. But luckily our Indigo is tucked away inside a mall. Almost out of site.

I figured it was time to get reading up on  the ‘ol baby business as the blank look I give most people when they ask me questions is bound to lose it’s amusement soon. This week was the four month mark, which seemed like a good time to get some healthy food and snack ideas. The first three months were spent focused on peanut butter toast and apples – not that bad, I guess, but certainly lacking.

Better Food for Pregnancy? oh mama so many good recipes. Tasty recipes like vanilla custard, lemony biscotti, cinnamon baked pears. I like my healthy foods to be camouflaged – am I the only one? And who knew wheat germ is full of folic acid? Not me. I bought a huge bag dirt cheap to throw into cereals. Bonzai!

Vancouver Voyage

ah, summer vacation. Chris and I took a week off from work and drove from Banff to Vancouver Island and back. I was excited to have time off and get to have a week in the sun (Banff is lovely in summer, but it’s never more than 25C and the waters are pure hypothermia) and also a little nervous. When we left on our trip I was about 11 weeks pregnant and still sick. Sick all day long.

So, while lovely, there were ups and downs along the way.  Puking out the car window as we drove away from a campsite one morning may top the list. (Life checklist – complete! ) Making Chris pull the car over all day so I could get snacks and drinks and pastries, etc. Actually, that’s pretty normal, but this time it would be imperative that we stop. Now that I look back, most of the trip was spent looking for places to get drinks and snacks. I’m awfully lucky Chris is so patient.  And what were some lessons learned?

* morning sickness during a record heatwave? Not so fun.

* morning sickness and heat stroke on a ferry ride to Vancouver Island? Not recommended.

Oh well. But really, the trip was fantastic. We went to the Vancouver Aquarium, swam in lakes on the side of the highway, visited with Frank, saw helicopters putting out forest fires. And tried the new Very Cherry Dr. Pepper slurpee. Maybe one of the highlights.

More pics on Flickr soon, te prometo.

A-hoy!

Ah, summer in the Rockies. As some of you know, I’ve been a bit of a zombie the past two months.  I’ve missed out on quite a bit of hiking and canoeing and softball, unfortunately. I thought it might be a perfect time to finally read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies… but alas my brain’s been too mushy to focus even on that.

Oh well. Will save it for another day.

In more exciting news, today is the three month mark for the new baby some of you, again, may also know about. He’s on the way! Chris and I also found out that we are going to be able to move into a new apartment (just downstairs from where we are now. with the same view. phew!) on September 1st. It’s a two bedroom apartment – which means no baby in our bedroom. wooooooo! I can’t wait. Our housing manager is also going to give us her baby swing and a box of baby clothes. Things are coming up Milhouse.

I also just got back from a whirlwind 10 day car trip to Vancouver Island.  With over 200 pictures taken I’ve got me some work to do. For now, please enjoy these!

xo Sarah

Easter Bunny Bonanza for the Bigwig!

My friend Brenda was always ga-ga for bunnies. So, while you’re nibbling on Cadbury creme eggs this afternoon, why not also enjoy the cutest bunnies of the internet this Easter! weeeeeee!

xo Sarah

Who’s ready for nightmares?!

I think Nick Hornby would approve of finishing this book in two days. Two days that included a full day of work, a hockey game on CBC and a day spent skiing.  Actually, not much of the day was spent skiing as I spent almost two hours in the lodge reading over lunch.

Shakespeare Wrote for Money is a collection of Hornby’s articles for The Believer magazine. We’re given a list  of the books he has purchased and read every month (which, as for so many of us, the books-bought list often surpasses the books-read list) with topics that are entertainingly all over the map, along with his thoughts on them, what he was doing while reading, and so on. It’s a bit like a better version of this site, as read to you by John Cusack. sigh.

The book also has a lovingly biting intro by Sarah Vowell. Vowell is the author of Assasination Vacation, a book that I haven’t yet read (for fear that I might not know nearly enough US history to fully get it). But it’s on my to-do list for when I cross the US in a winnebago one day. One day…

While visiting Analog, Banff’s new used book store, this afternoon I picked up The Road, by Cormac Mccarthy.  Hornby describes it  (about a father and son team wandering around an apacalyptic world finding  things like babies on barbeques) as “one of the most miserable books ever written.”  And it’s won the pulitzer prize? Sold!

Water flows uphill towards money.

I’m jumping into the frugal waters this year to see how much fun can be had for free (or next to nothing.) Luckily, the Banff Centre is making it awfully easy so far. wooot!

Earlier this week I took a break from my computer and went into the belly of the Other Gallery to see what kinds of creative things were happening behind closed doors. Daniel (pictured here) has built his own kayak. It was something I had admired for quite some time, seeing it strapped to the roof of his car in our parking lot. It’s such a fun little break to see what people are creating while I’m playing with excel spreadsheets. har har.

Ladies of the Rockies

The ladies of Banff took to the Rockies this past weeknd. Wait, we’re already in the Rockies. We spent a weekend in the woods (better.)

The weekend was spent knitting, napping, chatting, snowshoeing and tanning by a nice wood burning stove. Ahhh.

One fantastic book while in the woods is Off the Beaten Track, stories of Canadian women studying botany, hiking, camping and exploring the Rockies by horseback.  After a few stories I had visions of trying to trace their adventures myself this summer, to test their tracks myself. Until a co-worker told me it would be near impossible in one summer. Oh well, I can still paint flowers down by the river with a basket full of chocolate brownies. And did you know that Mary Vaux married Charles Doolittle Walcott? Dr. Doolittle.  He could apparently “smell a fossil.” I love it.

mmm digital snacks…

I bought a new digital camera today!

It was finally time to replace the ‘ol 2002 Sony, and after one look at this picture I instantly wanted to take a bite out of it. Which is how I make all my big purchase decisions. Chris kindly explained the pixel and zoom factors… but the selling point was still it’s nibbleness.

Have a lovely Sunday!