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!
Filed under Books, Holidays | Comment (1)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.
Filed under Holidays, Travel | Comment (1)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
Cuckoo cherie.
Well, it’s my first family day in Alberta (cue music) and while I love a long weekend, I’m a little at loss with what to do today with my family so far away.
I’ve decided to grab the ‘ol binoculars and head down to the Cave and Basin marsh and check out the magpies, crows and the little fish caught in the swamp.
If you’re in the city today, or stuck at your desk, why not check out Paul Morstad’s bird paintings instead?
Have a lovely Monday,
Sarah
Filed under Banff, Holidays, birds | Comments (2)Where will the time go?
With New Years only a few days away I’m starting to wonder what types of projects or changes might be in store for 2009. Not in a New-Years-Resolution type way, however, which are always broken immediately. (Who bought a gym membership and went three times in a year?)
I think I’d like to simply get things done this year. Pure and simple. Turning 30 might also be to powering this list – I was supposed to be living in California and fluent in German by now. Mach schnell!
So, one obtainable goal I’d like to set I’m going to set for this year is to try to make breakfast at home more often. Instead of coffee and a croissant every day from the coffee shop at work, as much as I love them, I’ll whip something up at home. I found a flickr set not long ago that has the tastiest set of photos taken at breakfast every morning. This picture in particular kills me:
If I could stop hitting snooze so many times and hurry up and get out of bed, this is what I’d like to have for breakfast in the morning. I’d also love to be organized enough to make homemade scones, freeze them, and heat them up in the morning. But that seems to much to ask at this juncture.
Hmm… I’m still not sure this plan is feasible. Maybe I’ll hope for this Christmas miracle instead.
Happy Holidays!
Hope you’re having a lovely Christmas. I have so much in store tomorrow I can barely stand it. Fancy breakfast with meats, cheeses, coffee (with that lovely liquid vanilla. mmm) cookies and so on. Then opening some presents – Santa sure has sent a lot of packages from Montreal. weeeeee! The rest of the day will be spent skiing at Sunshine and later on cooking a turkey. So far our first Christmas in Banff is getting a big high-five.
Here’s hoping your Christmas is tasty and delicious, too!
xo Sarah
Easter – I like you, I really do!
One of the best tips I ever got from my Mum was to hide my dirty dishes in the oven when unexpected guests come over. Genius!
I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris has lots of little caramel nuggets of ideas, just like my Mum’s. It’s a big hunker of a book, filled with lots of recipe ideas and hosting ideas (like hiding marbles in your bathroom cabinet to trick nosy guests.) I wish Amy was the next door neighbor who would invite me over for fancy themed dinners and stop by with cupcakes and homemade lemonade on Sunday afternoons. In Montreal we had Mr. Piedlourds as a neighbour, and in Alberta most of our neighbours are strangers. Would you take cupcakes from a stranger?
Actually, I might. But they’d need to have a LOT of colourful icing.
If I can’t sway you to buy the book (for yourself, a friend… your grandmother), maybe Amy can. Here she is in her own deliciously wacky promotional video.
Amy talks about two things a lot in her book: cheese balls and her rabbit. Maybe you have some time this weekend to make a cheese ball for your family. You can follow along as she makes them on Martha Stewart right here. I wish I had both these things, except I am poor and can’t afford cheese at the moment, and Chris is allergic to every conceivable animal. So, in honour of Easter, let’s take a peak into the world of Amy’s Easter Bunny-ish cupcake store. If I lived nearby I would visit every single day.
However, since I do not live nearby I decided to celebrate Easter another way. I visited every single candy store in town, and bought something gooey from every stop.Wooo! There are pics from the Sugar World Tour right here (and to your right if you click that little Flickr image.)
Hope you all have a great Easter weekend eating hams, perogies, cakes and cookies with your Mums!
xo Sarah
Filed under Holidays, Home, Sarah | Comments (3)