Moose Jaw Minute #72: Bonne Année!

Bonne Année!  Another year has come and gone and I, for one, cannot believe it.  It's been an awesome year that started with Screech in Moose Jaw and will end with tapas in Chicago.  We've been incredibly fortunate this year with people and places and are really looking forward to what 2012 has in store.

BUT, before we move on to 2012, I should give a little update on the past two weeks!  Dave has come back to the city to spend some time with me over the holidays and we've had a blast.  He enjoyed sleeping in, I enjoyed a couple of days off work.  We ate great food, spent time with good friends, and put together our little abode in the city.  We finished a monster puzzle, made and ate lots of cookies, decorated our "tree," and spent some time reflecting and appreciating the goodness that 2011 was.

Not one, but TWO trees!

Lovely Christmas Market...

As I think back on this year, there are so many things we were able to accomplish...among them - a wedding, two fantastic hiking trips, seeing my parents renew their vows in April, a new job, and yet another notch in the old moving-from-one-place-to-another belt.  In short, it's been a great year!

Best wishes for 2012!

Moose Jaw Minute #71: And to All a Good Night

My apologies for not hanging around the blogosphere lately.  It's just, well, a certain guy from a certain Canadian town came to a certain U.S. city to visit a certain gal.  We are grateful for so much this year and just wanted to say to everyone...

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year!

Cheers!

Moose Jaw Minute #70: Happy Holidays, Love Chicago

The Chriskindlmarket in Chicago is everything good about the holidays.  There are twinkling lights, a giant tree, mulled wine, hot chocolate, awesome German goodies like pretzels, and a sweet castle chock full of every sweet thing you can imagine.  There are vendors from all over the globe selling their wares -- from hand-blown glass ornaments to wooden toys.  It takes me back to high school in Germany when the holidays would come to life in each village square in the form of a market that my family could enjoy together.

That Chicago has a Christkindlmarket makes it that much more of an awesome city to be back in...there is nothing more magical to me than a city during the holidays!

I'll be posting more holiday pics later...have a great week!

Moose Jaw Minute #69: Weekend Rewind

This was the weekend wintry dreams are made of...

A mattress to sleep on (finally!)
Brunch with friends
Episodes of Dexter
A Skype date (or two!) with Canada
A run along the lakefront with an awesome friend
A slowly-coming-together apartment

And, views like this....

Who can resist this?!  The city at its finest!

Dave and I are eagerly planning our time together at the end of this month...the countdown has begun until we see each other again!  It will be our first Christmas together alone and we will be spending it among the twinkling lights of the city...

hmmmm...maybe a Christmas tree is in order this year...

Moose Jaw Minute #68: Very Merry Weekend

These are the weekends I dream of...a chill in the air, good friends, awesome runs outside, and a general overall feeling of weekend-y-ness.  In short, it's been fabulous.  I had the chance on Saturday to catch up on writing my holiday cards while downing some good tea and listening to Christmas tunes.  Following that, I got to spend some quality time (re)watching the first season of The Walking Dead (I am in LOVE with this show!) with some good friends of mine.  The weather was just right for us to go for a run in the middle of the zombie marathon and gave us an excuse to return home and down some good veggie lasagna.

Today, I had the good fortune to be invited to one of my close friend's homes for a holiday brunch.   Maureen, founder of the Global Women's Leadership Forum, holds a brunch each year to thank the women in her life that have impacted her during the year.  It was a morning of inspiration, reflection, and sisterhood and I was grateful to be included.

A chat with my family and one of my best friends to close it all out.  It's been a lovely weekend of weekends and I am grateful for it.

Christkindlmarket and a Picasso

Holiday cards

Winter Bird

The city has decked their halls

Moose Jaw Minute #67: Images from Home

Dave and I took some time when I was home to go for a lovely walk in Regina.  It was crisp out with a bright blue sky...just the way I like it...

In addition to our walk, we may have sampled the Christmas cake I baked back during Canadian Thanksgiving in October.  Just saying.  What?  I can't help it that it contains some of my most favorite things like raisins, prunes, molasses, and some good dousing of alcohol!  It's just so tasty...

And, yes...I like prunes...is there something wrong with that?!?!

Happy Weekend, everyone....

Moose Jaw Minute #66: 24 Thanks

Mural in Chicago

Happy American Thanksgiving everyone!  Yes, yes...I know I am a day late, but can you fault a girl who just returned home to Canada late on Wednesday for being a bit preoccupied with her husband that she hasn't seen in almost a month?  Ahem...I didn't think so.

My Thanksgiving in Canada was a quiet one...some errands to run, a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to be missed (darn you, online streaming websites!), a classic family apple pie to make, and a vegan Thanksgiving dinner to wrap up the evening.  There was Skype chatting with family and emails traded among friends.  It was yummy and delicious and homey and perfect.  Just the way a Thanksgiving should be...

And so, on this day-after-Thanksgiving, when a good portion of my fellow country people are knocking down the doors of various big box stores to prep themselves for the holiday season, I am going to sit back, tend to my work, and think about the 24 things I am thankful for this year (inspired by Megan over here)...

1.  For the little family we've created over the past *almost* three years

2.  Family and friends here, there, and everywhere in between

3.  My health...seriously...

4.  My job...I love what I do and who I get to work with

5.  Skype

6.  Boots from Peru

7.  Vacations...whether mini or epic

8.  The orange scarf, and the blue one, and the...okay, all my scarves

9.  Moose Jaw...for helping me find my inner calm

10.  Morning runs along the lakefront with a good friend

11.  Roof(s) over my head

12.  Spring rolls...YUM!

13.  On the subject of food...soy lattes and mate lattes

14.  Our second wedding and the chance to celebrate with loved ones

15.  Alexi Murdoch...such good music

16.  Friends who welcome you back and help you deck out your new place

17.  Airplanes

18.  The holidays and all their over-the-top-sparkly goodness

19.  The El and public transport in Chicago

20.  My mentors

21.  Kayaks

22.  Tofu

23.  New opportunities to grow and spread my wings

24.  Most of all...the love and support I feel every day

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!

Apple pie prep...

Thanksgiving Feast!

The holidays are showing up in the city!

A friend and I saw this...a bathroom for rent...

Oh...so...delicious!

SO GOOD!  Demera...so tasty!