It has been a LOOOONNNNGG time!!!

How has it been over a month since I have last blogged?? I have been busy mind you, but really who hasn't??  We have since gone and come home from vacation, recovered from vacation, and had some hella hella weeks at work :(  We haven't really come up for air, and are already hoping to book another vacation to really rest and relax, because going on vacation to a destination 10 plus hours away by plane and with family is not always the most relaxing, though I love the fam to peices, we are very different people and are sometimes exhausting to be around!

We have been eating out more often than not due to our long days and hectic lives, and I find myself getting sick of take out.  So instead of working I am blogging, and am wondering what exactly to have for dinner!  I am hitting the 3pm wall so to speak, and am dying to have something homemade and tasty!  Maybe the kitchen fairies will have something hot and tasty on the stove or in the oven for when I get home?  A girl can always dream!

I have pictures from the Dominican to upload, I promise!  Until next time, which I promise will not be as long as before,

xoxo

L

Happy Weekend!

Thank goodness it's Friday!  It has been a long week over at Casa de Joon and Larissa, and I am very happy it is the weekend! We are both exhausted and counting down the days to our tropical vacation, but until then, this is on our weekend to do list:

I wish we could head out to the mountains to hike and enjoy this early spring weather we will be having (shh, it is rumored to get up to 15C!)

I am also hoping to get to the farmers market and pick up some fresh local produce... I love the farmers market! Unfortunately, the Currie Barracks Market will only be open until the end of this summer, and then the building is being bulldozed for urban development.  Cookie cutter houses, Super Walmarts, Superstores, and other big box stores to support the brand new community. :( Here's hoping they find a new location soon!

A walk with the puppy- Ms. Bella has been cooped up for the past week and a half as she recovers from a butcher job cut on her face from the groomers.  She has not been a happy camper with her head cone, twice a day pills that I trick her into eating with peanut butter, and ointment on her poor cut.  She is a little devil however, as she has discovered the pill in her peanuty butter treat, and has started spitting out the pill after eating all the pb goodness! She also hides as far under the coffee table as soon as she hears the pill bottle shake, and the Q-Tip get pulled from the cabinet!

Shopping!  I am heading to the mall to pick a few little items for the Dominican, a refresher if you will into my beach vacay wardrobe!  I am looking for dresses, bathing suits, bermuda shorts, and anything else that screams BEACH VACATION, TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!  Wish me luck!

Unfortunately, Joon will be working all Saturday, only 19 more days left and then you will be free!!!

Have a happy fun filled weekend!

xo
L&J

The countdown is on...

28 days and counting until I am here:

Sipping my favorite carribean drink, the "BBC" (equal parts banana, baileys, and coconut cream or pina coloda mix)

Getting one of these hopefully on the beach:

As well as one of these:

Relaxing with my favorite person in the world:

(pretend that is Joon and I... I will insert the real deal once it happens!)

Even though we have had a VERY mild winter this year, with not a lot of cold temperatures or snow, I am more than ready to say sayanora to the need for boots, coats, and mittens and hello to bathing suits, flip flops, sundresses, and sunscreen!!!

Today is my friday!

Today is my Friday, and I am sooo happy!!! I had to work all last weekend, and working 11 days straight with no break to relax has really drained me. I am not sure how Joon does it, as he has been working straight since January 4th with no break in sight until the end of March.  He is a superstar!!!

I am off to see the wizard this weekend!  No, not really, but I AM off to Edmonton to chill with my sisters, and celebrate my nephew Noah's 3rd birthday!!!  So excited!  We are heading to the waterpark to enjoy the fake warmth, water, and slides!  And pretend we are on the beach  for the day.  Of course there will be birthday cake and presents.  However, I am a bit stumped on my gift. What do you get a 3 year old??  He is hooked on Buzz and Woody from A Toy Story, as well as Dinosaurs, so I am sure my gifts will be of that nature!

From a little nugget who barely weighed in at 7 pounds to a mischeivious little monkey who shows his hilariousness everyday...

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

A sad day for my family...

Saturday afternoon my dad's brother passed away.  Yes he is my uncle, but I feel the grief more for my dad and his loss than for myself. 

My uncle helped raise my dad when his parents passed away when he was just a little guy.  The bond that these two felt crossed time, space and sickness.  My dad is a little lost right now, and headed to Newfoundland to be with family and for the funeral.

Alzheimer's is a horrible disease, and took my uncle much too soon and way too quickly. 

You will be missed, you were loved, and we will remember you.

xo
L

Making granola bars today!

So we are in money saving mode in 2010... The time in the states was awesome, but all the exess of awesome stores and stuff and shopping and outlets was a little hard on our bank accounts!!  So, instead of buying protein bars (which are $3.00 each) to munch on my way to the gym, I have decided to try and make my own... So after a bit of googling, I found a recipe that looks halfway decent.  I'm planning on modifying the recipe slightly as it calls for protein powder and I am not a huge fan, but I will let you know how it goes!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
•1 cup oats
•1/4 cup all-purpose flour
•1/4 cup protein powder
•1/2 cup liquid egg whites
•1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
•1/4 cup raisins

Directions:
•Preheat oven to 350*F
•Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well
•Spray an 8 X 4 loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray
•Spread batter into pan evenly and use a spatula to flatten
•Bake for 12-15 minutes
•Allow to cool before cutting
 
I am also excited to try out my new KitchenAid Mixer (I have the cherry red one).
 
Happy Sunday, and I will let you know how the baking extravaganza goes!

No more Negative Nancy for me!!!

I feel really hopeful today... I think all my Negative Nancy purge from yesterday really helped... I have rid myself of negative and am trying to be positive and hopeful.  I am not moving back to DC, and all the time spent made some awesome friends.  I am trying to be grateful of the opportunity to go to the states, and the time we spent there.  I am happy I met the people I did, and need to stop moping and feeling sorry for myself, and today I decided that was what I would do.

And, lo and behold, I have THREE job interviews scheduled for the rest of the week.  I guess that is all I needed, and good things are coming in triplicate!!!  Hopefully they keep coming so I can make the best choice career wise, and more good things will begin for me.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!! It's almost the end of the week, hope your day is going as great as mine is!!!

xo
L

Spring has sprung??

Happy February 2nd Everyone!!! 

Today is Groundhog day, and Balzac Billy has apparently seen his shadow.  Which means that Spring has Sprung!!! Balzac Billy is the official groundhog of Alberta that determines weather spring is here, or if we have another few months of winter...

 I sure hope so, because I don't know how much more of the cold and snow I can handle... Not that it has been all that cold, only -5C ish, which is really not that bad... But the weather has felt so dreary and grey all the time... Which is really doing nothing for my mood... I feel like since we have returned from DC, I have had a hard time.  It's funny, because I wasn't the one in a work program, but I did have time off, and I met some really awesome people.  And we lived in a really cool, fun, interesting, culturally diverse, politically powerful, and historically rich.  And coming back to Calgary has been difficult.  I've come back to a minor career crisis, and am in a job that I am really not enjoying.  I don't have control over all aspects of my life and I am struggling with it... I can't control everything and this is not in my nature...it is not who I am!  I know I keep moaning and whining about this, but I am hoping that I will get it out and be able to focus on the positive.  I am not the kind of person who is this negative.  I don't really even want to be around myself, but unfortunately I can't escape myself!!!  I feel like I am drowning in despair. And I haven't a clue what to do about it.

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

Today marks the end of my second week back to work, and let me tell you it has been the hardest adjustment period of my life.  Before Washington, DC, I was up every morning at 4:45 and went to the gym, and then would head back after work probably 2 or 3 additional evenings.  Since being back, I can barely drag myself out of bed at 7am, and my arrival time into work has been later and later.

I had tried to leave my job before we left for a few reasons.  1) We would be away for six months all in, and I was sure my employer would NEVER agree to that since I was barely there for 3 months.  2) I really didn't enjoy the job that I was doing.  It was over advertised, and someone with a high school diploma could do my job.  Not something I spent 5 years in University and endless hours in night classes for.  3) I was looking for a career change, and was hoping to go back to school/switch careers upon return to Calgary.

This didn't happen when my employer would NOT. LET. ME. QUIT!!! Which was ok at the time because there was SO much else to focus on.  Now that I am back, I am stuck here with no end in sight.  I think I am becoming midly depressed over this, to the point that I am having a hard time sleeping becuase it keeps me up at night thinking about it.  Which may be contributing to my inability to get up in the morning.  Hmmm.

Needless to say, I am on an agressive hunt for a new job to happen asap.  I think my sanity and happiness depends on it!!!

Not too much planned for the weekend, dinner plans tonight, gym with Joon tomorrow, and a whole bunch of cleaning and organizing the house since I have been to exhausted to even attempt any kind of straightening up this week!

Hope you have an awesome weekend,

xo
L

Happy Birthday to my baby sister!!!

My baby sister turns 22 today.  22!!! I can hardly remember that age, what I was doing, and what business I was up to!  It seems like ages ago that I was 22, but now I am way older, and my youngest sister is 22.

My youngest sister, who will always be about 4 in my mind with a dirty face, wild hair, and totally fearless, has grown up, and is having a birthday today.

Happy Birthday Jackie.  Hope your day includes cupcakes, sprinkles, sparkles, and whatever else your heart desires!  You deserve it.

xoxo
L

It's a random Tuesday in January...

Yesterday was my first day of work after SIX months off... I was granted a leave of absence from my job to go with Joon to the states, which was a dream come true!!!  However, going to back to work has been as awful as I thought it would be, and I have come to the conclusion that work is really not all it is cracked up to be!!!  I wasn't expecting to go back to work when I left six months ago, so it has been a bit of a tough week and it is only Tuesday!!!

To top it off, it is January, the month of drear, and yesterday was officially the most depressing day of the year.  It has warmed up here in Calgary, but all the snow we have received are half melted ice piles, the roads are practically impassible with ice groves, and it is a depressing brown outside.

In April, we are going on an all inclusive holiday to the Dominican Republic, and I wish we were leaving next week.  That would mean I could be getting this:

While getting ready to go here:

I am also having a bit of a career crisis, and am really not happy with the job front.  It's only day two, and I already don't feel like I can get out of bed and face the day...  But it is Janurary, and so no one is hiring and there are virtually NO job postings out there...Le sigh...

I will tough through and hope for bigger and better things... fingers crossed that something comes up QUICK!!! 
xo
L

It's the New Year, and a new decade to boot!!!

So this is really quite late in wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years, but I really hope the holidays were great for you and your family.  We were extremely busy with moving back to Canada, getting settled into our house again (still hasn't happened- I have 4 suitcases still needing to be unpacked!), dealing with a small flood in our basement again (We totally Tim the tool man Taylor'd it and dealt with the flood relatively quickly and easily), spending Christmas with my family (we did Christmas with Joon's family in DC when everyone came for a visit (Dec 5-12), getting our dog back after spending 4.5 months with family, and just adjusting to life in Calgary again.

It has been a big change moving back home, a bigger one than I ever thought would be possible.  In 4 months, we made lifelong friends, travelled, and enjoyed life as an American.  I am proud to be Canadian and glad to be back, but I certainly miss being in DC.  It is truely a beautiful city with amazing things to offer!

Now that it's the new year and a new DECADE to boot, I have a few things that I am hoping to commit to for the new year...

• Stop trying to control EVERYTHING around me... I have realized that after travelling to a completely new environment to live that I don't do well with change and become of a bit of an anxiety case.  I want to be more relaxed and not stress when things don't go exactly as I had planned...
• Stop getting parking tickets... ridiculous I know, but the amount spent on paying my parking tickets last year could have bought two, count em TWO, LV Speedy's... le sigh.
• Enjoy my husband... We had a great time in the states and we spent the last few months just being the two of us... now that we are home and back to our everyday life, I don't want to lose the connection that we had established... it's easy to get lost in the everyday.
• And of course, the gym... my never ending struggle!  I had commit to this last year and really did well until DC.  The gym's in our area was less than desireable, and combined with a crappy apartment gym, endless sicknesses and then a slew of visitors and travel I have fallen off the wagon.  I have a few sessions with a personal trainer and hope that will be enough to kickstart my drive to get back in shape.
• Blog a bit more regularly... I was on a kick for a while, and then totally fell off the wagon.  le sigh.

I hope the New Year and New decade will be good to you - I certainly have big plans in the works!!!

xo
L&J