Coulda Woulda Shoulda

We're setting off today again for our journey down to the extravaganza of the Leap Year - V Day. It's not really at all like D Day, 1) because it's not the end of a war, more like the beginning and 2) there are not nearly as many Europeans involved, although I suppose D and I count with our dual citizenship. It's a day that my parents invented, to make sure that at least once every four years, all of their children would actually come home. There's no guilt for Christmases missed or birthdays, even Mother's Day and Father's Day aren't pushed heavily. But on V Day, February 29th, if you're not with my parents, well, you might as well fly yourself to the moon. My mother, however, is not great at giving guilt, which I great for me although sometimes I feel bad for her. Isn't it her right of passage to GET to make me feel guilty? Isn't THAT what all those hours of labour was for? And since me and my siblings actually LIKE my parents, we end up ge...

When we lived in Toronto, we rarely went further past Spadina on Queen Street. Not that I had anything against the street, it's just that I spent more time up Church Street or down to Jarvis and Front or up to Bloor and Yonge than I did in that direction. Ryerson's near the Eaton's Centre. I was a lazy student. I just stayed closer to home. This weekend my lovely friends from Korea K and W met D and I downtown for some visiting and potential sightseeing. As the weather was garbage - not unusual for February - we ended up walking underground for awhile. After a quick lunch near the Eatons Centre we ventured outside towards City Hall and onto Queen Street. I knew it would be a street that K would like I also knew that W has lived here before and probably frequented this street as well. So we walked, in the slush and the snow and the rain (yes, it was raining. IN FEBRUARY. And making this mucky and wet and melted and brown). W said he knew of a place where we could sit, have a...

It's very cold here in Canada. Us Canadians love to discuss the weather and I had forgotten why. Because in winter, IT GETS REALLY REALLY FREAKIN COLD!!!! Over the past couple of days, I've become slightly pathetic and started looking at all my Facebook pictures from the beaches. I'm not sure if I'm nostalgic for the trip or if it's just for the beach. So, since that's they way my mind seems to be going right now, I just thought I'd share a random sampling of the beaches we lounged on this fall. Can I tell you, as I look outside to the 5 feet of snow and the thick sheets of ice that it's hard for me to believe there was ever a time that I could leave the house without 5 layers on. Enjoy.

When we were driving in Western Australia from Perth to wine country Margaret River, an old song came on an immediately punched me back to high school. Many of your will remember Sunscreen , the speech given by Mary Schimch to a group of graduates. I began reciting the words, surprising myself how I knew them off by heart and also amazed at the difference at what the words now meant to me, 15 years on. We were driving through a beautiful part of the country, just about 6 weeks into our glorious journey, and this song was now becoming part of much more than my old school memories. And I also felt happy. Because I had had so many dreams and plans when I used to listen to that song. And here I was, living them out more wildly that my dreams could ever have imagined. I happen to be cat sitting today and was reminded of the song - it was posted up in a room in the house. Although the entire song makes me feel reflective, I really like this one part: "Be careful whose advice you buy, bu...

I do realise that when we first left Canada, it was the 21st century. It was actually a couple of years into the 21st century. But it is only NOW that I'm learning of all these new fandangle things that use technology to make life easier. Over the past 5 years, we have not really been 'consumers' in the true sense. We became sticklers for NOT buying stuff because any money we made was meant to go into savings. You can be an adventurous travelling nomad but ONLY if you don't spend all your money on the latest Blackberry or that designer bag that would look just..so..good with those new shoes. Plus, there's the not having-the-internet-at-home thing, which changes your world in ways well, that all of you can imagine. So, since we've been home, it's taking a little getting use to all this consumer luxury, and the advances that they bring. I feel a bit like an alien from outer space sometimes when I'm being shown how to use technology by people 20 YEARS OLDER...

I'm finding it hard to concentrate on just one item these days. We've not yet been home a month (I KNOW SERIOUSLY! It totally feels so much longer than that) and there still seems to be so many questions floating in the air. And so, I find myself, busily trying to find one solution (somewhere to work) when suddenly, my brain jumps to another problem it wants to fix (pants too tight. must exercise). I distinctly remember the guilty feeling when umemployed, that I'm-a-total-slacker feeling that needles away at you, make you feel like you're not being productive if you're not doing something to get yourself employed. I suppose it similar to the guilt creative people feel when they have to leave the office to be, well, CREATIVE. Like their playing hooky. Or doing something they shouldn't because it actually makes them feel good. But I ignored all those thoughts today and decided that since I am in the middle of a forest, I should take advantage of that and go...are ...

Okay, I'm totally going to hell for splitting my gut laughing at this. But you know? It's soooo worth it. (thanks Dooce )

I think I'm finally crawling out of this cave I feel like I've been in for the last little while. It's not that I've been a hermit, although a few blog posts ago you can read all about that, it's just simply more that I'm starting to figure out the 'yeses' and 'nos' of this new world called home. I've interacted with people - but only those who know me better than myself and actually have known exactly what I needed during this period of transition without ME even knowing it. Now those people deserve MEDALS. There is so much information to share and I've always been better at sharing it on paper or at least, on the internet. I suppose that sounds weird. But the thing is, I only have to write something once. Then everyone knows it. And we can move on to more important conversations like how long have you had your hair cut like that and did you really just find the guy that painted your kitchen in the yellow pages? It's so easy how that...