Happy New Year!

A lot of people are expecting 2021 to be so much different and better than 2020. And while I don't think that will be the case until much later in the year, I am hopeful that we can deal with the current situation a little better than we have in 2020. We are getting used to a new normal, and while I don't think 2021 will be much different, I do think it will just be easier.

We are home, connecting with family on a zoom call tonight.  Have a Happy New Year!!

No Brunch Boxing Day

Boxing Day we usually have my husband's family over for Brunch. This year is obviously different. We don't have a dozen people in the house, and there aren't 1000 presents under the tree. Hubby is downstairs blowing things up on his PS 5, and I'm upstairs blogging, watching TV, reading and just relaxing. 

We called his father (who lives in Arizona) today too. Apparently, the US is doing things a LOT different. They were just getting back from spending the holidays at a cabin with family and friends. "But that's ok", he said, "Because everyone at the cabin has already had Covid". Everyone, except for one person. Arizona had 6,616 new cases yesterday, and 115 deaths. Here -- no one is going out, we are all isolating and staying in for Christmas, and Ontario is going into a full lock down as of 12:01am today. I'm so grateful to be living in Canada, and doubly grateful to be living in BC.

Happy Canada Day!

I don't usually get to take vacations or holiday days in the summer time because I'm usually too busy with budgets. But this year, there are a lot of changes at work -- some good and some bad -- and I decided I needed a break from it all. And I gave myself permission to relax for 3 whole days this weekend!

And I'm so glad I did. The weather was warm, but with a cool breeze, sunny with just a few clouds, and we had a good time!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve

Holiday calm

Today, the Remembrance Day holiday was observed. It was nice to have a long weekend! The weather was fantastic - beautiful and sunny, although a little cold (in the single digits, but not yet freezing).
We spent the weekend watching episodes of the HBO series "Band of Brothers" and coverage of the Remembrance Day services in Vancouver. In between household chores, and dinners out. We spent Saturday evening with my family, and Sunday evening with his family.
I kind of felt it was like the calm before the storm -- the informal, relaxed dinner with family before all the hustle and bustle of the holidays sets in.

Remembrance Day 2018

Marking 100 years since the end of WW1

Happy Halloween 2018

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just some of the wonderful pics that were taken of our family Thanksgiving celebration tonight...

Great people, great food - we had a lot of fun!

Happy Easter Weekend

Today (Good Friday) is the start of a 4 day weekend for me. The Easter long weekend. Normally a weekend full of family visits and large dinners with family and friends... this year is a little different. Most of my family has decided to go away this weekend, and some of hubby's family is sick. So, surprisingly, there is no big dinner planned, and no one to visit, and nothing that we really have to do this weekend. And while I'll miss the family, I'm actually looking forward to 4 days of relaxation, binge watching Netflix, and reading books.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day

And yes, it snowed today.
I decided to stay home this morning and work from home for a bit, just in case traffic was really bad from the snow. I had a few deadlines this morning, and it just made sense. Traffic turned out to be not so bad, but I got to sleep in for just a bit. Other than that, Valentine's Day was pretty non-eventful. We both worked, and then watched the Olympics on TV tonight.

Happy Halloween

Canada Day BBQ

Today, we hosted a BBQ for our family to celebrate Canada Day, and to have an excuse for all of us to get together. The pool was a big hit. The burgers and hot dogs were great. The food (including potato salad, cucumber salad, veggies, and apple cake with caramel sauce for desert) was fantastic. But the real star of the show was the pink flamingo!

Happy Canada Day!

Today, Canada celebrates it's 150th birthday.

We are having a big BBQ here tomorrow to celebrate, so we spent the day cleaning house, cleaning the yard, and grocery shopping for tomorrow. But, throughout the day I had the TV on, so I caught a lot of the specials and programs of all the celebrations. I celebrated by drinking one too many mojitos and spending the afternoon in the pool!!
One interesting thing to note: Justin Trudeau is Prime Minister for Canada's 150th Birthday. His father, Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister in 1967 for Canada's 100th Birthday.

Mother's Day

Both of my Mom's are out of town this Mother's Day. So...

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom, and to my Mother-In-Law!
Hope you are both having a wonderful day.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!
I am loving the 4 day weekend, I am loving the dinners, and I am loving seeing the family and kids. But, the best part of the Easter weekend so far has been the 2 boxes of girl guide cookies I bought from my niece. Yum!

Family Day

It's our Family Day holiday today. I technically don't get the day off. But I used a vacation day to stay home and spend it with my husband.



Although, I'm not sure why the Google Doodle today is about Valentine's Day?!? What's that all about? Isn't that a day early?

Anyways, I took the day to cook down some chicken bones in the crock pot to make soup stock...

And planted a few seedlings...

 

Christmas Day

Christmas Day is when hubby and I open our gifts to each other. As usual, I got spoiled rotten (but so did he!) Of note, I got a Michael Kors watch to match my Michael Kors bag I got for my 50th birthday. An essential oil diffuser. And a Soda Stream (for making my own fizzy drinks). Christmas night is usually spent with hubby’s family. This year it was out at his aunt’s house in Richmond. It was a wonderful turkey dinner with all the fixin’s, and lots of chatting with his family.

Christmas Eve

This year, we took my car to Mom’s so I could drive home. Hubby wanted to drink. And the headlights are better on my car. The snow had eased off, and the roads were clear, but it was really foggy from Langley out to the valley. Mom’s oven broke about a month ago, and is still not fixed. So she cooked dinner in the crockpot. Overall it was a great night. And it sure is neat to see how much the nieces and nephews have grown up!!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!