Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Good News/Bad News

Yesterday was a Good Day! Until my drive home...

Good News: I am able to have Valentine's Day supper :) I originally was going to have evening class on the Monday, but my professor has made the class online that day! Yay for romance! AND I get to present my presentation online that day (which I can post during the day). I know I have goals to speak up in class, but an individual presentation is just nerve-racking... 

Bad News: On my way home from school, it was incredibly snowy and I was going through the intersection at Dundurn and Main, I saw the flash go off (from the red light camera). I am 95% sure that when I entered the intersection the light was still yellow, so hopefully I wont receive a ticket. I have been victim to this particular red light camera before just over a year ago, when I was mailed a ticket for $180 for entering the intersection when the light had been red for 0.5 seconds. Scam? I think so!

Friday, January 21, 2011

The Food and Wine Show

On Friday the 14th, my Mom and I attended the Food and Wine show in London (it was in the Progress Building at the Western Fair). Although we were unable to meet up with the group we were supposed to spend the night with, we still managed to have a really good time. The event became really full as the night progressed, which made it almost impossible to meet up with our party. It's definitely a popular event! We spent about $40 each on the evening including several samplings of wine, some shots of a wine based cream liqueur (pictured below), some food from Jambalaya, and some baked goods. And we were extra friendly to the ladies in the "Girls Night Out" wine booth, which resulted in a free entry to a wine sampling!

These are the shots that we thought were delic!! they even put them in a chocolate coated cone with whipping cream on top. We had about 3 of them, and the third one the lady at the booth did with us...

This was the wine testing that was in a private room to the side. It was all Girls Night Out wine, white, red, and fruity spritzer wines.

Wine testing room :)

The flight of wine that was provided to us. The one far right was a fruity wine that hasn't been released yet. They had us guessing the flavor but couldn't tell us what it actually was. They said it is going to be officially released for sale in the spring. It was very tasty!

Everything at the show was purchased by tickets. The tickets were $1 each and a wine sample could be anywhere from 1 ticket to 5 tickets (and one of the men at the booths said they could be upwards of 20 tickets, but I didn't see any for that much). The food was purchased by tickets too and we spent about 10 - 15 tickets on food.
It was a lot of fun, and I definitely think i'll go again next year since it's an annual event!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Poor Puppies... :(

Today and yesterday the temperatures in Hamilton have been FREEZING!! We're talking -15 degrees celsius and feeling even colder with the wind chill (brrrr). It's bad enough that some people have to bare the weather to get from point A to B, but to take your dog out and tie him/her to a pole while you grocery shop makes me very sad. Especially small dogs and dogs without a lot of fur. I have had 2 sightings: one yesterday and one today of poor puppies tied up to the pole in front of the No frills on Main St. in Hamilton. Yesterdays dog was substantially smaller than todays, and you could see his body tensed up because he was so darn cold. If you love your dogs, take them for a walk then take them home to the warm of your home, then go grocery shopping! I just want to cut these puppies free and take them away!!!! Poor Puppies :( 




This picture is just for the purpose of a visual for this post... I hope this was a nice day!




Friday, January 7, 2011

Spilling tea on your keyboard does this

spll.ng eya n yer mkeyyebfar eys hjs


without cut and paste this is what i type


note; drink and type at your own risk, it may become expensive



Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Graduation Timing: Not so Good

My pathway after graduate is ideally Child Welfare. It seems that this may not be the best time for me to seek out employment in that particular area with the recent cut backs that have affected various Child Welfare agencies. My intention is to work permanently in London once I have completed my degree (less than 4 months to go!) but according to this article in the London Free Press, the agency is currently at a $4.2 million deficit and therefore is cutting the number of kids in care by 25%. I'm not sure how the agency is supposed to cut the number of children in care (if children have been made crown wards, it is because they were in need of protection... the agency cannot control how many children are in need of protection at any given time, and cannot control whether the children have adequate family members to take care of them - many do not) but it seems that if their intention is to cut kids in care, that the natural trickle down effect would mean that there are less staff needed, thus less need for new graduates like me.

Here's a link to the article:

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2010/12/12/16524806.html

It also isn't looking much brighter for employment in neighboring cities (which I would be happy to commute to work due to the nature of the job) considering Huron-Perth was on the verge of closing down entirely a mere 2 months ago (before being taken over by the government). I have high hopes of acquiring a full time position once I return back from Australia and I certainly hope that I am able to despite these cut backs!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Why 2011 is Going to Be Great!

We rang in the New Year at Chelsea and Warren's new place, drinking champagne, socializing, twister, beer pong, and with a competitive Pictionary game (I am a very large board game fan)!



2011 is a very exciting year for me! For Spring Break in February, Aleksy and I have a Roadtrip to New Orleans planned (hopefully with Chels & Warren too if Chels can get the time off work!). In May, I have plans to travel Australia for 3 weeks with Nikki. When I arrive back, Aleksy and I will be moving in with friends (Chelsea and Warren), which is really frightening (since I have been living with Aleksy or alone for the past 3 and a half years!) and exciting! This will allow for us to start saving to buy a house. Also, I graduate in the summer, and hopefully I will start my very first real Social Work full-time career! 

New Years resolutions this year for me:
  • Eat healthy, cook more meals at home (less boxed foods)
  • Sign up for Yoga classes/do more yoga
  • Join up at the gym again after school's done
  • Speak up (at school, work)
  • Save money! (particularly post May, for a house!)
Aleksy and I decided it may be easier to keep these resolutions, if we pin up the a reminder in document form on the fridge (especially the healthy eating one!)... This will serve as a reminder of what we really want, and how sometimes our impulses can interfere with that!

Christmas in 2010

Christmas festivities this year were plentiful. Aleksy and I made it to see several different family members and friends over the span of a few days. Our intentions this year were to not spend an arm and a leg on gifts to everyone so we made home baked treats for some family members and friends (like our siblings) and presented them in little tins. I have varied the selection of the baked good over different Christmases, keeping a few that I know are favorites (my brothers, like me, are big peanut butter fans!). This years selection: Christmas sugar cookies, haystacks, chocolate peanut butter bars, peanut butter balls, shortbread pecan balls, and ginger snaps. It took 2 full days to bake but the financial savings made it all worthwhile, especially as I purchased all my cooking ingredients at the bulk barn this year!


For those family and friends who bake themselves, and undoubtedly have lots of baking leftovers in their freezers at home, we decided to take the idea of some good ol' friends who made some homemade Baileys Irish Cream a couple years ago (Thanks Chels and Warren!), and we made little containers for several people. The contents of the homemade Baileys were actually really simple: irish whisky, condensed milk, cream, instant coffee granules, chocolate syrup, and vanilla and almond extracts (blended). Quite tasty indeed! However, Aleksy and I only had a small glass each because I underestimated the amount of whisky that I would need (there is LOTS of booze in the drinks!). Next year, we definitely will have to come up with something creative along these lines for Christmas gifts!


Our Christmas celebrations began on Christmas Eve, with Christmas dinner at my Mom and Pauls. Unfortunately this year, my niece Emma wasn't able to make it because of lack of rides to and from Woodstock, so I decided since we were driving through Woodstock to get to London from Hamilton, that Aleksy and I would pop by to see Emma. She particularly enjoyed the magnetic letters we bought for her to arrange on the fridge. I wish I could see more of Emma! Every time I see her, she has developed so much more. This year her conversational skills surprised me!


After seeing Emma, we headed to Mom and Paul's and did the supper, desserts, and presents thing! I love giving presents to my brothers, nephew, and nieces, because they're always so darn excited! One of my favorite parts of Christmas!

My siblings and I (minus 2), and niece and nephew at Mom and Paul's :)

I take pride in how much we accomplished on Christmas Day! We started off with opening the stockings that we bought for each other. We exchanged our big presents on Christmas Eve because I couldn't transport Aleksy's new Hockey Bag that I bought him from Hamilton to London without giving him a big hint... we gave ourselves a $100 limit this year. After opening our stockings, we visited Aleksy's Babcia and Uncle. After a nice visit and some coffee and baked goods, we went back to Aleksy's parents to have Christmas present exchange with Aleksy's immediate family: his Mom, Dad, brother, and sister. Then we prepared to leave for Christmas dinner with the rest of his family at the Downtown Armouries. I have never been to a better Christmas buffet dinner in my life! A wide selection of every food (including my personal favorite: the dessert!). I attempted to "take it easy" since I knew we had another turkey dinner following that but I couldn't resist because everything was amazing! 

Aleksy and I at the Armouries!

Leaving from the Armouries, we went straight to my Dad's for supper, dessert, and presents. I still managed to eat another full plate of Christmas supper deliciousness.

My niece Rachel taking care of the garbage business

And I still made it to work at 8pm Christmas Day!

My next Christmas get together was on Monday the 27th, when I made a Christmas visit with my little sister, Brooklyn! We exchanged our presents, then I took her to lunch at the Malibu.


And the last Christmas supper of the 2010 festivities was with friends! On the 30th, we went to Chelsea and Warren's new home where we all contributed by bringing an item for supper. Then we opened some presents, and later had a competitive game of euchre (in which the women conquered!!).


This was alternative to going out for supper, and I think a better alternative with the financial savings and the fact that there's no rush to get out once you have eaten. 

A Plentiful Christmas Season indeed :)