Office Christmas Parties

This year I really enjoyed getting dressed up for and going out to our office Christmas parties. We don't leave Cecelia much to go out on dates, and so it was nice to have two evenings in a row to ourselves. Big thanks this year to Sarah and Grandma for babysitting, and to Elizabeth for making me look beautiful both nights.
My favourite part about this year's holiday parties was how great I felt. I love a good makeover, and new outfit - and this weekend brought two!

Happy Halloween

Halloween is so much more fun when you have kids to dress up! It suddenly dawned on me today that Halloween is more important to me now, and in the coming years, than ever before. I will be making or putting together costumes for many years to come, and I'm pretty excited about it.
This year I focused my energy on Cecelia and Michelle's costumes. So many people said that baby's costume is not a big deal because they don't even do trick or treating anyway, but I think she had more opportunity to wear this one than she ever will again. When you're home on maternity leave, activities for babies are quite abundant, and the holidays only present more opportunities. This year we attended 3 Halloween parties, and Cecelia wore her costume to each one. On top of that, she has two cousins who she joined for a couple houses of trick or treating. Her costume got more wear than anyone elses I think.
I decided I wanted Cecelia to be a dragon for Halloween, because we used to call her Dragon while she was in my belly and we didn't know whether to say he or she. I found her dragon costume at Carter's but then didn't buy it right away. When I settled on it and decided to go for it, I called around to every Carter's in the city and no one had any in any size that would even come close to fitting her. I was so sad. I started looking online for one and that was no use (I refuse to spend $50 on an infant Halloween costume - am I crazy?). I found some Carter's costumes at Costco, but none of the dragon. Then I happened to be at a different Costco for something else and just tried looking - there it was: one lonely dragon costume in 6-9 month size. I was so excited about it, and showed it to my mom and sister on Skype one day. My sister promptly informed me that it was in fact a dinosaur, and not a dragon because it had no wings. Oh crap. I made a trip to the fabric store and managed to find the perfect material to match the exact colour of the details on the costume, and my mother-in-law wiped up the wings on her sewing machine. I also decided to add the giant pink bow so that everyone would be well aware that she was a girl dragon. I am so pleased with how it all turned out.
Between being sick and Eric having an assignment due on Halloween night, I didn't spend much time or energy on costumes for us (as much as I would have loved to). We were the princess the dragon holds captive, and the knight in shining armor. We had a couple hours of good fun, getting dressed up and taking Cecelia to a couple of doors. The best part about this day is watching the kids get so excited. Verona and Max were a blast.

Halloween Lunch with all but one from our prenatal class

 Halloween day Cecelia has three outfits to get through. They were all so cute, I couldn't resist. We Skyped with Granny and Poppa to make sure they got to see them all too.

"Daddy's under my spell"

 These two! Enzo and Cecelia were both dragons (not planned by their mothers)

Calgary Stampede

This is my 5th summer since moving to Calgary and it was the firs time I got the chance to go to the Calgary Stampede. First I moved home for a summer, then I was working, then Eric and I lived together in Halifax for a summer, and last summer we  made all the plans and I got the pregnancy nausea and it didn't happen. This year I decided I wanted to give it a go. This will probably be the last time.
In the morning I got my friend Emily up and out to a stampede breakfast near my house. That was fun. Free food is always a good time.

Each year the accounting firms volunteer some guys to help out with the Stampede audit. So Eric went and stood for an evening and watching the mechanical bull - that was his assigned vender. From that he came home with 2 free grounds passes and Grandstand Show tickets. Friday night I met him down there after work (left Cecelia with Elizabeth and Grandma) and we toured the grounds and enjoyed the chuck wagon races and the evening show. Obviously I had a hard time seeing what all the fuss is about, but I think that's a pretty typical reaction to the Stampede if you're not drinking and riding the bull and going to concerts. I did however get to eat some delicious funnel cake, which I have had a strange and lingering craving for for quite some time now. The evening show was amazing, and I loved every second of those fireworks, but I was so worn out from standing by the end of it. I was exhausted. I also has a really hard time missing Cecelia by the end of the evening. I just wanted to get home and see her. She had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and basically slept the entire time. She didn't really miss me much.

Double Date Night

Tonight we went on a double date with Matt and Emily Whitely. We are so excited to meet their baby boy, and can hardly wait for our double dates (when Cecelia tags along) to become triple dates. We went to a nice little sandwhich shop they chose, and then back to Goji's for frozen yogure - our choice. There was a frozen yogurt place right next door to the sandwich shop, but I wanted to drive all the way to Goji's for their watermenlon sorbet. It is to die for. Then when we got there they had a whole array of flavours that were not there when we went last time and I would die another time for just about every one of them. When we walked in Matt saw peanut butter flavour and instantly swore he would choose that one. When it came down to it though, he sampled the watermelon and never even got around to the peanut butter one. It stole his heart right away. It was delicious food, a tasty dessert and great friends. A night well spent.

Date Night

Eric and I had a hard week this week - mostly I had a hard week and made it hard for Eric. I was feeling very lonely and overwhelmed and like being a mother was too hard for me. I hate those times when I feel so hopeless and helpless that it seems like everything makes me cry.
I expressed some of my feelings to Eric. He was good to listen. I told him all about how hard it is to be the only one that can give Cecelia what she needs (food I mean) and how hard it is to just be her and I every evening while he works until 9 or 10 at night. It's a tricky situation because it's not as if he likes working anymore than I like him being at work. We both wish he could be home to spend more time with Cecelia and I, but this is just for a short while, and then we'll be on to normal life again someday soon.
We spent the day at his parents' house with him helping his dad on the roof and Cecelia and I just hanging out watching the people come and go and putter around. We left in the evening to go home for a movie night together. We stopped at the Red Box on the way home to get a specific movie we wanted to watch and they didn't have it. Then we stopped at a second one and they didn't have it. What seemed to be a major disappointment, turned in to a lovely evening.
As we were debating stopping by the third one on the way home, or maybe just finding something on Netflix, Eric suggested "why don't we go get frozen yogurt?" - something we used to do a lot when we were first married. Why don't we go on a date? There's a novel idea. We can still go on dates with Cecelia around. It kind of seemed like this was the first time we'd figured this out.
We went to Goji's in Deer Run and had a really nice time. We talked about fun things (and not about Cecelia and the diaper bag) and we laughed and we ate a delicious snack. We had a great time.
Then we we got home I got my period for the first time since Cecelia was born. It was the perfect end to the night because I realiesed that my world was not crumbling down around me. I realised that my whole life was not about to end. I realised that I was not about to give up and die. I was just PMSing. Kind of a relief I have to say.

The Great Gatsby

Eric and I went out on a date last night. I won tickets to a show at the theatre, and then planned for us to enjoy a nice meal together before it. As often happens with us when we plan a night out, it was a bit of a disaster. This always seems to be the case when we put effort and energy in to something, one thing goes horribly wrong, and everything else just trickles behind it. 

Last night it was the traffic. It took me nearly twice as long to get him at the office as I'd imagined (or Google Maps told me) and so we were late to the restaurant I wanted to go to and so we had to find somewhere else to eat. This was the part - traffic was bad all over the place and we really didn't have any other ideas. Driving around on an empty stomach while we're growing increasingly late for our show did not make a happy time for us.  The longer we drove, the fewer options we had, and the shorter my temper grew. Eventually we came to a pizza place called Without Papers, just up the road from the theatre. We have eaten here before, and the food is pretty good, but we were at this point very short on time. We called in an ordered a pizza to pick up, then waited in the card for it to be ready. Waiting in the car only gave us more time to be anxious and to get flustered watching the clock. Eric gave them a call to see if we could push things along a bit, and she said they had it ready for us already. We ran in and pick it up (and I used the washroom) and we hurried to the theatre, eating on the way. Not exactly the romantic dinner I had planned, but it was tasty at least.

We found a parking lot close by. We honestly tried to pay for parking, but the machine was broken. We tried to pay for it by phone as well, but it took so long to do that the doors were theatre doors were closing before we could actually finish, so we chanced it until intermission....

The show we were seeing was The Great Gatsby. I have been so excited about this for months. We’ve seen two shows at Theatre Calgary, and really enjoyed them both. I am recently quite enthralled with this story, and have really enjoyed all the hype and things going on with it lately. I reread the book a while back, and loved it even more this time. I saw the movie and thought it was great, with just a few points of criticism. When I heard that Theatre Calgary was putting it on, I was dying to go. I looked online for tickets a few times, but kept forgetting to actually book them. Then one fateful day in the car, on the way home from work, they started talking about it on the radio. I have now won 3 things on the phone in for CBC Radio, and have it down to a science – of which I can reveal no details. But as soon as I heard my cue, I was ready to go with my phone and I won us the tickets! It was so exciting!

After ALL of that, unfortunately I have this to say: I am glad I did not have to pay money for these tickets.

It was an okay show, and maybe I could have enjoyed it under different circumstances, but I was not wowed (like I was with the Christmas Carol last year). The set and costumes were beautiful, but not quite as grand as I expected. The whole cast was maybe about 12 people and so the parties did not wow. The main part that really bothered me though was the cast of main characters. They just seemed a bit off and it threw the whole thing for a loop for me. 

Nick was by far the strongest of the actors, and maybe at times too strong. Daisy was really enchanting and enjoyable to watch, but to listen to was a mess. Her Kentucky accent seemed to be a little too Western meets the very first British accent she picked up in acting class.  Tom was too much and always sat with his legs speed wide Part which was both unnecessary and distracting. Jordan was really good too, but I think she might be the easier character to portray. Mertyl was actually my favourite to watch, she was dead on. The biggest disappointment though was Gatsby himself.  One of my favourite characters in any story I know; he just fell flat. He did not portray the silent confidence the character needs to carry, there was absolutely no mystery and I just wish I'd seen more. 

Now, don't get me wrong this was not a miserable play to watch, it was still a very nice evening. I know I just finished tearing it to piece one by one, but it really wasn't all bad. It's just that to me this story has two main elements that make it so great. 1. The characters 2. The scenery Meither were really present here, in a way that I feel like they should have or could have been able to do so nicely in the theatre. 

Our night really turned out okay in the end. It was still nice to get out, still a nice show to watch, and the food was good. The last thing to put a damper on the evening was the parking ticket we came out to. Bummer! We really did try hard to avoid that. 

Witches Night Out

Last night was my second of Halloween adventures this year - girls night at Laura's, with a theme of course. Witches Night Out was a lot of fun. It was fun to get ready, fun to dress up, fun to take pictures, and fun to go to the restaurant and let everyone there enjoy our humorous company.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love having a good group of girls to hang out with and see more often. It's been a really good thing for me lately, and I appreciate all Laura's hard work to make it happen and make it great!

 First stop: appetizers at Earl's. Most everyone ate the same thing - chicken toccos - but I has some delicious sweet chili chicken thing that was very satisfying, and that I can definitely see myself craving again in the near future.

  Then home for desserts and halloween themed treats, all made by Laura this week and tasting very delicious.

 Then a good couple of rounds of Halloween Bingo with prizes - of which I won none!

 And finished the evening off with Hocus Pocus quoted all the way through by a few of us who may or may not like this movie just a little bit too much. Then of course some girly chat (mostly about pregnancy and such womanly things because for some reason that's just where conversation usually ends up these days).
Thank you Laura for another successful and enjoyable evening!

A night out with me

Eric has really enjoyed going to the driving range with a good friend of his lately. He talks about golfing a lot, and it's fun for me to send him out with his buddies to have a good time.

I have been looking for something to fill these nights by myself, because mostly I've just been watching Netflix movies or doing laundry. Truth is I don't have many girlfriends to do something fun with, so tonight I decided I could still do something fun, by myself. The timing was perfect. I heard on the radio about a piano concert put on by Honens tonight. Admission was free, and all donations are going to rebuilding one of the badly damaged schools. 

The show was lovely, although to be honest I had a hard time staying awake. That was entirely my own fault though, and not the show's. The pianist was young, or at least he seemed it. He looked like a friendly familiar character from a movie to me, but when he played the piano he commanded attention. It was a powerful performance, and I'm really glad I came. 

Valentines Day (Weekend)

This year valentine's day fell on a Thursday. That means we were cleaning the office. Eric came to my office at lunch time. He brought me a beautiful orchid in a red pot, and we went for lunch together. We decided though that we would celebrate for real on Friday.
We have been living with Eric's parents for about 6 months now, and actively trying to find a place to live on our own for about 2. We decided that for valentine's day we were going to spend a romantic night away from that house. We rented a room at a hotel in Calgary that we almost went to on our wedding night, Hotel Arts. It was a really nice room, with a big king size bed and a great bathroom. We checked in and then got ready for dinner. We found a nice little Italian place on 17th Avenue, similar to one of our favourites, called Fiore's. I got a little pizza and Eric got a pasta and we split them. They were both delicious!
Probably the nicest part about our whole evening was how quiet it was. It was no nice to just spend some time him and I (above ground).
On Saturday we walked around downtown for a while. We would love to live down here. Today I really fell in love with the idea, but all the apartments we've seen close to here are ridiculously expensive and extremely small. We'd also like space, give what we're coming from. But it was fun this morning to leave the hotel room and be right in the middle of the city; to feel kind of like we did live there for one day. We went to a couple little shops that I've been eyeing for a while and explored a few streets. Then we found a really cute little french bakery to have some breakfast. The whole morning actually really reminded me of our time in Europe. I miss our time in Europe often, but this valentine's was a really nice reminder that we can enjoy a lot of things right here in the city we live in now.