Yesterday Alex surprised me by asking me out to a movie after dinner. Actually, he started off with making dinner. His days have been ending earlier for this month's rotation so he's been great at already making a meal by the time I get home from work. Yesterday's noodle stir-fry was delish!! He's always good at making chinese food; I guess it's good that I can use recipes to make white food - creates a balance and I don't feel like I need to prove myself =P

Any way, we went and saw "2012" last night. As with any other end of the world movie, there were lots of computer graphics and people dying. It's kinda depressing if you think about it but they didn't focus on that fact of course. Plot line was so-so, they didn't really develop the before aspect of the story (although the little they did already made Alex bored and asking for explosions). Character development was a little better - I liked Woody Harrison, but everyone else was again not great. We were definitely entertained with the computer graphics so, all in all, not a bad way to go as tickets were $4.20/person.

So here's my rankings of world-ending/natural disaster movies:

1. Armageddon - loved how they did up Bruce Willis' character; plus great soundtrack
2. Twister - a machine called Dorothy, life chasing tornados, what's not to like?
3. Volcano - Tommy Lee Jones in the 90's; I like him as the unlikely hero
4. Deep Impact - decent attempt to develop several story lines at once
5. Day After Tomorrow/2012 (Tie) - entertaining but nothing new
6. Dante's Peak - awful.


I watched Mama Mia recently and realized how much I don't like Pierce Brosnan. He really can't sing, and acting is minimal. I was disappointed with that movie overall - the stage version is so much better!

Watched My Sister's Keeper with my mom while she visited. We both cried our eyes out. It a good story, albeit predictable. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a good cry.

We tend to rent movies from Movie Cube cuz it's conveniently located at at the corner Superstore. It's only $2.25 (tax incl) per movie so we save a lot compared to Blockbusters and going out all the time.

I guess that's all the reviews I have at the moment. Last day of work today - sooo excited. And then free lunch tomorrow! One of the receptionists just told me I smile a lot; what's there to not be smiling about? I love my job! (although some patients I could do without...)

We put up the Christmas tree last night, or rather, Alex put it up. I was against decorating this year because: 1) we had just moved in this year so I didn't want to spend money decorating the outside 2) we're not even going to be here over the holidays to enjoy our beautiful decorations 3) I'm too lazy and the effort to take out the tree and decorate it plus all the effort to clean up the fallen pines/tinsel was too much.

Alas, Alex finally did it himself. It was honestly quite adorable watching him - he's like a little kid sometimes where the simplest thing amuses him. In this case, it was twinkling lights on the tree. I have to say, it made our home even more homey last night although when I woke up this morning I stood in front on the tree and laughed a while. In the dark, everything is very pretty but in daylight, the tinsel and lights are all lopsided and the balls are all unevenly scattered. I love my husband, he brings a lot of laughter and joy into my life. Perhaps I will attempt to pretty things up a little tonight while he is on call. My mom's coming into town tomorrow for a wedding. Gotta make everything look "taken care of" so she won't worry and think I'm a child again.

I am sooo looking forward to the holidays. They overbooked patients by accident and I told them I was free to take an extra day that I already had off. I'm an idiot cuz I've been complaining about needing a break. But at the same time, I guess I like having a little extra cash flow cuz I find that I end up spending a lot more when I'm traveling. Especially when visiting ppl and such, I want to treat them cuz we don't see each other often enough. I'm excited to go to BC this year. I still haven't seen my parents' new place and I'm looking forward to a whole month off!

I'm sitting at work right now mind-numbingly bored. Clinic starts @ 8:30am and since it takes b/w 20mins - 1/2 hr to get to work, I usually leave the house around 8am. Today I had to wake up at 7am just cuz I usually wash my hair in the mornings rather than at night.

(As an aside, I notice that when I wash my hair at night and sleep on it, it gets greasier than when I wash it in the morning. It's still every other day so that doesn't make sense to me. Does anyone else notice this problem?)

Any way, the first patient had called to cancel so really, there was nothing for the students to do until 11am. Seriously. We were present and accounted for - for 2 1/2 hrs. As an attending, I guess my job should have been to teach them something but seriously, they're 4th years. This is their last day in my clinic. I could've told them practical aspects of optometry but that early in the morning, no one wants to be lectured to. And I especially don't want to lecture. We chatted for 10 mins and then I spent the rest of the morning working on my spreadsheets for home budgeting.

We've worked out this routine where we sit down once a month to go over our expenses and review our spending habits. We both agree that it's good and necessary, yet we both hate doing it. That's cuz to get us to the point of great communication and mutual understanding we must first always go through the process of being frustrated at each other cuz the other party doesn't get/agree with what we're saying. *laughs* His way is good too, I'm just more detail-oriented so his big-picture method doesn't answer my questions. And he thinks my method takes too long and is inefficient =P So we've each been doing separate budgets - exactly as we had when we were single. Hence the discussions. It's taken a year, but I finally got Alex to say that my way is better - Booyah! Although to be fair, I did make certain adjustments so as to not waste so much time.

Actually, I really shouldn't complain about being bored at work. i appreciate this down time where I can surf the net and catch up on my CE readings/reflections. Yesterday was super busy and I left work feeling emotionally and mentally drained. I had a 67 y/o patient tell me she thought her exam was a waste of time and couldn't understand why she had to come at all. It was particularly maddening because I had gone out of my way to speak directly to her referring doctor. Argh! I know I need to learn to let things roll off my back more, to have a tougher skin but this was one of those situations where, even looking back, everything was done correctly. Perhaps she just came with the wrong expectations.

So today's Gord's birthday and their house-closing day. Congrats on both counts and I'm super excited for you guys. I hope everything goes smoothly cuz I know unexpected things can pop up. *huggs*

I got to head out to Toronto twice this past weekend just cuz I'm that awesome. Not really. I had tons of fun but by the end of the weekend I tired. I think I'm getting too old for all this excitement! =P Any way, I intended to only head out for lunch with Simon b/c I never celebrated his birthday together in...what appears to be a long time since I can't remember. It was nice to chat and catch up with happenings. He invited me along with Irene and Herb for dinner since Alex was on call and I was in no rush to head home.

We tried out this bar called "The Double Deuce Saloon". Great food - I ordered this absolutely delicious sandwich with Prosciutto, cheese, baba ghanoush, eggplant and who knows what else. I also got to sample everyone else's orders - meat and cheese platters, tacos, chili and beef brisket sandwich. They were all great although I loved mine the best. Highly recommend ppl to check it out. The decor looked like a hole-in-the-wall. And we almost walked past it the first time around. But I had a wonderful time hanging out with everyone, just joking around and chatting. Kinda made me wish I was around T.O. more often and that I was single. But then I slept in with my hubby and realized that I like my lazy life as it is right now. Besides, I also realized I would end up spending a lot of money if I lived downtown; there's just too much to do!

We went back to Toronto on Saturday cuz it's was Drew's birthday/him & Adele's house-warming. Their condo was gorgeous. 17' ceilings in a loft style, plus they did a great job decorating it to look contemporary and chic. I loved it and felt so inadequate when trying to decorate our home. I'm totally not comparing since our homes' are completely different styles but I felt like their place was pulled together somehow and it's that "pulled-together" look that we're missing. They even had tall, fresh flowers in their living room - seriously, it looked like something out of a magazine. The boys ended up doing drinking games with flippy cups. Ridiculously childish and yet, I was quite entertained. What does that say about me? Sooo glad that I didn't end up going with them to the club and even Donna bailed. Poor Adele didn't have an excuse and was stuck taking care of 6 wasted men.

I finally got my H1N1 vaccine yesterday. I've been putting it off because I didn't want to wait in lines and fortunately, the clinic I was at yesterday had a nurse practitioner who wasn't busy. I fall into the high-risk group because I'm in health-care (not because I'm pregnant, as so many are quick to ask). She warned me that my arm was going to be sore not from the needle but the vaccine itself. Boy was she right!! I can't even lift my arm to shoulder height and it's all warm and swollen but not red. I don't think I'm having a reaction. Sleeping last night was awful though cuz I like to sleep on my left side so I would roll over and wake up from the discomfort of the arm and the odd position of my body would be in to compensate. I'm all groggy today and I finally grabbed a French Vanilla to perk me up. Except I just had a 4 year old scream in my ears for 20 mins because I was trying to literally poke her eye. This combination of sleep deprivation and screaming child has left me with a floating sensation where every sound is muted. Quite trippy. =D I'm probably not in the best state of mind to continue seeing patients...fortunately, they're follow-ups.

6. Boyz II Men

After we slept the whole day away recovering from our long session of board games., Alex and I went to Casino Rama in Orillia to watch Boyz II Men. Music is one area that we very rarely agree on. He grew up liking alternative rock and I, R&B/oldies. Boyz II Men is one of the few that we both admire for their talent. So when we heard they were going to be performing, we bought tickets back in August. It was sooo AWESOME!! I don't care if you think they're old skool or not, they were not only great performers but also great entertainers. They kept the crowd going so well and it's was great to watch these 40 year old men doing dances Motown-style. The audience ages varied from ppl in the 20's to some 50/60's. They were totally relaxed about people going up to the front and it felt like it was an intimate concert. A few couples were slow dancing by their seats or in the aisles. The best was when I saw people grab a few of the ushers to dance to one of the Motown numbers. Ever see random strangers dancing in casino uniforms? So good! They even handed out roses to a ton of women when they sang "I'll make love to you" - these guys are smoother than Usher! They also had audience members call their moms and personally serenaded them over the phone with "Song for Mama". It was by far, the most intimately entertaining concert I've ever been to. Totally recommend it when they come back next year. BTW, apparently Mike (the guy who sings with the deep voice), he had to retire early because of his scoliosis, he may be back to tour with the group next year as part of their 20th anniversary. Dude, we are so there if it happens!

7. Sunday Dinner

We went to dinner at Joseph and Emily's home on that Sunday (it was a jam-packed weekend). It was our first time hanging out with another couple (actually, I guess our second time cuz we've had lunch with some other ppl before) We just ate dinner at played Agricola (another board game). It was nice to do something in a foursome, although it really didn't seem all that different from hanging out with anyone else. I think the bigger idea was that we were getting to know people that didn't just know us individually (ie. my friends or his friends). Like I had previously posted, we don't actually have too many mutual friends that are close to both of us equally. Any way, I only mention this because I watched an episode of "How I Met Your Mother" recently where Lily and Marshal fail miserable at dating other couples. It was called the Sexless Innkeeper if you want to find it online.

8. Pre-Marriage Retreat

This past weekend, we joined a pre-marriage retreat. Weird I know, because we've been married over 2 years now. But we never did pre-marital counseling and we always said we wanted to. It was pretty good, $75/couple and it included 3 books, drinks, snacks and a lunch for one and half days. There were a lot of great things to take away from the course and I highly recommend people to do it regardless of relationship length or faith. If you can't do a course, at least pick up the book "Saving your Marriage before it starts". It also has 2 workbooks, one for the guys and one of the girls. Each exercise takes 5 mins to complete and then you spend 20-30 mins discussing your answers with each other. Maybe I'll spend another blog going into detail about different things the book brought up and how we're learning and working through our differences.

9. Football in HD

I've stated it before but I love football. This is the first year where I've started to follow it starting in the pre-season and although I don't know all the storylines or stats, it's still an exciting game to watch and I get really into it. Maybe one day I'll get good enough to to join a fantasy football league. Is that what they're called? Any way, since we don't have cable, we've been watching the streaming online, which really is not bad at all. Although I'm sure once we get to the Superbowl, the time will lag quite a bit. But this Sunday, we watched the Vikings vs. Packers game at Alex's parents place. Now, my dad-in-law bought this huge flat screen last year with all the bells and whistles but we never discovered the HD aspect until this year. And only this week did he buy the right cable so that when we watched HD, the faces were not all streched out funny. Football on his screen is amazingly clear now. I have a feeling we're going to be heading over to their place for dinners on Sunday a lot more often - at least until the beginning of February! =P Alex has tried to convince me to get a nice entertainment system purely for sports and when it's Football season, I'm almost inclined to agree with him. But now that we have his parents, who needs it. Plus we get to see them more often too...so who says you can't have your cake and eat it?

10. Books

I'm currently reading the "Left Behind" series. It's about the end of the world and I think was suppose to be for teenagers, although as I read it, I feel as though perhaps it was meant for ppl in the 20's. I've always heard other people talking about it but I've never actually read it myself. I'm only in book 5 (had to skip book 4 cuz it wasn't available) but so far the storyline's pretty interesting because it follows what the Bible says about the end of times. It's follows 7 years of bad things, from earthquakes to meteor strikes, to drought and famine, and plagues. The only I don't like so far is that there are too many characters to follow. I guess it's probably cuz they need to keep killing them off with the different disasters. I like how they portrayed the Anti-christ, how he was able to fool everyone in the beginning with his talks about peace and unity. It sounds good and it makes me wonder if I would fall for it myself. And whether or not I would still be around for the end or whether I would be taken to heaven before it all starts. So guess this series has caused me to reflect more on where my walk is with God but doesn't really challenge me to do more than that. We'll see if that changes...

So I got an e-mail reminder that I haven't posted since Sept 9th. Thanks to the little birdie for reminding that there are procrastinating workers who look forward to reading my blog to waste time! I guess I'll be chronological:

!. Gardening

We ended up hiring this lady to help out with fall clean up of our yard since we've never had any experience. She was awesome. Not professional but willing to teach us what we needed to do while doing herself as well. If you were looking for landscaping advice, etc it would not be her. She's just a woman who's looking to make some extra cash doing something she enjoys. We found her off of Kijiji for $15/hr. We originally wanted her to come back and help us transplant a few more trees and cover the garden with rocks so we wouldn't have to weed but then we got busy/lazy and never called back. Now that it's getting cold, I'm even more lazy and will probably push this project off until Spring comes =P

2. Anniversary

We decided to stick around town for our 2 year anniversary this year just cuz we got back from our trip not too long ago (which btw, I still haven't posted the pictures to the other half of the trip). Both sets of mom forgot which date we got married. Alex's mom called us on 9/11 to congradulate us and my mom called on 9/20. Granted, our wedding date is not the easiest to remember and I'll be the first to admit that I've forgotten it myself several times already. Should've copied Ray and Deb and just done something like 08/08/08 *laughs* Any way, we took the weekend to be just us, no other ppl or distractions and had a lovely time. Saturday was my day, so Alex drove me to Toronto to get my hair done, walk around Yonge St shopping, eat at Grazie and have facial. Sunday was Alex's day so I went with him to the golf course to play 18 holes and then we went to Montana's for ribs and watched football. Nothing extremely fancy or expensive (my day consisted of gift cards and his was a last minute deal) but it was great in the sense that we each got our loved to spend time with us doing what we enjoyed. I highly recommend it if you want to save some cash and still have a "getaway" that you wanted.

3. Hosting

We had 2 big parties at our place in October. One being my elementary/Haig friends and the other being Alex's high school friends. It was so much fun to cook and entertain and be able to fit everyone around our dining room table. Thanks to everyone for making the trip or spending the holidays together. We appreciated being able to share our home with you. On a more practical note, we also realized that most ppl ended up hanging around our living room area instead of the family room (where all the couches were). For some strange reason, eveyone wants to lie on our floor when chatting. Maybe the carpet really is that comfortable. We had originally planned to fill that space with a side table but seeing how ppl seem comfortable with this arrangement, we will save the money instead.

4. Haunted Farm

Alex and I went to check out this "scary" farm in the middle of nowhere a couple of weekends ago. It sounded scary and we got ourselves all worked up on way there. It's literally in the middle of nowhere and as you're driving to the entrance there's all these old, dilapidated barns lining the road. To make it scarier, it was raining that night. Unfortunately because of the rain Steph and Gord didn't make it out and the hayride portion also got cancelled. They did only charge us 8 bucks instead of 16 and we got to repeat our entrances as much as we wanted. I think Alex and I were both disappointed with the final result simply because everything was set up to be very scary and yet I felt they didn't pull through. For example, the corn maze was pretty creepy walking through as it was but it totally could've been to the next level if they had scarecrows or dummies of some sort hidden all around. Or even better yet, have ppl jump out between the corn or chase after you. It was literally a maze in the dark, nothing else. For the haunted barn, the decorations were amazing. So detailed and seriously creepy. But they didn't have enough staff members to roam around the barn itself. I think there were 3 total and they kind clumped towards the end. It would've been better if some of the decorations were actually people or had more movement/sudden jerks. A large part of the barn felt as if you were just walking through the different scenes observing instead of actually being in the horror itself. Still...I was jumpy enough to refuse another entry but I made Alex go back a second time just to get our money's worth.

5. Puerto Rico

After the farm, we had Allan and Kyle back to our place to play board games. Puerto Rico is developed by the same makers of Settlers of Cataan except it's infinitely better in that there's almost no element of chance. Everything is based on strategy. Alex bought me this game for my 27th birthday and we got the other guys hooked onto it as well. That friday, we played for a full NINE HOURS - from 10pm to 7am in the morning! It was crazy. At first it was only Kyle, Alex and I but by the time 3am rolled around, Allan finished work and he came by for another 2 games. It sounds so nerdy when you stop to think about it but I had fun and it's nice to have things in common with Alex that I can enjoy with his friends as well.

Super-old blog that somehow never got posted until now.

Owning a home is hard work. Not only do you have to clean more rooms than ever before, the sucky part is that majority of the space you don't even use! Other than cleaning, there's the outside: Alex has been good with mowing the lawn but we've failed a watering the grass/plants and our poor garden has fallen by the wayside since the previous owners left.

Another thing that we've been trying to do is accomplish the list of things that our home inspector pointed out to us. We've already scheduled our roof to be done, although it's been delayed because of the rain. It was suppose to start this past Monday but when I left the house this morning, all the materials were lying around and not a worker was seen. I sincerely hope they will be done before everyone comes to visit this weekend. Another thing on the list was to replace our bathroom fans.

Now this doesn't sound that complicated. We picked up a new fan "easy to install in just 3 steps". Yeah...we kind of rean into some problems. Since our home is older, the fan that was originally there happens to be in dimensions that are no longer made. We ended up with a smaller fan - which we figured was fine as long as the grill covered the ugliness. We didn't take into the fact that the insulation from the attic would be falling down from the excess space nor could we figure out how to adhere the fan so that it would not fall through the hole. After 2 labour-intensive days, we gave up and hired a handyman. The poor guy spent 2 hours installing the fan and only got paid 50 bucks for all his hard work.

As with all lessons, it doesn't matter how often ppl tell you, you have to experience them yourself to really learn. In this case, Gord & Steph once told me that throwing money at problems will make things go away. It took us two very frustrating days before we were willing to submit to the fact that we will no longer attempt to fix things up on our own and simply hire ppl's expertise.






Oh and btw, we're having a lady come help with our garden this saturday.

My mom left Waterloo yesterday after staying for a week. It was great to have her come - hopefully she felt at home since everything inside was essentially hers. I accomplished more in the few days that she was here than my entire 2 months. Of course, I also spent a lot more too.

Filling a home is expensive! We bought a papasan chair for, what I think, was an obscene amount. Simply because it's totally not practical - cushion will get flat from use and I keep worrying that it'll break under my weight. Plus the fact that it's an odd piece to have in the living room because of it's so casual (aren't living rooms meant to be for formal sitting?). With all that being said, I love it. I love curling up in it to read by our window. It's just comfy, I almost feel like I'm in a crib! =P I've been keeping an eye out for used ones cuz we have 30 days to return. For some odd reason, they're very popular in London but I haven't seen anything that looks like ours yet.

I've spent so much time going back and forth between the different Home Sense locations I feel like I know their entire inventory. Plus, I forgot that I got a gift card for it from our wedding so I had to go back. They have this really stupid policy where you can't just bring your receipt. I had to bring back all my merchandise, refund it and then re-purchase it with the gift card. Have you ever tried carrying 10 pillows? Ridiculous!

Of course, it's my own fault. I'm not a designer. I can't just see things in my head. So, being an idiot I buy everything and then return things that don't work. Which ends up creating more work for myself - not to mention gas. I was so exhausted by the time my mom's vacation ended, I felt like I needed another vacation! But it was definitely great girl time. Alex was smart enough to schedule 2 on-calls back to back so he was never home. Otherwise, I think it would've been too much estrogen for him.

Now, we're back to our regular routine. I start working 3x/week starting next Monday. Excited and nervous at the same time because the specialties will be something completely different from what I'm doing right now. And I was just starting to get comfortable with where I'm at. We'll see...!

I'm in PEI right now, having a wonderful time. Here's a quick summary of our trip so far:

We left home on Friday morning stopping first in Montreal for the night. Our hotel was right in the heart of downtown which was perfect since we walked Prince Arthur Street and had dinner there while a street performer serenaded us. Then we went to the casino where I tripled my money at the slots (won $16.45!!) but we also lost 10 bucks playing the horse tracks and the fortune wheel. We went to Schwartz's for some smoked meat for lunch to go with our bread and brought it to Mont Royal. It was a great idea since the park was just around the corner and it was a nice, impromptu picnic overlooking eastern Montreal.

We drove to Quebec City next and spent the evening walking along Rue Petit-Champlain looking at little shops, checking out Chateau Frontenac and eating dinner at Spag&tini. The line up was long so we tought it was good but turns out it was more for the price than the quality. Service was good though and our waitress had me practice my french with her. Oh yeah, we also did a detour to Chutes de la Chaudiere. Alex managed to walk right to the Falls.

We didn't end up staying another night in Quebec because our main trip was suppose to be the Maritimes so we drove for another 3 hours after dinner and spent the night in Edmunston, New Brunswick at a very sketchy motel. I've never actually been to a motel like this (I know, I've been spoiled) but other than the washroom, it actually didn't look that bad in the morning. At least the bedsheets were clean and the bed was comfortable.

We drove another 6 hours to get to PEI. We did another detour to the longest covered bridge in the world (really wasn't that exciting...) but I guess that the fun thing about road trips - the hits and the misses. We also stopped by Magnetic Hill - which is a "reverse hill". You put your car into neutral and somehow roll UP the hill. We were actually quite amused by this and tried different materials like water bottles to try and figure it out.

Since then, we've been staying at a B&B on PEI. It's my first time at a B&B and I kinda it. Every morning we eat breakfast with the other guests at chat with them about where we've been and where to go next. Since everyone does something different, it really opens up for conversation and new places to explore.

We had arrived late the first night so ate dinner at their famous "lobster suppers". Basically, for a fixed price you get unlimited bread, seafood chowder, salad, mussels and dessert. You also get a lobster, price depends on size. We ordered a 3lb to share and snuck out back to see what they looked like alive. Some of them are huge!! If you look at the picture, the lobster runs from past the fingertips to the elbow. I was quite impressed with their dinner and I highly recommend everyone to go to New Glasgow. Their lemon meringue is the absolute BEST I've ever had. Usually they're either too sweet or too tangy (or both) but this was perfect. I ate 2 huge slices. My belly has expanded quite a bit since being on the island.

This past weekend was great! Dan & Beth finally got married and we were able to a part of the celebrations. Alex was their Best Man and needless to say, there were a lot of tears during his speech. What can I say - I love a man who is comfortable showing his emotions. =D It was at the Hockley Valley Resort and you know, it's a great thing to do it somewhere else. Kind of like a destination wedding because it was far enough out of the way that a lot of people stayed the night. The group of guys decided to stay 2 nights which made it a lot more fun. If I had to do my wedding over again, I would have liked to spend the day before hanging out with my friends. But to be honest, I know that it would never happen. It would be just like at my wedding where I would end up spending alone time with my parents the day before they give me away. Maybe it would've been different if we had actually been living together before I got married?

Any way, I went with the boyz to play 9 holes of golf. I had so much fun, I always hated the driving range cuz it's so boring but being on the course is completely different. It was my second time AND this time, I got to drive the golf cart too. We had some mini races and I totally felt like I was living Mario kart. My game sucked obviously but there were a few satisfying swings. All in all something I would totally do again if it wasn't so expensive. But I guess 50 bucks for a few hours of play is actually a pretty good deal. Oh no! I'm turning into one of "them". This is total payback for all the grief I gave Alex about the expenses of golf.

I also played beach volleyball with everyone on the day after the wedding. I sucked at that as well but Alex was so encouraging. He told me I actually have pretty good form considering I don't nurture my atheletic side and all I needed was more practice for improve my eye-hand coordination. *laughs* Isn't that sweet?

I also started watching Friday Night Lights since Simon's been raving about it. Surprisingly I loved it as well. I should've known because I actually enjoy football and the show the most exciting parts the game but the character development gets to me too. The only thing I didn't like was their filming style (documentary-like). I'm still on season 1 and it's getting hard to find everything on streaming. Stupid megavideo only lets me watch 1 episode every few hours.

We're suppose to be on vacation starting next week and Alex has already taken 2 weeks off. Originally we were talking about driving to the east coast to explore...but we haven't booked anything or planned anything yet. Part of me just wants to fly out west, play golf and eat off my parents. But they're still settling in and I'm sure Alex doesn't want to spend his holiday moving furniture for them. Plus, we should have some down-time alone. We haven't officially had a vacation since our honeymoon (China doesn't count since he was there on elective...and not what I would consider a vacation). Hopefully we're figure something out this weekend.

So the only reason I'm posting right now is because I received a threatening e-mail reminding me that there are a lot of bored people out there *laughs* I have to say, I surf other blogs too and get disappointed when they haven't updated every day so I guess it's only fair that I post more frequently.

Now...what to talk about. I guess now that I've moved, no one really knows what I do. And I guess it's cuz I really don't do much. But I love it. So a typical day for me is as follows:

9:30-10am wake-up
10-11am get ready/shower/read a book
11-1pm decide what's for dinner/check cupboards and flyers for food & sales/lunch
1-3pm grocery shopping (typically at 2-3 stores)
3-6pm cook
6-7pm dinner/clean-up
7-12pm read/watch shows/spend time with Alex/visit Alex's parents

Exciting huh? I probably could be more efficient but I've alway been slow in everything that I do (even homework as a kid). I think I just chop veggies and wash dishes slower than everyone else. Which is fine by me at the moment because...what's the rush? I've really got nothing else to do. *grin* The funny thing is that I spend most of my day in the kitchen, which sounds really foreign when I actually think about it. It's like my little domain. But my man is happy with dinner ready for him when he comes home from work and I'm happy that he doesn't make a mess in my kitchen so...overall, I'd say this works for us.

Oh, I've been doing more baking too. At the moment, everything still out of a box or tube but we just bought a mixer. My goal is to be able to bake bread one day. But...even though I've been making meals, I don't even consider it really cooking. I feel as though there's this standard to live up to (ie. cooking like our parents - the asian way). I've been doing mainly western style (casseroles, meats, pastas) but I've tried doing chinese twice and it's been improving. The hard thing I find about chinese is that everything happens in the last 1/2 hr. I'm just not fast enough for that and to be quite honest, it stresses me out. *sigh* Alex and I realized that we're a lot happier when I'm not stressed out =P

I've been going to work too - on days like today. Every Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday I'm at work supervising the students at school. I actually like it A LOT. Much better than coming home crying every night like I did when I was in Toronto. Because it's a school, it's usually patients with bigger problems that get referred. It's so much more exciting (and occasionally scary) to be more challenged and I've always enjoyed being able to teach something. I'm never meant to be a business person. Even when I was working for myself I hated it - knowing that the only thing keeping me going is money. It was awful to have that as your driving force. I'm so happy here, I'm enjoying myself and at the end of the day, I can be surprised and say 'Wow, I got paid to do THAT? I would've done it voluntarily!'

"My long-term intent is to meet the future needs of optometry in two areas - serving those in under-developed countries with the skills and expertise acquired through the profession as well as educating and encouraging younger generations of optometrists."

That's what I wrote on my applications when I was trying to enter optometry school. How awesome is that God has provided the opportunities to do both within a year after graduating. Neither one was expected but proved to be a great learning experience. I really have to thank God for everything - because there is no way I ever deserve all this. I enjoy it and appreciate it. But it always comes back to me...What am I asked to do? And am I doing it?

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." ~ Luke 12:48

In the back of my mind, I feel as though there is something big that I will have to do...and I'm not sure I'm ready to do it yet. God give me courage and obedience when the time comes.

That's all. Until next time...

So I handed in my notice for Toronto about 2 weeks ago and I haven't had to work since last Monday. It's been so awesome to have a break! I've been totally lazy sleeping in late and reading tons. Since Alex doesn't start residency until July 2nd, we've just been relaxing. We would have gone on a vacation but he had a weekend bachelor party and recently more orientation things. But all in all, a great time.

1. Family

So the reason I haven't been blogging recently is because I've been super busy. First was planning Steph's bachelorette and Jack & Jill. I had an awesome time at both thanks to everyone that was there and I was pretty surprised how well things flowed - good times with good friends. Next, Clark, Tracy and little Natalie came back home for a visit from HK. It was nice to spend so much time together with my bro & sis (-in-laws) and my little niece always manages to put a smile on everyone's face. I'm amazed at how quickly she's growing and how she's no longer a lump but a mini person with her own opinions. I learnt a major lesson about earrings during their visit - it makes a huge difference! Natalie used to look like her father but after she got her ears pierced, she looks like a little princess instead. I will now add earrings (in addition to make-up) as a magical makeover.

Alex's graduation was last weekend. My parents were able to come back from Beijing for it as well which was great. We haven't had both sides of the family all together since our wedding. It made the weekend filled with laughter since all 5 couples stayed up late playing card games. It's pretty cool that our family can get along like that. Alex and I were reflecting on the fact that our familys are very different and if God wasn't their common factor, they actually may have a hard time getting along. His family's very fun-loving: the more noise, people and excitement the better. My family's prefers order, quiet and more intimate conversations. It's really funny cuz several times being with my parents I realized where all my habits and things that I thought were "distinctly me" came from them.


2. God is at work.

There is no such thing as a coincidence...at least, I don't believe it. God has been amazing in showing me His plans lately, especially through our house-hunting process. As I had previously mentioned my aunt was my agent. However, now that I'm settling back to Waterloo, we felt bad that she would to to travel back and forth on our whim so we were going to go with someone more local. The very next day, we saw our dream home at an open house only for private sale (ie. no agent). That's God being at work #1.

When I originally started house-hunting, I had very specific requirements (eg. not within a knuckle joint from hydro line on this paper map that I have). Alex makes fun of me all the time because to him it's random. Trust me, the distance between my 2 finger joints is about 1 km on the map. Any way, this particular neighbourhood only had one little section that wasn't touching my finger joint - and how crazy is it that this house happens to be in that area!!

The awesome thing was that both my parents, Alex's parents, Alex's brother & wife were ALL there for this open house AND ALL agreed that it was great. That's God being at work #2 & #3. Now we know why the offer we placed on the first house didn't go through because this was even better than that one! God at work #4. We placed an offer 2 hours later and the sellers accepted it (more on this later). God at work #5. We find out this week that we beat a ton of ppl - they have already received 5 other offers after us. God at work #6.


God is amazing...I know that He's always at work but sometimes, you never see the reason or the results of it. It makes it all the more exciting when you can...this was a great reminder for me of how He brought Alex and I together as well.

More details and pics later =D

I just got back from a very busy weekend...but also a lot of fun.

It all started with Thursday evening movie - I finally got to see 'I love you man'. Alex had already seen it with his med boys so Mike and I went on our own after doing his exam. It was a decent movie...but remembering the scenes & lines in retrospect makes it much better than it actually is.

It was Carson's 23rd birthday this weekend and we went to celebrate in Niagara. Needless to say, when you're going so close to the border, you gotta cross over! We went back to Waterloo Thursday night to pick up our American currency left over from my Chicago days. However, in my rush to leave TO after the movie I forgot to pack my passport. Alex and I had to drive back to TO on Friday to pick it up before we were on our road trip to The Falls. (there was a LOT of travelling this weekend).

We went to Canyon Creek chophouse for dinner and I got to spend time chatting with Aaron about our profession and his perspectives as a student right now. It's always really encouraging to talk to ppl who are super enthusiastic - it reminded me of how I felt when I was in school...and how much I miss being involved while in Chicago. We had TWO reasons to celebrate Carson - his b-day AND his acceptance to Law School. Congrats!!

Alex and I stayed at the Embassy suites for a REAL good price - we got a view of the Falls PLUS a buffet breakfast at the Keg the next morning. It wasn't a skimpy breakfast either - they made Omelets with anything you want on it...and you get to watch the Falls again while you eat too.

We went to Buffalo saturday afternoon but didn't anything at the outlets. Our only purchases ended up from Target (sort of like a K-mart). Their stuff is so much cheaper, even with the exchange rate. I bought a whole pack of Burt's Bees lip gloss, (Zaditor) some allergy eye drops not available in Canada and (Airborne) sim. to ColdFX but not available in Canada either. The guy and the border kind of laughed at us when we showed him our receipt.

Any way, Saturday night we travelled back to London for Alex's Grad formal. It was good times celebrating everyone's achievements. Congrats to Brian and Drew for their honour awards - especially Bri. You know, we should be really proud of our friend. He got the longest applause and the ONLY standing ovation. I'm glad their class recognized what a special guy he really is *smile*.

Sunday morning we went for brunch at this place which served breakfast in bowls. Literally, the typical eggs, potatos, meats but a bowl instead of a plate. Weird I know, but it's actually pretty good. Any way, the service was really slow so we spoke to the manager and ended up with free meals & drinks for all 7 of us. Pretty cool...now that's what I call a good manager!

We travelled back to spend Sunday night in Waterloo and got to finally watch Slumdog Millionaire. It WAS a good movie and all in all, a good but busy weekend as well.

I love when my profession gives me perks - one of which is free food. Yesterday, I got to go to a corporate sponsored event and for listening to someone talk for 2 hrs, I got free unlimited alcohol and dinner at Auberge du Pommier. It was sweet! I just went onto their website to find out what we got - they spent over 90 bucks me on last night; craziness!

For h'or douvres they had Cappuccino de Truffle. It's pureed mushroom and truffle soup with velvet shank cream and parmesan biscuit. It was soooo good. Although looking at the menu, it costs $19. It was such a tiny little tease...now I wish I drank more than one cup =P I also got to try their tuna tartare inside hallowed cucumbers. I have to say I was a little disappointed with that one. Although their presentation was nice, I actually preferred Simon's version at last week's dinner. They also had chicken kebobs with a sweet mustard sauce which was just okay too.

For appetizers we got to choose between Winter Squash Veloute, Mousseline of Scallop or Foie Gras Terrine. I chose the the Scallop, which was chilled mousse of sea scallop wrapped in smoked salmon with tarragon and lime dressing. I guess I should've read the menu more closely cuz making a scallop mousse just sounds kinda gross. It really didn't taste great either - the salmon was good but the scallop was very rubbery and pairing it with the lime didn't make it any better. I should have gone for the Foie Gras instead - doh!

For the main, we got to choose between a roast grouper, loin of lamb or grilled beef tenderloin. I went for the lamb with golden potato, braised garlic, roast parship and rosemary. It was delicious. Perfectly done and oh so yummy. I was really full by the end of it. The only sucky part was burping lamb for the rest of the evening. Doesn't taste as good coming back up - ewwwww!

For dessert everyone got Auberge Crepes. It was undescribable. They filled it with pastry cream and fresh oranges and grapefruit. Topped with a citrus reduction mixed with Grand Marnier. So so so so so so good!

All in all, it was a delightful evening. Oh yeah...and I got to talk to a few strangers and learn about some new products. I hate networking but I'll do it for good food...or just free food.

I'm posting twice in 1 day...at work...tackless huh? Good thing I'm not being paid by the hour otherwise I might feel bad.

1. Being in the "real" world isn't all it's cracked up to be.
You know I always enjoyed being in school...learning new things and all, but towards my last year I was really itching to graduate and be done with all of it. Now that I've been working for a while...I don't know. Maybe it's one of those cases where the grass is greener on the other side.

I know that I should be thankful. Speaking of which, let's list all the things I should be thankful for:
-a career
-that's pretty secure
-being at an office where they hired me knowing full well I may have to leave within 6 months
-the money
-patients that are great conversationalists, appreciative or just willing to learn more about their bodies

Phew! I'm glad I listed all that. It really puts things in perspective when I was just about to complain.

I gave notice at work that I would be done by the end of May. I was given options to increase my work hours before I leave and also to work part-time throughout the summer. I haven't really sat down to discuss with Alex yet but I'm going through a rollercoaster of emotions at the moment.

1. Guilt/Pressure
I feel as though I've left the practice in a tough spot, leaving before the new grads are licensed to work. I don't want to let the head guy down since he's been my mentor for over 10 yrs and a real reason why I'm even in this career. He mentioned that the other doctors and him would have to pick up some days to fill the spots.

2. Greed
If I did stay, I'd still be making money, which would help for planning the future (ie. house, kids, pets, etc.)

3. Bitterness/Resentment
I've been having a tough time adjusting to work. Not so much seeing patients (I enjoy what goes on inside the exam room). But the organization of the practice and my interactions & communications with staff and doctors have been awkward and sometimes even strained. There have been days were I've cried because of what has happened at work. Things have actually been better this past week, but I don't know if it's because I'm starting to get the hang of this environment or if it's because I know there's an end in sight.

4. Relief
That there's going to be a change soon. That I won't be living on auntie & uncle's charity and in a basement. That Alex and I will finally be together. The whole "having a place to call home" thing I blogged about earlier.

5. Worry
I would love to not work or work part-time but whether it is financially feasible right now because it certainly isn't necessary. What others would think if I didn't work. Will I be able to find work in a saturated town? What if I don't enjoy it?


Looking at all these ugly words really shows me how much I have withdrew in my relationship with God right now. Because all I should be feeling is peace and excitment. I know that God wants me to trust Him and it's quite obvious that I don't just by looking at how I feel.

I need a retreat to renew my spirit. It's been too long.

I'm lazy, so whenever I use soap, put on lotion, wash dishes etc. I never take off my wedding band or engagement ring. It's gotten really nasty over the year. So after being made fun of by every possible female, I finally got my rings cleaned...at work. I snuck into the dispensing area and used their ultrasound machine. Usually, it's used to clean glasses but it serves the same purpose overall. I think I'll have to leave them there for probably 15 mins to get all the gunk off but I was afraid to get caught by the staff so I only did a 3 min soak. It a big improvement already. I then used my magnifier (also at work) to check the results. It amazing what I can do off-label with all the equipment here at the office. I'm quite ecstatic with my newfound discoveries and plan to use them more often before I leave this place. My rings catch my eye again with light! =P

So I finally know where I going to settle down after being a nomad for over 5 years...Alex finally got his match results on Monday and we're moving to...


WATERLOO!



*laughs* So no big move to the West Coast as my family had hoped, we're sticking to good ol' Ontario. I'm just excited to call a place home. Truthfully, I never expected to become a "townie" when I studied at UW. Just goes to show how God's plans are why bigger than we can ever imagine. I'm really glad for Alex's sake though cuz the residency program sounds very progressive so he's pretty excited and we're also going to be close to at least 1 set of parents. Although I have a feeling my parents will probably end up here as well.


I thought I was the only one in this position but then talking to all the other significant others at their class party, EVERYONE was surfing MLS checking out places to live. It's nice to know that I'm not alone. =) Since I've moved back, we would always go to open houses in Toronto & Waterloo just cuz it's something fun to do on weekends but at least now we know it also served an actual purpose. I've been wanting to nest for so long. These next few months are going to be awesome - I can't wait!

1.
It's so funny so I never thought I'd get into football. But I love watching it! I think it's cuz I've been living in areas where the teams were good - when the Bears made it to Superbowl, I was living in Chicago. And when it was Giants vs. Patriots I was living in Connecticut surrounded by fans from both teams. Lexi and I didn't have cable so we ate hamburgers at a bar just to watch the game *laughs*

I was so sad that the Cardinals didn't win this year. Granted Steelers played a great game and I was behind them throughout the playoffs but I figured I had to root for the underdog.

Can't wait for next season to start! =)


2.
So I've started surfing blogs again when I need to pass time during gaps at work. Steph reminded me that I should probably blog too since others would be bored as well.

3.
My new obsession is HGTV/W Network. I have a few mornings off during the week since I work later into the evening so I've been loving all those decorating & renovating shows. They make it look so easy. I tried redecorating Alex's parents' home in Waterloo in my mind - even did the floorplans and such but it's a lot harder than it looks. I think I would like to hire one of those designers or better yet, just appear on the show and have them ake care of everything.

4.
I've started reading books again, especially this past week when Alex was off on interviews and I needed something to preoccupy myself. I finished The Time Traveller's Wife. Such a good book! I highly recommend it to anyone who's looking for a good read. It's written in an interesting style...literally jumping back and forth in time to put the whole story together. I could totally relate to certain parts of the story too since Alex and I have been long-d all along.

I'm also working through the Twilight series on several ppl's recommendation. It really is not that good and I cannot understand the hype. It's definitely for teens but even ignoring that fact, I feel as though the author stole the storyline from another series that I had read...I mean if you're going to use someone else's idea, at least improve on it!

5.
Alex is in Toronto for the next 2 weeks...if anyone's up for getting together, drop us an e-mail. Otherwise, you'll be stuck with just me after he's gone =P