disneyland 2006 pics

Magical days in the Magic Kingdom. Who says you can't be a little kid again? The full set of vacation pics are now up on Flickr.

i can do this

I've been thinking a lot about age this week - no real surprise there. A friend of mine asked if I was a member of the "30 and Proud" club and I am. No turning 29 again for me. I was thinking back to what I was doing ten years ago and I realized that for me, my 20s were a lot of upheaval, a lot of totally changing my life and wondering if I could do it.

You're going along through high school, and if you live in Ontario you're 19 when you graduate. It's time to go away to university and your whole world changes. I remember sitting in my room at my parents' house and I could almost feel it slipping away. I could always come back, but I could never GO back. Off I went to school wondering "can I do this?"

Four incredible years later it happens again. You graduate and this life that you have built for yourself is pulled apart again. You have to move, find a job, make new friends and I wondered again, "can I do this?"

Many people spend their 20s looking for someone to share their life with and some find them right away and others don't but I think in both situations people are asking themselves "can I do this?" Can I build a life with this person? Can I build a life without them?

What I'm finding now is that there's a reason to be 30 and Proud because sitting here I can say with confidence, "I can do this". I know how to build a life. I know what I need to be happy, to be healthy, to be who I am. Because I also know this, that at some point it will happen again, the world will change and I'll be ready. I can do this.

30

After a rainy start the sun came out yesterday. I'm pleased to say that I passed a very pleasant birthday and I reached 30 smiling. You hear so many people who get negative about turning 30, I highly recommend a trip to Disneyland as the antidote to that. Worked very well for me.

There's a British expression that says "start as you mean to go on" so I took that to heart yesterday and began the day with chocolate covered strawberries for breakfast. Nice. Throw in some of your favorite tea and you can handle anything. (I went for my current fave -- Empire Blend #34 from the Harrod's Heritage Collection. I'm more than halfway through the tin now, I might have to ask my brother to pick me up some more.)

After that I had a quick appointment to keep and then went shopping. My parents let me pick out my own birthday present so off I went. I've worn a silver Celtic knotwork ring on my right hand for years but it broke a few weeks ago so I went to one of my favourite jewelry stores in White Rock to search out a replacement. I picked out a silver and peridot ring. Yes, technically peridot is not my birthstone, but I thought this ring was gorgeous and now it's mine. It only seemed right to get a manicure to go with it. It was my birthday afterall.


(Side note: Any guesses on why this pic is so small when I loaded it exactly the same was as the other two?)

In the evening I went out for dinner with some friends and then we headed off to see X-Men 3. Dinner was great. The waitress even gave me a second sparkler because we couldn't get a photo of the first one before it burnt out. X3 was a little disappointing. And yes, we stayed to watch the final scene but still. I know that they brought in a new Director for #3 and I think he lost his sense of story. The movie finished and all I could think was "I bet Bryan Singer is pissed." It had no compelling narrative -- yes there's a cure for mutancy and is that a good thing or not? But a good story tells itself through the characters experiencing it and this movie felt like little dioramas that we were peering in at but never actively engaged with. (Remember dioramas from grade 4?) But even with all that said, there was a lot of Hugh, so it wasn't a total loss.

After all the celebrations in Anaheim last week I felt like I had already celebrated my birthday and wasn't really expecting anything particular on the day itself. What a nice surprise to have such a great day too. Bonus. Happy birthday to me. That was fun. I think we should do it again next year.

embrace the magic

I am a couple of days from turning 30 and in honour of this momentous occasion I headed down to California with a few good friends. I had never been to Disneyland and it seemed like a good idea to sprinkle a little pixie dust on the big 3-0.

We had an amazing time. The first afternoon we had a little extra time between flights so we took a look at the map from the rental company and decided to head up to Santa Monica pier for a few hours.

After walking the beach and riding the Ferris Wheel we found a guy flooding the pier with bubbles. There were bubbles everywhere -- huge ones and tiny ones -- it was beautiful. We danced.

Here's Amanda and I on the Ferris Wheel. You could see miles up the beach from up there. I kept thinking California looks just like it does in movies -- right down to the lifeguard stations.

Once the rest of the group arrived we headed to Anaheim. We stayed at The Lemon Tree and I'd recommend it. Decent sized rooms, each with a kitchen, a pool and hot tub outside and beautiful gardens. Some time on that first day Coli declared that the whole trip should be my birthday and so I got to hear "Happy Birthday!" at least twice a day the whole time we were there. Who gets to have a 5 day birthday? How cool is that?

The next morning we headed to Disneyland. Here's Monica, Amanda, Kendra, Coli, Shannon and I just inside the gates of Disneyland. It was crazy to be somewhere that I have only ever seen in pictures. Right off the bat, there was the Mouse and the Disney brand of perfectionism that we'd find throughout the park. You can just about see the Mickey made of flowers in this photo. Where do you get black flowers to do that?

The first ride of the morning was "it's a small world" (and yes, it's written all in lower case and yes that bothers me a little). We sang. Loudly. Some of us even attempted some of the other languages. Hilarious. We went on all the rides. We wore the ears. There are more stories to come but for now I think this photo of Coli best sums up the trip:

Good times, good times. Happy Birthday.

bringing the indoors out

It's time to move life back outside. Time to sit close enough to smell the lilac and the cedars. Time to move from my favourite reading chair to my favourite reading hammock. It's time to be still enough to hear the windchimes, time to walk slowly enough to notice if the honeysuckle has bloomed yet. Winter has had its day. The days are growing longer and like a flower I turn toward the sun. There have been enough days indoors. It's time.

going california

It's just two weeks now until I head off to California to celebrate getting old and being young. Good times await. I decided that if I was going south, I might as well have the hair to go with it so RuthAnn and I headed into the city to get me some highlights. This is the second time I've been blonder for the summer (at least this year I've headed off all of the post a picture comments). I am expecting to have more fun. (I'm going to Disneyland, how could I not?)

I was quite proud of myself this year for not freaking out. One of the things I have learned about myself is that the reason I don't tend to deal with change well is that I see change as loss. When things change, even when it's a good change, I feel it first as a loss and I mourn for what was. (Earth that was for the Firefly fans :) There's a line in a song from the early 90s that says "All I want is what I had before" and it runs through my head sometimes when change comes and I just want to make everything stop and go back to the way it was.

Last year when I dyed my hair I struggled a bit with the "different-ness" of the experience, this year I'm pleased that I was able to look in the mirror and say "it's different and I like it". Baby steps, baby steps. Maybe one of these days I'll actually move the furniture around in my room.

Maybe this is the real celebration of getting a little older -- that I'm better able to see the world around me with clarity. Maybe this is my gift to myself, finally believing what my brother said to me years ago -- "Change isn't always bad Claire, it's just different." Getting older might not be so bad after all. Especially if you get to go to California.

chocolate chip cheesecake

Ingredients

1 1/2 C Oreo cookie crumbs
2 to 3 Tbsp butter melted
3 (8-oz each) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (14-oz) can EAGLE BRAND® sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
1 tsp flour

Instructions
Preheat oven to 300°F. Combine cookie crumbs and butter; press firmly on bottom of 9-inch springform pan or 13x9-inch baking pan.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in EAGLE BRAND® until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and then vanilla; mix well.

In small bowl, toss 1/2 cup chocolate chips with flour to coat. Add to mixture being careful not to dump the extra flour in with them. Stir into cream cheese mixture. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips evenly over top. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until set. Cool. Chill.

Garnish as desired.

TIP: For best distribution of chocolate chips throughout cheesecake, do not over soften or over beat cream cheese.

I first made this cake as a student at Trinity. I knew nothing about cheesecake making but I saw the recipe on the label of a can of Eagle Brand and had to give it a try. It hasn't let me down yet. The great thing about this cake is that it doesn't require any of the usual fancy baking practices that you run into with cheesecakes. No water bath, no New York method required. Nice. Just put it in the oven and try not to burn it.

I had to put a foil collar on it about 45 minutes in as the edges of the cake were getting dark before the middle was finished. The only other thing to keep in mind with this cake is that it settles quite a bit. It comes out of the oven a good inch or two higher than it will be once it has cooled. Apparently this is perfectly normal.

The photo was taken on Wednesday when I made this cake for a work get-together. I wasnt sure what to granish it with so I put whipped cream around the edges, lined that with sliced straberries and drizzled a little chocolate over the whole thing. Doris, you asked for the recipe, I figured this was the easiest way to get it to you.

Enjoy!

flawless like sunshine

Today has been an almost perfect summer Saturday. I know it's not really summer yet, but today I could feel summer drawing close. I felt bare feet on freshly mown grass today. I lunched al fresco - tomatoes and ham and my favourite cheese and the Vancouver Sun. I ran useful errands with the windows rolled down and started to notice that it was a little hot inside my Civic. I had the first frapuccino of the season and I didn't even have to pay for it. (I had to wait a whopping 2 extra minutes for my latte the other day so I got a magical - anything - you - want coupon. The hardship of two whole minutes....)

And now I'm sitting at the picnic table in the backyard testing the limitations of our wireless signal. How far does it reach? Far enough it seems. Today has been as perfect as the blue sky above me, as refreshing as the shade cast by the 40' cedars behind me. Imagine the stories they could tell of perfect summer days. Days that were flawless, like sunshine.

snapshots

Everyone seems to have really cool photos on their blogs lately, and I know how much I like seeing other people pictures so here a few random scenes from my life. Enjoy the randomness, or just let it pass you by.
Here is Amanda, graciously agreeing to one more picture, provided she can do it on her own terms. This was taken Saturday when everyone was over at her parent's place for the Easter Egg Hunt and there really were a LOT of cameras going off. I heard a runour that Amanda was actually chased by a camera-wielding parent at one pont. No wonder she's camera'ed out. Nice shot though.

This is the ubiquitous pet photo. Every blog has to have one. So here's mine. This is Gandalf, commonly referred to as Furrball or Flieg. I don't think she minds. As you can see she is training hard to perfect her sleep technique. She practices relentlessly. It cracks me up that she covers her nose with her paw sometimes. Cute. Altogether now . . . . aaaaaaaawwwwwwwww. Moving on.

Of all the Egg Hunt pictures that I took this one is my personal fave. This is Kaitlyn caught just at the moment where she's found an egg. It takes some planning to co-ordinate all the eggs, but as you can see it's always worth it.

Kendra has a brilliant system to maintain a little order in the midst of a 6-child multi-family hunt. Each child is assigned a sticker to look for. All of the eggs are stickered and hidden and then the rule is simple: if you find an egg with your sticker on it, say blue smiley faces or red hearts then it's yours. If it has someone else's sticker you have to leave it for them to find. A brilliantly simple strategy that makes sure young and old kids get equal crack at the eggs. It also means you can really have some fun hiding the eggs for older kids in sneaky places. Smart.


And here is Kendra's AMAZING 3-D bunny cake! I have never seen a cake with such a great expression before. If you look carefully you can see that she even made a little pink icing for inside the ear. You can't see all of them here, but there was an easter egg cake for each of the little nieces, and one for Shannon who was celebrating a birthday that day. And yes, each egg cake was decorated with a unique pattern. NICE.



Here's one last shot of the cake so you can truly appreciate all of it. Very impressive. Not only did it manage to survive a half hour trip by car unscathed it also tasted great!

That's about enough randomness for now. Reminds me, I need to burn a CD and empty out my memory stick. It's almost full. I can't imagine how that happened...

the words remembered

Yesterday as I was leaving for church right on schedule I realized that I was never going to get a seat. I'm usually pretty good at remembering that our church gets completely packed out on major holidays and I need to leave early. Not so this year. Off I went. I actually found a parking spot (impressive) and made my way inside. There was one spot left on the benches that line the windows at the back of the sanctuary. Perfect. I could find everyone to say "hi" afterwards.

As soon as I sat down I realized why the seat was available in such a crowed room. It was directly behind one of the support columns. I couldn't see who was playing, let alone the words to whatever we might sing. But a curious thing happened.

The service I go to sings mostly choruses and more modern music, but for Christmas and Easter they bring out a few of hymns. I grew up in a mostly-hymns church and what I discovered yesterday is that the words are still there. After all these years, after so many Easters, so many attempts to find a way to say "Thank you", I found the words were there, remembered, like a rosary.

As the opening bars struck a familiar note I was able to join the others in singing.

Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

LoveÂ’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids Him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened Paradise, Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

i've got a theory, it could be bunnies

bunnies
Originally uploaded by flickrloon.

Last week-end while house sitting for Monica I came across a curious sight. Monica had left a couple of Lindt bunnies to sustain Kendra and I during the arduous task of sitting her very nicely appointed condo. (Hint, if your place comes with a hot tub no further inducement is necessary, but thank you!) After a little while I noticed that one of the chocolate bunnies had managed to morph itself into a slightly larger, stuffed version. Surely a fully animated, live Lindt bunny is only steps away. Is this an insidous plot to take over the world? Watch this space. In the meantime, it's probably best to eat your chocolate bunny before he gets a chance to transform....

just four little words

I was surfing around today and came across a post on Craig Newark's (of craigslist fame) personal blog. It was so perfectly crafted, just four little words, title and post together:

Donna and Josh
...finally

And I had to smile. I stopped watching The West Wing two or three years ago when my favourite character (Rob Lowe's 'Sam Seabourn') left followed quickly by the writing talent of Aaron Sorkin. But I have to admit all this time later I'm still happy to know that Josh & Donna FINALLY got together. I may have to go back and watch this season, or last night's episode at least.

The West Wing used to be an incredible show. When Sorkin was on the payroll the show was written like theatre. It had an amazing use of lighting and silence. Whatever Sorkin was smoking it must have been the good stuff. I hated to give it up but when the show started its decline I couldn't forgive it its mediocrity. Perhaps it's time to make amends.

In the mean time I need to do a little research and find out what exactly happened last night. Then again, perhaps I'll wait until the reruns start this summer and see the whole thing in context, spend a little time back on the hill.

fully God, fully man

I've been putting off reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code . I had serious doubts that there was much substance under all the fuss and I really objected to paying for a hard cover copy. But I was asked to read it for work (and they were willing to let me expense it) so last week-end I grabbed a copy. This week paperbacks hit the shelves. Classic.

I thought the book started out pretty slowly but once it got going it was a decent chase. I think this will be one of those rare cases when the movie turns out to be better than the book. There's a ton of controversy surrounding this book and for the most part I wish people would remember that it's a novel. It's not listed as non-fiction for a reason.

For me the most intriguing question is not so much "What if Jesus had a child?" but rather "What difference would it make if He did?" Now hear me out here, I'm not saying "What if Jesus had a child and the Bible forgot to mention it?" But would being a father have made His sacrifice in any way less valid? If I believe that the Scriptures are true when they say that Jesus was both fully God and fully man, would He have been any less of a Saviour if he had had a child?

Jesus came and walked among us and it says that He experienced all the emotions that are common to man. Would that have changed if He had experience parenthood? I've heard it argued that if Jesus had a child He would be less divine (sorry I can't remember where I read that, I'll look for it) and I can't see the logic in that. Afterall, God Himself is a Father. (As a friend of mine likes to point out, God is a single parent family :)

I believe that the biblical account of Jesus is accurate, and that He did not father any children here on earth but even saying that, I don't think that He would be any less the Son of God if He had had a child of His own. I don't know if it would mess with the Trinity but I don't think so. God exists in three persons, one of whom, the Son took on humanity for a time. If in His humanity He had a child that child would certainly be someone special but would it necessarily require a change in theology?

how does your garden grow?

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing. It would have been a sin to stay indoors. I had to go to the greenhouse, the flowers were calling. After spending a good hour walking through Koko's dreaming of fruit trees and lavender patches practicality prevailed and I decided to plant primroses. I know it's Vancouver, but it's also still March, a little early for lavender.


I planted up the little triangle garden at the end of the driveway and it turned out really well. Primroses come in such great colours and they go in in no time. Instant gratification. Now I've got a little patch of colour welcoming us home. It won't be long now before I can get my hands in the other gardens.

Gandalf couldn't resist coming to inspect my work. Looks like everything passed muster. I just hope the flowers are all still there in the morning.

spring break

The past two weeks were Spring Break (well for SOME people) and while I didn't get to go to Maui or climb the Great Wall, I did get to spend a few days with a few great Walls right here in White Rock.

Amanda and Coli came to stay with us for a few days and we had a great time. They went to the beach with their Auntie Kendra while I got to go to work. . . .but when I got home they let me in on the rock painting. Nice.


I haven't played with paint in a long time. In the spirit of the day I decided to do a stickman tribute to the House of Mirth. I have no idea how I ended up giving myself poodle hair. But hey, we can't all be da Vinci. (I can assure you there are no hidden meanings laced among these Madonnas of the Rock . But more of that later.) All in all, I think we should borrow the girls more often. They're a lot of fun.

minois coiffeur

Who needs cable?
Originally uploaded by flickrloon.

Sometimes a picture is so wonderfully ridiculous you have to share it, even when you're the star of the shot. This is Ceone and I working the hightlights at the House of Mirth. Ok, I admit it, Ceone is the one in the background.

One of the many great things about living with fabulous and talented roomies is that sometimes, if you ask them nicely, they'll do your hair at a mere fraction of the cost of retail. The only downside. . . well let's just say that I've had highlights done at the salon and they didn't pile all the foils up on my head quite like this. Ceone claims "it's suppose to look like that". Um hum, riiiiiight. I have a feeling I've heard that one before.

But hey, as they say no pain, no gain, and if you can't handle a little silliness no amount of foil and ammonia is likely to save you. As for me, the highlights turned out great and the exclusive salon of Minois Coiffeur lives to 'light another day.

Sidenote: the highlights didn't work so well for Ceone. Anyone know of a good blond dye that will bleach over red? I know Blondissima would probably do it, but is there anything a little less toxic?

visiting Corrina (and her parents too)

Are we done here?
Originally uploaded by flickrloon.

Earlier this week I braved the cold and head east to meet my niece in person. She is a doll. It was incredible to finally hold her in my arms and get to spend time with Dave and Janie. I am so impressed with them and the job they are doign raising this little girl. New parents never get much sleep and it would be understandable if tempers got a little short, but I never saw that in my time with them.

We had a great few days hanging out. I got to bounce Corrina and dress her and bath her and generally stare at her. I was in love before I arrived, I am fully gone now. Click on the photo to get to the full set of photos. Warning: These photos are extremely cute and may cause you to make very ungrown-up like noises. View at your own risk. Also, this is the director's cut full length version. If you're looking for the highlight reel check out Corrina - short version. Thanks Dave & Janie for letting me crash on your couch. Can't wait to do it again.

paradiso

Last Saturday I had the great pleasure of hearing Vancouver's own Tango Paradiso perform at the Art Center. The concert was in celebration of the release of their latest CD Post Nuevo and it was magical. This is the fourth time I have heard Tango P perform and they never cease to delight. Masterful musicians all, they cast these moments that just take hold of you. When it comes to the end it almost seems disrespectful to clap and break the spell. It's music you can just lean back into and let yourself fall.

The concert took place at Gallery O at the Art Center (2060 Pine Street). It's a very cool venue. If you ever get the chance, I highly reccommend it. The place was packed. If I have one complaint it's that there wasn't a lot of room left to wander around and look at the art. But that's a small complaint. I came for the music and I was not disappointed. Now with CD in hand I'm already anticipating the next time.

happy birthday Amanda!

Amanda turned 14 today and her Auntie Kendra and I had the priviledge of hosting her birthday bash. Her Mom made the sweet balloon cake. Very fancy.

Happy Birthday Amanda!! Thanks for sharing your special day with us. You can come over anytime :)

Send us a postcard from New York okay?

here's to us

Right around Valentine's Day we like to gather the extended House of Mirth for some serious celebrating. Our usual tradition is to hit the Keg for steaks and toast every beautiful/ brilliant/ sexy man we have even known or ogled on a screen large or small. Needless to say, a good time was had by all. We toasted movie stars and a string physicist, past love and current love. As we like to put it we were just "appreciating the beauty and diversity of God's creation". Here's to good friends, here's to us.
(r-l: Monica, Kendra, Claire, RuthAnn, Ceone & Judy)