Dancing is Back!

Dancing with the Stars starts tonight and I am so excited to see the new group of celebrities and dancers make their way out on the dance floor. They will be dancing some great dances some of my favourite ones to watch are the Samba, the Foxtrot and the Jive, but there are many other ones too.

Here are the list of Stars with their partners for this season.



Kristi Yamaguchi (figure skater) and Mark Ballas









Marissa Jaret Winokur (Broadway star) and Tony Dovolani






Jason Taylor (NFL player) and Edyta Sliwinska

Monica Seles (tennis pro) and Jonathan Roberts







Priscilla Presley (actress) and Louis van Amstel

Penn Jillette (magician) and Kym Johnson

Marlee Matlin (actress) and Fabian Sanchez







Mario (R&B singer) and Karina Smirnoff

Steve Guttenberg (actor) and Anna Trebunskaya








Shannon Elizabeth (actress) and Derek Hough

Cristián de la Fuente (actor) and Cheryl Burke

Adam Carolla (comedian) and Julianne Hough




I will predict who I think will win this competition and my vote goes to Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas

Boleyn

I have just finished The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. It was a long book, 735 pages to be exact and probably the largest book I have read to date. It is about....you guessed it....the Boleyns; Mary, Anne and George. The slow rise of power all the way to their deaths. The story was told from Mary's point of view and although it is a fictional story it is pretty close to what they encountered.


This book has just recently come out to theatres and I am interested in seeing how similar it is to the book. In most cases I find the books are better than the films. In this film Scarlett Johansson plays Mary Boleyn, Natalie Portman plays Anne Boleyn and Eric Bana plays King Henry VIII.


My next book is Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky.

A Book Meme

Here is what you need to do:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Post a comment here once you post it to your blog so I can come see.

Here are the sentences from my book:

Lord Henry Percy laughed. "I'm sure I could get an indulgence," he said. "The Pope would surely grant me a dispension.

The book is The Other Boleyn Girl

Spring? Where?

This is outside my basement bedroom
window.....it is quite pretty.
<------------

This is just outside my

place and the "steps" that

lead down to the sidewalk.

--------->

This is the snowbank before the main road outside my place. If you look closely you car even see the top of a car. I was standing on the bottom of the steps.

<-------------

This is how deep the snow is as I was

walking out to see how to get my car

out.....which I could not get. The snow

was up to my knees!

-------------->

This is the only reason why I still like winter Mmmmmmmm!

Hawaiian Chair

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHiqVygN-w0

Check out this You Tube infommercial it is too funny and you will not be able to contain your laughter. So choose wisely where you decide to watch it.

A Little Time Away

I have just returned from a little time away from one big city to another big city. I took a nice calming train ride from Ottawa to Toronto where I had a nice little visit with my aunt in her new home. While there I did a lot of walking......but to me walking is what I really like to do. I was able to peek inside little shops along my way of things and fashions you can't always see here in Ottawa. After my first day walking around I went down to the beach front and sat there as the waves of ice came crashing in. I found a couple of swans swimming around looking for something to eat. They were quite friendly and came up quite close to me hoping that I had some nice treats for them but unfortunately I did not. Maybe next time. Even though the boardwalk was covered in a thin layer of snow there were quite a few people out dog walking, exploring and running. It made me think of the big Marathon that Toronto hosts in September that would go all along this boardwalk and into the downtown core along the water. Hmmmmmm....... maybe.

My second day of exploring took me up to U of T. The University area has a lot of nice little coffee shops and many many people bustling here there and everywhere. I really loved the architecture of the buildings too. My tired feet were happy to be going home and I boarded the train only a half hour late. Who knew winter was going to stay around longer, I thought that after this trip that Spring would finally be in the air.Well......I came home to 28cm of more snow and I hear we are looking at more for the weekend. Argh!!! Will it ever end?

Finished

It only took me about 10 years on and off the finally read this classic book. I actually found The Great Gatsby quite entertaining to read and now looking back I am wondering why I never read it before. Maybe it was because I was being forced to read it through school, who knows. I am glad that I did and I encourage and challenge you to read it if you haven't already or re-read it to welcome back this classical book.

My next book is a toss up between The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory which explains itself in the title and Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky about World War II and the invasion of the Nazis in Paris. What do you think?

The Bugs

I have finally been hit by those mean bugs......I have gotten my first cold of the year and I am very sad by it :( I was hoping I could avoid it this winter and I was so close but they got the better of me. Luckily it is a Friday and I can hopefully get rid of it before seeing the little ones who infected me in the first place. Although I am sure she didn't want this either. After finishing with the first family (the sicko group), I ran over to the drugstore to get my new favourite friend........

This is who I rely on during these hard times of mine when I cannot think, breathe and sometimes sleep, it will not leave me when I need it the most and has never let me down before. So I am depending on it to follow through for me again. Good night zzzzzzz

Another One Down

This book, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, was another memoir. It seemed interesting at first but about halfway through I found I was feeling a little depressed reading it. It was about a family of 6 living below the poverty line, how they dealt with their problems and how they saw the world as an adventure. It started out in Phoenix and ended in New York City. The kids eventually moved on and most had very successful lives, which is what helped me to keep reading this book, I was looking for that happy ending and even though not everyone in the family had a "happy" ending they were all happy in the end.

For my next book I've decided to go back to a classic, one that I was supposed to read in High School and never did, one that I've tried to read before and have since put it down......The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Hopefully I won't put it down this time.

27 Dresses

I went to see a movie this afternoon, 27 Dresses starring Katherine Heigl and James Marsden. Katherine plays Jane who has been a bridesmaid for 27 different weddings and has even had to coordinate 2 weddings in the same night taking a taxi back and forth throughout the night. James plays Kevin/Malcolm Doyle who is a writer for the NY Journal, he writes the Commitments Page but is tired of it and doesn't really believe in weddings. He thinks they are just how the government and other businesses can scam money from those "in love". I won't give too much of the movie away, but basically what I got from it was you won't marry the "perfect" person, meaning that you will always have to work on a relationship with whomever you are with and fighting is good. Not all the time, but a relationship is not real until you do have a fight. Plus making up after is always the best part......no?

It was a very funny movie and it had me laughing quite a bit. I know that the ratings to go see this movie were not 5 Stars, sure it probably won't be an Oscar winner or anything but it was certainly a nice light movie, definetly a chick flick.

No More TV?

This strike has been going on for quite some time now and I think it is time for everyone to settle down and fix this. Not only are they losing A LOT of money but they are losing alot of support from us people who watch their shows. I don't know about you but I don't think I can handle much more reality shows with all their dancing and singing. Something must be done! Plus the movies are quite slim in the pickings. I demand that you bring back our tv shows that we have invested our time in.....it's only fair. I just had to vent that out. Maybe if they would show more Toronto hockey games it might not be as bad.

Although, on a positive note about this whole strike issue, I am reading and running more so maybe this isn't such a bad thing, considering how much news coverage there is about USA and Canada's obesity rate. Perhaps this will influence more of us to get out and become more active, or maybe we will just watch more and more reruns who knows. Whatever it is I hope they are able to negotiate and come up with a happy ending. We'll just have to wait some more and see.

Reading

I have just finished reading another book, Eat, Pray, Love this one was a biography of Elizabeth Gilbert. Liss just got a divorce and was quite depressed and so she travelled for a year to find herself again or for the first time depending on how you look at it. She decided to pick three areas to see and divided up her time within those threes countries.

The first country on her list was Italy. She spent four months living in Italy and getting to know some fascinating people (Luca Spaghetti). She not only gained more on her self but she also gained more around her waist and had to get a new wardrobe often. She always found the best places to eat seeing as how that is what Italy is known for, along with everything else they are known for their good food.

The next country she travelled to was India where she stayed in an Ashram. She learned the importance of meditation, prayer and self worth. Taking time to pray everyday, most of the day. It was such a big change for her from being in Italy. She also met some interesting people there too, one man who took to calling her Groceries.

The last country she went to was Indonesia to spend some time with the "Medicine Man" who had asked her to come back to Bali. This is where she fell in love again, the people really took her in and taught her to love again. Again she met a lot of welcoming people and enjoyed her time and saw much of the country.

I don't want to tell you too much about it because I want you to go and read it for yourself. I really enjoyed it and I am now on to my next book.....The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

Juno

I finally saw Juno! It was such a good film starring Ellen Page who played Juno MacGuff, a 16 year old pregnant girl looking for a perfect family for her baby. Michael Cera played Paulie Bleeker, the father of the baby. Jennifer Gardner and Jason Bateman played Vanessa and Mark Loring, the supposed perfect family.

The film is about how Juno and Paulie ended up getting pregnant and the decisions that Juno had to encounter after learning of her new status. She took things well and dealt with them very maturely for a girl of her age. Her humour added flavour to the movie and kept people watching. I definetly recommend you seeing it if you haven't already since it has been out in theatres for over a month now.

Hypothermic Half

So I have just finished my first official Half Marathon (21.1k). Official in the sense that I actually trained hard for this. This race was called the Hypothermic Half. From the picture, you can see why it is called that. It wasn't too cold of a day for the end of January and the sun may have popped out once or twice but I didn't really notice. I was pretty focused on my race. I had my music going and my Garmin by my side helping me along.


There was one little problem with my music which took a little while to fix. I started the race listening to it and after a while I noticed I was listening to the same song over and over again. Apparently I had it set up to repeat one song rather than the whole playlist, so once I got that sorted out everything else went quite smoothly.


This race is not one of the most exciting ones to run since it is a lap kind where I ran the same area about 4 times, seeing and smelling the same things over and over. It took place at the Central Experimental Farm. So you could definitely smell the farm many times especially as the wind blew your way. The only good thing about running the many laps is that I was able to cheer on the other runners from my group as I passed them as they did for me. It always feels good when you hear someone giving you those words of encouragement, and it is probably what helped me get through the race. I am proud to say that I finished the race with a personal best time of 1:52:50


I have started already training for the next big race of Ottawa the ING Half Marathon in May, it is one of the biggest events here in Ottawa as a lot of the racers who run the full Marathon run it to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I am very excited to participate in it this year. Last year I ran a 10k but I feel I am ready for the Half and maybe next year I will finally attempt a full Marathon as well (not necessarily for the Boston though). Training for this has me being a group leader with the Running Room. We started last Thursday and hopefully I will have more in my pace group this week but if not that will be ok too.

Reading Again

I have started reading again, no not Harry Potter, I have put that aside for a while....I needed a change. I found this book at Chapters, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and it sounded kind of interesting. It is about a boy in College who leaves when he becomes poor and parentless and joines the circus. He made friends after making a lot of enemies first and even fell in love. The story goes from the present, at the age of 93 to the past, starting at the age of 23. It really was a good book since it took me less than a week to read it and that rarely happens. I just felt I had to know more about the circus life and what went on behind the scenes. Basically I couldn't put it down.

I went to the book store again in search of another great book and picked up Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, it is a biography. We'll see how it goes.

Dilemma

I've been having a hard time adjusting to my new situation at work. For those of you who don't know me.....in September I finished Nannying for one family (sort of) and started with another. The family I finished with (Family 2) has 2 children 6 and 4 years old, I was with them for about 4 years and both the kids started full time school this year. It was sad to not be with them as much anymore.

The new family I started with (Family 1) had their first child in June and asked me to start with them in September to get adjusted while the mother was still on maternity leave. Also so that I wouldn't get a job somewhere else and leave them looking later on. Since she was on mat leave Family 2 asked if it would be ok if I worked part time with them as well. I would pick up the older kids after school and stayed there until mom and dad came home for the night. So basically I work 7:30-2:30 with Family 1 then I drive to the school to pick up the kids and I am with them from 3:00-5:30. I was delighted to do this since I didn't really want to leave the older kids anyway.

It was in an agreement between the 2 families that I would do this until January when Family 2 mom was to go back to work. Well now it is January 15 and I am still in the same situation as I was in before. Now don't get me wrong I love the time I spend with Family 2, I am just getting more and more frustrated with Family 1. I didn't think being a Nanny would be following the mom around while she did her errands and appointments, because mom is on mat leave I am basically not doing too much with the baby, who is now 7 months. I feed her in the morning and at lunch and I play with her during the day when that is possible. Mom puts her down for naps because she likes to stay in the room with her and watch her sleep. I am finding it harder and harder to do my job as a Nanny. I don't feel like she trusts me or thinks that I can handle things as she is always intervening. She will be going back to work but the when is what is bothering me. Can I really put up with this for the next 5 months she is on mat leave? Will things be any better then anyway? Should I be looking for another family?

This is just something I have been thinking about lately. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A New Year

I haven't written in a while so I thought now would be a good time. I've been back at work for a week now after having a good two weeks off over the holidays. The week started off really well, I heard lots of interesting stories about what the kids did over their holidays and surprisingly the baby missed me.....or so it seemed.

She is now 7 months old and is more attentive, I can actually play with her now and she responds to what I do. She likes to knock over my towers repeatedly :( She is not quite crawling yet but can sit well on her own. She has started eating more varieties of foods which is not always nice for me, her favourite right now is sweet potato. I have also begun taking her to some playgroups (well one so far), she really liked watching other kids play and move around. Hopefully she will start to move around more herself because she is starting to get heavy.

The other 2 kids went up to Montebello Quebec after New Years for a few days with another family and had a good time.....well mostly good. Poor little Choo Choo ended up getting an ear infection the day before they went and had to go on antibiotics. They have had many experiences with ear infections and ear tubes that they still had all the ear plugs so she was able to swim still. They also tried out cross-country skiing and I think it is now Nugley's favourite thing to do as that was all he really talked about. Then I had to try and get them back on their routine after picking them up from school, hopefully next week will be better. Choo Choo ended up getting hives, a reaction from the antibiotics so she was itching all day at school and the next day too thankfully they went away pretty quickly. She was very brave.

Choo Choo on her new horse from Santa

2008

Well, 2007 is over and done with and 2008 has come, what will it bring for me? for you? We will never know what is ahead which I find exciting. I had a pretty good year last year and I am looking forward to what is to come. I have not made any New Years Resolutions, not really sure what I would consider an actual resolution anyway. There is always the usual ones about living healthier, exercising more, cutting back on finances, but who actually keeps these? and what do they actually entail? I would just rather take things one day at a time and just enjoy everything I do, with my friends and family.

I ran in a Resolution Race last night along the Rideau Canal, I ran a 10k and beat my personal best, I found that a good way to end of the year for sure. Now I'll have to see where I can go from there.

What did you do for your New Year's and what kind of plans are you setting? Well what ever they may be I just hope that you are happy.

Happy New Year!

Christmas has come and gone. I hope you have all had a nice time with your family and friends, I know that I did. I spent my holiday time with my family, we opened our stockings filled with little goodies and then opened our presents. I was really excited with everything and was excited watching other people open their special gifts especially the ones from me.

We had turkey dinner at my place meaning I got to cook it. I was stressing over it a bit but once it got in the oven I felt much better and didn't realize how simple it is to cook it. Now carving it was another story.......I guess I just don't have the patience to slice it just right, I ended up cutting huge slabs of meat with the electric knife. At that point I just didn't really care, I could barely think anymore from the cooking stages, the many visitors here, and the lack of coffee in me. But luckily everyone ate up and enjoyed it all. Then it was time for my least favourite thing.......the clean up.

All in all it was a good day and I can now enjoy the next few days off to relax, or can I?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Baking...Baking...Baking

I have been fortunate this week having only to pick up the 2 older children from school at 3, so with all my extra time in the morning I figured I had time for a little baking. I planned out what I was going to bake, made my list and headed off to the grocery store and the lovely Bulk Barn. I first had to consult with my Grandma on a recipe and she seemed delighted that I enjoyed some of her favourite desserts.

The next day I began my bakefest.....I started with one of my favourites....well they're all are my favourites or I wouldn't have made them. Anyway, I made some soft ginger cookies and some date squares, the date squares did not exactly turn out the way I expected, and actually I ended up burning them as at one point I forgot to put the timer back on.....OOPS! The recipe I used was from one of the Internet websites, but then I remembered about this great recipe book I got for Christmas last year. It is one of the best because it has all the old family recipes in it dating back to my great great grandparents. The recipes were found in some old books and written by them. Very cool. As I was referring to this book my great Aunt had a recipe for Matrimonial Squares aka date squares. So I thought I would try it again and they turned out great.....I should have known better than to mess with family recipes.

The next day I attempted the recipe from my Grandma, apparently they are called saucepan cookies, not a very original name, but I do remember how much I liked them when she made them for us last year. It seemed easy enough but as I progressed I realized that there may be some things are better to just eat than to make. I think I will leave this one for my Grandma to make. I also made some macaroon cookies and the classic Rice Krispie Squares with sparkles on top.

I still plan on making shortbread and sugar cookies but I just ran out of time and honestly I am not looking forward to it. I don't really like getting too messy and these cookies will be messy and probably frustrating at times. We'll see.

Clockwise: ginger cookies, rice krispie squares, macaroon cookies, saucepan cookies. Centre: date squares