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Scott had never been to a wintery place before so we crammed our time in Ottawa with tons of snowy activities. It’s even been a pretty long time since I have been in real snow (on purpose!!)! It ended up being a really fun week.

Rosemarie, Scott and I spent one morning building a snow fort on the front lawn. It even had a slide attached. It amused me how fast we built the fort…. there is a big difference between what three adults with adult shovels can build and what kids with kids shovels can build, haha. Scott spent another morning working on it himself (I stayed indoors and took pictures), and then another whole morning digging deeper into the snow as well.

I think it was a pretty sweet fort. So much seating!

We also spent a significant amount of the trip watching the Olympics. My dad had a two TV (plus picture-in-picture) set up so we could watch maximum sports all the time. I really enjoyed watching curling this year, and of course skeleton.

Rosemarie’s friend Liz (who was on exchange in Fiji with her) came to visit us in Ottawa. Dad and Kate suggested that we go for a skate on the canal immediately after picking her up from the bus station. I didn’t even know you were allowed to skate on the canal at night but I’m glad we went because it was so empty! We pretty much had the ice to ourselves, although the Beaver Tail stands were closed so that was a bummer. Scott improved his skating quite a lot that night. I think we skated 4 km in total.

The next day we went downtown again to check out Winterlude stuff. Look how busy the canal was that afternoon! I’m so glad we did our skating at midnight cuz that is wacko busy. You can’t even see the ice after the bridge!!

We checked out the ice sculptures and ate shawarma and then finally got our Beaver Tails. I had a nutella one and it was delicious. Scott stuck with the classic Killaloe Sunrise.

Unpictured…

  • Cross country skiing: HILARIOUS. It was Scott’s first time on any kind of ski-like equipment and he was SO BAD at first, hahha. He fell a lot, hahaha. Poor Scott.
  • Snowshoeing: Meh.
  • Curling: Kate, Rosemarie, Scott and I got to fill in for a team in my dad’s curling league. It was a lot of fun, we actually did pretty well… ended up with a tie!
  • Maple syrup on snow: Successful once we figured out you need to let the maple syrup reduction cool down a fair bit before you pour it on the snow.
  • Hockey: Callum took Scott out to an outdoor rink to shoot some pucks for the first time. They were gone for like 2.5 hours so I guess it was fun!!!
  • Tobogganing: Hilarious. I’m going to make a whole post about it, haha.

Ah and it’s March 1st so here is my second 1 Second Everyday video!

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Natasha made me an awesome record bowl. Katrina and the Waves, of course!


Such excellent proof that cool presents don’t have to cost lots of money. A thoughtful DIY gift means so much. I love it.

Scott had to work a weird shift today so I’m on my own at home tonight. Enjoying it thoroughly actually. Watching bad TV, and probably a movie later that he’s already seen.

Monica and Brad were stayed with us last night. We met up with them at Broadway Station Sushi, and then came back here for Settlers and catching up. It was fun. I love having so many visitors here…. one of the perks of living in Vancouver, everyone seems to stop through here!

Oh yeah I changed my blog layout again. Yet again. I’m quite happy with it at the moment. I just have to make a nice header photo and then I will be a lot more content. I never really fully liked the last layout.

Um um um I thought I had more to say, but I forget it all now. Until tomorrow!

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I’m a bit embarrassed at how long this took me to do, but over the holidays I received a whole bunch of really awesome, thoughtful gifts, and I really need to show them to you. My friends and family are awesome.

I think I’ll just do them one a time, maybe one per day.


This is a name draft, made by my family friend Jac. I think they look pretty cool even without an explanation, but they’re even cooler when you know what’s going on!

Basically he takes our full names and puts them into a computer program he wrote. It spits out a design and then he weaves them on his weaving loom in our favourite colour. The pattern is based on our name going from the outside to the inside, on all sides (mirror image).

Scott’s is the green one on the left. His is bigger because he has two middle names that make his name very long. Mine is on the right in purple.

My favourite part of the weaves is that since Scott and I have the same last name, the very inner part of each of our designs is the same! I haven’t checked, but the inside of Rosemarie’s, and the one Jac made for our mom should also be the same. So cool.

Jac and Laurie made name drafts for us, Rosemarie, and the Monnon kids and their partners, and put them in these nice frames for us to display. This was such a nice gift, something that I will keep forever. Thank you Jac and Laurie!!!!!

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We went trampolining while in Ottawa. The girl who was checking us in asked if we had ever been there before. We said “YEAH!!………. in 1999”. Jeeze it has been a long time since grade 9. I remember all those afternoons busing downtown, picking up a taco at Taco Bell or a samosa from the market, and then doing our hour of trampoline lessons with Sean.

Sean wasn’t there this time. Also trampolining was a lot more tiring than before!! We still did alright though, cautiously trying our old tricks.

Super Strong Sarah Swan

I bounce so high.

Hehe this is a funny picture of Helenka.

Leslie has good form.

Show off David. I’m just kidding, I made him do these flips so I could take a picture.

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What else have I missed.

  • Rosemarie and I went over to our aunt and uncle’s house and ate yummy thai food. I would love to have that soup recipe HINT HINT HINT.
  • Rosemarie left Ottawa to go to Toronto and I got lonely. It is weird being home without her.
  • Went out for a girly lunch with Cassia and her mum and Jane and Brenda. Our burgers were enormous.
  • I went to Ikea with Leslie and Cassia, and had meatballs for dinner.
  • My flight back was delayed and longer than usual because of headwind.
  • School starts on Monday. A 5 month long semester of 8:30-3:30 school. This one is going to be tough, I can tell. I am going to work really really hard though because although I did very well last semester, I want to do BETTER!


I know that is not the most appetizing picture in the world, but I just wanted to share that cooking macaroni and cheese in milk, instead of water WORKS. It was creamy and delicious. I followed this recipe.

Rosemarie left her syrup in the fridge so this morning I made pancakes. They were very fluffy. Who needs pancake mix!!

Today I am trying out my new slow-cooker that I got for Christmas. I’m making slow-cooker jambalaya. We’ll see how it goes!