Continued

This is where we stayed.

Valentine's Day

Occurred right after we got back from spending more money than we had hoped in Canada, so it was kind of an afterthought.

At least for me, it was. C went and got me lotions, bath bubbles, & a super comfy bath robe...and sadly, I didn't get him anything. He asked me if we were going to celebrate Valentine's Day and I said yes. To him that meant go buy something. To me it meant cards and a home cooked dinner. Perhaps I should be more specific next time.

I will say, I was pretty impressed with the dinner I made. I roasted (using our new roaster C's mom gave us) a 5lb boston butt for 11 hours. Basting every 1 hour. Also used a cool blackening rub I made from several spices. 11 hours. Basting every 1 hour. Annoying, to say the least, but well worth it. I made my own bbq sauce too--so good! Cheese grits...mmmmm...didn't realize it would be so easy. Duh. Grits + cheese = cheese grits. And applesauce. From a jar. Can't get easier than that. So I guess I balanced out the time consuming task of the butt with the ease of the grits & applesauce. I also baked an apple pie/cobbler. Crust bottom cobbler top. Which was okay I suppose--I don't enjoy baked apples very much, but C loves apple pies, so I thought I'd be nice.

Especially since I didn't get him anything. :oP

Living in the past

The majority of the time I think about how things will never be how they used to. It's actually quite sad and I just can't seem to see the joy & memories I will create in the future. I'm so busy mourning the past, I can't enjoy the present.

It mostly comes down to my family. I'll never again live in the same house as my siblings. It's like, "Why didn't I recognize this earlier so that I could enjoy it while I had the chance??" Oh, yeah, I remember, because I was dodging punches from my brother. And my grandmother's house that my uncle is now living in. I have no desire to go in that house because it wouldn't be the house that I remember.

And take, for instance, yesterday, walking around the Natural Sciences building...I thought, "I can't wait until I never have to set foot in this building again." Yet, I know, 5, 10 years from now I'll think, "Those were great times; I grew so much and met such great people, why didn't I enjoy it while I had the chance?"

This leads to my main point & something good that has come from moving forward: being able to search online for recipes by ingredient. HA!

I love being able to do this & clean out the weird pantry stuff I bought for one recipe and then didn't know how to use it any other time. It's the little things people. Of course, I'll find a drawback with anything: my oodles of cookbooks just sit gathering dust.

Honeymoon a la Canada Series

Flying from Seattle to Calgary

Calgary from the air. I thought, "Uhhhhh, where're the mountains??" It was still a 2 hour shuttle drive to Banff from here.

A good laugh

My favorite piece in the world

If this was the only thing I could listen to for the rest of my life, I would be happy. I was supposed to play this at a recital when I was in high school, but there was one part I just couldn't get past. Late New Year's resolution perhaps??