Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Things to do in Calgary - Nose Hill
The other day, Kev and I enjoyed some beautiful fall weather, and went for a walk around Nose Hill. If you haven't been up there before, whether to pick nick in the summer, bike in the spring or trail run through the fall, you're missing out. Here's a few picks of the beautiful view.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving!
This long weekend (up here in Canada) is Thanksgiving. We have ours quite a bit earlier than our neighbours to the south, on account of the fact that November is more or less fully winter, so there's not much harvest goodness left to be enjoyed by then.
I can't even remember the last Thanksgiving I spent home with my family, most definitely it was before I moved to Alberta, and probably it was the fall of 2009. In the years since then, I have spent it with either with my lab-family, my new Brantford family or drinking in Vegas with my cousin and friends!
I can't even remember the last Thanksgiving I spent home with my family, most definitely it was before I moved to Alberta, and probably it was the fall of 2009. In the years since then, I have spent it with either with my lab-family, my new Brantford family or drinking in Vegas with my cousin and friends!
A very non-traditional thanksgiving in 2010.
If I was home with my family, we'd have celebrated at our house yesterday, with copious amounts of food and drink, watching the dogs run around in the piles of fall leaves in the yard, and amid the hum of 30 or so people talking at once.
My mom may have made rum cakes.
My dad may have taken people flying.
I would for sure spend some quality time with this old guy!
I am so incredibly thankful for the wonderful family I have at home, for all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and growing number of plus ones! I wish I didn't have to miss out sharing this holiday with you all, year after year.
But since moving to Calgary, I have a whole pile of new things to be thankful for.
Being a stone's throw away from views like this one.
Having a family of guys like this one.
Doing my graduate studies at a school like this one. (source)
And spending my days with a guy like this one.
Thanks to all the family, friends, colleagues, mentors and students who have made the past couple years out here in Calgary such an amazing time of my life. You've made this city feel like home, and I can't imagine being anywhere else.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
A Sinful Giveaway with Sauza Tequila
It's the weekend, and you know what that means! We can let down our hair, cut loose and make some poor life choices. Nothing starts a Saturday Night better than a couple shots of Tequila with some good friends. So you're in the right place, because this week I am hosting my very first giveaway courtesy of Sauza Tequila.
I was lucky enough to get to test drive a new Tequila shot developed by Sauza, and let me tell you, as someone who usually prefers to skip the salt and the lime on the standard 1,2,3 shot, this new and improved variety was much improved. You trade in that bitter salt lick and sour lime finish for a lot of sweet and a little bit of heat, and way more fun. All you have to do is resist the urge to have too many!
All you need to create this Sinful Shot of Sweet Heat:
~1.5 ounces Sauza Tequila Gold
~Sauza Cinnamon Sugar (in the place of the salt)
~An Orange Wedge (in the place of the lime)
And you've got yourself a Sauza Sin!
OK I know the orange wedge is supposed to point up to look like devil's horns, but I thought aimed down they looked kinda like sombreros....so this happened!
Now it's your chance to weigh in, do you prefer the old sour puss shot, or the new Sinful Sweet Heat?
Here's your chance to win your own Sauza Sin (C) Party Prize Pack, valued at $75.
All you have to do is be a Resident of Canada, of Legal Drinking Age and enter via the raffelcopter form below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
What will your prize pack include?
A bottle of Sauza Gold Tequila
A set of 6 shot glasses
A $15 iTunes Gift Card so you can create the perfect party playlist
A $20 Target Gift Card for party décor purchases
And 1 Sauza Cinnamon Sugar shaker
All you need is to add an Orange and you're ready for the best Tequila shot you've ever had!
Contest will be open from Saturday Sept 28 Thru Wednesday Oct 3rd.
Don't forget to share it via Twitter everyday for more entries!
I was lucky enough to get to test drive a new Tequila shot developed by Sauza, and let me tell you, as someone who usually prefers to skip the salt and the lime on the standard 1,2,3 shot, this new and improved variety was much improved. You trade in that bitter salt lick and sour lime finish for a lot of sweet and a little bit of heat, and way more fun. All you have to do is resist the urge to have too many!
All you need to create this Sinful Shot of Sweet Heat:
~1.5 ounces Sauza Tequila Gold
~Sauza Cinnamon Sugar (in the place of the salt)
~An Orange Wedge (in the place of the lime)
And you've got yourself a Sauza Sin!
OK I know the orange wedge is supposed to point up to look like devil's horns, but I thought aimed down they looked kinda like sombreros....so this happened!
Now it's your chance to weigh in, do you prefer the old sour puss shot, or the new Sinful Sweet Heat?
Here's your chance to win your own Sauza Sin (C) Party Prize Pack, valued at $75.
All you have to do is be a Resident of Canada, of Legal Drinking Age and enter via the raffelcopter form below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
What will your prize pack include?
A bottle of Sauza Gold Tequila
A set of 6 shot glasses
A $15 iTunes Gift Card so you can create the perfect party playlist
A $20 Target Gift Card for party décor purchases
And 1 Sauza Cinnamon Sugar shaker
All you need is to add an Orange and you're ready for the best Tequila shot you've ever had!
Contest will be open from Saturday Sept 28 Thru Wednesday Oct 3rd.
Don't forget to share it via Twitter everyday for more entries!
Monday, September 23, 2013
Kid President?!?!
I have a total and complete fascination with YouTube, and how much seriously good content is produced for it. I've talked about some of my must subscribe to channels for science before on my other blog. And today I wanted to take a moment to bring you a pep talk, from someone I discovered only this weekend (thanks to a FB share from my cousin Krista).
Kid President, AKA Robby Novak, a 10 year old from Tennessee is on a mission to make the world be awesome and dance more. And I think we could all take a page out of his book!
Hope you all had an amazing weekend, and this week DFTBA!
Kid President, AKA Robby Novak, a 10 year old from Tennessee is on a mission to make the world be awesome and dance more. And I think we could all take a page out of his book!
Hope you all had an amazing weekend, and this week DFTBA!
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Books Lately
Since I was travelling pretty much constantly this past month, I've done quite a bit of reading lately. If you click around up in my navigation bar, you might have noticed that I have set myself the task of reading 100 books in 2013. Unfortunately despite my best efforts this last little while, with less than 4 months to go, I am still 49 books short.
So I thought I'd take a brief moment to share some books I just finished, and some of the ones I'd like to tackle next.
Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Because whenever I fly, I pick up an airport book or two. I find that for the most part, books you buy at airports are always a good read, and these two are no exceptions. While the Kite Runner depicts the friendship between two boys from different social classes growing up in Afghanistan, A Thousand Splendid Suns focuses on the hardships faced by Afghan women. Both books provide the reader with an inside view of daily life over the past 30 years in country exposed to the Western World often only through news media. More importantly however, both books offer a truly moving glimpse on the depth of human emotion, commitment and endurance, as the characters try to find a place of happiness amid truly unimaginable cruelty.
Which brings me to the next couple books I'm eager to read.
Khaled Hossieni's most recent work "And the Mountains Echoed", although I'm debating whether I want to pick up the hard cover or go with a digital copy for now. And Shilpi Somaya Gowda's "Secret Daughter", which I have had on my bookshelf here in Calgary for two years now but haven't read yet.
And finally, two books that I am constantly picking up, and almost buying every time I'm in Chapters, both with a common theme. Chris Bohjalian's "Midwives" and Ami McKay's "The Birth House". I have to say I have something of a fascination with the idea of midwifery and so both of these books should be enjoyable reads for me.
What books are on your fall reading lists?
So I thought I'd take a brief moment to share some books I just finished, and some of the ones I'd like to tackle next.
Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Because whenever I fly, I pick up an airport book or two. I find that for the most part, books you buy at airports are always a good read, and these two are no exceptions. While the Kite Runner depicts the friendship between two boys from different social classes growing up in Afghanistan, A Thousand Splendid Suns focuses on the hardships faced by Afghan women. Both books provide the reader with an inside view of daily life over the past 30 years in country exposed to the Western World often only through news media. More importantly however, both books offer a truly moving glimpse on the depth of human emotion, commitment and endurance, as the characters try to find a place of happiness amid truly unimaginable cruelty.
Which brings me to the next couple books I'm eager to read.
Khaled Hossieni's most recent work "And the Mountains Echoed", although I'm debating whether I want to pick up the hard cover or go with a digital copy for now. And Shilpi Somaya Gowda's "Secret Daughter", which I have had on my bookshelf here in Calgary for two years now but haven't read yet.
And finally, two books that I am constantly picking up, and almost buying every time I'm in Chapters, both with a common theme. Chris Bohjalian's "Midwives" and Ami McKay's "The Birth House". I have to say I have something of a fascination with the idea of midwifery and so both of these books should be enjoyable reads for me.
What books are on your fall reading lists?
Monday, September 9, 2013
Happy Birthday Dad
Happy Birthday dad! Despite everything else that was going on this summer, I'm so glad I got to spend as much time with you as I did. We even got in our annual ride in the Seminole! Wish I could be home for your birthday too, but since I can't spend it with you, I did take some time going through some air show photos of yours I happen to have on my PC.
Maybe next summer I'll have to meet you at a fly-in or something?
Or maybe you should come fly aerobatics out here in the mountains like the plane mom and I saw this July.
Either way, happy birthday! I hope you got to enjoy it playing with your new Beetle in the garage!
Sunday, September 8, 2013
In Loving Memory of Mary Edna Turner
A week ago today I lost my paternal grandmother (following a major stroke 8 days earlier). She was a truly loving, inspiring and incredible human being, and I thought I'd take a moment or two to share her with you all.
My grandmother, who went by Edna, lived an incredible 85 years, 55 of which she spent happily married to my grandfather Graham. Both of my grandparents were Returned Canadian veterans who had served in active duty over seas. Edna was a dedicated R.N. Nurse, defying her role as eldest daughter on a farm in Prince Edward Island to go to school for nursing. As a dedicated Catholic, her first job as a nurse was at a Convent in PEI, but with ambition and drive to help more people and around the world she served heroically as a Flight Nurse with the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Korean Air Lift (1951-1956). She loved to tell stories of stopping over in Hawaii will transporting wounded soldiers back to the US.
Later she traveled and lived throughout most of Canada, providing nursing to the ill of some of Canada's smallest and most remote communities. She even spent several years serving the Inuit communities of Canada's territories, including the world's 4th most northern settlement, Resolute Bay, Nunavut. After having my uncle and my dad (and moving around some more) she spent her longest tenure Nursing at the Durrerin District Hospital in Orangeville, Ontario (where I was born).
My grandparents retired to Hickory Hills in Tillsonburg Ontario, and I have many fond childhood memories of visiting them there, playing with their Terrier Bridie, balling yarn, sorting through knitting patterns and playing with buttons. My grandmother was a true crafter and creator in every sense of the words, with a lifelong passion for knitting, and in this I am so proud to take after her. It would be impossible to count the number of sweaters, blankets, mittens, hats and toys she knit over the years. She often completed more than 100 in a single year, giving them away, with love to her family, friends and charities.
She would never be without a set of knitting needles and a project on the go, weeks before her first stroke in July, she completed a beautiful blanket, and I am tasked with finishing another she had just started.
“Edna is lovingly remembered as a peaceful, gentle woman who touched the lives of many, and made no enemies. Her spirit and attitude live on in her family and in all those whose lives were touched and enriched by her loving presence."
My grandmother and I are in many ways kindred spirits. It is from her that I received much of my creativity, and love for animals. I hope I have also inherited her inexhaustible capacity for caring for others. In many ways I also take after her in my life, moving away from home at a young age (18), traveling across this country (coast to coast), living far from home. Pursing my career before a family (it was quite unique for a woman born in the 1920s to do as much as she did before marrying relatively late at 30). I only hope I can model the entirety of my life after her, a woman who has and continues to inspire me every time I think of her. Which is and ever will be, often. You are in my heart, and my prayers Grandma.
My grandmother, who went by Edna, lived an incredible 85 years, 55 of which she spent happily married to my grandfather Graham. Both of my grandparents were Returned Canadian veterans who had served in active duty over seas. Edna was a dedicated R.N. Nurse, defying her role as eldest daughter on a farm in Prince Edward Island to go to school for nursing. As a dedicated Catholic, her first job as a nurse was at a Convent in PEI, but with ambition and drive to help more people and around the world she served heroically as a Flight Nurse with the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Korean Air Lift (1951-1956). She loved to tell stories of stopping over in Hawaii will transporting wounded soldiers back to the US.
Later she traveled and lived throughout most of Canada, providing nursing to the ill of some of Canada's smallest and most remote communities. She even spent several years serving the Inuit communities of Canada's territories, including the world's 4th most northern settlement, Resolute Bay, Nunavut. After having my uncle and my dad (and moving around some more) she spent her longest tenure Nursing at the Durrerin District Hospital in Orangeville, Ontario (where I was born).
My grandparents retired to Hickory Hills in Tillsonburg Ontario, and I have many fond childhood memories of visiting them there, playing with their Terrier Bridie, balling yarn, sorting through knitting patterns and playing with buttons. My grandmother was a true crafter and creator in every sense of the words, with a lifelong passion for knitting, and in this I am so proud to take after her. It would be impossible to count the number of sweaters, blankets, mittens, hats and toys she knit over the years. She often completed more than 100 in a single year, giving them away, with love to her family, friends and charities.
The collection of sweaters my grandma knit for my brother and I, along with some blankets.
She would never be without a set of knitting needles and a project on the go, weeks before her first stroke in July, she completed a beautiful blanket, and I am tasked with finishing another she had just started.
“Edna is lovingly remembered as a peaceful, gentle woman who touched the lives of many, and made no enemies. Her spirit and attitude live on in her family and in all those whose lives were touched and enriched by her loving presence."
My grandmother and I are in many ways kindred spirits. It is from her that I received much of my creativity, and love for animals. I hope I have also inherited her inexhaustible capacity for caring for others. In many ways I also take after her in my life, moving away from home at a young age (18), traveling across this country (coast to coast), living far from home. Pursing my career before a family (it was quite unique for a woman born in the 1920s to do as much as she did before marrying relatively late at 30). I only hope I can model the entirety of my life after her, a woman who has and continues to inspire me every time I think of her. Which is and ever will be, often. You are in my heart, and my prayers Grandma.
Knitting together in 2011.
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