my husband, the master of surprises

so... i go to bed, and on my pillow is a third card (a card with the dishes - the first present, then a card with the soccer ball - a second surprise present when i went upstairs to the computer)... and a third present... this!!!!!!!



















don't i just have the best husband ever!?!

birthday goodness

well, i have to say i had a great birthday!

i got to leave early to go on the ottawa river cruise boat with my co-workers and then on to blue cactus for a lovely dinner (caramelized onions & poblano quesadillas with salad).

and then i came home to all of this:

dishes with sheep from my man!















a cookbook from my neighbours




















dishes from my in-laws
























soccer ball!




















and a video game... although i'm pretty sure it was more for him than for me.

week six, bootcamp

now we're rolling!

i've finished the sixth week of bootcamp. i am officially maintaining a loss of 10 pounds - and this is, ahem, that week that i tend to be a little more bloated than usual. i am curious to see where i weigh in a week from now.

so far, i've worn 2 pairs of pants that i'd retired because they were too tight... and i bought a new pair of jeans (albeit at value village, but ya'd never know it)... my "fat pants" are too loose, finally. i have decided to start tossing all "fat" clothes as soon as i grow out of them. i don't ever want to go back, and i don't want an excuse. if my pants are snug now... then i'm going to exercise!

even my mother in law commented that i'd lost weight.

friday night j brought me to goodlife and i joined. although i'm not a gym person, i am really excited about this prospect. bootcamp has been great for me - just the kick in the pants that i needed.... now i feel confident in my ability to work my workouts into my life, instead of working my life around my 6-7pm workout. goodlife has lots of different types of hour-long classes at various locations and times. i'll be able to work out with lots of people i know that are members... and start doing other things i've been missing, such as the ottawa knit nights.

i'm excited about this winter too. jason and i have decided to buy cross-country skis. and i'm going to trade in both pairs of skates that i own, and make a third attempt at finding comfortable skates. i think the trick will be buying a size that's not too tight (yeah, i'm a genius).

and my sis, liss, has agreed to try out climbing at one of the indoor rock walls.

i never knew this side of me. i'm excited to be so active for the first time in my life.

and some updates on knitting too

sock one of two.

christmas knitting is coming along.

i also have some baby projects. i recently thrifted 3.5 balls of patons beehive baby in yellow from value village. although knitting with acrylic isn't my favourite, for non-knitters who are procreating, it is the choice for me. it's washer/dryer.... and non-knitters just wouldn't appreciate the wool, especially after it felts after the first washing.

now i'm just trying to figure out which patterns to make...

steamtrain and other adventures

Yesterday J and I, along with his family, took the hull-wakefield steamtrain. It was a combined birthday excursion for myself and my father-in-law. My birthday is coming up, but we celebrated on his birthday.

the steamtrain:














look, a junkyard!:










lovely wakefield:










lunchstop at bistro des milles delices (which does not have a website)... we had cold tomato and basil soup (refreshing!)... J had smoked salmon and herbed creamcheese roulades, and i had the smoked duck with lentil salad. both delicious!





























there was plenty of entertainment on the train... music, face / arm painting for my niece and nephew... and of course the gift shop (my niece got a pink and white conductor had she was extremely taken with, and my nephew got a miniature train)

































by the pictures you would never know, but the weather was pretty stormy - but all in all it was a fun time. i would recommend it - but eat on the train so that you have time to shop in wakefield. we only had 2 hours - and we just made it back with a few minutes to spare and that was only stopping to eat.

knitting.... starting the gift knitting early

here's what i've been working on recently...

blanket - a gift for my friends who will be married next summer










socks, for my sister for christmas.


i think i still have a bit more sock knitting left this year. i was going to knit vinnland, but noticed it was a toe up, and i'd already cast on for a top down... so i just invented my own pattern... slipped every 4th stitch on every other round. it's simple, looks nice.


j and i attended the ottawa japanese community association golf tournament yesterday. our team won (thanks to the 17 year old wonder-kid on our team). yay! i'm a big ol' baby and needed a pull cart after 9 holes. we are members of the association - j is one- half japanese, one-half canadian. we would like to keep and learn as much japanese culture as possible so that one we have kids, we can pass it along to them.... they will be carrying along the family name.


i'm going for lunch with ildiko - who attended the first round of bootcamp with me. we're going to ottawa's first all you can eat sushi joint: Sushi Kan. I'm terribly excited!

week 1 - round 2

well, this week the trainer has decided to make the exercises more difficult - in the end, we're getting more out of our time there.... but oooooh, it's a workout!

my clothes feel baggier, i feel so much more energetic and happy.... all in all, worth every penny.

i've started on a new sock.... christmas present time! as you can tell from the lack of pictures, although i have more energy, i am exhausted... too much so to post pictures.

perhaps this weekend i'll add pictures of the blanket and sock.

can's professional

this is so entertaining....

week 4 - finished!

well, i finished bootcamp - all four weeks without missing a day. i am proud of myself. i think i've shed a few pounds, but no changes in the inches yet, however, i have seen a big difference in my physical abilities. i doubled my push ups and crunches and shaved almost 30 seconds off of my 1km run. also, i'm not as "flabby"... my stomach is a little less jelly-like, and my face is not so puffy looking.

i'm starting it all over again on monday - this time with jason, so i am really excited for that. i know i've felt so much better overall - mentally, and i have had gads of energy - i'm hoping jason will reap the same rewards. it will be so nice to do lots of activities with him.

i have cast on for christmas... usually i knit socks, so it's good to start early. i've also finished the first repeat of saffron cables... and i'll put that down until after the christmas knitting is done.

how to use a long weekend...

first, i need to point out - thursday was 42 degrees celsius (with humidex) and environment canada urged people not to exercise. but of course, we were rebels and did anyhow - just a low impact version (no running, minimal reps).

i am actually starting to see results now. i am so excited. my clothes certainly fit differently... i have energy for once in my life. and i've lost 9 pounds - in 3 weeks, i think that is a worthy accomplishment.

i am hooked. jason and i have now signed up for the next class and we're going to do it together. i am so excited to do it with him! he's a jock - and i have never been sporty, so i am hoping we'll have a healthy competitveness and push each other. i'm pleasantly surprised at the change... i want to do things now - like hiking, biking, you name it.... i want to DO things!

as for the long weekend... well, there was some cleaning, shopping, knitting, dim sum, supper, knitting and knitting. i have finished the first of 4 repeats of the pattern for saffron cables. i have noticed some mistakes - but, well, i'll just tell them that the blanket is a lot like marriage - it might have a few mistakes somewhere, but it doesn't make it any less beautiful.... (nice, eh?).

i think i'd best start on my christmas projects now - i think i have a few pairs of socks to get finished... and a baby blanket for a christmas baby.

harry potter, elizabeth bennet & mr. darcy.

i realize now that i didn't update about my most wonderful weekend....

saturday was set aside especially for harry potter. from 9 am until 2 am.... there was no stopping me. i finished the book.... and i was satisfied.

saturday, i watched the first 3 of 6 episodes of the bbc pride and prejudice mini-series. i was off monday and finished the remainder of the episodes.

i really couldn't think of a better way to spend a weekend.

i got a lot more knitting done on the saffron cables - i'm now at line 30 of 75 - of the first of four repeats on the pattern.... i've got a long way to go. i've taken to bringing my knitting to bootcamp - because i have about an hour wait before class. apparently i should be using it to stretch, seeing as i pulled a groin muscle yesterday. ouch! only 8 more classes left - then i'm done bootcamp!!

i'm going to have to find other things to fill the void now...