Update: Trucs a Faire

Blogging has largely been replaced with other forms of social media but I find that from time to time I refer back to this list. I was showing it to friends recently and realized that I haven’t updated it in seven years! In that time I’ve only completed a few more things on the list but that’s still progress! I’m almost halfway through as well. 

So to recap, on February 13, 2006 I posted my list of "Things To Do Before I Die". After watching the movie "Up" multiple times in the summer of 2014 I renamed my list "Trucs a Faire" which is just French for Things to Do. It seems redundant to say "before I die". Obviously I can't do them once I'm dead :P anyway, The bolded items have been accomplished. The orange ones since the last time I published the complete list which was in December 2016.

97 (and counting) Trucs a Faire 

1. Fly first class 
2. Live on my own in my own place 
3. Eat at Sonic 
4. Live in another country...or at least another province 
5. Host dinner party for at least 8

6. Visit an art gallery 
7. Go to Texas 
8. Ride in a hot air balloon
9. Fly in a small aircraft
10. Visit a planetarium

11. Take a winery tour
12. Do high tea somewhere
13. Attend Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
14. See a drive in movie 
15. Get room service and have breakfast in bed at a nice hotel (I've done room service, but not for breakfast)

16. Play blackjack at a casino (I’ve played slots but not blackjack yet)
17. Make homemade ice cream
18. Try ten new foods
19. Go sailing
20. Ride in a limo

21. Be debt free
22. Go horse back riding on the wide open plains
23. Sleep under the stars (without a tent)
24. Fly in a 747
25. Collect all 50 US state quarters (only 2 to go!)

26. Attend my ten year high school reunion 
27. Visit Australia
28. Visit Great Britain 
29. Get a cat
30. Take a cruise 

31. Work an election 
32. Watch all moves on AFI top 100 list
33. Be in Ottawa for Canada Day 
34. Draft a will
35. Spend one weekend totally unplugged. No TV, No Computer, No Phone 

36. Visit the Maritimes 
37. Tour the US Eastern seaboard 
38. Pour water from the Atlantic ocean into the Pacific
39. Fast for 24 hours
40. Be in audience of a game show or talk show and/or try out for a game show or reality show

41. Learn to cook 
42. Cook a turkey
43. Play with a hand bell choir
44. Complete 25 different crossword puzzles
45. Take a Self Defence Class

46. Fire a gun 
47. Host a fondue
48. Take real swimming lessons (learn proper back stoke, kick turn) 
49. Leave to drive a stick shift
50. Try yoga

51. Take a cake decorating class
52. Visit Nashville 
53. Go parachuting
54. Take a refresher First Aid course
55. Sell something on Ebay

56. Try snowboarding
57. Try Golf 
58. Watch the Yankees/Mariners play ball 
59. Drink tequila in Tijuana
60. Go to Disney Land/World

61. Get a bikini wax
62. Buy a new condo (or house) (or town house)
63. Go white water rafting 
64. Climb Mt. Cheam
65. Have a baby (or two, or three)

66. Read through the entire bible 
67. Stay at a bed and breakfast 
68. Go to Las Vegas 
69. Go to Paris in the spring time
70. Learn enough about classical music to be able to identify popular pieces by ear

71. Shop at the Mall of America
72. Visit all five great lakes 
73. Stay overnight in NYC 
74. Go to Boston in the fall 
75. Stay overnight at a Casino

76. Visit the San Diego Zoo
77. Visit Sea World
78. Take a full two weeks off at a time 
79. Go on a blind date
80. See a live horse race and place a bet

81. Visit the Grand Canyon 
82. Take a trip by train (aka travel somewhere on Amtrak) 
83. Do the Vancouver Sun Run 
84. Go to midnight mass 
85. Attend Sunrise Easter Service 

86. Go skinny dipping
87. Visit all 10 Provincial Legislature Buildings. (9 down 1 to go - still need to get to Newfoundland!)
88. Buy cowboy boots
89. Go to the Olympics 
90. Fly in a helicopter

91. Go to a NASCAR race
92. Get married
93. Participate in a team sport for a season
94. Sing a solo at church
95. Really try to loose weight/get in better shape

96. Learn another language 
97. Visit Melville's grave in Ortona 

Last time I published this I had 59 Trucs a Faire left. As of this update I've accomplished 45 so I have 52 left. One by one they'll get done!

FOMO

I suffer from intense FOMO – Fear of Missing Out. I HATE hearing that people have been doing things without me. I get jealous and then depressed. It’s a weird cycle because while I love saying “yes” to everything, I also value my alone time. A couple of weeks ago I was feeling really left out and overlooked. But these past two weeks have been nuts. This has been my evening schedule:

Tuesday, March 13^th – Lecture at a local historic site

Wednesday, March 14^th - Church

Thursday, March 15^th – Bacon Party (Girls game night with friends where we all brought bacon themed dishes)

Friday, March 16 & Saturday, March 17^th – Crossing Borders Conference

Saturday, March 17^th – Babysitting

Sunday, March 18^th – Babysitting

Monday, March 19^th – technically nothing scheduled but I had to study for a German test and I talked to my mom for about an hour

Tuesday, March 20^th – Dinner with a friend and her new boyfriend

Wednesday, March 21^st – German Club

Thursday, March 22^nd – Book Club

Friday, March 23^rd – Birthday Party

This isn’t particularly abnormal for me. I like being busy but I have to admit. I’m tired. I’ve scheduled some quality time with my couch for this weekend. I’m excited to see it again!

Lent 2018

So I finally figured out what I need to give up for Lent. I know it probably won’t come as a huge surprise here since my last half dozen posts have only dealt with three things (my bucket list, reading, and Lent) but I’ve decided to give up reading. Well, I’ve decided to give up starting new books. I frequently have a half a dozen books on the go and I read a LOT. I’ve decided that for what is left of Lent, I can only read the books I have scheduled for this month (two book club selections and my “March” selection) and finish the two books I have on the go – “February” by Lisa Moore and “Ben-Hur” which I’ve been reading since sometime last year. That’s still a good number of books but it’s way less than normal. I will be/have been replacing the time I would normally spend reading books with reading my bible and other spiritually edifying materials. I’m also going to try to stay off Goodreads and other websites where I obsess over the number of books I read. Wish me luck! It’s already weird to not be looking for the next book I can read but I think it will be good.

Why I won’t be doing Whole30 for Lent

I’m struggling with what to do for Lent this year and it starts on Wednesday! Last week (after much Pinterest surfing) I got it into my head that I might do the Whole30 eating plan but there are a few major barriers to that for me.

1. I’m not vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination but the truth is I don’t eat a lot of meat. Going on a food plan that emphasizes meat is just not a good fit for me.

2. One of the biggest factors that deters me from meat (aside from the ethical and health reasons to avoid it) is frankly the cost. Meat is *expensive*. I have said for years that I am an “economic vegetarian” and this is still true. I’ll grab a rositierre chicken once in a while but I just don’t eat a lot of meat. So that doesn’t really make sense.

3. Obviously if you ARE eating meat the emphasis is on good, organic, probably local, ethically raised meats…which brings me back to the cost issue. For me it’s just easier to avoid it entirely.

4. I get that Whole30 is an elimination diet so you’re basically eliminating everything except meat and veggies (and some fruit) but I’m just not mentally prepared to give up all grains. No bread? Okay, I can do that. But no oatmeal? Or Red River cereal, or rice? I don’t think so. I’ve never been a fad dieter anyway and while I definitely need to clean up my diet, I don’t think that cutting out healthy items is the way to go. Plus a lot of those items are quite inexpensive so we’re back to the budget issues.

Focusing on whole FOOD and clean eating is a much better fit. Emphasizing vegetables, reducing snacks and mindless eating. Now we’re talking. I don’t think there’s a name for that per se but that’s where I’m heading. I used to be really good about what I ate but I’ve definitely fallen off the wagon. Now seems like a good time to hop back on.

2018 Reading Goals

As stated in my previous post my goal for 2018 is to read 108 books total. That’s nine books per month which seems doable. Inspired by my friend Liz (LiteraryLizard) , I am putting some parameters on the books I read. First of all, no matter how many books I read, 25% of them need to be by Canadian authors. I was close to that last year with 23% written by Canadian authors. In addition, at least 25% need to be from my own bookshelf. I have accumulated a rather astounding number of books over the last few years, mostly from secondhand book sales and library sales. I estimate I have around 60 books on my shelves that I have yet to read so that gives me a good selection to choose from.

I am also doing another 52 Week Reading Challenge. I found this one on Pinterest and like last year, I expect it will help me stretch my genres.

I am part of two book clubs so that will account for another 24 books that are chosen for me.

In addition, I thought it would be fun to, every month, read a book that has that month’s name in the title. It doesn’t have to necessarily be in relation to that month, but it could be. For example, for January I am reading “Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission" by Bret Baier. For February, I’ve had “February” by Lisa Moore, on my “to-read” list for quite a while. For March, I’m looking forward to reading Geraldine Brooks’ “March” about the patriarch of the March clan featured in Little Women. I’m open to suggestions for the other months. October will likely be something regarding the October Crisis but I don’t have anything for the other months yet.

Lastly, an ongoing goal is to read one book that substantially takes place in the ten provinces and three territories of Canada and each of the fifty American states. I started tracking those books in 2017 and I will continue to do so in 2018.

So, to recap:

108 Books in 2018

25% Canadian

25% from my bookshelf

52 Week Reading Challenge

24 Book Club selections

12 months

50 States (ongoing)

13 Provinces & Territories (ongoing)

Unlike Liz, my challenges will overlap. For example, if I read a book from my bookshelf by a Canadian author that fits into the 52 Week Reading Challenge AND satisfies the location requirement, then I can count it on all four lists as well as towards my annual goal. However, each book can only count for each list once. It will be less complicated than it sounds and I’m the one who has to track it anyway. I’ll try and report back on my reading but you can always follow my progress on Goodreads!

2017 Reading Challenge: A Review

I have always been what one might call a “voracious” reader. I was one of three students in grade six who won a contest for reading the most books. Every summer the local library hosted a summer reading challenge and I was always diligent about recording the books I read.

Once I started university, my reading for pleasure took a back seat. I even went through a period as a second year history student where I wouldn’t read fiction. I just wasn’t interested in people’s made up worlds where people may or may not survive or fall in love or whatever, all at the author’s whim. During the summers of 2013 and 2014 I was in France and my reading options were limited…mostly because I hadn’t discovered the versatility of borrowing e-books through the library.

In 2015 I went on a cruise and in one week I read five books. Once I finished my masters degree in 2016 I started really reading for pleasure again. At some point I started a Goodreads account and in the Fall of 2016 I started tracking my reading more closely. In January 2017 a friend of mine shared a 52 week reading challenge. I knew I already was reading a fairly wide variety of books but I figured this would be a good way to challenge myself to read genres I generally avoided (aka fantasy). I tracked my reading both on Goodreads and in a bullet journal. By the end of 2017 I had completed the challenge. My total for the year was a whopping 117 books read. <-super -="" by="" check="" cool="" goodreads="" graphics="" it="" o:p="" out="" provided="">

I was reading right up to the afternoon of New Year’s Eve which was a bit stressful so I’ve reduced my 2018 target down to 108. That’s still over two a week, basically nine a month. Very doable, assuming I maintain the pace of last year. I also have a new 52 week challenge. I’ll cover that in a separate post. Right now I want to review what I read last year.

Of the 117 books I read 38 via audio and one as it was released via podcast. Two of those I started the paper version and ended with the audio. The rest were either hard copy or e-book. So that’s 32% done via audio. I have a forty minute commute each way to work so that really helped pass the time.

Here's just a few of the books I read. You can see the complete list on my Goodreads account. 

Some thoughts on the books I read:

My Top Five of 2017

• All the Light We Cannot See
• The Light Between the Oceans
• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration – Isabel Wilkerson
• The Eye of the Needle – Ken Follett
• Longbourn – Jo Baker

Worst book: “Guns, Germs and Steel” by Jared Diamond (so boring)

Read in one day: “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green

Books that should only be listened to on audio: 

• Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
• Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson

Books I read only because of their title

• Badass Librarians of Timbuktu: and their race to save the world’s most precious manuscripts by Joshua Hammer 
• What I was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir by Kristin Newman

Book everyone should read: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson 

Lent 2017: Time to get off the interwebs

I first participated in Lent in 2014. It is not a tradition I was raised with but I think the exercise can be incredibly beneficial when applied correctly. That first year I gave up cheese. It’s no secret that cheese is hands down my favourite food and I like nothing more than some good quality unique cheeses. I did have a caveat and it was that if I was offered free pizza, then I could consume cheese during the 40 days of Lent. That happened twice. I also accidently had it on some salad and once some friends brought a selection of cheese specifically for me to try and I didn’t feel right refusing. I think it’s telling that three years later I can still detail the few times I made exceptions to my goal in that first year. That summer I was in France, the land of 360 cheeses, and I told my boss about my Lenten observations. His response? “Wow! C’est un vrai puisement!” And then we proceeded to may up for my six weeks of cheese-less-ness with two months of amazing cheese.

In 2015 I swore off candy. This included all wrapped candy and chocolate bars and even more significantly, I stopped playing Candy Crush. I don’t really think of myself as a big candy eater but I was amazed at how prevalent it was. I remember that just after Lent started it was Chinese New Year. I worked in the International office at the time and I couldn’t sample all the interesting Chinese candies because of my pledge.

In 2016 I quietly stopped eating potato chips. I say quietly because I never bothered to blog about it and I really didn’t talk about it. Plus people don’t know just how many chips I eat. They’re my go-to stress food, comfort food, reward food. Really everything. I did get through the six weeks without having any though so that was a pretty big deal.

Onto 2017.

I’ve debated for awhile about trying to reduce the time I spend online. It’s hard because Facebook and Instagram are the primary way I stay in touch with friends and family all around the world. Still I know I spend way too much time idly scrolling through a feed that I’ve already been through. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or serendipity that I’m moving into a new home the day Lent starts. In any case it’s a time for new beginnings and for building new habit patterns. Having a place of my own means increased expenses as well and I’ve decided that one expense I don’t need is internet. It’s not to say I won’t be online. I still have data on my phone but I have a pretty small package so I won’t be able to idly scroll through my feeds or check for updates every five seconds. It also means that my newly refound candy crush obsession has to go on hold again. I’m hoping all this new found time will result in a new focus and clarity. Instead of reaching for my phone every time I get the urge to go online, I’ll reach for a book, or better yet my bible. Or I’ll go for a walk. Wish me luck! Detox starts tomorrow!

Trucs a Faire

So I realize I haven't posted in this blog for almost a year and I haven't updated my "Trucs a Faire" in two years but I think it's time. I still refer to it and with the new year coming now is a good time to take stock of how far I have come.

So to recap, on February 13, 2006 I posted my list of "Things To Do Before I Die". After watching the movie "Up" multiple times in the summer of 2014 I renamed my list "Trucs a Faire" which is just French for Things to Do. It seems redundant to say "before I die". Obviously I can't do them once I'm dead :P anyway, The bolded items have been accomplished. The orange ones since the last time I published the complete list which was in January 2014.

97 (and counting) Trucs a Faire 

1. Fly first class 
2. Live on my own in my own place 
3. Eat at Sonic 
4. Live in another country...or at least another province 
5. Host dinner party for at least 8

6. Visit an art gallery 
7. Go to Texas 
8. Ride in a hot air balloon
9. Fly in a small aircraft
10. Visit a planetarium

11. Take a winery tour
12. Do high tea somewhere
13. Attend Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
14. See a drive in movie 
15. Get room service and have breakfast in bed at a nice hotel (I've done room service, but not for breakfast)

16. Play blackjack at a casino (I’ve played slots but not blackjack yet)
17. Make homemade ice cream
18. Try ten new foods
19. Go sailing
20. Ride in a limo

21. Be debt free
22. Go horse back riding on the wide open plains
23. Sleep under the stars (without a tent)
24. Fly in a 747
25. Collect all 50 US state quarters (only 3 to go!)

26. Attend my ten year high school reunion 
27. Visit Australia
28. Visit Great Britain 
29. Get a cat
30. Take a cruise 

31. Work an election 
32. Watch all moves on AFI top 100 list
33. Be in Ottawa for Canada Day 
34. Draft a will
35. Spend one weekend totally unplugged. No TV, No Computer, No Phone 

36. Visit the Maritimes 
37. Tour the US Eastern seaboard 
38. Pour water from the Atlantic ocean into the Pacific (still carrying around the water I collected at Peggy's Cove)
39. Fast for 24 hours
40. Be in audience of a game show or talk show and/or try out for a game show or reality show

41. Learn to cook 
42. Cook a turkey
43. Play with a hand bell choir
44. Complete 25 different crossword puzzles
45. Take a Self Defence Class

46. Fire a gun 
47. Host a fondue
48. Take real swimming lessons (learn proper back stoke, kick turn) 
49. Leave to drive a stick shift
50. Try yoga

51. Take a cake decorating class
52. Visit Nashville 
53. Go parachuting
54. Take a refresher First Aid course
55. Sell something on Ebay

56. Try snowboarding
57. Try Golf 
58. Watch the Yankees/Mariners play ball 
59. Drink tequila in Tijuana
60. Go to Disney Land/World

61. Get a bikini wax
62. Buy a new condo (or house) (or town house)
63. Go white water rafting 
64. Climb Mt. Cheam
65. Have a baby (or two, or three)

66. Read through the entire bible 
67. Stay at a bed and breakfast 
68. Go to Las Vegas 
69. Go to Paris in the spring time
70. Learn enough about classical music to be able to identify popular pieces by ear

71. Shop at the Mall of America
72. Visit all five great lakes 
73. Stay overnight in NYC 
74. Go to Boston in the fall 
75. Stay overnight at a Casino

76. Visit the San Diego Zoo
77. Visit Sea World
78. Take a full two weeks off at a time 
79. Go on a blind date
80. See a live horse race and place a bet

81. Visit the Grand Canyon 
82. Take a trip by train (aka travel somewhere on Amtrak) 
83. Do the Vancouver Sun Run 
84. Go to midnight mass 
85. Attend Sunrise Easter Service 

86. Go skinny dipping
87. Visit all 10 Provincial Legislature Buildings. (9 down 1 to go)
88. Buy cowboy boots
89. Go to the Olympics 
90. Fly in a helicopter

91. Go to a NASCAR race
92. Get married
93. Participate in a team sport for a season
94. Sing a solo at church
95. Really try to loose weight/get in better shape

96. Learn another language 
97. Visit Melville's grave in Ortona 

Last time I published this I had 69 Trucs a Faire left. As of this update I've accomplished 38 so I have 59 left. One by one they'll get done!

A Confession

So I have a confession. After two months (ish) of “Vegan Mondays” I’ve had a revelation. I don’t care. I don’t care enough to be vegan. There. I’ve said it. I do think animals are made to be eaten. I do think meet is yummy. Heck I even think responsible hunting and fishing is an okay practice and would do it myself if given the chance. What I do care about is industrial farming and other non-sustainable food practices. I also care about the fact that meat is so expensive and that many animal products aren’t particularly healthy but I don’t care enough to stop eating them totally. I think being vegan, or at least vegetarian is great and if it’s for you, all the power to you. I think we can ALL benefit by eating LESS meat but I just don’t see myself not eating any animal products at all. I recently found a post talking about having a “plant based” diet. THAT is me. Plants, grains, legumes, those are the bulk of what I eat. I still like reading about veganism and trying vegan and vegetarian recipes but avoiding all animal products just isn’t for me. I’m still planning on observing Vegan Monday’s at least to some extent. I said at the beginning that I wouldn’t necessarily be militant about it. I have found that I’ve not been doing well with prioritizing blogging about my meals but for the most part I have stayed vegan on Mondays and I will continue that. But I’m also not going to stress if I decide to have something “not approved.” So there’s my confession. Plant based, but not vegan.

Vegan Monday: 1/52

I have a dozen other ideas for blog posts but somehow this is the only thing I'm staying on top of. Hopefully I'll get to the other ones soon.

Verdict for today: planning is everything, and this is getting easier.

Breakfast
Turkish Coffee - black
I almost slipped up and made regular coffee but I remembered before it was too late
Toast with peanut butter and jam
Banana

Lunch
Homemade Butternut Squash soup
I actually made this last week but ended up not eating it so I froze it for today. It was literally roasted squash, a carrot, some onion, garlic, a dash of olive oil and water. Not as spectacular as when I make it with my homemade chicken stock but still warm and filling. One of these days I will make vegetable stock so I have it on hand.

Snack
Pom Tango tea from DavidsTea
Hard cinnamon candies
The snacking is definitely the hardest. Especially after Christmas. I have a ton of junk food left over but most of it has milk chocolate or other milk products so I can't eat it. Soon that will all be cleared out and I can really get on track.

Supper
Green Onion Cakes
My friend Amanda posted about these last week and I've been looking forward to them for days. They're pretty easy and just something fun to try. I halved the recipe and still have a bunch for breakfast tomorrow. This counts as my "one new thing" too since it was a new recipe!
Salad: greens, yellow pepper, tomatoes, green onions, black beans, navy beans and balsamic vinegar as a dressing.

Vegan Monday: Take two

Being prepared is key. Knowing this was coming made it much easier to plan for and get mentally prepared for. Because I am only doing this one day a week at this point it's just a matter of deciding what I eat today and what I eat tomorrow. Decisions I make all the time, but now with a bit more structure.

Breakfast
Red River Cereal with maple syrup straight off a farm in Waterloo
a naval orange
Turkish coffee - black

I mentioned before that not having milk in my coffee is likely going to be one of the hardest parts of this challenge. However, I received some Turkish coffee from a friend who visits Turkey often so I just planned to drink this instead since it is intended to be drunk black. I'm still working on learning how to make it properly but it definitely gave me the kick I needed!

Lunch
Two Barley, Wild Rice & Cranberry in a White Tea & Honey Dressing
Leftovers from a last minute purchase for a potluck I attended yesterday. I realize most Vegans don't approve of eating honey but I I figured that was one concession I was willing to make.
1/2 an avacado
a handful of Triscuits
a pickle

Snacks
Popcorn made with grape seed oil
Brazillionaire black tea from DavidsTea as well as Organic White Tea
In-shell Sunflower seeds

Supper
Roasted Veggies using this recipe
Except I used butternut squash, carrots, mushrooms, onions and a few grape tomatoes. Gotta use what's in the fridge!
Vegan Potato Pancakes

So today the vegan thing went really well! I already have some recipes lined up for next week and I also found a restaurant within walking distance of my house. Maybe I'll check it out one of these weeks. Tomorrow though? It's all about the cheese ;)

ETA: I'm aware that aside from the salad at lunch there was a pretty distinct lack of protein in my diet today. That's largely because I wasn't home and able to prepare the dried beans I like to use. I'll definitely focus on remedying that next week.

Vegan Mondays?

I go back and forth on the idea of vegetarianism. I think there are some good reasons to embrace that kind of lifestyle but I like meat. I don't eat a LOT of meat, I am a student after all and meat is expensive. I was reading the (now defunct) blog God, I Love Paris because I read her book this summer and really enjoyed it. She has dabbled in Vegan Mondays and I'm wondering if this might not be something good to try. Vegetarian or Meatless Monday's really isn't an issue. I used to joke that I was more likely to have a "Meaty Monday" because it seemed like it was the one day I'd actually eat meat. But vegan? Once a week? It's worth a try. If only to be more mindful of what I'm actually eating. What I like about Amy's approach is she doesn't beat herself up if she does slip up. She just notes it and moves on. So, if I was to try and implement this for the new year, that gives me two Monday's to practice. Today and next week. Neither are really ideal since I'm going away over Christmas so I'm frantically trying to eat up the leftovers in my fridge, many of which contain meat or meat products, but in the spirit of Amy, I'll just list things and move on. So here's what I've had to eat so far today with the "non-conforming" items bolded:

Breakfast 
Pumpkin Breakfast Quinoa (actually vegan since I didn't eat it with yogurt)
Coffee with 2% milk (this will be hands down the hardest switch.)

Lunch
Brown Rice California Rolls from Trader Joe's (this was kind of a snack while I was shopping in the US and then I had actual lunch when I got home an hour later)
Quinoa Bean Salad (quinoa, black beans, navy beans, yellow peppers, tomatoes and avocado)
Buffalo Chicken Roll-ups (leftovers: chicken, cream cheese and hot sauce in Pillsbury crescent rolls because I saw something similar on Pinterest and the crescents were on sale)
Christmas Cookies (butter and eggs)

Chocolate Chai tea (I'm thinking chocolate disqualifies it?)

Supper: 
Roast chicken (leftovers)
Roasted potatoes
Steamed Carrots
Steamed Brussel Sprouts
Dill Pickles
Cranberry Jelly

So essentially none of my meals were meat/dairy free but I could definitely do it. We'll see how next week goes.

Happy Easter!

Lent seems like it's the longest period of time ever and then suddenly, it's over! This was only my second time participating and it went way better than last year. Let's review what I committed to:
So this year I'm doing candy. All small wrapped hard or soft candy, chocolates, chocolate bars, you name it, I'm not eating it. Just cutting out very identifiable sugary sweets. 

And I did! Did I give up sugar entirley? Not by a long shot. I still had dessert every night on the cruise and I still baked at home but I didn't eat ANY hard or soft candy, chocolates, chocolate bars etc. Candy is EVERYWHERE and it was good to be aware of it. It was actually a lot easier to pass up than I thought it would be and a lot easier to avoid than cheese was last year.

I think my biggest accomplishment was giving up Candy Crush. I deleted it off my phone and never looked back. The withdrawl from that was HARD. I ended up surfing Pinterest a lot more than usual initially but after awhile even that went back to normal. I will allow myself to eat candy again but I won't be re-downloading Candy Crush so that's a big accomplishment.

I did start using Instagram a lot more www.instagram.com/agent_713 but it's because I was participating in the rethinkchurch.org's 2015 Lent photo-a-day-words challenge which I have found to be deeply rewarding.

Lent is supposed to be a period of reflection on the sacrifice that Jesus made for us and on Easter we celebrate the sweetness of his resurrection. As I re-introduce (limited amounts of) candy, I will savour that sweetness and be reminded of the joy that only he brings.

Happy Easter everyone.

Lent 2015: The one where I give up candy

Hello blog world. I'm fairly sure this is the longest I've gone without blogging but hey, summer is coming right? Anyway, just thought I'd check in and record my plans for Lent this year. I never really followed up on last year but the bottom line is, it went well. After the first slip up I willingly had cheese just a handful of more times. Twice on pizza I got for free (which was a rule I set before I started. As a student I don't refuse free pizza and I got it twice last year during Lent. I wasn't about to pick off the cheese either so I just ate it.) Another time friends of mine who own a deli brought a bunch of different cheeses for me to try and obviously I couldn't say no. So yeah, cheese a handful of times in six weeks is way better than all the time like normal. Of course I made up for it in France ;)

So this year I'm doing candy. All small wrapped hard or soft candy, chocolates, chocolate bars, you name it, I'm not eating it. I developed a nasty chocolate addiction last year and I need to kick it. Late last year I was toying with the idea of giving up sugar entirely but that turned out to be WAY harder than I thought it would be so I'm starting small. Just cutting out very identifiable sugary sweets. 

Here's the hard part though. I also have a horrible addiction to Candy Crush. The game on your phone? I only have a handful of games downloaded including that, Candy Crush Saga and Words With Friends. Well I'm not giving up WWF but I DID delete both Candy Crush and Candy Crush Saga from my phone. That's a big deal because I'm on something like level 406 in CC and it's going to be weird to not have it to zone out with. That's the thing though. It's like candy. I'm very mindless when it comes to eating candy or playing the game and being more mindful is what this is all about. 

I'm going to replace the desire to play Candy Crush with reading scripture and the desire to eat candy with praying. I know that sounds pious but isn't that what Lent is all about? I've been doing a lot more of this anyway so it shouldn't be too terribly difficult but getting rid of those two candy addictions in my life will force a reminder to keep my mind on what is most important. Wish me luck!

Three Three

All day I've been trying to figure out how to capture what it means to be thirty three. I feel like it's not much different than turning eight, or thirteen or any other age. With a summer birthday I was often at my grandparents house in Edmonton for my big day. I remember waking up on those hot summer days, stretching and then remembering BAM! It's my birthday. I'd lay there for a bit and wonder if I felt any different. Any older. Not really. Then I'd get up and look in the big round mirror. I didn't look any different than yesterday either. So then I'd shuffle out to the kitchen and the only thing that made the day different was that Grandma would give me a big happy birthday hug and each person, as they woke and found their way to the butter yellow kitchen, would add their good wishes and hugs. 

That's pretty much the same as today. It as just another day. I swept in the morning, did some dusting, and let a parade of repair people through the gates. And periodically throughout the day I'd check Facebook where I always had a host of new birthday wishes waiting. They're coming in from all over the world and in multiple languages. That is how I know I am loved. The fact that these people took a few seconds out of their day to send me some good wishes. I appreciate each and every one. 

I don't feel any different today. Yes 33 is closer to 35 which sounds closer to 40 but this next year is going to be exciting. I'll be graduating in June and starting, as Meredith and I decided "the third half of my life." More chapters in this book of life. Bring it on. 

#32 Watch all the movies on the AFI Top 100 list

The American Film Institute has published a number of Top 100 Lists. #32 on my list of Trucs a Faire is to watch all of the ones on the "100 Years...100 Films" list. That's the original list and even though it was published in 1998 and there has since been updates, that's the one I'm going with because it's the one I was referring to when I started my list in 2006. I don't watch a lot of movies in general and rarely during the school year so I tend to make the most progress on this list in the summer. I think I have a note somewhere on when I watched these movies but that doesn't matter so much. The point is, if they have an X beside them, I've seen them and some of them, like "The Sound of Music" I've watched multiple times. My most recent viewing was of "The African Queen" and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a pretty simple story but quite enjoyable. I'll try and remember to post updates of my progress from time to time. For now, as of July 28, 2014 I've watched 43/100 movies on this list.

# MOVIE YEAR
X 1 CITIZEN KANE 1941
X 2 CASABLANCA 1942
X 3 THE GODFATHER 1972
X 4 GONE WITH THE WIND 1939
X 5 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA 1962
X 6 THE WIZARD OF OZ 1939
X 7 THE GRADUATE 1967
X 8 ON THE WATERFRONT 1954
X 9 SCHINDLER'S LIST 1993

X 10 SINGIN' IN THE RAIN 1952
X 11 IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE 1946
X 12 SUNSET BLVD. 1950
X 13 THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI 1957
14 SOME LIKE IT HOT 1959
X 15 STAR WARS 1977
16 ALL ABOUT EVE 1950
X 17 THE AFRICAN QUEEN 1951
18 PSYCHO 1960
19 CHINATOWN 1974

20 ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST 1975
21 THE GRAPES OF WRATH 1940
22 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 1968
23 THE MALTESE FALCON 1941
24 RAGING BULL 1980
X 25 E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL 1982
26 DR. STRANGELOVE 1964
27 BONNIE AND CLYDE 1967 28 APOCALYPSE NOW 1979
29 MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON 1939

30 THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE 1948
31 ANNIE HALL 1977
32 THE GODFATHER PART II 1974
X 33 HIGH NOON 1952
X 34 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD 1962
X 35 IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT 1934
36 MIDNIGHT COWBOY 1969
37 THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES 1946
38 DOUBLE INDEMNITY 1944
39 DOCTOR ZHIVAGO 1965

X 40 NORTH BY NORTHWEST 1959
41 WEST SIDE STORY 1961
42 REAR WINDOW 1954
43 KING KONG 1933
X 44 THE BIRTH OF A NATION 1915
X 45 A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE 1951
46 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE 1971
47 TAXI DRIVER 1976
48 JAWS 1975
X 49 SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS 1937

X 50 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID 1969
X 51 THE PHILADELPHIA STORY 1940
52 FROM HERE TO ETERNITY 1953
53 AMADEUS 1984
X 54 ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT 1930
X 55 THE SOUND OF MUSIC 1965
56 M*A*S*H 1970
57 THE THIRD MAN 1949
X 58 FANTASIA 1940
59 REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE 1955

X 60 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK 1981
61 VERTIGO 1958
X 62 TOOTSIE 1982
63 STAGECOACH 1939
64 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND 1977
65 THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS 1991
66 NETWORK 1976
67 THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE 1962
X 68 AN AMERICAN IN PARIS 1951
69 SHANE 1953

X 70 THE FRENCH CONNECTION 1971
X 71 FORREST GUMP 1994
X 72 BEN-HUR 1959
X 73 WUTHERING HEIGHTS 1939
74 THE GOLD RUSH 1925
X 75 DANCES WITH WOLVES 1990
76 CITY LIGHTS 1931
77 AMERICAN GRAFFITI 1973
X 78 ROCKY 1976
79 THE DEER HUNTER 1978

80 THE WILD BUNCH 1969
81 MODERN TIMES 1936
82 GIANT 1956 X
83 PLATOON 1986
84 FARGO 1996
85 DUCK SOUP 1933
X 86 MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY 1935
87 FRANKENSTEIN 1931
88 EASY RIDER 1969
89 PATTON 1970

90 THE JAZZ SINGER 1927
X 91 MY FAIR LADY 1964
92 A PLACE IN THE SUN 1951
93 THE APARTMENT 1960
94 GOODFELLAS 1990
95 PULP FICTION 1994
96 THE SEARCHERS 1956
X 97 BRINGING UP BABY 1938
98 UNFORGIVEN 1992
X 99 GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER 1967
X 100 YANKEE DOODLE DANDY 1942

Epiphany Island

I guess I haven't blogged about it yet but my first few weeks here in France were rough. They were rough last year but I blamed it on the fact that I had already been travelling for six weeks and had only spent one week of the past five plus months in Canada. I like France but the bottom line is, it's a foreign country and even though I understand and can communicate in the language, it's not my mother tongue so fully expressing myself is difficult. Also, my job is housework. I don't like housework at the best of times and even though I get to do it in a beautiful place, I still don't like it. So PMS and homesickness and missing Canada Day and the start of summer and the fact that my parents were on vacation so I couldn't just Skype with them whenever I wanted, resulted in me feeling very alone and unhappy for the first few weeks I was here. I reached out to a few people but the general consensus was "You're in France. You're not allowed to complain." Or feel any emotion other than ecstatic happiness apparently. That was frustrating in it's own way.
Anyway, the third week I was here I went to Île Saint-Honorat on my day off. It's the smaller of the two Lérins Islands which are both just off the coast in the Bay of Cannes. I visited the larger one, Île Sainte-Marguerite, last year and this year I made it to Saint-Honorat. It was a crazy hot day and even though I stopped and bought lunch at the Monoprix and an extra bottle of water, I probably still could have had more liquids. The island has been home to monks since the fifth-century and they cultivate six types of grapes for wine and olives for oil. There are a number of small chapels dotted around it and the main church in the middle.

I wandered around taking in the peacefulness of the place and generally avoiding all other humans because I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

I picked a spot overlooking the channel between Saint-Honorat and Saint-Marguerite for my picnic lunch. I also read a bit of the book I had with me and took a short nap under the trees. At some point during my time of reflection I realized something really simple. Something that everyone else probably realizes but something I needed to recognize as an attitude adjustment.

I don't HAVE to do my work here in France.
I GET to.

That's it. That's my big epiphany. I know a lot of people are probably thinking...yeah so. What's the difference. Or, how did you not realize that before? But that's just the point. I didn't and once I did, it was like the clouds lifted and the sun shone through. I guess it's because this is my second time here (and by here I mean in France at this job). The first time everything was new and exciting. I was constantly learning and discovering and I was dazzled by the beauty of this corner of the world. This year the shine has worn off. The sparkle is gone and while I'm glad I came, the romance is lost and it just feels like hard work. Still, I realize I am extremely lucky to be able to do a job like this, not once but twice.

I probably won't be back. Not to work anyway. And if I do it won't be next year. I need to spend a summer in Canada. I think deep down I maybe didn't want to come back this year. Or if I did my motives were wrong. I came back because it was easy. I mean I had the job given to me. Mine for the taking. All I had to do was say yes. That's way easier than applying for the jobs I want post graduation. Coming here was guaranteed. Plus it looks great. Not only to future employers, which was my rationale, but to my friends. And that's where my motive was wrong. I came because people were jealous that I get to be here and that's wrong. In the weeks leading up to leaving, I wasn't excited. I wasn't looking forward to leaving. I was already missing everyone back home. I booked my ticket and packed and came out of duty. I had committed and there was no backing out. But I would have been perfectly fine to stay in Canada. And that's why this epiphany was so important. Because my day on this little island where people have been reflecting for over fifteen hundred years, I realized just how lucky I am and I adjusted my attitude and I've been a lot happier since.

The pictures of me in this post were taken after my little revelation. Yeah I could fake a smile before but now these ones are genuine. Genuinely happy. Genuinely content. Genuinely in love with life. And ready to tackle the duties I have for the next five weeks that I am here, because I get to. Not because I have to.

Villa & Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild

In June Meredith had a grad party. They watched the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. It takes place on the French Riviera and she called and asked me if I had visited the town of "Beaumont-sur-Mer" last year while I was here. With a bit of Googling we realized that Beaumont-sur-Mer is a fictitious town created for the movie but that yes, I have either been to or passed through many of the places where the filming took place.

When I arrived in France and actually had time, I watched the movie myself. I recognized a few of the locations and made a mental note to try and check out some of the other places. A few days later the family I work for announced they were going sightseeing and asked if I wanted to go with them. I took them up on the offer at the last minute and we headed towards Cap-Ferrat which I thought sounded vaguely familiar. I didn't know where we were going but since I was just along for the ride I didn't think very much of it. I figured it would be good to see the area and then maybe when I had a day off I could go explore the area on my own.

 Well it turns out our destination was the Villa and Gardens of Ephrussi de Rothschild which was one of the specific filming locations for the movie!!! It's not the main house (that's a private villa according to Wikipedia) but it was still used in the movie. How cool.

The villa is gorgeous. Aside from the fascinating history and the dancing fountains that do a choreographed water show every twenty minutes, the gardens are gorgeous. It was a super hot day but we had fun exploring this beautiful spot together. I definitely understand why they used it in the movie.

#28 Visit Great Britain

Number 28 on My List is "Visit Great Britain." I realize that, like with many of the things on this list, it's pretty vague and unspecific. Therefore, even though "Great Britain" has a lot more to explore than just London, I'm officially crossing it off my list. It's like learning French. It will be a life long pursuit. But, even though this was only my first visit to London, I managed to see quite a bit. I took a number of walking tours so I feel relatively familiar with the downtown area. I visited the Parliament, Westminster Abbey, The Monument,

and the National and Portrait Galleries. In general I liked the city. There's tons to see and you'd never be bored. However, I also found it extremely expensive and rather overwhelming. Plus I was annoyed with having to use the pound. I do want to go back and explore some more. Maybe it will be better next time when I know better what to expect.

Divided Identities: Reflections on D-Day

Juno Beach, Normandy, France

A year ago today I was on the beaches of Normandy. Like many others before me I made the pilgrimage to site of the D-Day landings to see the area where so many soldiers lost their lives. For the Allies that was a day of victory. The day Hitler’s Atlantic Wall was breached and the push inland began. My friends and I were staying in Paris so we rented a car and drove to the coast. We had to be up before 5am in order to make it to the airport to pick up our rental car and make it out to Courseulles-sur-Mer, also known as Juno Beach, where the Canadian memorial ceremonies were taking place.

Eric, Heidi, Heather, Caitlin and Brendan.

We had spent the previous two weeks touring other First and Second World War battle sites, cemeteries and war memorials in the Netherlands, Belgium and the North of France. Flanders, Ypres, Passchendaele, Theipval, Beaumont-Hamel, Vimy Ridge, Dieppe, the Scheldt Estuary, we had seen literally thousands of grave markers and hundreds of thousands of names engraved in monuments. We had even toured two German Cemeteries to give us the contrast of how the “other side” remembered.

Throughout this time I was reminded of why I am proud to be Canadian. Why I wear a maple leaf and can proudly sing “God Save the Queen.” The Canadian contributions to these wars are undeniable even if my professors at Georgia Southern University had omitted any mention of it during my recent exchange. But under it all I was unsettled. Being Canadian, and being on this tour, meant embracing my British roots. It meant focusing on the “ready aye ready” aspect of my country’s response to the declarations of war and being ready to serve for God and King. It meant presenting a paper on the experience and sacrifice of my great-great-great uncle Edward Shannon Grant who was killed during the infamous last 100 Days of the Great War. It meant suppressing the other half of me. The German/Eastern European side that didn’t quite fit with the Allied view of how the events of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 had played out and I wasn’t sure how to deal with that so I just ignored it.

Juno Beach Centre, Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, France

June 6, 2013 was a cool clear day. Being the 69^th anniversary there were a respectable number of visitors at the Juno Beach Centre. Veterans and dignitaries, tourists and locals, we all gathered together to remember. We arrived with plenty of time to secure a decent seat and seek out our Professor who was also there with another tour group. After the ceremony which was similar to the familiar November 11^th Remembrance Day ceremonies back home, we toured the museum and then made our way down to the beach. We joined in the reception and visited a bit before heading out.

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

Our next stop was Omaha Beach where the American ceremony was just ending. The contrast between the two sites and the approach was striking. The American Cemetery is perched high on a cliff above the beach where as the Canadian centre is just steps away from the sand. The American Cemetery reminded me a lot of Washington, DC and even had a mini reflecting pool. The guide we talked to explained that for many French and other Europeans, this cemetery is the closest they will come to the United States and the goal of the design of the area was to give them both a feel for the American style of memorialization and to be a tribute to all of the fallen. A little bit of American on French soil for the soldiers that are buried there and for those that visit.

Me on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France

On the beach we took off our shoes (or in my case boots) and waded in the water. I imagined the waves lapping stained with the blood of the fallen and tried to imagine what it would have been like to be there on that day in 1944. A bit further down the beach were a couple of German soldiers also with their boots off enjoying the sand and surf. I joked with them that their boots were going to get wet and we started chatting. They were university students in Hamburg and had signed up for a tour where they would go and lay commemorative wreathes at a series of cemeteries in Northern France. We chatted a bit about travelling and the sites they were visiting. I wanted to ask them so much more. What was it like to be representing the “losing side.” Is that how they saw it? What did they feel about their countries involvement in these wars? How did it feel to come to these places and know that young men their age were buried there. Of course I couldn’t. It wasn’t the time or the place but I still wonder.

La Cambe German War Cemetery

They had mentioned that there was a large German War Cemetery close by so after we finished at Omaha Beach, we headed out into the countryside to find it. After a few wrong turns and a stop at a small museum for directions, we finally found La Cambe. It was massive. Over 20,000 graves all in flat black stone with a large mound of earth in the centre. We each split off and wandered the site lost in our own reflection. I recorded in my diary that the idea of “sacrifice for God and country” that was so prevalent in the Commonwealth cemeteries was missing there and instead there is just an intense feeling of sadness.

The memorial in the center of the La Cambe cemetery

In the visitors centre we looked at pictures of German War cemeteries all around the world. France, Belgium, Egypt, Italy, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada…wait KITCHENER??? There’s a German War Cemetery in our hometown? Wow. We made it back to Paris that night and I received news that my sister-in-law was in labour. A day of remembering the dead and a new life was about to make its appearance. Cue the Lion King.

German War Graves at Woodland Cemetery, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

A year later here I am finally sitting in that cemetery in Kitchener. The orderly row of stubby stone crosses spread out before me in a similar style to the ones all over Western Europe. In that weeks following my visit to Normandy I was able to visit Germany. I went to Bremen and then to Bremerhaven (the port of Bremen) where in 1953 my maternal grandparents had boarded the Beaverbrae to leave war torn Europe and make a new life in Canada. I visited Gockenholz and Beeden-Bostel. The tiny settlements (I hesitate to even call them towns considering how small they are) where they had lived and farmed in the years following Germany’s defeat and the church where they had been married. I spent almost a week in Berlin exploring and soaking in answers to the questions I had wanted to ask those soldiers on Omaha Beach about how Germany remembers. How they remember, acknowledge, and move on. How they talk about the events of their history but don’t dwell on them instead looking to a better tomorrow. And I found a way to reconcile the two sides of me. To acknowledge that without these massive conflicts Europe wouldn’t have been torn apart and my Great Grandparents wouldn’t have been forced to flee Estonia and then Poland. That Grandpa Bergner may never have left his little town in the south of Germany and found himself working for a farmer in the north where he met a tall handsome woman named Elsa. And they wouldn’t have needed to come to Canada, sponsored by the Lutheran church as refugees, repaying their passage by working on a sugar beet farm in Alberta. And ultimately moving to Edmonton where my parents were able to meet and have me.

So I sit and I look at these stones and I am thankful that even though I had family on both sides of the conflict, they were protected and now I can sit in a town that used to be called Berlin, and is now named after a British Army officer, in a country I am proud to call my own, and embrace my divided identity: the British side and the German side and all the other parts in between.