Recent Happenings

Well our weeks have definitely been busy lately. I have kept up with Soup Sunday's with making a Chicken and Parsnip soup that was delicious and then last week I made Split Pea soup. It has been a while since I have had split pea and my memories of it tasted a lot better than the one I made. Oh well, you win some and you lose some.

We had a snow storm a couple weeks ago, Thomas and I had to go to Seattle on the first snow day and got stuck on 512 for about 3 hours due to a truck jack-knife. Thomas was a great husband and pushed me out of the snow so that I could get home and he waited for his dad to come rescue him in the truck and pull him out. It was such an emotional day and neither of us have been so happy or relieved to be home. Then we were blessed with having Tuesday and Wednesday off of work so we got an extra long Thanksgiving Break.

On the day of Thanksgiving, we put up our tree. We had to get an artificial tree two years ago because it turns out that my adorable dog, Cooper, is allergic. I have finally come to grips with having a fake one and I can say that I have embraced the idea and understand how great it is to have one. The pro's definitely out weigh the con's. It doesn't need water, doesn't shed needles, doesn't leak sap everywhere, we don't have to string lights every year, it doesn't dry out, and it doesn't smell. We were also able to decorate it and get our house ready for our favorite season. I have been watching a lot of Martha, of course, and I have learned that you can really make your tree look fuller and have more depth if you put ornaments inside the tree not just on the tips of the branches.

I also made a pumpkin cheesecake pie for Thanksgiving and we had a delicious meal at my parents house. Thomas and I contributed home grown parsnips and a cranberry chutney. The meal was great with 3 kinds of dressing/stuffing (the only way the Brewer's do it), mashed potatoes, mashed rutabaga's, cranberry sauce, Boris jello salad, pea salad and other food as well. Not to mention at least a gallon of gravy. As always it was a meal to remember. We also got to play "Take Off" the best and very competitive game we try to play at least once a year, and of course my dad one in like 10 min while it took us another 30 to get second place.

After Thanksgiving, Thomas and I drove up to Vancouver, BC for the weekend. We had a great time visiting some of our favorite spots and finding new places to love. We found a great Indian Food restaurant called India Bistro off of Davie street and an Irish pub across the street from our hotel. Then we went back to our favorite Italian place called Trattoria Italian Kitchen off of 4th and Broadway and Dim Sum at Floata in China Town. I got to go to three of my favorite shops Liberty, Peridot and Farmhouse and we did a lot of walking. We saw Harry Potter and they have a Burger King, TCBY and other fast food places in the movie theatre, that is crazy. We went on an exploration and found the University in Vancouver as well as driving out to Burnaby, BC and went to this cute little Village Museum that is all decorated in 1920's decor for Christmas. They have live people dressed up from the 1920's that give you a little speech about each of the shops they are in and how they worked back then. It was really cool and I would be interested in going back during the summer to see what it is like. They also have a petting zoo nearby that we are going to check out next year. We had a fantastic time and always enjoy our time in Vancouver.

May joy and peace surround you, contentment latch your door, and happiness be with you now and bless you evermore - Irish Blessing