Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Bellingham's Newest Love Rap



This video sums up my college experience and observations in Bellingham. Its a good thing I live here now, or else I'd be homesick! (I actually know the man in this video from the Theatre department when I was in college--in fact, I've directed him.)
Enjoy! Tell me what you think.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Whistler Weekend--and Caviar Dreams...

Shaun and I took some time off this week. We couldn't decide what special thing we should do. We don't have money to travel very far...but wanted to do SOMETHING. Wednesday night, I ran into a friend--K. Holman-- at Phad Thai while we were both picking up to-go orders. We chatted and she said they (her family) were going to Whislter that weekend. I thought, "what a good idea!" So, Shaun and I looked online--found a good deal for a 1 bedroom place with a full kitchen in the Bear Lodge. Anyway, we packed up groceries and planned to make most our food in our room. (Spaghetti and salad for 2 days.) None of us have ever gone that far into Canada before--and neither I nor Enoch have spent the night in Canada...so, it was an adventure.

Here's Shaun and Enoch shortly after we departed Friday afternoon.
After we checked in, we put Enoch in the stroller and grabbed some groceries at the local market--tomato, salad (stuff we couldn't take over the border) and saw these pretty treats. We didn't buy them--goat cheese with special flavorings.
Back at the hotel room, we all put our shoes under the bench by the front door. It's so great that Enoch can, and LOVES, to wear shoes. It makes me so happy to see images of our family all in one place. By the way, Enoch got to eat all his meals in the room at the table---without a highchair! He sat on a seat by himself--and ate his food, which was basically was at mouth level. He did really well and enjoyed copying us.
We soaked up the local energy on the Village Stroll. (Many stores full of food and ski clothes.) We held off buying much...but did make a few select purchases as a treat.
Saturday we purchased the Peak to Peak tickets. We rode up one mountain and over to another in little enclosed baskets and gondolas. It was worth the $42 a person price. [SIDE NOTE: We were offered the opportunity to listen to a 90 minute time share presentation--and receive FREE tickets and a $25 pre-paid VISA card. I thought it would be a great way to save some money ($84 plus tax), but --we didn't make enough money to qualify. It's ironic. We had to make AT LEAST $74k...but they really wanted you to make over $100k. Ya know, if I made $100k a year, I don't think I would be as worried about spending the money. I would buy my own tickets on the Peak to Peak--and using the 90 minutes to go to a spa treatment....or something more fun.]
Here's the Gondola from the Whistler Peak--going towards the Blackcomb Peak. It was foggy on the other side--but it burned off before we left.
Looking down. It reminded me of the final views before I landed the first (and only) time I went sky-diving. (Age 21)
I told you it was foggy. If I wasn't so trusting and naive, I might have been concerned.
We ate lunch at the fancy restaurant on Blackcomb Mountain--a place called Christine's. We knew we wanted to eat out once--and when we got to the top of the mountain around 12:30 pm--(40 minute ride), we also knew this was the time to buy. Enoch was getting fussy and hungry. What's a parent to do? Right?
Everyone enjoyed the view!
Well...at least most of the time.

Here's the chicken I got...with a tomato-ratatouille, fingerling potatoes, & grilled zucchini. It was comforting and tasty.
Shaun had this master piece! It was a organic free range beef burger--with fried leeks, sautéed mushrooms, and sweet potato fries. Enoch indulged on those fries. Love em. They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Yum. I gave him some of my chicken, but he put it on his tongue--didn't like it--and put it back on my plate.
By the end of the meal, Enoch was ready to go! See below.
He fell asleep during the decent down the hill.
Lovely!
You can't tell, but I promise--we saw a black bear on our way down. I thought I was got a picture of him/her ---but I don't see it now. He/her was just a black smudge in the grass below.
When we got off the mountain--since Enoch was asleep-- we decided to get a few treats. Wouldn't you?
On our way back through the village--we saw a college age Asian man dressed up as HE-MAN. He proved to be very loud and obnoxious---or rather his friends who I think paid him to do this--were annoying. They yelled, "A quarter to ride on He-man's back! Who will let him take you over Greyskull's bridge?!" He woke up Enoch. (Boooooooo!)
We eventually left Whistler Sunday morning...and crossed the border after an hour wait. FYI: Enoch makes crossing a breeze. He smiles at the patrol officer's and confirms to them that we are not a threat.

He's one last shot of my handsome husband in the long border-crossing line up. One thing good that came out of waiting in the line was Enoch learned to mimic me stretching my arms and back...and grunting a little. Enoch started doing it too. ADORABLE!

That was our labor day weekend in Whislter.

Library Book Sale


So, it happened to be the library book sale---so, I found an old LIFE magazine from the 1940's. It's fascinating! There's a big article on what it was like inside a Japanese Internment Camp during WWII. It was so interesting to read the articles with a historical perspective. It was awful how the Japanese were treated---and yet in most every picture in the magazine's article--they had smiling pictures of the "prisoners." It was an educational gem for me to hold onto to show Enoch what life was like 70 years before he was born.

I did find a funny children's book that made me concerned--yet smile. It's called, "Fortunately." It was written in 1964 I think. Take a look at the front and back cover.

The whole book is full of these...happy fortunate things, followed by unfortunate things. It's about a little boy who's invited to a party---and the journey that unfold's to get him there. I love it!!!!