Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Here's a little video we've been working on. I must admit we would prefer to polish it a bit more but decided that we didn't want to keep you waiting too long. So enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9dURe2h27Q&feature=youtu.be After we did our gift giving this morning we went outside to put the final touches on the chicken coop (it needed a perch and we had to enclose one side of the run still) because our chookies have been lovingly cared for by our friends Gaz and Di for the last couple months and we head to their place for Christmas dinner tonight so will likely come home with chickens. This is going to be an interesting learning curve for us. But yes, I managed to get our Christmas letter sorted and sent out just in time for Christmas too. And we even watched Home Alone this year which we missed last year. We have some food to prepare but you are in our thoughts today and tomorrow as we celebrate and then you celebr...

Ok, it's not where we are living but it's a new house for the chickens that will be the first animals we have owned together. We still need to put in a perch, and enclose one edge of the run but other than that we're ready for some chooks! Actually, we still need to figure out what to feed them and maybe get a water bottle for them too, so ok, not quite ready. Dustin designed and built it himself (mostly, I did help though!) I promise that you will see our house soon. We are working on a video and it's in post-production at the moment but you'll see it soon. We've started to rip apart the bedroom, literally. We pulled the wallpaper off and found that some of the gib was in poor condition or you could see the strands on the surface and it wouldn't have been a good finish. Since the time we would have paid for to have a plasterer skim coat the whole thing would have been nearly as much as new gib, we decided on new gib instead. So Dustin started ta...

I sure won't be whining when I am knee-deep in the bounty of my garden but gosh darn did it ever take ages to get it sorted. (Not that it's technically done either!) It was my big plan the Sunday before last to spend the day getting the garden ready. But a sleep-in until 10am quickly kiboshed that plan. Especially since I still had to get some seeds to round out the goodies that are to come. First there was weeding to prepare the space. And the soil was in pretty sad shape so I added a pile of compost. But even that was a can of worms (oh I am too funny!) because for some crazy reason there was so much rubbish in the compost that we inherited with the new house. So many twist ties and lots of plastic pieces of clothes pegs and other things that not only will never breakdown but also, based on the proximity of the compost bin, are baffling as to how they ended up in it. It was dark Sunday evening before I even placed the first seed in the soil. I managed to take care of th...

I have gushed about my favourite chef, Annabel Langbein , and her amazing recipes and cookbooks to many of you before. So be prepared, this entry may contain more gushing. You may recall that I bought The Free Range Cook  on our second trip to New Zealand and although it is heavy and bulky when we're talking about a life in a backpack, I felt it was well worth carting around for weeks to have it when I got back. So it's only natural that I also receive her email newsletter. And it's only natural that I would stick my hand up when they put out a call for people to join her Foodie Panel. I was lucky enough to be selected which meant that a free preview copy of her next cookbook was mailed to me so that I could host a dinner party for friends cooking with the book. When it arrived, I spent a few evenings poring through it and imagining all the yummy creations that would come from it... And I admired how well it complemented my collection of cookbooks... The...

I know you are hanging out for photos of the new house but I am saving that until later! We are still unpacking so aren't organized for a photo shoot yet. But there are plenty of pictures to share from the beerfest this past weekend. We got tickets months ago to avoid a last minute begging like last year . There were less tickets this year as well because I think it got a little out of hand for the organizers last year. So after a day of moving, and a morning of cleaning we headed into town to catch the bus up north where 40 minutes later we would be transported to "Oktoberfest" at the local brewery. Many people dress up but this year I couldn't be bothered - ok, well initially I was and I ordered my costume a month ahead of time but the listing size was wrong and when it arrived, there was no way I was fitting into it! Despite urging Dustin to zip it up while I tried not to breathe. So, after that I decided it was too much energy to find another. Th...

As you can see our living room has become a boxing week special as of this afternoon: Talk about keeners. We don't even move until Friday but are trying to really be ahead of the game as much as possible. So this afternoon we cleared out and cleaned the back two rooms so that there's that much less to do later. We've done a couple trips of taking our landlords' stuff to their storage unit and have one or two more big items of theirs to drop off later this week. So we are kind of all go here. In that stage where most of what isn't packed is still being used so there's a whole lot of kitchen to box up still. But we're just 6 sleeps away now with offers to help move coming in left and right. So we'll just hope for good weather and be all set! We're planning to just get straight in Friday afternoon. We're both taking a half or whole day off (depending how we're looking Wednesday/Thursday) and as people are off work they will come an...

We have sprung ahead so now the time difference between us and most of you is 4 hours (and a day) rather than 5 so we're on the way to easier timing for phone calls and skype! Once you guys fall back it's only 3 (and a day) hours. We've been thinking of that stress scale that you are shown in personnel planning classes in school or at lunch and learn sessions about reducing stress - we've been hitting a lot of the majors lately - Dustin losing his job and starting a new one, taking on a mortgage, upcoming move, me starting a new job, then going back to June some major travel and weddings - we're hoping that once we have moved we'll stop ticking so many off. Although I did look at it recently and home renovations are on the list... So the next few weeks (or 25 sleeps to be exact) may add to the stress but we're hoping our organized preparation will keep it to low levels. I mean we have moved before (as I mentioned last time, 8 times in the last 7 years......

This is a tale about first-time home buyers. It's complete with frustration, excitement, heated negotiations and ultimately a happy ending. Ok so I guess I already gave it away. We bought a house! During the last several weeks we've been through the ringer and back, more than once. But this part starts just under 3 weeks ago... On Father's day we had our usual open home plan for the early afternoon. There were 4 houses on the agenda this particular day. The first two were rather uninspiring but the third gave us pause as we walked into the backyard and heard birds singing and a babbling brook. The house itself is old with some updates made in the 90's/00's but overall not an amazing interior. This isn't too different to most houses in our price range though. So began our veiled infatuation... We returned the next day after work for Dustin to crawl around under the house and in the attic. We had another visit with a plumber to double check some things. Then...

It's extremely apt that spring is on the way because we are really in line with some new beginnings going on. I start a new job on Monday! It's with a small company that makes websites and software and guess what? They want someone to organize them! Among other tasks. Sounds like it will be a great fit and the office is in town about equal distance from the sea and this lovely, huge park. Perfect lunch-hour stroll territory. We are still on the house hunt. We've looked at over 25 places by now and this week have seen one that is warranting a second/closer look . This is only the second one we've been to more than once. That last one just didn't thrill as much on the second visit so we didn't go further. But this one Dustin is going to crawl around in the attic and crawlspace to examine it further. So, will be deciding in the next few days if we want to offer on it. The last time we actually were home shopping would have been just before we got married, in ...

We have been back for about 2.5 weeks now and getting back into the chilly life. As I type, I am cuddled up in one of the Cowichan sweaters my mom made for us. Must be hard to imagine for those of you in the Lower Mainland experiencing a hot, dry stretch of summer! When we got back there was a few weeks of papers to catch up on so this is what we missed: Yep, that warrants a half page in our paper. Yes you all are groaning that I am even going to contrast this with a story we saw while we were back in BC. But I couldn't help it.... "Three against one fight was over traffic incident" In other news, we have finalized the process for residency - for now. But the great news is that it's basically sorted and if we are allowed to stay here as long as we want. There is one more process in 2 years but it's not as intensive as this past application. Yay! This means we can vote, we're eligible for health coverage, we can contribute to the superannua...

I imagine the recent earthquake near Wellington may just be reported as "6.5 earthquake in New Zealand" so for anyone who is worried, we are ok. We definitely felt it but it wasn't very strong up where we are. We were at a friend's house and Dustin actually had to alert us to the eearthquake - none of us really noticed it. But once we stopped moving you could feel it and we could see power lines shaking! It lasted for a good fifteen seconds. I had felt one early Sunday morning as well that was minor here but still went for for 15-20 seconds. I am due to head to Wellington for a conference on Friday though, so awaiting an email this week to update whether it's still a go. The hotel it's booked at was one that was closed apparently due to the shake. Anyways, just keeping you up to date that we're safe and sound.

Ok I know 2 hardly qualifies as a barrage but I was playing around online today and found a site that you can make free photo collages on so wanted to share these! If you want to have fun collage-ing too then head to  http://www.photovisi.com/

The madness of the travel and the flights have got the best of me so I am off sick today with a crummy head cold. That does give me time to post some photos though! I don't have a lot of energy for storytelling but will let the pictures tell the tale. I'll start at the start... What's a trip to Canada without bears? That was the first one I've seen for real though. Wedding flowers - arranged by us girls! On our way back from the salon... Whoomp there it is. Oh Squamish! Driving range antics Winery antics The next wedding Cheeky cake topper! All these men got married in pink socks. We were ready to siesta by the time we got to Cabo Mark's dog with an overly large tongue 4th of July rooftop fireworks in Cabo The house we rented in La Paz for a 2 night trip And how 'bout those papayas! Boat trip day. This is where we waited for lunc...