I look like a Skittle threw up on me!!!!! AND HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!!!

Well the school semester is finally over (except for one last exam that I just cannot seem to get the energy to finish and then be finally done this semester but for now, I am going to say that I am done this semester) and that means I have a couple of weeks to enjoy being school-less until the last semester is finally upon me and the last jaunt to the end will seem so very close and within my grasp.

One amazingly fantastic thing that I went and experienced was Holi, which is the festival of colors.  As a background to Holi, courtesy of the wonderful world of wikipedia, Holi originated from Holika, the evil sister of demon king Hiranyakashipu.  King H earned a boon that made him virtually indestructible but the special powers blinded him and he grew arrogant, felt that he was God and demanded everyone worship only him.  Prahlada, King H's son, disagreed and remained devoted to Vishnu.  Holika, Prahlada's evil aunt, tricked him into sitting on a pyre with her but Holika was wearing a cloak that made her immune from the fire; however, the cloak flew to Prahlada and covered him while Holika burned.  

Vishnu appeared and killed King H and the bonfire is a reminder of the symbolic victory of good over evil, of Prahlada over King H, of the fire that burned  Holika and the day after Holika bonfire is celebrated as Holi.  Holi itself has many purposes.  It is the celebration of the beginning of a new season, spring.  It is also identified as a celebration for agriculture, commemorated good spring harvests and the fertile land.  It is also a time to enjoy spring's colors and saying farewell to winter.  During Holi, people are spray colored powered solutions at each other, laugh and celebrate or they can use dry colored powder.  It is a time of laughter, love and fun times.  

It was amazing!!!!!  When we first got there, there were people everywhere, and that did not change.  They were so happy and having fun and you knew that it was going to be a fun time.  The first thing we had to do was to go into the temple and pray to Krishna - it was gorgeous and so very serene, which was contradictory to what was happening outside hahaha.  Then, once we got outside, we went and bought out colors and joined in on the fun. I will tell you this - if you do not like random strangers touching your face, throwing stuff on you and people invading your personal space, Holi is not for you.  

The first time a random stranger, not just any stranger but a random one at that, comes up to rub color on your face, yeah, it may creep you out a little bit, but after the umpteenth time that this happens, and it does not happen for quite some time, you start to miss it.  Just being in that environment is a spirit lifter as mostly everybody is in such a good mood and people were very respectful of each other.  Every hour there was the big color throw which covered the sky in powder and the music was very inspirational and soul hitting. The colors that we could buy were orange, yellow, blue, green and red; however, once we saw that people had purple color, the hunt was on to find it.  I think the people that had the purple thought we were more crazy than Holi-induced crazy when we wanted to get the purple thrown on us.  It was kind of insane how happy we were with the purple.  We did not eat any of the food but it smelled delicious  It was such a fun time and I am so glad I got to experience it.  However, what I did learn was that when doing something like this on a Saturday, I should not push my body at volleyball on Friday night as I could not move much at Holi and felt so very much like a grandmother that I get called sometimes.  By my friends.  Oh so lovingly-like.  One definitely needs to be able to move and dance and get jostled around at Holi.  Overall, wicked fun time and it was something that people should experience at least once in their life. 

I also got the ability to actually see the cherry blossoms this year.  If you recall from last year, we were early to go see the cherry blossoms and never got to see them but this year, I made sure to go check them out.  THEY ARE GORGEOUS!!!!!  I got down to the tidal basin a little early, but clearly not early enough since there were people everywhere still, and started making my way around the tidal basin.  They were in full bloom and smelled wonderful and were just gorgeous.  And it was such a nice day as well so that totally helped (which is also a good thing as, if you know me at all, I dislike heat but since this day did not make me heat grumpy like it normally would have, it may also mean I am starting to adapt to the heat, which will make this summer a lot more enjoyable).  There were people everywhere coming out to see the cherry blossoms and walking the path was kind of difficult at some points and at one spot I imagined that I was going to get jostled and drop my camera into the tidal basin and then I would have had to punch a person, and potentially get deported. Not a fun thought. So I clutched my camera very tightly when close to the water.  I get around to Jefferson and I do not know how to put it into words for you but sitting at the edge, feet dangling and just overlooking the water, the paddleboaters and the Washington Monument (finally unscaffolded and ready too be visited), it was heavenly.  Nothing else mattered that day, the sun was shining, I had my music and I was getting some color (the color being red as per normal) and I was so happy.  It is those moments of bliss and happiness that means so much to me, especially since this semester has been fraught with stress and anxiety up the wazoo.  

I was also very fortunate to have hit the cherry blossoms on the day that I did as there was a celebration at the Jefferson Memorial to celebrate his birthday.  Men in uniforms.  Oh. My. God.  Being in DC is perfect for this.  So very hot.  After the eye candy, kept on moseying along and found a perfect spot to hunker down and start some studying.  Which never happened as it was such a gorgeous day out and I had no motivation to get done any studying.  If it is getting this hot already, it is going to be a warm summer I think.  

With summer coming up and school slowly coming to an end, it means a lot of stuff is going to be happening.  I need to start figuring out for sure and definitely what I am doing with my OPT/visa stuff, get ready for another potential move, start applying for like 10 jobs a day, figure out how to transfer my masters up to Alberta and BC and everywhere else and way more touristy stuff.  If you so my list for touristy stuff, it would be super overwhelming. And I potentially have about 3 months to get everything in that I want to see before I move.  I don't want to move but it is a possibility.  Gah I hate thinking about it all.  This all being said, I hope that you guys will be reading a lot more stuff now that school is done (although I am still at the jail 3 days a week to get in all my hours before May 31).  I also wish I had time to  head home and get some Canadianness but I do not think that will be an option.  Anywho, I miss you all and can't wait to see you again (whenever that will be) and I will keep you updated as to my job huntings, potential movings and if I remain an American quasi citizen for a bit longer.  

A reflection on life as I turned 30

Turning 30 scared the living bejesus outta me.  I kept thinking to myself, and still kind of think to myself, that I really have nothing to show for my years.  I don’t own a house, I don’t have a career, I have no kids and not in a relationship.  What have I been doing with my life if I don’t have any of these things??  Well, it has slowly been dawning upon me that it doesn’t matter that I do not have any of those things.  I have had a life that is rich of experiences and feelings and memories, who cares about the tangible stuff.  I am pretty sure my blog would be uber lengthy if I went through each and everything that I have a memory of so I won’t do that.  I am going to touch upon the things in my past that have contributed to who I am today and the things I am proud of being able to accomplish in my 30 years. 

Volleyball has been my passion for my entire life.  I started back in grade 6 when we had to take it in gym class and then we started meeting after school for it.  But it wasn’t until I switched schools and actually joined an after-school team that I fell in love with the sport.  I guess it was inevitable since both my sisters played it.  In the beginning, something like my first year, I was a hitter.  Maybe my coach realized that I didn’t have that “killer instinct” or that was I was quick enough, but I soon became a setter and that was my position ever since.  It helps playing with the same people for two seasons each year as by the time I hit high school, we were a pretty unstoppable team.  

We won AVA Provincials my senior year and the second time we went to Nationals, we placed second in our pool.  Even to this day I play the sport – as Riya puts it, I am the superstar of the Nerd Squad.  I will keep playing volleyball until the day my knee absolutely quits working on me.  Volleyball gives me something that I am super proud of myself for becoming good at and being acknowledged that it is something I am good at.  It is like on the court, nothing else matters at that moment – I could be having the worst day of my life and I find myself laughing, smiling, cheering.  It gives me a sense of being that I sometimes don’t feel in my regular day life. 

I love music and it is a part of my life, a prominent part of my life.  I had the wonderful opportunity to join the band class back in grade 7 or 8 for one semester as the school had brought this in.  At first I wanted to play the drums, but I am afraid that the teacher knew I would turn into Animal and she was probably very correct in assuming this would happen.  So, instead, I got to rock out on the saxophone Lisa Simpson style (maybe it was a bit too literal of a translation in my tastes).  I did not know anything about reading or playing music before this and I would like to say that I picked it up quite quickly.  There was a whole bunch of us and I ended up getting the “chair” saxophone and during the class assembly, got a solo.  It was very nerve wracking but I loved it.  I do miss playing it now and am unsure if I picked up another saxophone if I would know what to do with it.  Also during this time of my life, I auditioned and got parts in many different plays

when they came into town.  I had no fear back then of being on the stage and acting in front of everybody.  Hell, I even got a singing role in one of the plays (my lines being *clears throat* up and down the seashore there is a tale told far and wide of a fish I caught so great that it fed the mountainside…..for a month).  Nowadays though, you wouldn’t catch me on a stage at all with that many people looking and watching me – talk about a worse nightmare.  I do not know what changed between now and then but I would like to get that aspect of me back, that aspect of not caring who is paying attention to me or how many people are paying attention to me.  I need to find that element of confidence back that seemed to exist in middle school and junior high. 

Back in 2005, after the Lumina finally had enough of a life and Corolla became far too small for me to want to drive, I got my own car.  It was mine.  No co-signer, nothing like that.  Originally I wanted the Hyundai Accent as it was tiny and cheap and I was extremely excited when I got approved for the financing for it.  One day I am at work and the dealership phones me to tell me my car was in.  Hold up – I didn’t tell them what color I wanted, and this was very important to me.  He tells me that the only car they had in stock was red and, no offense to my mother, but I refuse to drive a red car.  So no car for me.  I was extremely bummed.  We went in and test drove the Elantra as it was the next one up on the list.  Got approved for that and in a week or so, I was the proud owner of a brand new car.  Even better, in 2012, I was the proud owner of a paid off car.  It makes me extremely happy that all my hardwork of working in law firms, which I hated, turned into the wonderful feeling of owning a car that I do not have payments on.  

I have had the ability to know and feel what love is – that feeling in the stomach when one knows that no matter what, you are loved and are cared for.  I had that with John and even though it ended, I still feel like it was in the relationship for a short period of time.  Things end, it is the way of nature, and it is how one moves on from the loss that can influence the future.  Being in that relationship for 6 years has taught me a lot about myself and what I want in a relationship – it was taught me to never settle for the sake of being in a relationship, to not lose myself while in the relationship and to always communicate my feelings to that person.  I am who I am, that is not going to change and I will find a guy who appreciates me for me and does not want me to change. 

I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet some fantabulous people who will be with me until the end of time.  Back in grade 7 when I changed schools and felt dreadfully alone, Lindsay was there, feeling the same way.  She was a quiet girl who moved to the town and knew no one.  She was quiet, she was funny, she was smart, she was such a wonderful and perfect friend.  I even remember that I tried to take notes just like hers as I thought they were so cool hahaha.  Even though we are completely across the country from each other, I still have her in my heart and feel like she is just as close to me as she was back in school.  

Then, when my time in Red Deer came about, I got to meet Amie.  At first, I was petrified of this lady because she was quiet yet outspoken, serious yet funny and just all around bat-shit crazy.  However, we were the same bat-shit crazy so we went together like two peas in a pod.  I have had the pleasure of being her maid of honour at her wedding and experience Vegas first hand with her.  She has visited me in Washington and enjoyed every moment of it.  We have always planned on going to New York or Vegas again and I think it will be this year to celebrate our 30^th birthdays.  And then in Calgary, I got to meet Aly.  She is such a

ray of sunshine when everything seemed dull and dim and had the ability to put a smile on my face no matter what was happening in my life.  Without these three people in my life, I could not imagine what my life would be like right now.  They have helped shape and turn me into the person I am today and for that, I have no words to express my gratitude. 

I like to consider myself kind of sophisticated and tried to make this even more so by catching plays and whatnot.  I took my mom to see Phantom of the Opera one year and that was amazing.  I also got to see Riverdance when they were on their final tour.  The music was astounding and it just touched your soul watching them dance.  I also got to see Disney in Concert and Movie Masterpieces at the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.  I have seen Nickelback twice, Johnny Reid twice and Blue Rodeo.  The ballets I have been to are Swan Lake (simply amazing), Cinderella, Sarah McLaughlin and Alice In Wonderland.  Seen Elvis Tribute, Global fest fireworks show and took in some rolley derby events.  Stuff like this makes me extremely happy, content and peaceful.  I am glad for the options I have had to watch these shows and hope there are many more like them in my future. 

Moving to Washington has probably been one of the craziest adventures ever.  I never knew it was going to be possible and the mountains it took to get here were great.  I shall not boggle you down with all those details, but my time here in Washington has been incredible.  Being able to experience the Inauguration first hand, same as the 4^th of July festivities and to sit on the steps of Lincoln where so many actors and actresses have been portrayed in movies.  Living here has been so very surreal and some days I will find myself stopping wherever I am and just think to myself “I cannot believe I am here and experiencing all of this”.  Here in Washington, I have met some wonderfully colorful people who have now joined me in this chapter of my life.  As this was a huge adjustment, I do not think I would have been able to survive on my own if it was not for them. 

Well I hoped you enjoyed my birthday blog.  I really hope that the next 30 years provides just as many memories, emotions and experiences these last 30 have.  I wish you all could have celebrated this milestone with me in person, but you were with me in my hearts, just like always.  Love you all and miss you tons!!

Thoughts to not think when one is flying in a plane

First and foremost, the pictures you see here are from the Library of Congress - just different quotes that were along the ceiling.  Thought it appropriate for this pensive type of posting.

Oohh the flight home was quite adventurous.  Let's see, I woke up around 6am MST as I needed to start getting back into the DC time.  Finished packing, had a shower, had some breakfast and then hit the road around 9:30.  Stopped for some Tim Hortons (needed my last fix) and then onto the highway, which was not bad but could have been a lot better.  Once we hit Edmonton, oohh, so many cars in the ditch.  Thankfully I got to the airport fine and in a couple of hours, my father got home just fine, so that was all good.  Leaving Edmonton, flights were on time as the weather out east was getting bad and I was afraid that flights were going to be delayed.  So far so good. Get on the plane, get comfortable and wait for take off.  The thing I kind of don't like about taking off is the little dip that plane takes when it is gaining altitude at such a fast speed.  Sometimes in that little dip, I have this feeling that the plane is going to dip down, down, down and crash.  So, with me thinking this, I start wondering, what would I do if that was the case?  I mean, thinking about it logically, there is no need to panic since you can't do anything about it.  The planes I have been on don't have the phones in the seat so I couldn't phone somebody to tell them my last goodbyes and spread the word that I was going down in a crashing plane, and what are the chances that I would be able to get to my phone in my bag, turn it on, put in the password, connect to the wifi or some sort of network so I could place a call or a text or message of some sort to send to people to tell them that my plane was going down.  So really, there would be nothing I could do about it and unless my family and friends were watching the news for the potential that my flight went down, nobody would really know.  

All in all, what came out of my thinking about all of this when I was a gazillion miles up in the air?  That this is something I should not be thinking of when I am a gazillion miles up the in air.  But then it also got me thinking about my life and reflecting upon it. I will be 30 years old (which I am having a very hard time dealing with) and what do I have to show for my 30 years on this earth?  Sure, I have had many experiences that I would not trade for the world, like moving across the country to a different country, or going to Vegas with Amie and sitting on the wall in front of the Bellagio fountains for hours but I also have nothing really to show for my 30 years - I don't really have a career, I don't have a husband or boyfriend, I don't own a house, I don't really know where to call "home".  Basically, if I was to die on a plane, would I be happy with the life I have lived or would I look back and wish things were different?  I think I can honestly say that I am happy with the way things have gone with my life.  Such there have been lots of mountains I have had to climb and hell that I have gone through, but I have made it out of every situation I have encountered and took those experiences and made me a better person because of them.  This all being said, I still am not looking forward to my 30th birthday and will be super grumpy that day hahaha.  Anywho, this all happened on my first flight.

When we land in Minneapolis for my second flight, I get an email from Delta, advising me that my flight from Minneapolis to Baltimore was delayed 45 minutes.  Not bad, I will take that since some flights were being cancelled.  Got into the airport, which I might have to add is a pretty kick ass airport to chill out in, get to my gate and start people watching and man, were there ever some unhappy people in that gate area.  We did not really know what was happening with our flight as for quite some time, the screen showed that our flight was leaving the same time an incoming flight was coming in.....which didn't make any sense to me.  So, as time slowly gets closer and closer to 8, the attendant comes on the intercom and tells us that our plane is coming from the hanger yet nobody really knows where it is and they are in the process of hunting down this plane.  Okay.  So we have a lost plane.  Great.   8:00pm hits and we aren't on a plane.  No plane is at the gate.  No plane is found still at this moment.  Finally, I think it was around 8:30, maybe, we are told that the plane was found and was in maintenance all afternoon and is making the way to the hanger.  So, not only did they lose the plane, they are also giving us a plane that has not flown at all today.  Not sure if that news was supposed to appease us or what but I think it made some people nervous.  While we were sitting there, waiting for our plane, the pilots and flight attendants came to chill with us and I had to laugh as it seemed so funny to see them standing there like regular folk, waiting for the plane to arrive and them not even knowing where it was or what the status of the flight was.  Once the plane got to the hanger, they started boarding, and man did they try to board as soon as humanly possible.  They went so fast that people were lined up and standing in the walkway that attached the plane to the boarding gate part due to people trying to put luggage up in the overhead bins, slow people, etc.  I do not know what time we finally took off at but after all the

delays, the plane touched down in Baltimore at midnight exactly.  I was so fortunate that Kalyn was patient enough to wait through the delays and pick me up that late.  Got to her place, talked for a bit and my head hit the pillow at 2:11am.  Sleep was elusive to me.  My mind was going nuts - was my place broken into?  Did my sink throw up and make a mess all over my kitchen?  Who are my profs for classes that they are still trying to fill?  Did my therapy get approved at the jail?  I think it took close to an hour for me to get my mind off of these nonsense and stupid questions that I really did not need to be thinking of.  Thankfully, when I did get home, my sink did not make a mess in my kitchen and my place was not broken into.  So all in all, everything was good when I got home.

I am normally not a resolution type of person since I never keep them, but this year, I am going to try my darndest to make and keep resolutions.  Such as, stop chewing my fingernails, finding 10 minutes each day to meditate or do some guided imagery relaxation, just something like that, take up tarot cards (courtesy of my sister) and somehow stop myself from worrying about everything and anything that I have no control over.  Oh and finish my cross stitch, hopefully before summer so I can start a new one come summer.  And then the typical, lose weight, exercise more and eat more healthy.  I think for the most part those are all doable.  I guess I will see in a couple months time how well it is all going.  I still have so many things left to do here in DC, like go see the pentagon, get a tour of the Capitol, see if I can get a White House tour, go to the Air and Space Museum, see all the monuments, go to the other art gallery, go to some of the gardens in the summer, stuff like that.  I have been here for over a year and feel like I haven't even scratched the surface of what there is to do here.  Oohh another thing is to update and keep up with my Washington Scrapbook I have going as that thing is so outdated at the moment it is insane. I don't even know where I left off or what I need to add.  Uber bad.

School is going to be insane this semester.  I put up my calendar for the next two months and it looks bad.  Starting next week, other than the week of my *shudder* birthday, I have either a quiz, presentation, paper or many of those due each week.  Yay school.  On the list of the assignments are as such:  journal about my non-biting of the nails, go to an AA or NA meeting, do some fantabulous research on sexual violence risk and trafficking/forced prostitution and interview a sex offender officer.  Oh yeah, real fun semester.  At the jail, things are just as exiting.  My proposal for a music/art therapy group got approved so that will happen at the end of January.  Another group I am running is a Motivational Enhancement group and I have yet to see how well that is being seen as I just started it.  My other group is Anger Management, which I love so much and have a very, very fun time doing it.  All in all, will be a very hectic, very busy, but quite interesting and exciting type of a semester.

I'm on Christmas holidays. The only decision I have to make is when should I play my Pick Up 4 card??? (my sister)/Walnuts and raisins are the reasons why I have trust issues (my brother)

Merry merry merry Christmas everyone and a very happy new year to each and every one of you!!!!

It was a Christmas to look forward to (not like any other Christmas is not something to look forward to) as my sisters were coming home this year so the trip home started off excited.  And then suddenly started going downhill very fast.  The day we all flew out was the day that the East Coast of Canada was getting slaughtered with the winter storm.  All of our flights were affected, even the West Coasters.  My flight day started off in Baltimore and was delayed I don't know how long right off the bat.  Panic started setting in as I didn't have a huge window of a layover in Minneapolis to make my next flight and after some checking on the interwebs, there was the one and only flight out of Minneapolis to Edmonton so I knew that if I missed that flight, I was going to be stranded in Minneapolis for the evening.  Not a thought I was really welcoming.  And then I thought to myself 'well it wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't have to run through an airport' and thankfully I wore some easy fast moving shoes.  

Flight to Minneapolis was full of turbulence and I thought that the flight was going to be enjoyable when the chick beside me started popping pills and then kindly told me that she suffers from lots of flight nausea.  And I am one of those people that if I see vomit, I will vomit myself.  Yay.  Thankfully she did not get sick at all during the flight so that was a good thing.  Also, Delta, you guys rock at providing snacks during the flight but you do not rock with the fact that you did not provide any in-flight entertainment (I would have taken anything really to kill off some of the time since I was actually getting bored reading....maybe I should have switched books or something).  Get to Minneapolis and check out where my flight is leaving from and start running to the terminal. At this time, we are not uber late getting into the airport but I was running to my terminal when they were calling for preboarding.  Or should have been.  Luckily, and crappily, that flight was delayed as well.  All in all, the pilot gave it all he got and we got into Edmonton about half an hour after our scheduled landing.  Not bad all in all.  And what was the funniest part was that I had beat my sisters who were supposed to land half an hour before my originally scheduled landing.  Apparently their plane was late departing where ever it was coming from so they were late out of the gate.  Thankfully my brother and wonderful sister in law were

patient and were warm in the truck while waiting for us.  Finally we made it out of the airport, into the truck and on the highway heading to our first stop, our brother's place.  The way my day broke down was waking up at 8am EST, leaving my house at 11:26 EST (courtesy of the wonderful and fantabulous Kalyn who drove me to the airport), got into Edmonton at 8:36 MST, stepped foot into my brothers place at 11:38pm MST and my head hit the pillow at 12:55am MST.  I was up for 19 hours that travelling day.  And I am pretty sure I looked like a walking zombie.  Definitely not as glamorous as my sister is when she travels.  

Here are some of the wonderful highlights that came out of the long trip from the airport to my brothers:

• my sister was in shock and awe to learn that nothing original comes out of my brothers mouth (ie - I'm kind of a big deal)
• my sister was reading off all the instrument levels to my other sister and wonderfully and very ineptly said "646 kilometers to the East".  We all kindly pointed out that that actually meant "646 kilometers to empty".  We talked about this afterward and she realizes that she has creative intelligence.  
• my sister was telling me about Siri and how smart she is.  But then we asked our brother something that maybe Siri didn't know and that is when we realized that we don't need Siri when we have our Brother.  

I love staying out at my brothers. I am pretty sure I say this every time I go out there but it is heaven.  So peaceful and quiet and relaxing.  My brother is not the type of person who has to be doing something all the time and is content just sitting, relaxing and doing nothing.  Something that I love.  Sadly he had to work the Monday we were there but Darce was kicking around to keep us company and it was a good day.  Just bummed around for a bit, ate some good food, relaxed.  I honestly can't remember what we did that first day at my brothers.  But in the afternoon we made our way into town to become the travelling gypsies that we were this Christmas season.  The first stop was to Mom's to tell her in person that we all arrived safe and well and to drop off the crock pot that she was needing for supper on Christmas day.  We popped in, I said hello to my kitty, had a nice little chat, guilted her into making perogies, and then made our merry way to my dad's.  Where we got assaulted by Hank.  

Gotta love the Hank greetings.  He makes you feel so loved.  Had some supper at Dad's, sat around and played some cards, drank a little and then called it a night.  The next day was Christmas Eve and we did some more bumming around.  Amanda and I played some crib, had some wonderful Gingerbread Latte's and she painted my nails to become Christmas nails.  Then made some perogies for our Christmas dinner and then played some more cards.  Lots of laughter and smiles and conversation was had by all.  

Christmas morning we made our way over to our mother's.  Said our hellos again and settled in for some good times before supper.  We played some mumbly-pegs but chinese gift exchange style and out of the game, I ended up with Chester.  Adeptly named Chester the Molester, which upped my need for him.  He is pretty awesome.       He makes this weird noise like he is talking or something - kind of like the minions from Despicable Me.  I just hope he doesn't make a noise when I am going through security at the airport as that could get quite awkward.  After mumbly-pegs, we had supper which was fantabulous.  So much good food.  And then some family photos were had.  Watched Muppets Family Christmas and then Just Go With It (couldn't decide what other Christmas movie to watch).  Then called it a night.  The next day had hobbit style breakfast - first breakfast was cinnamon rolls and then second breakfast was perogies.  Then my brother came into town to pick us up and haul us out to his place again for Boxing Day.  

Boxing Day had us lounging around again.  Adam and Nat decided to be countrymen and go shoot some guns, which I think Nat enjoyed immensely.  Had a lot of good food out there as well (notice a theme going on here) and then had a wonderfully enjoyable supper with smoked turkey.  I think smoked turkey needs to be on the menu every Christmas.  It was just too delicious to pass up.  I got to the point of needing to put on some stretchy pants it was that delicious.  After supper played some Uno where lots of laughs were had and since we are Canadian, we tend to apologize when we lay a Pick Up 4 on a person.  Or you have me, who wants people to hit people with chairs.  Both ends of the spectrum really with our family when it comes to cards.  It is a no-holds bar type of deal.  

I can't really put into words what this Christmas was like.  Being around family for a week is something that we don't get a lot of with all of us being all over the country, at least Western Canada and then me being down in DC.  Doesn't really allow for all of us to be in the same place at the same time unless super planned out, which we aren't really that good for.  One year I would like to depict our Christmas/family gatherings in pictures alone just so that you can get the full extent of what it is like.  I can tell you all about the laughter and smiles but you don't really understand it until you get to see it and experience it yourself.  

The new year is upon us.  2014.  Insane.  This year is going to be crazy scary I feel.  A milestone birthday is coming up which I am not looking forward to, going to be finishing my Masters, hopefully will be getting a job in my field and with that potentially doing another big move again.  I feel like this is a scary year because I know of everything that is on my plate for this year and other years, scary stuff has just popped up without me knowing about it.  I don't know if it is better or worse knowing what is coming up.  I have way more things to do in DC though that I need to get done before I leave so for surely this year, I am going to be busy seeing everything and experiencing everything the city has to offer.  

Tomorrow I fly out to DC again.  Apparently there are winter storms again that may affect my flights so this will be fun.  The jail is calling my name as well as school.  Goodbye family.  Goodbye snow.  Goodbye Canada.  It was fun. I will miss you all very much and was happy for this time that I got to spend with my family.  We truly are a crazy bunch.  Except for Darce.  She is quiet.  It is kind of amazing how her quietness mixes in so well with our family.  Keeps us grounded somewhat.  I am quite fortunate to have her as a sister-in-law as she is pretty kick ass, especially for dealing with my brother.  

I hope everyone had wonderful and happy holidays and I wish you all a very happy, laughter filled, smiled induced and prosperous New Year!!!!

End of the semester, out on good behavior at the jail and oohhh look fluffy white stuff came from the sky.

Christmas time is upon us again, where oh where did the time go?  This time last year, I was already at home and loving the snow and the weather. I am currently writing this still in DC curled up in my chair, not loving the un-snowed winter that is happening right now.  But as of tomorrow, I will be making my journey back to Alberta to the land of snow and winter and fantabulous family!!!!

As is tradition, once we finished our last final and before we all decided to hightail it every which way throughout the country, all of us girls went out for a Christmas dinner.  The place of choice - Rosa Mexicana which is a wonderful place to eat.  We were set to toast us getting through this semester and surviving our internships when Colleen so gracefully told us that she could not drink.  Yes people, she is pregnant.  Yay!!!!  It feels like the group of people from Knocked Up the way we have all bonded this past year and whatnot.  So, along with the toast to school, we toasted Colleen for becoming a mother.  Wonderful news all around for everybody.  Supper was wonderful - just got to sit back and talk about how internships were going, what Christmas holidays people were going to have, basically talked about everything except for school.  I love nights like that when school is not on the list of topics.

After supper, Kalyn and I decided to head to the White House to check out the tree as last year I had missed it.  The tree was amazing!! So big, so colorful, so bright.  They also had a bunch of trees around the big tree for each state.  I did not get a chance to see the Capital tree or even zoo lights (but from pictures from friends, zoo lights looks the same from last year).  I am super sad though that I am not able to see the Calgary zoo lights which is Aly and our's tradition for the past three (or four?) years.  I am sad that I will not be hitting Calgary at all this trip so this is a shoutout to all my Calgary peeps in that I miss you and wish you a very merry christmas!!!!!  

IT SNOWED!!!!!!!  Not a lot mind you, not even close to what Alberta winters are like, but I saw white fluffy things come down from the sky and they were huge fluffy flakes.  The snow actually stuck around for a couple of days so I was in complete heaven.  The city, however, was not.  At the thought of there being 1 to 3" of snow falling, gasp and shock and awe in how much that is (total sarcasm), the city shut down.  Government closed.  Highways were barren. I was outside in the street, dancing in the snow.  When not dancing in the street, I was curled up in my chair, playing crib, watching curling, having tea.  It was a wonderful way to spend a winteryish day.  Heaven.  Why can't there be more days like that around here?

I got to participate in the Wreaths Across America at Arlington Cemetery and it was quite the experience.  I had no clue what to expect as I have never heard about it before and at first thought it was what I had seen at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers and laying wreaths there but I was so completely wrong.  A whole bunch of students from the school went on behalf of the school and got to lay about 8 wreaths per person.  I started worrying that I was going to lay a wreath on a site that may have family coming to lay wreaths or wanted to make sure I laid wreaths on sites that had nobody and did not want them to feel left out.  So many thoughts were going through the head when it came to laying a single wreath.  Who should I lay it on?  

My thoughts were that I tried to lay wreaths on the sites that had both a wife and a husband name on it that way it was like both people got the benefit of a wreath and just in case no family would come to lay a wreath.  I also laid wreaths on sons and daughters of those people who fought in the wars to make sure they were accounted for.  Just being there was inspiring and amazing - the amount of people who showed up was massive and just watching the Cemetery start filling up with wreaths was quite the sight.  I was standing on a hill, just watching people line up for the wreaths and then weave through the grounds, to pick which gravesite was going to get their wreath.  I am so glad I was able to take part in something like this.  We were standing in line to get the wreaths and I was telling Steph that I don't think we have something like this up in Canada since we appear to be the world's designated driver and thus don't need a cemetery like this to house all the soldiers from the wars, but just to be able to be part of something like that was quite touching.  I love the fact that even though I am not from here, that I am not American, I can still be part of something that is deeply American, that affects a lot of people.  Those memories are ones that are truly touching and meaningful.  

My time at the jail has been amazing.  Providing therapy for seven individuals was such a journey, some days went better than others and some people were more apt to change than others.  At the end, before I left, three had gotten released, and I felt like a mother whose children were leaving home hahaha.  I wished them luck and told them that I never wanted to see them again so hopefully they listened and learned something from the therapy.  I also got to run an Anger Management group and a Job Readiness group and the anger management was so fun, I am definitely doing that again.  The job readiness, not so much as that was painful and was like pulling teeth.  I am hoping that in the new year, I am allowed to run a group wherein the inmates will draw to music in order to understand/talk about/get in touch with their feelings.  This type of therapy has never happened before in the jail, so I am not sure if it will fly or not.  I am so lucky to be at the jail though for my internship as the experience I am getting there is insurmountable and the atmosphere is so fun and exciting and definitely not boring. 

Well tomorrow I get to look forward to a 12 hour travelling day, from my house to my brothers, so yay!!!!  This Christmas is the one with my sisters down so it will be pretty awesome of a time.  I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy, safe and extraordinary Christmas.  And, here is a clip of my favorite Christmas moment to leave you with.  I miss everyone and love you guys to pieces!!!!

Pigeons are friendly. Canadians are colorful. Gall bladders are dependable.

Well American Thanksgiving was upon us and the wonderfully fantastic Stephanie decided to play host to us orphans who had no place to go for Thanksgiving and it was a spectacular time as it was the first time that I got to partake in American Thanksgiving.  I think last year I was partaking in being a hermit on Thanksgiving.  I was going to experience Black Friday but then I realized that being tramped and potentially having an arm ripped off for reaching for a piece of clothing or something was not high up on my list of things to experience so I kindly declined the offer.  Maybe one day I will do it.  And that one day I will have a job and can actually buy stuff on Black Friday hahaha.

So the day arrives and I meet up with Nina and Meg to walk over to Steph's and thankfully I was smart enough to ask Nina and Meg if they wanted to walk cause it is sketchville walking over to her place.  Such colorful characters (not Canadians as per title of posting and what will follow later) were wishing us a happy thanksgiving.  And pigeons.  Not friendly.  A flock of them took off/swooped down near us and I damn near jumped into oncoming traffic to avoid them.  Nothing friendly about flying things.  Get to Steph's and the smell of food is amazingly delicious.  And I got to meet Capone, who is an absolute sweetheart and Muppet, who looks exactly, identical, to Sprocket from Fraggle Rock.  Sadly, no football was on so I didn't get that American experience but the Macy's Day Parade was on so we got to watch some of that.

Supper was a lot of food.  Tons of food.  More food than was imaginable.  Steph and Lauren made poutine for an appetizer and it was amazingly delicious and then supper was served.  The dishes were, *clears throat* - stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, bean salad, pistachio salad, spinach salad, tofurkey, cranberries, rolls and broccoli salad.  For dessert we had individual pumpkin pies/souffles and truffles.  So much good food.  Definitely stuffed myself big time.  After supper was the fun times of playing Apples to Apples.  My first time playing, and Lauren's.  We kicked some ass, newbie style hahaha.  Meg and I have similar warped minds so we were laughing quite a bit when it came time for us to lay our cards.  And for dessert/a surprise, Lauren brought us Kinder Surprises from Germany!!! I didn't realize they were banned from the States and now I realize that I have not seen any while here.  Overall it was a wonderfully awesome day spent with fantabulous company.  Thank you girls for providing me with a day with no school and no jail.

I decided to keep the wonderfulness going and took a day out for myself to go do something touristy as I haven't done that in a very long time.  So on the docket was the Smithsonian American Art Museum as I wanted to feel sophisticated for one day.  Being at the art gallery was absolutely amazing in that it was so calm and peaceful.  The ability to sit in front of some paintings and just look at them and not think about anything other than the colors, what the picture was showing and how I felt about the picture (sounds very hoity toity doesn't it) was something that I definitely needed.  Some of those pictures were absolutely exquisite and I can't believe the time and imagination it took to paint them.

Art galleries, I think, are going to be some of my favorite places to go as they are very calming and peaceful and just to be able to stare at such beautiful things is a wonderful way to get through a day.  There were just too many pictures to love there.  I can't wait till I go to the other art museum as it is much bigger and it will take the whole day getting through it.  After I got home from the art museum, I kept the "me" day going and actually picked up my cross stitch.  I haven't touched it since August and it is still so very slow going.  I am hoping this winter break I can get a lot more done on it to make a dent to try to get into closer to completion hahaha.  I am starting to get antsy on starting another one but can't until this one is finally completed and hung up.

Next up is to get through this week of final exams and massive papers, then work at the jail for a couple of weeks and then off to home for a wonderful 2 weeks of family time!!!! I can't believe December is upon us already and that 2013 is almost said and done and gone.  Where oh where has the time gone???  Insanity I tell you!!!!  But the countdown is on and the stress to finish is here.  20 more days till I am home with family.  4 more days till this semester is done.  WOOOOOHOOOOOO.  Miss and love you all!!!!