A new office configuration - a happy Jeff

For the family day long weekend our family decided to do some house organization (or what I would call fortifying the office).

This is what it looks like when you enter the room - hard to believe that someone would choose to be in cubical, but he's pretty serious about keeping me out...

He's even resorting to whipping me with a cable to keep me out of his cave...

Jeff - the crepe master (in training)

After my long run today I decided I wanted "big pancakes", which are crepes suzette. Usually my mom would make them for a special breakfast when we were growing up. So Jeff dutifully got the recipe from my mom (which consisted of a lot of approximate measurements). And here is what ensued:

The chef in action.

The first ever crepe made by my awesome husband.

A satisfied customer.

The crepes turned out great (almost as good as my mom's - I can't quite commit to saying they were better, but practice makes perfect, so maybe this should be a Sunday tradition).

Reading Week

Well, I would like to report that I had a marvelous and relaxing week, but the life of a grad student does not have such things. Especially when I have 40 written exams to mark, a 10 page assignment due and a back log of reading. This is where I would rather be:

Palolem, Goa -

this is what every sunset was like when we were there in October 2004 - paradise

Mexico

I thought I would post some of the pictures from our trip to Huatulco this December. Above is the view of the ocean from our hotel room. It was a fantastic trip. Lots of relaxing by the pool, sleeping in and reading. The plus 30 degree weather was fantastic. The sunburn that came with that wasn't though!
We went on a tour of an organic coffee plantation. Above is what coffee looks like growing, who knew? It was a gorgeous walk in a shaded area, but the bugs got us, so we were itchy for a week after. The drive through the mountainous region wasn't too good for my tummy, but the yummy coffee and meal we got when we arrived was definitely worth it.
Growing around the coffee were many trees including avocado, banana, pointsettas, mangoes, and my lifeblood, cocoa (above is a picture of that opened up - didn't taste anything like chocolate when I sucked on the pulp).
This is what the plantation looked like. The coffee was growing alongside the walkway.
And this was the funicular. Slower than walking up to our room, but the entertainment value was high!

Overall, the hotel was clean, the staff was friendly, but the food was lacking in variety and flavour. Would I do an all inclusive again? Perhaps, if I needed a short break, but I think I prefer more adventure travel. We will see where my travels take me next....

The biggest snowman in the world

Laura got this on camera this weekend. Holy moly! Have a good look and see how massive this thing is! I wonder how long it took them to make it? Have we really had that much snow? Were they taking donations for snow? As Jeff wittily observed, "snow-nations".

Burgers for a special birthday

In celebration of Laura's 24th birthday we had the glorious mushroom burger from Burger Baron. Not just the mushroom burger, but the mushroom burger with bacon AND poutine. Luxuriously greasy and cheesy and fantastic.

For all of those who don't know, this is mi amiga favorita, Laura (and her mom).

I've been chastized, too!

It seems that the floss-gods are not shining on me, either (see Vik's blog for his recent exploits with flossing). The dental hygienist today gave me a strict lecture on how I need to floss more. Isn't life too short to waste 3 minutes a day flossing? Bring on the false teeth :)

Prize Winning Meyers

Kailey after her Irish dancing - where she placed 12th overall and got two medals! Congratulations!

And Travis - just being himself. We outfitted him with the free internet explorer toque.

For some reason, Jeff didn't want the free swag from the conference, so he gave it away. All except the sticker:

In the spirit of getting some pictures online, here is one of Jeff and I at the Death Race in August. I don't have any digital of me actually running...The race was great, I finished early and our team finished within the top ten of all-women's teams (I can't remember exactly what rank we were). Right now I am training for the Vancouver half marathon in May. Should be another fun adventure.

Inspired by Vik, I'm going to attempt to resurrect my blog (I've been enjoying it immensely); so I'll be trying out different things. In that spirit, I have posted one of my favorite pictures of Jeff from our 2004 trip in India. Isn't he beautiful?

The constant intake of information from school is making me feel like I need a release or some kind of place to dump thoughts and inspirations.

We shall see if I can keep reading, running (training for the May half marathon in Vancouver has begun), living life, and keeping a blog.