Here's our Jack-o-Lantern for this year, a combined effort of my carving out the cat, Grady "scraping" out the moon (to give it that lighter effect) and Caitlin holding and "smelling" (and us constantly reminding her not to eat!) the remnant pieces of pumpkin. And then we all sat back and said, "Oooh, aaah" at the finished product! A fun family evening had by all.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Collective Juices of Creativity
Here's our Jack-o-Lantern for this year, a combined effort of my carving out the cat, Grady "scraping" out the moon (to give it that lighter effect) and Caitlin holding and "smelling" (and us constantly reminding her not to eat!) the remnant pieces of pumpkin. And then we all sat back and said, "Oooh, aaah" at the finished product! A fun family evening had by all.
Aiming for Ames
The beautiful campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa welcomed us last weekend as we visited Grady's Alma Mater for its Homecoming weekend. It was a gorgeous, sunny fall day last Saturday and we took advantage of it by spending a few hours walking around and hearing many stories of Grady's undergraduate time there. This year the university celebrates its 150th anniversary and the architecture truly reflects its glorious history (even reminding me a bit of Europe!). And of course, we hit the bookstore to get decked out in our own crimson and gold! Thanks to Grady's old roommate Aaron and his family for hosting us!
Picture descriptions:1 - in front of the clock tower, aka "Campanile"
2 - pointing to one of his old dorm rooms (window under the "Godfrey" sign)
3 - Beardshear Hall, built in 1906
4 - Proud I-State papa and daughter
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Mini Oktoberfest
Last Saturday Grady and I left Caitlin with Oma and Opa and took off for some together time. We drove two and a half hours westward to a little town called New Ulm, Minnesota, a sister city to Ulm in Germany. They were celebrating Oktoberfest, and we had to check it out!
Quaint and festive, we came upon the blockaded street where everything was taking place. A traditional old-style German band set the mood as we enjoyed the festivites (although we could have lived without the bees swarming around our food and drinks!). A beer for Grady, a root beer for Allison (would never have found that in Germany!), two bratwursts with kraut, and a short interaction with some German-speaking exchange students later, we hopped in the car to check out the town's most well-known
attractions."Herman the German" is said to have single-handedly organized a kind of ambush on Roman soldiers in the north of Germany which ultimately started the shrinking of the Roman Empire's reign. Not bad! A huge statue of him stands upon a hilltop in New Ulm and we stopped by to see him for ourselves.
We then headed through a forest to Schell's Brewery, hoping to get in on one of the tours of the historical site. Who knew it would be so busy-!
We didn't get in but had a nice walk around the grounds, surprised to see free-roaming peacocks to boot! Such a beautiful setting.Our last stop before heading home was at a little restaurant where we met a couple locals and got to visit about their German roots and learn a bit more about the town. It was a great excursion, especially with all the beautiful fall colors as a backdrop!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Announcing...
I am very proud to share the big news that just today the company that Grady works for launched their public website! It is an exciting week for them as they unveil the product they've been secretly engineering and developing over these past months. Looks pretty spiffy to me!
click on image to view website
click on image to view websiteFriday, October 17, 2008
About Me
Facts about me... (tagged by Jill!)- Although I'm Canadian, I haven't lived there since 2001 so I don't really feel Canadian in the sense that I know anything about the politics or current events or recent foreign policy or anything. Some people, when they find out I'm from Canada, proceed to (attempt to) have meaningful discussions about the subtleties of Canadian government or the healthcare system or something. I'm like, "Sorry, I've lived my whole adult life not in Canada so I don't really know about all that-!"
- I haven't had any weird food combination cravings in either pregnancy, gained a whopping 35lbs with Caitlin and thusfar only 6lb with this little guy-!!
- Sometimes I don't do laundry for two weeks.
- Heels really aren't my thing.
- Since we've moved back from Germany I'd lost my sense of decorating (as in furniture arranging/picture hanging/general room organization, etc) until it started coming back to me last week.
- Both Grady and I had dreamed (seperately, but on the same night) that this baby would be a girl before we found out it's a boy! (sorry son.)
- In high school I had aspirations to be an astronaut, land on the moon and travel to Mars. My inspiration? The movie, "Apollo 13." (not the most reassuring film, to be sure...)
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Itsy Bitsy Spider...
...or not so itsy bitsy.
Ok ok, I guess in the grand scheme of things they both were in and of themselves pretty itsy. (It's not like I live in Australia where the spiders never die and so grow to the size of hubcaps or something, right Nat?? ;) ) But the effect they've had on my pulse suggests otherwise (or else I'm just a wuss, although I'd prefer not to explore that option).
So yesterday I was sitting calmly in my typical spot on the couch with my laptop on my lap doing something completely routine like checking email, when a grey-brownish spider just pounced on my right forearm. It happened so suddenly that my first thought was that it must be one of those orange-ish ladybugs since I saw one a couple days earlier in this general vicinity of the house. But no, I was wrong.
I've been trying to not be so wimpy around bugs in general lately, meaning that I'm not flipping out and obsessively trying to kill every one that I see in our house. There's been a little spider hanging out around the kitchen sink for the past few months and besides the occasional cobweb strung across the window I've barely even noticed it so I've decided to be cool with it and let it be. I've seen a spider in the laundry room (in the utility room in the basement where there are supposed to be bugs, right??) and the occasional dead beetle or centipede turns up along the baseboards in the basement too. Bugs are a fact of life and I'm trying to be very grown up about this issue!
Anyway, so I looked down at my arm yesterday and then noticed what it was and, well, yes, basically flipped out, quickly brushing it off and probably making some weird noise to boot. Spiders in the kitchen and laundry room are one thing, but I'd rather not have them paying me or anyone a surprise visit as I relax on the couch-! I slowly looked around for where it landed and couldn't find it for the longest time-! Finally, I saw it, not far from where I had been sitting on the couch, and for my own sanity and peace of mind I just squished him. Case closed.
Until today! I put Caitlin down for her morning nap, turned around to go back up the stairs and something caught my eye...AAH! Hanging right in the middle of where I would have walked, a spider, even a bit bigger than the one yesterday, was just doing it's thing. I could have walked RIGHT into it!! This was getting out of hand. I put my fears of that what if aside, promptly grabbed some toilet paper from the nearby bathroom, and came out to conquer it, only to discover it had climbed back up to the ceiling. Ok, here's my chance...(and may I note that this spider was a kind of grey-off white color, blending in almost perfectly with the ceiling/walls/carpet, and causing me to conclude it wasn't the same as the jumping spider as I had run into the day before. This must be just a normal spider, right? hmm...) so I doubled--even tripled--the small swatch of tissue (no need for spider guts on my hand), approached slowly and...
...at the last possible second the spider jumped away from where I aimed!--the sheer thought that it was on me sent me into some kind of get-off-me spider dance, accompanied by those odd sounds again (they must help somehow-!). I had dropped the tissue and began by frantically searching my person for any signs of Mr. Itsy Bitsy. None. And no sign of him on the ceiling, walls OR carpet. Not even on the tissue I finally got up the courage to pick up. So here I sit, back in my normal spot on the couch, creeped out that the spider is actually making a nest in my hair or planning another lovely visit for me when I return to get Caitlin in an hour. Or even worse yet, that it WAS on me until I sat down here and he took refuge somewhere in the couch only to eventually pull a repeat of yesterday when I least expect it. I think I'm having a meltdown!
And y'know the feeling of having walked through part of a cobweb...those stringy bits just slightly ticking your face or arm...yeah, I've been feeling that this whole time too, and chances are that spider is hanging on the end of it somewhere....AAH!
Ok ok, I guess in the grand scheme of things they both were in and of themselves pretty itsy. (It's not like I live in Australia where the spiders never die and so grow to the size of hubcaps or something, right Nat?? ;) ) But the effect they've had on my pulse suggests otherwise (or else I'm just a wuss, although I'd prefer not to explore that option).
So yesterday I was sitting calmly in my typical spot on the couch with my laptop on my lap doing something completely routine like checking email, when a grey-brownish spider just pounced on my right forearm. It happened so suddenly that my first thought was that it must be one of those orange-ish ladybugs since I saw one a couple days earlier in this general vicinity of the house. But no, I was wrong.
I've been trying to not be so wimpy around bugs in general lately, meaning that I'm not flipping out and obsessively trying to kill every one that I see in our house. There's been a little spider hanging out around the kitchen sink for the past few months and besides the occasional cobweb strung across the window I've barely even noticed it so I've decided to be cool with it and let it be. I've seen a spider in the laundry room (in the utility room in the basement where there are supposed to be bugs, right??) and the occasional dead beetle or centipede turns up along the baseboards in the basement too. Bugs are a fact of life and I'm trying to be very grown up about this issue!
Anyway, so I looked down at my arm yesterday and then noticed what it was and, well, yes, basically flipped out, quickly brushing it off and probably making some weird noise to boot. Spiders in the kitchen and laundry room are one thing, but I'd rather not have them paying me or anyone a surprise visit as I relax on the couch-! I slowly looked around for where it landed and couldn't find it for the longest time-! Finally, I saw it, not far from where I had been sitting on the couch, and for my own sanity and peace of mind I just squished him. Case closed.
Until today! I put Caitlin down for her morning nap, turned around to go back up the stairs and something caught my eye...AAH! Hanging right in the middle of where I would have walked, a spider, even a bit bigger than the one yesterday, was just doing it's thing. I could have walked RIGHT into it!! This was getting out of hand. I put my fears of that what if aside, promptly grabbed some toilet paper from the nearby bathroom, and came out to conquer it, only to discover it had climbed back up to the ceiling. Ok, here's my chance...(and may I note that this spider was a kind of grey-off white color, blending in almost perfectly with the ceiling/walls/carpet, and causing me to conclude it wasn't the same as the jumping spider as I had run into the day before. This must be just a normal spider, right? hmm...) so I doubled--even tripled--the small swatch of tissue (no need for spider guts on my hand), approached slowly and...
...at the last possible second the spider jumped away from where I aimed!--the sheer thought that it was on me sent me into some kind of get-off-me spider dance, accompanied by those odd sounds again (they must help somehow-!). I had dropped the tissue and began by frantically searching my person for any signs of Mr. Itsy Bitsy. None. And no sign of him on the ceiling, walls OR carpet. Not even on the tissue I finally got up the courage to pick up. So here I sit, back in my normal spot on the couch, creeped out that the spider is actually making a nest in my hair or planning another lovely visit for me when I return to get Caitlin in an hour. Or even worse yet, that it WAS on me until I sat down here and he took refuge somewhere in the couch only to eventually pull a repeat of yesterday when I least expect it. I think I'm having a meltdown!
And y'know the feeling of having walked through part of a cobweb...those stringy bits just slightly ticking your face or arm...yeah, I've been feeling that this whole time too, and chances are that spider is hanging on the end of it somewhere....AAH!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Perspective
“It’s extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.” –Bono
Monday, October 13, 2008
A Day for Giving Thanks, usw*
It's upon us again! Although I have to say I think the timing of Canadian Thanksgiving makes much more sense than it's American counterpart, don't you think? Having the huge turkey dinner today, a) is a wonderful way to celebrate the beginnings of cooler weather and to welcome in fall, b) is far enough removed from Christmas that we can have exactly the same menu and not get tired of it, and c) is just generally spaced out better, giving more time to prepare for Christmas instead of rushing around taking down Thanksgiving decorations and putting up Christmas ones in time for December. Plus, in the northern regions American Thanksgiving falls right in the middle of winter and isn't it supposed to be more of a fall-like celebration? And one more thing: I think the further-apart timing lends less of an "after holiday letdown" in January to those north of the 49th, cause it hasn't been one huge holiday after another and then nothing. See, it makes much more sense! :)I'm excited to host and prepare my first ever meal for tonight and so far I'm off to a good, non-stressful start. The pie and salad were my projects yesterday, so they're sitting in the fridge ready to be whipped out at a moment's notice. One more trip to the store today for a couple forgotten things and then sticking to my prep schedule (starting at 2:30pm)...pending no major disasters, we should be good to go by 7! We're having two other couples join us (see invitation above) and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better. I'll take some pictures!
In other news, it never ceases to amaze me how much time it takes me to get back into the swing of things after returning from vacation (even if it wasn't a "vacation" per se-!). Today marks two weeks since we returned and I just last Wednesday finally made it to the grocery store so we could eat something not out of a box or can-! I do appreciate getting back into a routine though, especially with Caitlin who is on the edge of deciding if she's finally an only-one-nap-a-day kind of girl or not. Most days she still doesn't make it past 10am without a meltdown (unless we have a playdate or are out doing something fun...but in reality that's only like once a week!) and I'll gladly use the extra two hours of quiet time to accomplish my own important tasks (ie. blogging..haha!). But it is nice to be home, and we should also note that it actually did feel like we came "home" this time...not just to this place we're "living in." Progress!
Grady and I also took a trip on Saturday to partake in a mini Oktoberfest--I'll write about it and post pictures later on this week.
And one last thing: be sure to check out my sister Natalie's blog for awesome pictures of their honeymoon in Fiji!
*usw - "und so weiter" - the German way of saying/writing "etc"
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Newlywed Wickhams
Success!
Natalie and Joel survived their wedding day (and the preceding week, I might add) and should be enjoying the warm sun somewhere in Fiji by now. It was a flashback to our wedding day/preceding week with travelers arriving from distant lands, all the coordinating that goes into all these out-of-town guests, not to mention just the typical last-minute wedding projects. Let's just say these last few days of being back home have been more of a vacation than our vacation was!
Everything turned out just beautifully and I have to say I am a bit jealous of the gorgeous fall colors--I always dreamed of having a fall wedding but Natalie actually pulled it off. It was a cool, overcast day with the typical wedding hangups--getting started a bit late, the bride and groom having to rush off for pictures before enjoying their tea reception, the breeze that kept all the bridesmaids begging for the groomsmen's suit jackets in between outdoor pictures, the wrong order for the placecards at the head table, the constant glass clinging during dinner, etc. Nothing too major!
We love you both and pray your arrival "home" to Melbourne in a few days goes smoothly and lends you a good start to settling into your new family life together!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)