Look at the sky!

This is what we saw tonight:

Friday came, and went...

Friday came much quicker than I had expected, and the week ended on a very good note. Why? Even though I came home late on Thursday, and managed to get about 6 hours of sleep, Friday turned into an extremely productive, successful and rewarding day. Time flies when there are lots of things to do with a tight deadline, and I love it!
The next few weeks will also be chaotically busy. I'll be at the PRF quite a bit; on average 2-3 days a week for the next few weeks, plus a tonne of meetings for the OWA. Both provincial, our chapter, and for the business development committee I lead. So no reason to sit still for too long!
In the meantime, we're also trying to get our garden in order, continue the fight against dandelions, and also enjoy it. The rainy weather has returned, but hopefully spring will return shortly. It was too nice to let go of already!
Besides our busy lives (Nolan is slightly less busy, but also has no problems keeping himself busy with work and the house), we also take time to do other things. We went to the NAC yesterday to say 'i think i can'. A dance performance by the Toronto Theatre for Young People. Very impressive! We also watched a movie last night, Zodiac. I hear you think: big deal. Well, actually it was. We realized it was the very first time we actually watched a movie since moving into this house... We normally watch shorter shows; especially I have a really hard time staying focused (or awake...) during movies. But this was an evening well spent!
In other news, we might be going to Salt Lake City this summer!! Well, it depends on whether Nolan gets approval to attend a conference. But if he does, our summer vacation destination has been decided!

Is it Friday yet?

This week feels long. Already. I also know that this week will be long. It started Monday evening with a meeting in Renfrew. Luckily it didn’t run late, and I was home before 11pm. Tomorrow night I have to go to Belleville for a meeting. I don’t have to drive, so that will make it easier. Hopefully I can sleep part of the three-hour-drive-home. Just to be clear, I am not complaining! I’m just not doing very well when I don’t get enough sleep, and it doesn’t happen very often that I have two evening meetings in one week.

But tonight should be different. JoAnn is training for the half marathon in Ottawa this month (did I mention we did too but decided to sell our bibs due to a lack of training?), and she asked if we wanted to come out with her tonight. The plan is to run along Dows Lake (yep, lots of tulips!), and then loop through the Arboretum. Chance will that we enjoyed a tour of the Arboretum last Sunday, and the Magnolias are blooming and look magnificent! So something to look forward to! It also helps that the weather is finally starting to look more like spring. We spent all day Saturday in our backyard, fighting the war against dandelions and other weeds. We even had to cut the lawn for the first time! It’s definitely rewarding, but also frustrating if you see little yellow flowers popping up again.

In the meantime we’re starting to feel like a zoo… We have birds now nesting in our bathroom vents, there is still some evidence of mice in our house, we probably still have raccoons in our backyard, there are a lot of bunnies around, and of course our own two cats. Never a dull moment for sure. So far we haven’t seen any damage, so that is good. We will have to do some work this summer though. Once the birds are gone, we’ll put a mesh cover on the vent, we’ll try to scare the raccoons away and then prevent access underneath our deck and shed. And those mice… Well, that’s why we have cats, right?

More photos!

 If you're just like me, you like looking at other people's photos. Am I right?! I finally backed up my BlackBerry today, and also downloaded the pictures I took with it. Some of them might be worth sharing so here we go. The past nine months or so in photos:

Our finishers medal and bib number from the Montreal Marathon, September 2010

Fertile loves boxes...

And so does Murphy.

Jasper, AB. September 2010 during the CIF AGM.

It doesn't happen very often that our cats sleep close together...

Especially this close!

Murphy learning from Fertile: how can I sleep on the smallest bag...

Winter wonderland at the PRF. Needless to say I love my job!

Me, severely jet-lagged.

My brother Gijsbert, aka Max

Willem (my parents cat)

Sien (my parents other cat)

Willem trying to type some emails as well

And this happens when we're not home

Our cats love our house. So do we!

A couple of photos

Before they got covered in dust, here are a few (literally the only ones we took) from our trip to the Netherlands. Unfortunately no people-photos (well, except for the ones of Nolan), but that just means that we have a good excuse to go back! And yes, I like trees, ok!

Is that the sun I see??

It sure is! After days of rain and grey skies, we finally woke up to some sunshine this morning. It's amazing what that does to your overall perception of life. Ok, maybe that's a bit too much, but I can't deny it's making me feel so much more positive! The fact that the bus this morning again, was really fast also helped. I'm still struggling with the bus in the afternoon, it takes me 45 min in the morning, 75 in the afternoon, but hopefully I'll get that figured out as well.
This afternoon I have another dentist appointment and will get my 4th set of trays as part of my Invisalign treatment. So far so good. I can tell a slight difference and the pain has been pretty much non-existent. On the 'down-side', they are so easy to take out and put back in, that it hasn't really affected my coffee intake, which I was secretly hoping for. However, it has helped me snack less, since I really have to brush my teeth every time I eat something, so at least that has been good!

We went for a run last night. Big deal you might think. Well, actually it was. I think it was our first run in about three weeks. Yikes! But we did it, and I think the first one is always the hardest. Now we have to keep it up, and keep getting out there. However, with the nicer weather in the forecast, it might become a bit easier. We both pledged to lose 10 lbs by July 1st, so we need to start doing something! Oops, I guess I just made ourselves accountable! There's quite a bit of travel in the near future for me, mainly to the PRF, so hopefully that won't derail my efforts too much...

Flying over Amerongen

This past Saturday we returned, once again, from the Netherlands. This time it was a trip that we had planned a long time ago. But the timing was well suited, since we had a chance to see everybody again, were able to witness the slow but steady improvement of my dad, and to meet my sister’s new boyfriend for the first time (approved!). The trip really felt like a vacation. Sure, we spent quite a bit of time around Amerongen, with my parents, but we also had lots of time and opportunities to do our own thing. We spent a day in Arnhem, had lunch with Anja and Susan, and absolutely enjoyed the wonderful weather: mid-twenties for the most part, lots of sun, and really no rain to speak of. So all in all a really good trip.

Saturday we flew back via Frankfurt, Germany. A bit of a detour, but Air Canada flies directly from Frankfurt to Ottawa, and it’s so nice to Ottawa, rather than Montreal. On our flight from Frankfurt we actually flew just a little south of Amerongen, but since had seats facing north, we could see Amerongen, the castle, the ‘Lonely Oak’, surrounding towns and the forest we had walked in many times during that week. Really cool to see! And what are the chances you fly over the area you just spent the last week! Ok, maybe not that impressive for some people, but I thought it was rather cool.

When we came home, the cats were completely relaxed and happy. I think we found the perfect cat sitter! Our neighbours kept an eye on the house, and their middle son looked after the cats, actually befriended them (which is not always easy to do with Murphy), and spent time with them while playing the Wii. When we asked if he would do it again, he said yes without any hesitation. It’s just really nice to see it worked out so well. Definitely one less thing to worry about.

When we returned we had to shift back to ‘spring that is about to come’; quite a change from the full blown summer feeling we had experienced the week before. However, slowly but surely spring is finding its way to our area as well. That is to say, the grass is getting greener, buds are about to burst and daffodils are popping up. If only the temperature would rise a bit, and perhaps the rain could hold of for a day or two? Is that really too much to ask for??

Our running mojo is gone, but we decided that now we’re back in Canada, we’ll get back at it. Although we won’t run the Ottawa half marathon, we will start training again, and aim for lots of trail running this summer. So May will be our ‘getting back to running and eating healthy’ month. Our vacation definitely made us fall off the wagon a bit, so many delicious foods, cheeses, and wine! Which we made sure we enjoyed…

This week, we also moved back to our totally refurbished office on Booth Street. I’m one of the lucky ones that got a cubicle with a window. That is the good news. The bad news is that is somewhat chilly here, so I might have to bring a sweater in next time…