Goodbye Calgary.....for a few months

I said goodbye to Calgary for the next few months.....actually, I'll be back for a day in a couple of weeks...and then again a week later, and then twice in December, so maybe it's not so final.  It sure felt weird packing everything up though!

Here is Calgary in the rear view mirror and downtown from the sky...

I'll miss those girls

Last day in Royal Oak Ward before I go to Dallas tomorrow....I am very sad to leave my primary class, I must confess that I shed a few too many tears today - these girls are so delightful, I'll miss them :(

A couple of my favourite photo's from today...

Primary Practice

We had a practice of the Primary Presentation at Church today - my girls did very well!

Prior to the practice I had a pedi and mani and hung out at the store for THREE HOURS! and went shopping...quite a lovely day really!

Mwahahahah

I NEVER dress up for costume parties...I would typically avoid going to such events rather than have to dress up,  I don't know why I suddenly changed my MO, but I decided to dress up as Cruella DeVil,  I actually had quite a bit of fun...some of the costumes were amazing; and it was an awesome and fun party!

It's a sad day

Today was the first day that I arrived at work in the dark and left in the dark - and I am sure hoping that won't happen in Dallas!

This is a photo of the office as I left tonight....

The view from here

I found myself sitting in the front room working while everyone else potted around the house....and it reminded me of one of the things that I won't miss while i'm in Dallas....and it's not the laundry (apparently that will follow me!) - but I really won't miss the plants....the lemon tree is a cool talking point (scratch the leaves and they smell lemony!) - but it's a pretty ugly inside plant!

Practically a Geologist

I went on a course yesterday and today - it was an Introduction to the Petroleum Industry - and I must admit - it was brilliant.  I learned loads, and I'm sure I'll understand work a LOT better than I have for the last few months - I wish I had gone sooner.

Who knew that SAIT had a real live oil well that goes under the college and over towards Northill?  Amazing!  Here is some of the real live oil equipment at the college.  Very cool, and I'm pretty sure it's WAY cleaner than the oil rigs in the field!

Is it me....or is time just going by really quickly

It doesn't seem that long since last months "empty nesters" - I think this year is just flying by.  We were at the Cody's tonight (across the street) - it was another lovely evening...with lots of people there - here are just a few..

Helen, Elizabeth and Bonnie

Big day at work today, I was on a course, but in my absence they announced that I would be taking over the HR org in Texas, and I'll be moving to Dallas on Monday for the next 6 months or so.  Golly, I better get packing!!

THE WINDOWS ARE GOING IN!!

Here are the October photo's of the Calgary Temple progress.  The stonework is moving along nicely...it actually looks quite beautiful close up.  They have started putting the windows in, and apparently they should finish them in a couple of weeks.  I just love watching the progress!

Why are Saturdays always so perfect?

...well almost!  We went to the temple today, and then over to Lethbridge to meet Kathryn, Clint, Ezra and Bethany for dinner...we were pretty hungry by the time we got there - so, as usual, I ate too much - a problem compounded by the Hawaiin Blizzard on the way home!   But it was so worth it for the hour or so with the kids!!

Girls night out

Lisette is in town!  So what do we do when Lisette comes into town?  MOVIES!!!  We went to see "Footloose" at Silver City (it's not called that anymore, but I don't remember it's new name)...and then Lo and Behold if Jody and Shelby didn't come wandering in....and then Kathy and Colin...small world.

Apparently Footloose wasn't as good as the original, but I'll have to see the original to make a judgement on that - I don't really care, it was a fun night out!

When for my monthly walk with Helen today - and we walked for AGES...about 90 mins; so I reckon we probably walked about 8km....I wonder if that made up for the movie treats!!

Also, I posted my curly hair photo on facebook a couple of days ago, and I have had TONS of compliments....just in time to have it all cut off, had my hair done this afternoon!

This should keep me going

It's strange, but I can eat the same thing every single day and not get bored of it....my lunch of choice at the moment is chilli - I've probably eaten it practically every day at work since I've been there!  Made another batch tonight!

It won't be long

...until I don't see the house in daylight when I'm at work.  I'm driving home at sunset and this is how it looks when I walk into the house...it's actually quite pretty, but the sun is very low!  Then all my photo's will have to be either office or night time photo's!

Ward drug dealer

I wonder if it's OK to be a Mormon drug dealer :)  I put together another set of HCG for the sister of a friend of a friend....I don't know why I always feel guilty when I go to the pharmacy and get my drug stuff, but I do! 

BOO!

It's only October 17 and the Halloween stuff has already started.  I think I might actually dress up and go to Jody's Halloween party this year - so unlike me!!

These cookies were served at a meeting I had today...I resisted, but I brought some home for the boys!!

Another beautiful sunset

I almost missed this - I just happened to walk past the window and the post sunset was stunning.  Again, the photo doesn't do it justice...

Self portrait

Another nice Saturday...the boys had left for Lethbridge by the time I got up; so I popped over to the mall to buy a few things....and I got distracted by the Estee Lauder people who convinced me to have make up done (for free, of course) - they also had someone poof my hair up.  Following all of this I decided to get a pedicure. It was all a bit of a waste because all I did was go home and work - what a waste of cute make up.  So I took a self portrait for the blog!  This is a different look for me, not sure if I'll do it again!

How many times will I start this diet?

Starting the diet is no fun, but the day before is a LOT of fun....today was pizza day at work, so I partook, and then I discovered the Crave Cupcake shop in Kensington.  Wow, that place is like heaven on earth....the cupcakes are AMAZING - and very, very delicious.

Late birthday card

I was late for visiting teaching this evening because I was chasing the moon...it was lovely, almost full and a nice yellow colour, so instead of turning towards Arbour Lake, I headed north to try to get a good photo. I couldn't work out how to get it into focus, so this is the best I could get...

I picked up the post when I got home, and there was a birthday card for Boyce - which is nice, but his birthday is in March.  When we looked at the postal mark, it was mailed on March 9...and here we are, 7 months later and it finally arrives - what was it doing all that time?   Calgary post is terrible!!  Nonetheless, Boyce was chuffed to get a birthday card,  and he was excited to read it to his dad!

Don't try this at home

We had a team building event this afternoon for the HR team; it was actually quite fun - we were split into teams and given a camera and a blackberry (except we used my i-phone) - and we followed scavenger clues on line and scored points.  Very clever and quite hi-tech!  One of our clues required us to go up to a guy in a bar and use our best pick up line....this is Ruth trying her best on a complete stranger!

"If we do not doubt"

After work tonight I got to go visit teaching....I have a couple of new ladies to visit this month:  Barb is a lovely lady, it's great to get to know her a little better; she is such an inspiration to me, and I feel like I just want to go out to the gym and get fit again.....I didn't do it yet, but I WILL later this week!!   Then I went to visit Emiley; what an amazing woman, she is a nanny (I don't think it's called a nanny anymore, but you know what I mean) - she is from the Philippines, and she has a husband and a 4-year old son at home - What an amazing sacrifice, and she is such a lovely lady.  The message was "if we do not doubt" I didn't have my camera with me, so this is another i-phone photo.

I'm going to enjoy visiting these ladies!

Happy Thanksgiving

...and another day off the diet!

Just work and chores this morning, but I went over to Cochrane  to enjoy the Hudsons family thanksgiving get-together.  I love gatecrashing the Hudsons family things, they are an awesome family, and I have many good friends in 3 out of 4 of the generations!

I don't know many of the 4th generation...but they are all PDC (pretty darn cute!) - here is Jack, he belongs to Lisa:

They're dropping like flies

I'm not sure where that term comes from, but it seems that I'm losing girls very quickly from my Primary class.  Both Jayden and Hannah turned 12 this week and were collected at the end of class to go to Young Womens...both of them were very ready, all so grown up!   Here is a mix of my girls and the Beehives...

A two photo day

I couldn't decide which to include, so I'm including both.

Remember that dream house across the street that was burned (see June 6) - well they are working hard to rebuild it...and I live in hope that they will put it up for sale as soon as it's done.  I wandered around the back to have a look around...this is the view from my dream home...I am so coveting this house, and I'd get the Leavitts for neighbours!  It may not look like much at the moment, but just imagine all that mud when it has been beautifully developed

The second photo is just after sunset - the view from our living room, we only have a few weeks when the sun sets outside of our window, and it's a jolly nice view:

Busy day off

I love my Friday's off - I get to have two Saturdays.  I did a little bit of work when I got up and this afternoon Arlan helped me take the stuff we stored for Kris over to her new home.  Her house is lovely; but I forgot to take a photo!

On the way home we passed this rather bleak scene at a pond in Bearspaw..

Cozy time

Had to wear a jacket and scarf to work for the first time this season, and when I came home I just wanted to curl up and be cozy....that said,  I actually enjoy the cooler weather and I enjoyed wearing my old-fashioned slippers when I got home.  I really need/want a hot chocolate, but it's not in the diet plan!

Pure genius

I resisted the Apple brand for a long time, and honestly, I'm still a PC girl, but at the same time, i LOVE my iphone and I LOVE my MacBook Air.  This is a photo of my MacBook taken with my iphone.

In memory of Steve Jobs who died today.  RIP

Am I the only one that sees the problem here?

So Boyce recently had a blood clot in his leg, and so consequently he is on warfarin, plus a couple of other things, so the doctor suggested getting him a pill bubble pack to help remind him to take them every day - only problem is that my Father-in-law has a very similar problem.  This could be interesting :)

Driving home from work

I can't take photo's on the drive to work any more, the sun rises so late it's dark when I get into the office, but at least I can take photo's on the way home.  This is the Bow river as I cross over the Kensington bridge, I'm not really sure if that's what the bridge is called, but it's the bridge in Kensington, so it's highly likely to be called the Kensington bridge!

Four corners of the Calgary temple!

I decided to take FOUR photo's of the temple construction  this month, one from each corner!  It's progressing very well on the west side, and apparently the guidelines are so strict that it's taken quite a while to get the building prepped for the stonework.  The stone seems a lot darker than we expected, but I've looked at photo's of all the temples, and ALL of them are beautiful, and I'm sure this one will be the same (but a little more gray than expected!!)

So here is the temple...clockwise from the South West...

South West

North West

North East

South East

The beautiful bride

It was General Conference today - which was delightful - I stayed in bed to watch the first session on TV (well I was dressed, but watched it from my bedroom - so I guess that doesn't really count as sleeping in!) President Monson was LATE for the first session - weird!!

After the afternoon session of conference, I went to Natasha Raju's wedding reception - it was a delightful mix of Bollywood and high tea.  The reception was at the Palliser, I'm not sure if I've even been there before, but it was lovely.  The bride looked gorgeous, the decorations were beautiful, the food was delicious (although I was hoping for Indian food instead of English!!) - and the company was engaging.  A lovely evening!