It was nice to sleep in and recover from the Royal Wedding...but I was up at 7.30 and got out to do the grocery shopping before everyone was up.  It's always good to get it done early, seems to make Saturdays go a lot quicker.

I also took Dad and Boyce out to Market Mall to get a couple of bits and bobs,  I saw these cute pens in Staples - definitely worth a photo :)

Arlan came home this afternoon and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching the wedding again.  I really must get some other stuff done, I think I've spent more time on this wedding that I did on my own.

Royal Wedding

What a delightful wedding that was...I set the alarm for 2.30am and actually got up at 2 am - I watched the whole thing - right through until the balcony kisses at 6.30am - then I went to work. I enjoyed every minute of it.  This is a photo of the TV in the bedroom - it's not really a fair representation of how The Duchess of Canterbury looked, but it's the view I had for the whole thing.

 I honestly thought I wouldn't last the day, but I did.  But now it's 8.40pm and I am wiped out.  I keep falling asleep at the computer.

I had no idea until I opened the garage that we'd had another inch of snow - but it warmed up nicely and melted most of the new snow (the old stuff is still hanging around), and look what's bursting through - even in this brutal winter...

Dafodils = SPRING!!! - and about time too :)

When I grow up I won't be this tacky

This will be the most watched wedding, likely in history - and I always was one for following the crowd.   Like the first time I bought a house - Lincoln reminded me of this the other day; I was in Bromsgrove and needed to find a house.  I happened to be walking down the high street and I saw a queue outside a store - it turned out to be an estate agents, and they were selling houses on a new development.  I joined the queue - I had no idea what they were like until I got to the front of the queue - and as everyone else liked them I decided they must be good, so I put a deposit on a house that just had an artists impression.  I loved that little house :)

Back to the main event of the decade....being English, I feel obliged to commemorate the Royal Wedding in a tacky kind of style....I'll be up all night watching it, and then I'll be taking this lovely little cake to the office in the morning - I kinda like having an office to go to :)

AGM

I apologize in advance for the boring blog today,  no time to be creative this evening!!

It was very nice of Nexen to have their AGM just after I started with them - very helpful.  This is the CEO during question time...

Apart from that it was a normal day - meetings all day long, then came home and made dinner (joint effort with Arlan), then a relatively relaxing evening.  Life is good :)

Not for the faint of heart

It's interesting what you find when the snow melts.  In our case it was the inedible parts of a bunny rabbit (I call it a "bunny rabbit" - but it was really a jack rabbit, it's just that a bunny rabbit has more impact!!)

Looks as though we have a coyote or two in the neighbourhood....how did they do this without leaving bloodstains?

AT LAST...

I have waited a long time to get a new camera - OK, well, nearly a whole week, that's a long time in Jeni years.  I really don't get how the thing works - but I decided to take the same photo (on auto) with the old camera and the new camera....the difference is obvious:

Old Camera...

New camera:

I am so looking forward to finding my way around this.  I will still take my Panasonic around with me on a daily basis (cos it fits in my handbag) - but I will use the Canon for proper photo's (whatever that means!)

Happy Easter

Lovely day - in so many ways.  The weather got up to 14C at least; it was sunny all day and I didn't even need a coat - AT LAST!

The ward choir sang a couple of pieces in Sacrament meeting today - and we sounded quite delightful - here are a couple of photo's from the practice before Church...

some of the alto's and basses

Ty, Rachel and Elise

Soprano's

I love to see the temple...

A nice trip to Cardston with Dad and Boyce,  coincidentally Trina was there escorting Kierra; I was so glad I could be there!

Dancing and burnt offerings

The high point of today (apart from the new shoes that I bought) was taking Dad and Boyce to see Riverdance - it was actually quite spectacular.  However, about half way through the first half I remembered that I hadn't turned the oven off when I was cooking chicken about an hour earlier.  I called Helen and fortunately she was able to get into the house and remove the chicken bullets before they caught the house on fire - thank you Helen!!  Consequently, I enjoyed the second half way more than the first.  Boyce was delightful, I saw him "conducting" the music and thoroughly enjoying himself...I wish I had caught on camera the "jig" he did on the way back to the car.  When we were driving home he said "I should have gone up to dance with them; I know them all, they would have been fine with that"  He knows them because he's watched the DVD - bless him!!

Let the weekend begin

Another perfect day.  The last day at work before a long weekend; and then after work I picked up Shawna and we visited Kristen, followed by Pia (and her cat) - sometimes Visiting Teaching is just plain fun!  Unfortunately I didn't make it to "Mulan" - a bunch of my Primary class were performing, I was very disappointed not to make it.  Maybe next time.

The nights are drawing out

I have really enjoyed meeting people at my new job, everyone is genuinely interested in helping; I have a lot to learn but I have learned more about the Oil and Gas Industry in the past 3 days than in my previous 50+ years....and I have learned that I still have lots to learn....but it's a fascinating industry.  HR is HR whatever the industry; but it sure seems like there are some talented people in this team - I think I'm going to enjoy it.

For the first time since I've been at Nexen, I can see it getting crazy busy - if I hadn't been so busy at home tonight I would have brought work home - but I didn't, so we'll see how tomorrow goes, and I admit to being pretty excited about being a little overworked :)

Had a busy night at home - I voted on the way home, because I won't be here on election day, then dropped Arlan off and then raced straight out visiting teaching (had a delightful visit with Sandy), I was supposed to go see the kids in their school play, but was too late, so I had to skip that and get straight home for home teachers...and then to bed.   It was about 8.20 when I was driving home and the sun was still up - if it wasn't for the snow, it would really feel like Spring :)

I kinda like how this photo turned out given that I took it with one hand while driving along Country Hills Blvd - there's probably some kind of law against that.

It's all about timing

I wasn't quite so early at work today; so I was driving at sunrise, which happened to coincide with the moon setting in the West - the view was incredible - a big full moon setting over the mountains with a yellowy/pinky hue in the sky.  Arlan drove me to work and we drove to different locations trying to get "the" shot....by the time we got it the sun was too high and the moon was too low - who knows how long it will be before that happens again.

Thankfully Arlan saved the day by buying a beautiful Lily - fortunately it's been a while since I've included a flower photo :)   These are actually quite beautiful and they smell gorgeous!!

A new day

I was up painfully early today, I have become accustomed to sleeping in, and I admit I have quite enjoyed that!  However, I started a new job today with a meeting at 6am - downtown...hopefully it won't be like that too often!

On the way to the office, the full (ish) moon looked stunning;  I drove past the temple site to take a photo of it behind the temple; BUT, my camera is just not up to that kind of  photo - the new camera is getting a lot closer to the top of the list.

A new definition of Spring

I love the thing that has been going on peoples status updates about Spring...very apt for Calgary this year...

INSTALLING SPRING...
████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
33% DONE.
Error. Installation Failed. Please Try Again Later

NSTALLING SPRING...
███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 44% DONE.
Install delayed....please wait.
Installation failed. Please try again. 404 error: Season not found. Season "Spring" cannot be located. The season you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please try again.

I also think that this photo show's a new definition of Spring; you know it's Spring when you can open the door to look at the snow without a coat on.

I actually used the snow blower for the first time today; Arlan has been clearing the snow since we got it - I think I blew half the snow onto the neighbours drive, I wonder if they'll notice.  I really don't want more practice, but maybe I should go clear their driveway as well, and then I'll need to do ours again when I blow the snow back on ours - I think I'll just pray for sun.

Church was a little different today; we just had one meeting in the afternoon, it was lovely to sleep in this morning, especially given that I have an early start tomorrow...I need to be downtown for my new job at 6am...I guess it's time to go to bed!!

Memories

I have procrastinated cleaning up boxes in the basement for ages; and this is why...how can anyone go through old stuff quickly?  I stumbled across letters; photo's; old school books etc etc, and I just had to stop and look at them all...what a delightful afternoon of memories.  I have a whole tub of photo's that need to be scanned and catalogued, at least I have most of them in one place - but I have no idea what to do next...maybe just look at them and remember fondly the days when I had a memory, was slim and had no gray hair or wrinkles,  ahhh those were the days:)

Girls night out!

I almost forgot to post this one...thank goodness I was IM'ing with Sue Batty and she reminded me, after a few days everything just merges into one experience and I would have forgotten what I did on Friday!

Well, the good news is that I have a new job - woohoo!!  The bad news is that today is my last day of leisure - this past few weeks of not working has actually been quite delightful, I am totally excited about retiring now; if only I could keep earning the same money when I retire!

I can't think of a better way to spend my last free evening than going to the movies with the girls...Lisette is in town so Marcia and I went with her to the movies - we saw "Source Code"  I really enjoyed it, Jake Gyllenhall is usually a reasonably good bet for a half decent movie.  It wasn't very plausible, but if I wanted plausible I'd have stayed home and cooked dinner.

This is us at the cinema just before the movie started....

The beginning of a grumpy month

So, just for comparison with yesterday's photo - here is how the deck fence looked when we got up this morning...there was a lot of snow over night!

I started another diet today - really keen to lose another 20lbs; so I'll probably be grumpy for the next month or so - I signed up with Bernstein; it's very similar to the HCG diet, but WAY more expensive, but I'm doing it so that I get the external support for the next 20lbs; although, I must admit I'm not impressed with the staff there - we'll see how it goes!

Finally, this evening my Father-in-law and Brother-in-law went home teaching; I love how they take ages to get dressed up against the cold for a 20 meter walk across the street - bless their cotton socks!

It's April 13 and still snowing

Seriously, how many times have I had to say "seriously" about this weather?  We've had a few nice days, and a lot of the snow melted until WHAM...another snowstorm.

But on the bright side, the good thing about looking for work is the need for new clothes!  So I went on a mini shopping spree today and bought a couple of new outfits - maybe tomorrow I'll get the shoes; I'm kind of enjoying this!!  Not great photo's, but trust me, these jackets are very cute :)

I need to get working soon so that I can stop the spending!

Menopause brain is great..

I know I over-use the mountain scene photo's in this blog, but when I drive over the hill and see this view, it seems like it has NEVER looked as good, I think I have hundreds of similar photo's - and either the mountains look better every time, or I just have a bad memory....another advantage of the menopause brain is that this view takes my breath away every time I see it :)

OH MY GOODNESS!!

Significant progress on the temple today...I am so glad I was here to see the next level go on!  It looks pretty majestic for a bunch of steel!

...but the most exciting view is from my room....I wondered if I'd be able to see the temple from our house, and I guess this answers my question....

That has made my day!!

Ummm....running out of photo's already!

Kathryn took the kids home this afternoon; I drove around town with a friend, looking a neighbourhoods she might like to move to - I don't think I'm a good salesperson, but at least I had a little help from some more seasonal mild weather.

Every time the kids come over, there is usually something left behind - these are today's offerings!

I slept most of the day away

I got home from Hawaii just after lunch;  those red-eye flights just knock me out.  Kathryn and the kids were at home, it was so lovely to see them (even though the kids were poorly); but I ended up sleeping most of the afternoon.  I would normally think this would be a waste of a day, but I got an extra day on the beach, so I'm not complaining.

It was nice to see the mountains as we came in to land - I even didn't mind seeing snow again!

So many photo's, so little space

I know when I get back home next week I will be struggling to think of what I can take photo's of for my blog, and yet today I have so much to choose from.

As a side note, I collect vases from all over the world and we keep them on our kitchen cupboards - it's a kind of fun way to remember some of the neat places we've been.  Yesterday, I bought a vase from the Polynesian Cultural Centre - it wasn't cheap (compared to the other vases); but it met the criteria of being made by a local artist; and it certainly typified Hawaii.

Back to today;  I had to check out from the hotel by noon, but as my flight doesn't leave until 10.30pm, I decided to leave my luggage with the front desk - I decided not to pack the vase in my case, I wanted to keep it separate so that it didn't get broken....you can probably see where this is going...long story short, I  slipped when I was leaving my room, the vase went flying....in slow motion and in spite of my diving headlong to catch it, I failed - and this was the end result...

It looks fine, but you will notice the bottom is completely broken off; so I left it for housekeeping - maybe someone will have the patience to fix it :)

Then I went on a helicopter ride around the island - incredible - I took loads of very average photo's that really didn't do the view justice...here is one of Waikiki...

Then, to kill time I had another HUGE dessert from Dukes...you can see the bottled water behind, I drink that because I'm on a diet :)  It was delicious.

.....and then I sat on the beach for a few hours to darken up the tan; and ate a nice healthy yoghurt before going to the spa - then finally caught the red-eye flight back to Canada

What a delightful day!

It's dangerous when I have nothing to do

...stuck in Hawaii, surrounded by designer stores, and not a whole heck of a lot to do.  It could have been a lot worse.  I scoured the stores for Lei's for my Primary class - one of the girls specifically asked for them - and I'm a push over - so they got them...and some chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  It wasn't my fault that I walked past 3 Coach stores in my efforts to find the Lei's!   I managed to keep the shopping to a minimum, just one Coach purse, and a t-shirt from Dukes - it could have been so much worse!!

I realize that I had meant to take a photo of the incredible dessert from Dukes; they only have one on the menu, and I felt obligated to have it.  I think the only way to remedy this problem is to have it again tomorrow - such sacrifice :)  Nonetheless, I did take a photo of the view from my table at Dukes - this is one of my favourite places!

Last time I was in Hawaii, I realized that surfing is 95% boredom and 5% exhilaration - people have to sit bobbing in the surf and wait for a decent wave; and honestly, they sit there for AGES; I decided to watch them and wait with them for a decent wave to come along, and then I realized that the only thing more boring than being a surfer waiting for a wave is being a photographer waiting for the surfers waiting for a wave...so I took this and went back to shopping...

Those Mormons sure know how to put on a good show

What an incredible day.  It was raining this morning, so I decided it would be a good time to go to the Polynesian Cultural Centre (PCC); I booked onto a tour bus that picked me up close to the hotel and took us to the  PCC - the tour guide explained that the Centre is managed by BYU - Hawaii and all proceeds go to helping fund students at the University.

The Centre itself was fascinating; so well put together; I really left with a deeper appreciation of the multiple and diverse cultures of the Polynesian Islands;  This is a photo of me with the tour guide, Thanathon (from Thailand), just after I had my tattoo done - (apparently it will wash off :) - excuse the hair, I had been caught in more than one rain storm

The show in the evening was breathtaking. It was called "Ha - The Breath of Life" I honestly don't think you could see anything better than this in the West End or on Broadway.  Any show that can make you cry and cheer at the same time deserves a few awards - and it was hard to believe that it was completely done by University students.  I know there is nothing I can say that will do it justice - you just have to come to Hawaii and make a point of seeing it.  This is a photo of one of the cast members after the show - it's a poor photo; but it's all I have...

I snuck out during the tour to go to the Temple - it was just re-dedicated after extensive renovations in November - it was beautiful.  It's always nice to get grounded by spending a couple of hours in the temple.

Days don't get much better than this.

Back on the road again

I was barely home long enough to do a little laundry and pack my bags again for the quick trip to Hawaii.  It was nice to leave the snow of Calgary....fly over the lush green of Vancouver Island (actually, I'm not sure that is what this is a photo of, but it's in that general vicinity!)

...and then landed in Hawaii late at night.  I am SO looking forward to the next few days - no work to even think about; not a care in the world :)  This may not happen again until I retire!!

I'll miss this place!

This is the view from my bedroom window at Jenny and Darrell's house - it really is quite breathtaking.  I have had the most delightful weekend:

• Shopping with Jenny and the girls
• John Chandlers soccer match
• Two sessions of General Conference in the Conference Center
• Hanging out with Jenny and Daz
• Hanging out with Lincoln and Daz - catching up on old times

Really had a lovely time - I need to do this more often!!

General Conference

Details to follow...but this was my favourite photo of the day...

General conference

This is just a placeholder - I took a few lovely photo's - but I'll add them when I have more time!!

Unemployed

Today was my last day at Flextronics, it was really strange to finally finish my list of things to do...ok, so I didn't quite finish, I have one other project, so I'll stay on line till Monday - but then I'll really finish :)

I am in Utah and so I worked all morning and part of the afternoon from the hotel, then I wandered around Temple Square before heading down to Jenny and Darrells house. 

The Deseret Bookstore had an amazing display of fresh flowers...I had so many photo ops today, I wish I could make them spread over the next few weeks!

Oh my goodness it is nice to see them!  And how the kids have grown - they are just adorable!  Daz went to a mission reunion with the boys this evening and Jenny and I went shopping, I can't think of a better way to train a couple of girls!!

It was a beautiful day...here is a shot of the temple - you can see how lovely the weather is!