Our New Car

My work is moving to a new location next week that is not easily accessible by Calgary transit, so we've been looking into car options for me for awhile. We knew God would provide and make it clear what we should do and neither of us were too anxious about it.

To make a long story short, we ended up at Mazda where we bought our first ever brand new (not previously owned) vehicle and I picked it up last night! I feel like pinching myself every time I get in it. We are VERY fortunate!

The Calgary Flames

Stephen and I got tickets to a Calgary Flames hockey game the other week from his work. We had a lot of fun! The Flames were playing our biggest rival, the Edmonton Oilers. Edmonton is the capital city of Alberta and there is a huge rivalry over which of the 2 largest cities in Alberta is better. These games are always a big deal in both cities. The Flames won this time.

I really like going to Flames games. Most of the fans at the game wear red to match the red home jerseys of the players. They call it "a sea of red". And every time the Flames score a goal, huge flames shoot from each end of the ice and around the jumbotron. You can feel the blast of heat from the flames no matter where you sit in the 'Dome. It's fun to be a part of that excitement. There is always entertainment - trivia games, etc - between the periods. They had sumo hockey which was hilarious - regular guys dressed in sumo suits with their street shoes on trying to play hockey. They also had a shooting game with a guy trying to shoot pucks into the net from all over the ice while his girlfriend watched. Afterwards, he got down on one knee and proposed to her - it was cute, she said yes and cried. Stephen and I also enjoyed all the yummy junk food we got to eat during the game - buttery popcorn, pizza, frozen yogurt (that's healthy right?), etc.

Stephen’s 30th Birthday

Yes, Stephen finally turned 30! Most of you reading this know that he is younger than me by almost 3 years. He has been making fun of me for being in my 30’s while he is still in his 20’s for a few years now so I am very happy that he finally reached that mark and I won’t get anymore teasing about being such an old woman from him - until my next milestone birthday (I hope).

Stephen and I made a last minute decision to go away for his birthday this year. We realized that with the amount of airmiles we had, we could get plane tickets to Ottawa to visit his parents and decided that his birthday weekend would be a great time to go. We weren't too overwhelmed at work yet, so we took some extra time off to make the weekend longer. He shares his February 2nd birthday with his sister Rachelle who lives in Petawawa, not too far from Ottawa, so they would be able to celebrate together. We were very excited to go and started counting down the days immediately!

It was a great weekend! We flew out on Thursday late afternoon, Jan 31st so that we would have all day Friday, Saturday and most of the day Sunday in Ottawa.

Friday there was a big snowstorm forecast for the Ottawa area and it started snowing that morning. We had our morning coffee by the fire with Gerry, Debbie and their dogs Panda and Casper and then had a pizza breakfast (they had ordered pizza the night before in case we were hungry when we got in – we weren’t so we saved it for breakfast). We went out before the snow got too bad to pick up some groceries, birthday presents for Stephen and Rachelle (and Stephen picked up some presents for his parents) and run errands. We decided we would have one of our favourite meals for supper – a variety of yummy cheeses, pates and fresh breads. By the time we got home the storm was in full force and we settled in for a cozy day at their house with the fire on. Debbie pulled out pictures from Stephen’s childhood in Quebec for us to look at and for them to reminisce. That was fun. She also brought out a little baby outfit that had been made for Stephen when he was a baby by her blind grandmother. It was cute and fit Casper the dog perfectly. He looked very funny, but didn't seem too impressed to be treated like that.
(Roll your cursor over the pictures to see descriptions - you can click on them to see bigger versions)













The next day Stephen was up, had his coffee and was out shoveling the driveway with Gerry before I was even awake! I had a late breakfast of leftover cheese, pate and bread and we stayed in our pj’s for most of the day. Rachelle and her boyfriend Troy drove up from Petawawa that afternoon to hang out and go for supper with us. Stephen and I had brought a bottle of Dom Perignon for the celebration. Stephen had bought it for me one Christmas and we never had an occasion to drink it. So we brought it along with us to Ottawa for the birthday celebration, although, neither Stephen nor Rachelle had a taste of it. That was fine. Gerry, Debbie, Troy and I enjoyed toasting them with it! After Rachelle and Stephen had opened their presents and we had toasted them with the champagne, we headed to one of Gerry and Debbie’s favourite Italian restaurants for supper. The food was SOOO good! There was an unpleasant situation with the pop (whatever they were serving that night tasted so terrible that Troy and Stephen had to go to the corner gas station to get bottles of pop), but the food was outstanding! They had an open kitchen so we could watch the chefs preparing the food. We tasted each others meals because they were all so good. Mmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking of the lamb chops, the veal, the steak, the creamy sauces and even the amazing roasted vegetables. After the meal we went back to the house for chocolate birthday cake. Rachelle and Troy left after having cake because they had to get back to Petawawa.




















Stephen enjoyed his birthday, but my treat was Sunday. Stephen has raved about growing up in Quebec and eating real Montreal smoked meat and poutine. I was able to try real poutine in Quebec City last year but I had never had a true Montreal smoked meat sandwich. I’ve been told that the lunch meat they sell out here in the west can't even come close. Ottawa is only an hour or two from Montreal and Ottawa has a Montreal smoked meat deli that started in Montreal that serves true smoked meat sandwiches. It is located in downtown Ottawa near the Parliament buildings. We went there for lunch on Sunday and I now understand the Montreal Smoked Meat hype. It is one of the best sandwiches ever – and so simple - just a huge stack of steaming meat with a bit of mustard on rye bread. It was even better than I could have imagined!

It was a sunny day, so after lunch we decided to walk around downtown Ottawa. I had never had time to tour Ottawa before or see the Parliament buildings on our visits there. It was beautiful downtown – I loved all the old buildings. We also discovered that their Winterlude festival had started that weekend so there were ice sculptures, entertainment and lots of people walking around. The sun was warm but there was a bit of a chill in th air. We hadn’t expected to be walking around outside after lunch and hadn’t dressed for it and Debbie and I started to get cold. We stopped at a store and bought some winter hats to keep us warm for the rest of the walk. When we had seen everything we wanted to see, we went back to the house to finish packing before heading to a St Hubert restaurant for supper. The St Hubert restaurant chain originated in Quebec and it was one of Stephen’s favourite places to eat when he was growing up. We try to go there at least once every time we visit his parents out East. We stuffed ourselves at St Hubert (I had yummy poutine drenched in gravy) and then drove straight to the airport to catch our flight back home.

It was fantastic to get away from Calgary for the weekend and spend time with family!