Why am I not asleep?

I'm exhausted. It's been a long week. I haven't slept well this week. I skipped tkd tonight to bake a king cake. I REALLY wanted one, and so did Jamie. I'm sitting here, tired, and I'm not asleep. What's wrong with this picture?

Patchwork heritage

For those who didn't see President Obama's inauguration speech live today, you can click here and watch it. The BBC posted video and full text. It may seem ironic to some that I'm linking to the BBC when its a video of the US Presidential Inauguration, and I live in Canada.

While I was watching it online tonight (because all of the internet traffic all around the world today wrecked havoc on my already temperamental internet connection at work), I thought a lot of things.

One of the most important things I thought was how much our family was made from the patchwork heritage that President Obama spoke about. After having a child and living outside of the US, I sometimes think about passing on my culture and my heritage to Navarre, and I wonder if I will be able to pass to her the knowledge and understanding of where she comes from and where I come from. I'm almost sad to say that it took this speech for me to realize that our family is somewhat a mirror of American culture - different cultures coming together out of love and hope and starting a new family.

This gives me confidence in myself - confidence to teach Navarre about her Southern Cajun American culture and confidence in my country that we can remember the values that allowed us to become our own country.

Happy Inauguration Day.

Catch up

This is what we came home to....

Lions, Tigers, and 2009 - Oh My

Now that the New Year is here, I'm trying to think of ways to improve my well-being - my physical, emotional, mental, financial well-being. Every year I say I'm going to actually do things I want to do, instead of saying oh I wish this was a certain way or that was a certain way. This year, I'm going to just make it that way. So, here's to 2009 and making it the way I want it.

And right now, I want to enjoy a Sleeman Original Draught and to see pictures of my incredibly bright and adorable and sneaky 17-month old.

4 boards and 5 Ponchatoulas

I'm about to post all out of order, but given the way December went for us, it seems fitting to do so.

Early in December, Jamie, my sister-in-law Shaina, her fiance Ben and I went to White Point "Resort" for a weekend sans baby. While White Point is nice, I use term resort loosely. Jamie and I sat through the time share presentation for 1 1/2 hours and got a weekend away with Shaina and Ben for dirt cheap. I would love to post a picture of Shaina in her winter boots and swimsuit in the women's bathroom, however, she might kill me if I do that.

Before the Eastern European couple was all over each other and ruined the atmosphere for the rest of us, Ben and I had a duel of who could "stand" on more kick boards for longer. During this feat of balance and super stealth surfing skill, I thought it reasonable to ask if Canadian kids growing up learned to count by saying, "1 Mississauga, 2 Mississauga, 3 Mississauga..." instead of "1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi." While I never really got an answer to my question, I decided we should count how long we could stand on each board by counting Ponchatoulas. It seemed, and still seems, perfectly reasonable to me. I may defer to Claire on this one...what do you think, Claire?

Speaking of Claire, I'm leaping forward to New Year's Eve when we found out our credit card number had been hijacked and the culprit(s) ran up thousands of dollars worth of goods in Toronto and Mississauga. I tried to tell them that if it was a bald guy buying electronics or golf gear or a short lady with a cute purse and shoes trying to buy more cute purses and shoes and liquor, then I could help the authorities find them. I'm not kidding when I say after thousands of dollars in purchases at Best Buy and other stores, it was a shoe store that did them in......I'm pretty sure the culprits ran off to Louisiana and racked up tons of charges down there too.....

As always, most but not all readers check the blog to see pictures of bbg. So, here you go. Enjoy. More to come throughout the week.

Eggnog & serum sickness

I think I can sum up our trip to Louisiana with a few words. The trip was not at all what I had envisioned for Christmas 2008. Two trips to the ER and two nights in the hospital to treat serum sickness and several glasses of eggnog later and we're back in Halifax.

I've got some good pics from the trip and the after-effects of the blizzard we came home to. While 82 and humid wasn't ideal for Christmas, it sure beat hip deep snow at the end of our driveway.

I'm going to enjoy the last night with Jamie before getting back to work and the routine of our lives and will post pics later. Happy New Year to everyone, and I hope 2009 brings you all the happiness you wish for.