My New Life · Jan 30, 01:11 PM

3 goals when my new life starts on February 9th:

1. Learn to cook and love it.
2. Volunteer with an organization that works in East Africa.
3. Get back into blogging.

What’s the big deal about February 9th you ask? That’s when I go down to working 3 days a week!

When we were in Kenya I had dreams of what our life would be like back on the west coast. Live close to family. Check. Get a place with a yard. Check. Go back to work for a non-profit, university or government. Check. Work 3 days a week. Check!

I’ve been on the 5 day/week shift now since mid-December (with a long break over Christmas) and I feel like I don’t have much time with the boys which is not what I want my life to be so my new schedule is much anticipated.

Our little Toby celebrated his second birthday 2 weeks ago. He’s not used to being the center of attention and was quite pleased that everyone seemed to be singing Happy Birthday to HIM. He was also pretty thrilled with the dinosaur cake that he got first dibs on. He said his first really long sentence last night: “I’m coming upstairs to play with it.” Not bad little Tobes. Not bad.

In other big news I am an auntie again! Jess’ sister Tera had a baby boy, Ari Owen Walsh, on Monday, January 26th. He was 8 days late and weighed exactly the same as Toby at birth – 9lbs 10 oz. Big boy! Mum and babe are both doing well. I can’t get over how soft they are, how tiny, those little noises…kicks my hormones into a frenzy. Calm…breathe…think about freedom…

Cooking: So one of the biggest stresses in my day is when I come home from work, open the fridge and wonder what the hell we’re going to feed the kids (Jess is equally stressed about this.) It makes cooking a huge chore and the poor kids eat the same boring stuff all the time – which is probably just fine by them! I am going to get inspired, read my Everyday Food magazine and make weekly meal plans. That way I will know what I’m going to cook, I’ll buy the food in advance and presto – cooking is suddenly fun! Wish me luck.

Volunteering: One of my dreams in life is to someday run or work for a non-profit agency that does work in East Africa. Now that I will have more time to do some volunteer work I have to find a worthy cause. We were watching CBC just before Christmas and presto! there it was: a woman from New Westminster who runs the Canadian Harambee Education Society. http://www.canadianharambee.ca/
The woman who started it was working in Kenya as a teacher about 20 years ago and was growing increasingly disturbed watching girls in her school having to drop out because their family didn’t have enough money to send all their kids to school. So she started the society to raise money to educate girls. Now they have schools in Kenya and Tanzania and one of the things they really focus on is self esteem. Margaret is really excited about this too and wants to volunteer with me. The headquarters for their African operation is in Kakamega, Kenya, where Margaret hails from.

Blogging: I’ve been terrible about blogging. I haven’t been blogging at all so it’s not even terrible, it’s non-existent. I plan to change this. I also need to get my brain back into writing because my new job with the History Department at SFU (Communications and Recruitment) means thinking and writing more creatively. That’s great! But I need practice. So look for more blogging from me my skeptical readers…please.

Twitter: I’ve just joined Twitter. It’s awesome. Join, sit back, watch, and see how it works. It’s awesome. I have a personal account and an account for SFU History.

Long Way Down: We’ve been watching the motorcycle adventures of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman and I am totally smitten. We watched “Long Way Round” first – about their trip around the world through Europe, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, Alaska, Canada and across to New York City. It was fabulous but not as fabulous as the second installation – “Long Way Down.” In this adventure they head from the northern tip of Scotland all the way down to Cape Town. A motorcycle trip through Africa. It’s fantastic. Watch it.

Last, but very not least, this is a picture of Varadero, Cuba, where I will be sitting in 16 days. Just thought you should know. ;)

I suppose that’s enough from me for now. I’ll be back, blogging to you soon…if there is anyone reading (Lindsay!)

1. Wooohoo. Nice update. Love that picture of Toby. Too bad we can’t see what his shirt says – “I do all my own stunts”. I love that shirt.

   
   — Lara    Jan 30, 02:10 PM    #

2. Yaaaaa for blogging! That was such a long one too. I don’t expect you to keep that length up :) I’m so glad to hear Ari arrived safely.
   Good luck with the cooking resolutions! I hear you on that one. Planning, prepping and feeding everyone all their meals every day must be 1/2 the household work I do around here! Now I’m beginning to understand the frequency of all those magazine articles “5 easy meals in 15 minutes”…. Please share your successes! Maybe we can swap some ideas.

   
   — Bonnie M.    Jan 30, 03:19 PM    #

3. yay! you’re back in the blogosphere again! excellent move. looking forward to reading more…

   
   — Kelsey    Feb 5, 10:18 PM    #

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