Mic's Blog

We woke up this morning (with an extra hour of sleep, thank you daylight savings) and noticed (not right away, mind you) that there was a whole bunch of snow outside. The first thing to note would have to be that I was probably downstairs 2-3 minutes before I looked out of one of our many windows to actually notice this point. Kind of sad really that it took me that long to bother a glance out of a window, we have quite a few of them. The second would be that while the snow is very pretty, I never did get around to cleaning up the yard, so if this snow doesn't go away the clean-up come spring is going to be a little gross.

It's looking like we're going to have a white Halloween, which is okay, but means that a lot of little kids are going to be out in their snowsuits. Hopefully they all have costumes a few sizes too big. When I was a kid, I think my parents usually planned my costumes around what I could wear a snowsuit under. A good idea in Calgary.

I don't know what we're going to do today, but I'm hoping it doesn't involve having to watch football all day. It's just not my idea of a good time... Can't imagine why :)

Posted by Micaela at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

Well, it's almost Halloween, which means two things. The first is that it's almost time for the Christmas stuff to come out (yay tree and lights!). The second is that it's time to carve pumpkins. Here are the pictures of mine, Mike's and Mairi's pumpkins.







































I'm not too sure yet that we'll actually be doing anything for Halloween. Chances are no, but that's okay. We can hang around home, watch a movie, and give out candy to the three kids who actually make their way here.

Posted by Micaela at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

So apparently hiking when you haven't done anything remotely resembling hiking in a couple months makes you hurt. I woke up this morning and mike calves and neck hurt worse than they have in a good long time. I was hobbling around work all day, probably shouldn't have worn heels, but I didn't think of that at 7 this morning. At least pilates made it feel a lot better. My neck turns properly again, and my legs don't ache. At least the next hike probably won't hurt nearly as much.

On the plus side, the mountain was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a nicer day. Nice blue skies are always great in the mountains. Next weekend plans look like pumpkin carving and then a Tragically Hip concert on Monday. Should be lots of fun.

Posted by Micaela at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

Looking up at the summit of Moose mountain from a false summit part of the way up. The snow was deeper than it looks!



















On the summit of the mountain at a fire watch station.



















Another shot from the top at another angle.




















A mountain range to the west of us. They look so much more impressive with snow on them.




















Mike and I at the top.




















Mike and Jenn looking for the cache at the top of the mountain.




















Patches on the mountain.




















Me in front of the mountain ranges.





















Me on the mountain again.

Posted by Micaela at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Our convoy for the Fort McMurray field trip. They didn't have the cars we had actually reserved so we got these gutless wonders...



















An eagle in a nearby tree.



















Oil sand. Picked up right off the river bank.



















A pretty shot of the river and trees.



















An airplane next to the boat we were getting on. I thought it was pretty cool.



















Another pretty shot.

Posted by Micaela at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

I think we may have made a discovery today on the best breakfast food ever: cinnamon bun french toast. So bad for you, yet so, so good. I highly recomment it at Nellie's if you're feeling the desire to go out for breakfast one day soon.

Posted by Micaela at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

And finally the week is over! This had to be one of the crazier weather days I've seen in a while. Okay weather, windy this morning, the I look out the window at like 4 and the sky is black as can be. A quick trip downstairs to get a chocolate bar and suddenly it's pouring rain and hailing. Then back upstairs and the sky is blue again. So very strange. It looks like we're going to get more rain tonight, unfortunately, though I'll probably live.

The community art show is on this weekend, always good for a bit of time to walk through. It's fun to see what new artists come out for each of the new shows. Otherwise, it'll be a quiet weekend, I'm looking forward to it :)

Posted by Micaela at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well I finally broke down and did it. For those of you that may not have heard, I had quite the surprising meeting with an orthodontist a few months ago. Something to the tune of 1 minor jaw surgery, 1 major jaw surgery, and at least 2 years of braces and various appliances. Needless to say, about the time the orthodontist was describing the first surgery I started crying. It was pretty impressive. Right there, in the office while he was talking, couldn't even wait until I got out and to my car... So anyways, here we are 3 months later and I've been avoiding calling him back since I really don't want to do this whole braces thing again, and procrastination is a wonderful way to avoid doing things you don't want to (hello fall yard work!). Today I finally broke down and decided that I would get a second opinion, even phoned and made one. So I have officially found a terrible way to use up my remaining vacation days, visits to the orthodontist. Should be fun, next Wednesday is going to come very quickly I suspect. Wish me luck!

Posted by Micaela at 5:43 PM | Permalink | Comments

I think we may be needing to go on a sock buying excursion soon. I just went through Mike's drawers to throw out the old holey ones when he wasn't looking, and left him with not very many pairs left. It's pretty impressive how bad socks actually have to get before you'll toss them. I know that in mine, there are several pairs with holes in the toes, heels, ankles, some even have all of these bad things in one sock, and I keep them thinking that at least it's match is okay, and I don't want to have uneven numbers of socks, what a problem that would be ;) or maybe I'm just crazy... That could definitely be possible.

Posted by Micaela at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments

The project management training is officially done!!! 6 modules, 2.5 days each (including a Saturday morning each), and a bit more stuff in my head about how project work, and the sheer volume of paperwork that goes in to one - all finished :D

Posted by Micaela at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

Whew, the project management course is almost done. This is module 6, or the last module of them all! It's pretty exciting to be almost done. It's not that the course is bad, just that 2.5 days of listening to someone talk about stuff that seems like it ought to take about a day in total. A lot of stretching takes place. So tomorow morning I go in, write a test, and then get to come home! Then the car gets to get an oil change. It's officially 2 years old now. Pretty exciting day.

I like it when the car goes in to the dealership. It always comes out nice and clean. That's pretty much it for this week. Thanksgiving was good. Lots of turkey with both sets of parents, and my dad's now off travelling around Europe. Lucky guy! I've decided the best part of Thanksgiving dinner is definitely the cranberry sauce. I know many may disagree, but it's just so awesome :).

Anyways, that's all for now.

PS. I just noticed that today was Friday the 13th. Scary stuff ;)

Posted by Micaela at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments

I was flipping through some pictures my dad had on memory cards that needed to be wiped, and thought this was a nice one of Mike and me from a wedding 2 summer's ago.

Posted by Micaela at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments

Getting mail is awesome. That is all.

Posted by Micaela at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments

It's almost Thanksgiving, mmm turkey and cranberry sauce. I'm definitely looking forward to a dinner at my mom's this weekend, and maybe we'll try to cook something up at home one of the other nights, depending on how stuffed we are.

In other news, I've got another trip up to Fort McMurray tomorrow. I'm presenting a talk on SAGD at an internal conference. Should be exciting... I'm not the biggest fan of public speaking, but this is what I've done for the last couple years and I know it, I just don't like having to talk in front of crowds.

Last of all, our furnace decided to stop working a couple nights ago. Well, it probably started not working long before that, but we only noticed when it got freezing in the house. The bed was like an icebox! It turns out that not only was the filter disgusting (which I knew, but had been too lazy to fix until today - trips to Home Depot are always fun), but something had overheated and caused a wire to burn and short out, bringing the entire furnace down. I took the afternoon off today, and a furnace repair guy came, and we now have heat! Now we can look forward to at least some parts of the house being above 60oF.

Posted by Micaela at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments

Mike and I got to go out for lunch with my dad and Janice today. It was Janice's birthday last week, and we finally managed to get together for that. Went to a place called Wildwood in Mount Royal, and the food was amazing. I had a bison burger and then we shared a chocolate desert, something made with Callebaut dark chocolate and raspberry sauce, so it's really hard to go wrong. Definitely a restaurant we'll have to go back to...

Now it's time for a bit of cleaning I think. Not the most exciting thing ever, but it needs to be done, and Mike's out at a hockey draft, so it seems like a good thing to fill some time.

Posted by Micaela at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments