"Rumour has it he's the one I'm leaving you for…."

It is T-minus two hours until my last exam. I am here, with you, clackety-claketying out of nervousness (this is me right now) because I've had one cup of coffee and three refills of black tea and WON'T IT JUST COME ALREADY. Then I can sweat and write too fast and give myself heart palpitations and a permanent dent on my middle finger. And then I can leave.

Overall I have enjoyed this class that I am finishing. The lectures were enjoyable. They often made hamster jokes and who doesn't like a good hamster joke? (That's not actually all I've taken away from this class. Again, referencing the previous link). But I actually learned (and retained!) something about the Human Genome and the Tropopause. But I will not want to discuss those things with you for a long time. All I have to do is get a 50%.

Game 7 of the Canuck's first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs was last night and it gave me chest pains. The 'Nucks did their duty, they're off to Round 2, and it was easily one of the most exciting hockey games I've ever seen. I'm a bandwagon fan. I cheered for the Flames in Cowtown (even though they are pitiful) and I cheer for the Canucks now. I know nothing about the game and I laugh at really inopportune times. There were numerous moments, I kid you not, last night where someone would ask me why I was laughing and everyone else looked like they were ready to sweat blood. I must be special…in that way no one likes to talk about. But hockey was super fun and we were blessed again by the great friends the Lord has given us here.

I'm going to go and walk in circles for another hour and a half. After that I will head to the exam room and press my face up against the door. It's a good luck thing

Happy Wednesday!

Linkies:

Thisuh Mah Hood!
from PixelofLight on Flickr

Check this one out too. I can see my house from here!

Not Martha is a hilariously fun blog.
And I think these would be fun (maybe a little frustrating)
but worth it to make

Mother's Day is coming up and so is my mom's birthday! 

How gorgeous is this!?
And cooooooomfy.
thesisterlady shop at Etsy

P.S ~ In Russia, they have a saying kind of like, 'break a leg' that is pronounced "Ni pookhi, Ni pera". It means something along the lines of "neither fowl nor feather" which I'm sure makes sense to somebody. The appropriate response to this is, "K Chore-too"which means "Go to Hell". And that is the appropriate response. Which I'm sure makes sense to somebody. 

P.P.S ~ Just bought the new Adele album. That's where the title of this post came from. Soooo cool. And I got it cheaper!

P.P.P.S ~ I ran 5k this morning! Doesn't sound like a lot but it was AWESOME.

"And he shall reign forever and ever…"

Eater Sunnay!

Today was beautiful. What is HILARIOUS (I swear, no really *gritted teeth* hi-lar-i-ous) is that all of Holy Week, no lie, all the way until yesterday was gorgeous. Sunny, no clouds in the sky, everyone was happy. And then today, when Christ freakin' rose from the dead, it rains. All. Day. Long. Depressed.

But today was beautiful. I made hot cross buns and they were delicious. I don't even have any pictures of them because they were all devoured. Which is better than tire-buns circa 2010. And Moozh made one hell of a spread fer sure. A big, cheesy frittata and sausage and hashbrowns. And I drank wine from 11 in the morning until I speak to you now. Am I done Lent or am I done Lent? (I sound like Jerry Seinfeld.)

And we fixed our biceys up so we are superstars. Mine looks like a steampunk champ. And his name is Archimedes. (More this one, less this one.) Moozh's is the coolest matte grey with blue bar tape. I will post pichers once they are all finished. They're single speeds. Call us doucheballoons if you want. We live in Bankybear so we're halfway there anyway. But they are good biceys…when you're not on a hill.

I thought I could post a picher of the dress I got for my zalovka's* wedding in Maui. Pockets! And it's a light fabric. And I don't have to wear a bra which is awesome.

*Sissy in law :)

I also have a very green windowsill in my kitchen now. Two bucks a pop and I have four fresh herbs that I am struggling with now. They smell delicious and I am determined to keep them alive. And eat them. It's a deal. I took four books (FOUR) out of the library on indoor gardening. But our lovely neighbour has the plots in the backyard of our building and she offered to share some of her spoils haul with us.

Let's think about summer and maybe we can bring it about :)

"The Beauty of the body that was broken for our forgiveness…"

Tomorrow is my favourite day and I preparation for it I wanted to post just a short meditation. My bestie Lacey receives these mediations every day that are magnificent and I want to post them here. You can subscribe to them through the Centre for Action and Contemplation.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming a human being

so I do not have to pretend or try to be God.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming finite and limited

so I do not have to pretend that I am infinite and limitless.

I thank you, crucified God, for becoming mortal

so I do not have to try to make myself immortal.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming inferior

so I do not have to pretend that I am superior to anyone.

I thank you for being crucified outside the walls,

for being expelled and excluded like the sinners and outcasts,

so you can meet me where I feel that I am,

always outside the walls of worthiness.

I thank you for becoming weak, Lord Jesus,

so I don’t have to be strong.

I thank you for being willing to be considered

imperfect and strange,

so I do not have to be perfect and normal.

I thank you, Jesus, for being willing to be disapproved of,

so I do not have to try so hard to be approved and liked.

I thank you for being considered a failure,

so I do not have to give my life trying to pretend I’m a success.

I thank you for being wrong

by the standards of religion and state,

so I do not have to be right anywhere, even in my own mind.

There is death in sin but we find life in Christ's sacrifice for us and we find joy in the Eurcharist of remembering that sacrifice. May tomorrow be a miracle. And may it be sunny. And you eat lots of hot cross buns. And booze.

"And you can tell everybody, this is your song."

I blogging because I am trying to avoid studying. I just wanted to be honest with all of you.

Now that that's out of the way. Links!

* I think I have come down with the spring flu that is rockin' its way through Bankybear. And I have allergies. So I am making this! Pretty. Spicy. Yummy. Note: I have rekindled my love affair with vegan cooking. Do not be afraid, I am not crossing over. I love cheese too much. And vegan cheese is shit.

Spicy Lemon Pepper Fettuccine at Vegan Yum Yum

* I want this bag. Upcycled AND badass.

By peace4u at Etsy

* I think these will be my next project. I just finished some mustard yellow fingerless gloves with cool wooden buttons. I will post pictures of them later (maybe during my next avoidance). But these look pretty simple to make. Maybe then I will look rad cool like this girl.

Legwarmers at Classic Elite Yarns

*We've been helping out some friends of ours with their dogs. By 'helping' I mean we took their two dachsunds for a half hour walk today and yesterday. They made me laugh because they reminded me how foreign dogs still are to me. And then I read the newest Hyperbole and a Half. Nothing anywhere near this frightening (or hilarious) happened during our tenure with Oscar and Sammy but it makes you realize dogs are cracked out and totally hilarious.

Hyperbole and a Half

* OMG, this weekend I am totally making these. I really don't even care if I have anything else.

Hot Cross Buns. Hot Cross Buns. at Mandy Mortimer

I christened our oven and my Rebar cookbook last night. I made their Pumpkin Millet muffins, which are impossibly delicious and moist and relatively low on crap that mortal muffins usually contain.

Moozh and I are hunting for new wedding bands. It's time to retire the amber ones. I know this would make my mom's head explode, but I've toyed with the idea of choosing a rose gold or yellow gold to go with my platinum engagement ring. Thoughts?

It's Tuesday. But it's SPRING! Make lemonade today. Maybe it'll send vibes into the universe and it will STOP SNOWING EVERYWHERE.

"This is my prayer in the harvest. When favour and providence flow…"

What a beautiful Sunday! It is sunny, there are no clouds and I am wearing flip flops. Beaut. I am seven days away from what I am convinced is going to be a magical Easter Sunday.

I have officially experienced what moving should looked like. Yesterday morning moving friends of ours up two floors in their building was like a well oiled machine. We arrived, groggy and with coffee in hand, at 10 o'clock am and by quarter after one we were wandering around the place saying, "wanna open some chips?"

Then, as I mentioned, Moozh and I went to a Russian end of term dinner.

And it was awful.

The restaurant was a little overwhelmed, I'd say. Apparently their head chef was "away". So Moozh and I each ordered Borscht and it took -count it- an hour and fifteen minutes. The music was way too loud. There were some very obnoxious, and drunk, people there. Then, the transfer we had to take home never arrived and so we had to take a cab. But then we woke up this morning and it was all over. And I got 92% on my exam so this is an exercise in forgive and forget.

We checked out this beautiful church this morning that kind of has my heart. It's on the UBC campus in one of the libraries. We cleaned through the house today, the whole thing, and even though it's miniature sized, it took us eight hours. And we cleaned the weird spots, like the ledge where the cabinet door meets the rest of the cabinet and the inside of the radiator. Places no one will see. I will sleep and dream of dust. And weird rust drips.

And today was the two year anniversary of the day Moozh and I got engaged! And it's the beginning of Holy Week! And the sun was out AGAIN today! Altogether not bad.
This was us back then. Moozh lookin' smokin' and me wearing a turban. Typical.

And this is us now: 

What a goomba, hey? This was rather disjointed. But I'm icing my back and that makes typing, and…thinking, difficult. I'm also watching "The Kennedys" and Rosie Kennedy is melting my brain. 

Happy SPRING!

P.S ~ I am on a mission of discovery this week. We found a diamond in the rough for produce a couple weeks back. Gorgeous fruit and veg for less than what I would have to take out a student loan. And then I found a twin for bulk! Bankybear has been withholding from me. There is more out there to discover. Tally ho! 

"I want to be the only one for miles, many miles. Except for maybe you."

We got a new stove! I've pretty much been telling everyone I see (bank tellers, the person next to me on the bus, small children) that I am in fact getting a new oven. And I don't even have to pay for it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to make a terrifying old person.
But back to the stove because this is a moment where multiple things going wrong wasn't my doing. I burned I don't know how many things, including my hands, "dabbling" in the kitchen and feeling like a freakin' failure when it came out looking like tar that's been ripped out of the road. (I have been up close and personal with fresh tar in fact. Story for another time.) So our landlord provided us with a thermostat to measure what our stove actually reads at. At everything from 200-400 degrees it was reading 600 degrees Fahrenheit! You could fire pottery in that! So I felt better about my culinary abilities. A little bit. I'm still trying to find an excuse for all of the stovetop mistakes.

So in lieu of oven-related crafts, I've been making a lot of salads. I made this salad, which was so tasty.

from What's Cooking with Mary?

Make it. Not my picture. I have finished taking pictures of my food. I feel silly doing it and the pictures always look a little off to me. I finished it off with a little balsamic vinegar which blew the strawberries out of the water. And yes the other salad I posted was an edamame salad as well. They pretty much make up at least 25% of my diet.

Edamame Salad with Strawberries and Basil

1 ½ cups shelled edemame, cooked

1 cup strawberries, diced

½ red pepper, diced

¼ cup red onion, diced

¼ cup fresh basil, minced

½ jalapeno, minced

1 tsp honey

Juice of ½ a lime

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Combine in a bowl and let sit to marinate.

Moozh and I go to a Russian restaurant this Saturday for a dinner hosted by the Russian department at UBC. I think it'll be a little awkward, totally hilarious and I will definitely be full by the time I leave. On the invitation it mentioned dancing which I'm assuming means Russian dancing.

To which, Moozh will just say no and I will end up dancing with a girl and laughing so hard I slobber. That with lots of perogies and sour cream, sounds like a good time right? Right.

Moozh is finished his exams tomorrow. Woooot! My man is officially one year deeper in a Master's Program. He was saying the other day one of his classes was teaching him to be a 'Jack of all trades, master of none' and that in his Master's he would like to master something. I laughed SO HARD.
Now if it would just stop RAINING I could get to my tannin' and time wastin'. Smarten up Bankybear.

How cute are these? Now if I could only get something to grow in them….

Revision at Etsy

P.S ~ I have restricted my 'recreational computer time' aka food blog surfing. And believe me it needs to be regulated. Ooops.

"I don't need to get steady. I know just how it feels. Tellin' you to get ready…"

My sister in law is officially a big kid and graduates from her program in 18 days. Which blows my head right off my body (And as my Dad used to say when I would flip out as a kid, "little tiny pieces of Brianne all over the ceiling.") It makes me think of when I graduate and how freaky and monumental and somehow simultaneously anticlimactic. Which also makes me think of WHAT WILL I DO THEN? I'm going to graduate with a BFA which is the most useless degree ever. It's a fun degree that does not necessarily get you a fun job. I may end up typing up abnormal medical results in a yellow lit office the size of Harry Potter's bedroom somewhere , "gat-ah-gat-ah-gah-ah", all day long. Or there is always a clicky pen tester.

Basically, I am prematurely stressing out. Which is so unlike me...

And so I've been surfing, because that is simply what happens to my brain when I have a lot to do. It gets up from it's proverbial desk and puts on a sombrero. And when that happens, I am subject to it's whims. It makes me read blogs and watch the Food Network. It MAKES ME DO IT! I came across a food blog (NO WAY!) and this beautiful vegan lady, Oh She Glows, posted something about "graduation fears". It's a beautiful way of articulating that if you get to the end of your education and realize, "Oh crap", that it is not the end of your life. It is something we all inherently know, deep down in the part of us that still dreams even though we step on it and throw garbage at it, that our education is not who we are and that we can always course correct, we can always choose a new way.
*She also makes kick ass blondies.

Easter is coming. And I wish you could see my face right now because I am so serious. (And I am having a weird hair day.) I am so gleefully excited for hot cross buns and sunshine (Bankybear better not cheap out on that this year. IT HAS TO BE SUNNY). Matt and I might go away to Whistler that day and just spend a day. At first I wanted to plan a big thing where people come to our house and I cook and it would be all brunchy and fun. And then I stopped being excited about Easter. So I nixed that idea and now I am back to being excited. My Gram was with us last year and it was so nice and low key. My hot cross buns were less than stellar. Even in the picture they look kind of like tires. Smother them with enough butter and jam and they taste fine, but this year, THIS YEAR, they will be different. I have come a long way in my breadmaking since then.
All I can tell you for sure about Easter Sunday is I'm having a beer. Longest 40 days of my life. I'm kidding of course. It hasn't actually been that hard (SERIOUS!) but I will definitely enjoy the first imbibing.

Beautiful
LemkaB at Etsy

Look at the cute buttons! klardar from Etsy

These are the colours of my kitchen
LynnCardwellPottery at Etsy

Do these earrings come with her face? If so, I will take them.
TribalStyle at Etsy

Happy Wednesday! Friday's not that far away.

P.S ~ Sister-in-law in Russky is za-lov-ka, which I think sounds nice for my 'love sisters'.
P.P.S ~ I just found out that my favourite restaurant in Cowtown, The Coup, has a cookbook. Which means I need it. Basically. I love it when restaurants put out cookbooks because then I feel like I could tip myself after I feed myself.

"A little bit of lovin' early in the mornin'. Little bit of lovin' for starting off the day."

Awww Bankybear look at you! Out with your pretty dress on today. That's so sweet you remembered today was my last day of classes. BFF for ev's.

There was not a cloud in the sky. The sun, this THING that is so bright, was out all day long. People were out in shorts (or a Juicy Couture shorty short and hoodie outfit as I saw on one girl downtown), playing bagpipes, drinking obesely sized S'bucks frappies. Summer stuff!

I find now it's all of the native Vancouverites that are the ones getting irritated with the weather. They all swear that this is unusual and it's usually nicer out by this time. As if we'd all get up and leave. HA! I haven't seen my "winter" coat since I got back from Cowtown at Christmastime. All the refugees from the rest of Canada have fallen into the winter-spring transition headspace that is characterized by sleepiness and emotional disinterest. We think back on life before and remember that by the seventh of April to be free of snow would have been a god send. We'd be packing up our Absolute Zero Survival Packs, putting the Huskies away in storage. But that was before we moved to the Holy Land of Fleecy Sweaters and Keen Messenger Bags.
I'm standing at the bus stop besmirching the effort that Bankybear put into making it a beautiful day. "What's with all the wind?! Geez, when's it gonna be spring?!"Maybe that means I'm officially a Vancouverite. That was fast.

I'm pretty sure I found a dress for the weddings this summer. All it has to do is pass the "You look like a doucheballoon" test with Moozh. He is very handy and very honest, which I appreciate. Because I have ample photographic evidence of me dressing like a douchebag. But I feel that this dress will pass the test. It is not short so that you can see where my butt disappears nor is it in the shape of a plastic bag.

I am so happy for the sun. Don't say it too loud or it will go away.
Here's to shorts!

This is what Bankybear does when it's all giddy for summer!
Pink clouds!

"Stepping forward, keep us from just singing…"

I'm in the home stretch now. A lot of major projects worth many marks have been handed in. Yesterday I had my Russian oral exam. It was hilarious and ridiculous and we got 95% but through the whole process I was thinking about actually being able to speak Russian one day instead of agonizing over memorizing a script where I say things as difficult as "What will I do if I don't buy razors?"I will get there eventually. I'm taking a Conversational Russian class next year where there will be native speakers present. I will have to make time to take breaks and cry during it but I think that class will be really good for me. 

I'm still waiting for the sun to come out. Bankybear is soggy everywhere. Everywhere you go the grass is like 'Screw this. I'm just not thirsty anymore.' Which is pretty much the feeling of everyone in the Lower Mainland.

My heart is heavy for my best friend right now. She just returned from six weeks in India where she was working in a hospice. She was volunteering at the Mother Theresa House of the Destitute and the Dying. While she was there her Oma passed away. I remember the process of saying goodbye to my Grandpa when he was sick and how agonizing it was to not be there at every moment. This past Sunday I heard this worship song for the first time and it makes me think so much of my best friend and her sense of obedience to where Christ leads her. She lives to "feed the hungry, stand beside the broken" as the song says. This past Sunday, the pastor said something that seems to sum up why I love Easter and Lent season. It was something to the effect of there is death in sin, we find life in the sacrifice of Christ and we find joy in the Eucharist of remembering that sacrifice. As impossible the process of saying goodbye to them seems, they wait there for us. Where they are is better than here. 

 God of justice, Saviour to all

Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served

Jesus, You have called us
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

We must go live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken, we must go
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Move us into action, we must go

To act justly every day
Loving mercy in every way
Walking humbly before You, God

You have shown us, what You require
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out, Lord

It's April! 74 days until Trotta-P'ron! 91 days until Bauer-Dempsey! Summer is awesome. I want to buy short overalls and creamsicles. Those always make me think of summer. Although I don't know if I could wear short overalls without my family making fun of me endlessly. Maybe jelly sandals, the most uncomfortable shoes ever?

What makes you think of summer?

"I'm only good at being young."

Wowz. I feel like I woke up and it was Monday morning and I'm going to sleep and it's Friday. (Yeah I'm going to sleep at noon on Friday. Don't ask questions.)

Last night I had the most hilarious time in my science class. For real. We are in this unit "Personal Genomics" right now and it's…way over my head. It's a junior high level science class and there are times where I coach myself, "Just nod. Don't think. Just nod." Anyways, yesterday we were doing this lab to perform a DNA fingerprint assay. I thought we were actually going to be dealing with fingerprints. Pssh. I mean -I totally knew I was going to be playing with my spit for two and a half hours, I swear. My friend Jenn, who is lovely and funny and makes me feel like being clueless at science isn't so bad, was there to do it all with me. "Doing" being laughing hysterically at our ignorance and incompetence. We had to use this pipetteman thing to pull out a very small amount of our spit and I had to get the teacher to help me. Made me feel sixteen again. "Dave…" as my voice cracks "Can you help me? I can't…see it. I can't see the spit."By the end of the class, I had the hang of "pipetting" liquids. Just in time for me to never have to do it again. I will just add it to the list of skills I have that won't come in handy.

This week is finally over. I have Russian practice tomorrow. (That almost makes me sound like I play a sport. Then again, Russian sort of is a sport. Or at least I go through it with the same lack of coordination I do most sports.) My Russian oral exam is on Monday. We got to prepare our own dialogue but now we have to present it in front of our class. My friend Jelsi and I practiced it yesterday. She brought her handy-dandy Russian boyfriend for editing purposes. One of the words I was mispronouncing was 'whale' when I was meaning to say 'beside'. It'll be a long road, but one day I will make sense.

My allergies are on me like harpies. All the way down my throat is itchy and my eyes always look like I've been punched, all heavy and swollen. I woke up this morning and my eyes looked like that part in Black Swan when Nina pulls the feather out of her back. The bright side is, I have drugs. I can just soup myself up on Benadryl and go about my day feeling groovy. I can't be held responsible for anything I do. I'm under the influence.

My sandals and beach towel are poised and ready as soon as Bankybear catches up and realizes it's spring. We have had some staggeringly beautiful days in the past few weeks so I can tell that the weather is trying. It hasn't quite materialized yet. but alas it has just been yucky lately. I haven't taken my mukluks off in weeks because I am officially acclimatized to West Coast, pansy weather. I used to be made of tougher stuff. Not anymore.

Happy Weekend! Moozh and I are going to a BBQ tomorrow. BBQ's always make me think of summer.

P.S ~ *Language note: When you say 'my husband and I' in Russian, it sounds like "smooshem".
P.P.S ~ I have a countdown on my phone for both of the weddings this summer and I check them every morning. 78 days until Ariesmell's! 95 days until Sasa's! Weeeee!
P.P.P.S ~ Picture of the day. Trash the Dress! I would totally do this! Check out the rest.