Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Gah! So I know I've got incognito for the last...I don't know...20+ days?! yikes! I have managed to get myself SO busy that I had no time for blogging or much of anything else.

But I'm back. Cue the band.

So what have I been up to? Mostly work and school and hanging out with RB. He's been off work for 2 weeks of holidays and we've been battling the new Wii Mario Brothers daily together. If you haven't purchased the game yet and own a Wii and have played the classic Nintendo Mario Brothers then you will certainly love this game. It's updated graphically with new levels and worlds but still has the side scrolling and a modernized digital music score from classic mario. The levels also have a similar look and many of the characters have not changed. Remember Goombas and the Hammer Brothers? Yeah.

However, I must share with you all the BEST gift, or one of the best gifts I received this Christmas care of RB. Cue Drumroll...

A PROFESSIONAL HD KITCHENAID MIXER! (audience applause)


This one in particular is my mixer, and I gotta say I'm in love with it. He also managed to surprise me with a related gift of three attachments for this baby: a food grinder, food slicer/grater and a pasta maker. Wheeee, I'm in heaven.

My mother also got me a second gift of a beginner's fly tying kit. I have wanted to learn to fly fish for awhile now, and luckily my friend LD is an avid flyfisherman and is willing to show me the 'ropes' or the 'lines' I suppose. Now if only we can find a good fly fishing spot in Ontario that doesn't only carry Bass. *sniff* I miss the cold-water fish of my homeland..the trout, the pike! The salmon!!

Luckily on our drive back to British Columbia this summer we will be stopping in historic Missoula, Montana. Home of one of my favourite movies of all time: A River Runs Through It.


This movie has some of my favourite lines of all time:

"My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy. "

"Neal, in Montana there's three things we're never late for: church, work and fishing. "

This was the closing line of the movie:

"Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters. "

I tear up just thinking about it. I am wanting to purchase the novel so I can read it; by Norman McLean who is the lead character in the film/narrator.

Happy New Year folks! May this year be the best year yet. I cannot believe I can now say I am getting married next year! This year I am excited about finishing my thesis and driving home to BC for good.

What are you excited about for 2010?