Headed North!

When we lived in Vancouver, Levi and Shelley (real Canadians!), became some of our very best friends and still are to this day. Nearly 4 years ago, they stood on the street curb and waved goodbye as we drove away and left our Canadian adventure behind. We have not seen them since that day and though we stay in very good contact, it’s not quite the same. Life has changed a lot…we have each had a baby (and they have another on the way!) and moved a couple different times, etc. They are now living in Eston, Saskatchewan where Levi works at Eston College. Derek has been invited to teach a mini-semester course (a full semester class crammed into 1 week) at the beginning of September and we are so excited! We have officially booked our tickets and in a few weeks we will be headed North to see our dear friends and spend 10 whole days with them. September 1st cannot come soon enough!

Levi and Shelley (Dec 2006)

Shelley and Katie – besties! (Feb 2007)

This was just too cute and funny not to post and even though Shelley will probably hate me for posting it, I will anyway. This was a secret video they took for us at our going away party 4 years ago:

 

What a difference a year makes

One year ago today Katie and I arrived in Athens for the beginning of our vacation to the Greek capital and the island of Corfu. Today the city of Athens is in utter turmoil amidst financial ruin and clashes between protestors and riot police. Observe the contrast between last year and this in Athens at Hadrian’s Arch:

 

Happy Birthday Derek

Happy 29th birthday to a wonderful man and husband (and soon-to-be father)!

 

Baby Shower – Edinburgh Edition

Last weekend my lovely friends, Ashli and Rebecca, threw me a wonderful baby shower!  It was a baby shower ‘tea’ and we had lots of yummy treats shared with lots of great friends. It was an afternoon to be remembered and I truly did feel showered and blessed by these ladies. It’s always difficult to be so far away from family at times of great significance (such as having a baby) so it really means a lot to me to have these girls in my life. They have become great friends over the years and I am so thankful to have my ‘family away from home’ who provides so much love and support, not to mention their excitement for Baby Brown.

We played some great games and they even got Derek on board by asking him some questions that I had to try and answer for prizes. It was such a blast!

For all the photos, click here

Thank you girls for the love, support and wonderful gifts!! I am lucky to have you in my life.

 

Valentine’s Day

February 13, 2010. Hotel du Vin & Bistro.

 

Turkish meatballs & Gypsy salad

Our friend Rebecca has started learning how to make middle eastern cuisine and in the process she has started a great blog where she posts all of her recipes. Derek and I have been enjoying this a lot because we have been able to try some new recipes! Thanks Rebecca.

Last night we tried two of the recipes, Turkish meatballs with Gypsy salad together in pittas with some yogurt sauce. We highly recommend it.

Here are the meatballs before we cooked them

Gypsy salad

and the finished product

 

Craft Fair

This past weekend I participated in a craft fair in Portobello to sell my cards. I made nearly 75 cards in prep for the event and was quite proud of my work.

Derek was sweet enough to come with and we had a really fun day selling cards and spending the day together.

Unfortunately there was not a whole lot of traffic through the craft fair so sales were not high but I was honoured that some of my friends came out to support me and even buy some cards for themselves!

Overall it was a nice day! To see a few more pictures click here

 

So what’s next?

It is official, we are actually done traveling for a while and have no trips planned until late November! I am sure a weekend trip might come up here or there but nothing official is set. We have had such a nice time traveling and enjoying our many adventures. We feel so lucky and blessed to have these opportunities and to see some amazing places on this beautiful earth.

I admit though that it is quite nice to know we will be home for a while with no plans to fly on an airplane anytime in the near future. I figured out that I have taken 9 individual flights in the past 5 weeks.  It’s time to enjoy some peace, quiet and routine here in Edinburgh. I am currently continuing my slow transition into my new job, working about half and half between the old and new jobs. Meanwhile, Derek is continuing on with his dissertation and preparing a paper for a conference in September.

Since we will be here for the next several months it would be the perfect time for visitors (wink, wink).

 

SBL 2008 in Boston

A couple of days ago I returned from my weeklong trip to Boston, Massachusetts for the 2008 Annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). My time there flew by and I am now fighting off the jet lag from putting my body through a five hour time shift twice in a week. 

Here is a rundown of my week: I arrived in Boston on Wednesday night, made my way to my hosts for the night (a friend of a friend), and watched every second of ESPN, college football, and NBA that was on that night. On Thursday I went to Harvard, walked the entirety of the Freedom Trail, poked around Boston Common and downtown, ate at Cheers, went to the Celtics vs. Pistons game, then went to meet my friend Ben upon his arrival in Boston at his sister’s house (she and her husband graciously hosted us for the rest of the time). On Friday Ben and I hung out at his sister’s for most of the morning and caught up with each other (he is at Regent and I haven’t seen him since we left Vancouver). Then we went and checked out the convention center where the conference was being held, came back to the house and had dinner and dessert with our hosts. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were virtually the same: each day we went and listened to several papers (some good, some mediocre, and a few bad), wandered through the book display, met new colleagues and reconnected with old, and attended various drink receptions. 

All in all it was an excellent time. I thoroughly enjoyed being at the conference and loved every aspect of Boston. If it wasn’t so darn expensive I would live there in a heartbeat. 

Here are some pics from my trip.

Boston – SBL 2008

 

Pumpkin carving

Yesterday was the coldest day of the season thus far (a whopping 2 degrees celsius), so what better way to celebrate than with some Autumn fun!  Our friends, Dave & Lisa, came over for the evening. We indulged in some amazing Sweet Potato soup that Derek made (recipe courtesy of Michelle Hand), Halloween candy and mulled wine. But more importantly, we carved pumpkins! Though we didn’t get to go to a pumpkin patch and hand pick our pumpkins (quite the opposite – they were delivered in our bi-monthly grocery order) we still had our share of pumpkin fun. 

[Click here for the sweet potato soup recipe]

Dave & Derek scoopin out the guts!

The buddies

Derek, Dave & Lisa concetrating hard on their masterpieces

And she said she wasn’t good at this….perfect!

with my ‘cute ghost’

And the finished products!

From L-R: Lisa’s jack-o-lantern, Katie’s ghost, Derek’s Tottenham Hotspur & Dave’s 007