Paris When It Sizzles - the movie

This past weekend, while convelescing, I watched 2 Audrey Hepburn movies that I hadn't seen. One was Funny Face and the other, Paris When It Sizzles.
Funny Face is a musical with Fred Astaire. It has lots of neat choreography and singing. I watched it for the beautiful clothes and scenes of Paris (suprisingly both movies were set in Paris). I did not watch it for the plot. It was hilariously cheesy and usually I like cheesy but I was pretty bored by the end of it.
Paris When It Sizzles on the other hand is just one of your everyday romantic comedies but so much more than that because of the classiness that Audrey Hepburn brings to the movie. The storyline is that of a screenwriter who hires a typist to write out a screen play that he hasn't written yet and is due to the producer in 2 days time. So, the movie jumps between the story of the movie being written and the real story of screen writer and typist who get written in as the main characters of the movie. I won't give it all a way but I do recommend it. Oh and Reuben liked it too so if your partner is as endearing as mine and will sit down to an old film with you than go for it!

Update 3 or 4

The ceiling is done! It did need another coat but it looks amazing and I love the color:) We also primed the walls on Saturday. Reuben did the rolling and I did the cutting in although I had this awful headache and sore throat. I really wanted it done though so I worked on it as long as I could and then collapsed into bed for a nap. I'm still feeling sick but I really want to get this done so I'm persevering.
Tonight, I'm going to paint one wall with a tinted primer and the other walls with a neutral color that is called Monroe Bisque. Over the tinted primer we will be painting the wall Vintage Wine. These are Benjamin Moore colors so if you're curious you can go to their website to check it out. There will be one more color in the room which will go on the exterior of the kitchen walls that face into the living/dining area. We are waiting to paint these walls because we still have some more prep work to do and also because when we do the kitchen reno the walls may be reconfigured.

There is still a long ways to go.

Of painting a ceiling

Painting our livingroom/diningroom ceiling takes me approx 1.5 hrs. Last night I did one coat of color...actual color...not just plain ol' white. When I first put it on I was shocked by how dark it looked and was sort of nervous but I kept going. This morning, although it was still pretty dark when I left the house, it doesn't look so bad. It's going to be cozy. I also can't tell yet whether I need to do a second coat although I have a feeling it's too streaky to leave the way it is.
Reuben is also done with the walls so we'll be priming them on Saturday!!! Woohoo....there is an end in sight. At least I'll be able to move the loveseat back into the livingroom by this weekend.
We'll probably keep the rest of the stuff out so that we can move around more easily to paint the walls.
I'll take pictures as soon as I can. Reuben took one of me painting last night but I'm sure you don't want to see that ....!

the state that we are in

I'm sure you're all curious as to how the renovations are coming. Well, I'm here to report that there has been progress! Today, I took up the drop clothes and swept the floor. Tomorrow, I will put them down again and paint the ceiling. The ceiling needs a coat of drywall primer because it is now all new drywall and then a coat or two of ceiling paint which will be tinted Muslin from Benjamin Moore. You can look it up on their website if you're curious. I'm not sure when the walls will get painted because Reuben plans to do a few more coats of mud on some stubborn spots. This will ensure that our walls are as flat as humanly possible without having to re-drywall them all.
Anyway, I still can't navigate my kitchen too well and there is dust everywhere!! I'm so thankful we can go to my parents to escape the insanity!
More updates to come....

Why I Can't Cook....etc

The reason I can't possibly cook right now is due to the fact that I have a couch in my kitchen, blocking my cutlery drawers and pots and pans cupboard. This is my front room...This is what I see when I walk in the front door. The plastic sheet hanging down is to help prevent dust from getting into that part of the house.And this is the livingroom....if you look really close you can see paint samples on the wall...we are having trouble deciding on a third colour. To get upstairs you have to squeeze past the piano and under the plastic sheet. Nice.

Busy Weekend

phew! What a busy weekend...we had my sister,her husband and 2 kids visiting this weekend plus I had my choir concert which included a rehearsal on Saturday. Here are some pictures I took on Sat. evening while the men were skiing/snowboarding.
I knit some thumbless mittens for Hadassah to wear with her Sunday coat.
I tried to get her to stand still and show me the mittens but the girl is a whirling dervish!!!
Here's my sis reading her daughter a book.

And here is my mom feeding Nethaneil a bottle.
I'll try to take pictures of our renovation chaos tonight to show you all why I can't possibly cook right now;)

Daily News

Well, my readers, I have begun a new job here at Carleton University. I am the Administrative Assistant to the Program Coordinator/Mentor at the newly formed Science Student Success Centre. This centre is designed to target Science students who are doing poorly in their studies during their first year at the University and to offer them guidance. Right now, I am waiting for my colleague to return from a Conference so I don't have a lot to do. Part of the job, though, is setting up a database which will contain all the student info and their grades in their first year Science courses. As some of you know, I did a lot of database work when I worked on Parliament Hill so I'm excited to get back into that a bit. My office is in the same hallway as my old one so while I am starting a new job, there won't be a huge amount of change which I am happy about. Working at the University has been really great so far and I'm really thankful that I can continue here.
As far as our house goes, we were in a lot of chaos in the last couple of days as we tried to get as much furniture out of the livingroom as possible. Our love seat ended up in the kitchen so that I couldn't get at my pots and pans or cutlery drawer. This was actually fine with me as I had a great excuse not to cook:) Andrew has finished two coats of mud but is now on a bit of a holiday so Reuben has arranged with him that he will come after school on Tuesday to finish the third coat. After that, we will be doing a lot of sanding and then priming!!! And then painting. So, for now, we've cleaned up a bit so that we can get upstairs more easily and my kitchen is more usable but by Tuesday it will all be chaotic again.
I'm also working on a pair of mittens for my niece, Hadassah...I finished one last night and should be able to do the other one tonight. After that, I plan to make a pair of fingerless mittens for myself...I just have to get to the yarn store.
And last but not least, the Broersma's are rolling into town tomorrow. Here's a picture preview from the last time we saw them.

Construction and Knitting Photo UPDATE

My Sunday project....mittens for my sister, Diana....completed.

As of this afternoon, this is one coat done. Not paint, taping drywall joints on the ceiling and wall. Two more coats to go and then a ton of sanding and then ...I can paint!! We picked out colors ... they are outrageous! I won't give it away until they are on the walls. One is the name of a fruit and the other is the name of something to drink. Those are my hints ... have fun guessing!:)

Construction and Knitting

As some of you have seen over on Reuben's blog, we have started some more renovations on our house. The last thing we did was put up a shed in the backyard. I really shouldn't say "we" as Reuben does most of the work. He had his dad's help though. Now we are starting a major project which requires our living room and dining room area to be uninhabitable for probably close to a month and if it's like any other renovation project it will be longer. We are replacing the ceiling (or covering up the ceiling with new drywall) and re-doing most of the tape joints (where the two pieces of drywall that make up a wall come together) with tape and drywall mud. Not only are we doing this in the living/dining area, Reuben feels that we should also redo the tape joints along the staircase and upstairs hallway.
I have been trying to help but it's hard work. It's kind of fun chipping away at old, dried up drywall mud but when you scrape your knuckles as I have already done a number of times, it's not so fun. I don't pretend to be any good at construction type work. I'm far too wimpy. The best thing I can do is make Reuben laugh because it's a frustrating process and he gets really serious about it.
We do have some help coming in. One of our friends from church is in University right now and has a Reading Week coming up. He grew up helping his father and grandfather in the drywalling business. We figured we could pay him a few bucks and have a semi-professional help get the job done better and quicker while staying within our budget.
Tonight, we are going to our friends' house for dinner. Church friends who recently moved here from BC. She is a certified Interior Designer and I'm bringing a couch cushion so we can talk color .. paint color. I'm so excited!!!!! I love dreaming about what colors we should paint our rooms. I love bold, rich, dark colors! I hope we can find something that will match nicely with our ugly teal couches. We will no longer have a stipple ceiling and I"m planning to have a hint of color in the ceiling paint as well which is also really exciting!
Anyway, so today the thing that brings me JOY is color and renovations! Seeing the good amongst all the drywall dust.
Oh yeah...and about the knitting. Yeah, not getting much done these days as I help with the deconstruction. I'm trying to get a pair of mitts done for next weekend when my sister comes down. I also wanted to have a pair of mitts done for Hadassah by then. We'll see.

Days of Joy - Day 4 - 7

Oops ... I'm falling behind already.

1. Warmer weather ... it's going up to 9 degrees tomorrow.
2. Seeing long lost friends.
3. The star treatment at the Cheshire Cat pub ...Reuben's firm is doing an addition for them so the owner knows Reuben. When we walked in there on Saturday night we were greeted personally and given one of the best seats in the house.
4. Singing the Beatles hits at choir practice last night.
5. Even though it's frustrating...starting some more renovations on our house. See Reuben's post here.

Legwarmer UPDATE

Here's the sweet girl sporting her legwarmers...

Elyssa's Legwarmers

365 Days of Joy - Day 3

1. A free ride to work and home again.

2. The news that we're halfway to seeing leaves on our trees.

3. A home-made exchange ... one pair of leg warmers, size 13 months for one knitting needle holder ... thanks sis!!

4. I just read some more information about that plane that went down in the Hudson River after a bird strike ... I'm so glad I wasn't on that plane.

5. Dinner plans with just the two of us.

365 Days of Joy - Day 2

1. Fresh cup of coffee.
2. Warm boots.
3. Freedom.
4. Hugs.
5. Blog updates.

365 Days of Joy

Ok ... so I've read this on other blogs and I think it's a great idea. I mean, who doesn't struggle with discontentment ...honestly, I'm not the only one, right? Anyway, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon to turn my thinking around. Everyday, for the next year, I will think of 5 things that give me Joy. Starting right now;

1. Sunshine ... finally some sunshine.
2. The days are getting longer.
3. Hanging out with my niece and sister last night.
4. Red hair.
5. A good job.

Mittens

This is my latest completed project. They fit perfectly!

The Pride of America

Without malice, I've been fairly cynical about Barack Obama's election and inauguration. This article articulates what I've been feeling.

Christmas with the Buists

We really didn't take a lot of pictures this past Holiday season. Here are some ...

My nephew, Nethaneil ... he's 6 months old already!

Hadassah just turned 2 and is growing smarter and sweeter by the day.

Christmas with the Helders

Ok...so a little late but better late than never, right? Here are some pics from our time with Reuben's family in Waterdown. We surprised them by arrived around dinnertime instead of leaving Ottawa at dinnertime. Catching Dad with a big grin in a picture is a challenge ... but we did it!

On Christmas Day, we decided to go for a walk to work up an appetite for our turkey dinner. It was a cold but beautiful day.

On Saturday, we went to visit our only Veldkamp cousins in the Toronto area, this is Harrison and Brianna ... and Lawren.This is Jared and his girlfriend, Andrea. Andrea has a daughter named Serena whose 15 months old. She's really sweet. We bought her this book for Christmas and she seemed to really like it. Our traditional meat fondue before we open gifts .... mmmm...

Montreal and the Good Life Part 2

On Friday evening, we braved the blizzard conditions to get ourselves to Montreal. We drove with my parents in their Subaru which has snow tires and all wheel drive. We were feeling pretty snug. Reuben drove. He's a great driver. Confident when he needs to be and cautious when he needs to be. This first picture is the view from our hotel room. You can see some of Montreal's older architecture. Our hotel had elevator access to a mall which was below and beside it. On Saturday, my mom and I stayed inside all day. We did some shopping, we got our nails done and basically relaxed. My dad and Reuben walked outside to the Mac Store to buy a computer. They said the temperatures were frightful. In the evening, we went to St. Hubert's for dinner. We could also access the restaurant from our hotel without going outside. We had a fantastic meal and then relaxed with dessert in the hotel bar. Just as we were about to turn out the lights my aunt and uncle arrived so we went down to the bar to keep them company while they had a snack. They had driven up from Boston that evening along with my cousin, Corrine and her boyfriend, Adam. See below.

The next morning, we took the Metro to church which is held in the YWCA downtown. We walked about a kilometre in the most howling wind I've ever walked in. It must have been -30 or more with the windchill and I was wearing a skirt and no hat. Ugh ... it was awful! But worth it as we got to see my cousins! And Amanda's new little one, Jacob. The service was in French so we didn't catch much. We decided to head home right after the luncheon around 2pm. Thankfully, Adam drove us back to our hotel as by now the snow was swirling around. Our drive home was nicer because it was during the day but just as treacherous as Friday night. We saw three cars rolled over in the ditch. God's Hand was upon us for sure.

Montreal and the Good Life

In order of things I'm looking forward to this weekend.

Family.


Good Food.

Luxury hotel at a discount price.

Our First Christmas Tree

In Daylight
In Nightlight

ps. The tree is standing in front of (behind?) our new bay window! We also got our big bedroom window replaced (in the front of the house) and we already feel the decrease in draftiness.

Spain Day 11

at the Madrid-Barajas airportCatalabrian mountain range, northern Spain

I won't write a post about our trip home because it will be too exhausting to read. It was exhausting enough just doing it. We were awake (really hard to sleep on the plane) for 22 hrs. There was major turbulence over Labrador but other than that, it was fine. Oh and one of our bags stayed in Amsterdam a few extra days; unfortunately, it didn't pick up any souvenir dropjes while there:) But we did! They are so much fresher.

In summary, we had an amazing trip and are so thankful that we were able to go to Spain. We recommend it to anyone wishing for a great cultural experience!

Next on the agenda:

a) visiting Smithers and Seattle

b) visiting Holland and British Isles

I think that's the plan anyway, right Reuben?

A post about Santa

http://zeahrenaissance.blogspot.com/
I just read this blog post and thought you might be interested. I couldn't link to the specific post but just to the blog in general. It's written on Dec 1. It's written by a woman struggling with whether to tell her daughter that Santa isn't real. It's written from a Christian perspective and is incredibly beautiful. Take a look.

Spain Day 10

Our last day in Spain was spent fairly leisurely. We got up around 9am and had a nice breakfast including the ever popular cafe con leche. Reuben decided to try bacon and eggs this time but they forgot it and it got cold. After that we decided to try and find a Vespa dealership so after some confusion we were walking down the street that we were pretty sure it was on and all of a sudden I looked up and there it was! So, we went in, the place was crowded with bikes and the salesman understood English and Reuben bought a Tucano Urbano cover for his Vespa. Basically, it wraps around the front of the Vespa and covers his lap so he doesn't have to wear rain gear on those wet and cool days.

Then we walked over to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza stopping at some souvenir shops along the way and Reuben went in. I had no desire to walk around another art museum so I went to Starbucks and tried a new flavoured coffee that they were advertising (not worth the calories) and then just wandered around for an hour.

After we met up again, we walked to the El Retiro park in the center of the city. It reminded us a lot of the gardens of Versailles in Paris, France. It had a huge man made lake in the center with rowboats which we didn't have time to try out. Then we walked toward the Crystal Palace which Reuben had spotted on the map. It was part of an interactive art exhibit put on by the Reine de Sofia Museum(which we saw on our first day in Madrid). It was really cool! As you can tell from the picture. To experience the art you were meant to take off your shoes and walk over the grooved marble floor which had a bit of water on it. Reuben said it was really cold! I didn't feel like hassling with taking off my shoes but I'm glad one of us did it.

Then we walked down towards a book market that was in the guidebook. Of course, since it was 2:30pm, they were all closing up but we browsed a bit and finally got brave enough to ask one of them if they had any English books. So this person brought out a whole stack of books most were on dieting, managing your life, self-help books but there was one kids fantasy book near the bottom that I bought because I needed something to read on the flight home. It was pretty good and I'm glad I have it as a memory from Spain.
Then we headed back to near our hotel and met up with Tim again. We walked towards the Royal Palace and actually went in the garden. It was pretty neat.

After this we did some more walking around and got lost in Chinatown which turned into this ghetto area. It was kind of scary but we quickly made our way out and ended up back where we started. Oops! So then we went in search of our friends' recommendation of 100 Monteditos; monteditos is Spanish for little sandwiches. We found a place that Tim said he used to go to a lot. It was really cool. They had about 75 different sandwiches to choose from and you write down what you want and then bring it up to the counter, pay for it and then go and get it when they call your number. We sat there for a couple of hours while we waited for Esther to join us.

And then after that, we went to an Irish pub just because. We had Guiness and just sat and chatted. It was a really nice way to end our time in Spain. We walked back to our hotel and then packed and set our alarm for really early the next morning.