New Fall Design!

Fall has definitely come to Kelowna. In fact, winter is just around the corner! There have been quite a few exciting things that happened since... Well, since August. First and foremost: school. It started September 8th, 2014 and my life changed forever. Ok, maybe that was a bit dramatic. But seriously, I'm finding school rather hard this year. :D Thankfully, my parents and teachers and friends have been an enormous help to keep me going! Another exciting thing: Papa and I are now taking aikido together!! Aikido is a Japanese martial art that focuses mainly on self-defence. The great part about it is that it requires very little physical strength. As our Sensei (teacher) says, the less effort you are exerting, the more likely you are to be doing it right! I really enjoy doing it, and our "classmates" are just the greatest. I'm still working, though not as often. The family is doing well, I'm still recovering from a bit of a cold but otherwise I'm quite the happy little ducky right now. ;)
I'm not even going to bother apologizing or promising to write more often or any of that. Please bear with me, as I'll get around to it every now and then. :) Even so, knowing people actually care what I have to say is enough to keep me coming back, even if there's a lot of time in between!

Summer: a short "summer"y

Best. Pun. Ever.

This summer was pretty cool. And even though it's not over yet, it sure feels like it. Stores are already having back-to-school sales! Let's be honest, I LOVE back-to-school shopping. But this year, I find I'm dreading it. Summer in Kelowna is so incredible and vacation-y that you never want it to end...

Ok. Sorry. Anyway, I thought I'd share with you guys a little bit about how wonderful this summer has been.

June went by so fast, I couldn't even believe it. So much happened. Early June we finished school for the year, then shortly after that I got a part-time job at Marketplace IGA, turned 14, and basically just got used to life in Kelowna. It's really not all that different from life back in Sooke, just about 20 degrees warmer. :D

July was gone just like that. I was working lots, and going to the lake even more. :D We had quite a few visitors in July too, people from Sooke and Vancouver/Langley/Lower Mainland area, and it was so nice to see them all! Other than that, July was relaxing and quiet, with little projects going on around the house and yard. I think that once August rolled around, I had finally mentally replaced the word "Kelowna" with the word "home". ;)

Even though August is only half over, it has been super eventful. We've had family visiting from all over, and next weekend we are going to my cousin's wedding in Vancouver! I'll try to take pictures... my camera isn't really operational right now. :S I don't know if I previously mentioned that I bought a video camera? If I can figure out how to upload vids in a way that you guys can see them, then I'll do that. :D

Honestly, I think that I finally feel completely at home here. I mean, I've finally started considering Kelowna to be my home, instead of referring to Sooke as "back home". Through my work, I've made some "acquaintances-soon-to-be-friends" and I'm looking forward to getting "out" a bit more to meet even more people. I really feel like this is exactly where we need to be right now, and I am so, so thankful that God brought us here.

So there was my little summer de-briefing. I know back in July I said I would try to blog more regularly, but it just hasn't worked out that way. :( Once school starts again I'll blog regularly for the purpose of keeping up the quality of my writing, and to keep y'all updated. :D Hopefully things will keep happening so I won't end up writing pointless posts about pigs and lemons... yeah we all remember that one. Anyway, I hope y'all have a fantastic rest of the summer!

Summer Greetings!

It's been almost forever since I posted anything. But this time I have a legitimate excuse! So what if I failed to mention that I finished school, celebrated both my birthday and Mom's, and got a part-time job. I have been very busy. This summer has been full of work around the house and yard, actual paid work at the grocery store down the street, lots and lots of swimming in the lake and just sitting enjoying the warm, dry weather. And it's not even over yet! I just have not had the time for sitting at the computer. And even though I would much rather go swimming than sit inside blogging, I will try to do my best for you guys for the remainder of the summer. :)

Cooking Inspiration!

It all started with a Dalek.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the amazing TV series Doctor Who, Daleks are basically the deadliest aliens in the universe, full of hatred and anger. They are actually pretty goofy looking, but after watching a few episodes of the show, you stop laughing. So how exactly did they inspire me?

I was looking through my YouTube recommendations one day when I came across this tutorial on how to make a 3D Dalek cake. I watched it maybe 3 times, because I just loved seeing it all come together. The channel from which the video came is called How to Cook That, by Ann Reardon. It's so cool, she does tutorials for all kinds of sweet stuff from cakes to random desserts and chocolates! I would really advise checking out her channel. :)

So anyway, after watching quite a few more of her videos, I started thinking about cooking again. A while ago I was cooking regularly for the family, but I kind of stopped when we moved. Mainly because of the inconvenience, but also because I really wasn't feeling inspired. Things changed thanks to Ann Reardon and her amazing Dalek cake, and I started cooking again!

The first thing I made was Lasagna Cassandra, a decorated lasagna based on a character from Doctor Who, Lady Cassandra O'Brien. Yeah, she's got quite the history but in a nutshell, she was the last "pure" human left in the year 5,000,000,000,000 because she preserved herself for hundreds of years by having her skin stretched out on a frame. I know, pretty gross, right? Anyway, I just made a basic lasagna and decorated the top to look like Cassandra. :)

Next, I wanted to try something fancy and dessert-y, so I pulled out a fantastic cookbook by a friend of Papa's, and tried my hand at molten chocolate lava cakes. They were really, really rich! I made some tempered chocolate decorations, and with a scoop of chocolate ice cream and a dusting of cocoa powder, they looked pretty fancy! I was quite proud of myself for pulling something like that off, and I have made plans for more fancy cooking in the near future. :)

If you are at all interested in cooking, check out Ann Reardon's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/howtocookthat

Also, the cookbook I mentioned is definitely worth a look. Papa did all the photography for it, so it looks amazing. The recipes are all relatively simple, but they still look really amazing and professional. Here is the link to the book, Flavours of Cooper's Cove Guesthouse by Angelo Prosperi-Porta: http://www.amazon.ca/Flavours-Coopers-Guesthouse-Angelo-Prosperi-Porta/dp/1926741013

Drawing

For those of you who know me, you know that I have never really been the artistic sort. Doodling was the extent of my artistic capabilities, and I was OK with that. Recently, though, I decided to give drawing another go. With the help of some online tutorials and a lot of patience and determination, I was rewarded with some pretty good results, even if I do say so myself. I actually really enjoy it. Go figure!

Luigi and Mario!

Simba from The Lion King

BUGS BUNNY

Everyone knows this guy!

A Cyberman from BBC's Doctor Who TV series. :D Yes, I know. He's supposed to have handles coming out of his head. 

Brothers

Here's a song I just recently discovered: Brothers by Dean Brody. Even if you don't like country music, it's worth listening to. It brought tears to my eyes, and not many songs do that!

New Look!

I decided it was time for a change in the background image of my blog, which ended up resulting in an all-out makeover. Hmm...

Anyway, I wanted my new background to reflect the sunny, warm, delightful summer-like weather we've been having here in Kelowna lately. Today, it got up to 27 degrees Celsius, and we were all sweating like pigs. Well, actually not like pigs. Did you know that pigs don't sweat? :) It's true! That's why they roll in the mud, because they have no other way of cooling themselves off. 

Back to the point, I liked the little fruit things on the background as well. They reminded me of the Okanagan valley and the abundance of fruit that grows here. Granted, those look like lemons. I don't know if lemons grow that well here. :)

So, why am I rambling on and on about lemons and pigs? I honestly don't know. I think the sun's getting to me. *GASP* THE SUN'S GONE WIBBLY!

Maybe tomorrow my brain will return, as it seems to have gone AWOL. 

Anyway, have a great day!