Oh my. Am I ever squeaking by this year!! Instead of a Christmas newsletter, I am sending out a “New Year’s update” and with it, wishes for a very happy year to come. These New Year’s wishes are a little late, but I figured as long as they are offered before the end of January, they count!
2006 was a year of firsts for me.
I rang it in with some wonderful girlfriends, in a hot tub out in the country (Warsaw, Ontario to be exact). I even made Olie Bollen for the first time (on my own)! The winter of 2006 found me packing up my small basement apartment in the Annex where I lived for a year and a half, and moving to the east end!
This is the first time, since moving to Toronto 7 years ago, that I’ve lived east of downtown, and let me tell you, sometimes it feels like another universe! I also spent some time up north last winter, in Bancroft Ontario, with Chris’ family. During one visit, he convinced me that I should try show shoeing…another first, and a very funny one at that!
Eventually, spring came, and as it began turning into summer, I took a vacation in June 2006 and traveled out to Vancouver to celebrate my “double-sixteenth” birthday. I visited my friend Rhonda (whose “double-sixteenth” birthday was also that week) and we took a road trip to Tofino so I could see the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean on the eve of my birthday (nothing but water between me and Japan). 
Rhonda taught me two new skills while I was in Vancouver. For the first time, I learned:
1) how to knit
2) how to play cribbage
Who knew a vacation could be so productive?
During the summer of 2006 I tried so hard to grow my own vegetables, but it’s pretty tough to do this well on a patio. This picture shows you some of the results!
In the fall I went apple picking and made applesauce, and also did a big batch of salsa. Then I accomplished another first-time feat, canning!! Thanks to Cheryl’s perseverance, and Mrs. Penner’s guidance, I’m still enjoying the fruits of my autumn labour.
I took another vacation in October, with the full intent of staying home and having some quiet time. That worked for the first few days, but then when my cousin Mary called me from L.A. at 9pm on Wednesday night asking me to fly down (free flight) and drive back to Toronto with her (4000 km), I hopped on a plane the next morning at 7am! We drove all weekend, crashing in Denver the first night, Chicago the second (thanks Christian!) and home the third. This was my first cross-country road trip. No time for sightseeing, except for one picture in Utah.
Like that crazy road trip, December was a whirlwind too. I handed in applications for two Masters of Social Work programs on December 15th. (I’m now working on another application due Feb 1st for a Masters in Health Administration, which I would do in combination with the MSW).
And, then I headed to Florida for the Christmas week with my family (our first ever “family vacation”!). I woke up Christmas morning with hives all over my body that lasted the whole week (went to the hospital twice in order to get it under control). Miserable. The general consensus is that I was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic I was taking at the time. It was great to spend time with my whole family in one place, but my poor health was definitely a barrier to fully enjoying the company and the sunny warm weather (I’ll make up for it next month in Cuba though!).
So far in 2007 (some more firsts and some continuations):
-I’m taking an official stab at being vegetarian. Have been toying with this idea for many years, but never felt I had the time, money or energy to actually figure out how to do it healthfully. But now, I feel I am ready to take the leap. I am even teetering on the brink of being vegan (Mom, I can SEE you rolling your eyes at me!!) for a number of health reasons.
-I completed a 3-week knitting class in January so I can now do more than just the knit-stitch.
-I tried boxing! I joined a gym in the fall and they have free boxing sessions once a week.
-I enrolled in a 6-week drumming and meditation group, which started this past Monday evening.
It promises to be an adventurous 2007!!
My friends, I will leave you with a funny picture of Chris and I,
and finally, a quote by W.B. Yeats. My wish for each of us is that the coming year will allow us to find stillness in our lives, so that we may be energized to accomplish that which is most important to us.
We can make our minds so like still water
that beings gather about us that they may see, it may be,
their own images,
and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life,
because of our quiet.
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