Konnichiwa!

In case you were wondering, we have safely arrived here in Japan, after a pleasant surprise upgrade to Premium Economy on our long haul, and the usual Japanese efficiency that got us from one airport to the next, and then safely into Izumo.

The weather was tropical today, and it's been so great to see everyone. Hard to imagine that tomorrow is the big day!!


Steve and Yoshimi picked us up from the airport with sushi. Oishii!!


Karina tries out the massage chair


The view from Steve and Yoshimi's living room


Bento delivery to the lookout near Steve and Yoshimi's house


Looking out


View of the beach near their house


Itadekimasu!




The pre-wedding BBQ





And, check out this link. We were famous today!

Nouveautes

The Workbench has returned to our living room. Hopefully it's only temporary. We spent today working on the apartment, and one of my projects required the workbench.



We put a shelf over the toilet. It was a pain to install, but we're happy with the result.


We also installed a much larger shelf in the kitchen, at the same height as the butcher block. It's great having the extra surface. We also finally hung the pot rack above.

The other big project was tacking the network cable around the doorways and baseboards to get to our tv in the front of the room. That was 100% Erik, and it is almost done. Already it's great not having the white cable all over the floor.


And these are the flowers I was surprised to find when I got home from the airport. Apparently someone missed me! :) It's great to be back, although my body is punishing me for taking ten days off from the gym. I haven't been this sore in ages!

Ottawa

Here are some photo highlights of my trip to the 'Twa

With Alison and Bianca. I also got to see Alison's 9 month old baby, who was super cute. I haven't seen Alison since her wedding three years ago, and I pretty much went straight from the airport over to see her before she left the next day.



With my friends Zoe and Liane. Zoe lived in Paris when we first moved here, and I know both of them from my Red Pine days.


Brunch with the retired teachers--mom, Sue and Sheila. I was getting quite used to the retirement lifestyle!


I spent a beautiful sunny day with Bianca, Ashley and their kids. It was so sunny that day, I couldn't believe it snowed the next day.



Bianca holding Ashley's baby Isla, I'm holding Bianca's baby Ky.


Liane was kind enough to join me for poutine on my last night. (We ordered a salad to balance out the healthy scale)

We had Beavertails for dessert. Yum!


The spider sculpture outside the National Gallery, with the Parliament Buildings in the background


With Dad and Rob, before heading out the airport.

Can't believe I was only there for a week. It went so quickly, but I felt like I'd been there much longer. It was so nice to catch up with friends that I haven't seen in too long, and just as nice to hang out with my mom (we were busy!), dad and brother.

Back to work on Tuesday, when I begin counting the days till we leave for Japan!

Greetings from Ottawa

Finally I can blog about my trip!

I had been planning to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday for a while now. I was all set to go until a volcano eruption shut down all the airports in France, and much of the European airspace for six days. I was scheduled to fly Saturday April 17, and by Friday Charles de Gaulle airport was closed. I hoped it would reopen by the end of the day, but the only thing that changed by the end of the day was that Air Canada officially cancelled my flight. I was able to rebook for Tuesday the 20th, but with the ash cloud hovering steadily over Europe, I was just beginning to imagine my two week holiday in Paris (not really such a bad second choice).

Monday night, I checked my flight online, and it hadn't been canceled. By then there was talk of the airports reopening for certain routes, but I wasn't optimistic. Erik and I made plans to meet on a patio Tuesday evening to take advantage of the great weather in Paris. Tuesday morning, the flight was still coming up 'on schedule' on the Air Canada website. I spent 45 minutes on hold with AC to be told that the flight from Montreal to Paris had left, and my flight was the intended return flight. I threw some clothes into a suitcase, and rushed out to the airport, still unconvinced that I would actually get out. It wasn't until my plane took off that I actually began to believe that I was going to Ottawa! And begin to wonder who was going to meet me at the airport?

Anyway, one magazine, two and a half movies, and too much airplane food later (plus many MEC bag and hiking boot sightings--you know you're at the Air Canada counter at CDG when....) I landed in Ottawa. My mom was waiting, and although she wasn't as surprised as she would have been if I'd been able to surprise her at her party on Saturday, I'm pretty sure she's still thrilled that I'm here.

I've been busy leading the life of a retiree, volunteering at the Shepard's of Good Hope, going for coffee, and shopping at times when no one else is. I've also been incredibly lucky to be reconnecting with some friends from high school, many of whom have babies that I hadn't yet met. The icing on the cake is the fantastic weather that Ottawa is having, which we took advantage of during our walk along the river, and visit to the tulips this afternoon.

Plus, I bought us a much needed new camera!


River walk


Tulips at Dow's Lake.



My friend Bianca and her oldest son Mian

Cake Bis

With a second birthday a couple of days ago, there was another reason for cake! I had told Erik that I really wanted a coconut cake for my birthday, like the one we had in San Francisco last year.

Not really expecting him to make me a cake in the middle of the week, I was slightly surprised when I got a phone call at the end of the day asking me what he should pick up from the grocery store to make cake. And so, at 9:00 on a Tuesday night, Erik started making me a cake.



The mis en place. The wine was an essential ingredient.

There were a couple of hiccups along the way--the lack of a second mixing bowl and cake pan was a pain, but not problems that were insurmountable.

And bright and early the next morning, on my birthday, I was treated to birthday cake for breakfast!




One tired chef


Happy Birthday to Me!!


Mmm....breakfast cake!

The sugar high turned into a grumbling stomach around 10am, reminding me why I don't eat breakfast cake on a regular basis. But it was very yummy, and we have been enjoying it every day since. Although we did finally put half of it in the freezer though, where it can hang out with the other half of Erik's birthday cake. We'll pull them out and have a cake party in a couple of months.

Other than cake, I had a very nice day. I threw myself a birthday party with my class at school, and we went out for drinks and dinner with our friends Julia and Thomas that night. It was a great start to another year.

Oh, and here's the recipe if you're interested!

Hey, remember us?

My mom keeps telling me that she's been checking the blog for updates, and well, you may have noticed it's been awhile.

Since nothing is new with the apartment, I must have just let it slide a little.

But today is Erik's birthday, so I guess that's as good a reason to post as any. I made this cake (well, I made it as a cake as opposed to cupcakes, and do all cakes use so much butter???), and while it's not really dinner time yet, we've already tried it, and it is quite delicious. We had a great dinner last night at l'Office (a rather nice review over here), our second visit, and definitely not our last. I've gotten into the habit of making us dinner reservations for Friday night after the gym. We've tried quite a few new places lately, and this is one of our favorites. The list of places to try in Paris is always growing, and seeing as we never eat at home on Fridays, it seemed like a good excuse to start checking them out.

Spring has sprung in Paris, the tulips are blooming in our courtyard, and despite a couple weeks of sun and warm temperatures, we are back to drizzly gray, never venturing out without an umbrella, something that seems to be standard fare here in gay Paree (although perhaps gray Paree would be more appropriate...)

Happy Easter, I hope the Easter bunny is good to you! (random French fact: did you know that Passover in French is 'paques juive'? The literal translation is Jewish Easter. I'm off to see if Wikipedia has some answers for me...)
:)

Entry

Here are some photos of our finished entry way.




The house portraits were a big hit at the party!

Party Time

Saturday night we had our housewarming party. Almost six months after moving into our apartment, we were finally ready to have guests. Plus, this was the first real party that we had ever thrown since arriving in Paris five(!) short years ago.

On Wednesday evening we finally all the extra 'stuff' (aka tools) down to the basement. There hasn't been so much as a screwdriver in the apartment for four whole days!! Without all the tools on the bookshelf and a workbench in the corner, we were finally able to unpack some last boxes and move around the furniture. We really had no idea how large the room would feel. It's absolutely huge!! Makes me wish we had gotten the three-seater sofa that we didn't think we'd have room for. Saturday morning Erik changed the slipcover on the sofa from the stain inviting white to the chocolate brown colour that we had originally wanted. We are really happy with the colour, and I think it makes the sofa blend into the room. Also, Erik thinks it looks delicious, with the caramel coloured throw pillows.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous before the party. Would anyone show up? How many people were coming??? Did we have enough food? Luckily, everyone showed up, there was lots to eat and drink, and I think people had a good time. All the empty space in our living room turned into a dance floor as the evening wore on, and we're still surprised that none of the neighbours complained.




Ready to party!


The bidet reborn again as a beer cooler.


Dancing the night away

Bye bye beige!

Surprise!! An unfinished outlet hiding behind the bookshelf.



Finally finished, Erik installed the light fixture. It gives off ridiculously little light. Like none at all. Plus one of the little shades broke.

Progress

This weekend was a big weekend. Erik finished the electricity! Completely done!

Here I am showing off the finished panel.

And just for fun, here's what it looked like before:

Oh, how we'll miss the big piece of cardboard in the front hall. Notice the wine bottles on the floor holding it shut. It's all class chez nous.


Behind the cardboard. Looks like fun!


Now that the electricity is done, we were finally able to get a lot of tools out of the living room, and set up the second white bookshelf.


Here's a shot of the whole room. Still lots of junk cluttering up the space, but it is starting to look huge! And now we have this long, bare wall to decorate. Any ideas? It runs the entire length of the room, with only the radiator to break it up.

Last weekend Erik took the door off the kitchen. It was taking up a huge amount of space, and was totally unnecessary. Now there's space for a narrow counter or shelf, or maybe a stool....

Before

After. I think it's quite an improvement!