Like Mother, Like Daughter

I didn't inherit the 'cooking gene'.

Neither of my parents are particularly genius in that area. I can muster up a baked potato, or a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce. Survival. Not extravagance.

My mom was never one for home-cooked meals or baking or anything like that.

And it's not necessarily a bad thing; our oven is actually horrendous (and this is not the bad workman blaming his tools!), it's honestly a terrible, terrible oven and if it doesn't burn everything that enters it (which is does) then it shorts the fuse for the whole of our downstairs. Yay.

Why would we bother?

So this is not a complaint. Merely an observation! I don't blame her at all for not teaching me to cook. Some people just have that ability. Some don't. We don't. Haha.

My mom taught me an awful lot more valuable things, and she is more of a quality time sort of person. I inherited that from her.

Plus we're all happy with baked spuds and penne!

Anyway, yesterday we tried our hand at cooking Chickpea and Spinach Curry with Tofu, and also had steamed rice using my new rice maker! This from a recipe I picked up from my hosts in my first year in Canada.

It turned out pretty good, and went down well with all who tried it!

Chickpea and Spinach Curry with Tofu, thanks to Tamara.

This morning was the attempt at making dessert: Granola Bars. Chocolate Chip and Cranberry.

Donna KP-style. Canadian-style.

:)

(No picture though I'm afraid!)

Although slightly crumbly (not to mention approx. 1 billion calories per mouthful) they were incredibly tasty, and were finished in time for Matt and Becky to take a couple as they left for the airport (jetting off to Tenerife for 2 weeks!)

The many things I'm thankful for?

~chance to make lovely memories with my wonderful mom! (even if that's running round the house with make-shift fly-swatters eliminating the fruit flies which took over our pantry...)

~the time to enjoy each others company (in the same continent, country, town, house.. first time in four months.)

~that Spain beat Portugal in the World Cup Quarter Finals this evening. WOOHOO!

~the hottest week of the year (hurray for lasting sunshine!)

~God's faithfulness, even when I'm not. (2 Thessalonians 3:3)

I am blessed. Thank you Lord.

Just uploaded some of my photographs from the past few months.

Check them out :)

The Taylor's Kitchen

I had my first gig in the UK there today!

To an audience of 2.5 people, with a borrowed guitar :)

It sounds like it could be a cozy little bar somewhere in the country side, right?

Well, no. It's actually the kitchen of the Taylor family's home. Lea thrust a guitar in to my hands and asked me to play.
So play I did.

To her and her mom, Cal, and her dad, Clive was in and out at various intervals (hence the audience of 2.5).

Good times.

Plus, Lea now wants to be my UK manager and sort me some real gigs. woohoo! That's exactly what I need!

Watch this space!

Long Flight Home

Pondering on the last few days I've had, and a lot of people have asked me how my flight home was.

Well it wasn't bad...

But I've had better. And I'm leaving the airport shenanigans out of it.

I don't like the window seat on airplanes.

I don't like the centre seat, either.

Fussy, I know. But I just prefer an aisle seat.

I like feeling free to stretch my legs out, or use the bathroom when I feel like it.

Well anyway, I got seat 20E. The centre seat in the centre aisle of seats..

And unfortunately, the seat by Mr. 'I-hate-long-haul-flights-about-as-much-as-I-hate-talking-to-strangers-and-I-hate-it-even-more-when-strangers-keep-getting-up-and-sitting-back-down-or-fidgeting-while-sitting-next-to-me'.

OK so, I'm a bit restless when trying to settle in on a long flight, and I like to make sure I have everything to hand and not stowed in the over-head bins so I don't have to disturb said Mr. any more than absolutely necessary).

The seat to the other side of me was occupied by a guy who slept the entire 11 hours. Amazing.

Now I like to think of myself as a good sleeper; I can fall asleep pretty much anywhere, for a decent amount of time too. But this guy was incredible. Only, his nap-time meant I had to ask the first Mr. to get past.

Well anyway. I didn't get as much sleep s intended, but I at least managed to read a good majority of Cecila Ahern's Thanks for the Memories, as well as goodbye cards from some of the girls back in Delta.

It was a long but successful flight home.

On the bright side...

Home means:

~mom, dad and matty

~other family and english loved ones!

~greatly anticipated world cup atmosphere

~GHDs

~sonic, tails, charlie, vernon (3 snails and a corsa)

Congratulations to my host brother, Taylor, for Graduating yesterday!

siblings

I love that North American tradition of Cap and Gown and a big celebration at the end of High School. I've only seen that on movies!

Well until, yesterday.

Very cool.

Time to Say Goodbye

Why is it so hard to say goodbye??

I'm pretty sure I'd be fine if I could just go about life here in Canada, get on the plane back to England on Tuesday and then continue with life as normal in the UK on Wednesday... No goodbyes. No tears. No reason to think about potentially never seeing these amazing people again. Or at least not seeing them for a couple of years!

Don't get me wrong, I like reminiscing. I love that I have sooo many fantastic memories that I have to sit and think a while to recall ones I've stored away. And I'm not afraid of the emotion that's awaiting me, when I finally board the plane and wave a tearful goodbye to my Canadian family. I know it's coming!

But maybe it's just the finalisation of actually saying the word and embracing the change. Maybe it's that goodbye has such weighty connotations. Like that I seriously may never see this person again. When, in all seriousness, I have no intention of never seeing them again!

I like to think that life isn't so black and white.

Goodbye is merely, see you again sometime. Maybe not soon, but sometime.

Yeah. That's better.

But it's still not easy.

Things I'm thankful for today:

~That I have people to say goodbye to here in BC.

~And people to say hello to when I get back to the UK.

~an Omnipresent God.

~7 year olds who like swimming, and who love to learn! :)

~Sun Cream

Killers & Comedy

Killers starring Aston Kutcher and Katherine Heigl. I went to see it at the theatre with Kenzie and Morgan last night.

Very funny and so easy to watch! And while it's not the best movie I ever saw, I would probably go and see it again.

She's stunning, he's unbelievably hot, and then Usher turns up for a scene, so automatically the aesthetics are top notch!

My Rating: 3.5/5.

And to top things off, it was Telus Tuesday. That means I paid a mere $11.45 for the movie, a regular popcorn and a large drink!!

How have I been here for two years and never heard of Telus Tuesday?! Head in the sand comes to mind, but that's another story..

We went to G'ma's after for tea and fruit and some north american TV.

Well I can't stand America's Got Talent. I've got to be honest, it's just horrendous.

Last Comic Standing however, was surprisingly fantastic.

It's season 7, and last nights episode was of the New York auditions. Too funny!

Mike DeStefano is my favourite to win. See his, and other auditions here:

http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/107622/last_comic_standing_auditions_news.php

Growing Up

I started monday morning in the office, clearing out my stuff, tidying, throwing out, packing away etc. Mission Accomplished.

Office emptied, I took my box and walked through the church corridors savouring the last time I'd do that...

I then drove to see some good friends of mine in Vancouver. To hang out. To say goodbye.

My 10-year-old as-good-as-sister, Taylor greeted me at the door with open arms and the widest grin! It's been 4 months since I saw her last, and could be as long as 3 years until I see her again.

Her hair had grown so much since February, but she's still as petite and graceful as ever.

We ate chips, made music and played in the garden while her mom was out. So much fun :)

But I think 10 years old is a difficult age.

You're too young, and too old at the same time. Too young to be a teenager, to be responsible. Too old to play role play or imagination games with your 5-year-old kid sister. Too clever and yet too immature. And so misunderstood.

But Taylor is beautiful and passionate. She dances and reads and likes to learn. She knows what she loves, and she's finding her niche in life.

She's growing up.

I'm so proud of her.

Hindsight

It's 23:07. It's late, and I'm tired. But my evening was pretty awesome, like I hoped.

And God is good.

:)

So I just got back from the studio, having finished recording vocals on my new song: 20/20.

I've posted the lyrics on my the Lyrics page. (Clever, eh?)

Check it out.

My filthy rags

Pastor Mark gave a sermon at Village (www.myvillagechurch.org) this morning on Philippians 3.

The Apostle Paul is such a dude. Seriously.

He's so audacious. He's totally unafraid to speak the truth, and he does so without a hint of pride or arrogance.

'If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more'

And he sure does. Any guy who can say this, mean it, and still remain humble, is officially a dude.

He goes on to list the reasons why he's levitically righteous but then disregards it all for the sake of Christ. Sure, there's a profit which comes from being a good Christian and upholding the law. But it's nothing, nothing, compared to knowing Christ.

Paul acknowledges that true righteousness, the kind that matters, is only attained through faith in Christ. Working to earn our salvation by keeping the law, is not only contrary to the Gospel message, it's not even possible.

'How then can we be saved? ...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags' (Isaiah 64:6)

The only way to the Father is through the Son. Jesus paved the way already. We are saved by grace. And grace alone.

I totally underestimate what a privilege it is to know Christ, and how faith in Him counts for infinitely more than my own attempts at securing salvation.

Why do I find this so hard to remember?

Time again, I hold my filthy rags up to my Saviour and seek His approval, as if they actually make a difference.

It makes not a spec of difference to my salvation. That's already secured. But I think He'd be pleased I'm trying at least. If it's for His pleasure and Glory and nothing else.

I can imagine Jesus, in His grace, taking those worthless old rags from me, and holding them dearly in His bloody fist as they crucify Him in punishment for my wrongdoings.

Oh how He loves us.

This concept of grace is so hard to grasp..

Sunny Days

It feels like a new year's resolution.

Or the excitement a five year old would have with their new toy at Christmas.

Two posts in two days! Lets see how long this lasts..

So the sun really changes things. People are happy when the sun comes out. Even the flowers look happier when the sun comes out!

All is well with the world and the desire to be at one with God's creation is so distinct.. it's glorious.

We sat outside to eat lunch at Grandma's. And I've had sun cream on for two days in a row! I love the smell of sun cream. It's one of my favourite things. It brings back so many happy memories from summer vacations when I was a kid!

We also walked around the market today, the sun darting behind the clouds every so often, keeping me on my toes; armed, cardigan in hand, ready to shield my pale skin from the cool wind.

Plus it's the World Cup too. All my memories of the world cups past, include sunshine, face painting and matches shown on big screens at church. Despite not being completely over England's 1-1 draw with the USA, and the fact that Germany won their first game, 4-0 against Australia, the World Cup is still my favourite time of every four years :)

It's only 5:30 and my day is already more than awesome. Here's to an awesome Sunday evening too.

Thank you Lord for sunny days. I really love them.

Daisy on a Sunny Day