Clara Hughes, speed skater, is the lucky Canadian who has the honour of carrying the flag and leading the strong Canadian team into the opening ceremonies.  And what a perfect athlete for the job!  Going into these Olympics, our Canadian team is so strong.  Since the last Olympics in 2006, Canada has put a lot of funds into helping our amateur athletes gain international ground.  It has really paid off.  You can’t look at the sport section right now without seeing another world cup medal won for Canada in one of the many winter sports we compete in.   Being only a couple weeks from the games, the athletes are starting to focus in on their preparations.  I’ve trained with Clara for the past 7 years, through 2 Olympic cycles and I know all of her energy is being spearheaded towards that big performance.  This announcement is just some extra energy for her to add to her arsenal.  Confidence will be priceless heading into her last Olympics.  I hope that the power of the experience catapults her into that higher level she needs to succeed in her races.  GO Clara GO!

I am expanding my blogging to a new site  I am so excited about the new blog and I hope that you all will check it out.  One of the things I enjoy most about writing this blog is when I post recipes.  I want to expand my passion for food to a site that is solely for that purpose.  I just started www.foodlovas.wordpress.com this week.  I will continue to post here, but I would love it if you also followed the new one.  Thanks!

So, this is a quick hodge-podge posting.  Just wanted to let everyone know that I finished the granny square afghan!!! Here’s a pic…

Ahhh, warm!

And we booked our trip to Kona, Hawaii!  Thanks to my old friend Kristi, we browsed a cool website she reccommended (www.vrbo.com) and found a cottage to stay in.  It is located in a forest up the mountain just five miles from the beach.  Of course Arne and I are renting bikes to get around. Can’t beat the athlete out of us (but why would you want to, right?)  Thanks Kriti Here’s a pic of the cottage…

So cute!

Friday was Arne’s defense for his masters in electrical engineering.  His thesis was on system modelling and system identification.  It was a very intense project and Arne has been working so hard for so long.  His final dissertation was a 2 hour oral presentation and examination by three professors.  I was able to watch the presentation because it was open to the public and then the rest was behind closed doors.  A couple hours later he emerged with a big grin.  He passed with only minor corrections!  He now has a MSc in engineering.  Congratulations Arne!

Break on through to the other side!  So, after the disappointment of not making the games, I’ve entered a very unfamiliar realm.  This realm may also be very unfamiliar to all of you who work your tails off, so I’ll try my best to explain.  I have entered into the state of true boredom…da da dum!  I have been off the ice for a grand total of 12 days.  The first few days were bliss.  My family was still in town, so I visited like never before!  When they headed home and Arne went back to school, I found myself free to do what I wanted.  What a feeling!  (that is a song too)  I went to the mall and walked about with no worries of what my legs would feel like the next day.  I drank wine with dinner on a week day!  I ate fast food.  It was, wait for it, legendary! (That’s for all you How I Met Your Mother fans out there - go Barney!) But lo and behold, I quickly ran out of things to do.  I was so desperate that I even went for a run!  I quickly realized that I needed to do something before I started exercising too much, so I set my sites on a new project.  My mother in law gave me a Sinterklaas gift of yarn remnants from when she used to make Arne and Maarten sweaters.  I had been fantasizing (yes I said fantasizing, I told you I am obsessed) about making an afghan, but stuck to small projects during the season.  Now that I had more time, it was the afghan project that I tackled.  Here’s what I have so far:

Each square is taking me about 60 minutes.  That can fill up a day, but finally the free time is all starting to come to an end now.  I got my textbooks for a class on the anthropology of language.  I have to start getting ready to move, etc.  But for the past 12 days I have experienced what many have not and will not - true boredom.  What a luxury.

Check out my favorite crochet site - it’s a new link under Favorite Links called The Art of Crochet.

Hi all!  So, I have a big question for you all and I need some feedback please.  Arne and I are going to go on a holiday.  I have dreamed of this vacation my whole life.  Preferably we would go to a deserted island with bight sunshine and warm ocean water, but that could get a bit pricey :)  I will settle for a hot getaway as long as it includes the warm ocean water of course.  Arne’s requirements are that it is not an all-inclusive or too “americanized”.  That might also be hard to get away from, so it could be a little “americanized”.  West Jet flies to Hawaii and the Bahamas, so we have those in mind, but otherwize we are stumped.  We don’t know anything!  Please help!

So, you might have already heard, but I didn’t qualify for the Olympics this time around.  Of course I am very dissppointed.  More importantly, when I look back I have no regrets and that makes it easier to swallow.  It was important to me to not give up, but to really put myself all in.  The result is not what I wanted, but I am happy that I went out fighting not hiding. 

Like my Dad always told me, the road to success is the most important and the success is just the gravy on the potatoes.  (I got my fair share of gravy, hey Dad?) 

A heartfelt thanks to all the people who came out on the 27th and 29th.  It meant so much to me.  The support of my family, friends, Nexera Canola Dow AgroSciences and AdFarm are second to none!