Friday, April 29, 2011

Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge


Today, Prince William married his longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton, who became Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, based on royal titles bestowed by the groom's granny hours before the wedding. Please check out a (slightly long, at 13 minutes) video of highlights below. Want an even shorter one? CLICK HERE for the 'Royal Wedding in 60 Seconds'. :)

Mazel Tov and a lifetime of happiness to the Royal Couple.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Legend of Zelda ... the Movie?

OK - so not really. This was an April Fool's Day trick from IGN a couple of years ago. Still - it would be neat to see someday. I'm guessing it's a matter of 'when' rather than 'if' ... I certainly hope so as a Zelda fan. :)

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Happy Passover, Happy Easter

So I mentioned last week celebrating Passover with my in-laws, which was lovely. This past weekend was Easter, and we spent it with my mom and step-dad, my dad and step-mom, and my brother (as well as my Uncle Bob). The festivities started Saturday afternoon with an Easter egg hunt for Little Tyke and Little J, as well as a lovely family dinner, and continued into Sunday as we went to church together and had brunch at my house before everyone hit the road. I believe I can speak for everyone to say a good time was had by all. :)

Sunday evening Ari and I decided to enjoy the lovely weather of the day and bought some smoked meat sandwiches downtown to eat on Parliament Hill - a lovely place to picnic and soak up the sun, with lots of running around room for Little Tyke. :) Who should we run into there but my cousin Ken from Montreal! I haven't seen him in about 5 years, since my uncle's funeral, and I got to meet his second son too, who was a real sweetie LT's age - the boys played together so nicely. I was sorry to miss his wife and oldest, who were back at their hotel, but it was still a super-nice Easter surprise.

Yesterday we went to the park for the afternoon, and stopped in at the pet store to complete Little Tyke's easter gift - we bought him a Betta fish, since he'd been so enthralled by the fish at Denny's where we had Palm Sunday brunc with my in-laws last week. Definitely a hit, he's enjoyed having "Fishy" in his room ever since. Now? 6:30 am and I'm on my way to a day of work. But I wanted to check in before heading off - hope everyone's holidays, whichever you celebrated - were fabulous, and I wish you a great last week of April. Much love!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

T Mobile Royal Wedding

Check this video out - lots of fun. :)

Friday, April 15, 2011

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - Stephen Colbert Sings 'Friday' with The Roots (4/1/11) - Video - NBC.com

Can't embed this without violating copyright - and it's a couple weeks old - but given the day of the week ... thought sharing would be appropriate. Enjoy y'all!

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - Stephen Colbert Sings 'Friday' with The Roots (4/1/11) - Video - NBC.com

Monday, April 11, 2011

A Lovely Time ...

So it's been a busy few days - but worth it.

I usually make a point here of not talking too much about work, other than mentioning that yes I am a teacher, and yes, from time to time it keeps me busy. Occasionally, I might mention sometimes I wish it did moreso. But working both in education, and in youth ministry - in other words, with children - I tend to consider discretion and confidentiality a big part of professionalism, no matter which of my two work hats I'm wearing.

However, I had such a great experience this weekend that I wanted to share. My pastor, Ellie, and I awhile back came up with the idea that, as the Trinity United Church Sunday School has grown beautifully, and the parents spend a good deal of time after church chatting anyway, since our children's choir practices at that time, we should have a potluck lunch. That went down yesterday. Was it a busy time? Absolutely. Was it a lot of work? For sure. However ... seeing the kids play together so nicely, while having the chance to actually sit down and have a meaningful conversation with the parents I work with and get some good feedback on the children and family ministry at church, instead of a few hurried words on our way in and out of church, was fabulous for me. A good time was had by all, and while I went home and napped for an hour or three, it was well worth the effort - especially given it was all hands on deck as a potluck, and for cleanup afteward (Moms are great lol).

I felt very fulfilled in my work yesterday seeing it culminate in almost all of the people I work with gathering in one place ... being able to include my boys, and seeing LT and Little J have such a great time, was the icing on a very sweet cake. Anyone from Trinity who might meander over this way ... thank you very much for making yesterday such a Spirit-driven event in this Easter season. I enjoyed working, and socializing, together with all of you to make it happen. Much love and many blessings.

Monday, April 4, 2011

One more down ...

Reading List Update

With about 3 weeks to spare until Easter, I managed to complete John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg's "The First Christmas". Now, perhaps in time for next Christmas, I will have completed 'The Last Week', hmmm ... ? :)

1. Dead and Gone - Charlaine Harris
2. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
3. Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
4. The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs
5. A History of God - Karen Armstrong
6. Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama
7. Beloved - Toni Morrison
8. 'Tis - Frank McCourt
9. The Host - Stephenie Meyers
10. The Constant Princess - Phillipa Gregory
11. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
12. The Six Wives of Henry the 8th - Alison Weir
13. Eleanor of Aquitaine - Alison Weir
14. Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
15. The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
16. The Two Towers - J.R.R. TOlkien
17. The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
18. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
19. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling
20. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
21. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
22. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
23. Dracula - Bram Stoker
24. Paradise Lost - John Milton
25. The Inferno - Dante
26. Towelhead - Alicia Erian
27. Sex, Lies, and Headlocks - Shaun Assael and Mike Mooneyham
28. The Way the Crow Flies - Ann-Marie MacDonald
29. The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood
30. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
31. This United Church of Ours - Ralph Milton
32. Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
33. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
34. Stardust - Neil Gaiman
35. Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
36. The First Christmas - Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan
37. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
38. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
39. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
40. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
41. Deception Point - Dan Brown
42. Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
43. The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown
44. Lolita - Vladimir Nobokov
45. Atonement - Ian McEwan
46. All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
47. Under the Dome - Stephen King
48. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
49. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
50. Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe
51. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
52. Scarlett - Alexandra Ripley
53. White Noise - Don De Litto
54. Their Eyes were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
55. Primary Colours - Anonymous
56. Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
57. Ragtime - E.L. Doctorow
58. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark
59. Misquoting Jesus - Bart Ehrman
60. Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlasser
61. My Years as Prime Minister - Jean Chretien
62. Memoirs - Pierre Trudeau
63. Shake Hands with the Devil - Romeo d'Allaire
64. Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin
65. The Secret Mulroney Tapes - Peter C. Newman
66. Why I Hate Canadians - Will Ferguson
67. Planet Simpson - Chris Turner
68. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
69. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams
70. Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams
71. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish - Douglas Adams
72. Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams
73. Fifth Business - Robertson Davies
74. The Manticore - Robertson Davies
75. World of Wonders - Robertson Davies
76. The Donnellys - James Reaney
77. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
78. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
79. Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
80. Not Wanted on the Voyage - Timothy Findlay
81. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
82. Coraline - Neil Gaiman
83. The Crucible - Arthur Miller
84. Mirror Mirror - Gregory Maguire
85. The Emerging Christian Way - Marcus Borg et al
86. Sorbonne Confidential - Laurel Zuckerman
87. What Happened to Anna K - Irina Reyn
88. The Silver Linings Playbook - Matthew Quick
89. Hey Nostradamus! - Douglas Coupland
90. Girlfriend in a Coma - Douglas Coupland
91. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
92. The 5 People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
93. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
94. Interview with the Vampire - Ann Rice
95. The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
96. The Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe
97. Guys and Dolls - Damon Runyon
98. Good Book - David Plotz
99. He's Just Not that Into You - Greg Behrendt, Liz Tuccillo, Lauren Monchik
100. Undisputed - Chris Jericho
101. Jesus for the Non-Religious - John Shelby Spong

This book was really interesting, in that while it was very accessible and readable - you don't need some divinity degree to read it - it still covered some deep and complex stuff. I love Crossan, Borg, John Shelby Spong, Karen Armstrong and others of their ilk for making very complex theological thought and learning available to the masses; there is so much misinterpretation and misunderstanding of just what Jesus' message was and has been, that I feel progressive Christians tend to shy away from that term and that identity rather than claim it and defend it. A well-written book articulating just what the wonder and mystery of the Christmas story is supposed to represent was a wonderful thing to read at Christmas (and yes, beyond) and bring myself back in touch with the holiday's true spirit. An excellent offering. :)

Saturday, April 2, 2011

An Important Message from Rick Mercer

(and a promise I will blog more regularly going forward - this week was just more jam-packed than I realized it would be ... my apologies, I've been too busy living life to write about it this week :)