All I want for Christmas...

I am a big fan of Christmas.  I love Christmas music, I love Christmas lights, I love snow, I love drinking hot chocolate and I love decorating!  Most of all, I love spending Christmas with my family.  


It is with these thoughts each and every year, that I already know what I want for Christmas.  As I'm sure we all know, coordinating Christmas can be difficult when dealing with siblings and parents, all of whom have very busy schedules and lives.  Needless to say, scheduling a family Christmas can get tricky and I'm sure we aren't the only family that deals with this on an annual basis.  My siblings are married, so that throws even more extended family scheduling difficulties into the mix.  Last Christmas, my entire family was not together, and even though most of us were there, it still didn't feel like it should have.  I felt like the same thing was going to happen this Christmas and I was feeling slightly sad because I wanted to share this special time of year with my entire family.  So I made an early Christmas wish:  "all I want for Christmas is to be with my entire family."


My parents and I had discussed the Christmas plans, and it sounded like it would be fragmented again.  My sister and I also were trying to sort it out, and again, I didn't have much hope that we would all be together on Christmas.  I would enjoy myself anyway, regardless of whether my entire family was present or not, I was just really hoping that we could all be together this year.  I landed this morning from a flight and received a message from my sister: everyone is going to make it this year!  My Christmas wish came true!!  I will be celebrating Christmas with my entire family and I couldn't ask for anything more than that.


That and world peace...


Happy holidays :-)

Technology and I

This past Saturday my blackberry died.  No radio signal, and if I was getting one, it was wildly fluctuating between full service bars and no service at all.  My track pad stopped working so I was unable to navigate throughout the applications on my phone.  No calendar.  No alarm clock.  No contacts.  No text messaging.  No blackberry messaging.  No facebook.  No email.  My cell phone is my only phone so needless to say, my life was greatly impacted by this event.  Sure, I could access my email and facebook by using my laptop - but really?!  How inconvenient!  I don't lead the type of life that is conducive to sitting in front of a computer (side note:  it's quite ironic that I'm sitting here right now in front of a computer writing this blog - but I digress).

Panic set in almost immediately.  How was I to communicate?  How was I going to keep in touch with the outside world?  What if I missed something?  How are people going to get in touch with me?  How will I remember my appointments?  What if people are text messaging me?  The list of panic related thoughts went on and on, spiralling out of control, until I finally collected myself, and decided to spring into action to rectify my isolated situation. 

This action involved borrowing a phone to call my cell phone provider, driving to the kiosk in the mall where my provider sells phones, and driving to a cell phone repair shop in order to pay to get it fixed myself.  The answer was the same at each place:  we can't help you at this moment.  Seven determined hours later, I found my very frustrated self back at home, alone, and still with a very broken blackberry.  The repair person, after three solid hours of trying, was unable to fix it and sent me on my way saying "I've never seen a problem like this before, good luck!"  My cell phone provider's way of dealing with this problem was to mail a loaner phone to me along with an empty envelope from their warranty office, with which I could put my broken phone into and mail it back to them.  Great.  Snail mail was the solution to fix my very pressing problem.

Seeing as this was my only option, I told myself it was going to be okay.  Maybe I can get through a couple of days without a phone.  Maybe it will be nice to be unattached technologically for one or two days.  I did stress to my provider that this was my only phone, and they did assure me I would have my loaner phone in three to five days.  Maybe I will be alright.  I can get through this!  I lived many years ago without a cell phone, albeit I was younger, but I CAN AND WILL do it again!  Bring it on!!

Day one without a cell phone was okay.  Not great though, and I definitely experienced many moments of panic, but I was doing okay.  I was still adjusting to the idea of being without a phone but my spirits were high and I was being positive.

Day two was a bit more intense.  I was starting to feel even more out of the loop.  What was going on?  What if someone was trying to contact me?  The panic was setting in a bit more now, but I was still valiantly fighting it off with a good effort.  I was beginning to feel irritable at times and could only attribute it to cell phone withdrawal.  I comforted myself with the thought that my loaner phone would soon be arriving in the mail.   

Day three:  I was literally withdrawing from everyone around me.  My only means of communicating was relegated to using the internet via my laptop.  Each hour crawled by.  Fortunately, I lead a very busy life so I couldn't sit around all day stressing about having no phone, but that meant that I couldn't have access to the internet and my laptop all the time as well.  My anxiety was mounting.  What if my loaner phone doesn't arrive?  What if someone emails me and I'm not around my laptop?  How am I supposed to live like this!?!  Again, I found comfort in the thought that my loaner phone would arrive, I was sure, by tomorrow!

Day four:  Still no loaner phone.  I arrived home and was disappointed that it still hadn't come.  But I was starting to get used to having no phone and figured I could wait another day or two.  I guess you could say that acceptance was starting to set in.  UNTIL, I tried to log onto the internet via my laptop and discovered that my internet signal was down.  Explosions of panic triggered inside of me.  I am going to die, all alone in my apartment, with no access to the outside world at all!  Now I can't even email somebody if I want to communicate!?!?!  That's it!!  I'd had enough!  I could somewhat deal with haveing no phone as long as I had access to the internet.  But no internet AND no phone?!  It was simply too much (or not enough - depending on which way you look at it)!  I left my house, drove to the nearest store where my cell phone provider sells phones, and bought myself a new blackberry.  Immediately I felt better.  Did I feel better about the money spent?  Absolutely not.  But can I put it into a 'necessity' category?  Absolutely.

Day five:  I am happily texting again and have emerged back into the outside world.

During this whole ordeal, I felt at times, especially when my internet signal went down, that mother nature was playing a cruel game with me and forcing me to take a step back from communicating and technology.  Ideally, it would be nice to take a break from all of the connections we are linked into and spend some quality time with ourselves and away from the field of technology.  However, this time needs to be regulated and taken at one's discretion, perhaps while on vacation and when one plans for this type of isolating, mind-building activity.  To lose all forms of communicating technologically while busily going about one's life is absolutely unbearable; technology is so much a part of life these days.  It makes life difficult to the point where the amount of money one can spend on rectifying the situation becomes trivial.  Money is not an option if it means getting the convenience of easy communication back into your life. 

The lesson I learned:  I cannot live without technology.  Well, I guess I can live without it if I had to, but it is not an easy situation to be in and one in which I hope to not find myself again anytime soon. 

Day six:  still no loaner phone...

Let's Have a Sleepover!

I live on my own, with my dog Mocha.  My apartment is my oasis.  It is a quiet and relaxing environment, which is tastefully decorated in soothing tones of rich browns and tans.  I have added some zen with the use of bamboo plants and baskets.  Overall, between Mocha and I, we have created quite a comfortable little home that provides refuge from the rigours of daily life.  Sometimes, I want to share my oasis. 

It is with this thought in mind that I mentioned to my sister how nice it would be to have my four-year-old niece and three-year-old nephew come visit me for a sleepover.  Since I moved here five months ago, I have not had my niece and nephew over to stay the night.  My sister, of course, jumped at the opportunity for she and her husband to have a night off from parenting, and the date was planned fairly quickly for me to have them over the next Saturday evening.  I was more than happy to spend some time with my little relatives, and spent the entire week looking forward to Saturday.  Saturday came last night. 
  
My niece, Sara, and nephew, Andrew, arrived yesterday afternoon, bags packed full of toys with their sleeping bags and mattresses all ready to be rolled out for the sleepover at Auntie Kendra's.  I had gone shopping and made sure my fridge was full of cookie dough, pizzas, chips, juice and all of the other snacks that make sleepovers fun.  I was planning on taking them out for dinner, but when given the option, they decided they would rather stay in and make pizza. 

First challenge: getting them to eat their pizza.  As I soon found out, each bite is a bargain.  Andrew flat out refused to eat any pizza at all.  He was opting for potato chips instead.  He complained he was too full to eat, but seemed to have plenty of room for potato chips.  A battle of wills ensued between Andrew and I.  It was a tough one and was hard fought by both sides, but I eventually held out, and Andrew as per our negotiated eating agreement, ended up having five bites of pizza.  The five bite agreement was almost scrapped when Andrew decided to fake the bites and chew on nothing in an attempt to get me to believe he was eating the pizza.  The problem here, and at his tender age of three I don't think he foresaw this, was that there were still no bites taken out of his piece of pizza while he was pretending to eat it.  I called his bluff; he folded.  Sara, being a slight bit older than Andrew and therefore perhaps in posession of a greater amount of wisdom, observed the battle of wills and deduced that perhaps eating the pizza may be the easiest way for her to get through her dinner and continue on with the sleepover plans.    
 
Five real bites and three fake bites of pizza later, we continued on with our plan for the evening, which included a 'quick' road trip to Blockbuster.  Second challenge: coats, hats, mittens, car seats.  I don't feel one can go anywhere quickly when two car seats and two children under the age of five are involved.  It took half an hour and a flurry of coats, shoes, mittens, and hats before both Sara and Andrew were ready to walk out the door.  This also included another round of negotiations involving mittens.  We headed out to the car where the car seats ominously awaited.  I think there must be a better way to design those things!  I wrestled both Sara and Andrew into their car seats - pulling and fighting with their seatbelt straps in order to squish them into the safety clip that just never seems to reach out far enough from the base of their seats.  I mean, I know they're supposed to be tight for safety, but really?!  This took another 20 minutes, and then we were off!  Fifty minutes later our 'quick' trip to Blockbuster was finally underway!    

Next challenge: getting two children under the age of five to agree on the same movie.  The negotiations of picking out a movie was coupled with a close call involving pee on the floor of Blockbuster.  I think this one speaks for itself.  And yes, Blockbuster does have bathrooms.  I am guessing for exactly the same reason which sent me running to the Blockbuster counter, interrupting the current movie rental transaction, and frantically asking if there was a bathroom available because, "My nephew has to pee and cannot hold it!"  Yes, my nephew and his pee were much more important than the person who was trying to pay for their movie rental at that point in time.  It's funny how all dignity and decorum go out the window when children are involved. 

Another 50 minutes later and we were on our way home.  Our 'quick' road trip to Blockbuster lasted almost two hours from start to finish.  Is this perhaps the reason why people with young children never have any time?  I am beginning to think so.  Back at my place we put the movie on.  The Cat and the Hat was the movie that my niece and nephew had finally agreed on and I was amazied at the wonders of TV!  With a push of the play button, The Cat and the Hat took over babysitting from me for a while.  Sara and Andrew zoned in and I, thankfully, zoned out. 

Throughout the past 24 hours of spending time with Sara and Andrew I have realized two very important things: one, negotiating is key, and two, I am definitely not ready for kids of my own!  However, kid chaos aside, it was fantastic to spend time with them and I can't wait for the next sleepover!  In between now and then, I will be working on my negotiation and power of persuasion skills.     

Hello London, I'm Kendra. It's nice to meet you.

I love London.  It is my favourite city in the world, and although I haven't been to every city in the world, of the ones I have visited so far - London is my favourite.  There is an energy that crackles throughout the city, unlike anything I've ever felt anywhere else.  I fell in love with London, the very first moment I stepped onto her sidewalks and right into the hustle and bustle of one of the oldest cities in Europe.  There I was, all alone and experiencing my first taste of the United Kingdom. 

I had a goal:  get to Victoria Station, jump on the Tube and head over to Covent Garden.  I was in search of a pub on Maiden Lane near Covent Garden called the Maple Leaf.  Yes, a Canadian pub in London.  And yes, I was going to find it.  Some may think it a little odd that I came all the way from Canada to London and headed directly for a Canadian pub.  But that is exactly what I intended to do.  I was going to find my piece of Canada in London! 

I navigated my way throughout the London underground, deep below the streets of London, making all of the necessary station transfers.  Soon enough, I emerged back up onto the sidewalk and into Covent Garden.  I began to walk.  With each step the revelation became more clear: I was in London and I was caught in her energy!  I wandered throughout Covent Garden taking in the sights and sounds.  There were elegant theatres announcing exciting Broadway productions, there was a square attached to Covent Garden Market, an outdoor shopping area, where I paused to take in an opera singer performance for people sitting at outdoor cafes while they sipped their wine.  The architecture of the buildings reinforced my impression that I was walking on cobblestones that so many had walked on for hundreds of years before me.  And I felt like I belonged, not only to the present, but i was also connected to the past in that moment. 

With my ultimate goal of finding the Maple Leaf Pub still in my mind, I wandered on.  Quite quickly I stumbled across Maiden Lane.  This was the street the Maple Leaf was on!  I turned right onto Maiden Lane, and soon enough, there it was!  A big red sign announcing that a piece of Canadian culture resides right there, just off Covent Garden square and in the heart of London.  I had found my way!  I walked into my little piece of Canada in London and sat down.  There were pictures of the Blue Jays baseball team hanging on the walls, jerseys belonging to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens on display, Canadian beers on tap, there was even a huge stuffed bear looming over the patrons!  Incredible!  I had found Canada tucked away on Maiden Lane in London!  I sat down, ordered a pint of beer, and revelled in my surroundings.  I was in a Canadian pub in London.   

I went to London in search of a little piece of Canada, and I fell in love!  They say a good relationship feels like coming home.  This is the best way to describe how I feel about London.  My first trip into the city marked the beginning of a relationship that has been wonderful.  It has been filled with exploring new places and learning about history, discovering new experiences and understanding the past.  Although I do not visit her often enough, she is always there, waiting for me to discover a new adventure within her streets.  

The Beauty of Autumn

There is something inherently beautiful about this time of year.  I love breathing in the cold crisp air and seeing the leaves changing into an inimitable array of reds and yellows.  Mostly, and although it means physical labour to many people, I love the way the leaves blanket the ground, creating a light and crackly surface with which to walk on and to dance your feet through.  It is during this time of year, I find myself getting restless and wanting to create change.  Is it because the landscape of our environment around us is very blatantly undergoing change and symbolizing the passage of time?  I have spoken with friends of mine and they seem to feel the same restless urges during this time of year.  It makes me realize how much we sub-consciously are in-tune with mother nature and the changes she creates with the passing of the seasons.  Making a big life change is sometimes hard to achieve based on a seasonally affected whim, as there are obligations, responsibilities, and long-term plans to stick to and carry out.  However, small changes are well within reach.  This is perhaps, for me, the correct way to go about dealing with these urges.  Over the past couple of weeks, I have attempted to create an illusion of change in my surroundings by buying new side tables and a new throw blanket for my couch.  I joined a gym, changed my daily routine, and bought some new clothes.  I find these little changes keep me satisfied with the knowledge that I am attempting to make positive change in my life, but it also keeps me in-tune with my long-term goals.  It is chilly out but what better way to contemplate change and the passage of time, than bundling up and taking a nice long walk to view the changing scenery on the canvas of mother nature and take inspiration from the beauty of Autumn.