my holiday in iPhone photos.

the holidays kicked off for me at our company Christmas party on December 1, i had fun collecting pieces for my outfit – i opted for plaid, black, spikes and cream to tie all the pieces together!  Ryan is home for the month and we had fun buying everyone presents, some of which we sampled at the Granville Island market (a little Isle of Mull cheddar and Honey & Hay pecorino from Benton Brothers = to die for, and pâté from Oyama Sausage).  Christmas was up in Roberts Creek with my parents and brother this year, so we ferried up with a stash of Holiday beer to enjoy!  Our annual card from Makito was waiting for us up at my parents – it gets better every year Makito!  We were able to visit and open presents with Grandad on Christmas morning and he shared some of his chocolate stash with us!  Boxing day we had breakfast with my in-laws and met Michelle and Chris’ new puppy!  I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing Holiday!  Best wishes for the New Year! xoxo

my weeks in iPhone photos.

Summer has finally arrived in Vancouver, and that means enjoying one of my favourite summer berries – raspberries!  Rohe lies around the apartment trying to stay cool,  I got a great deal on a new pair of Loeffler Willow mignon knot flats (and Rohe loves shoes nearly as much as I do)!  Ryan and I made Curried Devilled Eggs with a recipe from Vij (super simple and really delicious), Mr. Plow is now living in the tree outside our apartment lobby, and Ryan, his dad and I went to the Central City Summer Cask Festival!  Summer is flying by and it feels as though it just started! Hope you’re enjoying the gorgeous weather!

Last weekend…

A few pictures from last weekend… I bought some peonies (my 2nd favourite flower) for a co-worker before she left for her mat leave, a picture of a reluctant Rohe on my MacBook photobooth cam, Ryan and I made our imitation Japadog (miso mayo, green onion and shaved daikon – a delicious fresh twist on a summer favourite), Rohe pretended to be a real cat by walking on our window sill and Ryan snapped the few seconds Rohe was actually snuggling (until he realized where he was and escaped).

Saturday Morning

A beautiful, sunny morning to wake up to, a fuzzy hungry cat insisting to Ryan to that he be fed, me heading out to run errands, and my ferns getting dehyrdated!  Hope everyone is having a great start to their long weekend! Photos 2 & 3 by Ryan.

my weeks in iPhone photos.

Phewf!  A few weeks of my life packed into this iPhone update, my new job has me visiting condos and buildings around town with my boss and this first shot is atop the rental suites at 18 West Hastings!  A pretty neat view of downtown and Gastown!  (We are basically on top of Bitter!)  Rohe embracing laundry day again, wrapped up in our comforter while the cover is being washed.  Ryan bought me an orchid after a stressful day at work, I walk to work along Pacific St to get to work, and there have been Canadian Geese basking in the rare patches of sunlight we’ve been getting the past few weeks.

Ryan and I walked around downtown last weekend and the magnolias are starting to bloom, probably my favourite flowering tree!  Daffodils are out and blooming all over the neighbourhood too, its great to finally feel that spring is coming!  Ryan has been making bread today, and it has turned out beautifully!  Quite a tasty hobby, thanks Ryan!  And I went in to H&M looking for pretty tops to wear to a wedding that Ryan and I are photographing in a few weekends, and found this Marni at H&M silky dot dress (someone must have returned it), so I’m excited to wear it soon!

the weekend

The weekend went by too fast, of course, and with daylight sayings, it feels like it went by even faster  I as lucky enough to snag a pair of the shoes that I was hoping for from the Marni at H&M collaboration that went on sale on March 8th!  I wasn’t able to line up in the morning downtown, but I hoofed it over to Pacific Centre after work around 5 and there were 2 pairs left, both in my size!  Not much else was left though, a few styles that didn’t seem to have proven too popular, 2 pairs of shoes and a pair of socks!  I’m really excited about my shoes,  I can’t wait until the weather warms up and I can wear them out!

Saturday, Ryan and I cleaned the apartment top to bottom (with Rohe’s help of course) and I added a piece of costume jewelry to my collection, a red and silver floral piece, once owned by my dad’s mom.  My parents had given it to me last weekend when I was up for a visit (and to stain and varnish the bed my dad has made for us – more on that later) – thanks you guys!

Ryan and I visited Rob and Jeri on Sunday, and stopped at my favourite Main street craft store on the way (some neat graffiti in the alleys leading up to it), and I shipped my second Etsy order!  We accomplished a lot, but I wish we had just one more day!  Hope you had a great weekend too!

More Rohe weight loss!

Crazy cat lady here!  Rohebo has lost another 0.4 kg since his last significant weighing!! Little Gooberface is now below his original target weight of 6.5 kg! (Thanks to Mom and Dad who took him in to the Sechelt Animal Hospital for a weigh when he was being catsat!)  He’s so light now, i’m going to have to get my arm workout somewhere else! Go Rohe!

the incredible shrinking cat!

i noticed that i hadn’t posted about my cat in a while, and in order to maintain my crazy cat lady status, i’ll share some happy news about my little goober!

our little goopum, rohebo, i am ashamed to say, ballooned to just over 10kg after his first 1.5 years with me. he was kitten sized until about year 1, and then once i started feeding him adult cat food, his weight got out of control! i tried to portion based on the can instructions and his general size, but he always seemed hungry, always begging, i didn’t know what to do! exercising him in my tiny studio apartment was extremely tough, i tried looking for lower calorie food at the pet stores, etc. my victoria vet told me, “cat’s gain and loose weight like women.” and i asked, “how so?”. the reply: “they gain weight fast and lose it slow.” awesome. thanks. i tried feeding him smaller portions before i left for work and when i came home at night, but i didn’t seem to be seeing any results.

thankfully, the vet hospital in sechelt was a fantastic help for us! over christmas of 2009, rohe swallowed some ribbon and yacked it back up, but we were unsure as to whether there was more down there, and as we learned, ribbon can cause serious damage to a cat/animal’s digestive system, so we took him in to the sechelt animal hospital. here are his fat-padded x-rays thankfully, there was no more ribbon (yay – no surgery), but even more photographic evidence of his obesity.

just as is the case with humans, obese cats are at risk for diabetes, so the vet helped us come up with a plan and put rohe on a reducing “prescription”, available only at the vet, diet food – medical reducing for felines – being fed one portion in the morning and one at night. we brought rohe back to victoria and tried him on the diet.  his whining and begging and complaining was excruciating, (and the food is expensive) but if it was going to work and make sure he would be healthy, then we were absolutely willing to go through the early mornings and constant complaining (and the price tag, of course)!

after 4 months on the diet, we took him back in to the vet for weighing in april 2010… well… rohe had gained nearly 1.3 kg… on his diet

SO the wonderful group at the sechelt animal hospital helped us portion and plan out his meals even further, so that he would receive the portions 4x a day and he would get his kibble only if he worked for it, batting around this treat ball. ryan and i worked VERY hard (ryan especially) at exercising him in my tiny studio apartment… (photo below of him squashing a bubble we made him chase)

so while i was up at my parents last in may 2011, i brought him in to the SAH again aaaaaaand…….

rohe has lots nearly 4kg! 3.19kg in just over a year of dieting and exercise! he has lost nearly a full small cat! we are SO happy and have just another 0.87kg to go for his goal weight! admittedly, it might not be easy to see that big of a distinction b/w my photos of large fat cat (above photo 2) and now svelte cat (photo below), but the proof is in the weighing! go rohe!

then & now.

 

[photos by me.] our little goober in 2008 and now 2011.

christmas wrap-up.

the patterns for the darth vader (and boba fett/clone) snowflakes can be found here. (my brother’s friend nicole tipped us off to them!) ryan cut the one pictured here… my darths looked like cocker spaniels…

the fabulous erin P. sent us these amazing williams-sonoma star wars pancake molds for christmas! thanks erin!!! the tastiness was strong with these pancakes…

after a week up at my parents place for christmas in roberts creek, we headed over to the in-laws to recreate a nelson christmas morning (complete with snow!). jeri made the most amazing breakfast spread of freshly baked brioche, pickled herring, turkey sausages, boiled eggs and sparkling apple cider! ryan made us some tasty lattés too! deeeelicious!