A Happy Christmas 2014

I hope you and your family had a very happy Christmas this year.  I feel very spoiled this year with all the goodness around me.  Here are some pictures from my happy holidays.

 My sweetheart planned a lovely stay-cation for us this year complete with a breakfast in our room one morning.  Everything was very delicious and displayed nicely.  The hashbrowns were formed into a circular cake and I was pleasantly surprised to find that green onions and herbs had been cooked in to give it a nice, fragrant flavour.

 Every morning, I had a little wrapped present from my hunny.  There was chocolate inside, but also a hint about the activities planned for the day.  It was a fun game.  Sometimes the hints were easy to guess, other times I didn't know until we got closer to the event.

One of the activities took place at Canada Place.

We did the Christmas version of Fly Over Canada.  It was fun and it reminded me of the Soaring Over California ride at Disneyland.  You know how much I love Disneyland  :)

 Speaking of Disney, here's Olaf in Summer... lol...  He was probably a very nice ice sculpture since he was still recognizable after being left in warmer temperatures for too long.

The best part of the whole trip to Canada Place other than the show, were the Do-It-Yourself S'mores. 

 Believe it or not, I have never eaten a S'more before.

 I waited anxiously for my marshmallow to be perfectly toasted and placed onto the waiting graham cracker and chocolate square.  You can't see me in this photo.  I am drooling somewhere within biting distance.

 I must say, I LOVED it.  I think I could have eaten a whole pile of them (and then probably regretted it later after a severe sugar high).  Sooooo gooooood! 

 I was also gifted a handsome gingerbread man when watching the gingerbread competition downtown.  Some people are so talented!  My talent is only in eating gingerbread men  :P

 We also got some tummy-warming cups of hot apple cider.  Mmmm!

 Back at the hotel, I found some yummy chocolate dipped strawberries waiting for me.  I think my hunny loves me  :)  We also watched Avenue Q at Granville Island during our trip (which is hilariously inappropriate), visited the Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge at night (you MUST check out the awesome cliff walk and the romantically lit lake), rode the Stanley Park Holiday Train (a holiday tradition that goes well with their organic popcorn), visited the German Christmas Market (I relived my childhood on the Merry-Go-Round, and forced my hunny to relive a more nightmarish version of his too) and enjoyed the delicious eateries in Vancouver.

All in all, it was a really memorable Christmas.  I could not have asked for a better last Christmas as an unmarried couple, and we look forward to next year when will be a married couple!  Cheers to a lovely, event-filled year and I wish you all an excellent year to come!

Love, 

Marie

xoxo

The Cat's Out Of The Bag - Off To Nursing School We Go!

Yep, that's right! The choice has been made, and it's off to nursing school for me! Yippee!

I always hear about how hard it is to get into nursing school, so I was ready for a letter of rejection for my application. Lo and behold, I got in!!! It's amazing!

But I took a long time to think it over. A career change is a big thing, and FOUR MORE YEARS OF SCHOOL is, well, it's quite daunting. Plus, I rather like my new job as an animator and I like the group I'm working in. It's really too bad that I have to leave.

I told my workplace on Friday, about a month in advance. They were really nice and said I could come back if I ever changed my mind. They were hoping to renew my contract because they said my team really liked me and they were happy with my quality of work. (That's very nice of them to say, huh?) I will miss them very much when I'm gone.

But I've made many new friends there, and I hope they'll stick around because I like them. Meanwhile, I have to start registering for classes and buying school supplies. I even have to buy a nurse's uniform! My school colours for that are evergreen with a pale, dusty green trim. I could opt for the reverse colour combination, but I think the darker green will be more practical. For some reason, I feel giddy to think that I have to wear a nurse's uniform soon. It seems awfully fun!

So it seems I have finally reached the crossroads. I had been avoiding it for so long. Coincidentally, I kept meeting random people on the bus and skytrains that just happened to be nurses - go figure. My co-workers encouraged me to pursue the nursing path too as they felt it would be a "real job". It's funny, isn't being an animator a real job too?

So I'm pretty nervous stepping back into the shoes of a student so I can grow into the shoes of a nurse. Will I like it? Will I hate it? I don't really know yet. My friend who is also going into nursing this year knows exactly what she wants, and she's so sure of her chosen path. It makes me feel abnormal to be so hesitant, but I know that I want to to try becoming a nurse and that I would make a good one. I fear that I will suck at it, but I know that I'll be okay.

My main worries are that I'll become calloused from dealing with death and suffering daily, and that I won't care as much as I do now about all the little things in life. With certainty, I'll grow a tougher skin and grow up a lot. One thing that I hope for is to learn skills to be able to save lives and help people. I think it would be meaningful to make a difference in people's lives everyday.

Anyhow, I thought I would update you on what's happening since I haven't said a peep for a while about this. Are any big changes going on in your life? Let me know!

Take care,
Marie

Today is a GRUMPY day

Today, I woke up with my face crumpled into "the GRUMPY face". The Grumpy face is not to be confused with the slightly more pleasant "troubled" face, as the Troubled person is much nicer than the Grumpy person.

Stomp-stomp-STOMP! I grumpied my way to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, scowling at my reflection the entire time. I burned holes of contempt and seething into the mirror.

I was ready to grumpy my way through the whole day, but I had to take a break from my focused task as my mother had grilled me a delicious cheese, egg, and roast beef sandwich and I found it hard to turn that down. I ate that sandwich hunched over like an old crone, thinking vulture thoughts and watching the fish.

I watched as the female crayfish caught a long, floating plant and pulled it slowly into her house. Now there is a very long floating plant sticking out of the entrance of her house. Maybe she is having a Grumpy day too. Perhaps I need to cut down a tall, thin tree and drag it partially through the door so that it hangs halfway across the road and blocks everyone that passes by. Hm.... I see how her devious plan is ingenious now.
Yes, today is a Grumpy day and I am proudly the grumpiest one of them all. If you're having a grumpy day too then welcome, but take note that all trespassers WILL be scowled at. Grrr!

(The robot shown above is Cranky Bot. She is now available in the store.)

Good Job, Everyone!

I was very impressed today when I came online and noticed 124 entries already for the super awesome designer soap giveaway by KreatedbyKarina. So I thought I'd give you all a thumbs up for entering. *Thumbs Up To The Awesome Peeps!*

I really love having giveaways on this blog for my fellow Etsians, and I know you all love to win free stuff and find out about cool shops and good things for your life. So if you have a shop and you want to run a giveaway here, please let me know. Note that I *AM* selective about who I promote here. If I don't think my readers will find the shop worth visiting, I will actually turn you down.

However, I'd be happy to give you feedback on what I think would make your shop more attractive to the readers here. I'm not a pro by any means, but I can offer my opinion. I would also recommend asking other Etsians for advice and feedback. Some of them really are seasoned professionals in selling and buying online.
That's another thing - you'd be surprised how much you can learn about how to improve your own shop by buying online. You'll find out pretty quickly what impresses you and what disappoints you when you receive a package in the mail, and you can compare it to what you are doing in your shop to see if you can improve.

As an update to what's going on with me this past week, I've been a busy school gal. My teacher accepted my application into his course, so I am officially registered for his Human Anatomy and Physiology class. It's a lot of work and there's tons to memorize, but I am really enjoying the subject. He's also a really good teacher. He doesn't go too fast, and he has lots of interesting tidbits to share.
The laboratory portion is also surprisingly fun and I am learning so much! A lot of the first week was a review of first year Biology, but it still took me a bit to remember it all and to get into the groove of things. I have discovered that I love learning slowly but thoroughly. It means that I really understand the topic, and I can teach it to others! I spent most of my laboratory time teaching the students seated around me how to do what I had just learned. I felt so helpful, and they actually appreciated that I took the time out to help them out. Maybe I'll make it a habit to stick around the lab and help other lost people out.

I'm still trying to figure out if I should become a nurse. I met a doctor at school and we somehow got into the topic of what I should do with my career. After I had described my situation to him, he asked me to consider whether it would be better for me to spend 5 years to become a newbie nurse, or to invest 5 years into upgrading my current education/training in digital art and animation. The answer in a practical sense was to invest in my art training, but when we added the factor of meaningful work and the need to help people, the answer became clouded.

My new attempt is to find a career path that combines my art education with helping people. Things that I am considering are art therapy (but I will need a LOT of psychology/counselling education), rehabilitation therapy (because I'd get to move around and maybe do some art projects), and motion capture in medical care and analysis (because I know some medical facilities use motion capture, and it would be cool if I could figure out how to get involved with that since I know mocap so well).
I'm also reconsidering teaching in some capacity. As I mentioned in regards to lab, I have a natural tendency to teach what I know to others. It might be why I write so many gardening and art tutorials on this blog. I also wrote training documents in my previous job, and trained my outsourcing team online and in-person. I would bet that you could ask me to teach you something, and if it was a topic I was familiar with, I would happily teach/tell you about it.

That's something I have rolling at the back of my mind. Part of why I want to become a nurse is so I can become a nurse trainer or nurse teacher. Ironic, eh? But SOMEONE has got to teach the subject! Why not me?
So this week will include my first quiz for Human Anatomy and Physiology, and lots of applying for various volunteer positions. Hopefully I can teach some art or visit some fine elderly folk. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Good luck with all your endeavors!