Oregon Honeymoon Daydreams

May 17, 2013 By in Ideas + Inspiration, Travel Tags: , , , , , , 4 Comments

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Exciting news: the first step of our visa application for me to move to the U.S. and marry Joe was approved this week!

We still have several steps to go through before the process is complete (waiting for the application to be forwarded to the National Visa Centre, more forms, a medical exam, interview at the consulate, etc…) but this is definitely a major move forward, and one we’ve been waiting for since we first applied 9 months ago, last August.

Perfect timing to share a few places we’re thinking of visiting on our ‘tropical’ Oregon honeymoon! Maybe these will inspire a future Oregon trip for some of you too…

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Stargazers. (And a couple things my mom taught me.)

May 9, 2013 By in Ideas + Inspiration Tags: , , , 2 Comments

Last week I decided I couldn’t wait any longer for blooms to appear. The snow has finally melted (!) but the trees in Saskatoon are dry and brown. I’ve been craving green, growth, and colour…

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So I gave my cousin Heather my debit card on her run to the grocery store, and asked her to pick up some fresh flowers I could bring home. She chose these stargazer lilies. (They were starting to yellow a little by the time I took this pic, but aren’t they gorgeous? And their scent is seriously amazing.)

I always think of my mom when I’m arranging flowers in a vase, because she taught me two things:

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Confession: I’ve been spending my nights with Keith Richards

April 30, 2013 By in Books, Music, Writing Tags: , , , Leave a comment

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It starts around midnight–I settle in under the duvet, adjust the lamplight, take a sip of water. Then I flip open the page.

We’re currently in the middle of ’76. Richards has brought his seven-year-old son, Marlon, on tour through Europe–the two of them drive to the gigs, Marlon holding the map, Richards at the wheel. Marlon has been instructed to tell his dad when they’re 15 clicks away from the borders. Then it’s time to pull over, so Richards can “have a shot.” (After, he either dumps or re-sorts his stash, before crossing into the next country.) His heroin habit is very, very bad by this point in “Life,” but it never stops him from missing a show–though sometimes he arrives three hours late. He’s also taken to sleeping with a gun under his pillow.

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Flashback: Dead Poets Society (and a Long-Distance Date)

April 15, 2013 By in Films, Poetry Tags: , , , , 1 Comment
Image via: fanpop.com

Image via: fanpop.com

 

One thing I’ve realized I like doing is re-watching a movie I saw as a kid, picking up on all the layers of meaning I may have missed the first time around. It’s so cool to view something from the adult perspective and compare it to the perception your younger self had.

As I wrote about here, I’m currently living in Saskatoon with my family waiting for my K1 fiance visa, while Joe is in Portland. Long distance is made a lot easier with skype and gchat, but these modes of communication typically don’t allow for one of the things you miss most when you’re apart: just hanging out.

So last week we decided to watch a movie together, over skype. Read more

THE NINE: Furniture Designer Meredith Nicole on Falling in Love (with Woodwork)

April 11, 2013 By in Interviews Tags: , , , , Leave a comment
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Meredith Nicole, Founder + Owner of Oden Gallery. Photo Credit: Vertumnus

 

The first time Meredith Nicole learned how to sharpen a plane iron to perfection and took a pass with it, she fell in love.

That was in 2008. She had already completed a BA in Art and Design from Emily Carr University; lived, worked and created art for five years in Taiwan; and revamped and restored antique furniture for two years in Hastings, England. But the moment of love took place at the Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinet Making, on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast.

As someone who has always been drawn to wood furniture, I was intrigued last September when Meredith–now a Vancouver-based furniture designer–launched Oden, an online gallery showcasing handcrafted furniture by North American artists. Oden was nominated for the 2012 Small Business BC Best Concept Award, and Meredith has been featured in the Vancouver Sun, Woodworkers Journal, and the Denver-based magazine 303.

She also creates costumes and rides a Ducati, Monster 796. Seriously, could this girl be any cooler?

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On Patience. And Spring in Saskatoon. And Meeting my Future Husband.

April 8, 2013 By in Portland, Relationships, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , 10 Comments
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The Saskatchewan River, March 2013

 

Three summers ago I boarded a bus in South Korea, heading to a festival in a town called Boryeong. I wasn’t thinking about husbands. I was thinking about the beach ahead, and the beer in my bag. If one of the friends with me had said, ”Your future husband’s gonna be on this bus,” I would have laughed; I would have bet my life he probably wasn’t.

My future husband sat three rows behind me. If his eyes hadn’t been as blue or if I had taken a different bus on a different day, we probably would never have met. But his eyes were blue and they were beaming. I saw them, kept turning around from my seat three rows ahead to see them again.

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