numero uno

Voila. My first tattoo.
Brought to you by www.deeperthanwar.com :)




I'm not really going to go into it too much on this here blog, except to say that it means a lot to me and is over my heart for a reason.
Mercy, compassion, forbearance, kindness ... where do I start?
Themes like these have led me to countless encounters and experiences I would not trade for the world, not to mention a career choice in the helping profession.

In Micah, you will find something like this, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
Similarly in Matthew, "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Naturally, lots of inspiration came from my faith and the scriptures.

I have in mind some more script for the other side to create a symmetrical piece, but that will have to wait as it wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world. Ouch ouch ouch!


Until next time, glad tidings to you all :) Big jolly Christmas hugs from the Hardys XXX

Want to confuse someone?

from xkcd

Is it just me?

So, I was watching an old Mark Knopfler video while I wrote the script for a nativity play (don't ask) this morning, and I realised that the legendary guitarist from Dire Straits bears a striking resemblance to the popular comedian, Jerry Seinfeld.

True, no?

she

Never fails to melt our hearts...




Oh little girl, you are a wonder and a gift.


Has it been ten months already?

A fine example of England's most noble breed...

We celebrated my darling husband's twenty-seventh birthday yesterday with bangers and mash, beer, banoffee pie, and other delicious mouth-watering goodies.
Yum yum yummy. He is such a star, isn't he?

Ok, I learned:
- Banoffee pie is not difficult to make.
- That a traditional English buffet item is cubes of cheese and pineapple on skewers stuck in a baked potato with foil on it. It looks like a hedgehog. Hmmmm.
- That homemade apple cider is way better than the packet.
- That Mark WILL NOT let Christmas steal his birthday thunder.
- That Mark has really rubbed off on me over the last five years. I can name quite a few Brit pop bands and classic hits and we are making the same jokes WAY more often.

Onto the next exciting order of business - Montreal this weekend, as we have postponed our trip to visit the Murphy's in Raleigh...sniff, sniff. Then, home to exams.
Time is FLYING!

Don Miller prayed.

I read Blue Like Jazz years ago during a time when I was searching for literature about the Christian walk that was less religious I guess you could say...many of you may have read it and I wonder if it spoke to you.
Did that short little book inspire you like it inspired me?
So I passed it along to Mark and his dad who both enjoyed reading it and they, in turn, passed it along to others. (BTW:Our copy of Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell is up for grabs if anyone wants to borrow ours. I loved it.)
Anyway, the author, Don Miller has written other fantastic books and writes a blog that I enjoy reading as well.

When I watched him pray at the Democratic National Convention, it brought tears to my eyes.
I love what he said from his heart. I was just thinking how difficult it must have been to want to say so much more to that enormous audience- his fellow Americans- his brothers and sisters, but being limited to time and political correct-ness.
Also thinking about how many people would take this moment and then analyze and pick apart this personal dialogue with his Heavenly Father. Saying things like how he didn't use enough "Christianese" words, or how it left out this or that or the other thing or said something that was full out wrong. The discussion that prayer sparked was just fascinating and...kind of scary.

Anyway, if you haven't watched it already here it is. There is a bit where it is censored, so to read that part visit this blog because they have transcribed it.

All of this is not to say that I would pray the exact same thing, but that doesn't matter.

We were impacted by the words that this man prayed in August.
And for us (one Canadian and one Brit, mind you)...where we're at, we say "amen".

on a lighter note

This is Mark's favourite pop track, and I think the video is perfect in every way.
Wow...just...wow.

Next time you're getting ready for a night out on the town, we insist that you slam a copy on the turntable, or even better - put the video in the Betamax machine. Or just put on the Wedding Singer sountrack and get pumped to dance dance dance :)

Election.

Is it just me?
I've been noticing an alarming trend recently. Nobody can have missed the fact that today is election day in the States, and it's fairly clear that the rest of the world is as fascinated as the USA itself over the result. Here's the thing that's worrying me:
I have come across an enormous number of Christians who are voting McCain, and pushing that decision onto anyone that comes their way, based ENTIRELY on the fact that Obama is pro-choice. Some of them bring up the issue of gay marriage too.

These are important issues, for sure. I don't like the idea of abortion one bit. I think it's wrong. I would love to see a world where abortion doesn't exist. But I don't think for one minute that it is a good idea to cast your vote based on that issue and that issue alone. I also suspect that it won't matter who gets in when it comes to these issues, because there's more to changing a law than a personal belief.

I don't want to make this a long post, because I don't think it needs to be. I'm not trying to push a political perspective on anyone. Vote the way you want - that's the whole point of democracy, right? I don't like to see people mass emailing and telling people that they have to pray that Obama doesn't get in, because I think it goes against the idea of democracy, and it uses the name of God to guilt trip people. Not my idea of a good time. I just wanted to suggest that the kind of short-sightedness that's causing people to vote on one or two issues, can cause enormous problems. The result of this vote will affect America and the world for the next four years, minimum. Do you really think that the only issue affecting the world until 2012 will be whether or not it's legal to abort a baby?

Is it just me that sees this?

thankful

“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." Matthew 7 NLT






Happy Canadian Thanksgiving - however you celebrate, enjoy enjoy enjoy.

If you're not in Canada, have a feast just for the heck of it...and cultivate thankfulness- just because you can ;)

More BFF...

How did I not know these shows existed? I was showing one of my colleagues some videos of Ben Folds, and I found these clips from two of his DVDs.
The first was recorded in 2005 (how come I only just found out about it?!) in Perth with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra.
The second was a Myspace show. They're both incredible.

The new album is a scorcher, too, by the way.

Ben Folds with the WASO - Zak and Sara


Ben Folds - Such Great Heights

BFF

No, not best friends forever. Ben Folds Five.

My husband LOVES Ben Folds. In his teens he met Ben because he played in a BFF tribute band. Seriously. It wasn't soon after we had started dating that I knew most of their songs, and Ben's solo stuff off by heart (including the B sides) even though I was never really into them before.
So tomorrow when Ben's new cd is released we will be marching into HMV and listening to it on repeat for a while. In the apartment, in the car, in our dreams, and so on...

Needless to say, if Mark was abandoned on a desert island (you know I'd find you somehow!) he would HAVE to have BFF in his limited cd collection there. Yeah, he WOULD build a cd player out of bamboo
-if the man can do cryptic crosswords than he can do anything!

Soooo I was thinking about what cds I would want to be left with if I had the luxury of choosing.
Here is what I think so far in no particular order :

Switchfoot beautiful letdown
Cruel intentions soundtrack
Garden state soundtrack
jimmy eat world - Clarity, Futures, Bleed American, Chase this light, Static Prevails
Death Cab for Cutie- plans
Oasis- What's the story Morning Glory. do i still have a crush on these guys? er
delirious king of fools
Muse black holes and revelations
the last Ben Folds Five album: The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
U2 war + The Joshua Tree
Bing Crosby Christmas favorites. do not mock me...
Phatfish - Heavenbound
The Salvator Darlings
Get cape, wear cape, fly
Massive Attack

and many many more...sigh.

My abductors would probably stop me there. Now onto movies...

Banksy

Mark bought me a book to celebrate my first Mothers' Day. I had been eyeing this book for some time in HMV, and he noticed.

He notices lots of little things like that :)

Banksy is brilliant. He uses all sorts of mediums, but my favorite are the stencils and spray paint. He claims that they are quick and they help get his point across to the public.
I've meditated on some of these statements and images recently.

I agree with a lot of his views on issues concerning inequality, war, terrorism, and poverty.

Check out the website or come over and have a look at his book on our coffee table.

I've been rethinking visual art lately. After spending time at OCAD, and now throwing myself completely into a social work course and community more so than ever before, I miss having that consistent inspiration stemming mainly from peers and lecturers pursuing fine art.

While I am still inspired...it is different.
While I still want to worship and glorify my Creator with what I create...it is different.

This year I feel I have so much more opportunity to use that gifting as a voice for positive change.
Sure, it is sometimes difficult to be a wife, and have a newborn and be a student and spend time with people, and have 'hobbies', but it seems that doors are opening and ideas are flowing.

So here I go. Don't worry, I'm not embarking on a series of illegal projects...hehe...
but I'm not afraid to ruffle a few feathers.
I guess somewhat like Mark does with tattooing, eh...

thanks for listening...er...reading :)

invigorated

Quality time = the love language we focused on this month.

August rocked. The three of us Hardys had an extravagant amount of precious quality time due to Mark listening to Daddy and taking some more paternity leave. A bit of a pay-cut was the only draw back, and now we can say it was SO totally worth it.
Centre Island, the Danforth, Wonderland, Kelso Beach, the market, Adelaide being loved on by both sets of grandparents, the lakeshore, the ball game, the cooking fests, and playing with the new addition to the family (not Addie, the digital SLR!) ... aaaaaaahhhhh...
lush lush lush.

I feel so invigorated. What an amazing way to kick off this next year of uni.

Putting family first...a reeeeeeeally good idea.

sitting pretty

The day after we took this video, she sat up on her own in her playpen for 15 minutes!!!
A lot of people told us that babies change overnight sometimes, and it's true. All of a sudden she has the ability to sit up for a long while.

Pretty soon she'll be driving the car...

Sleeping at last...

So, we went to the mall with Beth's sister last night, then got some movies and decided to sleep over at Beth's parents' place. We put Addie to bed, and settled down for the night on the couches. Then, at about 4:00am, we were woken up by this:

We were woken up by the first blast - before the video starts. We all got dressed and thought about getting out of the house. when the second big blast came (about 1:50 on the video) we were about to leave the house, but this one lit up the house like you wouldn't believe. It felt like the blast came from above the house, and it knocked the power out.

We got in the car, and headed home to our apartment - and just in time, because they closed the highway minutes later. We got back, went up to the apartment, and sorted ourselves out. Then we went to move the car, and in true Canadian style, went to Tim Horton's to recouperate. Good old Timmy's.

We finally got some sleep at about 7am.
It turns out that it was caused by a fire at a propane depot, just 3 blocks away from where we were sleeping. Check out this news report and this one for a bit more information about what happened. It looks like nobody was seriously hurt, but they don't know what caused it yet. What an odd night.

Right, I'm off to Beth's parents to pick up all the stuff we left there...

Mark doesn't see it

Is it just me or does Tim, from the Office, remind you of my dashing husband ...

We were watching the two part Christmas special and finale of The Office (British one of course) and it hit me. Hm.

The Font Conference

Fonts are a very personal thing. I've always been interested in them, but recently have found myself becoming almost militant about which ones should and shouldn't be used. They have so much personality, you see. The font you use gives character to the text, as much as the colours and media used give character to a piece of artwork. Check this video out:



The only things that I don't understand about this video are:
1)Why is Rage Italic German?
2)Why is Comic Sans the hero? I mean, I get the comic bit, but Comic Sans is clearly the worst font of all time. Ask anyone.

the best man

What do you do when some of your best friends get married and throw a fabulous party? Eat, drink, and dance dance dance, baby!







What do you do when your husband gets punched in the crotch? hmmmmmmmmmmmm......

an open house, and shouting clouds ...

"You're a mystery like poetry like a parable a rhyme or a riddle
You're a mystery wrapped in clouds shouting so loud
just waiting to be discovered
You're a mystery intriguing You're a mystery so inviting"
- Misty Edwards, Mystery

"Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly.
'The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.'"
Matthew 11:27 MSG

This made me cry.

I do need it, Love, broken down line by line ... all the time.

Jesus, crucified, buried, raised...the ultimate invitation.
Could the Father say any more clearly that He wants to be known?

He asks us to His house, and gives us a key to His door.

splish splash

It's getting hot outside. Now, we don't have air conditioning in our 19th floor apartment (which isn't torture), but we do like to take a dip in the outdoor pool during the particularly scorching hours of the day. While the pool is delightfully refreshing, the beach is all the more...summer-ish.
Lying on the beach reminds me of being on holiday, and is almost more relaxing because of it - yes, purely psychological.
Funny...it also reminds me of Baywatch. Oh, that rugged David Hasslehoff...


Anyway, many people joke about Lake Ontario being so badly polluted that you come out of it with a third eye, an extra arm, a number of skin diseases, multiple personalities, etc.
The truth is that a lot of beaches in Toronto on the shores of good ol' Lake Ontario are indeed Blue Flag Certified. They are more than fine to swim in.
You'll read on the website about the high international standards that beaches must meet to receive blue flag status.
Toronto is a whole lot cleaner and eco-friendly than a lot of people think or have 'heard'.
Visit www.BlueFlag.ca and have a peek. Happy swimming!

Oh, and wear your sunscreen!!!!!!!! Especially if you have tattoos or scars...ta ta!

Niagra

Happy Canada Day, everyone!
Hope you get a chance to sing the anthem and take in some fireworks somewhere tonight.
We thought it was appropriate to take Adelaide to one of the wonders of the world that just so happens to be pretty much in our backyard...Niagra Falls! She seemed to like the gift shop the best and looked at us funny as we ooed and awed over the loud, lively, rushing water. One day she might think it is majestic and beautiful, but for now her toys are much more interesting.

Video Catch Up..

I've been a little slack in uploading these things, but The last few weeks have had some good moments. The most recent video is at the top. Apologies to the BBC. And thanks, as usual to Ben Jackson for his incredible graphics. I don't know how he does it...


Keep an eye out for a special Scottish guest appearance in this one...


Ha ha ha. Silly jokes in this one.


I kind of like uploading a few of these at once... We're filming this week's today. I won't let too much on, but I sent out a 'telegram' to a few people asking them to be in it with this graphic attached:




Right. Let me know what you think.

Field trips...

We've been going on field trips recently. Three of them in a week, to be precise. The summer is such a fun time to be a parent. There's so much going on for kids to do and see (even if we're really going for our own benefit).
Last Saturday, Addie took me to the 10th annual NIX tattoo expo in Toronto for my first fathers' day. It was fantastic. There were 150 artists at work, inking some incredible things. We met the coolest couple, who make punk clothes for kids. We're hanging out with them tomorrow too. You can check out their website here.

We also met Lyle Tuttle, 'the forefather of modern tattooing'. I got a bit starstruck... Addie, of course, was indifferent, as you can see from the picture. She did enjoy getting her first bit of ink though (courtesy again of Sticks n Stones).


Going to the expo really got me even more fired up for tattooing. There's so much dark stuff out there, and I can't wait to bring some light in. Seeing so much amazing work inspired me too. So much so, in fact, that I started on my left leg again this week. On Wednesday night I set to work outlining the koi that you can see here.

Beth had been wanting to take me to the Royal Ontario Museum for some time. It turns out that entrance is half price on a Friday night, so we headed over there after I finished work. It was fantastic. They had a great special exhibition on early typewriters, and we saw loads of dinosaur skeletons.
They were my favourite bit. To be honest, I don't think I ever grew out of that boyhood phase of dinosaur fascination... Addie again seemed rather indifferent to the whole experience, although she did like the bit when she had some milk in the European armour section while listening to an audio presentation about how smelly people used to be.

Then today we went to Riverdale Farm. It's a small farm in the middle of cabbagetown, right round the corner from us. Addie slept through everything except the chickens, and wasn't very interested in them. We had fun though.

Field trips will become more and more a part of our lives over the next few years, I suspect. It's such a blessing to live in a city with so many attractions and distractions. If you have any suggestions for where we can go next, let us know!

Biting off more than you can chew?

Here's this week's announcements.
Do you ever feel like you tried to run before you could walk? We had the idea of doing a series of spoofs of famous movie trailers for the announcements. Good plan. We thought of covering different genres. Fantastic. We decided to spoof a movie that changed cinematography forever, with wild special effects and crazy camera angles.
I think that we did a reasonable job, but I suspect that trying to give the feel of a movie like this, using one camera and a low-quality microphone was a little more than I could reasonably handle.

It was fun though.

Not Quite Grown Up

Independent
on my own
till I'm too small
till I am weakened

Independent
in control
till I'm uncovered
hunger stricken

I cry out
Is someone coming?
I cry out
Is my Father listening?

It's true-
I need a hand to hold
I need to feel the pulse of someone bigger
I can't live on bread alone
I need more than a coat in winter

It's true-
I need skin on skin
I need comfort in the night
I need simple songs
I need the security in Your eyes

Until I fall asleep
stay
Until I fall asleep
Don't ever let me go
stay
Until I'm fast asleep

B.Hardy. April, 2008.

- Inspired by Adelaide. She is so good at reminding me I'm not a grown up, I'm a daughter...

The Tat Shop

I love tattoos. I don't have as many as I want, but I guess it's a process. Quite an expensive process too. For the last two or three years, I have thought about how I might go about training to tattoo myself. Not tattoo myself (although that is a part of the training), but to learn the art of tattooing. Back in November, I was offered an internship at Urban Ink in Toronto. I was very excited about the prospect, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that it was unrealistic. I would have to give two full days a week to being at the shop, and it would still take me over a year to get anywhere close to tattooing people. With a baby on the way, that just wasn't going to happen.

Then Holy Spirit suggested something to me. What if I trained myself? I have spent a good deal of time now researching what I would have to do, and feel ready to start learning. I purchased a machine, pigment, power supply and footswitch, needles and tubes. I started by tattooing fruit, and then moved on to pigskin (quite close to human skin). I'm having a great time!

The next step was to experiment with different needle sizes and combinations. for this, I needed more supplies. Most of the websites that I found were very average - horribly designed, hard to navigate and usually based in the States. Then I found the Tat Shop. They're based in Mississauga, the site is excellent, and the couple that run it are awesome. I realise that most people reading this won't have a need to get tattoo supplies, but you can check the site out anyway. And if you do need anything, that's the place to go. Check them out here.

We're off to Wonderland in a little while, so I have to go get ready. I'll post pictures when I've practised more. Those who want a tattoo, give me a while to practice, then form a line...

Old Time Fun

I know I skipped a week of the announcements, but to be honest, there wasn't much to miss. Here's the announcements for the upcoming week. I learned an awful lot about some of the stuff I can do on Final Cut while I was doing these ones. Because I don't have easy access to cash for effects and stuff to add onto the program, I had to find ways of giving this a real old feel without paying for it. I Googled to my heart's content, and found loads of tutorials online. As well as giving me the finish that I wanted on this (adding the scratches, hairs and jitters), the tutorials showed me how to use similar techniques to get very different results that I'll be able to use in the future.

In other news, it's the long weekend this weekend. I got a bit confused about the date of it originally, because the Victoria Day weekend (as this is) is often known as the May Two Four, because of the date that it falls on. Except that it actually falls closer to the 18th. So this coming Monday is a day off. Nice to be caught off guard like that, and realise that you have a day off when you thought you didn't. I don't really plan to do an awful lot with it, except chill out with my wife and daughter. Hopefully the predicted rain of the weekend will be over by Monday.

Lots of weddings and stuff coming up this summer, so that's exciting too. I have a bachelor party on Saturday, and more to come after that. Lots of parties. Not all good ones though. Last night, we went to Jacob and Carolyn's place for a barbecue. It wasn't that the party itself sucked, but the reason for it. Our amazing friends are moving down to Raleigh, North Carolina. This is something that I've prepared myself for for some time. Ever since I met Jacob, our friendship is something that has been conducted over a distance. When I moved to Toronto, I realised that it was an amazing privilege to be able to live in the same city as my best friend, but that it was a privilege that probably wouldn't last long. I think that we both knew that Toronto was a temporary base for us, and that one of us would leave before too long.
It's been a fantastic year or so, and I'm so glad that we had this time. I know that our friendship lasted with the Atlantic between us, so I'm sure it can handle a move to the States. Hey, we might even visit them...

And with that, I'm off. I have to go plan my long weekend.

English Things

Here's the video announcements for last week. I've been a little delayed in putting them on here, because I've been in England for the last week. You'll notice that the announcements are rather reminiscent of a BBC documentary. This is no mistake. I'd been very excited about coming here.
I really really miss England. My family, my friends, the chocolate, fish and chips, beer, rubbish seaside towns... it's brilliant. We had the privilege of spending a week here, hanging out with all the people that we miss, and enjoying all the things we can't get in Canada. We went to Leeds one night, and hung out at Simon and Esther's place, where we were joined by about 40 friends we have not seen for months. We saw loads of people at my parents' house too. We did lots of shopping for clothes for Addie, and we ate fish and chips 3 times. We went to Whitby, and even enjoyed the first sunny bank holiday Monday in England since time began. Fantastic stuff.

We have loads to report on, but now isn't the time, because we leave for the airport in a few minutes. Once I've finished packing, we'll just have time for one last delicious English breakfast. Then it's back to all the things I miss about Canada. Ho hum. Such is life...

Munchkin goes abroad!

Tomorrow Adelaide will enjoy her very first trip on an airplane. She probably thinks it is just a big white toy from the outside. We are going to the UK for nine glorious days. This time we will not only be spending time with Mark's family, but we're having a party in Leeds and also getting the MASSIVE treat of seeing Maija and Pudd who will fly into Manchester and meet up with us for a few days.

Man, our little one is growing so fast and becoming more interactive everyday. She can suck her thumb, and sit up in a chair all on her own!
She now has some likes:
Shouting, watching bright cartoons, being held in a flying position like she is superman, splashing in the bath, and getting changed. Her favorite toys are these coloured rings and a big cow.
She talks to the cow.

Last weekend she went to a birthday party for the first time- we had the pleasure of celebrating Judah's first birthday with the Smiths, and I think Addie is rather excited for her first birthday now... thankfully we have 9 more months to enjoy her being less-than-one!

New announcements.

As promised, here's the announcements for this week at TACF. Stay tuned for next week's extravaganza. I won't tell you exactly what they'll feature, but there's superheroes and a green screen involved.

We just went to the Smiths' place for their son's first birthday party. It was so good to hang out with people we haven't seen for a while. There was much talk of Wonderland, which is exciting, because we have our season's passes. Oh yeah! I love that water park. I love that we have lots of friends that we can not see for weeks or even months at a time, and then just pick up where we left off. I guess when you live in a place like Toronto, and go to a church like TACF, you have to be able to do that. Everyone is coming and going so much that basing a friendship on always being around each other often results in sadness.
More on that another time though. It's late, and Addie's just dropping off to sleep. She's so cute and cuddly, but it's definitely time for Mommy and Daddy to get some rest. I'll put some pictures of her up on here soon, or Beth will.

Just because I did a little movie review in my last post, I'll do the same again here. The night after we watched Lars and the Real Girl, we watched Juno. Seriously, it was fantastic. I loved the characters, the themes. I loved the way that you felt relationship with them, and really identified with them. The soundtrack was ridiculously good. Watch it, because it's a great movie, and it will break your heart.

One more thing: Beth and I have been talking about recently is starting a bluegrass band. Inspired by David Crowder and Hayseed Dixie, I busted out a little bit of bluegrass in worship at church the other night. Then I found out that a friend of ours plays the banjo. Beth loves the harmonica and wants a washboard. Then, tonight, we were hanging out with a Mr. John Patell. He nearly shrieked when I told him our plans, and said he'd been looking for a band to play the broomstick bass in. Keep your ears open for our first record...

Videos of all kinds...

Let me start by announcing that the TACF Video Announcements are now up on Youtube. As you can see, I've posted this week's edition right here on this post for your viewing pleasure. You can check out the last 4 announcements on there right now too, and I'll upload the new ones every week.
For those of you that don't know, one of my jobs here at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship is to write, film, direct and produce the video announcements each week. TACF has 7 congregations city-wide, and we use video announcements to let everyone know what's going on in the coming weeks, and also to introduce everyone to pastors and leaders that only one congregation would normally get to see.

Anyway, enjoy this week's edition. I have a slogan for the video announcements:
TACF Video Announcements - completely pointless after the event.

Also on the subject of films, I watched Lars and the Real Girl last night. When I first saw the posters, I thought that it looked kind of quirky and wanted to see it. Beth told me that it was about a man that has a relationship with a 'love doll' though, so my interest waned. I wasn't really up for seeing something like that. Then our neighbour lent us a copy that she got from the video store, and the reviews didn't seem to suggest it was anything like we'd expected.

The movie was incredible. I loved the cinematography - it was so well shot. The story was fantastic, and the characters were superb. Ryan Gosling blew us all away with his portrayal of a dillusional man with a troubled past.
The message behind the movie was very moving, and I think we all felt affected by it.
It was also, surprisingly, very clean. There was no bad language at all, and there were only two or three references to sex - all of them mild and in context. Great stuff. I totally recommend it.

Right then. Let me know what you think of the video announcements. If you have any good ideas for themes for future announcements, just post a comment on this blog. Till next time...

Moving Pictures...

A touch of Europe.

I know it's been a long time since I posted on here. I've been a bit distracted by my knitting blog of late. There's another little distraction in our life since I last blogged here too. Having Adelaide round is such a joy. She keeps surprising us, when she does something new, or when she loves being held by us. Sometimes, it's just amazing to wake up, and remember that we have a beautiful little daughter.
It's tiring too, though. Sleepless nights take their toll, and she needs so much attention at the moment. So we decided to take a little break.
We left Freshwind early this Easter, setting off at Lunchtime on Saturday, and heading to Montreal. We have a history with that wonderful city. We got engaged there, and also took our honeymoon there. It's such a fantastic place. It's very strange how much more European it feels than Toronto. It's not just the fact that they speak French, either. There's all the greeting with kisses, French food, and European architecture. You can even buy wine and beer in the grocery store (boy, do I miss that one).
What was surprising, was the part of Europe that I discovered while we were there. On Monday, just before we came home, we checked out of our hotel, and headed into Old Montreal. Needing some refreshment, we found a little cafe. When I took a look at the menu, I discovered that they would serve me Turkish coffee. Not only this, but they would prepare it at my table! I've been trying to do this myself for years now, and I think that I've learned fairly well. My only teacher was Google. But now, I had the chance to learn from a master.
Sure enough, when I ordered it, the owner of the cafe emerged with a burner on a trolley, and set about making the drink. I asked questions, he answered them, we laughed, and I enjoyed the pleasure of being served my favourite coffee in what seemed like the most unlikely place.
I ordered baklava with the coffee, and spent a good while enjoying the feeling of being on vacation in Europe. I love North America, but I do miss Europe sometimes. I miss the variety of places you can visit, the traditions, the culture. I miss the fact that you can visit the other side of the continent for very tiny amounts of money. I miss being able to visit a coffee shop and order a coffee that tastes different from the last 50 coffees I ordered.

If you fancy trying the delights of the coffee at A Propos the next time you're in the Montreal area, you can find it here. It was delicious, by the way.

Can you still feel the butterflies?

See the pyramids around the Nile
Watch the sun rise from the tropic isle
Just remember darling all the while
You belong to me"
- Jason Wade, You Belong to Me

Yesterday we celebrated our first wedding anniversary and it was absolutely delightful.
It is amazing to think that I've lived and done 'life' with my best friend for one whole year. Not only that, but there are so many more years to come. Through the good times, the bad times, the waiting times, the rushed times, the tearful times...wherever we live, whoever we have around us...there are more wonderful wonderful wonderful years to come.
And there will no doubt be more lessons on teamwork, friendship, patience, honour, oneness, and love to be embraced. Make no mistake- marriage isn't boring or dull, it is exhilerating.
But at the same time, our God's timing is perfect and He isn't in a hurry...so don't rush anything :)


Forgive me if I have quoted these Ben Folds lyrics before, but it is one of our songs, and always seems to help me put into words how ridiculously blessed I feel to have Mark as my husband.


I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I'd been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

quote of the week

"Grandchildren - God's reward to you for not killing your kids."

so it was YOU all along...

Adelaide Selah Hardy

Born Wednesday February 6th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

Weighing in at 6 pounds 12 ounces


We have a little daughter! WooOOooHooOOOoooooo! What a princess.
She was born in a snow storm as we predicted, and her arrival took a total of fifteen hours at North York General Hospital.

Adelaide means 'of nobility, or of noble kind'
This name was imported to England by Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, the wife of William IV of Great Britain. She gave her name to the South Australian city of Adelaide. In contemporary literature of the time, Adelaide was frequently used as a name for upper-class, elegant women.
St Adelaide of Italy lived in the tenth century. She was heir to the throne of Italy and married Otto the Great, Holy Roman Emperor. She was made a saint on account of her good deeds towards the poor.
Adelaide of Aquitaine was the wife of French king Hugh Capet, the founder of the Capetian dynasty.

Selah means 'a pause for rest and reflection'
This word occurs seventy-one times in thirty-nine of the Psalms and is thought to indicate a pause for reflection similar to the word Amen.


We can't wait for you to meet her, guys. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts for all your excitement and encouragement... she must feel so welcome!!!

from the east end to the west end

By this time next week we will definitely have met our little son or daughter, as the Doc will induce labour on Friday if there is no action before then. Hmmm...not too keen on the inducing idea, but whatever. Although I am feeling very heavy (heavy isn't even the word...it is so hard to describe) at the moment, when we peered out from our balcony the city looked too deliciously beautiful to stay in. Mark and I decided to venture out early and once again spend a Saturday down Queen West area.
We enjoyed it so much last time and hadn't explored nearly enough. So many artsy shops... so little time!

On the way to the subway we admired our funny neighbourhood. You'll see the pictures above. There were parents all over the place, out making snowmen with their kids. They were full-on rolling around, getting wet, messy and cold. One mom was getting attacked by her children who were mercilessly throwing snowballs at her head and face. Well, I hope they were her children. She laughed it off. It was so cute to watch and got us both very excited to have the perfect excuse to play in the snow now- our kid! Yipeeeeee! Oh, let the baby come soOOOon!

Two Christmases ago, Mark gave me this gorgeous coffee table- type book about snow.
I love it. Here are some random facts from that book, Let It Snow!, that might help you sound clever when sharing them with friends as you are strolling along in the snow next time:
- No two snowflakes are alike, but they do fall in seven basic types: star, needle, hexagonal, dendrite, irregular, column and capped column
-A snowflake falls at a rate of about 3 miles an hr, about 6x slower than a raindrop.
- Little was known about these exquisite crystals until late 19th century when a farmer from Vermont named Bentley began investigating them. He was the first person to photograph snowflakes, and dedicated 50yrs to their study.
- The heaviest fall of snow was in Silver Lake, Colorado on 14th-15th Apr. 1921. 74 inches fell!
Now I must go keep myself busy so as to keep my racing mind off of waiting for the baby. Last night I watched Braveheart for the first time (I know, I know...what took me so long?!?!?!) and now look forward to being back in Stirling, Scotland where an enormous statue of William Wallace stands tall. I didn't fully appreciate it last time.
I don't really feel like another movie tonight. Maybe tonight we'll have an extra romantic dinner since it is still just the two of us...

Until next time, the soooo close almost-parents