The Mysteries of a Modern World

This picture was snapped on March 27 2010. As you can see, this balloon is from Valentine's Day (over a month ago). When I was young, a helium-filled balloon lasted a day or two. This balloon floating around our apartment is so weird!

Happy Birthday Gack!

Surprise! For your birthday, I got you a new house (or maybe just a book that talks about buying a house...)

March 29 2010
Yesterday was Zach's Birthday - and we had so much fun! We went to Church, had carne asada, and other Mexican treats, and then ate cake and played games with friends. I love him very much! Happy Birthday Honey!

The Break.

March 26 2010
I am waist-deep in term papers - long term papers. And, I'm struggling to stay awake (I guess that doesn't speak strongly as to the riveting nature of my papers...) so I decided to take a break. Imagine the summertime. Imagine reading for fun, without quizzes, papers, or exams. Sound nice? I think so. From this recent experience, here is some reading information I have gleaned.
Wright: "Native Son" - If you read this, you will hate Bigger, the protagonist, you will hate white people, and you'll probably start to hate yourself a little too. Good luck.
Willa: "My Antonia" - This is a very good book dealing with the problems of nineteenth century American immigration, but that theme is barely noticeable if you choose to ignore it.
Card: "Ender's Game" - This is a YA book that takes about 2 hours to read, but once you start, you won't want to stop! My one criticism is that Card (a Mormon) uses bad language for no apparent reason.
Cormier: "The Chocolate War" - This is "Native Son" for kids. You will hate Archie, and Leon, and everyone. Plus, you'll want chocolates.
Head: "Mr and Mrs Bo Jo Jones" - This is one of my new favourites. If you can handle teenage pregnancy, and can empathize with a new marriage, then I would recommend this YA read. It's short too, but don't worry, it ends the way you want it to :)
Maeve Binchy: She is an Irish author and I love everything she has ever written. Read her.
Okay... back to work.

Sopa de Verduras

Lately, I have been craving a Mexican Vegetable Soup (Sopa de Verduras) that I had on my mission so yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making it. It turned out quite well, but was hard to find a recipe so here is what I did:
Roast 2 tomatos, 1/2 an onion and 4 cloves of garlic in the oven.
When roasted, blend these things and some water in a blender.
Meanwhile, chop (large pieces) an onion, zucchini, celery, and carrots.
In a large saucepan, cook the onion until translucent.
Add the tomato blend, 1 can of chicken stock, and 2 cups of water (maybe more?)
Add a few springs of cilantro
Cook until the cilantro is limp.
Remove the cilantro.
Add a dash of lemon juice, a bouillon cube, and a dash of chili pepper
Add the vegetables and cook until they are tender crisp.
Serve with warmed corn tortillas and enjoy!

Ten Things....

.... and not that I hate about you either.... Our good friend Malorie tagged us in a post (I think...), so now we're supposed to post ten things about us, and then tag 4 other people to do the same. Got it? Here we go...
1. We're probably the biggest nerds in the whole world. Zach has an air compressed pogo stick and Sarah has a stamp collection.
2. We met serving missions in the California Carlsbad Mission... Zach was Sarah's first Zone Leader! Ha!
3. "We collect BO-OKS" (think Bill Nye the Science Guy minus the Rocks...) and in fact have more bookshelves then we have rooms in our apartment!
4. We have a million pieces of Canadian paraphernalia - thanks Mum!
5. We once almost died (not really) on a four hour long tubing trip down a river in Canada.
6. We got married on May 09 2009 so that in some countries, our anniversary would be 09-05-09. And because that's when the temple was available...
7. We have a little red car whose name is Rosie. She doesn't like it when Zach says mean things about her and she gets back at him by turning on her emergency light.
8. In our home we speak French, English, Spanish, and the all-important Spanglish.
9. We love to ice skate, take Sunday walks, and to play play play!
10. We think that you - the dear souls who care to read about our life - are GREAT!

alriiiiight.... now I tag: Kerry P, BriAnna J, Natalie M, and Alex G (though I do recognize this has nothing to do with dreams...)

The Birthday Post!

Yesterday was my birthday, so after 6 hours of school (and work for Zach - yay!), we celebrated. He got me a new camera for my birthday - which I am VERY happy with. We went to dinner and then ice skating, and then came home to eat a whole cake ourselves! The whole day was great - except when I dropped a plate on my big toe. I'm convinced it's broken.

A Season of Midterms!

I love February. I love it because my birthday's in February, because Valentine's Day is in February and because the snow (if only temporarily) begins to melt and the sun comes out! Today, I went to campus without gloves, a scarf, or even a coat, and it was glorious. However, along with all of the joy this month brings, it also tends to bring a lot of grinding-teeth, pulling-out-of-hair, exhaustion and other such things. It is, after all, a season of midterms and term papers.

This week includes two midterms and two term papers. I was sitting in my adolescent literature class today thinking about how all of this was possible when I checked the syllabus and found that I have yet another midterm on Tuesday that my professor forgot to mention. So... THREE midterms and TWO papers in the next week is my lot. Fortunately though... this is my LAST season of midterms so at least I feel joy in that.

Because of my desires for sunshine, here is the recipe of our new favorite drink (shared with us by Bri and Kristopher). It is like drinking summer... a frothy, lime-flavoured summer.

Brazilian Lemonade:
-In a Blender put:
3 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons sweet and condensed milk
2 limes, washed, with the ends cut off and quatered
-Pulse five times (if you do it more, the lemonade will be bitter)
-Strain and serve over ice

Bon Appetite!