True Story

Ben and I went to Buffalo a couple of weeks ago to check out the area and get a feel for where we might want to live. In an attempt to be somewhat frugal...we decided to Priceline our hotel for the weekend. I was feeling pretty enthusiastic about the steal of a deal I got on our room (2 nights in prime Buffalo location for $38 a night) until I started reading reviews of the place on Trip Advisor. 41 REVIEWS OF BEDBUGS! And Priceline had the audacity of listing the hotel as THREE STAR. I can't believe we were actually contemplating staying there!



I decided to take the advice of my brother and call Priceline to try and work things out....maybe threaten to call my credit card, and hope they would refund us our money. I mean, who in their right mind would stay at such a dump after reading what I had read?

Priceline was completely unhelpful and basically told me there was nothing they could do. I then filed a claim with American Express, and they assured me they were almost positive they would be able to get us a refund. A week later I received a letter in the mail that said there was nothing they could do for us, that Priceline has a very strict "no refund" policy listed all over their website and there was no way around it.

So not only did we incur the expense of the hotel we DIDN'T stay at, we also had to find a new place to stay! Moral of the story...Priceline isn't always the best way to go!

Also, best news of the week...

First sighting of mini-eggs this season. I have a serious addiction to these. I think I need therapy!

The wait is finally OVER!!

We found out today that BEN MATCHED!! He will begin his Ophthalmology residency in BUFFALO, NEW YORK, starting July 2011. We couldn't be happier!

We feel so grateful and so blessed that Ben was able to match in such a competitive field. It is such a relief knowing he will actually be able to do what he loves.

It may not be much of an improvement in weather....but we'll only be an hour and a half from my parents, in Toronto! Definitely something to look forward to!

We find out in March where we will be going next year for intern year...but at this point, that's the least of our concerns! HOORAY FOR MATCH DAY!

What was I thinking??

I bought a sewing machine this weekend....and I am so excited about it. The funny thing is, I have no clue why! I know nothing about sewing, am seriously lacking any sort of crafty/creative abilities, and I have limited patience.

But for some crazy reason I've been dying to learn how to sew!

We'll see if I'm this eager after my first attempt at a project...


Now the real question is...what am I going to sew??

There are so many things I will miss when we leave Vermont. I'm mostly trying to not even think about it. It's better to live in denial. Or at least live in the present.

I really am doing my best to not be prematurely sad...but when we had our Christmas benefit at the studio this past weekend, and I realized this was my last Christmas with my students...and that the inevitable end of year really isn't that far off, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. I'm sure there will be new great students wherever we end up, but there is something about this group of students that makes it particularly sentimental for me. Probably the fact they were my first. And so many of them have been with me from the beginning. And have made so much progress. And probably because people in Vermont are just great. It will be hard to top this group of kids!


One thing I will not miss however...is teaching 40+ lessons a week. I think 20/week sounds much better! It's not that it's time intensive...but there is a limit to how many wrong notes I can take in any given week. And I hit my max by Wednesday!

Starting the end of March I will be taking on 10 more students to help a coworker who is having a baby. Maybe Teaching 50+ lessons a week for the last few months will help me to not feel that sad about leaving!

In other news...
Ben is finally done with interviewing. He had his last interview in Phoenix today. It has been a very long few months (much harder on him than me, although I always hate it when he's gone) with tons of flights and many many hours spent in the car. It will be so nice to get back into a normal routine again. Let the count down to Match Day begin!!

Just our Luck!

So it's no real secret that I hate winter! I've always hated the cold...for as long as I can remember. People always seem so shocked to hear this. I mean how can a Canadian hate the cold?

But it's really quite simple. I just don't like it.

With this being our last winter in Vermont, we really wanted to make the most of it. Every true Vermonter tells you that in order to survive living here, you have to find something you enjoy doing during the long winter months.

And so we decided to give in and buy ski passes this year. Having skied out west, I think we were a little reluctant to do so, knowing the conditions wouldn't be great...but with Ben having more free time his 4th year, and me not working Fridays, it just seemed to work.

So is it any surprise that the year we decided to buy passes...we DON'T HAVE ANY SNOW!

I'm normally cursing the snow by this time of year...but instead, I'm praying for it! Opening day at Smuggs was on Tuesday, 9 days behind schedule. Only one of the three mountains was open, and the majority of the snow was man-made.

But it worked. And we had a blast.

I'm just hoping the temperatures will stay low ( I can't believe I'm saying this) and that the snow will start falling so I can have some power to break my falls. Tuesday was my first time snowboarding...and my knees are feeling it!

Why do I do this to myself?

Let us discuss the phenomenon of "the handout." Why is it that we/I often, if not usually, feel the need to provide a handout for my church lessons? Does anyone ever look at them? And wouldn't my time be better spent actually preparing my lesson? And how about the fact that I'm not even remotely crafty, nor do I have any desire to be...so I don't even spend my handout prep time developing or creating something of my own, instead I spend hours searching the internet for other people's genius ideas and creativity, and then simply print those out on nice paper. Doesn't really make much sense, I know. (check this out if you want a good laugh. Someone is selling VT handouts on Etsy!)

But yet, week after week, I fall into the same trap of wasting hours on the computer prepping for my lessons. I must secretly like it, otherwise why would I keep subjecting myself to this silliness?

Today was no exception. Except for the fact that not only did I feel the need to do a handout, I decided a Thanksgiving treat was also going to be necessary. My lesson prep began at 5pm. (Did I mention I had already spent 6 hours earlier in the day at a YW conference?). After finding the "perfect" Thanksgiving treat (thanks to the creativity of this blogger) to coordinate with my "perfect" quote on gratitude, I set out to complete the task.


In an attempt to save time and hassle, I decided to call the grocery store to make sure they had candy corn for my Thanksgiving project. To my dismay...they WERE ALL OUT. And thus began the tireless search for CANDY CORN. Ten phone calls later....I was in luck. Thank you iParty, I'm only sorry I didn't call you first!

So it's what, probably 7pm by now? I bundle up, and head to the store. It's not like I live in a big city or anything, but iParty isn't necessarily close to my house and I was beginning to feel like this whole thing was a little ridiculous. I decided to hit up the grocery store right next to iParty first, to pick up all the remaining ingredients, and then finish off with the candy corn run (and of all things to be picking up, I hate candy corn).

You can imagine my surprise when I walked down the candy aisle in search of the "red hots" only to find CANDY CORN and NO RED HOTS! I'm cursing myself at this point!

Disaster averted, I found a substitute for red hots on the baking aisle.

As if I hadn't spent enough time on things that didn't actually matter, I decided that since I only ended up making one stop instead of two, I might as well drive all the way to Michaels to get cream colored paper for my handout instead of white. Because that makes sense...

I promise I'm getting to the punch line of the story...

I get to Michaels, they only have one piece of cream colored paper, which is dirty and crumpled...oh, and MY CAR BREAKS DOWN! The lug nuts snapped off again and the tire was about to fall off! (I have definitely made good use of my AAA membership this year)

Thanks to a really nice truck driver, and a reliable friend who bailed me out, I was able to get my car towed to the dealership and make it home at a reasonable hour. But note: the cookies still weren't made, oh, and my lesson wasn't actually prepared either.

As a matter of fact, it's currently 11pm, and my lesson still isn't prepared. Why am I blogging right now?

The cookies are, however, made. And I think they're cute.

(don't I look so proud!)

Worth the effort? Definitely not. Will the YW like them? Probably not. Let's face it, the combination of gingersnaps, chocolate frosting, candy corn and red hots doesn't exactly sound appetizing. Did I learn my lesson? Who knows. I'd like to think this is the beginning of a new chapter. A handout-less chapter. I think that might be my New Years resolution!

Any recommendations??

Anyone have a favorite book, or something they're read lately that caught their attention??

I've recently started reading a lot more in my free time (it's the only thing keeping me sane during this crazy 4th year) and I'm struggling to know what to read. I hate to admit it, but I've never been a big reader, so I feel like I've missed out on so many great books I hardly know where to start.

I think my problem has always been finding the right type of book to read. I've always viewed reading as something strictly educational, and as a result, I have sitting in my bookshelf a ton of half read history books that I could never really get that into.

Just recently I've started reading fiction, and have found a new love!! I can't believe I've been missing out for so long!

So...I'm taking suggestions. What are those books that you just love? You know, the one you can't put down, or the one that you've reread over and over.

I'm currently working on "The Glass Castle" (not actually fiction, but incredibly interesting), and up next is a recommendation from a friend to read "The Secret Life of Bees", but I'm moving fast....so bring on your recommendations!