Ugh....sick

I pride myself on never getting sick. Once a year I'll get the occasional cough or sniffle but usually it requires a trip to the pharmacy and rest and I'm right as rain. This time however I needed a trip to the doctor and I'm on amoxicillin to try and kick out the infection that has taken up residence in my tonsils.

I can't remember the last time I felt this sick but it was probably when I was an English teacher in Asia. The kids I taught were always sick and I had no resistance to their bugs.

No matter where I am when I'm sick my first phone call is always to my mom; she's an R.N. so she gives me good advice. But she also looks after me. When I went to university I would drive the hour and a half home so I could lay on her couch and she could fuss over me. I always recovered faster when I was at home (I swear by it!). I just wish she lived a little closer right now. Wish me luck on my recovery!

Do or die

We're getting down to the end of regular season action in the Canadian Football League and as per usual it's a mixed bag of tricks each week for who wins and loses their games. Thankfully the Roughriders have secured a playoff spot but they still have their work cut out for them.

Saturday they were in Edmonton to face the Eskimos and again I remained hopeful for a win. My faithful friend and Rider fan Blythe flew in from Saskatoon to join me for the weekend but sadly our cheering and hope wasn't enough ~ we lost 39-24.

Natalie and Blythe playing nice before cheering for separate teams on game day

Commonwealth Stadium

This game puts us closer to do or die situations. Depending how our last two regular season games go, will determine not only who we will face first in playoffs but also indicate what kind of team we will have possibly making a run for the Grey Cup. I'm not jumping off the bandwagon but I'm not going to lie, I'm nervous for the rest of the season.

Thinking

I've been thinking a lot lately. Thinking about work, thinking about school, thinking about friends and family and thinking about life. Sometimes I get stir-crazy, thinking I should be doing something else than what I'm doing. That I should be somewhere else in my life rather than where I am.

Learning to give myself a mental shake when this feeling comes on has been hard but necessary. Life is not a race to get to the next "goal" first and then speed away on the hunt for the next goal. Life is the opportunity to slow down and enjoy the journey, learning so much more about yourself along the way.

I'm still learning about myself and my place in the world and although I haven't achieved some of the goals I set out for myself years ago I don't take that necessarily as a negative. I've achieved in other areas that have made my life so rich. The beautiful thing about goals is that they're always there, waiting for you to reach them. So I vow to push myself in new directions this year and into 2011 no matter how uncomfortable that might be. I'm starting by putting together my application for my Master's (wish me luck).

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving weekend in Canada ~ it always comes much earlier than Thanksgiving for our neighbours to the south. It always signifies the end of harvest, celebrating a bounty of health, happiness and family.

There's something about the haze of grain dust in the air, the whirr of the fans on the grain bins, drying the damp grain deposited, the glare of the lights at night as farmers combine as long as they dare to get the crop off.

For the first time in the longest that I can remember my father and his family were actually done their harvest and could enjoy the weekend without working all night swathing, combining or running grain to the bins.

I had a fantastic long weekend with my family reflecting on all of the things I have to be thankful for. It's been a tumultuous year and reflecting back on the things that have happened I couldn't be happier. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones this long weekend.

Edmonton Fantastic #5 - corn maze!

Sunday I decided to literally get lost in the Edmonton corn maze located just south-west of the city. This year the maze partnered with the Edmonton Food Bank and had a design cut into the corn to represent the Food Bank's mascot ~ you can check it out here.

I thought "how difficult could a corn maze be"? ~ I soon realized how mistaken I really was. This corn maze provided skill testing questions to patrons to help them decide which direction they should choose. There were 10 questions and 10 checkpoints they had to reach to safely navigate the entire maze.

Getting lost was the name of the game and I succeeded at that many times (I found checkpoints 1, 2, 3 and then ended up at 8 somehow). I finally fell in with a group of friendly bikers and finished the rest of the maze in the proper order. It was a gorgeous day and yet another fun way to be a tourist in my own backyard!

Election = silly season

It's a few weeks away yet until the civic election in Edmonton but you can tell that "silly season" (a term I picked up from a friend out East referring to campaigning) has already begun.

Door-knocking, T.V. commercials, flyers and signs in front yards declare loudly who should be the best candidate to lead our city, form our council and represent children and parents in schools.

I'll admit I've been less engaged previously but as I grow older and consider setting down roots in Edmonton I'm suddenly a lot more aware of what's happening around me. I'm interested to hear what the mayoral candidates have to say about their vision for Edmonton, but so far it's been hard to get them in one place to hear their platforms in a non-debate type manner.

Enter #politweetup. A good friend of mine decided to bring all candidates together for a relaxed evening of meeting with the Edmonton public while shooting some pool at Metro Billiards. It was a great way to get up close with candidates and really hear more about their platform. I hope more of these events will happen in the future to re-engage voters with their city but also politicians with their audiences.