I was thinking this morning, as I lay on the bed waiting for the self-tanner to dry on my legs (seriously, I have zombie legs. Thanks Dad.), that I've done a number of things in the past year about which I am really proud. And at the risk of sounding like a braggert, because nobody likes a braggert, I thought I'd put them down for posterity since this blog is more like a journal that I use to amuse myself.
I drove in Paris
I was scared shitless, and some jerk backed into my car within 5 minutes of being out on the streets, but I did it, and found my way around, and figured out the whole people-coming-from-the-right-have-priority thing well enough. And on our way back into Paris, I, along with my trusty co-pilot-slash-husband, managed to not only navigate a rather expensive car through the most incredible gridlock patch of traffic I've ever seen in my life (it must have looked like a tight patchwork quilt from above. Cobblestones, no lanes, 8 directions merging into one - imagine it), but I found the rental car station no problem and managed to do it all in good time.
Then I drove the Autobahn
I know for millions of Europeans and other inhabitants of the world, that's no big thing and they use it as a morning commute. But for me, getting the car to 180 kmh in the slow lane and not pooping myself was a terrific accomplishment. I came back with a particularly leaden foot.
I organized a concert
... in cooperation with colleagues of course, but I played a major role in organizing a 50th anniversary classical music concert at the NAC a month ago, and it went off very smoothly. Afterwards, my brain officially hung up the "Gone Fishin'" sign and shut down for the summer.
I renovated a room, and built shelves
I've documented that process in these pages before, but every time I walk into that back room I love it, and it's been just over a year. Everything worked, miraculously. The shelves are still holding up (though a few have sagged ever so slightly - the combination of heavy books and MDF isn't necessarily a good one), the orange wall is still awesome, and now that we have new windows in there, the entire thing looks like a brand new house.
I built a garden
I terraced the front garden in no time flat this year. It went creepily smoothly.
I learned some German
I ate stuff for the first time
In the last three years, I ate the following foods for the very first time:
- lobster (hard to believe, but I am landlocked and hated seafood for years)
- foie gras (I can translate, and it doesn't appeal. I didn't love it)
- beef tartare (I loved it too much. Perhaps I'm a vampire?)
- truffles. (the fungus kind) Mmmm truffles.
- King crab legs (thanks Rob - my friend in Kelowna hates seafood, or 'fish product' as she calls it, but her hubby loves it, so he's happy to cook for the two of us when I visit and Nat has to do her own thing. tee hee.)
I grouted.
'Nuff said.
I knit an awesome sweater
I knit this sweater ...
...for myself last fall, and it was so incredibly enjoyable that I almost went right back to the beginning and knit it again in another colour. Mine is a dark mossy green tweed. Kate Gilbert is an amazing knitting designer, and I love everything she does. She hails from Montreal, I believe, and is now living in Paris, so obviously she's a woman of impeccable taste. I have ordered 2 more back-issues of Interweave Knits so that I can make a couple more of her designs.
I put down my cat
This took a lot of nerve, and was among the hardest things I've ever had to do. I love my cats like they're my children, and watching Peter decline was truly horrible. I made the decision to put her down after watching her fail for four days. She tried desperately to get outside, go down the front stairs, and get under the deck, even though she couldn't walk and ended up flopping down in the dirt, eyes all big and scared. That was my sign that she was ready to go, because Peter never ever hung out under the deck. I took her to the vet, and they gave her a needle to calm her before giving her the final injection, but that first needle was all she needed - she died really peacefully while I held her, with her chin resting on my arm as I stroked her boney back. When the vet came in to ask if she'd relaxed, I told her I didn't think she was with me anymore, and she wasn't. It was so difficult that I have a big lump in my throat right now just writing about it so I'm going to stop. R.I.P. Peter. I was going to post a picture in her honour but it's just too sad.
I subjected myself to crazy medical tests
We are currently in treatment at a Fertility Clinic (mostly because I'm impatient; there's nothing super wrong with us except I may have PCOS so I'm a bad ovulater), and I have had more blood tests this year than in my entire life added up. Then I had a sugar test, where I had to chugalug this weird Orange Crush x 1,000 that nearly killed me, and two crazy weird ultrasounds, one of which enabled me to see my eggs and fallopian tubes. That may be TMI, but I don't care - I am a science nerd and there were 3 complete strangers in the room and so you may as well know too. For all of you out there who are interested, I am in possession of a rather beautiful uterus, and my plumbing is fine.
I smuggled wisteria seeds back from Austria, which grew
Don't tell the cops. Thank god this blog is anonymous ha ha ha. My brother-in-law has a beautiful and huge wisteria vine growing up his super-cool house in Graz, and I couldn't resist picking off one of the 3-inch-long moss-green velvety pods. They're so beautiful and fuzzy. He told me "that will never work" but stillI brought it home in my suitcase, stuck it in the freezer for the rest of the winter, then planted the seeds in my greenhouse this spring. I am now the proud mama of a 7-inch-tall wisteria vine, and I couldn't be more smug.
I made this thing in pottery class
It's kind of a birdbath-slash-garden ornament. It's about a foot in diametre, and it stands on a copper pipe pole. I seem to have a wee knack for pottery, though my teacher might disagree (I am a bit impulsive on the wheel) and one of my classmates has borrowed my design to make a platter for cheese and crackers. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I love pottery class so much and fantasize about it all day long, and am really really sad that it ends in three weeks. My instructor has been added to my (quite short) list of really-remarkably-fabulous-people-I-have-known.
I lost 15 lbs.
After the doctors told me I might have PCOS and recommended that I lose a bit of weight, I embarked on a serious but healthy diet of my own construction just after the dawn of the new year. I'm not obese and I'm tallish, but I was a bit overweight, so I cut out the junk, the processed stuff, upped the vegetable content, lowered the carbs and red meat, ate smaller portions, recorded everything I ate, watched the calories and fat content of everything, skied every week, did yoga for an hour and a half on about 5 saturday mornings (I'm not as dedicated an exerciser), drank gallons of water, ate fruit as snacks, and lost 15 lbs in about 2.5 months. So far I've kept it off, even though I have started eating junk again (reluctantly - I'm going to be more disciplined soon - it's easy to slide), and I always lose in the summer anyway, from all of the manual labour and the swimming. I had to have all my pants taken in, and that felt great. I want to go another 10 0r 15 lbs, and then try to maintain that. It may sound like I'm weight-obsessed, but I see it more as a medical experiment than anything.
That's all I can think of right now. It's been a busy year. Time passes quickly with age, so it feels like it's been no time since I renovated the bathroom a year ago, but in other ways the cycle keeps rolling and everything is just right. If I didn't mention something here, it's because it was good as usual or because it wasn't so great. And I guess I am a braggert, but I always say: if you don't toot your own horn, who will?
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