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November 11-15, 2009

I took time off during the week of Remembrance/Veterans' Day to visit Karsten and co. in Columbus. We baked, we fished, we played in the leaves, and I even came face to face with a horny buck! (inquire within if y'wanna know...)

Nov 16, 2009

Photos: 31

Halloween 2009

Kieran enjoyed his first Halloween, even though he slept through most of the excitement of kids coming to the door for tricks or treats. His pea-pod costume didn't fit him - he's too tall - so we cut holes in the outfit for his legs.

Oct 31, 2009

Photos: 12

Kieran's baptism

Another milestone! Kieran's baptismal day at St. Anselm's Catholic church, where Greg and Francine were married in 2007. Karsten (whom you may remember from 2002-04 ... yay!) drove all the way from Columbus to celebrate the weekend with us (and help me out with the photographry). Bill, Greg's ninth grade teacher and mentor, was newly minted as Kieran's godfather, and yours truly added godmother to her list of titles.

Oct 4, 2009

Photos: 53

High holy days, 2009

Kieran's first Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - and now he has two teeth!

Sep 25, 2009

Photos: 1

Michele's 40th Surprise Party

Michele's 40th birthday happened without fanfare on August 18th, but everyone was planning a big celebration in honour of her milestone year, on the weekend. She was REALLY surprised. Good job, Mark and company! Happy birthday, Michele!

Aug 22, 2009

Photos: 22

August 9, 2009 storm

We had a spectacular summer storm tonight and I took my camera onto the balcony to capture some of this incredible display of electricity. Who needs television when the light show is outside on the balcony?

Aug 9, 2009

Photos: 9

Amy's birthday, 2009

We celebrated my birthday a day early at Francine and Greg's with a backyard BBQ!

Aug 2, 2009

Photos: 13

trip to Cleveland

Spent a lovely weekend with Dorjan, Siu Yan and Chinja in Cleveland :)

Jul 10, 2009

Photos: 15

on the balcony

I arrived at home today to find a family of 3 raccoons on my balcony.

Jul 9, 2009

Photos: 4

Father's Day 2009

We celebrated Greg's first Father's Day with Dad & Jeanne, Aimee and Mike, and Michael (and Kiwi). Unfortunately, the only person whose photo I didn't capture is the new daddy himself!

Jun 21, 2009

Photos: 14

Kieran on Buby's birthday

We celebrated Mom's birthday at Francine's today with good food and great company. Kieran was very excited, even if he wasn't able to enjoy the delightful lemon tart or key lime pie.

Jun 20, 2009

Photos: 3

2009 Walk for ALS

Team Tikvah ("hope" in Hebrew) raised over $2,200 and participated in today's 5 km walk in support of the ALS Society of Ontario.

Jun 6, 2009

Photos: 15

Kieran - almost 2 months old!

Jun 4, 2009

Photos: 6

Dinner at Miriam's

Sunday evening was well-spent at Miriam's place where we all ate a lovely meal and spent a relaxing time with good company. Kieran was happily asleep on his grandma Rita's lap for a good two hours and then once he woke up and got fed, I may have captured a hint of a smile!

May 24, 2009

Photos: 10

Kieran - 1 month (and a bit)

May 10 - 13, 2009 Spent time with Francine, Greg & Kieran around Mother's Day. Holding a warm snuggly baby is very therapeutic. I highly recommend it.

May 13, 2009

Photos: 8

Kieran day 12: visit to Zaidy's

Francine and I went to Dad's place after work with Kieran for a visit.

Apr 20, 2009

Photos: 5

Welcome Kieran Alexander to our family!

Kieran Alexander arrived on April 8th at St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto after Francine was induced the day before due to high blood pressure. He weighed in at 6 lbs, 15 oz and is a beautiful, healthy baby. Kieran was born on Birchat Hachama (ברכת החמה, "Blessing of the Sun") which refers to a Jewish blessing that is recited in appreciation of the Sun once every 28 years, when the vernal equinox falls on a Tuesday at sundown. Jewish tradition says that when the Sun completes this cycle, it has returned to its position when the world was created. Here are some of the highlights from his first weeks in the world.

Apr 12, 2009

Photos: 18

College Roommates :)

In October 2008, three college roommates congregated for brunch and reminisced about old times and how far we've come. Here are some of the Then and Now photos of me, Rosa and Raseema.

Apr 7, 2009

Photos: 8

new hair!

Got my hair cut today and Angie styled it in such a cool way - I feel like Farrah Fawcett's ethnic cousin or something! I don't think I'd be able to replicate this look on my own - but maybe with practise, I could come close!

Feb 23, 2009

Photos: 4

Amy meets Chinja

Dorjan & Siu Yan came to Toronto this weekend and 2-month old Chinja got to meet his Canadian granny for the first time, and then he got to visit with some of Siu Yan and Dorjan's Toronto friends.

Feb 21, 2009

Photos: 11

2009 Hart House tri

The annual Hart House indoor triathlon was on Valentine's Day this year and I made it my mission to improve my performance from last year's race: which I did - yay! As with every year, the race is 15 minutes of each sport (swim, bike, run), but it's all indoors. This year, I improved my swim from 800m to 1100m, improved my bike from 6 km to 8 km, and did the same in my run (17 laps around the track). Training paid off!

Feb 14, 2009

Photos: 11

recipes

Tonight's dinner was szechuan eggplant with minced pork and shrimp.

Jan 11, 2009

Photos: 17

Gabriella's 1st Birthday

Jan 3, 2009

Photos: 19

Christmas 2008

We spent Christmas at the Kelly's this year and had a fantastic time with the kids. Mark and Michele cooked up a feast, as usual, and we all went home with full bellies and happy hearts!

Dec 25, 2008

Photos: 14

New addition

My sister told me she was pregnant while we spent time together over Labour Day weekend. These are Baby Gillis' 2nd and 3rd ultrasound portraits. S/he was 21 weeks pregnant, as of Christmas, and 28 weeks by the February ultrasound.

Nov 30, 2008

Photos: 5

Brianna's 8th & Mike's 67th birthday

We gathered in Georgetown at Michele and Mark's place to celebrate Mike's birthday (Nov. 29) and Brianna's upcoming (Dec. 3rd) birthday. I don't know how I managed to get into the traditional kids' picture on the stairs this year, but I'm honoured now to be one of them!

Nov 29, 2008

Photos: 16

Halloween 2008

This year for Halloween, I tried to look a bit different. I had to go get a hair cut anyway, so I asked my stylist to straighten my mop when she finished cutting it. I then went to the MAC counter in the mall and had one of Christine's coworkers do her magic on my face, so I wound up looking nothing like myself! Went to work afterwards to enjoy our branch potluck. I carved a Frankenstein jack-o-lantern and ate from the smorgasbord of goodies that my fellow foodies brought. Went to Francine and Greg's neighbourhood to help them shell out candy and had a great evening hanging out with them and their neighbours.

Oct 31, 2008

Photos: 18

Day with Ray

Ray is visiting again from Cleveland and will join my family for our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday before he leaves. Today, we took a walk around downtown and I captured some of these images at Allan Gardens and at the Sears Corporate office.

Oct 7, 2008

Photos: 13

Vaughan Mills Shopping day

Spent the day with Jen, Simon & Gabriella, and Jen's friend Nancy with her son Brian. I must secretly love to be silly because I seem to use my friend's children as my excuse to act silly in public to keep them entertained. Brian is the tallest two year old I've ever seen but you can tell he's two by the way he's mesmerized by the zipper on my hoodie at the store. Gabriella is the happiest baby on earth and enjoys playing tug-of-war with the new puppy and sitting in my lap :)

Oct 5, 2008

Photos: 8

Apple-picking at Chudleigh's

On a misty Fall day, we (Jen, Simon & Gabriella, Simon's friend Roman, and I) drove to Milton to Chudleigh's apple farm to stock up on Ontario's finest crop of the season. Before we left, I got to play with Jen & Simon's new puppy, Elmo.

Sep 26, 2008

Photos: 10

Ashkenaz Festival 2008

The Ashkenaz Festival celebrated its Bar Mitzvah (13th) this year. I attended over Labour Day, and took part in some Israeli dancing, some klezmer music and the parade!

Sep 1, 2008

Photos: 8

Day at F&G's with Gabriella

I visited my sister and brother-in-law while Jen and Gabriella were visiting. She's such a happy baby, it was a lot of fun to spend the day together.

Aug 31, 2008

Photos: 9

Summer 2008: two fun days!

On two separate days, I spent some time with Mom, Mike, Michele, Mark, Brianna and Christina at the Canadian National Exhibition. We rode the rides and ate the food and soaked up the sun. A week later, Dorjan and Siu Yan came to visit and we went to Harbourfront to see the Canadian International Airshow, and then met up with a heap of Siu Yan's friends to celebrate her birthday.

Aug 24, 2008

Photos: 15

Halfway to 70!

August 3rd was my 35th birthday. Ray came to visit from Cleveland, we all (girls + Ray) went to High Tea at the Four Seasons hotel, and took a stroll on the boardwalk at the Beaches. Ray and I did the touristy thing and visited Centre Island where we rode the rides at Centreville, then ate Indian food at Little India and went bowling after dinner. After Ray left, I went to the horse races at Woodbine with Mom, Mike and Francine.

Aug 3, 2008

Photos: 28

Day at Rosa's (new baby Tyler)

My roommate all through university had her second baby boy a few months ago and as my gift to her, I offered to come over and be her Maid For a Day. So I took the train just past Oakville and I ironed, babysat, played with older brother Braeden (we counted four snails in the backyard and caught a grasshopper) and then I cooked dinner for everyone.

Jul 19, 2008

Photos: 4

ASDAH 2008 - LA

I presented a workshop at the 3rd annual Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) Conference in LA and visited Keisha! We had drinks with Terrelle, Keisha came to my presentation, we ate chicken and waffles at Roscoe's, and we went to the beach! Some of these shots are from Keisha's camera, so you can credit her for the ones of me!

Jul 6, 2008

Photos: 28

Wolfe Island - July 4 2008

I took the train to Kingston and hopped on the Wolfe Island ferry to visit Ruth and her family on the largest of the Thousand Islands over the American Independence Day weekend

Jul 4, 2008

Photos: 18

babies!

My cousin Deena is expecting her first child (a boy!) next month, so we had her baby shower today. Afterwards, me and my sister visited our friend Jen, who had her first baby (Gabriella) 4 months ago. She's very giggly and happy!