Tag Archives: birthdays

another birthday!

Posted on by
2

Yesterday was my sister, Charity’s birthday. Both my siblings just a week apart, it keeps me on my toes. I was out of town all day so I didn’t get a chance to write her a post like I did for Josh but of course I won’t let one day’s delay stop me!

I have more pictures of my sister for some reason, maybe because I have all the scanned ones from my wedding slideshow and we were only a year and 9 months apart so she ended up in a lot of them. Also she just got married last June so there are a lot of fresh wedding photos floating around. And who are we kidding, the girl is camera crazy! Ever since we were little, turn a camera on and Charity starts the show. There is footage of us (which I haven’t seen in year but the description sounds like us) in which I am telling a serious story to the camera and charity comes cartwheeling through the shot. I think she was wearing a bunny suit. I was not impressed.

I’m sure anyone who knows Charity has a funny story about her. She tended to keep us laughing, though it wasn’t always intentional. It has been so neat to see how, though she can be matter-of-fact and responsible when duty calls, her fun-loving personality has endured and comes out in the way she approaches her friendships, hobbies, work and home life. Even when you visit her and Justin at their apartment you sense the energy in the way she fills it with photos, textures, color and personal items that remind her of people she loves. She invests time in relationships and keeps her friendships for a lifetime.

Just my musings about my sister on the day after she turns 25. There’s lots more to say but I’ve got to save some for the next 25, right? Enjoy a few photos.

charandme_bikes   charandme-300x281-1 charity_josh_reception_3-224x300

birthday wishes

Posted on by
2

Today is my little brother’s birthday. Well, he’s not really little anymore but you don’t really ever shake the job of being someone’s younger – or older – sibling.

My brother has experienced a lot in his life so far and he’s developed patience with people others give up on, a way of making sense of what someone is saying even when they can’t and the ability to execute his humor with perfect comedic timing. Here’s a few things you may or may not know about Josh:

  • he’s lived in Canada and the States
  • he played football for one season when he was 4 and soccer from then on
  • he had a dog for 15 years (I might be off but it’s close)
  • he played the trumpet (and the cello?)
  • he has been to Mexico, Egypt and Israel… that I know of!
  • he has gone to public elementary and middle, Christian high school, Bible school, community college and Bible college
  • he is a natural with languages
  • he has been to more concerts than most people I know
  • he regularly takes food to homeless people and even brings them to church
  • he’s so good at charades he was once able to get us to guess “fo shizzle”

I have some pictures from our wedding to share in honor of my brother’s 22nd birthday. Love you Josh!

img_0393_std

img_0399_std_2

img_0995_std

Got some more facts about Josh you want to share? What stories stand out when you think of him?

canadian thanksgiving weekend so far…

Posted on by
Reply

This long weekend has been full of fun and it’s only half over.

Friday night we helped surprise our friend Angie with a costume birthday party. John pretended to be at work so that I could catch a ride with Kim and Angie to the diversion “party” at a restaurant. Then John drove over to their house and let all the friends in to hide and wait.

I was really worried about how Kim planned to get us back to the house and I don’t think he knew what he was going to do either because he kept looking at me in the rear view mirror and I would just make a face like, “what are we going to do?!”

About 5 minutes from the restaurant Kim pretended he needed to go home for something but Angie got instantly suspicious and we never really got her back on board after that! Kim did a great job though, even came back to the car with a bag and started to leave again, then stopped and told Angie he forgot the camera and asked her to run in and grab it. She looked like she knew something was up for sure but she went in and let everyone got to jump out and “surprise” her. : )

After the jig was up we could relax and have fun. Everyone was dressed up in costumes: one family was The Wiggles (it’s a kids show for those who don’t know), another was Loony Toons characters. Kim, Angie and Boo were Batman, Wonder Woman and Supergirl.

I took advantage of the gear I kept from my Starbucks days and came as a barista, with John dressed as my hot cup of coffee! I even made him a sleeve out of light brown paper complete with a hand-drawn logo. We totally should have won Best Couple but The Wiggles took it with the cute factor.

Besides just costumes there was also catered Chinese food, drinks, snack, music and a half a dozen toddlers to keep us all entertained. I can’t wait to get copies of the pictures that were taken, I’ll be sure to post them.

I should mention I was the only non-Asian person there (well, me and half of John!) which reminds me how awesomely multicultural my life has become.

granville3.jpg Today we slept in and acted lazy until almost noon. Then we drove down to Granville Island, bought fresh raspberries and blackberries and handmade pasta, sampled gourmet chocolates and the newly brewed Granville Island Winter Ale. Yum! We even got to hang out with Justin, our friend who goes to the Emily Carr Art Institute right there on the Island.

At our favourite stationary store, Paper-Ya, we found a big piece of handmade paper we want to frame as art over our couch. It’s a big empty wall so I’m looking forward to that project.

All in all it was a great couple days. Next up: we host Thanksgiving Dinner.

the long anticipated DMB concert post

Posted on by
Reply

I hate when I don’t blog for awhile and I start to get behind so that I think “I should really blog about this” so many times that it keeps me from wanting to blog at all. It’s too much pressure, trying to remember everything I wanted to mention and just the thought of all that writing keeps me procrastinating. Ya, procrastinating from my hobby.

Let’s see, I’ll just hit the highlight: the Concert.

John gave me tickets to see Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge in Washington and we went last Sunday night. I have been a long-time die hard fan but had never been able to see them live. Needless to say I was crazy excited.

We drove the 4 1/2 hours down to George, Washington (seriously) and by the time we had traveled through forests, hills, cliffs and cornfields we were wondering if we’d fallen down the rabbit hole. As we came up to the parking lot we still couldn’t see anything resembling a “gorge” but we did know we were in the right place by the thousands of campers filling the campsite, the sound of Dave from open car windows and the wafting scent of mary jane. I know that stuff’s not legal in BC but you wouldn’t know it that night!

We parked and followed the herd through the gauntlet of ticket checks, pat-downs and “you can have alcohol” bracelets, then up over the hill where the gorge itself comes into view for the first time. It was amazing. The stage was massive but the cliffs of the gorge and the lake that filled it came up behind the stage and dwarfed it. The sun was setting and the scene was beautiful. We found a nice patch of grass on the steep natural amphitheatre and spread out our sleeping bag. Over the next hour as we waited for the opening act the grass filled up. By the time Dave actually stepped onto the stage the sun had set and we were blown away by the amount of people.

Dave played for 3 hours, including a slide show between the set and the encore in tribute to the saxophone player who had passed away 2 weeks earlier. It was cold outside but I hardly remember. I was totally sucked in to what was happening on the stage and on the huge screens behind and above it. I had been looking forward to this concert for longer than we had the tickets yet somehow it exceeded my expectations. Even John, who’s not a big fan, said he has never heard a band whose members were each so individually talented.

It’s a long story but after the concert we gave a random university student a ride to the Seattle airport (he wasn’t exactly a planner, let’s just say that) and crashed into our beds around 5am. So worth it.

John said next year I can by tickets for the whole weekend and camp out at The Gorge. Friday, Saturday and Sunday night concerts. Wow.

I don’t have any good pictures because we couldn’t take our camera but we did make sure we got the proof on the cellphone.

[Show picture list]

a quarter century, done

Posted on by
1

Sarah's first birthday Today is my 26th birthday. I have officially completed a quarter century on this earth and I am feelin’ good. I think every birthday after 21 has been really good. I don’t know why but it seems like the birthdays before 22, or maybe between about 13 and 22, are just lame. I mean you either feel too young for stuff you wish you could do or too old for stuff you secretly still like to do.

Then you get to 16 and you can drive, or if you were like me you were always grounded in high school so you didn’t get to drive. Then 17 hits and you aren’t 18 yet so you can’t vote or sign yourself out of school without a parent or legal guardian.

Then you’re finally 18 so you can vote and buy cigarettes and porn, but you find out your vote doesn’t do much, cigarettes get lame and you’re a girl so the porn purchasing power is kind of lost on you. 19 Is okay because you’re out of high school and can legally drink in some Canadian provinces – but not in the US.

I liked 20 because I wasn’t a teenager anymore and there was something cool about being able to say I was in my twenties.

21 Gets old real fast because every time you say how old you are in the States people have to comment on how you can drink now. La dee freakin da we’d been doing that since we were 15. Now we can do it in public and pay 5 times more.

Which brings me to 22. No more comments about milestone birthdays but you’re still far away from the days when people will remark about being over the hill and give you birthday cards about menopause, false teeth and the Grim Reaper. As I said before, I have enjoyed each year after 22 more than maybe any before. Probably also because between then and now I met my husband, moved back to Canada, got engaged, got married, started ministry, moved to BC, watched my little sister get married and my little brother start to become the guy I knew he could be… with stuff like that happening who wouldn’t enjoy life?

Showing you all the big 2-6 I am excited about 26. Granted, I’m still in my twenties so anyone over 30 will roll their eyes if I say anything about feeling older, and 30 is the new 20 so I guess to some people I’m like a 16 year old. But too me it means a few things: I can rent a car without the extra daily fee, I can adopt a child in most countries except China, I am closer to 30 than 20 so the 30-somethings might cut me some slack, and no matter how old I get I think I might always look like a little kid so I’ve got that on my side.

What did I do to celebrate the big 2-6? On Sunday my mother-in-law was in town so I went out to lunch after church with her, John and my sisters-in-law Janna and Adrianne and her husband Gordie. I got a chocolate ganache with a sparkler in it but as the tradition from last year continues, no camera worked in time to capture the moment (sad story, ask me some time). Adrianne and Gordie gave me a bar of cool lemon soap and a giftcard from Lush and John gave me like the best birthday present ever: he has fulfilled my lifelong dream of seeing Dave Matthews Band live at The Gorge in Washington State. It is Dave’s favorite venue so it is guaranteed to be sweet. We’ve got to 2 tickets for August 31st and I almost peed my pants when he told me.

Today, the official anniversary of my birth, was filled with a regular work day, broken up with opening cards from Grandma Harder, Uncle Paul and Aunt Marlene and my co-workers. Claire bought me a coke and then Janna surprised me by showing up at the end of the day with a chocolate cupcake and cards from her and my in-laws. The one from Mom and Dad Hau has Michael from The Office in it saying something about reverse psychology and it told me not to have a happy birthday. Hilarious.

On the way home I treated myself to a Starbucks honey frappuccino and got my nails filled (got a manicure for Charity’s wedding, decided to keep it for awhile because I’m 26 now and need mature looking hands). I got home to find a bouquet of gerber daisies, chocolate and a new scarf from John. He has to be away from today until Friday and he felt bad for missing my birthday for the second year in a row. He is so sweet, he totally made me feel thought of even though he couldn’t be around.

So now I am enjoying the quiet of our apartment and a chance to catch up on things. At this crazy point in our lives a night home alone is exactly what I want, and need.

I find birthdays feel a bit bittersweet to me. I think about how past memories are getting further away and some things will never be the same. But right now I’m seeing the sweet so I’ll just enjoy that. 26. Happy birthday to me!