Keira-anne.com

Finally, after seemingly endless days of eating, cooking, baking, wrapping, unwrapping, smiling, drinking and running around, I’ve had a day to do nothing. It’s 4:20 p.m. and I’m in my pajamas – still. I briefly dressed myself long enough to take the dogs for a long, long walk, after which I could feel the workout in my ass and thighs. Nothing has felt tight in days, except perhaps my jeans. I love winter weight.

Lately I’ve become pitiful at taking photos of things as they happen. That’s not to say I haven’t snapped any, but this is all you get. Let’s begin with three photos of my niece intriguing herself with one of the gifts her favourite auntie bestowed upon her, shall we?

It’s a musical octopus. Each tentacle plays a different note in the music scale. The best part? It’s lightly vanilla-scented (no word of a lie).

Years ago my mom was happy to resign herself from baking and cooking duties, leaving the responsibility to myself and my sister-in-law. While Laura took care of Christmas Eve, I pulled out the stops on the big day. I like to call it my Ziggy Stardust Christmas Banquet Table. Yes, that’s gold lamé that’s blinding you.

I also managed to bake four dozen fluffy buns from scratch, roasted a turkey, chopped and cooked sinfully delicious stuffing with sides of yams, garlic red-skinned mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and roasted brussels sprouts with walnuts. You get the picture.

Kinda excessive, no?

Chillin’ with my buddy.

Each Christmas, my mom gives my brother and I an ornament that’s usually reflective of the past year. This one’s pretty self-explanatory.

This one represents my love of the ocean…

And apparently I enjoy shopping from time to time.

Anyone who knows me (and by that I mean knows me) understands the inexplicable affinity I have with First Nations culture. I have, in fact, been known to leave the First Peoples Gallery at the Royal BC Museum in tears simply because of overwhelming feelings. A few years ago my mother gave me a Haida sun from the reserve in Comox.

Daddy-O still joins us every year. I think he kind of looks like Jerry Springer.

Oma and Opa are always there too.

I’m basically obsessed with everything and anything that’s made by Wilton for baking. Sprinkles in my stocking.

My aunt bought me the last two seasons of my favourite sweaty, naked and incarcerated men. It’s HBO at its finest.

I have a plan for these…

Jordy matches everything at my mom’s house.

I really need to hurry up with this blog post so I can get moving on to more important things. I’ve opted for SNES with The Legend of Zelda.

You can’t actually tell, but the skirt of this dress was in three layers, each with a different pattern. I saved up many weeks’ allowance to buy it from Zellers. Be jealous. Be very jealous.

Guess who.

We popped open Christmas crackers with dinner and I found a blue fawn in mine. I’m thinking it’s a sign that my cake just might win the Interfaith Baking Competition.

Mom gave me a grey knit endless scarf for Christmas. I think I’m in love.

My brother and me.

This is how we roll.

Clearly I have a lot to look forward to in the next year, so I’m not filled with that dreaded “what now?” thought that usually takes over like a tryptophan nap. One thing I’ve traditionally done in January is execute a mini makeover in my home. This year I’m picking up an industrial shelving unit, storing all my cooking and baking wares on it to make more room in my too-cramped kitchen. In a few months it may be present time to me. My current lease is up at the end of March. With that, I’ve decided to stay another year in the studio I’m currently calling home before moving to a more spacious casa with a large kitchen and an actual bedroom.

It’s time to end the rambling and save the princess.

For the first time in all my years, I’ve begun to realize what Christmas shouldn’t be about. As a child, it’s fun to indulge in the Santa Claus tale, but for whatever reason, that tradition has kept on rolling in my family.

The thought struck me the other day that if it’s Jesus’ birthday we’re celebrating, why do I still get a truckload of gifts at this time of year? It makes zero sense to me as someone who celebrates Christmas based on its true origin, and I’m really not doing much of anything to honour that. However, sometimes it’s too little, too late, but I am dead-set on making huge changes next Christmas and throughout the coming year in this regard.

Photo: jenny downing (r&r) on Flickr

I think that the best gift we can give our families and our friends at this time of year, with or without money, is not presents but presence. There is nothing more I am looking forward to than being with my family, laughing joyfully with them, eating food that’s been lovingly prepared, putting good mileage on my stretchy pants, drinking wine, resting my body, resting my mind and making memories. I’m sure I’ll manage to squeeze some SNES in there too.

To all of you, my friends and readers, I want to wish you the very best that this season has to offer you – no matter what or why you’re celebrating. Be there with and for the people you love and the people you have yet to love. Bring it all back to the place it should be about.

Living today – in the moment – has become my “thing” lately. I could elaborate but let’s not get boring, shall we? Anyway, if I don’t live in the moment, all the things I’m pumped about next year will be here before I know it and the little things will pass me by. In fact, so much is coming my way in 2010 that I’m already exhausted thinking about it all. Oy vey.

In no particular order…

10. No specific target date has been set, but I will be officially debt-free. Feel free to hate on me, but I’ve worked hard at it.

9. Celebrating my sweet-as-a-peach niece’s first birthday.

8. Shortly after that, celebrating one whole year with my love bug.

7. Fingers crossed that the Phoenix Suns will once again rock GM Place with another exhibition game during the pre-season, a game at which I will be screaming, yelling, cheering and jumping up and down in my jersey.

Photo: taminator on Flickr

6. TORONTO! Or, you know, a suburb-thereof. I really need to see this lady again. (Except let’s not hang with those guys, okay?)

5. Seeing John Mayer in concert on April 1 for the second time. (Don’t be surprised if I disappear for a few months after the show. It’s my hope that I’ll charm my way backstage, after which he and I will embark on a passionate and heartbreaking love affair. I suspect we will exhaust each other by summertime.)

Photo: Flickred! on Flickr

4. Love thy self: I’m one of those people who incessantly say “I want to…” and then never actually do it. I want to cook more gourmet food, drink more wine, have more parties, take more day-trips, rent a car sometimes and do anything and everything that makes me happy.

3. My first visit to New York City. I plan on leaving my heart there.

Photo: miss604 on Flickr

2. Get sporty. I don’t miss going to the gym but getting active makes my heart go ga-goong in more ways than one. I want to join a co-ed drop-in basketball league or just hit the courts with friends. Bueller?

Original Photo: Fernando Ariotti on Flickr

1. Embarking on the next decade of my life, a trip that someone special to me will also be taking this year.

Your turn: tell me what would make for your “Perfect ’10″. Feel free to make this a meme.

I bet if I took an afternoon to dig through the garage or storage room at my mom’s house, I’d probably turn up some buried treasures from across Vancouver Island that my Opa collected years ago. It’s something I’ll probably never actually get around to, but thankfully Raymi did some of it for me. Who knew Vancouver Island was so big in Ontario?

She recently snapped these photos of a very, very old pamphlet belonging to Dave that was published by the Victoria and Island Publicity Bureau. As far as I know, that entity operated out of the south Island between the 1920s and the 1960s, so that will give you an idea of just how old this is. Someone correct me if I’m wrong on those dates.

If you click this last photo to view the original size, you can clearly see that the highway connecting the eastern Island to Tofino and Ucluelet was non-existent at the time of publication.

I suddenly have the urge to hike at Mt. Beecher.

Aside from the brief afternoon snowfall, Sunday was like any other Sunday. At least it should have been. In an effort to finalize our Christmas shopping, Andrea and I planned to meet at H&M in Pacific Centre before making the somewhat insane trek to Metrotown. In order to avoid the cold, I ducked into Sears and made my way through the mall to find her.

Photo: ***roham*** on Flickr

As I emerged from the department store into the lower level, making my way to the escalator, I was keenly aware of how many people were crowded everywhere I looked. As I scanned the countless faces, one in particular nearly stopped me in my tracks. I knew him, I knew his face and how he moved. I’d seen the reconnaissance footage nearly a dozen times; in doing so I studied more about him than he knew of himself when looking in the mirror. I knew he was wanted, I knew how incredibly elusive he was and I knew the tremendous threat of sheer terror he posed to everyone in his immediate radius.

I had two choices. I could use the near-microscopic radio in what appears to be my DKNY watch to call for immediate help and report the sighting or I could disable him myself. If I went for the second option, I had to be absolutely certain I could do it. Any room for error was non-existent with this many people around.

Being nearly 100 feet behind him, I quickened my step. Anything less than 50 feet was far too risky. I closed in, my heels hitting the faux marble floor to muffle the sound of the safety release inside my jacket. Were anyone to see the Glock 27 before I was ready to fire, any chance I had would evaporate.

40 feet. Now or never.

In one fluid movement, my handgun went from my inside pocket to being gripped between both hands. In less than a blink, it fired. The Christmas shoppers screamed in chorus. Some scattered while most dropped to the ground. The breath I’d been holding escaped my lips as I surveyed my work. The man who was not a suspect – but instead a legitimate target – was sprawled face-down on the floor. One direct hit and his entire body was disabled.

I live in a fantasy world. It’s a world I’ve danced in for most of my life, a world in which I’m a federal agent. Sometimes it’s CIA, sometimes it’s FBI and sometimes I’m even an assassin. A secret life of lies, precise expertise and incredible adventure.

In truth, as I walked through Pacific Centre on Sunday afternoon, this was exactly the scenario that played on the reel of my mind. As I walked to meet Andrea, I questioned myself as to whether or not I thought I could get a clear shot off in such a crowded mall if I had to. It immediately occurred to me that if i had any hope in hell of joining the CIA, I’d first need corrective laser eye surgery.

Thanks to all who entered my LittleEvaCharlotte Etsy contest over the last week. I’m pleased to announce our winner, Adrienne Jackson, who selected the Flour Sack Hat as her favourite item. Adrienne, please send an e-mail to the ladies of LittleEvaCharlotte with your mailing information. Congratulations!

Erin and Melissa are two creatively crafty moms who, in an effort to create items for their children to wear and use, have stumbled upon some great ideas. Between sweet knit toques and highly functional stroller liners, LittleEvaCharlotte was born. Their designs are unique, customizable and entirely practical.

This is your chance to win any one item from LittleEvaCharlotte, just in time for the Christmas season. The winner will get to pick whichever item from the Etsy store they like most – and there are four easy ways to win. You can even enter in all four ways, ensuring four entries in the contest.

1. Visit LittleEvaCharlotte‘s Etsy store, come back to this site and leave a comment naming your favourite item in the online store.

2. Follow LittleEvaCharlotte on Twitter and Tweet about this contest including the hashtag #LECcontest.

3. Join the LittleEvaCharlotte group on Facebook and leave a comment on the group’s wall, linking back to this site.

4. Simple: write a quick blog post about LittleEvaCharlotte, naming your favourite item with a link back to the Etsy store.

You have until the end of this week to enter in one or all four ways. A random draw will take place next Saturday, December 12. Good luck!

Someone at Nordstrom must have been sleeping on the job. For reasons I can’t explain, this dress ended up at Nordstrom Last Chance with a $49.95 price tag on it. It was the only one, it was in my size, there was not a stain, not a rip and not a silk thread out of place. Pure coincidence, and clearly I planned my trip to Scottsdale at the right time.

It was only in recent years that I learned how crucial the right pair of shoes are to completing an outfit. Tonight after work, I completed the dress by picking up these “kicks” at Holt Renfrew’s seasonal sale. The original price tag said $188 but the register rung them up for $109. It’s think it might be love.

Photos (top to bottom): Tiffany & Co.; Home Decorating Ideas/Interior Decoration/Kitchen Remodeling; Personal; MagXone Lyrics – “Assassin” by John Mayer; lonesome:cycler on Flickr; SoFeminine; Billie Hara on Flickr; Personal; ****Gretchen (FaustoyGretchen)**** on Flickr; Gucci by Robin Broadbent Photography; The Second Lunch; waferboard on Flickr

I recently put the call out for silent auction items donations to benefit Furever After Small Dog Rescue, the non-profit and volunteer-run dog rescue group from which I adopted Jordy. The numbers from the fundraising dinner are in, and over $11,000 was raised to help pay for veterinary care, dental care and medical equipment to help dogs that have been abused, abandoned or neglected.

I’d like to personally thank Miss 604, Mom 604, Pure Smile Studio Yaletown, Hans Peter Meyer and Alissa Staples for their generous donations. All your effort and support has been greatly appreciated and will bring smiles and wagging tales to many more dogs!