The Bachelor Life

At the end of our last post, Lily mentioned our posting schedule was going to be intermittent. This is a nice way of saying she was going to the Iqaluit office for a week, and the likelihood that I would remember to post every few days was low. Well, here it is a week later, and I'm finally getting around to it, so good call, honey. 

With Lily away on business, Pepper and I have been relish...sorry, suffering the freedom that only males can fully appreciate. In all honesty, Pepper seems happy enough, but at night, he watches out the window, expecting Lily to come home, and finally gives up each night with a sigh and comes to bed. Other than the part about looking out the window, my routine is pretty similar. We keep in touch by phone usually once a day or so, but it's not the same. 

I'm proud to say that there are no dishes stacked in the sink, and the laundry is folded and put away. This may seem fairly trivial to some of you, but believe me, these are bigger steps than you can appreciate. They shouldn't be, but they are, for now. ;-p

Lily and I recently committed to only eating what we had in our pantry or fridge/freezer, and only buying perishables like dairy and vegetables. On account of this, Pepper and I have been suffering through steak for a few days (the horror!). He seems not to mind as much, because he's a trooper. I just looked over at him for confirmation, and he yawned, which is dog-speak for many things, including "That's right, Jeff!". 

This week has been a lot of cleaning, organizing, and job-hunting (now that school's out, I'm unemployed), and planning ways to make my wife happy (the penguin, walrus, sea lion, monkey, and pony are all on order). Seriously, we can't watch any more films with animals in them, because if they're cute, she wants one. It looks like I'll be better off just buying Marineland and African Lion Safari, and it would certainly be easier than trying to find space for those animals in our house. 

Lily will be back in a few days, and both Pepper and I will be better for it. Come home soon and safely honey. We miss you. 

-J & P

Happy 2nd Anniversary (tomorrow)!

Tomorrow is our second wedding anniversary and I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday Jeff and I started dating (and subsequently spending every waking moment together). Our whirlwind romance and the years since then have been the most adventurous, fun and loving years that I have lived. I cannot wait to see what the rest of our lives brings us - because we have started off on such a high note, it's hard to imagine it getting even better. :)

To reminisce, I thought I would share some videos of our special day. Hope you enjoy!

This first one was taken a few months after we got engaged. We played it at our wedding reception as a pre-introduction of the wedding party and had such a fun day filming it. You'd never guess that a 4 minute video would take nearly 6 hours to film...but there you go. Actually, the day started bright and early with hair and make up for my wedding trials - and then we went down to the lake to take engagement photos, and then we ended the day with our stag and doe late into the night. Phew! What a day!!

Our wedding day was magical in every sense of the word. The day started with a light dusting of snow which made it perfect for pictures, but as the day went on the sun shone in full force and we had a warm and beautiful day for the ceremony. The only stress that I felt was when the limo picking us girls up was late because the boys drank all the champagne on the way to the church and the limo driver stopped to pick up a bottle for us (#firstworldproblems I know). The rest of the day went off without a hitch and we even threw in a surprise lion dance for our guests after an elaborate dinner and prior to the late night buffet of a poutine bar, hot dogs, pizza and all the sweets in the world. It's my wedding - of course there will be tons of food! :) We were fortunate to have had our families travel from across the globe to join us, and this 5 minute video is a tiny glimpse of how perfect our day was.

I loved re-living our wonderful day and I hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane too!

xo.
-L

2013 Wrap-Up

The old adage of "time flies when you're having fun" certainly held true for 2013. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting down to write our last new year's eve post - and it's hard to believe it's been 365 days since!

If last year was a year of self-discovery and growing as individuals, 2013 has definitely been the year of growing as a family. We began the year by welcoming Pepper into our lives and I honestly don't remember life without him; he has become such an integral part of our beings that it is as though he has always been here.

However, I'm not just talking about growing our family with Pepper. We have cultivated such wonderful friendships over the past year, and have gotten to know so many lovely people in town it feels as though our "external" family has grown exponentially. It is wonderful to walk into the store or an event that is being held in town and recognize/be recognized by community members and fellow Baker Lakers. It is nice to feel as though we are a part of the community we live in - something you don't necessarily get when living in the south and get lost in the crowd.

It has also meant that we have had another year of strengthening our love for our family and friends back home. Not once has our support circle wavered. Not once have we felt forgotten or neglected for being so far away. If anything, we feel more loved, more supported and more included in the lives of those we love most. Being physically far from "home" is difficult, yes, but it has afforded us the opportunity to work on our relationships and make an effort to be all-around better to the important people in our lives. We treasure and value everyone in our lives, and we try to express that as often as we can.

All in all, 2013 has been very kind to us. We have been blessed with wonderful memories we will be able to look back upon with fondness. We hope you had a wonderful 2013 as well and look forward to sharing the upcoming new year with you.

All our love,
Lily, Jeff and Pepper

The Past Month

4 weeks is a long time to be away, and yet it feels like it flew by in the blink of an eye. Time moves funny in the south; I simultaneously felt like things were moving way too fast and it still felt like we were gone for a long while. Does that make sense?

It feels good to be back in Nunavut. To be honest, I didn't think I would say that after a month of being surrounded by *home* and all the good things that come with that. Yet, here we are. It's good to be productive and get back into a routine. Weeks upon weeks of indulgence and excess has caught up to us and we were exhausted when we finally arrived in Baker. Wouldn't trade a second of it for the world though; seeing our friends and family after so long was good for our souls. The weather was gorgeous the entire time we were home (high teens/low twenties!) and we took advantage of that as much as possible, sometimes just sitting outside on the front steps and enjoying the greenery.

We had a wonderful trip and left feeling rejuvenated and ready for Nunavut again. We aren't sure when our next trip home will be, but hopefully it won't be too long!

And since I know you missed Pepper more than you missed us, here is a before/after shot of our handsome man after a day at the doggy spa. He hated us for doing it, but he's just too darn cute isn't he??

It's good to be back!
-L

Stress Kryptonite

Lately, I've noticed a slight spring in my step at work, and the typical daily stressors have been strangely muted. On the one hand, I could contribute this to being more familiar with the office routines, and projecting a more positive attitude. I would be kidding myself, though. The real reason, I've no doubt, is the upcoming departure of our family back to Ontario.

Keeping that thought in the back of my mind is like stress kryptonite – nothing can bring me down when I have that thought floating in the back of my mind, and I imagine Lily feels the same way.  Don’t get me wrong – the first two factors I mentioned are helping as well, but the subtle wave of euphoria owes most of its existence to the near-imminent vacation.

Which reminds me, I have to start collating all of the rough notes I've jotted down and transform them into a stellar best man speech for my brother’s October nuptials.  Calling it ‘stellar’ is, I realize, is a bit superfluous – it is my speech, after all. J Still, my brother played the same role at my wedding last year, and he did me justice, so I have to respond in kind.

I think it’s a shame we don’t generate the opportunities to tell our family and friends how highly we think of them more often. The two most common times we say nice things about each other is at weddings, and unfortunately, funerals. That’s why I've enjoyed this process so much – going back through memories of childhood, adolescence, and growing up together, it’s been enlightening to remember all of the great qualities my brother possesses. I would list them here, but that might make my speech redundant and who wants to read a 500…sorry, 5000 word blog post?

It’s funny to think that between Adam’s wedding and my friend Tim’s wedding, and re-connecting with friends and family, we will have to try to squeeze some actual vacation time in. I’m sure we’ll manage, somehow.

-J

One Year

Today marks our one year anniversary of moving to Nunavut. Actually, it marks our one year anniversary of leaving to move to Nunavut, but we didn't actually make it to the territory until August 1 due to a plane delay. I thought it would be fun to do a his/her post on to mark the monumental occasion, so we're both going to share some of our reflections of the past year with you today. Thanks for sticking it out with us as we figured our way out in our new surroundings and following us on our adventure! We hope you continue on our journey with us as we keep chillin' in Nunavut!

Thank Goodness for Technology!

Several years ago, when I was immersed in the world of IT, one of the points I listed on my resume was that I "enjoy helping people realize the promise of new technology". Looking back, I realize I also appreciate the technological advances I've witnessed in my 38 years.

Easter 2013

4 day weekends are great, but it was confusing because we kept thinking yesterday was Sunday, when it was actually Monday but we had the day off...all this to say that we accidentally forgot to post on the blog because we were behind a day. Oops! Not to worry though, we didn't forget you, dear readers, and I'm here to regale you with stories of our lovely weekend!

The Homestretch

The final portion of our vacation occurred mainly in our hometown, where we have our house and where Lily's family lives. We managed to surprise both of her parents, although her sister had been in the know for a while. When we arrived at the house, Lily ran upstairs, opened her parents' door and asked, "What's for breakfast?". Her mother was completely shocked, and when that wore off, extremely happy to see her eldest daughter home. Her father was at work, so Lily's mother asked him to buy food on his way home, but it was all food that Lily likes, which made him suspicious. He was still very happy to see his suspicions confirmed. We had a great family reunion that day, albeit a teary one.

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

Today's regular post will follow this one and in it, Jeff concludes our amazing vacation home. There are lots of pictures and it's an entertainingly long one, so be sure to read it! :)

This is a bonus post because today is a very special day, because it's Jeff's birthday!!! Please join me in wishing him a very happy birthday today! Hooray!!

Jeff,

I know we're far away from home but I hope today is a fraction of how wonderful you make every day of my life. Pepper and I are very lucky to have you and we're going to try our hardest to make today special for you. Pepper even started by correctly using his 'potty' this morning!! Now there's a great gift! ;)

We love you and can't wait to see what amazing things you'll do this year.

Yours Always,
Lily & Pepper
xoxo

Village People

If you're just joining us, we continue the recap of our vacation with our trip to Florida to visit with my family.

After our relaxing cruise, we met up with my cousins at Orlando airport, and headed to the Villages, just outside of Ocala. For those you unfamiliar with the Villages, it is the world's largest retirement community, home to about 50,000 residents 55 and up. It is large enough to warrant its own weather pattern, and it arguably houses the largest number of golf carts on this continent. If you like to golf, it is a veritable mecca, with 18 professional level courses and dozens of par-3 courses scattered throughout. It is a place where our family like to congregate whenever possible, given that a few of our number qualify as residents, many of us enjoy golfing, and weather in Florida is typically more temperate than Ontario (or Nunavut!) in the winter. 

The Magic of Disney

For those of you just tuning into our programme, we are about to embark on a miniseries of posts about our recent trip south to visit our family and friends. (Most posts will be much longer than usual with photos, so we apologize in advance!)

We begin this chapter by flying to Toronto, and I will mention first that our puppy Pepper was decidedly unhappy during his third flight (the first two having occurred the previous day, since we had to overnight in Winnipeg), and competed with the airplane's decibel level during take-off and landing.  I thought he quieted down during the flight, but it might be that the noise of the engines simply drowned him out. 

Glaring at us from under the seat

We were in our hometown for just under a day, so we introduced our little guy to our friends currently renting our house, and then packed him up and took him over to my parents' house in Mississauga. Originally, the idea was to surprise our families about our trip home; this worked much better on Lily's side than mine. 

There's no place like home....

One of the great things about living so far up north is that you learn to cherish vacations a lot more. Believe me, we know that first-hand, as we just returned from two weeks with our families and friends. We intended it to be a surprise, so we couldn't announce it beforehand to anyone. We have so much to talk about, we've decided to split our vacation blog post into multiple parts - our anniversary trip, our time in Florida, our time in Ontario, and our unusually interesting flight home.

Guest Post: Secret Agent Alert

An entertaining installment in our guest post series from my sister - who has a fond, fond obsession/appreciation for James Bond movies and the secret agent genre. This is what she submitted when I asked her to write a post about my moving to the north.

 

 CLASSIFIED

ATTN: EYES ONLY   

VIA: OPEN LINE, SOMEWHERE SOUTH (MAYBE) (A LIKELY STORY)  

Author’s Note: As secure missives have a woeful history of being compromised, I’ve taken it upon myself to hide in plain sight. Names and relationships have been sufficiently altered; oceans of salt would do readers good.

Our New Addition

When we came up to Nunavut, it was just the two of us. It's always been just us, and we hadn't planned on growing our family just yet...

Showing off Auntie Jan's knitted gifts

However, the universe decided that it was time our family grew...

Happy 100th

Being that this is our last post of 2012, and our 100th post of the blog, we thought it fitting to start off by saying thank you for being part of our adventure with us and sharing our journey. It's not always an easy road, but we're thankful for each and every one of you for being here with us.

Can you believe it's been 100 posts since we first decided to go on this crazy adventure? Where has the time gone? Today marks our 5th month here - nearly half a year already! On the one hand it feels like we just got here and on the other hand, it feels like we've been here much longer than a few short months.

It's funny that we keep calling it an adventure when our lives are so routine - not much different than when we were in Ontario: work, home, repeat. We have resolved to experience more of what Nunavut has to offer us in the coming year - these past few months have really been just us trying to settle in and find our footing (I think we have a pretty good handle on things now)!

2012 was a big year for us with lots of monumental changes that impacted our lives in so many ways. We started it off with a bang by getting married, so the rest of the year had a lot to live up to! 2012 was a year of discovering who we are, what we can handle, and appreciating everything we have. The saying of "absence makes the heart grow fonder" holds truer than you can ever imagine.

It has been a year of testing ourselves and relying on the strength of our family and friends to support us when we faltered. Time and again, we have turned to each other and said, "how did we get so lucky?" - a lesson we will always cherish and not take for granted.

Though we are separated by physical distance, it is in this year that we have both felt closer than ever to the ones we love. We have been blessed with amazing people at home, and the ability to meet and build relationships with amazing people here in Baker Lake. If we take anything away from this journey, it's that no matter how hard it gets, the love and kindness of the ones you hold dearest to your heart is all you need.

Happy New Year from us to you, and may your 2013 be filled with more adventure and more love than you ever thought possible.

xoxo
Lily & Jeff

First Christmas

This Christmas was one of many firsts for us: the first Christmas we've been away from our families, the first Christmas in Nunavut and the first Christmas we've shared as husband and wife. A lot of pressure for one day - but it was one that was filled with love and the creation of new memories.

Checking In

It’s Sunday evening, and Lily is relaxing with a cup of tea on the couch while I take a quick break from studying (and post this note). I’ve been entirely too absent from our blog of late, and while I can use the excuse of work and school, I really shouldn’t, because this blog is our gateway to the friends and family we’ve left behind, and to the new ones we’ve made here in Baker and the surrounding environs. Therefore, I will endeavor to shoulder more of the onerous task of communicating with people so my poor wife doesn't have to do it on her own. . ;-D

Bursting

Christmas has officially come to our house in Baker Lake, Nunavut!

We are bursting with FEELINGS, glitter and lots and lots of presents. No really, we are bursting at the seams with all of these things!!

Judith Makes Everything Better

After working for 14 days straight, and coming home to frozen water pipes, and in an all-around bad mood, something needed to be done and needed to be done fast. We needed something...and that something was Judith: