Ludovico Einaudi

The piano is one of my favorite instruments in the whole entire world.  When I hear the piano, the music grabs at my heartstrings and tugs them in a way that doesn't make me sad, but inspired. 

I started playing piano when I was 10.  If it were up to me, I'm sure I would have started sooner, but my parents decided that, after having to fight with my sister to practice, they never wanted to do that again.  So, they made me wait, and at the magical age of 10, the 'rents decided I was mature enough to make my own decision, and I began with piano lessons. 

I started with the books made for 5 year olds, and quickly progressed into the Royal Conservatory grades. Within a couple years into my piano training, I had finally caught up with the kids my age.  I continued with lessons until the end of high school and I loved every single second of it.  I remember hugging my piano teacher, Sara, on the last day and both of us crying .  We shared a love for music and it was heart breaking to hit the end of our road together.

At the time, I thought it was the end of my musical road, period.  I was entering university, I had just started dancing with Volya, which demanded at least 2 full evenings a week,  and furthermore, I was moving into a condo and I had no piano.  It made no sense for me to continue with lessons, so I settled for playing as often as I could when I was home, but as time went on, my playing dwindled, and eventually, I stopped entirely.

It wasn't until I moved to the Netherlands in 2011 that I dusted off those old piano memories and began playing again.  It all started with the movie Intouchables.  It's a French movie about a quadriplegic and the development of his friendship with his aid worker.  After spending years working with people in wheelchairs, I could appreciate the humor and the story warmed my heart.  But what grabbed my attention instantly was the music.

In the first scene, we are introduced to the two main characters as they're speeding through Paris in a car.  But, there are no sound effects.  There is no one chasing them.  The car does not crash.  And there is no explosion.  Instead, it's piano music.  Just a lone piano, its notes chipping away to expose raw emotion. 

After watching the movie, I had to figure out who wrote the music.  I needed to hear that opening song again and again-- it was an insatiable craving.  Eventually, I found my answer: Ludovico Einaudi.  Along with that though, I had discovered a musical genius with an entire repertoire songs to learn on the piano!

My love for Ludovico's music has not diminished over the years.  I have learned a number of his songs, and have been stalking his tour dates ever since we moved to the Netherlands.  Seeing him live was promptly added to The Bucket List and I was determined to make it happen.  Needless to say, when I realized I had missed his tour announcement over the Christmas holidays, I was completely heartbroken that I had missed my opportunity.  I checked Marktplaats (Kijiji) for weeks, hoping to find tickets that someone was trying to get rid of, but had no luck and only seemed to be drawn to scams.

Well, my dream has come true: I am going to see Ludovico Einaudi LIVE.  Somehow, Sander managed to get a set of tickets, and he surprised me, giving them to me for my birthday!! I'm still in shock a week later and grinning like an idiot.

The song from the first scene of Intouchables.

Just photos

Last weekend, we ventured a bit north for a weekend away.  Sander's graduating class is quite close, and each year they plan a weekend to hang out.  It was a really fun weekend, and the best part of all was that we woke up to snow on Sunday morning!!

Such fun! The crazy snow-loving Canadian in me was so incredibly happy to wake up to white on the ground.

Anyway, other than the snow, the weekend was fantastic. It was basically a weekend to be a kid again.  We played board games for hours on end, and even had a few rounds of a game in the forest that is really similar to Capture the Flag.

And while I was looking at pictures from last weekend, I came across some fun one I snapped while on a picture adventure with Richard in November.  I really liked the different lighting captured in each.  

That's all for now! Tot volgende keer (tip: use Google translate)! 

Our House

Check out the new dining room! 

It has been a couple busy weeks over here! Last Friday, Sander and I officially took possession of our very first home.  Unfortunately, I had to write a final exam in the morning so I missed the passing of the keys.  However, Sander and his parents were kind enough to wait for me before going into the house, and Sander carried me over the threshold in true old-fashioned style. Not long after that, we started moving!  It was a short move (to the end of the street in the background and around the corner), so we were able to move the big stuff on dolly cart.

We've spent the last week unpacking odds and ends and making numerous trips to IKEA and other home stores.  It's a bit of a slow process since the amount of stuff we can buy is severely limited by how much we can carry on our bikes.  We're not always the best estimators when it comes to getting things home, not that we've ever bought a painting or a firepit that didn't fit in our car or anything.  ;)  Okay, fine, those are true stories, but we're erring on the side of caution this time and making certain we can get it home before buying it.... hence the fact we've been to IKEA and Praxis twice and Action thrice.  

However, after a weekend of hard work, I can say it is starting to feel like our home. We've spent the weekend hanging the last of our lights, putting up shelves, organizing closets and, believe it or not, relaxing!

I can't wait to get the finishing touches done.  We have a nice painting to be hung and a few ideas of other art to have in the house.  We're also going to get some nice house plants (on top of the herb garden I planted this afternoon!) and awesomeize our balconies (yes, plural). It'll be a slow transformation, but it's one that we're thoroughly enjoying right now! Who knew being a homeowner was so awesome?! ;)

Home for the Holidays

I know it has been quite some time since I've posted, but in all truthfulness, nothing too noteworthy happened throughout the month of December, and we've been quite busy since we've returned from Canada.  Before Christmas, I was insanely busy with the course I was doing at the time, which was called Innovative Tumor Therapies and was probably my favorite class I've done so far.  Lucky for me, I landed an internship with the professor of the course and, in February, I'll be starting a project about lung cancer and combination therapy.  I'm really looking forward to getting out of the classroom and into the lab!

Anyway, between Bruges and Christmas, that was the only share-worthy point.

My Christmas break started on December 18.  I had a final exam that afternoon and after, I headed out with some classmates for dinner and drinks (sadly, I bailed on the karaoke part of the evening). I don't know why we don't do that more often because it was such a great time!

The next day, I took full advantage of the lounge time and watched TV in my PJ's all morning.....and part of the afternoon.  After a really intense 4 months of school (and no long weekends), I was basking in the glory of having nothing to do.  Eventually, I realized that wasn't entirely true, and I started packing for our trip home.

We played suitcase Tetris all morning Saturday, and after shuffling stroopwafels from one bag to another, we were finally packed and ready to fly our 50lbs of Dutch food to Canada.  Just kidding.  It wasn't all food....just mostly food.

We arrived in YEG at 5:00pm on Sunday to HUGE hugs and happy tears.  There's nothing like a good hug from your parents after not seeing the for 7 months (we were all too busy hugging to bother taking a picture).

The two weeks we spent in Canada were a whirlwind, but a wonderful one. We started off our holiday by spending a few days with Carter and Cash.  I was absolutely convinced they wouldn't know who I was.  I figured they would play shy and be reluctant to give me hugs.  I couldn't have been more wrong! The second they saw me, both yelled Auntie and came barreling towards me for hugs.  It was the most heartwarming thing and a memory I'll cherish forever.  I couldn't get over how much they've grown.  They're no longer little babies, but running and talking little people!

We spent Christmas Eve at Baba's like we do every year, and it was wonderful.  Christmas Eve at Baba's is the reason I love Christmas.  In Dutch there's the the word "gezellig" and there's no literal English translation, but it exactly sums up why I love Christmas Eve at Baba's so much.  Wikipedia describes it as "belonging, time spent with loved ones or togetherness that gives a warm feeling",  It's the perfect word for the occasion! I've spent every Christmas Eve of my life at Baba's stuffing myself full of amazing Ukrainian foods, laughing with my cousins, playing cards and enjoying family, and like I said, it remains my favorite holiday.

After Christmas, Sander and I decided to take a mini vacation within our vacation and head to the mountains.  We did a day of super easy hiking and a day of snowboarding.  I forgot how much I love the Rockies.  I cannot even count how many times I've been to the mountains, and they still take my breath away.

We rang in the new year watching the Northern Lights, drinking eggnog, playing cards and visiting.  It was a great start to 2016, and I'm happy to report I started the year without a hangover for once! ;)  The last few days of our holiday were spent hanging out at the lake.  I tinkered on the piano for a bit, we had a campfire, we played suitcase Tetris again and before we knew it, it was time to fly back to Holland and return to the daily grind. 

Being back to the daily grind is kind of nice.  As amazing as holidays are, it's always nice to return to a routine.  I've started a new course for the month of January (Biostatistics) which is keeping my plenty busy.  We're also back to our gym routine, working off those extra pounds from Christmas, and we've started packing for our move at the end of the month.  Yes, we're moving again, but it's something that deserves it's own post! So for now, here's a sweet pic I snapped near Sander's parents' house.  

A weekend in Bruges

Sander and I took a mini holiday to Belgium this weekend.  I wrote a final on Friday, so this was one of my free weekends to enjoy and we decided to escape early on Friday and head to Bruges.

If I was forced to describe the city of Bruges in one word, it would be adorable.

The city is so quaint and it literally charmed the pants off of me.

See:

My catch phrase of the day was "it's so cute I'm going to die".  Honestly, every nook and cranny in that city just made me smile.  We had a wonderful day exploring and of course having Belgian beer and waffles!! 

We also watched a candy demonstration which blew both of our minds.  We initially started watching because the guy was stretching out the candy on this hook and it looked really neat.  They then started using different colors and assembling them into what we thought was the most pathetic stack of gooey messy candy.  It wasn't until I saw the little candies on the ledge that I realized what he was making! The end product was a delicious hard candy which we got to taste as he cut the strings into tiny pieces.

These are all handmade!! I had no idea the process was so intricate! 

It was a wonderful little trip and I cannot wait to return sometime.  One day in that gorgeous city just was not enough! 

Totally nuts!

Yesterday, Nienke and I cracked a kilo of these lovely nuts (that were collected throughout Utrecht) and made the most amazing hazelnut pie. Such a fun baking adventure!! Nut hunting is definitely on my agenda for next fall!

Pie Night and Fall Colours

Pumpkin Pie Night

Thanksgiving wasn't quite complete without a pumpkin pie.  I had full intentions of making a pie for our lovely dinner, however, I ran into the slight problem of not being able to find a pumpkin! Pro-tip: pumpkins over here look different! I believe I did see a few pumpkins here and there, but they weren't the type of pumpkin I was used to, so I walked right past them.  Linda was kind enough to bring one the day of our dinner, so we whipped up a quick no-bake pumpkin cheesecake dessert (which was delicious), but I still had the craving for a real pumpkin pie.

Then the following week, I found a real pumpkin (or rather, the type of pumpkin I'm used to seeing) and I was inspired to give this whole pie thing a go.  It was so good! There was some improvising (*ahem, using a spring form pan cause we had no pie plate), but in the end, it was pretty darn close to the real thing.  Of course, being that it was my first ever pie crust, there were some improvements to be made, however, I have to say, for my first go at pumpkin pie, I was pretty proud of us!

A Beautiful Fall Day

The trees around here have been absolutely amazing the last couple of weeks.  I've been dying to get out there and enjoy the colours  (including a beautiful blue sky), but I've been so incredibly busy with school (which is going well, by the way.  I officially passed my first course!).  Yesterday, I finally made it out to the forest area for an afternoon walk.  I really thought I had missed most of the leaves (all the trees by our place are bare by now), but I was pleasantly surprised to see some trees still full!