The Settlers Themselves

Last night we settled Catan. Well, Emily and Jared did when they won the first and second rounds. It was a fun night with lots of healthy competition. After two rounds of Catan, some treats and some wine we settled onto the click-clack for some serious discussion about babies- quads, quintuplets and what we would do if we ever found ourselves in the shoes of John and Kate plus 8. Then we obsessed over grad school programs, medical mal-practice suits, and moral dilemmas until almost 1:00. All I can say is that after painfully losing twice I'm more than ready for a re-match. 

Royal Treatment

Last weekend my Grandma and Grandpa came to visit Emily and me in Montreal. Now there's one thing I must mention before I continue this post: My Grandma and Grandpa are AVID readers of this blog. Would you believe me if I told you that they have printed every single post that we have ever written since our very first post  in January 2012? Not only do they print them, they keep them, in what has become a giant pile on their kitchen table. If that doesn't make one feel loved, I don't know what does. So with that, a shout-out to my Grammy & Grampy and a HUGE thank you for the great weekend they treated us to!

To recap:

Saturday night, dinner at Reubens - look at all those fries!

...Followed by some relaxation and pool time at the Fairmont 

Complete with a Special Mother's Day Brunch and mimosas! 

And finally some sun to see them off!  

Hockey Night (week) In Canada (1900 Tupper)

You may not know this about us Tupper ladies but we are actually die-heartt hockey fans. Well, maybe die-heart is a little strong, but I was raised a Habs fan and Kinsey, from Toronto (or close enough) loves the Leafs (and with encouragement from Brad, has become really quite impressively knowledgeable about the team as well as the game itself). So, since both teams were playing this round, we had our computers streaming the games almost every night this week! Even though Montreal was beat out earlier on (sad, I know-especially living in Montreal) I still enjoyed the Toronto-Boston series. Kinsey and I would shout to each other from our respective rooms as we watched the plays unfold..."Kessel with the puck again, heading towards the Boston net...GOAL!!!" It was really rather exciting. Tonight was especially thrilling. Kinsey texted me updates during the first two periods while I was out and upon my return we cuddled up on the couch together, eyes glued to the computer screen. 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, over time!!! Exhilarating. AND, Miss Katherine Ernst called just in time for the final minutes of the third period so all the Tupper ladies could experience the excitement (and disappointment) together. Truly a bonding experience. Thankfully, Katie had lots of news and stories of her time at home and at camp to take our mind off the loss. Maybe next year Habs and Leafs fans!

Looks like Boston just scored from Kinsey's expression! 

15 minutes left in the 3rd period and Toronto was up 3-1.

Ending the evening talking to our girl, Katie :) 

C Major

The Ultimate Salad

A couple of weeks ago, when I was home in between exams, I went to visit some friends in Waterloo – Katie and Taylor being two of them. (Hi girls!) We spent Saturday afternoon at the St. Jacob's market in Amish country. There were loads of vendors selling all kinds of goodies at the best prices. We got pots of tulips for $1 and 8 boxes of strawberries for $5! After we dipped half of the berries in chocolate we used some of the others for our dinner. Katie and Taylor have an amazing salad recipe with a delicious dressing. I enjoyed it so much that I set out to make it tonight, adding a few additional ingredients :)

{Ingredients} 

Baby spinach/mixed greens

Fruit of your choice - I used kiwis and mangos (Last time we used strawberries and apples, they were great too) 

Feta cheese 

Avocado

Quinoa (For protein)  

Roasted pine nuts (Watch them very carefully as they are easy to burn and quite pricey!)

Grilled chicken (I marinated mine in lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper this morning so they were nice and juicy when it came time to cook them) 

{Dressing} Enough for approximately 3 servings 

1/4 cup real maple syrup, 1/3 cup light mayo, 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar  

And So It Begins 2.0

You may recall last year at this time, Katie posting about beginning her LSAT prep. This time it's my turn and today marked the beginning of an intensive, five week prep course. Here we go...

Reflection

Today has been a day of reflection. The past two weeks have been quite an emotional roller coaster on Tupper as Kinsey went home for a week between exams and Katie and Jeremy packed up Katie's things and said farewell to Tupper for good leaving me here alone to fend for myself ;) Then Kinsey came and went again, leaving me here for another week. But today, with the sun shining, after breakfast out with a good friend and a skype date with another good friend, I said "Enough moping Emily Anne-Marie! Today is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it!" So, I put on some work out clothes, got out my ipod, turned on some worship tunes and went for a run for the first time in well...too long. I can not express how refreshing that time was. It was a time dedicated to reflection, rather than the kind of "reflection" (ahem, daydreaming) that happens when I'm trying to study and it was definitely what I needed. Here's what I came up with:  

In a nutshell, I am blessed. 

Not in a nutshell, I have:

- legs that can run up the Atwater hill

- lungs that breathe fresh air

- two roommates who I have countless wonderful memories with (and still a month and half of more memories with Kinsey) 

- three new roommates next year to create new memories with and a new part of the city to explore

- a beautiful city to live in (it's easy to forget this in the winter months!) 

- an amazing church family in Montreal and back home 

- a stocked fridge

- clean water to drink, to shower in, to wash dishes in... 

- a university education 

- a summer job 

- friends and family to go home to, to call on walks home from school, to spend hours with on Skype when I don't feel like studying anymore 

- a God who provides and loves unconditionally 

...need I say more? 

So, one more exam to go for me then it's Kinsey's turn to be alone on Tupper for a few days while I'm back home. Then I come back to Montreal to start working at the Motor Control Lab where I've been working all year doing my thesis and Kinsey starts her LSAT prep course and that's as far ahead as I can afford to think at the moment! 

There will be lots more to blog about when Kinsey and I are finally reunited so keep checking the blog!  Lots of Tupper news to be unveiled in the near future but for now, it's back to the books for me! 

Hope you all are finding time to reflect and that it's been as rewarding for you as it was for me. 

Love, 

Emily