Invasive Plant Survey

If you know me at all, you know that I spend OODLES of time out in nature removing invasive plants from our natural areas.  These nasty plants have made their way into our habitats accidentally or occasionally on purpose and they are able to grow extremely rapidly and aggressively.  As these plants are often very far from their natural range, they exist in our habitat without any natural controls such as predators or disease and thus are able to outcompete and often crowd out native species, dramatically reducing native populations and thus the biodiversity of the ecosystem...

 

Take a few moments and fill out this survey put out by Simon Fraser University (even if you don't know much about invasives) and contribute to the knowledge base that these researchers are trying to establish.

SFU Invasive Plant Survey

Seriously...click the link and check it out!

Grand (Flamenco) Occidental Xcaret

We've been home from our honeymoon at the Grand (Flamenco) Occidental Xcaret; for about 36 hours and though we are glad to be home - DAMN was it cold out at the bus stop this morning. The resort is located
about 10 minutes from Playa Del Carmen which is about 50 minutes from Cancun. Playa Del Carmen was first known for the ferry to the snorkeling and diving haven of Cozumel but has become its own bustling town full of shops, tourists and time share opportunities.

IF you exclude the regular horrors of travelling for over 12 hours to arrive at a destination that would take less than half the time if you had been able to fly direct, our honeymoon was fantastic. The resort was beautiful, It lived up to our expectations as a 4.5 * resort, with friendly and helpful staff, well cared for (not to mention lush) grounds, numerous pools, a gorgeous and serene beach club, and of
course an abundance of food to eat, water to drink and of course you could find alcoholic beverages every step of the way.

During our 7 night stay we were permitted to eat out 4 times at our choice of 5 excellent a la carte restaurants; in the end we only made it out for dinner 3 times, but c'est la vie. In addition to all of these resources there was also a SPORTS BAR and DISCO on the premises. Although the disco seemed to have some potential, we only made it there one time and despite our large consumption of Mojito's (with new friends) and being the last to leave for the evening, we never did make it out to the dance floor to shake our booties.

Once we found the SPORTS BAR however, we seemed to continue migrating that way as our evening progressed. We watched baseball, played pool (surprisingly well) and enjoyed the beverages of the bar.

There's more to say and pictures to upload, but for now, I will say the resort was beautiful, we rarely left and we spent the majority of our time swimming, eating or sleeping...ahhh isn't that the life?

Granola Girl's RECIPES

This is just the begining, but I intend to slowly amass my favourite recipes here. Please be patient and remember to check back.

GLUTEN-FREE Recipes
Gluten-Free Ponderosa Cake
Gluten-Free Bagels
Gluten-Free, Thin Crust Pepperoni Pizza (also Yeast-Free and Egg-Free)

NOT GLUTEN-FREE Recipes
Easy Quiche Lorraine

3:56am

3:56am, I welcome the crisp ocean air against my sweaty, tacky skin. The hard plastic of the lawn chair presses coolness into my back like an ice pack. The only sound interrupting the pure silence of early morning is nature herself. The rhythmic lapping of the ocean waves along the rocky shore. Though the waves may vary in strength and sound, they will never stop - such beautiful white noise. Within moments I am ready to return to my toasty haven and drift back to sleep.

back to love

People often say that marriage is about compromise and that much is true, but just yesterday we tackled yet another issue that I'm certain will come up time and time again.

I promised to care for J when he is sick, weary or simply in need and it is the last statement that I am referring to now. We have had 5 years to learn each other, to begin to understand the subtle nuances of each other, and yet it's obvious, marriage has affect one important factor - trust.

Not trust in each other from an honesty perspective, but rather trust in your partner that they will watch out for you and take care of you, always. That it's ok to give into your demons for a few moments if need be, because the love of your life is there to guide you and bring you back.

Back to life & back to love.

Married

Nothing has changed and yet everything is different. We are just two weeks in and I still giggle when I say husband. It seems surreal sometimes - I HAVE A HUSBAND.

I feel like an adult, like a grown up, I feel like I've finally begun to loosen my grip on the life of a youth. Not that I ever acted overly stereotypically.

But I digress, being married is wonderful. Our friends and family embrace us as a whole. They see us as two parts of the same, just as we do and it's incredible. No longer are our commitments secondary to anyone else's. We are the beginning of our own family, and people respect that.

And yet within our little family, our little unit, we have maintained the status quo. We continue to take care of each other, watch over each other and provide for one another when we are in need. Truly, nothing has really changed between us, we just made our commitment official.

wed 140
Originally uploaded by granola girl :).

The wedding - simply perfect

Well it's official - I am now a MRS and I couldn't be happier.

The sun was shining, the guests were smiling, and the love of my life was waiting for me, to claim me as his own.  The day went fabulously and I wouldn't change a thing, there were no major crisis', no tears (except a few out of pure joy) and there was an overall glow of love and happiness over the entire day.

A special thank you to everyone who made the day possible and to everyone who was able to make it out to share in our special day.

There is so much to say, but for now...the lyrics of OUR song...

"Better Together" by Jack Johnson

There's no combination of words
I could put on the back of a postcard
No song I could sing
But I can try for your heart
Our dreams, and they are made out of real things
Like a, shoebox of photographs
With sepiatone loving
Love is the answer,
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? and where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and
Sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing its always better when we're together

MMM its always better when we're together
Yeah, look at the stars when we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together

And all of these moments
Just might find their way into my dreams tonight
But I know that theyll be gone
When the morning light sings
And brings new things
For tomorrow night you see
That theyll be gone too
Too many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams might find their way
Into my day to day scene
I'd be under the impression
I was somewhere in between
With only two
Just me and you
Not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to be
We'll Sit beneath the mango tree now

Its always better when we're together
Mmmm, we're somewhere in between together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together

MMmmmm MMMmmmm Mmmmmm
I believe in memories
They look so, so pretty when I sleep
Hey now, and when I wake up,
You look so pretty sleeping next to me
But there is not enough time,
And there is no song I could sing
And there is no, combination of words I could say
But I will still tell you one thing
We're Better together.