Lisa is a 30mumble-year-old technical author, mum, avid cook, extremely amateur veg grower, novice knitter, and closeted graphic designer, who enjoys referring to herself in the third person. [more...]

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Graphics created by me and Corel.

27 September 2004

mister and missus


Very quick summary before we go: it was fantastic, nothing went wrong (unless you count the drippy weather), everyone had a great time. Much more later, but until then...

...flowergirls...



...some people all dressed up...



...and mmmmmmmmmmm cake.



Thank you all so much for your kind words/comments/emails. See you in two weeks with many more pictures and tales from California.

Smoochies and bear hugs,
Lisa and Paul xx

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

24 September 2004

the sun'll (better) come out, tomorrow


This is it. My last day as a MacDonald. My last day as a swinging bachelorette. My last day worrying if my ring and gown will fit. My last day to get my nails done. Bugga.

Blue skies today, and it's not been too cold lately. Lots of family and our best man (and his lovely missus) arrive today, so it's dinner for 16 tonight at the White Hart pub. A few last minute details to sort out, and then all I've got to worry about is walking a few feet without tripping over and crushing a flowergirl or two, and managing not to drop Paul's wedding band during the ceremony. And giggling. Must not giggle.

I'm sure we'll manage to post a picture or two Sunday or Monday before we go. Until then, have a smashing weekend and throw a rice grain or two in our direction tomorrow.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

23 September 2004

doing the small hand wave


(This is really just an excuse for a post so that Jen can continue her countdown.)

We're off to Buckingham Palace today to see where the Queen lives. Not like she'll actually be there or anything - although it would have been rather amusing if she greeted us at the door in rollers and a bathrobe with a cig hanging out of the corner of her mouth. It's just a quick tour of London today; a stop at Covent Garden for lunch, Bucks Palace, a look at the houses of parliament and Westminster Abbey (from the outside), and tea at Harrod's. I'm not that great at walking around/standing for long periods of time anymore, so the idea of a bit of sightseeing interspersed with eating sounds pretty darn good to me.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

22 September 2004

pet rescue


As we drove to work today, we noticed a lovely German Shepherd trotting up a very busy street, unattended. We both knew instantly that she must have strayed away from home, so Paul turned the car around so he could check her tags. She was actually heading in the direction of home; she lived up the road and her tag said she was called "Zena". Paul took Zena by the collar and walked her home, and put her in the back garden when he got no answer at the door. He drove around trying to spot someone who looked like they had lost their dog, but to no avail. We went back to the house, just around the same time that Zena's owner returned after searching the fields for her. Zena is a pup, less than a year old, and although she listens to the husband she is not so obedient with the wife. She was taking Zena for a walk and the dog ran off, but luckily she did seem clever enough to know where home was after her little adventure. Zena's owner was very thankful and Zena herself gave us several wags and enthusiastic licks.

Dog karma. Paul figures that if he takes the time to return wandering dogs to their owners, someone might return the favour for us one day, should we ever need it. This is the second dog he's returned home safely, so I think our dog karma should be in top shape.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

21 September 2004

mums and dads


I'm very pleased to say that my parents spent a day on their own touring Cambridge yesterday and emerged unscathed. They took an open top bus tour and saw all the sights, and even stopped for an afternoon tea, I say tally ho pip pip. Paul's Mum and Dad drove up from Kent at lunchtime and met my parents for the very first time that evening. It went swimmingly; everyone liked each other and a good time was had by all. Needless to say, I had an excellent night's sleep last night and feel like a million bucks today.

My future in-laws have very kindly offered to play tour guides for Mom and Dad while we're at work, and for that, I am eternally grateful. I had visions of them wandering around Huntingdon trying to find something to occupy their time for three days. There's only so much you can see and do at WH Smith and Sainsbury's, really. They are off to the North Norfolk coast today, perhaps with a stop at Sandringham. Jealous. My office is not nearly that exciting or scenic.

One more day of work, then we're off to London on Thursday, Friday we take care of last minute wedding details and entertain our many guests, and then Saturday we're up to something. Can't remember what exactly, but I think it involves a nice lunch out and I probably have to shave my legs at some point beforehand. In the meantime, it's back to editing a UI and putting together something resembling a user guide. If it makes absolutely no sense or contains things like random song lyrics, I do apologise.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

20 September 2004

hurray for mom!


Amongst the many gifts and supplies my Mom and Dad brought with them was a bag full of Kraft Dinner. You have no idea how happy this makes me, and I don't care how pathetic you think I am because of it. I have Kraft Dinner and lots of it. My world is a much, much better place now.

If anyone would care to send me Cheezies and dill pickle chips, that would be grand. Thank you.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

19 September 2004

what a mighty good man


This weekend was the perfect example of why Paul is the best thing that ever happened to me. On Saturday, he put together some nibbles for us girls while we were getting pampered and then drove us into town (and back home again) for our Hen Night meal. Today, he woke up at 6am and drove to Heathrow to pick up my parents - a 1 1/2 hour drive to and from the airport, not including the long wait while their plane circled Heathrow and they made their way through passport control. He drove them to their hotel, went back and picked them up this afternoon, and then cooked us all a perfect roast chicken supper. He drove them back to their hotel, and has just put a load of laundry in the wash.

And today is his birthday. He did all of this for me on his birthday.

What more can I say? I am the luckiest woman in the world. Happy birthday, my gorgeous fiance.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

17 September 2004

why i should never work in the tourism industry


My parents are arriving bright and early on Sunday morning. This is their first visit to this country, and I suspect that most of what they know about it comes from emails from me, shows on PBS, and all those Carry On films my Dad's so fond of. I feel solely responsible for my parents' wellbeing, entertainment, and their overall tourism experience in this country...which has been making me panic all week. I keep thinking of things that might confuse them while they're visiting, and I feel compelled to tell them about it. You've got to keep plugging coins into payphones here, you don't stick one coin in and gab all you want. If you ask for a glass of water, sometimes you're asked if you want sparkling, still, or tap water (us North Americans tend not to have such a variety of choices). Don't tip people behind the bar in pubs. Filet steak is tenderloin. If you want the bus to stop for you, you've got to stick your hand out and wave at it frantically (and even then, sometimes they still can't be arsed to stop for you). Panicpanicpanicpanicpanicpanic.

All of this worry is completely unwarranted. The only time my parents will be on their own will be when they come through customs, and when they go back to Heathrow on their way home. Otherwise, they will be with us or sightseeing with my future in-laws. So really, it's not like they're going to be dumped at some random tube station without a map and attacked by skinheads - unless Heathrow passport control has moved and gone really downhill.

It's just that these are my parents and they've never been here before, and I know that there were a billion things that took me by surprise when I first visited this country. You think you know all about England (us Commonwealthers surely cannot be that different?), but then you get here and you realise that all those episodes of Prime Suspect and Two Fat Ladies taught you squat. I'm sure they will have a great time, though. For all the confusion and unexpected culture shock, it more than makes up for it when you see something like Westminster Abbey or Buckingham Palace for the first time. A couple of afternoon teas, fish and chip dinners, and a tour of the countryside and they'll be over the moon.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

16 September 2004

just a little bit


Just a quickie today (oooeeer missus).

Bride blog has been updated and will likely be the last post until we return from honeymoon. Yeah, I know I've said that before. Woman's prerogative, an' all that.

Chives - I forgot to mention that I can grow chives. So well that they're also sprouting up elsewhere in the garden, feet away from the pot it's in. I can grow chives and weeds. Go me!

Thank you, and have a lovely day.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

15 September 2004

how does your garden grow?


I can't grow anything. Don't get rude about it, I'm talking about plants. I can't grow them in this country. I make this distinction because I was able to keep any plant alive in Montreal; I had plants for over ten years that were still going strong when I gave them to a friend before I moved here. Every time I try to grow something here, it up and dies on me or develops some sort of fuzzy growth or insect infestation. I'm not even trying to grow anything difficult, I'm talking about things like mint and rosemary. Who can't grow mint? That stuff grows like a weed and will take over your house and garden in a month. It'll grow into your neighbour's yard, taunt the paperboy, and push its way through asphalt driveways. My mint, on the other hand, got to the seedling stage and then curled up and died. After three attempts and several hundred seedlings later, it finally took - but it's got some weird spots on it and I'm too afraid to eat it. Jack and Heather brought me some rosemary from their garden that quickly met its untimely death on my windowsill. In Jack and Heather's garden, it grew merrily alongside several other herbs. I bought a Japanese maple with a label promising me that it would thrive in full sun or shade. It sat by our front door for a couple of months before all the leaves curled up in terror and the branches shrivelled up in dismay. I got another one and put it in the shade in our back garden and once again, its leaves have curled and frayed. The only plants that haven't died are the ones that were already in the garden when we moved here. The conclusion is obvious - Canadians do not have green thumbs in the UK.

On a totally unrelated note, a very happy New Year to my Jewish friends! Having worked at a Kosher restaurant at university in Toronto (I always thought "kosher" meant "deli" as the only context I had ever seen the word was in reference to deli foods like pickles) and having lived in the bagel capitol of Canada for 11 years, I feel a strong kinship with my Jewish mates. So to you, my friends, have a wonderful holiday. And feel free to bring me any leftover cheesecake.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

13 September 2004

why having less than 4 brain cells can be amusing


I got my very fist snarky comment! Ever! I'm all agog. Since this person took the time to leave this landmark comment, I thought I'd take the time to respond to their queries.

are you only interested in a passport? Well, no. I am interested in lots of things; passports are only one of them. Maybe it's the shiny page with my picture on it. Maybe it's all the pretty stamps I get when I visit other countries. Maybe it's the bilingual text. Who knows? Who cares? God, I love passports!!
do you actually love this durbin bloke? Let's see...I bought a house with him, we bought a dog together, we're getting married in less than two weeks and oh yeah, I'm carrying his baby. No, I'm just after him for the extra year wait for the passport. Duh.
this website is sad!!!!! Life can sometimes be sad, it's true. Let's face it, if the world was a happy place, Morrissey would have nothing to write about and angst-stricken pre-teens like you would learn how to use capital letters.
real love rules
The rules to real love are as follows*:
1) You do not talk about real love
2) You do NOT talk about real love
3) If someone says "stop" or goes limp or taps out, the love is over
4) Only two guys (or less) at a time
5) One real love at a time
6) No shirts, no shoes. No animal print g-strings.
7) Real love will go on as long as it has to
8) If this is your first night at real love, you HAVE to make breakfast in the morning.
*(with many thanks to "Fight Club" for the inspiration)

I hope this helps! Thanks for writing.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

10 September 2004

neverland


I was reading Maggie's blog this morning and it made me realise that I never went to the Granby Zoo when I lived in Montreal. In fact, there were lots of places I never saw in the 11 years I lived in Quebec. For example:
-The Biodome
-The Insectarium
-Eastern Townships
-and sadly, Quebec City (I really regret never having visited)

I only went to a cabane a sucre once, I've never gone downhill skiing, I went ice skating once around the Olympic basin, and I can count the number of times I've been up Mount Royal on one hand. I blame the lack of a car and a lack of motivation (are you ever a tourist in your own town? Not counting the times you might have out of town visitors.) I am a bad, bad Montrealer.

Luckily, I've seen a lot of places in this country and Scotland. I think having been a tourist here first (and not being a native) has encouraged me to visit much more of this country than my own. I wonder...is it a bad thing that I never ventured across Canada and yet I've seen so much of England? It's a much, much smaller country so it's not surprising - but now I wonder if I should have made more of an effort to see more of my home country. Tsk.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

09 September 2004

evolution


In 16 days, I will no longer be a MacDonald and will become a Durbin. In 21 days, I can apply to be a permanent UK resident. In 167 days (give or take), I will be a mother. In just over a year, I will be applying for British Citizenship. It's all very exciting of course, but it's also rather strange. In the span of a year, I will go from Lisa MacDonald, that lovable wine-swigging Canadian to Lisa Durbin, that sleep deprived mother with a British passport. It's like becoming an entirely different person. Perhaps I'll develop special powers too, like x-ray vision.

Which reminds me, when I was a kid, my doctor said that I needed to go on antibiotics. I thought she said "antibionics" and my heart leapt at the thought of being able to crush tuna tins in my bare hands and run 30mph. Of course if I had a better grasp of the English language at that point, I would have realised that "antibionics" would be the exact opposite of being bionic and the pills would actually give me the strength of a sick kitten. My 7 year old brain was excitedly planning all the fun activities I could do with my new powers, and I could not wait to get to the pharmacy. Obviously I must have eventually figured out that I wasn't going to become bionic, which must have been most disappointing. I'm sure this was the same year that I figured out that there was no Santa Claus (at first I thought it was really exciting that Santa used the same wrapping paper that we did but later realised his writing looked suspiciously like my mother's), so overall, it was a disillusioning period in my life.

So yes, changes. I promise that no matter what changes occur in my life, I will never forget my Canadian roots (or my Roots Canadian clothing). I live for the day I will hear our child say, "That's jolly good Mummy, eh?"

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

08 September 2004

uniformity


As we left for lunch yesterday, we passed by a well-coiffed woman in a purple sleeveless dress. She had a cigarette dangling out of the corner of her mouth while she scrubbed our company's sign clean in front of our building. She wasn't wearing any sort of uniform and her car had no logo on it; it was as if a pub landlady drove by our building and decided that our exterior needed a bit of a tidy. I suppose we shouldn't expect cleaners to be wearing polyester smocks and no makeup, but it was rather surprising.

I haven't had to wear a uniform for a job in a very long time. The last two retail jobs I had several years ago didn't require one (I don't even think we had name tags or badges), so I think it's been at least ten years since I've worn company-supplied garments of any sort. I have never worked at a company with a dress code and the only thing that identifies me as an employee of Citrix is my security badge. I never minded wearing a uniform; I know that most people find them demeaning, but it didn't bother me. Of course I did have to endure some rather awful polyester uniforms in my youth (the worst was a fast food chicken place that forced us to wear brown and gold frilly aprons with matching headscarves), but on the most part, dressing up in work clothes was kind of satisfying. You never had to think about what to wear each morning and you didn't have to worry about looking unfashionable or frumpy because everyone looked the same as you.

On the other hand, I used to shudder in horror at the thought of wearing a school uniform. In Canada (the US too, I would imagine), only private schools and Catholic schools had uniforms. Not being Catholic, the alternative was private school and that's where Mom and Dad threatened to send me every time I got into trouble. "We'll send you to Hillfield Strathallan if you don't smarten up!" Uniforms? No boys in the classroom? Noooooooooooooo!! Here, all schoolkids wear uniforms - regardless of religion or whether or not your parents can afford a poncey private (or public as they're called here) school. I wonder if they feel the same way about school uniforms as I did, or if because it's the norm, do they even think about it?

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

06 September 2004

discoveries


On Friday, we tried out an Indian restaurant called Cinnamon in Grafham. Based on a menu shoved through our letterbox a few months ago, I wanted to give it a try. Gary mentioned curry on Friday at work and I decided that I must have curry that night (lucky for me that Paul is very easy going when it comes to dinner choices), so off we went to Cinnamon. The food was absolutely fantastic and the service was excellent. I would have gone back the following night if I could. On Saturday after an afternoon shopping at Milton Keynes, I decided that I must have fish and chips (can't blame Gary for that one). We haven't been too thrilled with our local chippy in the past, so we decided to try out the chippy in our neighbouring town, Huntingdon. YUM. Crispy batter, moist flakey cod, and lovely golden chips, although the portion was a bit meager for my current appetite level. Must remember to go there when Mom and Dad arrive in two weeks. My other culinary weekend discovery are Revels: chocolate-covered things with a variety of flavours like caramel, Maltezers, orange, and milk chocolate. You never know what you're getting with each handful - it's like the chocolate equivalent of Bits and Bites. Mmmmm Bits and Bites. I miss those.

We did do other things over the weekend that didn't involve food, really. We picked up some final wedding bits and bobs (mmmm that sounds like Bits and Bites mmmmm) in Milton Keynes and I finished painting what will be the nursery. I put one coat on the skirting board and radiator about 6 months ago, but must have got bored and never got around to the second. We bought blinds for the guestroom/nursery and office, so that houseguests in the second spare room will no longer get rudely woken up in the early hours by sunshine streaming in through the voiles. After our housewarming party last year, one of our guests found the early morning light so painful that he crawled into an air mattress on the floor of our office, buried himself under a duvet, and drew the curtains.

So, one more week until Paul's stag do, two more weeks until my hen night, and three more weeks until we tie the knot - and I haven't eaten all the favour bag chocolate.

Yet.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

03 September 2004

clock watching


So it's almost the weekend (unless you're in another time zone, in which case, it's already the weekend or you've got several more hours to go) and this is the last free weekend we've got before the wedding. When I say "free weekend", I mean it's the last weekend in which we've got nothing planned - not "free weekend" as in I'm going to spend it romping with naked firemen while I still can. Now I've lost my train of thought. Right, free weekend.

It seems silly that we only really get two days a week to get most things done, and one of those days is only moderately useful as everything shuts at 4pm. We should get Fridays and Mondays off as well, because those are the two most unproductive work days of the week anyway. Nothing gets done on Fridays because everyone's too busy concentrating on the weekend and are distracted by their feelings of glee that the work week is almost done. Mondays are useless because we're too tired from overindulging over the weekend and we're too hacked off because it's a Monday to really care about our work. I think this makes sense and everyone should write to their MP/congressperson and demand a three day work week.

On that note, have a good weekend, and remember - your key to a shorter work week is only one angry 30 page manifesto away.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

02 September 2004

nothing original


Spotted chez Martine, this is a brilliant post about audio blogging (the text version of it is here, but it's far more effective as an mp3 for obvious reasons).

Courtesy of Melanie, here is a fascinating article from the BBC: "A panda in China who became pregnant after watching sex education videos has given birth to twins."

And finally, many thanks to PaulG who has offered to get this for us as wedding gifts.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --