Weekend Review: More Snow, Board Games, & A Hack for Tight Shoes

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my American friends! Here in Canada it's just been another ordinary week -- though retailers here have gotten on board with Black Friday and Cyber Monday; which seems a little strange. I almost ended up going to the mall, but fortunately laziness won over and I ended up on the couch with a movie and popcorn instead (much cheaper, equally fun). In other news, I did a presentation, set up for the residents' holiday clothing drive, and attended our staff Christmas party. Here is an assortment of things I've appreciated this week:

1. snow -- We had a bit more snow fall this week, which prettied up the neighbourhood.

   

   they don't even bother clearing these residential streets...they are now not so pretty

2. full moon -- The moon is up for twice as long as the sun these days and I've seen a lot of it on my walks to and from work. This week we had one of those huge full moons that is dim enough for you stare directly at it and make out all of the details. I texted my sister to tell her to check it out -- of course she replied "Mars is bright tonight".

   

   so this isn't the best quality photo, but that bright circle is the moon; you'll have to believe me that it looked awesome

3. library -- At the start of the semester I'd signed up to represent the residents on the university's health sciences library committee. This week we had our first meeting, the most important takeaways being that the health sciences library has therapy dogs and wellness volunteers who bring around fruit and juice to people studying. Clearly I've been studying at the wrong library.

   

   they also have a SAD lamp that we've been encouraged to sit by for 10 minutes a day; I feel that I should stop by here more often

4. games night -- Pad thai and board games were the makings of a perfect low-key Friday night with friends. We played 7 Wonders, which is a board game that I'd highly recommend. Once you get past learning the rules (which took a good 30 minutes), it's a cleverly developed quick-moving game that's part luck, part strategy; each game takes around 30 minutes, which is nice for those of us who aren't fans of marathon board games.

   

   okay it looks super complicated, but it's really not hard once you figure out how to play
   (http://coldconstructs.com/2012/01/board-game-review-7-wonders/)

5. soup -- Soup is the perfect simple meal to prep for a winter week's-worth of dinners.

   

   especially when you haven't been grocery shopping in a while

6. shoes -- Somewhere in my internet perusals I came across this and decided to try it on a new pair of flats that was just a little bit too tight. I'm not sure that it worked but do admire that it combines the fact that a liquid assumes the shape of its container with the fact that water expands upon freezing. Solid application of science, for fashion.

   

   place sealed bags of water (Ziplocs may be easier) in shoes; freeze for a while; remove