Saturday, December 26, 2009

Philippines: Part I

We love the Philippines! If you wanna see all the photos we've taken so far click on the blog title to see them all. Here are some of the highlights up to now...

Eating a lot of these



and seeing a ton of these. This transformer Jeepney might be my favorite yet.



Dad's clinic is finished! And Lisa is very happy about that.



Everything was going great in Manila til I had to get on an airplane to Palawan with these losers wearing their passports around their necks. NERDS!



But, what can I say. Listen, it's very practical & oh so convenient.



We arrived in Palawan which is about an hour flight from Manila. Palawan is one of the most natural & undeveloped islands of the Philippines. They're trying to preserve its ecology and it's really really beautiful. When we got to our hotel we knew Grandma Afro was lurking around somewhere cuz we were greeted with GUAVA JUICE. Chilito!!!



At a crocodile farm, Dad took this as a friendly welcome rather than a macabre warning.



Too bad.



Do you like to gag? Our tour guide ate a balut egg. It's a fertilized duck egg with a nearly developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell.



We went to the Underground River which was very dark and very cool. Bats everywhere! I mean it.





We have been eating the best food in the most beautiful places.




Snorkeling in Honda Bay.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

My Very Own Bus

Did I tell you that the buses and jeepnees here in Manila have a lot of religious pictures and phrases on them? While driving around one day I saw the Susan Mormon Bus!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Pandemonium

Watching New Moon was so fun. The theater was PACKED!! And when Edward and Jacob appeared on screen, everybody screamed! (Maybe I squealed a little bit too. What!? I couldn't help it! I was caught up in the moment!!) Anyway, it was hilarious. I loved every second of it.



So happy...afterwards we all had to do this:

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

New Photo Blog (just what you've been waiting for)

Some of you have heard me tell you that I'm starting a Photography business. (YAY) I know it doesn't seem like much, but I've been doing nothing else for the past 3 weeks except work on this, go to work and think about this, or stay up late into the night not being able to sleep because I'm obsessing over this. After much tweaking, rearranging, editing, and even learning some HTML, I am ready to unveil my new Photography blog! (YAY) It's still not perfect, but it will have to do for now, because too many other necessities have been neglected the past 3 weeks. In each blog post there is a link that will take you to the web album with all the photos. I know it's not aesthetically pleasing, but it cut my time from 750 hours of editing down to 75 hours of editing. As my business grows I will make an actual website.

I ordered my 1st DSLR camera and it should be coming tomorrow. I'm so excited! Too bad my gorgeous city just turned ridiculously ugly within the last week. Perfect timing!

Come check it out and follow along for upcoming posts!

Cannonshotsphotography.blogspot.com


Maretta Cannon
Cannon Shots Photography

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween Parade NYC

Happy Halloweenies!!


I tried to stay in character but every time I saw Amber's mic I couldn't help but sing I'm just a sweet transvestite...

This is my friend Chris. Fun Fact: Did you know when Bob Ross goes in the rain he glistens?

Monday, August 3, 2009

Another letter

I know this isn't really how you're supposed to use a blog, but I wrote another letter for my family newsletter and thought some of you may be interested. Sorry for abusing the family blog.

I guess I have been procrastinating this letter long enough. I have been meaning to write since before we moved from Philadelphia but never got around to it. I will put it off no more.
As most of you heard…I LOVE PITTSBURGH!!! Sometimes I wonder if it’s because the city really is so great or if I’m still in shock that cities are actually inhabitable after being so tainted in Philadelphia. I guess it’s also not a completely fair comparison since we lived closer to the city in Philly and we live just outside the city here. It seriously seems like night and day though. People actually take care of their homes here, there is not one trace of litter on the sidewalks, buses have their own roads and aren’t hogging mine, pedestrians don’t cross busy roads whenever they feel like it, freeways have predictable rush-hour traffic instead of 24/7 rush-hour traffic, stores actually have parking lots, and the #1 selling point of Pittsburgh…people are NICE!!! Neighbors come over to greet you or wave hello as they are passing on the street instead of yelling at you, customer service helpers actually help you instead of yelling at you, drivers are polite and honk to let you in instead of honking to be rude and yelling at you. I love it!! Of course it’s also helped that we have been having unusually nice weather. Even though we finally have central air here, we rarely use it. The hottest it has been here is 85, though it typically stays in the high 70’s during the day and gets into the 60’s at night. We open our windows and leave them open for days at a time. I can mow my lawn or go out to garden at 3 in the afternoon (in July) and not even break a sweat! The first week we lived here we ate every meal out on our deck because we couldn’t bear to eat inside with such nice weather. It rains a lot, but that’s great because we never have to water our plants. We could not be happier here. I have to pinch myself everyday to make sure it’s real. I told Danny I could see us doing residency and maybe even raising our kids here I love it so much! The only downside obviously is being so far away from family. I also have not experienced the winters yet. I may be singing another tune come January. A couple things I’ve noticed about Pittsburghers – they must love tanning salons, martial arts dojos, and car dealerships because they have one on almost every corner and all men between the ages of 17-95 yrs must hate their shirts because they never wear them. The 2 things I could do without in this city are the hills (some neighborhoods are worse than others but every neighborhood has them and too many of them are on a 45 degree angle) and the brick roads (you may think it sounds pretty but they are just bumpy and loud, especially if you live on one).
Danny is really enjoying 3rd year. He’s glad that the boards are over and he isn’t buried in a book all day. 3rd year is all clinical work, rotating through different specialties every 6-12 weeks. Right now he is doing Internal Medicine. He really likes the people he’s working with and enjoys working with patients. He has some really late hours, so I get a LOT of time to myself; very boring but I’m used to it. He also has to work an occasional Sunday so I have to go to church by myself – not fun. I’ve never done that before. I’ve always had someone to go with; family, friend, or roommate.
Speaking of church, Danny and I both got callings yesterday. He was called as the Valiant 10 teacher, and I was called as the Gospel Essentials teacher. *WHAT?* It seems a little backwards to me. I really thought they were going to call me to the nursery. I guess there are a set of twins in Danny’s class that are on the wild side so they need him to regulate. I am really nervous to teach Gospel Essentials. I love teaching kids, but I feel awkward in front of adults. Plus, I’m used to teaching young women lessons that map out every single word you are supposed to say. This is truly going to be a humbling experience but I think it will be good for me.
While Danny is at the hospital all day, I fill my time by looking for a job. I had forgotten that searching for a full-time job IS a full-time job! I have applied to over 30 different jobs and the only people I hear back from are the ones who want to pay me half of what I need to be making to support us. I applied anywhere I could think, be it teaching, day-care, nannying, subbing, secretary, or lab assistant working with rats. My best bet right now is to substitute and hopefully get my foot in the door to later get a teaching job unless a miracle happens.
Of course, you can only fill out so many applications before you go crazy. I adopted a couple other hobbies to fill the time. I’ve been spending a lot of time in our yard gardening. I’ve been trying not to spend too much money on it since A) we are just renting, and B) we don’t have any money. I’ve mostly just been pulling weeds and trimming the plants. It’s amazing what a difference it makes. I also started some bean seeds I had left over from my kindergarten class that I’m going to plant out there. I’ve also been very proud of myself for mowing the lawn. I haven’t touched a lawn mower for over 5 years but I guess it’s sort of like riding a bike. It’s amazing how much pride one can have for a yard when they’ve invested a little bit of effort into it. I never touched our yard in Philly (what little we had) I just gave it up as a lost cause.
The other hobby I’ve started I’m a little embarrassed by. Did you know I’ve never really learned how to type? You would think after all those novel-long letters I’ve written I would have learned the correct way to type! I guess I was too young when I first started typing and my fingers weren’t long enough to reach the keys so I never learned how to type without looking at the keys. I didn’t type with 2 fingers or anything, but I didn’t always type with the correct fingers and I always had to look at the keys so I could never get any faster than 43wpm. I found a typing tutor online and taught myself how to type. I’m now down to 20wpm but I don’t look at the keys!! It’s very frustrating to be so slow and it’s so tempting to just look down, but I know I’ll never learn that way. Danny is fascinated by it. He never knew I didn’t know how to type. He loves to take my typing tests right after me and blow my score out of the water. I think he’s just excited that he’s actually better at something related to computers than I am. That won’t last long though. I found a fun website that lets me copy any text I want to it and then it will turn that text into a typing test. I’ve found it a good way to go through all my backed up family letters and practice my typing at the same time. So next time you send a letter, just think, I’ll be typing those exact same words soon.
Well it’s hard to write a novel at 20wpm. I guess 2 pages will have to suffice. :)

We love you all,
Maretta and Danny

Monday, May 25, 2009

I'm gonna miss this...

I drove over to Pittsburgh this weekend with my friend Amanda who grew up there. Danny couldn’t come because he’s stressing about his test that’s only a month away now. It was a long drive, but very pretty. By the end of the trip I just wanted to hide in a hole so I didn’t have to meet any new people. I don’t think I could ever do PR. I’ve learned I have a limit to how many new people I can meet in a 36-hour period. I stayed with a Bryan's friends that are in dental school out there. I had never met them before, and they didn’t even really remember Danny, so I was grateful that they invited me into their home. Not only did they kick their 6 and 3 yr old children out of their room so I could sleep there, but they did it on a weekend that her sister’s family came in town from Detroit. To top it all off, they spent a couple hours driving me around the city to show me around and to find houses while their relatives sat at their house. I am so grateful for their sacrifice to someone they had never even met. It’s amazing how the church can bind complete strangers so easily.

Before I went out I spent hours finding houses on Craigslist, comparing neighborhoods and scoping out the city on Google street view. I contacted landlords and made appointments to go see 12 houses on Saturday. The problem was that on street view I couldn’t tell that all the neighborhoods I was looking at were on hills and some of the streets were at 45 degree angles or worse. Not exactly where I want to live. So I spent all day going to appointments in areas I would never be happy living in. By the end of the day I was so discouraged. I was regretting my decision to move and just wanted to stay in Philly (Can you believe those words would ever come out of my mouth?), but it is too late, all Danny’s rotations are set in Pittsburgh now and we can’t change them. It’s not that those neighborhoods were ghetto by Philly standards; they are still a lot nicer than a lot of neighborhoods here. It was a different kind of ghetto though. I think there are about 5 black people in the whole city. It was a white trash, red neck ghetto, complete with the female mullet and men walking around without their shirts. As I felt totally defeated and started driving back to the suburb where CJ and Megan lived I noticed that the streets were looking nicer and nicer, and the houses were more spread out and better taken care of. I fell in love with the idea of Pittsburgh again. I told CJ and Megan my sob story and that’s when they drove me around their neighborhood and showed me what there is to love about the city. I found several houses that I’m interested in. Now the hard part is going to be making the decision. It’s hard because Danny wasn’t there and doesn’t understand what I saw. We can’t bounce pros and cons of houses off each other like we did when we moved here.

I spent Sunday morning doing some more driving around to find all the nice areas of the city and then I went to their sacrament meeting. I am sad to report there was not one black person in their ward. Am I a bad person to say that sacrament meeting felt 4 times longer there than it does in Philadelphia? I am really going to miss all the new converts in our ward. The people who are hearing the gospel for the first time and have so many interesting comments to add, prayers to say, and testimonies to give. I’m going to miss that my 2nd counselor is a gospel rapper. I’m going to miss that we hear the sacrament prayer multiple times each Sunday because the guys blessing it are new converts and the prayer is still new for them. I’m going to miss the man that wears a sweatband to pass the sacrament and invites people to his community college fashion show for his testimony. I’m going to miss the character and sass, and raw love for the gospel these people have. There has never been a dull moment here.

As I came back home I was surprised to realize how beautiful some parts of Philadelphia are. In comparison to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia is stunning. I’m sad it took me this long to realize it. At least I still have a month left to enjoy it to it’s fullest. Don’t get me wrong, the bad neighborhoods here are SO much worse than the bad neighborhoods there. But the nice neighborhoods here are SO much prettier than the nice neighborhoods there. I feel like there was a lot more care that went into the building of this city; so even though it’s been run down more, you can still see the beauty underneath. Pittsburgh hasn’t been run down as much, it just wasn’t that pretty to begin with. I don’t know if that made any sense, or maybe it was too repetitive, I just wanted to get my thoughts out there. I’m excited to move to Pittsburgh, but I also have a new love and appreciation for Philadelphia and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I heard a song on my Pandora player today and it put me in tears. The song “You’re Gonna Miss This” by Trace Adkins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG9XfJxMY8A.

It’s so fitting. That’s what I’ve done my whole life. I keep waiting for the next thing. I try to get through this point in my life so I can get to the next point that is going to be so much better. I forget to stop and enjoy what I have now. That’s the moral for my letter. No matter what point you’re at in your life, if you find yourself longing for something more, snap out of it! Stop, and enjoy the life that God has set before you. He created a good one, and you’re gonna to miss this.



Love,

Maretta

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mother of the Year

Susan was named "Mother of the Year" by CNNBC, check it out! Congrats Susan!

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=9pKBwz24Z6cBUHbQ9JTx7DE2MDM0MQ--&referred_by=16483838-8GdRYRx&p=moveon

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Taste of Africa Part 2...

Grandma couldn't get her video to work so she asked me:




Makes Unicorn Cake & Wins!

Me & Jacob Black decorated a cake. Got a prize for our ingenuity and execution.





Tom Cruise.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A Taste of Africa

We had such a great time in Africa. It was a trip of a life time. Here is a little clip from one of the safari's we went on./Users/grantcannon/Desktop/P1020283.MOV

Saturday, April 18, 2009

I chopped my hair off!



Saturday, April 11, 2009

I Couldn't Help Myself

While in Florida last month, I stumbled upon this:



A lone bunny suit? Was this a set up? Or just my dream come true?



I mean, what else was I supposed to do?





Happy Easter.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Pictures

I've spent most of my time adding a couple web albums on my picasa and typing in captions. That's where the bulk of my typical letter went. I figure it's more fun to read about our lives while looking at pictures than to just read about it in a letter. If you want to really know what's been going on in our lives lately check out the album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Marettap/March09#


I also posted all the pictures I've been taking in my class. If you want to see what my class looks like and some of the things we have been doing you can quickly glace through this album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Marettap/PhillyClass09#


Enjoy!

Making it all worth it...

Ok, every time I write a letter I start it out by saying how short it’s going to be. Then I have to go back and erase that statement once I finish the letter because it ended up being 5 pages long. If you’re reading this right now you’ll know I succeeded. I just wanted you to know that I do actually try to keep it brief. But then, the longer I type this “brief” disclosure, the longer my letter is getting, so really I’m just hindering myself. Onto the letter!


Teaching has been going really well. It has its ups and downs. Right after I wrote my last letter bragging about what an amazing teacher I am and how my class runs like clockwork, I got a new student who tore my ego to shreds. He is definitely one of a kind. I thought he had Asperger’s at first because he would burst out into random fits, run in circles around the room, throw things, bite things, yell at students, etc, etc. He wouldn’t listen and I was afraid my year was shot. Since then he’s really calmed down. He’s very sweet he just needs constant attention. Some days I can teach a lesson and my students listen and they participate, and they get it. Other days all they seem to want to do is hit, make fun of, laugh at, talk to, and just bother each other. I have to stop my lessons, every 2 minutes to correct their behavior. Even though it’s a rough neighborhood most of the kids are very sweet and they all have their moments. One day after school when I was walking down the street to my car I saw a dad and two boys outside their house fixing a car. I glanced at them, but didn’t recognize anyone so I kept walking. As I passed them one of the boys shouted across the street, “Hi, Ms. Cannon!” I looked over at him again, still didn’t recognize him but waved anyway. To me, that makes teaching all worth it. Even though I’ve only been teaching there 3 months, the students have noticed me in the halls and heard about me from their friends, think I’m a good teacher, and excitedly greet me on the street. It made me happy.

Our ward has also been a love/hate relationship (I hope that’s not bad to say). It’s so frustrating some times that there are so many demands of us, and so many expectations of us by the local members just because we are students. I know that may sound awful, but coming from the wards I was in before it has been a big adjustment. It’s frustrating driving around every Sunday and Wednesday and some Saturdays through these filthy neighborhoods to pick up youth who don’t seem to be getting anything out of your lessons, nor do they ever show appreciation for the hours upon hours of time you spend for them. They go right on with their habits of swearing and writing filthy notes to each other. Sundays, mostly sacrament meeting, can be very entertaining though. I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve never fallen asleep in church here, even though I am a Powell and have been cursed to frequently sleep through meetings. I guess the curse has no power here. There is never a dull moment in church. This last week was fast Sunday. One of our young men was sitting with us and when testimony meeting started he got up and bore one of the best testimonies I’ve ever heard. It was straight from the heart. Several people were in tears and sacrament meeting went 15 minutes over because so many people felt the spirit. It’s moments like that that make it all worth it. When just one person listens to what you’re trying to tell them and you make a difference in someone’s life.

Well, I tried. I think this effort was better than most, so I will leave the disclaimer, even though it’s not I short as I would have liked.

Thanks for being my family and making me feel like I’m worth it. I love you all!

Maretta

Friday, February 27, 2009

Sugar Cubes




The latest fashion for Emma and Annika are Sugar Cubes. Thank You Aunt Nancy for buying them for Emma's b-day!! She loves them.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

It's Official!!

So, it's official! We're going to Pittsburgh! Are we out of our minds...we'll find out. I remember that when we moved here I swore I wasn't packing up all our things and moving again for as long as I could help it, but I can't remember exactly why. I'm sure it will hit me again as I'm finishing the school year and packing up this house all by myself while Danny finishes up Step 1 this summer. I finish school June 23rd around the same day Danny takes his test, and we'll probably move the next day or so. Hopefully we'll be able to do 4th year there too so we can settle down, and hopefully I'll get a job so we can afford it. It's weird to think that 4 days ago I still thought I was stuck in Philadelphia for eternity, and now so much has changed. It's all so sudden! Wish us luck!

The Cannons

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Well....some......RIBS!!

In light of recent events (refer to the full story on Amber's blog), I have decided to purchase this:

This is a wonderful invention & the creator should be praised for his/her work. They make a good point...Why risk falling, when you can safely ride? And I have just the spot for it! You thought these were just for old people. NOT TRUE!! (Although last night I DID sleep sitting up like a geri)

Anyway, it's a very bad idea to put tights on when you have my "condition". If you attempt it, you will get stuck. With your tights. Around your ankles. Also try not to communicate with hilarious friends cuz laughing feels like destruction. And load up on narcotics that Pharaoh (my doc's name was Pharaoh!) prescribed.

On a totally unrelated note, does anyone know the street value for

plus

???