Wow! Not only have we closed the chapter on 2019, we waved goodbye to an entire decade 😳. How crazy is that? The 2010’s are over and the roaring 2020’s have officially begun!
This decade was MAJOR! This span of 10 years for me feels like a completely different life from the first year to this past year. It was the best decade of my life (so far) and the absolute worst.
HBear was born December 1, 2008 so I started this decade off as a brand new Mommy.
2010 was spent getting to know our new home and getting ready for our wedding. Ninja and I had a hand in every little detail of our big day. We picked out every bottle of wine specifically for our guests, we folded 1000 cranes by hand for decoration, we hand painted the menus and made he said/she said table toppers. We made each guest a bag made out of our old band shirts that we loved and filled them with handmade items from each town in our beautiful Valley. Our wedding took place in beautiful Osoyoos, BC on August 9, 2010. It was a small affair with just family and a few friends. We planned it as a weekend party so that everyone making the trip out to BC would get their money worth. We picked a venue that was a resort so our guests could stay together. A beautiful vineyard resort called Spirit Ridge. Our wedding party held our bachelor/bachelorette parties together and took all our friends down the famous Penticton channel. We had a fun night at Rattlesnake Canyon racing go karts, held a meet and greet at the resort’s poolside cabanas where we gave all our guests special bottles of beer that Dad and Ninja brewed themselves, we treated our entire wedding party to a day at the spa getting nails done and sipping on champagne and the bridal party held my shower on the rooftop of the resort under bright blue skies while Ninja and the boys went golfing. On the Monday, the day of the wedding, the wind picked up and we knew we were in for a desert storm. Our beautiful rooftop wedding was moved inside and my dreamy desert/vineyard pictures were moved to covered resort locations. It was still a magical day/weekend and we loved every second of it. The next day our honeymoon got off to a rocky start as Ninja and I took a tow truck home because in the festivities, we lost our keys 😂. After another float down the channel with our friends and family, we were on our way. We had an amazing honeymoon exploring Invemere, BC. We golfed at Grey Wolf up at Panorama, we white water rafted down the Columbia River and we lived like the locals in my Uncle and Aunt’s gorgeous summer home that they so kindly lent to us for the week. 2010 I went from being Kristin Castle to Kristin Maier 💕
2011 was rough. Ninja and I wanted to expand our family but because Ninja was working for my Dad until we could save up enough to buy in, our income was very small. Even with me working as a server, it felt like we only had enough money to pay our monthly bills and our savings account wasn’t getting any bigger. A break came when I met a gentleman at the restaurant I was working at. He was in with his mom and he was telling me how he was trying to sell his hot and cold pressure washing business💡 I took that information back to Dad and Ninja and within a few days we had bought the business and expanded Sparkles Window Cleaning into a pressure washing business as well! Feeling confident in the future, Ninja and I began trying for a second baby. It didn’t go as easily as it had the first time we tried. After months of trying, I began to panic. I knew I was getting older and I placed a lot of pressure on myself. Once we finally got the test back that said positive, we were elated! Unfortunately, a few weeks later, while I was at home with HBear potty training her, I began to bleed. Despite numerous trips to the emergency room, within 2 days I had suffered a miscarriage. I was devastated. I was scared to try again and I was very disappointed in myself. I know that is crazy but that’s the way I felt. Early on in the year we took HBear to Winnipeg for a wintry vacation. It was COLD but we had a great time with family and friends.
Our business expanded even more in 2012 when we made a very big purchase, our supersonic blind cleaning machine! In just a few short years we had gone from a small family run business that consisted of my Dad and Ninja to servicing all the southern Okanagan and employing 7-9 people throughout our busy season. Ninja and I won 2nd place in the Penticton’s best couple search in a contest that our local radio station put on in February 2012. We won a night stay at the Watermark Resort in Osoyoos, BC! A few weeks later, without taking my temperature or counting fertile windows, we found out that we were pregnant with SBean! I took it easy for the next few months, still reeling from my miscarriage. Over the summer we began our earnest search for a new home. We were looking for a home with a beautiful in-law suite so that we could all stay together. Mom’s surgery in Costa Rica had been successful but Mom’s health wasn’t great and she slept a lot. I took over the majority of the household duties. In May, Mom and I surprised my Sister by flying her to Seattle for the weekend! We met her there and had a girls weekend/bachelorette party for my Sis and in July my Sis married my new BIL at the most stunning wedding I had ever attended, in Cochrane, AB. No one knew then how important that city would become to them in the future. In early August we drove to Winnipeg to see Ninja’s Sis get married at one of my favourite places in Winnipeg, Green Gates (no longer called that). By late September we found a house that both Mom and I loved in the Columbia area which was my preferred catchment. The day we viewed it Mom was having an issue with her eye. She thought she was having an MS flare up of her optic nerve. She got in to the eye Dr. Everything appeared fine but Mom insisted something was wrong. On my Dad’s birthday on Oct 11, 2012 Mom went to the emergency room and came home with the news that an X-ray had found a mass in her lung. On November 27 Mom stared her first round of Chemo for stage 4 small cell Lung cancer.
On that same day, on the same morning, I was at the hospital for my planned c-section. By 9am we had welcomed Sydney Blair Maier into the world and into our lives. She literally came out of the womb screaming and has been keeping us on our toes ever since. That December my Bro, SSIL, BIL and my pregnant Sis came to Penticton to celebrate Christmas together.
2013 will go down as the hardest year of my life. My Nana took a turn for the worse in March of that year and she passed on Good Friday. It was a sad time for my family as she was a true matriarch. She held the family together and her loss was felt by many. Her funeral was a solemn occasion and watching my Mom’s shoulders rack with sobs was terrible. My Mom looked so frail with her bald head, her sunken eyes and the fear that she was next displayed across her face.
Mom passed less than 3 months later.
I’m not going to go into that right now. I can’t.
We were blessed with a baby in earlyJuly. Just when we needed her most my beautiful niece, SweetPea was born right here in Penticton. My Sis had found out she was pregnant right before Mom was diagnosed and her due date was the same day as Mom’s Celebration of Life. SweetPea was the family’s ray of sunshine in a very grey year. 2013 was also the year I began this blog! Another highlight to an otherwise tough year.
The hits kept coming in 2014. My WpgBesty’s Dad passed after his brief battle with pancreatic cancer, Ninja’s family dog got put down as did my Sis’s family pet Brewski. Ninja’s brother’s son was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma the same week that we moved to Penticton in 2009. His fight ended on March 27, 2014. 4 days before my Nana’s anniversary. Within 1 year we had lost so much. However, we also gained! Right at the beginning of the year, January 2, we welcomed Ninja’s sister’s son, my nephew, JQ, into the family. HBear became more independent and even enjoyed her first overnight at Sparks camp. I became more independent as well as I picked up the Girls and drove by myself to visit my sister in Cochrane! It was scary thing for me to do but worth it especially because WinnipegBesty met me in Cochrane and we had a fantastic Girls week! 2014 was also the year that the teachers went on strike. HBear’s last month of kindergarten was cut short and she didn’t start grade 1 until a month into the school year. It was my first experience with education system strikes.
In the summer of 2015 Ninja celebrated his 40th birthday. A few days later I whisked him off on a surprise trip to Las Vegas!! I rented him an Aston Martin to drive down the strip, we saw a cirque show, a burlesque show and stand up at The Laugh Factory. We toured the strip, walked through old downtown Vegas, ate amazing food, did shots on the balcony of the private penthouse club on the top floor of Mandalay Bay, and took a helicopter to the Grand Canyon that landed in the canyon for a champagne lunch. In October my Sis and Bro came in to help us celebrate Dad’s 60th birthday! This was the year that I really got involved with PAC. I took on the role of secretary at HBear’s school and began running the hot lunch program.
2016 was a year that I will remember as a turning point in the world as I know/knew it. Hate violence spread, wars became inevitable, memes took over, truth became muddled, lies began to spread, journalists came under attack and we literally began living in the dystopian age. Donald Trump was elected the President of the United States in November 2016. Despite what was happening in the world, my family was content in our little life that we had built. SBean started preschool, I became a board member for her preschool and with that met some amazing women that have become wonderful friends. Ninja and I took the Girls on a staycation in Vernon and explored new parts of our beautiful province like Revelstoke! We rode the mountain coaster, jumped off the dock into the Kalamalka Lake, took tubes down the SilverStar Mountain and went to the waterslides.
January 2017 I flew to Cochrane to spend 11 days with my Sis, SweetPea and my BIL while my Sis gave birth to CabbagePatch. When I got home Ninja and I released the very first episode of our couple’s podcast, How Was Your Week, Honey? We were completely shocked when my big Brother FaceTimed us one day and told us that him and his partner of 10 years we’re expecting! My Brother welcomed his daughter into the world in June 2017! We took a road trip out to Winnipeg soon after to meet PrettyP ❤️ We saw my Grandpa (for what would be my last time), spent time in St Malo and stayed with my SIL and my WpgBesty. Ninja and I also went back to Las Vegas for Valentines Day. We saw Beatles Love went to the Laugh Factory, saw Zumanity, and ate at amazing restaurants like Mon Ami Gabi, Todd English, and Gordon Ramsay Steak! This was a big year for us professionally, we became full partners in Sparkles! I also took on a bigger role in the community by becoming the secretary of the DPAC. In September SBean started kindergarten and I officially had 2 school aged children.
In 2018 I got back into the workforce! Well, I decided to add another branch to our ever expanding business and take Sparkles Window Cleaning to the next level! We began to rebrand to Sparkles Cleaning. We now offer hot and cold pressure washing, window cleaning, blind cleaning, gutter cleaning, snow removal, and home cleaning! Ninja also took the opportunity this year to further his love of radio. He applied and got the director of Speak Out position at our community radio station CFUZ Peach City radio. In February Ninja and I spent a romantic weekend away relaxing at Sparkling Hill. In March we took the Girls to White Rock and Vancouver for spring break! We had so much fun at Science World, the aquarium, and dipping our toes into the ocean. Over the summer we had visits from my Sis and her family, WinnipegBesty and her family and my Brother brought PrettyP out for her first Penticton visit! In August HBear met the Prime Minister and his wife and she gave HBear a great big hug and told my little Girl that she was courageous and beautiful 💕. In September Ninja and I took a roadtrip to Portland, Oregon to meet our RASBesty, see Frank Turner in concert and visit Cannon Beach and the big rock on the beach in Goonies. Soon after we got back Ninja took the plunge and went in for a vasectomy!
In 2019 I turned the big 4-0! My Sis and BIL came into town and threw me an amazing surprise party at my favourite restaurant in town, The Nest and Nectar. We also met the first girlfriend that Dad has felt strongly enough to introduce us to. Since then, J has become a friend to our whole family. For my birthday, Ninja surprised me with a trip to New York City!!!!! It was exactly like I dreamed it would be. I had the most magical time! We saw Hamilton and Mean Girls on Broadway, toured The Met, walked the HighLine, gazed at the ceiling of Central Station, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, saw a Mets game, took a helicopter up the East River, went to the 9/11 memorial with our PortlandBesties, met up with 2 of my favourite podcasters, ate like celebrities, and took a pedicab tour through Central Park. It was phenomenal. While we were gone my grandfather fell. A few months later, Grandpa, the last of my surviving grandparents, passed away peacefully while my Dad was visiting. This past September SBean began grade 2 at a brand new school and HBear started grade 6, middle school in French immersion. Ninja and I took a quick trip to Seattle to see the Jays play, meet our 2on3Besties and hang out with RASBesty and Lady Friend. HBear and I flew to Cochrane over the family day weekend to visit with her kindergarten Besty and so I could give my sis and BIL a much needed weekend away while I watched my nieces. Over the summer I took a solo trip with the Girls back to Winnipeg. It was SBean’s first plane ride and boy was she excited! We had an amazing time visiting all our family and friends! This past year is also the year that Ninja and I began building our first house! It has been such a wonderful experience! For those that don’t know, we are building our house on top of my Dad’s house. It will be a completely different home with a separate entrance, separate kitchen, separate laundry facilities, and separate bills. But, we will still be together. Ninja just has to walk downstairs to the office to get work done and the Girls can knock and walk whenever they need their Papa. Things are changing and that is sad but hopefully these changes are for the better. It has been a learning experience for us, watching spreadsheets and making sure we stay within our budget. There have been so many choices and we have been surprised to find our aesthetic. I always thought we were farm house but apparently we are modern 😂.
Over the past 10 years I have made a whole village of wonderful new friends but I have lost a few along the way. Luckily I have also reconnected with old childhood friends through social media. We have made amazing friends through podcasting too. I got engaged, turned 30, turned 40, lost my Nana, a pregnancy, my nephew, and my Grandpa. My entire life was shattered when my Mom was diagnosed with cancer and 9 months later, died. I have become an active member of my community, expanded our business, and began to build our first house. We welcomed SBean into our family as well as SweetPea, CabbagePatch, JQ, and PrettyP. I got married! I was the maid of honour at my Sister’s wedding and at my WinnipegBesty’s wedding. We traveled, oh did we travel! We have been to Winnipeg, Cochrane, Edmonton, Calgary, White Rock, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Cannon Beach, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and New York City!
I am so blessed. I feel so grateful for every opportunity that I have been given. I feel so much love in the relationships that I have made. I feel content with the village I have surrounded myself by. I absolutely 100% adore the paradise that I call home. I am ridiculously over the moon excited to plant my roots in our new home and for whatever this next decade has in store for me. Every single day I miss my Mom. Every June 20 we remember her full life and the Girls and I try to do something for the community. My Mom was a giver and we honour her by giving back to this wonderful place we call home. I look forward to continuing this tradition for many years to come.
Happy New Year’s to all of my friends and family! May the 2020’s bring you health, wealth, and most importantly happiness ❤️🥂
20 Minute Vegetarian Udon Noodles
Adapted from Half Baked Harvest
1 package fresh udon noodles
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 red or orange bell peppers, sliced
6 mushrooms, peeled and quartered
1 inch fresh ginger, grated
1 hot pepper, seeded and chopped (I had jalapeño on hand)
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Cook the udon noodles according to package directions.
Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, hoisin sauce, and 1/4 cup water in a bowl.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the bell peppers, mushrooms, red onion, ginger, and hot pepper (I had a bit or broccoli slaw leftover in the fridge so I threw it in too) cook another 2-3 minutes. Slowly pour in the soy sauce mixture and basil. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the sauce coats the veggies, about 3-5 minutes.
Stir in the noodles and remove from the heat. Top with green onions and sesame seeds.
We had a FANTASTIC Christmas break! Dad and J had the Girls over for a sleepover, we painted… A LOT lol, wrapped, had an early Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa, saw the Parade of Trees at Mission Hill, the lights at Gellatly Nut Farm, Christmas Eve at church and playing games, a wonderful Christmas morning, and a delicious Christmas dinner with Dad and J. My heart is full!
