Christmas in Winnipeg part I

Well, my time in Winnipeg is just about over (i fly back to BC tomorrow) but i suppose this first post about my christmas is better late than never!!! BC was blasted with snowstorms leading up to my departure date and I was lucky enough to be flying on the what may have been the only good day for air travel this christmas season. I flew out on Monday the 22nd. I love getting the window seat from Abbotsford to Calgary (well, on a clear day anyway) because the view is amazing. Rebs (my camrea, in case you didn't know) travelled safely stowed under the seat infront of me, and I couldn't resist snapping a few scenic shots. I think i`ll see if Westjet will buy this shot from me...lol

After a few minor delays and a chai latte in the Calgary airport I arrived in Winnipeg (man is it cold here!!) That first night I helped my mom decorate the Christmas tree (i made her wait until I arrived home...lol) and then found an old tripod so that I could play around with my camera in low lighting. I love how the christmas lights look!

Christmas morning was sunny and quiet, as it was just me and my parents this year (my brother and wife didn`t come home). We (well, I) slept in, then opened our stockings and presents.

Then the afternoon was filled with what have become my traditional Christmas day jobs....decorating the cake and the gingerbread men!!! Food coloring out, ready to go!!And the finished product!

Dinner table all ready to go for visitors

Dad hard at work carving the turkey

And before you know it, it was over! time sure does fly. And so to conclude this first part of my trip, here are some pictures of new ornaments we got this year that I really like, and capture well some important words of the season.

Stay tuned for Part II - To Pinawa, for skiing adventures and beyond...

winter wonderland and other such things

life has been hectic. and that's an understatement. i've been out every night in almost 2 weeks, and the only reason i'm home tonight is because we got a blizzard goin' on out there and i am STAYING IN!!!! Sad...because we were to have our bible study Christmas party and cookie exchange tonight (photo of my hard work to follow later in this post), which i was greatly looking forward to...but let me tell you, it's much warmer and safer at home. Thankfully, my workplace shut down early this afternoon; I was able to brave the roads mid-afternoon and made it home safe and sound....good job Mazzy (there are many cars in the ditch...).
I've been taking some random shots of the miscelaneties (is that even a word?)of the past few weeks, so let's start with those...and then some pics of the snow!!!
Here are some of my favorite decorations on my tree. The reason I took these photos was because I was experimenting with different camera modes and using my tripod...but more importantly, these 2 ornaments represent 2 of my great loves.....

Like I mentioned, tonight was to be a cookie exchange with my bible study ladies. 7 of us were in on it, which means that after all is exchanged, I will have a great variety of baked goods...7 dozen cookies, each dozen different...mmm....i made ginger snaps...

Again, a bit of experimenting the other night (it was freezing out, so i couldn't stay out that long). This picture didn't turn out the way I would have hoped, but i think it still looks kinda cool. this is the moon from my balcony

Pammer and I went to Vancouver on Sunday to see Jose's new place and also stop in at Mike and Jen's Christmas party. We got there just as the sun was going down and so I snapped this picture of one of Vancouver's many bridges...(i forget which one this is...maybe the Burrard St. bridge, or the Granville St. bridge....i dunno...)

And now...the snow. Like I mentioned, I got to come home from work early. Later this afternoon, i decided to bundle up and go for a walk to Mill Lake. Here are a few pics from my adventures in the snow

And now i'm hanging out with Pammer...we're watching the Canucks game, drinking wine and wrapping presents in front of the fireplace....and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a snow day tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!

Let's decorate!!!!

Well look! It's an empty corner! Whatever shall I fill it with??????
For the past few years, I haven't put much effort into decorating for Christmas. The reasoning behind this lack of decorating has been because a) i go home to Winnipeg for Christmas so i'm not even here over Dec 25 to enjoy a tree et al. b) i've been in school, thus too busy and too poor to have many decorations and c) i've been somewhat transient, living in different rental suites year after year, and not ever really calling any of them "home".
Enter Dec 2008, and I have now rectified b & c respectively, which in turn has allowed me to say "who cares if i'm not here for Dec 25 and the surrounding days...I still have Dec 1-22 in which to enjoy a festive atmosphere". So i took a trip to Walmart, bought me a (fake) tree and a few ornaments, got out the few decorations already stockpiled in a box, and on Friday night, Pammer and I got to work!!!
My tree came in a nice little box, complete with attached lights and everything...it doesn't get much easier than that!

add a pomegranite martini for good measure, and let the decorating fun begin!!!

We got the tree mostly complete (though a trip back to Walmart was now pending for Saturday afternoon....) and then decided to switch up the fun. So Theresa and Josh came over with Guitar Hero 4, and soon thereafter, Theresa and Chad came by for some rockin' good times!!!!!

We all (and by 'all' i mean Pammer and I) had to concentrate really hard (even on 'easy'...i know, i know...). Pammer and I actually ended up sharing the drums because it was just too much for one person to handle....quit mocking now, I just need to practice more!!!

Chad gave up the guitar for a bit and showed off his high-pitched-out-of-range vocal 'talent'

Theresa and Theresa were very good spectators

And by the end, it was Josh and Chad rocking out (on 'expert' i'm sure...) while the rest of us watched in awe...

Now, back to the decorating. Like I said, another trip to Walmart was in order, and by Sunday night, my tree was pretty much done (except for a few small details, like a tree topper...which will come in good time, once I find one i like) so here are some pictures of my festive living room for your viewing pleasure!!!

Story Time!

Once upon a time, a girl bought a condo that she really loved. One thing she really did not love, however, was the ugly green tile (circa 1994) that framed the fireplace (ok i get that from this distance, the tile may not look too bad, but trust me, it just did not match with my decor. Also, I am realizing that I have not really posted about my new place yet, have I? with pictures? maybe i'll have to do that. in the meantime, here's my living room!).
This ugly green tile also greeted you upon arrival at the condo. The front entrance (shown below) indeed matched the fireplace. Now the problem for the girl who owned the condo was that there was really nothing WRONG with the tile. It was in good shape, it was just UGLY. Anyone who is a homeowner can attest to the fact that the few dollars you may have for home renos are designated to jobs that actually HAVE to be done, and not to jobs that are just "ugly".

Here is where our story takes an interesting turn. Sometime in September, the girl who owned the condo started smelling gas coming from her fireplace. Ok, i guess if we're being honest, there had been the occasional small whiffs at other times, but nothing that really seemed like a big deal, and therefore the girl ignored it. Finally, however, she decided it was probably a good idea to get her fireplace ready for winter, so called a company to set up a service call. Said repairman came and looked at the fireplace, and he fixed a connection, which is where the suspected gas leak was coming from. Problem was, however, that after the connection was fixed, there was still a gas leak coming from somewhere else. Long story short, the gas line for my unit and the 3 units directly below me was shut off because of the mysterious location of said leak. Fastforward to 2 more service calls by gasfitters and we conclude that the leak is coming from a connection in the wall.

Now....here is where the girl who owns the condo begins to see the positive side of this story. First of all, because the leak is in the wall, the repairs are going to be paid for by the Strata. Second of all, the fireplace is going to be pulled out of the wall in order for the repairman to have access to things in behind....which means THE TILE MUST GO!!!!!!!

So, finally, on November 15, things started to get moving!!!! Here is my fireplace, after being pulled from the wall.

This picture is a bit blurry, but i thought it gave a good perspective of things

So then the girl who owns the condo thought to herself "well i can't get pretty new tile around my fireplace and still have the ugly green stuff in the front entrance, can I?" Of course not! Bye bye ugly tile!!

New drywall around the fireplace

The girl who owns the condo goes tile shopping and finds something she really loves. Actually she finds 2 things she really loves. One is really really expensive, and one is just normal prices. what to do, what to do....Well she decides to get the cheaper tile (cuz it's awesome) and use it in the front entrance, and also along the floor infront of the fireplace. And so, on tuesday of this past week, the tile man came and transformed my entrance into something beautiful!!! Hellooooooooooo beautiful grey slate!!! (and now, you should get my reference from the last blog about a blog being "slated" for this weekend...)

And then there's the expensive tile. What to do,what to do? Well, the girl who owns the condo decides to get it, because she believes it will look really great around the fireplace, despite the price (which she is hoping the strata will not contest....)

And just like that, the ugly fireplace has been transformed into the focal point of the room (there's still the matter of the ugly gold bars on the fireplace, but those will be painted all in good time)

And there you have it. The mayham and chaos has been my house in the last week...and wow is my house dusty now...construction is messy!!!!! I feel like i will be cleaning forever! But it's all good because I love my front entrance, and I love my fireplace, and most importantly, I am not slowing dying from gas poisoning anymore!!!!!!!

the end.

stay tuned....

...a new post is "slated" for this weekend....when I actually can find the time to sit down at my computer, upload some pictures and write a little blurb...and thennyou will understand why one word is italicised above....

rain, visits, and one last sunny day

Sorry for the lengthy delay...but it's been a busy couple of weeks!!! Halloween has come and gone, and suddenly it's the middle of November!!!! Where does the time go?!?!?!?!?! Most recently, over this last weekend, my parents came for a visit!!!! Because the stat holiday fell on Tues, I took Monday off too, so had a nice 4-day weekend. My parents arrived last Thursday evening and were here until Tuesday morning. It rained most of the time they were here, so we filled our time with shopping (yay IKEA!!) and lots and lots of games of Settlers!!!!!! Pammer came over a couple of evenings and joined in the Settlers fun!!!!!

Like i said, it is now the rainy monsoon season here on the west coast and it did rain most of the weekend however on Monday, the sun actually showed up for a bit!! We took advantage of the break in the clouds to go for a walk around Mill Lake. It was late in the afternoon, so the sun was going down (and the moon was up) by the time we made our way around the loop, but I still got a couple of pics

lol i love that you can see their cute little feet (as turbo duck sticks his head out of the picture, lol)!!!

The following few pics I took a couple of weeks back, right at the very end of October, as we had a couple of beautiful sunny days and I spent my lunchhours walking and taking pictures