um hum...um hum......interesting....

one more thing

2011-06-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

Also a highlight that I forgot to mention.....had a GREAT girls night...we drank wine and wore snuggies. End of story.

There Kelly...are you happy?? :)

overdue update...that's an understatement...

2011-05-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

wow....was it really September that I last posted something on here? how the heck did so many months fly by? I doubt anyone is even checking in here anymore....but just in case i still have a few peeps out there, i'll update!!!!

I suppose part of the reason i've disappeared from the blogsphere in the last 9 months is because something else has taken over my life...nooooo definitely not a baby, though i can see how that whole "last 9 months" thing could have been misleading...lol. No, it was about last September that BFF Pammer and I came up with a brilliant idea. We had both been dreaming of having both more living space, along with a yard, however, the reality of west coast living is that on a single income, that's pretty much impossible. Since our knights in shining armor seem to be taking their sweet time to show up, Pammer and I decided to pool our resources....and we bought a house together! A great.big.house. Tons of space, so we don't even need to see each other if we don't want to lol!!! Anyway, back to my original point, the house hunting search began in the fall (was briefly interrupted by an AMAZING vacation to Maui with our friend Kim), we found a house we loved, papers were signed in November, and we moved at the end of January!!!!!

So now, it's been 4 months in our new abode and WE LOVE IT!!!! If you're not my facebook friend, and want to see pics of the house, let me know. And if you're in the area and need a place to stay, give me a shout...we've got a guest room and if you're nice, I'll make ya waffles for breakfast!!

Anyhoo, that's the big new from me, big 'ol house that now takes up all my time and money, but it's GREAT!!!!

Other than the house, other highlights from the last 9 months include my nephew's first Christmas, my nephew's 1st birthday, and the Canucks making the Stanley Cup Final!!

I'll do my best to update again soon....hopefully it won't be another 9 months!!!

Summer highlights

2010-09-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is September already....i can't believe the summer has come and gone...but fall is definitely in the air. It was a busy and fun summer....here are some of the highlights!!!

July started with a couple of days camping at Beachwood...i think some of the sunset pics made it into the last post. The rest of July was full of things like dinners with friends and working out with a trainer 2 days/week....some friends and i bid in a silent auction on 12 sessions with a trainer and won....so spent some hot summer evenings in the park working out....it was a lot of fun!!!

August long weekend saw my family arrive from the east and we headed up to Whistler for a family reunion.....SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!! It's been 3 yrs since the last one (New Brunswick....probably have a blog post about it if you look back to summer of '07...i'm too lazy to link it right now lol). We lived it up in style at the Fairmont, enjoying good company, good food and good drink.

And i was happy to get lots of cuddle time with my sweet nephew...who was 5 1/2 months old already!!

My bro, sis-in-law, cousins and I ventured out for some ziplining fun! We had a blast....until a stupid thunderstorm rolled in and the lightening forced us off the course....too bad, but i guess better safe than sorry...!!

And no reunion is complete without the ever important croquet tourney....

Whistler is beautiful...even in the fog....

And all was well, because the sunshine waiting for us at the top...here's my cuzzy and me at the top of Blackcomb

My mom also enjoyed cuddles with her grandson!!

Group photo!!!!

family photo

After the weekend of Whistler fun, my family and I headed over to the island for the rest of the week, to Courtenay, and spent some more quality time with my cousin and her family. And of course, i got more cuddles with my nephew!!

And I also got lots of time with my cousin's little guy, Zander...who you've seen in my pics before...love those curls!!!!

Mom and I ventured up Mt. Washington

And took in the scenery on a nature walk

I also had an impromptu photo shoot with my nephew...not hard to capture the cuteness of this little man!!

What a great week of fun with the family!!!!!!

What else have I done in August? Well....let's see....

I played a very poor but very fun round of golf with some friends from work....Ceiliah strutted her stuff (and probably made the putt in the shot below)

and i tried to make it look like i knew what i was doing

I ventured to Bowen Island with my friend (and running buddy) Sue and we had a weekend of fun, including running a 10k and going for a hike

And that brings us to now, the long weekend....which has been a good combo of exercise and lazyness!!!

I hiked Mt Cheam with some friends on Sat.....it was still a good time, despite not getting to enjoy the view from the top....it was cloudy and cold the higher we hiked, but the green valley and meadows of flowers still made it worth it!

I've also enjoyed just spending a couple of lazy days at home, working on some photobooks, watching tennis and drinking coffee (and ignoring most of the cleaning and dusting lol!!).

Whew! i'm exhausted just thinking about how busy the summer has been...! I am happy that I managed to stay quite active, between sessions with the trainer, running about 2x/week and a few hikes here and there....good thing, cuz i just looked at the calendar and realized it's officially 30 sleeps till MAUI!!!!!!!

summer sunsets

2010-07-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

well look at that, it's been about another month, so time for a blog post :)
Not much to write, just some pics to share....sunsets i've enjoyed lately, since summer finally showed up here on the west coast....enjoy!!

Crescent Beach
Crescent beach

Crescent beach

Birch Bay

Downtown Vancouver

Abbotsford....from my balcony

Abbotsford...still from my balcony!

Looking forward to my family visiting in a few weeks.....stay tuned for pics of Whistler, Vancouver Island and of course, my nephew :)

where did spring go...and where's summer?

2010-06-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

I think i have given in to the fact that i just can't blog on a consistent basis. however, this also means this post will have a lot of pics jammed into it...fyi you've been warned. :)

So way back in mid-May (again, where did May go, never mind 1/2 of June...) a few of us from Life Group decided that our Frenchie buddy Julie needed to see Kelowna and all its wine country bliss before she heads home to France in July. So...Pammer, Kimmer, Mel, Julie and I headed up for a girls weekend of fun! These next pics are actually in backwards order...but you get the gyst (as always, see Facebook for a more extensive photo collection). We ended our weekend with a wine tour at the Mission Hill winery...delightful!!
We walked by Lake Okanagan and met the Ogopogo

And walked a section of the Kettle Valley railway trestle bridges and saw firsthand the devastation that forest fires have done within the last couple of years

Pammer and Kimmer

I scrambled up some rocks to get a better view

The girls were such troopers with all my photographing...they were such good sports when i made them pose over and over!!!

group shot!GREAT WEEKEND!!! We had a blast!!

Moving along through May, my friend Sue and I went for a hike at Golden Ears and had a great time, despite the rain and chilly temps...the scenery was still amazing!!

Aaaannnnddd....perhaps the most exciting thing of all that's taken place recently is BATHROOM RENOS!!!!! Kimmer's dear darling husband Jaco is a WIZARD when it comes to renos, so i hired me a dutchman and let him get to work!!!!! My bathrooms weren't in bad shape, they were just ugly and i didn't like the '90s look of them...time to modernize, baby!!
Here's the before shot of the ensuite

And the before shot of the main bathroom...hello mismatched vanity pieces!

Helloooooooooo new and improved ensuite! how i love getting ready in you every morning!

And a close up of the sink area in the main bathroom (looks just like the ensuite...both bathrooms have matching pieces)

And another angle of the main bathroom

I love my new bathrooms!! They're so loverly, fresh and modern!!

It's been a rainy, cold spring here on the west coast....quite miserable, actually, and I'm having a hard time believing that summer is just around the corner. Last Saturday, however, was a gorgeous day! So, i took the opportunity to snap a few flower shots from Pam's mom's garden...they will help me believe that spring really has sprung, and that summer is just around the corner!! Enjoy!!

Well there you go...a summary of the last number of weeks....and i'll see you again, probably at the end of July, lol! No seriously, you should see my daytimer...i'd take a picture to show you, but it's full of confidential client information, so i can't really do that...but take my word when i say that the busyness doesn't slow down any time soon! Just hope there's some sunshine in the forecast!!!!

me...?? Running?

2010-05-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

April 25, 2010 marked uncharted territory for me. I began the establishment of "personal best" times in my world of running!!!

Back as a young'un in elementary school, I ran cross country races and liked it. In junior high, i was a sprinter, and liked it. In high school and college, I was a volleyball player...who HATED running! Go figure!!

Growing up, my running repertoire also included being roused waaaay earlier than I would have liked, on Father's Day morning, for the annual Manitoba Marathon....no no, i was not running anything close to a full or half marathon...the 2.6mile SuperRun was where it was at for us...a family ritual of sort, and a distance plenty far enough for me!! The Manitoba Marathon is a major fundraising venture for the Association for Community Living-Manitoba...for whom my dad just happened to be Executive Director...so i didn't really have a choice regarding my Super Run participation....it's just what we did. And since it happens on Father's Day, what dad wants, dad gets! And dad wanted us to run!

Anyway....i digress....

Running has taken a back seat in my exercise regime in the last number of years. Actually any kind of cardio took a back seat...lol...i much prefer weight training to cardio. But something happened last spring...i don't even think i can decipher what changed...but suddenly, running seemed appealing. And so i started running. Just a bit. On the treadmill, at the gym. Then on trails, with a friend from work. At first it really sucked. But then i kinda started to like it! What?! running is becoming fun?!?!?! Who saw that coming??!! Not me! So I kept running! Nothing fast, nothing far, but running none the less!

In January, my dear friend Darla flaunted a challenge before a few of us...she wanted to start training for a 10k race at the end of April. And before I could consider that it was a foolish agreement, i said "sure!" And better yet, Pammer agreed too! And so did Darla's friend Stacey! So, we started a training program, signed up for the race...and with each week that went by, I was loving it!!

And then before i knew it, April 25 was here! Race day! I was nervous, i was excited, i was antsy standing at the starting line and just wanted to get going!!!!! The damper on our day was the fact that Darla was diagnosed with double stress fractures in her legs 3 DAYS before the race, and was unable to run. Boo. The up side was that she became cheerleader and photographer extraordinaire.
So what follows are pics of race day...courtesy of Darla....capturing me in my first ever 10k.

start line!!!! ready to go!!!!
Darla was a superstar and followed us in her car for the first stretch!! She shot photos out her car window WHILE driving and cheering loudly! Yep, that's why i'm grinning in this pic!! (i'm right in the middle...and can you see all the people around me thinking"who the heck is yelling from their car??!!")

me and Pammer!

My cheering squad at the finish line! Kimmer and Darla! Love these girls!!!! (and check out my medal...wooooo!!!!)

At the finish line sporting our medals....me, Stacey and Pammer

The 4 amigos...we will find another 10k to run when we're all healthy and whole again!

And so...my goal was to finish the race in under 1hour...figured the race day adrenaline would help me have a good shot at that goal....

....58m34s is now my newly established personal best for a 10k...yay me, I met my goal! And I've got a chance to try and shave a few seconds off in a couple of weeks...my next 10k is May 30....!!!

St Lucia!!

2010-04-19T08:53:00.001-07:00

I know, I know....i've been back from my trip for a couple of weeks and have yet to blog....well the wait is over! Many of you have already seen the Facebook pics, so this won't be much new...but at least with a bit more commentary! The busyness of life, combined with a ZILLION pics to sort through has led to the delay (ahem..avoidance??!!) in this blog, but I guess I will just have to get over it, because taking a zillion pictures is what i do!!

Sooooo......St Lucia...ahhh.....a little piece of sun-shiney heaven!!! It was GREAT!!!!! Pammer and I had been looking forward to this trip since the END OF OCTOBER!!!! And let me tell you, i was more than ready for a holiday!

We left Vancouver, and after a quick layover in Toronto, where I got to meet my adorable (then) 6 week old nephew and spend a night with my brother and sis-in-law. Check out the facebook pics of the cute little guy! Then...it was off to the Caribbean!!!

We stayed at an all-inclusive.....
And had the BEST room....beachfront suite!!!!!!

Check out the view we woke up to every day!!!!

This was all about a RELAXING holiday...but we also wanted explore the island. I think we had a good balance...it almost worked out to spending one day at the resort chillin' in the sun, then one day out and about, then one day at the resort, then one day out...etc etc....

So...what follows in pictures is a synopsis of what we spent our time doing...trust me, it's a BRIEF synopsis, cuz like I said, i have a ZILLION pictures, and it was hard to choose just a few to post. But I hope it helps you get the idea!

Pedal boats at the resort!!!

It was really hot, so I had to cool off in the ocean on a regular basis!

Crashing waves...so beautiful!

Spent a lot of time doing this......

The resort grounds were beautiful...flowers flowers everywhere!! It was so colourful!

We took a "land and sea" excursion. We got a great overview of the west side of the island, went to a waterfall, volcano, saw the Pitons, and took a catamaran!!! The Pitons are the famous mountains...there are 2 peaks....you can see one of them here!

At the waterfall...nothing overly extravagant, but it's the most popular waterfall on the island because you don't have to hike in...easy access means lots of people!

At our lunch stop...an amazing restaurant called the Mango Tree, with the most unbelievable views

The volcano...see the smoke in the distance? It was stinky like sulpher, but apparently that's a good thing because it means the gases aren't poisonous!!

our handsome tour guide...Lloyd!

We took a catamaran ride back up the coast for the afternoon...and got to stop and swim at one point. One of my best pre-trip purchases was a waterproof case for my little point-and-shoot...SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!! I love underwater shots!!

Taking in the scenery

rum and coke!!

On another day, we walked to Pigeon Island. It was really neat to check out all the old stone barracks, canons and amazing views from way up high! Read more about it via the link i attached....it's a pretty cool place...and you may recognize it from some of the recent Bachelor episodes....!!

views of Rodney Bay

At the end of our trip, we splurged....and took a helicopter back down to the airport, rather than the 1 1/2 long drive on winding roads....my first helicopter ride...and TOTALLY worth the money!!

The Pitons from the air

sunsets!!!! Didn't have one every night (stupid late afternoon low cloud that set in....) but did manage to have a couple nights of great skies!

and one final sunset from the airplane

There you have it....a very brief overview of an AMAZING holiday!! It was hot, it was beautiful, it was relaxing, it was GREAT!!

Spring has Sprung!!

2010-03-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Oh my poor neglected blog....
But here I am again! Nothing overly exciting to post today but if i didn't tend to my blog now, who knows when i'd get around to it...i blame facebook for that....I have a slew of Olympic pics that got their own album in facebook, and that was the big excitement around these here parts over the month of February. I spent 2 days in downtown Vancouver with a couple of friends, taking in the Olympic experience. We didn't have tickets for any events, and stood in a lot of long lineups for free venues, but the weather was beautiful and it was fun just to be there.

And our lovely spring weather continues!!!! Who says it rains all the time in Vancouver??!! It's officially spring now, so perhaps the blossoms and leaves don't feel quite so out of place!!

However, despite the beautiful sunshine, i'm EXCITED EXCITED EXCITED to head south later this week and enjoy some all-inclusive goodness in a happy place called St. Lucia....that's right, the trip Pammer and I booked waaaayyyy back in October is finally upon us!!!!!! Can't wait!!! I'm in need of a vacation, and those Caribbean waters can't come soon enough!! Aaaaaaand.....a stopover in Toronto on the way means I get to meet my aDORable nephew!!!! Wahooooooooo!!

Here are some spring pics to share with you, some delightful blossomy-goodness thanks to a non-existent winter here on the west coast. And stay tuned....St Lucia pics will be coming....

See ya soon!!

just call me Auntie!!

2010-02-22T09:49:00.000-08:00

Woke up to the phone call of this little guy's arrival last week...introducing my first nephew, meaning i'm officially "Auntie Laura"!! I'll get to see him for a really quick visit in about a month, can't wait to hold this cuteness!!!!

And this other thing call the Olympics has been taking a lot of my time in the last week...a post about that coming soon....i experienced the mayham first hand over the weekend!

Let's carry on.....New Years and more!!

2010-01-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, so when i left you last, i was on my way back from Winnipeg to Abby. Had a few flight delays, got in to Abby mid-afternoon, Pam picked me up from the airport, I quickly went home, unpacked and repacked my suitcase, and Pammer and I headed to the ferry! More waiting and and many hours later, we finally arrived in Courtenay to visit my cousin and family for New Years! I love visiting my cousin....it's a time complete with hanging out, eating good food and enjoying the company of one of the cutest kids i know. And dang can he talk well for a 2 yr old!!!Technically i'm a cousin once removed or something to him (how does that work? anybody know? my cousin's kid would be what relation to me??) but i'm trying to teach him to call me Auntie Laura....if he thinks about it enough, he can say it...but otherwise, i was "auntie Aurla". Meh, either way works for me!! We watched enough Shrek to last a lifetime, but how can you say no to that curly mop and big blue eyes that keep saying "I watch Shrek!!" and "Again!!"

After just a brief stay in Courtenay (night of Dec 30th till the morning of Jan 1st) Pammer and I loaded up the car again and headed west, cross island to Ucluelet, to meet up with our friends Kim and Jaco. They had already been renting a cabin for a couple of days, and we joined them till Jan 3rd. I was looking forward to spending time on the west coast of the island, seeing Tofino, the beaches, the waves, and hopefully some pretty skies....we lucked out and didn't have solid rain, so i managed to get a few pics i'm pretty happy with! (by the way, if you've seen my pics on Facebook, these will mostly be the same ones)

Down by the water in Tofino, with some low level clouds that looked pretty neat!

We spent some time walking the Lighthouse Loop of this great trail in Ucluelet called the Wild Pacific Trail...it gave us great views of the crashing waves

Long Beach (between Ucluelet and Tofino)....famous for surfing....

These guys looked pretty hardcore in their wetsuits...it was COLD!!

And back to the Wild Pacific Trail....in search for the lighthouse....and a sunset...

and THEN i got to celebrate my birthday!!! My dear sweet friends made me brownies and everything!!! (the icing reads 'Hap B Laura'...that was all the icing we had...lol) This was the night before my bday, as we had to get up, pack up and drive back to the ferry on the 3rd, but it was still super special...and i got presents too!!

On the 3rd, we spent the afternoon in Nanaimo, and had lunch on the waterfront before catching our ferry. And here's one final pic....the ferry terminal and the lights of Nanaimo in the distance, just before we set sail

And then i got home, went to bed, and woke up Monday morning and headed to work! Whew...it was an exhausing "Christmas break"....but a whole lotta fun!

ok let's begin.....Christmas!

2010-01-25T09:43:00.001-08:00

Alrighty....here we go with the first of many updates. I hear there's a lot of snow falling in Winnipeg today, so how appropriate that I blog about my trip home! Wow, it's Jan 25 today...Christmas was a month ago already. Can hardly believe it!

At any rate, let's see what I remember! So I went home for a week. It was busy. I did stuff. Then I came back to BC. Ha, just kidding, i will give you more than that (though it is a fairly accurate synopsis...lol) Spent some time with a few friends, spent some time with family, spent a lot of time sleeping...and also spent some time skiing! It was a good trip, went by far too quickly, but here are a few pics.

Christmas morning...ahhh stockings that are too full and too heavy to be hung by the mantel with care...so are rather placed nicely on the couch. It was just myself and my parents again this year....brother and sis-in-law are expecting a baby in a few short weeks, so she was too far along to fly. So, just me and the 'rents. Ah well, more stuff for me :)
Christmas dinner wouldn't be complete without the crackers...because you NEED to wear the paper crown and get your little prize from within....it's just something that must be done!

Quality time with my dad included going to the Manitoba Moose game!!!!! The Moose are the Canucks farm team....and they were playing the Abbotsford Heat....(Calgary's farm team) so it was like my two rivals facing off....who would win? Winnipeg vs. Abbotsford....Canucks vs. Flames....who to cheer for?? Well, I cheer for the Moose, because lets face it, despite the Heat being Abbotsford's team....I just can't cheer for baby Flames....and lucky for me, the Moose won!

pre game warm up

game on!! (we're the white team)

And skiing! Ah x-country skiing...the amazing workout that I survive only by taking photography breaks the entire time :) I only managed to get out skiing 2x but it was still fun. I'm not gonna lie, the first day was much warmer, thus making the experience more fun. The second day, i thought i was going to lose some fingers to frostbite. But I didn't, and all is well. Anyway, here are some pics from the first day (the warm day) at Kings Park, near my house where I spent many of my growing up years playing soccer, baseball, walking, running, skiing, biking, sledding...etc etc. It's a fun place to take pictures too!

The sky was really cool....i don't think this pic does it justice, but it was the best I could get...i just love the depth of the prairie sky...

Red berries

Winter scene

Over the bridge (pretty sure trolls lived under these red bridges when i was young...)

Another winter scene....toboggan central!!

And now on to the cold day....my dad and I went skiing at Birds Hill Park. Here's my dad all bundled up....

Plane tracks through the sky...and love the prism colours the sun reflected

Animal tracks and the setting sun...we'd better ski fast!!The moon is out! love the trees

And this post would not be complete without a shout out to some great friends I caught up with while home. Had dinner with my friend Julie, whom I haven't seen in about 5 yrs! It was great to catch up, and meet her little bebe! Watt family! Doug and Beth are some of my favourite people, it's great to catch up, and try and sneak free photo advice from Doug!! And chill with their now-grown-up boys whom i used to babysit and now they tower over me! And dearest Anna, long time friend, with an adorable bebe, and essential member of "Kendel Family Fun Night" where we play Cranium and Anna and I SLAUGHTER my parents...it's an annual tradition, and I can't help it that we are amazing sculpters, eyes-closed-artistes and hummers :)

So there you have it...a run down of my Christmas....one post of many updates DONE!! I flew back to Abbotsford on Dec 30 and Pammer and I proceeded to catch a ferry that night over to Vancouver Island.....thus posts on New Years in Courtenay and my birthday in Ucluelet are upcoming.....stay tuned!!!

they're coming...they're coming.....

2010-01-17T22:56:00.000-08:00

.....updates, that is!!

i am WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY behind on my postings....i'm trying to convince myself that playing catch-up isn't the insurmountable project that it seems, and that i just need to get going slowly but surely....I have a ton of pics to wade through, Christmas, New Years, my birthday and of course the typical random assortment of pretty skies and other nature scenes :)

So, never fear, updates are on their way....hopefully sooner rather than later!

November....it came and went already???

2009-12-05T12:03:00.000-08:00

Well, it appears that time has decided to exist at warp speed...thus another month has come and gone already...and so, here is another installment of what has become "monthly updates"!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!! i love decorating my place, it feels so cozy. Yes, i'll admit, i decorated a tad early this year, but i love coming home to the lights every night!!

I shot my first wedding!!! It was a friend from work who got married, and no, i have no intentions of doing this more regularly! too much pressure!! lol! Anyway, it was all good, it was a small ceremony in their house, not many people....but still...pressure!!!! I also had the frustrating experience of trying to figure out how to edit photos!! Not my favourite thing, and not sure it will be something i spend a lot of time doing in the future (unless someone shows me how to do it better...!) At any rate, here are a couple of my favourite shots.

November saw an insane amount of rain...i know it's the west coast, but still, it was a lot. December has started with a couple of cold sunny days. Love this weather! So, although these pics don't technically fall into the "november update" category, i'm in charge of this blog, and i can put whatever pics i want on here!! So here are a few pics of the frosty goodness i've enjoyed in the last couple of days!

And a peak to the east, a glimpse of the sunrise, as much as i could get from my balcony (stupid buildings in the way!!)

November was a busy month! December will be busier! Just a couple more weeks, then i'm off
for almost 2 weeks...ahhh...relaxing! I'm going home for a week...and just a heads up, probably won't have another blog update until i'm enjoying the winter wonderland that is Winnipeg!

Enjoy December and i'll talk to you again soon!!

and now...a long, overdue update...

2009-11-01T16:04:00.000-08:00

Would you look at that....it's November! Where the heck did October go??? It's been a busy month, full of fun both big and little....and of course, the day to day excitement of work, gym and the start of the NHL season!

Anyway....here are a few pics of some of what i've been up to in the last month. My friend Sue and I went to Whistler for the Thanksgiving long weekend. I have a facebook album with many more pics, which most of you have seen i'm sure...but here are a few highlights from the weekend....we spent our time riding the new Peak to Peak gondola, which connects the Whistler and Blackcomb peaks, and did some great hiking, taking in the amazing views. And of course, the Olympic spirit is everywhere!

The other main excitement of this month revolved around concerts....one band many people haven't heard of, and one band EVERYONE has heard of!

First...the David Crowder Band came to Abbotsford and 3 friends and i went to the show. These 2 pics are in the wrong order...but the point is that the concert was AMAZING! The other point is that someone randomly gave us wristbands as we stood in line, and so we got to meet the band and get autographs after the show!!

And...........then U2 came to Vancouver, and the Black Eyed Peas opened the show!! By no means did Pammer and I spend big money on tickets....so we were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy far away...but really, it's all about the experience! And they have big screens anyway, so you can still see the band...lol! Anyway the show was great, my ears were ringing for hours, and it was awesome to see so many people packed in to BC Place!

This was when they told everybody to pull out their cell phones...it looked pretty cool

There are some of my October highlights...keep scrolling to check out some of the amazing fall colours that have graced the lower mainland this month!

the fabulous colours of fall

2009-11-01T14:56:00.000-08:00

The weather was nice for a good part of October...and brought out some amazing colours on the trees. Here are some of my favourite shots from some of my favourite parks around Abbotsford and Langley...enjoy the colours!!

ok so this one isn't really very 'fall-like'...but i've wanted to take a picture of this barn for YEARS...i don't know why i think it's so cool, but i like it...and especially the canadian flag painted on the front...!!

August and September

2009-09-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

Finally....a long, long, long overdue blog post....be forewarned...this could be lengthy!! Summer was really really busy...hence the lack of posting, but not lack of picture taking!! Hard to believe it's almost the end of September already, but as long as the sunshine holds out a bit longer before the rain arrives and sets up camp, i will be a happy girl!!

So, what follows is a summary of summer since my trip to Winnipeg at the beginning of August.....I have tried to be very selective with my photos, just to give you a sampling of my adventures, and to not make this the longest blog post in history!!

Back in mid-Aug, Pammer and I went to Vancouver to celebrate Jen's bday. We did what we normally do when we stay with Mike and Jen...ate good food, stayed up late, played games, and made waffles for breakfast!! Here's the birthday girl with her late night ice-cream cake (no calories after midnight, right??!!)
And the birthday waffles the next morning!

Tagged on to the weekend of birthday fun was a somewhat nostalgic experience...Matt Epp, who i worked at camp with, back in the late '90s, is now a real-live-touring-musician, and was playing a show in Vancouver. Pammer and I went to check out his show, at Cocoa Nymph cafe, which is a cool litte venue, at which you can indulge in chocolate, ice cream and red wine, while enjoying the show...now that is a concert atmosphere i can get used to! I hadn't seen Matt, well, since those camp days...so about 11 yrs or so ago... but it was great to see him. He's a pretty talented musician (and check out that beard!!!!)

The following weekend (we are now at the end of August) 3 friends from work and I went over to Bowen Island for the weekend (you've seen some photos on facebook already). We had a great time relaxing, taking in the view and kayaking! This is the view from the house we stayed at...we were lucky enough to be housesitting, so got to stay for free!!

Beautiful day for kayaking!Patricia's got her skirt on and is ready to go

Ceiliah's got her skirt on too

Sue made sure we didn't get eaten by the orcas

and to prove i was actually there too, i stole this picture of myself from Ceiliah!

I could have taken pictures of the scenery forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The streak in the sky is a time-lapse of an airplane

And now...on to Labour day weekend...where i jetted off to Toronto for a couple of days, for my cousin Jen's wedding! My brother and sister-in-law have also recently moved back to the Toronto area, so it was fun to stay at their new house with them (my parents were there too). We all went for a little hike on the Escarpment and enjoyed the sunny weather.

Wedding day!!!! The weather was perfect for the outdoor ceremony at the Old Mill (amazing place for a wedding, by the way)All smiles!! Congrats Jen and Shawn!!

Cousins!! Jen (the bride) and my other cousin Susan (who, lucky for me, left her kids and husband at home in Winnipeg for the weekend and so was my date for the wedding...lol!!)After my whirlwind weekend in Toronto, complete with jetlag, do you think i came home, worked a couple of days and then just chilled out for a weekend? Noooooooooooooooo!!! Susan (the cousin you just saw in the photo above), flew back to Wpg after the wedding, grabbed her kids, and flew out to Courtenay to visit her sister (Karla...the one who i often go to visit too). So rather than spend a weekend relaxing at home...i hopped on a ferry and went to join in the fun (and chaos...!!) The weather was beautiful, i must say....which made the ferry ride even more enjoyable...i can't get enough of the scenery, and i think i take the same pictures every time i go to the Island...but whatever.However....this ferry ride was cooler than most, because we were lucky enough to have a pod of whales frolicking nearby as we set sail! they move pretty quick, so i didn't get any really good shots, but at least this shows more than a splash of water!

And here are my favorite kids! It was May when i last saw the Zan-Man...and he grows so fast (and his hair is cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurly!!!!) The sailboat on his cheek is courtesy of the children's festival they frequented earlier in the day

I saw Susan's kids when i was in Wpg earlier this summer, but i'm sure they've still grown since then!!

cousins!!!! For a brief moment, they all got along and no one was crying!!!!!They even shared some love!!!

And that brings us to this current weekend.....Pammer and i went hiking yesterday but pics of that will come later...i didn't lug my big camera up the mountain, so a few pics are on Pam's camera, and i will get them from her at some point. Today, I've flopped myself on my couch...it's my first full weekend at home since July (meaning that this weekend, i've slept in my bed both Friday AND Saturday night!!!!)....did some much needed housework and laundry, and lets be real, it's mid-afternoon and i'm still in my pj's....i needed a day like this!! So there you have it...a brief synopsis of life over the last while...busy but fun!!!

Cottage Country

2009-08-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a visit back home! The main reason for my trip was to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday....we had a big surprise party planned and it went off without a hitch (which is pretty amazing, seeing as how there were 60 people there!). My mom was totally surprised and i think she had a great time!
However, after the festivities were over, we took off for the cottage. Pammer came to Wpg also, as she has a bunch of family out that way too, and after she fit in her visits, she came to the cottage too. My brother and sister-in-law were also home.....which meant with 6 of us, it was time we bought the expansion pack so we could get in some good games of Settlers of Catan!!!!!

So, here are a few highlights from the week....i took a BILLION pictures, so it was hard to pick just a few to show (there will be a bigger album on facebook). Spent lots of time relaxing, canoeing, swimming and playing games and as always, time went too quickly!

The weather was a mix between good, bad and ugly and changed at a moment's notice. There was always the chance you'd get caught in a downpour if you ventured out too far. However, the up side was that there were a few amazing rainbows that appeared!! I like this shot because the rainbow seems to come right to our dock!!

Spent a lot of time in these chairs just soaking up the scenery

Pammer and I went for a couple of canoe rides, on the hunt for interesting wildlife

And we even got up early to catch the sunrise

late afternoon sky

I stalked this guy for a bit, he was pretty mellow and would look at me and then go back to eating leaves, but then the "click" from my camera finally sent him scurrying off!!

And these guys sure move quick!!

These loons were so funny! They kept looking at eachother and having some sort of conversation through head gestures, and always made sure no one straggled too far behind!! And then they got into this lovely formation to have their picture taken!

Stretching the wings

I had some fun setting up the tripod at night and experimenting with a variety of manual settings on my camera, trying to figure out exactly how to shoot photos at night. Still need to learn a lot but i am pretty happy with how a couple of shots turned out! I especially love this first one, of the cottage....click on it to see it larger....cuz if you look close enough, that's the big dipper in the sky....

Almost full moon and the evening bonfire

moon through the trees

Peaceful sunset

And finally, full moon!!

So there you have it, a few highlights of the amazing scenery I soaked in last week!!!!

Tina, Smitty and Steven

2009-08-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

One of my dear friends came for a quick visit at the end of July. Tina and I became friends back in the late 90s when we worked together at one of the best places on earth, Red Rock Bible Camp. Tina now lives in New Zealand and has been there for a few years. She was just back in Winnipeg for a visit, and lucky for me, she planned a layover through Vancouver on her way back to NZ!! We packed as much as we could into 2 days and had a wonderful time catching up (we figured it's been at least 5 yrs since we've seen each other), sightseeing and playing photographer with our respective SLR's! (Tina's quite an amazing photographer).

Here are a few quick highlights of our time! We went and checked out Cascade Falls, near Mission BC (i stole this picture of the two of us from Tina)

And then headed up to the Monastery (in Mission) to get a view of the valley

Now, one of the highlights of MY weekend was planned way before Tina decided to come to visit. Pam, Theresa and I had tickets to the EPIC Steven Curtis Chapman/Michael W Smith concert that was coming to Abbotsford. It just so happened that Theresa couldn't shake the flu in time, so Tina joined us for the concert...while she isn't the MWS/SCC fan that I (secretly) am, I think she still had a good time!! Anyway, i was very excited because we had row 5 tickets and though the lighting made it difficult to take good pictures, i think Pammer snapped a few!
Here's Pammer and I

And Tina and I

Steven was great!But I was most excited for Smitty!!

And he looked very handsome from my row 5 seat :)

Yay! what a fun concert! and what a fun weekend!! Thanks for visiting Tina!

weekend at Beachwood

2009-07-12T19:20:00.001-07:00

I spent some time camping at Beachwood this weekend with Pammer and the Unrau's. The weather was great, so we spent lots of time lounging by the pool catching some rays during the day, and enjoying the sunset and campfire at night (mmm...s'mores....). Here are a few highlights of the amazing scenery.

The colours were beautiful...we were a bit late for the sunset this night, but the remaining colours in the sky were pretty sweet

i spent a bit of time playing around with the manual mode and shutter speed on my camera...don't really know what i'm doing, but whatev's, it was fun! Here's the giant tent Pammer and i slept in...this thing is huge, you could fit 2 queen sized mattresses inside...needless to say, we had plenty 'o room for our 2 single air mattresses!

"Stars...In your multitudes...Scarce to be counted...Filling the darkness...With order and light...You are the sentinels...Silent and sure...Keeping watch in the night...Keeping watch in the night"..........sigh..."Stars" is one of my favorite songs from Les Mis....anyone else love that song?? I think of it when i see a sky like this

i love campfire! we roasted hotdogs, marshmallows and just enjoyed the flammage

Chad had fun skipping rocks at the ocean

And the sunset was outstanding!

sigh...i heart the west coast....

end of june update

2009-06-21T22:45:00.001-07:00

Sheesh....it feels like just yesterday i wrote my last blog that was stating i couldn't believe how fast time was flying by...and here it is almost a month later! Well, it's been a busy month, but just not a lot of pictures that have been taken. A few rousing games of Settlers, the first time out to the driving range for the season, a few trips to Vancouver, getting back into the swing of things at the gym, dinners with friends etc etc....i'm ready for a vacation! (that comes in a month). And i also bought a new computer this month....today was my first time trying to figure out how to upload pictures...it was a bit of a process, but i got 'em on here!

These pictures are from today...Pammer and I spent the afternoon with the Unrau's enjoying the weather and celebrating Father's Day. We went to Campbell Valley Park, had a picnic of the KFC variety and walked some trails (and of course took some pictures!)

Allie showing off her sitting skills, with hope for a tasty snack....

And a very happy dog dancing big for some KFC!

pretty flowers in the park

Butterfly!!

i like how this flower looks like it's floating in midair...

The leaves were so green...this pictures doesn't do it justice

walking trail

delightful daisies

So there you have it....a bit of an update, a few pictures and the weekend is over and i'm need to sleep....so off to bed i go!

a Pampered weekend

2009-06-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

Pammer and I headed over to the Island this weekend to visit my dear cousin. The purpose of our visit was two-fold; fold one being to hang out with my cousin and see my favorite little boy (of course there are pictures of him!) and fold two was so that Pam could do a Pampered Chef party for Karla and a bunch of her friends! So, Friday after work, we headed to the ferry and thanks to our trusty reservation, were the first car on and the first car off!!! Check it out...there's Mazzy, front row!!!!

We caught the 8:15pm ferry, at the end of a hot sunny day, and the sky was beautiful for the ride over. Of course, that meant i took a million pictures!!!!

(who knew the ferry terminal could look so good?!! Amazing what a sunset can do!!)

And here's my little man!!! I saw him 6 weeks ago, but he grows so fast!!!!! I didn't get to spend all that much time with him this weekend, as he went sailing with daddy (i don't think Brian wanted to be around for the girly party!!) but i still got a couple of cute pictures!

On Saturday afternoon we headed down to the ocean for a bit, to enjoy the sunshine before getting ready for the party. Here's Keeva the wonderdog, who greatly enjoyed playing in the water and getting very sandy!I don't know if someone helped this shell look like this or not, but i thought it was cool anyway

Karla and me

And a starfish!

Saturday night we had a great Pampered Chef party, ate some good food, and enjoyed some good company. We stayed up far too late but hey that's what weekends are for!!

And then on Sunday late afternoon, it was time to head back home. Again, the weather was amazing and so i took pictures until my battery died...lol

It was a great weekend! I love going to the island and seeing my cousin and her family...just wish the time didn't go by so quickly! Weekends should definitely be longer!!

May days

2009-05-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Seriously...where are the days going? Is May really 3/4 over already? Well at any rate, here are a few highlights from the last few weeks.
Pammer and I decided that this year we were going to expand our artistic horizons and take advantage of more of the concerts that come to the lower mainland. At Christmas we went to Holly Cole and then in January we went to Bjorn Again. And the last 2 weeks have been concert-worthy again! On May 9, Third Day came to town, with opening acts Brandon Heath and Revive. This was the first concert to grace the stage of the newly built Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Complex and we had row 7 seats!!!!! We went with Theresa and Chad and had a great time (despite the Canucks losing their game that night - Chad and I kept up to date on the score via his blackberry)
Less than a week later, Pammer and I headed into Vancouver and spent a delightful evening with BC's own Diana Krall! She was a phenomenal entertainer, quite hilarious in her story telling, and even jazzed up the Hockey Night in Canada theme song (much to my delight!!). I'm pretty sure Pam and I were the youngest in the audience, but it was a fun time none the less!!!!

(sorry i don't actually have any pictures that actually PROVE i was at these concerts...for Third Day I didn't take my camera cuz i didn't think they'd allow pictures...and surprisingly, they encouraged photography! At Diana Krall i took my camera, but photos were strictly forbidden - i saw people get in trouble...lol) And so you may be asking "what concert is next?" Well make fun all you want but Michael W Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman are touring together and are coming to Abbotsford in July....and I have ROW 5 seats!!! It's gonna be great, probably a bit cheesy, and i'm gonna love every minute of it!!! Pam and Theresa are coming too, and aren't nearly as excited as I am, but they are being good sports...lol

Anyway, those concerts were the highlights of the month so far. The long weekend just passed, and it was a mellow one by most accounts. Pammer and I hiked Teapot Hill, which indicated very strongly that I need to get back to the gym and kick it up a few notches! (and i disagree with the websites indication that this is an 'easy' hike....) At any rate, it was good to get out and enjoy the scenery, and here are a few pics from along the way and up at the top.

So there you have it....some highlights from the past few weeks....!! And a post full of links to boot!!

Bowen Island

2009-05-07T18:15:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I went to Bowen Island with my friend Sue, who was housesitting for some friends and wanted some company! This was my first time on Bowen...i've wanted to check the island out for a long time, and lucky for me, Sue used to live on Bowen, so she was the perfect tour guide!! The weather was kinda...meh...bit of sun, bit of rain, bit of wind, etc, but that didn't stop us from getting out and touring around, doing lots of walking and also a nice amount of chillaxing and taking in the beautiful scenery!!

I cropped this pic, i won't lie...i wasn't quite that close to the seal...but he looks pretty cute, eh!

on saturday we sat down by the ocean for a long time (until the rain chased us back into the woods and back onto the hiking trail). I could watch the water forever! And there were a whole lotta sailboats that were out and about!

on sunday we hiked up to a great viewpoint and just sat and watched the scenery, the ferry, the birds...it was great!

And then it was over :( Why do weekends go so fast? Anyway, it was a great time and i hope i can go back again soon!

spring buds and one cute puppy!

2009-04-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

Seriously...where did April go? And more importantly, will this sunshine PLEASE stay around for a while longer?? I'm loving it!!!!
Took a little walk to Mill Lake the other day, as the perty buds are still coming out on some trees and are providing a plethora of colours for my lens to enjoy! Also a big fan of the bright blue sky...provides a much better contrast for these flowers...lol!

One of my colleagues just got a new puppy. The puppy is a terrier/bichon mix and her name is Fiona (now a little sis to big terrier brother Finley). Some of us colleagues congregated on Friday night for some pizza and the chance to oooh and ahhh over the cute furry feline....seems like T. was a bit more interested in chasing bubbles than playing with the dogs....but it seems like the dogs found him interesting!!

Miss Fiona

chillaxin...puppies get tired quick

mmm....flowers.....

anyway, not a super exciting post but i figured a few pics were better than nothing!!

blue eyed beauty

2009-04-16T16:39:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week, my mom and I took a quick 3-day trip over to the Island to visit my cousin and her family. It was great to see my cousin Karla and her husband Brian, and of course my favourite blue eyed one-year old. You've seen pictures of this adorable munchkin before but i just can't stop myself from taking pictures of him!!! Let me tell ya, this kid is full of smiles!!!!!
Here are a few pics to make your heart melt just a little!!

The weather was beautiful on Tuesday so we spent some time down by the water in Comox checking out the sailboats and taking in the scenery

We then drove up to check out Comox Lake, where Z had some fun throwing rocks

Check out those shades!! You can't see it very well, but he's got sweet Hot Wheels shades with flames on the lenses...lol!! What a stylin' kid!!

The visit was too short and before we knew it, it was time to catch the ferry again, but we had a great time hanging out!! Thanks for the visit guys!!

signs of spring!!!

2009-04-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

Ignoring the fact that it's supposed to rain again in a couple of days, I'm gonna go ahead and say "spring has finally started to, well, spring!" Went for a walk to Mill Lake yesterday with my mom (who is out visiting, and much prefers our +20C to Winnipeg's +5C) and of course brought along Rebs...and finally saw a few signs that spring is on its way!

Here's hoping the rain doesn't make itself comfortable again at the end of the week....and the sunshine comes out to play again!!

sigh...not much to report...

2009-03-30T22:22:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow is the last day of March. I can't believe the time has gone so quickly...and really, i haven't blogged, because since Oregon, not much has been happening! The weather has sucked, work has been kinda boring, weekends have been pretty low key and mellow. Not that i'm complaining...i'm just saying that not much has been photo-worthy as of late! i'm anxious for spring to arrive, for the flowers to show up, for the rain to disappear etc etc.
Anyway, just wanted to check in and say 'hello blogland, i haven't forgotten about you'.

Here are a couple of pictures from the past few weeks. Pammer and I went to a sushi-making class ('twas her birthday present) which was lots of fun and yummy! here are a few of the leftovers i took home

And it was also Kimmer and Katy's birthday's, earlier in March! Yay girls!! and yay for cake!!!

So there you have it...not much to say, but i'm still here!! hopefully the weather will improve and i'll have some signs of spring to show you soon!!!

the splendor that was Oregon!

2009-03-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

Finally! the long awaited post!! Be prepared, there are lots of pictures, so this post may be a bit lengthy. I'm always amazed how many pictures i can take, when the trip really was a week of a whole lotta nothin'! Anyway, on with the post!
So Pammer and I decided that since last year was a year of $$ vacations (ie - New York and cruise) that this year should consist of being a bit more thrifty. So we took a weeek-long vacation to Oceanside Oregon. The purpose was for it to be a cheap and relaxing holiday. And indeed it was! This is on the way to the border and we were very excited to be on vacation...lol

We spent the first night with my friends in Seattle because we couldn't leave Abbotsford until late afternoon. We left Seattle early afternoon on the Sunday and headed on our way to Oregon. The drive took a bit longer than expected and it poured and poured rain for most of the drive. It was getting pretty dark when we arrived at our accomodations, so we didn't get to see the amazing view until the following day. And then, as you may agree, once seeing the view, it made it hard to do much else but relax and take in the scenery!!!!!

Here is a picture of the place we stayed....it's the A-frame house in the middle of the pic. It was just 2 streets back from the beach, and very high up, thus providing a perfect vantage point to gaze at the ocean. And it only took about 3 minutes to walk to the beach. For those who are interested, i found the place on 'Vacation Rentals by Owner'

Standing on the deck, this was our view off to the right

And this was off to the left

And this was the view from the upstairs loft...what a nice view to wake up to every morning!

And this was the view from the living room recliner chair on which i spent many hours

This is a view of inside. Our place wasn't big, but it was just enough space. There were 2 bedrooms (one downstairs and one being the upstairs loft) a bathroom, small kitchen and living room. Trust me, it wasn't 5-star by any means, but it was cute, comfortable, clean and CHEAP!! This is the kitchen

And this is a view of the living room looking back towards the kitchen, and the stairs up to the loft.

Next, let me show you what our week consisted of, activity-wise. The weather was better than expected. I think the sun made an appearance every day, some days for longer periods than others! The rain would come and go, as would the wind. But when the sun was out, it was amazing, and we would bundle up (cuz it was still cold...come on, it's only March) and sit on the deck

And when it would rain, we would take turns playing games on the computer...lol

We ventured out to the cheese factory in Tillamook, which is a very good place to go because you get to eat free samples.

Now let's take a look at some of our visitors. Mike and Jen happened to be vacationing in Portland at the same time we were in Oceanside. Mike knew this. Jen did not. So we crafted a little surprise for her, and they came to stay with us for a night at the end of their trip before they headed back to Vancouver!!

We played Settlers, cuz it's awesome, walked on the beach, drank some tasty beer and convinced Mike to play with the hibachi bbq and make us supper...lol

Here is another friend who stopped by a few times for a visit. I thought he was cute, but i wasn't about to feed him!!!! He seemed to like having his picture taken though (see, he's giving me a high five!)

And this was a seagull friend who visited our balcony. There were always seagulls stopping by, and they also seemed to like having their picture taken

Moving right along....let's take a look at some of the scenic shots I took. Ok so this first one isn't scenic, it's just me, but here I am on the beach! Anyway, i think most shots are self explanitory, so i won't make many comments

And before you knew it, the week was over and it was time to head home. We took our time driving back up the coast, because the weather was beautiful and sunny, and we stopped in Cannon Beach and Seaside. These next few pictures are from Cannon Beach.

yahoooooooooooo!

And Seaside

This is the bridge that takes you from Oregon to Washington. You actually cross the state line part way across the bridge.

We spent another night in Seattle on the way home again, too. So there you have it.......a synopsis of my vacation. Like I said, i was amazed at how many pictures I can still manage to take when we really didn't do much throughout the week, but alas, I heart scenery, so the beach and ocean are perfect subjects....good job Rebs!!

Hope you enjoyed my pics, and to see a few more, check out my album on Facebook

coming soon...

2009-03-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a week's vacation on the Oregon Coast....post coming soon...

what the what??!?!?!?!?!?!

2009-02-25T19:09:00.001-08:00

I thought winter was over!!!!!! After all the great sunshine, i was expecting rain, but SNOW? again??? This is what my view looked like from my apartment this afternoon...boooooo

Thankfully, i had taken the day off for some medical appts (including an AMAZING 75 min hot stone massage....sweet.....) so didn't have brave the commute home, however Pammer and I did experience some slick, icy, blizzardy roads as we ran a couple of errands this afternoon, and almost got stuck once or twice...sheesh...now i'm home, warming myself by the fire, and am trying not to worry about the morning commute....

somewhere over the rainbow....

2009-02-25T18:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday it rained off and on. The sun would make an appearance and then change its mind and go hide again. i worked til 6pm. Just after 5pm, i was waiting for my client to show up (who never did but whatevs) and just happened to glance out the window. What greeted me was an amazing rainbow!! Actually, there were 2 rainbows...and the sun made a brief appearance to add a nice touch of light to the trees...and before you knew it, it was gone and it got dark and started raining again...luckily i had my old camera stashed in the glovebox for random occasions such as this and got a couple of quick shots!!

time to celebrate!!

2009-02-25T18:19:00.000-08:00

Pam and Theresa both celebrated their birthdays recently, which meant it was time to celebrate. Last Friday Pammer had a party. She decided that she would age backwards this year, going back to 29 rather than up to 31, so i got her a cake that said so (and by cake i mean DQ ice cream cake...yummmm)

On Saturday night, Theresa, Chad, Pam and I headed into Vancouver to have dinner at Kobe's, a Japanese steakhouse, where they make your food before your very eyes!!!!! Here's our chef who kept us entertained and cooked up some goodness in the form of steak and prawn's

Theresa and Chad enjoying the evening!

A bit 'o flame

Theresa and Chad watching the flames

And then the flames were gone, just like that!

Cheers to that!!!!! So fun and so tasty!!

If you live in the Vancouver area, i highly recommend checking this restaurant out...there's a coupon in the entertainment book, which is helpful cuz it's kinda pricy...but it's fun!!

bridges and sunsets

2009-02-21T11:54:00.000-08:00

I think the weather has been teasing us west coasters lately....it's been sunny and almost spring like, and yet it's only mid-Feb. I'm sure the monsoon rains will make an appearance shortly, and spring won't actually arrive until it should, but for now, i'm enjoying the sun!! last weekend I helped some friends move. As i drove home from Mission in the late afternoon, i decided to make an impromptu stop under the Mission bridge to snap a few pics of the sunset. Here are some of my faves...enjoy!

these boots are made for walking...

2009-02-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I finally got my butt in gear and got a gym pass again. I actually enjoy going to the gym, but i'm also very good at procrastinating! I enjoy the feeling of soar muscles after a good workout. Anyway, on with the post....last week i went to the gym on mon, tues and thurs. We had some good weather last week and I actually managed to go for walks outside on almost all my "days off" from the gym. I was pretty impressed with myself! Here are some pictures from all of my walks. Wed i spent some time at Mill Lake.
(ok this picture was actually taken later that evening from my balcony)

These poor ducks only had so much water in which to swim...you can see the ice in the top right hand corner of the picture

hellooooooo Mt. Baker...!!

And i took some self portraits, because they're fun

lol look at them walking on the ice!!

On Saturday Pammer and I went and did some walking in Downes Bowl...here's Pammer truckin' up a big hill...the trooper did it twice!!!

Some cool looking fungi...

And a pink glove pointing us in the right direction

On Sunday I went out to White Rock to hang out with a friend. I was hoping for a nice sunset, but unfortunately it did not deliver...well, it was ok, but i wanted more. White Rock is very hilly. My calves hurt the next day. But it's still a pretty scenic place to visit, so i guess the sore muscles were worth it.

So there you have it...3 different walks...that's been my excitement lately...lol...ah well, at least i'm getting in shape!!

Hockey Night in Canada

2009-02-01T22:23:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night, i had some of my old Afterthoughts friends over for an evening of food, drink and Canucks...here i am wearing my ever-so-appropriate Hockey Night in Canada jersey
Amazingly, we all managed to wear different jerseys!!! from L-R we have Angela, Courtney, Layla and Catherine

And upclose and personal with a variety of Canucks logos from throughout the years...

We dined on delish Ricardo's Pizza...

And sweetened the deal with some cute little cupcakes from TracyCakes

And here are our sad faces because although the Canucks tied the game with 30 seconds remaining and sent it to overtime, they lost AGAIN............

But, despite the disappointing game result, we enjoyed a delightful evening of laughter and conversation....thanks girls!!! come again soon!!!!!

Obama day

2009-01-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Jan 20 was a historic day, as everybody knows....I was fortunate to start work at 10am, which meant I got to watch Obama get sworn in live at 9am (pacific time). Later that day, I decided i would take a walk on my lunch hour and take some photos to commemorate what the day looked like around me and to capture so beauty on this historic day. It's been cold and frosty around here as of late. We got a break in the fog on Tuesday, and the bright blue sky broke through. I like how you can see the frosty tips on the tree branches
Some people with a little kid were feeding the ducks...there were a million of them around, feeding so nice and calm...until the crazy old man walked by and didn't put his yappy dog on a leach like he was supposed to....i just caught part of the chaotic scene as the ducks took off in a panic!!

I love frost. it's so beautiful! i love it on trees, grass and leaves! As I was crouched down, taking all sorts of different shots of frosty things, the same crazy old man mentioned above (with the yappy dog) walked by and was like "surely there can't be anything to see down there!" Well you're wrong old man, there's plenty of beauty down here on the ground. Have a look see at some of my favorite shots.

See! was i right, or was i right? plenty of beauty to be seen! So in your face old man!! (and keep your freaking dog on a leash!!!)

Then i saw some cool red berries...they added a nice splash of colour to the landscape!

and again, more frost! yay frost!

So there you have it...a few photos to capture the beauty i saw, on that historic January day!

weekend at Beachwood

2009-01-21T17:37:00.000-08:00

So as part of my birthday present, last weekend Pammer and I went to down to Beachwood (in Washington, where her family often takes their trailer to camp in the summer) for a fun relaxing weekend, cuz there are cabins on site that you can rent for super duper cheap in the winter!! We did some serious relaxing on Saturday (ie - i stayed in my pj's for most of the day) and on Sunday, we went and did some serious shopping at the outlet mall.
This is an overview of what our weekend consisted of: Carcassonne. We played many many games of Carcassonne....that's what we did most of Saturday. Well, you can throw a few games of skip-bo and one game of cribbage in there too...lol
We bought the cheapest bottle of wine we could find...it was $3.99...and it was actually pretty good, as we enjoyed it out of classy plastic glasses...lol

And on mid-Saturday afternoon, we finally ventured outside for some fresh air, and went down to the ocean. Problem was, it was really really foggy and cold, so we didn't stay too long...just long enough to take a few photos. It wasn't dark out (it was only 4:30pm), though you'd never know from these first 2 pics...this is just what the flash did, and i kinda liked the look

time went by wayyyyy too quickly and before i knew it, it was Sunday night and i was home getting ready for work again....but it was a fun weekend away and i think it's time to get planning on another holiday!

Let me CAP your SUSPENSE...

2009-01-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

So as part of my birthday present, Pammer arranged for a fun outting for us, with Theresa and Josh. I didn't know where we were going until we were in the car driving there....and last Sunday we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge! I had never been there before and have been wanting to go, so i was super excited when i found out where we were going!

You can't really see us too well in this photo because there were raindrops on the giant ball thingy, but i still liked this picture enough to post it...lol

So Josh decided that he was not going to smile nicely in many of our photos that day

It wasn't raining, but it was grey and foggy...tricky light for shooting photos without a tripod but still got a few good scenery shots

Here's Pammer on the bridge

And me and T-dog hugging a giant tree

Josh and I spent some time as inquisitive youngsters ....

Here are some lovely ladies, with some nice scenery too

I made friends with the Bear Mountie

and group photo with said Mountie (with Josh still up to his antics)

Yay for capilano adventures! We had a great time and I would definitely recommend that you check this place out if you have a chance...but take a coupon, it's kinda pricy....

annual flooding

2009-01-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

This post is slightly overdue....but i'm posting it none the less!! These pics were taken about a week ago and things have mostly remedied themselves, but you can read about it anyway!!

All the snow was very pretty...and i liked to admire it either on foot, or through my window. It was very peaceful and quiet with the blanket of white on everything...i took these first couple of pics from my bedroom window at around midnight one night...i knew the melt was coming...and melt it did, as you will see as you read on!!

Last year, we got snow. Then we got rain. Then we got floods. This year was the same. Was I prepared? Nope! So after the parking lot at work started to fill up with water, some colleagues and I jetted out on our lunch break and went shopping for rain boots. I didn't like what they had to offer in the 'adult' section, so i ended up getting kids boots!! Aren't they fun and colourful??!?!!

At work, out back behind our classy trailer, runs the Nicomekl River. It flooded its banks and the water was lapping up against the back of our building. That meant the ducks would cruise by in close proximity

This pic was actually taken on day 2 of flooding, after the waters had recided a bit (i didn't have my camera at work on the first day...but the water would have been off the left side of the picture)

And for some reason, the sky seems to do cool things with wierd weather...so

here are some pics of the amazing sky

the big 3-0

2009-01-04T21:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 30. That's kindof a big birthday. I decided a while ago that the appropriate thing to do was to throw myself a party! We had food, we had drink, we had...a lot of snow. The west coast has been the recipiant of snow storm after snow storm this holiday season. This was the view from my bedroom window when i woke up. Beautiful, yes. Good driving conditions? No. But that was ok...many of my friends from Abbotsford still came over for a fun evening, and I now have a whole bunch of reasons to go to Vancouver and have "belated birthday dinners" with others!!!

Check out my sweet crown! it says "princess for a day" lol!! I got the giant martini glass with the dolphins on it...sweet....

Good times with friends!!! This is my friend Courtney. We both used to be bakers at Afterthoughts Restaurant. We can make amazing cheesecake!

Layla, Kristi and Deanna

Greg (hubby to Deanna) and Mike (hubby to Courtney)

Theresa, Chad and Theresa

Kim and her Dutchman Jaco

YAY cake! and by cake, I mean DQ ice cream cake with an awesome Canucks logo!!!!!

We forgot to get candles for the cake, so shoved this big sucker into the frozen cake as best we could and i had to blow it out fast before it fell over...that's why i only have one candle...lol

So, I'm officially in the 30s. So far, it's not so bad!

Christmas Part II -- Adventures in Pinawa

2009-01-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

On Boxing day, we headed up to Pinawa to visit my aunt and uncle as well as my cousin Susan and her family who were also visiting for Christmas. Pinawa is a cute little town and i hadn't been up there to visit for a number of years so i was looking forward to it. The deer greeted us upon arrival...or should i say they wandered nearby, trodding down the streets and didn't really care to leave until they had found enough to eat!

As I mentioned, my cousin Susan and her family were also visiting for Christmas. Her kids are really cute so unfortunately for them that meant they were subject to impromptu photoshoots with me...but as you can tell from some of their pics, i don't think they minded too much!!

Erik (1.5 yrs) is a mischevious little thing that you need to keep your eye on at all times....

Alaina (3.5) (who you've seen in previous blog posts) probably has a larger vocabulary than I do...lol...we spent some quality time together watching Tinkerbell and Ariel dvd's...good times

And the main event of the weekend was cross-country skiing! Susan and I went skiing not once, not twice but THREE times, each day on a longer trail and by day three, did an 11km loop - add that to the first 2 days and we skied over 20km when all was said and done. Good job us!!! Here we are sporting our Cona toques...doing some free advertising for my cousin Karla (Susan's sister) and Brian

And what follows are a variety of photos from all three days of skiing (yes i had Rebs strapped to my back at all times!!).

Icicles on one of the warming huts

The skiing gang on day three (from L to R) Uncle Alf, my dad, Susan and Monty (in the front row)

The scenery was amazing! I almost fell many many times because I was looking at the wonderful scenery and not paying attention to where I was skiing...lol

My dad in action!

And to prove I was actually skiing...and not just making up stories...here I am with Monty

And here's my dear cuzzy

Some sunset shots taken from the car on the drive back to Winnipeg...the prairies are great for sunsets

And there you have it! A few days later I was back on an airplane on my way to BC. Time flies, but it was definitely an enjoyable time at home!!

Christmas in Winnipeg part I

2008-12-25T21:44:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-17T19:15:00.000-08:00

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!!!!

2008-11-30T21:39:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

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....

2008-11-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

...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

2008-11-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

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

annual pumpkin carving extravaganza!!

2008-10-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

Ah Halloween...the time of year when candy is cheap, i'm told i'm too old for trick or treating, and pumpkin carving is the name of the game!! You may be aware that over the past few years (i hope this link works...!!) i have enjoyed the challenge of carving a pretty sweet design on my pumpkins. This year was no exception. On Tues night, i got together with Pammer and Kristi and the festivities began!!

Look! i found a new hat!!

Here's Pammer hard at work

Giving the thumbs up to my carving companions

All our hard work on display!!! From left to right...Kristi's crazy face....my Statue of Liberty...and Pammer's crazy monster man

I was mostly happy with how Lady Liberty turned out...had a few problems with her nose falling off and I had to fish around in the "leftover" pile to find a piece that might work ok...oh well such is the way it was...Now you may be wondering why i decided on this particular pattern...well, it was in tribute to the trip to NYC that Pammer and I took earlier this year!

Happy Halloween!!!

Mazzy and me....one year!!!!

2008-10-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

This post is a couple of days late, but better late than never. Last week, October 16, was my one-year anniversary with Mazzy!!! YAY! what a great car Mazzy is, and what adventures we've had over the past year...trips here, trips there....and most importantly, he makes driving FUN!!!!

I love my Mazzy!!!!!

weekend in Harrison

2008-10-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend Pammer and I were up at Harrison Hot Springs for a leadership retreat with our church...the retreat and sessions were amazing, as was the weather. After our last session concluded Sunday afternoon, I had to take some pics before heading home.

I like these first two, because in the first one, the foreground is blurred, while in the second one, the focus switched

Here's Pammer enjoying the view

We made a detour on the way home and found this new community under development. After navigating the paved roads, it was time to follow the gravel road, up to where some people are going to have some pretty sweet views once their houses are built up there...

I love sunshiney fall weekends!!!!!!!

a fabulous fall day for fotos

2008-10-11T17:21:00.000-07:00

Summer is my favorite season, but I must say, fall isn't that far behind (well, not rainy fall).The weather has been amazing lately....cold and sunny, which i love because it sooooooooo beats the rain, and it also makes for some great photo opportunities. Part of my drive to work is through some farmland (far beats sitting in a traffic jam) and lately i've been gazing longingly at the fields in the morning...they are so beautiful, with the sun just peaking over the trees, the frost and low fog...and if i wasn't about to be late for work, i would pull over just to stare a while longer!! Well by Friday afternoon I had made up my mind: the fall sunshine was to last a couple more days and I had to get up at a reasonable hour on Saturday morning to take Mazzy in for his 1 year check-up (that's my car, if you didn't know...next week is mine and Mazzy's one year anniversary).....so why not get up a bit earlier and go shoot some photos? You can always tell what i'm passionate about by whether or not i'm willing to sacrifice sleep for it :)
So i ventured out this morning, braved the cool temps (just a couple of degrees above freezing) and got some shots i'm fairly happy with!

the frost makes it look very wintery in this photo!!

After a dentist appt and a few more errands, it was still gorgeous and sunny out, so Rebs and I decided to go for a walk in the park. This is what i've now concluded: sunny fall day + long weekend = people in good moods!! Almost everyone I walked past in the park offered a cheerful hello! Well i guess that's what sunshine in BC in October will do to you!! Anyway here are some shots from my stroll through Fishtrap Creek...i love the colours of fall!!

i was actually quite impressed that i captured this dragonfly as well as i did...those buggers know how to move!!!
And this little duck was having a great time in the water, frolicing about
I love that someone stuck this leaf on the fence

Well, it's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so i'm off to bake some pumpkin pies and watch the Canucks game!! Have a great weekend!!

"31 bottles of wine on the wall...31 bottles of wine...."

2008-09-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

So for the last while, Pammer and I have been making wine at a "U Brew" place in Chilliwack...now this is a very uninvolved process on our part...we give them money and 6 weeks later, we pick up our finished product.

Well recently, Pam's brother-in-law Chad has taken up a new hobby - wine making. He's made a couple of batches for himself, that turned out quite wonderfully, so about 6 months ago, we had him start a batch of red for us. Technically it was ready to be bottled 4 months ago, but as you know with wine, the longer it ages, the better it gets...so we let it sit in the giant glass container thingy until this past weekend.

Here are some of the bottles, ready to go...
The wine was transfered from the big glass container thingy into the giant plastic pail (do you like my technical lingo??!!)

Starting to fill the bottles....

Chad, topping off each bottle

And corking them with this fancy corking contraption

And when all was said and done, here are our 31 bottles of Cabernet Sauvingnon....that will now sit in Pam's storage locker and age for many more months.....

Yay wine!!!!

weekend trip to the Island

2008-09-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

So Pammer and I had both had thurs/fri off last week, so we decided to go to the island for 4 days and visit my cousin Karla, her husband Brian and the cutest baby ever, 9 1/2 month old Zander...you've seen some pics of him before, as i visited them about a month ago. and I know that most people aren't interested in seeing many pictures of a cute baby they've never met, but it's my blog and i can post what i want, and you will just have to deal with it. :)

So Pammer and I caught the ferry Thurs. morning and headed to Nanaimo. We then drove to Coombs and met my cousin for lunch, before heading back to Courtenay, where they live. I've never been to Coombs before but have heard a lot about it...cuz they have goats. Now at first you might be thinking "goats? so what! It's just a goat hanging out and eating some grass, big deal!"
but then you might look at this next picture and think "that's a funny angle at which you took this picture, why are those goats up high?"

To which I would reply..."that's because the goats live up on the roof of a building"
And now the building is a marketplace (with AMAZING fresh bread and other wonderful things) and a restaurant).

After lunch, and some shopping at the marketplace, we headed back to Courtenay and hung out at the hostel that Brian and Karla own and Pammer and I entertained Zander for a while

And then we basically spent the rest of the weekend just chillin'...so here are some cute pictures of an adorable baby that probably thinks that I'm the paparatzi and he's somethin' famous based on all the photos i took of him this weekend...lol

a little karaoke in the bathroom while on his throne...
and a good tooth brushin' at night while chillin' with daddy

We made amazing pizza's one night.....we had so many different combo's of ingredients, everyone got to make their own section...mmmm....

And we also spent a lot of time drinking pomegranite martinis.....

We did some scrapbooking....while drinking said martinis...and Zander helped us the next morning by choosing his paper colors

and then eating them...

Karla and Zander

all tuckered out...i wish i could sleep like that!!!

it was tough to leave this cute face after a couple of days!!

good times on the island!!

Mt. Baker!!

2008-09-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

The weather on Sunday afternoon was amazing, so Pammer and I decided to tag along with the Esau's (Pam's sister, brother in law and 4 kids!!) and their friends for an adventure at Mt. Baker. Now, Mt. Baker is a big mountain in Washington that I see off in the distance everyday as I drive to and from work...and i must say it's practically a crime that I have never actually BEEN to Mt. Baker since living on the west coast......so it was about freakin' time!!!!

As we wound our way up the switchbacks, the scenery was glorious!! We pulled over part way up to soak in this amazing scene at "picture lake"....I think you can tell why it's called that!! These are some of my most favorite pictures 'rebs' and I have taken together!!!!!!

We hiked the Bagley Lake trail (i'm almost positive that's what it was called!!), one of MANY, MANY hikes up on Baker. The hike we did wasn't terribly taxing, cuz kids with little legs had to keep up...which was fine with me because I could stop and take a lot of pics and not get too far behind!!!

2 of Pam's nephews, Aaron (on the left) and BJ (right)
After the Bagley Lake loop, we ate our picnic dinner and Pammer and I decided we had enough energy to hike a bit more. We decided to tackle "Table Mountain" in an effort to catch the sunset. It wasn't a long hike and we got to the top just in time to see some amazing colours in the sky!

And as you know, when the sun goes down, the moon comes up (and it gets dark....doh!!) We made it back down to the car just fine, though had to make our way carefully with the fading light...it was pretty amazing to watch the moon rise from behind the mountains, though...

A day of fun, family and amazing scenery....a great way to say goodbye to summer and hello to fall!!!

DOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

2008-09-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

Ok after all my careful planning, 2 of my blogs posted in the wrong order and I can't figure out how to change them, without deleting one, which i'm really not willing to take the time to do!!!! So please forgive the random order....the Alaska Baby blog (now number 2) was supposed to be first, with the Scenic Alaska blog second....so make your way through my postings, ignore some of the sentences with 'lets move on to the scenery pics now'. Ah, you guys are all smart, you'll figure it out....just enjoy the pics!

scenic alaska

2008-09-04T20:34:00.001-07:00

Ok there was some amazing scenery on our trip...here's a little peek at what we saw.

First of all, here's Pammer on our deck...did I mention we got upgraded to a suite at the VERY FRONT of the ship?? We could sit in our room or on our deck and take in all the scenery around us...it was amazing!! (more on that later!!)

this was in the Yukon, up at the top of our 4x4 route
Watching for whales...
YAY whale!!!! Ok so we weren't actually THAT close to this whale, but thanks to some good cropping, it make you think i was RIGHT THERE!! But it's still a cool pic, don't you think?? The whales were pretty shy..we saw lots of them from a distance just blowing water into the air and a few poked their noses out, but not much beyond that (except for this guy below, who did a little tail flick). Theresa and I did see one whale come entirely out of the water, breech and disappear again....it happened so fast we didn't get our cameras ready in time...but it was AMAZING!!!
More view from our balcony

A shot of the trees in a bit of fog from the Garden and Glacier tour we did
The glacier - the Mendenhall (I think) glacier referred to above, as part of our garden and glacier tour
A big chunk of blue ice from the Tracy Arm Fjord
more pretty pieces of the glacier out floating
And there you have it...some of the cool stuff we saw!!!

Now for some sights around the ship

Alaska, baby!!!!!

2008-09-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

Yay....cruise time!!!!! the day finally arrived...we booked this sucker like a year ago, so we've been waiting a while. So the following blogs are somewhat divided, in order to categorize things a bit...let me tell you, i have over 800 pics (plus about 300 from Pammer, and i haven't even seen Theresa's pics yet to know what she snapped that i didn't), so that makes it a bit difficult to choose a few to blog about. Anyway, i hope you get a good overview of our trip, i'll try to explain things the best I can...and shortly, there will be many photo albums on facebook with a lot more pics, so you can see more there.

Whew..i'm tired! Let's go on vacation! Ok so here's our ship (seems i did steal the right pic off the website before!!). This is me and Theresa at the port in Vancouver just after we got dropped off by Chad. We are about to go through customs and security and head to the boat!!!!!!

On the ship...welcomed with champagne!

These next 2 pics are from later in the week, when we got all dolled up for dinner!!

Here's Pammer getting slightly windblown on our balcony!!!!!! LOL!!
This was at our first port, Ketchikan. We did a Duck Tour (don't make fun) which was the perfect excursion because it was raining, and we stayed dry. For those unfamiliar....this vehicle that Pam and Theresa are posing infront of is our bus...or is it a boat?? Oh WAIT, it's both!! yeppers, an amphibious vehicle...so we got a tour of the town by bus and then headed into the water and got a tour of the waterfront!

Here I am chillin' on the boat with a cup of coffee...notice the toque, yeah it was a bit chilly but nice when the sun came out
Me and Pammer with the Mendenhall glacier in the background
Oh wait, here I am back on the ship...me and Rebs
Me and Rebs hard at work
This picture was taken on the Jeep tour that went up to the Yukon (more pics of that later)!!!

My first trip to the Yukon!!
And then back to Alaska!
Back on the boat, in the sports bar, with AMAZING chicken wings (we had them at least 3 times) and our helmet of beer...it was the cheapest way to have alcohol on the boat
Me, in one of many elevators on the ship

Me and Theresa and random heads in Juneau Checking the map in Ketchikan...the town was so small, could i really get lost??
WHAT? Skagway has a starbucks???? Well, not really, but there was a place that "proudly brewed" it (at really expensive prices...but we went anyway!!)
Ah the jeep tour...this was fun. There were about 5 jeeps and we had a guide who talked to us by radio, pointing out things, giving us interesting facts, etc. Like you saw above, we went up into the Yukon. Then we did some 4x4ing which was sweet, before coming back to Alaska
And then, before we knew it, the week was over and we were back in Vancouver. Theresa and I showing our sad faces.
Ok, on to some more scenic pics!!!!

out and about on the ship

2008-09-04T19:55:00.001-07:00

Ok, so now you've seen a bunch of pics, some scenic stuff, some general sightseeing and fun stuff. Here are some more pics, mostly from our room, to give you an idea where we chillaxed for the week. First of all, Pammer and I had our bags temporarily held, cuz we tried to smuggle liquor on board. Apparently they have xray machines that detect "liquids" and our bags got tagged...as did many others...lol there was a long line up of people waiting to get their bags back!!! And not to worry, our liquor was in safekeeping for the week and we got it back at the end of the trip...that's how they force you to buy their really expensive drinks on the boat, if you want anything alcoholic. Ah room service...what a beautiful invention that is!! We ordered room service a lot, because we were lazy. Many mornings we had a tray such as this delivered to our room, so we could eat in peace, watch the scenery and laze around. We would also order room service in the afternoon, for a light snack. Sometimes it was just coffee and hotchocolate, sometimes it was pizza. The menu wasn't too extensive, but it was still fun to order and have someone bring us food!!! Wish I had that option at home...lol
When our housekeeping boys (victor and victor) would come turn our beds down for night (sweet), they would also bring us new towels (again a delightful service i wish i had at home) They would also make us cute little towel animals and leave us some mints
Check out our bathroom!!!!!!!!! It was huge!! We had a full sized tub!!
Ah yes one of the other delightful things on board...ice cream parlour...i think we went on a daily basis...or sometimes 2x/day. They usually only had a choice of chocolate, vanilla or strawberry (either in hard or soft serve) but one day they had coffee flavored ice cream...it was heavenly! You could also add sprinkles, m&m's or gummy bears.

Welcome to our room!!! (thanks Pammer for the kind hello!) There's theresa behind her coming in the door. Like I mentioned, we had a mini suite...however, much to our delight, we were upgraded to the suite at the FRONT of the boat just a few weeks before departure. Our room was awesome, with a big bed and a couch that pulled out to a bed, a big patio door, nice good sized balcony...and you've already seen the bathroom!! There was also a big closet and a "getting ready" area (i don't know how else to describe it)

See, more of our room, looking the other way, out towards the balcony
Theresa, all set up in her chair, with her book, able to look out the window at the scenery whenever she wanted!
Here's Pammer out and about on the boat
And here I am lounging on the bed
Ahhh...cruising...good times, good times...!!!!!

be back later.....!!!

2008-08-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

Pammer, Theresa and I are off for some holiday fun...cruising to Alaska!!!!! Tune in after Labour Day for many photos and stories of our adventures!!!!! I don't really know if this is actually what our ship will look like; i stole this photo off the NCL website- i'll let you know in Sept!!!

a weekend of cousins and kids!!

2008-08-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, my cousin Susan and her 3 year old daughter Alaina, who live in Calgary, came to stay with me. First of all that was exciting because they were my first "guests" in my new place (got to pull out new towels and everything!!). Second of all, that was exciting because we headed out Saturday morning to catch the ferry for Vancouver Island, to go visit Susan's sister Karla(who is also my cousin, of course), her husband Brian, and their little munchkin Zander (almost 9 months) who live in Courtenay. The ferry was a fiasco in and of itself, suffice to say things didn't work out exactly as planned and it became a very expensive weekend, but no worries, there is no price tag on family time, so it was all good. Here are some pictures (many pictures, because the kids are just way too cute!) from our weekend of fun. I have realized that i didn't really take pictures of my cousins! whoops, sorry girls, i just got distracted by your adorable little kidlets!!!! enjoy!!!

Here's Alaina, chillin' on my couch as we got ready to leave for the ferry
And baby Zander
Alaina and I picked some peas in Karla's garden
Showing off the fruits of our labour
We spent some time on Sunday afternoon out on Brian and Karla's sailboat!! It was a great day, a nice gentle breeze for a mellow, relaxing sail. I was hanging out on the bow for a bit, so yes, those are my feet.

Skipper Brian
Zander checking out the water
and getting a bit windblown....lol!!
One of the few pics of my cousin Susan...hey cuzzy!!
After sailing, we came back home and got ready to meander our way back to Nanaimo, to take me back to the ferry (i had to work monday morning, so i had to come home sunday night....). Here are a few shots from around the house...Zander hanging out on the pot...and playing with tp

And chewing on Karla's ski pass...mmmm...plastic...
We spent some time hanging out at the hostel that Karla and Brian own (by the way, this is my first attempt at adding a link, so i hope it works...). Karla gave Alaina some sidewalk chalk, so when she and I weren't drawing princesses (i should have takend a picture, they were awesome!), we taught her how to play hopscotch
On the way to the ferry on Sunday we drove down the coast and stopped in Parksville for supper and checked out the sandcastle competition that was underway. There were some pretty spectacular creations!!

and of course, Alaina wanted to get in on the action and started making her own creation

Meanwhile, Zander had a good time just chillin'
and then down to the waters edge where curious little babies find things like seaweed to grab

And Alaina spent her time throwing rocks

and finally, a little love between cousins!!

So there's my weekend excursion. It was fantastic to see my cousins (it's been a while) and play with their kids (who are adorable) and visit some places i've never been before!!

dinner with a Texan

2008-07-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Shae. He lives in Texas. We went to Bible school together 10 years ago, at Ravencrest Chalet in Colorado. I have talked to him fairly frequently since 1998, but have not seen him since school finished. He is currently on holidays in the Seattle area! We had supper on Friday night!!!
Before Pammer and I made our way over to Beachwood, we headed a bit further south to Burlington, WA (mmm....home of Krispy Kreme...) and met up with Shae for supper.
Since i haven't seen him in 10 years, and who knows when i'll see him again, i had to take some pictures so that I can remember what he looks like in 2008. Lucky for me they didn't have digital cameras in 1997/98 so i won't be posting any sweet pics of how awesome we both looked 10 years ago....so here's what we both look like now!

this is Shae not wanting to have his picture taken. Too bad i took it anyway!
And one more for good measure!
Good to see you old friend!! i hope it won't be another 10 years before we see each other again!