NOVA SCOTIA

you've waited long and hard for some maritime pictures, so here is round one: let's start with Nova Scotia. We (meaning my family and I) began and ended our trip in Halifax. We spent a few days touring around various parts of Nova Scotia, before we made our way up to New Brunswick (NB will be the next posting)
Our first night in Halifax we went to a pub for dinner...beers all around!

Peggy's Cove is one of the most famous things in Nova Scotia. Here are some fishing boats in the village

And the famous lighthouse. It was quite foggy the day we were there (as you can tell) but it was still very beautiful, and there weren't too many people around

My brother, dad and I posing for a shot
hee hee....this sign cracked me up...no "deer crossing" signs for them...!!

Some boats in a harbour, a pretty classic east coast scene i think



This is Acadia University in Wolfville, NS. My grandma grew up in Wolfville and graduated from Acadia sometime in the 1940s, which is pretty cool considering not many women even went to University back then.

The maritimes are known for their red mud. Here, we're watching the tide come in, but you can sort of see a bit of the mud flats (beside the walkway) that remain when the tide has gone out

This is a tidal bore (i think that's how you spell it) which is a pretty cool phenomena. The crest of water you see is the result of the outflowing river water meeting (and being overtaken) by the inflowing rising tide

This is back in Halifax, up at the Citadel, a national historical site. It's a great big fortress that was built years ago to protect the city from intruders. Every day they shoot off the cannon at noon, so we stuck around to hear the loud BOOM!

The citadel is a wall within a wall within a wall and from the inside, when you peer over the edge down towards the city, it's a pretty big drop....so be careful, like this sign says...!!

And of course, some classic bag pipers

winnipeg...part 2

well the other reason i went to winnipeg was because my friend Anna was getting married. We have known each other since Grade 8 and i had the priviledge of being one of her bridesmaids! After a few days at the lake, Pam and i headed back into the city because i had "bridesmaid duties" to attend to and it worked out well because Pam spent the rest of the week visiting her various relatives that live in the Winnipeg area. I don't have a ton of pictures from the wedding, but here are a few:

update and more update

ok ok, summer holidays took priority over blogging...sorry, i'm very sorry. well now i have a whole lot of things to update you on, so be patient over the next few days as i post and post again!

So towards the end of July, my best friend Pam and I headed to Winnipeg for a week. The first part of the week was spend at my cabin near Kenora, Ontario. The weather was REALLY hot, so it was awesome to be at the lake. here are a few pics of our relaxing couple of days.

This is my cabin

I bet you didn't know that pam and i are synchronized swimmers, too. here we are sporting some of our best moves.

We headed into Kenora one day with my parents. what you need to know about Kenora is that it is famous for the big fish statue as you drive into town. His name is Husky the Musky.

Pam and I got up really early one morning and went canoeing because i wanted to shoot some pictures of the sunrise. The next couple of pics are from that morning.

This first pic is my new little experiment that i'm trying to master (which you will see appear in other photo collections to come) - taking pics using my sunglasses and their reflection.

sunrise

looking out over the lake before the sun even comes up (so...very...early...)

So there's a brief synopsis of our few days. I have more pictures posted on Facebook, so if you want, check out my page there.

sigh...

no matter how good my intentions are, i can never pull together some consistent posting on here! i read other blogs all the time, and then neglect my own....sigh...

Anyway, life is good!!! We're having a heat wave, which i'm loving (for the most part...wishing i was at the lake instead of here but whatevs) and I go on holidays in a week and a half!

To update you from a month ago: well as you clearly saw in my last post, I had finished writing my thesis. Two weeks later, I had to defend it, which was a whole other stressful experience in itself, but it went smashingly well and now it's all done!! I'm just finishing up one last online course (which hardly counts as a course at all, if you consider the effort i'm investing...lol) but really, in my mind, I should start signing "MA" after my name right now...lol

I also got my very first paycheck today!!!!! woo hooooooo!! For most of the summer, I will be covering holidays for various counselors at both the men's treatment center (where i did my practicum) and the affiliated women's treatment center. Last week i worked with the women, and this week i'm back with the men. Next week i take on the women again...and then i go on holidays! In august i will be with the men for about 3 weeks. It's great to be working, and actually making money doing something i enjoy!!

Like i said, I am about to go on holidays. I will be in Winnipeg for a week, spending a few days at the lake and then as a bridesmaid for a good friend. Then my family and I are spending 2 weeks on the east coast. We will be in New Brunswick for the long weekend (1st weekend in august) for a good old fashioned family reunion. This event will be a blast, let me tell you...our family knows how to have a good time! I will definitely post pics of the highly competitive events such as beach volleyball and croquet :) After the reunion, we will tour around Nova Scotia and PEI before flying back westerly. I am most excited!

So never fear, more posts shall follow, complete with pictures. Until then....happy sunshine!!

part one complete...

never mind pictures from my trip to Portland, i've moved on since then, heck i hardly remember when i went on that trip...i've been slightly consumed with bigger and better things, and am happy to announce that

MY THESIS IS DONE!!!

Now, realistically, only part one - the writing- is done, i still have to present it in 2 weeks. But it has been submitted and it's out of my hands for now! You may be asking what i researched for my thesis, so I suppose I should clarify that it's not a research based thesis, but rather an experientially-based paper in which I (and i quote) "present counseling case material on a psychotherapy client to demonstrate how my basic understanding of human beings, theoretical orientation in psychotherapy, empirical knowledge of psychotherapy efficacy, and general therpautic goals are competently manifested in psychotherapy planning, dialogue, interventions, and results"

Make sense? understand? Fun stuff. Actually, it wasn't too bad, once i got going...the beginning phase of writing is always difficult i find, but once i get on a roll, it's all good....i even finished with days to spare, so i didn't get as stressed out as i thought i might...whew!!
here are some photos for your enjoyment!!

stay tuned....

...coming soon, highlights from the roadtrip to Portland...

one month later...

ok well it's been a month since my last post...time flies when you're stressed out!! Anyway, i believe I am in a slight period of "calm before the FINAL school storm" right now, which means i have time for a quick blog update.

my new place is pretty much unpacked and organized, likely as organized as it's going to get for a while. Finally got my pictures up on the wall and my internet working properly (oh telus how i came THIS close to really really really being mad at you and never using your service again).

Anyway....here are a couple pics of my living room area ......ps my least favorite thing about renting is WHITE WALLS EVERYWHERE

Well that's about it for now........talk to you again soon

i would like to sleep for many many days...

well hello there blogger friends. i'm sitting here surrounded by boxes, watching "are you smarter than a 5th grader". it really makes me feel dumb. anyway, boxes you ask..why boxes? well because i am moving. ah yes, like life isn't busy enough, why not throw a move in the mix? I'm not making an extreme move, just from the east side of town back into the middle of town. I knew this move was coming, it was just a matter of when. I'm living in a bsmt suite, and the house was for sale and just sold, which means bye bye basement renter (that would be me). it's all good though, i'm moving to an apartment, and though life is busy, this is a good time to move because i can get settled, focus in and get to work preparing for my big important thesis-like exam (it's in June). Besides, I get cable included in my rent price. sweet.

Here is my tip of the YEAR.....COUNT YOUR CHANGE!! I found some rolled coin as i was packing, apparently i just never bothered to take it to the bank to get cashed in. Then i decided why not collect all the other change i could find in my house, purse, etc and roll it too. well much to my surprise, it really does add up...those pennies are worth something (though it adds up faster if you have lots of quarters). ANYWAY, i DID go to the bank this time because i had exactly $100 in change......!! how crazy is that? so, moral of the story, collect your pennies.

practicum is going fantastic! My clients "graduated" on march 9. it was a very proud day for me! I had started with 10 men and ended up with 8, which is pretty good if you ask me. They were all doing really well at the end of treatment but I know a couple of them are struggling already. that's the sad thing about the disease of addiction. After my clients finished treatment, i took a week off to catch up on homework and do a bit of packing. This week I was back at practicum and did initial assessments with all my NEW clients!! I start my new group on Monday and i am very excited!!

Anyway that's what's new with me. i'll add some St. Patty's day pics to this post just for fun. I was down in Seattle for school and my friends and I had some fun. Like i always say, i will try and check back in soon with another update....peace

in the midst of the busy week...why not have a party?

Pammer's birthday was last week...sure, why not throw a party in the middle of an already overly busy week!! Nah, it was fun and i got her the BEST cake in the world. Ever since she was little she always wanted an ice cream cake from DQ but never got it...until this year...check it out (by the way, she's a hygienist, hence the image i got on the cake...)

In other news, I'm ready for spring. I guess that's not really news, more of a statement. While i certainly enjoyed scraping the windows of my car this morning as the sun shone down, i like hot sunny days better...

slacking again...

hey all......i apologize again for the huge time gap since my last post...life is just too busy these days...i am trapped under a giant stack of homework...what else is new...there's not much else to update at this point. Things are going really well at my practicum though i am quite exhausted by the end of the week. And what can i say, all the new seasons of my favorite reality tv shows are starting up again, so i plan my homework breaks accordingly!!

i'll try to check back in soon....

finally an update!

i know, i know......i have been slacking big time with the updates. That, and there isn't too much new to report. I did manage to stretch my birthday celebration into about a 3 week span...seriously, that's the way to go....you are allowed to celebrate one week before and one week after your birthday week. So I did. Towards the end of the 3rd week it was more like Pam and i were hanging out and were too lazy to cook something for dinner so we'd go out for sushi "because it was my birthday"!! lol

I am back into the swing of things with practicum and it's going really well. I must say that after having 3 weeks off, it was a little hard to go back (i really like sleeping in...). However, from now until June (when i finish practicum) i have a lot more responsibility than i did in in the fall. It's sweet!! Last semester i did a lot of observation of other counselors in group counseling, and would just "borrow" clients now and then for individual sessions. But I now have my very own group of 10 clients with whom i will make treatment plans, have individual counseling sessions, and do group counseling 4x/week with them. Today was my first day with them and it went great! I think they will be an awesome group, and am just keeping my fingers crossed that very few (hopefully none) will decide to self-discharge from treatment early....I have them for about the next 8 weeks, and would love to see all 10 of them "graduate"!!

Other than that, i guess it's just the crazy weather that keeps stressing me out!!! So far my one trip to Seattle has been no problem, luckily the snow and ice have at their worst in the early part of the week and have been clearing up by the end of the week.....i guess there's only so long that my luck will hold out, but so far, so good!

Anyhoo, that's about it for now....i'll try to update again soon!

happy new year!

well....i didn't do so well at keeping you updated while in winnipeg.....in all fairness i said i'd update once i took pictures, and i didn't really take that many pictures...oops! anyway, i'm back in BC and figured i'd better get an update done before life gets crazy busy again.

Christmas was really good - pretty mellow, spending time with the family. We went skating once and x-country skiing once, and of course played lots of ping pong.

I came back to BC for New Years, which ended up being the MOST mellow evening one can imagine...lol...but that's ok, i don't really care all that much about new years.

Tomorrow is my birthday and of course i will be stretching that celebration into as many days as possible!

Well, here are some pics from my time in Wpg...enjoy!

We begin with ping pong -- i must say, for not playing on a regular basis, i actually did quite well against the other members of my family, especially my dad and brother, who somehow manage to put fancy spins on the ball...though i think i have concluded that my ability to beat them both was mostly due to their errors, and not so much due to my amazing shots....here's an action shot of my mom and brother
Stockings stuffed full on christmas morning....the best part is that my brother and i have those giant ones on the end, and my parents have the much smaller version...lol
always time for a fun family photo....
And here we are again!

winnipeg......

i do apologize for how much time has passed since my last posting. The end of the semester was really busy, i got sick for a bit, and then suddenly it was time to pack and jump on a plane. So here i am in Winnipeg. I flew in last night, and have already slept most of today away! I'm home for 10 days, so back in BC for New Years. I'm looking forward to spending some relaxing time here at home with my family. And of course, a few rowdy ping pong tournaments will be thrown in i'm sure!

I'll be sure to post some pics once i take some!!!!

christmas decorating!!

So while I was down in Washington for school this weekend, the girls and i decided it was time to decorate for christmas. However, we really didn't want to go out and chop down a tree. Hmmm....what to do, what to do...?? Well we're creative and crafty, so we decided to make our own tree! But a tree wasn't enough...so we needed a fireplace too. I mean, you need somewhere to hang your stockings, right?

We cracked out the construction paper and tape and set to work.

Here's Carrie working hard on the fireplace

Veronica sets to work on the tree. We not only used green construction paper, but also Mountain Dew cases....worked like a charm...lol
And of course, the naughty kitten started eating the decorations....

and the final product...

So our fire is almost done, so i took the opportunity to warm my hands....

The kitten was being naughty and eating the decorations so it was time to throw her in the fire....don't worry, she learned her lesson...
carrie and veronica warming themselves up by the fire. note the stockings hanging, ready to be filled
And here is carrie and veronica by the tree!

winter storm!!!

it's snowing! it's snowing! it's snowing! first of all, i'm glad i don't have to go anywhere today. there are far too many hills around here, and i'm pretty sure my little car - albeit a Manitoba native - would just not do too well. The extent of my venture outside has been to walk up to Pam's house, and then back to my house...that's only 10 houses up the street, but in this wind, it feels really far!!!

Doesn't this look like it should be Winnipeg??? but it's not....!! it's Abbotsford! This was taken this afternoon.

This was last night, as the snow had just begun to fall
always time for a snow angel....
...and a good old fashioned face wash...
And then, as you can see, this afternoon, i got bored..........so i decided to hang my head upside-down and hair spray my hair...pretty sweet, eh!!

Well i'm really enjoying this snow.....but only because i can stay at home and watch most of it through the window!! I guess i could always pull out the old cross-country skies and head down the hill if i need to!