Christin's Chronicles

September News

2011-09-20T22:41:00.001-07:00

Ummmm do I even need to say anything here??
I've tried to call as many people as I could to spread the very happy news I have to share... But I'm loosing my voice, my eye's are in a permanent state of puffyness from happy tears, and my cheeks are hurting from smiling soooo much.
soooo if you have anything to ask... do so!!!
Just know Jamie and I are very happy, and will be having a wedding in the next year! :)

love and hugs, christin... and Jamie now too. :)

August 26th weekend in Parksville with Jamie.

2011-08-31T23:01:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend in Parksville hanging with Jamie. We had my mum come down for a BBQ, hung out at the beach, and chilled out in the backyard.

August, 20th weekend

2011-08-31T22:46:00.000-07:00

We had Caresse's birthday dinner out in gas town on the friday night with the girls.
I took my niece Mika out to Boundary Bay beach in Tsawassen on Saturday afternoon. This is the closest beach in the lower mainland that reminds me of the beaches on the island. We had a great day playing in the sand - Mika loves being buried alive!
And Sunday Kendall and I had free tickets ( she won the $200 tickets on twitter) to head up to Squamish live where there were tonnes of bands playing. We sat on the grass all afternoon, had a drink or two, mini donuts and enjoy the outdoor music!

Penticton weekend

2011-08-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

I spent the August long weekend with my friend and workmate Brooke hanging out at my sister's up In penticton. Finally some summer sun!!!
Besides the usual wine drinking and bbqing, We were able to enjoy her bigger better pool! We took a float down the channel, walked the old Kettle Valley Railway and spent an afternoon at the lake in Naramata. I didn't realize until the next day what a great back work out swimming in a pool with a five year old was... Especially when you spend half the day launching them through the air canon ball style! thanks for yet another great relaxing weekend Niki!!

tiling my fireplace.

2011-06-11T00:14:00.000-07:00

So my friend Ashley has a term that she uses in her Marriage. The jobs in the house are broken down into Blue jobs and Pink jobs... i'm sure you can figure this out... garbage out - blue job, using a drill- blue job, cleaning toilets - blue job, Pink jobs - laundry, pink job - dusting... etc...

well in my house all jobs at the moment are purple jobs. No pink, No blue, just a mix of purple.

so I started a purple job about 3 weeks ago, it's still on going - hopefully not for much longer - but just wanted to show you the before (before I bought the place) and the during( then I painted it red) before I unveil the after. ( my first tiling job) :)

Tuesday May 11th.

2011-05-11T23:58:00.000-07:00

At the age of 35 who would have guessed having a few too many drinks on a Tuesday night could be so fun? I forgot! So after being out with the work crew and feeling a wee bit tipsy - which i feel after the past few weeks is more than deserved. I'm heading to bed! good night all!

a month of the arts...

2011-05-08T01:18:00.000-07:00

I've had a few opportunities in the past few weeks to hit some cultural events and concerts. It first started with my friend Kendal
asking me to go to a spoken word comedy night. I said sure and showed up a few nights later asking ' what is spoken word' ? Now she looked at me like I was crazy... I know, I know... why would I say yes to going with her if I didn't even know what spoken word is... well the good company, and trying something new. Turns out both are fabulous reasons to say yes to a night out even if you don't know what it's all about!!!

So we hit the East side Venue called 'The Cultch' an old house that has been transformed into an intimate theatre/venue. I quickly learned that spoken word is a form of poetry, and originally started as a rhyming, rap on the east coast of the US.

Shane Koyzan was our entertainer for the evening - He was one of the acts in the opening ceremony last year at the Olympics.
He had a fun stage set up and 5 musicians behind him as a compliment to his 'short stories'. Not quite poetry, but not quite short stories either, and such an interesting mix to watch with the musicians playing along behind him.
The stories ran the gauntlet from funny to sad, entertaining to teaching. I would definitely go again, and would highly recommend anyone else to go as well!!

This week I had another night of ' don't know who they are, but would love to hang out with the girls and listen to something new'... Mother Mother - a band from Victoria originally I think... I went down to THE VOGUE on Granville. The opening band turned out to be a friends band - which I've wanted to see for ages, and I really loved their music. Brastranaut is their name...http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/Brasstronaut is a link for them. A link for Mother Mother: http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/Mother-Mother

Then Karen asked me out to go see Men without Hats tonight... OMG talk about taking me back to grade 8/9... The safety Dance, Pop goes the world - all classics - for high school dances back in the day anyway!!! lots of fun!

Easter bunny and the Beer bunny...

2011-05-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

A great long weekend spent in Vernon. Sunshine, first day of wearing shorts and tshirts, badminton, fondue, great friends and of course the Beer bunny!!!

Work night out with the ladies

2011-04-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

A night out with the ladies from work. Brooke, Natasha, Christiane, Ieda and Carol.
Thanks for a fun night!

Penticton Weekend

2011-03-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

My yearly trip up to see Niki for her birthday was a hit this year.
Poor Grace was sick with fever and slept away most of it. But Niki and i were able to make the most of it just fine!

We were able to go out for a nice dinner Saturday night and then hit the pub/bar... oh boy about half way through the night I think Niki went blank... I remember everything... but we both took a good two days to recover! But hey, it's only your birthday once a year right? We danced, made new friends, played air hockey, fun!

Whistler Ski Weekend

2011-02-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

9 of us headed up to Whistler for a weekend of skiing, hot tubbing, and fun! Our Brazilian friend, Fabiano was the most daring to be the first to dip into the snow from the hot tub!!!

Splendour of the seas dinner reunion.

2011-02-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

We had a dinner reunion for the Serenade of the seas peeps. We all live in the Vancouver area but have gone without seeing each other! Isabelle hosted dinner at her place for Jonathan, David and I. We wish the rest of you could have joined us!

Meeting Tammy's new little man, Nicholas

2011-02-07T14:21:00.001-08:00

Spent the day over in Victoria in January with Tammy, and family meeting her one week old little man Nicholas, Nico for short. :)

Finally a new computer!!!

2011-02-07T14:16:00.001-08:00

After almost a year with out a real computer I finally bit the bullet and bought an IMAC!!! I love it! it's fast, it works, ahhhh heaven... this is Dave helping me pull out all the old computer crap and wires... now there is only ONE plug needed! yippeeee!

New Years Eve

2011-02-07T13:35:00.000-08:00

My first time out at an actual downtown event for New Years. 4 single girls out having fun. Thanks Nicole, Kat and Karen! It was held at The Boathouse in English Bay - blackjack tables, nibbly's, two DJ's, dancing and drinks!

More Photos to come!

First Annual Boxing Day Games - Vancouver Style

2011-02-07T13:26:00.001-08:00

Some British expats decided to bring us a better version to spending boxing day - not in the mall in line ups, but out on the playing fields getting muddy and having fun!

The egg toss, 6 legged racing, spinning post and long spoon race to name a few of the fun games played, lost and won!

Christmas time.

2011-02-07T12:23:00.001-08:00

I spent the weekend before xmas on the island visiting my Gram and Mum.
Xmas eve was spent over at Ashley and Daves place. Wine, food and singing around the piano.
I then spent my first xmas ever with my niece and sister! What a great season this year. ho ho ho!

visit with Steph Mid Dec.

2011-01-19T23:06:00.001-08:00

I was able to to go to Victoria for the weekend Steph and Alice were in town. It was such a great weekend. I love staying at Stephs parents and visiting with the family. it was the 3 youngest grandkids birthdays so there was a joint party. Steph and I were able to get dressed up and go out one evening as well. Thanks for a great visit Stephie!!!

December 2011

2011-01-19T22:45:00.000-08:00

For the past few months I've had ESL students staying with me. My first student from Saudi Arabia, Saif, my second from Japan, Masayuki, and my 3rd set were a couple from Brazil, Elaine and Pedro. :)

December was a busy month. My students left and I had a weekend to do some spring cleaning before I gained a semi permanent roomie. My friend Karen is staying with me for a few months while she looks for a place to buy. It's kinda nice having a friend around - especially one who is as tidy and anal as I am! :)

Jen came down from Vernon for our yearly girls weekend in the city. Shopping, drinks, gossip and movies ensued. We also went to the Body worlds exhibit at Science World... Interesting and creepy all at the same time. It's an exhibit of real people who have been plasticized ,put into different positions... crazy...

End of November 2011

2011-01-19T22:20:00.000-08:00

I finally had Tammy and D come for a visit. Their little girl Ava is sooo funny. My house was a hit. Guinea Pigs, jello, kids toys and books, AND a pool... It's all a ploy so they come back to visit!

I then had a ladies spa night at my place... are toes and fingers were were smooth and pretty!

November 20 2010 Port and Chocolate Ladies Night at my place

2011-01-16T23:46:00.000-08:00

Who Says you can't get drunken off of a night of sipping Port??? not us!!

17 women, 17 different bottles of Port and liquor's. 7 hours of snacking on chocolate and hours of great conversation and fun with the girls! You may also notice the look on my sisters face when I came in to hug her... yeah, we have pictures of her pulling the same face when we were little too! ;)

thanks for a great night everyone!

November 11 2010

2011-01-16T23:15:00.001-08:00

I spent the morning with Bryan and Mina and their two boys, Yoshi and Dylan. Bryan was in the Remembrance Day parade here in New Westminster, and we watched on the sidelines.

September, October 2010

2011-01-16T23:09:00.000-08:00

The long weekend was spent camping in the Scuswap. great weather. great friends... my sleeping bag that I have had since I was 12 finally bit the bullet... did you know that sleeping bags you buy now a days don't have string at the bottom to tie your SB's with??? huh.

Really other than this not much happened! I burned my hand being an idiot and boiling a mug of water in a microwave at work to steam clean it, and the water splashed me pretty bad... yeah, burning, NOT FUN.

August, California with Ashley and Dave

2011-01-09T12:12:00.001-08:00

We spent ten days in Cali. Most of our days were spent as you see by the pool... ahhhh..and shopping...
We hit the San Diego Zoo, Six Flags Roller Coaster Park - you can see the looks of heat exhaustion and dehydration on our faces by the afternoon... temps of 106 to 111 degrees will do that to a person! One of the most relaxing holidays I've ever had! Thanks Ash, Dave and Lorre!!!

August paragliding update . yes I know a few months late...

2011-01-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

August 28th I went Paragliding a jumped off a mountain at 2000 feet. for45 minutes of air time, going 70 miles an hour... this was a RUSH! The last few photos don't give it justice to the fact that my guide and I both landed straight on my tailbone.. 400 pounds of people... It could have been bad ( that being said it is 5 months later and my tailbone still hurts!)

Aug 12-15

2010-08-20T23:43:00.000-07:00

Thursday night I went to see the Cirque Du Solei, KOOZA that is in town for the summer. I have seen 2 other cirques before and have been amazed by both of them, and his one is no different!!! the way these people can bend their nodes is amazing!!! There were two girls there that were such contortionists that all I could say the whole time was 'oh my god, oh my god'. I would recommend this to anyone that is amazed by the crazy things the human body is capable of!

I headed out to Penticton with Lorrin for the weekend for a visit with my sister Niki and niece. We got in late but made up for time by drinking wine right away and not getting to bed until .5 am! Lorrin brought up his quad and and on he took me out - with my new Ed Hardy helmet and all geared up - from Naramata to Kelowa where his brother and his family live for dinner and a visit. heading back was quite cool in the dark - we had a contest to see who could see the most animal eyes reflected in our lights... Anything above two feet off the ground I really didn't want to know what it was out in the wild!!!

Sunday I spent hanging around with Niki and Grace in the yard and pool. I brought my guinea pigs up again, as Grace was definitly more excited to see pip and squeak than me! After much cuddling, carrying them around in baby baskets and blankets those piggies are good for anyone to hold them and play!

on the way home we stopped in at a river camping spot called Bromley rock... I think this would be a nice place to camp one year, the river is really clear and beautiful surroundings nestled in the mountains.

Ottawa, sat,sun,monday

2010-08-18T17:48:00.000-07:00

Finishing up last days in Ontario with Tracey and Steph...wandered around downtown Ottawa, parliament buildings, and the market in old town. Relaxing in the back yard, swimming with the kids at an outdoor pool, and playing a fun new version of scrabble - quibbler at night ... I was some how winning this game, and for someone who doesn't spell very well.... ;-)

One of my highlights would be when I was cutting Oscars hair... He doesn't like getting his hair cut, so it was bad from the beginning... But when he started crying "stop aunty christin, STOP!!" all I could do was laugh more. Steph, I want to see those photos!!

I was so lucky to not hit any humidity that everyone always talks about having in Ontario! and so lucky to have amazing friends like I do!

thanks to all my girls for a fabulous time! Xoxoxo Christin

Zip Lining and Le Nordic Spa

2010-08-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

We headed to the french side.... and found our way - after the boyz got us lost for a good hour or two... to a Zip Lining/Adventure course in Quebec. This is an adventure in the trees, not just sliding (zipping down lines) but also having to climb across a tonne of different courses strung up in the trees, where balance and hand eye coordination were a must! some of the longest zip lines were over 500 feet - loved that and it took us over 3 hours to complete the 4 courses! I would Highly recommend this to everyone!

The girls then spent the afternoon together at a Scandinavian inspired bath/spa. relaxing, eating, wine, and clearing our pores in the numerous hot,warm and cold baths as well as the steam rooms and saunas! ahhh this was the life!!! although it was a little tough for me at times... it's also meant to be relaxing so we are not supposed to really talk there... and definitely not talk loud! - you can imagine how hard this was for me!!!

Last Day with Slammy, first night with Tracey and Steph

2010-08-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

Denise and I took advantage of the hotel pool for a morning swim before heading off to Toronto for an afternoon of FUN at the science centre there... there was a special exhibit... now some of you will laugh... but we are total Harry Potter heads... so we had to the the exhibit there! it was really cool. actual props from the films, costumes, talking pictures on the walls, the Great hall, mandrakes to pull, and part of the charm was watching all of the little kids run around and get as excited as us! one little was so cute... pulled over his buddy and was in total awe of finding Harry Potters wand!!! We also had to get matching Muggle tshirts... don't worry I really won't wear it out in public... maybe to the new movies though. :)

The moment that we were both dreading came when D had to drop me off at 4:30 for my flight up to Ottawa... tears were shed, they always are when we say goodbye! I hate that part... sigh... but hopefully we will see each other again soon! I had an AMAZING time with you Slam Dunkin' Denise!!! You are the best!

Wednesday with Slammy

2010-08-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

We headed off to Niagara on the Lake. We checked into this great hotel (White Oaks Resort and Spa) with big fluffy beds, a spa and a huge bathroom!... and then Hit the Wineries!
We were able to get in 4 for the afternoon,

1)Hillebrand - bought 1 bottle of wine and had a beautiful lunch with not much substance, but it was about the 'experience'.. very posh sounding eh? ;) This is where I am also sure I will be quoted for years to come. As I took my first sip of the wine I bought.. the first words I could express were 'it's a yummy explosion in my mouth!' And for my camping buddies, I just bought the best camping wine glasses ever!
2)Strewn - where I bought 2 bottles of ice wine... sooo yummy as well, smaller quaint place, but with great service.

Had a quick pit stop in the town of Niagara on the Lake. So pretty, quaint, old fashioned, flowers and cutesy shops everywhere... but it did pour with rain, so not everything was perfect! We made it into a very cute hat shop called Beau Chapeau and we both bought fun new hats... I'm sure I'll get mocked for mine, but I don't care, it's a great beach hat!

3)Peller - biggest by far, but so big the service wasn't a good, the wine was ok, but the grounds were georgeous!
3)Rief - bought another bottle here as well, smaller vineyard... and let us gulp down/shoot our wine tastings as we had to get back for our pedicures!!!

One of THE best pedicures. Also helped that Denise was there and we picked fun colours! Doing the penguin walk back to my hotel in flip flops we had some dinner and tucked ourselves in for the rest of the night to enjoy the buzz we had on!

Tuesday with D.

2010-08-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

Denise took me up to another beach on a different lake... ummm it was....OH, on Lake Huron. :) ok so I don't know my Ontario geography! We went to a provincial park called the Pinery and hit the Dunes beach. Sand dunes forever, and turquoise water that didn't stop. It was warm, white sand, and I'm still shocked that this is a great lake and not in the Caribbean! After sunning and swimming all day we hit the fun, surf side town of Grand Bend for dinner and drinks - a perfect way to end a perfect day with a great friend!

I do have to have a side note here... Ontario is a little over the top for their Tim Hortons... In the middle of NOWHERE, corn fields as far as the eye can see... you will have a Timmy's. crazy for their donuts and coffee out here I guess!

I was up bright and early for a sunday...

2010-07-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

Or really any day of the week!!! 730am Ontario time.. 430am bc time! But it was all for a good cause, Ev was running her first race - 5k. She did it in under 35minutes!! Afterwards we headed into the beaches area of toronto and had an amazing brunch at a place called the green eggplant... Wish we had one in Vancouver! Yummy French toast on egg bread topped with blueberries, strawberries and ice cream! ev and I napped when we got home from our time downtown.. And all too soon it was time for me to go! Ev drove me down to London where we met up with Slammy-one of my girls from ships.
After hugs, hello, hugs good bye and promices not to have so much time between visits, I said bye to Ev and Slammy and I headed off to dinner and her house...

Now for those of you that havent seen two women catch up with each - who haven't seen each other in a long time...imagine two hens in a chicken coop, clucking and clattering...... FOR HOURS!!! Yup that was and is, pretty much how slammy and I have been since the visit began!

I suppose I should start off by explaining the Nick name for slammy... On ships youth staffers have to have a Nick name for the kids to call them.. Denise is a basket ball player so was Slam dunkin Denise....so it has stuck for the rest of us!

we headed out to Port Stanley today on one of the great lakes... Don't know which one it was, but it sure was pretty, cute little town, turquoise water, white sand and LOTS of sun! I very obviously didn't do a good job of applying sun tan lotion day as I'm very blotchy on my arms and somehow my back is the lovely colour of a waxed red apple!!! But at least my hat kept the sun off my face!
Slammy wanted to take me to a small little place up the road called sparta, for any of you that has watched the movie 300, this may sound familiar to you. I have however not seen it and couldn't figure out why she kept saying the name in a funny accent and looking to me like I should know his quote! I just thought she was a little wacky at this point!... Anyway this little town has a cute random shop full of random things and also makes amazing candles so picked up a fun new camping bug catcher!

Back at slammys for dinner and bonfire in the backyard. Mike just got the fire to a good standard, the tiki torches were lit we were settled in with our drinks.... When I noticed some scuffling over by the fence... Kinda thought it was a couple of cats....until Mike said 'ok girls everyone walk slowly and calmly to the house and go inside....'. As we got up to the door and turned around.... 6 toddler skunks raced their way down the fence line weaving in and out and all across the lawn!!!! They were fast little buggers, so I didnt get too many good photos, but the memory will be burned into my brain forever!!!! So even though we didn't get to enjoy the rest of the fire, we did still have to put it out... Slam was a little skittish... So I grabbed the watering buckets and made a run for it!!! I jumped at some shadows... Or what I am telling myself were shadows anyway, and screamed my way back into the house!

Another great day for tomorrow will ensue Im sure!

Ok I have been here 12 hours and I have already bought

2010-07-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

New runners. But how could I not... When a sale is on life is good. So it seems that I have brought the pour weather with me... It's been raining all day, but 35 degrees!

Arrived inTO

2010-07-24T10:14:00.001-07:00

I have arrived safe and sound... A little tired but, nothing eventful happened on the way here! Evelyn was there to meet me....can I say WTF to humidity???? oMG, I think I am going to MELT. Heading down to the distillery district... Perfect for me or what? I love that my friends know me well! Just a short one for now!

Summer has FINALLY arrived!!!

2010-07-12T00:29:00.000-07:00

What a great week. I picked up my first ESL student Saif, said like 'safe'. He is from Saudi, very nice very polite, turning 19 next week... I did introduce him to rob and Karen on Thursday night when everyone was over for haircuts.... I forgot to warn him about rob... I think most of the night was spent talking about bj's and robs inappropriate behavior... I just kept saying... Don't tell your parents!!!

Friday night I went to 2nd beach for a BBQ with Lisa for my events and adventures club.. Nice people and good food! Always a good combo! Saturday Karen and I killed some time looking at open houses, walking the river boardwalk and catching some rays at a river side patio...and I finally watched fight club... It only took me 11 years to get to it, and a kid from saudi Arabia to have it on his lap top, to watch it!

Today was another sunny one, but as I it was the FIFA final, I decided to jump on the band wagon this time and watch it. Lee, patricia and the girls invited me over to their place in yaletown...I also got to have birthday cake for lees '63'rd bday.
Then on to a meet up with a friend to wander the car show on Columbia st and a fab annual girls piss up at the symphony on the park. We are always the last ones there... I'm sure the clean up crew wonders what the hell takes us so long to leave... Little do they know how many bottles of wine are consumed and how much food is being digested...Karen tonight was gooned... Quite epic really, it's usually me that is the drunken one... But I think this may actually be the first time I've ever seen her drunk and me sober!!! I should do that more often as it was so humorous!!!!!

July Long..

2010-07-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

I headed over to my Dads for the long weekend. 4 days in Metchosin... I haven't spent that much time in the bush probably since I was 17 and still lived out there! But it was great... very productive I should say. I helped my dad for 3 days clean out his house of all the old and bringing in the new. I cleaned and moved so much stuff I felt like I had moved his entire house! 2 truck loads later to the dump and Salvation Army and a pile of furniture to sell... and my job was done! ... well I did have to try mowing the lawn for old times sake, but instead of using the old push mower and it taking me 8 hours... my Dad has a real tractor/mower ... so I got in my redneck fix as well. :) Jen B... Everette would be so proud of me! I actually am looking forward to my next visit back to the ol' homestead!

I was able to meet up with Bryan and his family up at his parents house for a bon fire - still washing the smoke smell out of my hair! I also got to meet Kim's new little boy, Cameron who is 3 months and so big already!

I had applied a few months ago to get an ESL student, and tonight he arrived. Saif, from Saudi Arabia is here, 18 turning 19, super nice and very polite. He is staying until the end of September and then after that we'll see if I want another student or not. :) Because he just left 50 degree weather... can you imagine? i'm going to say,.. he brought some of it with him as today was one of the nicest we have seen in AGES!!!

some birthday photos...

2010-06-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

just some of the shots of the party... the one with rob... well what can I say ladies,,, he's taken. Poor Karen. ;)

Chels had brought over some free bikinis for all the girls there, it was a free for all... and of course Rob had to get in on the action.

We headed out to Laff Lines after the BBQ at my place, for 2 hours of GOOD comedy believe it or not!

for those that came back to my place... the straglers didn't leave until about 2 am. Me, I was up drunk skype'ing to New Zealand with Rita... good times. :)

I had a some good times and some bad this weekend...

2010-06-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

Well let's start off with the good... I went paint balling on saturday with the activity group I joined and we got to shoot ALOT! It felt great! I did however manage to get some REALLY good bruises from it! :) to be expected though, at least I didn't get shot in the head...I need all the brain cells I can get my hands on! The guy from the group that I car pooled out there with was pretty funny - especially when he drove right over the curb in the parking lot and got stuck!

Caresse had a girls BBQ out at her neew place. It felt like we were at a retreat, very posh BBQ and so quiet and peaceful out in the woods!

I can't believe that my little niece is now TEN!!!! Where has the time gone??? I took her shopping - shesfinally into reading books on her own...did you know the style for ten year olds is pretty much the same as it was for us 25 years ago?

, nothing has changed, leggings, belt over the extra long tshirt- which has some sparkle or sequins on them, dangly earrings the whole bit. It could have been my sister sitting there from the 80's! I'll get to the bad stuff later, got to get to a baseball game!

IPAD!!!

2010-06-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

Soooo a fabulous start to my new, newyear.....I won a new 32gig IPAD!!!!!!

I'm still learning the ropes... Come on now I've only ever owned 2 cell phones before!!! So my learning curve is going to be big...

So if anyone has any good apps that I should be using or having fun with, let me know!!!

Love and hugs, your modern, high tech, techie friend, christin xoxox

fun weekend ahead...

2010-06-03T23:46:00.000-07:00

So as the first 6 months of 2010 have been a little crazy in my world... I've decided that to start off the next 6 months... I'm going to celebrate my birthday like it's new years... a new start, a new year, a new age... you get the picture.

My bday is actually Monday... but I'm BBQ'ing Saturday with friends at my place then we are heading off to Laff Lines Comedy club, 2 blocks away for a night of comedy and laughter... there will be 5 comics doing their stuff... so there's got to be at least ONE that is good right? :) ... so for those of you in town. pop by, have a drink, have a burger, or come to the club for the 9 pm show start. :)

2010-06-03T23:40:00.000-07:00

So I probably haven't told most of you that I have decided to join a local activites club... it happens to be for singles, but that's not totally the reason why I joined. They have tonnes of different activites and STUFF to do every month - last month I did a games night out at a pub, volleyball and an Archery class! hence the photo ... bullseye! pretty good eh???

2010-05-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would introduce my new little furry friends. Figured it would be nice to have something else breathing in my house with me. A cat or dog is too much work/effort, so i figured guinea pigs would be a good 'pet' start!
The girls are called 'pip' n 'squeak' :)

hotel in Edmonton...

2010-04-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is only a quick update. As i'm sitting in the business lounge in an Edmonton hotel room... but this is the first internet i've been able to access since the middle of February that will allow me access to my blog!

1st) Mid Feb, computer blew up
2nd) End of Feb, relationship blew up
3rd) why buy a new computer at this point?
4th) 6 weeks of waiting for said relationship to officially end
5th) away every weekend visiting friends and family waiting for said relationship to officially be living on my own
6th) mum stayed with me for 2 weeks to help out
7th) officially living on my own as of 4 days ago
8th) been in Edmonton for 2 days now on confrence
9th) have had NO time on my own yet, but have fully painted both my bedrooms and have had amazing friends and family around me keeping my company and lifting my spirits.
10th) friend lent me a computer for a while and will finally have internet back up and running by the 5th of May.

My home address and phone numbers have all stayed the same. I am not moving. so i have LOTS of space and LOTS of time for friends and family to come visit ANYTIME.

Love Christin :)

or as my friend Ashley now calls me... sexy, single, fabulousness, charismatic Christin... :)

more 201 Fun

2010-02-21T21:09:00.000-08:00

So i drove Chinese and Korean skaters today. I saw our Canadian Hockey team and Ignilia, as well as some of our Canadian speed skaters. The weather has been AMAZING here for a week. Blue skies, warm weather, the trees are in bloom and so are the daffodils!!! Can you believe it in Feb??? WTF!... but who am I to complain!

First days of the Olympics...

2010-02-15T23:14:00.000-08:00

Well I've now driven, Russians, Koreans, Polish, Americans, Dutch - including the gold men's winner of the 3000m, Norwegians, and a few eastern block. The City is PUMPED. I spent Saturday afternoon and night downtown seeing some of the sights with Shelly and it was an amazing feeling to be in the middle of it all!

The medals. 1 & 1/4 pounds. Gold is solid silver with 6 grams of gold plating, silver is solid silver, bronze is solid copper.

The Million dollar coin from the Canadian mint - the purest gold in the world.

It's bigger than I thought it would be.

Me in front of the flame

The medals. We got to touch and take photos of.

The drawings which each medal is made from - like a puzzle, each piece is unique.

Olympic Journey...

2010-02-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

Hurry up!... and WAIT.... does the left hand know what the right hand is doing? ... sigh... well these questions have yet to be answered... I did have a nice first day on Friday. I waited only a few hours before heading over to the village to be a driver from the Welcome centre - being that it is Athletes we are driving - most did not want the 2 block ride to their new digs... but their baggage usually got a ride. :) so far I've had 3 more shifts, but no driving mostly being sent home early.
I did run into a girl I went to Highschool with... 17 years later and we both recognized each other right away!

Urban Gardening

2010-01-24T23:23:00.000-08:00

Well as our search for a house was supposed to have included a patch of dirt... but compromises had to be made, and we ended up with a patio again... I went on the search for an Urban Oasis for gardeners. I found one in the form of Port Royal community gardens. And for only 30$ a year I now have my very own 7x8 patch of dirt!

Now I'll be thinking of what yummy veggies I'll be able to plant and cultivate. I did quite well with my Tomatoes this year... I do love fresh carrots, peas and potatoes...yummmmmm

I'm also another day of training closer to the Olympics! It's getting so close! It looks like my job will include 3 different routes driving the Athletes. I will get to take the figure skaters to their training venue, the speed skaters to the Olympic oval in Richmond and also the shuttle that is in the Athlete village. Where as most drivers only get one route, this changes things up and gives us the opportunity to meet alot of the Athletes and not get bored!

I will be heading back east this summer. Ontario here I come! I'll have about 10 days at the end of July... Easterner's here I come!

I'm sure I had more to tall all of you ... but i'm exhausted. so i'm going to bed instead. :)

Olympic's are a comin'

2010-01-18T18:40:00.000-08:00

They are officially arriving!!! I picked up my uniform and accreditation yesterday. So it's official I am a volunteer! After a year and a half of meetings, and training! I have 3 more full days of training for my position - Athlete driver. I then work my first shift feb 5th! I have tickets to one event, Womens arials, tickets to one victory ceremony INXS is playing and tickets to the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremonies. I am hoping with my job that i will get to know whatever team I am assigned and be able to watch some practices or events and get to know the athletes. :)

Christmas and New Years

2010-01-18T18:23:00.001-08:00

just a sneak peek at my xmas and new years. I spent the 5 days free from work over in Courtenay at my Grams house. visiting with my friend Shelly, who has just moved there and my mum. I was able to take in a day of skiing up at Mt. Washington and had a great first day out on hill - bright blue skies, above the cloud cover Courtenay was under and nice snow!
New years was a quiet one playing rock band and guitar hero... we are addicted now...

Grace's 4th birthday in Penticton Dec 11-13th

2009-12-15T22:58:00.000-08:00

I drove up to Penticton after work on friday. The Hope/Princeton Hwy was actually really clear and had no snow... however after being in the car by myself for 4.5 hours I was going a little stir crazy!!!
I love visiting my sister up there. Grace was already in bed, so it gave us time to catch up without her interrupting!
Saturday we took Grace, 5 pin bowling - the first time for her. And to the 'delight' of Niki, her 3 year old beat her at the game! 99 point to 96! :) Grace had a great time! lunch out at the White spot, movies rented, and a few bevvies for the evening and we were good to go!
Grace is at such a fun age. This is about the 4th visit I've had with her this year, and she's at the stage where she really knows who I am now. I kept hearing all weekend " I love you Aunty Christin", "Aunty Christin come see this", "Aunty watch this", " Aunty come over here" ... Even when I was in the shower I would open the door to her sitting outside it waiting for me to come out!
I love the unconditional love of kids!
I wasn't able to stay too late on Sunday as it had started to snow and I wanted to get through Manning Park in the day light hours. It was definitely a longer drive home with snow on the roads, but my great little Kia and my new tires got me through no problem!
I can't wait to visit again Niki and Grace!! Love you!

December 5th Xmas party House warming

2009-12-15T22:29:00.000-08:00

We had a great night!
Thanks to everyone who made it out!
lots of cookies, chocolate and tequila were had by all... well the tequila by the boys... can you tell in the photos which ones? ;)

Jen's annual visit ( year 4) :) November 27-29th

2009-12-15T22:19:00.000-08:00

Jen's visit was Great. when is it not?

I can't believe this is the 4th year for us to have a weekend with just us!
Friday night we headed to a local pub - I've been trying out new places in the area every chance I get. They had live music and good appy's.

I had warned Jen that I was in sleep in mode, but she didn't believe me... and when I finally hauled my butt outta bed at 11 Am- and i still could have slept more - I think she started to believe me! I found a local Dutch store that sells everything from dutch applesauce to the wooden shoes! So Jen was able to pick up all her childhood favourite xmas treats! We then headed into south granville area for some speciality Bra shopping, shoe shopping and window browsing. Dinner at Earls with some yummy martini's and then a night out for our first xmas party of the season at Kim and Robs.

Now I tried to get up earlier for Jen on Sunday so we could have more time for shopping and we able to get up by about 10 am... I thought that was pretty good anyway! I took her over to our local 'outlet' mall shops in Queensbrough and into Richmond Centre before dropping her off for her flight... how does the time just seem to fly by like that? Why can't all my best girls live in the same town as me????

Day 20

2009-11-26T16:13:00.000-08:00

Well I really did try. Somehow I have learned in the past 20 days that, NO, I am NOT super woman... sigh... defeat is hard. Very, Very. Hard.

So after trying to go back to work on Monday, and ending the day crying from exhaustion... I did come in Tuesday from guilt, but have had to take the remainder of this week off. I don't know how much better i'm going to fair next week - but I have to go in... So my bed time will be moving to about 9 pm as I am sleeping 10-11 hours a night and most days napping too!

The follow up surgeon said that it can be quite common to take up to 4 weeks for the anesthetic to wear off! why did no one tell me THAT before?... although I do admit the surgeon did tell me prior that most people do take 5-6 weeks off work... did i listen? NOOOO. thought i could do it. didn't want to disappoint my patients... but what have i ended up doing by canceling last minute, and putting my workmates through re-booking hell? ... disappointed my patients and created more work for my work mates... sigh...

My area manger has asked me to make sure that next time i go in for surgery i listen to the Dr... 'next time' i think? what the hell is going to happen that there will be a next time?? yikes!

A new me.

2009-11-17T07:05:00.001-08:00

So really this is the only PG rated photo i can post of my post op look. ;) this was about day 2 or 3 where i still had my drains in and wearing the lovely tenser top they fit me in after the operation.

I'm at about day 11 now and feeling more active and awake... although I have been up since 2:30AM and on the computer since 4:30AM today... I feel a bit like a teenager... although we tend to have a few years to grow into ourselves and get used to the changes our bodies were going through... this instant change affect is just plain weird.

It really is.

I now have to change years of habits! everything from Day to day stuff, even drying off after a shower, to now being able to wear a whole plethora of new tops that were NEVER accessible to me before. Empire waistlines, V necklines, and embellishments on the chest area here I come!!!

I decided to take this week of work as well. I'm just too tired still and really don't want anyone coming close to me quite yet. And my work environment would be too tiring and I have to get to close to people!

I have caught up on ALL my TV shows now, watched about 7 movies, baked for our xmas party, read half a book, half a magazine and have really made a lovely bum dent on my couch!

Photos of our new home

2009-10-26T20:47:00.001-07:00

Spare Bedroom

Main Bathroom

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

ensuite bathroom

Dining Room

Living Room

M's week long visit

2009-10-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Unfortunatly the panoramic photos have come out blury on this thing, but you'll get the gist...

We had a fab week. Couple of days here in Vancouver wandering around and enjoying the fall weather, walking, and taking the false creek ferry. Then on to Tofino where we stayed at the Cox Bay Beach Resort - GORGEOUS!!
We were about to do lots of hiking and watching surfers. We kept hunting for wolves and cougars and bears 'oh my'!(like in the wizard of Oz... Lions and Tigers and Bears 'oh my'!) but never found any. :) And I finally got to have dinner at the Wick Inn... people have been telling me about that place for years! so yummy, great service and the view was beautiful... even in the rain.

M. wanted to see a real Mountie as well but the closest we got was outside the station in Tofino. We were also able to make it up to Courtenay for a night's visit with my mum and Gram.

Thanks for a GREAT visit M!

thanksgiving.

2009-10-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

I have taken the week off for vacation. For the long weekend, I headed down to Washington state with Ashley to stay at her family's rustic cabin on Cameno Island. We shopped at the outlet mall and then spent the rest of the weekend laughing at the dogs, eating, sleeping and watching Pride and Prejudice - the 6 hour version which i had never seen before.

I then headed over to Suzanne's for a photo shoot. I haven't had a portrait taken since I was 26 so thought it would be a good idea to get one in my 30's!

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent painting out our den, hanging' and shopping with Karen and picking M. up from the Airport last night!!!

last Sept weekend.

2009-10-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend with Ashley and helped her pick up her new puppy from the SPCA!!! Her Name is XUM- said ZOOM. and she is soooo nice! such a calm puppy!
We then headed out to tsawassen to watch Dave Kite board and then spent the evening watching their friend Dino play at a local pub. I loved his music so much that I bought both of his CD's! SUCH A GREAT DAY!!!

life is crazy and I love every minute of it...

2009-09-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

I don't have any photos to go with this posting yet, but I figured some of you may read.... ;) Although I still love picture books like when we were kiddies...

My last post was Rita's wedding shower, then the weekend of the 5/6th was the big day. The last wedding of the season, and the one where I had the most responsibility. Maid of honour. I took my duties seriously, got Rita trussed up in her dress, got photos taken, got through my speech with only a few tears, got drunk ... got REAL drunk... then proceeded to be the blathering, bawling, emotional maid of honour that had to put her 'sunglasses on at night' cause all the make-up had been cried off.... geesh... oh well there's always one isn't there? ;) The day after was one for the records... I don't actually remember being that hungover probably since I lived and worked on cruise ships... 5 years ago... yikes!

But after all the fun this summer it was on to the big job of moving and packing! we took possession of our new home on the 11th and moved in on the 12th... one of the fastest moves i think I've ever done and it was ALL thanks to the 8 or 9 friends that came out to help - I know I owe you all big time - there will of course be lots of booze for you at our house warming! About 3 days later we were all moved in and unpacked... although it has now been 2 weeks and i still can't find where I put everything! I only just found my cell phone charger tonight!

We love our new home. It's big, It's new, It's clean and we have already played Pool once, gone swimming twice and biked and walked the beautiful Fraser River boardwalk 3 times. it's going to take me a little bit longer to get used to the noise of traffic a bit more here, but other than that, so far everything else is going well!

Some biggish news on a personal front. I find out my surgery date October 1st. I'm hoping for the beginning of November - After M's visit, but all good for xmas. :)

I'm actually at a loss as to what to do with what other people call 'spare time'... I don't ACTUALLY know what this term means as it feels like years since i've had any! ... and just so you know how stressed i've been this summer - Steph and Tracey you will appreciate this the most(as you were their for my first)... i have found 3 gray hairs this summer... sigh... oh well it happens to the best of us right???

So I'm going to bust out a book this weekend, hang out with Ashley, watch some live music and go for a walk.

How....

Simple.

Ritas stagette.

2009-08-30T22:00:00.001-07:00

I'm too tired to write anything about it at the moment... that shows it was a fun night right?

Ashley's stagette and wedding... Aug 15/22nd

2009-08-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

We had Ashley's stagette last weekend. The night started off with a Hanky Panky Party, toys, gadgets and liquids... use your imagination here...
We then went to a new wine and cheese bar on the east side - I have never seen so much selection! I have to say - coming from a kid who was a Mac and Cheese connoisseur - they had THE BEST mac and cheese EVER.. yummm yummmmm yummmmmmyyyy!~
The night ended at the Blarney stone in Gas town, where all the people in there were about 18 years old... but we had a great time anyway!

A weekend wedding...

Friday night was rehearsal, dinner in the park and then bouquette making - which after seeing how Dawn's expertise far outweighed our stabbing attemps... Ash and I left 90% of it up to her!
Saturday morning was spent having breakfast, hair and makeup at the house, watching movies and relaxing! So no stress! we didn't have to do anything or go anywhere! perfect! The bride was calm, cool and collected the entire time! We did photos before the ceremony which was great!!! I highly recommend all brides do this! we didn't have to rush, it was a lovely afternoon and the photos are going to turn out great. The ceremony was at 5 pm and everyone cried like babies... seeing each other earlier in the day didin't stem the tears at all! As the photos had already been taken, we all got to head straight to the River house pub next door, grab a bellini or two and sun ourselves on the outdoor patio over looking the river. Dinner was so yummy, the people were amazing and the day a total success!

Congrats Ashley and David Reid!!!

phew finally caught up...

2009-08-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

ok it took me a month to catch up with every weekend of summer fun... I forgot to mention that amongst all the weekends away... we SOLd our condo - made a bid for another one- that fell through- then made another bid on a better one this past week..... and as of Thursday this week it will be ours! It's in a totally new neighbourhood, but tonnes of amenities near by, 2 sky train stations so that our guests have easy access to get around the city, 2 bedrooms, 1 den, 2 bathrooms and a huge patio again!
So moving day will be Sept 11 and 12th... so if you happen to be around that weekend... extra hands are always welcome!!!

Check out the website for the building http://www.the-point.ca

or the mls listing page for when it was up for sale!
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=7874449

OHHHH and we just bought a new King size bed!!! yippeeee! it will be delivered for our first day at our new home!

Did I mention 2 wedding down and 2 to go ... plus 2 stagette nights... when am I going to pack?

August 7-9th Weekend in Penticton

2009-08-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

I headed up to Penticton this weekend to stay with my sister Niki, my niece Grace and nephew Tyson - who just turned 16. I took Mika with me so that all the cousins could have a weekend hangin' together. There has been some amazing fires happening this summer in the Okanagan and as soon as we passed through Merrit we could smell the smoke in the air and the sky was a blood red as the sun went down. Niki has a great pool and trampoline in her backyard. Mika, Grace and I spent all of Saturday in and on both of them! Niki just had her ACL remade a few weeks ago so the trampoline was out for her. We wanted to get new photo of all of us together again so we headed up the mountain towards Apex ski resort where there is a broken down old barn that was the perfect backdrop for the photo session.
I love spending the weekend in Penticton hangin' with the kids and visiting with Niki... I just wish it wasn't a 4.5 hour drive each way!!!

August Long weekend Camping Lightening Lake, Manning Park

2009-08-11T21:43:00.000-07:00

Every year My friend Karen puts together a group camping trip - Thanks Karen! this year we headed off to Lightening Lake in Manning Park - about a 2.5 hours drive from home. We all headed out Friday morning so the traffic was bearable! We had been told that a must stop to our mini vacation was at the small, local, Chilliwack Airport Cafe - for the Worlds BEST pie... they weren't kidding. There are people that fly out to the airport JUST to eat this local home made pie... OMG YUMMMMMMMMMY... it's a good thing I don't live too close, I'd be eatin' pie alot!

The rest of the weekend was spent lounging in my hammocks, hiking around the lakes each morning, and swimming and lounging in the lake for the hot afternoons. It was nice to be in the campground where the temperatures were cooler here than in the city... however as i was packing in 38 degree weather I forgot how the nights could still get cold in the trees! Needless to say I FROZE at night! But wearing a borrowed hoodie from Darcy and a borrowed sleeping bag from Darren kept me warmer on the 2nd and 3rd nights! thanks Guys! The camp rangers put on a lantern making class and that evening all the kids (and grownup kids) got to light their candles at set them sail on the lake. It was pretty spectacular to watch... and only 1 or 2 went up in flames - a pirate ship being one of them!

July 24-26 weekend at Mum's/ Trevors birthday

2009-08-11T21:22:00.000-07:00

Off again for the weekend. This time over to Vancouver Island to stay at my Mum's house in Courtenay. It has been absolutely amazing, HOT weather... sooo not like the west coast! INSIDE our condo the other night topped out at 34.5c!!! All I've been able to do is lay on my bed and melt! So it was nice to get away for the weekend to somewhere with a backyard, fresh garden veggies and a cold river to cool off in!
Saturday I raided my mum's veggie garden and canned about 30 containers of raspberries! YUMMMMMMY. Trevor and I then did two inner tube trips down the Puntledge river, floating serenely and bumping over rapids.. but over-all coooool water surrounding us, to cool us down! My uncle Bob showed up for the BBQ and Mika was spending 2 weeks with Grandma. It made for a nice family night!
Sunday we spent it in the river 2 more times, and taking Mika down for her first ever float on the river - which she LOVED! :)

Weekend of Brides...July 18/19/20

2009-08-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

I finished up my holidays with two great friends and their bridal showers.
Saturday with Shelly and her girls, dressing her up around town, sex shops, and lunch. Sunday with Ashley with her lovely party hat and pressies in the sun!
Monday night was then Shelly's wedding that was held at Brock House, on Jericho Beach. A beautiful location for a beautiful bride and handsome groom. Congratulations Shelly and Darcy! And thanks for the great apple-caramel martini's! Here I was thinking I wouldn't be getting tipsy at a Monday wedding... and at 4 am I was still drunk and having bed spins! geesh! ;)

July 9th -16th Saskatoon to Calgary

2009-08-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

Summer holidays at last! Or so I thought... summer in Saskatoon had not hit by the time I arrived. 14-18c, and RAIN.... ummm didn't I just come from the Wetcoast?
Needless to say I was a little chilly and ended up wearing my one and only sweatshirt I had brought with me! But that didn't stop me from having a GREAT time! I flew in late on Thursday night to be driven straight to the hen night at the Long Branch Bar - coincidentally the same one we were at last year for Marianne's hen night...(it's a great cowboy bar ;) ) Where I started to meet half of the Australian population that had flown over for Gerogie and Geoff's wedding!

Friday we were all up bright-eye'd and bushy-tailed to drive in a 15 pax van, 3 hours north of Saskatoon, to Geoff's family place at Christopher lake...did I mention half of Oz was in Saskatoon?... beside Geoff, I was the only Canadian on the bus, therefore making me an expert on Canada?... scary eh? ;)

We spent the day chilling at the cabin, boating on the lake, wandering around Waskesiu National Park, and showing the Ozzie's how to roast hot dogs and eat smores for the first time!

Saturday i got to hang out with the girls at the mall and get ready for the reception. 3 of the 4 of us decided to get our hair done professionally - and all of us had a CRAP job! .. my haircut took the girl about 3 minutes to lightly skim through my hair... i knew it was going bad from the get go when I had to tell her how to wash my hair... anyway, my hairdressing skills were put to good use later that evening sprucing up all the girls again. The reception was great, good drinks, great people, Georgie singing, and the boys playing Indian Leg wrestling in the middle of the dining room floor!

Sunday we finally had some sunshine for a lunch BBQ and then I was off to Calgary! Marianne picked me up and we headed straight off to the Calgary Stampeed! it's alot like our PNE here in Vancouver with the exhibition halls full of 'stuff' to buy, food to eat and entertainers to watch... we even got to stick our hands in fake cows butts to feel what it's like with a baby calf inside... only in cowboy country my friends, only in cowboy country!

The rest of the week in Calgary was spent sleeping in, catching up with friends with Marianne, shopping - NO TAX baby! We also spent a day driving up to Sylvan Lake past Red Deer to relax by some water! It was finally a sunny day! It always amazes me that the people on the prairies have no issues with driving for SO long to get somewhere, even if it's only for a couple of hours?! It must be because most of the roads there are all long, straight and no hills! On our way back into Calgary we stopped by a new mall that is being built in the North West,( it's going to be bigger than the West Edmonton Mall) and what i thought was an American store I love to shop at for shoes, called 'Bass'. Actually turned out to be the biggest RED-NECK-SUPERCENTRE either of us have ever seen called Bass Brothers! hunting, fishing, camping, boating, quad biking, you name it - they had it!

I had a great week off with great friends!

Marianne thanks for a great visit and Congrats Georgie, It was a Great weekend!!!

Weekend in Parksville July 3-5

2009-07-07T22:28:00.001-07:00

Phew what a full weekend!!!

Off Camping with Steph and Mathew and Steph's full family - 7 kids and 9 adults!! but camping with them, is not like 'real' camping. ... they call it Glamping now-a-days... glamourous camping... not a tent in sight!

All the kids are super cute and Alice is a sweetie!.. I especially love the photo of Steph giving her the squishy kiss!!

Steve Yak and his family came up for Saturday and I got to also meet both of his kiddies. My mum came up for a visit and Lester and her husband Cory also dropped in! A weekend full of catching up!!!

We had great weather the whole time, and I won't forget the laughs around the 'campfire' any time soon. As part of the 'glamping' real fires are no longer used, but propane fueled fake logs on a portable fire pit, are. The down side being if you try to make smores and pre-melting the chocolate on the graham cracker on the grill... and then it falls in... the clean up is not as easy as a real fire!!!

busy weekend June 27/28

2009-06-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

This was my last sailing weekend with Shelly. Another beautiful day on the water. Our instructors said that we were the first class in a very long time that had no accidents - meaning no boat flipped over... there were a few random people that fell into the water, and then there was the time I completely T-Boned another PARKED sailboat... like, how could I miss that target??? ;)
But officially we now have our Whitesail I, II & III!!! Boaters beware!

I also had my Dad and 2 'little' half sisters (really they are 14 & 15 yrs old now),come for a visit this weekend... It's the first time in 17 years that my Dad has ever seen where I lived, and it's the first real visit I've had with my sisters in almost 8 years! They spent the weekend between Kerry's place and mine. We had a BBQ on Saturday night here, and then Trevor and I took them to Playland for the day - we rode the roller coasters at least 5 times and I have the bruises to prove it! We then went up to Cypress for the view, and had Gelato at the 300 flavours place on Venables... where flavours like, Wasabi, Balsamic Vinaigrette and Currey sit next to cookie dough, vanilla and chocolate!

Birthdays

2009-06-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

My gram, me, Mika, Kerry and Mum all have our birthdays in June... can I say it's a crazy month? So I headed over to my sisters for Mika's birthday last weekend. My Mum had come over and I got my gift's from her and Gram... a water feature with waterpump and my choice of water plants! it's out bubbling on my deck... actually i'll take a photo!!!

Coldplay June 21, Sunday

2009-06-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

I went with Karen and Shelly - I don't think any of us had any expectations, good or bad... but we definitely ALL walked out of there VERY impressed! Most live bands do a lot of standing around. not Chris in Coldplay. That guy was bouncing off the stage all night, great effects for the crowd to play with, and they did a number of songs right IN the crowd at the opposite end of the stadium. A Fab night for sure!

Russel Peters Wednesday June 17th

2009-06-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Russel Peters live show at GM place for his SECOND night in town! who would have thought a comedian could sell out such a large venue 2 nights running?! But he did and he was FANTASTIC... I've only ever been to a comedy club once, but never a live show like this, and It was SO funny... i woke up the next day with a sore throat and it was from all the laughing! I don't think there was one nationality that this guy missed picking on... us Whitey Canadians took a good hit or two that's for sure!

June 13, Saturday

2009-06-29T19:22:00.001-07:00

Just a great day all round. I am 5 weeks into my sailing lessons. A beautiful day on the water! we did end up having to tip our 420's over - not by accident - and learn how to flip them upright again. But the weather was good, blue skies and warm water!
Shelly and I probably only scored a few bruises on this exercise... there have been numerous ones over the past few weeks... especially on our asses when we slip in the back of the boat while skippering!

Shelly and I decided to make the most of the georgeous weather for the rest of the evening. We threw our bikes on the back of my car and headed downtown to Stanley Park for an evening ride. It's so beautiful around the park with the ocean, trees, and a cool breeze! And when ever you bike around the park, a dinner stop on Denman is a must - chicken kabob on the beach is perfect!

fun at work...

2009-06-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

Brooke and I were messing around with the camera at work today - there is actually a photo contest going on... so it was 'work' related... and some of them turned out pretty funny so I thought I'd share...

the first photo of Brooke pounding the desk.. actually happens on an almost daily basis... thank goodness the patients are usually deaf and can't 'hear' it! ;) then there is the one of me working oh so hard at my desk...

Birthday fun

2009-06-09T20:10:00.001-07:00

I had a great BBQ birthday at our place on Saturday night. Can I just say how well all my friends know me... I got 3 new bottles of booze for my bar! I also got the first 2 books of the twilight series and can't wait to tuck into them as so many people really love them... although the writing isn't supposed to be that good! And this did show in the movie, but if you put aside the bad acting, the cheesy one liners, and the pour writing skills... over all the movie was alright! Oh and the BEST part of the night - besides great friends and booze.... I got a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake!!! MY FAVOURITE!!! Thanks Ash!!!

Sunday was my actual birthday and I spent most of the day hungover.. 6am was too early to wake up but an aspirin and a BIG glass of water were calling my name!

I didn't have to do any cooking at all... Trevor took me out to breakkie at DeDutch, Kerry, Mika and Andrew took me out to Milestones for lunch, and I went out to Boci on Hastings for another friends birthday dinner!

And the one of the best things that happened for my birthday... Trevor bought me a kick butt GPS... and I LOVE IT... it talks to me, gets me places faster, shorter distances, no more paper maps... sigh... my car driving life is sooo much easier now!!!

May long weekend.

2009-05-19T22:27:00.001-07:00

I spent the start of the weekend having Kerry and Niki's little girls over for a sleep over! Aunty Chrissy was on her game! Niki went out with a girlfriend to see the Fleetwood Mac concert, and I got the girls! After fort making in my living room, playing wii, making bracelets, colouring, muffin making, bbq'ing dinner and giving presents, me and the girls curled up to watch a movie and were all asleep by 11. :)
Gracie is so funny, for the entire evening she was one happy little girl, by about half an hour in to our visit, she comes up to me and with a big grin on her face states ' Chris, I am SO HAPPY to be here!' she also had a cute one with Trevor, where he was telling her how cute she was but had turned away and didn't catch her whole response, and just caught her saying 'no', and he said yes you are cute, and she said ' yes, I KNOW' with hands on hips... oh Niki, you are going to have your hands full!

I took Mika to the local kids train ride park by my house on Saturday and then headed out to Kerry's new place for moving day. I spent a few hours helping her unpack, but was KNACKERED after spending 24 hours straight looking after the kids... seriously, I don't know how full time parents DO IT!!!
I had to stop in at Karen and Robs to get my adult quota and ended up staying for a few glasses of vino!
Sunday Karen and I decided to do the 10 Km walk around Burnaby Lake. I think this was the warmest day of the year as we were both sweating up a storm, but did the walk in 1 hr 45, and not my usual 2hr, 15! I then went out to dinner in White Rock with my friend Ashley and her sister for Ash's 28th Birthday... oh to still be in my 20's... sigh... we had a fantastic dinner, amazing view and great company!

Still no rest for the wicked, as I got up early today to pick up Lesley from the ferry for a day of visiting here in the lower mainland. We headed out to a huge scrap booking store in Langley where we both spent too much money, but I was able to get everything on sale! Had lunch at Earls... yummmy for their baked chicken, apple, fig jam and spinach on ciabatta bread...and as all Islanders have to do when they are here, we did an Ikea stop... somehow Les didn't buy anything and I walked out with a new computer chair - which I am sitting on now and it's pretty cumphy, and 2 new bathmats!~

Now on to the big news.... Trevor and I have decided................................................................................................................
No, we are not getting married.....................................................................................................................................
No, we are not having kids...........................................................................................................................

ok ok ok, well we have decided to put our place up for sale and we are going to upsize to a 2 or 3 bedroom townhouse! we are still on the look - we spent a few hours last night looking around and there are definitly some good prospects out there... With the interest rates dropping to all time lows of a 3.85% for a 5 year fixed... we can be paying almost the same as we do now for almost double the space! How can we say no to that?
So hopefully the next time any of you come out to visit we will actually HAVE a REAL bedroom for you to sleep in!!! Yeah! so fingers crossed we find something we like, and fingers crossed we find a buyer for ours!!!

Hawaii Tuesday /Wednesday

2009-05-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Our last 2 days were filled with lots of adventure. I was able to get out with Ocean Concepts again on the Waianae side of the island and do 2 more dives. The first dive was a deep one down to 100 feet. This was the most colourful coral dive I've done in all the Hawaiian islands. The second dive was much more shallow at about 40 feet but we saw alot more sea life here; Scorpion fish, peacock flounder, turtles and octopus.

Trev and I then headed into Ala Moana Shopping centre - one of the most expensive places to shop, but due to the great shopping tutelage over the years from Karen, I was still able to find a few deals! We then headed into Waikiki to wander and market shop before we met up with Tracey and Ron to go to Red Lobster for dinner. My mum is always commenting on how she wants to go to Red Lobster in the states. For some reason I always had it in my head it was like a Denny's of seafood, when it's actually more like The Keg for seafood - basically.... YUMMMMMMMY.
We wander our way back through the hotels to see how the other half lives while on vacation... while nice, I still like the home 'hotel' at Tracey and Ron's best :)

Our last day,
Trevor decided that jumping out of an airplane at 14,000 feet seemed like a good idea... Ella and I both thought he was crazy, but Tracey wanted to be up there with him!!! After his jump he couldn't wipe the smile off his face if you paid him! We spend the rest of the day out at Waimea Bay on the north shore, floating in the crashing waves and working on our last chance tan time!

Tracey, Ron and Ella, THANK YOU SOOOO much for having us stay! I can't wait to have you back here!!!

Hawaii - Satruday, Sunday, Monday

2009-04-20T23:29:00.001-07:00

Saturday - We spent the morning shopping at the market that sets up 3 times a week outside the stadium here. As most of the wares for sale are of the tourist version, we only lasted about an hour before things were repeating and we didn't need to buy anymore- towels, t-shirts, kids dresses and jewelery were all added to my bill!

We then took the H3 Interstate to the east side of the island that crosses the beautiful mid island mountain chain... now being as this is an island it's a bit of an oxy-moron to call the H3 an interstate, but it was the only way the Hawaiian's could get the feds to chip in tax $$$ and pay for the most expensive highway in the US. 16 miles costing over 1.3 billion = 80 million per mile. Once on the other side the view opens up to a gorgeous coast line filled with white sandy beaches, coves and small off shore islands. Because Tracey and Ron are military they were able to get us on one of the no access to civilians/locals military beaches where the waves were perfect for boogie boarding and we didn't have to fight other people to ride them! So ride them we did!

side note: this is very GOOD exercise for your triceps!
After we left Bellows beach we headed over to Ford Island (the island right in the middle of Pearl Harbour that was bombed in the 41' attack) for a BBQ at one of their friends houses... some of the best ribs and egg rolls ever! The boys also got to try out a new toy... a skate board type thing with only one wheel in the front and back and it tipped from side to side to keep it moving.
Tracey and I then left the boys and headed off to target, newly opened here on the island and a favourite to both of us... i walked out with a new coat, jeans and a new dress!

Sunday - We were needing a day out of the sun, too many random burned bits that the suntan lotion missed... so we deemed this our shopping day. We hit the outlet malls Waikele, where Tracey and I both picked up new sandals at the Sketchers store and Trev actually loaded up on shoes and some clothes. We had another BBQ and Tracey made a FANTASTIC new bread. BEER bread. seriously we ALL need to make this stuff. takes about 2 minutes to mix and 1 hour to cook and feels like heaven to eat!

Monday - Trev and I got up at the ass crack of dawn to go trike flying when 2 minutes before we were about to leave they called to cancel due to high winds! boo on that - but we did get to go back to bed at least... Tracey, Ella, Trev and I all hit the north shore today. Climbed to an old Hawaiian sacrifice temple with a gorgeous view of the north shore and Waimea Bay - I wanted Trevor to pretend that I was being sacrificed on the altar but he didn't like the idea... too many boogie men ghosts around? ;) We went up as far at Turtle Bay hotel, snorkeled, lunched on the beach, then hit Sharks cove for more snorkeling where just as we were coming out of the water, the skies opened up and POURED, so home we came - to beautiful blue skies again, it's always sunny at Tracey's house!
Oh, did I also mention that Trevor has now decided to go SKY DIVING instead of trike flying on Wednesday before we fly out Wednesday night? I'll be there with the video camera for that one! That's for sure!!!

I'm heading out Scuba diving tomorrow, it's been a year and a half since my last dive, which also was here on the Waianae side of the island. Lets hope there are some turtles, lots of fish and NO sharks!

Centipeed Killing Tracey style

2009-04-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

Hawaii Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

2009-04-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

Wednesday departure day

Trevor and I made it to the airport, the plane and Oahu on time, all without killing each other! :) We decided to rent a car - I don't think I've ever rented a car from people so friendly... they must all be on some kind of happy drugs! - G6 Pontiac with airconditioning. A must here!

Thursday Day 1

We all headed off to Hanauma Bay. An old volcano cauldron that has been flooded by the ocean a few thousand years ago. The reef is now a national park where hundreds of people go everyday. We didn't see any turtles on our day there, but Tracey and I were able to get quite far out. I had only one run in with a coral rock - A nice bruise or two on my leg to show for it. Trevor's war wounds had him with blood runnin' down his legs for the rest of the day. I did pretty good on the sun block application.. all except for the part on my scalp and the tops of my feet! The rest of me was still glowing white! :) We then headed off to another beach stop to have a pizza pick nick while the sun went down.

Friday Day 2

Tracey and Ron took us to one of the airforce base beaches -Hickam. Only military are allowed on this beach so it keeps the tourist rif raf outta there. The sunblock didn't do as well for me today... i think i need to upgrade from SPF 15 to 50!

Ron did a huge BBQ, Georgian/Hawaiian style. Smokey joe ribs and teriyaki steak... all yummy

Courtenay for Easter weekend. :)

2009-04-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend at my Grams visiting and seeing my Mum. My friend Shelly came over with me and helped me pick out my my patio set! Summer BBQ's here I come! seating 6 comfortably! - I decided this was better use of my wii that I won a few weeks ago at a conference! So thanks Hearing aids!

Mum cooked a lovely ham Easter dinner and we spent part of Saturday out at Kye Bay Beach watching the Snow birds practice. The sound of the engines roaring only a few hundred feet above our heads is always a fun way to spend an afternoon!!!

Any Veterans or Retired RCMP in your family?

2009-04-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

I've been working in the hearing field for 2 years now... holy moly time has flown by... But there has been a recurring theme with so many of my patients that come in.

I want to educate ALL of you - if you have ANY family members or friends that have ever served in the RCMP or Canadian military they are eligible for pension benefits as well as coverage for hearing aids.

So get your friends and family tested! Even if they have a hearing loss but aren't ready for hearing aids, they could be missing out on HUNDREDS/THOUSANDS of dollars of pension money they didn't know they were entitled too! I've had some of my patients come back and tell me that because of me, they got cheques in back pension for 6-10 thousand $$ and are now getting pensions of up to $700 a month!!!

I have posted some info below and here is the web site:
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=services

"The Pension Act (Opens a New Window), which is administered exclusively by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), provides pension awards to those suffering from disabilities related to military service, either during peace or war time. The pension award is based on the extent of the disability, as verified by a medical examination, and paid in accordance with rates set out in the Act.

When a disability pensioner dies, the spouse/common-law partner may receive, for a period of one year, the same pension amount being paid to the pensioner at the time of death. After the one year, a survivor will receive a survivor's pension. Surviving children may be eligible for orphan benefits following a pensioner's death. Surviving spouses/surviving common-law partners who remarry will continue to receive survivor benefits.

War Veterans Allowance (WVA) is a form of financial assistance that ensures eligible clients are provided with a regular monthly income to meet basic needs. Eligibility is based on wartime service, age or health, income and residence. Female applicants must be 55. An Allowance may be awarded at an earlier age if individuals are unable to fully support themselves. Applicants must reside in Canada at the time of application. WVA is paid on a monthly basis according to marital status and number of dependents.

The receipt of a disability pension or WVA serves as a gateway to other programs and services. VAC's Health Care Program provides veterans and other eligible clients with health care benefits, including treatment benefits, Veterans Independence Program and personalized health care services such as advice and information, needs assessment, advocacy, and referrals."

Kelowna 5 days...

2009-03-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

first off before I go into what i did last week... I have to tell you about what happened to me about 2 weeks ago.

I was out driving to a retirement home to do a hearing health care information session for work, not too many blocks from my office, on a very busy 4 laned street across the road from Coquitlam Centre mall ... I see a little boy about 2 or 3 years old standing about 2 inches from the curb yelling at the cars and trucks going by... without an adult in sight. I pulled over as fast as I could, as did the car in front of me and ran up to him and got him off the sidewalk... disturbing as it is that this little toddler is out on a busy street by himself is the fact that about 30 other cars were in front of me and behind me and only the ONE other car stopped!!! what the hell is wrong with people in society today!??? I know we are busy and people don't like to get in other peoples business, but I was busy, on my way to a job, and when I saw that little kid standing there by himself I freaked out!!! anyway, another lady on the sidewalk called the cops and within about 10-15 minutes they were there... and STILL there was no sigh of any adult even looking for this kid!!! It makes me sick to think about it. One of the other ladies that was on the sidewalk said she had seen this little guy out alone before - this wasn't the first time! He couldn't speak more than a few words and couldn't tell us his name. How sick is it that anyone could have stopped and taken him and his stupid parents would have never know what happened to him....

Ok on to the past week...

I had a conference to go to in Kelowna from Wednesday to Friday. My company flew me out and put us up in the Delta Grand Okanagan hotel right on the lake. It's a great spot. My friend Shelly was also at the conference - not that we don't already see each other about 3 times a week at the gym, but it was nice to hang in normal clothes and not just the same ol' gym attire! anywho, drinks every night, meeting new people, new info and tonnes of free conference gifts ( status quo at this conference every year) ... But I also won a WII!!!! I had a feeling... or maybe it was hope... they always have draws for great prizes and I won this one! I know we already have a wii... so I might return it and get a wii fit or a new video camera ... I just can't actually remember ever winning anything big before!... oh shit, i should have gone out and bought a lotto ticket!

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Shelly and I were able to meet up with a ship friend of ours Chinook on Thursday night, my friend Jen came down from Vernon on Friday night ( Jen i'm so sorry I got drunk... but somehow we talked for almost 7 hours straight) - i needed the fluid! :)

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Then Saturday morning My sister Niki and my niece Grace came up from Penticton to pick me up for the night! Grace has gotten so big, and she was my little sidekick for the next 36 hours and I loved it... we did drop her off for the night at her dads so niki and i could go out for her birthday, she started crying as we left... she never does that and nic said it was cause she was lovin' me. ;) Unconditional love is so great. I do see why people want kids... don't worry, I still just love other peoples kids and giving them back ;)
Now you may be wondering at this point who the kid in the bed with the bucket is... well it's a friend of my 15 year old nephew... we found him passed out in Grace's bed ( pink comforter and all with the bucket ready and waiting... of course I had to take a photo... ) blackmail is a wonderful thing... hehehe

Owner of my own Travel search engine Website!!!

2009-03-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

I've now started a new business venture~!

It's perfect for me.

It's an on-line travel engine that sells travel, car rentals, hotels, flights, cruises, and even flowers and concert tickets! (so no more ticketmaster fees!)

It's called YTB. (like Expedia or Orbitz) except that if you or I, book on my website - of course only if it's cheaper than the other travel engines out there - then I make the commissions instead of the conglomerates! that is just a small bonus... It now means that I have my own home based business which gives me write offs on almost everything... hydro, rent, gas, car, cell phone, internet etc... and get to write off ALL my travel!!!

So if you're going traveling, check my sight to see if the same flights and trips and event tickets, cost less than the other travel engines:

www.funescapes.org

If you want to have something like this for yourself - who wouldn't want to be able to write off all their travel, scuba diving, concert tickets, flights etc...
you can get more info on my business page:

www.funescapes.biz

or email

info@funescapes.org

Skiing again...

2009-03-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

So after almost 3 seasons of being out of order, Left ACL 2 years ago, Left Ankle last year... I was a little nervous about getting back on the horse. But last weekend I hit Cypress with my upstairs neighbour Jen - We had a GREAT day out. My calf muscles were SCREAMING, my legs a burnin' but it felt so gooood!

I decided to hit Whistler/Blackcomb yesterday with my friend Tracy (from baseball) and we had a beautiful morning skiing on Whistler then after lunch we took the new peak to peak gondola to Blackcomb and skiied over there for the afternoon... all in all we did about 9 runs. But when each run can b anywhere from 15 minutes to 50 minutes long... quite a bit more skiing there than the 5 minute runs on Cypress!!!

Feb 18 - 25th

2009-03-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

A week of freedom?....

sort of, definitely a week of sleeping in the middle of the bed, leaving the house clean and coming home to the same clean house... Trevor away visiting his family up in Dawson Creek.

I kept myself super busy every night having friends over for dinner, movie nights, wii nights. My friend Trish came over on the Friday night and started me on a friend bread exchange... Amish sweet bread, it's a 10 day process but a very yummy treat to make at the end of it all!

I had Mika come over the Saturday night for a sleep over. She wanted to see a movie so we went to Coraline - in 3D which was very cool!

On Sunday Ashley and I (my card making fanatic of a friend) bought a new toy to make cards with. it's Called Big shot and we LOVE it... I think my sister was getting a kick out of seeing how excited we were over a machine that embosses and cuts paper... sad I know, but fun none-the-less...needless to say all of you will be getting birthday cards and xmas cards with embossing on them.... :)

Trevor came home the Wednesday night and I took him for a surprise date to the New Richmond Olympic Oval. Its a huge venue... I now have a much better appreciation for how fast the speed skaters go!!! cause what takes them about 30 seconds... took me about 3 minutes!!!! :) The first couple of rounds for both of us were a bit wobbly... we both felt about 5 years old again, but after we got our ice legs back we were racing each other and whipping around no problem!... well I say no problem, but actually I found a few muscles in my ass I had forgotten about and we pushed ourselves to be out there after 30 minutes... but at 15 minutes we were already starting to look at our watches... :)

Valentines Day weekend.

2009-03-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

I went over to Courtenay to visit my grandma for the weekend. It's always so relaxing over there. No lists to have to get done, sleeping in, meals made, newspaper to read, card games to play... :)

I did make my Gram go for 2 walks with me though.. poor girl, hasn't gone for a 5 minute walk let alone 2, 1 hour walks, in years!

Out of all the places to go shopping we did decide to wander around the Courtenay mall (bustling metropolis of about 10 stores) and I walked away with 2 new outfits! go figure!

Do you ever have those moments that remind you of why you left small town and moved to the big city.... well we hit a local pub called the Whistle Stop. I felt like I'd been transported back to Langford... small town, grubby pub, with some grubby folk, 50/50 raffles for pork chops and roasts, but damb fine food! :) I love the nostalgia of it all!

Friday Night ISU Figure Skating

2009-02-08T23:14:00.000-08:00

My friend Karen was able to get her hands on some tickets for the ISU 4 continents figure skating competion on Friday night. It's a bit like the worlds and is one of the competitions leading up to the Olympics. We were at the ladies Free skate(long program) It was a GREAT night of figure skating and Canada came in 2nd! this is a short clip of one of our Canadian skaters. :)

Party at my house last night for Rita

2009-02-08T22:38:00.000-08:00

We had a house/games party last night. Mostly in honour of Rita being in Town from New Zealand.

A number of years ago my mum, bought me some fun drinking glasses that don't sit flat on the table... she mostly had Rita in mind when you she bought them for me... and this is the fun that Rita got up to with them... hehehe

It was mostly a games night of cards and Wii... maybe a few bevvies thrown in. Our friend Caresse has a new guy, Dave. I have to say, his drink making skills far surpass mine. He is welcome in my house any day!!!

Rita's Surprise Wedding shower!

2009-02-01T23:24:00.001-08:00

We were a little anxious that the surprise factor wouldn't be wrecked and we weren't disappointed!!!!

Karen and I headed out to Abby yesterday early to set up the downstairs party rooms of Rita's parents house. Her sisters had taken her out for a 'sister's' lunch :)
The plan was for everyone to be at the house by 3 pm and Rita home soon after. But in pure Rita fashion, she had her mind set on getting a movie, but not just any movie, it had to be a SPECIFIC movie... so 3 stores later and an hour LATE, she finally arrived to her own surprise wedding shower. :)

Rita came home!!! January 23/24th

2009-02-01T23:13:00.000-08:00

WE started off on a night out at a photographers presentation on his travels in Africa... beautiful photos and a great way to see if you want to go there too!
The group then headed out to Milestones(rita was craving) for a late night dinner.
Saturday was spent looking at wedding dresses for Rita and Bridesmaid dresses for us. And we found both! Our dress is a very knee length, simple v-neck in the front and back, with a tie around sash in a different colour.
A group of all of Rita's friends all headed out to a downtown restaurant, Azia. i did find some food to eat... no spice no rice in an asian restaurant eh? :) Teh night continued out at a club on Granville st. Republic... now maybe it's been a while since i've been into a club... but it cost $18 EACH to get in!!!! YIKES! So we made the most of it, dancing till 1 and having a few bevvies to boot!
No hangover on Sunday and we spent the afternoon have a girls day at the mall getting pedi's and shopping! A great weekend to welcome Rita home!

January 17/18

2009-02-01T22:46:00.000-08:00

This weekend was spent helping my friend Shelly pick out her wedding dress. Karen and I had had a wedding planning 'intervention' earlier in the week to get her started! By Saturday the dress was picked out and bought!
Saturday night was Ashley and Dave's Engagement party at her mum's house. There were lots of yummy appy's and they were able to get their wine bar stocked from all their friends! We know you well Ash!

2009 Wedding MADNESS!!!

2009-01-15T23:13:00.000-08:00

Ok so this year is nuts for weddings! up to this point I've had maybe one friend a year getting married over the past 5 years... this summer in 2 months alone I have FOUR.

July 11th in Saskatoon for my friend Georgie (worked together on ships)

July 27thish my friend Shelly (I'll be the videographer)

August ish my friend Ashley (I'm a bridesmaid)

Sept 5 my friend Rita (maid of honour)

So just in the past week alone I've been to the wedding fair with Ashley, shopping for invitation materials with Ashley - so we can hand make her invites, wedding dress shopping with Shelly and planning for the past 3 nights, and then Ashley's Engagement party this saturday! Rita is coming in from New zealand this coming week and we'll be spending big parts of the next few weekends helping her to find a dress, find us bridesmaid dresses, plan party's etc!!! crazyness! then we'll be shopping for our bridesmaid dresses for Ashley's wedding somewhere in all this as well! :)

I think I thrive on madness!

I must.

or I'm crazy.

or I just really love my friends....

I think the later.... :)

So needless to say I have to fit into a bunch of dresses this summer... I'm on a health/workout kick... hopefully one that will stick around a bit better this year! Putting myself first somewhere in all this... at least getting to the gym after work 4-5 times a week....

Just some Christmas day photos

2009-01-15T22:59:00.001-08:00

December fun...

2008-12-28T15:47:00.001-08:00

Well needless to say the past 2 weeks of weather has been MENTAL. snow snow and oh look, more snow. I haven't been to the gym - but really when you have to spend an hour shoveling this bloody white stuff who needs the gym???

These photos don't even show the extent of how much snow we actually got... Christmas eve we got another 40 cm's on top of these photos and another 10 cm on boxing day. it's plus 8 c right now and it's all starting to melt away, but our cars and side walks are completely snow plowed in! it's crazyness!!! - you can tell Trevor was having fun digging out his car... this was the first time... by time 4 he wasn't any happier!!!

To all my east coast friends... how the hell do you think putting up with this kind of weather for 5 months of the year is somehow better than 5 months of rain? I don't get it at all!!! If i want the snow I usually just go up to a local ski hill and get my fix then come back to my lovely green grass, no snow shoveling, non slippery roads world...

Karen and Rob had a Christmas party on the 20th and most of us made it despite the snow! It was great catching up with Ronda and Kim and Ian... I never seem to be able to actually catch up with people properly when I'm hosting...

Christmas was good this year. My mum was able to come over from the island and stayed xmas eve with Trev and I. then Christmas day we headed over to my sister Kerry's house. It's the 1st xmas we've spent with Marika (now 8 years old) and I think the first Christmas I've spent with my sister since we were in high school!!!
Trevor and I had already gotten ourselves a new 46 inch flat screen in November for our present to ourselves, but we did do stocking stuffer size pressies. We ended up getting 6 new Wii games and put some of our xmas money towards an HD PVR for our new TV - I LOVE IT. HD rocks, and having stop, FF , RW and pause and record for live TV is the best... jsut what i needed, more excuses to watch more TV!!!

Today I've finally been able to sleep in, clean house, and catch up on the computer... needless to say it's 4 pm and i'm still in my Pj's... so not me eh? :)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you are safe and happy for New Years!

winter cooties...

2008-12-20T00:52:00.000-08:00

so last weekend I was susposed to head off to Penticton with my nephew Tyson to celebrate his sisters 3rd birthday... however the weather was NOT cooperating and with snow tires costing about $800 bucks, I had to forgo the trip. Probably a good thing though as I did end up coming down with the flu/cold this week. This has been quite the fall for cooties as I lost my voice with a cold about 4-5 weeks ago... needless to say, Trevor liked that cold, I literally couldn't 'nag' him about anything as I couldn't speak! ;)

However this bug has kept me shivering and sweating all at the same time for a week!

I decided to drink it out of me tonight with a bottle of wine, card games and pool at a friends house nearby... I hope I wake up better tomorrow....

Mc'Loves xmas party, Dec 6th

2008-12-20T00:29:00.000-08:00

I picked Jen up from the airport Friday night for our now, annual, girls weekend. We spent Saturday beautifying ourselves (waxing and nails done) breakie out, booze buying, and Ikea shopping. Jen as an ex-produce chiquita made me some amazing veggie and fruit platters and helped set up for the swaray... A fun night of drinking, eating a chatting with about 25 friends was a great way to start the holiday season! My sister Kerry, even brought TWO kegs of beer to be drunken... although I don't think we put a dent in them.. but fun none-the-less!!!

ummmm, dare i admit this....

2008-11-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

ok, here goes....

My friend Patricia invited me to a concert for Friday night... I love concerts. We have already gone to Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake together...

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK, were calling our names.... hehehe... We had the nose bleed tickets for 20 bucks, but as soon as we got there they upgraded us to 11 row seats from the floor! Well again, who am I to say no to that!?

The opening acts were great! Lady Gaga - sings the new 'lets dance' and 'poker face' dance tunes and Natasha Beddingfield from England .. she has too many hit songs to count! both were great... NKOTB... were better than I thought actually... the guys were shorter than I remembered... but it was over 15 years ago they were hits... definitly a cheesy spot or two when shirts were being ripped off and crotches being grabbed... but over all a really entertaining night! Thanks Patricia!!!!

Mum and Gram visit Nov 14-17

2008-11-23T10:34:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to get my Gram to come over and visit again for 2 years! My Mum and I finally got her over here last weekend. FOr us this was quite a family reunion - my sisters family came out for dinner - Kerry Andrew and Mika, and Trevor and I and my mum and gram... for those of you that get to Vancouver, you HAVE to eat one dinner out at Antons on Hastings... the best pasta EVER.. and huge portions that will feed you for 3 more days!

Saturday we spent shopping at Ikea and looking at the deals and Linens and things... although not great going out of business deals there yet...We also heard that after leaving us at the restaurant the night before, Kerry had gone home and had broken her ankle! We thought she was kidding us when she called! but no, she's as clutzy as me it seems and was just walking over to her friends front door and her ankle turned inon itself and she broke it!... she fell and took her friend down with her too, but no injury's there!

Sunday My mum took my sister (in a wheelchair!) and I out to Walmart where we both treated ourselves to brand new LCD HDTV's - 46 inches of TV heaven!! Trevor and I decided this was our present to each other this year. :) So now we just have to try it our with our Wii!!... oh and probably upgrade to a blue ray player... and get digital tv... HD will come later when we can afford the HD box... did I mention I think we opened a can of worms???

Steph's weekend visit November 8-9th

2008-11-23T10:18:00.000-08:00

Steph came out for a quick surprise visit to Victoria! So Off I went for Saturday night visit. Going back to Steph's parents place always feels like going home to me. Lots of fun times were had in that house! :)

We visited with her sister Kristy, who is also 7 months pregnant, and all the extended family. Steph is extremely crafty - the whole family is artsy... so our art project for christmas is below and some of the weekend. :)