Previous, Photos, Picture

A picture tells a thousand words they say. So here is a little collage of some of the pictures from this past year that were randomly selected by facebook. Obviously there were a lot more to choose from but I really liked this selection! :) More to come!

Canucks, Cookies, Christmas

Had a great day today. Baked Christmas sugar cookies with a friend and it was so great to decorate them all beautifully!! And finished assembling most of my furniture. sigh. haha.. there's a few stories there for sure. Then Des and I went to the Canucks game which was fantastically fun. Next time we're making a sign to bring. :) Yeah for cheering loud and dancing!! I'm excited for the weekend too.. Have some out of town guests coming out so that will be great to see them! And below is a picture of my favorite little man. :) Have a good day!

Sick, Socks, Silly

I have much to post about but dont' feel like posting about any of it! hehehe.. But I'm wearing really cool socks right now so that's got to count for something. I was taking pictures of myself on photobooth today and thought i'd post one of myself so you wouldn't think i put my hair up in braided buns all the time and cake on the makeup.. hehehe..

Here are some more pictures from Aladdin. I think I'm in them somewhere...



My house is returning to it's less chaotic state and that is nice and feels nice. Dishwasher is getting installed Friday so I will have the use of both sinks and my dishwasher again! YAY! And I have a bunch of new furniture that was brutal to assemble but I really like it and it looks great!! :)

Only 14 days until my birthday!! Turning a quarter of a century and I'm really excited for being 25.. I feel like it's going to be an awesome year with some new seasons and newness of perspective and where I'm at in life as well (hopefully not insanely busy). So I'm excited for all that is coming and also to go to South America and Antarctica in less than a month!! EEEE!! Great way to start the year and my year of being 25!! :)

Okay now I"m off to watch some Gilmore Girls with Kristen! Have a great day all!!

I've been reading a couple great books lately so I will share some thoughts on them soon!! Once my brain starts working again! The day my musical ended my body decided it had held out long enough and completely shut down!! I'll be up to snuff soon enough, I just have to keep denying the fact that i'm sick.. hehe

Finished, Finale, Fun

Today was our final performance of Aladdin!! Kind of sad to be done, because it was a lot of fun, but it will be nice to have free evenings again! Who knows if I will know what to do with myself now that I'm done! On the final performance, people play pranks and stuff one each other (as long as it doesn't interfere with the show it's fine). So, there were some points during it that were quite funny (the audience wouldn't necessarily get the extra humor, but we definitely did!) During the final number I actually almost burst out laughing mid song as I saw the little Olympic mascots zipline across the stage. :)

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the show and thanks to those who came out to see it! Definitely felt supported by family and friends and it was always extra fun knowing I had people I knew in the audience. My hair and makeup was my best attempt at looking "Asian" since it was set in China. The people we worked with were fantastic and I have really enjoyed some of the new friendships I have built as a result of being in the show. Great people and a lot of fun!!
And in other news, still amidst renovation insanity. haha. I feel like everything is chaos. I started moving a few more things around today, but it still feels nuts. I was getting a new dishwasher installed and last minute, it was realized that the new one wouldn't hook up as easily.. so now i have no dishwasher and the right sink leaks through the dishwasher hose.. so I am stuck to half a sink in which to wash and rinse dishes-fun! Oh well soon it will all be done and it will be fantastic! Pictures coming as soon as I find my camera cord, along with many other pictures!

Have a great day!

Bathroom, Boxes, Baking

Happy December 1st!! Crazy that it's is already December but also very exciting!! I write to you as I am house-trapped. Hehe.. I've had people in and out of the house working on stuff the last couple of days so I've needed to be home. The only problem is that most of the rooms are being worked on, leaving me nowhere to go!! hehe.. So that has been making me feel a little crazy. But since my living room is full of boxes, I have been organizing and throwing out and giving away a lot of stuff!!

Yesterday, a few girls from the youth group I help out with came over to bake cookies. Last month we went into Vancouver to hand out sandwiches to the homeless. So this Friday for their Christmas party, we're handing out sandwiches and cookies, so we figured we'd make some fun shaped sugar cookies to hand out. It was a lot of fun to bake together and our cookies looked pretty great! Except for the minor incident where one slipped off the pan, into the oven and lit on fire, everything went off without a hitch!! :)


In the upstairs of my house, I've had to move stuff around a lot in order for the different flooring to be put in. So last night I saved myself a few trips down the stairs and packed the bathroom full of stuff. When I glanced upstairs it made me laugh because of how full the bathroom is!! :) Soon it will be done and then I will have the arduous task of putting away all my books and everything else. But I will be setting up myself an office space, so I'm excited to finally have somewhere to do my work!! I'm contemplating organizing my books using the Dewey Decimal system but I figure that would take far too much time!! So maybe I'll wait for a rainy day!! Have a great day and there will be pictures of renos coming soon I promise! :)

Panto, Pictures, Play

Here are some pictures from Aladdin! I took none of them. Some of them are taken by Delta Cable, some by Surrey Now. If you want to check out a slideshow and one of our songs, click here.

The two lead dancers: Bizzy and Jason

Widow Twankey (Peter) and the Evil Abanazer (Arne)

Dressing room photo of Rosie (Swankey Poo in the show)

Group shot during our final number

Prince Aladdin

Swankey Poo and Princess So Posh

The infamous panto animal, otherwise known as Donald Trunk!

Hope you've enjoyed the photos and if you have any interest in coming to see it, tickets are still for sale! I will even sign your program afterwards! ;)

Painting, Purple, Perfect

My friend Lindie flew out this week from Calgary to come and see my show. While she was here, we painted! (somehow I feel like I have already mentioned this though...) Anyway, here are some before pictures. I hated the shade of yellow that was in the rooms and now they are purple and green!! YAY! A little bit bold, but I LOVE them! So excited to put all the furniture and stuff back in the room.

And my disclaimer here is that my hair doesn't look like that normally.. haha I did it for the show! :)
Today I'm getting new flooring in my bedroom and on the stairs and tomorrow I'm getting new laminate in the two rooms I just painted-can't wait! (well i have to wait because they still haven't arrived-haha).. Anyway, once the floorings in and the furniture is back in, I will post pictures of the final product!! Pretty excited! :)

Gala, Grand, Green

I wasn't going to post because I'm too tired to go find my camera cord and I wanted to include pictures with this post, but I figure a written post is better than no post, right?

Tonight was our Gala Grand Opening of Aladdin! We had previews the last two nights but tonight was the night where a lot of past people came all dressed up and stuff. So far the shows have been great! The first night was a bit rocky in the second act, but all the kinks have now been worked out it seems!! I am enjoying it a lot and look forward to doing two performances tomorrow! I will post pictures soon of my stunning makeup and hair!! hehe.. My favorite part of tonight was when someone's wig fell off onstage. It's also quite fun watching people improvise when they completely forget their lines at one part! :) The audience probably doesn't notice, but once you've seen it so many times, you know what goes where!

Lindie came to visit yesterday. She flew out to come see my show and her and Desiree went. it was great to have them there cheering me on! And I got some flowers for my live performance-how sweet! :) Then Lindie and I decided to be ambitious and paint two rooms in my house today. They are fairly bold but I LOVE the way they turned out. Okay, one room still needs one coat of paint, but it will be great! And I'm getting new flooring and baseboards next week, so it didn't matter if paint got all over the floor! So it was kind of fun not having to care as much! And I can tell my painting skills have improved (or maybe that's just because Lindie was cutting in instead of me!) I will post before and after pictures soon!! Well I will wait until the flooring is in before I take those pics. I'm pretty excited-finally my house will be the way I've been wanting it for so long! It's really fun to personalize my living space. Kind of chaotic for the time being, but the end result will be great. And my basement repairs (after my sewage backup flood) are starting on Monday (after three long months-thanks strata). So yay for that happening as well!!

And now I must be off to sleep seeing that i have ensemble practice tomorrow morning followed by two performances!! :) Have a great weekend!

"Weekend", Whistler, Wacky

Quite a few weeks ago, actually the week after I quit my job, two friends that I met at work, Lori and Karen were going to Whistler for a night, so seeing that I had the days off suddenly, I decided to join them. It was a quick trip but was fun to get away and just chill! We almost saw some bears too! We chased them but no luck.

Trying on my favorite KnitWit hats!

The fall colors were absolutely stunning! (and so were we...)

The good ol' hat shop. I've decided that I have the potential of being a hat person. I should look into that! :)

Lori and Karen posing with the cow.. not quite sure what they're doing!

We stopped at Shannon Falls on the way back. I love waterfalls so whenever I have the chance to go back to some of my favorite ones, I take it! :)

And so ends our two day stint in Whistler. I know these pictures are all back dated but I figure I have catch up to do on blogging, so I figure I will post the pictures now. Sorry if my sudden posting madness is too much!

Blind, Bullock, Beefy

Last night I went to see the movie "Blind Side". It's based on a true story. I hadn't heard of it actually, but a friend wanted to see it, so we went. What a great movie! It had a fantastic mix of funny and sentimental and was just really inspiring. Especially as to how you treat other people and so forth. I highly recommend it!


It's a movie about a boy from the projects who gets taken in by a wealthy, Christian family and they help him reach his full potential. It's a sports movie too, but I liked it that you don't have super long stretches of sports that you watch, because sometimes that can get long in a movie. So, here's my recommendation if you are looking for a great movie to go see!! :)

Memoir, Meaningful, Miller

Good morning! So, I just finished my first noteworthy book that I wanted to share on my blog. Ad I'm on a blogging kick besides to make up for lost time. :) I just finished Donald Miller's newest book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years." He's the author of several other books, including Blue Like Jazz and Through Painted Desserts. Although I have loved every one of his books, this one was probably my most favorite.

In the book, he goes through him editing his life in order to make a screenplay and the lessons he learns along the way about story and creating a meaningful story with your life. Very funny read but also very inspiring at the same time. Makes me reflect on my life and look at what parts of it are truly memorable and how I can move my life in a direction so as to create more meaning and memories in my life.

So, here are a few quotes from the book that I really enjoyed:

"Somehow we realize that great stories are told in conflict, but we are unwilling to embrace the potential greatness of the story we are actually in. We think God is unjust, rather than a master storyteller."

"We were designed to live through something rather than to attain something, and the thing we were meant to live through was designed to change us. The point of a story is the character arc, the change."

"So as I was writing my novel, and as my characters did what he wanted, I became more and more ware that somebody was writing me. So I started listening to the Voice, or rather, I started calling it the Voice and admitting there was a Writer. I admitted something other than me was showing a better way. And when I did this, I realized the Voice, the Writer who was not e, was trying to make a better story, a more meaningful series of experiences I could live through."

"People fear change. Though their situations may be terrible, at least they have a sense of control; at least they know what to expect. Change presents a world of variables that are largely out of their control." There is a fear of choosing a better story, because although the current situation is not ideal, it is comfortable and familiar. So we stay.

"The most often repeated commandment in the Bible is "Do not fear." It's in there over two hundred times. That means a couple of things, if you think about it. It means we are going to be afraid, and it means we shouldn't let fear boss us around. Before I realized we were supposed to fight fear, I thought of fear as a subtle suggestion in our subconscious designed to keep us safe, or more important, keep us from getting huiliated. And I guess it serves that purpose. But fear isn't only a guide to keep us safe; it's also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life."

"Its true that while ambition creates fear, it also creates the story. But it's a good trade, because as soon as you point toward a horizon, life no longer feels meaningless."

"A good movie has memorable scenes, and so does a good life"

"We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us life doesn't mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It's a good calling, then to speak a better story. How brightly a better story shines. How easily the world looks to it in wonder. How grateful we are to hear these stories, and how happy it makes us to repeat them."

So, those are a few of the quotes I found especially inspiring. If it sounds interesting at all to you, I'd encourage you to grab the book and give it a read. And let me know what you think when you do. This book has got me thinking a ot about my own life and the memorable scenes that I have lived, but also looking forward as to how I can make more room in my life for God to create within it meaningful scenes. I'm in a time of change and there is a lot that is unknown and the thought often invokes fear of many different kinds. But excitement as well, knowing that this can be used and formed into something great. Not even just the end product, but the process in getting there, which is essentially even more important. As I've oft heard, "the goal is the process". How true.

Think about actions you can take that you may not have otherwise taken that can make your life more meaningful today and be sure to take time to remember the meaningful parts from the past and celebrate them!

Aladdin, Arts, Auditions

I love musicals.

Whenever I watch a musical, everything in me longs to be on stage. I absolutely love to sing, perform and also to dance/move around. It's been in me since I was young and I feel incredibly inspired and passionate when doing those things. Being in a musical is indeed on my list of 100 things to do before I die. It's something I've never pursued. Until now. I saw on a friend's facebook that there were auditions for Aladdin the Pantomime coming up and I figured, if I wanted to be in a musical, it would probably be a pretty good idea to actually audition for one.. So I auditioned back in September and got offered a part in the chorus!


So I'm pretty stoked. Since September, we have been practicing three times a week so it's been fairly intense but I have been absolutely loving it! It's been great to get to know an entirely new group of people and to just enjoy the time of learning our different parts, songs, choreography, etc. I have been deeply blessed by the people in the show with me and am excited to be performing alongside of them!

The show opens this Wednesday night!! And it plays for two weeks!! So if you are interested, you should definitely come out! And if you know young kids, it is kid friendly as well and a great thing to do before the holidays! Plus you will get to see me! (double bonus right there).
Today we had our cue to cue which was our technical rehearsal. It was long, but super fun to be in the theatre with all the props and set and everything for the first time!! It's been so great seeing the show come together and seeing how a show is in fact put together. Makes me appreciate it at a far greater level now when watching! Tuesday is our dress rehearsal which will be fun. I'm looking forward to doing my makeup and hair for the show. Plus the dressing room is pretty sweet too!! So I'm excited all around and hope to see some of you there! If you decide to come, let me know what night you will be there so I can say hi after the show!

Cousins, Cookies, Crazies

Tonight I am reminded of what a great family I have. A bunch of my cousins and I got together tonight to make a traditional family/Mennonite cookie that our Omi always makes. So we all went to my cousins' house in Langley and enjoyed dinner together and let the cookie making begin. Desiree and I usually make jam jams, but we were making the hidden jams which we often try to make because a couple of our cousins love them. However, usually something goes wrong. Tonight everything went off without a hitch and they were probably the best ones we've ever made! And it was a great time-lots of fun with a big group of people!

My favorite part was when I phoned my Omi to get the recipe. Here's how our coversation went:
Me: Hey Omi! Can we get the recipe for the hidden jam cookies?
Omi: Okay, let me get it. Okay, you put in (okay i don't remember the exact amounts)... sugar, honey, syrup and flour. And that's it.
Me: Um.. Aren't there spices or some other ingredients in there?
Omi: Nope, that's everything.
Me: Are you sure?
Omi: Oh... wait, yes, there's eggs, cream, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon...

Hahaha.. we had a good laugh at that one. Luckily we got the entire recipe! I took a bunch of pictures but I have no idea where my camera cord is, so once my house is back in order after all the renos after the basement flood and such, I will upload them, so something to look forward to. But I figured I'd post since I'm back to posting now and all.. :) Have a great Sunday!

Seattle, Selebration, Stormy, Seasons

First off, I want to let you know that I indeed do know how to spell celebration.. was just using my artistic license. A few weeks ago, my friend Alisha and I headed down to Seattle for a celebration weekend! We had both quit our jobs and were celebrating the start of new seasons in our lives, excited for what is yet to come and thankful to our jobs for having brought us together as friends! We went to see Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat which was fantastic. The character development of the brothers especially was great. I liked some of the different things they did with it to add flair.

Although it had been quite stormy, it was good that we had nice weather for the time when we were there! All the fall colors and leaves everywhere was stunning! :)


We went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch after which I didn't need to eat dinner.. or early the next day either!! haha.. SO good!! :)
So all in all a fabulous weekend away and definitely a blessing to walk around and chat about life and God, etc. Very encouraging and inspiring indeed! And that picture is of a monster salad that Alisha had!! haha

The next weekend, I had a hotel booked because I had bought my mom tickets to the Billy Joel/Elton John concert in Seattle that weekend which was unfortunately postponed but i was left with my hotel! My mom was going away so opted out of going, so my friend Theresa said she was able to come which was fantastic! The view from our hotel was stunning!! It was funny though because the hotel we were in was so "structurally sound" that it sways when it's windy. haha. So all night we could hear the walls creaking which in actuality was the hotel moving. I could not stop laughing every time the walls creaked even though it felt like our hotel might fall apart!!
It took us awhile to get out of the hotel back to the parkade on the evening we were going out. So we found the basement with all the danger signs posted. We decided it was picture worthy of course. :) We left the hotel, drove around, realized it would be far easier to just walk there and drove back to the parkade and walked. hahahaha

All in all, another wonderul getaway to Seattle! Nice and relaxing and just fun to get away with people I don't normally go away with!

Haha, Happy, hopeful

So I just looked at my last post where I talked about the fact that I would blog more in my free time. And then I went and blocked my blog. hahaha.. Sorry about that. Well, not really, because it was intentional. I'm just trying to decide whether I like the idea of blogging or not. WEll, I like it well enough, but then I don't like that people can know all about me without ever having to talk to me and such. It's an interesting society we live in with facebook, twitter and all that other technology that we dont' even need to interact with people anymore yet we can know all about them. That doesn't always sit well with me. However, I like to blog and I like people to read what I blog and so forth, so I guess the pull will be to keep doing it. :) Just be sure to say hello every once in a while.

And for now, I'm off to the pool to swim some laps but hope this finds you well on this fabulously rainy Friday! Enjoy your day! And I will probably blog very soon again so stay posted! :)

Burntout, Break, Bye

Friday was my last day at work. I left really suddenly, more suddenly than I would have liked, but that's okay. And no, I wasn't fired. :) I gave my two weeks notice on Friday but they said I didn't need to do my two weeks which is fine by me. The only sucky thing is that my shift ended at 1:30pm on friday and i found out at 2:00pm that it was my last day. So kind of weird to just leave and not really have any mental prep time/closure. So that's a bit odd.

It was really hard to leave and I'm sad, but I think I've made the right decision. I've been running myself into the ground for a long time and i decided I need to decisively stop and take initiative to go the other way! So this year will be a year for that. A good break.

So one of my plans is to blog more. I hope to read a book a week and blog about it, as well as some of the other things I will be up to. What I ask of you, my readers, is that you interact with my blog. I blog to have readers obviously, but it's nice to have feedback and interaction. No, this doesn't mean you must comment on every one of my posts, but here and there, offer some feedback, etc. so I know who is reading and so forth. otherwise it's not really that fun to blog because then i'm just writing stuff to a big void. So those are my thoughts on that. So all in all, comment, and I will blog more :) And if you think commenting is stupid, please feel free to let me know. hehe..

Have great day!! I'm off to Whistler for a couple of days!

Thanksgiving, Threes, Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving!! Just got home from a family gathering and am always reminded of what wonderful family I have been blessed with! On Saturday night, we got together with my dad's side of the fam and enjoyed a Moroccan themed meal which was fantastic and great fun and company as per usual.

Tonight was at my mom's and it was great to see aunts, uncles and cousins! :) My mom had to work in the barns, so my aunt and I finished up the turkey dinner while she was in there. Okay, we pretty much sat around talking until the food finished cooking.. but we like to think we contributed significantly to the creation of the masterpiece! :)

So, since it's Thanksgiving, I figure I will list a few of the things I'm thankful for:

-I am thankful that we have an amazing God who loves me deeply. And daily He creates amazing landscapes for me to enjoy and stand in awe of.
-My family: My mom is amazing and has been and is always there for me. I love my brothers and am thankful for their friendships. I'm thankful for my great sister-in-law: it has been fun having a sister and having girl time together! I'm thankful for my nephew who is so precious and makes me realize how precious life is. I'm thankful for all my extended family and that we can all be close and have a great time together.
-A great new (to me) church that I'm becoming connected with. I'm a youth leader and so far I love the youth kids at the church and am blessed being part of this community that I am getting to know.

-I have amazing friends who are always there for me-whether it be to serve as a listening ear at any time and to share with deeply-such a blessing!

-I am thankful to have a wonderful home-to have a wonderful place where I can welcome people. And to have a place where I can be creative and make it my own!

-I am thankful to have a job that gives my mind a break from being burned out from school. I am thankful for the amazing new friendships I have developed as a result.

-I am thankful for my ability to swim. Okay sounds corny.. but there's something about the feeling of being in water and flying through it-there's a freedom within it.

-I am thankful for the ability to sing.

-I am thankful for many more things but these are the ones I list for now!!

Hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving everyone! :)