Swim, Sore, Shopping

Happy Late Tuesday Evening! I am trying to reach my goal of posting more each month than I did last year, so I figured I'd give another posting update.

Just got home from the pool and grocery shopping-good times all around. For the first time ever tonight I paid for a gym membership. Since I was old enough to go to the gym, I worked at the gym and have always had a free membership. So it is really weird to be paying for one now! ha! But maybe that means I'll actually go. So I bought a three month student membership to start. Go me!

So tonight I walked to the post office to mail some stuff and then went to the pool/gym. I decided that to start getting back into swimming laps I would increase by ten every time. So last time I swam 40, today I was going to swim 50. Heidi came just as I was starting, so she went to work out while I swam. She wasn't out yet when I was done 50, so I swam 70 laps instead. My body is already super sore and I can't wait for tomorrow morning! haha.. I think the extra twenty did me in! :) Oh well, at the same time it feels good to have worked hard to make myself incredibly sore. As long as I can still walk and move my arms in the morning!

I had another funny story but at the moment I am not remembering it.

It is now 11:20pm and I still have not started studying or doing homework. Sigh. I think I will make cue cards before bed and then hopefully actually do school related work tomorrow!! (cleaning seems WAY more appealing...)

Have a great rest of the week!!

Done, Dream, Die

Happy Snowy Tuesday all!! I'm off to go swim some laps at the pool, but thought I'd write a quick little update first! :) I have not been doing any homework still. Time is ticking. Shoot. But I finished painting my bedroom and bathroom and put stuff back up on the walls. I love love love love love love love love it! It makes me happy. The pictures don't quite do it justice.. but if you ever want to come over for tea, then I'd be happy to show you, just let me know! :) I posted a few pictures but in the big shot of my room the glass on the picture frame reflected funny, so that's the flash not a weird white mark on my walls.

For never having painted a room in my life, I think I did a decent job! Yes, there is paint on my ceiling, baseboards and even on the carpet and the perfectionist in me cringes.. But at the same time, I'm working on embracing imperfection and symbolically I will do so with my paint job! haha.. So for now I will simply enjoy it! And I was excited to finally put a few of my pictures into picture frames to hang. I ordered a shot from hawaii that should be arriving anyday now! And my bedroom is ready to receive it! It has always been my room to have a blue bedroom, so I am quite happy that it is finally so! Last night I fell asleep in my bed (which was in the middle of the room) under many blankets, with the window wide open letting in freezing cold air, hoping I would not die from the paint fumes. Thankfully I did not..

Now I guess I have no excuse to procrastinate the homework!! I have a midterm on Friday for a class I will have only gone to three times, so that should be interesting! Hopefully after my swim tonight I will get cracking on it!
Tomorrow night I get to see my friend Liz from Quebec who is studying at SFU for a semester-SO excited to see her!! I visited her a couple years back in Quebec City but have not seen her since.
Also, thanks to Elsie for the church tip for sundays. This weekend I'm on worship team at my home church but soon I will definitely come check it out! I have been wanting to check out churches in Langley and so that will be my first one! Is that where you attend?
Okay folks, I'm off to walk to the post office and then the pool! I have lots of mail to send out (having lots of homework to do also makes me very motivated for letter writing.. If anyone wants to swap addresses to send snail mail in letter form or postcard form, I'm in! Always looking for new people to write! :) (and secretly, i love getting mail!)

Updated Countdown:
14 days until Colorado and Las Vegas!!
23 more days until Bahamas!
3 more months until I graduate!!!!!!!!

Have a great evening friends!

Homework, Happy, Hurry

Happy Sunday! Or Happy Stay-in-Bed-all-day day!! Leslie and I declared sundays as such after being at bible school together for a year. We try to stick to it most of the time. Today however, I did not spend the entire day in bed.. but I did in fact drive to the Vancouver airport to visit Leslie who was on a layover there for a few hours on her way to Mexico. So nice to see friends from out of town! :)

Thursday night my fam had a family dinner at the Keg and we hung out there for quite a few hours. I love my family-more and more I am reminded of that and am so grateful for every one of them. Even though they mocked me mercilessly for not being able to wash my vehicle very well.. (we won't get into that).

Friday I went to my Learning and Behavior class for the first time this semester. I got numerous looks that said "We've never seen you before, why are you in this class?" haha.. I have a midterm next week and I have only attended one class. Not like me at all. In all my years of university, I have only missed two classes.. Now in one semester, three weeks, I've missed about ten classes. Oops. Oh well, I'm sure it will all work out in the end!

This weekend I have been hanging out with friends and catching up on homework. Don't feel like I have gotten much done however because I feel pretty restless. But hopefully the restlessness will settle down soon.. Maybe I'll go finish painting my room!! :)

Anyway, I must haste to get cracking on the schoolwork!! Independent studies are nice because you don't have to go to class, but not nice, because i have NO motivation and have huge things due all at once. Shucks. haha. Have a great Sunday evening!!

Buzz, Blasters, Bravo

One ride that Lindie and I really enjoyed was the Astro Blasters. You get to go through and shoot stuff to defeat Zurg (from Toy Story). They take a picture of you and then you can email it to other people so here's a copy of one of the pictures!

Disneyland, Daring, Dazzling

Hello all!! I just got home from Disneyland on Wednesday night and had a fantastic time! On Saturday I flew to Calgary and hung out with my friend Jenn in the afternoon. Then Lindie, her sister Erin and I went to see the movie 'Yes Man' which was absolutely hilarious. The next morning we flew to L.A. We arrived at about three and then walked to Disneyland where we stayed until closing at midnight!
I took the above picture as a joke because int he movie Yes Man there's something called jogging photography. Well usually you jog and take pictures but these guys were jogging so I figured taking a picture of them doing it was enough. :)
Monday we spent the morning until closing at California Adventureland which was fantastic! I had never been there so that was fun. Plus we saw lots of characters. In the evening we went to Disneyland until 11pm and we watched the Fireworks which were incredible along with the light show called Fantasmic.
Tuesday we spent the whole day at Disneyland and Lindie's friend Misty joined us and we were later joined by her friend Rachel.










All in all it was a fantastic time!! It was so nice to just not think about anything and just go enjoy Disneyland for three straight days of fun. And now back to reality and the grind of getting all my schoolwork done!! Yay!

18 days until Colorado and Las Vegas!!

Calgary, 'Couver, Courses

Happy Friday!! So I really haven't been blogging much lately because I'm never on my computer, which I am loving! Since I got my blackberry, I don't ever check my email or facebook because it all gets sent to me-it's quite nice. perhaps once I start actually working on school stuff I will blog more!

Speaking of school, I had dropped two classes and was only taking two and now I picked up two again because I realize that I do really want to fully graduate in April and so why not burn myself out for one last semester.. So I'm taking two directed studies. One is on moral psychology and the other one on the connection between psychotherapy and spirituality. Then I'm doing my undergrad thesis on moral reasoning development in elementary aged children (if you have children elementary school age and would be interested in participating-let me know!) And then I'm taking Learning which is the only class I have to be at school for three days a week. So it should be busy, but I'm looking forward to it!

I just bought a dumpload of paint at Home Depot. Not sure when I'll have time to paint, but hopefully I"ll fit it in somewhere! So, if you like to paint, let me know!! :)

The last two weeks have been rough for a variety of reasons and the other day someone I know left me this poem in relation to something I had written. But the timing of it being given to me was perfect and really encouraged me. So I thought I'd write it out here:

Oak

You are an ancient giant oak,
wind twisted, wrenched by rain;
Stripped of gold,
...bud-bursting green again.

Wind and rain beat mountains down,
conspire to break you ... slow;
Life within drives deeper, deeper,
..still you grow



And that's all for now! Tomorrow morning I am off to Calgary and will have lunch with Jenn and then hang out with Lindie. And then it's off to Disneyland on Sunday!! Yahoo!! So stay tuned next week for fun Disney pictures!!

Enjoy the weekend!

Memories, 'Membering, Many

Today marks six years since my dad passed away-crazy how time flies. So as I usually do, I thought I'd post a few of my favorite pictures. One of these years I'll scan some new ones in! :) It's weird because more than any other time, this past year I have had so many instances where I pause to call my dad to tell him something and then remember. Weird how that can still happen. I miss my dad a lot but have been remembering him with deep gratitude for the life he lived and the love that he loved me with and that in itself is overwhelming.
So, although I'm sad because I miss my dad, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and thanks for the opportunity I had to know him. And am thankful for the pain, because that is indicative of the fact that there was indeed great love and joy.

Pretty, Primer, Paint

Since having my new blackberry I have no need to be on my computer.. so I am never on it and therefore haven't updated my blog. So here's a few pictures I downloaded from my camera. Heres a pic of Chrystal and I. I forget where or why we took it, but then i remembered that we were walking out of Boston Pizza and wanted to take a picture of the snow. Haha.. you can sure see it falling all around us.
The other day after I picked up Hilary from the airport, we went to McDonalds for breakfast to officially end her no-mcdonalds december.

Destinye and my visit to ikea. the second redeeming one where we had lunch!

I had a bit of extra cash, so I purchased Destinye. I failed to tell her her jacket sleeve was on the ground as i pushed her and when i remembered to tell her, it was so incredibly filthy. Kind of funny though.. I had a good laugh!
Yesterday Destinye and I made wedding invitation for her wedding. We made a few different kinds to see which she liked best. It was fun. Then we went to the Canucks game and even though we lost, we had a wonderful time because,
a) we got on the big screen during the first period
b) when the sharks scored once, Kesler was so angry he broke his stick in half across his knee
c) Sundin scored his first goal and the crowd went bezerk
d) when we were fake dancing on the way home, the guy in the truck beside us joined in with the crazy arm pumping
e) destinye's crazy so it's always lots of fun

Since I was younger, I have always wanted to paint my room blue. however, i was never allowed. Here's the eggshell yellow color that I really did not like in my room.. I don't really like light colors to begin with so ya...Here's the blue primer I started with in the bathroom. I was tempted to leave it at this because I really liked it, but then I knew there was better yet to come!

And voila!! My blue bathroom! Okay I need a final coat (which I'm never to do because I secretly suck at painting) and then I need to paint the bedroom!! But I'm super excited! I'm going to have black accents! YAY! I have never really painted, but one of my goals for 2009 is to become handier.. so go me and my paintbrush. Chrystal came and helped too which was muchly appreciated. And then we had Little Caesar's pizza (first time going there) and watched 'The Emperor's New Groove' (first time seeing it). So it was a day of firsts!

Have a good day!
One more week til Disneyland!! YAY!

Goals, Grateful, Great

Good Morning!! I'm up so early so figured I'd make use of it and blog and catch up on emails. Probably should do some schoolwork or something but I figure that will come later on... Yesterday I got some bad news in the fact that our thesis proposal was rejected by the elementary school that we wanted to do our research at. This sucks because we have to maybe revise it and try again or back to the drawing board and make up a whole new project. Yay for a semester's worth of work gone down the drain. Sigh. Maybe whatever we do will be WAY better than what we would have done before. We'll have to wait and see. :)

Kristen and I were talking about 2009 and a few things we wanted to strive for in the new year. She posted hers, so I felt inspired to post some of mine. I've decided to call them goals though, because for me goals seem to encourage failure and to keep going.. that all movement isn't forward. In my mind, it's always been engrained that resolutions are bound for failure soon after. Not that the word is bad, but growing up that's always how I have thought about them, so I figured I'd reframe them for myself.

Here's a few:
1. Slow down and enjoy life
2. Go to a musical every month
3. Go on a trip every month
4. Pursue a healthier lifestyle (with eating, exercise, time management, coping mechanisms for stress, thought patterns, relationships, emotions, spiritually, etc.)
5. Floss more
6. Try to walk to the grocery store instead of drive and reuse bags
7. Reply to letters and emails faster
8. Take a day a month to go take pictures

That's all I can think of for now but I know there are more. Here's how I'm accomplishing them so far.
1. I dropped two classes and am trying to take it a lot easier
2. Went to Beauty and the Beast
3. Went to Calgary and am going to Disneyland in a week or so
4. Have been eating way healthier, working out, and pursuing a healthier, more productive thought life
5. oops
6. Haven't grocery shopped yet-haha
7. Slowly but surely
8. yet to come!! :)

And just to practice gratitude, here are a few things I'm thankful for today:
1. More hours in my day (because I'm up early)
2. Having my own place
3. Having great friends

More to come! have a great day friends!

Frustrating, Friends, Fun

So today was an interesting day. Went to the airport to pick up Heidi (yay for her finally getting a flight!) And then Jocelyn came over and we watched Friends episodes from 4pm until 10pm.. with a break for dinner and then another for hot chocolate and chatting with people who dropped in. Haha.. We watched 10 episodes in total. Good times!

I am not very good at communicating and wish I was better. But I'm working on it and I hate it when people just aren't direct about stuff.. Just say what you're thinking!! Okay so that's my little vent of the day.

I've decided in order to reduce bitterness in my life, I'm going to replace it with gratitude. Interesting concept. That's all for now

Birthday, Blog, Blackberry

First off, Happy one year birthday to my blog!!!

And also happy birthday to Jenn!! (because i know you stalk my blog.. haha)

I become the proud owner of a blackberry today!! I will be paying 150 dollars less per month for my cell phone bills now! ha. what a ridiculous plan i was on before. Also I had a mike phone (you can beep/walkie talkie people for cheaper) but there are only a couple people i would beep so it really didn't make it worthwhile. Anyway, so i'm excited about my new phone!

Also, I went back to Ikea and really redeemed the experience! Found a fantastic stand/table type thing and Destinye and I enjoyed dinner there too. Mmmmm.. I took a picture but will upload it some other time!

My roommate Heidi is coming home tomorrow hopefully. She was supposed to come back from Prince George on Monday but every day her flights get cancelled. So hopefully tomorrow will work out for her! Will be nice to have someone to chat with at home again! :)

And that's all for now! :)

Book, Bookshelves, Blue, Beauty, Beast

Well, been busy these last couple days. Saturday night Chrystal stayed for night and the next morning we went to Ikea, then out for lunch at the Cactus Club and then to the musical Beauty and the Beast. So, this is my third time at Ikea and the first two times were disastrous. I guess this time can be a redemptive time! They say third time's the charm! I bought two bookshelves (connected) that were 200 dollars off and some DVD holders/shelves too. I put up the bookshelves yesterday and it's so nice that all my books finally have a home! Beauty and the Beast was quite fantastic as well!!

Today I picked a friend up from the airport and then went to my mom's where we proceeded to make a dozen chicken cordon blue, 50 or so meatballs and muffins!! Whew! I'm tired now!! Then I came home and realized that the guy who plows our complex decided to plow the snow away from half of my driveway. Nice though except that he shoved so much snow against my garage door that it wouldn't open... and so I had to shovel it all away. Good times right there.

In Hawaii I started reading the book, "eat, pray, love". It's a woman's story about her yearlong travels in Italy, India and Indonesia. Being a person who loves traveling, her book intrigued me and she inspires me to write my own book! Anyway, it's quite spiritual and has a lot of good stuff in it. Thought I'd share a few quotes and thoughts here:

"To devote yourself to the creation and enjoyment of beauty, then, can be a serious business-not always necessarily a means of escaping reality, but sometimes a means of holding on to the real when everything else is flaking away into... rhetoric and plot."

"And I will leave with the hope that the expansion of one person-the magnification of one life- is indeed an act of worth in this world."

"On the other hand-when is it a good time of day, or life, to sit in detached stillness? When isn't there something buzzing about, trying to distract you and get a rise out of you?"

"There's a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, "dear saint-please, please, please... give me the grace to wint he lottery." This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, "My son-please, please, please... buy a ticket"

"Half the benefit of prayer is in the asking itself, in the offering of a clearly posed and well-considered intention."

"God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly the way you are."

"Your treasure-your perfection-is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart."

Anyway, reading about her experiences encouraged me in my spiritual life and prayer life in seeking God in the silent moments and throughout all moments and reaching my full potential through His strength. Any thoughts on the quotes?

Countdown:
12 days until Disneyland!
35 days until Colorado!
44 days until Bahamas!

Wedding, Winter, Weekend

Hello all!! Hope the new year finds you well! I got home from Calgary late on the 1st. Came back to more snow but warmer temperatures, so I figure it's a good deal. I had a great time in Calgary-hanging out with Jenn and Lindie and just having a good time. It indeed was cold and I did not have a winter jacket (nor do i even own one...)

Once again, Lindie looks angry.. haha

Lindie feeding the deer at the Airdrie light show

Erin and I decided it would be more fun to dip the entire baguette in spinach dip...

Jenn, Lindie and I at Open Sesame (favorite restaurant) on New Year's before going to a party. We also went to a dinner theatre but Jenn has all the pictures from that

Last night I went to Brad and Rae's wedding which was absolutely fantastic! Probably one of the nicest weddings I have been to. They both looked stunning and you could tell they were so in love and God had brought them together at just the right time. Very cool.

One of my favorite parts was when the ringbearers were going down the aisle. They were three brothers and the youngest didn't want to go down. So the oldest picked him up and carried him down the aisle!! haha.. it was priceless!

Kelly and I at the reception

My shoe fell apart.. sad day. but funny because Donna kept finding chunks of it everywhere! haha

Jaida, the flower girl

Brad and Rae

That's all folks! More to come soon! :)

Twenty-Eighth, Twenty-Ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-First

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greetings from Calgary!! Sorry for the lack of posting of late-I have been visiting two of my good friends in Calgary-Jenn and Lindie. I met them both in Quebec and really truly appreciate their friendships. They mean a lot to me and I love being able to catch up with them!

So Calgary has been fun-we've been having a good time hanging out, going for walks, going to some of my favorite Calgary restaurants. Last night we went to dinner theatre which was a lot of fun, except for my truly awkward moment with our waiter. Sigh. Why does not everyone catch on to sarcasm?? haha..

Congrats out to my friend Cheryl who just got engaged on Boxing Day!! Yippee!! So exciting! :) And Brian and Jenn who are in my lifegroup had their baby girl on Boxing Day as well which is also very exciting!

I'm excited for 2009! 2008 wasn't great for a lot of reasons. Well, it was good, but in some key areas I want to make changes so I'm looking forward to revamping that for the new year. And I'm thinking of ditching school for the most part and doing my own thing. Might take a little longer to graduate, but yay for impulsivity!

Have a great day!