A Masterpiece in Progress

Back, Break, Blog

2012-01-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

I'm back!! Just when you thought you'd never hear from me again, here I am. As I mentioned on my other blog, one of my new year's resolutions was to blog more. So here I go. Not totally sure how to catch up on the last few months, but here's a few pictures. In the fall things were beautiful, now it's beautiful and snowy.

Here are two photos of my room. Tried to make it as cozy as possible as I tried to fit the objects of an entire house into a small room. I think I was pretty successful. Feels like home.

Just got back after three weeks back in BC visiting my family and it was lovely. And now it's back to the grindstone. Lots of changes around here but it's exciting to look ahead and see what God will continue to do in His faithfulness.

And that's all for now as I have a five year old coming for a sleepover in a few minutes (will probably be the only time I ever go to bed before 9pm.. haha)

You can be looking forward to more blogs posts! Until next time! :)

Holidays, Home, Happy

2011-10-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

In 12 short hours I will be boarding a plane that is BC bound!! Yippee!!

My brother is getting married on Saturday and I'm oh so excited for them!

And then I have a whole week of connecting with friends!

This morning I'm quite excited. And don't like the fact that I have to wait ALL day to board a flight. At least I'll be working so it will go fast.

Off to BC!!!

All for now.. I'm sure you'll hear more about it later.

2011-10-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Fall. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize that it's probably my favourite season. The leaves are stunning. The sky is often blue. And it's cold and crisp. Love love love. And Fall is made even better in Quebec because of the vibrancy of the leaves. I have thoroughly enjoyed the slow transformations in the colours of the leaves. Plus I live in the Laurentians, which is rolling hills FULL of trees of all different colours. It's beautiful.

We have a lake on the property where we are, so the other day I grabbed my camera, my lenses and did a little trek around the lake to be a bit creative and have some fun. It was absolutely wonderful. I love just stopping and looking up and seeing all the different leaves.

I am continually amazed by creation. This week that has been added to as the students have been going through the book of Genesis. I have had the honour of leading some video classes in the evening, and I have been reminded again and again of the incredibleness of our Creator. And how amazingly He designed the earth and the surrounding universe. Perfectly fit for life but also one of the best places in the galaxy to explore and discover the galaxy.

Daily I am reminded of how God's characteristics are reflected through His Creation. So I just wanted to share a few photos with you of what I get to see every day!

This weekend we are hosting a big cross country race. It's been neat lately to see how doors in the community are opening to build relationships. Anyway, we have about 70 people coming from the community so it's exciting!

And in less than a week I will be home for my brother's wedding! I will miss the end of Fall here and time with the other staff and students, but I am SO SO SO SO excited to be in BC for nine whirlwind days! It will be great to celebrate with my brother as he gets married and also to see and catch up with my lovely friends and family!

This week all the staff also hosted a progressive dinner in our homes. There were four different groups of students that went around to the different houses of the staff and it was so wonderful to be able to fellowship together and enjoy some wonderful food!

That's all for now! Hope you are enjoying the Fall wherever you might be! I hear the temperature is supposed to get up to 21 degrees at the start of next week! Enjoy the weekend!

Canoes, Cirque, Cleaning

2011-10-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my blogging hiatus did not last long. I got internet in my room and since this is now a bit more accessible, I'm excited to be back at it in the blogging world! And I look forward to having time to catch up on all your blogs as well!

I have now been here for two months!! Crazy how time flies! August and September have been a whirlwind and have been difficult but wonderful all at the same time. During the end of the summer, I enjoyed all the different conferencing groups we had in, and enjoyed a lot of free time. Our 17 students have now been here for almost two weeks and so as I am readjusting to a new schedule, I am loving getting to know the students and becoming more and more comfortable with my role here.

I live with three other girls and am blessed to get to know them and become their friends! I love our impromptu night chats, song making up, cleaning parties, pickle eating fun and prayer times together.

Because there's a million things I could write, I decided I would just post a few pictures from the last few months and let them tell a bit of the story of what I've been up to. Enjoy! And keep your eyes open for more posts from me in the future! (And Elsie, I would love to be your pen pal, just email me your mailing address!)

Hanging out with my amazing roommates and enjoying a large cleaning party of our new home!

Playing with the kids around property

Taking as many pictures as possible of this little munchkin.

Having photoshoots with canoes, people and dogs!

Hanging out with Jenn during her visit and celebrating her engagement to Dave!

Connecting with wonderful friends visiting in Montreal

Showing visitors around the amazing and beautiful Quebec City

Enjoying FREE outdoor cirque de soleil under an overpass during the summer in Quebec City

Visiting with a good friend in Montreal

Hanging out with the kiddos who take much better underwater pictures than I.

Enjoying the Fall colours changing and the incredible beauty of the endless hills of mixed colour!

Getting to know my roommates and going for drives to enjoy the Fall.

Enjoying this little munchkin and all the other kids!

Pen, Pal, Periodically

2011-09-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

Not sure if anyone reads this blog now that I've neglected it for so long!

Just wanted to write a note that I probably won't be blogging much. Partly because internet access here is difficult. And also I stare at a computer for a lot of the day at work and it's the last thing I want to do on my day off or once I get off work.

That being said, I wanted to let you know that every once in a while I send out an update/prayer email, so if you want to be added to that list, let me know!

And secondly, as Elsie noticed in a previous post, I do love to send letters. It's a life goal of mine to bring back the art of letter writing. So, if you would like to also get back into the art of letter writing, let me know and I'd love to become your pen pal! I like to send photos with my letters and other fun things, so if you want to keep in touch that way, let me know.

Things are going well here. 17 students arrived on Friday and now I'm adjusting to what life looks like during the Bible School year as a staff member.

Hope you are all doing well and perhaps one of you will become a penpal someday soon!

Fernie, Friends, Fair

2011-08-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

On Day #2, we finished driving across BC and I waved sadly to say goodbye. On the way, we kept our eyes peeled for strange and unusual things we could take pictures of...

...like this pair of dice at pair-a-dice campground. Clever.

...like this giant oil rig (pic doesn't do it justice) with the fernie sign. Lindie and i were both quite thrilled to go to Fernie. We had both never been and had always heard about it. It did not disappoint.

...like the largest truck in the world in Sparwood, BC. If you don't think the truck really looks that big, check out me standing in front of the tire...

...like the Alberta border!

Upon arriving in Calgary, Lindie had a baseball game, so Jenn and I went out for ginger beef. We ended up having ginger beef, ginger squid and ginger chicken. It was tasty. I said bye to Jenn knowing I would say here in two weeks upon my arrival in Quebec where she would be visiting for the summer.

All in all Day #2 was great. We kind of forgot to factor in the time change while driving... but we took note of that for future days.

Castlegar, Cousins, Chairs

2011-08-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

On the first day of our road trip, we were welcomed with absolutely horrid weather, but excitement as we set off on our journey. My friend Lindie was gracious and wonderful to fly out to Abbotsford to join me for the first four days of the roadtrip.

I have some wonderful relatives who live in Castlegar, so we decided to take the Crowsnest Highway and travel that way across BC. Like I said, it was rainy, but we were in high spirits as it was the first day of the roadtrip. As we approached Osoyoos, we kept seeing these giant chairs everywhere, advertising for some resort. had there not been barbed wire in front of it, Lindie probably would have climbed up it for a photo. Thankfully, we found one perched on a rock and so ran out of the vehicle in the rain and snapped a shot. Ah the joys of roadtrips!

And oh the joys of swinging suspension bridges where there is no one yelling at you not to run or shake the bridge. And even more fun when there's people who hate suspension bridges walking across it!

Visiting with my relatives was pretty fantastic. They always visit us and I had never visited them so it was nice to actually be in their neck of the woods for once! We had a lot of laughs and fun. We went down to the river and snapped a lot of fun pictures as well! All in all it was a fantastic first day for a roadtrip and the next day we were on our merry way! And apparently now I'm posting about my roadtrip in chronological order. Hooray. Stay tuned for more.

Sailing, Sunny, Sunscreen

2011-08-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

One thing I'm thankful for by being in Quebec is that I have wonderful relatives just one province away! I am excited that they will hopefully drop in for a visit and that I will be able to go visit them at some point as well!

The weekend I was there, it was absolutely beautiful weather (probably some of the first nice days of my entire roadtrip.. bad weather seems to follow me around). We went to Lake Erie for the day and relaxed on the sailboat!! After a few hours of sailing, we anchored, made lunch on the bbqs that were on the ship and enjoyed swimming off the side of the boat.

I love sailing. I really know nothing about boats and nothing about how to sail, but I'm thankful there are people that do know and that are willing to have me join them on their sailboats. So if you have a sailboat, let me know and I will join you for a day of sailing!

And there's something magical about water. And just having a day of relaxing on it. But there's also something about sunny days on water and lack of sunscreen. All in all a bad idea. I got quite the burn. And quite the peeling ordeal after.

On rainy days I like to look at these photos and fondly remember just relaxing in the sun on a sailboat in the middle of a lake that is so huge you think you're on the ocean.

Friends, Family, Fun

2011-08-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of friends scattered around the world, and as I've mentioned before, I was so blessed on my drive across Canada to visit some of them.

I love friendships that pick up exactly where they left off. You may not talk to the person in between, but you are able to connect as before. And I love seeing my friends in different stages of life.

My friend Tammy moved to Ontario a couple years ago and I was so excited for the chance to visit with her, because since the last time I saw her, her and her husband have two little girls! How wonderful to connect with a long-time friend, connect with and love her kids and get a sneak-peak into her life.

I love seeing the faithfulness of God displayed in the lives of those I love. It is a testimony to me, and I'm sure to many around. And I love seeing how God has been faithful to Tammy and how He has now blessed her with two amazing and precious little ones to care for.

It was a good mix of relaxing, connecting and just enjoying being together.

And now I apologize for the randomness of my posts. I don't really feel like posting my trip in any coherent, orderly fashion, so I will just post random days and hopefully you will enjoy the photos and thoughts. :)

Aqua, Average, Anne

2011-08-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed every single day of my road trip thoroughly. I loved driving through all the different provinces and some states and seeing everything around me. I loved visiting friends and connecting with them. I loved seeing my friends' new children that I had not yet met.

My final day of visiting was one of my favorite though. I knew that saving Anne for last would be a great idea, because we always seem to have a great time.

It began with the simple desire to go for sushi. And for sushi we went. And we ate far too much. But it was delicious.

And then the day turned into a water tour. What's a water tour you might ask? Well, it's where you think of anything that has water, cram it all into one day and make a tour out of it. And thus the Aqua Tour of 2011 began at a sushi restaurant in Hamilton while drinking water.

The water tour involved waterfalls, rivers, lakes, pools, drinking water, drinking beverage that originally must have had some water used to make them, rain and umbrellas.

I laughed the entire day. I took in some of the beautiful places we went to visit. Do you ever have those days that reach the epic list in life as some of your favorite days? This would be one of them.

Good friends, good food, a lot of laughs. If time permitted, I would share more photos, but these will give you an idea of the fun that was had.

And the day even ended with a bee getting stuck in my bathing suit and stinging my bum three times. Lovely.

Creatures, Cross-Canada, Calgary

2011-07-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

As I write this I have an incredible view Duluth, Minnesota and Lake Superior in the background. The main reason I decided to stay in Duluth on my journey (other than the fact that it was about halfway between two of my destinations), was because I knew it as a city from a board game I play, called Ticket to Ride. The city does not disappoint. It is beautiful with its brick buildings, brick roads and the views of the lake from every point.

The trip across Canada has been marvelous so far. I have seen moose, cows, bison... well, maybe they were a bit too large to actually be real, but those are the kind I like, because they don't run in front of your vehicle.

The first four nights were spent in Canada with stops along the way in Castlegar, Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg. My friend Lindie joined e as a wonderful roadtrip companion for that part of the journey. Then my mom few to Winnipeg and we drove down to North Dakota to visit some relatives near Bismark. Yesterday I headed to Duluth and today I will drive through Wisconsin and Michigan on my way back to Canada.

I have been able to connect with so many people on the way and I am reminded of how incredibly blessed I am. And how many incredible people there are in the world. And that I am priveleged to know a few along the way.

Now I'm by myself and the one thing that makes me sad is that I wish I had someone to share this part with. Because the drive is beautiful. So much to see. And funny signs. And funny things I think of and tell myself (and boy do I laugh heartily).

The one downfall (besides being alone), is my indigestion issues seemed to have sprung up again. Not so fun on a roadtrip... so if you think of it, please pray for me about that. Oh, and also, if you'd like to be on my prayer email list, let me know your email and I will add you!

So for now I say good-bye to Duluth and look forward to visiting two new states that I have yet to see and hopefully I will find some more larger than life community moments along the way (those large pointless things that seem to have no purpose but to give people like me immeasurable joy).

Happy Trails!

Transition, Tuned, Thoughts

2011-07-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

So much has been going on, that my mind is overwhelmed when I think about blogging about it.

What could I blog about?

I could blog about the end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, getting stuck downtown and watching everything happen and the feelings of sadness and shock that permeated the next few days.

I could blog about packing up the remainder of my house, locking the doors and driving away from the place I have called home for the last three years.

I could blog about my last couple weeks in BC and all the activities and gatherings that have been keeping me busy.

I could blog about how incredibly blessed I am with amazing family and friends who love me and care for me. Friends and family who I will dearly miss and am sad to leave.

I could blog about what's coming and the excitement related with my two week road trip across Canada and what awaits me upon arriving in Quebec.

Instead, I just wanted to say hello. I'm still alive. And preparing to have every single aspect of my life change. Maybe I will blog about all the things above, maybe I never will. Time will tell.

For now, you may not see me for awhile. Or perhaps I will randomly post photos from my road trip from my phone. Maybe I will keep blogging, maybe I won't.

For now I'm leaving time to think and reflect and be.

So you may see me soon, you may not. So stay tuned.

Birthday, Blessing, Beautiful

2011-06-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

June 21st is a special day for many reasons. First off, it's the official beginning of summer, also it is the longest day of the year as far as sun exposure goes. But even more importantly, it's my mom's birthday!

So today we shall celebrate life with her! She is an amazing woman that is such an incredible blessing in my life. She is a blessing to her children and grandchildren and to all she meets.

{I absolutely love this picture of my mom and I... I took it as a quick snapshot in the bathroom and then realized the background wasn't good, so we took some in the room.. but I loved the bathroom shot the best. Makes it even more candid! And oh the wonderful lighting that a bathroom offers!}

I'm thankful I have a mother who loves to travel, because we have so much fun traveling together, but also because I know she will come out to visit me a lot once I move!

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom!!

Donkeys, Darlings, Down

2011-06-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Every time my mom babysits the wee ones, they walk to see the sheep and the donkeys. I get the chance to come along every so often and love it. They are precious. And how wonderful to have our own little petting zoo down the road.

The donkeys are "ee aw's" and when you give them grass they go "chomp chomp" (at least according to the little one).

And we like to wave at the people on the way. And stomp in the puddles.

I find it amazing that I walk I could do to the mailbox would take five minutes, but when you do it through the eyes of a child, you can take 40 minutes. And enjoy those 40 minutes more immensely than you ever could the quick, rushed 5 minute walk.

A good reminder to see through the eyes of a child and enjoy every moment. :)

Also, today we are celebrating the little man's birthday as well. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to him!

Guys, Gum, Girlfriends

2011-06-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago, Kristen and I headed down to Seattle for a few days. Seattle is one of my favourite cities, especially on a sunny day. It is absolutely stunning when the sun glistens down on the water as your drive in. It's such a rich city with much to see and do.

And who doesn't love a toy shop where you can find fun hats to try on?

Or a donut store that gives you free hats to wear? It's like the lady knew we would want to wear them.

And a trip to Seattle must often be accompanied by dinner at P.F. Chang's. And they even give you a little mini dessert after, which is the perfect size.

And of course, we had to visit the gum wall again just because it's disgusting.

And it's fun to view all the unique art around the city.

I always love the flowers in Pike's Place Market. We wandered around the city, enjoyed city on the lawn watching the view, played some good rounds of racko, went to Guys & Dolls the musical (so good), had a nice swim at our hotel.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend away and good to just hang out and spend time together.

And go figure. They must have known I was coming, because they wrote my name on the gum wall before I got there.

Poppy, Putting, Practice

2011-06-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm quite pleased with having found a fantastic golf partner to golf with over the last month and for the next month. Generally it is difficult to find women my age who like to golf. So when Carlee mentioned she likes golfing, I jumped on it and now we affectionately have a weekly golfing "club" which we have titled the CVGA. Makes sense.

And we're rocking it. Well, I'm not sure many other people on the golf course bring their cameras and take random photos. They also probably don't bring chopped up veggies in tupperware containers. But that's probably why our golf club will increase rapidly in popularity.

We like to try out a different course each week. It's fun to go to a lot of golf courses I've always heard about but never had a chance to go to. A couple repeats, but mostly new which is fun. Last week we went to Fraser Glen on the Monday and Poppy Estates on the Friday.

Fraser Glen is where I first started golfing when I was first learning how to golf, about ten years ago. Strangely enough, it is also the course where I can always get the best score. My favorite moments were joining up with a couple of the older men in front of us while their third guy went home for a few holes to let out the dogs. Then we joined with the couple behind us for a few holes as well. Always fun to get to know new people. And I figured if we're golfing with them, there's a better chance of us not hitting them with our golf balls.

Next week we hope to hit up a new course and the following week we will return to the Falls where we went our first week to see if we have improved at all!

Six, Seven, Stanley

2011-06-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight is Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. If they win tonight, they've won the cup.

It has been an absolutely fantastic season and it is bittersweet to see it come to an end. Wonderful because hey, this is our chance to win the cup! And it will be nice to have free evenings after a while and not have every other night occupied with a game. But a bit sad, because it's my last season being in the lower mainland.

Secretly, I'm voting for a loss tonight so that we can win at home for Game 7 and I can be there. But I would be equally as happy if they won tonight. Where will you be watching the game?

GO CANUCKS GO!

Engaged, Excited, Elated

2011-06-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today, friends and family will gather at my mom's place to have a party. I love the celebration aspect of parties. Celebration of life and love and God's grace and goodness in our lives.

And what are we celebrating today? My brother's engaged!!!

Lucas and Colleen got engaged right before we left for our trip to Asia and I'm so excited for them!! I have loved getting to know Colleen and am excited to have another sister-in-law! I was blessed to be able to spend time with both of them for a few days earlier this year in Florida and am excited for more memories and fun together!

So Congrats to Lucas and Colleen!! Can't wait for your big day and so excited to celebrate with you!!

Sold, Surrender, Sad

2011-06-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

When I decided to move to Quebec, I wanted to keep my house. I guess in my mind it was part of the Plan B back up plan, but in a lot of ways it was a large piece of home (literally) to hold on to as I move away.

However, plans went otherwise and a few days before I left for Asia, I realized I needed to sell it. So that week amidst getting ready to go, I had to get my house ready to sell. A bit stressful but I made it through. Anyway, within a few days of leaving, an offer came in, two weeks later my house was officially sold. So I came home to a house that was only mine for a little while longer.

Sometimes I'm struck by the sadness of selling my house. I do love my house. I love the colours, I love the spunkiness of it. I love how perfectly it is a reflection of my personality. I love the memories I've had here, the people I've hosted. The random dance parties in the kitchen. So many things.

I laugh because a while back I was reading back in my journal from the fall and I prayed that life would not be so comfortable. I was realizing just how comfortable my life was and how I wasn't okay with it. So I asked God to change that. And I surrendered and loosened my grip. Little did I know how much life would be changing in the next year and that things would not look anything like they do now.

I prayed that God would change things, but I didn't actually think He would so dramatically. Mind you, I guess I let Him as I in turn surrendered everything. It's been a crazy season of letting go, obeying and trusting.

So, I have 19 days left to enjoy this crazy house of mine and then hopefully some other people will enjoy it as much as I have.

Shattered, Soccer, Sliding

2011-06-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

The other day I was sitting in my room when suddenly I heard a large crash. I got up, a bit concerned that something fell down the stairs, but a quick glance out of my window told me otherwise. There were children with horrified looks on their faces glancing back at my house, but running away as fast as their feet would carry them. Kind of a funny sight when I think back.

I went downstairs to discover my basement patio sliding door completely shattered. Well, the outside pane at least. I was quite upset and angry, especially because the children had all run off.

But then I realized it made for some cool pictures, because the way the glass had shattered and was just sitting there was kind of cool. Anyway, turns out, I talked to someone on strata who tracked the kids down and it was not until those parents got a phone call (five hours later), that the mothers found out what had happened. So I watched as angry mothers stormed through the back courtyard with their little boys in tow, coming to apologize. In the end, it got fixed and I didn't have to pay for it.

But there is some sort of life lesson here. I was more upset at the fact that these kids who shattered my window did not tell their parents right away than the fact that it happened. Accidents happen, I get that. But then to run away and try to hide seems quite silly.

Yet, we seem to do that so often. We run and hide and try to cover our tracks when different things come up. I'm learning more and more, that it's better to just be totally honest about something, rather than someone finding out about something later and finding out who didn't tell them the whole truth. And I now have some pictures of my shattered door to remind me of that.

Thai, Ten, Treasuring

2011-06-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

One thing about an impending move is that every time you are with a friend or go somewhere, it is extra special, because you know that these will be things you miss and remember when you're somewhere else. So I am treasuring moments in my heart and enjoying every minute with treasured friends.

Sarah and I enjoyed some Thai food together the other day and then watched a movie. It was funny going through the movies and her not having ever heard of or watched some of my faves. And then I remember that she's ten years younger than me, so it makes sense that she wouldn't know all the movies that were made in the 90's. Perfect.

Practiced the art of using chopsticks

And since I'm SO good at giving people Christmas presents on time, Sarah got her present from me in May. At least I got it to her before June... :)

Yet another treasured memory to keep!

Fever, Fans, Finals

2011-06-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Game 4 tonight. The Canucks fever continues. People who never even watched hockey are now attending playoff parties to wait in anticipation to see if this is truly our year.

I don't have tv at home, so I like to invite myself over to different people's houses for the games. And it's fun to cheer with a lot of different people.

And of course, I have my flags flapping proudly off my vehicle.

Game 4 predictions? I predict a win. ;)

GO CANUCKS GO!

Golfing, Game, Greens

2011-06-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

I decided that this shall be the spring/summer of golfing. Until I leave that is. So, I decided to be proactive about finding people to golf with. I joined the golf club at my church that goes once a month, and my friend Carlee and I decided that we should try golfing weekly until we are pro (which we pretty much are by now of course).

So every Monday, you can find us out on the golf course, hacking away.. I mean, hitting pars and birdies.

I generally go to the same few golf courses, so it's been fun to expand a bit. The first week we went to the Falls, and last week we went to Hazelmere.

We may have had a bit too much fun playing with the driver covers... but fun was had indeed. It rained quite a bit, but we're hardcore and were quite happy that the course was a bit emptier {we hate to intimidate people with our incredible skills}.

Anyway, our golf games usually include some incredible cart driving, enjoying hot dogs, taking pictures.. oh and golfing of course.

Anyway, I look forward to a month more of awesome golfing and good times out on the greens! So if anyone else is looking for people to golf with, let me know!

And maybe one of these days I will break 100 again... I used to have a great game but it's a bit rusty. FORE!

Rollerskating, Rock, Rollerderby

2011-06-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

I had no idea roller derbys were actually an event that still happens on a regular basis. So, when last week, Brooke told me she was going to a roller derby in Abbotsford, I jumped on the opportunity to join. Has anyone ever seen the movie 'Whip It?' {well, i haven't.. but i've heard it's similar}. So, basically it's a bunch of women skating around the rink trying to block each other and knock other players out of the lanes. And meanwhile the jammer has to try to get in front and gets points for the amount of players she passes.

Roller derbys (not sure what the official sport is called) is the fastest growing women's sport in Canada. Apparently BC has over 30 teams or something like that. This event (and perhaps more of them) was a fundraiser for breast cancer. There are three more at the MSA arena throughout the summer, so if you want to see what it's all about, and enjoy some exceptional people watching, check it out.

Brooke, Chad, Dave and Adri and I all went and it was a lot of fun. Good music to rock out to and we had fun cheering loudly for our local teams. Next Abbotsford one is on June 25th.

And afterwards we went to enjoy some cheap wings at 'Wings' (fitting name for the restaurant). A great way to spend a Saturday evening with friends!

Hope you all had a good weekend and perhaps you will check out a local roller derby near you!

Poppins, Pandher, PF

2011-06-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have seen a few musicals that are from Disney movies and LOVED them. I had seen the Lion King and The Little Mermaid. So when Mary Poppins came to town (town being Seattle.. close enough), I got tickets and went to see a third most fantastic Disney Broadway show.

And it was incredible. Epic even. Spectacular. The sets, the special effects, the dancing, the music. Exceptional. All of it. Probably ranks as one of the most spectacular musicals I have ever seen. It was a delight. If it ever comes to Vancouver (or anywhere near where you might be), go see it-you will not be sorry! My favorite part was when Bert tap danced upside down on the ceiling.

An added bonus was going with my friend Sandy. So good to just spend the day together. Went to my favorite restaurant, PF Changs and had my favorite dish, Kung Pow Shrimp. And we walked around Seattle enjoying the day.

Some people think I am a bit musical crazed. And it's probably true. I have loved seeing so many musicals in the last few years. This year I even subscribed to two theatres in Seattle because they both had incredible seasons. Next year they are doing West Side Story, Les Miserables and Rent, to name a few... sad I will be missing it.

But when I miss the musicals, I will just skip along with a chimney sweep and sing, "chim chimery, chim chimery..."

Enjoy your Sunday!

Grass, Get-together, Go!

2011-06-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for some fun entertainment in Vancouver this summer, go check out Hairspray, which is playing at the Stanley Theatre until July. It is a fantastic show put on by the Arts Club and they have done an exceptional job! And hey, it's a great chance to go to Vancouver for an evening, grab some dinner, and enjoy a show! Great for date or a get-together with friends!

Dave, Adri and I headed to Vancouver one sunny evening and enjoyed dinner at my favourite Japanese restaurant before seeing the show. Every time I hang out with Dave and Adri, I'm reminded of how fantastic they are! They are from South Africa and have been living in Canada for a few years and they are awesome. The most generous, kind and caring people. And a lot of fun to add to things.

As I was parking, Adri was enjoying the piles of freshly cut lawn. Brought back some childhood memories of when she used to play with the grass cuttings as a child. So, we decided to bring back some of those childhood memories by building a nest. Yes, a nest. Yes, we are strange.

And then we sat on the nest and took a couple of photos. Like any regular person would do of course.

So.. go see Hairspray. And maybe while you're in Vancouver, look for some fresh grass cuttings-you never know what you can create.

Mall, Married, Meal

2011-06-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

I love moments when you find an unexpected treasure on a day full of errands and it just brings an extra spot of joy to that day.

Last week, Kristen and I headed to the States so she could run a couple wedding errands. I had no plans, so I decided I would join her and we could have a fun day in Bellingham. It was a great day and in the end, we drove by a sign in a church parking lot about a rummage sale in the basement. They hold it two days out of the year and it was fantastic! Some of my favorite board games were being sold for a mere quarter! We found some other fantastic treasures and antiques hidden amongst everything.

The best find was this dress that Kristen is posing behind. We decided it would be a perfect Canucks fan dress perhaps? If the colour is right..

And we arrived at the mall exceptionally early. What does one do while they are waiting in a mall? Well, they people watch of course (the amount of people walking in the mall at that hour is quite great-I wondered why they weren't walking outside in the sun). And you take crazy pictures of yourselves. Obviously.

We had an amazing lunch on the harbour right on the water-so beautiful! And we even picked up a steal of a deal snack bag from the rummage sale. A good day indeed with many stops, good conversation and great company!

And the countdown is on. 46 days until Chris and Kristen get married! Can't wait to celebrate their big day with them!

Heids, Heidi, Ha Ha

2011-06-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's overwhelming when I think of all the wonderful people in my life. I am so blessed with many friends and so many experiences and fun times with those friends. I am often saddened by the fact that I can't keep in touch with people as well as I would like or give them as much time as I would like. But the time I can get I am so thankful for!

So when Heidi texted me a couple weeks ago to let me know she was in town, I was super excited to see her! I happened to be in Vancouver already, so we met for brunch and went for a little jaunt around Stanley Park.

I love when you can just pick up where you left off and just share life together. A true blessing. And to be in Stanley Park on such a stunningly beautiful day just makes it all that much better!

{Oh heidi. such the rebel}

I think one of my fave memories with heidi was the time we were sitting in the living room doing homework together (we lived together for a year). we weren't very good at doing homework together and she suddenly sent me an instant message that said "heids". Confused as to why she would send me a message with her name, i replied "vaness". And then she realized what she had done and we both had quite the laugh. Maybe you had to be there. But it was funny. And still is. So I will laugh at the memory.

Enjoy your thursday! {Can you believe it's June 2nd already?? GAH!}

Bears, Beautiful, BC

2011-06-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Meeting new people is one of my favourite things about travel. And when I get to meet up with those people again, even better! A couple weeks ago, the cruise ship I had been on, the MS Volendam, docked in Vancouver after making the trip all the way from Japan. I knew quite a few people that were still on the ship, so it was fun to see some of them! The first day, I picked up one couple and drove them to the ferry terminal, and then the next day, I met up with my friends, Paul and Vicki and was lucky to be able to show them a bit of my beloved BC...

I have lived in BC all my life, but still am in awe every time I look at the stunning, majestic mountains with their snow-capped peaks. Every time I glance at the ocean and the greenery. I loved that Paul and Vicki had never been here, so it was fun to see it through their fresh eyes anew. We did the drive up to Whistler, with a stop at Shannon Falls along the way.

It was an absolutely fantastic day! Perfectly blue skies and nice warm sun. The people watching in Whistler was quite fun as you had everything from guys with no shirts on to people in their full winter gear carrying around snowboards.

At the beginning of the day, Vicki had said "I'd love to see a bear today". And bears we saw indeed. I think in the end, Vicki spotted three different bears and we decided she was the pro bear spotter. One was even on the edge of a side road, so we got to stop right next to it and snap some shots.

All in all, a delightful day! So great to reconnect with friends I have met along the way. And hopefully I will see them in Quebec whenever they pass through there!

As I drove home from Whistler, I took in all the incredibly beautiful sites and was a bit sad that I would be leaving them. But, I was reminded to soak it in and enjoy it for the moment. So enjoy it and soak it in I did. Looking forward to more exploring of BC in the next month and a half!

Grace, God, Gifts

2011-05-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been overwhelmed with the grace of God. In so many ways. I'm relearning it and being reminded of it and seeing its practicality walked out in day to day life.

Over the last two weeks, I have been overwhelmed with God's incredible miracle of life. And His gift of it to us. One of my dear friends just had her third child and the road that brought them to have this little treasure was a long one, but here she is and she is precious. And loved. And perfect. I am reminded that in all the storms, God is there, as the one who anchors us, the one who makes sense of things. And no, we might not have the answers or understanding to everything, but suddenly we receive this incredible gift amidst it. And we cling to the fact that we know God must be good. God must be love. Because even though most of the world around us doesn't make sense, this does and it is proof of God's goodness.

So I have been enjoying snuggling with this precious little babe. And seeing her siblings enjoy having a new little sister as well. Life is so fragile, yet so incredible precious. The thought of it makes me marvel in awe of having such an incredible God.

Decade, Day, Died

2011-05-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today marks a decade since my brother passed away suddenly.

I am baffled to think it was 10 years ago that he left this earth, because it honestly feels like it could have been yesterday.

So today I am going to take the day to remember and celebrate his life.

Enjoy the weekend!

Canucks, Cup, Cheering

2011-05-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Since the day I came home, I have been enjoying everything about the Canucks playoffs. I was sad to miss the first few weeks, but excited that they have been playing amazingly and that I could join in with the cheering fan base.

There's something about being at a game that cannot be fully explained, until you are there and hear the thunderous roar of the crowd, feel the towel lint irritating your eyes, jumping up at every goal and good play.

And Round 3, Game 5 was exceptionally exciting. My heart was racing most of the time, my cheeks were rosy and I was on the edge of my seat.

And we WON! For the first time in 17 years, we are off to the 4th round once again. SO exciting! I remember going to the playoffs 17 years ago when I was 10 and so I am excited to go again and appreciate it through new eyes.

And even being in downtown Vancouver is exhilarating. Horns honking, giving everybody high five, cheering loudly, waving your towel around... so great! There's something special about when everyone gathers together and cheers for a common thing. It is unifying and bonding in a unique way.

Now we will just wait to see who we play in Round 4 and until then I will keep my evenings open so I can continue cheering until the end! Hope you are also enjoying the playoff run!

GO CANUCKS GO!

Tokyo, Temples, Tasteless

2011-05-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Our final three nights were spent in Tokyo, a city of 13 million people. Sometimes when I think about population and amount of people, my brain can't quite comprehend the number of people that actually live in one place.

Saw a few more temples and different sites in and around Tokyo. Once again, the crowds were absolutely crazy because of the holiday. But interesting to see the locals and once again people watch.

And here's another shot of a cherry blossom in the middle of greenery on the mountainside-so stunning!

At the temples, sake companies often donate sake to be used for offerings. So in response they line up the barrels as advertisement. Interesting to see the cross of business and religion.

whenever you see a gateway like this, you know there is a shinto shrine behind it. According to the people I talked to, Japanese people are born as Shintoists and die as Buddhists. There is definitely a synchrotism between the two religions. And no one seems to be able to fully explain the religions they follow, which is also interesting.

Every temple has a washing/cleansing area. There is a specific routine to adhere to when washing.

Asakusa Kannon Temple is one of the oldest and most well known Buddhist temples in Tokyo. It has a lot of shops and food spots on the streets along the side. We had some of the local food and it was so tasty! I also learned here that the Canon camera was actually named after the Buddhist god, Kannon, but he changed the spelling so that it would be more acceptable in western culture. Not sure how I feel about my camera being named after a buddhist god mind you...

After seeing a few more temples, we decided to check out Tokyo DisneyLand. Turns out they have two parks, so we decided to check out then one we knew nothing about: DisneySea. First we went to see Disney's Cirque de Soleil, 'Zed'. It was amazing-such a cool stage setup as well!

DisneySea was fantastic! So fun to go on totally new rides! And we were the only white people in the park which was funny.

Our last full day was spent travelling to Mt. Fuji and Hakone. So beautiful. Went to the visitor's center and the 5th station of Mt. Fuji. The surrounding area is really beautiful too. Took a cable car up a mountain and it had stunning views.

Ah.. and the food. Now i know japanese food came from japan, but I did not like it much. It was all right, but did not have too much taste and was all kind of the same. Presentation was incredible mind you. But after a week of eating japanese food, I was excited to return to my western style of japanese. :)

The hotel we stayed at had really cool views off the top floor at night.

And thus concludes my trip. Hope you have enjoyed coming along for the journey. Thanks to my one faithful reader, Elsie for all her comments-have enjoyed reading your comments on the different posts.

Now back to regular day to day life!

Temples, Trees, Teeming

2011-05-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

We took our first bullet train from Kobe to Kyoto. Was fantastic to see the countryside as you flew by in the train at 250 kms/hr.

Saw a few more temples that day, but these ones had some unique features in them. You weren't allowed taking pictures of the insides of a lot of them, but the picture below is one I stole offline to show you what the inside was like.

We saw a lot of buildings and inside statues that were part of the national treasure. The most fascinating was the temple that had the 1001 Kannon statues. And the buddha in the middle had 1001 arms.

We got to see the golden palace which was a beautiful site to see in the middle of the lake. The reflections of the building and the gardens on the lake were beautiful.

There is something absolutely stunning about the simplicity of a Japanese garden. Loved it.

Bright orange temple

Pretty sure the sign below says "watch your head".. Although for all I could know it could be calling me a silly goose or something.

The temples were packed with people. Because it was their week of national holidays, locals were out on their holidays as well and a lot of them were paying their respects at the temple. This particular fountain is where they wash themselves and each fountain represents something you might want in life (wealth, etc.). Crazy to see how incredibly long the line up was.

A glimpse of the crowds we had to walk through.

View of Kyoto

And there you have Kyoto. Next stop: Tokyo!

Carp, Cherry, Children

2011-05-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

Our first port stop in Japan was Nagasaki, which was the second and last (as of today) place to experience a nuclear attack, as a result of the atomic bombings in World War II. Seeing the effects of the war on a lot of these places was interesting, moreso in speaking with the locals. '

When asked about the war and their view on it, you received a few different responses, some which were preceded with "I wouldn't say this very loud or to many people..." Interesting observations and dialogues around that for sure. I'm not much up on my history, but this makes me want to study up on it a bit more.

In Nagasaki, we visited and old castle where the shoguns used to live during the times of the samurai. We also visited some Samurai homes. I loved seeing all the different colored carp. Our first day in Japan was the first day of their week long holiday, 'The Golden Week', which is full of holidays. The one I can remember easiest was children's day. Any family with a son would hang carp streamers from their home.

Our last port stop with the ship was in Kobe where we disembarked from our ship. Kobe is the sixth-largest city in Japan. It is a prominent port city with a population of about 1.5 million. In Kobe, we drove up to Mt. Rokko, where you could enjoy full views of the city. After walking around up top, we took a tram down, and enjoyed remnants of the cherry blossoms scattered throughout the trees on the mountainside. I can only imagine what it would have looked like with all the trees in full bloom. Funny how when people think of Japan, they have views of tons of cherry blossom trees. Which makes sense when I could see how many there were everywhere and all the different types.

We also took a tour of a famous sake factory and got to try a lot of different kinds after. Not a huge fan of sake, but loved the plum sake- really tasty!

I didn't take many pictures in our last couple stops, partly because I felt like I had seen enough temples and buddhas to last me a lifetime, so why take another photo? And my camera card was filling up.

Next stop: Kyoto!

Sea, Ship, Shananigans

2011-05-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

We had a few sea days on our cruise in between all the port stops. One reason why I love cruising so much is that I love to meet new people. And on cruises, you get to travel with all these people and enjoy new experiences with them that bond you in a special way. Love it!

On every sea day, we enjoyed participating in 'The Olympics'. There were three events each day and they varied from basketball shooting, beanbag toss, putting, ring toss and so forth. It was a lot of fun and got to meet some great people. And I won second overall in the women's category!

John and Sharron are some friends I met who are from nearby, so I am excited to go visit them and see them again! They were my Olympics buddies and those I could chat about the Canucks with during the beginnings of the playoffs. And some great conversations as well of course.

Will and Charlie were honeymooners from Australia. We hung out a lot and I did in fact teach them how to play Yahtzee. Because everyone should probably know how to play yahtzee in their lifetime...

I got to be the judge in the ship-building competition. So fun to see everyone's creativity!

Tuddy, Leanne, Garth and Joanne were all from Australia and they were my fan club for karaoke as well as great people to hang out with in the evenings.

Greg was the DJ on the ship and I actually met him a year and a half ago on my cruise to South America and Antarctica and so it was really fun to see him again and hang out a bit during the different events.

Paul and Vicki were members of my fabulous trivia team 'All In'. Everyone hated us by the end because we usually won. Sometimes they'd boo when we'd come in. But we figured we were just giving them some good competition. I'm not so great at trivia, but I love getting to know people on my team. Once again, a unique way to get to know others.

Some of the other things we did whilst aboard the ship included: cooking classes, playing bingo, the Olympics, dancing, trivia, eating, playing yahtzee, game shows, karaoke, reading, walking on the deck and much more. So great!

Next stop is Japan!

Shanghai, Serenade, Silk

2011-05-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

China! A country I would return to solely to see the Great Wall of China. Being in Shanghai for two days was an experience and it was interesting to see the culture, meet people and enjoy some amazing dimsum (so good!). I love the Chinese architecture when it is used, hated the smog that seemed to always be hovering, loved the bright reds of the maples and the watertown we went to.

The contrast of colours in trees was fantastic. So pretty!

We were told by a few different people that this man was a philosopher, or a doctor, or a teacher... not really sure who he was in the end, but I snapped a photo of him nonetheless.

In the pharmacy, you could see the different bottles resting.. Some had snakes in them and others had things that I'm not sure about.

The women were absolutely amazing at preparing the local food. The way the wrapped them with three different pieces of twine was incredible. I think I would have finished making one in the time she made twenty.

Lanterns!!

We went to a watertown that I could not pronounce or recall for the life of me. But it started with a zed.

Woman washing her clothes in the water.

I don't know why I thought this sign was funny. Perhaps because I would not want to play in that water under any circumstance.

Took a little boat ride through the canals. Very cool to see how they live. Felt a bit like I was in Venice. Except my boat steerer/driver kept hoarking. That's kind of like serenading, right?

This is their main bridge in town and I love it. There's something about it that just captures your attention.

Stopped at a silkworm factory on the way back to the ship. Fascinating! So crazy how those little worms make silk that turns into amazing blankets.

I did get myself some sheets. I figure I will have a new sized bed in Quebec and should probably have some sheets to go with it.

The lights at night in Shanghai were also quite impressive.

In Shanghai, we celebrated Mark's birthday at Pub Trivia. Mark and Cathy were two of the people on my Pub Trivia team. I suck at trivia, but love getting to know people while playing trivia!

Part of me just wanted to stay on the boat deck and watch the lights all night long. And then they turned them off at 10pm so I couldn't.

The next day my mom and I sought out one of the best known dim sum places in Shanghai (according to a woman we met who spoke English). It took us an incredibly long time to find, but the food and the experience were both magnificent! So tasty! And they did in fact bring us English instruction sheets. Guess we looked confused. haha

Forget the name of this street, but it had crazy shopping everywhere. We went in a department store where they had the most massive floor of shoes you've ever seen. Shoes everywhere. My favorite was when an irate Chinese man started yelling as loud as he could and throwing shoes everywhere. No idea what he was yelling, but everyone was standing around him just watching, so I figured it was okay.

And thus concludes Shanghai. Next stop: Nagasaki, Japan

Hong, Helicopters, Herrings

2011-05-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of traveling is walking through local markets and seeing what the local people buy on a daily basis as part of a trip to the market. There's always all sorts of interesting street food {and if I didn't have the most fickle stomach in the world, I might try more of it}, all sorts of dried things as well. Interesting to see what people buy as snacks.

Lantau Island is two islands away from Hong Kong, connected by two very large bridges. I love driving in new places, because you take in all the countryside, the people on the side of the road and all the vegetation around. Unfortunately I don't like to take pictures while in vehicles, so a lot of it is memories in my mind, but when I think of these places, I have my own internal memory pictures of moments I enjoyed and took in, just for me.

Fish is a huge part of an Asian diet. This doesn't just include raw or cooked fish, but also dried fish. In the markets, there are countless bags of dried little fish treats.

Went to a little village that is famous for its dried produce and is surrounded by canals of water. The canals lead to a larger body of water, where they have pink dolphins. {and probably countless other sea creatures}

As you walk through the village, this is a common site: baskets of different food items being dried in the sun. I didn't know what most of the things were, but tried asking when possible and when not, I just made up something random in my head.

I think the following fish is more for decorative purposes than for eating purposes {only because I don't see that it would go down that well... ouch.}

Returning from a day of fishing. I think one of my favorite moments this day was watching a woman transfer all of that day's catches into a bigger bucket {it's all live sea creatures that people can buy fresh}. She was grabbing sting rays and some other interesting fish. I tried to imagine what life would look like for me in a place like that. I would probably also go down to pick out a nice fresh sting ray for dinner. So normal for them, but different and fascinating for me.

The day we went to Lantau was on Easter Sunday. I have never not gone to church on Easter Sunday, so it was interesting being in a completely different country and culture for this country. And ironically enough, this was the day we went to see the largest sitting Buddha in the world. I was reminded continually of the grace of God and rejoiced in the fact that Jesus is very much ALIVE. And victorious.

We drove up to the top, but later my mom and I decided it would be fun to race up the 250 stairs and then run back down. That was a horrible idea. Maybe if it wasn't blazing hot and humid it would have been a better idea.

Lotus flowers unfurled.

We had a bit of adventure on the ship that night after leaving Hong Kong. There was a medical emergency with a young man on the ship and a helicopter evacuation was called for. We would have kept sleeping, but the lights of the helicopter kept shining into our window and it was incredibly loud. So we went out on the deck and watched. It was amazing to see how skilled of a pilot it was, because he couldn't land on the ship, but each time he approached, he had to simply hover to offload and load. A few days later we got news that the man was recovering, so I was happy to hear that.

And thus concludes a couple full days in Hong Kong. Next stop: Shanghai, China

Lights, Lasers, Largest

2011-05-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Our boat docked right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong and we were actually connected to the largest mall in Asia, which was massive with hundreds of stores. I hate shopping, but walking through some of these malls was slightly mind-baffling.

From the mall, we headed to the island of Hong Kong (we were docked on Kowloon, right across the water from Hong Kong island). Boarded a junk (one of their little boats) and got to see a boat village, where a lot of the fishermen live on the water in their boats. It surprised me to see the water SO clean with the volume of people living there.

The day was quite rainy, so going to the best viewpoint didn't turn out that great as we couldn't see very far. But it was still fun going up there and seeing a bit of a view and taking a really steep cable car down the mountain.

In the evening, we boarded a little harbour boat and took a tour of the lights from the water. Incredible. At 8pm every night they have a massive lights and laser show from all the different buildings on both sides of the water (Hong Kong island and Kowloon). After the show (which is renowned in the Guinness Book of World Records), we traveled up and down the waterways, seeing all the endless rows of buildings with the incredible lights.

The signs at night are pretty crazy too. All the lights everywhere. And the night markets. People everywhere. Stuff everywhere. Advertisements everywhere. A bit overwhelming if you ask me.

I'm not a bit city person, and so it was interesting being in a lot of massive cities, because although there is a lot to see and do, it's a city. In going to Hong Kong, China, and Japan especially, I got the feeling that although their cultures are still present in different ways, technology, globalization and commercialism have changed the dynamic of these places a lot and that made me a bit sad. We were told that many of these expansive areas were farmland a mere 20 years ago. And now these massive cities have suddenly emerged. Then again, technology, globalization and commercialism have radically changed our society as well, especially in the way we communicate with others and spend our time. Lots to think about.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed being in downtown Hong Kong, from people watching, the food, the signs, the culture, the daily grind and much more.

Tomorrow's stop: Lantau Island, Hong Kong

Pummelled, People-Watching, Pebbles

2011-05-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Once I have been to a place, it is not often I want to return (with the exception of New Zealand), but Vietnam would be a country I would add to my list of countries I would love to return to and explore extensively. Perhaps a biking tour?

The people, the greenery, the water, the beaches. Beautiful! Loved every second of my time there!

And who doesn't love a perfect line of amazingly colorful lanterns?

Had to climb about 150 steps to get to see this buddha at the top of the hill. He looks over the city. Every time I see one I kind of stand in awe because it baffles me. And saddens me.

Nha Trang Bay is absolutely stunning. Loved watching the fishermen. Wonderful place to sit and think and just watch.

Went to another temple where they were preparing for a massive festival the next day. I got stared at and pointed at by many people. I'm guessing because I'm larger. I had to laugh though because they were so NOT discreet. Pointing blatantly, tugging their friends over to come look at me. I should have offered to take some photos with them.

The beach we went to was beautiful. Not sandy though. Quite pebbly. I wanted to go swimming, because I love swimming and like taking any chance to swim that I can. I met some friends on the beach who warned that the undertow was strong. I brushed it aside, because well, I'm a strong swimmer of course. Undertow, schmundertow. I could handle it.

So I walked into the water. The current felt pretty strong, but I was also equally excited to get reprieve from the heat in the refreshing water. I walked in deeper, when suddenly it dropped off and I fell. At that exact moment, a massive wave came and pummelled me into the ground. Slightly washed out and shell-shocked, I got up, hoping my friends on the beach didn't notice and got out of the water.

Later I noticed blood running down my legs from where the rocks had cut me open. And later, upon showering, I removed approximately 2 cups of pebbles from my bathing suit. (Subtle way of stealing part of the beach).

The entire time, my mother sat on a chair in the shade, enjoying a coconut beverage and laughing at me as I got completely beat by the waves. Gotta love a mother's support.

And thus concludes our time in Vietnam. It was wonderful, adventurous and dangerous (haha). It definitely whet my appetite to come back and explore more.

Next stop: Hong Kong!

Cambodia, Children, Countries

2011-05-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Cambodia is definitely one of the poorer countries we visited. The lasting effects of war are evident and it made me thankful we live in a peaceful country that has been quite safe and comfortable.

We met quite a few people who had amazing testimonies of their lives and how they survived and made it through the war. One man I spoke with had been left for dead in a village where only 10 out of 200 children survived. He was wrapped in plastic bags and the sun warmed it up and he was able to escape with his life. His whole family had been killed, but he survived. Sad story, but incredible to hear the miracle of a life saved and the resilience and hope that was brought through those lives.

Many others we spoke with had similar stories of losing loved ones in horrible ways and the struggle that life has brought them. It was sobering. I was in turn incredibly thankful for where I was born and for the life i have lived, but my heart was filled with compassion for the people who I met and those whose stories I heard.

A temple where many children could be found. They were all excited to practice their English, so it was fun to chat with many of them.

Life by the beach was really interesting as well. Watching all the locals going about their daily activities and interacting with many people.

love, Love, LOVE all the kids.

Fishing village. What a contrast from a fishing village to the cruise ship we arrived on. Sihanoukville is the only port in Cambodia, and so I was happy that it was included as a stop on the itinerary because I know it boosts their local economy.

Visited a fishing village and got to interact with the people there and see their daily work and a slice into their day to day lives.

The kids loved having their photos taken. And being shown the photo I had taken afterwards.

Precious

And that's a sneak peak into Cambodia. Next stop: Nha Trang, Vietnam

Thailand, Tigers, Touristy

2011-05-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

I love animals. And so when I got to go meet some interesting ones in Thailand, I jumped on the opportunity. We went to the tiger zoo which was a bit too commercial for me, but it was still fun.

My favorite was probably the orangutan because he was lovely. Haha.. Kept gazing into my eyes.. and other places too mind you.

And we got to bottle feed a baby tiger! He was pretty cute. Yet big for being a baby. Tried to stick it in my carry on but it didn't work out.

Lots of different animals there too. And we watched the elephant show. And the tiger show. And the crocodile show. I feel like they have a show for everything. Got a little bit nervous watching the guys stick their heads into the open crocodile's mouths. I know they're trained and all, but they are still animals...

And then there was the scorpion lady. Not sure I would be the next person to sign up for this job...

The giant tiger was a bit scarier than the small one. I know he had a chain on his neck.. but still. He had sharp teeth and large paws and was sitting right next to me. Eep. But he was nice and soft.

Apparently he wasn't quite as affectionate as the orangutan.

Crazy to watch the tigers fighting. Have never seen so many tigers in my life. A bit sad for them that they couldn't be in grassy jungles somewhere.

My mom and the lion got along pretty well too. See any resemblance??

That's all for today, next stop: Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Fish, Food, Flowers

2011-05-10T23:52:00.000-07:00

It is interesting to see all the massive cities that seem to have sprung up overnight in all these places. As you drive through, you are told that 20 years ago, all this area was farmland, and now it's a field of high rises and sky scrapers.

Bangkok was where I got the first sense of that, but at the same time was able to see the more "rural" side of things.

We went on a boat ride through all the canals/channels bordering off the main Bangkok river and it was fascinating to see people's homes and get a quick glimpse into their lives.

The Thai people are so warm and friendly. All of them were overjoyed to see us and would all wave as we passed by.

A common site to see was different people cooking meals aboard their little boats.

And fish. Boy were there fish. You aren't allowed fishing directly in the river by the temples, so obviously, that's where all the smart fish congregate. I have never seen so many fish in one place in my entire life. The water was swarming with them. It reminded me of what it must have been like when Jesus told his disciples to lower their nets in the water and they were FULL of fish.

There was a food market and all the different "restaurants" had their kitchens out back, in the boats. So the servers would lean over the railing to put in the orders, and the women would assemble it. I can't imagine cooking that many meals in such a small place. And on a rocky boat no less.

Went to a local flower market and the amounts of flowers everywhere was crazy! Dozen roses for a dollar anyone? And the turkeys/ducks (I really don't know for sure what they are) in the bucket kind of didn't appeal much to me.

Love all the textures of the different fruits, plants and flowers. So diverse and colorful!

It was fun seeing some of the fruits that I have been trying out from my local produce market here at home.

This temple was interesting because they were celebrating some festival and so there were people and monks everywhere. And let me tell you, it takes a long time to make sure there's no one else in your photo when you're taking pictures of things. :)

I love that these pictures make this look like a lovely sunny day. When in reality it was 40 degrees with 95 percent humidity. Lovely indeed. You just have to embrace the sweat dripping down every part of your body.

And thus concludes a bit of a tour of Bangkok. It was about a 2 hour drive from the port (Laem Chebang) to Bangkok but I loved seeing the countryside and lots of different things as we drove!

Next stop: Laem Chebang to meet my wild side...

Elephants, Entertainment, Early

2011-05-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

After boarding the cruise ship, our first stop was a large island in Thailand called Ko Samui. It was delightful. Incredible beaches, fishing boats everywhere, jungle and elephants (okay, the elephants may not have been here originally...), charming and friendly people. From the first glimpses, I already loved Thailand!

Off the dock, I loved looking at all the colorful fishing boats and random island that would pop up in the ocean. There was also a lot of good people watching to be had.

Drove up some super steep mountains into the jungle and stopped at this ancient burial site. Well, maybe it wasn't a burial site. Maybe it's just somewhere they come after people die. Apparently I wasn't listening very well.

Anyway, there were a lot of really interesting statues down there amidst greenery and flowing waterfalls. It was quite peaceful. But also seemed like it was from an entirely different world. After trekking down the long flight of stairs, it felt like you had entered a different time period and for a moment or two, surrounded by ancient statues and sunlight filtering through the trees, it felt like time stood still.

Then it was off to the elephant park! There is something about Thailand that is very commercial/touristy, but in a very tacky way. I don't mean this as an insult, but rather a charming thing in a nostalgic, admiring of the way a culture handles their tourist attractions kind of way. If that makes sense to you, fantastic. If it doesn't, please ignore completely this entire paragraph.

{And apparently blogger has changed the order that pictures are uploaded in, so I apologize for the scattered photos}

After seeing many elephants in Africa, it was really neat to see Thai/Indian elephants and see how they are different. I love how hairy these ones are! You have to get up close to them to see all the fine little hairs, but it was really neat.

And I love love love all the locals everywhere. To me, people capture the heart of a place and culture and so I do love snapping shots of them. I hope they don't mind. When it's close up, I ask and then show them the photos, which they love. When it's far away, I put on my zoom lens.

After watching an elephant show {which was neat to see everything elephants can do and how man is able to tame and train animals, but at the same time makes me feel a bit bad for the elephants}, my mom and I boarded an elephant and went on a trek through the jungle.

Below is the elephant loading dock. It was a bit funny getting on because you have to step on the elephant which feels funny, but I guess he's pretty strong.

For whatever reason, I always pictured me riding an elephant on my own. Just me on the top of the elephant gallivanting through the jungle. So I was a bit afraid, because really, what do I know about elephant riding? Then I realized that the elephants have drivers {OBVIOUSLY, who would trust me to drive an elephant?!?}, and I was reassured.

Visited a local coconut farmer's house. Loved that it was just as is. And there were buffalos everywhere. Did you know that they have water buffalo fighting rings?

Then we stopped at a waterfall. Insert contented sigh. I LOVE waterfalls. Any water in fact. But there's something about tons of water flying off an edge into a large pool that is enchanting.

I was thankful for having my bathing suit on and made my way over large rocks to make it to the large pool where I captured the sight of this stunning waterfall. And my heart was at peace. What I loved about swimming here, was that it was all local people. And we chatted. I don't speak Thai, they dont' speak English, but we all had a great time.

What lovely, wonderful people. I loved when they didn't realize my camera was waterproof, because when water suddenly hit it, they were all so concerned. Once I "explained" that it was waterproof, all was well. The kids seemed intrigued by it and we enjoyed swimming around and getting pummeled underneath the waterfall.

Sigh. I could have spent all day there. Maybe next time.

And thus concludes the travel adventures for today.

Next stop: Bangkok, Thailand.

Asia, Alaska, Alive

2011-05-08T23:04:00.000-07:00

Isn't it funny that once you return from a trip, it seems like it never happened and you never left? But then you look back over your pictures and realize that these memories that are so crisp in your mind did indeed happen. I always love looking at my pictures once I get home and reflecting on everything that my five senses took in. So intense in the moment, and so much to take in.

{Did they really expect me to sleep on the 14 hour plane ride when this was my view out the window? This was in Alaska}

Asia was my seventh, and final continent to visit. It was a big one on my bucket list and I feel excited to be able to now cross it off. To be honest, I didn't have much of a desire to go to Asia, partly because I don't like crowds. And I'm not a huge fan of big cities.

However, despite these two things, I enjoyed every moment and LOVED the diversity between all the countries visited. And the people. They were all delightful. The countries visited included: Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China and Japan. And a few days on the cruise ship as well.

First impressions of Singapore: super clean. They have ten million laws about not being able to smoke, chew gum, pee on streets, spit and so forth. And the consequences are pretty severe so people don't do so. I would move there just because I hate gum.

The architecture was incredible. My fave was the three buildings with the ship on top. There's a pool up there apparently. Also cool at night, but I think I already posted a photo on that.

I knew nothing about Singapore but learned a lot. Their population consists of Indians, Chinese, Malay (the original fishing village people) and.. okay, I forget the last group. But such a huge diversity of different cultures all fused together, along with different religions.

Did you know that the person whose image is portrayed most in the world is Buddha? Given that each temple seems to have at least 100 different Buddha statues in different shapes and sizes, that makes sense. World religions have always intrigued me, because they are so tied into culture and when you look at each one, there are nuggets of truth, but along the way, it strayed and distorted that truth into something else. Watching people in the temples worshiping and praying was interesting. And sad. At one point, I wanted to yell "He's dead. Worship the living, victorious, risen Christ!"

I consider myself an adventurous person concerning food, but some things make my stomach turn. Like going to the wet market and seeing the frogs, turtles and eels people were picking to later kill and eat. Ribbit ribbit.

And oh the gardens! I had always heard that Singapore had amazing gardens. We went to the National Orchid Gardens and they were absolutely stunning. Dozens upon dozens of different species and colors of orchids. I didn't know they were so beautiful. I took about a bazillion photos, but decided to just post one to give you an idea. If you want to see more, check out my fb album. What an incredible reminder of what an incredible Creator we serve. Who made so many different orchids for us to enjoy and to reflect His glory and beauty. Incredible.

And crazy spiky plants were cool too. So linear. And I'm sure there's a better name for them, but I like my name.

We stayed at the Raffles Hotel and it was fantastic. Historic and famous, and huge. Was fun to walk around and explore all the stores and restaurants attached.

After two days in Singapore, we boarded our cruise ship where more adventures awaited us and many new friends. Stay tuned for some photos from Thailand.

Boat, Bench, Breakfast

2011-04-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

singapore is great! especially the buildings with a ship on top-so cool!

singapore so far is wonderful!! what an amazing city! the architecture is incredible, people are super friendly, food is fantastic and everything is very clean.

i decided i should probably move here since there is no chewing gum allowed. in contrast to my last visit to seattle that is a nice change.

right now its 2am and im wide awake because i went to bed too early. saw a lot of the city yesterday and even got to drink a singapore sling at the original bar where it was invented.

tomorrow we board the cruise ship and next stop is thailand! here's to hoping i can find somewhere this morning to watch the first canucks playoff game!

Singapore, Seven, Sailing

2011-04-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hopefully by the time you read this, I will have safely arrived in Singapore after a fairly lengthy flight!

So this is my post to say I'm off to travel to travel my final continent! And that makes seven!

Over the next few weeks, I will be visiting Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China and Japan! Combined cruise ship travelling and travelling by land.

It shall be an adventure and I cannot wait! Stay tuned for more updates!

A few things I'm looking forward to crossing off my bucket list:
-go to all 7 continents
-go to Asia
-eat sushi in Japan
-eat dog (i hesitate to admit this is on my list...)
-ride an elephant

we shall see what else the adventures shall hold!

Gum, Gross, Gals

2011-04-10T23:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I had planned for a cousin day, but was happily surprised to have a double cousin day! I showed up at Des' house only to discover, my other cousin, Joelle was there. The funny thing about this is that Joelle and Des are great friends but they aren't related, but they are both related to me. And we're good friends. That sounds confusing. Probably is. Either way, it was the perfect ingredients for a day of FUN.

You know those people that dance like crazy at the corner of the street and often they look like they're bored out of their minds? Well, in Bellingham there was a woman who looked like she absolutely loved her job and was so into it. I told Des to jump out and run to go dance with her. So she did. And she even got to hold the sign. We took pictures as we drove by. Oh what fun can be had when you just do random things people tell you to do. :)

We also stopped at Krispy Kremes on the way back. Mostly for the hats. Because they're pretty awesome. Except Joelle broke hers.

I hate gum. In fact, it's probably my biggest pet peeve. I hate seeing people chew it, hate hearing people chew or crackle it, hate smelling it on someone's breath, hate the look of it in a wrapper or thrown onto the ground. I hate everything about it. In fact, most of the time, it makes me want to throw up. So why I decided we should go see the gum wall in Seattle I have no idea. But search for it and find it we did.

In Pike Place Market, we found the wall, along with a large group of other folks. It was disgusting. Yet I stared at it in awe. It made me want to throw up, but I took pictures. Even posed in front of it. In fact, if I stare at these pictures for too long, it makes me want to throw up. But I figured I would post them for your enjoyment.

So the next time you are in Seattle, go to the main entrance of the market, go down the ramp, and turn left and voila, there it shall be. Maybe bring a piece of gum to chew and stick onto the wall. {dont' I look so excited to be there in the picture below?}

All in all a very fun day was had. Went for dinner, walked around a lot, and then enjoyed a musical all together. Lots of laughs and great conversation, which happen to be two of my favorite ingredients to add to the making of a fantastic day.

I will miss these ladies dearly. Joelle is heading to Africa and beyond for at least a year and I will be gone. But I treasure our times together and future times when we are all in the same place. I am thankful for an incredible family, that is not just family, but even more deeply bonded with friendship.

Soul, Surfer, Sharks

2011-04-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to see the newly released movie, 'Soul Surfer'. An absolutely incredibly story, but above all incredibly inspiring. It's the true story of a young girl, Bethany Hamilton, who grows up surfing and is set to be a pro surfer and then loses her arm in a shark attack. With faith and perseverance, against all odds, she learns to surf again.

What I loved especially about this movie (besides the fact that it's a great story), is that it is blatantly Christian. I didn't realize this when watching the trailer, but Bethany and her family are Christians and the credit and glory that were given to God in this Hollywood movie are incredible. And exciting to see and hear the testimony of what God has done in and through this young woman. I have been reading other articles on her and it's a pretty incredible story. Check it out. And go see the movie.

Flowers, Friends, Frenzy

2011-04-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

In the last couple days, there is the feeling of spring in the air! The flowers are blooming and everything seems fresh and new.

There is something about a street full of cherry blossom trees that makes my heart flutter with excitement inside because it's so beautiful and full of life. So today I tried snapping a few pictures of them.

And after today, I have flowers inside my house too! A friend of mine came over for tea and blessed me with some flowers. Was so wonderful to have her company and now I have a lovely bouquet of tulips in my living room as a reminder of our visit as well.

And life has turned into a frenzy (hence the lack of blogging). I have been so busy packing up my house that I have neglected entirely to pack for my month long trip. Maybe if I had a washer that worked I could wash clothes to pack. For now I will just run around getting everything else done, avoiding packing for my holidays altogether.

Countdown is on: 4 more sleeps and then the adventures shall begin!

Standoff, Scene, Safe

2011-04-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

This is the scene I drove home to today. Over 50 cops outside in an armed standoff right outside my house. I wasn't allowed past (obviously) and was sent away, which was funny considering today was the day that I only took my licence when leaving the house this morning.

Apparently it was an old man and his wife had called in about his strange behavior. Pretty serious I guess by the police response. Saw some pretty large rifles and other things and everyone was hiding behind their vehicles. Kind of looked like a movie scene. Makes me think twice about jogging by this house in the future... Glad I live in a safe neighborhood!

Anyway, that was my excitement of the day. Hopefully I can go home soon to pack for the weekend!

Second, Seattle, Sore

2011-03-31T23:57:00.000-07:00

I have been growing very appreciative of traditions with good friends. And I love that I have different small groups of friends that I do regular fun things with. I am definitely going to miss that when I move away, but cherish the times together now, and the times I know we will have when I am back here visiting.

Yesterday, Amy, Carlee and I headed to Seattle for the day. Walked around a bunch,went into some different stores, ate some great food and enjoyed a movie.

Instead of memorizing the movie times, Carlee decided to take a picture of them. We saw Lincoln Lawyer which actually isn't the type of movie I would normally choose, but I really enjoyed it.

Carlee has always wanted to be a mannequin, so she figured she'd get some practice in.

Stopped at Anthropologie because it is a super fun store and there's always really fun displays everywhere. Love it even though I have never actually bought anything there. It's fun to look.

And aprons. They have many of them and all of them are incredibly fun and original. :) (except for the hundreds of others sold in all their stores I'm sure)

And who doesn't love playing with large magnifying glasses?

Carlee found a prom date.

And Amy and I had a debate over very important matters.

All in all a wonderful day and it didn't really rain at all when we were walking around downtown, so that was nice.

One of my favorite things of the day was how much we laughed all day long. And not just ha ha here and there, but that gut splitting laughing that makes your abs hurt the next day. And intermixed we had really encouraging conversations about more serious things which was also appreciated. All in all a perfect day. I'm looking forward to the next 'eat seattle' already. :)

Peeing, Pants, Puddle

2011-03-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

Yes it's official. I have the bladder control of a five year old. Maybe more like a two year old. Today I had an absolutely fantastic day with friends in Seattle, for our traditional, 'Eat Seattle' and it was so much fun, with so much laughter and good conversations and so forth.

But perhaps there was a bit too much laughter and not enough peeing that happened? The photo below would be proof of that. And oh I wish that my friend had leather seats instead of upholstery...

Most people would be mortified at such a photo, or even such a story of having peed their pants in someone's vehicle at the age of 26. But let me tell you, I find it HILARIOUS. And I hope you do too. Because all I can do is keep laughing at it. So hopefully it brought you some joy as well. More photos from eat seattle coming soon!!

Changes, Cousins, Canucks

2011-03-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months I have put a lot of thought into how I spend my time and where I invest it. I realized that in being someone who is fairly agreeable, I say yes to a lot of things that when I think back on it, I didn't really want to do. And so I have decided to be more intentional with my time and with my friendships. I have a lot of friendships and a lot of wonderful people in my life, but sometimes I feel like I am stretched too thin. So there's a need to decipher which friendships were more for a season and which ones were long term. Not to say that you never speak to people again, but the intensity changes. This may sound harsh and I don't intend it to be. It's just been me figuring out how to best be a friend to the people in my life. I'm embracing the different seasons and how they each have molded and shaped me into who I am today.

Another thing i have been realizing over the last couple weeks has been how our perceptions and views of ourselves and the world around us impacts the way we react to others and even in the way we hear and interpret words and actions. I've had some unfortunate events take place that I am regretful of, because in communicating, I did not respond well. And did not present well either I suppose. But I was reminded of how hugely our lenses of the world affect us. If I feel like everyone dislikes me or wants to attack me, I will interpret most things through that lens even though it may be incredibly far from the truth. This has caused me to examine what my expectations of others are (as they are often unrealistic and need to be shifted), but also what my expectations of people's reactions to me are as well.

Anyway, that was a lot of jabber.

The other night I was able to hang out with my second cousin Nicole and it was funny when I thought about it, because we went to high school together, we read each others' blogs, we're similar in a lot of ways, yet we never hang out. So recently we decided we should actually make it happen and we did. And I am already looking forward to the next time. It's funny, because in talking and hanging out, I felt like we hung out all the time, although I hadn't really seen her since high school nine years ago.

And thus concludes a very random post with a lot of scattered bits of my thoughts. And I will add a shout out to the Canucks who are playing amazingly and will hopefully win the presidents' trophy this year. And hooray for them having the most wins on record for them in a regular season. I am saddened by the fact that I'm pretty sure the NHL playoffs will be hard to find while in Asia... but hey, you never know, right?

Capilano, Cousins, Canucks

2011-03-26T06:00:00.001-07:00

Last week, my relatives from Castlegar were in town. My great-uncle Henry passed away before Christmas and they decided to have a memorial for him in Abbotsford since that's where he lived a lot of his life.

I have always loved it when any of them have come to visit. We all connect really well. It's funny because my mom used to babysit her aunts kids, and then they babysit us as kids. I also got to be a flower girl in Deb's wedding so that's really special as well.

We clicked well and had a lot of fun. Went to Capilano Suspension Bridge for the day on the Friday and beat the rain which was nice. Did you know that as a BC resident, if you pay for a day's admission (26 bucks), you get a year's pass? Which is expensive for one visit, but not for the whole year! So I'm excited to go back in the winter because they always do a lot of Christmas lights. And they're opening up a new cliff walk exhibit which also sounds pretty great.

My aunt Carol really hates her picture taken. This was the nicest one I took of us. The rest she refused to co-operate :)

Thankfully Deb and I share the same joy of taking beautiful photos. Or funny ones. With signs.

I love BC. And places like this that are surrounded by woods and it just feels outdoorsy. yeah it's touristy, but that was okay for this day.

And I love my mom as well. Because she rocks. And I love our friendship. :)

The bridge was super scary. Watch out.

Watch out for slippery surfaces. Thankfully I did not fall.

What do you do on suspension bridges?? Run of course!

Strangely enough, everyone slipped by this sign. It wasn't even wet really.

Sadly Deb had the worst fall..

Oops.

Hooray for suspension bridges!! They actually have a really cool exhibit that has little suspension bridges between trees. It's called treetop adventure and it's actually really cool. Great views as well.

My mom tried having a bigger wingspan than the eagle. At least she has a wider wingspan than the goose. Go Mom!

Unsure of what slugs do at slug crossings, but we probably fooled quite a few people into thinking we were giant, colorful slugs.

BEAR HUG!

White Spot before the game! Mmmmm!

All in all, a wonderful time with family and getting to know them in a new way as well. It was good to celebrate Uncle Henry's life with those who came to the memorial. I really appreciated hearing all the stories from his life. Always inspiring and humbling to hear of the amazing legacy people have left before us.

Honjin, Hockey, Home

2011-03-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

My first week back home has been a crazy mix of things but mostly I am enjoying being home for more than two days at once. Being sick has added a different dimension, but I have enjoyed reconnecting with those I love dearly and being able to have quality time with friends.

The first night back, Kristen and I headed to Vancouver to my favorite sushi place in Van and then to the Canucks game. If you love sushi, go to Honjin sushi on Pacific and Davie and order their tuna tataki. It is divine. And melts in your mouth.

After a delightful dinner, we headed to the game and enjoyed watching the Canucks win. And getting on the big screen of course too!

And of course, mixed into the socializing, we had to watch some home improvement and do some homework together. Well, Kristen doing homework and me avoiding the papers I have to mark by organizing and cleaning.

So that is a little bit of what I have been up to. Enjoying the sun as well!

Make-Out, Montreal, Mounds

2011-03-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Another aspect to Quebec that I absolutely love is the culture and the fact that I have some wonderful friendships that I have built there over the years. What I love about most people in Quebec is they are who they are. They are fairly open and honest about who they are and aren't ashamed of it. Their life motto is "Joie de vivre", the joy of living. Love it.

So when we first stopped for a bite to eat at Wendy's upon my arrival, I had to laugh at the couple that was making out at their table for the entire thirty minutes we were there.. Seriously, people? I had to take a photo...

I stayed with my friends and outside the window I always had a wonderful view of whatever fresh snow had come down the night before.

There are some great restaurants there, including a Thai place that is everyone's favorite. Good to see friends from Montreal and hang out with friends from Capernwray as well.

While I was there, the students were taken on the annual trip to the cabane a sucre, which means sugar shack, where they make the maple syrup. They have traditional Quebec dinners where you put maple syrup on everything. Starts with pea soup, then there's scrambled eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, crepes, and maple pie. Talk about a sugar high.

After the meal you get to enjoy tire, which is boiled maple syrup poured on snow. You take a popsicle stick and roll it up on there for a tasty treat. When I was in elementary school, we always did this in our studies of Quebec at their annual festival of Carnaval. I was in French Immersion so we got neat opportunities to learn about such things.

Another thing I love about Capernwray is the honesty and openness of people there. I love that you can meet someone and suddenly be friends and conversations can be really open and honest.

Brandis and I started and finished a puzzle which was a lot of fun. Kind of crazy with all the people in it, but we enjoyed it.

I was able to help out a bit with the men's retreat as well. Fun to do dishes and clean-ups again and gave me a glimpse of different aspect of life there, especially during the summer. For their retreats, they always do a pie phenomenon with a coffee bar and a pie bar. Incredible.

Me and some of the female staff.

Lisa putting the final touches on the blueberry pie.

We decided to make up fruit of the spirit exercise poses. And for some reason, everything seemed extra funny that night. Love those moments.

Pies!

And thus concludes my time in Quebec. It was a wonderful two weeks. A great mix of relaxing, working, playing with kids, connecting with the staff and students, visiting friends in the community and sitting in on classes as well. I can't wait to go back and actually be a more permanent part of the community there! :)

Precious, Personalities, Pictures

2011-03-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of visiting my friends in Quebec is that a lot of them have kids that I absolutely adore. I have been able to watch them grow up while I was a student there (the first few) and then scattered on my visits.

Anyway, I stayed with a family there with four kids and love each of them so much and their unique personalities. Here are some pictures of some of our two weeks together. :)

Didn't like the moose toque much, but I managed to snap a quick pic while she still had it on!

I remember how fun it is to have your hair all in braids as a kid!

A delightful sight to wake up to every morning. in fact I quite miss it.

After the braids were taken out :)

Fun in the mornings. :) Yay for pajamas.

Precious.

Brandis and I got to take the youngest to the mall for a few hours in Montreal which was a lot of fun. Such a good baby. And always full of smiles.

And when it snows a ton in Quebec, what do you do? You try and jump off any high point possible into piles and piles of snow!! Obviously! :)

And snow a lot it did. Intermixed with a bit of rain and freezing rain. But it reminded me of how much I love Quebec winters. And I'm excited to actually have proper winter gear for next winter!

And of course, the kids had to jump off the balcony as well.. the porch wasn't enough!

And sometimes it's a little hard to get out of the snow.. especially when boots get left behind!

Taking a photo with all the kids is not always the easiest, but this was one of my faves from them all! :) Although each is precious in its own way because it shows their personalities so much!

So here's a little bit of a glimpse of my time in Quebec and time that will be yet to come as well!

Guelph, Grown-up, Growing

2011-03-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

Greetings from me, being back home! My apologies for the delay in posting lately. Has been a crazy first week back home and I didn't have my pre-scheduled posts to count on!

Being home has been really good, especially for more than three days. This week has been busy with out of town family that was here for a memorial they hosted at my mom's. So it was mixed with sadness and joy at seeing family and celebrating life together yet grieving loss together as well.

Many pictures to post and stories to tell but I figured I would start with some from months ago. In January to be exact. Found them on my camera which had been dead.

During my cross-Canada trip back in January, I was blessed to be able to visit one of my dear friend's, Becky, her husband and their son. Becky and I met when I was in grade nine. We went on a missions trip to Mexico together. It was quite the adventure and we're both slightly crazy, so we clicked right away. It was a wonderful few days with them and fun to see how much their son has grown since the last time I saw them!

Becky's hubby was in an engineering competition at the university of Guelph, so Becky and I went beforehand to try making some stuff. Jordan's team ended up winning. Probably because of our help.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to have good conversations, hang out, play in the snow and just be. It's so neat to see friends get older and become grown-ups. I say this knowing that I too am "growing" up at the same time. But it's neat to see friends you knew as single people be married with kids and to see that progression.

Because we look like grown-ups all the time, especially when we take photos of ourselves.

One day while Becky was at work and Jordan at school, I went for a walk and locked myself out of their house. Luckily they have a garage with a code. Then again, when I opened their garage, I realized that getting to the inside of the house would be no easy task. So I laughed and then proceeded to climb over their garage belongings. :)

And playing in the snow is always fun. Something I definitely miss, living in BC.

And thus concludes my coverage of a trip taken back in January. :)

Hope you are all enjoying this Monday. Enjoy the rest of the week and stay tuned for some more updates!

Rich Ruler, Real

2011-03-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

A few months ago someone encouraged me to ask God to give me some verses concerning being called to serve in Quebec. I stopped in my tracks and laughed because I have many scriptures that were given to me long ago confirming being in Quebec. It's the thing that has always been staring me in the face. The time just wasn't right.

When I left Quebec a few years ago, I wondered why. I was confused and frustrated. I didn't want to be going back home. But now looking back I am so so so thankful for the last 6 years I have spent in BC, because they have been richly blessed.

My time at home has been one of building community, deepening friendships, walking intentionally through grief, growing and learning and the list goes on. And now that I've been in a place where I have put down roots, it is really hard to leave. But I think it is a good thing when leaving a place is hard. If it's easy, that probably means you didn't invest much or that you are running from something.

Anyway, one scripture that God has been putting on my heart over the last few months as He has been preparing me to go is from Mark 10:17-22. It's the story of the rich young ruler.

"And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'" And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth." And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."

Now I don't share this to say that everyone should sell everything they have. Rather I share it, because what's been spoken to me is the fact that I have my grip on many things other than Christ. And they stop me from being fully free. They hinder me from being able to follow him wholeheartedly.

God's been gently bringing me to a place of loosening my grip. First on my possessions and lifestyle. And now in a way, with my life completely. There's a lot to let go of. And it's hard. Because I'm gripping comfort. I lead a very comfortable life and I'm not okay with that. There were many moments before making my decision that I was dead set against moving across the country. But then God would bring me back to this passage and I would realize that I don't want to walk away from Jesus sorrowful, while tightly gripping what I have here and how I live. I want to open up my tightly clenched fists and skip freely behind him, knowing that in giving up things here, there are even richer things to be gained.

Syllables, Sophie's, Sweet

2011-03-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about being home is playing with this little guy. Because he is so stinkin' precious and melts my heart every time. Especially when he walks over to me, grabs my finger and gets me to follow him where he wants to go play.

I love how he says my name even though it sounds nothing like it and there is no way I could even tell you what it sounds like. But it has two syllables and it's what he calls me and that's what matters. :)

And then this week, my friend Amy and I spent the day together in Vancouver. It was a gloriously sunny day in Van and we went to some fantastic stops! Great day!

This is a great find: Sophie's. I love all the stuff inside. Once again, stuff makes good atmosphere, thereby creating better food. It's all homemade type food and all very tasty.

We went to Granville island for quite a while and walked around downtown a bunch and then went to the Canucks game. We lost, but it ended up being a tense game and it was good and fun. And I got on the big screen, so it must all be good. :)

Here's another one of my fave kiddies. I have known their mom for years and have watched her and her brother grow up over the years. I have enjoyed many a dinner at their house and always enjoy my time spent with them!

Sorry for another random post, but this is what I've been up to in my time at home before my trip to Quebec!

Next up: More about why in the world i'm moving to Quebec!

Fieri, Friend, Food

2011-03-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

To escape the rain at Disneyland one night, we checked out another one of Guy Fieri's recommended restaurants. This one was called Mamma Cozza and it was conveniently located on the same street as our hotel.

It was an Italian place and upon walking in, you knew it must be good, because there was a long wait and all the stuff decorating the place just added to the atmosphere. And for whatever reason, when there's stuff everywhere, it adds something to the place. And makes the food taste better. At least that's my theory for now.

Oooh, see, look at that ambience. I especially liked the tablecloths and football helmets everywhere. And family photos from over the years.

This time we decided to order one of Guy Fieri's choices along with a pasta dish (because one should always get pasta at an Italian place, right?)

So we got the Mama Special pizza and the spinach and chicken ravioli. Both were tasty and the whole meal was quite enjoyable!!

I can't wait for the next chance to check out one of his other restaurants! It is now a fun thing to do while traveling around-hope you will check it out sometime too!

Paradise, Pier, Pouring

2011-03-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

I love California Adventure Land! And especially since they have some great new additions coming up, including a 'Cars' land and the little mermaid ride!!

The rollercoaster is awesome and I pretty much just giggled the entire time while Brooke screamed.

And most of the rides in a bug's land bored us solely by watching them.. so we only went on one, which was the heimlich chew chew train from a bug's life.

Saw Aladdin the musical! They do an awesome job of it and the special effects are fantastic as well!

And Pixar pals are always my favorites!

Makes me want to go home and watch all these movies again!

And Toy Story 3D ride is one of my faves! Although my arm is usually quite sore afterwards!

here's Heimlich, but I enjoy the ride every time even though it's the smallest little kid ride ever. Once again, the only adults in the line are ones with children. Except for us. hehe

But at least the ambience and decor in A Bug's Land is cool. And it is a good shortcut to get to the tower of terror, so we walked through it a lot.

And a trip to Disney is never complete without going on the carousel, right?

I love this picture.. because I'm soaked and it's pouring rain..

All in all a fantastic time in both parks! I don't remember walking that much in a long time! Hope you enjoyed coming to Disneyland with me through my blog! Probably won't go for a while but definitely have my fix to last me a LONG time!!

Balloons, Babies, Big

2011-03-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

I brought my fancy camera to Disneyland this time to get some good shots, but since it was pouring rain for the most part, the camera didn't come out much. But here are a few shots I got nonetheless.

I love all the balloons around. I would never buy them, but I especially enjoy watching frazzled mothers push their crying babies through the street as the balloon keeps floating back and nailing them in the face. And they add a special festive quality to the streets of Disneyland as well.

Palm trees at sunset. Beautiful.

Main Street at Disneyland. With throngs of people. I'm not a huge fan of crowds, but I will make an exception if I'm at Disneyland. :)

Big Thunder Mountain: favorite rollercoaster (along with space mountain of course). And at night it looks cool. And at night during fireworks while you're riding it, it is indeed the BEST (but i may have mentioned that before so now I'm just repeating myself)

I enjoyed the night photography with the train flying by as a streak of light. I think Disneyland is the best at night. Especially in the summer when it's warmer at night. But the lighting everywhere is absolutely perfect!

Next up: California Adventure!

Tiki, Teacups, Toad

2011-03-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful week in Palm Springs, Brooke and I drove to Anaheim, where we prepped to spend the next three days at Disneyland!!

I think we went on pretty much every single ride in both parks. Covered a lot of ground. And the infamous Tiki Room I always enjoy. Every time we passed it, I'd offer for us to go in again, but Brooke wouldn't go for it. It was probably me singing at the top of her lungs that threw her off. :)

They were celebrating Mardi Gras in the New Orleans Times Square while we were there too, so there were decorations and dancing and festivities which was just delightful!

And one of the longest lines we stood in was probably for the Dumbo ride... the rest of the little kiddie rides we did early in the morning. But the thrill of flying with Dumbo was worth it.

The first two days, mid-afternoon, it would pour rain and get really stormy and windy. Brooke had a poncho, I was happy being soaked and we spent a lot of the time on the indoor attractions. However, the benefit of having it pour rain, was that in the early evening, the park was way emptier than normal and there were not many lines.

And then we went on the tea cups and even though i know they make me sick, I spun them as fast as I possibly could. And that is probably why we only went on the tea cups once. :)

Just looking at these pictures of us spinning makes me feel a little queezy in the stomach! haha

And we even got to meet a few characters out and about.

Brooke sporting her fantastic poncho.

Please observe the couple behind us in this photo. They were harsh making out behind us and it was gross because we could hear it. So we just kept taking pictures of them in the background of us and finally they stopped. And in this photo you can also observe what happens to my hair when it's straight at the beginning of the day and gets rained on. :)

This is us waiting in the pouring rain for the Peter Pan Flying ride. Worth it. Rain definitely added this new dimension to things. As you walked around in your soaking wet shoes, and watched the water pile up everywhere, it had a magical feel to it. Mind you, I'd take sun at Disneyland anyway over rain.

And then there's the creepy dolls that don't look anything like the princesses they represent. Really Disney? Could you not take a little more pride in your stuffed animals that don't look anything like they should?

Space Mountain: one of my favorite rides!

We liked to make crazy faces for all the pictures. Sometimes it looks like i'm scared but really it's just me making a face. Phewf.

Finding Nemo Submarine Ride: also one that makes your stomach feel gross. But nice to watch the different scenes from Nemo underwater.

Alice in Wonderland caterpillar ride. One of those rides that you stand in and every other adult there is with a child. But hey, we don't need kids to have fun on the little kiddie rides!

Next up: More pics from Disneyland and some from California Adventure as well!

Palms, People, Paradise

2011-02-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

My family has been travelling to Palm Springs since I was a little girl and I used to have a love/hate relationship with it. Now I absolutely love it and have learned to relax and just enjoy 'being' while on holidays.

Brooke told me she wanted to go away and my mom was already in Palm Springs, so I decided it would be fun to join her there and check out Disneyland at the end of the trip (since I am becoming quite the expert).

I love love love the palm trees. Contrasted with blue skies. Watching it transports me to some marvelous paradise, just knowing it will be wonderful and warm outside and that all is well.

The place we stayed had a bunch of different pools so it was fun to check out different ones each day. Read 6 books as well which is always a bonus. Good to get a dent in the book reading. :)

I actually didn't take any pictures during our week there. Well, except for the ones posted here. But they were all taken in a ten minute span and then ten more minutes at the night market one night.

We stocked up on fresh fruit and veggies from the market and feasted to our heart's content. On Valentine's, we even made our own gourmet dinner (we figured the restaurants would be way too busy).

In the mornings and evenings, we enjoyed some intermittent wogging.

All in all, it was a wonderful balanced holiday. Good time to relax, get some good swimming in, go out to some of my fave restaurants down there and just take in the beauty of the mountains and palm trees and greenness that are present in the middle of the desert. Oh, and the shopping as well.

Not a huge shopper, but we went to the outlets and I got some killer deals on a snowjacket, snowpants and a rainjacket from Columbia. 80 bucks all together. Always nice when you can get an originally priced snowjacket (210 dollars) for 30 bucks. So now I feel a little more prepared for winters in Quebec!

And of course, my mom and i had to have an awesome photo shoot. Because she's awesome and so am I. And that makes our photos awesome.

And no visit with brooke is complete without her stealing my camera and taking self-portraits. :)

One night we also went over to my friend Kristen's place. We went to uni together and she's doing her masters in Cali. It was so wonderful to see her again and to connect. She made us a super tasty dinner and we watched the Canucks win. Wooh!

And Palm Springs wouldn't be Palm Springs without the markets. Usually you always see someone you know from back home (saw a few people we knew and had dinner with a couple of them!) I love walking around and looking at all the crazy homemade stuff that's pretty creative. And seeing all the older women whose skin is the darkest shade of brown amongst the wrinkles from far too much sun exposure.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip and just fun to hang out together. Oh and my mom and I got obsessed with Yahtzee and probably played at least 100 games... Probably won't have the chance to go to Palm Springs again soon, but I definitely enjoyed the visit this time around!

Next stop: Disneyland!

Cafe, Casserole, Casting

2011-02-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

A trip to Seattle is never complete without visiting the giant troll under the bridge. You have to get permission to go over the bridge, right?

Anyone ever watched the show, "Drive-ins, Diners and Dives"? Guy Fieri is the host and he goes to these different places all across the States and does shows on them. So Brooke and I decided to check some out.

First stop: Voula's Offshore Cafe. I think our first mistake was not being entirely hungry, but it closes at 3pm, so we had to fit it in. Our second mistake was not actually ordering what Guy Fieri suggests because we didn't feel like eating breakfast.

But it was a quaint inside and the people who worked there were very friendly. You could tell that most of the clientele was local, because everybody knew everyone and they just came in to grab a big delicious breakfast and be on their merry way.

We didn't order breakfast though. We ordered tuna casserole (it was on special, don't ask me why we ordered it) and fries and a shake.

The shake was the best part. The rest: not so great. Once again, I think we ordered the wrong thing because this place specializes in breakfasts. It's kind of like ordering a hamburger at a Chinese place.. most likely it won't be that great.

But we had fun and feel like we branched out a bit. One day we will return and redeem our experience. In the meantime, if you're ever in Everett or Seattle (or any other US city), look up which restaurants are there and check them out! They are often diamonds hidden in the rough that you'd never think to eat at!

In the evening, we went to a musical called 'Rock of Ages', which is a mix of all different rock songs into a musical (kind of the same idea as Mamma Mia). It was very well done. And the casting was awesome-everyone fit their part perfectly.

And so ended our day trip to Seattle!! After the musical, we drove to a hotel in Bellingham where we stayed the night before our flight in the morning! And if you're ever flying out of Bellingham, you can get a great deal for the night and parking for up to 10 days at the Hampton Inn. Check it out.

Next stop: Palm Springs!

Birds, Besties, Belgian

2011-02-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

A good way to know that you stockpile things is when the onion you bought a few months ago has a growth off of it that is longer than itself. And it is full of mold. But hey, at least I enjoyed the growth spurt the onion had before disposing of it...

Since January I have only been home an average of three days at a time. But I have loved every one of those days at home and have been blessed to be able to connect with some wonderful friends during those times.

Before heading to Palm Springs, Destinye and I were able to hang out. She's one of my main friends from when I worked at Starbucks. We used to have sleepovers on nights when we both had to work at 4am (dumb idea) and she also rocks Dance Dance Revolution with me. We're pretty much awesome like that. Anyway, I appreciate her a lot and that even if we haven't seen each other in a month, it's like we saw each other yesterday. I always leave encouraged and inspired by what she's been doing and learning in life.

I also got to head to Vancouver to spend the day with one of my long time besties, Sandy. She's someone I can tell absolutely anything to and I think she knows me better than most people.

We had lunch at one of her favourite restaurants, complete with little mini Belgian waffles and hot chocolate.

And then we just walked around Vancouver enjoying each other's company and having some good convos. Also, Sandy sometimes gets really excited about stuff (which I love) and she will randomly yell the names of stores she sees... So we enjoy reenacting previous times when she's done so.

We even stopped at Robson Rink to enjoy the skating. :)

And pondered as to why koalas need instructions on how to change their young.

And BEST yet: we found the GIANT birds in downtown Vancouver. I didn't know they existed, but they make me happy!!

YAY for GIANT birds!! (go check them out, they're pretty awesome)

My favorite moment was when some girl offered to take our photo in front of the bird. She took the pic, looked at it, proclaimed "that's an awesome photo" and then took off. Um.. she cut the bird's head off... Maybe she didn't notice? Maybe she was far too dazzled with us that she was distracted? Maybe she did it on purpose. So maybe from now on when I take pictures of people for them, I will cut off their heads or take pictures of other objects instead of them. Well, probably not, but something to think about.

Oh how I love my birds! And Vancouver! And my delightful friends!

Lettuce, Latest, L'Hiver

2011-02-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today I arrived back in Canada to SNOW!!! Truth be told, it wasn't snowing in the States, but as soon as I crossed the border, it was snowing. Guess that goes along with the fact that it's probably ten million times more cold here in the winter with our igloos and all.

I love snow. But now when I've just finished a week in intense heat. And then I remember that although I LOVE winter in BC, this is my last winter in BC for some time, so I need to appreciate the fact that it is a little (actually a lot) milder than what I will be experiencing next winter!

Anyway, had a delightful time away. Hope you enjoyed the blog posts while I was gone. Did some scheduled posting to make it seem like I'm an avid blogger.. hope it worked.

Just a shout out to say hi and perhaps soon and very soon I shall have some exciting photos of the latest posted!!

Have you ever eaten at the Cheesecake Factory? They don't just have cheesecake as the title might suggest, but they have the most expansive and varied menu ever. Anyway, their lettuce wraps are AMAZING. Probably my favourite thing on the menu. Every time I have them, I always say the classic "man, i should make these sometime". So to avoid having to cook, I turned to my mom and said "Mom, you should make these sometime for a family dinner."

And WHAM, tonight it happened, a mere few days after the suggestion occurred. And they were awesome. Lettuce wraps and a night with my family (not to mention my absolutely adorable niece and nephew) makes for a delightful evening indeed.