Singapore, Seven, Sailing

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!

Twenty-Six, Travel, Thinking

26 things for my 26th year.

Since I just had a birthday, I have been thinking of what I would like 26 to be like and what I want to do during that year.

I recently spied someone's list of 30 things they wanted to do before they were 30. I love making bucket lists and such, so I figured, why not make a list of 26 things I want to do during my 26th year.

So here goes:
1. Take a picture of the stars
2. Travel to Asia
3. Finish Writing my book
4. Get a business license
5. Expand my volunteering time
6. Lose 50 pounds
7. Learn how to play guitar
8. Take a spanish class
9. Attend an aquafit class
10. Spend a weekend in Seattle
11. Go Camping somewhere new
12. Discover a new lake (to me.. i'm sure there have not been many made in the last year...) to canoe on
13. Reconnect with an old friend
14. Memorize Colossians
15. Swim 200 lengths in a row
16. Jog 5 kms
17. Make a photo book for my 25th year
18. Take a painting class
19. Learn how to stretch canvas
20. Write my sponsor kids
21. Learn how to pickle things
22. Go spend a day reading on the beach
23. Go on a picnic
24. Learn how to stop while skating
25. Bake bread
26. Go on a roadtrip

So there you have it. I will keep you updated as I cross things off my list...

Eggnog, Ecstatic, Eggs

Christmas is coming! What does that mean? Well, lots of things, but one exciting one is that... EGG NOG IS HERE!!!

I enjoy a glass of egg nog mixed in with some skim milk and it always makes things feel festive. For the longest time I have wanted to make homemade egg nog. In fact, it's on the bucket list. My chance came this last weekend when Anne and Andrea came to stay with me and we decided to take Christmas by storm and make our own batch of fresh homemade egg nog. Loved it and thought I'd share the recipe.


Make sure you have eggs. And don't eat them before making the egg nog.. {I forgot to tell Anne..}


Andrea and I were pretty excited about it.


Favourite part: separating the eggs.


Beat until thick...
12 egg whites
add and beat until thick...
1 cup white sugar


In separate bowl beat until thick:
12 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt


In separate bowl, beat until thick:
3c Whipping Cream
add 2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
Beat until mixed and thick {i see a theme...}.


Add 7 cups milk....
nutmeg to sprinkle


Add rum and whiskey @ leisure


When making this recipe, be sure to have a very LARGE bowl. We had to split ours up until two.


Also, make sure you have more than 3 people. Cedric definitely did not drink his share.


Partway through, I turned to Anne and said, "This seems like a huge recipe... I guess there wasn't a smaller one?" Then we laughed quite hard over the whole thing and worked at drinking our 2 massive bowls of egg nog. So make sure you have a lot of people. Either that or drink 3 cups each and make egg nog lattes {we each had 2 cups that night and another cup in the morning for breakfast!}


And make sure your egg nog is thick enough to make mustaches when you drink it.


And nutmeg makes all things festive. Unless there's no lid and most of the nutmeg goes into your friends' glass. Oops.

And yes, it is raw eggs, no, you probably won't get sick. If you want cooked egg nog, listen closely to the song playing and try that one. ;) But if you're daring and want an amazing batch of fresh egg nog to share with friends, choose this one.

Lists, Longings, Life

I LOVE lists. In fact, perhaps a little too much. I enjoy making to do lists and adding obvious things like "wake up", "shower", "eat breakfast" and so forth. That way at the end of the day I have a ton of things to check off and it seems like I have accomplished a lot in the day, when in reality all I did was probably brush my teeth after eating breakfast and the rest of the day was spent making the to do list.

So this post is about lists. First I shall start with a countdown because that's kind of like a list of counting. Or something like that.

Countdown:
1 day until I go to Seattle!
7 days until trip to the Island!
21 days until South Africa!
39 days (approximately) until I become a DOUBLE AUNTY!!!!
78 days until my birthday!
79 days until Christmas!

Things I have been able to cross off my bucket list in the last couple months:
-swim 200 lengths in a row
-sit in natural hot springs
-go to Australia/New Zealand
-go to 40 different countries

Things I expect to cross off my bucket list in the next year:
-learn to crochet
-write a book
-take a picture of the stars
-get a hole in one in golf (wishful thinking)
-sea kayaaking
-memorize a book of the bible
-carve something from wood
-eat dog
-Go to all 7 continents
-built a homemade kite
-bake bread
-ride an elephant
-go to Thailand
-run the police run
-3 day silence retreat

Some things I want to get done before I leave for South Africa:
-Christmas shopping (officially started yesterday)
-Christmas cards (I will wait to mail them of course)
-Christmas decorating (yes I am crazy)
-Get a business license (printed the application today!)
-Make some business cards
-Finish another chapter in my book
-Write a bunch of letters
-Finish planning my wedding (okay just kidding-wanted to see if you were actually reading)

This past season of my life has been an interesting one. For many reasons, but one of them has been that I don't always have a clear cut answer to "What do you do?" It's been good for me to sort through that and realize that my identity is not found in what I do.. as in where I work, etc. So in case people wonder what in the world I do all day long,

here are some of the things I'm passionate about and that take up my time:

-walking with God/studying the Bible: continually learning more about God and engaging Him and getting to know Him on a deeper level
-relationships/community: I strongly value keeping in touch with people and connecting with others in meaningful ways and being able to encourage people
-prison ministry: I volunteer in prison and absolutely love it
-teacher's assistant: I mark a lot of papers
-photography: I love capturing the beauty and majesty of God's creation and sharing it with others
-my family, and especially my nephew :)
-blogging: i love sharing my thoughts, experiences and ideas with others and hope in some way that it is uplifting and encouraging to those who read
-reading/learning: I love learning. About other people, cultures, countries, subjects, languages.
-letter writing: It is my personal goal to bring back the art of letter writing. So I have many pen pals and try to keep it up.
-instilling value in others
-traveling
-being a blessing to others (hopefully!)
-youth: worked as a youth leader and now am a youth sponsor and i love it!

Here is a list of some of the things I would love to do with my life:
-work at McDonald's (okay just kidding)
-border crossing guard
-corrections officer
-parole officer
-author
-public speaker
-travel journalist
-counselor, specializing in looking at body image/personal value etc. in individuals
-teacher in university
-stay at home mom and adopt kids

And so ends my list of lists. There are more things I could probably add to the lists, but that is what is coming to mind at the moment. I wonder what other people make lists of?

Beach, Blackie, Bucket

Evidently my body doesn't deal very well with a full day of standing and moving around. Yesterday morning I woke up quite tired and just wanting to go back to sleep. I also had a migraine and did not feel good {and no, it was not a hangover- never been drunk nor do I plan on ever being so}.

Anyway, I decided a lazy day was in store for me. So I went downstairs with some popcorn and enjoyed watching 'Singin' in the Rain' the movie. So good!

Then I decided I had the urge to go to the beach and walk in the water, so off I went!

Wasn't the nicest day, but the colors were still brilliant with the sun as it was beginning to set.
I walked in the water, sat on a couple different benches and just enjoyed the smell of saltwater overwhelming my senses. I love the smell of the ocean. It just has this effect on me that is wonderful and makes me want to be outside, taking it all in.
I went to Crescent Beach and then went walking over by Blackie Spit. Never been there, but I liked it.
Cool logs, flowers and plants everywhere. Oh, and the ocean of course.
I haven't taken my camera out for a while just to snap shots and it was fantastic. So good to have the feel of my camera in my hands and to just keep snapping pictures. Taking pictures makes me feel more alive somehow. Seeing beauty and capturing it. Capturing it in the unique way that I see it.
And in honour of my beach day, I decided to fill out a mad libs on 'How to Enjoy Yourself on the beach. Here it is {I will leave it for you to figure out which blanks I filled in...}

When you go to the beach, you must take a long a big blanket, a thermos bottle full of milk, lots of suntan snot, and a couple of folding beds. Then you put on your socks so you can get a beautiful pink to last you all summer. You should also have a big hat to keep the sun off your leg. If you want exercise, you can find some trees to play volleyball with. Volleyball is America's favorite fantastic game. You can also bring a disgusting lunch, such as hard-boiled dogs, and a few crocodile sandwiches with mustard, and some bottles of poop cola. If you remember all of the above and get a place near a funny lifeguard, you can sunbathe strangely all day.
There you go. I love mad libs. They still make me laugh because I guess they just embody silliness.
In the evening I drove out to where a friend was dog-sitting and we watched home improvement. Best part was that it took us watching the beginning of 4 different episodes before we finally found the one we ended off on last time. And a couple of them we were like "yeah, this one's new, we haven't seen it before". Three minutes later, "Um, yeah, we've totally see this." "Really? What's it about again?" haha.. you know you're getting older when...
I bought a book the other day on 109 Walks in British Columbia's Lower Mainland and I have added it to my list of "100 things to do before I die". I want to go through the book and do every walk in the book.
This week I have relatives visiting from Ontario so it has been great so far to hang out with them and go do some fun things. I look forward to the plans for the rest of the week.
Was going to go to Portland this weekend which got canceled which is quite sad, BUT I look forward to when we will actually go because it will be amazing, and my alternative trip that is shaping up is quite exciting...more to come when I know more details!
As of today, 17 more days until I leave for Australia!! People keep asking me what I'm doing there, and i respond, "Um.. I have a flight to Australia.." maybe I should make some plans.
I love picking berries straight off the bush. Unless they're not fully ripe and you eat them like yesterday.. then they're kind of not good. Too bad I had to keep trying them just in case one was amazing. Nope, didn't happen.
Here are my toes that I got done for the wedding. We all got little sunflowers on our toes since that was the main flower. I also have a french manicure on the fingers that is fast wearing off as I am not so careful with them now that the wedding is over. It's nice to have the nails done though!
Today I think I shall go take my camera out for another excursion. I might go buy a new lens as well. Or a new camera. It is something I have been thinking about for quite some time. We will see.
I have been loving the overcast weather and the rainyness. It is lovely indeed!! A nice change.
I was going to try one of these {i think they're plums} but then I remembered that eating random fruit from random plants in random places is probably not always the smartest thing to do...

I love this tree

Enjoy your Monday!!

Wells, Weary, Wistful

I never camped much as a child. Yet, now that I'm older, camping has taken itself and has awoken a childlike sensation within me, creating a love for camping that is slowly growing stronger. The more I go, the more I love it. There is something to be said about sleeping "outside". Not showering for days, eating all your meals outside, hearing every single noise, finding interesting bathroom places. Sigh. Camping. How I love thee.

The past few days were spent in Wells Gray Provincial Park, a place I have been wanting to go since I first heard about it, years ago. Well, finally I had the chance to go and I seized it. Every photography book on Canada has most of its BC pictures from this park, with its incredible landscapes and waterfalls. So Brooke and I packed up the vehicle and headed on our way.

A few things I love about camping:

-The road trip to get to where I'm going camping
-The sound of the fire crackling
-The sound of the zipper on the tent (weird I know)
-The stars at night
-Sitting around the campfire and coming home smelling like fire
-Being able to hang out with absolutely no agenda


Things I loved about this specific camping trip:

-Driving 10 hours to get to our campsite and only 5.5. to get home
-Listening to a phone message upon arriving home that I failed to listen to before we left letting us know the recent mix-ups in getting to the campsite. Oh irony

-The waterfalls.. stunning

-Being pretty much in the middle of nowhere
-Having only four other parties at our campsite

-The stillness of the lake all day long
-All the wildlife we saw (minus where we almost died)

-How GREEN everything was
-the wildflowers
-tasty meals

-reading a good book

-our very bright, 6-man tent that everyone kept commenting on

-the little girl that said hi to us numerous times per day, and her little sister who would copy everything she said
-the kid who would bike by our campsite repeatedly all day long

-the outhouse whose floor felt like it would cave in at any minute, letting you plunge into... well, I'd rather not go there.

-Sunsets and sunrises
-S'mores

-Dusk. Best time of day because of the blues in the sky. Beautiful.

-Being away from all technology
-Exploring parts of the lake with the canoe and waiting and watching the wildlife

-The random sweater on a stick in the middle of the lake

-The fact that the lake was so long that after canoeing for 2 hours we still couldn't see the end
-Canoeing naked

-Okay, just kidding. hehe (just trying to get a no strap tan for Des' wedding)
-clouds that are shaped like crocodiles and other animals

-cool roots on trees

-making new animal friends

Things I hated about this camping trip:

-the 100 + (I decided to stop counting) mosquito bites ravaging my body. Itchy.
-the wildlife that might have eaten us (more on that to come!)


Have I mentioned that the lake looked like glass?

When we pulled into the campsite, all the sites were empty. Then we came to the lake where there were a couple people set up. We had been worried and figured there was no way we were staying at a campsite in the middle of nowhere if there was no one else staying there. Thankfully there were people!

Thank-you camping for stealing my heart. I can hardly wait until we meet again. Very soon. I can't seem to get enough of you.
And thanks to my canoe for bringing such delight! {and sore arms}


This is the 2nd thing in the last couple weeks I'm crossing off my bucket list. First one was build something (helped build house in mexico) and second was going to Wells Gray. I can't wait to go back!