Guys, Gum, Girlfriends

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.

Poppins, Pandher, PF

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!

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.

Gum, Gross, Gals

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.

Cafe, Casserole, Casting

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!

Alabanza, Affirmation, Add

Alabanza means to raise this thing to God's face and to sing quite literally "praise to this".

There are continuous moments in my days where my heart sings alabanza, praising God for His goodness and His blessings. And I realize now in the definition it could be interpreted that the thing is being praised.. but I see it more of looking at the thing and praising God for it in its entirety. So when I use the word, I mean it according to my meaning of it.

This last weekend I was blessed to have my friend Lindie visit and also to be able to go see one of my favourite musicals, In the Heights. It was wonderful. The music, the choreography, the themes, and so forth. I couldn't find 'alabanza' (my fave song from the musical) on my playlist, so I picked the main song from the musical instead. But I loved seeing it and being challenged by it and also spending a wonderful afternoon with two very dear friends, both of whom about I would say 'alabanza' because they are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made and I praise God for them and for His work in their lives.

Apparently Lindie doesn't think it's cool to pose with hot dogs for pictures. That's probably because she was eating a pizza instead.

And yesterday was another dear friend's birthday. And I am incredibly thankful for her and that I was able to celebrate her birthday with her and to be reminded of the blessing she is in my life. I always leave hanging out with her encouraged and affirmed and personally challenged as well.

So I praise God for these things and more!

Based on my last post, I have been continuing to think about this topic and want to invite my blog readers to join in. Not sure what I'm inviting you to join into yet, but the invitation is there. For me, I want to go through my books, movies, cds and other things and put a lot of it in boxes. I don't need these things and it's part of simplifying.

I was thinking of maybe donating it somewhere.. like MCC, but then I thought it would be cool to maybe have a garage sale and then donate all the money to something (to be determined), but not totally sure. But if others wanted to join, we could have a bigger garage sale and use the money for some project of some sort. Just an idea that has begun in my head. Any other ideas to add?

Sydney, Seahorse, Surfing

Greetings again from Sydney! Has been a busy last few days. After becoming a professional surfer, it was obvious everyone would want to become my friend. So I have been busy networking for that. Riiiight.

Stayed with some friends of a friend a couple nights ago and it was great! Always fun to meet new people and I love it when they have kids too because it's fun to play! :) in the morning we went to the beach and swam and jumped waves. Have been stopping at beaches to swim, surf and relax and read.

Now I'm back in Sydney and staying in a hotel with the best view ever. They have a rooftop pool and hot tub which is right in the middle of downtown and has a perfect 360 view, including a perfect view of sydney harbour bridge and the sydney opera house at night. fun to see all the bats flying around the bridge at night.

Went to the aquarium and wildlife centre today along with some other stops along the way to see different things and just wander as well. Tonight I'm off to see a musical which should be fun! And then tomorrow off to visit some more friends!

And I'm not really saying much of substance but just wanted to send out a quick shout-out to say hello and I haven't been eaten by sharks.. yet.

Baaaa, Buble, Butts

Do you ever have weekends that you wish you could just bottle up and keep for a while?

This last weekend was one of those. It probably tops the charts with top weekends because there was so much crammed into it and it was a lot of fun!


First off, here are a couple shots I quickly took with my new lens! I LOVE it! It's huge though! It's 150-500 mm and has an incredible zoom!


The weekend started on Thursday night when some friends and I went to see Cirque de Soleil, Kooza, which is in Vancouver right now. INCREDIBLE! The control over their bodies and things they can do with their bodies are absolutely mind-blowing! And the way the whole show is put together is always great! My favorite was when I got peed on by the dog. I was in the 2nd row, and the dog leaned over and peed and got me soaked (it was water obviously... I hope)


Then we went out to a tapas restaurant to continue the celebration of Adri's birthday. Food wasn't incredible, but the company was fantastic and we had a great time.


After dinner we went to 'Death by Chocolate' for dessert! All in all a fantastic evening!



Friday afternoon i picked Lindie up from the airport, we went for lunch, and then drove to the ferry terminal to pick up our friend Cynthia who is from Winnipeg.


That night, we went to a sheep roast that Dave and Adri helped host. They roasted the sheep South African style and it was FANTASTIC! So tasty!!


It was a great night too. There was a live band, great food, good company and some great sokkie (South African dancing). I am learning that I suck at being led on the dance floor. I want to take over. So a couple of my friends are determined to help me out with that, which i'm grateful for! It really is quite enjoyable! :)


Here's poor little sheep-y. Before he got eaten by us...


We were pretty excited about the sheep. It was a beautiful night as well, so it was good to be able to be outside!



Saturday, Lindie and I went for lunch and then swimming and helped the South African clan set up for camping in the backyard before heading into Vancouver.




What time is it? Fry time!! Lindie and I go to Red Robin's every time she visits. Mainly so we can eat the fries! So good!


And a swim is not complete without some underwater pictures of course! :)


Even if the underwater pictures are complimentary to how you look.. haha


That night, Lindie and I went to the Michael Buble concert, which was AMAZING!


A group called Naturally 7 opened for them and they were awesome. They all become the instruments they play. It was pretty awesome, especially the drummer, bass player and electric guitar. You definitely thought there were instruments being played. Pretty awesome!


And Michael Buble was awesome of course. His stage presence is fantastic, his songs wonderful and I also enjoyed his dialogue throughout-quite the comedian.


His band was full, and I especially loved the brass section! And the stage was angled, so he could slide down it every once in a while. He even did a few songs near the back on a separate stage so we were super close!


The lighting and video effects were pretty cool as well!



Then on Sunday, my mom, Lindie and I headed over to the island. First stop was Chemainus, where we enjoyed walking around, going for lunch and then we went to see Guys & Dolls at the Chemainus Theatre. It was fantastic! It is probably one of my favorite musicals, so it was great to see again! It's coming to Seattle this next season so I'm excited to go then too!


There were some fun things to take pictures of in Chemainus as we walked around.




After the musical, we drove to Victoria where we were going to spend the night. Our hotel valet suggested this fantastic Italian restaurant which definitely was incredible! Such good food! And live music too!


The group was a Yiddish group and it was fun to be accompanied by them!


I have some great sunset/dusk pictures I took, but they're taking forever to load.. so they will have to wait until some other time.


And so ends an absolutely wonderful weekend! And now the final countdown is here. 2 more sleeps until Australia!! Ahhh!! I can't believe it. Maybe I should pack.. or think about packing. Happy Tuesday!