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.

Poppy, Putting, Practice

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

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

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

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.