What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas....unless you write a blog.

A series of complete and utterly unfortunate events lead my lovely and I to a most adventurous (and to us a somewhat disastrous) vacation. He he. As I look back and told my mom about the experience it really wasn't meant to be at this time. I am not one to always believe in the fates of the world, but it helps as it is said and done and I must continue to 'carry on'. He he.

It started when I misplaced my wallet and left it in the waiting area for pre-boarders. Luckily someone caught it and delivered it to the unaware me when I was on the plane. But the boarding passes were missing. Aw. Just a little reprint no issues at all in Vancouver.

Cut to Vegas and the rental car. Our mind lapses left us with no rental as I had a credit card and an expired license and my lovely had a license but no credit card. Note to self, in most all circumstances one needs both. Quick thinking called the bank. Nada. Called my brother as I know the location of the card. Dearest brother of mine - who I love so much - and has proven to be great in these kinds of silly circumstances - spent his Saturday trying to locate a mailing agency to deliver the card by Sunday or Monday. Unfortunate for all of us no luck as most were closed on Sundays and with New Years no card would come till Wednesday.

Now you may be wondering. Why a rental in Vegas? True true. But we never intended on vacationing in Vegas. First world problem I know. The truth being we wanted to hike the Grand Canyon and thus packed for that kind of trip, and most importantly budgeted for that kind of trip. ;)

Thus brings the next possible solution. People go on tours all the time. Surely we could take a bus there. Nope, they did not want our luggage. Sigh. Nor the helicopter rides and the greyhound would not go far enough.

Was there any rental company we could go through. Two. One much better than the other. But alas no cars. And the other....well you can check out the reviews. Lets just say we wanted to be alive after this was all said and done.

So what does one finally do when all has failed. Get a bit angry at self, maybe cry a little. Then set sights on a solution, cancel previous bookings and look into having fun in the one day we would be there. Remember tight budget for this vacay so we had to make the short stay count.

What did we do:
Soak in a hot pool, devour a buffet, walk the strip, admire the various people dressed as: showgirls, cupids, chewbacca, Winnie the Pooh, Spider-Man, batman, bane, religious protestors (they probably were not dressing up), dance to the bellagio fountains numerous times, people watch and read numerous signs, absorb the lights, see a cirque show, drink from a cup that may have 10 oz. of alcohol, play the horse races by betting on horses named after your pet and husband, win money, play penny slots, lose money, laugh with your husband as he is the only one in the world that you want to be with in any moment let alone that moment, lean on husband and love him as his vacation dreams were shattered too. Make vow to try again. Say good bye to Vegas and bring in the new year at home in comfort.

Hoping and wishing next year will have continued good fortune, learning, and growth for all of us.

Love

Christmas in Stanley part 7

Many of the same wonderful moments.
Seeing a cousin from west but in the east.
Seeing an uncle and young cousin after his hockey game.
Watching 'its a wonderful life'.
Tormenting aka loving the cat.
Listening to the rain from outside my bedroom window when I woke up.

And another. Going for a walk in the woods with my dad. Reminded me of another small memory I had when I was small. When Sherwood Park was small. When there wasn't a micheals, a home hardware, a clinic, a superstore, or a cloverbar ranch. There was our area and not to far away there was a woods area. We would spot deer, run around, pick wild flowers for mom (more me than dad) and enjoy the presence of nature and the peace (dad was peaceful, me not so much) of the nice walk. That is what we did today. Walk in the snow, look at the fallen trees from the big snowfall, admire the sprigs (aka two year old trees that dad planted) and spot deer tracks. It was nice.

Good trip.
Continue to eat the many sweets that mom worked ever so hard to make.
Laugh and joke at the table. BINGO, Tracey.
Slowly pack and prep for a good bye.

Nice beginning and middle to my Christmas season.

Love

Christmas in Stanley part 6

What does one do on a Friday when holidays

1. Watch your father feed the birds.
2. Go visit your grandmother for some tea and cookies
3. See a market and eat more
4. My I oh my there is a lot of eating over the holidays
5. Watch muppets family Christmas a brother/sister tradition

Wow really need to work out tomorrow!

Love

Christmas in Stanley part 5

Lets leave the country!

- up at 8 and out of the country by 11.
- a visit to wardens
- a talk with my aunt
- a snooze in the car
- back in Canada
- window shopping with mom in too cute stores
- dinner with cousins and aunts

Fun days all around!
Love

Christmas in Stanley part 4

No rules today. Just go with it.

- take your old cat for a walk on a leash in your shorts and flip flops in the falling snow
- watch another Christmas movie, miracle on 34th street
- go shopping with my mother dearest
- admire mom's snowman
- ponder what to do when there is a power outage
- sit outside with white wine and talk while your dad BBQ's stirfryon the BBQ
- go inside cause you thought you may have heard zombies and you promised your husband that you would try to stay alive during the apocalypse
- play card games and create barricades

The end is near. He he.

Love

Christmas in Stanley part 3

The rules on this fine winter day:

1. Go for walk around the land, making jokes with mom and listening to stories from dad
2. Spot a partridge, deer tracks, rabbit tracks and fox tracks
3. Stop for occasional photo op with parents
4. Eat homemade granola
5. Go to the theater and as per tradition watch the new Peter Jackson movie: The Hobbit
6. Have a snowball fight with my brother in the parking lot
7. Sit by a cozy fire

Reward: I could get used to this. He he.

Love

Christmas in Stanley part 2

The rules for this day:

1. Watch White Christmas and sing 'sisters, sisters' out loud. Optional is a dance number.
2. Spot three deer when driving and note the beauty of nature
3. Visit a great aunt and sample sweets
4. Brag to husband about the amount of buttertarts that have been consumed
5. Workout...tomorrow
6. Eat lobster gifted by a generous aunt and uncle (thanks Keith and Cheryl)
7. Put air in flat tires and note that your husband may have been right, you should really learn how to change a flat.
8. Laugh with family. Love with family.

What shall tomorrow bring?
Love

Christmas in Stanley part 1

The rules for today:

1. Eat a buttertart for breakfast followed by dad's blueberry pancakes and mom's fruit salad
2. Wrap the final bit of presents while watching The Family Stone
3. Hang out in pajamas for the morning and through out the day
4. Bug the cat for just a tiny bit, enough that he still loves you and may reward you with a cuddle (it has yet to happen)
5. Have aunts and uncles over for some Christmas love and food

Reward:
A fantastic holiday day.
Love

A list of things needing to do before one goes away

What does one do when one has a day off from finishing school but right before going away.
- see old friends and old job. fun morning of visiting and shenanigans with my old coworkers and old clients.
- get the last of my Christmas shopping done and maybe, possibly get myself a small something with gift cards I received for my birthday. wink wink.
- clean the house. it's kind of funny I did this as my mentality is to come home to cleanliness, but someone is still living in said house.
- pack. kind of important considering I needed things to wear.
- go out for dinner with someone that I love.
- visit more lovelies that I won't see in awhile at the hospital.
- know that you are coming back to someone that is so important (and I must say heroic as he changed a flat with no qualms, doubly impressed).

See you soon
Love and hugs

Christmas

The presents are bought and wrapped
The decorations are up in the house
The lights are strung on the balcony
The music is playing in the background
The movies are waiting to be watched
The goodies are waiting to be eaten
The Christmas spirit is everywhere
I think tomorrow is a good time to go to my 'second' home and celebrate
I heart you Christmas time!

Love

the hike...

as we prep to go on one this upcoming mind i started to think of the past hike attempt we did this summer. this hike took a LOT of compromise and work to come about. mark loves loves loves hiking with all his heart. when we initially thought of going to europe our three week trip had a two week hike planted firmly in the middle. needless to say i wasn't very pleased, and made it quite known. in the end we figured it out, all was well and a week hike was planned.

i have to say, with all the hustle and bustle in paris, i (yes its true) was looking forward to a little escape into the mountains. seeing nature in its finest. what we soon realized was that canada is pretty fantastic and really just impossible to beat! way to go our country.

to play fair, our one attempt at hiking did not fair well. we went in pretty sick doing this climb. it was suppose to be a 5 hour hike that took us 8 hours to do. we had 1500mL between the two of us and ran out of water about 5 hours in. when we went to get the to the water source, unfortunately they had closed up for the day, leaving us significantly parched. we did find water, but not in the most hiker responsible way. AND to top it off. the pass between the swiss/france border that we worked so hard to cross. many took the gondala to do the same. leaving us a lttle weary and defeated.

but we came out with plenty of stories, wonderful pictures and (still some) spectacular sights. AND i did get to do my running in the mountains once in the swiss alps. in addition we saw plenty of olympics in between our sleep deprived sickness. that was the one motivator that brought us to london to continue our wonderful european getaway.

love

The end is near.

Three more shifts and I will no longer have the word student in my signature. Not yet a registered nurse either as more studying needs to occur for that. What will it be? Graduate nurse. Wow. It seems so surreal. The first three years seemed to fly. But the last one was long and tiring. Anytime you make me do as many papers as I did it will always seem long. He he. Needless to say I am pretty pumped.

This last course, my preceptorship, I have been pretty silent on. Maybe it's because I really don't want to jinx it. But I can honestly say I love it. It is in my future to do this. I have had so many unbelievable opportunities that other clinicals were never able to provide. I had the privilege to be part of people's lives and be in there homes. I have also had the opportunity to contemplate and think about various topics that I had to learn in theory. Boundaries, empowerment, providing teaching and understanding, death and dying, not to mention more skills and opportunities to do in clinical. I have laughed and listened to fantastic stories that people lead in their lives. These are skills that I will take to my next place but as a paid employee. Eek.

It has been quite a magnificent journey. And this is just the beginning. I have met friends and patients, colleagues, mentors, and teachers that have altered my perceptions, and thoughts for what I can only hope is better. Can I ask for any more?

Here is to the next stage as a GN.

Love

Birthday week continues

On the first day of birthday week my true love gave to me a birthday dinner with my friends
On the second day of birthday week my true love gave to me 4 cupcakes and a birthday dinner with my friends
On the third day of birthday week my true love gave to me a card from my nan, 4 cupcakes and a birthday dinner with my friends.
On the fourth day (and actual day) of birthday week my true love gave to me many lovely presents, a visit from my brother, a card from my nan, 4 cupcakes and a birthday dinner with my friends.
On the fifth day of birthday week my true love gave to me a parcel in the mail, many lovely presents, a visit from my brother, a card from my nan, 4 cupcakes and a birthday dinner with my friends.
On the sixth day of birthday week my true love gave to me leftover Chinese food, a parcel in the mail, many lovely presents, a visit from my brother, a card from my nan, 4 cupcakes and a birthday dinner with my friends.
On the seventh day of birthday week my true love gave to me a movie date with popcorn, leftover Chinese food, a parcel in the mail, many lovely presents, a visit from my brother, a card from my nan, 4 cupcakes and a birthday dinner with my friends.

He he. Lets be honest. Although he is mighty awesome not all the credit goes to my love. Parents, more parents, siblings of us both, grandparents, friends, social networking sites and FaceTime has made for a great week, hehe.

Thanks and love

A shout out to the lovelies in my life

You know you have fabulous friends when you can laugh so hard that you cry. And that laughing that made you cry was inflicted by near silliness of doing sound effects and impersonations. Those same friends start the debate of the difference between men and women as we chide one another of our differences. They drink wine and dine on delicious homemade awesomeness made by Markness. They play games, eat cupcakes and just all around make you feel so special.

Thanks to all of you for making a girl feel special and celebrate her birthday.

I love you all!

Days like this

On days like this I don't want to make supper
On days like this I don't want to work out
On days like this I don't want to be outside
On days like this I don't want to clean

On days like this I want to take a hot bath
On days like this I want to be in my pajamas
On days like this I want to snuggle under the blankets
On days like this I want to make popcorn
On days like this I want to watch television
On days like this I want to relax

Lets choose the wants on days like this instead of the don'ts.

He he
The homestretch is here. Eight more days till I am an Graduate Nurse.

Love

Lets appreciate our bodies shall we?

With the Christmas season approaching so comes the Christmas goodies. And not just any Christmas goodies my favourite Christmas goodies. The Christmas cookies, mocha cakes, confetti bars, gumdrop cake and cherry flips. Ahh my mouth is drooling already.

For someone like me that TRIES to eat healthy, believe it or not I do, this is a very hard season for my body to take. Especially more so as I don't quite get out to work out like I do in the summer. The night time, cold, snow and ice make it hard for me to run outside. The assignments keep my mind on other things and right now the commute I am doing at school is ever draining as I am asleep by 930pm and up at 6. Yea I am a party animal. I start to feel blah and feel that my body is blah in return.

So what should I do about this? Get an attitude adjustment. Ha ha. Sometimes I think I am extremely hard on myself. And I don't think I am alone. Many of my friends are always complaining about one part of their body. It's funny cause as they say it and I look I never understand their complaint as I think they are just beautiful the way they are.

Why oh why must women always want to achieve the concept of thinness? What is it that is so appealing? Is it the women role models out there? Is it the magazine covers I hear so much about or just the overall media of body image?

If that is the case I say to others and to myself lets look at other images. For me I am going to appreciate the Amazonian body type. I always joke to Mark that is what I am as I have strong legs meant for hiking, working and speed skating (a sport never tried but I feel I was meant to do, he he). Many female media players can fit this image. Its the strong women like Clara Hughes, Jessica Biel, Gabreille Reece, America Ferrera. And why can't they be wicked beautiful. I think they can. Anyone can. Really any body type, can.

So lets stop criticizing our bodies, k? Lets make it a resolution not just for the year but the years. Be healthy and be happy and just love what you see!

Love

do you hear what i hear?

i have already said that i have been slightly unmotivated since november 1st.
school papers may play a role but i think it is something stronger, a bigger force that can not be controlled or held back...

"what?" you ask

its none other than....

CHRISTMAS

yes, that is right. it has come upon us.
i cannot wait to decorate.
i have already been found perusing websites for christmas gifts for family and friends.
i saw my first christmas commercial last monday, such a welcome site.
not to mention the first christmas tree decorated on friday, i may have squealed in delight.
 the season is upon us.
it snowed and gave us (yes, treacherous roads)
but also a winter wonderland
where sleigh-bells ring and  
frosty the snowmen are being built left, right and center.

i just must reign in my christmas spirit slightly so that i can finish this term with a bang and finally enjoy the holidays like they were meant to be enjoyed, good ol' fashioned work and no more homework! eek!

till the next holiday post as i am sure i have many!
love

Les miserables

remember this post. well i am practically peeing pants as it is going to be a feature movie. the unfortunate thing is i won't beable to see it with my mom as it opens christmas day...but that will not stop me from seeing it. i will go alone if i have to, although i have a few fanatical musical friends to take so i am sure i will be in good company.



he he. i still remember obsessing over this play when it first came to edmonton. i dreamed that i auditioned for cosette and would dance around the house singing castle on the cloud obsessively. i even think my mom took me out to buy a nice outfit as it was my first big musical to see at the jubilee. she definitely started a long never ending expensive hobby as i continue to see a play (or two or three) a year (just yesterday seeing rock of ages with jeaninne, anita and casey)...fun fun.

this is also the musical that (ironically enough) got me out of my funk when i was in that hard clinical last year. i think just the music and singing it loudly in my office gave me such a tension release. oooo, les miz, i love you so!  you will be such a welcome christmas treat!



love

A lot of churches can be a lot of fun

It has come. The un-motivating force of being sick of school. He he. And by that I mean papers and assignments. I loathe you. So instead of thinking of that I have been baking, scrapbooking and thinking a bit about travels that have been.

That travels means churches. We saw lots of churches. You would think after being in the fifth one we would have been sick of it but they just seemed to be more intricate, have a more fascinating story and hold a magnificent mystique. Not to mention holding some pretty famous people from kings, queens, philosophers and artists (even if those said people never wanted to be there in the first place).

Two of my favs were Westminster abbey and an extravagant one in Sienna. So many wonderful stories, beautiful architecture and my love for stained glass came out. ahhhh. Heart. I have said it before, but one must do an audio tour where ever they tour!

Mark, enjoyed them too. Churches hold all the history he loves and with that many things to look and examine. Again something fun to watch in him as he enjoyed so much of it!

Well off to procrastinate some more!
love

Food

I have said it before but if you know a way to my heart, you must love food. Seriously. I thank my parents for this fantastic habit/indulgence/way of life.

My parents, like me, love food. Especially good food. They introduced me to Indian food, seafood, spicy food, and just plain ol fashioned home cooking. Everyday, no matter what we sat down and ate this wonderful food as a family. We socialized. And when my brother and I became teenagers we grumbled. He he.

Then I met Mark. Another foodie who knows what he likes and it coincides with my loves. One of our first dates was Mark cooking me an Indian meal. Definitely knew he was a keeper. He he.

Why all this food talk? Because our weekend was surrounded by amazing company and FOOD. Social gatherings with an Indian/African buffet and the next day lobster. Ahhhhhh life is good. To be surrounded by people you love, eating and drinking. Telling jokes, reminiscing about the past, talking of our day and revealing our thoughts of the future. All in the presence of food.

These are things that make me happy. And with that big shout out to Jeaninne and Anita! Happy birthday! And thanks for thinking of the idea for going out for food.

Love

Value

While we travelled we visited someone whom I enjoyed thoroughly. With that visit we talked. And with that talk she said something that I feel holds fantastic importance. Basically she said that tradition is important yet so is change. It is important to surround yourself with people from all walks of life. Everyone has something to offer in those ages and you can learn from all of them.

This was something that I loved. If I were to think of one person who followed this philosophy whether intentional or not it was my Grammie. She had people of all ages and all walks of life around her. From her university friends that were at her 80th birthday to the 16 year old girls that would show up for a visit and a laugh (my grandmother was pretty hilarious) to her youngest people her great grandsons. She kept current using the Internet cursing the mouse as it kept running away from her, discussing what young girls do now compared to when she was young, and told magnificent stories. I loved her stories.

With that in mind I decided that I need to start valuing the people who are important to me. With the ever changing world it seems that the written letter has somewhat become extinct. I used to write to my family all the time. I then grew, became a teenager, became "busy" and started to focus more on the faster and more efficient email system.

The problem. There are some very important people in this world that do not use the computer. People that I value and are important. So I have started up again on the written letter. I want to be in contact with those important people of different generations. I want them to know that they are appreciated and I value them. What better way to do that is a written letter?

Just a little thought and action on this weekend.

Love

Never fully dressed without a smile

love love this glee. mainly because it has one of my favourite songs from annie, loved when all the orphans sang this part!



and of course the original.


love

a lot of thoughts

this last clinical (although not over) has been truly a fascinating one for me. my biggest complaint i have with my clinicals is life moves fast and hard. i am constantly learning and relearning and then learning again, that my mind feels spinny. i never truly get to wrap my thoughts and think and reflect about anything. then i start theory and i become wrapped up in learning more things.

this time around has been nice. first i get to see some extraordinary leaders at work. i get to see what it means to be a leader, live a leadership role, and try it out (it's hard). it has given me a chance to strive for more in my professional development (although i seriously am in need of a break from school, so not for awhile).

i have also experienced simulation labs. now i am not going to get into specifics (breaks confidentiality and all) but i will say that they have been the best part i have ever experienced (to date) in the theory part. and believe me when i say this, i hate sim. in the past i have felt self-conscience, not knowing what to do, and made me feel a little stupider as i left the room.

this time i have left knowing more about myself. for instance how i communicate in certain situations. exploring topics that i am uncomfortable talking about and things that i thought i knew tons about but when talking realizing i do not, nor do i have the words to find. it has been a month full of self-realization and growth.

i really can't ask for more from school or myself.

love

List of thanks and happiness

With the season approaching I feel the need to write a list of all that makes me happy and how I am so thankful for them.

- changing leaves. So lovely right now and with that, the warm weather as the leaves have not blown off and I can appreciate them all the more as I run in the river valley.
- market days with my loveliness. I love our Saturday morning dates of pasta, hot dogs, and loads of fruit. It's wonderful.
- opportunities to learn so much about myself and the ability to change and grow. I think this is a post in itself but this clinical has taught me so many valuable things.
- family. I love all of them so much. This year for certain has taught me how important each member is and how special each one is to me.
- friends. It is amazing to see friendships truly shine. I love all my friends and know how amazing they are. It was special that others got the opportunity to see it too!
- a fantastic partner to spend my time with. He is just so much fun. And funny. I can laugh so fantasticly with him and still have those serious talks. He picks me up and gives me hugs in all the right moments. Lucky me.

I know there is more to add but I think that is the best moment to end it.

Love

a thought

"if there's nothing you could have done differently, then stop blaming yourself for the way things happened"

i found this on someone's facebook status one day over the summer and loved it. especially with the profession that i be entering soon and to those that rehash things in your jobs, it is an excellent phrase to live by. i wish i remember who wrote this because i would thank them! definitely words that i will be bringing up to myself when i feel a little down!

love

How does it feel?

I am at a stage right at this very moment of extreme frustration, a little bit of anger and wonder.

Our car got broken between last night and today. As I went into the car this afternoon to scoot off to work I noticed the change drawer had been ripped out of the car.

My first instinct was "Awe, Mark needed coffee money this morning and he was in a rush".

But as I further explored I noticed garbage strewn on the ground. Why would Mark do that? Then glass in the backseat. Then a broken window. I know Mark isn't that desperate for coffee money...atleast I hope not. He he he.

Knowing we really keep absolutely no value in the car except for change to pay for parking, or a car wash, I wasn't too worried about anything missing. But I was still frustrated. The future hassle for just 2-5 dollars seems quite ridiculous. Especially when the repairs might be 100 times more that.

I then had a cancelled my shift for work and extra calls needing to be made. That was where the feeling of anger may have occurred. What can I say, I hate added nuisance.

Then wonder came. Further reinforced by Mark (who I am incredibly thankful for as he came home as soon as he heard my shaky voice). Both of our thoughts went to the idea of what gets a person to the point where they would do that to someones property for simple amount of change.

Just that thought makes me sad, and sort of frightened for them that they were that desperate to steal so little.

Just a little thought. That little thought helps a bit with the frustrating and angry thoughts. And I will cling to that little thought when the frustration and anger may start to intrude my brain during the next few days and try to escalate. Because its a sad thought that deserves my compassion and should supersede frustration and anger.

Love

It's here and I am back and I learned something

So here is a little post on something I have been dreading in the last few weeks. Really, it's something I should be excited about since I will be done so soon. But after a bit of a fantasy, like our summer end, school was really hard to think about let alone do all the grinding like activities.

So what do I think of this tiny little introduction so far into my leadership clinical? Pretty interesting (and I am not going to lie), a nursing leaders job looks supremely tough and I am sooo not ready for it right now (yet something that I hope one day to strive to be).

So that is it. I am sure I will be filled with stress and angst once the due dates to my assignments come through. But as of right now I am happy and positive.

And I heard one little tidbit today re how someone handles stressful situations and I really felt it. I think it should be integrated into my way living. The lady said that a stressful event is just a temporary moment in time. It will go away. Ahhh. Words to live by. So simple and so true.

Love

P.S. The cupcakes have started to come back. That was pretty awesome too!

tower of london and british museum

one thing that i particularly enjoyed about going to europe with my partner in crime was seeing how much he really did enjoy the things around him. mark is normally a hiker, wanting to explore the outdoors, see nature untouched, and get down to the ruggedness of life. although he was enthusiastic about the trip i really couldn't figure out what HE really wanted to do. but he seemed to embrace the cultures. he tried out more food than even i was willing (that is just crazy as i am a human garburator), took all the tours of the historical areas with such interest, and just seemed to enjoy every minute.

the parts i loved watching him was the tour of the tower of london. when planning the london leg i asked what he wanted to see when there. the tower and the museum. on the first day we passed the tower on our way to the tower bridge and he could have been a two year old boy at christmas for how happy he was. especially when he saw the white tower. lol. i think that was one of the more fantastic memories.

i particularly enjoyed it for the history. i never realized that i knew as much as i did about henry the VII and anne boleyn. it excited me similarly of how marie antoinette excited me. who knew that about myself?

then we went to the british museum of natural history. mark of course knew all about the rosetta stone. but he was more fascinated with the antiquities and their set up. unlike the louvre, the museum had workers set up at stations where one could touch and feel all the ancient artifacts. you would have thought mark was a kid in a candy store. he was quite amusing.

i have to admit that for me, i was slightly tired on that leg to the museum. i think all the plenty of walking and travel was finally wearing on me. that was the day i had a long nap after returning! he he. but it was still fun to watch him and i would not have missed that for the world.

love

museums i heart you!

i have an over fondness of museums. and in particular art museums. i don't know if i grew up with this taste. i know we visited quite a few when i was young, from the space museum, to a medical one in manitoba, to of course the provincial one where i live today. i think the one that impacted me the most was when i went to the beaverbrook gallery in new brunswick and saw "santiago el grande" by salvador dali. it was huge and magnifcent. it seemed like my dad and i stood there for quite sometime taking it all in. that was when i felt i loved art.

after that i took off. a high school trip to italy we traveled to florence and saw the "madonna della seggiola" by raphael and the "birth of venus" by sandro botticelli and the work of michelangelo's in the sistine chapel at the vatican. then jeaninne and i continued to hit hot spots in new york where i fell in love with the guggenheim, "starry night" by van gogh in the moma, and toured as much as we could in the met.

when the honeymoon trip came up i did have a few dreams of seeing other pieces of work. the real david in florence (something truly magnificent), was one. but the absolute, the one place that i wanted to spend a vast amount of my time and one of the MAIN reasons for going to paris was to visit the louvre and see the mona lisa.

luckily i married the right man as he also has a fondness for museums like myself. he tends to spend most of his time in the antiquities section, being immersed in the ancient histories and cultures. i humor him there, as he examines the walls with writings, the sculptures with intimidating beasts attached and the armor used in battle. AND he humors me in the art section. listening to the artists motivations, watching me as i piece out the detail of a painting and analyze the brushstrokes.

we did not take this louvre tour lightly. suiting up with our audio tours around our neck we ventured off to discover all we could. after that we got another tour this time with someone that specialized in art who could explain all the masterpeices in the museum and show us where they were. AND just a side note about that tourguide, we enjoyed him thoroughly as he had a combination of humor, passion for art and he looked like elvis!

after that (because certainly that is not enough time to spend), we ventured off again on our own private tour to catch more of da vinci's work, and see more french history.

a definite highlight and renewed love was found again.
love

to you with love

i know i have been so concentrated on our honeymoon that i really never put into focus what got us there in the first place. our wedding and the day we officially got married. so in honour of that wonderful day, i thought i would put some very important words up here that we wrote to one another. he he remember this. i actually did write (and re-write, and re-write again) a speech that day and within the following weeks, about my now husband.

here it is:

I am not one for speeches or public speaking for that matter (ask a few of my nursing buddies that are present). So I thought the easiest way to write a speech was in the form of a letter. Obviously a public letter but it’s addressed to mark. So here we go:

Dear Mark,

We have reached another milestone in our 5 years in counting together. Although we have always sworn to each other that we would be partners for life and all that it brings we have made it official with government documents and all! Plus there is that added perk of making our families very happy!

Because of this happy occasion I thought I would look back at some special memories that I have of you and what got me to this point of speaking publicly.

I first met you when we were volunteering at the mustard seed. I have to admit, I thought you pretty cute. I remember very distinctly Casey CONSTANTLY pestering me to ask you out. But I was shy, and knew nothing about you. Then one fateful day I gave you a ride home and asked you why you decided to volunteer. Your response was that people had done a lot for you when you needed help, and you felt it was your time to give back. Well you sure knew how to hook me. I think at that moment I was yours. You have such a big heart that has an even bigger capacity to care, love and always think of others in need. This never ceases to amaze me.

That first year there were many moments that you “entranced” me. One involved a special gentlemen by the name of Hieu. He bared witness to our new relationship as we had been going out just under 3 months and happened to be sitting next to him at a hockey game, much to my dismay. Hieu began the grilling with endless questions to you and you passed valiantly. Probably you both having a passion for hockey helped! I must say that I was equally impressed at both of yours and his ability to accept one another, as you are both tricky men to impress.

With the many years that have passed you still amaze me. I discovered the passion you feel with everything around you. Mark you tackle life with such fervor. You refuse to look at things in black and white and always see the gray in everything you do. This is something that always makes Jeaninne laugh as she says; “It must be hard being Mark sometimes.” Maybe this is true, but your ability to think beyond the rules and structure makes things exciting, challenges me and others to look at the world differently, and I think it is what makes you an exceptional in your work and family life.

You have provided me with endless support and fabulous pep talks. As well as cupcakes, lots of cupcakes. Thanks for those, as they have come at the perfect time during school when I have just reached my peak in stress. And just a heads up, those cupcakes and talks may need to continue. I am starting my career in January. It’s not going to be pretty! I am glad now that we are now married so you really can’t escape me.

I have had so much fun these last five years. You are the one person that can make me laugh harder than I have ever laughed before. Your spontaneity has lead us to having pillow fights in hotels, snowball fights in the kitchen and dancing under the night sky. I love your ability to seek joy and be happy. I can’t wait to see what other trouble and adventures we will get into in the future.

Lastly I just want to say that I have never been more proud of you than this year watching you achieve your dream of being a teacher. Sometimes it was tough but you worked so hard to be a good teacher to your kids. I think that they are lucky to have someone that invests in them the way you do.

That’s it. That’s all I have to say. Except I love you,

Tracey

and his to me:

You know, its funny how having to write a speech like this can get you thinking. There I was lying in bed last night, all ready to start writing my speech, when I realized that there was a million reasons to toast Tracey this evening. I just had to figure out which things I shouldn't say and then I could go from there. I also figured that a list of adjectives just wouldn't do as not everyone here knows Tracey as well as I do, so I though some examples might help.

Tracey is smart and kind. For example, when I run into a problem that I view as insurmountable and am feeling pissed off at the world about it, she often solves it and then waits to gloat until after I am feeling better. 

She cares about others. This example was tough to pick because I had such a large number of options to choose from. The most meaningful example for everyone here tonight was that she wanted to reduce the number of speeches about how wonderful we are so that everyone could get to having fun.

She's a terrific organizer. Now this one was easy, she was already preacticing her toast before I had even started writing mine.

Tracey is fun. When Tracey and I became an item people would always be asking us what we were laughing at. After the first couple of explanations I realized that it wasn't what we were laughing at that was so funny as no one else laughed. It was that Tracey and I were involved in it that made it funny.

Tracey is fun. Okay I already said it but this one deserves a few more examples. I have been in more water fights in the last 5 years since I met Tracey then the 27 years before meeting Tracey. Once when Tracey was in the shower, I pretended to leave the bathroom and absentmindedly shut off the light on the way out, as I often do. Only this time I didn't actually leave the bathroom. I sat there in the dark and waited for 30 seconds for her to stop calling me to come back. Just as she was about to get out of the shower and turn the light on herself. I whipped open the shower curtain with my left hand. Turned on my blindingly bright headlamp with my right and yelled. I would have killed someone that did that to me, but Tracey was laughing about it in under 10 seconds and even complimented me on it later.

Tracey is forgiving. No new examples needed for that one. 

Tracey is wise beyond her years. My mother once told me that everyone should have someone they love stand up in front of a big group of people and say good things about them at least once in their life. She had a lot of reasons for saying that and I thought it was a pretty wise thing to say. To my knowledge she never told that to Tracey. Yet when we were planning this wedding Tracey thought we should give the toast to each other for many of the same reasons.

Tracey, you are smart, you are kind, you care about others, your a terrific organizer, your fun, your forgiving and you are wise. I love you.

we both are pretty lucky!
love

they are back.....

remember this....

well the fruit fly traps are out again...as they are back with vengeance...

its not going to be pretty...

we will see who survives this battle

love

stonehenge

i really don't know if i can say very much about this place other than i fell in love with its mystique.

when we had first decided to come to london this was the one thing that was on my list. even though it wasn't in london at all. ha ha. but mark as always (the fabulous trip guru that he is) came through and found us a tour that would take us to the fabulous stonehenge.

truthfully when you look at the pictures, this is it. but i loved it. i loved listening to the many theories of what got these rocks in this position. and i love it more that it continues to be clouded in so much mystery as people today (although continue to speculate) do not the exact purpose of these rocks. i love that they have stumped us as a whole. and i love that people gather around, circling the whole structure, and continue to wonder what went on before.

oh stonehenge. i really love you.

love

when one gets sick, one must find an opportunity

it is officially september. this is the month i have been dreading as the beginning of school is so close. mark and i recently joked that we really should have concentrated on not having one of the most brilliant summers of our lives as maybe we would want to go back to our routines...sigh.

i know i will be done soon, but these next months are going to be hard and challenging. it seems a little daunting. i just keep repeating my mantra, one step at a time, so i don't get too ahead of myself (and start to freak out, ha ha).

today is also a day that is quite chilly, a little rainy and all around the beginning of fall. i thought it was a good time to reminisce about some more happy honeymoon memories. london! there is no way that london was as chilly as it appears today, however it was chillier compared to all the other warm places we went to.

but why did we go to london exactly. this was never part of the plan. everyone knows it as it was in our program at the wedding. london was our "spontaneous" part of the trip. before leaving mark, much to his dismay, had a four day gap where we had no where to be or go. i found this part kind of exciting.

"we could just hop on a train, and go," i would tell him.

he really wasn't having this. mark plans vacations and he is most excellent at doing this. he plans what we do, where to go, how we will get there. all things are in place. the idea of being spontaneous was not according to the plan....but neither was getting sick.

we were just leaving paris on our way to the hike when mark started to feel sick. the previous night he did not feel great, coughing a great deal. then we got to chamonix and he started to run a fever. this was extremely unfortunate due to the circumstances as the next day we were suppose to start our hike. luckily, we could take a bus from chamonix to argentiere. which is just what we did, seeing if we could ride our this cold and get some hiking in...

then i got sick. ugh. regardless, we decided the next day we were going to do the hike (another time and post to talk about that). but overall, it was obvious to both of us, that hiking may not be the best thing to do when trying to get better from a cold.

so because we were busing (instead of hiking to hotels). AND we would spend the majority of our time in our hotel room watching the olympics, we thought, we might as well join them. hopping on a train, then another train, another train after that, then the chunnel we arrived in london!

AND IT WAS FANTASTIC! something that we never realized was how much we missed fluently talking to other people. we could understand what was going on around us. we could respond. it was lovely. AND we were greeted with volunteers handing out maps of london and offering plenty of advice on how to get where we wanted to go. we traveled to london at the best possible time as the olympics was set up for foreigners to visit the country.

so thank you london. you helped us get well as we could ride your tube, with no troubles. we could rest our weary bodies in hyde park, watching the olympic games. we could check out sights, sounds, and flavours without hiking monstrous heights and worrying about running out of water. london you were grande! and we got better. most would be upset about being sick on their holidays. but it was a minor blip and we thank you london for healing us!

love

the downright "dirty" of travel

i sometimes worry what people may think of my blog. not that i am writing it for people in particular as it is just some random writings to remember the positive aspects in life. however, i do not want people to think that my life is all "sunshine and roses".

i think i have made that plainly so when i am in school. i know i have complained frequently of how tired, stressed i am and just wanting a break from the assignments. however i don't know if i portray it so in my personal life. however, i do think that my personal life is just that, personal. sure there is bad, i think anyone would be lying to say that they have never had an arguement, or stressed on the person they love. however, sometimes i think we concentrate too much on the negative (which mark says is very easy to do) instead of striving to see the positive light, what one has learned and what to prevent the next time.

so in light of this, i am going to talk about the down and dirty (literally) of an experience that happened to myself in europe. this will show how my life is not roses and can (literally) stink!

mark and i used a wide variety of transportation while we were abroad. planes, trains, automobiles, boats and legs. what we enjoyed the most (as we do not get the same experience here) was train travel. trains were cozy, but still had room, air conditioned and we got the added bonus of gazing out the window checking out the different country side (i know, it sounds like kittens and puppy dogs).

then we boarded a train in italy. now i am by NO means insulting the transportation in italy as my scope is quite limited. BUT i will say that this train in particular was a little more rustic compared to what we had encountered in previous countries.

a little background on what got us to this train. we took a train from cardiff to london, where we were to meet a reserved airport taxi. unfortunately our train was late leaving from cardiff and the taxi left. mark (thankfully being assertive) got the taxi to come back, but wasting precious time as we needed to be on the plane boarding for italy at 11:15 am and we were in the taxi at 10. ugh. we managed to get to the airport at 10:45 (we may have been in panic mode, especially when seeing the monster lines to check in). however they called final check ins for pisa and off we went onto our plane. once in pisa, we caught a bus to the train station and caught our train with a mere 5 minutes to spare.

now you may ask, why is this important? well. with all the time constraints it left little in the way of a bathroom break for either of us. this brings us to the current train. as we were on our way to the cinque terre we rode in this train. it was okay although nothing to be exciting about as it did lack certain amenities like spacious seating and air conditioning that we praised about before. i had decided i needed to take a bathroom break. so off i went in search of a toilet on this giant train.

going through two train cars i found it. as i readied myself, sitting on the seat, i found it strange that i felt a gust of wind come up my back. i then proceeded to "relieve" myself, and mere moments later sheer panic came.

"omigoodness, omigoodness," i exclaimed as i felt tiny droplets come whoshing up, spraying my back.

stopping midstream i looked down and saw a giant hole in the toilet leading directly down to the ground. and yes by ground i mean the railway tracks. i just found out i was attempting to pee all over italy but they rejected that idea and the train gust brought it right back up to my back! not believing my luck (and yes, you think i would have learned) i attempted again. same result. stopping midstream again i slightly freaked (and oddly laughed at the complete absurdity of the situation) and attempted to work the tap of the sink.....yes you can believe that that did not work either (but it did as i found out from mark later on. apparently there was was a foot pedal that i couldn't see in panicked attempt for cleanliness).

out of the bathroom i left, a little smellier (that is an understatement) and i proceeded to tell mark of my mishaps. all this as i bathed in hand sanitizer. i don't think mark stopped laughing until he decided he needed to check this bathroom out. out he came, smug, strutting back to our seats, laughing again.

"what," i asked.
"the bathroom is obviously built for a man," he replied

grrrrr. so what is the lesson here folks as i strive to be positive.

LOOK BEFORE YOU PEE!

love

let her eat cake!

one of my favourite places that we visited was one that i had never considered even going to. this was all mark's doing as he was interested in taking a trip down to see versailles. i was even more inclined to say let's not do it as it was quite a debacle getting there in the first place.

that morning we were suppose to get up early to catch the metro that would take us to a train station that would get us to versailles. alas, with the late nights in paris we may have slept in a little. that mistake would cost us later on.

presently we got dressed and headed down to the metro from our place. that was when we found out the metro wasn't working in that area. signs posted said to take the bus. when we stopped at a bus stop it looked like it wasn't in service on the day we wanted. alas. by then we had acquired some friends from montana who were there for a photography class for their school. as we tried to figure it out, mark just thought, hey we have done it before, why don't we just walk it. the girls were not as inclined as they really wanted to wait for the bus. as we walked along the seine mark spotted a specific bus available just to take people down to the train for versailles. we gathered up the girls and off we went.

after all that hoopla we get there only to find the most extraordinary palace followed by the most extraordinary lines! AHHH. not only was there an hour and a half line up to get tickets, but there was a two hour line up just to get into the palace. hence we should of got up earlier! lol. this came the point where i kept silent but in my head was thinking, why does mark want to go here so bad, will this really be worth it? i am glad i kept it silent! he he he.

as we were in the first line-up two ladies came up to us and another man and wondered if we were together. we said no, but inquired and they proceeded to say that they had three tickets that they would sell us for the same value as they purchased them by mistake. done. the three of us went to the next line. then as we were in that line for roughly a half hour a young boy asked us if we would switch places with him and his mother who were quite close to the gates. asking why, the boy replied that his dad was waiting in the first line trying to get tickets. we agreed only if we could take the gentleman that went with us in the first place.

then we saw this:

the amount of gold, art, and just shear opulence was amazing. AND i know marie-antoinette did not have a role in everything but i decided to give her all the credit because it was amazing. mark just rolled his eyes at me. he he he. and even though there were swarms of people in the hall of mirrors it still held an awe factor. my favourite thing in the palace.

but little did we know the best was yet to come as we went outside into the gardens:

it was the lovely. here you could take rowing boats and paddle through out the whole lake (which was huge, we never even got to finish walking it!). drift over to marie-antoinette's personal headquarters (because on top of a palace one needs their own house). or just wander around (like we did) enjoying the flowers, swans and music playing in the background.

i enjoyed the music so much so (from the water fountain show):

that i felt the need to dance. it was lovely.

that was our versailles experience...
till next time!
love

lets talk italian

ciao.

i really don't know where to begin but since i started this blog with the idea of talking about travel, i feel i need to go into all of the types of travel we have done. we really did have a trip of a lifetime thanks to my brilliant husband who researched and planned this whole expedition. really, it was fantastic! because of this i am going to do blog posts devoted to certain parts of the trip that created fantastic memories for both of us.

first off is italy. in particular, the cinque terre, along the italian rivera. this encompasses the five villages starting from riomaggiore, manarola, corniglia, vernazza, and monterosso (where we were staying). this was the "vacation" from our vacation part of our journey. to elaborate, mark and i love to travel. and when we travel we don't stop. we go from museum to monument to landmark from early in the morning till late at night. cinque terre forced us to slow down, and it was absolutely lovely.

our days consisted of waking up, going for a hike or kayak to the next village. due to the 40 degree weather we were "forced" to take a dip into the mediterranean. This part was cool as you could access the sea from many areas around the coast. There were many people just diving off the cliffs, although that was a little to adventerous for my blood.

then we would have some pesto pizza or fresh pasta. life really can't get any better can it?? ooo wait, it does! we would stop nightly at this local cantina where a gentlemen took us under his wing to teach us all about the local liquors made in monterosso. i wish i got a picture of him as he was quite fantastic! our nights ended usually on our balcony, overlooking the sky and listening to the music from the streets, drinking the liquors we bought. too mushy!?? he he. well it was our honeymoon.

but lets get the honesty train out here too. there was quite a few jellyfish and unfortunately mark fell victim to one of them. the little rascals. after that we took on jellyfish watch when we jumped into water.

and the amusing antidote was all the "openness" in europe with the topless sunbathers. i can always count on mark to take to a place with nude sunbathers (wink wink).

here are a few pics of our journey...

this is just a few of our beach adventures. note the jellyfish and mark's marked hand (that by the way still has a mark). one of the towns, vernazza can be seen at the bottom, on one of our small hikes. and at the bottom corner is mark doing what he did everytime we took a dip. the starfish. apparently he thought it was amazing how much he could float in the water because of the salt content.

this little bit is of our lovers walk. hence all the hearts and such. it was quite an easy pathway containing "locks of love" and in a shelter enclosed area tons of writings of people expressing their love for each other. very cute!

here are some last random pics. kayaking, swimming, having gelato (we may have had gelato taste testing twice a day, purely for scientific reasons...and because it was hot....and because it was delicious!). the little kitty at the bottom was eying the seafood being cooked in the restaurant while the next girl found fantastic acoustics in a square and starting to sing phantom of the opera. at the bottom on the right hand side is a pill box. mark was pretty pumped to see that as they were made in the war years.

that's all for now.
love

we wed

okay so i lied...i am writing on here before i leave...but i was thinking of little moments about the wedding that i feel i need to write about before i forget them. so here they are (plus a few pics that i have acquired, once organized, i may post them in a better format):

• little children dancing
• decorated cars
• listening to dance music prior to walking down the aisle
• spitting out gum and hiding it where no one will know, except the bride and father were witness to it
• best ladies "all in" with a chant prior to walking down the aisle
• wedding party doing another chant prior to entering the reception
• mom's tears 
• mom and loy dancing to "marry you" through out the house
• love wall
• amazing mc
• family speeches
• our speeches
• seeing people i haven't seen in so long and others that i saw just the day before...all together
• the grass growing
• feeling at ease with everything and not worrying about anything
• officially saying i love you to the man i love
• saying husband for the first time
• old fashioned maritime fun with a lot of old fashioned western fun too
• tequila shots with cousins, uncles, aunts and moms
• seeing everyone come together to make the day as smooth as possible
• walking home with just each other, so we could be alone for the first time the whole day

there are so much more but these are a few. we both had an amazing day and couldn't have asked for anything to go any smoother. thanks to all that helped out! we love you so much and could feel all of your love to us! you are all so amazing.

love 

the last post for awhile

so this will sadly but happily be my last post for a bit. things are starting to get slightly hectic and i really can't think i am going to have much more time to write this lengthy blog till we get back from our fabulous trip.

first off i have to say that i celebrated this last weekend with a fabulous bang! my ladies and i headed to a spa for some glorious treatments. really, living a life of leisure does seem pretty fab at times. we started the morning lounging in our robes in hanging beds, drinking sparkling wine. then off to get some treatments (mine was a hot stone massage, facial and pedicure).

after that we headed to julios where we had quite a few bulldogs...more than a few. it got a little rowdy and ridiculous i am sure! :) the end was a sweet surprise and i feel the need to gloat about a pretty special guy.

anita had previously given mark a pretty rough time about how messy the car was. this was a big deal as mark agreed to be the designated driver for all of us (and this is no exaggeration) the car could only fit two passengers (even though it is a 5 passenger car). needless to say as we were at the bar anita continued the texts about her expectations of the chauffeur (all joking of course). well he sure came through...mark pulled up in a suit, hand delivering roses, with cheese, crackers, fruit and non alcoholic champagne in the clean car. he really is a keeper. sigh.....

OKAY that is all the mush i promise!!

overall i have to say that this process of planning a wedding has been pretty amazing. not so much the planning part (unless its crafty, he he) but to see all the people that you truly love and adore come together to show their support, love and help you every step of the way. i don't know what i could of done without so many of you. not only our immediate families, and friends but extended family and even co-workers! we both are tremendously blessed and lucky and hope to return the favor for all of you in our own little way!

so that is it. next is the big day. and the honeymoon. let the final celebrations begin! :)
love

summer lovin'

some things i must take time and appreciate. one of these "things" is the nice sunny weekend that we had (and it looks like it may continue). in appreciation i went out on each day. love. and with that appreciation i saw some of my favourite people in the world.

friday evening involved a walk down whyte, pizza, gelato, and crazy laughs with my two most lovely and crazy friends. cut to the corner left picture.

saturday involved a beach day that was a little slow to start (i killed the battery in the car...thank you to dj for coming to our rescue and putting the key in the ignition...SURPRISE, it started again, lol. oh dear). but it was well worth it once we go there with cute little babies and a sand castle making toddler LOVE THAT WE HUNG OUT IN THE SUN!

and sunday, really it was full of errands but who cannot appreciate how hot it can get for a poor little kitty who likes to hang by the fan. poor little guy. AND one cannot forget having a garden vegetable dinner and bbq by wendy and david....YUMMY!

ooo summer don't ever go!

love

challenge completed

Let's give a toast to Mark. He is okay. :). He he he.

For the real one we will have to see if I go through with it.

Love

challenge on

on this rainy canada day i am going to attempt to write a speech about a person i love. which brings to question, how you can sum up everything in roughly 5 minutes...what does one talk about. what does one say?

challenge is on....next up...actually getting up the nerve to say it! :)
love

Hot days

What does one do when the sun is out.

One could sit inside. Hang out by the air conditioning. Do some crafts. Watch a movie. Take care of a special lady.

Or one could go outside. Have some deep fried goodness. Look at the art exhibits at city hall. And hang out with a special lady and a equally special man.

Or even better. One could do both.

Love these summer days!
Love

the end of a "school year"

well we have both now officially finished our school years as of today. i know mine was awhile back but i feel it is cause for celebration as mark has officially finished his first year of teaching. woooo hoooo!! congratulations, hon.

i know that i have said that my year has been a tough one plenty of times. i think of the first semester and wonder how i got through it. BUT then i look at mark. i was in a fit of tears many times, mark was there for me on more than one occasion to listen to my tears, offer me cupcakes and tell me i am going to be okay. yet during all of this he was going through his own changes.

he worked harder than anyone i have ever seen, pushing himself to be better for his kids. AND i know his kids will have gotten a reward from it. both mark and his kids were lucky to have each other! AND if that was not cause for celebration his continuing contract was! so proud of you mark for all the hard work you have done!

this will definitely be a summer of well deserved rest, relaxation, partying and celebrating. i have to say mark deserves it....and so do i! *wink wink*

love

What happens when...

A bunch of girls get together to find shoes for the wedding? This is what happens.

They find fascinators and long white gloves and many more hilarious things to have fun with. Naturally I encouraged all of it but alas they would not go through with it.

So then the girls find beautiful shoes (that I absolutely adore by the way and am so glad they picked them). What happens after that?? More shopping of course plus spending time with a little wee one that is very dear and near to my heart.

All and all a fabulous way to spend a weekend!
love

a review of fun

wow...where have i been again? he he he. it has been an amazing week. starting with tons of babies and ending with some showering and love.

casey had a little boy last saturday. eek! that is the first little man in our small little amazing group. he is small, and ever so tiny. he he. jeaninne, and i went to her house on thursday and man oh man is it busy! he he. kudos to both the parents as they were holding up pretty well! AND the little sis sure showed tons of affection to her little bro. you will be a great big sister hon! :)

mark and i also took our hand in babysitting a cutie one night. although a babe she is just how we like them as she has full head control and can sit upright. thanks jeaninne for lending us your sweet one. we all had fun, except when it came to eating...he he he.

then i went to a shower thrown by those two amazing women plus one other...anita! i won't go into many details and will only show a shot of the four of us but know that it went well. i may have sweated a lot and got embarrassed slightly...he he he. those girls worked hard with an amazing spread full of sweets from an edible arrangements, to brownies, trifle, macaroons, and tarts....with some very bachelorette decorative gummies....

and it was sooo nice to see so many of my friends come together for a night of ridiculous girly fun. i love you all. these things truly make me feel overwhelmed with love and i cannot stress enough how much i appreciate everyone who showed up last night and to the previous showers i have had. especially to all of the women that have worked hard on those said showers to make them so special for me. it is truly remarkable. xoxox

so i guess the countdown is officially on now....mark will be coming home from his bachelor festivities late tonight...and it will soon be under a month that we will be getting hitched!

love

A week in my life

I love love love my summers. This is going to be the one thing I will miss once I start really working again. Although I guess I am still working now but it's different. Only cause I know what it feels like from before. He he. But anywho, summers are always the time I do many things. Mainly not caught up in a studying or researching. Frenzy.

Like this week for instance. I worked and worked another job. Then I ran and to increase my endurance a bit more I ran again with some strength training in between. I even got a chance to scrapbook! Eek I have missed that. And of course had to do one wedding thing, that license.

In between all that stuff I get to hang out with my wonderful and beautiful friends. Whether going out for dinner to some homemade Nepalese food or having a hot dog at a stand and going to a fun tiny candy store. Even attending a birthday party of someone you don't know and getting hilarious images of Borat at that party. He he he.

I love summer and what a wonderful week.

Love

love you till the end

i seriously love this song...it was what i kind of wanted our first dance to be but i had another one too and mark picked the other...he said these guys had weird voices...lol. but i seriously i love it!

so maybe if you are thinking of a first dance you should consider this one....



love

wedding happenings....

Well what can I say on the wedding front. I have to say I am at the point where I am enjoying it. Why you ask? Because its craft time! Something I love doing.

The cricut and my scrapbooking skills have taken on double duty. With the fabulous help from my mom, and absolutely fantastic bridesmaids we have done the invites, favors, banners, and other little things. This part I have to say has been fun. Especially the favor bags because I went a little wacky with the paper choices. He he.

It seems to be little things now. RSVP's are coming in daily. While Mark and I have to get our marriage certificate and refine some small details. Probably will be refining those details till the of the wedding.

Fun girlie stuff is coming up for me. An adult bridal shower. Tee hee. And getting my hair, make up and dress fitting. Love being a girl.

All of it is getting rather exciting I have to say!

Thats all for now.
Love

will me make so happy for the rest of my life...let me sleep on it

i don't know what this says about me but this is one of my favourite meatloaf songs...he he he


love

city chase

so i did something this weekend that i have wanted to do for the last five years. yes that is right...FIVE. when i first started dating mark we met up one time on a saturday in the summer time. we went for a walk around the city from mec, to an ice cream shop back to churchill square. during that said walk i saw many many many people running around in shirts looking for checkpoints. i didn't know then that it was the city chase...basically an amazing race in edmonton.

cut to me finding out about it three weeks ago. i was pumped and determined to do it. it took a little convincing on my part to get mark to do it but we did. AND IT WAS AWESOME! we found mark's cousins there and thankfully they were as we would not have been able to do it without them. their smartphones, knowledge and their buffering effect to prevent us from having a fighting meltdown proved useful. PLUS THEY WERE FUN! :)

what was it that we all did?? mark ate a worm, i held a snake, we climbed twelve flight of stairs, sculpted, did sit ups, played jack and jill with a bucket of water, rode segways, canoed to a quote, found a stranger to give a wagon ride, and i directed mark in the right direction blindfolded in a pool. it was fabulous and fun. perfect day, perfect weather AND i can't wait to do it next year! seriously it was awesome.

hope your weekend was just as fabulous!
love

grandfathers

with the wedding coming up you start to think about some of the people that won't be there. i have talked about my grammie often and it does make me sad that she never got the chance to meet mark. but two other people in particular that i have been thinking about are my grandfathers. both died before mark even came into the picture but both meant the world to me in some very different ways.

first there is grampie with the pipe, or grampie. he was my buddy and i was his. i loved him so much. he was always around to spoil me with strawberry pie, ice cream, or other sweet treats. when we went to visit them over the summer he took us to a local swimming hole in tay creek. he was always there to give me some penny money for candy or buy the family some doughnuts to eat with jam at the small conerstore. he read me stories, or just gave me cuddles when i was not in the right frame of mind like below. 

 

some of my favourite moments that always come to my mind when i think of grampie is sitting on the veranda at night. we would just sit, talk, watch the lightening bugs and listen to the night creatures. sometimes there were crickets, other times their were moose calls that would be made...but not by the moose, by my grampie. of course other memories included the tickle fights that would ensue when i sat in "his" chair, or having breakfast with just him when i was 18 years old. but the veranda moments were special and something that i will always treasure.

next is grumpy. i named him this after grumpy the care-bear. i don't know if many would have been offended but he was not as the name stuck with all the the other grandkids that followed me. he he. what comes to mind when i think of him is boundless energy. he seemed like he was always on the go, gardening, going to the market, chatting up a storm with anyone that he met (seriously there are videos of a train ride to prove as he met every single passenger). the off chance you would see him sitting he would be knitting. and he was an amazing knitter. i still have the last sweater that he made that i got a christmas time.

 

there are many stories of grumpy. apparently i ate his prized tomato when i was just three. but my favourite memories of him was when he came to visit us when i was around 15-16. he took the train up and we had an amazing week of fun. we played boggle and introduced him to spoons. a game that still gets us laughing as he loved it and loved the competition between jimi and him. he also took time out to look at my sketchbook. i think about it now and love that moment even more as he was legally blind and really couldn't see very well. BUT he made sure to compliment each and every drawing that i did. it still makes my heart go soft thinking of it.

those are just a few memories of two very dear men that i loved. i will be thinking of you...when i say i do...*wink wink*!
love