resolution 09

you wish you'd stuck with. (You know, there's always next year...)



HAPPY NEW YEAR


Hmmm...I don't really make resolutions, not sure the point....

A common one for me is weight loss...I always want to lose weight and now with the wedding I'm especially motivated. I got a Wii Fit last Christmas and spent the winter using it. When it got nice out I started my running class which I did until June, kept up running during the summer, and after I moved to Vancouver I signed up for another class, and got a gym membership.
I also got an app for my itouch that tracks what I eat. It helps me recognize when I'm eating junk and how to limit it. I think it's been making a difference, but we'll see what 2010 brings!!


I can't believe it's the end of the challenge!!! and I did the whole thing :D

ad 09

What advertisement made you think this year?


This ad drove me NUTS




The FUNNEST!? EXCUSE ME!?


now correct me if I'm wrong.....so I hopped over to Dictionary.com

funnest

- no dictionary results

geee....so here Apple goes making up words for its ads?! Exactly who is this ad targeted to other than morons and 4 year olds!?

FUNNEST!?

How about the best ipod ever, or the coolest ipod ever. FUNNEST

what idiot ad exec thought that was a word....and then how many other people went along with it.

It's infuriating when you are an intelligent person who knows that funnest and irregardless are not words....ARHG

It made me realize that Apple thinks the gen pop are allll a bunch of stupids....and you know what....they're right.

best laugh 09

What was your biggest belly laugh of the year?


David and I have a lot of these. We're funny people....that do weird things. But the biggest one would have to be the night we went out to Bear Mountain arena for the curling tournament. I assumed (logically) that Bear Mountain Arena would be on Bear Mountain.....so we drove ALLLL the way up it only to find the resort. So after a quick call to the sports guy at CHEK, we started off to the actual arena....no where NEAR the mountain.

It's hard to recall exactly what we were laughing about....but it lasted SO long....from the entrance till long after we had parked the car....lots of tears and hurt abs...whatever it was..it was hilarious

Stationery find 09

When you touch the paper, your heart melts. The ink flows from the pen. What was your stationery find of the year?


Ok I'm only posting this b/c I've gone all this way with this challenge...but this is a LAME one....I don't write letters I send emails.

The closest I could say is a new book I got for Christmas. It's got bible passages at the bottom of each page. It's a beautiful book that I look forward to using for bible studies and other Godly insights. It came from Lyndsay who I mentioned in an earlier post. She knows me so well!

social web moment 09

Did you meet someone you used to only know from her blog? Did you discover Twitter?

I definitely discovered Twitter.
I'd HAD Twitter for long time, but I didn't understand how it worked...I think I had it for a year or two....but never accessed it or anything because I didn't understand it, but it quickly became clear that this was going to be the new way to keep up to date, so I learned it.

It's pretty easy, and awesome for keeping up with news, blogs, people, just a one liner about what's going on.
In fact all the blogs I post end up linked from Twitter...it's super awesome for quick news that's relevant to me. I just follow what I like!

insight of the year

What was your epiphany of the year?


Definitely when I realized I couldn't be at Starbucks anymore. I HATED working at Starbucks with a freaking passion. AUGH. I hate people SO much...I'm not meant to be in the service world. And being there made me SO upset and angry that I felt I couldn't be the Christian I'm called to be (you know the love everyone and be nice and show God through yourself) It just couldn't happen because I hated existence when I was there. And I really didn't like that.

The Starbucks I transferred to in Vancouver was sooo bad. It wasn't a real starbucks. It didn't have a real manager, or seating, or washrooms or communication. I hated it. Definitely made me miss Westboro.

So around the time that I hadn't gotten my raise in a month and just kept hating every day that I woke up and could barely find the strength to go in ANOTHER day, I realized that I either had to become an assistant store manager (an option presented to me) or leave. I had ZERO desire to move up in the company. The only way I would have is if it was the ONLY job I had. Ever. Either unemployed forever or ASM. David had just gotten a good paying job so the idea of just quitting and taking some time to find another job was definitely an option. He knew how much I HATED it there, and after consultation with both our parents and some close friends (who surprisingly all supported the idea of quitting) I went ahead and quit, with no fallback job. And I've never been happier.

It took an extra month to get me completely severed (worst store ever). But now I'm done, and will never have to walk into a Starbucks again. I don't even LIKE Starbucks, I'd rather go to Blenz or Timmy Ho's. Needless to say, quitting was LONG overdue. But man did it feel good to work my last couple days and treat customers as they treated me...BAHAHAHA

It took about a month but then I was hired at the Canucks store, and with the in-house crew. On the same day. It felt like I hadn't had a job in years, but I got really used to having time to myself and to be able to go to the gym or workout and stuff. I like not working. I have to which sucks, but when I have a job I love, I'll want to go in. I still drag my feet unless I'm working the actual game, cause I love working Hockey :D. But I'd like to find a sitdown job. Like editing, or even graphics, since I've been trained on Chyron. If I was in Victoria still I'd have a full time job....and that sucks :( but I'm here, and I'm doin what I can and that's the best I can do!

gift 09

What's a gift you gave yourself this year that has kept on giving?



MERRY CHRISTMAS


What gift that I gave myself..hmmmm....toughie....I can't remember if I got myself a birthday present....but I suppppose I'd have to say my Itouch. It's fantastic. It simplifies your life! All the apps! and the Wifi, and the movies and the music! I love it!!!!

The apps alone are awesome. I have a bible app, an excercise app, hockey apps, games, weather, google, mail, facebook, twitter.....all in a tiny ipod!!! No need to bring laptops everywhere anymore!!! I love it. Cost me a whole Dome day...but I think it was worth it.

Goooo Apple!

Learning experience 2009

What was a lesson you learned this year that changed you?

Definitely comes from my pre-marriage counselling...which I've only really put in to application recently.... :/ fail on me

But since I HAVE started trying it's been really great. It's kept me calm and open and loving.

Anyway, it's about being slow to anger and more active listening. I was a rageahol and blah blah...I've already explained this in an earlier post.

It's been really good, I feel a lot better about it. And I find I not only apply it to David but to life, I try to be nicer to the random people on the street, smile at randomos just cause.

Short post, off to Christmas church service

Happy Christmas all!

web tool 09

It came into your work flow this year and now you couldn't live without it. It has simplified or improved your online experience.

PICASA!

It's awesome. Since I have to upload photos to share with my family (and Facebook won't let me anymore) Picasa is the way to do it. Not only can I create a blog post included with photos from it, but I can upload photos to Picasa web, which is how I publicly share photos.
It ALSO allows me to edit and save photos, organize and select which photos I want to upload, so I don't upload all of them. It's pretty awesome and makes keeping the family updates easy peasy!


I'm now done work for the holidays! I work Boxing Day (doh) and the Canucks leave on a road trip that day but now I'm excited for Christmas with David. Just us for the first time of many, but our little tree is SURROUND by gifts. It's quite surprising...the pile is almost as tall as the tree!!! It will be exciting to see what we get...since we asked for nothing! Gonna be weird with no snow though.....and the first time in 25 years I'm not going to Mama Chachi's....wierd...thank God for Skype!

startup 09

What's a business that you found this year that you love? Who thought it up? What makes it special?


I suppose this is a tie between Gold Leaf Jewelery (http://goldleafashley.blogspot.com/), which started up this year by a former co-starbucker of mine. She's got some AMAZING ideas and wicked sense when it comes to jewelery making. I got a bracelet from her as a farewell present when I left Victoria and it's sooo cute and so me. I love it. She's got some amazing items over there so I highly recommend you go check it out. I wish I had more income for which to buy some awesome things...such as that tiny bracelet ring!!!! My insane life revolving around the Vancouver Canucks and living in GM Place prevented me from entering...CURSES!



The next one is a spin off of an idea thought up by a former...co-worker? maybe...I didn't get paid but she did...lol.
Anyway, it's a candle making business. I make candles right now but I want to add some scents, I'm not going to reveal much here as too keep it interesting...but it will definitely be different from any sort of candles I've ever seen...and each purchase comes with a collectors item....I know this is super vague, but I'm still doing research on how to create certain scents and incorporate them into the idea....Stay tuned in 2010 for Cocktail Candles!

Project 2009

What did you start this year that you're proud of?


Definitely crocheting! I started knitting back in high school and did it here and there. Last year I started working on it a lot more. I decided at Christmas I wanted to learn to crochet and I've been working on it all year!!

Thus far I've made a scarf, and some cell phone cases, a coaster....that was a long one...and mid way through a bag, but that's taking its sweet time. I like crocheting because It's just the one hook, not super long needles like knitting.

I'm trying to expand my abilities but it's a slow process when you're busy.....baaaaaaah.

new person 2009

She came into your life and turned it upside down. He went out of his way to provide incredible customer service. Who is your unsung hero of 2009?

HMMM.

I think this would have to go to my friend and bridesmaid Lyndsay Grace (http://lyndsaygracerolfsen.blogspot.com/). While I met her in 2008, I didn't really get to know her until 2009, and wow. It just went crazy from there.

We did a running course together in the spring which was suuuuupper fun. We were in a bible study together and went to Amber's book club sometimes...when we could get the book lol.

But basically in Victoria, she was my go-to person. Being a Christian it was easy to turn to her with spiritual question and problems and vice versa, and also for good ol fashioned girl talk.

She's pretty hilarious and it's nice to hang around someone who's LOUDER than me lol.

And she's my bridesmaid, which says a lot b/c I don't just pick anyone to be in my wedding!

She helped me see a lot of things this year, helped me try new things and open up a whole lot more. She definitely made a massive impact and I miss having her around v. much :( we don't as often as we used to...obviously b/c she's in Kelowna and I'm in Vancouver. We used to see each other a couple times a week. Workouts and bike rides and runs and studies and church...it's very odd not seeing her at all anymore

Here's to you Lyn-sanity :D

car ride 2009

What did you see? How did it smell? Did you eat anything as you drove there? Who were you with?


I suppose my most memorable is the first time David and I drove into Vancouver city centre.

It was in the summer, July, bright sunny day, HOT as I recall. We had driven over to look at areas of the city to look for houses.

So it's about 40 minutes from the ferry alllllll the way down Granville, so it houses and shopping then the Granville Bridge and BAM. City horizon.

Just silver reflecting back us and tallll buildings. Just huge towering over you and more and more as you keep approaching the city.

Here is a google street view so you can see what I mean


View Larger Map


We were just in awe. Driving into the BIG city from little old Victoria. Ottawa doesn't have anything like that. It still stuns us today. But that was definitely the most memorable car ride. It eventually led to us living in the area!!

shop 2009

Online or offline, where did you spend most of your mad money this year?

hmmm gooood question...I would have to say MEC. I feel like I was there a couple times a month!

The more David and I started biking every where, the more need there was for biking equipment. Especially when we got good bikes...

here is a short list of what I got at MEC this year

2 bikes lights
1 bike lock
a bell
splash rack
rain pants
back pack
bike gloves
gloves
water bottle
bike bottle holder
bottle
shopping bag
sippy cup


i thiiiink that's it...tomorrow I'm going to get a rain jacket as part of my Christmas present. David got a ton of stuff from MEC this year too....I love MEC..but not the one here...they NEVER have what I want. it's so stupid.

We were going to register at MEC for the wedding, but have since decided not to, as most of the things we would ask for would be ridiculously expensive and we probably wouldn't get them. So we'll just go on vacation :D

Bedtime...spend 12+ hours at GM Place today...8 hours of work and the rest doing game stuff....did graphics for the game tho....woooo. Only had one crash :D
sleep

word 09

A word that encapsulates your year. "2009 was _____."


hmmmm.....what was 2009...it was a lot of things....I know the word I can sum it up with..but it's a secret word that only David an I use that I don't want to share because it wouldn't be a secret anymore!....so instead...I'll use tumultuous....it was so full of ups and downs and happinesses and sadnesses....

I'm not going to elaborate too much on that. Those who read my blog know what I'm references and I'm going to resume watching Home Alone with David now.

Fave tea 09

Easy one.

My fave tea this year was Vanilla Bean by Mighty Leaf.

When I got my second job at Really Dull Bistro (name changed to protect the bad employer) They served the Mighty Leaf brand of tea. Before I left I loaded myself up on as many as I could (we were allowed free tea so instead of drinking I just took the pouch home).

Most of the teas this brand makes is deeeelish. They are all full leaf so the flavour just invades your mouth. But vanilla bean reallllly stood out. It's a perfect dessert tea, meaning you don't need to have dessert, you can just have the tea and be satisfied. It' packs a powerful vanilla punch, but it's not super sweet. It's a black tea and sooo calm and enjoyable. Even David likes it!

A close second to vanilla bean would have to be Green Tea Tropical by Mighty Leaf also. It gives a bit of a tropical fruit twist on plain old green tea... I LOVE IT. To get me energized up on the day or just going for a walk, this is the tea for me.

best packaging 2009

Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves?

uhm...this is a sort of weird one....I can't say any packaging REALLY stood out for me....the case to my Itouch was pretty cool....all smooth and clear plasticy.....but nothing really triggers anything worth remembering....so I'm going to leave it with the Itouch case....I really liked it. no corners...all rounded, clear hard plastic. Very nice...

yes this was a lame one...but I've done really well with the past bit so I think it's ok...and I'm tired.... I'm living at GM place for the next 2 week between the store and training....on friday I didn't realized I was pulling a double so I'm spending TWELVE + hours in the building....man oh MAN....for someone with no security clearance I sure get around that building....
Sleep

Best rush 09

When did you get your best rush of the year?


This is a bit of a toughie......the past couple year I went white-water rafting each summer and that was much rush...it's AWESOME! This year was pretty tame...saving money and such....I suppose my best rush of this year was getting proposed to....that's...HUGE...especially when you aren't expecting it...

I was in Kingston in July due to the death of my grandfather, Papa Flavio (I wish he could have lived to know I'm getting married :( but he knows ;) )David couldn't come with me. It ended up being one of the hardest weeks of our lives. (or so he tells me, I know it was hard for me, but I wasn't with him).

I got home Saturday at 1030pm SO SICK (with the swine) and the descending really hurt my ears and I couldn't pop them AND I was on EST, so he greets a sicky and a tired and a girl walking through the airport announcing she has the swine to see what people will do (mostly they ran away) and wearing her neck pillow as a necklace (he says he knew for sure then he wanted to be with me forever cause I was so cute)
We go home, little do I know he's got the ring box in his pocket and was SOOO nervous all the way home. We get there and chat a bit about how hard the week was and then he goes (or so my memory says)

"So there's a reason I couldn't go with you and I couldn't tell you why I couldn't go, because I couldn't afford it"

And pulls out the box.

I go
"what's in the box?" (I'm crying at this point b/c I was upset over the previous conversation)

And he says something like
"After this week I know that I don't ever want to be without you" (longer cuter speech...can't remember it verbatim)

(I think he asked me if I wanted him to get down on one knee)

I said
"what's in the box?"

So he gets down on one knee and opens the box...
It's a rinnnng!

and I cry

and he says
"Will you"

and I say

"Will I what?" (I wanted to hear the whole sentence hehehe)

and he says

"Marry me"

and then I says yes and cry and cry and cry and get ringed!


Point being we spend a very difficult week apart and he never wanted to do that again ever ever and this decided to marry me :D

It's about 11 months till the wedding and it's going by pretty fast!! I'm looking forward to it because I just want to be married!! That probably fits the biggest rush....I remember just being SO EXCITED and wanting to tell the world and run around jumping and smiling. So exciting.
This photo was taken right after the proposal. I got David some sunglasses on my trip home....and he got me an engagement ring....I think I got the better end of the deal :)

best change to the place I live 2009

What's the best change you made to the place you live?

I suppose this would have to be moving completely! In Victoria we lived in a basement suite, which was nice, but small. It was two bedrooms but we turned one bedroom into a living room, but no dining room, just a small table in the hallway. It wasn't easy to decorate b/c we lived in the basement of the landlord's house, so there wasn't much to work with. We could always hear the whiny son who lived in the other half of the basement, and man was he WHINyy. It wasn't an awful place to live, but it was super small and very shared.

Now we have our tiny little apartment in downtown Vancouver. Much less space....zero storage space right now which SUCKS SO MUCH. But it's our space, our furniture (the old place was furnished) and it's our taste. SUPER bright with huge windows which is awesome, and it was newly renovated before we arrive. So it's still shiny.

This also changed the PLACE I live. Victoria was lovely, but tiinnny. My only job option was CHEK (and it still is an option) but in the big ol' city there is so much more, for the both of us, and there is so much to explore and things to do! It's pretty fun. And super bike friendly. We never really have to leave our area unless it's to visit others or go to Walmart! And we seem to be going well on the church hunt...we went to an unbelieveably nice and welcoming place this morning. I can see it from my window!! It's super small which is what we are looking for...All that we've found so far is giant mega churches....thumbs down. So hopefully this is going to work out better....

I guess that's the biggest change to the place I live...I found a whole NEW place to live....and furnished and decorated it :D

Farewell Gord / new food of 2009

I start my post today with some sad news. My old professor from TV school passed away from complications from that STUPID H1N1.....He was an amazing teacher, and an amazing man who affected so many students that passed through his doors. He will be terribly missed by so many.

http://gordvgrant.blogspot.com/ This is his memorial website.

Sad day...

with that terrible segue...

New food of 2009:

The only new food I can remember trying this year I tried just last week! It's Mongolian BBQ! There is one down the road from my house that has always smelled SOOO GOOOD. So last week we went and tried it with David's mom.

To explain.

Way way back in the day Mongolians ate mostly shish kebob like food. So a couple guys went to China to learn how they cook. The bought a big pot to take back, but while they were camping out on the way home they couldn't find anything to hang the pot up with when they stopped to eat. So they flipped the pot over the fire and tada!!! Delicious.


You go up to a buffet of meats and veggies and sauces and pick what you want. Then you give it to the dude pictured above. He throws it all on that BBQ thing, and away he goes. 30 seconds or so and poof, DELICIOUS. All you can eat and only about 12 bucks. Totally worth it.

I'd never had it before and I'm so glad I did. It's the only new food I've tried since we moved here, which sucks b/c this neighbourhood is FULL of foreign foods I've never even heard of!! I have much more exploring to do for 2010!!

Happily got some Canucks work tonight...went in for free training and they were short-handed and tada....me work. YAAAY. Also got the Christmas Tree today :D!!! And new running shoes for only 50 bucks! Good day indeed.....minus the news about Gord.....RIP Gordo.

Best place 2009

A coffee shop? A pub? A retreat center? A cubicle? A nook?

I have to say the best place for me this past year (and one I continue to miss) is, ironically, The Place. This was my home away from home for last year. I had a bit of a rough time integrating in 2008, but once I relaxed and started to meet people, it proved it was the place for me.

This is a church that is beyond open minded and SO welcoming to everyone. It's non-denominational and is always a great challenge. The sermons are ones that have evoked tears, laughter, anger, and thought. The community is constantly reaching out and helping those locally and globally. It's amazing and wonderful to see one small community reaching beyond it's limits and doing more than worrying about themselves.

Before this place I never liked church. It was always a chore, just have to wake up in the morning and go. Not pay attention, not participate or learn, just go. But at The Place I would read along, learn, discuss, even do the readings before hand, serve communion, help at the cafe after, and helped with children and youth ministry. There were so many aspects of which to give back, I can't name them all, just a few to show how easy it is to be involved there.

I became involved at this Church because David was attending there, and he was introduced to it by a friend also. He became incredibly involved and eventually on staff. So it was pretty easy to slip in, though I made it harder by being a social weirdo.

The friends we made there I know will be lifetime friends. The pastor marrying us is from the church, members of the church are in our wedding party, and others are absolutely helping out with every aspect of the wedding that we need. We held a farewell party before we moved to Vancouver, and the majority of people that showed up were church friends. We invited friends from work and school for the both of us, and only 2 or 3 showed up. Everyone else was church. Those are friendships that no distance will ever come between.

I miss this place every week, and every time I hear about the exciting things going on and what all our friends are up to. But I know I'll be back again someday

Album of the year

What's rocking your world?

Ok hands down for me this year's Album of the year was the Lonely Island's Incredibad.

I've thought these guys were awesome since my old school chum Jay introduced me to them at a party years ago. HiGH larious. Since then I poked around keeping up on the funny. Watching Andy on SNL and the viral vids they created. But nothing beats Incredibad (except MAYBE Threw it on the Ground)

Unfortunately I can't embed the vid, but follow this link to year long hilarity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU

Does youtube even let you embed anymore?

Anyway, I haven't gotten tired of listening to this CD, and it makes me laugh every time. I started listening to it in the spring when I was working that crappy barista/sandwich maker job at a bistro in downtown Victoria. That job sucked SO BAD and I was definitely NOT getting paid enough for all the work they wanted you to do. So I listened to this CD on my way to work on the BUS (ick) early in the AM. It definitely left me feeling much less depressed about working a crap crap crap crap ass job. (I only worked there for 2 months before I decided it totally wasn't worth it)

In conclusion, if you ever liked any of the SNL Digital Shorts, you will love this CD. It's all written by the same guys, and some of the shorts songs are on the CD, such as Dick in a Box, and Lazy Sunday, and MORE! So try it today!

Best challenge of 2009

Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?


This is definitely a good question for me as this whole year has been a great challenge.
But the biggest one, the one that forced me to grow would be getting engaged to David. Knowing you are going to spend the rest of your life (and I'm like that...it WILL be the rest of our lives.) with someone forces you to look at yourself and how you interact with them.

We starting meeting with our pastor friend even before the engagement was a reality. We knew we would eventually be getting engaged so we went ahead and started to meetings about how to prepare for marriage. We were advised to complete an online quiz to evaluate our personalities and interactions. The results have greatly helped us to become better. We have huge gaps in our conflict resolution and communication methods...basically opposite ends of the spectrum. So this forces us to take a good look at these aspects and how we can work on them to improve and make our future easier and more bearable.

So, from meeting with our pastor we've been meeting with our amazing mentor couple, who have also had some great questions for us to evaluate ourselves and see how we can better honour each other and God and the lot.

Basically it comes down to this. I yell when I get upset, I get all dramatic and loud and scream and throw things. David doesn't. I'll storm off and ignore and be all emotional. David doesn't. I need time to calm down, David needs to resolve the issue RIGHT NOW. These are things that will not allow our marriage to work long term. So the time to fix them is now.

Integral to this is me working on my half...obviously. David has done a lot better with working on this stuff than me. But I'm starting to actually try. For a while I had it in my head that I fought normally and he was the weird one....needless to say this isn't true. There really isn't any resolution when I go running and screaming around the house. So as of extremely late I've been working on my communication with him and really working on staying calmer...it really doesn't help when David says something smart ass like "Calm down..." that will just set me off b/c I'm usually quite calm, or calmER than I used to be so it doesn't help. But I feel that I'm slowly coming along, which is good b/c all I can do is work on it in the hopes we'll have a good and calm marriage..I really hope to be more like our marriage mentors. They just seem to have it all together. I'm not saying they're perfect, obviously no one is, but they've just gone about things the right way and that's something I want to do also. Be slow to anger...that's my new motto.

All in all that's my biggest challenge this year (and definitely on going for..probably ever) it's not changing myself for another person, but improving on areas that could make life more difficult than it needs to be. Also I just want to be nicer to David...he is beyond an amazing person, boy, guy, friend, fiance...just everything. He deserves to be treated with respect and love and I want to do that. So it's been a year of challenges. But not unwelcome :) and I can only hope they continue to challenge and improve me in 2010

Moment of peace 2009

An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

This would have to be when I'm studying the bible. I've done several personal studies this year, along with some group ones, and on going what will probably be life long study with David. But it's when I do it alone that I find the most peace. I just have moments of realization where a lot of things just make sense. Where I just understand what it's all supposed to mean. What is being asked of me.

Most of the time this is a huge challenge. Knowing how I'm called to be and knowing, at the same time, that I'm nothing like that. I've definitely under gone massive change this year...all of which I can hope is for the best. But it's from truckin through these challenge and realizing what I'm supposed to do that gives me hope.

A lot of the time when I'm studying the bible I'm alone and comfy, and it allows me to just talk freely with God...about things I realize from the reading, about what's bugging me, or about what I need to work on. Mostly I learn what to work on from the reading. I'm a big fan of the Intervarsity Press bible studies
http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=1100

They are simple yet definitely get you thinking. I lead a studying using one of these books and then have since gone on to do some on my own. But it definitely allows me to not only extend my relationship with God, but learn...

Anyway...those are my moments of peace for 2009. I'm glad they won't be limited to just this year

Best blog find of 2009

That gem of a blog you can't believe you didn't know about until this year.


http://stuffchristianslike.net/

http://blog.beliefnet.com/stuffchristianculturelikes/

These blogs are hilarious....and SO TRUE...It's unbelievable how true these blogs are..

Examples:

#664 Not knowing what to do with Santa
#106 The Side hug
#629 Raising Dorks



Really it's hard to describe the hilariousness of these blogs....they need to be seen to be believed.

Awesome.

Best conference of 09

Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?


The only conference I attended this year was the Victoria Youth Workers' Conference held at Lambrick Park Church. I was working with the middle school group at the time and so it was super relevant
http://bit.ly/4GB21Z

There is another one this year too! Last year was the first edition, so this year is destined to be bigger and better :D Wish I could go.

Anyway, I operated the PowerPoint for most of the conference which happily kept me from awkwardly meeting new people. I hate that. The best was the small seminars. I went to a really bad one, given by a girl who had NEVER presented before so there was WAAAY too many uhm and ahs and likes, and I'm still not quite sure what she was trying to tell me....It was a relating to teenage girls seminar....but she did not convey this.

I truthfully forget the other seminar I went to. It was from a nice guy. I can still remember the room and the guy but not what it was about..bummer....

All in all it was a good conference. I would have picked different seminars that's for sure. But food was good, seeing people was good, learning was good.
I recommened it to youth workers for sure!!


Did my run yesterday! yaaaay...but man...I think I messed up this heel even more....

Best night out of 2009

From what I can remember of 2009, the best night goes all the way back to going to the Sens game in Toronto.


I bought David Sens/Leafs tickets for Christmas..
..needless to say he freaked.


So after we went to Ottawa for the rest of the holiday we hitched a ride up to Toronto to stay with my Cousin Annmarie.




She was awesome to kart us around town and drive us to and from the airport a million times. And to let us stay with her.





So while in Toronto we definitely went to the Hockey Hall of Fame. David had never been, I went when I won my trip with Molson. I think he had fun. We wandered around town of course, ate at the awesome St. Louis because I got a gift certificate from my sister-in-law's manly man. (I think....I don't really remember...either way I had a CG) and love St.Louis.

Anyway. David made a special sign for the game. We never really got a photo of it which SUCKS. It said CBC and down it it said Canucks Bought your Captain with a picture of Mats Sundin holding fistfuls of cash. It was awesome. First he forgot it in Ottawa, then he forgot it in the car at Toronto, THEN he forgot it on the SUBWAY in Toronto. It was a super short line so the same train came back in about 20 minutes and it was still there. BUT MAN. It was an unlucky sign. More about it later.

So we're at the GAME..WOOO
It was good times, sat near nice Leafers. Sens lost :( but b/c we had Sens jerseys on Security kept watching us ALL the time. During the 2nd intermission we went down and held up the sign and then plain clothes security came up and said management was pissed about the sign and if we didn't take it down we'd be thrown out. (uptight losers....can't accept the truth!)

Anyway, so during this time the World Juniors was happening BACK in Ottawa. So we went out into the halls after the game and all the TV's were playing it. EVERYONE stopped to watch. We all forgot all our rivalry's and joined together to watch Canada.
This was the game where Canada scored with 5.4 seconds left to tie it up and eventually move to the Gold Medal game. Anyway, I video taped it. It was awesome to see EVERYONE just go nuts. It was definitely AMAZING and awesome. And with David...and rarely do things suck when I'm with him....would have been perfect if the Sens had won lol.

Best book of 2009

What book - fiction or non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies.

For me this would have to be The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. While not a book released in 2009, I read it and loved it. Definitely shed some tears. I read it over the course of a couple days, mostly in bed before going to sleep.

It was an amazing book. It was introduced as part of the book club I was a part of in Victoria. I read it and was very very wary of the movie coming out, as I thought it would be very difficult to translate to film. I have yet to see it because while the movie was in theatres I had given the book to David and was waiting for him to finish it. When he finally did it was out, so I have to wait for the DVD.

It was a book full of adventure and love (I'm a sucker for romance books...but not the cheesy ones...those are just stupid). Needless to say I loved it and won a copy from CHEK right before I left which is awesome. It's a long book. Tiny font. And it's a little confusing at first, but after the first couple chapters it will all make sense...

Highly recommend it!

Best Article of 2009

I fail on this one....

I definitely have HAD things I pass on, but nothing is overly memorable. I know I passed on the article about bill C-10 which has the ramifications of denying women equal pay for work. But I can't find it anymore. I real a lot of Perez Hilton, who in between all the celebrity gossip, actually has NEWS sometimes. And it's always interesting and relevant and I frequently pass those links on b/c it's usually neat.

Otherwise I just don't find news that memorable. It's hot and then the next day it's not.


Mom-in-law arrives tonight! I'm way too sore from my run yesterday to head out to spinning class...bummer...gotta rest for the run on Saturday! It's nice out AGAIN so I might just go for a bike ride outside. It's supposed to be sunny until sometime next week....it's very strange to see so much sun and no rain...

Best restaurant of 2009

Continuing with my challenge

This year's best restaurant is probably Stepho's Greek Taverna on Davie St in Vancouver

It's a tiny little place, really dark with little candles on your tables, super greek looking.

As you can see there is ALWAYS a huge line up to get in. So it's just easier to order take out and go pick it up since it's only a couple of blocks away from our house.

The food is DELICIOUS. The service is so fast. The prices are unreal. It's about $20 for the two of us to eat, and that's an ENTIRE meal. I usually get the chicken souvlakia. So good. Comes with rice, potates, salad. Large servings of course, it's Greek! And so good. It's the first thing our landlord told us about when we moved here. And I'm really glad he did.


I ran 5k today. The heel was a little annoying for a bit. My whole body wasn't used to running that's for sure. But I'm ready for the Santa Shuffle. Also signed up for another 5k on Jan 1 ! yaaay running.
David's mom comes for a visit tomorrow so I must clean clean clean!

Best trip of 2009

I've joined a blog ring to reflect on 2009!
See it here.

Anyway, it start off with best trip of 2009.

I think it would have to be camping with David and members of the Place at Rathtrevor Park this past August. It was our last big event before we moved to Vancouver.Our humble set up. This was QUITE the adventure to get this giant tarp up. David left with several cuts. It was a rainy cloudy week which was a bummer, but the rain held off until the very last day when it poured so we left
The water was SO FAR AWAY. You can see where the tide comes in, and waaaaaay in the distance is where it was during the day. It was quite a walk to go swimming...but I did get to see sand dollars. I didn't know they were live and purple when so, and white when they died. SO COOL.

David and Bob passed A LOT of time playing Aerobie, it's like a little frisbee but only the outer circle and it flies super far. It was amusing to watch.The province was on a campfire ban while we were there :( too many forest fires. But we had a coal fire, it lights for a bit and then just keeps warm. Good enough for marshmellows tho :D
The goats live on the roof. You can see it's covered in grass. They live up there!!!!

Everyone that went! We got amazing ice cream at the Goats on the Roof place...So much fun!!!

It was a great trip. The only trip we took this year. First time camping in years. Had a total blast and hope to be able to do it again very soon!!!

December?

It's hard to try and want to decorate for Christmas on a day like today. I always do it on December 1. But it will have to wait for another rainy day.


The sky is always so blue. Maybe it's just because I always see grey...but it's just..so BLUE, more blue than any other city I've lived in.