April

Holy smokes, the last 30 days just flew!  And of course since it's mid-month what a perfect time to announce my April challenges (not).  Originally I had my physical challenge as practice yoga at home.  I did this once and hated it.  I hated the way the carpet felt under my mat, I hated the lack of space, serenity, I hated having my face so close to the carpet I realized I really should be vacuuming not doing yoga, and the video we have isn't challenging enough for me, it said it is beginners and it really means beginners... it was boring.  So I've decided to keep my yoga challenge at the gym, now I know that this had been my physical challenge for January, so I'm going to switch it up a bit.  My challenge this time will be to take the next step, do the more advanced poses, take an extra challenge and really make myself sweat!!  Because this has already sort of been a challenge I've accomplished I'm also adding on another physical challenge for April, spend more time doing activities outside.  Now that spring is beginning to show itself, it is time to spend more time outside.  So here goes...

April Challenges:

• Physical Challenge:  Continue to practice yoga and begin outside activities. 

• Monthly Challenge:  Begin composition of my certian special project ...secret special project :)

So, here we are already... school has really been improving for me... I'm in a tough spot right now though waiting to hear back from the university is a long drained out process.  Waiting to hear about transfer courses, registrating for courses, man the list goes on forever!  I wont even find out until my math mark is final, this means waiting until August to find out the actual mark, and who knows when the school contacts you for acceptance. 

This month has totally flown by so far, meaning Mexico is almost here!!  I really don't want to be missing  a whole week of school but MEXICO!!!  YAY!!  And that means Mike and Rachael's wedding is coming up too, another wedding... weddings are the best, probably my favourite event to attend.  Any wedding, they are always so much fun!  Speaking of weddings Corey and Nicole's wedding was a TON of fun, however I don't have the pictures on the computer yet for that wedding so we'll have to wait and see if I got any good ones.  But I do have pictures of J & J's wedding now!!  So here are some of my favourites...

I particularily love this photo of the garter, it suited the theme perfectly.

This photo is just 'so' Julie, it instantly became one of my favourites!  Love the bracelet, loved how long it took her to decide what kind of jewlery to wear that day!

Everyone was in such a panic mode getting ready and trying to get everything done and then Sandy comes to the rescue with wine and Amanda and I spent most of the morning on cloud nine (meaning we were pretty tipsy while we were getting ready!)

Even though no one is looking at the camera and Julie is looking the other way, this is my favourite picture of all of us girls together, I don't know why I just think it looks like we're waiting for something... like we're all waiting for a bus to get to the wedding or something haha!!

I love this picture because it shows off Julie's natural beauty and the colouring captures her personality to a key, I love how the veil is covering her and the fact you can see what an amazing job Chelsey did on Julie's hair due to the close up.  This photo is amazing.

This is my second favourite picture of you that I've ever seen (the first being you in the car showing off your ring to Sheldon right before we all went to get the photos taken).  I love the fact that we all walk around the corner and there you are, about to walk down the aisle, not nervous what so ever, beer in hand, and a natural smile just showing your true feelings towards this day.  If you tried to choose a picture to explain your feelings this day, I think this would be the one.

Of all the pictures of the two of you together on your wedding day, this one and the following are my favourite and I really couldn't tell you why.  I think it's because you both look so happy and the fact that everyone else is looking the other way, it's like you're sneaking off.  Plus one of the coolest feelings I ever had was signing the witness thing for your marriage, it means... its... FOR REAL!!!

This is my favourite picture of all of us together, it brought out everyone's character, really shows how much fun we all had, and the fact that you can look at this picture and figure we had to of been listening to music... but we weren't!!!

Sneaking in a couple of shooters before being introduced at the dinner was a lot of fun.  These little apple pie shooters were a perfect match to the theme of a ranch wedding and they were delicious!  We know this because by the end of the night the ingredients to make these were all gone!!

Sparklers must have made the first dance as husband and wife very romantic, minus the fire ball incident.. so much for ever trying to be efficient again!!

What I love here is the fact that even though there is so much going on around them, probably a ton of noise... I remember I could barely hear the song there was so much chattering going on everywhere, but despite all of this these two are so into eachother they would have never known.  All they could probably hear was the song playing, and just getting lost in eachothers eyes seemed to be enough.

The chalkboard wood writing...

Probably one of the biggest hits of the night, we all really got involved, I bet everyone was doing this for hours, or it certianly felt like it.  This chalkboard writing was purely based on the fact that I really did see A LOT of Julie that weekend, and helping her in the bathroom with the bra thing... man I bet all that people could hear would have been giggles.  I originally was going to take this picture alone, but Justin just happened to be standing by and I made him jump in, completely forgetting what I had written on the board. 

I think this picture is adorable, and you guys are just so clever!

Science is a downward pull in life.  What more is there to say?

Team ABC!!!

Of all the pictures taken on your wedding day Julie, this is my ultimate favourite picture (It should be of you and Justin, but he is way there in the background so I think it still counts)... anyways, I love this picture so much, it looks like you guys were just having a blast!

I'm pretty sure Julie stole the cowboy hat for Pour Some Sugar On Me.

So just thought I would share a few of my favourite memories from this wedding... and through all the stress, planning, drives down, confusion, car screaming, drinking, digging through old wedding scraps/picking and choosing, table arrangements, hauling wood, dance floor setting up, tear down, garden gnome attacks, some killer amazing cupcakes, Tanya's excellent decorating skills saving the day, help from everyone attending by bringing their chairs back for supper, bathroom piping explosions, chalkboard colourings, and vegemite sandwiches, it was an all around amazing night.  This wedding was well worth all of the work that went into it and who knew that two years of J & J being engaged could go by so fast?  It's nearly been a year since the wedding but these memories are definitely going to last a lifetime! 

Thanks for the DVDs, I love them!

Fast Times

This month has been zooming by, which has it's pros and cons.  I have been working on my March goals, I've actually completed my February "no buying new DVDs/TV Series" challenge.  I did a lot of swimming in February.  So...March goals:


Challenge:

• Start the Drink Club scrap book, get pictures printed & begin recipe collection.  Attempt some pages if time allows.

Physical Challenge:

• Soccer

I've actually completed my goal already, I've even made up a few pages, my homework is the priority however sometimes you can only cram your brain with so much information before you need a creative release...  I also love to release my creativity through cooking, then tasting mmm... Speaking of, we did a lot of tasting in Vancouver.  That was such a fun trip, it is so easy to fall in love with that city.  Absolutely amazing, one of the best cities I've ever seen, so beautiful.

The aqua taxis!  I just loved being at the harbour.

Such a neat city, cool bridges!

I nick-named this trip "The Eating Trip" because that is the majority of what we did.  This was from East is East, one of the best restaurants in Vancouver.  Wrap (with rice in it and whatever else you'd like...pretty sure mine had eggplant in it?)  Salad - excellent, and a mini soup...LOVED IT!  To top it all off Candace's awesome pina coladas (warming up for Mexico) with the Magic Bullet...I want one of these so bad now!

This clock tower reminded me of something out of a Disney movie.

Fresh seafood there, so amazing.

Big fat turtle at the aquarium

The jellyfish were so amazing to watch, just got you completely zoned right out. 
Hypnotizing almost.

The Beluga's, mine and Candace's favourites.  They are so playful.  And so very white!

The dolphins, also super playful!  They can jump insanely high.

 

Candace and I trying to get more pictures together.  This was an epic fail the night I brought my camera out for girls night but realized I left the battery charging back at her place so I had an empty camera :(

The beach, one of my favourite stops, there's something different about being at the beach in the winter.  I love this city it is so beautiful.  We also went to the dog park and watched all the playful dogs running around on the dog beach.  There's just something about having a coffee at the beach.
 

One of my favourite shots, the waves are crashing in, the sun is setting, just a magical place.

This trip was wonderful!  I had the best time and would recommend anyone take a trip out to this city.  Although pricey due to eating out and touristy activities (no pricer than Calgary would be) it's worth it.  Touring this city actually made me want to do more things around Calgary.  Tanya is down this weekend so maybe I can do some "touristy" things with her.  I mentioned to Amber the next time she's down we should go to the Science Centre, also Calgary is constructing a new huge one over by the zoo.  Wont that be neat when it is finished?   Oh, and as for the no drinking... I made it to day 62, broke it in Vancouver and wanted to keep it broken.  I guess that is just not for me, although it did teach me just because you can drink yourself silly doesn't mean you should, so my plan now is to just take her slow... remember the tortoise won the race.  Until next time... cheers!

Easy Come, Easy Go

I've decided to look on the bright side of things and rather than portraying a negative aspect on those who have things come so easily for them or possibly handed down on a silver platter, I've come to realize I have a new respect for the phrase "easy come, easy go." A lesson we one day all learn in life is you appreciate things you've worked hard to accomplish much more than things that have just been given to you, or things you do not need to try at. I'm more and more amazed at the amount of people that receive everything on a silver platter, no effort put into it at all. There are also those people that will take credit for jobs they've had absolutely no imput in, these people are also everywhere. I find it mesmerizing, almost laughable, they have no shame. Another thing I've been finding ridiculous lately is people that "think" they have problems. Yeah, you have problems because YOU are the one that created them. You're in debt? You did that. You got married to soon? You did that. You had children too soon and now you're financially in trouble... I don't feel sorry for you because YOU did that. You don't have a job? Go get one. Why don't you take a look at the TV at all the terrible things happening in Tokyo, Tsunami, Volcano erruption, death, they had such a strong economy...probably one of the strongest in the world and you think YOU have problems. Don't look at me and complain about the problems you've created for yourself. The people in Tokyo are the ones that have a hard life right now, don't know where their next meal is coming from, possibly don't know where they are going to sleep that night and YOU have a large enough ego to convince yourself that YOU have a hard life or you have problems in your life and people should feel sorry for you or help you out? Quit being selfish and realize that you are lucky to have the problems you do. You are lucky to not be the one in Tokyo that just had everything you've worked hard to achieve taken away from you not to mention the loss of loved ones. My heart goes out to them. Maybe you should take a long hard look in the mirror and realize how selfish you are to think you have problems, you don't have problems. Just you thinking you do means you have so little to worry about that you are turning your tiny problems into massive headaches. If there is anyone that can complain about the little things in life, it's me...my life revolves around murphy's law, anything that can go wrong will, but when I look at myself I don't see these issues because I'm looking at the bigger picture. So maybe it's your turn to take a look at the bigger picture and realize just how lucky you are and make the best of your situation because it could be a whole lot worse. Next time something bad happens to you think about how much worse it could have been and think about how lucky you are that you are the one that creates your own problems, not something of greater force you can not control.

Drink Club

So as you know my cousins, sister, and I have this little club known as Drink Club.  It had all started one New Years Eve when a long island iced tea concoction went wonderfully wrong.  The coke was completely forgotten about and we ended up with more of a limeade (not limeonade) drink.  Anyways, everyone had so much fun I continued this tradition on to the summer where I brought ceasar ingredients out campint, this turned out to be a real hit as well so the tradition lived on.  It has been almost two years now and I came up with the best idea...Drink Club scrap/recipe book.  I want to capture every drink we come up with in this book, success and fail, as I had mentioned in an earlier blog.  I will need to get my cousins to go back in time and remember some of the drinks they had come up with, then go through old pictures and see if I can find anything that would be associated with these drinks to put into the book.  Now these pages are going to be nothing special, I want this book to be one that gets put through all the experience, it will be brought along on all the trips, it will get drinks spilled on it, it will get beat up, it will have character.  So turning a fun tradition into something even more memorable...here is the progress so far, just need a picture for the front.

Also, wanted to take a moment to mention how much I'm loving this Scentsy stuff.  Thank you Auntie T :)  I am burning a mystery scent in there right now because my mom gave me some and I didn't write the names on them, it could be White Chi Tea, it could be Flower Shop...who knows!?!

Also, something else new and improved...bangs!!  When you go to the beauty salon and tell them to do whatever they please they really will and you may come out with a completely different hair style from before!  I don't mind them so far...we'll see how it goes.

The boy-cotting of drinking continues, today is day 59.  I'm allowed to cheat this weekend but I'm not sure if I will... I guess we will have to see how the trip goes.  Yes, trip, this weekend is the VANCOUVER WEEKEND!!  So Thursday will consist of work, yoga, school, packing, and Thursday night we are off!!  Shall be a long day but worth it!  Plus we will gain an hour on the way there, consequently loosing it on the way home but we've planned this out nicely it shouldn't dent our schedules too badly.  I'm thinking I'll have to get another magnet for the fridge...hmm.

Half The Family

So the long weekend has come and gone, it was nice to get that little break especially for me because I got a break from the pool too!  I usually only get a one day weekend so a 3 day weekend felt like a really long time!!  Friday night me and my mom drove out to Taber for the weekend.  I stayed at mmmmber's house, I think the dogs are starting to really like me.  Or maybe they just like everyone.  Anyways, they were so cute.  Because my mom's birthday is this week we decided to do some surprise stuff for her this weekend.  Only half of us were out there though, no boys were able to come they were all busy and Julie ended up getting sick so we only seen her for a few hours on the Saturday, but that's ok because I get to see her and Justin next month which will be here before we know it!  In the mean time, Amber and I got a ton of visiting in, which was really nice.  Just the two of us!  Friday night we spent some time visting with her parents, my mom, and Gary & Jody.  Then we went back to Amber's place and got to work on decorating for the birthday and made this trifle...it was such a good idea because my mom doesn't like birthday cake so this worked perfectly...plus it looked really awesome too.  Who would know that a dessert that looks this excellent could be that easy!  Washing/slicing the strawberries took the longest of the whole dessert!

Oh Kraft Canada, how I love you.

I was in charge of drink club this weekend (even though I'm doing my sober - gig I'm still partaking in drink club).  It was a raspberry/peach/lime type thing that went over well with everyone.  This drink was a success.

And here's the drink with the bartender!  Looking at all that booze I was adding to the alcoholic drinks made me really want some....oh man does spiced rum ever smell good when you can't have any.  So does beer for that matter!!!!

Julie and I decided that we should have a recipe/photoalbum type book to add all of our drink club drinks into.  It think this would be an awesome idea!  I know the exact book to find for these recipes.  Regardless of how well they turn out, into the book they go with either a "Success" or "Fail" written on them.  I'm not sure how we are going to go back in time and re-create the previous ones though.  Guess this will be part of a new "monthly project."

School starts up again tonight, teacher's convention is over.  It's not the best weather so I hope I get there on time. 

This weekend we are having some friends over for a games night, everyone seems to be going to Mexico, so not very many people will be coming but we will still make it fun!  Plus, we don't have long to wait before our Mexico trip so I'm getting excited for that too!  Plus another trip coming up even sooner...VANCOUVER!!!  It will be my first time ever there so I'm really excited.  It will also be my booze cheat weekend so I am not sure if I will break my bet or not...I'm allowed two cheats but I've been doing so good (53 days in now).  I almost want to see if I can make it the full 100 days in a row...but at the same time I want to have fun, and running around with a bunch of drunk people when you are sober is never fun.  Either way I'm pretty excited to go.

A Normal Life For Once

So we finally had a weekend without a bunch of travelling, events, projects, etc... to worry about!  Since I have spent most of February being sick I got quite a bit of housework done this past weekend which really put me ahead.  Laundry pile is finished and I even accomplished washing all the bedding to get these germs out of the apartment!  Saturday was work at the pool as per usual, then I stayed for a bit after work to get some swimming in (February challenge), then it was off to lunch at my parents.  The rest of Saturday was filled with cleaning until it was time for our soccer game which was a late one 10:15 p.m. and I got an assist!  It was awesome, the play went as planned for once, I passed to the other forward by the net and it was a bit of a high pass to get it passed the players blocking then he headed it right into the net, score.  Excellent!  We ended up winning, it was a fun game. 

Sunday was perfect, slept in then decided it was time to get the bottles done and get that money into the trip fund...not much longer before Mexico!  So I loaded up the SUV, took the bottles in, afterwards I really wanted to go to Lush so we explored Southcentre Mall to find there was no Lush there but ended up going to HMV of course and bought a couple movies and such.  Sunday night was pretty productive for me as well...

Got my mom's Birthday present ready to go:

*there is a little hint on top to what it is*

YES I EVEN REMEMBERED TO TAKE PICTURES!

 



Then I got the rest of my Math homework done...here are some things I'm working on

It's not as complicated as it looks

I've been getting into a new show now 24, It's so crazy - always has you thinking.  Spent all night trying to figure out what happens next with 24...it's my new Lost :)

 

I also got thinking on my other February goal for the rest of this month since it's almost over now this goal may have to run into next month as well...I figure this is better since I will probably be doing my card making all year...

February Challenge:

• No buying new movies/tv series for myself

This also got me thinking of March challenges and the fact that have so much to look forward to for the next couple of months...and these little invites will give you the hint...

I'm getting super excited for everything coming up!  This weekend will be a visit to Taber, that should be a blast, plus a long weekend...I will have an entire Monday to myself to work on some projects!  I'm also going to try to keep up with the picture/blog thing...this might be difficult for me but I will try!!  Usually the winter months seem to drag on forever, but keeping busy is the key!!!  Cheers!

A little bit Husky

Alrighty, here's a bit of an update...

As for my monthly goals, they may change a little bit.  I'm thinking that I will still keep on card making, but I don't know if I will be able to finish this project this month, so I'll add another one I might be able to keep my focus on easier.  I'm still contemplating what that will be.  As for physical goals, I will be doing the swimming however I've found I've been trying to cram a lot of yoga into my life lately and maybe will have the challenge of swimming/yoga for February.  My yoga pass is up towards the beginning of March so I'm trying to get in as much as possible before it expires! 

School, well that is starting up next week Tues/Thurs nights.  I'm not really looking forward to highschool math because it's not something that will further me in my career, it's just some stepping stone I have to get over before I can begin to accomplish my goals.  And it has to go all the way until JUNE...BOO.  I'm eager to hear back from Mount Royal on my acceptance into the degree, I kind of hope they interview me so they know I'm serious about this.  I also need to write them a letter saying I will not be finishing my SAIT certificate so they no longer need to evaluate those last two classes as transfer programs for me...hopefully the first two will make the cut, if not oh well just one more class I have to take.  I'm realizing more and more how big of a commitment this is and how much time it will consume, I know it will be worth it in the end.  Yes, I want to live life of course, but this is just something I have to do to be able to live the kind of life I want.  Yup, got my sights set on those big bucks!!  Plus I've realized I do not really like these redundant jobs I've been doing lately and want to do something where I have to think harder and actually use my education for.  So here's to one hell of a long haul!

As for the boycotting booze, so far I'm 35 days liquor free (haha I sound like an alcoholic).  I'm beginning to miss my beer though, oh sweet nectar!  Anyways, I've confirmed with my boycotting booze buddy that I'm going to go for 100 alcohol free days... that is April 10th.  I get two cheats, one I'm using possibly in Vancouver, the other I'm using at a rather exciting event we were unexpectedly invited too....

Work....let's start with the pool first.  I couldn't be happier with my classes this set...no complaints here!  Husky, wow talk about learning.  I've come from having absolutely no idea what I'm doing with these Geographix projects I've been helping with and creating to being able to complete one whole one on my own.  I'm also getting better at loading deviated well survey, and georeferencing (taking paper maps, scanning them and lining them up with our GIS grid system on the computer, then importing them into geologist's projects), and I've also learned for the first time how to load geologist's picks on formations.  It's pretty neat once you've got it down.  I can see how people would get frustrated with it though.  Anyways, a lot has been accomplished in a short 6 months and I'm proud of what I'm able to do now.  I never thought I would do so well with geometry and hadn't a clue how to read latitude and longtitude when I left college...just more learning to come.  Nothing will stop me from achieving my goals here!! 

Julie...I haven't been able to keep up with your blog, that will be my next week goal, catch up hahahaa!  You would think that now since we have internet at home I would be on top of these sorts of things!!!  Also, very excited to see you Feb long!

One more thing, I know everyone who has a blog seems to incorporate a lot of pictures in it, that is one thing I need to work on!!  I just never seem to think of it at the time and the pictures I do end up with have nothing to really do with what I'm talking about!  That is another goal!

P.S. I hope the Day Zero Project website is back up and running soon!!