Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

So most of the Mexico story is up on Facebook so I will keep it short and sweet. 

My trip... swim with the dolphins, mango margaritas, Senior Frogs, exploring Cozumel, attending a beautiful wedding, pina coladas, mango tangos, pokemon drinks!  Meeting new friends, the nicest, most fun people ever!  Some shopping, beaches, beers in the street in Playa Del Carmen, lots of swimming, swim up bars, yummy rice from the Japanese restaurant, exploring Mayan Ruins in Tulum, renting scooters in Cozumel, eating at an authentic Mexican restaurant/shack on the beach...NUDE BEACH, playing in the ocean and playing in the waves, exploring Xel-Ha (ocean waterpark), snorkelling, tubing - one of my favourites, cliff jumping and loosing an earing in the ocean, eating crepes, eating lots, cappuccinos and soup were an every day craving even though it was thirty degrees, coming home with a sun tan and a full memory card.

Anyways, here's some kickin' photos from Mexico....

My beer on the bus

Our friends

The palm trees

The crazy ocean when the storm came and the tide came WAY in

The fossils (ok that is probably just me)

The catamarans

The mango tangos

The beach bar

The Mexican Wrestling Masks (epic pic Lindsay)!

The deep fried ice cream

The cappuccinos

The spot we had to meet our bus at, yes this dot.

This is the Day Eric, Lindsay, Ryan and I went to the ruins.

The Mayan Ruins (minus the heat, it was so hot this day)

The papa, moma, brother, and baby Coronas

Holding the monkey

Swimming with the dolphins and seeing them again at Xel-Ha (different dolphins though)

The wild parrots (everyone but Sheldon)

Pretty much every drink we had, Lindsay and I worked

our way through the drink menu pretty much to its end.

The sunsets and the pirate ship.

All in all it was a fun trip, we met some fun people and did a lot of fun activities, more than we ever have before.  Next time I want to try zip lines and cave swimming.  I know that we are hoping for a trip to Spain summer 2012, but I will still always have a special fondness for Mexico.

Vacationed Out...?

Wow, what a crazy, yet fun, last couple of weeks.  Mexico was a blast... haven't gotten around to looking at the photos yet but will be trying to accomplish that sooner rather than later.  One of the things I am able to share right now is the swimming with the dolphins photos...

 

Me, Lindsay, Ryan, Eric, and some other strangers....

 

It was such a neat experience, dolphins feel way different that what I thought they would!  They're so friendly too, we did one thing where they shot us up in the air by our feet, it was so cool.  I want to do it again!  We did a bunch of cool stuff in Mexico, and I will blog more about that later on...and guess what JULIE.... We had three cats on our resort... they were small and twiggy and they wouldn't come near anyone, we think they were wild, they had those long pointed faces...they wouldn't accept any food either.

Playa Del Carmen was a lot of fun, but it came with a pretty penny... participating in all the excursions was pricey but definetely interesting...especially when you're going with a group of strangers who turn out to be awesome!  Who's to say you'll ever be back again to explore Mayan Ruins, swim with the dolphins, play at the massive outdoor ocean park, tube down a canal with crazy trees over-hanging, ride scooters through Cozumel and stop at the most beautiful beaches (including a nude one...but we didn't swim there), play in the waves, or snorkel over sting rays and millions of yellow, blue, or zebra fish.  I really wanted to swim in the underwater caves and do the zip line... oh well next time!!!

Also, I really want to do a Mexico trip with the Kellers...maybe even throw in a few of the other Schell's as well, I think we should put this on our bucket list for one day, even if we can't convince the parents, maybe we can convince the cousins!!  I know Amber & Mike are off to Puerto Vallarta in a couple of weeks so I hope they have just as much fun as we did.  ...more details on Mexico when I have pictures.

So as for school I didn't miss too much, I actually did do homework on the 5 1/2 hour plane ride there and again on the 5 1/2 hour plane ride home...got quite a bit done.  I'm starting to get a bit nervous...the end is nearing and then it's just one week of review before the big exam... yikes!  I'm actually excited for it to be over and done with, I just can't wait to find out what my grade is so I can just relax.  I do have to say that I was way more nervous in the beginning that I was setting myself up for failure jumping into something so hard I knew nothing about, but I've been studying hard, working with Amber online as my tutor, and just a ton of review on my own and I have really improved.  I have been building up my confidence so I hope that will help me with writing the diploma!  I've signed up for my first university class...physics I....it will be 3 nights a week starting in September.  I know the first couple years will be a heavy load but if I can make it past that then the fun stuff will begin!  Too bad it doesn't just start off with learning about rocks...first math, physics, and chemistry...then the fun stuff!  I get to go to field school which I'm excited for...you live out on the field and study what field geologists do, you will be right there where the action is!

Well I suppose I should go over my May goals for the month...considering I'm actually blogging on time for once (I noticed that I only blogged once last month).  Anywho, here they are:

Monthly Goal

• Focus on my studies.  There is only just over a month left of school and this next exam is what will be deciding the next 7-10 years of my life.

Physical Goal

• Get walking.  Now that the snow is gone (fingers crossed) I will try to walk where ever I can...hello walks to the movie theatre and mall I have missed all summer!  I started this one off really well, Monday after voting I walked home from the polls (granted they were only 5 blocks away, but I did it!)

The other thing I need to work on is my card making... I have a TON of cards to do up for this month.  I also was hoping to get the inside of the Tribute all nice and clean... I'm hoping to accomplish most of this on Sunday.  As for tonight, I've got to get Kas' birthday stuff together and then I'm golden!

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.