Campbell Valley Park

The daffodils from the Bradner daffodil festival.  I love the combo of yellow and green.

 I haven't posted a picture of a juice for a while.  This one was so pretty.  Kiwi, granny smith apple, cucumber, mango and spinach.  Really yummy.

The weekend started off with a dinner in Langley at the Olive Garden with the 4 people I trained with.  The food was pretty good, I splurged on gluten-free pasta.  It was great to catch up with my old co-workers.


Today I went for a different walk.  I went to the Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley.  I thought it was a couple minutes further west of the Aldergrove Lake park.  It wasn't.  It was a lot further than I thought.  On the map it was just a couple of blocks, I didn't take into account that they were neverending country blocks.  It was a pretty enough walk, but it was very flat, not challenging.  Even more annoying, the trails were really, really busy.  A tour bus full of asian tourists pulled up just as I arrived.  Not a good sign.

I did the main part of the trail, it only took maybe 35 minutes, and then I was back at the parking lot.  There is another trail that is 11Km, that is more of a horse trail.  I backtracked to a side trail that was much better but still totally flat.  The main trail was just a gravel road, I preferred this sort of trail, even with the mud.

I might go back to this park to do the longer trail.  But next is the Houston trail in Fort Langley.  The receptionist at massage therapy recommended it to me.  Apparently it's going to kick my butt.

Tomorrow is sushi lupper (lunch and supper) in New West with Whitney. Feels like a whole lotta driving this weekend. 

Call me Princess Fiona

Yes, thirty two, and no more hockey hotties.  What is a girl living in a crappy suburb of a suburb of a suburb supposed to blog about now?  The weather has been really good.  If it's sunny after work, I'm heading out to get some exercise in.  Some running, some walking it all depends on how good I'm feeling.  But lately, I've had a bit of a problem that's stopping me from a lot of running.  My workout pants keep falling down and it's a total pain in the butt.  So I'm moving on down to a smaller size.   Thank you online shopping sales!  Sadly, I am still having fat days, so it's not that big of a celebration.

The fields of skunk cabbages I've been smelling lately.  The blooms are almost all gone now, but the smell is not.  Today, I decided that if it's edible next time I'm going to stop and pick some.  Maybe I'm losing my mind, but it looks delishous to me. Those leaves would be perfect for wraps.  turns out:

FOOD USES: Marginally edible at best, skunk cabbage contains calcium oxalate crystals, which cause the must unpleasant burning sensation of the mouth and tongue. Boiling doesnít dispel this quality. I once dried young skunk cabbage leaves in a food dehydrator for a week, following instructions from Lee Petersonís Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Then I simmered them with lots of other vegetables, tomatoes, spices, and beans, making chili. I finally dispelled the calcium oxalate crystals from the skunk cabbage unfortunately, they went into my mouth! After cursing out Peterson for an hour before the burning and stinging of my tongue and mouth, caused by one bite (which I quickly spat out), subsided, I flushed the entire recipe down the toilet, and the plumbing has never been the same since!
I include skunk cabbage in this book only to head off foragers who've been misinformed about its edibility and insist on trying it. If you must use this plant, air-dry it for 6 months, after which it tastes like paper, a vast improvement!
Conclusion: The day you bring home skunk cabbage is the night to go out for dinner and if you do find skunk cabbage, leave it for the skunks!  Source: click here

Damn.  no skunk cabbage for me. 

  Last weekend was the Bradner Daffodil festival (just down the road from me).  The best thing about it is the cheap flowers.  I bought about 25 or 30 cut daffodils for $3.25.  What a deal.

Judy checking out the flower show... is that what they call it?  There were hundreds of different types of daffs. 

In a school gym they also had a art show/ misc displays.  I spied a heavy-set woman in a long gingham dress, sitting at a loom, spinning wool.  She looked like she just stepped out of the 1930's dustbowl, curly hair pulled back in a braid, big glasses, no makeup, ugly shoes.  Actually there was a whole circle of women just like her, spinning away.  She stopped and rooted around in her bag, and pulled out an ipad, and started showing the woman beside her a pattern on her ipad.  It was the most bizarre thing, this woman did not look the ipad type.  I tried to take a sneeky picture, but it didn't work out. 

Hottie of the season

Well that's it folks.  The season is over, and I'm left with a boat load of hottie pictures.  Now I'm just a lonely puck bunny with google assuming that the only thing I ever wish to google is "hot canucks, abs/ no shirt etc." By the way, that particular search will get you a lot of porn (who woulda thunk it?).  You might as well benefit from my hours of searching. 

Here's a sample:

Ab-o-licous Kesler didn't make much of an impact this post season.  Good thing his abs do.

Note the woman in the background.  She's resisting the urge to run over and grab Kesler.  Who can blame her?  I predict that the day Kesler gets traded women will be rioting in the streets. 


And then there's Schneider.  He's been in my top 3 hottie list for a while.  Oh... Cory.  If only the season weren't over, I could post more pictures of you.

The rest I'll just squirel away for next season.  2013, it's officially announced as the best year ever, so you know what that means. These bitches are bringing the cup home.

Thoughts on my birthday

I've decided that I'm pissed off that I'll be 32 tomorrow.  So pissed off that today I did a double workout- meaning I did my "tough weekend workout" twice.  Back to back, and the only reason I stopped was because I ran out of water.  I mourn the loss of another year.  I'm always pissed at myself for all the things that I have not accomplished in my life (even if I actually accomplished a lot).  Thirty Two.  Fucking 32. 

31 lit a fire under my ass.  I try to follow my rule: I am not allowed to be unhappy/whine/moan about something if I'm not going to fix it.  There is nothing in my life that I didn't accomplish once I decided to do it.  So I am announcing officially, that this is going to be the best year ever. 

 

Hottie of the Game - game 4

Tonights hottie of the game is Alex Edler who turned the momentum of the game around with his goal that tied the game.  (and let's be honest, last game he was playing for the other team)
But Cory Schneider was so awesome too.  That's right!  It's a Double Shot of Hot!

I believe

In rock hard abs.

Everybody knows series that go to game 7 are the best anyways.

Mid Game Hottie

Game 2, Second period 0-0

Due to unrelenting pressure from blog fans...
Here is a hottie for your eyes to snack on while you wait for the game 2 Hottie.

Real fans of the blog writter knows that a hottie video was posted on facebook before the game.

Things I see

Originally I had planned to do one blog post from all the pictures I've been taking when I'm out and about.  Now I realized I have way too many pictures, so I'll spread it out.  

Ellwood park/Fish Trap Creek- now the most boring walk to me. Flat, no challenge and when the weather is nice, too many people. The selling points- it's in between work and home

Mill lake, also a pretty boring walk.  I've only been there once and found it was full of slow walkers.  I hate slow walkers, especially when they take up the whole walk-way.  Mill Lake is full of them.

The Matsqui Trail.  It's a trail/ elevated dyke walk along the river.  Hands down the most uncomfortable place to walk.  The parking lot under the Mission bridge was busy, but it was full of rather rough looking men that appeared to be living in their cars.  A few other cars cleared out as I started my walk, and I was the only person walking the trail.  I didn't feel very comfortable walking in this mecca for the homeless.  I did a quick coupl-a Km's and got out of there.  The only redeeming part of the walk was this view was of the bridge.

My new favorite place to walk- Aldergrove Lake Regional Park.  There are 2 main trails, one is 11Km's for horses and people that is mostly flat and a 7 Km trail in the forest that has lots of ups and downs.  I come here at least 3 times a week, I look forward to it so much.  It's not a busy trail, but it's not so deserted that I feel unsafe.  15 minutes from my house, and take 45 minutes to walk the 7Km is perfect for after work.   

I prefer to do the 7 Km trail, because of the variety.  It has sections that are so steep - dubbed by me the Asshole Hill, and bridges going across streams, and mossy trees, and tons of skunk cabbage.  I've been doing a fair bit of running here lately.  I just thought I would try running and see what happened, I ran way further than I thought I could.  I've never been a runner, so this is very surprising to me. 

Lots of wild flowers.  I have no idea what this one is, I've never seen it before, it has leaves of three, so it might be poison oak.

Skunk cabbage.  I love it.  I like the smell, I like how bright it is.  It may be the raw foodist in me, but the cabbage part of it looks really yummy to me.  I wonder if it's edible?

This walk was in Silverdale. It had moments of being the best walk/hike I've done and moments of being the most boring. I did some reading about the trail 17Km's in total, with lots of options to shorten the walk if needed.  I headed out, only to find the road closed, with a big chunk of the trail closed.  In fact, I couldn't even find the trail.  So instead I walked along the river at the Stave Lake Dam and found some shorter trails to walk.  The shore of the river was covered with bits of salmon bones left over from the fall.  Nasty looking teeth for a fish!

Then I drove looking for somewhere else to hike.  I ended up at the other side of the Stave Lake dam.  Again, a bunch of the trails were closed, but I managed to get about 8Km in.  The trail was flat and boring or it was super beautiful, and really, really steep.  I took a lot of pictures, I'll post them next time.  It's not a trail I would do after work being too far, and pretty much deserted.  But I think it would be really good once they reopen it.

I've been thinking lately that one day I'd like to have a dog to take with me. Maybe some day.



Are you ready for Hotties?

Stupid question I know.  Tomorrow marks the start of the Canucks play-off run.  To get you psyched, here is a hottie:


...




....






....

Okay.  Maybe the only thing that's hot is his ass from standing too close to the burning car.


 Lets go back to Petr Sykora.  Never a Canuck, but it really doesn't matter.  He will always have a spot on my blog.

On a completely different note. I updated to the new blogger, at first I hated it, but then I found this: 

It tells me which is my most popular post.  Total shocker!  Who the heck is interested in my video of the cats playing (no sound, bad quality).  Did I really get 35 comments?  Must be spam.  I'm surprised that the Hottie series only ranked 3rd and 4th.  No surprise that my biggest source of traffic is Sarah's blog.  Also if you notice the map- I'm dominating in Canada. :)



Jesus, My Tummy hurts!

Happy Easter.  On one of the blogs I read, the author explained that Jesus was a zombie.  He died and then raised from the dead to walk the earth- that's what zombies do!  Plus the buggers are really hard to kill, and it seems they had a tough time killing the Jesus dude too.  It's a good argument, think about it. 

I've had a four day weekend full of awesome weather, family visits and lots and lots of exercise.  Unfortunately I feel like crap.  I should be feeling hella awesome, but my stomach hurts.  There are 2 possible culprits: 

1.  I bought a bag of Indonesian mini roasted peanuts.  I used to love them.  They don't really fit into my diet, (raw fruits, veg, nuts and seeds) because they're roasted.  But I'm letting myself cheat as long as it's vegan,.  I was being hard on myself for the odd cheat, but then I came to reality, my cheats are cooked vegan food.  On the scale of cheating, that doesn't even rate.  But anyways, nuts aren't super digestible, so maybe I over did it.  

2. the assholes at Starbucks screwed up my order and put milk in (instead of soy milk).  I thought it tasted funny, and I checked on the side of the cup, and sure enough the bastards had screwed it up.  I'd already drank half of it, and it seemed a waste to throw it out, so I drank it.  Or actually, I drank 3 or 4 more sips until the thought of what I was drinking made me gag, and then I dumped it.  Stupid?  Yeah maybe.  About 5 years ago I watched a documentary by Woody Harrelson called Go Further which features him on a mission to inform America about environmentalism.  In it, he talks about how milk contains blood and puss.  This little piece of information helpfully popped into my mind as I had a mouthful of milky latte in my mouth.   Yuck!

So yeah, upset stomach.  I used to have an upset stomach frequently, like at least 4 times a week- even after I found out I had Celiac disease and cut out all gluten, I never felt 100%.  When I made the switch to raw vegan, that changed almost instantly.  There was 1 or 2 days at the start when my body went into some sort of panic over the amount of fibre.  But other than that, I haven't had any tummy issues in ... like 4 months.  That in itself is motivation to stay on the raw vegan thing. 

Enough moaning.  I have some good posts coming soon!  I have been snapping away like a Chinese tourist while on my hikes.  The next post will have lots of pictures.  Plus, I updated the links section that was very out of date.  Yay!

Katimavik

Last week the federal government cut the funding for Katimavik.  I was so sad to hear this.  I participated in Katimavik in 2001, I traveled to Ontario, New Foundland and Manitoba.  It was one of the most significant experiences in my life.  During that time I had was exposed to so many new things, people and experiences.  Some were bad- like having a mother screaming on the front lawn at me at 1am because she thought I had brought her 17 year old son to a bar (I didn't, but I did try to get him to leave); and some were good- like going into abandoned mine shafts to collect and release bats, working at a food bank and meeting some of the craziest Newfies. 

More importantly, I figured out what direction I wanted my life to go.  Before Katimavik, I was living with my dad, feeling guilty that I had to stay there so he wouldn't be alone.  I had failed Chemistry 101, and was seriously reconsidering if I was smart enough to become a veterinarian.  That was all I ever wanted to be, and if I couldn't do that, then what was I going to do with my life?  It was in Manitoba where it all came together.  The house leader was Kim, she was older than our two previous house leaders, she had lead an interesting life, and somehow we started talking about psychology and it just clicked.  I don't even remember how I decided that I was going to go back to school and get a psych degree, but I know it has a lot to do with Kim.  I was also volunteering at a thrift store, a food bank and a senior's day program.  I realized how much I liked working with people and helping people.  Before Katimavik, I would have never have imagined that I would have held the jobs that I did in the last 10 years. 

I don't know where I would be if I hadn't had the opportunity to step out of my life and try on a new life.  For seven months, I was free to do what I wanted, and try new things.  I did so many things that I would never do now.  I saw lots of bands, I went to every bar in town- in every town I went to, I went swimming in the middle of the night, I got kicked out of a bar (although it was really just an garage that was an illegal bar), I partied in a drug house, I learned and performed traditional Newfie square dancing, I went show shoeing, kayaking, hiking, I shoveled snow for 8 hours a day, I learned French, I went to tons of community events ... I had fun.  Most importantly, I made good friends,  thanks to facebook all 12 of us are still in contact.  Some more than others. 

The budget for Katimavik was only 15 million a year.  Participants volunteered 40 hours a week for 9 months, the amount of work that participants do in each community they visit is worth the 15 million dollars.  I'm so disappointed.  My hope is that the Conservative government will be tossed on their arses and the new government will bring the program back.       

stockpiling for war? or stupid obsession?

I thought it would be funny to see just how many sticks of deodorant I had in the house.  I think I have a few more hidden away somewhere.  But clearly, I have enough to last out the rest of the year.  It made me think of Sarah pulling out like 10 lip balms from her purse that she was carrying around with her on a quick outing.  Why?  Won't just one or two be enough.  Yeah obsessions....

This week I went out for coffee with a friend that obviously doesn't read my blog.  She started going on about smelly people, and how unbelievable it is that they aren't aware of how smelly they are and how they should just do something about it.  Um yeah.  That was a quick change of conversation.  At least I didn't assume she was talking about smelly people as a hint to me.  (Something I probably would have assumed before).

I guess that everyone has too many of something.  For me it's deodorant, for Sarah it's shoes and lip balm, for my step mom it's candles and throw pillows. What do you stockpile?