The summer that was Part 1

While some super star bloggers attempt to blog 100 posts in 100 days, I'm more of a realist. I'm striving to do one post every hundred days. I'm sure my core readership has long since given up, but here you go. It's an official blog post.

It's been so long, perhaps I have already blogged about Rider Lake. It was a day spent lookng at amazing gardens and super cute alpacas.

Sarah and Ella eating el fresco in the 'wack

bathing in the backyard. She's a splash monster!

Shamrock's year-end baseball tourny in February.

Ella's first birthday party at the spray park. The water was so cold, Ella's little chin was shaking. Luckily, dad was there to warm her up.



cake!

The summer that was part 2

Ella giving her favorite auntie absolute GOLD!

And then there's mom, trying to hog the camera

Driving the firetruck

Then it was time for the family reunion. We rented an RV (highly recommended). Obviously this called for wigs and costumes.

First campsite was near Pemberton. In the morning we went for a hike!

The pictures don't really capture the waterfall. I recommend seeing it for yourself. FYI, the trail to the falls is some sort of hot guy mecca.

And this is where I misplaced my camera. Insert amazing family reunion pictures here.

Suds had google earth'ed th entire trip. He had some amazing side trips. This was one of them. Marble Canyon near Lytton. It was 40 degrees, swimming here was the BEST!

And right about now is when the RV's AC just wasn't cutting it. Man was it ever hot.

This was the hottest rest-stop on the planet. I will never live in Lytton.

Lunch in yaletown. Can't remember where we went, but it was pretty good. Or at least the drinks were good. Here's mom hogging the camera again.

These two are music video rockstars

And then all of a sudden Iwas in Hong Kong

Gotta love the Vancity tourist photo-ops

Driving in the car. Ella was supposed to be going to sleep. Mom is yelling at me to not make eye contact so she'll go to sleep.

Whitney and I did a security gig at the BCCOM Gastown show'n shine. It was a stressful job! Whitney got hit on by a restauranteur and cute bikers assumed we were groupies rather than security. At the end of the day, Whitney and I were dying to get a drink.

The View

And we're back!

Leaving the ghetto is never easy. If it were easy, no one would live there! It all turned out well in the end. Please stay tuned to see pictures of my new place.

Mysteriously, I have full cable. After not having more than 3 channels for so long, I really do notice what a time-waster it is. John and Kate, I only knew about them because of the checkstand magazines. There was a marathon on tonight, so I had to watch a few episodes. I don't know why people find them interesting! It's like a daycare. yawn. I think I'll be glad when the tv company disconnects me. I have things to do!

I feel like I'm at the end of a vacation, and I just want to get back home. How strange, this is my house with all of my stuff, but it doesn't feel like home. yet.

It will all work out in the end

Yoga and Martinis

What better pairing could there be? Shannon and I headed to Whitney's appartment/yoga studio. Nicole and Whitney had completely changed the vibe of the appartment. It was perfect for yoga! With 3 yoga DVDs, we were sure to have a good workout.

Poor Shannon didn't have a yoga mat, she had to make do with a tiger blanket. Here she is doing her best tiger pose.

Whew! Time to eat. Whit served up some delish Vietnamese Salad rolls. We were all so hungry we wolfed them down. Of course there was also wine and cheese!

Next we were off to Chill Winstons to meet Tiffany for martinis and appys. Waiting for the cab, I was a little camera happy (probably because of the wine).

Strike a pose

I wish I'd remembered that I had my camera later in the night. I don't have a single pic from Chill Winston. The next morning I heard that Robert Pattison from Twilight fame was also at Chill Winston that night. But we didn't see him there.

Sushi and Bikes

I met Whitney and Nicole a few weeks ago for sushi. Afterwards they talked me into a bike ride. It was fun, I might just do it again....

I'm having flashbacks to this ride I took with Sarah about 5 years ago...

Moving on

yup that's right. I'm moving. Where? Yet to be determined. But one thing is for sure, there is a vacancy in the ghetto.

A few months ago, water started to pour out of my bathroom fan. I always thought that electricity doesn't mix well with water. I advised the co-op, and was told not to use the fan until it got fixed. Fast forward to today, I see the maintenance lady and ask her about my fan. Has the leak been fixed? She says that she doesn't know, but maybe I should just try turning it on and see what happens! Hmmm. Idiot, it worked all along, it was the water that was the problem. This just solidified in my mind, I made the right decision to move. They won't fix this leaky ghetto co-op any time soon.

I have decided that I would like to live in a concrete tower for a while. I'd like to not know or hear my neighbours. Living in a co-op, you get to know too much about the neighbours. There is so much gossiping and rumours! Looks like I'll be moving at the end of May. Of course, if you would like to offer up your moving services, it would be very much appreciated. I am getting rid of most of my stuff, the move *should* be pretty easy! Glutenous pizza and beer will be supplied!

BBQ'd Cat

She's not the smartest cat sometimes.

Ella Eats Another Remote Control

bubbles

I'm not even sure how this happened. I switched to the concentrated laundry soap, and I guess I must have poured a little too much in. I've seen this in cartoons, but never in real life. I'm glad all I was washing was my running shoes.

Whitney's Birthday

After much indecision, Whitney decided she wanted a low key birthday. An afternoon chick-flick and a simple dinner. We bought our movie tickets and went for a pint at the Irish pub.



We saw New in Town at Tinseltown which probably won't be nominated for any awards, but Harry Connick Jr. supplies ample eye-candy. Then it was time for dinner and champagne, Sarah supplied the Caesar salad:



Yummm. I hadn't tried Sarah's Caesar salad recipe before, it is now my favorite. Why in the world was I using Kraft? Roasted garlic might just be the best thing in the universe!

On the cat walk

what a bad blogger I have been of late! I'll do my best to be better.

So I promised you the tale of this:


It was delivered to my house just after new years. There was so much snow on the ground, that the delivery guys bitched the whole time. But I figured I paid them $50 to deliver the 200 lb item, they could complain all they wanted. At least I had cleared my stairs off with my dust pan. Geesh!

So what is it? Well it's a treadmill! I found it really tough to get in my daily walks when the weather turned nasty. Problem solved! I set aside the whole day to assemble the thing. I read the instructions which said that assembly required two people. Surely not! Idiot that I am, I started to put it together. About an hour into it, all the snow came roaring off the roof onto my stairs. After I cleaned up that mess, I was back to the assembly line. I'm not going to lie, it was really, really hard to assemble. Not because the instructions where vague and badly translated but because it really did require 2 people. One person to hold a piece and another person to attach the piece. There was a couple times I thought I would cry with frustration. But I managed to put it together. After 3 hours of shovelling snow, and about 5 hours of assembling the treadmill, I was too exhausted to even use it!




The part that you walk on folds up when not in use. I thought it would be a bit more movable than it is. I wish it folded the other way, then I could hide it. Yes, the cats will walk on it, but not for very long. They like to use it like a rocket launcher, why walk against the flow, when you could run with it!

note- I was offered the job I mentioned a few posts back. I accepted it even though I don't think I want the job. Stay tuned....

I'm not sure this counts as a blog update...

Having nothing to do today, a rare sunny winter Sunday afternoon in Vancouver. After reading in bed until 11:30, I made brunch and wondered what I could possibly do with the rest of my day. I decided that I was over-due for a blog update and so I packed up my laptop, sunglasses and my Starbucks gift card. I feel a little but like Perez Hilton blogging in a coffee shop listening to Britney Spears trying to drown out the elementary school teachers who are gossiping next to me. I'm even more scared to look over at them. Something tells me that at least one of them taught me a class 20 years ago.

I've been working 6 days a week lately. My days off have been used to clean, cook and grocery shop in preparation for the next 6 day stretch. Whitney says that I'll never meet anyone new with that routine. I have just joined a gluten-free social group, I'm looking forward to eventually meeting the group members. It's comforting to think that there are other food freaks out there. I've only met other celiacs online, ie. not in person. Other than that, I have a job interview in a couple of days for a job I don't think I want. But I'm determined to keep my mind open to the job. I'm not a huge believer in horiscopes, but Georgia Nichols says that 2009 will be a huge year for me (and other tauruses) in terms of jobs. That's just fine with me!

Stay tuned for a blog update explaining this:

Who's your mama?

Merry Christmas!

This elf is busy making presents.

New Fireplace

Is anything as cozy as a fireplace on a cold winters night? Far and away the best purchase of the year has been an electric fireplace. It's a space heater in the shape of a fireplace with a fake flame. I highly recommend getting yourself one.



It's also cat approved! The cats have decided that the fireplace is amazing. They sit in front of it waiting for me to turn it on. How could I resist this face????




But you can also turn on the TV to channel 122 (in the vancity area) and watch the yule log video. New this year on channel 123 is the christmas tree channel. Video of a christmas tree with christmas carol musak.

Leaky Girl

And just like that, I have something blog worthy!

I'm just a girl living in a leaky co-op ghetto. The rents cheap, the neighbours are weird and the building is rotting. California construction in a rainforest, what could go wrong? To make matters worse, the buildings were built in the middle of a recession, and the builder (BOSA) went bankrupt half way through the project. The government stepped in, and the project was completed... quickly.

Up until last week, I was one of the only people in the co-op complex who didn't have a water problem. During my christmas tree set up, I found mold! Oh no. The wall was actually wet and squishy. That is some serious water problem. I spent some quality time with a vinegar/water mix cleaning the walls and hunting for mold. My co-op has been "working on" getting the co-op fixed for a decade. I was less than optimistic that anything would come of informing the co-op of the mold. After all, everyone else is in the same boat.

Last night the co-op president called and asked if she could show my unit to the engineers responsible for fixing out co-op. Yes! Please come. I showed them my mold. They didn't seem surprised, they hardly even looked. Then they saw my balcony.

"Oh my God. You don't go on it do you?" asked the engineer.

Doesn't that instill confidence? I haven't set more than one foot on the balcony, I was told 6 years ago that it was condemned. (yes, six whole years ago). Hearing the engineers discuss the construction, was kind of scary. One of them said that whoever built it should be shot, it's that bad. Apparently, they aren't in business anymore, so that's a relief.

This visit gives me hope that construction may actually start one day. Once they are done, it sounds like it'll be a nice ghetto.

let's call it an update.

Have you ever checked a blog daily for months only to be disappointed every single day? There are a couple blogs that I used to read all the time that haven't been updated in a really long time. I don't know why, but I always think that today is the day that something new will be there. No, I'm wrong, nothing new today. Maybe the writer died. Maybe they went to Hawaii with their family. Maybe nothing blog worthy has happened lately.

Ah, the blogger's slump. At first, you have so many ideas, and love all the comments you receive about your posts. But after a while, the comments stop. Why didn't anyone comment on the post that was so obviously brilliant? Pretty soon, you run out of ideas and contemplate blogging about socks. Or worse yet, you blog late at night. At 2 am, the avant garde post about society seems like a stroke of genius only to be re-read in the morning. Did I delete it before anyone read it?

If you haven't updated your blog in a long time, maybe you should. You might have a loyal following who is just dying for new material. (I'm not actually referring to any particular blog, so don't be thinking that this post is all about you) In the meantime, I will hunt down some new material for my own blog.