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It's strange to think that the year I was apprehensive about is just about done and gone. This time last year I was trying to stop the days till turning 30, and here I am now closer to my 31st birthday.
2008 was a pretty decent year. It was definitely the year of discovery and travel. I ended visiting Las Vegas with girlfriends; attended sorority convention in Washington D.C.; and traveled north with Colin to see the rest of BC, the Yukon, and parts of Alaska... and I turned 30.
For some bizarre reason I am really looking forward to 2009 - not to jinx anything. Two of my closest friends are having babies this coming year. Colin and I plan to take our long-awaited trip to New Zealand. And I get to be a bridesmaid again in September. Not a bad year, and it hasn't yet begun.
I will be ending 2008 on Vancouver Island. We will be ringing in 2009 in Esquimalt with Adam, and will be heading up to Shawnigan Lake tomorrow to spend New Year's day with my sister-in-law and her family.
See you next year!
Colin and I cooked our first turkey dinner on Christmas Eve and it was a great success. The turkey, the stuffing, everything turned out just right. Well, almost everything was near perfect, except the roast and mashed potatoes, but they weren't bad at all. And apparently we prepare a mean Brussel sprout!
It felt very rewarding, but it was far too much for our small kitchen, sans dishwasher. Fitting eleven people in our apartment is usually no problem, but for a formal sit down dinner, it was bit much. We do have an excuse, though, for not hosting next year - we plan to be in New Zealand.
After this year, Christmas on the beach seems ideal. It will be strange not being around family at Christmastime; something I actually enjoy. But this is one of those trips we've always wanted to take, and December/January is the best time for us, and for New Zealand weather.
We did well this Christmas. Not that we don't usually clean up in the presents department. My father and mother-in-law gave us a few small gifts, and some money to spend on ourselves. We decided to use some to by a surround system and any leftover we'll,k split and buy ourselves whatever we want. I'm going shopping. But that should be a surprise to no one.
The next day, we received a bluray disc player from my parents. It goes perfectly with the surround system. And we christened the lot with the Dark Knight. Most excellent. Colin took full advantage yesterday and watched two of three Lord of the Rings movies. I couldn't handle the third one yesterday, so guess what we will be watching today...
After a week of too much [rich] food and little exercise, we were both feeling a bit zingy so we hit the ice last night. We missed the season last year, so our feet were sore for the first 10-15 minutes. I even had to go re-lace my skates. We skated for 45 minutes and felt refreshed after that much needed exercise.
This week is panning out to be a busy one. I am going shopping tomorrow. Die is back in town, so a few of us Crofties are getting together for tea on Tuesday. Colin and I are heading to Victoria to spend New Year's eve with Adam. And then my vacation starts to wind down.
Two weeks seems to be going by too quickly this year, but my last week of work before the holidays seems a lifetime ago.
For the first time in a decade Vancouverites could well be waking up to a White Christmas. Not the usual I'm Dreaming of a Wet Christmas.
What makes this weather all the more interesting was that the temperatures this fall were pretty average, and it was fairly dry. But in the past couple of weeks, the city, and the entire country have fallen into a deep freeze. Which is fine for the rest of Canada, but not for us. We aren't used to -15 degree weather, or whatever the heck the windchill has been. When you are born in or move to Vancouver you sign on the dotted line for sea breezy summers and mild winters. I don't recall signing on for sub zero temperatures and this white stuff. That's what the mountain views are for!
Needless to say it's made the first couple days of my Christmas vacation interesting. We did most of our shopping for Christmas dinner on Saturday because the forecast said it would snow again on Sunday.
The Superstore is trying at the best of times. But dealing with it the Saturday before Christmas, oh my god! After that torture we went into Richmond to pick up a couple of presents for Tiki and Welly, and a few other items. Later that night we bundled up and walked to our local sports bar to watch the hockey game. I had five layers on, but nothing is a match for the biting Pacific breeze. It eats through you, straight to the bone. We left the pub to find it had started snowing again, and was a cold like no cold in Vancouver before.
We had planned on walking to the video store to rent a film, but it was too damn cold. We considered driving, but we would be there and back by the time the car heated up. So we trudged home from the bar and watched one of our own movies.
Yesterday we battled the roads and the crazy Vancouver drivers who shouldn't be on the road on a dry, sunny day, and finished our Christmas dinner shopping. Last night we began to set up the apartment for our Christmas Eve dinner.
Now all we have to do is head into Steveston tomorrow and pick up our turkey. Oh, and then prepare a turkey dinner for eleven... for the first time ever...
Yesterday was a fairly busy day. I had a hair appointment at 11:00 a.m. and had a couple hours afterwards to relax at home before heading to our two Christmas parties. We left the first party around 7:30 p.m. to head to party number two.
It was ridiculously cold when we left - cold enough to snow, which it was starting to do. We left the second party just after 11:00 p.m. because we noticed the snow getting worse and worse.
Driving in Richmond is like running the gauntlet at the best of times. Add snowy, icy conditions, and localized blackouts to that mix, and it becomes a complete gong show. A normally ten minute drive took an hour.
We managed to make it to the Arthur Laing bridge and would have been home in thirty minutes, but there had been an accident on the bridge deck, and northbound traffic was blocked. So we turned around at the BCIT campus, made our way back over the Dinsmour and along Alderbridge to get to the Oak Street Bridge. Of course, so was everyone else. It was a slow crawl to get onto Highway 99, but traffic was moving. There were a couple of scary moments, however. We saw one guy go for a slide and nearly hit the car next to him. And there were numerous cars pulled over, stuck, and even one in a ditch.
Once we made it onto Hwy 99 it wasn't so bad. The sanding truck had just been along, so we had good grip making our way back into Vancouver. We didn't take the Marine West exit though, because we knew trying to get up Osler would be interesting to say the least. Instead we continued up Oak and turned off on 67th and came down Osler.
We made it home, an hour later, in one, slightly frazzled, piece.
Yesterday started off good, and I knew the day would end on a good note, with the Robin Williams show. But as the day went on, it just got better and better. An already good day was made better with a phone call from Colin (see blog entry for December 10th). Then, towards the end of the work day, I decided to check my gmail account. There was something from VANOC regarding Olympic tickets. I went straight to my account to see if I got anything we signed up for... but I couldn't remember my password, so I had to wait to receive a new one. It only took a few minutes, but still... And there it was: two tickets to the men's gold hockey game. I could not believe it. I called Colin. He could not believe it. And I believe half the people on the 3:15 p.m. ferry from Nanaimo to Tsawassen yesterday know about our luck. Too bad we didn't buy a lottery ticket for last night's draw... the wins could come in handy paying my January Visa bill...Oh yeah, Robin Williams was damn funny. I was in hysterics for almost two straight hours. My temples hurt at the end. And I don't think it helped my cold much. But who cares. It was the perfect way to end the perfect day.
Welcome to my crazy week. Thinking back on this year, this is probably my most hectic, jam-packed week, except maybe the week of DPhi E Convention. It all starts tonight with the Robin Williams show and doesn’t end till Sunday evening.
None of my events have changed, per se, but some circumstances around them have. And, as Martha Stewart would say, “that’s a good thing.” Colin has been working on the Island this week, and in order for him to make tonight’s show I was going to drive out to Horseshoe Bay after work to pick him up. Even worse, I was going to get up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 a.m. tomorrow morning to drive him back to Horseshoe Bay. But, as luck would have it, the job is complete, and he is coming home today; which means no cavorting out to West Van during rush hour after work, and a normal start for me tomorrow. And, I no longer have to worry about whether or not Colin would be able to make the sorority party on Friday.
I started writing a blog entry the other day (which seems be turing into an essay) on what is currently happening in Ottawa. I'd thought I would have few days to write it, and take some time to research a couple of things, because nothing was supposed to happen until Monday. What I was trying to say has now become obsolete (somewhat), because, quite suddenly yesterday, the decision came down that Parliament would take a little hiatus, or in proper Canadian political terms, Parliament is now prorogued.
What does this mean? It means that Parliament is not on break, but it hasn’t dissolved either, giving Harper, (and I guess the opposition coalition) some time to figure some things out. Personally, I think this is the cowards way out. Harper would have won back some of my respect if he just swallowed his pride, realized he is a Prime Minister with minority power, and put forward a stimulus package. Perhaps it would do Harper some good to review Canadian Political Science 101 and re-read the chapter on minority governments…Instead we now all have to sit around and wait until the new year… with nobody in charge.
Last night's foray into Marpole.
I figured since I was going to walk down to Curves I may as well pop into the bank to deposit some cheques, and pop into Safeway to pick up some crazy glue.
It was dark, pissing with rain, and the bottom third of my Lemons* were soaked. But I was fairly dry and content with my umbrella and iPod.
Task #1: go to RBC and deposit cheques - Outcome: Thwarted. The damn bank was out of envelopes. It was me and a bunch of other soggy people standing in a vestibule at a complete loss due to a lack of envelopes.
Task #2: go to Safeway and buy a particular brand of crazy glue and tomotoes. Outcome: I got tomotoes, but not the right brand of crazy glue. The Christmas Tree stand is only half fixed and the living room is covered with Christmas tree branches (it's a fake tree).
Task #3: go to Curves - Outcome: Had a really good workout. Thank god for that - that saved the outing.
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*Colin's term for my Lululemon pants
