Daring to Be » Holidays

My internship that is. Yesterday was the last day of school before Christmas holidays. I was spoiled by my class with lots of hugs. I also got a ton of Christmas gifts, the most notable being the book my cooperating teacher put together for me. On the top of each page is typed “You are a great teacher because _________.” She filled in the blank with what each student said and then they drew me a picture. Very cute. I would have cried if I hadn’t already planned on coming back to visit in 2008.

My first order of business now that internship is over was to clean my room. Not that I haven’t cleaned it in the past four months. Just that was only surface cleaning. So it was time for a good, thorough clean! Reorganized my closet, dusted everything, tossed away an incredible amount of junk. I head home to Carrot River for four days tomorrow, which is when I will relax, read books, and watch movies. When I get back, time to get organized; I have a massive tower of teaching resources I need to sort.

There’s a brief update of what has been going on in my little corner of the world.

One more hour and I am done work, get everything together, and head to the LAKE! Then three days of swimming, fishing, hiking, canoeing, boating, eating, relaxing, visiting, and just enjoying life in general. Where there are no cell phones or computers. I’m actually happy about that.

I can’t think of a better place to spend my August long weekend than at Little Bear Lake. I love it so much up there. Too bad it is a three and a half hour drive away!

 

My first day in Vancouver: Mr. Big took this picture of me at Coal Harbour.

 

Steam clock in Gas Town.

I took so many pictures at the aquarium, mostly of dolphins. They were my favorite, along with otters! Too cute!

Outside of Vancouver Aquarium.

Under a tree I loved outside of the Vancouver Aquarium.

Canada Day was spent reading and napping on the beach of the Pacific Ocean.

Canada Day night was spent out with Alicia and her friends.

Of course I went out for sushi while there. I’d be crazy not to! Delicious and cheap.

I’m wasting time before I catch the Airporter at 10 AM.

I had a great time the past week in Vancouver and I absolutely love it here, yet at the same time I am eager to be home. I miss my own bed, my dog, my family, and my boyfriend. July promises to be a busy month with Meg’s shower/stagette combo, two weddings, and my 24th birthday.

I am not looking forward to travelling all day today. My flight doesn’t leave until 1 PM, but I’m taking the 10 AM Airporter just because it took over an hour to get to Alicia’s place when I got here last Wednesday. I don’t want to be rushed when I get to the airport. I change flights in Edmonton, but have a four hour layover which is not so much fun. I’ll spend it sleeping and reading. I (finally) arrive back in Saskatoon around 7 PM.

Anyway, I suppose I should finish packing my bags and eat something. I’ll update with more details on the trip later.

After an insanely early morning, an uneventful flight to Vancouver and a run-in with a rude Airporter driver, I arrived at Alicia’s condo around 11 AM. We managed to fit in lunch on the outdoor patio at Milestone’s before my lack of sleep caught up with me and I passed out on her futon for three hours.

Alicia headed to work at 5 PM so Mr. Big was my entertainment for the night. First he took me to Coal Harbour where we wandered around while I marveled at the huge yachts, the mountains, and the ocean. Mr. Big took some tourist-y photos of me but unfortunately I didn’t pack the USB cord for my camera, I’ll upload pictures next week. For supper we dined on mussels, hummus, and pints of beer at The Mill Marine’s Bistro and Bar patio.

Next on the agenda was a trip to Stanley Park. More tourist-y photos and more of me marvelling, this time at the amazing view and various other attractions in the park.

After Stanley Park, Mr. Big took me to see the sights at Gastown. Since I’m on vacation and love food (which directly translates to me eating way more than humanely possibly and/or necessary) we stopped at Chill Winston where I had truffles and red wine while Mr. Big had crab cakes and beer.

To wrap up the evening we headed back to Coal Harbour, to LIFT for a glass of wine. By far my favorite restaurant so far, situated over the water, looking out over the harbour and mountains.

So a pint of beer, two glasses of wine, and a hot shower later… I’m ready for bed! Alicia has class at the Burnaby BCIT campus at 9 AM tomorrow, so I’m taking the SkyTrain with her over there and meeting up with Wes since he lives in that area.

Cons of my trip so far:

• Not having a window seat on my flight here.
• The evil Airporter driver.
• Being a boring vacationer by napping instead of enjoying the beautiful afternoon.

Pros of my trip so far:

• Flying in, with ocean visible out of one window and mountains out the other, I didn’t know which way to look!
• Lunch at Milestone’s, I think it set the precedent for food because I sure haven’t been disappointed so far.
• Everything about my evening with Mr. Big.
• Finally being in this city, after telling Alicia I’d come visit her for four years I am finally here!

The Education Students’ Society retreat weekend was fun, but I am glad it’s over. I’m exhausted, slightly burnt, and am more than a little happy that we don’t have another meeting until July 16th, since the over eight hour meeting yesterday about did me in.

I haven’t eaten supper yet but am so worn out that I’ve decided to indulge myself and order in a large vegetarian pizza. I’m going to lay in bed, watch TV, eat pizza, and ignore my laundry and packing for Vancouver. Only two more days until I leave!

It is only June 3rd and already I have every single weekend from now until almost the end of August booked:

• June 9th-10th: possibly going to The BF’s hometown
• June 16th-17th: Dad is coming to the city, celebrate Nic’s birthday (it is on the 14th, but weekday birthdays are always celebrated on the weekend)
• June 23rd-24th: ESS executive retreat at Emma Lake
• July long weekend: in Vancouver
• July 7th-8th: Megan’s shower and stagette
• July 14th-15th: going to a wedding with The BF
• July 21st-22nd: Megan’s wedding
• July 28th-29th: my birthday weekend
• August long weekend: probably camping or something
• August 11th-12th: camping with Dad
• August 18th-19th: Folkfest weekend (just Saturday) so will want to stay in city for that

That leaves one weekend where I have nothing planned: August 25th-26th. But, considering I have my internship orientation conference on the 24th, and start my internship on the 27th, it might be wise to keep that weekend as open and as low key as possible.

I don’t mind being booked up, and am looking forward to every single weekend. Good times will be had this summer, I can’t wait!

I booked my flight to Vancouver this morning, I’m leaving on June 27th and will be back in SK on July 4th!

I’m beyond thrilled, I haven’t been to BC since I was 6 and it will be great to see Alicia, Wes, and Mr. Big!

I am pretty impressed with myself because today I baked chocolate chip cookies, did the dishes, made supper, cleaned my room, did a load of laundry, and finished one of the two assignments I have to get done this weekend.

I also managed to find time for an hour and a half nap this afternoon, which I shouldn’t have needed since I went to bed last night at 10:30 PM and did not wake up until 10 AM. But I’m all stuffed up and constantly sneezing, so clearly my body is telling me that I have been running in high gear for too long, and it is time to catch up on some much needed sleep.

As much as it is sort of unfortunate that everyone is busy having big suppers and enjoying spending time with family for Easter weekend while my family is too busy working and doing schoolwork to do that (we will Monday) I admit it is sort of nice to have a weekend where no one is around (namely, The BF) so I get the chance to laze around and do things like make cookies while still accomplishing homework.

Wow, that was one long run-on sentence. Clearly I need to take my stuffy, sniffly, sneezy, sleepy self to bed. (How’s that for alliteration?)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone! Winston especially wants to wish you a happy green day. He just doesn’t look like it because he’s too busy being filled with rage and/or fear. Seriously. He wouldn’t stop shaking, and it was tough just getting him to look at the camera. Please don’t call the humane society on me. I promise I took the hat off and then showered him with love and affection. My poor muffin. Gosh darn it he looks cute though!

Anyway. It’s St. Patrick’s Day. Which means I will be consuming a lot of green beer, dressed in a lot of green clothing, complete with a headband with two antennae with clovers attached. No, I’m not joking. I’m just too cool.

Hope everyone has a good of day/night as I plan on having!