Maui

First off, I have to say this is an amazing place to go. It is the most beautiful place I have ever been with so many unbelievable things to see and do. It was nothing like I expected it to be, instead it was 20 times better. I didn't get to go surfing but I know for a fact I will be back to Hawaii soon enough and will get to try it then. And sorry Sue but I didn't get to drink out of a coconut either so that's 2 out of 3 pictures that I know I don't have for you... and I'm not sure if I have one with a flower in my hair!! I tried though - really I did! Here are some highlights from my trip. If I talked about everything it would take me forever to finish this blog! And it's already taken me this long to get around to doing it. First off, snorkling is amazing. You never know what you'll find underneath you if you poke your head into the ocean. We went snorkling almost every day and one time we even got to go out to Molokini to go snorkling. My mom and aunt even tried it and they're afraid of swimming pools! The most memorable part of that was of course seeing my mom get into the ocean with 30 feet of water underneath her, and actually relaxing enough to enjoy it! And then of course there was the day where Chad and I went in off a beach and in 10 seconds of snorkling saw a HUGE manta ray. We're guessing 6 or 7 feet wide but it was hard to say since we were too chicken to get closer than a couple metres to him. He was so graceful though... I'll never forget how he glided through the water. And then we turn around and spot 3 big sea turtles! They were great to watch, they were so graceful in the water as well and would come right up and look us in the eyes and go back to eating. It was amazing!!

Another key part of the trip was they Hana highway. It's a 37 mile long drive with 600 curves and 200 bridges. It was so incredibly beautiful though. We got to hike through a bamboo forest, I got to fall into a river and injure myself, got to see part of the island few get to see (we went to a black sand beach and a red sand beach), got to see Maui for all of its beauty - the vegetation, the flowers, the very very blue water and perfect beaches. But still, the one part of the trip that stands out most in my mind was getting up at 3:00 in the morning, cramming 6 people into a mid-sized car, and doing a 2 hour drive to the top of a volcano in the dark and increasing cold (it was maybe 5 degrees at the top of the volcano and very windy), hiking and falling on jagged rock to find the very top, fingertips frozen and body shivering, legs aching, mind still half asleep... to witness the most beautiful sunrise imaginable. It was INCREDIBLE. Since we were above the clouds, the sunrise was a very new experience and the colors that it created on the fluffy edges are unmatched. If you ever go to Maui, you HAVE to do the sunrise. Fabulous.

I really wanted to add photos to this blog. Maybe when I get home I'll be able to, it doesn't seem to be working here. It's true what they say though - a picture is a thousand words... so soon you'll be able to see them :)

Halloween!!!

Ok, so I'm behind, like usual. Thought I would make a post before someone makes a comment about me not posting enough or something :p

So here's my costume from Halloween that I made all by myself. The black satin dress is almost good enough to wear as a new years dress too! It was hard though since it's strapless and well... let's just say I had to keep taking it in so that it would stay up. It was a great night though, lots of fun!

Costumes and Masks and Parties - Oh My!!

So this past couple weeks has been busy busy for halloween and costume parties!!! To fill everyone in - on the 13th (yes, Friday the 13th) we went to a masquerade gala which you would ASSUME would be classy and formal like in the movies (especially since the invitations looked like it and said it was formal) but it ended up being more like a dance club. In either case, we all looked sensational, with us 4 girls all wearing matching home-made masks. The black and white pic looked so much better than the colored one, but the colors are purple and gold (Foremost school colors!!!) with black feathers to match the black dresses. Then this past Saturday a co-worker had a costume party to celebrate their recent wedding (It was in Newfoundland) so we all got to dress up and go see their pictures from that. I dressed up as a Vampiress that night. I was lucky enough to have a cowboy come pick me up and escort me there too!! I will post more pictures after this weekend ... I am in the process of sewing my costume for Saturday and I have a feeling it will turn out amazingly!!

Check in next week for more!!!

Quote

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but when in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.

The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure.

The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
- in a letter from Alex McCandless as take from the book "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer



They are making a movie about this book now actually which I'm pretty excited about, it comes out next year. Paul gave me this book to read after which I passed on to Cole... I found it so intriguing and got me really thinking about what life is about, and whether we're living it right. I definitely recommend it.

While on the topic of books, Cole gave me the book "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom to read and it really helped me rethink what's important in life. Another must read. :)

What I Deal With...

An example of what I've dealt with the last couple days at work (land titles):

That portion of the north east quarter described as follows:
Commencing at the intersection of the Eastern boundary of said quarter section with the Southern limit of a roadway as said roadway is shown on plan 6790BM thence Westerly at right angles to said Eastern boundary 850 feet; thence Northerly parallel with said Eastern boundary to said Southern limit of said roadway; thence Easterly along said Southern limit of said roadway following the various courses thereof to the place of commencement and containing 6.07 hectares (15 acres) more or less.

The best part is, there was all this work just to create a rectangle. Honestly...

Cole's Gone

Well, Cole left for Europe Sunday night... I dropped him off at the airport and stuck around until just after midnight. It was good to see him for the last few hours he was in Canada ... but so hard to not jump on that plane with him!

I think what he's doing should be inspiration for all of us - he's living life the way it's meant to be intended. He found that he was just getting into rut after rut living here, that he wasn't accomplishing anything meaningful in his life. He's off to create an adventure with no time limits and no real direction.

I will probably write another blog that focuses more on the steps he took to come to this conclusion but for now I just want to pay him tribute by saying, "You're doing it... you're living the dream... all the best" - Tracey

Weird Time in my Life

I think in everyone's life they get to a point where they are tested. We're tested in many ways - physically, mentally, emotionally. I still live by the age-old saying of "Whatever doesn't kill you just makes you stronger". I believe in that fully.

I know I haven't written in here in a while. I've been trying to but just never seem to be able to find the time. Right now I'm working on myself, and my life, and trying to find what is priority. I want to keep this something that is priority and start just 'getting it all out'.

This last little while has been the hardest while that I have ever faced. With so much going on I am amazed that I can still smile every day and see the beauty around me. I have somehow remained positive and I have SOOOO many people to thank for that!!

As most of you already know my parents are going through a seperation right now which has got me a little lost on life. September Long Weekend I went out to my Dad's house (the place that I grew up in) for the first time since my Mom moved out. It seemed SO empty and no longer felt like home. The roles have seemed to switch too - now I'm the one looking after my parents instead of the other way around. I call to check in on them, make sure they have enough money to pay the bills, invite them to my place for the weekend (on different weekends of course lol). As much as I think they're both better off this way, it's very crushing for me. And then when my Dad decided to start dating people! WELL! Now THAT should've been a blog in here. You can all read about it in the book of my life lol. I am sure someday I will actually write it.

To add to this drama and loss of sense of family - Cole is moving to Europe on Monday. Cole's been a huge part of my life lately... I can email him or call him at any time of the day to just spill the drama and he takes the time to listen or email me back. I don't think he realized just how much he helped me through this all. I'm going to miss him.

Also to add... Scott moved out the end of August... so not only did I lose the BEST roommate EVER (sorry Lucas... the 3 days you were here were pretty great, so you're a close second lol), but also a close friend who would let me whine about things almost every single night before I went to bed.

To top it off, I started a new relationship recently and it ended last night. Or I guess put on hold more so. I think. I hope. Who knows??? hahaha...

There's been other drama too but I don't have the time to talk about it all right now...

So money's been tight, tension and stress at a high point, but somehow I know this will all work out for the better.

Soap Moons

About a year and a half ago, me and a few friends went to Eau Claire Market and hit up the little candy shop there. Well, Cole found this little red candy shaped like a moon. They were called soap moons and looked like little delicious berry tasting candies. He bought a fair amount and was excited to sit around and eat candy all evening.

On the way home he decides to dig into them. Much to his dismay, one candy and he finds out why they are called soap moons - moon shaped, soap flavoured candies from hell. All of us try them, trying to figure out what the big fuss is about. Not only do they taste horrid, but they are also hard! Definitely a waste of money.

When we get back to my place I disappear down into my room, stupidly leaving Sean and Cole alone upstairs (with alcohol too!). I come up an hour later as they're getting ready to go to bed just to find them giggling like little school girls. I think nothing of it ... not knowing that the acts they did while I was in the basement were going to come back to haunt me this much later in life.

....

This morning I woke up to the sun shining in my window, birds chirping, with promises of a nice relaxing day ahead. Excited to sit out on my deck and enjoy the weather with a cup of coffee in hand, I decide that getting out the coffee maker was going to take too much time. Remembering the instant coffee in the cupboard, I grab it and make myself a quick cup. I sit down, enjoying nothing but the moment at hand.

Until I finish my cup of coffee and see this little red blob stuck to the bottom of my cup. At first I feel ill... instant panic at what the heck was in my cup. But, upon further inspection memories came flooding back. The things that Sean and Cole did to my kitchen in that hour I left them alone... finding soap moon after soap moon in every container, every candle holder, every cupboard. For months I found soap moons... in my peanut butter, the margarine, the hot chocolate mix ... but I hadn't spotted one in almost a year. When I moved in September I made a collection of all the ones that I had found up until then (I collected them) and the total came to about 30 ... each one in a different spot.

I hope to find more soap moons... as silly as their act was, it still is a great memory, so fun... and the constant reminders of that memory is what makes life so great.

Little Black Panther

He looks so vicious in this picture! I love it... but it's just an early morning yawn. For those who don't know, that's Xander. He sleeps a lot - particularily in his favorite spot - this cat post. Anyways, I just wanted to thank my friends for coming out on Friday night with me - it was a blast. For those who didn't come - you missed out lol. In either case, it was just what I needed. I felt great yesterday morning too which is the best part of all. I guess that's it. How boring. Well, I'm out - my tea and book awaits! 'night 

The Third Time's a Charm!

So I have tried twice now to get this up for you all to read. This is attempt number 3 so I hope you enjoy! Just so you know, the first one was the best but I lost it so this is just a thrown together version of the first one. So here it goes.

Well the day has passed - my birthday. Every year when it comes I don't know what to expect. For some reason I tend to wake up gloomy and face the whole day negatively - focusing more on the fact that I'm another year older and reminding myself how much I wanted to have accomplished by this day and haven't.

This year, however, has been different. It has been amazing and wonderful and I've never felt so special in my life. I have so many friends that have went out of their way to make sure I know they're thinking of me. All the little priceless things that people did Tuesday caused me to have a perma-grin on my face. And not just any grin - this big, dorky, grin that is hurt my face. I fought back happy tears a few times too... I wish so much that everyone could know just how much their actions have meant to me. Little things like a huge spongebob squarepants balloon (it's so big it can't really be counted as a little thing lol) on my chair (as you can see from the other picture there), randomized sticky notes in the plans I was working on that spell out 'Happy Birthday', cards and greetings by people whom I don't even know how they know about my birthday, but am so glad they do from their wishes of happiness. And of course, everything that Chad had done to make the day truly stand out in my mind. His undying patience with my growing moodiness as it approached would've been enough, but he was sure to greet me first thing in the morning with pretty pink tulips and a perfect princess present. (I am keeping that present a bit of a surprise since I want to show it off before saying anything about it). Then after work we went out for supper at this beautiful restaurant with incredibly great food (Newport Grill - it overlooks Lake Bonavista). Everything about it was perfect - the setting near the fireplace that still overlooked the lake, the servers that were sure to always be there whenever needed, the food that caused us to both pause at every bite to savour the flavour, and of course my company. I can't help but smile remembering our 2.5 hour long supper. Yup... it was THAT good. And then last night the spoiling continued as he took me to Curious George. It was sooo cute!! AND we had the ENTIRE theatre to ourselves. I couldn't have asked for more.

So in closing, I want to thank everyone for everything. I think next year I will just be excited for my birthday knowing that I have so many wonderful people in my life to make the day everything that it should be.

I love spongebob

This was at my desk when I got to work on Tuesday hehehe 

Bruised!

heh - I finally figured out how to put pictures up on here so here's a picture of me two days after my fall at Fernie. The bruise is gone now though... it looked a lot more gruesome in person. My shoulder is just finally starting to get better... hopefully I'll get to go boarding again soon!

One more day!

I have decided to start writing in this more. Mostly because I am terrible at emailing people back and never seem to have the time to call or talk on msn. Yes... I am useless. And I think that my life might be interesting enough to share with you all so...

One downer is that I can't seem to log on at work so I have to write them at work then try to remember to put it up at home. It's quite the process.

So tomorrow is my birthday and although I'm trying to be excited, the past few years have proven to be a disappointment just because I hope certain people will phone or email me and they don't. (ha, if that doesn't guilt you I don't know WHAT will!). I am excited, however, for what Chad has in store for me since he has proven to be extremely thoughtful and perfectly creative. My goal is to just enjoy my birthday this year instead of putting myself down for not being further in life and for not acheiving the things I had hoped to by this age. In retrospect, I am a lot further financially than I had every hoped by this point in time. For those of you who don't know, I bought a condo in Calgary and for those who know Calgary real estate know how trecherous this really is. Places are WAY over priced here... to compare: my two bedroom, two bathroom, 950 square foot condo here in the south end of calgary is almost worth as much as a newer, 4 bedroom, nicely landscaped home in lethbridge with a huge yard and hot tub and what-have-ya. It's sick... but at least I know that it's helping me get ahead. So I guess I can't complain :)

Also in recent news, my shoulder is still aching from my snowboarding injury 2 weeks ago. I caught my toe edge and flipped my board - landed on my shoulder and then my hip and slip down the mountain some. Thankfully I didn't tear my rotator cuff, but I did injure it so now it's lots of physio and whatever else for me. I hope I get to go snowboarding again soon. I drove yesterday which probably wasn't the best idea but I didn't have much choice. I've been lucky that Chad has been there for me as much as he had. He hasn't complained once about chaffeuring me around to do my errands. What a great man I have!

Yay to one more day till my birthday!!