tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-216007552024-03-07T18:47:01.547-08:00blah di blah blogwwjd - what would julie do? read my stream of consciousness to find out....julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-42699671665743704402010-04-25T13:47:00.000-07:002010-04-25T13:52:51.911-07:00An avocado a day keeps the doctor awayI know that's not how the old adage goes but apples don't agree with me (a crying shame since I live in the heart of apple country!) so I've substituted my favourite food, avocado, and am dedicating an entire blog entry to this deliciously, wonderful power-food!<br />If you're as passionate about avocados as I am or even have a vague understanding of their superpowers then you already know that avocados do a body good. Packed with omegas, they're part of the healthy-fats family and can do wonders for your skin (you can apply it directly to your face like a mask!), hair, cholesterol, blood pressure, digestion and more. AND it tastes good? Better than any over the counter product I can think of.<br /><br />My passion for avocados was first discovered in 2004 while on a trip to Costa Rica. Native to the country and a big contributor to the success of their agricultural economy, they are in abundance throughout the land. I had no choice but to embrace avocados while traveling and soon discovered I actually enjoyed them! It became a staple of my daily diet and is to this day. Although, it doesn't get much more fresh than the ones you find in CR.<br /><br />Since then, I've dabbled with the fruit (a ha! it's a fruit, not a veg!) in many ways and can't think of a meal it doesn't enhance. My fave recipes are:<br />-Mango salsa (Mangos, tomatoes, red onion, peppers, lime juice, garlic and avo)<br />-Chilled avocado soup (like a gazpacho! delish in the summertime)<br />-Guacamole of course (I've been told I make a mean guac)<br />-Egg salad (use a ripe avocado in place of mayo. mmmm!)<br /><br />Of course, chopping it up and throwing it onto a salad, pasta or pizza is never a bad idea. This fruit knows no boundaries and does not discriminate. Avocado maki is a must-order at any Japanese restaurant. The options are endless.<br /><br />Throughout my travels I've discovered a difference in avocados depending on where they're grown. I even met a food scientist once whose job it was to perform quality control on avocados! (aka my dream job). We both agreed that avocados grown in Central America were the best because of their buttery texture, size and consistency.<br />I've also learned that there are legions of Avocado fans around the world. Avocado has its own Facebook fan page with over 60,000 fans! Take that cucumber, tomato and steak.<br />This essential food is here to stay. Now if only I could get my avocado tree to blossom, I'd be booming. Or I'd weigh a thousand pounds...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrsXT0c5Y5d4KQAGWjnFfmA0Ba2qRJZJLp6tnUo5sAt48qLWXf1TPV3ejP_eq80TTnDw-h1Hi4oM8mPB1eh9tlUtfg0t6BGTKMKLlYVs00BO5Vl79D-mGn5YCzezNXMSHSZ6j9/s1600/Healthy_AvocadoSM.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 188px; height: 216px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrsXT0c5Y5d4KQAGWjnFfmA0Ba2qRJZJLp6tnUo5sAt48qLWXf1TPV3ejP_eq80TTnDw-h1Hi4oM8mPB1eh9tlUtfg0t6BGTKMKLlYVs00BO5Vl79D-mGn5YCzezNXMSHSZ6j9/s320/Healthy_AvocadoSM.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464180863603163554" /></a>julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-36759966109457058882010-04-16T14:51:00.001-07:002010-04-16T14:51:43.266-07:00The only constant is changeI secretly envy people who have grown up in one house and return to that same house to visit their parents now that they're grown up and on their own. There's something comforting about the notion of one home and being able to take a trip down memory lane just by walking down the hallway to your childhood bedroom. The interior of the house may have changed (let's hope at the very least the shag area rug has been relegated to the basement!) but the structure, smells and overall feeling remains the same.<br />I hope to one day have that for our child(ren?!).<br />As we pack the last few boxes at 111 Seventh, living with the bare essentials until we move into our rental apartment; TV, futon, mattress on the ground - it's like we're in college/uni again! - I'm optimistic that this will be our last move for a LONG time. I want a place to settle into, make my own and watch it evolve over the years, taking shape from the people that inhabit it.<br />Change seems to be a running theme in my life right now and I'm doing my best to embrace it. The way you react to change can predict the success of said change. "The key to change is to let go of fear." is a quote by Rosanne Cash that resonates with me. I'm currently reading (on an ongoing basis) a book by Deepak Chopra called "Why is God Laughing?". The constant themes are fear and change and while I started reading it about a year ago - long before these changes were on my radar at all - I think it has prepared me for this time of change. I won't go into detail about the book as it's better read for yourself. After all, I'm no Deepak Chopra!<br />Any change can be perceived as positive or negative and you hope in the long run the positives far outweigh any down sides.<br />How do you know if change is right for you? You don't but you roll with it anyway, making the best of the bumps along the way and hopefully learning something from it as well. While one of the changes in my life was expected (the move), the other was not (the job). Both have forced me to let go of the wheel and just enjoy the adventure. I've chosen to view these changes as "adventures" rather than "challenges" and I'm ready for the ride they will take me on....<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAn5VPmJPC4AQRzL64ag-2akj1oaHZ1RvE7bl9KprNZKm0ZkQ8Bi8SebbUTINudD5aKqA7_pdV0ZirUoxrykxQe4iWnVP0iLyBro2NP79Ovks3CTNtxnRHg7wQbBgz_c-GeAcu/s1600/IMG_4486.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAn5VPmJPC4AQRzL64ag-2akj1oaHZ1RvE7bl9KprNZKm0ZkQ8Bi8SebbUTINudD5aKqA7_pdV0ZirUoxrykxQe4iWnVP0iLyBro2NP79Ovks3CTNtxnRHg7wQbBgz_c-GeAcu/s320/IMG_4486.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460024567473035682" /></a>Goodbye 111 Seventh!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmsteyHL8isLUzxi5vnBUG_FRhdZEG3kKd4-rznwg_ZVmaWoAHwl7wHjwt3dH-rFy77ERBDrM-i0iOMg6j6RiBDGlSYJwgoHk7LJ7vTyPnKKsPFx_z5wUMpry3GejhtTr4_Bc6/s1600/IMG_4480.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmsteyHL8isLUzxi5vnBUG_FRhdZEG3kKd4-rznwg_ZVmaWoAHwl7wHjwt3dH-rFy77ERBDrM-i0iOMg6j6RiBDGlSYJwgoHk7LJ7vTyPnKKsPFx_z5wUMpry3GejhtTr4_Bc6/s320/IMG_4480.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460025532968727490" /></a>What's left of the living room<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGv41_FDweIrq7ZTSubr7cgBPTQAsPNNFY2JadlVUOexu3nPothG_N57L5cmvbvELahncZVwTJLnsC0SIn7RIGvI-WyVKHg0mai4KrSKYIKppHg3yG0IScQftKAkLT9VIwYVXR/s1600/IMG_4482.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGv41_FDweIrq7ZTSubr7cgBPTQAsPNNFY2JadlVUOexu3nPothG_N57L5cmvbvELahncZVwTJLnsC0SIn7RIGvI-WyVKHg0mai4KrSKYIKppHg3yG0IScQftKAkLT9VIwYVXR/s320/IMG_4482.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460026357782465186" /></a>One of my favourite rooms in the house.julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-77120916746471193312010-02-03T13:54:00.000-08:002010-04-14T10:00:43.586-07:00Year in review - July to December 2009It's about time I finished this Year In Review I've tasked myself with given we're already into February 2010. Leave it any longer and I won't remember half the things I did from July to December! So here goes...<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />July 2009</span><br /><br />After the whirlwind tour following my favourite band around in June, you'd think July would be hard to top. Lucky for me, it started off with a bang. And by bang, I mean a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate Ken's 30th! We planned it so that we'd arrive in Sin City the night of July 8th so that we could celebrate at midnight (technically being the 9th) and then have a double-header with another blowout the following day and night! Clever.<br />Ryan and Karl joined us for the trip making me the lone female among 2 brothers and a friend. Yikes! <br />As expected, it was an incredible - albeit smelly (100+ degrees makes for stinky boys) - 4 days of UFC 100 (Ryan and Ken made it into the weigh-ins), driving/hiking Red Rock Canyon, shooting shot guns & hand guns (I shot a glock 9, BRAP BRAP!), sunbathing at the Luxor pool, dining at Shibuya on amazing Tepenyaki and Sake (same place Ken and I had been 2 years prior), Carrot Top, binge drinking and gorging on all-you-can-eat buffets, learning how to play craps, sneaking into the Luxor hot tub and patron shots from strangers. It was pretty epic. The photos below summarize our time and trouble in Vegas..<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6cqv_s51r2EI9Y8KULzqPVnte2B2p_mvW5JlIhZKroZ4cL9PZZ3HAI8WhjUmYH4Dagy0RhaDvPUqalH1RbtUXiltKizSZRMn5b1jJbde1UgRqMPow-OlSrMccYAzfLwMe5Ox/s1600-h/SDC11566.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6cqv_s51r2EI9Y8KULzqPVnte2B2p_mvW5JlIhZKroZ4cL9PZZ3HAI8WhjUmYH4Dagy0RhaDvPUqalH1RbtUXiltKizSZRMn5b1jJbde1UgRqMPow-OlSrMccYAzfLwMe5Ox/s320/SDC11566.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434141409743642962" border="0"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">4 hand grenade shots = $80 USD</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-33RflhhLt6XDu3MNqx6i2eaFdcixh25jDxDn_0xbDpvIMBhfjhl4x-xBd74650v07bTe-zu7MT9rFAG4qfHBOoiDnTXOOTXHoqmaNhWiaoYvuPgGmWu9Inht3GrEvQYAXNwH/s1600-h/IMG_3021.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-33RflhhLt6XDu3MNqx6i2eaFdcixh25jDxDn_0xbDpvIMBhfjhl4x-xBd74650v07bTe-zu7MT9rFAG4qfHBOoiDnTXOOTXHoqmaNhWiaoYvuPgGmWu9Inht3GrEvQYAXNwH/s320/IMG_3021.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434141933777624178" border="0"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">happy birthday Ken!</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixdOZuGefp595OOUu49TmJ0nopUZfiN_7_XlkyHwSQ68E3EluaKLxtRDyQOeGiW4iffWS-VZDPm_9aRhO71AP2H6wGmi1D65OvKBgDBs38fy602x1ran18tBctWbohK-LwHEQK/s1600-h/SDC11764.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixdOZuGefp595OOUu49TmJ0nopUZfiN_7_XlkyHwSQ68E3EluaKLxtRDyQOeGiW4iffWS-VZDPm_9aRhO71AP2H6wGmi1D65OvKBgDBs38fy602x1ran18tBctWbohK-LwHEQK/s320/SDC11764.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434142431263454306" border="0"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Ken made it his mission to play every giant slot he could find.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisZksdaHQ8tEqalGf2GF4wV6GfZXw8Ig9kkcirxzeL29Fnq0wFemzgleSEipt3s0ejnVkyzLiPbtarajAcOLD0RQPbYgtt5EFic1B43H5OalGOTVh6xmth9_MzqRd-Z5sA_Pb_/s1600-h/SDC11862.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisZksdaHQ8tEqalGf2GF4wV6GfZXw8Ig9kkcirxzeL29Fnq0wFemzgleSEipt3s0ejnVkyzLiPbtarajAcOLD0RQPbYgtt5EFic1B43H5OalGOTVh6xmth9_MzqRd-Z5sA_Pb_/s320/SDC11862.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434142924179508146" border="0"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Blue Diamond, Nevada. A bizarre community we stumbled upon.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF4y7TVy8oHQ7uNSdxfH549hcm6DJ40sIl402oGwSatK4fkm8cDKiwl-b_9LTeu0Dm49Tbu89LcUj_OGr0xaa_eyexq1cVovOAXtlvb_bCm8M_WYfGa_G3dIigSQYG0dFsczsy/s1600-h/IMG_3060.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF4y7TVy8oHQ7uNSdxfH549hcm6DJ40sIl402oGwSatK4fkm8cDKiwl-b_9LTeu0Dm49Tbu89LcUj_OGr0xaa_eyexq1cVovOAXtlvb_bCm8M_WYfGa_G3dIigSQYG0dFsczsy/s320/IMG_3060.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434143302533879442" border="0"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">The strip by night</span><br /><br />We arrived home hungover and tired on Sunday which left me with few precious days to plan and finalize details for my mom's surprise 65th birthday the following Wednesday. I think I did a pretty good job of keeping it secret and coming up with a decoy plan but when she showed up at the door to "go swimming" in a nice top, makeup and earrings, I wondered whether she knew. Regardless, she seemed completely floored when she entered the backyard which was full of friends and family from near and afar. For a very rare moment, my mom was speechless. I was elated. We enjoyed good food catered by moi, wine, conversation and a little roasting courtesy of my Uncle Nut and me! For weeks she was beaming about how wonderful the day was ("The best day of my life!") and could not thank me enough. It was indeed a wonderful day for a wonderful person. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZfQ-mYcfxLp8SXTwu4m4QukUFVOGhpnNtimCUY4tK18WSQOL7kmbxLEjwTDnjERX3xJNWouwL980s9mQPKYyAftSlXZKL5r-EiXstw92hEdrbJf6NIaPmIPQjeF_Y9BZ-MZ7/s1600-h/SDC11878.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZfQ-mYcfxLp8SXTwu4m4QukUFVOGhpnNtimCUY4tK18WSQOL7kmbxLEjwTDnjERX3xJNWouwL980s9mQPKYyAftSlXZKL5r-EiXstw92hEdrbJf6NIaPmIPQjeF_Y9BZ-MZ7/s320/SDC11878.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434145180562804722" border="0"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">no words</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9MZBoBZkfKmG6Z3HNzLCbn8tmlNxdwhffl5m70-TAXM-qzVNn1SbmU8Pu3M5KPRgTdSyS-46cuTs0736FevaZnNb22EaHQeEnjSW3iD6gVvmTxke0qIShod7RyEpAM4blUhc2/s1600-h/SDC11876.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9MZBoBZkfKmG6Z3HNzLCbn8tmlNxdwhffl5m70-TAXM-qzVNn1SbmU8Pu3M5KPRgTdSyS-46cuTs0736FevaZnNb22EaHQeEnjSW3iD6gVvmTxke0qIShod7RyEpAM4blUhc2/s320/SDC11876.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434145744477026146" border="0"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">The guests wait for the big moment!</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO5vivGtleUzuMX2sfMxpGSF8NsGc3TeoqkL335zfVs5ditFOSk5mUs5HFDCl9y0O75vbQyk80tu1i3ov0lzL7VWeqP3nXykXqAcm6FQFnvhanB2Aliq4h26MaDNzkSDhxQnHO/s1600-h/SDC11905.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO5vivGtleUzuMX2sfMxpGSF8NsGc3TeoqkL335zfVs5ditFOSk5mUs5HFDCl9y0O75vbQyk80tu1i3ov0lzL7VWeqP3nXykXqAcm6FQFnvhanB2Aliq4h26MaDNzkSDhxQnHO/s320/SDC11905.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434146354497714242" border="0"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Lookin' great at 65 mom!</span><br /><br />Just when you'd think July couldn't get any better, we had our annual Elvis party to round out the month. It turned out this year that Ty's birthday was the same day so naturally, we (or he) had to step up our game a bit. Beer baseball has become a staple at this event and we hosted about 20 people in the driveway. Before you cast judgement at how ghetto that sounds, it was the best solution with the torrential downpour we had for the early part of the afternoon. We pitched a couple of 10x10's in the drive way and used the garage as a dumping ground. Once the rain settled down it actually worked out perfectly. Almost as perfect as Ty's beer "staff" - his bright idea of drinking his height in beer to celebrate his 26th. Genius, right?! Well he did it before dark and I'm impressed that he was still standing (and drinking) well into the night. Hand grenades just before we went downtown were a bad idea for him however and he and Steph called it a night. The rest of us rocked out with all the Elvii and Alison and I chased each impersonator to pose for a picture with us. It seemed hilarious at the time! The movie tradition also carried on this year but it was obviously another box office flop because I can't remember what it was!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVquOqNbwjdyGdR4CDM0bLLWt6Xl2Jax1eTLHsc8fT9FavZCjfWVhqIpl5OXaLo7R6B08RdfKOCZedca4fj4JTlNyolfeGgovf4Ps87TKCqauYOFc3N3jHFmlzxvcP6r9bhJJD/s1600-h/SDC11937.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVquOqNbwjdyGdR4CDM0bLLWt6Xl2Jax1eTLHsc8fT9FavZCjfWVhqIpl5OXaLo7R6B08RdfKOCZedca4fj4JTlNyolfeGgovf4Ps87TKCqauYOFc3N3jHFmlzxvcP6r9bhJJD/s320/SDC11937.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434148236989009154" border="0"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">beer baseball in action</span><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwwbRbvuODZWRTsuFyaY0Gug_M9SgIPNTbmVkyZtZcRLJpdiStzaEU3nyMWwL87g40H3OsEpgD9p3A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><span style="font-style:italic;">Mother Nature rains on our Elvis Party Parade</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />August 2009</span><br />Since July went out like a lion, it was necessary (for our livers sake) that August come in like a lamb. And that it did. Besides our usual summer activities consisting of hiking, caving, swimming in the bay and bbq's, the only exciting thing we did this month was take a couple of weekend trips to Toronto to play tourist. The first was with Steph, Ty, Ken, Jess and myself for the Jason Mraz concert. I didn't have huge hopes for the show at the Molson Ampitheatre figuring it would be similar to other mellow artists I've seen in large venues (it doesn't really work). Wow - could I be more wrong! He put on an incredible, engaging, high-energy 2 hour set! He became my new obsession. I have so much respect for Jason Mraz and everything he stands for (he has strong environmental principles that he sticks to while on tour), he is such an incredibly talented, funny, creative person who seems like the real deal. Could be an act but the naive girl in me likes to believe that what you see is what you get. I have since discovered he has a huge online presence with funny sketches and audio to match each page of his website. Check it out here www.jasonmraz.com Jess and I went on a little adventure after the concert trying desperately to sneak backstage. We nearly made it until another fan trying to copy us blew our cover. Brutal. We ran our little tails off as fast as we could outta there! <br />Our next trip to Toronto was just Ken and I. A little rekindling if you will. We attended a Jays game in box seats that his work kindly gave us! Following that I introduced Ken to Fresh for dinner and he was in veggie heaven! All the menu was his for the eating. It's not often (or ever) that he has that choice so it was a great meal. We headed down to the Second City after that for a packed performance of "Shut up and show us your Tweets". As always it was a hilarious show of sketch comedy and improv. That place never disappoints.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />September 2009</span><br /><br />Before we knew it, summer was almost over and another labour day weekend at Red Pine was upon us. We arrived late Friday to the masses of drunken folk reuniting at the place they all grew up at and worked together. It was great to see Ryan who had some surprising news for us. He and Katie had gotten back together after a 3 month split and even further, were living together. Wow! No words! The rest of the weekend went as usual - drink late, up early, nap, wakeboard, nap, repeat. Good times!<br />Following that weekend I was participating in my third Weekend to End Breast Cancer 60km walk throughout Toronto. I was feeling a little unprepared this year having fallen while wakeboarding at Red Pine pretty badly and feeling a little sore. I naively also thought that each year the walk would get easier and was quickly reminded at the end of Day 1 and 33km behind me that I was dead wrong. Steph and I both had blisters that needed to be drained and wrapped at the medical tent, something I have never experienced (the first two years I finished mostly blister free!). Let me tell you, blisters are debilitating. I can't believe something so little on your foot can impact the rest of your body (if you let it). I mistakenly favoured my blisters and altered the way I walked so avoid rubbing in my shoes. BAD IDEA! My whole body was out of whack by the start of Day 2 which was equally as painful. Steph's blisters were far worse than mine but somehow, we leaned on each other and were able to finish! We were welcomed at the finish by Steph's family, Ty and Ken. Even Ryan and Katie came to congratulate us! It was a fine finish to an epic event I had taken part in for 3 years in a row and I felt good about my accomplishments. I had also decided (prior to walking and the ensuing blisters) that this would be my last year taking place in the WEBC. I may do it again one day but I need a year or two off. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever taken part in and I am so lucky to say I participated in something so epic. Over the course of my 3 years, I am proud to say I was able to raise close to $8000 for breast cancer research at the Princess Margaret Hospital! This has been a huge accomplishment for me. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj89tyKvfjJ42kkeLrmfimBXckRDS-6bIKoZ_D_15dTa-vKajhAZcF2w_4XZ9z99s4bvfRlKpZvsFcsM0lb34mPkAFosVywkpR2y-AaxQ_Cggf_Wql83deDNiCZ-t-DRXB0UW4I/s1600-h/SDC12019.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj89tyKvfjJ42kkeLrmfimBXckRDS-6bIKoZ_D_15dTa-vKajhAZcF2w_4XZ9z99s4bvfRlKpZvsFcsM0lb34mPkAFosVywkpR2y-AaxQ_Cggf_Wql83deDNiCZ-t-DRXB0UW4I/s320/SDC12019.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434154674971537106" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Steph and I at the start of the walk</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgF4j9wteCSjFeKH7TF3qKiNLLJudF0y4ysK2bOazC0ElAa19P7VmlfbKVVV3EgDQvW_pXJETKJCVNvJigroLcrONUUgC9nyizOH6Lq00lUG-j8a3liNgcry8dI2bf4wocgk5/s1600-h/SDC12030.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgF4j9wteCSjFeKH7TF3qKiNLLJudF0y4ysK2bOazC0ElAa19P7VmlfbKVVV3EgDQvW_pXJETKJCVNvJigroLcrONUUgC9nyizOH6Lq00lUG-j8a3liNgcry8dI2bf4wocgk5/s320/SDC12030.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434155069130613874" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">ain't that the truth!</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNu1w7rqPKuQShnIRQah5sFZZtizNGBrPAENQytuuqFK3H3HBBSNXinU10NniEXa32VlBj_D4Yn5KArP8KHa_7Alq9K7JY0oWvsZWLwJ_-Q6yXwdeGcjUIiX18ML13xc7Sg632/s1600-h/SDC12039.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNu1w7rqPKuQShnIRQah5sFZZtizNGBrPAENQytuuqFK3H3HBBSNXinU10NniEXa32VlBj_D4Yn5KArP8KHa_7Alq9K7JY0oWvsZWLwJ_-Q6yXwdeGcjUIiX18ML13xc7Sg632/s320/SDC12039.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434155319474250322" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">one of the neighbourhood houses cheering on the walkers!<br /></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenpvuzidxcGFtwNT-6erahWbDFV3W86plKt2lyEQKC62eG2w9xOMo3M-3G1jhlpVtgXNEDanY3BS_AuKR2hKqu5yGQuEebPiskZSvg0Yc3jjt_uGvg54MpAcU_56k7g5eeN1S/s1600-h/SDC12050.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenpvuzidxcGFtwNT-6erahWbDFV3W86plKt2lyEQKC62eG2w9xOMo3M-3G1jhlpVtgXNEDanY3BS_AuKR2hKqu5yGQuEebPiskZSvg0Yc3jjt_uGvg54MpAcU_56k7g5eeN1S/s320/SDC12050.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434156235512508962" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">approaching the Princess Margaret Hospital. Let the floodgates open!</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmytApg-zqLAA9WHRF0CYXaQPOzMnOSkusT0Z76fk82hqwpNe1vv8cs4wSO_5Yy7oxHPgmcyCmqq266Cyqe0elN9WtWr8B262vdwDCvPdpvRiMAD11DmbfLV-QROO5JZmaD7j/s1600-h/SDC12056.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmytApg-zqLAA9WHRF0CYXaQPOzMnOSkusT0Z76fk82hqwpNe1vv8cs4wSO_5Yy7oxHPgmcyCmqq266Cyqe0elN9WtWr8B262vdwDCvPdpvRiMAD11DmbfLV-QROO5JZmaD7j/s320/SDC12056.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434155753319361234" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Steph and I at the end of the walk</span><br /><br />The WEBC left me with a little more than great memories and blistered feet. I managed to completely tax my already tired body (read: faceplant with Golden Lake while wakeboarding) and got sick right after the walk. Bad timing seeing as how the following Friday we were embarking on our first trip to Europe - first with a stopover in Munich during Oktoberfest and then a 2 week tour of Turkey. As excited as I was, I was also exhausted and wanted to sleep for the next month. No such luck. Back to work Monday and by Tuesday my cold was full fledged. I was really hoping it would clear up by Friday in time for our trip. Somehow in my delerium I allowed Ken to convince me to hop on my bike for a "light workout" while he ran alongside me throughout the neighbourhood. I really didn't want to do it but let him talk me into it. I didn't want to disappoint him and be lazy, sitting on the couch at home! Towards the end of our ride/run he insisted we go just a few more blocks instead of turn around like I was pleading and I complied. This is about when I pledged to myself that I was forever from this point onward, going to listen to my body and not push myself! While trying to keep my ears warm (after all with this cold, they were full of fluid), I tilted my head so my shoulder met my ear and somehow my equilibrium went off kilter and before I knew it, my face was making out with the pavement. Not cool. I panicked, thinking I had smashed my teeth (my very expensive, veneered teeth) but luckily I hadn't. What I did have was an instant fat-lip, dirt so far up my nose I couldn't breathe and blood everywhere. EEK! Ken was freaking trying to logically make sense of the situation and how it possibly could've happened while I was freaking on the ground also trying to fathom what had just happened. Did I actually just fall off my bike and faceplant into the ground? Yes, I had. Needless to say the next few days were hell walking around with a mangled face and bruised ego. Not to mention my cold which seemed to worsen ten-fold overnight. I was in fine shape for my trip which at this point was only a few days away! Here is a mugshot of the damage right after the incident and a few days later...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumxugFDZT_j8KomI36Is5h_c9sclUQ-XlafzzuAYD_aCrFJuTFYOesaKst4KxY91tSDVAr77bFqRBcTF2bFTfK9Hh8DbHNe7SPtA5uhnH_46kOP9WOwv5A0BoMPdt9irIFmVX/s1600-h/Photo+99.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumxugFDZT_j8KomI36Is5h_c9sclUQ-XlafzzuAYD_aCrFJuTFYOesaKst4KxY91tSDVAr77bFqRBcTF2bFTfK9Hh8DbHNe7SPtA5uhnH_46kOP9WOwv5A0BoMPdt9irIFmVX/s320/Photo+99.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434158490304020738" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">OUCH!</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMOEQLVHyW2Ihq9rL5yYerHSqNgFuD_kj1p6hkCE0i0oQCODa-Viv2dmto9D3VFTsQpoeZ7-nx3PjHRyHDkLv9Pu0_WhxFkdZpGps4bEkgvoROr7Mfskn3h82ip5AqQOqr6jr/s1600-h/P9160006.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMOEQLVHyW2Ihq9rL5yYerHSqNgFuD_kj1p6hkCE0i0oQCODa-Viv2dmto9D3VFTsQpoeZ7-nx3PjHRyHDkLv9Pu0_WhxFkdZpGps4bEkgvoROr7Mfskn3h82ip5AqQOqr6jr/s320/P9160006.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434158759700959922" /></a><br />I still have slight scars from the incident and the mental scar is enough to make me terrified of hopping on a bike again anytime soon. Ken felt horrible that he had persuaded me to go on the bike ride when I insisted I didn't want to and spent the next while nursing me and my face back to normal. <br /><br />By the time we boarded the plane to Munich my body had pretty much given up on me. To make things worse (or better depending on how you look at the situation), I was planning to spend the next 48 hours in a drunken stupor, embracing Oktoberfest to the fullest. Ein Prossit! <br />Arrived in Munich early Saturday morning, aka, the first day of Oktoberfest and instantly knew we were in for some fun. Got lost in the Marienplatz trying to find our hotel but didn't really mind as we wandered aimlessly in our jet lagged state. Found our hotel, settled in, power napped and headed out for some much needed litre biers! Devoured a plate of sauerkraut and sausage - something I would never normally eat but it felt appropriate and tasted GREAT! You can't really go wrong with salt, grease and beer. The rest of the day/night is slightly foggy but I'm sure it involved consuming a lot more BIER! Day 2 (and sadly our last - had to make this visit brief to spare our livers!) started bright and early (read: jet lag) with more bier. Convinced at this point liquor laws are temporarily suspended during the 2 weeks of Oktoberfest. Fine by me! Made our way to the Theresienweisse grounds where all the giant bier halls are and to our surprise, a massive carnival with dozens of spinny rides! I can't think of a more terrible combo than litre biers and spinny rides but people were lovin' it. An interesting observation I made during our brief jaunt was that the more people drink, the more love drunk they get! Not once did I see tempers flare or fists thrown. It was so refreshing to be in a place where everyone was there to simply eat, drink and be merry. And that we did my friends. We also quickly learned that the best base to coat your stomach before consuming a few litre biers was, naturally, salty carbs! Pretzels are a staple at Oktoberfest and again, are something I would never eat here in Canada. When in Rome.... <br />We had doubts that we would make it into any of the bier halls being that we didn't arrive extra early and stake out a spot in line. From the research I had done prior, I understood that we wouldn't have a hope in hell of getting in anywhere. So needless to say we were pleasantly surprised when we just strolled into the Hofbrau Haus and insanely thrilled when we were able to order BIER! The rule is that in order to get a bier, you must have a seat or a table. People guard these with their lives and seeking 2 seats was going to be a challenge. Luckily, we made some new friends (or mates rather) from England who let us sidle up to their stand-up table to order a few pints of liquid gold. Once you have your coveted beverage, you're free to wander around the bier hall at your leisure. And let me tell you, this place is massive! It is loud, rowdy and glorious!!! Not something I could handle on a typical Friday night but definitely an experience I will remember forever. The chanting and cheers'ing creates a cult-ish vibe that is hard to ignore. It's contagious. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLKwo4GNUIS_5cEhh9oP3Gihx-3jDXPJzrAHXl9bqQHhQsh81AcuDYMS4epp0q8aHnFivd4dNzAYNh-R_GL8BNf2CSRxIJ0ahCiepG3zmy0YuPIBadb3ZiY2wBFmmM38xWFt4_/s1600-h/P9190087.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLKwo4GNUIS_5cEhh9oP3Gihx-3jDXPJzrAHXl9bqQHhQsh81AcuDYMS4epp0q8aHnFivd4dNzAYNh-R_GL8BNf2CSRxIJ0ahCiepG3zmy0YuPIBadb3ZiY2wBFmmM38xWFt4_/s320/P9190087.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436032862422183682" /></a><br /><br />Rationale kicked in after a few giant mugs of bier and the fact that we had to board a plane that night to Turkey. We collected ourselves, smuggled a Hofbrau Haus stein (shhh!) and stumbled over to the English Gartens. Perhaps it was the beer goggles and my love-drunk state but this park was one of the most beautiful city parks I've seen. People were sprawled out on the grass, drinking, napping, making out... and not a speck of trash was to be seen on the ground. Torontonians, you could learn a thing or two about this! And the bicycles! Oh, the bikes. They are everywhere. Cruisers, speed bikes, mountain bikes, small bikes, trikes, you name it, it had wheels and someone was riding it. I wish we had more time to experience this beautiful city by bike. <br />Just beyond the park we found the Eisbach River. This is the river that locals have rigged up a structure under the water to make the fast flowing current create a wave for surfing. I thought it might've been too cool to be out on the river surfing but we were delighted to see the banks on either side lined up with riders decked in wet suits waiting to drop in. One by one they systematically straddled their board and rode the wave back and forth until they succumbed to its current and floated downstream, only to do it all over again. It was incredible and the locals swelled with pride each time someone threw down a sick trick. As an interesting aside, this was where part of the "Make it Mine" video by Jason Mraz was filmed. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggamN3dgfI49_jHke1_dnJdP5EYYQGRu3QaxDpKm0QxAlEK9hsdk0eCwYHLmdkr5-XRe6_kDSe8ymcXv1bhc_haY7B-1WmH7nA57PWqhO7XYaTFDgsd1yj8rniP-uOn-yvHFIP/s1600-h/IMG_3797.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggamN3dgfI49_jHke1_dnJdP5EYYQGRu3QaxDpKm0QxAlEK9hsdk0eCwYHLmdkr5-XRe6_kDSe8ymcXv1bhc_haY7B-1WmH7nA57PWqhO7XYaTFDgsd1yj8rniP-uOn-yvHFIP/s320/IMG_3797.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436033880740283042" /></a><br /><br />From there it was time to hustle back to the hotel, collect our things and go to the airport. Our whirlwind trip to Munich was sadly over but I can confidently say this is one place I will most definitely return to someday. And magically, I felt healthy for 2 days! Go figure that one out cause I can't.<br />On we went, destination: Istanbul. We arrived close to midnight, checked into our hotel and dined on the most heavenly hummus I have tasted at a small family-run restaurant across from our hotel. I knew I was in for 2 more weeks of delicious delights! Met our guide the next morning and began our 2 week GAP adventure; Absolute Turkey. I will take this moment to say that despite their best efforts, GAP adventures contracted this tour to a local tour company and our guide was el terriblay. Despite that, we did our best to enjoy this trip - our first organized tour ever. Unfortunately, part of organized travel means being with the same group of people the entire time. And being that Turkey is a large country geographically, we covered a lot of ground and saw most of the country from a bus window. This resulted in a lot of time listening to people whine about how awful our guide was and how he was ruining their vacation. Unfortunate that people can't suck it up and make the best of an experience in a country that has so much to offer. Turkey was wild and wonderful and weird. Its landscapes varied from crowded dirty urban streets to mountainous lush forests to barren, rocky spanses formed by volcanic rock centuries ago. It tells the story of its ever-evolving politics and religious influence in a way that makes you marvel. Its history goes so far back that you sometimes can't remember if the ruins you're looking at or the churches carved into caves are from BC or AD. They have it all. Its richness consumes your senses and overwhelms your being. The food, the language, the architecture, the markets - Turkey's culture is truly a reflection of its people. The two weeks took us into the interior (Cappaodocia region and Konya), then south to the mediterranean sea (Antalya), along the coast (Kas, Pammukale, Ephesus) and finally up to Troy and Galipoli, ending up in Istanbul. It's too long to go through our itinerary day by day but here are some highlights: The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, sneaking into a swank hotel in Istanbul to get a panoramic rooftop view of the city, freshly squeezed pomegranate juice daily (just pennies a glass!), typical Turkish breakfast which we learned to love (hard boiled egg, olives, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, deep fried cheese rolls, bread and jam), the Grand Bazaar, spending a night on a boat in the mediterranean, swimming in the mediterranean, Turkish pide, Efes beer, walking on the salt lake, Derinkuyu the underground city, hiking through chimaera, the eternal flames, driving along sketchy winding mountainside roads, visiting Ephesus, Pammukkale ....the list goes on. It was indeed incredible! <br /><br />Returning home was bittersweet. We were ready to be back and away from the rest of the travellers in our group but wished we could've spent more time in the places we loved most in Turkey. Which brings us to October....<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">October 2009</span><br />The day after we arrived back home happened to be my birthday. One of the great perks at Blue Mountain is having your birthday day off! Sweet, one more day to recover. It was slow going and I've got nothing special to report from my birthday. I guess anything would've been anticlimactic compared to the experience we just had in Germany and Turkey. I was expecting to start a night course for Adobe InDesign at our local Georgian College campus that evening so Ken and I hadn't even made dinner plans. As it turns out, my course had been cancelled and dinner plans went by the wayside. I made nachos (something I was craving our entire time away!). Happy 29th to me...sigh. Ken vowed he would have something extra special planned for my 30th. I'll tell you right now that I don't plan on making nachos to ring in the dirty thirty.<br />Back to work on Tuesday and it was full speed ahead for the next month. October is our seasons pass campaign at work and it requires all hands on deck. Several trips to Toronto for work (Ski show, Breakfast Television) later and the month was over. But not before we hosted Ken's family for Thanksgiving. No turkey this year though! <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">November 2009</span><br />November calmed down slightly and I was able to regain some much needed sleep! Thankfully, October's hard work paid off with a successful seasons pass campaign. It was only a matter of time until the hectic winter pace at work picked up again so I was enjoying some down time during November. At the start of the month I joined Jess Synnott on her yearly shopping bonanza in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Non-stop shopping for 2 straight days wore on my wallet and my feet! Some great finds were found (including my first Coach purse!) at bargain basement prices ($39!). 12 hours on a bus there and back and bags full of goodies made me a happy girl! Retail therapy definitely did the trick and after a busy month prior, I felt like I earned it. <br />Towards the end of the month, the camp girls all headed down to the city for a night on the town and a sleepover at Trish's. It was great to catch up with everyone that could make it (Jess, Alison M., Lisa, Trish and myself) and to see Alison Cross at the bar. Unfortunately Devon couldn't make it and man, do I miss that girl! We went to El Convento Rico for the night which is a latin dance bar that features a drag show at midnight. Hilarious! It was a great evening spent with some wonderful women, friends I don't see nearly often enough. Miss you girls! <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWOo_49XHD5fDRFg3vXutm90jXFlo9WAusnBDrNLJ1iIR65YZ88sh-9dQY3qt0i67jJmYmm9iIj_CaE9Mca5b2-swHxVdEdgIPpMuPOPocEU-hQYF-iNtu45qgVQmGpac2yPI6/s1600-h/PB280576.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWOo_49XHD5fDRFg3vXutm90jXFlo9WAusnBDrNLJ1iIR65YZ88sh-9dQY3qt0i67jJmYmm9iIj_CaE9Mca5b2-swHxVdEdgIPpMuPOPocEU-hQYF-iNtu45qgVQmGpac2yPI6/s320/PB280576.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436073558324871330" /></a><br />post script: major oversight! At the end of October Ken was browsing on MLS (an old past time) and "accidentally" stumbled upon a house that was love at first sight for us both. It was an old 40s home that had been completely renovated inside and out, updated with super sleek finishes and style. It screamed Kaden! So, somewhat on an impulse at the start of November, we listed our house and put a conditional offer on this house. Eek! We had everyone guessing as to why we made this snap decision when we weren't even planning to move. We were somewhat puzzled ourselves but went with it anyway. A couple of months passed with only a handful of showings on our place and it was beginning to sink in that maybe this wasn't the house for us. At the start of the whole thing, we said that if it didn't work out with our "dream home" that we would take our house off the market and stay here. Well...some sense sunk in as the time passed and there were indications that perhaps this wasn't the house for us. We allowed the conditional period to lapse and chose not to extend the offer on said dream home. As it stands today, our house is still for sale and where we end up next remains to be seen.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">December</span> <br />December started off kind of crappy to be honest. For years I've been suffering from off and on stomach cramps ranging in severity. Starting around August I was having them daily; crippling pain that caused me to lose concentration and focus. I had been to all kinds of medical professionals in the past trying to diagnose the source of pain to no avail. And then it would go away for a while, giving me temporary relief. Frustrated, in pain and at the end of my rope, I sought relief in a local Naturopathic Doctor that came highly recommended. Her plan of attack was to run a food allergy test that would conclusively tell me which foods I was allergic to and to what degree. Her suspicion was dairy. However, having recorded a detailed food diary in an effort to single out the source, I didn't agree with her assumptions. It was probably denial. Ice cream is my favourite comfort food and cheese is an old faithful. I refused to believe it could be dairy. But sure enough, at the start of December I went in for my results and the culprit? Whey protein and casein. Two of the major proteins found in cow's milk and goat's milk. And what was I eating everyday at lunch? Cottage cheese! Super high in protein! It's no wonder I was in dire straits but it didn't make the result any easier to handle. Beyond the major dairy allergy, I was also forbidden to eat almonds, peanuts, carrots, eggs and grapes (red or white). So with just weeks left before the holidays, I was told no cheese, no baked goodies, no wine...UGH! It was a harsh realization and has been a huge adaptation in my diet and lifestyle. I'm finally starting to get used to the regimen and have found some decent cheese alternatives made of soy but nothing will ever match a wheel of brie or a tub of hagen daazs. On the bright side? I've lost weight, feel healthier and am so thrilled to not be in pain anymore. <br />Christmas day was spent waking up alone in our house. We really needed to spend some alone time and with Ryan in Nigeria for Christmas, we decided to celebrate with everyone just after Christmas. On the 25th we went to my mom's house for a lovely dinner and then came back home to our cozy, empty house. It was a refreshing change to have that for the first time ever. Boxing day was an early start off to Ottawa to spend 2 days with R&K. Short but sweet, they spoiled us with yummy food and plenty of gifts. Pingu was in her element with doggy Christmas treats! Back in the car on the 28th with a stopover in Uxbridge for my extended family Christmas dinner followed by the most harrowing winter drive I have ever experienced (literally could not see 2ft in front of you) and we made it home in one piece in time for the Olympic Torch Relay which went through the resort in the early morning of the 29th. It was the coldest day of winter (minus 30 with wind chill!) but so worth it. I even got to hold the torch! Who cares if my nose almost fell off and I was practically throwing up from being so cold!? It was an incredible Canadian experience.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXf72Y016qENDeZ110SM9HDvHPPnureVnIpNyJlZeqZUSDHG4vA9Yq0_Orq32Vc32M5cZ5oA-bYLHROg_vxD2XnGnu4Th66FD2zt8ssysqAugrZY8zY_zDP7VlLc3AvRaWTTg-/s1600-h/IMG_7974+(20).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXf72Y016qENDeZ110SM9HDvHPPnureVnIpNyJlZeqZUSDHG4vA9Yq0_Orq32Vc32M5cZ5oA-bYLHROg_vxD2XnGnu4Th66FD2zt8ssysqAugrZY8zY_zDP7VlLc3AvRaWTTg-/s320/IMG_7974+(20).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436083064513282354" /></a><br />Lastly, we ended 2009 on a high note for another celebration at Steph and Ty's. This years' theme was Olympics and along with Alana, Roz and Steph, we dressed as the Jamaican bobsled team! Everyone embraced the theme wholeheartedly and there were some sweet get-ups; team Canada hockey, figure skating pairs, Germany, English cricket. A solid effort was put forth by all. Consumed far too much alcohol of all different varieties which resulted in an entirely wasted first day of 2010 but it was worth it. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINd67nVpDZqrXiDLm3Q4xJYWAgN_qFvZlpsoIEeTi-FpRaxMRXlZ0-KPwQuqPxwjLmuhoMJ1XxNjYAWy0ECmPvm8foiQ8zMtCeGK1E2EvPbqFgeGveTLPxHJ6XpTIGGtgTE0D/s1600-h/PC310742.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINd67nVpDZqrXiDLm3Q4xJYWAgN_qFvZlpsoIEeTi-FpRaxMRXlZ0-KPwQuqPxwjLmuhoMJ1XxNjYAWy0ECmPvm8foiQ8zMtCeGK1E2EvPbqFgeGveTLPxHJ6XpTIGGtgTE0D/s320/PC310742.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436084049473711490" /></a><br />There was much to celebrate and be happy about in 2009. I can only hope 2010 brings just as many highs!julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-89680461412976205312010-01-16T12:26:00.000-08:002010-01-16T14:15:46.762-08:00Year in review - January to June 2009I realize the last time I attempted to do this was over 2 years ago and I got as far as the first week. What a feeble attempt! It's 2010 and I'm going in with gusto in an effort to summarize the highs, lows and in-betweens of 2009. Complete with photos for your viewing pleasure! So here goes...<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">January 2009</span><br />Winter is always a busy time for me with work so anything fun and social that I can get in is a bonus. My girls from camp visited (Devon, Alison and Jess) and we were treated to private in-house zumba instruction from Ingrid at the Y. For those that don't know, Zumba is a form of various latin dance styles performed in a cardio/exercise class. It's fun, it's funny and it's a workout! Bonus! Ingrid is the perfect instructor for such a class, as she shimmy's and shakes and hoots and hollers. The picture below is taken from the basement with the furniture moved aside.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq13kvgqwo7srImtvDEst0KNvTajn2S_ZeEbCyxk7gcUg-lwc8JDqTGmOyk7Qe7xCVSwmdD8-kxIhin6DcYn7_JJgc-PeulH0Egh4doxv5C4vXE9Z1hcu48iYhLnC7-xJvyo6L/s1600-h/SDC10613.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq13kvgqwo7srImtvDEst0KNvTajn2S_ZeEbCyxk7gcUg-lwc8JDqTGmOyk7Qe7xCVSwmdD8-kxIhin6DcYn7_JJgc-PeulH0Egh4doxv5C4vXE9Z1hcu48iYhLnC7-xJvyo6L/s320/SDC10613.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427439016124079202" /></a> <span style="font-style:italic;">Even Pingu got into the dancing action!</span><br /><br />Later that night we ended up at the village, completing a nightlife hat trick after visiting/drinking/dancing at Gel, Rusty's and Windy O'Neills. Pretty good considering that was my one and only visit to the Village in 2009. A photo from the night documents the good times. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpNxyshRQK63ztTH-Wi8p6JSTFTOAslpcvQ5UFfyaQusXnycGp1cnPmZGXrCmTr6PGbIYJlCO_bnNuYVpfsStgjIkdQhqDUr8_6iNJwGUi3Mqnh42dytWQcfIoFZQT6MkO5BKY/s1600-h/SDC10646.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpNxyshRQK63ztTH-Wi8p6JSTFTOAslpcvQ5UFfyaQusXnycGp1cnPmZGXrCmTr6PGbIYJlCO_bnNuYVpfsStgjIkdQhqDUr8_6iNJwGUi3Mqnh42dytWQcfIoFZQT6MkO5BKY/s320/SDC10646.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427440429845433170" /></a><br />January also brought along an amazing opportunity to sit first row (behind courtside seats) behind the net at a Raptors game. Ken was given the tickets through work and we couldn't pass up the offer! Even though the Raps lost due to some questionable calls by the half-asleep refs, it was exciting to be so close! We even got a glimpse of David Suzuki as he walked by from his courtside seats and an actor from Y & R! Basically, we felt like celebs (joke!).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWD_YLXBrW8nB0yazf7u4I7dus75dgoML71gACHsWaVR_6ZMCwDr_XTStN7b2WUt7W1wbW8a6k0nIKErtP8tbnWkGde3vKaFhGL51cC0C8-h48Rnz0Im5dKdP6-5kqtMbHj63Y/s1600-h/SDC10708.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWD_YLXBrW8nB0yazf7u4I7dus75dgoML71gACHsWaVR_6ZMCwDr_XTStN7b2WUt7W1wbW8a6k0nIKErtP8tbnWkGde3vKaFhGL51cC0C8-h48Rnz0Im5dKdP6-5kqtMbHj63Y/s320/SDC10708.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427442240531217698" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Chris Bosh attempts to lead his team to a victory. </span><br /><br />As with every winter, we try to take advantage of rare powder days by either snowboarding or snowshoeing. Below is a photo after a nice dump of pow! Ken and I went snowshoeing with Jess and Shannon.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF0DGnKLYrLb-6Dn0584Xr0Di6MHY3GGrJTPhH04pll3I6C9zK54rT1sA21ABZU2UsyWqu7G9SBjNT8CmEh_83-tVEvhyphenhyphen_FrXrIQJCTEqgeeZ5FaEc8_8ATF5fHF6rjj2UBPDV/s1600-h/julie1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF0DGnKLYrLb-6Dn0584Xr0Di6MHY3GGrJTPhH04pll3I6C9zK54rT1sA21ABZU2UsyWqu7G9SBjNT8CmEh_83-tVEvhyphenhyphen_FrXrIQJCTEqgeeZ5FaEc8_8ATF5fHF6rjj2UBPDV/s320/julie1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427443293426438850" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiTIv2XUUE-b5Xn1A0S3rNDjjsDne2E4lHse6-JM1j7TcAK6ZusJhR-MeCy0MMDq5D1QHu97ox_iqW55NZfdHCOBKfL2T4aN5jhFBP3AS1jpRSbw4mriL1wLV4WcmAz8XtA_ul/s1600-h/ken_julie1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiTIv2XUUE-b5Xn1A0S3rNDjjsDne2E4lHse6-JM1j7TcAK6ZusJhR-MeCy0MMDq5D1QHu97ox_iqW55NZfdHCOBKfL2T4aN5jhFBP3AS1jpRSbw4mriL1wLV4WcmAz8XtA_ul/s320/ken_julie1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427443166838322162" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Jumping photos are always fun but they're especially fun in knee-deep powder!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">February and March</span> rolled in and out in a flash with nothing to notable to report. Work consumes most of my time during these months and when it doesn't, I have the habit of hibernating down to an art!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">April</span> was an interesting month. The snow just wouldn't stop and we were well on our way to having a record season in terms of length. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswKO6w5btrEJBOH5QkbbtNxN-Uy-VLnwoxL8z-zOyhMD2WP4pr0SMk7hpjKM4LKn8cwN2GHftRsLyYugR6tppCnnPL-eVmPpVuxbp3Z4P1ydlAdrdmSVI9uigMAWecHcSEW4r/s1600-h/SDC10760.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswKO6w5btrEJBOH5QkbbtNxN-Uy-VLnwoxL8z-zOyhMD2WP4pr0SMk7hpjKM4LKn8cwN2GHftRsLyYugR6tppCnnPL-eVmPpVuxbp3Z4P1ydlAdrdmSVI9uigMAWecHcSEW4r/s320/SDC10760.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427445118729310002" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Here's a glimpse of one of a few snowfalls in April.</span><br /><br />In April I convinced Ken, Steph and Ty to go on a day trip to Midland for the Sweetwater Festival at the Wye Marsh. It's a bit of a trek but I sold it to them with the promise of free, freshly tapped syrup on snow (something I had read in their advertising that instantly enticed me!). Never mind the fact that you can get maple taffy on snow for 2 bucks at the Village - this stuff was the real deal....or so I thought. After trudging around in the rain and riding on a dodgy horse-drawn wagon in the freezing cold, I was getting some doubtful stares from my friends. I however, kept the faith and made the best of a damp and soggy situation. While the Wye Marsh is an interesting and educational place full of taxidermied local wildlife, aquariums with water dwelling creatures and a network of woodchipped trails, my real motivation for visiting was the maple syrup and did I ever have my hopes up real high. We even learned about the process from tree to syrup and how to tap maple trees yourself - something Tyler and Ken swore they would do at the time however 9 months later and still no sign of a tree-tapping set up in sight!!!? In anticipation of the end and eager to get back home, we were all salivating over the sweet smell of fire roasting maple syrup and made our way to the sampling area where the "maple taffy on snow" was being distributed. I almost elbowed a baby and stepped on a small child to get in line but was confused when I got to the front. What they were handing out was a popsicle stick with no more than a q-tip sized amount of maple syrup on the end. My facial expression must have clearly communicated the message "are you f'ing kidding me!?!" because I didn't even have to say anything before the volunteer manning the station said "We're saving it for the kids." I don't even think Tyler and Ken took samples, they were so pitiful. The thing tasted more like the stick it came on than like actual maple syrup! I mean, cripes, we had stuck it out in the rain, paid our $10 admission or whatever ridiculous overpriced fee it was and drove an hour for THIS!? Be forewarned people, the Sweetwater Festival ain't for adults. We were spent and piled our soaking wet selves back into our car for the long trip back to Collingwood. But not before a few photo-ops...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0pLYZvVDoAwf2HJMOJMnuWFmsdHtdXvH68nAHBj97CQpJVU9r-_j9E6QdU9CtVX8cFKyVLaPRLkRjRkAF4scfIS87giaK0l68NZ-_6zB-okdc6zlHF4JeQASyNnjV4C-65Me/s1600-h/SDC10717.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0pLYZvVDoAwf2HJMOJMnuWFmsdHtdXvH68nAHBj97CQpJVU9r-_j9E6QdU9CtVX8cFKyVLaPRLkRjRkAF4scfIS87giaK0l68NZ-_6zB-okdc6zlHF4JeQASyNnjV4C-65Me/s320/SDC10717.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427448931243114610" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">We're smiling because we don't know what's up</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlcajSHqCm_2XMsRifxe77BdwZ_-XLN8qP8vUTGUE2NCwS2p0A21CZdZzloSgG293sYUwoL2H_sURUaE7Vw1cy7jlZR1p84psqa4asZ99Q0Xgog_yFpk6XbCMiehQkeMG3bfqO/s1600-h/SDC10743.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlcajSHqCm_2XMsRifxe77BdwZ_-XLN8qP8vUTGUE2NCwS2p0A21CZdZzloSgG293sYUwoL2H_sURUaE7Vw1cy7jlZR1p84psqa4asZ99Q0Xgog_yFpk6XbCMiehQkeMG3bfqO/s320/SDC10743.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427449269065436562" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">"You know what really grinds my gears?"</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicDNHYZlVbn4VXvGeI5lHj5hj7Yp_MKoHqdHwyEwb1HCrJeZ0NAp37fglTsTAxkq9oeERJv5PfwZWv3xLWdvJpCNfeUEHsBXVIO0_C-EPe68AvvzgipAcjO6eRy8UQJkG4BiAx/s1600-h/SDC10757.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicDNHYZlVbn4VXvGeI5lHj5hj7Yp_MKoHqdHwyEwb1HCrJeZ0NAp37fglTsTAxkq9oeERJv5PfwZWv3xLWdvJpCNfeUEHsBXVIO0_C-EPe68AvvzgipAcjO6eRy8UQJkG4BiAx/s320/SDC10757.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427461046892674194" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">I was so close to stealing this entire pot of syrup.</span><br /><br />Moving onto <span style="font-weight:bold;">May</span>, it was bound to be a better month than the last. Seriously, that syrup experience really soured my month! May was going to be sweet and syrupy. It was around this time that I began running. I don't know what got into me but the form of exercise that I previously dreaded suddenly became almost an addiction. It started off slow, real slow, as I gradually worked my way up to running 30+ minutes! I was loving it and the results I was seeing in my body was a nice motivation too. I began to use the Y more, ran indoors at the gym at work and on occasion, ran outside as well. I'm not as motivated to run outside to this day nor am I comfortable running with other people, but somehow a passion was ignited in me and I still continue with running on a smaller scale. My goal is to sign up for a 5k this spring and potentially a 10k next fall. <br />May also meant the annual slobberfest (or Lobsterfest for the sober few) in Thornbury! This was my first time attending and while the lobster was indeed delicious, the rest of it was a bit of a letdown. I am already in talks with a few renegade folks who want to ban together to have our own backyard lobsterfest this May! Me with the remains of my lobster below...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5pl3F1KcILxTOaOaQaNlkPb1q_Y8wjSoGd3o2uqocLm7eBSO2jLfbNQAM7neZ7wxGZmUmJJEbe6aK9NmcvDOfnAVRAOeELelGgjpbFa2IbdOGi2A07GiEJMhCRxHi-7XFFAk/s1600-h/SDC10884.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5pl3F1KcILxTOaOaQaNlkPb1q_Y8wjSoGd3o2uqocLm7eBSO2jLfbNQAM7neZ7wxGZmUmJJEbe6aK9NmcvDOfnAVRAOeELelGgjpbFa2IbdOGi2A07GiEJMhCRxHi-7XFFAk/s320/SDC10884.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427460094160972338" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">June</span> was here before we knew it and with it, our impending 2nd wedding anniversary! A couple of months prior, Ken and I were discussing our plans for our anniversary when I learned about an event the very same day that ranked almost as high as our anniversary on the importance scale! No Doubt was making their return with a summer tour and June 16, 2009 was the date of the Toronto concert. Fortunately Ken understands my marriage-like committment to this band (I've loved/followed them since I was 15) and when I scored 2 tickets in the second row centre at the ACC, he was more than happy to see me go. I of course offered him the second ticket along with my undying gratitude but he declined saying he wouldn't be able to appreciate it like he should and that I would be better taking someone who would. Who was that someone? None other than my travel companion and partner at a previous No Doubt show in 2004 in New Jersey - my mom! She was thrilled to go and sang along to many of the words to their more popular songs. It was a great night and the rush of seeing them that close after so many years was euphoric. They performed a seamless set of mainly hits as well as some oldies for the die-hard fans. The crowd was an interesting mix of young and old, parents, etc. It was a true reflection of the evolution of this band and how they've brought about new fans with each record. I should also mention that I had a ticket for the show on June 19th in Darien Lake. A bit of an impulse buy but I couldn't get enough when I found out they were going on tour after such a long hiatus! I travelled to the states with Annie and met up with George where we got a great standing position in the second row. It is incredible how tame the crowds were and the strange looks we received when we were dancing and jumping around to the music of our favourite band. Another impeccable set was delivered and we even caught a few glances from Tom and Gwen who (we convinced ourselves) might have recognized us from the Toronto show!? One can always dream. <br />Following that show, Annie dangled a big fat carrot in front of my face; an extra ticket to their recently added London show on June 30th. Had I known they were going to play London, I probably wouldn't have gone to Darien Lake as well. But being that London was close and the carrot was there, I had to take the bait. It was worth all the jeers I got from friends, coworkers and my mom. None of them really understand my passion for this band and all think that it's the same show over and over. I see it differently and would've been so disappointed if I passed up the ticket. So down to London we went on June 30th and coincidentally ran into Adrian the drummer at a nearby market. After an awkward convo and interaction, we went on our seperate ways. Our lovely friends John and George saved us spots against the barricades so that we could take it all in from the front row. Wow! What a way to go out. Did I mention it was front row centre!!? Again, the crowd was pretty tame except for when Gwen came near us. She was super involved with the crowd, coming into it to sing a couple of lines and bringing a fan on stage. They are a band that has a true appreciation for their fame and fans. It is so obvious they love what they do and the pull it off so well. There aren't many bands around from my era that you can say that about. I cannot wait to hear some new material in 2010 (hopefuly!). Afterwards, we waited by the buses and were lucky to meet and greet with Tom, the guitarist. He said he recognized us from the past few shows which was awesome! I am still kicking myself that we chose to go eat pizza when if we had've stayed, we would've met Gwen who came out to meet the crowd (something she apparently rarely does)<br />Here are a few favourite snaps from the 3 shows...hard to pick out of the hundreds I took.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAqFoCx1qNy2geT45xTIBGH6iKAqBINZTfnj7CNTFfLXPwyIm4lGc-DXEu07tlv-X2R-1oHRxfuJm6Z1vCpOQcL-S7nCeJlO839Ipfz_0R1fn1JI4fGk-2pRPmV-C4rqPOhYuO/s1600-h/SDC11024.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAqFoCx1qNy2geT45xTIBGH6iKAqBINZTfnj7CNTFfLXPwyIm4lGc-DXEu07tlv-X2R-1oHRxfuJm6Z1vCpOQcL-S7nCeJlO839Ipfz_0R1fn1JI4fGk-2pRPmV-C4rqPOhYuO/s320/SDC11024.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427457383762930482" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Gwen Stefani rockin' a serious 8-pack!</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuh3EG9RJebbTI3sBgPtbtp7UoncSzAj8FoVLuhX40DulTD-fNW7BlDQyK77UB-q_CqpE5DfldUsULmCXK3njOD1zhTAZywCCzOPPAJItaPTxTocu_WEcNOM9yYxRHnVkd979W/s1600-h/SDC11076.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuh3EG9RJebbTI3sBgPtbtp7UoncSzAj8FoVLuhX40DulTD-fNW7BlDQyK77UB-q_CqpE5DfldUsULmCXK3njOD1zhTAZywCCzOPPAJItaPTxTocu_WEcNOM9yYxRHnVkd979W/s320/SDC11076.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427457895804729186" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Hey Baby Hey Baby Hey</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFGCqyHfKmf9JD2sL5cDENZsUq0xuJ2VUcKZdJ_I6GBs19BS-k6pG7fAnPaCyPNLnnO2Fm9L30VK9-uDrDTk3uxlcIfDttQG6KhILBgDtyPxouZFGizNFHNpe06uFpg9UbnDAd/s1600-h/SDC11302.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFGCqyHfKmf9JD2sL5cDENZsUq0xuJ2VUcKZdJ_I6GBs19BS-k6pG7fAnPaCyPNLnnO2Fm9L30VK9-uDrDTk3uxlcIfDttQG6KhILBgDtyPxouZFGizNFHNpe06uFpg9UbnDAd/s320/SDC11302.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427458466919617058" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">My favourite band in the entire universe</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvFHN92mYVz6XimRy-Iq02ODtkkCPRZgqBWtHBVGwwk0cAs7ujGxlc7slVNR1zUK9wYUw84rYT_GeO3bi7KE2vnQyMd4Jiu6mxSJkmjxtNDV76Ex3GOxFyYxnk5EjedWYQlhID/s1600-h/SDC11335.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvFHN92mYVz6XimRy-Iq02ODtkkCPRZgqBWtHBVGwwk0cAs7ujGxlc7slVNR1zUK9wYUw84rYT_GeO3bi7KE2vnQyMd4Jiu6mxSJkmjxtNDV76Ex3GOxFyYxnk5EjedWYQlhID/s320/SDC11335.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427459216518948450" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Die hards stand front row centre! Annie, George, John and ME!</span><br /><br />It is also worth mentioning my anniversary with Ken since we didn't celebrate on the actual day. 2 years of marriage have flown by and this year we dined at Azzurra to mark the occasion while enjoying a nice bottle of wine we brought home from South Africa which they allowed us to drink at the restaurant! mmmm...deeelish!<br /><br />Another thing worth noting was our attempt at sandboarding near Roz's parents house in Tiny Beach Township. Across from their beachfront house is a huge sand dune that we always said we'd sand board on and boy did we make dreams reality! Hilarity ensued and sand went errrverywhere as Ty would say. Here's some photographic evidence of the action. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdAf8JJhKQQFGl2qlRKqihFn3VSSAlNMkl-qjf4WmDDlSjpchZ1XmAqqDSDqMbJfVW1EWf5GcBOwdmW8CApy_FJOKSKaqUqewRguh4A8IlSFGiCBVE5jgW_zQHuYM_ySM0cF92/s1600-h/SDC10942.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdAf8JJhKQQFGl2qlRKqihFn3VSSAlNMkl-qjf4WmDDlSjpchZ1XmAqqDSDqMbJfVW1EWf5GcBOwdmW8CApy_FJOKSKaqUqewRguh4A8IlSFGiCBVE5jgW_zQHuYM_ySM0cF92/s320/SDC10942.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427462995844936370" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Safety first Roz! </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRuzUKQo9g_r0yaWYOpulwUvsp5bmt_AQyN3OG5KTCp5FQM4-PhXgg-Mc3dI5sJqOunosP1czFObEn-mYi7nSmWFboOekcmpVOSL2gx5DdfDXQsqJ7Tda3larRbJil1WN4VB9/s1600-h/SDC10959.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRuzUKQo9g_r0yaWYOpulwUvsp5bmt_AQyN3OG5KTCp5FQM4-PhXgg-Mc3dI5sJqOunosP1czFObEn-mYi7nSmWFboOekcmpVOSL2gx5DdfDXQsqJ7Tda3larRbJil1WN4VB9/s320/SDC10959.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427463458576748738" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Welcome to Dodgetown</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigstis0Cmlkjg5hminI35gE6nV0KHD3vyA1oZS8Z8eqmq2buYVeDOs9FfnOwmaenxnkaJVqSY0j-dh1AwrLVmn-MV7rILNgH7k35LeZgvkzB2zko_aduif8B_n5TYUmzpwHekq/s1600-h/SDC10953.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigstis0Cmlkjg5hminI35gE6nV0KHD3vyA1oZS8Z8eqmq2buYVeDOs9FfnOwmaenxnkaJVqSY0j-dh1AwrLVmn-MV7rILNgH7k35LeZgvkzB2zko_aduif8B_n5TYUmzpwHekq/s320/SDC10953.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427463764422878834" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Shreddin' the slopes</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKBMT0noQpsZSkX1RS-hdwBRWqhUjtQSjiWY4327PTRlQ8zU3bMfDfZLt2RtD50wHHrNP5JFVcBBPsotVJ0CDqhG2Y8JAK67jEPjcvUydcbnyPimiGh4_nCK9pWMShziUaIJAd/s1600-h/SDC10976.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKBMT0noQpsZSkX1RS-hdwBRWqhUjtQSjiWY4327PTRlQ8zU3bMfDfZLt2RtD50wHHrNP5JFVcBBPsotVJ0CDqhG2Y8JAK67jEPjcvUydcbnyPimiGh4_nCK9pWMShziUaIJAd/s320/SDC10976.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427464104398559650" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Enjoying some apres!</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xcwaLEosL3CKiQxZQfNU9YZnTE05HVaoOIWjRBAD9RqlRcJpBwxNh9quz3-inBndzIEnvVqcNRPeQhaesTkMxv3TYpFlxATnG3Subbj04ZshpYKHSjLY5SZra08ehPAuo0lK/s1600-h/SDC10966.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xcwaLEosL3CKiQxZQfNU9YZnTE05HVaoOIWjRBAD9RqlRcJpBwxNh9quz3-inBndzIEnvVqcNRPeQhaesTkMxv3TYpFlxATnG3Subbj04ZshpYKHSjLY5SZra08ehPAuo0lK/s320/SDC10966.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427464578427037554" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Soaking in some rays</span>julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-59496243855980802372009-12-12T10:25:00.000-08:002009-12-12T10:52:41.090-08:00Day 1The day that we've been waiting for has finally arrived. The million dollar question around town has been answered. And it couldn't have started any better. I'm talking about opening day at Blue Mountain! Bluebird skies, great conditions and a general buzz of excitement and anticipation added up to an epic first day on the slopes at the resort. <br />There is a feeling I get in the pit of my stomach as I approach the resort each year on opening day. It's kind of a mixture between the feeling you get on a first date with someone you're stoked on and the feeling of being on a rollercoaster, creeping to the top of the hill just before you plummet into some loop-de-loops! Each year I question whether I'll remember how to snowboard (still after 7 years!) much like you might on a first date, anticipating a first kiss. I couldn't wipe the smile from my face as I approached the hill, strapped into my board and loaded the chairlift like it was something I'd been doing since birth. After a successful chairlift load and unload at the top, I was feeling confident and pumped to shred some first tracks. Nearing the edge of the hill, I pointed my board downhill and went in for the kiss. In an instant, it all came back to me. With every turn, my smile grew wider and I couldn't help but let out a little squeal of joy! I'm reminded of why I live here. Why it's worth all the white-knuckled winter driving and shoveling the driveway. In this moment, it's just me and the wide open hill in a full-on embrace. I'm oblivious to other skiers and boarders around me as I find my rhythm and let my board do its thing. I connect with the snow, get closer and more comfortable as my edge grabs the slope. As I reach the bottom of the hill, I quickly snap back into reality, jump in line and do it all over again. This is my makeout session.<br />Today renewed an energy in me as I enter my third winter working at BMR. There are so many highlights to come, hills to be shredded and smiles to share. Here's to 09/10 at Blue Mountain!julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1168278814094533392007-01-08T09:10:00.000-08:002007-01-08T09:53:35.190-08:00week end reviewI feel like I always start my blog entries off with something like this "it has been WAY too long since i've updated this thing..."<br />okay, so i'm a crappy blogger. not sure anyone actually reads this thing anyway, but either way, on with another much delayed post.<br />in an attempt to muster up some creative juices to write my now annual "year end review" which i've had no motivation to write (maybe i'll get to it by march...that would fit my bi-monthly entry schedule on this bloggy thing), i thought i'd start small and (inspired by liz) write my "week end review". that's right, we've just seen the end of the first week of '07 and here's my report. i don't expect to have the discipline or drive to keep up with this on a weekly basis, but maybe it will be the springboard i need for my '06 year end review. we'll see. let's start.<br />new years eve (although technically still 2006, it began the week and is worthy of a mention) was spent debaucherously as per us at our old hood, cranberry. steph and ty packed their condo way past capacity yet again and we celebrated with friends old and new but all of whom were drunk. good times. games were played (flip cup!) and created (drinko!) and my involuntary attempt to consume alcohol from all four categories (beer, wine, hard liquor, champagne) was ....successful!??! i don't know if that's the right word to describe it as my delayed hangover the next day would probably suggest i was feeling anything but successful. either way, it was a blast and i'm looking forward to being in steph and ty's new house - wherever that may be - next year. at least taht will once and for all get the cranberry rent-a-cops off our ass for having a party on new years (this year set a record at 11:15pm for the first arrival of security, reporting noise complaints. COME ON!!!)<br />monday, or new years day as one can imagine, was a little rough for not only me but our house guests. persevering in line for 1/2 an hour, we dined at a local greasy spoon (craigleith general store) which tamed the hangover slightly. by 3pm though, i must've sobered up finally because the hangover hit HARD! it's such a burn when you wake up surprisingly feeling decent - not great, i mean i wouldn't go run a marathon or anything, BUT it was nice to not feel like death - only to feel like a bag of assholes by midday. it's like a cruel joke your body plays on you. mentally i'm feelin' great and then a few hours later it's like, "SIKE!!!! just kidding!! you're not doing shit today because i'm going to induce nausea on you for the rest of the day!!!" for those who know me, know that i don't do nausea well...or at all. i'm going to suck at being pregnant one day.<br />anyway, on with the week. tuesday i caught up with my friend kristen from calgary who i haven't seen since summer. she got the standard tour of the new house and we chatted and played catch up for a few hours before having lunch at my favorite collingwood restaurant, tesoro. it's so nice to be able to walk to these places now that we live closer to downtown. makes it feel like cranberry was SO far!!! in a small town though, nothing is really very far. becauase of the nice weather though, i've been able to get out for a few decent walks - the highlight of my day (yeah, i know, not much is going on these days!!). after heading back to her parents' house which is just around the corner from mine, we had some coffee and cookies (yum!) and i headed back home to find my sick fiance in bed. supposed to be at work, he came home early with a head cold. i hope that he's just nursing an extended hangover as it's only a matter of time before i catch his cold if that's indeed what it was. turns out, he spends the next two days in bed with either the worlds longest hangover, or a case of the local bug that's been spreading. i think we can mark this as the first time ken has been sick that i haven't caught it!!! miracles!<br />wednesday i spent taking care of ken and i walked pingu all the way down to starbucks and back - for those who don't know, that's like 16 blocks - a record for pingu! she started to get tired on teh walk back and i felt kind of bad for having walked her so far, but exercise is good and the fresh air was nice. i told myself today would be the day i finally go back to the gym and being my only mission for the day, i failed miserably. brutal. instead, i eat more christmas cookies. i still have 5 months to fit into my wedding dress, no big deal, right?!? the best part about today was watching the canadian junior hockey team beat the US and move onto the gold medal game on friday. WAHOO!!! it was a brutal nailbiter with 7 rounds of shoot outs...i never scream at the tv during sports - what's the point - but i was full on cursing and yelling at them during this time. so good that they won!<br />thursday was the day i had my one and only bar shift for the week. doubly brutal. this no snow thing is killing the resort which now this week goes down to 18% capacity. ouch! i guess i shouldn't have been surprised then when i got the new schedule for this week and i wasn't even on it!!! yikes!!! unless it snows, i'll be doing this housewife thing longer than i'd hoped. unfortunately it doesn't pay so great. hmmm.... thankfully thursday was a half decent night on the bar witht he holiday crowd doing not much but shopping and eating. i now have to ration my wages/tips over the next week and a half. ugh.<br />friday i did lunch with my mom which was nice since we hadn't seen eachother since christmas day. good catch up and the best part was when she invited me on a trip to NYC in september!!! she had planned to go anyway to see a US open game and her travel partner bailed so i get to go in her place. pretty sweet, escpecially since my mom is donating her air miles to fly her charity case po' ass daughter down. yay!!! hopefully i'll be employed by then. we went down together a few years ago for my first trip to the city and i can't wait to go again. so much we missed last time can be covered this time. AND i get to see a US open game live. i'm not the biggest tennis fan, but it should be pretty cool to see that caliber of a game in person. i'm hoping we'll get to a broadway show too and definitely want to hit up cold stone creamery, century 21 and the newest craze in ice cream (leave it to me to be on top of this stuff!) pinkberry (pinkberry.com). <br />friday was also great because the canadian junior hockey team WON GOLD!! this team rocks and is truly a display of canada's extreme talent in the sport of hockey. very exciting. <br />the weekend was declared as a weekend to do nothing as ken wasn't up to much and wanted to fully recover. as was his wish, pretty much nothing was accomplished. except however, we finihsed story mode on tony hawk underground2 for ps2. it was much to our dismay though when we went ot save the finished game and something crashed and we lost all of our progress. if you're a gamer, a geek or just have an appreciation for hours of work lost (yes, i consider video games "work"...it doesn't pay either though. boo urns) it was truly frustrating!!! i was grumpy. we drank wine.<br />other than that, i DID make it back to the gym on saturday and got my ass whooped. i am SO out of shape having missed a week and a half of work outs and doing nothign but pure binging. we went sunday again too for a swim and after 20 laps, i called it quits. better than nothing.<br />and that was my week.<br />pretty uneventful. all you working folk who wish you could do nothing during the day, rest assured knowing you're not missing out. having a real, stable career must be nice. <br />i should mention that i'm not sitting idle though - i've been job hunting every day to no avail. this town sucks for jobs and with 1300 lay offs at the resort and more factories slated to close, it will be a big pool of unemployed fish that i need to vie with for a new job. <br />wish me luck! hopefully i'll get around to the year end review pretty soon and guaranteed it will be more exciting than this entry becuase '06 was a pretty great year!julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1163634753732067252006-11-15T15:34:00.000-08:002006-11-15T15:52:33.770-08:00Reflectionswow! how did the rest of september, all of october and half of november fly by just like that?!? i can't believe i've been so negligent with posting but can understand why.<br />i've been juggling a few things lately, feeling a bit like a circus clown and unsure of what lies ahead. i know many others my age and personal friends can echo that statement with their own uncertainties about life in general and the direction they're heading. there are certain stresses that are manageable and easier to handle than others and then there's those that present unanswered questions and just plain make you rack your brain for answers. <br />the biggest of all at the moment i guess is the sale of our condo. after 3 months (short 2 weeks) on the market and no bites, it's beginning to get frustrating and old. scratch that - it began to get irritating weeks ago and now we're pretty much desperate, ready to unload to anyone who is willing to make a half decent offer. spread the word kids, this is one hot commodity!!! we were suppose to be in our new house at the end of this month and in an act of desperation, have asked our builder to extend the closing date on our new house another week, putting us in there dec.7. i wish i could say i was excited about this but we haven't had a chance because of this looming condo sale - it's kind of killed the experience of being involved and excited about a brand new house.<br />that's not all that's bugging me though. i kind of feel like the end of this month marks a bit of an apocolypse in my life. maybe tha'ts a bit over dramatic and extreme but i'm feeling very unsure about certain things in my life and what happens next remains a mystery. if i can help it, my hard work will pay off though and things will work out - they always do, right?!?! right. <br />the one thing i can be sure of though is that i've got a great support network. it's so comforting to know that i have close friends, my mom and ken who care tremendously and wish me the best and that they've all got my back, no matter what happens.<br />for now, i'm relying on that to get me through this stressful time and as 2006 comes to a close on a not so good note, it can only mean better things for '07 and a fresh positive start.julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1157644184306463732006-09-07T08:37:00.000-07:002006-09-07T08:49:44.346-07:00The Soundtrack to my LifeMusic is such a big part of who I am and I love the way it evokes emotion.<br />The way this works is you put on iTunes, press shuffle and for each part of the "movie" of your life, you enter the song that's playing.<br />Simple!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blacktextnb10"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Opening Credits:<br /><br />"Mud Football" Jack Johnson<br /><br />Waking up:<br /><br />"Danger Zone" Gwen Stefani<br /><br />Falling in Love:<br /><br />"This Years Love" David Gray (how appropriate!)<br /><br /><br />Fight Scene:<br /><br />"d'artagnan's theme" Citizen Cope<br /><br />Breaking Up:<br /><br />"What Sarah Said" Death Cab for Cutie<br /><br />Life's Okay:<br /><br />"Barrel of a Gun" Guster<br /><br />Mental Breakdown:<br /><br />"Freakshow" Pietasters<br /> <br />Driving:<br /><br />"Dry your Eyes" The Streets<br /><br />Flashbacks:<br /><br />"Hot Damn" The Salads<br /><br />Happy Dance:<br /><br />"Black Rain" Ben Harper<br /><br />Regretting:<br /><br />"Penelope" Pinback<br /><br />Final Battle:<br /><br />"Handkercheif" The Gadjits<br /><br />Death Scene:<br /><br />"Problems" Bran Van 3000<br /><br />End Credits:<br /><br />"F.O.D." Green Day<br /><br /></span></span></span>julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1156714869575171562006-08-27T14:13:00.000-07:002006-08-27T14:41:09.600-07:00home sweet homei'm starting to feel more and more grown up these days and realizing that i am indeed in my mid-twenties, doing mid-twenty like things. if i thought getting married was a big step, that's a walk in the park compared to our latest stunt.<br />today, we listed our condo and tomorrow it will be up on mls.ca<br />wow.<br />we'll officially be in home #2/"our very first freaking house" on november 28* sweet 8 pound five ounce baby jesus! not only is it a new home for us to live in marital bliss and make babies (that thought also conjurs up a "holy crap"!!)....eventually, but at the moment it's a patch of dirt. makes me a little nervous, but ken has convinced me that everything i see on "holmes on homes" won't happen to us and has thus turned my nerves to feelings of excitement and anticipation. <br />but seriously. saturdays will now be spent at the home depot (ken's heaven, opening oct.'06 in c'wood - i know this only because he plans to take the day off work and go on a massive building/shopping spree and it's marked in big red letters on the calendar) browsing the cupboard aisle and picking from the palettes of floor stain. if there's enough time we might even hit up a little bed bath and beyond - i just don't know if there will be time.** it's pretty daunting and way grown up but it will be worth it in the long run once we have paint chips and blueprints on paper to color on the 3 dimensional wall.<br />i think if our house were to be listed on mls.ca it would sound a litlte something like this:<br />a charming but modern raised bungalow in the heart of town, located minutes walking distance from the main street and schools (this translates into "stumbling distance from downtown bars and restaurants for those nights hwen you're too drunk and cheap to drive or get a cab). set on a deep, but narrow lot, this brand new building is surrounded by age old character and big huge trees (i don't know what kind they actually are, just that they're big...and huge). 2 bedrooms and an open concept living space with plenty of natural light complements the hardwood flooring and modern design touches. the couple living here have smashing taste in decor and have done an excellent job making this space cozy, clean and cool....they must rock. the main selling feature is the heated floors in the ensuite bath. perfect for nights when your feet reach hypothermic temperatures and they need a little help with circulation and blood flow (if you experience chest pains, vomitting, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness or seizures, please consult your physician. heated floors are not recommended for everyone, especially those with a history of heart disease, stroke and perpetual diarrhea. ask your doctor if heated floors are right for you). <br /><br />thankfully, i'm free of those medical conditions and plan to make the heated floor my hotspot (no pun intended) of the house. in fact, i may just stash a sleeping bag under the counter for those nights hwen it's really really really really really really really really really cold. <br />ken assures me this won't happen though because of our new high efficiency furnace, top quality insulation and programmable thermostat. <br />see? i am grown up...or just dorky. who knew that thermostats and furnaces could get me going? wow. big. freaking. grown up. dork.<br /><br />*barring any unforeseen obstacles/untimely injuries/illnesses/constant diarrhea by our builder, joe. in the event of a postponed closing date/move in...well, we're f'd and you'll probably hear us knockin' on your door looking for a couch to crash on - don't worry, it's only temporary<br />**kudos to anyone who got that reference! do you think kfc is still open?!?julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1154049893543913672006-07-27T17:47:00.000-07:002006-08-09T12:02:11.106-07:00let's go kick some boxI felt the need to share with you my latest obsession. So much so that I'm dedicating an entire blog entry to it. Although, if you know me, I'll probably stray onto other unrelated topics at some point, but first, let's get to it: kickboxing.<br />Have you ever experienced a workout "high"?!? I never thought that was for me and thought people who got off on working out were nuts. I would far rather spend an evening on the couch killing time with the tube than burning fat and sweating my (figurative) balls off in a stinky gym. I have had a pretty consistent workout regime since we returned from our trip and am overall happy with my level of committment to the gym, but it wasn't until I laced up those gloves (okay, they're actually velcro, but lacing makes me sound tough!) that I got excited about working out. This class is non-stop hardcore punching, jabbing, hooking and kicking action. I have never sweat so hard or worked so hard with exercise, unless of course you count the 5 times I participated in the "double time" action of billy blanks and his tae bo vids! For real though, punching a bag unleashes so much stress and aggression that you don't even notice the scowl on your face untnil you're done - and totally relaxed. Perhaps I'm confusing that feeling with the sensation of wanting to pass out, but regardless, it feels pretty damn good.<br />The last time I went I had a bag all to myself (usually you share with 1 or 2 people, giving you a rest between sequences/reps) and before i knew it, it felt like i had holes in my lungs and bloody knuckles! You just keep going and are so focused that you don't realize how much harder you're working.<br />So bring it on boys and girls!!! I'm a mean mean kickboxing machine.julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1150745801823737542006-06-19T11:54:00.000-07:002006-08-09T09:49:07.826-07:00adrenaline rushesSo I'm pretty sure the theme for last week was adventure. A little wakeboarding, a little off-road hummer driving and a bit of trespassing on a suspension bridge rounded out my week.<br />Wednesday I got up bright and early but it was well worth it as a few rogers folk and I headed up to muskoka for a wakeboarding lesson to be aired on our respective shows. Having never done this before, I was a little nervous and my fear of water was definitely looming, however I got over that pretty quick. We got to ride on glass - lake rosseau (sound familiar? Goldie Hawn and Eric Lindros have a cottage there...to name drop a few) - under the hot hot sun sans wetsuits. Yeah, it was a touch take-your-breath-away-cold upon entry, but once we were behind the boat and working to get up on that board, the blood was flowing and my adrenaline was sky high. What a thrill. I got up second try to my complete shock (apparently in the footage I've got a total look of disbelief on my face!) but fell quite soon after. No worries because I was able to get up every time after that and managed to hold on for a while during one run. It was completely invigorating and I'm so addicted. Luckily - or unluckily, depending on how you look at it - I got to ride on completely new equipment and behind a sweet boat that the pros use. Yeah, I later realized that my instructor and his posse were all wakeboard champs - those kind of observers combined with my "performance" being taped.....no pressure! I say unluckily because all that gear and the boat with a tower could only have made it easier for me to adjust to this new sport and I can't be spoiled like that all the time when I go out wakeboarding - especially since I don't have a boat!!! Definitely a fun day and something I can't wait to try again.<br />Thursday, my body was beyond aching - wow, what a workout from the day before! However, it was another early start and up to blue for my offroad hummer training. I know, just picture it - me behind the wheel of a hummer. Kind of a joke, I know, but it's something I might be doing this summer - shuttleing people to the top of the mountain for off-road hummer training. The other two guys doing it both have hummer driving experience - one from being in the military and the other from another hummer driving company so I was definitley the rookie of the bunch. It wasn't long before I was behind the wheel and touring us to the top, driving like a grandma no less. I think this thing is about double the width of my echo. I soon learned that was nothing compared to the rock and log piles I would be driving over in the off road course, not to mention the steep angles - both horizontally and vertically - I would be putting this monstrous machine on. Now, normally this kind of thing doesn't jive well with my environmentally friendly attitude and practises, but the owner of hte company, Andrew is in fact an environmentalist himself with a lot of the same beliefs and mis-conceptions as I have/had. Turns out, he's part of an organization for off roaders called "tread lightly" which practises environmentally sound off road trips. And while the exhaust is still not the greatest, he's working on getting bio-diesel which has less harmful emissions. As for erosion and that sort of thing, it's no worse than the impact people have from hiking/biking on well travelled trails and if you're smart about it, you can do it in such a way that's less harmful to the earth. So I like that and I feel a lot better about it. Still a bit nervous about taking tourists up there, but i'm sure i'll be fine and they'll have a blast.<br />The afternoon of thursday was spent doing a soar event - super chill, on the patio of indian, basking in the sun. I think I've reached my sun quota for the season already....yikes, better lather on the sunscreen.<br />Friday morning was - yet again - friggin' early. This is a trend that certainly will not be continuing! However, it wasn't so bad as we got to go for breakfast at Oliver and Bonacini - super swanky! I definitely felt out of place in my board shorts, messy hair and general beach bum look. Whatever, it was delicious. Then it was up to scenic caves where ty and I had to set a course for soar - this time instead of being amazing race themed, it was more of a survivor theme. Scenic caves is nothing but steep slopes and rocky hills surrounded by lush forest and..poison ivy. Now, I know you think you know where this story is going, but thankfully I was able to avoid the itchy stuff...that would've been disatrous. Mildly disastrous could have explained the situation we found ourselves in though while setting up. We got to one side of the suspension bridge and had planned to cross it so we could set up our next station on the other side. However, since it was still pretty early, I guess they hadn't opened the gate on the bridge yet. Hmm...no sweat, there was a decent sized gap between the bottom of the gate and the bridge itself so without hesitation, we snuck under and begun to cross. I always kind of thought the bridge was hokey and something better suited to a costa rican rainforest than the side of the escarpment, but once we were on, I was actually scared - wtf!?!? Top that with the fact htat we weren't suppose to be on the bridge and I was friggin' scared! Not sure what would've happened if we got busted - I guess we'll never know. We got to the other side and slid under no problem and by the end of the day we had crossed that damn thing 3 times. And why is it when you tell someone you're scared, they emphasize it by making you more scared?!? Like, tyler just couldn't resist jumping up and down while we crossed and while I cursed loudly. Jackass....<br />It was quite the week and to finish it off, I was in the bay twice on saturday and yesterday we went mountain biking at the top of georgian peaks in loree forest. i even jumped some logs that i normally would've walked my bike over! I should probably slow 'er down before I do something stupid and hurt myself but i'm just not ready yet.julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1148346710328701782006-05-22T17:47:00.000-07:002006-05-22T18:13:24.706-07:00may "poo" fouri sure hope this past victoria day weekend was not a sign of things to come for the summer's many glorious 3 day weekends. which makes it funny that i get all heated about this because working in the service industry, long weekends are your golden opportunity to cash in on tourist dollars and not so much my time off. but i love my time outside and this weekend drew very few tourists due to the crappy weather.<br />i'm pretty sure that before i left for my trip i made a deal with mother nature guaranteeing no weather below temperatures we experienced overseas upon our return. that meant a balmy 15 degrees was reasonable, but a more bearable and enjoyable 25 degrees would be a warm welcome - no pun intended. what we got yesterday couldnt' be further from that with snow in nearby areas!!! SNOW! WTF?!? unless i can ride on it, snow is nothing but a nuisance and at this time of year it drew a few curse words from our mouths. i guess it's mother nature's way of trying to be loud and clear about all the abuse she's suffered at the hand of ignorant human beings polluting the earth.<br />this weekend was definitely one to cuddle on the couch under blankets, light some candles and eat soup while watching movies. and that we did - flashback to winter 2005!! our house is sitting at a frigid 10 degrees, much too cold to muster up motivation to do much else than the above mentioned. it was a pretty unproductive weekend all in all, aside from some work and a shoot I had to do at the mountain.<br />went to the gym today and never thought i would say it, but i am loving the gym. moreso, i'm loving the effects i'm feelign from the gym. it's the first time in forever that i've actually been motivated to workout on a regular basis and it feels great. not only are my clothes fitting more loosely, but i feel energized and see a noticeable difference mentally and physically when i don't go. hopefully this will be the start of a new gym rat julie and by the time i'm ready to walk down the aisle, i can do it with confidence! not that i wouldn't now, but i'd feel a lot better about having 100 people staring at me if my body was better proportioned (i.e., less ass/leg/waist!!!) everyone has their flaws about their bodies and even though our self perception is generally an exagerrated image of the real deal, i'd feel better all around with a few less inches.<br />speaking of the wedding, not much planning has taken place aside from the date and location beign locked in - with a large down payment might i add! ouch. beyond that, the most planning happens while i'm asleep in the form of paranoid dreams about not finding the right dress or shopping for one the day before the big day! more than a year away and i'm already getting anxiety about this!?!? most of the dreams revolve around the dress which i'm pretty sure translates into my quest for the perfect dress. if you know me, you'll know that i will not settle for any ordinary bejewelled/bedazzled frock with frills down the train. no no no....it has to be original and gorgeous with just the right amount of character. this quest should be interesting... let the shopping begin!julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1146757998852715952006-05-04T08:25:00.000-07:002006-05-05T08:28:18.920-07:00say cheese!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/trek%20waterfall1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/trek%20waterfall1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />one of many waterfalls in northern thailand<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/jules%20tori.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/jules%20tori.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />tori gates in tokyo<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/tribes%20woman.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/tribes%20woman.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />fishing for snails in thailand<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/takeshita2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/takeshita2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />takeshita street - harajuku<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/tian%20tan%20close%20up.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/tian%20tan%20close%20up.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />tian tan buddha in hong kong<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/defeated.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/defeated.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />a muay thai fighter - post defeat<br />(he was knocked out cold by a<br />canadian fighter!!!)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/stairwell.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/stairwell.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />a stairwell in tokyo<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/rainforest%20tuk%20tuk.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/rainforest%20tuk%20tuk.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />our thai guide "tuk tuk"<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/monk%20temple.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/monk%20temple.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />at the doi suthep temple in chiang mai<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/mother%20and%20child.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/mother%20and%20child.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />woman and child<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/ken%20night%20train.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/ken%20night%20train.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />i love this pic - my fiance on the night train<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/juleshat.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/juleshat.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />wacky hat...only in tokyo!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/ken%20hong%20kong%20island.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/ken%20hong%20kong%20island.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />ken and the hong kong island skyline<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/hill%20tribe%20sunrise.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/hill%20tribe%20sunrise.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />sunrise in the hill tribe villages of thailand<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/jackpot%21.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/jackpot%21.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />jackpot!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/fanta%20at%20chalok%20lum.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/fanta%20at%20chalok%20lum.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />ken at chalok lum beach<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/causeway%20bay%20crowd.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/causeway%20bay%20crowd.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />crazy ass crowds in hong kong<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/haad%20khom%20beach.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/haad%20khom%20beach.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />paradise...haad khom beach in thailand<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/ladyboys%20and%20ladies.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/ladyboys%20and%20ladies.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />ladyboys...and ladies :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/easter%20peace.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/easter%20peace.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />EVERYone gives the peace sign in hong kong!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/chalok%20lum%20beach.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/chalok%20lum%20beach.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />chalok lum....where we got engaged<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/blossompond5.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/blossompond5.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />tokyo in bloom<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/best%20trek%20group%20ever.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/best%20trek%20group%20ever.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />our trek group in thailand....awesomejulie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1146155737636593772006-04-27T09:09:00.000-07:002006-04-27T09:35:37.726-07:00back to life, back to realityso a week back and already i'm not liking this "real world" everyone speaks of. it's not just the mental readjustment that i'm having trouble with, but my body isn't happy either - fever, chills, nausea, dizziness, cough, cold - looks like i got a good souvenier from my trip....bird flu?!? let's hope not! pretty sure it's more than just jet lag though. <br />off to the doctors today to figure this all out and though we were in contact with live chickens and roosters on our trip, i'm pretty sure that if there was any risk at all, they wouldn't have tourists trapsing through these villages infested with live poultry. at least that's what i tell myself so i can sleep at night. hmmm....<br />it has indeed been difficult getting used to being home - the food, the weather, the pace - it's all so sub par!!! i'm convinced us westerners have got it all wrong. <br />the last part of our trip was great. hong kong is an intense but amazing city, definitely worth a visit, but not for the faint of heart or those of the passive persuasion! it's absolutley every man, woman and child for themselves and you'd better hope your elbows are braced before you take on the busy streets. it's insane, but we managed to get used to it towards the end, merging in and out of the crowds with ease...well, somewhat! the mong kok/temple street market waspretty cool and the prices were a welcome relief from the rest of the not-for-a-budget-backpacker-city. we picked up our last few souveniers and worked our haggling skills. fun fun. dinner was once again at a thai restaurant and yet again, the food wasn't even comparable to the real stuff, but we could resist a comfort meal! funny how thai food became comfort food....delicious. our last night we ate dinner at a japanese restaurant (i know, i know..."when in hong kong...") and ate sushi from a conveyor belt of rotating sashimi, edamame (finally!) AND, get this....california rolls! i was just happy to have a taste of avocado...it had been way too long and they definitley skimped on the good stuff in my california roll, but hey, i got a taste. in fact, later on, we found a supermarket with all the food faves from home (including ice cream!!) and i couldnt' resist purchasing an avocado and slicing it open at the food court, eating it on its' own. well boy, did i ever get a few weird stares from nearby diner's...."is she actually eating that?!? plain!?!? yuck!" of course a few of the same things could have been said about their cuisine choices, but we were used to the plates of snails and bowls of still-moving meals...i'm not even kidding. <br />thanks to our lonely planet book (aka, the bible) we took a couple of walking tours of different districts on the island and got very opposing perspectives of this vast city. there is so much to see and yet again, we only saw a fraction in the short time we were there.<br />our last day was spent packing and heading out to lantau island - toward the airport - and though it was only about half an hour away, it felt like we were in another world. the island itself seems fairly uninhabited (this is relative to the rest of hong kong keep in mind) with the exception of a penetentiary overlooking the ocean to one side and lush green hills to the other (tough life, eh?!?) and, the purpose of our visit, the po lin monestary with the tian tan buddha statue. its' supposedly the largest outdoor buddha statue and well, it was definitely huge! very cool and a nice way to spend our last day. the drive to and from the temple was a sketchy one. by this point though, the winding one lane roads and extreme inclines and descents barely phased us - we have definitley become passive passengers when it comes to those situations...and i thought highway 26 was bad! it's a walk in the park compared to these crazy roads. <br />the flight home was more or less uneventful with the exception of a 1 hour 40 minute delay (long story, not worth re-telling) and a pushy old lady beside me who thought she should be entitled to half my seat as well as her own. ugh....made the long flight even longer and we were happy to be on home soil once we finally landed. <br />this trip was one of a lifetime and the travel bug has definitley bitten in a bad way. i'm already itching to go back and spend more time in the places we loved. we did so much in such little time and i will remember and cherish every single moment.<br />next big trip is one down the aisle!julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1145269409880767682006-04-17T03:09:00.000-07:002006-04-17T03:23:30.146-07:00the engagementit's been so long...i've been neglegent with this thing. easy to do when you're having the time of your life. not to mention the sky high prices for internet on the popular tourist island of koh samui in thailand. <br />the real magic happens on koh phangan though. and i'm not talking about the infamous full moon party (of which we had absolutely nothing to do with), but the nightly shows the sky puts on - heat lightening. wow. it was during one of these shows, with the power out (but no rain) that ken proposed. whoa! i was blown away and because it was so dark i guess he couldnt' see my facial expression - jaw dropped, eyes popping out of head - and i was just in such shock that i didnt' respond at first. i mean, obviously my answer was "yes" but he couldnt' see the sheer excitement and shock on my face and wasn't able to read that answer based on my expression. so i guess after a few painful moments, he was like "is that a yes"....and of course it was.<br />i couldnt' be happier and it couldn't have been more perfect. chalok lum beach on koh phangan is on the northern part of the island and is basically a little sleepy fishing village. we had a cool beachfront bungalow where i spent a lot of time in the hammock - i still think i have the mesh imprint tattooed on my back!<br />our time on the beach was spent mostly relaxing - which was a nice break from our hectic busy schedules in previous cities. it was nice to take a breather and really soak it all in. and that we did...i've got a mean tan right now, but being in hong kong and having to cover up cause it's freezing (actaully only a balmy 18-20 degrees), i'm afraid it might lose it's darkness. <br />most of our days on the thailand islands of phangan and samui were spent chilling and trying to stay cool - it's blazing hot there and cold showers were a must several times a day. none of our places had AC, but we did have fans, which were blasting on us as often as possible. fruit shakes were a good way to cool down too and the freshness of them....amazing. we indulged in several thai massages - 5 dollars for an hour - and my first one was definitely the best massage i've ever had. no "happy endings" here (thank god!) but they did come dangerously close to private regions....yikes! other than the aformentioned private regions, pretty much none of your body goes untouched by these people with magic hands. i could seriously go for one right now.<br />right now we are in hong kong. did i mention it was cold? i thought i was done with long pants and sweaters after we left tokyo? speaking of which, this place resembles tokyo quite a bit. large volumes of people crowd sidewalks, except teh difference here is that people in general have no concept of personal space. it's hard to get used to and you just have to be aggressive. it's generally a pretty clean city with signs posted everywhere informing people of the penalties for littering and spitting. yuck. the food is something we're not so sure about. first of all, vegetarian food is hard to come by in authentic chinese restaurants and the meat looks questionable at some places where they display all the chickens adn fish on ice outside. hmmm....we've stuck to ramen noodles for the first couple of meals and have definitely had our fill of MSG! yikes. definitely missing the food in thailand....delicious curry and pad thai....my mouth is watering.<br />tonight we're off to the night market in mong kok - hoping to exercise our bargaining skills (something that was big in thailand and apparently at the markets here) and get a few more things to shove into our bags before we go home. <br />can't believe it's almost over, i'm enjoying every last minute of this crazy, exciting trip (figuratively and literally).<br />will post more soon.....<br />julesjulie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1144467844601552492006-04-07T20:13:00.000-07:002006-04-07T20:44:04.656-07:00trekking in thailandpicture this: we are in the middle of nowhere, having walked for many hours through the doi inthanon national park, staying in a hill tribe village with the native karen people and suddenly, after a few chang beers and thai whiskey shots (p.s., not a good combo), our trustee guide, neo, begins breaking out in song. this boy loves to sing and we caught him earlier in the day singing "my humps" which was hilarious because we had to explain what the song was about - but this time, at night, he begins to sing LIVING ON A F*CKIN PRAYER!!! we pretty much lost our shit and tried to take a video, but my camera was dead. booooo! it was the funniest ever watching this litttle thai dude belt out bon jovi. he knew the most random western songs and would sing to us and when he got tired of singing, he would tell us stories or joke about ladyboys. <br />the trek was amazing. definitely a challenge (we walked in total 28 km in three days in the hottest season here) with steep inclines and the constant threat of dehydration, but i made it and it was worth it. we stopped at a total of 3 waterfalls, all equally amazing and breathtaking (not to mention refreshing!). at the beginning of the trip we rode elephants which was pretty cool. not quite what i thought, but our guide on the elephant let us sit up front on its' head when all the other groups had to sit in the basket/seat thing. pretty cool. elephants LOVE bananas too and ours was greedy, constantly throwing its' trunk back towards us for more and when we didn't feed it, it would blow snot chunks on us...no lie. i had the hugest loogie ever on my arm and almost barfed. nasty. then it would splash us with stagnant water that i'm pretty sure was contaminated with a few foreign diseases and parasites - good thing we kept our mouths shut! at the end, we got to go bamboo rafting after riding in the back of a pick up truck (can you say sketch!?!). since it's the songkran water festival/new years coming up on the 12th everyone is all about splashing and i have a feeling we'll spend a few solid days being wet once it arrives. all along the river we rafted on kids were splashing us and laughing and we splashed back - very fun, very wet. <br />had no intentions of seeing livestock before we left, but all along the trek we encountered water buffalo, pigs, dogs and ..uh oh.... chickens. a little concerned about the whole bird flu thing as you're supposed to avoid live chickens at all costs (especially sketchy looking ones with no back feathers...?!?), but we figured they wouldn't be bringing tourists out there if there was any kind of risk. guess we'll have to just wait and see.... i'm sure we'll survive!<br />got back from the trek yesterday, exhausted, hungry and dirty! nevertheless, we met up the 9 other people we were trekking with and had dinner at the night bazaar, followed by some real muay thai boxing. wow. walked in just as a canadian dude was in the ring and fully knocked out his opponent and won the match. like, out cold - it took a few minutes for him to come to. we tracked down the canadian later to congratulate him and chatted for a bit about the fights, training and his stay in thailand. turns out we witnessed his first thai fight - not too shabby! the dude was huge though. towered over the thai guy. anyway, we watched probably 4 or 5 fights in total and it was pretty awesome, with the exception of the two 14 year olds kicking the crap out of eachother. even though it's an art, it's hard to watch kids go at it (apparently they fighth as young as 6). surrounding the ring is a row of bars/pubs/discos and we found ourselves a nice english run pub where one of the girls in our group decided we needed our proper thai initiation and ordered us "buckets". buckets are basically a mickey of sangsom (thai) whiskey (not nearly as harsh as JD, but same percentage), red bull and coke, or as i like to refer to them, barf in a bucket. it was soooo nasty but we drank them (you stick a bunch of straws in and pass it around) and needless to say after the 4th bucket, we were feelin' pretty licked. today is not so good, but a fresh mango smoothie this morning helped replenish some of those damaged brain cells. also in the thai boxing area, we had heard that following the fights there would be a ladyboy cabaret show. turns out there wasn't cause the fights ended late, but tonight there is one and we might just check it out with our group of trekky friends! the whole ladyboy phenomenon is a little odd here. i mean, it's just like transvestites, but it seems like every gay man in thailand dresses as a woman. and it's a bit confusing because i definitely spotted a few checking out not just ken, but me too. not sure what theyr'e after - not that we're interested. anyway, they're harmless and fun to watch them work it. our friend heather adn i actually danced to "hollaback girl" with a ladyboy - check that one off the list! it was kind of surreal dancing to gwen stefani in the middle of a muay thai fight, drinking buckets, in thailand. i definitely have to pinch myself every now and then to reassure me that this is real. we've had a lot of amazing experiences so far and the journey isn't even half over yet. <br />tomorrow we fly down to the gulf of thailand for some much needed r and r on the beach. even though we're on vacation, we've been non stop since we landed and spending some time in the sand with no schedule will come as a warm welcome. looking forward to trying some snorkelling and sea kayaking hopefully. <br />a la prochaine....julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1144128007937602112006-04-03T21:58:00.000-07:002006-04-03T22:20:07.990-07:00pt.1 touring tokyo pt.2 welcome to thailand!hello! we are alive and well and loving it here in asia. today we are in thailand - our first day in chiang mai - but i wasn't able to get on here to write about tokyo. so here goes.<br /><br />TOKYO - MAR.31 - APR.3<br /><br />tokyo is a humongous city like no other. the streets are impeccably clean and the people are amazingly friendly and accomodating. they have no problem offering to escort you to where you're going, even if it requires them going 10 minutes out of their way and they expect nothing in return. not as many english speaking people as we'd thought there would be, but the language barrier was only a small hurdle which was overcome most of the time t hrough gestures and other forms of communication. we were only able to visit a few districts while in tokyo and probalby only saw a small fraction of them - made it to harajuku and while there weren't as many outrageous looking kids as i'd hoped, it was still wild and felt like another world. found the 100 yen store and had a blast - it's like a department store where everything is a dollar. shibuya is insane with 6 way intersections and people yelling in japanese outside of stores to attract shoppers. the noise poullution is a huge factor, but you tune it out after a while. found the ikea equivalent in shibuya - a store called loft - six stories of furniture, art, homeware, stationary, bikes, gifts...you name it, they had it. it was crazy and tempting to blow our budget right then and there. shinjuku was another trip - pachinko slots and gambling outlets EVERYWHERE! our main reason for visiting shinjuku though was for the cherry blossom park. little did we realize that the day we visited was a holiday to celebrate the begning of cherry blossom season. have never been in a larger crowd in my life and was a litlte overwhelmed, but nobody is pushy which makes it nice. the park was crowded (not the quiet retreat from the hustle and bustle of the busy street as we'd hoped), full of people having picnics, bbq's and DRINKING! their liquor laws are a lot more lax than ours and everyone was just poundin'...awesome! another day we also managed to visit a temple in th emiddle of what seemed like the finanical/business district. in amongst the huge skyscraping towers was a park area, with dozens of red tori gates at the entrance. very cool. once inside, people seemed to be making offerings and saying prayers at the main temple. this place was very quiet and almost deserted - a total 180 from everywhere else we went.<br />we managed in teh short time we were there to master the subway system. in fact, it was quite simple and we didnt' get lost on it once. it's very efficient and user friendly so tha twas a pleasant surprise. a not so pleasent surprise was the lack of vegetarian food while we were there. it was almost impossible to find places that served strictly vegetarian food and in fact the only place we did find a decent veg meal was at an indian restaurant! go figure.... no sign of edamame, tempura or veg sushi though anywhere. not like japanese food at home. needless to say, we consumed a lot of ramen noodles....MSG'd!!! definitely done with those for a while.<br /><br />THAILAND - APR.4<br /><br />now we are in thailand - chiang mai to be exact. we arrived early this morning after a brutal 12 hour train ride on the "sleeper" train. sleeper my ass. i barely got a wink in which is frustrating because i was just begininnign to adjust to the time change and get over my jet lag. now, it's noon and i'm ready to crash for the night. boo! gotta get my energyu though as tomororw morning we head out on our trek - 3 days in the hills, hiking through tribes, riding elephants, going rafting and swimmiing in waterfalls. bring it on! the heat has been a warm welcome (no pun intended!) as tokyo was chilly and we had very littel warm clothing. <br />the food situation has greatly improved with an abundance of vegetarian restaurants clearly marked on every busy street. the guest house w'ere at even has a nightly vegetarian buffet which we're going to sample tonight. just had our first real meal here and it was delicious. pad se ew with pineapple shakes! two dishes and two shakes came to 110 baht ... less than 3 dollars. i think i could eat until i explode here. so much for losing weight on this trip.<br />so far so good here on this side of the world. can't wait to continue exploring....julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1143645632630192072006-03-29T07:11:00.000-08:002006-03-29T07:20:32.890-08:00up, up and awaywe leave in 12 hours and i'm still in disbelief. this marks a few "firsts" for ken and i - first trip together (if you don't count tremblant...which i don't!), first time on a plane together and first time in the mile high....haha, kidding. it IS a 19 hour flight after all! i joke i joke - i'm way too much of a germaphobe to go there.<br />being that i've never been on a plane for more than 6 hours, i'm a little nervous. i'm not really a nervous flyer, but i'm definitely going to play it up at the check in counter in hopes of getting a free upgrade to first! supposedly cathay pacific is one of the nicest airlines and our travel agent told us to ask for an upgrade. shameless...i'm all over it!<br />i've still got a list about a mile long of stuff to do, including saying goodbye to pingu. it's going to be really really hard. we had a heart to heart and i told her no getting sick while we're away. the hardest part is that she doesnt' know that we're coming back and i don't want her to feel abandoned. she's definitely sensed that something's up with our bags out and everything being packed. i hope it doesn't cause her anxiety. wow, i sound like a wacko!!! but i really do believe that animals can sense that sort of thing and the last thing she needs now is stress. i'm sure my mom will take good care of her and it's nice that she'll still be close to the vet.<br />i think otherwise i'm ready. i've got my ipod, sudoku puzzles, books, magazines and scrabble to keep me entertained on the flight and hopefully i'll be able to get a bit of shuteye as well. i'm gearing up for some serious jetlag when we land! <br />hoping to keep updated on this thing while we're gone, so keep in touch, post comments and visit regularly to see what we'll be up to next!<br />the adventure begins...julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1142626073228185402006-03-17T11:37:00.000-08:002006-03-17T12:07:53.696-08:00following the trendthese time killing things are great. i made a revision since i'm more of a music buff than a movie junkie. enjoy!<br /><br />THIRTEEN random things I like:<br />1) limonata<br />2) programming my new ipod<br />3) lunch at tesoro on the patio<br />4) high fashion from roland mouret<br />5) reading magazines at the grocery store<br />6) making a new recipe<br />7) surfing ebay<br />8) reading posts on the thorntree forum<br />9) crosswords<br />10) the muchmusic vj search show (guilty pleasure)<br />11) filing my nails<br />12) sunny days<br />13) shopping for hats<br /><br />TWELVE albums to live and die by:<br />1) sloan twice removed<br />2) any sublime cd (though 40 oz is probably at hte top of my list)<br />3) bob marley legends<br />4) the clash london calling<br />5) n.e.r.d fly or die<br />6) something corporate leaving through the window<br />7) gwen stefani love angel music baby<br />8) no doubt the singles collection<br />9) the beastie boys ill communication<br />10) jack johnson in between dreams<br />11) weezer blue album<br />12) saves the day stay what you are<br /><br />ELEVEN random thoughts:<br />1) "ed the sock is hilarious"<br />2) "i should be outside right now"<br />3) "i should be working right now"<br />4) "is that pit in my stomach hunger or thirst?"<br />5) "dammit, i'm 5 answers away from completing the crossword"<br />6) "pingu is the shit - love her love her love her"<br />7) "why do i care about celebrity gossib?!?"<br />8) "where are we goign to stay in thailand?"<br />9) "my feet are cold - perpetually cold"<br />10) "my back hurts"<br />11) "i can't wait for march 29th"<br /><br />TEN random things about me:<br />1) i shaved my head when i was 16 also tal!<br />2) i had mono twice in high school - too many make outs (haha)<br />3) i go to an accupuncturist on a regular basis<br />4) i just discovered a liking for tea and coffee<br />5) I prefer a night in with a small group of friends to a night out with lots of acquaintances (ditto tal)<br />6) i used to have flaming pink hair<br />7) I have a compulsion for picking things - skin, fingernails, mosquito bites, zits - it's gross<br />8) i'm often mistaken for being a snob when really i'm just shy around people i don't know<br />9) i love curry<br />10) i am absolutely terrified of driving in the snow<br /><br />NINE ways to win my heart:<br />1) be genuine<br />2) accept my faults and acknowledge your own<br />3) pick up on cues - or better yet, don't even wait for a cue<br />4) play with my hair/massage my back without being asked<br />5) keep your cool when i've lost mine<br />6) be sensitive to things i'm uncomfortable with<br />7) compliment me<br />8) be honest and communicate<br />9) trust me<br /><br />EIGHT things I want to do before I die:<br />1) go sea kayaking<br />2) travel the world<br />3) meet gwen stefani .....again<br />4) have a happy and healthy life<br />5) join a gym and stick to it for more than 3 months<br />6) live overseas<br />7) have a career that i enjoy<br />8) go on a canopy tour<br /><br />SEVEN things that annoy me:<br />1) my stupid irrational fears<br />2) people who think they're above you/below you<br />3) assumptions<br />4) rush hour in toronto<br />5) the current cast of muchmusic vjs<br />6) monday mornings<br />7) people who constantly cross the line when they know is makes you uncomfortable<br /><br />SIX things I believe in:<br />1) true love<br />2) my intuition<br />3) good friends<br />4) being able to rise above<br />5) some sort of higher power<br />6) dreams<br /><br />FIVE things i'm afraid of:<br />1) driving in snow<br />2) heights<br />3) unknown water<br />4) my mind<br />5) germs<br /><br />FOUR of my favourite items in my room:<br />1) our comfy bed - duvet, pillows, blanket<br />2) my uniform (sweat pants and hoodie!)<br />3) our ensuite bathroom<br />4) the necklace rack ken built me<br /><br />THREE things I do everyday:<br />1) crossword<br />2) snuggle with pingu<br />3) hug and kiss ken<br /><br />TWO things I want to do right now:<br />1) go snowboarding<br />2) make something yummy to eat<br /><br />ONE person I want to see right now:<br />1) no one in particular - i enjoy my alone timejulie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1141940796626018852006-03-09T13:39:00.000-08:002006-03-10T11:21:13.866-08:00free ipod bitches!so there were skeptics and non beleivers, but after much persistence and preaching to the yet to be converted, we recieved a free mother f*ckin' ipod!<br />holy crap, i couldn't even believe it when i saw it. i thought it was the original ipod, 30gb deal - which is awesome, but after talking to some people i realized that it's the new 30gb ipod - what a sexy little machine it is! it's lame that i'm so excited about something so trivial in the grand scheme, but the fact htat it was FREE is what excites me even moreso than the actual mp3 player.<br />anyway, if you want to get in on the action, you can sign up below me (it's a pyramid scheme basically, but totally legit) at http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=24594617<br />you then have to sign up for an offer - choose the $1 sign up, enter your credit card, then cancel within 30 days and you'll only be charged a dollar (always read the fine print!). so i guess, technically, it wasn't free - it cost a dollar. but big freakin' deal!!! it's pretty amazing really and i'm thrilled.<br />by the way, once you sign up and have 5 people sign up below you, you can choose which ipod you want - 30gb, nano, shuffle, etc....<br />all i have to say is...GOLD MINE!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/freeipod.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/freeipod.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />me and my new love - or should i say the <span style="font-style: italic;">apple<br /></span>of my eye?!?<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1141924490057621192006-03-09T08:30:00.000-08:002006-03-09T09:14:50.096-08:00girls weekend<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/IMG_1237.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 326px; height: 245px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/IMG_1237.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/IMG_1235.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/IMG_1235.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />it didn't take long for ken to make alternate arrangements when he realized i had invited 6 girlfriends over for the weekend! trying to co-ordinate 7 people's schedules is tough so we had this planned for a long time and were eagerly anticipating our night of female debauchery! girls nights are so essential.<br />highlights from the weekend include (but are not limited to!)....<br />jess claiming she had "no magic" when asked to work it with the boys in the tube town line!<br />our choreographed dance to the black eyed peas' "my humps" with help from our star choreographer, steph.<br />our performance of said dance in gel - on the stage no less.<br />olsen's birthday "to do" list - blow a kiss to a stranger, get 2 guys underwear (just to name a few) - with accomanying photos for proof.<br />"harassing" the pita pit delivery boy, who looked like he wasn't even old enough to drive a car.<br />jess's present from alison - 'nuff said!<br />look down look ..... photos. awesome<br />making ryan (alison's boyfriend) capture our dance on digital cameras, but not before we made him hide so we could rehearse.<br />jess eating chips in bed and me capturing the priceless photo complete with crumbs for evidence!<br />me proclaiming i looked too "collingwood" to go out dressed the way i was (it was not a pretty sight)<br />the crazy lady at cranberry buffet the next morning "seven is just that magic number" wtf?!?<br />catching trish on more than one occassion zoning out in gel and then gettin' right back into it!<br />dancing on the bar on gel - it always seems like a good idea when you're drunk.<br />lisa deciding that pictures shall not be taken after 3 drinks have been consumed at future get togethers.<br />me knocking my chair over after doing an impression of someone/something at cranberry buffet.<br />our reaction to tubing after our first run - WAHOO! - vs. our reaction to tubing after our third run - *yawn*<br />hooking alison's ipod up to my ghetto alarm clock<br />and, as always, skipping the line and not paying cover at skool/gel. how vip are we!?!<br /><br />thanks for the awesome weekend ladies, can't wait to do it again!julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1139886450371480852006-02-13T18:39:00.000-08:002006-02-13T19:07:30.400-08:00not good news, not bad newsafter a gruelling week of no sleep and constant worry for pingu and her health, i got a call from the vet. actually, it was a message leaving her cell phone number, so naturally panic set in. however, the news was better than hoped but still not great.<br />basically, she has an infection in her spine (as suspected) which we've been treating with antibiotics for the past week. she now has to be on those antibiotics for another 6 - 8 weeks with continued low mobility and limited exercise. the poor girl is gettin' bony and losing weight!! after that, her spine needs time to heal which means - you guessed it - more bedrest!<br />aside from that however, is the risk she faces with her degenerative disk disease, something totally seperate from the infection. the issue is with all the extra boney growth on her spine potentially putting pressure on her spinal chord, thus causing paralysis. i truly hope it won't get to that point and take comfort knowing that the radiologist said dogs can and have lived with this type of condition comfortably. as for her falling over and losing balance, well the good news is that it's not a result of pain but rather a neurological malfunction. i'm relieved to hear she's not in pain and judging by her improved attitude, she isn't showing signs of being uncomfortable. several times i've let her out of her crate and she's completely bananas jumping all over the carpet in excitement of seeing me. it's hard to not encourage her playfulness and keep her sedate when she's in such an excitable state, but it's for her better health. 10 minutes out of the crate anyway and she's sound asleep with the antibiotics and muscle relaxants keeping her drowsy.<br />so sadly there is no cure for her disease and unfortunately the growth on her spine is there to stay. all we can hope for is to keep her comfortable for as long as possible.<br />thanks to everyone for their concern and thoughts for pingu and us during this tough time. it looks like they're working so please keep up the hope!<br />i'll leave you now with another picture of my darling doggy. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/pingubed1.jpg"><img style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/pingubed1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />when she's sick pingu gets away with murder<br />and ken even lets her sleep on the bed some-<br />times cause we're total sucks.julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1139072144251088392006-02-04T08:38:00.000-08:002006-02-04T08:55:44.263-08:00how the tides have changedit's amazing how you can go from a complete natural high to feeling incredibly low and sad in an instant. i can't remember the last time i cried and in fact, have never seen ken cry - until yesterday.<br />our drastic mood change was brought on by some sad news - news that will make this next little while rough and challenging.<br />our dog pingu has been littered with health problems ever since we brought her home - hernias, eye infections, ear infections, face fungus - yet through it all she's persevered and remained a happy puppy. however, within the last week she's been having a hard time holding her back legs up and they seem to give out on her, especially when she goes to the bathroom. thinking (and hoping) it wasn't anything serious we decided to just keep a close eye on it and hope she'd get better.<br />sadly, that hasn't been the case. her condition has worsened over the week and yesterday i had to bring her to the vet to get it checked out. after leaving her there for xrays, the vet wasn't optimistic about her condition and speculated that it was a form of degenerative disc disease - something that, if not treated immediately could worsen and (worse yet) could reoccur in a more severe form causing paralysis and immediate (and costly) surgery in guelph.<br />after xraying her, the results were worse than anticipated. the vet said she has never seen a case like this, nor have any of her colleagues. my poor darling has been suffering with many abnormalities on her spine - extra boney growth, compressed discs and several abnormal vertebraes. basically, something that can't be repaired with surgery even if we had the money for it.<br />at this point we're not sure what to do and it's been rough watching her suffer and really strain to go to the bathroom.<br />when do you get to that point when enough is enough? how do you make that decision? i've only once ever had to put a dog down with my mom and she was VERY ill and we knew that it was better for everyone at the time.<br />this case is different. pingu is our first dog together, ken's first dog ever. she is the perfect pet despite all her health problems. and worse yet, she's family.<br />we never anticipated having to make this difficult decision only a year and a half into her young life. she hasn't had an easy go and by the sounds of it, this spinal issue is something she's grown up with and adapted to.<br />at the moment we're just trying to keep her comfortable - that's all we can do. her xrays have been sent to a radiologist in guelph who specializes in unique/abnormal cases so hopefully we can get some answers from him next week and go from there.<br />we're hoping for a miracle....<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/pingusepia.jpg"><img style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/pingusepia.jpg" border="0" /></a>julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1138836993423060552006-02-01T15:07:00.000-08:002006-02-01T15:36:33.433-08:00a few of my favorite things....i know thanksgiving was like, 4 months ago, but i'm feeling especially greatful right now and wanted to publish a list of my favorites. also inspired by mamlove.blogspot.com to list my faves!<br /><br />music is a constant favorite and essential in my life. at the momment i'm really into jack johnson (anxiously awaiting his new soundtrack album next tuesday!), MIA (this girl is friggin' innovative and whacked...i love it!), metric (great canadian band...female fronted, bonus!), toots and the maytals (watching too much miami ink reignited my long love for this band), citizen cope (i have mollie mols to thank for that one!)....and probably many many others that i can't think of right now.<br />since i'm po' i'm diggining through our combined cd collection for some old faves and classics that will never die (think, the clash, elvis costello, beasties) instead of shopping at hmv. the newest cd i got was borrowed cause i'm ghetto. thanks mollie! i will definitely be splurging though next tuesday to pick up jack's new album. can't wait.<br /><br />television, also a favorite/guilty pleasure (too much of a good thing, y'know?). i'm lovin' miami ink (would love to be tattooed there), the oc, pilot guides - where will they go next!?, ellen (hi-larious) and kenny vs. spenny (random toronto shot show airing on showcase = obscene, graphic, rude and crude...can't get enough)<br /><br />websites...i'm a blogger now (translate: nerd), so i have to have a few faves. i make a point of checking friends' blogs daily <a href="http://molliemunch.blogspot.com/">http://mo</a><a href="http://molliemunch.blogspot.com/">lliemunch.blogspot.com/</a>, <a href="http://thailisa.blogspot.com/">http://thailisa.blogspot.com/</a>, <a href="http://sbegonia.blogspot.com/">http://sbegonia.blogspot.com/</a> and <a href="http://mamajade.blogspot.com/">http://mamajade.blogspot.com/</a> to name a few. also, he's not my friend but i wish he was; pink is the new blog author, trent puts a fabulously hilarious spin on celebrity gossip (or "goss" as he calls it) and updates daily <a href="http://pinkisthenewblog.com/">http://pinkisthenewblog.com/</a><br />also, let's face it, i couldn't live without <a href="http://www.mail.yahoo.com">www.mail.yahoo.com</a> or hotmail.com gooooooo web based email!<br /><br />recreation wise, i'm lovin' snowboarding...though not lovin' these conditions. this year has turned out to be a bit of a bust so far and i'm disappointed. nevertheless, getting runs in when i can (the beauty of living 5 mins from blue mtn!). i sort of turn into a bit of a hermit in the winter (if you can even call this weather "winter"!) cause it's cold and dark and unless the sun is out, i'm not comin' out either!<br /><br />obviously i'm greatful for friends and family too (that goes for the un-blood related family as well). chances are, if you're reading this i think of you often and you inspire me, so thanks!<br /><br />lastly, here is a my pic o' the week. love it love it love it.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/doggles.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/doggles.jpg" border="0" /></a>julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21600755.post-1138561627110937852006-01-29T10:54:00.000-08:002006-01-29T11:21:26.953-08:00asian whirlwind tour<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/1600/thailandsunset.1.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5632/2186/320/thailandsunset.1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />yesterday ken and i booked our tickets to asia - it's official!<br />we are both very excited as the feeling sinks in and the anxiety mounds. planning trips are always a lot of fun and the anticipation is half the excitement.<br />our itinerary takes us on a very lengthy, round about tour of 3 asian hot spots - hong kong, tokyo and thailand where there will be several destinations.<br />i've pretty much started the mental preparation that will be required before boarding cathay pacific for the 19 hour flight to hong kong with a 1 hour stopover in the hk airport and a subsequent 4 hour flight to tokyo. it's gonna be madness and because of the time difference, we board on a wednesday night and land on a friday afternoon. not to mention we're landing in one of the biggest cities in the world where we do not speak the language nor understand their urban sprawl (their streets don't necessarily have names and there are several districts within tokyo - similar to NYC i guess?). let's hope we encounter some friendly, helpful english speaking locals to help keep us sane! ken and i have both acknowledged that we're probably going to be big crust bags by the time we land so hopefully we'll also have patience for each other and the city. the rest of that day after finding our accomodations will more or less be a write off.<br />but i'm excited to explore the districts - shinjuku (they have a LAMB outlet - my heaven on earth!), harajuku - as well as the gardens and temples. we will be there at the beginning of cherry blossom season so hopefully ken's allergies will hold up and we'll be able to enjoy the scenery and scents. i have a feeling we're in for one hell of a culture shock! good thing the japanese have a reputation for being friendly and accomodating to tourists - let's hope that stereotype holds true during our visit!<br />from there, we're beach bound in thailand. actually, we fly into bangkok first and take the overnight train to chiang mai which is the unofficial northern capital where we hope to experience some hill tribe trekking, elephant rides, rafting and yoga. the serenity will hopefully do the trick to calm our shattered nerves after a few days of tokyo madness!<br />from there, we're headed to the andaman coast for some sun, snorkelling and swimming. should be awesome.<br />we round out the trip with a few days in hong kong and then ...sigh... back to the real world. i can't believe i'm dreading the return already.<br />now if only i could find a job that could accomodate my travel itch.....julie alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07851037911060517699noreply@blogger.com0