OUCH

Yesterday was a bit of a doozie! I had a dentist appointment planned to get a cavity filled in the afternoon. Since working hard at getting over my needle phobia, I've gotten substantially better with the whole dental work procedures. I did, however, bail out on getting my wisdom teeth taken out like I was requested a few months back. Nope. Couldn't freaking do it. So i called back and let them know. My dentist told me to come in anyway and get the cavity filled.

Off I go. My morning started out all smiles, I've been living off a dual Christmas/Mexico high the last little while and I was determined not to let a little cavity fill take that grin away. When I got there though, the dentist and assistant were shocked to see my four lovely wisdom teeth still sitting in my mouth. After a good cry in explaining why they were still there they told me that They couldn't fix my other molar without taking the tooth out. They assured me that my wisdom tooth was tiny and not impacted or in a troublesome spot and they could yank it out easy peasy. 

I don't know what caused me to agree to it but I did. 

Nicole, if you're reading this skip the next paragraph ;)

After fixing one cavity they then make sure all my freezing is still good and then go to work. It hurt like fuck. I could feel them yanking on it and I heard my fucking tooth crack in the vice as they yanked it out. My dentist assistant then tells me its over but oh no, it's not! My tooth is still hanging by a thread or attached to my gum or some shit.I can feel the weight of it hanging in my mouth and at this point all I can taste is blood. Easy peasy? LIARS! After more wrestling it's finally out and I spend the next 15 minutes sitting there while they change out bloody gauze while they wait for the hole to clot. The next couple hours sucked. After picking up zoey from Daycare I had to throw my car into park before I even leave the lot and almost barf because I've probably swallowed too much blood at this point. Once I get home I spend the next couple hours alternatively gagging at my bloody gauze and wallowing in post dental misery. 

Today isn't terrible. It still sucks but I managed to have soup today. I don't know how Corey managed all four at once but this one is simply brutal!

So, to combat the pain, here's a few more pictures my mom sent me from Mexico!

MEXICO

Hola amigos! Como estas?

Guess who is back from Mexico! Holy crap I had a blast. Funny to think it’s over now when it seems like just yesterday we were counting down from the high 200’s in anticipation of our vacation. It was my family, my brother’s girlfriend, Crystal and my boyfriend, Corey who all went.

We left early Saturday the 6^th. Walking through Vancouver airport is always a treat. That place is huge and filled with crazy art (mostly haida art cause apparently that’s the sole style of art we have here, regardless of how cool it is lol)

They even had a big aquarium tank filled with local fish off our coast which was really neat to see. We zipped through security after we got out boarding passes and eagerly waited at our gate as we watched the place load and take off.

Finally we jumped on our plane. (I got a window seat beside Corey!) and we were off.

It’s a 5 hour and 20 minute flight to Puerto Vallarta and it was clear and beautiful for much of the trip. Corey and I spotted crazy wind farms, winding rivers and the Grand Canyon! I was blown away. It’s amazing seeing it in person and from thousands of feet up no less!

I love watching the ground zoom by and inspect all the various landscapes when I fly. On our seat screens we had a live map that showed what area we were flying over which was pretty cool.

One half of our room

We landed in the Mexican airport and we could feel the heat already. Goodbye frozen homeland. Hellooooo heat!

We took a shuttle to the hotel and boy it was even more stunning than the pictures. The lobby was huge and reached out into a really cool sitting area in front of an infinity pool that looked over the resorts many pools and restaurants and the ocean!

We checked in, found our rooms and explored! Our room was ocean view, huge with a giant bed, Jacuzzi tub and walk in shower. They cleaned our rooms every day and put the most delicious chocolate on our bed. Soooooo good! We had a bubble bath one night. Oh my I have to get one of those tubs. It was glorious and sitting there reading was so nice.

The first night we just ate and drank until bedtime seeing as our flight got in at about 9 pm their time.

Sunday

We explored the resort. It’s spit into two hotels/sides. We stayed at the Now Amber. Which is the family friendly side. The other side is called Now Secrets which is an adult only side. We had access to both sides which was nice. We took full advantage of all the pools there (I loved the swim up bars!) and we laid in chairs on the beach under palm canopies.

Merchants roam the beaches and try to sell you tons of stuff but the good thing was that as soon as you said ‘No, gracias” they walked away. They didn’t push you once you said no which I am quite thankful for.

All around the resort these huge birds called frigates fly around. They are massive and black (males have a red pouch under their chin) and look like pterodactyls when they fly. SO many of them! And they never seemed to land on anything, just soar endlessly above the resort. There were also cool little black birds that made every noise under the sun and stole food at every chance they had when something was discarded.

So, when you book at this resort, everything and I mean EVERYTHING is included. All the food you can eat and all the drinks you can pour down your throat. I took FULL advantage of that fact.

There was an all day buffet hat changed themes every night. (Seafood, Asian, bbq etc) and it contained such a huge variety of food that it was impossible to try it all. In addition to the buffet there were poolside grills (Four of them!) and sitdown restaurants that included French cuisine, Italian, surf and turf, Japanese tepanaki , authentic Mexican, a café, and about 6 or 7 different bars throughout the resort. It was amazing! You could walk up at any time and ask for a drink, pretty much anything you could think of, and get it handed to you. No many exchanging hands. Glorious.

I don’t drink often but in Mexico, I had a drink in my hand at all hours of the day.

Monday

The 8^th was my moms 50^th birthday, the whole reason why we came to mexico. On her bucket list she said she has always wanted to do Ziplining. I was very surprised that my mom wanted to do that kind of thing, let along suggest it. We all piled onto a shuttle after breakfast and went on a very bumpy ride through old Puerto Vallarta. We saw tons of stay dogs just chilling as we drove through the city, then through a riverside village then up to the Sierra Madre mountains covered in rainforest jungle foliage. The ziplines criss cross the Nayarit river.

We suited up in harnessed and made out way to the first zipline. They called it the test line to see if you could manage the rest of them. They all had hilarious names on signs posted at the take off platforms.  But I was terrified. I love being high up but I have a tremendous fear of falling. So throwing myself across jungle canyons was not something I was really confident doing.

My dad and mom went then it was my turn. As the dude pushed me off the platform I scrunched my eyes shut  and hung on for dear life. I landed safe and sound at the other end after I peeked open my eyes. I made it! I was still a little shaky but I watched the rest of the group come in before we stepped over to the second line. This one was just a wee bit longer and had the name “Second Chance”. Oh lord.

I did better on this one and had my eyes open for most of the ride.

Once we looked over to the third line I saw the sign. “No Going Back Now”. That meant that once you went down this line you couldn’t walk back up to the restaurant/ entry. You would have to go all the way down the mountains to the final line.

The rest of them were AMAZING! I was still horrified at my feet leaving the safety of the platform but as soon as the canyon opened up beneath me I would holler at the top of my lungs and pretend I was flying. It was amazing! Along the way they pointed out all kinds of lizards, butterflies, turkey vultures that circled Corey as he flew down the ziplines. It was fantastic! It was really neat to see all the different flora and fauna they have out there. They pointed out these scary looking thorned trees that are the most toxic tree in Mexico. The sap can cause 2nd degree burns and eating the fruit can cause diarrhea for 8 days and blindness for two weeks! Needless to say we stayed away from those.
Towards the end we got offered the chance to go down upside down with one of the guides. I was a no go for that but my dad, Crystal and Jason all did. Brave fuckers. The highest line was 704 feet off the ground. The longest was 650 meters long and the fastest we went was about 55k across the canopy. It was wild! Corey thought it was going to be faster and wasn't terrible impressed with the experience but I loved it to bits. I guess that's what it's like when you work on top on high buildings every day.

We finally got to the last line where they dunk you in the river. It was really neat and after everyone landed we met up with a heard of donkeys. Corey and I were the first ones to jump up on one and we went up this crazy zigzag path that led straight back up to the starting point. AWESOME!

We also had massages almost every day. Twenty five bucks for one hour of bliss. It was heavenly. We hit up Healing Hands spa pretty much every day except one but we made up for it by going twice in one day the next time lol!

We had dinner at the Japanese restaurant and made friends with two couple from either end of the UK. It was pretty neat! There were people from all over the world at the resort. It was so cool to see and to talk to everyone each time we hopped in the elevator.

Tuesday

Another relaxing day. Corey and I woke up and as we got ready to start our day we watched StarWars hahah. They had a ton of channels but we rarely watched anything. There's too much to do in Mexico! Though each time our room was cleaned the maids would turn on a chanel called Ashes and Snow and it was really, really, REALLY weird. Like sensual dancing in the water with elephants and laying naked in sand dunes with Cheetahs. We had no clue what to think of that. BUT IT WAS ALWAYS ON. In sepia tone. wtf.

Corey and I drank and swam in the pools. It was wonderfully warm and it was so nice just to relax and chill on the beach. I was on the hunt for sapphire fire opal earrings but everything I found was too pricy. (I’m cheap lol) There were horseback rides on the beach but we decided against it cause the poor animals looked so worn out.

Then we swam in the ocean! It was so warm and playing in the waves as they crashed on the beach was so much fun but then we got stung by jellyfish which sucked but we thankfully didn’t have more than a burning sensation where they touched us.

I then proceeded to shock myself on my hairdryer after I got out of the shower later that day because I’m dumb and somehow managed to touch the prong as I plugged it in. Durrr.  Corey and I walked our little part of the beach and hunted for sea glass. Off in the distance I could see three stay dogs hanging out on the sand. I really wanted to see them but I didn’t know if they were friendly or not. One little black puppy that was probably the happiest thing in existence was digging holes, frolicking in the ocean and running around as joyful as could be. He spotted me and ran right up, tail wagging and planted his butt right on the sand beside me. He let me pet him all over and looked so happy to be getting some love. Poor thing had ribs showing and his waist I could probably fit my hands around. His face looked like a sharpie mixed with lab. He was adorable and I pretty much cried cause I felt so bad for the puppy. He followed us for a bit before we managed to sneak away. I continued to look for him the next couple days but we never saw him again.

Corey and I stayed up late and sat out in the lounge after eating way too much gloriously tasty food, and watched the sunset. I tried a number of new drinks that day, almost all delicious!

Wednesday

DOLPHINS woo! I have been swimming with dolphins before but I loved it so much that I did it again. We all took a cab ride down to the waterpark/aquarium. Did I mention that the driving in mexico is scary as all hell? People be crazy!!!!

We got to the place safely and in the parking lot we saw a horse just standing in one of the parking stalls all by himself! He wasn’t tied off or anything. It was hilarious to see. Just waiting for his owner to come get him.

We got to swim with two dolphins this time A male and female. Angel and Scarlett. Petting them in an amazing experience. They are the coolest feeling animals ever. Because I had the experience I got to do some of the rides first. They got me to swim out to the other end of the pool and hold out my hands. I grabbed their dorsal fins and they shot me right back across the pool! It was wild!

We had a waterfight with angel then both of them showed us some of the crazy noises they can make which is pretty cool. The foot push was what I was really looking forward to.

I laid out on my stomach and the dolphins would each push a foot and lift you right out of the water! Holy crap that was cool! I loved every bit and we got kisses as the end too.

Next up we met a HUGE sea lion named Pepe. We got to pet him (which was really neat! They are furry!) and he gave us kisses and showed us his smile.

The whole experience was amazing and I loved every second of it.

Us kids took a separate cab back because they didn’t have the shuttle vans to fit all 6 of us in. As soon as everyone was in the car the guy zoomed off before we even had seatbelts on. Turns out there was no middle seatbelt and poor crystal had to hang on for dear life as this cab driver raced through the bumpy streets and zigzagged between cars. He also had his e-brake on the entire time. Yikes. Haha. We made it back to the resort alive though!

Thursday

Corey and I walked down to the Malecon which is a shopping district. We were told by a little old lady that comes to our resort once a year for the past few years that it’s only a twenty minute walk down the beach. So off Corey and I went. It took us about 45 minutes becase we collected so much sea glass, shells and cool rocks that we stopped every few feet to inspect the ground. I loved it! We also saw a dead puffed up puffer fish which was really cool.

We got to the Malecon and I impressed myself with remembering a bunch of stuff I learned in Spanish 10 and 11. It was a really neat place filled with some really cool stuff but once I got down to actually buying things, I left empty handed. Everything was either really cheap looking or too expensive. I still hadn’t bought a single thing since we landed in Mexico which was a bit disappointing.

We left and on the way back we collected more seaglass and shells and saw a whole bunch of huge yellow headed pelicans.

Friday

Our last full day in Mexico!

We woke up early and went to the marina with the whole family and took a boat ride to the hidden beach. It was really neat and we had to swim through a cave to get to it! That was wild. We all threw on flippers and jumped off the boat and one at a time we swam under this tiny little archway. The waves would sometimes block it off completely so we had to time it so we could swim right through. Once inside we took off our flippers and walked along the hidden beach. White sand and birds all above us. It was CRAZY! We all swam back to the boat and headed off to the second island where we snorkeled. Right below us huge and colorful fish swam! It was so cool! On the way back we saw humpback whales! I totally missed one breaching but I saw a few of them come up to breath and one male do a pectoral fin slap. So, so amazing.

And guess what! I made it to this day without getting sunburnt! WOOOO! I got a little burnt on my back when we swam in the ocean but not terrible. So proud of myself!
 (These photos here aren't mine. We didn't take the camera here)

Saturday

Last day in Mexico. We all had breakfast together and got everything packed. We had what felt like ten pounds of sea glass, shells and rocks packed away in our bags. Poor maids that came to our room every day to make it sparkling clean for us must have thought we were insane for filling up one of our sinks with beach shit hahah.

We said goodbye to our parents (lucky butts are staying till Wednesday) and cabbed to the airport. Our flight home was really cool. I got another window seat! We flew over oceans and islands and watched the sun set twice! (We flew towards the west partway through!) once night fell we saw stars and near Flagstaff Arizona we flew past a lightning storm! We watched it on the horizon and could see lighting pop up above and below the clouds. It was amazing to see!

Once the lights of Vancouver could be seen we breathed a sigh of relief! Home! <3

Corey and I dropped of Jason and Crystal then raced to go get Zoey. We were so lucky to have Nicole watch her while we were away. It felt so good knowing she was happy with her auntie. Thanks lady xoxox

So all in all I can’t wait to do this Vacation thing again. We even spoke about doing another vacation to the Dominican resort in a few years. Bad ass! Now I have to work off all the food I ate!

All the Things!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. It has been a busy couple weeks!

Not this past weekend but the weekend before, Nicole and I went down to Seattle to do some shopping! It was a well needed mini vacation and I loved it to bits. I've driven partially down to Seattle before but this was my first time driving the whole way. We got slightly turned around once or twice making stops at outlets but we made it! After Ihop breakfast, we checked out a number of stores and strolled around the Seattle premium outlets and found a bunch of cool deals. I was so excited to show her Hot Topic due to her new adoration of BBC's Sherlock. Just like with my obsession for David Tennant and Doctor Who, it overloaded Nicole with all the crazy show related stuff you can buy. We both left with way too many things. (We aren't THAT obsessed, are we?)

We checked into our hotel and did yet more shopping in the adjacent malls. Because we started our day so early in the morning we found that we had hours to motor through the city. We scoped the area around our hotel and found a barns and noble. Joy! We spent quite a long time in there and each came out with a few treasures. I bought two books to read while on vacation.

We found a tiny fancy little shopping center and spotted an Italian restaurant and decided that this place would be perfect for dinner later. We returned to the hotel and ended up watching Mulan to kill some time and went back down to the restaurant and ate a very early dinner while we people watched. We loaded up with candy and goodies (I got Nicole hooked on my favorite, Almond Roca) Afterward we had a very stiff drink at Olivers Bar. We took about a billion goofy photos and probably the WORST photo of me in the entire world.
Here is a sketch rendition to save your eyes from the real thing:

The next morning we packed up and went down to pike place market. It wasn't as busy as it usually was. and because we got up so early most things weren't open yet. We still enjoyed it anyway.

I also got to put in my earrings that I bought a while ago. It creeped me out at first, putting them in but I think I have the hang of it now.  I love the little paw print ones I got. I also have a really cute set that I bought that come with wooden hearts, owls, elephants and an assortment of other things. Plus my tardis earrings that I hope to wear soon!

The rest of last week was busy with mad dash Christmas shopping, getting together with friends and trying to get things organized for......MEXICO!

5 days! can you believe it? 4 if you don't include today. Holy crap I am so excited. We're gonna be ditching the gross weather and go sit in the sun for a week. I am so pumped.


WOO!

*

These days are so hard. Forcing myself to keep busy is one of the few things that keeps me slipping into that overwhelming realization that you are actually gone.

I miss you, brown boy.

Charlie

Charlie. Charlie Brown. Charles. Rotten. Beast. Charlie Brown Bunch. Brown. Stinker. Orlando Brown. Brown Boy. Mr Brown. Poopy Head. Poopy Puppy. Beastie Boy. Shit Head.

Today is going to be a hard day.

Yesterday morning I had to say goodbye to my best friend and childhood dog, Charlie. After over 15 amazing years with him, we had to let him go to free him of the pain he was in.  It kills me to know that when I woke up this morning, he was no longer here with us.
The past year his health has been slowly slipping from him even though he powered on just like his stubborn old self. The last couple weeks we noticed him slipping down a path that we doubted he could recover from. I imagine he would have pushed on despite the pain he was in, and the troubles he faced daily but we just couldn’t bear to see him suffer any more. I’m so sorry brown boy.

Charlie came to us on a frosty fall morning in 1999, bounding through the door as we went to go get KC, our other dog back inside. He was between 6-8 weeks old when he picked our yard to venture into. No one could deny that ridiculously cute face as he tore through the house, eventually diving nose first into a bag of KC’s kibbles, gorging himself like he hadn’t seen food in years. After reluctantly putting up flyers, news paper ads and making announcements of “Found Puppy!” at our school, no one claimed him. We guessed, with his young age and wonky ear, that he was a dump and run. We couldn’t be happier. Who on earth could say no to this amazing puppy? He gave us years upon years of havoc, growing up he LOVED to play Houdini and figure out how to get out of our barricaded back yard. I’m pretty surprised 9 year old me didn’t get ulcers from worrying over that lost pup all the damn time.

One time my mom and I caught him howling outside around midnight only to then see him disappearing under the fence which resulted in me sprinting barefoot and in my nightgown across the field to catch him.
He often escaped while we were at school and once, at recess, pretty much all of the Greenaway school students chased him down as he ran through the soccer field. I’ll never forget that day or the look of glee on his face as he ran with all the kids.
Charlie even made a few visits to Nicole’s house across the school field because he knew that treats would be found there.

He and KC had to be bailed out of ‘dog jail’ twice after being snagged by the spca while they out adventured together. Despite their tendency to wander, he did a lot of good for our old dog. He put a spring back in her step and made her last few years wonderful.
He ate the legs off of all my dinosaur toys but I eventually forgave him for that. His upside down smiles where too hard to resist.

I started my dog training skills early with Charlie. By the time I was 10, I had taught Charlie how to speak, shake a paw, roll over, balance a cookie on his nose, and play dead. He was an excellent student and would do pretty much anything for a treat. House training him was probably the worst part of puppy training. Eventually he learned to do his business on newspaper in the kitchen but when my grade four Explorers of BC project fell onto the ground, I woke up the next morning to find a heaping pile of dog poop right in the middle, and a happy Charlie pup wagging his tail in his potty time triumph.
One thing I didn’t know how to train back then was walking. We didn’t take Charlie for walks he took us! We got dragged all through Cloverdale but that’s alright. He had all the fun in the world.
Boy was he all sorts of trouble, knocking down our Christmas tree and breaking all my mom’s family ornaments or stealing roasts off the counter. No one could get mad at his handsome face for long though.

Charlie grew up with us as the years went by. We fondly remember of yelling “SQUIRREL” just to see him run off the back deck at full speed in attempts to catch his arch nemesis or hiding in our room under the blankets and shouting for him so he could come and find us. We would laugh as his ass and tail prints on the frosty deck in the winter months. He had us nearly dying of giggles when he found an old ice cream bucket and threw it around the back yard with glee, delighted that he discovered this fun new game.
The noises he would make were hysterical too. Moo’s and grunts and strange huffing. He was the king of all weird sounds. Getting him to howl was a chore. He would often wind up by barking non stop before letting out a little tune. It always made us laugh though.
“DADDY”S HOME!” was always the evening chorus that made our brown beast get up and run frantically to the door to await dad coming home from work. We always giggled and made fun of him for turning into a fuzzy, wiggly ‘C’ shape whenever any of us returned from being out.
He was my silent companion. I loved sitting out on the back deck with him in the summer or giving him belly rubs in the living room. I loved playing the game of scratching under the blankets and he would nose and nibble looking for the source of the movement.
When we got back from vacations he would be sooo excited but then remember that we had abandoned him and sulk for a little bit before snuggling down and making sure we didn’t leave again.
I loved how he used to jump on the couch and growl and snort while rolling upside down and rubbing his face on everything.
I miss how my dad would come home and ‘beat up the dog’. He loved to roughhouse and play fight with my dad. His signature move was called the full puppy takedown!
I really wish we had digital cameras back when he was a baby. I do have old film photos of him that I will have to dig up but this day and age its so easy to take pictures.
He wasn’t ever all that skilled in fetch but made up for it in other ways.
At bedtime he would always lay in my bed as I read. Always, I would be jammed up in the top corner with my body pressed against the wall to ensure that he had adequate space but once I started moving too much (I am an acrobat in my sleep) he would jump off and go find a quieter place to rest.
Charlie was the neighbourhood dog and everyone on our street (and beyond) knew him and as he sat out in the front lawn or walked patrolling through the neighbourhood, others would offer him pets.
People we didn’t know would walk by and say hello to Charlie, using his name and everything. It was funny to see and our brown beast loved the attention.
He came to neighbourhood events. He supervised our yearly bocce tournaments and attended nearly all summer BBQ’s and bonfire gatherings. He was always happy to tag along no matter what we were up to.

He came with us camping up to the Thompson river and ran straight into the rushing water. Never in our lives had we been more afraid but there he was, our brown beast running back onto shore, sopping wet with the new realization that that blue thing was indeed water. Mom says that same camping trip he peed in their test because he couldn’t figure out how to get out.
Charlie was an amazing host at get togethers, always making sure the floor was clean of crumbs and scraps. He had an amazing talent of hearing the fridge’s cheesebox being opened, even when he was nearly comatose asleep.
Thank you, Charlie for all the amazing memories you gave us. Thank you for being a fuzzy shoulder to lean on and the best friend a girl could ask for. I will miss you with all my heart for the rest of my days but maybe I will be comforted by the fact that you are no longer in pain or distress. See you at the Rainbow Bridge.
Love you forever and always, my fuzzy rotten beast. Xoxoxo

If love alone could have kept you here you would have lived forever.

Silly Morning Poem

Your weight settles on the bed

Giving gentle kisses in the din

Wrapping warmth around me

That you have to leave is a sin

Work can wait

Please don’t go

Let’s lay here

And wake up slow

Our morning ritual

Practiced, tried and true

Predawn embraces

Perfection crafted by you

Spoiled only by the fact

That I have to pee

After you tucked me in

So beautifully

Hmm

"I feel like everyone's a little crazy and we all walk around with this armour of sanity..."

Read this on a picture in an amazing project called Humans Of New York (HONY) a few days ago and it has been playing in my head for a while. 

Weekend

This weekend blew by in a whirlwind and I didn't want it to end. Friday was Halloween. A bunch of friends were supposed to come out and go to a local pup but a ton of them flaked. Such things come with adulthood I guess. The four of us had a great time regardless. There was a ton of hilarious costumes and we ate and laughed before making our way to the dance floor.

We packed it in pretty early, the boys drinking a little too much (Or at least mine) haha.
Saturday I woke up early to go to my fitness classes. 9 and 10am respectively. I dragged my ass there but once I got moving I came alive again.
Frustration in not being able to do one of the moves overcame me for the first time since I started the classes. It was something that looked so easy and the other girls seemed to get with ease but my limbs just wouldn't cooperate.  My body doesn't handle that well and I get a little overcome with my own embarrassment. Our instructor though was an angel and really let me know that it's totally ok that I couldn't figure it out right away. She explained that she was super impressed at my skills at grasping the other things we learned and that I could probably move onto the intermediate level already. That shocked me to hear. I still thought I had miles and miles to go in the basics. I gotta believe in myself a little more I guess! Go me.
After our RIPPED class I swung into the Booster Juice and Opa and grabbed some brunch to bring home to share with Corey. In between stores I got stopped by an old highscool friend. Momentarily mortified by the sweaty state and frumpy clothes that I had been spotted in, the conversation flowed easily and it was really nice to briefly catch up.
I drove home and surprised Corey with what was now lunch in bed. The rest of the day was filled with errands until Corey, Kat, Mike and I grouped up for some dinner. FInding a place that wasn't packed was a bit of a challenge but eventually we settled at the loft and slowly other people filtered in after inquiring on our group messenger on what was up. That was a pleasant surprise.
Corey and I bailed early to go get ready for Sunday. Our 3am start turned into a 4:03am start as we drove out into the dark morning to a spot that Corey went fishing with my dad last week. We stopped along the way to look at waterfalls and great drop offs and took pictures during the 3 and a half our ride. We unpacked as the sun rose and Corey set to fishing while Zoey and I alternated exploring the pebbled beaches and reading.

We collected cool rocks along the way. We decided that wherever we go on trips we will bring at least one rock. Once we move into a house of our own we will plant a tree and place these collected treasures around it. We may have been over zealous in collecting at the river but we couldn't help it!
Fishing was unsuccessful only in the sense that we didn't catch anything and I almost lost a really nice lure on my few casts but it was fun regardless. We chatted with some guys gold panning up the river which was really neat.
After packing up we stopped at a cafe and ordered food to eat in the car with Zoey. This place boasts the worlds best toast. I would have agreed had my pieces not been rock hard.
The trip back was much slower as we stopped more to check out neat things along the roadside.
We pulled off the road for a bathroom break and stumbled across a cemetery in the middle of nowhere. Super old headstones littered between old trees down a mountainside. We agreed that this was super creepy and that peeing there would probably summon bad juju.

 We stopped a few miles up the road and attempted a bathroom break again. This time I spotted bones along the sloping shale ridge.
It looked like a moose or deer knee joint and looking up a few feet we saw jawbones from similar animals. 
To our horror and curiosity, this whole slope was littered with bones! Mostly deer or other herbavores by the looks of it. I hung back to keep an eye on the car while corey ventured in further, taking pictures. He found a rotting bear paw, spines from who knows what and ribs and hooves.  The worst of it was a rotting bear carcass at the bottom of the ravine. Corey said it stunk and looked like fuzzy mush but the pictures confirmed that this was most likely a bear.

Creepy. So so creepy. We didn't know how all these bones got here. Maybe a dumping ground for hunters? Maybe the bear was hit by a car and dumped down the shale slope? In any case I didn't like the feeling it gave me. (Edit: Nicole tells me that this is probably a dumb site for hunters which makes me more sad than creeped out now)
We continued our journey home without any more grizzly discoveries thank goodness. As we came through Hope and beyond we could see all the stark bright yellow trees against seas of endless evergreens. I was surprised to see that the hills and mountains were lacking in red and orange. All there seemed to be was silver birch and evergreens.

It began to pour on our way home an we unpacked in torrential rain but the day had left us smiling and giggling all the way to bed. :)

Head Like A Hole

Helllllooooo!

It's Thursday everyone, just in case you haven't taken a peek at a calender.

This past weekend was fabulous. I spent much of Sunday with my best friend and I did something I thought I would never be able to do. I got my ears pierced!
As many of my friends know, I battle with a phobia that deals with needles. This past year and a half I have made amazing strides in conquering it and I couldn't be more proud of myself these days. Remembering back when I was planning escape routes from the doctors should they try to corner me with a needle makes me feel like I've jumped a huge hurtle. Now I can get vaccines with relative ease and I have had more than my fair share of needles in my mouth.
So Sunday was the day! Nicole had to bolster my confidence once or twice because during the wait times I would start thinking too much and consider chickening out. Another thing that helped was browsing some amazingly cool earrings in another store. I won't be able to wear anything fancy till the first week of December but that will probably save my bank account from going out and buying all the cool and cute earrings out there.
So, we go into the piercing place and there is two young girls there (5yrs, 3yrs) getting their ears done. Oh lord they were a riot and so cute. Nicole and I where in stitches laughing. The older of the two girls was amazing at getting her ears done. She only winced a bit then proudly proclaimed "I am so brave!" If this kid could do it, I could too, right?
One of my favorite things she said was while she was waiting for her sister to get into the chair to get her ears done. She walks over and eyes Nicole and eye suspiciously before asking "Do you guys live together?"
Hahah I don't know why but it killed me. Nothing like a little kindergarden comedy to break the tension.
The girls decided to stick around and watch me get my ears done so I had to be brave. I felt clammy and hot for a minute but the ladies doing the piercing where great.

I'm still upset I didn't get a sucker though. Hah!

So here I am! The girl who would get level 11 panic attacks at just thinking about needles now sitting pretty with earrings in! I don't mean to blast my own horn but go me!

E-X-P-R-E-S-S

Hi!

It's Thursday and you know what that means? It's almost the weekend!
Last night I had some classes and damn I nailed the first one! Nothing but smiles the entire time. I felt good and wanted to pat myself on the back for doing this for myself. I've only had three classes but I feel like I'm rocking it already. The girls there really make you feel like you're part of the family. It's great. I really look forward to my two classes on Saturday morning.
Tomorrow night I'm going out with the girls to get our groove on. Let's not party too hard so I don't show up to class the next day looking like a train wreck.

Speaking of train wrecks I have NOT been able to sleep very well at my dogsitting client's house. Normally it's a breeze but this time its been so dark and creepy out that all I want to do is high tail it for home. Not to mention the power went out the other night and I was certain the boogie man was going to get me haha! I can't wait to be home =) a week and a day to go!

8 days till HALLOWEEN
30 days till SEATTLE
44 days till MEXICO!

Goooooodmoring, Cloverdale!

Some photos that make me smile from over the past couple weeks. Things are looking pretty stellar! My car passed aircare on Friday! Holy crap I am so happy about that. My last two cars failed aircare miserably and that lead to me selling them both which was a bummer because I loved my Celicas. 

I was worried about my matrix passing. The engine light has been on since a month or so after I bought it. By a stoke of luck I put in premium gas in last Thursday and the light turned off! (Maybe an 02 censor error maybe?)

After work I drive down to the emissions testing station but as I go over a speed bump my airbag light came on! Shoot! I drive around in a panic for a bit, crashing over speed bumps and turning my car on and off to see if the warning light will go away. They won't test your car if any dash lights signal errors or engine problems. Finally the light goes off and I enter the building for testing. Boy my smile was so big when I was handed the paper with the been green pass sign on it. The matrix passed with flying colors! I must admit I let out a woop woop as I drove away with some celebratory tunes on. Success!

This weekend was a busy one. Between two fitness classes, running back and forth for dogsitting, parties and gatherings with friends I was pretty wiped at the end but in a good way. I went to my grandmother's 75th birthday and we had a great time surprising her. We all sang the Thomas version of happy birthday and probably scared the neighbours away.