Photographic Satisfaction

Today is another one of those days at work where I have a huge list of to do’s, but can’t seem to actually motivate myself to do any of them. Therefore I shall post a few photos from Yesterday.

The first one is to satisfy your carnal craving… (the meat, not Derek). We bbq’d some delicious steaks last night, as well as roasted peppers & mushrooms on skewers.

Secondly, I had a good hair day, and what self respecting female doesn’t take a photo on a good hair day??!! (It can’t be just me!?)

And lastly, here is the Oswego Hotel in Victoria. I didn’t take this photo, but Derek and I have decided to take a weekend away in Victoria next month for our anniversary. We had planned to just spend it in Vancouver, but Tourism Victoria has an amazing promotion on right now where they will pay for your ferry (round-trip) if you book two nights (or more) in a hotel. So we’ve booked this really modern looking fabulous Hotel (The Oswego) for the 15th- 17th of August for a little get-away. How can you not love this hotel? Our suite comes with this full, fabulous kitchen that is way nicer than anything we'll own for a very long time.

I'm getting old....

I attended my friend Cindy’s stagette Saturday during the day, it was a beach picnic & pole dancing class. Pole dancing is pretty hilarious actually, especially when you have zero moves (me). In fact, during the lap dancing component of the lesson, I fell off the chair and smacked my head on the way down. Sorry Derek, looks like you’re out of luck…..

Sunday was filled with shopping downtown. I randomly ran into Vanessa (Loewen) Voth from Capernwray, who was downtown for the weekend with her Hubby. I got some great fall work clothes. I love fall outfits…. The only problem is, you can’t wear them for months!

Sunday evening was the best of all, and I’m not even talking about the free yummy dinner I scored from Derek’s parents. Derek’s sister and I somehow got on the subject of Grad dresses (Prom for you Americans) and before I could explain what mine looked like, they interjected that they had photos of me from Grad. I was sooo confused, Derek and I had maybe had one conversation in five years, despite going to the same High School and I didn’t remember even seeing him at Grad! (Although that’s a lie… secretly a bunch of my friends and I noticed him, and I distinctly remember sneaking a photo of him and talking with my friends of how he 'cleaned up good'

But it turns out Derek and I DO have photos together! Our mutual friend Jess (his roomie/hetero life partner (their words, not mine) and my male best friend) is in the photo, but his parents are going to email me a copy so I can Photoshop Jess out! YAY!

We have a graduation photo together!!! Sooo excited. I’ll post it when I get it. It’s pretty funny, I have some terrible makeup & hideous dress action going on. Derek looks amazing though….. in fact, I think I have that photo of him on my computer from Grad.

Ha Ha FOUND IT (15 minutes searching later)…. Sorry babe – in order to not embarrass D too much, I’ve added one of myself from Grad. (Sorry Michelle & Jess)

Lets see if I remember these guys... I was only friends with 3 of them, but from L-R

Simon (?) Tyler, Darryl (?), Mike (?), Adam, Brandon, and my future hottie Derek

Jess, Me & Michelle... apparently we all wore blue....

My frustrations with the Passport office

My passport expired a few months ago, I filled out the renewal forms & got my photos taken, but never sent them off. It was always at the back of my mind to renew it, but it wasn’t until we booked our Mexican vacation for September that the urgency to receive it kicked in.

Ever since Canada and the US decided that all flights in-between the two countries required a passport, the lineups and wait times have be long – 2-3 months to get your passport, hours spent waiting in line to apply.

So yesterday I took the day off work, mostly because I was feeling under the weather, actually I have a boarderline sore throat… I just really needed a mental health day and to run some errands. Plus I’ve worked so much overtime this week, and throughout the summer it didn’t even matter. I got a venti latte, a few snacks to keep me going through the long wait and I grabbed a novel that I was excited to start reading.

Yup, there I was trundling down the streets of downtown actually looking forward to my time spent in the waiting room…. As I rounded the corner towards the office I thought ‘hmmm I don’t see a line’ and once I got into the office there was almost nobody in there. I pulled a number to get a place in the line up, sat down in a chair and less than 15 seconds later my number was called.

Needless to say I’m angry, I didn’t even get to open my book, let alone read any of it, nor was my scone eaten, nor my coffee drunk. It took less than 5 minutes in-and-out, and my passport will be mailed to me within 2 weeks… I didn’t even get to pay a rush fee for priority, how disgustingly efficient. I felt like hanging around the waiting room for an hour afterwards just because I was so prepared, but decided it was probably best to go home.

Anyways, I’m having a crazy day at work scrambling to get something done… so blogging probably isn’t’ in my best interest.

What did I do this weekend?

I did nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I slept until 10am, I made breakfasts full of grease & salt, I booked a 2 week vacation in Mexico, I spent 48 hours with the love of my life, I made a picnic and sat on top of a mountain looking down at Vancouver, I watched a kayaking video, I washed my car, I laid in the sun and I read 2 novels.

It was the most satisfying nothing I’ve ever done.

We re-created the sandwiches that Derek made on one of our first dates,

they were so delicious that I fell in love with him and have been bugging him to make them ever since. I got my wish on Saturday

Overlooking English Bay from a random park at the top of 21st in West Van.

An English Bay sunset on Thursday evening

Sleep deprived

So it looks like I have a blog stalker... that's right Ash, I'm on to you, Angela ratted you out last night. I told Angela I'd give Ash a shout-out, so I'm posting a photo from their engagement shoot. They're such a cute couple and Angela couldn't have found a more amazing man suited for her.

I'm actually pretty excited that someone does read this blog! Is there anyway I can track the people who read this? I need numbers, perhaps I have this big cult following in Peru that I'm not aware of?

So yea, I'm so thankful it's the weekend - I'm counting down the hours until I'm able to go home. I keep closing my eyes for a minute or two, and am hoping that nobody catches me napping. My throat is also starting to hurt a bit, is that an excuse to go home to bed?

And Breath

Yes!! It’s all over! No more wedding! It was actually pretty fun, but I think the mantra for any of the un-married was ELOPE, especially after seeing my mom who we will call Mother-of-the-groom-Zilla. There was also a little Groom-zilla going on from my brother, but that was only to keep the Bridezilla in Stephanie from coming out.

My mom was pretty stressed out on Friday before the rehearsal dinner, but everything worked out in the end. It was beautiful and sunny (and sweltering inside the church). No major melt-downs… unless you count one of the groomsmen turning white, swaying and having to leave the alter to go take off his tux and pour water over himself… it was pretty funny. Rumer also has it, that my brother got so nervous before the wedding he took off running, his groomsmen thought he was making a break for it, but in reality - he just need to get rid of his breakfast.
I loved being the in Bridal party, the dresses looked great, getting my hair done was fun & you always get better wine at the head table. All-in-All it was a great weekend, but boy am I exhausted.

I don’t have many great photos because I was so busy catching up with relatives from out of town, and different friends…. But I know my mom took some of me walking up the aisle, so I’ll try to grab those later on. Plus professional photos when I get my hands on them, they should turn out pretty great, she let me take a look through a few on her camera and they looked fabulous.

My mom harassing poor Derek about Marriage... actually, everyone there harrassed Derek about marriage.

Dear Lord, please make this week end.

My brother gets married tomorrow… lets have a recap of the past few days.

Tuesday, Kelly receives a concussion from a freak volleyball collision. Her face is swollen, slight bruising (which has faded nicely) & she’s unable to drink alcohol (which is how she was planning on getting through the wedding). Kelly’s unhappy & in pain.

A freak severe windstorm blew through Vancouver Thursday, reeking havoc upon nature. Kelly’s parent’s brand new landscaped backyard, which was landscaped all for Friday’s rehearsal dinner, is destroyed by a tree that blew down taking out bushes, and flowers. The landscapers came over after a frantic call from my mother… all is almost restored - 5 hours before the caterers come to set up.

My elderly mean/evil grandma decides she isn’t happy not being the center of attention. My mother has shifted her focus elsewhere this week, and Grandma decided it was unacceptable. She’s placed several calls to 911 informing them her daughter was missing because she wasn’t picking up her cell phone (at 5am). The police have called my mother asking her to control Grandma…. Phhfff good luck. Several hours go by before she wants more attention, and told her nurses she was going to kill herself…. She only became sane again once my mother promised to take her out for breakfast this morning and to do her nails….Grandma is happy for now….

Some families are great thinkers…. some are talented in athletic pursuits…. Others are kind and nuturing. Mine stirs up drama, it’s what we’re good at.

In the mean time, here are 2 photos from last week.... the first one is my mom and I... my mom deserves the shout-out this week due to all the work she's doing for the wedding... and the second is me trying to take one of those cute kissy photos and Derek ducking....

Not a shabby way to end a Monday

I dragged myself to the gym after work yesterday, as I need to fit into a bridesmaid’s dress (and look decent) on Saturday for my brothers wedding. After a pretty hard workout the owner of the gym (who doubles as a friend) invited me out on his boat for a few hours. We were considering wakeboarding, but it would have been cold. So instead we cranked Bob Marley and a few of us hung out on the water enjoying life.

Here are some photos from a beautiful Monday evening,

nood

What does nood sound like to you? Nude right? What if I told you their store description was New Objects of Desire. You would assume it was a Sex Shop, right?

The story goes like this.

Derek and I were driving past where Lenscrafters used to be and see a new store open called ‘nood – new objects of desire’ and we just assumed it was a Sex store…. This past weekend my dad lost his glasses and was going to go to Lenscrafters, Derek and I informed him, they had moved it was replaced by a sex store called nood.

Flash forward to about 5 minutes ago when I got a call from my Dad to inform me he was in Lenscrafters today - they had only moved next door to nood. He also mentioned he bought me a present from nood. This is where I become highly confused and a little grossed out…. An awkward pause ensued. Then he said along the lines of ‘Kelly, you and your perverted boyfriend are huge dorks, nood is a furniture store’.

Ooops,
I wonder what my present is?

Anyways – pictures from our sailing trip