Winter's Last Hurrah

Winter in Vancouver is usually a combination of rain, gloom, wind, more rain and then once or twice a year... snow that doesn't really stick. 

Usually by March, the flowers are up and we're well on our way to Spring. Well apparently this year winter wanted one more party, so for about 35 minutes it was a complete white out in North Vancouver. 

I took these photos about 30 minutes apart. It went from snow to sun so quickly. 

Ahhhh Winter, I will NOT miss you.

iHappy: The Giant Boggle Machine has Arrived

Usually it’s Lexi who stares endlessly out the window, watching the world go by. But today it was I who was eagerly waiting at the window.

Why you ask? Because last week I impulsively pre-ordered the new iPad. I knew it would be delivered today and I only received it about 20 minutes ago, so I’ll make this post quick and let the photos speak for themselves. 

The first thing I did? Download Boggle, aka world's bestest game. (Bestest is a 5 point word)

Any iPad users out there? What apps should I download?  

Here are the first three photos taken on the new iPad. The only worthy subject in the house wasn't in the mood to be photographed, but I'm really impressed by the quality. I've had to make them small so you can't see how dirty my floors are.

A queen sized problem & Google in the kitchen

I had been suffering from poor sleeps for several months. I wasn’t sure what was causing them – but was desperate to get a good night sleep.    

We had purchased new bedroom furniture in the fall, so I was nervous that it was our new mattress causing the restlessness, but it didn’t make much sense as the problems started in December, a few weeks after the new set arrived.

As the cold weather progressed and Vancouver was transformed into a damp, miserable place, I was becoming desperate. That’s when I realized that I was waking up uncovered and constantly cold. I would pull on the duvet, only to have my husband cocoon himself back into it 10 minutes later. Derek only sleeps under the duvet if he’s really cold…. Hence the problem only manifested in the winter.

Our queen sized duvet, which worked well on our double bed, was too small for our new queen sized mattress. An annual Sale at the Bay a few weeks ago prompted me to go duvet shopping and purchase a king sized duvet cover. It wasn’t cheap (actually it was free……thanks mommy - she even threw in a new pillow) but money is no object when saving a marriage.   

 I’m writing this at the kitchen table as dinner bakes and yummy smells drift my way. I’m making a polish sausage potatoes bake… it sounds fairly simple, and it was. I love to throw in random ingredients into google and then seeing what comes up. Usually I choose the ingredients that are about to expire in the fridge. But thanks to last week’s Costco trip, I have an excess amount of potatoes and sausages.

I’m now waiting for Derek to come home from work so he can be impressed by my housewife talents.

Surf, Sand, Sleep = Success

The weekend was amazing as usual. We’re pretty sure Lexi enjoyed herself. It was hard to tell because she was either tearing maniacally around the beach or sleeping.  

Every time we come home, I spend the entire the car ride figuring out a way to move permanently to the island. I’m still scheming as I have a husband to convince. 

Looking ahead we have a busy weekend, coupled with work, work and more work. I think we’ll need to blow up some of these photos so I can stare at them and pretend I’m back in paradise.

Tofino Bound

It’s 7am in the morning and I’m on my way to the happiest place on earth. Maybe I should clarify, I’m on the way to my happiest place on earth. We’re going to Tofino.

Also big news? My sweet little Lexi Doodle turned two this week. I can’t really fathom how my twelve week old puppy that was just a bundle in my arms, has become this loving, spunky, snuggly little running buddy. They grow up so fast.

As a gift to her, we’re taking her to play on miles of beach and introduce her to surfing.

Surf's up.

Mighty Neighbourly

Lexi sniffing the air - I love the snow sticking to her fur

It snowed about 10 cm this morning, pushing Vancouver into a full blown snowmageddan. I’m serious, that’s what the papers are calling it – granted other parts of the Lower Mainland did get more snow than us. I’m not a huge snow lover, but as long as I don’t have to drive anywhere I don’t mind a few inches.

There’s a bylaw round here that states you need to have your sidewalks cleared of snow by about 10 a.m., so usually when it snows Derek and I grab the complex snow shovels and will clear the paths. Our complex makes us laugh, there’s a North side vs. Courtyard divide, and usually the courtyard ignores the North Side, meaning they’ll clear all of their paths and sidewalks, but won’t touch ours.

This morning I saw that it was starting to snow, so I waited until the majority of it stopped, grabbed a shovel and started clearing ALL the paths, stairs and sidewalks in the complex, North and Courtyard. After about 45 minutes of shovelling and working up a good sweat, I was literally on my last 3 sections of pavement, when a neighbour came outside and said that he’d do the rest.

I had done about 98% of the shovelling, but my hands were freezing so I was happy to hand it over. Just as I gave him the shovel and was walking away, another neighbor started walking up and thanking him for shovelling all the paths.

How neighbourly of him.

A half has never felt so huge

Other than a brief spell in University, I have never enjoyed running or considered myself a runner. Running was something I did to train for basketball or boxing, but I never pushed myself for more than 30 minutes and never had the desire to go faster or further. In fall 2010, with one year to go before the wedding, I started running with a friend twice a week. Our distances began to increase and we set the goal of running a half marathon in the spring.

Running a half scares me so much, it's a mental thing. In my mind, it's a long distance (read 23 km!! aka 13 miles) and the ability to do it seems so far off. But bit-by-bit we increased our distances and the goal seemed so attainable. Just when I was finally starting to enjoy running, I ended up injuring my hip to the point where I couldn't walk up the stairs in my house. Couple this with my running-buddy getting pregnant, the goal died and spring came and went.

I did get in shape for the wedding thanks to the South Beach Diet (I won't blog about it... but it worked, I lost 25lbs before the wedding) and boxing/running twice a week - but I never got back to loving running.

Once we were home from our honeymoon I wanted to maintain my weight, but still eat carbs. In November I started running small distances (4km) just to test out the hip, get Lexi out of the house (my car was totalled this summer and I can no longer drive her daily to the dog park like I used to) and get back in shape. Low and behold I'm building up my stamina.

I'm up to 6-8 km several times a week and I really want to revisit my half marathon goal. The BMO Vancouver Half/Full Marathon is the first weekend in May. So here is my public declaration that I will RUN THE HALF MARATHON! I'm putting it out there publicly so I can't back down.

I'm going to watch my hip carefully, so hopefully it'll hold up through training.I'm also thinking that if I run the half marathon I'll treat myself to a Disneyland trip. Ha Ha, I think I'd drag myself across the line if it means Disneyland!!

Another goal for the year will be to start taking photos again. I got a new laptop, and haven't uploaded any of my photo software on here, and Lexi ate the memory card in my other camera - so I don't have the ability to take anything.... therefore I'll post a few random photos from Easter.

H is for Hitched. A is for Apology

I don't know why I chose today to foray back to the world of blogging. Actually, I do know why. It's because I have work deadlines and I needed a way to procrastinate.

Here we are, I skipped blogging in 2011. I know, I'm sorry - most of you probably stopped caring, but I'm here, I'm alive and I have a new last name. To recap my 2011, I got married and I went on a honeymoon. Those two activities pretty much took 365 days.

I'll write more about the wedding, as well as a few lessons learned, but first I just wanted to come crawling back, tail between legs and promise you that you'll hear a lot more of my ramblings in 2012.

Here are some wedding photos, they were all taken by the talented Vanessa Voth