Daily Adventures

Come Join Me!

2008-01-28T23:56:00.000-08:00

Check out my new blog:

www.vanessamsiemens.blogspot.com

See you soon!

New Blog

2008-01-09T18:01:00.001-08:00

So because I have a new email address and hate having to sign in with this address, I have decided to make the shift to a new blog which is:

www.vanessamsiemens.blogspot.com

I would love for you to join me there! However, I have made it private just so I can know who is reading my blog, etc. But dont' let that stop you! Send me an email at vanessa_siemens@hotmail.com and let me know who you are and how you found my blog (if I don't already know you) and I will send you an invite!!

See you there!

(p.s. the new blog isn't too exciting yet.. but hopefully it will become so!)

Happy New Year's!

2008-01-06T10:42:00.001-08:00

My friend Jenn was in Alberta for the holidays and I missed her when she was in B.C., so I decided it would be fun to fly to Calgary for a few days to hang out with two of my really close and dear friends, Jenn and Lindie.When I arrived, Jenn and Lindie were there to greet me. Lindie works for WestJet, so it was nice to have my own personal smiling customer service agent waiting! :)
We went to Schanks for New Year's. It's a sports bar in Calgary. It was a little sad to watch the Canucks lose while surrounded by Flames fans, but it was fun anyway! Here are the oh-so-cool New Year's hats we got.. haha.. it was hard to keep mine on my head while taking the picture, but it turned out kind of fun anyway! After the game we danced a bunch and enjoyed the appy's buffet! For New Year's Day, we went to the Saddledome to watch the final game of the midget hockey tournament. The game was between the Vancouver Giants and Russia and Vancouver got creamed 7-0. A little sad, but it was fun anyway! Afterwards, we went with Jenn's whole family to Mongolie Grill for a goodbye and birthday dinner for Jenn before she headed back to Quebec.
The next day, I went out with Lindie, her sister Erin and two of their past roommates. We decided to go for pizza and it was lots of fun!

Erin and Meghan, who was out from Bermuda for the holidays

The next day was Erin's birthday, so we went skating outside at Bowness Park. Lots of fun skating outside, although my feet are fairly prone to getting sore!! The only other place I've skated outdoors was Quebec, so it was fun to be able to do it again! It's cool, because there's all different paths you can skate. That night, Erin, Lindie and I met a bunch of Erin's friends from work (she's a paramedic) at Open Sesame for a birthday dinner for Erin. I didn't end up taking any pictures, but we had a great time! All ten of us got free dessert at the end, because they made us move tables! We werent complaining! Then I caught my flight back to Abbotsford where I have a few days yet before school starts!

Last but not least is the famous pink tablecloth. Jenn, Lindie and I always hide it on each other when we are visiting one another. It started one summer when we all lived together in Quebec. We'd always hide it in each other's pillows. Anyway, now we write a little message on it every time and then hide it on each other. Recently I found it in my sock drawer.. but I hid it nicely in Lindie's house.. fun times!!

More thoughts on the New Year and pics from the last couple days to come!!

Expectations

2007-12-31T00:07:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been thinking a lot about expectations. I was examining three aspects of expectations: expectations of myself, of others and that others have of me. At first I thought I had no expectations of others, then I realized that I have far too many expectations of other people.. I have expectations of perfection for myself and I project those on other people. I can't meet those, neither can others and so nobody wins in the end.

I want to write a quote from 'The Shack' that was talking about expectations versus living in expectancy. It has helped me reframe this for myself as I approach my relationships and God with a new perspective.

"Let's use the example of friendship and how removing the element of life from a noun can drastically alter a relationship. Mack, if you and I are friends, there is an expectancy that exists within our relationship. When we see each other or are apart, there is expectancy of being together, of laughing and talking. That expectancy has no concrete definition; it is alive and dynamic and everything that emerges from our being together is a unique gift shared by no one else. But what happens if I change that 'expectancy' to an 'expectation'-spoken or unspoken? Suddenly, law has entered into our relationship. You are now expected to perform in a way that meets my expectations. Our living friendship rapidly deteriorates into a dead thing with rules and requirements. It is no longer about you and me, but about what friends are supposed to do, or the responsibilities of a good friend."

I understand what is being said here and it makes perfect sense, but I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how to actually can apply to my daily life. Is it truly possible to live free of expectation? As I approach God, I come full of expectations of what I feel He should do and what I think should happen in my life. I insert law into it and attempt to dictate the way in which it goes. Yet, I limit God and leave disappointed and miss completely what He is actually doing and what He is speaking to me. Interesting to consider.

Family Gatherings and Friends

2007-12-29T22:11:00.001-08:00

On Boxing Day and the 27th I had two family gatherings. On Boxing Day it was with my mom's side of the family. We're fairly big, so usually whoever is hosting it uses their church for us to meet! It's always so much fun hanging out and eating and laughing together. Every year we have a doubles ping pong tournament and it's a lot of fun! Here's some pics from that gathering:

My cousin Mika and I

My cousin Desiree and I

Desiree, Omi and I

Lucas, Chad and Bobbi (my sibs)

A bunch of cousins and a couple uncles

hahaha.. Okay, so my aunt doesn't normaly looks like this, but she was trying to be cross-eyed for the picture and was laughing at the same time and this is the snapshot I got!! :)

My cousin Fred and his wife Tarah

My cousin Devon

My mom and Bobbi posing with the cake my mom slaved over!!

The first and second place teams for the ping pong tournament

My Uncle Pete and I who were on a team together for the tournament

After the tourney, we like to play the blowing game where you have to blow the ping pong ball away from you so it doesn't fall off the table where you are. It's hilarious to play and it's hard not to laugh the whole time!

I made it to the final three.. you can tell in this picture we're all ready to blow! haha

Omi wanted a picture with some of her grandsons to see who was the tallest

Omi with some of her grand-daughters

These pics are from my family gathering from my dad's side of the family. It was pretty snowy and so it took people a while to get there because the roads were slippery. My car wouldn't make it up the hill to their house, so my cousin and uncle had to come rescue me! We had a huge feast and played the gift exchange game. It's always fun to see what everyone brings, because a few people have trademark gifts they put in every year. This year, as every year, I was reminded of my Opa, Oma, Dad and brother who aren't with us. Empty spots around the table are reminders of loss, but also reasons to celebrate because the richness of life and joy they brought to us. While eating dinner I was thinking about how every year my dad would always forget to take the buns out of the oven for the meal and we'd always find them afterwards. I am thankful for all the good memories for sure.

My friend Lindie from Calgary came out for a few days to visit. She went to the hockey game with my mom while I went to my family gathering. I would have loved to see the Canucks beat the Flames with her (she's a big Flames fan), but my mom got to enjoy it instead!

Kelly, Lindie and I went for dinner in Vancouver to our favorite Japanese/Korean bbq place where it's all you can eat and you get to cook your meat!! it was so much fun! Then we went to two different theatre sports afterwards in Granville Island.

And so ends my whack of posts. Perhaps there will be a few more soon about things I have been thinking about! :) Hope you are all enjoying the holidays and time with family and friends!

Birthday/Christmas Eve

2007-12-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

So this picture and the next are actually from Boxing Day, but I posted them, so here they are. My cousin Desiree and I made about 100 jam jams on Boxing Day! Jam Jams are a classic cookie in our families and we always have a lot of fun making them!! And they're SOOO good!

On Christmas Eve, Chad, Bobbi, and Lucas all came over for a brunch and then we opened our Christmas presents!

Lucas, my mom and I

Bobbi and I

In the evening, family and friends joined us after church at The Keg for dinner. Then we went to my house for cake and games and hanging out. Above is the cake my mom had made for me which was very special! :)

Chrystal and Kacey playing 'Things'. Chrystal got me the game for my birthday and it was funny, because that's the exact same thing I got her! haha.. It's a great game-lots of fun!

Carrie, Desiree and Brooke

On Christmas Day, I didn't have anything to do, so I went over to Chrystal's house where we played some games in the morning. Then they invited me to join them for their Christmas supper and hanging out. It was so much fun! Thanks guys for including me in your family and making me feel totally welcome! It was a great way to spend Christmas! :) Chrystal, Tasha, Kaeli and I all went to a late movie afterwards. We saw National Treasure (the second one) and it was pretty good. haha.. they even leave it wide open for a third one!

Mexico!

2007-12-29T12:44:00.001-08:00

Cheryl and I left my house at 1am and drove down to Seattle to catch our 6am flight. By the time we got to the airport we were pretty tired but that made things a lot funnier. My favorite was the self check-in that we had to do. We had to scan our passports but we couldn't figure out how you could stuff your passport in the little slot that was there. "American passports must be smaller" we decided.. then we realized that I was blocking the nice big scanner that was quick and easy to scan the passport. haha..

Finally we arrived in Puerta Vallarta where we went to our resort, Samba Vallarta. Here was the view from our lawnchairs on the first day.

This was my fake camera for the week which conveniently I used as a bookmark. I read eight books in seven days! Lots of good thinking material and relaxation! So nice to not read school material. I read 'The Shack' (SO good and challenging), 'My Name is Asher Lev', 'Blink of an Eye', 'Sex God', 'Becoming Human', 'As the Leaves Fall', 'Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants', and 'Messy Spirituality'. It was a great mix of easy reading and good thinking material at the same time.

The sunsets every night were absolutely stunning!

View from the beach lawnchairs.

Cheryl and I out for dinner at the Italian restaurant at the resort. Well, at least the restaurant was fancy... hehe

We had a nice convo with the couple at the table across from us. We hung out with them a bit through the week as well.

Eating the Christmas tree... we thought it was pretty.

Cheryl, Willie and I

Willie and I

Every day we got little towel animals on our beds. We were pretty excited about the bunny.

Our favorite bar tender, Martin. He always made special drinks for us to try out.

We decided it would be nice to feed each other.. hahaha

Fire!! They burn the liquor before the put it in your coffee and pass it from container to container-it's pretty cool!

Tequila shots with the waiters

All the kids were going up for pictures, so we decided we would too! haha..

Yair and his new friend at the disco.

Last day on the beach

Cheryl and I decided we were sick of being selected for special screening at the airport! one time, okay, but both times??

We had a great relaxing week! We almost didn't make it home as our flight from San Fransisco to Seattle was randomly cancelled. But luckily we got on a different flight flying standby (even though there were over thirty people on the list!) We got home in the wee hours of the morn, just in time for my birthday on Christmas Eve! (and that is my perfect segue to the next post!)

Christmas Party and Last Exam

2007-12-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

I decided that since I have a lot of catching up to do, I would just do a lot of posts!! So now I'm back tracking to a couple weeks ago, when I had a Christmas/birthday get together with a bunch of friends at my house! We ate lots of good food and played some great games! I was reminded once again of what an amazing drawer I am in Pictionary. haha.. My team was absolutely amazing. (okay we weren't the best at drawing, but we had a lot of fun!!)

John Mark and I

Kacey and Alex

Chris, Heidi and Kristen. I think Kristen schooled Chris in foosball quite a few times..

Chrystal, Brooke and Kacey

The next day I met my friends Sarah, Megan and Alex for breakfast at IHOP. It was great to hang out before the holidays and Alex was out from the island so it was good to see her too!

Alex and I

After breakfast, i went to school to study for my last exam. We met at a coffee shop first and then were in the school cafeteria. I must say that we really didn't study much. Or I didn't at least. hehe.. I'm not the best person to study in groups because I distract and want to do anything but study. So we hung out that afternoon and then wrote the last exam! huzzah!! up top is a pic of amy and kristen doing practice quizzes online.

kristen and I

Dan decided he would do an impersonation of one of the guys in our textbook. Took a while to get the head angle right! But I think he got it in the end!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2007-12-28T01:13:00.000-08:00

I'm back from Mexico! I arrived back around midnight just in time for Christmas Eve and my birthday! Mexico was very relaxing! I read seven books in seven days! Great to do some non-school reading for once. Christmas was great as well. Wonderful to spend time with family and friends. My cousin and I baked cookies on Boxing Day and made one of our regular cookie videos. This one is a nice Christmas song for you to all enjoy. I will be posting some photos of Mexico and Christmas soon so stay tuned! For now, enjoy the video! :)

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane..

2007-12-15T23:45:00.000-08:00

These pictures are small but they are of the place we are staying in Mexico!! Cheryl and I are off to the airport in Seattle to catch our 6am flight. YAY for no sleep!!

It feels amazing to be done my last exam!! I finished it in 22 minutes (a new record for me) and when I went to hand it in, my prof said "wow, that's fast. kind of scary." haha.. and i got my paper back and got 100% which was uber exciting!! :) Hoorah!! I'm done this semester and it feels amazing. See you in a week, stay tuned for pictures!!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

2007-12-14T00:50:00.001-08:00

I took my braids out which was an all day ordeal but boy it was fun to have an afro for a while! :)

They say stress makes you lose your hair.. well it is exam time...

Christmas Decorations

2007-12-14T00:21:00.001-08:00

My mom goes nuts when it comes to Christmas decorations. I went around taking a few pictures of the decorations tonight. There are more, so perhaps I will take pics later, but thought I'd post these for you to enjoy! Welcome to my Winter Wonderland!

Fun with Friends

2007-12-13T23:26:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd include some pictures of my last couple of weeks to bring you up to snuff on some of the stuff I've been up to!

So far I have done five exams and have one more to go on Saturday! Today's was the longest by far. Way too much written! But it's done, so that's good! We were allowed a cheat sheet and this was mine.. Yes, i like to write small.. haha

Studying this morning with Kristen.. Actually she was working on the assignment she forgot was due today!

Amy's cheat sheet

Emily, Breanne and I are youth leaders for sr. high at church and we carpool together on monday nights. this week we decided it would be fun to go hottubbing afterwards!

Chrystal and I studying hard at Boston Pizza

Carrie and I went to "Excalibur" last Saturday, a play in Surrey. Was a lot of fun!

Kristen and I have a weekly coffee/lunch date. We always order the chips and salsa and the spinach dip.. we've always wanted to try the greek tapas, but never wanted to give up one of our other choices. So we invited Chris along (during a study break) and forced him to order them!! haha.. We decided that during exam time you cannot have intellectual conversations with others, but that made the conversations quite interesting and absolutely hilarious!

The best picture of kristen ever.. hahahaha

Chris, Kristen and I

Ryan and Sue

Last week everyone from my small group came over for dinner. Everyone brought something and it was a great time of fellowship and hanging out! Lots of great laughs!!

Harry and Lisa

Gord and Andrea

Sieg and Deste

Ray and Carrie

Our annual Christmas dinner with the Derksen's- always lots of fun!!

So, now my countdown is:
-5 exams finished
-1 exam to go
-3 days until Mexico
-10 days until my birthday
-11 days until Christmas!!

YAY!

Snow!

2007-12-13T22:59:00.000-08:00

Recently we had a lot of snow and I took a couple walks and some photos!! Had I not been studying and working on a paper for one of the days, I would have taken a lot more photos!!

Coming Soon

2007-12-12T17:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I am in the middle of exam time and insanity is running amuck. I take one look at the million items strewn across my room (not normal for me at all) and realize that things have gone nutso. But we are making it through! I'm really tired for the most part. I have a lot of pictures to post. So that will come after my exam tomorrow. For now I wanted to leave you with a quote that I ran across in my Abnormal Psych textbook while studying:

"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds" -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Any thoughts?

Tagged

2007-12-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

I have been tagged by Kelly, so here goes:

Six Things/Habits about me:
1. I like making lists and at times do not feel a sense of accomplishment unless it is something i have crossed off my list. I have gotten better, but I do weekly make a list of things I have to do that week for school.. helps me not get stressed!
2. I love water. I could sit and watch it for hours (okay outside that is, NOT like in the shower or in a cup...) I mean waterfalls, lakes, oceans, creeks, etc.
3. I love traveling and photography and combining the two. My goal is to go to 40 countries
4. I have to read every single chapter out of every textbook for school. I feel bad if I don't. It takes a lot of time, but I figure I'm learning so it's all good!
5. I like getting my hair in braided extentions. It's fun and usually lasts a couple months, giving me an extra half hour every morning to sleep!
6. My birthday is Christmas Eve and I love it! It seems a strange thought to have a birthday without Christmas decorations and music, etc. It feels like it's all part of my birthday which is just lovely.

Seven Random/Weird things about me
1. every time I leave my desk, i need to leave my chair at a certain angle
2. i absolutely love overcast and cloudy weather! It energizes me more than a sunny day
3. I speak two languages fluently (English and French) and know a bit in to get by in three other languages (Russian, Spanish and German)
4. I used to be a math major and am now a Psychology major, which really doesn't compliment each other! haha
5. When I drive, I turn my music full blast and sing all the harmonies at the top of my lungs
6. I love raw carrots but do not like cooked carrots at all
7. I am the person who changes the outside sign at my church. Don't worry though-I don't put up cheesy lines!! just info! :)

For both of these, I tag: Chrystal, Amy, Kristen and Yvonne

Mistaken

2007-12-01T00:02:00.000-08:00

I have been deep in thought in the last few days about more things than I can possibly put into words. I feel as though I am being shaken to my core of late and nothing is the same as it was. I am being wrung, and in the process am becoming broken. It hurts.

I grew up with the mentality that my relationship with God was either "doing good" or "doing bad". Funny, because I now see how inaccurate that is. Struggling in your relationship with God does not simply mean it's bad, but rather that in itself is part of the journey. The struggle, the crap, the hard and the good are all intermingled into one journey towards God. The goal here on earth is not to reach the end, because that will never happen while on earth. Rather, the goal is the process. The goal is the journey. To be continually growing, evolving and changing as the going gets rough or as it seems easy.

Just a few thoughts (unfortunately not articulated in the way I would like them to be). Feel free to disagree and I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Something for you to read

2007-11-29T09:51:00.000-08:00

Went to the Canucks game on Tuesday night with my friend Amy. We didn't bring our camera, so we took a classic pic on her camera phone. We probably don't look the best thanks to it but that's okay! It was a great game!! We won 4-0! yahoo!! always so great to watch your team win and to just see the excitement of everyone around you about it!

I have lots of thoughts mulling around my head and so there's a "better" post coming soon, but right now I just felt like posting so that people have something to read when they check! hehe...

Here's the updated coundown:

Everything that will happen before Christmas:

-16 more things on my school/homework to do list
-5 more days of classes
-6 more exams
-3 plays to see
-7 warm days to sunbathe in Mexico
-24 more days until my birthday

Soap Shopping Extravaganza

2007-11-24T21:43:00.001-08:00

Well, it was just American Thanksgiving, which means it was time for Lindie's and my annual trip down to the States to Bath and Body Works to get really great deals on our favorite soap! This year we were joined by Lindie's sister Erin. I had not seen her for quite some time and it was so great to hang out again! Lindie and Erin flew in from Calgary last night and we went to Red Robin's, then to Castle Fun Park for some mini golfing fun. Then Lindie went to bed and Erin and I played tennis and baseball on the wii until the wee hours of the morning! The next day (after I have gotten about three hours of sleep), we got up early to combat the border lineups and headed off to the border. The picture above is taken while waiting in line. If it looks like I'm tired, it's because I am. haha..

Lindie and Erin posing in front of the purses (or "bags" as Lindie calls them)

Kissing the whale at the pier

Lindie ran into an old friend at Target who recommended we head to Bellingham's waterfront to find a good place to eat lunch. We were very hungry after all our shopping and good deals we got, and we found a great little restaurant!! And in the picture above, Lindie is sporting her new jacket that she bought!

Cheers!

We thought it would be funny if we "parked" ourselves int he no parking zone..

Very excited to be reading about yachting.

Wave if you love boating!

Ahh.. slippery ice!

If you look at the sign on the door, this picture of me "delivering" Lindie to the door will make sense!

Thought we'd document our trip with a pic next to a Washington/Bellingham license plate. We had to be quick in taking it though in case the owner of the vehicle showed up.

Haha.. Once again, look at the sign in the background to understand!

And we did buy a lot of soap... and lotions (as Lindie likes to add..) And we didn't even have to pay duty!! Hoorah!

Heres a couple pics from last weekend when Chad, Theresa, Cassandra and I went to the Canucks game. We had a great time and Canucks won! YAY!

And that is all for now. This tired little mind is now going to try and do some readings for school!!

And here is my countdown:
11 more days until classes are over
22 more days until my last exam
23 more days until I am on a place to Mexico with Cheryl
29 more days until my birthday
30 more days until Christmas
32 more days until Lindie visits again
36 more days until my cousin and I go on our yearly getaway.

Much to look forward to!! And I must remember to enjoy being in the "now". Even though the now may be exhausting and strenuous... we will make the best of it!

Thoughts from a Tired Mind

2007-11-22T23:22:00.000-08:00

Right now is crunch time at school, but the end is in sight, so that is encouraging. I slightly feel like I am getting a hold on things, so that is good and instills within me renewed hope! Last night I stayed up until four am writing a last minute paper. I have never actually left a paper that late, but it wasn't too bad (except for the final product of the paper that is.. haha!) Amy came over to write alongside me and it was actually one of the highlights of this semester. I don't remember the last time I had that much fun and laughed that hard. We had a really great time and got our papers done as well. Didn't get much sleep mind you, but that made the day at school today all the much more exciting. Only a week and a half left, then exams, and then a week in mexico and then my birthday and Christmas!!
Lately I have been noticing how a lot of my underlying beliefs strongly affect the way I live my life in a not very healthy way. One of these is all or nothing thinking. I have always seen how I have had this regarding school and perfectionist performance. However, I did not realize it was so closely interwoven into my emotions. That I think I have to be feeling all positive or all negative, but nothing in between. This results in large and extreme mood swings that happen far too often. But since I have become more aware of it, the balance that I have been finding is amazing. The other thing I have noticed is that I tend to brush everything off and with my classic saying I say, "It's all good." Well, it's not. Yet I try to convince myself it is. I invalidate any negative emotions that threaten to pop up and it's not a good thing. So, I am learning to validate these things and what that looks like and to find a balance between it all.

I am constantly baffled by all the polar opposites that are present in this life. When looking at God's character, it is full of polar opposites that somehow coexist and form perfection. My life is full of polar opposites, and rather than simply focusing on one extreme, I am learning to find the balance and integration of the two opposite spectrums. It has been hard and draining, but I see a lot of personal growth in it and know that I am moving forward through it all. I have been grappling a lot and struggling with stuff, but once again, I know it is with purpose and it is moving forward and so I am encouraged by it.

Just a few of my thoughts from the last few weeks. Here are some pictures from some fun stuff I have been up to.

Kristen and I went to a hockey game a while back and had a great time. On Sunday I went to the game against Calgary with my friends C, T and C and we had a fantastic time! And Vancouver finally won!! Hoorah!! I have been waiting for this moment for so long!
A precious little girl who has a special place in my heart.

I took Chrystal down to Seattle for her birthday to celebrate! I kept it a secret so she was surprised!! We stayed at the Sheraton downtown and went to the zoo on the Sunday. Other than that, we walked a lot, hung out, bought baby blankets (haha, don't ask), saw a movie, went swimming. It was fun and good to get away as well. My experimental night shot of seattle is above. I like the way it turned out. Wish I had had my tripod though. This was our view from the 20th floor.

Chrystal monkeying around

DISASTER!!!

2007-11-15T23:40:00.000-08:00

I convinced my mom to put up Christmas decorations early this year, so for the last week, she has been putting up the gazillion trees she puts up every year. Tonight I was in the bathroom when suddenly I heard my name being called.. My mom was telling me to come downstairs with my camera to document her hours of work. I walked into the living room and saw the fallen down tree. I felt bad, because of all the work that had gone into it, but I also laughed a little.
I was talking to my mom and she sounded funny.. I suddenly realized that she wasn't in the room. So I asked "Where are you?" And she responds "Under the tree!" She started laughing then and the tree shook a little and I could not stop laughing, because of the idea of her being stuck under the tree (I laughed only when i found out she was okay). My friend and I lifted the tree off of her (which was incredibly heavy) and she escaped her tree prison. It had fallen on her while she was trying to move it.

Moral of the story: If you come to my house, please enjoy the abundance of decorations, but don't touch the trees!!! You never know when they might fall on you...

Smashed decorations

Holding up the decrepit tree...

Get-Away

2007-11-10T01:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updating!! Lots has been going on as well as me getting into crunch time at school, so I have not had a chance to sit down and update. And this is not an update either... (sorry!) Just wanted to say hi.

On Monday, the grade nine girls connect group that I am one of the leaders of came over for a chocolate fountain and games! It was a great night and a lot of fun! :)

This weekend, I am gone for the weekend and am super excited!! it was Chrystal's birthday yesterday and I am surprising her with a weekend away (she has NO idea what we're doing) and I won't post it on here to risk ruining my surprise that I have kept secret for this long! But I am so excited to hang out with her and to just enjoy a weekend being away! I'm sure I will have lots of pictures to share when I come back!! :)

And now since it's 1:30 am and we're leaving in eight hours, I should get some packing and organizing done!! Will be back with regular updates soon!!

Fun Festivities

2007-11-03T15:39:00.001-07:00

Chrystal, Kaeli and I carved pumpkins on Wednesday night, then we made hot chocolate and popcorn and then watched the Jungle Book! Yay for Disney movies!!

I have recently (okay maybe i've always known it) realized that I really allow horrible pictures to be taken of myself. hahaha.. I was just trying to be like my pumpkin!

My luscious locks

I don't feel like writing anything else. Will write later. Thought I'd post some pictures before they were horribly outdated and I had to put up another post with thousands of pics at once

Billy Joel Concert = Amazing!

2007-11-01T00:18:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night, my friend Krista and I trekked out to GM Place for the Billy Joel Concert. I have always loved his music and love playing a lot of his stuff on the piano. So when I saw that he was going to be in Vancouver, I figured it might be the last time, so I snatched up the opportunity!!

It was probably one of the best concerts I have ever been to. LOVED watching him play the piano (especially the songs where his whole body was hunched over the piano as his foot went nuts keeping time). I posted a couple videos from the concert (now that i'm a blogger video guru), so hope they turned out! I would have posted more pics, but i kept getting error messages!! Hope you enjoy the videos! I have a bunch more, but only had patience to post these two!

Because I'm a Snowman...

2007-10-29T01:02:00.000-07:00

A few years ago at Christmas time, my cousin Desiree and I went to Save-On and found a dancing snowman. He sang the song "Cuz I'm a snowman.. Ya, do do do do do do" We were amazed at his slick dance moves and his smooth sultry voice and stood there in the store dancing and singing along with him for about five minutes (no, we really dont' care what others think.. haha)

That Christmas, we sang it at our family gathering, and everyone thought we were funny (or strange..), but my Auntie Esther especially loved it. So the other night when we were baking/making movies, we decided to dedicate this song to her. I had to cut out the beginning dedication part so it would fit, but once again I hope you enjoy!! Let me know your thoughts!

Baking Fun

2007-10-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

This if the debut of me having a video on my blog. Wow. I'm turning over a new leaf. Will write more, but my cousin and I are kind of crazy and like to have a lot of fun with no inhibitions. Here's a sneak-peak into what happens when we bake together or hang out together.. (and yes, we do this normally without a camera too..) Everything you see here is improv. Let me know what you think! We're thinking of making a comedy video that people can insert when in a sad mood.. :)

Trust and Anger

2007-10-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

I have this picture on my desktop, and on rainy days I love looking at it, because it reminds me of warmth and incredible beauty!! All is beautiful around me as well, but I do enjoy this pic, so thought I'd start the post off with it (the island in the background is Bora Bora).

So I just realized that if I posted more often, I would not have fifty million pictures per post. So my apologies for the delay in posting and for the long winded posts!

This was my youth photo taken by Jason Brown (Revival Arts Studios). Fantastic shot! I'm leading a grade nine girls small group at church this year! And it was fun to have our pics taken professionally for the website!

Jocelyn and I went to the Canucks game last Friday night against LA kings. Canucks lost 4-2. I really do not pick the good games to go to. Or maybe it's them? Hopefully next time we'll fare better!

Me and my curly hair!

My buddy Freud and I... At school there was a career fair and the undergrad psych club had a booth.. We had some fun snapping some shots! :)

Chad and Bobbi were gone this weekend, so I got to take care of their dog and cat!! Every morning I had to laugh, because Tiga would be on top of his dog house waiting for me. haha.. Have never seen that before!! But he was always excited to see me, would jump off the roof and starting jumping around everywhere. Crazy, hyper dog!

We went for a "walk". HA! Yah, I went for a jog was more like it and I was really sore the next day!! haha.. Was kind of fun at the same time, besides the fact that I was soaking wet by the end!

I tried getting a group shot, but evidently I was zoomed in and Tiga would not sit still!! haha.. I think he's about to jump on me...

Amy and I went on a mini roadtrip to Vancouver the other day because I had to pick some stuff up. I was supposed to document the roadtrip, but alas, this was the only picture I got!! haha..

Amy squared

Kristen

Okay, so this picture is a work in progress, but I figured I would post it, because I took SO long trying to get it!! haha.. I was trying to take a picture of the stars and it semi turned out. I think the combo of my lens getting dew all over it in the middle of the picture and the moving clouds kind of ruined it. But I will keep trying, so stay tuned!! One of the things on my list of 100 things to do before I die is to take a good picture of stars!! :)

It was beautiful tonight, so I figured I would snap a few shots of the huge oak trees in the yard. I figured I should check out the giant flowers again too.. Always good for a picture!

I love the light in this picture!

This last weekend was great in that I got a fair amount done!! A lot of it consisted of marking, but after that I was able to get a headstart on homework for the week!

Lately two things have been heavy on my mind: trust and anger. I recently came to the shocking realization that I don't trust God. Sure, I trust Him and know He's trustworthy, but I look at my life and see that I don't fully believe that. I started wondering where that shift happened. When my brother died, i really wanted to trust God, trust He had a plan and would take care of me. However, a year and a half later when my dad died, I think I shut down. I already hadn't been dealing well with emotions that were coming up, and I felt really hurt and abandoned by God. The funny thing is that I have only realized it now. I kept logically telling myself all the things I knew, meanwhile ignoring what my heart was saying. So now I feel as though I only want to trust God when I am 100% that the outcome will be the way I want it to be. Which isn't really trust... Along with this, I have realized that I had a lot of unexperessed anger towards God. Once again, in my logic I told myself that I couldn't be angry at God. So I wasn't. And I stuffed everything down and it was all good. But it's not and it has been bubbling inside me for quite some time.

Upon realizing these feelings, it was incredible just to pour out my heart and to be honest about it. What an amazing relief. Yet now it is difficult to know where to go from here. I desire to know God and I want to follow Him and have a relationship with Him and so I am continually striving towards that while trying to be honest with myself and God about where I am at and how I am feeling. So far it has been hard, but good. I am learning a lot. :)

Catching Up

2007-10-17T23:48:00.001-07:00

Kristen, Amy and I decided we were going to "study" together for our Theories of Counselling midterm the other day. I think they studied and I sat attempting to distract as well as take pictures! Only one more midterm to go!! (Okay, I only had two, so it wasn't that big of a deal...)

I got a haircut yesterday! I was washing my hair and thought.. "no more growing the hair, let's cut it!" So I called my hairdresser for a walk-in appointment (okay, so that would be my mom...) and voila! There's a pic of me with it straightened, but based on a logical guess, I think it will look shorter when in its natural curly form. So I will post a pic of me and short curly hair next time I allow it to be curly and down! :)

Sad moment: My last fish died the other day. It was actually really sad to take him out of the tank and now it's been sitting in my room empty. The water will probably go murky and smell up my whole room, but I"m still trying to decide whether to buy more fish or to get rid of the tank. Oh the decisions! Any suggestions?

A random picture of me driving the other day while waiting at a red light!

These pictures are a little late, but my friend Heidi and I went golfing on Thanksgiving weekend and it was GLORIOUS! I hadn't golfed in a while and it felt SO good to be out there again! We went to a course called The Falls in Chilliwack. It's all on a mountain and the views are breathtaking! Plus, it was an absolutely beautiful day. I had never golfed there before and shot 104, which wasn't bad considering... On this course, you need to be able to hit straight, otherwise your ball is off the cliff or in the woods. But I thought I was fairly straight shooting! I'm looking forward to going back! Especially since I get to drive a golf cart!

I decided why not stop during my game for a few shots of myself and the leaves...

The Falls.. I'm assuming these are representative of the course name..

Got a bit hungry while playing...

So, this last weekend, i feel as though I am finally caught up on the school spectrum of things! For the first time this semester I'm actually looking ahead at what is coming up rather than the things that I need to catch up on from the previous week. It feels SO good. I had one midterm and actually only have one more, which is nice! I just have lots of huge projects coming up in November! But for now, I will try to enjoy October..

I have been learning a lot about myself lately, which has been good, but exhausting. Lots of stuff coming out that I didn't know was there, but it is good to wade through it all.

This weekend I am looking forward to getting even more caught up on school and hopefully taking some good pics! I just got a new gadget for my camera that I order a couple of months ago and I'm really excited to try it out! So stay tuned for some new and interesting pictures! (I will tell you about the attachment when I have the photos).

I also am back at the gym again! My pool got winterized for the winter last friday, so on saturday i headed back to use their pool!! So far I am up to swimming 2.1 kms (104 laps) and my goal is to eventually get to 4km! It feels great though!

And that is all for now.

A Very Sad Game...

2007-10-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Warning: the following post contains a lot of pictures, mostly posted for Cheryl, but it is the progression of a sad, sad night.

This was enough reasons to be sad right there...

On the way to the game-pretty excited!

Oh yay, it's going to be such a great game!

Oh! Philadephia scored.. dang.. and there are a lot of Flyers fans..

Philadelphia scores again less than a minute after the first goal

Canucks score and we get food!

Philadelphia scored...

Philadelphia scores...

Philadelphia scores...

Philadelphia scores...

Canucks score! There's hope!

When the game is 6-2, you have to find exciting things to do! hehe..

The amount of points Cheryl thinks we need to score in order to redeem ourselves...

Trying to be happy after the ultimate low point of the game.. Canucks have a two man advantage during a power play and Philly gets a breakway and scores... again

And Philadelphia scores their eighth goal.. and as you can tell, the seats are quite empty at this point.

But at the end, a fight broke out in order to redeem the cross-checks from the other team...

Our sorrow over the game..

But as one fan yelled when he left "We still love you!"
Not sure why we do, but we do.

Soon and Very Soon

2007-10-12T00:37:00.001-07:00

soon there will be an exciting post here.. with exciting pictures and stories! Hoorah! maybe tomorrow!

Thanksgiving Weekend Fun!

2007-10-07T23:51:00.000-07:00

The Thanksgiving long weekend began with my friend Brooke and I venturing to a roadside diner in mission for poutine we had heard was good. So we thought we'd test it to see if it in fact was the best. It was good, but not the best I dont' think (not compared to some in Quebec!). Regardless, we had some fun times at the diner!

Friday night I attended a Benefit Concert at my church which was raising money for orphans in Thailand. The concert was absolutely fantastic and it was such a blessing to be able to listen to great singing! I got to serve the snack in the middle too which was fun! Afterwards, my friend Cheryl and I began what will hopefully be a weekly tradition of getting up to snuff with the Disney movies we have not watched since we were children. Below is a pic of us with Cinderella playing in the background.. however just our faces showed up and not the movie! Very fun to watch it together and ponder how lovely it would be if birds made my bed in the morning and fluffed my pillows. Perhaps if I took my screen off and let the birds fly into my room, they would in fact do that. I will try it out and let you know!

Saturday morning I picked a couple friends up from the ferry terminal and then dropped them off in mission. Then it was off to church for six hours!! We had choir practice and worship team practice! It was really tiring, but so great to be able to fellowship and sing and just have a great time! After church Carmen and I went out to Milestone's for a bite to eat which was likewise great fun (and i know you are reading this Carmen, so you should leave a comment!! haha)

Sunday morning was back to church for the two morning services, then lunch with my cousin and then to MEI where I was for five hours for choir practice and then my church's final 75th anniversary celebration. It was a fantastic evening of singing and sharing together! Afterwards I went out with a few friends which was also a lot of fun!

This weekend in celebrating our church's 75th anniversary, I have been reminded of the incredible blessing it is to be part of this church. I am so incredibly thankful for it and the good work that God has done and will continue to do! I am seeing more and more what an incredibly rich heritage our church has and how there has been sch a rich tradition of commitment to God along with a great caring community. The core of the church is commited to that body of Christ and it is exciting to be a part of it. So, this weekend, the biggest thing I am thankful for is my church!! It is wonderful to connect with people, to encourage and uplift one another, to pray together and have a lot of fun together! I am continually blessed by being part of it!!

Tomorrow I am leaving at 6am (in 6 hours) to drop people off at the ferry terminal. Then I'm going golfing which I'm super excited for and hoping it doesnt rain! Then Thanksgiving dinner with family and some friends!! Should be fun!! Hope you all have a very happy thanksgiving!

Fall Fotos

2007-10-06T00:27:00.001-07:00

So the other day I went outside to take some pictures of the fall and here are a few! I got rained on partway through it, so my time was cut short, but I still managed to snag a few shots! Enjoy!

We have all these amazing flowers outside.. I always see them from my window and want to take pictures of them! They are absolutely amazing to have as fresh flowers daily! And they're huge!

I really like the contrast in this shot of the red leaves against the green.. It's like Christmas!!

My feet hanging out in the garden.. slowly I am starting to wear shoes, but it is a difficult transition to make...

And of course I had to pose with the flowers.. haha.. Be glad I spared you the twenty other shots I took with the flowers!! hahaha.. Some are pretty funny thought and make me laugh!

Fall is always such a beautiful time, watching the leaves change color and all. As the trees shed their old leaves and get ready for the winter before spring, I feel like I'm shedding some "old leaves" as well and it feels great!! :)

Rainyness

2007-10-03T16:52:00.001-07:00

For a while now, one of my goals in photography is to take pictures of things through windows that have rain on them, because it gives a really cool effect. The other day the rain was storming against my window, so I figured I would put aside the schoolwork for a few moments in order to capture some shots.

So, these are the first few of my fall pics for the year, I'm going to go take some more right now actually while the leaves are still on the trees and it's still light out! But wanted to have another picture post for your viewing enjoyment!

Title

2007-10-02T00:48:00.001-07:00

I think this is a really cool picture of my eye, but everyone thinks it's creepy!! haha.. this is what i do on my computer to distract myself from homework!! It's nice to have a built-in camera!! :)

My friend Chrystal was over last night and we decided to do some fun photo taking. The picture of her and I kind of look like people with giant heads if you look closely enough.. hehe.. I think the one of me makes it look like an excited old man.. hahaha

And Chrystal looks like an alien in this one.. hehehe

Here I was trying to be serious for a nice contemplative shot and Chrystal kept laughing!

Tonight I had my connect group over for a pizza party and swimming (which is one one of the people in the pic is in a bathing suit). Randi and I are leading a grade nine girls group this year with senior high and i'm pretty excited about it!! Great group of girls and I'm excited to get to know them!

This was after the swim and I look a little like a drowned rat.. haha

And last but not least, my painting arrived int he mail!! I bought it on the cruise I was on in August, because apparently artwork is a lot cheaper on cruise auctions than in the store, because you get it at cost! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this painting. It is called "Bora Bora".. the background is Bora Bora and it is shrouded in clouds (like it often is) and the boat just juts out at you. Very cool. I hung it on my wall where a different painting used to be and it fits perfectly. However, last night I had trouble going to sleep, because it's hung right above my head, is a lot heavier than the old painting (not a very big hook holding it) and so I had visions of it falling on my head during the night or something.. that would not be cool. But it looks like it'll be pretty stable!!

School is going all right. The weekend flew by and I feel like every day flies by! Every day is filled with school, friends, homework, and driving. But I am enjoying it and still working on having less stress and having more balance in my life! I am excited for Thanksgiving long weekend, but it will be full of insanity, but that always makes things more exciting I find!!

I just recently started reading the book of Matthew. I was about to use the Bible I use all the time but decided to use a version I dont' often read, but love, which is the Amplified version. One verse that stuck out and has been with me all week was Matthew 1:21

"She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus (the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, which means Savior), for He will save His people from their sins (that is, prevent them from failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God)."

Wow.. I love that. That sin is defined not as a set of rules, but rather me missing out on the true meaning of life, which in fullness is God. It has been a challenge for me to remind myself of that and think about how I can live that out... That God would be my true end and the scope through which I view life daily. Refreshing perspective on it and a good challenge as well!

Hard at Work...

2007-09-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been declared a get work done weekend!! So, a few like-minded friends from school, Krista, Alison, Heidi and Rachel came over to join me in my endeavors to get schoolwork done.

As you can tell by the pictures, we were extremely successful in getting plenty of work done. We even fit in a swim and hot tub in the rain and it was absolutely fantastic! Very refreshing!

And so far on my homework to do list, I have completed 11 out of 20 things I need to get done by tomorrow!! Each one only takes about on hour, so only nine more hours to go!! YAHOO!

Fall, Friends and Frogs

2007-09-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

This last weekend flew by and with it the sense that fall is here was really strong. I had a great weekend! On Friday night, I hosted a "psych 411 reunion". I took a week long retreat class during the summer, so some of the people who took the class with me along with our prof and his wife came over for dinner and a swim. In the pool we played a fairly intense game of keep-away, which was a lot of fun!!

For a large part of Saturday and Sunday, I was at church singing on worship team, which is also always enjoyable. It was really great to talk to people before/after and in between services. Always encouraging to hear how people are doing and to be able to uplift one another!

Then in the evening, I headed to Fort Langley to hang out with friends. On the way home I noticed a weird spot on my passenger seat. I turned on the light and noticed a frog sitting on my seat!! haha.. At first I was kind of startled, because frogs in the car is not generally an everyday occurence. With hopes that he wouldn't jump on me while driving, I pulled over to let him out. Now when driving all i can think about are the frogs that might be looming in my car somewhere!!

This week I am hoping to become very productive as far as schoolwork goes and to finally get caught up!! I am getting a cold, which is just plain annoying, because my head's stuffed, nose is runny and I can't hear a thing!! Oh well! Serves me right for not getting enough sleep (which is another goal of the week).

And so, this was my post about my weekend because I felt like writing a post. :)

Stress

2007-09-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

This week I have stumbled upon an amazing and revolutionary truth about myself: I am susceptible to stress! Okay, so most of you are probably thinking, well of course, everyone is. The reason why this is such a good realization for me is because I am often in denial about being stressed. I have always claimed that I am completely stress-free. However, this is not true at all and I am coming to realize that I have high levels of stress in my life and rather than denying them, I need to be more proactive in doing something about it! Lately the thing that keeps reiterating in my mind is the need to be still and rest. To stop and enjoy the moment. Generally I am too busy for it and let life pass me by but int he meantime I miss out in the joy of the moment because I am carried off with the intensity and the demands that each moment brings!

This fall I was really excited that I had a lot more free time. Yet, now I'm looking at my schedule and I realize this isn't so true! I am taking five classes at school, tutoring and marking assignment for a statistics class at school, I'm the treasurer in the undergrad psych club (yay for efforts of getting more involved at school!), I am on a worship team at church once a month, singing in choir weekly, am leading a grade nine girls small group with sr. high youth, and am also in a small group of my own. Plus homework and social life. Sigh... But, my challenge for myself is to not be overwhelmed by the things I have to do, but to manage and prioritize my time better and to take moments throughout my day to rest and to breathe. :)

Embracing Death

2007-09-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

This past summer, my thoughts have been on the whole notion of death. It started in June when I took a summer class where it was suggested that one is unable to fully live until one can embrace death. By embracing death, one is embracing life. And what one fears in death is truly what one fears in life. Interesting concept that I have never thought much. Funny because it came up in three of my summer classes this summer and my thoughts have been on it. Then in July, I read the book "Tuesdays with Morrie" which is a true story about a man who visits his dying professor every Tuesday. It is a book about embracing death and what comes with it in order to live more fully. Here are a few quotes from the book about dying and about experiecing emotions associated with death/life that I have thought about much:

"Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."

"By throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only then can you say, 'All right. I have experienced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now I need to detach from that emotion for a moment."

"Turn on the faucet. Wash yourself with emotion. It won't hurt you. It will only help. If you let the fear inside, if you pull it on like a familiar shirt, then you can say to yourself, 'All right, it's just fear, I dont' have to let it control me. I see it for what it is."

"It is impossible for the old not to envy the young. But the issue is to accept who you are and revel in that... You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And age is not a competitive issue. The truth is, part of me is every age... I've been through all of them, and I know what it's like. I delight in being a child when it's appropriate to be a child. I delight in being a wise old man when it's appropriate to be a wise old man. think of all I can be! I am every age, up to my own..."

There were many other good snippets that I came across, and perhaps it doesnt' mean the same not having read the whole book, but it's good food for though for me. My question that I have often asked myself is what does it look like for me to embrace death? And how is my hesitancy towards it stopping me from living fully?

I fear losing people I love, because it hurts a lot and I fear that pain. So, as a result, I do not let myself be fully known and try not to get too close. Sure, it might not hurt so much later, but at the same time, I have missed out on the joys of life. Cutting off the bottom extreme of emotion/experience means cutting off the top end as well. Great love opens the door to great pain. So in order to love deeply and to live a life of love, it is important to risk and love despite any fears I have. To continually choose life every day rather than simply letting life pass me by.

Would be interesting to hear your thoughts on the topic-hope my ramblings make a bit of sense!

A Post with a LOT of pictures!

2007-09-16T08:38:00.001-07:00

For those of you who were wondering why I disappeared with no posts for a while, here's some pictures of the last few weeks!! Twelve hours after getting back from the South Pacific, I went to Ontario for my friend Becky's wedding. While there, I also got to hang out with my relatives in Waterloo, which is always fun! A day and a half after getting back from Ontario, I went to camp for my last summer class along with my last week of summer!! Now I have begun school again and am enjoying it, although it looks like there will be lots of work this semester! ACK! Anyway, following this is a TON of pictures, but hope you enjoy and I will be posting again soon now that I'm home and continually thinking of any possible way to avoid homework!

Jordan and Becky gettin' married

Becky and I at her wedding!! Crazy times!! We met about seven years ago on a missions trip to Mexico and have stayed friends ever since! We dont' see each other very often, but when we do, it's always as though no time has passed and it is always a great time!

Hanging out with my relatives in Waterloo, Ontario

My cousin and I baking "hidden-jam cookies". They never get them out there so we had fun making them together-we even put relish in two of them so that the eater would be pleasantly surprised!! And no, she doesn't actually have the spoon her her mouth as it appears in the picture!!

The last week of summer was spent at camp for me, taking a photography class through my school! It was a great time to hang out with people and get to know them. And I also learned a ton about my camera and how to actually use it!! But all in all it was an amazing way to take a class as well as a fabulous end to my summer!!

"Leap to Save the Flip Flop"

"Walking on Water"

Pictures taken at Mission Hills Vineyard before we got kicked out!

One night we headed to downtown Kelowna for some night photography!
"Confusion" Who knows what I would do if I came up to a light that looked like this!
Back of an air conditioner

One night for our class, we set up a couple of backdrops with studio lighting and then we started getting creative and experimenting!! We had some fun trying to get some overexposed "fashion" type shots as well as some others!

A little patriotic shot

O Canada!

Clock tower in Kelowna

Chelaine posing for a shot
Mia in her birthday dress
Yesterday, my friend Kelly had a birthday party for her daughter, Mia who is turning one on Monday. It was an afternoon tea party and we had a great time!! Here are a few of the shots I was able to snag :)

Ethan giving me a great pose for a shot!
Kelly did the whole party as a tea party theme with lots of great treats

Mia and her little friend

Mandeep and Lily

All the kids posing with their necklaces that they made. Had to be a fast picture though, because everyone kept running around!

Mmm.. Cake

Mia eating her birthday cake like a lady-everyone wanted her to put her face right in the cake though!! haha

The Card Game that I won...

2007-09-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

Formal Nights and Moorea

2007-09-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, finally my last post of my trip!! haha.. sorry it has taken me so long to post it all but i wanted to put up all the different locations!! :)

Killing time while my mom finishes getting ready...

My excitement for the trip!

Erin and I at dinner

Windy balcony

Plamen and the baked Alaska

Waving the napkins for the baked alaska parade

Nikolay and our baked alaska! (not as good as the ones on my alaska cruise mind you!!)

Table 40, First Sitting.. this was what we liked to call ourselves since we were always a team for trivia and different things!! So much fun!

Me kissing my dolphin buddy

Contrary to popular belief, I am NOT naked in this picture.. haha.. funny though, because it totally looks like it!

My mom and I holding the dolphin!! An amazing experience to swim with some of the dolphins-they are amazing animals!

View of the two lagoons from the top of Moorea

Old sacrifical temple grounds

Huts.. only 1000 US a night!

Moorea was probably my most favorite island-so beautiful!! However, I have the least pictures of it. I am learning that sometimes I need to just put down my camera and take in all the beauty around me, knowing that the experience will still be valuable even if I do not get a picture of it (sometimes hard for me)..

So that's my trip!! There will be more updates on the last couple of weeks soon!

Bora Bora

2007-09-07T23:55:00.000-07:00

We went on a 4x4 around Bora Bora. We went up to the north, south, east and west points which all entailed going up crazy steep steep steep hills. I really thought we would tip a few times, because we were literally heading straight up the mountain!! But the views from the top were absolutely breathtaking. I have lots more pics and my pictures dont' really do it justice, but they'll have to do in order to give you an idea of how incredibly beautiful it was!!

The reason Bora Bora is the main tourist island is because the U.S. set up their cannons for world war II on the island and built roads all over the island.. kind of established it as more accessible

The jeep we got to drive in.

The road along the coast

An oyster farm that we visited-very interesting!

Oysters!!

Every tour you went on, the guide would cut up tons of fruits. This guide intricately carved our pinneaple for us!

Our friends Erin and Nate
The fish we saw in the submarine under the water

Raiatea

2007-08-31T09:10:00.000-07:00

The third island we went to was Raiatea. The following pictures are from a lagoon sunset cruise we went on.
My mom and I. And people wonder where I get my facial expressions from!

The island in the distance is Bora Bora

Perfect surfing waves that day! We stayed out there and watched some surfers! It was pretty sweet.

Oyster hut and Bora Bora in the background, as well as lots of water, fish, coral and sharks!

We did a 4x4 through the middle of the island and also stopped at a vaniall plantation which was quite interesting.

This kid was standing on the pile of gravel crying really loudly. It was kind of funny though, because he was pretty much by himself and was really really loud.

The rim of the volcano on the island

Vanilla plants!

House by the ocean

An old Marae, which is where human sacrifices used to take place.

View up the coconut tree

There are wild chickens everywhere and a lot of little chicks too. These guys were having a little feast on the smashed melons that were on the ground.

Vanilla bean plant demonstration

Crazy flower

Church in the distance. Protestant Churches are the main religion of most of the islands. I would have thought Catholocism, because the islands are governed by France, but I guess the Protestants were the first missionaries, so they have churches everywhere.

Drying coconuts

Second Day in Paradise

2007-08-30T23:07:00.000-07:00

Our second day was on an island called Huahine.

My mom enjoying the boat ride.

Our cruise ship from afar.

Beautiful!

we went to a mini island and had our lunches in the water!! It was great! If you threw food in, the fish would come gather around you and it was pretty sweet!

Our guide Delores

Loved the headband!

The bridge connecting two of the islands

Our musical accompaniment along the way.

In the afternoon we went snorkelling in this area. We saw a giant eel!

The first of many installments!

2007-08-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

So, here is the first installment of my pictures from my trip!! I am normally not one to take pictures in an airplane, but as we were landing in Tahiti, the sun was setting, and the clouds looked absolutely glorious, so I had to take a few shots!

We arrived in Tahiti in the evening after a very long day of travelling. We boarded our ship, the Tahitian Princess and pretty much went to bed right away! The ship was smaller than most I've been on-only 650 people, but it was super nice, because you got to know most of the people and interact with them all-very fun!

First day in Tahiti, had to take a shot of myself off the balcony of our room!

The day after we arrived, we went on a 4x4 in the middle of the island. The roads aren't paved and we got to be in open air jeeps, but it was great!!

One of the viewpoints we stopped at. In the background you can see the city of Papeete

So many palm trees along the coast! Beautiful! Because all the islands are surrounded by a coral reef, everything is right on the water, including the roads, so you get a beautiful view as you drive around the island!

The last of paved road we saw for a while!

Here we entered Papenoo Valley. Lots of waterfalls, trees and lush lush vegetation!

This is the waterfall we got to go swimming in

This was the "bridge" we used to cross over the water

One of the crazy drivers/guides

Another nice and convenient bridge. Our driver kept reassuring us that the jeep had a snorkel

We got to jump off the waterfall as well, although our jumps weren't quite as dramatic..

Feeding the eels

Back From Paradise!

2007-08-24T00:02:00.001-07:00

I just got home a few hours ago and when I look at my pictures I still sit there in awe that a place can be so incredibly beautiful in its untouched beauty. I had a fantastic time and have many stories and pictures to post, but I am off to bed and you will have to wait until Wednesday to see them! Tomorrow morning I am flying out to Ontario for my friend Becky's wedding. I'm super excited to go to her wedding and to stay with some relatives for a few days!

So here's a couple pictures to whet your appetite and I look forward to posting more soon!! :)

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

2007-08-11T23:10:00.001-07:00

In less than 24 hours, this is where I will be!!! My mom and I are going on a ten day cruise through the Cook Islands!! The Cook Islands are located north east of Australia in the French Polenesia. We will be landing in Tahiti tomorrow evening and going aboard our cruiseship. There are stops such as Bora Bora and some of the other islands!! Some of our day excursions are swimming with dolphins (one of my dreams) and checking out volcanoes!! Very cool and I feel extremely blessed!! So check back for pictures and I will miss blogging land while I am gone!

Bora Bora from a distance

Roadtrip to Moses Lake

2007-08-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

Viewpoint in the Gorge

I went to Moses Lake for a few days to visit my friend Krista. We mostly worked on our last paper for one of our classes, but we had a ton of fun hanging out and goofing around!

Japanese Peace Garden. Sure worked for us.

Some of the artwork in Moses Lake (okay i dont' think the people come with it)

My amazing bowling outfit! My first time bowling in a skirt!

Very excited about this bowling ball despite my low low score!! haha I think I'm better at five pin.

Full Throttle kicking in at two in the morning at Bob's Trucker Stop

Very happy to be typing her paper..

The two books we were writing our papers on... I think this picture is taken at three in the morning!

I fell asleep at Bob's..

Thinking in Solitude with our book "Thoughts in Solitude"

And so ends my last roadtrip of the summer!! I am leaving in two days and will be gone for about three weeks!! But stay tuned for:

-10 day trip to the Cook Islands (Tahiti and Bora Bora here I come!!!)

-Trip to Ontario for a friend's wedding

-My last summer class which is taking place at Green Bay Bible Camp

So I apologize ahead for the lack of updates in the next few weeks, but make sure you check in September, because I will have lots of new pictures from my travels!! Have a good three weeks! :)

Hanging Out With Family

2007-08-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

My brother Chad and his wife Bobbi just opened a Jugo Juice in Abbotsford (it's right under Milestone's on Sumas Way-you should go check it out!! It's fantastic!) We were their first official customers and it was great to try it out for the first time!! Now I'm hooked!!
Bobbi ringing up some of her first customers

Aunty Sharalynn and Adrielle enjoying their drinks

My Uncle Vic and my brother Lucas lounging in the chairs

Burying Jaxon in White Rock

Crab!!

Desiree ripped muscle out of a shell and decided to feed it to me! Yum!

Everybody hanging out on the White Rock

Mika playing in the water

The whole gang headed off to White Rock. All of these people int his picture stayed at my house during the week!! :)

Building our monstrous sand castle

Desiree lounging

Searching for crabs

The infamous diving board flip over

Husking corn

Part of our garden

Playing Bocce

The three Sisters: Helen, Elizabeth and Maria

My great uncle Peter and I

Justin and Carrie

Justin and Uncle Orville

Thought I'd include a picture of my beautiful toes (see 8 random facts for more info...)

Omi's Surprise 80th Birthday Party

2007-08-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

My grandma (better known as Omi) is turning 80 in September, so we thought we'd surprise her early by having a surprise party for her in July. We had relatives come out from Ontario, Manitoba and North Dakota to join in the celebration! Here are some photos from that day:

Omi's original reaction upon seeing everyone My cousin Caleb (who I am actually related to three times through some weird Mennonite working.. We are first, third and fourth cousins..)

Kissing Cousins setting up the volleyball net

Uncle Orville and Uncle Peter with two of their nephews

My cousin and friend, Desiree and I

Caleb, Desiree and I

The three sisters

Chicken fights in the pool

Jaxon, Simone and Mika

Desiree and her Dad

We had some guys come and set up a chicken bbq on our lawn. it was fantastic!!

Playing on Fun Island

Bobbi (sister-in-law) and Caleb (cousin)

My Aunty Esther and the fantastic chocolate fountain

My cousin Simon testing out the chocolate

Trying to flip over onto the diving board.. A famous trick that happens in our pool

The centerpieces

A flower from our garden.. One day I hope to go take pictures of our garden and post them, because it really is beautiful!!

Roadtrip Back to the Homeland

2007-08-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

I think could have just pulled over and stared at the mountains all day long...

Archway of Antlers

Old Faithful!!

Our heads blocking Old Faithful!

The amazing hotel by Old Faithful

The last piece of scenery we saw before leaving the States...

Yay for the Canadian Rockies!

The hotel at Lake Louise

Random Facts

2007-08-05T00:15:00.000-07:00

Since I have been tagged, I figured I would take a break in my blogging series for eight random facts about myself.
According to the tag rules I have to post these steps so you'll know what to do if I tag you. So here goes:tag rules:
1. all right, here are the rules.
2. we have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
3. players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
4. people who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
5. at the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they are tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I have a journal in my bathroom titled "Thoughts thought while in Vanessa's bathroom". I leave it there for friends to write in while in the bathroom and the running commentary throughout it is quite enjoyable!

2. I am the person that changes the outdoor sign at my church.

3. I have travelled to 22 different countries and my goal is to get to 40!

4. I lived in Quebec for two years and am fluent in French.

5. I am a neat freak and go a little crazy if anything is out of place in my room. Borderline OCD.

6. I have a book fetish. I love to buy books. However, I do not have time to read them, so I collect books that I absolutely love and hope to read them all one day.

7. My favorite time of day is dusk when the sky is a myriad of blues from the horizon to the other side. It's breathtaking!

8. I like to get one pedicure every year and then I leave my nail polish on until it grows out. Most people think it's gross, but I figure I get the most for my money. I call it a backwards french manicure with color. Right now I have blue nail polish on the tips of some of my toes that was put on in february...

People I'm tagging:
1. Becky
2. Kaylen
3. Kristal
4. Leslie
5. Lovella
6. Theresa
7. Bonnie
8. Kelly

Roadtrip To Colorado

2007-08-02T22:37:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay, but figured I would finish the roadtrip series on my blog!

Jacquelyn, Bethany and I headed down to Colorado where we were going for a wedding and had a great time!! We drove through Montana, Wyoming (we hate highway troopers!) and Colorado (good place to drive since we were going there and all). Below are some selected pictures from our roadtrip of awesomeness!

Outside of Jacquelyn's house in Calgary before leaving!
Jacquelyn, the offical trip window washer

I absolutely fell in love with Montana (well, the parts with the mountains and the river...)

More of Montana

We stayed at a really country-ish hotel/mill and they had a cowboy bedspread which we were very fond of..

Shot of Bethany in the side mirror

Bethany and I at Ford's Drive-In

Ford's Drive-In, our fantastic lunch stop.

Dinner at Applebee's where Jacquelyn became famous for saying "So, THIS is what Americans are like..." Not totally sure what she meant by that, but we had been driving for long amounts of time that day and were fairly tired. I think it had something to do with all the waitresses wearing white sneakers..

We saw an antelope in the parking lot and told Jacquelyn to go chase it and we would take pictures of her. We soon realized that if you ever want Jacquelyn to do anything, you just tell her you'll take a picture of her doing it and she's all over it! hahaha..

Hey Jacquelyn, will you ride the mechanical bull? We'll take your picture...

The mechanical bull at the Greeley Stampede. We went to the Lonestar concert and saw some fantastic fireworks afterwards!

THese were two really drunk sailors at the Lonestar concert. For some odd reason they thought that all the audience was there and cheering for them specifically (guess they didn't notice the concert going on...) They were walking around shaking hands, hugging women, holding babies... we asked Amanda if that was American Patriotism and if that normally happens and she said no, not quite like that.. haha.. it was pretty funny to watch them though and we had to snag a picture with them!

At our favorite coffee shop, Marge's in Colorado.. Jacquelyn even got some tender loving care for her dreads

The strange baby doll that is embedded in the flooring at Marge's

Our two new friends at the coffee shop. They were working there and came and chatted with us for a while.

We got a tour of Estes Park, the Capernwray in Colorado which was pretty cool.

Estes Park, Colorado

Dinner at Dave's Smokehouse in Estes. Jacquelyn was amazed at the cheap beer prices..

We went to Rocky Mountain National Park and had a nice little picnic by Bear Lake.

Jacquelyn trying to change in public with crowds of people walking by..

Jacquelyn and I swimming in Bear Lake which turned out to be infested with tiny leech like creatures which later covered my whole body.. Yuck!! Gives me the squirmies thinking about it!

Rachel and Mark's Wedding

Megaan, Jacquelyn, Rachel, Amanda, Bethany and I at Rachel's wedding. So nice to be reunited with friends from Bible School and to be able to catch up!

My heels got a little dirty from sinking into the lawn continually....

The famous Stanley hotel where 'The Shining' was filmed as well as a scene from Dumb and Dumber. We decided to go explore and grab a snack in the restaurant.

Jacquelyn and Amanda

Jacquelyn and I baking cookies at Amanda's house

Hanging out in Amanda's kitchen

Bethany posing for the camera..

So that's a snippet of my trip down to Colorado. Stay tuned to this blog soon for:

-Pictures of the trip back to Canada, including Yellowstone National Park

-Pictures of my Omi's (grandma) 80th surprise birthday party

-Pictures of our week long family reunion

-Pictures of my mini road trip to Moses Lake

Sad

2007-07-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

This week has been an interesting one and I have been at a loss for words. Last Friday, July 20th, Nathan Toews was killed in a car accident. When I read the news, I just sat there shocked and weeping. I did know Nate super well, but he has been such a blessing and light since I first met him. I remember getting to know him and his brothers a bit at apollo and then spending time during the week at SOAR in Montreal with them. I had the chance to sing on a worship team with Nate a couple times and his passion and love for God and for the people around him was always such a huge encouragement to me. I have been inspired by his care and love for everyone he meets, making them feel special and loved.

My heart breaks for Rosanna and the whole Toews-Loewen family. Seeing another family go through such a shocking tragedy brings up a lot of the feelings I had during the times when my brother and dad died and my heart breaks for them, because I feel a piece of the pain they are feeling. This last week I have wept for the loss of Nathan, but also for losses I have experienced. At first I felt bad and guilty, because it wasn't about that, but then I realized that part of going through different feelings of grief again is being able to empathize and feel for those going through it.

It has brought back thoughts for me of whether it is worth it to love at all, because it hurts so much when you lose those you love. Then I am reminded that "Great love opens the door to great pain." If you want to cut off the pain, you have to cut off the joy and love as well and that is no life at all. The pain hurts, but at the same time, it is a reminder of love and joy. My heart has been heavy with prayers for Rosanna and her family and will continue to be so as they walk through their own individual grief.

I will end with these words from John Donne's Meditation 17:

When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated. God employs several translators: some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another.

Roadtrip to Calgary

2007-07-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

I went for lunch with Alex on the Island and asked if she wanted to drive with me to Calgary and she said sure, so then I had a friend to come with me on my travels!! I was driving to Calgary to meet up with friends and to pick up Jacquelyn and Bethany for the next stretch of the roadtrip!
The Bow River with the Rockies in the background

Oh the mountains!!!

Lake Louise would have been a lot nicer if it had 100 less canoes on it

Yay for driving!!

Noah and I at Tammy's house

Cyana and I at Open Sesame for our mini PDF reunion

Jacquelyn, Lindie and Alex

Mark, Reuben and Bethany

Jenn and I

Olivia

Bethany and Olivia

Roadtrip to the Island

2007-07-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

First off, sorry for the lack of updates! I have been gone and occupied in the short times that I have been home!! But in the next few days I will put up some posts of my last few weeks!! End of June I headed to the Island to visit some friends and to go to my cousin's wedding. It was so good to catch up with people and hang out and have lots of bbqs on the beach! The wedding was great as well!! I love weddings! :)

I'm Back! (Again!)

2007-06-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a trip to Spring Lake Ranch where I was taking a course called 'Psychology and Spirituality'. I have some pics but it takes far too long to post them on here, so go check them out on my facebook (if you don't have it, follow the links below):

http://twuca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008446&l=9278d&id=180500926

http://twuca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008447&l=b1a08&id=180500926

I have been learning a lot lately and thinking through a lot of stuff. I was looking back in my journal and found a poem I wrote a couple months ago and part of it really speaks what's been going on I guess, so I thought I'd share it. And hopefully I will write more at a later date!!

The beauty outside brings me to awe.
Beauty that seems absent from my life.
I observe it from the outside in.
So close, yet touch evades me.

Hands tied up, occupied in nothingness,
Yet the ropes that bind do have substance
Their grasp is firm, but mine is firmer.
Letting go would be the answer, yet I cannot.

To do so would be letting go of
meaning, comfort, worth, identity.
It would leave me exposed.
Naked.
Helpless.

To not let go would leave me bound,
Chained.
Oppressed.
Helpless.

I'm Back!

2007-06-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

As you may have been able to tell from the six new posts today, I'm back from Alaska! Got home yesterday and had a fabulous time. It was great to get away, relax, nothink about school, work or anythign else, but just to enjoy myself and have fun and enjoy the beauty that was all around me.

Sandy and I did lots of activities on the ship which was great and we met some wonderful people! We also went on some pretty great excursions at each of our port stops! In Ketchikan, I caught a record sized fish!! (okay, so it was the record for the smallest fish ever caught on the boat, but a record nonetheless!! check out the amazing picture!) Saw lots of wildlife too which was great! And glaciers!! Speaking of glaciers, it was pretty nippy! (and coming from me, that must mean it was a bit cold).. I think Sandy reached her record of layers with eight or nine layers on the day we went fishing-it was pretty impressive! haha.. too bad she couldn't move to reel in the fish!! hahaha

Okay, so hope you enjoy the pictures!!! Will hopefully post more this week!

Hangin' Out on the Ship

2007-06-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

Sandy's luggage

Part of the Dam, eh? trivia team!!

Indonesian tea

Dancing at the Northern lights every night

Scenic Cruising in Glacier Bay

2007-06-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

Floatplaning in Juneau

2007-06-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

An oxbow lake in the making

Sitka

2007-06-04T17:21:00.000-07:00

Fishing in Ketchikan

2007-06-04T17:09:00.000-07:00