Labor Day Weekend

What does Labor Day Weekend mean to me................

1. 3 day weekend
2. Start of a new school year
3. Mall is crazy busy (thanks to school going back)
4. Time at home doing absolutely nothing

My DH and I have three days off together, which is great. We have no plans to go anywhere so we will be hanging around the house doing nothing. Some times you just need days like that.

Yesterday, Saturday, I slept in and went for a nice long walk around our neighbourhood. After that I just lounged around - we had an afternoon nap and then went out to Matsuyama for some yummy Japanese food. After dinner we walked up to the store to rent a DVD - there was nothing there that we really wanted to watch so we just walked home and watched some tube.

Usually, I would be the first to say 'What a waste of a day' or 'I should have done more that day'. To be honest, I did have those thoughts first thing in the morning and then my DH reminded me of actually how often we get to do this. The answer: Not very often. So then I didn't feel quite so bad. I enjoyed doing absolutely nothing.

This morning we woke up and already had plans to go to Browns for Brunch. I think I have already mentioned but this is a restaurant that just opened last week and that my DH's friends own. Brunch was great. My DH had a breakfast pizza that looked yummy and tasted just as good. It had egg, bacon, peppers and cheese on it. So good! I opted for the Breakfast Bun that had egg, bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato and came with potatoes on the side. Even better and so filling. I couldn't eat it alll. Normally I would have forced the food down but I have learnt not to do that. If you live locally I recommend trying out Browns in Richmond. Great for brunch, lunch or dinner. (Did that sound like advertising or what!!!!) Seriuosly though, great food.

Time to go....

Till next time.....

Fun at the PNE

I took Monday off from work so I could enjoy a day at the PNE with my DH, Mother In Law and my two neices. For those of you who do not know what the PNE is, here is a quick explanation. The Pacific National Exhibition takes place every Summer for two weeks, the last two weeks of August to be exact - just before kids go back to school. There are rides, animal exhibits and lots of really yummy food (which only means really bad food). They have musicians on throughout the day and in the evenings they have special concerts too.

My DH decided to volunteer me to go on all the rides with our neices and I am kinda glad he did. I had a blast pretending to be a child again. I felt bad as I didn't want to go on any rides that were too scary so my eldest neice, Bren, had to ride on her own a couple of times. The ride below is one of the ones she went on. At first it looked okay and then when I saw it go upside down and stay like thatI realized then that I defintely would not be going on this ride. I can do roller coasters with loops but rides were you stay upside down for the whole thing are definetly not my cup of tea. I passed on this one.

Bren's sister Cammy is much smaller and couldn't go on most of the rides that her sister could. We did find a ride that we all loved and that we could all go on together. Basically this rides goes really really fast and pushes everybody to one side of the seat. It reminded me of when I was younger and we would go for a drive with our parents with all the kids in the back seat and when my Dad turned a corner somebody would yell out 'Corners' and push into one corner of the car so we would squish that person. That pretty much sums up our favourite ride at the PNE. Unfortunately, I did not know that was how this ride went and we put poor little Cammy in the middle of us the first time round and I could not stop laughing throughout the whole ride as I watched Cammy get more and more squashed. Seriously, this kid is so tiny and here she is inbetween me and her older sister, getting the life squeezed out of her. She loved it though and that is all that matters.


There were the cutest farm animals at the PNE too. We saw a 10 week old calf. There were actually four calves and they were named John, George, Paul and Ringo. Very cute. There was also a horse feeding it's baby too. I love animals but it was so stinky in animal exhibit - I couldn't wait to get out of there.





My DH found these two pigeons at the fair too. He had to get a photo of the girl pigeon with it's head up the boy pigeons butt!! Only my hubby could spot something like this!!!

We all had a wonderful day but were exhausted by the end. Cammy and Bren fell asleep on the way home.

Till next time...........

I passed!!!

I am now a yellow belt in Jiu Jitsu........... I am so over the moon about this accomplishment.

Back in May, when my DH and I started taking Jiu Jitsu I didn't know what to expect and if I would stick it out. I was only interested in trying to stay fit and healthy and the other positive was that this could be something that my DH and I could do together.

4 months later I am still loving it - infact it is the whole atmosphere in the Dojo that I love. We have an amazing instructor, Lori, we get to work with great people at each of our sessions and we have made some great friends there too. What more can I ask for. I love learning new things each time we go to class. It makes me feel empowered and capable of taking care of myself if I am ever put in a situation where I need to defend myself.

This past Sunday I had my belt test and I wasn't feeling too nervous but I always have doubts in my own capabilities and I felt like I wasn't doing as good as I should have been. I know I screwed up in one particular part of the test and I was kicking myself about it as it was so simple yet under pressure I always freak out. I knew I forgot to Kiai a few times (a Kiai is something you say on your initial distraction/hit to alarm your attacker and to attract help). Basically, I knew each time that I did something wrong or forgot to do something and it was frustrating me.

Anyways, to make a long story short I totally flipped out and thought I had failed and not done well enough so, in 'Jo' fashion, I cried. I just got really overwhelmed as I didn't want to look like a failure to myself and to my Sensei.

The Happy Ending is that I did pass and will now be a yellow belt in Jiu Jitsu - which is awesome as I didn't start doing Jiu Jitsu with the intention to go through the different belts. I am looking forward to learning totally different things now though.

Thank You Lori for being an awesome Sensei and putting up with me being a cry-baby.

Till next time............

The Mist!!!

So, earlier this week I said to my DH that I wanted to do nothing but stay at home all night Saturday. I was so exhausted from having such late nights that I anticipated a night of doing nothing. The great thing is we did absolutely nothing and it was awesome.

We were just flicking through the channels and my DH came across the movie, The Mist. I remember seeing the shorts for this and thinking, I am never going to watch this. I DO NOT do scary movies. I am the type of person who puts myself in the situation of the movie and it freaks me out.

The Mist is a novel by Stephen King - need I say more. So, that I don't give away too much - basically there is this mist that is covering a town and bad things are happening. There are a bunch of people stuck inside of a store and they cannot leave the store or the 'mist' will get them. There is a bible-thumping freak, who eventually gets most of the people in the store thinking that this is the will of God, etc, etc, etc.

Basically, there cannot be a good ending to this movie - I figured that out early on in the film.

If you like scary movies and Stephen King novels then I recommend you rent it, or watch it on one of the movie channels like we did. I sat through the whole movie and only covered my eyes twice!!

till next time............

A Late Night..........

My DH's best friends are opening up their own restaurant, hopefully this weekend. We went to check out the new location last night after Jiu Jitsu and it looks amazing.

The restaurant will be located in Richmond at Ironwood Plaza. It is called Brown's Social House - a great place to meet up with friends for a quick bite and a few drinks.

The really cool thing is that we have seen the whole transformation of what the store looked like empty to now. Everything about the restaurant looks awesome - the lighting, furniture, blinds, wall features, etc. They have both done a great job with the restaurant and I am so proud of them.

The food is really good too. My DH raves about the pizza there and I had a really good salad too.

If you are in town I recommend you try Brown's. There are other locations too in the Lower Mainland.

All this talk about food is getting me hungry. I think it's dinner time??

Till Next time.....

Poor Solly

Solly is my Mother-in-law's cat and he is desparately missing her right now. Like I mentioned in a previous post she went to Ontario to see her daughter who has just had a baby. So now it is up to my DH and I to keep Solly company.

Solly is used to having somebody home with him all the time and unfortunatley we cannot stay with him all day as we have full-time jobs. He has been meowing more often these last couple of days and sleeping more too. I must say though, it has been rainy outside so that may be why he is prefering to nap than to play outside.

Below is a picture of Solly - isn't he cute. He isn't even a year old yet and has such a lovely temperant for a cat. Solly is so much fun to have around the house and is especially fun to watch after a bit of cat nip.

Don't worry Solly, mummy will be home soon.

Till next time...................

Exhaustion..................

What a busy weekend .................... I feel so exhausted and the weird thing is that I was fine till I got home and did nothing for 30 minutes.

Saturday night we attended a wedding reception in Vancouver. It was a really nice night - a chance for us to dress up and have a good time and meet new people. The reception hall was beautiful and the wedding was for a couple from an East Indian and Chinese background. I was a little disappointed as I thought the bride would be wearing a Sari but she instead stuck with the traditional white dress - which was gorgeous by the way.

Sunday morning we got up extra early and dropped off my Mother-in-Law at the airport. Two Sunday's in a row of getting up before 7am - something is not right here!!

Sunday was also our pre-test for our Jiu Jitsu yellow belt. I was super nervous as expected but actually did okay - I just need to go over my theory a little more. Our actual belt test will be next Sunday.

Sunday afternoon we met up with two friends from our Jiu Jitsu class and played 18 holes of Golf at Country Meadows in Richmond. I did okay - my game is improving each game I play.

So, now you know why I am so tired. We had a full weekend and then by the time I had finished work on Monday I was done. We were going to go to Boxing and Jiu Jitsu that night but instead stayed home in bed and watched a movie. (We watched In Bruge with Collin Farrell, I quite enjoyed it)

Time to go rest now.........

Till next time.............

Last post for today

I know you are probably thinking three posts in one day, what the hell?? I have neglected to blog much this week so I am making the most of it while I have time.

I just wanted to show you all a card I made this afternoon for a wedding reception my DH and I are attending tomorrow.

We just got in a brand new paper line at Clipper Street yesterday, from Basic Grey. I just had to use it to create this 'Congratulations' card. The line is called 'Offbeat' and I matched it up with white and brown Bazzill cardstock.

I got this card idea from my good friend Eleonor who is also a manager at Clipper Street. I changed it up slightly to make it my own. I bought this new wave punch that I had been anxious to use - I like the way it looks on the card. The greeting has been stamped on and I just added a bit of ribbon and a Prima flower - and there - card done!!

Okay, that's me for today...............

I'm an Aunty again..........

My Sister-In-Law and her husband had their baby girl today. Lilliana was born in Ontario today and I cannot wait to see her. This is the third neice for my DH and he was so happy for his little sister.

My Mother-In-Law is flying out on Sunday to help with the first week and then hopefully they will all be moving back to Vancouver in September.

Just wanted to share the wonderful news with you all.

Till next time..........

A quick visit

So last weekend my DH and I got to meet up with an old friend from our Cruise ship days.

Even though we only had an evening to spend with Neil it was so good to see him again. We had worked out it had been at least 4 years since we saw him last but it definetly didn't feel like that. We got into talking about what is going on with Disney (that's the cruise ship we used to work on). We also chatted about what the future holds for all of us and what plans Neil has next. Neil has been working for DCL for nearly 10 years - crazy, hey. I was there for 4 years and that was long enough for me. It's a great life on a cruiseship but can be hard to get back into reality after a while.

When working on the cruiseship everybody is like family because you don't have your real family with you. It was soooooooooo good to catch up with Neil. He was like having a brother on the ship for me. I like to think we were always there for each other and still are.

Miss you already Neil.

While waiting for Neil at the ferry terminal I got some pretty good photo's of the surrounding area. The ferry terminal was in a place called Horseshoe Bay which is basically on the way up to Whistler. It is a really quiet seaside town and so cute. There really isn't much there except ther ferry terminal and a few restaurants.

Enjoy the photo's.

Till next time.............

What's with all the fighting?

What a busy weekend........... and it started with Fight Night on Saturday night. You are probably wondering what I mean when I say 'Fight Night'. No my DH and I do not attack each other and nor do we go out looking for a fight - although that could be fun (see what I have turned into since taking up Jiu Jitsu). Okay, to get to my point, Fight Night is when we have a bunch of friends over and we watch the UFC pay per view all together. It is a great night with friends and a good excuse to drink (for some) and have a few laughs.

This Saturday night my DH and I hosted Fight Night. Our first night hosting and it was alot of fun. We thought we were going to run out of food (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the person hosting supplies dinner and snacks). The day started with only 12-15 people coming over but by the end of the day we were over 21 people which was AWESOME. Everyone had a good time, the fights were good and entertaining - I think it was a successful evening.

On Sunday we had open training at our Dojo but the person who was supposed to open the Dojo never showed up........... what to do??? We went home and beat the crap out of each other!!! I am not joking. We now have mouth guards and gloves - so we went outside and traded punches with each other. It was actually fun!!! We didn't hit each other too hard to cause any major injuries but hard enough to get the feel of it.

I'll let you know how the rest of our weekend was later...............

Till next time............

Happy Birthday Madison!

I would like to wish my niece, Madison, a happy 4th birthday!! I have tried calling home a few times to wish her a Happy Birthday but haven't been able to actually speak to her yet. (By the way, thanks Mark for the 1:30am wake up call yesterday - have you not heard about something called 'time zones')

Yes, I know she looks quite young in this photo but this was taken back in 2005 when I was home last. Isn't she the cutest little thing............... I miss you so much Madi and can't wait to see you again.

Madison, I hope you had a wonderful birthday and got all that you wanted. Hopefully I will speak to you soon - I'll try to call when you are not napping.

Till next time................

A Baby is coming............. and a creative moment

My Husband's youngest sister is about to give birth any moment now!! She was due on the 5th, I was hoping she would share a birthday with Madison on the 6th, but still nothing!!!

With a baby coming soon I see that as an opportunity to be creative and make a gift. A few months ago one of our very creative teacher's at Clipper Street came up with this gorgeous idea (as seen in the photo's to the right). I changed it up slightly to make it somewhat my own.

The project is an accordian book that comes in a box - this item can be purchased at Clipper Street - and is quite a popular item.

So, the idea is that you decorate the box with patterned paper and cardstock and then you decorate the accordian. With this being a baby book I have kept a page of the accordian for each of the months of the first year of the baby's life.

The paper's that I have used are from SEI - they came up with such a cute baby boy and baby girl line. I bought the corresponding rub-ons that go with this line and used them throughout the accordian.

Clipper Street is also selling a gorgeous baby boy and baby girl layout kit. Just check out Clipperstreetonline.com to see a picture of it!! So cute............makes me want to have a baby!!!

Till next time..........

An old friend.................

I got some very exciting news today. A friend that my DH and I used to work with is coming to visit us and we haven't seen him in at least 4 years. What's the big deal................let me explain.



Back in 2000 I left Australia to go and work for Disney Cruise Line. I met my husband on my very first contract on the ship and that is also were we met our friend Neil. Neil was like having a brother on the ship - we hit it off straight away and became quite good friends with him. My memories of Neil is that he always made me laugh, he was hard to understand (he was from Scotland), and he always made the cruise ship feel like home whenever I returned for a new contract. He was kinda like a piece of the furniture as he has been there for a million years (maybe not that long but I bet he thinks it feels that long).



The most amazing part about working on the cruise ship was that we became such great friends with people from all over the world. For goodness sake, I'm Australian and my husband is Canadian. I can't think of any other job where you are working with people from one end of the world to the other.



Our friend Neil will be here this week for a wedding. This Sunday we will be meeting up with him for dinner and then he is gone on Monday. A quick visit, but I am just happy that we can meet up with him after all these years. Will keep you posted on our visit.



Till next time............

The Dark Knight

After at least two attempts my DH and I went to see The Dark Knight yesterday. We caught a very early showing yesterday morning - 11:30am and there was only about 10 of us in the theatre which was great. We had tried to see the movie twice before but the line ups were ridiculous. So now I am going to review the movie from a 'girls' perspective. Here goes:

So is 'The Dark Knight' deserving of the hype that has been surrounding it - my answer 'yes'. It was definetly action-packed and the special effects were amazing. The movie was over 2 hours long - closer to 2 1/2 hours actually but it was non-stop throughout the whole movie. Usually I get bored with a long movie and can't wait for it to be over but not with this movie. There was full-on action throughout and it kept you wanting more - there were no long, drawn out parts at all. For those who haven't seen the movie they do introduce another Batman character about 3/4's into the film which is why you forget about how long the movie is as it captivates you yet again. I won't tell you who this character is just incase you want to see the movie for yourself.

I wasn't a big fan of the newer Batman movies. I was one of those few people who liked Tim Burton's version of the Batman movies. When the newer Batman movie came out with Christian Bale I wasn't too fussed and didn't really like him in the role. After watching The Dark Knight I soon changed my mind. Christian Bale is actually quite hot and looks good as Batman too. One of the first movies I ever saw Christian Bale in was American Psych - totally creeped me out and I thought he was such a pig - I obviously forgot he was just acting. Times have changed as like I said earlier, Christian Bale was one unreal Batman. Talking about actors, Maggie Gyllenhaal was amazing. Loved her in this role - much better than Katie Holmes. I am not a Katie Holmes hater but she seriously did not fit the role in the first Batman. Maggie was much better and more believable - and she also has a hot brother too.

Lastly, Heath Ledger................ what a rockstar!! (And I am not only saying that because he is a fellow Australian) He was AWESOME as the joker - a little creeper but that was the role he had to play. His character was the one that really kept me on the edge of my seat. All that talk about him getting an Oscar - I used to think that was silly and just a simpathy vote but after seeing the movie - I believe much deserving. What a shame he is gone........... he was such a talented guy - his last full movie role definetly shows how talented he was.

So, what do I give this movie. Definetly a thumb's up. Not for children at all - it is a really dark and scary movie, but a great movie for adults. I would wait and watch it without the crowds or do what we did and watch it early in the day.

Till next time....................