Merry Wishes!

Well...I couldn't not write anything for Christmas. I've been a bit preoccupied and also left my computer charger in Victoria so no pix as I'm using G's work computer. (at the time we thought we'd be back there within a coupla days so it wasn't a biggie) But...We're pretty much snowed in here on Walden Street. It sure is beautiful. I believe this is a record snowfall - most snow E.V.E.R.!!! The day has been filled with shoveling, pushing cars out of the snow, visiting neighbours, packing up the kitchen of all non-essentials and now - waiting for the roasting chicken and sweet potatoes to be ready so we can eat.
I feel very blessed in my life - good food, good friends, warm home, a life filled with love! I wish all good things for you and yours as we end this year and begin a new one. Merry Christmas, warmest wishes, my friends!

A Weekend Rendezvous...

This past weekend, G. and I snuck away to Seattle for our annual pre-Christmas getaway. Lots of walking, talking, re-connecting, wine sampling and yummy food. It's funny, we choose to go on one of the biggest US shopping weekends of the year and then we avoid the crowds once we're there. In years past, we've watched the lighting of the tree, bands, parades, etc. but it seems, these days, we much prefer to go in the opposite direction of the hoards of people making merry. Here are some pix...

our room (comfy bed & soaker tub!)

wine tasting at The Tasting Room in Post Alley

we didn't ship any wine home but...a display at Anthropologie (I love that store!!!) The skirt is made out of wood

I bought this teacup for our new house!lunch at Maximillians - Pike Place

All in all, a fantastic little getaway. Lots of laughs, lots of dreaming about our future and lots of just walking hand in hand enjoying each other's company!
Oh yeah, we also did a bit of shopping;)
Will show you the other shoes tomorrow!

and now with the details...

Since our financial offer was accepted on the house, we now have 7 subjects to remove by the end of next week so - as well as doing year end/inventory, etc. for the store, I have to set up appointments in Gibsons for the house inspector, the "pump and dump" and inspection of the septic system (eww!) as well as getting a lawyer, and a few other things. This is not the fun part of buying a house. When we bought our condo, it was brand new and we pretty much just needed to sign some papers - this is waaay more work:) The end result will definitely be worth it tho' so...onwards!
Also this week is the launch party of the new Crave Vancouver Book at The Cross in Yaletown. We have been chosen again as one of the featured stores - yay! It will soon be available for purchase at Bodacious. It features all women owned, independent businesses in Vancouver. Great for any friends coming from out of town. They also do a Seattle version and a few other cities.

Hope your weekend was great - I got to catch up with some friends, play some wii and eat some yummy cassoulet from Granville Island.
George and I have some getaway plans for this weekend - I'll fill you in on those later...

What I've been up to...

yummy snacks/drinks/wii and handing out candy with Kathleen on Halloween night (we had kids galore)...

friends visiting (eating/drinking/wii-ing) on weekend...
granville island...

Lest We Forget...

Victory Square Remembrance Day Ceremony

and quite a few other things that I'll try to update on soooon - now that I have a beautiful new computer:)

A busy, sunny weekend...

the loverly Kathleen

(notice the side of mashed potatoes!:)

Friday night we had a great dinner out at The Shore Club on Granville Street downtown. Good food, wine (G's favourite), service and live piano entertainment.
George's BOUILLABAISSE
Not an inexpensive restaurant but pretty great ambience. A great place to go for a drink before heading out for the evening. We tried to hit some live entertainment on Main Street after dinner but just missed the last set so headed back to our place for a nightcap and tried to think of happy stories. Too many crazy, sad stories out there - our taxi driver started it with his own sad story!
Saturday was very low key and included several movies.

Discovered a new walk with our friends on Sunday. There is a new seawall walk from Science World to Granville Island (3.3 km each way) on the south side of the water that I'd never tried before. There is still tons of construction going on (the Olympic village will be in that area) but you're still on the waterfront most of the way.

Granville Island is always my favourite destination!

Back at Boot Camp this morning feeling pretty strong. Gearing up for the run on Sunday. Thanks for your words of encouragement!
Can you believe this amazing weather!?!

Boot Camp kicked my butt!!!

What a perfect day to start boot camp. It was actually hot out there! Very fun tho'. So good to feel those muscles that have been on a bit of a summer vacation. I'll be going 3 mornings a week for 10 weeks so should see and feel some pretty positive results.
Fantastic weekend spent with friends/family. George and Barbie's birthday was on Friday so us two couples (including Superman) went out to Grub for some delicious food, drink and other shenanigans! The apres dinner prosecco meant a bit of a headache Saturday morning but...yumm!!!
Saturday night we went to celebrate another Virgo birthday. Our hostess with the mostess friend Kathleen prepared a fabulous Italian themed dinner and the loverly Dre did some very creative decorating. Who knew you could create a seaside escape with some blue outdoor lights, a trampoline and a chandelier? I'll have to get a copy of some of the pix. I'd never tried Osso Buco before but I certainly will again. Amazing!!! Creamy risotto, tomato and bocconcini salad - all so delicious! I paced myself this time with the drinking so no hangover the next day:) Besides, I was much too busy singing my heart out to some pretty crazy oldies. There was one couple at the dinner party who were kinda newbies (K's friend from the past) and I think they were a little overwhelmed by G's performance of Delilah (complete with props!) - as well as some other really crazy loud singing and dancing. Sooo much fun - my cheeks were sore from laughing so hard! Sunday brought more hot sunshine, some mellow reading on the back deck and then a trip out to the boat to give it a good scrub and then enjoy the waterfront views/reading/chatting/napping.
I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life, a home that I enjoy, a sailboat that I never dreamed I would own and the presence of mind to appreciate it all - every day! Thanks to all of you who are on this journey with me!

It's been a day...

Well...Barb and I were on our way to see Norm and Cynthia in Mission when we got very stuck in some crazy traffic - apparently a crane had "collapsed" on the highway and they'd closed both directions! We ended up being over an hour late for our lunch date (if you know me at all, you know that stresses me quite a lot - don't like to keep anyone waiting and am usually the first one at any event/party). Thankfully, we had the perfect hosts who offered up yummy rum-licious drinks upon our arrival and a delicious chicken burger and fruity salad lunch. Lots of laughs, funny stories and 'maybe one more of those yummy rum drinks, please' later, I relaxed and had such a loverly time. Thanks so much Cynth and Norm. Great to see you Denise! And Barb...you're a fantastic driving, stuck-in-traffic, laughing-at-everyone-and-everything companion.

Tag ladies, you're it!!!

A Weekend on the Island...

This past weekend we spent with the in-laws in Victoria and Chemainus. The weather, as you know, was fantastic and there were many great views to be had...


- from the ferry going over...

- the full moon coming up over the Gorge in Victoria from G's parent's balcony...

- this delicious breakfast and a garden full of flowers at Jarid's Corner B&B...

- Ladysmith on a sunny Sunday...

And then on Sunday night, we snuck away for a romantic dinner for two (an early celebration of our 18th anniversary since G. will be away) at our fave Victoria restaurant, Il Terrazzo. Amazing, yummy, delicious!

More pix on my flickr site...

Hope you all had a sun and fun filled weekend!

Updates - finally!

Wow! It's been an incredible several days. I'll try to make it interesting...

Saturday

George and I golfed in a tournament with some friends in Tsawwassen. It was intensely HOT but there was plenty of cold beer and adequate golfing (by me). I ended up with a 110 on a 69 par course. I know that doesn't sound great but for me...it rocked!

Sunday

BeautiControl Spa Party - which means six lovely ladies in my living room eating juicy cherries, grapes, strawberry shortcake and chocolate brownies while having mini-facials, manicures and foot moisturizers. I ended up signing up to be a distributor so stay tuned for more info on this really great product.

Monday

George had to work in the morning so I went for a swim at Kits Pool and then we ended up going out to the boat in the early afternoon for a sail. We managed to hide behind the sail for the first bit as the sun was pretty brutal but once again, the beer was cold (don't worry - we're very responsible sailors).

Check out my new beer holder!!! That cruise ship was pretty far away but still freaky - they're so HUGE (& we're so not)!

Tuesday - CANADA DAY!

We had our annual neighbourhood block party. It was pretty fun! We have a very multi-cultural street so there's always lots of great food. We had also applied for and received a community grant (they're very easy to get so I highly recommend you trying this in your area) and this year's community project was these pretty birdhouses. Everyone had a go at building and painting them and now they're adorning all of the trees on our block. I hope the birds enjoy them! The evening ended with a firepit in the street (we'd closed it off to traffic) and a good old-fashioned singalong.

Wednesday
True Colors Concert at Deer Lake Park
This - for me- was amazing!!!! I think I'll fill you in on the deets tomorrow. I saw Rosie O'Donnell!!!!!!!!! Pix to come...

Monday, Monday...

I went for my first swim of the year at Kits pool this morning - what a fabulous way to kick-start the week. It took me a good 10 minutes to convince myself to jump in and when I finally did, the water was perfect. Not cold at all as I was expecting. As I say every year, if you haven't been, you must go. It's so beautiful and really - the best Vancouver has to offer - with the ocean and mountain views... The only thing I'd ask is, "hello mr. handsome lifeguard - please don't be all friendly and chatty with me as I'm clumsily swimming past you and trying to clean off my foggy goggles!" I never said I was the most coordinated girl in the pool:)
We had a fantastic weekend on and around the boat. Saturday we just hung out there and fixed up a few things. It had been a few weeks since we'd been out and we wanted to get it into shipshape (I can use that expression for real now!) before my nephew and sister-in-law came on with us yesterday. They were our first official guests on the boat (meaning we actually left the dock) and it all went very well. My nephew Ryan is pretty fearless so the only challenge was to keep him out of the water. Everyone had a job to do (our boat is too small to just have people lounging around watching the scenery) which worked out great. We had to be very careful of the tides as we can't get back into our slip at a very low tide so all was timed out perfectly. We ended up being out on the water from 10am-1pm. Sue and Ryan left promptly after docking so George and I did our clean-up which takes about 45 minutes and then enjoyed the rest of the aft. just relaxing/snoozing/snacking/snooping at other boaters...

My captain!

We didn't get home until after 6 - just in time for George to bbq up some delicious buffalo burgers! Yum.

Happy First Day of Summer!

Well...I know you're all sitting by your computers, waiting to see what I decided to do yesterday so here you go:)
I went to see Sex and the City with George (who played the part of my gay boyfriend nicely - except for the gay part - haha). I loved the whole experience!!! It's been so long since I've been to a movie at the theatre, I just took it all in. Popcorn - check, monster-size pop - check, m&m's - check, centre seats, big screen, massive speaker system. The movie was nice - I loved the crazy and sometimes over-the-top fashion, friendship dialogue, gal travel to Mexico, and the sensitive and funny bits that made me laugh and cry. There were a couple of particulary funny scenes at the hotel in Mexico where I surprised myself by how loud I laughed but I won't give them away in case you haven't seen the movie yet. I'd definitely go again with some girlfriends just to be able to talk more about the fashion and enjoy the heavy focus on female friendships. And also to get another look at all of Carrie Bradshaw's shoes! I give it two well-manicured thumbs up.
After the movie - we decided to go and check out the new Burgoo restaurant on Main and it was really great. If you haven't already experienced Burgoo at one of the their other locations on West 10th or North Van, you'll need to check them out. It was only their second night open and they were very busy. We ended up sitting at the bar which I love (always a great opportunity to chat with the bartender!) Here's what we had...first, this delicious plate of Italian appies (tomatoes, bocconcini, artichokes, crustini) and then...







George had this loverly dish called Zarzuela - a spanish seafood, tomato and saffron dish topped with ground almonds. I couldn't resist comparing my recent tastes of Beouf Bourguignon (apparently I've been spelling it wrong all along) in Paris to what they were offering up. DEElicious! Served with mashed potatoes, lots of carrots (as you can see) and a nice red wine gravy mopped up by the fresh home-made bread. The Hester Creek Cab-Merlot was the perfect choice to accompany our mains!

I shouldn't even tell you that we also had dessert but how could we resist the banana chocolate cake topped with ice-cream???

'nuff said!