Happy 2009

It is hard to believe that it is already January 2009. This time last year Cam and I were preparing or our big adventure to Australia. Today I am cleaning my home. Funny how things change. I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!

So much has gone on in our lives in 2008, big things. Moving to the Okanagan was a huge decision we made together. We are very happy with our decision and things have worked out for us, so far. I am looking forward to 2009! My twin sister is getting married this year to a really awesome guy who loves and adores her. So, naturally I am the Matron of Honour for that wedding. I will be busy busy this year devoting my time to my sisters beck and call, as she did for me when I was getting married. Oh, I am also a bridesmaid in Meghann's, (my friend from Edmonton) wedding. I am very excited for her wedding as well. It is the weekend after Danielle's. So Cam and I will be busy travelling to Nelson then up to Edmonton. I am very honoured that I can be part of both their weddings. Then in October Cam and I will be jetting off to Maui for Mike and Ellen's wedding. We are both so excited to be able to join them in Maui to celebrate their union. It is going to be a vacation to remember. I am dedicating 2009 to a year of weddings :o)

So here's to 2009 and whatever it might bring!

What have we been up to???

I have started to post so many times over the past few months because so much has happened, but I haven't been able to complete a single one. Call it bloggers block if you will, but I want to get back to writing and sharing the happenings in my life. Mostly so I can receive feedback and realize that I am not alone in this crazy world, and that these strange happenings happen to others..... possibly. I am going to start this post from back in the fall. Where I left off from the last post....

I must admit I absolutely love the fall. I love the colors of the trees and anticipation of the first snow fall. I got to go to Edmonton in September to go wedding dress shopping with my sister. It was such a great weekend. Not only did I have a kick ass car for the weekend to drive around in, we found her dress!! I got to hang out with my bestest friends and had a good trip all around. Going back to Edmonton made me miss it a little bit. It is nice being able to go back and be independent in knowing my way around the city and where things are. I am sure that Danielle's fiance Ryan is appreciative of that as well. I don't know when I will return back to Edmonton though. I am content in beautiful BC anyhow.

Unfortunately Thanksgiving just wasn't the same this year. I got to go to Nelson to visit my friends and family, however, Cam was unable to make the trip with me. He injured himself at work and was unable to travel back home due to his injury. I didn't have to drive by myself; fortunately, my Uncle Derek from Kelowna wanted a ride back to Nelson to see the family and his son. I got to see my Grandpa, who recently has fallen ill, and he looks great. I would never have guessed that he just got out of the hospital. Every holiday from this point that we get to have Grandpa with us is wonderful and valued. You always think that they are some super being that will never leave you or pass. Unfortunately the bitter truth my friends is that this isn't so. So we have to value every minute that we get to spend with our loved ones because you just never know.

After Thanksgiving the month of October just seemed to get worse and worse for Cam and I. We were already dealing with WCB and getting Cam better and back to work. He started going to physio regularly. On his way home from one of his appointments he was in a four vehicle accident. He was rear ended. He was the second vehicle to get hit, however I still think that our vehicle (Charlie) took the brunt of the hit. As it turned out there was too much damage to Charlie for ICBC to fix him, so we took the buy out, and Charlie was a write off. It took me a very long time to get over the fact that my little car was gone. I was/am very devastated. I know most of you are thinking I am a nut. I just tend to become very attached to things, and I have had so many great memories with Charlie. We took multiple road trips together. Oh and Cam got a little whiplash from the accident. So not only are we dealing with WCB for his work injury, we are dealing with an ICBC claim for his neck. Cam is doing well, and he hasn't had any real discomfort, but we aren't closing the claim just yet because you never know. We did replace Charlie with another car. We got a 2002 Mazda5 Protege. It is very nice, with all the bells and whistles, even a sunroof. It has four doors, so I guess we have a 'family vehicle' so now we just need a family to put in it :o) We got it for a really good deal. Because we just purchased a new truck in the summer, we weren't quite ready to buy a brand new vehicle. Let alone replace Charlie anytime soon. This was very unexpected, but somehow we managed to find this vehicle and get it for a price that worked really well for us. So with the buy out for Charlie and a little money out of our own pocket we were able to make a really great upgrade to the Mazda and not owe any money on the vehicle. I must admit though as much as I miss Charlie, I love the new vehicle. I love driving it. It is a standard, which is a whole new world to me, as Charlie was an automatic. We are both very pleased with our new addition.

We were both so happy that October was over and in the past because it was very trying and hard financially, emotionally, and physically. November came and went. I don't recall anything spectacular or unfortunate happening. Everyone was healthy and happy. Cam started back at work, he started doing light duty and only working about 4 hours a day. We both decided to take an investment in our health and get gym passes and started going regularly. Both Cam and I have been feeling the positive effects of it. It is a bit of a commitment, especially me, but I think we can do it.

December started off with a bang for me. Our office went on a trip to Vegas for a conference. The conference itself was a little boring and long. The trip to Vegas was amazing. I had never been before so to see it and take it all in was amazing and wonderful. I love it there and would love to go back anytime. So, I guess now there is Christmas to look forward to. It is sneaking up on us quickly. I am excited to go home to Nelson for the holidays and spend time with my family. So happy holidays everyone!!! Hope everyone as a safe and fun Holiday!

I promise to try to get back to blogging more regularly. I enjoy it personally because it allows me to express my thoughts and feelings, and share what is going on in our little lives as well. We are currently without a computer at home, as ours is getting fixed right now. There was a little mishap with some wine. Apparently wine and Mac Book don't mix. Oh well. Shit happens and it is getting fixed, so all is well that ends well..... hopefully, we still don't have it back.

One year went fast!

Cam and I just celebrated our One Year Wedding Anniversary. Wow did it go by quick. So many changes in our lives from where we were a year ago. For this anniversary we decided to go to Victoria for the weekend and visit a very good friend of ours. We also had the pleasure of staying at the Empress while we were there. When we first arrived to Victoria we had to go and see the ocean, and we had to pick a few things up for supper as well. We got to bring Zoe along as well. She has never seen the ocean or been in the ocean. It was a whole new experience for her. The city of Victoria so very dog friendly which is great because we could take Zoe everywhere we went. It was fantastic. She even got to stay with us at the Empress. She got to come down to the Wharf with us to meet Sammy the Sea Lion. We even got to bring her along to Buchart Gardens with us. I was so proud of my pug puppy. She was the most well behaved dog I have ever encountered. She heeled right between Cam and I, and she didn't embarrass us by pooping where she wasn't suppose to ;o) She didn't really care for the ferry ride over to the island or back very much, but I can't blame her it is noisy. It was a great weekend, but we are glad to be home and get to spend a weekend at home. Thanks again Brad and Erin for your great hospitality. And thanks to Victoria for being a 'dog friendly' city.

What a Summer So Far!!

At the beginning of May Cam and I had a pretty low key summer planned. One of my best friends was getting married to the love of her life. So of course we had that planned to do, but other than that (and the Mid Summer Bonspiel week for me) we kept most our weekends open. But it would seem that our Summer had something else planned for us. For me personally I have been busy with Bachelorette parties, Wedding Showers, and many other activities. Cam and I decided to buy a truck at the beginning of the summer. So we were busy going as far as Nelson to look at trucks. We ended up finding one in Kelowna. We found a Ford Ranger XLT Fx4, it is a very nice truck. Of course it is black to match our Charlie Car. After two years we finally got to go camping with our friends. We found a great spot out at Coffee Creek, just past Balfour. However, Cam came down with a very nasty cold/flu. So we had to leave a day early from camping. It was still fun! We have been golfing a ridiculous amount. While I was away curling, Cam decided to go shopping for new golf clubs. So, we have been putting the new clubs to good use. It has been great. So we have been able to go to Granite Pointe Golf in Nelson, Balfour Golf course, Pinnacle, and many other courses around our area. I am so happy that I have learned how to golf. I don't golf well but I am learning.



I got to curl in the last ever Nelson Mid Summer Bonspiel. It was a great week! I got to curl with my Mom, Danielle, and Allie. I couldn't have asked for better people to curl with. It was a good week had by all, and an unforgettable one at that. I did however get to spend a few weekends in Coldstream before we headed back to Nelson for the 7th time this summer for my friends wedding. It was such a beautiful occasion. Michelle was absolutly stunning, and so happy :o) Brought back memories of Cam and I last year. Speaking of last year. This August 11th will be our 1st wedding anniversary. We get to go to Victoria. I am so excited about this because it has been so long since we have been to the island. We have friends that we will be staying with for a few days as well as we get to stay at the Emperess Hotel. After this weekend we don't have any other plans for this summer. I wonder what else August has in store for us. I am sure we will be busy.

Finally Australia!!

I never thought getting into a country would be so difficult. The flight was only 6 hours. It was a nicer plane than the one we flew to Singapore on. We finally arrived and we had to go through customs three times let alone having three different people check our customs passes. I found it to be a bit excessive, but I guess they have had some issues in the past. As we were waiting for our luggage mine came out rather quickly. Cam was starting to get a little nervous because his still wasn't coming on the belt. I think his bag was the very last bag off of the plane. But we did manage to get his bag and my bag. We went outside and waited for our bus to come and pick us up to take us to the hostel that we were staying at. We were going to be staying at a little hostel by the beach in Glenelg, which is only 15 minutes from Adelaide. Apparently the first heat of the Tour Down Under was going to be taking place there so there were workers busy getting the road ready for the bikers. So the bus that we were on was a little detoured, so we had to walk a little bit to our hostel. No biggie, I was in Australia nothing was getting me down, and on top of it all we got to see world class cyclists. Once we got all checked in we headed down to the beach to go for a stroll. We did a lot of wondering around and just taking the wonderful sights in. Glenelg is a very busy little hub with a lot going on. In the morning we were going into Adelaide to go and find the car rental location and tour around the city as well.



Day 2 in Australia.

We took the tram into Adelaide and wondered around Rundle Mall. Rundle Mall is a large outside market. There are many vendors and stores along the street. It goes for about 6-8 city blocks. It was nice walking around there first thing in the morning before it got really busy. Besides we wanted to spend the day on the beach. So we wondered over to find the car rental location so that we could find it easily the next morning. Once we finished up in town we headed back out to Glenelg on the tram. The beach was really windy that day and we had the aerosol sun screen so we thought we did a pretty good job putting on the sunscreen, until later that night when we were both pretty burned. Cam got it a little worse than me. Our Hostel was hosting a BBQ, so we opted to eat supper there, and save a few dollars. After we went for a walk to watch the tour down under bike race.
When we went back to the hostel we joined some people for some drinks. Oh I forgot to mention that our hostel had a bar in the basement of it. They were a lot of fun, we went out the a club with a group of them. Cam and I enjoyed exchanging terminology with some of the locals and learning new ways of saying things. Once we returned to our room we had to pack and get ready to head out early in the morning to our next destination.

Lost in Singapore

It was our final day in Singapore and we had planned the whole day. So we got up early to catch out bus to head down to Orchard Road, which is where all the shopping is. As we were waiting there was a cab driver who approached us and said that he would take us to a few places where they sell electronics and such for super cheap and then take us to Orchard Rd all for $4 Singapore dollars. So me being the person I am thought that it was a good deal and that we could try to find a iTouch for me, and a new camera case for our camera. Cam was a little unsure for obvious reason, but he went along with it. So our first stop was a discount jewelry store. We didn't buy anything there. He then took us to a market in Chinatown. We found a really nice camera case there. There were also other stores in this little market. There were really nice wallets and purses made from crocodiles, ostrich, and fish skins. Way too expensive....so where this guy is coming from saying cheap was bull. So once we found the camera case we wanted to get out of there and head to Orchard Rd. So we went outside to see if we could find our driver who said he would be right outside when he dropped us off, He wasn't! So we waited a little bit and walked around for a little bit to see if we could find him. Finally after a while we pulled out our map and found the street we were on and mapped out where the tourist bus stop was and headed for that to go to Orchard Rd. We were on our way headed in what we thought was the right way, when a local man noticed we had a map and tried to help us. He sent us the wrong way.... we WERE going the right way. We should have stuck with our instinct. But we figured he would know better than us. Nope! So finally we got back on track and we found our bus stop. However we waited there for almost an hour for the bus to come. We kinda felt bad ditching that little old cab driver, but we felt he ditched us. Oh well no money for him, and we got a kick ass camera case for super cheap! It was SO hot waiting for that bus! Good thing the bus had AC on it. We finally made it to Orchard Rd!!!!! We found the Hard Rock Cafe and had lunch.

After lunch we walked down Orchard Rd just to take it all in. It is a busy place with a lot of expensive shops. I am not a wealthy person, so I didn't even venture into any of the stores. We were pretty worn out after walking up and down the strip, so we decided to head back to the hotel to have a dip in the pool. So again we waited for the bus. We finally got back to our hotel and had a swim...ahhhh... so refreshing. Afterwards we we wondered over to Fort Canning Park, which was an old military base. It was so beautiful there. The King once lived there, we saw his house. There were these stone walls with these designs on them... amazing.


After our walk around the park we had a really nice supper at Clark Quay. Then we got some ice cream on the way back to our hotel. We were both bagged from our eventful day. Plus we were headed to Australia in the morning, finally!!!!!!!

Singapore

Well this post has taken me a while to get going with, as mentioned in my past post I'm Back I was going to share some of the adventures that Cam and I endured. So here is the first of many to come........

I loved it in Singapore. The weather was great! We checked into the hotel, after a VERY long flight. We had to check in with the Tour Desk as well to inform them of our departure time to Australia. At that time we also booked a trip to the Singapore Zoo. Cam and I both found the tour operator to be very pushy. She kept trying to push other things to do on us, when all we both really wanted to do at that time was have a shower and freshen up after our 15 hour flight. We both felt a little overwhelmed. So finally we told her that we would come back to book whatever we wanted to do another time, and we headed up to our room to have a shower and change.


Once we were fresh again we wanted to go and find a bank machine so that we could have some money to go for supper with. We had no problems finding the ATM machine. We headed back to the hotel after that because we found out that it was happy hour and at happy hour you get two for one drinks :o) We now had money so we took advantage of that. After we finished up our drinks we went for a stroll along the river. We then discovered the most fascinating area. Clark Quay (pronounced 'key'). There is restaurant after restaurant in this area. It was amazing. After walking back and forth trying to decide where to eat we finally decided on a place. We had the most amazing prawn supper there. I have never seen prawns so big. YUM!! We were in heaven. But we were fading fast.....hello jet lag! So we strolled back to our room and went to bed. We needed our rest, we were headed to the Zoo the next morning.

The next day started early for us. We had to catch our tour bus for the Zoo, and after many stops at other hotels we were finally on our way to the Zoo!! When we first arrived there we took a ride on one of the Zoo's tram's and we were quickly orientated on the Zoo and where things were. After our quick tram ride we got to enjoy breakfast with Orangutans! It was so cool. It isn't everyday that I get to eat with monkeys other than Cam. All the orangutans get to roam freely above the zoo in the trees... so watch out for an unexpected shower..hehe. Once we were done eating we got to roam around the zoo freely on our own. It was so great to see so many animals, and their habitats were very clean and well taken care of. After the Zoo we went back to our favorite spot down the River, Clark Quay. We had lunch at Brewerkz. After lunch we took a river boat tour and learned of the history of the river and Singapore. We got to see the original Merlion, which is their mascot. It was a very informative boat tour. Afterwards we headed back to our hotel for a swim and a drink at happy hour :o)



Well this is a good start to many post to come. I could have you here reading all day about our adventures.