Punta Canada

A week of holiday.....

Well, I'm back from a gorgeous week in tropical paradise. It was my first time going anywhere tropical and I truly loved it. We arrived in Punta Cana to our resort, the Melia Caribe, just as it was getting dark out on the first day. After getting lost trying to find our rooms, (the resort is HUGE) we found the buffet for dinner and the rest of our group. There were about 60 of us or so going to the wedding so it wasn't too hard to locate the group of sunburnt Canadians most days, lounging by the pool drinking coco locos. After a delicious dinner (the buffet is amazing) we headed down to see the beach. It was night but I couldn't wait to feel the sand under my toes.


Friday was our first full day at the resort. We slept in as we had spent the previous night awake in the airport. Unfortunately this caused us to miss the breakfast buffet, but we were able to eat lunch on the beach and then lounge for several hours. We claimed a row of lounge chairs and Mike headed off with some of the guys to get drinks while I chatted with some girlfriends and read my book (the second in the Outlander series). The first moment of stepping onto that beach was by far the highlight of the trip. I couldn't believe the water could actually be that turquoise and that the sand could be so white. It truly is a beautiful paradise. So, I contented myself with gazing at it and feeling the hot sun for the first afternoon.

That evening, we managed to get a dinner reservation for 8 people at the Dominican a la carte restaurant. The food was delicious! For an apppy, I had Queso Frito, which is essentially fried cheese with a yummy sauce. For dinner I chose the chicken risotto which was also delish. Dominican food is very good!

Here are a few highlight pictures. The first three days were essentially spent sunbathing, swimming, eating out with a group of people and then enjoying the evening entertainers and open bar! There are lounge areas with cabanas, chaise longues and couches everywhere you turn, so there was plenty of space for the 60 of us to socialize in the evenings.

On monday we had the wedding to attend, which I will leave for a separate post.




The lovely beach...



Our room...

Middle of the night at YVR

So, it's the middle of the night at Vancouver International Airport. And, I'm finally finding myself with some time to update my blog. I've got a lap top, free internet, and plenty of time to waste.

We've just checked in for our 6 am flight only to discover that they won't let us through security until 4:30am. I was hoping to go in the duty free shop that is open all night, hit up the 24 hour Timmy's and then fall asleep at the gate until boarding. But, unfortunately, Mike and I are stuck at the food court just outside of security for another two hours. I tried to sleep but it's just too noisy and uncomfortable. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the plane as it is a nine hour flight before we arrive in Punta Cana.

So, what has been happening lately in Dawson Creek? Well, I had a good trip home for spring break and did a lot of visiting. Since then, I've been working really hard preparing my musical for June. I felt like we were really ahead until after spring break, and now the month has flown by and there is still so much to do! The advertising alone took forever but I am very proud of how the posters turned out.

Also, spring arrived in Dawson Creek, and then promptly disappeared this morning when I woke up to a blanket of white on the lawn and windy snow all day long. Thankfully we will be somewhere warm before long!

We are heading to Punta Cana for the wedding of my friend Carly but also as a good reason to lie on the beach for a week! I'm looking forward to having no plans other than the wedding and just relaxing with Mike. We might go snorkeling one day, and we definitely want to book a massage at the spa if we can. But who knows what we will end up doing! I just hope the weather is nice and sunny, although even warm tropical rain tops zero degrees and snow.

When we return I've got a short month and a bit to prepare for our show. We've got costumes to finish, sets to build and lots of scenes to practice. Unfortunately, one of our lead male dancers broke his foot yesterday. Because he is such a great actor and dancer we had him cast as a thespian, cheerleader and a jock. He did all sorts of cool dance moves and lifts with the cheerleaders and now he has a 6 week cast on his foot. Apparently last year one of the girls broke her foot just before the CATS performance as well, so it seems to be a running tradition.

It's definitely a season of traveling, as we leave on July 1st for Paris. We spend two nights there and then fly to Ireland for two weeks. Mike is heading home on July 18th and then I will be flying to Scotland to visit Amanda in Edinburgh and possibly to visit a few of my family members who live in Glasgow. Then, I will be heading back to France to Saint Victor la Coste for a 12 day volunteer program where you help restore a medieval village. It's called La Sabranenque and I'm really excited for it. I'm hoping that I will be able to practice my french while I am there.

I am also going to be doing a poetry display in Dawson Creek as part of a community art project. I'm not sure which poems I'll display but I'm thinking of doing a family theme as I have a few based on my grandparents, parents and siblings.

Well, I think it's time for me to get some breakfast!

Victoria Arrival

After two quick flights yesterday afternoon, I am now in Victoria. I arrived at about 5:30 last night, got picked up by my friend Myana, and then headed to her house in Brentwood Bay. We had a delicious meal at the Prairie inn and today I will head in to town to stay with another friend for the week. I'm so looking forward to visiting all my favourite places, but I might need to buy an umbrella first. It has been raining and slushy snowing since I arrived. Apparently I brought the lovely weather with me.

Where did February go?

So, when did it become March? You really can't tell up here, where it has been snowing steadily and the temperatures continue to be -10 or colder. February wasn't the greatest month, but at least it went by quickly.

I have been loving my new job but I've been really sick since last weekend and missing school as a teacher is a lot more work than missing school as a student. Not only do you have to catch up the students, you have to plan for another teacher to be there instead of you anyways!

I also have been having lots of misfortunate adventures, such as getting a flat tire as I sped to the gas station yesterday afternoon in an attempt to not run out of gas. I was so busy worrying about the gas being way below empty I didn't even notice the "thud, thud, thud" of the deflated tire. I had to beg the Safeway gas attendant to let me use their phone, but Mike was undercover so no one could get a hold of him for me. Luckily one of my friends was on the watch that was working so she came and rescued me in the police cruiser and took me home. I also ran over the cord for the block heater one day so I can't plug it in anymore. I figured it would be okay because you don't usually need to plug in once it's March, but the car barely started the other morning it was so cold.

So, those are my winter adventures. We've also been trying to train our puppy to go outside, which is difficult as she is about half a foot tall and the snow is 4 or 5 feet tall.

In other news, I will be coming to the island in just over a week for spring break. I fly into Victoria on the 14th and then home again on the 28th.

I've also booked the two cottages I will be staying in when we are in Ireland. I am then planning on going to Scotland to visit Amanda, and then possibly to France for a volunteer camp for two weeks where you work in a medieval village. As well, April brings us to the Dominican Republic for a week. I'm so looking forward to lying on the beach and reading books for 7 days. I better start tanning or I'll burn the instant I get off the plane!


That's all so far...just looking forward to the end of winter! I've had enough of the snow already..

What happened to my blog?

I'm trying to figure out what happened to my blog. Suddenly the little details and links are all missing. They're still there when I go into my layout but for some reason I can't see them anymore when I load my blog! Can you see them?

Right now I'm sitting in my pj's watching American Idol. I wasn't expecting to have a lazy night but it has worked out for the best. Tonight was supposed to be my Bible study night at my house but only a couple of people showed up so they went home early and I was left with a clean house and all my work done early since I was expecting to be busy all night. It's such a relief to just get to relax though and in a few minutes I'm going to watch Lost with Mike. It's been a long time since we got to relax together and watch our favourite show.

I also started my new job. It's going really well so far and is a lot of fun. There is very little real planning and no marking which is awesome. So far we are just playing improv games and doing warm-ups. We just started learning the first dance and are hoping to start learning the first song this week. I have some truly amazing students and support for the program. It really makes the job a lot easier and very enjoyable. I spend most of my day in the costume/dressing room talking with the theater students and trying out crazy costumes. Our costume guy is a real hoot. We discovered today that the colour scheme he chose is the same as Versace's spring line which made us feel very sophisticated and really reinforced our ideas. Needless to say, I'm excited for how it's going to turn out!

Last week was Mike's birthday and this weekend is Valentine's Day. No special plans yet but Mike isn't working so we can actually have a date night!

Do I have at least 5 readers? hmm

From Ciboulette:

The first five people who comment here will get something I make. Could be a real life thing. Could be imaginary. Depends on what I think you will like and my inspirations. (Note, it’s going to be something I think you will like. Actual liking not guaranteed!)

The only real rule is that you have to make this offer in your own web log.

Holly

On Saturday at 11am I went to pick up the new member of our family. We decided to name her Holly, after all, so thanks Amanda for the idea. It seemed to suit her very well. She is a lot of work but very fun and playful. She likes to "dig", although there is no dirt to dig in so she does it in her blanket and so far seems to always pee on her pee pad and not on the floor. She also likes to go inside the cubby holes in our coffee table and try to launch herself onto the couch from there. So far, I haven't managed to get her to sleep all night by herself. She likes to crawl in under my chin or fall asleep on my arm, which makes it comfy for her, but a little hard for me to sleep. But, since Mike is away for two weeks on the island, it makes for something to snuggle.

I had a great video of her attacking a wrapping paper roll, but for some reason it won't load!

Warmth at last!

Today was such a wonderful day. Yesterday too. The thermometer was above 0! It's so exciting. After a full month of -25 or -30 it is now warm and sunny. The high for tomorrow is expected at around 8 degrees, which is literally unheard of for January. Last winter it was cold but there were always the -10 days where you could warm up a bit before it got back into the 30s. But this winter has been gloomy and cold. There haven't been many blue sky days or snowy cozy days, it's just been extreme cold and grey skies. I actually wore a skirt today, with no nylons! Or long johns for that matter. It's amazing how much I took for granted being able to have some skin exposed to the sun. No wonder we all take vitamin D up north.

It put me in such a good mood that I took my class outside yesterday for a walk. We had a contest to see who could hit the flagpole with a snowball. So much fun.

I'm also excited because I'm getting my puppy tomorrow and it will be warm enough to take her outside. I've already spoiled her with a very cool bed/house and lots of puppy toys. It's amazing what you can get for a dog!

Anyways, the weather is looking up for the north and this makes today a good day.

Happy weekending.

Book list 2008

I've compiled the list of books that I read in 2008 and discovered I didn't read that many! Or perhaps I'm forgetting some, I don't know. But, here are the books read on my own and with my book club, in order of least favourite to most favourite.
However, I really enjoyed the top 10.

13) Divisadero
12) Flowers for Algernon
11) The Catcher in the Rye
10) An Audience of Chairs
09) The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
08) The tales of Beedle the Bard
07) Magyk: First book in the Septimus Heap series
06) The Book Thief
05) The thirteenth tale
04) The Illuminator
03) Late Nights on Air
02) The God of small things
01) Outlander

I can't think of all the authors off the top of my head, so I didn't write them. But, if you want to read any of them I can find the author for you! They were all good reads, but as you can see Diana Gabaldon still topped them all for me!

Currently, my book club is reading "The magician's assistant" by Ann Patchett and I am also reading "Inkdeath" by Cornelia Funke.

Big changes for 2009

I'm sitting here in my office, where for the first time I am able to open the blinds and look out at the perfect blue sky and the tops of snow covered fields. For months it has been so cold that I couldn't stand to come in the office. It's the coldest room in the house, with two outside walls. Not to mention the fact that it's been on average around -25 to -35 for the last month. But today the sun has come out and the weather man predicted a high of -4! This is very exciting to me, especially as I am currently red and itchy and cracked all over from the dry, dry, cold air. Having your fireplace and your heat running all day long really does a number to your skin.

This is all to say that I am finally catching up on my blog. It's saturday morning, I'm rested and have nothing I have to be doing. Mike is at work and I've got lovely view out my window. So, what's been happening?

Well, Christmas break was wonderful. I got some much needed sleep and time to hang out with Mike, read books, play wii and have movie nights with my friends. The highlight was spending time with my sisters and my mom. We haven't all been together for almost two years.





So, since I was only home until Christmas eve, we had a pretend Christmas eve on the 22nd and then opened presents on the 23rd, followed by a turkey dinner and open house at Mike's mom's house that evening.

The nightmare was getting home. We made the trip through the blizzard to YVR and then were about to check our bags when our flight status flipped to 'cancelled'. After talking with a very helpful (sarcasm) air canada employee, we were told that the next flight was Christmas morning, but only one of us could get on and the other would have to fly out Christmas night. Since Mike had to work Christmas morning, he was going to take the flight and I would have spent Christmas by myself in the airport. So, we spent 900$ to fly on West jet to the closest available city to DC, which is Prince George. Then, our wonderful friends Glen and Kyla saved us by agreeing to drive the 400km's on Christmas Eve to come and get us. We made it home by 7:13 Christmas morning, slept for a few hours and then Mike went to work. It was a long drive through the Pine Pass surrounded by Moose and coyotes and bears, but we were just glad to be back in our own home for Christmas.

And now we're back to the regular working, etc. But, I do have some exciting news. No, we are not having a baby. But, I was offered a new job for next semester. I only have 1 block of french, so I was only part time again, but beginning in February, I will be the new Music Theater director for the high school. The teacher is currently very pregnant and will only be teaching for another week or so, and unfortunately they couldn't find anyone with theater training to replace her. I actually didn't even apply for the job, but they offered it to me so I accepted. It makes me full time for the rest of the year, which is awesome as it will help me to fund my travels and also to pay off my student loan faster. It's going to be a TON of work though, as I will be in charge of the musical production at the end of the year. We're doing High School Musical, so it should be fun. I also have a student director, a music teacher, a student dance choreographer and a costume designer to work with, so I'm not alone, otherwise there's no way I would have been able to do it.

Also new for 2009 is that we are getting a puppy. She's a miniature daschund and is very adorable. We should be getting her in a couple of weeks. Here is a picture:



But, I could use some help naming her. Any suggestions?

Well, I think that's all my news so far. How have your New Year's begun?

I've been such a bad blogger this month, mostly due to the insane amount of Christmas parties I have attended. I hosted 3 at my house and attended the RCMP banquet last night, as well as a small RCMP dinner with Mike's staff Seargent, a church banquet dinner and a friend's Christmas get-together. In all it's been a lot of fun, but also a lot of cleaning my house, wrapping gifts, baking food or appies for the parties and a ton of socializing. Of course, these are all my favourite things, so I can hardly complain.

In addition, I started my new job as the teacher in charge of distance ed PE. It takes quite a bit of time on the internet and BCesis marking journals, but it's not too bad and it gives me more hours.

Today I've been rushing around trying to get everything together for my trip home. Mike and I are flying out of Fort St John tonight at 6:25 to head home for an early Christmas. It's a very short trip as Mike starts work again Christmas morning at 6am but since he has 5 days off before Christmas and there was a great seat sale a few days ago, we decided to both go home. I have an airmiles flight, but we weren't sure until last week about Mike joining me. I'm excited as I get to see my sister who lives in Ottawa. It's been a year and a half since they moved and I've missed her every time they've been back on the island for a visit.

So, I better finish shoving my presents into the suitcases!

But, I'll leave you with a picture of my lovely REAL Christmas tree. It was a delight to find a beautiful real tree this year after so many years of fake appartment sized trees. The other ones are of Mike's work dinner last night. He was on shift but I got to get dressed up...I also got my hair chopped off the day before so that was fun.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Finished!

Okay, so maybe I only made 28 posts in 30 days, but I think that was quite a task for me, who only blogs once a week or so normally. It was a lesson on what it takes to set aside time for myself to write, and I learned that I can do it. I missed the second post the other night because I was so tired I just decided to go to bed, and since I technically disqualified myself the first week into posting, I wasn't too worried. But, now it's over and I can say that at least I tried. Hopefully next year I'll be better at it.

And, tomorrow is the first day of December! My Christmas lights were put up over the weekend and my tree and decorations are all out as well. I've still got to finish my shopping and cards but it definitely feels like the season up here. I'm really excited to go home and see my mom and sisters. Still praying that Mike can come with me, but we aren't sure yet.

It's also incredibly warm here for December. It was RAINING today, in November! And the snow in my yard melted already. I can't believe this, but I'm actually hoping for snow and colder weather. It's really easier to drive in light snow than slush and I like it when the town is all covered by the snow. So, here's to snow, and no more Nablopomo! (until next year)

So this is Christmas?

I just read this article about a man being trampled to death at Wal-Mart when the store opened for Christmas sales. I can't believe that this is what we've turned Christmas into. This is why I never go boxing day shopping.

Trend?

I've just noticed that all my posts for Nablo seem to be late at night, as I am on my way to bed. Hmm...I guess that just shows how busy I've been lately. But, I do have some interesting good news. Today my contract was increased from .429 to .571! I'm excited because it's more money but I don't actually have to teach another class; I am just marking a course that students in Electric Ed (home schooled) take by correspondence on-line. This means I can do it at whatever time of day I choose.

In other news, Mike and I have formed a band. We have completed one tour and begun another. So far, we've played Aerosmith, Weezer, Garbage, Nirvana and several others. I play guitar and sometimes bass and he plays the drums. They're a little too complicated for me so far...

Of course, I'm talking about our new wii, which has turned out to be a lot of fun! It's much more interactive than most video games. We have raced with actual stearing wheels, boxed against each other (I knocked him out in round 2!) and formed a band. And now, I am off to bed as I have to get up early tomorrow for a French Foundation meeting all day.

Good night.

One month till Christmas!

I am just on my way to bed after my One month till Christmas! party. I had a great turn-out and a full living room. Unfortunately I have tons of baking left over and I will probably end up eating it all, so I've already stuck it in the freezer in hopes that I will save it until Christmas. The hit of the evening though was the very last dessert I made, which was delicious--cookie dough truffles. You make a semi-cookie dough recipe but with no eggs and condensed milk and then you dip them in chocolate. They were all gone by the end of the night and I was handing out the recipe. I wasn't surprised though, as who doesn't love to eat cookie dough?

In the end, I earned about 70$ worth of free stuff so I'm excited to buy some more candles. They have such yummy smells, like cobbler on the porch, and Mrs Clause's Kitchen and my favourite Cranberry orange. They make me a little hungry, to tell you the truth. I also got some of their enviromentally friendly cleaners. They smell like eucalyptus and mint and rosemary.

Tis the month of parties in Dawson Creek!

Happy one month till Christmas!

Happy Birthday!

Today was my sister Megan's 23rd birthday. Happy Birthday sister!!

In other news, Mike came home on Saturday night from Chilliwack with a Nintendo wii. I looked everywhere for one while he was gone with no luck, and he found one easily! So, today we bought Mario Kart for me and Rock band for Mike. It's pretty sweet. Mike plays the drums while I rock out on the guitar. Neither of us does the singing, cause that's just not what we do.

Good night.

Baking

I spent my Sunday night baking for the Christmas candle party I'm having on tuesday night. So far I've made cranberry shortbread hearts and butterscotch blondies. I'm also planning some fudge, sugar cookies with my new Christmas cutters and lemon squares. I love lemon squares at Christmas time. Sigh. Only one more month!

Christmas Tree light-up

Last night was Dawson Creek's annual Christmas Tree light-up. After witnessing last year's, I knew that I had to take a camera along this time to proove that Santa Clause does indeed arrive on a crane to light the tree.

I met my friend Jessica after dinner and we walked downtown to get our free Starbuck's steamed eggnog (very yummy) and candy canes. We listened to the 5 poor children who were singing carols out in the cold (it was about -18 I would guess), and waited for Santa to arrive.






My friends and I dressed in our dorky hats. When it's that cold out, you just can't find a really cool hat, you know?



Here's Santa waving goodbye from his crane. Note that the light is red. We were in the middle of an intersection--they actually remove the mile O post and replace it with a tree.



Ah, the lovely, lopsided tree, with no star. Beautiful.

Disappointment

I'm so angry and disappointed right now that I just had to vent in another post. I was just talking to my mom on the phone and she was telling me about some of my sister's teachers this year. She has the same french teacher I had, our same physics teacher and my same P.E. teacher, all of whom I enjoyed and got A's with. My sister is very smart--she's always been a straight A student and enjoys school. And, as I am now a teacher, I'm always curious to compare my old teachers with what I now know to be proper teaching practices. So, when I found out that my sister has my group of high school friend's favourite, beloved teacher, Mr. Dupperon, I was really excited to hear what she thought about him. His wife was my favourite teacher, and Mike's favourite class was Mr. Duperron's. They taught Chemistry and Physics and we always loved having them as teachers.

This is all to explain how appalled I was to hear that when she went in early for extra help one day and asked him to explain a question to him, his reply to her (not jokingly, although it doesn't make for a good joke anyway) was

"What, are you stupid?"

If I could scream via my blog I would. As a teacher, the idea that another teacher would say something like that to their student who is a good kid, and was asking for help, just disgusts me. In fact, it makes me lose faith completely with teachers in general. So many teachers are completely cynical and outdated in their teaching practice and knowledge. Why are they still teaching? To call a student stupid is just plain wrong. I think it also especially bothers me because I had a little visit with this particular teacher in the summertime when I was home, and Mike and I went and visited him and his wife over spring break. We loved them as teachers and he knows that he is teaching my sister, and yet he treated her like crap.

If I was in Port Alberni, I would march over there and talk to him, but alas I am not, and so my blog comes in very handy. Maybe he will read it one day and feel bad. I hope so. Many of you who read my blog are fellow teachers....what do you think?