Summer has nearly passed -- figured it was time to post, especially before CHINA, when there should really be some stories to share!!

... a running bit from throughout the summer -- without much editing (or pics either, sorry) ...

BLOG - June 4-20, 2010

Wow, no entries since the Olympics. I’ve had thoughts of writing, but clearly have not. Perhaps I wanted to give ample time for people to catch up on my month of Olympics blog entries. Perhaps I was lazy. Perhaps I was caught up in the mess/stress that has been work. Some combination of it all…

Since the Olympics I have been swept back into the furry of my ‘real’ job, and I’ve also seen some good friends from that wild month-long experience head on/head home from Vancouver.

First was Meabh, my first real friend of the Games, who I met during training. We first bonded over an assignment, which took us on a public transit adventure in the rain to the curling venue, at which she spent much of her Games time (see blog http://www.missaustintatious.blogspot.com/). Meabh has since returned home to Ireland, but not after a fun-filled St. Patrick’s Day in Vancity!

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Next was Sharna, my savior of the Olympics in my Team Vulcan group, who lived right around the corner from me…for her last month in Vancouver. We kicked ourselves for never having run into one another on Denman St. prior to Feb. ’10, but such is life. She’s since returned home to Australia, but no one is convinced her days in Canada are over, especially Sharna!

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Next I will see Hilary return her young spunky self to the States. She was another before featured Team Vulcan Olympics savior. You may remember her from Day Off: Whistler tour when we bonded over our all-girls private school histories and being uncomfortably sleep-deprived. Lesson learned: 21 y/o’s handle hang-overs and sleep deprivation much better than 27 y/o’s.

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Besides watching people leave -- sad, I don’t like being the one left behind, but someone recently reminded me that by them leaving just gives me more people in cool places to visit (so true…make note ladies!) – work has been very busy in the past three months. The hospital project I’m working on in Fort St. John (FSJ) has taken me up to the Great White North three times with insane amounts of work in between each trip. Looking like my trips up there are numbered now, which I just may be ok with. It’s been a good experience going up there, but I’m also exhausted from it all…and the fun ain’t over yet. P3 may be the definition of pain, pain, pain and definitely not profit, profit, profit.

A quick collection of FUN things I’ve done in the last few months worth noting…

March Madness (my bracket bombed early, but we got some Canadian interest!)

Mel went to India (and returned safely and I read every lick of her & Deb’s blog http://off-to-india.blogspot.com/)

Easter in Seattle (returning the favor to Dinah after she spent it up with me last year. She is leaving too at the close of summer. Returning to school, so wrapping up her west coast days…for now.

Last Whistler trip of the season (1^st black diamond on the board—check)

NHL Playoffs began (winning! – in 2^nd place going into Stanley Cup finals)

Started salsa dancing (classes are done for me now, but super fun)

Completed Season 4 of The Wire (4 down, 1 to go…)

Thought I might have to move (but now don’t!)

Attended a cool art opening at the Emily Carr Art Institute on Granville Island

Purchased my first pair of John Fluevog’s shoes (thank you Kelly)

Was introduced to black rice sushi (thank you Mike & Dani, not to mention Akira)

Second trip to Seattle to see Needtobreathe—awesome!! (got Mel hooked too J)

Vancouver SUN RUN/walk (was actually sunny this year, unlike last year)

Keats Island get-away weekend (so nice…see pics on facebook...someday)

Grey’s Anatomy season finale (shooter on the loose in Seattle Grace—what?!)

Gave my first real mountain-biking experience a go in Squamish (nearly killed myself, but highly enjoyed it)

Had some luggage oddly stolen out of my storage locker … sooo not Canadian!

That seems like a pretty good list of fun things I’ve gotten myself into as of late. I’ve been feeling as though work is taking over my life, but I suppose when I put my mind to it, I can still manage some outside of work life. That’s key for me or I’m terribly miserable. I want to do well in my work, but I also moved all the way out here to enjoy BC, not the inside of my office, and better yet, deep inside a Revit model.

It’s June 20^th now, and I’m flight bound from Toronto back to Vancouver, and after re-reading the start to this post I think I just may have successfully managed to dislodge my work brain for the time I was away. Granted, I had to turn the work brain back on again a bit last week while I was working (from the Baltimore office), but I think I can truly say I enjoyed my time home and seeing everyone…all the while squeezing work in. I won’t say it was entirely easy and that I’m not slightly spent from my whirlwind B’more week, but I think I managed to see and do nearly all that I wanted to do. And if I didn’t get in all that I wanted to do, perhaps I did manage all that I needed to do. Sometimes the wants and needs get mixed up, but the needs are most important and the wants will become needs only if necessary.

Prior to my B’more week, I had a fabulous time at the beach with my family. As mentioned before, we had a full house of 16 people and 2 dogs, and representing 4 generations! We didn’t have everyone there, but a very special representation of all who were able to come, and that’s what counts. My 92 y/o grandmother, Kay, in her remarkable health, I’m sure most appreciated all the generations of her family being there. She’s not quite as mobile as she’s always been, but the constant twinkle in her eye and mild smile across her face, as she watched us play from the safe-keeping of her chosen rocker, spoke millions to me. When she dipped her toes in the ocean, that was pretty special too!

I’m off doing this independent self-exploration time out in Vancouver while others in my family are growing their immediate families. Literally. My cousin and his wife, of my same age, already have two children and with plans of many more on the way. At first it’s such a shock to witness someone at my same age doing something so wildly different from me, and seemingly something so wildly different than I want to be. But we’re all human with different aspirations and different timelines, and that’s life. Regardless of our differences, we all found common ground as family while at the beach this June 2010, and we enjoyed (well, I’ll speak for myself) I enjoyed learning more about my family through these differences.

I may be no where near settling down in life and starting a family of my own right now, but I can learn and grow and appreciate what it might be like one day to have that, through the joy of what some of my cousins and other friends are experiencing in life right now. I will say I’m glad my good friends back home and at school don’t have any kids yet (except for Becka & Tripp’s baby boy, Parker on the way—very excited for them!) because that might be too much for me, but for them I’ll enjoy seeing them set up their lives as young married couples – buying homes, making these homes their own, making decisions as a joint union, supporting one another, etc, etc. I’m not there yet, and don’t foresee being there any time very soon, but I’m happy for them, and I’m also happy for me…to learn from them, while doing my own thing.

To each his own, eh... J

A wonderful two weeks away—beach time with fam, and B’more time with my best of friends (and their significant others, as applicable J). I think they enjoyed it too! And remember everyone, the Vancouver visitation door is still open… Megan Miley, I look forward to greeting you next!

Signing off…

L

August 11, 2010

Apparently the tail end of June and all of July slipped by, and I find myself nearly half way through August. Sheww…

After my trip home back east there was just a week and a half left of June. Then July, lets see…

Canada Day (July 1^st) was uneventful besides having the day off from work. For the 4^th of July I did manage to cross borders and be in the USofA for the holiday weekend, and some serious shopping—holy Target & DSW! Then Megan Miley came for a week-long visit, which was tons of fun despite me having a busy time at work during that week and even having to spend a few days up in good ole Fort St. John (perhaps last trip though!). Meg was a trooper and went off on some independent exploring on the island, which she adored (not surprisingly). When we did rendezvous back in the city, we did end with some fun – skipped out of work early that Friday, had delicious sushi, beach lounged & laughed, and took a windsurfing lesson! As if it’s even a question … we were naturals J

The second half of July was surrounded by the infamous fireworks, Celebration of Light show. Meg’s week visit was filled with full-on summer weather, but for Vancouverites I think the fireworks officially marks summer. I watched all four nights again this year. Different vantage points—friends balconies during the week, beaches/parks during the weekend. All in all a good time and rocked me through the August long weekend, including round 2 of the Pride Parade for me. I watched with Jenn & Justin again this year. I’m beginning to realize how many things I’m repeating in this year 2 of my Vancouver experience.

August kicked off with a long weekend, as mentioned and then drum roll… Troy’s twins, Oliver & Anna, were born! I work very closely with Troy and while we of course knew these twins were coming (sometime in August), it wasn’t quite expected that they’d come so early in August. My workload/life is being flipped upside down a bit now while he’s out, but it’s fairing ok. And since Troy is a bit of a workaholic, he doesn’t plan to be out for more than a week or so. For better or worse for his family, he’ll be back in the office to share the workload soon enough…and then be “on call” to run up the street as needed.

Aside from babies entering the world, August also kicked off with a hiking weekend to Manning Park to hike to 3 Brothers with Mel, Jenn & Justin. Rick and Paul from work were also supposed to come, but they wimped out due to foul weather. Their loss because we had a fabulous time! We did get drizzled on a bit, but we weren’t bothered and it kept us cool on our hikes. We backpacked in about an hour to a campground, then did hikes out from there, and luckily didn’t see any cougars (even though there had been recent sightings.) Whenever I go on camping adventures here I’m taken back to my childhood days car-camping or my cross-country trip back in 2001 with Shannon. More so the latter, but just because that was my most extreme camping experience to date in my life. Perhaps my Vancouver days will top that eventually.

Also to note in late July/August is that Chris Sparrow moved away to Calgary to return to school, and Federica Piccone will be moving away soon to Toronto, also to returnt to school. Chris was my first friend/contact in Vancouver, Fed also works with me, and both will be missed greatly! At least they’ll still have connections to Cannon, as they work part-time while going to school. Sheww…don’t think I could handle too many other people moving away from here! Can’t think of anyone else in a similar boat…yet.

To the end of August, and then it’s China time!! Shannon and I are rendezvous’ing with Danielle in late August to do two weeks traveling in China. Beijing—here we come!!

More posts to come...but I guess I shouldn't promise since it's been 5 months since I last posted. Thanks for reading...assuming you got this far. Might be my longest post to date. That's what 3 months of recap will do ya...

love, L