Happy Holidays 2010!

Greetings all!

2010 – It started off with a bang! Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics in February, and I got to be a host with a hospitality company called Jet Set Sports (highly recommend them to anyone living in London or anywhere else a future Games is coming to soon). At the time, my small group of 8 was sworn to secrecy over who our guests were due to high profile status, or really “I’m worth a lot of money” -- $10.5 billion! Secret is over now, but in case you missed my daily blog entries on the Olympics, our guest was Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, and whoever might pass through town on his dollar. It’s amazing what friends money can buy. Wow.

Proudly presenting Team Vulcan -- "the band" shot

Top: Brian, Me, Hilary, Harp, Jeremy

Bottom: Sharna, Alex, & Nancy

Working with Allen’s Vulcan crew was specialized, at best, forcing us to not exactly have the most normal Games experience. Tough to do when you opt to bring your own yacht to town (1 of 3, I might add), and you have your own security detail. That said, it was an amazing experience to partake in Vancouver’s Winter Olympics at such a personal level and have the month off from “real” work. I was ever so fortunate to attend both Opening & Closing Ceremonies, gold-medal hockey (Canadians were NUTS for this, in case you were wondering), and a host of other events totaling about ten. Harp, my co-host for Vulcan, and I took full advantage of our all-access passes, and I even enjoyed an exclusive ride up to Whistler during the Games to snowboard on a bare mountain with Hilary. All in all, an unforgettable experience to be in a bustling Olympic host city for all of February, not to mention all the buzz leading up to the Games. The post Olympics blues was a very real thing, especially upon my return to “real” work.

Since February, this year has been jam-packed with work. I’ve participated in what’s called a P3 hospital project up here in BC in a small northern town called Fort St. John. This project is still under construction and has had major highs and lows, but I have learned a lot in the process. I still wonder whether I’m slated to continue down the path of healthcare design, but I am due to keep exploring it as I join a team in Toronto in the new year. Yes, I’ll be relocating to Toronto from January - May 2011 to work on another P3 healthcare project called Humber River Regional Hospital. It’s a long time to leave my immediately beloved mountains of Vancouver, especially in winter, but I’m hopeful it will be a positive experience that will gain me much added knowledge in the healthcare arena. Maybe then I can finally determine whether it’s something I want to keep pursuing.

One other very exciting thing this year, which cannot be overlooked in this note, includes my big trip to Asia in September! This was big in many ways, but big in my mind because it completed my goal of traveling to all the continents. Technically, I’m still shy of Antarctica, and I do hope to get there somehow someday, but all minus Antarctica still counts as complete for me. Some brief details. My sister, Shannon, and I went to pay our cousin, Danielle, a quick two-week visit in China. We began our journey in Beijing, including a beyond thrilling experience on the Great Wall withOUT any tourists in sight. How we managed that, you’ll have to read the blog posts J We also traveled to the Sichuan province to Chengdu, another major city, and then north to Jiuzhaigou, home to a stunning national park. In two weeks, I confirmed that China is a vast country that needs much more than two weeks to explore. I’ll return one day when I have more time to spare and perhaps I know more than a taste of Mandarin.

"Jumping" photo on The Great Wall

I hope this letter finds each of you well this holiday season—excited to be celebrating with friends and family, and anticipating excitement to come in the new year. As always, my door firmly stands wide open welcoming visitors…just come to Toronto between now and May, and reserve Vancouver trips for post May J

Peace and joy,

Cheers!

Liza