Amy's blog

This thing we call summer.

2011-07-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

How is it almost AUGUST? I feel like summer took forever to get started and now its just flying by! Summer is by FAR my favorite time of year. Its the few months where my work ethic goes to pot and I run away to Waterton at least twice a week. (You can laugh but its true!) Here's just a little snippet of the beginning of my summer.

Back in March or so I ran into Scott at the U of L gym. We saw a poster for the Waterton-Glacier Relay and decided it would be a ton of fun to put in a team. I mentioned it to Payton and then kind of forgot about it. Except Payton wouldn't let me! So naturally, we rounded up a team - the Mountain Maniacs. It was SO MUCH FUN! I dedicate a post to it later, but for now, enjoy the team photo!

Lately.

2011-07-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

So apparently my blogging comes in phases. Summer = me being a terrible blogger. Which I guess is a sign that I am too busy playing to sit in front of a computer. One day I will blog all about the adventures of late. Including my ride along with STARS, going to Wicked and U2, the Waterton-Glacier Relay, Max's graduation, a few more tributes to the fam jam, July 1st and an eventful Dudley reunion, and of course, several trips to Waterton. Oh how I love summer! (Good thing I got a job with flexible hours right as summer began!)

And since we all love pictures...here's a little snippet of the excitement I feel when I drive an hour west:

Mornings.

2011-06-16T20:22:00.001-07:00

I really wish I was a morning person. Like, REALLY. (I know, I know, maybe if I went to bed at a decent hour I would be...but apparently that is NOT possible for me to do!)

I came across this on Pintrest today:

It's true. I mean, the way my alarm clock screams in my face every morning MUST be an outburst triggered by jealousy, right? And fair enough, my bed and I have a GREAT relationship. The memory foam, the 650 threadcount Egyptian cotton sheets, the feather duvet...its hard to compete with that.

Well, I've come up with a solution. The whole alarm thing just wasn't working, so I started leaving my iPod on the dock and this song wakes me up every morning now:

Don't tell me you wouldn't just be thrilled to get out of bed when you heard this song! Part of my excitement may or may not be due to my love for U2 (this decision came shortly after going to their concert a couple weeks ago...). But that's besides the point. I'm actually happy to wake up in the morning now. Heck, I've even started going for a run and showering BEFORE work. For those of you who know me well, you will know what a big deal that is, seeing how I used to get up 15 minutes before leaving the house!

Anyways, now I'm just rambling. Point is, I'm kinda maybe turning into a morning person? I'm going to give it a shot. Cuz I kinda like it.

#48 - Refinish an old piece of furniture

2011-06-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

So forever ago I found a desk on kijiji. It was a little ragged, may or may not have a GIANT hole in the side of it. But it had so much potential! A can of paint later, it turned out kinda cute eh?

#48.

Jezebel

2011-06-06T22:47:00.000-07:00

Today was my little Jezebel's 22nd birthday. She's the greatest sister anyone could ask for. She always has the BEST time on rides:

She likes to come visit Canada (and will one day move back!)

She's just SO NICE! She even sleeps on her boxspring so me and my friends can have the mattress when we come to visit. AND she makes me birthday breakfast feasts!

She's very crafty:

And could win a beauty pagent with no effort at all

I think it's safe to say we share an obsession with Waterton and the outdoors

And she's a great fisherwoman too!

She's pretty hardcore, and extremely tough

And well, she's just the best! Jessica is seriously so kind and thoughtful. You know what she got me for Christmas last year? A framed picture that says "Do what you love, love what you do". I cried when I opened it. She also put together a family calendar for my grandparents. I cried when they opened it too. (I inherited this lovely thing from the Dudleys called oversized tear ducts). She really puts the thought and effort into what she does to make things meaningful, and I appreciate that. She is such an example to me and I really look up to her in every way.

Love ya sis, and I can't wait to see you in 2 weeks!

Photoshoots!

2011-05-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

I've checked another one off my list! This used to be my 101 in 1001 days list...and its now my bucket list. Turns out I picked some pretty big goals to accomplish and I'm not doing it very fast. But I will finish them eventually!

Check off #28 - do a photoshoot of each of my siblings!

I did pictures of Zac and Hil last summer just before little Nicholas was born...

Earlier in the summer we did some bridals of Jessica in Waterton...probably one of my favorite shoots I've ever done to this day. And Blake joined in for some pics too!

Then just a couple of weeks ago we went and did some grad pictures for Max! He's so grown up...

My siblings are great. Sometimes its funny to me how in some families the kids are all just little replicas of each other. Not us. In looks or personalities. But in my mind that's what makes it so fun! Love you guys!

Reasons My Mom Is Sweet

2011-05-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

May is a great month in the Erickson household...Mother's Day AND madre's birthday. Double wammy! I have arguably the sweetest mom in the world. And I use the word sweet in all of its definitions: sweet as in loving, selfless, and kind; sweet as in freaking awesome; sweet as in the epitome of everything that I aspire to be...ect. (you get the jist). Well here's just a few reasons why Snooz, Suze, Madre, (insert any other nicknames here) is sweet:

1) She is just so much fun! As many of you may know, my dad is an AVID fisherman. So naturally my mom joins in on the fun!

I think alot of wives would send their husband out the door with a sack lunch, but not this girl. She's even had private fly fishing lessons (and she's not half bad either!)

Not to mention she's great company for a day on the river...

2) She is amazingly talented. There have been SEVERAL times that I have gone home and she's whipped up a new quilt. Or grad dress. Or whatever she feels like sewing at the time. Including the famous "Bronco Libre" costumes. (Yeah, she made these like 2 days before Jessica's wedding while we were staying in Boise. One day I'll be a nice sister like her)

3) She always looks her best, no matter what she's doing. Even on Christmas morning!

(pretty sure that picture incriminates me more than her, but it's all for the cause)

4) She makes DELICIOUS chocolates. And even though she threatens to stop making them EVERY year, we know that she will always cave...

(note the massive jug in front of her. Yes, that is full of Diet Coke. She also knows the healthy balance of Coke and chocolate).

5) She's just so dang lovable. And loves her grandbabies!

6) For any of you who experienced her as a Show Choir leader, you may remember her rocking out to this song for warm ups:

7) She keeps me informed on everything important. Like today when she called me at work to make sure that I knew there is a green VW van on Cars 2.

8) She's real cool. As much as I thought it was so typical for a Mormon girl to go be a nurse just like her mom...she's given me a pretty good role model to follow. Career wise, and life wise. She's sweet.

9) She loves Canada!

(I'm going to get it for posting this...)

10) She's all about the fun. Did I already mention that? I will never forget my grade 12 year after the Sugar Bowl dance. SOMEHOW word got out that the party was going to our house. Yeah right! It was 2 in the morning! Well, I ran home before anyone got there to inform my parents, and what do they do? Get out of bed and start making food! All about the fun. She also likes early morning birthday breakfasts at Subway

(this is from last year...Grandma and Grandpa kidnapped her from work after doing a night shift...they even dressed up in their Sunday best for the occasion!)
All about the fun!

11) She supports my obsession with Waterton, and goes on little excursions with me!

I could go on for days about all the great things about my mom. I really am the luckiest daughter in the world to have such a great friend for my mom. She has always been so patient and understanding with me and has ALWAYS supported me in whatever I have chosen to do. Not to mention she listens to me ramble when I call her 3534612354 times a day and listens to all of my crazy ideas. And although I know she's probably thinking I am a total lunatic, she never tells me that! She is full of energy, love, and kindness, and I can only hope that one day I am half the woman she is. Love you mom!

STARS

2011-05-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

Back in my second year of nursing school we made a little field trip to the STARS base. From that day on I was convinced I was going to work for them someday. Well, tomorrow I head to Calgary and Thursday is flight day! Once you are registered as a nurse in Alberta they will let you come for a ridealong, so I put in an application and bam, I had an appointment (okay it didn't quite go like that...it was like, a 4 month delay kinda bam). I'll let you know how it goes!

The Aunties

2011-05-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

Nick is getting so big! He got to come and play with his favorite aunts a little while ago. He's so precious!

04.04.11

2011-04-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

Today was productive. Conference weekend was great. And Stumbleupon brought me this little gem before bed:

Two in one day?!

2011-04-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I've been REAL productive today. While taking a much needed break from my hard work cleaning the house, I came across the blog of one of my favorite photographers.

So, I decided to make my own little list of goals for the month of April:

1. Make and stick to a budget. FOR REAL THIS TIME. In reviewing my financial situation today, I realized I have paid far less on my loans than I should have in the last few months...that is about to change my friends. I was reading Ghandi's Autobiography last night and he was talking about how he became so frugal by keeping track of every penny he spent. I think I'll start with that approach?

2. File my taxes. Just got the last form I was waiting for in the mail today! H&R Block here I come! (Okay, I've never had them do my taxes, but I hear they are good? Any thoughts?)

3. Read 2 books. I have 2 piles of books in my house - one of books I've read and another of books I want to read. One is significantly larger than the other. I need to work on evening that out.

4. Make amyericksonphotography.com a real live website.

5. Organize the masses of sheet music that I have accumulated somehow.

6. Make at least 1 trip here:
(not my photo, but I love, love, love it. I need to track this guy down and get a print...)
Summer? Are you on your way?

I love a good cleaning day

2011-04-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

Probably one of my favorite things to do is clean. I know...weird right? But I find it very therapeutic to crank up the tunes and scrub, sweep, vacuum, and dust all day long. Plus, who doesn't love having a clean house?

Well, hopefully this isn't entirely true:
(Although for all the hours I spend cleaning, I could sure get alot accomplished). Meh, I enjoy cleaning. So sue me.

My next feat

2011-03-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time my dad told me he would buy me a grand piano if I could play Chopin's Polonaise in A flat major. It's going to be quite the feat, and give me about 2 years to learn it, but it is going to happen. I've even gotten myself a new piano teacher to help move things along. Wish me luck?

Awesome

2011-03-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

I like to think that I'm a pretty optimistic, happy person. You can agree or disagree with me, but that's what I'm shooting for at least. Which is why I think the Book of Awesome and this TED talk are so great:

A few of my own awesome little things:

1. Wheat thins, a tad of cream cheese, and a little bit of this:

2. The genius feature on itunes. It's genius!

3. Watching Gladiator and editing pictures in my pajamas all afternoon after waking up from a night shift.

4. Coming across amazing photography of my favorite place in the world here. (Its copyrighted, but I promise it will be worth your time to go to the photostream)

5. Temperatures above zero!

6. Random people commenting on my blog so I can read about their sweet lives and ideas.

7. Stumbleupon.com

Feel free to add to the list!

Africa!

2011-03-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

Oh Africa...where do I even start? This trip was a huge educational experience for me. Would I describe it as a "fun" trip? No. Although I did enjoy myself thoroughly (most of the time...haha), I think it opened my eyes to third world countries and how lucky we really are to live where we do.

It all started back in November when I randomly messaged my friend Ashley. I knew her dad had been over to Africa a bunch of times to do dental work, and I had thought about going somewhere with my nursing to do humanitarian work, so I just thought I'd get some info (not intending AT ALL to go somewhere in the near future). Well, turns out he was taking a group in January, so after making a few quick decisions and trading 2 weeks worth of shifts at work, Jade and I bought our plane tickets to Entebbe.

Day 1: Welcome to Africa. And the NILE! We got to our guest house at about 11:00 Friday night, and were picked up at 6:30 the next morning for our first adventure...white water rafting the Nile. (Yes, we are both nurses. Yes, traveller's health tells you not to swim in any fresh water because you could get diseased. And yes, we were willing to risk it). I mean really...class 5 rapids? How could we not?

The roads out to Jinja (the town near where we started rafting) were SO DUSTY! My purple hoodie was orange tinged after that bus ride...

Our guest house was surprisingly quite nice. We even had hot water to shower! If you were willing to wait the 5 minutes for the water to heat up of course...

To be honest, Kampala wasn't my favorite city. Just imagine 2.2 million people crammed into the square mileage 1.5 times the size of Lethbridge. And 2 traffic lights. And traffic is CHAOS. The bigger the vehicle, the more right of way you have. Oh, and if you are a pedestrian...good luck. Just try not to get hit as you run across the street! This was Kamapala first thing in the morning...yes, that's the same city as a few pictures back. Gotta love pollution.

Sunday we headed to church at the Kololo Ward. I know people always say that its amazing how the church is the same everywhere, but I really got to experience that going to church in Africa. The members there are amazing! Their leadership is so on the ball, they are all attentive and humble and their contributions in lessons are incredible. It kind of blew me away.

And of course, a Sunday afternoon nap.

While the dental group was teaching their scaling course in Kampala, Jade and I went around to a few hospitals to observe. Drew obviously knew what he was doing when he set us up in the hospitals...the first one we went to was the Mengo Hospital, which is a private hospital. We did rounds with a couple of doctors there, and to be honest...the hospital was very similar to what we would do here (minus a couple of things...like doing a blood draw from the femoral artery...you healthcare professionals will be able to appreciate that...).

Next, we went to the Mulago Hospital, which is a public hospital. Things were a little different there...the hospital was HUGE! 5000 beds and once those fill up, they start putting people on the floor. And if we think there is a nursing shortage in Canada...try Uganda. 1 nurse for probably 20 patients or so. Its crazy. They just have one big room with people EVERYWHERE. How they can even keep track of everyone is beyond me.

The last hospital we went to go to has actually been knocked down and is being rebuilt, so we stopped by a clinic in the slums instead. HIV testing/treatment and family planning was pretty much their focus there...and that place was PACKED. Needless to say, I was happy to come home to a nice clean hospital to go to work at.

Tuesday night, the whole crew went to dinner at the Serenna, probably the nicest hotel in Kampala. After eating African food for a few days, we were all in heaven! (Not to mention their bathrooms were amazing!)

Wednesday morning, Jade and I got up early and got ready to head to Masaka to meet up with Brigitte, a nurse from Toronto. Brigitte and her husband have an amazing setup out in one of the villages. They run a clinic and school and have implemented little projects to help the people earn money to live. If they cannot pay for their medical services or school fees, they can work on the farm at the center to pay it off. (If you ever want to experience an African village...talk to Brigitte...this place was definitely my favorite!)

Right before I went to use the "toilet" a salamander came crawling out of this...lovely...

We were lucky enough to go do some home visits with Brigitte during our stay in the village. This house was built from donated money...about $300 will make an average sized brick home.

Yes, that is Obama on that baby's sweater.

These next photos are my favorite. The women in the village have a craft club where they get together and make bowls, baskets, and mats and sell them. Half of the money goes back into the club to buy supplies and the other half goes to the women so they can buy what they need to live. Its become quite the operation, and they've even started doing some microfinancing...naturally Jade and I did some shopping at their place!

This lady in the blue is one of my favorites. She kept pointing to our shoes and then to her feet (most of the people in the village spoke their native language so we couldn't communicate that well with them). I had brought a pair of old shoes that I had tried to throw away several times because they were so grungy, but I just couldn't because I always found myself wearing them. This was a win-win situation. Give the lady some shoes, and never be tempted to wear those beasts again. So I ran over to the house and grabbed the shoes and gave them to the "witch" (as she was affectionately known by the volunteers at the center). She cried and cried and hugged me, and cried some more. So naturally, I cried too. A good cry though. There was my lesson on gratitude for the trip.

The kids in Africa were my favorite. Their term for a white person is "Mizungo" and they would constantly be running up to us yelling "mizungo! mizungo! mizungo!" They were especially emphatic when I was carrying my camera around, and they love to pose!

During our stay in the village we also helped out with a blood donor clinic. Everything is completely portable, so they just come to the village, set up some lawn chairs on the lawn, and go to town. Jade and I even donated blood (hey, now that we've been to Africa we can't donate at home for a while, so we might as well have done it there right?) Please note the size of that needle. 12 gauge. Enought said.

The kitchen.

The craft shop.

The house for volunteers at the center.

These two kids were the greatest! We played at the playground for a good hour at least. They kept laughing at me because I couldn't balance very well on the wooden posts. In their local language, they kept saying that I needed to go slow and take my time (we had one of the English speaking boys at the park translate for us). Well, they were right! Once I slowed it down, I was a pro on those posts.

During the evening, we went out for a nice little motor bike ride with some of the villagers. This was a beautiful lookout onto the village and Lake Victoria.

After our stay in the village, we were off to Queen Elizabeth Park for our safari! The place we stayed was so nice! They greeted us at the door with a warm wet washcloth and a glass of cold Passionfruit juice. Doesn't get much better than that!

And yes, that's a lion. And an elephant. In the same picture. NBD.

P.S. Did I mention I didn't edit any of the pictures in this post? It actually looked like that!

The food did not disappoint at our safari lodge. Build your own pasta night was a favorite. As was the most incredible omlette I have ever eaten.

They even came around in the evening to turn down our sheets and pull the mosquito nets!

You can't really tell, but that's a crocodile laying on the grass...

And who did we see there? Our friends from the village!

Joseph is the bomb. He was pretty much our chaffeur the whole time we were in Uganda. If we were lost in Kamapala and wanted to go to the craft market, all we had to do was give him a call and he'd come pick us up. He was also our tour guide on the safari and is pretty much a genius when it comes to African wildlife.

Sunday we hit the road again to go to Rwanda! We Canadians had a few minor issues getting into the country, but finally we caved and paid our $60 bucks and were on our way.

Dinner at Hotel Rwanda. Like, the real thing.

The money dealing begins again...

Monday morning Drew came with us to the bus stop, gave us a couple tickets, and sent us on our way out to the Nyamata hospital. What a gongshow transportation is there! Pretty sure it cost us less than a dollar each for an hour bus trip. And I use the term bus lightly. More like minivan with 20+ people crammed into it. With Enrique cranked. Oh yeah...

Our accomodations in Nyamata weren't quite what we were used to from the safari. For the first day or so our shower dripped non-stop. Yes, that massive garbage can is full. And I'm sure you can only imagine the smell in that nice musty bathroom. Confession...we didn't shower for 3 days while we were in Nyamata. Don't judge.

It was kind of nice to be at the Nyamata hospital because we got to help out instead of observing most of the time. This is a pretty typical room in a hospital there.

Doing some dressing changes on the surgical ward

The snake bite wounds they have kind of blew my mind. They were huge!

We had a cute little man that made us dinner every night, and for the most part, it wasn't too bad. I think its mostly because we were starved by the time dinner rolled around, but whatever...

We had 4 meals there. And I'm pretty sure they were all the same...with some minor variations (mangos instead of pineapple, pasta instead of rice...)

It was pretty cold in Nyamata, and rained alot of the time. Thankfully Jade brought Scrabble to keep us occupied!

Our day in maternity was pretty crazy. I'll spare the details, but if you want to hear about it just ask me. It was insane. We helped deliver this baby. Now, keep in mind, I'm not a maternity nurse. I've been in on a few deliveries, but I am no means a professional. And doctors deliver babies in Canada, not nurses. So after this baby is born, the nurse looks at me and goes "I'm going to help with a different patient...can you deliver the placenta?". Uh...I don't know how to do that! Luckily, one of the other nurses could sense that and came to my rescue.

Nyamata Hospital

Thursday was our last day in Africa. We headed back into Kigali and went to the Genocide museum. Before going to Rwanda I really didn't know much about the genocide, except that there was one. What a terrible thing. Again, I'm glad to live where we do. This was in the garden by the mass graves.

I was much more of a fan of Kigali than I was Kampala. Kigali is CLEAN and beautiful! And they actually follow some sort of traffic laws. They even wear seatbelts! What a concept.

Well there you have it. My Africa experience in a nutshell. A very small nutshell. I could go on for days about the things that I learned in Africa and how my perspective has changed about third world countries. I was pretty ignorant before I went there. I thought I'd just show up and they would love having me there to help and bring my expertise...wrong. They appreciated that we were there, but these people are very well educated. Their nursing programs are 4 year Bachelor's programs. They aren't stupid. They just don't have resources. Or infrastructure. Would I go back? Maybe some day, but to be honest, they do great with what they have. And who's to say that because they don't have everything that we have that we need to go in and change that? Its what they know, and they are happy living how they do. I think we could learn alot from their simplistic way of life. So there you go.

Lucky #13 & #42 - check!

It's gonna take alot to take me away from you

2011-01-16T17:56:00.000-08:00

In a mere 4 days my friend Jade and I will be off on our adventure to Africa! Uganda and Rwanda here we come! (if you feel the need to listen to Toto's Africa, the video is posted at the bottom for your enjoyment!)

Our trip is mostly humanitarian work, but we'll also be doing a little traveling...including a rafting trip on the Nile. How epic does this look?

Salt

2011-01-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

The Banff Film Festival is pretty epic. Murray Fredericks' movie Salt was my favorite. And his photography is equally as sweet.

Wannabe

2011-01-05T23:39:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason, I've never been much of a reader. Well, over the past couple of years I have turned into a wannabe reader. There are just so many books out there that look so good...if only I could focus long enough to sit down and read one! Well I'm proud to say that I have accomplished my goal of reading 10 books in a year.

Contrary to what my family advised me to do, I read Night of the Grizzlies. And no, it didn't hinder my love for the outdoors.

Pretty sure if I followed all the principles in this one I would get anything that I wanted from anyone.

Read it in the back of the van while on a family fishing trip. Just an all around feel good book.

I want to go build schools.

Messed up plot, but it definitely kept me reading. And that's saying something.

Kinda blew my mind. Who thinks of this stuff?

Part 2. Katniss is my hero.

I need to read this one again with a notebook and pen in hand. Lots to apply to my life.

Solid. And enlightening.

Classic.

(33 & 39...check!)

Tis the Season

2010-12-15T16:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a little Christmas cheer for ya. Gotta love Burl.

Can I just travel the world for a living?

2010-12-12T01:02:00.000-08:00

Stumbled across a post on Snippet and Ink the other day. I should probably just become a full-time world traveller. These hotels look pretty sweet!

1. Gamboa, Panama
Canopy Tower Ecolodge and Nature Observatory

2. Otz, Austria
Schneedorf Igloo Village

3. Lake of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Hotel Palafitte

And my personal favorite (and I believe the cheapest...bonus!)
4. Paihuano, Chile
Elqui Domos

Who wants to join me?

2010-11-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I get carried away coming up with ideas of things I want to do with my life. My latest one is Everest Base Camp. Now all I need is to climb a few more mountains and scrounge up the $3675 to go on the 21 day trek. Who wants to join me?

TED: Ideas Worth Spreading

2010-10-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time a friend introduced me to TED.com. And it has since consumed my life (and given me something interesting to listen to while I edit pictures for days on end!) If you don't know what TED is and you're interested in the latest and greatest ideas that are floating around our world, you should check it out. Here's a few of my favorites:

So true.

2010-10-15T13:58:00.001-07:00

So much to do, so little time...

2010-10-14T00:44:00.000-07:00

When I was still in school, I could only dream of the day that I would be done so I could have all the spare time in the world to do whatever my little heart desired. Well, I've now been a university graduate for 9 months, and it just so turns out that life with a full-time career can be a tad busy, to say the least.

One day I will spend my day off sitting on the couch reading (it's this new thing I'm trying...and so far I even like it!). Or maybe I will bust out my grad present (my sewing machine) and make myself a new dress, or a quilt, or maybe even some throw pillows for my couch. Or go play the piano for hours, something I NEED to get back into. Or I could paint something on the blank canvas that is hiding in my storage room. Or maybe I will work on my domesticity by taking up cooking. Or work on my climbing technique at the wall that is a whole 3 minutes from my house.

I could go on for hours with things that I want to work on and accomplish, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. Point is, I'm grateful for the things I HAVE been able to accomplish. For a career and the opportunity to continue to learn and enhance my skills. I'm grateful for a small, yet successful photography business. And that I can live so close to my family and spend quality time with them. I'm grateful for opportunities to serve others and to share my talents with them, because I know that it helps me grow in return. I'm grateful for a healthy mind and body. And for a religion that stabilizes every aspect of my chaotic life.

And that's only the beginning, but you get the jist. I have it pretty good, and I really can't complain. I am privileged to associate with some of the highest quality individuals around. Sure, I would love it if there were 30 hours in a day, or if I could function on no sleep at all, but for now, I'll keep on "living the dream".

p.s...one day when I am not so busy, stay tuned for posts on the following:
- Fairmont roadtrip
- My Thanksgiving curse
- TED
- my extensive reading list
- another 101 down
...and many more! haha
-

He's here!

2010-10-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

Pretty sure I have the cutest nephew out there.

25.09.10

2010-09-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

Looks good eh?

I want to move here.

2010-09-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Island is the most beautiful place ever. Period.

14 incher.

2010-09-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

For awhile now I have tried to gain a better appreciation for fishing. My dad is an avid (and I mean AVID) fly fisherman, and I have never quite been able to understand it. The hours he can spend tying his own flies, getting the technique of whipping such a long line around without getting it all tangled, not to mention the monotony of casting repeatedly without so much as a bite. I tried to understand how he could do it for HOURS, several days in a row and I just didn't get it.

Well, this summer my parents, Max, and I went for a little weekend getaway to Craig, Montana, home to some of the world's best fly fishing. Turns out there is alot more to fly fishing than I thought...I'll admit, I was pretty ignorant. It also turns out that when you catch a 14 inch Rainbow trout as you are floating down the river in a driftboat, you get a bit of a rush.

Pretty dang proud of this guy!

Day 1 we hadn't had much luck, but after 5 minutes on the river on day 2 I caught my prize catch. So naturally I wanted my dad to catch one, since it's pretty much his life long dream. And because he clearly has more skill than me...pretty sure mine was a fluke.

Well he caught one alright, and I'll tell you, he was a fighter. Max had a bit of an interesting time getting him into the landing net.

I'll say it. I really enjoy fly fishing. Battling massive trout, lounging in the boat reading...it was a great time. I think I get where my dad is coming from now...

p.s. One more down...

A real post.

2010-09-11T01:38:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought this day would come? A real post. Complete with pictures. Summer was, in a word, epic. Included in my adventures was a little jaunt up Chief Mountain. And when I say jaunt, I really mean journey. Thirty kilometers to be precise. But it was incredible.

Weather was, well, not exactly ideal. Just a tad overcast...

Lucky for us the clouds cleared just as we hit the base of the mountain. Good thing too, because I'm pretty sure Jade would have put her foot down had we tried to go to the top in the rain. She's so responsible...

Papa Leishman coming to the rescue, fully equipped with lemonade. And believe me, for 14 exhausted hikers, that suburban was a very happy sight.

(Side inside joke for those that were there: "Keep up your speed!")

What a gorgeous day! Knock another one off the list!

help

2010-08-30T21:55:00.001-07:00

Its official. My blog needs help. I used to take such good care of it, but this thing called summer has really destroyed that. Full time job + playing are what I blame. Fall is coming soon though. Maybe the blog will get a little revamping. Maybe.

She's cute like that.

2010-08-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

My mom is the greatest. I had a bit of a breakdown this morning. I blame the 4 night shifts I just worked. Then I wake up to this:

Treats for me to take hiking. She's the best.

09.08.10

2010-08-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to be a better blogger. Only I'm having too much fun this summer to be good at it. One day this fall I will give the blogging world a recap on my wonderful summer life.

I like my sister. Alot.

2010-07-14T12:32:00.001-07:00

She's back for a whole 2 weeks! I even made a Canada cake to celebrate.

We have fun.

Meet Wesley

2010-07-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

I wasn't joking when I said that I wanted a Volkswagen Westfalia. So when my uncle Tim offered to sell his, naturally I jumped on it. Meet Wesley (as he is affectionately named, thanks to Max).

We've already had some good adventures, and there will be many more to come, I'm sure.

One day

2010-07-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

I will blog again. I promise.

People and June.

2010-06-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

June has been a good month. Celebrated some of my favorite people:

06/06 - Jessicizzle.

She waterskis. And she's not half bad either. Who knew?

One day she will leave America and come back to me. And Canada. But she will bring Blake with her, naturally.

19/06 - Zackowacko

Future papa! Oh man are those kids in for a treat.

He also has great taste in cars. Oh sweet Midas, you will be missed.

20/06 - Papa Squat

Pro fly-fisher/fly-tier. For real. One day I'll learn.

I am my father's daughter. And proud of it.

Love you!!

Trooper.

2010-06-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

I love my neon. We've had many, many long drives to bond together. And she's still goin...
(p.s. don't judge me because I speed)

Take a little listen to this:

2010-06-01T15:51:00.000-07:00

Not a bad combo eh?

Battle Wounds.

2010-05-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about Waterton, but somehow every time I go there it seems like I come home with battle wounds. The scar on my left shin? Canoe ride last spring. Scar on my right lower leg? The massive rock that landed on my while hiking Crandell. Well, add this to the list:

That, my friends, is the aftermath of frostbite. 2nd degree freeze combined with snow blisters to be exact.

Word to the wise: Don't wear ankle socks with tall boots as you hike through snow.

Maybe one day my ankles will be the same again?

A Year Later:

2010-05-18T22:58:00.000-07:00

Remember this little canoe ride? Turns out some random strangers videoed our ridiculous whitewater attempt last spring and were going to email it to me. After a few weeks I finally gave up that I would ever see the video. UNTIL...the other night I check my email and its there! A year later! And its still so dang funny.

I Spy

2010-05-13T11:13:00.000-07:00

with my large blue eye...
- a very messy room
- a BEAUTIFUL day outside
- a lawn that still needs to be weed whacked
- my camera...which reminds me that i have several wedding pictures to go through
- a panoramic picture of waterton, which gets me REALLY excited for May long
- the treadmill...one day we will be friends again
- my phone. I said no to a day of work so I can help my mom with painting kitchen cupboards...proud?

Life is good.

What I do these days:

2010-05-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

1. Shoot guns. I'm a great shot with a 22. Not going to lie. Oh...and we 4x4 in Robyn's truck as we search for empty fields too...

2. Rock climbing!

3. Drive to Cardston. ALOT. At least its a beautiful drive though. I'm determined to hike Chief this summer too!

4. Glee! Confession: I haven't seen the first season. But Tuesdays have a special place in my heart now.

5. Street luge: laying down on a longboard while riding down the hill to Indian Battle Park. I've only experienced some minor injuries so far, and I'm working on my suit so I can be as hardcore as these guys!

6. Spend alot of time at this girl's house:

7. Search for a new car. I love the neon, but at 346,700, I feel like its time is coming soon. I am DEAD SERIOUS when I say I want to drive one of these for the summer:

8. Play on photobooth. Maybe a little too much?

Not going to lie, moving to Southern Alberta was the best idea ever. Life is good.

Recap.

2010-04-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

Here's to another one off the list! #29.

I finally went to General Conference! We had such a fun little trip down! Bonnie, Scott, and I drove to Rexburg and stayed with Jessica and Blake in their sweet apartment. They were fantastic hosts! They sacrificed their boxspring for Bonnie and I to sleep on, and Jessica made a wonderful pancake breakfast in honor of my belated birthday. She's the greatest.

(Thinking we were so funny throwing the pillows out the window onto the van...Scott was so confused...)

So I've realized that I need to start documenting my life via pictures more. Hence the last 2 pictures are the only ones I have from the trip! Conference was fantastic.
We went Saturday morning and stood in line for standby tickets and who do I see? All of my Dudley cousins! Darren and Deanne and their kids (including CHASE! Fresh home from the mission. He is a dream) and Cam and Nickee and their kids. It was so much fun to see them all and we all got to watch the Saturday afternoon session together.
We even all got a picture together at the Conference center, but I'm still waiting for it to be emailed to me (cough...Lauren...cough)

My new goal: take more pictures of my life.

Oh P.S. I saw this on a friend's blog and it made me feel a little guilty...

Playlist for a day off

2010-04-23T12:42:00.000-07:00

And now I'm off to go hiking! Enjoy!

Agua

2010-04-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

Another one off the list! March was my water drinking month. 8 glasses EVERY day. Turns out it wasn't as hard as I thought. I'm kind of a whale like that I guess.

To do list:

2010-04-15T16:54:00.001-07:00

I have a problem. Its called filling my time with everything BUT what I need to get done. Today I had the day off, so I made a to do list:
1. Clean the house
2. Wash my sheets/do laundry
3. Call the bank
4. Deposit my GST check
5. Call about my taxes
6. Go for a run
7. Watch a session of conference (I missed Sunday because I was driving home)
8. Call about my RN registration
9. Pay my credit card
10. Read my scriptures
11. Organize my life

So far today I have slept until 11:30, took my dad to his dr's appointment, and done numbers 1 and 2. I called the bank about 3 times and missed their call back EVERY TIME. As for the rest of the list, its pretty much toast. At least I have tomorrow off too?

2 months later...HAWAII!

2010-04-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

This post is long overdue, but I'm FINALLY putting some pictures up. In February my parents took our whole family to Hawaii for a glorious 10 days. It was so much fun! We haven't had a holiday with ALL of us in years I'm pretty sure, and what better place to reunite than Hawaii! We stayed up in Laie on Oahu in a little beach house and had such a good time kayaking, snorkelling, swimming, boogie boarding, fishing, watching the Olympics nightly, and just hanging out.

Piled into the explorer...turns out 6 people and their luggage don't fit terribly comfortably in an SUV...

and turns out 8 people and all the groceries from Costco fit even less comfortably...good thing we picked up another vehicle the next day.

Shark's Cove (apparently I missed the matching shirts memo...)

Whales!

Matsumotos Shave Ice is the best thing EVER. Pretty sure we had shaved ice every single day.

Classy couple

Told ya. More shaved ice.

We rented a couple kayaks for the week...such a good idea. Plus, check it off the list!

My dad fished EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don't know of anyone who loves fishing more than he does. He is definately not a morning person, but somehow he found it in him to get up every morning at 6 to fish for like 4 hours until the rest of us rolled out of bed. That is dedication. Luckily he caught a few little guys!

Pounders was also a favorite. Max and Blake especially loved getting worked over on a daily basis.

Skin cancer? We warned him to wear sunscreen...

Shrimp Shacks!

Just doing what we do best...paddling.

The usual evening lounging. Plus a sole patch.

Me and Blake went skydiving!! I loved it. Alot.

My parents are great. Really great.

Jumping the point!

Jessica wanted to have a picture of her and Blake jumping at the same time...too bad she chickened out...

I convinced my mom one afternoon to go on a little hike with me up to Laie falls. The trailhead isn't sketchy at all...I promise...

Chinaman's Hat. My favorite day. So beautiful, kayaked out to the island and explored, and lounged on the beach as per usual.

Thanks mom and dad!

Oh hello world!

2010-04-05T18:04:00.001-07:00

Its been a long time. Blogging is just so time consuming though! (And I haven't had much of that lately...) Stay tuned for more about:
- Hawaii. Its still coming. I promise.
- Moving home. That's right. I have a career, and I now live in my parents basement.
- My journey home on my spare.
- Conference roadtrip.
- Starting my new job.
- my 101 update. I've actually been crossing things off!

Sometimes it all works out.

2010-03-23T22:16:00.000-07:00

I saw this quote on Shay's blog and LOVED it. In fact, I printed it and taped it next to my bed.

Those of you that read my blog regularly can probably appreciate how stressed out I have been about getting a job. Well, let's just say its funny how things work out sometimes....I have been graduated for about 3 months now and have quite literally applied for EVERY nursing job in Edmonton. I lost track at about 200 applications. And didn't hear a word. Well, a couple of weeks ago I went home for the weekend. I had a great time, and went to Elder Bednar's fireside in Lethbridge. He had alot of great insight, and it really made me sit back and think about my life and how I can improve. One of the points that he made that really hit me was that we don't always need to realize something is inspiration from the Lord to act on it. If we have a thought, we should just do it, and maybe we will realize that it was inspired and there was a reason to do it, and maybe we will never know. But we should act on it anyways.

Oddly enough, while I was home for the weekend I started thinking maybe I should start applying for jobs in Southern Alberta and consider moving down there. Bonnie and I pro/conned me moving down south, and it turns out there were SEVERAL pros, and very few cons. The more I thought about it, the better idea it became. So Monday morning I called up the Cardston Hospital to see if they were hiring. They had just hired 5 new grads and weren't really looking for yet ANOTHER new grad. But once I mentioned I had done my preceptorship in Canmore, she had me fax my resume anyways.

Monday: called the hospital.
Tuesday: faxed resume.
Wednesday: missed phone call from Cardston Hospital.
Thursday: called back Cardston Hospital, got offered a full-time position if I would commit to stay for a year.
Friday: called hospital back to let them know I would accept the position.

I usually make decisions based on what makes sense, rather than where I feel I should be, but in this case, I know Southern Alberta is where I'm supposed to be. It just worked out too perfectly for it to be any other way.

Ironically enough, since accepting the position, I've had 2 or 3 phone calls for interviews in Edmonton. Coincidence? Maybe...

Moral of the story? I'm moving home. Working full-time in Cardston. And I'm REALLY happy about it. (maybe one day in the near future I will blog my pro/con list...)

LOVE this.

2010-03-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

I like to redecorate my room alot. I think this little piece of artwork will be my next project.

I Like Lists.

2010-03-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

Here's one for the weekend!
1. First things first. After applying for over 150 jobs, I HAVE AN INTERVIEW!
Stollery Children's Hospital baby. I know its just an interview, but after so many applications, its just nice to hear SOMETHING.

2. I really like this song lately:

3. Going here to do some baptisms tonight.

4. Then heading south to watch this kid play a little ball:

5. And listen to a few wise words while I'm there:

6. Maybe make a little trip up to here:

7. Not to mention celebrate with madre about THIS. (P.S. My mom's blog is funny)

8. I found more Hawaii pictures the other day. And one day I will blog about it.

9. Maybe on that day I will catch up on all this too. (Nikki, I haven't forgotten you...and only have a few left. It will be soon, I PROMISE!)

10. Maybe I can convince my dad to do my taxes for me while I'm there? Doubtful.

I could keep going, but I think I'll leave it at that. Have a good weekend!

Dear Bonnie, (as requested)

2010-03-07T00:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the basement.

We would love it if you would visit frequently. And there are several reasons why you should:
1. We can share a wardrobe once and for all. (oops...apparently we already do, do those yellow shoes look at all familiar?)

2. You will still have connections to the outside world via facebook.

3. We can share jewelry too!

4. And the bathroom...

5. Plus, you need to come pick up your pink towel!

6. This space heater will be your instant friend. TRUST ME.

and last but not least...
7. Do I need to remind you how comfortable my bed is? Didn't think so.

So...we'll see you next weekend?

Grateful.

2010-03-04T23:07:00.000-08:00

I don't usually like to divulge my feelings to anyone and everyone, but I am so grateful for the tender mercies I have had the past few days.

Up until now, I have just been working casual at my old job in Long Term Care to hold me over until I get a job in a more active hospital. Its not ideal, and yes, its frustrating to have a degree in a field where I KNOW there is work but no jobs, but hey, I'm just happy to have a nursing job...it could be worse (like the girl I graduated with that works at Costco, for example).

For the past couple months, I was getting almost full-time hours, so I wasn't too worried. Well, when I handed in my March availability (which consisted of me being available every day, every shift), I was booked for 4 shifts for the entire month. Uhh...thats a problem. Did I mention that degree is accompanied by some significant student loans? Because it is. 4 shifts was not going to cut it.

So I did what I should have done long ago...prayed long and hard. I made a deal with my Heavenly Father that I would step things up in my spiritual life: I was going to pray MORNING and night with REAL intent, I was going to STUDY the scriptures for a decent amount of time each day, and I was going to try harder to listen to and follow the promptings of the spirit. His end of the bargain? Help me find work...whatever that entailed.

That was Monday. Tuesday came around, I applied for jobs, and I called all 3 of my managers to see if there were any open shifts. Nothing. So I had them leave my name in case there were any sick calls.

Then Wednesday morning comes around. First thing I get a call from my manager, who had an open shift on the Palliative unit for the weekend. I haven't worked as an RN on Palliative, so she wondered if I could come in the next 2 evenings and do some training shifts. So relieved that I didn't have to sit at home for the next 2 days, I accepted the shifts. Life was good, and my prayers were answered.

But then today it got better. As I get to work, I meet up with my manager who tells me she's booked me solid next week with a few shifts the week after. Call it coincidence, good luck, or whatever. I call it an answer to prayer.

"Truly the Lord is good to all"

Today.

2010-03-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I have this entire week off. Apparently nobody goes on holidays in March and needs someone to replace them? So after sleeping in until 1:15 yesterday (yes, ONE FIFTEEN! I was actually very disgusted with myself. Who does that?! I blame living in the cold, dark basement...) I have decided to make this week productive.

Maybe its a blessing in disguise, because I've been able to work more on this:

Read a little bit more of this:

And I NEED to write a letter to this dear:

Seriously, she is amazing. I can't even imagine going through some of the things that she has in her life.

I've also been extra grateful lately for such great friends. They are all such fantastic people, and tremendous examples to me.

Not to mention the fam.

It was so great to spend 10 days with them here:

I love them.

And my inspiration as of late:

(Thanks Nate!)

I hope someone likes this as much as I do...

2010-02-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Big game tomorrow. Go Canada!

Proud to be

2010-02-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

This has to be one of my favorite commercials. For sure.

Five.

2010-02-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

1. Hawaii was fantastic. Great to be with the WHOLE fam. More pictures to come...

2. I'm moving to the basement, and am really excited about it. Don't worry Bonnie, there will be pictures once I get organized.

3. I just love the Olympics. And Team Canada.

4. I'm ready to get a job. Like a REAL one, where I have to go on a regular basis. I just applied for every possible job...again. But I'm still hopeful.

5. I really like this picture:

(Thanks Marcie!) Love them.

Happy Friday!

Skydiving!!

2010-02-18T03:26:00.000-08:00

So I wouldn't normally blog while I'm on vacation in Hawaii, but I was just too excited about this not to. Number 20 is crossed off the list: Go skydiving!!

Jessica's Christmas present to Blake was skydiving and she had no desire whatsoever to join him, so I thought I'd do him a favor and keep him some company (I almost decided not to because I'm supposed to be saving money and paying off student loans, but when I mentioned that to my family and not one of them backed me up, I decided to splurge)

We went up to Skydive Hawaii on the North Western tip of Oahu (and yes, I decided to sport my Canada hoodie for the occasion)

My "tandem master" was a German man named Pete, and we each had a photographer with us too, which was definately worth it. I almost didn't get the photographer, but let's just say sometimes giving in easily to peer pressure turns out to be a good thing.

Pretty sure the sketchiest part about this whole thing was the little plane that we flew up in.

Its kind of crazy how fast they do everything...a little 3 minute video, sign your life away on about 10 different pages saying that you could be injured or killed, and the next thing I knew I was on the edge of a plane being shoved out the door!

Oddly enough, it didn't freak me out as much as I thought it would. Don't get me wrong, the initial jump out of the plane is quite the rush, but the 45 seconds of free fall after that were actually quite relaxing...I just hung out, took in the scenery, and enjoyed the ride.

...when that parachute goes...most uncomfortable feeling ever. Thank heaven I readjusted in my harness or I don't think I could have survived the 5 minute ride down.

I think everyone should try skydiving at least once...

The Draw

2010-02-10T23:14:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong, there are many things that I love about winter. The snow, hot chocolate, scarf season, cross country skiing (Brittney, I'm patiently waiting your post so I can steal the pictures!). But there is just a draw to summer that I can't resist. This place may have a little something to do with it:

Yup. I love it with all my heart. And that is not an understatement.

Something to think about

2010-02-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

I just love these little videos that the church puts out these days. For some reason, this one really hit me and helped me realize just how important it is to serve. I think I can get pretty selfish at times, doing what I want, when I want. But I've since come to discover that there's more people in this world than just me, and alot of people could benefit from the service that I have to give them.

Have I done any good in the world today? I hope so. Or else its time to start.

I made this. All by myself.

2010-02-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

It may have taken me over 5 hours, but I love it. And I love my new sewing machine.(Don't mind my messy room...remember those sheets? Yup, they're STILL in the dryer. I should go get them out.)

At the moment, Amy is...

2010-02-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

sewing the cutest purse ever

dreading the night shift tonight

wanting to make Valentine's treats

needing to get my sheets out of the dryer

thinking I should make something good for dinner

counting down until Hawaii (8 days!)

liking being a house wife (minus the wife part...)

wondering what the package is that's waiting for me at the post office

debating whether or not its too cold to go cross country skiing

needing to edit some more pictures

What are YOU doing at the moment?

And now I wait...

2010-02-03T17:33:00.000-08:00

Its official. I have written the LAST exam ever of my nursing career! (Unless I decide to do my masters that is...)

I'm not going to lie, I walked out of that test feeling like I rocked it. And let's hope I did. Only 6 weeks until I find out. Until then, I've increased the tally of jobs that I've applied for up to about 120. I'm still hopeful though...after talking to alot of my classmates, they are still getting jobs. So I'll just keep on applying and hope for the best!

I applied for a bunch today...some rural, some pediatric psychiatry, a bunch of surgery, and labor and delivery...could be fun?

And hey, if all else fails, I hear that Saskatoon offers a pretty good signing bonus, and would pay me full time hours to take the critical care course. Bonnie so kindly pointed out to me that this could potentially mean doing the course distance learning while playing in Waterton this summer. Tempting...

I won't lie, its weird not being in school. I have never not been in school. I'm not sure how I feel about it. As terrible of a student I am, I like learning, challenging myself, and actually using my brain. But at the same time, its kind of a nice break. Time to start checking things off that EXTENSIVE list of things I've always wanted to do, but never had time:

1. READ

I bought this book yesterday and love it already. Maybe I will actually become a reader. It really makes me want to go do something cool in Pakistan or India or somewhere though. I've already discussed doing travel nursing in India with my mom and she's game. Time to start researching...

2. Make these adorable earrings:

3. Make a dress with some fabric that looks a little like this:

4. Runrunrunrunrun.

As part of my 101 goals, I said I was going to workout 5 days a week for 6 months. First of all, what was I THINKING?! 6 months is a loooong time to keep that up. But here I am, week 3, day 3. The gym is my next stop once I get off this computer.

5. hydrate.

Another one of my 101 was to drink 8 glasses of water every day for a month. And February happens to be that month. Good thing I swiped Jessica's old waterbottle last time I was home. It is now attached to my hip.

Quick side note...can I just say that I really like her lately? And am really excited about this.

Another side note: 9 days until this:

Life is good.

To: My Friends

2010-02-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

Pick Me Up

2010-01-30T09:20:00.000-08:00

So I might have stolen this from Shay, but I really liked it.

It just brought so much reassurance to me, since I've kind of been having a stress attack about where my life is going, if/when I'm going to get a more permanent, full time job (don't get me wrong though, I'm so grateful that I have what I do, and that I'm not working at Costco like some of my classmates). Who knows if I'll end up getting a job. Who knows if I'll have to leave Edmonton. Who knows where the heck I will be even next month.

But what I do know is that it will all work out. President Hinckley said so. And I trust him.

Put Your Trust in God

By President Gordan B. Hinckley

It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is.

It all works out. Don't worry.

I say that to myself every morning.

It will all work out.

Put your trust in God,

and move forward with faith

and confidence in the future.

The Lord will not forsake us.

He will not forsake us.

If we will put our trust in Him,

if we will pray to Him,

if we will live worthy of His blessings,

He will hear our prayers.

From the funeral program for Marjorie Pay Hinckley, April 10, 2004; see also "Latter-day Counsel," Ensign, October 2000, 73.

P.S...how adorable is he?

Shout Out

2010-01-28T17:03:00.000-08:00

My cousin Marcie is my hero.

She took Jessica and Blake's wedding pictures and they are amazing! One day I will go visit her in Lubbock so she can teach me all her skills. Until then, I will continue to nag her with my questions about photoshop, flash photography, and all that jazz, and follow her shining example of using my 50mm lens to its maximum potential.

Check out the rest of their pictures here!

I am...

2010-01-22T18:32:00.000-08:00

a blood donor. First time. Which I guess is kind of sad, considering I'm a nurse. But hey, I had to start somewhere right?

On a side note...my job situation is really starting to get to me. 24 hours a week just isn't going to cut it. I may have applied to some jobs in Yellowknife today. It's starting to sound better all the time. We'll see how it goes!

Crafty, crafty, crafty.

2010-01-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to be a crafty person, but in all honesty, I'm really not. I have ideas in my head, but I either never follow through and do them, or when I attempt, I fail miserably.

I came across this blog though...adorable! Between discovering this and living with Erin, I'm bound to become crafty...right?

(P.S...after writing the word "crafty" so maybe times I'm starting to debate if its actually even a word or not...?)

The truth of the matter...

2010-01-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

Is that I need a new job. For real. I mean, I know I'm pretty dang lucky to have anything these days, but I'm pretty sure that St. Joes is taking years off my life. My job is relatively easy, but did I go to school for 5 years so I can sit in Long Term Care with a bunch of old people, who, if their oxygen saturation drops to 55 (which is critical, by the way), I just have to sit there and make them comfortable because they want no medical intervention? Not exactly. I'm an "adrenaline junkie" (according to my dad), and well...Long Term Care doesn't really require alot of adrenaline.

The good news is, there are 3 emergency positions that are posted at the Grey Nuns Hospital. I'm definately applying (and don't get me wrong...I've also applied to about 100 other jobs by now), and hopefully with some luck and a good word put in by a friend who works there, I will spend less time walking around mindlessly, and more time actually using my brain at work.

Today

2010-01-16T10:32:00.000-08:00

I've decided today is going to be a productive day. Yes, I realize that its 11:30 and I've only been up for 10 minutes or so, but what's left of the day is going to be packed with all the little tasks I've come up with:

1. Go tanning. 27 days until Hawaii baby! I need to expose this skin to some UV rays now so it doesn't fry on me when I'm there.

2. Do laundry. For some reason when I'm working more often I have to do laundry way sooner than usual. I need to invest in some more scrubs.

3. Get my bangs cut. I've tried to grow them out, and well...they're driving me nuts.

4. Study. 18 days until my board exam (which by the way is a SEVEN hour exam! Kill me...). I've attempted to study, but haven't had much success...maybe today?

5. Clean the house. Not because its particularly dirty, but I just like cleaning. And clean out the pantry. Its a disaster.

6. Edit pictures. I've got a family shoot that WILL be done by the end of today! (P.S...I'm having a giveaway...go here to see the details!)

7. Exercise. Run? Cross-country skiing? Climbing? Yoga? I haven't decided yet, but I'm going to need to do something regardless.

8. Cut out a dress. I got a sewing machine for my grad present, and have had some material for a couple months with the intention of making a dress, so I should probably get started.

This is going to be a busy day...and a great day.

Little Brother.

2010-01-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

Turns out he's not so little. SEVENTEEN?! When did that happen?

Max is a great pal. He's funny, talented, a baller, golfer, hard worker, jokester, shreds on the guitar, gamer, outgoing, smart, ladies man, singer, loveable, charming, and a great little bro! Max always joins me on my ridiculous expeditions that nobody else will come with me on (aka hiking Bear's Hump in February without snowshoes...just to name one). We are going to have a great time in Hawaii while the rest of the couples are doing...whatever couples do on family vacations.

Love ya Snax! Happy Birthday!

Good to be back

2010-01-10T22:51:00.000-08:00

So the past 4 months or so have been kind of crazy. "Technically" Calgary was home...after all, I did pay rent there. But let's be honest, I was pretty much homeless. Crashing with Apes, Tabs, and Clare for a month on an air mattress, then going back and forth from Calgary to Canmore, Raymond to Edmonton. Let's just say I came to my senses, and I'm back.Oh Edmonton...I love you. And I'm glad we're reunited.

101 Update

2010-01-07T15:46:00.000-08:00

So its been a while since I've updated my 101 list...and I'm realizing I need to get cracking on checking these off! Here's a few that I've done recently:

#4. Graduate from nursing. That's right. 4 years of hard work, a whackload of student loans, and a little piece of paper that says I have a Bachelors of Science in Nursing. School definately had its ups and downs, but I definately finished it on a good note, which is nice. I was having a little chat with my instructor just after my graduation pin ceremony, and she told me she thought I would be a good candidate for doing my masters, and that she would have no hesitations hiring me onto the Faculty of Nursing at the U of A...I take that as a HUGE compliment!

#19/81. Shoot 5 weddings/Do 3 engagement shoots. I have LOVED doing photography this year! And have been lucky enough to be pretty busy...5 weddings, and 3 more booked for next year!

(I'm missing the pictures from one of my engagement shoots, but I promise it really did happen!)

#30. Make a recipe book. So I took the liberty to change this a little bit, and I wrote all my recipes out onto cards instead and got a cute little recipe box. I figured it was a little more practical, and I could add to it easier...now I just need to start USING the recipes...

#60. Go without pop for 6 months. I did it...and timed it just right. My 6 months was up the end of November, so I still got to indulge in filling my body with pop, along with all the Christmas candy I've been eating lately. And what did I do to celebrate my 6 months being up? Drank a Grape Crush...

Well, 9 months and 1o goals down...24 months and 91 goals to go!

Hello world.

2010-01-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

Well its been almost an entire month since I've blogged...some sort of record, I'm sure. I have alot to update...including the fact that my computer crashed yesterday...ONE DAY AFTER the warranty expired. Figures, right? Oh well...now I've got myself a nice new imac. I love it. And once I get everything on it figured out, I will write some more.

100!

2009-12-12T01:41:00.001-08:00

This post is special for 1 reason only...its my 100th post!

I have been slacking lately. Stay tuned for:
1) An update on my 101 list...its been a while.
2) A celebratory post for being DONE nursing school!
3) The details of Jessica and Blake's sweet wedding reception we're having tomorrow.

(...that was a lame 100th post.)

I Love Life.

2009-12-07T00:20:00.000-08:00

Another great weekend. I only got stuck in the snow 6 times yesterday and had to get shovelled out. Photographed a highly entertaining wedding. Made 4 trips to Wendy's/Tim Hortons in a matter of 3 days. Celebrated Bonnie's U-turn with a bottle of Martenellis. Butterdome craft sale. Caroling and hot apple cider. Bonding with the new roomies.

AND...

Ribbon Sunday.

A New/Old Favorite

2009-11-25T21:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, I don't know what it is, but movies that I liked as a kid are WAY funnier to me now. Everyone NEEDS to go watch this movie again...especially if its been a while. I sat here tonight, alone in Canmore, and laughed my face off while I watched this movie again. Its a classic.

Another Great Day Off

2009-11-23T20:15:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I am FAR from being a workaholic. Probably about as far as you can get actually...

So today I had the day off. Usually I go back into Calgary when I have time off, but I decided since I only have 2 weeks left in Canmore (yikes!) I better take advantage of being in such a beautiful place!

I got up this morning, threw a lunch and my cross country skiis in my car, and headed up to Lake Louise. I haven't been there in years! Such a cute little place though.

I haven't been out cross country skiing yet this year, and I was talking to my dad last night and he suggested the Moraine Lake road. Sounded good enough to me! I couldn't really remember how far the road was, but I was kind of expecting something similar to the Cameron Lake road in Waterton...a nice little ski, not too far, have some lunch and head back. Well when I pulled into the parking lot to sign said 11kms to the lake. That should have been my first red flag. Did I forget that was ONE WAY? I think the farthest I had ever cross country skiied was to Crandell lake...that's what, like, 2 kms one way? If that?

Anyways, lets just say I was a little intimidated as I started skiing (at a snail's pace, might I add...) up the road, when 2 middle aged ladies FLEW past me up the hill. That happened more than once throughout the day...I kept on skiing though! Now, usually I am anti-technology when I am out enjoying nature, but after about an hour, I was more than happy that I had brought along my little ipod shuffle to keep me company for the next few hours

This song may have been played several times throughout my adventure:

Well after 2 and a half hours, I made it! Sort of...turns out the ski trail doesn't actually go all the way to the lake, so I just had to admire it from afar!
(P.S. I also forgot my camera in Calgary, so I swiped all these pictures from Google...you get the jist though...)

I make it sound like this was a terrible experience. It really wasn't. I just came to the realization that my cross country skiing skills are less than prestine, to say the least. Turns out 20k is a ways to ski! The weather was perfect...just warm enough, and snowing lightly. I love that! And Lake Louise has so much snow right now so everything looks so pretty! I really did enjoy it...I promise!

After my little journey, my legs needed a rest (4 hours of non-stop cross-country skiing will do that to you!), so I headed up to the Chateau Lake Louise.

I am in love with this place! Everything is covered in snow and gorgeous, and they have all their Christmas decorations up. It made me want to have a cabin Christmas so bad!

I was about ready for dinner when I got here, so I stopped by a little deli in the hotel for a bite to eat. A delicious Mandarin Chicken Salad sounded pretty good, and since I was a smart one and didn't take water on my ski trip, a liter of water sounded like a good solution to my dehydration.

World's most expensive liter of water that is. My total bill was $15.17. My salad cost $8.50. Do the math. Was it worth it? Yes.

Oh P.S. It's the World Cup in Lake Louise this weekend. The Italian skiiers are staying at the Chateau Lake Louise. I may have a secret crush on them all...

Well then I headed toward home and stopped in Banff for a bit to do a little Christmas shopping...
Why is it that when you are Christmas shopping, you ALWAYS find things for yourself? Am I the only one that experiences that? Well, I did exercise some self control, but I love this jacket:

I like everything about it. I like that its cozy. I like that its the Canada Olympic line (I'm patriotic like that?). I like the thumbholes. I like the neck (it has some cool collar/hood thing going on). I don't like that its expensive.

To finish my night off, I made a quick stop at Second Cup for some Candy Cane Hot Chocolate. Sooo good!

Well there you have it! My wonderful day off in the mountains. And I have another day off tomorrow! Sunshine here I come!

Know What This Means?

2009-11-18T14:57:00.000-08:00

THIS:

...means that I am 125 clinical hours from being DONE school. FOREVER! That's a mere 10 shifts, just so you know.

I just spent like, 3 hours applying for jobs. I'm pretty sure that I've applied for 90% of the jobs in the Edmonton area in fact. All I want is ONE! Wish me luck...?

8,000 kms

2009-11-16T09:02:00.000-08:00

So the past couple of months I've started to feel like I live out of my car. Some of you may agree with me when I tell you that since September 7, I have put 8,000 kms in my car, made 3 trips to Southern Alberta, 3 trips to Edmonton, and 6 trips to Canmore. I haven't spent more than 5 days in the same place for the past month and a half.

Ridiculous?

Maybe. But the past week I had some time off, so naturally, I hit the road. I headed to Raymond for a few days, watched Max's football game, delivered some wedding invitations, caught up with some long lost friends (again Kristin, so good to see you!), hung out with some not-so long lost friends (Shay and KJ, did I mention that your waffles were AMAZING?), and spent a beautiful winter day hiking in Waterton (which is ALWAYS worth any amount of driving)

Then, I spent a night in Calgary, had some girl talk, and ordered pizza. I have great roomates.

I then ventured up to Edmonton to put in a few shifts and make a little extra money. I love that city. I love the people there even more. Family Feud and nachos, burnt apple pie for breakfast, Brunch with D at the Sugarbowl (my new favorite...soooo good!), staying up until 2 or 3, planning Tabea's German wedding...just a great weekend all around.

332,500 kms on the neon and its going strong.

Now I remember why I don't mind so much driving...

Suggestions Please

2009-11-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

I'll admit, I'm not much of a reader. I REALLY want to be though! I always just find myself getting so distracted by other things...or maybe I just get bored by the books I am reading so I resort to doing ANYTHING else. Either way, I've decided that I need to pick it up a notch and start reading more. Which is where I need some help. What do I read? I think the last book I finished was Harry Potter 4...and that was a long time ago. I got bored of the 5th one and stopped reading. And Twilight? Don't get me started. I couldn't stand to finish it. I am currently reading How to Win Friends and Influence People, and that seems to be going well...I actually really enjoy the book.
So for the sake of me becoming more cultured and literate, let's hear your suggestions on some of your favorite books!

Today was a good day.

2009-10-30T00:57:00.000-07:00

Why?

1. I slept in. Until 11:30. I've been working nights and have to work nights all weekend so I've kind of been staying on this nocturnal schedule (hence I am blogging at 2 in the morning...). I just have to say that I love the feeling of rolling over and looking at the clock and knowing I have gotten a solid 8 or 9 hours of sleep, and not having to feel guilty for it.

2. I ate my favorite breakfast. 12 grain toast, peanut butter and bananas with cinnamon, and a glass of milk. Can't go wrong. I think I'll have it tomorrow too.

3. Did a little shopping (well, more like browsing). Up until now I had only experienced Canmore via the hospital, and well...its just not quite the same "touristy" experience. I decided to stay up here during my days off and today walked down mainstreet and went in all the little shops. My favorite? The art gallery where a photographer has all his wildlife pictures on display. The catch? He shoots film only. And doesn't digitally enhance ANYTHING. And let me tell you, he is good. One day when I remember his name I will let you all know.

4. I went on a little adventure up to Spray Lakes. I always love a nice drive through the mountains, so I grabbed my camera and went exploring for a bit. This picture was just after a small avalanche came down:

I thought this one was kind of cool too:

Here's a few more if you want to see them.

5. Went on a run. In the snow. Along the Bow River. Beautiful!

6. Had a piece of carmel pumpkin pie. You should all try it. You will think you have died and gone to heaven. I am such a sucker for anything pumpkin.

7. Had a bath and filed my feet. Maybe that's gross to some people, but trust me, it was time, and they feel great.

8. Watched the Office while writing out recipes for my recipe box. My hand has a cramp now, but it will be worth it when I am a domestic goddess (ha!). I do love the Office...such a great show. P.S. If anyone has any more great recipes I would still love to have them!

9. Nestled into my cozy bed with my space heater blowing in my face all night. (This will happen in approximately 5 minutes...)

Great day. Good night.

Gettin' Hitched

2009-10-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

It's official, Jessica and Blake are getting married! About a year ago I remember Jessica always talking about her "friend" Blake and how they did everything together...how they'd run Tim and Kara's kids everywhere, go grocery shopping, put up Christmas lights... What she failed to mention was that they started dating a few weeks after he got home from his mission...well long story short, they got engaged last Saturday and are getting married January 2nd!

These two have already started their countdown (65 days or something I think)...here's one of their engagement pictures I took last week. You can see the rest here

My Weakness

2009-10-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have a decent amount of self control, when I want to. Except when it comes to chocolate. I just can't help myself! Throw chocolate onto pretty much anything, and its my new favorite treat.

http://www.bewarethecheese.com/choco.htm

Problem with this website...I STRONGLY disagree with one thing. And I quote, "I have to say that these [chocolate covered jujubes] are one of the worst chocolate covered candies ever".

REALLY?

Have you ever tried them? I'm addicted. You can only buy them at Safeway. Conveniently, there is a Safeway in Canmore. Maybe that's not a good thing. But seriously people, at least give them a chance.

Oh, and one recommendation, don't eat a bunch before going for a run. I learned that the hard way tonight. Just trust me on this one.

Contrary to Popular Belief, I DO live in Calgary

2009-10-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

First of all, just let me tell you how much I LOVE spending time in the mountains. I have made the drive out to Canmore 3 times, and its been in the dark every time, so I don't get a chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery. But every time I've made the drive, I get to a point when I realize that I am in the mountains...I can see the outline with the moon reflecting behind it, and I regardless of how I am feeling, it makes me instantly happy. I can't help it. The mountains have that effect on me! The other day I went for a nice little drive up the Kananaskis road...BEAUTIFUL! I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera, but at least I'll have plenty more opportunities to snap some pictures.

Anyways, enough about that. The point of this post is to clarify that I do in fact live in Calgary. I'm pretty sure my roomates have just given up on me...they always have roomate bonding but somehow I'm NEVER here. Well tonight we changed that. With a photoshoot. Here's proof that I live in this house with these great girls:

and my personal favorite:

There you go. I live in Calgary. And have great roomates. The end.

Thankful.

2009-10-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

Whoever invented Thanksgiving is a genius. I mean, seriously, a day off to think of things we're grateful for and have an amazing turkey dinner? What a great idea! (a quick note to my American cousins...yes, I am aware that Thanksgiving is really all about the Pilgrims and the Indians...but still...)

A few of the things I'm grateful for:

These three girls:

Tabea, April, and Clarissa. These three are seriously life savers! I can't thank them enough for all their help the past month. Clare helped me pack up all my stuff and drive my little Uhaul to Calgary in a long and painful daytrip, and the three of them let me stay at their place while I was in Edmonton for school for 3 weeks. They even gave me my own room, an air mattress to sleep on, and my own set of keys! (Sorry guys for all those times you got locked out...). But for real...LIFE SAVERS.

The green weenie! I'm not going to lie, this has been the greatest car ever. Bought her 2 and a half years ago and she's still going strong! 330,000kms and all... We've spent alot of time together lately, with roadtrips home, to Edmonton, to Canmore and I'm just so grateful to have a "reliable" car. And that I have AMA.

Edmonton in the fall. I know I'm not there anymore, but I was there long enough to experience the changing leaves. Love it.

A condo in Canmore. I may have stolen this picture off Google, but you get the idea. I totally lucked out by having a lady in my nursing class that had connections in Canmore, so I have a little basement suite to stay in between shifts. Let me tell you, after a 12 hour shift, its so nice to have a bed to go to, and not have to drive an hour back into the city! Not to mention I can stay there whenever I want, so if I feel like spending some extra time in the mountains I can.

I'm thankful for personal hygiene. And showers. So I don't look like this every day. Enough said.

Memory foam! As much as I appreciated my air mattress on the floor in Edmonton, I was OVERJOYED to come back to my own bed, complete with memory foam. Best investment ever.

I'll hop on the bandwagon. Owl City = great driving music. Or anything music.

I don't really consider myself one of those people that is overly attached to my phone, but when I'm staying in Canmore alone, or on the road for hours on end, its always good to have some form of communication to remind me that I do have friends...haha.After my last little rant about getting sick, I'm grateful for my health. I love that I can run, climb, hike, and be active, even when I fill my body with such nutritious foods as this:

Oh pumpkin pie. What would Thanksgiving be like without you? Costco pies = delish. I'm kind of craving one right now actually. Too bad its midnight. But seriously, pumpkin anything is sooo good. Pumpkin spice steamers...if you haven't tried one, go to Starbucks/Second Cup right now and get one. You will think you have died and gone to heaven.

Fish eyes. 1) Because I think they are cool, 2) Because one day I will own one, and 3) Because this picture reminds me of Waterton, Summer, and long lost friends. All things I am grateful for.

My future roomies...? I had a GREAT weekend with these guys last week, and surprisingly, their couch is a dream to sleep on. And if you ever want to go to a movie and not feel ridiculous for taking a quilt to wrap up in, take Bonnie with you. She'll wear a hot pink house coat to deter some attention.

Old roomies. There are alot of people under this category, and I have loved them all! This set of roomies taught me the beauty of late night dance parties...I love and miss those nights.

The fam jam. They are great. Saw them all last weekend, which was FANTASTIC. It had been too long. They support me in everything I do, and I love getting taken out by Max giving me a huge hug every time I walk in the door. Not to mention my family is pretty dang funny. I love them!

And one last thing...I'm grateful for these two:

Darin and Diandra got married last weekend...what a freaking cute couple. Both great people, and great together.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Let's hope this works...

2009-10-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

I'm getting sick. I can feel it coming. I CAN'T get sick! ESPECIALLY this week! I have 5 12-hour shifts this week that I would hate to have to try and make up at the end of December...and sucking it up and going to work when you work in a hospital...not really an option. Let's hope my home remedies are effective...

Where I Spend My Time

2009-10-06T22:35:00.001-07:00

The past month has been just a tad bit crazy, to say the least. I am now done school in Edmonton and am 2 months from graduation! Its so crazy, but super exciting. I've been all over the place the past month, from being somewhat homeless in Edmonton, moving to Calgary, going home for Conference/Pre-Thanksgiving dinner weekend, and now, spending a little bit of time here:

Okay, to be honest...I've spent more time here than anything, but still...
Canmore is BEAUTIFUL! I am doing my final placement at the Canmore Hospital, and so far I love it! I have worked 2 days in the Emergency Department and have learned a ton. And realized how much I don't know...

Not to mention, I am 3 for 3 with my IV starts!

But seriously, this place is amazing. And I lucked out bigtime by having a condo to stay in for free whenever I want. I'm glad all that extra work is paying off. This was a great decision.

And life is great, I can't complain.

As promised...The West Coast!

2009-09-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

Oh the West Coast. Where do I even begin to explain my love for this trip? It was seriously the most amazing thing I have ever done...and definately the hardest. Here's the play by play (accompanied by many, MANY pictures, as always):

Saturday:
Pile into Brandon's hutterite van at 7:00 AM and start the journey to Victoria. As many of you know, I'm quite the procrastinator, and I didn't even sleep the night before because I was busy doing last minute packing. At least it made the drive go alot quicker, since I was out cold for most of it! (Yes, I am a nominee for the Narcoleptic Nurse award, and yes, I was reminded of this habit several times throughout the trip...). We pulled into Vancouver just in time to catch the last ferry, then crashed in my Aunt Kara's sister Kami's basement in Victoria for the night. It was a bit of a long day, and sharing futons has never been so appealing...(did I mention that we lucked out bigtime by having such great hosts on the island? Well, we did.)

Sunday:
Church wasn't until 1:00, so we did a couple touristy things in the morning.

Included in these were Mile 0 of the Trans Canada, and the Terry Fox memorial. I believe this was the first time we busted out Brandon's mini tripod. Little did that we would use that little toy for about EVERY group shot on the trip!

We also headed down to the Harbor, walked around a little, and then headed to church. Oh the Victoria singles branch. They loved us. And were so friendly! Great people out there. After church we stopped for some of the BEST fish I've ever had (Red Fish Blue Fish is the place...check it out. You won't be disappointed.) I'm craving a Salmon Sandwhich right now.

After a little lunch, we hit the road again for Courtney, where we stayed with the Kramers. I hadn't seen these guys in years! I used to babysit their 5 kids when they lived in Raymond...its crazy how much they've all grown up! I mean, I remember their baptisms, and now they're teenagers? It was a shocker. So good to see them though, they're great. They even kicked all of their kids out of their beds so we didn't have to sleep on the floor! Like I said before, we lucked out with such great hosts.

Monday:
The day the real adventures began. We got up bright and early so we could make the drive on the GREAT logging roads out to Bamfield. After some last minute packing and orientation, we were ready to hit the trail! (Notice how clean and enthused we are...clearly day one!)

We figured that because Derek had done the trail twice he would be the designated Navigator. That was our first mistake. Not 10 minutes into our hike along the beach, we realized we had missed the markers to get onto the forest trail, and had to turn back...we just followed the maps from then on instead. haha.

The first part of day one was actually not bad at all. I expected much worse. As we were hiking we passed quite a few people who were on their last day that kept commenting on how clean we were. We didn't FEEL overly clean, or think that they looked overly dirty...it only took a few days before we REALLY understood.

Our first stop of the day was at about the 9k mark, where we took lunch at a little lookout. This place had so many sea lions! I have never seen these things so close up...but they are huge! And so lazy. I mean, all they do is lay out in the sun on some rocks, I swear.

After lunch, we hit the trail again, and stopped about another km down the trail at the Pachena Lighthouse. These lighthouses are pretty cool. They have houses on the same property where the operator (or whatever the technical term is) of the lighthouse lives and gets supplies flown/shipped in to them. Plus I'm pretty sure they don't pay any expenses. Sign me up for that job!

We hit the trail again, and at the 12 km mark, we headed down off the forest trail onto the beach trail. At first I thought the beach would be a piece of cake. Wrong. Wet sand + no gaitors = burning calves and major sand in the boots. I learned the importance of gaitors very quickly.

One thing about the West Coast Trail...the outhouses are amazing. Seriously, these things are high class. Built up all nice, open ceilings so you can actually breathe, and most of them even have windows so you can look out toward the ocean! I believe the term they used was "Loo with a View" How clever. And oh, you may wonder what those things hanging everywhere are for. They're the markers for the beach access. Whenever the trail switches to/from the forest to the beach, these things are hanging in the trees/wherever so that people know where to go.

I would like to introduce you to someone. My hero. This man had to be in his 60's. Hiking the West Coast Trail by himself. No tent, no stove. He slept under a tarp. He cooked all his meals over a fire. Like I said, my hero. We ran into him the first night at camp and figured that he would be slower than us and probably take a few more days than us to do the trail...wrong. Every time we'd think we were in front of him, we'd come around a corner, and there he'd be, taking a nap on the rocks. And Saturday morning when we took the ferry to the end of the trail, they mentioned that only one person had finished before us that morning. Yup, it was him. He amazes me.

After a long day of hiking, we finally set up camp at Tsocowis Creek, just past the 16 km mark. Can I just say that all of the camping was amazing? I mean really, right on the beach, ocean right there...what more could I ask for? This site even had a nice little waterfall next to it! We set up camp, hung out for a while, and made friends with some fellow hikers, including, of course, our hero, a group of Scouts from Ontario, and our good friend "Netherlands".

Here's a quick tip for all you backpackers: check your gear BEFORE you leave. I blew up this thermarest every night and I'm pretty sure it was flat every night before I had even fallen asleep...

The rest of the night we just hung around the fire (thank heaven fires are allowed on the West Coast or I would have died! Its the only place in BC that they are allowed right now...) and then headed to bed, just before the rain started. Day one: complete.

Tuesday:
Well it rained ALL Monday night, and we woke up to a tad bit of rain Tuesday morning. The only rain we had on the trip though, we definately lucked out with such PERFECT weather! We packed up camp, strapped on our gaitors, and were on our way!

We got back onto the forest trail for a bit, then headed back to the beach trail until we hit our first cable car!

The benefit to bringing 4 boys camping with you? You hardly have to do anything to pull yourself across a creek in a cable car. (Not to mention the fact that we never had to make fires, boil water, gather firewood...yeah, me and Britt had it pretty easy)

After the cable car, we stayed on the forest trail for a bit, and stopped at a nice little lookout for lunch. Complete with benches to rest your back against...it felt so good!

The beach hiking on day 2 was MUCH better than day 1. When the tides are low enough, you can go farther out and hike along the shelf. Which is nice, flat, hard, and AMAZING to hike on. If given the choice I would have hiked the whole West Coast along the shelf.

Here's a little glimpse of the boardwalk. These were a nice change at times, especially when we were hiking through the muddy bog. Oh but if only all of the boardwalks were as well maintained as this one was...

And here's that muddy bog that I referred to. And this wasn't even close to being the worst of it.

And what would the West Coast Trail be without the ladders? These things kicked my trash. Seriously. Imagine climbing ladder after ladder (I think our longest stretch was 8 in a row, about 30-50 rungs each) with a 40 pound pack on your back. It was killer. The worst ones were when they weren't on as steep of an angle. Then it was more like an army crawl, with my pack shoving my head down...

At about 25 km we got to Tsusiat Falls. I guess during normal years this waterfall is just huge, but since its been so dry on the coast this year, it was a little sparce.

Funny story at this stop: We're just sitting there, getting some water, minding our own business. When our good friend Netherlands comes prancing over from his campsite not too far away. In his spandex. He gives us a nice little wave, then wades out into the water and leans under the waterfall to fill up his bottles. Maybe you had to be there, but Brittany enjoyed it.

After about an 11 km day, we stopped and decided to set up camp, partly because we just wanted to play, and partly because we were going to get trapped by the tides anyways. We rolled into camp at about 3, which gave us plenty of time to relax.

See that little cave back in there? That's where we spent the night. We figured why set up tents if we didn't have to? And yes, that is my sleeping bag airing out on a stick.

Our nice little lookout. Shortly after this picture everyone decided to go do their own thing for a bit. Well, I decided I would cash out on this rock for a little nap. That was a great plan until the tides kept rising and a huge wave came and crashed on me, soaking me from head to toe. At least Cam and Brandon got a kick out of it.

Once the tides had started to go down, we ventured over to Hole in the Wall at Tsusiat Point. We had a great time just watching the waves crash up on the rocks, and racing the tides as we ran through the wall.

Now, there's a little note on the map for the trail that encourages hikers to minimize fires. Call us ignorant, illiterate, or just plain rebellious, but I'm pretty sure our fire from Tuesday night did NOT follow that counsel.

This thing was huge! We rounded up a ton of wood, and had a big bonfire. And let me tell you, it could pump out some serious heat. A little too much in fact. We had our clothes hanging on a stick next to the fire to dry, and they took a bit of a toll. The casaulties? Brandon's shorts and my socks. Brandon decided just to sacrifice his shorts...

Two days down, four to go.

Wednesday:
Good morning sunshines...?

Surprisingly, I slept REALLY well in that little cave. I think I was out before my head even hit the pillow, and I slept like a baby the entire night.

We packed up camp fairly early, and headed out by about 8:30 so we could catch the first ferry.

Wednesday was the day of good food. The ferry dock is on the Native Reserve, and they sell fresh crab and salmon there. Let me tell you, this seafood is to DIE for! And worth every penny.

Yup, I'm craving salmon again.

Luckily we had caught the first ferry, because this became a busy little place after we ordered our food!

A quick little seafood brunch, complete with gatorade and diet coke (for Britt) and we were on our way again!

And its back to the beach hiking!

Pretty sure me and Brandon almost died taking this picture. Only a couple of seconds after it was taken a massive wave came and engulfed the entire rock...we were lucky to get away before it swept us away with it!

Group photo op! I love this one!

I think the hardest part of this trail was on day 3...the stairs/ladders up to Carmanah lighthouse. I thought I was going to die. There had to have been 300 stairs and at least 3 or 4 ladders if I remember right. After that I knew I could do anything. Or that if it got any harder, I WOULD die. haha. In fact, once we all got to the lighthouse we were laying on the lawn and some random lady comes up to us, "You guys look exhausted...especially you!" (pointing to me. Thank you...?)

Our next stop was Monique's, a little burger shack on the beach run by some lady on the Reserve. Unfortunately, there were only 3 burger patties left, but my veggie burger with cheese (aka omlette on toast) still tasted mighty fine...even if it was oozing mustard everywhere.

If I remember right, it was while we were sitting here eating when the topic of the Adrenaline Surge came up...

Derek: "So uh...you guys, there's this thing called the Adrenaline surge, I tried it with my dad when I was younger but we couldn't do it, and uh...I kinda want to try it."

Everyone else: "Yeah, sure! Why not?"

So I get out my map.

Me: "Dangerous surge channel at waterfall, hikers stay on the trail between Logan and Walbran Creeks and do not attempt to cross Adrenaline surge channel. That's what we're talking about?"

Derek:"Um, yeah. That's the place"

So we all agree that we're going to try it. A bunch of geniouses we are, I tell ya. Little did we know the adventures that we had agreed on for the next day...

haha. I had to throw this picture in here. Brandon was SURE that there was a beached whale out on the rocks. Close Brando, close. Driftwood is easily mistaken for a whale, I know.

One of my favorite pictures, compliments of Brandon. I wish I had taken more pictures of our campsite this night, because it was a dream. Right by the waterfall (where we all took a nice, COLD little shower), tucked nicely in some trees, and NOBODY else around. It was a great place to crash after a long, 21 km day.

Thursday:
The word of the day? Sketch. We had our day planned JUST right so we could get to the Adrenaline Surge right at low tide. A few morning stretches and we were good to go!

We hiked along the shelf until Walbran Creek, where the trail heads up into the trees. Except for us. We kept hiking along the shelf until we got to the Adrenaline Surge. I'm not going to lie, the farther we got away from the actual trail, the more I doubted our decision to attempt the Adrenaline Surge. A fall into a tide pool that bashed my knee and I swear snapped my arm didn't help much either. Nor did jumping over a "mini" surge that was sketchy enough on its own (ask Cam...he was standing back to take a picture when the waves came crashing up to his ankles).

Really? We're going to do this? What if we can't and have to hike back along this shelf, once the tides have started to go up?

This is where 20% of me was all in, and the other 80% was my common sense kicking in telling me I was an idiot.

But hey, I give in easily to peer pressure, and once we got to the surge, I was ready to get it done.

Was the surge as sketchy as we thought? Yes. Definately. Maybe we even underestimated it. We were kind of on a time crunch when we got there, because we still had 2 km on hiking along the shelf once we were across, and we were kind of at a race against the tides. So we had to get things done quick.

Logan went first. He was the one with cramp ons, so we gave him a rope and had him shimmy across the wall to the other side. At one point he slipped a little and I was sure we were all going to have to turn back. He held the rope at one side and Brandon and Cam held the other side while Derek went across. Then it was my turn. I'm not going to lie, I was terrified, and had a death grip on that rope until I was safely across. Once I was on the other side, I went to put my pack down while Brittany crossed. She didn't quite have her footing, and as she started to go, fell into the surge! Luckily, she didn't let go of the rope and with the help of the boys was able to pull herself out. Then it was Brandon's turn, and then Cam.

These pictures just don't do it justice. Keep in mind that there is a waterfall above this, and those rocks are covered in super-slick moss. Throw a 40 pound pack and a lack of balance into the mix and its a little trickier than it looks!

Well, we did it! We conquered the Adrenaline Surge! And saved ourselves a long couple of hours hiking through the muddy bog. Was it worth it? Yes. Would I recommend it to anyone else? Definately not.

I think we took our longest lunch break yet on Thursday. After all, we HAD just done the Adrenaline Surge, we deserved a break! I think I even took a nice little nap...

After lunch we figured we'd continue with the theme of the day (Sketch) as we attempted to get back on the forest trail. It only took tackling a couple dead trees and shimmying up the ravine until we were back on track. And stopped for a few pictures on the suspension bridge (that we didn't actually cross...)

The next few kms were a bit of a beast. Back to the muddy bog. Km 60 was the worst of it...I think this picture portrays it perfectly:

Yup. A beast. Massive roots, slippery tree trunks, deep puddles of mud. It was an adventure all right. Plus the fact that I had ZERO balance because my pack was so tall, and I took a few good falls right into the mud. Needless to say, I was ready to be done for the day.

Side note: One of my favorite quotes from the day. Brandon had just lost his balance and fallen into the bushes:

Brandon: "Hey Brittany, I just fell into a bush"
Brittany: "Hey Brandon, I just fell into the Adrenaline Surge"

Top that. Oh wait, you can't.

We rolled into camp a little late, and there were a million people already there, so we kind of just pitched our tents in the middle of the beach. It was kind of chilly, so we made a fire, had some delicious desserts (peach pie and raspberry crumble...soo good!) and roasted our socks over the fire...all the usual campfire activities.

Another long day down, and only 2 to go!

Friday:
We packed up camp at Cullite Creek, and hit the trail. A few more ladders, a little more bog...just the usual. At about the 65 km mark we hit Beach Access A, where we headed back down onto the glorious shelf.

This picture is a little more typical of the boardwalks. They started off all nice, but the majority of them looked like this:

At about noon on Friday we got to Owen Point, where there is a little cove that you can walk through at low tide. We got there about an hour before low tide and wanted to beat the rush to our next campsite, so we just went up and over. Which turned out to be a great idea. We explored through some caves, slid down some rocks, and walked through the cove that was supposed to be "impassable".

The next little bit of the trail started to get interesting. We were hiking along the beach, but the rocks just got bigger and bigger, and soon we were jumping from boulder to boulder. Again, tall pack = terrible balance.

The Captain Morgan. Classic group shot.

Just taking a little lunch break in my nice recliner. Leaning against that rock felt so good on my back!

After our lunch break we were only a couple of kms away from camp, and Derek thought we might want to gather up some firewood, just in case pickings were slim when we got there. Well the boys got firewood all right!

I think Cam started to get a little frustrated, once he realized camp wasn't "just around the corner"

Cam:" Hey Derek, I've got an idea! Why don't we haul firewood through the hardest part of the trail?"

Thank you boys. We appreciated it!

We got into camp nice and early, about 2:00, which gave plenty of time for some lounging, and a nice afternoon nap. We carefully chose our campspots, or so we thought. When we were choosing a firepit, we failed to realize that the tides would keep rising, and that the spot we had chosen was the farthest down the beach. I think we sat for over an hour, just crossing our fingers that our fire wouldn't get washed away.

(Note the logs stacked on the one end...at one point the waves were coming up underneath those...good thing for us it didn't go any higher!)

Friday night was definately a highlight. We had gathered rocks and thrown them into the fire, so by night they were nice and hot. Then we all put on our swimsuits, huddled into a circle with the rocks in the middle, and sat on the edges of a tarp. Add a little water over the hot rocks and we had ourselves a heavenly sweat hut. It was soo hot in there! Once we had all the steam we could handle, we all broke out of the tarps and ran straight into the ocean. So much fun! Although I think other people at the campsite thought we were a little bit nuts...

Saturday:
LAST DAY! We took our time rolling out of bed and packed up camp, then headed out for our last 5 km.

And what a 5 km it was! Just imagine Bear's Hump. Only 5 times as long.

With ladders.

By this point, we understood the comments of those people in the beginning about how clean we were, and to enjoy the mud bogs and the ladders...we had been there, done that.

I had never been so happy to see a km marker as I was to see this one! We were finished!

And the tripod comes in handy once again!

A quick little ferry ride, and we were back in Port Renfrew.

And thank heaven the van was waiting for us! Instead of waiting for the shuttle, we gave the keys to a family we met on the trail that was headed the other direction, and had them drive it back for us. Good thing we have good judge of character?

We headed back into Victoria, got a hotel, and SHOWERED (I have NEVER wanted to shower so bad in my life!), then went and crashed the YSA bbq that was going on. I mean, free food? How could we pass that up? Then some of the YSA there gave us a little tour, took us up to a gorgeous lookout, and fed us delicious ice cream. AND we slept in real beds that night. It was a good day.

Sunday:
When we were at church the week before, we heard that Elder Oaks was speaking at a special meeting, so we went a listened to him. He gave a great talk, and he is so funny! We really lucked out being able to heard him before heading back. Then we hit the road, and began our lovely journey home. Roll in at 4 in the morning, and our trip was complete!

Well there you have it, the rundown of the West Coast Trail...#14 on my list. It was definately an experience of a lifetime, and very challenging at times. Lucky for me we had a great group that helped me along the way! I couldn't have asked for better people to go with. And if anyone's game for next year...give me a call!

Facts about Raquel Steed

2009-09-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

1. She is a FABULOUS chef. I knew we would be good friends when she taught me to make sushi the second day we were roomates. And her lemon loaf? To DIE for!

2. She passes easily for a black woman?

3. She is probably the most outdoorsy girl I know. Which comes in handy when I am looking for a hiking/canoing/doing anything outside buddy.

3. Raquel is so smart! I have always been amazed by her knowledge of so many things! Whether it is about the gospel, school, history...she knows so much, and it is very apparent that she always has a desire to learn more.

4. She has great style (I am going to get killed for putting this picture up!). But for real, she does. I'm pretty sure every time I see her she has the cutest clothes and jewelry...and she makes them herself too! I'm jealous, I won't lie...

5. She will do anything to help people out (example...carrying ALL of her sister's stuff backpacking, despite Ashley and I trying to help her carry the load)

6. She is up for anything. Anytime. And will make plans with me that others may think are ridiculous.

7. She is a multi-talented woman. Sewing, watercolors, cooking, crafts, making jewelry, rugby, she pretty much does it all.

8. She has dance moves like you would not believe...I have videos but I think I have done enough blackmailing for one post...

9. She is the big 2-1 today! Happy Birthday Raqi! You're the best!

Back on the blog...

2009-09-03T16:51:00.000-07:00

Well its been a while since I've blogged, and I have much to catch up on! First of all, the West Coast Trail...AMAZING. A post is devoted solely to that experience once I get around to it, but for now, here's another thing off the list...#95.

Oh boy do I love sushi.

The end.

Dear Summer,

2009-08-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

It seems as though you are trying to run away from me prematurely. Please don't, I beg of you.
According to the calendar I should have about another month to enjoy your presence.

I know I haven't been the best company at times, but that wretched thing they call school is finally out of the way for a couple of weeks so we can spend some quality time together.

We've had alot of good times, and I would like to continue those if you would...at least consider it?

Thanks a bunch,
Amy

Scott and Sooz

2009-08-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

So not 5 minutes after I finished reading Melissa's blog about being grateful I stumbled across these two pictures on my computer:

I didn't take them, in fact, I'm not even sure where they came from...

But can I just say that I am so grateful for such amazing parents? For real. I'm so glad that I have such a great relationship with them, and that they have such a great relationship with each other.

My mom is a great friend, and will listen to me talk for far longer than I should ramble on for. She gives great advice, and is so caring and compassionate toward everyone around her. Not to mention she is good at pretty much everything she does (which is alot!) She is fun and spontaneous, and dare I say a little crazy at times? haha.

And my dad. He is just so dang smart! Book smart, street smart, science smart, culture smart, religion smart. Just plain smart. I only wish I knew everything he did, cuz he's a genius. He loves my mom and it has always been VERY clear that she is his sweetheart and if we did anything to upset her, we would have to answer to him. My dad is always very level headed, and he has a great sense of humor.

Scott and Sooz. They're great. I love them. And miss them.

Recipes!

2009-08-06T15:24:00.000-07:00

So in my attempts to become more domestic, along with knocking things off my 101 list, I've decided to make myself a cookbook. This is where you, my devoted blog readers come in. I need you to send me your best recipes. Main dishes, salads, desserts, drinks, heck, I'm not picky. I would love them all! Just post them as a comment and I will love you forever!

Food for thought...

2009-07-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

I shall pass this way but once;

any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now.

Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again

A little more of my summer...(and # 73!)

2009-07-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

I feel like every time I blog, I'm saying how crazy life is. I only speak the truth though! Recent happenings since I've been back from Waterton?

1. Girl's night out to the Taylor Swift Concert. So much fun. Thoroughly entertaining. Sadly, not because Taylor was such a wonderful entertainer. I'll give her credit though, she's a teenage girl. What did I expect? She's got the voice and the looks, maybe stage presence will come with time? haha. Don't get me wrong though, I still had a great time!

2. The Pollock Frolic. 3rd Annual in Waterton. I don't even know what to say about this weekend other than it was amazing. Late night dingy ride, hike the Summit with some of my FAVORITE people, great food compliments of Cody's mom, tennis for hours on end (Jessica, I knew you would love it!), boat rides, bike rides...seriously, what's not to love?

And oh yeah, did I mention skiing down glaciers? Love it.

Even though I may not have control of myself when I do it...

These two are my fave. And I think its pretty clear why.

THE SKI! Bonster, I hope I didn't ruin the surprise. But I also hope that after 2 weeks you've discovered it by now...

3. School, school, and more school. This week was kind of a gongshow, but I'm only 2 days from being done Philosophy, 19 days from being done Nutrition, and 24 days from being done my clinical on Pediatric Medicine. But who's counting...?

4. Relief Society Camp! Sadly, I didn't take a single picture, but we had a great time out at Wizard Lake. Not to mention I got another thing to check off my list...#73 - sleep under the stars!

5. Counting down the days until this. (For the record, its 30. I better get training!)