Overwhelmed

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed today so I decided to post everything I've got going on so that I can remember....

Strata council:
-creating and updating the website
-painting the front lobby
-choosing colours for the balcony project
-ensuring balcony project is going ahead smoothly

Geography of BC course at Douglas College
New West Environmental Partners - trying to get involved in that
Brow of the Hill residents association - trying to get involved
Habitat for Humanity - went to training session but haven't volunteered yet
Work
Application to lululemon for Christmas work
Career/school options

Hikes with friends
Starting to run more again
Get to more yoga practices

Ahh!!!! I'm sure there's more, but this helps me relax a bit for now.....

Manning Park and I don't get along....

So we decided to do the Heather Trail hike in Manning Park and just be tough about the rain. We were a little worried about the severe thundershowers warning, but thought we try and play it by ear. So we arrived at the trail head around 1pm and procrastinated in the van until we finally braved the rain at about 1:30. It was windy and pretty chilly, but the rain eventually eased off and the sun came out! It was beautiful and we were hoping the rain would hold off. But poor Mel, she rolled her ankle in her trail runners a few km into the hike. It seemed pretty bad but she decided to keep going. Then a while later (probably a few more km) she rolled the same ankle again. Not good, so we decided to turn around. Jen and I took some weight for her and she used Jen's polls to hobble back to the van. She's still hobbly now and it's definitely swollen so it would have been horrible to wake up to a huge ankle and not be able to hike out. So we drove back to Vancouver.
At least I made it past Hope this time and actually into Manning Park. Once we got going it started pouring rain again so who knows what the weather is like up there on the mountain tonight. It sucks cause I probably won't get a chance to do that hike again this summer as pretty much all my weekends are full. Oh well, shit happens.
But we did stop in Langley and buy berries. I got 10lbs of blueberries! Yeah! There was no UPick for blueberries and they were sold out of raspberries. Might have to try again later. Blueberries freeze so well for smoothies and are so much cheaper ($2.20/lb) than the rest of the year that I might have to go buy some more.
Not sure what my plans are for the rest of my vacation. I can't believe I only have two days left off work! Hopefully I will do the Grind and/or yoga both days. Also need to work on my condo building website and want to go visit Renee and her baby Colin again. Seems so weird to be back at home now when we were just out in the woods hiking. Sort of anti-climactic. Oh well, as long as I get outside the next few days it will be okay. And we are going camping next weekend anyways. So much to do, so little time, especially if broken clutches and sprained ankles keep tharting me!

July 17th already!

Wow it's been over a month since my last post. I can't believe the summer is going by so fast already! It always does.
We've been super busy. Ty's grad show was on June 22nd so Jess, Chelsea and Erik came over for that and they all surprised him (including Jer). The show was okay but not enough game companies showed up as the Vancouver Film School had their show the same day. But Ty got a call from EA that morning before the show and interviewed with them the following week. He ended up getting a 6 week contract with them which is awesome. He was the first person in his class to get a job!
That weekend we headed to Victoria to go to Ty's grandpa's 80th surprise birthday party which was lots of fun, but made for a busy weekend. All his children showed up from out of town and there was lots of great gypsy music played and great food.
The next weekend we had plans to go to Manning Park camping with Jen and a lot of her friends. We were excited, Ty even bought a sleeping bag and thermarest. We left Friday after work in rush hour long weekend traffic. It was pretty bad, it took over 2 hours to get to Hope. But about 10 mins out of Hope on the #3 highway the car started to have troubles. I would floor it and it wouldn't seem to go any faster. I tried shifting down and nothing. It was pouring rain, getting dark and there weren't any shoulders to pull over onto. It was kind of sketchy. Finally I pulled over and we decided something was pretty wrong. We turned around and headed back to Hope to find a mechanic. Nothing was open on Friday night at 8pm though so we ended up camping in Hope (yeah!). Jen had all our food so we had to go out for dinner. It was pretty lame camping - set up the tent, go out for dinner, go to sleep, wake up, pack up the tent and leave. We had rice krispie squares for breakfast as that's all we took. It poured rain all night and we didn't even have a tarp/rope but the tent held up. There weren't any mechanics in Hope open on Saturday either so we packed it in and went back to Vancouver. We figured it was the clutch slipping on the hills and it is pretty much downhill into Vancouver so we risked it. And at least there were towns/service along the way, unlike on the way to Manning Park. We made it back safely to Vancouver and home but couldn't get the car in until after the long weekend. But now we have a new clutch and I feel like we can take it to the mountains or up to Squamish without worrying now. But that was $1100 we hadn't planned on spending! Good thing Ty got a job.
The next weekend we went to Victoria again for my birthday. Jen and Nicole came over with me and Ty as I was hosting a Pampered Chef show at my mum's house. We had a ton of fun - drinking at the beach on Friday night like we were 16, going for brunch at Rebar, getting massages/facials at Silk Road, and of course shopping downtown. It's a lot more fun being in Victoria with friends from Vancouver for some reason. The Pampered Chef show was a huge success. There were tons of people there and I don't think we stressed my mum out too much trying to have her kitchen ready for a party. I got lots of free stuff from it and am just waiting for it to arrive now.
This past week has been busy too. I volunteered at an event at the Vancover Yacht Club for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer on Monday night. Tuesday I was supposed to go kayaking but it was too windy so was cancelled. Wednesday we went to the U20 Spain vs. Brasil game which was pretty awesome. Thursday we went to the Tragically Hip concert with Ty's dad's tickets as he couldn't go (rehearsal dinner) and Friday we went out for a going away Fritz party. Saturday morning we caught the ferry (was there for the 9 but walk-ons were full so had to wait for the 10!) to Victoria for Jessica's wedding. Pretty much the whole weekend was wedding activities. We arrived at Laurel Pointe Inn around 2:30 to help get things ready. The ceremony was at 4:30 on the patio and then pictures with appetizers before dinner at 6pm. The wedding was lovely, except for the float planes which kept landing and taking off during the ceremony. Dinner was delicious and it was a pretty good celebration. Sunday we had the gift opening at the Woodburn's which was pretty crazy - a ton of people crammed into the house, but good food and a chance for Jess and Laird to talk to family a bit more.
Ty went back to Vancouver yesterday but I'm lucky enough to have this week off so I've stayed in Victoria. I bought my new bike over so went for a short ride in the morning and then shopping downtown with my mum. I found some natural non-chamomile bug spray so I'll try that out this week. I went for a longer bike ride to meet Tina coming up to my parent's from Esquimalt, but she was too tired, so it was an hour ride by myself. Oh well, it was nice.
Today I wanted to pick some berries, but it's raining. It's okay, I'll relax a bit and then maybe take an earlier ferry home. Supposed to be hiking in Manning Park tomorrow until Friday but it looks like rain. I'll have to see what Jen and Mel think about hiking in the rain. I'd love to go, but I'd also be happy with a few days off at home too - I could do the Grind a few more times and go to yoga etc. We'll see what the weather does.
No plans for next weekend yet, maybe do the Chief with Ty. My sister is considering coming to visit so that would be nice. Then last weekend in July we are supposed to be doing Joffre Lakes hikes and August long weekend not sure yet. I can't believe the summer seems to be going so fast and will be over soon! Need to take advantage of every moment!

Outdoor season has arrived!

Yeah! The hiking/biking/swimming/laying in the sun season has pretty much arrived. The Grouse Grind opened the May long weekend so I've been 4? times now. We aiming for going once a week and I think we will do it. We all bought passes to Grouse Mountain, Jen's off work now, and Nicole wants to get/stay in shape for her wedding in August - all good reasons to keep us motivated.
Last weekend we did an evening hike to Lynn Valley suspension bridge which was pretty cool. We had a nice picnic dinner at the bridge and got out of the forest just before dark. I was also in Victoria last weekend to visit my cousin and her husband and two children who were visiting my parents and grandma from Grande Prairie. Her kids are pretty darn cute: 16 month old Kaitlin and 3 month old Riley. A handful though. So I went to visit them, but ended up shopping with my sister and buying a new bicycle. I'm excited, it's one I looked at about a year ago; it will work for commuting and also for racing in triathlons. Tina bought a bike and she's been riding every day to work, to my parents, to get groceries - good work!
So the rain finally stopped today and I got to go for a ride. I wanted to do a test ride to work to see how long it would take, but I felt a little cold coming on yesterday so I thought I better not. I was also worried that I would get rained on. But I rode to the Choices Market at Edmonds Skytrain station and that took about 15 mins. Man are there a lot of hills around here :) I think it will take me about 1.5 hours to get to work, so I should probably do a few more small rides before taking that on in the early morning. The ride was basically good, but I was having some troubles with my front derailer on the way there and my chain fell off on the way home. I just need to take it into Reckless Bicycles to get an adjustment.
What else? Doing the Grind tomorrow after work and planning on doing a hike on Bowen Island on Saturday. Strawberries should be ready to be picked this week too (www.bcstrawberries.com). Then Ty is done school on June 22th (yeah!) and the July long weekend we are going camping at Manning Park with an overnight hike the last night. So many plans this summer, time is just going to fly by.
Haven't been doing much running, I'm more interested in other things at the moment, and it gets too hot to run in the summer. Speaking of heat, we finally got the cellular shade for our skylight and I think it will make a huge difference in keeping our place a lot cooler this summer (it better for the price!).
I'm looking forward to Ty being done school so he can enjoy the summer too. Hopefully he'll get addicted to the outdoors too:)

Notes from "Ecoholic" by Adria Vasil

10 Beauty Product Ingredients to Steer Clear of:

1 - Diethanolamine (DEA): suspected carcinogen in shampoos, body wash and makeup
2 - Formaldehyde: carcinogen in imidazolidinyl urea, DMDM hydantoin, & quaternium-15
3 - Parabens: estrogenic and may be linked to cancer
4 - Petrolatum: from non-renewable crude oil
5 - Phenylenediamine (PPD): in brown & black hair dye, increases bladder cancer
6 - Phthalates: hormone disrupter used as "fragrance"
7 - Sodium lauryl/layreth sulfate (SLS): skin irritant
8 - Talc: possible carcinogen in eye shadow to blush to baby powder and deoderant
9 - Toluene: solvent in nail polish that affects nervous system and contributes to smog
10 - Triclosan: used in everything, including toothpaste; turns into carcinogenic dioxins when exposed to sunlight after it leeches into rivers

Think about these things. I've just gone through my bathroom and almost everything that I had either contained parabens, petrolatum, or SLS. They say the amounts in each product are harmless (or below some government set level), but when everything you rub on your skin contains some small amout of carcinogen or hormone disrupter, I think it adds up. I'm trying out Avalon Organics stuff at the moment and liking it so far.

Off to hike the Chief afterwork today - yay!!!!!

Marathon!!!

Well I did it. I can check it off my list. It wasn't absolutely horrible, but it was hard, so there is a possibility of another one in the future.
It wasn't exactly what I would call "fun" - running in the rain for 4:10, wondering when you will get to the end, and not wanting to walk as that would make it take longer for it to be over.
The biggest challenge for me wasn't mental, it was that my legs were so full of lactic acid that they just didn't want to move anymore. I walked more than I wanted to in the last 10km. It was far too easy to stop and walk and a little too hard to start running again :)
No major injuries though - my legs are definitely sore; my feet and arches aren't bad, they've been worse; my shins seem fine; but my lower back is killing me from all the pounding - but that's happened before too - so no surprises really.
My parents came over and watched, my aunt was there, Jen & Nicole & Michael cheered me on and Ty ran with me a little bit at the end. Thanks to all of the spectators, it really helps. The volunteers are great too - sorry if we aren't so polite when we are running, but we really appreciate them.
I've had a shower, a nap, watched a movie, ate some carbs, had a "Marathon" Lush bath thanks to Jen, and now I think I will fall asleep again. Off to get a nice 1 hour massage in the morning which will help get the rest of that lactic acid out of my muscles.

Even though it wasn't "fun" it was a great experience and I'm so proud for being able to do it. Thanks again for all the support during and before the race! Love you all!

My mum's put some pictures up on her Facebook page, but I'll post some on my flickr page when I have them all from everyone.

Sorry, I can't believe it's been a month since I posted, it felt like I just did.
I've been super busy. My parents bought a new house in Saanichton. It's super nice - totally redone, 2 minutes from the beach, ocean views and a huge backyard with plenty of room for workshops for my Dad. So that's nice for them, but they needed to get their current house ready to be put up for sale on April 16th. So I've spent the last two weekends and several days off work over there helping them pack, organize, move furniture, scrape wallpaper off the wall, and paint, paint, paint. It was lots of hard work bit it made a huge difference and I hope the house sells quickly.
But Ty and I got rewarded for all our hard work with a new wall mount for our newish 40inch Sony LCD. So we now have a TV hanging on our wall above our fireplace. I remember when that first came out years ago and I said that I was going to get that as that's the coolest thing ever - such a good use of space! So now we have it! Yeah! Our living room seems so much bigger now too! Unfortunately we can't afford to expensive cables or digital cable tv at the moment, but we sprung for the HD cable for the Wii so that looks pretty good. Maybe when Ty gets a job we can get more gadjets.
Marathon training is going good. I'm way under training - only running 2 days a week - but I'm not injured so we'll see how it goes. The Sun Run is tomorrow and then next weekend is down to 23km, then 6km, then the marathon May 6th! My chiropracter said as long as I didn't go anything stupid I should be okay for the Marathon. So keep your fingers crossed for me.
Tina's off in Costa Rica for 7 weeks; she's volunteering on an organic farm right now and I'm jealous. The weather is beautiful and I'm sure she's having a great time playing in the mud :)
I've also finally joined Facebook. I was totally against it, but I have to admitt it's pretty cool to hear from people that I haven't seen since high school or university. And it's a great way to keep in touch with ISUers. So I guess now I'm hooked, until the next trendy site comes along.....

4 Cities and 30km!

Today I braved the pouring rain and went for my long run. I was dreading it all week cause I knew the weather would be bad and I would be losing an hour of sleep. And last week's 20km run was hard.
I was still dreading it when I woke up at 7:45 (really 6:45) this morning to hear the rain pouring down. The weather channel was talking about rain and wind warnings too. I was hoping that it would be cancelled but I went anyways. I was a little concerned as I hydro-planed all the way to the store. But it wasn't cancelled so I resigned myself to get soaked.
We started in Burnaby, ran up the hill to New Westminster, over the Queensborough Bridge, then into Richmond along River Road. We crossed over Knight St. Bridge into Vancouver, and then ran back into Burnaby. My jacket was drenched within 5mins, I should have just worn short sleeves. And we got splashed by a large truck going over the Queensborough. It rained the whole time, but was worse at the beginning and the end.
It felt good though and was easier and better than the 20km last week. I borrowed Jen's water bottle belt and it was much better than carrying my bottle. I think it helped my form.
I had an ice bath when I got home and Ty nicely had a bagel and chai latte waiting for me :) I feel good and like a warrior for braving the weather and doing the 30km!

February Already!

January went so fast, I can't believe it! I found out on the 19th that I was the successful applicant for the temporary position of covering my supervisor (QA Coordinator) while she is on maternity leave. This is exciting and also scary as I have a lot more work to do and a lot of responsibility now. I also have to supervise my coworker which will be a little strange but I hope it will all be fine. I started training this week for that so I've been very busy trying to keep up with my usual things and be trained and go to more meetings! I think I'm happy though.
Last week I was away at a union conference (Canadian Labour Congress Winter School) at Harrison Hot Springs Hotel. I took a course on Women in Leadership which was very informative and I met some great ladies. It was exhausting though as we had classes all day and then a forum or some sort of activity at night. It was a great experience and I met some great people and learned enough that it was worth the week away. And I got fed very well and had enough time to get some running done and some soaking in the hot springs pool.
Monday night Nicole, Lindsey and I went to Seymour after work for skiing/snowboarding. It was free after 6pm for women as a breast cancer fundraiser so it was an awesome deal. I hope to go a few more Mondays as it was fun and I think I even did well. I hadn't been boarding for almost 2 years as I think I was dreading learning all over again, but it came back quick and I surprised myself. Mostly I think I had a good time cause I wasn't freezing, it was pretty warm. Maybe it was the Bailey's!
My first assignment for my Human Geography course is due this week so now I really have to get serious and get some work done. I've been going to class and doing the reading, but that doesn't really feel like school. An 1000-word essay does.
Ty's sisters and Mum are coming over this weekend so hopefully I can still get some work done. I've also got a 16km run on Sunday (I did 16km last weekend too) and hope to do some yoga as that hasn't been happening lately. Oh and Renee and I want to go swimming if she can fit her pregnant body into her bathing suit :)
We finally decided on tiles for our backsplash in the kitchen and they are in so we need to pick those up and figure out when and how we are going to install them! I've tiled a table, but never a wall where there are requirements for things to be straight! I think I may have to make a trip to Home Depot for some instructions on this.
One last update - I got myself elected onto our strata council which should be interesting. We are having major work done on the exterior siding and balconies this year so I want to be involved in that and see that my money (could be lots and lots of it) is well spent.
Happy February Everyone!
Enjoy the season while it lasts!

Running!

I've started my marathon training. I'm off to a slow start because of weather and sleeping in etc., but it's going now. I'm aiming to run 4 days a week, I can't do the 5 as I have too many things going on. I also don't want to give up other things I enjoy, like cooking, hanging out with Ty, doing yoga etc. But we'll see how this goes. I ran 13km in the freezing cold -6C weather on Sunday morning and never quite got warm. I did 10km last night in 50min and we do 6-8km tonight I believe. So the km's are being put on. So far my body is okay, just tired.
My strategy for staying injury-free is:
-do yoga
-wear my orthotics
-take is easy (don't aim for a time, aim for completion with no injuries)
-drink lots of water

Hopefully this will help me!

Happy 2007!

Wow, I can't believe it's actually 2007. Well, I can, because it's really just a number and I prefer to gauge my life on other things than numbers, but anyways...
Christmas was great. I worked at lululemon Christmas Eve and helped all the lost guys get their last minute presents, then took the 5pm ferry to Victoria. I wasn't the last to arrive at my parents' house though as my uncle arrived from Calgary Christmas morning. It was great to get together with everyone - my parents, sister, Grandma, aunt, and uncle - because we aren't together that much any more. We all got spoiled and it was a good morning.
In the afternoon we took some packages with socks, gloves, food, toilettries and treats downtown to distribute to homeless people. We only had 20 bags made up and they went pretty fast. It was a great thing to do though as most people were very grateful. One guy even ran back to our car and gave us a Hershey kiss. A few people were kind of confused, but no one was offended at all, which is what we were a little worried about. We all enjoyed it and plan to do it next year again.
We had our usual Christmas dinner on Boxing Day and I also went for dinner at Ty's grandparents' on the 25th. We spent a lot of time playing Ty's new Nintendo Wii that he got from my parents and his parents. My mum spent many mornings lining up to try and get one for him and finally managed to get it randomly at HMV. Ty was super excited and so were the rest of us! Yeah!
Another highlight was the present from Santa - 4 flights between Vancouver and Victoria that were received by my Mum, sister and I. Cool!
We spent New Years Eve at Nicole and Michael's with Jen and Luke. We got to play with their new kitten and Ty kept Darwin the dog from being too jealous. We played Wii and had a good time.
January is starting off pretty good. I'm back at work and Ty only has 4 classes and a pretty awesome schedule. I'm planning on doing a running clinic on Thursday nights, which starts tomorrow, to train for the Van marathon or half-marathon, we'll see how it goes. I'm taking an Intro to Human Geography class at Douglas College on Tuesday nights, so I'm back to being a student again. And I'll be away for a week at Harrison Hot Springs taking a Women in Leadership course through my union. My job at lululemon ends on the 31st so I'm looking forward to having more time to myself, even though it's been lots of fun.

Some of my goals for 2007:
-drink 2L of water a day
-practice yoga at a class at least once a week
-hike the Grouse Grind at least 20 times
-spend more time with Ty and help him to get an awesome job when he's done school
-run a marathon or half-marathon in May
-re-evaluate my goals every few months

Enjoy 2007 everyone and set SMART goals! (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely)