A New Year---> A New START!

We meet again, January! Hard to believe how 2010 just flew by. It was by far the most incredible year of my life thus far. Here are some of my highlights from the year:

1) I had a blast experiencing the Olympic games and all of the fun that entailed. I can't pick a favourite Olympic moment. It is definitely a toss up between being paid $500 for my booth seat at Library Square while we watched Crosby score the winning goal for the GOLD metal...AND....seeing a sea of red and hearing the crowds roar from Jenelle's apartment roof overlooking Robson Street.

2) I loved going to Hawaii and Japan with one of my best friends, Jenelle. This was the first,and let's be honest, the ONLY chance I will have had flying first class. It was so incredible... the flight and the whole trip of course. Japan was such an adventure! We made some really special memories. Hawaii was also a nice place to have a layover. Jenelle has some family friends that live there and they were incredibly hospitable! To top the trip off, we each came home with a pretty incredible and humourous ASS BURN... just TERRIBLE! AH, my poor skin. Never again!!!

3) I GOT MARRIED to my VERY best friend, Mark. Every part of that day was perfect and I wish I could do it all over again--even WITH the rain! Love you to the moon and back, Mark!

4) My incredible honeymoon, with Mark. I just loved waking up in paradise each day with my better half! I loved our star gazing dinner cruise, the 8 hour snorkle tour where we saw the most majestic dolphins flirting with one another and the stunning sunsets, crystal blue ocean and incredible, lush mountain views.

5) Creating a home with Mark, getting asked to leave that home and building an even better home together. God knew what we needed and he sure provided!

6) Visiting one of my other besties, Nicola, in Edmonton. I had the chance to see her star in a play at the University of Alberta. Her performance was chilling and moving, not that I was shocked.. that girl has got heaps of talent!

7) Getting hired as a TOC in Vancouver and then Delta! I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to work as a substitute. I love teaching!

So with all of that said, how is 2011 going to beat out 2010? I don't think it needs to. I am just looking forward to adding many more special experiences to my life as a whole. I'm not sure there needs to be this pressure for each year to be better and better, but the breakdown of the year does help keep me in some sort of cheque as far as goal making goes. There really is something refreshing about a new year. It provides such a great opportunity for reflection and goal setting, indeed.

This year I would like to ..

1) Be more conscious about what I put in my body. I think I have taken my health for granted in the past, but I am realizing that this is the time to really take care of my body, because down the road I will be thankful I did. Like they say, "You are what you eat"... not sure who "they" are, but that is a good moto. I am sure to indulge once in a while, but I really need to think about what I put in my body and what that does to my body. MORE WATER, MORE VEGGIES!!!

2) Continue to be active...but also push myself to be even MORE active. I have gotten back into a routine (well I'm into my second week). I have a friend who is getting married soon, so we have become gym buddies. I really feel renewed and refreshed after a workout and more motivated to eat well for the rest of the day as well. So my goal is 4 exercise sessions per week!

There.. I made it public.. you can all keep me accountable now! Not only do I want to have a healthy body, but I want to look hot for my husband!

3) Be Patient. Sometimes I could use a little more patience... okay a lot more patience. I really need to give people the benefit of the doubt more often. Perhaps this is tolerance or love too? Whatever word you prefer, I need to work on it!

4) Listen. This is specifically for Mark. I tend to hear, but not LISTEN. Especially if I am in the middle of a text or email. I find that often I have no clue what he has told me and I imagine this must be incredibly frustrating. So I need to learn to take a moment to PAUSE and listen intently.

5) Read my Bible. There is some great stuff in there, especially the parts about the way Jesus lived his life and I could take a definite lesson in striving to live the way he did... perhaps this would also tie back up to number 3!

Well, I think that is enough for now. Part of successful goal setting is creating attainable goals.. and an attainable amount of goals.

** Wedding pictures are from ImagesbyBethany**

Treasure

I used to have a Cabbage Patch Kids soundtrack (yes, it was AWESOME) and there was one song called the Junk Yard Gang and the song lyrics were, "One kid's trash is another kids's treasure."

Now I know you have gained huge respect for me solely based on my Cabbage Patch Kids cd, but you will also be amazed to know I found a fantastic set of drawers for $4 from the thrift store... you read that right. I did type $4. Well actually it ended up costing me $5 because I had help lifting it into my car from a lovely older man volunteering. It all goes to the hospital. So as Michael Scott would say... it was a win win win (I got a new dresser, it was cheap, the money went to a good cause).

Anyways, Mark and I needed an extra set of drawers because one dresser is not quite enough for both of us. I really didn't feel like going to IKEA and spending at least $40. Not that I don't love IKEA, I just wasn't into spending. I love what I found and I am so glad I dragged Nicola to the thrift store that day!

I just love it!

My new dresser got me in the crafty spirit. I took some old fashion sticky notes and put them on my candles and filled up a decorative jar with some buttons.

I encourage everyone to go to the thrift store first. You may be pleasantly surprised... cue the Cabbage Patch Kids...

...Junkyard, we're the junkyard gang... (http://play.cabbagepatchkids.com/video/junkyardgang)

Beer Can Chicken

Mark got Beer Can Chicken spice in his stocking and Shawn, Mark and I decided to try it out. It took about 2 hours (longer than the recipe had promised) but a few rounds of Office Clue and Ticket to Ride got us through the time.

It was quite juicy and the spices were amazing! So it was worth it, even though we ate it at 9:00pm!

Here are some pictures :

Mark struggling to drink his beer with juicy, chicken fingers.

All that was left!!!

Our First Chirstmas

I had such a lovely first Christmas with my new husband. We came up with some new traditions to add to the ones we both brought from our own families. I loved decorating our place in the many Christmas decorations I have collected over the years. Mark was quite shocked at how much Christmas decor I had acquired, but also pleased at the fact we didn't need to purchase anything.

We completed almost everything on my Christmas to-do list that I created at the beginning of the season (except for making a wreath) and added a few to the list! I am particularly proud that I bartered with Chung's Trees to get our tree price down $10. My father, Captain Barter, was also proud .

I am so excited to celebrate many more Christmas holidays with Mark and carry on the fun. Merry Christmas Mark! I love you very much! There is no one I would rather have spent Christmas with.

Here are some pictures from our house all decorated along with some pictures from Christmas morning:

Santa ate the cookies, drank his milk and fed the carrots to Rudolph!

Me with one of my favourite gifts on Christmas morning!

I will post more pictures of our Christmas celebrations with the Guptells and Janzens soon!

Gingerbread Making Contest

Last night, a bunch of us were hanging out and wondered what we should do for the remainder of the evening. We had already spent the day playing games, watching the Canucks game and stuffing ourselves with 20 cent wings. We decided that we should have a duel... a gingerbread making duel!

We split up into teams of 2, but somehow the teams developed into an all BOYS team versus us GIRLS. How fair is 4 guys vs 2 girls? Anyways, we went to Save-On and set our timers to 5 minutes. We madly raced around the bulk food and baking isle collecting as many ingredients for our houses. The boys kept snooping and looking in our grocery basket, but we kept our cool and tried not to punch them in the face. At one point, a woman asked Nicola and I what we were all doing. She ended up giving us tips about what to buy!

May I just point out that the team of 4 spent $50 on theirs! We, however, spent $26. We really should have set a budget!

Here are the pictures of our masterpieces:

Not your traditional looking gingerbread house. Shawn's mom thought it resembled a Native Sweat Lodge. Creative though!

Yes, those are candles! They lit candles which was a great idea at first, but then their straws (used for holding up the roof) started to melt and smell awful. Not the sharpest bunch.

Not only did they buy candles, but they also bought balloons. They thought they could make it like the UP house... not sure where they thought they could find HELIUM!!!! (FAIL) Ah well, all was not lost. Instead they just blew up the balloons and irritatingly popped them throughout the building process.

Ah yes, the ever familiar boy band shot...sexy!

Ours was more traditional. Nicola did a great job of the structure of our house...

while I worked on the hockey rink in the backyard.

And what is a gingerbread house without a dead, bleeding Santa Clause who fell of the roof after being stabbed? Too much Dexter I think, Nicola!

Everyone had a great time, but left feeling quite sick.

I'm not sure why?!?!?

A dream come true for some.

FEEL FREE TO CAST YOUR VOTE!!!!!

LOST

A couple weekends ago, a few of my friends and I wrapped up the LOST series with a LOST party. We started the series last spring time and watched every episode together (with the exception of maybe 2 due to me being in Japan). We don't really talk about the hours spent indoors addicted to this show--especially the summer nights we spent glued to the TV...that would be slightly depressing.

Although 4 out of 5 agreed that we were disappointed with the way the series wrapped up, we still had a really great time dressing up, eating Cluck's Chicken, drinking Dharma beer and reminiscing about the good ol' LOST days.

Here are some pictures from our party:

Hurley was here in spirit.

So was John Locke.

Mark was Charlie. He was so dedicated in his role that he even wrote "NOT PENNY'S BOAT" on his hand in sharpie marker, which did not come off for days! I am sad I forgot to take a picture of that. But I did catch the famous Drive Shaft band member singing!

We didn't have the Virgin Mary Cocaine stashers like the show... so we improvised.

Shawn's Uncle drew all of Jack's tattoos on him! Nerdy or dedicated???...Dedicated!

I spent the night saying "I'm coming with you!" as Kate always does.

Josh and Jaime were very convincing as Sawyer and Juliet. Josh even had Sawyer's book and reading glasses and Jaime had to put up with an itchy wig all night.