Winter Wonderland

Wow, so school was a lot more stressful that I expected and I didn't blog anything in two months. Bummer! Nevertheless, the snowy season is upon us, sorta, it's still 9 degrees and pissing rain in Vancouver at the moment. But elevate yourself about 800 metres and you're good to go. I'm stoked for this winter more than any other too. Whistler opened early for the snowiest November ever and I scored a job at Seymour for the season. Engage optimal riding potential NOW. I've also found myself surrounded by Australians which means I'll have to raise the bar on my alcohol capacity. It's gonna be a good year! Snapped a few snowy shots already and there will be more in the near future.

Following a snowplow from Squamish to Whistler opening weekend.

View of Baker from Seymour.

Definitely snowing at Seymour.

Broke in the new tires on the Golf pretty good in the past few weeks.

My daily commute. Sure beats city traffic.

Sunny and FREEZING on Blackcomb.

View from the Peak to Peak.

Frozen eskimo Ashley!

Blue skies on Blackcomb.

Couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day.

Oughta Be Autumn

I have a lovely eastern friend who visited our pretty city during the summer, but unfortunately had to leave before our most beautiful season. I'm no professional, but I decided to snap a few to show a fabulous friend our fantastic fall!

Heart Breaker

This lil baby's face just breaks my heart,
and it won't mending back to health until
I own one of these cuties!




P.S. If you'd like to help a little beagle out, there are lot's of them out there who need loving homes. Check out this beagle adoption website and save a beagle!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ahhh yes, it's that time of year again. No, it's not December, no snow has flown yet, nor has Santa even thought about taking the ole sled for a spin. But the time has come once more to deck the halls. The school halls that is, and decked with students of course. And just like those quirky commercials of yesteryear used to display ecstatic parents riding shopping carts and singing with glee, I too am filled with excitement for BACK TO SCHOOL! That's right, hittin' the books. This means less hours brewing, grinding, and serving, and more time doing things I fully dig. For instance: reading novels, reading poetry, learning French, georeferencing, making flash cards, writing essays, and of course, blogging!

I wish all my fellow returning school mates a successful year!

I Saw You

17(ish) Year Old Girl in a Purple Plaid Jacket at Metrotown:

I was going to submit an ad to one of those 'I Saw You' columns, but decided against it for two reasons: 1. I wouldn't have enough space to let out my full range of emotions and 2. the really nice girl I had the encounter with probably isn't smart enough to know where to find a newspaper or what to do with it when she found it. Other than letting her chihuahua piss on it that is. So I'm blogging it instead.

It's about 1600 hours on a Tuesday, I've got my bubble tea and I'm enjoying a leisurely stroll through the mall. At first I'm headed for the exit but something in Off The Wall catches my eye. Now, unlike some civilians in a large shopping center, I always take the necessary precautions when crossing a high traffic path. (I'm sure you know the ones I'm talking about. Ninety eight percent of the people are walking with the grain and then this cool guy on his Blackberry who forgot his girlfriend's birthday cuts through every single one of them to get into Swarovski, as if the world owes him something. I'm curious to know how people like this were raised, honestly).

I digress. Back to my story. So I'm watching carefully to make sure I don't pull an Ed-Hardy-wearing-douche-bag move and let the swarm of people pass before I lay my tracks into the store. Alas! I see a break and I make my move. This is where things shifted into slow motion, like a high speed collision that you know is inevitable, but you're forced to watch it anyways.

I can see that even though I've made my move at an appropriate time, this girl was suddenly walking faster. It was like she was trying to walk into me or something. (Think traffic: you have adequate time to make a left turn on a fully green light and an oncoming truck purposely steps on it. You get the idea). At this time, we made eye contact and she looked pissed. Arms folded, a face of stone and a walk like she was a part of Hitler's third Reich. I mean, I guess I'd be mad too, after spending what looked like four hours caking on foundation and eyeliner, only to have to go to my 4-9 shift in Metrotown!

Being a person that doesn't much like confrontation, I made just a tiny little swerve from her path hoping to avert disaster. DISASTER NOT AVERTED. It was then that she KICKED my right foot as she walked past. Beyond amazed that that actually just happened, all I could muster up was 'bitch' as she kept on her people mowing path.

I don't know what her problem was. Maybe her boyfriend started a fight with her, maybe she ran out of her favourite Morose Noir eye makeup, or maybe she just plain sucks. Whatever the case may be, I'm sure she feels much better now for giving my foot that little kick on her way past me. Whatever helps her sleep at night! I just hope for the sake of all Metrotown patrons that she doesn't break to the point of tears or I may need to compose another blog entry on her: Metrotown Halls Flooded Black from Cake Face's Tears!

An aside for anyone who stumbles upon this:
we are livng in a scoiety that was unimaginable only 100 years ago. We drive cars, fly 35,000 feet above the ground, browse the web almost anywhere in the world and can type a text message to everyone we know at any time. Our lives are not that bad and we have nothing to be miserable about. Be thankful that you woke up this morning rather than dwelling on the things that didn't happen for you today. And instead of being angry and kicking random people who you don't know, just be happy. It wouldn't kill you to smile!

Signing off,
Good night.

Do Me A Favour

Listen to this song, and listen all the way through.
It's probably one of the weirdest songs I've ever heard, yet I can't stop listening. I also may or may not have a huge crush on the half Japanese, half Australian singer, Luke Steele. Formerly the frontman of The Sleepy Jackson, he paired up with Nick Littlemore of Pnau to form this duo in 2007.


Weird: yes. Something I'd normally be so into: no. Love it: most definitely.
Thank you internet for being an open door to the world of the unknown!


Empire of the Sun - Eclipse Broadcast

Let's Start A Riot

"Let's start a riot me and you

cause a riot's overdue."

It's funny that this is one of the first lines in the first track on Ursa Major, the new Third Eye Blind album. I could've started a riot in the mall today, basically running through the parkade, up the escalator and into HMV to get my hands on this precious disc. Six long years I've waited! Definitely overdue. I just wanted to pay and get out of there, and in those instances it always seems like time is against you. I'm not even kidding, there was a kid in line ahead of me, maybe seven years old with a stack of Michael Jackson CDs as tall as himself. For real?! It's 10:30 in the morning!

Anyways, I got the goods and bee-lined it back to my car, fumbling with the stupid plastic wrapper. When I finally got the CD playing I felt like a million bricks were lifted off my shoulders. Not in a stressful way, but in the way a little kid waits for Christmas and then bursts with excitement when it finally arrives. I don't think I've ever been so happy to hear a bunch of songs.

I drove to school, pretty choked that I couldn't listen to the whole thing all the way through. Although I can't remember the last time I had a smile on my face for that amount of time. Because I said it once and I'll say it again, music is the purest love I've ever known.

Third Eye Blind especially, gives me shivers. No one else can explain the things that are on the tip of my tongue, that I just can't get out because I can't find the words.

Well, WELL worth the wait. Do a favour for yourself and anyone around you that has to hear what you're listening to and buy this ASAP.

ctrl+alt+del

So I just finished reading jPod and I must say, I'm so surprised. Not surprised that it was a good book but by the content. I won't give any of the juicy deatils away but it is definitely making me think twice about the personal lives of geeky game techs and what they do in their spare time.
I'm also wondering if Douglas Coupland is actually that big of an asshole in real life? I'm sure I'd rather not find out.
I have to leave you one quote from the end of the book that seems fitting to my life, as I am a drunk texter/emailer and I usually get beyond frustrated with crashing computers.

'Bree said, "I think computers ought to have a key called I'M DRUNK, and when you push it, it prevents you from sending email for twelve hours."

Kaitlin said, 'I've got another one: a key called FUCK OFF. You press it every time your computer does something annoying - in turn this would somehow force your computer to experience pain. And if you pushed SHIFT/FUCK OFF, you'd end up with FUCK OFF AND DIE, the computer equivalent of a razor being raked across your nipples."'

Bad Boys

"Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?" I'm sure everyone remembers the Cops theme song. I know it's been stuck in my head a lot lately, as I'm driving around Vancouver wondering how all these police have suddenly showed up out of nowhere.

I moved to Vancouver just under three years ago and one of the big differences that I noticed when I got here, was how police presence in the city was nearly non-existant. As a 21 year old girl, this was in some ways, a good thing. I could now 'forget' to wear my always uncomfortable seatbelt, my average rate of travel increased to about 70 kilometres per hour, even when weaving through city traffic and my worries of ever getting a ticket for anything had all but disappeared.

But the novelty of the lack of policing in this new place quickly vanished. Week after week, my sister and I called 'the authorities' to our East Van apartment to help the girl next door who was consistently beat up by her boyfriend as a crying baby watched. They eventually stopped coming, and on the night we moved out of that hell hole, there was blood splatter lining the hallway from this woman's door to the elevator. We'll never actually know what her fate was.

Now let's fast forward to our new place, not necessarily in a quieter community, but definitely in an area with less crime and violence. Within the next few months, we started hearing more about the Robert Dziekanski incident at YVR and the downward spiralling of gang and drug wars. All of a sudden, I felt like a lot of bad things were happening with no resolve in sight. Yet, on a few summer Saturdays, where (I'll admit) things got a little too rowdy at our house, the cops were there to disperse the crowd of party animals.

Which situations really deserve imperative attention? Why are the police always found in seemingly less urgent situations? And on the mattter of my recent observations, why have the Vancouver Police suddenly manifested themselves, well... everywhere? I'll tell you why. To look good of course! For the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.


The Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit (V2010ISU) was formed in 2003 to implement security for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to be held in Vancouver in 2010. It is directed by the RCMP, combined with the Vancouver Police, the West Vancouver Police and the Department of National Defence. In addition to there being an entire unit dedicated to fighting alleged Olympic crime, there is a security budget of $175 million, set in place in 2002, that has already been exceeded. Expected to reach at least one billion, this budget should upgrade border protection, Canadian Forces and Canadian Coast Guard equipment and personnel, immigration and, you guessed it, the Integrated Security Unit which includes the VPD. With all this money and publicity on their hands, their only option is to paste themselves all over Vancouver, making them known well in advance of the world showing up on our doorstep.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's important to keep ourselves safe in an event like this. BC Solicitor General John van Dongen estimates that an additional 75,000 to 100,000 people will cross the land border from Washington state alone during the Games. In other words, there are going to be more than enough people visiting. And to accommodate these extra people in any event of a mishap, the one billion dollar security budget also covers the Integrated Public Safety Unit. It is comprised of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, BC Ambulance Services and local fire and police departments, and was established with in the Provincial Emergency Program to plan for Games-time threats and emergency preparedness.

From this perspective our money is going to good use, albeit a lot of money. So the next time you find yourself out there on the streets of Rain City cursing the boys in blue, think about why they're there, even if it's to your disadvantage!

Man's Best Friend

Saw this glorious photo op outside of JJ Bean a while ago. So many people ran over to snap a picture of this cutie!

1000 Julys

July this year really did feel like a thousand rather than just one month. So much happened. Goods, bads, ups, downs, laughs and cries.

First and foremost, I need to acknowledge my friends. Besides my irreplacable, beyond stellar family, I don't think I would've survived this month without my brothers from other mothers. I can't explain exactly how much they mean to me and how blessed I am to have them in my life!

I picked up a new ride somewhere along the way. AKA MY FRIKKIN DREAM CAR! No more walking for Christine. Obesity here I come. Hey, at least I'll look sweet in a VW right?!

Grocery store adventures: PB as far as the eye can see and Kasey telling Mark he can't get five pounds of bacon for dinner.

Winter Ale? In July?! "This can't be right!" you say. But it is. This smarty pants stored a few WA's where no one could find them just to prove it's possible. It almost tastes better when you're drinking it in the summer heat!

Fun in the Okanagan sun. Orchards, cherry pickin' and so many beach days.

Breakfast's of love made by none other than my mumma-bear.

And a chapter closes on finer days.

When It Rains, It Pours

The thing I've never understood about this cliche saying is that sometimes it really is just a trickle rather than a massive thunder storm. When it's actually raining that is. In terms of life, love and death though, it all seems to come at once. These are (or were rather) my two pups, both of which have died in the past three months from cancer. Talk about unfair! I can't figure out in my head how there are such bad people alive and roaming the earth, yet our two innocent babies lives were taken away. There are times when God's plan is just too hard to see. I hope one day I'll understand why things happen the way they do.
This is Bentley. The definition of puppy-dog eyes was created just for him, I'm sure! He was a clumsy, oaf of a dog. I remember him standing tall beside the dinner table, his height just perfect enough that his eyes would peer clear across at everything he was missing out on. His nose would start to sniff and he'd just stare at you until your heart melted. Then a scrap would come his way and he'd be so stoked! We also called him Linus sometimes. Rarely would you see this dog without a blanket, towel or some other kind of linen hanging from his mouth, getting towed around the entire house.
He was the second of our two friends to go, this one I was there for. He seemed to be getting gradually sicker until his last few days. His health spiralled downhill in a very short time. Thursday, July 23 we brought him into town. He was so excited for a car ride while we all cringed knowing his fate. Dad, Mum, Rae and I all went in the sterile little room with him. The vet took Bentley away to get an IV started in his arm. When she brought him back, she laid him on a blanket, one that would typically be carried by him rather than carrying him. She put the first needle in, a sedative. His vibrant eyes drooped and mine instantly overflowed. The second needle, an anasthetic. It hit him quick and his body fell, so tired and weak. My tears were bottomless by this point. Then the third and most dreaded needle, the killer. His eyes closed, his body relaxed and we knew it was over. It was so hard to see the life literally slip from his face, yet at the same time, months of pain and suffering left with him. A truly bittersweet experience. Deep down inside I believe that Bentley would've been strong enough to defeat his illness, but with the loss of our other precious pup only months earlier, he was too sad to go on.

That brings me to our girl, Lexie. Smart as a whip, more loyal than any other creature I've encountered and overall, just an extremely beautiful dog. Ask anyone who has ever spent any amount of time in our home, how she would sneak up to your chair and nudge her nose under your hand just to get a pet. She was so incredibly gentle too. Whether we tested her on eating corn on the cob without annihilating the entire cob or teaching her to take a treat from a baby's hand, she used the most tender grasp. I can distinctly remember getting ready to take her for walks when we still lived in the city. We'd get her collar and leash on, which would rile her right up! While you're still getting your shoes and jacket on, she'd have the leash drooped from her mouth, eagerly pacing around the house. Looking back through old pictures at her animated face makes me realize how smart she was. The looks she would give you let you know that she wanted so bad to tell you something, if only she could say it!

Lexie's health also deteriorated very quickly. Once we found out she didn't have much time left I went to Salmon Arm to visit, not knowing if that would be my last. Unfortunately, it was. I called my Mum the evening of April 16, 2009 to check up and see if Lexie was making any progress at all. With her choked up response of "No. No she isn't well at all," I knew. The only way to describe what I did was to say that I sobbed like a baby. I felt like I couldn't even breathe I was crying so hard. I've never had to deal with cancer before so this was my first emotional ordeal with the disease. There will never, ever be a dog in this world like Lexie again.

Girls, Girls, Girls

Motley Crue said it in 1987 and we were living it this fine day in 2009. Well, we weren't quite living exactly the way they were in that song but we did have a girls day out, which is rare. My three Starbucks girls and I started with an awesome breakfast at a diner on Granville called the Templeton. Two Trucker's breakfasts, a Big-Ass breakfast and one decadent grilled cheese later, we trekked to Richmond. There are these infamous Japanese photo booths in Aberdeen Mall that I'm slightly addicted to! (Once I figure out how to scan things I'll post all my photobooth adventures.)

After our photobooth fun and laughing so hard we cried because we can't read Japanese, we decided to take a breather by the fountain. My camera was highjacked (as seen in these pictures) by Kasey which always yeilds ridiculous results!

We calmed ourselves down enough to each get a frozen yogurt from a yummy little place called Qoola. Lychee frozen yogurt with raspberries is probably one of the best things I've ever tasted. A fantastic day all in all. I love my girls!

Sweets for My Sugar

I decided to whip up a batch of vegan Oreo cupcakes for my babe after he had a crappy sorta week. Kasey helped me seeing as I don't have one homemaker's bone in my body. We had one fairly big mishap. Well, it wasn't really our fault. We bought all our ingredients from the bulk aisle at this market on Commercial. After baking the cupcakes and preparing about a five litres of icing, we realized the 'icing sugar' bin at the market didn't actually have icing sugar in it. Instead it housed a large amount of BAKING POWDER! Sick. Worst icing ever. We quickly ironed out that wrinkle and finished our little cakes. I surprised Justin at work with a plate of them and they seemed to brighten him up a bit, even on such a dreary day!