Kitchen Renos

Our Christmas gift from Barneys parents this year was a new kitchen, so over the holidays, Barneys brother Justin and his daughter Summer came and helped install the new kitchen! Before:

After:

We lost some countertop space but gained two pantries which is fantastic. We have little storage in our home so its very helpful to have more space in the kitchen. I even have a cupboard with nothing in it. Our next step is to paint the walls which will be a mocha type colour and then add in laminate flooring. We'll paint soon but who knows when the flooring will happen. We had a quiet Christmas this year. I worked most of the day but went to my in-laws for dinner and to relax in the evening. Work is very busy and its 'silly season' but it makes it go by fast which is nice. We are counting down the days until we have our next holiday in March! We'll be off to Tasmania for a week... cant wait for it. Thats the update from there! Forgive me for my lack of blogging..... Have a safe and happy new year!!

Our Garden

Last January Barney and I cleared out an area of our yard and planted a garden. I blogged about it then, but I thought I'd show you how far it has come.

The beginning (and a cute little dog)

The finished product in January

Our garden now! You can see how the rosemary has grown in the back corner. We have taken some things out and replaced it with others this spring.

We planted mix coloured dutch carrots, and this is a result! Half purple, half orange.

Blueberry bush ready to be transplanted

Golden beetroot growing and carrots. We tried to grow veggies and herbs that are more unusual and hard to find in the stores.

Butter beans

Snow peas which are actually getting eaten by a little creature!

And finally, our banana trees. I have yet to see them fruit, but we just removed a big branch from a tree as well as another tree so hopefully they get more sunlight and fruit this summer! We also grow basil, chives, thyme, oregano, pineapple sage and rosemary. We can't keep up with eating the herbs so we cut them back and I bring them to work for the chefs to use in the kitchen. In return, Barney and I get to have free dinner in the restaurant :) Its a good trade off! We have made some yummy pesto and things like that which have been great. There is nothing like fresh veggies and herbs from the garden!

Surgery

Today is going to be a long day. Tomorrow morning I am schedule to go in for a colonscopy and a gastrocopy. Today, I need to clear out my system so I'm not allowed to eat or drink coffee and need to drink 500ml of clear fluid every hour. Yesterday, I could only eat steamed fish and boiled eggs. I'm very hungry! I will spare you any details but lets just say its not going to be pleasant! It may be unpleasant, but it's important to take care of my health and have these things done. There is nothing wrong me with that I know of, but they will check for polyps and do a scraping to test for celiac disease. It's more of a precautionary procedure. It will be more first time going 'under' so I'm a bit nervous but the procedure only lasts an hour and I will be home in the afternoon. I also have a good husband to take care of me :) I'm off to drink some juice and watch movies all day on the couch. Have a wonderful weekend!

Ocean Track

Today Barney and I decided to leave the dog at home and do a bit of exploring around the area. This is something we enjoy doing and it's been a while so off we went.

Today we went to Mt Tomaree, our local 'mountain'. Instead of doing the summit (which takes about 15-20 minutes from the bottom), we decided to go around the side on the Ocean Track which is usually only used by fisherman.

We followed the path part way, then Barney took us off the path. Well, he thought it was the correct path but we later discovered otherwise. We ended up back on the right path and made it around to the otherside of the mountain.

It was beautiful and peaceful, with just boats passing us by and no one else in sight. It took us nearly 2 hours, with a break, but Im sure it could be done in about 45 minutes or less if we knew where we were going first. Oh well, it was fun to explore and we found a new area! Nex time I think I'll pack a picnic.

We finished off by heading to a cafe for lunch and a drink. We sat in the beautiful sunshine and enjoyed our lunch. Even better, our lunch was free because we had a gift certificate :)

I feel like I have so much more to share about whats going on around these parts but that will wait for another day! Another day hopefully soon and not 2 months from now like my last post. Oops! Have a good week! Its supposed to hit the mid 30's this week and its only the first half of spring... Its going to be a long, hot summer.

Thus Far....

My first half of my time home has been great and has just flown by. I have visited with many friends and its been really wonderful to catch up with them all. Thank you to those who made time for me! I really do appreciate it.

The last 3 days I spent in Kelowna with Ashley. We haven't seen eachother in over two years so I decided to drive up to Kelowna to see her and I'm so glad I did! It was great to talk to someone about life and marriage and all of those things without feeling any judgement.

Ashley and I have been friends since middle school and have been through thick and thin. No matter where life has taken us, which has literally been all over the world, we have been able to remain friends through it all. I am so thankful for Ashley and her friendship. She is a beautiful person in and out. She has also married a great man and it was nice to get to know Erik better as well over the last few days.

Our last night together we went to Grey Monk Winery overlooking the lake and it was beautiful! Great company, wine and good made for a great night.

Tomorrow I am doing nothing which I am quite excited for... I've already read 3 books on my holiday and am on to my fourth. I love holidays! On Sunday I get to pick up Barney!! I'm so excited to see him again and have him share in all of the family festivites as crazy as they may be. I'm sure this next week with fly by like the first and soon we will be back to Australia. Time to make the most of my holiday.

So far, so great!

Well.. I am officially into my second full day here in Surrey and apparently I brought the bad weather with me. I apologize :) Yesterday was full of visits with family and friends. In the morning, my parents and I walked in Fort Langley and had a coffee. When we got home, my brother James, his wife Jocelyn and their two beauties, Judah and Serentiy came over for a visit. This was the first time I got to meet Serenity and she is gorgeous. She is so happy and loves to smile and giggle. Judah was a ball of fun and we picked blueberries and played duplo together. I love hanging out with my siblings and their children! After they left my cousins Austin, Lee and Lees girlfriend Grace came up from the states to visit and go to the Imax. I left them and went out for dinner with my friend Cheryl and her boyfriend Tyler. We had a great time and I got to eat Boston Pizza :) I came back home and my cousins returned from the movie so we visited and had a glass of wine. My cousins are hilarious and Im pretty sure I laughed for 2 hours straight. It was great fun. Before bed, I called Barney. It was great to hear his voice and I miss him a lot! This morning we went walking in Fort Langley again and now I am off to Chapters for a coffee and a browse. Tonight my old neighbors are coming for dinner. It will be good to see them again and see how 'my girls' have grown! (I helped take care of them (twins) since birth in 2000). I can't believe they are 12. Its scary and makes me feel old. So far I am loving my holiday and catching up with everyone. Tomorrow I am off to the states to have lunch with my aunt and my mom wants to take me shopping. I won't complain! Cheers

Canada Bound

I'm officially on holidays!! Tomorrow morning we are heading off to Sydney so Barney can see Batman at the Imax with his brother before I fly out on Monday morning. I have my bag packed and its only half full which means I might have to do some shopping in Vancouver to fill it up.... I'm not complaining. I am not looking forward my 15 hour flight to LA but knowing me, I will sleep the whole time. The last time I flew from LA to Sydney, I slept 13 hours straight of the flight without waking. Lets hope I can do it again!! Barney will join me in Vancouver in two weeks so I can spend quality time with friends and family before he arrives for Matthew and Heather's wedding. That's the brief update from this side of the world. See you soon!

Sarah Grace

Beautiful Sarah Grace is here! My sister Kristen and husband PJ welcomed their daughter into the world! Ben is also a big brother and will be great with her I'm sure. I'm so excited to have another niece and the boy/girl ratio in our family is balancing out well :) I now have five nephews and 4 nieces! I love our growing family and I can't wait to be back in Vancouver to see them all.

8 Days!!

Part of the Family

Jessie is cute, cudly and part of the family for sure. She also loves pillows and blankets as you can see....

Not much else going on around these parts. My work was featured on the Sydney Weekender, a weekly travel show. I was there for the filming and the crew told me to be quiet because I was being too loud. Oops :)

I'll be home in Vancouver in just a few week! I cant wait.... some morning I wake up and the first thoughts in my head are of Vancouver... Soon enough I'll be home! Oh, and as a bonus, my work has to move our entire restaurant into our conference centre for reno's and I get to miss it all :) Good time to go on a holiday :)

I'm off to enjoy a glass of wine and roast dinner with my two favorites! PS: Isn't Jessie cute ;)

Whales

Whale season is well under way and I was lucky enough to watch a pair of humpbacks continually breech a few weeks ago. They started by fin slapping the started breeching. It was amazing! They did it for about an hour.. It was great. I love whales and Boat Harbour, where we go to watch them. We went out today to watch them but only saw a few at a distance. In other news, Barney lost his job. His company made his position redundant and didn't try to help him find other work. It sucks. I'm not upset that he lost his job and just upset how his company went about it. I won't get into too many details. So now its time for job hunting! I'm sure he will find something as he's a great worker. It's made me very thankful that I have a full time job. Life has been a bit depressing with so much negative stuff going on but we continue to smile and press on. We can't change what has happened so we're embracing it and moving forward. Trying to stay positive! And when it has been a long day, Barney and Jessie always make me feel better. In just a few weeks I will be home with my family and friends. My holiday couldn't come at a better time and I'm thankful to be taking nearly a month off of work. Just what the doctor ordered! Until next time....

Bad Luck

Wow... it's been a bit crazy around here lately and it seems like my luck hasn't been so great. First, Jessie was at the vet for 5 days and thankfully, she is home healthy and happy. It was a bit scary but at least she is home now. She has pancreatitis so we've had to change her diet. No more scraps for the dog! (Washed away beach) Secondly, we had a really bad storm last night. Winds were up to 115km/hr and the ocean tide was at the highest of the year and the swell was at the biggest in a long time. Nearly 7 meter swell. That means massive waves and our beaches have washed away. In all this, our fence has fallen over. We just moved it over the weekend since we have to get a tree taken out. I tried to fix it today but the winds were still too strong and it was raining so I gave up. Barney will try to fix it when he is home from work. For now, Jessie's locked inside. Lastly, last night I sat on the edge of the bed to give Jessie some cuddles and I sat on my knee funny and managed to dislocated. I was screaming in pain and couldn't straighten my leg no matter how hard I tried. For 10 minutes I kept trying to straighten it and finally I heard (and felt) a 'pop' and it felt like new! I've never had anything like that before. It's a bit sore today. (The tide was so high it came into the parking lot the night before) Thats the latest from here.... In exactly 2 months I will be on a plane to Vancouver!! I'm so excited to go home for a while and see family and friends. Hopefully time flies by until then... Cheers.

Jessie

Our baby girl is sick. On Friday morning Jessie woke up at 3am whining so I let her out. When we got out of bed at 6am, we gave her breakfast and she didn't eat it. A big sign that something was wrong. She just crawled back into her bed and went to sleep. Very odd for a hyper active pup! We both went to work but we were uneasy about her being at home, so Barney left work to take her to the vet. When he got home, he realized she had thrown up several times. He took her to the vet where she threw up again in the lobby (good one Jess) and didn't even wag her tail when another dog came in. Barney left her with the vet and went back to work.

Jessie has been at the vet since Friday morning and we hope to pick her up tomorrow (Monday). The vets don't really know whats wrong. We initially thought she had swallowed a fish hook but x-rays showed nothing. She may have pancreaitis(dont know how to spell that!) but that is usually caused by overeating and Jessie is pretty lean. So tonight we wait for a call from the vet for the latest test results and hopefully we can go get her tomorrow! We miss our little pup....

Million Paws Walk

It's been busy around here. Good busy. We have been to Byron Bay, been to a movie festival, worked more than usual as well as life in general. Thankfully, things should slow down for the next few months!

Today we participated in the RSPCA's Million Paws Walk, a fundraiser to rescue and rehabilitate animals. We drove an hour into the country and met up with hundreds of people and dogs! Someone even brought their miniature ponies to walk.

Jessie, Jake and Cooper sitting nicely in hopes to get some food! It worked.

We walked roughtly 2km which wasn't too long but long enough for the pups. There were dogs the size of rats and dogs the size of ponies!

It was a great day to socialize with friends, take all the dogs out for a run and help out a good cause. I have some blogs stirring in my mind so hopefully they make it here :) Cheers.

Lazy Day

It's a rainy and cold day so what better to do than stay in our pj's, curl up on the lounge and watch a movie. Or in Barney and Jessie's case, fall back asleep.

I love these kind of days.

Country and Surf

Whats been going on lately? Well, last week Sunday we went to a country music show. We saw the McClymonts which would be an Australian version of the Dixie Chicks. I actually quite enjoyed the show even tho I'm not the biggest fan of country music. Barney won free tickets from the radio so we went! Last Tuesday night, Barney and I went to a Surf Film Festival. It was held at a place called Lizottes which is an old movie theatre. The balcony seating is from the old theatre and the stage floor seating has been transformed into a restaurant. We sat on the bottom, had a beautiful meal and got to enjoy a few surf films.

The films were crazy! I cannot believe what surfers can do. Some of the waves were in Tahiti and were 70-80ft high. Insane!! I have a huge appreciation for surfers who tackle the ocean like they do. The ocean's power always amazes me and I have learned to respect otherwise you can get yourself into serious trouble.

Speaking of surfing, Barney surfed twice yesterday and got up at 5am this morning to surf before work. The wind and swell have both been good, creating good surfing conditions. Needless to say he's been a happy man!

I'm doing well. I have booked my flights to go home to Canada in August and I can't wait. Barney wasn't originally going to join me but he is now. He will be coming for about 10 days and I will be there for over 3 weeks! We are both very excited to see my family, celebrate with Matthew and Heather as they get married and to meet all the new babies in the family. There will be 3 new ones for me to meet!! Barney's parents have sold their home in Byron Bay so we will be going up there in May to visit, enjoy Byron and help bring some stuff back down with us. They aren't moving until September so we hope to make it up there a few times before they move. That's about all from here! I have thrown in sime pictures of a few storms we had because I don't have any other recent photos to enjoy. And to finish, a picture of Jessie, who really wanted my chocolate easter egg. Wishful thinking Jess! :)