fireworks and fun times

another week has flown by causing me to actually have to get my diary/schedule out to work out what exactly i have been up to! but here goes in an attempt to try and remember everything!

the week started pretty busy with work in both of my jobs but after they were over and a busy weekend of working i enjoyed a super relaxing day off on wednesday! my friend penni and i decided to have an adventure day! she came around to my house bright and early and after investigating a few different options on what we fancied doing and different places we both want to visit before we leave we decided to hit the beach - this time we were going to go to a different beach than usual. this time it was a nudist beach!! its near the UBC campus and we'd heard lots of stories about how nice the beach was etc. both a little unsure about the whole nudist thing we got our bikinis etc ready and hopped on the bus, after a lot of steps and a nice stroll in the sun we got down to the beach! it was a bit of a shock seeing A LOT of old men completely naked and not having a care about being so but we found a nice little secluded bit and plonked ourselves down - bikinis fully intact! it was a fun one!

penni and i on our way to wreck beach

the fireworks start this wednesday night and so that was super exciting. in vancouver there are 4 nights of fireworks where 4 different countries compete against each other. the first country was the states which was on wednesday night. a group of us headed to english bay and joined the huggeeeeasss crowd of people who all flocked to the beach! people go there from very early during the day to grab their spot on the beach but we arrived a bit late and so ended up having to watch it through a fence it was still amazing tho! they were on again on saturday night too, so after work i headed home, had a bbq with tina and jackee and then headed to the fireworks - we live sooo wonderfully close to the beach so we could just run as soon as we heard the 5 min warning firework and we ended up getting a really good spot. it was spains turn on saturday and they were amazingggg! definately better than the states! im so excited for the rest of the nights - i love fireworks and these are like nothing ive seen before! the crowds are pretty scary coz there are sooo many people but thats half the fun of it and people watching from our patio after is brillaint too!

a few of the gang at the fireworks

On friday my friend chelsea and i met up for breakfast, we went to a really yummy little place near my house and had super yummy food! it was really fun to spend time with her and i think thats the first time ive actually been out for brunch so that was good. she does graphic design and is doing a sketching class so it was brillaint to have someone to have arty chat with. we decided to take a wander to third beach and have a sketching/doodling sesh! it was sooo much fun and really good to get drawing again - ive missed it! we also found a starfish - this made me very happy too! we then headed back and met up with penni at english bay. this was also the day that i had to quit one of my jobs - to cut a story short. i couldnt be in two places at the one time for two different nights and so i had to say no to one. i had been thinking recently about giving up on veras as i was working nearly 40 hrs a week and didnt have a tonne of free time. so yea i suppose it kind of was going to happen at some point but i felt bad letting them down etc! but yea it will be fine and im sure theres lots of other people out there looking for a job!

yesterday, sunday, the blondie roommates (jackee and tina and i) all had a super fun roadtrip! we got up bright and early, got ourselves a starbucks and headed off to whiterock. this is a beach further south, near the border of the states! it was sooo amazing to get away from the city and into the suburbs for a while, seeing even more amazing scenery and just having a brilliant day away with the girls. we walked along the promenade and pier and then found a nice spot on the beach and set up camp! we basked in the sun for a while before deciding to go and get a big bad fish and chips and it was deeeeelicious! :) sooo good! it came in a big cardboard box, we loaded up on the ketchup and lay on the beach munching away trying to avoid the seaguls -they were scary!!

blondies at the beach - check out our fish and chips!!

so yea thats been my week! got a few days off this week so will hopefully get away on some more adventures! i wrote a list of things i want to do before i leave here and its pretty long so will have to keep on top of my blog and keep you updated on the fun filled activities! hope your all fabby, much love xxx

time is flying by!

again, i cant believe its another week since i last blogged!! i do apologise for the lack of updates etc but now im a working lady the time just seems to have disappeared! settled into both jobs well now. the supermarket is giving me a lot of hours so thats good and its a nice mixture of night and day shifts which is also good so i have a mixture of free time to get up to my adventures! veras is going well too although i turned up to work at 11 on saturday morning- when i had read from the rota that i was supposed to start. but they had changed it to one and forgot to tell me! wasnt so fun but ah well! it meant i had two hours to go and meet some friends and bask in the saturday morning sunshine by the harbour!

so what else have i been up to since last week? well im not sure if i mentioned before but i bought some blades so ive been doing lots of blading which is really fun! grant and i decided to go for a blade the other evening - lets say it was slightly eventful! usually we walk to the start and then blade around stanley park and then walk back. i couldnt be bothered carrying my shoes and so stepped up to the challenge of just going the whole way on my blades. this involves going along public footpaths/walkways etc and on a pretty busy street at that! so we set off, and me being me forgot to stop/didnt really get stopped in time at a junction. thankfully it wasnt a very busy one and there was a lamp post at the other side for me to grab onto/do a bit of a dramatic swing around - think "singing in the rain" style swing - only right outside a restaurant!!! im sure i made a few hearts skip a beat but i was fineee! ive learnt from that mistake - do not go along a busy street in roller blades when you cant stop very well!! woops.

ive been going to the beach on mornings, or time off before work. yesterday (sunday) tina, jackee and i headed along to third beach. its a bit further along the coast from the usual beach i go to, but its realllyyy nice! its got a really chilled out vibe and totally away from the sound of any traffic etc! you cant drive to it and so everyone cycles or walks to it! its really nice so think il have to make a trip again there soon! lots of bbqs have also been happening at our house - always a fun one although the other night the sausages must have been a little fatty and the flames were a bit scary, especially when there is a balcony above our patio! i dont think the people upstairs would appreciate their balcony being set on fire! but we have some rather yummy firemen in the station just up our road so im sure that would be a perfect excuse to meet some of them! :)

i havent really been up to any other adventures as such this past week. its been a pretty quiet one when i come to think of it. just working and enjoying the sun when i can! i have managed to get wednesday and thursday off this week so thats great! especially when the fireworks start this wednesday night. this is a biggggg thing in vancouver where 4 different countries compete against eachother in a firework display. it is on for the next two weeks on wed and sat nights - its going to be amazinggg!! so excited for that. then on thursday i think im gonna plan some form of fun filled adventure - have to make the most of my free time here! at the minute im thinking if i work a good bit over the next few weeks il be able to take the last 2 weeks off for some last minute adventuring! theres sooo much i want to do here and so little time. think i need to write a to do list of everything that i want to get done! anyways i think thats all from me for now! again keep the fb mails etc coming, i love hearing what you have been up to/the exciting goings on's etc - i know i might take a while to reply these days but il get there! hope you are all well. much love xxx

blading, beaches and bbqs's

the weekend

soo this weekend was pretty busy, its crazy how fast the time is going here. days fly by and im finding it hard to remember what ive actually done everyday!

friday - i started work in no frills, the supermarket. it was pretty well, i was watching another cashier for an hour or so just to see how its done and then i took over and got on with it! think its the best thign for it. everyone was really nice and the time actually goes really fast too so thats always a bonus! I finished at 4 and unfortunately it had clouded over a bit outside by the time I got finished! :( ohh yea i remember what i did on friday night now - i totally forgot for a while there! we went to a night market!! it was quite far away so we hopped on a skytrain (vancouvers underground/in the sky) and headed towards richmond. we got off the train and started walking in the direction of the market, and walked, and walked, and walked, annddd walked, asked for some directions and walked some more! never actually finding the market! eventually we gave up and decided to get a bus back to the skytrain station and get the bus to the market! we didnt think it was that far from the skytrain station but it was actually pretty far anddd in the complete opposite direction that we were walking! we got there eventually tho and it was goood! there was quite a lot of tat, like if you wanted an iphone/blackberry cover it was the place to go, but the food was amazing!! there was soo many different kinds of food stalls and as richmond is the asian area of vancouver, or even more so than downtown, the variety of asian food etc was brilliant! i had some spring rolls and then finished off with some deep fried banana with icecream - deeeelicious!!

saturday - i was working in the morning again from 11-4, after i met up with grant and kerry to have a bit of a roller blade around stanley park! it was roasting again today so we were pretty sweaty by the time we got the whole way around but it was fun! it was pretty busy so was difficult trying not to bump into little kids of their bikes etc but we got there. after that exercise we decided to make good use of the new bbq! :) we got stocked up on burgers and sausages and all the trimmings and had a deeeelicious bbq out on our patio with tina and jackee too! it was soo nice just hanging out as the sun set and the racoons and skunks came out to play too!

rollerblades on trying to master a star shape!

myself and kerry enjoying the new bbq!

sunday - was a super busy, worked filled day! i was working at no frills in the morning, from 11-5 and then had to rush to veras to start work at 5! i actually felt like superwoman zooming from one place to the other! i was completely shattered by the end of it as i didnt get finished in veras until 11:45!! mopping and sweeping up the floor at 11 i thought i was gonna pass out! but i got there! think it was just worse coz i havnt been working for quite a while now ive got used to the whole chilled out thing! but it was fine, the day went pretty fast and i cant complain as i have a job and it will pay the bills/pay for adventures etc!

monday - i was working again this morning from 11-5 so that was fun! I think ive mastered the art of the whole hey how are you today? im good too thanks! do you need any bags? ok that will be 8.74 please etc etc... and got on really well! again time went wayyy faster than you think and i was outta there before i knew it! it was my freind penni's birthday today and so the plan was to head to the beach for the evening! it was a realllyyy windy day in vancouver but we still trouped on to the beach! for once there was waves in english bay, this is really unusual as vancouver island usually shelters the bay so the sea is usually really calm! but yea it was fun! everyone brought a blanket and some food and we pigged out and had a good old singsong as the sun set!! again it was brilliant getting to know more people and i got blown away again by how wonderfully friendly people are here!! it was a great night though i definately had too many timbits!! (these are little balls of doughnut you get from tim hortins!

watching the sunset on the beach - penni's birthday

week 3 begins with a bang!

well i have been here three weeks now - totally crazy how fast the time has gone! but yesterday was possibly one of the best days here so far so week three has started pretty well! lets hope it keeps going onwards and upwards!

sooo the sun was shining, the bikini was on and i went to hit the beach. i decided to stop by the supermarket to get myself some nice fruit to accompany me to be beach when i decided i should ask for jobs in there. its pretty much across the road from my house so super close ie roll out of bed and go to work style! so i thought hey, no harm in asking. so i asked, chatted to a really nice and friendly guy called brian, i think the irish accent worked a treat and ive got myself another job!! woowoo! so after my little rant yday about not getting enough hrs in veras i think im gonna be able to work both jobs together and will hopefully be plenty! so yea :) that was a pretty good start to they day. I start tomorrow so we'll see how that one goes! karen the cashier will be trying to work without 20/50c coins! i do miss these a lot - my mental maths will be on top form when i get home!

i spent the majority of the rest of the morning soaking up the sun, stopping by the library on the way to get myself a book to read, very closely walked away with a gay novel (its crazyyy how open people are to gayness here, theres even a section of the library dedicated to gay/bisexual books - i found this pretty strange in comparison to home, but yea, there you go. I suppose i cant really expect anything different in the west end) and yea then went back and sat on the patio while munching some lunch and catching up with some radio 1! headed back to the beach in the afternoon and was meeting tina for a while at the beach so that was good! i decided to set up camp on the grass nearby the beach as it was a little breezier there. i made a new friend too - a little girl called julia, she was one and a half and a little cutie pie! she started hoking in my beach bag to which caused her dad a bit of embarrassment but it was fine. i chatted away to her and she loved my ipod, she even knew to put the headphones to her ears etc and bopped away to the music! had a bit of a blether with her dad while she hoked away. he was very freindly and asked if i wanted to go for a drink that night. slightly awkward as i was like ehhh you have a daughter - where is the mum?! but then he mentioned that the julia stays with her mum and night and him by day which i presumes means they arent together. i made a few awkward excuses about seeing freinds etc but then he asked for my no. he was nice and chatty but i dont think il be rushing for any drinks with him! but it was another example of super friendly canadians! soo yea, then tina came to the rescue so i had the excuse of ohhh my roommates coming to visit so julia and him headed home!

then last night i headed to a youth event at church. the speaker guy was called paul becker - hes a dance choreographer for the jonas brothers, miley c etc. so yea that was really good, apart fromt the slightly embarrassing incident when i was standing behind him through the service and when we were saying hello to people around us i said hello, introduced myself as karen, him as paul and then it clicked that he was the speaker/famous! i felt starstuck a little for the first time. it was an occassion to remember!

after this, i went to an outdoor cinema with kerry, got myself some amazinggggly yummy yam fries (sweet potato fries) and sang our hearts out to mamma mia as the sun set and the stars came out! perfect day if you ask me! lots of fun with lots of freinds!

the summer has arrived in vancouver

wooohooo for the sunshine! it has actually properly arrived now! the beaches are packed, the bikinis are out and the bbq's are out! :) just how i like it! The past couple of days have been pretty sunny and its supposed to be getting hotter! thank goodness, i was starting to think id come the whole way across the world to get sunshine and was gonna be getting the same weather as ireland! and thats not cool!!

since friday, i was working on saturday and sunday nights so that was fun. ive only been getting 4 hr shifts which is a bit of a pain as i really need big bad 8 hr shifts to pay the rent/live etc so im having to have a look around and see what else i can find aswell/instead!! its sooo frustrating, as soon as i think ive got something sorted - boom, it turns out to not be as good as id hoped! grrr! but i was in a coffee shop/restaurant place yesterday that is hiring and the guy seemed pretty keen. he was saying its around 40 hrs a week sometimes maybe 36 and sometimes maybe 42 but will average out about 40 so thats good! im just really hoping i get something sorted soon coz its starting to get frustrating now! but anyway enough ranting about jobs, u dont wanna have to hear it as much as i dont want to have to do it!

so what else have i been up to? ehhh well ive been hanging out with people from all over the world which is brilliant, its class how many different nationalities there are in one city, but getting to know them has been great! i suppose coming from ireland where the majority of people are irish it was a bit strange at the start but im loving it! i went for an explore with two friends from honduras on monday, im def going to visit them sometime! it sounds like a brilliant country with LOTS of sunshine, tho by the sounds of things it might be a little too hot! so yea just keeping myself amused with lots of exploring - i love it and its free! :) and just makes me realise how lucky i am to be here, i may not be loaded with money right now, but im still having fun and i suppose its a hugeeeasss learning curve about how to just get on with it and keep going and keep having fun and the best will come and will happen i just gotta keep positive about it and all will be well!

sorry there isnt anything particularly exciting that i can think of thats been happening, but im off to bowan island on friday for the day so think that should be really fun and hopefully il have lots of stories from that! missing everyone lots, keep sending emails, fb msgs etc, they are soooo appreciated and i will get back to you! xxx

p.s. if you want a postcard feel free to fire me your address!

wow how time flies!!

i cant believe that its friday already!! thats crazy, this week has flown in and therefore means that theres a lot to tell you about. well the main news of the week is
1) i have just landed myself a full time job in veras burger shack
2) it was canada day yesterday and it was amazing!!

in the middle of the street the parade was on

1) so the job - woowoo!! i know in my last blog i was telling you about having a job in an icecream shop, well after i got back from the trail there, i had a missed call on my phone from a place id left my resume in the day before. so i rang it back and it was veras, the woman (rose)then said shed just sent me an email too incase shed got the wrong no. anwayyysss to cut a story short, she wanted me in for an interview/to meet herself and her daughter as i had met the husband the day before. its a family run business and so they offered me i trail for friday (today)! so im just back from there and i got the job! Im pretty much stand at the till and take the orders, the way it works is that there is a selection of different standard burgers but then you can chose what toppings you want, so i just have to take the order, key it all in and hey presto! the language barrier might take a little bit of time to get used to as i found myself saying that will be 12 pounds 80 please instead of dollars etc! and pronouncing tomato as tamato etc but il get there!! but yea the other sister was there, she also works there at weekends so she kept me right and it went pretty well. aparently friday nights are their busiest so i suppose it was a good thing to get thrown in at the deep end, but yea it was really fun and i got my veras t-shirt! woowoo! (just incase ur wondering, i rang the icecream place and told them id got a full job, they didnt seem bothered at all so i think its all fine) so yea, i have my first proper shift tomorrow night so looking forward to that! all the staff seem lovely and it seems like its gonna be really good banter and fun too! il keep you updated!
check out http://www.verasburgershack.com for more info on veras finest burgers!

2) canada day

sporting my canada top

sooooo yesterday was canada day, and lots of fun was had. kerry, grant and myself got our red gettup on and hit the streets.

myself, grant and kerry being very typical tourists

theres was tonnes of different things on to see and do. street entertainers, a parade, fireworks etc! it was really cool just seeing everyone out on the streets and enjoying the atmosphere! it was the perfect opportunity to be a total tourist and not having a care in the world about doing so - i even had my camera around my neck to prove it! there was a few typical tourist photos snapped up too...we have noticed that chinese/asian tourists, (which there are a lot of here) have a rather amusing pose, of kneeling down a little bit with a peace sign on the go. its a good one! so yea, we went exploring around canada place - a big landmark building here, and then over to granville island. both places had lots of different things to watch and keep us amused. after this we went to watch the parade, pulled up a pew, well plonked our bums on the pavement, and waited for the parade to start! it was really good, lots of different groups and bands etc and just soaked up the atmosphere! then we headed to stanley park to watch the fireworks. it wasnt the sunniest of days yesterday so it got a bit chilly but it was fun. the fireworks were pretty good but i must say i was a little let down. maybe we are just a bit spoiled on guy fawkes day in scotland but the atmosphere and everything was great too. got back home and hit the hay, went out like a light and snoozed away!

soooo that brings me to today. i got to speak to my sister, jill, this morning so that was veryyy fun! i havent been speaking to her since i got out here so it was really good to hear her voice again and get a good catch up! :) then coz the sun was shining i decided it was the perfect day for a nice run. ive been trying to keep my running up while im here and with lots and lots of running routes about i have no excuse. the most popular one here is the stanley park seawall; its a 10k round trip and usually i just run a bit of the way and then turn back so usually do about 8k. today the sun and i think just a general happy feeling kept me going and i completed the 10k - wooowooo!!!

so yea, im now pretty pooped so i have the feet up and im watching some classy us tv - "say yes to the dress"

hope you are all good and are having a good weekend! keep in touch xxx