goodbye vancouver....

so my sadface is on a little bit, but my happy one is on too. its wierd, i dont really know how to feel right now. im super sad to be on my final day in vancouver, but super happy for the amazingggggg summer i have had, for all the great experiences ive had, with all the great people ive met etc...its a strange feeling and one in which i dont think il really get full grasp of for a while.

but yea, ive just woke up on my last full day to the pitter patter of rain on my window, looking out to see brollies galore and people dashing about, it reminded me of home and how much it actually rains there, but then ive been warned this is what it is like here all winter too...

anyways, i wanted to blog my last week and a bit of vancouver, yet again it has been another really amazing jam packed week so here goes my best shot and remembering it all...

saturday 21st

today i went to richmond with my freind rheba - shes been wanting to take me around richmond since the day i met her. we hung out on the beach for a bit in the morning and then decided to go to richmond so onto the skytrain we hopped and off we zoomed to "hongcouver" - the asian area of vancouver. we stopped off at her house and then went to steveston...this is the place that the film charlie st cloud has just been filmed in (another exciting factor about vancouver that i never knew - a lot of films are filmed here!) so yea we went to the seaside resort of richmond and it was really fun. we got fish and chips from a famous chip shop, stocked up on the tomato ketchup and sat by the pier and munched on our food. we then went for a little wander around, its such a cute little village and really reminds me of something you would see in a film, its kinda retro/vintage and just a really fun place to hang out with a great girl!

rheba and i with our fish and chips - yum!

sunday 22nd

today was a food fest again - what more could you want on a sunday afternoon?! i had some freinds around for a bbq lunch, it was really fun just hanging out on the patio with some gret guys and girls! lots of food was munched and some more smores where devoured! im gonna miss my patio bbqs/firetruck/people watching! then in the afternoon/evening i met up with my freind jen. we hung out at sunset beach for a while, got a photo with the inukshuk (met two random guys in the process and had a bit of a life chat with them - it still amazes me how crazy friendly the vancouver people are!) we sat on a bench and just enjoyed the amazing views, the sun, and yea it was sweet! we then decided it was time for some more food - jen is a bit of a food guru and knows some brilliant places to go and eat and so today we went to a veggie place - it was called the foundation. it was sooo yummy!! a really cool, retro kinda place, random chairs and a really cool view of the more industrial side of the city, one that people might not necessarily describe as beautiful, but as the sun set, twlight passed and the city lights came on it grew more and more beautiful! we had a huggeeee plate of nachos and some form of veggie/chick pea salad. it was goood!

nacho time!!

jen and i at the inukshuk

monday 23rd

today i went on an adventure with my friend sue xian. we hopped onto the bus and went to lighthouse park. its in west vancouver and it was a really lovely sunny day so we got the shorts and flip flops on and prepared ourselves for a little wander around the park. we soon realised that flip flops might not have been the best idea when we noticed that the public washrooms were little shacks in the middle of the forest....we braved them and got on with our hike/dander about. there was a lot of different little trails and paths to different view points - each point had like a big rock to sit on and admire the different views of the city so we topped up the tan and lots of fun filled girly chats and giggles where had! after a good explore of the park and some dirty feet gained we got the bus back into town.

that night i had my first bubble tea experience. its a smoothie kinda thing that has "pearls! added to it, kind of like jelly sweets! its a strange thing, but pretty yummy. it has a super big straw so when ur drinking the drink you get the pearls sucked up there too! its an asian thing and its pretty big here!

sue xian and i with our appropiate hiking footwear!

tuesday 24th

today was a biggie - a climbed the grouse grind! this is aparently one of the toughest hikes in canada. it consists of 2.9 km, 2800m of elevation and 2830 steps! neil and i got up bright and early ready to take on the challange, got the seabus across to north van and the bus up to the mountian and so we began.....we climbed and climbed, took lots of little breaks and climbed some more. its known for people trying to race up it, beating the pb etc but we decided to just do it leisurely and take in the views, atmosphere etc! and we completed it!! :) it took us about 1hr 25mins i think, we didnt really time ourselves but its crazy to think that people do it in like 30mins!! they must be fit! so we got to the top and ohhhh my word! the view was amazing! i dont think ive seen anything like it before and think it will be a while before i see something like it again. it made me fall in love with vancouver even more! so we sat at the rooftop restaurant and enjoyed a well deserved smoothie and took in the views. after getting our energy back we decided to take a little wander on up the mountian to the different things there are to see and do! we got a skilift up to the very peak of the mountian and again, gazed around in wonder at the amazing views! after that we went and watched a lumberjack show - it was soooo good! really funny and got a photo with them at the end too! see below! :) we also saw a grizzly bear - they look soooo cute but i was glad it wasnt out in the wild lets just say that much! they are huggee!

we got back home and met tina for some well deserved pizza - soooo yummy!

neil and i with our lumberjacks

me at the top of grouse mountain

about to begin the grouse grind

wednesday 25th

today was another fun day, i got up and chilled out at the appartment with jackee in the morning, had a bbq for lunch with josh and then we went and hung out at coal harbour and took some photos! it was really fun just chilling out in the sunshine, looking at the gorgeous views of coal harbour (defs up there in my favourite places in vancouver) and just being silly and getting rather snap happy! josh is a super super talented guy and so i got some great photos that will -remind me of my amazing time in vancouver - thanks josh!

that night i had another bubble tea experience and also had a fondue feast!! deeelicious! we had a cheese and a chocolate fondue - again a great time was had with some great freinds!

thursday 26th

today i had a pretty chilled morning i think, i cant really remember what i got up to, but i went and got my hair done in the afternoon. ohhh yea in the morning i went shopping for some gifts for people...so yea that was good. nothing super exciting really...

friday 27th

today was another pretty unexciting day, tina was packing/leaving this weekend and so we hung out. we went out for wings that night with some of her friends from starbucks.

saturday 28th

the chicken feet day!!! yes - today i had chicken feet for lunch. I met up with my friend sue xian for lunch with her family. we went for dim sum. it was really good spending time with her family, they are really lovely and have made me feel very very welcome here this summer! and yes, the chicken feet - well it was interesting, it just looks like an actualy chicken claw only theres sauce and you like eat the whole thing but spit out the bones, they are soft and yea it was pretty wierd....not really something i think i could eat all the time or anything but im glad i tried it, made me feel a little bit more cultured too! we went and hung out in steveston after and got some icecream - or i mean frozen yoghurt - oh so healthy!! haha! it was good tho!

that night i hung out with tina, helped her pack etc and just had a giggle together on our last night in vancouver together! i have loved getting to know her and excited that i have a friend in dundee who has shared my vancouver experience with me! ur awesome tina!

sunday 29th

i went out with a group of friends and friends of friends for lunch to a thai restaurant. it was soooo good! i love thai food! that evening i went to sue xians house for dinner. her parents made a malasian curry - deeeelicious! they had myself, trent and another malasian girl called elizabeth over. it was greta just to hang out around a kitchen table and just have good food and good chat and a bit of a laugh too!

monday 30th

wow that was only yesterday! the weekend seemed to zoom by me without even noticing there, but as the days ticked by to being my last one here i wanted to make sure each day was filled with lots of fun things! i met up with josh for brunch and we had some crepes - yummmieee! we then went and hung out at coal harbour for a while, had some icecream and just chilled out! then last night a group of us went out for a meal. it was sooo good! i loved it! id sold my rollerblades during the day so treated myself to a yummy steak and a glass of wine - soooo good! we all had a great meal and then went back to my appartment and made some smores, chilled out, enjoyed the head scratcher etc! and yea, it was just great to have the freinds i have made here around me on my last few days here! ive been so blessed to have met such a great bunch of people, they have all had an impact on my life without even knowing it and im soo excited to see what the future holds for our freindships!

some of my wonderful ladies

and some of the awesome guys!

so yea, here i am, my last day in vancouver, sitting with a starbucks coffee, having had another really gorgeous lunch with chelsea (i love this girl) and im putting off packing! i LOVE LOVE LOVE this place so much, words cant describe the summer i have had here! i could ramble on and on about the amazing time that i have had but i think you have all read enough of my facebook status' to know how amazing it has been!

i just wanna say thank you to every person i have met here for making me feel so welcome, so part of canada, and just for hanging out, the food we have shared, the conversations we have had, the giggles we have had - everything! im gonna miss everyone a lot but im sooo excited for the next time i come back (coz im gonna be back for sure, sooner or later) and yea, heres to vancouver- the amazing city that it is!

and here is to all my scottish, irish, english, british freinds that have put up with all my facebook status' photos, chat, bragging and boasting - thank you for listening. thank you for the emails, the postcards, the letters, the skype chats for the phonecalls and texts. ive missed you guys a lot and im super excited to see you all again very soon!

so from karen and canada,

thank you and love you

xxxx

beautiful bc

woowww and so two weeks appears to have just zoomed by me all of a sudden! im not gonna say how crazy how fast time has gone, coz all my blogs seem to start with that comment - but yea, i kinda just said it there didnt i??! anywayysss il try and update you on my last two weeks without rambling too much....

week of 9th august....

ehhh this week was pretty much quite a few days of working and i think anytime i wasnt working i was lazing on the beach or just hanging out with people.it kinda annoys me that my diary looks pretty blank for this week so i cant remember exactly what i got up to...maybe i should go check my facebook status' for some inspiration on what i got up to....

oh yea, so tina's friend neil arrived on wednesday...armed with some scottish blend tea bags so he very quickly became a buddie!! i hadnt had a decent cup of tea since i got here so it was veryyyy exciting to get my daily tea fix, or three! :) on the thursday after he arrived i took him for a walk around stanley park. it was great to walk around it again as ive only been blading or running around - ie going fast (ish) and so it was great to have even more time to take in the surroundings and it was lot of fun being able to be the tour guide for a change instead of the tourist! the sun came out again at the end of this week so there was a lot of time spent on the beach and topping up the tan.

ohh yea on thursday night, jackee had a gig at pretty snazzy restaurant in kits - a perfect excuse to get dressed up. tina, neil, josh and i all got the glad rags on and our manners and etiquette out and off we went. we had a gorgeeeousss meal and had lots of fun being posh for the night! the food was deeelicous as tina would say and yea it was just really chilled out and fun to hear jackee do her thing!

the highlight of the week was bowen island - a group of us went kayaking on bowen island! it was AMMMAZZINGG! the people, the scenery, the fun times, the photos...everything! we all met up in the morning and hopped on a bus and headed across to north vancouver - across the bridge - this was my first time so i was very excited! it was sooo nice getting out of the city and into the countryside, seeing all the beautiful water and mountians or moving closer to them! we got the boat across to the island - the trip over in itself was beautiful. sitting on the deck eating blueberries, taking photos and enjoying the sun! i was a very happy girl. we got to the island and got kitted out with out gear for kayaking....a few people hadnt been out before but they didnt seem to care, popped us into a kayak and off we went! it was beautiful, wonderful, incredible...i could keep going on with lots and lots of descriptive words as to how amazing it was but you get the picture. we zoomed around, supposed to be keeping 10-20meters from the edge of the cliffs but we kinda ended up doing a bit more sea kayaking than planned. it ment we got to hang out with the seals and boats too so that was fun! josh did his thing and took some amazingg photos - so glad il have these to remember this amazing day!!

thanks for the photos josh!

sooo onto the second of the weeks thats just flown by...

the 16th...

and unfortunately it started with a wierd happy/sad day....my friend penni's leaving party. im sure you have heard a lot about penni in my blog. shes been an awesome freind out here and my adventure buddie but she was jetting back to england this week (so its ok coz i can see her pretty easy again - hello roadtrip to reading!! ) but yea, a hugee group of her friends all gathered at sunset beach to hang out and say our goodbyes! shes gonna be missed a lot here as everyone loves her but she'll be back! this girl was born to be a canadian and so it wont be too long im sure of that! but yea, we hung out at the beach, watched the sunset, took lots of photos and then headed to a karaoke - lots of fun and giggles was had!

the wonderful penni

the rest of this week has revolved around the beach, work and just hanging out with people really.... i finished up work on friday. bit of a saga but pretty much to cut a story short im kinda being a bit of a bad ass and just not turning up to work for the next few days. i gave them my notice, they said it was fine and that i could have the time off, and then went and put me on the rota! possibly not the best attitute in the world, but i want some free time to explore, enjoy the final week and a bit in vancouver and dont really want to be stuck indoors in a supermarket and so yea...im excited for the final days here, making sure that they are filled with lots of fun times and adventures!

ohh yea i also had a smore party on wednesday night - that was fun! a gang of us came around to my patio and we just hung out, made smores, set some marshmallows on fire - chelsea loves BLACK marshmallows. like properly cremated ones! (see photo!!! - crazy lady) i introduced them to some british music - these guys havent heard of calvin harris - they are missing out!

chelsea with her cremated marshmallow!

friday (yesterday) was probably the highlight of this week...soo it started out at 8am when i met up with chelsea for breakfast. some yummmyyy blueberry pancakes with bacon and maple syrup - soooo good! then i had to go to work, it was a bit of a beastly 12-8:30 shift but it was ok, coz it was my last one! wooowooo! soo yea it went pretty fast and i suppose i just made it fun for myself coz i knew it was my last shift! then last night i went to a hoodie party at chelseas. she lives in the penthouse of a like 36 story building and so has a wonderful rooftop garden. she set up a projector screen and a crowd of us gathered around and hung out and watched a film. it was sooo amazing being sooo high up above all the hustle and bustle of the city at night. i love cities at night, or just night time in general but yea, it was fab! we all brought some food and blankets and snuggled up under the stars and watched some 17again - zac efron! it was a great end to a pretty awesome day....

amazing view from the rooftop - i love this city!

so heres to my final full week in vancouver. its gonna be a good one! its gonna be filled with lots of fun and im gonna write a super amazing blog about it - i promise. a few things on my to do list are:

to climb the grouse grind - one of the hardest hikes in canada apparently!

to go cliff jumping

to go to whistler

to go swimming in the sea at night

to have lots of fun

to spend time with amazing people

to take lots of photos to document it all

to pull way to many silly faces/poses in photo!

any vancouverites reading this - feel free to drop me a text/fb if u fancy joining me in any of the above activites or have any other great ideas! im a free lady now so always up for an adventure!!

message from the chopstick pro

monday 2nd - i was working in the morning, after work i caught up on last weeks blog and then met tina after work and we went for my first experience of asian food in vancouver. Im sure i have mentioned before, but vancouver is something like 60% asian - some areas are like 97%! so its pretty sweet in that there are a lot of proper asian restaurants from all areas of asia - not just the regular chineses etc that we get at home (as good as they are!) so yea, tina and i met up with a korean girl from her work and went out for some korean food. we got a selection of different dishes; a soup, a rice dish, a pork dish and some noodles. getting used to chop sticks took a little while, but i slowly got the hang of it - i think mastering the noodle pick up/getting it to my mouth without dropping it was a little unlady like at time but i slowly became a pro! the food was really yummy and i really loved how social it was. its the norm to share dishes and food, talking about the food etc. the soup had some rather interesting little beasty looking things in there which i wasnt so up for trying - im not a fan of anything that still has a head/eyes - but apart from that i was willing to try everything! afterwards, tina and i went to see inception - pretty good film, graphics are amazing etc, but im going to blame the fact that we went to the 11pm showing for me not really getting it!

tuesday - tina and i hit up the beach in the morning - making the most of the sun! i was working in the evening and then penni and josh came over at night. we hung out on our patio, made some smores and then got the guitar out and had a bit of a sing song. this ended up going on until about 4 in the morning before tiredness hit and bed time called!

wednesday - a rather sleepy karen got up and ready bright and early as i was meeting up with a lady at the vancouver art institute. to cut a long story short, i had inquired about their interior course purely out of noseyness and so i could see what kind of projects they do etc. the lady wanted me to come and see around the place/meet me in person so i thought why not? i hopped on the skytrain and arrived at the institute. she spoke to me about the course, was very interested in our course, the projects we do etc and then gave me a tour. i would LOVE to do a semester here or an exchange as i loved the course etc, it is a lot more structured than ours, with lots of teaching in cad, computer programmes, colour, business etc etc but its superrrr expensive so unless some form of scholarship/exchange programme can be set up it will be a bit of a dream for now. we spoke to a man about the exchange programme etc and he seemed to think it was a great idea - so who knows! time will tell i suppose and if its ment to be it will be! but yea, that was a pretty fun, thought filled morning!

thursday - i had another day off today - it was sooo good getting two days off in a row! today i had my second experience of asian food. my freind jen took me for dimsum - this isnt a dish, but more a meal. it can be translated to "little bits of goodness" and so thats exactly what it is. lots of little bits of food. she ordered a tonne of different things and explained all about the different foods, their culture, the tea drinking etc etc! it was brilliant - i really loved learning about the different cultures and about her! she took me to richmond which is a very asian part of vancouver - i was the only white person about when we got off the skytrain and the restaurant was the same. it was really strange as ive never been in the minority before and this was to the very extreme! but it was fun. again i got some practice at the chopsicks - this time a little more experience in using them along with a spoon for soups etc. again some more animally looking things in my soup - i was pretty brave this time and took a bite but lets just say i wasnt gobbling it up like there was no tomorrow! there was a lot of other really yummy things tho. i lot of squid/shrimps etc. deeelicous.

that night jackee had a gig in a bar in yaletown - a pretty yuppie area of downtown vancouver......a perfect excuse for tina and i to get our gladrags on and head out! :) the bar was really cool and totally my thing. it had a really chilled out cool, artsy atmosphere - there was an area at the back with lots of canvas' set up so people could rent them and paint and then the front was the bar/restaurant. tina and i treated outselves to some fine wine (it was amazingggg) and some nibbles, sat back and watched/listened to jackee! she was amazing!! soo good! it was just a really chilled out, fun night! sorted.

Friday - another morning off. penni and i had another appointment at the salon to get our hair done so we were up bright an early and off we went! the lady took the whole "trim" this to an extreme so my hair that id lovingly grown for the past like two years got more than a trim and so im still getting used to it! i suppose it needed it, but i loved my long hair! ah well - it grows! it was a fun filled girly day. we then met up with a girl that penni helps to look after sometimes and took her to the outdoor pool. it was fun to chill out at the side of the pool and totally made me feel that im on holidays (i know i am, but it reminded me of france or something) i was working that night and so after i met up with some people i met at the beach! we went to the beach again and hung out for a while and then went to a japanese restaurant. it was a really cool, lively atmosphere. the people were all chefs and so ordered a tonne of food and everyone tried everything - from pig cheek, to belly, to intestines...it was all pretty yummy. some things more than others for obvious reasons! we had some japanese cocktails too - they made them with these japanese asians drinks that you pop a marble into. kinda hard to explain over this - but it was cool. thats all you need to know!

saturday - ok - so ive just realised my week has pretty much revolved around food this week. this morning i tried the classic canadian breakfast maple syrup, bacon and pancakes! it was yummmmy and perfect for a rainy vancouver saturday morning - yes we had rain - and it sucked! a lot!! saturday night i was working and so didnt mind going there at all. it meant i didnt have to sit and look out at the rain and so i could forget about it! that night tina and i went out for a drink to a bar called the black frog in gastown. it was a pretty cool place, getting dressed up was fun and we met some pretty funny/interesting guys out! one was a chiropractor and so decided to fix my back - its been killing me a bit here - think a combo of airbed/standing on the same spot at work all day hasnt helped, but mid canadian bar he sorted it out a bit, commented on how screwed up it is and yeaa as you do, in the middle of a bar, he poked and proded! i think he had other intentions, but i just enjoyed the pain relief and let him head on his way. again the accent worked a treat - he told me to just speak to him all night and he'd die happy! ha! so at least ive made him happy!

ok time is running on, scottish blend tea is being drank and im gonna be late for work so il finish this off/add photos etc soon but yea...thats the jist! im gonna try super hard to get this going a bit more than once a week in my next few weeks as im planning lots of fun things before i leave...for now, hope your doing well, thanks for taking the time to read it and as always feel free to fire me an email telling me what you have been up to etc! much love xxxx

i went shopping in the morning, just a little window shopping really

goodbye july, hello august

and here goes the update on another week, again my diary has had to be brought out to remind me what ive been up too....

sooo my week started off on monday with a full day of work, some admin stuff i needed to get done, tidying my room etc etc - ie not the most exciting day ever but thankfully the week got much better from then onwards!

on tuesday i was off all day (such a good feeling) and so penni, josh and i headed on an adventure. we decided to go to lynn canyon! this is a forest park kind of place thats in north vancouver. all i really knew about it was that there was a suspended rope bridge and so reckoned it would be a super fun little adventure. penni and i got the sea bus over to north vancouver, this was my first time on the sea bus - i felt a little bit like an excited child going on holidays, it was very fun and super fast. we had a little while to wait before josh arrived which suited perfectly as there is a market right at the port of the seabus so penni and i had a nice little browse round there for a bit. we met up with josh and hopped on the bus to lynn canyon! it was beaaaautiful there! it was great to get away from city life for a little bit and enjoy the still and peacefulness of the countryside! we found the bridge and hopped onto it super excited about the experience of the swinging bridge. im usually pretty good with heights etc but oh my, this was pretty scary! it was really high up and unfortunately i think we chose the wrong time to step onto it - right as about 30 schoolkids hopped onto it at the other side, zooming across in their fearful little way - ie swinging and bouncing the bridge - eeeekkk!! but we got across and even managed to get some photos there too. once getting onto dry land we wandered and explored about the forest and found our way down to the river. it was gorgeous, crystal clear and really fresh. we stopped off for a little bit of a paddle, rock hop, log climb, photo shoot, splash about, rest etc before heading on up the river where we came across a huggee pool/beach kind of thing where lots and lots of people were cliff jumping. we sat and watched these crazy people for a while, a little jealous that i hadnt brought my bikini as i think i would have joined in along with these crazy people too! it looked like a lot of fun! after a while, a few more photos and a nice little rest we decided to keep wandering and came across an icecream shop. could i complain? nopes!! :) icecream was munched in the sunshine and off we went back to downtown to meet up with some others to go and see toy story 3! it was SO good. i love spanish buzz lightyear! fact. i was also introduced to canadian popcorn - salty with melted butter poured over the top. beautifully healthy!! and then to finish the day off, our friend derek took penni and i to an english style pub for a pint. fantabby end to a fantabby day!

the view from the suspension bridge - a long way down!

the pool in the middle of the forest

fully clothed on the cliff where the cliff jumping took place from

soooo after a nice relaxing day off it was back to work for me on wednesday! the shift went pretty fast, got home, had a bit of a bbq and then got to tick off one of my "to do before i die" things from my list. (not that i really have a list, but theres a few things i want to do in life!!) but yea...i got to ride on a motorbike!!! my friend trent has a bike and was going to park it in my garage here while we went to see a band play before the fireworks on wednesday night. he arrived a little late and so we were going to be late for the band event so i hopped on his bike and we got there in no time! it was soooo much fun! i felt like a bit of a 6 year old when it came to putting my helmet on - i couldnt get it clipped but thankfully trent came to the rescue and we were all set! i held on tight and off we sped! it was brilliant and i can totally see how people get a thrill out of it! we didnt go super fast as we were in town but it was brilliant!! hopefully il get another wee adventure when we can hit the highway and pick up a bit of speed etc but yea that was definately a highlight of my trip here! so yup, got to the youth event/band and then headed to the fireworks with some others. again another pretty impressive show - this time it was mexicos turn! a bit more random than the previous ones, but still an impressive show!

myself, jen and trent at the fireworks

thursday - another working day and then met up with grant and kerry for food on the beach after! its been a while since we have all seen eachother as we are all working people these days, so we grabbed some yummy greek food and headed to the beach to watch the sunset after! it was great to see them again and get a good catch up on their jobs, adventures etc etc! a little wander about was had and off to bed after a long days work.

friday - a super fun day off again! i love days off! :) penni and i had got vouchers one day on the beach for a manicure, facial and hair cut so we booked ourselves in for our facial and manicure and had a lovely girly day! the facial was sooo nice and had a massage too. it was much needed as my back hurts quite a lot with standing all day at work and the facial was much appreciated with all the sunshine here! the manicure was brill too and i now have some hot pink nails although unfortunately they are a bit chipped now with all the penny counting i have to do at work :( we then headed to a park for a while followed by the beach to top up our tans! we then went to english bay to meet up with some others! another fun day and night was had. this time it ended with a swim in the sea with my freind jen after the sunset! it was gorrrrrgeous and not even cold which is also good! it was beautiful swimming with the redness of the sun/sky reflecting on the sea.

penni and i soaking up the sun at the beach - note the manicure!

the sunset and the sea i swam in after the sunset

saturday - tina and i both had the morning off so we headed to the beach for a bit before work. it was super warm and so another dip in the sea was had! it was the final night of the fireworks so when i was leaving the beach about 3ish it was already packed with people setting up camp for the evening to get a good spot for the fireworks! i met up with jen and her freind for the fireworks. it was china and it was amazingggg! they put on an amazing show and as the winners last year they definitely didnt let me down!

so yup! theres another week over! this week i have pretty good shifts at work with 2 days off together on wednesday and thursday so thinking i might have to plan a little adventure! times going so fast to trying to get lots and lots done with lots of amazing people here! sorry this is a super long blog - if you have made it this far. congratulations!! if you have just skipped to the end all you need to know is im still having an amazing time! hope your all good! much love, karen! xxx

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