The Weekend and more

We might be buying a house here on the island. That's right - real grown up stuff happening over here. Frankly, it gives me anxiety thinking too much about it. We have seen quite a few houses and let's just say that "prices ain't what they used to be!" (I'm not entirely sure what time period I'm referring too. Houses just cost too much now, ok?) 


It's pretty hard to come by the perfect house - especially here in Greater Victoria on our budget (which, by the way, I thought was a pretty good budget until reality came knocking). I just live hoping that one day we will find a great little gem of a house that is just ugly enough that I can channel my inner Sarah Richardson*, do a fairly minimal amount of work, and end up with fantastic before and after photos. 


The point of that little tidbit of info is that we are likely staying here in Greater Victoria for a while. Mark now has a permanent job (applause!) and I am working away planning important things like drop in volleyball, Tiny Toes Ballet, and Intermediate Spanish at the James Bay Community School Centre (jamesbaycentre.ca). I do an important service to the world, don't I? 


When we buy a house, I simply must have a space for my new and amazing garden planter box thingy. Mark built it. Good work, hey? I love it and the plants are all much bigger now. We are producing heaps of lettuce that we can barely eat and pretty little flowers.

I still highly recommend that everyone reading this immediately move to Vancouver Island. But in the spirit of full disclosure I should share that I do understand why some people don't like the idea of living on an island. Let me elaborate...

We went over to Vancouver the other day for the Bon Iver concert (due to the fact that the concert was THE BEST, everything else becomes sort of a moot point, but since I've already started telling the story...)  I had to get back to Victoria the next morning for work. We made a ferry reservation. I got up on time. I got to the ferry on time. I pulled out my reservation confirmation. Guess what? Made it for the wrong day. Bummer. So I missed the first ferry and ended up late for work. Oh well. The weather was nice and life moved on. But what I'm saying is, for those who can't be confined to island - I kind of get it. Kind of. 

 *If you don't already know, Sarah Richardson is a Canadian interior designer (sarahrichardsondesign.com). If I was rich, I would call her until she agreed to design my home. And pay her extra to bring Tommy (her amazing sidekick). 

It's been a while since I last wrote a blog post. I have just been so busy too lazy. I had trouble with the formatting and it was driving me crazy, so I quit for a while. But now, to take a cue from the self help book I saw a lady reading on the bus, EXCUSES BEGONE! (that was actually the title). 


Anyways, a few good updates: I have two jobs again. For a while I was back down to only working one day a week at the florist, which is great, but not enough for me. But fortunately, I managed to hang in there and I now am also the Community Recreation Programmer at James Bay Community School Centre. It's fun. I like my career. And paycheques :) 


A few of the other things I/we have been up to: 


We visited Tofino and Ucluelet. So beautiful.  We saw a lot of eagles. And ate good food. 

All kinds of flowers started blooming in February. FEBRUARY! Hallelujah. I just love all the flowers here. I just about die every time I go outside. The magnolias are now in bloom and I can't even handle it. 

My parents visited and we had a bbq on the beach. We had a great time showing them around the island. I think they had a good time - even if my dad says the mountains get in the way of his view. 

 We spent Easter weekend with our dear friends the Gallants (these next few photos are courtesy of Amanda). We had so much fun spending time with them. We took the ferry down to Seattle for a couple days. It went by way too fast.

We are getting hints that summer is on its way (apparently summer arrived in the prairies two weeks ago, but then it left again). I'm hoping the sun continues to shine on a more regular basis. The rain has not been too bad, but I just prefer sun. I mean, I am a human. Who doesn't prefer sun? 

Raindrops on roses...

I am not as talented as Julie Andrews and therefore unable to turn this into a charming song, but here are a few of my favourite things from around here so far. I will share them through photos, instead of music. 

Habit Coffee - I haven't always loved coffee as I do now, but after living with Cafe Goodkey (aka Brandon and Kristen) for six weeks, I was hooked. Victoria does not disappoint on the cafe scene. Habit is one of my favourite. 

Charming downtown streets - Victoria is full of them! See that little black sign half way down the street? Rook and Rose - my Saturday florist gig. Love it! 

Floating house villages - how charming is that? This little green one is my favourite. It is far too small for us to ever live in (Mark wouldn't even be able to stand up straight) but it's a cute idea. 

Colours like these in the fall - this photo was taken at Butchart Gardens. My utopia :) 

The Sea! 

And the mountains! They often look as though they are floating on the clouds.

It's magical, really. 

P.S. I'm super annoyed with blogger and the formatting issues I seem to have. If anyone has tips on how to insert photos without it screwing with the text, let me know. I don't have the resolve to figure it out on my own. 

Giving Back! (to the internet)

Back when I was living the life of luxury as an unemployed housewife with no children*, I had a lot of time on my hands to be creative read blogs on the internet and look at Pinterest. Now I have two jobs! (I can say that like it's a big deal, but one job is a six week contract planning activities and field trips and the other is one day a week at a florist where I basically get paid to play with flowers and do crafts. So, don't feel sorry for me. More details on the jobs to come). 


So, as I was saying, I am very hard working now and don't have the same amount of time for such recreational activities as before. Looking back on my days of scrolling through blogs and photos online, I realized that there are people out there who actually contribute to the world by being online. They share IDEAS. They post helpful LINKS. They are much FUNNIER than I am. 


As I mentioned before, my purpose with this blog is not really to entertain anyone or be highly regarded as a great blogger (like all those Mormon moms out there** - what is up with that?). Rather I am hoping to connect with people who are far away and maybe convince them to come live wherever I am. Because I would like that. But I started to think I should try to "give back to the internet" world a bit more. 


So, let this mark the start of my "every once in a while, I will try to post something helpful/creative/useful" on my blog. 


Yesterday, after working a gruelling shift of making mod-podge book covers and arranging succulents at the florist, Mark and I went to do a bit of a shop at NOOD - a New Zealand based furniture and housewares store which we discovered there and then re-discovered upon return to Canada. 


Turns out NOOD is closing down all of the international stores and concentrating on the market in the Southern Hemisphere. Bummer for us. But it means good sales right now!  Here are a few of our favourites.


 
Bookworm Magazine Table 

Trestle Console Table


























Songbird (I don't actually know how much I like this bird, but Mark brought it home one day and named it. So, we kept it. And no, I can't remember the name at the moment...)


There is much more great stuff to be had at 50-75% off. I'm almost most excited for these wooden boxes/crate things that they use in all the store displays. I couldn't find a photo, but they are on sale. You have to join a waiting list to get them! Here's hoping I can snag a few. 


I should mention that there are only NOODS in BC and Alberta, I think. Sorry to the rest of you. If you find something you love, I can try to buy it for you. 


www.nood.ca 


*Being an unemployed housewife with no children is much more fun if you are independently wealthy or have charity work to keep you busy. If you are simply on a budget and looking for a job, it's still good, but not a full time occupation. 


**Don't get me wrong, I really like all those Mormon mom blogs. It's just a weird phenomenon how many there are these days... 

Winter for one week

Update on the weather: it snowed.


And the temperature dropped to -13 (with windchill, ha!) and oh, how all the rest of Canada laughed as we islanders tried to struggle through the harsh winter conditions until finally.... that's it. We give up. Call a snow day.

School is cancelled. No busses. Work might be cancelled depending on who you are and where you work. One can't possibly go out in this!!! 

You may be sensing some sarcasm on my part. To be fair to the west coast, snow is a bit of a different thing here. The relatively warm temperatures mean a lot of snow turns to ice pretty fast. There is only one snow plow or something for each municipality. The roads are small and and hilly. I no longer own a snow shovel, so how was I to clear a path to get anywhere?


But seriously... it was not that bad.


And I thought it was kind of pretty. 

Away from the sea

The holidays brought only waves of white for us. We did a lot of travelling - from Victoria to Edmonton to Swan River and back in the reverse order. We had plenty of great family and friend time.

The weather was actually abnormally warm in both Edmonton and Manitoba. In fact, the most snow we saw was unfortunately on the highway in the middle of Saskatchewan. It was falling from the sky and blowing into the windshield. In the dark. Easily the worst part of the trip! But we survived thanks to my brother in laws driving skills and my sister occasionally yelling, "Left! Left!" Yikes.


My grandpa is currently in the hospital recovering from some falls and surgery. But we busted him out of there for the night and had a family Christmas dinner.

My brother showing off his wheelchair skills. I don't think Grandpa will be trying these anytime soon...

Sister takes photos of me and I take photos of her. It's the only way either of us ever ends up in photos. 

A couple intense games of shuffleboard at the seniors apartments. Note: taking photos of yourself in the mirror is another trick for having proof you exist. 

What a lovely pair. I'm lucky to have such loving parents that still love each other!


I always love being in Manitoba and am sad when we have to leave. It still feels like 'home'. And after all the fun times with friends in Edmonton it was hard to leave there too. But I have to say, flying back into Victoria we experienced the most beautiful sunrise. (Unfortunately, my camera was in the overhead bin and the seatbelt light was on...) The island isn't quite 'home' yet, but it is nice to be back where the sea rolls in and the trees stay green in January! 

Ok, so there might not be much green in this photo, but I'm at the beach. Me and all the dog owners. 


Happy New Year! 

Check out my mom's organizational skills. You need a spray suit? It's in the box with the gun cleaner, shrink wrap and binoculars. Obviously.  

Almost Christmas

It's almost Christmas! My favourite time of year. We have had some great holidays in the past year. Last Christmas was an amazing experience with my family in New Zealand. And although surfing Santas and going to the beach on Christmas Eve was a little bit weird, I loved every minute of it. 

Most people know I have a fairly strong aversion to snow and cold, so I'm not too disappointed to be in a warmer climate again this year. December has come complete with warm walks around Thetis Lake with friends. 

Apparently this place goes bananas in the summer with families and all kinds of folks. Swimming and cliff jumping - looking forward to it! Well, not the cliff jumping. Water always goes up my nose. 

The weather has stayed pretty nice so far. I have had multiple requests to document the west coast climate in the winter. Most people don't like cold, but they also don't like gloomy rain and clouds. But winter usually brings at least one of those in Canada. And if I had to choose at this point, I prefer the rain over the -25 weather. There are weeks of clouds and rain and then it stays sunny for a week. Then it rains for a day. Then it rains half a day and is sunny the rest of the day. You get the idea. And it hovers between 0 and +10.  (First you get a geography lesson and now you get meteorology training. Amazing!)  

I'm still unemployed. Boo. I do not like it, but I am finding things to occupy my time. Such as taking my boring filing cabinet....

And turning it into this! Mod Podge is the best - am I right, Melanie Neilson? :)  

Merry Christmas!