Vacation Time

It's nearing our Vacation time already. We are leaving bright and early and driving down to beautiful Oregon and then onto California so that we can visit family and bring up my belongings or a list of belongings I will want in Canada.

I am really looking forward to the warm weather! And we do plan on getting in some photo time for me and hopefully some great bird watching and a few other nature related activities for all of us.

The trip will also include a day in Napa wine tasting and touring...

I might pop in to comment but I'm definitely not posting much more...

I also should be absent for 2 Photo Hunts, but might pop in to post one, although I won't have any time to comment..

Hope everyone enjoys the next week which just so happens to be July 1st (Canada Day) in Canada and July 4th - Independence Day...

We will be missing some great fireworks shows here in Vancouver but hopefully we will see another in California...

In the mean time, now we will be enjoying the warm California for just over a week and listening to lots of cd's in the car!

***If there are any photos someone would like me to try taking while I am in fast food central/shopping central let me know... Sounds like a funny treasure hunt already....

A Blog Rating

I wanted to thank everyone for the well wishes and Rositta for the link to this. I had a laugh when they told me my blog is "G" because of the word Knife!

Mingle² - Blog Rating

And why would knife be a bad word to explain to a G audience???

A Sleeping Meme

Canadian Swiss tagged me for a sleeping meme, so here it goes.

6 Weird things I do while getting ready to sleep or while sleeping:

1. I usually sleep with a pillow under my legs, or in between them, because I wrench my back out daily swimming and I need to lie down flatter for it to feel better. Bottom line, it feels better that way but should be icing it actually.

2. P almost always goes to sleep way later than me. He never wakes me up either when he comes to bed. I'm usually out like a log but I have enough time to notice he's around, then I'm back sleeping again.

3. I always sleep in undies and a tank top while P has to be in boxers.
4. I wish our windows would be darker because I always wake up to the early morning light.
5. If I wake up near sunrise, I can't fall back asleep. I'll fall back asleep like once in a blue moon if I'm lucky.
6. I used to be able to get up instantly in the early morning hour. Now getting up at 4:50am in the morning is so hard and I absolutely hate it but still do it for my swim training.

I’ll add a few more for your entertainment:

• P and I never snore but P looks like a cute cuddly animal in the covers with his hands sticking out. We both think we are so cute while we are sleeping.
  
• I have to have a big fluffy pillow but not too hard which makes it very hard to find the right pillow for me.
  
• The only way I can sleep in is by having it pitch dark. Last time that happened was while I was living in Switzerland.
  
• I have to have my 8 hrs of sleep each night, but in my 20's I only needed 6.
  
• I hate wasting time and think this is why I always wake up early every morning.
  

So I'm not tagging anyone. But go ahead if you'd like to use this meme.

Shiny Leaves

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This weeks Photo Hunt Theme is Shiny.

Shiny are the leaves which I love to photograph.

This reminds me of vineyard leaves which we will be seeing quite soon in Napa Valley.

Please note, I might not be present for the next two hunts as we are on vacation for 2 saturdays driving, but I'll let you know ahead of time.

A Summer Celebration

As most of you know today is the first day of summer, and the longest day of the year. We will be taking advantage of that by celebrating at the Roger Waters Concert tonight. Ironically a colleague of mine is going too. And even worse for me, I skipped my workout this morning! Oh no...

The last two days have shown us the great summer weather we should be having while today should be mostly cloudy to rainy. And I thought the weather people were helping me prepare for that hot California sun.

This is our last weekend here before we are gone on our adventure. I'm very excited but we need to finish up one last thing. Putting together music!

If you have any good road music suggestions, please let us know. I've suggested we find some comedy for the road. Any other suggestions?

Swimming Ettiquette 101

Why don't people know this already???

Have a laugh on swimming ettiquette for yourself...


Here's a teaser.

4) Try to select or negotiate workout routines complementary to others in the lane. For example, a set of short backstroke sprints may be difficult to weave in with others who are already doing a long, steady freestyle set without interfering with each other.

So what happens when you've got old men trying to swim in the fast lane?

It's like all of those people who think they can drive in the fast lane while going at the speed limit. Now can you relate?

Oh I just cherish my early mornings this way!

A Prince Edward Island Recipe

In the Canadian Magazine Chatelaine, this July issue has some incredible recipes inside. They are themed by each Canadian Province and are beyond mouth watering.

I asked P to cook up one of my favorite of the bunch which turned out just incredible!

First note, we still don't have a grill so we had to settle for baking everything in the oven and on the stove.

A Prince Edward Island Tradition
Grilled Potato and Sausage Salad (not sure why you'd call it a salad though)

Preparation time 10 min
Grilling Time 20 min or a bit more in the oven
Makes 6 to 8 servings

1 head garlic

4 large russet potatoes, preferably red

1 zucchini

1 yellow pepper

1 red onion

Canola or olive oil

Pinches of salt and pepper

1 lemon

2 tbsp (30 mL) Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp (2 mL) chili powder

1/3 cup olive oil

3 sausages - we used Mild Italian Sausage Links (something with flavor!)

1/3 cup (75 mL) shredded fresh basil (highly recommended!)

1. Oil grill and heat barbecue to medium. Wrap head of garlic in foil. Cut unpeeled potatoes into ½ in. (1 cm) thick rounds. Slice zucchini into thick rounds. Slice pepper into quarters. Slice onion into thick rounds. Place all in a large bowl. Drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then toss. For dressing, squeeze juice from lemon into a small bowl. Whisk in Dijon, chili powder, salt and pepper. Gradually whisk in 1/3 cup (75 mL) oil.

2. Place potatoes on grill with garlic. Prick sausages all over with a fork and place on grill. Barbecue, covered and turning occasionally, until cook­ed through, 15 to 20 min. Remove sausages as they are cooked to a cutting board and potatoes to a large bowl.

3. Place veggies on grill. Turn often, until grill marks form, 5 to 7 min. Remove peppers to cutting board and add remaining vegetables to bowl with potatoes.

4. Thinly slice sausages and cut peppers in half. Add to potatoes. Squeeze garlic from skins onto cutting board. Mash with the flat side of a knife, then whisk into dressing. Drizzle over salad and toss. Sprinkle with basil. Salad tastes best the same day it's made.

The thing we noticed most was the basil and the dijon mustard with lemon. Yummy! We had enough left overs for lunch the next day and let me tell you it was a total hit!

Flashback PhotoHunt

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This weeks Photo Hunt Theme is Hair.

This is a photo of my brother and I back in 1999 in Seattle, Pike Market. I'm wearing my brother's favorite jacket that he can no longer find which I want, my favorite t-shirt and the longest hair I've ever had. If you look closer at my hair, it was quite blond on the ends. I was still swimming a bit so I had the most wonderful sunglasses tan imaginable!

I think my hair is getting that long again, but I'm cutting it soon. Here's my short hair from 2005, which I really like but my hair curles naturally when it is short.

The bottom photo is from Switzerland, Harder Kulm and my hair style I love.

Wine Recommendations

With our visit to California, we are really looking forward to buying wine and touring the Napa Valley wineries. Of course I've never really toured up there and we are going during a high season for visitors so we really don't know where we will be visiting just yet. I've done a small amount of research, but of course I think I should already know more than what I do.

Having said, that if anyone has any great recommendations for a wine tour, bottle of wine, dessert wine (which are way too pricey in Canada) or anything else that has to do with California wines, please let us know.

Actually since wine in Canada is so expensive, we will be bringing back our full allotment to make up for the huge price difference up here. Any suggestions on wines to buy right now would rock. We love reds, mostly merlot and whites Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon.

Here are 4 places that interested me so far.

Beaulieu Vineyard
Rubicon Estate
Goose Cross
Sterling Winery

Our favorites around the wine country of the Okanogan are definitely from Osoyoos, NK'mip which we toured last summer.

An Uneventful Week

So I haven't really posted too much lately because I've been so busy and have lost that urge to be creative and post anything. I know I have been getting up way too early and P and I were on very different schedules as of late. That all should change soon as we gear up for our big drive down to California. Actually I can't wait until that happens.

It's been funny weather off and also...

But so far we have two destinations in our vacation plans: Crater Lake and Napa Valley for some wine tasting..

The rest of the time will be filled up visiting friends and also making up my list of goods to follow...

Where Are My Shoes

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This weeks Photo Hunt Theme is Shoes.

I don't take too many photos of shoes but here's what I came up with...

Baby Shoes


Horse Shoes in Stanley Park, Vancouver

My Own Shoes walking in Soluthurn Switzerland

My feet are large and well I can't find shoes to wear in Europe.
I lucked out finding size 9 docs but that was about it!
Yes my feet are size 43 European.

A Landed Immigrant

So today was the big date. A big date with the Canadian Immigration Office that is...

I was nervous and really couldn't eat all too much for lunch. That was just because I was hoping I didn't have to bring P and brought the correct papers with me. (I was just fine.)

I had a 1pm appointment to become a permanent resident of Canada. It was extremely uneventful and nerve racking how long I had to wait!

You see I was the last in line to be given permanent residency. As luck had it, I was #21 out of 21. I wasted away 1. 5 hrs of my time listening to the same questions, same answers over and over again...

The entire time, I was thinking to myself, why not tell me to come at 2pm instead of 1pm!

They asked me about 3 simple questions. The two interviewers were extremely upbeat, polite and so nice. This is definitely different than the rest of the process! The questions were something like:

Are you still married?
Were you ever convicted of a crime?
Were you ever asked to leave the country?
Not really much more than that.

I then signed a carbon copied paper, checked over my information, handed my passport which got stamped, got a hand shake and was told my PR Card would be in the mail in 4 to 6 wks.

Uneventful or what?? Yes extremely. After that, I jetted off and went back to my computer working away...

Some helpful tips.
Bring your letter that has your information and confirmation for PR.
Bring your passport.
Bring your visitor record or work permit with you. These you need to keep for life as they are useful when you apply for Canadian Pension. They just crossed it out, and told me it was now invalid (given that I just landed)...
Bring a book, cross word or something to do! You'll be there waiting for a while..

Google Street View Surprise

Google is rolling out a new feature called Street View that enables people using their maps webpage to see photos at street level of certain areas on a map. So far the coverage is limited to only a few American cities but they are promising to expand.

Anyways, as you can expect, certain things get captured by their cameras that make you wonder. Like this:



My first thought was that it is a Photoshop trick. But no. You can go here and see for yourself that it is indeed a true photo on google.

Now is he repairing his bike or doing something else? You be the judge :-)

via my [confined] space

North Vancouver Dining

I was tagged by the one and only Tor with The Eating Out Meme. I've been too busy to even think about posting but I'm finally getting to it now!

These are the rules:
1. Link to the name of the person who tagged you.
2. Include the state and country in which you live.
3. List your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location (locally).
4. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.

There are so many places to eat out in the greater Vancouver area, so I'll pick a few that I frequent the most often. P & I both are not that big on eating out so it is a little more difficult for me to decide on these places.

We tend to stick to North Vancouver because we enjoy walking to our eating destinations the most. I have many more favorite Sushi places but I've narrowed it down to the 5 most recent eats we enjoy often. As well, we will be at the center of attention come 2010 Olympics.

1) Marina Grill - located on the shores of the Burrard Inlet where the Second Narrows Bridge starts in North Vancouver. This is a hidden gem to the untrained eye. But if you've been there once, you'll always want to come back. We prefer eating brunch there as they have anything and everything we just love. Our favorites are eggs, hash browns, toast, salmon and coffee in some sort of combination. We love sitting on the patio after our Saturday morning workouts.

2) Colosseum Pizza and Steak - Some of the best pizza around. We love going into this place for a private dinner. It is a bit pricey for wine, salad and pizza but we still love it because it's part of North Vancouver. As well, we enjoy supporting local family restaurants in the area when we can. If you are looking to take your time and have a private candle like setting, this is the place. Plus for us, it's a short walk down the road.

3) Memphis Blues Barbeque House (North Vancouver) - If you are missing those ever tasty ribs and have a few people who want beer and fun entertainment, this is the place. Pricey are a bit higher than what I did expect but the ambiance and people are part of the fun. You need to come early if you want to actually get a place to sit and eat. We've celebrated a good friends birthday here and nearly took over the small restaurant. Fun taste of Tennessee.

4) Mythos Greek Food - A Nice place to have a more expensive meal. I remember having the most incredible rack of lamb last time. It nearly melted in my mouth. They truly know how to cook a great meal here. Although I still miss the ambiance and service of my favorite restaurant located on the Swiss/German border of Switzerland.

5) Indian Fusion - We love this place for it's great ambiance and Indian Food. The meals are perfect portions so you don't over eat. We split our meals and add rice and it's perfect. Indian food is a little pricey in Vancouver but this place is well worth it.

If you want to do this meme, feel free. I'm sure I can do this meme over again for a few more areas of the world... Next stop Switzerland...

Please stay tuned as I'll have a new life this week... LOL

Canadian Art

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This weeks Photo Hunt Theme is Art.

For this theme, I took a look at the definition in Wikipedia and was correct as suspected.

Art is that which is made with the intention of stimulating the human senses as well as the human mind and/or spirit. There is no general agreed-upon definition of art, since defining the boundaries of "art" is subjective, but the impetus for art is often called human creativity."

So I give you some Art from Ambleside Park in West Vancouver. I think this totem is a great welcoming for everyone to the area.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!