one year ago today...

sigh...................

this should do for a little while...

Camping at WhiteswanLake
Niagara Falls - Maid of the Midst boat

ride, we were (obviously) very soaked!

ah, so as i sat here at work and opened up a fresh can of president's choice diet pomegranate sparkling soda, i thought to myself, "why not write a new fresh blog to go with my drink of choice." so here we have it my friends, a real update, in my own words, no blog picture cheating (well okay, just a little). now as a little side note, i have to say that i love putting up my pictures on here and writing about what's been going on, because truly, a picture says so much. and i know how much i LOVE when other people post their pictures, so hopefully mine are somewhat interesting to all of my faithful fans.

so summer has been great, as great as can be when one works Mon - Fri, 8:30 - 5:00. as you can all see, i did get to take a week off in july and we headed to Ontario for some cruisin down the freeway in the hot hot sun... above left is a picture of us right after we went on "maid of the midst" in Niagara Falls - it took us right into the center of the falls and it was absolutely awesome. we had such a great time. we have decided we prefer to be on holidays and would like to become professional holidayers. we are planning a trip to Los Angelos now... yah we leave tomorrow. hehe. just kidding, it's one of many imaginary trips.

for August long we went camping with some friends, Angela (who I work with at BX) and her boyfriend who is now her fiance as of yesterday, Kim. we went to whiteswan lake which is about 30 minutes from the famous candle lake. we had fun despite the crummy saturday weather, as we pitched our tent in the pouring rain and set up a great big huge tarp and made a roaring fire. kim and angela had brought their black lab puppy who that night followed kim and jeff in the truck to go get firewood, and angela and i didn't see her follow them so suddenly we realized she was missing. so out we went in the absolute pouring rain with our little flashlights yelling for charlotte for 30 minutes, when the boys come driving around the bend with the dog in the box of the truck wagging her happy little tail. yes we were less than impressed and drenched the the core. but heck it was fun. sunday we went fishing because i am dating a hillbilly and all my friends are too. haha just kidding angela! :) i'm turning into one too, as i caught 4 of my own fish, my very own fish. i have graduated from beginnger to novice fisherwoman status. jeff needs to now buy me a cooler, more expensive fishing rod, as the one i have now has been called everything from a fisher price rod to a kindergarten rod. thats so uncool. i want to find a pink reel. now thats cool!

school starts in a few weeks and i'm not really looking forward to it, other than the fact that its my last year and i will actually have a really expensive degree. that'll be awesome. i'm gonna get my degree framed and send out really big grad pictures of myself to all my friends and family for them to mount in their front hallway in their homes :)

i have three new loves to discuss with you all:

1. in september a few girls from work and i are registering for brainsports learn to run clinic. they start you off running real nice and slow and for short periods of time, and by the end of the 8 weeks you should be able to run at least 30 minutes. so hopefully that'll be good. i need something to help me get motivated. at least lynnel will be back this fall so that we can go back to the gym together, as long as she takes a night class or something so that she'll have the membership. they teach you about proper stretching, running posture, nutrition and other crap like that. you know, all the stuff thats good for you. and they take you down all those beautiful meewasin trails by the river. so it should be good! you should join too!!!

2. so since i read sooooooo freaking fast i bought myself a killer. war and peace. 1392 glorious pages of war and peace. its got the smallest printing a person can read and i'm loving it. its taking me forever to read and its great cuz normally i read books in about 3 days. this summer i've read a million little peices and my friend leonard (you know that james frey author who's story is a big crock but still, great books to read), the life of pei, the devil wears prada, a couple of the shopoloholic books, 2 john grishm books, some dumb book i found on our bookshelf downstairs, and a few others i can't remember. so war and peace here i come! and i'm loving it so far, it's a great story. some parts are very quircky and clever and the characters are unique and it's lovely. hehe. i love reading.

3. and finally, i have bought my first installment of scrapbooking stuff! i was flipping through the good old entertainment book and found a coupon for a scrapbooking store on 8th street, and last night as there was a 1.5 hour wait between my Wed night shows, Rockstar Supernova and The Hills, i decided to check it out. so i got about 16 individually chosen peices of paper, a scrapbook, 2 gel pens, 2 packages of stickers, and some adheisive for $38.00. it's still not enough to really do a good job, i need way more stuff, but it's a start. it's so overwhelming being in there and choosing paper and stuff but sooooo fun. and the lady working there, she's a bit of a cooky one (as much as i love home sewn navy blue and white bunny rabbit jumpers), but she was very helpful. i had a fun time talking with her and trying not to laugh. she was very passionate about scrapbooking. maybe i will be too one day (my bday is coming up in 37 days so hint hint).

well with all that, and one sip left of my sparkling soda, i must bid you all adu. have a great great day!

love kristin

Guess where we were?

This pretty much is a dead give away...
Yeah, so Jeff and I took a little vacation from July 14th - July 18th... we jetted off to Toronto and had an awesome trip! Here are some of our highlights.

(I honestly just love my digital camera... can you tell?!!!)

"Everyone Loves Marine Land!"
The Killer Whale up close and personal!
Oh so cute Baluga Whales - it cost $8.00 to touch and feed them, so we stood back and jealously watched the rich people touch them.
Niagara Falls all lit up at night.... so beautiful!
The Maid of the Midst boat ride - it takes you right into the center of the falls, soooooooooooo scary and fun! We had a great view - right in the very front tip of the boat on the lower deck! We were soaked, but it felt good on a +40 C day (that's with the humidity of course).
Again, the beautiful falls at night time.
An afternoon at Niagara-on-the-Lake - a very quaint tourist town about 20 minutes outside of Niagara Falls. We took a walk by Lake Ontario, tasted some Ice Wine samples, stopped for a little lunch, and picked up some cherries and sugar plums! Who would've thought that sugar plums are a real fruit? Delicious!

No trip to Toronto is complete without a Blue Jays game! We went to two - Friday against Seattle, and Monday against Texas. Good times!
Right before the game. I love this picture!

After thoughts

My sister wrote a fabulous overview of our specatacular trip to New York, so please go to her blog to read all about it!

www.insidejennashead.blogspot.com

I do have to say that it was seriously AWESOME! What a place!!!! Could be my most favorite place I've ever been to. Someday maybe I will live there. Hey, if there's a place for midget's on Broadway, I'm sure there will be a place for little miss me (nothing against midgets of course. i pretty much am one!). Yes, New York is the place to be. I think they must spend millions and millions of dollars on decorations there because there was extravagence EVERYWHERE. Beautiful decorations, lights, wreaths, everything. What a place.

Well I wrote my last final exam this morning. It took me a total of 21 minutes, and nobody was allowed to leave until 9:30, so I wrote out a list of things to do before I had to be at work at 12:00. Yes, it may have been the easiest/simplist exams I have ever written. Sample questions are as follows: What continent has the most developing countries? ummm.... Africa?........... What is one consequence of deforestation? uh, endangers biodiversity...... like geez, no wonder I only went to 7 classes in 2nd semester. I was the first one out of the entire PAC gym. 600 people are stuffed in there, as there are about 5 different exams being written at the same time. So I don't know why nobody else was done as fast as I, but it didn't matter because I had stuff to do!!! I also got back an assignment today, which I got 96% in, my highest mark in an assignment ever I think. That was a nice early Christmas present.

I think I am all ready for Christmas, as of 12:00 today! I did all my shopping yesterday and today, in between final exams in the morning and working at 12. Crrazzzzzy I tell you. I'm really happy with everything I'm giving to people, which makes me feel so happy and excited to give. I even accidently bought somebody two presents... I don't know what I was thinking, but now I have an extra pair of men's pajama pants to give to somebody!!! My mom said she got my dad some for Christmas, so maybe I'll give them to Jeff or one of my brothers. Maybe I'll take them back and exchange them for some girly ones for me? No, I already did something selfish today... I couldn't pass it up.... Bridget Jones' Diary 1 and 2 for $19.99!!!! WHAT A DEAL!!! I can't wait to watch them over and over and over. Hmm and I haven't even seen the first one, just the 2nd one but I loved it so I'm sure I'll love the first too. So seriously girly. All I need now is the Titanic and the Notebook and I am all ready for major girls night out, I mean in. Actually the only time I will ever watch the Titanic ever again is if it's on TV some night and I will have to be THAT bored. It's a good TV movie on a cold winter evening.

Tonight is our department staff Christmas dinner so we are all going to the Granery for a delicious dinner, can't wait. Afterwards, going to Jeff's so I can wrap all mine and his presents for people, and tomorrow evening is Christmas at the Eagle's house, so we're opening some presents. Christmas Eve morning (which is also Jeff's 28th birthday), we're driving to Calgary for a few days, and we are also going to go to Banff on Boxing Day, and home on Tuesday.

For New Year's, I do have to work Friday the 30th, but then I don't have classes or work until January 4th, so I have a few days off there too.

There you have it, my schedule for all the world to see!!!

Merry Christas everyone!

Frank Sinatra sings it best...

start spreading the news.... i'm leaving today... i want to be a part of it...

new york, new york...

these vagabond shoes... are longing to stray... right through the very heart of it,

new York, NEW YORK!!!

i want to wake up in a city that doesn't sleep! and find i'm king of the hill! top of the heat!

these little town blues... are melting away... i'll make a brand new start of it, in old New York!

if i can make it there i'll make it anywhere, it's up to you,

NEW YORK, NEW YORK!!!

i want to wake up, in a city that never sleeps, and find i'm number one, top of

the list, king of the hill, a number one!

these LITTLE TOWN BLUES....... ....... ohhhhhhhhh they'll be away.......

i'm gonna make a brand new start of it, in old new york!
annnnnnnnnndddddd... if i can make it there, i'm gonna make it anywhere,

its up to you,

NEW YORK, NEW YOOOOORRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKK!!!

i heart new york!

yes it's true folks, i'm really going there! my parents are taking my sister and i there from december 15 - 18, four short but going to be VERY filled days! can you imagine, new york at christmas? it's gonna be absolutely beautiful. i don't know why but remember in "home alone 2: lost in new york", well there's this scene that i've always remembered, where the kid is running from the bad guys and he hides out in this HUGE toy store right in times square and its all decorated extravagently for christmas, and i've always remembered that scene b/c i thought it was just so beautiful.

well now i get to GO there! our hotel is in times square too, half a mile from the ed sulliven theatre. we are trying to get tickets for david letterman on thursday night. friday morning we are going to radio city music hall christmas extravaganza!!! and friday night we are going to the brooklyn tabernacle christmas production!! and then saturday night we are gonna go to a broadway show but we haven't decided on one yet. and sunday we have to go home which is so sad, but hey at least we get a few great days to enjoy!

so yah i just wanted to shout it to the world :) the week i get back i have two final exams to write which absolutely SUCKS but hey, it's almost CHRISTMAS!!!!

I love love love NEW YORK!

Prague in black & white

Vienna

Prague

better late than never!

PICTURES FROM BEAUTIFUL PRAGUE!!!

Me overlooking the city

Koo-Koo

I now understand Kristy-Anne's hesitation to blog after returning home from her big trip to Mexico. I feel like there is so much to say about Prague but where does one start? So it is easier to just say nothing at all! But I have now been home for five days, and I have put off blogging long enough and the time has come friends, the time has come.

I really did have a great trip. There was so much to see, and every day was different and exciting. I decided that the thing that makes or breaks a trip is the people you are with. Because believe me there were some koo-koos on that trip. I don't know if I've ever called anyone a koo-koo until this day but the word just flew out of my fingertips onto the screen and it just seemed to fit so perfectly. The oldest koo-koo was the Prof. He was a different sort of man, although one of the most easy-to-handle koo-koos on the trip. He was sort of a frenzic type. Funny thing about him was that sarcasm went right over his head, and every time we were laughing about something he looked as us all blankly with his mouth gaped open and he'd scratch his head.

The biggest koo-koo was an absolute air-head. I honestly don't know how this girl is going to make it in life. I can't believe she got herself to Prague and back. I have never ever met such an airhead in my life and she wasn't even blonde. Somehow it slipped her mind to make arrangements for accomodations for her night in London, and she ended up sleeping at Heathrow. That in itself is not so bad, but when you are as stupid as this girl, sleeping in the biggest airport in the world is a dangerous thing. The next morning when I saw her after her night in the airport (and my night in the Holiday Inn), she told me her stories about strange creepy men taking her out for coffee and then following her into the women's washroom and wouldnt' leave...then about a group of drunks who had been kicked out of two hotels already and were trying to convince her to fly home with them instead of back to Canada...like hello this girl could have been raped and killed.

Anyways I was slightly koo-koo myself, but this did not start ON my trip but actually in my room the night before... I packed for a year long stay I think. Nobody needs 5 pairs of shoes, 5 pairs of pants, numerous t-shirts, tanktops, skirts, sweaters, a dress and pretty much everything else that fits inside an oversized piece of luggage. I pretty much packed my room into my suitcase. And I paid for it too. The flight I took from Prague to London was by an airline called EasyJet - sort of like a JetsGo deal, but EasyJet has been established for 10 years and is not bankrupt. Anyway they have a limit of the amount of luggage you can bring - 20 kilos. I, of course, have 25. It cost me FIFTY FREAKING DOLLARS to bring the luggage home!!! It cost more to bring my luggage home than it did for my entire flight to London! Frick. I was sad about that. Furthermore, do you know how much 25 kilos is? Oh I do. Let me tell you. 77 pounds. I dragged 77 pounds plus a 15 pound carry-on and two purses 3 hours across London by the time Jen, Jackie and I got to our hotel room. I figure it was like carrying a 10 year old across my shoulders for 3 hours. In London, Friday between 5 and 7 pm is rush hour. Guess what time we took the subway. 6 pm. I wouldn't recommend anyone taking the subway between these times even without almost 100 pounds of luggage. It was pure hell. I think that hell would be just like Victoria Station in London at 6pm. It was quite an experience to say the least.

Okay so those were some of the low points. Oh yes and the bathrooms are kind of gross and you have to pay for them most of the time. And if you go bring your own toilet paper unless you like scratchy stuff. Ew. Interesting none the less.

Prague and Vienna are beautiful. You should go there. Just BYOTP.

I am leaving on Friday morning at 11:15 am for Prague! I can't believe it!