Red Deer Christmas, check! Calgary Christmas, check!

Cory and I drove up to Red Deer to celebrate C-mas Eve and Eve's eve. A few rum and eggnogs, the best steak dinner, and a turkey dinner later, and it was back to Calgary. A short but great visit, filled with tunes, rum and trifle.

We did stockings, I made waffles for breakfast (v. successful) and we opened more presents. Annabelle fell in love with her little kitchen and really liked the Sesame street Maracas and the Fraggle Rock DVD we got her. I scored two Stuart McLean books(!!), Werewolves the game, a ton of chocolate, and two cook books. Happy happy! We just finished playing werewolves for about two hours: Me, Cory, Wayne, Jason (Cory's other brother) and Emily and her family (two sisters and her mom).

One more Christmas to go! Home in three days!!

I will wash the dishes, while you go have a beer

There was a cowboy in the lounge tonight, he hit on me big time when I went in for drinks (for a table). With an actual full body scan, a "How's your night going honey?" and a "I'll see you later".

And that's my night.

'cause nooothing compares

Last night was most successful. I'm in the fourth day of my 5 day working spree: all nights, all the time. The upside of this is that I am making a killing in tips, and because there is only NINE days left until I go home, this is a very good thing! I want to eat at Cedars and Thai Food and get some Moonsnail soap and unfortunately all of this requires the monies.

I told Kathleen last night that I got a new job but she was totally cool about it and she might even give me the shifts I want in order to stay on (a shift a week, no closing, definitely no working Sunday evenings..) because at my other job I will be working 7am - 4, basically the complete opposite of what I've got going on right now. That was definitely a run on sentence.

Basically, to sum things up:
I am so happy to come home!
I am freaking busy until then with awesome things to do!
I am excited for my new job!
Life is pretty ok!

with scarves of red tied 'round their throats

A most productive morning:

I woke up early (ish) and did an hour of yoga, then had breakfast and made some banana chocolate chip muffins. I've been working on sock monkeys for a solid hour listening to Fleet Foxes, getting into the Christmas spirit, and Cory and I are wrapping up the recording for our Christmas album.

Later I will take some crafty sock monkey pictures.. next Christmas I think I'll do a sock monkey calender, and hopefully anyone that reads this will forget about it before then because that's what you'll all be getting.

I think this is the 6th day in a row that it's been below -25. Tomorrow's supposed to be even worse. I can barely breathe the air is so dry.

Woo Alberta!

We've been stuck inside, playing Settlers and drinking a fantastic amount of hot chocolate and baileys. It's not actually that bad but I can't bring myself to believe there's 4 more months of this.

I don't think that this is totally just a woman's suit. At the very least it's bisexual.

I'm officially done of my Christmas shopping and wrapping. Only a few sock monkeys to go, and I need to print some pictures off for some holiday calendars. I rule at this season. Everything even fits in my suitcase! I checked last night.

Cory has decided not to visit PEI after all, and we have to cancel his ticket. This sucks because I will have to fly across Canada alone again, but he's broke and he thinks he will just worry about that instead of having a good time. Oh well, looks like we will be moving home pretty soon anyway.

However, nothing will stop me from coming home so look out PEI! I mean, look out in a fun way, you know, not like I'm gonna hurt you.

...

sock monkey season

a) holy crap, it's the second week of December

b) shoveled snow AND walked to the mall in -29! I hate Alberta!

short form post

This morning I had a dream I had a beard! It was SO GROSS

Date night tonight: Cory and I are going to see Pirate Radio and going for supper at Open Sesame.

It snowed all day yesterday and it's still around this morning!
Related: Mom still has not sent my boots or winter jacket.

My Christmas shopping is almost done, and everything that I have bought is wrapped already! We're wrapping things in flyers this year (environment friendly.) I did wimp out and buy ribbon though. I suppose it is reusable.

It's the first of december and it's less than a month until I visit home. Life is good.

aww, mayyyuhhnnn

The only thing that kept me going at work was that I could come home and watch the new Office and 30 rock! Turns out this is a LIE and there were no new episodes this week.

Oh, well. Work was super shitty. I was amazed at how rude my customers were, how big my tables were, how none of them made reservations, etc. "Livin' the dream," as Dennis from Cedars used to say.

Before work however I did some awesome C-mas shopping with Emily. We hit up about 5 stores, the best being Ten Thousand Villages. I could buy everything for anyone and anything for everyone there. I blew a lot of money. It was great! And now I am basically ready for Christmas.

Card nighttt

It snowed today!
I love hearing good stories from Lauren and Kate's blogs
It is one month until I visit home, and I get more excited everyday
I signed my contract with Critical Mass, I start my new job right after I get back, and it's only until the end of April when Cory and I will either be moving home, or going to Jasper for a month and then heading home.
Where I will renovate a house downtown with Mom and Dad! And live in it! For an extended period of time! I'M GONNA HAVE STUFF AGAIN

AWESOME

don't let them go to waste

My first haircut in years that didn't take off 'bout 4 inches and automatically make me look like a little boy.

Good y/n?

I really like Christmas shopping. Especially at Indigo, or for myself haha hooray holiday clothing!

4am, just getting home from work. Sigh.

At work tonight Two Hours Traffic came on the satellite radio. It was very odd to hear them, being so far away from home, especially since I haven't listened to them in a long time. I had a little flashback to when we used to like them and everything. And the song after that was a Wintersleep song! I miss the east coast and the awesome music that pumps out of there.

!!

Exciting news people of the internet!

I got a job at a company bistro I applied to before actually leaving Victoria. I start in January, when we get back from PEI. It's a term position so I would work there from January until the end of April, and it could possibly be extended, but for now that's perfect because by that point we'll be planning to move home anyway.

I'm so excited! I'm so under qualified and this is really something that I would get into after I go the Culinary but ... I'm so frigging excited. Until Christmas I can just work at Boston Pizza, and maybe continue to work there on the weekends but this bistro position is a REAL GROWN UP JOB.

Paid salary, with benefits, and they even have a friggin gym downstairs where I can run on my breaks! I AM PRETTY HAPPY

the finer things in life

day off / almost complete sock monkey / beandip with multigrain nachos / really good book (Outlander by Diana Gabaldon) / blankets / chilly but sunny weather

four dollar bottle o wine, four dollar bottle o wine

I think I have strep throat. Another sick day for me!

Booked my ticket: home December 28th til January 12th

And yesterday at work I got a "call me" note, my first. Cory said to put it on the bulletin board, he was so proud too haha. The joys of serving.

A few things worth mentioning

I can't believe how typically western my job is turning out to be. Last week I was called in twice, they tried to call me in over the weekend twice when I was sick myself, and yesterday I worked a 9 and a half hour shift because so many people called in sick.
I could literally be working a 60 hour week if I wanted to. Which I might, eventually, but for right now I feel like poop and I only want to get through my regular shifts.

Cory and I decided last night that we are moving home for me to go to school. We both miss home, I feel that I have seen a lot, and I am just pumped to get back to school. I am so excited! It's my first choice for culinary schools, and of course all of you LOVELY PEOPLE are either there or somewhat nearby :)

Also Mom and I are booking my Christmas visit tickets today. Yay

Halloween!

Almost my favourite day of the year (just because of Christmas... who can compete with that many presents and strange family jokes? "Try it on!")

Started off the day with, of course, chocolate chip pancakes and Settlers. I won, again! Jeff'm will be so pleased when I come home, if we get a chance to play. We did it with the little ships and everything.

I don't know how it is but it's just so much easier to get out of bed at 6 if you don't have to actually go anywhere. If anything, the only place you have to go is back to bed.

mandatory skirts, is this 1934?

Flames lost 2-3 after getting their only goals in the first minute and a half, when I was still getting beer. Sad :(

Training has been brutal, but hopefully we will be done today. Pro: I don't have to work Halloween
Con: I don't know when I work at all, only that it won't be often and it won't be soon.

And I hate walking around in the snow with a skirt on! Hatehatehate. And that concludes my bitch post

I got a job!

at Boston Pizza. I start training this week, and serving hopefully very soon after that. My new boss is .. very involved in his job. I foresee myself holding my tongue a lot. Oh well, monies is monies.

Yoga class today .. awesome.
Pumpkin carving yesterday .. fantastic.
Breakfast at Nellie's this morning .. delicious!

you hardwire, I'll try to play the guitar

Bah! I say. I hate job hunting. The worst part is the waiting, when you've sent out 10 resumes and there is nothing left to do but sit around and see if anyone wants you.

I have been painting a lot, getting a head start on Christmas presents. I asked Aric for a suggestion for a painting for mom - he said, well, gardening is always an option, so I google imaged "Gardener":

mahjong+tea+playing with baby= don't really want to find work anymore

I miss the amount of green in BC but I guess it is winter here already in good ol' Alberta. Last night was our first open mic at the Dog and Duck, Cory's favourite open mic here in Calgary. I'm pretty sure he knew everyone in the bar, and everyone was very excited to see him back. It really made me miss Babas and you know, actually knowing people. But it was a great time and I'm pumped to go back next week. I recommend all you homesick/lonely-without-me people to try out Bottlecap shooters, it does the trick.

Job hunting sucks, but over here is not nearly as bad as on the east coast. I have a couple of options: there is obviously cooking jobs, but there is also a lot of Nanny jobs over here as well, and then there's always serving. I have an in at the Boston Pizza which is very close to where we're living so that would be a great place to start.

For now I'll just play with Annabelle, cutest baby in the world. Last night I was talking to Emily and we heard this weird sound in the kitchen, almost like a thousand little things hitting the floor. It ended up being a whole box of cheerios. Hilarious

Vancouver to Calgary

Went for breakfast yesterday with my cousin Michael at the crack of 10am. Besides when we met briefly in Ft McMurray two years ago, the last time I had seen him was when I was about two years old. It was great to see him! Apparently my aunt Gerry, his mom, said that we are the most alike out of the whole family. He's been living out here since he was 16, going through Whistler and boarding all of the time, DJing and travelling .. so I kind of took it as a compliment!

After a long nap we met up with Heather Jones for coffee downtown and the biggest cinnamon roll I've had in a long time. And delicious chai tea.

Later in the evening we met up with Cory's friend Andrea for beers at Six Acres, a little pub with the biggest beer selection I've ever seen, and a library theme. And the muppets playing in the bathroom! A few delicious Czech/German beers later and we were ready to head home for our last night on the floor.

Our flight today was delayed because of the snow in Calgary, but we made it! And we're all unpacked and everything. The snow sucks but it's going to warm up soon, hopefully. Tomorrow: the job hunt begins.

Vancouver pt 2

Today, day number 3, was pretty lazy.

After sleeping in, we hit up the grocery store to get some Thanksgiving dinner ingreds - one of those bbq'd chickens, a bag of greens, a pear and a carrot for salad, and potato salad. Delicious! We ate it at Pat's on the floor (aka our bed for the past few nights)

I went into turkey coma without eating anything turkey related, somehow, and had a nap while Cory played video games on Pat's huge tv. We tried calling around to see if anyone wanted to hang out, but everyone seems pretty busy this weekend (or missing, if you're Bryce.)

We ate supper at the Eatery, a very cool place down by the waterfront. A little bit of sushi, soup, dumplings, and green tea icecream! Afterwards we went for a very chilly walk to the water (I can't believe Calgary is going to be colder than this..) and headed home.

Vancouver Adventure pt 1

We left Victoria Saturday afternoon after a wonderful night of drinking and playing Clue with Annie, Oleh, friends of theirs and the new girl at my work, Katie. Saturday morning rolled around a little too early for my liking but Cory packed up while I made breakfast (Steak+eggs+hashbrowns) Annie and Oleh drove us to the ferry, and we were off!

Almost. When we got over to Van, we discovered the bus tickets we had were for a bus ON the ferry, and we were supposed to board it before we docked. Oops. We stuck around in a sketchy bus stop drinking spiced rum and played guitar to wait for the next one (roughly an hour later) To top it off, we were supposed to be staying with Bryce all weekend and he wasn't answering any of my calls. We made it downtown and Cory got a hold of his friend Pat, who very graciously offered up his place. While downtown we picked up some Gogol Bordello tickets, and then headed to Pat's to drop off our stuff and grab a bottle of cheap wine.

Took the skytrain back to the Vogue, this run-down looking theatre, where we saw Gogol play in the smallest venue we could have hoped for. They were incredible, they were tight, they had these two Asian chicks running around in cheerleading spandex playing drums and cymbals. For the first bit we were right in front of the fiddle player, my favourite, but we were tossed around in the little area up front during the show. At the end the band came forwards and shook everyones hand and I grabbed Eugene's arm! He also took a girl up front's hand and spat in it haha. And spit red wine over everyone. It was a big gypsy dance fest, loved it.

We met up with Pat, went out for beers and chicken burgers, and called it a night.

Day two! We woke up after sleeping on the floor and made our way downtown to see Granville Island. We ate some delicious curry at the market, and then made our way around the island. We checked out all the little artisan shops and bakeries and walked along the boardwalk. We met up with our friend Lucienne from the east coast, and went for a few beers with him at the Taproom - Granville Island's brewery pub. Their seasonal beer was pumpkin beer! Which was delicious.

During the afternoon we had met up with my cousin Michael, who offered us two free tickets to see the Canucks! The game started at 7 so we headed to the stadium. Our seats were awesome, the beer was tasty, the game went into not only overtime but a shoot out! And we won! And I got to see Brad Richards pussy out in said shoot out. It was a great time.

broken english for the win

Ah, starting off the day by reading about my favourite hobos. Props to whoever thought of it, but what is the point of it? Just to see if they can do it? (Kate I am mostly asking you here)

Yesterday Tanale gave me a goodbye package from Pikul. She had written me a note:

Hi Morgan,
Here's silk scarf for you. I've brought it from Thailand. Hope you like it. Take care,
Pikul
*Let's try my cookies. I made them from your recipe but they taste totally different!! But this is my first time that it taste like cookie

They were delicious! She put sesame seeds in them which made them super delicious. I am going to miss my funny thai work people.

When I told one of the regulars at work yesterday that I was moving to Calgary, and he compared me to the Littlest Hobo.

Not only sweet! and very Canadian but also an interesting coincidence because of Patty's (and those other guys) Campus Hobo Project

Transformers in IMAX!!

..was actually just Transformers on a big screen. Granted, it was 6 stories high, but still. Cory and I were so pumped haha, oh well. It was still pretty impressive. We all got headaches though, it is a lot to take in for a few hours. What amazed me was that there were little kids everywhere! As in children. Ages 4-6. I thought they would get scared and cry! I thought they would think, this is too much for my little eyes to handle! There was none of that. I bet they didn't even get headaches either. Desensitized little buggers.

We have 4 days left in Victoria. 4 days left of beautiful fall weather (15 degrees, sunny) until we hit -2 and snowing. Sigh. Well, actually, we're heading to Vancouver first for a few days to do some couch surfing. And hopefully seeing a Gogol Bordello concert! (Damn not having a credit card!) As long as it's not sold out by the time we get there.

Grocery shopping the other day I got another compliment on my bike - that brings it up to 4 this summer from random people. Mostly they have been crackheads. I still don't really understand, it's not that nice of a bike, I thought. I mean, I like it, but it's my bike. Anyway this really cool black guy outside the grocery store was like "maaaan, that is a sweet ride" and I was like "yeaaah thanks man." It was pretty cool.

just like me, they want to be close to you

I forgot how shitty it is to sit in a class you know you have to pass but think it's absolutely pointless. Anyway, 94% later I passed my FoodSafe course, whoo, I can continue to work in the food industry doing exactly the same thing I was doing before.

Yesterday was gorgeous! After hitting up a "Jazzercise" class with Annie in the morning (! I know) which was tres, tres amusing, we played some basketball with the boys and later went for a walk on the Goose. We went to a little dock across the harbour, and Annie brought her hookah and we packed a picnic.

love is what you make it

I have another phone interview next Monday!! Emily says they are very short staffed at the bistro, which is where I am interviewing for, and I don't expect them to wait for me to get there but .. still sweet!

Got a great email from Nanny today too. I told her I'm seriously considering going down to visit them while they are in Florida this year and she replied:

"YES MORGAN WE WOULD LOVE TO STAY WITH US ,maybe you and i could do some surfing ...oh boy ! dark rum is really really cheap too"

She gets a little heavy on the caps sometimes but her emails are the best haha

my hand slipped into your hand, and it was awesome

I am on a huge food spree. Last night I made pork chops with greek pasta salad and then made apple crisp! I've been using the casserole dish Kim sent me for my birthday at least once a day haha. Times like these make me think why would I be doing anything else for a living besides cooking and baking? Tonight: sushi? Or lentil soup?

Zac sent me a mixed CD of sweet techno beats and it has been my musical soundtrack for the last few days.

The weather has been remarkably good considering we're entering rainy season. I want to bike to the lake or something this weekend, but on Sunday I have a FoodSafe course lined up. Considering I have been working in the food industry this whole time without it, I figured it's about time to actually get my credentials in order.

And speaking of credentials, I had a phone interview for a job in Calgary yesterday, but I have yet to hear back from them. My hopes aren't too high but it does sound like a cool position, and I think the interview went well.

And the highlight of this week so far: on Tuesday night Annie finally broke out the hookah. I actually learned how to blow smoke rings! Not super well but I did a few of them, very proud. It was a super chill evening, the only thing it was missing was henna.

bakebakebake

2 dozen blueberry muffins + 2 pans chocolate chip oatmeal squares + Greek Chicken...
it's been a good day

you are young, and life is long, and there is time to kill today

Mom came to visit this weekend! She had a meeting in Van on Monday and decided to come early and spend some time in Victoria. Awesome awesome.

Friday night after she arrived we went to a super cool place for sushi downtown. Delicious! And on Saturday we rented bikes and biked on the Goose all the way to Sooke - including highway biking we did about 50km. We really took our time and did some exploring as well as there are a few lakes along the trail. And the trail itself is gorgeous, once you're out of the city it is so peaceful. Anyway this is us afterwords, having a drink before catching the bus back to Victoria.

We picked up some groceries on the way back and Mom made us beandip (!!) and we had some beer, some wine, and obviously fell asleep pretty early. The next morning Mom and I returned the bikes and got a tea downtown. A very short but productive visit.

Cory and I went to 2 new pubs this weekend too. On Friday night we met up with Annie and Oleh and a few of their friends at the Sticky Wicket games room. We ended up staying til after close playing darts and fooseball haha, it was a great time. And last night we went to see the Easy Star All Stars at Element. Cory and I were both pretty pumped about them, and they totally delivered. Cory got his reggae dance moves on, it was fantastic.

p.s. Bought our tickets for Calgary - we move there in the middle of October!

It makes it easy for me, and that's the kind of easy that I'm into

Cory and I set out yesterday in the pouring rain for a bike adventure because otherwise we would've done nothing all weekend. (Besides a random night at Big Bad John's with a few gay newfies.. but that's another story for another time.) We went downtown towards the legislative buildings and the Empress, making our way to the pretty boat houses on the water, and the sun came out! So we rented kayaks and paddled into the inner harbour. And got delicious fish+chips from Barb's (Cory got a burger) Afterwords we biked down to Beacon Hill Park and checked out the beach down there.

This morning I woke up after having another weird nightmare about school - I went back to UPEI and for our first day back they split us up into "Arts" and "Everything else" and all the arts students got colouring books and pencils. NO LIE. I was really sad in the dream, because while at first I was like, "sweet! Colouring", obviously I grew tired of it and felt that I was not living up to my full potential.

Yup ... what a great way to start the day. Anyway I went for a run on the Goose and felt productive after that. Time for work! Also, Cory started his new job today and the alarm didn't go off :S I lent him my bike and hopefully he got there in time but he missed his bus by 5 minutes.. meaning we woke up 5 minutes after his bus left. Yikes.

regular pushup and situps.. almost everyday

We are all moved in to our "new place", as in Annie and Oleh's. They're still in PEI visiting Annie's family so we have the place to ourselves for a week, which is really nice. Cory found work already! He starts next Tuesday. He literally emailed ONE guy, and had an interview the next day.

Besides that, things are status quo. The sun is shining, the thai food is cookin', the beer is coolin' in the fridge.. I won't let summer go easy.

EXCITEMENT

I feel like I have to post it everywhere

A few things running through my head today:

-Got the keys for our new (temporary) place of residence!
-Tanale says I should open a bakery my banana bread is so good
-Will it ever rain?
-5th huge spider killed this morning this week. Now I see them in the corner of my eye EVERYWHERE and I can't sit down, or wear bare feet in the apartment. blechblechblech

the old black rum has a hold on me..

Hilarious texts arrived 10clock Friday night from Aric:

01/02:Dear morgan. I know how much you love drunken emails but im in bed so its a drunken text! I like a you.I was into the cuban rum tonight, you would be so proud. Come home please and thanks because I miss you and want you to come home and bake me
02/02: things. You still owe me a apple crisp from christmas. Want to redeem right now. Please come home. Love, your intoxicated brother. I hope this finds you well and cruncked!

4 texts long. I was having a nap at the time, huge headache from work. Made my night

banananabread

In response to the outstanding amount of comments from my loyal readers to my last entry:

There's only 2 people I work with. My boss, Tanale, and Ajah, a server. She is everything that is wrong with the youth of today. The basic problem is she comes late to work every day. At least 10 minutes late. Our restaurant doesn't open until 11:30, and we don't have to be there until then. Not extremely early, and our shifts are only 3 hours long. Anyway, she is late everyday by at least 10 minutes but sometimes as late as 45 minutes. On Thursday she was super late, it was very busy, and I had to serve and cook at the same time. I'm sick of trying to do both jobs at once and only get paid for one, and I told her this. I also said I would convince Tanale to fire her if she was ever late again. She later approached Tanale and I in the kitchen and said she didn't have to deal with threats and basically told Tanale what I said to her, thinking she would get me in trouble. The thing was, I've been telling Tanale that he can find a better server for a long time and telling her that made me feel honest about how I feel towards her so ... Yeah, it felt pretty good.

Anyway. Cory's flight is fucked because of that stupid hurricane that turned out to be nothing. I don't know when he's coming out. Phooey.

Today I did however make delicious banana bread and BBQ skewers for supper. I also got woken up by a phone call from Cory, and later talked to Aric, Mom and Dad for an hour and then talked to Nanny and Grampy for an hour. Sundays are sweet :)

life inside a music box ain't easy

Today I...

-had words with the bitch server I work with, finally! She is late everyday so I have to do her work. It felt good.
-made it to one of Jordan's Hand Drum Workshops, basically a drum circle for beginners. Awesome!
-explored a new part of Victoria to find said workshop, (Fairfield .. hippie town)
-practiced my new harmonica, not especially good at it yet,
-did the dishes. There was a lot of them.

sometimes I think the only things I love are hard liquor and playing pool

8 dollar wine + 1 dollar pool + karaoke bar = sweet weekend! and lots to look forward to when all of this will be in walking distance from my new "home"

Oh, Regina.

You know me too well.

Summer in the city means cleavage, cleavage, cleavage
And I start to miss you, baby, sometimes
I've been staying up and drinking, in a late night establishments
Telling strangers personal things

Summer in the city I'm so lonely, lonely, lonely
So I went to a protest just to rub up against strangers
And I did feel like coming, but I also felt like crying
It doesn't seem so worth it right now

Oh summer in the city means cleavage, cleavage, cleavage
And don't get me wrong, dear, in general I'm doing quite fine
It's just when it's summer in the city, and you're so long gone from the city
I start to miss you, baby, sometimes

pick me up, love, pick me up love, everyday

Today I sneezed and Tanale replied, "Someone is missing you"
I guess that's what they say in Thailand instead of "bless you" haha

It's raining like mad today, I biked home from work and got soaked in the process. Bus tomorrow for me :(

when there's nothing left to burn

There are perks with living with Tyler. One of these perks is always knowing when something interesting is happening in space. Tonight we made chai tea and went for a walk to look at the meteor shower. The best (lack of) light we found was in a field near our place, where we saw 20 meteors and 9 satellites in the span of 45 minutes.

Space is so cool, it makes me feel so insignificant and wonderful.

homesick

Tyler and I went on a mini adventure bike ride downtown yesterday. We ended up having lunch at John's Place and got a window seat to watch our bikes. We were waiting for our food when this chick tries to parallel park basically right in front of us. She does it all wrong, goes in nose first and everything, and at one point, actually looks at us laughing at her and mouths "Great, and of course there's people laughing at how I can't parallel park" to the people in the car with her. She got in, eventually. The best part was that we saw her looking at us looking at her and neither of us looked away. We just kept laughing, basically in her face. I hope she wasn't too offended because she really made my day.

I called my parents house last night. They had everyone over for dinner for Kim's birthday. It was great to talk to everybody, and at the same time extremely disheartening. I miss home, I miss having family around, and I miss having friends to hang out with and to talk to. After I hung up the phone I stood outside for a while, and our neighbour Tony called me over. He's from Europe, and is very entertaining. I can hardly understand what he's talking about, but I know for a fact that he raises bunnies to eat them and has a fantastic garden. We talked for a while, and he gave me some potatoes he had grown. We had them for dinner along with barbecued pork and carrots. They were delicious.

Great Success!!

Tanale likes Feist!!
No more shitty smooth jazz at work for me!

Got my bike fixed this morning too, for a whooping 12 bucks. My back tire's inner tube was punctured so they put in a new one. It took about 5 minutes. I shouldve snuck out back to watch how they did it but I'll figure it out at some point.


[edited for negativity]

Is that right, Rambo?

Today is B.C. day .. or maybe yesterday was. Anyway, today is my third day off in a row (!!) and Andy and Roberta left this morning. What to do for an entire day? There's only one real response : Rambo marathon.

We were in Hope last month, where First Blood was shot, and I downloaded the collector's set. We've gone through First Blood and Part II already today.. we'll see if we get to the rest later. So far, it has proved to be an excellent series.

We weren't complete fatties and went for a run too, and I discovered my bike has a ruined back tire. RIP. I will try to get it fixed this week.

2 dozen days until Cory comes!

Sunday!

This morning when Andy and Roberta got back from birding we made a humongous and awesome brunch. Scrambled eggs, apple pancakes, hash browns .. the works. After stuffing our faces we headed to Whitty's Lagoon, or more specifically the beach near it. So we swam in the Pacific on both east and west sides of the island this weekend! It was really nice, and actually had sand, which was wonderful. It was a hot hot day, and the path to the beach is a good hike, about a kilometer and a half. Cory called to tell me that he is still alive and had a great time camping on Boughton Island, and I picked up 2 tarps at Superstore and the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathon Safran Foer for cheapies. We're BBQing again tonight too! What a fantastic weekend.

I bet you never thought you'd see your aunt with a joint with a flame on the end

Saturday!

We started off by driving to Duncan to check out a big farmers market with the best cinnamon buns I have ever eaten. And a berry pie that we ate with spoons on the way to Little Qualicum Falls, where we had lunch and did some swimming.

Next on the list was Cathedral Groves, a national park with some of the largest and oldest trees in B.C. It was incredible, like walking around when the dinosaurs were around. The whole place looked like a set on a movie, it was so cool.

Port Alberni was disappointing to say the least. The best thing about it was getting slushies at the gas station, where there were the only locals we saw in our drive (six people.) We took our slushies to the beach at Qualicum - right on the edge of downtown. Swimming in a lake AND the Pacific in one day = productive.

Hit up the liquor and grocery store on the way home, and we just finished eating BBQ lamb burgers and greek salad. Smoked a joint and had a few beer. Best. Day. Ever. I am pumped for tomorrow!

go and see if we have any werthers original in the cupboard

There's nothing more amazing than watching a thunder and lightening storm surround you on the top of a mountain.

When we went to Whistler last Saturday, we headed straight for the top to do the peak to peak gondola, and returned to the first peak only to learn that they were shutting down the gondolas because of the lightening. We were stuck on top of the mountain for 3 hours, so we got drinks and watched the storm. Tyler took this awesome series of pictures of the lightening on Blackcomb (the mountain east of us) It was the coolest thing I've seen since I moved to BC.

We had a damp night camping in Squamish and hit up Vancouver on Sunday. We explored Granville Island and UBC which is basically the size of a big city. It was 31 degrees so we spent most of our day chilling in Stanley Park, which was also huge. And I got a phone call from Lauren, Kate and Jess at home! It was a sweet weekend to say the least.

Today it was 32 degrees in Victoria, 38 with the humidity, and probably about 45 degrees in the kitchen at work. I am going to sleep like a baby.

Also, today Tyler showed me this series of videos and I think you should watch it. And be prepared to pee your pants laughing.

come let go

If my summer had a soundtrack it would have a whole lotta Xavier Rudd. I can't stop listening to White Moth.

Andy and Roberta arrived yesterday, just in time as I have been missing home pretty hardcore this week. This weekend we're checking out downtown Vancouver and Whistler, and doing some camping somewhere between. Camping!! I am super excited. A summer without camping is just not a real summer at all.

jugglejugglejuggle

Today we went to the beach with Annie and Oleh! I swam in the Pacific Ocean for the first time. It was bloody freezing.

And the other day at work, Tanale made me deep fried chicken skin - apparently a great snack in Thailand. It tasted like potato chips.

Weddings? I love weddings!

My uncle Bob is one of my favourite people ever. He is always so excited to see us and always has a drink of rum ready for you. Good man.

The trip to Kamloops was awesome, awesome to see Mom and Dad, awesome drive through the mountains. Apparently Kamloops is a desert, and it was freaking hot there the whole time (like over 30 all of the time) but the wedding was beautiful and it was great to see family that we don't get to very often.

Also, they had a huge table set up with a CANDY BUFFET.


We stopped at a few places along the way back home - Hell's Gate, and most memorably, Hope (Chainsaw Capital of Canada!)

Anyway I'm all adventured out and looking forward to a week of peace and quiet before Tyler's parents arrive for their 2 week visit.

crunchy crunchy grapes

Today I learned to fill my bike tires up with air! Biking to work is swell. Such a better way to travel than sitting on a bus beside creepy men (plural.. it's always plural.)

I'm getting super pumped for our trip to Kamloops. I got the coolest dress today for the wedding - made of hemp, of course. The west coast is so awesome for hippie merch.

I'm on my way out

Last night Tyler and I headed to Swans for a drink with Dan. A sweet pub with live music most nights and no cover! And they have their own brewery so they have all these sweet different types of beer. Dan's favourite is the raspberry ale, which was pretty sweet but it was alright. Their honey pale ale is something to write home about though.

Yesterday at work it was so, so slow. And so freaking hot, it must have been 30 degrees. Pikule and her daughters came to the restaurant and we just hung out drinking Thai red flower iced tea for like, an hour. And all day Tanale kept going "Ugghh Morgan, it's so boring! Why it's so boring" And I totally caught him doing a sodoku and he was all embarassed. Too cute.

And the other day Oleh (Annie's hubbie) fixed my bike. He said he's surprised the front tire didn't fall off. Morgan cheats death again! But in really good news my brakes work again.

chocolate chip

Last night after a day of exploring and attending free concerts, we cooked our supper over a bonfire at the beach near our place. Hot dogs and potatoes, a little bit smokey, a little bit awesome. And today I ate the best cookie ever at John's Place. It was as big as the span of my hand. Like, bigger than Cowboy cookies at the Farmer's Market. Who thought cookies could get so big? Not this guy.

The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra

Coolest band ever at Jazz Fest. Gypsy jazz. Check them out.

let's get together and feel alright

Three awesome things about today! I will list them now.

1. During my lunch break I saw the Victoria Soul Gospel Choir. They sang songs like One Love and Love Train, and it was the most beautiful thing in the world. All these hippies were up dancing and holding hands and, I just, I just love this place so much. I belong here, I think.

2. I got two things in the mail today from Kate! wmp

3. Tamara arrived this evening and Ty and her came to my work to get some thai before heading home. It's going to be an early night but I think tomorrow will be full of adventure. And more free jazz concerts! Life is good.

but at night it's a different world

Yesterday after work I went to this graduation party for Dan Cormier+friends. I met Dan when Tyler and I went to Vancouver for Bryce's moving-in keg party, and since we are both islanders and we both drank a lot of beer, we are now bff. That makes the total amount of people that I know here like .. 7!

I noticed something at the party. I consider myself a fairly outgoing person but since I've moved away it's like you have to be overly outgoing to the point of being creepy in order to meet anyone. That's being a traveler, I guess. Push those creepy limits. Drinking a bottle of Jackson Trigg's helps too. Did anyone else realise it is made in BC? I am just learning things all of the time.

Also there was guitar hero and even though I was pretty hammed I managed to impress most people by doing half a song on hard before failing, hard.

The Victoria Jazz Fest has all these free concerts in little park next to my work so I'm going to be checking out those on my breaks today. And Tamara arrives for her visit!

leaving the city pt 1

Another bright sunny day in Victoria.

I'm halfway through my summer here and I figured it's time to start blogging (it's about the only way I'll get news to and from Kate anyway.)
Hopefully this will end up being a blog full of exciting stories about places I've traveled to, but most likely it will be the everyday things that amuse or annoy me, and will include a lot about what I'm eating that day. Enjoy!