Category Archives: Reflections

Reflecting on the final year

Posted in Education, Friends, Memories, Photos, Reflections by

It has been approximately one year since I finished my undergrad degree. ONE YEAR! It’s hard to believe that I’ve been out here in the real world, doing my thang for a year already.

My last year of university was a whirlwind, to say the least. I started my job as one of the news editors for the university paper, I met Canada’s Green Party leader, I moved in with Kyle, I travelled east for the first time and I partied hard, all while completing my degree!

These photos are from September 2008, when the federal election was going on here in Canada. A group of us went out to practice our die-hard journalism skills, staying up until 1 a.m. to meet and scrum with Canada’s Green Party Leader, Elizabeth May. (The Green Party is more or less the “Environmental” party of Canada) It was also Melissa’s birthday, so we celebrated that as well!

We had a pretty awesome Christmas party for the school newspaper, enjoying delicious tapas and drinks before heading to the boss’s house to play a little DDR and Guitar Hero like the nerds we truly are!

After the new year and barely a week into the new (and final!) semester, the gang from the newspaper ventured to the Canadian Prairies to visit freezing cold Saskatoon for the Canadian University Press Conference. I shall warn you now, the entire trip was more drinking and partying than learning about the paper, but Melissa and I did tour the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, which was pretty awesome, and we saw some odd sights, like a statue of Ghandi. Also, I realized that I know I’m drunk when I start flashing random hand signals and gang signs. In this case, it was “W” for “Wizard”, the nickname we lovingly gave the horrible DJ at the wind up gala.

Finally, there was the Year End party, filled with singing, dancing, drinking and good times. I sure miss these people sometimes but I bump into them from time to time. Oh, and I also discovered I act like a pirate sometimes. Oh, and did I mention horrible U-Brew wine sipped from coffee mugs?

Yep, those were the days! Do I miss school? Sometimes, but somethings are better left as memories :)

TRU Journalism Grads, 2009

Do you ever miss school, if you’re not in it anymore? If you’re not, do you think you will?

My first time

Posted in Life, Reflections by

No, not that first time, you pervs.

Yesterday I stumbled upon the question, “When was the last time you did something for the first time?” over on the Lululemon Community Site, and it really got me thinking.

When was the last time I did something for the first time? The first thing that sticks out is the first time I ever took a cab. That was back in the summer when a great friend of mine was in town for a visit. He insisted on taking a cab home, so the group of us did. I’d post a picture, but when I looked at it, I’m disgustingly drunk and have about 10 chins, not even joking. No one needs to see that.

But when was the first time I did something that really impacted my life? I guess going to the gym impacted my life in the way that I feel better about my body. That was in June. There has to be something more recent.

So here I am, sitting here, thinking over and over, “What have I done?” My honest answer? Nothing. I seem to have such a routine life at the moment that I haven’t done anything for the first time.

It’s a little depressing, but I’m planning on changing that. I’ve recently finished a list of 96 in 1096, similar to the popular 101 in 1001 lists, except in a “less is with more” way. Less things, more days, it’s perfect for my inner procrastinator; Keeping to that, I’m still going to start it on my birthday this year, like I had originally planned.

So in just over a month, expect a new era of cherry popping from me.

What have you done for the first time lately?

I freakin’ love this game

Posted in Kara and Kyle, Photos, Reflections, Travel by

It’s a few days late, but a weekend update is better late than never, right? RIGHT!

So on the weekend Kyle and I went down to Vancouver to watch our favourite hockey team, the Vancouver Canucks! I had got him tickets back in September as a “Congrats” for finishing his Welder B training. I was going to wait until Christmas, but I suck at keeping surprises from him and gave them to him early, using him being done school in record time as an excuse. (He finished a month ahead of everyone!)

We haven’t really had many opportunities to travel together, mostly because we’re both always busy with work and trying to save money, so I figured hockey tickets would be the perfect excuse to get away. Plus it was a weekend game, so who could argue that? We booked our hotel back in January and on Saturday, we were on our merry way!

The drive down was great and thanks to the GPS my dad let us borrow, I never got lost! I’ve only driven to Vancouver once by myself, and it was a horrible experience, so I figured if I preplanned my route via Google Maps and Google Street View (Which is AMAZINGLY helpful, IMHO) and had the help of a GPS, all would go well. And it did! We got to the hotel around 12:30 p.m. – plenty of time to do some shopping on Robson Street and such.

Anyway, I dragged Kyle a hella-long way up Robson Street so I could go to lululemon and buy fabulous comfy cloths. We got to see a bit of “left over” Olympic attractions, including the Zip-Lining and the huge screen in front of the Art Gallery. The sights may have been scaled down, but they were still cool. The streets were packed and Kyle hates big crowds and I never would’ve dragged him with me if I had known it was going to be busy. He was such a trooper, even in lululemon, and he even bought me my Gather & Crow crop pants. I’m such a lucky girl!

After we got back to the hotel we headed down to the hotel restaurant for a late lunch/dinner. We noticed that right across the road was LiveCity Vancouver, which, for those of you too lazy to click through, is where people can watch live Paralympic events and hang out:


Even more awesome was the Belini I ordered at the restaurant. Apparently “Moxie-Sized” cocktails were on special, so when I was asked if I’d like to “Moxie-Size” my Belini, I said yes. This is what I got as a result:

It was HUGE and I got the worst brain freezes, but it was so good! Kyle thought it was pretty funny since I make the most screwed up face ever when I get brain freezes. Oh well! Serves me right I suppose. After our meal we had a nap for about an hour before we got ready to go to the game. I put on my Canucks jersey, which we’ve determined is bad luck, and were on our way to the game!

We stopped by Authenix, the Canucks store attached to GM Place and browsed around. I bought a shirt while Kyle couldn’t find anything he liked. After we found our seats and took in the pre-game warm up before the game started. The whole thing was absolutely amazing, and we had the best time ever! The Canucks lost with only 0.2 seconds in Overtime, which was sad, but oh well. We at least got a point!

Here’s a few more pictures from the game/warm-up:

This was during the pre-game warm up. It was neat seeing how the warm up before the game since this part isn't televised.

The only picture I have of Kyle and I during our trip! Good thing it's a nice one :)

Members of Canada's Olympic Womens Hockey Team were there for a puck-dropping ceremony. It was really cool and they got a huge standing ovation!

Mark Donnelly sings the anthems at EVERY Canucks home game! He's an amazing opera singer and during the second verse of O' Canada he lets the audience sing it, holding up the mic. The energy in the building is AMAZING during this!

A face off during the game!

So that pretty much sums everything up, minus the freak rain storm on our way back (typical Vancouver weather) and delicious breakfast in Hope.

Ever watched a live NHL game? Or any professional sports game?