A small adventure of my own

I felt very sad at the beginning of today. Jon and Sondra were off on the Island with their friends, one in from Ontario to visit them. They were having an adventure in some of my favorite places and I was jealous but also sad that I had not been invited. I know it was a trip for just them but I wished that I could have been a part of it.

Still feeling down about not having a slice of this adventure I turned to Earlin but he was busy going to a wedding for his boss. My sister was picking up her wedding bands and then attended a BBQ so she was unable to provide me with entertainment. I hummed and hawed about what to do so I decided to go to the zoo!

 

Zebra

 Oryx

 Roosevelt Elk

 

Giraffe

 

I walked around the zoo at a leisurely pace. Stopping to admire the animals and enjoyed the sunshine. Most of the animals were in the shade but I did enjoy seeing the Grizzley Bear having a treat of berries stuck in an ice block. It was a nice day out as I love the zoo and would go a lot more often if it was closer to Burnaby.

After the zoo I was stuck for what to do so I turned south and headed across the border into Washington State and drove down to Bellisfair. I picked up a cute Totoro hoodie and swimming goggles. I enjoyed a stromboli in the food court before entering Target. I got a really great deal on cat litter. 31 pounds or something for 11.79 which would cost probably about 16.00 in Canada. I also got some Ocean Spray Cran-Lemonaid which has not hit the shelves in Canada despite it being so yummy so I stocked up with three of them. I also got a single Chobani Strawberry Greey yoghurt as we do not have Chobani in Canada and I really wanted to try some so I got one and ate it after putting everything into my car. It was really tasty.

My tasty Chobani.

I headed north again, getting gas at 3.959 a gallon and pumped half a tank or 6.181 galons and it cost me $24.24. Right now in Burnaby gas was 1.47 a litre and I got it for 1.04 litre.So I got 23.39 litres so if I got it in Canada it would have cost me $34.38 so I basically saved $10 so yay to that. After the gas it was a straight shot home and now I am home and happy as can be with my little adventure. Time for bed? I think so.

Different Times

Reading my old journal a little. On Saturday July 17th, 2004 all I wanted in the world was
-a pomeranian
-a computer and internet
-a video camera
-happiness to the fullest

The pomeranian wish was due to having lived near one and I always saw this dog as being so cute and wonderful. I no longer want one but have not stopped thinking they are adorable.

A computer and internet are still very important things to me. Glad I have them.

A video camera. I have one. A Sony. I don't use it enough to warrant having one.

Happiness to the fullest...thats a hard one. I am happy. I enjoy my life and am looking forward to the paths I will tread.

On July 18th I wrote that I wanted to go to New Zealand.
Why: I just love it
How: Plane
When: The future seems dim but somebody might turn the light switch on.

Done with the dentist

I went to the dentist today for a filling. It was not fun at all but I needed to do it.  After it was done my right side was numb and stayed that way for ages.

I got a caramel ribbon crunch frappucino afterwards and it was so delicious!

Made my day so much better to enjoy that after all the dentist fun. 

Plan to go swimming after work. Chartrelle's has lent me her goggles so now I have a cap and goggles to work with. I am very excited about that.

Happy Things

I was watching YouTube videos by zefrank1 and his video 'What's on Your Happy List?' made me think about the small things that make me happy.

-wading in water 

-long green grass on bare feet

-when my cat curls up against me

-putting fresh socks on

-the cool underside of a pillow

-getting mail 

-having friends that don't mind if I sleep on them

-the sound of a gentle stream

What a Weekend. Part 2. Saturday.

Woke up early on Saturday and Chris and I drove to pick up my sister to head to the Trout Lake Farmers market for its opening at 10 am. The Trout Lake Farmers Market is great. They have a few food trucks, lots of local and organic produce. It runs for several hours and is a lot of fun to have on a Saturday. We met up with my friend Jon and his girlfriend Whitney and while we were in the market we met up with my friend Sondra. I enjoyed a very tasty salted caramel cake and purchased a few other insanely good baked items from a seller. I got a bratwurst from this great vendor called Serious Sausage, it was delicious and their homemade currywurst sauce was to die for. So tasty. Our adventure at the market came to an end and we went our separate ways.

I stole Sondra along with me and we headed to Metrotown where we watched The Heat with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. It was hilarious. I really enjoyed it. Lots of laughs with Sondra and my sister.

I dropped my sister off at her house before heading with Sondra over to Whitney's where I picked her and Jon up to take them to the Greyhound Courier Express station down on Terminal so she could ship a few boxes out to a friend in Toronto.  The  shipping part was easy and we were done quite quickly o we headed up Main Street to enjoy some delicious East is East. This restaurant is one of my favorites. The food is amazing, the chai and all their chilled drinks are just wow, mind blowing, so good. I had the two roti rolls and had the Afghan Nomad and The Silk Route as well as a Kama Sutra chai ice cream shake. So good!

Sondra and I walked across the street to Three Bags Full, a really cute wool store that I purchased a lovely wool blanket from last year. We both got yarn and some crochet needles as we plan to learn. Carol has said that she will teach me so I am super excited.

I dropped Sondra home at her house before going to my sister's to join her and Chris for dinner. Since I had such a late lunch/early dinner I was still too full to have a full meal at the Cactus Club so instead enjoyed a bellini and their Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bar. The dessert was so delicious, so nice to actually enjoy those kind of desserts, usually I am way too stuffed to even want any.

Carol then drove us to Vanier Park where we attended Bard on the Beach and watched the Twelfth Night which I found very hilarious. I loved it. I had been invited to attend the last two years that my sister had gone but had been disinterested but this year decided to go and I don't regret it. It was a very great play and a great ending to a day.

The set for Twelfth Night

The Museum of Vancouver, in Vanier Park

What a weekend! Part 1. Friday.

Wow, I felt so busy this weekend. On Friday August 5, I got off from work having worked at 11 pm Thursday night and got off 7:30 friday morning. I was trying to clean house in preparation for my friend Chris' arrival later that day and got sidetracked, doing more mess making then cleaning up. I found a few notes from my best friend Stephanie and missed her a lot. She messaged me she was not feeling well so I wanted to go help her feel better so I got in my car and bombed to North Vancouver to play nurse. She works at Starbucks as a supervisor and in return for my nursing her back to health she made me an Everything Refresher. Oh its so amazing! It's all of the Starbucks refreshers combined and tastes so nice.

She was busy with work and Chris was arriving into Vancouver so I headed off to Burnaby to Metropolis at Metrotown to meet him there and I was able to find myself a latex swim cap from Atmosphere for $3.99. We made our way back to my car where we headed for Main St. As it was still early a lot of the really good places to eat were not yet open. So sad! Chris mentioned The Foundation so we migrated in that direction but it was not exactly what I was feeling so we walked up a few blocks and had a yummy brunch at The Rumpus Room.

My friend Chris from Victoria

It was great! I had the breakfast poutine which has a poached egg, french fries, cheese curds, hollandaise sauce and bacon. It was amazing! Chris had the fruit waffles and they looked tasty but nothing could beat the breakfast poutine in my mind.

After lunch we headed for my house where my sister met up with us and we went swimming at the Canada Games Pool which was a lot of fun. I really enjoy swimming with other people.

We then hit up Taqueria Playa Tropical in New Westminster for some amazing Mexican food. I love this restaurant for its food but not for its service. The food is delicious, cheap and always brings me back but the service is very poor and they always seem to take forever to clear your table and get you the bill. The waitresses also were poorly managing the tables and could not keep track of which table had what food. It is still delicious and I will go back but it is quite frustrating.

Annie's came next for dessert. A yummy maple twist soft serve in a cone. It's really cheap and you get a lot of ice cream so always ask for a small unless you're sharing or can manage a big ice cream. We walked into the historical area of New Westminster, admiring all the old houses and made our way through Queen's Park. The rose garden in the park was lovely and I stopped to smell them!

Walking back to the car was a struggle as being up for twenty four hours was affecting me and I enjoyed a Caramel Apple Spice from Starbucks before crawling into bed and passing out!

Books

So I read through the two books, and would have to say the Gap Year Guidebook definitely helped me a lot more than the other one. I found How to Work in Someone Else's Country to be more orientated towards people who are moving abroad through companies and how to handle those situations versus going abroad and finding work there. I did enjoy reading on how to acquaint yourself with the locals and other suggestions it had. The Gap Year Guidebook had a chapter on working abroad which I found very helpful. The book is from the UK so has a bit of info about taking a gap year in the UK but that is based on someone not leaving their country so it does not have much info in the regards of the Youth Mobility Scheme.

The Gap Year Guidebook

How to Work in Someone Else's Country

This has a list of books recommended in a travel book. It also lists a bunch of useful websites.

Better luck with the next books that I check out. Got to stay positive.

Love Paige xoxo

There and back again

In reference to me being a small fish in a big pool. Did my pool time this morning. Felt really good. I think I'm going to invest in a swim cap and some goggles and try and improve a lot more. Got a good morning out of this nice old man who said he wanted to say hello but I never stopped swimming. Thought that was sweet and also a boost as sometimes I feel like a snail in the water trying not to sink and just keep going. They had the big pool open to start so that was a lot harder as its a lot more swimming to do in one lap. I just keep thinking of Michael Phelps, Grant Hackett, Ian Thorpe, Pieter van den Hoogenband and just trying to imagine how they ever did/do it.

I got two books out of the library today in my efforts to do more research.
How to Work in Someone Else's Country by Ruth Stark
The Gap-year Guidebook 2013: Everything You Need to Know About Taking a Gap-year or Year Out

Hopefully I can read them and get a better feeling on how to set about this big journey of mine.

Also enjoyed some Menchies Frozen Yoghurt which is fab. If you have one near you. Please do try it.

Love Paige
xoxo

Just another Tuesday

So I've gone to the local pool three times now in the past week and have really enjoyed swimming. It's a really great stress reliever and a nice work out. I enjoy doing laps, or trying to do them. I try to do as many as I can before slinking off to the hot tub to soak up the bubbles and keep an eye on the senior citizens who kicking as in the pools.

I wish I was like this guy. But I'm more like Nemo. Got one small fin, kind of dealio. I go and I go but then I get tired.

I hope that with time my swimming skills will improve because I do want to get better and its tough being jealous of all the old people that are passing me in the lanes. Damn some of them are fast. I am quite impressed. I have had to choose my lanes carefully. I do not want to rush any of the guys.

I made some yummy spicy coconut pumpkin soup to bring to work tonight. Yum yum. Check out the recipe, it's damn good.

Love Paige xoxo

About me

A little about myself. I'm 23. Female. I live in Burnaby and I own a very handsome exotic short hair named Ricky.

He's quite adorable, isn't he?

The goal of this blog is to write down my thoughts, and the roads I will take in order to move to Europe with the Youth Mobility Scheme.  I have been to Europe twice. My first trip was with my school in March of 2008 for a quick jaunt through London and Northern France ending in Paris. This trip only served as a sampler for me and I was determined to return. 

I saved and planned my own trip. My mother asked if she could join me and I quickly agreed and she came with me on my second trip. My second trip was a month long tour of England, Scotland, France and Spain. I had a really great time with my mom and my only regret is that my sister was not able to join us and I think that will always hurt me whenever I think of this trip. I hope that once I move she will be able to come visit me and I can take her on an adventure. 

I am still in the planning stages of this endeavour but to make a blog about it makes it seem more and more real. I am saving for it and have that goal in mind. Today I went on the Burnaby Library website and placed a hold on a few books that I hope will help me read more into the fine details of this adventure I am planning. I have yet to choose my destination  I am leaning towards England but improving my Spanish and exploring more of Spain entices me as well.

This is me. Hi.

I hope to move within the next 6 months. Which puts me at January. I have always dreamed of spending Christmas in Paris, so I may aim for that before flying/busing/training on to my final destination. It's all up in the air, all very exciting, all going to happen.

If you read this and have experienced travelling to Europe with the Youth Mobility Scheme or Working Holiday Visa please let me know your experiences or let me know your blog url.

Lots of love, 

Paige