Vancouver dreaming

A's cousin called last night asking for Vancouver hotel and restaurant recommendations - he and his wife are going to be there for 3 days while the wife interviews for her medical residency. As I was writing the email, recalling all of our favourite places, it was brought back to me just how much I love that city. It was the first place I truly forged out on my own and built a life for myself. It was the first place that A. & I lived together and it was the first place A. & I left together. I doubt we will ever live there again, real estate prices being what they are, but we will return again and again to visit. How could you not love a city this beautiful?

 | eric flexyourhead |

 | tilo driessen |
The Lion's Den Cafe - our favourite local breakfast spot.

 | ~ tanguero ~ |

 | kennymatic |

 | ecstaticist |

| ben west |

Picnik

Flickr has recently teamed up with Picnik to provide photo editing tools right in the Flickr window. Now each photo has a handy little "Edit Photo" button that will take you over to the Picnik interface. I played around with it a bit and must say, it's a nice tool to be able to access especially if I'm not at my home computer.

Here's a before and after of a shot I took at Buntzen Lake.


Before


After

I didn't change a whole lot, just softened the photo and added the vignette effect, but I think it makes all the difference.

There is also the option of adding text and shapes so I was able to create a nice Christmas photo.



I definitely think I will be using this tool more in the future!

All good things must come to an end

Here we are on day 30 of NaBloPoMo and I've done it - I actually managed to post every single day of the month. So what have I learned from this experiment? I've learned that even though I may not have something to blog about every day, I do have something to post most days and that I shouldn't sit on something I want to post about because chances are I will forget about it and it won't get posted at all. I've come to accept the fact that I'm not a prize winning writer but that I shouldn't worry about it - not all posts have to be long intellectual discourses. And lastly, even though it would be nice to have a large readership, I should post about things because they bring me enjoyment. And hey, if someone stumbles upon my blog and happens to like, that's just a bonus.

So, it's been fun. To cap off this posting extravaganza, I give you another photo.


The Lido Cafe, Calgary, Alberta

I have lots of great memories of this place - Thursday morning $3.88 breakfasts, mini jukeboxes, fall in Kensington...

Day 25

Almost forgot to post today and since I have nothing to say, here is another photo.


Ambleside Beach, West Vancouver, BC, May 9, 2003

Ramping up

Christmas is approaching which means I get more excited by the day. The only unfortunate thing about Christmas in BC is the lack of snow, so today I give you an old photo of a snowflake Christmas tree ornament.


Taken April 24, 2005

Describes me well

Taken October 6, 2007

It's Friday!!

First, an update on Google Reader.

I find that as I use it more, I come to like it a little more. I used the "email item" feature for the first time today and I REALLY like that the sent messages automatically get put in my Gmail sent mail folder. This makes it a heck of a lot easier to see what I've sent to people.

And now for a photo.


Pike Place Market, Seattle, Washington, October 8, 2007

Attack of the giant mushrooms

Today was a busy day filled with nothing so instead of writing actual content I am going to post one of my favourite photos that I took recently.


Alice Lake Provincial Park, Squamish, BC, September 15, 2007

PS. Go see No Country for Old Men. It was disturbing and gripping and soooo good! Javier Bardem is seriously creepy in this film.

Lest We Forget

For all of those Canadians, military and civilian, currently in Afghanistan and other theaters of operations - thank you for everything you do.

And for those that served in the past and to those that gave their lives so that we could live ours, we will never forget.


November 11, 2005 Camp Julien, Kabul, Afghanistan

Canucks vs Avalanche

Don't have much to say today so I'll cap off my sports filled week with some photos from the Canucks vs Avalanche game on Friday night.


There were members from each branch of the Canadian military there to do the ceremonial puck drop.




Canucks win!

Whitecaps vs LA Galaxy

I'm at home sick today but the posting must go on if I want to make it to the end of the month. This posting every day stuff is harder than it seems.

Today I give you a photo from last night's Vancouver Whitecaps vs. LA Galaxy International Friendly. The game itself was, frankly, a bit underwhelming but it was still fun and hey, I got to see David Beckham shirtless!


The Whitecaps get ready for a penalty kick.


Shirtless Beckham


This streaker got more cheers than any of the plays during the game.

Oh happy day...

Happy Anniversary A.! It's been two wonderful years - here's looking forward to many more...

Oops

Well, it's been quite a while since I last posted and a lot has gone on, most of which I can't remember details of.

I've been reading slowly but I was able to add a book to the tally. A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon is Haddon's sophomore effort and was just as enjoyable as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. I don't remember my initial impressions of the book but it was hard to put it down.

*****

We bought two new Ikea bookshelves and some throw pillows for the couch - I'll add pictures once I get them onto the new computer we bought yesterday. We also got a sweet 22" LCD monitor.

Edit: Here are some pictures of our Ikea bookshelves and pillows from Pier 1.




*****

Several weekends ago we decided to get out of the city so we drove down to Leavenworth, WA, a gorgeous Bavarian village in central Washington. It's surrounded by mountains and rivers, has fantastic German food, and Andrew said it took him right back to Germany. It's a 4 hour drive on a twisty two-lane highway, but it was definitely worth it.



*****

We also finally went up to Whistler last weekend with my Mom and Gary. The village was nice and we went up the gondola and chair lift which was amazing, but I have to admit, I think I like Banff better.