Cranberry Festival

Mom and I have been trying to make it to the Fort Langley Cranberry Festival for years. Today, despite the misty moisty morning, we braved the weather and were able to go out and enjoy it. I didn't really take any pictures at the festival site. It was mostly booths selling all manner of items from jewelry to soap to chocolates with LOTS of cranberry themed items. We tried cranberry chutney, cranberry salsa, cranberry fudge, cranberry juice, actually we got a few bottles of cranberry juice and craisins (dried cranberries) from Ocean Spray and a bunch of other cranberry items. They crowned a "Cranberry King" and everything.
From the festival site IN Fort Langley, we went down to The Fort Winery where we tried white and red cranberry wine and a yummy raspberry dessert wine before heading down to the actual cranberry bogs to see how they are harvested. There weren't any guides but I did grill one of the nice workers and he gave me a bit of information.
The top picture shows the cranberries growing on the vines in the bogs. Those ones have actually been harvested already and the ones on the edge are just left. We never did determine if they don't harvest them or if they can't but in either case they are left there.
The second picture shows the bog once it's been filled with water and the cranberries have been loosened. They float to the top and then are raked over and sucked up a huge tube. The generator on the right moves them down the tube to the truck.
These berries are destined to become craisins. We asked what they do with the white cranberries (which are just unripened) and they said that they just dye them with the juice of the red berries!!! It was really neat to go down and see the process up close and personal. It was pretty muddy but it was worth it.

Thanksgiving Demystified

My friend Christy posted a lengthy comparison of Canadian vs. American Thanksgiving practices. I'm sure most of her comments are ment to be rhetorical but I, as a native Canadian, feel led to answer them. (read her entry first or mine won't make sense)

1. It's not too early for Thanksgiving. It's just right. Four weeks before Christmas is WAY too late. That doesn't give nearly enough time. Mid October is perfect (although I will admit that it snuck up on me this year because it is a bit early). Keep in mind too that you're further North now. Harvest happens sooner (or at least that's what I've been told)

Halloween happens after Thanksgiving. Having Thanksgiving first gives you the opportunity to decorate in a "harvest" theme (which may or many not include ghosts and goblins) and leave it up for longer with out your neighbours wondering if you've lost it.

2. Gravy. Okay, I'll freely admit that I have yet to make gravy. I still rely on my wonderful mother. Maybe I'll pay attention this year and try and figure it out though.

3. Remind me to post MY stuffing recipe. Okay, it's actually Grandmas. It uses regular ole bread crumbs which I have been collecting for months...and a fresh loaf of brown bread if necessary. Burnt butter, secret spices (<-- meaning I can't remember them right now) celery and onions. No weird fruit. No heavy spices. Just wonderful warm goodness.

Also, while my brothers and I insist on calling it STUFFING, it is rarely if ever cooked IN the bird. It's generally done in a four quart pan on the stove or in the oven. Dad calls it dressing and we ignore him until he calls it stuffing...even if he is right.

As for green bean casserole. Not a tradition for me so I can't comment. It does sound good though.

4. The day of Thanksgiving. You have to admit that in this day and age where most people are part of a "non-traditional family" having three days available for Thanksgiving dinner makes life SO much easier. This year my family is celebrating on Sunday. This leaves Monday for me to get together with a friend. In the past I have had the pleasure(?!) of taking part in THREE Thanksgiving dinners. Saturday, Sunday and Monday. A gastronomical delight :)

As for the stats. Damn-straight :D New Years Day until Easter is THE LONGEST part of the year. Having regular stats from May to December does much to improve the moral of the populace. All the power to those politicians who are pushing for a stat in February. I'm in favour of it.

5. Shopping. You have 78 days to shop! Isn't that wonderful? Christmas shopping is no longer smushed in to four short weeks or one psychotic day where Wal-mart shoppers get trampled over $20 DVD players. The extended shopping time makes everyone (including the stores) happier.

As for braving the border? Not anymore. With our dollar at par the border is getting stupider by the day...and their guards aren't any better. After all, someone may be smuggling turkey.

Yes, it's perfectly acceptable to celebrate both Canadian and American Thanksgiving. It's an excuse for extra turkey. Why not?

As for the relatives, you have to agree that spreading Christmas and Thanksgiving out makes so much more sense. Two trips to see family within one month is too much. Separated by ten weeks works!

So Christy, good luck on finding the onion stuff and to you, and all my other blog readers, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

~Heidi

Sometimes you just have to go with your gut

Call it intuition. Call it a gut feeling. Call it a conscience. Whatever it is, I'm learning to really listen to mine. Well, trying to at least. I am a slow decision maker. I always have been. It takes me awhile to get used to an idea, to prepare for a big change and even to make large purchases. I'm impulsive when it comes to little stuff but on big stuff I'm painfully slow. Sometimes it's a good thing though.

I recently passed up on a really good opportunity to buy a used computer. It would have been a good deal and I don't know that I'll have the opportunity again but I sat on it for a few days, thought about it and in the end, just decided to say "no". How do I know it was the right decision? I can feel it in my gut. I feel totally okay about this. Even knowing that Seth may take his laptop when he leaves, even knowing that I may not have another opportunity to get a computer like that, I know it's right. For me. For now. Because my gut tells me so.

The problem with giving advice

is that sometimes people take it.

Awhile back I alluded to the fact that I have a "biggish" announcement to make. There has been a lot of unknowns and changes in plans so I haven't bothered posting but I want to get this on here to make it "official".

I've been telling Seth to move to Alberta for years. There are good jobs there, new people and places and my uncle Tim lives there (and Seth would probably work with him which would be good because he's a pretty solid role model). Seth has very little holding him here. Mostly just family. Yes we'll miss him but he's not happy here and I want the best for him...even if it does stink for me.

It's stinks because Seth's my room mate (or house mate as Veronica likes to say ;)) Our arrangement works great for both of us. Now I either have to find my own place or find a new room mate. It's going to be interesting.

Seth officially gave his notice at work last week and his last day is Ocotber 18th. He's faxed his resume out and now he's waiting to hear on a job. He has a few options so he just has to find one that works for him.

I'm still at a loss as to what I'm going to do. Right now it looks like Seth won't be taking all his stuff with him, at least initially. He's agreed to continue paying rent down here and leave everything with me. That gives me at least another month or two. In that time I need to decide if I want to stay where I am and find a roommate. Or look for another place. There is the option of having an exchange student since I'm on a bus route and there are lots that attend the local college.

I'm really not sure what will happen but I'll keep you updated in anycase. If anyone knows of someone looking for a place, let me know.

Seth told me on Sunday that one of his co-workers wants to move in with me...because I bake and his wife doesn't LOL Yeah...not exactly what I'm looking for!

~Heidi

Celebrate! Seattle

Saturday was the first Creative Memories Celebrate! Seattle event. Around 1200 scrapbookers and consultants gathered in the lower concourse of Qwest Field for 11 hours of scrapbooking. It was a lot of fun.

I drove down to Darrcie's on Friday night (the border was a breeze, thankfully) and Saturday morning Deb and I carpooled down to Qwest. I was fighting a cold so my nose was stuffy and I was a bit feverish but I still accomplished a lot and had fun.

Deb and I had lunch with Teresa and her friend Joanne at FX McRory's. After Celebrate, on the advice of SSers, we went for dinner at the Bonefish Grill.

Speaking of SSer's, look how many there were!!! There were more too but these are the ones we got together for a group shot.

Here are Darrcie, Tonya and I. Tonya is Darrcie's downline and a fellow country music fan.

It was neat to be part of such a large group. It really reminds you that scrapbooking is for everyone (guys too!)

Deb and I stayed at Darrcie's Saturday night too (she totally rocks for letting us invade like that). Sunday morning I left early to get back home for church. I stopped for coffee on the way and scored a Starbucks cup for $8 with a free drink! Which means my cup was essentially $4!!!

The border coming north took all of five minutes. It was great considering what I put up with last time. I think I'll stick around home for the next little while though. Even though gas is cheaper in the States it still costs. It's fun to see my friends though :)

~Heidi

I Graduated!

Dance started up last week. (For any new blog readers, I started square dancing in January 2005). Monday night I officially graduated from the mainstream program. I should have gotten my certificate in April but the ceremony took place while I was in Texas. It wasn't anything huge. Just recognition that I'm progressing. It was fun though :)

This picture is from last Christmas. My partner is on my left.

Tuesday

This afternoon I set my phone to silent when I went into a board meeting. After it finished I stopped at home quickly and then headed to my parents. While I was driving I realized I should probably turn the ringer back on. When I opened it to change the setting, it rang! It was my mom wanting to ask me a question. I was like "well, I'm actually on my way to your house. Can you wait five minutes?" Good timing :) I also got dinner there.

From there I stopped at Jenna's. I wanted to return books 5 & 6 of Harry Potter and pick up book 7. My plan was to just stop by and get home to watch tv and upload some pictures. That didn't work. Janik was there and Jenna's sister Katherine, then Will (Jenna's husband) joined us and a friend of his stopped by. We ended up visiting until 11! It was so nice and relaxing and funny and interesting and exactly what friends should be. Better than tv any day :)

This morning one of my co-workers gave her notice. She's been looking for something else for awhile now and she finally found it. Her new position is with a company and work environment that will fit her really well. We'll miss her a LOT, especially her technical expertise but I know this is a good thing for her. Good luck S!

~Heidi

Beautiful BC

Meredith's friend Zoe is visiting from Australia so we've been showing her Beauiful Bitish Columbia. Yesterday was Bridal Falls. It was a grey day but warm enough to go for a short hike. It's late in the year so the water over the falls was light but they were still beautiful.


The good part about the less than perfect weather was the fact that tehre were only a half a dozen other people around. It was great.

Mere and I in front of the falls.








Today (Sunday) we went out to Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver. Mere and I have tried to go there a few times and we never made it. Today was a perfect day. It was warm and not too windy. We didn't stay long but it was nice to hike down, take a few pictures and then head out.

I have been very negligent in enjoying my beautiful province this summer. Granted it was a wet summer and I had myself so busy I didn't really make time to go out and enjoy what this area of the world has to offer. Hopefully I'll get to do a bit more this fall.

Talk like a Pirate Day

Yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I am so not in to that. There's a Facebook application you can load which will help you with that but it drives me nuts. I always ignore it.

BUT, in honour of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I have a story. There's a cell phone ad on the radio that has been driving Seth and I nuts. The premise of the ad is that this girl is driving to school with a guy and her friend calls. The two girls are talking and in the background the guy is singing something about matters mathematical and equations. It's very catchy but we haven't been able to figure out the words.

Seth finally got enough of them yesterday that I was able to plug them in to Google and found out that the guy in the commercial is singing "The Major General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's, The Pirates of Penzance.

I am the very model of a modern Major-General,I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical,From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;I 'm very well acquainted too with matters mathematical,I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news With
many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

Pirates of Penzance is one show I have very little experience with. I kind of want to see it now because I can't get this song out of my head! Read the full lyrics here

Ramdom Memory #3

Stacy's post reminded me of something I was thinking of posting last week. In grade three I was given the task of handing tests back to the students in the classroom. At least I think that's what I was doing. Whatever it was was super important and it was an honour to be asked. So big an honour that even though I had to pee really bad, I made myself finish doing this task before I went. Of course, I didn't make it. I still remember the feeling of standing there, in the classroom, with warm fluid running down my legs on to the cheap thin carpet in that portable.

I was *so* embarrased. I ran straight to the bathroom and hid there until my mom came with clean, dry clothes for me.

The funny thing is I still do that to a certain extent. Well, I don't pee my pants but I do sit here at my desk at work and say "I'll go after I finish XXX". Thankfully my bladder is louder then it was then and I have enough brains to just stop and go pee (because it takes, what? all of two minutes?) but I still try and push it. You'd think I'd learn!

Am I a good sister or what?

Friday was Seth's birthday. I left this on the counter for him.
I tried to tell Mom and Dad about it on Sunday and they said "We know. He took a picture with his camera phone and showed us." I asked him if it tasted good (because I didn't have enough ingredients so I cut the recipe in half but I wasn't sure how it would turn out). Seth said "you tell me". See, when I got home on Sunday there was only about 1/4 left. I think he liked it. LOL Oh, and he was planning on showing the picture to all his co-workers. Yup, I'm a good sister.
~Heidi

I guess I should be happy...

that it hasn't happened before :(

This weekend I went down to Lopez Island with Darrcie for a scrapbook retreat. This is what? The third or fourth time I've gone south across the border to the US to scrapbook this year. I've done it a bunch in the past too. This time, after waiting in line for well over an hour, they decided to question my motives. Sent me inside and grilled me while they searched my car.

The "Border Protection Agent" assigned to my case told me "this is what I think. I think you're going down to sell product in the states". How do you convince these people that the product you're bringing is for personal use? Yes I had at least one pack of un-opened pages but that was about it. Granted I have been lazy in cleaning out my car. I do still have the CM decal on my window (it makes finding a silver Corolla a whole lot easier!) and I do have a few old business cards floating around (does the fact that they are two addresses ago not work in my favour?) Mostly they just decided to pick on me.

The BPA dude told me "you realize that if you're lying and I find out, you'll never be allowed in to the USA again?" I told him that I realized that but I was telling the truth and not about to change what I had to say. Of course he didn't like that. He ended up calling Darrcie to confirm who I was and where I was going, checking SS (because I told him that's where I "met" her) and, looking me up on CreativeMemories.com. Get this though. MY NAME SHOWED UP!!! WTH?!?!?! I've been deactivated for almost TWO YEARS! And my name still shows up on the locator.

A word of advice to any active or not active consultants, remove any and all reference to CM from your person/car and ONLY bring your "personal use" scrapbooking supplies (whatever that's supposed to mean. I thought I packed light this time!)

It's not fun to be accused of something that isn't true. I can be glad that it was something I could truthfully answer about. (And man is it natural to want to defend yourself!!!)

They went through EVERYTHING. Including my wallet. Which has CMSheriTx's business card in it. "When did you talk to her last?" "Uh, like in person or online?" "When did you talk to her last?" (thanks for the clarification) "Yesterday I guess" (We posted to the same thread. Does that count?)

Anyways, I know they're just doing their job and I probably could have (and will) clean out my stuff a bit more but man, I waited over an hour to get the third degree. Not fun.

The retreat was fun though. That was good. And getting home was a breeze. "Where do you live?" "How long were you gone?" "What is the value of goods being brought back" "Have a nice day!"

~Heidi...glad to be home...

Where Were You when the World Stopped Turning?

Weird. I started writing this one year ago but I never finished it.

No one will ever forget where they were on September 11, 2001. For myself, it was a normal Tuesday morning. I got up, got ready for work and when I came into the kitchen Mom was listening to the radio. She rarely did so it was a bit weird. Then the phone rang. It was my dad's friend asking if he was awake and had heard the news. He wasn't. Mom filled me in saying that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center in New York and then she went to wake Dad. By that time the second plane had hit.

I remember now that the reason Mom had the radio on is because Seth was working for a temporary labour agency and had to be at work quite early in the morning. She heard that the first plane had hit when she was driving him to work. She came home and kept listening but didn't know if it was a big deal or not. That's why she didn't bother waking up my dad until his friend called.

I borrowed his walkman and listened to CKNW on the way to work. When I got there we tuned the radio to CKNW and my boss set a small tv up in his office. I think we watched the towers fall together.

To me it was very much like a movie. A real life, real time movie that I couldn't escape. Big explosions and conspiracy theories but all coming through the tv so it didn't seem real.

When I got home Dad had our tv set up in the living room (it was normally downstairs). We watched that stupid thing for probably a week straight. It was crazy.

On the first anniversary of the attacks I drove with my cousin's grandparents to Alberta. The best part of that day was the fact that I had zero radio or tv. That was how I remembered. By disconnecting myself and just celebrating that I was alive, living in a beautiful country and surrounded with people I love.

September 11th is so far one of the biggest events of my life. I remember where I was when Princess Diana died, I remember knowing that the Gulf War was going on. I remember where I was and what I was doing when President Bush declared war on Iraq but September 11th stands out above them all.

Being in Washington, DC last year and seeing the re-built section of the Pentagon brought it home a little more but it still feels like a dream...and not a good one.

September 11th changed our world. It makes me sad to think that there are a whole generation of kids growing up who don't know a world without terror. I pray for them and for peace for everyone.

~Heidi

blogger burn out be gone!

Wow. I'm sorry. I kind of got blogger burn-out after all those concerts and then I got super busy and I just haven't been blogging at all. Let's see. What have I been up to?

Here's a recap of the long weekend from my email to Deb:

Let's see, Friday (August 31) I went to Costco with Mom. We made the clerk laugh. I was splitting a box of chicken with Seth and a package of hamburger with Mom. I was trying to figure out how much cash to give Mom so she could pay. The clerk was trying to be all helpful and asked "can I give you a sub-total?" We replied, "Only if you can split the hamburger!"

Once we were done there we went back to Mom's and I re-packaged the chicken and hamburger and put half of it in her freezer and took half home. My freezer's too small but her's has lots of room. Now I can just go shopping at Mom's when I run out of meat!

Saturday (September 1) I had breakfast with Jenna, Kimberley and Melissa. After that, Meredith and I headed into Vancouver. We went shopping on South Granville. Neither of us had been there before so it was fun and then had dinner downtown at a sports bar and dessert at the Pan Pacific.

Sunday (September 2) after church I went out for lunch with Mom, Dad and a bunch of other people and then I just hung out at their place. Mom and I played Scrabble (and she beat me horribly) and we went for a walk.

Monday (September 3) I didn't leave the house at all. It was great. I even SCRAPBOOKED!!! Woohoo! LOL It was a nice relaxing day. Seth was watching a Will & Grace marathon and I just puttered around.

Tuesday, September 4 I went back to work and found out that my boss had pneumonia AND bronchitis. We knew she was coming down with something but we didn't expect it to hit that hard. You can't control your health though! Normally it wouldn't have been a big deal but that week was our Annual General Meeting and Quarterly Board Meetings.

Wednesday, in a conference call with our accountant, lawyer and chairman, I was volunteered to RUN the meetings. Yikes! Thankfully my boss had really detailed speakers notes which she reviewed with me so I was confident and prepared going in to the meetings.

Thursday was final prep for the meetings with the Confidential one starting at 4pm. Juding from the comments that I received afterwards, I did alright. I presented all the information that staff needed to communicate and "facilitated" effectively. It was a good experience. Not something I'd necessarily want to repeat regularly or on such short notice but good none-the-less.

Friday was the Non-Con meeting and the AGM. Thankfully our Chair and Lawyer ran the AGM :) I got home just before five and took a nap. Those meetings always wipe me out. That evening I couldn't decide what to do. I finally ended up calling Jenna's house. She was out with Will but her sister invited me over and we watched the second Harry Potter movie together. It was nice and relaxing. Exactly what I needed.

Saturday I took my time getting ready but eventually made my way out to Terri's to scrapbook. We had a great time. Sue, Shannon and Kim were there too. I got a page done that I've been worrying about and I'm happy with how it turned out.

Sunday we had a late service so, even though it was a beautiful sunny day, I stayed at home and puttered around. I scrapbooked a bit, watched tv and read.

With work and life being so busy I'm really focusing on enjoying quiet time when I can get it.

That's about it for now. I have a biggish announcement that I'm not ready to blog yet. Stay tuned though.

~Heidi

Acoustic Concert Series: Shane Yellowbird

Wednesday, August 29th The second of the Acoustic Concert Series. I've really been looking forward to this concert. The headliner was Shane Yellowbird from Alberta and local artist Damian Marshall opened for him. I saw Damian last summer when he opened for Leann Rimes. That was another show that I won tickets to from the radio station!

It was nice to see him again in a smaller setting. He is an awesome song writer and has some great songs.


Meredith came with me. She's not a country music fan but she does love live music so we had fun.

Shane was awesome. The funny thing was he opened for Emerson Drive last fall. If i had taken a road trip to see them I would have seen him as well. Instead I waited and got to see them both within three days!

Shane only has one cd (which is awesome). He sang a lot of songs off of it including his debut single "Beautiful Concept" which he called his "baby" :), "They're All About You", the song that really caught my attention and first made me google him, his new single "I Remember the Music" which I am loving, and of course, his mega (Canadian) hit, "Pickup Truck". Kristal's actually in the video for Pickup truck too.

He also did *fantastic* covers of "Texas in 1880" and Garth Brooks' "Rodeo". Shane grew up doing the rodeo circut with family and if he wasn't persuing a music career, he'd still be out there riding. Because of that, to me, he could sing those songs and really mean them.

Shane and his guitarist Troy shared a few stories of performing and being on the road and had us all in stitches. That's the benefit of an acoustic concert. The artists can slow down and chat a little bit so it's more personable. I did get to meet him afterwards and got a photo and autograph. He's really sweet and down to earth. I wish him a long and happy career because I love his music! LOL

Emerson Drive

Monday, August 27th I went straight from work to the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) in Vancouver. Traffic was mercifully light so I made good time. I decided to bite the bullet and park in one of the PNE sponored parking lots. The gate people were confused as to why the fair was so busy on a Monday night. The car before me informed them that there was a "major concert" going on that night which explained it to them. One of them asked who was performing and the other one said "I don't know. Some country band named 'Emerson Drive'". They were right!


Emerson Drive's lead singer Brad Mates (in the white shirt) is from Alberta, Dale Wallace (who plays keyboards) is from BC and the rest of the band is from Quebec. They have three cd's, "Emerson Drive", "What If?" and their latest "Countrified" From those cd's they have a long list of hits. They also hold the distinction of being the first Canadian group to hit #1 on the US Charts with "Moments".


They toured last fall with Shane Yellowbird but the closest they got to the Lower Mainland was Kelowna. I had seriously considered taking a road trip to see them but it never worked out.

When I heard that they would be at the PNE I knew I had to go. Sue got the "Coutrified" cd on the recommendation of a co-worker and when she heard I was planning to go to the show, she decided to join me. We met by the stage and secured a spot right up front, basically exactly where I was when I saw The Road Hammers with Jenna last summer. It's hard on the ears but great for photos and just so much fun.


Emerson Drive put on a great show. It is so high energy and Brad never stops moving. It's crazy. Shania Twain liked them so much that she had them open for her on her Up! tour.
Most of their songs like "Fall Into Me", I Should Be Sleeping", "If You Were My Girl", "Still Got Yesterday", "A Good Man", "Countrified Soul" and my personal favourite "Testify" are really up-tempo. They did slow it down for an acoustic set of rock covers and for "Moments" but the rest of the evening was rocking.


Our spot on the left hand side of the stage gave us a perfect view of David Pichette's smokin' fiddle playing. I have a soft spot for fiddles anyways and he is just amazing.

Sue & I

Our ears were ringing by the end of the night but we still added our voices to the crowd and encouraged the band to come out for an encore.
The concert was only an a hour and a half total. I still feel like I got a fantastic show, and for the $10 gate admission? You can't go wrong!!!

Left, David

Danick Dupelle
Patrick Bourqe

Lesson Learned

1. Procrastination is never, ever a good idea
2. Ignoring a problem won't make it go away
3. You can make yourself sick by worrying about something
4. Confronting it and dealing with something is the ONLY way to over come it
5. Facing the music and confessing that you messed up isn't as bad as you'll make it out to be in your head and the sooner you do it the better
6. Other people feel the same way you do and just because "it's always been done that way" doesn't mean it has to continue that way"
7. My boss rocks ;)

Kristal Barrett's CD Release Party

Sunday morning I went to church and then Seth and I went to Mom and Dad's for lunch. Mom and I played a round of Scrabble and I lost horribly. So bad that I refused to play my last rack (DIOUVW) because I was already 100 points behind. Seth, Mom and I then played a game of Cribbage (which I haven't played in forever) and I won that which restored my faith in myself LOL

Sunday evening I went to the cd release party for Kristal Barrett. Kristal graduated a year after me and has recently launched a country music career. She works for the radio station and has great support there. She performed at the BerryBeat Festival in July too.

I love her debut single "High On Life" and she's just such a sweet person and I wanted to support her on this big day. I had a blast. I ended up going alone which was fine. I befriended some people in the line up and they invited me to sit with them. It was great. Thank you to Guy, Edie and Darryl for adopting me and being such great entertainment!

If you have the time, check out Kristal's music on her myspace page (linked above) I admit I'm generally not a fan of female singers. If you look at my cd collection, it's about 90% male. Kristal is different though. I love her voice and her lyrics say exactly what I feel. BC is lucky to have her :)

~Heidi

I LOVE my apartment

1. I love that it's small but has lots of storage.
2. I love that the grass magically cuts itself and the flowers seem to grow without help.
3. I love that the dumpster is just outside along with a recycling bin.
4. I love that there are always lights on when I get home.
5. I love that I have a pool even if I've never bothered using it.
6. I love that I look out into the courtyard and it is like a park.
7. I love that I have a corner unit and only rarely hear the people above me.
8. I don't love being on the first floor (I'd prefer to be higher up) but I do love that I don't have to worry about anyone below me.
9. I love that I park underground so my car is always dry and cool.
10. I love that my mother is an angel and still allows me to bring my laundry over to her.
11. I love that there is an elevator that I can use when I'm hauling my scrap crap but that there are stairs I can use on a daily basis. It's my exercise routine :D
12. I love that my brother and I get along so well and that splitting the rent works for us.

And SO many other things including the location in relation to stores and work and the area of town.

Yep, 13 months in and I LOVE my apartment.

Canadian Idol

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of reality tv. Give me a well written drama any day. Somehow though, this summer, I've really gotten in to the latest season of Canadian Idol. I've watched a handful of episodes from Canadian and American Idol over the years and I'm generally aware of who is making the cut (it's hard to avoid!) but this season is the first one that I've actually made a point of watching. It think it helped that in the top ten were not one but two "hometown heros".

Abbotsford has had it's share of "Idols". Karen Lee Batten, Shane Weibe, Jacob Hogard of Hedley, Greg Neufeld who was a finalist in the top 22 last year and who made it to the top seven this year and Mission's Carly Rae Jepsen who is currently in the top four.

Carly Rae was at Mission's Heritage Park today for a hometown concert. The crowd was huge and the rain that fell near the end didn't dampen our spirits.

There were lots of touching tributes including a proclimation from the Mayor designating August 25, 2007 as "Carly Rae Day" in Mission. There were speeches by the local MP and the MLA read a letter from Premier Gordon Campbell.

It was neat to see so much support for Carly. She was only able to sing a handful of songs but after hearing her live I like her even more! Her voice is really unique and she has great potential.

She had a special surprise too. Greg Neufeld was in the crowd and she brought him up for a guest performance.

The next round of Canadian Idol is on Monday/Tuesday. Go Carly Rae!!!