Home sweet home

I have finally moved everything over and am slowly unpacking boxes, taking trips down memory lane (with all of the random things I received in my NL boxes) and wondering how I have collected so much stuff. I also currently don’t own any furniture so I am essentially taking things out of boxes and putting them in piles. It only seems to be getting messier in my apartment...
I have purchased a ridiculous quantity of things, none of them exciting. It gets a little old when everything you purchase is because you have to and not because you are excited about it. I spent $300 at Canadian Tire the other day on pots and pans, a toaster, a kettle, cleaning supplies... please tell me how anyone could get excited about this?!?

I was however, excited about finally having some furniture. As delightful as my air mattress is, it will be nice to have a real bed that is mine! Sadly the trip to IKEA was in vain, because they can only ship within three days of a purchase, and I need to confirm the elevator key with the building manager in order to move... so I have to return to IKEA (super out of the way as all IKEA’s are) and purchase my things on Thursday or Friday so they can deliver on Saturday.

I am just getting basics from there, bedroom furniture, end tables and a TV stand/bookshelf. I don’t want the room to be too IKEA. The plan for the living room is red/black/gray. I attached the original storyboard for colours; however the brown shelving unit is out. It’ll be a work in progress over the next couple of months. I think the most challenging part will be finding a couch that I am happy with and within my price range. I am willing to sit on pillows until I find something I’m happy with. I also attached a couple of photos of the new place so you can see the before. It’s small but I’m excited about it!

Christmas in January

Just returned from a weekend in Toronto with the fam. It was really cool that we got to have a fake Christmas half way across the country for all of us. Since it wasn’t in Newfoundland there were less distractions and more quality time. I did still end up going out for pints with a couple of my friends form university. My aunt even made us a turkey! Yeah turkey!

I feel like I had a surprisingly cultural weekend in Toronto... normally my trips there are a bit more pints and shopping focused. We went to the King Tut exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario and saw Jersey Boys the musical. Not overly cultural, but what do you expect for four days.

My parents and I did the most in-depth IKEA visit ever, much to the annoyance of my brothers. However I now have an exceptionally detailed list of the items I would like to purchase. I have things categorized into basics and eventually purchases. I am getting pretty excited, in my very geeky way.
Tonight I move into the new place... fortunately I have Krista to help me move things over. I think it will only take a car load or so...but I have collected a ridiculous quantity of things for only two and a half months. Might be time to purge my belongings again...

(forgot to post this last week)

Found a place!

Heritage just means old at least from what I have experienced. I have huge issues with getting beyond all of the junk people collect and seeing myself living somewhere. It doesnt help when the place is a dump to begin with. I love heritage, classic architecture, but that totally isnt what I viewed. Ideally I would want to live in kits, for the cute cafe culture, beach and overall feel. But I dont really want to live in an older place and I wanted to have a place by the 15th so I decided on the West End. I am also just across the bridge from Kits so its a livable compromise.

I am exceptionally happy with the apartment I did get. It is on the 12th floor, view into the city, two blocks from the beach, giant hot tub and sauna in the building, bike storage and a new fridge and stove. The place is really clean and I could possibly see myself there for a while, so it has all of the things I am looking for! Woot! I move in on the 18th/19th when I get home from Toronto weird I think that is the first time I called Vancouver home.

Having a place that is going to be mine makes me think a little differently about stuff. I feel a little more settled, even though the next couple of weeks are going to be total madness. My mind is running crazy with ways I could decoratewhen really I should focus on basic need. Going to be a fun couple of months.

It also looks like all things are a go for volunteering at the Olympic hockey games I will know in a week or so what my schedule is like and how many games Ill get to work.

The hunt begins...

I am anxiously entering the apartment hunt... nervous because it means that I settle down and start to own things again, worried because I have no idea what half of these places will look like, overwhelmed by the ridiculous cost of things and excited because I will actually have a place of my own!

I have narrowed down that I am interested in living in Kits (Kitsalano) or West End (downtown). I want a place that has a good amount of light, somewhere to store a bike, near public transportation and has one bedroom. It might be a lot to ask. However, from what I hear, Vancouver is a renters market. With a fairly high vacancy rate it is a good place to be in search of a place. Ideally I would like to find a place that I would consider staying in for a couple of years.

Tonight I am viewing my first place; it is a heritage apartment building... my expectations are not that high. I like the idea of heritage buildings, they are a bit more cozy (hopefully not freezing) and if done right tend to have a homey/eclectic feeling to them. I also like modern/clean looks. The place I get will dictate what furniture, colors and look I go for. It’s an exciting and expensive time!

The couple I am subletting from gets back on the 22nd, so ideally I would find somewhere before then. Most likely I will find somewhere that starts Feb 1st. It means a week of sleeping on a pull out, but I am sure that won’t be so bad, however not ideal. The race is on!! This weekend will be dedicated to the hunt... I’ll keep you posted.

In totally unrelated, but super exciting news, I am going to stand for Jill and Colin’s wedding in November at home. I am super excited for both of them and love that they are doing as sustainable a wedding as Newfoundland will allow. I feel like my trips home over the next couple of years will revolve around weddings, what an exciting reason to go home!

Food obsession!!

Since I am mildly obsessed with food I have decided that on occasion, if I have found something that I enjoy I will post the recipe. I am trying to make more of an effort to make proper meals and pack them up for a couple of days. Chances are things that I make are pretty easy, quick and if they made this blog hopefully delicious!

Today I made Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes

Enough Spaghetti for 2 (I obviously did not feel the need to make a family portion)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 clove garlic, crushed but not minced
1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, chopped in half
4 ounces small mozzarella balls (bocconcini) cut in half
salt

Cook spaghetti in pot of salted water until cooked (10 min? I used gluten free pasta). Mix oil, chili, oregano and garlic together and fry for a couple of min, until garlic appears cooked. Add tomatoes for about 3 min.

Drain pasta, mix in oil/tomato mixture. Season with salt. Add mozzarella balls, mix. Serve! Serves 2.

Pretty much a 20 minute meal. The mozzarella balls are pretty substantial and protein packed so I am pretty stuffed right now. I’m saving the left over’s for lunch and I have a feeling that with the chili it might taste even better tomorrow.

Clearly I am becoming an old person.

Year in Review…

I feel like I should take a moment to capture my year in one set of bullet points for when I get old and senile and reread my blog to remind myself that I had a life. Alternatively, I can reread it if this year gets particularly boring to kick my butt into gear to make this one interesting.

Run down of last year:
• Went to New Zealand with Mom and Sherry, saw most of the country…went bundgy jumping
• Move to Melbourne, played heaps of Frisbee, lived with some awesome people, had an international job in marketing, went to see a bunch of concerts and re-sprained my ankle walking to a washroom (toilets in Australia)
• Learned about how Australians don’t date
• Was a Honey!! (Frisbee team I played with in Melbourne)
• Went to Perth, Tasmania, Brisbane, LA and visited Vancouver pre deciding to move here
• Went home to Newfoundland for a month, was depressed, then got used to it, then didn’t want to leave, but left anyway (good decision overall, I can always go back). Saw my family and friends!!
• Moved to Vancouver, found an excellent job, met some people, reconnected with old friends and ate chicken feet with Annie’s family in Richmond

Overall I am pretty happy with how last year went. I think it’ll be a hard year to compete with. There are a couple of things I would like to do this year:
• Learn how to snowboard
• Go camping, preferably not get attacked by a bear or cougar
• Enjoy living in the city where the Olympic games are being held
• Get back into good shape…
• Start to bike to work

Clearly I will need to come up with some additional exciting endeavors in order to compare with last year, but I do expect this year to be a pretty chilled out.

No Mummers this year

I have been fortunate to have few homesick feelings over the past year, one would guess that I have been so busy there isn’t really enough time to feel homesick. I love Newfoundland, I think it is amazingly beautiful, the people are extraordinary, the culture is continuously intriguing and well my friends and family are there. If the population wasn’t so small and the snow wasn’t so heavy I would consider moving back. Sadly I don’t think either of these will change that much, even with global warming.
This Christmas season truly made me miss all that Newfoundland has to offer. I thought summer was my favourite time to be home, but now that I think of all of the parties, birthdays, activities that fall around the holiday season at home I am really starting to miss the place. I don’t know if anywhere celebrates like Newfoundland does, it is basically a week full of events. It saddens me greatly that in Vancouver no one knows what “Tibbs eve” is.

When I asked what some typical Vancouver things to do for Christmas are no one really had an answer. It is one of those places that has so many people from elsewhere that there doesn’t appear to be much that is distinctively ‘Vancouver.’ It’s a good and a bad thing, because of all the different groups there are plenty of great multi-cultural events and activities. Year round this is really amazing, Christmas I think I prefer Newfoundland.

On a whole I would say it was my weirdest Christmas to date. Last year was so totally different that I can’t compare but here just felt like a random week off. Stores only really close on Christmas day here and the only thing that you hear much about are the Boxing Day sales. I thought it would feel more Christmassy in Canada…
The saving grace of Christmas and New Years were two delicious meals. I was lucky to go over to Matt and Heathers for an amazing turkey dinner on Christmas day… mmm makes me hungry again just thinking about it (as well, they even had savory in the stuffing, hard stuff to come by in BC). And New Years I got to hang out with a couple of people I know from Newfoundland and some friends from Australia.

I have no big ideas or expectations for the New Year. My first priority is to find a place to live, after that who knows.