Phil was back at work yesterday, and i just did normal stuff like laundry, went for a walk, made supper:


i also did the shred and beat Phil at Ticket to Ride! We also finished Gilmore Girls :( :( And we sat around for about half an hour before bed cuz we didn't know what to do! We usually watch a couple episodes before bed lol.

Phil had a much more interesting day than me though; he did Sudoku for an hour and a half at work and only got 3 numbers!! He and his coworkers also had something of a high kick competition, and Phil was so excited that when he kicked, his other leg couldn't help but come along and he ended up on the ground lol!!! Oh and one of his coworkers asked if he'd seen "Ar-bar-tar" and Phil was like...um, no idea what you're talking about! the guy turned to one of the girls and said "Liz how do you say that movie again?" and she was like "...Avatar". LOL!!! He's not from here so it's not his fault but it's still pretty funny.

One of these days i'm going to try the take-a-picture-every-hour-after-i-get-up thing, but i've already neglected this morning and...my hair is yucky!

don't forget to check out my superlong post about the weekend up until Tuesday below :P

Yesterday Phil & I went to my school to do an observation! We were shown around by Chef Warren while the current culinary class was listening to a lecture by Chef Tony (one of the owners), and the pastry class was making alternative desserts for vegans, lactose intolerant people, etc. The layout of the school is pretty great. From front to back (it's a rectangle; short front and back, long sides): office, lecture area with demo area and whiteboards on either wall, stoves and workspaces (4 people to a stove, 2 people to a workspace), teacher's workspace (one of them runs a catering business!), pastry work area (they have their own ovens and tables, etc.), bathrooms and fridges/freezers, and finally, lockers! The actual learning and work areas take up about 70-80% of the building.


Anyways, when Chef Tony was done the lecture, we were introduced, and he invited us to come back next week to the dinner the current students are hosting as part of their final project! There's a very limited space and we get to go! Also we'll be among a bunch of chefs from around Vancouver who will be helping to mark the meal! I'm pretty excited :)

Then we biked home (half hour each way) OH first we stopped at Starbucks for tea lemonades that reeeally hit the spot on the hot day. Then we lazed around (probably watched Gilmore Girls), and ordered pizza! Phil went on a ride with a bike shop and i did some yoga, and then we went down to Kits beach to watch fireworks! It's an annual competition where a few countries put a show together to music. Last night was Mexico (we missed Spain and the US), and it was awesome!! The best fireworks i think i've ever seen. We are going to see China (the last one) on Saturday :)

ps. i have discovered good toilet paper and it is Purex.

so this past weekend we flew back home for a wedding (barely actually, we were almost the last people on the plane - eek!). We arrived Friday evening and hung out with Christina & Jordan at Marcia and Tim's house who let us stay there while they were out of town. The next day started early with breakfast at McDonalds with Julia & James, and then my family met up to drive to Grand Beach together. It was the perfect beach day, and i'd love to show you pics but i took them with a disposable camera :P Anyways, next we went to Juan & Meagen's wedding, which was just beautiful. Very classy and very Meagen :)


One of my favorite moments was everyone walking down the aisle to Clair de Lune. The reception was held at a french restaurant and let me tell you about the food!!! We started off with sourdough bread with olive oil mixed with balsamic vinegar for dipping (i could eat that all day), and then i had butternut squash soup which was the best soup i have ever tasted! it tasted like liquid mac and cheese and it was amazing. it was very hard to share with phil ;) those were the food highlights for me. i guess i'm just a soup and bread kinda girl!


The reception itself was really nice, all the food courses were spread out so you didn't feel incredibly full, and there were toasts and kissing games interspersed between the courses. We had to leave right as the dancing and chocolate cream puffs were starting, but Meagen let me snag one on our way out! And then i proceeded to get chocolate cream on my dress :( Which incidentally has to be dry cleaned!! booooo. actually, the cream puff was worth it ;) mmmm now i want cream puffs. Good thing Superstore is so much further away here. Or maybe there's a cream puff place around here somewhere? anyways, off the cream puff tangent! My parents picked us up and we all went to Christina's place to hang out a bit cuz we flew out reeeeeally early Sunday morning. It was really nice to see our family members and just hang out with people!

Sunday was a little weird cuz we left a 7am and landed at 8am :P Then we waited outside the vet to pick up Sundae at 9 which was when they said they opened, but by 9:20 they still hadn't opened so we called and they said the girl was running late. Not impressed! we missed our little poochie! anyways, she eventually got there and Sundae was very happy to see us :) I took a nap from 11am-2pm, and we just relaxed until suppertime when we met up with my cousin Matt and his girlfriend April at a mexican restaurant. i had vegie enchiladas which were yummy, and phil had pork pineapple tacos which sounded delicious, but he wasn't that impressed. By 8:30 we were pretty much ready to go to bed, and i think we were actually sleeping by 10 :P

Monday was a bum day, i didn't even do any exercising (bad me!); just sat around oh and we went grocery shopping. Phil actually went for an interview at 3pm and on his way back home he got in a bike accident! A cyclist coming from the opposite direction wasn't paying attention and turned right in front of him! His bike is fine, and he just had a few abrasions, except where his leg met his pelvic bone was feeling funny and he was having a tough time walking. We were worried that he would have to call in sick on his first day! So we prayed about it and he felt much better the next morning. Yay!

Tuesday! Phil started his new job, working 8:30-5 as a bike mechanic! He had a pretty good day, he likes his co-workers and got to fix a bunch of rental bikes! My cousin Nathan came out from Abbotsford to spend the day with me, and we started by climbing a mountain! Grouse Mountain to be exact, and the trail is called the Grouse Grind. it's 2.9K of pretty steep stairs up the mountain, some man-made, some more natural. I started out too fast and when i saw the "you're 1/4 of the way there" sign i wasn't sure i would make it! but the halfway sign came much sooner and i got a better pace going, and i made it! it was an incredible cardio workout. It wasn't that my legs hurt or that i couldn't breathe, it was that i felt like my heart was going to explode!


At the top we rested for a bit and paid the $8 each for the skyride back down the mountain :) When we got back to our place, we ate egg sandwiches and watched the King of California (excellent movie btw) and Gene Simmons Family Jewels!! such a funny show. Then Phil came home and we had supper and played Ticket to Ride. It was a good day :)

Here are some of Phil's co-workers names: Eden (a boy), Valentine (val-en-teen), and Real (for real!)

so today: first of all Sundae had to sleep with a cone in in her bed (she usually sleeps with us), and pretty much she wouldn't sleep AND she got past her cone to lick her butt, so at 2:30am me and Phil switched sides of the bed (and we added a cereal box extension to the cone) so he could try to get her to sleep. Then he got up at 5:30am to watch the Tour de France til 8:30, and then...we went back to bed til 11:30 :)

the rest of the day was full of cleaning Sundae's butt with hydrogen peroxide (imagine how much she likes that) 4 times, giving her 2 doses of a liquid med that has to be poured down her throat (imagine how much she likes THAT), and trying not to let her sit/lie down on anything but the designated towel. Oh and watching 3 more episodes of Gilmore Girls (almost done season 6!), making pork & zucchini lasagna (hello leftovers) AND zucchini bread, going for a run, yoga, and now Phil's doing dishes (we love Phil).

In parting, here is Sundae right after we brought her back from the vet, rocking the cone:

so yesterday Marcia & Tim had a layover here on their way to China (!!), so we took them around Vancouver for the day! We started by making them walk almost all the way around the seawall at Stanley Park (almost 9k), then we ate fish & chips and walked around Granville Island for a bit.



Then we headed to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, and ended with burgers at Red Robin and IKEA (comin' atcha Heather!)



And in the middle of all that we drove through Main & Hastings (a little different than i remember...), past the Vancouver Public Library (looks like the colosseum) and the Olympic Torch.