California Dreamin'

Nicky, Tegan and I took a trip down south to visit Jen, Brent and Thea.. oh and the outlet malls ;)

It was a great weekend- I wish the 4 of us could be together more often. Thanks for being such great hosts- oh and special thanks to Brent and Lindsay for looking after Thea while we kidnapped her mum and took her away to wine country overnight.

xoxo C

Summer

Oh my gosh, I'm such a bad blogger- I should have my license revoked! My last post was a month ago! I know the reason though- although I am loving life in Vancouver, it's a little more mundane and less exotic than my life a year ago.. this time last year I was ten feet away from giraffes, lions and hippos and here I think the most exotic animal I've seen in the last 6 months is a great dane. In any case, I'm going to make more of an effort to write here- I like writing, and these days it seems that the only thing I write are grievance response letters to the union- yes, fun I know!

So, we're working on the hotel's strat plan (positioning for the next 5 years) and the past few days I have been thinking a lot about social media- this video is really interesting- it's funny thinking back on the last 15 years- I clearly remember sitting in a gr 11 computers class, learning about the internet, thinking, "psshh, who will ever use this?!" Wish I had a crystal ball back then, I would be a kabillionaire now... anyway, watch this video.. it's interesting! Very important to businesses.

what else? Well, this time next week, Nicky, Tegan and I will be in San Diego visiting Jen, Brent and Thea! Can't wait! Oh yes, I'm also training for the Victoria Marathon. Speaking of which- I have to get going- meeting some people for a 13K.

Bye for now!

xoxo C

Costa Rica Part Deux

So when I left off we'd just arrived in Manuel Antonio in our romantic suite! We had a great time there even though the weather was mixed. It didn't rain every day, but when it did rain, it meant business- the good thing was that it didn't last long usually.

We were there for 5 nights but the highlights for me were definitely kayaking in the mangroves and spending the day at Manuel Antonio National Park- we saw monkeys (just like Ross' monkey, Marcel!) and hung out on a really nice beach! Unfortunately, due to some careless sunscreen application I got pretty burnt.

Since I've left Egypt the incidences of me feeling sure I'm going to die (eg "OMG this car is going 200km/hr and one of the wheels just came off" or "Wow, this doctor is injecting me with something and I have no idea what it is..") have gone way down, but during our surfing lesson, that familiar feeling came back! It started out okay...actually Amanda and I really liked our surfing instructor Marco because he was so funny-- we started out on the beach practicing the correct surfing position before we were allowed on the water. He spoke english, but not very well...he began "Now, sohm people like to put their knee on the board....Meeee? I dohn liak that!" And some people he continued "put their elbows on the board... and of course, he also didn't "liak that!" It became a running joke during the holiday when people did things we weren't happy about. In any case, back to the story.. so after our land lesson we finally got our boards to the water... the waves looked pretty big, but I didn't want to seem like a chicken so I marched into the water head on... the fisrt half hour was okay, I managed to stand up a few times but the waves kept getting bigger and bigger, and then, at one point I was lying on the board, paddling, when suddenly Marco jumped on top of me and lay the full length of himself on my back....he then grabbed the sides of the board and flipped both of us underwater so that the board was on top of us- at that moment, the giant wave that I didn't see because I was facing away from it, thundered over us... we both somehow let go of the board and got jostled around a few times under the water, at that point it was hard to tell which was up or down and then I finally popped up- the board was attached to my ankle with a leash so i think that had something to do with it...when he resurfaced, marco looked pretty surprised as well...After that Amanda and I both agreed we'd done enough surfing for the day....

The pics, in order, are: view from our room (at sunset); Amanda picking out some fruit; Slothy the 3-toed sloth that lived in the jungle near our hotel; us kayaking in the mangroves.

All in all, it was a great trip. We saw and did a lot of amazing things. Back to work tomorrow :(

Bye for now,

xoxo C

Costa Rica!

Amanda and I have been in Costa Rica since Thursday night- after a perfectly-timed airport arrival (about 5 mins apart coming from two different cities in two different countries!), we found our driver and went to our hotel to spend the night in the capital, San Jose. Another driver picked us up the next morning and we made our way to Arenal volcano where we stayed at the Lost Iguana resort which was cool but deserted- we were one of only 3 other parties there- apparently this is the beginning of the off season. We still managed to befriend a Seattle couple, John and Katie, who were there on their honeymoon and spent a little time with them.

While in the area, we went to the hanging bridges for a rainforest walk- we were reallllly hoping to see monkeys but had to satisfy ourselves with bugs, birds and some wild boars. Probably one of the neatest creatures were the leaf-cutter ants who do just as their name suggests.

We also did ziplining with John and Katie and a group of other people (mostly americans)- I'd done it in Nanaimo at the bungy zone but this was about a kazillion times higher, scarier and more fun.

After 2 very full days at Arenal we made the 4.5 hour trip to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast- the trip was delayed about 45 mins because of a nest of killer bees that were found under a bridge we needed to cross. Some people were annoyed, but personally, I was happy to wait!

We got to Manuel Antonio yesterday and got upgraded to one of the most romantic rooms I've ever seen! There is a jacuzzi tub on the deck overlooking the ocean, unfortunately, I'm here with Amanda and this is not a romantic holiday! We also have a 3 toed sloth outside our room (or as the elderly American man we met to day called it, a "slothe"). He is the slowest moving animal I've ever seen- but very cute!

Today we relaxed at the beach and pool and recovered from the last few days' early mornings but tomorrow we;re back at it with Mangrove kayaking, then surfing lessons and another rainforest hike in the next few days.

Hope you're all doing well and that all the mothers out there had a great mother's day (especially mine!)

I'll leave you with a few pics.

Bye for now!

xoxo C

Running and Traveling... again...

Apparently I only feel moved to blog when I am on the road or in airports- it's not that my normal life is not interesting but maybe just a bit more routine and I don't feel like I have that much to write about.

In any case things are going well- I bought a condo (take possession on May 27th); I ran the 8K associated with the Vancouver Marathon- I was planning to do the half but I pulled out at the last minute because I didn't feel my training was up to snuff and I was worried I'd injure myself by pushing too hard... it ended up being a good move- I purposely ran without a watch but ended up finishing 52nd overall, 11th out of the women and 2nd in my age group (I'm in a new agegroup now!). It was what I needed to get the running bug back again and I think I'm going to do another half at the end of June.

Anyway, you're probably thinking... I thought she said she was traveling... I am- I'm curretnly sitting in the boarding louge at YVR en route to San Jose Costa Rica, via Dallas and San Salvador (long story!).


I'm going to meet Amanda (of Crete, London and Cairo fame) and I can't wait- it's been ages since I've had a holiday! We're staying one night in the capital city, San Jose, then going to the volcano region (arenal) for two nights, then heading to the Pacific coast for 5 nights for some swimming, surfing and general R&R. Did I say I can't wait!?

Okay they're calling my flight- I should go but have a great week and Happy Mother's Day!
xoxo

C

Solid Potato Salad

I know, I know, I only post videos these days and don't write anything of my own, but this is crazy.... These are The Ross Sisters, famous in the 4o's for their amazing contortions and dance moves- look at the things they can do! In other news, I'm running an 8K race and I bought a condo last week!

Another Whistler trip!