life life life life life life life

Alright so it has been awhile since I've blogged, and although I have limited time to do this, I thought, there is no better time than the present to write about how life has been going.
Two weeks ago now, I started my new job as a Float Clerk and a law firm downtown Vancouver. At first when I got this job I was so excited and overwhelmed that I said yes right away thinking, 'man I'm going to be one of those business people that work downtown Vancouver,' great right? Well little did I think about all those other "things" that come along with it. What other things you might ask? Well the 50 minute commute on the train into Vancouver, the rainy walk 15 minutes up the blocks to the office, the 250+ people's names, faces, where they sit, what they do, what lawyers they work for, who are lawyers etc. A little overwhelming you might say? Yes! But it excited me to take this next step. It was however probably one of the hardest steps I ever took. If any of the ladies from MLT in Regina read this blog you may or may not know, that I called there my second day in, bawling my face off, missing every single person in the office, and I can name YOU ALL! Life in the big city just isn't the same. Beautiful? Yes! Exciting? Yes! Fast paced? Yes! Friendly People? Well. ..
Because life is so busy here it seems that people don't really care to get to know you, care about happiness, life, anything. I mean it's different when you are consumed by work and busy, but when you are all sitting down in the lunch room. . . and you are left alone at your table while everyone else continues sitting down with eachother else where, laughing away and enjoying life. . . or you say hi to fellow workers (on your team) in the hallway and they walk past you like you blended in with the wall. . or you ask a simple question because obviously being new you don't exactly know everything. . and get a rude harsh knife stabbing remark back. . . Yup. . those things can bring tears to a persons' eyes. I miss home. . . but I love it here and the work that I am doing, regardless if people like me back or care to know me. As much as I want to through in the towel and say 'forget it.' I know I'm a bigger and stronger person for that. I enjoy my job everyone, don't think that I don't. . . it's just. . . different.
Anyways, what else has life brought me? Rain. . snow.,. rain. ... snow . .. rain. . etc.
Time with Nick has been great and often see eachother daily. . . He even said the other day he would be cheering for Saskatchewan in the Grey Cup this weekend. . I will get pictures and evidence don't worry. . Anyways. . Until next time everyone. .. . .
I will write you tonight or tomorrow. ..
Back to work I go. .

i'm sorry

i'm sorry i haven't blogged in forever! truly forever. .
i will blog for you all tonight
it's been a busy few weeks. . .
i will fill you in tonight
i promise. . .

Ohkie Dohkie

So, I realized I haven't blogged in a very long time. Why you might ask what have I been up to? Well a whole lot of nothing-ness, but obviously little things here and there occurred thus keeping me mildly busy since last Friday. Friday evening we had a wonderful birthday dinner for Nick's mom. Consisting of delicious Greek food, followed by fruit salsa and homemade marble cake for dessert! Earlier that day I had been out with Nick's sister in law Jeneva, and we were discussing the dessert I would be making for supper that evening, and realized she is allergic to nuts, so I made certain that I did not make any desserts that came into contact with any nut what so ever. We had a blast that night hanging out with everyone. Jeneva (the crazy auntie that she is) along with her side kick Lauren (future crazy auntie#2) spoon fed Noah (age 1 1/2) spoonfuls of green icing along with cinnamon and sugar mixed together. Hey we figured if we weren't taking him home, we didn't have to deal with him right? Well Uncle Nick reaped the benefits of a hyper sugar filled red head toddler running around screaming in his high pitched squeal rolling on the floor and pile driving Uncle Nick. He took it in strides though and was laughing the whole time.
Saturday, uneventful in ways, I had the opportunity to sleep in a little bit, then continue on my day in the comfiest fashion possible, lulu's and a good ol' bunny hug.

Side note about the whole "bunny hug," situation. . . I get the weirdest looks from people around here when I call my "sweater" a bunny hug. Come on people, that's what it's called. And I will not conform to calling it a "pull over" a "hoodie" or whatever. Zip up's have hoods. . . they can be called hoodies, some coats have hoods, they can be called hoodies. A bunny hug is a bunny hug. . . deal with it.

Vent over. . . moving on :)

Saturday Nick and I, along with his mom, ventured to the airport hotel where we dropped her off for the evening. She was catching an early morning flight to that hot place in the desert to vacation until Christmas time. . . not that Nick and I were jealous or anything. . . we both strangely enjoy the plus 6 and rainy weather. . if sarcasm is heard in that statement, you are. . . wrrrrrr. .right. . .

Sunday morning after venturing to meet Nick, we went on to get some coffees and off to Church we went. Only to be harrassed for showing up with no coffee for the Pastor, and that it was Tim Horton's not Starbucks. My initial response was "I'm from Saskatchewan, I'm pretty sure we only have one Starbucks in the entire province" to which he responded "Fair enough. .". . I think it's safe to say I will always be a Tim Horton's junky. .
We continued to go our separate ways for the rest of the day. I spent my day with Nick's sister in law Danielle and her lil guy Noah (Remember the crazy red head from earlier) We hung out and wandered the mall, and once that part of my eventful day was over, I ventured to another suburb amongst the many to pick up my dear friend Cid, who happened to have a sleepover watching Pretty Woman at my place! She had never seen the movie, and seeing as Julia Roberts is one of my all time favorite actresses and that movie is ranked highly on my list of movies I love, I thought it was a definite must to watch. Again, it never let me down, I loved every moment of it.  As Cid stated, "I freaking LOVE pretty woman". . . Enough said.

Today, Monday, Cid and I slept in way late, got ourselves a cup of coffee and a yogurt, wandered the cute little shops along the streets in Maple Ridge, made people laugh, talked about good ol' Saskatchewan, made more people laugh, smile and enjoy the day, then ventured to her home land (one of them other suburbs) to which she left me for a . . . date, friend, boy, whatever you want to call it. I ventured home in the slow and i mean slow moving traffic. Got home, cleaned my house, went over to Nick's, had dinner, watched the tv show I recorded yesterday on the life of Prince William and his girly friend Kate Middleton. Watched a movie with Nick, came home to blog.

OH BY THE WAY DID I MENTION NICK HAS NOW DECIDED THAT MONDAY'S ARE FLOWER DAY FOR LAUREN :) :)
I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers today. Orange and red and white :) So pretty. He's great! He also bought me my favorite chocolates. After Eight Mints. . . :) He makes my heart smile :)

Anyways. . long enough blog. . . Bed time for me!

Until next time. . Keep fit and have fun!

Long awaited blog. .

I cannot believe it has been a hand full of days since I last wrote a blog on Sunday! I wish I could say this blog is going to be the best you've ever read, but unfortunately. . . it's not.
I will however tell you about the ups the downs the circles and squares of my life. . . this week . . if you so care to hear it?
Ohk, well I guess moving on. . Let's take a quick look at my week. .
Monday- I. . .hmm I cannot actually remember what I did Monday. . All I know is I made chicken and pasta for dinner. . . moving on. . .
Tuesday- I took Nick's mom to the eye doctor in the morning, and in the afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful day at the Christian bookstore in Abbotsford! Tuesday dinner was sweet and sour meatballs and rice.

side note- I'm telling you about these meals, because Nick and I are trying to be creative with what we have for dinner's in the evening :)  moving on. . .

Wednesday- I GOT A JOB! I was offered a job Wednesday morning at a lawfirm downtown Van-City! I was so so excited! It's going to be similar to what I was doing in Sask-at-chew-an, so I am super pumped for that!
After I calmed down from all the excitement, I went into Fall cleaning mode at the Fun-Home (Aka the funeral home) I cleaned cupboards and removed old unwanted items all day long. Busy busy day!
That night Nick's mom and I made chicken gyros. . . SO delicious!

Thursday- aka today- I helped Nick's mom babysit her grandson Noah and we played outside in the sun all day. I made blueberry muffins (compliments of Martha Stewart's recipe) and then because the Nuckle-heads were playing hockey on tv. Aka the Canucks, Nick had ask we order pizza. So we ordered Panago. Mmm delicious, and then Nick and I proceeded to do ab work outs. . . hurt my stomach.
Also we watched the new episode of The Big Bang Theory. I TRULY Love that show, it is absolutely hilarious. Like. . hilarious. . . I literally LOL yes. . laugh out loud.

And that brings me to tonight.
I would continue you typing but I'm at the stage of tired-ness that I feel sick and nauseous. . .
time for sleeeeeeep.

Remember: Remembrance Day is coming up. . . it's important! Find a place for your moment of silence, or even better find a Remembrance Day service to go to!

one amazing rider fan among boring lions fans..

Ohk so this blog could be long, but absolutely hilarious and proves my AWESOME-NESS...
let me expand..

Nick, oh so wonderful Nick was able to get us Riders vs Lions tickets for today (Sunday) game. The tickets however were 2 rows up from the Lion's bench on the 49 yard line. Awesome seats, not so awesome that I was surrounded by orange. I however took this on as my mission to make a complete fool of myself!!! In classic Lauren style as the amazing green and white jersies took their place on the field, I (of course) was jumping up and down screaming and cheering and having all the practise roster players from BC (poor guys) turn looking at my thinking, "What is that girl on?" Nothing! Just pure team spirit and energy! So, fans around me, NOT IMPRESSED. Lauren = soaking it up. Bring on the nasty comments, bring on the "how do you like that Rider girl" Pfffft you think your words are going to destroy this fan. Nope. Oh and did I mention a rather large man in orange hitting a tamborine on his head as well as his big belly (not in beat might I add) kept screaming at me, in his voice that LITERALLY, you can all ask Nick, sounded like Satan. And then when the Riders had a big play, I turned around, looking him directly in the eyes and said "Do you have anything you wanna say now buddy. . . yeah.. didn't think so"


My main goals going into this game:
#1- Make a complete fool of myself... check
#2- Get the TSN camera guys to put me on TSN live. . .CHECK. . . so get this, pretty much the entire game, every time the TSN camera guy and his handy dandy assistant came by I did my very best to be noticed, and oh so inconspicuously shout "HEY TSN GUY PUT ME ON TV"  Yeah. . wasn't that obvious that I wanted to be on the Tv-o. So finally after laughing and making a fool of myself (as many of you know I am VERY capable of doing this) they finally come over and FILM US!! WE WERE ON TSN WE WERE ON TSN!! HIGHLIGHT OF MY NIGHT. . . or so you might think!
- - - TSN- - - in typical Lauren style. . . making a fool of myself got me far! And after that my phone went crazy with texts saying "I just saw you on the TV". . .I looked at Nick and said. . . . "Yeaaaah they did"

Oh. . another highlight of the game. . . I again, yelled down at some kid with orange footballs saying "Give us one". . . and again. . . in awesome Lauren style. . . We got an orange toy football. . .

Ohk SO THE BEST PART OF MY NIGHT. And the part that made Nick laugh the most. Every single time the Lion's fans sat boringly in their seats. Which was quite often might I add. I would get up and dance around (in classic Lauren style) and rub the Saskatchewan Logos on my jersey sleeves and catch the attention of water boys or players or anyone on the Lion's bench point and smile and say "Yeaaaaah you like that don't you. Yeeeah you like it, you know you do..." Bahahahahaha I'm dying laughing thinking about it. They were killing themselves laughing. Some were trying not to laugh and not to smile but OBVIOUSLY couldn't keep that stuff locked inside. Come on? I mean really! I am so awesome! They had to enjoy it!

So the moral of this story is. I had a blast at the game, now everyone around me, didn't. Which, here comes the rant, because their team WON! Ohk their team won, and they sat their like potatoes in a sack, with no facial expressions at all. I was laughing and joking and having a great time, turning around and trying to get people laughing and enjoying life. NO. No one in that stadium has any concept of what fun is. I laugh and smile at them and they give me this look like, "If you don't sit down in 5 seconds I'm going to rip off your head. Why are you smiling? Smiles are for fun, this isn't fun" Like woah. Enjoy life! It was nothing like Taylor Field, but how can it be? The pride and the sense of entertainment and enjoyment at a football game is non exsistant. People rather pay a ton of money to sit like lumps on a log then smile enjoy the game enjoy the music and atmosphere. It was sad, really really sad. Oh and a side note, the only other people in my section that had a speck of fun were two wonderful people sitting in front of us to the left. . . and guess what. . . THEY WERE RIDER FANS. GO FIGURE!

I however had a great time making a fool of myself, dancing laughing screaming shouting, spending time with Nick and all that jazz. . .
People in BC need to learn to embrace life, enjoy it while it lasts.

Live love and laugh.

naps, music, traffic and planes

so i had to think about what to blog tonight, because i knew that since i havent blogged for a couple days, you all would be waiting in anticipation for this next blog. sorry, it's not going to be that exciting, but i can tell you about my eventful-ish day.
waking up i proceeded to double check the job websites, a daily activity for me lately, and then got ready in my "professional" attire to do more resume dropping off. i headed to a few firms around the city and dropped off a bundle here and there and everywhere. not feeling so good at this point and i head home thinking i just need something to eat. it's now the afternoon by the time i get home, and i feel so "poopy" and drained i curl up in my bed to try and get warm, as i am quite cold and shivering. next thing i know it's 2:30 and nick is texting me letting me know he will be at my place around 3 to head to pick up his mom at the airport. i can barely open my eyes to read the text and a blurried response i roll out of bed now that my stomach feels like it's eating a hole through my skin. i stumble to the kitchen and slowly but surely start to make myself my wonderful toasted tuna sandwich, with the special jar of "Greiner relish" given to me by my mom before she left.
next phase of the day, nick picks me up to head to the airport, in friday afternoon traffic. we both are irritated and nagging each other to the point where we both start laughing. so completely over tired and grumpy that laughter is the next best thing. great tunes come on and we slowly make our way to the airport as i am bopping in the passenger seat. i roll my window down, because now i have become beyond irritated and moved into hyper laughter, every car that goes by i give a "hello" shout, windows down or not, every car around us deserves a hello.
now the rest of our night was boring so i will make it short, we picked up nick's mom from the airport, went for dinner and now are sitting watching the hamilton vs calgary football game! wooooonderful!
more blogging to come!

how we roll. . lauren style. .

bam, i wake up, exactly 1 hour longer than what my alarm was originally was set for. hop in the magical water that falls from the ceiling we call the "shower." blow dry hair, curl hair, do the make up, get on my fancy clothes, put on my "these are not comfortable but i will suffer through the pain because i need to make a statement" heels. yes, i know all you ladies out there have those heels, you just wont admit the pain. someone says to you, "cute heels" your response is "awe thanks, and they are surprisingly comfy". . . you liar, they so are not comfy! a comfy shoe is like. . . a slipper or a flip flop, not a 3 inch stiletto heel.

anyways, re-looping back out of that rabbit trail. . .

so i get in my car and after stopping to say goodbye to nick and show him how "sophisticated lauren" looks, i took off, all by myself, to down town van-city. now, nick gave me great directions, that obviously looking at my track record in the past with following peoples' directions (or lack there of).  i should take these directions and actually use them :) but just like people in the past, nick's directions are great to a point and then they fail, leaving me to be creative and find my way around myself. now let's look at my driving patterns and mistakes and success....

#1- onto the freeway away from "the ridge" i successfully get to first ave (in vancouver)
#2- i stall my car on a massive hill in a ton of traffic . . . .panic settles in. . . . nerves take over and my feet start shaking. . . this makes driving a standard all the more difficult
#3- i turn off of first ave onto main, hoping to turn left onto georgia st.(as per nick's directions. .)
#4- you cannot turn left onto georgia (like nick told me to do) so i drove right into chinatown
#5- i turned on the next available street, went swinging back around down past the hockey stadium back up over onto a new street (sooooo confused by now) up over a hill into a construction zone. . . and finally!
#6- a street i recognized! yay! see? who needs directions when you have a high functioning brain like lauren raine, who is capable of finding a needle in a high stack? or should i not be so bold. . .

moral of this confusing and somewhat useless blog, i found the street i was looking for, walked for hours on cobble streets in 3 inch heels, had a great interview with two great girls from a law firm! i will find out next week what they've decided. i feel at peace about it regardless of whether i get the interview or not. the experience was well worth it.

i wish i could find my camera, i need to document these days. i must say a lil ol saskatchewan girl can get herself lost in this city if she isn't careful.
oh and did i mention it was +12 and warm and sunny today here? . . . i think that's my cue to stop writing. . .

more blogs to come!

.approximately 1,692 km from home.

today, was an ohk day. just an ohk day you might ask? yes. . . just an ohk day. i realized today how discouraging it can be looking for work, and places not hiring. walking into places that haven't advertised their hiring and find out. . . they aren't hiring. i honestly don't know how people "enjoy" not working and sitting around all day doing nothing. i, lauren raine, am not that type of person. i need to be working to enjoy myself. i am a working person. i will always be a working person. i need to be working. i need to be doing something. ahh.. .. ..

so, searching for work, a tedious task. . . text from nick. . . danielle is sick at work and needs to be picked up. . . a good time for me to clear my head and get away from job sites and resume planning out. . .
next thing i know i'm at the fun(funeral) home. . . mapping out law firms downtown van-city to apply to while down there for my interview tomorrow. i figured, i will be dressed up and down town. . . why wouldn't i apply for jobs!?

. . many hours later. .

nick and i had a fantastic dinner together, consisting of asparagus, pork steaks and a garden salad. . .
we then ventured to the mcdonalds parking lot. . . ha-ha creeped out yet? . . . oh settle down. . . we went there to meet a gentleman who sold us our wonderful Rider game tickets

[side note: please notice how i could care less if we are in bc and it's a "bc lions game" . . any game i go to with the Rider's playing will always be considered a RIDERS game]

continuing on. . we returned to nick's house where for some reason, i don't know why, but it hit me. i miss home. i miss my mom, my dad, my brother, larissa, my puppy, grace, suzy, everyone at hillsdale, my work, all the ladies at my work, everything. i missed and still miss it all. deep breaths lauren. . . deep breaths. . . i'm so thankful for nick and his sensitive side. even though i'm sure he would have much rather been sitting watching the canucks play on tv. . . he sat with my giving my hugs and letting my tears soak into his t-shirt. . .
after calming myself down i realized that its less than two months till christmas, and if all goes as planned it will be less than 2 months till i see my family. i think i can handle that, i hope i can that is. for all of you who read my blog, whether you are family and friends in regina, or ontario or down in the states or in bc. please know this. . . i love you all. like actually love you all. i miss you all. . and. . . i love you all.
i am going to try very hard to try and stay committed to this blog, so you all can hear about my roller coaster i'm on!

until next time, keep fit, and have fun!


 

..job searching..

job searching job searching, internet, newspapers, talking to people. all things involved in my job search. not hearing back from people is the worst feeling but hearing back from people makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. example. .
wednesday, october 20th, i was searching searching searching for jobs. leaving my phone on my desk while i was handing out resumes, i return to find a one missed call. a BC number i don't recognize, but ta-dah! they left a voicemail. excitement sets in as i anxiously type in the digits to access the secret voice mail left behind.
the voice mail was a little muffled but it went like this "hi lauren this is julie from, muffle muffle muffle muffle, resume passed on, muffle, interview, muffle, wednesday, muffle muffle, call me, muffle muffle, number is, muffle, 604....etc etc." Ooo could this be an interview? really? how exciting! my resume was passed on to them, ooo even more exciting!
grabbing my phone and racing up the stairs from my basement suite (no service for phone calls down there).
yay to make a long story short, an interview was offered to me, downtown, way downtown, the heart of van-city. this upcoming week! it's a nerve racking thing interviews, i love them and hate them all at the same time! but only time will tell!
nick and i ventured downtown yesterday, sunday, to spend the day and walk by the giant tower known to be the place where my interview is! at least 40 stories high! that's when the butterflies really hit my stomach.
i won't think too much into it, but it's exciting to know that an opportunity has risen up like this. i will let you all in on how it goes!

until next time.. keep fit and have fun!

and then i saw him

A 3 and a half hour wait. . .
I bet you're wondering what a person can do for 3 and a half hours in the airport waiting for someone's flight, which was an hour delayed by the way, to arrive.
I began with standing in line to get a delicious cup of hot liquid, Tim Hortons. Mmm I sat for a moment enjoying this wonderful bevie, then continued on to pull out my book I brought as well as my sketch book to become artistic. Ha-ha me? Artistic.. nope, but I like to pretend. I began reading but found myself distracted by the people around me. So I pulled out my sketch book and began filling in the lines, pretending to know what I am doing and again.. distractions.
This city is such an interesting place. So big and so diverse. To my right I heard what sounded like a Russian family and to my left what sounded like some sort of Asian language. I then had young little 4 year old boys playing with helium balloons in front of me. Swaying the balloons back and forth back and forth.
I watched as planes would arrive and families would reunite after what must have been a long time. Tears flowed, laughter shared, hugs, kisses, little kids been lifted from the ground into their daddy's arms. I love watching the different ways people unite with one another and the diversity of each moment. I imagined what Nick's reaction would be as he walked through the doors from the customs and saw me standing there.
Excitement settled in!
The moment finally came after hours have ticked by, my phone buzzed as Nick's message came through that he had landed. Completely oblivious to the fact that I was sitting inside the building waiting for him, he shared stories of his flight and the enjoyable flight attendants that made him laugh thoroughly. I told a tale or two of shopping and looking for shoes and clothing etc, only to lead him astray from the curious question of "Where are you?" or "What are you up to?'
Moments ticked by like hours again, and we continued to text as if we were in two completely different places at two completely different moments in time. Finally. . . in the surveillance cameras that monitor the arrivals of the passengers through customs, I saw him. As I saw him walking towards the entrance to where all the excited families awaited all the passengers, I slunk back into the crowd behind many excited people. I saw him walk down the long stretch of carpet leading to the open area, where many families were already embracing their loved ones. When he reached the opening I stepped forward from the crowd, then he saw me. He smiled his big wonderful smile and all he could say as I walked up to him with arms stretched wide for a hug was, "Are you being serious right now?" I laughed and said, "Yes most definitely. What would you say if I said I live here now?" And to which he responded by burying his head into my shoulder laughing saying "I feel so silly right now, I had no idea!" He hugged me a big tight hug and let my feet touch back down to the ground. The response finally came, "I am so unbelievably happy right now." Ahhh.. such good words to hear, much better than, "Ew sick what are you doing here?" or "Where's my sister in law, she was supposed to be picking me up not you?" Ha-ha of course Nick would never had said that, but if that were the case, well, then the next blog wouldn't be too friendly now would it!
Anyways.. I saw him, he saw me, happiness has blossomed after waiting 4 weeks to unveil this crazy surprise!
Yay..
more blogs to come:)

. confusion settles in .

Ohk so..this blog could be long..buckle down here..
Nick = away for 1 whole week
Lauren = counting down til the Friday he was supposed to be coming home.
Friday came. Excitement. . . YES!
Friday was a bit of a gong show, ridiculous, slow moving. . . a whole bunch of emotions all tied into one!
I woke up Friday bright and early very anxious for the day, but nervous because I had to navigate all by myself through the winding hills and streets and curves and roads connecting roads and street lights and stop signs and..
Confusion settles in.
Google Maps = a genius invention! Giving me the exact and precise directions of how to get to the airport. But do you think I listen to the google maps? Never. . . Why would I do that.
Confusion settles in. 
After hearing directions from person #1 I proceeded to get a completely different set of directions from person #2, who were both in fact in the same room at the same time giving me two completely opposite ways of direction.
Confusion settles in.
Time moves on and I then meet a friend. . . let's call her person #3, who was also with her mother, person #4.
Person #3 and #4 together began listing off streets. . . that eventually turned into a different street, which in return turned into a different street. Yes ladies and gentleman. . . a street may start off with one name and by the time you go 5 blocks it's changed it's name 9 times. Crazy. . . I know. . . but here. . . anything is possible.
So after this encounter, I now have FOUR different possible routes I should take to get to the airport "easily."
Confusion settles in. 
Venturing to the airport. . . listening to those directions? Absolutely . . . not.
Person #3 and #4 had a very simplistic set of directions, that I thought I would give a shot. After feeling confident as I drove through city upon city, I came to a complete HALT. The directions they gave me stalled. A road that was supposed to be named one thing, wasn't named that at all! What was I supposed to do!?!
Confusion settles in.
Super Lauren to the rescue.. I decide, this is my adventure, the world is my Utopia, I have no fear. . . Right? I begin driving down a street, in what direction I have no idea, thinking it must lead me somewhere.
Confusion settles in. 
I finally decide to be the good Prairie girl that I am and stop and ask for directions from a nice gentleman at a gas station. Now, I don't know if he didn't see my license plate or just chose to bypass the obvious that I wasn't around here and gave me these directions, "Get back onto this road here and whenever you come to a big intersection doesn't matter which one just turn left and keep going straight it will take you to another big intersection at the end, turn right and you should be good to go!"
Grrrrrrreat, that helped me perfectly!
Confusion settles in. 
But what the heck, I thought I would give it a shot. So I began down that "road here" and got to "a big intersection" and I proceeded to "turn left" and kept going straight, DOWN A MASSIVE MOUNTAIN SIDE HILL and got to "another big intersection at the end" and I "turned right" and guess what? Guess what?!? I was "good to go!"  Back on the main highway, that has major signs that will direct me accordingly to the airport. And get this guys, this main highway with signs and directions, is the EXACT route that is printed out on the lovely Google map I brought along with me.
less Confusion has settled in. 
If only I had listened to Google from the beginning. To make this long story extremely short and too the point. I did end up at the airport. And yes I did end up at the airport 3 and a half hours too early. But I did not even care, why? Because I successfully made it to their airport and I was 3 and a half hours closer to Nick arriving home.
And how did he react....
Confusion definitely settled in...

. . . Settled . . . Down . . .

So I've told you about my time pre-move, and I've shared with you a few stories about the process of the move. Now I should shed some light on the last week as I've settled in, moved things around, unpacked my life into the wonderful little suite I now call home. Granted, I would love to post photos of my wonderful little place, the unfortunate thing at the moment, is I cannot find my camera. I don't know where it is, but it holds the key to posting photos for you!
So Monday, was a tough day for me, as I had to say goodbye to my mom. It was the best time ever that I've had to spend with her road tripping, and I knew that it would be the hardest to say goodbye to her, because she is the best of the best. We had a great Monday together as we traveled out towards the airport. Shared a great breakfast and conversation together, then ventured to the local Christian bookstore; where we both made some marvelous purchases! We then went on to find the airport where we checked her in, chatted a bit and had a tearful goodbye. You never really know how hard it is to say goodbye to someone you love, until you're in that moment realizing that after you say goodbye you aren't going to physically see them for an extended period of time. Or at least that's how I felt in that moment. I was bordering on two distinct feelings: 1) So terribly sad that I was saying goodbye and 2) Excitement that this new part of my life was starting. When I think about it now, I still have those two feelings floating back and forth.
Anyways moving on..a quick recap of my week
Monday-- Mom departed, Dinner with Nick's brother and his wife, back home to hang out with the dog, Diesel. Day ends.
Tuesday-- Spent the day with Nick's wonderful cousin, my bestie, Alyssa, where we went to Ikea, only the greatest store ever. Then we parted ways only to be reunited later on to quickly wonder the mall, only to be parted again, only to be brought back together for dinner. Did you catch all those quick and sudden periods of time? Hope so..  Day ends.
Wednesday-- Job hunting, job hunting job hunting, with a slight break to spend time with my previous roomie from College, where we fine dined at the classiest of all place, Tim Hortons...Always delicious. . . My evening finished with have dinner with Nick's other brother and his wife(who I might add, I live in their basement suite:) . . . so my landlords) Day ends.
Thursday-- I got to babysit the cutest little boy ever, Nick's nephew. We played all day, went for lots of walks in the sun and just had a blast. Again... joining Nick's brother and his wife for supper. Day ends.
Friday-- The best day ever. The day everyone has been asking me about. "How did he react?" "What did he say?" "Was he shocked?"
If you didn't know this by now..Nick was away for the first week I've been here and had no idea I was here...
Friday was the day he flew in from the States and I picked him up at the airport..
Wanna know how he reacted...??? Guess you will have to wait for the next post to find out..

Headlights, Bunny Rabbits, Coffees and More!

I think the title truly captures the essence of the trip that unfolded when two Raine ladies pile into a crammed car and travel across two provinces to get to their long awaited destination.
Even after a long day at work, nothing stopped us from jumping into the car and driving through the night to our Calgary pit stop. Granted pit stops caused by Saskatchewan winds and a gas tank lacking gas were a must, coffees and energy coffee drinks were consumed on a consistent basis as well. Fruit salad, nachos, Mcdonalds at 1:00am all were highlights that marked this first part of our journey. But one thing I must announce to you in devastation and with a broken heart... there will be no Easter Bunny this year. Yes...you heard it hear first. Chocolate will not come around this April 2011. In an unfortunate freak accident, your beloved Easter Bunny has passed. I will not go any further than that, but you may use your imagination as you decide for yourselves the devastating outcome that has brought us to being without Mr.Bunny and his deliciously wonderful creme filled chocolaty eggs this Easter season. 
Nevertheless, the following day brought on new and exciting adventures, as we waved goodbye to Calgary and it's disgusting ditches of snow, and headed towards the mountains that awaited us.
Hulga the Honda feared these giants beasts of rock, as she huffed and puffed her way up. As she defeated one, she became aware that more were in sight. As we coasted down the side of the mountain her speeds climbed, but as she ventured to climb another one, her speeds lingered and fell slowly. We laughed as we coached her on climbing these hills. They were never ending. . . . but what made the whole day enjoyable was the company I was blessed to have. Laughing and talking with my mom, felt like we've been friends forever. She's the best. Truly. And if you know her, you know she's a rockstar! We fooled Nick as we both had turns texting him, creating stories of our girls weekend and gallivanting around "town," not specifying which town we were actually in. Soooo sneaky.
Finally as the skies were dark and the mountains behind us, we arrived at our destination. . . .
More blogs to come.. :)

Secrets and Surprises

One week ago today, I was driving along the highway with my mom, west bound for BC with a Honda packed to the roof top with everything I could possibly pack up that I had accumulated over the many years. I finally started to realize the situation I was in, I was actually moving myself and everything I own to BC. Now some of you don't know this story of how I came to be driving along the road with my mom rocking out to music and enjoying the scenic beauty of the prairie fields that escalated into giant Rocky mountains surrounding us. So let's rewind...back to what would now be almost 4 weeks ago. It was a long time coming, but 4 weeks ago I finally took the steps toward moving west. The tricky thing about this decision was that Nick, my partner in crime :), has no idea I've made such a big decision without him! A surprise was unfolding as I was making preparations to arrive in BC and a week after being on my own there, Nick would return from his vacation in the States and BAM! Ta-da, I am here! Sheer Genius!
I knew along the way the truth would be stretched and covering my tracks had to become slightly tricky, but all in all I think I mastered this task quite tactfully.
I'd bypass questions like, "Are you going to visit longer this time?" or "When do you think might be the earliest you could move here?" with sly responses like "I'm going to try to be there as soon as I can" or "Maybe I will just show up one day." Answers that you'd think would spark some sort of suspicion but no, not for Nick.
The next few weeks were a blur after deciding to move, but I won't get into detail with that because it would waste your time and mine, with insignificant little details. But I will say that the past few weeks have been a true blessing being able to spend a lot of one on one time with amazing friends and family and share a lot of laughter and joy as well.
Anyways shall we get back to the driving part of things.....

Finally Here..

This blog, as my good friend Suzy will agree, has been a long time coming. I never really thought I could master the art of "blogging" but after picking up my life and moving it all west, I decided a blog may be the only way I can really communicate with everyone back home. Rather than racking up my telephone bill with numerous phone calls, this blog will act as my way of communicating with everyone I know and love who isn't around me on a daily basis anymore.
As my cousin once told me, "You Lauren, are the cousin that I hear from the least." Aka, you are a terrible communicator and lack the social skills of keeping in contact. And I wouldn't fight to disagree with that. Although I am a very social-able person, I truly am the worst for keeping in touch with people. It isn't that I don't love you any less, it is just the simple fact that I wish I could and deeply want to keep in touch with everyone, but lack the... discipline in doing so!
Well since it's going to take me a few blogs to really let everyone know what's been going on these last few weeks I'm going to space them out nicely into smaller blogs, because once I start rambling in one I won't be able to stop. Plus I want to try and get my creative juices flowing but thinking of fun blog titles to start posting with!
So wherever you are, whether it's USA, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta of BC ...or some other remote place I've forgotten to mention, I hope this blog will keep you updated on me, and where I am, and what I'm doing (or lack there of:)) I will try and make it as entertaining as possible for you but knowing me, this blog may get forgotten about, and may end up like the last blog I tried to start. Empty...and boring..and a waste of anyones time since nothing new was posted for the last 6 months!