Something very near and dear to me… the fight against breast cancer. This is Melissa Etheridge singing live on Oprah.
Here’s to all of the survivors out there and the families that support them. And for all of those who fought to the end…
11
Jan
09
feel your boobies
Alright, so I guess it’s that I’ve just been too busy playing games… or maybe I just haven’t had anything to say. Well, now I do… FEEL YOUR BOOBIES! This website and campaign was recently brought to my attention via Facebook {as horrible as it is} but this one was really worth a second look. It’s all about finding fun and interesting ways to get the attention of the general female population – in particular the younger ones – and remind them about the importance of this simple little act – feel your boobies!
Because the breast cancer cause is so close to me, I felt a need to share this one. Now, although the Feel Your Boobies Foundation does not contribute or raise funds for breast cancer research itself, it instead does something no one else does. This foundation reminds us that the cure starts with us and that by regular self-examination, we can catch any lumps before they get too serious. This is especially important for younger women, who, like myself, are denied regular mammograms because we are under 40. So, remember ladies…
…it could save your life!
Ok, so I realize it’s been WAY too long since I made my last post. I just want to let everyone know that I haven’t completely forgotten about or given up on the blogging. I’ve just had too much going on and not enough time to concentrate on what I want to post.
I do apologize, but I have had a lot going on in my life lately, and haven’t spent a lot of time messing around online during the past couple months. I moved a couple of weeks ago and since then have been struggling with getting everything settled in the new place. The most exciting part of the whole thing is that my boyfriend decided to move in with me too, so there’s been even more to do and more to think about than I would have done on my own. But now we’ve got some furniture and a decent place to live until we decide to seriously start looking for a home in the new year.
Of course, now that we’re actually almost settled and I want to be able to sit at home and type up a post for my blog, my internet isn’t working and now I have to wait for service to be fixed before I can really get around to posting anything. That’s just the way it goes, though. I’m used to that. So, here I sit, wasting my last couple of minutes at work, trying to find a way to catch up so much in such a short time. Well, I don’t think I can do it. haha. But don’t worry – As soon as my internet is working again at home, I’ll be doing some posting. Until then, please be patient with me.
08
Sep
08
Wow! I needed that
I had such an awesome week last week that I just can’t wait to write about it. My boyfriend and I took a week off and went on vacation to the island. We started out Sunday and headed up to the Sunshine Coast 
to spend a night at a friends’ cabin. We had a fire and a couple drinks down by the beach. On Monday, we headed up the coast, did some 4x4ing in my boyfriend’s little Subaru up some pretty good logging roads and then moved to go for a hike out to see the Skookumchuk Narrows. The hour-long walk each way killed me for the next few days (ok, the rest of the trip,
pretty much) but, damn - it was worth it! We managed to arrive just in time to see the the calm just before the waves started moving. We had a ferry to catch, so we couldn’t stick around too long. We sat there and watched as the waves grew for about an hour before we started on our way back. After all, we did have a ferry to catch if we wanted to get the most out of this vacation.
So, we headed up to Earls Cove and caught the ferry over to Saltry Bay. Next stop, Powell River. We checked into a motel for the night and got some sleep for the long trip ahead on Tuesday. We had to be in Victoria for Wednesday, so we had another good trip ahead of us.
We spent Tuesday morning checking out Powell River a little bit. We checked out The Hulks, a fleet of dismantled ships that form a floating breakwater for the pulp mill. We caught the 12:00 ferry over to Comox and started our way down to the bottom of Vancouver Island. We stopped in Qualicum andchecked out the caves at Horne Lake. That was really cool. I’ve never been caving 
before, but I can’t wait til I’m a little more agile and I can actually go all the way in. Either way, I am so glad we didn’t skip that. Unfortunately the trail to the lower cave was closed, but it didn’t really matter. I wasn’t quite ready for a long trek after our 8km hike the day before. After the caves, we headed straight for Victoria, where we spent two nights at the Travellers Inn – or should I say, one of the numerous Travellers Inns in the area, since there was at least one on every block. We did stay in the only one that allowed smoke though, which in the end was quite a big bonus because the smoking rooms cost half as much as the rest of them, not that it was cheap or anything. I really do have to thank my boyfriend for spending so much to make sure we had a good week. It wasn’t necessary, but it was wonderful and appreciated more than I could possibly say. Thanks so much!
We spent Tuesday night in the hotel and then Wednesday we went and checked out a bit of Victoria. We went over to Fisherman’s wharf to see the harbour seals. The shop with the fish there had just opened and the seal that was there was in his glory. He only showed up right before they opened, so I guess he knew it was feeding time. It’s great that people can buy some fish to feed them. I love that they 
are so tame and that they come up so close. It’s just really awesome. Later, we went for a walk out along the Ogden Point Breakwater, an 800-meter long cement breakwater that protects the inner harbour for the cruise ships. On the inner side the wall was just a cement drop. If you fell in, there was no getting out. There were so many jelly-fish on the inside of the breakwater, it was insane. A lot of them were dead or dying, caughtup in all the seaweed that filled the area along the base of the wall. The other side was different though. There were cement and granite slabs that formed almost a stair-way (although those were high steps) down into the water. I’m not sure how deep they went, but I could see at least a few more levels below the water line where we were sitting. After dinner some friends took us up to Mount Doug, where we watched the sun set over Cordova Bay. That was gorgeous. They definitely picked a good spot to show us.
Thursday morning, we were finally on our way to our feature (and final) destination. Bamfield - an 80 km drive down a winding gravel road - I’m sure glad I didn’t have to drive! We got to the campground in Pachena Bay. We set up camp for two nights right by the beach. There were a couple of ships anchored out on the water, which was neat. It was quite foggy on the bay, especially in the evenings, but it was so beautiful there. In Bamfield we went up to the Marine Sciences Centre, which was cool because it is built on top of the old cable station for the pacific. I thought that was really neat. I love the history behind places like that. Saturday morning we packed up camp, but before we left Pachena, we went down to the end of the bay where the West Coast Trail starts. We had a fire on the beach and roasted some smokies, then went for a walk down along the water and over the rocks to a second beach hidden off to the side. There were so many anemones, I was loving it. We even tried to dig up some clams. My boyfriend dug down so deep and quick trying to grab one, he ended up pulling out a prawn instead. It was awesome!
The trip back went pretty smoothly, back to Nanaimo and onto the ferry home. I’m almost glad we came back Saturday because I really needed the day to get back to reality. I had such a great week, I’m still not quite back to normal Monday-to-Friday mode. Geez, I didn’t even know what day it was most of the time I was gone. It took a few hours to readjust this morning and figure out what I was supposed to actually do at work, but I think I’ve got it down now. I guess it’s time to start thinking about where we’re gonna go next…
Again, I have to thank my super-wonderful boyfriend for such an awesome vacation. You really are the best! Thanks Babe!
Wow. It’s been almost a whole month since I’ve actually written anything on here (although, you wouldn’t agree because the last thing you can see is even older). This past month and a half has been pretty crazy for me. My best friend ended up in the hospital for my birthday and had to have surgery, which brought everyone down for the last couple weeks of July. We did manage to get out to Deer Lake a couple of times before all that though. We spent one evening canoeing and another on a peddle boat, so we definately got to enjoy that while the weather was starting to get pretty hot. Things have been getting a lot better now as August is more than half-way through. We wanted to go away for the long weekend, but work got in the way of that, so we just stayed home and enjoyed the sun.
My boyfriend’s aunt has been out visiting from Prague for the past month, and she will be catching a flight home tonight, so I went out for dinner with his family last night. It has been interesting, at least trying to listen to them all talking in Czech and trying to figure it out on my own. His mom is a translator which helps, and well, my boyfriend just couldn’t be bothered, so I guess if I wanna learn, I’ll be doing it on my own.
My man, being the awesome guy that he is, took me to the Brooks & Dunn / ZZ Top concert, which was so awesome. It was actually a totally last-minute thing. He came over to my place after work and told me he needed to use my computer. The next thing I knew, he was buying tickets for the show! WOW! It was great! Of course, it cause a little jealousy among friends, but I enjoyed it.
I also had an interesting dinner last Tuesday when I met up with an aunt of mine that I have only met a couple of times in the past. It was great to be able to get together and talk about some of the crap and bs that has spread through the family over the years. Ok, well, dealing with bs is never fun, but at least now my head is a little straighter. And she’ll be at my nephew’s birthday party this weekend, so that will be cool.
This past weekend, we went to a house-warming party for a couple friends who recently decided to move in together after about 5 or 6 months of dating. It’s strange how seeing others do it makes you want to do it too. When we were leaving, my boyfriend actually thanked them for inspiring him to become more domesticated himself. Haha. I guess that’s exactly what I needed to do, show him how other people are doing it. Although I will admit I’ve been thinking about this for a while (ok, way too long, and I’m sorry I did so well at not saying anything, but I was scared) but I sure am glad I finally let it slip out. Now to figure out when this can actually happen… hmmmm…. I need to move now, so I need to find a place I can just rent on a monthly basis until next year. I guess it’s time to start looking.
This weekend will be another busy one. One of my friends’ bands (Last Suicidal Decision) has a show on Saturday, which is going to be crazy. I’m really glad my man will finally get to go to one of their shows and see them play. I used to work for the band so I’ve see a lot of it and, although it definately isn’t country music, it is awesome to be able to support my talented friends. They’ve done pretty good for themselves and they are finally almost ready to release their first album. Way to go guys! Can’t wait til the show. Sunday should be interesting as well. My nephew’s birthday party is Sunday afternoon and not only will I be taking my boyfriend to meet my sisters for the first time, but a bunch of family that I don’t really know is also supposed to be there, so as I said, this should be interesting.
Well, I guess that about catches everyone up on what I’ve been up to, since I’ve neglected to post anything for you lately. I have been crazy at work and haven’t been able to get online for more than a couple minutes in about a month now. Hopefully that will change now that we have some new employees to help out and I won’t be going nutz trying to do it all. I am taking vacation the first week of September, so I’ll have to write all about that once we get back.
Until then…
