Only Carlynne

Today Carlynne had a meeting with her florist, but was asked to return in a few moments as the florist was unexpectedly detained. Since the said florist is on Whyte Ave, the trendy centre of Edmonton, Carlynne began to peruse the cute shops nearby. As she was killing time, she decided to try on a fashionable little shirt…with really no intention of purchasing it as it was overpriced as far as shirts go.

The shirt was small and deceivingly non-stretchy. Carlynne managed to squeeze into it…but failed to get it off again. She spent 15 solid minutes in the fitting room trying to wriggle herself out of it, but was unsuccessful. When asked by the sales people how she was doing, she would answer cheerfully in a sing-songy voice "Oh fine!" Finally, she paid the 50 bucks for it and walked out of the store wearing it. (The sales people thought she just liked it that much).

Once home, we had to get pictures of her in the cute shirt because once it came off, it was never going on her body again (although I do think it looked super cute).

(Carlynne re-enacted her attempt to pull the shirt off - kind of)

She then got in “take-off” position, and we spent the next 5 minutes forcefully extracting Carlynne from the shirt with combined effort amid gales of laughter. We even managed to pull it off unscathed and in returnable condition.


Things like this only really happen to Carlynne.

Short and Sweet

Our weekend getaway to Victoria was short but sweet. On Saturday, morning we received a warm welcome from Shareen & Craig. After some chit chat, we went for a walk to a fish ‘n chips stand (where my ketchup obsession got a little out of control), then on to the beach. We played near the water (note that I said near and not in. Lowell would’ve liked it if I had ended up in the water…) then walked back home to Shar and Craig’s.






After a nap (it’s one of the things us G fam does best), we had BLTs then Lowell and I headed to Quinn and Zoe’s to record segment 2 of Lowell’s video project. He’s doing a little promo video for [6:8] Photography… simply because they rock.We rented lighting from a little business in Victoria (Croy & Co), and the set-up was intense…and BRIGHT. When we took the lights down, it was suddenly a depressing, ill-lit apartment building. Who knew, hey Zoe & Quinn?

Sunday was a day of Victoria festivities! We started out by walking around downtown...

and visiting Zoe at her store which is the tiniest store known to man. It's 4X11 feet, and full of cuteness. What you see here is what you get:

Here's Zoe! Just adding to the cuteness of the store:
We then perused the market...
and watched the special event going on...The Gay Pride Parade! It was an entirely unique experience, and very interesting to get a glimpse of this otherwise unfamiliar-to-me subculture. There were signs, rainbows, dresses & tootoos on men, “mustaches” on women—you name it—and people appeared to be having the time of their lives. I do wonder, however, how the more conservative homosexual population would react to this rather radical display as a lot of it was really quite shocking and racy. Well, here are some PG rated pictures.



Some stores were in on the action as well:


And thus concludes our Victorian weekend!

New Zealand Update

I HAVE A JOB! Last week I was offered a job in Auckland. I will be covering two maternity leave positions involving individuals age 65 and older who are mainly stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, and Parkinson’s patients. I will be working out of 2 hospitals, as well as in the client’s homes. In addition to this, I'll be doing dysphagia (swallowing) assessment and treatment a few times a month. Besides my practicum, I have not yet experienced this population, but I’m up for the challenge! Plus, I’ll be working four days a week, so I’ll have the long weekends to surf and unwind. EEEeeeeeee!

Oh Canada, Oh Working Blitz Week

The past several days have been a lot a lot of work…and also some play.

Mom & Dad joined us in Edmonton on Saturday as we packed up more of our place, and moved a bedroom set, clothes, and toiletries etc to Carlynne’s place.

Mom needed a snooze when they arrived, but we lacked appropriate napping equipment (although I do see a half empty couch there. hmmmmm), soooo… can you spot the sleeping lady?

Here she is! She can have a 2 second cat nap anywhere and be completely refreshed and re-energized. It’s enviable.

Sunday was church, more packing, a delightful bike ride, then more packing.

How about just some pictures of the really fun stuff. We love Edmonton in the summer!


Monday was crazy, but mostly because a certain moving vehicle company drove us slightly bonkers. We had planned on having our truck by 9:30am and packing it up pronto. After packing it up, Mom and Dad (bless their hearts!) were planning to drive the truck 5 hours to Lethbridge to unload it without us. We didn’t end up getting our truck ‘till 1pm, and the fam and Zabu packed like mad until close to 7pm. At that point, Mom & Dad were free to begin their 5 hour (minimum) journey with my Dad in the non-air-conditioned truck (which, in fact, spit out HEAT) in 30 degree Celsius weather, and my Mom following him in the van. At least they had their walkie talkies (which they were really very excited about!)

Then the really fun stuff began: the cleaning. Dan, Carlynne, Lowell, and I originally had plans to join some friends for dessert that evening, but since the nameless moving truck company left us hanging for so long, we were forced to cancel because the cleaning needed to be done. A few hours into our cleaning, Marc, Tara, Steve, and Dianna surprised us with dessert at the condo! Brownies, fruit, and conversation. Mmmmmm…. That was a much needed break, and such a sweet surprise! We then cleaned our heinies off until midnight, then made the trek to Carlynne’s place and collapsed instantly on our beds.

Tuesday, Canada Day, was another busy busy day! Lowell and I settled into Carlynne’s place, ran some errands, did the walk-through at our condo, then enjoyed an evening of chatting and fireworks with Travis & Lisa. Quite ridiculous that we don't have pictures, but I know you believe me.

Meanwhile, in Lethy, Mom & Dad recruited Aaron to help unload the Uhaul (with “Marc & Kylie” supervising). Don’t they all just plumb ROCK? Thanks guys.

Next is Wednesday! Lowell’s sister, bro-in-law, and niece came over for tea time. That was, of course, good times. Little Katelyn is going to be a big sister veeerrrrrrry soon. EEEeeeeee!



On Thursday, Carlynne and I began our painting project. The first ‘before’ picture is ugly because it's more like a ‘during’ picture, but you’ll still get the idea (and then you’ll be ITCHIN to see the ‘after’ pictures)! The second 'before' picture is ooold (I think it's Carlynne and my 24th birthday party the day after Lowell and I got engaged), but gives a pretty good idea of the living rom 'before'.

Main floor room:

Living room:

And AFTER (for the living room at least)...

(artwork all done by Carlynne herself!)

For supper, I made veggie burgers (from scratch). It’s the first time I’ve ever attempted veggie burgers, but they were yummers in our tummers (although the post-burger burps weren't quite so appealing). Shortly after this little BBQ, I met my good friends Lyndsay and Ann-Marie for gelato on Whyte Ave. Well, it’s a gelato place, but I tried tofulati (dairy-free gelato basically) because sometimes my insides don’t do so hot with the dairy. And surprise surprise, it was still delicious!

Friday (today) included more painting and other random things (such as getting terrorist-looking passport photos done) that really aren’t worth mentioning. SO, that brings us to the weekend already. And what are Lowell and I doing? We’re flying to Victoria to complete segment 2 of a video project that Lowell is doing. We’ll be crashing at Shareen and Craig’s place (again!), so that’ll be nice. I didn’t think I was going to see them again until Carlynne and Dan’s wedding. Yee hee, Vitoria here we come!!