The True North

As a last hurrah to our time as Northwesterners, Ross and I took a short weekend trip up to Vancouver and Whistler in British Columbia.  We spent our honeymoon on Pender Island, which is off the BC mainland in the Strait of Georgia. Ever since, we've wanted to return and visit the city.  Vancouver is, by far, the most multicultural city I've ever visited... even more diverse than Los Angeles and Orange County.  Even though we were less than an hour across the border, it felt like we were a world away and I definitely wasn't expecting that.  We stayed at the cutest Bed and Breakfast called the Bee and Thistle Guesthouse.  The owners, Lynn and Michael, were wonderful and did everything that they could to make our trip as great as it could be.  We were feeling under the weather on the day we left, and the owners packed up a bag of food and drinks for us and encouraged us to stay as long as we needed to that afternoon even though checkout time was 11am.  Now for some photo highlights.

Our room at the Bee and Thistle Guesthouse in Vancouver, BC.

Garden at the Bee and Thistle Guesthouse.

Street food (Jellyfish) at the Richmond Night Market.

This was just one course of the amazing breakfasts we enjoyed.

Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley.

Ross in front of the ski jumps.  It looks so different without all of the snow!

Ilanaaq, the official symbol of the 2010 Winter Games.

Lots of Inukshuks lining the fence around the biathalon course.

Hopefully Ross's Inukshuk will be there for a long time.

Biathalon course.

Lost Lake at Whistler-Blackcomb.

The hungriest and friendliest little bear I've ever seen.

Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge.

Farmer's Market at Granville Island.

False Creek flows between Granville Island and Downtown Vancouver.

I'm so glad we were able to make this trip work.  We both wish that we had more time to really explore the city and all that it has to offer. I hope we see you again, Vancouver!

Book Wreath

Well, it's taken forever but I finally finished the book wreath.  I couldn't figure out how to fill in the inner portion of the wreath without it looking funky (those pages are a lot shorter than the pages on the rest of the wreath) but I'm happy with it overall.  Plus, I got lots of practice making this wreath, so I'm sure any others I make will be easier and less scary :)

In between packing for the upcoming move and studying for my CNA exam (Passed!), I finished another project along the same "book theme" as the wreath...

I started out with a cheap 11x14 canvas, a garage sale paperback, Mod Podge, profile pictures of the hubs and me, and black acrylic paint.  First, I tore out pages from the paperback (in this case Anne of Green Gables), and began to layer them on top of the canvas, securing them with Mod Podge.  I made sure to leave a couple of inches of the pages hanging off the canvas on all sides.  That way, I was able to wrap the pages around the edges of the canvas.  It also helped to vary the size of the pages.  Sometimes I used a whole page; other times, I used a half page, or even a paragraph that I tore out of the book.  Once the canvas was covered, I traced the hubs and my profile pictures on the canvas and filled it in with the black paint.  I did the same with "G" on the top.  After that, I was basically done.  I would still like to spray a coat of sealer on top to protect the pages, but that will have to wait until we move and can utilize the backyard to avoid breathing in the yucky fumes :)

That's it for now... I have a couple more projects to post on.  And of course, there is a ton of packing looming over my head!