Bucket List #8

8 - Visited my nephew Oscar

What a cutie!!! He is also my Godson... I love my new little man!

Bucket List #16

August 19, 2012 - Went Skinny Dipping

Jackie made me swim one hour across a COLD lake to do this one!! We brought our friend the crocodile (check the Mexico pics) and tied the camera in a plastic ziplock bag so it would float and not get wrecked and we could take the pics in privacy on the other side.

Bucket List #65

August 4, 2012 - Attended the Heritage Festival

This is the first time I've ever attended the Heritage festival and I was BLOWN away by the amount of people and variety of cultures represented! I went with Janelle and we tried different foods - (I had herring, spring rolls, a chocolate covered banana, and some mango ice cream), I bought a new summer dress at the Nepal pavillion, and we watched Irish dancing. It was almost overwhelming the amount of people, sounds, smells, sights, etc. I also got a crazy sunburn on my face so I look like a tomato. All in all it was a very enjoyable afternoon and so nice to catch up with Janelle again!

Bucket List #72

Easy on the brandy, J!

Alright, where's the vino?

July 31 - Aug 1, 2012

Mmmmm.....

On Tuesday Jay and I made Sangria and the next night was fajita/sangria night! We made the Sangria a little too strong though... but thats Jay's fault for putting the whole bottle of brandy in rather than the few shots the recipe called for. Oh well, it was still awesome. Fun times!

Bucket List #79

July 31, 2012

Today I crossed off item #79 on my bucketlist. Check!

Bucket List #42

My favourite bridge in Edmonton

July 29, 2012 - Went Kayaking

Today was one of the most beautiful memorable days I've had all summer. In the morning Trish called me and asked if I wanted to come out to the beach. We had a great and relaxing time at Wabamun lake where I took a nap in the sun, read a book, swam in the lake, and played football with the boys. Did I mention I LOVE the sunshine? When we got back into town we picked up some pizza for supper and then Trish and Garth took me out kayaking on the river at sunset. I'll never forget how beautiful this was. At the end of the day, I just felt so blessed: great friends, a great summer, beautiful sunny weather all the time, and pure happiness.

Bucket List #58

July 21, 2012 - Party at the Trap and Gill

I love this newfie bar! The music is great and it's always been a good time! Anyways, tonight Edwina, Lucille, Dale, Jay, Sandy and I got together for some drinks and dancing. I had an absolute blast. I even did an 8k run after that night, the fastest 5K ever! ;)

Bucket List #95

July 15-21 - My week in summer dresses!

Bucket List #81

July 16, 2012 - Played some mini-golf

This was just one great part of the longest first date I've ever been on! We had so much fun this day - started off with a lunch, a walk down whyte ave, jamming in the music stores, a beer on a patio, visit on Edwina's deck, some mini-golf, batting cage, a delicious home-cooked dinner, watching movies on the couch, and a lot of laughs!! I'm in like!

Bucket List #44

July 13, 2012 - swam in a "lake"

IMO, here in Alberta, we don't have lakes, more like sloughs. But thats besides the point. They actually called this thing a lake, so I'm crossing it off the list. I went out for a weekend of camping with my friend Sandy and despite the fact that I'm not really into camping, we had a pretty good time. I loved relaxing on the beach and cooling off in the "lake".

Bucket List #32

July 11, 2012 - Visited Grandma Trudel

On my way back from High Level I stopped in for a short but very sweet visit with my little Grandma. She wasn't expecting me and she so wanted me to stay longer. She is such a sweetheart and I could tell she really appreciated my visit. We had a light lunch, she showed me around the farm and her garden (I can't believe an 85 year old woman still plants a garden) and then I showed her some of my pics from my travels and she dug out all her old school pics. My fave was the one of Dad coming out of the outhouse! I wish she had let me take it with me!

Bucket List #29

July 8, 2012 - Took a Road Trip to the N.W.T.!

So my goal for the year was to visit a city in Canada I've never been to before - well how about a province (ok a territory) I've never been to before! As soon as school let out I took off to High Level to visit Dad, and when I discovered we were almost in the NWT I just had to go. So on Sunday Dad took the day off work to take me on a fantastic and memorable road trip! We hit the North of 60 border where I got an Arctic Adventures certificate and then kept going north to view some absolutely magnificient water falls. I have never seen waterfalls so powerful :) I had a great day with Dad and I'll never forget this trip!

Bucket List #92

Hot!

July 4, 2012 - Painted a different colour on all 10 of my toenails

I did this one in High Level while I was sitting around doing nothing while Pa was at work. I looked like a clown for 3 days before I decided to change it up. Best thing is, I now have a pretty assortment of nail polish colours to match any outfit!

Bucket List #89

June 16, 2012 - a night of dancing!

Me (slightly intoxicated) dancing with the girls at a night out in the Red Piano. FUN TIMES! Must do more dance nights. I luv the dancing. :)

Bucket List #96

June 16, 2012 - Went to the Red Piano Bar with my girls!!











For my birthday I decided to cross off #96 with a night out at the Red Piano! And what a suitable venue as half the people in my party were music teachers!  I can't believe I haven't done this earlier!! It was an amazing, incredibly fun night, with great music and tons of fun! The piano guy, was SOOOOOOOOO hot.... like smokin' hot.... he made me melt...  I so wanted to take him home with me. But not to worry I was a good girl! Kind of. :)

Bucket List #11

The girls out at the Red Piano for my Birthday!

Jackie and I in Ixtapa

New Friends!!

I can't put a specific date on this one because friendships are like plants. You plant the seeds, water them, give them some TLC, and over time they grow. And if you don't take care of them they die. That being said, some seeds were planted a very long time ago and just began to sprout this year, some seeds were planted this year and are just barely sprouting, some plants have died, and others are growing into big blossoming cherry trees.

I have some great friends happening right now. I'll take some time to write about the "newer" friendships that have been formed but I still have tons of great friends that have been around for a longer period of time!

This year, I have had the opportunity to reconnect with my sister. While I've known her since the day she was born, we grew up in a constant fight with each other. We never got along. Dad recently brought me a shelf that we had in the basement while we were growing up, and etched into the side of it it said "Jacque is dumb". I'm pretty sure it was me that wrote that. This year things really started to change. We booked a trip in Ixtapa this year and had a fun-tastic time. I then went to visit her in Victoria, and she came out to visit me in Edmonton. We have plans to go travelling together in the future and frequently text each other when we're bored. I really feel like now we are not just sisters anymore, we are friends too!

I also have been working with Trish since last year but this is one friendship that has been really growing. She has been inviting me over for family dinners and we try to get out and swim, bike ride, run, workout as often as we can. (It's a healthy friendship). :) She is one person I can always count on and she lives not too far from me so we can visit often and bike to school together!

Janelle was my student teacher this year and her and I have had some fun times together, and its great because we don't have to be professional with each other anymore.  We've had some fun doing karaoke and she came out to my birthday night. She now moved into a new house within 10 blocks of me so I'm sure there will be more fun times ahead!

Sandy is another friend who I met this year who works at our school. Her and I have been going for bike rides together, golfing, and drinking wine on my deck! Fun times!

Then I met my neighbour across the hall, Eva and her daughter. We've gone for a bike ride, had some good conversations and one day I had Iga over for a board game night.  A friendship that is quite convenient cuz they are only a knock away!

Bucket List #50

May 29, 2012 - Flew a Kite

Today I had Iga, the neighbours daughter over for board games. Monopoly. Sebastiaan would be proud. Anywho - it was the only game she had, ok, Seb?

Anywho - after about a half an hour I started getting board of Monopoly and there was a storm brewing and quite the wind outside, so I decided it would be a great time to fly the Barbie kite Jackie got me. CHECK!

Bucket List #80

Cruisin' with Jackie on my Day off. Song? "Gettin Jiggy wit it"

May 8th - Took a Day off work when I wasn't sick.

They call these things "appointment" days. First one of these I have used in my 6 years of working. It's about time!

Bucket List #5

Crossing the finish line at the Faith Fitness and Fun Run!

April 29th (AND May 6th!) - Ran 10 km

I participated in two races this year - the first was the Faith Fitness Fun run. I think I'm going to make this a yearly tradition. Anyhow - 10km in 1:06 ish. The thing that held me up on this run was the hills in the second half.

Then my sister came up for the St. Albert Marathon. I only did 10k on this one but I beat my time from the previous week by 4 mintues. However it was Jackie who stole the show with beating Oprah's time in a 40km marathon!! Amazing!

Bucket List #13

May 5, 2012 - Tried on Wedding Dresses.

And no I am not engaged. I'm not even good at pretending to be engaged because after trying on 3 (very ugly) dresses they told me I'd have to come back another evening. Granted it WAS a Saturday afternoon. Anyways. I went to David's Bridal and quite frankly I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It was really crazy busy there, we had no privacy, and the girl that was helping me brought the most ridiculous looking dresses. See the picture above? I'd never actually wear that. A week later we took Jackie to Pure Bridal on the west end to try on dresses, and that was much more successful. It was quiet there and the staff was excellent and very helpful. She found one that looked so good on her she was tempted to buy it. Buy the dress first, get the man later. :)

Bucket List #73

May 5, 2012 - Farmer's Market

I went to the Farmer's Market in South Common with Jackie as we were waiting for Dad to finish his course. It was a smaller one but I absolutely loved it and since this day I've been making a huge effort to at least buy my fresh veggies and stuff at the farmer's market as opposed to the grocery store. There is even one within walking distance from my house! I also went to one on Whyte Ave when mom came to visit in June and we had a lot of fun checking out all the stands. :)

Bucket List #15

May 3, 2012 - Rode the WEM roller coaster

So while Jackie was screaming "HOLY SHIT!" and other profanities, I played the Mister Bean Card. If you're not sure what I'm talking about check this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k6fbLzMBKc

See, this way I could close my eyes through half the ride. Otherwise, I probably would have been screaming right along with Jackie. ;) It was fun. Next time, I'll open my eyes. I'm not so sure I trust that roller coaster though.

Bucket List #25

April 15 - April 30

Moved out of Melissa's house! Finally!

Bucket List # 68

April 20 - 2012 - Passed Old Testament Course

You know what the shitter of this whole deal is? I have the same guy teaching me the New Testament Course next September. I mean, it was hard enough to pull off 6 sessions of texting, checking facebook, and working on report cards all while making it look like I was listening and taking notes. Now I have 6 more sessions of the same dude? Anyways, my only hope is that Jesus is a hell of a lot more interesting than Moses.

Bucket List #88

April 11, 2012

Today I made a beautiful Turkey dinner which I ate in my pyjamas. Alone. With candlelight. And Classical music. I'm so lame. 

Bucket List #62

February 22 - April 7 - Gave up CHOCOLATE for Lent!

I can't believe I did this. All I can say - is thank God for feast days (giving me an excuse to cheat on Sundays). The worst is when the damn chocolate kept turning up at work, on the staff room table, at staff meetings, chocolate cakes, chocolate mini eggs, chocolate covered almonds. And then there was the day this kid brought me a great big chocolate bar because I was so damned cranky (you see, I also quit smoking in the same time frame).
Anyways, the day before the long weekend this girl gave me the cutest little easter basket filled with chocolate, so that is what I had for breakfast on Easter morning, after watching the sun rise at 6 am. BTW - the sun does NOT dance on Easter morning. FYI.

Bucket List #47

March 27-28, 2012 - JELLO SHOTS!

On Tuesday, we had a Mexican theme night and had green Tequila filled Jello shots - We even had a pinata and played Trivia Pursuit. I even had one for breakfast the next morning. On Wednesday, we had a Disney Princess Party and had red Jello shots. These are great if you like Jello.

Bucket List #12

March 28, 2012 - Party in my PJs!!

After a long day of horseback riding, Jackie and I made more Jello shots - red ones this time, and had a princess party in our princess PJ's that I brought over from Edmonton. We played Disney Trivial Pursuit (best boardgame EVER!) and wore princess teairas and princess jewelry. We even had purple and pink princess balloons! It was a fun evening!

Bucket List #43

March 28, 2012 - Horsback riding!

This was one of my most enjoyable moments in Victoria, I mean who doesn't like horses? Anyways, the trails and scenery were beautiful, and I had fun with Jackie picking out cowgirl outfits and matching scarves and cowgirl hats. The only problem was, I could barely walk after that was over.

Bucket List #19

March 27th, 2012 - Ate a Taco!

Jackie makes good tacos!

Bucket List #97

March 26-27 - Play in the playground like I am a kid again!

Jackie and I went to this beautiful park in Victoria! It was definitely my favourite park! There was a petting zoo, a whole shit load of ducks, and a playground! You could even go to a lookout point to see the ocean! If I lived in Victoria, I'd spend every day at this park!