The year of discoveries - 2010

Wow..I can't believe the year is drawing to a close now. Where did 2010 go?! I still remember writing dates down as 200X, then having to go back and changing it to 2010..And now I have to readjust everything to 2011!! Well, if that's my only complaint this year, then I've got it pretty good =)

As I sit here and type this, I can't help but gaze at the mountains and feel so blessed about everything I have in my life right now. If you described to me at the beginning of the year that this is where I'll be, there is no way I would have thought that was close to possible. But hey, here I am now with everything I could ever want and a list of what I am thankful for (maybe this would be more appropriate during the Thanksgiving season =P)

• Living with views of the mountain from my backyard
  
• Living one block from the skytrain station
• Living three stops away from Metrotown, the biggest shopping centre in BC..second biggest in Canada
• Living ten minutes from Downtown
• Living a five minute walk to the community centre (only just discovered the other day!)
• Having the bus stop right outside my house
  
• Living with six other awesome girl, its a sorority house minus all the drama
• Living in such a big house and never feeling like my personal space is compromised
• Having such a huge kitchen to get my baking on
• Having a home cooked meal prepared every night, yet only having to cook once a week
  
• Being able to talk to anyone in the house about anything..including at 3am in the morning (There is always one person awake at any hour of the day here!)
  
• Having a selection of board games on the shelf
• Having a selection of books on the fireplace mantle
• Having a selection of 20 different teas, coffees and hot chocolate
  
• Having not one, but two fireplaces
  
• Having my first real Christmas tree in the living room
• Having my first cold Christmas EVER
• Having a jacuzzi in my room I haven't used yet
• Having a walk in wardrobe the size of a small bedroom
• Having a flatscreen LCD TV with surround sound in the family room
• Having a workout room...no excuses for no exercise!
• Having roomies the same size as me..my wardrobe magically increased ten fold!
  
• Going down to the States for shopping and eating
  
• Going up to Whistler for snowboarding
• Having friends to take me to those places
• Having friends in general - knowing that I can call up someone at any one time to hang out whenever I am bored

So what are my New Years Resolution..I don't have any! For me, I prefer to keep a constant track of what the areas I would like to change in my life and work on that over a period a time. I don't like having to wait until a certain time of the year to decide what those changes are going to be..then wait another 12 months to see if that has been achieved. Of course, I can see why people choose the start of a new year to make resolutions but for me, rather than being motivated by the calendar year to suggest 'improvements' for my life, I like to be motivated by the change itself =)

Am I excited as to what 2011 would bring?!

Yes, I say bring it on!!!!!!!!

I am super excited about what 2011 has in store for me - I know it won't be easy, there will be plenty of challenges on the way but with all my resources I have at hand, I am ready =D



Watch this space.

Gingerbread House Contest

HoA's gingerbread house kit =)

Inside the kit

So much candy!

And more..

And more...

Warming up the icing sugar

Icing sugar which works as glue

Its all coming together

Requires a lot of concentration

Adding roof decorations

Looking more like a house

How many calories would this be..

YAY! Completed!

Putting their house together

Looks like a mansion in the making..

Wonder what this would turn out like..

A big mess on my dining room table

Not sure if the roof will fit on properly like that

Aaww..A cute little gingerbread car..

Gingerbread from scratch..None of that premade business

Baked and ready to to build

Smells great when its fresh out of the oven

Our awesome gingerbread street

No comment

Some structural problems

Completely collapsed by the end of the night

The house made from scratch

Me helping out with the decorations

Final design..pretty close to the original plans

The gingerbread making crew

HoA

I love HoA!!

Woke up at 2pm then spent the rest of the day chilling with the girls...best time ever.

Hmm..looking for alcohol in the house..

Spending the whole day in our PJs

Using tupperware containers as our shot glasses!

Like seriously, we had a 10 hour bonding session talking about everything under the sun.

Hmm..I do actually do more than sleep in and bum around at home in my PJs then drink at night. I've been out and about, checked out Chinatown. Vancouver's Chinatown is one of the biggest one in North America, and its taken me this long to go out and see it. Mainly coz its one block away from the dodgiest part of Vancouver..East Hastings!!

Not quite like Perth's Chinatown

A famous tourist attraction we wanted to check out...

..until a random popped out of nowhere

Wow..I don't even know where my week went. It seems like a blur of days filled with hanging out with friends, playing board games, eating, baking, Christmas parties, and other random stuff. I'm gearing up for Christmas - all that eating, partying and shopping!! I better use my time wisely and rest when I get the chance.  Pfft, who says I need a job when I have a million and one thing I'd rather do =P

Weekend at Whistler

Whistler. The number one ski resort in North America.

I have never been to any other ski resorts so its hard for me to draw a comparison but what I found in Whistler, I can't describe in words. The feeling of being surrounded by the raw beauty of nature is just captivating. From the majestic mountains to the pristine, powder snow - I don't think any of the photos I have taken would have done it justice.

The weekend road trip was quite a last minute decision, planned after I found out that my new roomie had a cabin up at Whistler and generously handed me the keys to the place (Thanks Marie, you are super awesome =D) So I gathered a bunch of us, and the road trip begins...

Amazing how much we could fit into the boot

Left side drive..still getting use to that

Views on the way there

Such a scenic drive

Are we almost there yet..

2 hrs later..we arrive. Welcome to Whistler!

Cute little cabins there..or should I say massive cabins

Our very own awesome cabin

The awesome inhabitants of the cabin

We pulled up to our cabin which you can't actually see in the above photo because its at the back.

Hello cabin!

Views from our balcony

The field of white is actually a lake that has frozen over

Just amazing

 Lets take a tour inside our cabin..

Our cozy fireplace

Inside the sauna

My room

Pete's room

Joel's room

Brian's room

3 levels of awesome

LCD Flat screen - high tech cabin!

Room full of snow gear

More gear downstairs..

And even more! This cabin really has everything  

 

 Time to check out the night life..

 After a day of settling in, exploring the cabin and checkin out the nightlife...we hit up the slopes the next day.

Off we go..

The snowboarding team

There is a man hanging off the chopper in the background

We attended Pete's teaching snowboarding school for beginners...

Our class - such eager students!

Our instructor

Private lessons

Check out the snow patch, you can tell how much I fall over

Baby steps...

"Don't let go Pete!"

And I still manage to fall..

Getting back up again

Wow..standing on my own

Action shot

Watch this pro...

...fall down

Watch this pro..

completely stack it...

We all had our fair share of falls

Graduated! Now taking the gondola to the next level

So white it hurts..

Incredible views

Completely surrounded by mountains

On top of the world!

After an exhausting day of snowboarding, it was time to head home and relax...

Dinner Time: KFC and Asian noodles with soup

Dessert time: Roasted marshmallows next to the fireplace

Bed Time: KO

I woke up the next day feeling sore in every muscle of my body. Even muscles I didn't know existed before. But it was sooooooooo worth it.

More photo whoring moments:

Team Australia on the right vs Team Canada on the left

I don't even know what to say..

Blueberry pancakes with leftover KFC..delicious!

Frying up some Canadian bacon..look at that oily goodness

They don't have garbage collection in Whistler

So we had to take it with us

And empty them in the local bins. Does not look dodgy at all.

And that is the end of our awesome weekend...but it won't be long until we head back again..after Christmas =D

How I love life.