Project 365 Day 119 - 2012

Yeah... getting older really sucks. 

Project 3.6.5. 2012

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Project 365 Day 278

On the day after the new iPhone 4S was announced, the world lost Steve Jobs. The co-founder and ex-CEO of Apple was renowned as a technical visionary and an entrepreneurial genius but mostly, an inspiration.

Today's Project 3.6.5. picture: MacBook Pro, iPhone, 3 iPods. Picture taken on an iPhone.

Mr. Jobs, iThankyou. RIP.

Project 3.6.5.
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40

I'm 40 today.
The following are things I have learned during my 4 decades on this earth that I would tell my 14 year old self if I had the ability to travel back in time:

1. You will not marry John Taylor of Duran Duran.
2. You do not become a famous actress.
3. George Michael is gay. Seriously. So was your first kiss.
4. Try harder in school. Seriously, hanging out with your friends at McDonalds can wait.
5. Take typing in high school. I know you think it’s just for secretaries, but when you’re 40, everyone should know how to type on a keyboard, (that’s what they’re call now. No one knows what a typewriter is.)
6. You will have some amazing teachers. Show them some respect. You will have some stupid teachers. Show them respect too.

7. Wash your face every day and moisturize.
8. Spend more time with your family. Especially your Grandparents. They won’t be around when you’re 40. Your parents too, (don’t worry, they’re still here).
9. Don’t be in such a rush to grow up.
10. Don’t be so boy-crazy. It makes you seem ditzy. You aren’t.
11. A little less backcombing of the hair might be a good idea.
12. Do NOT shave your eyebrows into zebra stripes in grade 9. They will never grow back properly.
13. Maybe don’t hit your sister in the head with rings on your fingers every time you walk past her.
14. Participate in sports. You may suck now, but you could at least practice. It would be nice to be part of a team.
15. Don’t worry… you are just a late bloomer. Your boobs will eventually grow. A lot. And they will be spectacular!
16. The bitchy girls in high school? They don’t matter. Really. And once you find everyone on Facebook years later, you'll realize you have a lot more in common than you’d ever thought.
17. Don’t go in the sun as much… and stay out of the tanning beds.
18. Buy Apple stock. Lots of it.
19. Sex for the first time really kinda sucks. In fact, it doesn’t get good for at least another 10 years.
20. Those guys that don’t call you back? They’re really just not that into you. Get over it. You deserve better.
21. Be happy when you get stuck for a few extra days in France due to a train strike; something fantastic comes out of it.
22. You will get your heart broken, several times.
23. Don’t apply for every credit card you can when you turn 19. It takes a long time to reestablish your good credit.
24. Learn how to make a budget and stick to it.
25. Not everyone you meet is going to like you. That’s ok.
26. Classy is always better than trashy.
27. Don’t drink too much; that’s when the classy disappears.
28. Don’t sleep with him. Or him either.
29. Instead of spending cash on “stuff” that you won’t care about the next year. Either save it, or spent it on experiences that you will always remember. Go back to Europe.
30. There will be friends that are only in your life for a certain time; that’s ok. Cherish the good times, let it go, and move on.
31. Even by the time you turn 40, the Canucks will still not have won a Stanley Cup. Do NOT bet on them to.
32. Kindness and empathy should come naturally to everyone, they don’t. They take practice; start practicing now.
33. Don’t ever stop being active, walk, run, hike, do yoga, go to the gym. When you stop, it’s hard to get back going again.
34. When you get your weight down to 100 lbs and you think you look good. You only look sick. Dieting isn’t about being skinny, it’s about being healthy.
35. Buy real estate in Vancouver in your 20’s. As much as you can.
36. Practice cooking. Guys like a good cook.
37. You’re still not married when you’re 40, so don’t be disappointed. Just be thankful when all of your married girlfriends complain about their husbands.
38. Always trust your intuition.
39. Facebook will steal way too much of your time that you will never get back, (unless you are a time traveller, which you might be).
40. Just wait until you meet your nephews. Your heart will melt.

Project 365 Day 128

Take me out to the Ball Game...

I don't know what else to say... today's Project 3.6.5. picture is me eating a footlong hotdog at Safeco Field today.

The Mariners lost btw.

Project 3.6.5.

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Also, here are a few more pictures from today:

Anyone that knows me, knows what a significant picture this is. Enough said.

Beer at the Ball Game.

Great seats, right behind home plate!

Me in my new Mariners (Ichiro) T!

On the train ride home tonight. I loved that we were so close to the water.

Project 365 Day 70

Today I attended my second funeral in two weeks. They don't get any easier, but they definitely remind you of how precious life is.

After the service, we headed to Nuba for a bite to eat.

Today's Project 3.6.5. Picture is of the most delicious fresh fruit juice drinks we used to toast our friend, Gaetano.

Project 3.6.5.

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Project 365 Day 59

I said good-bye to someone today. It was sad. So very very sad.

After, there was a gathering at Seasons in the Park in Queen Elizabeth Park. I had forgotten how amazing the view was from there. I need to go back in the summer.

Today's Project 3.6.5. Picture goes out to Victoria.

Project 3.6.5.

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Project 365 Day 52

Normally we have 2 sitting in our hallway, but right now my roommate is training for the Ride to Conquer Cancer, so we have added a third bike to our collection. It's a little crowded, but since it's for a good cause, I'm ok with it. This is today's Project 3.6.5. picture.

Project 3.6.5.

Picture 52/365

What January Taught Me

One month into 2011 and this is what I've learned so far:

1) I am not good at being sick

2) Taking a picture of something new and interesting every day is more challenging than you'd think.

3) My heart actually aches when I have to go for long periods of time without seeing my nephews

4) If I could, I would keep Christmas decorations up all year round

5) I hate cockroaches!

6) I'm really liking yoga... what it does for my mind and my body

7) I have a crush on Colin Firth

8) I'm going to miss Trevor now that he's moved away

9) Good rain boots are expensive, but necessary

10) Wine and Indian food go really well together

Let's see what February brings!

Project 365 Day 18

As I walked by the local fire hall today I noticed the flag was flying at half-staff... it was then I remembered that the service for a 35 year old police officer, husband and father, Sgt. Ryan Russell was today. He lost his life tragically this week while protecting innocent civilians. May he rest in peace. #RIP7686

Here is today's Project 3.6.5. Picture:

Project 3.6.5.

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All is quiet on New Year's Day

I’ve taken some time off of the blog, but today is January 1st, 2011 and it’s the start of a brand new year.

2010 had a lot of ups and downs. It started off with the most amazing party Vancouver has ever thrown. The Olympics took over my life for the month of February, and I’m so glad I blogged about them, as I probably would have forgotten some of it if I hadn’t.

The year ended on a bit of a quiet note. We had a small intimate dinner party at a girlfriend’s place and I was home in bed alone by 1:30. That’s right… I said alone. There are so many things I would love to write about my breakup in September, but I think I might come off as a bitter, jaded, cynical ex-girlfriend if I do. Instead, I will focus on my future instead of the past. I will try to stay optimistic instead of negative, and I will not use this site to beat up on guys.

I will however say that I finally deleted the ex as a Facebook friend today. I couldn’t handle his status updates; each one felt like a slap in the face and I felt like I was using his profile to stalk him. I have to admit, in the few hours since we’ve been de-friended, I feel as though a weight has been lifted. It’s only Day 1, but so far, I think it was the right decision.

Anyway…

Onward and upward…

2011 is the year I will start dating again. Don’t think I’ll blog much about it, as I really wouldn’t want some guy blogging about my date with him. If things go particularly well, he might get a mention at some time in the future, but for now, some things need to be kept private. If there’s an exceptionally funny or interesting story, I might mention it with some bogus names.

In the mean time, I will be continuing with my (amateur) photography, and in doing so, will do my best to post a new picture everyday. I'm going to call it Project 3.6.5.

Yikes! That’s 365 pictures! Hmmmm… well I’ve got to start somewhere.

Today’s picture, (1/365), is of my Christmas tree. January 1st is typically the day a lot of people take down their trees, but I love the way the lights look so much, I just have to give it a few more days.

Project 3.6.5.

Picture 1/365

Also included today is a montage picture of events in my past year. Every picture was taken in 2010 and include:

• 2 of the men I love most in this world: my nephews, Beckett & Nolan turned 2.

• Olympics.

• Olympic Gold.

• Celebrations.

• Friends.

• New Friends.

• Photography.

• Births.

• Gardening.

• Vegas.

• Boating.

• Horseback Riding.

• Birthdays. Lots of 40th’s.

• PNE.

• Wine.

• Movies.

• Concerts.

• Curling.

• Christmas.

• Love.

Happy New Year everyone!!

Beautiful World

On my walk home tonight, I was eavesdropping on the two girls in front of me. Listening to them bitch about work and boys and some party they went to last night.

And then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, one of the girls said, "God, I can't wait until I leave this Shitty world!"

Seriously.

That's what she said.

It didn't sound like a suicidal threat, just a comment. But I was shocked... Sure, this world isn't perfect, but the good definitely outweighs the bad.

Just watch one sunset from English Bay and you won't need any more convincing.

photo by Duane Storey

I love this world and plan on staying as long as it will have me.

My Life Last Week

So I’m not as good at keeping up to date on my blog as I thought I would be. It was easier during the Olympics; there was so much going on and I as so excited and I just wanted to share it with everyone.

My life is great, just maybe not super exciting right now. I’m very busy; as usual work takes up the majority of my time, plus the Photography class I’m taking is quite time consuming.

Here’s a brief summary, (along with pictures of course), of what I’ve been up to the past couple of weeks:

Lots of practicing with my camera now that I know what aperture, shutter speed and ISO mean. These are a few pics I took of the boys a couple of weekends ago.

Last weekend was very full: Friday night started off with a birthday celebration for my friend Dahn. She had reserved the private room at Cobre Restaurant. This was only my second time here, but I definitely plan to return.

The food is absolutely amazing! It’s done tapas style with small plates and prices range from $12-$15 a plate. My favourites were the White corn free range chicken taquitos fresh house garlic guac, Cholula and the Pan roasted Yarrow Meadows duck breast Cotija risotto, duck chicharon y asparaus spears. In fact, just writing it makes my mouth water.

So tasty! If you have a group of 15-30 people, I recommend that you reserve the private room, there’s no extra charge for it and even though the table only seats 20 (at the very most), with the extra room and sofa/chairs, there’s plenty of space to make it a cozy party.

Dahn's Birthday at Cobre

Saturday afternoon was the perfect afternoon for Tea at the Wedgewood. My friend Missy is having her 3rd baby (!) on May 5th (C-section) and wanted to meet up with a few girlfriends before she officially had no more life. Unfortunately I wasn’t on the ball enough to get any good pictures, (they were all blurry), but if you’ve ever gone for Tea Time at the Wedgewood you’ll know how lovely it really is.

It’s about $32 and for that you get your choice of tea, (I went for the Lavender Earl Grey), and a tiered tower of treats, (it’s basically finger sandwiches and pastries), but sooo yummy! It’s not something to do every weekend, but it’s a nice little (civilized) break once in a while.

Saturday evening, I was lucky enough, (thanks Chad) to be invited to the Canucks – Kings #2 playoff game! We lost. Not the end of the world since it was only game 2, plus it was super exciting none-the-less. I love that every seat had a playoff white towel on it just waiting to be twirled above people’s heads for Towel-Power.

At the Canucks game... check out all the White Towels!

After the game, we went to see my cousin, TJ's new band, Framed Faces in Kits. Except for my sister and myself, the rest of my family are very musically talented. TJ included. Definitely check out the Framed Faces MySpace and Facebook pages!

Framed Faces

Sunday afternoon, I had a field trip for photo class! Ok, it was just to Yaletown, (wait, I Live in Yaletown!), but it was still loads of fun. We spent hours taking pictures of everything; flowers, graffiti, cars, animals, architecture, rocks, the water, kids, (with permission), and I learned a ton!

I’m still trying to figure out Flickr, it’s really confusing to me for some reason, but when I do, I will post more pics there as well.

Thursday night the photo class ventured over to Granville Island for some night photography. We learned how to use a flash, (properly) and other techniques that made me feel like a professional. Techniques like light writing, popping & zooming, , longer exposure times, motion blur, and adjusting shutter speed and F-stops to produce the image you want.

Here are a few samples from the evening:

Love and Life

I’ve had a couple of extremely busy and stressful days at work. The Olympics are coming to town and everyone wants something from me last minute. I think I was about to have a breakdown at work today until I took a moment to relax and watch one of my favourite videos.
These are my nephews, Beckett & Nolan. They are the loves of my life and they always put a smile on my face. This video was taken just minutes after I’d received a phone call with some very tragic news: a friend had just lost her fight with cancer. I was sad and shocked but these two little guys took it all away for just a few minutes. Thanks boys… your Auntie T. loves you!

My first post.

Post #1.

Since I'm just testing how this all works, I will use this post to put up my "about me" info: Post #1.
Me. About me. My Blog. Hmmmm… I’ve been writing stuff down for years now. Sometimes on paper, sometimes in emails, sometimes on Myspace, Facebook, or Twitter, (well only 140 characters on twitter), but I’ve finally decided to bring it all to one place. I’ve thought about blogging for sometime now, but I always thought my blogs should have a theme. I read food blogs, gossip blogs, fashion blogs, Olympic blogs, make-up blogs, travel blogs and more. This is why I hadn’t started one up until now; I have lots to say about lots of topics, but not a lot to say about one particular subject. I still haven’t decided on a set topic so for now I will write about what I know best: me! Well… not just me, but things that interest me. Things I see, read, experience, hear and so on… Since the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic games are less than 3 weeks away, I will probably be writing about them for the next little while. After that… who knows?

The sun'll come out Tomorrow, so ya gotta hang on 'til tomorrow Come What May…