Down-lo on the vay kay!

Well, it's taken me long enough to find some time to post about our vacation last week, but here I am and here I go!
We left Vancouver around lunchtime on the Friday (4th) and the plane was delayed for about 40 minutes but we had some super duper tailwinds that managed to blow us along so we only came into LA 15 minutes late. The flight itself was pretty good, seeing as I was still a little freaked (okay, maybe more than that) from the America West flight we took down to Vegas in December (never EVER use America West, run down dingy planes that feel like they're going to fall apart). I was a little nervy on the takeoff, but after that it was good. And landing was the best thing ever! Get me off of there! I saw the pilot and told him 'good job' and gave him two thumbs up on the way off the plane (I think Trevor thought that was a bit nerdy, but hey, anyone who gets me somewhere in one piece deserves some credit!).

So we were off to our hotel in Anaheim ($110 taxi ride later...whoops) and went to the Block at Orange shopping area for dinner and a browse. The next day we woke up super early and grabbed the 7:30am shuttle to Disneyland to get there when it opened at 8am -- in hopes of getting dinner reservations at the restaurant at the Pirates of the Caribbean. No such luck there, we powered through the gates and got to the restaurant only to find that they are booked 2 DAY IN ADVANCE now. Losers. Doesn't seem quite fair. We were handed a piece of paper with 'Disney Dine Line' and a phone number listed on it and asked to call that the next time. Who knows when that next time will be? Oh well.

Disneyland on a Saturday is more hairy than I imagined. People EVERYWHERE. In the past, I've only been during the week and on off-seasons...good reason for that! I think anyone who goes there in the middle of the summer needs their head seen to. How is that fun? At least we were there early enough in the day to get in the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with not too much of a line. Splash Mountain was closed though. Boo to that! We hopped back and forth between parks to do the Soarin' Over California ride in the California Adventure park (such a cool ride!) and squeezed in the Grizzly Rapids and a few other things while we were there. No big rollercoaster for me (or Sun Wheel for that matter), breakfast/lunch was still being held down after doing the Tower of Terror (man, is that a screamer! Some woman grabbed on to me during that!).

We grabbed some dinner in Downtown Disney at an italian place called Naples. Really good pizza and one of the best antipasto platters I've ever seen (big chunks of parmesan! mmmmm!). Then back to the other park to see if we could squeeze on the Matterhorn bobsleds (super long line, but we sucked it up and waited). And then to Space Mountain for Trevor to go on by himself. I did that ride with him back in September and I'm no fool, no way I'm going to have my head messed with twice. When he finally made it off the ride (40 minute wait...augh) he was just in time for the start of the fireworks.

The next day we loaded up all our goodies (or for Trevor, a GIANT BOX with a Jack Skellington figurine in it...always the reasonable traveller, purchasing goods that NEVER FIT INTO HIS SUITCASE) and headed for the cruise terminal in San Pedro. Our taxi driver (and we had to request a VAN for Trevor's BOX) had a little ride-along friend in the front seat: Her name was Brownie and it was his daughter's. He even had a little yoghurt container with water in it that he would open up to let it drink from. Kind of ratty-looking, but kind of cute in a weird way.

And it was on to the boat! (Well, slight delay with the customs officers from the people who were previously on the ship, a lot of them weren't American or Canadian so it resulted in a longer processing time, and a two and a half hour wait to get on to the ship, but I digress!) And now really on to the boat! I had a slight bit of rage at some Asian-Canadian people who were a part of a tour group that budged in front of us in line. Not just two people, 14 PEOPLE. I was pretty pissed off about that. These two people (in front of us) yelled at their group (8 people behind us) and waved them ahead. Man was I mad. (I think I've said that, but can't stress it enough.) Finally two people in their group figured that they were being extremely rude by doing what they were doing and stayed back and let others ahead of them (either that or they heard me muttering death threats at them). So minor glitch there, and now really, really on to the boat!


First night we caught a show (crappy ass magician, whose assistant tripped and fell -- Trevor's favorite part!) and had dinner at the teppenyaki restaurant on board. That was the best dinner there. SO GOOD! Although we did have to pay a $20 cover charge (each!).

The second day was a day at sea from LA to San Francisco and they had a few events on board (art auction, as usual -- that is so crap). We tried out their non-paying restaurants as a part of NCL's big freestyle cruising idea where you can pick and choose where and when you want to eat as opposed to the standard assigned dining times and tables in a large dining room. We chose NCL based on this and I'll give our rundown of what we thought at the end of this long and painful post! We had lunch in their 'comfort food' restaurant that did things like mac n' cheese, fish and chips, hot dogs (is that a comfort food???), chili, etc. For dinner we went to the smaller dining room where I had an amazing watermelon and feta salad. Oooo, I could eat that again! We went and watched a show with some dancers and acrobats later that night.

The third day we were docked in San Francisco (love San Francisco!). We were off the boat early and walking like crazy to hit the Ferry Building (got there too early, nothing open!) then caught a trolley (but not THE trolley that you think of in San Francisco) up to Union Square -- a big confusing shopping area spread out over a few miles. Then we caught THE trolley to Fisherman's Wharf. Wow. What a ride that was. Rough, jerky, steep. And cost $5 each. That's the view from one hill.

After Fisherman's Wharf we went back to the boat as the all-aboard was set for 4:30pm...wouldn't want to miss that! We sat outside and waited for the ship to leave so we could officially say we saw the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge. Which was very foggy and very cold. But very cool! Then it was off to dinner at a Tex-Mex Latin Tapas restaurant (not sure if they could throw in a few more nationalities into there!). Pretty good fajitias and some excellent fresh salsa. Yum! Then we were off to the comedy show with some of the people from the Second City who were VERY FUNNY. That was one of the highlights of the trip, we laughed a lot.

The next day was an at sea day, and man was it rough and rocky. Up, down, rock, rock. No barfing as we had taken Bonamine pills, but Trevor turned a little green at one point. I had managed to catch yet another cold in San Francisco and pretty much lay low that day and hung out in the cabin, coming out here and there to have lunch and dinner. Dinner that night was in the main dining room and nothing stood out on the menu and the food I did order wasn't so great (steak overcooked, chilled strawberry soup bland). We saw another sing-y dance-y show afterwards as well which was nothing fantastic -- except for the fact that they all managed to keep their balance with the boat rocking around in 15-18ft waves and 45 knot winds.

We arrived in Victoria the next day, and what can I say...it's Victoria. Not a great port in my opinion, I've seen enough of that city anyways. But the bonus was that I got to spend the day with my sister and my mom. (Sorry about spreading the cold germs to you Dana -- my bad!) We had a fun girl day out and about and had lunch together. And we even managed to hit a Costco there too! LOL! That was pretty funny, being on vacation and hitting a Costco. Although I did see a plant in the garden center that I picked up at the Langley store, so it wasn't all for nothing! (Hope Jon liked the golf shirts!) The fam then booted me out of the car back at the cruise ship dock and I went back on board and found Trevor relaxing in the room. We went up a few decks to an outdoor table and chair area and sat down for a few drinks and a cheese plate (Trevor). It was really nice just sitting outside with the sun shining...until Trevor got too cold and we had to head back in. At least I had my 10 minutes of mellowing! We went back to the room and decided to start to pack things up (large awkward box included). We had dinner at La Cucina (an italian restaurant) that night...which was okay. Nothing spectacular. And saw some juggling guy (who we've seen before on another ship!).

And the next day we were home! Back to the grind and feeling like we never left and still needed another vacation. Amazing how that works.

So here's where I get to bitch a bit about the trip. It wasn't what we expected. We usually cruise with Royal Caribbean and always have a great time, but we thought for our third cruise that we'd try out NCL. Well, we've decided that we won't be sailing with NCL again. We missed the assigned dining times and getting to know your servers and people who sit with you. We've learned a lot about the crew, the boat and activities that way. NCL just seemed disconnected with all of that. Plus the fact that you don't tip anyone in person at the end of the cruise and instead just have $10 charged to your onboard account everyday made for just average service. We didn't feel like anyone was really going out of their way -- especially with the people who made up our room. Plus NCL is very food-focussed, which is fine if all you do is eat, but Royal Caribbean is much more activity-based which is much more fun. And I hate to say it, but I think the food on Royal Caribbean is a lot better too. And I have to disagree with the whole 'freestyle dining' thing. How can they call it 'freestyle' when I have to call two days in advance to make reservations to get in to a restaurant? So a big hmmmmm to that.

So that's my bitching done and over with, and congratulations to anyone who actually read this monster post all the way through!

Seven little-known facts about me:

So I'm taking up Cynthia's challenge (lol...thanks!) of getting me to pick my brain to find seven facts about me that no one knows. At least she's not asking for the seven dirtiest little-known facts!!! LOL! There would be more than seven! ;)

1. I would love to have my own vegetable garden one day (a la Jamie Oliver).
Imagine growing your own zuchinis, pumpkins, watermelons, etc etc! How great would that be?

2. I played with Barbies until I was 14.
It wasn't like I was making up little stories and making them trot around, I would just do their hair and dress them up. I'm sure my sister has a few things to say about that. (I would always ask her to play and then her Barbies would be the nerdy ones that I would ignore!!! LOL!).

3. One day I would love to see fire flies.
And not the crappy cars...the actual bugs!

4. I don't like to kill bugs (and other things).*
For some reason I think that they must have family or other bugs they know and I just can't bring myself to squash them. Other than being creepy or hairy or leggy...well, I figure they must serve a purpose. I have a removal technique with a glass and paper that works pretty well!
*Except mosquitos (and anything else that launches a direct attack on you).

5. When I was a kid I had really short, spikey hair.
Most of the time I was okay with it, but every now and then people would think that I was a boy. When I was 7, there were a bunch of girls in my class asking me why I looked like a boy, so I made up a story about why I had short hair, involving me (with long flowy locks) and an accident with a toilet flushing and sucking the hair down and getting it stuck and having to cut it off to heroically free myself. Seemed like a good way to get kids to stop asking at the time. Maybe it would have made sense to say 'because!' and that's it!

6. I was super cheap with our wedding.
We had the ceremony and reception at Trevor's parent's house (outside in the big gardens, ceremony in the front, reception in the back), the flowers were ordered through our company so we got them wholesale, I made all of the arrangements and bouquets, we designed and printed all of the invitations, and did our own music (maybe wouldn't do that again!). My dress was a bridesmaid's dress (yeah right I was spending more than $300 for a dress I would wear once!). We had a friend take all of the photos (thanks James, wherever you are!) I even drove myself (and all my bridesmaids!) to the wedding. We did spend a bit on the food and had to rent a tent and tables, but everything still came in under $5000.

7. I get freaked out by the filters at the bottom of swimming pools.
This happened when I was a kid, but seems to still get me every now and then. I would be at a swimming lesson and we'd be in the deep end and I'd look in the water, see that square box waaaaay at the bottom of the pool, get a jolt of adrenaline and swim for my life to the end of the pool. It happens in lakes as well...thinking of all the creepy things that I can't see. Augh! Enough!

One day to vay-kay!

This will be our new home from Sunday until next Friday (the cruise ship leaves from LA and comes up to Vancouver with stops in San Francisco and Victoria). We're flying down to LA tomorrow afternoon and we're going to spend all day in Disneyland on Saturday (and I mean ALL DAY...it's open from 8am until midnight, and guess who wants to get there at 8am sharp??? Trevor.). One thing we really want to do is have dinner at that little restaurant that's at the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We'll see how that all works out.

I'll post some big day-to-day rundowns when I come back!

Done, done and done.

Well we survived the install day at the two high schools. It was a very long day. We arrived at the office at 7am and finally finished up our last school and got home by 10pm. Completely exhausted. You know the point where you're so tired and exhausted that you start to go a little crazy? That happened x10. In fact, even the lard sculptures that the students create start to look a little funny...
Like this stubby-armed person with giant wings:
And this lovely one, that I call the 'Lard-iator':
At least it's all finished for now and I can finally start to think about packing...

This made me laugh yesterday

The following is a list of things you might or not might not experience upon drinking a can of this revolutionary new energy beverage:

- Increased energy and alertness, particularly in situations requiring one to engage in hand-to-hand combat, to the death.
- A sudden renewed interest in action movies from the early nineties whose titles consist of three words, one of which is usually either “kill”, “law” or “justice”.
- Existentialism.
- Immediate growth of ponytail.
- A collection of half-baked Buddhist/Zen ideals, which you will constantly feel compelled to share with anyone who will listen.
- Constant mistaking of oneself for a Buddhist monk.
- Constant mistaking of oneself for an elderly back blues guitar player.
- Constant mistaking of oneself for a Native American.
- The inability to speak in any manner that is not a threatening whisper.
- A deep-rooted hatred for Keanu Reeves and all of the Matrix films.
- A deep-rooted love of biscuits and gravy.
- The need to settle all of life’s disputes - no matter how small or inane - with a karate duel.
- Magical powers (in your mind).
- Increased Asianness.

A hairy week

For some reason, whenever we plan a vacation it seems to come back and bite us the two weeks or so before we go. It's not like we're even going away for two weeks...it's only a week! So far we've been putting in long days and waking up too early to put these long days in. (If that makes sense...it's still early and I'm feeling slow!) Today is going to be our official 'hell day': we're installing signage at two high schools in Surrey. We're revamping the whole district's cafeteria look and feel to function better and look more put together. We've done two schools in one day once before and it was exhausting; we're usually not home until after 7pm...combine that in with getting to the office before 7am and you've got a nice 12 hour day to look forward to.

Not that I'm complaining! :)

It's interesting to go to these high schools and try to imagine back when you were once there (that would be 10 long years ago for me...and I'm not going back!!!). The grade 8's are still really young and the rest...well they're big and loud. In fact, we joke that some of the boys could out-grow Trevor's facial hair already. And it's true. Some of those guys are HAIRY! You also get to see the little groups and can pretty much pick out who's who. There are a few notable kids who have come to talk to us while we install, the curious ones, the fearful ones ('what's happening???' - I think that one kid thought we were shutting it down!), and the downright annoying ones (this also encompasses the teachers, but there has been the odd student who would rather keep an aging hand-drawn cardboard sign with 5 years worth of grease and dust-bunnies on it because 'I don't like change!'. Hmmmm, change happens, chick.). There are also the schools where the chefs really like their jobs and it shows, and the others that...well, not so much.

So, we're off to scratch two more schools off our list today, leaving us with two left in the district. And we can't wait!

Props to my main peep!

A big congrats goes out my hub Trevor, he has sold his very first drill rig!