Lots of good news

It's been awhile since I wrote a blog post and now I have so much news to tell!!

I was recently in Nanaimo for the Save-On-Foods Dragon Boat Regatta with my team the Dragon Ladies.  The weather was beautiful sunny and hot, and the venue was well organized and very pretty.  The first day we raced two races and finished the day as the fastest woman's team of the day with a time of 2.17.  The water was a bit choppy and the float plane landing area was immediately after the finish line with resulted in a lot of panicky scream from our steersman Kevin "hold hard ladies...hold hard!!!!!!).  The next day we were to race the semi-finals and finals. 

After the semi-finals we held our position as fastest woman's team, I celebrated by breaking my diet and having pancakes and sausage from the Shriners!!!  We had a few hours before our next race so a few of us found a spot on the grass and enjoyed the afternoon watching the races.  Mum and dad were planning on picking me up after the race so I could spend a 

few days in Comox, but they changed their plans and came early so they could watch our final race....a big step for dad as he despises the dragon boaters.  Unfortunately the wind picked up and the water got choppier and choppier and the organizers were forced to cancel to race before the finals.  Results were calculated using the times from previous races so the Dragon Ladies came away with the Gold Metal in Platinum A division.  We were disappointed that we could race our last race but very happy with our gold metal finish.

The next news.....Brendan proposed to me on July 16 and of course I said YES!!!! 

 It was all very romantic and he even spoke with my dad first.

I came home from dragon boating and he was very insistent I go have a shower, while I just wanted to have a beer in my smelly dragon boat clothes.  Eventually I showered and when I came out he told me he went out on the weekend and got drunk and drank our bottle of Dom Periogn with the boys...yelling soon followed.  He somehow convinced me that the champagne was past its expiration date (not my finest moment) andthat I should check inside the box, when I opened the champagne box the ring was sitting there.  The next day my family had a bbq at my aunt and uncles house and we all had a big celebration.

 

my first blog

Well I've finally done it, I have joined the blogging world.  So no more complaining about me not keeping in touch with anyone!  The urge to blog I suppose came about from some recent changes in my life.  I have quite my job and Brendan and I have plans to move to Australia in December.  It's a much needed change for us, I just don't think I could do another year in Vancouver....the rain, the rudeness, the self obsessed news...I'm ready for sunshine and 30 plus degree winters!!

We will be traveling to Australia in August so I will have lots post soon.  There is a new baby in Brendan's family in Adelaide, a wedding in Perth and trips to the reef in Townsville, but for now you will have to live with the day to day ramblings of my unemployed self.

Our garden is doing well on the balcony.  I like to think of myself as a bit of a patio gardening warrior at the moment.  We have two strawberry plants, three tomato plan

ts, swiss chard, arugula, lettuce, two sunflowers, a pot of flowers, zucinni, and a kiwi tree (yes that's right Jenn a Kiwi tree!!).  The kiwi is really an arctic kiwi but it sounds impressive. Oh, I almost forgot we also have rosemary, thyme, basil, lavender, tarragon, parsley, and sage.  I've had to start drying the herbs because we don't seem to use them up in time.  So far we have been enjoying some strawberries and the chard is almost ready.  The sunflower is about to bloom, and the tomato plants have lots of green tomatoes.

The garden has had a particularly interesting effect on Sky, she has become a whole new cat now that there are plants out there.  She particularly loves bugs, and has been catching and eating them at an alarming rate.  I'm beginning to wonder why we feed her given her fly consumption rate.  If she catches a bigger fly she brings it to me and plays with in in the house for a bit until she ultimately looses interest and it hides somewhere under our couch.

One luck specimen that has avoided our ruthless killer is an interesting/rather large green spider.  It is setting up shop on our sunflower, how it got to our 7th floor apartment downtown is beyond me, I think I'll call him George.