Pic's of Sean Patrick Flynn

Sean Patrick Flynn first photo shoot.















The Happy Family, Congradulations Sarah and Trevor.
















My favorit picture of all times. A little angel!!!!

HEAT WAVE

Okay this is nuts for the last week we have been in a heat wave. I don't even think they should call this a heat wave it is more like an oven wave, or burning on the steak wave. It has been over 100 F down here and that mean it around and over 40 C. The worst part is, our A/C is not working so the apartment is very hot. I haven't made a meal in so long now b/c I don't want to add any more heat to the apartment. All weekend we stayed indoors or went to a mall with A/C but it hardly felt cool because of all the ppl there with the same idea. There are also black outs around the area, some people have not had power since Friday. I am thanking my lucky stars that we have had power. Hotels in some area are full and that is not because of people visiting, it is the locals with out a/c or power trying to cool off. Sad thing is so far one person has died and a bunch of pets too. This is reminding me of the blackout in Ottawa again. Well it's gross here in our place the fans are on and the a/c which isn't working is on and the temp says 90 in the apartment but that is just b/c that is the highest the thing reads in the house, hahah, but I know it's hotter than that b/c you can't tell the difference between inside and outside. I am really hoping that they are right and it cools down tomorrow, it has cooled down some this morning but it's early so it going to be hot again. I would never have thought that temps in the 80's F would be thought as cool before but that is the temp now in the apartment so I think the A/c finally kicked in after a week not working.

Welcome Sean Flynn

Well Tom and I are once again an Uncle and Aunt. After a long wait Sean Patrick Flynn finally came to his waiting happy Parents Sarah and Trevor on July 21, 2006 . All is great and everyone is doing well. We can't wait to go home and see him and everyone else. Once I get some pictures I will post them up. There will be lot of pictures b/c I am still waiting on pictures from my sister baby as well which they named Reagan Marie Lipsett (Marie is after me!!!!!) I feel special :). So many babies this month and I have to wait till September to see them which feel so long away. How come the things you look forward too and want take so long to get here and than go by so fast, but everything else is just a whirlwind of time. Till next time

Welcome Reagan Marie Lipsett

Well today is july 4th, and tom and I spent the day with our friends Seema and Ashok in San Fran. We just walked around and ate food and watched the fire works down on Fishermans Wharf. The fireworks were nice. but I was disappointed because I thought San Fran would have a much better show. Anyhow after a long day I got home to hear on the answering machine that Sandy and Blair had their third daughter today. Mom and Dad didn't tell me what they named it but said everything went will and she weighed in at 7 LB 10 OZ/21.5 IN. Which is a lot better than Makenna who was 10lbs 04 oz. I can't wait to see her.

Those poor unloved Hurricanes

Chaos in Carolina!

Let's Go Oilers

Well we have waited all hockey season for this and it is all on now!!....game seven for the cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The house is going to be full tonight, all Canadian hockey fans that work with tom are coming over, for food, beer and the game. It can't get any better than this. The Oil is going to cover the storm tonight babe, no doubt in my mind. We are going to win this thing. We we were last in the Western conference and we are playing for the cup. We were down 3-1 :( and we are back 3-3 baby and who is going to win this thing I say !!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!OILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE TAKING THIS THING HOME ON THEIR ICE!!!!!!!!!!

Not much is new....

Well it's been a while and I must say there is not much new at our end....Tom is working long hours to meet some deadlines and work for me has picked up a little more the last couple of weeks but has slowed down again. The gopher has eaten my garden...Bella is her crazy self as always. I did finally make homemade spaghetti sauce yesterday which I haven't made for tom since we moved to California considering the first 9 months we lived in corporate housing so we didn't have a lot of kitchen stuff to cook with, like my big pot that I make homemade spaghetti sauce in. Now we are just hoping that the Oilers win the game on Saturday and that they win the cup, pleassssssssssssssse win. Well today and the next two days are suppose to be really hot ones, it's suppose to get up in the high 80's F so for all you C degrees people that means in the 30's. I must say that I am not a 30 person, I am a person that likes to be in the 20's where it is warm but not soo warm you feel gross and sweaty. Here is hoping that there is a breeze during these next few days if it gets as hot as they are saying. Well I got to run haven't decided if I should got for an hours swim or run today before it gets too hot out, it's all ready 22 C at 10am. :S

Happy Birthday to me.....

Today we went out and bought some more flowers that I potted b/c my gopher friend still seem to be living in my garden. We got more stuff that is suppose to get rid of him too. So I am hoping that this time it works. So when I plant my garden yet again for the third time it well get a chance to grow. I will post some photos of my flowers a bit later. Tom baked me a chocolate birthday cake from scratch....No box crap YAYAYAY. He also made me breakfast and took me out for Indian food for dinner. I ate way too much that now my stomach is hurting and full that I can't even eat my birthday cake. Hopefully in an hour I will have some room for it, it smells soo good.....CHOCOLATE.....

Gopher this is war....

Do I need to say anything more...........................................................

Wow the last four days flu by way too fast

Well we picked Sandra up Saturday night right after the Oilers won!!!!!! Got back to the apartment late in the evening and after chatting some we all went to bed. Next day Sandra and I woke up and picked up the rental car and hit the road for Hollywood. We drove pretty much the whole way down the coastal highway which was really amazing and she had a beautiful day to see it too. We first stopped at Santa Cruz (the well known boardwalk/amusement park on the beach) for lunch and than we hit the road again. We drove till just outside of LA and spent the night in a motel. Got up early the next morning and took a detour down to Malibu, where I must say the houses are amazing. We saw some surfers and a few beaches and continued to drive to Beverly Hills where we walked on Rodeo drive which had some nice stores and signs in the stores that said you need to make an appointment before going in to shop. Once we finished our walk on Rodeo drive it was off to Hollywood. We got there just before lunch time and walked along Hollywood Blvd. The walk of fame where the people have their names in stars in the sidewalk is a lot longer than I thought it was. I would keep missing the surroundings b/c I kept looking down and reading the names. I had to remind myself to look at the building too. After we walked around some more and did what we wanted to do we jumped back into the car and headed for home. The drive was good for the long weekend until we hit a joining highway that joined the I-5 and 101 , the traffic was crazy and I was getting cranky, my butt was hurting from sitting so long and we were only moving 2 miles every 10 mins it was crazy. But we finally got home. Next day it's off to San Francisco and Wednesday we'll rest at home.

Let's try this again....

Well Tom and I went back out to buy some flowers for my garden and also get some rodent repelent for the garden too. Hopefully this mole or gopher will not eat my garden this time. We also picked up two rose bushes too that I planted in pots. I have a few more pots so I will probably go out some time after this week and buy some more flower to put them in the pots. Well only a few more hours till Sandra comes to visit, I can't wait should be an awesome time while she is here. Well I got to run and get back to the hockey game they are need to win this one LET'S GO OILERS, LET'S GO!!!!!!

What a night....

Well last evening right before bed tom and I heard a loud crash and lots of sirens and than the smelled smoke. We ran out b/c I thought someone ran into the cars in our parking lot but we found our car was okay but just outside of the parking lot were a lot of lights..... and sort of a eerie feeling after that. Then we heard sirens entering our complex roads and just flying around. Tom later went out and saw our neighbours talking to another guy who claimed he saw the whole thing. So what it came down to was the cops were chasing someone and when they went over the train tracks, which are on a sort of a slope and the car went airborn through the light towards our apartments. They lost control of the car and ran over the speed limit signpost and then hit the telephone pole...the guy got out of the car and ran into our complex. Which then led the cops to fly around our complex. As far as we know he was found and there were no reports of the episode in the paper so we really don't know what happen. I'm really glad that Tom and I don't live in the apartment right by the road next to the sidewalk.

Damn you Mole or gopher.

Well my garden was looking really nice there for a bit. It was full of flowers and looking really pretty, and then one day one of my flowers went missing. When I mean missing there is nothing in sight that could say it was ever there, not even a leaf or petal was left. The only proof I have that it was there is that I know I planted one there and we started out with six of a kind. Each day one more is missing. Now you are thinking are you sure I am not miscounting? I can tell you I am not because we started out with 24 plants and we are down to 8. 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I say I don't even know when the mole/gopher is doing this to my garden but I know it's him because if I really dig up the garden I can find little tunnels here and there and he leaves little mounds of dirt here and there. I am just waiting for him to take down our little orange tree that is 3 feet high. If he gets the orange tree than this mole or gopher is on some steroids for sure. Well it looks like I am going to have to get more potted plants and try one more time to plant some plants in my garden.

What a Day

Well Sunday was an awesome day. Tom and I got up and went to the farmers market and than headed into San Fran, b/c tom had to sign in for his conference for this week. He took me shopping first b/c he couldn't check into JavaOne(that's the conference) till 2pm, and I need some clothes that fit. Now if you know me, you would know that I am not typical girl when it comes to shopping. I hate shopping to the T, I have never been much of a shopper. I hate the lines, the trying on clothes etc...I like running in grabbing what I want and leaving as fast as I can.... Plus I never find much that I like or that fits well. Things either fit here but not there and vise versa. Well I don't know what happen this day but it wasn't my normal shopping day for me. It started out me not wanting to shop b/c I didn't feel like trying things on but I bit the bullet and grab some stuff to try on in store number one. Tom also picked out some pants for me to try on as well b/c they were on sale. Well did I ever go crazy everything I tried on was fitting and Tom and I were liking how it fit too. So I walked out of that store with 4 pairs of pants and two skirts, plus it was all on sale too. Next store Tom was like "I don't know if I want you to go in" but we went in and I found 2 pairs of shorts and two skirts, that were cheap too. I have never shopped like that before and I did it all in an hour thank goodness b/c I was getting tired. Oh and Tom only got one shirt haha, normally when we shop I come out empty handed or with one thing and tom comes out with 6-8 things. It was nice for a change to be the one with clothes, that boy has more clothes than I do. Well after shopping and Tom finished with his conference stuff, we headed back home to get ready for the OILERS VS SHARKS game. We were really excited and tom was bouncing off the wall b/c it was the first time he ever got to see the OILERS in a playoff game. It was an amazing game and so much fun, we got teased some but nothing hard which was sort of was surprising and even more surprising, we weren't the only OILER FANS there. There were way more OILERS FANS there than I thought would be but we were still way out numbered by a landslide. Tom and I were the only ones in our section cheering for the OILERS that I could see. Which was funny b/c we were the only ones jumping up and yelling when the OILERS scored and you could hear us yelling. OH did I say how amazing it was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we killed the Sharks soo bad 6-3 wow I can't wait till game 6th we are soo going to win this Round. I was soo tried when we went home I had no trouble falling to sleep.

New Record

Well today is a beautiful day but it started off blah, for me. I woke up felling yuky and didn't want to go running. However after putting it off for a bit, I finally went to the gym for my run but someone was on the treadmill so I started on the bike but didn't feel like doing that plus I didn't know how long the person was going to run for. So I decided that I would just go running outside. I normally like to have a route planned out to run but since I haven't begun to run outside yet I had to wing it. I managed to run 5 miles in 45 mins, I am going to have to find a longer route next time b/c I like to run for an hour. Normally I run on the treadmill at 6mph for an hour on a hill workout setting so that is 6miles but now I know I can run faster than that so I can't wait till next time, to see how far I can run in a full hour! After being outside and after my run I felt so much better. Once I finished lunch I called tom to see if he wanted to go for a quick coffee, so he had some time so I picked him up and we went out for coffee. Once I got home I went out and planted the flowers that I bought yesterday. It's starting to look nice out on our patio, I just need some more flowers, which I will go out and buy so I have some more to plant tomorrow.

Awesome weekend

Well this weekend has been the best in a long time!!!! We really haven't done much but the pace was nice and slow and the time was together. The beautiful weather we have been having is great too. This weekend Tom came with me to my Saturday morning workout and he did good, very sore today but it's good for him. Then we went to our favorite breakfast place and ate out on the patio which is soo nice since the weather is getting even nicer, more people want to eat outside so it's getting harder to get a table. After brunch we went to OSH which is like your home depot, and got flowers for our patio. We got a Fuchsia Hybrida-Lisa which is hanging out on the patio and than I got some impatiens and pansies. I love having flowers outside. Today we slept in a bit but only till 9 am and than got up had some breakfast, and back to OSH for some more plants and some staining supplies for my Hope chest. I got some some dahlia and vintage burgandy, which I plan to plant tomorrow. I weeded the garden and we stained the hope chest and now it's dinner time and it's BBQ and watch the Hockey game, Go Oilers.

Rocking Chair

I finally finished my rocking chair, Here is the before and after picture. I am just starting to stain the hopechest and now it all about the polyurethaning it. Once it's done I will post some pictures of it.

Come on Down

Well this spring is becoming a very interesting one for sure. Peter and Mel came to visit at the end of April and it was a great time. Now Qball is coming down to visit for a week on the 20th of May which will be great as well and just the other day I get an email from Sandra and she is going to try and come for a visit during the first week of June. I really hope that she will be able to come down, it will be awesome to see her, especially where I haven't seen her since our wedding day. Now the funny thing is, is that Tom and I have had more visitors down here than we had in the time that we lived in Ottawa. We should have moved here yrs ago.

Most Beautiful Day

Well today the weather is awesome, it's 80 F out which is 26 C for all you Canadian. It felt so good to be out in the sun in shorts and a T-shirt, I hope we continue to have this kind of weather for the rest of the spring and summer but I know it's going to get a lot hotter which I won't like too much, but I am not complaining it not rain. I also had an awesome run at the gym today, did some incline intervals for 65mins,wow it felt good. Today is such an awesome day. We also found out that we don't have to move now until the beginning of September, so this is great news. Well it's such a nice day I think it's going to be a bbq dinner tonight. I love this weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe the week is over

Well on Monday Peter and Mel came to visit us for the week!!!!!! We spent the week doing some sight seeing and running around taking them to our favorite places to eat. Well we didn't get to do everything but we still did a lot. We spent two days in San Francisco where we saw a Baseball game, ate at a Tapas restaurant (Spanish food and a style of eating), Stinking Rose (which is a garlic restaurant), tour of alcatraz, golden gate bridge, china town, pier 39 and we had fun running around trying to catch the buses and trains which we did well until the way home when we just missed the train home and ended up taking a cab to where we parked the car. We also took them out for dim sum which is one of our favorite types of Chinese food and Hobees which is a great breakfast place, In'n'Out (which is a burger place that only sells hamburger, cheeseburgers, fries, and milkshakes), out for Persian food and last but not least Cold Stone Creamery which is the best Ice cream parlor ever (you make your own flavor of ice cream, you can put in anything in your ice cream from chocolate chips, gummy bears, brownie, cookie dough, sauces, cookies, different chocolate bars, nuts, peanut butter etc). Today we took them to 17 mile drive, where pebble beach golf course is and then down highway 1, the coastal highway, towards Big Sur. It's so beautiful. Tomorrow we take them to the airport, I will be sad to see them go :(.

Back home in California

Well after a great trip home visiting family, and a long day of flying I am finally home in California. I got home at 12:30 am and I'm soo tired and hungry by the time I got to bed it was 1:30am Pacific time. That's one long day b/c that was 5:30 am Atlantic time. Well I must say that it's a lot easier flying from the east coast to west coast for jet leg. I got up at 8:30 am and felt good, Tom and I went to breakfast and I am heading to my workout. But when I fly from west to east, I'm tired for days. It's funny how a four hour time change can mess you up. I got home and tom had cleaned up quite a bit which was really great and he had a bouquet of tulips waiting for me at home too.

I brought the weather with me

Well I have been home since Wednesday night now and the sun hasn't been out yet, how funny is that. My nannie told me then when I go back to California on Saturday to please take this weather back with me. hahaha, I said I would try. So far home I have gotten to see my two sisters and their family's. My nieces are so funny, I am going to miss them, when I go back. I spend time with my grandparents every day and listen to their stories of the past, this is one of my favorite time of the day. Made one of Dad's favorite pasta dishes for him for dinner this week, it was pretty good I must say, especially since it's a dish that doesn't have any meat in it but lots of garlic, man the garlic going to be coming out of our pores for a week. Going to spend three full days with mom this week where she got some time off work, just taking it slow and doing whatever. I have a feeling this week is going to go by fast :(.

Finally home in CANADA

Well I got in Halifax airport around 10pm last night and got to Bridgewater at 11:30pm. Tired from the trip but I still couldn't fall asleep because of the time difference. So about 3am I finally fell asleep and got up at 9:45 am refreshed. I spent my day with my sister and my two nieces Peyton and Makenna. We skipped threw the grocery store, had lunch, went shoe shopping, sang songs etc... best day in a long time. Tomorrow I am going swimming with them, I can't wait. Tonight is relaxing with mom before she goes to work at 11pm.

Well what a day

Well yesterday was a crazy day. I spent 4 hours staining my rocking chair, and man it wasn't fun. If you go and buy unfurnished furniture and the guy tells you how stain it and also give you a pamphlet that explains how to do it too, don't listen to the guy, listen to the pamphlet. The guy told me to apply it all over and than go back and wipe it off. In theory this works but the chair is really big and I must not be very fast at staining b/c it was really hard to rub off where the stain started drying and my arms were hurting so bad I wanted to quit. I should have only done a section or an area and than wiped it off b/c it wipes off just as easy as wiping it on, and gives you the same results. So anyhow after a lot of cursing and fixing areas, the staining is finally done. Now next step is to polyurethane it. I'm going to wait until I come back from my trip and when the weather is better to do it outside, b/c tom said the stain was very strong even though I had the patio and all windows open....that's probably why I had a headache. I hope the hopechest works out a lot better than the chair did.

Well another funny story for the day is that when I got the mail today there were three Christmas cards that people sent us around Christmas time. They had our old address on them but we got our mail forwarded to where we are living now, so I don't know what the US mail is doing with b/c if it takes 5 months to forward mail it is a little crazy. I hope we aren't missing any important mail now.

Picking up Furniture

Well since we now have a car we are going to pick up our Rocking chair and Hopechest tomorrow. I can't wait for tomorrow. I am so excited to pick them up. Once I pick them up and stain them, I will post some pictures. And it didn't rain today day either. What a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Proud Parents

Well today has been a very exciting and expensive day for us. Today tom and I went to the Toyota car dealership to test drive a car and we quite enjoyed it. Before we knew it we were signing the papers for the car we test drove b/c it had everything we wanted an a little more, which oh well. We got the car today and it only had 16 miles on it and 10 of those miles are what we put on it during the test drive. So we are proud parents of a 2006 Toyota Matrix XR. No more renting cars and now it going to be hard work not too be lazy and drive everywhere. Here are some pictures of our car. Oh if you notice in the pictures too that it's sunny out. If it doesn't rain tonight than it will be 24 hours of no rain for us!!!!!!!

We are finally growing up

Well the time has come where Tom and I can't pretend to be young anymore. Yes you heard me right we have to grow up. It is time to finally get a car.....I am feeling so old. But hey it's exciting to buy a car, I am just not thinking of the money that we have to spend on it. Tight budget for the next few yrs :(. But we are getting a car!!!! So we're pretty sure on the car we want and we are going to test drive the Toyota Matrix tomorrow morning. We need a hatchback for my massage table and this is the best in our price range and for gas/miles. We had a Vibe for the first nine months that we were down here, provided by Tom's company, but they took it back when we decided to transfer down to this location for good. The Vibe and the Matrix are basically the same car, the engine is shared by both, but Pontiac and Toyota designed the features a little different and there were something about the Vibe we didn't like....Like if you put down the drivers sun visor it would hit the rearview mirror and I don't know I like to be able to see in front of me and behind while a drive. The Matrix isn't suppose to have that design feature. So either the end of this month or next month Tom and I will be the new owners of a 2006 Toyota Matrix!!!! Now we just have to try and not abuse the fact that we have a car or all the exercising we do now is going to be non-existant. I am crossing my fingers now that we won't get too lazy b/c we walk everywhere and Tom is biking to work, we can't afford it to become lazy. Well I will let you know how the test drive goes and hopefully we find someone that will give us a loan so we can get the car.

I know I am behind

Okay Cari here it goes I know I have been behind in my blogs ;).

Well on Wednesday night Tom took me to the James Blunt concert in San Francisco and I must say I enjoyed myself a lot. His accent I love...he sang some songs that are only released in the UK which was nice. I tried to find them on itunes but they aren't up yet so I going to have to do some digging. Now I know some of you will say that his song Your're Beatuiful is over played but I don't listen to the radio that much so I don't hear it unless I am playing it, so I must say I still like the song as well as his other 11 I think that are on the cd. So over all it was a good evening in the city. We caught the last train out of the city at 12:01 am and got home at 1:30am so I was tired the next day. But glad we went b/c it was definitely a change in our routine. Tom also bought tickets for Nine inch nails for this summer or early fall not sure of the date yet. But that one is here in Mountain View so the travel won't be that bad. I will let you know how that goes, Tom's really excited for this one....I wonder why...hahaha

Headache

Well the last time I looked at the clock last night or early morning, which ever you prefer to call it was after 4 am. At 7 am my eyes opened and I tried to go back to sleep, however I fail to do so. I decided to get up and showered at 8: 30 am. My head is pounding so hard that it's making me feel sick to my stomach, and it is the most crappiest day outside which is not surprising because the news the other day said we've had more rain than Seattle in the month of March and that we only had 6 complete days that were dry in March. Well I must say that April is not looking much better. I am so tired of rain, I think that this is worst than the snow we get back home, when you are wishing it would finally stop. Why you my ask me because if you go out in this weather it's cold rain and you get soaked and everything is soaked, where as you can still walk in the snow mind you that you are freezing off your butt but at least you aren't soak to the bone unless you decide to play in it with out your snow gear on but than you are having fun while getting soaked. I do not enjoy walking in this rain at all!!!!!

Can't sleep

Well it is 1:44 am pacific time and I am wide awake. It really suck when this happens because all I want to do is go to sleep in my bed and have good dreams. However instead I am up and not knowing when my body will say it time to shut down for the night. Now some of you would say it's not a big probably because if you were me you would have a nap during the day....but I am not a nap'er at all. In fact I have never been one to nap or sleep in unless you say 9 am is sleeping in because that is the latest that I can sleep in once in a blue moon. Because if I sleep in till 9 am or by chance a little later I wake up with the biggest headache you have ever felt without it being a migraine. Now I know I am not the only one who has trouble sleeping because a lot of people claim they can't sleep. So I don't understand it, if there are so many of us that can't sleep at night than why don't they have better TV shows on at night. The TV sucks in the early morning hours. Therefore I will go and make myself a hot chocolate and put in a movie that I have watched a thousands times and know off by heart in the hope that I start to get drowsy. You might ask why hot chocolate and I can't really tell you why, it might be that people always said warm milk but I can't drink just warm milk. My mom and me always do hot chocolate. That reminds me of one of the best times I had at home with my mom, it was the night before my wedding and I could sleep so I was lying in bed trying when I heard my mom get up and go into the kitchen...where I knew she would be making hot chocolate because she couldn't sleep either....and so we both sat in the kitchen in the early morning drinking our hot chocolate and talk till we thought that we should try to go back to sleep, before it was time to get up and get ready for the wedding. :)

Sooo Funny

Well today I found a site and it made me laugh soo much I can't believe it is really. LOL I am still watching it now. Can you believe they made and animation movie on doggy poo. Yup that is right they did. It's so funny check it out it will brighten your day. There are two trailers on the sight watch them both and I am told you can buy it at amazon. Doggy Poo

Rainy and Cold

Whoever said California was the sunny state must have only visited here a short period of time. It has been raining off and on again for two weeks now, it has the cold and damp feeling that makes you want to cuddle up under the blankets with hot chocolate and never come out today. Even Bella feels it she has been crawling all over me and wanting to sleep on my lap which is making it even harder to get things done, especially when you don't want to do them either.

Flying home single

Hey all you, I just wanted to let you know that I will be flying home on april 12th till the 22nd. Tom won't be able to come with me because he has two work. I am hoping to get to see you all but things are a little busy at home too so I'll keep you posted. Plus I won't have a car so it's hard for me to get to Halifax.
sel

It's going to be an exciting trip home in the fall

Well this years trip home is going to be amazing one. In July one of my sisters and one of Tom's brothers are having babies with their due dates only 5 days apart. As well today Tom and I found out that his brother Dan purposed to his girlfriend Genevieve and are setting their wedding date for sometime in September!!!! This is going to be one crazy trip home but it's going to be one exciting trip too. Babies and a wedding what more could one ask for. So for those who I told that we were coming home in July or August....Well make that September now :) .

YAY, we finally got our last wedding gift purchases

Well today has been a good day but an expensive shopping day. Today after my workout we rented a car (yes everyone we still don't have a car...but I don't want one right now b/c I know I will become lazy and won't walk as much as I do know...Plus renting a car for a day is only 17$ but when we decide to start a family I guess we'll have to get one) So we went to my favorite hardwood furniture store today, to look at Grandfather Rockers. My mom and dad wanted to buy us one for our wedding present but since we were moving there was no sense on buying it just to put it in storage. So she gave us the money which we put away for it. Well now that we won't be moving home anytime soon we went out to go buy one. We got to the store and found the one I wanted as well as a hopechest that is 49 3/8 W x 22D 20 1/2 H(very big!!) with cedar lining (it smells so nice). However these pieces that we bought are unfinished so we bought the stain and I get to stain them too, I can't wait. Now we just have to talk one of Tom's co-workers to help us pick them up and transport them back to our place. I love buying would furniture...I can't wait till we finally buy our own house so that I can have my own wood workshop in it so that I can make my own....but this will be fine for now, I get to do some of the work. After that we picked up two bags of cat food from the vet (expensive) for Bella, a filing cabinet for my client files and our important docs so they can be locked up, and then finally the worst store to take Tom .....costco....He gets in there and wants to buy things like crazy and you have to know your prices b/c not everything is a good deal but even the good deals add up. No more shopping until we move. Once I get my rocker and hopechest home and stained I will post the pictures up.

What a day

Well I woke up really tired and new today was not going to be an easy one. YUP I was right started off with a nice cold shower...No hot water, lovely. Then it's time to fold laundry and head to the gym. Well the gym was brutal, my legs just didn't seem to want to run so after fighting with myself for 40min on the treadmill I finally gave up and stopped....which sucks b/c the minimum that I normally run is in hour and max is two hours. Coming out of the gym I see that it is pouring ran...lovely time to run back to the apartment. I find out that the weather is suppose to continue to rain for the rest of the week. Here is hoping that the day gets better and the weather man is going to be wrong!!!

Pictures from Hawaii

Here are the pictures I promised to put up from our trip to Hawaii.

This is the view of the beach outside our hotel. Tom and I climbed the mountain in the middle of the picture from inside the crater to the outer edge. The crater is actually a dormant volcano. The crater is know as diamond head crater.

This is an African tulip tree.

Sunset on the beach

This is actually just one tree known as a banyan vine tree. Basically roots start growing down like vines from branches and rooting themselves into the ground.

Cheeseburger in Paridise restaurant.

This is a zoomed picture of the view off diamond head crater that Tom and I climbed.

This is another view from diamond head crater, looking towards our hotel.

Night time on the beach looking at the hotels

The Luau

Now we didn't stay at the Hilton but they have huge grounds and anyone can go in and walk around. This is what we found.....Penguins in the Hilton Hotel

Turtles at the Hilton Hotel

The Hilton Hotel even has pink flamingos

A Pineapple growing outside the Dole plantation

They call this the baboon face cliff. Not sure if you can see it but the nose it the farthest point out and the mouth is by the water and the eyes are the next bump up from the long snout.

This is a bell of forgiveness you ring it and you are forgiven,
Tom is ringing the bell

Me ringing the bell

This is a buddhist temple in a Memorial grounds

This is known as the blow hole. There is actually a cave down in the water and when the wave comes in it pushes the water in to the cave and up through a hole in the rocks which they call a chimney and sprays water up into the air.

Me in Hawaii

Us in Hawaii

Us being Silly

Tom in Hawaii

One mad Kitty

Well I must say Bella (our baby) is a really good cat, and very spoiled. She always wants your attention and if she doesn't have it she will try to get into everything she's not supposed to or cry and cry until you tell her to come and sit with you. One thing you have to know is that she doesn't like me being away at all. When we went to Las Vegas for two days she was just as upset as she was with us being away for a week. When I finally get home she cries continuously but for the first two minutes she will try to ignore you. But this doesn't last very long and in no time she won't let me do anything. She won't let me use my laptop b/c she has to be lying on me. She will follow me whereever I go and it's hard to get anything done b/c if I turn my attention to something else she starts crying all over again. However I don't mind b/c it makes me happy that she always wants to sit with me, lie down with me and just always be where I am. The first night home she practically slept on my head. She is such a lap cat and my baby. It will be about a week before she starts to leave me alone for the little time she does on a normal basis.

Back from Hawaii

Well we are finally back to the real world :(, I did not want to come back to California at all. I told Tom that since we live so far from home that we should just move to Hawaii. Somehow I don't think that will happen, but I can keep dreaming.

Well our trip didn't get off to a good start. We managed to miss our flight out to Hawaii, b/c we were at the wrong gate, but thankfully there are five flights a day flying out of San Francisco to Honolulu so we were able to catch the next one out. Had to wait four hours though. But we just laughed it off b/c in the last two years our flights have never worked out and it didn't really matter b/c we were still going to get to Hawaii in the end!!!!!

So our trip was wonderful, a whole week spent together just taking it easy in a beautiful place. It did rain a bit but we made the best of it. Our time on the beach was wonderful, we were either just relaxing or just walking along the length of it. The best of all was when Tom and I hiked up Diamond Head crater which is a dormant volcano. The view from the top of the crater was amazing. We went to a Luau too which was a lot of fun. This trip was just so awesome it is hard to put it in words. I'll post some pictures soon.

WoooHooo

Well the time is finally here!!!!!!! Tom and I leave tomorrow morning and will be in Hawaii at noon time Hawaiian time. I can't wait and can't believe the time has finally come. How am I suppose to sleep tonight....gravol is probably going to have to be taken. That's how mom got me to sleep when I was a small child once, when I was way to excited for Santa Clause and couldn't sleep and I am talking about a 5yr still up at 3am.. Well I got my workout to go to this morning and we haven't even packed yet and I got to clean the apartment b/c we have someone coming in every morning to feed Bella....I am so glad she is not a cat who will eat all her food in one sitting or she would be soo hungry by night time. We are a little sad that we have to leave her behind.... she is such a good lap cat. She is going to be soo mad at us but I keep telling her it's better than leaving her in a kennel for a week. Here is hoping she'll be alright. Well got to run soooooo much to do and less than 24 hours we'll be on the plane.
Till next time...

One Week To Go

One week to go and this time next week Tom and I will be on a flight to Hawaii, I can't wait!!! I only hope that we don't take the rain that we are having here with us. It has been raining for 3 days now and the forecast says it will be raining till Saturday, ugh. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii, and well since tom and I weren't able to go on a honeymoon after we got married this is going to be our honeymoon!!!!! I can't wait just to sit back and relax on the beach in the sun, this will be our first ever vacation that Tom and I will be on that we won't come back from our vacation needing a vacation. All our other vacation are wonderful but we are always on the go and by the end of it we are so tired, this vacation is just what we need.

Well besides that I can't wait for April to come.....Mel and Pete will be coming for a visit!!!! They will be our third group of visitors that we have had down here!!!

Well got to run and decide what to make for dinner.
Till next time

The Tango

Well Tom and I have had 5 dance classes so far. They are a lot of fun but sometimes we can get a little frustrated when we can't seem to get the steps right. These beginner classes are a lot of fun but I think next time we will take just a class that offers one or two dances so that we can really practice the dances that we are trying to learn. It is easy to forget the steps from week to week. So far our 5th dance class was one of the best for us. The tango is definitely our best dance, it's a lot of fun. I would recommend all couples who like to dance or try new things to try a beginner dance class. LET'S TANGO

Not moving till the end of May and Finally a VACATION COMING UP!!!

Well things have been moving slowly lately and I am still trying to find work but have run into a couple of obstacles along the way. I was hoping to be working soon but only time will tell. With the frustrations of trying to find a job, an apartment and everything else that life throws at you, can leave you really wanting to just go away for a while. Well on Saturday we extended our lease till the end of May where we are living with a nice rent decrease, which is really nice. I hope they keep putting off tearing down this complex because as of now we have the lowest rent for a two bedroom apartment in the city and it's a nice complex!! Well in the end we both felt that we need a vacation and said to hell with it....You only live once and we will worry about bills later. So last night Tom surprised me with a Trip to Hawaii for a week in March. I can't believe we are going!!! He's a silly little bugger and so funny because he was going to surprise me on valentine's day with the trip but if you know tom he can't keep any secrets from me so he came running right away as soon as he booked the trip to tell me. He makes me smile :).

Dance Class

Well we have had three classes at our Ballroom and Latin dance class. I must say that it's a lot of fun but we aren't the greatest dances that we like to believe we are when we have had a few drinks. So far we have learned the Fox trot, basic swing, and the famous hip hop two step, and next week is salsa. Tom and I laugh a lot and have trouble with the turning but in the end we have a great time . I think we are going to have to take this class or ones like it over and over again before we can master the art of dancing. Or if all else fails, we can always go back to few drinks where nothing matters and we dance great hahaha.

Moving time is almost here :(

Well less than a month and I have to start packing up the apartment. One of the most hated things for me is packing and unpacking, I do not find any joy in this at all. Not only do we have to start packing soon but we don't even have a place to move to yet. We have two months before our lease is up and we can't even start looking till Feb 1. for a place. Now most places down here will not show an apartment till the tenants are moved out and they have cleaned the place, which sucks b/c that means it will be after Feb 1 when we finally get to look at places. Now everyone in Canada think the bigger cities are more expensive for rent. We use to think the same. However after moving down here to Silicon Valley, it makes Canada look like a joke. You can't get a 2br house for less than 565, 000.00 and rents are a pretty penny too. Now to give you an idea, monthly rent for our 2bd apartment is pretty well triple my sister's mortgage + property tax, in NS. Makes me feel so great let me tell you. Well there are lots of apartments down here but if you own a pet like we do it limits your choices big time and the rent at these places are a lot higher than places that don't allow pets. Now I understand pet deposits, that is not a problem but what the hell is the pet rent, which you have to pay for each month so that makes your rent even more. Got to love the Americans down here. Oh well not much we can do until the day we move back, which is not anytime soon.

Canadian commercials

Well living in the USA we don't get to watch much Canadian TV. However we have Center Ice to watch all the hockey games b/c our part of the USA doesn't really care about hockey. Well during the holiday season I had a favorite commercial made by Telus. It would make me laugh so much. Not sure if it was do to the voice or what it was. However I don't have a link for the actually commercial but I do have one for the song. So here it is

Hippo song
One thing if you don't know this commercial is that it is sung by a hippo too.

Well till next time.

Las Vegas and San Francisco

Trevor and Dad playing an old baseball carnival game

Fountain show at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas

In the corner of the boat is only some of the run off water that soaked dad

Us walking in San Francisco

Part of the Paris Casino in Las Vegas

Alcatraz

A boat trip we will never forget.

This is the aftermath and trevor tried to get a picture of us laughing and a soaked dad but we kept moving on him.


Well this past weekend Dad Flynn and Trevor came to Las Vegas for Trevor's work and we drove down to see them and brought them back with us for two days. It was a lot of driving but well worth it. On their last full day with us, we took them in to San Francisco for the afternoon. We did the trolley ride and a boat tour around alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge. During this ride some big cargo ships came through and caused some big wakes. We were on a smaller boat so they had to slow down and ride out the wakes. They warned us to hold on. During this everyone was holding on tight. We were all on the side of the boat. Dad was near the front than it was me by the captain's cabin, Tom was behind me and then it was Trevor. As we watched the wakes come towards us and we were on the first biggest wake of the two the boat went high up on the first real big one and than started heading down towards the second and biggest of them all. Now if you have been on a boat before now you know that the when it comes down off a wake it is going to crash in to the second one and cause a big splash. However some might not know how big of a splash it can cause and Dad was just one of these people. Because before he knew it, he was soaked from the knee down. however when all this was happening the three of us were watching him and well let me tell you it was the funniest thing I have seen in a while. The color in Dad's face drained completely and he was gripping the rail so hard that I thought the there would be a imprint of his grip in the metal rail for sure.

Another Year

Well I can't believe that another yr has gone by. We have been living in California for more than a year now. It is amazing how fast time flys. Well life is quiet and slow which isn't a bad thing here for us however it is different from the busier life I had when I was living in Ottawa. Here is hoping for a wonderful 2006.