You Came In With The Breeze On Sunday Morning

Sunday morning we ate sourdough toast at Boudin (my new happy place) and then drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and away from San Francisco. Spending less than 24 hours in San Francisco for our first visit to the city was ridiculous. We will definitely visit again.

Many hours in the Charger ensued. Many, many hours. My head was so fried that at one point I forgot that I was driving an automatic and I stomped on the brake pedal with my left foot. You know, to hit the clutch so I could shift. I was pulling out of a gas station so I was going very slowly. It could have been worse; I could have stomped on the brake pedal while on the highway or something. I conceded defeat and gave up the drivers' seat after that.

Finally we hit the redwoods. Out of everything on the trip, I was most looking forward to seeing the redwoods. We didn't get to spend much time there but we had enough time to drive through the hollow tree and feed crackers to a cranky goose and eat hot dogs cooked by a lady who looked as though she would stab someone with her bbq fork if she had to answer one more question about trees.

It's so thick! (that's what she said)

Come To The City On A Saturday Night

Saturday morning we headed to the beach. The manager at our hotel told us that cars were allowed on the beach and for some reason, driving on a beach seemed like a cool idea. And it was, right up until Shawn veered off the beaten track and we ended up stuck in soft sand. Things looked grim for a few minutes until the laughing started. Em jumped behind the wheel and the boys and I got out to push. It took a few tries but we managed to get the car back onto the packed sand.

We left Grover Beach and headed for San Francisco. We were making good time until we ran into horrific traffic (courtesy of a Fleet Week / Blue Angels / 49ers combo.) It was at this point with our hotel in sight, as it took minutes to move inches, after we'd been stuck in the car for hours, as our bladders simultaneously threatened to burst, that we had the first meltdown of the road trip.

The meltdown blew over as soon as we saw the snugly, stinky sea lions (the ones cuddling in the lower left side of the photo are my favourite.)


After the sea lions, we made out way over to Pier 33 to catch our boat out to Alcatraz.

The setting sun and fog combined to give everything an eerie glow as we sailed across the bay.

By the time we reached Alcatraz, it was dark and very spooky.

It felt like we were walking through a movie set. It was difficult to reconcile in my mind that this was a real place where real people lived.

We stood on a cliff as our tour guide told us stories of convicts desperate enough to try to escape Alcatraz by swimming to freedom and we tried to find some relief from the icy wind whipping around us.

Looking out across the dark water at the sparkling lights of San Francisco is something I will never forget.

Friday Night Last Orders At The Pub

Friday we awoke from our steak coma bright and early so we would make it to Magic Mountain when the gates opened. Something you should know about me: I'm not a huge fan of roller coasters. Something you should know about the three other road trippers: they are roller coaster junkies.

this photo makes me clenchy (though I did manage to ride this coaster)

I was determined to keep up with the junkies so I spent pretty much all of Friday in a state of fear/hysteria/shock/exhilaration. Roller coasters are fun, I'll admit it. The Magic Mountain roller coasters? Are over the top.

Example A:
The Goliath. Hits speeds of 85 mph, 255 feet tall, 61-degree drop, zero-gravity floating hills and drops. A twenty-five storey building would fit under the rise of Goliath.

I rode it twice

The park was not busy at all which meant that we didn't wait for long to ride each coaster. All day long, coaster after coaster after coaster. Which resulted in this:

Shortly after this photo was taken, I puked my guts out. Fun times. I then ate a churro and a frozen lemonade and went on more roller coasters (I was trying to keep up with my hardcore roller coaster junkie husband.)

We stayed at the park for ten hours. Ten hours! I was jelly by the end of the night.

Insisting That The World Keep Turning Our Way And Our Way Is On The Road Again

After five amazing days on the road, we stumbled into bed (our own bed! in our own home! with all of our stuff!) at 3am this morning. I was up four short hours later to go to work. Needless to say, my brain is fuzzy. The road trip was amazing, peeps, and I hope to be able to recap just how awesome it was. That recap will not be today. Today I will drink a lot of coffee and dream of my pyjamas. And puppies! We pick the puppies up tonight and I'm more than a little excited. I missed my stinky pups more than I thought I would (while watching the sea lions at Pier 39, I got a little misty-eyed. And tried to convince Shawn that we should bring one home for the pups to cuddle. He vetoed.)

Just Beat It Beat It Beat It Beat It No One Wants To Be Defeated - Take 9

Friday Faff: Birthdays and Burgers and Beets Edition

* * * * *

So, uhh, this is awkward. It turns out that Wolfgang's birthday isn't until next Tuesday. Yet another reason why I should stick to fur-babies.

* * * * *

Thank you for all your road trip suggestions! I am kind of ridiculously excited to eat at In-n-Out Burger. Shawn and I ate dinner at Fatburger the night we got engaged. We served burgers at our wedding. We are burger people, is what I'm saying. All the other road trip stuff is great too, don't get me wrong, but what I'm really looking forward to is the food. I'm going to shop at Trader Joe's! I'm going to drink lemonade at Sonic!! I am lame, I know.

* * * * *

So I ate my stupid September beets. Enough people suggested pickled beets that I figured they must be something special. Pickled beets are ... fine. The vinegar taste was quite strong, which masked the taste of the beets nicely. The problem was the cleanliness (and my craziness.) I bought a jar of pickled whole baby beets, which I assumed would be peeled. They were not peeled. I could see beet skin on some of the beets and they all had the top rooty bit attached. It was too much for me to handle so I used a paring knife to peel off the entire outer skin. I ended up with tiny little beet nuggets:


I served the beets on a salad, with a side of barbecued chicken and grilled zucchini. Who's in denial that summer is over? Not I.

* * * * *

Have a great weekend, peeps!

The Lazy Sunbathers The Sun Burns Through To The Planet's Core And It Isn't Enough They Want More

You guys ... you guys! I bring on the crazy and you all bring out the lovely and here I am, a little verklempt. Thanks for talking me off yet another bloggy ledge. Same time, same place, next month?

I'm having a motherfucker of a day so I am unable to faff about for Friday Faff but let me point you in the direction of awesomeness:

Amanda wants to know: What's your bacon number? (mine is 4)

Lemon Gloria introduces baby Jordan.

Georgia makes me crave bread.

Right. In five hours I will be arriving in my favourite place in BC for three glorious days of sunshine, excessive Pimm's consumption, and hopefully a few bocce tournaments. I am beyond excited. I haven't peed from excitement yet but clearly that is a possibility.

Have a great weekend, lovelies!

I Woke Up In A Strange Place Music So Loud That I Spilled All My Beer

Gastown has never been a place we considered moving to. It's too far from my friends in the West End and Shawn's friends in Yaletown. It's right on the edge of where downtown becomes very seedy and not particularly safe.

Shawn spent the weekend in a studio in Gastown and came home raving about the heritage buildings and cobblestone streets. His enthusiasm is infectious and my dreams of gardens and space for the puppies have turned to dreams of brick walls and converted lofts and exposed beams. Yes, in two days my dreams have changed.

Lisa commented on Monday's post, calling my volte-face "caprice." I like that. It sounds so much better than "fickle" or "flighty" or "fucking impossible to please, Hillary, make up your damn mind already."

Ahem.

There is a quote by Horace that resonates with me. "Romae rus optas, absentem rusticus urbem tollis ad astra levis" loosely translated as: In Rome you long for the country, in the country you laud the distant city to the stars.

I grew up in the suburbs and couldn't wait to move to the city. I lived in the city and craved the countryside. I lived in England and ached for Vancouver. I live in BC and I long for England. It's frustrating for those who have to put up with me, yes, but it is even more frustrating to be the one who feels this way. It's not about wanting more or never being satisfied. It's about wanting to feel settled. Wanting to feel like I am home.

Which is a bit silly, right? I know that a perfect location does not equal a perfect home or a settled home or settled mind. But there is still a small part of me that hopes it does.

Carbon's Anniversary The Parting Of The Sensory - 10 & 11

Dear Shawn,

Happy 10th & 11th Monthiversary!

I skipped writing a 10th monthiversary post; not because I wanted to punch you in the ear but because things were going so well that I didn't want to jinx it.

I guess it's pretty easy to be married to someone when you're both in a tropical resort; there are no arguments over whose turn it is to cook or clean because it's all done for you; and someone leaves a chocolate on your pillow every night. (Note to future self: if times get tough, head to the Caribbean!)

While we were in Punta Cana, we kept hearing about the amazing sunrises. I really wanted to see one but we couldn't seem to pull ourselves out of our alcohol-induced sleep early enough. Until our last morning, when you set up a wake-up call for 5:30 and another for 5:45 and then forced me out of bed. Though it made me a bit stabby initially, I really appreciated the gesture. We sat on the deserted beach and watched the sun rise behind the shipwreck and my heart just about burst with shmoopiness.


And then we came home and returned to our daily routine. Less shmoopy, more normal (not that normal is a bad thing, it's just not as ... fun.)

We sold both of our cars and bought one to share. I was worried that sharing a car with you would be disastrous but in the last month having only one car has caused friction just once. We're doing a good job of compromising and I have to say, I'm proud of us. We're pulling off this whole grown-up thing quite well (or we're doing a good job of pretending to be grown-ups. Whatever.)

I can't believe I've been your wife for almost a year.

Love you, dude.

The Boat Engine Makes Noise

Yesterday I:

Got to work to find my office building's air conditioning unit had fried itself over the weekend. Our thermostat said it was 27 degrees (Celsius) in our office (Dear Americans, 27 degrees Celsius = 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Love Hillary.) I am constantly cold at work, so even during the summer months I dress like I'm going skiing. I layer like you've never seen anyone layer before. I'm fairly certain that yesterday was the first time my coworkers had seen my bare arms. The maintenance guy managed to get things working again after lunch but the air was still dead and warm and sticky when I left work last night.

Gave Wolfgang a bath and tried to comb all the snarls out of his coat. We were both extremely stressed and upset by the time I gave up. I decided to give him a treat to make up for it so I took him over to the treat cupboard. We keep all the puppy stuff together in one bin so I put the puppy shampoo and comb away while I was there. I guess I wasn't moving fast enough for Wolfgang though, because he looked me straight in the face and peed right in front of the treat cupboard. Needless to say, Wolfgang did not receive his post-bath treat.

This morning I:

Woke up three minutes before I usually leave for work.

Forgot my umbrella and was soaked to the bone by the time I got to my office.

Froze my ass off when I finally got to work because the property manager kept the air conditioning running full tilt all night. My thermostat said it was 16 degrees.

Stabby does not even begin to describe how I feel today.

To make myself feel better, I was looking through my holiday photos and I realized that I still haven't done a recap. I'm awesome like that. So here is a mini-recap. A one-day recap. Tuesday. The day of the Tropical Storm excursion.

This is me and Shawn on the bus, headed to the Tropical Storm. We look happy and relaxed but really, my head had just melted minutes before. We had been told to be in the lobby for 7:50 so we assumed the bus would be leaving at 8:00. We arrived at 7:53 just in time to watch the bus pull out of the resort. Luckily the concierge was a rockstar and managed to get the bus to come back and pick us up.

I have no idea what this is. It looks like a bunch of palm trees with no tops. I took the picture out the bus window as we drove past.

We all piled onto the sailboat and headed out to sea. It was a beautiful day, the crew was hilarious, the rum flowed freely and over half the sailboat occupants were people from our group. It made for an awesome excursion.

We headed up the coastline to get a look at all the different resorts. We ended up right outside of our resort, to get a closer look at the Astron Shipwreck.

From there we sailed out to a coral reef for some snorkeling. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of the ocean. I feel like we should leave the ocean alone and the ocean will leave us alone. You don't see any sharks coming up on land to mess with us so why tempt fate by heading into shark territory? It makes sense. Just go with it. Anyway, as I mentioned above, the rum was flowing freely. And so I snorkeled. I lasted for maybe five minutes before I hit some coral and convinced myself that I was about to be eaten by sharks (SHARKS SMELL BLOOD. Fact.) So I headed back to the boat and took pictures of Shawn and R.

Shawn is on the left and R is on the right. Sorry the photo sucks. I didn't want to risk dropping my DSLR in the ocean so I just took my little point and shoot camera on the boat.

After the snorkeling, we sailed to a beach with the world's largest inflatable water slide. How random is that? Random. Very random. It was all fun and games until someone (me. sigh.) lost their bikini bottoms.

After I collected my bikini bottoms (my dignity was nowhere to be found) we sailed onto a natural pool for some lunch and a floating bar. By this point, we had been in the sun for 6 hours. We had also been drinking for 6 hours. Lunch - warm (unintentionally warm) pasta salad, dried bread and unidentifiable luncheon meats - has never tasted so good. After that we sailed back to our starting point and piled back on the bus; drunk, sunburned and exhausted. For me, it was the most fun day of the trip. Definitely a day to remember (she says as she looks out her window at the Vancouver rain and shakes her fist.)

And On The Streets They Reek Of Tropical Charms

This week has been a struggle to get back into our routine. Our work routine (ugh - work is kicking my ass right now.) Our puppy routine (Wolfgang got a very stern talking to last night about how peeing inside is unacceptable. He then proceeded to, um, pee inside. I love him.) Our workout routine (okay I say "our" but really I mean "Shawn's." Don't judge me.) It has been difficult to get out of the holiday mindset. I sit in front of a computer all day, fluorescent lights frying my eyes, instead of sitting on the beach all day, soaking up the sun. I may be suffering from the post-holiday blues.

So I will postpone my holiday recap a little longer and leave you with a few photos:

Our resort was gorgeous.

The grounds were immaculate.

There were palm trees everywhere.

I love palm trees.

When you go somewhere with white sandy beaches and turquoise water, it's pretty much mandatory to take a photo like this (hey I don't make the rules, I just follow them.)

And if you're Shawn, it's mandatory to mock your wife by taking your version of a sandy feet photo.

It's Paradise Here Where The Sun Meets The Sea

We're home. The resort was beautiful. We had an awesome time. My brain is tired. I'd write more but there are some cuddly puppies demanding my attention. 

They Left Us Alone In The Maelstrom As You Can See We're All Clearly Alive

We found out Friday night that the wedding is back on and we leave for the Dominican Republic this weekend. The news set off a celebration from Shawn and his brother and a maelstrom of activity from yours truly.

On one hand I was very pleased to know that in a week I would be in the sun, my most taxing decision being which tropical cocktail to enjoy next. On the other hand, I was fretting about everything that needed to be done before we left. Stuff that I had put on the back burner when the Mexican holiday was cancelled: picking up a new box of contacts, getting my birth control prescription renewed, changing Canadian money into US dollars. Important things that can't be put off until we return.

And now it's Tuesday and I have yet to complete any of my Imperative Tasks. Instead of checking items off my list, I keep adding to it: arrange transportation to the airport now that the flight time has changed and we need to be at the airport at 4am; buy dog food so the pups don't starve while we're away; host Mother's Day dinner because if we don't celebrate Mother's Day before we leave, the next time our entire family can be together is mid June.

On top of all that, I woke up this morning feeling like shite. I think I have a bladder infection. I was planning to go to the walk-in clinic today anyway (birth control prescription) so I'll hopefully be able to get some antibiotics to clear it up. I just don't want to deal with it.

I really don't mean to sound so complainy. I'm ridiculously excited to have a week off work. I went out and bought five new books this weekend to take with me (I have my priorities straight, ha.) I am loading up my ipod with various summer-fun-time playlists. I have stopped fretting about the size of my thighs (though I'm pretty sure the fretting will restart when I actually have to be in a bikini.) The next few days will be madness but after that? Bliss. Pure sunshiney bliss.

Just Beat It Beat It Beat It Beat It No One Wants To Be Defeated - Take 4

Wednesday Ramblings by Hillary

This is the recipe I used to make the brownies in Monday's post.

I should note that the photo I used is not representative of the true size of the brownies. I probably got about 60 brownies out of the 9"x13" pan; they were so rich that you could really only eat a small piece at a time or you'd feel ill.

* * * * *

April's beets squeaked in just under the wire.


I took three beets, two sweet potatoes, one rutabaga, one red onion; peeled them and chopped them, tossed them in olive oil, added some minced garlic and salt and pepper and then roasted them for about an hour.

I didn't hate these beets, mainly because I chopped them so small that each mouthful contained other vegetables.

Let the record show that I still do not love beets, I just seem to have found a non-vomitous form.

* * * * *

To assuage my guilt over complaining about the Mexican wedding, I made the bride and groom some Smarties cookies. Because really, what else can you do when your wedding is cancelled, besides eat sugar and chocolate?

The good news is that the wedding is potentially back on, if the travel agency can find a resort in Cuba or the Dominican Republic that can accommodate the group. We'll know in the next few days. I am feeling very fretty about not knowing where we're going (because how can I make a plan if I don't know where we'll be?) but I'm trying to relax. I'm trying to quiet the Type A part of my personality (the, uh, main part of my personality) and focus on the fact that this is about the bride and groom and their happiness.

* * * * *

Chicago is my new boyfriend, after knocking Calgary out of the playoffs. I'll have to break up with Chicago tomorrow when game 1 of the Vancouver/Chicago series starts but for now we're quite happy with each other.

* * * * *

There is some crazy stuff going on at work that I can't write about but it's taking up all my mental energy. Hence the crappy rambling post. Sorry peeps, I'll try harder next time.

Happy Hump Day!

Put On Your Dancing Shoes You Sexy Little Swine

Hey remember that time I was all whiny and annoying about having to go on a fabulous trip to Mexico?

Our trip has been cancelled and I am officially the biggest arsehole for complaining about it in the first place.

We were due to leave in eleven days. The bride and groom found out eleven days before their wedding that it has been cancelled for reasons beyond their control. I guess I should just be glad that they don't read my blog.

I'll just go hang my head in shame now.

I Have Been Ungrateful I've Been Unwise Restless From The Cradle Now I Realize It's So Hard To See The Rainbow Through Glasses Dark As These

Shawn and I didn't go on a honeymoon after our wedding last summer. There were a few contributing factors: we had a few out-of-town guests who we wanted to spend time with after the wedding (most notably, Shawn's dad and one of his oldest friends); close friends of ours were married four days after us and we wanted to attend their wedding; and after going to Mexico for Shawn's 30th birthday in May, we didn't have enough vacation time remaining to be able to go on the awesome Ireland/England honeymoon trip we dreamed of. The plan was that we would take our honeymoon in the spring of 2009. Which would be now.

Our Ireland /England honeymoon has been delayed yet again, most likely until mid-2010. I'm trying very hard not to be disappointed but I can't help it. I haven't been back to England since May 2007 and I miss it. I miss my friends. I miss London. I miss sitting in the pub all afternoon. I miss Jaffa Cakes and Twiglets and baked beans done right.

I'm trying hard to quiet my discontent. Our trip has been delayed because we're going to Mexico for Shawn's friends' wedding. I should be flattered that we've been asked to join them. I should be excited to spend a week in the sun with a great group of people. I shouldn't feel sad or, even worse, resentful. Don't get me wrong, I am happy and grateful that our financial situation is stable enough that we're able to take any holiday at all. I'm just feeling a bit blue because I feel like our honeymoon will never happen. I'm afraid that life will continue to get in the way.

In three weeks I will be laying in the sun. I won't have anything to worry about (besides the daily puppy fretting I am sure to do.) I know I am going to have a good time. I just wish I didn't sound like I am trying to convince myself.

There's No Art In A Broken Head All The Kids Are Staying Fat

We went to Montreal a month ago and I'm just getting around to posting about it now. I'm really efficient, can't you tell?

Our flight left Vancouver at 11pm and got to Montreal at 7:30am. It was horrible. Neither of us slept much during the flight so we were pretty wrecked when we arrived. Shawn's dad picked us up from the airport and took us straight to his house. His gorgeous house.


His gorgeous house that has a pond (and an Inukshuk!) in the back yard.


When we woke up, we spent some time with Shawn's dad's sweet pup, Angel.


Shawn's cousin picked us up and took us into Montreal for a night of mayhem. We started drinking around 7pm. We started off at his cousin's house as more cousins joined the mix. We then headed to the Irish Embassy for more beverages. After sitting for far too long, we decided to head to a club to do some dancing. I can't remember what the club was called but they played awesome music all night. It helped that Shawn's cousin went to school with the manager so we spent the night drinking in the VIP area. We left the club at 3 and began our quest for poutine.


Victory was ours.



We felt a bit rough the next day but there was no time to recuperate. Shawn's cousin drove us through old Montreal so we could take in the sights.




We made our way back to Shawn's dad's house by noon, ready for a much-needed nap. Except that Shawn's dad had invited his family over for a bbq. I was exhausted but I had such a good time. It was sunny and warm but not too humid. The neighbour manned the bbq all day and we had a steady stream of burgers and hotdogs and grillades, oh the grillades. I had never heard of grillades before. To be honest, I couldn't even tell you what it is now. It was some form of meat, cut in long strips, seasoned and cooked on the bbq. It was bacon-esque but not crispy. It kind of melted in your mouth.

The boys took a tour of the property while the ladies lounged in the sun. You couldn't tear me away from the grillades.



Before we left on Monday, Shawn's dad took us out for poutine.


Please note the look of bliss on Shawn's face.


I'm glad we went to Montreal to see Shawn's family but I'm glad we didn't stay for longer than 3 days. I ate so much while we were there that if we'd stayed for longer, I would have gained 30 lbs.

Carbon's Anniversary The Parting Of The Sensory - 2

Dear Shawn,

Happy 2 Monthiversary. Life is finally returning to normal (whatever that is) at home. The wedding feels like it was ages ago. People keep asking us how married life is. I feel like such a failure when I tell them it's the same. I feel like I'm supposed to say it's fabulous or it's amazing or it's better than I ever thought it could be. Don't get me wrong - being married to you is awesome. It's also the same. There are good things and bad things and at the end of the day the good outweighs the bad and I'm happy. Being married is challenging but (so far) no more challenging that just being in a relationship with you was. I'm happy that I found out about the majority of your quirks before we got married. The sock thing would have been a shock to my system if I was just finding out about it now. I honestly don't understand why you can't put your socks in the laundry basket every night but you don't understand why I love bands like the Arctic Monkeys and the Kooks so hey, we're even. I guess that's a big part of choosing to be together - not understanding wtf the other person is doing but loving them despite it.

We made our first grown-up purchase a few weeks ago. Ok, our condo was our first grown-up purchase but this was a close second. We bought a new kitchen table and couch. When we first started looking, we were looking at temporary-quality furniture. I'm glad we decided to go with the higher quality stuff. It makes me happy to think that we own furniture that will come with us when we move. If we can ever afford to move again. We don't actually have our kitchen table yet but I'm hoping it will show up before Thanksgiving.

This last month has been a bit tense for us. Purchasing the table made us both a bit cranky (talk about a lesson in compromise - our taste in furniture could not be further apart. Everything you liked was metal and glass and everything I liked was wooden and too "old looking.") We're also having a bit of difficulty planning our honeymoon (I still want to go to Ireland, you want to combine our honeymoon with your friend's wedding in Mexico. Seriously. Am I the only one who thinks that it's not a honeymoon if it includes family members?) Life is good though, even though you've made my head melt multiples times. You've also made my heart melt multiple times so I'd say we're coming out on top.


Love you, dude.

PS: Ireland is so much better than Mexico for a multitude of reasons, including - but not limited to - the beer and leprechauns. Think about it.