Trick or Treatment? Treatment please!

The Spa at the Four Seasons Resort Whistler has some special autumn services starting on Sunday. I'm calling right now to book myself in for a Pumpkin & Orange Nourishing Scrub. I think its important to prepare my skin for fall and winter. Woo hoo

Elsie (my partner in crime) and I may also try and squeeze in a Autumn Spice Pedicure at some point. I think we deserve a little special treatment after all of the work we have put into this conference.

Good morning! The combination of the sun reflecting off of the buildings here in dt Van and the mist rising up off of the harbour has made for an almost mystical appearance this morning. It's quite stunning.

I have just returned from Chambar, an incredible Belgian restaurant here in Van. RR has spoken highly of it many times so it wasn't hard to twist my arm into going tonight for an impromtu welcome dinner to DE, the newest West Coast recruit at BMO.

I started with La Salade de Chevre which could quite possibly be the best salad I have ever had. With crisp onion bits and a blueberry compote it was an incredible mixture of texture and taste. I followed the salad with the Congolaise Moule Frite. The broth for the mussels (cilantro, coconut cream, lime and chilies) was unbelieveable and the accompanying fries and special mayo dipping sauce...well you all know how I feel about fries. Delicious! There was no way I could manage dessert after all of that so I was treated to the scent of DE's piping hot (that's so something my Dad would say) belgian waffle which was enough to satisfy me.

I am very full.

10 days! Did you see that? -->

Tomorrow we are talkin single digits.

I'm getting VERY excited!

Yesterday I participated in the BMO Bank of Montreal Grouse Grind Mountain run. It was NOT fun. On the best of days the Grind warrants respect but come race day it demands it, and I have been humbled. If, and I mean if, I ever decide to do the race again I will certainly put the time in to train for it.
After taking some time to recover from the run we wandered over to check out the Grizzlies. They were no where to be seen when we walked up but then, as if they had been waiting, for us they wandered out to the pond to check out the action.












I rounded out the afternoon with some more beach time. After a quick snack of a bombay wrap from Planet Veg I finished my book and then napped the afternoon a way.

Life is good!

This is how I celebrated the first day of Autumn. Three hours at the beach reading my book (The History of Love) while snacking on cheese & crackers and grapes.




















Welcome Autumn!

Well this explains why I was a little lost watching Greys Anatomy last night, I thought they really had made a bit of a jump from last season to this season. CTV aired episode 2 instead of the season premier.

UPDATE - Its all resolved and I am no longer going to Inuvik

Ahhhh! I came in this morning to find a flight confirmation from Canadian North Airlines for my trip in 2 weeks. Yes...14 days til the adventure begins. Woo hoo, but that's not what this is about. When I checked my flights, as one is supposed to do with a flight confirmation, I noticed that they had changed the times of both of my flights and that I now had a third flight. According to the new schedule there is no way I can make the flight from Norman Wells to Edmonton as my connecting flight from Deline would only have just left. Included now also is a stop in Inuvik, which, while very cool, wasn't part of the itinerary to begin with as it is North and I'm going South!

On phone trying to resolve!

Dan, you will be so proud of me. I've done it, I've actually set myself up on Skype (is one on Skype or does one use skype? I don't really know). Anyways, tonight I made my first calls with it. The first was to TW's answering machine which I'm not sure if he could understand as I was quite excited. Calls to land lines and mobile phones are free until the end of the year so I am hoping to save a lot of $$$. When TW and I spoke later, it was good but it definitely not as good as the phone. The echo and the breaks forced us to need to repeat ourselves many times. I'm not sure if that has to do with the whole land line/internet thing or maybe even the quality of the transmission to the NWT. What ever the challenges, its still really great to be able to talk for free and not have to be watching the clock thinking about how much it is costing us.

Yeah!

I knew I should have written my posting on the Amy Millan show last night. Now the post show high has worn off and I fear I won't be able to clearly articulate how much I enjoyed it

First off let me say that the Richards on Richards venue was perfectly suited for the intimate show she put on. It wasn't a large crowd but it was definitely an engaged one. Amy gave a bit of back ground about quite a few of the the songs and even expressed her surprise, happy surprise at that, that the crowd was embracing her country stuff as much as the rock & roll. In the crowd to support her show was her Stars bandmate, Torquil Campbell who apparently lives in Vancouver (just for the weed). Torquil joined her on stage to perform Calendar Girl (I think...see I should have written this last night). Jenny Whitely provided back up through out the show and together they performed Jenny's Baby I together which was awesome. From Losing You to Pour Me Up Another they were are great. That is all!

I'm off to see Amy Millan play tonight at Richards on Richards...if I make it. I fell asleep after work on the couch for about 45 minutes and I feel like I could just go to bed right now. Yawnnnnn!

Deline in the news today!

Deline, if you haven't checked out my link to the town's website, claims the first official game of ice hockey was played there between Sir John Franklin and the Dene in 1825. Joe Handley, the Premier of the N.W.T., is upset because the current CBC documentary on hockey fails to mention Deline in its coverage of the roots of hockey development in Canada. He has vowed to lobby federal officials this week to officially recognize the town of Deline, N.W.T., as ''the birthplace of hockey in Canada.''

How exciting is all this, and to think I will be there in 17 days!

Friday night I went to the first playoff game for the Whitecaps. We got a great spot in the VIP area at a table right behind the goal. After enjoying some great food and cheap beverages I decided to get up and take a few pictures of the action. The Whitecaps were putting the pressure on Miami whose goal was at our end for that half. Right after I took this picture the Whitecaps scored. Unfortunately I was so caught up in the action that I forgot to take any more pictures.



The Whitecaps won their second game against Miami tonight so they have advanced to the next round of the playoffs. Hopefully I will be able to score some more tickets to the next couple of games. The games are really fun, kind of like The Rock games but outdoors and with a little less violence on the field.

It was a beautiful day on Saturday so I took a walk over to the Granville Island Public Market. What a great time of year for fresh produce. I found some beautiful peaches from the Okanagan. I never knew that peaches could be so big or smell so good. I also picked up some yummy soups from the Stock Market. This week I got a fresh tomato mushroom made from local tomatoes, cilantro and jasmin rice in it. I also got a curried vegetable with coconut, I can't wait to try that one.

I also couldn't resist getting a photo of this guy. He kept giving me the eye.

Colds suck! :(

This Sunday is Global Day for Darfur.

If you are familiar with what happened in Rwanda you will understand why we need to take action now to stop the genocide that is occuring in Darfur. Since 2003, Darfur in Western Sudan has been embroiled in a deadly conflict. Several hundred thousand people have been killed or seriously injured. More than two million people have been displaced and live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in Chad; more than 3.5 million people are reliant on international aid for survival.

The Toronto rally will feature Ret Lt. General/Senator Romeo Dallaire as a key note speaker in addition to Justin Trudeau.

In Vancouver Senator Mobina Jaffer will address the rally. Senator Jaffer was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 2001 as the first Muslim women, first African, she continues to bring issues of human rights and other important issues to her colleagues in the Parliament of Canada

If you can not attend a rally you can still show your support by signing the online petition found at the bottom of the page.

I just met Sully for breakfast at Zen. Sully was most excited when Trevor Linden came in just after us. I think I disappointed him (Sully, not Trevor) as I wasn't star struck. So woo hoo...I guess.

I have updated my posting about our trip to Edmonton with a few photos.

Woo Hoo!

My trip to Deline, NWT to visit TW for Thanksgiving is booked. 24 days and counting, I can hardly contain my excitement. Yeah!

In the interim I will be keeping myself busy organizing a conference in Whistler Sept 30 - Oct 3rd. In addition to some work on the content I get to take care of activities and events. My plans for a round robin soccer tourny were shot down but it looks like I will get a soccer skills competition and a hike up the mountain on the schedule.

Woo hoo

It's good to be home. I took advantage of the beautiful weather yesterday afternoon and joined NB&JB for a hike up Mount Seymour. It was just what I needed after a long flight and days without any serious exercise. After a rocky start (about 750 m up a ski hill littered with serious rocks) we hit the trail and hiked to the second pump in about 2 hours. The view from the summit was stunning. To one side we could see the Burrard Inlet with Kitsilano in the background and the Lions Gate Bridge in the foreground. Looking out the other way we could see the Indian Arm and the mountains to the North. Despite our grumbling about the effort required to make it to the Second Pump it was definitely worth it.

By the way, that isn't a giant sun on the top right hand corner, it would be John's thumb, just too lazy to clean up the picture tonight.

Hello there. I've been rather neglectful of the blog the past 10 days, I apologize. I'm happy to report that my sister's operation went well and that she is on the on the road to recovery. The craniotomy certainly didn't impact her ability to shop once she was mobile. Speaking of recovery, Auntie Jenny is going to need a few days to recover from her duties as nursemaid and nanny. Its quite a change going from my little self centred life where I do exactly as I please to being on 24/7 taking care of two kids, not that I would change it for the world.

Autumn has arrived here in Michigan. The evenings are getting cool and the smell of fall is in the air. I have to say it really is my favourite season to experience coming in, and to top it off there is Thanksgiving (27 days and counting 'til Thanksgiving weekend). What better holiday is there? You get to enjoy the beautiful fall weather, take long walks to enjoy the colours of the season and come home for fresh baked apple pie. I can't wait!