posted by: Dee
August 31, 2010 - 5:13 pm

For those of you keeping up on our where-abouts you should fully know it’s been 4 months since we made the last leg of our journey to home. During this time I’m sure you also all noticed our blog entries died down to pretty much a sudden stop. Adjusting back to the real world has been some awesome fun, lots more work then we are used to, busy busy busy, and we can’t forget about the gambit of emotions to go along with all that!

Luckily we did not jump back into the work force right away and planned to have 2 months of seeing friends and family, espcially since we did not have a home yet. Our condo still had renters in it until July 1st. So, we stayed mostly with my parents, with sleep-over extended visits to various friends houses here and there.

The start to life back in Canada was a short visit to Calgary. Our great friends Steve and Karen who traveled with us for 2 months through Europe were great hosts for these couple of days and made us one of the best dinners we had in a long ass time. We love steak, especially Triple A Alberta Beef. You’ve never have beef until you have eaten this. Trust us! We tried steak all over the world and nothing came remotely close to Alberta Beef. Our friends showed up Gordon Ramsay in their own backyard. No fancy gourmet kitchen or posh restaurant with a ridiculous priced menu. Take that Gordon!

We then flew home to Vancouver filled with extremely happy family/friends to see our return. Welcome home BBQ’s, parties, simple get togethers, outings and repeat. We truly felt missed and were quite thankful of my parents letting us live with them until we got our condo back.

However, on top of all this hub-bub, we really had a hard time getting out of bed and doing anything during the day. We were still quite used to sleeping in and then relaxing all day on a beach or in a pool. Plus, I’m sure we had a large dose of jet lag in our systems as well.

May long weekend we drove out to Salmo B.C to help PK Sound with the Village stage tear down at Shambhala. Demolish parts of the stage and clean up the forest during the day and drink with friends around the giant bon fire at night.

After May long we drove back to Calgary for a couple weeks to do some much needed renovations on our loft in order to get a new renter for July 1st. New paint, new carpet, replace some light fixtures, replace the bathroom door, hang up curtains, clean it up, list it, and interview possible renters. When I look back at the work we did it doesn’t sound like much. But, like most renovations things never go as planned and ended up being quite the headache. It sure felt good once it was completed! I wanted to move back in after pouring my heart and soul into it. It looks SO good and in result rented quite easily. Unfortunately we were so down to the last minute we completely forgot to take after photos!! =(

Another highlight for us was participating in our first scavenger hunt with Alex and Heather. We named our team Gang Green, wore all green clothing, and decorated my car for some extra bonus point team flair and scavenged the city for items and photos. It was a blast and we won second place!! Can not wait to do it again next year. Much thanks to Mike Awesome for hosting this!!

Suddenly July long weekend approached us and that meant three things. First, Scott would be going back to work at his old job. The second was one more weekend spent at The Village helping now with the beginnings of the new stage construction. Third, we got to move back into our home! It was a busy week of driving, constructing a stage, moving, unpacking, and Scott adjusting back to the work life.

As great as it actually was to live with my parents for the past two months. We truly have an amazing relationship with them. Which was only made stronger when they both traveled all the way out to Thailand for a month with us. It’s now amazingly great to truly and finally be home.

We still have a ton more stories to share from our travels. Vietnam, Cambodia, and one last week in Thailand are still to come, even some tales from on the road in Canada. Also, coming up are more things to share about our adjustment back home and stories about the music events we have attended. I’m sure Furry Friday will also make a big come back appearance soon enough!

Sorry to have been on such a hiatus. But really… we are not sorry! We’ve been really enjoying life and every moment of being home. Hope your summer was as awesome as ours.

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Categories: Canada, Home Life, Random, Work Life

posted by: Dee
June 10, 2009 - 1:40 pm

Currently feeling quite a range of emotions these last few days. Pretty much you name I probably feel it. Excitement for our adventure ahead, Exhilarated and non-stressed from not working anymore, Sad when I look at my cats and when my friends/family say they are going to miss me, Overwhelmed with making sure everything we need to do before we leave gets done, I even feel a bit nervous and scared. Have never done something like this before… but at the same time feeling very eager to shake things up and experience new things and just live in the moment.

I’m already feeling more alive, more in-tuned with myself, happier, and open minded and we haven’t even left yet!

 

Our final preparations are going well. Just rented out both our Vancouver condo and our Calgary loft all within the same hour. That is really the last major item on our list aside from moving our belongings out of our home. Feels great to have that weight off the shoulders.. and we have plans to move our stuff in 1 week. I already feel liberated just thinking all my possessions will just be in my backpack after that.

Well, I’m feeling like I should get back to packing our home up…

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Categories: Canada, Home Life, Trip Preparations, Work Life

posted by: Dee
May 31, 2009 - 10:30 pm

In the blink of an eye our trip planing frustrations have begun to diminish and we can see the end of this roller coaster ride! Lots of things to report. 

First and foremost: 

We are now showing our condo to potential renters! Yup, that’s right finally we have gotten somewhere with our condo board and being allowed to rent our place out. Well maybe I should rephrase that… due to them doing NOTHING within 3 weeks from our hardship request the Vancouver City Strata act trumps our buildings own strata act and we are legally allowed to rent. Just another example that procrastination gets you no where. No matter who you are. Hopefully we can find a great renter with ease.

Know anyone in Vancouver looking for a swank pad? Check out our rental listing on craigslist!

Second and probably even more exciting:

We have ourselves a departure date!! We get on our first airplane of many for the next year on June 19th. Destination: Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Yah, I know.. not quite over the pond yet… but a friend is getting married and since we are leaving around that time anyways… why not attend? Got ourselves a sale on Westjet and voila! Bonus: we get to see a ton of our friends and Scott’s Dad/Laurie right before we take off. 19 more days to go!!!

#3 in the news list:

This is my last week of work!! Only 5 more days and then I’m off to experience the longest long weekend of my life… (until I retire). Tonight is my last Sunday (for at least a year) thinking about having to wake up and go to work in the morning. I wonder if the week is going to fly by or feel like it’s going in reverse. 

And last but not least:

Our trip preparations are moving along quite well. I’m feeling way less stressed about everything. It’s now becoming more tricky planning our final social events with friends and family… the days are filling up quick! 

Check out our giant to do list. Feels pretty good to see a bunch of things crossed off! 

Here is our new updated list of things we need to do for the next 19 days: (bolded items are most important for this week)

  • Continue to save money
  • Sell remaining items on Craigslist/Ebay
  • Fix Post Author Problem
  • Create email signatures
  • Fix baseboards in closet
  • Detail Scott’s car
  • Sell Scott’s car
  • Get new glasses for Scott
  • Get oil change for K-Rad & Scott’s car
  • Clean K-Rad
  • Rent out Condo and Loft
  • Photocopy all required ID
  • Fill prescriptions
  • Post Calgary Loft Rental
  • Finalize packing list
  • Buy any remaining needed travel gear
  • Get travel insurance
  • Book plane ticket to Europe
  • Plan out out trip itinerary better
  • Research destinations and make info pages to go with
  • Get any Visa’s we need right now -Russian applications sent
  • Unlock iphone
  • Exchange Scott’s ipod
  • Continue to download music and shows
  • Transfer files from Dee’s computer to Scotts
  • Continue to pack
  • Buy some food and litter stock for the cats
  • Cancel newspaper, cellphone, internet, hydro, bank accounts, Scott’s car insurance
  • Re-Direct Mail
  • Eat and drink remaining items in the cupboards/fridge
  • Give any thing we don’t sell to Scott’s mom
  • Move our stuff to Dee’s parents
  • Retouch up any needed paint
  • Clean Condo
  • Change K-Rad insurance to storage
  • Take cats to Carole
  • Pack our bags
  • get on a plane!
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Categories: Canada, Home Life, Trip Preparations, Work Life