gotta love gmail

So as you know, my computer at home is sick. We think we just need a new hard drive and problem solved. It will suck because I will loose all my info. But $60 for a new Hard drive or $1000 for a new computer. What do you think? Anyway, at home I had all my e-mail set-up in the Thunderbird mail program, which I love because you don't have open up your browser, go to the website and check your e-mail. You jusy open a pogram and they download right it. I use g-mail (google mail) as my main e-mail server and I am just loving it more and more each day. Since my computer has been sick I have been getting my e-mail old fashion way online. But something struck me today. Besides being great and organizing all your emails into conversations, it also never has those little regarding "re:" things in the title of your email. That is amazing and beautiful to me. In other email news. At work (for my work e-mail and such) they use Outlook express. It's fine, again it avoids having to go online and go to a website to retrieve your mail. But you cannot search for emails like you can in gmail. Which is so annoying and just today I have been looking for multiple past e-mails that could be anywhere and took 3 times as long to find them than it would have on gmail. Pretty much g-mail rocks. If you do not use g-mail, you should, and you need to be invited from a current g-mail member to join g-mail, so let me know and I can send you an invite! GO GOOGLE! That's all I have to say about that.

and life continues

Derek is officially done with his finals! He is now recovering and resting, poor guy. I have to admit though it has been quite nice to have him play the stay-at-home-husband role these past few days. He has made dinner every night this week so far and has done his best to keep on top of the housework. Now, if he could only birth us some children we would be set!!
Sunday night we decided to go out for a celebration dinner. We went to this great local Thai restuarant downtown and right on the water. It just so happen to be an amazingly beautiful, sunny day so we had a blast! Great scenery and great food complete with deep-fried bananas and coconut ice cream. On the way home we were going to stop and rent a movie when we drove by Rogers Video and noticed they were having a 'Mega Movie Sale' (or something like that). So we stopped and got 3 DVDs for 24 bucks! We were stoked. So we continued our evening with one of our very own movies. Things at the job are going well. I am slowly but surely learning my through. I am excited to know it all!

computers, portland and finals

I was waiting to mzake a post until I got my pictures (from our trip to Portland) off my camera and I could put them on here. Sadly, 2 nights ago a shelf decided to fall off the wall and flat onto my computer and now is has decided not to work. Very fun...let me tell ya. So picture a photo of Jeff, Jess, and Derek getting into our little Subaru with JJ Bean coffee in hand as we begin our trip. That's the only picture I can remember taking.

Well, we went to Portland for Easter and were fortunate to have our friends Jeff and Jess join us for the drive (we dropped them off in Gresham where they have fam). Fortunaltey living in Canada we get Good Friday and Easter Monday as stat holidays so we had a 4-day weekend. Amazing! It was a crazy busy trip that consisted of visiting our best friends, my sister, Derek's entire family and having Easter brunch with Dan and Amanda as well as a Target run and a little too much coffee and alcohol. We had fun!

This week is Finals week for Derek or in other words "i don't have a husband" week. It's bitter sweet because on one hand I can just kind of do whatever I want with my week, come and go as I please and stay up late watching too much tv and scrapbooking. On the other hand because Derek is so busy and stressed, I am left do anything and everything when it comes to caring for us and our household (cook, clean, grocery shop, laundry, etc). It can be a bit stressful to come home after a long day of work and see the house that my husband has been in all day looking that same if not worse than it did when I left that morning. So last night at 11pm you would have found me scrubbing the shower and cleaning the bathroom. Stress me out! But after this week Derek will be a lot more free and I will hopefully feel like I have a husband again. We are planning a big fun date for Sunday night and I can't wait!!

New Beginnings

It is official! I have finised at The Well and have about completed my first week with SCARP. I am really enjoying it and know that it will only get better. I am in the very beginnings stages so there is still tons to learn. I think I will enjoy working in/for a school. My official title is 'PhD Secretary' at the School of Community and Regional planning. I work on the 4th floor all the way on the opposite end of campus from where Regent is located. I am not going to let myself be lazy and ride the elevator up to the 4th floor so I have to climb the stairs. But yesterday I counted and there are 12 flights of stairs leading to the 4th floor. Man...it's a workout. And this week I have probably avergaged about 8 times aday going up and down those stairs. My butt better look great in a couple months! Anyway, I took some pictures of my last day at The Well (they thre me a little party at the end of my last day) and I forgot to take a picture of my first day of work so I took a pic of me on my 3rd day of work. You can see the pics on my picture blog here.

Friends from home

The past two weekends in a row we had friends from Oregon come and visit us. First, Adam and Katy. Then Dan and Amanda. Adam and Dan are both great friends of Derek's and through that I have also become great friends with them as well as their beautiful new wives. We had so much fun with both couples. A few of the things we did: JJ Bean, Stanley Park, Lou's, Incendio, watched "The Corporation" and had some great conversations. Dan and Amanda inspired and encouiraged Derek and I to live more organically and naturally. So we are going to give it a try. We bought a book called "Worms eat my garbage" and we are going to start a worm bin very soon. I am very excited. We are also going to try and buy a lot more organic food and such. It is all a bit overwhelming but I can't wait to get serious about it. Where to start...?





Derek with Adam and Katy at Stanley Park















Katy and I doing a shot at Lou's














Dan and Derek at Stanley Park











Us with Dan and Amanda at an Organic restaurant called Aphrodite's








Yay for friends....I miss home.

job update and crafts

So I officially got a new job! I am so excited. I am going to be working at the Unversity of British Columbia as a Secretary for the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP). I cannot wait. It will be bitter sweet to leave the coffee shop, but life goes on. Plus the benefits of working for a large University are quite amazing. Yipppeee!!!

Also, I have to show off and show you how crafty my friends are. The other night we made recipe books, we had a blast and I must say they all turned out amazing!!! Check it out...

the search is on

I am looking for a new job, not for any particular reason but the fact that it is time. I am not sure what, if anything, will come of this search, but I thought I could explore my options. I have to admit that part of me would miss the ole coffee shop and seeing all the students at Regent College. But the benefit of more money in my pocket and relief of my aching knees of feet (from standing on my feet for a year and a half) might just out weigh that. We shall see.

Check out my picture blog for some photo updates here

rain, snow, sun?

The weather this week has been downright wacky! We'll wake up to light layer of snow on the grass outside and small flakes falling from the sky. I will get to work and then the nast rain will come and I have no hope for a beautiful day. Then by the afternoon the sun is shinning and the temperature has raised about 10 degrees. What a wierd place I live. But at the end of the day I am thankful for any sun I might have seen.
Today is a crazy day and so I must make this quick. Jess Reimer and I are in charge of the Spouses of Students group at Regent College and today (this morning) os our big term event. It has been a long time coming with more planning than will show, but after this morning it will pretty much be over, the SOS thing that is. Jess and i will begin to look for a replacement for next year. It's been good, but pretty exhausting and a bit heavy at times. Ugh! On a lighter note, Derek and I are having a housewarming party tonight and I am very excited about it. We bought a little too much alcohol (never a bad thing) and are going to spend the afternoon cooking and cleaning and preparing for this evening. I am stoked. I love parties!

P.S. Here is my shout out to you Lara (and Sienna too, cause she's cute)

moving on...

So Derek and I have moved to a new place...yay! We love it. Allow me to give you our crazy schedule of events that has made this move a bit on the stressful side...

Tuesday, feb 21: Go look at basement suite and love it
Wednesday, feb 22: Tell old Landlords we're moving (quite sad)
Thursday, feb 23: Old Landlords find someone to move in asap
Friday, feb 24: start packing
Sat, sun, mon: pack, pack, pack
Tuesday, feb 28: start moving
Wednesday, march 1: move completely out of old place

So basically what this all means is that we found a place and moved all in about a week. Ahhh! Needless to say, Derek and I are a bit exhausted. But it is all worth it because we love our new place. It is beautiful, new and has an amazing kitchen. You should come over!

In other news, my mom is coming to visit me today and will stay for a week. I am very excited. I am going to take her over to Victoria this weekend. She should be here soon :)


**A little shout out to Aud-dawg**

myspace, pyspace

So lately I have become addicted to one website known as 'myspace'. For some reason, I just can't get enough. Sadly, due to this, I have been neglecting my blog and to my faithful readers, I appologize. Today is a day that I have been waiting for for many weeks and months to come. And the best part of it all is that I am skipping work for it! Yes! My good friend, Shelley and I have taken the day off work and are heading one hour south to a city I like to call "targetville" aka Bellingham, Washington. Shelley and I will spend this day, yes ALL stinkin day...SHOPPING! To any guys out there, I am sure this sounds like pure tourture. But to any girls this is truly heavenly! Wish me luck on my shopping spree and we will see what I come home with! Off we go....

V-day

Valentine's day is not really a big deal at the Brown household as Derek thinks it is just a Hallmark holiday and blah blah blah. I don't really mind, but deep down I also would be okay with making a big deal out of it and doing something fancy and fun. Well, the big and fancy part didn't happen. But when I got home last night Derek had bought me flowers accompanied my strawberries and chocolate. We had dinner, he did homework then later we watched Law and Order and ate the strawberries and chocolate. What else could I ask for?! It was perfect :)


P.S. longest run yet accomplished today-45 minutes! And it was gorgeous outside! hehe!

Sick and tired

For 4 days now I have been sick...I mean down and out sick! Sleeping, hardly eating and watching far too much TV. I woke up Friday morning with a 102 degree (fahrenheit, that is) fever - random. I was feeling a bit down the night before but not expecting to wake up with a high fever like that. So I had to call in sick and actually had to reschedule a job interview that I was very much looking forward to (not something you want to have to reschedule). A lot of my friends have been sick too so there is for sure somehting going around. It's crazy around here! Usually when I get sick (unless it's something major), it's about one solid day of feeling icky and then a day to recover and I'm good to go. But this has been 4 days of the icky. My fever came and it went for 3 days. Up and down, up and down. Talk about exhausting! I had to call in sick to work again today...and apparently so did every one else. My poor boss had to cover 3 different people shifts all alone. But the day is done and I will be heading back to work tomorrow no matter how I feel because my guilt has overcome my sickness and that's just the way I work. But rest assured, I am feeling a lot better than I did 3 days ago. Yay!

Some highlights of the past week or so:

*Went on an all-church retreat last weekend and had an amazing time (will post pictures soon)!
*I completed my longest run yet-40 minutes!
*Got to be a part of the celebrations for Chad's birthday...i love birthdays!
*Was taken out for Thai food by my boss (and friend)
*I now have a total of 34 friends on myspace-don't be jealous ;)
*I recieved a sweet and romantic card from my husband (it was an e-card, but still!)
*I worked overtime last week so got to take 1/2 of today off!
*Made a nice chunk of money babysitting this past weekend and now get to go shopping!!

That's all for now!!!

Please take a moment to glance down at my Jan 16th post about Oregon...oh how I love it :)
Read it again...or for the first time-it's just SO true!

my art

I can't draw, I can't paint and I can't even write that well...but I can do this:



















more to come as my skills improve

Snooze it up

On the drive to work this morning I was telling Derek how I had hit "snooze" three times this morning before getting out of bed and how fast that precious 8 minutes always seems to go. We then began discussing "snooze times". Mine is 8 minutes and Derek's is 9 minutes. The one I always used in high school was 10 minutes. I always thought 10 minutes was normal. So I am curious if you can post a comment on here and tell me how long your snooze time is and see if we can get some sort of consensus about it. Thanks for contributing! :)

Apparently the Jewish World Review has something to say about this. I may just be wrong about my 10 minute snooze back in the day.
Check it out:
Here

Okay...now you can actually post a comment. Sorry about that!

You know you're a true Oregonian if...

I LOVED this and had to share it...

How do you know somone is from Oregon????? Well, there is what is called the "Oregon Attitude" (which can carry over, even when moving to other states...):

1. You know the state flower (mildew).

2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash.

3. You use the statement "sun break" and know what it means.

4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee.

5. You know more people who own boats than air conditioners.

6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant.

7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain without an umbrella
waiting for the "Walk" signal.

8. You consider that: if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it is not a real mountain.

9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best, Coffee Rush and Veneto's. ;

10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye salmon.

11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon and Willamette.

12. You consider swimming an indoor sport.

13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food.

14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark while only working 8 hour shifts.

15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho.

16. You are not fazed by "Today's forecast: showers followed by rain," and "Tomorrow's forecast: rain followed by showers."

17. You cannot wait for a day with "showers and sun breaks".

18. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation.

19. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind.

20. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see through the cloud cover.

21. You notice "the mountain is out" when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it.

22. You put on your shorts and fire up the barbecue when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka.

23. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on.

24. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain.

25. You think people who use umbrellas are wimps, tourists or women with a good hair day going.

26. You knew immediately that the view out of Frasier's window was a fake.

27. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you can't find the old ones after such a long time. Or better yet, you continue to wear your sunglasses on cloudy and rainy days.

28. You measure distance in drive time.

29. You often switch from "heat" to "a/c" in the same day.

30. You use a down comforter in the summer.

31. You carry jumper cables in your car and your spouse knows how to use them.

32. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat.

33. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter (Winter), Still raining (Spring) Road construction (Summer), Deer & Elk season (Fall).

Out to dinner

Last night Derek and I went to dinner with some friends at a near by local restaurant. It was very crowded and hoppin on a Saturday night. We sat down at our too-small-for-4-people-table and ordered our drinks. I ordered a Strongbow hard cider as usual. I was bummed when I realized they served it to me in a bottle instead of on tap. But I poured the bottle of liquid into my glass that they provided and proceeded to enjoy. About 5 minutes after my first sip I decided to enjoy another sip while we waited for our food. I picked up the glass and the next thing I knew cider was everywhere! All over the table, all over the floor, all over my seat and ALL over me! I was soaked and dumbfounded. I look at the glass that I was still holding in my hand to see that the entire bottom of the glass had just fallen right out! Have you ever seen of such a thing?!? So not only was I drenched, I was also so embarrased because if you had been sitting at a table near by and looking over at me, you would think that I spilled all over myself, but no, it was not my fault! Damn that glass. The waitress was not very helpful at all, but gave me some napkins to clean myself up. We decided to stay even though I was in an awkward state and was now freezing cold. We enjoyed our dinner, I got another drink (drank it straight from the bottle this time) and we had a good time. When we got our bill, the waitressed had comped both of my drinks as well as my dinner! I was quite surprised. In canada this type of Customer care is unheard of. So at the end of the night I got a free meal and a free drink and I was on my merry way. I dare say that it was all worth it to get a free meal. Yes!

Pictures are updated!

Check out my picture blog here


http://www.kbpics.blogspot.com

Home at last

It was a great trip, a nice vacation and a wonderful Holiday! But the time has come now for us to get back into routine and our "normal" lives. I think it will be dfficult to go back to work on Monday due to the fact that I have had 3 weeks off. I hope I remember how to make a latte ;) However, it is nice to have purpose in life and whether or not work or school or whatever is something you like, I still think it's a good thing. Gives us balance and purpose in this life. But so would having a baby, right? Maybe one day...
The last half of our trip was spent in Bend with my family and we had such a nice time. We were able to relax and not feel overcommited. We were able to spend ample amount of time with family as well as friends and got to sleep in every day! I saw 4 movies in the theatre (a rarity when you live in Vancouver), drank lots of coffee, went scrapbooking, went in the hot tub lots of times, ate and ate food and really soaked up being on vacation. I will update my picture blog soon so you can see bits of what our trip held.
It is nice to be home now and I am excited to see friends, which will happen tomorrow night at the Reimers (thanks guys!). But for now, I still have 2.5 days left of vacation, so I am off to do nothing and enjoy! Hope you all had a great Holiday!

Christmas has come and gone

I can't believe that we have already been in Oregon for over a week. Dan's wedding has passed, Christmas has passed and we have now traveled to Bend for the other half of our break. Christmas was great. We spent Christmas morning with Derek's mom and fam in P-town and then headed out to Hilsboro to see Derek's dad and fam. It was an eventful day full of food, family, love and presents of course! It was a great day. Christmas night was the first bit of down time that Derek and I had since the start of our trip. We got some movies, curled up on the couch and actually got to relax for more than 10 minutes. It was glorious! The next morning (yesterday) we headed over to Bend and here we are, fully soaking up the true meaning of "vacation".