The Space in Between

The week between Christmas and New Years is always a nice time. It's not very busy but it's still considered 'the holidays' so it's okay to be a little lazy, and it's a good time to try to get things done before the year is officially over. This year I had to go back to work this week, (1 day down, 2 to go!) but I'm still trying to accomplish some things over this short period of time, like think of my New Year's Resolutions. It seems like an easy task, but I really want to come up with some concrete resolutions that I'll be able to (and actually want to) follow. One of them will probably be something to do with this blog, like figure out what it's all about and why I'm writing it, and then maybe actually write on it...

In the meantime, here's a couple of photos that I took with Matt on our Adventure Day that I never posted (since I haven't been able to take any in ages - it's a dark, wet winter in Vancouver).

24 - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Now I am going to enjoy the holidays and as many more happy memories as I can squeeze into the rest of 2011!

23

 

Almost there! Okay I have to admit, this picture is technically from 2010. But the very, very end of 2010, just before we rang in the New Year in Sweden. I'm a little sad we can't celebrate another Swedish Christmas, but I'm also very happy to be spending this year with my family at home. Nothing beats my mom's homemade Christmas baking, watching It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve, and just spending some quiet time at home with family. And eating turkey of course. Last year's Swedish dinner was good, but wasn't quite the same. At least I brought my Canadian spirit with me, check out those awesome mittens.

22

Only two more pieces left! Are you enjoying Christmas music, baking, and holiday festivities as much as I am?

Do you recognize this place from another post? What a gorgeous day for an Adventure...

21

 

Though our travels were such an exciting time and I loved the adventure (well most of it, not the bedbugs, illnesses, or occasional homesickness), the best part of coming home was seeing my friends and family again! This photo is of me and my best friend all dolled up at my sister's wedding. We had such a fun time dancing the night away. 

20

 

Christmas is coming up quick now! Seems like so long ago we were in Istanbul enjoying a bit of warmer weather even though it was only February. Sitting in the sunshine, experiencing the city and listening to the Call to Prayer ring out from multiple mosques was an amazing experience, it is such a beautiful place. I am so lucky that my wonderful boyfriend made so many special videos of our trip.

Turkey from Matt on Vimeo.

19

Dancing around the Midsommar pole on Midsommar's Eve! "Little frogs, little frogs!" That was one of the songs we danced to, we had to act like little frogs with lots of hopping around! Such a fun day despite the rain and Matt made another short, but sweet video so you can see me doing my best to follow along with the Swedish songs!

Swedish Midsommar in Agnas from Matt on Vimeo.

New Traditions

L-R: Fresh-ground Saffron, Lucia 'Bullar', Special Swedish-style Lucia dinner and drinks!

This year mine and Matt's family's came together to celebrate a new tradition, Santa Lucia. Matt and I got a taste of Lucia last year in Bjurholm, Sweden. We ate Lucia Bullar ('buns' flavoured with saffron), attended a local concert by school children, and went to a beautiful concert like this one in an old, amazing but also freezing cold iron works building in Nordmaling.

This year, we made our own Lucia Bullar and had a special Swedish-style dinner at home!

18

Another happy and beautiful wedding! Our Swedish friends were married in June on Midsommar's Day in a very sweet, ceremony with an even sweeter, beautiful reception. Check out the wonderful video that Matt made of their special day.

Ä Swedish Wedding from Matt on Vimeo.

17

Our last night with our Swedish friends and new family in Stockholm! Such a fun day and a beautiful spot for a glass of wine. Might have to start planning a trip back...

16

 

Family photo from my lovely sister's wedding! So many happy memories this year! :)

15

Recently Matt and I had an adventure day! It was one of the most fun days we have had lately, as the last few months of this year have definitely been a lot more frugal than the first few and a lot more business than play. It was fun to get out and enjoy the sunshine and the crisp late November weather!

14

Shortly after I got home from traveling, my sister and I headed a couple of hours out of town to the summer music festival Live at Squamish. We had a great time camping with new friends, saw amazing performances by bands like Stars and The Zolas, and an unbelievable acoustic set by Emily Haines and James Shaw of Metric. I can't wait to see the line up for next year!

13

 

My sister's wedding was a very special occasion this year and I definitely danced the night away! Occasionally, when he could track me down (I was a little all over the place - blame the Fireball Toast!), Matt got to dance with me too!

12

 

Petra, one of the new seven wonders of the world, was another amazing place to visit. We had to do a lot of walking but it was well worth it. The tombs carved into the limestone at Petra are very impressive especially as you come out of the Siq (the long narrow canyon that serves as the entrance to the city) and arrive at the Treasury. There were also a few quick, but steep, hikes up to the Monastery and up other hills. Matt and I did some silly posing on top and enjoyed the immense view. 

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

I finally got to do some Christmas baking this week! Of course the recipes I wanted to use all needed ingredients I didn't have, so I settled on these Cinnamon Sugar Cookies by Martha Stewart.

My cookie cutters.

I'm not very good at cookie decorating. But I learned some valuable lessons while baking these treats. Firstly, decorating sugar is not the same as icing sugar. I don't know why I immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was, but it is not. They did not look classy at all. Good thing I was totally okay pretending I was just reminiscing about my childhood and that I made them look like a five year old decorated them on purpose...

They are yummy cookies, the cinnamon gives them a nice something extra, but they were a bit hard. I'm not sure if it's because I cooked them too long or not. But regardless, they're perfect for dipping in a hot beverage!

11 - Two Weeks til Christmas!

We didn't go out much during our time in Cairo, but we had to go to the Pyramids of course! Second to the Pyramids, the best thing about Cairo was Egyptian 'fast food' called Koshary. It was cheap, simple and delicious! If I could, I'd fly them to Canada to open up shop here! Mmm.

10

 

Earlier this year Matt and I went to Syria. Though it was a hard country to get into and a lot to adjust to at first, it was beautiful and we both have very good memories of our short trip there. I hoped it would be a country that many people would soon be able to visit and am extremely sad when I see all the conflict that is happening there now. Of course I hope in the end it will result in something positive, but in the meantime it is sad to see such a beautiful country full of so many friendly people in a state of such turmoil. 

The photo above is of a back street in the old town of Damascus. The painted door at the end is the door to our hostel. This street, and many others had so much character and are really so old, sometimes it was hard to believe how long they had been around. Certain parts of the old down still have bits and pieces of old Roman columns and the town has just built up around them. I do wish we had been a bit more comfortable taking pictures so we could have captured more of it!

I wrote more about our day in Damascus on our travel blog. Mmm, I'd forgotten about all the delicious food we ate. I'll definitely need to start learning to make some of the things I had on our travels.

9

 

Ah, the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, 200 km North of the Arctic Circle. Half the fun is getting there! But not really, getting there was the worse, in fact we barely made it. Trains were cancelled we bussed back in forth for a while, tried to catch a different train from a station where passenger trains no longer stop, before heading back to where we started to catch another bus. We missed our transfer, waited four hours in a very, very, extremely cold train station in Luleå, and had to take a cab from Kiruna to the Ice Hotel - luckily the nice people at SJ (the Swedish train company) paid for our cab! When we finally arrived we didn't have a lot of time to spend there but we did enjoy the time we had. Since we couldn't afford any fancy tours while we were there anyways, we spent our evening roaming through the open rooms (and roaming accidentally into occupied rooms), drinking out of ice glasses in the ice bar (pictured) and trying to spot the Northern Lights in minus 30 degree weather. It's not something I'll do again, it wasn't the most peaceful sleep in my life, but it was definitely worth seeing.

Aside from the special Swedish traditions we experienced on a very special New Years Eve in Bjurholm, this is the first of many great memories from 2011, but definitely not the last! 

This countdown to Christmas is fun and such a nice way to relive my happy memories from the last year!

8

I took this photo in a moving Safari vehicle. The giraffe was right at the side of the road but we were in a rush to get out of the Serengeti before our park permit expired, otherwise we would have been splitting the cost for another day [not spent] in the Serengeti, and the permits were expensive. I felt really lucky with how the photo came out. The colours are so bright and it's such an amazing animal!

2011 had so many unbelievable memories, sometimes I can't even believe I was there.

Not Just Another Day: Winter Walks

A gorgeous place to walk on a sunny winters day. Unfortunately the sun was going down by the time we got there, but luckily the reason we were late was we'd been distracted by free, delicious cupcakes at the Cakelicious Cake Company open house! I wish I had pictures of those to share but I was too busy popping mini-cupcakes into my mouth!

 Isn't Jenn's toque cute!

Just having some doggone adventures... The little Schnauzer 'Keaton' belongs to my sister and the husky belonged to some fellow walkers. Sorry Keaton I just realized you're "doing your business" in this photo! Don't forget to clean up after your PETS folks. I say pets not dogs since this trail was full of droppings, okay okay, they were mainly from horses and a couple of bears, not exactly pets... but still...

This is my lovely sister Laurel, her outfit was nicer than mine...

 I look a bit like a hobo, but with cute boots.

Living in the country demands photo shoots on tractors. Because they're awesome.

And the sun is going down, shining a last bit of light on the snowy top of Golden Ears Mountain. Time to go warm up!

7

Day 7 of my 2011 Memories Puzzle Christmas Countdown! This picture was taken at Pamukkale in Turkey. We walked up the natural terraces to the ancient city of Hierapolis in the late afternoon and explored until the sun came down. It was beautiful but also a bit sad that the natural terraces can't be enjoyed like they used to. But sometimes the best memories are the less than perfect ones, so I thought I'd share this story that I wrote for our travel blog, about the next day, when we bussed from Pamukkale to Olympos.

Though we had planned to spend two days in Pamukkale, Matt and I quickly realised there wasn’t much to do there and even less to eat. So we dragged ourselves out of bed yesterday morning for our second consecutive day of bussing about and caught the only direct bus to Olympos, although I’m not sure that direct is the right way to describe it.

Our bus was a little bigger than a mini bus with probably double the seats and triple the number of people crammed in. Luckily we had a seat ticket, but since Matt barely fit and I generously shared my leg room we were both in for a long and uncomfortable ride. After a few hours of driving around, during which time we crammed the bus full of everyone we could find at the side of the road, we stopped for what we though was a quick break.

We had planned to stay on the bus but the attendant came and indicated for us to get off. We did, and the bus started to drive away with our bags still stowed away on it! Not knowing what was going on we tried to flag the bus down before it left and we saw the driver give us a nice wave goodbye in the side mirror. As the bus rolled away we tried to tell another bus attendant who pointed at his tea and seemed not to be worried. Knowing that our valuables were safely with us, we sat down to wait and eat some cookies in the bus station of a small Turkish town. About ten minutes later our bus came back! We don’t know where they went, but we reboarded and even got out seats back.

Having already spent three hours on the bus we were not excited when it became apparent we had to spend another four winding through the mountains. We passed fields of melting snow and the ocean we were headed towards was no where in sight. At one point we were stopped by the military. They took the IDs of our fellow passengers but didn’t take our Canadian passports. After they had, we presume, checked them all we were able to continue on, and finally after seven hours of driving we found the ocean. But we weren’t there yet. This time we were instructed to change busses for Olympos. We boarded a mini-bus which took it’s time leaving town as it recruited more passengers and then drove us back into the hills and finally to the Olympus mini-bus station. Since the station is up the hill and another winding road from Olympos itself we waited about an hour for a dolmish (mini-bus style shuttle taxi) and had a Gözleme (like a Turkish crepe) filled with spinach and cheese.

When we finally arrived at Saban Pension (excellent by the way) in Olympos we were happy to find it was somewhat occupied. Since it is winter we had already been told a couple of times there would be nothing to do here and the town (which mainly consists of treehouse-style pensions) seemed very quiet. But here we found fellow travellers and despite Matt’s desire to just get here and rest we had just enough time to drop our bags and have a bite to eat before joining them on the 7 km walk to (plus 7 km back) the Chimera.

The Chimera is a mysterious collection of methane gas flames coming out of the rocks on a nearby hill. We are not really sure what causes them but it has something to do with the gas coming out of cracks in the rocks and reacting with the air, and the result is a collection of natural, continuous-burning campfires – though we didn’t think they’d be good for roasting marshmellows. As interesting as the flames were they couldn’t beat the drama on the rest of the hike. Though most of the walk was along the road we did have to cross a stream and the last km or so was up a steep, rocky hill with a lot of steps.

Unfortunately, on the way up, one of the people we were with stopped for a rest and fell behind a bit and sprained his ankle trying to catch up. Since we were almost at the top we were still able to see the chimera and hang out for a bit. After slowly making our way down again we found out that the drive between Olympos and the town where the chimera is is 22 km via road! We were also told that there were no taxis, “no tourists no taxis”. Matt and I went on ahead and fortunately the injured got a lift from some locals to the stream. After the stream it was just a quick walk down the beach back to Olympos. Or it should have been if we hadn’t met Mr. Duck.

Having been thouroughly distracted on the way there trying to figure out which five countries of the world have english names that when spelled in capital letters have no letters that can be completely closed off ( i.e. P R A D etc), we found ourselves not recognising things on the way back. As we started to wonder if we did indeed walk through a restaurant patio after the beach we were suddenly quacked at by a random duck! At first it was quite funny as it came out of nowhere, but then it kind of came at us. Unfortunately, our aussie friend twisted his ankle again and the duck proceeded to follow/lead/attack us all the way down the beach! At one point as I tried to shoo it away with a stick it suddenly charged at me with wings flapping wildly. It’s actually a bit scary being followed in the dark by a random duck. It followed us all the way down the beach and finally gave up, a little confused, at the spot where we separated from some Turkish guys who helped us find our way. It was found there a short while later by the rest of our group who had left the chimera after us. It followed them to the exit of the beach before it gave up. The lady at our hostel says they go for the toes of people in sandals – apparently Matt and I should have put our shoes back on after wading the stream rather than walking back in our flip-flops. She also told us to go back and get it tonight so that we could have it for lunch tomorrow, but don’t worry we never did.

6

 

Back in February, in the middle of the red desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan, we spent three nights in a Bedouin Tent and three days climbing sand dunes, doing our best to make friends with a camel and even climbed a small ‘mountain’ for a glimpse into Saudi Arabia. Though it could have been an extremely intimidating and scary place, for some reason it felt safe to me, it seemed familiar. I think I was a Bedouin in a past life. Three of my favourite things are an essential part of their culture: dancing, music and TEA. We never had to ask for tea it was always been served. Either with a bit of mint or sage and always with a lot of sugar, tea was served whether in the tent at night or in the middle of the desert during the day.

We had had two amazing days already, one spent driving around the desert in a jeep up and down sand dunes and the next spent slowly taking in the vastness and the silence atop a camel. I’ll never ride a camel again, but the desert was beautiful. On our third day we drove to the far end of the desert and climbed a mountain. Granted it wasn’t a big mountain but it was a steep climb up and I took my time. Our guide, Audi, ran up in bare feet in about 15 minutes, it took me a little longer… When we got to the top the view was amazing. We could see the border with Saudi Arabia and the view easily distracted me from the scurry of rats underneath the rocks at the top. Well sort of distracted me... As we sat at the top Audi picked up the large Jordanian flag that was planted at the top and swung it in the air above his head. It was the perfect photo opportunity and it is now one of my favourite photos from the whole trip and one of my favourite places too.

5

Back in April, I was in Moshi, Tanzania doing some volunteering. I have to admit that Africa didn't really agree with me, or I just didn't have the energy for it at the time, but the Safari was worth the trip. We went to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Nogorongoro Crater. It was pretty amazing to be that close to the animals and feel like you could reach out and touch them. I may have wanted to snuggle them, but just a little. They just looked so cute and cuddly like stuffed animals! Obviously they're not, but when they are just sleeping there in the grass and completely ignoring the truckload of excited tourists clicking away on their cameras, I couldn't help but think they wouldn't mind if I reached out and gave them a pat on the head, that is of course until they jumped up and gave a big yawn, flashing their pearly whites in my direction.

Searching for the Sasquatch

I can't believe I forgot to post this video! I am so excited about it because I love when Matt makes little videos of our adventures! Even if I do look a little ridiculous...

4 for 1

I've been wanting to create a blog advent for the last few days but of course I'm a bit behind. So in the spirit of, um, commercialism, a few days late means a special deal! Four for the price of one! Which of course is just more free! But anyways... everyday I'll add a new piece, and a new memory, to the puzzle. It's been a fabulous year and there are a lot of memories to capture, so I picked a few of my favourites. I wish I could have done this last year too! Happy 21st Day until Christmas!

One of these pictures is obviously my sister's wedding, but the others were taken on my travels earlier this year. Can you guess where I was?

Just as Photogenic as an Eagle...

On Saturday, Matt and I had an Adventure Day! We took so many photos! I love it when Matt makes me look pretty in pics, but it's so hard to choose which photos to use!


I'm wearing (bottom to top): boots (old) - Sterling, tights - American Apparel, Byrne handbag - Matt & Nat, top and pocket watch necklace - Ruche, sweater - Barefoot Contessa, and jacket - Modcloth.

How Many Butterflies needs some lovin'

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Adventure Day

Yesterday Matt and I were finally able to have a fun day where we went on an outing, just the two of us. We've been so busy since we got back from our world travels that we haven't really had a chance to do anything like this, and it's the kind of thing that will keep us from missing the times we had, so we need it! We drove out to Harrison Mills and the community of Kilby to check out a small Christmas store out there. It was a cute shop but unfortunately I didn't see anything that really stood out. Down the road was a nice park and campground right on the river, Kilby Provincial Park. There was actually a sandy beach (well as sandy as a beach can be in Canada) and I'm excited to go back there in the summer.

This weekend was the Fraser Valley Eagle Festival so people were out in full force with nice cameras and extra long lenses and binoculars, all hoping to get a nice view of the eagles. Meanwhile, Matt and I were there making a video of our adventure and taking pictures of me (my first outfit posts coming soon, so exciting!), I noticed a few stares but we just ignored them, because we were having fun.
Later we drove out to Harrison. It was a really cold day, so we walked along the beach a bit, went searching for the Sasquatch, and had a nice lunch in a yummy cafe. Check back soon for a video of our adventure made by my amazing bf!

Little Things

Some of the little things in my room that make it mine :)

As I wait so very patiently (um... sort of patiently?) for Matt and I to move into our own home where I can decorate! I'm trying to appreciate the little things I have here (in my parent's house in the suburbs) that make my space my space. It's a small space, but it does have memories. And besides, how can a room with it's own disco ball not be awesome? 

Some of my favourite books

L-R: The first flower Matt ever gave me pressed in a frame; Vanilla tea lights and pretty
things; earrings, necklaces and beads galore!

Matt painted me this mustang years ago, maybe someday I'll have a real one...