diary of a doll

I'm so happy to have some new readers to my blog. I just started into this whole blogging world and so far am loving the whole community! I figured I'd better introduce a huge part of my life which is that I am a nursing student.

I will be graduating with my RN in December which will be a long time coming (4.5 years). It is a wonderful feeling to have known my whole life that I want to be a nurse, and then to have that confirmed when actually practicing as a nurse. It has it's ups and downs but overall I wouldn't replace any of it.


I bring this up because with graduation creeping up faster and faster all the time I am starting to really try and make decisions on what I am going to do once that point comes. I've been in an extremelly structured program for so long that it's going to be weird to be on my own with all the options that there are for nurses.

It has always been my dream to work for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) but after much extensive research I've discovered that it's not quite as easy as just applying and getting hired. Apparently they have a never ending list of requirements (of which I have almost none) so the chances of me getting in is pretty small, atleast for a couple of years.



So again I am left with the question what to do or rather, where to go.

I know that I want to travel as a nurse (hens the doctors without borders) but where to go! There are so many options and I want all of them! I am leaning towards Dubai right now mostly because they are in desperate need of nurses, its a beautiful place and they pay a substantial amount of tax free money. I think it would be an amazing experience and would definitely help me out with my resume. Eventually I will get to Africa as well but all in time.

I can't imagine anything better than being paid to do what I love and to travel at the same time (and i guess there's the part about helping others and saving lives and yadda yadda..;) )!

As stressful as it is at times, it is really refreshing and uplifting to know that I can pretty much choose anything I want and go anywhere my heart desires. At this point in my life I have nothing tying me down and I don't plan on that lasting for too many more years (although who knows at the rate i'm going...) so I would really like to take advantage of my semi-youthfullness and independence while I still can!

This is my way of escaping full reality and structure, but I still have a bunch more time left of that yet!
It is kinda scary to think about having an actual career and being like a real grown up...*shudder*



PS: My nursing class is having a graduation fundraiser in March so if your in or around Vancouver and want to support us let me know!

Out of no where last night I started getting a sore throat and 5 hours later I now feel like death. I guess the staying out going hard every night and lack of sleep has caught up with me, damn I really thought I was going to be invincible with this one!

It literally feels like knives going down my throat everytime I swallow, oh joy.

But on the plus side, being sick gives me plenty of time to blog (and even more time to creep on other people blogs) which is always fun! And since I really haven't been doing anything productive with my life lately anyways, I now atleast have the excuse of being sick as well as the added bonus of being pitied.

I think I will spend this friday night with pj's, blankets, my sofa and a good movie, but what one....

I am always hesitant to go on first dates. I don’t really have a reason as to why, I just don’t like them. So far I’ve never even had a bad one, and I always have a lot of fun but it’s the hours leading up to it and actually getting myself out the door but I still try to always force myself to go.

I agreed to a date the last night with a guy I had met while wandering downtown the other day. He was cute but came off as very aggressive and did not waste any time getting my number. But worse than that he wanted to give me his number instead which is just not going to happen with me. I don’t know why I have this thing against calling guys for a date; I am very old fashioned that way.

So we had plans to meet on Granville street after the hockey game so as much as I wasn’t feeling it I got myself ready, drove downtown and walked around. As I was pacing the street, I saw a girl giving away free stuff so obviously I jumped to the front of the line and got my greedy hands in there—only to find out that I was now holding a bag of condoms and a book about being safe which says not “don’t do drugs” but instead, “don’t do drugs alone”. Perfect!

So since I hadn’t heard from him yet (and the game had been over for about 30mins at this point) I texted him to see what was up. He said that he was at the Penthouse on Richards street and asked me to meet him there.

To anyone outside of Vancouver this might not make sense, but here in Vancouver the “penthouse” means a stripclub (or atleast to the type of people I hang out with which are not loaded penthouse staying type people).
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So immediately I am infuriated that this guy would even suggest meeting at a such a place! I was so disgusted and turned right off! The nerve of him! I texted him back saying that I wasn’t going to meet him there. He kept texting me and calling but I just messaged him saying that I was with friends and we were just going to stay on Granville and go for drinks or something. He was very disappointed.

As I was telling a friend the story he informed me that the penthouse stripclub is on Seymour street, not Richards and when he googled the actual address the guy gave me it was of one of the nicest hotels in Vancouver.
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So yah, this is pretty much a typical date of mine.

However, I wouldn’t have gone anyways, I don’t think that inviting a girl to your “penthouse” is any kind of first date! And the least he could have done was come out to meet me first and not leave me waiting for however long. Or at least that’s what I will tell myself to feel better about missing out on a lavish hotel, free drinks, and possibly a lot of fun….

He’s invited me out again on Wednesday, I’m not sure what I will say yet.

I keep thinking things can’t possibly get any better but somehow every time I go out I manage to top the day before!

Today I went out for more Olympic adventures with my mother, grandmother, and brother (it was quite the family affair!). It was another beautiful sunny day but at this point I have pretty much seen all the Olympic venues more than once so it was actually kind of dull going through them all again but its always good to see other people get excited about it and be able to show them neat stuff etc.



The best part was walking along Granville street because there were tons of street performers (which I have a weird obsession with and could literally spend all day watching them, sometimes even the same ones over). But even better than that was that I spotted a group of hipster looking guys (which is totally my type, so obviously my eyes were drawn towards them) only to realize that it was the entire band Mother Mother (which happens to be one of my favorites!) . I got really shy and just walked away but about 10mins later I was disappointed with myself because no one was even recognizing them so I should really go over and say something! So I went back and luckily they were still there and I got my mom to go up to them (yah I chickened out), so she asked them if I could get a picture and they were so friendly and said of course! They got the whole band together and all introduced themselves and Ryan the lead singer introduced me to all of them and I chatted to them for a bit. It was reaaaally cool! So yah that made my whole day!

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I spent the rest of the day with the fam but come late afternoon they were all ready to leave. I had been texting with a friend, Amer, who suggested meeting up with her but it wouldn’t be until around 930 and at this point it was still only like 4 so I debated whether I should just go home for the night or stick around by my lonesome until then (At this point you should know me well enough to know which one I went with).

So I took a little stroll along the water and back to Granville when Brittany and Alicia both texted me that they were coming downtown and wanted to meet up so it was perfect! I met them both at the skytrain and unfortunately Brittany had to leave right away but Alicia and I were there for the night!

We had no plans other than to watch the fireworks show, which we did with her Cousin Melissa and her bf. But aside from that we literally just paced back and forth up and down the streets partying with random strangers (who were all pumped because Canada had just won the hockey game). We started a little competition as to who could get the most high-fives from strangers but we lost count pretty fast! We danced with strangers in the street and got pictures with Canadian fans etc. It was a blast!

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We spotted the Aritzia saskquatch and got our picture taken with him and then one of the workers came over to Alicia and gave her a gift certificate and a gold medal necklace! I was super jealous but luckily Alicia was smart and made the girl notice me and then I got one too. It was actually for 20$ which was sweet!! We were very excited because apparently only the really stylish girls get the gold medals! We showed them off all night and got plenty of compliments of them!!
As we were walking through the crowds we stumbled upon a game of red-rover that spontaneously formed out of the crowd and next thing we knew we were playing. One of us on each side calling the other over. It was an intense game. We were the only girls and probably also the only sober people playing which looking back was probably not the smartest idea but it was fun! We both sucked but it was still fun!
I also started swing dancing with some stranger (actually he started swing dancing with me) which was hilarious because out of no where his girlfriend came over and grabbed him and was like *lets go!* hahaha she was laughing but I could feel the hate in her eyes!

Alicia and I had guys give us some pretty funny comments as well. You always get the stupid guys who like mumble something inappropriate and before you can even see who said it they are gone, but we had some good ones tonight! The best was that we each separately had a guy tell us that we are so pretty. Drunk eyes and all.
It started getting pretty cold out and considering I live in what Vancouverites consider the boonies (about 20 minutes outside of Vancouver), I figured I better head home. Alicia and I caught the skytrain and said goodbye at her stop.

Unfortunately from my stop I also have to take a bus and as I was waiting at the bus stop (yes, classiest place to get picked up ever!), some guys came over and asked me if I had any weed. Which if you know what I look like and how I dress is quite funny because of all the people at that bus stop I’m sure I looked like the least likely person to be carrying marijuana. They were disappointed. Another guy came up who seemed to be with them but embarrassed for them at the same time, apologized to me for them being idiots. He was actually really cute so I was happy to start up a conversation and then when the bus did come he came and sat with me and I found out that he just moved here because he is in a band and they are playing out here etc. He actually missed his bus stop so that he could talk to me so I figured giving him my number was the least I could do!
Now I am off to bed! …Hopefully!

Surpisingly this year I was not dreading Valentines day at all, actually I was I've been in a loving good mood lately and was ready to embrace it. I had been asked out casually by a few boys but I turned them down as instead of spending the day on an awkward cheesey date I decided to take my Grandmother out on the town!
She hadn't been downtown to see all of the exictment yet and I figured what better day than a Sunday which was Valentines day, Chinese New Year, AND the olympics all in one!
We were excellent tourists and got to see lots of neat things. She really wanted to go to the Royal Canadian Mint as they had all of the medals on display and you could actually hold them and get your photo taken with them etc. Although cool, this definitely would not have been my first choice of activity but anything for grandma (or so I told myself as I waited in line for LITERALLY 4 hours!).



Of all the things to see, I have no idea why the line was so long but it was ridiculous. Luckily it was a beautiful day and we became quite friendly with the people in line with us (which included the mother of 2 boys who were smart enough to go to the front of the line and say that their mom was already inside and got in no problem). If only I was little again!

It was funny because they actually give you a white glove to wear on your hand to touch the medal (this almost made the 4 hour wait worth it).

The worst part of it was that after waiting in line this long it was past 5 by the time we got inside, only to find another line we had to wait in, and I had to leave to get to a concert I wanted to see. But overall it was still fun to see my grandma get all excited and I think she was happy to spend the day out and about!



From there I hopped on the skytrain over to YaleTown and luckily actually got in this time! YAY! I met up with Jana and a few of her friends and as our band wasn't on just yet we did some irish dancing to the band that was playing. Which apparently was really good according to the people watching and other random people just joined in and danced with us.

The crowd was pretty big so we weren't able to make it to the front of the stage but we were still pretty close when Mother Mother came on. They don't seem to be that big yet but I think they had a pretty dedicated fan base. And for good reason because they are AMAZING! They put on such a good show it was awesome!


Once they finished they put the medal ceremony on the huge screen tv's and the crowd went crazy for Canada's first ever Olympic Gold Medal on Canadian soil! YEEOOW!

After that the "headliner" Daniel Wesley performed and it surprised me that he was the headliner cause he had a lot less fans and Jana and I actually snuck right up to the stage to watch. He wasn't that great but I was not a huge fan of his to begin with so I wasn't expecting much, and of course it was still fun just to be there!

We left the concert a bit early and went to the Granville street of madness! We wanted to go somewhere cheap for a few drinks so we went to Cafe Crepe (cheapest drinks in all of Vancouver). When they finally had a table for us it was in the veerrrrry back of the resturant, completely isolated from the rest of the place and directly next to the washroom. And to make it worse, our waiter was hating his life! He was so miserable and when he came to ask us for ID's Jana joked to him that I wasn't of age and he snapped on me! I was terrified of him for the rest of the night and because I wasn't drinking I still wanted to show him my ID just to proved that in fact I really was allowed to be there!

To make the most of our isolation, we started conversations with everyone who walked by us on the way to the washroom. I think we were all surprised when people took it so well and actually sat down with us, only to have their friends come looking for them, thinking something went terribly wrong in the toilets.

It was funny until this one guy just would not leave and not only that but he completely saw no problem with helping himself to our food and beer. When his friend also came and tried sitting with us and being rude and annoying, we had made a few hints for them to leave but were all too polite to straight up tell them to leave.

The one guy sitting next to me asked me if anyone had ever told me that I look EXACTLY like a bunny. Not a rabbit, but a bunny (after he asked me if i even knew what a bunny was). He said that he really wanted to feed me carrots. It was awkward so I smiled and said thanks, to which he replied, oh well I'm not really sure that it was a compliment...

The next thing we knew Jana screams to some girl that she apparently knew from camp and hadn't seen in ages and told the guys she was sorry but they had to leave so that her long lost friend could join us. We found out later that actually jana just met this girl in the bathroom seconds earlier and begged her to help us get rid of these guys. A plan we were all thankful for!

Saturday I ventured out on my own to wander the city aimlessly (If you haven't noticed, I do that a lot). I decided to drive downtown which proved to me more of an inconvenience than anything. I don't drive in the city that often so I know my routes to get to places but being the Olympics, most of my regular routes were blocked off so it ended up taking me forever to get to where I wanted, but luckily enough I found parking quite quickly.

I wanted to go to the LiveCity stage as Wilco was playing and I knew it would be a great show! I had tried getting there early but with the traffic and getting lost etc. I showed up only about an hour before the show was scheduled to start. The line was again blocks long but I actually saw the end this time and decided to wait in it. I was in line for about an hour and estimated that there were probably only about 250 people in front of me when the police came down the line telling everyone that they were now 1500 people over capacity and were not letting anyone else inside. Even if people left, they had officially closed the door for the night. This was a huge disappointment, and I thought for sure that people were going to break into riot (but being the calm-tempered, easy going mostly Canadian crowd, no one over reacted). People were definitely disappointed but pretty much everyone who was denied just went up to the section of the fence you could see through and watched from there.

After about 20mins I got tired of standing in the pooring rain (discretely cuddling up to strangers who had umbrellas), and left. I was not ready to go home just yet but I was still by myself and wasn't sure what options I really had of where to go but thought I would try going to Robson Square. Again, I totally lucked out and got parked easy. I was glad I went to Robson/Granville because there were tons more people and it was not awkward at all to be on my own. I people watched and took my time wandering as I followed the loud cheers of people down to the icerink/stage. It was undercover which was also a huge bonus. There was a band playing and behind them was the icerink and thousands of people watching. As the first band played they had girls trying to get people dancing in front of the stage, person by person they got some and it was funny to watch as they made some men go up who clearly didn't want to be there and didnt know what to do. At one point there was an American who went up and tryed getting the audience to cheer for his American flag to which a guy dressed in a Canadian flag went up and they pretended to fight as the crowed chanted CA-NA-DA! CA-NA-DA!



When I first got there I was at the very back where it wasn't even covered, I could hardly see anything and there were thousands of people in front of me, but one of the best things about being on my own was that I am very sneaky and can squirm my way innocently threw the crowd without anyone being upset. Slowly I made my way all the way to the front of the entire crowd, up at the stage and danced along to the band.

After the first band played, they had a huge fireworks show which was really neat! They had lazers and people ziplining through the air etc. They definitely put a lot of money into this whole extravaganza.




Next playing was Jeremy Fisher, who is a local artist who, athough is quite big now, I only really know because my mom has been following his career from the VERY start, going to see him in tiny coffee shops and churches holding only about 15 people (mostly his family). So I knew I had to stay and watch him for my mother's sake. Again, I snuck up to front stage and was only a couple of feet away from him. He was a fantastic performer and I had a lot of fun at his set! His crowd was actually really big too, and everyone was singing along.



He made a comment that he had to finish by a certain time due to rules etc. and the crowd was not happy. The guy beside me (who must have been the biggest Jeremy Fisher fan ever) was so upset, he yelled at him to please do one more song! Jeremy then jumped off stage and came right over to us and said he would unofficially sing one more. He was not hooked up to speakers or anything, he just stood with his guitar and played DIRECTLY in front of me! It was so cool! I thought that was really great of him to do, people really appreciated it. It was funny because I was probably the closest person to him and everyone around me was screaming the lyrics and I (having never heard the song before) had to just smile and bob back and forth to the melody.



After he finished he chatted to a few of us for a minute, then he hugged that guy and then he hugged me. Again, it was a lot of fun! For a single girl it was a nice way to start off my Valentines, being serenaded by a singer!

I have been on the go non stop since the Olympic Games started and if I don't blog about it now I am afraid I am going to forget all of the wonderful fantastic things that have been happening.

On Friday I headed to main street with a friend where they had a bunch of the Pavillions such as Saskatchewan, Russia, Ontario etc. To be honest most of them were pretty disappointing as there was really nothing to see inside. However I did enjoy the Ontario House where you go into a movie theatre for a 4D show (except that it is the middle of winter and they thought it was a good idea to spray the audience with water as part of it).

Russia was given the biggest Pavillion as they are host to the next winter games. Again there was not too much going on inside and everything they did have was completely in Russian. My friend and I saw a crowd of people lined up to get pictures and an autograph with someone, we had no clue who she was but a lady explained that apparently the women is a 10 time world figureskating champian and a 3 olympic gold medalist. So of course we lined up and got photos! Unfortunatally I don't even remember her name, it was Irina something...


We walked up and down the seawall along with the million other people, and because it was the day of the opening ceremonies and we were right by BC Place, we saw everyone heading into the stadium (wishing of course that it was us! But still not worth the $1000 dollars that it supposedly cost).


As we were walking there were two guys in front of us that had on matching jackets that said NORWAY on the back, my friend said that they must be atheletes but I was sure that they couldn't be. We debated for a minute and then she was smart and just asked them, sure enough they really were! She turned to me and said "see! I told you they were atheletes!" right in front of them, so I just smiled and walked away. But then I realized that I should have atleast gotten a picture with them, so embarassingly we went back and asked if we could take a picture. They were very nice but again, I never got their names or even sport!


During these few weeks it has been my mission to make the most out of my city and get as much out of this whole event as possible, specifically for free. We are going to be paying these olympics off for a long time so I might as well take advantage of all I can for free!
We had fun collecting all that we could such as flags, maps, free hot chocolate, free lollipops, perfume, face spray, phone cards, and the list goes on. My friend put a stop to it when I lined up to get a balloon animal because everytime I got something free, 10 minutes later I would be complaining that I didn't want to hold it.

From here I met up with aliciafashionista as we had planned to go to the livecity celebration site in Yaletown to watch the Opening Ceremonies. We got there about an hour and a half before it started but apparently were waaaay to late. The line to get in went about 10 million blocks long (it took us half an hour just to walk down the line and still could not manage to see the end of it) Sadly we had to give up and move on but it seemed as though every single place we went to was packed full with people! We finally lucked out and got in to a really nice lounge type place (not quite the same environment as livecity or even a pub would have been but everyone was still loud and excited). We enjoyed some wine and watched the rest of the show.



Unfortunately this is still Vancouver and although it has been uncharacteristically warm, we just can't escape the rain. Me of course being in tights and flats maybe wasn't the smartest idea. But I was bright enough to bring my polka dot and frill umbrella but in a mob of people I don't Alicia appreciated being behind me, having to appologise to everyone we passed because apparently I was poking them all. (Funny at the time but having been downtown since, and being the one getting poked by others' umbrella's it was not funny at all).

After the ceremony we walked along granville street and randomly bumped into another friend of ours. She was just by herself, waiting for other friends so we all joined together and went to The Morressey. The vibe downtown no matter where you go is so energetic and patriotic it is seriously so much fun! There is just such a positive energy everywhere you! After a few drinks we realized that the best place to be was literally in the street.

Alicia left and the rest of us hung out wandering the streets that were PACKED with people! People yelling and screaming, dressed in canadian flags, spontaneously breaking into song every 10 mintues, etc.

Everytime I go out with Jana I always have a blast because she is crazy and loves to have a good time. She also doesnt get embarassed no matter what she is doing. She came up with the idea that we should run up to random people on the streets and take funny photos with them so we did that, and then we would find someone taking a picture and ask if they would take one of us, but instead of giving them our camera to take the picture we would just wait for them to take one with their own camera. The expressions were priceless. People didnt know what to do and it was awkward in the best possible way. Or when people went to take our picture we would go lower, so they would have to aim the camera lower, then we would go higher. etc. Yah we are mature!


They have these cut outs that you can pose in so we would find other tourists posing and take pictures of them, directing them how to pose (they were so confused it was hilarious).

There was a guy riding on another guys shoulders and someone yelled at me to poke him in the bum so without thinking I ran up and poked him and ran off so he wouldnt know it was me but he turned around and said with a completely straight face "that was weird". It was very funny at the time.



And we were not the only ones running around being crazy, I think most of the people were, so just as much as we were going up to strangers, they were coming up to us. This one guy ran up to me and grabbed my face and literally made out with my entire mouth area as I stood there in shock. My face was actually wet.

This went on for a loooong while until I met up with Curtis and Brock and we decided to jump on the skytrain and head home. Brock kept making comments about how the party was going to continue at my house and as much as I didn't want it to, i gave them a pity invite and much to disappointment they said yes. They ended up staying over til 530 doing absolutely nothing. Im pretty sure I was like asleep on the couch but they really weren't getting the hint to leave.

When they finally did depart I jumped into bed and was out like a light.

My city has been taken over by the Olympics! Over the last few weeks Vancouver has become the most exciting place to be. Although I am not in complete agreement with being the host city, I have come to terms with it and for the past few weeks have been trying to take advantage of all the amazing celebrations going on (with many more still to come!).

On Tuesday I woke up to a beautifully sunny sky and being my last day off I instantly got the urge to head out downtown. Because it was a spontaneous decision, and a Tuesday, I didn't bother calling anyone to join me but I usually enjoy my own company anyways and had no real plans or schedule other than to take in the spirit of the Olympics.

The day started off with me missing my bus, but luckily the buses are all running quite regularly to allow for the increase in tourists. The bus/skytrain was super busy and it was so neat to see and hear people from all over the world in my hometown! It made me feel very proud to live here, listening to people in aww of our wonderful city.

I got downtown and was in love with everything! I am the type of person who absolutely loves crowds and being in the middle of all the busyness and excitment so this was perfect for me! I could not have been happier! I was enjoying seeing all of the artwork and venders and displays and everything that there was to see! I went to the Vancouver Art Gallery and sat on the towering steps atop the city so that I could people watch (my favorite activity of all time). As I was sitting, enjoying the chatter and the sunshine, a guy came over and sat next to me. He started talking to me and trying to engage me in conversation and to be honest I knew immediately that he wasn't really my type but I was in such a good mood that I was content just sitting with him and I always enjoy meeting new people, especially ones from far off places (he was from jamacia). So we sat and small talked for a bit and then he suggested that we should go bike riding. So of course I'm thinking, yah, okay crazy guy I don't think so. I dont think I even realized that he could be serious so I completely just blew it off. We started walking down the street for about 10 minutes and then he stopped and said okay, here is the place and sure enough we are standing in front of a lot of bikes outside of a bike rental shop. I think my expression must have been shock and terror, I said there is no way I can ride a bike, I'm in high heels and a skirt and who rents bikes anyways?!? But sure enough, he was determined that we were going to do this and next thing I knew I was pedalling my pink bicycle along the seawall of Stanley Park on the most gorgeous day you could imagine with a complete stranger.



He was a very interesting guy and I enjoyed his company but even more than that I enjoyed the wind and the sunshine and the breathtaking views. I hadn't been on a bike in years so it actually felt really weird at first and I felt like I was a little kid again, I was only missing the basket and streamers. If it can be considered a date it was the best date ever! He wasn't even really hitting on me that much, it was actually very strange the whole thing but I was in a carefree mood and thought to hell with it, who cares, I never do anything like this, I'm just going to let go and enjoy this wonderful day! And so I did.






The seawall was packed with tourists and on our ride I met several different people from all over and a few atheletes as well! It was so neat! It was such a perfect day and it was so random and unlike me to do something like this which made it even more
special.




After we rode around the entire city for about 3 hours, he offered to take me out for a fancy dinner to which I declined (It's always good to leave things on a high note). As we said goodbye and went our seperate ways, I walked away, turned the corner and about 2 seconds later I was approached by another guy who came over and started walking with me and immediately asked me out for coffee.
This day was already pretty crazy in my books (I hardly go on dates ever, let alone 2 in one day, and 2 in one day with complete strangers is just too much. Im all for a little sponteneity and adventure but come on). So I said no.
But this guy was from Spain and he was not going to let me off the hook that easily. He was very persistant and insisted I give him a reason why I couldnt go. He was not impressed by my saying that I was in a rush and told me that surely I had 5 minutes to go for coffee with him so what choice did I have!

We went to starbucks and he bought me a hot chocolate and a cookie and we sat for not too much longer than the 5 minutes he promised and actually had a nice time but said goodbye as I was still in shock from the day I was having. I don't know what it was but I think I will be going back downtown soon!

Unfortunately the craziness didn't end there as the second I walked in the door I had to run to get the phone only to have it be a friend saying she was on her way to my house to go to kickboxing class (which i had forgotten all about!). I quickly shoved some food in my mouth, changed my clothes and was off for the hardest workout I've ever done.

Needless to say I slept fantastically that night.

The past year has been the craziest and possibly the best in my life. I have had almost everything that was constant in my life suddenly change and everything that I had counted, out of no where, slipped away. Now this isn't to say that these changes and unpredictable events have been all bad. I admit that they were not necessarily welcomed with open arms at the time but in fact they have changed me in some really wonderful ways (or atleast I like to think so!)

Where to start...

Well about 6 months ago I came to the realization that I have played my whole life safe and have too easily settled into what was easy and comfertable. I had always hated this about myself but finally decided that something needed to be done about it. With a little self discovery and a little help from the movie Yes Man (yes, this comedy really did have a big impact on my life as I know it), I made a promise to myself to try things a little differently. I wanted to take advantage of all that I could and do whatever possible to not miss out on oppotunities by being too shy or scared or nervous or whatever other uncomfertable feeling I get inside when confronted with something new.

The first step I took was to get a job overseas in England and travel on my own for a few months. This was totally out of my comfort zone and considering I had never been outside of Canada/US and had never been away from home for more than 2 weeks AND had never been anywhere ALONE, this was a huge first step for me. I lived my whole trip with this sense of taking chances and pushing myself waaay outside of what I would normally be comfertable with.
I remember one night in my hostel, bored, I was just going to go to sleep for the sake of not knowing what else to do (being alone and all), but instead I forced myself to go to the pub. I have never in my life gone to a pub alone before and I admit it was a horrible feeling, about 2 seconds after walking in alone and not knowing what to do with myself, I turned around to leave but just as I did a guy came up and started talking to me. It turned out that we ended up staying up talking til 5am (and others joined in as well) and it was one of the funnest nights ever! And in fact I still keep in good touch with that guy too!

Now I get that this doesn't seem all that crazy or spontaneous but this was just the beginning, and for me this really was quite the accomplishment!

So where am I going with all of this...

Well I suppose just to say that since this first step in my new outlook on life I have been keeping a journal to document everything and have never shared that journal with anyone but have been encouraged by friends to start posting some of my random adventures on a blog for others to read.
Now my life is not always as super exciting as perhaps it could be, but I am a full-time student and I am still getting used to breaking out of my shell so bare with me! I promise I may have some of the most spontaneous and random adventures to tell!