For Timmy’s 30th birthday gift, I treated him to a fun-filled 4-day trip to Vancouver, host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics!

We had a grand time exploring the city…especially the historic buildings (Timmy’s favorite thing) in formerly industrial, now trendy and upscale, neighbourhoods like Gastown and Yaletown. Of course, there was the shopping/tourist area of Robson/Granville streets to experience as well!

I would highly recommend to anyone, even Vancouverites, to attend a FREE walking tour of Vancouver from tourguys.ca. Steve’s a Van city/history enthusiast and offers free walking tours…just because he loves it! We had a two hour walking tour of Gastown/Downtown and learned a great deal about the city’s rich history, place names, where to eat and not eat (as well as drink), and newly built attractions for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

<Tim and I at Capone’s Restaurant in Yaletown, listening to some live blues and drinking an exceptionally delicious bottle of Sauv. Blanc>

One of the many great things I love about Vancouver is the selection and abundance of good quality and “relatively” inexpensive  ethnic restaurants within the City. We feasted every night on glorious food- Isu Japanese in Yaletown, Al Portos Italian in Gastown, Mephis Blues BBQ on West Broadway, and Jang Mo Jib Korean on Robson St. Ugh- I’m full just thinking about it!

There’s also a good selection of quality cafes (like 49th Parallel on 4th Ave), so worthwhile that it warrants converting from an avid tea-drinker to coffee fiend! Vancouverites do know how to make great coffee! Oh- here’s an interesting factoid: the Starbucks at Waterfront Station was the first international Starbucks to be established outside the States/Seattle. Learnt that from my tour guide Steve.

<Me on the Aquabus from False Creek to Granville Island; Tim enjoying a nice cup of java; me at Gastown’s steam clock; and obviously, the grand entrance to Granville Island. The public market is definitely worth checking out- tons of freshly baked goods, seafood, pastries, fruits and veggies, handmade crafts, deli’s,…we even found reasonably priced English meat pies and cornish pasties! Tim was ecstatic!>

We were thoroughly impressed with the City and easily understood why it’s ranked as one of the most liveable cities in the world. The most important aspect to a liveable city is a well designed and efficient transportation system (of course, a Transport Canada employee would think this to be true!). The transit, sky train, cycling, ferry, and pedestrian systems were incredible- and we used them all (we rode a tandem bike around Stanley Park in 2007 though)! It’s extremely easy to get around the city. In terms of affordability, sure it might be affordable to rent a place downtown, but you’ll have to save alteast a million to be able to own a place here! In my mind- it’s worth every penny considering the high quality of life you’ll be living.

<Tim and I at Dr.Sun Yat-Sen garden in Chinatown; Olympic rings lit up on Coal Harbour; Tim at False Creek>

<Nice murals from hifimural.ca- http://www.hifimurals.ca/murals/murals.htm I wish we have some cool murals like this in Edmonton!>

<Beautiful beluga at the Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park. First ever seeing one up close! Not a big fan of animal captivity but for the purposes of conservation research, I guess it’s a necessary evil ;-( >

<Climbing up Grouse Mountain with some friends (all of them except Tim have all done the Ironman! Tim and I felt like incompetent athletes hanging out with them). By the time we reached the top, there was about 2 feet of snow! It was also the first day the ski resort opened. >

<Delicious italian sausage and carpaccio at Al Portos, Gastown>

<Enjoying Korean BBQ chicken, pancake and hot pot at Jang Mo Jib, Robson St. BTW, Mike’s growing a comedy porn moustache for Movember- a November awareness fundraiser-campaign on men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer>

<Elvis platter at the Memphis Blues BBQ House on W.Broadway. Unfortunately they don’t take reservations on Fri and Sat, so it was an hour plus wait for our table! Well worth the wait though.>

My original intention was to make pretty decorative gift boxes and sell them at the 2010 Edmonton Whyte Ave Art Walk (http://www.art-walk.ca/), but upon printing, cutting and folding them out, I discovered that it was WAYYYY too much work. So here they are, some decorative gift boxes for you to download, print, cut and fold yourself.

I found these box templates from the web, and the patterns were from the book “The Crafter’s Pattern Sourcebook” by M.MacCarthey (available from the public library). It has LOADS of cultural motifs you can use to design things like quilts, ceramics, furniture…and boxes! It was fun making a design for these boxes but I unfortunately don’t have the patience (and time) to do the rest of the work (i.e. making the actual box)!

FYI- best printed in card stock. The stationary store “Notables” (Edmonton) sells really nice card stock.

Enjoy!

Heart-box

Bonbon box

Since Tim’s arrival in Canada, life’s now back on track. Not that life stopped when he was away- it just didn’t feel so complete without him!

We’ve been busily enjoying eachother’s company- having romantic dinners, going to plays and and watching movies (Woman in Black at the Roxy is awesomely scary and highly recommended), going for early morning runs along the river valley…we even spent a whole Sunday hanging out with my two nieces!

Most recently, we competed in a marathon in Kelowna, BC over the Thanksgiving long weekend. Our months of training had paid off and we finished the race in 4:06:30…we’re both very pleased with our time and happy that we ran beside each other the WHOLE way (awwwwwww).

Here are some pics of our life “back on track”- enjoy!

<Birthday and welcoming home celebrations…30’s the new 18!>

<What’s a birthday without birthday pancakes…can’t forget the maple syrup! Yum!>

<Biking along Edmonton’s beautiful river valley>

<Edmonton’s North Saskatchewan River valley, a 10min jaunt from where we live>

<Taking the historic High Level Street Car from downtown to Strathona/Whyte Ave with my nieces and Tim. The first streetcar ride was in 1908; it’s also one of the highest river crossings by streetcar in the world. Fascinating. More info here- http://www.edmonton-radial-railway.ab.ca/highlevelbridge/.>

<An afternoon at Crankpot Studios painting ceramics>

<The lovely Okanagan/Kelowna, British Columbia>

<Couple shot!>

<Trestles along the Myra Canyon, which form part of the historic Kettle Valley Railway (built between 1910-1915). The Kettle Valley Railway was built to secure Canada’s position in interior BC, as many Americans were rushing in to mine the ore found in the area. Today it serves as a hiking/biking trail and popular tourist attraction. Highly recommended! >

<Can’t visit the Okanagan without visiting some of the wineries! Unfortunately, we couldn’t sample too much as we had a marathon to prep for the next day.>

Ah yes, and here we are crossing the finish line; Tim’s wincing while I am happily smiling- lol. Overall, it was a great experience-…my legs and muscles suffered little fatigue- a good sign that I trained well. I came 312th/571 overall, 112th/257 in the female category, and 45th/96 in my age group. Now that my personal benchmark is set from this marathon, I can train to beat it the next go around. Next go around?? Hmmm,…don’t think so. Not in the near future anyway

Bad news: I miss Tim.

Good news: I don’t have to miss him for long! Tim was recently approved for permanent residency and will be returning back to Canada in the very near future- hurray!! It was  definitely well worth the 3 month wait! Managing a long distance relationship was emotionally agonizing and the 7 hour time difference didn’t help the situation. But atlas, we survived the tough part; as the saying goes- patience is a minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue Admittedly, there were times when I was tempted to just hop on the next plane to the UK for a quick bootie call! lol.

There are so many things about my Timmy that I’m excited to have back in my life- like his daily morning kisses and after-work hugs, his bed-time “i luv you’s” before drifting off to sleep, hearing English (not from BBC radio), quirky English humour…and the list goes on and on. There are probably some things about Tim that I have forgotten, but rest assured, I’d likely remember them when Tim returns and we resume living our lives happily together!

More good news: I got accepted into a Masters of Science programme (Environmental Management) with the University of London (UK). It’s a distance-based learning programme that has both course and thesis/research components; and will take up to 5yrs to complete (studying on a part-time basis). Fortunately I will be supported by my employer (i.e. tuition paid) and will therefore only have to worry about finding the time (and self-motivation!) to study. I start in February 2010 and so must make a good effort to enjoy this free time before then….which of course in my terms translates into TRAVEL! Tim and I think that Central America would be a good place to start….can’t wait to travel again!

Some photos of the summer- enjoy!

(My friend Sarah in the blue wetsuit competing in the Half Moon Lake Tri)

(Co-worker Kevin and his friend Louis competing in the Half Moon Lake Tri)

(Me and Sarah at the Lake Miquelon/Alberta Challenge Tri. Photo courtesy of Sarah)

(My transition area at the Miquelon Lake/Alberta Challenge Tri- I love my lil Cervelo!)

(Lil troublemakers at Liya’s 7th birthday party; in the photo from L to R: Kayla, Liya and Kyana)

(Liya blowing out her birthday candles)

(Nephew Brendon and his cousin Tin at the Alberta Legislature grounds on Canada Day)

After a long season of training (started in April), it is finally over! Hurray! I recently competed in the 2009 Alberta Challenge Olympic Tri held at Miquelon Lake. It was such a blast! The 1.5km swim wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be- the water was quite frigid and so the wetsuit was nice to have. I was abit worried about the swim, considering that in the pool my time was pretty “slow”. But I managed to finish it in about 33 minutes- a personal best for me! The 10km run was challenging as it was a dirt trail with plenty of hills. I did abit of hill training for my runs, so I wasn’t left struggling too much towards the end. As for the bike, I pedaled strong and managed to pass most of my female competitors by the time I started my run. Sadly, one of the leading cyclists got hit by a drunk driver (not a fatal injury thankfully)- people can be so selfishly stupid, really makes me frustrated to hear about D&D accidents!

Overall I placed 39th/88 in the race; 8th/35 in the female category and 5th/15 in my age category, with an overall time of 2:58:24. I’m really happy with my race results! I was abit worried about the race as I was suffering from burn out and fatigue 2 weeks prior. My marathon training (i.e. long runs) combined with my tri training really had tired me out and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to do both…unless of course you’re training for an Ironman! But that’s a whole new level of training that I’m really not up for just yet.

Now that the tri race is behind me, I’ve enjoyed this past week EATING. Yup, just spoiling my body rotten- chocolate, ice cream, greasy chinese food….mmmmm. This week, I’m back on track for my marathon training (race is Oct 11th). Another month to go- I’m so excited!! And I won’t be racing alone- Tim’s going to join me and hopefully we’ll be crossing the finishing line together

It has taken me awhile, but I finally finished my drawing/sketch of the Taj! I started this project last summer when I first got my Wacom drawing tablet…yeah, I need to choose more simple projects.

I’m loving this HOT weather. I’ve been spending quite abit of time outdoors training for my Olympic tri- running, biking and now open water swimming. Last night I went for a swim at Half Moon Lake (just 20min east of Edmonton) and there was a moose moose-paddling across the lake- how cool is that?

Thanks to some Transport Canada co-workers, biking training has been raised up notch and now I’m doing long distance rides of ~60km/session. My swim training has suffered abit though as I’ve been traveling for work these past few weeks. No worries- I still have until race day (Aug 23rd) to practice!

I recently competed in a Sprint Tri at the Summerside Lake triathlon early this month. It was great fun! The water was a chilly 14 degrees C, but luckily I invested in a full body wetsuit (I have a sleeveless one, but that didn’t cut it). My feet unfortunately were numb from the cold water and biking didn’t help with circulation. So when it came time to run, it was a pretty slow start (I even had my right calf cramp up which never happened before!). Fortunately I didn’t fall too far behind.

[Me in the transition area at the Summerside Lake Tri]

I ended up in 11/39th place in the female category; 6/17th in my age/female category and 33/80th place overall. My co-worker Kevin, placed 3rd in his age category and 11th place overall! I was soooo jealous. It was well-deserved though- he’s pretty well disciplined in his training.

Work’s been busy as well. Since my return from the UK/Germany, I’ve travelled to Charlottetown (PEI), Ottawa, Winnipeg and Yellowknife for meetings, conferences and training. I’m abit tired from traveling…I’ve now got a pile of desk work to sift through- mostly environmental assessment reports to read that are many volumes long (literally)!

[Parliament hill- attended a tour of the center block- went up the "peace tower" (i.e. big ben look alike) and visited the house of commons' public gallery. Unfortunately, no Harper or Iggy.]

[Oldest part of Parliament- the library, built in Victorian Gothic style, and known as the "most beautiful room in Canada". It is also the only part of Parliament that didn't get destroyed by the fire of 1916. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos inside because it would be too disruptive.. but I can tell you first hand, it was absolutely gorgeous inside with its walnut, cherry and oak interior! Check out the photos here on the CBC website-http://www.cbc.ca/sevenwonders/wonder_library_of_parliment.html]

[Locks of the Rideau canal. Famous canal which Ottawatarians skate on to get to work in winter (not through these lock however).]

[More of the beautiful Rideau canal. Spent one morning jogging alongside the canal and Ottawa River which it flows into.]

[A Real Canadian treat- beavertails. Out west, we call them elephant ears. Basically it's a big flat deep fried donut with brown sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top. Mmmmm, calories!]

[Had a good laugh at this one! During Obama's visit to Ottawa, he came into this bakery and bought one of these "Canadian" cookies. Now the bakery is marketing them as "Obama cookies!". LOL.]

Other than that-I’ve been just hanging out with family and friends. Most Sundays, I help out my parents at the Good Buddy downtown mall kiosk serving Vietnamese food- atleast one of my parents get a break from working. Not sure how they do it, but my legs are so sore from standing all day long!

As most of you know, Tim’s still in the UK awaiting some news on immigration (I applied to sponsor him as a common-law partner). It’s been alittle over a month since we applied- but atlas, there is hope!! I recently received a letter of approval to sponsor today (whoop!). It’s now up to the visa office in London to review the permanent residency portion of the application and determine the validity of our “common-lawness”. Please let it be quick- I miss my Tim Tim!

[My dad and the girls (nieces) on Father's Day. My siblings and I treated my father out to dinner at...Good Buddy (restaurant)! There was no where else he wanted to eat (sadly).]

[My brothers Kiet and Phong, and mum on Father's Day]

One of the joys of living in the same city as my family is that I get to be a good auntie. This past Saturday I cheered on my nieces at their dance recital hosted by Variations Academy of Performing Arts. They’ve been dancing for about 2 years at this academy and I really believe that it has helped them improve their self-esteem, but above all else, get over stage fright! They really enjoyed dancing on stage (despite their nerves at the start) and remembered all their steps. Congrats Kyana and Kyala- you’ve made your auntie very proud!

<Kyala, age 5, is on the right>

(Kyala again enjoying her 3 min of fame)

(sister Tuyet prepping Kyana for her tap recital)

(Kyana, age 7, looking as graceful as she can in her ballet shoes)

If you are one of the many dedicated fans of Anne (with an E), you may have correctly guessed that this post is ALL about my exciting visit to Green Gables (and of course, PEI)!!! Green Gables is the place that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery to write the novel and subsequent sequels on “Anne of Green Gables”- however, most of you would have been exposed to “Anne of Green Gables” through the popular CBC television series in the mid-80s. 

In loving memory of her and her work, Green Gables has been made a national historic site (near Cavendish National Park). And even though Anne is highly popularised on the island (they sell Anne paraphernalia EVERYWHERE you go), Green Gables itself is worthwhile to see. It’s situated along a beautiful creek and lush forest- a perfect place for any person to be inspired and write stories in my opinion! 

Unfortunately I missed opening hours (9-5pm) and so wasn’t able to tour inside Green Gables. But here’s my happy-happy-joy dance for finally having to see Green Gables after so many years knowing about it!      

Believe it or not, there is actually more to see in PEI than just Anne of Green Gables (truly!). I rented a bike for a day to tour the quaint and charming town of Charlottetown (pop. ~32,000). The beautiful Victorian homes along the waterfront filled me green with envy and left me wanting a similar character home beside the sea.

The people were very friendly (and chatty too!), and the fresh seafood was abundant and absolutely delicious. Tip: go for the seafood chowder and scallops any opportunity you can.  The lobster was also good and I was contemplating bringing some back home- they are relatively cheaper in the east coast (say $5 vs $8.50 per pound), but if you were to include the packaging and hassle of flying it back, the costs outweigh the benefits in my opinion. 

<There’s only one word to describe Charlottetown…quaint. Each business and personal home have their own unique character. Most houses were Victorian or Georgian style homes, where as the basilica and stone parishes were of Romanesque-revival.>

<Classic Victorian home- Beaconsfield House built in 1877.>

<Provincial house where the Fathers of Confederation met and discussed confederation in 1864; the British North American Act was passed in 1867, which became the foundation to the Constitution of Canada.> 

<Attached housing in downtown Charlottetown…I love how colourful they all are!>

<St.Duncan’s basilica, Charlottetown>

<Cycling along the waterfront boardwalk of Victoria Park.>

<I rented a bike for touring around town and cycling parts of the Confederation Trail. Luck had it that it poured of rain the whole afternoon. I was determined to get my money’s worth though and biked what I could!>

<Canadian famous COWS ice cream. Unfortunately I am currently training and so declined the opportunity- now THAT is strong willpower! I did however drink some high caloric ale from a few micro-breweries around town.>  

<Mmmmm, lobster!! And yes…a bib is necessary!>

Since I was in Charlottetown for a work-related conference, I took the opportunity to spend an extra day after the conference to tour the island. With a 24hour rental I drove the Green Gables coastal drive (Brackley Beach to Cavendish to Malpaque Bay to Summerside) and the North Cape Coastal drive (west portion of the island). In my opinion, the North Cape Coastal drive wasn’t very scenic as I didn’t get to see much of the coast. And when I did, the beaches weren’t very spectacular. Oh well, if I ever have the opportunity to return, I’ll have to explore the Eastern part of PEI. Enjoy the pics!

Just returned from a wonderful vacation in the UK and Germany. Tim and I spent some time visiting his grandparents in Lincolnshire, grandad in Wales, and sister Jo from south of London. Inbetween these family visits, we managed a weekend flight to Germany to visit my relatives, and toured around London, Bristol, Bath and Liverpool…all of this within a 2 week time span! I’m terribly exhausted but it was definitely time well spent!

Upon arrival, the weekly weather forecast in Cheshire was the following:

• cloudy, light rain, followed by heavy rain
• showers, light rain, and cloudy;
• heavy rain and light rain;
• cloudy and light rain…
• I think you get the point now. LOL.

Despite the English rain, it didn’t dampen our spirits. Tim was in a great mood being in an all English environment- bacon (back not streaky), pies, sausage, pickles, cheese… and of course, what’s England without English people to talk to?

As I am traveling quite abit for work for the next few weeks (currently in PEI), I’m unfortunately too busy to write a full account of the adventures and misadventures (like almost losing my passport…again!) of my travels. Hopefully these nice photos offer a sneak preview of this most enjoyable vacation.

Me at the Beatles Museum in Liverpool. Highly recommended!

Original entrance to the Cavern Club, Liverpool (club where the Beatles played alot and gained local fame). This club had to be relocated due to the lack of a fire escape.

Some nice Heritage Buildings in Liverpool.

Streets of the Alstadt in Dusseldorf, Germany. Just beer and food! Photo credit: Tim Fletcher.

Making and packaging chocolate at the chocolate museum in Koln, Germany.

Cousins Hue and Cuong at the cathedral in Koln, Germany.

Cousin Jenny and I presenting black pudding stewed with apples and mashed potatoes, a local German dish called Himmel on Ahd.

Cousins and second cousins (and Tim) in Germany.

Tim and his grandparents, Leverton, Lincolnshire.

Caernavon castle in Wales. Place where Prince Charles was crowned Prince of Wales. Photo credit: Tim Fletcher.

Isle of Anglesey, Wales.

Heaths of the Isle of Anglesey, Wales.

Tim and his granddad Rodney. Can you see the similarities??!

Nice photo of Tim! Isle of Anglesey, Wales.

Bath Abbey, Bath.

Bridge, Bath.

Clifton suspension bridge built by I.K. Brunel, one of England’s greatest engineer in history. Bristol, England.

Tim and Brunel’s SS Great Britain, Bristol.

Houses of Parliament, London. Actually got into the public gallery to watch a debate- exciting!

Shakespeare Globe Theatre, London. Watched the tragedy Romeo and Juliet…whilst standing for 3 hours. All worth the 5 pounds we paid though!

Banksy graffiti art http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html well-known British graffiti artist, Bristol.

My favorite English food of all…PASTIES!!! Ate so many I started to look like one!

Pretty pelican/heron?, London.

Mmmm, ale, pie and mash at a traditional pub in London.

Smiling snail.