Obligatory Vacation Photos

After a busy, exhausting week in Alberta, my sister and I have returned. West Edmonton Mall was so much fun, especially the water park. I didn't end up doing very much shopping but still managed to have an overweight suitcase (according to Dr. Air Canada).

Jasper was amazing of course. Every single time I told someone we were going to Jasper, the reply was always, "Oh! Jasper! I LOVE Jasper! You're going to have a great time!" Indeed, it's a hard place to dislike.

Anyway, I won't bore you with words. Here are some choice photos.


My sister and I (right and left, respectively) on some space drop ride in Galaxy Land (at WEM). We staged this and then were too cheap to buy the actual photo.


A slice of heaven...I love water slides.


My sister and I canoeing on Pyramid Lake in Jasper.


Me with my hour-old tattoo (under the bandage) with 382 Galaxy Land tickets. All it got us was an inflatable frisbee.


Elk on the road...we saw so many of them.


We did a tour thing to Mt. Robson.


We rented bikes and biked down this trail (which eventually led us nowhere).

All in all, we had a great time. I love the west. I've spent time in both the Atlantic and Pacific regions of Canada and although I loved the maritimes, I think I'll be adding myself to western Canada's population some day.

Also, here is what I learned from holidays this time: don't travel on little to no sleep. I was awake basically from Sunday at 9:00am MDT to Tuesday morning at 1:30am EDT. I did it voluntarily because we had a very early Greyhound bus, however it made the rest of the day very frustrating. I ended up leaving my jacket in an airport shuttle (which I got back), then left my iPod and cell phone at security in Edmonton. I was cranky all day, and then eventually burst out crying when we missed our last flight. The nice people at Air Canada took pity on me, though (they said they thought I was 17 or 18!) and gave my sister and I a free night at the Delta with $50 to spend on meals. I imagine that's pretty standard if it's Air Canada's fault that you missed your flight, but it still made me feel better.

On Holidays

I'm on holidays now...if you want to see what I'm up to, check out my Twitter page.

Northern Speakeasies AKA North Mart

One of my favourite parts about vacation preparations is buying tiny, trial/travel-sized products. Unfortunately, our North Mart has an embarrassing selection of trial-sized products. I believe right now they are offering one brand of shampoo, no conditioner, trial-sized Lady Speed Stick, a small bag of cotton balls, and super cheap Gillette Sensor razors- not a trial-sized product by any means. I had a Gillette Sensor as a young teenager, it was the first razor I owned. I'm not sure how that classifies it as a trial-sized product, but okay, North Mart, go for it.

In light of dental work I've had lately (the first in many years- oops) I wanted to bring mouthwash on holidays. If you've ever shopped in a Nunavut grocery store, you know that such a product is locked behind a cabinet. Any products here that contain alcohol are locked up. This includes mouthwash, hairspray, rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover, Purell, and vanilla. Although I am a mentally sane person in most ways, I always find asking to get into the cabinet uncomfortable. I'm clearly not a user of inedible alcohol products, but I always know that for one split second the employee is asking themselves, "Okay, is this girl just going to drink this hairspray later or should I let her take one?"

This evening I asked a North Mart employee, "Can I get in there?" referring to the locked cabinet, and I immediately thought, "Oh great, Jaime. That doesn't sound desperate!" It's funny: even though I intend to use the products legitimately, I always tell myself I have to seem convincing of it. Mouthwash was all I went to North Mart for but I told myself, "You can't check out with just mouthwash, you'll look insane!" Yes, I really do have these thought processes.

Maybe I analyze things too much, or maybe I'm just delirious since I'll be in Ontario 48 hours from now. Nobody needs to relax right now more than I do and I'm so thankful I can do starting around tomorrow at 4:30pm.

I believe I already said this but...so long suckers!

Extra extra, read all about it...
I forgot to include some photos!


Oh, is it really 11:30pm? Hmm, I don't feel sleepy.


2:30am. Nope, not falling asleep anytime soon.


3am and the sun is up. Oh goody.


My okpik collection. I love these things. I'm not really into Inuit art, save for okpiks and Kenojuak Ashevak prints (if I could afford one). So while my carving collection remains at a measly 2, my okpik collection continues to grow.

Vacation Pretend Scrapbook

Well, it's one week until I leave on holidays for a few weeks. What does this mean? It means I'm literally unable to form a thought that doesn't revolve around vacation. I feel myself becoming more useless in social situations. The only thing circulating through my head is, "Arby's, McDonalds, Wendy's, Starbucks, Timbits, malls, pavement, trees, American Eagle in person!, flights, layovers, family, home-cooked meals by Mom, beaches, cake, Sunripe, Lake Huron, Canatara Park..." and really, I could go on for a long time.

It's also the only time I allow myself to get frustrated and annoyed with the north. Right now I've nearly reached the end of my rope when it comes to potholes and slow drivers.

In general, I love the north and I'm glad it's different from the south. But right now, what I wouldn't give to go to McDonalds at 1am and then take a stroll through a 24-hour Shopper's Drug Mart. I'm not like this any other time except for when I know it's coming very soon. And really, isn't that the best way to be? I rarely think about the south between holidays, it's only the week before that I become antsy to leave.

I'm surprisingly less stressed out this time around. Last August as I was preparing to leave, it felt like there was so much to do. Now I think I'll be able to get away with some light cleaning and packing my clothes.

And because I'm literally unable to think of anything except vacation, here is a pretend scrapbook of photos I may possibly take during the next few weeks:


But of course. First meal for sure.


My journey then brings me to Edmonton.


And the famous mall.


Oh yes, god love the mall.


Mom and Dad, I'm totally kidding. (Only I'm not, but I hope they believe in reverse psychology.)


Canoeing in this park anyone?


Then two weeks of beautiful Lake Huron.


And many a peaceful drive.

I likely won't be updating until I get back, so the fake pictures will have to do for now. See ya, suckers!

Labels and Coincidences

1. I added a list of all my entry labels on the sidebar. Now if you're here looking for information, this will make the search through entries easier.

2. I am going through all my entries without tags and adding tags. It struck me just how many names of commentors are names I recognize now from work, town, friends, etc. It's such a small world here, but it's great knowing people are walking around here and my blog helped them or inspired them or whatever it does.

3. It was a whopping 7 Celsius today. Outside, I thought, "I never thought 7C could feel like summer but here we are." I wish I had an explanation for why it feels so much warmer than it actually is. I don't know why a sunny 7C is t-shirt weather here and warm jacket weather in Ontario. It's more than a state of mind.

4. If you live in Iqaluit and you're one of those people who drives 20-30km the whole way down Niaqunngusiaq Road, just know that I'm out there and I'm getting very annoyed.

God Bless This Mess

Please excuse the mess of a layout this blog is sure to be until I figure out how to get my old template back.

It seems I had no choice but to upgrade my account or something or other. It really annoys me when websites force you to change; I find it usually just makes things more complicated. However, I was no longer able to leave comments on newer blogs which is frustrating. Amanda, I've left you tons of comments that seem to go unposted by crappy Blogger. Jordan & Steph, thanks so much for the kind words, I appreciate it. I'll leave a more detailed comment on your blog when I get this muck sorted out.

In the meantime, I offer you this funny story about ravens building nests on the CBC building in Aklavik, NWT. Gave me a good laugh today. I particularly enjoyed the line about the penthouse suite.

Well it's 10pm and the sun is shining. Better get cracking on fixing this template.

EDIT:
Well I figured out the commenting problem. Turns out it had nothing to do with my classic layout, it was Firefox. ARGH. Wish I'd known that before I changed it. I've got it back mostly to how it was, but it's just not the same. I had that template for 3 years with no intention of changing it. Ugh, technology!

EDIT AGAIN:
Reverted back AND I can comment. Now there was a solid 2 hours wasted! It's time to get some sleep. Lesson of the day: Firefox for Mac sucks. Looks like I'm stuck with Safari if I want to comment on newer blogs. Anyone else have problems? Basically my Firefox forgets I'm signed in when I'm on blogs. The dashboard is fine, it's just blogs. So when I go to leave a comment and select my profile, I can't access anything. Oi...okay seriously, sleep now.

Vacation Rituals

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, my twin. No sign of her, my appearance must have gone back to obscurity. Even when Happy Birthday was sung to me in the midst of wing night at the Storehouse, nobody came up to me and said, "Hey Molly, happy birthday!" Phew! Maybe I really do have my own identity here.

Well, it's 11pm and for the past week or so, I've been having to force myself to go to sleep. Right now it is a bit dark, but light enough that I can make out buildings across town (I have quite the view). This is my normal reaction to the prolonged sunlight. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to affect me much in the morning after a night of sub-par sleep; I just have so much energy to go around.

In one day less of a month, I will be on vacation. Yay! My sister and I are going out west to Edmonton and Jasper and I can't wait! My sister has never been to any provinces outside of Ontario and has never been on an airplane. I'm pretty excited about just seeing her reaction to such a different atmosphere. I have a full week booked for our trip which includes the West Edmonton Mall and outdoor day adventures in Jasper National Park.

Upon my arrival back to Ontario in early July, I have nearly 3 solid weeks to relax and visit. Let me tell you, this blogger needs a tan badly. There will be days of nothing but sunshine, patio chairs, trashy novels, and fresh fruit.

This will be my 4th visit back to Ontario since moving to Nunavut in August 2006. I don't think I'm alone in saying that we develop rituals on our vacations. My Sarnia rituals are:

1. Going to Sunripe. This is a small store in Sarnia that sells primarily produce, but also has delicious baked goods, dips, seafood, and other organic and healthy foods. I LOVE this store. I always stock up there within 24 hours of being in Sarnia so that for the rest of my vacation I can hoard cheese sticks (with their amazing eggplant dip), chocolate-covered pretzels, homemade cookies, and fresh cherries. I always buy those same 6 things, a stay in Sarnia just wouldn't be right without one of those.

2. Ordering a cake from William's Pastry. It is shameful how much sugar I ingest while in Sarnia, but if I had to choose just one ritual, it would be ordering my plain white cake from William's. I don't even know how to write in words just how good their cake is. Oh yes, and I always buy some of their famous oatmeal cookies. Man, it's sad just how much I look forward to food.

3. Many drives through Canatara Park. If time permits, I will always take the long way to go anywhere so that I can drive through the park. It's not hard to understand why when the north is so barren.

4. A drive up the lake. I was fortunate enough to be raised about 600 metres from the shore of Lake Huron. I love that lake and always miss it when I'm away.

5. Weather-permitting (I've been to Sarnia once in the winter), at least one bike ride can be expected of my holidays. I love biking through Sarnia on summer nights and hope some day I live somewhere that I can take summer night bike rides under the trees.

6. Of course, visiting the fam. That's a given!

Of all the things I love about holidays, I think the following picture sums up quite nicely why sometimes it's nice to get away for awhile.



Feel free to tell me about your own vacation rituals, I'd love to hear them.