Wind It up 2009 in a nutshell!
January– New Years Eve we spent the evening having the most AMAZING steak and lobster dinner with the whole team and then went out for drinks after. I stopped working at Grain teaching English because there wasn’t enough students for a second semester. Brendan and I had a little get away trip to Graz to see Dov and that super fun
February– Always the hardest month for me for some reason! I was in the hospital for 3 days and it was scary. I wasn’t getting out of the house enough and the living conditions, with mold and no natural lighting really got to me. When I got better Brendan and I went to Venice!! We celebrated Valentine’s Day and our two year anniversary. I also caught Brendan pulling up a chair to see what was in our fridge to eat. Note that the fridge is a hotel sized one on the floor.
March– Jackie came to visit! We spent a whole week traveling all of Italy and had soo much fun! We also made top 4 at the end of the season (which was the team’s goal) and we got to fly home at the end of this month. Before we left we did go back to Venice for carnival and stayed at our favorite hotel and had lots of fun. We also took some time to go snowboarding. We also went on one last trip together before we flew home. Brendan really really wanted to go see Florence. So I showed him my favorite places and got to experience Florence with not only Jackie but with Brendan as well.
April-We spent the first couple of days scrambling to find a place to live in Vancouver. Also kinda a random idea, I looked into aesthetic programs. In just a few days we not only found a decent,amazing location, fully furnished apartment, but also a school for me to attend for the summer. So we pack up Brendan’s car and drive out to Vancouver. (I lost a diamond in my ring at the gym in the hotel we stayed along the way) When we got there we stayed at Lin and Jill’s for a couple of days and then we flew out to Charleston to stay with my mom for a week. I literally sun bathed every single day. The weather was amazing! Sooo much sun! I went overboard and got super burnt.
I also went Curling for the very first time!
May– May 1st I started my first day of school. I jumped right in there and worked my little butt off. This was by far the easiest month of the 4 I was there, because I was still gaging my hours and what it was I really supposed to do there. I started out with the nails and facial module. I also started late! I wasn’t aware that I would be behind everyone else. This meant extra studying! During this month Brendan and I still had time to go on dates and hikes which was really nice!
June– This month I realized that I was going to need to double time the amount of hours that I spent at school. I was given the key to the building by the receptionist and literally was the first to be there and last to leave every single day. I then decided that if I was going to put myself through this then I was going to at the very least graduate with honors. And if I was going to do that then I would need to come in on Saturdays too. So that is exactly what I did and nothing else. Brendan would come hang out with me after he got off work so I wasn’t alone in the building when he could. He also brought be dinners because he knew I was only beside a coffee shop and you can only eat so much pizza :)I luckily got to take a week off of school to fly to Toronto and to Chicago for two different weddings that were back to back. (this was pre-arranged during enrollment) Niagara Falls is sooooo not overrated! I booked a hotel off of hotwire.ca and ended up at the Hilton on the Falls for super cheap! Loved it! And then for a splurge/anniversary celebration that was a month too early we stayed at the Drake Hotel for two nights (which it was the same price that the wedding couple had set up for the discount price at the Westin) I opted for the Drake because that’s where Pretty Woman and a many other movies were filmed. It was beautiful! During this month Brendan and I still had time to go on dates and hikes which was really nice!
You can see the Drake In this pic
Juliet Roberts..”There’s room for two!”
July– The only thing that I can really remember that happened this month was that the weather got realllly hot, unusually hot for Vancouver and I was inside all day, so I would stay clocked in and go down to sit on a table at the coffee shop that was outside to study and get some fresh air and sun. Marj and Wayne and Chris and Ade also came out and we celebrated Marj and Wayne’s Anniversary. I arranged a spa day for all of them and they all got manicures,pedicures, and a facial.
August– We officially were married for a year! We fully intended on staying home and what not, but ended up having a celebration week. I went into school and did a few services for a VIP client that day, but that afternoon Brendan and I went to the science museum and had soo much fun! Later that night we had dinner at the revolving restaurant at Harbour Center (this part was a surprise!). (We both liked the view) but would never go there again. We were dizzy got sick and Brendan got food poisoning. I gave Brendan a homemade puzzle that I made extra tricky. (it was made out of paper-which is what you are supposed to give for year 1?) Brendan wrote me a sincere poem that was super nice. We also got to go on a dinner cruise with Lin and Jill around English Bay. Brendan left Vancouver early to get ready to pack for Italy and I stayed behind to sell all the furniture and finish school. On the very last day of this month I graduated aesthetics with honors and flew back to Regina instantly! haha!
September– I finally arrive in Italy and believe it or not the weather is still super nice and the flowers are still nice! I found out that our apartment is 300 times better than any one we have ever been given! And the adventures begin! We travel to Lake Garda which is our all time fav! Went to gardaland and sirmione for an early birthday celebration for me!
October– We go on a helicopter ride of the whole valley, I got to go to Oktoberfest on the day of my birthday which was suuuuuuper fun! I threw a surprise birthday party for one of the girl’s on the team. I became really good friends with Verena.
November– We had four days off in the beginning of the month and we drove all the way to Budapest. We thought that it had some amazing places, but overall the city itself really stressed us out, which was kind of weird. On the way home we stopped in Bratislava making us in 5 countries all in one day. Hungary, Slovakia,Austria, Germany,and Italy!
December-Brendan’s whole family flew out and I tagged along with them on a trip to Florence for a glorious third time. I also started working in the spa and doing some babysitting for some extra money this month!
