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I originally planned to do separate posts on all of these topics but now I’m sitting here in YVR airport about to leave for 2.5 weeks thinking I’d better just write a big post to catch up instead.

Scott and I are on our way to Melbourne for #jornapalooza via Guangzhou, China. Apparently we are allowed to leave the airport in China (thanks 72 hour transit visa) so we may explore a bit there too which I am pretty excited about. The subway goes right to the airport so it should be pretty easy. Unfortunately they speak mainly Cantonese there so I won’t be able to dazzle everyone with my sweet Mandarin skills though. But it would be fun to get some street food and look around a bit.

Australia is going to be fun too. The whole family has rented a big house on Phillip Island for the first few days, then Jessie comes to Melbourne for Easter and a baby shower, and then I go to Adelaide for a few days to visit Cassia! I am iksidid.

Anyway that’s pretty much all the updates about what’s coming up. And now to catch up on the last month…

Calgary was super good this year. We spent a week at COP training in the icehouse and on the skeleton track and then competed in an Alberta Cup race on the last day. I had a lot more success sliding there compared to last year. I have learned SO MUCH this season and understood the track and sliding so much more. My starts were very very slow compared to everyone else and I would start each run in last place, but I must be ok at driving because I ended up gaining spots every run. I ended up coming 4th in the race (out of 7 competitors). My goal was not to come in last place and I definitely succeeded in that so I was happy.

This year I stayed at Ally’s house the whole time and that was awesome. It’s always great to catch up with old friends and her and Scott are very fun. I was busy a lot of the time I was there but we still squeezed in going to a nice oyster restaurant, going out to the barn for a ride on her horse, and going to watch some of the Brier curling. BTW curling is really fun to watch live!

Sliding in Whistler was going pretty well too. Sliding from the top was getting less and less scary every day. Every session I would try and push just a tiny bit faster. We ended up having quite a big turnout for our last race of the season, BC Champs, including OTHER GIRL SKELETON SLIDERS!! I came in 4th, aka last place, but I was competing against World Cup/ICC level sliders so that was to be expected. I was still pretty happy because I got a huge PB time on the first day of the race, and then another PB on the second day.

BCBSA ended up giving out medals to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places, and then a separate medal for the #1 BC slider. Originally they gave the BC medal to Jane, because she is from North Van (although she hadn’t even been in Whistler all season). But after the awards she came over and put the medal around my neck. She said I should have it because of my two PBs. :’) It meant a lot to me, that was really nice of her. So I now have my first skeleton medal.

I took a pretty big hit on my last run of the race so I decided that was a pretty good time to end the season. It has been nice to have spare time again, tbh. It was such a good season, with our new coach and new friends and new teammates. I learned SO MUCH. And now I have 6ish months to try and get stronger and faster on land before next season and tryouts. My goal for next year: an international race… which should be possible because I should be able to at least do the Whistler NAC race. Fingers crossed.

What else?..

We’ve been going to trivia every couple of weeks. Our team is called Patty O’Lanterns and we rule. We plan on doing a lot of trivia over the summer so let me know if you want to come sometime. We also plan on doing a lot of patio time at our house too.

Once I get back from Australia I am starting weightlifting lessons two times a week (instead of once a week) so next time you see me I’m going to be ripped.

All joking aside, this was actually a really tough week. Wednesday morning at work we all found out that our boss had unexpectedly passed away the day before. It was a huge shock and a huge loss for us all. He and some of my coworkers had worked together for more than 20 years, and his partner also works in our department. So so so sad. He was such a great guy and definitely a lot more than just a boss to us. Our work family lost a good friend. I will miss him.

Well we are getting pretty close to boarding time so I’m going to post this and get ready to go. Until next time (hopefully not for so long).

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1. I forget if I mentioned it already or not, but I joined a spartan barbell weightlifting gym and have been going to lessons every week. It’s been super fun!! The coach is helping me re-learn how to squat and deadlift properly, and slowly teaching me the Olympic lifts (snatch, and clean & jerk). The Oly lifts are very complex lifts and even though it’s been a month I’ve still only snatched the 20 lbs bar, and I haven’t even cleaned anything. Last week I learned how to jerk (hehe). I jerked the 30 lbs bar, woop woop.

2. I finally got trained out at the UBC nuc med department and have been working out there a bunch lately. It’s very different than VGH, so quiet and lonely. Only two techs there, with two cameras, although one camera is old and doesn’t get used that much. It’s good to have another site where I can potentially get shifts though. But from 2:30-4:00 I pretty much just stare at the printer in fear that it’s going to print out a suprise last minute requisition.

3. I applied for a PET job at the BC Cancer Agency, had an interview, got asked for references, got a call back…. and then didn’t get the job. Bummer. I really thought I got the job for a while. Maybe it’s for the best though because I am still getting lots of shifts at VGH, and it’s already going to be a busy winter. I always think I’m not going to work a lot, and then end up working almost every day. Hopefully I am fine without PET.

4. This is week 7 of no sugar or simple carbs. I feel good, more stable, less crazy cravings for sugar first thing in the morning. I’ve lost 10 lbs, and Scott’s lost like twice that. However I also feel weaker while exercising, which isn’t ideal. I want to quit the diet so I can get stronger, but the weight loss is addicting tbh. Just 5 more lbs?? One more week?? I don’t know. I think even if I do start eating sugar again, it’s not going to be a lot. Maybe just low GI foods, like a pre-diabetic diet.

Anyway it’s a beautiful blustery fall day today and we’re going to watch the Ottawa vs. Vancouver hockey game tonight. The tradition continues.

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And it’s fall.

We did squeeze in another games day on the patio before the summer was over. Scott and I taught them Agricola. Agricola is quite complicated, but it’s my all time favourite game. Even though it makes me really stressed.

I have never been so excited about a used pair of shoes. And check out my new speedsuit!! My skeleton friends Jane and Madi were so nice to send a pair of spikes and a suit my way from Calgary. It can be so hard (and expensive) to get gear for skeleton so getting anything, even used stuff, is extremely appreciated. Up till now I had been using track spikes for skeleton, but my goal for the year is to start from the top of Whistler and the track crew will not let me do that with them. Now I am fully equipped! I am so so so excited for the season to start, especially now!

I have been working a lot lately, lots of full weeks of shifts, which is fantastic. I am also supposed to get trained at our remote site out at UBC too, but there hasn’t been any time yet where I haven’t been already working! I keep expecting my amount of work to drop off drastically, but so far it hasn’t happened. Fingers crossed it keeps going the way it is!

Ooo also in exciting news… Scott got notification of his citizenship test!! This happened about 1.5 YEARS ahead of what we thought!!! Everything we read told us the application would take about 2 years, but now his test is in a couple weeks and the ceremonies tend to be about a month later! We are totally having a Canadiana party.

And lastly, I spent like two whole evenings reading through the old emails Rosemarie and I used to send each other back in 2003-2004, when I was off in Halifax and Holland, and she was in middle school/high school. They are amazing. My sister is the best. She used to send me all sorts of hilarious pictures. And now I have determined that it’s been too long since this one was last seen….

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Time for a picture dump since I’ve been a lousy blogger and haven’t been keeping up with this great summer we’ve been having.

A pretty sunset. It was like this every night for a good two weeks during the heatwave. I used to think I liked 30ºC weather, but I guess I’ve become a real Vancouverite because that is way too hot!! Now I’m happy when I see the weather report say 22ºC, heh.

We spent Canada Day on Kits beach this year with Ryan and Ryan and others. It was hot. The tide was wayyyy out so I didn’t swim. Random raindrops fell from the sky which weirded people out enough to pack up their beach stuff and leave.

Pre-fireworks sunset with Lauren. Always envious of the people watching from a boat. I need to make friends with someone with a boat. The fireworks were good. It was funny hearing the music coming from the speakers and  people’s radios and phone apps all out of sync.

Scott accidentally broke off a whole branch of his tomato plant. Whoops!! By the way the tally so far is Scott: 17, Katrina 41. WOO!! Our plants still have quite a few flowers and green tomatoes but they are not developing nearly as fast so I think the contest is nearly over.

Free slurpee on 7-11. Perfect timing, it was SUPER hot that day.

I went to the Sunshine Coast with Lesley a few weeks ago. It was Sea Cavalcade and there was a parade and fireworks and other stuff going on. We watched the fireworks from a tugboat. I always have a nice relaxing time while visiting her house, like a cottage getaway.

Rosemarie came over and we played Agricola. We finally tried out the expansion! I liked it, even though Scott won both games as usual. Rosemarie still says it is her least favourite game. Sigh.

The second game took so long the sun went down and it was too dark to see the pieces any more. We reached a new level of nerdiness when we brought out my old desk lamp to light up the games table. How lovely it is to be out on the patio all the time this summer though?! Our patio rules.

Many games of Settlers this summer. We’ve gotten quite a lot of use from the 5-6 player expansion!! Thanks MEP and Paul!

Well that’s all I’ve got.

We have one more week of work and then we’re off to Osoyoos for a week. Both of us are really looking forward to this vacation because we’ve been working hard!! Scott has been doing a ton of overtime and I’ve been working every day too. Can’t wait for white wine and swimming all day in the lake.

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I haven’t blogged in 5ever again. I really don’t have a lot to talk about though. All I’ve been doing is going to appointments, working, and sleeping. In one week I got my hair cut, donated blood, and had three different doctors appointments. And I have been working A LOT! <– this is good though

This weekend is Rosemarie’s and my trip to Listowel. I am looking forward to it, but I also know it is going to be very tiring. I’ve done that overnight flight to Toronto too many times already and every time I tell myself that I will never do it again. A 4 HOUR FLIGHT IS A TERRIBLE OVERNIGHT FLIGHT!! But….. that Sunwing deal was just too good to pass up. Pass me 1,000 melatonin please.