HOLY SH%TBALLS!

Gold for both our Men's and Women's hockey teams!!!! What a way to finish off an amazing Olympics!! I am so stoked for the Closing Ceremonies tonight!

Anyone Watching the Olympics?

So the Games are now underway in our fair city. I have never been one to be glued to the TV when the Olympics are on, but I've been quite interested this year. I'm sure the fact that they are taking place right under my nose helps encourage me to tune in. There have been some amazing, wonderful moments, and some heart-wrenchingly awful ones too. I can't skip over the passing of young Nodar Kumaritashvili, a young luger from the country of Georgia who died as a result of injuries sustained in an on-track crash. To place blame on the venue, the designers, or the athlete is wrong in my opinion. It was a horrible, terrifying accident that happened on a track that had hosted thousands of practice runs over the last few months. Nodar was obviously experienced enough to be on Olympian. It was an accident that could have happened to anyone. I think to point fingers and replay the footage hundreds of times over is a disrespect to his memory. He was an amazing athlete and wonderful competitor who lived for his sport.

On to a brighter side of the Games: the Opening Ceremonies. I have heard lots of feedback from fellow Vancouverites, as well as opinions from members of the media. The local crowd is very proud of our city and the show we put on. Yes it was a little long, and very "Canadian", but overall I thought it was great. To be totally honest, I could have done with a little less of the boy flying over the wheat fields, but that was quickly made up for by an amazing performance of "Hallelujah" (one of my fave songs) by k.d. Lang. I've never been a big k.d. fan, but wow, she was amazing. She really did that song justice! I've heard many a person complain that this opening was nowhere near as great as Beijing's ceremony....umm people, first off the Summer Games are much larger than the Winter games, and secondly there are over A BILLION Chinese people, while Canada holds just over 30 million. We are a much smaller country, with a smaller economy. Besides, us Canadians pride ourselves on understated elegance hahah! I thought Vanoc did a great job and it made me proud to be Canadian. I can't help but get a bit annoyed at the media for whining and complaining about how awful the ceremony was. Thousands of people worked for thousands of hours during the last TWO YEARS to put it together. How about we give our fellow man a pat on the back instead of trying to tear him down? Even if I thought parts were a bit silly, I will still compliment the heck out of anyone who took part. It was truly a wonderful show of art, dance, music and culture. It made me so proud to be from Vancouver and Canada! Go Team Canada!

PS - YAH we won our first gold medal on Canadian soil last night in the men's freestyle skiing! So proud :)

Home of the Olympics

Every day on my commute to work, I think that I am so blessed to live in the prettiest place on Earth! I was born and raised in the Howe Sound area on the coast of British Columbia. I live halfway between Vancouver and Whistler (the home of the downhill skiing events for the 2010 Olympic) in the heart of Games territory. I snapped the pic below on my way home from work today:

I took it on my Blackberry, and it was starting to get dark, hence the less than amazing quality. I think you can get the idea of how amazing my commute is. I get to drive the prettiest, most amazing highway every day. Only in beautiful BC do you get to drive along a mountainside looking at the sea. I am kind of a party pooper, and haven't been too stoked on the upcoming games for many reasons. I am starting to get in the spirit a bit as they come closer. I amgetting excited for the world to see how truly gorgeous Canada is! No we don't live in igloos, and no it doesn't snow all year lol! Vancouver really is one of the most gorgeous cities in Canada, if not the world, and I can't wait for everyone to see!

Dinner Tonight

Here is a pic of my tasty dinner I made tonight. I made vegetarian "chicken" parmesan with a Veggie Patch Chick'n Cutlet, homemade tomato basil sauce, and mozza with szechuan green beans and potato chips I baked in the oven.

Gah these last few weeks have been so stressful at work. It is so nice to come home after a long day at work and make a tasty dinner and have a glass of wine. Tonight I'm having a healthy glass of New Harbour Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. I have been obsessed with Kiwie wines lately and this one is great!

Bon appetite!

My Fave Soundtracks

I'm bored, so I'm going to share some of my favorite movie soundtracks:

*Go Motion Picture Soundtrack - Esthero, Natalie Imbruglia, Len (hehe), Leftfield, Massive Attack - it's just goooood!

*Can't Hardly Wait - such a good, funny movie! Run D.M.C., The Replacements, Blink 182...just fun!

*New Moon - tons of indie goodies on there! Eskimo Joe, The Editors, Anya Marina, Ok Go, Bon Iver... it's all good!

*Empire Records - cult favorite! It was the soundtrack to my youth lol!

Definitely teen movie related (lol), but I love fun, exciting, happy movies!

For Giggles...

More of my favorite music:

*Hearing Damage - Thom Yorke (yes from the Twilight soundtrack. He is wicked, I decided)

*Anything by Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor is a god lol! Hurt = best song ever!)

*Anything by Matt Good (yet another god! Seriously one of the most amazing (and Canadian) artists in the biz who does not get enough cred in the States - listen to him)

*54:40 - Crossing A Canyon (Brings me back to the good ole days of partying in Cael's garage when we were in high school, awesome!)

*Third Eye Blind - I Want You (straight up good song)

*Chris Cornell - Climbing Up the Walls (good song again lol)

*Dolly Parton - Jolene (just because it is awesome! Love me some Dolly!)

*The Pixies - Where is My Mind? (such a classic)

*Anything by Placebo (another amazing underrated band)

*Lykke Li - Possibility (hauntingly good)

*Temple of the Dog - Hunger Strike (Eddie Vedder + Chris Cornell back in the day = good!)

*Eskimo Joe - Thunderclap (gah I like the New Moon soundtrack...nerd much?)

*Anything by Esthero (she's an amazing Canadian artist who has partnered with everyone from Timbaland to The Black Eyed Peas to her song "Song for Holly" on the Go motion picture soundtrack she is amaaaazing!)

Cure-All

Nothing too exciting but my week (ok whole month) has been hellishly busy at work. Between school wide awards, class re-registration, data entry, and managing my attendance duties, I am totally, utterly spent by the end of my day. I've never been this stressed work-wise in my life. Living alone, it isn't so easy to vent to Cael when I get home, so I've had to come up with my own methods. Lately I've found that a little bit of yoga with my Namaste DVD's fixes it all. Just one half-hour episode with the amazing savasana at the end stretches, breathes and flexes my stress away. Namaste I love you!