Friday, May 29, 2009

Fiddleheads

Had a Morel and Fiddlehead stirfry tonight for dinner. Took some photos of "the office" and took a nice walk around Swan River and contemplated life a little. Well, ok...a lot!

Talked to my mom today and she always has this amazing mom-way of putting things into perspective and making the world seem alright. Having my family close to me is really become more and more important as days go by. Moving to Manitoba in part to be closer to family was one of my top life decisions. I never realised how amazing these people that I am lucky enough to be related to actually are until I started to get to know them as adults.

Been tossing around the idea of going somewhere this September. I'm thinking either BC, or driving down to Yellowstone Park in Wyoming. I've always wanted to go to Yellowstone, although the drive would mean that I should ask someone to come with me. British Columbia is amazing, I would fly and more than likely go alone. As I have been to BC a few times and know places that I would like to go.

Vacationing alone has always been a favorite thing for me to do. I love the journey, the destination, and coming home a slightly different person. Getting out of my element and getting to know myself better in an unfamiliar environment has been a favorite personal challenge so far in my short life. I'm fairly certain it will be BC, as I'm feeling that hankering for alone time thing coming on.

Acutally. I might just wait for a seat sale. Alaska would be wonderful.

Speaking of possible get-aways. For my birthday, I have planned to hike the Mantario Trail in the Whiteshell Provincial Park here in MB. I have put it out there that I am going to do this on my birthday to several folks, but I may end up doing it alone. I think both ways would be an amazing and satisfying experience for me. Although mom has a few loving words to say about me doing it alone like "don't do it alone" ;) Hehehe!!!





Thursday, May 28, 2009

Sandilands






Went on a hike the other weekend in Sandilands Provincial Park in Southeastern Manitoba. Pictures never do it any justice. Breathtaking beauty.

Amazing Days are Here to Stay

Being happy and satisfied with life isn't easy. It takes hard work to be happy. That dictates most everything that I do. All the decisions I make and things I say and feel. As a sidenote to this entry about the great day I had...none of it would be possible without a positive outlook and all of the background work that I've done to become a satisfied and happy gal.

So, on to my kickass life.

I went to work today with some great expectations of having a awesome day, which is the attitude I wake up with every day anyways. I felt that today was going to be a special day. And it was!

Had a great work day - wonderful weather, an easy block and great coworkers to be around.

Saw some tasty forst treats, picked them and came home and cooked them up! Yes, that's right, the MORELS are back! I'm up in the Porcupine Hills in MB again for Morel season and they are everywhere! I cooked some up with some lemon-pepper-esque stuff and veggies :)

Also today, saw a tons of red-tailed hawks, whitefish lake, a greibe and some beautiful blue herons.

I also got to go fishing :D

To the zero people that read this...goodnight! :D






Thursday, May 14, 2009

A friend mentioned having a set of goals for the summ. Grand Idea. Maybe if I shoot some of them into cyberspace something will stick. Or at least I will come back and read this and remember the things I am working on.

Winter was hard for me this year. I'll say that. The warmer the weather gets and the more sun I feel on my face in the mornings the better I feel.

Goals:

Losin it. Yes. The winter weight gain. I could write a thousand excuses about this one. Repeato - hard winter and my physical self was put on the backburner. I'll be making my come back with running, hiking and other hilarious fitness goals...like...

100 Pushups - up to 24 from 12 - not likely to get 100...but will get more!
200 Crunches - up to 75 from 50
200 Squats - up to 150 from 70
Pull Ups - as many as possible by October 1st - I'm in a friendly comp with my roomie.


The usual goals of life, love and happiness apply to any and all activities, of course! :)

So, the job.

I'm tired so all you get is pictures of where I am training tonight. Maybe another post in a few months. ;)

I'm in the Sandilands Forest for another 4 days, than back up to the Swan River Valley, where many of my last years photos were taken. I suppose I should photo blog them....I'll likley pretend that I will, than get caught up in the amazingness that is summer :)

peace!





Thursday, March 26, 2009

New Season of Bloggyness

I'm going back up north to do more tree surveying, this time for an entity that will remain unnamed! Said entity promises that I will be in lots of areas in the province, and while they didn't promise I would have a fun time and learn a lot - I'm pretty sure that's what I'm in for!

I will be taking zillions of pictures and running around in the bush all summer, yet again. I still have the same smile on my face that I had since I was hired, last week. I was offered the job on the same day that I was flying home to surprise my brother for his (early) birthday. I jumped out of a closet - he was semi-clueless about it all!

I start work in May, and end either in August, or I may be offered extensions I am told. I'm undecided about what I should do. Balancing a year of school and a really great job opportunity will take some thinking time.

Oh and updating all about that other stuff - I may have lied! School and my attempt at social life/getting out of the city a lot has left little time for blog posts! I have been updating my portfolio for my professional development course, and hadn't done many of the things I wanted too. Remember when you were a student? Know someone that is/was? Likely this is the also the story of their life, too!

Other personal updates -

I'm moving out of my little apartment, and in with some stellar roommates.
I'm super pumped about canoe/fish/camp/hiking season.
One of my contracts is ending - I was/am lucky enough to work with amazing folks, and would be lucky if I could always work with people of that caliber!

The summertime promises a lot of down time and free high speed wireless - lots of music downloads and blog posts inbetween exploring whereever I end up in Manitoba.

As many great adventures I had this winter...I'm glad to say goodbye to it and look forward to a great summertime (the icefishing - breakfast in bed!!)

Friday, October 31, 2008

For All the Spies

I haven't forgotten about this blog, and my passion to document is still here. Some incredible life changes have taken place, and the many experiences I have been having are so numerous that it's hard to eve keep up with them.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

I am no longer enrolled in a BSc. Physical Geography, and am now back in the degree program that I originally came here to do/finish a Bachelor of Environmental Studies. Sounds a little broad? I'll try to narrow it down! My focus is Conservation and Biodiversity. In the end, I will be hired (fingers crossed) to do work managing natural resources. Wildlife, plants or whatever else I can get my hands on. This change means I finish sooner. Which means a job sooner.

Oh, a job. So if you know me personally, you know that my summer position is over. I've been hired back working on the same project. Just doing some data analysis and dendrochronology. Yeah big words.

Oh, another job. I was hired on by the province doing some work with resource management! Without too much detail here, I'm excited. Real excited about this one. :)

I am now in a gigantic and beautiful old apartment building downtown Winnipeg. It's actually not far from the old place, but the feel is much different. It's quieter at night and is really much cozier (read: smaller) but I'm really diggin it. Old wood trim, brick, huge windows, high ceilings....would be better if it was a house in the middle of nowhere, but I have plenty of time for that, right? Yeah. Right. Still looking at land to purchace between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg (ish). Got a lead? Email me!

Also, I have learnt how to juggle better. Some background: My Papa told me that if I learn how to juggle, he will teach me how to weld. When I was...18 or so and deciding on college, I wanted to learn how to do underwater welding. My Parents = Unimpressed. So, I have always wanted to learn how to weld. In an attempt to get me to learn how to juggle, my Papa dangled the "I will teach you how to weld" carrot in front of my curious nose...and I've been running at it this whole time.

On an extremly personal note - I'm back at the gym in full force. I had been excersising and keeping in some sort of shape the summer through, but not in a regular way. I'm still keeping up with the running, but have now integrated a better strength-training workout into my life. I've also changed the way I eat quite a bit to allow for a high protien and high fibre diet. I'm flyin. My body feels incredible. I'm probably in the best shape of my life at the moment. Sure, I've weighed less than I do now, but I have more muscle mass, more endurace and more energy than I have had all my life. If you want to get on my program, I'll tell you my secrets! 1. Eat well 2. Excersise. It's actually that simple.

ALRIGHT. Enough excuses. Here's a list of upcoming adventures that I will be documenting:

Narcisse
Fishing
Hunting
Hazelwood Lake Conservation Area
Oak Hammock Marsh
Delta Marsh
Fitness Levels (anyone even want to read about that?)
Nutrition (really, it's faciniating to me, but you wanna hear about it?)
Manitoba Moose Hockey
Shotguns
Sibley (Sleeping Giant National Park)
Juggling
Welding

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Blog of Interest (BOI)

Loads of links to neat projects that you might never have thought of doing, but wish you had.

He's a very talented Graphic Designer in the real world and I don't know enough about him. We will have to have ten too many beers one day to get a proper conversation going.