father's day goodies

I'm calling it goodies, as countdown seems a bit strange considering Father's Day was yesterday. Lisa has another collection of freebies...they are available here. Get them before they are gone!

a fabulous weekend

This weekend the three of us spent a wonderful weekend in the capital city of this amazing province of ours...Victoria. We had the pleasure of being hosted by our lovely friends, Mary and Don.


We shared great conversation, lots of m-m-m nummy food, a little geocaching (their first time) and to top it off, a performance of Cirque du Soleil's Saltimanco.


I find myself captivated by each Cirque experience and this one did not disappoint. The athleticism, the artistry and the humour all woven together by a signature cirque soundtrack. In this performance, the live band was situated at the back of the stage on risers and played a prominent part in the entire show.


There was a particularly amusing clown that made the show. He vocalized all these terrific sound effects during several acts. The best one was when he pulled a fellow from the audience who really got into his role. He was such a good sport; going along with everything that was asked of him...I should say mime'ed of him. Just hillarious. The two of them had the audience in stitches. I couldn't stop laughing.


A very relaxing and throughly enjoyable way to spend the weekend.

Thank you, Mary and Don for everything!!

horrible news...

...I learned that one of our promising young Vancouver Canucks defencemen, Luc Bourdon was killed in a motorcycle accident in New Brunswick today. I was shocked to hear the news and my heart goes out to his family. I can only imagine what could have been.

Luc won a gold medal in 2006 with the Canadian Junior team and played 27 games in the NHL with the Canucks this past season...I hope he got to realize a few of his dreams in his short 21 years.

superstar hair challenge - episode 4...and no more

Sigh...I must report that Bryan was eliminated from the competition tonight. I don't think he deserved to go, but it appears the judges have their favorites...and I guess our small city boy just wasn't one of them.

Bryan, I think you represented very well! Kudos to you, my friend! You will always be my Superstar!

superstar hair challenge - episode 3

From bottom three last week, to top three this week! Bryan did a great job on his bride and is safe for another week.

We were just over on the island for hair cuts this past weekend and I was saying to Bryan that I thought he seemed to be more relaxed at this stage of the competition. He said it was actually exhaustion, as they didn't get much sleep during the process. Bryan...you are AWESOME and we love ya!

Episode 4 tomorrow...Avante garde...should be good.

superstar hair challenge - episode 2

This week was the man make overs. After a brief consultation with each stylist, the men got to choose their stylist and Bryan was picked first. That doesn't surprise us as he is a guy's guy.

He rocked the cut, but somehow (don't know what the judges were thinking) ended up in the bottom three.

In the redemption challenge, they had to transform these little kids into their idols, in 30 mins, and Bryan picked the little boy who wanted to look like Zac Efron.

Again he was fabulous and safe from ellimination. Next week brides! Go Bryan.

superstar hair challenge - episode 1

Phew...Bryan made it through the first show. My heart ached for him when he broke down in front of the judges when they asked him why he was there and he said, "My girls." He trys to be so tough, but I know deep down he is just a big ol' marshmallow!

I thought his first cut was really good and stood up to the rest of the competition. We got really nervous for him when the second competition was hair extensions and he said he had no experience with them. We never lost faith as we know how talented he is and he squeaked through to next week...but not before "throwing his model under the bus" (his words) by revealing her age on television. Oops...but hey, it's Bryan and I wasn't that surprised.

Can't wait to see what he does in the next episode!

Go Bryan Go!!

If you don't get the show in your area, you can click here to access the contestant blogs and clips from previous episodes.

lisa vollrath - mother's day countdown

Click here for some lovely freebies from Lisa.

superstar hair challenge

I am SOOO excited!! Our good friend and hair stylist, Bryan is a contestant on Season 2 of Superstar Hair Challenge. He is the handsome one in the black tee on the far right. For a close up look, check out this post from '06.

The first show is May 6th on Slice (in Canada...don't know if this channel is available in the States). At the moment, they only have the synopsis on their website, but as the date gets closer, they will be putting up bios. After each episode airs, the contestants will post to their blogs! This is going to be AWESOME! I can't wait! Good luck, Bryan!

puerto vallarta...part iv - sea safari...paradise and perspective

Here is the last post relating to our trip to PV. This was one of the highlights for sure!

The Sea Safari was a day travelling around magnificant Banderas Bay (triva fact - third largest bay in the world).

After a short bus ride to the marina, we boarded a 30-person zodiac and headed down to PV, where we picked up our guide and some additional passengers.



There was only about 20 of us in total, so we had lots of room on the boat. Once we were out in the bay, our fabulous guide Carlos says, "Welcome to my office!" I think we were all thinking the same thing..."I wish I had his job."

(One of the things we noticed during our stay, is how passionate the various guides were about their country.)

The water was calm, the sun was shining and the vistas were fantástico!

We travelled along the waterfront of PV and then headed out for some whale watching. It didn't take long before we were watching in awe as a momma humpback whale floated along and her new calf frolicked all around her. Amazing!



Next, we travelled south and came back towards the coast and passed several boats loaded with scuba divers, snorklers and partiers.




We passed large rock islands that were home to hundreds of pelicans, friggits and blue-footed boobies.

We were taken to a private beach at the south end of the bay. This area is only accessable be sea, and the locals have to bring in all of their supplies by boat.

Some of the gang went snorkeling while the rest of us lounged on the beautiful white sand.










We were treated to a delicious lunch and beverages from the open bar. Coco-locos were served fresh. Stephen was brave and decided to try one. Stephen liked it but I had one sip and thought, "Uck...cough syrup." Take a coconut, hack off the top, add grenadine, rum and water to the coconut milk and viola (I still say 'uck').

After lunch we played volleyball. There were four gals from Red Deer, Alberta who obviously had played before (in college as a matter of fact). It was so much fun!

Before heading back, Carlos took us into one of the local homes where we were shown how tortillas are made, from grinding the corn on a stone that had been passed down through four generations, to cooking them on the limestone/mud stove.

The people in this area don't have much, but in other ways they have everything. This is where the perspective comes in. Carlos told us the last person they buried from this little village was 102 years old and when he died, he still had all his own teeth and walked without a cane. I guess living with less also means living with a lot less stress. And living in this tropical paradise can't hurt either.

We zipped across the bay on the return trip. At one point, we had a pod of dolphins swimming along beside us. What a sight to behold!

Other than a sunburnt ear, lip and legs (even with our hats and sunscreen) fue un día IMPRESIONANTE!

happy birthday!

19 years ago today, our precious son was born.

Happy birthday, Wesley!

puerto vallarta...part iii - juan helluva night

After having learned my lesson from Sunday night, I was better prepared to handle the "juan helluva night pub crawl" on Tuesday night. Along with fellow JACK members, Robin & Darren, Tammy & Sean, Sharon & Chris; as well as, Megan & Nathan and about ten others, we had a tequila toast with our Signature rep, Pete before heading into PV for our outing. We stopped at two resorts along the way to gather a few others, including Winnipeg-Chris (more about him in a bit).

We had been warned about the 'tequila-girls' (TG) in the bars before we left our resort and also advised that they were not included with our all-drinks wrist bands. We learned why rather quickly at our first stop, Carlos O'Brien's. There, a clown made us all balloon hats. Flowers for the girls and well, check out the pic for yourself to see what the boys got.



On one of our stops, we picked up a couple from Iowa. They, obviously, had not been warned, so when the TG came by blowing her whistle, they decided to go for it. Three quick shots of tequila later, his head was being rubbed in TG's boobs. Next up was the Mrs. She also received the head-in-boobs treatment, but she got something extra. TG then took her hands and gave Mrs. a good ol' boob rub...first outside her top and then underneath! OMG! It was funny, yet disturbing at the same time.

Next stop, Senor Frogs...that is where Winnipeg-Chris thought it would be fun to get a henna tatoo. The one on this back looked pretty basic...then, with the help of his buddy, he ended up getting another on his stomach. As I saw his buddy draw the outline for the henna guy, I thought to myself, "No...he isn't really going to do that. OMG, yes he is!" Hey, to each his own. Made me laugh out loud, and I can honestly say, I wasn't the only one. In order not to offend anyone, I have censored the pic. If you can't figure out what the tat was, let's just say, his new nickname was 'dick-boy'.

Now, as you can imagine, this tatoo garnered its fair share of attention. Next thing you know, Chris is up on stage with two other contestants for a banan-eating contest. The rub was, after they blindfolded all the contestants, they took the blindfolds off the other two leaving Chris sitting in the middle of the stage with a banana in hand. He's thinking he's in a competition and pounds back the banana. The MC announces there is a tie between Canada (Chris) and the US fellow. So they hand him another banana. At this point, I start recording this little event, which I shared with Chris at the conclusion of the contest! Thanks for the great laughs, Chris!

If you are interested, you can find it here.

Our final stop was Mandala, a new disco that had opened about a month earlier. There we danced, sang and partied until it was time to hop back on the bus.

It really was Juan Helluva Night!!

Next up...our Sea Safari.

puerto vallarta...part ii - downtown

Due to, what I refer to as, being 'bitch-slapped' by tequila the previous evening (we did have a REALLY fun time in the pool with Megan & Nathan from Medicine Hat and Dave & John from Calgary), I was unable to join Stephen on the tour of PV. I tried, but there was no way I was able to make the 8:00am start time.

He enjoyed the day and took lots of pics for me. After visiting a marina and downtown, they also went to a silver factory and Mr. Tequila tequila factory. Here are a few of his best shots.

Next up...Juan Helluva Night!

puerto vallarta...part i - meeting the other JACK winners

I can't believe that only a week ago we were flying home from our fabulous trip to Mexico, courtesy of JACKFM!

It was incredible. The Palladium Vallarta resort, the scenery, the sun AND most of all, the wonderful people we met during our stay.

As we waited to board the plane, Stephen and I were looking around trying to figure out who else won their trip. Could it be the fellow with the mosaic cut/coloured hair cut? What about the couple packing a big plastic penguin? Penguin? Yes, penguin...more on that later.

The flight down on Skyservice was terrific. We were a little leary, considering it was a charter flight. Although there wasn't a ton of room, it was fine. We even got food! We decided to get things started with a mimosa...m-m-m! Nothing like a little alcohol at eight in the morning...after two and a half hours sleep the night before (we were at the Bare Naked Ladies concert -- great show, as always).

Next we were treated to a full breakfast including a breakfast sandwich, juice, yogurt, cheese and crackers. Later in the flight we were given champagne and tropical juice. Oh, and would be remiss if I didn't mention that before our meal we were given a moist towelette (from a tray, not a package) to freshen up. Nice little touch, I thought.

Before we landed, we were warned about the gauntlet of time share reps that would be waiting for us. We were told that our actual travel rep would be waiting beyond the doors and DON'T stop to talk to anyone else! Great advise! They were merciless! "Oh, you're with Skyservice. This way." or "Signature Vacation? Have you received your welcome package? This way."

We made it through and while we were sitting on the bus (for the 45 min drive north to the resort) we thought maybe we should just shout out, "Who's with JACK?" ...but I couldn't muster up the nerve. Not like me, really. As we would find out later, others were thinking the same thing.

As it turns out, an orientation was scheduled for the next morning and that is where we all met up. It was very exciting for those of us that won. And remember the penguin I mentioned earlier? It was there too! Bernie, Brian (and 'The Traveling Penguin') were one of the winning couples. Pop over to their website to check on some of the cool places it's been and people it's met.

After the orientation, eight of the nine winning couples got together for a Penguin picture.

Before we went down, we decided to upgrade to the Royal Suites. Glad we did. We were on the adults only side of the resort, which had its own pool, bars and restaurant. We also had free high-speed internet access on two computers in the lobby bar, which made staying in touch with home easier, as cell reception was limited to a couple spots on the resort.

We met more great folks hanging around the pool. Chris and Mary from Wisconsin, Dave and John from Calgary and our pub crawl pals, Megan and Nathan from Medicine Hat. I should also mention Robb (who we just seemed to run into every time we turned around...fun guy!).

Here are a few pics of the resort...

lobby bar (main resort)

gazebo (main resort)

main pool (main resort)

royal suites pool

royal suites pool - late afternoon

The sky couldn't have been bluer. Next up...a day in Puerto Vallarta.

happy saint paddy's day! (a wee bit early)

Just back from our trip to Puerto Vallarta (more on that to follow soon) and I am spending a little time catching up on some emails. I see Lisa Vollrath has created another one of her wonderful countdowns at ten two studios...this one covers St Patrick's Day to Easter. You can download some great freebies for personal use by clicking here. Remember, all Lisa asks is that you provide a link to her site on your blog or website before downloading.


St. Patrick's Day

Oh, my mother isn't Irish
And my father isn't too,
But today I feel as Irish
As the really Irish do.
For today I wear a shamrock
That is green in every way
And though I am Canadian,
I am Irish -- for today!

- Aileen Fisher

scavenger hunt!

The gals of the studioWERX street team are having a wee scavenger hunt for some cool freebies using the fabulous offerings available through digiWERX.

I used quite an assortment of goodies including Pharmacie papers, Polaroid Image Transfer Brushes, Sketchy Evidence; Shabby Chic: Textured Cardstock, and digiWERX embellishments - Polaroid Slide Holders.

My contribution can be found here.

NOTE: The lime green that appears in the picture on 4shared is actually transparent. Not sure where the green came from, but I have tested it and once downloaded, it appears as transparent.

If you want to continue on the hunt, head over to Becky's blog next.

Enjoy!

happy birthday, soyun!

This is a little necklace I made for a sweet friend of Wesley's. Happy birthday, Sweetie!