The Joy of Life

Just have to quickly show you my new top that im completely in love with! It takes a lot of love for me to have to take a picture and post it up here, i am a proclaimed shopaholic and this is one of the few items i loved enough and where effort won...I hope you love it too :)

Joy of Life

P.s. as far as other posts go aka the end of my wonderful canada adventure i am getting there- I have been a little overwhelmed with life of late so its taking a little longer but heres the exciting news that has been stealing my attention....in just three sleeps i am heading home to New Zealand to enjoy the last of the most perfect summers in the world. I cant wait! Although it does mean I might have to say goodbye to internet for a wee bit..... talk soon! xxx

Part Two- Vancouver

Vancouver was officially dubbed our city of rain but we still fell in love with it, which is saying quite a bit really. After rain every single day of our stay we lost a little enthusiasm to get out exploring the "sights". Instead we were happy to spend 80% of our time hanging in our much loved hostel The Cambie making friends with all our bar mates down staries, making them cook us special vege meals and our favourite concoctions of drinks. The other 20% of our time was spent walking around the adorable streets of Gastown. So many perfect boutiques, big old bookstores and cosy cluttered antique stores we could have been occupied for weeks.

This is also were we spent our very first "orphan" christmas. Which was quite a nice little day, considering nothing was open for food or anything else, we were incredibly hungover and slept the majority of our day. But we did get to have a sweet little gifting session on the floor of our hostel room and claimed the christmas tree at the train station which in the end made up for all that lacked.

Overall I can officially say Vancouver/ Whistler have officially made it to my "do a year there" list and I couldn't be more excited about it!

The walls of Cambie Hostels bar

Yummy truffles in one of the dusty antique stores

Vickie with a Christmas bird 

Rainy Days

Hidden Allys

Bookstores to lose yourself in

The very sweet streets of Gastown

Merry Christmas Hugs

Our little pile of pretty presents on Christmas day

No Sleep Till Sunrise

I keep hearing its now 2011 but still Im not sure I believe everyone. Of course the fact that each day of this new year is not spent soaking up the sun in the coromandel surrounded by family friends and amazing atmosphere would be the main halt on this realization. Instead Im back to work (normal everyday all year work, not fun loving summer work) its below freezing every single day, my entire world is covered in snow and still my darling family is a million miles away! BUT I was lucky enough to leave 2010 with a bang and the last few weeks of the speedy year were pure magic!

But you are going to have to patient, there are simply too many photos and stories to tell you everything in one little post....so lets do it in steps- 1) Whistler 2) Vancouver 3) Calgary/Banf 4) back in NYC for New Years.

1) It started by meeting my much missed much loved beautiful NZ friend Vickie in Vancouver and after one night spent in an intense dodgy hostel with the remnants of a half way house (our lock on the door was our fridge pushed in front, although it was fair to say it was the perfect chance to have a good old, stay up all night giggling, catch up) then off we went to Whistler for some fun. and Fun it was! Sure only one day was spent up the mountain ( due to lack of funds) while Vickie attempted to re teach me how to board "ummmm lets just go straight down that first run, you dont want to muck about with the beginners area" agreed. and for the first part of the day I coped been thrown in head first rather well. Pity i cant say the same for the second half of the day.

The rest of our time in Whistler was spent thoroughly inspecting every single bar by night and making a million new friends and by day traipsing through the village shopping and enjoying good food.

Dining out amongst snow and fairy lights with the gondolas in the background (our transportation to and from our accommodation)

Scrummy baileys hot chocolates 

A huge thankyou also to Matty who was the best host for our stay in Whistler! Matty stayed up in staff accommodation and allowed us to take over his lounge plus helped us score a cheap day up the mt. Totally added to our Whistler experience seen as we could literally strap on our board in the backyard and use the gondolas to get down to the village- Magic!

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