How did THAT switch happen???

Today was the last day of school! The kids finished yesterday (and I was not nearly as emotional as I was last year... I was almost crying saying good bye to the grade sevens last year! What can I say, it was my first year! :P ) and we had our staff breakfast this morning. It was sad to say goodbye to all the people who are leaving, including our amazingly wonderful vice principal who is moving on to another school.

Last year on the last day of school, I treated myself to a pedicure and a facial. This year, I took my car in to get a new muffler (said my mechanic to me: "Your entire exhaust system is rotten. It looks like swiss cheese.") and then climbed a freakin' mountain. I had planned on getting a massage. How'd that work?

On the bright side, I've always been somewhat intimidated (ok, really freaked out by) the Grouse Grind. All I knew was that it's called the GRIND for a reason. It's basically extremely steep stairs that go right up the face of Grouse Mountain. For those of you not from around here, the trail is 2.9 km long (1.8 miles) and has an elevation gain of 853 meters (2800 feet). It's been dubbed "Mother Nature's Stairmaster."

And yes, I know lots and lots of people have done it, and in waaaaay less time than me, but last Friday two other teachers from my school convinced me to try it with them (it was their first time, too) and so we did. And we lived to tell about it! We went really slow, and we promised we'd go together (no one wanted to be the one dying at the back!). We made it up in 1:58. Nothing for most people to be impressed at, but we were happy we did it.

Well, Tammi, one of the teachers, and I went again today (instead of the massage... I'm insane!) and we shaved THIRTY TWO minutes off our time! Ha ha... unfortunately we won't be able to continue that trend! :P (We also learned an important lesson: while it's important to have eaten something so you have energy to do the trail, you shouldn't eat, even a little bit, right before going up. - DUH, yes, I know) I had a stomach cramp almost the whole way up. BUT, I sure felt amazing when I got to the top!

Tammi wants to go every week this summer, and is trying to convince me to go with her. What have I gotten myself into??? :P

Which Cartoon Character Are You?

Apparently I'm Sponge Bob Square Pants. Super. I cringe even having a picture of this guy on my site. At least the description is good!

You are Sponge Bob Square Pants: You are the classic person that everyone loves. You are the best friend that anyone could ever have and never want to lose. You never cause harm to anyone and they would never not understand your feelings. Life is a journey, it's funny and calm for the most part. Stay away from traitors and jealous people, and then you will be stress free.

Which cartoon character are you? Take the quiz HERE to find out!

Chicoutimi Reunion

Back in May and June of 2001, I went to Chicoutimi, Quebec for a French language program. It was an amazing 5 weeks, with classes in the mornings and all kinds of great activities in the afternoons and evenings. My class was great, and my instructor was hilarious! There were three people who I hung out with a lot while I was there: Colleen (from Toronto), Greg (from Victoria), and Debbie (from Kamloops). We kept in touch a litle bit after the program, but not a lot. And before a few weekends ago, it had been probably two years since I had talked to any of them.

Well, except for Colleen, I guess. I few months ago she sent me an email telling me that she was coming back out to Vancouver between finishing her year at school and going back to Germany where she has been working the last few years. So was chatted on MSN every now and then, and made arrangements to meet up while she was here.

In hte beginning of June, we met up and did the tourist thing all over Vancouver one Friday afternoon. Then that Sunday I picked her up for church and she came to church with me, too. While she was back at my place and we were continuing to reminisce about Chicoutimi, we had the brainstorm to try and get hold of Greg. Neither of us had talked to him in probably 3 years, so who knows if the number we had for him still worked, but we decided to give it a shot.

*Ring* *Ring* Hello? / Um, hi, is Greg there, please? / Yes he is, one minute, please...

YAHOO!!! (no we did'nt actually SAY yahoo! :P )

Greg came to the phone and Colleen and I said hello: "Hi Greg, it's Hillary... and Colleen... (together:) from Chicoutimi!"

I don't think he knew what to say! He was jsut eating his lunch, minding his own business, then right out of the blue, there we were! We yakked for a bit, and Colleen mentionned that she was gonna be on the island the next week and they they should hang out, and then she told me that I should come out, too.

Um.. I work, not gonna happen (thought I'd love to!) Unless.....


My school gets out at noon on Fridays, so the following Friday (June 10) as soon as the bell rang I was off! The plan was to head over to the Island, hang out for Friday afternoon/evening, crash at Greg's parent's place, then come back early Saturday morning. Little did I know how much FUN it would be!

* TO BE CONTINUED... *

Show N Shine

I went to my first classic car show last weekend... how fun! I have a friend who is really into classic cars, and my parents were volunteering at the refreshments booth (as a fundraiser) so my friend and I went together. There were cars from as early as the 30's there - wow! I couldn't tell you what any of them were (thankfully each car had the model and the year on little info papers... not that I needed it, my friend knoew almost all of them!), but they sure looked cool!

I took a few pictures... anyone want to help me label them (ie. I've forgotton what they are now!) ? I wish I had taken more. Next time!

This one's a ___?

I love the lines on the front of this car.

Beautiful!

Cool grill!

There was a little trailer set up like an oldies diner... wanna share a soda?

Clunkermobile Adventures

Just another chapter in the ongoing saga of the clunkermobile! But first, if you haven't seen it already, you need to read this post to get somewhat aquainted with my beastmobile (it's a love/hate realtionship! :P )

OK, read it? Good... now we can continue! ;)

The Monday just after the retreat I had "one of those days." Slept in, got caught in a traffic jam, had wingy kids that wouldn't listen to anything, forgot my lunch, knocked over a huge stack of Safeway shopping baskets (which didn't just fall over, but spread out all accros the floor, stopped only by the display stand 8 or 10 feet away), had more wingy kids, sat through a long boring staff meeting, then went off to battle the crowds at Metrotown to buy a wedding shower gift for a friend. Metrotown parking is crazy, so I parked in the surface parking (much easier than in the multi-level parking garage!) and made careful note where my car was (I've lost it before!). I went in, bought my gift, and did a little bit of shopping for me (nothing fit - *sigh*).

Around 8:00, I was tired and hungry, and just wanted to go HOME! I followed my steps back to my car only to see another car pulling in to where my car had been. Ummm.... Oooookaaay. I wandered the lot, second guessing my sanity over and over again, but nope, I had definitely parked my car where I thought I did. And it was definitely not there.

Somebody had stolen my car!!! MY car. MY hunk-o-junk! :O

I called my parents to let them know, and told a mall security guard, who had someone come take all my info and then do a circle of the lot (I guess they have to make sure I just didn't forget where I parked it. Bah!). She circled around, and of course, no car. It IS fairly obvious with that piece of trim hanging off the back bumper! :P

Anyway, my dad was on his way (hip hip hooray for daddies! He came from Deep Cove to Metrowtown to drive me back to my house near Oakridge... for those of you who don't know Vancouver, none of those places are close to eachother), so I went over to the Red Robin to wait for him.

When he got there, we called the police to report is stolen, and then ICBC (insurance) and all that jazz. I hada full tank of gas in it, which got my dad and I thinking... good, they can get as far away as possible then maybe they'll drive it off a cliff and I'll be rid of the thing!!!

Is it bad to honestly pray your car gets totalled? ;)

Well, no such luck. They found it the next day at an Ice Rink in Coquitlam, basically intact. Boo hoo! Of course, then began the rigamaroll with the insurance company. Suffice it to say it was somewhat of a headache (although not as bas as I thought it would be). Though tell me, why have insurance when your car gets stolen and you still have to pay the $300 deductable?!?! ARG!

My one perk for the two weeks before getting it back, though, was the rental car! I got to drive a brand new silver Sunfire, wahoo! It was sure hard to go back to the clunkermobile afterwards, though! It's got me seriously contemplating a new car.

But alas, the beast is back, rumbling and smoking and squeaking and slamming into gear. I don't even want to know what the guys at the dealership thought when my car, after sitting for a week, took half an hour to stop belching out smoke (it leaks oil, and if it sits for a two days or so, there's enough oil burning off that it smokes). Go green or go home, I tell ya. Eek.

Time to start updating...

Woohoo! Report cards are DONE! I've been falling behind in my blogging here! It's been three weeks since my last post. I guess you could say life has come up and kept me away. There's been lots going on, so I have some work to do! I'll update in installments so I don't freak you out! :P

Quotable

Here's something I found while browsing. I don't normally just quote here, but this one was too good...

Photo and words by James Jordan.

People can easily impress themselves with their ability to create and control their own destiny. That is, until the real Creator comes along and dwarfs even the best of what people can offer. Humankind's understanding and creation of light is laughable compared to the One who said, "Let there be light." Heck, we're still trying to figure out how the stuff works!