Whoops.

Totally forgetting to blog

Uh... sorry about that guys. I'm not quite sure where February went in the blog world. I do want to keep this blog up and running to keep everyone back home updated on my western adventures and any random passer-byers to get a peek. I still am bouncing around ideas for a wordy post in the future about marriage, gender, and changing last names (I haven't forgotten about you ladies!) along with a bunch of new recipes that I've been trying and will hopefully get the courage to do a fashion post in the near future.

In recent news, my good, dear friend Dana visited us from Philadelphia! She had a bit of a Pacific Northwest adventure and travelled from Seattle, to here in Victoria, to Vancouver, back to Seattle. I had so much fun spending time with her and showing her to my favorite restaurants and hiking spots. I introduced her to my circle of friends up here and she finally got to meet Mr. Clemens! I hope she comes and visits again soon, or better yet, fulfills her dream of moving to Seattle!

 Silly mountaintop antics

Taking a rest on top of a vista

Mt Baker as seen from the ferry to Vancouver

I've also been doing a fair amount of hiking with some friends here. I'm getting rather spoiled with this lifestyle, and am afraid I'm already used to it. My job only runs until the end of school and at that point I'll be unemployed. I've talked for months about finding a morning job to carry me over during the summer, but I'm dreading giving up these perfect mornings for hiking. Practicality is so boring.

Snowy Cascades in the distance

My hiking buddies

Why work when you can have this???

I promise to post again soon with camera updates, new recipes, and my visitors coming next week: My parents!!

Friends, Unemployment, Plane Ticket

The Parliament Building at night

Big and small things have been happening to me here in Victoria. I guess the first biggest change is that I was laid off of my job and am currently unemployed. Thankfully Jon will start getting paid soon and we have some savings left in the bank, so we're not completely screwed. I'd also like to think of this as a sort of blessing in disguise, since I missed several opportunities to work with temp agencies that would have possibly led to full-time employment. There were also many philosophical beliefs that I clashed against with the restaurant owners (vegetarianism, feminism, sensitivity, etc) that made the job a bad fit. Also working there six days a week made it hard to volunteer, meet/see friends, or do anything besides work, due to the physical exhaustion of it all. So for the most part, this has been a good change.

About a 20 minute walk from our place

Totem pole by the sea 

Look-out point

The next development is that I've been striving to meet new people and build stronger connections with the people that I have met already. I hung out with some people that I met on a water taxi pub crawl for a game night, met a grad student and his partner of his for a dinner night a week or so ago, and just today met some of Jon's friends to go ice skating. I signed up for volunteering shifts at the local sexual health clinic, so I hope to meet some people through there, and I want to start rock climbing again. I felt like when I've been rock climbing in the past, there's always been a really healthy, supportive, and friendly group of people in the climbing gyms, so it'd be nice to also met some people through there and develop another hobby. The only issue is that climbing is pretty expensive, and being unemployed doesn't help...

Participants for the AIDS walk listen to speakers on a gloomy Sunday

Beatle friend at Goldstream Provincial Park

Mist rolling in. Only a 20 minute drive from downtown Victoria. 

Natalie and I at the top of Mt. Finlayson 

And then on top off all of this news, I've been feeling horribly home sick. Despite the fact I had one of the best weekends this weekend than I've had probably since moving here, I still have this insatiable desire to talk to friends and family from home. Hearing about the challenges that my friends are encountering and not being able to hug them or help them physically pains me, and I hate not being able to spend time with my family at engagement parties, picnics, and wine nights. Don't get me wrong-- I'm thoroughly enjoying the dinner parties, ice skating, exploring, hiking, and beer tasting with Jon and the friends that I've been making, but my heart aches for the familiar. 

So after finding out that one of my dearest friends is getting married in November about a week ago, I semi-impulsively bought a ticket home for the week of Thanksgiving. : ) Jon won't be able to come with me due to his super-packed schedule, but we decided that we'll be spending a romantic Christmas together here in Victoria.

More graceful on the ice than I.