Home For Christmas: Part 2

Sunset along the way.

For Christmas Eve, we went down to Issaquah to visit my dad's brother's family. This year, my aunt decided to cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for Christmas! Since we didn't really celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we figured that it would be nice to have that style of dinner before the year was through. She cooked a turkey from scratch, as well as multiple side dishes to go along with it. We provided some yams that were cooked by my youngest brother!  

Home For Christmas: Part 1

Winter Festival Lights in Downtown Kelowna 

In the last few days of my exams, I went downtown to see the Christmas lights display. It was a lot smaller than I expected, but was pretty nonetheless. 

Me holding a baby kangaroo!

For the next part of our Sunday Expedition we went to the Kangaroo Creek Farm in Winfield, BC. It's a privately owned farm that breeds and houses kangaroos (wallaroos specifically), wallabies, emus, capybaras, peacocks, fancy chickens, goats, parrots, and pot bellied pigs. In the picture above you can see me holding a kangaroo joey. He was all nestled in his blanket pouch and then he fell asleep in my arms! 

Lazy Sunday Part 1: The Jammery and Friendly Horses!

Amazing Belgian Waffles!

Today Ricki and I went our favourite breakfast & brunch place: The Jammery. This restaurant serves all day breakfast and lunch, as well producing it's own jams, jellies, and chutneys. There's a fun window in the gift shop that allows you to look in and watch the fruit spreads - and even the occasional pie - being made! My favourite breakfast to get is the Belgian Waffles. They come with a delicious clotted cream and blueberry maple syrup!

Pumpkin Carving with Ricki!

Fall has finally come to Kelowna! The trees are turning burnt oranges and reds, and the temperatures are starting to drop. This weekend Ricki and I went to dinner, went diving through Walmart crates of pumpkins, and then carved said pumpkins! 

Campus in the Fall

Back to School!

So it's time to go back to school. I'm entering my 4th year at UBC and just started at a new job. I work at our campus pub now...which gets just as crazy as you think it does! For the first month of school I'll be working three jobs: the pub, the campus bookstore, and at the American Eagle in the local mall. Luckily this insane schedule won't last too long, and I'll have enough money to be able to relax for the rest of the semester. I always like to work as much as I can during the summers and beginning of the school year, because it's when my class work load is minimal. I would rather have a more relaxed final exam period than a relaxed start to the semester! 

USA to Canada

Traveling Home and Birthday Adventures!

This year my birthday was dragged out over a couple days...which made for many fun adventures! I spent my actual birthday with my whole family. We went for tea, walked down by the bay, and then went out for a special dinner. The next day was spent hopping around Seattle with my Mum and Aunt. We saw the Fremont Troll, went shopping, stayed in a hotel, and had a veryyyyy long happy hour! 

Birthday Food!

Granville Island Fun!

For my 21st birthday this year, I went back home to the States to celebrate with my family. On my way back home we stopped in Vancouver to see my brother play two of his pre-season soccer games. While we were there, we made a stop at the Granville Island Public Market, found some sweet treats, and had lunch by the water at Bridges. Below are some photos of some amazing desserts that we found whilst walking through the market stalls.

Macaroon Tower

Canada Day!

Although I've been in Canada for three years now, I have yet to properly celebrate Canada Day. Luckily, this year I had armed myself with the perfect partner in crime to conquer this feat... My friend Ricki and I met up at my place, got all dressed up, and then headed downtown to the lakefront to enjoy the festivities...but when we arrived, there were not festivities to be found! There was maybe one food truck, a couple stands along the boardwalk, and not live music...it was extremely disappointing. However, not to be discouraged, we continued our  journey, grabbed some overly priced burgers, took a photo of a beaver, and then head back to my place. Once we got home, we whipped out the jell-o shots, went to a movie, and then came back to lounge around the house listening to the fireworks. Overall it was a great day, but definitely not what we had planned. Maybe next year, I'll finally get the 'Canadian Experience' that I've been hoping for!

My beaver.

Brother's Graduation!

So today my little brother graduated high school. Here are a few photos from during/after the convocation. 

My mother and I waiting in the stands.

CollegeHumor Live!

Another adventure I had whilst being home in April, was going to the CollegeHumor Live show at the Vera Project with my father. Although it took an obscenely long time for the show to start, the skits and stand up were top notch. They were completely hilarious, although they did have a little bit of bitterness towards Canadians (#freehealthcare). I didn't get as many photos of the event as I had hoped, but I suppose that says something about how much fun we were having! 

Amir and the Space Needle

Zoo Day!

Another adventure that I had when I was home for a week in April was going to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. We got to see tons of animals, as well as lots of newborn babies! While we were there, there were baby porcupines, kangaroos, river otters, jaguars, and a (not so little) giraffe!

Sleeping momma gorilla.

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

I went back to the States for a week in April in between some of my finals, and on one of the days, we went to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people travel from all over the world to come and see the millions of tulips that grow in this small town in Washington. It's one of the largest collections of tulips in the ENTIRE WORLD. So seeing this spectacle every year is pretty incredible. Here are a few photos of some of the flowers, my mum, grandma, and one of my brothers :)

Red Tulip Field

Cancún Part Eight! (Heading Home)

So it's finally the day to head home. We stayed out the entire night night and caught the sunrise on the beach. After an action-packed week, it was kind of a relief to be heading back to our own beds. After a rather hectic spree of last minute packing, we hopped aboard the bus and rode back to the airport.

Sunrise on the beach.

Cancún Part Seven! (Last Night Out)

Our last night was bittersweet. We got all dolled up, took a group photo and then went to dinner at our favourite Mexican restaurant. The food was amazing, and the mariachi band was hilarious. I got them to play endless Santana songs :) After dinner we got ready for our last night out. We went to our favourite club, The City, and had an incredible time seeing MAKJ perform!

The entire group's last night out.

On the same day that we went to Chichen-Itza, we also went to a cenote (taken from the Mayan word for well). Cenotes are deep natural pits that are usually open to the sky. They are formed from collapsed caves. The pool is incredibly deep, and the surrounding walls have places where you can leap from! The walls were covered with vines, as well as some that hung from the top of the cave. There was also a waterfall near the back.

 Ik Kil Cenote

Cancún Part Six! (Chichen Itza)

One of the most historically interesting parts of my trip to Mexico was our visit to Chichen-Itza. This archeological site was part of a pre-Columbian city built by the Mayans. On the ground there are a series of awe-inspiring pyramids and 'The Great Ball Court" (amongst other ancient structures). "The Great Ball Court" is what the ball court in the movie The Road to El Dorado was modeled after (click here to see what I'm talking about).

Pyramid in Chichen-Itza.

Cancún Part Five! (Beach Day and Foam Party)

During my vacation, we spent most of our days on the beach, and on one of the days, we actually attending a foam party! The foam melted so quickly from the heat of the sun that it instantly turned into a sticky mess. There was so much foam on the beach that it created a quicksand pit, where it was nearly impossible to move around! As you can imagine, much hilarity ensued...

Group photo on the beach.

Cancún Part Four! (Catamaran)

 One of the excursions that we were lucky enough to go on was a trip on a Catamaran! We all hopped aboard a boat, and sailed out towards Isla Mujeres. There was music, dancing, and snorkeling!

A friend and I on the boat.

Cancún Part Three! (Club Night At Palazzo)

So over the next few days we went to more and more clubs. The music and atmospheres were so different and interesting. These photos are from a club called Palazzo. Although it was a little bit smokey, the decor and layout were really fun. It was very vampy and victorian.

Palazzo

One of the clubs that we kept coming back to was called The City. It is the largest club in Latin America, and can hold over SIX THOUSAND people. It was incredible.

The City

Cancún Part Two! (Pool Time & Animal Friends)

So today we continued to explore the hotel, and hit up the pool! 

Pool time!

Cancún Part One! (Arrival & Beach Day)

Hey there! So today is the day that I left Vancouver and arrived in Cancún! We're staying at the Oasis Cancun Hotel from the 14-21st of February. I slept through the flight...mostly due to the fact that we got up at 3am to get to the airport! We arrived around 3pm in the afternoon, so for the rest of the day we lay about on the beach. It was absolutely beautiful!

View of our hotel.

Carry-On Beauty Essentials

As much as I love beauty products, I am a huge supporter of going makeup-free on flights. The dry (and awful) air on planes can make your skin become irritated and flakey if you wear too much makeup...and you won't be able to save your skin and moisturize if you have a full face of makeup on! Below I've listed some of the products that I use to keep my skin hydrated, as well as some light makeup products that I use just before landing. This list is what I use on long-haul flights when I've checked my luggage, and don't need to worry about how many liquids I've brought in my carry on! 

Carry-On Essentials