Dec
28
Hello, Again!
Did everybody enjoy their Christmas?
This past week, I dipped into my spontaneous side, and I decided to bus it to Vavenby for the holidays. Now, I was planning on either working or spending Christmas alone this year, but I decided that I needed to escape the city for a while. I travelled here by Greyhound on Christmas eve. To my demise, there was a young man who I got stuck sitting with for most of the trip, and he consumed WAAYY too much caffeine, so he was mister motor- mouth for most of the trip. I, on the other hand, had barely 2 hours of sleep over the past 2 days, and absolutely NO caffeine, so I wasn’t too pleased. I kept hinting to him that I was tired and should rest, but he kept talking about his life, work, ect. Thankfully, when I pulled my Gravol out of my carry on bag and started yawning; He got the picture. Unfortunately, everytime I tried to fall asleep, my phone would go off, so I honestly couldn’t win. Fortunately, I rested from the Coquihala to Kamloops. When I got to Kamloops, I ran into my cousin , and we travelled from there to Clearwater together. It was nice to catch up with her, and it helped time pass faster.
Upon arrival, my grandfather greeted me with open arms and drove me to the house. After saying hello and visiting with my grandparents for a while, I went to the Christmas eve service at the church and had an excellent time with my friends singing Christmas carols, and enjoying refreshments and lovely baked goods.
It’s been a warm, welcoming and enjoyable visit so far. Christmas was spectacular, spent time with my family and played with my adorable baby twin cousins; it was excellent. For Christmas I got a few household items, like a bathroom set that consists of a tooth brush holder and a liquid soap container, it’s one of my favorite gifts, because it’s purple and sparkly. My hands down favorite gift is definitely a stereo system that my grandpa got me. My all time favorite part of Christmas though was Christmas dinner. It was great to have everybody sitting around the table joking and laughing.
These past couple of days, I’ve really enjoyed time with my family and friends catching up. Tomorrow, I’ll be going to my friends sheep farm and visiting with her and her family!! Another fun event will be New Years Eve, I’ll be going to another friends and we’ll be ringing in the new year with the community.
Something that I’ve come to notice since I’ve gotten here is the fact that I’ve come so far in the past year. This year has been a whirlwind of opportunity, struggle and overcoming challenges. It’s definitely been a colorful year. I’m really, really looking forward to 2011!
This past year I’ve made AMAZING friends, moved to a big city from a small town, gotten a job, dealt with a crazy landlord, moved a couple of times, gotten onto a youth agreement, enrolled into a wonderful school, my grades have shot up in school, saved around $1,000 dollars in my savings account, and I’ve strengthened as a person. I still have a lot to pursue and conquer, but I’m thoroughly satisfied and content with where I’m at in life.
My goals for 2011:
- Continue getting great grades.
- Maintain my job at the hotel.
- Stop looking at my flaws, and start looking at my good qualities.
- Start checking out colleges that provide excellent Journalism courses.
- Save up at LEAST $5,000 by next October, so that I will have a safety net for when I age out of the youth agreement.
- Continue great relationships with my friends.
- Enjoy the little things in life.
- Notice and appreciate the little things too.
- Create a plan and set goals for when I “age out” of the youth agreement.
I’ll be back in Vancouver next Monday, so I’m stoked to write and tell you guys how the rest of the week went.
I really hope that you had an excellent Christmas, and I wish you the best for 2011!
Have an excellent and safe New Years Eve!!
Dec
22
Here are the Women of Originality:
The girls created these women after a discussion took place in the cell unit one evening.
The girls indicated that forgiveness was not enough; acceptance of our selves is just as, if not, more
important in creating 
change in our lives. Based on the need for them and most girls they know to start accepting their bodies and individuality they created this circle of women.
They have represented diverse ethnic groups, body sizes, and heights; crossing their characteristics to illustrate that although they aim to be “perfect” and unique we are all one and yet diverse in our own way.
They believe that girls need to start respecting and accepting their bodies, their cultures, and them selves more.
Their Ask:
The young women ask that you contribute a letter, poem, photo, or small drawing to contribute to their artwork. This is their way of bringing community together for a common cause.
Email us at info@passionfoundation.org subject line: Women of Originality or post a comment here on the topic of Acceptance and Body Image.
Dec
22
Today someone gave us an great idea.
Why not blog pictures of the Burnaby Youth Custody’s art exhibit for those people who can’t make it down to the UBC Robson Square so people can post comments? Then you can type them out and bring them down every day, adding them to the art pieces.
BRILLIANT!
So here is the Lady of Forgiveness
The girls of the Burnaby Youth Custody Center created the Lady of Forgiveness with a thought that most of us need to create some form of forgiveness in our lives. They believe that we either need to forgive the actions of other that have affected us or to ask for forgiveness for actions we took that caused pain to others.
To them, the Lady of Forgiveness raises awareness that self harm and violence can be ended with forgiveness and creating inner peace.
Their Ask:
The young women ask that you contribute a letter, poem, photo, or small drawing to contribute to their artwork. This is their way of bringing community together for a common cause.
Have something you want to share with them or something you want to contribute to the topic? A belief, want, idea, experience of inspiration?
Please post it here or email it to info@passionfoundation.org with a Subject line: Lady of Forgiveness
Check the next blog: Women of Originality
Dec
22
But where’s the snow?
Okay Vancouver, where are you hiding all of the snow? I could have sworn that I saw it snow in New Westminster yesterday for about 5 minutes while I was on the bus. Could it be my imagination? Did you see it too? Also, does anybody know where you can buy “Christmas spirit”? They MUST sell it somewhere at Wal-Mart, I mean, they sell EVERYTHING there! Lately, I’ve been feeling quite down and depressed about Christmas, but things seem to be looking up!
I’ll admit it, I’ve had such a difficult time with not being in the Christmas spirit. Lately, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t even had time to consider going Christmas shopping, let alone enjoy a Christmas movie or holiday baking! These days I’ve been feeling stressed out and I’ve been very distant from everyone. I suppose it could be the fact that I’ve had way too much on my plate lately, or the fact that I was moping about missing Christmas in Vavenby for the first time. This would be the first Christmas without my grandparents and immediate family. It’s scary thinking that you’re going to spend it away from the people who you’ve spent it with for your whole life. Basically, I felt like boycotting Christmas this year.
Recently, I’ve had quite a few people invite me for Christmas, because they knew that I’d be spending it alone. What I absolutely LOVE about Christmas is that no matter what, you’re never going to be alone. There’s always amazing people out there who have a heart of gold and invite you in! Undoubtedly, I felt loved and special!
Last Friday, I helped my school out with picking up and delivering Christmas hampers, and I was floored by how generous people are! We delivered to a few immigrant families who barely knew English, and who were just starting out. They seemed so overwhelmed by how much we were delivering to them and seemed so appreciative! It felt so great spending the day helping others out, for the first time this holiday season, I felt the “Christmas spirit”. I find that people are constantly talking about how horrible people are getting, but when I witnessed how much people were BUYING and donating for complete strangers, I realized that there’s a lot of good in this world still. No matter how bad the world gets, there’s always going to be excellent, bighearted people out there. I’m excited to do it all again tomorrow!
Last night I joined my school at the Winter Harp concert downtown at a beautiful church. We ran a concession stand to help raise money for the 2011 grad. We raised quite a bit of money, and it was a wonderful experience! When we went into the sanctuary to enjoy the eccentric sounds of harps unraveling their elegant harmonies, it was so beautifully done and filled my heart with the Christmas spirit!
This morning I decided something very, very exciting. I’m able to go home for Christmas!! Sadly, I had to cancel my Christmas plans with a few people, but on the other hand, I get to see my family! It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen them all, so I’m absolutely stoked to see them! I’ll be leaving on Christmas eve and coming back on Boxing day! Fingers crossed, the roads will be good though, because if they’re full of snow then I can’t go. The coquihala highway is known for treacherous roads in the winter, so lets hope that they stay clear!
Excited from making arrangements to go home for Christmas, I went to Metrotown mall to go Christmas shopping. It was crawling with people, I thought I was going to suffocate to death! All in all, I am almost done my Christmas shopping, and I’m almost ready for the adventure to Vavenby! Unfortunately, I haven’t sent out Christmas cards out yet, but I still plan on doing it within the next day or two. I guess they’d be classed as “New Years Cards?” Oh well, I guess it’s the thought that counts in the end!
I hope that everybody enjoys their Christmas, I’ll be back next week with a new, fresh blog!
Merry Christmas everyone!!
Dec
14
If there was one word to describe my past week, it would either be spontaneous or adventurous.
The week started out like any other week of mine, going through the motions of school, a casual hangout with friends at the local coffee shop, devouring homework, and writing! Well, aside from my usual, but fun week days, I had a SPECTACULAR weekend!! One of the most random encounters happened on Sunday. It all started this past Saturday, I spent the whole day at home doing homework. At one point, I logged onto my personal twitter page to see what the celebrities were up to that day. Now, I’m going to admit my guilty pleasure to you, and I’m sure you watch it too: I’m addicted to the Family channel. It’s just SO adorable!! On twitter, I’m following a cast member of The Suite Life On Deck, Debby Ryan, who plays Bailey Pickett (the farm girl!). She posted a tweet saying, “Okayy, so if you’re around Vancouver, BC tomorrow afternoon, I wanna go for a late lunch/tea with a few rad fans. Wanna come?” Word for word. Since I was on at the same time as she posted it, I wrote back, “I’d love to come!” Not expecting a reply at all. After I posted that, she wrote back to me a couple of minutes later, “Are you in the area?”, to which I replied, “Yep!” and my heart raced. She noticed me? ME? Out of all of the thousands of followers who wrote to her, she noticed MY tweet? Wow. Knowing that her twitter page was authentic, I decided to go along with it. I mean, what did I have to lose? About an hour later, she DM’d (direct message) a few fans the exact location and other applicable information.
Leaving work on Sunday, I made the adventurous trip to Marble Slab in Coquitlam, the meeting place. When I arrived, there were many young ladies lined up to meet the star. She emerged from the back room, and the girls all cheered. The first thing I noticed was her slight Texan accent. She also said “Y’all” a lot. She was so adorable! What really surprised me was how kind and caring she was towards her fans. She asked us questions about life, gave us advice, answered questions, took pics, signed autographs and even scooped ice cream! What really made me smile was when I called up my little cousin Tasia to see if she wanted to talk to Debby, I asked Debby if she was able to talk to her, and Debby took the phone and talked to her for a very, very short time! Tasia said afterwards that she was in shock. She just finished watching the show, and one of the characters called her! She was starstruck! That’s another thing, the whole time I hung out with Debby, I wasn’t starstruck at all, it felt like I was just hanging out with a friend! She’s a very laid back, real, and adorable person. She even recognized my twitter name! She signed my purse, took a picture with me, and talked to me for a few moments. All I can say is that she really helped put things into perspective, and I have a high respect for that girl. She’s a gem.
After that wonderful experience last night, I went to school this morning, and had a meeting with my youth worker and social worker. For those who don’t know, I’m on a youth agreement, and I have to meet with people who help me along the way once a week to get on the same page with them, and make plans for the next step in my life. We all agreed upon the fact that I will not be graduating this year. After miscommunication and misunderstandings, it has come to my attention that I will not be graduating this year. Somehow I’ve got to figure out how I’m going to be able to continue through with school for the next two years (at the most), but I have to figure out how, funding wise, I can pull it off. I’ve got a couple of ideas, but it’s quite scary at my age not knowing what’s going to unravel in the future. I suppose that all I can do is just wait it out, and let the future reveal itself. Focusing on right now is my priority (well, I’m trying to look at it that way, anyways.)
Anyhow, after the meeting, I went my Tourism 12 class and did a couple of assignments. After lunch, our Outdoor Recreation 12 class took a short road trip to Squamish to take an adventurous hike. Now, the teacher told us to not leave our valuables in the bus, so I brought the autographed purse along with me. Stupid move on my part, because my purse was WHITE! Thus, when I got to the bottom of the mountain, it was all muddy. You can still see the autograph though! Anyways, we hiked up Chief Mountain, and we climbed up to the first peak. Boy, I wasn’t expecting it to be that challenging! A couple of times I feared falling off the cliff, and I almost did once! All in all, the challenge in itself taught me something on my ride home… if I can climb a very difficult mountain, I can find a way to finish school. There’s nothing to worry about! I’ve got great people behind me who’s there to support me, so I’ll do excellent! Resources are spread like Starbucks in Vancouver, everywhere!! When I reached the peak, I felt a triumphant explosion of satisfaction crash over me like a tidal wave. Sure, it was challenging, but hard work paid off. Lesson of the day: NEVER take your white purse up a mountain, no matter what you think, no matter how careful you are, it’s going to get ruined.
(I’m the tall, curly haired girl near the left. Debby is the beautiful girl in the center, with the blue shirt on.)
If you want to follow Debby on Twitter, her link is:
www.twitter.com/thedebbyryan <http://www.twitter.com/thedebbyryan>
Dec
7
Hello, again!
How was everybody’s week? Mine was… well, challenging. I spent it piled under a mountain of blankets, quarantined to the four walls of my apartment. I caught the flu bug two Thursdays ago, and this week was less than fun! Fortunately though, I caught up on my sleep and rested up for the next few hectic weeks! I’m feeling 100% better now, and I’m back to my energized, happy-go-lucky self now! Christmas is now seventeen days away! Is everybody prepared? I’m halfway there, my apartment is decked out in Christmas decor, and most of my Christmas cards are done, but I haven’t started my Christmas shopping!! Well, like I said, there’s still 17 days away, I’ve got plenty of time!
For the past week or so, I’ve been privileged to help organize and contribute to a food drive/food bank. I’m excited to announce that it was a very successful turn out, and we fed many! Also, my friends at The Vine Church made several Christmas packages for the homeless, and handed them out on Sunday afternoon, and it was a great success! It makes me happy knowing that the less fortunate are still getting some sort of Christmas gift this year, even in the smallest of ways. I’m planning on continuing helping out charities, food banks, and soup kitchens throughout the winter. I’m encouraging everyone I know to donate what they can to food banks, it’s very easy to drop a canned good off at the nearest one! Remember, while you’re enjoying your Christmas classic by the fire place, drinking your egg nog and eating mountains of cookies, there’s someone just dying to be in your position.
Hopefully this week will be a little more relaxing, so that I can catch up on sleep and other important things. I took tonight off and went to the mall to pick myself up a couple of treats. I must say, it felt great to get out and reward yourself every once in a while! Everybody should do it, it should be a necessity when you accomplish important things! I completed a HUGE assignment that I have been struggling with for the past two weeks, so I rewarded myself for it. Tomorrow I’ll be going to see the movie, Burlesque, with a friend – I’m very excited for it!
I can’t wait to update you next week! Have a successful, happy, positive and FESTIVE week!
Thanks for checking in!
