Jazz is always good

Yup, the Vancouver Jazz Festival kicked off last Thursday and on Saturday I headed over to Gastown for some lovely music, food, and festival-y fun. It's such a great atmosphere, I always enjoy it. This is a picture of (part of) a fantastic Swedish/Nordic band that played a very unique blend of rocky, spacey jazz. They were definitely my favourite, but unfortunately I've just forgotten their name, eek.

What else? The weather is still weird and unsummery, sigh. It's difficult to get beyond this fact. Thankfully, my birthday day was full of sunshine (and wine and cheese on a rooftop!) and there's still hope for July and August.

Carpe diem (rain or shine)!!!

Yay Summer(ish)!

Well, it's officially Summer - we've even passed the Summer Solstice now, ooh la la! I marked this stupendous occasion by wearing a skirt with sandals rather than tights and boots, hooray!

The school week is flying by as usual. We have a professional development day this Friday (my birthday!) so it will be nice to relax and slip back into the role of a (lazy???) student, aaahhh.

Today I tried some delicious, homemade (not by me but by a lovely Korean lady) Korean food. I started with seaweed soup and then there was rice with oyster mushrooms, cucumber, carrot, sprouts, a little ground meat, egg, seaweed, and SPICY red sauce. Everything was very tasty and I loved the sauce but it was deceptively spicy (it kicks in a few seconds after it's been in your mouth) so I couldn't eat all of it. But yes - utterly delicious, I was very impressed :) I can't wait to try more Korean food.

Cheerio!

Summer days...

...well, yesterday was a Summer day. Today is a bit sketchy but I'm sure we will persevere nonetheless :) Yesterday was a perfect Summer day - beautiful, sunny, warm, and filled with good friends, tennis, cake, hiking, and berry farm visiting :) So my birthday celebrations (agh!) are off to a good start :)

As usual, I went to Krause Farm for berries as it is the ultimate berry destination. They just opened their doors last Monday and the strawberries are flying out fast! And for good reason - they're not bland and watery but bright red, delicious, sweet, and fragrant.

Today is dark and gloomy, but I think my batteries were pretty much fully recharged yesterday so I'm ready to face the greyness and carpe diem :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Nice...

The sun is shining, birds are chirping, music's playing and I feel so happy! Yesterday was the definition of a Friday - games played in class, cupcakes, field trips, all finished off with a lovely outing to Granville Island. G.I. is one of my favourite places in Vancouver - there's always something to see, live music to enjoy, good food to eat, and a gorgeous view to gaze at. I've also gone to see a few plays at some of the small theatres there and they were absolutely fantastic.

Today will be a day of tennis and cake :) My birthday is next week so this weekend will mark the beginning of my celebration :) But really it's about relaxing, playing tennis, and forgetting that I'm getting older. Especially since I don't really feel like it...at all. I feel like I'll never really grow up in some ways. I want to feel completely alive and to laugh and play forever :)

I'm also trying to compile a list of things to do in the Vancouver area this Summer. I've lived in the area for, oh, six years now?! And yet I still haven't really been anywhere. I want to do the Grouse Grind, go to Lynn Valley (for the suspension bridge), and also go to Lighthouse Park and the Cleveland Dam. So exciting!

Alright, time to get this beautiful day started :) Cheerio!!

Radiant!

Ahhhh, how I love sunsets at the beach! Another plus that comes with all the loveliness of Summer. The weather's still topsy turvy around here, but that just makes sunsets like this all the more special and precious I suppose :)

I had some delicious red pepper soup today, along with salmon and brown rice - delicious and nutritious :) Dark and gloomy weather makes me want to eat more, but this dinner was wonderfully satisfying :)

Enjoy the sunset!

Please send the clouds away...

...after another week of mostly gloomy weather, yesterday brought glorious sunshine, warm temperatures, and a bounce to my step. After getting my teeth cleaned and checked out (all is good, hooray), I headed to the beach with a friend and it was goooorgeous! Everyone was out and about, playing volleyball, throwing frisbees, flying kites, and smiling giant summery smiles. I was even inspired to buy a few summery items of clothing :)

Well, let's get back to today. I woke up to sunshine peeking through my blinds. Nice. Two hours later and it's cloudy, dark, and sort of depressing again :( Sigh. Going from light to dark makes me realize just how huge of an effect the weather has on me. I don't know how much more gloominess I can take! What to do, what to do...

In other news, I'm reading this book right now: Women Who Run with the Wolves, and it's absolutely fantastic. It's all about reconnecting with our wild, natural selves and learning to trust and follow our own bodies, our intuition, and our souls, rather than trying to conform to the limiting expectations and conventions of the outer world. The writing is quite poetic at times, and I love how the author uses old folk tales and archetypes to explore these issues.

Well, I will try not to let the weather get me down. Tis haaaaaard.

Cheerio!

Happy Saturday!

I'm still a little out of sync with the seasons - the gloomy weather is making it feel like winter rather than summer so everything's a bit topsy turvy. I hear the sun is supposed to make a comeback soon though :)

Since it's not raining at the moment, I'll be playing lots of tennis today - a friendly tournament of sorts :) I haven't played in a week so I'm certainly looking forward to it :)

In other sports news, we're having a World Cup theme at school next week so I better try to find out something - anything! - about it. I know there is a ball. The ball gets kicked a lot. Agh, I'm so ignorant :) It will be fun to learn loads more and get into the spirit of it all.

Ahhh, life is beautiful, even on the grey days. The sun is always there, whether it's hiding or dancing for everyone to see :)

Happy June!

Bizarro Weather Alert! Well, it's June 2nd but it feels more like January - dark, cold, and rainy! It doesn't feel like Summer at all so I still can't catch up to the present moment :)

This is a photo taken at Van Dusen Gardens in Vancouver - some lovely pink flowers to brighten up a gloomy day.

Many of my students are actually feeling quite blue because of this weather. Some don't even come to school, or they come late. I really hope the sun comes back to visit us soon, for the sake of everyone's health and well-being :)

In the meantime, I'm drinking lots of hot tea, eating soup, and listening to The Magnetic Fields :)

A little piece of the sun is always burning inside of us :)