a beautiful west coast week

January 28, 2007



It really has been a great week. I don't know a better way to open up this blog but that. It started in Whistler with some great old friends and a ridiculously good meal at the keg and is wrapping up today as I find myself with some alone time on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Vancouver.

Steph left this morning to teach a couple classes in Edmonton. She was ready to leave last night but her flight got cancelled. Too much fog at Vancouver International. The fog here last night was actually really incredible. I actually saw a tunnel of it hovered over false creek. It was about 50 feet tall, hanging low in the air and seemingly in a quick and constant state of motion. It was interesting to see it from Steph's downtown 16th floor view and she told me that it had been around her apartment in the morning, so thick that it seems all her windows were frosted. Sounded cool, then I saw it this morning and it was a pretty strange feeling. Take a look at the pic of the bedroom and imagine lying in there seeing nothing but thick fog out the windows. It was a little cocoon like to be honest. Weird and cozy all at the same time.



Anyway, I had eaten already when Steph got back from the airport last night, but she was hungry and we suddenly had an evening to enjoy in the city. So of course we went out to eat, to a restaurant called lickerish, not far from home. Steph had the "prix fixe" menu and we had a couple martinis before splitingt the unbelievably good banana spring roll dessert from her meal. SO GOOD!

Stephanie and I have actually been able to spend quite a bit of time together which has been really nice. We've had a lot of our own time but we have been able to just hang and talk and be us a lot and it means so much to me. We haven't lived in the same city for 4 years now and so it's nice to know that we have some time and we're just settling into it and really enjoying ourselves. It's something that is totally invaluable to me right now as I have much to contemplate. Of course, being me I always have much to contemplate, but the contemplation right now feels important and necessary and there is rare as good a sounding board for me then my best friend of 20 years.



It has actually been really interesting spending this time together and seeing just how deeply we are connected. We can often finish each other's sentences and are thinking the same or similar thoughts. It's really interesting and I think very special. It's a relationship I can compare to my stepmom Janet's relationship with her friend Mamie, who is like my aunt. It's funny cause while Janet and I were stuck in Traffic on the way to the airport a couple weeks ago I got a voice mail from Mamie and as I listened to it Janet, not knowing, was thinking about Mamie. So interesting, Steph and I are totally like that. When we lived together our own mothers would often mistake us for each other when they called. Enough said.




I didn't want to say it off the top out of respect for my many friends and family in Toronto who are experiencing the finest Ms. Winter has to give right now but the weather Vancouver has had in the last week has really set the tone for the whole scene. It has been warm and, even better, clear and sunny. The mountains have just absolutely commanded their royal stature over the city and I am reminded all the time of why I love it here. The other day as Steph and I walked across the Cambie bridge back to downtown, the sun was setting on the day in the west and a pick reflection glowed off the mountains in the east. You don't get that every day in Vancouver so we felt pretty lucky to be able to stand on the bridge and just take it in.

I sure do love the look of fresh and falling snow though, and I sure do miss all of you back at home. I should be in better touch now than I have been. I love you all very much. Please drop me a line anytime, remember late night at home is like evening here... ;)

Talk soon,
xoxoxoxo

West Again

January 17, 2007
Vancouver, BC

I kept my promise to Steph. Sure I showed up at the airport loaded down with bags, but I promised I'd make it all pretty much disappear, and I did. She sat and watched with glee and amazement last night as I unpacked my things and fit them all into her apartment easily. In actuality, my stuff filled in all her blanks and it feels pretty perfect. She agrees and even says that it feels more like a home now. That pretty much sums up how I feel to be here.

After a weekend filled with work and family visits, it was wrapped out perfectly with a great gathering of some of the best people I have the priviledge of knowing. It was a fabulous evening, night and morning (got to sleep at about 5am) and I feel like I was sent off with a bang. Many thanks to you all!





Now that I'm here and settled in with Steph I can take some time to relax, reaquaint myself with beautiful Vancouver and stare at the mountains. It feels really good, mind you there is always a certain numbness to the first few days of a long trip away from home. It's a feeling I've noticed with every substantial trip away from home that I've taken. It feels good though and that's really the whole point.

Heading to Whistler this weekend to see so many more people I'm very much looking forward to seeing, but for now I'm just settling back into the west coast vibe. Good to be here.

mols
xoxo