Thursday, 20 September 2012

Home to Canada for a Visit - Part 2 (Sept. 20-Oct. 3, 2012)


After dropping my parents off at the airport I made a brief stop in Georgetown for lunch with Ryan's family, then Ryan and I headed to Waterloo for a fun-filled weekend.  It started with board games at Ryan's cousin's house, and then off to Evan and Steve's house for more fun and board games.  That evening was fairly uneventful (although really fun), but it was great to catch up with good friends I hadn't seen in a long time.

Saturday morning Ryan and I went to my old favourite place: the St. Jacob's Farmer's Market.  I used to love going there as often as possible when we lived in Waterloo, so it was a must-see on our visit.  Ryan's brother flew in from New Brunswick that morning, so we met Ryan's family at the market and enjoyed traditional apple fritters and shopping for fall produce.



That evening we had our big party at our favourite local bar, the Huether Hotel.  That was also really awesome because I got to see even more good friends.  The girls from my synchro team came, my old boss from RIM, a few people we hung out with while we lived in Waterloo, my cousin, and a few Georgetown friends too. 



The icing on the cake was that the next day I went to lunch and shopping with my old co-worker/friend Su.  It was really great to see her and catch up after a year apart.

On Monday I left Ryan and headed to Guelph to spend a few days with my sister, who is now going to school there.  We caught up on some girlie movies, did crafts, cooked, shopped, and I went to her classes with her.  I'm so glad I went because I didn't get to spend much time with her at the wedding, and we needed some serious sister time!  Other than spending time with her, the highlight was definitely Trivia Night at one of the university bars.  We didn't do very well, but there were at least questions we had a chance of getting right!


Sidenote: When my mom saw this picture, she said "Oh, is that Jill's new friend?"  Uh...no...mom, that's me!  Yes, my hair is that long.  Jill straightened it for me a few times, which was a cool change for me.

The University of Guelph campus is beautiful, but unfortunately the leaves hadn't changed at all there.  Everywhere else was brightly coloured, but it was still green in Guelph.


That Thursday I left Jill, which was bitter-sweet because I was headed to Toronto to visit my best friend Karen and her boyfriend Ben.  She recently moved there, so it was great to see her new place with an amazing view.


We didn't really have any plans for the weekend, except that I needed to finish off all of my Canadian shopping, and we were seeing a baseball game on Friday night.

Friday morning we headed to Vaughan Mills to do some outlet shopping, and I was surprised at how huge the mall was.  We got some great deals, and I loaded my suitcase up even more.  That night we met Karen's family at the SkyDome for a Jays vs. Yankees baseball game.  Lucky for us it was Fan Appreciation Day, so there was tons of free stuff up for grabs!  We got to play Plinko (some of you may recognize this game from the show The Price is Right, where you drop the ball down a wall covered in pegs, and it lands in a prize slot in the bottom), roulette, and mini golf, and we won lots of Jays swag.


We also got to see them close the Dome while we were in it (an engineering masterpiece), we caught prizes that were thrown out into the stands, AND, most importantly, we were on the Jumbotron!  Seriously, despite the game not going well, BEST GAME EVER!  It was also really great to see Karen's family again.

On Saturday we did even more shopping at the Eaton Centre, then our friend Cassie took the bus into town to meet us for dinner.  We went to the Hot House CafĂ© which was having a Garlic Festival, and the highlight of the meal (other than great company, delicious food, and wonderful conversation) was the black garlic brownie I had for dessert.  Mmm mmm!  As luck would have it, that was the same night as Nuit Blanche (a city-wide art festival), so we wandered around Toronto in pursuit of weird art and great people-watching.  It was cool because they closed down Younge Street, and it's pretty rare that you can walk down the middle of it without getting hit by a car!  The art was disappointing, but overall the night was fantastic.



My last day in Toronto, Sunday, we didn't have any plans until we randomly heard from an old friend that the Tragically Hip were playing an impromptu free concert in Kensington Market that afternoon.  It was a beautiful day so we figured we had nothing to lose by checking it out.  Turns out they were playing 15 minute sets, on the hour, for about 5 hours I think.  Sure enough, right on time, that's exactly what happened!  We watched the first set from the back (of a small crowd) and it was great, so we decided to stay for a few more.  For the next one we worked our way up to try to get autographs, but unfortunately we didn't quite get close enough.



 In between sets we wandered around Kensington Market checking out the neat stores, the food stalls, and the other random bands that were playing in the street.  Closer to Chinatown we came along an awesome band called the Intergalactic Jug Defenders.  They played kind of old timey music, and when they finished their first song we asked if they could play the jug that they had sitting on the ground.  Sure enough they used it in the next song.  They were awesome so I bought their CD.


Later that evening we went to Chinatown for dinner and Karen managed to find some green tea ice cream in a grocery store, so it was the perfect ending to a great day.

Monday morning my visit to Toronto was over and I had to say goodbye again.  I met my aunt for lunch just north of Toronto, since I didn't see her at my brother's wedding, and then headed back to Ryan's house in Georgetown to conclude our visit in Canada.  The last day we just relaxed and played board games with his family, then after what seemed like no time at all, we flew to Holland.

Thanks to everyone in Canada who made our trip awesome.  I hope I didn't forget anything!  It was definitely a wonderful vacation, and it was great to be home in Canada again.

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Home to Canada for a Visit - Part 1 (Sept. 6-19, 2012)

Wow it's nice to be home.  We've lived in Australia for 15 months, which isn't really that long, but I was starting to pine for something familiar.  It's not so much the friends and family that I miss (no offense, but with technology these days it's not hard to keep in touch), but the familiar scenery, stores, and towns are all a welcome site.

Ryan and I started our first few days in Georgetown, where we couldn't believe how green everything was despite the dry summer.

On a walk near Ryan's house in Georgetown.

Our 24 hour flight was very successful, but the jet-lag hit us harder than we expected.  It took me at least a week to have a full night sleep, and even longer to not be drowsy during the day.  Despite that, we had an awesome time at my friend Cassie's wedding the first weekend we were home.  

My childhood friends, all grown up.

Then we went to a great afternoon barbeque with Ryan's extended family before I headed off to Owen Sound to see my parents.

The next few days were full of preparing for my brother's upcoming wedding.  We didn't really help with wedding stuff, but we had to plan and prepare food for the rehearsal dinner.  The best part was going to the Keady Farmer's Market and seeing all of the fall produce.



Then, before we knew it, we were headed to Belleville with two carloads full of stuff to see my brother get married.  I had forgotten that we have such huge highways in Canada.  They just don't make 'em like that in Australia!


The rehearsal and the dinner went smoothly, and after checking into the hotel and settling into bed, the hallway suddenly got very loud with Wasylyk voices.  Of course that signalled the arrival of a few more Wasylyk families - with Jell-O shots!  It was an awesome way to celebrate seeing everyone again after such a long time.

The morning of the wedding we were all quite relaxed.  I went for a swim with my cousins in the hotel pool, and everyone just relaxed until it was time to go to the church.  My brother Steven was very calm and upbeat (or at least he was pretending) and Michelle (my new sister-in-law!) was absolutely stunning.  My sister Jillian was a bridesmaid, and her and the rest of the wedding party were the icing on the cake.  I can't say enough about how beautiful the wedding was.  It was the first Wasylyk wedding, so it set the bar pretty high!


Meet the Wasylyks

The reception was also flawless.  It was awesome to hang out with all of my cousins and dance all night, and I think everyone had an amazing time.  I know Steven and Michelle did!

Now I'm back in Owen Sound enjoying a few final days at my parent's beautiful house before I bring them to the airport and start the "friend" portion of my Canada visit.  The first two weeks were mostly about family, but I still have a lot of people to see and there's a lot more fun to be had!

Oh, and I'm loving my new camera :)

Tuesday, 4 September 2012

New Job, New House, New Adventure


As some of you already know, A LOT has happened in the past few months, so I thought I'd take some time to update everyone.  For the most part this blog has been about our travels, but we have made some changes will radically affect our travel plans for the next year.  I'll start at the very beginning.

My job at the mines was fairly repetitive, so I listened to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts while I worked (for those of you who don't know, podcasts are free audio programs on iTunes).  My favourite podcast was one called "The Wellness Guys", which was all about health and dispelling the myths that are out there about living a healthy life.  If you have any interest in health at all, I highly recommend it (www.thewellnessguys.com).  The program is run by 3 Australian chiropractors/wellness experts, so after listening to a lot of episodes I decided to go see Dr. Brett Hill in Adelaide for a wellness coaching session.  At that point I had no interest in chiropractic, but I did like his message about health.

In the meantime, I was also taking some of the advice from the podcast and changing my diet.  They highly recommended cutting grains from your diet in all forms (I know, it sounds crazy) so I decided to stop having toast and cereal for breakfast at the mines, and replaced them with other things like fruit, eggs, green salads, and even the dinner food they put out for the night shift people.  Almost immediately I stopped having my usual sugar crashes during the day.  I also lost a few pounds, and l now look and feel better than I have in years.  When I got home from the mines, Ryan listened to one of the interviews about the Paleo diet on the podcast, and we decided to give it a try.  He was doubtful at first, but the main message that hooked him was to pay attention to how you feel after you eat.  Pretty much instantly we noticed that not having grains or dairy made us feel so much better than before, and we were really enjoying the increase in veggies and meat.

So fast-forward a few months.  I had started seeing Brett for chiropractic work because of my sore back from work, and I also learned that chiropractors can help with so much more than back pain (sleep, digestion, headaches, immunity, etc.).  The job at the mines was really getting to me, and I desperately needed a change.  Also, winter at the mines was pretty cold at 5am, so I started getting arthritic hands and large sore bumps on them.  When I asked Brett what he thought would help, he said "well, you could come work for me!"  He was offering about 20 hours a week of front desk/chiropractic assistant work/marketing, but also the opportunity to be mentored by him in the hopes of becoming a wellness coach in his practice,  which of course sounded better than the mines.  Despite that,  I immediately said no because of the major decrease in pay and the long commute from home.  When I told Ryan, he said "so you took it, right?"

Over the next 24 hours Ryan and I hashed out all of the pros and cons of taking the job at Greenhill Family Chiropractic, but eventually decided that I would work one more swing at Prominent Hill, then take the job.  We also decided that we had to move closer to my new work (and away from the beach).  While we were in Tasmania Brett confirmed that I could have the job, and in that moment things changed forever.

I am now typing this from our new house (we just moved in yesterday), I have completed a basic Wellness Coaching Certificate online, I absolutely love working at Greenhill Family Chiropractic, and most importantly Ryan and I are both much healthier now than we have ever been.  That story is to be continued.

Our other exciting update is that tomorrow morning we are leaving for a major vacation!  We will be in Canada for 4 weeks, then Holland for a few days, and finally Thailand for a few days.  In Canada we have two weddings to go to (my brother's and my friend's), family and friends to visit, and a heck of a lot of shopping to do!  We haven't been home in 15 months, so we're really looking forward to the trip.  Because my new job is on weekdays, we won't be doing very many large trips like we have been doing, so this will be an awesome way to start our new chapter.  Consequently, I won't be posting on this blog for probably 2 months.  I will of course post about our trips when I return to Australia.

Until then, instead of reading my blog, listen to the Wellness Guys!  Even if it doesn't change your lives as drastically as it  changed mine, I guarantee that it will change your lives in another positive way.

Thanks for reading!
Love Steph