Family

So many things have been going on since I last posted! Where do I even start?!

The end of the summer came and went, Bruno and I went to Europe for a couple weeks for a big visit to Belgium to meet his family and friends, and then DrupalCon London. DrupalCon went by quickly with Bruno and a few of the other Affinity Bridgers there.

The time in Belgium was wonderful... Bruno's friends and family are absolutely lovely people. Hopefully the first of many visits there. Bruno will be going back in February for a couple weeks, but I'm planning to stay in Vancouver since he's got to deal with a bunch of practicalities from moving and will be working while he's there too. 

Shortly after we got back, Bruno landed a job in Vancouver, yay!!! This also meant that he got approved for a one year work visa, double yay! Hopefully that will help bridge the gap to when we're common law and can try for his permanent residence.

My lovely cousin Colleen came up for a visit in October - it'd been a couple years since I'd seen her last, so we had a lot of bonding to do. It's nice to be a bit closer geographically now, so that we can have little visits! The following weekend was the PNW Drupal Summit in Portland - most of the Affinity crew traveled south for it, as well as Bruno and I. As always, it was a great weekend full of visiting and learning.

Aside from all the travels and conferences, we've had some time to explore the city over the summer and fall... I think Bruno's really getting himself oriented now, and figuring out what his favourite spots are.

Fall is also bringing some calm and I've been getting back into crafting! I sewed an awesome bag, and have been knitting a lot again. 

Finally, I celebrated my 31st birthday about a week ago! I got nifty new mitts from my mom, terrariums from Bruno, and had a nice lunch with friends in Gastown.

All in all, things are good - I've been making more time for myself and feeling much less burnt out. I'm hoping for a winter full of self-care, creativity, and lovely people... want to join me?

So, what have I been up to the last couple months? You know how it goes... Drupal, work, Drupal, work... and then Bruno arriving here to stay for the entire summer!

He arrived just over a month ago and will be here until August when we go visit his family in Belgium and then go to Drupalcon in London. The plan after that is that he'll be coming back to Vancouver again, and then we've got a window of about six weeks to hopefully figure out something more long-term, ie. getting a work visa or extending his visit if that's possible.

It's been a loooong time since I've lived with a boyfriend, but it has been going remarkably well! We'd talked a lot about our living habits before he came back here in April, and I had good feeling about it - and it's proved to be a very easy transition (maybe aside from his being far more of a morning person, but really most people don't need to sleep as much as me, so that's to be expected - plus he's stealth quiet!)

We've managed to have some good getting to know Vancouver time (despite me feeling so-so, up and down) - Drupal meetups, coworking, swimming, farmers markets, and even hosted our first Drupal Hackternoon! My parents were supposed to come out to visit and meet him last week but ended up having to postpone, so hopefully that will be in the cards sometime in the summer. And we had a brief visit with my friend Evan who came to visit from Saskatoon - he and I grew up next door to each other, basically our whole lives until finishing highschool. It was his first trip to Vancouver - he was here for a bachelor's party, and flew out a day early to visit!

Aside from planning a few little trips here and there through the summer, we'll be continuing to get settled into living together and generally enjoying finally being together after so many months of skyping and emailing and two week visits! 

The weeks (months) leading up to the Christmas holidays continued to be really busy. We'd been really cramming at work, and I was also doing a lot of Drupal work (we had a big Documentation meeting/sprint weekend the weekend before holidays that people flew in for, and it's also been a big push getting the Drupal 7 docs done for its release which is coming up this week). I was definitely running on fumes. Thankfully we'd made the wise decision early on to shut down entirely at work for two weeks over the holidays, so we could all take a proper, well-deserved break. I went back to Saskatoon for a full week and a half, to have Christmas with my parents, and basically just do what Frankie says (ie. relax).

Decorating the tree with my mom

This year, fake tree... we made the most of it though!

It was a really nice visit, full of sitting by the fireplace, patting my parents' dog Jake, and of course, some Drupal docs... I also was lucky enough to have lunch with Kirsti and Mike (boy, do I miss those two!), and also see some other family friends. Kept it very low key though, and didn't have any big dinners or anything.

Me and Kirsti!

Me and Mike!

I also finally replaced my little point and shoot camera that was stolen when I left my backpack on a train in Berlin, which means (for better or worse) the return of self portraits! 

Saskatoon, first thing in the morning in the sunbeam coming through the curtains

When I got back to Vancouver (with great timing, as I left right after the temperature suddenly dropped to -30C with the windchill on the prairies), I set to a big end of year clean up and purge of extra clothes, etc. Everything is in good shape other than the extra bedroom, which I am planning to get a bed for, so my parents and other visitors have an actual room to stay in rather than the loft (which has a futon, but is really bright in the mornings).

This place finally feels like home, it's really nice to be back. Sitting by the fireplace, listening to copious amounts of CBC radio one, and having friends stop by. Ahhh, not much else a girl could ask for. Except for maybe a special visitor to turn up in about a week and a half...

First day of 2011

What does this year hold for me? Like last year, definitely a lot of Drupal and making more awesome at work. A trip to Chicago in the spring. I'd like to spend a lot more time with friends, and on creative endeavours and self-care, which have been terribly neglected of late. Hopefully continuing to improve and stabilize healthwise and gain some more weight. Hopefully something really special... I can't wait to see where this year takes me!

Yesterday, I turned 30.

There have certainly been some struggles getting here, but overall this year has been a pretty fantastic one.

I celebrated this momentous occasion with friends and my parents who flew out from Saskatoon for the weekend to visit. We had some delicious brunch cooked by the amazing chef, Boris (and Scott's much loved cinnamon buns). Later, after everyone dispersed and many of us napped, we went out to see Wintersleep in the evening (opening band Ra Ra Riot was freaking awesome btw). 

My photos from brunch are here. And Rachael has a few up as well.

Much love to my friends, family, fellow Drupallers, and the AB crew for making the day, and my life so full of awesome.

There are big things in store for me this year, I can feel it. (Some of them, you'll be finding out about sooner than later...) ;)

Lovely birthday portrait by the lovely Rachael

So first, a little catch up from before my last posts... back in June, I went to Saskatoon for a weekend to go to the wedding of one of my next door neighbours from where I grew up. The Sulatyski family lived next door to me my entire Saskatoon-life (plus a couple years after I moved to Vancouver), and are like my second family... sometimes I feel like I grew up more Ukrainian than any other culture!

The middle kid from the family, Markian, (who's a year older than me, on the right in the photo below) got married to his lovely now-wife Emily. The wedding was out on Emily's family's acreage outside the city. It was beautiful outside for the ceremony, and then right before dinner there was a CRAZY flash storm - pouring rain, wind, lightning... a big gust came up and tried to pick up the big party tent just like in one of those crazy home videos. Everyone jumped up and held down the tent for about a half hour till the storm passed. Lots of excitement, then it calmed down and we had a great evening.

I love, love, love seeing my old neighbourhood crew, I spent so many summers hanging out with these boys (Evan on the left is the youngest brother, and their cousin Chris is in the middle). I also got to see their older step-sister who I hadn't seen in well over a decade, and it was awesome catching up with her (especially because she convinced me to try and make it to Evan's wedding which was just last weekend, even though it was really close to getting back from my big summer trip).

Then, the end of July was completely absorbed with moving into my new place. That's right, no more West End Girl here... I've moved out to East Van and am loving it here. It's quiet, I have a ton of space, and am closer to friends (and really not much further from work). It's been a lot of work getting moved in here while not being home a lot this summer, but it's going to be a great place to be for the next while.

Then, a couple weeks after moving in, I took off for my first trip to Europe! I'll just start by saying it was as great as I could have hoped, and I now feel like a relatively competent overseas traveller.

The first place I went for a week and a half was Copenhagen (photos), where DrupalCon was held. I wanted to go last year to Paris, but then my boss was having a baby at the same time, so I decided to stay and help hold down the fort at work instead. So, this year was my year, and a huge bonus that it was in Copenhagen, which was somewhere I really wanted to go (after studying urban geography for so long).

It was a great city (as full of bikes as you can dream), and I stayed in a gorgeous apartment in the center of town that I rented with Scott, Sam, and Rok. Rok's girlfriend Tamara came for the first weekend as well, which was lovely as it was all of our first time meeting her. I had virtually no jetlag going over (probably largely thanks to splurging for an upgraded ticket on the way over), and had a great time wandering around the first few days.

DrupalCon was awesome as always - I went to the Core Dev Summit (which I'd missed when I went to San Francisco's DrupalCon in the spring, thanks to being sick), and it was one of my favourite parts of the trip. I got some traveler tummy halfway through the week, and missed the last day, but all in all it was absolutely fantastic. (You can read more about my DrupalCon adventure here if you are interested/nerdy.)

And I loved Copenhagen - good food, neat shops, really pretty city. It definitely had its own vibe and style - everyone was so sophisticated, well dressed, and the stereotype did hold true, a lot of tall, nordic, good looking people!

At the end of the trip, Scott, Sam, and I had to say goodbye to Rok, who was going back home, and we hopped on a train to our next destination: Berlin.

Berlin (photos) got off to a rough start when I left my backpack (containing my laptop, digital camera, prescription sunglasses, and medication) on the last leg of the train. Yes, really. I spent the first few days trying to see if I could find my bag, frustratingly trying to talk to the right people in german (thank dog I speak a little bit, as middle aged government service people there sure as heck don't speak much english). Luckily, all of the annoying trips back and forth to the train station, and phone calls of broken german proved worthwhile when on our last full day there I got my bag back! Go-go german lost and found system! 

The only thing missing was my little digital camera (and the photos I'd taken at the conference), as well as my cell phone's USB cable (which I believe the thief mistakenly took, thinking it belonged with the camera). Can you believe they took just that and not my laptop??? Me neither. I was so stoked to have the rest back that I was happy to cut my losses. My only guess is that they opened my laptop and saw it was password protected, and so left it alone... Needless to say, the rest of the photos in this post (and on Flickr) are all cell-phone photography. But I did have my film SLR with me as well, so there will be more to come when I get those developed.

That last day in Berlin was great - I did some shopping in Prenzlauer Berg, a hip area of the city north of the hostel we stayed at. Then after the second trip of the day to the other side of city, when I actually got my bag back, I took the "tourist" city bus line and saw a bunch of stuff, including the Berlinner Dome church, which I went inside. It was totally beautiful.

Aside from cool shopping and sights, I have to say, Berlin had by far the best Ariane-friendly grocery stores! It was amazing, all the grocers I went to were full of gluten-free this and dairy-free that. And omg the soy yogurt in Europe is DELICIOUS. They are doing it wrong over here. What I would give to be able to get that stuff here...

After Berlin, we had a final day of train rides - we didn't know ahead, but the last train was a crazy fast train! (Pardon Scott's head blocking the photo...) It did make me a bit nauseous compared to the normal trains, but we went up to 327km/hr!!!! SO FAST. SO COOL!!! Walking down the aisle when we'd go down any small hills, it felt like I was about to levitate. Glad I got to ride one afterall.

And our final destination was Paris (photos) for the last couple days before heading home. I think I have some more photos from there on my phone (can't download em without my cable, but S & S have a card reader when they get back from visiting Scott's brother out in New Brunswick), and on the film, but nothing too stellar other than photos from the plant shops near Notre Dame (which I kind of botched finding) for now. 

Paris is a huge city! The weather was fantastic there, and I had a great time wandering around while S & S were out sightseeing. Highlights were a private opera concert at night at the Louvre, delicious chocolate, talking to the owner of this great jazz/classical music shop, shopping, and eating at La Ferme (this delicious and really pleasant veg-friendly cafe I found my last day there).

The day of travel home and resulting jetlag was probably the worst part, so I can't complain. All in all, a fantastic and victorious first overseas trip, and bonus getting some quality time with some of my favourite friends and Drupallers from all over the world.

Finally, a couple weeks after getting back (and surviving a terrible but short-lived stomach flu), it was time for one last adventure out to Edmonton for Evan (youngest brother from next door) and Jaime's wedding. I am so, so, so glad that I went in the end. Sure, I was pretty wiped out, but dammit I love those guys, and it was so nice getting to spend some more time with them. Everyone stayed in the hotel there, so we saw a lot of each other, and didn't have to go running all over town (sidenote: parts of Edmonton seem pretty cool, I almost want to go back to explore). Can't believe my little brother-from-another-mother is a married man now, we're all grown up!

I also got to see his big sis, Elana, for the first time since she became a momma herself (right around when Markian's wedding was), she's a superstar, what can I say!

(And this last photo, I just thought was cool enough to post, taken the night before the wedding while we were hanging out watching the Riders game.)

This weekend, I finally get to myself, to rest and catch up some more on finishing my move-in. Next weekend is the last hurrah in the string of events that I've been working my way through, finally the much anticipated PNW Drupal Summit (which I've been helping a tiny bit with organizing). There's people coming from all over the PNW (Pacific Northwest) and further afield, and I've got three of my favourite Drupal gals coming to stay at the house for the weekend, so it should be a blast. (Oh, and also I'm co-presenting a session as part of my plan to conquer my fear of public speaking...eek!)

After that, no plans till Christmas, which makes me extremely happy! There will be lots of Drupalling, Crafternoons, regaining of social life, and other enjoyment, that is for certain. Life has been better lately, and I have a feeling more good things are on their way in the next little while... ;)

I can see it all on the horizon. Or, I think I can... Maybe it is just the light in the distance playing tricks with my eyes. No. There is something there. Leave the fear behind. All I can do is take steps toward it each day. And be where I am.

For a myriad of reasons, last week generally sucked. I think I'm getting better at shaking it off though, so that's something. But it wasn't all bad. Time for a list of all that is good. Focus, focus, focus on that, and I will keep on the right track.

1. Friday I got the extremely good news that my mom had gotten a clean bill of health after getting a scary call from the doctor at the start of the week. I couldn't even tell people about it cause I was so freaked out.
2. Also, some other great news, was that Sam (Scott's girlfriend) got approved for a three year visa to come back to Canada. This is super exciting, as I miss them dearly, and it means they can come back later in the year for another visit (or if we're lucky to stay for a while)!
3. Got a good amount of work done, despite feeling crappy and working from home most of the week.
4. Had a nice, unplanned, relaxed day yesterday, meandering after lunch with Rachael in the glorious sunshine, and then hanging out while Boris cut up and cooked his haul of meat (mmmm... delicious pork).
5. Sleeping a ton. I slept almost 10 hours a night the last three nights, and finally feel almost un-tired from last weekend.
6. Finally replacing my Proof trade paperbacks (got one, and the other two are on order) that I somewhat naively lent out and didn't get back. Live and learn.
7. Funny phone conversations with my dad.
8. Cute boys!
9. Hilarious tiny dogs in sweaters.
10. Getting nice emails back from my cousins.
11. Spending all day today lounging and Drupalling.