Victoria, BC

Here are a few random pic's of good ol' Victoria (for those readers who don't live here):

Below is the "heart" of Victoria - the Inner Harbour with the vine covered Empress Hotel on the left and the Legislature Building in the center.


Bastion Square

Below are some pics of one of my favorite areas to go for a walk, along Dallas Road.


There was an amazing sunrise one morning. I stepped out the door and everything was pink! My bro came home around that time from a long night shift.


Tony and I had our 2 year anniversary last week and went to one of my fave restaurants called Rathskellers. It's a German schnitzel house and I LOVE the food! There was a long wait though because we didn't make reservations and it's Oktoberfest time.

We started our Capoeira lessons and we really like it so far! It's such great exercise, so great in fact that after the first lesson I couldn't walk properly for days afterwards because my leg and butt were so sore!! We are pretty pathetic at it though compared to the others in our class because we are the newest members. We're hoping for some other people to start so we aren't the only newbies!

Tomorrow, I'm going to a rehearsal for a fashion show for the Watoto Ladies Gala next weekend. My friend Sarah asked me to be in it after a model cancelled. It should be fun! I did this kinda thing before I moved away but haven't had time to get back into it yet. The fittings were during the week so it was quite busy running to the shops either during my lunch break or after work.

Tonight we are heading to 2 birthday celebrations for friends; not sure if we'll be able to make it to both!

M

Settled

I knew I’d get horrible at posting as soon as I got back. Since the last post, I’ve jumped right back into work as a Flash animator/artist at a studio and I’ve been there for about two week now. There are some new faces and some people that aren’t there anymore but it’s still very familiar (I worked there before I moved away). That keeps me busy. I get up at 6:30, I drive into town in the rush hour traffic, and then have a 20 min walk to work. By the time I get home at the end of the day, it’s 6ish and then I hang out with Tony or friends so I’m barely ever home.

I’m going to try out a Capoeira class on Wednesday. I’m excited! Tony and I definitely wanted to take some kind of martial arts class and looked for this particular kind. It’s a Brazilian fight-dance. It’s a lot different from karate; there are more gymnastic moves involved. We wanted something fun that’ll get us into shape so we’ll see what this will be like. It’s a little pricey though! Here's a cool example below:



What else is new? I want to get more into creating art. I never seem to have the time to do it outside of work but I want to try to make it more of a priority. The job that I’m at right now is a contract position, which means in a few months I’ll be looking for another job and I want to be ready with an updated portfolio. Sometimes I wish I could just find a permanent job at a studio so I don’t have to keep job hunting. But doing contract work forces me to brush up on my art, stay motivated, and learn new skills all the time, so it’s a good thing. My dad is making me a light table right now; I’ve wanted one of those for a while but for the size that I want, they cost hundreds of dollars. He’ll be able to make it for less than that.

I may start a new art blog where I post up some of the art I’ve been working on. A lot of my friends in the industry have one and I think it’s a good idea, not just to show off art but to network and stay motivated which is sooooooo important when you’re a contractor! I’ll make sure to post my new art blog address if I start it up.

I’m pretty used to everything now. The “wow” factor of seeing everything as new again has pretty much worn off. I’m hoping to move out with my brother after Christmas sometime; so I want to save, save, save for that. He’s a paramedic and works A LOT of weird hours so what a great roommate he’ll be! He’ll never be home, lol! I also want to take Greek lessons and I think they start up next month, so that’ll be fun. It was frustrating not being able to take lessons when I was actually living in Greece, now I can.

Tony is back at school doing Computer Engineering stuff. He’s so glad that his year of being in the army is over. Now we can hang out when ever we want and he’s only a 10 min drive away! It’ll be our 2-year anniversary on Oct 11 so that’s a biggy!

I wanted to take some pics of Victoria for those of you readers who don’t live here. I never bring my camera to work though. I’ll try to post a few up in the near future. I may take some this weekend since it’s the (Canadian) Thanksgiving long weekend. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

M