Natalie's birthday

So my roommate Natalie is turning 31 this coming Wednesday and we decided to celebrate with her while she was home in Edmonton over the weekend. It was a low-key evening with dinner at the Keg and drinks afterwards but it was nice. Here are a few photos of Heather, Renee, the birthday girl and I enjoying the night.

More Lydia

These pictures are courtesy of my roommate Natalie. How can you tell I'm excited?!

Football, fondue and thunderstorms

I was invited to Mike and Angie's this weekend to watch some football and then have a big backyard fondue party, complete with beers-bee. The football game was a wash (guess we'll have to beat the Alouettes next time) but the fondue was a big success! It was a muggy, hot, sticky day in the backyard but we still enjoyed the food and the entertainment from beers-bee. I had never heard of the game before but apparently it is rather popular in backyards across Edmonton, even in some backyards in Ontario. Anyway there are some rules I don't quite understand but the main focus is to knock your opponents beer can off the stick and make them drink. Sounds simple enough. Here are some photos:

As the night wore on and the weather got even hotter and stickier we could feel a storm moving in and soon enough we were hearing weather warnings for our area. Literally in about 20 mins. the sky grew dark and green (never a good sign on the prairies), the temperature dropped about 12 degrees and the wind picked up. The lightning was intense and we had a quick spat of rain and wind and then it got deathly still again. Suddenly the sky grew a darker green with some brown in it and the wind picked up to over 100 kms. an hour. It started to lightning, thunder, hail and blow like mad and we took cover. The power went out for the rest of the evening but we were lucky ~ the town over from where we were at apparently had a tornado roll through that snapped signs over, flattened garden sheds and put some cars on their roofs. There is nothing like the fury of a prairie storm but we seem to have gotten only the fringe of it. For pictures of the storm, visit this link: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Gallery+More+Storm+Aftermath/1806690/story.html

Meet Lydia!

Everyone I'd like you to meet Lydia my new Versa-tile Nissan. Hehehehehe, pardon the cute pun. Yes this past weekend I made a huge leap financially and purchased a brand new Nissan Versa. I was finally able to get my insurance lined up today and I picked her up after work this afternoon. So why name her Lydia? Well it's the name I use to introduce myself when I'm out on the town and I don't want people to know my real name. Call it my alter-ego. I figured it fit the car, hence her new name.

I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening driving around Sherwood Park with Mike and Angie and then took Natalie to the bus station. Here are a few snaps of her parked out front and some of the interior. Yes on the gauges that does say 73 miles ~ the lowest mileage I've ever had on a car. I'm looking forward to being more mobile; I feel like summer has finally begun. I hope I haven't missed out on too much of it!

Happy Canada Day!

July 1, or Canada Day, saw Edmonton grind to a halt for a day of sunshine, families and plenty of outdoor activities. Many choose to go camping, others get involved in community parades but there is nothing more quintessential for Canada Day then getting your friends together for a backyard BBQ. I had the house to myself for Canada Day so I invited friends Heather, Renee, Chantal and Mel over for some drinks, food and fun.

Mel likes to cook and yesterday he didn't disappoint! Cedar plank salmon, baked seasoned potatoes and some cheesy herb bread all seasoned with veggies and herbs from his garden made my poor coleslaw look sad but was an amazing meal.

We hung out in the backyard for most of the afternoon and when it got darker we wandered down to the river to watch the fireworks. It was an amazing day overall and made me so glad to be back on Canadian terra firma to celebrate the day amongst friends.

Calgary times

Recently I was down in Calgary for a weekend of catching up with PR classmates, hanging with old roommates and test driving cars. I stayed at my old place down in Bridlewood with my friend Paisley and on the Saturday our other former roommate Denise came down to stay over. It was like old times for us. I've attached some pictures of us all hanging out together including Will and Courtney.

Test driving cars was fairly successful so now I need to talk to dealers here in Edmonton to see what kind of deals they can give me on either a Nissan Versa or a Toyota Corolla. Keep your fingers crossed for me!