First comes love, then comes...

Geordan and I have reached the step between love and marriage. Just past being engaged.

I am not sure what precisely it would be called. It happened when Geordan and I bought a van, found a house to live in, and got lice--all in the same week.

The van is great--a 1984 VW Westfalia Campervan, in perfect condition from the outside. The inside needs a little bit of work yet, as became apparent when it broke down on its maiden voyage. :( Fortunately, it was a block away from the mechanic when this happened and we survived this stressful situation without a scratch.

The house is so cute! It's a little lane way house, or garage converted into a house. It's tiny, but has a porch, garden, and studio outside! And it is in a perfect location--really close to lots of friends and church. I am very excited to live there after we are married.

The lice were not fun. They appeared randomly (I think I must have got them from someone riding on the bus next to me.) Then they crawled over to Geordan, too. And then we spent several evenings washing everything, using nasty shampoo, and nitpicking. Not fun at all, but the nitpicking did prove to be a bonding experience.

Indeed, it has been a crazy season! Mostly excellent, but with its fair share of stressors! It has been encouraging to see how we've gone through these things together, though. We are now one step closer to marriage.

And here are a couple of engagement photos, taken by our friend Emily.

on getting hitched.

It's true.
Geordan and I are going to get married!
It is a little hard to believe, even though we've known this for awhile. And it has been official for about 17 days now.
17 days ago is when Geordan proposed to me. Lots of people are asking to hear how it happened, so I thought I would include a little of the story, so you can feel like you are a part of it.

We were in Alberta for September long weekend, photographing a friend's wedding. The month before this, Geordan had arranged for a surprise engagement party on the Sunday after the wedding, after a surprise proposal.

But, there was a change of plans when a couple of people congratulated me on being engaged on the Friday. I told Geordan about this rumor that had been spread, and he decided to be proactive and change his plans to avoid a weekend of awkwardly correcting people that we weren't yet engaged...

While I took a nap Geordan stole a bottle of my brother's wedding wine and a table from my parent's closet and set it up outside my parents' place, by the dugout. He later convinced me to come outside to talk to my folks, but lead me towards the dugout. At this point I became suspicious. And then he was down on one knee, and I think I was telling him that he didn't need to do this to avoid socially awkward situations, but then he popped the question and I said, "I do!" (It was all a blur.)

And then we poured a glass of wine for each of us, sat down in the grass by the dugout, and the celebrations began.



And ma and pa came out to join us and took some photos to commemorate.
We still went ahead with the surprise engagement party on Sunday, even though it wasn't such a surprise anymore. It was really neat to be able to have family and friends from Alberta be a part of the festivities!

More celebrations back in Vancouver, as we were greeted in the airport by Geordan' s family and good friends with sparkling apple juice.

And the celebrations continue as we begin to plan our wedding (to take place on April 30!) and welcome Sheri into our family! My brother and Sheri are getting married in 1.5 weeks. It is so exciting to see our family grow. This is what it now looks like:

Indeed, this is a rich season...

bicycle! bicycle! i want to ride my bicycle!

Another few months have passed, and life has progressed...

I found the one bedroom apartment close to Commercial Drive that I was looking for, and it is perfect. Affordable, big enough for a kitchen table and separate bedroom, Italian landlords who are constantly giving me produce from the garden, and cooking classic Italian foods for me.

And in an amazing location! It is one block from the skytrain and b-line stops. two blocks from church. twelve blocks from Geordan's place. 5-20ish blocks from numerous friends' places. Right on tenth ave, the bike route, which my jobs (BC Cancer Agency and Day Program) are located on. Perfect!

There is a lot I could say, but I will follow the acronym of KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) that we learned in high school English to complete this post. The focus will be on bicycles.

This first photo is one of my old bicycle on my old balcony. It was taken with film, then scanned in. I have been taking more film photos now, since Geordan and I are now the proud owners of a dark room! It has been very exciting beginning to print our own photos.

Geordan is a bicycle nerd/genius. Last year he built his bicycle and rode it down to San Francisco by himself, camping along the way. He has been opening my eyes to the world of cycling, and cyclo-touring. I knew a bit about it before, but now I know a lot more.

Geordan built me this bicycle out of parts that he found in many, many places. Most of the parts are 30ish years old, but there are some new parts on it as well. It fits me perfectly! And is so fun to ride! We have started going on day trips and cycling 20+ miles!

Here is a cute photo of our bikes together by the ocean, where we stopped for a picnic. It is pretty neat, the places a bicycle will take you!

Last week, we went to Lacombe to visit my family. Sheri, David, and Hans organized a bike ride called Critical Mass (which is a tradition in Vancouver where sometimes thousands of cyclists ride around the streets of the city together to promote cyclists' rights.) They advertised it, and so there ended up being 27 of us who rode around the streets of Lacombe together, blocking about 3 cars that we saw, and enraging a few Albertan drivers in the name of good fun. It was great! Here are friend Joel, and future sister-in-law Sheri cycling with me.

I love bicycles! They make life yet even sweeter.
There is a lot more I could say, but as evidenced by the bicycles in this post, all is well and there have been some exciting new things in life...

change is good.

Back in the day, when I was helping ma and pa out with farmer's markets, people would often apologetically say there were going to pay for their vegetables with a lot of change. And I would say, as a bit of a play on words, "Change is good." Nobody ever laughed.

This is not a pity post. This is a post to say that things are changing at a rapid rate here in Vancouver. And so far, this is good.

I got a new job! It is a casual Art Therapy position with the BC Cancer Agency. I start orientation next week. My role will initially be leading a support group for children who's parents have cancer, but could extend to teaching health care professionals how to incorporate Art Therapy principles into their practice. I am mostly excited, but also a little nervous!

I am moving! June 1 will be the date. I am not sure where yet, but it will happen. I have given my month's notice. Ideally, it will be a cute, old, 1 bedroom suite somewhere near Commercial Drive. But, I suppose I will have to be flexible. That is the way things often have to go when looking for housing in Vancouver. (I still like my little apartment in Kitsilano, but am commuting way too much to hang out with friends and boyfriend. They all live by "the Drive.")

I got a tattoo! My foot now looks significantly different. I like it, and so far don't think that I'll regret it in 10 years. It is a lot more visible than I had expected, though, and I have received a lot of comments on it (so far all positive.) No worries, Mom and Dad.


More changes to come... I'll keep you posted.

mom and sis come to visit.

2010 continues to be an unbeatable year. Last week, my mom and sister came to visit, and we had a swell few days together. We did a lot of playing Scrabble, walking, eating delicious foods, and talking.

For me, however, the highlight was Tuesday. On this day, I called in sick (because I was sick, really...) and Geordan borrowed a vehicle and drove us to our relative's place in Ladner. We had a big breakfast buffet with cousins and Aunts and Uncle in the area. It was great to see them again!

Then, we drove out to Horseshoe Bay and took a short ferry to Bowen Island.

We went for a beautiful hike around Killarney Lake on Bowen Island.

Then we had dinner at an artisan pizza place (imagine caramelized onions, pear, and brie on a wood-fired pizza. mmm!)

After dinner we took the ferry back to the mainland. And Leanne and I became the kings of the world.

And we had a crazy hair contest. I think Leanne won.

But Geordan was pretty cute.I like him. And it was great to spend some more time with him and the family.
Indeed, life is good.

February adventures.

An interesting month it was.

With the Olympics in town, I packed up my apartment and rented it out for six nights. Then I used that money earned to visit the family in Alberta, and Beka in California.

(The city was not nearly as chaotic as I had imagined it being, however, as most of the crowd stayed downtown. There were also lots of free concerts and pavilions and events and light shows to check out which were surprisingly fun. It ended up being a lot more of a cultural celebration than I had anticipated. Regardless, it was nice to get away.)

There was lots of snow in Alberta. Geordan and I got to experience the winter we had been missing in Alberta! We happened upon a speed skating festival one afternoon. It was great fun skating on a pond in Edmonton on old Dutch skates!


After spending time with Leanne and Bryan in Edmonton, away we went to Lacombe to spend some time with my folks, and for Geordan to meet the rest of the family. It was very relaxing, and great to see Geordan pass the family test. Yep, he fits right in.




After a brief return to Vancouver, California it was!
Beka was gracious and lots of fun, as always. And, as per usual, we spent our time together being silly, creative, and quite ambitious in our art ideas. We spent lots of time taking photos, decorating sidewalks with chalk, cooking...


We also went to Long Beach for a day for Craig and Beka's engagement photo shoot. The beach was beautiful, desolate as it was. I like beaches without people. (I like beaches in general, as well.)




After an excellent week in California, I was in Vancouver for a few busy days. Then, Geordan and I went to Galliano island to stay with two of his friends on their little farm for the weekend. It was excellent and inspiring, but I was about ready to settle back into my regular routine again.

The last few days I have spent unpacking my boxes, bags, and settling into my apartment and daily Vancouver life again. As much as I love traveling and visiting with friends and family, I love the rhythms of my everyday life here. And I love being domestic, too! I have been cooking up a storm this last week. And it feels great.

Now, to make some oyster mushroom soup and roasted yam and beet salad...

February update.

Things keep happening.
And I keep forgetting to update my blog.

So, here is a quick update on events that have transpired over the last month.

1. I turned 27. I had a lovely day full of little celebrations. One my best birthdays on record.

2. I went to the island this weekend with Meghan and Sheri, to visit Meghan's aunt the artist, and exhibit out art in a show that she was hosting. For more details on the show, check out my Art and Art Therapy blog.

Here is Sheri and her piece of textile art.
And Meghan and her mobile.

And me and my painting.
And Meghan and Guiness, her aunt's dog.
And Sheri trying to comfort Guiness when he started shaking because he is afraid of cameras.
What a great weekend it was!

3. T- four days until the Olympics start here! The city is already packed with athletes, volunteers, and various other types of tourists. Many of them travel like birds in flocks of matching jackets. It is an interesting sight to behold. There are also advertisements everywhere and excess decorations everywhere! It is crazy how quickly this city has transformed. And much more is yet to come! I have managed to rent out my apartment for six nights. During this time I will be going to Alberta to visit the family, and California to visit Beka!

Life is good in February.

family fun in florida.

I've just returned from a fantastic family vacation. Us Prins' (plus Sheri) spent eight days visiting David in Florida. The first few days were spent at ECHO (Educational Concerns for the Hungry Organization), where David is interning. He's been learning about adapting agricultural techniques to take into developing nations while primarily taking care of the rain forest area as well as the ducks.

Here David is telling us a little bit about some of his plants.

We helped out a bit on the farm, fixing a giant worm compost. Here Leanne is working on it.

Mostly, we just hung out on the farm, got to know some of the other interns, looked at lots of plants, and ate a lot of fresh fruit!
We also rented a motor home and drove it around the area, spending a couple of nights at a campground in Myakka State Park.
Other highlights included homemade beards by Dad and David,

going for a fast walk around a lake on new year's day,

exchanging homemade gifts around the campfire on new year's eve,
climbing a few trees,
a couple of visits from some relatives, and going for a little walk on the canopy top with them,

thrift store shopping with David and Sheri...
Indeed, it was a great trip, which included so many more special things... (there will be a few more photos on my art therapy blog.)
What a great way to start the new year.