Thursday, October 2nd, 2003: I have a two hour break between PE and Socials on Thursdays, so I thought I'd update my journal! Today in PE, three pairs of teachers taught us micro-lessons in squaredancing, badminton, and creative dance. We got to play with rhythmic gymnastics ribbons! Ride to school: 30 minutes.

Wednesday, October 1st, 2003: In my Communications class, we started our Communicative Reading (basically reading aloud) assignments today. Anita, Glen and Kelly read us three great picture books. What a fun way to get an education! I went to Kidsbooks after school to look for books I could use for my assignment and ended up buying three novels! That store is a very dangerous place for me to go...

Tuesday, September 30th, 2003: My first visit to my practicum school, Sir Sandford Fleming Elementary. It was exciting to have a chance to tour the school and see teachers in action! We saw the library, a couple Grade 7 classes, a Grade 3, a 6/7 PE class playing Line Soccer, a cute Kindergarten class, and more Grade 7s for CAPP (Career and Personal Planning). I don't know which teacher will be my sponsor teacher yet, I should find out in two weeks.

Thursday, September 4th, 2003: Today I had my PE and Socials classes for the first time. PE was so fun, we got to play Skittles and Capture the Flag! At lunch, I visited the TREK office and learned more about their CAN CART depots around campus where you can pick up bins that trail behind your bike (helpful when you need to cart lots of stuff around!).

In Socials, I got a new perspective on a subject that I despised in high school. This class seems to be the right place to learn how to teach socials well. Ride to school: 35 minutes (it takes longer getting my bike from the parkade).

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2003: My first day of real classes at UBC! Ed Studies was my first class of the day and it turned out to be more interesting than I was predicting! We will be discussing issues like poverty, racism, homophobia, First Nations students, and more. I had my Reading course next and it was interesting and the prof was funny! We were asked what we remember about learning to read and I couldn't think of much. Mom later said that when I was three, I read books with pictures and short words that repeated eg "Cup, cup, cup!".

In the afternoon, we met with Janet & Debbie, the TACT cohort coordinators, for our Communication Skills course. We had our first test, we had to prove our competency in written English by writing a letter to parents. I wrote a letter asking for permission for a class field trip to Mars. Ride to school: 32 minutes.

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2003: Today I had my orientation to the Faculty of Education at UBC! I met with my cohort (the 35 students I will share my classes with), got a tour of the Education Library (I LOVE libraries!), and piled into the Chan Centre with the 900 other Education students for an introduction to the faculty. First impressions: everyone at UBC seems friendly and welcoming and my classmates are excited and motivated to be here. Ride to school: 36 minutes.

Friday, June 13th, 2003: The entire Institute of Urban Ecology gang (minus Carolyn) went out for lunch at the Cactus Club today. Present were: Holly, Dave, Val, Travis, Greg, Aaren, Leah, Amanda and Nadine. We had an interesting discussion about farmed salmon after reading that the salmon on the menu was organic BC Pacific chinook salmon (farmed). I had the veggie burger.

In the evening I had a very nice phone conversation with my good friend Trish who told me that she'd had lunch 20 feet from Trevor Linden!

Wednesday, June 11th, 2003: For some reason I've been neglecting my webpage for the past two months! I'm about to head off to work right now (to teach two bird house building workshops with Grade 3s) but I'll write a quick entry. Now that I've finished Kristi's quilt, I'm inspired to start a scrap quilt for me and Dean. My goal is to make it ugly enough that we wouldn't feel bad using it as a picnic blanket.

Sunday, June 8th, 2003: I woke up at 5:00am to finish quilting Kristi's grad quilt. I still had to stitch the binding by hand while on the ferry and I just finished in time! We met Mom, Dad, Kris, Gma & Gpa on the ferry to Fulford Harbour and we all drove to Grandma Lou and Grandpa Santy's place on Saltspring. It was great to be in a beautiful location with all four of my grandparents and to present my sister with her grad gift (which she promptly fell asleep under!).

Friday, May 30th, 2003: Kristi and I had a girls' night out and went to see "Bend it Like Beckham". It was great! It's a British movie about two girls who want to play soccer despite the wishes of their parents. I'd highly recommend it!

Wednesday, May 28th, 2003: I attended the BEST (Better Environmentally Sound Transportation) AGM at the MEC head office. It was very enjoyable (especially the bike month t-shirts fashion show!) and reaffirmed my support for this great organization!

Saturday, May 17th, 2003: I spent my birthday at Mom & Dad's in Victoria and had a fun bike ride into town with Dad. Mom met us at the IMAX and we all went to see "Lost Worlds - Life in the Balance". A perfect movie for a birthday eco-girl! The Murrays and Genni came over for dinner and all in all I had a lovely birthday.

Monday, April 14th, 2003: Today I participated in my first planting with the Institute of Urban Ecology. Travis, Greg, Val and I went down to Cliff Drive Elementary in Delta and we planted 130 native plants (with the help of six classes of students!). My favorite plants were the red flowering currants and the indian plums. The kids seemed to have fun and one student brought her mom over at lunch to show her the plants she had planted.

Monday, April 7th, 2003: My first day of work at the Institute of Urban Ecology! I still hadn't heard back from Nadine, so I decided just to show up for work at 8:30am. It turned out well and Nadine assured me that I did indeed get the job. Hooray!

Friday, April 4th, 2003: Dean and I took an early ferry over to the Island to visit his family for the weekend. While we were in Duncan, I checked our messages and heard a message from Nadine offering me the job! I was extremely excited and happy to share the good news with everyone. Finally, a job!

Thursday, April 3rd, 2003: My second interview in 24 hours was with the Stanley Park Ecology Society for an Urban Camping Leader job. It was great to see Tammy again and we had a very relaxed interview. It's amazing to have two interviews so close together after so long without a single one!

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2003: I had an interview for an Environmental Education Coordinator job at the Institute of Urban Ecology. I think the interview went well and the position is definitely interesting to me!

Monday, March 31st, 2003: Today I accomplished something I'd been wanting to do for over a year. I donated all our used computer parts and printers to Computers for Schools. They'll either use them for computers to be donated to schools, or recycle the parts. It felt great! Bye bye 1995 computers!

Sunday, March 30th, 2003: It's gloomy and grey and rainy here in Vancouver today. I wanted to go on a bike ride, but I had to settle for going to a talk about travelling BC Car-Free. I also gave Dean a bit of a haircut, quite the experiment! He's a trusting guy. No harm done.

Friday, March 28th, 2003: After volunteering at BEST for the afternoon (printing form letters and perfecting my mail merge skills), I joined Bikes Not Bombs and Critical Mass Vancouver for a Bike Ride for Peace! It was awesome! About 200 of us biked around the city, totally taking over major streets like Granville and Howe. Many people had signs that drew attention to the link between a war for oil and driving your car. We ended up at the Peace Camp outside the US Embassy and made a spontaneous peace sign with our bicycles on the street.

Sunday, March 23rd, 2003: It was a beautiful sunny spring day here in Vancouver, so Dean and I packed up some sandwiches and headed out on a bike ride! We biked over the Burrard Street bridge and pedaled against the strong head wind to the entrance of Stanley Park. On the way back, the wind was so strong I felt like I was going to be blown into the car lane on the bridge! Overall, a great ride.

Sunday, March 9th, 2003: When we awoke on Sunday (Janet's birthday), we discovered that the snow had continued all night and it had piled up to a depth of six inches! We braved the slush and went out for a birthday breakfast at White Spot. Mmmmm... french toast!

Saturday, March 8th, 2003: Dean and I headed over to the island for the second weekend in a row to visit Janet and so that Dean could go to Reggie's stag party. It was lovely to visit with Janet and we all went to a matinee of Shanghai Knights. Janet had to work at the video store in Parksville, so Dean and I took a walk in the snow at Rathtrevor Beach, got lost, got found, and had dinner at Lefty's. I kept Janet company at the store while Dean dropped in on the party. Dean's absence allowed us to watch "Tuck Everlasting" a very sweet and charming movie.

Friday, March 7th, 2003: I started the day by sending Mom & Dad off to their respective appointments with detailed descriptions of how to get around on the bus system. They both did wonderfully! Mom returned early from her meeting at the Georgia Strait, so we enjoyed an afternoon together, browsing in the great shops in our neighbourhood. All of us headed to the Smiths for a conversation about slow food, a slow food dinner, and a game of Moot.

Thursday, March 6th, 2003: Dean was finally reunited with his pocket watch (misplaced at least six months ago)! Mom & Dad had found it at their place and they brought it over when they came for a visit to the big city. We all went out to dinner at Akbar's and had a delicious meal. Afterward, I surprised myself by beating everyone at Scrabble!

Mom & Dad brought their new car over and I got to drive it for the first time. Very nice! The cd player is an excellent bonus!

Tuesday, March 4th, 2003: I did it! I finally sent off my application to UBC! Now I just have to wait until May to find out if I'm accepted.

Monday, March 3rd, 2003: Lisa called me out of the blue and we had a lovely walk to Kits Beach and Granville Island. Then, I headed to Science World for the XX Evening hosted by SCWIST. It was the third time I'd been to this networking evening for women in science and technology. Lots of amazing women! Afterwards, we got to play in Science World with no kids around! Woo hoo!

Sunday, March 2nd, 2003: A day of visiting! We visited Nana & Papa and Dean, Ken and I were taught how to play cribbage by Papa. It was lots of fun and by the end we were getting the hang of it. Afterwards, we headed down to Victoria to visit with the Broadlands. We ate good food, had good conversations and a good time with Jan, Ken, Mommo, Daddo, Dave & Leslie. We caught the 9pm ferry and headed back to Kits.

Saturday, March 1st, 2003: We started the day in Duncan and headed down to Mill Bay to visit with Nana & Papa. Back at Heartwood, we watched the Canucks game and "Road to Perdition."

Tuesday, February 25th, 2003: My goal this week is to send off my application to the UBC Education program. If I am accepted, I will start my B.Ed. in September and be finished in August, 2004.

Dean and I saw the documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" last night and it was toe-tapping great! The movie told the history of the little-known Funk Brothers who were the musicians for hits like: 'My Girl', 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', 'What's Going On' and many, many more. They are incredible musicians and I was impressed by their creativity and talent.

Monday, February 24th, 2003: This morning I went to my aerobics class at the Community Centre and ever since then I've been working on my webpage, making all the fixes that have been pointed out by an adroit editor. The view out my window is gorgeous this morning, blue skies and snow covered mountains.

Sunday, February 23rd, 2003: It's up! Today I finally posted the new version of my website that I've been secretly working on for months! I'm so pleased to have it up that I may just be inspired to add some new content as well! Other than working on my webpage, this weekend included trying a new soup recipe, donating books to the library, walking around in the gorgeous sunshine, voting in the Olympic plebiscite and being treated to a tidbit dinner by Deano.

Stupid Holly Moment: As I sat down to dinner, I thought I'd add a little pepper to my soup to spice it up. So, I opened the jar of pepper, and proceeded to pour approximately two tablespoons of pepper onto my soup. There it was, a little mountain of pepper sitting in my soup. All because I wasn't paying attention when I opened up the open side of the jar instead of the shaker side. Silly Holly!

Thursday, February 20th, 2003: Dean and I went to Moderne Burger for the first time today and it was great! Moderne Burger is a 50s style diner near our place and it serves delicious veggie burgers, great shakes and floats, and fresh cut fries (I saw my fries being cut in a cool manual machine!). Yum!

Saturday, February 15th, 2003: We drove out to Langley to meet up with Brian and Farrah who were in the Lower Mainland for a few hours to pick up Farrah's parents' new RV. We all had a nice lunch at Swiss Chalet and had a chance to catch up. It was good to see Brian and Farrah, but so strange to see them in Langley and just for a few hours!

Monday, January 20th, 2003: I've been having a very organized day, sending out letters (including some to change my name, I'm STILL working on that!), sorting papers, and writing lists. I also watched "An American in Paris" and very much enjoyed Gene Kelly's dancing.

Friday-Sunday, January 10th-12th, 2003: We were treated to a wonderful visit from Trish and had lots of fun showing her our neighbourhood. We had margaritas at Las Margaritas, made sushi, looked at hundreds of photos, put up pictures with Trisha's supervision, and played Scattergories (tamarind is SO an ethnic food!). On Sunday we walked all over and took Trish to Kidsbooks, Kitsilano Beach and the giant monkey tree.

Thursday, January 2nd, 2003: Today is Dean's first day back to work and I'm home alone again. I've been having lots of fun working on the quilt I'm making Kristi for her graduation.