Feels good to be apart of something BIG!

As you may or may not know, I work for a construction company… In the 3 years that I’ve been working in this field I’ve obtained a variety of experience as a project accountant through several projects: smaller projects such as renos and banks to more substantial projects such as the Southgate Centre Expansion - which added more than 150,000 sq feet and 30 new retailers including Alberta's fist Kiehl's store, Sephora, Coach, Zara, and Apple.

And now the Edmonton International Airport, it feels good to be a part of something BIG that although you are just one person, you are contributing to something substantial - here’s a sneak peek!

The existing building

The Expansion


Something BIG!

2010 - the year can only get better :)

Well that’s it… the Olympics are done! And what a great run it was; at the begin of the games there were comments in regards to our nation not winning a GOLD medal on our own turf since hosting the games in Montréal (’76) and then in Calgary (’88), well we officially killed those comments and now will be known as having won the most GOLD medals (14!!!) by a single country at a Winter Olympic Games!!! There are several moments during the winter games that made me so proud to be Canadian – witnessing our first GOLD won by Alexandre Bilodeau, women’s bobsleigh when we took GOLD and SILVER, Joannie Rochette’s story, Jon Montgomery celebrating with a pint, Team Martin’s shutout victory… but by far the moment that made me scream and shout in jubilation would have to be the last medal event when our Canadian boys won the GOLD medal for men’s hockey. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G game!!! I must say that with only seconds left in the 3rd period when the US tied the game up (2-2) I got a little nervous, but I never lost faith… and 7 minutes and 40 seconds into the sudden death overtime period sid the kid scored the winning goal. Whatta a way to end the Olympics!! Especially one that we hosted…

So now that the Olympics are done… what to do, what to do…? I guess I can focus more on my school work as I’m nearing what feels like a never ending journey to obtain my degree and designation. Only 2 more papers to go and 4 more presentations… then exams!!! Oh dear, I don’t like thinking about that... quick, divert!

I’ve been wanting to try moksha yoga for almost a year… I finally found the time and motivation to just do it! And it’s been an amazing week; they have this 1st timer’s promotion - $20 for an unlimited week. It was definitely different, I’m used to physical exercise were I am over exerting myself, breathing heavily and being able to barely talk in order for me to sweat my face off; whereas with moksha I’m holding a warrior pose and sweating just as much! Weird, I know!




Moksha (90mins class) consists of 40 poses practiced in a heated room (37C to 39C) designed to promote openness through your hips and strength through the upper body while detoxifying your entire body. Both standing and seated poses are practiced, giving a balanced cardiovascular workout (mokshayogaedmonton.com) they also offer condensed 75 and 60 min classes.

It’s pretty intense, the first class I went to I laid inside the room prior to the class start, I remember thinking how nice and humid it was, bearable, but as the class started and everyone’s heavy breathing persisted throughout the 60mins class it just hotter and hotter and the more I dripped of sweat. I like it though and moksha boasts many benefits such as de-stress, relief of back/knee pain, headaches, insomnia, depression, scoliosis, poor digestion, arthritis, and poor posture.

A family friend of mine, Joe, is certain that bikram is where it’s at… I might have to try that one out too. This place charges $30 for an unlimited week. Look out for the verdict bikram vs. moksha in coming weeks.

Oh yes make a shout out to my girl Mary trying to get as much exposure and experience in this market, I played her assistant during the photo shoot of one of my dearest friends, Celeste. Derek had forgotten his cell phone at Celeste and Matt’s place the night prior and I thought I would go along for the ride…

Check out more professional photos here. I caught some good pics of Mary, E3 Studios, doing here thang.

Happy Halloween... I just saved some kids LIFE!

Happy Halloween!!!

So I’m pretty sure that Derek and I saved some kids lives today… but before I get to that story I must tell you the sad tale of how I know my nephew is getting older and TOO COOL to hang out with me :(

So I’ve been taking my nephew trick or treating, ever since I first met him… when he was two, if that sentence confuses you – I’ll have to fill you in another time – year after year it’s something I look forward to, especially now that the kids are a little bit older and we’ve been hitting the neighbourhoods rather than the malls. I’ve been in residency for the past couple of days and not really answering any texts or phone calls, that’s neither here nor there, so I as I’m receiving my marks from my papers and presentations I noticed I had a ton of missed calls and voice messages. There was one from my eleven year old nephew, Justin, which sank my heart a bit…

“Hi Auntie, I was just wondering if it would be ok if I went to a party tonight, Ace invited me over… there’s no sense in your picking me up from there… so yeah.”

Oh GAWD!!!!

I didn’t want to be that aunt, that’s a kill joy… “No, sorry Bud, I don’t think you can go to that party... you have to come with me, around the block and trick or treat…” yeah highly unlikely. You’re probably wondering, ‘what about Angelika?’ yeah she’s got the flu and has been at home from school for a week! So what do I do? I call Justin and tell him that I’m SAD, but he can go to the party and that it’s ok, then… I call Derek crying… I couldn’t help it! I’m an emotional person… ca’mon you didn’t know?!?!? Derek of course made fun of me and went over to my brothers and the trouble maker that he is, told Justin that he made me cry. Meanwhile; I’m still at home on the internet, with my phone still on silent from residency, Justin’s been trying to contact me on my cell phone then decides to just come on over and talk to me, apparently he asked his mom to drive him over. He walks into the living room and as I’m greeting him he says…

“I’m sorry; I don’t want you to be mad! But I’ve never been invited to a party before…”

I gave him a huge hug… and started to cry, just a little bit this time and said, “it’s ok Justin, you can go… it’s just your growing up now, and that’s something I need to get used to” with that he got up and left for his party.

I later got a call from my niece telling me that she’s just a little bit sick and that she would really really REALLY like me to take her trick or treating, inevitably I took her up on that offer.


So… back to the highlight of my Halloween. My parents are ultimate Filipinos that don’t like wasting anything! When we were kids that candy we didn’t like they would hold on to until the next year and would give it away to some poor unfortunate soul. The little kiddies started to come around our ‘hood as I was getting ready to leave to take Angelika trick or treating, mom ran to the door and handed out so candy to the first bunch then went back into the kitchen. I know how my parents are, so after coming upstairs I decided to check out the goods (or is it that bad?).

On top of newly purchased, unopened box of Doritos chips; there were some random mints from restaurants, candies from recent birthday party give a way, and candies I’m pretty sure were from last year… oh and how can I forget chocolate liqueurs!

Me: “MOM!!!” Rushing in to the kitchen/family room (where Derek was watching TV), “You can’t give these to kids” while passing it to Derek… Derek’s face priceless.

Mom: “What?!?!”

Me: “mmmm these Chocolates have liquor in them…?!?”

Mom: “Oh really!?!? That’s ok…”

Derek: “You didn’t give these away did you?”

Mom: “No… oh well, I can give them to the parents!”

So as Derek and I are, literally, walking out the door, three little girls walk up to the house; I opened the door to greet them and Derek frantically broke open the box of chips and hooked them up!!! As they were saying their thank you’s, I said underneath my breath,“we just saved your lives”.

I think the best part is Derek gripped some candies and stuffed his pockets, as we’re driving away from home he shows me his stash; one pack of twizzlers – rock hard, a chocolate that was smushed oozing from its package, and funny Filipino candy’s ube flavoured... Derek likes to think he saved a few more children ;)


I hope your Halloween was as memorable as mine.

ramblings...

WOW… august 19th is the last time I posted anything! My goodness. Well it’s been far too long and what better wat to get back into it than by some random ramblings?!?!?

Have you ever driven down a street, time after time for a period of your life whether it be for work or because you lived in that area, and one random day you use the same route and realize how much the area has changed? It’s amazing how much it can change in years or even so, in a matter of months!

Derek and I went to see a movie this evening and decided to go to the Grandin Theatre in good ‘ol St. Albert… ahhhh I miss St. A, I used to work out there for a year or two… I totally didn’t even know they had a theatre hahahaha! When going to work I used to use the back roads… and any Edmontonians that read this, just a head’s up --- 167th Ave leading into St. A is JACKED! There’s now a set of lights that lead to the back roads which are all windy and weird that lead you directly to Boudreau Road rather than Campbell Road… so weird, like, what if you wanted to take Campbell to 156 Street? No options! I guess it’s all for the planned Anthony Henday so it’ll be exciting to see what the final infrastructure will look like, those comments strictly coming from the construction manager in me :)

So yes, where was I? Grandin Theatre… that’s a weird one! You gotta go see a movie at this place… so $$$ cheap and oh so ghetto! Ahahahaha, I guess I lived a sheltered life. Oh and have you heard of this ‘Hot 107’ radio station? It’s new to Edmonton, my brother and I switched cars for a bit and that’s what it was set to when we got in… best radio station ever, er... for now. They needed to change it up, I'm tired of what our radio stations in Edmonton have to offer. I never listen to radio stations if I do it’s the Bear in the morning, because of Derek, and sometimes CBC One on the way home to figure the traffic situation… otherwise it’s all Group Step music, I’m doing the steps in my head practicing what I would verbally say in class aloud while driving, it’s all about timing, in any sense of your life… timing/cueing.

So if you ever see me driving and it looks like I’m talking to myself… I’m actually trying to be the best damn GROUP STEP instructor ever!!! Teaching is actually going quite well, I got a permanent class at the club nearest to my house on Sundays @ noon and I might scoop up a class in the southside on Tuesdays! It’s exciting; I’m getting better and better as I teach more and more classes. Hard work and persistence will get the results that you want. It’s all about keeping your eye on the prize and constantly working towards your goal. So if ever… you wanna come to my classes let me know I can get you a pass! Oooooh and tell your friends to come too!!!

simmer down summer…

Well, we’ve been getting some decent weather now that summer is coming to a close… shame. One more day of work for me and we’re off to the Thunder Lake Provincial Park, the first and final camping trip of the summer.

I recently started on a new project with work… back to site life, oOoH how I love it! Jeans, jeans, jeans everyday of the week! The only sucky part is when this project is in full swing and we get transfer to the wonderful trailers on the actual site… the commute will be the only down side. Right now we’re out at the satellite offices by the U of A. It’s all gravy right now, so I’m trying to take it all in, come November it will be a sweet 45 min commute to and from work! Oh heavens!!! I got a few months… so let’s try and not think about it, plus I’m really enjoying the area that we’re in right now. So many things with in the vicinity! Yesterday had me some Booster Juice and today went down the street to Leva Café, I’m not really one to try something new; I like sticking with what I know… you know, to avoid bad experiences, bad food or bad service. But lately taking the leap and trying a new/different establishment has been quite rewarding!

Leva Café – is a quaint little space in the university area, very modern and has some very tasty food! The price was reasonable as it complimented the food portions; I had ordered a grilled Panini and Greek Salad w/ a Large Chai Latte.

As you may or may not know, my parents are WORLD TRAVELERS; they recently got back from a Mediterranean Cruise which passed through Istanbul, Turkey. It just so happened that it was my pop’s birthday last month on the 30th and they wanted to try out a new restaurant… and just by chance the restaurant is called “Istanbul Mediterranean Cuisine“. I passed by this restaurant everyday while going to and coming from work. I must say that I was a little leery about going there… I’m not sure why, I think it was more of uncertainty of what the food was like as I have never eaten at a Turkish restaurant before nor have I had Turkish food… well that’s a lie, kinda, my mom had brought back some Turkish Delight from her trip… it wasn’t that good, so I expected the food to be somewhat the same.

Istanbul Mediterranean Cuisine – blew my mind away!!! Another quaint little space in the Delton area. Their decorating needs some work, in that it could give the space a little bit more of an authentic feel. The food makes up for the pricing… because it was absolutely amazing!!! I have forgotten what I have ordered as it’s been quite some time since we’ve been there… but I do know that I ordered something similar to my brother but he got the spicy version… so get that!!! Check out this article written about the joint here.

Just a Girl

I’ve been a busy bee these past few days… er weeks! So to keep you in the loop here’s what’s been going on the past couple of days.

I got my results back for my video assessment - - I PASSED!!! Yipppeeee for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Went to see No Doubt in concert… Gwen Stefani, how I love thee! I can only wish I too could look as stunning as you after having my two kids… my planned two kids in the future, don't get it twisted people.

And I must mention the biggest jack move of all time, happened to one of my closest and dearest friends Cristelle. It’s a story that must be told not written for the full effect… make sure to ask me about it, next time we meet!

Like every other year, I took the kids to Capital Ex… but this year I had taken the day off because the weekends are too crazy for lines and such. The kids went through all the rides in the first 2 hours that we were there but as the day went on the lines got longer and longer. We took a break from the long lines and went inside to check out the butterfly exhibit, I think it’s been a good 2 or 3 years that they started having this exhibit but this is the very first time that we actually went in.

This year I thought the kids a valuable lesson in financing… unlike previous years where I let the little buggers empty out my pockets for all I got, I gave them both $40.00 to use for food and games and told them, “… this is all you get. Use it for what you like, when you like but once it’s gone we’re going home.” The kids still had money left over but the bigger kid I had with me (my husband) had enough of all the fun that Capital Ex had to offer, so we head ’er home.

This is why I take the kids year after year…

it's been so long...

Well it feels like it anyways…

It’s been kinda slow at work and my New York vacation fell through so I’ve jumped on a few committees to help plan and execute a few functions.

July 11th we are holding a Hockey Tournament, August 8th is my Districts Family Picnic, and August 12th is our United Way Pancake breakfast.

On a personal level, I’ve been working on my Step Class Instructor program, starting my own business and planning our friends camping trip.

As you can see I’ve got my hands full and to top it all off… I’ve got a handicap husband! Bahahahahaha I know it’s not suppose to be funny, but I always laugh when Derek gets hurt, it’s just what I do :)

He got injured last week during our first soccer game, causing us to lose our first and our second game… just kidding! But on a serious note, he was on crutches up until this weekend when we rented him a cane, and had gotten his knee drained as there was blood pooling behind his knee causing it to swell. He is scheduled to see the doctor again on July the 2nd when they will inform him if he needs surgery. Eeeek! On the lighter side Derek will be attending our games this evening to yell profanities from the sidelines.

With that said I’ll try and keep you posted throughout the summer with the happenings in and around Edmonton… OoOoOoO I almost forgot! My Godsister Celeste just started doing standup, she’ll be performing tomorrow (June 24th) at the Laugh Shop at Londonderry Mall. I’ll try and secretly tape it and post something on here… She’s really good!!

Till next time, keep fit and have fun!
-Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod

Dream Job

I was never really active when I was younger… nor in my young adulthood. One of my good friends actually started to encourage me to go the gym, and I got a lot of motivation once Derek had proposed to me… actually to this day, I still have image issues, but I’m the way that I am and I’ll have to learn to appreciate it.

Recently, I’ve been looking at obtaining a part time job, as everyone cannot complain to a ‘lil extra cash here and there. While in my search I considered various points that would help decipher whether or not I would apply such as; hours - part-time/casual, minimal weekend hours, I have somewhat of a life… and I would like to continue working on my health being able to work out, location - it’s all about convenience, pay - anything over minimum wage would be perfect, and finally attire - being able to wear whatever I like and not having to wear a uniform is ideal.

Well I think my search has ended - I’m taking a course this weekend to become a group exercise instructor! It only made sense, it meet all or most of my requirements; hours – super casual, and hour here and there to teach a class and I’m killing two birds with one stone… getting paid and meeting my healthy goals! Location – I can teach at all clubs across the city including at their affiliates. Pay – not sure what this entails… but I’m pretty positive that they’ll pay for my gym membership which is a bonus considering prices went up just recently. Attire – ultimate! I could totally live in my gym clothes!!!

So wish me luck, it’s gonna be an intense weekend… I’m super nervous, but this is definitely something that I want to do and to top it off I’ve gotten a push from two wonderful godsisters… they believe in me, so I believe in me too!

WEEKDAY UPDATE:

* My first ever RUN - we did GREAT!!! I’m super proud of my girlfriends considering we only had one practice run the Monday prior to. Amanda and I teamed up and Sarah and Theresa were buddies… it took Amanda and I 30 mins to complete… unfortunately I didn’t check my watch when Sarah and Theresa crossed the line… oops! My bad… but they did wonderfully! So proud and I can’t wait to do it all over again… when’s the next one?!?!

* Met my quota for goals in soccer on Tuesday night… got what I call and incomplete hat trick – scored 3 goals, but it doesn’t qualify has a hat trick because I scored ONE goal during our first game of the night vs FC Shinkickers and TWO goals in the second game against the Finger Puppet Mafia. ** New personal goal - get a hat trick this season**

Oils New Coach

The buzz around here is the recent announcement of the Edmonton Oilers new head coach

- Pat Quinn -

I’m still surprised that they let Mac T go… oh well. I guess we need some reorganization, adding someone that is as seasoned as Pat Quinn will hopefully get us closer to the Stanley Cup. Here’s hoping this coming season will go better than the last.

So far…

My friends and I use to do this a lot; going so far with a topic it would end up hurting my face and perhaps causing tears in my eyes (from laughing so hard)… last night Derek and I went so far, check it!

I saw on a friend’s facebook status that the winning ticket for the 49 million 649 lotto was purchased in Edmonton…

The sole winning ticket of an almost $50-million lottery payout — believed to be the second-largest jackpot in Canadian lottery history — was bought in Edmonton.

The winning Lotto 6\49 ticket for Wednesday's draw was purchased in the Alberta capital, the Western Canada Lottery Corporation said in a release on its website.

The jackpot is worth $49,851,871.
No other details — including the identity of the winner, or the exact location where the ticket was purchased — were immediately known.

The winning numbers are: 4, 22, 26, 29, 39 and 48.
The bonus number was 31.

cbcnews.ca

So of course I pulled out my trusty blackberry to check these numbers, Derek had mentioned that he was going in on some tickets with a few guys at work, and myself, I had purchased one while filling up over the lunch hour… funny story; the local Shell station ( 5x the air miles w/ $30 or more fuel purchase) was super busy! The attendant was extremely rude while trying to serve all the customers… As I was paying for my gas I had asked for a lotto ticket… he said, "649? or what? what do you want?", Being so flustered with the way he was speaking, and considering I thought the big pot was for super 7, that’s what I asked for. STOOOOPID!

So now we're hoping, wishing and praying that Derek’s tickets would pull through so that we can retire at the age of 26(k)/28(d).

No luck.

As were climbing into bed we start talking about the numbers that were drawn;

Four – omigawd, April! That’s Justin’s birth month

Twenty Two – That’s my cousin Nicks birthday! May 22!!!

Twenty Six – geez, that’s MY birthday! August 26!!!

What the hell!!!

Twenty Nine – the age Derek is turning next year!

Thirty Nine – 3+9 = 12 : twelve is the age my nephew is turning next year!

Forty Eight – 4+8 = 12 , twelve again? MY nephew is turning 12 next year!!!

Thirty One - that’s New Years Eve… the turning of the year…hence the importance of everyone’s birthdays next year!

Bahahahahahahahaha – this is an example of soooooooo far

In light of this situation, it makes you think what you would do with all that $$$... for myself, especially with that insane amount of mooola I would give my immediate family a couple million each, donate to local charites often, and do what most people would do buy a private jet and take friends and family on trips around the world, buy houses/condos/villas in exotic and well known places... oh the things I would do.

What woud you do?!?!?

I did it!

I did it! I did it! I DID IT!!!
Oh my, I signed up for my first ever run this year and in my life…

A family friend of mine blogged about the Little Big Run

The good thing about the Little Big Run, which started back in 2007, is that the Little Big Run is a non-profit event that encourages physical activity and healthy lifestyles with all proceeds going directly to kids' programs throughout the capital region. If looking after your personal health is not a good enough reason to keep and active lifestyle, then I don't know what is.

This is something I’ve wanted to do in forever… well basically since I’ve started becoming active, and considering that I just enrolled 13 days before the event I’m happy I don’t have to fundraise! I don’t mean to sound like a biotch but I just don’t have time… I got corporate challenge events this weekend, a research paper that I must complete by next Wednesday and life!

I’m a little wary as it is my first run and my family friend has already started training… he’s doing the 10 km, so naturally I’m only doing the 5 km.

Wish me luck!!!

my life...

I’m leaving in FOUR days for Mexico! ... and when I told my nephew that I would be missing his 11th birthday… to say the least he was upset and so I planned a whole day event to make up for my absence, which actually turned into a whole weekend celebration.

I kicked off our Saturday by making breakfast for my little monsters and Derek, the kids requested chocolate chip pancakes and I whipped up some frrrench toast for the hubby. Then we made our way to Justin’s Tae Kwon Do promotional test… (he's the one in the red).

His promotional tests usually last around 2 hrs... this time, however, it was more like three! I started to worry that we wouldn't meet our timeline and do all the things that I had planned on doing... we quickly grabbed a bite to eat and made our way to our first destination, the Edmonton TELUS World of Science to see the art of the brick

As you can see, everything was pretty sick, it's quite unbelievable that everything is made out of LEGO... I thought that there was going to be more pieces, but then again it was all made by one artist.


"Nathan Sawaya is based out of New York, his creations are constructed from nearly one million pieces they were built from standard bricks beginning as early as 2000… Sawaya’s art form takes shape primarily in 3-dimensional sculptures and over sized mosaic portraits…"



We then went to our city's famous tourist hot spot for a round of mini golf and to get the little guy some birthday presents... he's quite fond of reading so we let him pick up a few books to fuel his mind and expand his vocabulary. I'm all for the gifts that get used, I'm the aunt that gives clothes at Christmas and books for Birthday's, I've learned my lesson through the years... the TOY may get played with for a few days, but they get bored and a new and better toy will be released... clothes are my favorite gift to give because it'll get worn for a good year or two, and how can you go wrong with a good book? I had planned to also catch a movie at the mall but while we were playing mini golf... Derek couldn't resist to get a little competitive and wager a bet; it worked out that if Derek won, he could lay on the couch and watch the Oil game or watch a movie with us... to cut this story a lil short, Derek gave our hometown team some luck and the Oil had beat the Canucks 5-3... I didn't lose our bet that bad either... Derek had won by two points too!

The kids and I did end up watching a movie -

This 3D movie was pretty awesome with a star studded voice cast of Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, and Stephen Colbert. Watch it... I promise you won't be disappointed!


So that kicked off our Saturday Events... Sunday was a little more relaxed with some Jesus time, a little indoor Soccer Mini World Cup action and some fantastic family dinner time at the Wokkery.


***
FYI - even with the lack of soccer skills I have... I think I could play for the women's Filipino team... my niece could too... they SUCK!!!! it's kinda embarrassing...

*personal goal... play on team next year, at least it'll be good exercise!