day one

abbotsford to burnaby (pick up n); burnaby to abbotsford (drop off forgotten garage opener, buy late late lunch); abbotsford to kamloops.

the first leg of our journey has begun (or finished? I'm not exactly sure what constitutes a "leg" of a journey). anyways, we made it to kamloops, about 2 hours later than expected but we are in one piece and are now comfortably set up in the good ole Accent Inn off of highway 1.

i started off running late: work wonderfulness that i managed to forget about until i went to turn in my keys. which led to me hitting masssssive traffic on the way to pick up n. gah. we ended up jamming all of our stuff in the jeepy (pictures tomorrow) and headed out in gorgeous weather.

today's thoughts from the road:
- i love fall. i always claim to be a summer girl, but something about fall is so comforting. i think it's the colours.
- um, it's cold here. like frigid. i'm going to DIE in ottawa.
- d.h. makes good music mixes. thanks d.
- i love my sister. i miss my sister. she's too cool for school.

tomorrow we are headed off to jasper bright and early so that no driving in dark has to take place (dark + mountains + freezing temps = something i don't want to experience).

let's all count! ok? go!

(less than) 24 hours - time left until we pull out.
2 wrists - starting to seize up, likely due to stress.
1 paper cut - on my middle finger, i don't even know how.
3 boxes - two kitchen, one miscellaneous (blow dryer! pattern book! nyquil! button box!)
5 bags - one yarn, one books, three clothes (two are really small. one is a large ziploc bag).
2 laptops - work (pc), personal (mac)
2 laptop bags - umm...work, personal. or...ugly and nice.
5 cameras - pentax, xti, k2, sony (broken), polaroid
21 film packs - 15 polaroid film, 6 35mm
3 pairs of boots - cowboy, slouchy, uggs
unknown number of articles of clothing - almost everything minus clothes deemed so summery there is no chance of wearing them until spring or at least christmastime.
6 pairs of shoes - black wedges, purple wedges, black flats, vans, topsiders, flipflops (1 pair).
5 jackets - rain, wool, corduroy, leather, canvas. i almost have more jackets than shoes...miracle!
1 phone - it's pretty, it's new, i'm too ashamed to say what it is. but it's free in canada to 10 lucky people!
1 passport - issued in surrey bc.
12 seasons of tv on dvd - packed efficiently in zippy cd cases.
4 worried parents - self explanatory*
2 excited girls - m, n.
1 map - canada and northern united states
1 trip plan - kamloops, jasper, calgary, regina, winnipeg, st paul? chicago? detroit? toronto? ottawa!

* items mentioned above this point do not reflect the contents of n's stuff. we'll see about that tomorrow

beginnings, ending and the stuff in the middle.

i guess this is the beginning. boxes are starting to be packed - although i'm still unpacking bags from the last two trips. it just took me twenty minutes to find my flash. it was under a pile of papers in a bag full of knitting. oh dear. but i've picked out a stack of books, dvds, and other miscellaneous stuff to start packing up. a beginning.

i have an empty shelf. it will likely be filled again before i go. but for now it stares at me.
do i take the cowboy hat?
do people in ottawa like cowboys?
where have all the cowboys gone? maybe paula cole knows.

anyways, i'm hoping to document this all. packing, moving, driving, the madness, the stress, the excitement, the everything. tomorrow morning is two weeks until departure.

currently...

reading: monocle's october issue. google reader backlog from holiday - 400 posts to catch up on...i think i read too many blogs.

listening to: the weepies.

wearing: new cardigan (with tulips!) from anthropologie. love.

doing: taking a break from work at the san jose airport. flight home is delayed by an hour. sucky.

thinking: i want to travel more. the way the world works sucks sometimes. frick, i'm moving soon. (all separate and unconnected thoughts)

wishing: that more people will know love. real love. that i took more photos this weekend. oh well.

inspired by: compassion santa cruz. they are doing the real thing and it is awesome.

the next phase

this next month will see me on the "road"...a lot.

15-19: santa cruz, ca to visit tanya, rachel, sondra, krystle etc etc. it will warm up my canadian bones before i head west, north and finally east...

20-21: victoria for work conference. i love work conferences. they make me feel like a huge dork...but in a good way. this one is about diseases - plant diseases. yes!

24-26: whistler with the ladies. so so so excited.

5-14(??): kamloops (visit sister), lake louise (hello fairmont!), calgary (see friends), regina (probably won't make it to the peg in one day hence the stop), winnipeg (stay with random family, note:call them), some random hotel in ontario (x2: apparently from winnipeg to ottawa is, like, 17 hours? um..not happening), ottawa (!!!!). holy road trip batman! and likely in less than fun weather conditions. my goal is stop at all those random sites that are advertised on the highway - and send copious amounts of postcards to everyone.

it's all too fast. i've moaned over it taking so long to get here but i realized my time constraints a bit ago and suddenly crammed everything into a 3 week period. oh boy.

next on the list: packing!?! i'll be home for christmas so i'm going to stop stressing about forgetting something that is essential.

goal: blog throughout this time period - perhaps daily? who knows! it may not be pretty or eloquent (i really need to get over my blog insecurities) but it needs to be recorded somewhere.

sometimes

....sometimes you just have to lie on the floor in your underwear and check email/internet. just because.

....sometimes you have a really really awesome day at work and wonder what in the world possessed you to up and quit.

....sometimes you realize that life is what you make of it and not what is presented to you.

....sometimes you regret the last 8 months of your life.

....sometimes you just have to stand in the rain and be drenched.

.....sometimes you write profusely corny blog posts that no one reads just to make your self feel a little better.

i hate the airshow.

it's loud. my house is shaking. roads are closed. people are stopping the middle of the flipping street to stare out their windows at planes that were essentially created to kill people in war fly by at two bajillion miles an hour. did i mention the loudness? and the shaking? and the road closures?

i'm all for a good tourist attraction now and again, but seriously if i never see another fighter plane i will be a happy clam. although i did spot a sweet* flight crew going into wal-mart the other day - tall shiny black lace up boots and jumpsuits (JUMPSUITS!!) with "screaming eagle demo crew" embroidered on their backs. and yes, they were wearing aviators, and obviously strutting their stuff for the classy folk at wal-mart. i think i laughed outloud and quoted top gun under my breath. "i feel the need...the need for speed!"

* sweet: written with complete and utter sarcasm.