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Baking

Posted on February 14, 2017

The definition of Definition of bake

Baked; Baking

1 : to cook (as food) by dry heat especially in an oven
2 : to dry or harden by subjecting to heat

My definition of baking:

Stress relief.
Relaxation.
Creation a tasty things.

I use to bake all the time growing up, but in recent years it was just easier to buy my bread, baked goods and treats from a store.

When I was younger I would bake Peanut Butter cookies for my dad and the guys at his work. I use to remember the recipe from heart. I would come home from school, do homework and then bake cookies. I remember one time I messed up the salt and sugar. I got a call from my dad from work asking what was up with the cookies. Needless to say the cookies ended up a bit salty. Even our dog wouldn’t eat them, he just knew.

During my teens, I would bring cupcakes to game nights with friends.

I use to bring cupcakes and cookies into work randomly throughout the year. Now, I usually only bake Ginger crinkle cookies around Christmas.

Although for the past month, I’ve been getting back into the swing of things. I’ve made buns, cupcakes, cinnamon buns and bread.

I’ve missed it. I really have.

I use baking to get my frustrations and my stress out. If I was sad or upset with something I would make cupcakes and then get lost in the decorating. I’m not sure why I stopped.

My house use to smell like a house. Now when you walk into my house now, it smells like a home. A home of sweet treats and baked goods.

Life

Retirement

Posted on February 5, 2017

The last couple of weeks I’ve learned about RRSPs, TFSA, Bonds, Stocks, CPP, and so on. Which is why I’m a little behind on my blog of the week. (Two blogs behind scheduled actually.) I did figure out is that I should have started my RRSP with work about 7 years ago. But, I guess better late than never at all!

It was a lot to take it and a lot to process. It made me think about where I want my life to go.

When do I want to retire? 60? 65? 71? How are the choices I make in my 20’s going to affect my life in my 60-70’s? How comfortable do I want to retire? What will I retire with? Where will I retire? Who will get my benefits if I pass?

I’m glad for three things:

1. The internet.
Its full of so many answers to my many questions.

2. Work.
For providing me some tools to help me understand what I’m jumping into.

3. The Italian.

For explaining everything I’ve just learned into words I can understand.

Spending quite a bit of time learning about the world of retirement made me realize a couple of things.

Owning a home is an important aspect of a solid retirement. It’s too bad that living in Vancouver has made it IMPOSSIBLE for me to own a home. I’ve come to the conclusion that if I’m ever to own a home, it will not be here.

A family is another important aspect of retirement. Who are my beneficiaries? If i was to ever pass, who would get my benefits and investments? I have three people as my beneficiaries in case anything does happen to me, however, I would rather it be my spouse and child(ren).

I want to retire comfortably. Well I should have started this process when I was eligible through work, I’m glad I’m doing it now, before I turn 30. I’m also very glad I started a TFSA about 5 years ago. Well it’s not a lot to most, its something.

Well I realize that trying to figure this all out when I’m 28 is weird when I don’t plan on retirement for a long while, its important to have some kind of plan.

Now I have a start of a plan.

Driving Life

Better late, then never.

Posted on January 20, 2017

After about 10 years, I have finally renewed my Learners license!

Best part is that it only took me 2 ½ MONTHS to get the yellow temporary piece of paper, well they send the real one in the mail!

On November 7th, I had the day off from work and figured “What the heck, let’s go re-new my learners”. So I set out for the closest ICBC licensing office. I waited in line, got a number, sat down and waited for my call number. When my number was called I talked to a lovely lady, I told her I was here to renew my much expired Learners.

Fact: It was 10 years old.

In order to pass, I had to take the knowledge test by answering at least 40 questions right, and do an eye exam.

I passed the knowledge test!

However, I did not pass the “Eye Exam”.

I’m sure you are wondering how I failed this eye exam. Well, first off, I wouldn’t call it an eye exam. After going to the optometrist for the better part of 23 years, I know what an eye exam is. That ICBC eye exam is not an eye exam.

Anyway, I’m sure the reason I failed this “Eye exam” is because of my glasses. Apparently you can do your eye exam with and without glasses. The person behind the counter asked me to do this eye exam with my glasses on. I did because I didn’t know you had the option to do it without. Although, due to my prescription, any close up, in my face flashing lights will throw me off. Guess what was part of this “Eye exam”? You guessed it, flashing lights. So I passed the written and failed the eye exam.

But fear not!

I could take a form (Evaluation of Visual Functions (EVF)), to my optometrist to fill out, and return it later that day or up to 30 days later. Too bad the optometrist that I have been seeing for the last 15 years was located in Kamloops.

In fact, I was located in a giant mall. The hunt for an optometrist who took walk ins was on!

I located one and got an appointment for 3hours later. Did I mention I was in a mall? Once my appointment was underway, I had a lovely man tell me that I have a lot of prism in my glasses. He also told me that I was his 4^th EVF of the day and that this amount of prism would throw off any test that I took well wearing glasses. Thank you random mall optometrist for taking $91.00 and telling me information that I already knew. FILL OUT THE PAPER WORK! What should have been a 30min appointment was now taking an hour. When he did fill out my paperwork he made some mistakes and corrected them, signed it and sent me on my way.

Back the ICBC office to hand in this now dodgy looking EVF.

The only bright side to that day was the lady who was originally helping me, let me jump the line to hand in the paper work. “I’ll be right back I just have to get my supervisor to look this over”.

That’s when I learned this lovely little fact:
It needs to be sent into RoadSafeBC (RSBC) via FAX
Also, I would need to call them in one to two weeks to find out the next steps.

ONE WEEK LATER:

I called RSBC about the status of my EVF. Turns out they were processing everything from that day and to “Call back on Friday”.

Another ONE WEEK LATER:

I called RSBC about the status of my EVF. Turns out they have no paper work or record of me calling last week and that I should go back into the ICBC office I was dealing with and get them to resend it.

ANOTHER ONE WEEK LATER:

I have the morning off from work and head back to the ICBC office. I got in line, got a number, and waited for my number to be called.
Once my number was called I explained EVERYTHING thus far to the man behind the counter.
He then called RSBC and asked what the status was. The conversation went something like this:

ICBC: “I have a client in front of me; we would like to know the status of her EVF to renew her Learners.
RSBC: “We have no records on our end of any FAX or paper work, did you send in the paperwork?”
ICBC: “We faxed and mailed you the original copy. We have nothing here; we sent it to you two weeks ago. All I have here is the client’s photocopied copy of her EVF”.
RSBC: “We need the original copy”.
ICBC: “Yes I understand that, but we sent you those by fax and e-mail two weeks ago. I’m going to fax over the photocopy copy and I’m going to stay on the line until you get it”.
The guy then told me to call them in a week to see what the status of my EVF was.

ANOTHER WEEK LATER:

I called RSBC about the status of my EVF and that call went like this:

Me: “Hi, I’m wondering about the status of my EVF?”
RSBC: “Yes, we have received it.”
Me: “Awesome, so what is the next step for me?”
RSBC: “Well the EVF is in line for review so until it’s up for review, it’s a waiting game.”
Me: “Ok, may I ask how long that may take?”
RSBC: “Well we are currently reviewing EVFs from June.”
Me: “So you are telling me that I won’t find out until the new year if I can renew my LEARNERS LICENSE?”
RSBC: “yes”
Me: “OKAYBYE”.

At this point I was beyond frustrated and super annoyed with this whole processes. I had pretty much given up on renewing my license and taking transit until I died.

ANOTHER TWO WEEKS LATER:

I got a letter in the mail!

START THE COFFEE, CUE THE MUSIC, START THE PARADE!

The letter stated that I need glasses to drive! All I had to do was take this letter into the ICBC office with two pieces of ID and I’m ready to go. The only part about this that sucked was that it was now prime Christmas Shopping holidays at the mall and I figured I would wait it out. I hate the mall during the Christmas season.

TWO AND A HALF MONTHS IN

January 19^th, I finally renewed my learners license

after waiting at the ICBC licensing office for an hour and a half. The short of the already really long. Someone somewhere didn’t put all of my info into the box and they had to print 5 different temporary drivers’ licenses for me.

Plus side: I got to practice what my signature would look like on my ID!

Moral of the story:
Don’t let your license expire.

Life

Challenge Yourself.

Posted on January 11, 2017

One of the definitions of challenge is:

To test the ability, skill, or strength of (someone or something) : to be difficult enough to be interesting to (someone)

Last year I took part in the Instagram 365 Photo Challenge (Technically it was the 366 photo challenge as it was a leap year) and I loved it. An old co-worker of mine did the Instagram Photo Challenge in 2015 and she inspired me to take on that challenge for 2016.

So from January 1^st to Dec 31^{st 2016} I took a total of 3,000+ Photos and made 442 posts to Instagram.

It was never about getting followers, or a number of likes, but to challenge myself to do something every day for a year. Some days it was to find something that made me happy, or brought a memory to mind, or something stupid that made me laugh. In the end, it was to challenge myself and to see how I could do the same thing in a different way, every day.

Of course like any challenge you take on in life, you are going to have some difficult times. With that said, the only time last year I felt I really struggled with the Photo Challenge was near the end. December was a hard month for me to get through. Creatively, emotionally and physically. The stress from working the holidays, my best friend was moving out and to top it off I ended up with a meniscus tear in my knee. As a result, it was hard to find the drive to finish the project.

But I did and it felt great.

I did end my photo challenge on a bit of a lower note then I originally wanted to, but I felt it was a perfect way to end the year and the photo challenge.

So it’s a new year, 2017, and I have a new challenge for myself.

One blog post a week for a year.

I’m excited about writing about my travel plans, life, love, adventures, and all the weird transit stories. But I’m mostly excited about what I’m going to get up to this year. I look forward to see what 2017 is going to throw my way and how I’m going to knock it out of the park.

Life

The Italian moved out.

Posted on January 3, 2017

I posted about the ending of my 366 photo challenge with a bit of a heavy photo.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOsP6mnjeT7/?taken-by=piratespacebee

Moving boxes and packed up belongings. I’ve known for a while that he was and would be moving. The Italian didn’t end up moving out until today as it snowed on Saturday.

Although it never hit me that he would be moving until I walked into the house today.

The Italian has, in fact, moved out.

Then cue me bursting into tears.

This was probably a result of me being completely burnt out at work. Or it’s because I never had the chance to have a good cry when we broke up. But the tears came out, as well as the wine and chocolate.

Why did we break up? Well, we broke up because we wanted and still want different things in life. With that said, we stayed friends and roommates.

Why did he move out? It’s simple, he needed to. For himself and for me. While it is hard right now, it’s for the best. The Italian has a life, I have a life, we need to live them.

Why didn’t you just make it work? For the sole reason that I want to be happy and I want him to be happy. On a romantic level, it didn’t work out. We want different things that we believe will add to our happiness. On a friendship level, we are golden. He’s actually one of my very good friends who I plan on keeping around until we are old.

I wont lie, I’m going to miss living with the Italian. He makes delicious food, he can make you laugh when you’ve had a bad day at work and doesn’t hold back when you’re being a butt.

But like all good things, they must come to an end and new beginnings have to start. I look forward to hearing about all the adventures that the Italian will be going on and look forward to telling him about all my adventures. At the end of the day he is still one of my very good friends, just no longer my roommate.

Life

Whimsical BUT Stable

Posted on September 21, 2016

Dear Mr. Smith,

Someone once described me as whimsical but stable. I’ll be honest with you Mr. Smith; I’m not really sure why these words upset me so much. But, they did.

Maybe it’s because I thought that this is how people would always describe me? Turns out I was wrong. I asked a few people who actually knew me to describe me in two words. This was the list I ended up with:

Dynamic, Creative, Happy, Stubborn, Sassy, Energetic, Enthusiastic, Helpful,
Friendly, Approachable, Fiery, Lovable, Stubborn, Upfront, Shiny, Bubbly, Outgoing,
Bright, Witty, Warm, Dreamer, Fierce.

The one that made me laugh was Hashtag Queen. If you follow me on Instagram you know why.

Oh by the way, the person who described me as whimsical but stable was you Mr. Smith. I mean in all fairness, you where comparing me to all your ex-girlfriends (great way to make a girl feel special by the way!) so that didn’t help matters. Maybe it did because according to you “I wasn’t crazy but stable”

NEWS FLASH:
Apparently having a head on my shoulders, a budget, life goals,
dreams and hopes for my future meant that I was stable!

WHO KNEW?!

However, you did call me Whimsical. Actually, your exact words where “You’re not crazy, but stable. I mean you’re whimsical as well as stable. I would describe you as whimsical but stable”.

Now I do realize that I have a serious case of wanderlust and the need to travel. However, one would use the word AND not BUT when describing someone.

Writing this has actually helped. I’m realizing now it’s not the words Whimsical or stable that I have an issue with. It’s the fact you used the word BUT. Like one is worse than the other. Well, I wouldn’t use these words to describe myself; I will add them to the list of how people describe me.

Perhaps the next time you try to romance a girl, don’t compare her to your non-stable ex-girlfriends and don’t use the word but. Here is a list of words that could be used instead of but, depending on how you need to use them:

Yet
Although
Nevertheless
Still
Though
However

Looking back I never did get a chance to describe you in two words. But I would like to do so now.

Dedicated and Mystified.

Now, let me explain. You’re dedicated to those you hold dear and the job you love. You seem to know what you want in life, but don’t actually want that. Although you do a great job of confusing the shit out of girl. Or you DO know exactly what you want but don’t want to let anyone in to see the real you, to let them in and let yourself get hurt.

Yet here I am, wishing you all the best in life’s adventures Mr. Smith. Why? Well because I think you’re a great guy who just needs to figure his shit out before he can let anyone in.

So, in the end I guess I would describe myself as Whimsical AND Stable.

Funny how life works itself out.

XoXo,
All the best.

Life

Passion

Posted on May 15, 2016

Webster’s dictionary defines passion in the following way:

: a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something
: a strong feeling (such as anger) that causes you to act in a dangerous way
: a strong sexual or romantic feeling for someone

Last August I got to see every variation of that definition at Mel and Eric’s wedding.

The day before the wedding was the rehearsal. This was where I experienced the first definition of passion: A strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something.
I was going to see two of my very good friends get married! Also, I was going to be a part of that!
The rehearsal was pretty standard. “These tables go here, no you can’t move these tables there, you walk this way, don’t get your heel caught in the deck and fall on your face.” Standard rehearsal rehearsing.

The morning of the wedding I got to do the second definition of Passion. A strong feeling that causes you to act in a dangerous way.

The morning of the wedding, Chelsy dropped me off at Mels hotel, so I could make my hair appointment well Chelsy and Helena dropped some things off at the venue. I then met up with everyone with super fancy hair. The best part about that morning was sitting around a table eating cheese platters, laughing and getting ready together.
What will I remember the most about that morning? Oh probably climbing around on rocks in fancy dresses and heels.

Yes that’s right, climbing over rocks in heels.

If I didn’t love Mel so much, and want to her to have some of the best wedding photos, I would have never done that. But I did it! The pictures turned out wonderful and I would scale rocks in heels again for her.

The evening of wedding I got to see the third definition of Passion, not once but three times. A strong sexual or romantic feeling for someone.

The first time I saw it was when Mel and Eric sealed the deal with a kiss. It was a wonderful moment, not a dry eye in the house and you could just feel the love radiate off of Mel and Eric.
The second time I got to experience it, no words were said, just a sharp intake of breath and then a toast from the father of the bride to the bride and groom. The look Helena gave her husband is the look I hope to give someone someday. The look of love that will last forever.
The third time that evening that I got to witness it was at a photo booth. Donovan kissed Chelsy with such a passion that the aftershock hit me. These two have been together since high school, so around 10 years? I remember feeling instantly sad that the person I wanted to bring couldn’t make it, however that feeling was very short-lived. I was engulfed in such a bear hug from Donovan that I remembered that who needs a date when you have friends like these.

I’m so incredibly happy that I got to be a part of that wedding and I’m also glad I didn’t have a date that evening. If I had a date I’m sure I would have missed some of these moments otherwise.

All the best.

Adventure

Team Adventure

Posted on April 27, 2016

When you live in a beautiful country such as Canada it’s hard not to spend every free moment exploring everything all the time. I find its best to explore things when you’ve got great adventure friends.

So let’s break down Team Adventure and what we are all about!

Geoff- the Driver and all a round really cool guy.
Sarah- The explorer and all round amazing person.
Anthony C- The Irishman and all round fun person.
Bailey B (That’s me)- The Planner and I make excuses to go out.

Team adventure is about having a good time, a good laugh and exploring this lovely city, Vancouver, and the surrounding area. BC is really a beautiful province and it’s a blessing to live here. So explore all the things, laugh at all the things and have a good time doing it with great friends.

Team Adventure probably started about 3 months ago. Geoff, Sarah and I realized that we needed more reasons to go out and Adventure. So, we made a thing out of it and called it Team Adventure.

Ever go hiking in February around the sea to sky Gondola in running shoes and blue jeans? I have and I regret nothing. The best part about that adventure, besides the company of course, was that you never knew if your next step would be on to solid snow or you would lose your footing and sink in.! Except that one time I slipped and slid down a snowy path, leaving a trail of blue in my wake. After that trip, my jeans no longer bleed on anything. Geoff and Sarah got one hell of a laugh out of it though, so there’s that. It’s important to laugh at yourself on these kinds of adventures.

Back in April, Team adventure took a trip out to Othello tunnels, but ultimately ended up exploring Bridal falls instead. This is the point, you never know where you’re going to end up!

Just because something says closed, doesn’t mean it’s “closed”. Like the Othello tunnels. Although when it’s raining, it’s probably best not to jump into the giant puddle on the other side of the fence. Then how do you get back around with said puddle in the way.

So we opted to head to bridal falls instead.

Just because a park says it’s closed due to falling trees and the gate is open, is it really closed? No, not really. Just use common sense and don’t park under any trees. Bridal falls has been a spot I’ve wanted to visit since forever, the countless times I’ve driven past it going to Kamloops and back to Vancouver.

Its magical.
It was also the first time I got to wear out my new adventure boots! No better way to break in new shoes than climbing waterfalls.

This was the trip that I realized that Geoff and Sarah are two very fun people to hang out with and adventure with. They also put up with me and my need to take pictures of everything well out on said adventures. We have many more plans for adventures this summer and I’m super excited for all of them.

Especially camping on the Island!

Life

Hello beautiful!

Posted on April 3, 2016

I’m back and with a new design!

Did you miss me? Because I missed you!

I’m going to be completely honest with you, I wasn’t overly happy with the last look of my blog and where my life was. As a result, I couldn’t get my creative juices going, it was hard to write and I wasn’t happy. Don’t worry I wrote a bit over the last few months so I do have a some content to post over the next little while. With that said, with the help and encouragement from wonderful friends *Cough* Mel *Cough*. I’m back and very excited to catch everyone up on my life’s adventures.

So where have I been?! What have I been up to?! Well…

I went to Vegas with my mom for her 50^th Birthday!
Oh boy do I have some tales from Vegas to share with you all!

I’m slowing learning how to Knit with help from Chelsy and Mel!
I currently can NOT cast off. So I feel like I’m making and remaking a endless patch of something.

I started the Instagram 365 photo a day challenge
(Really it’s the 366 photo a day challenge because this year is a leap year)
I’m about 100days in!

Started Team Adventure!
I have adventures around Vancouver and area I’m doing cool things.
Like exploring, hiking and eating food with really cool people.

I planted a small garden!
I’m going to grow flowers, peas, tomatoes and peppers! I hope this year isn’t as hot as last because I really want to see if I have a green thumb.

The biggest thing I feel I’ve done in recent months was ending my romantic relationship with the Italian. I still love him dearly and we are still very good friends. We just want different things out of life and I would rather have him in my life as a friend then not at all. It took about a week to have that conversation but we were adults about it. The Italian made a good point, we don’t want to resent each other down the road because we didn’t get what we wanted out of life. All in all though, we are good, I’m good. I’m not ready to jump back into the dating pond just yet but I’m excited for my next adventure.

I hope all is well in your corner of the world, I’m excited to be back with a shiny new design!

Life

Canadian Thanksgiving.

Posted on October 12, 2015

Hello everyone!

I swear I didn’t forget about this blog! Life just kind of happened again and I lost the mojo! But fear not, I’m trying really hard to get back into the swing of writing again! Breaking old habits are hard but do-able!

Canadian Thanksgiving is today and I have plenty to be thankful for. I’ll give you Four things I’m super thankful for and why.

First in the spotlight is my family and friends. Well you might say “Hey that’s two things!”. Well, some of my friends are like family and thus get to share the number One reason to be thankful this year. Although I might not have your typical white picket fence, fancy dresses and dinner party family. I have a great family that is around when I need them. I have friends all over the world. No matter where in the world I am, they are there. I’ve got some pretty spectacular people in my life and I’ve met so many wonderful people along the way. I’m excited to share life and its adventures with all of them.

Second in the spotlight is the Italian, the guy who puts up with my shenanigans and lets me be myself. All well living with me! He makes me laugh, brings me tea when I’m feeling like a potato and is my space heater in the winter time.

Third in the spotlight is Canada. I have traveled a little, and already have realized how amazing it is to live in a country like Canada. I don’t fear for my life to vote, I don’t have to worry about going to the doctor, I can express my opinion as a women and have it be heard. We have clean water, beautiful landscapes and a $50 bill that smells like maple syrup.

Forth in the spotlight is my job. I’m very grateful I have a job. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning, to live in a place with a roof and windows, it allows me to pay my bills, to indulge in fine things, and it allows me to travel. Without this job I wouldn’t know where I would be.

I have so many more reasons I am thankful for this Thanksgiving, these are just Four. I could sit here all day and write about them but I won’t. I may have to work today but that’s OK, I have a job, a great family in a fantastic country and brilliant friends to share it with.

As my dad says,
“Happy Turkey Day!”

All the best,
Bailey B.

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