calgary philharmonic orchestra

So the first thing I'll say about going to the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time is, "WOW!" It was pretty awesome. Burns and I went on a double date with Lita Johnson and Brant Melchin. We went to see the Movie Classics from John Williams which included pieces from the likes of: ET, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Star Wars, Schindler's List, Superman, and Harry Potter. John Williams also did the music for Pirates of the Caribbean and Gladiator but the orchestra didn't perform anything from those two movies.

Before we left, Kobe got sad. Poor thing. He always knows when we are about to leave.

It was an experience getting downtown. Burns and I were going to take the train down but then Lita was close by and apparently there was supposed to be free parking downtown so we just followed them. Then I realized I had forgotten my I.D. and the tickets were under my name (we were supposed to pick the tickets up at the concert hall). Burns and I drove all the way to Bowness (we were close to Crowchild when I realized I had forgotten it) and then all the way downtown. There was no free parking :( and I didn't even need my I.D.! We were just in time and we sat in the choir seats which is behind the orchestra so EVERYONE could see us come in haha.

The Jack Singer is soooo huge!

Check out this awesome organ!

For the Schindler's List pieces we heard from a solo violinist. It was so beautiful. During the first half of the concert I felt like crying half the time.

Burns and I couldn't believe how much it sounded like we were in a theatre watching these movies. The music was close to perfection.

Even though we couldn't see all of the instruments from where we were seated, we could watch the expression and awesomeness of the conductor! It was so fun! He got so into it and you could tell that music is his passion. We could hear him breathing a lot and sometimes he would hum to the music.

Burns and I had an incredible night. Thanks for the idea Lita! I'm so glad we went!!!

Afterwards we went to Tim Horton's for a couple hours haha. If you follow both Lita and me on Pinterest, I'm sorry for all the duplicate and similar pictures. We just had a good time okay? Here is my Tim Horton's Art inspired by the art we saw at the concert hall:

If you haven't gone to the Philharmonic Orchestra, I 100% recommend it.

ska-ska-ska-skating

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with ska so don't fret my dear Arianne.

Burns and I went SKATING!!! It was real fun. Not fake.
Here are some pictchas!

We were little rebels and went beyond the barriers. As we were skating over a certain section of the forbidden ice, we heard a cccrrraaack. I got scared and skated way away and Burns wanted to skate around that area still.

I had soooo much fun. The greatest part about skating is that I am a fraction of a second slower than Burns whilst racing. On foot he is much faster than me.

While I have you here, I guess I'll do a quick 10@7:50

1. We went skating! Refer to above pictures.

2. I started school and I am feeling okay about the prospects of this semester.

3. I have about 20 days to get my grad application in :0

4. I discovered how great this particular frozen food is. It's pretty much chicken cordon bleu but it's no-name brand and it is sooo delicious! The chicken is filled with broccoli and cheese.

5. I got some frozen edamame beans on Saturday and they are already all gone. So good.

6. I only have one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:00 in the morning but with that comes four classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I think I just threw up in my mouth.

7. I start volunteering tomorrio!

8. I ran 5k on Monday and I walked about 4k yesterday with the Kobster and today I ran 5k. I'm getting pumped to run the moonlight run.

9. Speaking of the moonlight run, Christine Lyons is doing the 10k with me! I'm glad I found someone to do it with me because two certain someones *cough*Arianne*cough*Alex*cough* aren't awesome enough to do it with me.

10. Burns started lane swimming at Mount Royal! What a healthy couple we are! Now if only I could get him to cut out all the fast food he eats...

That was probably the quickest 10@ I have ever done! It was basically one event/minute because right now it is 8:00! Sweet!

it's a new year

On the morning of New Year's Eve Burns and I ate a fantastic breakfast of sausage, banana, orange, and yogurt. Later on in the day we went to Safeway to pick up some ingredients for our Christmas present for his parents. I finally found some marzipan...well...almond paste but close enough!!!! Arianne if you want some, I have lots. I don't think it expires until April.

After we got all the ingredients we started preparing the Heninger's Christmas dinner for the next day. I was kind of running all over the place because I was preparing food and I had to get ready for the party Burns and I were going to that night. At around 6:00 I decided to stop preparing and just finish everything on Sunday at the Heninger's house.

We hopped in the cop car and went to Burns' parents' house to drop Kobe off then we went to Goldthorp's for a potluck. It was so good. There was a lot of food....really good food. It was nice to see friends and get to know acquaintances a little better.

The Goldthorps have a tradition of writing what you regretted about the previous year or what you wish to do better the next year on a piece of paper then throwing that paper in the fire that they have going. This was mine:

Piece out 2011.

Hellooooo 2012!!!We all stayed up and played games then huddled around the TV in the kitchen for the Calgary countdown. I got to bed at around 3:00am. Fun...But before we got to go home, this happened:

On my way out the Goldthorp's door I noticed my glasses case sitting on the piano. I had forgotten that I had taken my glasses inside. I thought I had left them in the car. I shoved them in my coat pocket with them sticking half way out, we said our goodbyes, then we left to pick up Kobe. After we picked him up we started driving home then I noticed my glasses box was missing. I looked all over my seat and around it and it was nowhere to be found. We headed back to the Heninger's and I was relieved to find a black box on the road.

Oh it's crushed? We ran over it? Oh that's okay...I need a new pair of glasses anyways.......Oh.....I was going to keep these frames and just put new lenses in. I find it extremely ironic how the frames are crushed and the lenses are totally intact. Oh well....I guess it was time for a change anyways. At least my expensive contacts were virtually untouched.

Things I regret about 2011:

• Burns and I didn't go skating ONCE
• I didn't go snowboarding for the first time
• I didn't go camping

Last year I made a resolution to not buy new clothing (or used) for 6 months. I completed the challenge. I didn't really make a resolution this year. BUT here are a few things I am going to accomplish this year:

• graduate with an undergraduates degree in linguistics
• get into grad school (crossing fingers)
• if I get into said grad school I will be moving to Edmonton
• run the 10k in the moonlight run
• run a half marathon in September
• start a YouTube channel featuring Burns and me playing/singing duets

I'm pretty excited for all the changes happening this year. 

HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!

the most wonderful time of the year

 Oh Christmas time, oh Christmas time, how lovely are thine family days.

I drove home on December 22nd and was able to spend some time with my friend Mark who I had not seen for three years. It was great to catch up and to see his family. The Biebs came down the next day then the Kutarnas came down on Christmas Eve. The next few days were full of games and a LOT of family time. I had a lot of fun and of course I Skyped with Burns constantly.

It turns out my phone gave a better picture than my computer did on Burns' end. Crazy.

We played Scum, Connect 4, Egyptian Pyramid, Crazy Eights, Chicken Scratch (or more formally known as Dominos) and many other games.

Little Navy was smiling and "talking" the whole time so it was pretty fun to be around her. She showed us what's what when she stood all by herself haha ;)

On Christmas day the Allens came over and Brad broke out his old car. The boys were driving it all over the fields so naturally the girls had to try. I drove for a bit but I was too scared to go really fast. After our driving frenzy we settled down to open prezzies and then we had dinner. Grandma B joined us for the dinner too.

On Boxing Day, Grandma L came by so it was nice to see her. She left then the fam all went to the annual Boehme Boxing Day reunion potluck. That night I drove to Calgary for my GRE the next morning. I left Kobe behind in Raymond so I was pretty lonely for the night. My roommates were out of town for Christmas.

My test started at 7:30 on the 27th and I had to be there at 7:00. When I got there, there were two other people waiting outside the door. We were told to be there a half an hour before the test started so we were all getting a little anxious. That was the only and last day another girl and I could write the test so we were kind of worried. Another girl showed up to write the test then the instructor finally showed up 10 minutes late but everything turned out just fine. Man those test people are sure strict when it comes to cheating. We weren't allowed to take ANYTHING in the testing area except our clothes. I had to take my watch off. These people are serious. I even had to turn my pockets inside out every time I entered the testing area.

In the first section I wrote two essays. One was on whether or not the government should provide free tuition to those who could not afford it. I had to support/disprove an argument on the second essay. I had 30 minutes to write each essay. I think I did alright on both. The rest of the test was alternating between math and verbal reasoning. I think I bombed the math section but the verbal reasoning I think was okay. I was finished by 11:30 and was able to leave Calgary by 12:00. I got back to Raymond that afternoon and was able to relax a bit after that endeavor.

Alberta skies really are great. I was appreciating the open fields and the beautiful skies all the way to Raymond. It was a pretty great and very fast drive.

Nitty was being funny almost the whole time she was down there. I think her favorite pass time was bugging Kobe haha.

We made Marshie into a hipster one night. The cardigan and scarf are both girl items of clothing but hey...isn't that what hipsters do?

And did I mention that the whole week I was there, the wind did not stop blowing?!?! It was extremely disappointing for me especially because I got my parents Blongoball for Christmas. AKA Ladder Golf. It's an outdoorsy game so we didn't really want to play in the wind. The morning that I left for Calgary the wind FINALLY stopped blowing. My parents had about a half an hour before they had to go to work so we broke out the game girls (my mom and me) against boys (my dad and Marshie). The boys won by one point.

I also dyed my hair back to dark brown. The red was fun but it's nice to be normal again.

On the 28th Marshie and I went bowling.

That's right. I won.

 I waited and waited and waited and waited aaaaaaaaaaaaalllllll day for Boonie to get to Raymond! His parents dropped him off and he was just in time for dinner. Then next day the three of us went swimming at the Holiday Inn (formerly known as the Ramada Inn).

We had a blast there. The next day Burns and I went back up to Calgary all familied out.

Thanks for the good times ya'll! Until next time.

10@9:10

 Hey friends! Time for my top ten events of the week!

1. I have the worst cough I have ever had in my entire life. Even worse than four years ago when I had walking pneumonia! Remember when I could hardly talk 2 weeks ago and I was okay to sing with Lita on the Sunday? Well that developed into a cough and I still haven't gotten over it. I feel so bad for my roommates to have to put up with me. On Monday I had 5 coughing fits. What do I mean by coughing fit, you ask? I cough until the point where I gag multiple times and can't stop coughing. So I had five of those...one of which happened while I was on the bus. People were looking at me like "are you okay?" "are you going to live?". A lady even gave me a Halls. I've tried Dimetapp but that didn't help at all, Halls don't really help, Vick's cough suppressant doesn't help either. I went to the doctor on Saturday and he said it was probably an infection so he gave me some drugs. I think it's getting slightly better though because yesterday I only had one coughing fit during the day and a really bad one last night. I usually get it the worst when I'm trying to sleep. Last night was just bad though. Anyways...enough of this pity party!

2. I am done my second last semester! My last exam was on Monday!! Thank goodness all of my exams seemed to go very well! I ended up with an overall A in my Sex and Gender class and I think I will be getting an overall A in Sensation and Perception. I haven't received any other final exams so I can't really speculate what my overall grades are in my other classes.

3. I have 5 days to study for my GRE. Great.

4. Burns is leaving me.....for his family. He and his parents are going to Utah so they can spend Christmas with their whole family! That hasn't happened for forever. Burns was going to take Kobe but his mom wouldn't let him. That's okay. I'm sure Nitty will be thrilled.

5. I'm driving one of my roomies to the airport today. She's going out East for Christmas because her parents live there now.

6. I get Burns' car while he's gone! Yippeeeee!!!!!

7. Last night Rick and Denise stopped by to give me a Christmas prezzie. This is what Denise got me:

Alex you will have to teach me how to use this properly haha. Please?

8. Just a random thought, but I should really get my GDL off of my license. 

9. I went to ARBI yesterday for my training video. I'm excited but scared to start volunteering there. I'm scared I'll do something wrong...  :S

10. Burns and I had Christmas last night because he's leaving today. I got him a nice button-up shirt and three books: Flatland, Sphereland, and Flatterland. They're kind of cool cause in Flatland, a 3D object or person or something goes to 2D land and tries to explain what his 3D world is like. I also have a copy so I'm going to read it. 

Burns got me:

A hiking pack!!! I'm so excited about this! He said he was going to get me hiking boots too but he decided not to because I'm super picky about shoes. Especially hiking shoes. So he said I need to go with him and he'll get me some!!! ^_^