Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Here are a few things that made me smile!!

Our Move in Photo Form

So this past month has been a big whirlwind!!

We left snowy Edmonton:

Loaded all our stuff (and our kitties) into this:

Stopped in Revelstoke halfway there and watched our little acrobat explore the hotel room:

Drove through the mountains:

Stopped for photos along the way:

And arrived here:

Got the kitties settled into the new place: 

Unloaded the very full Uhaul:

And started enjoying our new home:

We both started work:

Explored the city on our weekend off.

Coolest bookstore ever:

Yummy sushi:

Visited the wharf:

Waited for Telus to set up our internet, stayed home for 3 appointments, got stood up 3 times and decided to go with Shaw instead:

Met some of the Victoria Twitter regulars at a birthday party for Foursquare:

Fell in love with the things we carry at Chintz & Company:

Unpacked, settled in and started our new routine. So far so good!

Internet Dependance

I need my internet! It is not an optional expense for me anymore, I depend on it too much! It is my entertainment, my source of news, my contact with friends and family and my research tool. Usually breakfast time is spent in front of the computer catching up on the news and responding to emails and messages. Before bed I am online posting my blog and reading the posts from the blogs I follow. If I need a phone number or an address I hop on quickly and get it. I am not from the generation that pulls out a copy of the Yellow Pages for a number! I am on Twitter throughout the day and check in with Foursquare whenever I remember to do it, but they don't allow the same level of communication that blogs do.  However, I was very thankful for them during the weeks of no connection. My iPhone is usually attached to me but for these last few weeks I don't think I've put it down except for when I was working.
I know I need my hookup so I booked the setup with Telus 2 weeks before we moved. I called them to update the phone number on record and confirm the appointment when we got here. I waited at home for 8 hours on a Sunday for the technician but nobody came. I called in, waited on hold for forever and rescheduled the appointment. The next time block came and went with no technician appearing. Another crazy hold time and another appointment booked. This time the escalations department was going to handle it for us, and they were throwing in some perks because of all the problems. Third appointment also no-showed. More hold time, more transfers and finally a helpful person on the other end of the phone. Too bad she came in so late in the game- she had to cancel the contract for us.
I am now connected via Shaw and am fine with paying more money per month to deal with a service provider that has short hold times and prompt service. I'm back!!!

Blogging on my iPhone

Hi!!! I just figured out I can pull up the blog editor in safari on my phone!!! I'm not why this didn't occur to me over the last two weeks of blogging withdrawal! The sad part is that the blogs are typed into my laptop....oh well, the other posts will appear when I get net access at home!
We are settling into our new city, have started our jobs and are getting back into a routine. I did get the job at Chintz & Company that I had blogged about last month and Jon is officially a Fedex driver. We are both working Monday to Friday so we have the weekends free to explore Victoria and meet new people. We went to a Victoria Tweetup yesterday to celebrate Foursquare's birthday. It was so much fun and let me put a face to the awesomely welcoming twitter community here!
I have some amazing photos saved up- this editor won't let me drop any of them in!
I will be back soon!!!!

Chocolate Spa Day

You read the title right. Chocolate spa day....Shannon and I treated ourselves to Chocolate body wraps today at the spa. Well, I suppose Groupon tempted us with them and we took advantage of the 50% off coupon for them. It was so worth it!!!!

We got there, had a glass of water and then got ushered into our separate rooms. The treatment started with a brown sugar body scrub, which smelled amazing. The girl gave a bit of a massage as she was exfoliating, which made it even better. Hopped into the shower in the room to rinse off the scrub while the girl went to get the chocolate mixture. It was totally organic and edible (she brought me a spoon so I could taste it!) The ingredient list is here for those of you who are as snoopy as I am.....

mmmmm......melted chocolate......

Once the chocolate was completely melted she began brushing it on. There are a few other things in it so it won't solidify the way that regular chocolate would. After completely coating me with it she put my hands into a paraffin treatment and gave me a hot stone massage. After the massage she bundled me up and then let me nap for 20 minutes. She woke me up, I showered again and then relaxed with a hot chocolate in the common room with Shannon. So amazing! My skin feels so good (and I still smell like chocolate....)

Not me, the spa didn't allow photos.....but that is what the brush looked like......

The only thing that I didn't love about it was the draping practices. The last (and only) body wrap I have ever had was in Greece. The spa that we went to there was very European in their standpoint on nudity. You are paying them to do a skin treatment, so let them treat all of your skin. No draping, no cover up, no shame. There were locker rooms that you went into, changed into a robe and then walked out to the common room. The girl comes to get you, brings you into the room and tells you to get onto the table. While talking to her you remove the robe and walk over and climb on. She has seen 100 other pairs of breasts that morning, mine don't phase her and she starts the treatment (While I panic slightly because I promised my uncomfortable-in-a-robe-in-public husband that they would drape him....) It wasn't uncomfortable when she applied the mud mask on every inch of me- that's what I was paying her for. 

Today's girl was so worried about towel placement that she came across as nervous to see too much. How did the cultures get so different? Why are we so concerned about showing a bit of skin at the spa? What is the point of a skin treatment that skips your torso? That's a big chunk of your body to miss!

We are trained that nudity is vulgar and bad, but I think that it just ruins our body images from the get go. When I was a girl guide leader my girls wouldn't change in the same tent as each other. They would file in, one by one and change into their pj's and then, when they were all changed they would all go inside. When we were in Greece there were kids their age running around the beach naked, playing in the sand and tossing footballs around. They are comfortable in their skin there. 

Is that possible here? Is it just me that finds it goofy?? Am I just too comfortable being naked??? Am I alone in with this theory?? 

Apparently not.

Blog Silence Day for Japan

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