baby shower

Last night was my cousin Carolyn's baby shower. Since her and her husband, Shawn, decided not to find out what they were having, the colour theme was yellow and gray. I love that colour combo! Receiving blankets were used as table cloths and yellow and white daisies were placed in mason jars, it was so cute. They also placed diapers on each table for guests to write messages in for those first few late night diaper changes, a great idea from Pinterest!

I thought I would share a few pictures from the night, mostly of how her sisters and mom decorated.

put-in-bay

When I was younger I used to go sailing with my parents at least three weekends every summer. But as I got older I loved the weekends my parents would sail away because it meant I had the house to myself. I swear, I never had parties mom, just small "get togethers."

So when my parents invited Rob and I to go sailing with them this weekend I was pretty excited. I have loved Put-In-Bay (party island in the middle of Lake Erie) since they first brought me there at the age of fourteen (bad parents!) Rob has been once with myself and my dad when we did Shakedown in 2012 (race to the island, then race to the bar). On Friday night we loaded up the boat and set sail with fingers crossed that the rain would hold off. Unfortunately we did get a little wet, but nothing to cry about. We docked at Pelee Island (known for their wine) for the night and enjoyed a dinner of shrimp and scallops, washed down with Pelee Island Lighthouse Chardonnay.

We were up bright and early to have breakfast. The day before I made peanut butter and banana sandwiches with chocolate chips and wrapped them in tin foil. We popped them onto the hot grill in their foil wrappers and toasted them up. I can't tell you how delicious these are! You could also throw the foiled sandwiches into the coals of a campfire for the same toasty, goo-ey, wonderfulness!

The sail to Put-In-Bay was just beautiful and we enjoyed a quick lunch before heading onto the island. The boat was on a mooring ball in the harbour so we took the water taxi onto the island.

The island was hectic. It was Christmas in July and everyone and their brother was at the Bay. Drunk Santas, elves, and Mrs Clauses were stumbling all over the street and it was only 2:00pm. We decided to avoid the maddness and rented a golf cart to cruise around the island. We then ducked into Frosty's (my favourite bar) and headed to the new patio for some frozen mojitos and beer. After getting smoked out (I forgot how many people smoke in the States), we headed to Tippers for all you can eat prime rib, another PIB favourite. The liquor was flowing and we witnessed an almost bar restaurant fight. No shortage of action on this trip. 

It had started cooling down a bit so we headed back to the boat to get some warmer clothes. And then back to the island to do some people watching and get ice cream cones.

A guy was walking around with a big sign that said "Love Doctor" on one side and "Wanted: One Night Stand - Females Only" on the other. He saw us taking a picture and thought we needed his prop.

One last trip on the water taxi. We spent the rest of the night playing Monopoly (one of Friday's yard sale finds). Dad won, as per usual. 

We had a great sail (well we motored because there was no wind, but the weather was beautiful) back to Kingsville on Sunday. It was nice to get away with my parents. But next time, we will make sure we go to Put-In-Bay when it's a little less wild.

friday on the farm

I've been home for about a week now and have yet to unpack. My life is still in suitcases and boxes and I've been spending as much time as possible away from home to avoid it all. On Friday, I met up with my cousins Steph and Jenn, and Jenn's three daughters, Annie, Ally and Evee to go yard sale-ing and antiquing! We spent most of the morning hopping from yard sale to yard sale but we made a quick stop at my aunt's farm to visit the horses. Evee, only five months old, wasn't too interested but the older girls loved seeing the horses (even if they were a bit afraid of them). I'm glad I brought my camera because I got some cute snaps of the girls and their momma!

We scored some great finds at the sales, but it was just nice to spend the day with my cousins and my favourite little girls. I definitely missed days like these when I was away. It's good to be home!

surfs up

As my last weekend in Barbados loomed before me, I knew I needed to make the most of it. So I called up Boosy for a last minute surf lesson. I had a great time! Christian is an amazing instructor and such an easy guy to hang out with. He mounted his go-pro on my board and sent me some of the footage. I mess around with it in iMovie and created my first video!! I am also in love with this song (and Coldplay's whole album actually)

That's all for now. I'm leaving tomorrow which means copious amounts of packing, attempting to finish half a bottle of rum and all the food in my fridge, and soaking up as many rays as I can.

See you soon Canada!

ten weeks

Was this actually ten weeks ago?

It's so surreal. I can't believe it was ten weeks ago that dad dropped me off at the airport. We sipped our Starbucks (while dad complained about said Starbucks) and took selfies. I was pale, my hair was done, I was wearing glasses, a long sleeve shirt, and my nails were painted. All things that have changed in a mere ten weeks. I have gotten a tan (a rather good one I think, without looking like leather). I rarely do anything more than braid my unruly locks. Wearing contacts has become a daily routine so I can pop my sunglasses on without being blind. The only time I wore something long sleeve was in the office with the AC blasting, only to be stripped off as soon as I stepped outside. My nails have been colourless for the past 8 weeks or so, a true feat for those who know of my polish obsession (strangely, I haven't missed it and my nails are healthier, hooray!)

Tonight while I thought about everything that has changed while I've been here I decided to go back and read all my blog posts. There aren't many so it didn't take that long. Going back to those first posts when I was getting ready to leave and arriving in Barbados, it all seems so long ago but at the same time it feels like yesterday. I know that makes no sense. Anyways, it was nice to look back at everything I managed to accomplish while I was here. And I've been really happy to have a place to document my journey and share my photos.

But lately, I've been thinking about how many photos I've taken. I have a pretty large file on my external hard-drive. I got sad thinking about that file and its likely destiny of staying on my hard-drive for years to come, forgotten in all its beauty. The woes of the digital era. So I started looking into some book printing sites and I'm so excited to start the process of sorting through my favourites and laying out a book. But for now I'm just enjoying my lazy Saturday after a morning of surfing and an afternoon of aching (no one tells you how much you hurt after surfing!)

sundays, sailing, sunsets

Saturday I went for a chill sail with some people I had met at the Cruising Club. We were sitting on the deck having some sundowners when the vice commador came over to ask if we racing the next day. Being the smart ass I am, I said "I'll race if you have a fast boat." Luckly, he did. "Silver Bullet" just so happens to hold the record for the Round Barbados Race sponsored by Mount Gay Rum. The boat is pretty cool and like nothing I've raced before. But I have to say I was pretty sore for a few days after the race... It's been a while since I've trapezed, let alone trapezing for 3.5 hours straight.

We got back to shore before most of the boats had finished so we enjoyed some rum punches to celebrate our victory. After attempting to stream the FIFA finals at the club (to no avail), we headed to a friend's house to catch the final minutes. While the game ended fantastically, the view from James' apartment couldn't be beat.

sunday funday

One of the things that was top on Steph's Barbados to-do list was swimming with the sea turtles. I had so much fun on the Jolly Roger and the catamaran cruise that it was quite the toss-up. When I found out that the Jolly Roger wasn't running that weekend, it made the decision a lot easier. We boarded the Cool Runnings around 10:00 am and started the day off right with some rum and pineapple juice.

First stop was to see Nemo's friends.

Since the serious swimming was done and we had a big buffet lunch to sustain us, we enjoyed a few more beverages...as you may be able to tell by the pictures.

And lastly, the only picture of the two of us with both of our eyes open.

I'm so happy Steph came to visit! We're not just cousins, she's one of my best friends and I'm so happy she got to share this experience with me. Love you Stephy!!

dominica

I still have to post the second half of pictures from last weekend but I had a bit of a detour, to Dominica. Dominica is a small island in the Eastern Caribbean. It's totally different from Barbados because it's a volcanic island. It's very mountainous with amazing rainforests and world renowned hot springs. I went for a work trip for 2 days and 1 night. We didn't have much time between meetings and site visits but we did get to see some of the island. I was just going through the pictures I took for work but I thought I would share a few snaps I took during the trip.

After a site visit in Soufriere (below on the left) we went for a mini hike. The orange stream isn't dirty water, it's sulfur. The island has very popular hot sulfur spring baths that are amazing for your skin. We spent Thursday night at Screws, the local sulfur springs. There are multiple pools all varying in temperature. It was amazing, even though it was a bit smelly.

Where we hiked to had an abundance of fruit and nut trees. The yellow/orange fruit below is actually a cashew fruit! You can see the little cashew shaped piece on the bottom, which when roasted cracks open to reveal the nut. The nut grows first and then the fruit, which you can eat, grows. It was pretty tasty! The other fruit can be called a paradise plum, cocoplum, or as the Trinis call it, "fat pork." Weird I know.

 Dominica is a gorgeous island. I can't wait to return with hiking boots so I can explore what the island has to offer.