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Ok, before I get to "Paradise is"..... let me just say GUEST BOOK SPAM SUCKS! phew.... that feels better to vent. Hadn't got round to cleaning up the guest book in awhile.

Now where was I, oh yeah... the defination of Paradise is, 4 days at our cabin in the interior of BC. We spent the July long weekend at Rock Island once again and it was truely wonderful. The weather generally does not play along very well for us but this year what a difference. It was scorching hot from the time we got there till the time we left, which did not sit well for great fishing, however it did give us all nice tans and for some, a cool dip in the lake.

Adam and I, along with my sis-in-law Jordan headed in on Thursday and were joined by mum-in-law Fran and Aunty Lenna on Friday. With the exception of Lenna we all spent many hours on the lake trying to catch the *big one*. Jordan and Fran caught a couple of really nice size fish, while Adam and I spent most of our time throwing back little ones lol! We did however bring out 8 *typical* Rock Island size ones, so that was just fine. Once again, we had more food than we knew what to do with, and plenty of alcohol, and non-alcoholic beverages to keep us all happy.

The bugs were biting as per usual, and I did come home with lots of mozzie bites, along with a particularly nasty bite on my face, which was deemed to be probably from a black fly. It really is quite nasty, but seems to be settling down with the help of a littly hydrocortisone cream.

The wild life at the lake is just so beautiful, and we saw many bald eagles soaring and diving for fish, along with the usual loons, squirrels and gophers. This year however there was a little bonus on our drive out from the cabin, with the siting of one oh so cute!! little brown bear. He was sticking his head out from the bushes and looked like he would have ventured onto the logging road had we not come around the corner in the car. He was however not hanging around, so we only got a fleeting glance as he headed back into the safety of the trees. I was so excited, my first bear siting in the wild since being in Canada.

This trip to the cabin was also a little different for me this year, with being 6 1/2 months pregnant I certainly couldn't race around like I usually do. It was rather neat to be there with our unborn little one, and I told him all about what was around him. I can hardly wait till he is big enough to see it for himself and to take him out fishing with us.

Well, this not working thing I have to say his rough.. *giggle* Actually, I am still finding it quite weird, but have kept incredibly busy at times. I did over do it a little yesterday, so I plan to take things a little more easier today....starting with getting ready for the day, off to the shower.. wheeeeeeee

Everything is now deleted, shredded or couriered to another part of the country, it's time to say... Good night, and Good Luck.

And now off to the Cactus Club to drink!!! well as much as I can drink right now :o)

So I basically have one day to go here at my job with ADT Canada. It's noon on Thursday, and we are pretty much done at noon tomorrow. I am paitently waiting for our free Pizza lunch right now... yum!!

It's definately a little surreal to think come Monday morning I am no longer required to get out of bed when my alarm demands me too, be at the bus stop at a certain time, and report into a boss from 8-4pm, HOW COOL IS THAT! lol. I think it will take more than a week to sink in as it will just feel like I am on holiday for the first little bit I guess.

I have so much to look forward to this summer.... starting with our annual trip to our cabin at Rock Island for July long weekend, aka Canada Day weekend. I look forward to this so much every year as it is the most beautiful piece of paradise up there away from civilisation and all the technology that goes with. I hope we can maybe go for a little longer this year with me not working, and perhaps my honey can push for an extra day or two off. I've never stayed up there longer than 3 nights, and it never feels enough.

At the end of July, my Mum and Dad will be here again for a 3 week period. One of the weeks they will spending cruising to beautiful Alaska on one of the spectacular cruise ships that spend their summers here in Vancouver. I am so excited for them, I only wish I could go along with them now. The other two weeks will be spent having some R&R and shopping! (if I know my Mum), and perhaps a trip to Kamloops to have a little visit with the family up there.

Of course the main even coming up this year is the birth of our wee darling, and now that I am almost 28 weeks, reality is starting to really sink in. I currently feel great, and for the most part, my discomfort is limited. However I know in the next couple of months I am going to grow alot more and with that will come more discomfort and less energy. At least with not working through the hottest months now, I will get some relief from afternoon naps to recharge my batteries, and pretty much being able to do things at my own pace. It will also be a good time to get things all in order for the arrival of the little one as we currently still have quite alot to do to get our *baby space* ready. I say space, as unfortunately we don't have the luxury of an entire room for the little one with my husband occupying half of it with his computer equipment. However we shall do the best with what we have.

Our recent 1 year wedding anniversary was just lovely. We returned to the *scene of the crime* aka Kamloops, for a lovely dinner at a most spectacular restaurant called Chapters Viewpoint (where our reception was held), and stayed overnight at the lovely Plaza Hotel(where we stayed on our wedding night) which is so historic and wonderfully restored. It was a thoughtful and wonderful surprise from my sweetheart.

Well 15 mins till Pizza and I'm getting kinda hungry... so am off to hang around the boardroom to be first in line ;o) I do have extra to feed ya know!

So I had another check up with my Doctor yesterday and everything is going along nicely, baby is doing well and is very active right now. His increased activity is due in part to lots of room and amniotic fluid for him to move around in, so in effect he can sort of *swim*.

I had my gestational diabetes test last Monday and the results are all good. I am 4.4 on the scale. 4.2 being the low end, to 7.7+ being not good. So basically, if I am not presenting symptons of it now I am not really at risk to develop it, yay for me! I celebrated with a turtle ice cream... mmmmmm so good.

Progress is starting on our nursey/office and I am really looking forward to it looking like somewhere a baby can sleep. I have such an urge to go and start buying stuff! but we really need to get things in order before I bring more into the house lol. Our next purchase will hopefully be a change table, and the stroller/car seat will come in a couple more months I expect. With obtaining a crib for free, and having the use of the beautiful bassinet that my husband! used to sleep in hehehe.... that has really cut down on the big purchases for sure.

It's such a beautiful day here in Vancouver, and the nice weather is set to continue right through the weekend thankfully. We have had lots of unsettled stuff of late and it will be nice to get a fine stretch, and finally go to a softball game and not get wet or have to huddle under a blanket.

With only 2 1/2 weeks to go here now it seemed to finally sink in this morning as I stepped off the bus and crossed the road to my office. It is really going to be strange not coming in here again... I mean, I know I was going to be off for a year anyway, but that was not until the end of August and in all likelihood I would have come back. Although I am really quite happy with the whole outcome, I couldn't help feel a tinge of sadness. I will really miss some people I work with, although alot of us live on the North Shore and plan to get together on a semi regular basis anyhow. We are having a big *farewell* dinner at a wonderful seafood restaurant in Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver (fabulous spot!) which should be lots of fun.

Ok, I really should do something that resembles work right now ;o)

Of course the Poms are on the raw end of the deal... (sorry, Biccy)

British men have worst sex lives, Canadians the best

I can hardly believe we are coming up on our first wedding anniversary (June 11th). This time last year, my girlfriends were arriving from New Zealand, with my family a few days behind them... where has a year gone? Of course now I am deep in thought about what to do for our first special day... We were thinking about a train trip on the new Whistler Mountaineer... but it's all booked up :(.

I looked at a romantic night for two in a hotel somewhere, but does that seem a little too cliche?... I was thinking earlier today that perhaps returning to the scene of our wonderful day, aka Kamloops... and going for a nice romantic dinner at the wonderful venue we got married at. I guess I should perhaps suggest this to my husband :) *shrug*

So I received something on email today from a friend... now ordinarily this guy is not someone who *ever* forwards stuff, as he finds it as annoying as I usually do, but he sent this to a bunch of people, and in light of my/our recent circumstances at being made redundant, it seemed quite relevant to us... I thought I would post it here... it's your *choice* to read it or not ;o)

******

"John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!” He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” He replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or … you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.”

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or…I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or… I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. “Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested. “Yes, it is,” he said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live your life.”

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins…Wanna see my scars?” I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,” he replied. “Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or…I could choose to die. I chose to live.” “Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. He continued, “..the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine.

But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man’. I knew I needed to take action.” “What did you do?” I asked. “Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said John. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes, I replied.’ The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Gravity’.” Over their laughter, I told them, “I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude… I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything .

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34. After all today is the tomorrow you worried about" yesterday.

Tonight (7.35pm NZ time)in front of a sold out crowd of 35,700 screaming fans, my boys in Black and Red are taking on the Hurricanes for the Super 14... formerly Super 12 final. The Saders are 5 times champs and really hard to beat on home turf, so I am hoping this ways heavily on the Hurricans minds as they go into battle!

Let's go boys, we're cheering you on around the world.

And so after nearly 10 years with the organisation, 2 years with Wormald New Zealand, 3.5 years with Tyco New Zealand and 6 years with ADT Security Canada Inc, it's time to say goodbye. Of course this has been bought on by my office closure come June. ADT Canada has slowly but surely been absorbed by the US over the last few months... actually not so slowly, and the axe has finally got around to falling on us.

I can't say I am surprised, a little sad, but not surprised. I would have been going on Maternity leave come the autumn, and now I actually get to have the summer off which I have to admit I am totally excited about due to the fact I will be paid right through it thanks in part to that little thing we call severance pay. There are so many little projects to do in preparation for the arrival of our little one... and yes it's Boy!! the secret is out now, so I don't need to keep it off my public blog I guess.

Speaking of the little boy, he is sure growing and getting stronger, his little movements are becoming more and more obvious by the day and starting to feel like definate little kicks sometimes. My sweetheart has still not felt it yet, he's either not around, asleep or by the time he puts his hand on my tummy, the little one goes into hiding lol! It won't be long though, I know it.. before he'll feel they joy I do now of this living breathing miracle inside me. We've put some thought into names, but nothing concrete, although I have a couple of favourites lined up.

It's a long weekend here in Canada with tomorrow being Victoria Day so it is nice to have that extra day off, although I guess for me it's not so important with only 5 weeks of work to go. I am glad for my honey as he had a very busy and tiring 10 days in Toronto working on cool networky stuff that he is so good at, now he gets to do some personal stuff, like upgrade our MythBox (digital recording box he built, similar to a TIVO), set up his uber cool second flatscreen and probably play with other cool stuff that is so totally over my head I don't even try to understand it lol.

Recently I located a bunch of people I used to work with at Tyco, and it was so nice to hear what has been going on in their lives since I left New Zealand, so I wanted to say a big hello to Gwyn, Brenda, Murray... and also Celia, Dave, Anita and Julian... I hope all is well in your world! Feel free to drop me a line anytime.

Ciao for now.....

The flowers are in full bloom, the wildlife is active and yes, the playoffs are on! LOL... definately spring. So I've been taking in quite a bit of hockey despite the Nucks not making it this year. There has been some fantastic hockey including a game last night going to triple overtime, and yes... yours truely stayed the course until the winning goal was scored by Edmonton last night to claw their way back into the series 2-1. If Edmonton can win tomorrow night, we have a series on our hands perhaps.

Ottawa, the only other Canadian team has put up a pretty disappointing effort so far considering their fantastic regular season.. they did manage to avoid the sweep tonight with some pretty spectacular goal keeping from Ray Emery... who knows, if they can win on Saturday, perhaps they have the slimest of chances, I for one think they are done which is a real shame.

On a high note my rugby team back home is doing extremely well and on their way to another Super 12 championship hopefully.... albeit it's the Stupid 14 now... yes, that's not a typo, some idiots got together and decided to add another 2 teams by depleting even more some of the not so good teams before.

Baby is doing well and growing like it should..... by all accounts it's a good size and I am now due a few days earlier than first forecast. I hope to be earlier rather than later as we have a wedding in early October and I'd like to be feeling good by the time that rolls around.

My honey is away in the centre of the universe right now, commonly known in Canada as Toronto... bit like Auckland back home. He is working hard doing the cool stuff that he does and so I have been flying solo for the week. I do miss him muchly, although having the whole bed to myself is not half bad, I kinda like being able to stretch a little. It sure will be nice to have him home...

Now, back to some Hockey.