There will be Blood

Met up with a mate on Sunday and we both felt like having a really lazy day so decided to go see a movie. The one I really wanted to see was Jumper but that started pretty much while we were looking at what was on.....other than that there was Be Kind Rewind at 6pm or There will be Blood at 8pm.

After a little discussion and weighing out who wanted to see what, we decided to go for a drink and dinner and catch the later movie - There Will be Blood. Bad choice!

We had a bottle of wine, munched on some Thai food and wandered over to the cinema. Looking back on it - we should have just given somebody £20 and gone home! It would have been better than sitting through 2.5-3 hours of absolute rubbish!

There was no talking in the first 10 minutes and I was sure that with all of the Oscar hype that when people eventually did start talking, the movie would be great! Ummm....NO! The movie was rubbish and most of the characters were rubbish!

Don't waste your time or your money on this one. Wait 3 or 4 years until it's on tv - and even then I'd only watch it if I was home sick and couldn't pick up the channel changer to change the station!

Rita and I at the Colosseum

We didn't make it to the Colosseum during the day while we were in Rome - clearly too much time spent shopping! But on our last night we made sure to stop and take some photos. This is the second (of two) pictures that Rita and I got taken together. We did ask a cute old couple to take a photo earlier but clearly cameras were very new to them and it was pretty much pitch black.....this is the back-up ;o) Colosseum was cool but would have been ever cooler to go in and wander around. Next time....clearly I'll be going back next time I have a need to spent ridiculous amounts of money!

No one-legged people allowed at the Vatican?

There was a very funny sign at the Vatican....I think it was supposed to say "no short skirts/shorts, no tank tops" but it looks like "no one-legged people, no talk tops". Sorry Heather Mills.....

The tomb of the unknown soldier

I guess every City/Country has one of these. Rome's was at some municipal building which was completely amazing! The building itself was huge and very intimidating and unfortunately half of it was under scaffolding. This shot is the tomb of the unknown soldier....very cool. Unfortunately all of the photos from the first 3 days are of scenery and/or me. I took tons of photos of Rita but on the 3rd night I was deleting some old ones and accidentally deleted ALL of my photos. That's why I'm not allowed to touch things!!

Some ruins or something.....

Wandering around aimlessly....we found some ruins which were actually very cool. Clearly it's an old city but this area was filled with ancient buildings and random pillars from 1000's of years ago. So of course it was another kodak moment....

My first purchase in Rome

We arrived in Rome on Thursday afternoon and were too tired for sightseeing - probably had something to do with going to sleep the night before at midnight and getting woken up by the taxi arriving at 3:30am!!! So...on arrival, we found out hotel (eventually....smart Trish forgot the address), dumped our bags, showered and shopped! There's some fabulous shops down by the Spanish Steps and of course I purposely forgot my sunglasses so I'd have an excuse to buy new ones! So into the sunglass shop we went and there I fell in love with Dior!

Valentino!

We took a whole day out from sightseeing to go to a luxury outlet. The one store that we (me especially) had to go to was Valentino! It was a 45 minute shuttle from out hotel to the outlet and when we got there we made a b-line for Valentino where there was a queue of about 20 people. There was a security guy doing a one-in, one-out policy. So after waiting for about 30 minutes, we got in and didn't leave for 2 hours! I tried on pretty much every shoe in my size and ended up getting three gorgeous pairs! Of course I couldn't leave without buying a handbag too..... Mmmmmm Valentino! Now I just have to find somewhere to where my new pretty shoes. Either that or I'll wear them around my house ;o)

Roma!

My friend Rita came over to London from Vancouver for two weeks. She arrived on a Saturday and left the next day for Dublin for 3 days. When she came back we legged it out to Rome for 5 days. I hadn't been to Rome since I was 14 and didn't remember most of it so it was all new to me too. We had a blast, ate pizza and pasta and drank wine for 4 days solid! We saw the sights and walked more than I can ever remember walking! Our feet were killing us by the end of the trip but it was so worth it!

Snowshoeing

No idea what day it was but maybe Boxing Day or the day after....Dad and I escaped the madness of the house for the gorgeous snow of Grouse Mountain for some exercise. Vancouver had a record season for snow with most slopes opening a few weeks early so we were in for a fabulous time. There was at least a foot of fresh powder and it was amazing! Visibility was pretty bad but it did brighten up for a short time so Dad and I took the opportunity to take a photo. Amazing!

Goodbye dinner

As always Mom, Dad and I went out for a dinner on my last night. This time was the Salmon House. Fabulous restaurant on the hill in West Van serving some amazing food and a million dollar view!

Gorilla night!

Boxing Day.....out with the girls at Republic and the Gorillas joined us!!

Dr Mori and his mates apparently dress up like Gorillas every Boxing Day and go out on an all day drinking venture. It's the first time I've seen it and it was hilarious!

Night out with the girls

On Boxing Day I'd had enough of my family after a full 4 days with them so I decided to go out for a girls night. Carolyn was in from Ottawa where she'd just moved a few weeks beforehand, I was in from London and Rita and Tammi were just looking for a night out. We started at the Granville Room where Tammi's new man joined us, hung out for a couple of drinks and then made our way over to Republic for some dancing. We danced like fools for a couple of hours and a bunch of other people ended up joining us for even more drinks!! Then when we were happily drunk and had danced enough we moved over to the Roxy! I couldn't go to Vancouver and not go to the Roxy now could I..... It's amazing that after so many years most of the same staff were still there! We carried on dancing at the Roxy for a little bit but ended up having more than enough to drink and making our way home. Next summer - another night at the Roxy!

Pantomime

Mom booked tickets to a local pantomime for her, me, Nicole and Max. It wasn't the best panto as there were lots of young kids in the production but that's what you get when you go to see a local show! It scared the wits out of Max who only saw the first 10 minutes or so. In the end we had to leave at the intermission but it was a good laugh!

Christmas 2007

Christmas in Vancouver for possibly the last time. Our work has a policy that nobody gets time off over Christmas other than Christmas Day and Boxing Day. I was given this year off as a bit of a gift but with the knowledge that it would likely be the last. I arrived on Saturday 22nd and spent the first 4 days with family. There was lots of snow but none on the ground at Lions Bay which is where my parents moved to in September 2007. Oh well, you can't have everything I got some fabulous presents as usual - skis, boots, the trip itself along with some handbags, clothes and the usual stocking stuffers. We definitely made the most of the holidays and ate and drank lots as usual!

Mom and Max

Gorgeous