In early January I moved into an amazing apartment in historic Gastown with my roommate Courtney (who also attended from Blanche MacDonald, for Fashion Merchandising). How can I sum up my first few months of Vancouver life with Court... Two single girls living in Vancouver. That is about as far as I'm going to go with that one. All in all, it was a blast, both of us learning the city, exploring, meeting new people, taking each other out on dates, drinking copious amounts of cheap wine...oh ya, and going to school... There was so much going on all the time! In February this city erupted with the Olympics and we were so privileged to have a perfect view of nightly fireworks from our balcony and took in as much as we possibly could of all the festivities (mostly the free stuff anyhow). Luckily our apartment was only blocks away from campus so we didn't have to battle the insanity that became public transit during that couple of weeks. I had to tote around my garment construction tools (big ol' sharp rulers, shears, etc) through streets congested with thousands of Europeans in track suits every day... Going to school on Robson during the Olympics, with the rest of the world getting silly drunk outside our campus walls, reminded me of going through my final exams when the Flames made the playoffs in 04/05 or whenever that was...My fondest Olympic memory, and something I'll never forget, was the wave of emotion I felt when I heard the entire city cheering and singing the Canadian anthem after the victorious hockey win. Goosebumps. It really was an emotional day.
After the mass exodus of humans at the end of February, life went back to "normal". Both of our programs really kicked into high gear in the spring and we quickly changed from party mode into school mode. (with some exceptions of course...after all, we did live next door to the Cambie...)
My dad turned 60 years old in April, and I also got to spend a few days with my mom and Tom in Elbow, Sk over Easter. So that was a great month! Lots more wine! I remember joking with Tom at the dinner table that I was going to end up back in Vancouver as the only starving student suffering from gout! I also went to Seattle on a mini adventure with my good friend Katrina (who I met and graduated from fashion design with) - which was an amazing little trip! Made some friends with some pinball nerds at Shortys, stayed at an awesome hostel and really got to know each other outside school- which was a refreshing break for us both!)
In June I got to go back to Calgary and see some friends I'd missed terribly. Hit up Sled Island for all it was worth (including an epic Melvins show!) went on a really bad blind date (ha!), got to catch up with friends over lunches and late night Wendy's, and left Calgary with a mild wine flu hangover.
July: best. month. ever. I meant the most amazing person and fell in love. I met the love of my life in early July and have spent the last almost 10 months being completely twitterpated. Chris has been my best friend, confidant and best solo support team I could ever ask for. He's my #1 fan (after my mom, of course) and I wouldn't have had the strength to have pursued my career as I have without his constant support. mush, mush, mush....I know...but its all true!
The year ended in a whirlwind of final projects being completed, pulling all-night sewing sessions day after day, living off rice crackers, peanut butter and coffee (which, turns out, makes quite a nicely rounded breakfast on the go!), periodic bouts of insanity....all boiling up to the final Grad Show in November. Our grad show was held at the beautiful Westin Bayshore hotel on the waterfront in Coal Harbour. I was so incredibly honoured to have my mom and Tom fly in from Saskatchewan, along with my cousin Nic, my brother Dion and his friend Jill (who's now fondly referred to as Jill East, as I'm now Jill West), my friend Bill from Calgary, Chris' parents from White Rock and grandma, and my dad and his wife and my extended family from North Vancouver. It was a night of near heart attacks and anticipation as I watched my garments walk on the runway. I couldn't believe that every ounce of sweat and tears and late nights and meltdowns all could be summed up in a few seconds. But that was it. The show was amazing. I was so proud to not only watch my own collection walk, but I was so proud of the work of everyone that graduated. Especially the work of those few girls in my group, who I'd spent the last eleven months with, week after week, watching everyone grow into themselves creatively.
Christmas break was wonderful. Chris and I spent a week at mom's in Sask. Dion was there too and I was so happy to have a Christmas with him around. He's an extremely gifted baker and made many yummy loaves of bread and perogies for everyone, on top of mom's cookies and treats, Tom's gourmet pizza, and many many Moosehead beer from the local grocer across the street. I'm glutarded so I didn't get to enjoy any of the regular bread...though Dion, bless his heart, tried to make some rice bread for me. It didn't work out. Turns out rice bread not only weighs 10 pounds when cooked, its internal temperature actually drops when baked like regular bread in an oven. Weirdest bread experience ever. But don't worry, I ate enough over that week to last me until next Christmas. Which prompted me to get a gym pass in January. ha!
I'll fill in the gaps from January to May soon. Here are a few photos to accompany this post:
This is a giant margarita (note the camera beside it, for size reference). On our very first night in Vancouver, Court and I found an amazing little dive of a Mexican restaurant across the street from our new apartment...we were regulars in there for a while...
A local musical legend: Mr. Chi Pig, of SNFU. A regular at the Cambie. Epic.
Some shots from Granville Street, downtown Vancouver.
By best friend, Paddy, came to visit in February. He, my roommate Courtney (seen here), and I spent a day on Granville Island. We tried some beer and rode the gay ferry:
A few pics from my trip to Seattle with Katrina in April:
We nerded out at the EMP & Science Fiction Museum for a an afternoon...
...had some wine and got "creative" with our photos...
...then enjoyed the lovely Pike Place Market in the morning...
In May, Katrina, our friend Michael and I went on an epic hike near Squamish. Michael showed up in regular gear and hiked like a sherpa- leaving Katrina and I in his dust...and we thought we were in shape...
...at last, the view from the top! looking down over the booming metropolis of Squamish, BC...
In August Chris and I took the train to Portland, Oregon for a mini escape from Vancouver. It was quite possibly the most trying experience on our new relationship as pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong...including missing trains, planes, staying the worst motel, getting held up in Seattle and at the border....but we did it. And we finally made it back to Vancouver even more in love. Here are some pics from that adventure...
October was a really fun month. Chris built me a beautiful bicycle for my birthday and I spent a lovely birthday weekend over Thanksgiving with his amazing family in White Rock. I am truly blessed to have his family so close and they have welcomed me as one of their own- I'm honored to be considered part of the family...
We were Lego people for Halloween and made our costumes from scratch. Super fun. Got a ton of compliments on our work...check it out:
I love you!
ReplyDeleteWhew - it's little wonder you are tired!! What a good job you are doing Jill!! much love mama xoxo
ReplyDelete