Aladdin, Arts, Auditions

I love musicals.

Whenever I watch a musical, everything in me longs to be on stage. I absolutely love to sing, perform and also to dance/move around. It's been in me since I was young and I feel incredibly inspired and passionate when doing those things. Being in a musical is indeed on my list of 100 things to do before I die. It's something I've never pursued. Until now. I saw on a friend's facebook that there were auditions for Aladdin the Pantomime coming up and I figured, if I wanted to be in a musical, it would probably be a pretty good idea to actually audition for one.. So I auditioned back in September and got offered a part in the chorus!


So I'm pretty stoked. Since September, we have been practicing three times a week so it's been fairly intense but I have been absolutely loving it! It's been great to get to know an entirely new group of people and to just enjoy the time of learning our different parts, songs, choreography, etc. I have been deeply blessed by the people in the show with me and am excited to be performing alongside of them!

The show opens this Wednesday night!! And it plays for two weeks!! So if you are interested, you should definitely come out! And if you know young kids, it is kid friendly as well and a great thing to do before the holidays! Plus you will get to see me! (double bonus right there).
Today we had our cue to cue which was our technical rehearsal. It was long, but super fun to be in the theatre with all the props and set and everything for the first time!! It's been so great seeing the show come together and seeing how a show is in fact put together. Makes me appreciate it at a far greater level now when watching! Tuesday is our dress rehearsal which will be fun. I'm looking forward to doing my makeup and hair for the show. Plus the dressing room is pretty sweet too!! So I'm excited all around and hope to see some of you there! If you decide to come, let me know what night you will be there so I can say hi after the show!

Cousins, Cookies, Crazies

Tonight I am reminded of what a great family I have. A bunch of my cousins and I got together tonight to make a traditional family/Mennonite cookie that our Omi always makes. So we all went to my cousins' house in Langley and enjoyed dinner together and let the cookie making begin. Desiree and I usually make jam jams, but we were making the hidden jams which we often try to make because a couple of our cousins love them. However, usually something goes wrong. Tonight everything went off without a hitch and they were probably the best ones we've ever made! And it was a great time-lots of fun with a big group of people!

My favorite part was when I phoned my Omi to get the recipe. Here's how our coversation went:
Me: Hey Omi! Can we get the recipe for the hidden jam cookies?
Omi: Okay, let me get it. Okay, you put in (okay i don't remember the exact amounts)... sugar, honey, syrup and flour. And that's it.
Me: Um.. Aren't there spices or some other ingredients in there?
Omi: Nope, that's everything.
Me: Are you sure?
Omi: Oh... wait, yes, there's eggs, cream, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon...

Hahaha.. we had a good laugh at that one. Luckily we got the entire recipe! I took a bunch of pictures but I have no idea where my camera cord is, so once my house is back in order after all the renos after the basement flood and such, I will upload them, so something to look forward to. But I figured I'd post since I'm back to posting now and all.. :) Have a great Sunday!

Seattle, Selebration, Stormy, Seasons

First off, I want to let you know that I indeed do know how to spell celebration.. was just using my artistic license. A few weeks ago, my friend Alisha and I headed down to Seattle for a celebration weekend! We had both quit our jobs and were celebrating the start of new seasons in our lives, excited for what is yet to come and thankful to our jobs for having brought us together as friends! We went to see Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat which was fantastic. The character development of the brothers especially was great. I liked some of the different things they did with it to add flair.

Although it had been quite stormy, it was good that we had nice weather for the time when we were there! All the fall colors and leaves everywhere was stunning! :)


We went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch after which I didn't need to eat dinner.. or early the next day either!! haha.. SO good!! :)
So all in all a fabulous weekend away and definitely a blessing to walk around and chat about life and God, etc. Very encouraging and inspiring indeed! And that picture is of a monster salad that Alisha had!! haha

The next weekend, I had a hotel booked because I had bought my mom tickets to the Billy Joel/Elton John concert in Seattle that weekend which was unfortunately postponed but i was left with my hotel! My mom was going away so opted out of going, so my friend Theresa said she was able to come which was fantastic! The view from our hotel was stunning!! It was funny though because the hotel we were in was so "structurally sound" that it sways when it's windy. haha. So all night we could hear the walls creaking which in actuality was the hotel moving. I could not stop laughing every time the walls creaked even though it felt like our hotel might fall apart!!
It took us awhile to get out of the hotel back to the parkade on the evening we were going out. So we found the basement with all the danger signs posted. We decided it was picture worthy of course. :) We left the hotel, drove around, realized it would be far easier to just walk there and drove back to the parkade and walked. hahahaha

All in all, another wonderul getaway to Seattle! Nice and relaxing and just fun to get away with people I don't normally go away with!

Haha, Happy, hopeful

So I just looked at my last post where I talked about the fact that I would blog more in my free time. And then I went and blocked my blog. hahaha.. Sorry about that. Well, not really, because it was intentional. I'm just trying to decide whether I like the idea of blogging or not. WEll, I like it well enough, but then I don't like that people can know all about me without ever having to talk to me and such. It's an interesting society we live in with facebook, twitter and all that other technology that we dont' even need to interact with people anymore yet we can know all about them. That doesn't always sit well with me. However, I like to blog and I like people to read what I blog and so forth, so I guess the pull will be to keep doing it. :) Just be sure to say hello every once in a while.

And for now, I'm off to the pool to swim some laps but hope this finds you well on this fabulously rainy Friday! Enjoy your day! And I will probably blog very soon again so stay posted! :)

Burntout, Break, Bye

Friday was my last day at work. I left really suddenly, more suddenly than I would have liked, but that's okay. And no, I wasn't fired. :) I gave my two weeks notice on Friday but they said I didn't need to do my two weeks which is fine by me. The only sucky thing is that my shift ended at 1:30pm on friday and i found out at 2:00pm that it was my last day. So kind of weird to just leave and not really have any mental prep time/closure. So that's a bit odd.

It was really hard to leave and I'm sad, but I think I've made the right decision. I've been running myself into the ground for a long time and i decided I need to decisively stop and take initiative to go the other way! So this year will be a year for that. A good break.

So one of my plans is to blog more. I hope to read a book a week and blog about it, as well as some of the other things I will be up to. What I ask of you, my readers, is that you interact with my blog. I blog to have readers obviously, but it's nice to have feedback and interaction. No, this doesn't mean you must comment on every one of my posts, but here and there, offer some feedback, etc. so I know who is reading and so forth. otherwise it's not really that fun to blog because then i'm just writing stuff to a big void. So those are my thoughts on that. So all in all, comment, and I will blog more :) And if you think commenting is stupid, please feel free to let me know. hehe..

Have great day!! I'm off to Whistler for a couple of days!

Thanksgiving, Threes, Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving!! Just got home from a family gathering and am always reminded of what wonderful family I have been blessed with! On Saturday night, we got together with my dad's side of the fam and enjoyed a Moroccan themed meal which was fantastic and great fun and company as per usual.

Tonight was at my mom's and it was great to see aunts, uncles and cousins! :) My mom had to work in the barns, so my aunt and I finished up the turkey dinner while she was in there. Okay, we pretty much sat around talking until the food finished cooking.. but we like to think we contributed significantly to the creation of the masterpiece! :)

So, since it's Thanksgiving, I figure I will list a few of the things I'm thankful for:

-I am thankful that we have an amazing God who loves me deeply. And daily He creates amazing landscapes for me to enjoy and stand in awe of.
-My family: My mom is amazing and has been and is always there for me. I love my brothers and am thankful for their friendships. I'm thankful for my great sister-in-law: it has been fun having a sister and having girl time together! I'm thankful for my nephew who is so precious and makes me realize how precious life is. I'm thankful for all my extended family and that we can all be close and have a great time together.
-A great new (to me) church that I'm becoming connected with. I'm a youth leader and so far I love the youth kids at the church and am blessed being part of this community that I am getting to know.

-I have amazing friends who are always there for me-whether it be to serve as a listening ear at any time and to share with deeply-such a blessing!

-I am thankful to have a wonderful home-to have a wonderful place where I can welcome people. And to have a place where I can be creative and make it my own!

-I am thankful to have a job that gives my mind a break from being burned out from school. I am thankful for the amazing new friendships I have developed as a result.

-I am thankful for my ability to swim. Okay sounds corny.. but there's something about the feeling of being in water and flying through it-there's a freedom within it.

-I am thankful for the ability to sing.

-I am thankful for many more things but these are the ones I list for now!!

Hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving everyone! :)

Romans, Rapid, Readers

First off, for those of you who may have been confused as to why suddenly my blog was updated rapidly from the last few months.. It's not that my blog is malfunctioning, but moreso that I like to change the dates of my posts to make it seem like I am a faithful, consistent blogger.. :) Also, when I look back, it's easier to keep track of when I did things and spaces it out! Based on my long break from blogging, does anyone still read my blog?

A passage of scripture I have been contemplating of late is from Romans 12:1-2. It has always been one of my favorites but over the last few months, it has taken on new meaning for me in its practical application.

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

I have a lot of different thoughts that run through my head daily, some of them welcome, some of them not entirely welcome. Yet there they are and I have to figure out what to do with them. It's funny, because there are certain thoughts that I want to banish. Certain ways of thinking and attitudes that I want to get rid of. So I try to fend them off, yet they seem to come back to me stronger.

Something I have been learning and practicing has been to welcome the unwelcome thoughts. To accept them as my thoughts and acknowledge that yes, I do think this way and these thoughts are in fact in my head. And from that point, I realize that I, in my own power and effort, cannot stop them. And from that point on, I need to turn to God in surrender and ask Him to transform and renew my mind. He is the one who can radically change the direction of my thoughts and transform the way I think. If I allow Him to and if I surrender it to Him. But first I have to be honest about the way I think.

Just a few thoughts. Feel free to agree or disagree. :)

And happy Thanksgiving to you all!! :)

Work, Weary, Woooh!

This week we had our work conference! And while it was a lot of fun, I was utterly exhausted by the end of it!! Friday night I went to bed at 7pm (and when i go to bed THAT early, you know i'm tired!! haha) I worked 16 hours of overtime and went to the conferences all day and then did evening activities. So generally my days were 4:30 am until midnight-FUN!! Here are some pictures I took throughout the week.

Mike, one of the sales reps I support.

Sheri one of my order entry pals. We have nice daily visits where we read a page from my "i never knew that book". Quite exciting

The School Specialty version of dance, dance revolution. Fun to watch people from work try it out!

Team building activities at Trinity

These activities were conducive to some great photos.. hehe

Our formal awards banquet

Rockband groupies

Singing along to the pianos at Duke of Dublin's

Apparently it was my birthday and on my birthday it has always been a dream of mine to sing live.. haha.. so after having three songs sung to me, I got to sing!! haha.. It was fun though!! :)

Baking, Burgers, Best

Chrystal and I are quite the homemakers. Actually it's nice because she likes baking and i like cooking. really it's the perfect match! So while Chrystal used the many rotten bananas that have been sitting in the freezer for a while to make muffins, I made turkey burgers! Boy were they tasty-sometimes i even surprise myself!

And here's a puzzle we made. We love making puzzles so it was fun to sit down one afternoon and work on this one. I like fun ones that aren't overly difficult!

Grad, Game, Great

On Saturday I got to celebrate Desiree's graduation with her and her family! So excited for her!! She already has a job in the school district and it's so exciting to hear about!! Congrats Des!! :)


That night Alisha, Tom, Nick and I all went to the Canucks game, which we won 3-1. It was a pre-season game but still always lots of fun!!

Desiree and Joe were there as well and Des and I had fun making faces at each other across the way (the people around us thought we were a bit strange, but that's pretty typical when we're together)

Hot, Happy, Hearts

Yesterday was my last wedding of this year (I think). That makes about 8 or so for this year. Wow. :) This wedding was outdoors and it was a fantastic day for it (okay maybe a little hot seeing that we were all dripping in sweat). Simon and Bethany got married and it was a lot of fun celebrating with them and family and friends. And here's a bonus picture of my nephew, because who wouldn't want to see another one? ;)

Victory, Victoria, Vanessa

My friend Bethany came to visit from Saskatchewan early September. We were roommates in Quebec and I always love seeing her again. On the Thursday we went to White Rock and enjoyed the view and had some fish and chips.

Friday we went to Vancouver where we went for some amazing Japanese and then went to the BC Lions game (and they won-yay!). Saturday we went on a whale watching trip and also went to Victoria for the day. We saw a lot of whales on the way over. Then we hung out in downtown Victoria and went to Butchart Gardens for the day before going back to Vancouver. Sunday we went to Seattle and saw the musical 'Wicked' and Monday we slept, because by then I was pooped!! haha.. Here are some pics from the Saturday.








We found a store with the coolest tuques. i actually want them all. haha

Corn, Cooking, Community

In August I had two new roommates move in. I really loved living by myself all summer but it's nice having people around too. And it's been fun cooking together and such. Gives more of a sense of community. My friend Vanessa and I played tennis the other day and then after, her, Sandy and I cooked a mini feast which was great fun!! :) I always forget how much fun it is to cook in groups.

Jays, Junior, Joyous

The day after the wedding, we all (17 of us) went to a Blue Jays game. I'm a fan of baseball usually for the first four innings, but this game was actually great for the whole thing! Maybe it's because we were seventh row, in line with first base and so the action was right there in your face. It was Parks' first pro sporting event-hoorah! Okay, I don't think he liked all the loud cheering much, but that's okay. He'll grow to love it I"m sure!

The newlyweds

My aunty Esther

We went for dinner in Toronto and then played around doing some night photography afterwards. In moments like these I always wish I had a tripod.. I get to be creative with it instead! :)



Chad and I shared a monstrous hot dog at the baseball game!

Bobbi's friend Julie and my cousin Adrielle- we all went out for ice cream after.


Taking a little rest with daddy

Waterloo, Wedding, Wacky

After my day trip to Guelph and a day trip to St. Catherine's and Niagara Falls, the purpose of my trip was finally upon me!! My cousin, Caleb's wedding!! YAY! It was absolutely beautiful and it was so neat to join with Caleb and Emily on their wedding day. Here are a couple of pictures of Adrielle and Michaela (Caleb's sisters) walking down the aisle. It was a lot of fun having lots of family there as well-always good for a lot of laughs!!



On the Saturday we all went to St. Jacob's market which is something I do every time I go to Waterloo. And they have the best apple fritters!! Actual apples rather than just chunks with dough. Yummy!

Ontario, Oodles, Ooooo

After a week in Quebec, I drove another eight hours to get to Waterloo where I would be based out of for the next week! The first day I drove to Guelph to visit a good friend of mine, Becky, who I met years ago on a missions trip to Mexico. I went to her wedding a couple of years ago and now she has a baby too so it was great to see them all!! And we had some good fun Becky/Vanessa style.
Downtown Guelph


We like posing for fun photos
Here I am becoming the fountain...
Deep fried pickles at the irish pub! Yay for trying new things!

Heart, Hikes, Hair

After Sudbury, I drove down the Quebec/Ontario border to Ottawa and then to Quebec. What a beautiful drive!! Along the river and past a lot of lakes. It was about eight hours but I really enjoyed it! Plus I had friends in Quebec to look forward to visiting!! I stayed with my friends the Thiessens for about three nights and then my friends the McLeans for four nights. I LOVE their kids.. as I have pics of them from other visits. They have stolen my heart long ago and it's always such a joy to go there and play. Usually I have had school stuff and other things to do while there, but this time I was absolutely free of all of it! So nice!! :)

Timothy


theo

Laura and Mary


I love the look on Catherine's face as she hits Timothy with the balloon. So precious! WE all went to a giant waterpark for the day to celebrate Joshua's birthday.




Fell asleep in the laundry basket




We took a hike up to the high point. They just recently made a path to go there. When I went to school here, there was no path and in the winter to get away, I would always go snowshoeing up here and had some great times! So it was neat to go up there again.

We found a great beach along the river where we swam and played all day.

Sudbury, Scenic, Son

After New York, I flew to Toronto where I stayed for a night before driving to visit some friends up in NewMarket for four days. Didn't take any pictures while there. Pretty much just read and relaxed and had some great conversations and walks. Then I drove up to Sudbury to visit my friend Ashley. It was SO good to see her again and catch up. One day we went to Killarney and went for a couple of hikes. We even hiked to a place called the Crack where we decided to immitate the name...




I have been to Ontario many times but never too far north of Toronto, so it was nice being in completely different scenery and it was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking!


Ashley's son Mikhail

A real mine!! We got to tour through it!!
The giant nickel!!

Spontaneous, Singing, Scenery

So hoorah for spontaneous trips!! I had two weeks off in August that I knew about and just recently found out I had a third week off. So Thursday I found out I had the time off, booked a hotel and flight and Saturday I was off to New York! And the pic above is what I saw on the streets upon my arrival. I decided it would be nice to spend five days by myself in New York, walking around, enjoying time unwinding with reading and journaling. Went to four musicals too which were all absolutely fantastic! I saw 9 to 5, Next to Normal, The Little Mermaid, and In the Heights. They were all fantastic!
I went for a lot of walks in Central Park and just enjoyed people watching and walking around the city.




Here's some pictures from the Central Park Zoo. The first polar bear I've ever seen!! He was cute.

Oklahoma, Optimistic, Orca

Chrystal had never been to the island and there was a musical we wanted to see (surprise surprise), so we headed to the island for a weekend of fun. WE had fun in Victoria and went to a couple of wine tastings, as well as saw Oklahoma which was fantastic. Yay for fun weekend getaways.

Bard, Beach, Beautiful

Sandy, Preet and I went Bard on the Beach the other day and it was fantastic!! It was my third one this year and I have enjoyed them all as always!! :)

I have no idea why my pictures are showing up more fuzzy, but maybe it's just me and the angle im' looking at it from, because on iphoto they look fine.

I think my favorite Bard this year was the Comedy of Errors. Very well done and quite funny too.

Reunion, Red, Rad

My friend Amy just got married to Shaun! It was fun hanging out with my friends Amy and Laura who I went to the wedding with. In between we went to White Rock to enjoy the beautiful day. Congrats Amy and Shaun! Was great to share this day with you!!

Cute, Cry, Crazy

Evidently Parks was not nearly as excited as I was about taking this picture... Here's some other pics that I thought were cute.

Murder, Mystery, Men

It was Karen's birthday, so we decided to throw her a suprise party that was also a murder mystery! Okay, half the people there hadn't met her before, but we still figured it was lots of fun and the main essence of it was for the surprise anyway and that was successfully achieved.

Desiree dressed as a dashing man.

We bought a beautiful dress at MCC for Karen and did a bit of altering to make it absolutely stunning.

Alisha, the murderer!!

Karen, Alisha, me and Chrystal

Work, Water, Wain

During the summer, we have different things at work for rewarding our hard work. So we had a pool party and dinner at my mom's place. It was fun to hang out as a big group outside of work. We played some great games and had fun swimming with the underwater camera (not always the most flattering pictures, but very fun!)

It's been great to get to know a whole new group of people at work. I am blessed with many new friendships and am thankful for these people in my life! :)
Oops.. forgot the zoom was on on this one...

These candles looked great everywhere... but they did not fare so well with the rain...
Some intense catch phrase-i always love seeing how people act when playing this game because you see an entirely different side of people.
Not sure what Chrystal is passionately trying to convey here...

Feet, Fun, Fast

My favorite little feet (okay so I am a little gung-ho but bear with me!) I LOVE buying clothes for my nephew. I may go overboard every once in a while (that being every time I go shopping) but it's worth it!! :) So here's a picture with Parks and a few new outfits! :)

Dinner, Date, Done

Kristen has been living with me for the last two months and it has been absolutely wonderful! I have thoroughly enjoyed living with her, even if that has meant losing copious amounts of sleep! We watched a lot of Gilmore Girls, had some great late night chats (and even an early morning chat once when she came up at 4am to chat when I was getting ready for work). She had her last shift at Old Spaghetti Factory and so Chris and I went for a farewell dinner (we like to go have her as our waitress every Friday night). It is sad that we will no longer have a purpose for our friday night dinners... and I will miss Kristen dearly, but here's hoping she has an amazing time in France!!! :)

Kristen was even kind enough to buy us drinks on her last shift. And we don't even tip that well. But we do write great comment cards!! :)

Baby, Beautiful, Banessa

Here are some more pictures of my precious nephew!! The kids in Quebec always called me Banessa before they could pronounce the "v" in my name and somehow it has caught on with a lot of people as my nickname. So now Chad has labelled me as Aunty "Banessa", with a strong emphasis on the "B". haha.. I will embrace my newly popular nickname! :)

Cooking, Crazy, Cool

This week my life group had a cook-off to make a bunch of food for a couple of families. It was great mass compiling the grocery list and figuring it all out and then getting everyone together for the actual cooking. What a great time we spent together as well!! :) And I think the food all turned out pretty good! Makes me want to do something like this for my freezer! (I just need a bigger freezer I guess).

Terry and Joel cooking away

Kat and Joel

Terry stylin' in his apron

Birthday, Baby, Blessings

Snapshot of the favorite nephew

This Father's Day was super special as it was Chad's first Father's Day as a father and my mom's birthday too!! We all went out for lunch to celebrate!
Happy birthday Mom!! Hope you had an amazing day!! You are an incredible blessing to me!! Love ya!!

Parks, Perfect, Precious

Introducing: Parks Leon Siemens
Born on June 16th at 8:30 pm, weighing 7 lbs and 13 oz. He is precious and perfect and I love him and can't get enough of him!!! Mom is doing great and they are settling in nicely at home! Here are a couple pictures of him to enjoy!

Awesome, Adorable, AUNTY!!!

Just call me Aunty Vanessa.. or maybe Aunty Ness?

more details and pictures to come soon!!!!!

Family, Fun, Furry

First off thought I would start with a picture of cuteness.. aka Lizzy... She's as cute as ever. and becoming better at learning the rules of the house..

Last weekend we had a family fun day. WE started at Castle Fun Park and played some mini golf. And then afterwards we went to a park for a pizza lunch and playing with the kids. I got to take a bunch of pictures of everyone, so thought I'd post a few. And remember if anyone ever wants fun shots done, let me know!!

Our mini golfing clan













ONLY 6 days until d-day for my nephew or niece to arrive... WOOHOO!!!!!!!!