Raider Rachel Returns!

So.

So. How to begin.

It's been awhile since I last posted, and I must say the last few months have been a whirl wind. So this is a quick update on my current whereabouts and a brief overview of our journeys the last few months. (With the intention that I will write several posts going into more detail.)

Basically, Ian and I are back in the UK!

We spent a lovely spring in Vancouver, I last posted in March when flowers and tree blossom was erupting beautifully all over the city and we were making the most of spending time with both the city and the friends we made there. We watched the St Patrick's Day Parade go down the street right outside our apartment and I took a lovely walk around the city to see the TED sculpture outside the convention centre (see last post for pictures!)

April was lovely, at work we were gearing up for Easter, Ian and I were making exciting travel plans, and I was generally getting excited, exercising and eating healthily, spending time with friends feeling very free and great about life.

I finished work on April 15th, and I was so upset about leaving. Saying goodbye was pretty rough, I loved my job, largely because of the fantastic people I was working with and I'm going to miss them incredibly. (If you're reading this I love you guys!) The last day was fantastic though, as I was allowed to help the chef make cookies, and I had a ball basically playing with chocolate. Handing over my key at the end though was horrible!

The following day was our 4 year anniversary. Crazy or what?? I can't believe we've been together so long, it feels like that time has gone in a blink of an eye. So that day we took the ferry to Vancouver Island and spent a few days there. (Incoming post on Victoria!)

We had a week back in Vancouver, had intended to visit Seattle but that fell through, but managed to cram in a trip to Whiterock, and just enjoyed spending time with our friends. (4/20 was interesting!)

Then we packed up our stuff, left our apartment for good and flew to Pittsburgh to visit my family, whom I hadn't seen since 2008 and introduced Ian to them. And with them we drove up to Niagra Falls and Toronto for a few days. We had an amazing visit with them (incoming posts) and it was hard saying goodbye after such a short time with them.

From there we flew back to Vancouver for one day (long story, annoying plane tickets!) and then spent a long, long journey travelling home. We landed back in the UK mid May, a few days short of my birthday, and now, here we are!

Two months down the line and I have finally managed to bag myself a job and tra la! I finally gave myself a moment to sit and write about the last few months. Now I have a week or so before I start work, I'm going to make sure I take the time to give my blog some much needed attention, so watch out soon for postings galore!

Spring has sprung!

I woke up today (incidentally my day off too!) to find that the first day of Spring had quietly sprung up on us, and today it certainly lived up to its expectations.

Vancouver in the spring is... well, just stunning!

So out I dashed to grab some coffee and few snaps before a Skype session with mi madre, and got a few beauts like these...

By lunch time I was itching to get outside again, so off I trotted, camera in hand, and wandered down Granville Street towards the Waterfront and Canada Place, where they are currently holding the TED conference. I've been wanting to get a look at the hanging sculpture thingy outside the conference, and now I definitely need to go back and see it all lit up at night!

Anyway, here follows the pictures I took, which really don't quite convey how lovely the city looked today.

Granville and Pender

Granville and Hastings (I think?)

Canada Place, North Vancouver and a container ship!

The TED art at Canada Place

Mountains Gandalf!

Burrard and Hastings

Burrard and Hastings

Burrard and Hastings

Burrard and Hastings

Robson Square/Vancouver Art Gallery

Christmas and my Dad!

Hey guys!

I've had a busy few months since I last wrote in early December, so the next few posts will cover what we've been up to!

December was amazing, it was busy at work with all the Christmas products going on, but an enjoyable time to work in a chocolate shop, chocolate seems to bring out the joy in most people. (Not everyone, it definitely still has some of the pitfalls of retail.) But it was a fun time.

In late December Ian and I managed to grab an evening together and we shot down to the Vancouver Christmas Market, which we loved. When we arrived there was a HUUUGE queue to get in, so we debated whether to wait in the line or just not bother, but we opted to wait and the line moved pretty quickly, so if you're considering going next year, don't let long queues be a deterrent, it's amazing! On first glance its like being in a winter wonderland, it was very pretty inside, and the German theme definitely got us missing Europe. Once you get in you have to get a wristband if you want to drink, but at the time I was on medication so couldn't, so Ian got one, and we swiftly made our way to get him some Mulled Wine and and I had non-alcoholic apple cider. Mine was delicious, and started my new found love affair with hot apple cider, which you can get in most coffee shops round here in the winter...so yummy! You also get to keep the mug you drink from (we accidentally smashed one at a later date, so now we only have one *sadface*.) We wandered around the stalls, lots of food places that smelt incredible, a lovely candle shop, and a really cool place that sold organic and fair trade products. It was a great night out, and would highly recommend it for anyone next year! It made everything feel mega christmassy!

Christmas Market!

Also, we had our first dusting of snow. I LOVE snow and was incredibly excited!

SNOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

Christmas rolled around, I worked Xmas Eve and Ian worked Boxing Day so we only had the one day together, but it was lovely. We had a quiet one, exchanged gifts, Skyped our respective families, breakfasted on a holiday ham and bread, and made a traditional christmas dinner together, then drank into the evening. It was odd to have a Christmas without any family at all, I'll admit I got a bit teary skyping home and seeing everyone having our normal Christmas at our house. I got a bit homesick, but it was lovely to chat to everyone, and see my niece and nephew.

Boxing Day was nuts, I had a small wander around Downtown, and the sales were incredible, people all over the place, running around with huge bags of purchases. I've never seen so many people out and about all at the same time, the pavements were just full! I wish I'd taken a picture to demonstrate how busy it was. I only lasted an hour and headed for home, it was too hectic for me!

Following Christmas I had a few days back at work, which were steady with our post Christmas sales (after a holiday our seasonal products got to 50% off!)  and then on the 29th I had the happy task of picking my Dad up from the airport, as he had come for a 3 week visit!

I was so excited to see him, so I got up early and started tracking his plane across the Atlantic and Canada on the internet. About an hour before he was supposed to land we headed off to the airport, and got there quite early.

I made him a sign so we couldn't miss him... but somehow at arrivals he managed to creep around and sneak up behind us. I still can't figure out how we missed him! But anyway, he was safely collected and we scuttled off to the Skytrain to bring him back to his hotel, which was literally one block away from our apartment.

Next post coming soon! Vancouver with my Dad!