Home sweet home!

Hey everyone!

Just thought I'd let you all know that I'm coming home on July 3rd! Woohoo! Looking forward to it. It's been hard getting more work here so I'm better off at home making triple what I've been earning here! Only going home two months early. So look out for me (and Robbie) back drinking at the Raddison. Hmmm, feels like we never left!

Planning on going to Kelowna at the end of the month with my friend Hailey to have a look. She's from there. So it will be nice to see some more of British Columbia. Bit disappointed that I didn't get to see more of Canada and the States as well but will have to do it next time. I'm sure I'll be back to visit my girlfriends I've become good friends with here in Vancouver. Still have a free ferry ticket to Victoria a friend gave me. Should really try and make it back and I have free accommodation there as well. Once again the constraining money factor!

Robbie is coming to Vancouver in the next couple of days for a last hoorah before he flys back to Adelaide. That should be good. It's his b'day on Saturday so I'm sure we'll be drunk on the dancefloor at a club down Davie Street. Probably Celebrities! Awww, how I will miss Davie St!

Looking forward to seeing you all soon :)

Crows beaten by Richmond!

Oh my god! My team got beaten by Richmond! What is this world coming to? We're like top of the ladder and they're like bottom! Agghhh! Your team still sucks Jimmy!

Just a quick update. Had a nice relaxing long weekend. Well it was was a four day long weekend for me as I'm now unemployed again. Woohoo! No, not really. I'm sure the agency will get me something soon. I'm actually back at Tourism BC just today for four hours as the regular receptionist is sick. I said my goodbyes to everyone on Friday and here I am back already!

Just had my friend Hailey's b'day dinner on Friday night. We went to this restaurant called Latin Quarter. It was really nice. Has a European feel to it. They had this awesome latin band playing so we got up in the aisles and danced away. Lots of fun. On Saturday, went on a date. That went well. It's just good to meet new people. On Sunday, just went for a walk down the beach at English Bay and just generally relaxed.

I want to try and visit Robbie in Toronto before he goes in August, so hopefully I can get some money together to go do that. Haven't seen as much of Canada as I would've liked. But that's the way it goes when you have no $! I've been to Victoria and seen all the stuff in Vancouver. Hopefully get to Kelowna before I go as one of my good friends is from there.

The Finale of American Idol is on tonight! Go Katharine! Even though I think Taylor (grey haired git) is going to win. Either way, they're both going to get a recording deal. What am I going to do on my Tuesday and Wednesday nights now? Yes, I know I'm sad!!!!

That's about it for now. The rain is back :( Bab bow! But at least it's 20C everyday. A lot better than the 6C it was in winter everyday!

Hope you are all well.

Luv N xxxx

Sunburnt in Canada

Hey everyone!

I'm actually really, really sunburnt after spending the day at the beach yesterday! Ouch! It's very sore. As if you can get sunburnt in Canada! Well, it was another fun weekend.

Friday, just had a quiet night in and watched the tennis. Bloody Roddick lost but I don't think he would've been able to beat Rafa or Federer anyway! Congrats Rafa! That was an awesome final! I seriously thought Federer was going to win as he was 4-1 up in the last set. But Rafa always believed he could do it and he did!!!! Nice to see someone other than Federer win all the time. Yeah, now Hamburg Masters are starting this week but Roddick had to pull out due to an injury :( Booh! While we're on the topic of sport, go the Crows! Top of the ladder! Woohoo!

Sat night, just went to Jimmy's house for a good ol' Aussie barbie. That was fun but it was an early night. Not too much of a big one. Sunday, we went down to English Bay and sunbathed all day, drank beer and were being stupid! Oh and did I mention that I got very sunburnt. Well, let me whinge about it some more! Wah, wah, wah, wah! Sitting on the gravel all day chatting and drinking (what they call sand here). Yeah right! We'll show them what real sand is! That was lots of fun. There was a big group of us down there, so it was entertaining at the least. Full of dramas as always. Those who were there, you know what I mean!!!!! Then went back to Jimmy's house for some gourmet steak sandwiches. Poor Jimmy and Leon! Are you sick of us yet? Then went home and watched the tennis final.

Back at work today :( The weekends go to quick. Would prefer to be down the beach today. It's going to be 22C today! I know all you Australians back at home who are reading this are laughing right now but it's amazing how you're weather standards change when you live in Canada. I'm going to die from the hot weather when I get back! Aaagghhh!

Well, hope you all had a fun weekend and a Happy Mother's Day!

Luv Nicky xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Random Thursday Thoughts

"Good morning to you all. Good morning Miss Piep!"

Sorry, just had a primary school flashback! Just at work at the moment. Only ended up starting my new job today. So far it's going well. Just doing data entry work. A lot more relaxed than the heticness (is that a word?) of the IT department. So I have officially now hung up my "computer geek" cap and put away my Star Trek jumpsuit!

I am absolutely gutted! My favourite American Idol finalist, Chris Daughtry, got kicked off last night.
I'm sure that any of the guys in Australia that are reading this right now, have already slipped into a daydream filled with ice cold beers and Aussie Rules football just at the mention of the words "American Idol". Seriously, he was one of the favourites to win. The judges were absolutely in shock. They thought he was going to win as well. You can check it out at http://www.americanidol.com/videos/?vid=327
I can't believe it. He was a real rock star. His voice sounded similar to Eddie, the guy from Live. He was soo totally hot too even though he's married with a couple of kids. That's it, I'm boycotting the show from now on. What am I saying? I'm totally addicted! So now, there's Taylor Hicks (this old dude with white grey hair that dances like a drunk dad at a wedding), Elliott Yamin (has a friar tuck haircut) and Katharine McPhee (beautiful goddess) left. They're all good. Taylor is a bit annoying though. Katharine has the best voice out of all of them but I have a feeling that Taylor Hicks might take the cake. He's 29, has a Joe Cocker kind of voice and is very unique. There hasn't been a contestant like him ever. So I think that uniqueness may set him apart from the rest. I soo wanted Chris to win. There's no doubt that he will get a huge recording contract straight away from this. I'd definitely buy his CD. Hmmm, the talent of the American Idols is so unbelievably (again another non-existent word) better than the Australian Idols. Hmmph??!!! Guy Sebastian!! And no, the only reason I went to the concert was because my 15 yr old cousin begged me to take her and her friends. YES, OF COURSE NICKY!!!! Sorry to spoil the results for anyone in Australia. Don't even think they have started showing this season of American idol yet there. We're always so behind the times with good American TV shows. I love Scrubs too here. It's good to be able to watch the show at a reasonable time at night. Not like in Australia. Zach Braff is absolutely hilarious!

Besides from that I am feeling a lot better. I am happy because the Rome Tennis Masters Cup is on at the moment. Go Andy! Roddick that is for you ignorant tennis fans! As you all know, I'm a mad tennis fan and luuurve Andy. Yeah, now he's in the quarters. It's perfect timing when I go home for lunch everyday, the tennis is on cable. Haven't caught one of Roddick's matches yet but hopefully I will soon. He better keep on winning. I have been catching a few of Nadal's matches. I must say he is my new favourite player but still 2nd to Andy! He's an awesome clay court player and he's such a little bebe. He is soo quick, agile and such a smart player and he's only 19! He's soo cute. You just want to squeeze his cheeks! He looks like a little monkey too (which obviously appeals to me as I'm such a monkey lover!) Massive respect to him as he's the only one on the tour at the moment that has beaten Federer more times than Federer has beaten him! Go Rafa!

Caught up with some friends last night. We were going to go for a walk down English Bay (where the beach is) but we just ended up going and eating at Dairy Queen. Really good for the waistline! Dairy Queen rocks! I wish we had it in Australia. Had Poutine (chips, gravy and cheese all mixed together). Mmmmm, it's delicious!

Better go do some work. Thanks to Kath and Pammie from LA for the comments!

Luv Knickers xxxxxxx

Another weekend gone

Hello

Hope you are doing well. Had a really bad cold this week but now I'm getting over it. Just thought I would update ppl on what I have been doing. Not that anything terribly exciting has been happening! Moved into a new apartment this week where I have my own bedroom. Yeah! Privacy. Before I was living in the living room which was cheaper but not an ideal situation. I'm still in the same apartment building but a different apartment. The move wasn't too big.

I start a new position on Weds. I'll still be working for Tourism British Columbia but in a different department. Still only temp work but it's full-time work for another month or so. I'm looking forward to that as I'm kind of over my current role (Admin Assistant for the IT dept). I think this role will be less busy which is good. I did enjoy working in the IT dept. Learnt a lot of new things and even some stuff about computers. Everyone comes up to me and asks me questions about how to do something on their computer and I'm like "Huh?" I'm only the ADMIN ASSISTANT not a computer geek! My work is on the same street I live on which is very handy (Burrard St). Takes me 15 mins to walk to work everyday and I go home for lunch everyday which I love doing. So all is good.

Just went to my local pub on Friday night called The Dover Arms. Met Clare and Jimmy there. God bless them, they're my constant drinking buddies! Poor Clare being stuck with soo many Australians but it's gonna get worse when you come to Oz! It's such a dodgy place and full of all old ppl but we seem to love it for some reason. Our barmaid, Martine (she's Scottish) looks after us well. We love her. That was fun. Then I went to Commercial Drive to this bar called Libra Room with my Canadian girlfriends. That was good too. Commercial Drive is great. Lots of funky, alternative bars, restaurants and coffee places to hang out in. It's probably pretty similar to Brunswick St in Melbourne. My friend Hailey lives just off of Commercial so I have been hanging out down here quite a bit.

On Saturday night, we went to this pub called Soho on Davie St (gay st in Vancouver). We watched the boxing match between De La Hoya and some Asian dude (don't know what his name was!) Then, AUSSIE RULES came on and my team, The Crows, were playing! I was sooooooo excited! I was yelling and cheering. Think the ppl sitting nearby thought I was strange but who cares! Was having major withdrawal symptons from not watching aussie rules footy. Jimmy got to watch the Tiges so he was happy too. Clare reckons the Aussie footballers look like pussies! Bloody English! Then we went back to Jimmy and Leon's for some drinks. Got home about 3am. They live on the same st as me which is very convenient. Today, I'm just been chillin at home and now I'm at Hailey's hanging out. Just about to go get some Ching Chong for dinner (Chinese).

So that's it for now. Nothing too exciting happening. Just been doing the same things I would do in Adelaide but it's more exciting here coz everything is new. Only four months to go! Wow, it's gone quick. I'm looking forward to coming home though.

Boi boi.

Luv Nicky

P.S. Clare,you're a star. She's the only one that actually comments on here! C'mon you lazy Australians, some other ppl comment on here so I know that you're all still alive and well!

My nephew

Hi all

This is my beautiful nephew Mattaus (pronounced Ma-tay-us, it's German for Matthew) Aidan. He was born January 25th 2006. Very cute. I can't wait to see him when I get home. I'm very excited to be his Aunty, teach him lots of things and watch him grow up. Apparently, he's 8 kilos already and he's only 3 months old. He's a guts just like my brother!