2010, All in One Post: Get Out Your Reading Glasses!: sprinklerized

sprinklerized

2010, All in One Post: Get Out Your Reading Glasses!

Jan 05, 2011 02:22

My distinct lack of regular posting in 2010 is the closest I have ever come to taking an LJ hiatus. Although the last entry of any substance was made in August, I never intended not to write, and I didn't stop reading for the most part. But there were times that I was not only so busy that I couldn't write, but sometimes could not even keep up with reading, which I have always been able to do -- even while I was abroad! -- and even if I don't have a chance to comment. I feel bad if I miss out on your lives, and yet I won't trade the time I spend reading to write about my own! I remember when I only had a few people on my friend's list and sometimes there weren't even any new entries in the morning. Now I can hardly keep up throughout a day!

The reason for my hiatus lapse is that I have been focusing on my career. That's right, I'm using the stereotypical answer to the question "Why are you still single?" to explain my absence from an online blogging community. Oh yeah, and I'm still single too. :p

But thanks to pouring my heart into my photography business, 2010 was my most profitable year yet. I had more work than I knew what to do with and I was busy with plenty of adventures outside of work too... so many that I felt like I never had time or energy to write about them. But it pains me to think that they will not be chronicled and so, inspired by some of my friends who have done summary posts, I give you my summary post, which is not so much a concise recap of events as it is EVERYTHING I DID IN 2010 IN ONE EPIC POST. Thanks to my paper calendar and an app which showed me all of my Facebook statuses in the last year, I was able to piece everything together fairly easily. However, it still took me FIVE DAYS to compile... and I still want to do more posts to expand on some of the topics that beg for more photos and stories to be told. However, if the adventure / story was short enough or only had a couple pictures, I put it all here. I included one photo from each wedding and horse show I photographed, but I will put all of my favourite commissioned equine work in a different post.

While this post is primarily for my benefit, I hope you will get a BIG cup of coffee and come along for the photo-illustrated ride!

JANUARY

I was still usig my laptop as my mai computer, sine my desktop self-comusted while I was in Australia and ew Zealad. Ufortuately my laptop keyoard started to act up ad two of the letters stopped workig. I additio to my keyoard failig, my laptop was also overheatig and spotaeously shuttig dow every 30 miutes. I put $500 into fixig my desktop computer and discreetly tucked my failig laptop uder the couch instead of addressing its prolems ad sedig it to HP, eve though it was still uder warraty. I impressed even myself with my procrastinatio ailities. I finally sent it to them in May and got it back within two weeks, far shorter than I was anticipating, and it looked brand new!

I started my new job as a courier for the school division, delivering videos to rural schools all over southern Alberta. As an outdoor photographer, I knew I was going to have to take on a part-time job to make enough money to make it through to the spring. I only worked two days a week, but I drove between 400 and 500km a day. At first the job was fun - I was getting paid to drive, listen to tunes, and for the most part, I had nice scenery to look at too. By June, however, I had driven the same 500km route thirty times and was not enjoying it AT ALL anymore. I dreaded it, and often came home wound up and on the verge of tears. Thankfully, the job ended with the school semester in June, and in fact, was to be made redundant after that point thanks to Smart Boards and the wonders of transferring data over the internet - so I didn't have to feel guilty about not wanting to return in the fall!

I bought Sampson, an eight year old Quarter Horse / Thoroughbred, as a project horse! He only had sixty days of ridden work on him, but several years of groundwork prior to that, and it showed in his manners and responsiveness to my body language.

I went to a toga party. I love any excuse to get into a costume! I made my toga from a bedsheet, wrapped dollar store ivy around my head, and used some coin jewellery my mum found for me at the thrift store, as well as borrowed some clip-on earrings from her.

I started going to Latin dancing regularly, every Monday night (I may have been going regularly starting in November, but I can't remember). I used the opportunity to dress up a little bit (yes, I consider clean jeans and no mud-covered riding boots dressing up, haha!).

I started riding Bree, my friend Suzanne's Thoroughbred mare, to give her a tune up so her 10 year old daughter could ride her in Pony Club. I got to jump her and realized how much I missed it. After a few sessions, Suzanne asked me if thought she would be a trustworthy jumper for her daughter... so I tied the reins in a knot and jumped her with my hands behind my back, then said, "Does that answer your question?" ;)

I went to the annual Big Band Cabaret at the university. Every year I've gone, it's snowed heavily that day and I've ended up wearing my winter boots and big mittens to survive the trek there. It was worth it for the dancing, though!

I got strep throat, and of course it had to be during the week I was covering for the other courier driver while she was in Australia, and had to drive all five days of the week (2200km). It was awful. I finally went to the doctor and got some antibiotics, and gleefully exclaimed, “Die bacteria, die! Pew, pew, pew!" I'm sure I got it from one of the schools I visited the week prior. I'm a germ freak and designated an old mitten for door-opening duties, but I still had to breath the air! Mitten anecdote: I turned to leave the office of a school and realized I had forgotten my clipboard on the secretary's counter, so I went back and said, "Oops, forgot my clipboard". The secretary said, "And where's your other mitten?" I replied, "Oh, I only have one." :p

My upstairs neighbours who had no sense of voice or footstep volume (I nicknamed them Stompy and Shrieker) announced they will be moving out on May 1st. I did this for several hours straight:

I started five weeks of bellydance classes and discovered that I'm not quite as ungraceful as I thought, but that I still don't have a “dancer's brain" with regard to remembering movements and the order of them in a sequence. I did get better with practice, but I don't think I could see myself ever getting beyond an intermediate level in the classes. However, I would definitely recommend the class to anyone; it made me feel more feminine and in control of my body - plus, it's a great workout!

I took Bree in a jumping class at a Grand Peaks show, and got 1st place after completing an effective, if not pretty, ride which left the audience's jaws on the floor. :D

I went to Arizona to meet Maura (vanraf) and it was wonderful and warm there! I love meeting my internet friends in real life. Maura rides National Show Horses and she let me have a go on one, my first time riding a proper saddleseat horse. She is also into photography and so we did some photoshoots of each other. It was a great break, but I came home to a snowstorm and that made me sad. I've been promising Maura that I would write about the trip ever since I left and obviously haven't - however, I swear that the next post after this one is going to be all Arizona!!

My aforementioned upstairs neighbours moved out and the suite ended up being vacant right through until October, which was absolute bliss for me after putting up with so much noise for so long. Plus, I got to use the dishwasher and bath tub!

Henotic was local club that was a favourite place for Tanya and I to hang out and see live music, DJ events, go Latin dancing etc. It closed with less than a week of notice after only being in business for about a year, despite the appearance of doing very well (although the owner's desire to spend more time with his family also had a big factor). Henotic became an important part of the community and a lot of people's lives. It was a unique place that attracted people from all walks of life, and held a standard for quality music and performers. We cried when it closed.

I started my contract photographing at the local race track, a 2-3 day a week job in which I sometimes risked my life by nearly getting run over by Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses flying by me at 50km/h, since I stood right on the track to take my shots. There were some occasions that the races I photographed were over in 16 seconds and worth $100,000, which made me feel Very Important but also Very Worried that I would miss the finish line shot!

Jessica (beybladesabre got the contract to shoot the Standardbred races up in her neck of the woods, but trained with our boss, Kevin, in Lethbridge - so I got a chance to take her for a ride on my guys while she was down! We went for a Tim Horton's run on Theo and Santana, and she took some pictures of me pretending to ride saddleseat on Santana. She also put a couple rides on Sampson, much to my delight! AND she taught me how to lunge Sam in side reins (despite riding for over half my life... 12 years now!... this was something I had never learned how to do; it made a big difference in Sam's training and later, Santana's as well).

I shot my first wedding of the season. I was a little nervous, but the couple was so friendly and the bridal party so fun that the day flowed easily and was over before I knew it (in fact, we ran out of time for some of the shots I had planned, when originally I was worried how I was going to come up with 5 HOURS of photo ideas!).

My parents got a new dog, another Airedale Terrier called Abby (our first Airedale, Cleo, had to be put down in November 2008 due to an enlarged spleen; she was 8). Abby was an Airedale “Terror" for the first couple weeks while my parents worked through her reactive nature to our cat - i.e., she wanted to eat her for dinner, no holds barred. She was so aggressive that there were serious doubts that we could get her over it and there were more than a couple times they thought they'd have to take her back to the breeder, but she slowly came around and now she and the cat are fully amicable. She is still reactive to other dogs and small children (this is not a normal level of reactivity - dogs such as her overreact to stimuli and can be dangerous, so my parents really had to ask themselves if they were willing to take her on). She has come a long way since May and has settled into the family and life in the mountains well. She is very sweet and very cute (when she's not lashing out at small children!).

I moved Sampson to the west side farm and breathed a sigh of relief knowing all three horses were in one place and I would no longer have to commute to Grand Peaks and split my time so much between them. A few days later, Grand Peaks flooded under five feet of water and didn't reopen for five months. Talk about good timing!

One of my best friends, Sarah #2, got married in the Crowsnest Pass and I was a bridesmaid for the first time! The wedding was lots of fun and rather unique since her husband is an RCMP officer, so they had an “honour guard” in their red serge in attendance, complete with lances! I got to dance with one of them for the bridal party dance. :)

Another best friend of mine, Carly, came down and we did belated grad pictures together, since we had both missed our grad ceremonies.

Carly also helped me dye my hair auburn, and I loved it!

I shot a big dressage show in Claresholm for the third year, this time as the official photographer right from the get go (I filled in for the OP the other two years when he had emergencies and had to cancel last minute, but submitted a formal proposal for the position this time, and it was accepted!). It's always a big job with 12+ hour days, but it's a well-run show with great competitors and beautiful horses. My favourite was this stallion, who simply floated and shone like copper.

I found a buyer for Sampson, but even after paying for a vet check for him, she changed her mind about buying him when he was stubborn about trailer loading. Even though I subsequently proved that it was a rare occurrence by filming him walking on the trailer with not so much as a head restraint on, she pulled out of the sale, citing family issues.

On my last day of working at the race track for the spring meet, I had to scramble to dodge a Thoroughbred on his way back to the barn after the race. In that moment where my brain said “Move!" and my legs hadn't received the message yet, I lost my balance and fell backwards, hyperextending my left knee again. I worried that I had re-torn my MCL, but my knee was only swollen for three days before I was pretty much back to normal. Still, the experience made me realize my knee is not as strong as I thought and I have been considering getting surgery. I actually have a date for it booked already - March 6th, but I am almost sure I am going to cancel it, because I am not allowed to ride for six months afterward and that is going to ruin my summer... so if I get it done, I would rather it be at the beginning of winter rather than the end.

I started my new full-time job. My boss was a REAL slave driver, but she let me work from home and I didn't have to start until noon... plus, she fed me a lot of chocolate. Translation: I returned to working for myself 100% of the time, and couldn't be happier!

I photographed another wedding, this time in the beautiful Castle Mountain area with an outdoorsy couple.

When I saw flights to New Zealand come up for $1300 round trip, I jumped on the opportunity and decided to return for three months starting in November. :D

I spent a weekend in the Crowsnest Pass with my parents and climbed Saskatoon Mountain with my dad and Abby. It was more of a big hill, but still a steady grade up up up, and my first real climb in two years, due to my knee injury in 2008 (my racetrack fall didn't seem to have any lasting effect).

Theo and I modeled for a lady doing a project on Mongolian style clothing. We make tall Mongolians, eh?

I went to Waterton Lakes National Park (the Canadian side of Glacier National Park) to hike with my friend Jenny. Then we went to the Crowsnest Pass to see the Thunder in the Valley fireworks. We also rode my parent's tandem bicycle for kicks!

I still hadn't sold Sampson, and yet I was able to put three tune-up rides on my friend's horse for sale and sell him to the first person who answered the ad I put up. I knew the reason was primarily that he was a palomiiiiino, because while sweet, he wasn't particularly well-trained in anything - the buyer got out of her car and said, “I'll take him!" before she even touched him!

We had quite a few thunder and lightning storms this month, and I headed out in the warm, charged nights to attempt to capture some strikes.

The RCMP musical ride came to town and I drooled over all the pretty black horses.

I photographed a wedding in the Crowsnest Pass - we had lots of time to make use of the gorgeous scenery in the area, and this is probably my favourite wedding shot of 2010!

I went to Edmonton to photograph Josh's (el_corbinism's wedding. You know you're happy for your ex-boyfriend when you agree to be his wedding photographer, haha! The ceremony was at the Muttart Conservatory, a collection of glass pyramids with greenhouses within, and provided great backdrops.

I did two other equine photoshoots while I was up there too, and visited Jessica (beybladesabre) in Red Deer on the way home. She took me out cross-country schooling near Rocky Mountain House! It was raining off and on when we were driving the 45 minutes out there, and when we arrived it poured for a bit and there was some thunder and lightning, but by the time we tacked up, it had dissipated. We had a great ride and Jess's boyfriend, Kris, followed along on a quad to take videos of us. I don't want to wait for the videos to upload, so I did screenshots of the best jumps. I'm jumping ahead like it's my job in the videos, but I always seemed to recover mid-air and so I'm actually pretty happy with my position in these still. Input, anyone?

I found a buyer for Sampson! A 14 year old girl and her mom wanted to share him and were both dedicated riders, as well as genuinely nice people with Sam's best interests at heart. Even though he was vet checked before for the lady in June, they had him vetted again under their trainer's recommendation. I drove him to Calgary with my friend's F350 truck and 4-horse trailer, my first time hauling a big rig solo. Now I know why men like big trucks.. it made me feel like all important-like!

Sampson

Sarah Underwood

Vimeo

Check out the remix too if you want a laugh!

While I was still in possession of the truck and trailer, I invited a couple of friends to join me in a celebratory, “I only have two horses now and can ride them guilt-free!" excursion to a local park that allows horses on the trails. I loved riding through the cottonwood forest and we even went for a swim in the river!

I went to scope out British Columbia for a week, in hopes that I would find a place I would want to move in spring 2011. I originally thought I was going to settle in the Okanagan, but changed my mind when I went on a day trip to Kamloops. More on this trip and my plans later!

I photographed the Pony Club Dressage Championships. I had sufficiently melted into a puddle after 48 hours of looking at adorable ponykin faces like these:

I did some family portraits in Waterton and afterward, decided to do a little hike that I've always meant to do but hadn't got around to. It was called the Bears Hump due to the shape of the mountain. It was just half an hour to the top, and as I started out, I was annoyed by my keys on my caribbeaner jingling and interrupting nature's music. So I took them off, but then I was thinking that wasn't such a great idea since I was alone and not making any other noise to warn wildlife of my presence. Then I was thinking what I would do if I saw a bear, and then... I saw a bear! 40 feet / 12m away, munching on berries. He stopped and looked at me and I looked at him, and then he went back to eating. I backed up a bit and decided he didn't look concerned with my presence at all, so I took a moment to snap a few pictures and then continued back down the trail. I had only walked for a minute when I heard a girl call out below me on the trail.

I started working at the race track again for the fall meet. My contractor, Kevin, was able to come down from Calgary most weekends to help me out, and while it was nice to tag team (he would shoot extra pictures and go in to the building ahead of me to start preparing the template while I wrote down the race stats), I found it more stressful than the spring meet. It's possible I'm just too used to working solo! In the spring, he was usually out at Jess's race track with the Standardbreds, as his full-time job is supervising the races (thus why Jess and I were contracted to do the photography, a job he had previously done on his own ).

I started some serious re-training on Santana, trying to develop a topline on the horse with the eternally high headset and hollow back. With careful use of side reins and lunging, I made some impressive progress and I had some thrilling under saddle sessions in which I was really starting to feel a difference. One day, I let an 11 and 13 year old ride him on the lunge line, which I never would have imagined doing when I first got him. The girls had a huge crush on him, though, so I know they were thrilled to pieces. How could I say no to, "He's sooooo beautiful! If he was my horse, I would call him Stormy!" :p

I went to Canmore with my mum to meet up with my cousin, who had come in from England. On my way out of town, I stopped to put air in my tires and discovered steam coming from the engine. Upon closer inspection, I found radiator fluid leaking from a valve. I made an emergency trip to the nearest mechanic, who kindly prioritized the job (I needed a new thermal coupler or something). I was on the road a total of 1.5 hours later... phew! It rained the whole three days we were in Canmore and Banff, which was kind of depressing, but we went out to Lake Louise anyway, and that's beautiful no matter the weather!

I went to Spruce Meadows for the Masters, and met up with Deb (celticravenwolf), Teresa (truckersgirl), Kayla (skyhuntress), and Randie-Lynn, as well as did four photoshoots within 36 hours. It was an exhausting but very fun weekend! Amusingly, I missed most of the jumping at Spruce, but saw some neat demos.

My hair got butchered by a gay barber. I had a free coupon for a haircut from this place which sounded like an upscale salon, but when I got there, I discovered it was more of a barber shop! I should have bailed, but I thought gay guys were supposed to be good at cutting hair - or at least that's what Cityline and those makeover shows have taught me, and TV never lies, right? Alas, I was swayed by his lispy compliments of "Your hair is soo gorgeous! Ooh, strawberry blonde (remnants of my dye job). Let's get CREATIVE! Hmm, my music turned off. I need my music to be creative! *turns on Neil Young* He proceeded to use a razor comb on my hair and hack it to pieces, ignoring the natural wave in my hair and following up with a straight iron, resulting in a 'do that made me look like an anime character. After showering, I realized I pretty much had mullet, much to my mother's amusement. Business in the front and party in the back. Sorry, I will not share the photographic evidence of this time in my life. I reacquainted myself with my collection of headscarves and thankfully a friend with hair cutting experience fixed me up a couple weeks later.

My photo of my friend Randie-Lynn was on the cover of the Alberta Equestrian Federation's quarterly magazine! I took this shot while on Santana, who was dancing around as usual, and it was with a point and shoot camera. That just shows you that it doesn't always matter what kind of camera you have, but that timing and composition are sometimes all you need!

My parents sold the Lethbridge house I had lived in for the past six years and I reluctantly prepared myself for having to deal with having upstairs housemates again. The new owner merely wanted it as an investment property and so rented the upstairs suite to what must have been the first person he showed it to... a person with a Burmese Mountain Dog and a Very Loud Boyfriend by the name of “Oh Bobby!" as I came to know him. Much speculation entailed on Facebook regarding creative ways to handle this delicate “noise complaint", including playing high-pitched tones, serenading them with the hokey pokey or the chicken dance, borrowing a donkey to bray, or playing a recording of a dog barking to get theirs riled up. In the end, I went with blasting Barry White's “Can't Get Enough Of Your Love" on repeat for an hour. On the plus side, other than these 15 minute episodes, they were pretty quiet, so as funny as it is, I almost preferred this to the constant non-R-rated noise that the previous tenants, Stompy and Shrieker, made.

Between September and October, I bought three technology toys. I got the world's fastest autofocus lens (the Olympus 12-60mm F2.8), my first external flash (a Metz 48 AF-1), and my first IPS (In Plane Switching) monitor (a 22" Dell 2209WA). IPS, as compared to the standard TN panel monitor, is designed to give a bright, stable picture that stays the same across extended viewing angles (i.e., the screen doesn't look different if you bob your head). It really does make a difference, and it has built-in USB ports too... very handy.

I fell off Santana for the first time since owning him in four years, and boy was it a doosy! We were cantering in a field when he tripped in a gopher hole, nose-dived, then FELL OVER on top of me. I was pinned underneath him, which didn't hurt nearly as much as you would think. I laid there, completely helpless, thinking, “What part of my body is he going to step on when he stands up?" He attempted to get up once, then laid back again (cue me thinking he's broken something and CA N'T get up), but then rearranged his feet, hopped up with ease, and delicately stepped over me in the most exaggerated fashion. He then turned to face me, looking at me on the ground, and waited for me to get up. That horse is SAINT and worth his weight in gold (even when said weight is laying on top of me). I was surprisingly fine other than a bruise on my left knee and a bit of pain in my right hip. I couldn't believe how lucky I was; not only did I not break or twist anything, but to think he didn't suffer any damage either is remarkable. I checked him over, got back on, and he wanted to canter again right away! We were actually on our way to a photoshoot with Tanya, and were within sight of her when it happened. She wasn't looking at the time, but said one moment I was on the horse, and the next I was on the ground! We went on to have a fantastic shoot (more will be posted separately).

I worked my last day at the race track on October 18th. The stress had only increased throughout the meet as some days had up to eleven races (whereas the spring meet never had more than nine, and sometimes only six). I loved the horses, but being at the track was like being in a crowded mall all afternoon... i.e., it made me anxious and stressed. It's a very fast-paced place and while I enjoyed the challenge of the photography and the pay was good, I don't think I could do it for decades like my boss has done! I also grew tired of being called honey, sweetheart, girl, friend, buddy, missy, babe, ma'am, and "The Photographer Lady"... by both girls and guys, haha. I don't think anyone ever learned my real name.

The chef de quipe for the Canadian Vaulting Team that went to the World Equestrian Games came to meet Theo and see if he would make a suitable vaulting horse! I met her at the Claresholm show in June and kept in touch with her because I mentioned that I thought Theo had the build and temperament to be a vaulter. Upon meeting him, she agreed and ended up taking him to her stable for the time I am in New Zealand. He is doing well, although I have not got many updates from her because she is a very busy person. I will not sell him, but if he turns out to be a vaulting superstar, I would consider leasing him to her vaulting club. I don't have a picture of Theo with the vaulting gear on yet, but here's one of the coach's horses from the demo in Claresholm (these girls went to the WEG).

I went to visit my ex-boyfriend Jim in Truro, Nova Scotia (on the the east coast of Canada). The area is renowned for its stunning fall foliage, and I was not disappointed. The trees in Lethbridge had lost almost all of their leaves when I left, but Nova Scotia's forests had hardly shed any, and in fact, some trees were still green. The majority of the leaves were a myriad of vibrant reds, golden yellows, and glowing oranges. The maples were the most striking. We went on some nice drives and good hikes to experience autumn in its full glory, and I spent some much-needed time by the ocean.

Near the end of the month, I gave away my entire darkroom. It was given to me by my high school when THEY got rid of it, and in five years, I never did around to setting it up. I didn't want to have to move all the boxes home, so I gave it away on Freecycle and seriously made someone's day (a disappointed a dozen other people who wanted it). I purged lots of other things from my house too. I really want to live a lighter, less materialistic lifestyle... although I was still annoyed by how much stuff I had to move home a week later.

As usual, Halloween was the holiday I put the most thought into; my costume was Little Dead Riding Hood, complete with muddy paw prints from the wolf I failed to escape from!

I moved out of my house and bid goodbye to “Oh Bobby!" and Howler. I never would have made it out in time without the help of a new friend of mine, Renee. I met her over a Kijiji ad and we ended up having so much in common that we became fast friends. Here's a picture I took of her playing her harp:

I bought a horse trailer! I don't have a truck to pull it yet, but I'm halfway there. It took me a long time to find one that would fit my specifications and budget - I needed a 7 foot interior for my giant horses, but I didn't want to pay more than $2000. I eventually found exactly what I needed, and it was conveniently located in Cochrane, where truckersgirl lives, and she and her boyfriend (now fiance!) were able to go look at it for me. Naturally, with the world being the small place that it is, it turned out that her boyfriend had actually put in the new floorboards and other maintenance on this very trailer last year, so I knew it was a solid buy. I bought it sight-unseen based on their recommendation, and my dad brought it home when he was passing through the area the next week. It is currently filled with my belongings from my Lethbridge house!

My friend Pep's daughter, Kary Anne, took me flying in her small airplane. We went out to the Crowsnest Pass to try to get a view of the Frank Slide (90 million ton rock slide), but couldn't get very close because there was a storm blowing in. The priority of the flight was to capture footage for a video contest put on by an airline, for which the prize was a year of paid travel exploring their destinations and blogging about them. The video was a lot of work to make, but there were thousands of entries and many videos better than mine, so I didn't even get an interview - but it was fun to do and now I am sharing it with you!

On November 7th, I turned a quarter of a century old! I had a wild birthday ride on Santana with my friend Jenny, who was eight months pregnant at the time! We went down to the coulees and even through the river, in NOVEMBER! It was 20C, the warmest birthday in my memory. I couldn't stop laughing when we were burning up the hills and galloping down the grassy stretches on our energizer bunny senior citizen horses (Jenny's horse, Tivio, is 19, and Santana is 21-turning-22!).

In the evening I invited a bunch of my friends out for dinner and fondue. I meet up with a lot of my friends on a one-on-one basis, so it's nice to get everyone together once in awhile, even though I know them through different activities and so they don't all know each other!

For the first part of November, I stayed with my friend Erin in Lethbridge, as I still had loose ends to tie up in Lethbridge. I spent my last day in the city (the 12th) frantically driving around, delivering a dozen print orders to clients.

I then loaded up the last of my belongings and drove to the Pass, where I arrived at my parents place at 11pm. I spent the entire day of 13th packing for my trip and my dad took me to Calgary that night. In the morning I met up with Deb (celticravenwolf) at the airport since she was in town and I had some things for her, and then I flew to LA and on to New Zealand. The rest, as they say, is... in sarahdownundah! :p I'm not going to summarize the rest of November or December, since it's covered in the recent travel blog entries, although I'm well aware that I'm very behind on there as well. But I am very proud of my epic recap of the rest of 2010... shall one of my 2011 resolutions be to not get so far behind in blogging that I have to write the majority of the year's adventures out in one massive post? Yes, I think so.

2010