I've found a lot of things this week!

It's been a busy week - too busy for just one topic! It was a long weekend here, and since I'm on holidays from school, it was a really long weekend! :)

On Friday my friend Shelli and I made a road trip to Nanton, Fort MacLeod, and Lethbridge and back, which was super fun. We left around 9 am, were in Nanton about an hour later and spend an hour poking around antique shops. There was the one I could probably just live in - everything was SO ORGANIZED. It made my OCD heart very happy, and it was huge - it just kept leading into room after room after room. In Fort MacLeod we checked out the Salvation Army, and were going to visit the Fort, but we decided it was starting to feel like lunchtime, so we headed on to Lethbridge.

I was pretty proud of myself for remembering my way to the Five Guys location without getting us lost, and we had what was probably the best burger I've ever eaten. I ate it so fast I sat there for a second after looking at my empty hands wondering where my burger went! I subsequently found out that there are two locations in south Calgary, so I'll definitely be eating at one again. Then we hit up Bulk Barn for some candy - Bulk Barn is amazing. And I just this minute found out that there actually is one in NE Calgary, which I did not know. (Sensing a trip to the NE in the near future...)

Then we went to the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens. I'd say this is a little-known Lethbridge gem of a place. The history of it goes back to the Second World War, when Japanese-Canadians were rather forcibly removed from coastal areas over fears that they would collaborate with Japan in the war. Many of them were removed to internment camps, and a large number were sent to southern Alberta to work on sugar beet farms. After the war, many stayed in Alberta and built new lives. We also went to Nakagama's Japanese store, which was started by a Nakagama after the war, and is still run by the Nakagama family. It's a neat little place, with a historical plaque out in front.

Japanese Gardens

We hit up a few junky type stores and were back on the road to Calgary and home again in time for (late) supper! What a day - lots of fun! I'm so blessed to have the time to play a bit this summer. You can read Shelli's side of the story here...


On Saturday morning I had my annual blood test (my mom has thyroid issues and my dad has cholesterol issues so I get checked every year) and it went pretty well. I tend to come close to fainting every time, but this year I was well prepared with snacks and beverages, so there was no near-fainting experience, but my arm was unusually sore, so I didn't do much for the rest of the day. Trevor and I watched the first Men in Black, which I really enjoyed. I'd forgotten how classic it is, and seeing it after seeing some of the back story in MiB 3, it had some funnier moments.

Then on Sunday morning I made up for not feeling faint on Saturday. :) While I was showering I took off the tape and cotton ball over the needle site, and THERE WAS SO MUCH DRIED BLOOD. And it was so very unexpected. And so I totally fainted for the first time in years. When I was a kid I used to faint fairly regularly, but it's been a long time and I'd forgotten how HIGHLY unpleasant it is. I had to miss church, which made me really sad, because Trevor was playing, and it's the last time until October, and they were doing a new Matt Maher song, and I was really excited about it. But the last time I fainted was actually at church about 12 years ago, and I'm not really interested in a repeat. :) (It was the choir Christmas cantata, and the loft was hot and stuffy, and I was probably dehydrated, and definitely oxygen-deprived!) So Sunday was even more of a day of rest then it usually is! (Don't worry Mom, I'm fine now!)

Monday Trevor and I went to the range with Dad, which was fun. It was pretty quiet there, and we got to try Dad's new Beretta. (It's the black on at the top left.) My favourite is still the .22 though - the other two have too much recoil and are too heavy - more like work then fun! Something interesting I noticed though is that now that I'm not so stressed from working all the time, I didn't find shooting as stress-relieving as I normally do! Ironic, hey? :)

Guns with trigger locks, in a locked case. Strict gun laws!

Then today we had a bit of a rainy day adventure in Chinatown - it was pouring and humid like Florida - and we ended up buying umbrellas. Of course by the time we got the umbrellas and got outside we were only out in the rain for about 10 minutes before it stopped, but I have a lovely new lilac umbrella! And the whole point of the trip to Chinatown was for me to buy a Chinese paper parasol to steampunk, and that was highly successful. Only $5! So much to steampunk, so little time before school starts again...

Now I'm preparing myself for the When Words Collide reader con in Calgary this weekend. Last year when I went I was just dipping my toes into the world of publishing, and now I'm a freelance copyeditor with a published book to my credit! Wildcatter by Dave Duncan is being launched at the conference, and my name is in the cover! It's definitely an 'adult' book, but it's fun and it's taken me a LONG way from where I was this time a year ago. And I've emailed out my CV to a half a dozen publishers I'd like to make contact with this weekend - I'm just terrified that I might have made some hideous typo in my CV that would tank my career forever... So stay tuned for tales from WWC, coming next Tuesday!