I had to update my profile information, but I didn't want to completely delete it because that was me then, which affects me now!! And I liked those days and wanna remember them and how I described them. So last year this was me:
I am 24 yrs old. I go to McMaster University. I am completing my 2nd Bachelor's degree in social work. My 1st degree is from the University of Western Ontario. I have 2 parttime jobs: 1 in Hamilton and 1 in London. In both positions I work with the disabled community. I am from London and currently live in a small apartment in downtown Hamilton. I live with my boyfriend and my cat Kate. I didn't name her; the Humane Society did (I know that her name sounds like my name). I have an amazing boyfriend, Aleksy whom I have been with for over 5 years. I have amazing friends from high school and some new friends from McMaster who are very important in my life. My family is also important to me. I am very different from my family. My life goal is to never to bored, never be stagnant, and spend all my money on life experiences rather than things. I want to involve as many people in my life experience as possible. I love meeting new people. I love alone time too. I change my mind often. I love to laugh, and laugh at everything. I cry just as easily.I love reflecting on past experiences and reliving memories with pictures, which is why I blog.
This year, this is me:
I am 25. I am a recent graduate of the Social Work program at McMaster. This was my second degree. I work full-time in Child Welfare. I also am holding onto my part-time job in a London group home supporting the disabled community for job security. I have moved back to London and live with my boyfriend Aleksy and friends (Chels & Warren) in their recently bought house. We pay them rent and it benefits both us and them (well I like to think they're benefiting too). We live with their dog Piper and Kate. They do get along pretty good. I have an amazing boyfriend, Aleksy whom I have been with for 6 years. I have amazing friends from high school and some new friends from McMaster who are very important in my life. My family is also important to me. I am very different from my family. My life goal is to never to bored, never be stagnant, and spend all my money on life experiences rather than things. I want to involve as many people in my life experience as possible. I love meeting new people. I love alone time too. I change my mind often. I love to laugh, and laugh at everything. I cry just as easily.I love reflecting on past experiences and reliving memories with pictures, which is why I blog.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Music Festival in Burlington
This past weekend (Saturday the 18th) was the Sound of Music in Burlington. Although it sounds like something for older peeps, there was actually music to accommodate lots of tastes! We started on Brant street where we saw a fantastic country folk band and an amazing African band. Then we moved into the waterfront park area where we saw some rock/punk bands play. We even saw some bands that are popular and played on FM 96 (Toyko Police Club, Hollerado). And the best part: it was ALL for free (with the exception of the cost of beer! But even the beers were good purchases because they were a local beer, which is much better than supporting a big company like Molson).
We met up with Aleksy's aunt, and we went with her to the music festival and stayed over at her place afterward. It made me think about my good times in the Ham Town area!! Feels like I haven't been to HamTown in forever!
There were so many people at this event it was ridiculous. I'm quite sure that every single teenager living in Burlington was present that evening (good thing we spent most our time in the beer tents where they weren't allowed). Also, I'm quite sure the majority of the city of Burlington was there (seriously they had to be). I took this picture to show the swarms of people, but its difficult to see. Only 1 drink spilled on my feet and a few purse nudges through the crowd... not so bad...
This was one of the smaller stages where this punk/rock band played. They were actually really good (I forget their band name). Although it looks far away, the beer tent was perfectly situated so we could watch. I couldn't figure out whether they were from South Africa or England.
The best way to enjoy this night would have been to cruise up on my boat, anchor it beside 4 other boats that were all lined up and have drinks on the boat listening to the band wherever you chose to put your boat closest to. Man I need me a boat. That was what some of these boats were doing... and avoiding the craziness of the crowds.
Summer = sitting outside on a 25 degree day sipping beer and listening to live music!!! And we get to do it all over again at a Blink 182 concert at the amphitheater in August!!!
We met up with Aleksy's aunt, and we went with her to the music festival and stayed over at her place afterward. It made me think about my good times in the Ham Town area!! Feels like I haven't been to HamTown in forever!
There were so many people at this event it was ridiculous. I'm quite sure that every single teenager living in Burlington was present that evening (good thing we spent most our time in the beer tents where they weren't allowed). Also, I'm quite sure the majority of the city of Burlington was there (seriously they had to be). I took this picture to show the swarms of people, but its difficult to see. Only 1 drink spilled on my feet and a few purse nudges through the crowd... not so bad...
This was one of the smaller stages where this punk/rock band played. They were actually really good (I forget their band name). Although it looks far away, the beer tent was perfectly situated so we could watch. I couldn't figure out whether they were from South Africa or England.
The best way to enjoy this night would have been to cruise up on my boat, anchor it beside 4 other boats that were all lined up and have drinks on the boat listening to the band wherever you chose to put your boat closest to. Man I need me a boat. That was what some of these boats were doing... and avoiding the craziness of the crowds.
Summer = sitting outside on a 25 degree day sipping beer and listening to live music!!! And we get to do it all over again at a Blink 182 concert at the amphitheater in August!!!
Dear: London/401/Hwy 2 Drivers
Commuting to work every day for almost 2 hours means that I need to vent!!!!!
Dear: London/401/Hwy 2 Drivers
It is not acceptable to follow the car in front of you so closely that every time he breaks, you slam on the breaks causing a ripple effect behind you.
the speed limit gives an idea of the speed you should be going. You wont be pulled over going 10 over... hell, go 20 over!!!!!
Must you all finish work between 4 and 5??? It really shouldn't take me a full 1/2 to get down Wonderland.
Stay of Sunningdale if you're over 60 please. That's my "fast route" thats not so fast when you're on that street.
Just because you drive a nicer car than me, doesn't mean you have privileges to cut me off (screw you... im driving faster... it just takes longer for me to accelerate).
You really should know where your car is... doing a 3 point turn multiple times to back out of your parking spot is unacceptable.
Only drive an SUV or van if you can park it, drive it within the lanes, and make appropriate right and left turns.
Don't block the damn road to go to Tim Hortons, McDonalds or other fast food chains.
If I pass you, its because I want to drive faster than you, not because I'm showing how fast I can go: don't speed up when I pass you!
Brew your own coffee at home in the morning! It only takes a minute and you're definitely waiting in the stupid Timmies line up for longer than it would have taken to brew and put in a travel mug. Use Timmies for these purposes in the morning: you ran out of coffee/cream, you don't have a travel mug handy, your coffee maker broke, your water has been turned off.
Don't drive the highway if you don't know how to. Or if you're feeling unsure of yourself. Your nervousness can cause accidents.
Love,
Katherine
Dear: London/401/Hwy 2 Drivers
It is not acceptable to follow the car in front of you so closely that every time he breaks, you slam on the breaks causing a ripple effect behind you.
the speed limit gives an idea of the speed you should be going. You wont be pulled over going 10 over... hell, go 20 over!!!!!
Must you all finish work between 4 and 5??? It really shouldn't take me a full 1/2 to get down Wonderland.
Stay of Sunningdale if you're over 60 please. That's my "fast route" thats not so fast when you're on that street.
Just because you drive a nicer car than me, doesn't mean you have privileges to cut me off (screw you... im driving faster... it just takes longer for me to accelerate).
You really should know where your car is... doing a 3 point turn multiple times to back out of your parking spot is unacceptable.
Only drive an SUV or van if you can park it, drive it within the lanes, and make appropriate right and left turns.
Don't block the damn road to go to Tim Hortons, McDonalds or other fast food chains.
If I pass you, its because I want to drive faster than you, not because I'm showing how fast I can go: don't speed up when I pass you!
Brew your own coffee at home in the morning! It only takes a minute and you're definitely waiting in the stupid Timmies line up for longer than it would have taken to brew and put in a travel mug. Use Timmies for these purposes in the morning: you ran out of coffee/cream, you don't have a travel mug handy, your coffee maker broke, your water has been turned off.
Don't drive the highway if you don't know how to. Or if you're feeling unsure of yourself. Your nervousness can cause accidents.
Love,
Katherine
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Australian Adventures: Katoomba (The Blue Mountains) and St. Kilda
Katoomba (Blue Mountains)
This was the hardest place to leave. There was so much adventure to be had (outdoor adventures: hiking and exploring!) and everything was absolutely beautiful. Even the smaller trails were breathtaking! We went on 3 different hikes in Katoomba (There were so many choices... we missed out on caves because they had a cost while the other trails were no cost). Plus, our hostel in Katoomba was by far the best hostel we stayed at! The lobby area was big and good for drinks, card games, and hanging out during down times. The kitchen was big with lots of space to cook amid other people. The washrooms separated boys and girls (always a perk) and were never overly occupied. AND most importantly, the rooms were huge! They had more than enough room to spread out our clothes, they had little individual lamps for reading, and lockers (big ones) for each bed.
These 3 pictures are from our first hike - the 3 sisters hike. This hike was super close to where we were staying. The cliffs were unbelievable and it was so pretty! We knew that we had to see the 3 sisters because it
is what most people come to Katoomba to see!
On the 3 Sisters hike, there are 900 stairs, although we just walked down them, it was still a lot of work! Pretty hard on the knees (I'm an old lady and I have terrible knees). The stairs were really steep and were slightly eroded... it was kinda scary making our way down them! And it took a while too!
These next pictures are from our second day of hiking... the best hike ever. This was one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been for sure. It was a short bus ride from Katoomba where we were staying (it was called Blackheath) and it was a Grand Canyon... but the hike was a trek through rainforest! It was an amazing hike too, through caves, over rocks and water, past waterfalls... AMAZING!
This is one of the waterfalls that we saw along our hike. We met this guy (Russ) on the bus to the Grand Canyon and since he was going to the same place, he joined us for our adventure. We set up his tripod to get this shot of all 3 of us! I love waterfalls, so naturally this is one of my favorite pictures!
Toward the end of the hike when we got closer to the beautiful lookout of the Canyon we had to walk up stairs for what seemed like 2 hours!!! It was very tiring. This is me resting and Nikki dying in between flights of stairs. So much work! But absolutely worth it because of the view that we were about to see...
This view! Absolutely breathtaking! This was one of those moments that you couldn't help but just sit and stare. We were here for such a long time wondering if we actually were there. We also took a gazillion pictures because we absolutely wanted to capture what we were seeing.
After our beautiful rainforest walk and breathtaking view of the canyon, we decided to call it a day. We walked back to where we were dropped off by the bus (which was really weird because the city bus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere!) and we couldn't figure out whether the bus would be returning. We asked a gentleman at one of the houses on the street and he said that he was pretty sure we had missed the buses for the day. So this is us lost and stranded. We asked someone to call us a cab from here, and as our cab pulled up, we saw the bus drive by...
This was our third and final hike during our stay in the blue mountains. It was a bit of a rough day because of the evenings events preceding this hike but we still were blown away by the waterfalls and views! We asked the receptionist which hike she recommended that wasn't strenuous because we couldn't handle a lot of work and i'm really glad we went because I'm a big fan of waterfalls and this hike had many.
In the background of this picture is the "Bridal veil falls"... a waterfall down the mountain. It usually spreads out to look like a bridal veil (hence the name..) but because the water level is so low, the waterfall wasn't very plentiful (we got this information from a nice man that was at this lookout who seemed to know a lot about the area!).
Super sad to leave Katoomba, because there was still so much that we could have seen!
St. Kilda (Melbourne)
After Katoomba, our final stop after a long overnight train ride was St.Kilda (its in Melbourne, just a different part). Because we were flying out of Melbourne, we had to go back but we wanted to see something different and we heard St.Kilda was a big tourist attraction. It was really cold, wet, and rainy when we went though. There was one thing that we definitely wanted to see and that was penguins on the pier! An at least we saw those. Then after our 2 nights in St.Kilda, we caught our airbus at 6am to the airport for our long journey home!
I took a shot of this pastry shop on Acland St. because I wanted to show everyone the kind of stores that are EVERYWHERE. Its so hard to say no when you pass by delicious baked goods everywhere you go! Here we had a piece of chocolate cake (which looked a lot better than it tasted!)
On our first night in St.Kilda, we went out to the beach onto the pier to see the "little penguins" that we had heard hang out on the pier. If you looked into the rocks alongside the pier, you could see these little guys hanging out and making high pitched noises. They were so cute!! We got to see a couple of them close up too. They must be used to people peeking at them!
On the day before we left, we wanted to have a relaxed day or organizing our bags for the plane and hanging out BUT we wanted to get a picture of one of the iconic images from St. Kilda, which is the big clown face at the entrance of Luna Park. So on this day, we left the hostel only because we wanted a picture of the clown and this is what we found. Obviously the clown face was under construction, and it was raining, and my umbrella broke. This is what this picture is encapsulating. So we took this shot then went right back to our hostel (after laughing our faces off for a bit about our bad luck).
This was the hardest place to leave. There was so much adventure to be had (outdoor adventures: hiking and exploring!) and everything was absolutely beautiful. Even the smaller trails were breathtaking! We went on 3 different hikes in Katoomba (There were so many choices... we missed out on caves because they had a cost while the other trails were no cost). Plus, our hostel in Katoomba was by far the best hostel we stayed at! The lobby area was big and good for drinks, card games, and hanging out during down times. The kitchen was big with lots of space to cook amid other people. The washrooms separated boys and girls (always a perk) and were never overly occupied. AND most importantly, the rooms were huge! They had more than enough room to spread out our clothes, they had little individual lamps for reading, and lockers (big ones) for each bed.
These 3 pictures are from our first hike - the 3 sisters hike. This hike was super close to where we were staying. The cliffs were unbelievable and it was so pretty! We knew that we had to see the 3 sisters because it
On the 3 Sisters hike, there are 900 stairs, although we just walked down them, it was still a lot of work! Pretty hard on the knees (I'm an old lady and I have terrible knees). The stairs were really steep and were slightly eroded... it was kinda scary making our way down them! And it took a while too!
In the background are the 3 sisters. There is a legend that these sisters from an australian aboriginal tribe were turned to stone to protect them because they fell in love with men from another tribe. We got a few pictures of them but the cliffs and valley were difficult to see because there was a lot of fog during the day!
These next pictures are from our second day of hiking... the best hike ever. This was one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been for sure. It was a short bus ride from Katoomba where we were staying (it was called Blackheath) and it was a Grand Canyon... but the hike was a trek through rainforest! It was an amazing hike too, through caves, over rocks and water, past waterfalls... AMAZING!
This is one of the waterfalls that we saw along our hike. We met this guy (Russ) on the bus to the Grand Canyon and since he was going to the same place, he joined us for our adventure. We set up his tripod to get this shot of all 3 of us! I love waterfalls, so naturally this is one of my favorite pictures!
Toward the end of the hike when we got closer to the beautiful lookout of the Canyon we had to walk up stairs for what seemed like 2 hours!!! It was very tiring. This is me resting and Nikki dying in between flights of stairs. So much work! But absolutely worth it because of the view that we were about to see...
This view! Absolutely breathtaking! This was one of those moments that you couldn't help but just sit and stare. We were here for such a long time wondering if we actually were there. We also took a gazillion pictures because we absolutely wanted to capture what we were seeing.
This was our third and final hike during our stay in the blue mountains. It was a bit of a rough day because of the evenings events preceding this hike but we still were blown away by the waterfalls and views! We asked the receptionist which hike she recommended that wasn't strenuous because we couldn't handle a lot of work and i'm really glad we went because I'm a big fan of waterfalls and this hike had many.
In the background of this picture is the "Bridal veil falls"... a waterfall down the mountain. It usually spreads out to look like a bridal veil (hence the name..) but because the water level is so low, the waterfall wasn't very plentiful (we got this information from a nice man that was at this lookout who seemed to know a lot about the area!).
Super sad to leave Katoomba, because there was still so much that we could have seen!
St. Kilda (Melbourne)
After Katoomba, our final stop after a long overnight train ride was St.Kilda (its in Melbourne, just a different part). Because we were flying out of Melbourne, we had to go back but we wanted to see something different and we heard St.Kilda was a big tourist attraction. It was really cold, wet, and rainy when we went though. There was one thing that we definitely wanted to see and that was penguins on the pier! An at least we saw those. Then after our 2 nights in St.Kilda, we caught our airbus at 6am to the airport for our long journey home!
I took a shot of this pastry shop on Acland St. because I wanted to show everyone the kind of stores that are EVERYWHERE. Its so hard to say no when you pass by delicious baked goods everywhere you go! Here we had a piece of chocolate cake (which looked a lot better than it tasted!)
On our first night in St.Kilda, we went out to the beach onto the pier to see the "little penguins" that we had heard hang out on the pier. If you looked into the rocks alongside the pier, you could see these little guys hanging out and making high pitched noises. They were so cute!! We got to see a couple of them close up too. They must be used to people peeking at them!
On the day before we left, we wanted to have a relaxed day or organizing our bags for the plane and hanging out BUT we wanted to get a picture of one of the iconic images from St. Kilda, which is the big clown face at the entrance of Luna Park. So on this day, we left the hostel only because we wanted a picture of the clown and this is what we found. Obviously the clown face was under construction, and it was raining, and my umbrella broke. This is what this picture is encapsulating. So we took this shot then went right back to our hostel (after laughing our faces off for a bit about our bad luck).
And then we were 3 weeks later, and ready to board our plane back to Canada. Australia was an amazing adventure and definitely a place that I'm going to go back to. We managed to cover a lot of ground in 3 weeks (3 states, 6 or 7 cities) but there's a lot more of Australia that I would LOVE to see like the great barrier reef and some of the outback!
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