OK I know it's been forever, but A) I was really, really sick for a while B) there's only so much one can write about working as a busser at the roundhouse (you collect the trays, you stack the trays, you clear the trays - it's not rocket science) and C) I just plain haven't been bothered! BUT I did wanna write a little bit about my birthday before it all sinks to far into the nether regions of my mind, because it really was a fantastic day. The best 21st birthday ever, I might argue - although having no basis for comparison, I suppose I can't be sure :P

Anyway, a few weeks ago Dad came to visit, and I just had one of the best weeks I've had over here. For about 3 weeks before that I'd been really sick, making weekly appearances in the doctor's office and trying to follow orders to "drink lots of fluids and rest". Problem is, it's really hard to get better in a place where you have no choice but to go outside in the freezing cold and wait for public transport, and you means of getting to work involves a 10 minutes ride on a minus 15 degrees Celcius chairlift with gale force winds blowing and your eyelashes getting frozen together by rainy snow. SO, eventually we decided to give antibiotics a world and they worked wonders. The night before Dad arrived I was hacking and coughing uncontrollably in such a way that made the entire Greyhound bus stare at me like I had leprosy during the long (LONG) 2 hour bus ride down to Van, but the following day, I felt like a new person!

I walked from the hostel down town to Jan Louise's place on a beautiful sunny day, and was just so so SO excited to see Dad when I got there. We went for a walk in the afternoon and found a nice little bed and breakfast to stay at nearby, then we spent the evening having dinner at JL's before heading home to collapse. Both of us slept like logs! The next day I took Dad out to see SFU, where we wandered around for an hour or so (receiving free Valentine's day hugs from friendly university students!). We then headed back down town for an early 4pm dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory, because apparently, even at the OSF you need to have a dinner booking about a year in advance if you want to eat out on Valentines day (I mean, really? The Old Spaghetti Factory? One Valentine's Day? Hey look, I'm not judging - they do do fantastic spaghetti!). We went for a bit more of a wander around, I showed Dad the library then we headed back home for an early night. Recovering patients and jet-lagged travelers need a lot of sleep!

The next day we walked down to Coal Harbour and then around and all through Stanley Park, blessed with gorgeous weather (I swear there's been more sunshine in Vancouver in the time that I've been here than there probably has been in the city for 5 years before that!). We walked right around the harbour and then caught one of the little mini ferries across to Granville Island for hot chocolate and a wander around the markets. Then we caught up with JL at the Sandbar for dinner, which once again lived up to it's very high reputation faultlessly! The next day we caught the bus up to Whistler and had the most beautiful day driving along the sea to ski high way (the brilliant weather continued throughout the week until the day dad left - perfection!). We spent a couple of days skiing in sunshine, doing fun fatherly daughterly things like eating bagels with cream cheese and jam for dinner :D haha

Then the day of my birthday arrived, and oh what a wonderful day it was! Dad and I went for brekky at the Westin in the morning where they do seriously, SERIOUSY good buffet breakfast. I had heard from Juzzy, who works there, that the choc chip pancakes are amazing, so I went to the chef at the buffet and was said "So…I've heard good things about your choc chip pancakes…" and he was like, "Is that right? Well in that case I guess we'd better make you up a special batch then". :D Worth it. Totally worth it! They were super yummy, and when out server found out it was my birthday she brought over a little piece of chocolate birthday cake for me, complete with sprinkles and candles

After breakfast, we went over to the tube park on Blackcomb mountain where you can go racing down the slopes on these big inflatable tubes. It was so SO much fun. A little scary…terrifying even. But after the first few times, the fun outweighed the scariness and we had a blast. In the afternoon I went to get my hair cut, which was a super fun luxury seeing as haircuts are something I rarely indulge in particularly when living in a place as pricey as Whistler. The in the evening, Dad and I reported to Elements, a tapas restaurant in the village. My gorgeous, amazing, incredible housemates has put together the most wonderful evening for me. In the days before Maggie has asked me for my Dad's number, and any names and numbers of friends at work. She told me I wasn't allowed to come home the day of my birthday, and told me to be at the restaurant at 6:30.

It…was…incredible. They had balloons on the table, a crazy flashing birthday badge, and of course, the faithful pink sparkly birthday crown that's done the round amongst all the birthday girls in our house! The girls bought me a beautiful watch from Roots, and they'd put together a book filled with photos and messages from everyone in the house. Dinner was amazing (I had mixed mushroom and some kind of nut strudel thing - like, wow) and our hostess for the evening was just amazing. She was so lovely and accommodating and went totally out of her way to make it a really special night. The girls ordered me a special birthday girl cocktail, a super yummy pink martini that I believe was called "A Touch of Paradise"…and then there was cake! Amazing cake! Cake that was a stellar combined effort of Maggie's cake making ability, Liz's icing creation, and Alistair's incredible cake decorating ability (yes, I had my birthday cake iced by a really chef :D). Oh, and the icing was neon pink, blue and yellow - a nod to the lovely Danish boys we live with who seem to have a thing for neon! (Funny story - it was supposed to be a marble cake, but Maggie mixed the two cake mix packets BEFORE they were prepared hehe still the best damn birthday cake I ever had). The girls even bought me a separate packet of cupcake mix because I said that I loved making cupcakes and wanted to be involved in the making of my own birthday cupcakes!

So it really was just such a wonderful evening, and I can't say how much it meant to me that the girls went to so much effort to organize it for me. When I was leaving I went to thank our hostess and she gave me a huge hug and wished me happy birthday. Dad had a wonderful time too and I was so glad he got the chance to meet all the people I live with. We then headed back to our house where Maggie and Liz had filled our living room with balloons everywhere and were preparing Strawberry daiquiris for us. We cranked the 80s classics and hung out and danced in the kitchen. I had a bit of a rent-a-crowd thing going on with a bunch of Jane and Jess's ski school friends coming along to hang out haha but I had a blast! From start to finish, I honestly believe it was one of the best birthdays I've ever had.

More soon…hopefully!

LIVxo