Tofino's So Cute...

How cute?

Tofino's so cute, it has a "Girl Skate Day" and only girls are allowed to skate the skatepark today. They actually tell all the boys to leave over the skatepark PA system. DJ Cherry Bomb is spinning some girl friendly hits and they're giving away prizes.

Last night I had a strange scare. I biked all the way to the info centre (like, 8 kms, FYI!). On my way back I had my mouth open, singing to Eric Pryde's Call On Me (DOI, OVBZ). Now, I knew this wasn't a smart idea and I knew I swallowed at least two bugs, but those little fuckers bit me in the back of my throat! My petite drainpipe swelled right up and I could barely drink my green tea when I got home. Thank god it only lasted about an hour. I thought for sure I was going to have to shove the ol' epi-pen into my thigh and bring back horrible memories of past trips to the hospital.

No worries though-all is well now and I can enjoy some more of my "Best of Now Dance" playlist.

I LOVE THE INTERNET

Just a short note to let all of you guys know how happy I am that we can all connect even though we're not all in the same place.
The fact that we can get "together" and discuss stuff that's on our mind and get people's feedback is awesome, especially because I can't talk to you guys in real life.

I'm just so stoked that everyone can be excited for bike rides and getting healthy and feeling good about life, and we can all do it TOGETHER (sort of). Your guys' support and opinions are greatly appreciated. Seriously.

Robyn and Becky-How's that cookbook coming along? YOU KNOW I WANT IN ON THAT SHIT!

My Saving Grace

Yesterday afternoon, I had planned my big first ride on my brand new bike. I literally had not even sat on the thing. The guy at the bike shop called me "an easy sell". I looked at it and said, "I'm just gonna take it" This photo isn't my actual bike, but it looks just like this one. Squint your eyes and think "Shiny sleek black all over with sparkly delicious banana seat".
So I was all ready to go. To take my gal on her maiden voyage. Alas, trouble arose and I fell into a shitty mood. A horrible, dehabilitating funk that made me just want to lay in bed and feel sorry for myself all afternoon. I felt that was my only cure. Good ol' Todd made me feel stupid about wanting to do this and suckered me into putting my ass on that delicious banana seat with promises of treating me to coffee.

It is at this point where describing my day becomes tricky. I immediately biked off into the parking lot near our house and did some wobbly circles, gaining my "bike legs" back after years of only using my legs for such things as walking, dancing and occasionally tripping on things. The magical, childlike, FREE AND HAPPY feeling that poured all over me was so powerful and weakening at the same time. Completely overwhelming. Instantly, I began telling jokes, laughing, and yelling at people (mostly Todd). And he held true to his promise. We biked down to the Botanical Gardens where Andre works for a cup of coffee and a nice break before heading back to town.






In the beginning, moving out here was supposed to prove how independant I was and how "in control" of my own affairs I was. When it came to fruition, however, I felt more trapped and helpless than ever. These feelings came as such a shock to me and I didn't really understand how to deal with this. I thought many times that I had made the wrong decision coming out here, but time and reflection tells me that it has been the right decision and that I need to stick to my convictions. And as silly as it sounds, this bike is the objectification of everything I was looking to achieve/become when I came out here. Those feelings I felt when first getting on my bike, were the feelings I wanted when I first got here. Of course, in retrospect, it's naive to expect that right away without any work towards it.

To be completely honest, being out here has been really hard on me for the most part. The move to the other side of the country has been far from easy. I never expected it to be easy, I just never expected it to be this hard either. But as each day comes, I feel myself finding more and more positive things in my current situation. I am also starting to feel a small sense or pride in myself for sticking it out at a point where I could have easily left at the first (or second or third...) sign of bad waters. I ultimately see myself striding at full pace to accomplish something I set out to do that I had never attempted before.

It's amazing to me, how this bike was almost a religious experience for me.

Anyway, I don't know if much of that made sense or flowed properly, but there it is.
In other news, I'm looking at doing some sort of cleansing or detox. Do you guys have any tips for me? I'm not looking to purchase a ton of medicinal herbs/oils/shitlikethat (seeing as there's nowhere to buy them in Tofino).

Nova Scotia Adventures!

Bonnie is a woman who grew up in Parksville, B.C., but has lived here in Tofino for the past 9 years. So far, she has been unable to find love. Instead of referring to the opposite sex as "men", she refers to them as "penises". Needless to say, she's had some pretty bad luck in the past with partners. So next month, her and her sister are going on vacation for a month and they're travelling all the way to my stomping grounds. The beautiful province of Nova Scotia. The place that once filled this aching hole inside my heart. Bonnie hopes to find a "Dumb, hairy fisherman" to help fill the hole in her heart. A big one that will help her keep warm at night. She doesn't like snow.



Now, being the friendly east coaster that I am, I promised Bonnie that I would compile a list of MUST-SEES and MUST-DOS for any newfound resident or temporary visiter of the area. I'll make sure to include Peggy's Cove, of course, but I need YOUR GUYS' HELP with the rest of the list!

A couple things to note:
-She'll be there a month, at least
-She doesn't want to stay just in Halifax, she wants to go everywhere
-She's thinking about taking an art class
-She'd like to stay close to the water

Throw me some ideas, places to visit, places to eat, anything!

How did YOU Celebrate Friday the 13th?

I would like to know this.

I celebrated by sleeping in, waking up, and then having a nap.
Later, the three couples of The Blue House (Todd and I, Kita and Chantelle, Jon and Erica) Went on a hike through the rainforest boardwalk (up stairs, downstairs, twists, turns, hanging bridges, EXCITEMENT) to Schooner's Cove. The cove is filled with amazing pockets of beachy bays where the sunlight floods the place in weird patchy ways and lots of driftwood. Everytime you turn a corner you're bowled over with breathtaking views you couldn't imagine in your dreams.
We immediately set up a little campfire complete with beach blankets and veggie dogs and 1 kilogram of marshmallows. We of course, already had picked out perfect roasting sticks on the half hour rainforest walk. Popular topics of conversation included what other types of objects or animals our roasted veggie dogs looked like, and who would die first if we were in a campy horror movie at that very moment. Right around high tide time (10:30) we hightailed it back to the parking lot, trying our darndest to keep on eye out for black bears in the pitch black night.
We finished up the night with a good ol' fashioned round of Ouiji board (homemade, seance-style). Lights off, candles, gathered in a circle. Nothing much came of it, but it was quite the bonding experience, holding hand in a circle, meditating with each other.

And that's how I spent my Friday the 13th.

PISSED

Bad mood, curly hair!

BEST TIME OCCUPANT EVER

INTERNET COLLAGEZZZZZ

WORK WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!!!

FUCK SURFING

I'M GOING INTERPRETIVE HORSEBACK SURFING!

The best $3.14 I've ever spent

SILK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE BARS
If I could stop eating these, I'd be eating pretty healthy. For me.

IT'S OFFICIAL

JENNER-BROOKE BERGER IS COMING TO TOFINO

For a limited time only, to fulfill one of my wildest dreams.
I am looking forward to reigniting the "good ol' times". I can just feel it in my bones, those few days are going to rule hard.
Next, in the works, is the one and only Ben Craig.


Today, ONE person has come into the boutique so far. And she was asking directions for another place in town.

In other news, sick as a dog.

Shorter than I thought....

I told Rhonda, the lady who did my hair that "I can see myself liking it"
Which is the truth.


It's gonna take some getting used to.
When it's curly, it bunches all up into little curls and it reminds me of my grandmother's hair, but not really in a bad way.

And Alexis, it's true, it wasn't the same without you. Before she started going at my hair, I tried to tell her about the things that you do, that I liked, for example, the backcombing of the hair at the root to abolish pesky straight lines of growth colour. She didn't get it. But as soon as I stepped into the salon and the waves of Aveda hit me, your memory was strong, and I held you in my heart as I held my breath and inches were lopped off.

But still, great girl, truly enjoyed her, along with everyone else who worked there. I may try to befriend them.
I miss you guys.

I'M GETTING MY HAIR DONE TOMORROW!!!!!!!

LET'S HAVE A VOTE!









They don't all look the same do they?

Hidden Treasures

One must always look on the bright side of things.

Taking those words in heed, I present you with some of the nice, nice things that have happened in the past month.

Yesterday, during my visit to the bank, it came to my realization that I have much more cash than I thought I did. HUZZAH! After evaluating my situation, I decided that perhaps I should treat myself. Today I'll be making an appointment at Studio One, which I hear is the nicest hair salon in all of Tofino. Well, it's actually one of two. The other is "Bee's Barber". That one's near the laundromat. I haven't heard that much about it.

Last night we moved into "The Blue House". There are nine people in total living there. That means two bathrooms and two fridges. And two dogs: Lily and Cedar. To say hello, Cedar takes your hand in his big brown mouth and gently gnaws on your knuckles. Two of our roomates are from Australia and I have heard nothing more funny than two Australians doing Newfoundlander impressions. Just you try to imagine that one.

Several cafes in the town have piqued my interest. The Common Loaf is probably my favourite. They have different baked selections everyday, but my pics include the ginger scones and raspberry white chocolate muffins. And don't forget the breakfast sandwich with real black forest ham, for a great deal of $6. The place has two levels, the top one being a small round room with a round deck circumnavigating the outer perimeter. Cafe Vincente's is also nice, but only if you can grab that REALLY comfy chair in the corner, by the window. Tuff Beans is another option for breakfast. Huge portions, even though that reflects in the price, but I guess nothing in this town is cheap. The option are next to endless. Breaker's (where I worked for two weeks), Jupiter's (Sketches me out, lots of nuts), Sobo (pricey but delightful), Whale Cafe (right on the water), Tofitian (very popular) and a few more I haven't visited yet....

Another great thing about being in a town where show are held at the legion, usually once or twice a week, is that I don't have much of a chance to waste my money on things. I haven't been drunk since before I left Halifax, I haven't bought one piece of clothing. There isn't a magazine store here, so I steal them from the laundromat. The best thing about being here is looking forward to what will come after this. I don't plan on saving a huge sum of money while here, but IF I DO....oh think of the things. I could buy a car, a beater, maybe just the little Kia Rio off my parents and go all around the states. That's one thing I've always wanted to do...Or I could go back to Europe, see the places I have never seen before, or I could plant myself in Amsterdam and never ever leave. I could eat cheese pancakes forever. Perhaps I could stay in Halifax and open a store.

Who knows....
I tried to find a good picture to put here to spice up the post, but I couldn't find one.
I did find lots and lots of old photos on my photobucket though, so maybe my next post will be of old pictures. Wouldn't you like that? Yeah? me too.

Allow me to introduce myself.....

Here I am at work, at Boutique Upstairs. A place that allows me to check me email ten times a day, allows me to impressively stock up my photobucket account, as well as participating in  lengthy skatepark gazing sessions.

Tofino amazes me more and more everyday.  The small town is much more underdeveloped than I thought it would be. I also expected the town to be RIGHT on the beach. Not so. The town is right on the water, but it takes a nice 5 minute bike ride to get to the closest of MANY beaches. Despite the size of Tofino, the place is crawling with young people and  people who would like to be young. There are many dreamcatchers, dreadlocks, spraypainted vans, cars turned into makeshift houses, girls with dogs, girls with hula hoops and Australian people here. 

Also, severe lack of housing for seasonal Tofitians. 

Tonight, after work, Todd and I move into "The Blue House". The Blue House is Todd's work's staff accomodations. The house is in the middle of town, a hop skip and a jump from the boutique I work at and it's so close to the water that the waves in the bay will lap you to sleep at night if you ask nicely. In the past, the house has been off limits to girls not working at the surf school, but this year, the three full time gentleman workers all have girlfriends who have nowhere to live. This year, they are making an exception to the rule. Lucky for me. Without this exception, I'd be packing my bags for home as a result of being homeless.

I decided before coming out here for the summer, that this would be my time to start things differently.

Step #1-Quit smoking. So far, successful. It's been about a month now. I'm fairly confident in saying that I will be able to continue this newfound trend. I'm crossing my fingers.

The following steps, I believe should be:

-Stop eating Chocolate Silk Truffle Bars from the place across the street.

-Pick up yoga or jogging on the beach which come on, really does sound kind of magical. Either of these will require a pair of reasonably effective (re: not fashionable) sneakers. For this reason, excersizing will have to wait because there is no store in this town that sells sneakers.

-Create more artwork. Because I have been allowed long periods of time with the internet, I have realized that this place is good for more than just a few things. The internet is an endless source of inspiration. Continuing on past explorations, I'd like to do a lot more with handwritten fonts. The following is a collection OF REALLY AWESOME PICTURES FROM THE INTERNET!!!!

I have so many more where that came from. It would blow your mind.

It blows my mind how much I miss home. But I think being out here will help me grow up. It will help me be a better me. Right?