Summer, It's Here.

Well, cool cats, it's been a wild ride thus far during my first year at uni, and I'm more than ready to get my summer on. Since I've returned home two weeks ago, I've not done much except work and swim, which has been quite alright in my books! I've enjoyed being back in the restaurant with old friends who both understand and appreciate my dry and more often than not inappropriate sense of humour. Some of them are themselves departing on their own adventures: Heather to Australia and Jenn to England, to name a couple, which saddens me, but I wish them all the best in their travels! In a different sort of way, I've also enjoyed being back in the pool with my old swim team that I left in 2007, though it's an odd feeling to know that I'm the age of the senior swimmers I used to look up to when I first started out as a youngster. Having said that, despite whatever pains that my injuries conjure up during practices, I finally feel at home again, as if I haven't felt completely content without this part of my life. Work has somewhat cut into my pool time, as practices are at night and most of the shifts I work or pick up are also in the evening, but at this point, I've got to save up for school. Still, I hope to make it out to as many workouts as I can - here's to hoping!

And now, onto the latest update of my so-very-eventful life. Today was an absolutely gorgeous day, one of the first ones in a while here in the Lower Mainland where we see a lot of rain, clouds, and dreariness for the better part of the year. Being my crazy, wild self, I took advantage of the beautiful, 26 degree weather and ventured back to Vancouver with my friend Ken to hang out downtown and catch Kina Grannis live at the Rio! Downtown was bustling with hordes of people who clearly had the same idea that we did, as we walked around the Robson/West Georgia area and saw many taking a seat along the steps and benches, soaking up their fair share of vitamin D. One thing I love about Vancouver is that I've never minded walking anywhere because there's always so much to look at and so many things to do, especially when it's not planned! So, we walked around and around. One thing that was definitely on our bucketlist for the day was to eat at Japadog, which I never had the chance to do while I was at school. If you don't know what Japadog is, it's a food cart that was started by a Japanese couple back in '05 who had immigrated and wanted to share their unique take on the classic hotdog. Let me tell you, it's absolutely delicious and most definitely worth every dollar! If you find yourself in downtown Vancouver and feeling adventurous, I highly suggest tracking down one of the Japadog carts! After chowing down, we headed to Pacific Centre to wander and do some window-shopping (being the struggling students that we are) and before heading to the Rio I made a stop at Thierry, a rather modern, posh (in my books), and therefore expensive chocolaterie patisserie cafe to purchase my first decent Mother's Day gift for tomorrow! Hopefully, my mum will enjoy what I picked out for her. Carrying onwards in a rushed fashion, since it's past 3:00am and I am in dire need of some shut-eye before my dad wakes me up to make mum breakfast, I have these words to say about Kina's show: breathtakingly calming, beautiful, and like gold to my ears. 

Some shots of Kina's performance!

How could you not love her?

The tour bus :)