For those not following my daily Instagram posts or Snapchat stories…WE GOT A DOG!!!! Please meet our sweet girl, Ellie! Who is Ellie? Ellie is a four year old chihuahua mix who loves napping on the couch and giving lots of kisses. She’s 12.4 lbs (we just had her weighed at the vet) and has the most adorable little snaggle tooth. Ellie is still a bit nervous with all of the new surroundings but she’s already the sweetest thing and absolutely has my heart. Case in point: on her third night with us, she finally worked up the courage to come… Read More
Life & Home
Welcome to Our Home in New West!
It has been exactly one week since Colin and I moved into our new place in New West! *** And I’d have to say, I think we’re doing very well for our first week together. We had the place all unpacked by Day 2. And in this first week we’ve managed to get rid of all of the empty boxes, go on multiple trips to IKEA and Walmart, grocery shop, clean, hang pictures and not kill each other 🙂 Our first night here was exhausting. We spent all day moving from my house, moving from Colin’s house, unpacking the essentials… Read More
2016: A Year In Review
I think it’s safe to say that 2016 really wasn’t anyone’s year; I mainly blame Trump. But even though it wasn’t a stellar year, I still love to look back to recount the highs and lows and see what’s coming up for 2017. *** I usually start my annual round ups by looking back at the previous year’s and seeing how well my predictions played out. Except, this year I took an accidental blogging hiatus from September 2015 until April 2016. Whoops! So I didn’t actually write a round-up for 2015. But I think I can safely say that my… Read More
On Love and Loss
On Friday May 8th 2015, I took a nervous skytrain ride out to Surrey after work. My boyfriend of about three weeks picked me up from the station and drove me to his house where I met his parents for the first time. I remember a few details from that dinner. I can vividly recall kicking myself for not bringing anything, even though Colin told me not to. I remember meeting his pets for the first time and deciding that two cute dogs and a sunbathing cat were a pretty good perk of this relationship. I remember stepping out onto… Read More
When Your Best Friend Gets Married
When my best friend first told me she was going to be getting married, I didn’t quite believe it. Sure, weddings were always something we talked about – we fantasized about our dream engagement rings and criticized the crazy people on Say Yes To The Dress. But marriage? Our conversations never got quite that adult. But we are adults. I tend to have a hard time believing that. I often feel like I’m just playing pretend; that eventually someone will come by and force me to start meal planning or learn how to fold a fitted sheet. And when I’m unsatisfied… Read More
Lucky Me!
I never used to consider myself a lucky person – I wasn’t someone who always caught the bus right on time or never had a bad hair day. But, in looking back, I suppose I am a lot luckier than I thought. Here are a few of my big wins… *** $100 Now, $100 might not seem like a ton of money but this prize started off a year of pretty sweet contest wins for me. My friend Andrea and I entered a Halloween contest through Canada’s Luckiest Student. To win this Halloween contest, you had to submit a photo… Read More
Fixed Life or a Big Trip?
Today Colin, my friend Malindi, and I stumbled into a few open houses after grabbing lunch in Olympic Village. Every time we see an “Open House” sign, I always joke with Colin that we should go in but today we actually did it. And even though we are no where close to being able to afford a house, it was interesting to walk through and consider what it might be like a few (or maybe a dozen, given Vancouver’s housing market) years down the road. We ended up looking at three places: two one-bedroom condos in Olympic Village and then a… Read More
9 Things I Learned as a Maid of Honour
Two weekends ago, I had the absolute honour of standing next to my dear friend, Kimberley, as she vowed to spend her life with her best friend, Joe. Kim and Joe have been together for over a decade so it was really no surprise that they would make it to the altar one day. But I didn’t know how special it would be to witness their day up close as a maid of honour. And by special, I mean exciting, tear-inducing and incredibly exhausting! For their wedding, I served as one of Kimberley’s co-maids of honour (co-MOH) along with our… Read More
Blog Update: Guess Who’s Back?
Back again. Riana’s back. Tell a friend. Okay, no more Eminem. But yes, I am posting on this blog again! My last post was way back in September about a trip to Toronto I took in August. It is now April. So I guess it’s time for an update. Whoops! It seems I forgot I had a blog again. I started to write a few times but I would get distracted and then forget about it again. But I’ve realized that writing, whether it be travel-related or not, is really important to me. I love to write. And I love to… Read More
6 Months Worth of Updates for the Blog
So about a year ago, I realized I had been neglecting my blog. It kind of made sense, since this blog was born out of dream to travel and I wasn’t doing too much traveling a year ago. But I found new things to write about: simple pleasures of everyday life, moving to a new home, family vacations and enjoying the on-going adventure that is living in Vancouver. *** And then in March, I forgot I had a blog again. This time, it wasn’t for any lack of travel or adventure. In fact, too much was happening in my life… Read More
