What a bittersweet feeling. I’ve been volunteering with Engineers & Geoscientists British Columbia (EGBC), formerly known as Association of Professional Engineers & Geoscientists British Columbia (APEGBC) since October 2015 and I decided earlier this year that this would be my last year with them. For the last three years, I organized the EIT/GIT Career Seminar: How to Obtain Your P.Eng or P.Geo Designation, also known as Path to Professional Licensure with the EGBC Vancouver Branch. The event I’ve been organizing for months was this evening and it was a success. With a maximum of 100 registrants, we had 96 people register for the event with a handful more registrants at the door.

Event planning is no easy task. Anyone who has planned a large event would hopefully say the same and agree it takes a lot of patience and communication. It’s an amazing feeling to see it all come together in one evening. I would love to continue to volunteer for the branch but I am ready to take a step back from my role as an event coordinator. Last year 2016-2017, I took on the role of secretary which included meeting minutes, communicated with all volunteers interested in the branch, and sent out meeting invitations and reminders. It doesn’t sound like much but I spent a good 15 hours minimum each month on those tasks. Although I enjoyed the role very much, it took physical commitment I was struggling to achieve with no childcare and a husband who works 80-100 hours a week. Now with two children, it makes it a little more challenging. I don’t want to say my children are the reason why I have decided to take a step back from volunteering. They definitely are not the reason and throughout my volunteer experience, I’ve either been pregnant or nursing. So it can be done! I want to shift focus in other areas of my life so here I am.

Thank you to all volunteers who have taken time out of their busy schedules and personal lives to volunteer at the EGBC Vancouver Branch. Those who volunteered at the events I’ve organized, been a speaker and/or helped me out at meetings or any other way— THANK YOU SO MUCH. Most of you reading this know who you are and made my volunteer experience a memorable one.

I was born and raised in Calgary, AB and there are days where I really miss home. Mainly because of the mountains, our family, friends and the affordability of owning a large home. A home in Vancouver would start at a million dollars and that would be for a crack shack. If you want to know what I mean by “crack shack”, here’s a little game called Crack Shack or Mansion. You’ll get a better idea after you play it.

If you’re unfamiliar with Calgary weather, there’s sun, chinooks, a lot of snow and it gets cold! I love the snow and I don’t mind the cold (less bugs!) but this week made me realize that I’m not ready to move back any time soon (or at all). Calgary was under a winter storm warning forecasting 25cm to 35cm of snow. As I’m scrolling through my Facebook News Feed, everyone in Calgary is posting photos of all the snow Calgary is getting (great for the mountains). In the north, the LRT C-Train was down and passengers would have to get off at the train station and bus downtown to work. Many of my friends were hibernating inside to avoid the snowy roads and I’m over here in 10°C weather going for a walk. Don’t worry Calgary, we definitely get our grey skies and pouring rain over here. If we’re lucky, we’ll get a little piece of sunlight. Today, I’ll enjoy myself in the warm and dry (believe it or not) weather.

My last post was over a year ago and I’m a bit ashamed of myself for that. First of all, we welcomed our baby girl, Sloane on July 25, 2017! The year 2017 was definitely the craziest year and here’s a summary of what happened:

* We spontaneously decided to renovate our bathroom and kitchen. Renovations for our bathroom started in early March and lasted 3 weeks. A few days later, the kitchen renovation started which was completed at the end of May. It was quite difficult living in our 750 sq ft, one floor condo but it looks amazing now and we were able to maximize spaces for storage.
* Thursday, July 20, 2017 was a game changer. A burst pipe in the suite upstairs flooded the owner’s condo unit including ours and damaged the ceiling and bathroom in the suite below us. Being 38 weeks pregnant with no place to move to until Sunday night, we had to stay in our condo for the weekend with 4 dehumidifiers and fans blowing at all hours of the day and night. It was loud, 40°C hot and we had to sleep out on our patio for a couple nights, it was sweat drenching hot. We were going to be out of our home for 2-3 months or longer— packing for summer, fall, a new baby, toddler, dog, and ourselves was no easy task.
* We moved out of our home and the next day, baby girl Sloane was born! (What timing right?)
* From the end of July until the end of September, we moved 3 times. Long story short (will include the details in another post when I decide to write it up), a few days after moving back home, an unresolved leak showed up in the bathroom and a portion of our bathroom ceiling was ripped out to repair the leak. There was a large hole in our bathroom ceiling for over a month.
* Two weeks after our bathroom ceiling was repaired, I walked past our kitchen when I heard a drip noise in the walls. To my horror, there was brown water coming from our outlet and soaking everything in its path on the counter. The dishwasher in the suite above had a leak and all the yummy dirty water from the dishwasher was coming out of our wall.
* For Christmas, we went back to Calgary and Canmore where we packed/unpacked 5 times in the couple weeks we were there. We didn’t have one place to stay for the entire trip which resulted in multiple packs.

A few things:

* We are glad to be home
* We highly recommend home insurance because we would’ve been so screwed if we didn’t have full coverage
* This has helped my journey in minimalism
* We are staying home for Christmas next year
* No matter where we lived, we had each other and that is the most important part of everything

Currently, there are nine posts sitting in my drafts and I haven’t completed any of them to post. It seems silly to spend so much time writing these posts for them to sit in my drafts. I haven’t written in my blog for over two months for a few reasons:

1. Sleep. Oh how I love sleep! I’ve been so exhausted after Blake’s bedtime I crumble and jump into bed immediately after she falls asleep.
2. Discouraged. I’ll admit it, there are all these great mom bloggers I’m comparing myself to out there. Doesn’t it seem like everyone is doing it? We all do it for our own reasons but mine is probably so boring compared to theirs zzzzzzzzzz. Why am I even comparing?
3. Pregnant. Surprise! I’m pregnant again! You’ll only know if you read my blog! Your first trimester is the worst and I am extremely “lucky” to experience nausea throughout my whole pregnancy. You’re constantly tired, sick with nausea, exhausted, the smell of food either causes your mouth to salivate or make your stomach turn, and you’re constantly eating. Did I miss anything? Basically the last three months of my life right there.
4. #Laptopproblems. My husband and I have been sharing his laptop for the last two years. My wonderful 2011 Apple MacBook Pro is super slow. For those who are old enough to remember the rise of the internet, picture yourself in 1998, waiting for your internet browser to load… “Mom! Don’t pick up the phone! I’m using the internet!!!” because we know the second someone picks up the phone, you’ll be disconnected from the internet and you’ll have to dial-up and try again. That’s my 2011 MacBook Pro, it’s on the “To be dealt with” list.
5. Texting & Facebook. Must. Stop. Texting. So. Much! It seems the second we put Blake to bed, I’m in bed myself on my phone texting or browsing Facebook. Two hours later I’m still on my phone. It’s a problem and it needs to end!

I’m not going to bore anyone with New Years resolutions because I don’t really believe in making them. “Starting January 1st, I’m going to…” yeah, no, not me. I’ll have goals for the year of 2017 but that’s as good as it gets. However! I am going to Apple to get my MacBook Pro looked at this weekend and if all goes well, I will be posting more often on my blog and posting things without saving it to my drafts. How’s that for “New Year, New Me?”