Fun in the...er...snow!?

So thought I'd post some pics of my trip home and our GBS adventure...yay! Lets just start out with some pics from home...

The day I got there my family met me at the airport...so sweet! It was such a surreal experience. I never thought I'd be the member of the family that everyone came to meet at the airport. How I did I become Lil' C's Auntie that when he's older maybe he'll remember me as the auntie they always went and met at the airport. I remember that from when I was younger and we'd go meet my Dad at the airport...and moreso when we'd go meet my Grandma when she came home from England or my Aunt Mare who would come visit from Toronto. How did I become that Aunt that my nephew will have memories from way back when of going to meet at the airport? I haven't decided if I like it or not yet. None the less...it was so awesome coming down the escalator and looking in the crowd for them and finally spotting my little dude being held by my Mom. I thought I was going to cry, but I didn't...manage to hold it together (just barely.) I was afraid he was going to freak out when he saw me, but he didn't, he actuallly giggled and smiled.

After a quick stop off at my Aunt's and a change, I met up with Di and our friends to see Great Big Sea! Suweeet. What a great show...











They did two sets this show, almost like it was a pub show and I LOVED it. They just released an all traditional album called The Hard and The Easy back in the fall...so they did the first set where it was all traditional Newfoundland folk songs and then the second set was more like a 'regular' GBS show where they sing "all the hit", as Alan would say...it was really great and I loved the little break. The only that sorta sucked, was that all the shows on this tour basically were seated venues and they were basically all theatres. It sucked in a way because we're all used to jumping around like hooligans at GBS shows...but at the same time it was SO nice not to have to line up 5 hours ahead of time for the show or to have to battle idiots trying to get to the front row. They were pretty big photo nazis at all the shows (except Seattle...where I got the best shots)...so there aren't many pics and not many GOOD pics from most of the shows. I'll just post a few from each though. But the show was awesome and I was SO excited that I got to fly home to be with Di and my Mom and everyone for the first GBS show since I'd left. I was so torn as to what was going to happen after I left and a GBS show came up...since Di and I met we'd always gone to GBS shows together and they are what brought us closer together as friends...it was totalllllly going to suck if we now had to spend that apart. I don't know that it's always going to work out so well when the b'ys come to town, but it certainly was amazing this time around!

After the show we met up with my other good friend from back home, Reanne, and Di, Reanne and I went out for a drink and dessert at one of our favorite pubs! Then I crashed at D's and woke up the next morning (bright and early as far as I'm concerned, haha) to hang out with her and her cute little dude and her hubby. All of whom I've missed so much! Then I went over and chilled with my bro, sis-in-law and my cutie patootie little nephew, did some errands and off we were to the farm! Yay!

My little nephew in his winter gear in the car...



Ahh...it may have been freakin cold...but at least there was sun!



It was so great to visit my goatees!!! I miss them so much...they were rather disgruntled with the coldness though...as was I.

Lola




And her Mommy, Harriet..



Mmmm...bread....



And my puppies....

Maverick...who could've sworn I left yesterday...but was pretty damn excited I'd decided to return...


And Cruise...who could've cared less when I left, and seemed only slightly amused that I was back...


The older cats were happy to see me...even if I was greeted with a raspberry...


And the ones who were kittens weren't too sure, but they sure were cute!

Mittens...


...and his mittens...


And Tigger...


...and Weasel...


...lacked opinion on the whole thing.

Got to visit my beautiful horses too. Capri was in her winter whites and well hidden amongst the snowbanks...


Back to my little nephew though...


He's just to frickin cute...


Couldn't get enough of the little bugger...my little rockstar...


I spent the rest of the few short days I was home hanging out on the farm with my whole family and playing with my animals. I wish I could've played with them more but it was just too cold and I've become such a wimp already when it comes to the cold apparently. I wish I didn't have to live so far away from them all now, it's not fair to be so torn between my two lives. I wish I could afford to fly home at least once a month. One day I will be able too...maybe when I'm a pilot...



But alas, after a far too short visit...my kind bro drove me too the airport at far too early in the morning and I met up with Di to begin our adventure out West...



WestJet and Westward, ho'! Haha...

...til Vancouver...

Home, where my music's playing....Home.

So I'm home for a rest...albeit very briefly........

I came home Saturday afternoon and my family all met me at the airport...yay! It was so sweet to finally see them all again and my little nephew is not so little any more. I've been cuddling him almost non-stop since I stepped off the plane and I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I leave. Who's baby will I cuddle then!? It's just not the same if its not the cutest baby in the world though anyway (ie. my nephew.) I never thought I'd fall in love this weekend, but I did...well I fell in love this past summer really, but I didn't think it was possible to fall in love all over again like that. Alas, I did though. His huge blue eyes, his crazy curly brown hair and the softest skin known to mankind. It's true though, they are made cute so you'll keep them, cause the little bugger really can wail when he wants to. But who am I kidding? He's cute even when he's crying and pissed right off.

The night I arrived though I met up with my friends from home and we went and saw our favorite band play...Great Big Sea. Seriously, those guys rock more and more every time. They switched their show up a bit, bringing in some more traditional tunes and it was frickin awesome. Went for drinks afterwards with two of my good friends and we filled our faces with brownie & ice cream, and of course a Long Island or two. Mmmm. Then it was early (riiight) to bed, early to rise, as I camped out in the basement of my friends house and she had a toddler who is POSSIBLY the second cutest baby I know. Ok. He is. And equally as capable of wailing on command...but still, just as cute doing it. None the less it made for an early morning, which was fine because I've been known to sleep for days on end if given the chance. My time here is horribly brief and I figure I shouldn't waste TOO much of it sleeping. (But I put forth the arguement that I am also on vacation and to me, vacation means doing whatever the fuck I want. Which includes sleeping.)

I hung out with my girl Di and her hubby and son for the morning and then went over to my bro's. My sis-in-law (who's humor and wit I'd missed while away...) and I ran an errand or two and then the 4 of us (baby included here) were off to the farm, where I now sit at my Dad's laptop in his office at 1am. (MacGregor time.)

All of this is fine and wonderful and I'm so happy to be home.

Yet it feels like I never left and some how it's hard for me to believe I have another home and friends (who feel like a new family) waiting for me a couple hundred miles away on the Left Coast. I now feel like no matter where I am, which home I'm at, I'll always be missing something. It's a hard thing to come to terms with. If only I could clone myself. I mostly just wish both places were closer together I guess. That would solve most of my issues. I love the quietness and familiarity of the farm and Winnipeg. My family is here, my animals are here and the huge blue, never ending sky that I've known my whole life is here. I miss it. I miss going out and taking the goats the left over apples and cuddling cats and seeing the dog get so excited that we're going for a walk that he JUST might turn himself inside out. But at the same time I find myself almost missing the mountains, and all the water that surrounds my life out west. I miss the feeling of "so what are we doing tonight, girls??" and my roomate's crazy antics. The Downtown nightlife, the dancing and the insanity of the never ending boy hunt that seems to have taken over our lives. I wish I could be in both places and have more free choice of which I want to be a part of any given moment. I hate that I will now til who knows when, will always have to spend at least $500 to see my nephew, and my bro and sis-in-law and my parents and goats. My dog. Who should have to pay $500 to see their dog? It's some cruel trick having now fallen in love with two vastly different worlds.

I feel it's a phase however. I had no idea going out there how long I would stay, and I still have no idea how long I will. I know now it will be for awhile, perhaps longer than I had first antiscipated but I think some day if my family doesn't come to me, then I will prob come home to them. (How I will deal with the -30C weather I will not know.) I will always be a Prairie girl at heart.

Til then though, I know where I need to be to find my own life. To find out where I'm supposed to be headed and who I'm headed there with.

I just wish a goat could live comfortably in an apartment in North Van.....





So tomorrow I head back to the city with my bro and his family...hang out with them and Thursday morning my friend Di and I fly back to Vancouver. It will be harsh as I don't completely know when I'm coming back. The plan is for the summer as I have a wedding or two to attend, I just hope I can afford it. Next I can't wait for when my family comes to visit me and we get to show them around!

This weekend is going to be such a blast though...all my girls together and we'll be partying it up West Coast style with GBS again...3 more shows! Are we nutso??? I THINKSO! We're headed to see them in Vancouver Thursday when we arrive, then Victoria on Friday and then we leave Di behind in Vic with our other good friend Steph and C, and the Sisters head to Seattle for my 4th and final show. Wow. It's going to be one hell of an unbelievable week/weekend and I'm not sure what we'll do when it's all said and done. But I can't wait for it to happen. I just hope it all lives up to our expectations. Nothing is ever how we plan it, and nothing is ever how it seems...but it always happens and when I'm with my favorite people in the world doing what we love to do the most...we can't go wrong.

Cheers til next time...