Oh goodness!

What happened to the Van A sisters? We all go on this fun trip then disappear!

Since I am the one with the least to do, and all the pictures on my computer I guess I will post a few of them!

While we were still in Toronto we went to see...

...the CN tower!

And that was about it!

The next day we...

...drove to NEW YORK!!

Day One in The Big Apple:

Sunday morning we went and found...

...A Gospel Church in Harlem.

We even got our own welcome song!

Then we went and...

...Walked the Brooklyn Bridge.

And got...

...Some yummy pizza in Brooklyn.

The bathroom was in high demand in this cafe.

Then we walked to...

...China Town! And bought a pomegranate!

(thats not all we bought!)

Then we took the subway to...

...Times Square!

I wish I could figure out how to flip pictures on blogger.

After a almost walking our feet off we decided to walk a little farther to...

...Rockefeller Plaza, which was cool (30 Rock anyone?).

Day Two in Empire City:

We started off by taking a walk...

...Through Central Park.

Kim took this picture with the timer. Isn't it lovely?!

Then walked over to...

...The American Museum of Natural History.

We especially liked the Christmas dino!

And we had fun inside too.

This is me posing with my cave man friend.

We stumbled upon...

...Pier 17.

What a delight it was!

I felt it necessary to take a nap.

Then we headed over to...

...The Empire State Building.

I soon after got in trouble for climbing the fence. Oops!

We saw Times Square from up high!

With two candy addicts in the group, we felt it mandatory to visit...

...(self explanatory I hope!)

It was awesome!

Day Three in The Melting Pot:

First we took a walk in...

...Battery Park (used to be a landfill).

Rather than explain that hunk of metal:

Next we took a ride on...

...The Staten Island Ferry.

A free and easy way to see the Statue of Liberty!

Then went over to...

...TKTS to get our Broadway tickets!

This is a secret booth barely any one knows about, so we didn't have to wait in line.

One last stop before the big show at the...

....Metropolitan Museum.

They don't let you bring liquids in here so we had to drink our drinks.

Those are Van Gogh's Paintings. It was cool.

This is...

...The Broadway show we went to.

The sets were amazing!

Three days. We crammed a lot into it. I highly suggest going for a little longer! Now we just have to go back! Over all, a lovely trip. But now I am tired, and have had just about enough of blogger for one day. So, Happy Christmas everyone, and I'm glad it's a white one!

I have reached the end my friends

I am clear sailing from here.

Not that I haven't enjoyed my time here.

I like to think that I have grown up a bit.

Become a little more independent.

"Found myself." Whatever the crap that means.

All that shenanigans. (Who knew my computer would have the correct spelling of that word saved in it?)

And now I have only good times to look forward to.

A trip to Hamilton with the band (Oh, I feel so cool saying that!)

A trip to Beamsville with Kim to visit the olds.

A few trips into the big city with my sisters.

And one freaking awesome trip to New York, New York!

I cannot wait. All decorated up for Christmas. It is going to be great. And it will have to substitute for the lost Europe trip. One last trip with just the four of us for a long, long time. And I am still coming for you Europe, so look out! One day, I will walk your dreamed of streets. But first I will explore and discover my own country and continent first. Okay? Thanks for being so patient.

Good Weekend

I got to see my boy.

I got to re-meet, and meet many lovely people.

I got to dress up in my new cheepo dress and boots.

I got to hang out with people who made me fee like home.

I had to say goodbye.

I had to drive home alone.

I had to carry all of my luggage back inside.

I had to unpack and do laundry.

I will soon see my sister and brother from another mother.

I will soon get to listen to their beautiful music.

I will soon get to see some new cool places and play tourist.

I will soon get to cuddle my sister as I drift to sleep.

If you are queasy, don't scroll down to far!

Well, here they are! I got my pictures today.

This is my new friend, the avid biker Mark. He is Kathryn's

cousin, and as you can tell, very into biking! ha ha

This is a pause in the trail when Jackie fell a little behind.

She made it though, and I was very impressed.

And here is my wound pre-stitches. See that little bit of white in the middle? Yeah, I asked the doctor what that was and he replied, "Oh, thats your fat!" At which I said; "Oh great! Do

you think you could take a little of that out for me? ha ha..." Not cool. Sorry if I made

you throw up, but I'm proud of it, and I did warn you!

I wish I had taken some pictures of the cooler trails we rode on, but we were to busy

riding! These pictures are just of the average foresty trails, there were some much

much cooler ones, well there's always next time.

Well...

AEDM isn't going so well for me now. Since I crashed it's seemed a little too much work to get on the floor and paint, or cut up magazines and glue them to scrap book pages. Plus my stupid cut got infected, causing another outing to the doctor. Stupid body, can't you even keep yourself clean now? I was using polysporin! Jeez. Hopefully after the weekend I will be back to normal. Plus I get to see my Thomas! For which I have been waiting approximately 49 days, 11 hours, 34 minutes and 11 seconds. But, no big deal. Here's hoping his plane doesn't crash!

I have fallen in love

with mountain biking.

I don't have pictures of how beautiful it was out on the trails. But I will soon, and I will post them, so that you will know how much it was worth it. I have always loved biking, but have mostly stuck to roads, and nice trails. These trails were very different and AWESOME! About 25 small boulders imbedded into the ground on this narrow trail with trees surrounding you. Lets try and ride through it really fast on two wheels with out falling!! Yes! Sounds like a good idea to me. Too bad I fell. But it was worth it; the adrenalin, the beautiful forest floor covered in leaves, the challenge, and the pleasure knowing there are not many people who are stupid and brave enough to try this!

Surprisingly my first stitches. I got five of them, and even watched in fascination as the doctor sewed me up!

This is about 3 hours after the fall, all stitched up (with my renewed tetanus shot on the shoulder).

This is today, I'd say it healing up quite nicely! My injured arm is only about twice as fat as my healthy useable arm, all red and hot to the touch. No big deal. We are good to go!

Oh boy

You know it's bad when...

That cell phone says 3:02 a.m. if you can't see it. And I was just getting started!

I'm an artist!

I sold a painting today! Yes I have sold a couple in the past, but this one was not sold to a friend, or a teacher, or even a friend of a friend. It was sold to a complete and utter stranger! They didn't even have the chance to meet me. They don't know what I look like, or what lifestyle I live. They don't know if I am a 65 year old lady with grandkids running around her feet, or a 35 year old art teacher. But, they saw a piece of my art and thought it was good enough to buy! And that thrills me in ways I cannot explain! Let this day be remembered, and let this person rejoice. For when I am famous, They will look at that painting hanging on their wall and notice the little signature at the bottom and think, "Wow, we got this painting for 50 bucks? Now it would cost us 500! And one of her first too, I wonder how much it is worth now?..." And it will be grand. Mark this date on your calendars as the day Rebecca Van Aertselaer's art "career" started. One day, it will be a day to remember...

Oh yes, and also let this day be remembered as my favourite sisters birthday! Happy Birthday Pamela!

What have I been up to?

I visited Casa Loma, and thought it was pretty cool!

This Castle has some pretty interesting history!

Here is the parlour.

I visited a chicken farm. Oh man, those chicks were so cute!

I look forward to eating you...

Went bee hunting, and successfully found them!

Went exploring/shopping on Bloor St.

(where the awesome record store was).

And I have gone for some lovely fall walks, exploring my area.

Who knew it was so beautiful?!

Day what?

See the difference? That was done while watching LOTR. I started timing my painting out in movies. And this one is taking a long time! Though I am enjoying it quite a bit. Wow, the colours look really off in these pictures, it doesn't look like that in real life.

I also like the similarities in these pictures; the computer, the food rations (apple crisp in picture one and rockets in picture two!), the water, paint pallet (aka old pita bag) and cell phone. It's pretty pathetic how predictable I am.

Day Two and Three

Yesterday I did a bit more scrap booking (late at night) with my friend/roommate/landlord until she and her broken self were tired and had to go to bed.

Around 12:30 a.m. I started a painting. This painting has caused me A LOT of frustration in the past. This time I had to make a little trip into Toronto to Sonic Boom in able to start it, and oh my, I have fallen in love with a store. I drove into Toronto and paid for 3 hours of parking, thinking that I would go into the store, get what I needed (wanted), then walk around the area for a few hours leaving before rush hour. Then I walked into the store. I was in there for 2 1/2 hours! They had new and used CD's, DVD's, BlueRays, Video Games, and LP's. So not only did this store have every piece of music or movie (not that fond of games) that I could possibly want, but I may be able to get it second hand (which I already love) and CHEAP! It was awesome. Unfortunately I didn't really have time to walk around afterwards. I stopped in a little cafe and had a nice lunch, and then dodged the rain and hail back to my car.

Over all a successful day, and now I have started this painting. For the second time. With a much more optimistic mind than I thought I could ever have towards it! So far I only have half of the background done, I spent 2 hours on it, but I'm not posting a picture of it because it currently looks like nothing. Happy Day 3 everyone!

Day One

Heres me being "creative".

Day one: Scrap Book My Life.

Ha ha, if you look closely you can see my favourite picture of Pam.

AEDM

Thanks to Heather I have been introduced to Art Every Day Month. Yes, I know I'm a little late, but I am hoping this will help me kick my butt into gear and get a few projects done before I get home. Such as my first Becky's life scrap book (so that when the technical world crashes my memories will survive!) and a few Christmas presents (hopefully, I've had a few bitter experiences in the past with this...ha ha), and maybe even work on my drawing skills that have awfully and sadly deteriorated over the last few years.

I will post as much as possible, but don't expect much, as I am almost expecting myself to fail at this task!...Well I better get a good nights sleep so I can start this off bright and early! I have a few days to catch up on!

*Note: I will not be finishing a project every day, I may start something one day and continue to build onto it for the next four. I will keep you (because there are so many of "you" out there that care!) posted.

Costume much?

Arrives the first year of my life where I don't have a costume. Not even something stupid. Nothing. Nil. Squat. Nope. It's sad. For a while I was known for my creative home made costumes. It started with my sisters making them from a heart with lights (okay, so my dad had something to do with the hook up of a battery!) and a die, dragons, Mr. Tumnus. Then I got a little more creative and hands on in the projects making a slurpee costume, a volcano (with glowing lava), larry the cucumber, (the pirate who didn't do anything), a bag of dehydrated astronaut ice cream and a half cowboy-half cowgirl. The only costume I ever bought was in grade 2, I was Simba. Oh how I loved that costume. I even still have it! I have also been a cheerleader (hand me down, but yes bought), a ballerina, Pippy Long Stockings (my dad had a hand in making those braids stick out too!), a gypsy and even a bicycle spoke (more of a dare than anything!). It has been a good 19 years. and I'm sure I'm missing a few costumes as well. Thank you everyone for helping me make them over the years. And I promise, next year when I am back at home I will continue my tradition!

And trust me; the better the costume the better the hand out of candy! So parents, keep that in mind, and use it in whichever way you wish.

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

7 years

I heard somewhere that every 7 years the human body completely rebuilds itself. There is never a cell in our body that is older than 7 years. Thus I have come to my conclusion. Lately I have been feeling like my body is falling apart; my bike trip cut short, I can no longer run. I even wake up sore some times! What is that?! Only old people wake up sore. You know its not the best thing when you can't even lie there without hurting yourself.

But it all makes sense now. I am 5 years old! Meaning that in 2 years, I will feel good as new right? I just have to tough it through these next 2 years and I will feel like I'm 14 again! Until then I suspect it will continue to get worse, But then I get a few years off right? Ha ha.

How old are you? Will you make it to 7? If it was only that easy, eh?

Martini anyone?

Plagiarism again, and I still don't know the real artist. But if you want it you can have it, leave a comment if you wish and I'll pick a winner (a donation is always greatly appreciated! Seehttp://sally-joe.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-to-do.html haha)

Again, sorry for the awful picture. I'm not a photographer okay?!

Also, if anyone has any cool photos that would look good as a painting send 'em my way! I'm getting sick of stealing other peoples work!

Plagirism

I cannot pass this picture off as my own. I don't know whose it is, I found it on Google. The only difference (besides a million details) is the background on Google was green, mine is blue. But I did paint this one, and took the picture myself (hence its crooked). So, here begins my "art career." Sorry, not for sale, already given away. Maybe the next one will be though, so start saving your money! haha

One more thing, if I were to name it I would call it "Still Beauty." But I feel bad naming something I didn't come up with, so nameless it is.

What to do?

What do you do when you have so much extra time? I don't remember the last time I had so much time and absolutely nothing to do! I used to wish I could take this time and store it up in a little box, so the next time I had a test, exam, or an unfair amount of homework, instead of cutting into my sleep time I could just open up my little box of stored time and still get sleep! It would be so perfect. But, I no longer have to worry about this.

My only worry is money. And should I be worrying about money at this very special free time in my life? I don't know. What do you think? I've dropped off over 10 resumes, but no one's called. I want to go back in and shake them, saying "Don't you know?! I'm not a stupid teenager like the people you have working here!! I do my work. And I do it well!" But then at the same time can you blame them? Maybe they can see the secret behind my eyes that I will be leaving in 2 months. And they can tell that there is no point in hiring me, because I would barely have time to train for the job.

So until this sorts itself out I will do the only other thing I know to do. Let the painting begin! And the sketching, I've been trying to get back into sketching for a while. What better time than now? So, here I go. One painting down, many more to come. Maybe I'll post some pictures of them as I finish, but don't hold me accountable to that!

Wish me luck!

Fitness Assessment you say?

If you don't want to feel like shit* about your self,

If you don't want to go home and cry,

If you are relatively happy with your body and want to keep it that way,

If you think you don't look too bad when you look in the mirror,

Do not, DO NOT take one of these evil tests!

Everything on me is "above average" (not in the good way either). Or at least above what I should be given my age, height, gender and such. I have to think though, really, do 50% of girls my age really do that much more activity than me? I didn't think I was that lazy. Well I guess I am.

I have 32% body fat! 32 f***ing percent!! That is awful, getting close to twice as much as I should have (20%) I could only do 15 push ups and 15 sit ups (though the sit ups were more than 0 to 90 degrees, so I don't really count them.) She didn't tell me my blood pressure, but I'm sure it was "above average" too. And when they put me on the bike for five minutes I thought "finally something I can do!" Even my heart rate was "above average."

Well guys, by the looks of it I might just die of unhealthiness before I come home, so sorry if you never get to see me again. I will miss you all. See you in heaven if God doesn't send me to hell for abusing my body that he graciously gave me. Or for that comment.

Seriously though, I knew I wasn't in that great of shape, and the girl was always like "don't worry about it, don't worry about it." But its kind of depressing, how does this make the rest of the world feel? Because to tell you the truth, I wasn't that unhappy with myself before I went in there. I just thought if I could loose a little belly fat, do some toning of the arms and legs that would be great. But no, there is so much more to being healthy. If you ask me, seems like a little too much work! Stupid gym. And I have to go back for a second assessment on Tuesday. Hope I'm still alive by then.

*I really did feel this word was necessary, sorry Mom, but I've heard you say it too!

*** the letters that go in here are uck not reak, also necessary.

Thanksgiving Day!

Look familiar to any of you? Ran into a few people unexpectedly

here and had a good time Monday morning!

Sorry, didn't get any good pictures of the meal, but afterwards

we went to see the falls! This is a view from the "Sky Wheel" we

went on. Basically a huge Ferris Wheel with enclosed Gondola seats.

A cool view from the Sky Wheel! I like the mist coming from the falls!

Kathryn Jackie and I on the walkway by the falls. Some of us

were, might I say, a little hyper during this time!

They tricked me into taking this picture! Notice the background! Ha ha

Godlove, my new Cameroonian friend, and I in the

mist with a lovely view behind.

The girls posing at a closed outside bar, maybe the restaurant

should invest in some gates and locks!

Kathryn and I went for a little jog ahead of the gang and found some cool shades!

And the day comes to an end as we all drive home after having a

good time and working off our thanksgiving meal!

The much anticipated picture post*

Day one; I put sunglasses over my glasses and transformed into a sex bomb!

We stopped at Kekabeka falls and saw the picture of the mighty princess.

Scraping the frost off the windows in Thunder Bay.

A true Winnipegger always has the window scraper handy! Even in September!

Stopped in Thunder Bay to do a quick reenactment of a picture taken many years ago!

Stopped randomly on the side of the road for a little lunch.

It turned out to be a beautiful little spot!

I got my permanent markers out and we marked ourselves.

I wonder how long permanent marker can withstand the elements..?

Stopped for a little sight seeing in Bachawana Bay on our way to Sault Ste. Marie.

Our cozy little space in the Soo with on my first couch surfing trip!

We arrived and went out for a nice supper with the

lovely woman I am staying with (and her brother!)

I soon realized that I have NO pictures of any of the people we stayed with (other than Kathryn). I'm pretty bummed out about this, but am so thankful to all of them for opening their homes to us, especially on such short notice! So thanks again guys! You made this fun road trip comfortable and cheep!

*This blog took me about 3 days to complete (very poor internet and loading images isn't easy!). Much frustration and anger went into this, so you better enjoy it!