Anni Adventures

Can't believe it's the last day of the 2014. This past year has been a huge roller coaster to say the least.

This year was a year of travels. A year of trying new things. A year of heart breaks and finding love. A year of gain and lost.

I was privileged to have been able to return to Taiwan in January and see my grandma one last time. Even though seeing her in her fragile state brought tears to my eyes, I knew she's had a fulfilling life.

I then went through a breakup that tore my life apart. But it opened up opportunities and let me learn lessons about myself. I learned to not waste the time I have and created a bucketlist. I planned for a future I was uncertain of.

In the span of a few months i found and lost someone that was very dear to me. Words cannot express how sad I am that he is no longer in my life. In the short time that our romance existed we did so much. We travelled to las Vegas and shared some firsts.  But things didn't work out. The time together would never be forgotten though.

I left my job. Finally.

I took off on a solo trip to Japan and Korea in the middle of hard times. It was both good and bad. I had always wanted to travel by myself and this was the perfect time. During the trip I had to overcome language barriers and not knowing anyone in the native countries. I challenged myself to climb mt Fuji in Japan and bukhansan in Korea. I walked nearly 400 km in the three weeks abroad. I learned to adapt to other cultures and being by myself. I made friends that made the trip that much more special.

I then started a new job that came at the best time.

I went back east to Ontario twice to attend friend's weddings and catch up with friends I haven't seen in ages. It was also during this time that I lost my grandmother.  Words couldn't express how lonely I felt when my dad broke the news to me over the phone.

I grew a fondness for climbing and climbed the chief and grouse grind.

I started taking classes to move closer forward my goal of being a wedding planner. 

And most of all I gave love another chance.

In the new year. I look forward to more travels and my new found passion, hiking,  and less drama. I hope to try harder and be happier. What do you look back on? What do you look forward to?

The other day my good friend and I were actually talking about it and we both admitted that we don't normally use antiperspirants. But I was still just as eager to get this. I love the smell of the antiperspirant. It really gives off a floral fragrance that may or may not be for everyone. I used it a couple times already and It really does it's job. I've used the regular non-gel type before, and I'm not such a fan as it leaves residue, but this one so far has yet to do so. It's still a bit too early to tell whether I'd use this regularly, but time will tell :)

Friday night after work my boyfriend and I had a date night. We decided to go to Vancouver Christmas Market. Its a German market in downtown Vancouver selling food and knick knacks. Regularly tickets sold for $7 per person. But there was a groupon for $12 for two people which also includes two carousel rides and two seasons passes.  I Happened to buy the groupon when there was an additional 20% off which made it even more worth it.

There was a long line up upon arrival but it went surprisingly fast.  Because I didn't read the fine prints of the groupon properly we forfeited the carousel ride because we went on a Friday. 

After walking around the market, we ended having a Bavarian smokie. For $9.00!!!

We then saw the haxn stand next to it ands immediately regretted getting the smokie. We ended up getting it as well which was another $9.00!! :(

Our poor wallet was crying.  After that we decide we had enough of the crowd and overpriced food. We left the market in search of great food.

We ended up at Falconetti's. We had seen it featured the previous night on diners, drive-ins and ... for their, guess what? Sausages! We arrived around 7:40 and were seated promptly. Apparently either they're always this busy or we went on a bad night because after we ordered which both of us didn't order their featured sausages, he had the quesadillas and I had the pulled pork burger, it was an hour for the food.  The place was not that big and was packed and there was a live band too which was probably why. But I think we were the only ones there just for the food. It was disappointing that the rest of it ruined the experience for us. The pulled pork burger which had a coleslaw accompaniment was good not great.  The pulled pork was good but dry in parts so was inconsistent. 

In the end with deary's beer our bill came out to be $40+ which was still a bit on the high end. This turned out to be a pricey date. Hopefully we'll be brighter next time.