Anni Adventures

Ever since I saw my friends back in Ontario participate in the Tough Mudder, I've had my heart set on doing the same. Two things have always stood in my way. Timing and Team. It was harder than I thought to convince people to throw themselves in the mud with me. I also had to be in town for the actual event.

He claims to have the best sandwiches in North America. Everyone calls him the sandwich Nazi, and to be honest I don't doubt these claims. La Charcuterie, the name of the deli, is CASH only and cellphones are forbidden. I recommend you not tempt fate on this one. I visited on a Saturday afternoon because the deli's hours are spontaneous and if he runs out of bread, he'll close up for the day.

As you enter, you'll notice the ambiance as something different. I didn't know quite what to expect. He was going on about prostitutes and other vulgar topics, I wasn't sure if I would make it through the experience. The deli has a menu, although its quite useless because he just adds to the sandwich what he feels like, and there really isn't saying no to him. He makes 6-8 sandwiches all at once and while doing so he carries on random conversations.

We bought two sandwiches, and the whole process took about half an hour with the lineup as long as it was. It came out to $20, ($8 each for the sandwich, drink and tip). Considering how much food it is, I'd say that was cheap. If you're a light eater like me, this could equal 4 meals or more.

I took a picture of the sandwich after getting home and opening it up. as you can see, its the size of my fist. you can't even wrap your mouth around it.

The experience was crazy, I'd definitely go back, although I'd personally prefer to add more dressing as mustard was all that was added.

I am so happy to say that I FINALLY get to check skydiving off my bucketlist! This was weeks in the making. For my birthday present almost a month ago, my darling brother bought me a weekday skydive at Skydive Vancouver!

We initially planned to fly the day after my birthday. However, the  weather wouldn't cooperate and ever since then we've had to keep pushing it off. We finally found the time this week to go and the weather was just fantastic!

We took all of our pictures before and after the jump because to the photo/video package would have been another $100+ which was definitely not in our budget.

We got suited up and given quick tutorials of what positions we needed to be in before the jump, and right after the jump out of the airplane. I was overly excited so they had to repeat because I didn't actually take it all in. Once suited, we were brought to another waiting area. There we waited for the airplane to come back after dropping off the last load of divers. While we waited, we got to see the previous group fly in and it was just amazing to see. One tandem in particular did a near vertical drop until the last 15-20 ft I'd say before coming in for a perfect landing.

My instructor, Jesse, was very awesome. We had a quick chat going up and I told him I was up for anything exciting! Once we were up in the air and got to the right altitude, we were the second tandem of six to jump. We did a back flip as we exited the aircraft and proceeded to free fall. Let me just say that that feeling is indescribable. The wind is full on in your face and you see everything below you coming closer and closer. Before I knew it Jesse deployed the parachute. This is when I really got to enjoy the scenery. On a nice day like today Mt. Baker looked extremely majestic in the distance. We did a few spins and drops that just reminded me a lot of paragliding! We touched down for the most perfect landing too! The whole thing, from the plane taking off to landing took us maybe 20 min. It's also the best 20 minutes I've ever had. I told Jesse he had an amazing job, because right after we landed, he and the other instructors ran off to take the next group of jumpers. Imagine skydiving over 5-6 times a day and getting paid to do so!

This experience is one that will be hard to forget and I'm glad I got to do it with someone I love. That made this experience all the better. It's also another thing I can cross off my bucketlist and share with those around me.

Never be afraid to follow your dreams!