Where am I now?

I just wanted to give you all an update as to where I am now!

I have completely finished my university degree now. I'm still waiting on my final results, so keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm working at a job that I really enjoy. Kurtis and I recently celebrated our one year anniversary and our relationship keeps growing stronger and we fall more in love with each other every day.

At the end of next month I'll be heading back to Vancouver, but this time on a 2 year working holiday visa. Kurtis lives in an apartment close to UBC, so I will be moving in with him. It's a big step for us but we're ready for it :) I'll be spending January settling in and catching up with everyone. In February Mum, Dad and Luke are coming over to visit for 3 weeks. They'll spend the first week in Whistler, so Kurtis and I will join them for the weekend. The next 2 weeks will be in Vancouver so they will be there for my 21st birthday. In March I'll start looking for a job. Don't ask me where, or doing what, because I have no idea yet! I'll figure it out along the way.

Although I'm so excited to go over to Canada and live with Kurtis and be close to all my friends over there, I'm also so sad to be leaving my friends and family here in Australia, especially my Mum. Her and I are so close. Sometimes I wish I could be like Hannah Montana, and have the best of both worlds. I'm going to be nervous when I leave because for the first time ever I only have a one way flight, and I don't know when I'll be back. But it's a really exciting adventure and new chapter in my life, and it gives my Aussie friends and family an excuse to come to Canada and visit me :)

I'm excited for what the future holds.

Love,

Emily

Kurtis

Hey everyone

Continuing on with my story about my trip to Vancouver in July...

On the Friday, Kursty and I went thrift shopping. We went to this huge thrift store called Value Village and she bought a lot of things for Kurtis when he moved out of home and into an apartment close to UBC for the school year. We then went and had a really nice lunch at a restaurant. I love yam fries ;)

We then went to Kitsilano, which is an area close to UBC, because we had an appointment to view an apartment for Kurtis while he was at work. We really liked it but it was a bit expensive so we decided not to apply. 

When Kurtis got home from work that night we got in the car and drove an hour to the town called Abbotsford, where we were spending the weekend. After checking in to our hotel, we went to the drive-in movies!! I had never been before so I was super excited. 

We got to see Despicable Me 2 and World War Z. The second movie didn't come on till almost midnight, and I thought I would fall asleep during it because I was so tired, but it was so scary and full of suspense that it kept me awake!

The next day we slept in then had a super late brunch. We went to Castle Fun Park which had 3 mini golf courses, bowling, go karts, and an arcade. It was sooo much fun. We played on all 3 mini golf courses. One was outside, one was under the sea themed, and another was jungle themed. I only won one game. We played a lot of arcade games as well, like a giant Connect 4.

We got to take photobooth photos too, which I love!

Before we left we went to the prize booth to choose our prizes from the amount of tickets we had won. Kurtis didn't have enough to get me a giant teddy bear like I wanted, but he did get me a very very small teddy bear that fits into the palm of my hand. It's very cute. When we got back to the hotel we watched an episode of Dexter, before walking to a restaurant to have a nice dinner. This is the mountain we saw in the distance while the sun was setting :)

On Sunday we went to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for breakfast, which was so good. We drove back to Kurtis' hometown of Maple Ridge, and went to a video store where his friend Kyle works so I could meet him. We then went to a local mall and met up with Ian and Casey. We then went to their friend Leanne's house for Casey and Leanne's birthday party. I met a lot of Kurtis' friends at the party. We had a lot of fun playing Pictionary. Kurtis and I were a team and we ended up winning :D

The next day I went to downtown Vancouver to meet up with my UBC girls! I was so excited to catch up with them. I met up with Keira and Naiomi first at English Bay Beach,  and we sat on a bench for ages just talking about what we had been up to. 

We then met up with Yusy, Yun, Kelsey, and Kelly for lunch. 

Afterwards we met up with Nicole and walked to Robson St. We all got gelato and looked in some stores. We went into this really cool vintage shop and some of the girls were trying on funny things. 

We later met up with Rebekah while we continued shopping. I had such a good day with all of them. We all had so much fun, and it made me so much more excited to see them again in the future. 

Kurtis drove and picked me up from downtown and we went home and had dinner with Kursty. She made us angel food cake for dessert which was really nice. Kurtis and I just stayed in for the night and watched an episode of Dexter and then Magic Mike. Here's a photo of Kurtis and I that Kursty took during dinner:

On Tuesday I went downtown with Kursty and we went to a tea and fondue place that she had a groupon voucher to. We met up with Allice and her work friend Angelika. We had both cheese and chocolate fondue with so many different things to dip in. It was delicious!! 

Afterwards, Kursty and I walked along Robson St and I got to do some shopping. I wish I had more time, I could have shopped so much more! The three of us had dinner together at home and Kursty took more photos.

That night, Kurtis and I went to his local cinema to see The Way Way Back, which was a really really good movie. We both loved it.

The next day I chilled at Kurtis' house and got to skype Mum. In the afternoon I went for a walk with Kursty at a local park, which was really nice. 

Then we came back and chilled before Kurtis got home from work. I gave Kursty her presents from Australia. I gave her a packet of Tim Tams, a handpainted mug, and handmade earrings. She loved them all. We then went out to a Japanese restaurant for dinner and had so much good food. I paid for it all as my thank you to them for letting me stay with them. After dinner we went back to the park and played a game of frisbee golf. 

It's basically like golf but with frisbees, and you have to throw them into these metal net things. I was so bad at it haha. I cannot throw a frisbee straight! It kept going sideways into the bushes. Kurtis and I then played on the playground while Kursty took photos of us. 

When we got home Kurtis and I watched Definitely Maybe.

On Thursday I went to White Rock with Kursty. It was about a 40 min drive away. We went to the beach, but the water was too cold for a swim so we laid on our towels and relaxed. I was wearing sunscreen, but I must not have reapplied in time, because I got very very sunburnt on my legs and chest. Trust for it to happen on my very last day! We had fish and chips for lunch, and then drove home. 

When Kurtis got home, I said goodbye to Kursty and she teared up. It was my last night with Kurtis so we were staying in a hotel for the night close to the airport. We went to a restaurant close to the hotel for dinner which was really good, and shared a New York cheesecake for dessert. 

A cinema was right across from our hotel so, Kurtis being the movie lover that he is, of course we had to go. We ended up seeing Wolverine because Kurtis was dying to see it, and I'm the best girlfriend ever.

The next day we had breakfast in the hotel, and then drove around Richmond which is the town around the airport. We went to Best Buy and I bought some CDs and Kurtis bought some DVDs. We went to Whitespot and had burgers for lunch before heading to the airport. I had a huge cry, and Kurtis gave me lots of cuddles and kisses. It was so hard to say goodbye. We had the best two weeks together, and I'm so glad I had the chance to go over and visit. It brought so much closer together and it was exactly what we needed. It just confirmed to us how much we want to be together. 

Love,
Emily

Reunited

Hi everyone!!

I am so sorry I've been away from this blog for so long. I got so busy! I now have a job and I've been working there for just over a month and it's going really well :) And last week I submitted my final assessment for my university degree! So I'm completely done!! It feels amazing, and such a relief!

So in my last blog post, I left you in suspense as to what happened when I turned the corner at the airport in Vancouver in July! Well, now you're about to find out what happened. I saw Kurtis standing there with a big sign that said "I love you Emily Bressington". All together now, awwwww!! I wanted to run to him but I had all my luggage and I was stuck behind all these old people walking really slowly and I couldn't get around! The running towards each other at the airport scenario is not as easy as it looks in the movies!! When I eventually got around to him, we kissed and hugged for so long. It was so good to see him again. We walked to the parking lot and I got to see his car for the first time.

We drove to New Westminster, where we were staying in a hotel for the first weekend. Our room was on the 4th floor and had a little balcony overlooking the river. In the morning we ordered a $50 breakfast from room service which was really yummy, then just lazed around in the hotel. In the afternoon we went to a local mall. We had lunch in the food court, and then Kurtis was trying to find a birthday present for his sister but he couldn't think of anything. We went to Kurtis' mum's house to say hello. Her name is Kursty. Kurtis didn't tell her we were coming to visit so she was definitely surprised! 

We then went back to the hotel and got changed for dinner. We drove to Kurtis' sisters' house. I met his sister Allice, her boyfriend Matt, and their daughter (Kurtis' niece) Haley, and Kurtis' dad Rob. I was so nervous but I think they all liked me, and it went better than I expected. They were all really nice. We had Chinese food for dinner. I gave Haley a stuffed toy koala and a t-shirt with a kangaroo and koala on it as presents from Australia. She is soo adorable, and loved her gifts. She wore the t-shirt straight away. 

I had gotten Allice some earrings that were handmade in Australia as a gift, which also worked out as a good birthday present! We played a board game called Adliners, where every one sees random photos from real ads, and gets given cards with different ad slogans, and you have to choose the slogan that fits with that photo the best. Then everyone votes on which one is the best, and that person gets points. It was really fun. I came second!

The next day we went out for brunch, and then walked along the quay at New Westminster. 

In the afternoon we went in the hotel's hot tub, then walked through the streets just window shopping. We went to dinner at a local pub.

On Monday we drove back to Kurtis' house early in the morning because Kurtis still had a full time summer job so he had to go to work. I spent the day with Kursty and we went grocery shopping. Kurtis came home at lunch time to check up on me, and when he came home at the end of the day he had bought me a single red rose :) So sweet. 

The three of us had dinner together, then Kurtis and I walked about 5 minutes to the closest cinema and saw Monsters University which was so good.

The next day I stayed in watching the O.C., one of my all time favourite TV shows. Before I left in July I had watched about half of season 2 (I do a marathon pretty much every year). Kurtis bought me season 2 and gave it to me when I arrived so that I could continue with my marathon while he was working during the 2 weeks that I was there. I also got to skype Mum that day. When Kurtis got home after work we went to his best friend Ian's and his girlfriend Casey's place. This was my first time meeting any of Kurtis' childhood friends, so I was so nervous to make a good impression. We all went to subway to get food, then went back to their place and put on The Lion King and then Enchanted while we played Scrabble. I hadn't played Scrabble in years, so I was pretty terrible at it. I was pretty quiet and shy, but they were really nice.

On Wednesday I went to Granville Island to see a play called Avenue Q with Kursty. Beforehand we went into the Granville Island food market to have lunch and gelato. 

We then saw the play, and it was like an adult version of Sesame Street cause it was all puppets! It was really really funny. Afterwards, we walked around Granville Island and looked at all the art stores. We went back into the food market and bought some little desserts to take home. That night, Kursty went out so Kurtis made me dinner. It was the first time he cooked for me. He made taco lasagna, which is like a Mexican lasagna but layered with taco meat and soft taco shells. It was really yum! We then watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit, one of his favourite movies that I hadn't seen before, before going to bed.

The next day I went with Kursty while she ran all her errands. That night, Kurtis took me out for a driving night to show me all the places that he had lived in the past and his elementary schools and his high school. We got out and walked around his high school and we sat down and he told me stories. It was really sweet that he opened up and let me see into his life before I was a part of it. We then went to a 50s style diner and had dinner. On the way home we stopped at Tim Hortons, which is like a Canadian coffee place, and got donut holes. We listened to old 90s/early 2000s songs like the Spice Girls, and sang and laughed and had so much fun together :)

I'll continue with the second part of my trip in another blog post.

Love,
Emily