Newfie Penguins.

In this past week I've actually lost two very monumental thing's. I knew that both of these were coming for a long time but I didn't know when, and unfortunately they landed at the same time!

1. Joey. Okay, it's not like he's lost out to sea, but he is no longer officially residing Chez Pope, which is a tragedy of its own. 3 years me and this boy have been roommates, and I am really going to miss him. I've decided against getting another 4th roommate for multiple reasons, so instead Smitty will be officially getting his own space (which he desperately needs) and I am going to foster a rabbit to cope with the pain. 

2. SUBARU POPE. This one is a little more tragic, because it is genuinely gone forever. A gasket blew in the engine and it would cost more to fix then its worth so unfortunately Old Subaru will be cannibalized for parts and melted down into another life. I actually had a lot of trouble coming to terms with this, as besides the engine there were so many good thing's in the car but it still had basically no value. On the bright side, St. John's air and noise pollution has since seen a 50% decrease :P AND my beyond-amazing-words-can't-explain-boyfriend has insured yours truly on his truck. Which is basically his most prized possession so I am more then honored to say the least. So now I drive a truck, which is silly, and actually more efficient then my car, so yay.

Besides these two events, it was another lovely week/weekend. Smitty and Joey were both home at the same time which is basically like a solar eclipse so we had a going away/birthday party to celebrate on Friday. Unfortunately it pissed poured rain but we still managed to have a good time, and I woke up next to Smitty and Sierra, which is awesome.

On Saturday myself, Dan, Smit & Christina drove out to Bay Bulls to go on a boat tour we had scheduled but to our surprise it was cancelled! That didn't stop us though, we ventured out to Brigue to get some world-famous E&E's, paid 2$ to get into the Cupid's Cupers Soiree, and explored the historic town of Cupids (400+ years!)

On Sunday we attempted the boat tour again, this time with Sierra (WIN) and it went ahead! And they had beer! Triple win! The boat was INTENSE though,but the beer actually helped a lot (somehow). It was cute, and we got to see puffins, also known as Newfie Penguins

It was a good weekend. Now Smitty is gone again (hate Every 3rd Tuesday for this reason!) but he just got a call to go to work in long harbor finally!! Of course he would the day he's flying back to Alberta... but that's just life! My good friend Laura is also coming back into St. John's today, and she brought the sunshine with her! Many more happy days to come

Love,

Lora

S.S. Pope

Another successful summer fun filled weekend!

10/08/2012 Outside Velvet Club

Despite having to start my weekend by going to the dentist (and having two cavities - I'm so ashamed!), it turned out pretty damn good. Gerard and Dave came over on Friday and we drank India and shooted the shit. Despite Dave stating several times that he would not be going downtown that evening, after about 3 beers he was more than insistent on it. I wasn't so sure myself but then after finding out that Mofo was down there I had no choice. What/Who is Mofo you ask? Only one of the best human beings to ever exist! She was one of my best friends before I left for Ireland (which seems like a lifetime ago), but due to life being life we were never in the same place for the past 3 years. However, now she is back in my fair city and I couldn't be more pleased. How could this summer get possibly any sweeter? Well.....

Me and Sierra have had this plan to buy a kiddie pool and put it in my backyard , and we were dead set on doing that this past Saturday. However, after going and calling every store in St. John's that could possibly sell a kiddie pool we admitted defeat that there were just none let in the city (Damn the DRC's of St. John's!). ALL HOPE WAS NOT LOST THOUGH! We decided to go swimming in this pond that Maddison told us about up in Torbay and thought we'd swing by Canadian Tire first to see if could find some sort of flotation device. And did we ever. I present to you, the S.S. Pope:

A fine vessel indeed. The skies even cleared up for us and we rowed,chatted and floated among the pond. We finished the excursion with a tasty old feed of Rustlers, which is amazingly delicious if you were not aware. An epic journey indeed! I decided against going out that night because I was so tired from rowing and thought I'd just cash in on a solid night's sleep... Unfortunately life had other plans for me.

Delicious Rustlers Feed - Pics stolen from Sierra!

I was attacked by a wasp in my sleep.

Yes, it's as horrifying as it sounds. That little fucker went under my blanket and of course when I awoke to this I started flailing everywhere which he wasn't down with so he stung me FOUR times. It was immensely painful, and I wasn't able to sleep much that night, or morning. 

The next day I wasn't about to let some effing wasp ruin my almost perfect weekend so I continued on with my summer fun. 

I went up to my Dad's house because my sister is home for a visit and we went Blueberry/Raspberry picking, and let me tell you, those berries are as tasty as ever. During the picking the weather started to get really warm so we decided to head down to the river for a Flatrock swim, and Papa Pope even came! I can't remember for the life of the last time the three of us went swimming together, it was truly a special pope family moment : )

After all that adventuring I still managed to come home and clean up my room, AND updated the picture collage in the hallway. That's one for the checklist! Later that night me and Sierra attempted to go watch the meteor shower, but it was too overcast to see anything (surprise, surprise) so we watched Blossom instead. Which is pretty much just as awesome as a meteor shower.

Despite the wasp stings and the immense pain I am suffering from it today, it was a very lovely weekend, one that makes you really appreciate everything you have in the world : )

Goals.

My friend Sarah did this before and I love the idea so I am going to attempt it myself:

Me on an Australian beach - a goal I completed while I was 22!

If you don't know, these are 23 personal goals that I hope to reach before I turn 24 (which leaves me a little late because I've already been 23 for over a month)! So here it goes -

1. Travel to another continent! Specifically either Go to Thailand with Olga & Jake or to Germany to visit my sister (and bring Smitty too!)
2. Get rid of Gracie's bumps (or at least come to terms with them)
3. Update that collage I have in my house of all my dear friends with some more.. recent pictures.
4.  Finish my degree.
5. Get a 4.0 in my last term (this fall)
6. Find meaningful employment after I graduate.
7. Attempt to figure out my career goals.
8. Write the GMAT and score a 650+
9. Get two relateable MUCEP jobs in my last term (or one 80-hour one)
10. Find an organization to volunteer with that I actually give a shit about.
11. Reduce my carbon footprint!
12. Contribute something back to society
13. Read at least 5 books (I know that's not a lot, but it's shameful how much I don't read for leisure)
14. Keep blogging on a continuous basis (like, at least a couple times a month)
15. Do boot camp.
16. Opt to walk instead of driving on a more regular basis, and generally go outside more.
17. Continue being happy and enjoying my youth.
18. Make a new good friend.
19. Keep good contact with my current good friends.
20. Have an awesome, perhaps epic, party.
21. Do something that enhances the value of my house.
22. Watch 5 classic movies I should have seen by now (stole this one from you Sarah).
23.  Come up with a justifiable reason (ie. career related) to go live in South America.

It's been a while.

Oh hello there blog.

So kind of you to wait around for me to write an entry. I know, I know, I'm the worst. I did attempt some sort of overseas blog but I'm going to blame the failure of that on New Zealand's internet seriously being stuck in the 90's... it took all my bandwidth just to load a picture! I swear! Anyways, no more excuses now that I'm back in the land of unlimited data.

New Zealand was SWEET AS. I miss it a lot (mainly the people), but I am happy to be back home in Newf. Life here has been amazing since I got back actually. Besides the global world collapsing around me, life in my little bubble is doing better then ever. I was worried about getting a job because I came back at an awkward time in the summer but I lucked into getting one at this awesome organization, the Community Sector Council. I wanted office experience and to be getting that at an organization that is actually helping society is just the cherry on the cake! Or however that saying goes.On top of that, the weather has been AMAZING. Best summer I've seen in St. John's in years, so that adds a lot of happiness (and my garden is kicking ass!) Been hanging out with a lot of friends, new and old, and even rekindling some burnt bridges : ). Smitty had to go back to Alberta, but he got a really good shift with travel money so he's home every two weeks which is really nice. My mom got married last weekend and I now I have about 20 new awesome family members! Life is just good, I haven't been this happy in a long time. Now if we could just solve all those economic, environmental, and social problems.....

Thanks to Sarah we finally got some awesome roommate pictures!!