APB - 2011 Retreat Calgary!

As you all know the 2011 Retreat was in Calgary this year and it was planned around the Stampede so we could all get the chance to experience this fun Calgary tradition. Carrie, Cheryl, Susan, Gina and Natalie were all at this retreat and it was a blast! A big thanks to Gina and Natalie for planning the Retreat and a super big thanks to Natalie and her family for inviting us all to stay with them. They have a beautiful home and a perfect basement for a good old fashion sleepover with sorority sisters.

The Retreat consisted of a lot of great talking and catching up, We did one big night out at a dinner theater and it was really funny. I think we all enjoyed the live comedy show and the food was amazing. We also spent one entire day at the Stampede where we watched lots of rodeo and the Chuck-wagon races. We also got tickets to the Grandstand Show, ate everything greasy and yummy we could find and bought tickets to the try and win the prize home (sadly none of us won). We also sent hours touring the demo booths and checking out all the cool gadgets and gimmicky stuff. Natalie even bought a super cool Popsicle maker that we had to test when we go home and it really did work well. We also spent an entire day going to Banff... It was a blast to do a little road trip with some sisters again and we even managed to get ourselves lost. Getting lost turned into a lot of good laughs. After stopping for direction we were able to get going in the right direction and had a great day of shopping and a wonderful lunch in Banff. Overall it was a wonderful weekend... Just like most retreats we worked our way thought many bottles of wine, had several good heart-to-hearts, generated a lot of good inside jokes and of course took a bunch of great pictures. So it was another wonderful APB Retreat and everyone is looking forward to the 2012 Retreat in Vancouver. So start saving your money and mark your calendars because the next Retreat will be here before you know it.

Vancouver's Pasta Dinner Date

It has been a while since the Vancouver Chapter had an event so I figured now that summer is coming to an end we should all get together and find out what we all have been up to over the summer months. We did take more pictures... but I didn't have my flash turned on (not super camera smart) so these are the only pics that turned out. Wish I had more to share... Sorry!

Carrie, Ashlyn, Laura and Thomas we all able to come over to my house for a traditional Uni style Spag dinner. There is nothing like pasta and wine to get a bunch of us talking. Everyone seems to have had a great summer, full of different trips and lots of activities. It was really great hosting some sisters and getting in some gab time. Now we are looking forward to our annual Corn Maze Gamma Chapter even in Oct. Hopefully some of the island girls can come over for the Oct event.

Miss you all and wish you could have all been at the dinner.

~Suzy~

Hello Ladies.. (in the old spice guy voice)

Hello ladies,

I thought I should post an update since a hole bunch of stuff has been happening in the last month. So where to begin.. well in May I graduated from BCIT with an Advanced Diploma in Geographic Information Systems.. which is basically I make maps and find stuff using some crazy software on the computer. It was a difficult 8 months filled with 8-9 classes in a semester plus labs. Holy!

I survived and entered the month of June with optimism of a job right a way. well that did not happen. I must of applied to 30+ companies within southern BC and received only 1 interview. I wasn't alone in this endeavour either most of my classmates where in the same boat. So I started applying outside of BC and at the beginning of August I had a phone interview with Polar Geomatic Solutions in Red Deer. The next day I got the job! yay! They wanted me there as soon as possible so within the week I had travelled up to PG to pick up a truck that my dad is loaning me, pack up my stuff in Vancouver and drove to Airdrie.

I arrived here Friday night and had some places to look at saturday. These places were move in ready all i had to do was take a peak and say ill take it. but that did not work out so well. On my way into Red Deer 2 places called and said they were already rented but they had some available on the 1st if I wanted to check them out. So I thought might as well just in case I cannot find something sooner. So I get into Red Deer and arrive at an apartment building that had a suite available now, I get in and OMG gross! blarg! it was so small and the cheap flooring was peeling. The kitchen was probably the smallest kitchen I have ever seen in an apartment. Needless to say I was not taking this one. So now I was left with finding new apartments that were available immediately. Here is a warning for you ladies... do not use craigslist! lol well you can but be wary about it. A lot of the places that were listed said available now yet when I called they were available September 15th... definitely not going to work. So after spending most of my day trying to find a place that was now available I ended up at one of the original buildings I was looking at that had a 2 bedroom available for the 1st. Went in and the suite is so nice! It gets the morning sun and overlooks a park. So I decided I wasnt going to find anything else since they keep getting snatched up or are total dives. So Im moving in to my new place on the 1st! Right now I will be staying in Airdrie with a friends parents (to which no words can express my gratitude for their generosity) and I will commute to work until I can move in.

So this means I shall be joining the Alberta chapter! I will contact the girls once I am no longer living out of a suitcase.. which by the way I have to find my shoes for work... hmm anyhoo thats what is new with me, hope all is well with you all.

~Andrea D

Update

Well ladies it's been a while since I've posted and wow has a lot changed in my life. The last time I posted I believe I had just moved down to the lower mainland and had just started working for Peter Kiewit. Since then I have switched work locations to North Burnaby and moved around positions a little bit. Now I'm about to embark on a new work adventure! I have just taken a camp position in Mayo, Yukon! To give you an idea of where that is, I take a 2 hours flight to Whitehorse, then it's a 4 and half hour van ride from the airport to camp. So it's north.... waaaay north.... I'm a little nervous and very excited to go. They say that there is pretty much no night time up there right now and that the sun shines for 20 hours or so a day. It's all very crazy exciting and it should be a good adventure. Overall the post is a really good move for my career and I'm super lucky that Ian is also excited about the change in work as well. Ironically it means we'll probably get to see more of each other as we currently work opposite shifts and our days off are not the same.

In other news, Ian and I recently purchased a townhouse in Surrey and I am in love with our new place. Our new home is a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom 3 level house and it is about 1,200 square ft. The lower level is a 2 car tandem garage, the main level has the yard off the kitchen and the living/dinning area and then the upstairs has the bedrooms and bathrooms. We also managed to drag Andrea along with us which must mean she's still able to put up with us...lol! The complex that we live in also has a huge clubhouse with crazy amenities. There is a pool, hot tub, movie theatre room, gym , and even an indoor floor hockey rink! It's super fun and the hot tub is awesome after a long day. The area that we live in is also quite the regular barn yard it seems, I have seen rabbits, squirrels, peacocks, and the other day a chicken. I will miss the townhouse for sure when I am up north but it will make coming home just that much sweeter.

Well those are the major changes in my life recently. I had planned on coming to retreat this year I even had my flights booked and everything but sadly with the new job change there is just no way I can make it this year. I hope you ladies have an absolute ton of fun and trust me I would way rather be there then stuck in the Yukon. Unfortunately, sometimes life throws you curve balls and you have to just roll with it. Anyways I miss you all and I'm sure I will miss you even more in the months to come.

Love,

Robyn

What a year!

Wow, it's been so long where do I start! I won't take you back to the beginning but I'll take you to December of 2009... Last year (Jan 2009) I started school again, this time to become a teacher. It was truly the best choice in a long time, and one that seemed to set off a long line of great choices and happy endings :) In December of 2009 I was granted permission to do my final teaching practicum in Nanaimo. At this time I moved in with my fiance Micheal, and boy what a change it was to go from me living on the mainland and him living on the island and us seeing eachother only on weekends and holidays! Everything takes time and adjustment and those of you who know me know I was pretty set in my ways and had been single a looong time! In March of 2009 I graduated from SFU with a Bachelor of Education degree and a minor in Learning and Developmental Disabilities. Not so great for me however was that there were NO teaching jobs on the island at that time. And even less fortunate for me there remains to be NO teaching jobs on the island! Nanaimo didn't even open their TOC list due to the 700 teachers on lay off recall this year.. Oy Vey! Well let's look at this in the positive... it sure gave me a lot of time to plan my wedding! lol. On October 8th, 2010 Micheal and I were married! I am truly the happiest women around, he is the rest of my life and truly gets me... yup he gets me (and he puts up with me!). We went to the Dominican for two weeks on our honeymoon, it was sunny, hot and sandy! I could go back there now! When we came back I was hoping that maybe something for teaching on the island would open up, however it still refused to budge so I started to apply to districts in the North (more short term positions because then I could always go home!). In the morning on January 6th 2011 I recieved a call from the cariboo-chilcotin School District (#27 Wiliams Lake) saying they wanted to interview me for a position in Big Lake. That afternoon they did a telephone interview and on Friday the 7th they offered me the position and asked me to be in Big Lake by Sunday the 16th to start Monday the 17th! Well what a shock this has been! I am currently/temporarily living in Williams Lake. Lisa Walker was so great and she hooked me up with a place to stay (Thank goodness for Lisa!) I am currently in my third week of teaching a multi grade class. I teach primarily K-3 however 75 min a day or more I teach K-7!! It sure has been something to get used to and no teacher training prepared me for this! It has been a great experience so far, the school, staff, parents and students are super great and they have all been so welcoming. It has sure made this move easier seeing as I have left my husband of 3 months in Nanaimo! This opportunity is going to be the best for me however because I have so much going for me when I apply for teaching jobs in Nanaimo after this. Not only can I put that I have taught K-7 (in my first year teaching)but I am also the Teacher in Charge when the principal is away and I get special all day K training. Pretty fortunate experience coming here to Williams Lake/Big Lake! And to top off all the great fortune that has happened in the last year.. On January 21st 2011 at 8:06 am Micheal and I found out we're Pregnant! 2011 is definitly going to be the year of the deRuiters! We are thrilled and over joyed (now if I can just get my husband up here for a few months it would all be ok!). I go for an early ultrasound Feb 18th to pinpoint my due date (I'm not on a 28 day cycle so they need to make sure), however as of now they predict my estimated due date is Sept 30th. Yippee Yay! Well thats all my fun and exciting news for now, I promise to try and keep everyone better updated. Love and miss you all

Mellie

Belated Blog Posts for Gamma Chapter

I think my fellow Gamma chapter members will fire me from doing the blog post soon. I'm a few behind. In any case, here's what we've been up to for the past few months.

October Corn Maze

Sandra came over from Gibsons with her husband Walter and their dog Bear. My husband Shane and our two dogs Quito and Cuenca also came out. Robyn dragged Andrea away from her studying. We all enjoyed wading in the mud on a beautiful sunny day in the Corn Maze of Cloverdale. It was especially nice hanging out with Walter & Sandra afterwards at my house for a BBQ.

November - Operation Christmas Child

We collected 5 Boxes for Operation Christmas Child this year! I hope the children receiving them had a wonderful Christmas with new toys, school supplies, and hygiene items. The photo includes the ones from my church too as I collected those too. And yes, Cuenca had to make her appearance! I hope the PG ladies do their post too as we had a "charity challenge" I hope we're able to do more in the future!

Christmas Party

Catherine graciously hosted the Christmas party this year. Thank you Catherine! We loved seeing your beautiful, new condo and watching Levo's tricks. Our annual pot-luck Christmas party was every bit of delicious as usual! Thanks for bringing your best ladies! We had a great time hanging out as we had an early dinner allowing lots of time to catch up with each other. Good food, good conversation, and good wine. A definite successful APB event!

Christmas Lights

Despite our lack of planning, we had a wonderful evening out together. Dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory was super yummy and Adam was an amazingly well-behaved 3 year old! Can't say the same for Susan though ... ;) Then it was off to Stanley Park to enjoy the lights display and some roasted chestnuts. We'll have to save the train for another year when we plan ahead to get tickets.

2010 Has been an awesome year with friendships strengthened and good times had by all involved. Thanks Robyn for leading this awesome group of Gamma women! I always feel so proud of everyone whenever we get together. Such a diverse group, each woman with her own strengths. I gain so much from being a part of this group. Here's looking forward to 2011!