We all Drank the Kool-Aid!

Hey Everyone… I hope you are all doing well!

Well as I am sure you all know by now there is a very interesting virus going around the APB Alumnae Vancouver Chapter! It seems that several of us have caught the Pregnancy virus (Hehehe). Of course I am just being silly we are all thrilled to be having babies it is just such a coincidence that we are all going to be having kids so close together. Natalie D just had her little baby boy last month and Carrie, Melanie and myself are all also going be adding to our families in the next few months. We all went out for coffee the other day to catch up and talk and we snapped a few pictures so I figured I would share.

Unfortunately the lighting was really bad so the pics didn’t turn out very well, but you get the idea!

Smiles ~Susan~

Rush 2012: APB Alumnae Dinner

Hi ladies!

The active chapter had their Rush week back in September (I'm just late posting about it), and the PG Alumnae were invited to a few events. We joined the local girls on their hike to Shane Lake (Chiara, Cheryl Abraham (Wilson) and myself), as well as hosting the Alumnae dinner.

About 13 pledges made it to the end of Rush week, and were invited to the by-invitation-only dinner at my house. 13 or 15 active girls were present as well - I'm surprised my tiny house was able to hold all 28-ish of us! Representing the Alumnae were Chiara Mann, Amanda Frost, Janice Montbriand and myself.

I've included some pictures of the event in this posting. 10 girls pledged this year. Regretfully, the active chapter was unable to find a member to "revive" a branch of the family tree, but it remains in their plans for the future.

Janice Montbriand and Heather Ritchie

Active girls eating on the deck

Heather Ritchie and Amanda Frost

Chiara, sporting the APB colours on her shirt

Heather is reading the poems about Sisterhood that I had put on the walls. I also had bios from Gina and Robyn - both former presidents, with words of wisdom to the new pledges.

One of the active girls went all out decorating cupcakes

The other side of my living room - crammed with more girls!

One side of my living room - crammed with girls

Vancouver - APB Retreat - 2012

What can we say… As usual it was another great Alumnae Retreat! The 2012 APB Retreat turned out to be a blast and a total success. In attendance was Robyn, Thomas, Ashlyn, Susan, Sam, Carrie and Natalie (aka Nate). This was officially the Vancouver Retreat this year, but we decide to spice things up a little and head on over to the Sunshine Coast and rent a cabin for a weekend of just chilling out and have fun. We rented the Tuwanek Timbers cabin (which we are sure is owned by a women named Jan who likes to make Jam) it is located right in beautiful town of Sechelt, BC.

Unlike most Retreats we didn’t really have an agenda. There was no real plan for how we were going to spend our time and this seemed to work out perfectly. The first night was a bit of an unplanned adventure as we all tried to get off work on time, get to the liquor store, buy our groceries then get in line for the ferries. Anyone who has ever taken the BC ferries knows that taking the ferry is always and wild experience. We didn’t all make it on the same sailing, but that didn’t really matter… eventually we all made it to that cabin and honestly I think getting there was half the fun and when you are on a road trip the time to spend on the car can be the funniest and most memorable! Some of us even did some Vancouver Canuck Spotting while we waited in line for the ferry, while other indulged in Fish & Chips for dinner. Once we all arrived at the cabin we hit up the Hot Tub and had a fire in the backyard so we could relax with some wine and make some super yummy smores.

When we woke up on Saturday to the smell of Natalie making us all crapes, the sun was shining and it was a perfect day. Carrie and Susan decided to hire a guild and rent kayaks for a morning of paddling around the local marine park that is in the area. The rest of the group chose to head into town and visit the local Farmer’s Market that was happening and just check out the local area. From the sounds of it they found some cute guys in town to watch for a while. All and all it was a very easy going morning. Then we started drinking… The rest of the day consisted of playing board games and drink, then paying some more game and drinking some more, it was a very productive afternoon. After many hours of drinking it was decide it would be fun to head on down to the beach for sunset. It was a great time and turned out to be a fantastic photo opportunity... Hahaha! Minus the fact that Ashyln’s new white bathing suit was basically brown after she was buried in the sand and when Thomas got back to the cabin a few of us thought he might be frozen to death from laying in the cold wet sand the afternoon was a blast. Dinner was a delight, Susan& Sam BBQ’ed Cedar Plank Salmon and Carrie made a home made pie for after dinner. Unfortunately the salmon did catch on fire at one point, but thanks to Sam and Robyn’s fast thinking the dinner survived. As the sun set we kept on drink and eventually lowered our standard enough to drink the boxed wine that we had all been avoiding. This was when we busted out more board games and the learned a lot about each other while playing Apples to Apples!

The next morning a few of us woke up with some foggy heads and had to pay our dues for indulging the day before. We had a wonderful breakfast prepared by Robyn on the veranda and started to pack up. I don’t think anyone was really ready to go home, but all Retreats must come to an end. Some highlight so the trip were: Natalie announcing her engagement& pregnancy, everyone admiring the super crafty picture frames that Robyn made for us as a memory token, and everyone really getting into character while playing Clue. I swear it was Miss White in the Kitchen with the Lead Pipe.

Now we are all saving for the Big Retreat next year… Looks like we are going to be Vegas Ladies. So save your $$$ and set aside a few vacation days because we are going to be going to Sin City. Can’t wait for the 2013 Retreat!!!

Since we didn’t have an official agenda for this Retreat we also didn’t have a super official meeting either, but as you all know Lisa Walker is now our new Alumnae Coordinator and will be the go to person for all Alumnae related question. Thank you so much Lisa for stepping up and taking on the role.

~APB Sister’s Always~

Hello Sisters!

I am happy to introduce myself as your new Alumnae Coordinator, taking over for Gina, lets all thank her very much for stepping up last year and taking the position.  Thanks Gina!!!

This photo was taken two weeks ago at the White Pass Summit, between Carcross, Yukon (where I live) and Skagway, Alaska (an hour drive south).  I highly recommend a trip to these beautiful and wild places at least once in your lifetime, nowhere esle can you explore such diversity; unexplored wilderness, North American History, and extraordinary viewscapes and adventures, as Alaska and the Yukon.

This coming year as coordiantor I hope to encourage more blog posts, facebook/email communications and increased attendence of the retreat.  The 2013 Big Retreat will be an experience to remember in fabulous LAS VEGAS!!!  I hope everyone makes their best effort to save the date and store away some spending $$.

I look forward to seeing some updated blog posts from many others; sisters I've known for a long time, sisters I've met a few times, sisters I've never met, but all sisters nonetheless.

Cheers and love to you all,

Lisa

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!

APB Runs for Boobies!

On October 3rd, APB took to the streets, and ran in the CIBC Run for the Cure. Chiara M, Cheryl G., Rachel H. and Pam M. donned festive red sashes (Ok, so I'm not really artistic, and they sort of looked...well...home-made) and raised over $700 for breast cancer (I'm not sure of the exact number). Cheryl and Pam, running with a stroller, both ran like champs, while Chiara and I ambled along at a sedate and relaxed pace.

We even got our picture in the Citizen, doing the turkey-walk!

Obviously not my most flattering face...But Chiara is representin' the cute-factor for us both. Hopefully more pictures of us will surface, as a friend took photos of us.

Hope to see everyone out there next year. Let's try for runners from all our chapters!

Hey Everyone.
So finally an update from me. I'm not much of a blogger hence the long delay. Therefore I will give you an update on what I have been up to for the past year.

In September 2009 I moved onto a boat with my boyfriend Justin. Justin is a personal trainer (anyone needing to get in shape? give him a shout) and is going to SFU for Kinesiology in September 2010.

In April I finally graduated (again) from BCIT with my medical radiography diploma, I am now a certified xray tech at Lions Gate Hospital. Since graduation Justin and I have traveled across Canada to Ontario to visit his family as well as some as my own.

In July we went surfing in Tofino and came home with a puppy! Her name is Rain Shine, and she is a Staffordshire Terrier x Wolf Husky. She somehow has managed to fit perfectly onto our boat, but for how long is the question as she is suppose to be 50-70lbs. But we love her lots and she a smart girl. Just a few days ago Rain, Justin and I hiked the Stawamus Chief first and second peak for the first time. It was tons of fun and I think Rain is going to become a professional mountain climber as she had no problem with walking up the steep rocks. Also in July I became an Aunty for the first time to my nephew Jayden.



Well I think thats about it. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

Hi Everyone,

I would to introduce you all to Chloe... She is our new rescue dog. We just got her last week, but we are totally on love with her already. Her last house was not a very nice place. The man was very mean to Chloe and the the rest of the family. So they all ran away and ended up living in their car. But the wife and kids are now in a safe social house. However, they could not take a pet with them so Chloe ended up in a Rescue and is now with us.

She is great she is a 3 year old Dachshund (Wiener Dog). She is very small, but that is perfect because we have a small house & a small year.

We took her camping wiht us last week and it was wonderful, she love sleeping in a tent, going for trail walks and sitting in Scott's lap nest to the fire. We even took her out in a Canoe and she really enjoyed that. Anyway, if you are ever in the area, feel free to stop in and meet her. She is the sweetest little bundle of love ever!

Smiles & hugs, Suzy

We made the newspaper!

We made it into the local newspaper for our Amazing Race during the retreat! I'll try to get my hands on a few copies if anyone wants them for historical purposes. How great is it that we have a picture of the alumnae and active doing an event together?

Amanda

What a Weekend!

Well another Alumnae Retreat has come and gone! The 2010 event was held in Prince George this year with Carrie, Suzy, Ashlyn, Robyn and Catherine coming from out of town.

We started out with the traditional Wine and Cheese night on Friday with much gabbing and catching up to do. Pink bags were decorated to be used for the scavenger hunt prizes. Saturday morning we all met up at UNBC for our group pictures and a tour of the continually changing campus. As fate would have it, our tour guide, Sufey, was a member of the active group! She had no idea who she was giving a tour to and when she saw our letters she exclaimed "I know those letters, who are you guys?!" Susan convinced her to spend the rest of the day with us... I hope we convinced her to take an active role in the group and eventually become an alumnae.In the afternoon, we split up into 3 teams to run the "Amazing PG Race". The teams had to complete challenges and collect clues to lead them through 8 PG locations. We started with a clue on the highest diving platform of the Aquatic Centre, and from there went all around PG fromriding the mini-railway at the Railway Museum, to creating an art piece at the Two River's Gallery, to bowling a strike at Strike Zone (which I am proud to say I'm the only one who did that on her own merits!) and finally meeting up for dinner to laugh about the events of the day.

On Sunday, we went to Lonnie's house for tasty brunch and created a small flip scrapbook to commemorate the weekend. Ask a member who attended to show their's off... they turned out great! Later that evening we had a BBQ and played Pictionary Man - which is a family game even though the clues involved everything from "seduction" to "penetrate"!! It was hilarious, though you probably had to be there!

Monday was very laid back with out of town members splitting up to visit with various local girls before heading back home. All in all it was a nice mix of activity and relaxing. Thanks again to everyone for making this a weekend to remember. I know I speak for us all when I say that we're looking forward to the 2011 Calgary Retreat... woohoo Stampede!

Amanda