Alright, alright...I'll post something.

I apologize to my faithful blog readers...I know there hasn't been a new post in quite awhile, and I am on holidays so i really have no excuse! In all honesty, i've been lazy...and haven't felt like writing anything, mostly because there's not much to write about. But here it goes anyways!!

Here is what I've been up to lately, in no particular order:

1. I finished school for the semester at the beginning of December and had no exams, so i am currently enjoying my Christmas holidays, being lazy and not doing much of anything!!

2. Me, Brier & Shawn (my married friends who are home for awhile from Thunder Bay), hung out with our friend Melissa from Capernwray!! We hadn't seen each other since B&S's wedding, so about 2 years ago. We had a great time, had some good laughs and shared some funny memories.

3. I babysat Claire this past weekend. I wanted to take her out in the snow and make snow angels with her...but I decided against that because she had a cold, and maybe she's still too little to do that. But, she's still as cute as ever...here are some pics to remind you.

4. I found out my next placement for school. Next semester I'll be working on an oncology/complex general medicine unit. I'm very excited for this placement b/c it was my first choice. It will probably be a hard/challenging placement though because most people will have cancer, but I know there will be a lot to learn. The only downside is that the hospital is over an hour drive away...so i'll have some very early mornings!!

5. I've been thinking about going to Romania after I graduate to work in an orphanage. This has been on my heart and mind for many years and I'm excited to actually be able to have the time to do it. I'm very excited about this possibility and pray that everything will work out.

Here's what I'll be up to over the next few days:

1. Tomorrow night I have a Christmas dinner party to go to...complete with a $10 gift exchange which I still have not purchased...that's what I'll be doing tomorrow during the day.

2. Wednesday is Mom's birthday (the big 54!!) Corrie and Claire are coming for the day and we're all going out for lunch.

3. Then I'll be heading back to Kitchener with Corrie and Claire to spend the rest of the week there, keeping Corrie company and playing with Claire!!

And, I think that's all for now. I'm getting a cold and don't really feel the greatest right now...so i'm going to have some tea and head to bed.

5 months already!!

It's been awhile since I have posted pictures of my niece Claire, so I thought you'd all like to see what she looks like now. Everytime I see her, she is bigger and smiles more, and is developing her own little personality. It's so exciting to watch her grow, and to play with her and to take pictures of her because she's just so cute!

Wizards, hippies, pigs and much more!!

So, it was my friend Jocelyn's annual Halloween party on the weekend and I went as a hippie. It was actually a really fun costume and I was quite pleased how it turned out (NOTE: my 'poncho' is actually a blanket that's been in my house for years). And guess who the wizard is??...it's Heather!


Here are some more pics of all my friends for your viewing pleasure!!

There you have it. Another year of halloween costume planning done and over with! I wonder what I'll be next year??

What's been happening...

I realized I hadn't posted anything in awhile, so i figured I better soon before I get those 'new post please' comments!! Well, after the wedding my family from out west was here for an extra few days which was tons of fun! It's always a good time when we get together (which isn't often), so we made the most of every single minute, including a trip to the Welland Canal to watch the ships come in and Niagara Falls, as some had never been before.

My mom and 3 of her sisters

At Niagara Falls

My cousins Courtney and Leah

After everyone went home, it was back into full school mode and time to play catch-up, as I had been putting school off during the whole festivities of the wedding. I'm really enjoying my placement in medical psychiatry, contrary to what I thought!! It's really interesting and there's so much to learn there. We see so many different patients with really complex and diverse situations. So, maybe a career in psych for me?? I don't know yet, but I'm not ruling it out anymore.

This past weekend I went up north to Camp Crossroads to help cook for a youth leadership retreat. Heather and I both went up and had a great time in the kitchen cutting up fruit and vegetables, and making yummy desserts!! It was a nice change from the normal everyday routine we get used to here, being students and all!!

So, that's about all the updates I have right now. I"m in the middle of trying to put together my Halloween costume...no, not to go trick-or-treating, but for my friends annual Halloween party. I'm not telling you what I'm being, but i'll post some pictures after! Take care everyone...love you all!

Mr. & Mrs. Brubacher.

So, Jonny and Heather are married!! It was an amazing day, the weather was fantastic, and everything went very smoothly. Here are some pics from the day.

Life isn't fair.

In memory of Steve

November 24, 1981-September 14, 2006

This is not a happy post. I found out yesterday that my good friend Steve Dirksen died in a very tragic accident. He was living in Vancouver and went mountain climbing with Colin, but Steve slipped and fell. Colin couldn't see him and Steve didn't respond, so Colin had to hike back down the mountain by himself and call for help. Hours later, the search and rescue helicopter located his body. He fell about 900 feet. I don't want to make this about myself, but the feeling I'm feeling right now is the worst thing I've ever experienced and it hurts so bad. My thoughts and prayers are with Steve's family right now and with Colin who was with him when he fell. I can only hope that he didn't feel anything and blacked out before he knew what was happening. I still don't believe it at times, because this is the sort of thing that doesn't happen to you or your friends...but it does and I've learned how little we know about how long we have on this earth. I just wanted to let you all know so you can keep his family in your thoughts and prayers. This is a really tough time and I know it will be tough for a long time.

Photo credit: brandon thiessen

Best Day EVER!!

Oh my goodness...

Yes, it's true...I saw Brad Pitt!! This is not simply a picture of him I found on the internet, but a picture that I took myself while standing not even 2 feet away from him! We were right behind the girl whose head is half in that picture. Crazy!!
My friends Heather and Jocelyn and myself spent the day in Toronto with our main goal being to see Brad Pitt. The film festival was going on this weekend, so we figured we'd have a pretty good chance. We started our day off at Sazzafraz, a very trendy restaraunt where all the celebrities go, where we had a lovely (and very expensive...) lunch where we hoped we might see someone famous, but we didn't. Then we spent the afternoon shopping downtown and then headed over to Roy Thompson Hall where the stars would be walking the red carpet. We got there at 5pm and waited until 6:30 when the first film was being showed. We saw Russel Crowe, Lance Bass and Reichan. Then we continued to wait until 9:00pm (standing in the same spot, with lots of people trying to push their way to the front...very annoying) when we saw Brad Pitt. It was incredible!

It was a very exciting day, and we're so glad we went. It was worth it to wait for 4 hours because we got to see Brad Pitt...how many people can say they've seen Brat Pitt!! And...we will go again next year!!

This is a video I took of Brad...it's kinda hard to see because it was dark, but hopefully it works. Yeah!!

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The beginning of the end of student life!!

So, my last year of university begins!! It's really hard to believe that this is my fourth and final year of school and then I'm a real nurse...wierd... Anyways, I just found out that my placement for first semester is on the psych ward at Hamilton General hospital. I was not happy about this because I really didn't want a psych placement, but I will try to make the best of it and hopefully I'll learn something. I don't know where I'll be next semester yet, but I'm hoping for some kind of surgical placement.
I'm really scared and excited for this year. I feel like I still have so much to learn before I can go out there on my own, and I know this year will have lots of learning opportunities, I just dont' see how I can possibly learn it all! But I know I can't know everything and you're always learning new things in the nursing profession, so I guess I just have to accept that.
I start my placement sometime next week...all the details are not yet in order, but most likely next week I'll go meet my preceptor and see the floor that I'll be working on.
Other than school, there's not much else to update on. Less than a month until Jon and Heathers wedding!! And tomorrow I'm going to Toronto in hopes of seeing Brad Pitt...wish me luck!!

Submarines, France and dancing!!

So, this morning at 9:15am, I got all 4 of my impacted wisdom teeth pulled!! I haven't really been feeling good all day and have yet been able to keep any kind of food/liquid down, but I'm sure that will pass and I'll be eating chips again in no time!
I was amazed at how fast I was out when they put my IV in. I just remember the doctor injecting the drugs and the nurse putting oxygen over my nose and than it was over. I dont' remember walking from the room into the recovery area, but my mom was waiting there and apparently I was talking about being on a submarine. The nurse had told my mom not to let me fall asleep and I had to sit on the bed against the wall. I guess I started to close my eyes, so my mom said 'Nikki, don't fall asleep', and I pleasantly responed with 'Screw off!'...oops!! I then proceeded to talk about being in France and how I wanted to go dancing while singing along to the song playing on the radio. I just remember really wanting to lie down on the bed, and I vaguely remember this, but I pointed and said to my mom 'Mom, what's that over there?' She looked, and I sneakily started to lie down while laughing and saying 'tricked ya'. Later mom was telling me all this and we had some good laughs!

Jon & Heathers House!!

The view from the road.


The backyard.


The front entrance.


The front yard.


The kitchen!!...in destruction mode.










In other news...my cousin Erica got engaged yesterday!! First my little brother, than my little Erica...man, there's something wrong with the order of things here! Just kidding, I'm very happy for you guys!

WhAt A bEauTIfuL DAy!!

Today was such a good day I thought I'd share it with you all! I started off by sleeping in (and in doing so, not going to church...) which was great because I've been staying up way too late lately and I definitely needed the sleep. Then my mom and I decided to do some pilates. I got a DVD out of the cereal box awhile ago and I thought I'd give it a try. Now...if you have never done pilates, it is hard! I wasn't expecting it be so hard and such a good workout, but boy was I wrong! I had to stop and just sit there and watch for a good portion of it because there is no way my body moves like theirs do, and I couldn't hold the movements for as long as they wanted me to. But it was fun, and I'll definitely give it another try!

Then I went for a bike ride with my friend Sarah. We both hadn't been biking in so long so we thought we'd go for it and it was a perfect day for it...not too hot! We biked for probably a good 45 minutes, stopped at Charles Daly Park for awhile and then headed back. It felt great to be outside and get some exercise!!

After our superfantastic bike ride, I went to go visit Jon at his house. He was ripping apart the kitchen and rerouting some wires. I thought he'd probably be hungry and being the great sister than I am, I brought him some supper! I took some pictures of his house so I will post them very soon.

After that I went home, relaxed a little and then went to my friend Robyn's house and watched Pride and Prejudice. If anyone has not seen this movie, please go rent it!! It's so great! So, that was my day...pretty great if you ask me.

Summer Days.

Well, what better way to start the month of August than with 50 degree Celcius weather!! I never thought I'd see the day...o.k., so the actual temperature was 36, but with the humidity it was 50...50!! That's just crazy to me. I was inside all day so I can't say I really experienced the 50 degree weather, but I was still disgusted by it.
So, summer is just flying by and I can't say that I've really done a whole lot. It's been good though to just relax and have time to read a good book. This past weekend Hillary and Mike came to visit me and we had a fun day. I introduced them to this ice cream shop called Toute Sweet...it's similar to The Marble Slab in the States. It has the best ice cream.

I also went to Kitchener for a joint family shower for Jon & Heather and for Claire at my aunts house. It was also the first family get-together since my grandma passed away, so it was sad in that aspect, but it was a fun day.
Both Jon & Heather and Claire got lots of nice gifts.

Jon & Heather got their house last Friday which is so crazy but exciting. I went to see it on Saturday while Jon and his friend Keith were tearing apart the dining room and knocking out a wall. It needs a lot of work, but it's a cute house and will look great when it's done. I'll try to get some pics posted soon. I still can't believe Jonny's moving out soon...I try not to think about it cause it will be so wierd when he's gone and it's just me and the parents. Anyways, there's a little update about my happenings.

I love my niece!!

Here is yet another picture of Claire! It seems like I only post pictures of her now, but i just can't help myself because she's so cute! Corrie and Claire were at our house for 3 days while Brent was away on business and it was fabulous. It seems wierd now that she's not here because it's quiet in the house and there's no baby to hold anymore. It was fun to have them here...even being woken up in the middle of the night to a crying (actually screaming!!) baby. But i loved it! I wish they didn't live an hour and a half away so i could see them more often, but i guess they could live a lot further, so I guess i should be thankful for that.

Here are some pics from B.C.!!! It was amazing! We had the best week in B.C. and had some fun adventures along the way. The highlight was probably going bungy jumping and watching Amber go bungy jumping...I'll never forget it, and I was so proud of her for actually doing it. Other than bungy jumping, we also biked around Stanley Park on a tandem bike (which was an adventure in itself!!), had fun trying to figure out the city buses in downtown Vancouver, did some shopping in downtown Vancouver, and hung out with Steve!
The wedding was also wonderful! Colin and Nicki both looked awesome and the day was perfect. So, overall, it was a fabulous week and a very enjoyable vacation!!

She's getting so big!!

Claire Noelle-3 1/2 weeks old!!

B.C. here I come!!

So, I'm off to beautiful British Columbia today for a week!! I'm so excited and really looking forward to my vacation. I'm going to Colin and Nicki's wedding which is on July 3 in Abbotsford and also doing a little exploring around Vancouver and Nanaimo with my good friend Amber. It should definitely be an adventure!
Nothing else is too new with me, so i'll leave it at that. I'm sure i'll have some fun stories to post when i get home!

Claire Noelle

Well, I am officially an aunt!! My sister had her baby yesterday at 1:00 AM and had a girl. They named her Claire Noelle. She was 7 pounds and is a healthy baby. Everyone is doing great and I went to visit them tonight and Claire is such a sweetheart. I am very excited to be Auntie Nikki!!