Hidden Talent

This past week seemed to be somewhat of a productive week for both Carl and I.  Carl has completed 2 out of 5 sections for his final report and has also been working hard at his classes.  This semester Carl is taking 2 courses and is auditing a third.  In his spare time, he is usually at the library researching for his report.  As for myself, I finally got started on my next course at the bank but am not feeling very motivated this time round!  I am hoping to write the next exam in March and then I might take a break from the courses!  

As the title of this blog, indicates, some hidden talent was discovered this week!  For one of Carl's classes, he had to choose one of his favorite places and describe the spatial dimensions of it.  As part of this project, he decided to draw!  Now I knew Carl could draw better than me (which isn't saying much) but I didn't know he could draw so well...And I'm still wondering why he made me paint the pictures for our house when he's got all this talent?  I guess this is kind of like hanging my kid's artwork on the fridge but what can I say, I'm impressed with this hidden talent, so here are a few of the pictures Carl drew...

Cusco, Peru

Plaza De Armas, Cusco Peru

Plaza De Armas, Cusco Peru

Now, I must say Carl isn't the only one with hidden talent.  I myself have some talent and ok, maybe it's not quite hidden but I betcha not everyone knows that I am really good at finding deals!  Ok, so it's not quite a talent but I needed a segway so that I could tell you that I found us a sweet deal to Chicago!  We decided to spend some of our income tax return a little early and have booked 4 nights and 5 days in Chicago in February while Carl has reading break!  We're pretty excited!

And lastly I leave you with a few photos of us skating at Victoria Park today...

For some reason, whenever Carl puts skates on he feels the need to also
put on his Canucks Jersey!

 This is Leah Funk, official blogger of Funky Adventures, signing out until next time (how do you like my professional head shot? Heehee)

Pickle What?

This past Friday night, a bunch of us from work, along with our spouses went over to one of our co-workers house for a party.  Sometime during the party, the host suggested we do some Pickle Shots!  I wasn't sure I had heard him correctly so I asked "Pickle What?"...Yes, pickle shots!  A pickle shot, also known as a Pickleback, is a type of shot wherein a shot of whiskey is chased by a shot of pickle juice. The pickle juice works to neutralize both the taste of the whiskey and the burn of the alcohol.  I thought that maybe this was an East Coast thing but I learned on Wikipedia that the origin of the Pickle Shot is unknown, although the name Pickleback is thought to have come from Brooklyn, NY.  Either way, I was intrigued by this new found drink and being a pickle lover, it didn't take much to convince me to give the Pickleback a try!

First, throw back the shot of Whiskey and before the alcohol has a chance to sting, you throw back the shot of pickle juice...The verdict...It ain't half bad!  In fact, it was actually quite good!  Sweeter than expected, not as pickley tasting as expected and actually quite smooth!

So, next time you finish all the pickles, don't throw out the pickle juice!!!

Sick Times in Kingston

          So I wouldn't say that a weekend spent in bed would be a waste of a weekend if it was done by choice, but to have to spend an entire weekend in bed because you're sick, well let me tell you, it sucks!  That was my weekend last week.  I don't ever remember staying in bed that long, but about 80% of my days Saturday, Sunday and even Monday, were spent sleeping!  I don't know what I had, but I sure am glad that it's now gone!  

          On Monday, Carl received an email from his friend Tom who lives in Ohio (we visited him on our way out to Kingston).  Tom mentioned he might have a few days off and was thinking he might come for a visit sometime.  Carl of course, told Tom he is welcome anytime.  So later on that afternoon I asked Carl when Tom was thinking of heading out our way, later on this week, next month?  Carl wasn't to sure so he texted Tom to find out.  Two minutes later Carl received a response "I'll be there by 10pm", Tom was already on his way!  I'd like to write that I jumped up, started cleaning the house and doing the laundry but I was still recovering from my awful cold, so me changing out of my pajama's was as far as I got!  Tom arrived safe and sound and we had a quick visit before heading to bed.  

          The following day, Carl only had one class so the boys got to tour around Kingston.  However, it rained all day and for some reason the guys walked into town and around town without umbrella's!  By the time they got home, they were soaked!  We spent the evening eating a delicious meal that Tom made for us and then Carl kicked our butts at Rummy (that's how it went, right Tom?).  

          Wednesday morning Tom woke up with a sore throat and although he said he had it before he came, I have a feeling me being sick didn't help!  So even though Tom said he had a good time, I can't help but feel his memories of Kingston will be jaded, the poor guy drove nine hours to come visit us, he had to sleep on a couch that was half his size, the weather was miserable, he brutally lost a game of Rummy and we sent him home with a cold!  Either way, Carl and I enjoyed the visit!

Best Buds
Carl and Tom

Date Night and the Day After...

During the day on Tuesday, my friend called me up and asked what Carl and I were up to on Wednesday night.  I gave my usual answer of "oh ya know, probably just wining and dining, maybe some salsa dancing and a bit of relaxing" (aka. making a quick dinner, studying for a bit and going to bed early).  Even though our night sounded exciting, she asked if we would rather go see "Dralion", the new Cirque du Soleil because she could get us free tickets!!!  We of course, said YES!  Over the Christmas holiday, I had also won a gift card to a nice pub in town so we decided to start our night off with a nice free dinner!  Between dinner and the show we had a bit of time to spare so we popped into Starbucks!  One of the gals I had worked with at Starbucks was working and when she rang in our drinks she advised us that they were on the house tonight!  Now that's what I call a successful date night, free dinner, free drinks and a free show!  I have such nice friends!  The show was amazing - those people definitely have some talent!

Although the weather had been sunny and warm the previous few days (and I thought that maybe we had just skipped winter), after we got home from the show, the ice rain started!  We woke up the next morning and everything was covered with a thick layer of ice!  I had never seen anything like this before!  The bikes out front our place were slick with ice and had icicles hanging from them...     

 And each individual branch on this bush had its own covering of ice!

 On this branch you can see the ice beginning to melt.

 Even each individual blade of ice was surrounded by ice!

It took Carl at least 20 minutes to scrape the 1/2 inch coating of ice from our windshield!  Some people I knew couldn't even get into their cars and had to taxi to work!  The roads had been looked after with salt but I did see some videos of people in the surrounding area putting their skates on and skating down their own street!  It was a sight to see!

Yesterday, it snowed all day and the wind was howling making it blizzard like outside!  We haven't even ventured outside yet today as the weather network says it's about -22!  But yes, I still like Kingston because even though it's cold and snowy, it's sunny today :)

Helloooo 2012!

Well, after 17 days of visiting family and friends, eating turkey dinners and relaxing, we're back in Kingston!  We had a great visit!  It was so nice to spend some quality time with those who mean the most to us!  Now that we're back, it's back to work and school and awaiting to see what 2012 may bring!  I didn't have to many people on my side when they found out I wanted to stay in Kingston, in fact I think I only got one vote (thanks Auntie Grace!).  We will see what doors get opened...Either way, 2012 will be another eventful year and we are looking forward to it!  Now, I leave you with a few photos of our trip home!

My dad decorating the tree

Carl, looking his dapper self

Bart, getting in the Christmas spirit

David, myself and Carl squished in the back seat, heading to the Vancouver Christmas market

Carl on Christmas day sporting his favorite Christmas present

The Funk family, minus Ryan, Alanna and Cody (miss you guys!)

Doing the traditional gift draw at Grandpa Joe's! 

The Sedin, I mean Funk brothers!

Working on the Christmas puzzle, a new family Christmas tradition

I love it when my families get together!  Dinner in Whistler!

Carl and Colin in the blizzard in Whistler!

Brittany and I, proud to have completed the Funk Family Christmas puzzle of 2011!

Colin, Ryan, Carl, Brittany and me showing off some of our Christmas presents!

I thought Bella might get jealous if I only put pictures of my dogs on here :) 

Spending some quality time with my pups before heading home!

Merry Christmas!

 

It was 2:30am on Monday December 19th and our alarms went off - it was time to start our trek home for the holidays!  We crawled out of bed and into our car and drove 2 hours to Syracuse airport in New York.  We had been told by others not to get to the airport to early as it was a small airport with nothing to do and because we were flying within the USA, it wasn't an international flight.  We got in line to check in and 20 minutes later it was our turn to check in.  We went up to the desk and were then advised that we were actually in the wrong line up (apparently when you fly with Continental, you don't check in with Continental, you check in with United Air???).  Now, everyone that was in the wrong line up behind us and heard us get re-directed, hopped into the correct line before us, making us now at the back of the line up!  We were checked in and still had thirty minutes until our flight left, we were gonna be ok...Or so we thought!  We headed towards security and saw a line up that stretched across the airport and looped around!  Apparently, for the 6 flights that were all leaving between 5:40 and 6am, there was one security check point!  Everyone in the line up was checking the time, calling loved ones to tell them they were likely going to miss their flight, and feeling the overall anxiety of each other!  Carl and I got in line and prayed that we would make our flight!  We had booked our flights online through Expedia and one of the "warnings" was that if you missed your first flight, all other flights would be cancelled as well.  We heard the final boarding call for our flight just as we reached the security check point.  Then as luck would have it, we both got selected for random bag checks!  They took my carry on which was full of Christmas presents, one in particular that was tied in a plastic bag.  The lady took her time in trying to get the knot untied to check its contents.  "Just rip the bag!"   I said to her "we are going to miss our flight!".  She replied in a non chalant, relaxed tone "oh, it's ok, I don't like to usually rip the bags"...I gave her the Leah death glare, while trying to sound nice at the same time and said again "RIP THE BAG!".  She did.  Both of us now shaking with adrenaline ran to our gate to find out that we, along with 7 others had indeed, missed our flight!  Luckily, there was about 7 seats available on the next flight to Chicago which we all got on (Thank you God!).  They were able to get us on the next flight, change our 2nd flight and get us to our third destination in order to catch our last original flight, getting us to Bellingham as planned!  To sum up our travels, we drove 2 hours to Syracuse, flew from Syracuse to Chicago, Chicago to Las Vegas and Vegas to Bellingham were my mom picked us up and drove us an hour back to m parents house!  We were up for about 22hours with minimal sleep in transit!  Let me just say that Carl and I cannot wait until we are real grown ups and can afford to buy direct flights!  Needless to say I am dreading our "adventure" home as it will look about the same (except we'll be getting to the airport welllll in advance)!

Since arriving, I've been busy visiting with family and friends while Carl spent his first few days in town visiting several "Transit Oriented" sites for his final report for school.  My brother, who moved to Smithers for work in the summer wasn't expected to come home for the holidays but he ended up cutting his knee open snowboarding!  Although this was not a good thing, it did get him a week off work!  He came down for a few days which was a nice surprise!

David and Brier

It's now Christmas eve and we're looking forward to seeing a lot of family over the next few days!  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Love Leah and Carl 

Christmas Time is Heeere, Happiness and Cheer...

Greetings!  Yes, I know it's almost been a month since I last wrote!  It's been just over a year that we've been in Kingston and things just don't seem as exciting to write about the second time round!  Just like last year we've been to couple Christmas parties, had our first snowfall that only lasted for the day and well, I've been working and Carl has been finishing up the semester!  Carl actually had his last day of school on December 6th but has lot's to work on during his time off!  We finally booked our flights home and will be visiting December 19th to January 4th!  Half of our visit will be spent in Langley with my parents and the other half in Whistler with Carl's parents!  

This past week I have come down with an awful cold!  My glands are so swollen it feels like I have golf balls in my throat and I'm lucky if I have a voice on most days!  I should get results from the doctor on Monday as to whether it's just a cold or???  But being sick didn't stop us from going to Ottawa this weekend!  We had to go see our Vancouver Canucks beat the Ottawa Senators 4 to 1!

  

We had sold some other hockey tickets in order to buy tickets to this game but we didn't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money on good seats and we had heard that every seat in the Scotiabank Place arena was good so we found a deal on Kijiji and bought 'em!

And yup, we were waaay up high but as you can see, we weren't the very last row....That was until we realized that we were actually in the wrong seats and our seats were in fact, the very last row!  But like everyone said, every seat in the arena had a pretty good view!

We had lots of fun watching our Canucks win and were surprised at how many Canuck fans were in the crowd!  

While in Ottawa we couldn't pass up seeing the Parliament Buildings all lit up for Christmas!

And so now the count down until we come home is on!  

1 Week to go!!!