Celebrate our Awesomeness

Deep Freeze

2006-11-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

Alright, so we made it home safely and holy crap is it ever cold...
we updated our photos, so check it out at http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m229/jasonandlisa/

Guiness is good for you!

2006-11-18T04:14:00.000-08:00

I swear it is true! Guiness is good for you!
So we made our way half way across the world to dublin. Our journey took about 24 hours to complete...but we made it!
Our last day in Bangkok was pretty cool, we went shopping at the market one last time, then moved on to the super huge mall to get into some air conditioning and went to go see a movie...we love their movie theatres!
Then we had our last thai dinner and made our way in a crazy cab to the airport. Imagine 'fast and the furious' style of driving...he was going about 120 an hour in an 80 zone on the shoulder... needless to say, we were very happy and in love when we got to the airport, and VERY thankful that we were still alive.
Got into london at 5 in the morning and headed off from heathrow to gatwick to catch our flight. We had a few hours to kill at gatwick, which was spent rearranging our lugguage to avoid extra charges for excess baggage...turns out the weight of our lugguage has doubled since we first set out.
We arrived in Dublin safe and sound on Thursday night...found our b&b and went off to the pub for some tasty irish food and of course a pint of guiness. SO GOOD. Why does it taste soooooooooooooooooooooooo much better here?
Yesterday we walked all around dublin, puttering through the city, it was great. We went to dublin castle, to the beatty library which has a very cool exhibit on manuscripts and the beatty collection, and then made our way to the guiness storehouse to learn how the magic happens. We drank the yummy black stuff at the top of the storehouse in a pub with a 360 view of dublin. very cool.

then we puttered back to the temple bar area and proceeded to drink a few more pints.

It feels strange to be back in western culture...but very cool. and compared to all the irish, lisa actually looks like she has a tan;)

We are off back to london tomorrow for a few more days of fun before we head home.

Hope everyone is well and staying warm! It is cold here, we can only imagine what the weather at home feels like.

love l & j

rice rice baby

2006-11-13T20:49:00.000-08:00

you know how you can eat something everyday for a week and love it and then all of the sudden you just can eat it anymore...how come that doesn't happen with rice?
we eat rice like 3 times a day and always crave it.

anyway, so we spent the last few days in Krabi province...we spent the first few nights in Ao Nang (a tourist resort town on the coast) and then moved on to Tonsai beach for the last 3 nights which was much more secluded. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful. Huge limestone cliffs everywhere. We went on a tour of five islands where we went snorkelling and looking at corals, fish, etc. Then we rented a kayak and made our way to the next island (we had to go get money and there was no atm where we were) and around the 'neighbourhood'.
On our last day we rented a kayak again and some snorkelling gear and went out on our own for a few hours. It is so amazing to be in the ocean looking at all the sea life....it makes you feel pretty small.

so we are back in bangkok for one last night and then late tomorrow night we start our adventure on to Ireland. (we found a pound flight when we were in prague and thought we would be foolish not to go to ireland). We are hoping that we will be able to cope with the cold weather, and if not...well, nothing a few pints of guiness can't take care of.

Love and all that!

lisa and jason

Can I get a wat wat?

2006-11-07T23:28:00.000-08:00

Howdy everyone...greetings from Ao Nang, just by Krabi. We are back to the beach after a glorious few days in Chiang Mai.
Luckily we arrived there for Loy Krathong, the festival honoring the goddess of water, and thus life. It was a lot of fun and such a great city with SOOOO much to do. A definite must if you are coming to Thailand.
Yesterday we spent the day in transit, flying from way up north to bangkok and then down south here. We finally got here around 8 at night and found a cool little place to stay.
Ao Nang is in the region where the beach was shot, so if you have seen the movie, it will give you an idea of the scenery...large cliffs, beautiful water, very picturesque. It is a lot more tourist/resort than the other beaches we have seen so far, but there are a lot more activities which means we can take in some kayaking and snorkelling, etc. With only 2 weeks left in our trip, we have little flames under our butts to do and see as much as possible. Especially since it is pretty cold back home compared to the 25-30 weather we have been experiencing.

We finally got ourselves into a wat in Chiang Mai. I can't remember what it was called, but it was really cool. About a 20 minute truck ride away from the city up a mountain. It was very ornate and really cool to see the temple and the view of Chiang Mai.

So, can we get a wat wat? Hey ya!

Drop it like it's Baht

2006-10-31T08:14:00.000-08:00

Drop it like it's BahtHappy Halloween!!! So, we are sort of dressed up as twins...after drinking a micky of rice rye whiskey, we came up with the brilliant plan to dress up as twins for halloween. But...we were already out, and already have matching shoes and red shirts, so this is our costume.
Tonight is our last night on Ko Samet-we are both a little sad to be leaving this laid back island paradise. Time just melts away while you are here.
Yesterday we rented a kayak for the afternoon and made our way almost to the end of the island. The trip there was exhilarating and fun, the trip back was a little rougher as the sunburns and tiredness set in. (it's been a while since either one of us did physical activity for an extended period of time.)

So, cheers to Ko Samet. Tomorrow we are off to Bangkok again, just for one night and a few banana pancakes. The day after we go to Chiang Mai, for (hopefully) some great food, cooking classes and perhaps a little buddhist meditation.

love and
Drop it like it's Baht
Drop it like it's Baht

photos

2006-10-27T23:54:00.000-07:00

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m229/jasonandlisa/

Monkin' Donuts

2006-10-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

By far, hands down, best memory ever/ Standing outside the bus station in Bangkok on a Monday morning, waiting to take a bus to Trat and then on to Ko Chang.
Picture this:
A Dunkin' Donuts sits just off the off to the left of a bus station crowded with various individuals offering a 'good deal' on a bus/minivan/caravan/car ride anywhere you want to go from Bangkok. We find the government run bus, buy our tickets, and sit down in the plastic seats that sit outside of the open air bus station (do they ever have bad weather in Bangkok???), right in front of Dunkin' Donuts. Two monks approach. The calm of their orange monk get ups brings a warming stillness over the waiting bus passengers. And then IT happens. A monk, full fledge, orange warm ups and all: walks up to the counter of DD to order his morning coffee. Waiting for them to prepare his fresh brew, he pulls out a cigarette and lights up. Would have won best photograph of the year if I was allowed to take pictures of them. Oh well, it will live on in my memory forever!

So, here we are in Thailand. Where exactly you ask? Well check it out: http://www.koh-chang.com/

We have been here since Monday, enjoying our time laying on the beach, frollicking in the sea, riding elephants, walking in a rainforest, swimming beneath waterfalls...You know, general every day kind of stuff;)
We are having a lot fun, with mixed moments of 'can you believe we are here?' and 'holy crap are women treated differently' and 'yes, I think we should eat again'.
Most interesting moment on this island, aside from meeting our English friend Eddie on the ferry over (aspiring actor, very nice, works for Harrods in London, so nice in fact he decided to treat us to some beer on the ferry. nice young lad) has GOT to be last night.
We head off to an Italian restaurant for dinner (I know, I know...we are in Thailand....best food ever...but you don't eat the same thing every day! and not being able to eat any form of shellfish greatly reduces the options.) First off, the meal was wondeful. They were full on service oriented in this restaurant, with free water and breadsticks -trust us, this is not a common thing in the cheaper eateries we have been frequenting. Then we heard the siren's song: The Undertones were playing in the bar next door, next The Jam, and then...yes, we couldn't believe it either...The Clash.
So obviously, after not hearing any good music that we love (other than lisa's new favourite song by the scissor sisters) since Amsterdam. So after our delicious meal (best pasta we have had since Chris made us some) we head over to the bar. It was back behind the restaurant, and in case we got confused about which bar it was, their was a British Flag hanging on the wall. The row of Thai girls standing at the front, trying to lure customers in welcomed us with gracious Thai smiles. We sit down. Nigel, the bar owner comes over and welcomes us to his bar. Turns out this English guy Nigel married a Thai girl a year ago and opened up this bar. Great. Friendly people, friendly owner, great music.
All is good.
We order the famous rye and soda. Sure it is a little (ok, a lot) more expensive than everywhere else. but the music!!!
Then, our server, sits down. Apparently, we have our own private server. She's nice enough and spoke a little bit of English and it took a good 3 minutes before we both got extremely uncomfortable. Is she ever going to go away? Nope...alright. Our attempts at including her in the conversation failed quickly as she really cannot speak english other than common pleasantries. Interesting service. We take a sip, glass empties a bit, she fills it up. By now we are both used to having a server fill up our drinks before the bottom of the glass, but to sit with us quietly while we go about our evening...well it was an experience. Then we notice. Lisa is the only girl, other than the Thai girls, in the whole bar. Yup, every man has a personal server. But those men have their hands on the bums of their server. Yes, top notch service. Happy ending? No thank you.
So, we took a tour of the British Isles and made our way up the road to Patty's Irish pub. They just like to drink there, prostitutes not included.

Tomorrow we are off to Ko Samet for the weekend. White sandy beaches, here we come (again).

Love!!!

Lisa and Jason

Banana Pancake Represent!!!

2006-10-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

So...ok, I guess we aren't really that good at this blog thing....
last time we wrote we were in slovenia...after Ljubljana, we went to a tiny little town on the adriactic coast called Piran....there were hardly any cars as the streets are so small, full of winding little secret places. We found an awesome hostel right on the tip of the town....in the gulf of trieste. Slovenia was a great place to hang out, eat and drink...basically a great taste of all things european.

After Slovenia, we took an overnight train to Budapest, which was 1.5 hours late leaving, so we had a bit of a long day by the time we arrived in Budapest 10 hours later. Budapest has amazing architecture, cool street cafes and cheap beer...and strange prostitutes whispering 'sex' into your ear as you walk by...which was amuzing for the two of us as we watched them approach unsuspecting tourists...Lisa fell in love with a jacket from mango in budapest, which we chased all around europe, only to find it again in amsterdam and decided it was too expensive.
We enjoyed our time in budapest, but found the city to be a little cold. It might have to do with the political upheaval they are experiencing right now, or maybe that the city is divided into 2. It was fun, but lacked soul or something. One of the great things about budapest was enjoying a very tasty meal in the theatre district, and then getting a little drunk and calling home. that was fun;)

From budapest we went off to Prague...which was...well, it was Prague. Such a city. Both of us were in love with Prague from our previous journeys there, but to go back was so much fun and the city is still amazing. We had booked a hotel on line to try and save some money...and got a little lost trying to find it. It was supposed to be a 10 minute walk from Wencelas square, but it was more like 30 minutes...when we finally found our hotel, turns out they had a water pipe break and we were being relocated to a much more convenient, much nicer hotel right in Wencelas square (which turned out to be a great option, considering that we used the bathroom in the hotel we booked and the door knob fell out of the door and toilet seat fell off the toilet...)

So we stayed in prague for 4 days, enjoying our time as we puttered about the city, staying on target for our 3 cappucinos a day. We ate a LOT of meat and dumplings, and had some yummy fried cheese sandwiches from the vendors on the street. Met some american couples on 2 different occasions who took to us and decided they should buy us drinks in celebration of our honeymoon.
We rented a row boat and watched the sunset on the river as we (mostly jason) paddled around. We went to the mucha museum which was very cool.

Then we flew from Prague to Amsterdam. We arrived in Amsterdam friday afternoon and quickly found our hotel located right in between the train station and the red light district. We had the top floor, which was a suite, very cool log cabin kind of style. We did things you get to do in Amsterdam, and then went to the Van Gogh museum which is unbelievably cool. They also had a japanese exhibit in the basement, which was very cool. In the asian exhibit, we followed around a guy who seemed to be a middle aged american man let loose in Amsterdam with no rules. He seemed to be hopped up on something and was very comfortable telling all the museum goers about 'how cool the detail is' on the various objects and fancied himself an expert. It was freaking hilarious to watch him go around and be so 'passionate' about everything.

So, we spent the weekend in Amsterdam, enjoyed the scenary, fallafels and insanity that is amsterdam, and then flew on monday to london. We spent the day walking around Heathrow, waiting for our overnight flight to bangkok. We briefly got excited when they said the flight was overbooked and we could get a flight credit with BA in exchange for leaving the next day...but that didn't pan out...
so here we are in bangkok....so cool, so crazy. The smell, the food, the shopping. Oh my!
I love banana pancakes!!!

love lisa and jason

london, munich, slovenia

2006-10-02T02:32:00.000-07:00

sooooooooooooooo, we got married! The whole day was a huge success and so much fun. We have a whole bunch of pictures, but are stuck in europe so we cannot post them.
We went to london for a few days, was a whole lot of fun to tour around the city and being cheesy tourists...
then off to munich for oktoberfest where we got to drink huge steins of beer with people from all over the world. The first night we met up with some guys from wales and italy, got really drunk...lots of fun.
the next night we met a german guy who patiently spoke with us and then we went on the ferris wheel which overlooks all of munich.
Saturday we took 13 hours to walk all over munich and actually get to explore the city which is really cool.
we then took the overnight train to ljubljana which was a crazy time with these 4 drunken croatians in our cabin who reeked of beer and gross...we were stuck in their heat cabin for way too long...but the option was better than being stuck in the tiny hall of the train...which was oversold because of oktoberfest...
so, now we are in slovenia, tryzing to head to the adriatic sea today...
the food here in ljubljana is amazing...we have been taking time to eat pastries and drink yummy european coffees for chris almost every chance we get...

love and all that

1 Day to go!!!

2006-09-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

Alright, so we have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off all week. Thailand and their military coup caused a bit of indecision about our honeymoon.
But, we are going ahead as planned.
1 day to go!
The wedding party are all gathering today, and the hall decorations will go up.

I intend to write more later...but this day is pretty crazy.
Let's pray for good weather!

Long over due for a post....2 weeks and counting

2006-09-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I guess the wedding planning has gotten the best of us, and we haven't posted anything for a long time. It is almost 2 weeks away...I can't believe how fast time is going! Only a week of work left, and then happy sailing.
Everything feels like it is under control, there are just a million tiny pieces that need to be finalized and put together...and many decorations to be made!
Everybody has rsvp'd, the liquor has been ordered, food arranged. We even finally got our clothes!
Stay tunned for some fancy pictures of us (finally got a digicam...figured the honeymoon would be worth a few pictures) and an intro to the bridal party.

Music Requests

2006-07-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

We are doing all the music for the wedding ourselves, so if you have a song you would like to hear, please let us know!

The Invitations are in the mail!

2006-07-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

How exciting, the invitations are in the mail! We hope you like them!

Wedding Gifts

2006-07-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

I must have spent around 10 hours combing through all the wedding websites on the topic of proper etiquette for wedding gifts. I swear there is as much debate on this topic as there was on whether Bush was actually elected the first time!

So, let me start off by saying that gifts are not expected, but they are definitely appreciated!

We have lived together for the past 2 years, and we already have a lot of stuff! We have created two small registries for those who would like to buy us a gift from a registry. We have only selected items that will be lovingly used.

The first one is with a local kitchen goods store, Call the Kettle Black. Jason and I are big fans of supporting local businesses, so this was our top choice. We also love to cook, and there are some kitchen things that we could use.

Call the Kettle Black, located at 12523 102 Avenue NW - (780) 448-2861

We have a second small registry at The Bay. You can check it out at http://www.hbc.com/registry/find.aspx?gs=GIFTREGISTRY&site=bay&langid=EN

Donations to the 'lisa and jason will eventually need to buy a couch and/or house' fund are also welcome;)

THANKS!

The Lowdown: Ceremony and Reception

2006-07-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

We are still in the process of figuring out the details for the day, but the general idea is for it to be fun and to suit our personalities. We are planning on having our ceremony outside, rain or shine (umbrellas are optional if it is raining;). The average temperature in Edmonton for our wedding day (from the past 5 years) has been no rain and 15.7 degrees, so we are hoping for the same!
The reception (cocktail party and dance) will follow immediately after.
Please come prepared to schmooze, dance and enjoy!

photos from Sasquatch festival

2006-07-10T21:07:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures of us

2006-07-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some funny ones from a night out at the black dog with brent and heather.

how did we meet? well i'll tell you...

2006-07-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

first off you will have to trust lisa on the details of the aforementioned party. now i remember there was a party. and i remember finding whiskey. and i remember performing numerous handstands. i do not however, remember seeing the most beautiful human i have ever laid my eyes upon. like lisa said, it was very late.

never again scotch! never again will i be lured in to your clutches!

a few days pass.

"customer apreciation night!", chris yelled. or maybe i yelled it to him. irregardless, we ended up at the black dog. i walked through the entrance and quickly spotted the friends i had intended to meet. even faster, was the most beautiful distraction. my gaze was pulled, sharply to the left, and under the light, i saw her. how i ever managed to reclaim control over my stare is beyond me. i'm glad i did though, wouldn't have wanted to seem like creepy staring guy.

the rest of my body was not as swift to follow my gaze, and i joined my friends. i wish i could name the other two friends, other than chris. alas, i can not. when you see the future, the present takes the back seat.

now after shifting in my seat for an hour or so, sipping nervously at my pint, my companions and i parted ways. they left for home. i stayed to enjoy the "atmosphere", intending to only have a couple more drinks and then off to the pickle.

the fates had other plans.

knowing lance from previous encounters led to believe his company would be of equal, if not greater, character. and bar room stamina. i seated myself at their table and proclaimed that i was indeed, their "new best friend." what i didn't know however, was that they would be some of the most amazing people i have ever met. one stunning girl in particular. the one that introduced herself, as "portia."

after that, there was no turning back. lisa may have take some time to succumb to my charms, but i fell for her's immediately.

How did we meet? She says...

2006-07-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

After a night of touring various watering holes with my friend Neal*, we ended up at a party downtown. It was late late late at night, and after deciding that drinking a pint of wine was a good idea, we noticed a goofy guy in the kitchen who happened to be a friend of a friend of a friend. A few days later, Neal, Mags*, Lance and I were at the Black Dog to partake in their ridiculously cheap libations in honour of the birth of the Black Dog. I pointed out that the goofy guy from the party was also at the bar. I couldn't really remember if we had been introduced or talked to him, but I remembered that he was funny. Fortunately, Lancey knew who he was.

Jason came up to our table and sat down announcing that he was our new best friend. He graciously entertained Mags and I as we persistently quizzed him on the important things in life (music, dreams, aspirations, loves had and lost, favourite drinks, travelling, the meaning of life, general life philosophies). We quickly found out a few things about him: he was in a band that we loved, he was freaking hilarious, he fit right in and was generally just super awesome.

Inevitably, Neal and Mags decided that I should date him. I, however, didn't want to be in a relationship. We kept on running into each other and hung out a couple of times. I had decided that, regardless of whatever anybody else saw between us, I definitely did not have a crush on him. Impervious to his charm, we started dating in January and I fell in love almost instantly.

*name has been changed to protect anonymity

And now a word from our peeps...(Guestbook)

2006-06-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

Guestbook

Good things do come of having to wait at greyhound

2006-04-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

Awwww...precious...

Cat got your tongue?

2006-03-26T10:24:00.000-08:00