Bonnie & Candace's Edmonton Adventure!

After working for a week in Edmonton, I decided to stay the weekend for vacation to explore the city a little. Bonnie was able to come up to meet me, our first sister's vacation, yay! Edmonton seems like a smaller city, parts of it (maybe the architecture?) reminded us of Europe, but then other parts (like driving into the city from the middle of fields) reminded us of Fargo. Fall was happening full-fledged there and it was very beautiful!

We walked around an area near the University of Alberta the first day Bonnie arrived. We did some shopping and ate some good food. Here we are in a little shop with the neat hats we discovered.

At first we thought the hats were just for little kids...

But then we discovered the adult sizes! They also have mittens to match!

Hilarious! At this point, we were both laughing pretty hard and I might have been crying, it was so funny!

I tried to convince Bon to get this one, but she said if she did, she'd probably forget she was wearing it and wonder why people were staring at her :)

Here's a picture of the river that runs through the city. There is a neat park with trails that runs along side the river. We walked along it and it was very beautiful! It made me miss fall and especially fall in Minnesota. In Seattle, we get about 5 minutes of the leaves changing and sweatshirt weather before the rain begins...

Saturday night we went out to a cute Mexican restaurant near our hotel. We stayed in downtown Edmonton, so there were a lot of things nearby to walk to. The food was delicious!

Next, we went to a little hold-in-the-wall pub for a true Canadian experience (well, we didn't make it to a hockey game, only saw it on TV...). We even ordered poutine, which is french fries covered in gravy and cheese. It's actually pretty good!

It was a fun, relaxing weekend. It was nice to hang out and catch up in a new city. Thanks for meeting me in Canada, Sissy!

Candace's Trip to Canada

In the beginning of October, I got the opportunity to go to Canada for a new store opening. It was so much fun! Designers (I was the only design trainee!) from our different stores around the US and Canada arrived in Edmonton, Alberta, a week prior to the new store opening to set up all the displays and to make the store look beautiful. It was a lot of work, but I loved it! Being a trainee, it was a great experience because I got to work with and learn from the cream of the crop, store designers and area designers who have a lot of talent. It was awesome!

I worked in our glass & tabletop section for the week, here are some displays I did: the area manager and designer liked this table setting so much, they moved it into a busier section in the middle of the store!

So this was my second table setting...

Since the opening was in October, some designers decided to start the trick-or-treating early and play tricks on us. Here was a hilarious example:

Fake teeth in the barware! Very cute :)

Here's what the store entrance looked like on the morning of the day prior to opening day. There was still a lot of work left to do, but we managed to pull it off!

The evening prior to the store opening, the staff gets to celebrate all of our hard work with a party. Here's me and my roommate Val, a designer from the San Francisco area.

Here's some of the design team I worked with. It's kind of like camp: you live and work with these people for a week, making friends and having fun!

The opening party was a great way to relax and congratulate ourselves on all of our hard work!

There was a line of people waiting outside to get in the morning of the opening, how exciting!

I had an awesome experience, I can't wait for the next store opening I get to attend!

Family & Friends Open House Party!

On Saturday afternoon, Barry and Cindy hosted an open house for family and friends to come and visit with us. It was very nice! We got to see lots of people we hadn't seen in a while, and I got to meet family friends I hadn't yet--we had a lot of fun!

Me, Sarah, and Chelsea

Sarah and Stephanie have been best friends since kindergarten

Here's Chelsea's godmother Jennifer, family friend Nagin, and Aunt Laura

Uncle Brian and Chelsea's godfather Dan

Cousin Jillian and me

Cousin Joe and his girlfriend Mary

Dan and Steph talking with cousin Laker and his wife Kathy

Neighbors Judy and Jina, and family friend Lynn

Jina and Chelsea have been friends since they were little kids. They have family videos of their little birthdays since preschool, so cute!

Cousin Megan and her girlfriend Maggie, cousin Jillian, Chels and I

It was so great to see everyone again, and to meet the people I've heard about but hadn't met yet. Thanks for hosting, Barry and Cindy! We had a very nice trip to California :)

Sushi Making Fun!

We made sushi for dinner one night and had a blast!

Chels is expertly removing the cucumber seeds

Boo and Dan prepping the veggies

Cindy and Barry got the girls these neat wooden sushi roll presses that we used, they make it much easier to make a fancy looking sushi roll...at least for me!

Chels making a little roll special just for her

Barry and Cindy showing off a roll Cindy made

I don't think I'm very good at making sushi, but it sure is fun!

Steph and Cindy making tuna rolls

My favorite part about making sushi is that you make it, then get to enjoy it right away. Yum!

Look at that spread!

Even Chelsea likes it!

California Trip September 2011

Chels, Steph, Dan, and I all took a trip down to California in late September to visit the parents and family and friends over a long weekend. We had a very nice trip! Here are some of the things we did:

When we arrived, it was quite hot, around 90 degrees the first few days. Of course, we Seattleites must have brought the rain with us, because by Saturday it was in the 70's and raining, go figure! On Friday, Cindy and Barry planned a few family outings for us. First, we went to a local winery and did some wine tasting. Yum! It was my first time wine tasting and I had a blast! It's awesome to learn about the wine from the people who make it, and interesting to try all the different types of wine they can make at one winery.



Cool door! I always love a neat front door

Chelsea, me, Steph, and Dan


Barry, Cindy, Stephanie, and me


There's nothing like a chilled glass of white wine on a hot summer day!

Next, we went to play bocce ball at a place that has bocce ball courts and is also a restaurant. They will be hosting an international championship for the sport next year, so it was very official!

Here's my first attempt

I had never played before, so Barry had to give me some tips


Measuring to see which player was closest to the Pallino (the little silver ball you try and throw your bocce ball closest to) was quite funny. A few times, we were neck and neck!

We were teamed up according to the cars we came in: Prius (Cindy, Chels, me) vs. BMW (Barry, Steph, Dan). Chels must have been winning against her Dad in this photo!

Dan and Boo, so cute!

Cindy and Barry measuring to see which team is closest...Chelsea must be supervising!


We had a really fun time playing! Steph and I were paired up, and we were pretty evenly matched. Chels and her dad played against each other, and Cindy and Dan.

Victory for Team Prius! Chelsea pulled out the talent at the last minute for the big win, woo hoo!

Way to go, Chelsea! I think we'll have to have a re-match next time we visit...