I found a place in Saskatoon!

Well, I did it, I found a great place to live in Saskatoon. I looked at three places today. Two basement apartments that would do in a pinch but not ideal and then the third was amazing! It is a basement suite in half a duplex. The house is only 4 years old and it has big windows and it's really nice and bright. There are two grad students (female) who live upstairs and the one I met was really friendly. We share all utilities including phone line if I want and cable and internet, wahoo! It's so nice. It's a one bedroom and it has a large living space with a kitchen at one end that has a brand new fridge and stove. They are going to let me use their futon (nice, solid wood) and their microwave (also nice!) because they have two and only need one upstairs. I'm feeling so much better about this whole move thing now that I have a place to live and such a nice one with really great people living above me. It's close to the grocery stores and restaurants (on 8th St.) and close to theatres and cultural stuff (on Broadway) and fairly close to the school but in a quiet neighbourhood. I have a parking spot on the driveway. I can' t believe I found it on my first day out looking. Now I have to figure out what to do all day tomorrow. My friend Barb is coming up from Moose Jaw tomorrow night and so I have the whole day to enjoy Saskatoon. I'll post pictures of my place once I get home because I forgot my card reader for the memory card at home. Don't worry I'll take lots of pictures.

I'm in Saskatoon

Well, I made it to Saskatoon, after standing in long line ups at the Vancouver airport and a 2 hour layover in Edmonton I have made it to Saskatoon. For those who aren't up on what's happening in my life I am transferring to the seminary here from VST to finish my Masters of Divinity degree because that is what the Lutheran church requires. I have come to Saskatoon for a couple of days to see the seminary and find a place to live.
I have a rental car while i'm here which I got using my dad's airmiles (yay for dad's points!) and when I got to the desk they had to upgrade me so I am driving around Saskatoon in a ...
a Dodge Magnum. A gangsta vehicle. It's quite fun. It's a very strange car to drive because I'm in a car but I'm really high up.
I really want to find a nice place and the vacancy rates in Saskatoon are at an all time high so it really shouldn't be a problem (she says, crossing fingers, toes, eyes etc). I saw one place today that will do but wasn't ideal in any way shape or form. It was a one bedroom basement suite that was fully furnished (very old furniture) but you had to share a bathroom with the person in the other suite and the only parking was street parking and it was all wood paneling so quite dark, so tomorrow the search continues. I'm hoping wood paneling isn't the "in thing" in Saskatoon, the only other place I've seen inside pictures of also had wood paneling, yuck!
Anyways, tomorrow I go to the seminary, meet with the registrar and then continue house hunting. Think I may stop by a few churches where I know the pastors and see if they have any leads I could follow. I will post more each day because I need contact with the outside world!

Living in the la vida limbo

I feel like I'm living in an in between time. When I preached on ascension I talked about this and compared it to how the disciples must have been feeling after Jesus left them and they were waiting for the Spirit that had been promised to come down. I am done at VST and almost done at both of my jobs. At both jobs I sit on the search committee for replacements for me, weird! I continue to attend synod and church meetings knowing that most of what they're talking about will take place when I'm already in Saskatoon. So in a couple of months I move to a place I've never been, living in a place I haven't found yet, going to a school I have yet to see. Feeling kind of strange.
I told my spiritual director that in some ways I wish I was already there and he was worried I was saying I wanted to run away from the chaos at VST but I explained I didn't want to run away from it but that I knew I wouldn't be there in the fall when things get really crazy and so it's hard to be around but not really. I feel like it would be better to just be gone.
Though I am really enjoying my summer on the coast. I love Vancouver in the summer. I went to the dragon boat festival last weekend, which was great until the rain came tumbling down! This weekend the jazz fest starts and the World Urban Forum and the Peace Forum is this week so much to do in Vancouver in the summer!
And it's my birthday this week too. Thursday I am not going into work (yay!). I am going to lunch with a friend and then to a spa for pedicures with another friend and finally to a BBQ with a whole bunch of friends. I think it will be a lovely day! I also have to renew my driver's license this year, crappy $75 I don't have!
Next week I head to Saskatoon for a few days to meet with the registrar at my new school and check out some accomodation options. I feel all grown up as I'm renting a car for the first time in my life (oh except for when I had my rental after my accident but that was an ICBC thing and not a vacation rental!). I'm going all alone and looking forward to the adventure. I checked with the place I'm staying and they have wireless so I'll be sure to post from there too!

Hope you're all having a great week!

Good movies & Bad movies

I saw a couple of movies over the past couple of weeks. Last night I was wonderfully entertained by A Prairie Home Companion. It was based on the radio show of the same name by Garrison Keillor. Such a good movie! It was a lovely evening out. The movie had an amazing cast and was such a delight to watch. I loved every minute of it. I think my friends and I were the loudest laughers in the theatre, I strongly recommend this film to everyone.
Then a couple of weeks ago I saw Davinci code, what a waste of $! It was 2 and a half hours of torture. My friend and I talked all the way through it (quietly of course) because that was the only way to stay awake! My favourite part of the movie was this really serious part in the story and Tom Hanks made a really strange face and the entire movie burst out laughing. Oops! Such a bad movie.
Anyways, I'm working lots but also enjoying the summer lots too. I head to Saskatoon for a couple of days at the end of June to look for places and meet with the registar. Going to be a busy summer!

Just a battery, off to the beach!

Well life has definitely been more fun in the last 24 hours than it was all of last week. Last night I went to a friend's place and we played games until late. It was so nice. We played Settlers of Catan (now I now what everyone is talking about, great game!) and then Phase 10 (lots of fun too!). I decided that I wasn't going to go into the church today as I was there all last week some days up to 12 hours. So I slept in and then went to school to go for lunch with a couple of friends. When I got back a few other friends were hanging around the coffee shop and so I joined them. A little while later who should walk in but my crazy thesis writing friend Kat! We had a lovely impromptu coffee date and then I decided I had procrastinated enough it was time to come home and face the music with my car situation.
My car hasn't started since Friday morning and I went through all the stages of panic as the dollar signs were popping into my head. After consulting some friends I came to the conclusion it might be my battery which wouldn't be so bad in the scheme of things. So I called BCAA and 20 minutes later the BCAA guy showed up and is right now putting in a new battery. This means that I don't have to have it towed nor do I need to put hundreds of dollars into my car, yay!
Later this evening I'm heading down to the beach with another VST friend who I ran into today at school (yeah, we're all sick, don't even have classes and we still hang around the school!). It's sooo beautiful tonight. Have to get out and enjoy the sunshine before it disappears again.
I'm thinking that I really need to go and get my summer clothes out of storage. I am wearing jeans today and it's just too warm!
Anyways, car is done and ready to go, have to go call my friend and arrange plans for the evening!

More Doves

This is the mobile in its proper place. Looks pretty nice! 

Doves, Doves, Doves

This is the dove mobile I've been working on all week at work. 268 doves, 300 yards of fishing line, 1 hula hoop and way too many hours of work! This is when it's lowered to the ground.  

What's with the doves?

Well I just realised I haven't posted for a while and so I thought I'd post something about what I've been working on since I posted last. A few months ago a woman in my congregation approached me with an idea for an art installation for Pentecost. It required 400 folded paper doves, a hula hoop and some fishing line. No problem, I thought! We started folding doves and as of Monday afternoon we ended up with 268 doves (that would be after I folded 70 on Monday afternoon) so we used what we had and I spent most of this week stringing up doves. By Friday afternoon all 268 were strung and I got to hoist it up into the air!
And that would be the excitement in my life! Wahoo! Starting to think I need to work harder to find some things to do with my summer to bring a little more excitement. Otherwise work will consume me. The structure of my group of friends has changed around me and some of my summer plans have been changed as a result, soooo I'll have to be creative and come up with a new summer plan or maybe just wing it (ahhhh, I'm such a planner, I hate winging things). Who knows what's in store!
I went to the Camp Luther walk/bike/canoeathon yesterday. It was stepping into the past for me as I haven't been out there for a year and a half. It looks great, they're really working hard to make it nicer. It is definitely time for me to move on from that place though. I love it and always will. I believe that it does important ministry. It was nice to see old friends but I am definitely in a much different space now. Had a good talk with a wise friend about camp and about the church. I value those wise friends so much!
Anyways, I really need to clean my room! So I better work on that for an hour or so before I head out for a games night with friends.