It’s hard to believe that it has already been three years that Allan and I have been together. Time really does fly when you’re having fun! On Wednesday I spoke a lot about authenticity… and I am so happy that one of the things in my life that is very much authentic and the same online and offline, behind closed doors or in public, is my relationship with Allan.

This long weekend, we’re off to Tofino for some sun, relaxation, time with friends, and of course, much needed surf to celebrate our three year anniversary. It feels like it’s been way too long since we’ve been in the water and I’m looking forward to kick-starting a summer of surfing! We’ll be staying at Ocean Village in Tofino.

When Allan and I first met at work at the very first video game company I worked at, we were friends for nearly a year before we started dating. I pretty much had to bribe him to go out with me… but it worked, and we’ve been together ever since.

I honestly thought we would get bored of each other with the amount of time we spend together. The very three months of dating we were together almost 24/7 and well… three years later, not much has changed. It blows my mind that we’re still not sick of each other.

We have the same interests… we love surfing, snowboarding, cooking, scuba diving, relaxing, golfing, and now, even mountain biking together.

We hang out with each other’s groups of friends together.

We introduce each other to new things.

We travel together.

We have fun together.

We’re not perfect by any means… every relationship has ups and downs, and ours is no different. But we do manage to resolve our disagreements quickly, and try never to go to bed upset. We’ve worked extremely hard on our relationship… we’ve set aside time to work on problems, we’re gone through tough times together, we’ve done exercises, read through relationship books and workbooks, and even made sure to do a few counselling sessions a couple years ago. It’s made a world of difference, and I can honestly say our relationship is very strong, healthy, and happy.

Nothing comes easy, that’s for sure!

What’s I’ve realized most of all (thanks to my friends Kim and Liv), is that it’s a relationship worth fighting for. And when I think about it that way, I know that we have to put time and effort into it to make it work. But it’s worth it. And most good things in life you have to work and fight for.

We’re so compatible in terms of interests, personalities, values, lifestyle, humour, romance, and careers… that I honestly can’t imagine my life with anyone else. I know he’s the one. I can’t even count how many nights we’ve gone to bed laughing so hard that our pillows got wet with tears.

Allan is incredibly creative, smart, kind, generous, hard-working, athletic, and so so funny. I feel so very lucky to be with him. It’s weird to get off work and miss each other so much during the day that when he comes to pick me up, it’s like a big reunion. Every frickin’ day!

So here’s to you Allan…. Happy Three Year Anniversary! I can’t wait to surf with you this anniversary weekend, and have many more surf weekends throughout our lives. I love you.

And by “we”, I mean the Vancouver Canucks and I.

In light of the upcoming Vancouver Canucks 2008/2009 Season, I thought it would be a good idea to give the readers of this blog an idea of the love affair between the ‘Nucks and myself. And, Trevor Linden.

When I was about 5 years old, I started to understand the Vancouver Canucks play-by-play announcers on the radio. Over the next decade and a bit, I would cuddle up with my dad and watch Hockey Night in Canada, listen to Tom and Shorty on CKNW, and catch nearly all the games on TV or radio. I would even grab my dinky radio-alarm clock and turn it down to the lowest volume so my parents wouldn’t catch me, and listen to the post-game shows late into the night.

My Old Room

Even when I went away to University in the East, I saved all my pennies and bought NHL Centre Ice, just so I could catch Canucks game. (They had little to no coverage of Western hockey teams in Ontario) Up again voracious Leafs and Habs fan, I stood my ground and proudly wore my Canucks jersey around campus and in bars.

Mini hockey setup in university

When I finally moved back home and got a job in the video game industry, my relationship status to the ‘Nucks changed from “in a relationship” to “married”. I decorated my work cubicle with jerseys, flags, and even Trevor Linden’s rookie player card. I watched and listened to every single game. I managed to catch Trevor Linden outside of Vij’s restaurant and got him to autograph my jersey (no, I wasn’t stalking him — I happened to be eating there too). I Took the journey with my favourite announcers Tom and Shorty from CKNW to Team 1040, went to a few Canucks games, and wore my Canucks jersey every single day leading up to the playoffs and all through the playoffs (even at work).

Canucks stuff at my previous job

Playoffs 2006/2007

The 2006/2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs rolled around and I decided that I would watch one round of playoff hockey, even if it killed me. I sold my soul and went to all of the Round 1 playoff home games. I even got Tommy Santala to toss me a puck in the 1st game of Round 1 (yep that 7 period hockey game).

Eating Tommy Santala's puck

This year will be different. My hero and lifelong crush Trevor Linden retired last year. Marcus and Mo are gone, and a few others. But that won’t stop me from continuing to be a Canucks fan.

Trevor Linden and I

Hope you enjoyed tonight’s first pre-season game. I’ll be back tomorrow to write a recap of tonight’s game as well as cover the first pre-season home game and… THE NEW OPENING SONG!

I can’t wait for the real season to start.