It sure is starting to look like Christmas here in Vancouver with a beautiful dusting of snow on the ground already. Like many of you, Christmas is my favourite holiday and it’s no secret that I love winter (although Fall is still my favourite season).

I’m so incredibly backed up on blog posts that I thought I’d give you a little mini preview of what is coming down the pipes on my blog this holiday season, complete with some seasonal photos!

VANCITYALLIE.COM HOLIDAY SEASON 2009 BLOG POST PREVIEW:

Many cooking and baking related blog posts (Christmas cookies hello!), especially as we get closer and closer to Christmas… including *gasp* a fateful attempt at making homemade croissants…

Winter wonderland photos of Vancouver and around our beautiful province…

A gear and gift guide for snowboarding just in time for last minute Christmas shopping… plus lots of snowboarding posts including our upcoming Sun Peaks and Mount Washington trips.

Family, friends, parties for Christmas and New Year’s related posts…

How Allan and I attempted making a 5-course fine dining meal for both our sets of parents when they met for the very first time…

And of course, our last blog post to highlight our time in Kicking Horse and Golden… plus the HD video of the trip!

Hope everyone is enjoying getting ready for Christmas and the holiday season! I know I am!

I’ve spent the last 5 days or so laying in bed, taking it easy at home without leaving the house. Let’s just say for someone like me… I got pretty stircrazy!

I despise being sick, mostly because it keeps me from doing all the things that I love to do!

Short and sweet photo post today.. I wanted to share with you some of my photographs that I’ve taken while traveling abroad. Laying in bed made me dream of traveling again and everything I love about seeing new places.

Nice, France

Barcelona, Spain

Rural Japan

Seoul, Korea

New York

Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Lisbon, Portugal

I’ve plotted out all the places I’ve traveled so far on this map… still so many places I want to see!

Of course, nothing compares to home… and while I do love traveling, I will always be a Vancouver girl, a West Coast girl. Living on the West Coast… there really is no places like home…

It’s been a while since I’ve made a post solely dedicated to my photography so here we go. P.S. Snowboarding with Shay post coming soon, photos from Tofino last summer, photos from the romantic Victoria getaway, photos from sprimg in Vancouver, and I also want to do a “scenes” from Twilight featuring some of my photography but it’s going to take a while to collect those together.

I’m actually feeling really terrible today so I need to get back to bed. Thank goodness I prepared this post last night all ready for the morning.

Anyway.

The photographs here are a mix of my old and new shots. I wanted a theme, so I went with “things with wings”. When the sun starts coming out more frequently and we start transitioning into spring and then summer… I really look forward to seeing all the butterflies, birds, and other critters coming out of the woodworks.

These photos taken with a mix of the Nikon D50, D80, D90 and way back when my Olympus C3030Z.

Yellow Butterfly by a Yellow Flower

Hummingbird, Still

Kissing Butterflies

Kookaburra Bird

Butterfly on a Pink Flower

Wasp

Butterfly with Camouflaged “Eye”

Bee Covered in Pollen

Thanks for looking! Hope you liked them.

My work has been absolutely hectic lately for the past two weeks, and it’s only going to get crazier up until the middle of May. On top of that, with social outings with friends, Canucks games, Twilight stalking, surf trips and finishing up my snowboard season… my life has pretty much been on hold.

There’s a few things I’ve been meaning to do lately, so here’s my list — in my photos — of some things I need to get done over the next month or so.

Start heading to the driving range again to get all geared up for the golf season. I started “golfing” a couple years ago, and finally last year started to go more frequently, and I’m hooked.

Start going to the gym more to get all geared up for the summer. I predict we’re going to have a raging hot summer this year and I’m planning on being on the beach a lot more! Especially in Tofino.

Get out my sunglasses and spend more time in the sun.

Get going on my gardening for the year. Now that I’ve got a patio again, I’ll be able to retrieve my planters from my parent’s place and all my flowers, trees, herbs, and vegetables going again. Can’t wait.

Go on more photo walks. Vancouver is so beautiful in the spring and early summer, and walking around and taking photos is ALWAYS a good idea. Must get back into it.

Get all our camping gear prepped and ready for the multiple surf trips coming up, starting in May.

Get geared up for my trip to Montreal in May. I’m attending a conference there for work, but I may have a couple extra hours to walk around. I’m looking forward to taking some photos, as well as making sure I get the most out of the conference.

Finally catch up on my grocery shopping and head to Granville Island frequently again. I’m also looking forward to the new Whole Foods opening up near me on Cambie and Broadway so that’s going to be another regular place. I can’t wait to start cooking and baking again. All this lack of time has really impacted my free time to spend in the kitchen.

Getting my freckles back in the summer and maybe working on a tan (I desperately need it).

Spend one last day on the mountain, with my new Burton Malolo. Heading up to Whistler this Sunday for the end of the TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival… for some boarding, as well as meeting up with my favourite snowboard blogger, Shayboarder! We’ll be making a mini movie and I’m looking forward to meeting my hero!

Okay, and maybe a little Twilight stalking if I have some time

And that’s it for now… anyone have plans for the next month they are dead set on doing?

So excited for Tofino this weekend, I just had to have a post with Tofino images

The ferry should be a lot of fun today. Lots of friends who are going to be on the same sailing.

I’ll be back on Monday, so follow my Twitter if you’d like updates in between then at http://www.twitter.com/VancityAllie!

This weekend will be full of… surfing, cooking, photographs, hot tubs, rain, beaches, forests, and wildlife. I’ve missed my favourite place in the whole world, and I can’t wait to be back. Good thing this summer will be filled with Tofino

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter long weekend!