Auf wiedersehen summer!

So today marks the beginning of the Fortnight of Natalie. I have made the executive decision that because this year's birthday is my quarter-century, I deserve an entire fortnight - and because it's all downhill after the quarter-century mark ... at least, that's the general consensus. Oh, and I do realise I've now managed to alienate a good 90% of the Tales' audience. Ordinarily I'd care, but it is the Fortnight of Natalie after all.

To celebrate this momentous occasion I'd like to think we'd planned a grand trip to Cancun in my honour. Alas, this is not the case and we're actually making the trek for Steve's upcoming Ironman 70.3 Cancun - or perhaps this is the disguise for our fantastic holiday. Either way I guess it doesn't matter - we're off to Cancun in 12 days and I am pretty excited. Steve is mostly excited about the all-inclusive aspect of our accommodation. He told me so. In actual fact I think he's specifically most excited about being able to order a pizza, burger, burrito and a pie at the same time if he so desires, at any time of the day or night. That's pretty much a direct quote right there.

This week I also began to notice what I knew would inevitably arrive - the early signs of fall. Apparently fall actually starts on September 23, but as I walked home from work this afternoon I was surprised to see many of our local parks that, only days ago were large, open, green spaces are now littered with brown leaves. A little sad considering Vancouver summer and I never got to know each other very well... I hold high hopes for a redeeming effort next year. Nevertheless I have been told time and time again how beautiful the city is in fall, so I am excited to bear witness to this beauty in the coming weeks!

Of course, with the onset of a new season comes the inevitable Battle of the Sinus Infection - my quarterly bout of excruciating headaches and general unwellness. Only 24 hours after I'd finally dragged myself out of a 48 hour Luke Power Retirement Announcement Depression,  I was greeted with all the telltale signs and had to take Tuesday off work. Thankfully I was able to arrange a visit to the local doctor (sans health care card - an expensive lesson learned!) and a good dose of antibiotics should clear it all up fairly soon. Too much information? Never! It's the Fortnight of Natalie!

So my plan is to have this blog entry run from this weekend (plans include markets, yoga and the Vancouver Olympic Distance Triathlon) almost through to my birthday on Friday (plans include an amazingly awesome dinner, a huge chocolate cake (for one) and presents from Burberry, Christian Louboutin and Diane Von Furstenburg - don't they, Steven?), right before we leave for Cancun.

Post Cancun, events continue with Mum coming to visit, a weekend trip to Whistler for ziptrek, white water rafting and dinner at my favourite Whistler restaurant - Teppan Village - and then four days later we head off on yet another adventure - to Kona, Hawaii for the Ironman World Championship. Jealous yet? Never fear! It's the Fortnight of Natalie!

So blogging again now post-Vancouver triathlon (yes, this is the most drawn out blog entry in the entire history of the universe) and I think it's safe to say it was a fairly successful day out. Both Missy & Dave (who competed as part of Team in Training to raise money for cancer research) completed their first ever Olympic distance triathlons and Steve made it worth our while getting out of bed at 5am on a public holiday morning (!!), posting a PB of roughly 2 hours and 12 minutes, a 4th place in his age group and 11th overall. Not a bad day out considering it was all part of his training and he'd run 25k yesterday.

Not a bad view for the athletes as they await the race start

I wanted to steal that ladies' blanket!

Team in Training athletes Missy & Dave!

I got in trouble for taking this photo ... I was supposed to be helping ....

I helped ... it's alllll good!!

Going so fast he's just a blur ... it definitely wasn't my crap photography!!

Coming into transition

On the run, with Mudge: "support crew extraordinaire" in the background!

Three things I learned on the triathlon circuit this weekend:

• British Columbia has a strange obsession with the movie 'Back to the Future'. Prior to our last two triathlon events (Victoria & Vancouver), we've turned on the television only to find 'Back to the Future' marathons playing. Not even normal marathons either - back to back marathons - on the night before and the morning of...  Huey Lewis & The News's 'Power of Love' totally gets you pumped up for a big race ...
• Despite the impressive number and regularity of triathlons here, some people just don't get it ... aka the man standing next to me yesterday while I was waiting for Steve to check his bike into transition who asked "so when does the big sale start?" (yes, he was serious). Lucky they had security and lighting overnight - I could just imagine the homeless markets of Downtown Eastside doing a roaring trade next weekend ... (their normal offerings of a coat hanger, snickers bar and a bottle of tomato sauce would be replaced by a set of Zipp wheels, a Cervelo and some top notch tri bars)
• As much as I respect Canada's dedication to promoting and embracing a more eco-friendly way of living, their eco-friendly port-a-loos go a step too far. Just think no flush and you're on the right track. Actually, think that scene from Slumdog Millionaire, with a little hand sanitizer thrown in for good measure. Normal port-a-loos at a triathlon = not cool. Canadian "eco-friendly" port-a-loos at a triathlon = makes me want to be violently ill just thinking about it.

Our fabulous (and successful) weekend was topped off with dinner at Dave's Gastown bachelor pad (on the rooftop!) overlooking our rather picturesque adopted city. 

Hello beautiful mountains and gorgeous blue sky!

What's wrong with this picture? The meat is cooking and there are still two men standing around the table!!

In other news ... two things I've learned over the last two weeks:

1. My accent isn't as occa as I feared it was - or so I've been told. I received a compliment from one of my work mates this week and it went something like this ... "Nat, you've got a really refined Aussie accent, you know, not like Crocodile Dundee" Wow, phew! I replied with "Oh, thanks. That's a relief. I was actually wondering about that when I was standing in the Starbucks line behind an Australian guy today. He really did sound like a massive bogan" (he totally did, by the way) which proceeded to confuse and amuse my workmate who had no idea what a "bogan" was ... then I attempted an explanation with "you know, a bogan ... like, a yobbo?" Yep. Nope.
2. The Normal Person to Crazy Person ratio in Brisbane is, I would estimate, about 10:1. In Vancouver? Normal Person to Crazy Person ratio = 2:1. Ah crazy people. Maybe it's living Downtown. Perhaps it's the exorbitant amount of marijuana smoked here. No idea to be honest, but living here I have come to embrace the Crazy Person. A never-pleasant but always interesting addition to my day. I am happy to announce that they no longer freak me out and I find that an ipod and sunglasses usually do the trick, but they do make the walk to and from work a little more interesting. For example, the lady who works in my office who I've caught, twice now, giving the finger to the empty building next door ... or the lady who looks like she just bladed out of 1994 in her fluorescent get-up, over-sized headphones and bum bag who roller blades around the intersection of Burrard & Nelson Street, weaving through peak-hour traffic, stopping and starting cars like a police officer. I promise to post a photo of her before we leave. Or perhaps even the local Denman Street bum who I heard yell at a passing group of Japanese tourists "go back to China". I found this amusing on two levels. Firstly, why would an entire group of people from one country go back to another country they have perhaps not even visited before in their lives? Secondly, I thought perhaps the self-righteous bum should entertain the idea of a shower and a job before thinking himself entitled to yell racist comments at a perfectly pleasant group of people... I actually wanted to give him a lecture to this effect, but I was running late for my birthday dinner at Kingyo (our new favourite Japanese restaurant) so it probably wasn't the time ...

Which leads me to the fabulous Kingyo! Discovered on Saturday night (thanks for the tip Kristen!), we loved it so much we ended up back there last night (Tuesday) for a pre-birthday birthday celebration with our Vancouver-based friends.

Our delicious jug of Japanese sake melon cocktail!

Liz (our token Canadian) & Dave Barrett (!!)

The Irish contingent - Laura & Lorraine

Kobe beef - cooked to perfection on our own hot stone

Devouring the Kobe beef

Mudge (our token tourist), Dave & Missy

Our sashimi starter - yummy!!

Numerous cocktails, Japanese beers and a couple of bottles of sake later ....

The fabulous Japenese dinner was even made complete with a song and dance number performed for me courtesy of the kitchen and wait staff, who presented me with two plates full (!!) of my favourite Denman Street cupcakes! I was in heaven!!

Birthday cupcakes from The Cupcake Girls!!

Hmm... which one to start??

Hmm.. can't decide, I'll have them all!!!

So I'm sure you're all bored now, 'cos it's not like we've been up to anything remotely exciting... I'm off to ponder looming old age and count the days til Cancun (7 now!!).