Sunday, January 29, 2012

Groovin' on a Sunday Afternoon


Hey, everybody, this is Amanda. Don't worry, Jake is supervising this post as I write, being my blog training wheels in his own way.
This weekend was warm (+5 today in January, hooray!) sunny and a little windy. We took a few photos around GP as we had lunch and ran errands. Jake is leaving for a work conference on Tuesday, so hopefully he'll read my posts and feel a little closer to home.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Posting from Home Away from Home

Evening everyone!

Tonight I'm posting from Amanda's Macbook.  We don't have all that much on the agenda this weekend.  We've got to go shopping for some work boots (for Amanda -- I think steel toes might be overkill for the library), but that's about it -- other than taking photos for this blog, of course!

Actually, I joked with Amanda about how little we've got to do this weekend.  I'll be staying here until Tuesday when I fly out to Toronto, so I'll be here while Amanda is working Monday.  Earlier in the week I commented that she'd better have ice cream in the freezer so I can lay around, eat ice cream, and play video games while she's at work all day.  ...somehow I don't think she appreciated the idea quite as much as I did.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Brief Hiatus...?

Good evening everyone!


I'm heading off for a library conference in Toronto.  Tomorrow I'll be driving to Grande Prairie, spending the weekend with Amanda, then flying from there to Toronto on Tuesday morning.


I'm not taking my notebook with me on this trip, so I won't be able to post anything between January 31 and February 4.


Now, Amanda and I will be out and about in Grande Prairie over the weekend (wave if you see us!), and plan to take another batch of photos, including some with her iPhone.  We've talked about it, and she's interested in writing a blog post to accompany some of those photos.  So hopefully you'll be reading Amanda's first post in the next little bit, and perhaps one or two more from me (from Amanda's Macbook) before I fly out.


I'll be back at Grande Prairie again next weekend, and hopefully Amanda and I will have time to take another batch of photos before I return to Tumbler Ridge and my normal life.


Please stay tuned!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Of Spatulas and Love



This was the final photo Amanda and I took last weekend.  Just before we left the mall after doing some running around, we stopped by Zellers to look for a few things.


We ended up in the kitchen aisle trying to find a replacement for Amanda's spatula.  It works really good, but has started to wear out from lots of use.  I commented to Amanda about how we were back in the store where we took our first photo as the Kissing Couple of GP, and we decided to take another one.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Once more, with feeling!



This photo was taken roughly an hour after my haircut on January 22, 2012.  Amanda and I had some other running around to do, and we eventually stopped at Costco to fill up my car.


The sun was still shining, and Amanda hadn't lost patience with me or my phone's camera.  When we got out of my car, Amanda was smiling and looking incredibly cute, and I took a photo of her that's now the wallpaper on my iMac.


Since I still had the camera handy, I leaned in for another kiss and got this photo.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Before and After

As you've seen, I've needed a haircut since Amanda and I started this blog.  Contrary to popular belief, I *have* been trying to get my hair cut.  In Grande Prairie around New Year's, Amanda and I both planned to get our hair cut.  But the day we were looking, we didn't have a lot of time, and every place we stopped had many people waiting.

I tried again last Saturday before Amanda arrived in Tumbler Ridge.  I walked out to the local barbershop (in the cold -- it was around -20 and very windy), and got there at 12:58pm.  Their 'open' sign was turned off, so I checked the hours on the sign to find... they close at 1pm on Saturdays.  :-(

So I went another week with hair that felt much too long.

Then when I was in Grande Prairie this wekend, Amanda and I discussed trying again.  So we stopped at Quick Clips, waited a few minutes, and I was able to have my hair trimmed to a much more manageable length.

But before my name was called for my turn, Amanda and I took a quick 'before' photo.  It was taken on January 22, 2012 inside of Quick Clips.  The waiting chairs we were sitting in led to an awkward angle for this photo, but the kiss was nice anyway.


The next photo was taken about twenty minutes later out in the parking lot, with my *much* shorter mane of hair.  Sunday was a beautiful day -- sunny and fairly warm, and it didn't take much convincing for either of us to share a kiss for the camera.



My drive home was interesting the next morning.  Even in my car with the heater on, my head was cold.  It was the first time I've had to wear my toque while driving in a really long time.  It always amazes me exactly how much cooler my head is when my hair is cut.


Before I wrap this up, I know I'm writing about my hair in this blog post, but doesn't Amanda's hair look amazing in that light?  Shining golden-reddish-brown, and incredibly beautiful.  So much for my hair being important.  :-)

Monday, January 23, 2012

Nighttime Shopping


Amanda and I took this photo on January 21st outside of Save-On at around 10pm.  I got into Grande Prairie around 7ish, and we went out for a late supper and stopped to grab a few groceries afterward.  I grabbed her for a quick kiss on the walk through the parking lot toward the store.


I'll be honest -- this is far from my favourite photo of the two of us together.  My hair is *still* needing a haircut, and Amanda's hair (which I love) is all covered up by her toque.  That said, I do think it's funny that it almost looks like a spotlight is being trained on us and our kiss.  :-)

Friday, January 20, 2012

Baby, it's Cold Outside


This was the final photo Amanda and I took together last weekend.  It was in the mid minus 20s (much warmer than it would be even a day later) when we walked out to her car before she left.  She started it up, we swept it off, and we took the time for a long kiss in the cold before she had to leave.

If she was still here a day later when it was -39, I think we would've had to kiss through our scarves if we tried for the same photo.


It's funny writing about saying goodbye to Amanda tonight because I'll be seeing her in less than 24 hours.  Provided the roads and weather cooperate (never a sure thing, but they're looking okay right now), I'll be driving to Grande Prairie tomorrow afternoon and we'll be saying hello again.  ...And that's enough to put a smile on my face tonight.  :-)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Pink Hoodie in Action

This photo was also taken on January 15th in my condo.  It was kind of chilly on the weekend, and Amanda and I had talked about putting on our hoodies after breakfast (when we weren't standing next to a warm stove anymore).

I wanted to take a photo of us with our hoods up because I thought they'd obscure most of our faces, and the end result might be funny.  The final result shows much more of our faces than I expected, but I still like the photo.  Amanda was cute in her hoodie and apparently I was cute in my pink hoodie :-)

(Photographer's note:  The hoodie is much pinker than shown in this particular photo)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Travels

In just over a week and a half, I'll be on my way to Toronto for a library conference.  It's my first time attending a library conference outside of British Columbia, and the first one I've travelled to since I met Amanda.


It would've been lots of fun to have Amanda accompany me.  I'd be busy at the conference during the day, of course, but we'd have a few nights in Toronto to explore the city together.  We'd be able to find some great restaurants, do some shopping, and get a photo of the Kissing Couple of Grande Prairie at the CN Tower.


Sadly, things didn't quite work out this time.  Amanda's got to work, and for whatever crazy reason, my library won't pay for her to come with me. ;-)


...So instead we'll have to settle for a lingering goodbye kiss that Tuesday morning, and a very welcome 'welcome home' kiss on the Saturday.  I can think of much worse things.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Breakfast with Kisses


I took this photo on Sunday, January 15th.  Amanda and I woke up kind of early on Sunday, showered, and cooperated in making breakfast.  It wasn't anything complicated -- just bacon and eggs.  While I was starting the eggs and Amanda was dealing with the bacon, I looked over at her.


Amanda's hair was still wet, and she was looking very cute and very kissable.  She looked over, saw the glint in my eyes, and we both put down our cooking utensils for a moment.  We stopped the kiss when we remembered that we were cooking and stuff might start burning any minute.


As a side note, Amanda's necklace is one she made herself, and it's pretty spiffy!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Tale of a Pink Hoodie

Amanda and I spent Christmas together this year.  Originally we had both planned to spend Christmas with our families as we normally do.  But when I was at her sister's for Thanksgiving with her family, her parents floated the idea of the two of them being out of town for Christmas.  I seized the moment, and said that my parents had told me I could invite Amanda home for Christmas.


So Amanda and I traveled to Williams Lake to spend Christmas with my family.  On Christmas morning, I opened up my gift from Amanda to find two things -- a copy of 1Q84, a really good book recently translated from its original Japanese, and a white Aeropostale hoodie.


I had a minor accident (sprayed pop out of my nose due to my brother doing something really funny while playing a board game) and got some Coke on one of the cuffs.  One trip through the laundry with a red tablecloth that had been washed over and over again for years and I had a pink hoodie!

It's still really comfy, fits me well, and the unintended dye job came out nice and even.  However, pink isn't really my colour, so in the near future, I will be going to get a replica of the hoodie in its original shade.  That said, I am going to hang onto the pink hoodie for two reasons.


1)  I finally have something pink to wear on anti-bullying day.


2)  Pink or not, it's still the hoodie that Amanda bought me for Christmas, and she still thinks it looks good on me.


...Now I just need to erase the nickname of "Strawberry Shortcake" I was given while wearing the hoodie on Boxing Day and I'll be all set!



Saturday, January 14, 2012

Weather Update

Well, Mother Nature cooperated with us, and Amanda was able to drive out today.  It has snowed, and the wind was blowing all day, but it wasn't enough to keep Amanda from coming to visit!


That said, the low temperatures and the wind have combined to make it unlikely that we'll do much in the way of taking photos while she's here in Tumbler Ridge.  We may head out and try for a couple (I'd really like to take one of us kissing in front of town hall!), but when the wind chill is -32, it's not very conducive to taking photos.  We may have to settle for photos where we're kissing through our scarves...


In any case, I'm very happy that the weather cooperated enough for Amanda to visit this weekend, and I'm going to finish up this blog post quickly so I can enjoy the rest of the time I have with her before she leaves tomorrow afternoon.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Waiting on Mother Nature

If Mother Nature cooperates, Amanda will be visiting me in Tumbler Ridge in about 14-15 hours.


That's a pretty big "if."  The weather forecast is still calling for 2-4 inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow night.  That said, the weather station is in Chetwynd, an hour away, so it could be that Chetwynd will be snowed in and we'll enjoy a fairly nice weekend here.


That's what the optimistic part of my mind tells me.  The realistic part reminds me (at every opportunity) that I live in Tumbler Ridge, and that it is January.  By all rights, there should be three feet of snow on the ground, snowbanks plowed 4-5 feet high, and I should be considering whether I need to buy a pair of snowshoes.


So tomorrow in all likelihood you'll either be hearing from Cranky Jake, disappointed about missing a weekend with Amanda, or not hearing from me at all, because I'm too busy spending time with Amanda to update the blog.  But if the latter does happen, hopefully we'll be taking a bunch of photos with my phone and her new iPhone, and I'll have a bunch of new photos to share of the Kissing Couple of Grande Prairie, as seen in Tumbler Ridge.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Sunshine and Lollipops

This kiss happened on December 31, 2011, and it was a great way to close out the year!


We were waiting for the lights to change so we could cross from the parking lot behind the Prairie Mall to the shopping centre with Warehouse One.


I grabbed my cell, grabbed Amanda, and the conditions were perfect.  The sun was shining and the wind was blowing our hair and the strings on our hoodies.  Of course, Amanda was looking cooler than I was (I'd left my sunglasses in the car), but she was willing to kiss me anyway.


Now that I look at this photo alongside the other three I've uploaded to this blog, I've just noticed that in spite of what I said in a previous blog post, Amanda and I appear to tilt our heads to the right most of the time in these photos.  I'm sure we normally tilt our heads to the left, but I wonder if it's easier for me to hold my cell phone to get a photo if I'm tilting right.  Now that I'm aware of it, I'll pay more attention the next time out.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Wa-a-a-a-iting...

I'm well aware that for the most part I'm a lucky guy.  Amanda and I don't have what I'd consider a long-distance relationship.  If I want to go see her (or vice-versa), I just have to make sure my car has some gas in it, and away I go.  If the roads between Tumbler Ridge and Grande Prairie are decent, I'll be seeing her in less than three hours.

If I ever had some kind of emergency here, she could come on fairly short notice.  If I ever had an incredibly bad day and desperately needed to see her, I could drop everything, drive out after work, stay the night, and still get home for work in the morning just fine, if a little tired.


It's nothing like people who work out at camps, or in the oil patch, or in diamond mines up north.  I'm not sure how those folks manage it.  It'd drive me nuts if I didn't get to see Amanda for three, four, or six weeks at a time.


That said, we do live in the north.  Last weekend we didn't get together.  The roads were icy, it was my shorter weekend, and Amanda had plans with her family on Saturday night.  We had hoped that Amanda could drive out to Tumbler Ridge this weekend, but the forecast is for 4-6 inches of snow.  There's a good chance we'll have to delay getting together for another week.

We're going to keep an eye on the forecast and hope for the best, but in the meantime I find myself with a Tom Petty song stuck in my head.


*singing* "You take it on faith, you take it to the heart // the wa-a-a-a-iting is the hardest part"

Monday, January 9, 2012

Couple in Aisle Two



Tonight's photo was also taken on December 30th, though later in the day.  After doing some other running around and going for our walk, Amanda and I needed to run over to the No Frills store to pick up a few groceries for supper.


I blew my chance to get a photo in the produce section (due to very bad timing on the shutter control on my phone), but I made up for it in dairy.  Amanda had just pulled a carton of milk out of the cooler, and let the door close to find me waiting for her.


She obliged me, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was the best kiss that's ever happened next to the dairy section in that store. It certainly felt like it!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Definition

What's a kiss?


Well, mathmatically it's
2 people + 2 sets of lips + romantic feelings + close proximity = kiss


If it were written as a recipe, it would be
Add two people, two sets of lips, and romantic feelings.
If desired, add tongues to taste.
Place in close proximity, and turn heat up for 5-10 seconds.

In legal terms, it would probably be defined as
"A meeting of the lips"


...so apparently Amanda and I are *that* close to being world-class mathematicians, chefs, and lawyers.


:-)

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Perspective from the Left

I once read somewhere that the majority of people tilt their heads to the right when they kiss.  I'm not sure what causes it, or even if the article I read was telling the truth.  Maybe it has to do with which hand is your dominant one, or because we're raised (at least in most western cultures) to shake hands with our right hand.


I never really thought about it until I read the article, but I usually tilt my head to the left when kissing Amanda.  Maybe I'm just weird.  Or perhaps it's because I golf and play other sports lefty, even though I'm right-handed.


...or maybe it's because the first time I kissed her, we were in my car at the end of our date, and there was no way I could reach my head across to her, put my right arm behind her seat back and kiss her without tilting my head to the left.


It seemed to work pretty good for me the first time out, so I don't see much need to mess with success!


So what does this mean to the readers of this blog?  Not much.  It's just that most of the photos you'll see on here will have slightly more of my jawline, and slightly more of Amanda's hair.  Given that I like Amanda's hair, I think that's probably a good thing all around.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Miracle of 102nd Street

Okay, it wasn't much of a miracle, but this photo is from December 30th as Amanda and I were returning to her apartment from a post-Christmas walk.


It was cold, her cheeks were rosy, and I couldn't resist either kissing her, or pulling out my cell phone to record it.  ...it's a good thing she couldn't resist either!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

First of all...


Yup, that's us!  The Kissing Couple of Grande Prairie.  I took this photo with my cell phone on November 19, 2011 in Zellers in Grande Prairie.  Amanda and I had wandered in for something, and I managed to get a fairly decent photo of us on my first try.

You'd think the lighting for a department store would be lousy for this sort of photo, but it worked out pretty well.

The only thing that bothers me about this photo is that it's clear I was on the verge of needing a haircut then.  ...And a month and a half later, I still haven't made it to my barber.

It all begins somewhere

Hi to everyone who has stumbled across this blog!

My girlfriend and I are a couple in our early 30s who live a few hours away from each other.  Our weekends are spent driving to see each other, and we tend to try to make the most of the time we've got.  For various reasons, we spend more time in Grande Prairie than in Tumbler Ridge.



We tend to do a lot of wandering around Grande Prairie and occasionally one of us will stop and pull the other closer for a kiss.  I joked one day that we should be taking pictures and using them to start a blog -- The Kissing Couple of Grande Prairie.


We both laughed about the idea, and since then have described our kisses in ridiculous ways as if we really were sharing them with an audience of blog readers.  "This is the Kissing Couple of Grande Prairie at the corner of 106th and 118th waiting for the lights to change"  "The Kissing Couple of Grande Prairie at Muskoseepi Park, enjoying the last few days of summer"  "The famous Kissing Couple of Grande Prairie outside the newspaper office having their pictures taken by newspaper staff who 'can't believe they're really here!' "  ...okay, the last one might be a little much.


At any rate, I only took one decent picture of us kissing for quite some time.  But then last weekend, we really started talking about it again.  I think Amanda may have felt I was still joking, until I took a small handful of photos of us kissing around town.


So that's what this blog is here for.  We may, from time to time, write about other things that move us.  But for now, it's just a place for photos of the Kissing Couple of Grande Prairie.  If you happen to see us around Grande Prairie, give us a wave!