www.outtheresomewhere.ca » Alberta

“The Opus” of Belly Dancing — Grande Prairie

Laura Beauchamp — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:54:06 +0000

It’s been a while since we’ve posted. Our lives have been incredible busy since we moved to Grande Prairie in September 2010. I can’t believe it’s been over 1 year. Our two businesses we started are going great Beauchamp Creative and Beauchamp Photography, we volunteer for the Reel Shorts Film Festival, I belly dance and volunteer to dance at events, Chris does indoor rock climbing, we dable at some skiing and cross country skiing in the winter and I’m thinking Yoga and choir for winter which lies ahead of us.

Here’s a video of what my friend and I like to call “The Opus” of belly dancing. It’s a 6 minute and 40 second dance we performed for the first time at a Christmas Festival called the Festival of Trees in Grande Prairie.

Purple Party!

Laura Beauchamp — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:00:34 +0000

When I got the invitation to the Purple Party, I asked the same question you’re probably thinking, “What the hell is a purple party?” It’s quite simply actually. The name is telling you exactly what it is. It’s a party where everyone wears as much purple as they can. Then of course all the decorations, drinks and food will be purple as well. In this case, Abby, the host loves purple so the decor of the appartment is actually what inspired the theme of the party. Unfortunately this evening I was more interested in talking and drinking then documenting the decor. However, I did manage to catch a couple shots of some of the lovely purple people that attended.

Laura’s Photo Shoot of Kat Lord

Laura Beauchamp — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 03:00:52 +0000

My dear friend Kat Lord took a 13-hour Grey Hound bus ride up to Grande Prairie on December 30th to be with Chris and I on New Years Eve. She stayed the week with us and then on Friday January 7th we all drove down to Calgary for the 50th Anniversary of The Gauntlet, the student newspaper Chris and I met at and the hub and heart of our university careers.

While Kat was here, she wanted some photos of her and Zappa. Zappa used to belong to Kat when he was a new born kitten, but in 2005 Kat couldn’t keep him anymore and she asked Chris if he would take him. Zappa moved in with Chris and the other roommates during the summer of 2005. I moved in with Chris, Zappa and the gang in September 2005. So, Zappa has seniority. Unfortunately that means I clean his litterbox, being the underling of the household.

So one day, while Kat was visiting, I set up the light stands, prepared the flashes, the camera, the CF card and lenses and did my very first solo photo shoot without any assistance from Chris. Not only was this experience valuable for myself as a budding photographer and essential for the business Chris and I are starting together, but it was also fun, exillerating and left me wanting to do more. Here a few of “the better” shots from the shoot, as well as a couple that I didn’t completely nail the focus on, but captured a part of Kat’s personality. She is a women of many layers with a rich and beautiful character, charisma and determination. I look forward to doing another photo shoot, to capture more of the layers that make up my friend.

Laura’s Belly Dance Show in Grande Prairie

Laura Beauchamp — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 04:38:23 +0000

Here are some still photographs for you to enjoy of the belly dance I performed with my class at a festival here in Grande Prairie. Below this post you can watch a video of our dance. Enjoy.

Our Biggest Adventure Yet! (drumroll please)

Chris and Laura Beauchamp — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:06:45 +0000

Hey gang,

Chris and Laura here again. Well, we’ve been teasing all of you with subtle mentions of our big news. If you’ve been following along for the past several months, you’ll know that our plans have already changed more than once, so one more big change shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Our original plan was to wrap up our travels in Thailand, where we would settle down for a year and teach English. But life has a way of surprising you.

In mid-May, Laura got a message on Facebook and it changed the course of our life. Instead of magical Thailand, the “Land of Smiles,” we had a new option: a place with a strange and unique local culture; with extreme weather that some people only dream about.

This place just sounded so interesting and challenging from a traveller’s perspective we simply couldn’t say no. Fresh air, a vast and open blue sky, the shinning sun reflecting off the glistening ground, huge lakes nearby, and wildlife practically outside your front door. The people are completely unique. Some of their traditions and outlooks on the world may seem backward to big-city westerners like us, but every traveler knows that you can’t bring your own value judgements to a new place.

And to top it off it involves jobs for each of us and a home again.

The Facebook message reopened a dialogue between us and Laura’s ex-boss Brian. At the end of that dialogue, Laura accepted the job as the education manager of a fascinating new project, a new dinosaur museum! That means she gets to do what she loves to do! And Chris gets the same thing: finally a chance to start up his own business and throw himself at photography and design work. It also turns out, miraculously, that two of our dear friends from home are moving there shortly as well.

It’s a big commitment. To secure her salary, Laura signed a two-year contract, so this new adventure is an even bigger decision than our Thailand plans. The museum doesn’t exist yet and probably won’t for 2–3 more years, but in the meantime she will be constructing the education department and programs from the ground. This is such a wonderful opportunity for her and her career. She’s so excited! Chris is pumped too, both for Laura’s opportunity, and for his own.

So where is this magical land? Maybe some of you have started guessing, “China perhaps?” There are dinosaurs there. But no, this place is far more exotic.

We’re moving to...

We thought you’d enjoy these pretty flowers!!!!!!

Wait for it...

Chris has already started branding and website design for his work, but there’s a ton more to do.

You’ll know soon...

Here’s a picture of Mimoun the Camel!!!!

We’re moving to... Grande Prairie in northwestern Alberta, Canada! That’s right folks, we are moving back to Canada in late August. Laura will be working with her old boss, Brian Brake, from The Military Museums at the new River of Death and Discovery Dinosaur Centre. Chris will be making a hard go as a wedding photographer, web and graphic designer. We have a ton of work to do in both getting moved, settled, setting up a new business, and throwing ourselves at our new opportunities. We’ll be sad to leave the road behind, but mostly happy to have a home again. Unfortunately this news means we won’t be making it to India or Nepal this time around, but if you’ve enjoyed the blog, don’t fret. There is plenty to share from our new lives in the “Land of Testicles Hanging from Underneath Giant Pickup Trucks.” Our friends Phil and Marcia are also moving up there, as Phil is going to be the head paleontologist of the project. Some of you may vaguely remember Grande Prairie from old blog posts. Yes, it is the place Chris jokingly referred to as “the other armpit of Alberta,” and it’s also the place that had the coldest temperatures in the province when we were there last (-32 degrees Celsius), but it’s home to Chris’ sister Kelli, and her wonderful pack of kids.

So there you have it, our big news.

We fully intend on posting photos and telling stories of the journeys and adventure of moving to northern Alberta, but before then you can expect stories and photos from Thailand, Vietnam and perhaps Cambodia and Laos before we come home. We leave Iran on July 10 to fly to Bangkok. We are both dreaming of the beach and a few cold bottles of beer.

Love,
Chris and Laura

p.s. — Just a reminder that we can’t access Facebook in Iran. If you want to let us know what you think of our plans, please do so in the comments.

p.p.s — This is our 100th post on the blog!

Bright blue sky? Check. Glistening ground? Check. Four feet of snow? Fuck.

The regional cuisine is something else we can look forward to.

Dinosaur Bone Bed Near Grand Prairie

Laura Beauchamp — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:43:55 +0000

Grand Prairie... um?

Chris and I had an enjoyable time hanging out with family and going swimming with the kids (our nieces and nephews). We also had a lovely visit with Brian Brake one evening and got to see the gorgeous house he managed to renovate almost entirely in the first two months of being here. He’s not one to sit around. Brian, my former boss from The Military Museums, is now living up here to start work on building a dinosaur museum! It should be completed in two years. It will be a fantastic attraction featuring Alberta’s dinosaur bone bed with the most bones per square meter. Essentially, it’s a mass grave of dinosaurs. Currently they are calling it the River of Death and Discovery Dinosaur Center. Very cool!

Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada

Chris Beauchamp — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:50:30 +0000

Today is our last day in the North. Around lunch time (in about 3 hours), we’ll be taking a bus to a place called Dawson Creek, where we’ll catch another one to Kamloops, B.C. This’ll be the longest Greyhound ride of our Canadian leg, and all told we’ll be in Greyhound’s nasty clutches for about 18 hours. It makes me shudder, but we have no choice. At least we’ll be leaving this snowy tundra behind.

Luckily, we’ve also had the pleasure of spending the last week or so visiting with my sister Kelli and her family. It’s always nice to see the kids, even though they seem to be giving her a bit more grief than usual by not always doing what they’re told. We did a lot with them, including getting to attend Kindergarten for Delaney’s Special Helper Day. That was pretty cool. We also brought a late haul of Christmas presents with us, and finally let the kids get into them last night.

The whole gang gathers around to see the calendar Auntie Laura made.

I can haz electrizity?! Their cat Tiger.

Tiger again. Meeeow.

Ryley, like all soon-to-be-9-year-olds, knows a good thing when he sees one: Second Christmas!

Gregory gets groovy with a new lava lamp.

How come they’re all laughing at the page with pictures of Uncle Chris? Is there something I should know?

Emotions ran the gamut from delight to frustration, apparently.

Auntie Laura, Delaney and Tiger enjoy a quiet moment.

Delaney got to have two special helpers on her Special Helper Day. Here she is entertaining her kindergarten friends during show and tell.

The ladies of the family cuddle up a bit after a steak dinner at the Keg. The Keg makes me sleepy too.

This is the Canadian winter we will soon be leaving behind. Why yes, that is an 8-foot pile of snow. Thanks for noticing.

There are a few more pics up here. Thanks for having us Kel and Dean!

Onward!

Eyeball twitch

Laura Beauchamp — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:09:46 +0000

We saw Avatar in IMAX 3D (hence the dorky glasses).

Chris and I had a good visit with friends and my family in Edmonton. We saw Avatar in the IMAX theatre. It was entertaining and imaginative. Besides that, we sat around eating, drinking,watching T.V. and chatting.

It’s been a good trip so far, without any mishaps. Surprisingly it’s not entirely stress free. I think the “not having an income”, and perhaps the “not having a home” takes some getting use to on the stress cells. My left eyeball has a very irritating twitch, something that only happened to me at work when I was stressed out. Um? I primarily attribute my eye twitch to the stress of money management.

On the plus side, I paid off my credit card! However that leaves us with a lot less funds for everything else. This is a challenging exercise, but when we’re full into our trip, I’m sure I’ll pick-up the ways and means of budget living, and finding jobs abroad.

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Chris Beauchamp — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:56:36 +0000

Ahhhh, Edmonton in the wintertime. Luckily we had some good friends and family to soften the blow of –30 degree temperatures.

Your friendly protaganists.

We managed to hit Deadmonton in time for Mike’s birthday. He and Bree put us up in their sweet pad. You can see Demon their dog at the bottom (what an attention hound!).

Mmmmm... Tequila!

Bleargh!!! Ugh... Tequila...

Ham and Demon. They’re both actually lap dogs.

Laura learned how to play a beat on Mike’s new electronic kit. Boom-chicka-boom!

We stayed with Laura’s grandma for a couple of nights as well. It was a pleasure for me to finally meet her.

The last thing we did, literally an hour before hopping the Greyhound for Grande Prairie, is meet our friend Emily for lunch. As you can see from the thumb’s up, she’s doing really well. Nice toque, eh.

Yup. Seems like we covered most of our bases in Alberta’s capital city. We’re now about 5 hours north, in a place I tend to think of as the other armpit of Alberta (second only to Ft. McMurray): Grande Prairie!

Our Greyhound ride was mostly uneventful, with only one drunk redneck getting out of hand. Luckily she waited until the last hour of the ride to start being obnoxious.

GP has been on record during the past two weeks as the coldest city in the province, with daytime highs of –32 celsius (that’s –25F for our American friends). Of course, Laura and I are bringing the warmth with us, and things are supposedly going to get back around the 0 mark soon. Woo-hoo for zero!

We’ll have some more friends and family pics and updates on here in the next couple of weeks, so if you’re eager for some actual travel photos and info, you’ll have to wait until we’re actually traveling. After a few days up here with my sister and her family, we’ll be swinging south to B.C.‘s interior to see my parents for a bit before heading out to Vancouver to visit mutual friends. We fly from Van to London January 28. And for those of you who have been asking us if we are getting excited, the answer is finally “yes.” Most of our obligations are wrapping up, and we are starting to feel the anticipation. Check back soon!

What a girl wants, what a girl needs...

Laura Beauchamp — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:16:54 +0000

I like pretty dresses, with matching purses and shoes. I like to blow dry my hair every morning and sometime give it curls. Fresh ground coffee beans are a great way to start the day or perhaps a home made espresso on the stove, brewing away. In the winter time, colour coordinated scarves, mittens and toques are a must. I like matching pillows and curtains and a house decked out with plants. To pass the time, I knit, sew, play the piano or simply cozy up on the couch to watch a movie on a 46″ flat screen T.V.

Laura’s Closet

Lots and lots of clothes and shoes

I used to cry when I lost a ring, or broke a glass or plate. I use to get upset if I ruined a piece of clothing,expensive or cheap. But over the past five years I have grown away from the materialism of my childhood. Sure, I still like nice things, like pretty dresses, matching shoes, purses and blow driers, but like many good ol’ cliches make reference to, “They aren’t going to make me truly happy”.

I don’t need pretty dresses, matching pillows or an espresso to survive (well, maybe the espresso). They are just things. Things can be replaced. Things, like money, come and go. Jobs come and go. When I return back home to Canada, there will be jobs to be found. I will not look back and say, “Ah! I wish I didn’t travel to Turkey, India, Greece, Italy, Nepal and move to Thailand. I should have taken that job in Canada.”

So alas, my adventure has begun with my husband. From the day I met him, both of our spirits have always been up for an adventure. A chance to learn and see something new. The past five years we satisfied this urge with weekend to ten day trips, mostly based on weddings we were invited to or seat sales we found.

This time we bought one-way tickets and we are only taking one bag each, a carry-on nonetheless. So even though I like all the pretty things of “What a girl wants”, I had to think about it, do some research and some select shopping to determine just “What a girl needs”.

What a girl needs (Laura’s new closet/new way of life)

I suppose I could do with only one pair of shoes but I have huge feet and from past traveling experience find it difficult to find shoes that fit.

Okay. So here’s the list of things you see in the picture.

Rain coat (orange)
Hoodie (Blue - fleece)
Money belt
Hat
Camera
Two lenses
Battery charger for camera
CF cards (I’ll bring a few more than shown)
Merrell sandles (more supportive than flip-flops, good for showers and hot weather)
Hiking shoes (comfy, broken-in and I’m not concerned if I have to ditch them somewhere)
Belt (not essential, but don’t you just hate it when peoples butt cracks and underwear show?)
Mummy sleeping bag silk liner (to help protect me in hostels)
Pillow case — MEC– (I’ll stuff it with my clothes to make a pillow at night)
Superstore extra small black shopping bag (I’ll use this as a day-bag, if it is possible for us to lock our bags up in a locker at a hostel of hotel.)
~50 tampons and ~50 liners (Damn girl stuff taking up space, but apparently tampons can be extremely hard to find and expensive in some places we are going.)
Mesh blue bag (For putting dirty laundry in — we’ll be washing our laundry in the sink mostly and the occasional laundry mat.)
Toiletries (contained in clean, plastic bag)
Medicine/1st Aid Kit (contained in clean, plastic bag)
Two bras (black & white)
Bikini (bottom, top and mesh wrap around)
Bike pants (black, MEC, bike pants I will use as long-John’s and PJ’s)
Tupperware container (small blue container for left overs from restaurants)
Panties (two pairs, on special Tilly brand, quick drying pair)
3 thongs (Synthetic — no cotton — apprently the synthetic fabrics dry faster)
Tank top (wicking material, fast drying, with built in bra)
Dress shirt (collored, long sleeved black dress shirt)
Helly Hanson long sleeved shirt (pink in colour, wicking material, and fast drying)
Pants (black MEC, fast drying pants, that zip-off into shorts)
Skirt & shirt (my fancy outfit for restaurants, interviews etc.)
Shawl (black shawl to act as a scarf and head cover in some countries)
Towel (MEC travel towel, fast drying material)
CAMEL water bottle (green)
Wool socks (1 pair)
Bamboo/rayon socks (2 pairs, black)
Zip-lock bags (3 large bags for packing clothes)
Elastics (~12 to help make clothes smaller)
Glasses (extra pair)

There you have it. The complete story from “What a girl wants to what a girl needs”. Ciao for now. –Laura–