Summer Days.....

Hey! Long time no blog? I think so!

I am very happy to announce, drumroll please... I SURVIVED GRADE 11!!!!! Hallelujah! After a very stressful last three weeks, full of taking notes almost eight hours a day, and getting a swollen tendon in the arm from all that writing... I'M DONE! I think I am the most proud of my 96% in Math, of which I owe to my teachers hard work, as if it was just by my doing... I would have failed... The hardest course to complete was a tie between Biology, as it had tons of note taking, and French, need I say more? I feel more than slightly exhausted and am looking forward to my vacation in a week! My what? Why were you not informed of this vacation? There is a simple explanation for this! I forgot to mention it....

In exactly five days, I, Grace Brulotte, will hit the bright and shining streets of.... LAS VEGAS!!! That's right people! I am going to Vegas! I think I have mentioned before that every year individuals with Arthrogryposis (my condition) gather for a four day conference in an exciting destination. When I found out it was in Vegas, after pestering my mother for weeks on end, we decided that we would go! With my previous, lovely airplane experiences (I'm being totally sarcastic...), we decided it would be better for us to drive. It is a considerably long trip, approximately 19 hours, but seeing that the last time we flew to one of these conferences they broke my wheelchair, anything is better than that! We are staying for almost two weeks, and will be visiting the Grand Canyon, as well as Vegas. Of course we will be seeing lots of shows, such as Cirque Du Soleil, while we are there, and staying up half the night partying... And I personally can't go to Vegas without going shopping! With temptation like the biggest Ross in North America, how could I resist? I am also planning on not being a chicken and getting my ears pierced... I can't wait for another Grace adventure!

So, that's all I have time for today, but I will be sure to write all about my trip when I get back!

"And I think to myself, what a wonderful world".

Hey everyone! I must say that ever since I was able to start skiing every week this winter has gone surprisingly fast for me, which is a very good thing!!! I'm actually shocked at myself because I was sad to see winter passing into spring... We've had such an amazing ski season and I can't wait for next season! With that said there is a whole lot more to be done this summer and I look forward to being a part of it!

Working with FIRE has been such a blessing! I've learned so many new skills that I hope will become very useful in the future. I filled out my very first grant application, handled all the scheduling and booking for the program, and have done many public speaking events since the program started in January. I'm going to admit that I have loved being able to empower and encourage people with my story, even if I'm not a fan of public speaking… Every new experience has been both challenging and inspiring and I can't wait to see what this next part of my life has in store for me.

I'm going to start off by saying that, drumroll please… I got my very first job! As you may know, I've been exploring new ideas for jobs, and my mother suggested that I apply to work for the elections this year. I wasn't quite sure if I would get the job as I am young and don't have very much experience with that sort of thing, but I decided to take a leap of faith, and applied for the job. They gave me a call yesterday and told me that I got the job!  The only bad part about this is that I have to get my social insurance number, and the office where I would get that done is not accessible… Go figure! So I'm going to have to travel out of town to get my social insurance number so I'm able to work. (I really am hoping to be able to advocate more for individuals with disabilities though, and hopefully in the future no one else will run into the same problem as I did!) Getting a job has been a personal goal of mine for quite a while, and I'm thrilled that I've been able to accomplish it! Just another thing to check off the list!

I talked about public speaking in the beginning of this post, so I thought I'd give a little bit more of the details on that! I guess the whole thing started when I was asked to speak at International Women's Day in March. They wanted me to talk about FIRE and inspire women to reach for the stars! I was honored that they thought my story was worth speaking about, but also honored that they thought I was a woman… :) Although I was terrified at first, another goal of mine is to put myself in situations where I'm pushed past my comfort zone, and since I am really not comfortable with public speaking, I thought this was a good opportunity to put this goal to the test. I thought that I would only be doing the one public speaking event, but that one public speaking event turned into three public speaking events! After my first speech, I was asked to speak at the local moms group. I was able to speak for an hour at this event, so I was able to share some of my other life experiences, such as the Paralympics and speaking at the Senate in Ottawa. I really enjoyed being able to do that and I felt very empowered afterwards. A few days after that, I was asked to come and speak to a class of RCN's at the college. I think this was the longest speaking event I have ever done, as I spoke for almost two hours! I talked about what it felt like to be disabled, what bothered me, but also what I appreciated in the way people treat me. I was actually a little shocked at how much I enjoyed public speaking and I sincerely hope I have more opportunities to share my story. I hope all of these experiences help me in my "maturing process"! ;)

That's all I'm going to talk about for this entry, but I'll post another one soon with more exciting news! Life is so good!!!

Free To Ski!

Hey everyone! Long time no see! What took you so long!? Ok ok I know... I've neglected you guys... But hey! I am the bearer of good news!

It finally happened! All that hard work, endless hours of planning, many hard times, the good, the bad and the ugly, and now I can say, "WE DID IT"!!! Fernie now has it's very own adaptive snow program! Words cannot even express how happy, relieved, and thankful I am. Fernie Adaptive Snow Program's first official day was on the 20th of January and we have been doing wonderfully! We currently have five students, three sit skiers, one snowboarder, and one who is just learning how to ski. We have been open four Sundays now and I am so amazed at how the students have grown already. There is such a positive atmosphere up there! Everyone is smiling and nothing is taken for granted. All I have to do is just look at everyone with their smiling faces and, like a disease, I start smiling too. It almost makes me want to cry. I see joy not only on our instructors and students faces, but on the parents faces as well. All the hard work is so worth it after I see all of this! Our program is more than just skiing. It is individuals being able to see the ability in their disability. It's people being able to say I can, instead of I can't. It's freedom! It's being able to forget the labels and just let go. A smile from one of these individuals, is truly worth a thousand words. I can see our program being the key that opens the door to a place where anything is possible. I cannot wait to see this program grow, but more importantly, I can't wait to see people's lives changed, forever. So I would like to just take a moment to thank you, thank you to my wonderful board of directors without whom this would not be possible, thank you to the amazing instructors who volunteer their time to literally change lives, thank you to the volunteers who keep everything going, and thank you to our incredible sponsors who opened up their hearts to FIRE. Words could not express my thankfulness! And now I can truly say we are... free to ski!  

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...

Hey everyone!!!

Guess what? It's Christmas time again! Hey....didn't we do this last year....deja vu? I think my favorite thing about Christmas (apart from spending time with the fam jam) is....CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! I guess you could listen to Christmas music in the summer.....IT JUST ISN'T THE SAME!!! Plus who wants to be thinking about Christmas in the summer anyway? My Christmas playlist consists of artists such as Michael Bublé (who's voice sounds like butter...if that's possible), The Andrew Sisters/Bing Crosby and Mariah Carey... Christmas is also the only time of year when I can justify drinking six cups of tea a day... I have fallen in love with chocolate tea with cream and honey...sorry earl grey... To my surprise I even had all my Christmas shopping done in November which...I'm extremely proud of by the way... Christmas movies such as "Home Alone" and "Christmas Vacation" are a bonus too! You can also justify saying Christmas after every second word...Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, CHRISTMAS!!!  

Anyways, my sit ski program is coming along nicely! We managed to get an instructors training course in Fernie and I have 15 "totally pumped" volunteers ready to be trained! The program is set to run on the 20th of January! All I can say is "phew" and "woot woot".... WE DID IT!!!

Of course I've been busy making lots of delicious things....and just to torture you....I'm going to post pictures that will make you drool all over your computer!!! Bwuahahaha...!

In other news... I did something that I thought I'd like... but now I'm regretting it... I got bangs... I like them but... I have to accept the consequences... Hair that I have to now wash everyday and if my face wasn't breaking out before... it is now... So am I going to grow them out? Probably... That's what I get for trying to be dare devilish...  

Anyway I just want to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year! God bless!           

Keeping it Rollin'

Hello everybody! I must say it has been a beautiful September and October! Although we had our first snowfall the other day and the snow on the mountain hasn't really melted! It's a little too soon for my taste, we usually get snow around Halloween so I have time to "mentally prepare" for the white stuff, but this is just ridiculous! But when life gives you lemons.... You make lemon flavoured snow cones!!!

I have good news! Fernie Inspire the Race to Empower is now an official society! So because I'm the president I have open and close the meetings and I'm not really used to the society language, so on our first meeting I think I blurted out something like, "I command this meeting to be open...YAY!"... Yeah... that's not how you're supposed to do it... I guess I'll just have to learn! I feel sort of tiny compared to all the adults on my board but I have something they don't have to keep me going... Unending enthusiasm and a vision! So with our deadline of getting everything organized in time for December I'm feeling a little stressed! I am confident we'll get it all done, but it's hard to see the "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow! Anyways, I went to the bank yesterday to make an account for the society and am planning more fundraising events! Just to let all you locals know, I will be selling things at the November 24th craft fair so come see me!

I am very excited because I get to return to the big beautiful Vancouver on the 25th! After I do all the stuff with my wheelchair I am strictly on vacation!

This week in the Grace cooking adventures: Cream of Broccoli and Cheddar Soup! I am quite proud of myself, this was the first meal I did almost all by myself, it was mainly all stirring so I basically sat there and stirred for two hours! I know that stirring a pot doesn't seem like a big deal to the average person but I rarely get to help in the kitchen so this was exciting for me!

I've hopped aboard the train of life and I'm excited to see where it takes me! All aboard! Woot Woot!

TWO HOURS AT THE DENTISTS!?

Hey everyone! Sooo....Wednesday the 19th was the WORST day ever!!! I went to the dentist office at 2:00 and I came out at 4:00! I did eight molds of my teeth, two of them I had to hold in for four minutes a piece! Thank God I didn't gag! It was horrible. Then I had to get panoramic X-Rays of my face done, which is a picture of my head all the way around, and my wheelchair wouldn't fit in the room! So my mother had to hold me on a stool while bending down to make sure this machine didn't hit her in the head! It was painful for me and awkward for her... And if that wasn't enough, they had to take pictures of the inside of my mouth with a camera, so they used this one tool to pull my lips apart and then put a huge mirror in my mouth! I didn't know that that many objects could fit in my mouth at the same time... So by the time I was done, I was exhausted, cranky and sore and when I got home... I ate a giant piece of chocolate cake...

Besides that, I started school which is going great and.... have been cooking up a storm! This week in the cooking adventures: I made a delicious pumpkin spice shake, pumpkin chip muffins and the best spring rolls I have ever tasted! I sauteed by myself for the first time which was very fun, and stirred something in a very hot frying pan! I didn't burn or mess up anything so I deem this cooking adventure successful!

Join me next time on another episode of... COOKING ADVENTURES WITH GRACE!!!

Pumpkin Chip Muffins

Pumpkin Spice Shake

Me sauteing! Notice anything different about me?

Spring Rolls

I got new glasses!!!

Enjoy the fall colours!      

Tis a dark and stormy day...

Hello everyone! Well as the title says, tis a dark and stormy day! I like these days once and a while as they end up being my relaxation days, which is precisely what I'm doing right now. Listening to my "calming" music as I like to call it, and writing in my blog! The perfect combination!

Anyway, for this blog I'd like to talk about my goals for this year. Now I know that technically I'm supposed to do this on a new year, but I suppose that a new school year is basically the same thing...

Goal number 1~ Get into a better relationship with God: As I mentioned in my last blog, I sort of slipped out of my relationship with God because of how stressful school was and everything. I plan on getting back into The Word, talking to God and maybe even leading someone to the Lord! I want to be lead by the Spirit and always be listening for Him.

Goal number 2~ Try and get off the computer: I find myself on the computer probably a lot more than I should be and I want to put a stop to that! I am going to do this by reading, writing, drawing, getting out more often even if it means getting a little wet and spending a lot more time with my family and friends. Hopefully that will keep me away from it! Get behind me satan computer!!!

Goal number 3~ Try not to be so uptight: I want to live my life without getting annoyed with the little things! What's wrong with getting caught in the rain? It's just water! What's wrong with having messy hair and no make-up? It's better to show the real me instead of worrying about what other people say or think! What's wrong with being goofy and random? Nothing at all, those are the moments you remember! What's wrong with being last minute and late instead of always on time and scheduled? It teaches you how to live the true life!

Goal number 4~ Take better care of myself: With all that being said, I do plan on taking better care of my face, hair, teeth and body in general! I plan on knowing my limits, and realizing that it's ok to say no!

Goal number 5~ Finish reading "The Hobbit" before Christmas: My siblings told me that I had to read "The Hobbit" and finish it before Christmas so we can go to the theatre to watch the movie together when it comes out! I did start it, but I neglected it for a while! I'm going to get back on it!

Goal number 6~ Get a job: I have decided that I want to get a job as to build up some income for University! These are the things I have to think about now that I'm in grade 11! Any suggestions?

Goal number 7~ Survive getting braces: Enough said........

So those are the goals I want to try, and I said try, accomplishing by the end of this year! Wish me luck!