Most addictive test in the history of the World

Thanks to Matt... my entire office is now addicted to this test.... After 5 trys I was up to 23.545... but I am determined to beat it... Someone in my office is now at 29 seconds... thanks Matt!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

A heartfelt Happy Birthday to Cam on this, his 27th Birthday.

Happy Birthday to You!!

This just in

What could be better than warm fuzzy socks straight out of the dryer???

Right now - absolutely nothing....

Also - I'm on a bit of a spending spree and desperately want a Palm Tungsten E2.... I won't buy one just yet as I really need to be more of a hermit - but it is so pretty and it will be so useful... I just love being organized

Re-read

So I'm re-reading last night's post.... it doesn't quite make sense....I think I was too excited about the news of Maya..... and because I bought a laptop... and because Eleni bought a laptop.... so - oops... sorry guys...

Fun stuff

Ahh, yes - Monday night, not such a great night normally, but after a lovely weekend, I'm thinking that monday night isn't as bad. Let's recap shall we....

Friday - Denise came over to the Boliver's house...we ate yummy food, talked about various life things and of course - watched a girl movie..., it was Emma this time - a classic for sure and really it was quite fun - I had a good time...

Saturday - the day of the big shower...Lisa's to be specific. My first shower, an interesting time... nice food, nice company, loads of nice gifts and I got to meet some people - girls really that I have never met before - and hang out with Lisa of course... The boys however had a more action packed day than us girls... I think they started with golf, continued with a ride on the Zip line and finished with some time in Banff....I think I need to take a trip on the zip line... and maybe even go paintballing... whose with me???

Sunday - Megan and I got together, finally... it seems like forever since I saw her and it was a lovely time. We walked down to the Plaza theatre and caught the afternoon showing of 2 days in Paris.. an interesting movie with Julei Delpy and Chandler's messed up replacement for Joey (from Friends). Afterwards we got a latte chatted some more and made our way back to my place for some more girl talk. We ended up chatting for hours before I realized that I had to get to the grocery store - I had absolutely nothing in the fridge and as I am a hermit for the month of september I really needed something for lunch.

Today I got to go back to work - yeah... I think I need something more fulfilling... time to talk to the reserves I guess... but anyways - I got to hang with Eleni and buy her a laptop... so much fun....

K, time to sleep, I gotta get up in 7 hours... night!

Oh - oh - oh.. I almost forgot, I just got an email from my dear friend Maya - my old neighbour from France... and as it turns out she will be in calgary for 2 whole hours next week - what could be better I ask you? I haven't seen her for a year and a half - and I am dying to see how she is....just wonderful!!

ok, really - I'm going - goodnight!

One year later....

Ah yes, a year after one of - arguably - the worst days I've ever experienced....Not much has changed, but that is the way it is and I will deal with it as it comes....I just hope it doesn't happen again...I should really stay away from job #2 today... collectively it was the worst offender.

In other news, I got to chill last night with my kitties, and I could help feeling this morning as I drove into town, how nice it was to be staying with the Bolivers as the downtown core was surrounded with a low cloud - just the tops of the high rises were peeking out and it was quite the sight to see.

Oh, and some more anniversary news - on the 21st I had my first anniversary of my full time job - all in all it hasn't been too bad... 2 promotions, 2 raises and now I have a desk at the window... what will the next year bring I wonder?

Back to the Bolivers / New TV Habits

Ah yes, it's back to the Bolviers for me. Just for the weekend this time, but I'm sure it will be fun - it usually is.

The last few days I've been somewhat of a hermit, to my surprise- I finished my The UNIT Episodes, can't wait for the new season, only 1 month left! Watched a bit of JAG (my fav) and the got onto this new show - Army Wives. Catherine Bell is in it (from JAG fame) but it isn't as much fun as The Unit, but it'll do for now. As for the rest of my week - not too much to report. I ironed a lot, washed my floors, cleaned my kitchen, tidied my room. Pretty much the usual.

Oh, I do have something to tell - I was wondering around Indigo one day and I saw a lovely box set of Jane Austin books - for $30 - so I bought them, now I canstart my year of reading the classics and Shakespeare - that I am very excited about....

K, gotta go to work - bye for now.

Happy Birthday Weekend

As you can tell from the balloon, this weekend was my Mom's Birthday. Her actual birthday was in fact saturday but as I was working, we decided to change it over to sunday and take a trip to Banff for the day. Before I launch into that however, why don't I just recap the weekend events first.

Friday - I went for my bloodwork to check my iron levels... I'm sure they should be much higher these days. Then after work I zipepd over to Linens N Things for a set of bed risers, now my bed is huge and I have to jump into it every night, but at least I have some storage space, well more storage space underneath. Then I think I ironed, watched more "The Unit" episodes and made some dinner. Nothing too exciting but it made all the difference. I like being a hermit.

Saturday as I mentioned earlier was work day at job #2, it wasn't too bad, at least I got to see my friends again which was nice. Saturday night I got to steam clean my area rugs - which for those who know me know that this was ny most favourite activity. Lani and I went to town cleaning my various area rugs that were damaged in the flood. In fact we had so much fun with mine that we pulled out one of hers that she had in her closet and then cleaned that one too - good times I tell you, good times! After cleanign was movie night, " Lock, Stock and 2 Smokin' Barrels" was up first - classic, funny, awesome, and "Shaun of the Dead" was up second - truly funny and wickedly british - I recommend them both.

Sunday of course was Banff day with my mom and little sister. We first went to the Banff Springs Hotel - which as it turns out is my most favourite hotel in the world, and yes I've ben to Vegas and all over everywhere and I still like the Springs the best. I think it is because it is basically a castle, and a Scottish castle at that!! It was sad to see however that the tartan wasn't draped everywhere like it used to be. I guess our Americans friends that purchased the Fairmont hotel chains decided that perhaps they didn't care for tartan as much as us Canadians do - what a shame... kinda makes me mad 'cuz I love tartan. Anyways, back to the hotel.... we explored almost every nook and crany and decided that indeed this hotel needs to be where I spend a significant amount of time. The one thing that I was a bit sad over was the fact that my mom (and for this reason I do not know why I am related to her) she did not want to go for High Tea... so instead we relegated ourselves to a small lunch at the deli and walking about and exploring afterwards. After the hotel we zipped out to the town and explored the main street... and of course the Spirit of Christmas. A lovely store indeed if you have ever been.... I used to not be a huge fan of the aforementioned holiday, something about it just never struck me in the way it does others. I've since changed my tune because of one Mr. Cameron as he loves it so much.

After the main street we piled back into my car for the trip home, stopping for dinner and then back to my house to unwind before the work week - which ps, I am not loving... Eleni is out for the week on a trip, so sad.

Now I'm at my desk listening to the run down of the wedding of a former co-worker that was on saturday.. the same co-worker that sat beside me and talked and talked and talked about her wedding all day..... I'm not too impressed so far, hopefully this day gets better....

Should, Should not & HAPPY BIRTHDAY

• Shouldn't : Go to a movie wherein they show copious amounts of scenery on Europe thus making me want to live there forever (damn you Bourne Ultimatum) - really good movie though. Unlike some reviews I thought the slightly shaky camerawork emphasized the action.


• Shouldn't: Plan a night out every evening. Tuesday was the movie night, last night I went to my Aunt's house for dinner, showed off the Tunisia pictures and visited... oodles of fun but I didn't get home until 11 and then of course I somehow occupied myself until midnight and then fell into bed


• Should: Buy flowers every week - I love my roses, they are so lovely. I put about a dozen of pink tipped and a dozen white each in a chinese style vase I bought in China town on sunday - they are so beautiful and the certainly brighten up my desk


• Should: eat toast - I am on another toast kick... I freakin' love it..mmmmm


• Should: Eat more Steak. Steak last night at my Aunt's, Steak tonight at Eleni's....mmmmm steak.


• Should: Clean up my room, it is a clothes strewn mess

• Should: Wish Heather a very happy birthday - not sure if you will see this heather dear... But when you come home in a month we can have a celebration then.

Roses Galore

Today is $5 dozen rose day at the Avenida Grower Direct. I of course, in true Spencer style picked up 6 dozen - 2 for my mom - with which I plan to cover my apartment in flowery goodness. Who wouldn't love dozens of roses decorating their home? Who I ask you WHO?

I might add that I am sure our dear friend Heather must be glad she is on her way to South America - as last time I filled the house with roses she was a bit overwhelmed..... they basically took over my living room.

Yeah for flowers! I can't wait to get home to set them out.

Monday Lists

No time for real posting... just some quick thoughts to put down before I forget.

• The sun is no longer up when I leave for the gym - not impressed
• I need more art in my life, I'm thinking ballet and symphony season tickets - I wonder how expensive that will be
• In keeping with the art movement, I think I should take the nest year and read all the classics - meaning: All Shakepeare's plays, all Jane Austen novels, all Bronte sister's novels etc....
• I love my apartment, it is very homey
• Mean and snarky gym ladies are not my idea of fun at 6am
• I only have 16 days left before september - before I should be joining the reserves - yikes!!
• I will be 26 in less than 1 month - yikes again!!
• I've decided my hair needs to be darker - we'll see how that pans out

That's all for now - time for breakfast.

Out Damn Spot, Out!!

There really is nothing better than relaxing on a sunday evening, drinking a lovely cup of tea, watching some quality programming on the television and getting ready for the work week. To further explain my delight I shall share my weekend plans.

Friday was suppose to be a girls night at the movies. As it happens only Rachel was able to come, which was fantastic in itself - but to make things even better we were able to see Becoming Jane. Now, if you know me, and I sincerely hope you do, you will know that I do enjoy movies of this nature - I am a huge "Period Costume Drama" fan, Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility and the like. Needless to say Rachel and I enjoyed ourselves immensely and the starbucks chat we had afterwards was fantastic.

Saturday was interesting - I worked. Now, I know what you are thinking... didn't she quit job #2, and the answer is yes, indeed I did quit, but I was asked back for a few weekends so I obliged them and thus was stuck working. I did, however have a nice time seeing the girls again. Saturday evening though was something special. Another Job #2 Alumni was in town from London (thats UK not ON) and we had the opportunity to take in a presentation of Shakespeare's MacBeth at the Shakespeare in the Park Festival. It was set in modern day - which I hope you are all putting together that I do not like - but nonetheless was presented well and in a fun and interesting way. The best part of the night though had to have been hanging out with Rupinder - I hadn't seen her since my impromptu trip to Europe last year and this was a well needed catch up session. While we watched the events unfold in a curiously non scottish environment (PS - for those of you wondering what I mean.... MacBeth is a play set in Scotland and the actors did not feel the need to exhibit scottish anything) we dined on a sumptuous picnic of pizza buns, Starbucks Vanilla Frapacinos, babybel cheese and a wonderful veggie tray. Afterwards we made our way (which took quite a while) through the Park back to my place and chatted away until midnight - parting on the promise of dinner before she goes back to the UK. All in all a great evening.

Today was also quite eventful. The day started with Dim Sum with my Dum Sum buddy Ronnalie, at the newly opened Tang Dynasty restaurant. We were so excited to go as the restaurant that used to occupy that location had been closed for renovations some time ago. This trip however was not to be as delicious as hoped for. In fact, the meal was rather disapointing. Despite reservations we were seated in the far corner of the dining room, almost no carts cam by our table and the waitress that we asked to help us did no speak any english. As it happens we were able to eat a few things, which were far below the standard of the previous restaurant. We made our way to the Golden Happiness Bakery in search of something sweet and then back to the cars to head to her house for a movie and later on a wonderful meal of Rouladen and Spitzlei...mmmmmmm.... So we grocery shopped, chopped, pounded, fried, baked and ate our delicious meal while we watched 300 (a truly awesome movie by the way) and then I was on my way home to clean, relax, and ready myself for tomorrow's 5 am wakeup.

So, here I am, finishing this post, feeling rather nostalgic while watching Harry Potter on CBC, making my sandwich and lunch for tomorrow wondering if I will be doing this for my children someday. I hope so.

Happenings

Ahhhh, currently I am sitting on my new and much fancier couch - with thanks to Heather's dad and Kevin we are the new owners of a wonderful new couch and loveseat. In fact, they are so comfortable that I can hardly notice the mess surrounding me in my apartment - coming home from house sitting is always a disaster. I seem to accumulate stuff, not so much fun. Anyhoo back to the couches. I've decided that these are the ultimate in comfort as I can sit crosslegged with Heather's laptop on my lap and I could even have a lovely nap on my lovely couch. Too bad that Heather cannot be here to enjoy the lovely new couches as she has departed for her month and a half long trip to South America- Bon Voyage to you, have oodles and oodles of fun!!!

To return to the topic of housesitting, I can say that although I do enjoy puppies - I really do, but in combination with 4 cats and keeping in mind that these dogs are not trained in the least - you can all imagine that I am ecstatic to get home. Not to mention that the aforementioned critters would wake me up at 4:30 with barks after barks after scratches on the door, after whinning - brutal I tell ya brutal. That and the freakin' huge amounts of cat hair everywhere - yuck!!

Tonight I've decided that after I clean up the house a bit - although now that I've mentioned it I'm not sure I can really, I've had to pull out all furniture from the windows as we are awaiting the windowers (as Heather calls them) to arrive and install new windows.. Funny thing though, they are 3 days late so I'm not sure if they will ever arrive. Anyhoo, I should maybe just chill and have a lay-in night - a lazy tv watching, linda only evening.

However, I should give some kuddos to Cam. Yesterday was his call to the bar - a ceremony where he is admitted as a member to the Law Society of Alberta. Basically it is a prestigious day after which he can call himself a proper lawyer. So congratualtions to you Cam - I am really quite proud of that you have accomplished, and I am very happy to have been there to celebrate it with you. Give yourself a huge pat on the back, you deserve it!

Other well wishes go out to Eleni and Katherine for tomorrow as they both have final exams to write - good luck Girls!

K, gotta run and make some dinner - plus Jeopardy is on and we all know how much of a Jeopardy freak I am.

Friday friday...

Because I can't be bothered to write an entire post with puncutation and proper grammar - you get a list... so here goes....

• I am hating house-sitting... although I love dogs, and these ones are cute - they are infuriating..always barking, always whining.. and the cats - the CATS - there are 4 of them.. 'nuff said.... who has alll these animals and constantly leaves them at home thus needed a housesitter????
• I am loving getting up at 5 am every morning for swimming/ the gym
• the pain in my neck is getting to be 'er a pain in the neck - enough already
• The Lethbridge airshow is this weekend and I am depserate to go
• Heather leaves next week for a month and a half and because of the aforementioned house-sitting gig I haven't barely seen her this summer and now she is leaving - not happy about that at all
• Been a bit of a hermit lately, not sure why, but I need to see more friends - I'll resolve to do so after this damn house-sitting gig
• I loved the fact that I got to have dinner with my cousin who I haven't see in about 20 years.. and her husband and her little boy - they are super fun and I had a great time.
• I think I am suffering from lack of travel / excitment in my life... too freakin' bad I have no vacation time available to go anywhere worthwhile
• I am suepr stoked about the Spice Girls coming to Vancouver in Dec - that's right, I said it - I love the Spice Girls and am not afraid to proclaim it to the world.
• Highland Games in Canmore are in a month and I cannot believe the time has flown by so quickly - this year we actually get to stay for the Ceilidh

and finally...

• Cam's Bar call is this wednesday at the Court of Queen's Bench in the pm - I am so excited to go, what a great accomplishment - yeah for Cam!!! Bravo to you and all you've worked for... I am so proud.