What in the World

So I forgot to post this in the morning, so here we go - courtesy of crazy saturday night chats, here is the second installment of What in the World...ps - Rachel dear, you can't guess, you totally know what this is!

Always remember to look inside your shoes before you put them on!

Oh, sunday night again and again I am exhausted.... here I sit, flipping back and forth between Notting Hill and Rob Roy..... good times, good times. Friday was a loooong, I started work at 7:30 finished at 6 pm and didn't in fact eat dinner until almost 9.

Saturday was really really fun, work was very very busy, Rachel and Rob popped 'round to pick up Robbie's glasses - good choice Rob! Then I ran home, stripped, jumped into the shower, sat on the couch with Miss Heather, curled my hair, gussied myself up for girls night, drank some more scotch, and then sat on the couch laughing hysterically with Heather and Rachel, crying at times because we were laughing so hard.

The really funny part came when Rachel and I decided to go and get some snacks to hold us through girls night, so we set out to the local 7-11. Here we were all fancy in our heels and gloves, hair and makeup done up, laughing, searching through 7-11 for snacks - we ended up with a yummy bag of Miss Vickies sour cream and chili chips, popping mini eggs, green tea with lime and a delicious box of macintosh toffee.....wicked! we laughed all the way home, and upon arriving at my place, we stumbled on some young guy trying desperately to get into the window of my neighbours apartment - so we stared at him......until he said "Oh, hi! do you guys live in the building? Do you guys know "...." the building manager - to which I replied "Uh, yeah, I know of him...why?

Apparently he was the guys brother and although it looked uber suspicious he assured us that is was okay and he just locked his keys in the door....We accepted it and told him that we just lived next door if he needed help....and this is where it got funny. After I told him what appartment I lived in he said "Oh, you must be the ones who have all the parties!"

Nice, I am now known as the partier in the building - hilarious! After that we watched little black book, munched our snacks up and laughed some more about all sorts of radomn things like snow snakes, scorpions and a whole plethora of funny stuff....good times good times!

Now I have to remake my freshly laundered bed, mmmmmmm, can't wait for bed....put away groceries, finish my movies and watch for my housewives.

Tomorrow should be fun, I've recruited more friends to be part of the job#1 team, yeah!

Where in the World

Dedicated to Miss Heather - good luck!

Hi, my name is Linda and I am a Harry Potter addict.

Today - glorious day that it is - I received a lovely email from my friends at Indigo sharing the news that the 7th and final Harry Potter book is now available for pre-order....so I ordered it post-haste of course! What a sucker I am , I know full well that I can buy it the day it comes out at any store for less, but 46% off the cover price, I just couldn't resist! Now I just have to wait until July 21st....boooo-urns I say! Perhaps I can pass the time re-reading the previous 6 so I can remember all the intricacies of the plots..... Happy reading everyone!

PS - Grey's is new tonight, make sure to watch.

Hallelujah

38 days, 16 hours, 27 minutes and 21 seconds......until I get to take my annual trip out of our fair land for the warmer winds of the Northern Sahara........thank god.....

PS - This just in....best news I've heard in a long long time, too bad it is about 5 years too late!



{PPS - Even Better news....I forgot to mention my good bud Conroy is back in town - and he plays tonight in his old jersey - maybe he'll bring the green helmet back with him.....}

Monday blues

Well, it's monday and I am back at work - boo-urns. It always seems that I suddenly find myself wondering where in earth my weekend crept off to......but at least this way I am that much close to my trip to Tunisia....which I am a bit apprehensive about. I have no clue what I am doing there and I have no clue who I am going with, so it will be 2 weeks of long hours, speaking a couple different languages and trying to make the most of being on a new continent. But I digress....

The weekend was interesting - friday was awesome - Denise and I watched hours 1-4 of our new BBC miniseries Berkely Square - quite well done. Dinner was also yummy - we dined on Friday night Feasts courtesy of Sunterra Market - and I do believe that we will be repeating this event in a week or so - as we still have hours 5-10 to watch....we're so crazy!

Saturday was new as well - more scotch - yummy Glenfiddich to be precise, I am developing quite a taste for this fancy drink.....Sunday morning though was a bit difficult, note to self - not so much scotch next time.....

Then it was laundry time (something that should happen more often I think) and then it was 10:00 in the evening and I was gearing up for another episode of my Housewives - too bad it was a repeat.....next week though is new....After that I should have gone to bed but opted to stay up and watch 1/2 of a really cool movie I was previously unaware of - The Boondock Saints - for what I saw, it looks really interesting, maybe I can watch the rest tonight. I got to bed about 12:30 and slept peacefully until I had to wake up this morning. And what a chore it was - ughhhh, I am definately feeling the need for some normal amount of sleep - something that hasn't happened since France......

Work today is brutal - to start things out we are behind in our files, I've been chewed out a few times over the phone, chewed out by our receptionist who was having a meltdown, and had to endure "wedding talk" from a girl who came back to the office for a few weeks to help out - she now sits right next to me......really wonderful...as if I didn't have enough to make me want to have a mental breakdown , I now get to listen to her talk about her great fiancé and great wedding in august and how he proposed and how much she loves her ring, blah, blah, blah......

I think it's time for another scotch..scotch o'clock if you will (KQ that one's for you!)

PS - I found this on the St. Andrew's website - recognize anyone?

Where in the World

I had a heck of a time finding a picture for today - this in fact was not my first choice, but it is good nonetheless.......good luck!

Robbie Burns

In Honour of my very favourite Scottish Poet (and author of our dear New Years Song - Auld Lang Syne), and in celebration of His Birthday...I present to you one of his most beloved poems....

A Red, Red Rose

O my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June:
O my Luve's like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!
And fare-thee-weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile!

"Slàinte mhòr agad!" and "Mar sin leibh an dràsda."

Update

I tried to write a posting at lunch today - it was quite good I thought, unfortunately blogger was down so it was deleted......very sad - but I digress....

Monday was of course my Robbie Burns Dinner at the Drop in Centre downtown. It went very well, Robert (our president) tells me that we served more than 800 people! We are even trying to have it classified as a world record - wish us luck.....This dinner was really great, but sad that that many people needed to come and eat such a yummy meal free of charge.....The meal itself was delicous, roast beef and mashed potatoes with gravy, carrots and turnips and to top it all off was the best Haggis money can buy - from MacEwan Meats on Elbow near Southland....Haggis itself is tasty and not at all gross as most think. Traditionally it is cooked in a stomach (the gross part) but nowadays they use a sausage casing, which of course is not eaten.....so essentially it tastes of stuffing mixed with bits of roast beef in it- yummy!

Yesterday was a brute of a day, stupidity reigned in the morning as I spoke with lender after lender about filling in forms properly - it really isn't that difficult, honestly! The afternoon was more or less okay, I was quite happy when I got to leave, but then of course I had numerous errands to run and that took me most of the evening.

Today was not too bad, tea o'clock came often, but cheesie o'clock was nowhere to be seen, which was just fine with me. SPINII was down all afternoon so we basically did clean up and filed - easy stuff - and because we were feeling so lethargic KQ and I decided to skip class tonight - currently I am sitting in my jammies, watching another episode of Pilot Guides (the Arab world) and eating some dinner. Tomorrow our class is going to be the worst ever, we are going over the aforementioned SPIN II (Alberta Land Titles website accessed by KQ and I about 50 times a day) and learning about how to look up land titles....I think we may explain to our crazy prof that we could in fact teach the class, and therefore are of no need of a tutorial....let's hope we can get out of it!

Tomorrow is also Robbie Burns day - officially, so watch for a positing featuring the work of the Greatest Scot Poet...perhaps I shall weat a kilt in honnor of such an auspicious day!

Newsflash....I just heard that Walker Texas Ranger Season 2 is now available on DVD.....

What in the World

Courtesy of KQ.....



For our What in the World promotion today I have a special guest for you to meet.



May I introduce Bachelor #1...



Bachelor # 1 is a North American Scorpio, he enjoys long walks along swampy terrain, munching on salads and sports a 3 foot long crest on his head.



Who am I?



KQ's rules apply here as she is the judge of your answers.......check your spelling, and for goodness sakes make sure you give either his common name or scientific name!

Christmas in January?

Quite the weekend I tell you.....After my Friday evening in homage to my good bud Robbie I had a great coffee date with Megs, we drank our starbucks, perused the shops - Honey B's to be exact, which by the way is my new favourite store (after Ikea and H&M of course), and purchased my secret santa gifts for Saturday evening. It was so nice not to work on a saturday, I actually got to take advantage of the fact that I live in a great neighbourhood. Afterwards I packed up and headed out to the mountains.

I haven't been to Kananaskis since I was a kid, but I don't think it changed much - it is still beautiful, and the air is just wonderful - the mountians are fantastic. The hotel is also quite nice, our rooms were great - really large, and the dinner, host bar, and brunch the next day weren't half bad either.

I tried to play the part of fabulous person staying in a posh hotel, I arrived with my rolling lugage and Harrods bag, hair pulled up decked out with a lovely wide black headband, dressed in black H&M pants, a black cashmere turtleneck and black sunglasses....very celebrity in hiding I'm told. In any case I did enjoy myself.......the company was great, although I did have to sit with patronizing IT guy from Toronto, but my other tablemates certainly made up for the fact. My secret santa gift turned out to be a bottle of wine, lovely but I don't drink wine, I drink scotch...so I will have to change my tastes I suppose....Cam's gift was chocolate pens that you use to draw sexy messages on someone.....quite the gifts!

I can't believe my weekend is over already, but at least tomorrow I have another Robbie Burns dinner, this time at the Drop In Centre, drums, complete with pipes and drums - I can't wait....

WO and Officer's Mess

Well tonight was the Warrant Officer's and Officer's Mess Robbie Burns Dinner - I am not sure if that is the actual name for the dinner but in any case it was the Highlanders Regiment that put on a dinner in honnor of our favourite scottish poet - Robbie Burns!

The evening was really lovely, except for the fact that I looked like the living dead. At one point I excused myself to the ladies room only to discover that my face was the colour of my living room curtains (ps - they are quite white) and my eyes after done them quite dark, also looked quite interesting - perhaps it was just the lighting, or perhaps I am truly the whitest non-albino this side of the himalayas and am desperately in need of some sun - I think I should discontiue the use of sunscreen on a daily basis, it just isn't the look I am going for these days......

But I digress, back to the evening. I showed up, in my 3 inch heels, my fancy floor length black chiffon gown and tartan sash, magically ran into Jen and was introduced to my tablemates for the evening - might I add that our table was very fabulously located. The evening progressed, men in kilts paraded around - and I might amend that previous statement with the phrase " in uniform" that's right ladies - men in kilts, in regimental uniform. It made me long to go back into the military - screw the achilles tendon - I think I belong there.....anyways..... dinner was delicious - haggis even! and the entertainment was out of this world. I have never, ever heard pipers and drummers like that before, it gave me chills and goosebumps! Plus, all the scotch I drank seemed to lull me into happiness as I gazed around at the kilts, and listened to the aforementioned drums and pipers. I have said it once and I will say it again....there is nothing better than a man in a kilt - and if you happen to have a lovely glass of scotch in hand - all the better!

Now I am sitting in my living room, in my gown and sash, randomnly typing away at a blog post I will most likely cringe at tomorrow and thinking I should header to bed.....tomorrow is coffee with Megs, shopping for secret santa gifts, picking up my car from my mother's (I couldn't drive due to the scotch), packing and a drive to kananaskis for another party - ughhhh, sounds very busy.......k, I gotta go to bed,
Slainte!

Where in the World

Here we go again..... A Historical one if you will......for Cynthia - but I need the exact location - not just the country or city.....

When it was first built.... and how it appears today.....

PS - stay tuned for Monday - KQ has decided to host a What in the World to stump you all......

Huh, it's been a while

I just realized that I haven't posted since monday - not very good of me, is it? In any case, I've had an interesting week. Lunch today with Denise and KQ, yummy yummy fig jam with brie and baked apple......I should "do lunch" more often I think....Tonight I had class #2 - aka the easiest class ever. Tonight we discussed geological formations, according to a formations chart - self explanatory I think. But the funniest thing ever was the point in the class when KQ broke out the dinosaur info.....Our prof was going on about time periods such as Quaternary (which KQ had to help out with the pronunciation) and the "Era" on the chart ie: Cretacious, Jurasic etc.... she continued with an example about the movie Jurasic Park and how it was inproperly named. She even went as far as saying that there were no dinosaurs during that time period - to which KQ had to interupt and set her straight...and then she told the class about how there really isn't a dinosaur called a Brontosaurus as that was a falsity and has since been corrected. It was the best thing I had even seen. She was in her prime! Way to go KQ - that's why we love you, and your dinosaur knowledge!!!! I laughed myself silly!

Afterwards we were given a handout about the SPINII Alberta Land Titles website which KQ and I broke out into hysterics as we normally use SPIN about 50 times a day to find titles - needless to say we are going to have a very boring class next week.....

Tomorrow brings Where in the World - and something new....."What in the World - dedicated to our very own KQ" As well as a Scottish Ball in homage to Robbie Burns and a Christmas Party in Kananaskis for Job #1......So for now I am finishing off Pilot Guides (the Arab Peninsula), starting Ugly Betty and waiting for Grey's - it's a TV night for me!

PS - a special note to Matt, we are all thinking of you and your family.......

Sweet Mother of God II

You guys know me so well!!!!! I have been bombarded with phone calls and emails about my favourite clothing store opening it's doors in Calgary in the spring 2007.......

Thanks guys!

I had heard that they were coming - but I thought I would have to wait until 2008... previously I have had to shop in other cities, Montreal, Toronto, Europe to get my H & M fix, I have even taken to bribing people to go shopping for me when they travel - Cam, Heather, Wendy......Now, the only mystery is just where in the city the store is going to go.....

Normally H &M is a multi - leveled store... in fact I have never seen a store occupying just one floor, and since Calgary is home to the largest Ikea in the world (my favourite home store) one might assume that the H & M would be similarly structured....but we all know what happens when one assumes things........ In any case I have heard speculation about Market Mall (which I hope is false), Chinook (equally as crappy in my opinion) Signal Hill (close to job #2) and my old stomping grounds Southcentre (close to job #1)....If you hear of any gossip (dates, confirmed location etc) let me know so I can plan accordingly,

Anyhoo, I am ecstatic and I am biding my time until I can shop at my leisure, although I do have an upcoming trip to Montreal in a couple months so I am not quite sure what to do - Montreal has sales tax and we luckily do not, we'll just have to see how patient I am I suppose.

Other than the big H&M news I had been having a horrid day - I was wearing ill fitting (obviously not H&M) pants, a wrinkly shirt, and I forgot to wear mascara so needless to say I had no real eyeballs to speak of.... I don't know what I was thinking when I left the house this morning, most likely not about my appearance. Now however I am at home, eating Jane's chicken and an avocado, watching Lawrence of Arabia on TCM -a classic I have yet to acutally finish watching - so I think I shall get some tea and snuggle into my plaid blanket and lounge on my chaise couch....

Night!

Sweet Mother of God!

So I am sure we are all aware of my most favouritist celebrity couple ever moving to the States... I am refering to Posh and Becks of course! Becks with his cheek bones and I do love Posh, I love her style, her wackyness, I even loved her in Spice World....I know, I know, but I can't help it - I'm a spice girls fanatic! Anyhoo, I was informed of this wonderous happening by Horatio (not his real name) at work - to which I replied with a huge smile on my face - Really???? Awesome!!!

So now I get to look forward to more Posh in the our news......even though I am sure I will still be buying my fav brit mag - OK!

What else to tell you guys???? Oh, went shopping with Rae on sat night, we ended up in Falconridge at Bahtia Cloth House - bought some lovely skirts for Tunisia and A cute Indian top....and then ate ourselves silly at the Bombay Sweet House...mmmmmmmm.... and then hit up shoppers for another spree - quite fun indeed! I got home, watched my fav scots redecorating some hideous home in scotland and then went to bed, only to be woken up at 1:45 by a Miss KQ landing on me - she arrived home from the bar with Heather's keys and wanted to share her french fries with me - thus the wake up call...we laughed ourselves silly and then promptly fell asleep....

Today I cleaned my house, ate a yummy breakfast, chatted with Heather's friend...watched my scot boys again, drank oodles of tea.....rearranged my storage room, watched the Pats's game - GO PATS!- and cooked a fabulous dinner for Cam, Heather and I - quite yummy! So now everyone has gone home - or to work and I just finished watching my good bud Nigella - she makes such amazing stuff... I think that will be my next cookbook purchase, that and Jamie Oliver I think - what is with me and Brits? I swear I was born on the wrong continent......

Anyways, I gotta jet, I must shower and then watch my housewives at 10 - night!

Where in the World?

Okay, here we go again, it isn 't too hard. I'll let everyone guess and then I'll post the correct answer some time tonight..... No clues this time

So impatient

I have no clue why but I am wicked imatient tonight.....I was fine at work, I thought I was doing quite well, as a matter of fact the day flew by very quickly. KQ and I went to school after work and all I could think is that this is a huge freakin' waste of my time.

I know the DLS like the back of my hand, I could have taught that section...but I had to sit through it and wait 2.5 hours while she blathered on and on about legal descriptions and the people in the class didn't see to get it - why? I have no clue, it is very easy, but then again I've been doing this everyday since August... I guess I need to calm down a bit and give people a chance to learn, but really - shouldn't they be reading the text before they get to class? I guess that is why you do not need a university degree to get into the course. I will try to be more patient, I really will, but I wish that I could have just been at home in my pjs drinking tea and chillin' on the couch......at least Grey's is new tonight!

Oh, and enough already with the damn cold weather!

Confederation Helvetia

Well today is somewhat of a special anniversary for me....it is been exactly 7 years since I set out on my own to conquer the country known as Switzerland. It was quite intense my visit jaunt out to the continent....but I am very glad that I did go and feed my obsession with European adventure. So thanks to all who came to that airport party with me those 7 years ago, I am still amazed that I was delayed those 6 long hours.....in any case I got there.

Oh, and making her debut on the blogging world is my new "niece"

No more Italian for us!

I cannot wait a moment longer to tell you all about my dinner experience last night. Megan and I were goin to go to La Viena (across the street) but sadly they were not open on Mondays, so we decided to go to La Breza in Bridgeland. Not a good idea...the meal was quite nice, I really enjoyed it, and even had a lovely leftover lunch today, but the unexpected dinner company was really quite exceptional, but in a bad way....

First we got a bit lost because I switched the street and avenue, but after a few phone calls and a dilema of where to seat us in the near empty restaurant we sat down an d ordered drinks. Everything was going well, we were perusing the menu and chatting away when a very crazy man took a fancy to us and decided to engage us in some wacky conversation about this cold weather phenomenon we have here in Calgary called winter, and about the menu, fun stuff!

Further into the evening we were brought free brushetta complete with him offering us the basket of bread - two times - we therefore spent the balance of the night trying to blend into the wall so our friend didn't come back for some more - although he did tell us several times that we were pretty and thanked us for coming in.


Funny thing is that the last time Megs and I - and Heather went out for dinner we had a very similar experience at a different italian restaurant....note to self, stop going Italian and perhaps we can avoid the crazy men...At least the dinner table company was lovely!

It's a Girl!

AHHHHHHHHH, this is a very good week thus far!!!!!! I just got a call from my good bud Mrs. Cynthia in the Hat, aaaaand they are having a girl!!!!! I am so excited, now I get to buy all sorts of cute little plaid dresses, shoes, and various other wicked fun stuff!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!!

Holy smokes!

Good things happen at the end of the day..... Thats my new theory.

My boss pulled me into his office this afternoon to tell me that I got another promotion! Wicked! How nice is that, pretty nice I think. So I'm off to dinner with Megs to celebrate that among other things.

Adios!

Once again...

I don't know why I do this to myself.....I book my weekend so full of stuff that I can hardly rest, but honestly who am I kidding?????? I LOVE it, and I would never change it. I have had such a lovely weekend.

Not only did I have a some drinks and a wicked games night with Trav and Andrea (fresh from Kiwi land) where I did my best to kick the boys' butts on Scene it (we ended freakin' tying with the buggers.....) but after work yesterday (where I sipped my wonderfully delicious Cinnamon Dolce Latte courtesy of Mr. McFebruary) I had a great visit with my wonderful friends Rachel and Colleen (fresh from Montreal) last night over some yummy starbucks, but today I have a movie with Mrs. Ronnalie, and tomorrow I have further dinner plans with my buddy Megs.....of the blog fame. Right now however I am in the midst of a complete apartment cleanup as it is a bloddy mess and I am sick of having such a disorganzied life....I should have made that another resolution.....PS - Miss KQ I loved your comment, you never fail to make me smile! Anyhoo, back to it, I've got How NOT to decorate (gotta love those scots, they do such lovely work) on the tele (brit talk for television) but I am still in my PJs and sleep socks, frantically putting together shelves, re setting up my computer, unpacking my suitcase, taking down the Christmas decorations and the like. Phew, I am tired just thinking of it all.......

Well, I suppose that is it for the time being, to those of you who have to go back to school tomorrow, I feel for you, I really do......Good Luck!

GOLDEN HAT TRICK

CANADA BEATS RUSSIA FOR THEIR THIRD STRAIGHT GOLD MEDAL IN THE WORLD JUNIORS TOURNAMENT!!!!

Where in the World

Today's Where in the World comes courtesy of our friend Cam - otherwise known as "B"....this one is very tricky....and the only clue that I am giving is that is very fitting for today that he chose this picture!

Good Luck! HAHAHAHA (insert evil laugh here!)

Hi ho Hi ho, it's off to school I go....

So last night Miss KQ and I headed up to SAIT for our second class in the series of 6 Land Admin stuff - this one is called Mineral Lease Documentation (fun stuff!).....it went quite well, my prof (or teacher, whatever term you enjoy most) is really lovely, she isn't really at all boring to listen to, and she actually explains things to you - quite the difference from the U of C profs that I am so used to - this one seems like like she cares if we pass - amazing I tell you!

Yesterday I was shot in each the arm - with needles, one with Typhoid and one with Hep A/B, that and the tetanus and diptheria 2 weeks ago I am basically teeming with disease as I ready myself for Tunisia (T-64 DAYS). Oh, and also I booked my flights to Montreal and found out that I am flying Royal Air Maroc to Casablanca and then onto Tunis, then a 7 hour long car / bus trip to Nefta. I think I will be quite tired after all of that. I am quite sad though that I won't be setting foot on the continent of Europe this year.

What else to report? I still hate my car, work is work, housesitting is almost finished, and I am really looking forward to gettting home, and cleaning, and not living out of a suitcase....although this house is very nice, and I do love the Bolivers, I need my stuff and some different clothes.....

Oh, before I forget, tomorrow is Where in the World, and there is a small surprise, so watch for it and put your thinking caps on... I have a feeling that this is going to be quite difficult.

Resolution time

Everyone seems to have the same sort of resolutions each year, none of them seem to pan out, so although I secretly have the norm on my list here are some more that I will actually endeavour to keep. Here goes nothin'

1. Smile more, and mean it, aka be happier - and this I will make an active effort to do so!
2. Have better posture - I used to have wicked awesome ballet dancer posture, somehow over the years it as suffered a wee bit, it's not really that bad, I'm not a sloucher by any means, but it could use some improvement.
3. Get more sleep
4. Cook more at home - I have amazing cookbooks and I should freakin' use them
5. Stop procrastinating

There we go, that's all for now.

Hasta Luego 2006

So that's it, only 2 hours to go, and what a years it has been. Loads of good things, loads of bad things, and amazingly I am still here.

As a quick recap lets go over the good - the bad are too depressing -

I started the year out with a trip to Europe (my annual). I visited with many goood friends, shopped, almost died of pneumonia (not really), visited Scotland, stayed in very posh hotels, took the chunnel train, revisited my old stomping grounds of Valence, and saw the sights - a good trip indeed. Then it was graduation time and I bid Adieu to good old Scam U - that was bloody brillant! Afterwards I bought a car, rented my first apartment, shopped at Ikea A LOT, got a new job, made some new friends, turned 25 (great party), started my land admin courses, and voila - that is it folks.

Let's hope 2007 is actually better than this year.

In other news to round off my year end movie a thon, today was Last Holiday, which was uplifting and cute, and just now Closer, which was horrid and depressing, I do not recommend it at all. A truly awful movie I say.

PS - my brekkie this a.m. was fantastic, I do highly recommend that recipe, I might even have it again tomorrow.

Yummy!

MMMMM, this is what I am going to make for brekkie tomorrow, I am sooo looking forward to it, me and the Bolivers, should be quite the party.

PS - I went to Ikea today after Job #2 and I did NOT purchase one thing, are you proud of me? Personally I am stunned.....I didn't think I had it in me....actually it was mainly because I have pretty much no money and the thing I really wanted (I say really wanted because I basically want everything in that store) was $329....too bad, I still think I should get a job there though - which would make it job #3, unless you count house-sitting then of course it would be job #4, but whatever.

PPS - I also absolutely adore the Bombay Company, that is my upgrade from Ikea when I can afford it...in like 10 years...I will eventually have the Herning bed, I promise I will....

Cheesecakelets Recipe courtesy Nigella Lawson
Show: Nigella Feasts
Episode: Breakfast All Hours

Serving suggestion:
2 cups strawberries, chopped into quarters
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sugar
3 eggs, yolks and whites separated
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon best-quality vanilla extract
1 cup cottage cheese
1/3 cup all-purpose flour


Put the strawberries into a bowl and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and sugar. Stir before covering with plastic wrap and leaving to steep while you make the cheesecakelets.

Mix the egg yolks with the sugar, beating well. Add the vanilla, cottage cheese, and flour. Then, in another bowl, whisk the whites until frothy with a hand whisk and fold into the cottage cheese mixture.
Heat a smooth griddle or nonstick skillet and dollop the batter onto it make cakelets of about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Each cheesecakelet will take a minute or so to firm up underneath, then you should flip it and cook the other side, and remove to a warmed plate when ready.

Turn the strawberries in the ruby syrup they've made and squish some pieces with a fork at the same time. Serve with the hot cheesecakelets.

Where in the World

Here we go again, let's see if you guys can figure this one out sans clues....it isn't that hard I hope!

Yeah right

Apparently this is my "model horoscope" as published by Elle magazine. I'm really not sure if it actually applies to my situation....you be the judge...

Virgo
(Aug. 23 - Sept. 22)

"I am most passionate about my music -- I am totally consumed by it." -- Tasha Tilberg, August 26

Since 1994, you've been polishing your skills at dealing with the external world. At the beginning of the millennium, you either graduated or reached the culmination of something important to you. At this point in your life, you're looking at a two-year window where you will lighten your load and streamline your possessions. Get ready to give away, sell or turf whatever you no longer need or use -- this applies not only to your possessions but also to people in your life and your attitudes and beliefs. This is a major overhaul. Fortunately, this year will bring you the best support and base of operations to do this. Your sources of joy and happiness will be home, family and domestic issues. It's also a wonderful year for real estate. Some of you will expand your family through marriage or children. Without question, relationships with family members will be more joyful and mutually generous than usual.
Your Virgo mantra "My home and my family are my treasures."

And if I feel like I'm going to faint I eat a cube of cheese....

I have become quite the movie buff as of late, I usually watch at least one per day and sometimes if I am feeling quite saucy I watch 2!

Boxing Day I re-watched The Devil Wears Prada as neither Rachel nor Rob had seen it, and I love it, it makes me feel both inadequately dressed and like I might have some potential, plus it is just too cute. Last night however I watched one movie that is uber famous and I am embarrassed to admit that I have never seen it, in fact I believe that I was at one point berated for not having seen it, anyhoo it was An Affair to Remember, with Carey Grant (LOVE HIM!) and Deborah Kerr (she's okay). Upon further research I found out that my new crush Carey stopped making movies as early as 1966 - what a shame!

So now, as per Rachel and my conversation I need to have several movie marathons - one for Carey, one for Gerard Butler and I've just decided one to be devoted to old classics that I must see, or that I love.....but they have to be classics....

So, any suggestions for my classics marathon?

PS - Rachel your damn delicious chocolate is driving me crazy, and that plaid box, I freakin' love it!!!!!

The return to work

As I sit at my desk wondering wow it came to be wednesday already I am reminded that I never did post the answer to last week's Where in the world....it is in fact Edinburgh Castle as Rob guessed - bravo to you! More baked goods to come....and for those of you to whom I owe baked goods, be sure that I am at a new house for housesitting today - one without 3 digsutingly smelly big dogs who are not housetrained despite what the owner tells me and whose front door does NOT lock automatically.....funny story that one is....why would anyone think that this is a good idea?? Anyways, back to the baked goods, I am going to whip up something in the nest few days so if you have any requests let me know, K and B that goes for you two especially.....

As a quick recap of my holiday experience I ate a lot, lots more than planned, watched numerous movies, made an airport run at 5 am christmas morning, ate jesus cake, sang carols at church (my yearly visit) and slept in every day.....

Nothing big to come this week, I think, I do however have to read an entire text book for my wednesday class that starts next week, so perhaps I should get going on that...hmmmm, we'll see.

Anyhoo, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noël, Happy Hanukkah, etc etc

Where in the world?

So Dec 21 came and went, and I'm still here, however, the day was quite eventful- ate a yummy prime rib dinner to cheer up, broke into housesitting house after front door closes and I realize that this front door is special and it locks automatically.....whose idea was that????? Anyhoo all in all it was a decent day - date notwithstanding...



But I digress, back to the friday festivities....



Can anyone figure out where this is - no clues this time.....and NO CHEATING!

Love Actually

I had such a nice time last night at the Love Actually Party Chez Eleni..... Yummy food, great company and a killer movie!- Plus Tim Tam's - eaten of course with the middles all melty and gooey! If you don't understand the Tim Tam reference, then I highly suggest that you come visit me asap and I shall pour you a hot drink of your choice and teach you the Tim Tam Slam.

Anyhoo back to the movie...I really do love this movie. It is a great christmas movie, very uplifting - for the most part - the Laura Linney story is a bit sad, as is the Emma Thompson one...but other than that it is very cute. I can't decide what my fav storyline is - I like the Liam Nesson one because a) he is gorgeous, b) he is an awesome actor and c) that kid thas the cutest eyeballs! The Hugh Grant one is wonderful as well - and Martine McCutcheon is very adorable and I just love Hugh. Not to mention our loveable Mr. Darcy who happened to adopt a differnt name for this film....Jamie!

Do you remember the part at both the beginning and the end where they show people re-uniting after flights at Heathrow? It made me think of the last time I flew somewhere / traveled somewhere where someone was super happy to see me when I emerged at the arrivals level. A nice feeling I think.

On a unrelated note, the cute Korean couple that run the deli in the lobby gave me the sweetest little present this morning - a tiny little stocking with a mouse in it taped to a candy cane for Christmas and a gold coin for New Years - they are so cute!

Memories

Today's post courtesy of my iPod...no really....listening to my songs on the way to work made me remember all sorts of people and places....and I shall name them, and their songs!

Kylie Minogue - Can't get you out of my mind - Snoop
Kiss - I was made for loving you - Europe '02 (plus a whole host of other songs)
No Doubt - Spiderwebs - Jen M in her room singing loudly
Garbage - anything really - Jen from Foods class
Fergie - Fergilicious - Miss KQ also singling loudly on our way to class
Blur - Boys and Girls - Kari D dancing around her living room, (also I like to move it)
Star Ac 3 - L'orange du marchand - chillin in Caen Christmas '03 with Cam
Barbie Girl - Jon, MacLeod, and Cam at Spagucci's
Spice Girls - Jon
Marilyn Manson -Beautiful People - Adam and Cam and Jen in Adam's car
Hawksley Workman - Striptease - Maya and I sitting up all night in France preparing for Christmas
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band -Fishing in the Dark- driving 13 hours to Lac L'orange in N. Sask
The Beach Boys - Mom, of course!
Black Eyed Peas - Hey Mama - dancing around in my room in France
Lou Bega - Mambo #5 - my kids in Switzerland singing all the wrong words
Live - Chillin' with Steve and Gord
Outkast - Hey Ya - Mohammed singing all sorts of verb strings in the Kitchen in France
Herbie - Right type of Mood - Dance party driving to Edmonton w/ MacLeod
Rancid - Hanging out with Steve and Gord
Anything from Grease - My little sis Amy
Anything cowboy - My big sis Sarah
Wham - Wake me up before you go-go - driving with the family to the Okanagan in the summer time

I know I missed some, oops! Let me know if you can think of anything else....

Never stopped...

I know I say this every monday but I cannot believe that the weekend is over....this weeekend however was exceptionally busy..friday I worked then headed out on foot down the street to Shoppers in kensington, and then across the road to the Vientamese place because I had been craving it for like 3 days....and then I walked home, devoured my vietnamese and then had some unexpected visitors - Miss KQ and her friend Megan who had decided that the evening was not complete until we all had some gelato...mmmm - egg nog flavoured gelato!

Saturday I worked again (job #2 this time) and then did some super quick christmas shopping and then ran home to get ready for the Job # 2 Christmas party - which turned out to be really fun. We went to the Cookbook Company and all made our meal - Cam and I had the Butternut Squash Soup, it was delicious! Something like 8 courses later we were stuffed, plus all the wine to with all the 8 courses and we were spent...headed home to sleep and was awakened by a frantic Heather at 5 am....

It seems as though we were experiencing some bathroom troubles all over the floor.,..that compounded with the fact that we didn't own a plunger and we ran out of towels...made for quite the mess, and poor Heather had to run off to work at 5 am.....so when I finally woke up for te 2nd time that morning (@ 9:30) with a killer headache from all the wine, I slowly made my way to Starbucks to see Heather, get a coffee, navigate my way through Home Depot, get home, fix the problem, decided I need to geta mop, go and buy a mop and the strongest cleaning liquid I can find, mop up the bathroom, disinfect the whole room - twice, wash the kitchen and hallway floor, gather all the recycling up (it was a mountain let me tell you) get my laundry together and head out to drop off recycling / do my laundry / do more christmas/ grocery shopping.....I didn't get home until 8:00 - I was more than spent....

Tonight is much the same, I have to get vaccinated and wrap presents so I won't be home until 8ish I think and I work twice tuesday plus Love Actually party chez Eleni...wow, I need a break I think.


PS - for a much funnier rendition of what happened chez Linda and Heather, check out Heather's Blog

Cheese it!

So here's the big news we've all been waiting for....I am off to Tunisia!

In march I will fly off to montreal, then to Paris, Casablanca and finally landing in Tunis before I trek 500 km into the Norhtern Sahara desert to a town called Nefta. We (the VOSH volunteer group) will set up our clinic and do as many eye exams and dispense as many glasses as we can. Afterwards we might have time for a tour of the country, which would be awesome...so I am hoping I can make it to Carthage and the coast....

I thought it was time for my annual leave from Canada...wonder where I will go in 2008? Scotland perhaps..

PS - Nefta is on the left, halfway down near the palm trees and huge salt lake...

Where in the world....

Okay, I know it is really a friday thing, but I can't wait another day.....plus, this one should be a real toughie....I really don't expect anyone to get it....however, having said that those of you who may know because I might have told you something are not allowed to guess.....maybe I'll do another one tomorrow to make up for it...

Oh, and here's a hint, one of - or maybe many Star Wars were filmed here, as well as The English Patient..... (well, not at this photo's locale....I'm just looking for the country...)

Well she told me!

So I was at job # 2 last night, working, doing my thing, and this family comes in to have their eyes checked - parents and 3 girls, 8,6 and a baby. The two older girls were quite cute, drawing pictures for us and telling us about their tamagochi things. Anyhoo, the oldest gave me a picture of a beach scene and she was telling me that I should make it bigger and cover the window in my bedroom with it so I couldn't see the snow (good idea!), then i could turn the temperature up in my house and it would feel tropical.....so this went on for a bit and then she tells me that I could redecorate my entire room, paint the walls with flowers and the like, but then she tells me - "and your husband can do the same in his room!" to which I replied, "oh, I don't have a husband..." and then - I swear - she looks at me with a look of pity in her eyes...

"oh, you're single, that must be a lonely life...."

Great, now I have 8 year olds telling me that my life is pathetic, nice!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Tavalodet Mobarak!

Dear Snoop, I hope you have a super wonderful exciting 25th!!!!!!

Love, Me!

Ah Jeez!

Ugh, I was driving to work this morning listening to Vibe and they are starting this promotion where they give people what they want for christmas....the first one they decide to read is an email from this guy who wanted to propose to his girlfriend but couldn't buy an engagement ring. It was quite nice that the morning show decided to help him, but then they asked him to propose on the radio! So he went into another room, called his girlfriend from his cell - to her cell and propsed over the radio! She just woke up, he didn't have anything nice to say about how much he loves her etc....BUT IT WAS OVER THE RADIO! Hoenstly, she has to tell this story over and over again, brutal! I was almost screaming - no don't do it on the radio....but alas, he did, and I was mortified for her.

Anyhoo, that is my rant for the day.....

Where to start...

Wow, I have had quite the weekend.
Friday night I arrived at Denise's with a delicious bag of vietnamese...mmmmm...and we started our marathon of The Bucaneers....another 5 hour long BBC video. It was good, not the best we've seen, but quite good. During our marathon movie we got down to work creating 55 different christmas bags for all her piano students......tying yoyo strings, curling endless ribbons, fun stuff! I made it home just shy of 1 am, jumped into bed and had a lovely sleep.

Saturday was fun, work was okay, nothing to note, except that for the last hour and a half I seemed to chat non stop, Rachel stopped by....we planned numerous parties for over the holida y season, games nights and the like....very good - also Miss Cynthia stopped by for our sleepover weekend! After work, we raced home, raced to Chinook - parked in between two huge trucks, good thing I have a teeny little car!, met with Jackie, ate yummy food, shopped at my favourite expensive (as in Ikea isn't in this category...) store- The Bombay Company.... and caught the early show of The Holiday. It was great, such a cute movie, At parts I could really connect with the character played by Kate Winslet (Iris) and of course now have a new crush on Jude Law and Jack Black.....such lovely boys! Afterwards more shopping, this time prego clothes - so cute! and home for a yummy snack of Minces aux Legumes, brie, and activia, plus a hilarious conversation with Heather after she got home from her christmas party - soooo funny!

Bright and early sunday morning Cynthia and I zipped down to Ikea for some $1 breakfast and some more shopping, and you would all be proud of me, I only bought one basket......yeah for me! But I did feel sooo sad that I left all sorts of great things behind...sniff sniff...... Then we headed for Westhills and some more shopping, a coffee and off to Gale's for our serving debut at her annual open house. We basically felt like servants, taking coats, passing around hors d'oeuvres, cleaning up blah blah blah, we made nice money, but I am not a fan of serving fancy types and feeling like an idiot, thank goodness Cynthia was there to chat away the 4 hours - really, thank goodness..... and alas the Cynthia and Linda weekend of fun is over, she is on her way back to the hat, and I am off to games night at the Bowman's..... have a good sunday!

Night!

Where in the world?

Remember that game show, where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? I do, and I loved it...especially the part at the end of the show where the kids got to race around and put those blinking pole things on different countries on the map...fun times I tell ya.


Anyhoo, the point of this is to bring a little bit of that game show here to my blog. So for today I will ask this question...where in the world is this picture from? The first person to get it correct will get,uhhhhhh - some home baking from me! Scones perhaps......

It's in you to give...

Or for them to jab with all their might at your tiny little vein and then forget about you while the BP cuff is squeezing the life out of your arm.......as you can guess I went - as I affectionately call it - to get my blood drained...

I arrived hoping and praying that my iron was high enough no to get rejected this time....and after 2 different tests I finally passed. But my question is - why the heck is my iron low? I haven't been doing anything really different these days...whatever.

Back to the story...I was called into the little room with the nurse where she asked me all sorts of extremely personal questions - but that is their job so meh. Anyhoo, I was taken to the clinic and hopped on the lounger then the aforementioned nurse proceeded to put on the bp cuff and seriously hurt me as she put the needle in and and the stand there and chat with the other nurses about hairdressers......and forget about my arm! My fingers started to turn a dark colour (remember I am the whitest non albino...) and started to turn numb....so I kind of interupted their conversation and she looked at me kind of startled -"oh, right, just one moment I'll just collect some samples and I'll take that pressure right off for you.." she did, but my fingers stayed numb the whole time...towards the end of the ordeal another nurse came over to take the needle out of my arm, but I was feeling quite woozy here and obviously I had turned a shade or two greyer than I was at the beginning so I had 4 or 5 nurses come running over to me with fans, cold cloths, apple juice (my fav), massaging my arm and fingers, basically fussing over me for almost a half an hour. Then when I was feeling better one of my nurses walked me over to the cookie station where I was plied with many cookies and more juice....mmmmm - this is the real reason I donate - for the cookies.

Now I feel like I am somewhat of a reasoned vet when it come to getting blood taken, I get bloodtests done more than the average person, but holy crap, she put her weight into it....

Oh well, afterwards I got to zip over to grandmas for tea and some girl talk - I just love my grandma - she freakin' rules.... and then to bed early (for once..) and that was my day....

Moving on up...

Changed desks today..new location is crappier than my last desk..I'm right in line with front door of our office, but at least the people in this department are nicer (no dragon lady..or chatter box- however she was quite nice), and at least I do NOT have to sit next to the boss' wife - that is a huge relief. Yesterday there was talk about me sitting beside her - thank god that didn't happen though!

Spent all day doing practically nothing, training on the new system being implemented in a few days and pulled loads of title off the landtitles website - easy stuff I tell ya!

Last night on an impulse (and a bit of a sverve off of deerfoot...) I ran into Ikea with 10 minutes to closing - but as I explained to Cam, I know where everything is in Ikea, we can be finished in 5 minutes (and we were!). In the end I bought 2 more rugs for my room (the floor is like ice), some bamboo for Heather, and a bedsheet - then ran home to watch the end of the Flames game - which of course we won...Mikka and Iggy are Hockey Gods! And then a run home to set up my new room and watch the victoria secret fashion show.

Did you see it??? If you did you would have seen the PLAID section!!!! A Highland Romance they called it! I was flabbergasted! Did I not say how cool plaid was????? I love it! But despite the plaid, I did start to feel quite depressed about not having the body of the models....but then again I'm not 5'10" and 120 lbs....I'm barely 5'7"..oh well, maybe in a different life.

In any case I have been told that I have forgotten to mention a few things that happened in the past:

• Six White Boomers is an awesome christmas carol - especially when I can sing along loudly in the car.
• After being invited out to watch the Flames game one night I was ceremoniously asked to pay off a certain someone's gambling debt.....

What was the other thing B?

A nice change

I am getting quite creeped out by this traffic business these past 2 days. It seems like there is no one on the road, seriously - before work traffic is excellent, after work when 14th is a gong show and crowchild is a huge mess...there is no one, I almost never have to brake. This is very very weird. Something is going on, but honestly I am just going to hope and pray that it continues.

In other news I love this weather....tomorrow is +2, thursday +11, friday +10, saturday +9...despite the slush and dirt, I am soooo pleased, a welcome change from the near -40 degree temps we have been experiencing lately.

Keep it up weather, keep it up!

One more quick thing...I am just watching ET Canada and I would have thought that honestly they would have got this right, but they just announced that Nickelback - those west coast boys...win big in Vegas...WEST COAST??????? WTF, aren't they from HANNA ALBERTA? Last time I checked we are NOT sporting a coastline....ridiculous!

Funny Stuff

I just found this on the overheard at the office website....funny stuff....I just wish I could get away with it (the horse puppet that is)...

11AM Yeah, Tell Him We Canceled Favorite Animal Friday

Coworker leaning on office door: Hey, have you seen John*?

Horse puppet appears peeking from under John's desk.

Horse puppet: John's not here right now. Can I take a message?
Coworker, slowly backing out of office: Uh...

8700 NW River Park Drive
Parkville, Missouri

Overheard by: Hapless intern

Also, I'm not sure what this means....

3PM At a Quarter-Million Square Miles, He's a Very Big Boy

Proud, jorts-wearing papa: Eric* is looking more like a Saskatchewan every day, with his big feet and all that hair.

Conrad Sauer Drive
Houston, Texas



This is awesome....

12PM Waistline: It's the Cheesesteaks

Harvard MBA student: So, are you flying back tonight? What airport are you flying into? New York?
Suit: Why would we fly to New York? We're from Philadelphia.
Harvard MBA student: I didn't know Philadelphia had an airport.
Suit: It's the fifth-largest city in the U.S., of course it has an airport.
Harvard MBA student: Largest city? Based on what?
Suit: Uh, population...


Harvard, Massachusetts

Overheard by: Not hiring any MBAs

This one takes the cake....

11AM For Emily Five, Wherever I May Find Her

Boss: Thank god for Emily Five!
Coworker: What?
Boss: Thank god for Emily Five!
Coworker: Huh?
Boss: You know -- the whole London terror plot thing.
Coworker: You mean, 'MI5'?
Boss: Whatever... thank god they were there to make sure we're safe.

1400 16th Street
NW Washington, DC

Overheard by: Neena

Posh and Becks

I'm pretty sure that we all know that my very fav celebrity couple is Posh and Becks - so whne I read this entry of Go Fug yourself, I couldn't help but giggle quite a bit to myself....

PS - the drive to work today was wonderful....over the weekend something magical must have happened to the crowchild / glenmore / 14th area - I can't remember it running so smoothly...

What a weekend!

What a weekend indeed!

I spent the weekend being plied with cup of tea after cup of tea, and of course grandma's cooking - nevermind I was there to take care of her! No really, it was very very nice to spend the weekend with my grandma - I love hanging out with her, she has such great stories and amazing experiences. To make the most of our time together we went out for dinner last night, to a cute little family owned restaurant, and then today with curlers in her hair we went for special London Fog teas.....she loved it!

Tomorrow I am back to work, boo-urns! But at least I bought new slippers to make me feel happier - I love slippers, especially since my floors are like ice...I should really call my landlord on that one...

In any case I am very content tonight, in fact I've decided that I desperately need to get away from Canada - I've been in the country waaaaaay too long for my liking. My thought is that I want to go on a scottish walking tour. I found one that goes from Fort William to Inverness - how Outlander! My new problem is that I need a walking partner...who's game?

HOT DAMN #2!!!!!!!

Congrats KQ - you are my hero!!!!!!!

Be Still and Know

I had truly forgotten how much I love going out for an evening of entertainment. Jen (from job#2) and I attended the christmas concert of our co-worker Jackie. She sings in the choir of the Rocky Mountain College and they put on a spectacular show. The orchestra was amazing, the singing was absolutely fantastic - it even gave me shivers...now I'm winding down, sitting by the tree, eating waffles for dinner and having a lovely cup of tea... what I really should do is go to bed and actually get a decent amount of sleep for once. But that wouldn't be fun now would it?

Oh, almost forgot....I got my car back!! Yeah!!!! - best part is I didn't have to return my rental car back to Aldo the creepy rental car guy.....

I can't help but think I was going to write something......meh, it's gone - night!

Hot Damn!

As I was quietly working at my desk, doing my best to keep out of trouble...I was asked politely to come into my boss' office. Immediately I jumped to the conclusion that I was in deep trouble, only to be confirmed of this by him asking me to sit down and closing the door.....but then he proceeded to tell me that because one of our other ladies is leaving they want me to move into her position. In fact that department had a vote and the voted me as the one they want.....how very flattering I thought.

So it turns out I wasn't in trouble at all, I got a promotion and a raise....

Afterwards I took care of the monstruous heap of laundry and ate a yummy home cooked dinner, took a trip to my very favourite store (Ikea of course) and had some nice hot cocoa and listened to old christmas records (that's right - records baby!) with my good buddies Miss KQ and Miss CK - a nice day indeed.

HEY!

Rory TOTALLY stole my birthday tiara idea- seriously, go watch gilmore girls right now and see what I mean - booooooo!

A poem for you

This poem was just brought to my attention and I love it - funny stuff I tell you...

It's not so much art,
But just counting syllables,
Haikus are stupid

The Saga Conitnues....

So Sunday morning my car miraculously started - after 16 hours of being plugged in of course. After which I promtply went back inside to sit and watch tv and iron all afternoon. In the evening however I had a birthday dinner to attend, to which of course I drove. After a lovely dinner and our goodbyes my car started again - good so far - but funny enough after I left oakridge I was driving down crowchild just at the military museum and voila, my car stalled - ON CROWCHILD TRAIL! Nice huh? I eventually got it started and after a few more stalls and my engine light popping on I made it home and plugged it in. At this point I was so angry, I wanted to blow up my car - stupid car!

Anyhoo this morning I woke up extra early and arrived at the dealership as they opened and demanded they fix my car, it's only 5 months old, these things shouldn't happen. They were quite sympathetic and promised to fix it by the time I finished work - how lovely! But, that is not the end of the story... I got to work and about 1 hour later I got a call about my car - apparently they found the problem- my PCM crashed - which I understadn to be the computer bit of my car - somethin that is potentially veyr expensive to fix, luckily I have a good waranty... and so I don't have my car, but I do get either a colbalt or G6 pursuit to drive in the meantime....

Now, all I have left to do is get winter tires......

Friends OFF!

With my car that is....until it decides to freakin' work.....thankfully Heather was home to drive me to work this morning or else I would have been quite SOL. As it turns out Steve drove me home from work and tried valliantly to help me start the car. Jumping it didn't work so we amazingly found the plug in for my block heater and sought out a plug in somewhere around my apartment. It turns out we found one in the lobby and voila - 4 hours later and we should have ignition.....I hope.

In the meantime one of my fav movies ever is on.....Top Hat with Fred and Ginger - you know the one where Ginger wears that gorgeous ostrich feather dress....the one on the Ritz crackers comercial and tin.....I just love it. So, I think I'll sit back have some dinner and watch adoringly as my fav dancers take to the stage!

Priceless...

When I first moved into my place in July my Mom aplty named it Kensington Palace (as it is located on Kensington Road) and she would call me speaking with this crazy british accent and refer to herself as Lady Spencer - crazy mom. Anyhoo, I was chatting with my mom today and telling her how much fun I had decorating my living room with all of my Nutcrackers (Heather will be soo impressed) to which she replies....

"OMG - Linda, you live in the Nutcracker Suite........" Get it? Like the Ballet....

- Priceless....she cracks me up....

Speaking of Nutcrackers...I'm still angry at Southcentre for doing away with their giant saluting Nutcrackers on the side of the mall....they replaced them witha creepy Santa Claus hanging over the roof...not impressed at all.

Finally.....

Okay before I start with the weekend update - I'm watching Grey's and OMG Christina is wearing a Stanford Hoody - not exactly like mine, hers is zip up and mine is pullover- but WICKED!!!!! Also, the addorable tim horton's asian father comerical is on - soo lovely!

Anyhoo back to the weekend.

Friday was really fun. I raced home after work to clean up, shower, do my hair and makeup get the cake and race over to pick up Robbie. We made it home with loads of time to spare and we cleaned up my apartment, set up the booze table, and all the wine glasses etc etc.....Then the party started...The guest of honor arrived with a dozen people from the french centre....
More guests arrived - english speaking guests...and then the cocktails started - we had Champagne cocktails, Kir Imperial to be exact and the accents also started up - I love accents!!!!! After that the party slightly split up into the english kitchen party and the french living room party - both super fun....then we moved over to Sam's bar - also wickedly fun. In the end we stumbled back to my place, I changed into my gown for the ball, and people cooked radomn meals in my kitchen and I watched bizarre cartoons on the tv. Finally got into bed at around 4 am - again.....

Saturday was great as well. It started out with a run to the Scottish Shoppe to pick up Cam's kilt and a lesson on how to wear my sash. Then a dash to the housesitting house for a final cleanup and then off to do my hair, which really didn't go well at all. Then an equally as frightening makeup session. While I was sitting in the chair my little sister walked up to chat, after she left the girl asked about her, asked her age and I replied..well I'm 25 so she is 23....and she replied.."OH! you are only 25..I never would have thought you were that young..." well, how very nice...I look old...that plus the hair disaster made me feel very very special....

Grey's interlude....George is being a piece of crap right now......

Anyhoo, back to saturday.. After the makeup session I raced back home, got dressed and helped Cam with the final touches of the kilt outfit....he looked very very nice....and as the saying goes..."A highlander, no matter how old or haggard looks splendid, however a brawny young highlander in full regalia is positively resplendent" and it is true, very true. And we were off.

We arrived just before the head table was piped in and rushed to our seats. The dinner was delicious, the speaches were amazing, Lynne's tribute to our fair land brought tears to my eyes and the toast to "the homeland" was extremely moving. After the dinner various people tried their best to convince Cam to either join the pipers, the dancers, or whatever other scottish things they could think of. The dancing was so great to watch, my dress was far to long (it hit the floor with 3 inch heels) to dance and of course Cam doesn't know any of the moves so we watched. During the intermisison we had the pipers come out and pipe a few songs while the highland dancers performed - it was the nicest thing I could have ever heard.

All in al the evening was a success....and onto sunday. I woke up to find that my father had been admitted into the hospital - some complications due to a broken foot and some heart troubles...anyhoo off to the hospital with the fanciest car magazine I could get my hands on - and then a run around the city to gather various bits of stuff that I had strewn across the city.

After that my week went to hell - but there's not a damn thing I can do about it. Tomorrow is friday, thank god, although this weekend there isn't much planned, maybe I'll just chill chez moi.

Well, it doesn't seem like my explanantion lived up to what I thought it could be...maybe I am forgetting something.

Meh, that'll have to do - adios!

No weekend updates yet - yesterday was 10 years and I spent the evening by myself decorating my pathetic zellers tree with all of my lovely Ikea decorations.

Quite the day I think

Sweet.....

I know I know - still no post about the weekend, but I will do something tonight- I swear...

In the meantime - I just arrived back from un petit lunchtime Ikea excursion. Nothing, well almost nothing, cheers me up and makes me happy like Ikea. I have no idea why i love it so much - but really why don't I work there again?

Monday morning

Sooooo tired.....didn't sleep last night.....florescent lights hurt the eyes....and to top it all off, people in calgary who drive where I drive to get to work are all idiots.....especially those in large trucks or those who take their freakin' time going through a turn light.....

stay tuned for a weekend update - it was a great weekend....

Return of the Mack

One day, very long ago I was sitting in the food court at Southcentre on my lunch break and the funniest thing happened.....it seems that a very young (I'm thinking 16ish) guy named Darryl actually got up the nerve to come over and tell me that I was very pretty and that although he was dressed in his A&W uniform that he would very much like to get my number and call me.....I was flattered of course but because I couldn't bring myself to tell him that I couldn't go out with him because I was at least 2 years older that him and not single so I gave him a fake number....I know, I know, he probably called that number and got some crazy old man named Murphy or something but...anyways, why am I telling you this? Because last night on my marathon errands running escapade (aka picking up fancy ingredients for the party drinks tonight) I ended up at Willow Park Liquor store and lo and behold - there he was.....and I even had to face him and ask him where to find a specific bottle.....I'm not sure if he recognized me - it was 6 years ago, but still - a blast from the past nonetheless.

In other news - Victoria Secret is coming to Canada!!!!

Halelujah!!!!!!

As if it took them this long to figure out that we Canadian women will be spending ooddles of money in their stores......now all I need is a Bath and Body Works and a H&M in Calgary and I'm set!

See you all tonight!

Party on Wayne....

There is nothing like freshly dyed hair - I finally took matters into my own hands and got rid of that damn blond streak that has been there since february....although the shower looked like I murdered someone in it, my hair turned out quite nice - dark, very dark, but nice... at least now I have fancy hair for the Ball - now I just have to find a way to do my hair for the Ball....I'll think of something...

Anyhoo - the main purpose of this post is to announce yet another party at - you guessed it - chez moi..this time it is for Rachel's Birthday....her Chanpagne birthday in fact....starts around 7:30 - moving to Original Joe's at 9:30ish....come one come all, there will be cake and fancy birthday cocktails...and of course me on the ground laughing my head off as I try to keep it together as hostess......so I expect to see you all there.....

20 Things I Love

Not in any particular order..... and not including people that I love of course.

1. Waking up at 4:00am knowing that I can guitlessly go back to sleep for a few more hours
2. Watching a movie that has so many memories attached to it (ie: Tombstone, Top Gun, or Romeo and Juliet)
3. Re-reading a really awesome book (Outlander)
4. Being truly happy for a friend and letting them know (Cynthia and Aaron!)
5. Laughing so hard that I fall off my chair and can't breath (P&P party - Rachel and her accents!, numerous occasions sitting at the kitchen table with my mom)
6. Having a beer with my fav Mr. B and talking about Europe.
7. Buying the perfect gift for someone and watching their face as they open it (Bama)
8. Having a total stranger pay me a compliment
9. Being so scared about looking at a a paper / test and being totally suprised that I got an awesome mark. (SPAN 407)
10. Overseas phonecalls (Maya, Rupinder, Snoop)
11. The first bite of my Nana's Christmas Cranberry Pudding - complete with ultra delicious sauce.
12. Boarding a plane set for Europe / Having Airport parties before I head off for Europe
13. Using my degree and getting paid for it.
14. Hugs from my Grandma
15. Tax Returns (so I can go to Europe)
16. Getting to dress up for a special occasion
17. Putting on Flannel PJ's and sleep socks then climbing into a bed freshly made with flannel sheets.
18. When the FLAMES win - while wearing my Freddy Braithwaite jersey.
19. Drinking Nog / yummy coffee drinks / eating sweedish meatballs while watching an aforementioned movie / laughing at Seinfeld.
20. Being wrapped in a warm blanket fresh out of the dryer (thanks mom...)

okay....21 things I love

21. Getting fun mail.

WELCOME!

In order to welcome Megs to the Blog world properly, I decided to post a photo of her when she and I took a trip to YYZ last october (2005) for some shopping (at H&M of course!) and the best ever crème brûlée ristreto....

Lest we Forget

Dedicated to my grandfather, George Hartford Gould, and to all who fought and continue to fight for our country.

Thank you.

In Flander's Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flander's fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, tho poppies grow
In Flander's fields.

Liet. -Col. John McCrae

Let the Incrimination Begin...

As I write this I am praying that noone from job #2 reads this.....or if they do that they completely understand my reasons for doing what I did.....

Yesterday in the midst of my crap ass tuesday at work I get this one phone call - one phone call that would completely change my day - it was Cam...... this is how the conversation went....

ME - Good afternoon, Linda speaking...

Cam - Hey - are you working tonight (@ Job #2 he means...)

ME - yep I am - why?

Cam - 'cause I was just offered Flames tickets! - wanna go?

ME- Holy crap - I'm calling in sick..... ( note that there was absolutely NO hesitation on my part in response to his ticket offer...) (please also note that I have a perfect attendance record at work...for 2.5 years - never ever ever called in sick, not even when I was acutally sick!)

Cam - really? okay....

ME - Yeah - I'll call you right back....

So I called in sick to the aforementioned (KQ) job #2 and then proceded to grin ear to ear for the remaining hour of work.....

I got home asap - had Heather drop off the BEST jersey in the world (Freddy Braithwaite #40 if you were wondering...) and jumped into the shower only to be wisked away to the game @7. It turns out that these tickets were from a certain Partner who decided that Cam was deserving enough to have use of his tickets for the evening. And boy were they ever awesome tickets!

ROW 8 BABY!!!!! ROW 8!!!!!! (now do you see why I called in sick????)

We were right at Kipper's glove for the first and third periods and got to watch Andrew Ferrence's fight right before our very eyes! Thrilling I tell you!

In the end we kicked Dallas' ass - 3 to 1 and I remembered how much fun it was to go to a Flames game.....

Today was not nearly exciting, unless you count almost dying 14 times on the drive home (the 10 minute drive home) from yoga and grocery shopping.... But I did decide that I have another new boyfriend.....I'm not sure what it is about him (maybe he reminds me of a certain Jamie?) but I just love him....... ladies and gentlemen I give you ....Rhett Warrener

The Tuesday Blues

Holy --------- (insert your own 4 letter words here) - I cannot freakin' believe that it is only tuesday! I feel like a truck ran me over , backed up and ran me over again. The past 2 days have been very crappy. Nothing really happeend that was the breaking point I just feel like in general most things have just been below par if you get my drift. Last night dancing was okay, before that I had dress alterations which are never very fun. Tonight is Job #2 and homework, albeit easy easy homework, but homework nonetheless. Tomorrow's forcast seems to be much the same as the last 2 days.... yoga - nothing too negative about that - and a meeting of the SACS - I depserately hope that my fav talkative lady keeps her chattyness to a bare minimum - maybe I'll sneak my iPod in.....

I guess I feel like I have a bazillion things to do and am too busy every night adn I never sleep - although that isn't really any different is it? - why did I do this to myself? Because I am stupid. Next semester doesn't look like I'll get very much relief - 2 more courses and still with the dancing - yoga may have to suffer on account of my laziness....ughhhh.

Later on this week I have to make food for my entire office (its my fat friday) which may consist of crepes (both savory and sweet) and scones....afterwards I have to race home to make shepherds pie and set up the party for the evening - thank god I get to at least drown my sorrows in super delicious special tea that I am serving at the party to go along with the delicious Mr. Darcy.

Ughhh, I cannot get out of this slump......I wonder what the radio conversation is today? Maybe that will perk me up...

The morning after.....

As predicted the party for KQ was a gong show - my apartment was a disaster, it has since been cleaned but holy crap what a mess...... and holy crap it was fun!

It turns out that the girls actually convinced me to go to the bar - why did I go? Because I was guilt-tripped into going, but in credit to KQ and HM it was fun...... danced so much I can hardly stand today without groaning in pain......drank so much that I am not feeling like doing much more than laying on the couch..... slept so little that I can hardly keep my eyes open as I type this...... and talked so much over the loud music that the pineapple juice that I drank this morning burned as it went down.

Note to self - go to bed before 5 am - you will thank yourself later.....

Meet My New Boyfriend

As we all know I am very easily influenced by media - and I have no problems admitting to this. If you think about it, it makes my life really quite interesting.

Anyhoo, as you all know I have this thing for all things miltary and just recently I watched the movie Annapolis - (which for all you non-military people out there is the US Naval Academy). Needless to say I was enthralled throughout this masterpiece of film and have therefore decided that James Franco is my new TV (well movie actually) Boyfriend. I don't know why I am in love with him - really I have no clue.....maybe it's those cheekbones.....but in any case I love him and have dedicated the next little while to a) buying a copy of Annapolis and b) buying a copy of Tristan & Isolde (he was in that too of course).

It's perfect really - they satisfy 2 needs - the need to see my new TV Boyfriend and to see movies that have happy endings - well Tristan & Isolde isn't exactly happy per say, but it'll do.

What the Hell????

My signature colour/ fabric is pink chiffon - apparently this is what Tickle thinks I am - but honestly, can anyone, anyone who knows me see me in pink chiffon - ever? Most days my outfits consist of 60% black - at least! - I hate rainbows and clowns, and with the exception of a strong hatred for non happy endings I am generally a very melancholy person and thus not a pink chiffon person.

Other weird things that happened today - Knickers and Lace should carry more of a selection of undergarments made to be worn under a black (of course) crepe halter top dress. I went shopping on my lunch hour and my first stop was the aforementioned store - very dissapointing indeed. I ended up heading to the mall to La Vie en Rose to buy a black bustier for my dress - my other one is nearing 8 years old and no longer does the job. Now all that needs done are the alterations for my 18 sizes too big dress - monday I think.

Oh, and the radio saga continues - yesterday the topic was how you lost your virginity. All sorts of people called in - some good stories, some very very bad stories...some just plain weird. Why would anyone want to discuss this on the radio is beyond me - I wouldn't.

Now I am settling in for a night of cake baking and a movie - military theme of course - resting up for the gong show that will be tomorrow night - KQ"s party - well, thats all for right now - TGIF!

So Damn Jealous

So Mr. McFebruary is off to Europe for a 7 week tobogganing tour - and I am so damn jealous. I LOVE Europe (a fact which I'm pretty sure we are all well aware of) but I'm not sure I would want to go as part of a sledding team. I'm just not that into sledding - but hey, I can't knock it unless I've tried it right?

In any case I am sitting at my desk dreaming about a trip that I can take to get me the hell away from mortgage processing....that and the fact I constantly get emails from friends in all sorts of fun places- and by fun I mean NOT Calgary! I am for sure going to leave sometime soon - after my courses are fini, so I guess that means mid April - But hey Springtime in Paris is lovely and I do have a certain hankering for some ham sandwiches plus I need some more scarves (hey Denise!)

- Now watching McDreamy - and George just did the cutest McString of McWords - adorable, I love George....who doesn't really?

Class was over early today - I ROCKED the township system tonight - wicked! Now, just one more class to go and I'm free again until january.....

K - gotta go pack for housesitting - hasta luego...