More Pics

My tent in the desert (it was -3 degrees that night!)

In Chebika

Our Patient's at the hospital

Our Glasses - still packed


Searching for glasses in the clinic (15000 pairs)

Visual Acuities - Julie and Luc

Me adjusting a pair for my patient

Julie

Lunch under the Palms

A group photo after a great dinner

Our last dinner in Tunis

Virginia, Maryse, Patrice, Me, Carlos and Shainul at dinner

Coliseum in El Jem

Our names written in the salt desert

Julie, Me, Patrice and Shainul on our Calèche (#29)

Patrice's Camel

I'm baaaack

Well Heeeeelllllooooooo, la la la!!!!!!!


I'm back, it seems like just yesterday I left, but it also seems that I haven't been home in ages... weird, but I guess if you come back from vacation and are barely able to remember the stresses of everyday life - it was good.


So many patients, so many glasses, I'm telling you, I have never worked so hard, or so fast in my life - but I am so happy I went. It was honestly the best experience I have ever had - I highly recommend it to everyone, and I do think I am going a return trip to Morroco in 2009!


In any case, I stopped taking pictures because my new hubby (long story) takes such lovely pictures I thought to get copies of his......sooooo, my pics suck - the ones I do have, and for the time being until I get some more these will have to do!

Nameera, Shainul & Martin

In Chebika

Serge & I in El Jem

Patrice & Shainul - El Jem




Anjum & Nameera - El Jem

Martin & Julie - El Jem

Amir - my camel (on the right)

Julie & I - El Jem

Carlos - Driving in a Calèche through the desert in Nefta

In front of the Bourgiba Mausoleum - Monastir

Hot Damn, a day off - or 16!

AHHHHHH, I am gone.

Brutal, I am being picked up in 30 minutes to jet off to the airport, I am sitting in my bathrobe, updating my iPod (or iPizzle as Heather would say)...... curling my hair....packing a few things last minute.....ahhhhhhhhhhh, I have no clue what else I have left to do - maybe get dressed perhaps......

Okay gotta run, sorry dudes, love ya all - see ya on the flip side!

PS - all the phone calls and emails are great, I'll try to bring some sand back for everyone!

PPS - I'l make sure to check all my clothes and shoes before I put them on - I don't want any scorpions....hahahahha Rachel!!!!!

K, this makes no sense whatsoever....check back on the 26th for an update.

Where in the World

Alrighty, here we go, last time for 3 weeks... sorry dudes..... but this one is easy peezy.....trust me.....

You're Freakin' kidding me!

AHHHHH, KQ and I studied for a whole of 15 minutes aaaaaand I was bad and studied during our CIBC spring focus meeting...and we studied in the car.....aaaand what happened when I went to write the freakin' thing? It was postponed until next week - KQ got to write her damn test, but noooo, I have to wait. And the kicker is....apparently our old prof (who they brought back because our new prof couldn't pronounce the word - no word of a lie here - "negligible") was brought back in to hold a review class. UN-FREAKIN'-BELIEVABLE........

Funny thing is, I am not here next week, or the next, and thus have to write the test after I fly fom Tunis to Casablanca to Montreal to Calgary in one day.....hmmmmm, I should rethink that one.

One good thing about this is, I received an email today wishing me luck on the aforementioned test and included was the funniest example of a test that I have ever seen... well it made me laugh.......

I'm guessing the first three questions will be as follows:

1. Fill in the blank:

The Land __________ Office

2. Match the person to their claim to fame:

a. Robert Torrens a. Invented the Torrens system of land registration

b. Stephen Tyler b. Freakishly big mouth

3. Multiple Choice:

This class:

a. sucks

b. is a waste of my time

c. hasn't taught me a thing

d. all of the above.


PS - I got 100% on that one!

15 minutes

Ughh, KQ and I just finished our ridiculous 15 minute session of studying for our joke of a midterm tomorrow night - honestly, we couldn't care less about this damn test, everything associated with this program is so pointless, but nevertheless, we do have to quickly skim the pages......

Anyhoo, what is with Fergie and all her "spelling" - has any one else noticed? She seems to have some kind of affinity for singing songs with all sorts of spelling in them, well at least we know she's literate, right?

What else to tell you all..... Almost missed my doctors appointment today - I even had it in my outlook calendar and honestly, if you know me, you know that I am NEVER late - ever! However, my appointment was for 11:50, at 12:10 I finally looked up and realized what time it was and promptly ran out of the office. Luckily I have the nicest doctor ever and he was happy to see me, after a few jokes about him missing lunch and thus starving all afternoon due to my lateness... funny stuf I tell you....

Oh, went to have my taxes done before I left, everything went well except for the part where I didn't get all my money back..... damn government - el scamo mucho el gobierno..... no me gusta nada de estas cosas, mierda! But I did get most of it back - meh, I suppose I have to be an adult at some point in time..... Also, I had a super long and fun coffee with my little sis Amy tonight, and I really did forget how much I do like to hang out with her, she's really quite hilarious.......more coffee dates to come!

K, I gotta finish my 15 minutes of studying and go to bed, I am beat - yuck!

I'll write tomorrow to tell you how the test went, cross our fingers for us!

4 days and counting

Quite the entertaining weekend, Friday was really nice. I went for dinnet at the cutest little bistro in kensington - Niko's, on the same black as the Kensington Wine Market - sooo yummy, and soooo cute, Niko himself even came out and gave us each a shot of Sambuca, gratis! I highly recomend it.... Then it was home to watch "A good year" with Russel Crowe. Now normally I really like Russel, I do, but this movie was kinda off, I think it was because it is an adaptation of Peter Mayle's book " A Year in Provence" which freakin' rules if you ever need a great read..... everything in it is true - I swear! Anyhoo, yes it was an okay movie, but I like the book a billion times more, and the miniseries also made by A & E was better as well.... Nonetheless the evening was a success...

Saturday was work, went in to see cute coffee guy at second cup, but alas he was not there..... yummy coffee though! And of course of to SHEC I went, not to exciting, had a ridiculous conversation with a patient who lost her contacts, but didn't really loose them, you had to be there, it was unbelievable... moronic patients......

Saturday evening was a different story though, I raced to the store to pick up some ingredients for dinner, saw Yoo-Ree in the produce department, had a great chat, rushed home started preparing dinner, getting dressed, cleaning the house etc etc.... then I waited and waited - everyone was quite late showing up - but in the end they all arrived and dinner was awesome, yummy and fun! Bravo to KQ for her mad culinary skills!

Sunday morning was a race to clean up the housesitting house, yuck, and then it was a race to get brunch ready as Rachel and Robbie were coming over for Nigella's famous cheesecakelets.... anything Nigella makes turns out sooo delicious - what a success....

Sunday afternoon I loaded my car up, trudged into my apartment, decided that it was a huge mess and that it desperately needed to be cleaned, so I cleaned, and cleaned (I LOATHE cleaning kitchens) and ironed my clothes and tried to start packing, and generally put my life back in order, and had coffee with some lovely folks, chatted about my trip and then back to the cleaning, and then had a shower, watched desperate housewives - poor Danielle! - and went to bed.

Phew...... now it is back to work for the last drive until I go to Montreal..... and I still have so much more to clean, ughhhhh.....

PS - latest temperature update - 29 degrees today in Tozeur...... nice!

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

Serving suggestion:
Topping
2 cups strawberries, chopped into quarters
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sugar

Crepes
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

So here we go, clues:

1. I have never been there..... I should go though.....


2. It is not in Europe


3. It is muy old

Buena Suerte!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

So technically it isn't her Birthday, but hey, it only comes 'round every 4 years, thus I have to split it over two days!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MISS DENISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boringness....

WOW, traffic sucks! Seriously though, driving down glenmore from the springbank area is brutal and I am not enjoying it one bit.

As for my lack of posting (I think I already wrote about this one), I am truly sorry. Latley I've been very blah and therefore have little to write about, even though I have been out and about.

Last week for instance I had coffee with a lovely friend Matt where we chatted about europe among others things, lunch with Ronnalie and KQ, and a surprise lunch with my aunt and gradmother on saturday -so much fun.

This week I had a great dinner with a great friend and then I got my hair done on monday - and not too many people noticed which could bee either good or bad, not sure which. This time it features 3 different colours of red, very very fun I say!

Tuesday was also quite nice, I was treated to a yummy Spiro's dinner, mmmmmm, and then of course yesterday was the most ridiculous class ever. I am capable of reading for myself, but all my profs seem to think that reading directly from the text is an acceptable form of teaching! IT IS NOT! Thank god though Heather kindly offered to make dinner for KQ, her " gentleman caller" and I.... the turkey burgers were so yummy, and it was such a nice treat.

Tonight promises more boredom and I sit and wait for class to let out - I cannot wait until I am finished these classes, I cannot even express the waste of time it has been for KQ and I, but really we need the certificate so I suppose we will have to suffer through it.

Maybe I'll have something interesting to talk about later....

Where in the world......take 2

Alrighty then! Here we go again, friday blogger was seriously sucking big time, today seems better... and although I know that oodles of you do not check this blog on a sunday evening - as you are probably watching the oscars.....buuuuut, I shall do this anyways, hey I might even do a double post just for the heck of it - I mean come on, you poor poor people deprived of your weekly Where in the World contest, how atrocious! Anyhoo, here you go, and remember all of these places can be found in my photo albums.....

#1. Clues... he is NOT pointing to where he should be pointing, in fact he is missing his mark by somewhere on the order of 90 degrees... but really he stumbled on it in the first place, I don't really expect him to find it again.....but he did!

#2, Nothing too tough here....it is found at the intersection of three roads, and it was designed by a favourite designer of mine....let's call him "B"...... if you do ever visit it, make sure to toss a coin in to ensure your return.....

Where in the World

Sorry guys blogger won't let me upload any pics --- so we might have to wait until tomorrow for Where in the World......

A recap

Upon reading the last psot I noticed that I really didn't give any sort of real synopsis of the weekends events..... so here goes...

Friday - KQ and AQ and the new boy and I, plus KQ's "friend" and his friends all went out for a night at the Rose and Crown....... firstly, KQ, AQ and I had a few too many - me and my scotch.. KQ and AQ with their rum.... hilarity ensues as we arrive, make complete asses of ourselves (or myself) as I get pulled down and end up on the sticky dirty yucky floor of the bar, only to be helped up by the bouncer...nice guy... and then to be taken home and be put to bed as I did in fact have to work the next day. Woke up with a huge hangover, no wonder!, and made my way drearily to work....yuck!

After work on saturday I had the eact same conversation over the phone with both KQ and H mo as we relayed our hangover stories..... not pretty I tell you.... then it was into the shower and a mad room destroying race to get my hair dried, done, makeup on, clothes ironed and on and ready for my dinner pcik up at 5:45........ which I am proud to say that I made! Bravo to me!
Dinner was superb - we went to the cutest little french bistro on 4th (Fleur de Sel) - had yummy salmon, and I even got some Crème Brûlée... what a guy! Oh, I also managed to pick up a new book - it looks awesome... Labyrinth by Kate Mosse....

Sunday was shopping with Megs for her new condo! EQ3 is a great store, plus we had yummy mexican to restore all the energy we spent sitting in couch after couch....... and then what happened sunday night? I can't remember, probably desperate hosuewives and then to bed....

Holiday monday - more shopping, this time with Rachel - who is a great clothes shopping partner may I point out..... we compared notes on various fancy things at Zara, spent a bit too much money but ultimately left with a lot of really awesome stuff, which I love, and which I need to go back to buy more...... I am such a sucker for European stuff.......

And then of course back to work on tuesday. Today I have some more school, KQ is not going to be in class with me, which I am sad about, but meh, I suppose I'll live..... I am staying at my favourite Bolivers for a good week and a half...... BBC here I come!

Ash wednesday

So I've noticed the sever lack of personal posts on my blog lately, and frankly I have no excuse. Life has been quite hectic lately, as Heather would say it I have a new "gentleman caller" - not a boyfriend, that word scares me at the moment, but so far so good.

Otherwise I was reminded today that it is Ash Wednesday and I need to decide what to give up for Lent, now I know that I am not catholic, but ever since France I have always done something for Lent. This year I have commited myself to several things, namely..... give up swearing - sometimes I feel like I swear like a sailor and I particularly enjoy the use of certian "religion based" words...........let's see if this one will stick. Also, I have thought that I should give up chocolate (a repeat) and junk food (also a repeat).....

Now I am leaving in 16 days to the land of yummy coffee, and delicious sweets and I am in now way in a position to have enough will power to stay away from all sorts of goodies that I may encounter on my travels so I did not even try to give up those things - perhaps I should have, that would have been a real test, no?

On the schedule for tonight is school - boring boring class, tomorrow is much of the same, but I do get to go chill with the Bolivers for a week and a half (aka house-sitting) so that should hold me until I go away...yeah!!!!!!!!

Friday might bring some salsa dacing with Rachel, Robbie and the aforementioned "gentleman caller"....... and I do not have plans for saturday as of yet, perhaps that will change in the coming days.. I'll keep you all posted!


Ciao

Hilarious

Someone recently emailed this to me and I almost died laughing......thought I might share with the rest of you - Edmonton Barbie is my favourite!

Barbie Dolls Made Just For Calgary

Mattel recently announced the release of the improved limited-edition Barbie Dolls for the Greater Calgary market:

" Mount Royal Barbie " This princess Barbie is sold only at the Mount Royal Shops and specialty boutiques . She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade Handbags, a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey and a cookie-cutter house. Available with or without tummy tuck and face lift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with the augmented version.

" McKenzie Lake Barbie" The modern day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Wind star Minivan and matching gym outfit. She gets lost easily and has no full-time occupation. Traffic jamming cell phone sold separately.

" Applewood Barbie" This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, a Ray Lewis knife, a Chevy with dark tinted windows, and a Meth Lab Kit. This model is only available after dark and must be paid for in cash
(preferably small, untraceable bills) .unless you are a cop, then we don't know what you are talking about.

" Eagle Ridge Barbie " This Barbie comes with your choice of BMW convertible or Hummer H2. Included are her own Starbucks cup, credit card and country club membership. Also available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper. You won't be able to afford any of them.

" Forest Lawn Barbie" This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased beer-gutted Ken out of her house. Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, and a see-through halter-top. Also available with a mobile home.

" Sunnyside Barbie" This doll is made of actual tofu. She has long straight brown hair, arch-less feet, hairy armpits, no makeup and Birkenstocks with white socks. She prefers that you call her Willow. She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Sunnyside Barbies and the optional Subaru wagon, you get a rainbow flag bumper sticker for free.

"Marlborough Barbie " This Barbie now comes with a stroller and infant doll. Optional accessories include a GED and bus pass. Gangsta Ken and his 1979 Caddy were available, but are now very difficult to find since the addition of the infant.

" Edmonton Barbie" This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans two sizes too small, a NASCAR t-shirt and tweety bird tattoo on her shoulder. She has a six-pack of Bud light and a Hank Williams Jr. CD set. She can spit over 5 feet and kick mullet-haired Ken's butt when she is drunk. Purchase her pickup truck separately and get an Oilers bumper sticker absolutely free.

Where in the World

Alright, again, I'm not too terribly impressed with this weeks pic, but to help out a bit, the town is very medieval, and I've bee there before........

Ciao Bella!

Broke even

Last night whilst chewing an enornmous amount of bubblegum that turned my enitre mouth bright blue, I was told that our beloved Joe Sports, aka Colin Smith had passed on - he had Leukemia. Very very sad, he was always quite entertaining to listen to on Cjay and later on the 11:30 Sports show on global.

Otherwise the day was pretty okay, depsite the fact that I hate Valentine's Day and I had to go to class. Today, however is awesome!!!!

I rolled into work almost an hour early today to be greeted by my boss with this email form our ridiculous IT guys in T.O.:

"Subject: Linda Spencer

She processed 50 files today with 45 searches!

She was searching and processing 12 files in an hour (5 Min a file) and another at 10 (6 Minutes a File).

Linda was the top processor in the country yesterday"

HAHAHAHAHA, I am very impressed that I beat Ontario, wicked!

No new raise on the horizon though, I don't think I even get a prize for that, too bad.....

School again tonight, that paired with last nights debacle of learning the different parts of a land title and I should be right ready to smash my head against the desk on account of being terribley bored......brutal!

Damn Day!

I hate Valentine's Day, I do, it is a stupid meaningless holiday that forces you to buy crap teddy bears and stupid flowers...... but, having said that I did just receive a huge bouquet of flowers and a card delivered to my desk, very nice! So now I am forced to eat my words, but not really, because I still hate Valentines day!

In other news, I still am coughing my lungs out, hoping that I get better soon, or be forced ot be sick in Tunisia....... which by the way is in 23 days, 11 hours, 44 minutes and 37 seconds.... wicked, I can hardly wait to get out of this ridiculous snow!

Update - my boss just popped round the office with a long stemmed rose in a vase with baby's breath for everyone in the office - what a sweetie!

Blah

No fun weekend stories to tell, I spent pretty much the entire 2 days in bed, or on the couch, sick and with no energy. On the plus side because I was so sick and therefore didn't have any sort of appetite, I think I lost 5lbs. at least that is what my skinny pants tell me, they are even loose today - so now all I need to do is get sick lots more and voilá, I'll be set for bathing suit season! I know, I know, that's not good, but a nice surprise nonetheless.

In fact, friday was suppose to be wicked fun watching more bbc miniseries with Denise, which we did, but I was no blah, I couldn't eat my yummy dinner, and wasn't very talkative - Sorry Denise!- saturday wasn't really that much better. I called my mom late friday night and left her a worrisome message that I thought I might have pneumonia, which I am sure I don't - but I could hardly breath and my chest felt like it was going texplode...luckily that passed, but come saturday morning my mom showed up and dragged me out to a clinic - against my will - but in the end it didn't matter because they were closed. Now instead of being responsible and going back to bed doped up on drugs my mom took me out for soup. Quite the gesture, but I could barely eat anything, which is when I really did go back to my place and rest all evening.

Nothing much accomplished this weekend, and as a result I have nothing interesting to report, my creativity has taken a nose dive as of late, but hopefully with the return of my appetite I might be able to conjure up something fun for you all to read - note: I did not say y'all, but rather you - all, make sure you say it correctly please and thank you....

Perhaps tonight I will make a pit stop at good old MEC to pick up some travel necesities for my trip...... good idea!

Where in the World

I had wanted a different place, but yet again my image findings skills need sharpening, perhaps in my NyQuil induced haze I forgot how to search for pictures. In any case, here it is, I hope you've all been watching the discovery channel!

A synopsis of events

Still sick, quite sick, thought I might die at one point...but no worries, I am still here! But anyhoo, here is a synopsis of last nights and todays events thus far.
Yesterday I sat at my desk with many jackets on and several cups opf tea in front of me, hoping that school would be cancelled, which it wasn't. Last night, made it to school, amazingly, almost crashed while coughing, sat in class huddled in 5 jackets shivering praying that the teacher would hurry through the class - no chance. Afterwards made my way through the blowing snow to my car, collapsed in the front seat waited a few minutes for the engine to warm up and tried valliantly to get home. Again, almost crashed the car as I was coughing too hard...good thing I live really close to SAIT. Came home, showered - question for you....how is it that I sat in the boiling hot shower for 5 minutes and was still shivering????? not cool I tell you, not cool. Anyhoo, put some pjs on, and a hoody sweater with the hood up, and some heavy duty socks (sleep socks if you will), and a steaming hot cup of tea and mug of soup - didn't warm me up. Went to bed with loads more blankets on the bed and downed the NyQuil, oh how I love NyQuil!

Slept well, woke up, stumbled to the bathroom to get ready, almost fainted while trying to do my hair, decided to lay back down for a minute, stayed there for 20 minutes, called KQ croaked into the phone that I didn't think it was a good idea to come to work today and promptly fell back asleep. woke up at 2 o'clock this afternoon and voila! here I am, still sick but not dying sick....an improvement!

In other news, Anna Nicole Smith has died, no cause yet, but CNN is all over the story....

Also, I forgot to mention yesterday in my NyQuil haze, it was my 200th post! Yeah! And in honour of that I have a survery question for you to answer...what is your yummiest non girly, sans pop alcoholic drink that you enjoy?

Big N, little y, Big F***in' Q

Uggghhhh, I sm sick, very sick and therefore am quite excited that I get to dope up on the aforementioned NyQuil, which if you haven't already heard from either me or my good bud Dennis Leary- I love! Last night I felt like death, cold, shaking, very achy, basically just miserable - but thankfully for my NyQuil I managed to get a good sleep and can therefore function at work today - and hoepfully at school tonight.......yuck!

Nothing else really to report, I ahve acomplished almost nothing at work this morning, it has been meetings all day, tomorrow should be hopefully a bit better and then friday should be even better....girls night at Denise's - parts 5-8 of our BBC miniseries, again with Sunterra's Friday Night Feasts...yummmmmm, maybe I will have my appetite and creativity back, thus far I've got nothin'

Ciao!

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.