Sunday, December 31

official last post of 2006

friday night we went and saw the good shepherd. it was good but super long so i'm glad we both had a chance to nap that afternoon. thankfully we were sent home early and had lots of time to do stuff. but with the napping and all there wasn't any time left for shopping (i'm feeling the urge what with avoiding the boxing day madness and everything) so we ate and saw the movie instead. we got stopped by the ride program getting on the queensway. the cop took his time looking us both over because pointing a flashlight at somebody is so very intimidating. but then i realized that there's a big bar in the same mall and so there are probably people who drink there and do drive. after a bit we were on our way.

going out on friday nights always make the weekend seem longer. we have monday off so it is a long weekend, but it will feel like a super long weekend this way.

we did a bunch of stuff yesterday. we both got haircuts, we ordered a new fridge (we're doing a fridge-swap with j's parents to make our moving easier), we got some wine for tonight and we stopped by the new house. it was just after the sales center closed to we couldn't go inside but we peaked and saw that we now have hardwood and carpeting. it was dark so i have no idea what it all looks like but it's exciting. we're a month away now. that's not long at all.

then we partied. we went to vik's parent's house and ate pizza and played with his new wii. i have to admit it was pretty fun.

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tonight we're party hopping. we have three parties in town that we'd like to attend so we're going to make it happen. i even bought a new shirt so i'll look pretty... new haircut, new shirt and some hotpants. what could be better?

some people never get tired of saying "see you next year!" this time of year, but i am. maybe i won't see you again until the next calendar year, but i'll see you soon. hopefully tonight will be a good time whatever you're doing and wherever you are.

Friday, December 29

a year in review

you know how this time of year, the end of the calendar year, people get all reminiscent of the past twelve months and begin looking back as well as looking forward. we look back to scrutinize ourselves and our lives, to see if we did all that we could have done and to see if the things we did were worth doing. we look forward to resolve to do more things, bigger things, better things. i'm not one for new year's resolutions. i like how i live and know that there are things i want to work on, but i don't need the coming of a new year to finally resolve to change those things.

instead, i give you this: a year in review. i've put together some pictures in an album on flickr that i think really put my 2006 in perspective. when i watch it as a slideshow (tip: change the speed so it doesn't take five hours) i smile. i don't think that i've captured everything i did over the past twelve months and i don't think some of the pictures are going to make sense to everybody who looks at them. you won't be able to tell that for four months we had an extra person and an extra cat living in our house. you won't be able to tell that i played baseball three days a week or that in july i got my first job in my field. but you can tell that i did stuff and that it was a happy year.

so i propose that you read the following highlights of my year and then go take a look at the album. i think the perspective from the words will help you smile more during the picture show. but if you're impatient, just scroll to the bottom for the link.

- the day before new year's eve last year, i went and got my hair cut real short. why i did that in the winter, i do not know. so we went to a party with our friends, me wearing a new sweater and a new hair cut. j wearing his drunken grin.
- it's so typical of our cats to want to lie with us on the couch
- j took his first road trip. he went to detroit with some car guys and was a changed person after that.
- i went out with some ball girls for a drunken night on the town near my birthday
- the turbo arrives in the mail and j drools while waiting for warmer weather to install it
- rolo and sandy get their pictures taken in the bright winter light
- a close up of my eye shows off the strange colour (more blue in the picture that normal) and my crazy short hair
- j flew to thunder bay to drive back with his sister, sj, who came to live with us for four months
- we went out for a fun night for alan's birthday
- easter always brings the gold chocolate bunnies so they gathered around our telus phones just like in the commercials
- j is super happy while installing the turbo (and again once the car works properly again)
- we bought a house
- the three cats finally start getting along and are seen on the perch together
- my cousin gets married down south and has a reception here in town
- a beautiful night shot of a baseball game in orleans
- i get a nast bruise when hit by a pitch
- rolo flops over your shoulder when you're in the bathroom
- we go out and have a crazy night downtown (including lots of puking and fighting and cops) and finally conquer p who passes out in our bathroom with cats walking on him
- the cats love warm, clean laundry
- the sunsets are beautiful at the cottage
- a quick trip through the bonnechere caves and total darkness
- our fridge decided it's had enough on the thursday before the canada day long weekend, try getting a fridge then
- canada day was a crazy night downtown and then an even crazier bike ride home in the hardest rain ever, and then a long and slow drive to the cottage
- a brand new shiny fridge
- finally got to play in the hope beach volleyball tournament with some mazda people. it was busy and hot and burn-y
- a mazda meet at vincent massey park with ground hotdogs and posing on the cars
- our second anniversary
- dinner and bowling for p's birthday
- our first tent
- multiple nights out at gracies with the baseball team
- a huge storm knocks trees over at the cottage with minimal damage
- j buys a windsurfer
- the mega mazda meet in the city with tons and tons of mazda 3s cruising through the gatineaus and downtown and finally ending the night at the race track
- one crazy night it stays well over thirty degrees late into the night
- the sharks get silver at the provincials in st. catharines
- fun little trip to niagara falls
- the family gathered in town for mom's birthday
- progress on the building of the house
- carly and kerry get married
- j's birthday season: out with the guys, cake at home, dinner at lonestar with the big goofy hat, cake at the grandparents' place
- my attempt at my first knitted sock
- another new hair cut
- my arm bruises big time from my first time playing volleyball in years
- our second annual potluck dinner for thanksgiving where we cook the turkey and everyone brings everything else
- the arboretum is a great place for pictures
- vik proposes to karen and there's a huge party
- j and i go see deep sea at imax
- sandy models a little pink toque that i made
- richard and j iron on freezer paper stencils
- j breaks down and gets an xbox
- it snows in october
- we get a pvr and are super happy
- until rolo spills the milk
- a fun picture of the cats in the bathroom
- rolo models a pink scarf i made and then donated to the snowsuit fund
- we join j's coworker adam as he falls off the vegetarian wagon and eats a huge plate of ribs
- we meet new friends at alan and sylvia's house warming party
- the pile of scarves that my knitting group made and then donated to the snowsuit fund
- sandy watches tv for the first time
- my second annual christmas cookie exchange
- i play hockey once a week in a league out of carleton university. rolo likes my hockey bag
- rolo gets in the christmas spirit with a candy cane
- the house is almost done and all the neighbours have moved in
- some christmas decorations get in some nasty poses
- we party with j's coworkers
- and party some more: k's work christmas luncheon, work potluck, baseball party, family party
- we catch our first mouse
- a homecoming of sorts when friends get together at richard's family christmas party for some rum... er, fun
- a crazy pink and red sunset on christmas eve
- the christmas tree and finally all the family get togethers over the christmas break

so as you can tell, we did a lot of stuff this past year. and if you've gotten this far you deserve to finally see the pictures so here you go. enjoy!

Thursday, December 28

project 365, the beginning

i warned you so you can't say you didn't know. i am fully on board for project 365 where i take a picture every day for the next three hundred and sixty-five days and post them all in an album on my flickr page. i'm excited and nervous all at the same time. will i be able to take a picture every single day? will my pictures be interesting or at the end of the year will you just see three hundred and sixty-five pictures of my cats? time will tell my friends. only time will tell. i'm hoping i'll be interesting enough or at least find interesting perspective on every day things. here's hoping.

and here's some information on the project in case maybe you want to hop on board. everybody's doing it.

some background on project 365
my flickr album dedicated to project 365

dates: december 28, 2006 - december 27, 2007

so check back early and check back often and feel free to give me little pokes and prods if you see me slacking. wheeeeeeeee!

Wednesday, December 27

oh the places you will go

i don't even know where to begin. five days have passed but it feels like 50.. because i know exactly what fifty days passing feels like. you know i do. maybe a c-day wrap-up is in order. i'll do my best.

decemeber 22
we got to leave work early last friday in the spirit of the season. and we did. i don't know what else we did. let's assume it was fun.

december 23 - saturday
ah, sleep-in day number 1. we slept in. then we did stuff i'm sure. the big part of the day was the c-day party at the kellands place. it was an alcohol-full festive mess of debauchery (not on my part of j's part, but for some). i was not in the mood to answer the "and how do you know the kellands?" questions all night which i assumed would be plentiful. it was not like that at all. it was a kind of homecoming with friends arriving from out of town and getting together for the first time in months. it was fun.

december 24 - sunday, c-day eve
sleep-in day number 2. as far as i can remember, this was a family day. there was swiss chalet for dinner (j's family tradition) and some frantic present wrapping that hadn't been done yet.

december 25 - monday, c-day
after a choppy sleep it was present time. i threw on my pink reindeer pyjamas (yes, i own pink reindeer pyjamas) and we all gathered in the living room (where all = me, j, j's parents and sister, and the cats obviously) and opened presents. i got a new battery for my ipod and a bathrobe (pink!) and disney dvds. good haul. j seemed happy with his sweatshirt (really nice under armour sweatshirt) and snowpants and snowboarding gift certificates. then it was go time. off to j's grandparent's place for more c-day fun. and to make long stories short, we went to my parent's place afterwards and then back for c-day dinner. we had some time alone at night with the cats. that was nice.

december 26 - tuesday, boxing day
there was no shopping on boxing day. there was another sleep-in (surprised?) and then more family stuff and then another c-day dinner with my family in kanata. i was supposed to play hockey but when i got there the arena was closed (would have been nice to know!) so i went home and spent some quality time alone. there was not enough of that this break. we sorted out our gifts and put some things in their places before going to bed.

december 27 - wednesday, NOW
now i'm at work. it's 9am and i've been here for two hours. i'm happy i have a good battery in kevin (my ipod) because there are about 5 people here and it's quiet and boring and dull. did i mention that i'm kind of tired? since most people are still off work, things are happening every night this week. thankfully getting off at 3pm allows much time for napping.

anyways, for pictures chronicling the holiday season go to my christmas 2006 album on flickr. i will be updating tonight with all the pictures.

my new task is to put together a birthday wishlist, you know, now that i know what i did and didn't get for christmas this year. there are benefits to being a january baby.

Friday, December 22

cheese, the good kind

and you thought i might be kidding about the mice... fraid not:

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that little mouse came from under the stove. we trapped him in a victor live trap baited with cheese. and we caught and released another one last night... if they aren't, in fact, the same animal, we're clearing out the mouse population. fingers crossed this little guy wasn't industrious enough to find his way back inside in less than 24 hours and back into the trap. we do not have an endless supply of cheese here people!

so i'm feeling good today. we had bank things to do yesterday after work and while i wasn't stressing about it, it feels nice to have it done early (on time according to them, early according to what my brain tells me). and i learned about all bank drafts and what "in trust" means. why didn't i learn about any of this? i really think they should teach financial stuff in schools. even just the basics about not spending more money than you have. i'm sure that would help a lot of people. thankfully i already know that one, but it was definitely painful, as a 25-year-old, being told about "in trust" by someone who's thinking to himself "man, this girl is dumb!" let's clear something up here: i'm not dumb, i just didn't have a rich great-grandmother who left me a trust fund, paving the way for me to learn about these things early on in life. and to continue being fair, neither did he, i just missed something.

after that we napped on the couch. i was SO good this week and didn't nap even though i was painfully tired monday, tuesday and wednesday. i powered through it and was only slightly bitchy at at least one point each of those days. the first day that i've had enough sleep and don't think i'm tired, i nap. makes perfect sense. but it meant that dinner wasn't ready until 9pm and so we were up late. no problem because it's friday! and it's the friday before a long weekend. and not just any long weekend, c-day long weekend. sad that it's more exciting to me that it's a long weekend that that it's c-day. that christmas spirit i was oozing apparently dried out, crusted over and fell off. and if that doesn't gross you out, i don't know what would! here's to the long weekend and c-day!

i also managed to see that i was thinking about costa rica all wrong. i'm worried about the food over there, me not being so much a fan of diarrhea, and was thinking that our two lodging options were resorts (expensive!) or hostels (cheap but scary*!) and then i remembered that there are also hotels and that hotels do not normally have minimum stays that most resorts have. and that if we wanted to stay at a resort, we would just go down south, like everyone and his dog has done, for cheap. we want to go to costa rica for a bunch of reasons:

- not everyone has been to costa rica
- the wildlife and windsurfing are plentiful and amazing, and
- we don't travel much so we're going big

we picked up two travel books yesterday from a travel agency and read all about the tours these companies offered and the resorts. it all sounds wonderful but it all sounds super expensive. we just bought a house, we can't necessarily afford $6000 for two weeks of structured time down there. and so, as we were falling asleep (j was falling asleep and i was reading) i realized that we need to book our flights and book our first night in a hotel close to the airport and just go. we have a lonely planet guide book, we'll have access to the internet, and we have an idea of the places we want to see and the things we want to do. the rest, we'll sort out when we're down there. and that is the plan. off to check flight prices.

* hostels are scary because we've never stayed in one before and every time we've travelled, we've stayed with family. we are very not worldly when it comes to travelling so be nice.

ps. this means that, for my birthday, i would really appreciate gift certificates to mec so i can buy a pack. in my mind, a pack suits this kind of travelling much better than suitcases.

Thursday, December 21

project 365

i'm toying with the idea of doing project 365. i think it would be (very) challenging but with amazing returns. imagine being able to flip through a year of your life. it's almost like being a celebrity.. you ever think about how many pictures celebrities have taken of them daily? they'd never have to look far for a decent shot of themselves. i digress, project 365 sounds neat so i'm going to think about it some more.

i have exciting news, but it's about wildlife. well, the wildest of the "life" that lives in our house currently. that's right, i'm talking about mice. about 4 am the cats and i were woken up by a loud bang. they bolted out of bed, i rolled over and fell back to sleep. the bang was the sound of the live trap closing and trapping a mouse inside.

we took the trap with the little guy outside, camera ready, and let him go. he needed lots of convincing to leave the trap, but finally jumped out. he was so weee! j was amazed the mouse ate all the cheese. i wasn't one bit surpised.

i'm thrilled that we caught our first mouse. i'm assuming there's more than one, but hopefully we can clear them all out. maybe we should start seriously looking at how they're getting in so they don't turn around and come back in. thursday night's plan? super.

other than mouse hunting we have to go to the bank tonight and sign mortgage papers. as you can see on the top right of this blog, we have 40 days left until the house. a couple more than that until the big move, but 40 until we sign up for the biggest debt of our lives and finally get the keys in our grubby little hands*. exciting!

* i don't think our hands are grubby or little

i tried to make rice crispie squares last night. who knew you could screw those up. i've seen the commercial where the mom tricks her family into believing she slaved over a hot stove for hours when it really only takes a couple of minutes in the microwave and some mad stirring. but i screwed it up. i put the rice crispies in the melted margarine instead of adding the marshmallows. they snapped, crackled and popped. i scraped them out and started over. my squares are a little dry but eatable. and they're c-day-coloured.

after that fiasco, i watched an episode of gilmore girls and then went to bed. i was asleep by 8pm and loved every second of my marathon sleep. i have some work to do (at work - who woulda thought?!) and then it's off to lunch with my old group. should be fun!

Wednesday, December 20

i'm a machine!

i say i'm a machine because, well, i am. i was tired yesterday, but i managed to get lots of stuff done between work and hockey, i played really well (i got to play forward) last night, and then i came home and relaxed. i got to bed just before midnight and slept well. until the puking this morning, but that can be forgived.

i got up by myself and got into work earlier than usual. it felt nice to zoom myself into work, taking the route i wanted to take. tomorrow and friday are both half days and then it's c-day time. does anyone else just want to get on with it?

* it was rolo puking, not me

Tuesday, December 19

plans

this time of year, the time leading up to c-day (i like it!), is full full full and you really have to schedule time off. time at home. time not doing anything. so when someone calls/emails you asking if you want to do X you can say no, sorry, i have plans. when really your plans are to wear the biggest comfyest joggers you own while eating a tub of ice cream lying on the couch watching whatever's on tv. at least that's what i would do.

even though i have lots to do. you know, i haven't been keeping up with my knitting or scrapbooking and i'm kinda feeling bad about it and maybe a little overwhelmed. okay, a lot overwhelmed. i feel like there just isn't enough time in the day to get all the things done that i want to have done. but then i shake my head because this stress is completely self-imposed and silly. at least i know it.

i've finally decided what to do about hockey. (maybe i mentioned this already...) i got put on a city hockey team after i thought it was too late but i haven't paid anything and will have to pay $45 for insurance and then $15 a game if/when i play. i've seen this team play and they are about the level i last played at for city. i would need some time to catch up, but afterwards i feel like i would fit in well. so right now i haven't paid anything for that team and am not committed hardly at all. but it's there. i can always decide to play. i think it's a pretty good deal, and $15 isn't that much for a game.

and then there's intramurals. i've decided to sign up for the january - may session. i know i've complained about the intramurals lots but the pros outweigh the cons so i'm going to go for it. so i'll have volleyball monday nights and hockey tuesday nights with possibly some extra hockey thrown in every now and again.

i do, and will still, miss the gym, but it just isn't part of the plan right now. and if this weather keeps up i could be running outside all winter. and i have some yoga shows recorded and find that i'm enjoying them. so there you have it. i finally made a decision and am feeling relieved about it. now to remember my cheque tonight for hockey.

what else do you want to know? i'm tired, exhausted really, i'm a little hungry but no longer stressed. i would still like to get more knitting and more scrapbooking done, but at least i've figured out hockey and now christmas. all that's left is to deal with the mouse situation.

Monday, December 18

finally!

this is the first monday in a long time that i feel rested and recreated* and satiated from the weekend. i feel like i had a weekend and i did all sorts of things but i also slept enough. it was the perfect balance of stuff and sleep and fun. ahhhh...

* recreated may or may not be an actual word

except for friday night. friday, if you'll remember, was a potluck lunch at work. something i ate didn't like me at all and i was gross all friday night. i thought maybe it would pass and i tried to go to my baseball christmas party. i lasted about an hour and a half and it was painful. but i did remember to take pictures. here's one of me with k2 and emily.

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we had food and drinks and a gift exchange. i scored some nice smelling body wash and hand lotion. it's orange. but then i was whisked away, taken home, and made to eat crackers and drink juice. i was yucky.

oh, before the party, we had a bunch of food delivered so we have boxes everywhere. having all sorts of boxes around leads to packing. j packed up 8 boxes saturday while i made cake. then we went to dinner at s&l's swanky apartment. they made crazy good tapas for dinner which was very new and exciting. we got to try all sorts of things we'd never had and the conversation flowed for the whole time we were there. we got home happy and full.

sunday was a weird day. we got up late, got some groceries, then had a nap because all that was so taxing, and then we had to head out for my family christmas.

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it was fun as always. we scored a nice picture frame, a can of beer and a can of vanilla wafer cookies. but sunday's fun didn't stop there.

fast forward through some tv watching, internet surfing, and some sleeping, until about 5 am when we're both woken up by a loud sound. like a cat screeching, trying to run on the hardwood. j went to investigate. rolo would have, if not for the horrible lack of purchase on the hardwood, caught a mouse. apparently we have mice. and apparently rolo was super happy with his hunter-self and was head-bonking up a storm. j cleaned up everything and found out where the mouses are coming in, and for this i am grateful. i stayed in bed and when he finally came back to bed for the last 10 minutes or so, i remember saying that i'm so glad we're moving into a new house.

and i am. and now, so are j's parents. that was enough to convince them to buy a condo. i don't blame them.

Friday, December 15

the spirit and where to find it

i think i found some of that elusive christmas spirit i was talking about yesterday. let me tell you where it was hiding: in my world of not-getting-enough-sleep. last night i was asleep by 10pm. i had been needing a night like that all week and i finally got it and this morning, lo and behold, i woke up as little miss sunshine. no joke. i found my christmas spirit.

so i put on christmas socks, the only pair i own, and some christmas-y underwear (use your imagination because that's all i'm giving you!) and grabbed the pasta salad i made last night and went off to work. this isn't just any pasta salad, it's christmas pasta salad. i put red and green peppers in it and put the whole thing in a green ziploc container and toted it in a red plastic bag. i'm OOZING christmas spirit today.

the pasta salad is for a potluck we have this afternoon. and then there's a potluck dinner/party tonight with my ball team. i have a feeling that tonight's going to be very centered on two people and possibly not the most fun in the world, but at least i'm mentally prepared for that. i still have to wrap the present for the gift exchange and figure out what to bring for the potluck. oh, and figure out how i'm getting there, where "there" is, and other logistics like that.

you know, this time of year is kind of overwhelming with all the potlucks and parties and gift exchanges and people you should see and santas everywhere. at least it's 8 degrees out and not blizzard-y. that would make it much harder but MUCH MORE CHRISTMAS-Y!! get my point, winter? you're supposed to be here and well, i miss you. i never thought i would say it but the snow is what makes christmas christmas and as much as i hate trudging through 7 feet of gucky brown snow and sludge to get anywhere for 4 months of the year, the new, fluffy, sparkling white, pretty snow really signifies christmas and WHERE THE H*LL ARE YOU, SNOW??

i admit, i spent one christmas in florida when i was younger. that was the year i learned the truth about santa clause: he can't give you as many gifts when you're away from home (read: your parents spent all that money getting your sorry ass to florida so they can only afford a couple presents for each of you). to be fair, i think my parents took us to florida then because we had free accomodations and they didn't want us to miss school. i think that was the trip my brother stood on a red ant pile thingy and got little red bites all over his body and cried for days whill being slathered with calamine lotion. good times.

all that said, and there was a lot said, i want some snow because i can only ooze this spirit for so long without it.

Thursday, December 14

no comment

finally this week is winding down. last night was supposed to be my crash-super-early-in-bed-by-7pm night, but it was not to be. if i had eaten dinner earlier, i would have for sure been in bed early, but i didn't and so i wasn't. i went out just after 7 to get us dinner, ate, watched tv, watched more tv and then applied for a job. i wasn't in bed until almost midnight.

but this morning i felt better than i have all week. it's definitely about the quality of sleep instead of the number of hours. i hardly woke up at all, i didn't have nightmares and i woke up happy. this isn't to say that i won't crash later on, but today's a half-day at work so i should be okay.

today's a half-day because we have the big agency luncheon. it's at a banquet hall down the road (i make it sound like we live in a very small rural village) part of me wanted to show up at 9am because everyone gets off at the same time but i start earlier than most people. is that fair? when i worked at alcatel i used to come in late on fridays when i knew we were getting off early. i was much more picky about work hours in those days though. when you hate your job, you count every minute you're there. i'm not that way now.

the job i applied for last night is two levels up from what i have now and i'm so not qualified. but there's another posting going up within the next two months for a position one level above where i am and i feel completely comfortable applying for that one, not that that stopped me this time. ah well. i did have a heart to heart with my boss about me and my job and she said that i have absolutely nothing to worry about and that i ask good questions.

does she know i blog from work?

this morning, i was thinking about christmas, because really, it's coming up soon. but i feel like we already had christmas. my christmassy-mindset peaked about a week and a half ago with the cookie party and i haven't thought much about it since. this year, alice the christmas-camel has two humps, because i'm sure it will peak again on actual christmas. here's hoping.

anyone have plans for new year's? new year's is always less than you think it's gonna be. it never lives up to the hype, not for me anyways, so i've stopped building it up in my head. it's really just another night. every day is just another day if you don't care. but it's weird to think about how new year's means more to some people, like a friend of mine got together with her boyfriend new years a couple of years ago. the night likely means more to her. but at the same time, every day is somebody's birthday and means it's a special day to them when to you it's just a tuesday. days are really only what we make of them. when the weeks and months fly by it's probably because every day is just another tuesday.

i don't want every day to be just another tuesday.

Wednesday, December 13

keep the date

it's weird, and sometimes neat, how dates remind us of events. okay, thinking about it more, it's not weird at all. what i'm trying to say is that december 13 once meant something to me. something about a boy. i was "asked out" by my first real boyfriend at a school dance on december 13th. it was the start of an interesting relationship. the relationship ended in a nasty way, with his mom and her religion coming between us, but looking back, that was a good thing.

i learned about religion and how it can sometimes ruin a good thing. and about how mothers can sometimes ruin a good thing. but to be fair, the good thing didn't have a chance to go bad. we were young. it was new and exciting. but man, were we ever wrong for each other.

and so over the years, i stumbled my way in and out of other relationships, using the things i had learned in that first relationship from that first boy, but always making some sort of mistake along the way. and finally it clicked: i can do better. obvious? maybe to some. it took 4 years of my blind stumbling until i came to this realization. this epiphany.

and now that i've found the guy i'm more comfortable in my own skin. i have newfound confidence and am growing, from those first awkward kisses to the person i am now. there's nothing like the first days and weeks of a new relationship where everything tingles with excitement, but there's something to be said for the love and support you get from knowing someone so well.

"every time i hold you i begin to understand
that everything about you tells me you're my best friend"

Monday, December 11

christmas spirit

seems like the christmas spirit is just oozing out of people these days. here, a photojournalistic approach to the holiday season:

1) the tree is up:
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2) the decorations are up:
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3) even the cats are festive:
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and that concludes my version of christmas. and now for my weekend update. friday j and i napped, him until some reasonable hour that wasn't too late, me until 8pm. oops. and then we started "packing". packing in our case involves going through all of our accumulated crap and making piles. one pile of garbage, one of goodwill, one for stuff to keep, one..... and so on. we basically end up with a mountain of piles and our crap out in plain sight. maybe not the most effective use of our time. though we do throw stuff out every time.

saturday we went to the house again. all the pictures are up on flickr but i've made them private. you don't get to see them. i will tell you that the counters, cupboards and ceramic floors are in. the tubs, toilets and sinks are in. we were very relieved when we saw all the colour combinations because, really, we are not interior designers. we were most worried about the kitchen. it turned out pretty damn good.

okay, saturday night we went to a christmas party with some of j's coworkers. it was fun and nice to see some of those people again but there was buddy. buddy was the annoying spouse of someone and he was, well, annoying. i don't know who from j's work will read this so that's all i'll say except i hope i don't see buddy again. really.

i don't even know what we did yesterday. stuff. good stuff i'm sure. and then there's today. this morning i had an exam for a job at cfia (canadian food inspection agency) and i bombed it. bombed in a bad way. yuck yuck yuck. i did see my old roommate from university there though and that was nice. don't think i'll be seeing her at that job though. erg.

and now i get to move my little cubicle. i'm all packed up just waiting for the guys to come. apparently they came by when i was out, a la while you were out, except they didn't move any of my stuff. time to be proactive? yes.

Friday, December 8

make me laugh!

went to absolute comedy last night because some friends "won" 10 free tickets and asked us to come along. it was a great show. my only beef was that the waitress spilled beer all over my coat. a good excuse to wash my winter coat, but i hate smelling like beer. the only time i don't mind is when i'm too drunk to notice and, if you know me at all, you know that that doesn't happen very often.

the reason i put the word, won, in quotation marks like that is because our friends got a call saying they had won ten free tickets, but then we find out that another guy who was there also got a call that same night (he wasn't home and they didn't leave a message). we're trying to piece it together and finally were shown the answer: at the end of the show the waitresses leave comment cards with the bills. they must have filled one out last time we were there (back in june or july sometime) and the club must call everybody at some point. i wonder.

but it meant we had a pretty cheap night out and were home before 11 and asleep soon after that. perfect. and tonight we have no plans. none yet anyways.

last night before we went out j went to the gym and i did yoga (at home? by myself? strange, i know). i had recorded a yoga program that aired on rogers tv (channel 22, baby!) it turned out to be pretty good and for the first time since i dumped my gym membership, my muscles are tired. tired in a good way. it feels nice. i'm going to try and record more of these shows and do yoga when j goes to the gym. sounds like a good plan, but will it work? who honestly knows.

i have a feeling this is going to be a slow day. they're physically moving our servers, or something like that, so we don't have access to our database or our shared drive. everyone was told to save work to our computers and so i did and i'll be able to do some stuff. but then we have our little group's christmas lunch. across town. all afternoon. hmm.

this is my new group. they're... well, they're different. they are much different from my first group, but until monday, i still sit with my old group. am i ever going to miss them when i'm gone. there are four or us who talk away all day long through our cubicle walls. i've been told that where i'm moving to is much quieter. in fact, the only "talking" i'll hear is the admin talking on speakerphone. hello! cubicle life does not jive well with speakerphone. idiot! and the music when you're on hold, apparently he blasts that as well. thankfully i have kevin - he's my ipod. i know i've been a little harsh abou kevin lately (he can't hold a charge for more than two albums) but i do appreciate the noise (of my choosing - but that's another story) to block out the crappy noises.

plus my monitors in my new cubicle face the hallway for everyone to see. no more posting from work? crappy. maybe it'll make me a better employee. or maybe i just won't care and will go on doing what i do how i do. cause that's how i do. either way, i'm not terribly excited to have to move. i'm putting off packing until monday (why do it now when i can procrastinate?) and will grudgingly leave my little office home. yuck.

but it's friday! yay happy friday! i'm manic.

Thursday, December 7

straight edge, that's me

i'm back to telling you the truth: i went to bed early last night. proud? me too. it was just after 8pm that i curled up all cozy in bed. this was after four and a half hours of staving off sleep on the couch. i watched some good tv, but that's all. i have nothing exciting to report other than the fact i got a free pass to see a comedy show tonight so that's where i'll be. and that's all.

Wednesday, December 6

i lied

i remember seeing a tee shirt on some girl who-knows-when and it said "boys lie". it's so true. but really, everyone lies, even if only by omission, everyone does it. i lied yesterday when i said that i would get to bed at a decent time last night. even though i was home by 8pm i wasn't in bed early. and i sure wasn't asleep before the clock struck 2. and that, my friends, is not a whole lot of sleep. tonight or tomorrow (i'll leave it open so as not to lie to you again) i am going to crash hard and hopefully be in bed asleep before 8. wouldn't that be lovely.

i did manage to squeeze in a nap yesterday though. i was lying on the couch and it just happened. apparently i was tired enough and conked out for a while, maybe an hour, and the cats were good. this is very unusual.

j woke me up and i had to go almost straight away to hockey. this was probably the best game i've played this season. i opened it up and scored a goal on my first shift. i finally aimed my shot not at the goalie, but at where the goalie wasn't. that's a good rule of goal-scoring, but not easy to do. the goalie makes such a good target. anyways, i scored that goal, i might have got an assist on my team's second goal, i only had one penalty, and i had stellar passes all night. that feels good.

and i was asked to play in a tournament in january for a city team who will also let me play with them for the rest of the season and the playoffs. i'm still debating as to whether i'm going to play in the league again starting in january. maybe you can help.

pros
- one night a week, same night every week
- not far from home
- i get exercise
- i'm starting to like my team

cons
- level of play isn't the greatest
- very expensive
- i might not be on the same team

i'm just not sure what i'm going to do without it. well, i'm exactly sure what i'm going to do without it: not play hockey. i will have volleyball once a week and hockey with that other team from time to time, but no other sports/activities. so i'm torn. i don't know what to do.

after hockey, i did laundry and watched tv. the victoria's secret fashion show was on. they brought sexy back. definitely.

Tuesday, December 5

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

i ain't joking:

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the hedge on the far side of our house is apparently being overgrown with some red-berry-producing vine and i love it! i've been staring out the kitchen window this whole past weekend at these little red berries as it snowed and rained and froze all pretty. i finally threw on my boots and coats and grabbed the camera and took a picture. pretty, eh?

last night's volleyball game didn't end well, but i had a good time. seems like every week i do two things: i learn something new (good!) and i injure myself (bad!). this week i learned that i'm approaching short serves too head-on and need to get under them more AND i managed to bruise the heel of my right hand. thankfully i use the mouse with my left hand at work because it's really painful.

one of my coworkers who is pregnant (there are 6) let me touch her belly today. i was able to feel her baby's head. it was neat but the whole idea is alien to me. i honestly can't imagine what it would be like to have a little person inside of me. anyways, it was interesting but strange.

thankfully my game tonight is an early one so i'll be in bed at a decent time. next week is going to be killer though. but that's next week... still have to get through the now.

Monday, December 4

welcome!

welcome back, my valued readers. i took a much-needed break and stayed away from work and blogging and people and the outdoors for days. i'm not sure it helped much as i still feel somewhat sick, like this bug won't be shaken, but i slept lots and did stuff that needed to be done.

side note: i sound so hard done by but i'm totally not.

quick recap of my life since my last post: thursday was a regular day. we stayed home friday and slept in until after noon. it was nasty out and we didn't leave the house. saturday was much of the same except it was sunny and we left the house eventually. we got to finally meet sj's beau.

yesterday was my second annual christmas cookie exchange! 15 lovely ladies participated in this event.

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i love this picture and am sad that it's blurry:
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we had a good time though and ate lots of cookies. i'm in awe of the cats though. rolo was into everything (i had them locked up for a lot of the night, but let them out nearing the end when i had to get coats from the room they were in) and didn't puke.

congratulations to becky, specialk and caroline who won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively. everyone's cookies were great!

other than that, sandy figured out the tv and watched for a bit:
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our cats are like a little married couple, even though they are brother and sister:
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i went out to get a couple of things before the party and saw this, birds on a wire:
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doesn't it look like winter has been here for a while? well this was just day 2 of snow. hmm.