SCORE!

Sweet groooove action!

Team Canada lays out the competition in the final game of the round robin part of the World Junior Hockey championship!!

SWEEEEEEETTTTT!!!!!!

What a grand way to end the year. Great food, selfish time with your partner, a few vids, and a KICK ASS hockey game!!!!

Cause it made me laugh

Fine art of creation

I was talking to a friend the other day, and she said that one of the hardest things that she did when planning their wedding, was sitting down and creating the registry. I hadn't given it a lot of thought until then, but now it is sinking in.

We aren't kids, and when you blend two adult houses, you have the basics covered. So this whole creation of a registry is a bit daunting. What do we need, what can I project is good to have, what will we have space for, seeing as I don't see a move in the near future happening, and what are the things I haven't considered getting but maybe now could? It is an interesting thing to go through.

Some parts of the planning we are blitzing through - it definitely puts things in perspective. It is almost an adventure to plan a wedding in a shorter amount of time because you are making decisions quicker and for us, it seems like things are falling in to place. What matters to me is that I always had an idea of a 'community' wedding - one where people were a part of it, not just people who rocked up for the highly ritualized and compartmentalized weddings that seemed to be happening before. Our friends and family are involved, in the planning, brainstorming, helping with flowers, decorations, the cake, and everything else. It's been kind of cool so far, watching the pieces come together.

I have the feeling that the next three months are going to go by in a blur.

We also have to wait 2 weeks before we get to go to our first ultrasound... can't wait!!! At that point we will have a better idea of when our arrival will be making an appearance :]

Dress Shopping, 101

Ah, the joys of shopping for your wedding dress.

I am becoming more and more of a fan of EBay as time goes on. There are some wicked deals to be had. So, being an entrepreneur, and not wanting to break the bank with our upcoming nuptials, I did a quick look the marketplace to see if anything caught my fancy. To make a long story short, I found the dress PDQ, for a really good price, and was all but ready to run for it.

Well, after a few discussions, my mom convinced me that what we really should be doing is trying on some dresses (makes sense) to get a feel for the sizing, even if the sizing won't be perfect given unknown variables in the next few months, and to see if a deal here in the same price range could be found... so on the 23rd we hit a consignment shop (tried on an ok dress, but needed cleaning and lots of alterations) and then we went to a "bridal salon". Of course, read snotty wenches who figure they are god's gift to future Bridezillas out there.

We rock up, and as soon as I let out that I was getting married in a mere 3 months you could hear the sneer in the voice, and then the comment "OH. (dripping with sarcasm) You are going to have to buy off of the rack!)

Oh forsooth! Evil woman that I am for making them work for it! So, the wench took me to the wrong sizes (be-yotch!), and all they had were really princess-y type dresses with a lot of beading, and frilly crap, and they were just brutal. AND EXPENSIVE. After browsing through 50 dresses whose average price hovered over a 1000 buckeroos, my mom was on my side.

The dress on the net was very reasonable, custom made to my size, and beautiful - simple, elegant lines that will be flattering without too many accroutrements, but enough to be the right dress. So, turning on our heels, we waltzed out of the store, to no surprise to the wankers at the front counter, whom themselves were quite relieved they didn't have to hurry and help someone who wanted to get hitched so quick!

A meme to out myself, so it is all in the details..

A is for age: 32
B is for booze of choice: spiced rum
C is for career: Financial Aid Advisor in a post secondary institution
D is for your dad's name: Bob
E is for essential items to bring to a party: Booze. 7 layer dip or mexican fondue in a sourdough bowl
F is for favorite song at the moment: Devil's dance floor (Flogging Molly)
G is for favorite game: Cranium
H is for hometown: Vancouver, BC (or thereabouts)
I is for instruments you play: clarinet (not well)
J is for jam or jelly you like: strawberry
K is for kids: give it about 7 months for this to be a reality
L is for living arrangements: soon-to-be-more than a partner, 2 cats, fish, 2 bedroom suite in the 'burbs
M is for mom's name: Winnie
N is for name of your crush: The Rock
O is for overnight hospital stays: none
P is for phobias: earwigs (just gross) and a healthy respect for heights
Q is for quotes you like: "You are going up an unsanitary tributary without sufficient means of locomotion"
R is for relationship that lasted the longest: the one I'm in. Together 4 years :] and counting
S is for sexual preference: Ken.
T is for time you wake up: 7:05 am.
U is for underwear: cotton french cuts
V is for vegetable you love: corn on the cob, yam fries, carrots
W is for the wedding date: March 25th, 2006
X is for x-rays you've had: knee
Y is for yummy food you make: lasagne, stir fries, pineapple chicken, sweet and sour meatballs
Z is for zodiac sign: Taurus

post-celebratory time to relax

The last few days have passed by in a blur. I am sure that for most peoples, Christmas is intense - all the preparation, the wrapping, the cleaning, the visiting, the cooking, the cleaning, the unwrapping, the eating, the cleaning, the visiting, the catch a few hours of sleep and then do it again.

It seems like it was just the 23rd and I was finishing up my shopping, feeling pretty proud that I wouldn't have to shop on the 24th, and now, here it is the 27th, and I only have one more day off before I head back to work, albeit for a short week.

We still haven't firmed up what we want to do for New Years, I am suspecting it is a good year for a quiet NYE for just the two of us... I suspect it could be the last quiet one for a while.

The festivities have been great - lots of time with family, good food, lots of visiting, lots of real highs as we dropped our news, and just felt like it was go, go go. Today, it is a good day to stay in my robe. For a long period of time. It feels great to have no plans, and since we haven't been around a lot in the last few days, the house is still pretty much together so I feel no guilt about avoiding chores around the house.

Popular around the keyboard

Amazing how as soon as you sit down at the computer, you become really popular with your cats.

Everything that is going to happen is done :} And I am done.

Merry Christmas!!

Pineapple Express

I must say, I think it is a pineapple express that is blitzing through! It is a nice, balmy 13 celsius out there, and every now and then the skies open up for a deluge of rain. I am warm! Every now and then, I am propping the door open for some fresh air to get things moving again inside, it feels more like March than December and the first days of winter?!!

What is this strange weather on Christmas Eve?

House is just about clean, and about to give my fish a treat and clean up their tank :]

The fine art of procrastination

Unbelievably, I have already been up for a few hours.

Granted, should have been getting a head start on my day but you know when you are right into a book, and you know that book will taunt you until you have it finished??? Well, seeing as I was up, and Ken had taken off to do his running around, I lounged in bed and finished my book. Which was a great page turner I might add!

So, I have begun my vacuuming, and general tidying, hell, I think I may even find the time to bake some cookies today. It is just nice to be home and not running around. The last few weeks have been almost too busy. Who knows, maybe I will nap later on before I start to wrap my gifts.

See, still not that organized. The tree went up last night! Already shedding it's needles all over the place. I enjoy the trappings, the tree and the lights, and just spending time with people you care about... damn, another sappy moment slipped in. The cats are fun at this time of the year, they know something is up, and they shift between being completely aloof, and totally curious and you can find them in whatever box happens to be lying around...

The Wall.

Did a little shopping, got the fixings for some fajitas and homemade salsa, and then got home and vegged out. I could not be accused of any higher level thought processes going on tonight.

Other than the fact that I am gleeful to be away from work for a few days...just tired tonight. Did dishes, moved some laudry, had a bath, that was about it. I am working my way through a book, and that is damn appealing.

I was remembered by a friend in their passing, and I just found out. I cried, just remembering and missing the friendship I had, knowing how happy he would be for me now, with Ken, and the life we are building together. Sometimes life is brutal, and yet its greatest gifts are the people that it brings in to your life, for however long they happen to be there. Makes me realize how much I value the people that I hold close, how much our lives connect even when we don't see each other all the time, or talk all the time. You know that all you need to do is reach out, and they are there, part of your patchwork quilt of being.

I miss pacman

So, when you have a moment, and need a laugh ..................

How many more days do I have to get ready?

Well, the tree isn't up yet.

HoweverI, my bathroom is clean and I have some clean clothes again! And I can even see the floor in our bedroom again. I figured that we couldn't put the tree up if there was hockey gear and the remnants of two very busy, distracted weeks everywhere. So, figured I would score dinner with my folks, and cleaned house for an hour, then went and had a hour with the units. It was good, until I discovered that in my brilliance, I remembered to lock our door, but only grabbed the set of keys for my 'rents place. *AHEM*. Also thought my parents had a spare, but it was doing it's best lost impersonation, so as I gave up a productive night, ... Ken rocked up, not nearly as late from work as I figured he would be, so I was more than happy when I saw his lights in the drive!

So I continued on my merry cleaning ways, and the house is half put back together again. Where the hell did December go? Both of us will be shopping this weekend, and it just seems that the days have really flown by. Where is that being in control feeling that I spoke of a month ago, as I started my cards and baking back in November... crazy little thing called life eh? All about the curveballs and side trips along the way :]

Sized for the Holidays

Now you only need to have one beer!

First Day of Winter

Winter Solstice has arrived marking the shortest day, and the longest night of the year. Now we start to work our way back to the light!

The last days of the year are marching by, and I think I will have a chance to catch my breath one of these days...this December seems to have been crazy, a lot of changes are afoot, exciting stuff, and my head has been spinning trying to keep up with it all.

At it's core, there has been some clarity this month as well. The course I just took, through VCC's Instructor Diploma program was empowering. I wish all instructors in post secondary took this course and used this program to improve their teaching. It was such a high to be in that kind of environment with a bunch of very diverse teachers (everything from someone teaching the Hawai'ian form of massage to diesel engines, to classroom aides). This helps guide me back to the idea of at some point being a teacher. I only have one more course, and then the practicum and I am done this program. Then, hopefully there will be another step in that path in the direction of teaching, even if it is at a later date.

I still haven't done my shopping. I am such a last minute shopper.

Tree will be going up tonight!!

Will be time to tame the housework beastie too, been way too easy to ignore the state of affairs in my house the last few weeks. Time to do a big clean before the rellies come out for Christmas!

What snowmen do in the off season

Craziness

Monday morning, and it feels like it is 10:20 at night, not in the am.

I think I am fading, already! I am fantasizing about having a nap, and wondering how many half-lists I have kicking around. It feels like in the last two weeks all I have managed to do is to get things half done. Like half of my cards in the mail, half being carted around waiting for me to make it in to the post office. The house is mess, and well, haven't been home long enough to care. The lights are up, and look great, but I think Wednesday will be official tree getting day. Had some lofty plans for baking, remember that back when, and some got done, other stuff is still a plan.

I have lots of grand ideas floating around, can't wait to see what will come to fruition.

Halfway through the day

I must remind myself next year not to take a course that falls on back to back weekends, the weekends before Christmas.

However, I had a great morning. My dad and I went to a home improvement store to sort out a new kitchen countertop since mine is officially toast and deteriorating rapidly. We were there as the store opened, armed with some Timmy Ho's, stuffed with a warm blueberry fritter, and ready to wreak havok on some poor clerk who was barely awake. Made some decisions, got the job done, spent some time with my dad, and viola. Here I am at school. I did all that before 9AM!

Of course now I am ready for a nap and quite grateful that my class tonight only goes until 3pm. The neurons are definitely stalling right now.

The Unknown Factor

I am stealing this from Refinnej who grabbed it from someone else!

This meme is about listing 10 things that most people don't know about you, strange and unusual facts (for me, still wordy!)

1. I love popcorn. This would be the snack I will generally return too.

2. I moved around a lot when I was a kid and pretty much went to a different school every year until I got in to the highschool years.. then I only switched schools once. I have a bizarre attitude about moving, and actually staying in one place for a period of time. The last three places that I have lived I have spent good chunks of time there (11 years, 3 years, 2.5 years) and the stability is cool, but still a bit of an adjustment. It throws me sometimes that people don't move as much as we did growing up.

3. I have two degrees plus a few extra credits. They are in English, and then History and Humanities from SFU. At times I undervalue my education because it is something that I have always done, and I am a course junkie in many ways. I am having a helluva time making the jump in to a masters, and I like to think because it hasn't been the right time in my life to make that jump. One day.

4. I had perfect 80's hair and used to go through a bottle of hairspray in about a week when I was a teenager. I loved the big hair bands for a few yeards, papered my walls with their posters and was over it before I was 16. Then I went for perms instead, now I have gone au natural.

5. I can actually handle country music now. Used to avoid it like the plague, but with music in the last five years, at least country singers still sing. Not that I still don't like some punk and alternative, but my tastes have grown up some.

6. I have a quiet side. Not many people see the loner side of me that enjoys the time that I get to spend alone, just puttering away doing whatever. A lot of people just see my extroverted side, and discount the fact that I could actually enjoy just being introverted and quiet for a change.

7. I think that travelling is really important. It doesn't matter how far you go, or how much you spend to go there. I think that having a change of scenary every now and then is good for the soul. Because of my dad being in construction growing up, we didn't always do a lot of trips. As soon as I turned 19 I made it a priority to get away whenever I had two nickels that I could rub together. Will try to continue this, and I am eternally grateful that I fell in love with someone that shares my sense of adventure and seeing new places.

8. I really miss having a dog. I love having my animals around me - the cats, the fish, but I miss the company of a dog too. I don't think it is the right time in our life to have one, but I consider myself a cat and dog person, and eventually we will have both.

9. I met my partner playing co-ed hockey. It was funny because both of us figured that the other one was in a relationship until a highly revelatory conversation took place in the pub at the rink many, many years ago. It has been great ever since, and ironic, since I was at a stage in my life where I was not really looking and was happy in the place that I was in. I love the fact that we share a love of hockey, I like being a superfan and hanging with the hockey wives and tailgating after his games, and I love being able to play together. Damn cool.

10. As a result of moving around so much when I was a kid, I realized that friends are friends no matter where you live and they live. So it seems that my closest friends live where-ever, and it makes me glad for blogs, and email, and long distance phone plans. Friendships need a little work over time to make sure they continue to flourish, but they shouldn't be work. I think the best friendships start and pick up where you left off, and you get celebrate the highs together, and cry over the hardships together. I used to spend hours on the phone when I was younger, and now I hate spending too much time with a phone plastered to my ear.

Glad to be home...

Just got in a while ago from the island. The very big drawback of Vancouver Island is BC Ferries.

Nothing like showing up 40 minutes before a sailing (admittedly without a reservation) and it is already sold out, so now you get to wait an additional 2 hours before the next sailing. Of course, the woman at the toll booth said there was still a shot at getting on, we were more than 20 cars off of getting on board, why hand out false hope? Worse than playing bingo.

Then, we were snarled in traffic caused by a major accident, then construction.. the 40 minute drive home from the ferry turned into closer to an hour and a half. So today, it was like the commute that never ended. Left a meeting in Victoria at 3:30 and arrived home minutes before 10, done like dinner but so glad to be home!

Brilliant marketing...

PS We finally got our truck through aircare without major fussing!!!!What a relief!

YAY!

I just finished writing out the last (I think) of my Christmas cards!! PHEW! Nice to have them done before December 24th (been there, done that).

I have discovered a strange pet peeve over the last few years. It seems that my aunts and uncles on my mom's side, in fact, even my cousins, when sending out their cards still send them to my parents (not a separate one to Ken and I)... such "Bob and Winnie, Karen and Kelly" Being my brother and I. He is 27, and I am 32 and as good as married. I don't get it. I started sending out my own cards more than 10 years ago!!!!! Yes, we reside at the same physical address as my folks, but we do not live with them. We have separate lives, separate entrances and parking places, and no connecting staircase. We see each other as much as parents and their kids do once said kids are adults. We co-own, we are independent. I am not sure why this irks me.

Do they expect us to share the card?? A week with the folks, a week with me, and then a week with my brother at his place?? Now, I can understand sending 2 cards in one envelope, and getting one of us to pay it forward but this is a pet peeve. Up there with parking tickets (a corrollary of paying to park).

/rant over

Strange one

Last night I turned the last page in SE Hinton's stab at adult lit, "Hawkes Harbour". Freaking bizarre novel I must say. The front cover boasts that the book will tromp through "vampires, pirates, and lusty french socialites". I am not saying that I hated this book by any stretch, it was a weird book, and a fast read. In a sense it could be described as character driven, but it was not nearly as compelling as her first book, which in many ways is a rite of passage for kids to read (The Outsiders) as they come of age. This book left me feeling bereft, I have been half looking forward to this latest attempt since I first saw the book on the stands, but it didn't measure up to my own preconcieved notions. Between looting stories, and drunken episodes, and shifting timescapes, mental disorders and dependence, and a cured vampire, it is a strange way to pass a few hours.

Mighty Mouse

Houston! We have a mouse!

Apparently with much noise and bumping around, we had a mouse foraging in the cabinet over the stove. The wee bugger got in through the space around the exhaust pipe, so there are bits of insulation all over the place, red river cereal (apparently mice don't like mulled apple cider mix, who knew?) droppings, and thankfully, the mouse isn't an alcoholic and left the bottles alone.

I guess with the colder temps the little creatures are driven in. I would love to know how a mouse in a house with 3 cats has managed to live so long, but he did manage to scurry back in to the nowhere before we could find him, and to his credit, he was trapped in the cabinet and didn't hit the floor running.

Would be interesting to see what my cats would do - being indoors for the majority of their lives. They are both doing well - the Ripper seems to have made a full recovery and is still as affectionate as ever.

Double Whammy

It has been a strange week so far, some amazing highs between a winning hockey game friday night, a quiet night at home saturday with my sweetie, hanging with family, and finally getting some picks right for our football pool (I think we nailed second).

Admist all this, I also managed to get out of my truck funny in the Safeway parking lot, tweaking my knee and have a nasty cold. So between sneezing and coughing and whining about my sore knee, I am a bundle of joy right now!

So, I am staying home and taking care of myself. I know when I crave 5 alive juice and mandarins that I am still under the weather but hopefully on the mend, quickly.

Well, almost.

After that short burst of Christmas related activities a few weeks ago, I currently find myself contemplating writing out those cards I had high hopes for getting out before or around the first, and a few more things that need baking. I haven't really devised a list yet of what I need to get done, but I am sure that is around the corner.

We are melting out there!!! It is strange to have the white stuff on the ground. Yes, I know I have made a lot out of our weather lately, but snow is novel, especially when it doesn't immediately turn to slush. Perhaps enough out there for a sloppy snow angel, but there it is still kicking around and it has been a few days. Normally we get teased with winter, not actually have to experience it for more than a few days in a row... like Jen - sitting at -20. HOLY SHIT BATMAN. And I am whining about the damp weather we have hovering at 0?? It is all relative is all I can lay claim to. Ours is a wet cold and it penetrates much quicker.

Ken is going to put up our lights today, and I am excited. I love having lights up, and then I love decorating the tree. This is the season we first got together and I remember a lot of firsts, like our first real date when he helped me out with my tree and I got to see him in a suit as he left to go to a work party! He looked AWESOME! What a way to leave a great impression on a gal!

Been feeling somewhat funky lately, but I am working at shaking it off. I think it is a'happening, I am pleased to say. Hockey game last night was great, we won, and everyone else figured I had a decent game, but I had just gotten my skates sharpened and did a not so graceful fall on the blue line when I missed grabbing an edge. Still haven't fully gotten back in to watching the NHL again, I watch the highlights, but it certainly hasn't been prominent in my life. During the strike last year, I moved on a fair bit.

Zinger

My work week is over! YAY!

And I can't believe that it is December already. Where has 2005 gone? Another election has been called for this wonderful country and it is time for the bandwagons to be wheeled out. I have a thing against all the signs that the politicians post, promoting their names and affiliation. What a waste of resources. Yes, I understand that much is about name recognition, but it quickly becomes ridiculous. Give it 6 weeks and there will be tonnes of signs on street corners, obscuring your view of anything else. A veritable stand of trees, with messages, that are easy to ignore as your drive by at 50 km/h.

Learned a few new concepts today about Financial Literacy for college and university students and how it can be a core indicator for student success, retention, completion, and ability to service debts upon graduation. Interesting stuff, and although this came from more of an American p.o.v., it will have more and more relevance to Canadian models as links are forged between Financial Literacy and Success over time. It is a new field, and I think it would be one that I would like to do some research in to, given the chance.