I am so very blessed

This year, for whatever reason, has been an exceptionally overwhelming Christmas season. I am not too sure why - am I just getting to that age or has the year been that much harder. I can tell you one reason for sure has been facing the reality of sickness and death. Each year seems to bring about that much more of each!

But as I take a moment to sit and be I am again flooded with memories of what makes Christmas so very special:

• the reason for the season - that we have hope for an eternal life and a savior to mercifully redeem us
• the many hugs that are freely passed around without a care in the world - take that H1N1
• warm cookies straight from the oven
• pot after pot of delicious coffee
• flying wrapping paper as children experience the joy of getting
• watching the smiles of the childs faces as adults experience the joy of receiving
• wearing the brand new christmas sweater and thinking about the dear friend that gave it to you
• seeing gramps old nut bowls with dear family gathered round telling jokes and shelling peanuts
• a candy cane dipped in eggnog
• twinkling of the snow as you come home from another late night spent with friends and family
• the Grinch!! (both the cartoon and my pops)
• sitting around the tree with only the christmas lights on
• the plentitude that was given to me
• a photo album filled with such lovely memories of the past few years
• the whispered i love you's
• sticky fingers doing my hair with a multitude of elastics and clips
• little ones declaring their bowl of jello is 'baby' sized - my mercies!!
• chocolate mustaches
• family games
• quiet visits with dear aunts
• dreaming about the new year on the horizon

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Auntie Jules Christmas Photo Album

Escalaphobia . . . A Fear of Escalators

For those of you who don't know this little fact - I am scared of escalators. You see, when my brother and I were little, shopping malls were a bit of an adventure for us. We grew up on a farm and as such a day into the city was a pretty big adventure. We would schedule all our appointments for that day and mom would try to get in as much shopping as she could. So escalators were quite a novelty.

One day when we were out shopping at Sears on a visit to Grandma's in Calgary, Trev and I were feeling exceptionally adventerous! We decided it would be quite fun to jump on the down escalator at the bottom, run up it and ride it down again only to do that all over again. We were quite young and I guess Trev wasn't quite as stable on his feet because after a particularly big jump, he fell down and got his little bum caught as the escalator stair folded into the teeth at the end. It tore right through his jeans and little underwear and was pretty sore for a while.

Ever since that day, I do not overly like escalators. It isn't a paralyzing fear as long as I have a clear vision of the stair I am stepping onto and have a free hand to grab the railing. I may slightly hesitate at the start as I choose the perfect stair but with all of my travelling, I have certainly learned to cope. Almost.

I was shopping at Zellers in Market Mall before Christmas to grab some of the basics I needed for baking and wrapping. To set the layout, the Zellers in Market Mall is two stories but it is the only thing on the second level at the mall. As such, there is no cashier upstairs, the escalators are arranged in a way that a shopping cart can not go up and down them, I couldn't find any other shopping basket and the upper level is where they have all the household goods. On the way from searching for a pastry bag to the escalator I passed the toy department. Since this was the weekend before Christmas and I still needed toys for all the boys and Rhyder's birthday toy I quickly checked it out. To my surprise, the toy selection was superior to even Walmart and after a few minutes in the Transformer aisle I was quite elated with my choices.

Keeping in mind that I had no shopping cart or basket, I was loaded down with boxes stacked upon boxes and my chin resting on the top to ensure nothing went flying. Then I remembered the escalator. What was I going to do?? Well I would just have to ride it down. There was no other choice and how bad can it be.

As I approached the escalator I tried desparately to get that clear sighting of the stair. I glanced around (turning my whole body in a full circle as my chin was keeping my toy tower in place) and realized I had all the time in the world as there was no one around. I stood there putting my feet out but I just couldn't take that step as I had no clue where on the stairs I would be. My only other alternative was to try and balance the tower on one hand, side step onto the escalator while my other hand has a death grip on the handle. As I am moving all the toys over and cautiously stepping towards the stairs, I feel my toy tower give way. I turn around to gather my items to discover there are now 5 or 6 people waiting for the escalator. Of course - now that pressure is added to this adventure.

Out of desperation I manage to sputter out in a long run on sentence without taking a breath: 'I'm sorry - it's just that i am scared of escalators and i can't see where i am going and there were no baskets but i needed to buy toys for my nephews and i'm sorry, let me gather all my things so you can get on; you see i'm scared of escalators and well i couldn't see where i was going and so when i tried to move the packages everything fell!'. By now my face is beet red, the packages are all gathered and I have slunk away from the escalator to allow others to pass. A couple of people offered to carry some packages but I quickly turned it down and said if they could just forward me to an elevator I will be just fine!

Finally this lady insisted so I passed a couple of boxes to her and followed her onto the escalator with a firm grip on the handle and a clear vision of my first step explaining to her the whole way down why I was scared of escalators and how I have 3 fabulous nephews to buy for and the Zellers toy department is surprisingly better than Walmart and they have no shopping baskets and and and! I am sure that was the longest escalator ride of her life - heavens to betsy!!

Maybe it is time to face this fear head on: Simple Steps to Overcoming your Fear of Escalators and seek out medical attention :S.

The end of the celebrations

I certainly do think this was one of the most fabulous birthdays I have had!!
After the day trip out to Banff, the actual birth day was spent having a lazy morning, meeting one of my birthday twin friends for lunch at a yummy little restaurant in Kensington, meeting another delightful friend for a facial (with the complimentary make-up touch up which left me looking like I was celebrating Halloween rather than about to head out for a yummy dinner) and then quickly freshening up and changing before heading to a yummy restaurant Alloy for dinner with Jimmy. The only thing missing was seeing all of my friends and family scattered elsewhere around this beautiful world of ours.

Wednesday was a mini bday celebration with my beautiful dinner club girls at another yummy restaurant, Sugo, in Inglewood. It was the first time we had seen Kari since she had little Zander and she is looking absolutely amazing. And it was likely the last dinner club before Sarah gives birth (girl girl girl girl - really hoping if I wish and pray and hope and think it will come true) and she is also looking absolutely amazing. It as always, was a night full of laughter and many crazy stories!!

Thursday, I headed to the hockey game with C. Ann. She is one of the fantastic girls I used to work with and Entero annndddd she also just happens to be Jimmy's cousin thereby being the reason he was working at Entero to begin with and thus kind of a little bit the reason as to how I met him. She is a crazy cat who is incredibly entertaining and a delight to be around so it made the ugly loss a little easier to swallow. And as always, what is a night on the town without a moment of craziness. So . . .

C picked me up at my apartment and we headed downtown for a bite to eat before the game. This also put us in a perfect position to take the c-train down rather than try to navigate parking on site. After our meal we quickly dashed to the train platform and almost forgot to purchase our tickets. We quickly scanned for the ticket dispenser when we heard someone directing us around a shelter structure. As I was about to put my money into the machine, a guy offered us a ticket.

To help put some context to this story I do want to tell you that this isn't an unusual habit on the platforms. Many people tend to beg for money for train fare and often people (myself included) will give them train tickets instead. They then sell these tickets for the price you would pay for a single. I don't tend to take the tickets from these guys but I was in a hurry, he had his hand out for the change which impeded me from putting the cash into the slot and he was already shoving his ticket into the validation slot.

As C was handing her money to the guy, I took a closer look at my ticket to ensure everything looked kosher. It was then that I noticed that we had been scammed . . . this individual had found a packet of used tickets in the garbage can, he then used some of spare change to purchase whiteout to cover up the previous validation stamp. Curses!! By this time, a gentleman behind C also fell subject to the same fate.

Friday saw us tapping our toes to a local Nova Scotia band, the Trews. And I must admit that their concert was too much fun. They are touring with their new acoustic album and they certainly have some great songs on it. And for anyone curious - a yam and a sweet potato are two very different products!

Saturday I invaded Jimmy and Clairise' place with my Christmas decorations and managed to put up the majority of the Christmas tree (of course I was short lights for the top of the tree because two of my light strings burnt out! Argh!!!) . Sunday I watched the Riders run the ball to victory, snuggle little Zander, and hang out with the girls at Sarah's house stocking her freezer with all sorts of delicious meals!

And don't you worry, there will be pics of dinner club and the Christmas festivities to post sometime soon!

Birthday Weekend Festivities

It's hard to believe the birthday week is almost drawing to an end but don't you worry your pretty little head as I have secured a couple of festivities that I just had to push out to next week . . . hee hee!! And I must also say that this birthday has ranked right up there with one of the most fabulous!!

The real festivities kicked off on Friday night when a bunch of us went out to celebrate some of the other birthday week birthdays as well. It was quite a delight (especially after a bit of a stressful work week) to be able to laugh the hours away.


And in all honesty how could I not laugh when Brenda bust out her excercise ball dance move at the table. I think she is trying to turn it into the next craze by showing it whenever and wherever she can. It even has some fantastic sound effects . . . just in case the music is all in your head. I wish I had a demo to post but picture the start of a squat position where you swivel your butt and hips back and right and then back and left calling out boooooop boooooop with each swivel. I think you might have the picture now ... silly girl!!


Saturday was a delightfully lazy morning and then I headed out to become beautified . . . eyebrow wax, stop at starbucks for the delightful eggnog latte and then I got my hair done!!! A lovely mahogony chocolate brown on the bottom with a rich copper on the top. And of course I could never stop there so we did add a beautiful mahogony chocolate brown panel on the top left!! But the best of Saturday was yet to come!


Mel and I were finally able to connect for a full evening of food, chatter, giggles, more food and a lot more giggles! We set out with the intent to celebrate with one of our progressive dinners. You know the ones where you have appies, entree, dessert and coffee at various locations. However this night, as always, did not turn our as intended.


The first step is to pick either the area we want to dine in or the location of our entree for the night. Once you have that decided, everything else tends to fall into place.


For this special occasion, we decided on San Reno. Apparently there are 3 lovely city locations: marda loop, 90th ave and mckenzie town. Since Mel lives in Marda Loop that was struck from the list. I wasn't entirely sure of Mckenzie Town Options so we decided to try 90th Ave.


In order to not totally bore you I will follow up with one big long run on sentence to say 90th was closed up tighter than a drum and the chinese restaurant option was not so appealing so we headed to McKenzie town only to take a detour onto 130th to find our appetizer spot where we discovered a royal bank were complete gong shows in the drive through service missed our turn ended up in some industrial area which took us a little bit to fight our way out of where we finally made it to the keg to discover it's the hot spot on a saturday night so we skulked around the lounge until a free table finally came our way and by that time we had a spot to watch the football game, a cozy fire and a delightful waitress so we abandoned our progressive dinner in favor of a lovely 3 course dinner in one spot. We still shared one entree though!


Sunday was the day we planned to head out to Banff. And it is finally the day I got my butt in gear and actually take some pics. So I will let the pics tell the story (not to mention the fact I am sure you are quite tired of reading).

a little stroll up Johnston's Canyon to start the day

We went out with our friends Brad, Laurel and Sam

Sam with his best scary cave pose

And a yummy dinner at Grizzly House to end the wonderful day

It's officially my birthday!!!

And that means it is the one day every year that gets to be all about me and I don't have to feel guilty for a second (which is why I am typing this as I lounge in bed at 8 in the morning on a Monday)!!! I love every minute of it.

Now, what shall I do next? Starbucks? Breakfast? Open my present from my mom and dad? Or maybe hunker down for another few minutes of coziness in my bed?

It's My Birthday . . .

Not today. Annnddddd not tomorrow. Nor the day after tomorrow. But soon. In 4 sleeps soon. In a way my birthday has already arrived. I mean technically, this is my birthday week. As is the week after my birthday in case anyone is wondering. And yes that does mean that I get two weeks out of the deal!! But the day I get to be a complete diva is still on its way!

And so I just wanted to share that it's my birthday. Not today. Nor tomorrow. But soon. 4 sleeps soon.

Monday's

Monday's can be my nemesis but this morning started off so delightfully. Delightfully that was until I got outside in the big bad world.

As I was on my way to work I spotted a parking ticket man who was getting great delight in ensuring that others hatred of Monday's would grow. He was busy ticketing all the cars who were parked just a little too close to the entrances to alleys and driveways as well as stop signs! Thankfully, I had the coherence to remember that Zinny was parked outside from the day before. I also realized that I had parked her quite close to a driveway in my haste to get out of the car after yesterday's disaster.

(Yesterday's disaster happened in the parking lot of the Co-op downtown. After having two parking spots stolen from me, I rounded the corner to watch two others battling it out for a parking spot. Unfortunately the little yaris might have won the parking spot but lost the battle for his rear bumper. Oh yes, that is right, they played a game of chicken over a parking spot and neither car came out of it shining!)

So I decided that I better quickly check to see if I could pull Zinny up a touch. And I was in luck. Not only did I not have a parking ticket yet but the car in front had moved so I had a good 2 feet of room to pull forward into. When I jumped into the car there wasn't another vehicle in sight on the road. I was so excited that I had beat the Monday morning ticket blues and went to jump out of the car when I hear a bang, feel the car door close and spot a white van zooming by.

Seriously, how can a person be so competent with one side of their life and yet so incompetent in so many other areas.

Luckily enough, the man looked at the side of the van, determined that the paint would buff right up, told me it was no big deal and sent me on my way. Zinny was no worse for the wear and sealed up nice and tight. I was flustered for most of the morning but after a large timmy's and a meeting with a client who found their own $14 million dollar outage before I had to start tick and bopping the day was certainly looking up. A yummy date at Fiore's for their $8.99 pasta special ensured that this day turned out to be a fantastic day after all.

My prayer . . .

Do you ever feel helpless? You are watching something unfold before your eyes and there is nothing you can do about it. Or someone you care very dearly for is enduring more trauma in a short period of time than anyone should over a lifetime.

My life seems to be filled with these moments lately. Moments where my heart just aches for others around me. Fathers who are gravely ill far too soon in life. Couples who would be the most loving parents ever and yet they have been continuously denied. Surgeries and cancer. Matters of the heart.

There is nothing I can physically do to help. I wish I had a medical background. I daydream about how much I could do if I was a philanthropist. I research on the Internet and try to think of every possible solution. I lie awake at night praying that all the pain would disappear. And yet I remain so helpless. I catch myself being short with others and exasperated that I can't do more. It is times like this where you need to cling to your faith and the promise that prayer truly is the one thing that can make a difference!

And as such, I pray.

Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.

The History of Love
Nicole Krauss

Catching Up . . .

So I know I have been a little distant lately but it certainly hasn't been by choice. But rather my computer decided to have a melt down and wouldn't boot up.

And the crazy thing is I have been trying to back up my photos and music for the last few months. However the Cd's I had didn't have enough memory available and I hadn't gotten around to buying an external hard drive and and and. . .

As a result, here I am trying to catch up on a couple weeks of news, reloading all my music into itunes, setting up my photo albums again and all the other exciting things that come with a computer crash. But alas I will not complain because I would much rather be doing all of this than losing the last 3 years of my life.

As for some of the excitement in my life that you might have missed out on:

• U2 is coming to Edmonton next summer and my fabulous Jimmy and his equally fab sis Clairise worked out the logistics to ensure that we have 4 tickets to the big event!!!
• I have eaten more pizza this week than a normal person would over the course of a month . . . mmmmm . . . I do love pizza . . . but this was a bit of a crazy week.
• My birthday weekend is next weekend and there shall be some fabulous events taking place!
• The Riders just won first in the western conference . . . love it!!!
• I have spent some quality time with some quality people and have so many fabulous memories!
• I bought two new pair of boots and they are beautiful!!!
• Halloween came and went - I made the mistake of running to the mall to pick up a few things and then helped a friend hand out some candy. I absolutely adore all the little spidermen and pink tutu's flitting about even though they make shopping a touch difficult. It's another one of those days where I wish terribly I was a little closer to the nephews so I could pack up a special treat bag for them and have them come bouncing into my house in their little outfits telling me the excitement of the day.
• Brenda and I went shopping to one of my favorite stores - Army and Navy!! I bought some serving dishes for Jimmy's place. They are quite fun! And so crazily cheap!
• And did I mention that I got U2 tickets for my birthday??!!

It's snowing. It's snowing. It's snowing.

Might just have to take Zinny for a spin in her new bling . . .

The wonder of it all

Our body is an amazing creation. It often causes me to stop in wonder. Looking at a new born baby. The reslience of children's bodies. The ability for the body to adapt and compensate for its weaknesses. And most of all it's ability to heal itself.

Iwent to the dentist yesterday. Ahh yessss, one of the reasons why I am still dreaming about buying a condo! And was told that rather than the original work they had booked me in for that day that they were switching it up a little and doing a root canal. Argh!

I wasn't exactly prepared for this. I was still recovering from my cold/flu that took me out of the game last week. This root canal wasn't supposed to happen until January when my dental coverage would be rereshed again with the new year's limit. But here I was 2 hours in the chair while my dentist performed his magic.

As the freezing came out, the throbbing started. By the time I was ready to leave for the day the pain was certainly more than a throb. All I could bear for dinner was ice cream. And this is where I want to highlight how amazing our bodies are.

I don't know if it's because God knew we would need nourishment to regain health or if He had another reason but it constantly amazes me how quickly wounds heal in the mouth. When I had my wisdom teeth taken out and now the root canal. Logic would reason that a warm damp environment for open wounds would result in them taking twice as long to heal. After all the best thing for blisters and cuts are to allow them to air out. And I don't have a habit of wandering around panting as I try to air out my root canal.

But here I am, barely 2.5 days after my mouth was so sore I couldn't even eat the saskatoon pie that went with the ice cream, now I could gnaw on ribs. Not that I want to gnaw on ribs. But the point is I could if I wanted to.

Waiting

Okay I must admit that I cannot believe I am actually wishing for snow but I kinda am. It all started when I watched an old Gilmore Girls on the weekend.

I love the Gilmore girls!!! I really do. For so many more reasons that I won't bore you with today but I will tell you a few of them. First of all, Lorlei has fantastic fashion sense. I would buy her wardrobe in a heartbeat. Lorlei and Rory have the most random conversations with each other. I kind of feel a little bit like I can sometimes initiate random conversations. Okay so maybe quite often I initiate random conversations and so it makes me feel less weird! And thirdly, the excitement they get over simple things. This is something else that I can totally relate to. A little too much at times but I love it!

So, I was watching an old episode of Gilmore girls. It is the one where Lorlei is soooo excited over the first snowfall. And she loves it. It is something that her and Rory wait for and when it finally arrives, they talk about how much snow is their friend, it protects them and brings them joy. Luke however, is kind of cranky pants in a cute way and he hates the snow - it's cold and he has to shovel it blah blah blah. Unfortunately Lorlei has a really bad experience with snow in this episode. It clogs her driveway at the inn so her customers can't get in or out. It causes the coffee delivery truck to not be able to deliver coffee. She has to walk down to Luke's to get coffee but on the way there steps in an icey puddle, they cannot find the inn guests who they sent out on a snow shoeing expedition and she goes to get into her jeep which is parked under the tree only to find that all the snow has slid off the branches and buried her jeep. But alas all is not lost for the romance of snow.

Luke realizes that it's okay if he hates snow but it isn't so much okay to see Lorlei hating snow. After all, this is one of the endearing qualities he loves about her - the fact that she finds such a delight in simple things. Sooooo....... he builds her a little rink on her front lawn and brings out her skates so that when she comes home after her horrible snow day there he is to greet her. She shakily skates around the rink and falls in love with snow all over again!

At the end of the show I found myself thinking about the things I do enjoy about winter. Buying new mittens, prepping for Christmas, going for a walk through the crunchy snow when the trees have been kissed by jack frost, heading out to Banff springs for a christmas brunch with all their decorations up, strapping on the skates and gliding along the frozen water with Jimmy, cider and Christmas songs! And now that Zinny is all prepped for her new snow filled adventures I cannot wait!

Now I find myself wistfully looking out the window every morning. Maybe today we will have some snow. Maybe. But not yet . . .

Instead Jimmy and I went for a walk and crunched some leaves. There aren't a lot of leaves to crunch. I did find a couple though!

And joy of all joys, Rory's old boyfriend Logan Huntzberger just showed his cute little face on the new TV show, 'A Good Wife!!' It's that show that has Juliana Marguelise and Mr. Big! First time watching. Jury is still out on it. But I saw Logan. It is worth a second watch on that merit alone.

The Best Way to Spend a Friday Night

Had a delightful evening with some fabulous friends trying out a new restaurant that I had read about on a local restaurant review blog i follow:

http://ugonnaeatthat.com/

Being that there was a hockey game on that night and the restaurant promised the flames game would be on it seemed like a great time to try it out.

Although the girl was somewhat concerned that they would not have an empty table right at 6:30 when I called for reservations, her demeanar was pleasant and the pretzel bun was sure to please. Apparently the hostesses are all somewhat scattered as the same 'concern' was present when we arrived. However without too much delay we were all seated and reviewing the menu.

Everyone but me got into the spirit of building their own burgers - we had kobe beef, elk, pretzel buns, crazy mustards, guacamole and various cheeses before long. They even have butter lettuc on the menu. I decided I wanted to sample a little bit of everything so I went with the slider trio that consisted of beef, bison and elk mini pretzel bun burgers. Apparently the kobe beef was second to none and the three of us with elk burgers all thoroughly enjoyed them. The variety of fries and dips were delightful as was the crab dip. It certainly isn't a low cost burger option but the quality was worth the price!

All in all for $5 heated underground parking on game day (it's right across the street from stampede station) and a delicious meal, this just might require a repeat performance.

And the company, as always, was a huge delight!!! They most certainly require a repeat performance. Sooner than later as we have a Garth Brooks/Race Vegas Trip to Plan for!! How exciting that will be.

http://www.loungeburger.com/

Little Zinny

For those of you who know me you know that over the last year my priorities for spending have gone something like this:

• New condo
• Debt elimination - yeah to no more student loans and car loans
• Travel
• Dining out
• Keeping Zinny healthy
• Life

Okay okay, in all reality a fabulous opportunity for a wonderful trip presented itself and thus Travel quickly shot to the top of the list. As a result the condo purchase has still not happened nor is planned for in the immediate future. But Barcelona sure was lovely!!!

And somewhere along the months, starting with last winter's icky roads, a cute little guardian angel started to whisper in the right ear that I needed to invest in winter tires. Once spring came and the snow was thawing it was an easy committment to make. Keep the all seasons i bought with the car through the summer and then get winter tires come winter. The 'keeping zinny healthy' category grew to a bit of a larger investment then I had originally intended this summer but I guess all of that factors into the 'life' category.

Then somehow the dentist needed to be factored into life - icky - and I am still not done with that - argh I say!!! But Mallorca sure was beautiful!!

After a bit of a treacherous couple of hours during our 9.5 hour drive home (it should only be a 7 hour trip) for Thanksgiving (the highways are not supposed to be icy at that time of the year nor is there supposed to be snow on the roads!! Pops, it is just not meant to be!!!) the guardian angel was no longer whispering but was now loudly speaking that I should really invest in winter tires. Good thing he was still cute. My case to justify waiting just a little longer weakened even more when the city was covered in snow Tuesday morning turning everyone's 10 minute drive into more than an hour and resulting in many people not even trying to come into the office.

So, we placed a call to Canadian tire and agreed to drop my car off on Tuesday night. Jimmy wanted to make sure I got the tires I needed before they ran out of stock again and after white knuckling it on some of the side streets on my way I reluctantly agreed this was going to be a wise decision. I have to admit though - I still wasn't sure that I was ready to invest another significant lump sum in Zinny. Have Imentioned how beautfiul Barcelona was - a winter hot holiday would be a delight!!! And that would be a whole week I wouldn't even need to drive Zinny. Factor in Calgary's chinooks and really . . . . I should be able to only have to drive her 3 times on crummy roads. Right??

But now that I have Zinny back and she doesn't look too awful with ner new winter rims, I think I am actually excited about her winter tires. We haven't had any snowy days to test her out yet but I have a feeling that winter driving won't be quite as scary for me this year as it has been for the last few years. And I did try her out on some snowy back alley's just to see!!

So to all those of you who aren't sure if you should listen to your guardian angel, I would agree that winter tires are worth the investment. Even though it has meant my years spending priorities have truly turned into:

• Travel
• Zinny
• Dentist
• Debt Reduction
• Dining Out
• New Condo
• Life

And Barcelona really was lovely! And my guardian angel is quite cute!!

A 'touristy' night

Well last night was another dinner club evening. It was full of laughter, giggles and full blown guffaws!!!

The night of giggles started at the Marriott. We all came directly from work and met at the Marriott first since our reso's weren't until after 6. As such we were still dressed in our dress clothes from the office and bundled up in our winter gear including scarfs as it was not promising to be a balmy day and Brenda and I walk to and from work every day. We enjoyed some lessons on the animal kingdom from Sarah (apparently Lee is a wealth of knowledge in that area!) and soon found ourselves crossing the street to meet Nicole and Kari for dinner.

A large bus pulled up in front of the calgary tower and started to unload at the base of the tower as Sarah, Brenda and I arrived. Lucky for us we found ourselves in the middle of a group of people that were heading up to the observation deck for a private party. We weren't too sure what was going on but noticed a variety of accents around us and were assuming somebody was hosting a conference for members from around the world.

As we reached the entrance to the elevator lobby we were greeted by a lady who commented 'you are not with the delegation, are you'. Since it was a party, we responded with 'unfortunately no, but we could be.' The next words that came out of her mouth shocked us all: 'I knew you weren't, you all look touristy'.

What exactly does touristy look like. Of course, all three of us had the following mental image.

And not one of us had a camera around our neck, white socks and running shoes nor a fanny pack. So of course, for those who know me, you will know that there was no way I was going to be told we were 'touristy'!!!

'Touristy?' I queried indignantly. Between the three of us, we certainly let the girl know that we did not feel we looked touristy. In an attempt to recover she replied 'Well you are wearing scarfs'. Really? Scarfs? Since when are scarfs touristy???

First of all I would like to point out it is Canada in October and this is our weather for this week:





Yes - we see negative temperatures and might I add snow.


Secondly - since when are scarfs touristy. You will notice by the top photos from 2009 fall fashion week that scarfs are certainly in style:

So how does she conclude that scarfs are touristy?

She obviously noticed our stunned faces and embarassed laughs as we turned to each other commenting that we didn't realize that scarfs were touristy. So again she dug herself deeper as she tried to recover by saying that we didn't look 'businessy'.

What???

What is businessy? And how does dress shoes, dress pants, wool dress coats and eyes weary from staring at computer screens all day not look businessy.

By now I am totally offended. Not too sure why it bothered me other than the fact that she obviously had no clue what she was talking about and didn't know when to stop.

However what she did provide us with was some awesome material for the rest of the night. All the way up the elevator we discussed our 'businessy' outfits. And then the elevators opened up to an absolutely beautiful view of the city.

If you haven't been to the Calgary tower in the last couple of years, you really must plan a dinner there. It was absolutely fantastic!

And as mentioned earlier, it certainly wasn't like the laughs stopped there. Before long Kari and Nicole joined us at the table and quickly joined in. We learned important Calgary tidbits, like the fact that Calgary downtown buildings cannot cast a shadow on the river, that you can see my deck from the table, that it takes an hour to do a full rotation and of course that no fantastic dinner is complete without some dessert.

On a cold Sunday

Argh - I would really like to complain about the fact that our fall seemed to be cut short on us. Instead of being able to enjoy a nice walk in the leaves, all I could think about was hot chocolate and a cozy blanket. And apparently, some people add Sunday football to that list as well. But I had such an enjoyable afternoon with fantastic friends that I can't even think about complaining about the weather.

So in light of this, I am trying to get into this NFL thing. It has been difficult for me as it doesn't seem quite as exciting as CFL or hockey. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I don't currently have a team. Riders all the way cause I just have that Rider pride and of course there is no other team on the ice other than the Flames. I know I could just adopt Jimmy's team - the Redskins - but personally I don't overly like the team colors. Burgundy and gold are not my thing and it seems kind of cheesy to just pick a team because a cute boy cheers for them. So, over the last half of last year's season and now again this year I have been taking a poll on how people come to have a 'team' to cheer for.

The stories are certainly varied - some peeps adopt teams cause their cousins cheer for them, some pick the cutest quarterbacks and follow them from team to team, others feel connections with that area or city. None of these really help me. I don't know the quarterbacks well enough to know who are the hot ones. The cities that I love have other boys in Jimmy's circle of friends cheering for them so that could be awkward. And I don't know who my cousin's cheer for.

Maybe burgundy and gold will grow on me. . . I might try cheering for them on the inside and see how it feels.

Or maybe I should keep researching this topic . . .

Or just maybe I should take up a Sunday afternoon hobby like knitting or cross stitch. On second thought, I think I will pick a team. Not too sure how much I would enjoy knitting and my thumb still hurts from my roller blading adventures. And football snacks are sure tasty!

Petite

Last night was dinner club. I love dinner club. I really really love it. I love the ladies who are part of it, trying new restaurants, the conversations that fly around the table, and everything else that comes with the evening.

The restaurant of choice was Petite. It is a fairly new little restaurant across from the community health on 12th Ave. The decor is a delight, with an open kitchen, exposed brick and a delightful little patio. The food was scrumptious. The dessert menu was certainly tempting but we did our best to resist. And the walk back to my place was a perfect end to a beautifully warm fall day.

Cannot wait until the next dinner club. I wonder where Kari will take us . . .

A little sunshine in your day

I have been kind of selfish. There is a blog that I have been reading on a regular basis and I haven't been ready to fully share it yet. For those of you who are curious clickers, you have seen the preview of the blog to the left of my posts. But to those of you who aren't I am sorry.

It is a blog that I actually check on a daily basis to see if she has posted anything new. And when she does, I can seriously not contain the smile that starts to spread across my face and my stomach does a little flip flop at the thought of what may be posted there today. And in reading through the comments - I know that many others feel the same as I do.

So I felt that it was about time to share her joy with others. And can I just share - that she has seriously inspired me to view life differently as the joy she has and her contagious spirit are like none ever I have seen.

So please take the time to click on the link below. I promise you - you will not be disappointed in the least.

http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/

Salad

So after a week and a half in nova scotia and then 2 busy weeks at home my body has been feeling some neglect in the nutrition department. Except for the fabulous meals Jimmys parents cooked I have had salad 3 or 4 times. Sad but true!!!

Tonight I spotted this fantastic deal on the menu at the little free house where we were dining. It included a burger with salad, tomato and onion, chips and your choice of beverage (pop, specialty coffee, wine, gin or any of their draft beers) all for £4.69. Honestly that is cheaper than the quarter pounder at McDs or a latte at Starbucks. Plus it had a salad!! Just what the body needed. 

In London, pubs are slightly different in that they don't wait on your table. So... I mosey on up to the bar to place my order. Beef burger, add cheese, no onion, and dressing on the side for my salad. 

The bar tender looked slightly confused regarding the salad dressing comment and indicated that there is no dressing on the salad. Perfect. I often don't use salad dressing anyway.

When my order arrived I noticed that I didn't have any salad on my plate. I realized I must have ordered it wrong as it only came to £3.99. Oops. Then I bit into the burger and saw that there was lettuce on the burger. And lettuce was not listed as an ingredient.  

No wonder the bar tender was so confused. Lol. Guess salad has a different conotation this side of the pond. Maybe tomorrow I will eat some greens!!!

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Picnic Guests

It was an absolutely crazy weekend trying to prep for a big presentation today. And as such my poor boyfriend spent a lot of time waiting for me or watching me work this weekend. Yesterday was no exception.

However, since we had to eat regardless, Jimmy decided that we should get take out from somewhere that we have wanted to grab this summer but haven't. As we decided where that 'somewhere' might be - we went through some of the standard options: Peter's drive-in, Angel's, Mexican. And then I remember that Jimmy really wanted to try Chicken on the Way. I mean really, how bad can it be??

So as we pulled up to our stop, we both took a deep breath, noted the clientele was not as bad as one might expect and headed in. The fry cutter rattled away as it rumbled out freshly cut potatoes. Everyone behind the counter was pleasant. The floor looked clean. The condiments were nicely organized. Wow - what a pleasant surprise! I honestly thought this place was going to be the biggest dive.

We placed our order for some fries, coleslaw, chicken and gravy. Everything was ready within minutes. And to further increase my surprise, they then nicely packaged everything but the chicken up in a little brown bag and wrapped the chicken box in brown paper. Quite a cute little touch. Then Jimmy pointed out the newspaper clipping they had on the wall for the 'grand opening' back in 1958.

So back we came to my little apartment to enjoy dinner on my balcony. Unfortunately we had barely taken a bite when suddenly a family of hornets arrived. After my childhood trauma with the wasps I have learned to ignore these pesky little guys unless they are flying at my face.

Jimmy however was showing off his best moves - ducking here and than moving there. Within seconds he was packing up our picnic dinner to take it inside muttering that he is 'going in so he doesn't get stung'. LOL - when he was grabbing his plate and running he must have realized how that sounded so he then mentioned he wanted to go inside so I would not get stung. Mmmmm - really.

Table for Two

After a full day of visiting some great friends and rescuing some other great friends, Jimmy and I were looking forward to the opportunity to grab a nice dinner and go for an evening walk downtown in Hallifax. We decided to also endulge ourselves with some dessert. It took a couple failed attempts but we finally ended up at this little patio at The Carleton restaurant (which has fantastic desserts by the way - just in case anyone is interested).

As we were being seated I noticed a girl sitting at a table by herself. She was wearing a cute little dress and wrapped in a shawl. In front of her was a glass of wine, a glass of water and a basket of partially eaten fries. She seemed to be intently reading the paper and keeping abreast with her friends on her blackberry.

At first glance, it was a familiar scene. As I travel for work, I quite often find myself enjoying dinner by myself with texts home to friends and family and a good book or the local paper. Suddenly we hear a frantic male voice asking her if she had been waiting long. My heart sank as I realized her look of 'intensity' as she perused the paper was more a look of controlled frustration.

And than the dreaded response: 'About an hour and a half'. The rest of the conversation was him nervously chatting as she pressed him on why he was late. The story that followed was certainly not an academy award winner but involved tales of his cell phone dying, a trip out of town, relying on someone else to drive him downtown . . . blah blah blah

Finally she stated, 'Well I am freezing so let's get out of here. I just have to pay my bill.' He proceeded to sit their while she went in search of her waitress to settle up. After all of that - she still paid her own bill.

And we are off

So for some reason, I seem to smell of trouble in airport security. Despite the fact that I am a seasoned traveller - have my liquids and gels in their little bag, take them out of my purse and lie them in the tray, ensure I have taken my belt off, emptied my pockets, if i am traveling with a laptop, it goes in it's own tray, know which items are best in my carry-on - makeup and jewelery. Make-up because it is the most expensive to replace for 1 or 2 days if I lose my luggage, my jewelry cause it can add 5 pounds of weight easily!!! - I still seem to be pulled over.

This time I set off the metal detector thanks to the bling I had chosen to wear and they needed to swab my bag for whatever reason.

After a thorough pat down and arms out wanding, it is off to the swabbing station I go. As the gentleman is routing through my bag he hits the jewelry bag. He pulls it out and starts looking through my things. He then comments 'so much jewelry' to which I respond, 'Oh - I left most of it at home'. As he continues to look through the various items he continually mutters 'what beautiful jewelry' and 'you are certainly a lady who has nice jewelry'.

Finally he is off to investigate the remainder of the items when he stumbles across my make-up bag. Of course you have to know that is going to cause a stir as well. He is still muttering about my things when he hits my eyelash curler. It is one of those red and white plastic curlers. He turns it over and over in his hands. When he finally holds it out to me - I am kind of chuckling and mention that it is my eyelash curler. To which he responds with a smile.

As he tries to pack my things away into the make-up bag again he is struggling with closing it. Finally I offer to do it for him - unsure if that is allowed with our security regulations or not - and he grins away at me. Repeatedly muttering - such a beautiful lady with all these gadgets and jewelry. Such gadgets and jewelry.

Jimmy of course is standing over to the side killing himself laughing!! Oh well - it's pure entertainment most days.

Well you know Aunty

My oldest nephew just turned 6. Hard to believe I know!!! And yes, I know I know - hard to believe that I at such a young age could have a nephew that old already but it is true!!!

I called him to wish him a happy birthday but unfortunately we kept missing each other so he finally called me back last night.

After a failed attempt that resulted in a voice message where he repeatedly said hello, I called him back and was met with an indignant 'I was saying hello to you Aunty and you wouldn't respond!'

We quickly caught up on his parties, the money gifts he received and all the sounds that the new bumblebee helmet made. Soon tiring of this and expecting a certain amount of birthday etiquette he queried as to whether or not I was going to come to say Happy Birthday.

Of course I broke out in smiles and exclaimed"Yes, I can't wait to come home and say Happy Birthday to you"!!

It was met with a brief moment of silence and then I hear 'Well you know Aunty, you could say it to me right now'!

The poor guy - I hadn't even bothered to greet his sweet little voice on the phone with a happy birthday so stammering I responded 'You are right - I certainly could. Happy Birthday!'

The most professional thank-you was his response before he inquired if he could chat with Uncle Jimmy!!!

Uh oh! I certainly better do better than that next year. Jimmy cannot dethrone me!

It was all worth it!!

We went to the virgin music fest at COP last night to watch Pearl Jam. 
Our friends have the perfect spot for it so we were able to meet at 
their house for a little refreshment first and then walk over to the 
concert.

The stage was set up at the bottom of the ski hill so it was a crazy 
incline to get down to the crowd. But once we were there we secured a 
spot against a retaining fence that went around the sound stage. The 
concert was awesome. The people watching a delight. And the company 
perfect concert goers!!!

However after 2hours of standing on a 90 degree grade we needed to 
turn around and climb back up the hill. By the time we were 2/3 up the 
hill I realized I needed to kick it up a notch at aquasize. My 
mercies. And I seriously can't be the most out of shape person nor was 
I 'wasted' after a day in the sun festivalling like many others 
appeared to be.

But once I made it back to the house, had utilized the facilities 
(there was no way I was risking a dark portapotty) and downed a big 
glass of water it was all worth it.

Won't make that mistake again

So for the past two years I have been going to this little place to get my brows waxed. It's a 45 second walk from my apartment, the ladies are a delight and for $10 and 5 minutes of pain I get brows that others rave over (okay maybe rave is a bit strong but I do receive compliments on them on a regular basis).

Now as I have learned - although the brows are fantastic and the price is reasonable, you do get what you pay for to some degree.

First the ladies all yammer amongst themselves in mandarin so you are never really sure if they are talking about you or someone else or . . . No worries on this because since I don't know what they are saying, in my mind I make up all these fantastic stories they are sharing about their gong shows the night before. After all if it was a place that I ran with my fantastic friends and we spoke a language other than english that is certainly what we would be doing.

Second I am not too sure how often they change the paper they have laid over the waxing table. No probs though since I usually go first thing Saturday morning, I just don't bother showering and changing into my 'going out' clothes until after.

Third, well let me tell you the third . . .

So, since I can't speak their language, I can never pronounce the name of my favorite girl. I usually wind up with her every other session and today was not one of those. The other ladies are not bad but they are not quite as good nor gentle. And today I got somebody new that I have never seen before!!

And although she was good - gentle is not in her vocabulary:

• the wax was so hot that it burned as she applied it; after visibly wincing she did take a half a second to blow on it
• she applied the wax to both sides of the brow all the way onto my lid before removing it
• then she vigorously rubbed the strips onto my lid firmly pushing onto my eyeball
• the strips were pulled off in one swift motion - not bothering to pull the skin taught (my eyelid was actually pulled off the eyeball during this motion)
• she then proceeded to move to the other eye to remove the cooled wax causing her to rub even more vigorously and the eyelid to pull up even more

The end result is a delight - two shiny eyebrows that are glowing red with wax glummed onto the hairs that are left.

I think I might sign up for some mandarin lessons, I really have to learn the name of my favorite lady!!!

And so the season begins . . .

This summer I feel like I am 23 again! It is another summer filled with weddings. And the last time I had this many weddings in one summer was back when we were young and everyone was falling in love!

Saturday was the first 2 of 5 weddings that we were invited to. It all started with an early morning so we could be at Preet's wedding in time for the Baraat and the Milni. Jimmy and I were running late but thankfully so was the wedding party as we showed up 45 minutes late and still waited around for 20 minutes for the festivities to begin. In googling the Indian Baraat I found the following:

Indian Baraat

The traditional Indian wedding establishes a bond between two families and their cultures, apart from creating a very special relationship between the couple, who tie the nuptial knot.

The marriage ceremony is a series of colorful events, spread over two to three days. One of the important and fun ceremonies is the arrival of the groom on the day of the wedding, at the venue.

The groom's family members, relatives and friends accompany him to the wedding venue, in a marriage procession called 'baraat'. Groom's friends and relatives are called the 'baraati'. The wedding baraat is held with high esteem and the baratis are pampered by the bride's family, when they arrive at the wedding venue. The baraat is received in different ways in different parts of the country. In the following lines, we have given description about the baraat in Indian marriage.

Indian Wedding Barat Traditionally in north India, the groom, dressed in his wedding attire, is seated on a white decorated mare, when he heads towards the wedding venue along with the baraati. Before sitting on the mare, the groom is adorned with a saafa (turban, preferably pink or saffron colored) along with a sehara (floral veil), which is tied around his forehead, by his mother. Saafa is mandatory, but tying sehara is not a compulsion. In some
regions of north India, a sword is also provided to the groom. In the mare, the groom is accompanied by his younger brother, cousin or nephew who acts as his caregiver, who is called 'sarbaala'.

The baraatis are often accompanied by music band, which provides them with entertainment, while on their way to the venue. The baraatis dance to the tune played by the band. A vivid display of fireworks contributes to the festive spirit of the marriage procession. A contemporary approach to the ritual is to make use of a car, instead of mare. For the purpose, people rent a car, in which the groom is seated. However, to maintain the tradition, the groom travels a certain distance via car and then rides on the mare.

After reaching the wedding venue, the groom and the marriage procession are welcomed by the bride's parents and the elder members of her family.The bride's mother performs the aarti, when the groom enters the venue. In the mean time, the other members of the bride's family welcome others in the marriage procession. The groom's acquaintance is introduced to the bride's family, friends and relatives. This ritual is known as milni.

The barati who comes in the procession are garlanded and seated. Cold drinks, snacks and sweets are served to them. They are also invited for dinner as the guests of bride's parents.


I was so excited to be able to participate in this joyous celebration - even
though I had no clue what I was doing and being the tall white girl it's not
like I could exactly 'blend' in. However, my vantage point meant I was able to
capture some excellent pictures.

Above, you can see Josh's family dancing as he enters. The music was soo fun!

Next is the traditional exchange of garlands between the groom's family and the bride's family. Again there was much dancing and clapping and cheering between the families.





Preeti's mom is absolutely stunning in her pink sari.


Once the outdoor festivities are complete, the groom can now enter into the altar. Great giggling ensues as the bride's family tries to steal the groom's shoes. After much giggling, running about the hall and the groom's family managing to steal them back a couple times, Preet's family had them securely in hand. According to customs, then charge a fee for their return. Rumor has it - the initial price was $1100 but Preet's family finally agreed upon $300.

After the welcoming aarti, the groom is made to stand at
an elevated level while the bride enters the wedding place, along with her
sisters and cousins where the groom awaits in the Mandap.

Mandap is usually in the form of a canopy and is beautifully decorated with flowers, colorful personal adornment, and other items.In the mandap, the bride, the groom the parents of the bride and the priest sit, while the rest of the family members sit around the canopy.

Below, you see Preeti presented to Josh by her brother and family.

The two then stand facing each other, holding a wedding garland made of flowers. After the two exchange the garlands, the bride and the groom are taken to the mandap where the other rituals and rites are performed.

One of the most significant rituals the bride and the groom perform is the Saptapadi or saat phere around a scared fire and light, which is symbolic to God. While the bride and the groom take the seven circles, the priest or purohit recites the mantras and speak of the real essence and significance of marriage. It is also during this time that the groom fills vermillion or sindoor in the center parting of the bride and puts mangalsutra around her neck.

Mangalsutra is the token of dignity and love given to a bride by her groom. On the wedding day, the groom ties the Mangalsutra around the neck of the bride, while the priest recites Vedic hymns and prays. It signifies the union of the bride and the groom, amidst the presence of deities, who are believed to be attending the marriage. In some regions, the groom ties first and his sisters tie the rest. Talking about its appearance, this sacred thread is made of two strings of small black beads with a locket or pendant. Sometimes, it is also made of small beads of gold and black beads, with gold and diamond pendant.

So that explains all the background that took place during the wedding ceremony. The real show is the family and friends that attend this event. Unlike traditional Christian ceremonies, the atmosphere is very relaxed among the crowd. People feel free to move about the hall, refresh their coffee and tea, pass snacks and play various hand held games. We could not believe the bustling activity that it was.

It was an experience that I will never forget.

Once it was all over, Josh and Preet sat at the front of Mandap greeting their guests. Preeti was even more stunning close up. She is absolutely gorgeous!