A new route home

So, since I moved into the house, I have been fairly diligent in taking the bus to work. For the most part it is an easy ride in - the #17 at the end of my block has me to the office in my cubicle in under a half an hour consistently. For the trip home, I catch one of 2 buses that drop me off a 10 minute walk to the house - again a 30 minute trip door to door. Pretty easy.

Well, I met a friend on the bus one day that lives in the same area and he was surprised to see me on the 100 series rather than the 17 home. After a fairly in depth conversation about how easy and convenient the 17 would be I finally decided to give it a go on Thursday.

Although it was Jimmy's bday, I knew he would be out of town until 6 or 6:30, I wasn't needing to stop at the gym and frankly I was feeling a touch lazy so it was the perfect trial day. Let's just say I won't be taking that route again - I diligently checked the schedule but the bus was 5 minutes early which of course meant i was waiting at the redlight to cross the street when it pulled into the stop; after waiting another 20 minutes I finally did get on, it took forever to get through to Bow trail and then took me on an indirect route through the south side of bow and weaving through wildwood. Had to try it at least once but by the time I arrived at the stop for my 2 minute walk to the house over an hour had passed . . . think I am sticking with the 100 series and the 10 minute walk.

Hee hee - so much for being lazy!!

A day at the zoo

When my family was out for the remembrance day weekend, we took the boys to the zoo. It was sooo much fun, the boys were pretty excited, the day was nice comparatively speaking and the animals were incredibly interactive in a 'natural environment': lionesses fighting, bears snacking on pumpkins, zebras doing whatever it is that zebras do. Jimmy and I could have wandered around there all day!



Serenity

There is something so incredibly serene about a busy city covered in a blanket of fresh snow under the twinkling lights. The calm that is in the air. Everyone hunkers down. Snow covered cars stay where they are; the trees look like they were dipped with fresh snow frosting; the roofs twinkle under the streetlights. It truly is a feeling that nothing else mimics.

(To all my friends who live in snowless places, I wish for you one night of such serenity. It truly does make time feel like it pauses just for a minute or two).

Hump day

Today was the best of hump days I have had in a while:

• I didn't have to panic and then rush to catch the bus
• I finally broke down and treated myself to some war wonton soup
• Shan had time to quickly chat as I grabbed lunch
• An extra hour found it's way into my day freeing me to catch up on some emails
• I had 2 great project sessions with clients
• Jimmy picked me up a smidgen early
• I was able to relax for a couple hours before heading out
• I edited the wedding website and ordered our favors
• Jimmy and I shared some laughs and a diet soda at the hockey game
• I got to see the Iggy dance
• the flames won
• this hump day was the middle of 3 work days as I already had Monday off and I am taking Friday off

The only sad thing about this hump day is that I missed dinner club!

Happy Wednesday all.

Patterns and Stacking

Are some people more prone to recognizing patterns? Is it not in everybody's blood to find the best way to stack items? Or maybe I just spent a little more time in preschool then the average person - pushing shapes through holes, stacking towers and determining what comes next in the sequence . . .

I like order - my tupperware stacks quite nicely, the measuring cups fit perfectly in the cupboard if stacked appropriately and plates work best largest to smallest.

I like opening cupboards and seeing patterns - like glasses should be in the same place, spoons were meant to be separated little from big and the good towels go in a separate place from the back-up towels.

But maybe that is just me . . .

Karma

It was an early morning and I was still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I pulled into the parking lot.

Normally, I like to pull up by the ticket kiosk and grab my ticket quickly so that I don't need to go back after I park.

This day, someone was already at the kiosk.

I pulled in to park instead.

By the time I got to the kiosk, another man was also there. He was struggling with his ticket. I remember those days when you hope the credit card will process the payment.

So I decided to offer this man some grace and I bought his ticket for him.

When I went to buy my ticket, the machine wouldn't process my card. Oh dear - maybe it was the machine and not the credit card for the gentleman before.

I went to call the impark service line - 1-877-771-PETE if anyone needs it anytime in the future.

I soon discovered that Impark has a built in security feature which will not allow you to process more than one payment per credit card for the same lot.

Curses.

They said they would send out a bulletin to the parking crew who look for those rule breakers parking without a ticket. Alas, I still got a ticket.

So much for being a good samaritan . . . or maybe that is what it really means - to sacrifice and pay the price for others wrong doings!

An Accomplished Week

I feel as though I have had a very productive week.
On the work front, I have caught up on a couple of my projects and feel a little more prepared to attack the other projects. Some timelines have shifted which certainly has relieved some of the stress.

On the health front, Brenda and I are back at 'er at the gym. My body has that familiar ache the day after a great work out and we have our work outs planned for this week.

On the beauty front, I have a little hair appt booked for this week. My christmas face cream is fighting those winter skin blues. And my new accessories are brightening up my seasoned outfits.

On the friends front, the long awaited meeting of a special someone finally happened. It is fun to see a dear friend with that  'glow' that only 'butterflies' can bring out. Sar planned a spa night last weekend so the house was filled with lots of girl talk and that long awaited chance to catch up after a busy Christmas season.

On the wedding front, well, lots has come together on the wedding front! The first fitting of Jimmy's vest was ready at the same time that the boys were going up for their measurements. I was excited to see it come together and looking as good as it did in my mind. She even finished one for my nephews to take home and try on! Yaye! Two of the bridesmaids are good to go with their dresses. Some more of my ebay purchases arrived for the wedding. The hair appointments are confirmed. We have the logistics finalized for the wedding day agenda. And . . . drum roll please . . . I got the first draft of the invitations done! Whew - quite the week.

I hope this week is full of as many accomplishments!

The Christmas Season

And what a fun season it was

hockey games

the first christmas with my future husband

learning the family secret behind the stuffing

beautiful christmas eve service

shortbread

a kitchen aid mixer

buying the perfect gift

45's

beautiful weather

a girl party for my beautiful friend's wedding

my first turkey

boxing day parties

catching up with new family

frivolous gifts

the drive to the farm through a winter wonderland

fun earrings

a new year's eve party

hugs from the nephews

kisses at midnight

pinwheels

hugs from the uncles, aunts and cousins

visits with beautiful friends

accessories, oh how i love new accessories

the game of life

homemade ice cream

yummy itallian dinner with great friends making fabulous plans for the new year

Spa Night

One of my lovely friends, Sar treated me to a delayed birthday surprise - an in home spa party. And what a party it was. Great friends, yummy chocolate fondu and all the pampering a girl could ask for . . . pedis and manis were the service of the night.

It felt like forever since I have had a chance to catch up with the girls and what a perfect night it was. Talks of vacations, crazy day homes, new loves, old friends, weddings and bridesmaid dresses freely flowed. I love these times when we can just sit and be in each other's company.

The only thing missing on the night was the opportunity to freeze time. Oh if only that could be possible. It would take me forever to get through this year. Well, on the other hand,  maybe freezing time wouldn't be quite so much fun, I am too excited for all that April brings to pause through much over the next few months.

p.s. my toes are a sparkly grey blue and my fingers a sparkly nude just in case you were wondering

I just spent the last half hour

Soaking in my new foot bath

Whilst sipping tea out of my new tea pot

Wearing a new pair of earrings

Looking at the Christmas lights around the house.

Christmas truly was delightful!

Maybe I will go put on my dead sea mud face mask now

And read a new book

Cuz tomorrow I need to take the tree down.