Happy Birthday Canada

We had a great Canada Day out and about Calgary and in the business of my last few weeks I haven't shared it with you.

We lounged about. We packed some snacks. We watched some soccer and enjoyed some sun. We checked out some food trucks and listened to some music. We walked about to see what we could see. We enjoyed a bbq and had many laughs.

We love our nephews to pieces and are so proud of them! Following find a few recent pics from when I went home and was able to cheer them on at soccerfest.

Each of them have their own little personalities and habits! And thankfully - still think I am cool. (Jimmy and I are dreading the day when that changes - hopefully we still have a few years yet!)

Joshua

My oldest nephew has so much natural ability - he is too fun to watch. I love the couple action shots I was able to capture!

Rhyder

Rhyder is too darn adorable. He's quite funny but all business when on the field. I love the look of concentration he gets!

Chasey

Funny little Chase is already starting to show some skills - this year has been good for him. The one game we were watching saw him score a few goals. And he has the best celebration when scoring - his little arms waving in the air! A big kick throws him completely off balance so he spends a lot of time on the grass. It's absolutely too cute at this age.

And in between games, you could always find him in this tree.

#1 Soccer Fest Fan

Sweet Hunter was quite content (at least for the most part) to hang out in his stroller cheering on his brothers

There was a time in my life when I knew exactly what shows were on TV and when. I'm sure it helped that we only had 3 channels at home growing up. However, with our PVR, it is now to the point where I don't even know what night some shows are on. You would think that means I watch less TV but rather I think I now watch more. Ugh!

Oh well - guess I'm gonna have to figure it out. Especially now that I am at a hotel every Monday through Wednesday. Can't spend all weekend catching up on the PVR'd shows!

Not sure if this conversation was really blog worthy. And I am gonna warn you - there will most likely be far too many of these non-blog worthy tid bits. You see, Jimmy used to hear most of what I'm thinking (I don't tent to think without sharing very often) so I'm a gonna have to share it with someone. Don't you feel lucky??

Oh and by the way - I found So You Think You Can Dance tonight - that's a good show for working on a Wednesday night I think. Will need to remember that one!

Hey ya'all!

I have landed in Fort Worth and am prepping for my first day on the client site. A little nervous tonight - not gonna lie.

And I do have a little story for you!

The most random cab driver happened to be at the front of the queue tonight! It didn't make for the most pleasant ride but I tried to not get anxious.

First of all, as soon as I start to get into the cab I start chanting watermelon as unfortunately he appears to smoke in his cab and so in the heat of Texas, the overwhelming smell of stale smoke, sweat and a well used cab hits me in the face. For those of you not aware, I have a pretty sensitive gag reflex and I find that when I see or smell something disgusting, the best way for me to not lose my cookies is if I use my inner voice to way watermelon watermelon over and over whilst thinking of watermelon hubba bubba. Weird I know but we all have a few of those I am sure. Unfortunately he was the only one in the queue and I didn't want to make a 'stink' of it so I climbed on in.

I give him the address and he stares at me blankly. I try to slow down, enunciate better and give him a little more information. Still nothing. Finally he asks if he can use the GPS on my phone - if I was in Calgary - sure. But I'm in Texas. Does he have any idea how much those roaming charges will cost me?? I reply no - but he keeps asking me if I have GPS until I finally explain the roaming piece. Then he shoves a receipt and pen my way for me to write down the address. That still doesn't help him so next he wants the hotel phone number. After a lengthy conversation with the hotel he is ready.

Please note that I also am in need of using the facilities but it's too late now that we are on the way.

As he is conversing on the phone, I am noticing that he keeps bouncing his foot up and down on the gas. I watch him rev the car to 2000 RPMs and let it rev down to 1000 RPMs. You can well imagine the feeling that this would achieve in the car as he speeds up and then lets his foot off the gas; speeds up and lets his foot off the gas until my bladder is ready to burst. He does this the entire $64 cab ride to the hotel. AND when stopped at a red light does it with the brake. I literally need to rest my head against the seat rest to keep my neck from getting sore.

He then starts to yoga breathe in time to the revving. So now I have a stinky hot cab in which he is creating a jerking motion and breathing heavily. I might as well watermelon chant to the same rhythm. I had to bite my tongue not to bust out laughing.

Needless to say upon arrival his tip wasn't very large and I think I heard him muttering under his breath. He didn't get out to get my bags out of the trunk for me either. Oh well - I'm a big girl - I can handle my own bags!

Black or is that Green Betty Burger Bar

It's hard to believe that we had had our dinner club going for 8 ish years(?)!! And over those years we have had some amazing dining experiences. We have had a couple busts and perhaps our standards have been raised a little. But we certainly have had many many wins and not one experience that has been so awful that I have been motivated to write a review on urban spoon. That is until last night. 

Our experience last night at Black Betty Burger and Wine Bar was disappointing and gross to be perfectly honest with you:

- our server was disengaging and rude

- our appetizer never arrived and our server was frustrated that we would want to cancel it after our meals arrived

- the atmosphere was so loud as they were pumping themselves up for the Calgary Stampeders stampede party downstairs

- the one meal arrived covered in mold... Not just a little bit but throughout the inside of the sandwich and along the edges ; yes that is what I said.... Mold!!!!!!

- the server apologized but then barely did anything about it other than discounting that meal only off the menu

- it was warm in there as is expected when we are in a heat wave but when I asked for more water she only filled my glass even though everyone else at the table was low on water too

- the manager, chef and sous chef were all sitting upstairs at the bar and not one of them came over to personally apologize

- we weren't offered dessert nor more to drink and the bill was tossed on our table in front of the girl with the moldy sandwich no less

-  they couldn't get us out of their restaurant fast enough but then also wanted to ignore us so it makes it hard for us to pay our bill if they are ignoring us.....

The situation with the moldy sandwich was bad but it was a recoverable moment. That is what made the experience so disappointing - they did nothing to try and recover their reputation. Especially the manager! Calgary has so many good restaurants that close because they just can't compete so I don't understand how they feel they can succeed if they continue to treat people how we were treated. We are all connected to downtown through our companies we work for and talk to - do they not realize that word of mouths their biggest advertising potential?

I would highly recommend going to one of Calgary's other delightful restaurants any night of the week!

A new tradition?

Jimmy and I just checked into Hotel Sask. We haven't been here since our wedding but both of us absolutely love it.

We are actually in town for my cousins wedding this weekend and staying at a hotel tonight made more sense then driving the hour to the farm to turn around and drive another hour back tomorrow.

And we had actually tried to get a hotel with a pool for the nephews but for some reason those were all booked.

And it just so happened that Hotel Sask had the best rate for us tonight. We did look into others.

But regardless of how it came to be we kind of like it here and are quite glad it did come to be.

So glad that we just might need to make this a new yearly tradition.

Garden Baths

Can I just share that I am in love with warm weather living - especially garden baths. I wish so much Alberta had a longer summer (and no real winter) to justify creating an outdoor garden bath. Harumpf.

Oh well, until then I will continue to shower with the window open, looking upon the beautiful flowers in our backyard and dream of a time when I will next get to experience a beautiful garden bath.

Anyone else dreaming of a relaxing hot shower with the sun shining, birds singing and the flowery scent in the air?

First Week

Well, today officially marks the end of my first week of work. I ended up starting a bit early and so kicked off my new job last Wednesday.

The week has been full of training and more training which is fantastic. I am trying to become an expert on a new system in a week - eep - and so far so good! Let's hope I can kick butt on my first certification course as well.

So here is what I can tell you so far:

• the first week is full of learning and little emails
• I am going to enjoy this lack of emails as I know in a month's time that will not be the case
• my first project is still a bit up in the air but thankfully not because no-one wants me but rather there are numerous projects I am a fit for
• poor Jimmy gets an extra chatty me at the end of the day (i know many of you are wondering if that is even possible)
• the tables in the house have turned - now I am the one here when Jimmy leaves and here when Jimmy gets home; at least on home office days
• I officially changed my passport to Farrell - craziness

Stay tuned for the next update!