The Eternally Interrupted Birthday Party

Supergirl

2011-01-12T14:17:00.001-05:00

Today, I am supergirl.

I am the girl who answers customer requests within seconds.

I find gemlike sources of precious book information buried deep in University websites, and steal them away, Indiana-Jones-like.

I help blind people get on the bus, and I have witty comments to trade with local shopkeepers.

Instead of a cape, I have a fabulous new eReader, that I figured out how to charge, factory reset, and load books onto ALL BY MYSELF.

I am awesome.

2010-12-20T21:26:00.002-05:00

Dear lord, life is busy! Swear to snowflakes I've been too busy to think for the last month, and baby it ain't getting better...until next week. Maybe.

So, I got a new job, which meant leaving the company I'd been with for the past five years. That is a surprisingly big change, and it took some adjusting (the weeks leading up to the move were filled with a heady mix of excitement, nerves, glee, and panic). Those if you who know me well know that's just par for the course- I'm about as welcoming to change as a house cat, and knowing this, the smart thing to do would have been to schedule a break in between the ending of one job and the start of the other. People, I am not smart. I had all if a weekend in between, and that weekend was spent getting ready for and attending a friends' wedding. Yay for her, heart attack for me.

Anyway, it was hard to leave all the people at my old job- I have good friends there, and even the people I was just 'work acquaintances' with, after 5 years, were sad to leave. But this move really is good for me, in a variety of ways, especially career-wise. I kind of hate having to think/worry about 'career' (the same way I hate to think about money), but whatever, you pick a direction and then get off your butt and go there.
The new job is good but super busy (it's the time of year; things will be much calmer later... just not now). I'm in inside sales now. I have yet to really sink my teeth into the 'selling' part of the role, but the 'planning to sell' part, I'm all over.
The office is new and gorgeous- I have a million windows. It keeps snowing here and I get to watch it. But the cubes are all half-height, and it's open concept, so in order to keep disturbances to a minimum, they like it quiet. Like, beyond library quiet. Morgue quiet.
And who can work in a morgue?! It took me all of two weeks to lose it over the uber- silence, and start bringing in my headphones. I've become anti-social headphone girl, but frankly it's too quiet in there to be social anyway. We're social at lunch. I was social the day I brought in cookies. Want friends at work? They can be bought through flour, sugar and butter.

Anyway. There have been brief sparks of life in my life over the last month- they dot my calendar in a pitifully occasional way, like chocolate chip cookies that have been under-chipped.

I had a Hanukkah party. The girls came over and I gave them the most garbled explanation of Hanukkah that ever was, then we decorated a gingerbread house- which I had MADE from SCRATCH. (Shout out to Calgary Aunt for invaluable construction advice, without which we would have been decorating gingerbread ruins). There was food and enough people to freak Esme out. We had fun.

And I'm going to Calgary! Every time I have a moment away from work, I get to pause and get excited over this. I get to spend not-my-religious-holiday with Calgary relatives and the Mom and the brother and even the Egg. I am anticipating the getting there will be a bit of a gong show- picture if you please, Christmas eve in an airport with the brother, our luggage, everybodys gifts, snowboarding equipment, and the dog. And the dogs luggage. And possibly my work computer, if I can't get it all done. At least the dog won't be snowboarding.

The brother is so excited. He keeps contacting me with ridiculous things. Case in point:

The brother: "You think well go ice skating?"
Me: "I dunno"
The brother: "The likelihood of ice skating probably would go up if you brought your ice skates."
Me: "I am not packing ICE SKATES!!!"

At this point, I have no idea what I am packing. The list, which would normally be long and complete (save for a few minor additions and edits) by now, is woefully thin. I think it says things like 'clothes' 'Mom gifts' and 'that hair thing I bought last week'. That might be the entirety of the list at this point, actually. I just havent had time! We had Holiday Party at the Robins yesterday (super fun; she cooks up one heck of a Yule log, people), and I wrapped all the gifts that morning, in about 20 minutes, with my hair still dripping from the shower. That was possibly one of the saddest showings I've had in gift wrapping in a long, long time. My mother would be ashamed. But everyone liked their stuff, so that was great. It doesn't help with my list, though.

It's 9pm and I have less than an hours' work left for today, though (not working on it now cause I'm in a cab- boss had his reps out for dinner- yum). I think I can get home, finish work, and I *might* just have a few minutes to whip the list into shape!

Merry xmas, people!

French Day

2010-10-24T17:37:00.003-04:00

I am having a very french day. I slept in - very relaxing - then met up with a friend and we went out for lunch, then hit up a patisserie. Yum.
Hit the bead store (can't figure out how to make that French, but whatever), and then the culinary shop down the street. I came home with beads (of course), and a quiche pan.

Gotta go make quiche.

Wow, I meant for this post to be significantly longer. Guess I'm just not in the mood. Later.

Rage

2010-10-08T10:26:00.001-04:00

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
no more miss nice girl.

Check this out!

2010-09-28T20:09:00.002-04:00

So after work today I had an appointment at the dentist, who filled a cavity for me. Then I took my frozen-mouthed self to the grocery store to buy soft things for dinner (no chewing while frozen) and rushed home in time to catch the new ep of Glee. And (hello awesomeness), there's a dentist on Glee and Britney had to get cavities filled! I love when random stuff mirrors my life.

Also, I love that's its so easy to communicate by typing. Sorry about the phone convo I couldn't have with you tonight, Mom.

Now, please let this freezing wear off - I want my smile back.

Dark

2010-09-27T07:02:00.003-04:00

Woke up this morning at the usual time, and the sun hasn't risen yet. I hate the first day when you realize that has happened, that the year is advancing toward those days when you'll miss every short ray of sun cause you're in the office. Don't get me wrong, I still love fall and winter - they are my favourite seasons. But if I had to pick one thing about them that was most unpleasant, the dark would be it. Ugh.

Tomato Cobbler

2010-08-22T21:25:00.009-04:00

...yeah, I'd never heard of it, either.

Its finally come to the time of year where if you're not getting your produce from local farmers at a market like St. Lawrence, there's something seriously wrong with your modus operandi. End of summer is fantastic - peaches, plums, cherries, zucchini, tomatoes and herbs...

And it just gets better from here on out. I'm thrilled that fall is noticeably on its way (more cloudy days, cooler nights, and a teeny drop in humidity), and that means harvest season is almost here - my favourite market-shopping season, of course. Recipes get better -warmer, thicker, more complex flavours.

But for this weekend, I wanted something that tasted really fresh. There's a website I found a while ago, that I consult when I know I'm on my way to the market - The Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association (PCFMA) website. The org is based in San Francisco, and they have some fantastic recipes on their site (I've hotlinked the title of this blog if you're interested in checking them out).

And I found something I'd never heard of - Tomato Cobbler. As ususal, I figured that this was a common thing that was new to me, but when I spoke with the Mom (far more worldly and experienced in the kitchen than I), she admitted this was a new conept to her, too. Well, turns out, its a good concept!

You start by sauteeing onion and garlic (1 large and 2-3 cloves). While that's going, cut up tomatoes - lots of tomatoes. I used like three pints and wish I had more - they cook down like crazy. I also used red and yellow tomatoes - this time of year they're all so pretty, and the cooking is so gentle that they won't break down or lose their colour too much. Resist making the chunks too small - big works well! Also, if you have the patience, remove the pits and gooey gunk - it just adds liquid in the end result.

Mix the onion/garlic (once its cool) to the tomatoes. Add in 1/3 cup of fresh basil, one tablespoon of cornstarch, and salt and pepper. Mix and set aside.

I got to use my mixer! You need one cup each of flour and cornmeal, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 4 tbsp cold butter, and salt (don't be gentle with the salt, either!)

Mix it, though it will still look dry. To make it more dougy, add 1 beaten egg, 3/4 cup each of buttermilk and cheese - Gruyere and/or parmesan and/or asiago... (I used a combo of the first two). When that's all mixed, fold in 1 cup of raw fresh corn kernels. Yum.

So the rest is just the mechanics. Pour the tomato mix in a large casserole dish, cover it with the batter (the batter is thick, so drop it in glops and then spread them out to cover it). Don't spread the topping over the edges like a pie - steam needs to get out of the tomatoes when it cooks. Bake it for 35-45 mins @ 375 degrees, until its golden on top and bubbly underneath.

Let it cool a lot before you serve it - that way the tomato juice isn't all runny. I had it with breadcrumb and balsamic baked chicken and homemade Caesar salad. Yum!

Now I just have one question: what do I do with a litre minus one cup of leftover buttermilk? Any suggestions?

Travelling Home

2010-08-02T22:30:00.000-04:00

The train is shaky, but i'm tired enough that it's not really
bothersome.
I'm on my way home. 'heartbeats' is playing on my Mp3, and it matches
my mood well.

I had a great weekend with Lauren. We listened to music, sat on
patios, laid on hot sand and swam in blue water for three days. We ate
food that was both good for us and not (we decided, in the end, that
we probably came out even), but it all tasted fantastic.
At the end of it, there was a bit of difficulty involving a closed
highway, a few kilometers if traffic, and my departure time, but VIA
was refreshingly helpful, and Laur is my saviour and a truly great
friend, and didn't grumble at all about driving me further than
originally planned. I owe her big.

It was good to get away, and it's good that the train has wifi so for
once I can blog exactly when the mood strikes me.
I know I have a couple of stressful weeks ahead of me, but at the
moment, that knowledge isn't touching me.
I hope you all had a lovely, destressing weekend like me.

Sent from my iPhone

Gettin out of dodge

2010-07-30T17:16:00.002-04:00

So, I don't want to write a whole big thing about what's been going on, cause I hate blogs that are all about "I haven't written in a while, and I'm sorry..." Screw that. What's been happening? Summer, dude. Summer is happening. Get off the computer and go get some sun.

Having said that, I (very suddenly and impulsively) decided that that was exactly what I need to do this weekend - get my butt out of the apartment, forget the stress of work, forget the city, forget everything for a while and go lie on a beach. Which, somewhat to my chagrin, my long-ago hometown has the best of. So saddle up, me mateys, we're Sarnia-bound or bust!

P.s. Dig through that mire of colloquialisms, I dare you!

Family Reunion!

2010-06-24T23:48:00.002-04:00

Its my family reunion this weekend (strange to be writing about it, since like 90% of my readership is here with me).
The Mom and Calgary Aunt arrived yesterday. The brother and I gathered them from the airport and we all went out for the brother's ambrosia - shawarma. After hugs and conversation, I subwayed it home, cause I had to work today.
But work is done! I have Friday and Monday off to spend with the fam, hooray!
After work I met the Mom and Calgary Aunt and her friend Mary at the shi-shi mall just north of my office, and we window shopped. Then more shopping, then dinner. Much fun.
Tomorrow the Mom and Calgary Aunt are coming here for breakfast, then more shopping will ensue. Think I can make *real* poached eggs on my first try ever? We'll see...

Earthquake

2010-06-23T13:53:00.002-04:00

So...Toronto just had an earthquake. I'm at work and the whole building shook. Honestly, I don't know if I'm okay with this, and I think I'd prefer if it didn't happen again.
Thanks.

Beach Ready!

2010-05-18T22:44:00.003-04:00

Check out my beach ready self!

I've spent the last few days gathering those essential last-minute items everybody needs on vacation: sunglasses, earrings, hair defrizzer. And I'm pleased to say that everything is coming up Bethany, cause the sunglasses I wanted were 40% off when I went to lay down the plastic for them, the lapis I thought I would get for the earrings didn't actually match the bracelet I'd made, so instead I bought great blue Czech beads for much less moola (and they look great), and don't tell the drugstore, but they really really screwed up on the price of their hair defrizzer. Was supposed to be $7.99 - a savings of $1.67...instead, they charged me $1.67. The moral Bethany would have gone back and corrected the mistake, but the cash-strapped Bethany who is going to the very humid southern destination killed her.

Besides, this is just the Universe reimbursing me for the hair it gave me.

WIN!

Life isn't fair, but sometimes it gives you good movies...

2010-05-15T01:44:00.002-04:00

My friends' cat is dying. He's young, and she loves him, and its sudden, and it isn't fair.
So I went to her place after work, for takeout fast food and movies.
And the weather, which has been icy and wretched for days, turned sunny and breezy and nice.
And the food was unhealthy and good.
And the movies were unexpectedly wonderful, enchanting stories.
And the walk home was dark, and quiet, and there was wind in my hair and I picked lilacs for my desk.

So there's that.

Day off

2010-05-07T17:21:00.002-04:00

First, how cool is it that I am in the middle of Yorkdale mall, blogging?

I took the day off work. I didn't really have a good reason, just that things have been busy and stressful for a while, and I wanted a bit of a break. And yeah, I have that trip at the end of the month, but I just couldn't wait.
Besides, I've spent my day off hunting down necessities for said trip. Like flip flops. Flip flop necessities.

I got shoes to match my dress for the wedding, and a wrap, too. It's been a good day, the hunter is victorious, and now she will head home with her bounty.
And she won't think about her bank account balance. No, she won't.

My Saturday

2010-05-01T17:43:00.001-04:00

Saturday was unexpectedy busy. Erica and I met in the morning to pick up her race package for the marathon she'll be running tomorrow (I will dutifully be on the sidelines cheering her on), and then grabbed delicious Thai lunch before going out shopping. I freaking love Joe Fresh clothes. I got a new bathing suit and a little pullover dress for my Dominican trip, and a sun hat. I wasn't sure about the purchase of a large straw hat, but Erica declared "If you're getting anything, you're getting that hat."

I'm having a blast with her. Next week we'll be shopping for beads - she wants to hire me to make necklaces for her bridesmaids.

As for now, I'm on my way home, and loving that I can write a blog on the subway before I get anywhere near my computer. Viva la iPhone!

Sent from my iPhone

Cat sitting for the Robins

2010-04-25T14:17:00.002-04:00

...is a totally sweet deal! Their place is much nicer than mine, though I must admit, my place has been looking better lately, especially with the nice new TV I recently treated myself to. Until I get back there, I'm amusing myself. I used some of Robins nail polish on my toes. It's silver grey with sparkles. I'm calling them my cosmonaut toes.

Work on the jewellery for the Distillery portfolio is progressing well. I have four new bracelets done, so I think I have to start focusing on necklaces and other things.

I'm also starting to look forward to May. My friend Mark is getting married and a large group of us are flying down to Punta Cana to be there. I can't wait. Work has been busy and stressful enough lately and I'm dying for a break.
I bought a great new dress, and now I need to hunt for shoes and jewellery. Good luck for me that I'm right in the middle of shop central!

March Madness

2010-04-15T22:13:00.003-04:00

I'm aware how arbitrary it is to be writing about March halfway through April, but lets just say that March contained so much crazy, it spilled over into the next month. Things still haven't truly settled down.

Work was the worst culprit. March is always one of my busier months, but this one stands out among the crowd. Not that it was bad; just, well, a bit much, is all. And the time crunch (or, more accurately, the not-enough-me-to-go-around-ness) was increased when the company sent me to Vancouver to run a meeting near the end of March. Not that I'm complaining! It was actually nice to get away for a couple of days, focus on one event that I could prepare for, handle, wrap up, and forget about in a short, finite time frame. Plus, I got a free day and a half to spend with the Mom, who ferried in from the island just to see me. We had one great, grey day together exploring Granville island in Vancouver, bookended by an evening and a morning of blearily hunting down dining establishments and lots and lots of talking.

I loved Granville. I think the best part was coming across a fenced-off space (call it an open-air studio?) full of in-progress totem poles. I took pictures through the fence:

...and two days after getting back to my city, I was away from home again at another meeting. Like I said, madness.

But things are starting to calm down (I hope). We have an intern at work, who I am in charge of. Very helpful, but it surprises me how much work I'm putting in, managing another person. New perspectives.

April is calmer. April is getting downright...indulgent. March is when tax returns and work bonuses roll in, so April is when I SPEND! I have a couple of new toys - lets say I've become technologically impressive. Yay me. I feel a little more like a grownup. Except that I don't. Ha!

Okay, it's not that late, but I'm obviously getting punchy nonetheless. G'night folks!

Knocking things off my list

2010-02-24T22:59:00.006-05:00

Listmania!

I am enamored with the list idea. First, I made minestrone:

...it turned out damn good, and it was a lifesaver on Monday after the snow-induced busstop nightmare. So nice to come home from a cold and wet and sucky day to beautiful homemade soup!

Also, I got to working on #13- make something with the wool I bought in Victoria. I am so freaking happy with the outcome of this project! Not only did I knock an item off my list, and make something cool, but I learned a bunch of new knitting techniques (check out the round needle AND double-pointed needle action I got up to- go me!).

Casting on

Halfway done!

Double pointed needles - I actually know what to do with these!

Hat!

I AM CANADIAN

2010-02-22T20:45:00.002-05:00

Left work: 5:45pm
Stopped at the grocery store
Got to the bus stop: 6:25pm
Bus arrived: 8:11pm

Stupid snow, really stupid drivers. But I survived, so I call it a win.

List

2010-02-21T22:07:00.004-05:00

So, my friend Victoria started the year off with this list. It wasn’t a resolutions list, it was more like a goals list, mostly aimed at her artistic interests. Her list intrigued me, but I wasn’t about to go out and compose my own list…or at least, I hadn’t intended to.

But I think we all have a few ideas rolling around in our heads of things we want to do, dream of doing, keep intending on getting to…and it seemed natural to gather these persistent stray thoughts and set them down on paper (or at least in a word file). My list is neither as long nor as ambitious as Victoria’s (you can take a gander at her list here). It's not so focused on art (though it certainly includes some projects therein). Some things are beyond the mundane (check out #6), and it may be an embarrassingly short list (especially compared to Victoria's). But they are goals, and I do intend to get through them, within the year. At the very least, it’s a way to get some stuff done.

1. Make Minestrone soup
2. Upgrade blog template
3. Visit Textile Museum
4. Complete and submit Distillery collection
5. Create ‘frame’ print series
6. Make appointment with new dentist
7. Clean out closet, donate clothes
8. Bring books to used book store
9. Buy and install new shelves in hallway
10. Plant garden (sugar snap peas, green onions, lettuce, tomatoes)
11. Wallpaper closet doors
12. Take a looong walk at night with a friend
13. Use wool I got in Victoria

Meet Esme!

2010-02-18T07:28:00.004-05:00

The good thing about my birthday is that, hello- it's my birthday. The bad thing is that (though I love February), its always cold, always grey. When I was young, this meant a decided lack of pool parties, as an adult, this means that I (and everyone else) is most interested in celebrating through hibernation.
Of course, hanging about the house (or apartment), no matter how cozy, sucks without a cat. So on my birthday we rectified my situation and got me a cat!

The brother and his roommate kindly drove me all over the GTA hunting. Well, not the entire GTA, just the downtown Humane Society and then the THS cat adoption centre out in Scarberia. The adoption centre was great! The cats weren't all shut up in cages, and there were cat toys and beds and scratching posts everywhere, and you could actually interact with the animals, which is the best (read: only) way to choose a new pet.

I chose a little 3 year old Tortie they called 'Oaks'. She's small and light (I'm actually guessing she might be less than three), and she's got zero fear. The car ride didn't bother her in the slightest, and when we opened up the cage in the apartment, far from hiding under the bed as I'd expected, she strolled out and started looking around immediately. She examined nearly everything, even ate a little, and then settled onto the couch for the brother to pet while we had dinner.

I discovered the next day that she likes to be up high! She made her way onto the tall shelf in my hallway, and she spent the next night curled up on top of my bookcase. I'm going to get a kitty mattress for up there (the book case is tall, but probably really uncomfortable).

After careful deliberation, I've decided to name her Esme. I think she likes the name- her cuddliness is improving!

Beads!

2010-02-10T19:30:00.002-05:00

So, this one kind of came about in a roundabout way.

For Hanukkah, I made my aunt a bracelet, and she got me a purse - it's a gorgeous, very unique stiff-felt purse she got in the Distillery district. I'd admired those purses before, so when the holidays rolled around, she went back there to get me one (thanks!). The problem was the store was low in stock, and they didn't have any of my colours. My aunt got me a purple one.
It was lovely, but it was purple.
In its defence, it wasn't pink.
But still...purple.

So a few weeks after Christmas, when we each had a spare day, my aunt and I and the purple purse went back to the Distillery district, back to the hip, unique little boutique from whence it came. And they had a pile of new stock! Gorgeous neat purses in all the good colours of the rainbow. It was hard, but eventually I settled on a heather gray purse with cobalt and grass-coloured dots. Sounds weird, looks unbearably stylish.

While we were there, we did some browsing. The shop features mostly jewelry, mostly very unique, elegant but edgy stuff that both my aunt and I admire (she buys, I don't). While we're walking around the glass cases, admiring the shiny wonderfulness that is being sold there, she speaks up, saying that the bracelet I made her would fit in well with the store's inventory.

Now, I'm a bead artist. Its just a hobby, but I have developed a few skills, though I've never made any real profit off of it. Selling has never been a big priority of mine. But the guy running the shop comes over with a business card and tells me how to submit images of my work for evaluation by the owner.

And I love this idea! I've been working a lot on new projects, trying to get a portfolio of sorts made up, to show the type of stuff I'm interested in making for them. Very sleek, simple, elegant, with a little fun thrown in. Beads, strung by hand, but no single-string silliness (the type of thing I dislike seeing in shops, cause it's so easy to make it yourself, often better, and probably cheaper). My friend Victoria (of Sonnet & Mayhem fame) gifted me with a new notebook so I could keep track of new ideas (which for the last month have been pouring out like water) and important facts on current pieces (time involved, prices of materials, etc). I've been beading up a storm. I've visited Sassy Bead Store four times this month, and the brother drove me out to Bead FX last weekend. I RAN OUT OF BEADS (seriously!) and had to special-order more. At this point, it's becoming obvious that if this venture goes forward (and I'm aware that there is no guarantee of it doing so - I am trying not to count the chickens, I swear!), I might have to start ordering my beads online, in BULK. I've never created pieces like this before, and I'm loving it.

I really hope the shop is interested in my stuff, if only because at this point, I'm having so much damn fun!

Empty home

2010-01-11T23:34:00.004-05:00

It's sad coming home to an empty house.

I spent the day with my aunt, and we did some shopping, and eating of cupcakes, and watching of movies. It was a good day, and a good way to spend my first day back home after a week in Texas at a very busy sales conference.

But while I was away in Texas (and I feel very guilty for being there and not here at the time), my cat Punkin passed away. It was sudden (he had a stroke), though not entirely out of the blue (he was 19 years old, at least). Still, it was hard to come home to my brother and his dog waiting for me, rather than loud and insistent meowing. I regret that it was the brother who had to deal with all of that, without help. I regret that my Smelly Old Man (as I'd taken to calling him) was alone, even if it was for a short while. I loved him, and I'm going to miss him.

Especially when I come home, even after good days, to a very quiet apartment.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-25T07:28:00.002-05:00

After much too little sleep, I'm up again bright and early Christmas morning...to clean. There are no presents, yet. Santa did not visit. But the Mom arrives in eight hours, and by then I should have my apartment looking presentable.
I'm joking, of course, if only a little. Mostly I'm just too wound up to sleep. I keep making lists in my head, of things still to do (put away that load of dishes, clean the mirrors...), and when I tell myself to stop, I end up with excited thoughts (Boxing Day sales? I want to buy boots! Black ones, tall, not thigh-highs though...) so finally I decided it's better to get up and be productive. If I get enough done, then I'll take a nap later.
I really shouldn't be spending my time blogging, but I decided to put on the TV, to that channel with the fireplace that they play all day- and there's two of them! How does one choose between 'Yule Log Carols' and 'Christmas Fireplace'? And I thought this day was going to be so simple!

Merry Christmas, all - from one who doesn't celebrate it (much)!

Busy holidays

2009-12-14T22:19:00.002-05:00

So, this week is so busy that I actually had to make a list of the days and outline my activities for each one. And revise said list. Over and over again.
Keep in mind that I also use the outlook calendar on my work computer, and I have wall calendars at the office, and at home. Yes, they're all the same- its just how I roll.
So when I add to all those a list of daily activities, you know I've got a lot on my plate.

Lucky me, it's almost all really fun.

Saturday was my work holiday party. Kev went with me, and we sat at a table with a bunch of friends of mine from work. The dinner was good, the talk was good, and we left after a few dances. For once, there was no major winter storm the night of the event, as there has been the last three years running...that was nice. Did I win anything, I hear you ask? No, for the third year in a row, I did not. Planning for rigging next year's prize draw starts now.

Sunday I went shopping with Erica, a friend from grade school whom I've recently(ish) reconnected with. I love introducing people to fun shops and things I know about that they've never been to or heard of. We went all over Yorkville, and had a pretty productive day. Then I went to the Robins' place to hang out for a bit, and they let me borrow a mixer.

This morning was the one un-fun part of my week. I got to go to the doctor! I had to get a Havrix booster (protection against Hepatitis-something you get for vacations to places like Mexico). While I was there, the doc offered an H1N1 shot (that I've been meaning to get anyway), so I got that, and then she wanted to send me for blood work (basic stuff), and since I hadn't had time for breakfast I was good to go to have blood taken just then and there. So basically I spent the first half of my day impersonating a pin cushion. Woot.

But then I came home and finished a beading project (yes, its a gift), and made shortbread cookies, with the mixer I borrowed, which made it super fast and really easy. I decided to save the dishes for tomorrow, when my arm doesn't hurt so much.

Tuesday I get to go to the mall! after work to shop! for presents! YAY! Then I'm going to come home and maybe I'll make meringue cookies...I haven't decided yet.

Wednesday I have a holiday party and gift exchange with a bunch of girlfriends. Its a potluck and I'm bringing puff pastry onion tart I made, and some of my cookies (and maybe meringues).

Thursday Erica has invited me over to her place for dinner. I get to meet her fiance and her cat (though strangely I think she's more excited about me meeting the cat). Should I bring something?

Friday I have more baking to do (in case you have yet to realize it, I've set myself out to be everyone else's worst influence this year!), and then the weekend is brunch and more shopping and more baking, and another holiday party and everything is just so much fun!!!

...if only my arm would stop hurting. Damn shot.

Yay Christmas!

2009-12-08T22:20:00.002-05:00

So, Hanukkah is very early this year (like, it starts on Friday), and the Mom is coming to visit on the 25th. This means that presents (which would normally be shipped across the country) are being delayed. It means that the finger food night (a tradition from childhood that the brother and I have kept going) is being delayed. In fact, all the usual festivies are being timed to the Mom's arrival. And since she arrives on the 25th, that means that for the first time in years I'm kind of doing Christmas.

And its fun.
And totally going to my head.

I made cookies, with food colouring in them, and those little edible metallic balls on top. I'm planning menus. I've even bought those little LED lights and strung them up...on my potted palm.

I'm still lighting the candles, of course.
It's just the opening act to, well, a whole lot of cookies, as far as I'm concerned.

Yay Christmas!

Ill fate

2009-11-25T13:40:00.001-05:00

The signs were there.

My lips have been chapped.

I got to bed at a decent hour last night, but felt like I'd only had a few hours sleep.

And on the way to work, I stopped at Tim's for a hot chocolate – a large one. Hot chocolate in the morning is not a good sign. Needing it even before I get to work is a really bad sign.

Add to that, I got in to the office at the same time as my boss. The same time! That has never happened.

In hindsight, I know I should have been much more cognizant of what was coming, that dark cloud that was looming on the horizon, that ill fate that was about to befall me.

Literally, ill fate.

But still, I find myself unprepared. By halfway through the workday, I am down to four tissues. Four. Even my most carful rationing can only take me so far, and I tremble for the moment when that meager supply runs dry. I'm sneezing at the office, and it's not a good thing.

My boss already commented on it. A friend said I sound like I'm coming down with something. I contradict them, I am not getting sick. It's allergies, it's dust. Cat dander. The fact that there are no cats at the office makes no nevermind. I'm not getting sick.

And yet, I've sent off an email to let the group know that I will not be attending our book club meeting tonight, after all.

I have plans to stop at the grocery store tonight for tissues. And maybe soup.

And I want my large, warm sweatshirt really, really bad right now.

But I'm not getting sick.

Windows Live: Make it easier for your friends to see what you're up to on Facebook.

Inventory was a mistake

2009-10-25T14:45:00.000-04:00

We're in the middle of a fabulously gorgeous autumn. Cold, yes, and a little rainy, but freaking beautiful. The view off my balcony is made up of all my favourite colours, and looks like it belongs in a magazine. Ironic, since the last time I went to buy my favourite magazine (a bead mag called Bead & Button), instead of a bright orange cover and projects that celebrated this very colourful time of year, it was all full of purple (meh) gold (ick) and crystal (ugh). I left it in the bookstore, and ended up buying Real Simple, which I've never read before, but the cover was very orange, so I decided to give it a shot.

And while I would be pretty disappointed that my newest bead-fix has been denied me, I'm not sweating it, cause the end of this month is the semi-annual Toronto Bead show (woot)! Not only is this an event I look forward to every day of the six months since the last show, but this time, I get to introduce a friend to the quietly wild bead show atmosphere. Victoria and I will grab brunch and then walk to the show from there.

In anticipation (and preparation) for the show, I decided to sort through my stores, take a note of what I have and what I'm lacking, and make up a shopping list. This, I believed, would solve two problems that I have run into before in my shopping: avoiding getting two or more of the same thing (what am I going to do with three vials of scarab-green beads, seriously?), and making sure that when I get home, I have everything I'll need (avoiding the I can't work on that project cause I'm out of freaking glue! moment).

This was a mistake. What started as a shopping list turned out to be surprisingly long, and evolved into something of a wish list as well. The result? Come next weekend, I'm likely to be broke.

Happy as a kitten in a yarn store, but broke.

Nuit Blanche - gone

2009-10-04T22:46:00.002-04:00

This weekend was pretty good. I went to the market (it's well into autumn here, and the apples are amazing), then I went out to Nuit Blanche.

I ended up seeing five exhibits (I'd planned out a route that covered twelve, knowing fully that I wouldn't get to all of them), and only three of the five were actually on my list. I started at the Bata shoe museum, where they were taking pictures of people's shoes and doing an art-installation based on the photos. There was also supposed to be poetry, I thought, but maybe all the poets were on a break while I was there. Anyway, because there were no poets (just an empty microphone where the public were being encouraged to 'share their stories - and no one was), and because there wasn't a large group of people together (they were letting in small groups at a time, and there was no main large gathering place), the atmosphere was kind of hum-drum. Basically, what I had thought was an intriguing idea was executed disappointingly.

So after that, I figured I'd head straight downtown where more of the action would be. Lucky me, on the way back to the subway I passed by the ROM, and there was a street performer out front. He was great - nothing shockingly original performance-wise (a basic sword juggling routine, a really tall unicycle, and a bit of fire eating thrown in for flavour), but his showmanship was fabulous - he had the crowd laughing like crazy. He was good enough that I stayed until the end of his show, and I put money in the hat he held out.

Downtown I went to see a giant silver bunny balloon by Jeff Koons that was set up inside the Eaton Centre - very cool. On the way there I passed by this woman wearing a dress that was made out of an igloo-looking tent, doing a performance piece that seemed to be about waking up, though I didn't stay very long to see it.

Then I got in line for Massey Hall. There was a sound installation there called Space Becomes The Instrument by Gordon Monahan. I stood in line for 90 minutes- UGH. It was cold, we were standing on the sidewalk, which was decidedly uncomfortable, and there was nothing going on around us to take our minds off the wait. Clever me, I don't leave the house without a book in my purse, and it doesn't matter if it's 4am, in downtown Toronto, there's always enough light to read by, easily (for the record, I am against light pollution, but just this once it worked well in my favour). On the other hand, once I got in, it was pretty much worth it. The audience all sat in a group, on the stage. Just getting to see Massey Hall from that perspective, to be able to say "I've stood on that stage before" was neat. The performers were all in the orchestra and balconies. They had piano wires strung up, right to the ceiling and across the entire space from left to right, and there was a microphone attached to the point where all the wires crossed. Then one girl grabbed one wire, and dragged the mic along the wires, jiggling them and waving them and increasing and decreasing the tension on them, and the mic picked up all these weird tones and variations. That noise was combined with techno sounds and pumped into speakers all around us, with the sound moving from one to the next, so it seemed to come from different directions. It was very neat sounding, and kind of reminded me of the thunder storm we'd had earlier that day.

Then came the second part of the performance. Three people climbed up in the balconies, and held speakers that started emitting steady tones - each one different. Then they started swinging the speakers around their heads, at different (and changing) speeds. The sound was eerie, and it got more eerie when all the lights went out, and the three swinging speakers each lit up. The ceiling of Massey Hall is scalloped, and the lights made the shadows oscillate- it kind of looked like waves. The effect worked well, since the sounds made me think of Sirens (the mythic kind, not the ambulance kind). All of it was strange - I need a work halfway between music and noise, cause that's what this was. I liked it a lot.

By the time I got back outside, it was about 5am, and I decided that I was tired enough (and had enjoyed the sound installation enough) that I would end on a high note (no pun intended), and headed back home. I got in at about 530, took a little time to wind down (and eat something; by then my circadian rhythms were screwed up enough to leave me starving), and then I hit my pillow, hard. For about four hours, when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I was just trying to decide if I wanted to attempt doing anything (no), when Kev called - he'd been at a house party the night before, and was about as beat as I was. We decided that the best thing to do was as close to nothing as possible. So today Kev and I ordered in Thai food and watched nine hours of Boy Meets World.

Awesome weekend. Awesome.

Nuit Blanche - going

2009-10-04T00:23:00.002-04:00

Ever heard of Nuit Blanche? Its this all-night modern art thing that fills up Toronto streets once a year, and it's tonight. Its very strange to be getting ready to go out at midnight, but here I go. Check out the webpage for the basics, and I'll blog tomorrow (after sleeping in, of course) about all the things I see.

http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca

Fresh look

2009-09-07T21:08:00.007-04:00

So, I spent the greater part of the weekend painting my apartment, and I'm super pleased with how it turned out. Check it out:

My tools

My intrepid helper
Getting started
Final result - gorgeous!

So, I hope you don't mind the image-based blog, but frankly, I can't think of anything else to say about a now-brown wall. Shockingly, watching paint dry doesn't make for scintillating commentary.

I bought paint!

2009-09-04T16:40:00.001-04:00

I've decided one of the walls in my apartments needs to be a different colour, so today after work (last day of summer hours, so I took advantage) I went to the bead store and found a fabulous citrine to wear to a friends' wedding next week, and then I went to the hardware store and got paint! I'm so excited!

Stupid Tuesday

2009-09-01T17:43:00.003-04:00

Everything at work blew up in my face today.

This morning I had to peel myself out of bed, and I knew it would be nice outside, and I have laundry to do and my apartment needs cleaning and I am very eager to start painting that one wall in my place that I've decided needs to be different, and I thought about all the things I could do that weren't work, and then I told myself to go to the office like a good girl, even if I do have plenty of paid sick days that I haven't taken yet this year.

I should have stayed home.

I had minor questions - minor!- about the process for using this new system the US is using, and what should have been very, very simple answers ended up being the openings of multiple cans of worms, which result in very very much more work for yours truly (and others). None of this is my fault, so there's none of the guilt I would have if I'd actually screwed something up, there's just that feeling of naivete that comes from weeks of people telling me that this would be 'simple to implement' and me blithely following, ignoring the voice in the back of my brain that was trying to tell me 'this will be harder than you think'.

I should listen more to my inner voices. More the one that whispers 'stay home' than the one that tells me new projects are destined to be nightmares.

We saw a tempest, not The Tempest

2009-08-29T21:04:00.003-04:00

Last week, several friends and I came up with the lovely idea of going to Shakespeare in the Park after work. We decided to meet right after work and have a pot-luck picnic before the show. I made pasta salad. We left work, and the sky got a little darker. We got to the park, and the sky got a little darker. We took out our picnic, and the sky got real dark, and started growling. We ran to the nearest gazebo (don't think round, arch-roofed romantic 'you-are-sixteen-going-on-seventeen' structure, think barn roof on stilts with lines of picnic tables beneath), and the sky opened up and...well, 'rained down hell' is only slightly melodramatic. Winds raged, rain came in sideways, lightening crashed like mad. We screamed a bit, laughed a lot, and once the winds calmed enough to let the rain come down more vertical-like, we shrugged our shoulders and unpacked our now slightly damp, but just as tasty, picnic, and finished our adventure...and dinner. By the time we were done eating, the storm was finished and the sky was orange and calm(ish), and we all went home- damp, kinda cold, and with a good story (bad decisions often lead to those).

Weekend at the Cottage

2009-08-04T21:44:00.005-04:00

So, late last night, we got back from the cottage. I love that place. It's very relaxing - I love not having any clue (or care) about what time it is...or what day it is. The weather was better than it called for (meaning that it didn't rain every minute)- we actually had some nice, sunny days. There was swimming and tons of reading, we played several games of Trivial Pursuit, great (and very plentiful) food...

I brought a chunk of soapstone with me (yes, the one I maimed myself with- see previous post), and the plan was to work on it a bit each day and have it done by the end of the weekend. Well, I kind of got into it, so I carved the whole thing in one, several-hours-long stint. It was great, especially as I had Steven (hereby known as my carving guru) sitting with me, showing me techniques and telling me what tools I'd need and such. Check out what I made!

I hope you all had a great long weekend like me!

Who knew preparing for the cottage was so hazardous?

2009-07-30T19:29:00.007-04:00

I'm a freaking genius! (The English language really has to come up with punctuation that denotes sarcasm).

Tomorrow the brother and I are off to the Robins' cottage. Sweet! Though the weather hasn't been the greatest, we have high hopes. But, just in case, I'm also bringing along a lot of things to do- I bought beading magazines, I'll have a pile of sudoku puzzles with me...you know how much a brain weighs? That's how much candy I bought.

Also, I have some new pieces of soapstone from my trip to BC, and I wanted to bring some along to carve. I don't want to tote along ALL my tools and stuff, though, just a set of files and some sandpaper, so I was trying to do everything to prepare the stone ahead of time. Thus, I figured out (last night, in my head, in my bed, while I was supposed to be sleeping), that it needed a hole. Skip forward to this morning, which found me freshly showered and dressed for work, using a towel as an apron, and drilling into a piece of stone.

It's not a huge thing- I didn't need to get out my whole Dremel set or anything - I've got my grandfather's drill, this awesome, ancient hand-crank thing.

So, I'm trying to carve this hole, trying not to get dusty, and trying to not be late for work. I'm changing drill bits, which you do by either a) holding the crank still while you twist the chuck at the top open, or the reverse, by holding the chuck still while turning the crank. Now, you see those gears on the drill? See that space between them that doesn't exist? Yeah, that's where my pinkie finger went.

I spent all day at work doing my best to avoid typing 'cause it turns out I use my pinkie a lot when typing. Ow. I also stopped to buy band-aids on my way home - I'd used my last one.

Poor pinkie. On the other hand, now the damn stone is ready for the cottage!

Peas!

2009-07-22T20:24:00.007-04:00

Isn't it beautiful?! It's one of my first batch of sugar snap peas that I grew all by myself! Seriously, these started out as seeds and now I have something edible, people.

I'm thinking of becoming a farmer.

Away too long, and not long enough!

2009-07-20T21:46:00.004-04:00

Don't hate me because I'm busy!

Between friends moving, friends starting new businesses, friends getting married (not to mention my own venture across the country), I've been a busy girl!

Yes, life is busy happening in the big city. Unfortunately, the big city is also featuring a city workers strike that means all Canada Day celebrations were cancelled, not to mention that the trash is starting to pile up good n' high. Let's just say it was a good time to get out of the city.

I managed to do Canada Day in Victoria, which was lovely and sunny and had that small-town feel. There was a street festival and free watermelon and a nice dinner with friends, and it all culminated in a fabulous fireworks show (we're convinced that Toronto shipped its unused explosives to the coast).

The Mom and I also participated in a glass class, and made beautiful plates! This one is mine (forgive the awful photography, and for the record, that's a piece of white paper behind it- the plate is clear, and therefore REALLY hard to get a good picture of. I'll try to do better tomorrow). I'll try and get the Mom to send me a pic of hers for me to post...except I still have her memory card...sorry the Mom.

There was a lot of shopping (I seem to be surprisingly enamored of umbrellas lately...) there was a trip to Botanical Beach (while the tide was coming in..."JUMP, Mom, you can do it, you just have to get a running start!"), obligatory pickle-boating, lots of good food and a couple of really great markets. The markets there are different from most Toronto ones I've been to- here's it's mostly food featured, with some stuff (like art, hand-made items, etc.) There, it's mostly stuff with a little food thrown in, mostly for munching on there, while you browse. I got some great hand-spun wool for my knitting guru, a suitable appropriate bridal shower gift for my bride-friend, something called ice-wine tea for my tea-loving artsy friend, and piles of chocolate for piles of others. I also hit the museum there- it's a wonderful little museum, and right now it has a really fabulous show on loan from the British Royal Museum. REALLY worth going to- I had a great day.

But now (sigh) I'm back, and suitably recovered to get back into the proper swing of things, including blogging. I'm a little behind on all sorts of projects, which I will let you know about in time.

You may have noticed a new link to the right- Sonnet & Mayhem. This is the truly inspiring artsy endeavour of the above-mentioned tea-loving friend. She's opened up her own business making hand-carved and stamped cards, postcards, etc. She's got very much talent, and she's pouring it out into these lino prints, and they're turning out beautifully. I happily point you in her direction - go explore her blog, and her shop on etsy.com. Her stuff is great!

The cat killed my hairdryer

2009-06-01T22:46:00.003-04:00

The Mom is visiting.
She says I'm not allowed to make fun of her on my blog, so I won't.

My pillows got soaked with water last night, but that was because of the cat.
My hairdryer is dead, but it was probably the cat.

Also, the cat can't answer my cell phone reliably and can't read without its glasses.

But seriously, we're having a great time. We went to brunch and the zoo, then we went to St Lawrence Market and shopping and to a BBQ at the Robins'. Then we drove to Jordan and Niagara-on-the-Lake. The weekend was wonderful, but exhausting!

And the visit goes on- tomorrow we're going to the movies, and then at some point we have to go shopping again...I need a new hairdryer.

I am my mother's daughter

2009-05-25T18:46:00.002-04:00

So, the Mom is visiting at the end of the week. I am very excited, and I have a lot to do - stocking up on groceries, doing several loads of laundry, cleaning everything, yadda yadda yadda. So, the minute I get out of work today, I rush off to (of course)...go shopping.
Whatever.
So I'm in Winners and I find sheets for a very reasonable price. And since I've needed new bed linens for some time, and especially since I'm soon to have a house guest, I consider this a fortunate find.
However, I also find shoes.
They are the same price as the linens. And they're great. And I can't splurge on both.

Sorry, Mom.

Call it Vitamin P

2009-05-14T18:55:00.003-04:00

Summer hours at my office started this week; that means working an extra 45 minutes every day until Friday, when we get to leave in the early afternoon. And while I'm very much looking forward to Friday, right now, all I'm feeling is a full week of extra-long days piling up. This, together with the stressingly difficult Pilates class I just went thorough (I'm pretty sure this damn class is supposed to be getting easier, not harder as I go along) has left me decidedly drained; I didn't even have the mental fortitude to steer myself away from temptation tonight and so am having a dinner that is very much anti-diet. I bought something I've never purchased for myself before, ever: one box of Lucky Charms. I justified that if I was craving it so badly, then maybe it contained something my body needs that I was lacking (you know how sometimes you out-of-the-blue want a steak if you're low on iron?)
However, looking down at the remains of my 'dinner', I find it doubtful that my body was lacking in vaguely purple-tinted milk.

Spring things

2009-05-12T17:19:00.001-04:00

So, it's officially Spring, and the weather has become acceptibly spring-like, even if 'April's showers' seem to be spilling into May. I've cleaned my house (to a degree, anyway), I've started my garden, I'm cooking with vegetables from Canada (as opposed to South Africa) once again!
This year, I've planted sugar snap peas (these didn't work last year, but I like them too much not to try again), red peppers, tomatoes, and spring onions. Good luck to me, though I already have sprouted things poking out of soil, so I'm off to a good start!

I also went back to the Farmer's Market with a friend last weekend. It's been a while since I've been there- winter doesn't make me want to get up early on a Saturday to trek across town to a large cold building that's probably mostly filled with withered carrots anyway- but now that there is sunshine in the mornings, it's great to go. Which, for the record, everyone else seems to be thinking as well, cause it was friggin packed.
But I'm glad we went. It always feels good to go to the market. I feel very grown-up and sophisticated to buy things like fiddleheads and smoked paprika. I also bought a large pink chunk of Himalayan rock salt, which I currently think makes me very cool in the kitchen.
I made fiddleheads with shrimp over cauliflower mash- and damn I'm good!

And I'm buried in the extra-curricular projects right now. I'm knitting two things at once (scarf for the brother and messenger-style bag for me), I just loaded up with new beads at the Toronto Bead Show, it's finally warm enough for me to start stonecarving again, and I even picked up new sketching pens...and then went home and sketched...and then remembered why I don't sketch things...I suck at sketching.

In my down time (of which I have little left, after all that), I'm reading a book that has no real story; no character development, no antagonist to speak of, no rise or fall of action...believe it or not, it's not even fiction, it's NON-ficition (which I never, ever read), and it doesn't even have a plot, unless you consider the alphabet a plot, and even if you did, I doubt you'd find it a very compelling one.
And I tell you now, this is one of the most ticklingly wonderful reads I've ever read.
Ironically, it's a book published by Penguin that's all about an Oxford publication, but what can I say, sometimes the publishing lines get blurred.
It's called Reading the OED, and that's all it is, a book about a guy reading a dictionary- and its GREAT! Seriously, people, go out and get this book.
I freaking love words. Favourite new word so far: Cellarhood (n.) The state of being a cellar. WHY DOES ENGLISH HAVE A WORD FOR THIS?!

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Yay week

2009-04-14T21:55:00.002-04:00

Why is this a yay week? Well, we had Friday off cause of Easter, and long weekends are always good. Also, last Tuesday, I'm sitting at lunch in the cafeteria, and the head of my division, along with the CEO come and sit at our table. We make pleasant conversation...a one point, the CEO asks if anyone is taking Thursday off work. I reply, jokingly "Well, if you're offering..." and he gives me baseball tickets! Four seats at Rogers Centre to watch the Jays beat the Tigers. Awesome. So, I get Kevin and the brother to take the day off work as well, and we (and the brother's roommate) go to the game, which the Jays win, so everybody's happy.
That night the brother and I have Passover dinner at the Robins (very tasty- fabulous lemon cheesecake), which goes on till 4am (all the best evenings do). While I'm there, I show off my first properly completed and successful knitting project: a short green scarf in variegated green and cream, done in straight knit stitch. Embarrassingly basic, but I'm so proud. I expect to be razzed for my geeky new hobby, especially by the brother. The family dutifully raves over my gorgeous scarf- and the brother asks me to make him one! I have a commission- how cool am I?
So I spend a good chunk of Saturday trekking to the good wool shop (which is all the way down in Queen West). I get wool for the brother's project...and more for a new project of my own. I also stop at the grocery store and make a slowcooker-full of curry that night. Sunday I have brunch with book club friends, then home for knitting and curry. Knitting goes fine. When I try to transfer the ceramic dish full of curry to the fridge...well, there's the fridge door, and the curry pot, and me juggling them, and for the record, I suck at juggling. Result? A very predictable shattered ceramic pot, curry everywhere...floor, fridge, cupboards, me. Super ick, and a waste of perfectly good food! I'm crushed as thoroughly as my slowcooker pot.
Whatever; it was a cheap slowcooker anyway.
Monday I have a vague idea to go to Victoria. I mention it to the Mom over the phone. She says 'anytime'. Today (tuesday), I find a seat sale on airline tickets- and there's 4 seats left. No time for thinking, so I book my travel (whirlwind; I usually think these things to death before going forward with plans like this). But its done, the tickets on my credit card...but when I get home, what do I find? My tax return?! Why thank you, government, you just bought me a flight to BC.
Like I said, its a yay week.

Spring Snow

2009-04-06T19:37:00.002-04:00

Its snowing in Toronto. It's spring, it's Easter...and its freaking snowing. Not mostly-rain-its-almost-frozen-if-you-squint snow, but big, fat, cover-the-grass, stick-to-your-felt-coat, Merry-Christmas-Everybody SNOW. Ugh.
Tonight I made really good burritos for dinner. This week is Passover, so we're supposed to eat unleavened bread, and I figured tortillas were unleavened. The brother and I are going to the Robins' for dinner on Thursday, too. I'm looking forward to it, especially since there's no work the next day (three-day weekends are sweet!)
...that is, they would be sweet, if I could get motivated to do something with them. I don't know what the deal is, but the last couple of weekends I've been rather lumpish. Admittedly, I had a book for book club to get through this weekend, but it's annoying to have a couple of days free of the office and to spend the entire time inside. I think I have to start planning better for my time off.
Not that all my free time lately has been wasted, mind you. Three weeks ago the brother and I went to Ikea so I could buy a shelf unit that was on sale. Ikea was all out of the shelf unit, but I was with the brother (who loves to spend my money), so somehow at the end of that weekend I had a four-foot palm plant, several kitchen tools, a DVD player, and a new kitchen floor. For the record, stick-down tiles are fun- for the first four rows.
There's not much more of note right now- knitting and beading are fun for me, but not to talk about...so I think I'll go do that now.
Happy Passover, Everybody.

Belated Mexico

2009-03-08T21:17:00.008-04:00

So, winter was brutal in Toronto – we broke the record amount of snow fallen, dangerous cold warnings went out, a lot, and we were just getting to the part of the winter where everyone’s aching for some sunlight, and yet they all know there won’t be any for another month, at least.
And that’s when I got to go to Mexico.
Sweet.

Everything about it was wonderful. Even the flight out was, like, the best flight I’ve ever been on- with snacks and food and wine and champagne. (Though the movie did suck, and they played “When the moon hits your eye” when we landed – classic Italian songs are the ideal way to welcome visitors to Mexico, I guess).
We made it to the resort, and saw the Mom, which was, of course, great.

The resort was large, but it didn’t feel huge. It was horseshoe shaped, facing the beach, and had three pools in the centre, with a ‘river’ connecting the pools, and a swim-up bar, and two restaurants. There were wild iguanas and cats and peacocks that all made the hotel their home (very cool – guests of the hotel would pick hyacinth flowers and feed them to the iguanas). That night we had dinner in an open-walled restaurant overlooking the ocean.
All the rooms face outdoors, so when we went to bed that night, we could hear the waves, and the sound was so perfect that we actually wondered if the sound was being piped in. (It wasn’t.)

We spent the next three days by the pool. The brother made fun of me for bringing four books, but we burned through those pretty quickly. Fortunately, there was an informal book exchange at the towel hut, and we got some more reading material there.
We spent some time on the beach, but I liked the pools better. Lounges everywhere, a little music, and guys in white who wandered around bringing us drinks and food and drinks and frozen towels and drinks…

There was a marina about ten minutes’ walk from the resort, and we went there one night for dinner. There were a couple of cool art places, a tequila boutique with free tastings, and a lot of restaurants, including where we went – Victors. I loved Victors!!! That place had the best tortilla soup I’ve ever tasted. And the tequila was free, and flowed like water. The brother had warned me before our trip that I was not, at any point, to turn down any offers of free stuff (this stems from the last flight we took together, when I was offered both a newspaper and a glass of wine that I didn’t want, and was later lectured for turning down). So you can imagine what it took to have the brother, by the end of the night, pleading not to be brought any more tequila, LOL!

We also took the hotel’s free bus tour of the city, which included time to shop and explore the city. The area we were in was busy and bright and there was too much to look at. This is also when I found a shop full of Huichol art – beaded art done by the Huichol Indians. We took some pics there, and I bought a Huichol owl to take home with me!

Then there was a ride up through the foothills of the Sierra Madres to a fabulous seafood restaurant. The Mom and the brother shared a drink made up of several different alcohols – including moonshine – which was served in a coconut decorated with flowers and straws…and a carrot. We never really figured out where the carrot came in.
We went back to the pool some more, and on our second-to-last day, we went on a real adventure, with speed boating and whale watching and horseback riding and snorkeling and a private beach with a catered lunch. That was an incredible day- we saw three humpback whales, and dolphins.

When we went riding, well, I think my horse on the way up to the waterfall was named ‘Glue Yesterday’, but I got a different mount on the way back, and he was minimally more ‘lively’. At the waterfall was a restaurant with drinks and munchies, and a swimming hole. Then we rode back and got back in the speedboat, to go to our private beach. Snorkeling was cool – I saw a tiny little jelly, and a blowfish and some long-nosed fish, and small sharks all in a group, and bright little tropical fish, and stingrays and sea urchins. Very cool!

By then we were tired, and starving, but the meal on the beach was so good (there was really delicious steak – I’m going to try and recreate here). Afterward I laid in a hammock strung between two palm trees drinking a pink drink out of a coconut, and knew it was heaven.

That evening we went to the upscale restaurant at the hotel, which was specializing in gourmet Mexican food. It was great, and we ate so much, and after we were stuffed, then the staff started singing and I tried to sink into the floor cause they were singing at me. They brought me a birthday cake, too, which was delicious, but we were so full that we mostly just picked at it. I should have brought it back to the room, in retrospect.

And the next day was travel day again. The Mom flew out early, and the brother and I spent the day by the pool before going to the airport. The flight back was a little delayed, and again the movie sucked, but was otherwise fine. The brother leant me his noise-cancelling headphones for the whole flight, which was very sweet of him – those things are amazing.
And then we were in Toronto again, where it was cold, and later, snowed. And all three of us looked back fondly on our trip…
…and decided to do it again, next year.

Too cold; must think of Mexico

2009-01-18T16:19:00.003-05:00

My balcony looks like the Stay-Puft marshmallow man exploded all over it; giant mounds of fluffy whiteness everywhere. This fact, combined with my desire to try and save money made the decision to stay in today pretty easy to make. On the other hand, I'm bored as hell.

The holidays were quiet at home, busy at work - the usual. The brother went out west again, and I spent a lot of time at the office getting ready for the national sales meeting in Orlando. But the quiet was kind of a needed break, and I did all sorts of indulgent things (like ordering in Chinese food just for me) that I don't usually let myself do. Also, I got a ton of time to bead!

Gearing up to the business meeting is always a ton of work, and the meeting itself is kind of surreal; especially this one, which included the US side of the company, and a bit of the international side, as well. The days were long and crazy busy, the hotel was expansive, and there were no windows where we were, so the only daylight I saw all week was on the way from and to the airport. On the other hand, I got to room with a friend, so that was fun, and the food was really good. Still, there were so many of us (something like 1800 people), and the meeting is always like taking a break from your real life. It's interesting - challenging, exhausting, fun, stressful, all rolled into one- but I'm always happy to get home at the end of it. Especially this time; I flew home on Friday and then took Monday and Tuesday off, so I had a lovely four-day weekend.

And the Mom booked our Mexico trip! We're leaving in just a few weeks, and I'm pretty excited. I've already gone online for information on bead stores, local art, culture, food, and safety (all the things I find important!) Apparently Huichol art is a feature in Puerto Vallarta, and it's gorgeous! I can't wait. Especially when I look out the window, and know that I won't be able to play hermit tomorrow. Out into the cold and snow for me - for a few more weeks at least :(

Busy month

2008-12-16T20:34:00.001-05:00

So, I had the company holiday party two weeks ago, and it was a lavish affair. The ballroom was impressive, the meal was decent, and though I didn’t win anything, people did keep coming up to me and giving me drink tickets, so that was nice. I’m trying not to read into the fact that my bosses gave me lots of drink tickets.
The borrowed necklace got a lot of praise, and everyone looked great. Also, the company continued its habit of holding the holiday party on the first bad snowstorm of the year, so the roads were bad enough that we got there late. Much thanks go to friend Dani for the ride she gave me, no thanks at all go to her GPS, which can’t navigate its way out of a paper bag.
All in all it was a good night, and unlike last year, we didn’t stay till the bitter (overly liquored) end; I was home before the wee hours, and got enough sleep to avoid being a zombie the next day when another friend and I went to the ballet (and also the mall and out to lunch). That was great, though the ballet had a lot of kids in it, and was a different version of the Nutcracker than I remembered. I hadn’t known there were different versions of that play until I got home and googled it to make sure my brain wasn’t making up Christmas stories.
Since then there’s been book club (we’re watching the most hilarious version of Jane Eyre I’ve ever seen), shopping with the brother (spread out over two days cause there’s only so much you can get done before the shops close, and it isn’t helped by the fact that he doesn’t rise from his bed until afternoon). Also, there was a rowdy meeting with one group of girl friends that also involved a Secret Santa gift exchange- I got pretty purple earrings, a mini picture frame that is studded with beads, and a magnet that keeps track of when to feed the cat. I made a pair of earrings for my giftee, along with a Starbucks gc for a splurge; she was quite pleased, I think.
Then last night was a holiday get-together with the boys. Kev picked me up from work and we picked up my potluck contribution, then headed to their place. Hugh and his sister brought in a real tree, and I ate and played games and helped the gentiles decorate their pine. We had tacos with homemade tortillas, meatballs, bacon sweet potato soup, and more cookies than twelve of us would need (and there were only five there). It was a great night…
…that did not end when I got home, cause tonight I’m having another set of girl friends over to my place, and the apartment needed a lot more than a lick and a promise. I stayed up late and then got up early, but I got *most* of what I needed done. I’m meeting friends at the grocery store (wild plans, hun?) and we’re shopping for tonight, then crashing at my pad.
And the crazy month continues! I have Jane Eyre, part two tomorrow, along with a regular book meeting (Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein), Egg grooming and then holiday dinner with the brother on Saturday, Hanukkah dinner with the Robins Sunday…and then nothing except work until those few blissful days off that we have coming up.
I love December, even if all the snow has melted already. Thanks, global warming.

Blog drought over

2008-12-06T05:41:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I haven't blogged in a while, and maybe 5am on a random Saturday in December is an odd time to get back in the habit, but then, odd is something I've never claimed to be.
For awhile I couldn't really blog because the only big thing going on was work stuff that I couldn't write about online. Then I just kind of got out of the habit for awhile, you know?
Anyways, fair readers (if there's still any of you out there), you want updates, and I plan to go back to providing them from now on.
So, here goes:
About three weeks ago we laid to rest Tripawed, a.k.a "Little Cat" "Three-legs" "Fat Girl". For those of you who knew her, she was a very soft, sweet little runt who grew to the size (and shape) of a basketball with three legs. She was quiet and meek and dumb as a post, and we loved her. She will be missed.
Also, we had a weight-loss challenge at work, and I totally won. Big $ for me, plus permanent bragging rights at the office. Not that I would brag, though. At this point I'm actually wishing my coworkers would stop mentioning it; I appreciate the kudos, but a month later, its just making me feel guilty for every cookie I might have (and 'tis the season for cookies, don't ya know).
And I went to the ballet with the Robins in my new sweater dress, both of which were lovely. The dancers wore tennis shoes, so my favourite part of the night was playing dress-up with Robins purses and make-up and jewelry.
There's been other stuff, but a lot of it is work and oughtn't be mentioned at this time (nothing bad; work is busy but good), and I'm probably forgetting a lot cause the clock is just rolling toward 6am, and this is a stupid time to be awake blogging.
Anyways, I'm going back to bed now cause I have a very big weekend ahead of me, folks. I have the dentist (big fun) in about 5 hours, then the company Holiday party is tonight, and tomorrow, hopefully, the ballet ('hopefully' because the possibility of ticket acquisition is yet to be seen). Will let you know how it all goes, but for now, goodnight, everyone.

UK adventure, Part 2

2008-08-18T21:06:00.002-04:00

Our first day officially back in England was pretty tame. It involved a walk with the dog to rent movies, and a lot of lying on the couch. We were tired! But the rest was well-earned, and it set us up for the next week.

Monday Richard had to work, so Mer and I wandered Oxford. We hit the covered market, a walking tour of the colleges, and a tour of OUP (don’t let the people I work with know that)! It poured rain on the way back, but that doesn’t matter because we stopped for chocolate.

The next day we went to London. London is amazing- so busy, but there’s stuff to see everywhere, literally! Toronto is very spread out, compared to London. In London there is something to see every ten feet! We took a bus tour cause I wanted to see as much as possible, in passing. We drove past Big Ben, the parliament, tower bridge, The London Eye, The Tower of London, the queen’s house…
Then we walked through Covent Garden, ate Cornish pasties, went to a stinky cheese shop…it was a good day! We even went on the London Eye, and saw everything from above.

Wednesday and Thursday I was on my own, cause both Mer and Richard had to work. I spent one day in Oxford (it rained…a lot). And one day in London (it rained, a little). Oxford was cool, even in the rain. The architecture was amazing, and there are gargoyles everywhere. London on my own was crazy- I went north to Camden market (nuts), east to Brick lane (bought baigles), south to the Globe theatre (saw the lobby), and the Tate Modern (saw one FABULOUS exhibition), and west to Harrods (shopping!). At the end of the day I was weary and footsore and felt so accomplished. It was a great day. And my trip wasn’t even over!

It was over the next day. Mer and I discussed going on a day trip again, but instead we toured Oxford one last time. We bought cakes (not for us this time, I brought them home for various birthday celebrants), visited the Bodlean giftshop, and wandered a bit more. Then we rushed back to their place, changed at record speed, left for Stratford on Avon, and went to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The play was hilarious- a little over the top, in parts, but definitely the funniest version I’ve ever seen (and at this point, I’ve seen a lot of those). We splashed out at the giftshop and loaded up on last-minute souveniers. It was a great end to a great trip.

UK adventure, Part 1

2008-08-18T20:51:00.003-04:00

So, my excuse is that it’s been a summer of doing, seeing, going, tasting- and not of writing. Now there’s writing. Yay!

So, starting from when I SHOULD have written: I flew to England at the end of June. The flight was shorter than I had expected, but not quite short enough, because of the cold I was fighting against and the very talkative youngster I was seated beside. No sleep was had on that flight, despite plans to the contrary. In any case, the plane landed, and I was in England! And there was a terminal and a real British guy put a stamp in my passport! (Okay, so that looks pretty lame in type, but at the time it was very exciting!) Uncle Richard picked me up (cause Aunt Mer doesn’t do mornings), and we drove to Oxford. I like the highway between London and Oxford. There’s this one hill on the right (if you’re heading away from London) that has a path winding up it, and there’s always sheep on it. It’s lame, but by the end of my trip I’d decided that that was my favourite hill. Anyways, we got to Oxford and Aunt Mer, and had breakfast. Please note that due to extreme tiredness and some jetlagginess, the first day was a little bit of a blur. There was reading and walking Levi, and there was purposely no napping. They took me ‘punting’ which doesn’t involve chucking stuff, as I’d originally assumed, but instead involves a long, shallow-bottomed boat that one pushes down a river with a big stick. Uncle Richard punted while Mer and I sat with Levi, and we went all the way up the river to a pub for lunch. I punted on the way back- and I did well!

First thing the next day we left for Ireland. Mer and Richard teased me cause I had less luggage than Levi. The drive through Wales was long, and I slept, though I didn’t mean to. The first thing we did in Dublin was break the law! Mer and I decided to go downtown even though it was evening already, so we bought tickets for the tram (called the ‘Luas’- Irish for ‘speed’), but we didn’t pay to go far enough (by mistake). But, we just stayed on the tram a little longer to get where we were going. If we’d been caught- well, we’re just helpless tourists, now aren’t we? The first evening in Dublin was great- I walked over the river Liffey, on the Ha’Penny Bridge! That was awesome. That was, pathetically, one of my major reasons for wanting to go there. And I did it! Yay! Then there was random shops and Temple Bar, street performers and drunks and ice cream for dinner and screaming soccer fans. Like I said; awesome. Two days in Dublin and we had the city core down. Tram to St. Anne station, walk north and cross the Liffey. Northeast is Temple Bar, northwest will get you to Trinity College (I saw the Book of Kells! It was amazing- but apparently, dangerous; there were signs everywhere warning tourists about pickpockets. Mer fell in love with the library upstairs. It was wonderful, and I cursed the lack of photos- but understood it. Further north and you get to the Museum block. The National Museum of Ireland is very interesting, but it needs lessons on labeling from the ROM. Mer and I had to keep a list of things to look up on the internet when we got back to the hotel. We saw a W.B. Yeats exhibit at the National Library (I liked the poems read by famous Irish people at the entrance best). There’s some shops across the street, which is where I got Lauren the Claddagh ring she wanted.
Walking along the shops, Mer and I ducked behind them when something colourful caught our eye (the magpie Atos gene strikes again). There was this gorgeous mosaic along a huge wall- of a parking lot. Amazing. I took many photos.
…but not as many as I took later, at Tara. Tara of the Kings, I was there! It was perfect. The long drive down along stone-walled winding roads, the lack of ticket booths and operating hours, the emptiness and the light at the end of the day. It was empty and desolate and magic. Tara is probably pretty lame to everyone who isn’t me. It’s a field with lumps in it, and one hollow hill with a locked gate on it. But it’s amazing because it was considered the spiritual, religious and royal center of Ireland. The Lia Fail is there, which is a large stone that screams if the future king of Ireland touches it. (We tested it; I’m not the king of Ireland. Neither is Merilee. Or Richard. Or Levi.)
I saw the Mound of the Hostages, which the past king used to use to keep the sons of his liegemen prisoner, to keep them under control. Scarily cool. It’s also a hugely significant archaeological site- experts believe that there are still up to 150 bodies buried under the mound. Tara was my favourite part of Ireland.

The next day we went to Newgrange. No one seems to know what that is but it’s a grave mound that is over 1000 years older than Stonehenge. It’s huge, and amazing, and surrounded by hand-carved curbstones. Very cool. And unfortunately, you can only get there with a guide, and that drives me nuts, in the bad way. Ugh. Still, we got to see it, which was great.
Then we drove to Clonmacnoise, which is the actual center of Ireland, where a monk built a church forever ago, and then they built another church when the first fell down, and then another, and then another. Now it’s this amazing religious site with a cluster of falling-down churches, and a very cool watchtower, and a castle that looks like someone smashed it with a hammer (mostly cause someone pretty much did, when it was invaded). It was cool. And we got chased by cows!

A long drive to Blarney, and then a long walk up a winding staircase through a crumbling castle, and Mer and I kissed the stone. (So, it took me like a month to write this blog; that doesn’t make it any less eloquent, does it?) After vague deliberation we decided to pass Cork up for Kilkenny, and we drove on. Kilkenny was neat, but there were supposed to be artsy shops that weren’t there (most notably a hand-made bead shop that had moved to a new town). Still, we did some great shopping, ate some great pastry, and laughed about the fact that pedestrian signals in Kilkenny sound like heart monitors. Halfway through our Kilkenny day Mer got a call that our ferry was leaving six hours earlier than scheduled, so the side trip to the bead shop was cancelled, and what was supposed to be a leisurely trip back to Wales became a sleepy early morning one. But we got there, and were exhausted, and hungry, and full of amazing memories, and pictures.

So ended the first half of my UK adventure.

Bon voyage to me!

2008-06-27T07:34:00.002-04:00

Okay, I'm calm again. Excited, but calm.
After finally getting my boarding pass last night, I went out with some old friends to have dinner. Hugh, Kev, Laur and I haven't done that in a long time (its been quite a while since we were even in the same place at the same time, and I loved it). There was good food, talk, and lots of laughing. It was a fantastic send-off.
And I even convinced Laur to stay over last night, netting myself a free ride to the airport, which is hugely appreciated. I've got a boarding pass, I've got a ride, I've got a friend with me- this all adds up to a totally unstressful travel day.
In any case, I should get on with it.
Bon voyage to me!

I'm on my way!!!

2008-06-26T17:53:00.002-04:00

Dear Friends,

Please kindly disregard previous blog. Apparently, the Continental website online check-in requires a minor freakout in order to complete boarding pass registration successfully. This requirement was easily met, and the process has been completed to the satisfaction of everyone involved.
Twenty four hours from now, I will be twiddling my thumbs in a Newark airport, waiting to board the big plane.
One hour from now I will be meeting my friends for dinner, so I gotta go get ready.
Wish me a good trip, and I'll blog if and when I can from abroad!

B.

Freaking out

2008-06-26T17:28:00.002-04:00

I'm packed.
My work is done.
My out-of-office is on.
The on-line check-in won't let me print a boarding pass. It keeps telling me to 'proceed to the airport'. If I had my own car, I'd already be on my way there. I'm aware I'm freaking out.
After being left behind from my flight to Florida last year, I feel the freaking is mildly justified.
I will retry the online check-in in half an hour.
And half an hour after that, and half an hour after that, if I have to.

Ignoring the rational in favour of excitement

2008-06-24T06:22:00.002-04:00

Bethany's rational mind to Bethany: "It's 6am, go back to sleep... It's 6AM, go back to sleep... I know you're excited about Europe, but that's on Friday, and this is Tuesday, and you have to work, so let's sleep now... please sleep... OH FINE, I give up, get up, write a blog, pack, whatever you want, just leave me out of it."

So, for the past few days I've been mildly funked out. Not sure why, but now I'm back in my super hyper, get-me-outta-here mindset. Woo! Hopefully this won't mean work will suffer, cause the office is pretty spinney these days. Meh- I'm going to Europe!!!

Things are coming together. I've got everything I need to bring with me either purchased or washed, listed, and set out. I still won't let myself pack yet, but I also couldn't bring myself to put away things that were new and coming with me (mostly toiletries), so now the shelf beside the tv looks like a drug store aisle- a million travel-sized bottles all lined up and on display. Some people might call this a mess- NOT ME!!!

Okay, so I said that things were coming together (I'm a little scattered this morning, please blame this on the time, as I'm not supposed to be awake for almost another hour). The brother came over last night. I gave him CD's for the Mom, we fixed the Egg's nails, we had Shwarma (I found him a new place for his list, he said it ranked fifth. That's pretty good!) And he fixed my Mp3 player, so that's just awesome. I still want to get a bigger one, but now I think I can wait for it and put that on my Hanukkah wish list.

And last night, the best friend called me to see if maybe we could do dinner the night before I leave. I love this idea (I haven't seen her in a while, I'm going into withdrawal), and on the phone with her, I parlayed dinner into a possible overnight/airport drop off, meaning more time for us to gab, help for me with luggage, and a hassle-free (hopefully) ride to the airport. Woot!

And this had great repercussions, too: if I'm out with friends on Thursday, that means I get to pack a day early!!! I'm gonna go jump the gun and start now.

Have a good day, all.

One week

2008-06-20T07:16:00.003-04:00

Have not been sleeping well, hence the early morning writing. I woke up super early (not on purpose), after a relatively late night last night. Tried reading to make myself sleepy again, but by the time I felt like I could crawl back under the covers, it was time to get up and get ready for work. Argh.
And I don't want to go to work, cause I have to tackle a project I've been avoiding, which I feel guilty about avoiding in the first place.
And also, there's an opportunity at work that I have to talk to someone about, but it takes guts, and when it comes right down to it, I can be pretty cowardly, especially when it comes to change.
So you can see the allure of calling in sick and spending the day in bed.
I won't do that- I just really want to.
Besides, even if unfun things await me- work, the dentist AGAIN tomorrow, cleaning my apartment, huge amounts of laundry, stocking up on uninteresting things like cat food and litter- I can do it. And you know why?
CAUSE I LEAVE IN A FREAKING WEEK!
ONE WEEK
ONE WEEK
ONE WEEK
That is my mantra for the rest of the day. One week, and I am gone, and all those things that seem to plague me now will be as far away as can be.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see whether I even come back.

Psychologically advantageous haircuts, etcetera

2008-06-12T18:45:00.001-04:00

Wanna know how excited I am about Europe? This excited: I have Tuesday marked on my calendar, because it’s the day that I am going to the drug store to buy stuff like travel-sized toothpaste for my trip. I also have the following Wednesday marked, because I’m not allowed to start packing before that. 16 sleeps! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Not that shopping for pint-sized toiletries is all that I have to look forward to between now and the moment the plane takes off. Recent days have been packed with dog-centric city festivals (it’s called ‘Woofstock’ and it’s a little insane, but the brother, the Robins and I, along with Eggroll the leashbound enjoyed it), book club nominations (much sharing of fries and opinions occurred), and seeing of friends and movies and shopping. Upcoming, I have the symphony Saturday (selections of Romeo & Juliet, Gershwin something, and something else), dog sitting, several dinners out with friends, and also the new Coldplay CD comes out next week.

One of my responsibilities while housing the Egg is going to be grooming him. The brother leaves for a visit with the Mom in two weeks, and for the first time ever, Eggroll will be taking to the air to come along. That is, if the airline officials say that he’s slim enough (seriously, they’re as bad as modeling agencies and gymnastics trainers!) So the brother has me clipping the Egg down to a buzz cut in order to make him appear cleaner, sleeker, and cuter- in J’s words, “to give him a psychological advantage”. Hopefully, this tactic will work, and Egg will get to be a mile-high dog. I wonder if he’s afraid of flying?

I am not afraid of flying. The flight to England is, like, 12 hours, and I plan to sleep through most of it (after the square little unidentifiable meal they’ll give me, that is). Some people are not afraid of flying because they have heard statistics like ‘you’re more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the airport’. Or statistics with actual numbers.
I believe, however, that it is impossible for the plane to fall, simply because it is impossible for the thing to fly in the first place. I know some people claim there’s physics or some such nonsense holding the thing up, but nerts to that. Really, it’s just this giant metal thing doing the impossible, and there’s no reason for it to stop doing it once it’s started.

Hey- bees aren’t supposed to fly, either.

Getting manic over Europe

2008-05-22T20:28:00.002-04:00

So, in about a month, I’ll be in Europe for the first time ever. I am so excited by this prospect that I have (more than once) been in fear of the top of my head actually blowing off. Local paramedics have been informed, and the brother’s number, saved in my cell phone, is now labeled “ICE” in case of this occurring.
The second symptom of this approaching adventure is that I cannot seem to stop gushing about it, to anyone in my nearby vicinity who seems even moderately likely to listen. The other day I was approached by a nice bible-thumping boy with pamphlets on letting Jesus into my life, and I told him I didn’t need one- I am going to Europe instead. I think he was confused, but then the bus came and I escaped.
I am worried, however, about over-saturating my friends with talk of my trip, as they are those most often in my vicinity, and those I consider most likely to keep listening to me go on and on about things they don’t care about. If I was a very good friend, then I think I would make a chart of every friend I have, and ensure that I only see each one once from now until I leave, in order to spare them from the agony of my excited gushings. However, I am not that good a friend. Besides, it’s too much fun discussing these things ad nauseum. I have already gotten into a heated discussion (the fun kind of argument) over whether kissing the Blarney stone is too touristy to warrant doing, and is in fact an activity so stereotypical that it should be actively shunned, or whether it is a very much clichéd act so deeply ingrained in Irish tourism that it cannot be missed, lest one risk a less than completely authentic Irish tourist experience. Please note that Blarney is indeed on my list, though I will add that I am interested in the entire castle, as well as nearby Cork, where we will be staying, which is supposed to be beautiful and have a pub that was once owned by a witch.
Blarney is just one of the five castles on my list, six if you count Newgrange as a castle, which you shouldn’t, but my gushing has unearthed the interesting fact that far fewer people have ever even heard of Newgrange than I would have thought. This fact is a vaguely mind-boggling one; it’s older than the pyramids, people!
Another facet of my excitement has manifested itself in an old classic (for me); the infinite and detailed planning bit. You’ve already heard about the minor wardrobe freakout (to leggings or not to leggings; this issue has been finally resolved by the sage advice of one of the Robins: keep everything, buy more). Leggings crisis averted, it has been followed by a myriad of further queries: do I need a money belt, do I need a dress, do I need an electrical adapter, do I need two pairs of shoes (or three, or four?), do I need an umbrella…do I need to pack light, which bag (or bags) do I bring…this list has quickly become endless. I went researching online (my tried and true method of preparing for things), and I found what I thought was a very good site. It gave what sounded like much practical advice, including: pack light, only take a carry-on so that you don’t have to wait for the luggage to come off the plane, there is less risk, your stuff is always in your sight so it’s safe, and nothing will hold up your adventures. This site also suggested leaving space in your bag for souveniers (always a good idea in my book). Then it suggested bringing, along with clothes and toiletries, everything from ear plugs and electrical adapters to corkscrews and candles and window cleaner. Thank you for nought but added confusion, o contradictory website!
My list-making phase has begun. The Mom will readily agree that I am an avid list-writer, especially when planning an away-from-home adventure. I currently have three lists on the go, though I am proud to say that the lists are all still on paper, and my manic-ness has yet to progress to the insanity that is excel spreadsheets…though I know I will get to that point, I always do. (It’s moments like this that I admit that that person in University who called me anal was right. At the time the claim was incomprehensible: anal? ME???)
I did keep reading the list of ironic and contradictory tourist tips. It said one thing that rang true:
“The biggest mistakes that tourists make: packing too heavily, relying on outdated guidebooks, not wearing a money belt, and taking other people's opinions too seriously. Happy travels!”
I’m probably going to ignore at least two of the first three items in that list. But the fourth is pretty good advice, I thought.

Postscript on a totally unrelated subject: I got the new Death Cab for Cutie CD on Friday. It is painfully awesome, and if you have not laid hands or ears upon it, you should. You, in fact, must.

Somehow, Ireland turned into leggings...

2008-05-06T22:06:00.003-04:00

So, I'm going to England, and Ireland.

Been talking to the England Aunt and Uncle, and promised them I'd do some research into where to go, particularily when it comes to Ireland.

Okay- big woot! So, I plan the busiest of days Saturday, first buying stone to feed my new carving habit, then hitting the Toronto Bead Society spring show (one day only), then burying myself in a bookstore (literally- I was there for more than three hours). After reading for three hours, about driving tours and hiking paths, and cities and several dozen monasteries, churches, burial sites, ritual sites, yadda yadda, one's mind starts to wander. Mine wandered onto the subject of what to wear in Ireland (must be comfortable, though I really ought not to live my entire life in jeans, no matter how much I might want to). And then I look up and there's this girl in leggings...and even though I thought I hated leggings, I'm suddenly remembering how Laur told me they were the comfiest things to wear...

So I'm still a little unclear how, but now my Ireland research has become a hunt for leggings. I'm in a mall, so I go down a level, and leggings are surprisingly easy to find. I also find a piece of clothing that can't quite be called a shrug- it's more like sleeves, attached in the back. And it's good cause it means I can wear that to dress up (and make warmer) tank tops for the office, etc. Buy those and then meet friends for dinner...whatever, the day ends, you get the gist.

So then it's Sunday, and I'm hunting though the pile of packages from the day before, and I have a bag of stones, a bag of beads, and leggings and sleeves- not anywhere near a wearable outfit. Not to mention, I check my closet, and sure enough- the sleeves that are meant to go with tank tops are going to be pretty lonely, cause I have no tank tops. And the leggings that are supposed to go with...this is when I realize I not only have nothing that leggings go with, I actually have NO IDEA what leggings go with.

So tonight I drag my friend Dani out shopping. We turn the eatons centre upside down. Nothing that goes with leggings falls out. I'm seriously starting to doubt my leggings revelation.

Planning to give them one more try, at another mall, tomorrow. If it's a no-go then, well, the store I bought the leggings from is in that mall, too. I'll just return them, and go back to reading about Ireland in the bookstore. Maybe my next revelation will be about capris or something.

Broken promises and second-rate ingredients

2008-04-26T15:51:00.004-04:00

Dear TTC,

Thank you for ruining my day.

That was how I was intending to start this blog, several hours ago, when I had just found out that the TTC union (which had averted a strike last week by finding a deal they said was acceptible, and which had also promised Torontonians 48 hours if they were to strike), had started a stike at midnight, giving about a half hours' notice. This meant that there was no chance that I would be able to get to St Lawrence Market, would not be able to meet my friend, would not be able to purchase the ingredients for the dinner I'm making (for another friend) tonight...and had no need to wake up early, which I hate doing on a Saturday, but the market is worth it. The unreachable market.
Anyways, I walked to the usual old (boring) grocery store and got 'instead' ingredients for dinner (as in, 'instead of the good stuff'), and trudged disappointedly home, along the quiet, bus-free street.
But then I did some work on my balcony, and have watched one good movie (and another is in progress behind me as I type this), and I guess missing the market isn't the worst thing in the world...it's just what I wanted to be doing today. So yes, I'm pissed at the irresponsible TTC, which certainly has a right to strike, but which also should stand by its promises...but it's another gorgeous day outside, and my pea sprouts have a soily new home, and I have a friend coming over, for replacement-ingredient dinner, so that all sorts. And now I have to go start dinner. Have a good day people- for all those stuck at home like me.

Rollercoaster month...is hopefully over

2008-04-07T20:52:00.004-04:00

Life's been pretty busy, hence the absence of blogging. Also, this means I have a lot to catch you up on. Starting from the beginning is probably the most wise, but I've never claimed to be that. Besides, since today is freshest in my head, I'm going to start there and walk you backwards through the last month or so.
Just came home from dinner with a pile o' work friends. It was a farewell dinner for Helen, who is leaving us to go work at the Penguin office. Kudos and bonne chance to her. H and I were in publishing class together- once upon a time, I had my blog linked to hers, but like so many others, she stopped updating it, so I let the link die. I hadn't seen her for a good long time when she showed up at the workplace one day, and since then I've had me a new friend. No intention of letting that die though, despite the fact that now she won't be swinging by my cube every morning.
The dinner was good, but a little bittersweet for me; H and I had spent all the last month interviewing (and waiting on tenterhooks) for jobs we both wanted; she for the Penguin position, me for a job in editorial, working with humanities texts. I said bittersweet, so you can guess what happened; H got her glorious call up, we planned a great dinner out to celebrate her send-off, and this very same day is the day I'm told that, sorry, there were many candidates and blah blah blah, editorial experience blah blah, future opportunities blah <let me out of your office please, I got the point after 'sorry' and I'd rather just go now> blah blah blah...
I didn't say any of this at the dinner- the last thing I wanted was to mix the happy atmosphere with my disappointment, or steal H's rightful spotlight, tonight. And it's not like this is that terrible or anything- I still (of course) have my job, so I'm not desperate or anything, and I'd known there were a lot of candidates up for this one...but I did want this one; I feel very much like it's time to make a move from what I've been doing, and this felt like the right move.
There are a couple of other opportunities open- two more editorial positions (the same as what I'd interviewed for, but working on hardside books, which means subjects like math and science and engineering, etc.). The deadline for applying is Friday, but I haven't decided if I want to yet. I probably should; it's close to what I wanted to be doing, and I can recognize that a lot of my hesitation at the moment comes from the demoralizing aspect of job hunting (and lost opportunity), and I'm trying really hard not to act like the kicked dog right now. And yet I've vented about this for two paragraphs now, when I meant only to mention it in passing.
So here's the passing mention it should have been: I applied for a job, didn't get it. Life goes on, though I haven't decided in what direction, yet.
Other topics are going better for me. Friend Kevin moved in with me at the start of March- he had a new job, yet no apartment in the city, so I agreed (saint that I am) to provide a hat-hanging place while he searched for housing of his own. Kev claimed this would be a one-week arrangement. A month later, he'd found an apartment of his own; he's lucky I like him that much. No, honestly, it was okay- living quarters were a bit tight, yes, but Kev and I have lived together before (university), and we work well together. Besides, it was kind of nice to come home to someone else making dinner some nights, not to mention I've been wanting more of my close friends to be closer (and therefore more accessible for hanging out with), and now I have what I want. Yay, and welcome to the big city, friend.
And as for the rest of my free time, I've been on a huge artistic upswing. Like, a month ago, I went out with the Robins and we stopped at this art gallery/shop in Yorkville (The Guild Shop), and I talked to them about getting some of my beaded things in the shop. The woman I spoke with was pretty enthusiastic (she put real emphasis on 'original art', and worried when I said I worked with beads, trying to gently tell me that they had enough bracelets, tyvm, but then I told her I made 'non-wearable bead art' and her eyes kind of lit up; I'm not sure she'd ever heard of such a thing), and she gave me a lot of information to take with me. I'm kind of fired up over this idea, now, so I've been beading up a storm. One roadblock I ran into, though, was that my beaded things (still don't know what the f to call them; I detest the label 'spirit dolls' as much as ever), they have faces, and I wanted to start making my own faces instead of using bought ones. So a couple of weekends ago, the Mom calls me, and says she found an ad for a 'rotary tool accessory set', on fabulous sale, so get your butt to Canadian Tire, I'm buying you a present (thanks, Mom). Got me some drill bits (500, actually), finally plugged in the dremel (thanks, Uncle) and carved into that block of soapstone that's been gathering dust on my bookshelf. I'm a stone carver! Made me three faces so far, and one of them actually doesn't look like a joke! The only problem I've got now is that the chunk of soapstone I have is black, and I need some lighter colours to work with. Anyone know where I can get some square-inch sized soapstone chips, preferably in a variety of colours? And/or, what stone is soft like soapstone, but comes in light colours- and where can I get that???

Frozen moon

2008-02-20T23:06:00.003-05:00

So, today at work friend Helen mentions that tonight there will be a lunar eclipse. Very cool, and I make a mental note to Google it when I get home and check it out when it happens. Leave work, and stop on the way home to buy really good ice cream (fried ice cream flavour; highly recommended- and contrary to the Mom's claim, NOT a carb!). And thus, mind clouded by ice creamy goodness, all mental notes, moon related or otherwise, are thoroughly forgotten.
Until the Mom text messages me, and alerts me to the celestial awesomeness that I am missing. Happy to have been reminded (and not wanting to miss this very cool event), I run to pull on boots, and then wander around my balcony, looking for the moon (cause I'm not one of those who keeps track of where it's supposed to be). I finally find it- if I stand right at the corner of the balcony, face the building, and crank my head back I can see the moon over the edge of the roof. And it's almost totally this ruddy brown colour, with this sliver of white at the edge, and I'm thinking, 'cool, I came at the best part'.
So I stand, in boots and jeans and a turtleneck, with my arms wrapped around myself, waiting for this eclipse to progress. And it's taking a while, so I reach in and grab a blanket off my bed to wrap around me, but standing outside on my balcony at 11 at night in February is redonculously cold even with a blanket, and I'm thinking 'come on, how long does this thing freaking take?'.
I call the Mom to let her know that I'm not missing the event, and my teeth are chattering as I talk to her, and when she realizes I'm standing out there freezing and staring at the moon, she chagrins me with the information that the stupid eclipse will take several hours, actually started at 5pm, and won't be done until several hours from now.
I'm an idiot. A frozen idiot. And one with no intention of staying up to see an eclipse that is taking its sweet time. I'm putting my frozen butt to bed- the moon can do whatever it wants.

Happy Birthday to Me...

2008-02-13T23:07:00.002-05:00

So, it's my birthday for another 51 minutes, and I should really be heading to Somniaville, but instead I'm going to write.
I had a good birthday. The day started out a little rough, with mountains of snow (especially along all the sidewalks between home and work) thanks to yet another large snowstorm yesterday. Which resulted in cold wet socks all morning in the office. But the day only went up from there, with friends taking me out to Mongolian Grill for lunch, much accomplished at the office by end of day, Hugh making me Pad thai from scratch for dinner, and then individual little cakes, and then watching Across the Universe (quickly making it's way onto my list of favourite movies) with Hugh. It was a damn good night. And also, I started a good new book; Neverwhere, by Gaiman. Damn, can that guy write a story!
Speaking of, I'm back on the lit train myself, quill in hand. There is a short story assignment for book club that I fully intend to pen (long story how we got there, but the gist is we each have to write a story titled 'The Dirty Minister'), and also, I've got some ideas of my own flowing. We'll see if anything comes of that.
Also, I've got some sketches in my head that I think I might take a shot at getting onto paper, despite well-proven facts regarding my lack of prowess when it comes to sketching. What can I say, it's a creative time for me I guess. Next thing you know I'll be sounding out my first symphony on the back of restaurant napkins, and hiring actors for my one-woman film debut.
But until the premier, I'm going to be a recluse. In my bed. Cause it's calling.
I shouldn't have taken the time to write this- I'm overtired, and it's showing. This makes no sense. Happy Birthday to Me.

Apparently Mother Nature reads my blog

2008-02-07T07:36:00.000-05:00

So, I wrote last time complaining about the cold without the benefit of any pretty snow, the ground being all bare and ugly.
And the next day it snows! And snows and snows, until they close the office early and we all get to go home. Hooray! (Not to mention my performance review gets put off till Monday. Yay! But it went fine, when it happened.)
And then yesterday (less than a week later), it snows again! And snows, and snows, until they close the office and everyone obediently leaves. Hooray!
At this rate, it's going to become a weekly event.
Well, thanks M.N., but this is plenty, really. I have some plans for my birthday next week, and it would be good if the city wasn't at a standstill for them.

Big plans for this weekend; I'm finally getting around to the lasagna day with the brother, and then it's Laur's birthday, so we're dining out Sunday night (locale undecided). I was talking to her last night, and we've also decided to do a long weekend in New York, but that's not until May. Still, we're very excited. Lauren wants to do cheesy tourist things, and I can't see anything wrong with that. I have to make a list of where to go and what to see!

And planning for Britain continues. Dates have been suggested, and as soon as England Aunt confirms, a flight will be booked (a flight! It's really real!). And Mom's taken over the Mexico research, but she's keeping me posted. At this rate, I'm thinking about so many vacation spots, I'm starting to feel like a travel agent.

Anyways, I gotta get to work. Have a good day, all!

Anyplace in the world is warmer than here

2008-01-30T19:58:00.000-05:00

It is obscenely cold outside, and today I suffered the indignity of being made to go outside in that twice, first to work, then back home again. There isn't even any snow on the ground to make the cold worth it, there's just freezing blowingness that stings. And no snow means no hope for a snowday of any kind. I vote we institute Cold Days, when work is called off so you can stay home and cozy, hopefully with fuzzy socks on your feet and a blanket around your shoulders. It would do wonders for morale.
Another thing that would help with morale would be to not have performance reviews. Mine's on Friday and I don't want it. I really wish this was the sort of thing I could opt-out of. Just let me keep my head down, do my work, and pay me, and everyone will be happy.
Anyways, because of the review coming up, and the cold, my day (which wasn't terrible to start with), didn't leave me feeling stellar, so I stopped at the store and splurged (perversely) on ice cream.
But there are good points. The Mom is talking about going to Mexico, and now that I have my vacation planner for this year, I can start really planning my Britain trip. I'm not really sure how I'm going to make both of those work, but I'm gonna try. Besides, planning for them both is FUN! I researched Mexico (cause I know NOTHING about it), and have floated the idea of going to the Yucatan to the Mom and brother. I like the beaches and the archaeological sites nearby, I think the Mom agrees, and when I looked up 'Yucatan' on wikipedia, it said this:
"Queso Relleno is a "gourmet" dish featuring ground pork inside of a carved edam cheese ball served with tomato sauce"...which I used to get the brother interested. Do I know how to spark his interest, or what? More foods should be cooked inside of hollowed-out cheese balls.
Anyways, I gotta go draft an email to England Aunt...and research England, and Ireland. WOO HOO, I'm finally breaking the chains North America has had on me! Escaping to the big blue!

Playing Nigella

2008-01-22T21:47:00.000-05:00

So, a couple of weeks got in my way, and even though I found some time to draft a blog, I forgot to post it, so here is it, a little delayed.

Last weekend I took home work from the office (again) and buried myself in that. I had planned to have a couple of friends over on Wednesday (I had a recipe I wanted to try), so I was looking forward to that, but I figured I had enough time in the evenings Monday and Tuesday after work to prepare for that.
Then Lauren called, and said she’s coming into the city on Wednesday. Yay!
Yay, but it means a change of plans. Okay, so move the dinner to Tuesday, and make Monday the one day that I have to go grocery shopping, start cooking, clean the entire apartment, wash the sheets for the pullout couch, and do more work I’ve brought home from the office. Go to bed very late.
Tuesday rolls around and I make it through the workday, then friends come over and rave about my Nigella Lawson skills, and we eat and watch DVD’s and talk and it’s all good, and at the end of it I’m full and happy and very tired. But the house needs tidying, cause I’ve got more company coming the next day, so I clean a bit…and go to bed very late.
Wednesday is not a great day at the office, but I’m looking forward to Laur being there after work, so I get through it, and meet Lauren, and there is talk about going out, but she knows what it’s like the Wednesday of a busy work week, so we decide to be lazy and stay in and order thai food. We talk a lot and it’s great. But we also talk very long, and I go to bed very very late.
Thursday I slog though work, meet Laur briefly afterward, before she jets off to her next destination, and I grab some quick dinner, and then sit down in front of the computer, to finally blog like I’ve been meaning to. That was at 6:30pm.
At 7:05pm I woke up, curled up in my desk chair (which is NOT a comfortable way to nap), and decide that instead of blogging or beading or any of the other things I’ve had in mind to do this one evening to myself this week…I’d rather just climb in bed, and watch TV.

And that was great.

2008's already got me spun...

2008-01-02T22:08:00.000-05:00

First, the back story. I haven't blogged for months because, every time I've been at a computer (for months), I've been working...even at home. The office has gotten incredibly busy, there aren't enough people to cover all the work to be done, and there isn't enough time in the day (workday or daylight) to fit everything in. So, I've been doing at the office what can only be done at the office, and taking home what I could do here. It sucks. I've been frustrated at how my work life has bled into my real life, frustrated that I'm always focused on/worrying about/making time for work, and add to that the fact that this is the most money-tight time of the year, and there is no such thing as overtime pay...let's wrap this up and say that I've been a little stressed lately. I've thought about blogging, but even when I had the time, it was hard to think about spending more time in front of the computer, even if it was for my own stuff.
But things are looking up. With some judicious sacrifices of my free time, I'm nearing the top of the 'to do list' mountain, and with the winter break behind me, I can pretty much breathe again. Workwise, anyway.
That's not to say I haven't had a life. Socially, November was beyond busy...it was actually a little nuts. Two thirds of the days of that month were taken up by something. Family visiting (that was great; our own mini family reunion- Aunt from England it was wonderful to see you), dinners with friends, pottery class (it's over now, but I had a blast; I will do that again, when it's financially viable), bead shows, farmer's market, gathering Hanukkah gifts for the Mom, book club friends getting married, the list goes on. By the time December rolled around, I was exhausted. I purposely kept my calendar pretty clear, having only the company holiday party (food was decent, music was sporadically okay, none of my friends won any prizes, and that night was the first big storm of the winter), and a couple of visits from friends to take up my time. The best part was that Lauren came home! Yep, my best friend is back in the country, and she came to visit, which was great. We haven't had much time to hang out yet, but I'm looking forward to when we can spend some real time just hanging out again, doing nothing. I miss nothing. With fake cheesecake.
Then the holidays (blessed time off!), and the Toronto branch of the family gathered for finger food and gifts and movies and games. It was a great night; we had a ton of fun, and I got home at 4am. Unfortunately, I was supposed to meet some friends at noon the next day, and totally forgot, but after one short phone call, and one quick dash to the bus, I made it downtown by one and we got to shop a little.
Christmas eve the Robins and I did the predictable Jewish thing and went out for Chinese food and a movie (Juno is awesome).
There was more to my winter break, but I'm skipping ahead to this past Sunday, when my friends half kidnapped me to Blue Mountain to go skiing. I haven't been skiing in, like, four years, but I had a great time (and paid for it the next day- ouch), and then NYE we went out for a great dinner and then hit up a med-student house party. Spent New year's day having brunch with the friends, and cleaning the apt.
Then came today.
Got to work ready for a busy day (everyone leaves for the national sales meeting tomorrow, so all the last-minute stuff had to be done by today), and instead started the day with a call from my bank letting me know that my account had been hacked and someone in Montreal withdrew all my $. Woo hoo. So I spent a very busy day running around the office, then rushed off to the bank after work, where they cut up my bank card. Yeah.
So, I came home, called the Mom for some venting, and then called the student loan office to get my payments put on hold rather than bounce one. While I was on the phone with the osap lady, the pizza I had in the oven turned into a cinder, and I spent five minutes with the osap lady on hold while I opened the patio door (letting the snow in), and waved a blanket at the smoke detector to make it stop screaming.
Got the finances triaged, salvaged enough of the pie for dinner, then thought I'd make a batch of cookies to make myself feel better and to take to work tomorrow (a little 'while the cats are away' celebration). So I'm getting out the ingredients and I can't find the brown sugar (and I know I have brown sugar), so I get the desk chair and climb up to look for it (yes, make fun of the short girl now, go ahead, ha...ha), and there's no brown sugar, but there is aluminum foil, and a whole unopened bag of peanut butter kisses, so I call that a win. Put away the cookie ingredients, and sit down to stuff my face with chocolate and peanut buttery goodness and finally blog again. The Mom said not to take today as an omen of the year to come, but it's hard not to.
But then, stolen money versus unexpected chocolate...I guess this year can go either way.

I'm always sick on Hallowe'en!

2007-10-31T21:59:00.000-04:00

So, I haven't blogged in a while, and here's the reasons:
First, I had one hell of a busy week, which started out with a totally fun trip to St Lawrence Market, from which I came home laden with the most wonderful things, including veggies, prosciutto, balsamic mustard, pasta sauce, lavender, and various other lovely sundries.
Then I had one Sunday to get everything I needed for the next week done, because from the first minute of my Monday, there was no stopping for over a week. From book club to pottery class, birthdays and bridal showers, the only time I was at home that week was to sleep and shower.

I guess it's no wonder that the week after, I came down with a wicked cold. I tried to take it easier last week, and this past weekend I literally stayed in- didn't leave the apartment once- trying to get this virus dealt with and gone, but unfortunately things don't really work that way.
I'm getting better now, but it's been a struggle to find the right decongestant so I can keep functioning at the office (mom keeps telling me to take a day off, but I'm too stubborn for that).

So, that's where I am now, though I'm in the middle of another busy week at the moment, having spent Monday evening with my aunt Laura, pottery class again, dinner with some of my girls tonight, and a mini family reunion this weekend. Add on to that the continued busyness of my job, and things are a little stressed- right now I should not be blogging, I have work I've brought home that I should be working on. But, I wanted to check in before I disappear again. I'll try to blog again this weekend, after seeing the fam. Until then, I wish you all a Happy Hallowe'en, and I'll finish with a joke I got off of a piece of Hallowe'en candy at the office today:

Which is faster, hot or cold?
Hot, of course, anyone can catch a cold!

Ha ha ha...seriously, I wish you all good health (at least, better than mine, lately!)

Anonymity restored

2007-10-22T22:51:00.000-04:00

Wanna know what I just did? I just spent an hour going through old blogs to change a name. Happy little brother???

Effectively kuglish

2007-10-10T23:01:00.000-04:00

So, thanksgiving was this past weekend, and the brother and I made our own turkey dinner with all the usual trimmings on our own for the first time (with Mom's help in printed-out-email form). It went rather well, I think- the turkey was moist and not pink in the middle, the stuffing tasted the way I like, and the kugle was effectively kuglish. Extra kudos to the bro for choosing brussel sprouts (good call), volunteering his kitchen, and running out for last minute supplies.
Other than the fact that it was 33 degrees on Monday (and after watching An Inconvenient Truth with him, that was doubly as uncomfortable than it would normally be), it was a great weekend.
The week, though, has finally learned its manners and turned into a decent autumn- I even got to wear my orange sweater today. It went very well with my nails, which I had to cut off because of the pottery class I'm taking, and to make myself feel better about losing all my lovely long nails, I bought new nail polish and painted them dark chocolate brown, and that made me very happy.
And I voted today, the way I wanted to, which wasn't actually the smart way (as Lauren says, some people say there are only two parties in Canada, and it's better to vote for the one you dislike least), but I can't do that. As I told her, I'd rather cast my vote into the obscurity I approve of than give the little power I have to someone I don't truly believe in. And that's all I have to say about that.
After voting, I stopped at the grocery store to grab ingredients to make my own Asian Chicken Soup (recipe to follow), and Colin Mochrie was in my grocery store (click the title of this entry if you don't know who he is). He smiled at me, and that was kind of cool, but then I had to walk home in the rain, and my hair got all puffy, and then I made soup.

Bethany's Loaded Asian Chicken Soup

2 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
tons of chicken broth (I used about 11 cups, plus one of water)
ginger
garlic
sesame oil
soy sauce
green onions
red pepper
bok choy (I used baby)
sugar snap peas (or snow peas)
bamboo shoots
water chestnuts
carrots
mushrooms

Cook the chicken in the sesame oil and soy sauce until it's not pink in the middle (duh), while you gently boil the broth and water with the ginger and garlic (don't cut up the cloves or ginger chunks, so you can take them out later). Cool the chicken while you cut up all the veg. Put the veg in the soup and simmer it while you cut the chicken. Add the chicken and taste the broth, adjusting it as necessary (ie., add salt, soy sauce, lemon or lime juice, red pepper flakes for some kick...whatever you think it could use). Enjoy!

P.S. I found a blog you should go to. It's http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

The continued piled-on-edness of my days

2007-10-04T22:06:00.000-04:00

I’ve been having a pretty good week. Last week was tough; work really got me down, I was having some serious issues with my job, and then someone gave me a reason to really question whether I wanted to stay in my job (yes, I’m being deliberately vague). But this weekend was particularly effective for stress relief, as Kev came into town and spent a couple of days hanging out with Hugh and I, and as it was Hugh’s birthday, we went out Saturday night with him and his med-student crowd and had a great time. By Sunday I was calm once more, thinking a lot more clearly, and knew that I couldn’t leave my job just yet. I still have stuff to do there.
Which is even more true this week, as my long-term projects list continues to grow, making my to-do list (which usually covers a couple of days at a time) huge- right now I know what I’m doing at work well into the new year.
But, despite the continued piled-on-edness of my days, the week’s been good. I’m taking a pottery class with a friend that started on Tuesday, and I’m so excited about it. The class is all female, and not heavily octogenarian, which I’d worried about. The teacher seems to know his stuff (he’s maybe a little rambly, but that’s okay), and the class has great supplies to work with, which is good, because all my experience comes from high school, where we had all of three glazes to work with (unimpressive). This class has more slips and glazes and other things that I’d never heard of than I can count, and it makes me super excited to get my hands into the mud. The first class, I make a set of sake cups. Regardless of the fact that I don’t drink sake.
And I’m totally looking forward to this weekend. The brother and I are going to try and do our own Thanksgiving (wish us luck), and then Sunday we’re hanging out with the Robins, who are moving into yet another new temporary place on Friday. And Monday I think I’m being made to groom Eggroll (the brother’s dog), since I stupidly did a really good job on him last time, and now the brother has decided that I’m going to be the one to do that from now on. Oh well- I have yet to tell him what I charge!

Go to bed

2007-09-26T23:10:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post, as it is actually too late for me to still be out of bed, let alone on the internet and blogging- I have work tomorrow (which hasn't been going well lately, so I really should be getting my rest so I can put in a good showing tomorrow, but hey, tomorrow's going to suck no matter how well rested I am, so I might as well do whatever I want before bed). I am certainly tired enough to sleep now; there's a new girl at work and today we went to the gym together. It was the first time I've ever worked out with someone else, and it went okay (which kind of surprised me). But we were there for longer than I usually go, and we did more than I usually cover in one visit, so I'm tired and a little sore.
Nothing else is new- this weekend I have to scout out a locale for next weeks' book club meeting- I need a nice restaurant, not very expensive, where a group of seven or more people can sit and discuss for a long time, comfortably and without screaming, in the Y & E area. Anyone with suggestions, please write in.
Oh, and of course, this weekend is also Hugh's birthday, and though plans are still up in the air, at least I know we'll be doing something, with Kev who is coming into town, and with the docs, so that should be fun.
Now, I'm going to be good and get to bed. Goodnight, people.

Hoarded topics

2007-09-19T19:47:00.000-04:00

I hoard up topics to write about here, gathering them like Easter eggs, and then when I go to write them, I feel like I don’t do them justice; a quick mention to things that I thought I had a lot to say about. (Forgive the atrociousness of that grammar- I’m going a little stream of consciousness, here.) Combine this with the fact that a) the last time I blogged I was on the other side of the country, and totally meant to blog again while I was there, and b) this past weekend I got burned by my cousin for not blogging enough (and here I was thinking no one was reading!), and this all adds up to another of my resolutions to blog more often. Not sure when I’ll find the time to do that- work is stressful and busy and exhausting, I have book club and dinners out with friends, I signed up for a pottery class that starts in a few weeks, and since my return from the coast, I’ve renewed my efforts at the gym, and am there twice a week (at least- yay me).
So, lets work backwards, shall we? This past weekend was the Queen’s West Art Crawl, which featured none other than my cousin Mark (please refer to his comment left on the previous post to this one). I was duly impressed that one of the artist in our family (and there are more than you’d expect) was not only showing but successfully selling their art (to my knowledge, he is the first to have done so, though my cousin Steven may have done that already- but if he did I don’t know about it). But beyond the impressive public quality of showing his pictures, it was great just to see his work- his work is varied, and (being totally honest) I love some of it and appreciate all of it. Some of his pictures are very geometric, almost to the point of being mathematical; very Mark, but it doesn’t wring the emotional pull in me that I get in a piece of art that really gets me (I would never say something as cheesy and clichéed as ‘moves me’). Transfiguration I is without a doubt my favourite. I’d seen it on his web page (I’m adding the link to my blog, if I can wrap my head around the necessary HTML), and liked it then, but at the show (which was outside, in a park, on a gorgeous cold day- autumn is here!) he had a large blow-up of it, which made the impact that the image on the computer screen could not.
After the park, we (myself, the brother, the brother’s roommate, and the Robins, that is), grabbed dinner at the Green Mango (yum), then went to see the Beatles music movie, Across the Universe, which I’ve decided I very much liked- and poo on the critics who said it was bad.
Last weekend was actually the second time I’ve seen the Robs since BC- the brother and I get together with them fairly regularly, now, which is great. I like to think we’re expanding each others' horizons- they introduced me to Dim Sum, my brother is now addicted to the Green Mango, and the weekend before last, when Robin insisted we go to Sugar Mountain (bulk candy palace), I bought Every-Flavour Beans, and everybody tried them. (For you few unfortunates who are yet to be indoctrinated into the Harry Potter universe, this is a candy which is featured in the books; jelly beans in every flavour, and they mean every flavour.) Of the gross ones, the brother ate a dirt flavoured one (and others, though I don’t remember what they were), and I tried booger, ear wax, earthworm, and grass willingly. I also had sardine, but that one was an accident, as I thought it was butter popcorn flavour. Grass I found to be not unpleasant. Aunt Robin disagreed. Steven smirked as he chewed on an earthworm bean, claimed it was good, but when pressed, admitted it was disgusting. Robin was the bravest, having tried one of the vomit flavoured beans, so hats off to him. It was more than I was willing to do!
How was the last of my BC trip, you ask? It was amazing, in all ways. Mom and I took a road trip (with many stops) to Tofino, which also explains the lack of blogging for the rest of the trip. Cathedral grove was amazing, though Mom and I agreed that we wanted all the other tourists to go away, so we could be tourists there alone. It was restful, except the part where Mom almost fell into a wide, shallow stream, and a group of guys (male bonding tourists) made a plethora of jokes at us. Then we got to Tofino, which was a quiet, sleepy little town…with nowhere to sleep. Meh. We made our own way, found respite at an ironically named restaurant (Shelter), slept in the car, and were caught by neither cops nor bears. How very adventurous of us; it was a terribly bohemian thing to do.
The next day we got a hotel room first thing, crashed for a few hours, then went whale watching (orcas, a grey and a humpback whale), nature watching (baby bear, eagles, sea otters), and hit the hot springs (a highlight of the trip- if you’re ever there, stake out the last section, where the hot springs flow out into the ocean, and the ocean waves come in…waves of hot and cold…soooo good!)
By the time we got home we were happy but exhausted, so cancelled Salt Spring Island (something to do next time) in favour of Buchart (gorgeous but busy), and then I flew home. I had a great trip, and it was good to see Her. I really must go out there again, though my next trip isn’t planned until Christmas 2008- urgh. Oh well; I have England to save up for before that!

Busy summer

2007-08-20T13:38:00.000-04:00

Okay, so it's been way too long since I blogged, so I figure a quick catch-up is in order before I really get rolling.
July was Harry Potter month, in all it's glory. The movie came out on the 11th, and believe it or not, I wasn't lined up at the theatre at midnight to see it. Hugh was in the middle of his last med school rotation of the year (and therefore way too busy to go to the movies with me), Lauren's in Australia (back from Thailand, but still not close enough to go to the movies with), Mom's in BC, the brother would just laugh at the mere suggestion...you get the gist. Anyways, the book club had planned to see the movie on the 21st, so I figured I could wait. That didn't last, though, since both my cousin and I get off work early on Fridays, so he called me and we went to see it on the 13th, then met my other cousin for dinner. So, that was the first time I saw the movie.
Then I saw it, as planned, with the book club, on the night that the book came out. There's a huge theatre next to an Indigo downtown, so we went to see the movie (in Imax 3D - awesome), and then went next door to line up for the book. It was a great night.
Anyways, I got the book and read that night...and the next day...and the next day...and had it finished by Sunday at about 3pm (I took my time). I loved it, though the ridiculous epilogue was, well, ridiculous. Meh.
And then the next week, Hugh was finally done with that rotation, so we went to see the movie. Yes, I saw it three times. Yes, it's that good.
And then I had one solid week of craziness at the office, getting ready for the Summer Sales Meeting in Collingwood, and spent the weekend packing for two back-to-back trips. Last week was Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood for the SSM (informative, hard work, interesting but exhausting), and I got home from it on Friday around 4pm; about 12 hours prior to when I'd leave again to go to Victoria for a week to visit Mom.
...and now you're caught up, and here I am, in BC! My flight left at 7am and landed at 930am, which was pretty good for a six hour flight (time change trips me out). Mom picked me up from the airport, though not my luggage, as that was, apparently, left in Vancouver. So instead of going straight to Victoria, Mom and I bummed around the town the airport is in (don't remember the name right now; I was REALLY tired), did some shopping, went into a bakery and went a little nuts, and then had lunch at a Swiss bistro- yum. Then we checked the airport (still no luggage), and drove back to Victoria, where we did some sightseeing by driving around, since my energy level was in the negatives. Oh, but we did stop at the marina, where there are seals, and I fed them- very cool. Then, after running some errands, and looking at furniture cause Mom is still decorating her place, we went back to Mom's house, which is really nice. I met her cat, and the airport delivered my luggage, and then Mom made me spaghetti, and all of that was great.
Yesterday was pouring rain in the morning, so we tried to go to the Museum, but it was crazy packed, and we didn't want to spend the day in a lineup, so we did the museum gift shop and then left, and by then the rain had stopped. We went through the Empress hotel, and the Dragon boat festival, and shopping downtown. We did Mexican for dinner.
Today, Mom has to work, so I'm going to walk downtown and hit the bead shops (because I need beads, and also cause I'm hippie-hunting), and maybe the Museum too cause it won't be busy now, then Mom and Jerry will meet me downtown after work and we'll do dinner (probably Thai). Can't wait.
Anyways, that's long enough I think. I'll write more later; I'm using my blog as a travel diary.

Motorcycles and leeks

2007-06-24T19:54:00.000-04:00

I had the best weekend!
The weather was a little cooler, which was a nice break from the constant, unleavened heat of the past few weeks. I met Hugh for lunch after work on Friday (summer hours at the office means I get off work at 1230 on Fridays), and we decided to eschew our movie-going plans in favour of a concert that was happening north of the GTA. We took Hugh's motorcycle! I love the ride up (it stopped being scary after just a couple of minutes). Yeah, I'm awesome. The concert was great- good music, kind of small townish (it reminded me of Bayfest back in the Sarn), good food, and, for some reason, apparently every cop in the greater York region. We think they were trying to justify their budget or something. They even did a fly-by with a helicopter. There were like, 200 people there; I've seen bigger weddings, seriously.
Everything about the night was great, except it got kinda chilly once the sun went down, and since Hugh and I had to take the bike all the way back, we left early, before it could get even colder. And, as fun as the bike was on the way there, it was not as fun on the way back. See, you can't wear glasses with a motorcycle helmet, and while I can see okay in daylight without my glasses on (things are fuzzy, but I can still tell what I'm looking at), this is not the case at night. At night, without my glasses, I am much closer to blind. This makes for an uncomfortable ride on a bike. Regardless to say, as fun as the day was, I was happy to get home.
Saturday I met up with an old friend (like, from elementary school), who is living in the city for the summer. We had a great time; we met up at St. Lawrence Market, where I learned that I cannot go to a market and not buy something. So I ended up with something random (leeks) hat I'd never cooked before and had no idea what to do with. Then we went out for lunch, talked for several hours, and agreed that we'd have to see each other again, soon.
Sunday I did domestic things, including making Mushroom and Leek risotto (had to do something with those leeks) that turned out awesome.
I'm terribly pleased with how my weekend turned out- now, if only the week will follow this trend.

Good times

2007-06-16T23:26:00.000-04:00

It's annoying; I sit on the bus, or at my desk at work, or somewhere, and I think of blogs I want to write, or emails to family or Lauren, and then when I'm home there's always some other thing to do that steals my attention away, like the beading project I'm thisclose to finishing, or the chores I have to do or the books I'm reading or whatever. Suffice it to say that when I'm not writing, I'm often thinking about it. Which isn't much good to you, I understand, but there that is, nevertheless.
I've had a busy month. I've spent a lot of time out with friends, like movies and shopping with the girls from work, and book club, and dinners, and nights out with Hugh and his medschool entourage. I made a new friend in Hugh's roommate's girlfriend, and tonight I was out at a restaurant/lounge downtown to celebrate Andrew (from book club)'s birthday. There were about twenty people there, and when the night started, I knew four of them. It was interesting, meeting all those people from different parts of this one friend's life. Kind of mindboggling to think of the networks of people you're linked to by association (like if everyone got together twenty of their own friends, how huge that group would get, fast). It's a little pyramid-schemey to think about, but it also makes that 'nine degrees of separation' thing seem infinitely plausible.
I'm being weird.
Tonight was fun, though one of the best parts of the night was complaining about the restaurant in the car on the way home. The places downtown are largely like this one was; badly verbose prose-y menu that's trying too hard to be snooty, overpriced food whose quantity and caliber is not worth the cash you lay down for it, unaccommodating wait staff that aren't worth the gratuity you're strapped to cause they included it on the bill, and as soon as 10pm hits, the music gets jacked up so loud you can't hear yourself scream, and suddenly the place is 'standing room only' and the entryway is clogged with a cloud of smokers who are loitering out front, having conversations with their girlfriends and gesturing wildly with lit cigarettes in their hands. We had fun joking about how fun it would be to get lit on fire on the way out of the restaurant, too.
Not to mention, as soon as you go downtown, everyone is nuts. Walking to the restaurant (in daylight), some guy growled as me from the bushes beside the sidewalk. Full-on snarled. I would have been scared except there was another group of guys right beside at the time. Consequently, as I passed said group of guys, one of them asked me to rate one of his friends' ass. I gave him a six. I told you, everyone downtown is crazy.
Helped Mom pick out a couch today, made possible despite distance by cellphone and Internet at once. It was fun, and she likes that we've found a way to make it possible for me to help her shop. I'm looking forward to being there in August. Actually, that's where a lot of my focus is going these days. I'm making plans and trying to get things organized. It's still a ways away, and a trip like this really doesn't take much planning anyway, but I think I'm getting the jones to get out of the city again, and that's why I'm focusing so hard on this BC trip. I've found that while I like Toronto, it's good to get out of the city periodically; it keeps you sane. I would try and find a weekend to go to Orangeville, except Kev's pretty busy these days. This weekend he's off camping, and kiteboarding with Mark. I hope they're having fun- it's a great weekend for it, nothing but clear, warm weather for weeks now. I would have gone with them except I've put myself on a $ spending diet for the moment. Irregardless that the act that brought on this sudden urge for me to clamp down on the wallet was the splurgey, somewhat extravagant purchase of a gorgeous, wonderful, had-to-have-it Matt&Nat bag. We'll also ignore the fact that it's my second M&N bag bought in as many months. No more!
Anyways, tomorrow is another minor errands and cleaning day. It's annoying how much stuff you need to do when you're on your own, just to keep everything going. Like, when I was living with Mom, she did most of the grocery shopping, and I'd do most of the laundry, and we kind of shared the cleaning (I'm taking poetic licence here, Mom). But on your own, you have to do it all; the shopping, the cleaning, the laundry...everything. It's friggin tiring, man!
Anyways, as always, there's more to say, about how Laur's doing- she's in Thailand, now- and dinners and Cranium tournaments with Steven and the brother and the Robins (I've created a set of monsters, I swear), and about how the brother is doing (redid his kitchen counter, promptly ruined it, then fixed it and now everything's cool)...but I have neither the energy nor the time. I'm going to go have a peanut butter sandwich, to fill me up after that $20 undressed salad I got downtown, then watch IronChef and head to bed. Good times.

Happy Victoria Day!

2007-05-21T21:39:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting in my apartment watching the tree line off my balcony, where I can see no less than seven sets of fireworks going off. Most are pretty far away, given, but still- this is a pretty sweet deal I've got here.
I had a great weekend. Got off work early on Friday, went shopping. Most of Saturday was spent cleaning my apartment, then the brother came over (with Eggroll) and we went grocery shopping (nice to have some help carrying everything home). Then I made dinner - the last of Mom's spaghetti sauce. He stayed over at my place for a few days, despite the fact that I had a date with my friends and left for most of Saturday. We went to the zoo- always a great time- and then out for Japanese food (yum).
Meanwhile, my brother was very, very productive on my behalf this week (big thanks, bro). He put stuff in my storage locker that had been taking up valuable closet space, he put up my curtain rod, he put shelves up in my bathroom, he built me a floating bedside table, and he WD-40'd every moving item in my apartment.
And, he left me with homework. Apparently, I'm now assigned the following tasks: to sort through my books and dispense those which are not needed, to buy wood filler and finish the shelf he built, to get rid of the two VCR's I'd been storing, with their accompanying VHS tapes (obsolete), buy fabric for that curtain rod I mentioned, and talk to my super about getting new closet doors, a new stove, and whether I'm allowed to have a barbecue on my balcony. Also, I need to buy soil and pot plants and re-pot the Jasmine tree and the Phil cuttings I took. Whew.
But in the meantime, I'm just gonna go chill on the deck and watch the pretty lights go off.
Hope you all had a good May 2-4!

Me in the Sea

2007-04-27T20:09:00.000-04:00

Ignore this- I just wanted to get myself a profile picture.

Things are coming together

2007-04-27T19:25:00.000-04:00

Today was a long, standing-water kind of day.
A lot of days this week have been like that (at work, at least). But, things are good, too. Like my apartment. Last weekend Ikea finally got my bookcase in, and Robin (to whom I owe a HUGE debt for this) helped me go get it. It took a little maneuvering, but eventually, he and I got it in the car. We picked up my brother, and after dropping the box at my place, we went to the Robins', along with my favourite boardgame, Cranium, which I had promised them all would be the best game they'd ever played.
Thankfully, they had no reason to call me a liar. In fact, I think I've created a monster...or three.
The plan had been to have dinner, play the game, head home. Simple. Neat.
Reality saw us laughing till we cried, yelling challenges, making one hell of a bloody mess, and finally crashing after dinner and four very long games of Cranium, around 4am. Then a game at breakfast. Then a game before dinner, after visiting Aunt Rose (she's doing well, btw; we took her out in the sun, it was a gorgeous day). Another game after dinner. I got home just in time for bed, more than 24 hours after first heading out. See what I mean about monsters?
Anyways, bookclub on Monday, which was great, but would have been greater if I'd remembered my umbrella (wet slacks suck). Tuesday I FINALLY found time to take my bookcase out of the box and knock it together. And it's PERFECT. I love it, totally. My place is clean, it has some vague notion of style...I'm finally starting to feel like this is 'the place I live', not just 'a place I'm staying', if you know what I mean. I feel like a grown up.
It feels good.

Winter's colouring outside the lines

2007-04-09T22:26:00.000-04:00

I’m actually quite a big fan of winter. I love layering clothes, I like hot chocolate, I even have a necklace with a snowflake on it. But I don’t like it when winter colours outside the lines. In Toronto this year, Easter weekend was colder than Christmas. That’s colouring outside the lines, and I am greatly unimpressed.
This weekend was supposed to be putting the winter coat in storage, let the cats out on the balcony, wash the windows, change to canvas shoes weekend. Not bundle up in your thickest sweater, where did that glove go, what do you mean I’m out of milk I’m not going out into that weather again weekend! It sucked. No one was around, I was dogsitting for the brother, and it snowed, off and on, for all three pointless days of my weekend. I did go shopping, though it wasn’t nearly as pleasant as I wanted it to be. I wanted to wander up Yonge street and investigate the shops there (my main goal was Ten Thousand Villages). Instead, I took a bus straight there cause it was too cold to walk. And when I got there, they didn’t have what I wanted! Now, that doesn’t mean I went home empty handed; I bought a cute little grey stone box that is perfect for the thumbtacks I need for my bulletin board. And the prices there are better than I remembered. But I wanted a mortar and pestle (I’ve wanted one forever), and they had two, but they were both made out of rose-coloured stone, and I don’t do pink. I’ll go back there again when they get more stock.
I know, it’s a little weird, why do I want a mortar and pestle? In my brain, cooking will be more fun that way. It makes putting spices together like potion-making! Also, I have this idea in my head that I want to create some new kinds of cookies and things (ideas nipping me in the heels are Red Chili Pepper White Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Key Lime Blondies with Cream Cheese Icing), and for that, I need a mortar and pestle. I’m going to create my cookies, and if they turn out, I’ll pass on the recipes.
What else is going on? I spent five days in Niagara-on-the-Lake on business, though I did manage to come home with Greaves jam (yum).
I went to Pesach dinner at the Robin’s, which was REALLY good, though a little embarrassing, cause when it comes to Jewish customs and well, basic knowledge, I’m a bit of a dough head. We’re blaming my mother. Maybe I can find myself a book; “Judaism for Dummies”.
I’ve been talking to Laur a bit more now that she’s settled in her classes in Oz. She sounds like she’s having an incredible time, and she’s been accepted to a placement in Thailand! I’m so freaking jealous. I’m seriously thinking of going to teachers college just so I can do something like that (jk, it would be cool, but I’m much more likely just to save up or hope to win the lottery and go on my own). But it does sound amazing. I emailed Mom to email Jerry to suggest some places where Laur should visit. I can’t wait for more pictures (hint hint).
And speaking of pictures, I just printed off a pile of mine from Florida, and others’ from various places, and have put them up in my apartment. It’s not done yet, but it’s getting there. One conspicuously missing piece is that #%#$& bookcase I’ve been wanting forever. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it, but there’s a bookcase from Ikea I’ve wanted forever, but alas, as I’m carless, it’s really hard to get it to me. Well, last week my dear, generous, helpful friend Emily offered to take me there in her pretty and very blue car, and after much shoe shopping, we made it, only to find them…tragically out of stock. I was shocked speechless, caught between hilarity, tears, and a full-blown tantrum worthy of a two year old. Ever since, I’ve been checking the online stock availability every day, and as soon as it shows up…well, I’m not sure what I’ll do, but if you spy me walking down the street with a large box strapped to my back, you’ll know why!

Jealous?

2007-02-28T15:15:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I had a post that I wrote a couple of days ago, but for some reason this computer refused to publish it for me, and I got frustrated and walked away from it, so that's my explanation for the long silence. My post was short, just a quick update on how busy I've been having fun down here, doing a ton of stuff like kayaking, hiking, boating, bike riding, shopping, eating, fishing and more. We've been out in the gorgeous sun every day and my skin has lost that mid-Canadian-winter pallor, and I think I've also successfully undone the month-and-a-half's gym time I've put in so far (the food here is amazing, and the fam reunion has always been a time for indulgence- it just usually only goes on for a couple of days). Though, believe it or not, I'm not totally horrified at the idea of going home. Don't get me wrong- I love this place, and my aunt's condo is fantastic (with many, many thanks to her for letting me stay here), and spending time with Mom again is great- but I'm also starting to miss my own bed, my own computer, my cats and my apartment, not to mention my friends. Things I'm not missing? Keeping track of days (I know it's Wednesday, and I know March starts soon, but I get a little fuzzy if you ask me for anything more specific than that), the slushy streets, the salt-stained pant legs, and lugging home large heavy groceries like cat food and pop in -20 degree weather. As for now, I'm going to leave the soft glow of the computer screen...to go lie beside the pool.

In Florida

2007-02-20T11:02:00.000-05:00

I'm here! It's wonderful!

My S.O.L vacation

2007-02-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, so yesterday I meet the brother at the bus station, because we're taking a bus to get to the airport to catch a plane to Florida for a sweet sweet two-week vacation in the sun.
I say to him, "Happy vacation!", and he says to me "My vacation doesn't start until I get to my destination; everything up until then is just a hassle."
My brother is a wise, wise man.
So, we get to the airport and meet my Aunt, with whom we're checking in, in hopes of getting seats together on the plane.
Well, she got a seat, at least.
Did you know that Air Canada purposely overbooks their flights? See, there's this 10% chance that people won't show up, so they overbook in order to ensure that the planes are always filled. But if everyone shows up for their flight, then someone is S.O.L.
Guess who?
So, then the customer service people (my aunt has flown away by this time), plan to send us to Fort Lauderdale that night. The plane would get in at midnight, so the bro makes them confirm that we'll have a hotel room for the night.
Smart move- Fort Lauderdale is having a boat show and there are no hotel rooms to be had.
So, we end up at the Airport Hilton in Mississauga on Air Canada's dollar, and we're flying out today, a day late.
We're tired, we're annoyed, the brother is sick (and I'm doing my best not to catch it), and unlike us, our luggage made it to Florida- so we've got nothing with us. No toiletries, no changes of clothes...
I know my last two posts were titled 'Florida can't come soon enough'. Well, at this point, it's overdue.

Florida isn't soon enough!

2007-02-12T22:22:00.000-05:00

So tired. So happy.
It's kind of crazy how crazy things have been (and continue to be). Tonight I was at book club (a total indulgence, especially seeing as how I didn't read the book for this week). I (finally!) got to see Catherine's place (bachelor apt, smaller than mine, but somehow less cluttered), and she made us some awesome carrot soup, and we fried up perogies and potstickers to go with it (a random mix, to be sure, but it was goo-ood!) Then they made me hide in the bathroom while they got my birthday cake ready. Andrew treated us all to ice wine, and we had a great time together.
Yesterday (I've decided to work backwards) I went out for dinner with Hugh and Kevin- it was wonderful to be out with my boys- and before that, in the afternoon, Hugh and I did the Science Centre. That morning Robin made me his fabulous brie omelet for breakfast, because I'd spent the night at the Robins' after watching Garden State with them.
And that is only the tip of the iceberg. Tomorrow I have dinner out with the work girls, then Wednesday Hugh is coming over for birthday stuff (he won't define that any better for me), and Thursday Cath and Mary are coming here (though they've promised not to hold it against me if I pack while they're around!) I've reserved Friday for pedicure and packing, and Saturday we leave! I am so excited, because it will be great to see Mom, and the whole family, but also that with life this crazy, and work right now is wild busy, I am so in need of a vacation!
I'm sorry I'm being so brief- there are other things to cover here, like all the stuff that's going on with Mom and my friends, and other stuff that I'm into, but I'm just so tired from it all that I need my bed. Goodnight until next time!

Florida can't some soon enough

2007-02-03T17:42:00.000-05:00

I was very pleased when I found this apartment; I like the location, the layout, it's clean... I know that older buildings have their problems, but I like the thick concrete walls they have, too. And the rent was decent, and utilities were included, so I don't have to pay for water, or electricity, or heat. Sure, I don't have to pay for heat- yeah, right.
The whole back wall of my apartment is one big patio door and window. A very old window, with a metal frame...that lets so much wind in there might as well not be any glass in it. I was very proud when I realized this might cause a problem, so I went out and got one of those plastic film insulator kit thingies, and put it up all by myself.
But, see the thing is, with the wind blowing in through the cracks, the plastic would bow out, bloated-belly style. Last night it was so bad it almost knocked over my lamp before finally tearing off the tape that held it down. Combine that with the fact that the temp here has dropped in the last week (and is just going to keep on falling), and my place was more than a little frigid. I was online with Laur and Hugh, and it was hard to type. My bed is right under the window, so I made up the pullout and slept there, under every blanket I own, wearing my new yoga pants (thick sweatpants) and a huge fleece pullover I stole from Lauren a million years ago. And socks, and slippers.
First thing this morning (well, noon at least, when I could finally convince myself to crawl out from under the warm covers), I bundled up and walked to the hardware store, and bought $20 worth of duct tape, something called 'weather shield crack seal' (think grey silly putty for windows), and another plastic film kit. I brought it home, tore the remaining old plastic off my window, and pressed that grey plasticine into every side of the window. I even used kleenex in the big spaces. Then I got out the new plastic film kit, and put that up as well as I could.
And when I pressed down the last corner...the whole thing bowed out like a bloated belly, and tore off the tape that held it down. I was so frustrated I could have cried. My hands were freezing, I hate it when my nose is cold (and it is), and I'd just wasted more of my money. In a fit I tore into the duct tape I'd bought (as a last resort, cause duct tape is, first of all, ugly, and second, a man's way of solving a problem). I attacked the window, covered every edge completely, along with most of the sill. I *think* I might have finally got it all. Tomorrow I'll go get another plastic film insulator kit. In the meantime, excuse me- I have to go cover my patio door with duct tape. Brrr.

Busy weekends

2007-01-27T21:04:00.000-05:00

Hi All,

I just got told by my friend Lauren, who has taken herself away to Australia for a year (in case I haven't mentioned it), for not blogging enough. Which, I admit, I was aware I was neglecting. With Mom in BC now and Lauren on the other side of the world, I really should be updating now more than ever, but life's been getting in my way.
It kind of surprises me, that I'm this busy. When I was living with Mom, most of the things I had planned for after work on a weekday had to do with what she and I were doing, having for dinner, or where we were shopping. I kind of expected, once she was gone, that my life would be even more quiet, more sedentary. It's not.
I joined a gym (urgh). A few weeks ago I would have thought that 'urgh' was an automatic inclusion- it had to be there- but now I hesitate to include it. Other than a rocky start (cause I wasn't prepared for bubbly gym personel to reveal themselves as used-car-salesmen in disguise), I'm actually not minding the gym. Enjoying it?...I don't think I'd go that far. But, it's definitely more okay than I expected it to be. I go at least twice a week (except for last week, when I didn't go at all cause I twisted my knee), and the only problem I'm having right now is that when I'm there I work hard, till I'm sweaty and gross and my muscles are all jelloey, but the next day I don't hurt, and if I'm working hard enough...well, shouldn't I? I talked this over with kev, who said I should do more reps with the same amount of weight, which I've been trying.
Speaking of which, I went to visit Kev a few weekends ago. The plan was to go up Friday after work, but he was working late (again; it sounds like work is really a bitch for him, lately), so I went up Saturday morning. One major reason for going was to get my tattoo touched up (by my very cute tattoo artist, Sean), which I did, and I must say, Sean does beautiful work. Then Kev and I bought food and rented movies, and then spent the rest of the weekend mostly asleep. It was a great recharge-of-batteries weekend, for both of us.
Which was great, cause work is crazy right now. I'm kind of the administrator for a huge division-wide projecty thing right now. It's not as impressive as that makes it sound- this is actually part of my regular duties- it's just a ton of work, and a big headache, and I hate having to tell higher-ups what to do, which is part of what it entails. You want me to direct people who are lower than me on the workforce totem? Sure. Co-work with a peer? No problem. Tell a superior what to do...that's what gives me pause. And sweaty palms. Never thought of myself as that authority-oriented, but there it is.
Last weekend (getting back to the list of things that have been taking up my time), I went with the brother to my aunt's house, for dinner and a movie. Me, her fiancee, her brother and mine got together, and while we only watched half the movie, we did scarf down a ton of thai food and talk for- no kidding- the whole night. Seriously; my aunt picked us up at 7pm and dropped me at home at 7am. It was awesome, and it makes me super pumped for Florida, which is my family reunion that is coming up. I love staying up late with my Mom and her sisters and cousins, talking for hours. Also, we're talking about going to the beach, and on a boat, and fishing and a bunch of other things that I cannot wait for. Not to mention that it will be right over my birthday, so for the first time since I was, like, 16, I get to have lobster for my birthday, which rocks (he he, 'Rock Lobster!'- Lauren is ROTF). Plus, Hugh was over tonight, and VERY KINDLY (can you tell I'm grateful?) agreed to come and take care of my cats while I'm away, which is awesome of him, and it means that I have nothing more to worry about!
Everything lately seems to focus on this trip- last week I bought and hung (all by myself!) a full-body mirror, so that I could take a look at the summer clothes I have to bring with me and figure out what I need to buy. I went to the mall today and had some capris hemmed and got my hair cut (I usually go to the cheapy places, cause my hair is way too basic to need that expensive treatment), but the place I wanted was full, so I went to check out the price of another place (and this one was a salon/spa place), and then faster than I could figure out what was going on, I was getting into one of those hair-resistant, armless raincoat getups they make you wear, and this nice fellow was washing my hair (with a head massage thrown in- amazing), and then this girl was clipping away, and it was a little more than I'm used to paying, but was still doable, and I'm pleased enough with the outcome that I think I'm going back there. Hugh even called my hair 'sexy', which was pretty cool to hear. And come to think of it, I spent the same amount on my hair as I did on my new sandals, so maybe that is okay after all (don't you love how I justify spending money by spending the same amount of money on other things? That logic totally works for me...)
Anyway, there's other things going on, but it's all litte stuff. My apartment is still making baby steps towards being 'complete'. I decided I hated the couch cover I bought, and am going to exchange it. This means I am overhauling my entire blue-and-brown design for my livingspace- yay shopping! I would be dropping the brown completely (I'm actually very into black-and-white right now), but I'm still in love with the giant brown pillows I got for the ugly couch, so the new design is to be green, with brown highlights. Next week I'm going to get the new bookcase that my TV is going to be going on, and then I need the new couch cover, and then a duvet with cover, new pillows, and throw blankets. This is going to be so much fun! The only hard part about it is fighting with myself to hold off doing any of it (much of it) before I go on my trip. I should be waiting until I get back, to make sure the $ works out okay...but you know what it's like- you want to have your place the way you want it, asap! Well, at least I have a plan.

Happy New Year, Everybody

2007-01-01T10:26:00.000-05:00

Good morning. It's very early and I'm a little dopey, though not hung over and sick, like Hugh (yeah, just needed to razz him a bit for that).
Last night was great. The clique (Kev, Laur, Hugh and I) went out to the Keg, had drinks at the bar while we waited for our table (hour and a half wait; double what they old us it'd be) and then had the best meal.
Then we rushed off to Hugh's place, cause he was supposed to be having a party and he was already late.
The party was great; there were lots of sweets, drinks, and music...we watched the ball drop and played Guitar Hero, which some of the med students said ruined the party, but med students are cracked, cause Guitar Hero rocks.
I called both Mom and the brother at midnight, which is a little awkward now as my midnight happens at their 9pm. But I figured I'd rather not have them call me at THEIR midnight, so it was a preemptive strike, so to speak (though as it turned out the party was still going here when the west coast was celebrating, so they could have called after all).
As for the rest of the holidays? (I'll go chronologically backwards); Hugh and I and his friend Veronica (med student) went out pubbing then came home to watch Talladega Nights (which wasn't as excruciating as I'd expected).
Laura and I got together for dinner, which turned into dinner and shopping and a movie. We went to see Night at the Museum, which was fun- lots of laughs, though it was kid-friendly humour.
The Robins and I went out for dim sum (my first time doing dim sum, but damn, that was good!), and also shopping and a movie...so, basically I did what all Jews do over christmas; I watched movies and ate Chinese food.
It was good, though- a nice break from work and I've enjoyed the rest. Am I ready to go back to it tomorrow? Ask me in a few more hours, I have to go back to sleep.

Experimental Cookies 101

2006-12-24T11:48:00.000-05:00

So, cooking is fun when your kitchen is not stocked! I like making cookies. I did it at Mom's place a few times. It was fun because all you had to do was pull out the ingredients, pull open cupboards and drawrs to find the tools you need, drop the tasty little globs on the baking sheet and pop them in the oven. Chewy goodness in less than an hour.
But, I just moved into my own place.
That does not have the fixings for cookies.
So, I bought them. They were expensive, and heavy to carry home. My arms are an inch longer.
Now, I have begun making the cookies. I have the flour, the sugar, the eggs...
I have a bowl. I have a spoon.
I have no juicer, so I just squished my fingers into that orange until its guts came out.
I have no zester, so I cut chunks of the peel off and put them in my hand-held parmesan cheese grater (no explanation as to why I have one of those and no zester). That actually worked okay.
I have no baking sheets, so I bought one of those tin ones at the grocery store, but again, I was carrying everything home, so it bent in the wind. It kind of looks like a hubcap.
I have no measuring spoons. So, my philosophy is, just shake the box of whatever you need, and probably the right amount will come out.
I have no cooling rack, so I'm using my cutting board...this does not work.
Also, does anyone know why cookies come out bready? I wanted chocoalte-chip cookie consistency, not these doughy things.
But they taste damn good.

Rainy blowy dirty

2006-12-23T20:09:00.000-05:00

A couple of days of lousy weather hasn't made me the happiest person in the world, but I've gotten a lot done lately. Work ended early on Friday (1130) with a momosa toast with the CEO in the caf. Then I went to the bank, where I opened an RRSP (been meaning to do that), and a savings fund for vacations (it's amazing that most of my life I've been dreaming of going places and never got there, and now I'm planning so many!), I've mailed packages to Mom and Laur and Kev, I've been grocery shopping twice, I finished my holiday gift shopping (a little late, but no one's around till after the holidays anyway!), and I've learned a few things. What have I learned? Well, for one, if you have to buy everything to make cookies from scrath, then cookies are expensive! And also, the makings for cookies are heavy if you're carrying them home. On the upside of that, though, is that soon I should (hopefully) have another recipe or two to add to my collection (I'll publish it here if the prevailing opinion on them is positive). Why am I making cookies? I'm going to go have dinner and watch movies with the Robins tomorrow. So looking forward to that, but there's so much to do! They're picking me up here, which means I definitely have cleaning to do, in case they come up to my apartment. It's not that this place is completely filthy, it's just that it's small enough that even a little mess is really bad looking. And I want my first place to make a good impression. Well, as good an impression as it can make, without curtains (I'll get to that soon). Also there's cookies to make, gifts to wrap, and laundry to do, and I'm dogsitting Eggroll while the brother's in BC, so I have the dog to take care of, which I don't really mind, except that it means we keep having to go out in this horrid weather (eew). Oh well. I'd better get to the cleaning if I'm to have everything ready and presentable tomorrow. Later!

Busy holiday thought-process blog.

2006-12-17T22:18:00.000-05:00

Hello.
I've a feeling that it's been awhile since I last blogged, though I'm a little unsure because there has been at least one blog that I've written and not published, because halfway through writing it I realized it was unbelievably boring.
Which is strange because life lately has not been boring at all. I've been to two book club meetings, once where we all discussed The Secret of Platform 13 and stuffed our faces with Swiss Chalet, and once to spend a surprisingly un-torturous eight hours watching a BBC movie of a Charles Dickens book (Our Mutual Friend). Officially there is another meeting tomorrow evening, to discuss Day of the Triffids and stuff ourselves with Greek food, but I'm going to skip this one in order to spend the evening with Hugh before he takes off to Montreal for the holidays.
I went to Ikea last week and spent an inordinate amount of money, however much of it (most of it) was on curtains, which are kind of essential, so I don't feel too bad about it. The one regret is that as I have no car, I couldn't get everything I'd wanted at once, and thus I am still mirrorless, and my tv continues to rest on an end table that holds it just high enough for me to see half the screen from my bed.
Thursday I went to the mall with a friend, where we lighting-speed shopped for presents and then went to see Happy Feet, which was very good, and made even better by the Harry Potter 5 trailer which preceeded it.
And then friday there was a party at Lisa's new apartment that was quiet but fun, and funny when we realized that of all the people at Lisa's "Christmas Party", she was the only one there who celebrates Christmas.
And the brother was over here today. I gave him his Hanukka presents (well received, I think), and we went out and bought me a showerhead and a toolbox and sticky things with which to hang things on walls, and we bought him a fan for his house and we bought a fuzzy blue toy and pig ears for Eggroll and a ball and some catnip for the cats. Then we came home, inhaled subs for dinner, and got the cats all spaced out on kitty drugs. Even now The Three Legged One is wrigging around my desk chair so I have to be careful not to move anywhere on fear of flattening a tail, and the other one keeps periodically going into frantic searches for the tub of catnip that was formerly left on the bed, until I caught him trying to knaw his way into it.
So, that's the brothers', Eggrolls', and the cats' presents out of the way. I have presents for Mom (to be sent off with the bro on tuesday), but I want to see if I can find more. She's being unusually unhelpful this year with gift ideas, which are always harder to come up with when she's not around. I have part of Lauren's gift, and I know what I want for the rest, I just haven't found it yet. I have books for Kevin, but a) he knows about them, and b) I got them through work, so I'm not sure they count. So, even though I've felt like I'm behind in my shopping lately, I think I'm doing better than I'm giving myself credit for.
But does anyone have any advice on whether I should get something for my bosses, and if so, then what???

She's BACK!

2006-12-07T19:16:00.000-05:00

Oh my god I'm online! It feels like I can breathe again.
Okay, so, first, that was a shitty way to leave off news-wise before my move, but as Mom can attest, the sudden absence of my internet connection was, well...sudden. And earlier than expected. So sorry for the lack of 'goodbye for now' email that I had totally intended to write.
But now I'm here! I'm sitting in my own first apartment, which is unbelievably cool, and I actually have internet and cable and power and heat and all those cool things that real, living-on-their-own people need.
The move was...well, moves are always hard,not to mention that I moved on the same day that Mom left, which, for the record, I don't recommend. Mostly it was hard and exhausting, and by Sunday night I was not the happiest of girls, but Hugh came over (friends are great things) and brought chocolate and popcorn and ice cream (which I am still eating- honestly, if you need calorie-fueled help, Hugh is the man to go to, people. Nothing like a doctor to help you clog your arteries!)
And ever since then I've been slowly setting up my place. First I moved the pile of my junk into the corner, then I moved it to the hallway, then I moved it to the middle of the floor, then I moved it in front of the bookcase, and now it's partly in the kitchen, and partly on the couch. But each time its moved, it's gotten a little smaller, which is good.
So, the place isn't perfect yet, but it's getting there. I still need the blue couch cover (though unearthing the couch from the boxes on top of it first would be best), and yes, I forgot to buy the juice jug I needed, so when I was desperate for lemonade, I mixed it up in an empty ice cream container (a little ghetto, but my undergrad days seem to be kicking in).
I could go on, but at this point I'm probably getting boring (you don't want to hear about me putting that plastic stuff on my window, no matter how proud I am that I did it all on my own, or how I figured out how to hang the chandelier in my bathroom, etc, etc...)
Mom got to the Vic okay. She said her flight was hell- delays, fat businessmen, drunken seatmates and multiple layovers- and when she got to the island it was (ironically) covered in snow. Apparently the once-every-twenty-years snowfall that Victoria gets fell, and the city ground to a halt; no plows, schools and businesses closed, and people wasdering around wondering what to do. I thought it was hilarious- Mom moves to the one place in Canada it's not supposed to snow (she hates winter), and it snows on her. Not to mention, it was unseasonably warm here that week.
...though our heat wave copped out last friday. Having lived in my new place for five days, I decided I wanted a break (not really, I just wanted out of the city awhile), so I went to visit Laur and Kev in Orangeville. Where Lauren bought me my Christmas/Hanukkah present- I got inked! I'm very pleased, even though this thing itches like crazy right now, and I'm going to have to have it touched up cause I think I got a crack (tattoos want to dry out while they're healing; if they do, your skin can split and what you get is a very thin break in the ink of the tat). Oh well- going to Orangeville to see my tat artist is just another good excuse to go visit Kev again...cause by then Lauren will be long gone (cry, cry) to Australia for a whole year. And yes, I should be getting more and more worried/sad/upset that my best friend is taking off to the other side of the world for forever, but honestly, the closer she gets to her trip, the more excited I get for her. I can't wait to hear what she sees and does out there. Have fun, lady!
In Orangeville there was also a blackout and a kick-ass game on Monopoly (and by that I mean Lauren and I got our asses kicked...Kev's scary-good at that game), and I watched Kev in the christmas parade, which was small-town cute.
And there's more...I joined a bookclub and I want to the TSO this week...so much, and I'll write about it all, I promise...but right now I have brand-spankin'-new cable tv callin my name!

The Calm Post-Storm

2006-12-03T23:49:00.000-05:00

(For the record, Lauren did me the HUGE favour of posting this for me. Thanks!)

So, am I okay? That seems to be the question I’ve been getting, from everyone, lately. The proud part of me wants to get angry at the people who keep asking me that. But most of me feels that the question is rather justified. Mom left- she moved away, and I moved to my first place of my own on the same day. For the record, I would not recommend this to others. If you must do these things, do not do them in one day. It is rather difficult.
Not that the move was overly difficult. With a day’s hindsight I can see that, as moves go, it wasn’t one of the more Mission:Impossible-esque ones. I had lots of help- I don’t know what I would have done without Kev and Laur and their wonderful, beautiful car- and the brother and his roommate were both movers extraordinaire on my behalf. Despite the expected (and inevitable) bumps along the way (the wait to sign the lease, the painting not done in my new apartment, the missing storage-locker key), I got myself, my stuff, and my cats into the new place, and by the end of the night even had places for my friends and I to sleep.
Sunday was spent moving stuff around. Really- there was some minimal unpacking, there was great consumption of munchies, there was an interesting diversion figuring out how to work my new ancient stove. But mostly it was just shifting the clutter from place to place- the painting is going to be finished this week, but that means I can’t have stuff in the ‘to be painted’ places. I’ll wait till that’s done before I even TRY to get organized. But the beauty of it is, all the stress of the last month was because everything was on a deadline. Now, no deadlines. I can live in a pile of clutter for as long as I like!
I currently don’t have cable or internet at my new place, so this is being written by me and sent to Lauren, who is publishing them on my behalf (thanks Lauren- friends to my rescue again). It’s a good thing she’s agreed to do this, too; with no blog, not even a computer at home right now, I’m suffering. Seriously- I wrote this letter to my aunt last night that was really random. I should not be allowed to write things while ‘Garden State’ is playing in the background. I think I came off sounding like a spaz. Meh.
Anyways, as usual there’s more to say but I’m word-blocked, and much of it is boring (do you really want to hear about my victorious hunt though box jungle for my umbrella this morning?), so I’m going to leave off here. Best to all!

Geez louise, days are short!

2006-11-21T23:13:00.000-05:00

Okay, so couch dyeing was a bust, but I'm over it. And as much as I love my bf (yes, I'm a 13 yr old), her taste in all things shabby-chic is not one I share (very often), and the couch falls into that category (sorry, Laur). Therefore, I have decided to bite the bullet and go back to Ikea for the blue couch cover. This follows a moderately fruitful shopping pilgrimage today which produced many things, including the perfect giant brown pillows for the couch, sheets for the pull-out (I feel like a grown-up; I have sheets for guests to use!), and an actual decorating plan for the (1920's? 1950's?) bathroom, which is a minty-seafoamish green colour with very deco tiles. For the record, I've decided it just SCREAMS kitschy-cool, and thus am now on the hunt for a black and crystal chandelier, black and white towels, and the most kitsch-fantastic wall art to be found. Suggestions are welcome!
Meanwhile, the aforementioned couch is turning out the opposite of what I'd had in mind- the brown couch with the blue cusions is now the blue couch with the brown cusions. Or, it will be, whenever I find the time to go back to Ikea. Which, I have no more of. Time, that is.
I move in four days. Frightening.
I have packed four boxes of books, plus one of books that will not be coming with me, though where they will be going is still airborne. I'll find them a good home.
And speaking of books, I joined a book club! Yes, I know, anyone whose ever known me is questioning why this didn't happen a very, very, very long time ago. but this group is really good. They're fun and young and eclectic, and they're real readers! Some of them are even sci-fi's and fantasy fanatics like me! I think I'm going to have fun. I'm sure I'll talk incessantly about it here.
So, yes, bookclub on monday and shopping tonight, and the weekend was spent (wasted) errantly trying to turn my couch brown, and also I went to Hamlet with some friends, many of them bookclubbers. Oh, and Hugh and I had dinner monday, too. So, basically, with three days before I move, I'm still wasting time and not packing! I love how I do this.

Insert scream of frustration here.

2006-11-19T15:46:00.000-05:00

So, I bought a slipcover for my couch.
It was the wrong colour, but Mom suggested we dye it.
We spent lots of $ on dye, cause it takes a ton of dye to dye a couch cover. I used black and brown, becuase I wanted a deep espresso colour.
It was very very hard to do. We had to go out and buy more supplies three times. the thing soaked in our bathtub for two days. It was heavy and messy and it took forever.
But, then it was an okay colour. Not espresso, but I could live the with chocolate colour I'd achieved- I was proud that I'd done it on my own; that made me like it more.
I followed the directions. At the end, it said 'rinse with cold water until water runs clear, then wash separately in hot water to remove last of dye.'
I put it in the wash. I put the washer to 'hot'.
Now my slipcover is the colour of old pea soup.
I have spent too much $ on it already, I'm too exhausted to try and dye it again, and I'm so freaking disappointed...
Why is everything lately ending up like this???
Everything's a gong show. This sucks.
I'm going to go buy myself the damn blue slipcover. What a freakin waste of money.

Pack some books.

2006-11-19T00:47:00.000-05:00

...written Thursday.

I slept well last night, but goings-on lately have been so wholly exhausting that I’m still tired today.
I know I haven’t blogged lately- trust me when I say that I’ve been busy. Short summary:

-Mortgage no, looked for apartment, ate deli, found apartment- 2nd floor, bach, a little rough, but good price.
-The brother moved! New condo is GORGEOUS.
-Sold Royal Doultons online, made me some bucks. Sent off three.
-Went to Hamilton with friends, hard-core partying, tired but good next day.
- Piano in old apartment taken away to reside with Laura until further notice (officially it’s my brothers’), large pile o’ boxes shows up to replace it.
-Packed some books.
-Went back to new apt building to drop off Confirmation of Employment letter, found out they had another bach. open, went to see it, switched to that one- 5th (top) floor, same layout, better kept-up, balcony…going to re-label #5 button in elevator to say ‘PH’.
-Packed some books
-Went shopping with work-friends Mary and Catherine. Hunt for mittens was fruitless, bought books.
-Chose colours for paint in new apt- blue kitchen, beige everything else.
-Found out two of three Royal Doultons arrived smashed, have little brother taking care of my problems!
-Packed some books
-Mom sold dining room table, table taken away. Notable lack of chairs in old apt.
-Whirlwind adventure in search of the perfect slipcover for ugly ugly couch that three-legged cat ADORES, found one of perfect shape and near-perfect size (we’ll just tell the couch to suck it in)…wrong colour. Purchased anyway. Upcoming events: Adventures in couch-dyeing!

All I have time for right now. Gotta go…well, guess.

Busy week (though, aren't they all?)

2006-10-21T09:04:00.000-04:00

Hi People,
I am writing from Hugh's place (again). This has been a big week (they're all pretty big lately), and I'm rather tired. Though that could also have something to do with the fact that we were out till 230 last night (this morning, technically), and it's 9am and I'm already awake. I'm odd that way- give me a weekend at home, and prying me out of a bed requires a crow bar and a corkscrew (yeah, I didn't get that one either), but if I'm at my friend's place, I'm always up early in the morning. And it's not because I'm uncomfortable or the place is unfamiliar- I've been on that futon at least a million times- it's just a quirk, I guess.
Anyways. I went to see that apartment I mentioned (I think I mentioned it- the beautiful one). You know that thing they say about when something seems too good to be true, it usually is? Yeah- they're right. The apartment that was listed online, with the beautiful pictures, well, the beautiful pictures were of some other apartment. Grrr.
And my bankerfrriend totally came through. I had an appointment at the bank yesterday, and they were really nice and promised they'd get back to me right away (which is already more than I got from the first guy- jerk). So, it's by far not a done deal, and there are no guarantees that I'll get what I want, but at least they're trying for me. Combine this with the fact that banker is also the one helping me get a passport, and I've begun calling him my own personal Santa. Btw, Santa...I want a brown leather purse.
And it's not all been boring busy house stuff! Mom and I got unexpected tickets to Stratford last weekend, and saw Twelfth Night. It was great. Then on thursday, Hugh calls me up and asks if I want to go see Wicked with him and some med school friends? Yeah, I do! The show was really, really good, which was great since I really disliked the book. Admittedly, the week was also filled with a buttload of housecleaning (they're starting to show our apartment- annoying), and stress, and work, and stupid everything-that's-going-on stuff, but at least I'm enjoying the moments in between.
Now, I should get off Hugh's computer, cause I totally snuck on in the first place (Hugh's asleep- I couldn't ask!), and I want to watch a Scrubs episode or two before I jet home. Mom and I have a lot to do this weekend, and I have to go mess up my room- it's really really clean, and that's freakin me out.

Forthing

2006-10-17T19:37:00.000-04:00

Please to imagine a giant pendulum, upon which I cling tenuously, being pulled through the air. Yup, that is my life. I’m up, I’m down, I’m back, I’m forth. Have you ever forthed? It’s very tiring.

Okay, so at the last check point my mortgage app was dead in the water, and I was wrestling with yet another Change In Plans. Since then I had regained my even-keeledness on the subject, and was moving forward with the revived plan to rent an apartment, and was actually starting to like the idea, in all its simplicity and lemmingness. Especially since I discovered (online) a place that looks pretty darn good (again, I’ve only seen it online- I’m reserving final judgement).
You’ll notice I said I had regained my equilibrium (see, here’s where the forthing comes in).
So, I blog about the stuff that goes on (the more I need to wrap my head around it, the more I blog about it), and Lauren reads the blog o’ Bethany, and (as it turns out) shows said blog to boyfriend (who is big-time banker type; tres impressive), and I get an email; do I want banker friend extraordinaire to help with the on-its-last-legs mortgage app? HELL YES!
There was also an extended phone convo with the across-the-pond aunt, which culminated in the tentative plan to (finally) get me over there for a visit circa 2008. This most excellent news was forwarded to the best friend, which (telephone-style) was also passed along to the banker, though (again with the telephone reference- we’re referring to the game here, people), was wrongly interpreted. Apparently, the grapevine now has me moving to Ireland next year. Wrong-o, friends. Not quite yet.
Anyways, so that’s the gist of it. I find myself (once again) in the waiting game, trying to see what is going to end up happening to me, one way or the other. Mom did have a point, the other day, though; I won’t be ending up homeless. It’s a comforting thought.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

2006-10-13T20:04:00.000-04:00

It might be because it's Friday the 13th. It might be because of some cosmic convergence of the planets. All I know is, I don't know how much more of this upheaval I can take.
I had a plan. It was a plan thought up by my brother (which makes it reasonable), approved by my mother (which makes it comfortable), and which I had definitely started to feel good about. I'd get a mortgage, buy a condo, have a place to live when Mom moved away. It was a good plan; I was starting to look forward to having a place of my own, a place to live.
That was probably my mistake. I should know better than to feel confident about something like this, to start to think about doing things like buying chaise lounges.
I called my mortgage guy (again) today- he's a little hard to get hold of. Know what he told me? That because I'd only been at my job for ten months (as opposed to twelve), I can't get a mortgage. Basically, this means that I have to find some hole to live in for two measly months, not even bother to unpack my stuff, then apply for a mortgage all over again and move a second time in a three-month period.
This sucks.
I hate moving. Hate it. I moved six times in five years in university- it was supposed to stop when I graduated. I finished school, I have a real job, I live in a big city- what more do they want?
I'm at Hugh's right now- this is one of the first times I've blogged away from home. I'm just glad I went to see friends tonight instead of going home. I don't like saying that- Mom's leaving, and I should be all cuddly and taking advantage of her being around and stuff, but everything's so crazy and high-strung right now (with both of us) that at home I'm either going crazy getting buried in all this stuff, or else I'm holing myself up in my room trying to avoid it all. Neither of these is a good option.
I vented for Hugh for, like, two hours over dinner tonight. It helped- talking to my own private impartial parties always helps strighten things out- but there is only so much better this situation can get, I guess, which is probably why I'm still feeling the need to vent by blogging.
Anyways, I should get back to said friends. Besides, Hugh's laptop is hard to type on.

Book bitch

2006-10-12T21:25:00.000-04:00

You know what's a bitch? Books. Books are a bitch to box up. Books are a bitch to move. Books make moving a bitch. Moving is a bitch with books. Moving is a bitch, and I'd rather just read a book. Ha!

A little scattered.

2006-10-11T23:12:00.000-04:00

Wrote this at work (on my break)

There are napkins in my shoes, and it is very uncomfortable.
Today kind of sucks. Its raining out; the kind of raining that makes you think that nature has something against you, personally. My slacks are wet (as if having to wear slacks wasn’t bad enough), and my pretty shoes are squishy.
The brother was over again last night; he needed to send away a thing he sold on ebay, and Mom has all the packing tape. But I’ll get to that later.
I was surprised to see my bro cause he’d been over all weekend (it was Canadian Thanksgiving, for you ex-pats and non-pats and such). He came over on Friday and announced that he’d heard about the most amazing thing.

The brother: It’s a turkey that’s stuffed with a duck, that’s stuffed with a chicken!
Mom: I know what you’re talking about; it’s called ‘tofurkey’…wait, no that’s not right…
Bethany: Those are going to be some pissed-off vegetarians at your table, Mom.
Mom (laughing): Shut up, you always make fun of me! ‘Turducken’, it’s called ‘turducken’.
The brother: Well, then I want one of those for Thanksgiving- let’s have trefucken.
Mom: dies laughing.
Bethany: I have to get home and blog this.
Mom: Don’t blog this! You always make me look silly!

…Sorry, Mom.
I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Other than a big meal, my family (The brother, Mom, I and the Robins) got together and went to the movies. We saw ‘The U.S. vs. John Lennon’, which was very good.
I can’t seem to really grab on to any one subject today. Forgive me.
I said I’d come back to the packing tape thing. Packing tape, of course, refers to packing, which has begun. It’s official; my mother is moving across the country. I need to find me a new place to live. I don't know where that will be yet. And I'm working onthe money thing. I'm looking onto getting a condo, cause the prospect of renting is frankly depressing. Also, Mom and the bro are pretty convincing with how the whole money thing works (I never paid that much attention to it; I don't care for it, I never had, it's just not really who I am). So, I'm trusting them, and already told the brother that if something goes wrong with this plan, I'm moving in with him.

Now, I know there's a lot more to say, and my days are so busy (you have no idea how much is going on right now- changes upon changes, and we're trying to keep everything straight; that's impossible), but I'll try to blog again soon. Hopefully, more coherently. I'm not going to stop writing anytime soon, that's for sure.

I'll plant my tree in the middle of the spinning world

2006-09-24T08:17:00.001-04:00

I kind of feel like the world around me is spinning really, really fast, and I'm standing in the middle of it, all still, just watching it speed past me. You know when you're in a car, and the scenery outside is moving, but you're not, and your eyes try to see what's out there, but you can only focus on one thing at a time, and so you miss things in between? I feel like that...
The fact that this is New Year is just terribly appropriate- new beginnings and whatnot.
By the way, I hope your new year is happy, and I wish you all the best. I got a really nice email from my Chicago cousin- we really ought to correspond more than we do.
I got the job; the one I mentioned before? I'm now a permanent employee of my company, with salary and benefts and real responsibilities and things. It's been a fast two weeks, learning the job, trying to get the hang of things, and trying to get everything that needs doing done, cause having to learn everything from scratch slows me down, so at the end of the day (even if I've learned a lot) I feel like I haven't accomplished much, because project-wise, I only finished one or two things. It's frustrating, but I'm coming along. And I'm really happy about the job thing.
And now I'm looking for my own place to live, which is this whole big thing, and kind of sudden, but that's because of something to do with the Mom I live with, and if she had a blog then you'd read about that there, but I won't put it down here. Suffice it to say, I need me a place to live.
I'll admit it was a little sooner than I anticipated (I know, I'm 25, and shouldn't be talking about STILL living with my mother), but I'd kind of been thinking that I'd have some 'saving up' time between getting the big job and moving-on-up. I think fate is holdning a rug and laughing at me on my ass. I'm okay with the moving out- I am- it's just a little sudden, and I'll admit, I'm not quick with the whole 'giant responsibility' thing. I'm processing.
So, we went out and looked at a few places, and I will say this; this is a bloody expensive city to live in. It kind of sucks. Really.
So, what I can afford is probably a bachelor apartment, an idea which I am not entirely comfortable with, and which, a week ago, I was dead-set against (there have been 'discussions' with Mom; I'm coming around). But I'm thinking now that if I can find something that is marginally more than a box, I might be able to do something with it. It's just the idea that if I invite someone over, I'm inviting them to my bedroom; that wigs me out.
On the other hand, I am liking the thought of having my own place. I told Mom some of my plans- I'm going to paint it blue and beige, there's a chaise lounge at Ikea I'll be buying, etc., and her comment was something along the lines 'aww, you're nesting', which I found rather distasteful and gross. I'm not laying a freaking egg, I just want my own damn house for the first time in my life (I'm almost 26, I figure it's about time).
So those are the two major things that have been chewing my brain, and a good reason why I haven't blogged in so long (a lot of the 'before' part of what I'm writing here had more to do with my mother than with me, so I was censored. BOO!)
There have been other things, though. Hugh's birthday is next week, and for it he wants to get a tattoo, which is something I have been thinging about (on and off, seriously and not) for years. Lauren, too, is up with this idea, and I wouldn't have been (Mom's pretty adamantly against them, her main argument being that when you get old, they sag and it's gross, and also, that you're doing something permanent to your skin that you might not want later.) My response to that is that a tattoo is something you get at one point in your life, and for the rest of your life, you can look at it and REMEMBER that point. Who cares if, when you're sixty, you're not the type of person who would go out and get a tattoo? You can look down at that whatever on your whatver and think of how, when you were 25, you were that type of person. Also, I kind of like the idea (warning, this is morbid) that when I die, and end up on some table in a morgue, that there will still be something there of me. It's like tying something of your self to your skin, which is otherwise kind of empty-vessel-like.
Anyways, like I said, despite all this, I wasn't really up for a tattoo, because I do work in a corporate world, so I'd like to be able to hide whatever I had on me, but I don't like the idea of tattoos that are in private places, because then if you want to show someone, you have to show your whatever, or else you can't show them at all. And I also don't like something like, on your back, because what's the point of getting something on your skin of you can't see it without a mirror and contortions? However, I've thought of the perfect place. It's private but not private, always hidden unless I don't want it so, and even if I was in the middle of the cafeteria at work, if I wanted to show someone, I could, and I wouldn't get fired. The only problem is, it would hurt a lot, and be really, really hard to heal. So, I have some thinking to do. I also have to settle on a design. I'm thinking a tree. Trees are permanence, they are roots, they are growth and life, they are solidity, knowledge, the balance of good and evil...they have a place in (just about) every religion, in every mythology. So, I'm thinking a tree. But, I'm open to suggestions.
There's more to write- we went to Rosh Hashona dinner last night with the Robins, and it was really nice, and their new place (yeah, everyone is moving) is great- oh! and my uncle gave me a piece of his artwork (he does wood carvings), and I am so jazzed about having one, this thing is awesome)...but I'm tired right now, and there's beading to be done. It's Sunday, and I have a great big day of bedsurfing planned. Wahoo.