I hope I hope I hope I hope

I'm going to look at the PERFECT apartment tonight. It's incredible (from what I see on the internet) and I MUST have it. So think happy apartment thoughts!!!

Oh, hello.

It seems like a lot of us have lost interest in blogging lately. It's not that I don't care about other people's blogs... I still like reading people's tid bits, but I've noticed we all update less and less frequently. Oh well, once in a while will have to do!

A few things have changed around here... First, Linda, my roommate, moved out and joined the military. So now I'm officially roommate-less. And coffee table-less. Second, I quit Starbucks (yesterday) because they screwed me over on my income taxes. It's a long story and I'll just get raged up again if I tell it so I won't. Also, I wasn't really enjoying the work, and all the people I liked working with aren't there anymore. I had been thinking about quitting for a little while, and then the whole tax fiasco happened and I said "forget it" and left! What a relief. It sucks that I won't get my free coffee or discount anymore, but since Starbucks started giving registered Starbucks card holders free modifiers, the price is a little more affordable. (Does every Starbucks drinker out there know that?) I think I can manage.

I've "started my own business" being an independent consultant for Arbonne International, a botanically based skin care and nutrition company in the last couple of months. It's fun so far! I have to step out of my comfort zone a little, but I'm learning lots and having a good time. I really like the products, and they go along with me trying to use fewer chemicals in my "beauty regime" if you will, so it fits in pretty well with my life. I'm going to be working at a booth at the Women's Show tomorrow, so that will be a little nerve racking! I think I might look like an idiot a time or two but it will be really good experience!

Ummm, my running is going ok. My shins are hurting a little lately. I should think about orthotics.

The weather is finally getting nicer. I'm very happy about that. I guess I shouldn't complain about a couple of cold weeks in April when we had a pretty mild rest of winter. But I can so I will! HA!

I've been feeling pretty blah about my wardrobe lately. I wish I had the cash to get a new one. Bah.

Well I guess that's that then isn't it!

It's Sunday

Even though I'm working, I still got to have a lazy Sunday. I was in Fort Lauderdale last night, and we flew to Toronto this morning and that's it. So another flight attendant and I went for brunch across the street, I hung out at the hotel, had a nap, went for a long run, ate some DELICIOUS roasted eggplant in tomato sauce, and now I'm hanging out again until tomorrow morning. It's nice to have an easy day once in a while!

The got some new cardio equipment at the hotel, and each piece has it's own TV. I was DREADING my 7 mile run on a treadmill, since it's boring enough to run 30 minutes inside, let alone over an hour, so I was very relieved to see that I'd have a distraction to get me through. I watched Star Wards Episode II (actually I'm still watching it... it's longer than I remember) and managed to get through the run. I was sweatin' my balls off though, as I like to say. I don't know how I'll deal with running in June in Vermont. I'm used to the cold now!

The pilots on my crew this pairing are strange. I'm not sure if it's us or them, but they will choose to stand away from us, sit a few seats away on the bus, not talk when we give them drinks, not acknowledge that any of us have spoken when we ask them a question, and make their own plans without really asking us. I've never had a more awkward crew in my life. I got pulled aside at customs today because they wanted to take a look at my food, and if one of the FAs hadn't waited for me, no one would have known! The pilots just walked on through customs, the airport and all the way outside without even turning around to see if the rest of us were coming. Strange. They must not like the cut of our jibs.

I started looking for a new apartment last week. I know it's early, but I really wanted to know what kind of things were out there and how much etc. I found a couple of incredible places that are for May 1, but we're not looking for anything until July (or June if need be). Some places are SO nice, while others aren't so much. There was a nice one downtown that was affordable until we found out parking is $200 a month. Yikes. If anyone knows a nice apartment in Kensington, Mission, off 17th ave etc. let me know! (Yes, I know, expensive areas. But you can find some things, I promise!)

That's about it all I have to say for now... I thought I'd take advantage of the free wireless in the hotel. It's rare that a fancy hotel has free internet. Normally the less fancies have free stuff and the fancies have expensive internet. Seems backwards no? I guess if you have the money to pay for a fancy hotel you have money to pay for internet? Either way, I get to use it today and I'm happy.

I don't even know.

Those who know me well know that I love peanut butter. I mean LOVE it. I bring peanut butter with me on the road (I have to portion it out though otherwise I could probably eat the whole tub with a spoon) and eat it with apples and bagels and everything else. Peanut butter smoothie? Yes please. Peanut butter cups blizzards, oh god. I even found peanut butter filled hershey kisses in Vegas and brought a bag home, put it in the freezer, and have one once in a while. Anyway, today, I had half a bagel with peanut butter on it after my run. That was about three hours ago. Well I went to look in the mirror and I found this spot on my face. I thought to myself "geez, did I get a zit? and cover it with make-up? and not really remember doing any of that?" and so I poked it, which is what everyone should do when they see a zit, and it squished. Gross, I know. But not in a gross zit way. So then I rubbed it. And it came off. Naturally, I smelled it (seriously this is so gross I can't believe I'm typing it) and IT WAS PEANUT BUTTER. On my face. In a glob. A big ole hunk of peanut butter.

Don't worry, I didn't eat it. That's a new level, even for me.

An answer!

Well, on the plus side, I finally know what's "wrong" with me. I have celiac disease. I guess my body doesn't like gluten, and when I eat it, it affects my ability to absorb nutrients and damages my intestines. Fun!

On the bad side, no more wheat, barley, rye, and maybe oats. I can deal with some of it without much sacrifice. I'm not a huge bread person, and pasta, whatever. Plus there are loads of gluten free breads and pastas. Worst part? No more red licorice, cupcakes, or beer. Seriously. No more beer. That is heart wrenching.

So now, I gorge on gluten until I have an appointment with a gastrointestinal specialist, who will do a biopsy on my intestine. I'm pretty sure biopsy means going up my ass with some kind of instrument. I can not wait.

I'm a heap

I'm so tired that I can't even think. I've been on the vampire schedule for four days, doing red eyes here there and everywhere, but still not really sleeping well. The last two days have left me feeling sock and nauseous, I even tucked a barf bag under my seat because I was feeling so crappy. I had fun in Las Vegas, but it left me feeling so sick that it hardly seemed worth it. The worst part? I have to do the exact same thing starting Wednesday. Yeah yeah I'll stop complaining now.


Nothing too much has been happening lately. I have no health updates yet... Tomorrow I see my doctor again so we'll see how that goes. Running is ok, except my tiredness and sleep schedule mix up hasn't let me run at all. Hopefully I'll find some energy soon.

Honestly? Nothing else is going on. I'm a boring person. Maybe someone else has some good stories.

iPizzle

I need some new tunes.

Matt suggested I erase everything on my iPod and start anew. Good idea? I think so. Any suggestions? I'm thinking work out business mostly. I can only listen to lil' John's Skeet and Destiny's Child's Lose My Breath so many times. I pretty much have my "workout" playlist memorized and I know which song is coming next before the previous one has ended. Though Touch the Sky by Kanye does help me get through mile two, in my opinion the hardest mile no matter how long the run, most days. He might have to make a come-back in my new playlist. So yeah, toss a few my way.

It's Valentine's Day today!

I'm not a big Valentine's day kind of girl... I used to be, but now, I've realized it's not really too big of a deal. I'm not severely opposed or anything, and I always like the Valentine's from my mum and Granny, but I don't need a big ole hoopla from my boyfriend.

Lately I've been working lots. I've been to Hawaii twice, which is fun, and Matt came with me the last time, and I'm going again this weekend. Hehe. It's great, but honestly I'm growing slightly tired of it. I know it's stupid to say I'm tired of Hawaii, but I go to Honolulu, a big city, and stay in the same hotel, go to the same grocery store, the same mall, the same beach, and then leave. It's not like I can really explore lots and lots. So I'm sick of the same 10 block radius of Honolulu. I would love to see more, but unless I rented a car or something, I can only go as far as my little feet and the pink line trolly can take me.

I've been trying a few different things with my diet lately. Since giving up meat and dairy, I've noticed some change in my body, and not in the way I was hoping. Instead of getting rid of my belly I added to it. The weight I've gained has gone all to the stomach so I'm trying to figure out what the reasons are. I've given up lots of things, and gotten nothing in return, so I guess you'd say I'm exploring my options. I'm not going back to the way I ate before, and I'm keeping a lot of the same principles, but until I get all the tests done that I've been instructed by my doctor to take, I'll lay low a bit. Good things have come from all my crazy eating, lots of differences that are positive, but gaining weight isn't really one of them. So we shall see. I'm not giving up. Just figuring out what to do. On a funny side note, the doctor told me to get tested for celiac, which isn't really funny, but he also asked me to get an ultra sound after feeling around my belly. I stared at him and said "to make sure there are no babies in there?!?!?!" in a pretty high pitched voice. He just looked at me and was like "uhhh, no." so then I felt really dumb, but really what was I supposed to think? Apparently there could be something in my abdomen that isn't supposed to be there, so an ultra sound would find it. Anyway I thought my reaction was funny and the doctor thought I was an idiot. Funny.

My running is going so so. I need another boost of motivation I think. I'm doing ok, but I'm getting a little blah about it. I'll back to where I need to be, I know I will. I'm just in a rut.

Have a great weekend!

It's Friday.

Not too much has been going lately... I've been working, running, and that's about it. Matt and I made a really great soup... That was pretty much the thrill of the week. That and seeing Kristen and Jordan, because that's always thrilling to me.

Today I went to Yoga for the first time in hmmmmm, 4 years? Is that right? Something like that. I have free yoga classes I can go to at Spa lady so I figured I should give them a shot. I enjoyed it quite a bit actually. I wasn't sure to expect since it's Spa lady, not a yoga studio, but I was pleasantly surprised. The teacher teaches at a couple of different yoga studios so it's not like she's a spa lady person throwing out a couple of yoga poses. Anyway it was good. I think I'm going to be VERY sore tomorrow though.

I'm going to Honolulu on Sunday, which is exciting, except it's part of a five day pairing, which is horrible. The longest we are ever away is five days, and this one starts at the crack of dawn on the first day and ends at midnight on the last day, so it's the longest possible longest pairing ever. If Hawaii was in the middle or closer to the end it would be better, and give me something to look forward to, but it's right at the beginning, so it's only downhill after. Oh well, who am I complaining about going to Hawaii.

What else is new? Oh right, nothing.

Heyyyyy, Macarena. Clap.

I still haven't tried my magic bullet... But I'm looking elsewhere for perhaps a blender and maybe a food processor. We'll see. I'm trying not to think about it so I don't get depressed.

I started training for the half marathon I'm running in June. So far it's going ok... I had a great run with Kristen in Ottawa, and a couple of other ones this week. On Sunday I have to do a bit of a longer run so we'll see how that goes. It's supposed to be cold so I'll need all my layers. And I need to find a really good hip stretch. Mine are SO STIFF usually that's what makes me stop running, not the out of breath tired bit (though that's definitely there too.)

On Monday, I'm quite excited, I get to go to the Bahamas. I'll tell you how it goes. I can't wait.

Today I'm thinking a lot about Costco. I really could go for some big ole bulk stuff, so I need to find someone who has a membership and get them to take me! It's time I go. It's been a while.

This was the most boring post ever. Sorry. I'll leave you with a question. Does the general public think that cell phones work on airplanes while they are flying? I think there's one or two luxurious airlines that have satellites that make cells work, but none in North America for sure. I've had lots of people ask me in the last few months if they can use their phones in flight. It's strange.

Something terrible has happened...

I think I broke my magic bullet. (The blender, get your mind out of the gutter.)

I was attempting to make almond butter tonight. I roasted the almonds, and in little small batches, I blended and blended and blended until it turned into creamy almondy goodness (after adding a bit of oil too.) But on my second to last batch, it just stopped. And smelled like burning. I was careful to give the little blender some breaks, and didn't use continuously for more than one minute, as the instructions stated, but I guess it was just too much for the poor little blender. I really hope that it will magically come back to life, because otherwise I'm kind of hooped for making anything blended. I have a hand mixer/beater thing that my mum gave me for Christmas, but that's it.

I have always loved this fabulous product; from the moment I saw in the infomercial, in all it's cheesy glory, to when I actually got one for my birthday, and even when it really was sub par as anything but a smoothie maker (but you can drink right out of the container in which you made the drink! and screw on a coloured "comfort ring" so everyone can tell which one is theirs!). Oh how I will miss it... Can I just fix it? Is there a reset button? I hope!

Welcome to 2008

So this is 2008. So far it's been pretty good, though I'm in a much better mood today than I was yesterday, most likely due to not being hungover. Yesterday I woke up and took two ibuprofen, bought a toque, said good bye to my cousin who is moving to Tampa for a semester, and hung out with some family a few different times. Today, I had an early morning visit with Matt when I went to get some coffee, cleaned up after the little shin dig I had on New Years, made some food for my lunch for the road, phoned the heating company to ask why our bill is so expensive, and now I'm chilling. Tonight there's a fake Tuesday night dinner at Kirsten's and then perhaps some sledding. Pretty good day. My shin dig was a success even though few people came. It started with Matt, Katie, Annie and I, then Kristen and Jordan came as well as my cousin and her boyfriend for a few minutes. The six of us played Monkey Ball, Matt's favourite Wii game, and then we had a rousing game of drinking jenga. Everyone doubted it at first, but man o man was it fabulous. We had some bevvys and a good ole time. It was a perfect way to ring in the new year. Photos to follow.

7 Things, as per Kristen

Since my sis tagged me, I'll buckle down and give 7 little known facts about me.

1 - I ate two black olives the other day and didn't completely hate them. I normally hate olives. Maybe I'll like them soon.

2 - In the morning, my eyes water so much that it looks like I'm crying. Normally it's only one eye at a time.

3 - I really HATE being cold. I also severely dislike being too hot.

4 - I love having an excuse to dress up, but I get sore when I wear heels. I always say if I wore them more often I wouldn't get to sore, but it's hard. But I love dressing up. LOVE IT. (Only if I have something to wear. I'll let you in on what happens when Kristen and I don't have a outfit and are forced to dress up: We both get cranky. VERY cranky. And we storm around like rhinoceroses trying to get ready. Then I feel bad for making my parents mad so I try to make Kristen less cranky by doing something stupid. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes her more mad. Moral of the story? Plan outfits far in advance.)

5 - I would like to be more caught up on current events. I should make more effort to watch the news, since I don't get the newspaper.

6 - As much as I love my job, I know I have more to offer the world. I would not be satisfied if this was all I did, unless this job allowed me to do something else at the same time. (And I don't think people who are flight attendants their whole lives haven't reached their potential, but for ME it's not right.)

7 - I know that technically, money doesn't bring happiness, but I don't think I'll ever be completely happy unless I'm a little (or a lot) more than comfortable financially. I like entertaining, traveling, wearing nice clothes (as read above), dining out, and buying gifts. I don't think I can do this unless I have cash. And I like sparkly diamonds. Call me superficial. Go ahead. I dare you.

That wasn't easy. And I'm pretty sure Kristen knew a lot of those. Oh well. I tried.

I know I didn't tag anyone but I think others will tag enough for me as well.

Maybe the girls think they work at a Spa

Today I had a fitness test at my gym in order for them to set up a fitness program of some sort for me. When I signed up for the gym I got this for free, but never did it. They realized this now, just nine short months later, and told me I should get on it. So I did. Well it started out with all sorts of measurements, then a body fat analysis type thing, then the hardest five minutes of my life, then flexibility and push ups. It probably took 25 minutes for the whole thing, and so I feel like perhaps it's hard to judge one's fitness level in such a short time, but whatever I'll roll with it. So apparently I am the highest you can be in every category except flexibility, (which I can understand since I never stretch), where I am "fair". Now This surprises me quite a bit, since I'm not the greatest person fit wise. The hardest five minutes of my life were on the bike. It was set at the highest resistance ever and I had to just keep pedaling. Man on man I thought I was going to die, and the pedals were seriously going one turn every 10 seconds, then when it all stopped, the results popped up and said "elite". I was like "um, sorry? I just almost died and now my fitness level is elite??". After that, I had to do some kind of flexibility test which wasn't fun, then do as many push ups as I could possibly do.

After all this, the trainer told me that the body fat test was very healthy, and the only thing I need to work on is flexibility. As much as this is nice to hear, it's a) hard to believe since I have extra weight that I KNOW is there, b) not very motivating and c) just plain weird.

Anyway I guess I'm getting some kind of program made up for me that I'll throw in with the half marathon training and we'll see what happens from there. To be fair, I'm pretty sure the people who work at this gym aren't all trainers, so for all I know this girl was just following some kind of chart and maybe looked at it upside down, so I'm not taking this to heart. But really? That's just weird.

Sushi wushi

The other night, Matt and I made sushi. I was pretty nervous about it, since I've had some good and bad homemade sushi before, and it looks pretty hard to do, since the rice has to be just so, and the rolling technique doesn't look easy as pie, but I thought it would be fun to attempt it. (That was a terribly bad run on sentence. My brain hurts too much to fix it. You'll understand at the end of the post.) (I'm pretty sure "terribly bad" isn't really great grammar either. Oh well.)

So, I bought some short grain brown rice, made it with a little extra water so it would be stickier, just like someone told me to do, and then I made a bit of a rice vinegar/sugar mixture, and added it to the rice after the rice was done cooking and stirred it around really well. Let that mixture cool off for a while, and then just cut up some veggies to put it. We had sweet potato (that was cooked with some bread crumbs so it was a little tempura esque), red pepper, avocado, cuke, and what else? Can't remember. Matt and I had a blast making these rolls, and man o man did they turn out perfectly. The first one was good, and then the rest were just fantastic. I kept saying "really? are these really this good??" and I took a few pictures because they looked so damn good, but I can't find my camera cord right now so those will have to wait. But seriously, make sushi. It's fun and easy. I just had the best time ever.

Right now the weather here is really nice, but the sad and unfortunate consequence is that I have probably the worst headache I've had in a LONG time. It's bad. So yay to chinooks, nay to chinook headaches.

Time to rest!

I unexpectedly got to Hawaii. Yes. Hawaii. I was sick for a day, so I didn't work one of my scheduled pairings, but then I was healthy, so I was on reserve for three days. They called me in the afternoon, gave me a pairing for the three days, and oh wait look! A pairing to Honolulu! I have been itching to get a Hawaii overnight. They are practically impossible to get, and I've been bidding for them since I started, and never got one. Then, I'm on reserve, and they call me in for one! Someone must have been on their death bed to call in sick for a Hawaii, but I'm not too upset about that since I GOT IT! So you work all night to Honolulu, get in late late, we had a couple of drinks at the pool side bar, then went to sleep for a few hours, got up, had a beautiful buffet breakfast on the beach, then went and had a little nap on Waikiki beach, had another nap in my hotel room, and then got up to work all night back to Calgary. It was incredible. I was surprised that Waikiki beach was so small... I imagined it to be huge, but it was very small and PACKED full of people. Either way, it was the beach, so there wasn't much to complain about. I was ecstatic.

From now until after Christmas, I'm only working a tiny bit, so I'm happy that I get to spend time at home and rest. And I'm pretty much done my shopping with the exception of two gifts. Seriously. I love it. I even have a bunch wrapped!! I'm feeling great about it.

It's pretty cold around Canada these days. Every city I've gone to has been colder and colder than the previous one. People are getting stranded in cities because planes can't fly out due to the snow, and we're delayed almost every flight because of all the de-icing. Arg. Oh well, I don't have to deal with ANY of the pre Christmas flying stress. Hallelujah! For all the rest of you? Suckas!

On a side note, Ellen has this new game on her show. I can't remember the name, but man it's hysterical. Someone gets up on this podium, and there's a ball pit behind them, and a moving wall coming towards them with a shape cut out of it. The object of the game is to make your body the shape of the hole in the wall so that the wall passes through you. If you aren't the right shape and you can't fit through the wall, you fall into the ball pit. It's way too funny. I pretty much die laughing every time I see it. You should all try to see it. It will make your day.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

I'll update real things in a minute, but first, I amazed myself today. This morning started out VERY early, and around 6:20 this morning, I was watching Breakfast Television and making tea and oatmeal, when suddenly the microwave stopped working, the kettle stopped boiling, and the TV stopped working. (The tv is in the other room.) So I walked around, wondering if my power had gone out. But some lights were still on. The storage room light, the living room light, and then the tv, microwave and other outlet in the kitchen were out. So OF COURSE, I think "well someone has cut some of my power out so that they can come in and kill me." Since not ALL the power was out, but more than one fuse was, obviously there is a serial killer/rapist outside. I took my flashlight into the storage room to look for the fuse box, on the slim chance that I was not in mortal peril but that a couple of fuses went out, but I couldn't find it. I know I stare at that fuse box (is that even what it's called?) often, but I couldn't place where it was. So I ate my semi warm oatmeal (which was disgusting, by the way), and waited in case the power just miraculously came back on. Then I looked in the storage room again for the box. Then I sat for a while longer, and finally got the nerve to open my back door and check in the hall for the box. (I thought maybe they were out there, but in case the predator was out there I brought my flashlight with me to hit him with.) Well it wasn't out there, so then on a whim I looked int he cupboard above my stove. Well lo and behold there it was. I knew that when I got my cereal in the mornings, a little piece of that fuse box peeked out at me as I put my box back in. So I flipped the one switch was that half way on to "off" and then "on", and voila! my tv turned back on and the microwave started blinking. So my question is how this one fuse controls all those things in all those different places! But I was quite impressed with myself. Tomorrow maybe I'll re-wire a broken lamp.

So lately, I've done lots! I've been to Orlando twice, one time to shop, one time to ride roller coasters, both times with work. Oh yes. I ride roller coasters at work. And buy shoes. It was also Matt's birthday. And we celebrated. A lot. We went to the Drum and Monkey on Saturday night, his actual birthday, and then Sunday, despite the laws of common sense, we headed up to the mountains to snowboard. We had a great time! Here are a few photos of the festivities.
I think that about covers it. Maybe I should mention I'm close to finished my Christmas shopping. HA!

Snow

I like snow because I can go snowboarding, but I don't like it because I have to drive in it.

Matt and I went to Sunshine last Thursday for their season opener. I was really fun, even though the angel chair and goat's eye weren't open. Instead, we went on lifts that we wouldn't have normally given the time of day. I made a thai style peanut soup to bring with us for lunch, as well as veggies, sandwiches, and other goodies. We had a great day and a great pic-nic.

Now there's more snow, so maybe the whole hill will be open this weekend for Matt's birthday, but unfortunately I have to drive around the whole rest of the week all slippy and slidey.

More good news? I don't work Christmas OR New Year's!!

Ch-ch-changes

I've recently decided to make a big change in my life... in terms of my diet. I was sick and tired of eating badly, feeling crappy, getting zits when I never had them before, and having my extra weight on my belly. I just didn't really know what to do about it. Yes, I exercise. Yes, I try to eat healthy, but when you can eat everything and know that you shouldn't, it's hard to say no. I love ice cream. I love taro flavoured bubble tea. I love chocolate. I love vanilla lattes. I love candy, chips, steak, poutine... the list goes on. I know these things are bad for me, but I love them so I eat them less often.

Well that wasn't really working for me.

So last pairing I read a book called "Skinny Bitch". It made me think about things that I already knew, but chose to ignore because I liked food too much. The way it was written really "got" to me, and it finally drove me to make the changes I knew I had to make in order to feel healthier. SO, I decided to cut out animal products, processed/refined sugar, and pesticides out of my diet. For over a week, I've been doing pretty well. I ate quiche one day because my grandma made it for me, and I didn't really have to heart to refuse something made for me by Granny. Then I had a small bowl of home made ice cream on Sunday at my aunt's house because I needed to be able to say good bye to it properly. I had a bit of sugar in some salad dressing last night at Kristen's house (who is, by the way, mad that I didn't tell her before so that she could have made me more food because she felt like a bad host for not having something already prepared... crazy lady), but other than that, I've been pretty good. It's hard to buy all organic things because they're expensive and hard to find in some cases, but when I can, I will. It's also not really possible to just throw out all the things I already have and buy all organic ones... that just doesn't make sense, but I'll slowly get more and more things.

Yes, it's hard, and yes it's not super convenient, but it's kind of interesting, and I feel healthy. I'm not saying I'll never have animal products again, because I love reese's peanut butter cups blizzards way too much to NEVER HAVE ONE AGAIN, and I couldn't live my life if I knew that a piece of salmon sashimi would never touch my lips again. If I go to someone's house and they cook something for me, I'll eat it. I'm not going to be "that guy" who can't eat anything and is pretentious about it. But in my every day life, I've giving this a go. I'm trying. I need a strict diet to follow, otherwise I make excuses for eating terrible but delicious things. So I'm trying. And it's going pretty well.

Coffee will be the absolute last thing I give up. I've given up the sugar and drink soy, but I can't give up the coffee. I'm just not ready.

It's Christmas!

(at Starbucks). So all yall who love those red cups, today's the day. Go "pass the cheer" (which I wrote on all the chalk boards as "pass on the cheer" and was too lazy to erase the "on" so it's wrong all over our store.)

Happy Birthday!

Today is Kirsten and Katie's birthday! So happy birthday to you both.

I'm off to work again today, but thankfully I get a later check-in... I'm sick of waking up early. I worked at Starbucks this week, early both days, and for anyone who cares or might be curious (ahem Kristen ahem) the Christmas launch is November 8th. So Christmas will once again throw up on Starbucks the night of the 7th, and when you walk in on the 8th it will be all Christmas all day. Red red red everywhere. (I always describe Christmas at Starbucks as "Christmas threw up all over Starbucks" because seriously, there is Christmas paraphernalia* EVERYWHERE. The signs, the shelves, the cups, the floor, the machines, just everywhere. And don't even start on the music.) The "soft launch" is on the 2nd I think, so technically you can order the drinks on the 2nd, and we should have all the ingredients, but in Ottawa, doubtful. Kristen remember that time that dude gave me major attitude for asking for the Cinnamon Dolce before the date? "Next time don't ask a manager to give you something early". Idiot.

This pairing is exciting for me, not because I'm looking forward to it at all, but because when I get home, Matt will be HERE! I get home Saturday, and so does he. I can't even tell you how excited I am... Not only to have him around, but to FINALLY not be in a long distance relationship, something I swore I would never do again. I hate long distance, I hate everything being over the phone, I hate who I am in this stupid long distance relationship... It's all dumb. Here's a little example of how I'm totally ridiculous. Today I got frustrated because I couldn't hear him properly over the phone and somehow that threw me into a tizzy. And then he called me on it, and then I got even more mad because I realized how stupid I was for being mad because I couldn't hear him but even worse he told me I was being stupid even though he didn't call me stupid but in my head he was definitely calling me stupid and blah blah ahhhh I'm so mad.

So that's pretty much who I am in a long distance relationship, and it's a wonder he's even coming back at all. I just can't wait to relax, not be lame and be a real human being again. (Just in my defense, I'm not like that ALL the time. Sometimes. And sometimes a little more often than sometimes. But I usually admit it at the end that I'm just being stupid. Usually.)

Next month, just get ready for this... Are you ready? Ready? I have three whole overnights in Orlando. Yes. Orlando, where Mickey lives, where it's hot, where palm trees flourish, and where everything is dirt cheap. Oh yes. The month before Christmas, I get to go spend less money for more stuff. I just can't even wait. Hopefully it will be stupid cold here, and I can pack my shorts and dance around in the sun while buying cheap things. Doesn't that sound fun? I'll try to get someone to take a picture of me doing that because it will be funny.

I should probably stop dinking around and maybe take a shower or pack my suitcase. Even though I have a late check in, I still actually have to go to work.

*I don't think I knew there was an "r" in "paraphernalia". Actually scrap that, I knew. I just forgot.

Weekend Update with bonus pictures

The weekend in Ontario was great. The wedding was great, the relaxing was great, and the whole thing was just great. (Do you think I need a thesaurus?)

On Friday, Matt, his brother Kurt, Kurt's girlfriend Bethany and I went to a snowboard show in Toronto. It was one of those conventiony type things where you pay to get in and then there are fabulous sales on all sorts of things. So Matt really wanted to get boots, and then when I saw all the cool new boot features, I had to get some too. In my defense, my current snowboard boots are the first ones I ever owned, which I got probably 7 years ago, and they completely suck and give my legs bruises, so it wasn't like I bought new boots even though I had perfectly good ones. I found some great half price boots with cool wire laces so you don't actually have to lace them up, you just pull the laces and they lock into place. That made me quite happy. Unfortunately the place was super busy and I wasn't quite in the mood for enormous crowds, so I was really ready to leave about two hours before we left.

The wedding was fun. I didn't know very many people there, but it was fun none the less. The bride looked great and it looked like they both had a great time.

Matt had to work on Monday and Tuesday so I lazed around the house and just chilled out. I went and visited him at work and brought him snacks, learned how to replace the nozzles in sprinkler heads and enjoyed just hanging out with him outside. I relaxed, just like I had hoped.

Probably the most dramatic event of the weekend was that Matt shaved his head. It was CRAZY!!! I've never known him without long-ish hair, so it was a huge change. Allow me to elaborate through photographs.

First, when we met:


Secondly, the day before the shaved head:


And lastly, post haircut.
Also, the third photo shows his incredible dancing skills. You really can't go wrong with hip pointing!

I'm so cultured

I'm home! I can't even tell you how happy I am to be home. Too bad I leave again tomorrow. But I'll get to chill out, watch tv on the plane instead of work which will be great. (I'm sure now that I said that I'll be on a plane without tvs). I get to hang out at Matt's place, then dress up all fancy for a wedding on Saturday! I love dressing up... any occasion where I can wear a skirt and a pair of killer heels, I'm happy. (Did I just say "killer heels"? Who do I think I am?)

Tonight was great. A few months ago, I asked a friend of mine to make me a print. Well tonight, I got it. And I love it. You can check him (and the print) out here. I feel so honoured to have this piece, since it took him SO long to do and also because he said it was his favourite one yet. He even has done a piece inspired by this one, so the fact that it hangs in MY house is pretty cool. One day when he has his own gallery in New York or somewhere important, I'll still have this piece and say "well I knew him when he was no one" and feel like I helped him get somewhere, when really I had nothing at all to do with it.

That was a slight tangent at the end, but I'm back now. Time to pack all my fabulous outfits and killer heels.

I have no life

All I do is work. That's what it seems like. I'm having a bit of a moment today... I'm just sick of working and being home for one short day, and then working again. It's almost over... One more four day starting tomorrow, and then home for not even a day and off to Ontario for a wedding. Hopefully I can chill and relax there, because then I have to come back and work again!


I'm happy Kristen and Jordan are here, and also that I got to see Spencer! That kid, SO CUTE. Kristen was saying that after those three adorable chitlin, the rest of us don't really have a chance! Our kids will be gremlins compared to them. Oh well... Maybe they'll have great personalities or something. (Usually when someone says "well they have a great personality" it means they're ugg-o, don't you think?) The problem is the mini Lobbs are cute AND have great personalities, so we're screwed.

ANYWAY. I'm missing having a boyfriend who lives in the same city as I do. I'm not really loving the whole talk on the phone relationship thing. He'll be here soon enough, but man it's shitty in the meantime. I'll suck it up. I feel like I should perhaps be happy I have someone who wants to move across the country for me.

I'm off to the Tronsgard's for Thanksgiving tonight. It was really nice of them to invite me (and move the whole dinner so I could come), and I'm excited for some turkey and stuffing. And some pumpkin pie. I like pie. And whipping cream.

I'm a fake aunt again!

Since we all know I'm not going to be a real aunt any time soon, I'll steal some of Kristen's aunt thunder and be happy for Kirsten and Chris on their third (are they crazy? Yes.) child! Even if I wasn't a fake aunt I'd still be happy, but you know what I mean.

I'm lucky to be able to have Kirsten, Chris and kid times three in my lives, even if it's only a couple of Tuesdays a month. I can only hope I'll be as happy as they are when I'm married and as good a parent as well. And hopefully the ice cream drawer in my freezer will be stocked as well as theirs too.

South America: Part 1 of 25

Just kidding, I'm not going to tell you every story that happened in South America, all the stories will come out in good time.

I'll give you some Final Thoughts if you will, a la Jerry Springer.

• Bathrooms in South America suck. You have to pay, they rarely have toilet seats, no toilet paper, sometimes they flush, no soap, and sometimes a sink. Fun fun fun. Oh and you can't flush anything ever.
• There are very few cars that aren't taxis or buses. Taxis drive around and honk at every person walking down the street to see if they want a taxi. So 25 taxis on a road at any given time, and maybe 20-50 people walking make for a lot of honking.
• It's really really really cold when the sun goes down, especially at the higher altitudes. Hostels don't have heating, normally have a huge open area in the middle where they chose not /couldn't afford to put a roof over, and showers are normally cold, so all that mixed with drinking lots of cold beer makes me COLD. I would sit in my hostel drinking with every piece of clothing I owned on. (But I would never sacrifice the beer for tea or something... no drinking is too important.)
• People are generally friendly. If I asked them a question, they would tell me the answer even if they didn't know it. So I did a lot of walking back and forth sometimes.
  
• Bus companies, on the other hand, sometimes not so friendly. They generally blatantly lied to my face, so unless I was going on a more expensive bus from a very well known tourist company, I came to expect the opposite of what I was told.
• Beer is cheap.
• Food is also very cheap, but not that great. In Mancora, Peru, the greatest place on earth, the food was incredible, fresh seafood, delicious Mexican (I know, kind of weird) and all cheap and accompanied by even cheaper beer. Other than that, a great meal was rare.
• Vendors and taxi drivers are very persistent. It's sometimes hard to say no to vendors if you're actually looking to buy something and they are trying to sell you something more. Sometimes it all happened so quickly that I'd end up with two of something or a drink as well or a calculator or a bathroom scale when all I wanted was a snickers bar. Taxi drivers were easy to say no to. I definitely told off my fare share of drivers when they'd ask me if I wanted a taxi as I was getting off a bus after a LONG night. They would say "come on, how come you don't want a taxi" and then I'd swear at them. Ooops.
• Every town and city seems to have some kind of attraction. It's strange. You can see everything in South America. I saw cars decorated with flowers be blessed by a priest and 36 man-made-out-of-reed islands floating on lake titicaca.
  (And people STILL live on these islands!)
• Men hiss at you instead of whistling at you. And lots and lots of hissing occurs. Arequipa was the worst, though it may have been because I wore a tank top during the day there instead of two sweaters and a scarf.

That's about it for now, I'll think of some more soon.

I kind of forgot to blog

I´m not sure why but I totally forgot to blog on this trip.

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I spent it on a bus watching ¨she´s the man¨ and some movie about what to do with the jewish people in the concentration camps during WW2.

The earthquake was crazy. But I am fine.

Peru was really cool. Bolivia is also very cool. I´m in La Paz in a rut because it´s fun here but I think I should do more thank get drunk at Toga parties and walk around the markets. I will do something soon.

I´m loving traveling and could definitely see myself doing it a lot more. I am so tempted to just travel for a long time and work along the way. Not this trip, but sometime. It´s so much fun. Traveling alone is a different experience but it´s cool that I don´t have to make decision based on anyone else´s ideas. The bad side? I stay in La Paz and get drunk instead of seeing things.

I have posted lots of pictures on facebook so if you have it go check them out.

I´m blog when I get home, I promise.

Speed Bump

So I'm NOT in Peru.

I am in Fort Lauderdale. At the Days Inn. I think technically I'm in Hollywood or something, but I thought that was in California. Anyway, I'm in Florida, not Peru.

I was having amazing luck yesterday. I made it on the flight from Toronto to Orlando by the skin on my teeth... Three people got stuff in customs so I got one of their seats. Had they made it (they were travelling together as well) I would have been stuck for a day in Toronto.

I get to Orlando where I'm supposed to sleep in the airport because the flights were full going from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale to Lima, but I decided to meander to the Spirit Airlines desk and see if there was space. And lo, there was. I handed in my pass, got a boarding pass for Fort Lauderdale AND Lima, paid the fare, checked my bag, went through security and waited to board. The rest of the people board, I am in the midst of being handed my boarding pass for the flight and someone says "HEY WAIT! You can't fly to Lima. There is a restriction for standby passengers until August 27th". I almost threw up, punched the guy and swore really loudly all at the same time. Luckily I did none of those, and calmly asked "WHAT????"

I won't get into the whole next bit of the story and all the details, but yes, apparently 10 people overlooked this teensy tiny travel embargo, messed up my entire trip, and I was stuck in Orlando with nowhere to go.

Blah blah blah I cried a bunch and then figured out what to do. I would fly standby to Fort Lauderdale and then buy a ticket to Lima from there because there was a seat sale. But wait, that flight already left today, and Monday's flight is sold out so I had to buy for Tuesday.

So I'm in Fort Lauderdale. At the Days Inn. (Thanks Papa and Kevin and Mum). Until Tomorrow at 5, when my flight leaves for Lima. On Spirit Airlines, aka the spawn of the Devil. (I don't really mean that. But right now I do.)

(And yes, I made sure I could get HOME on Spirit travelling stand by, and I was guaranteed that it would be possible, and if for some reason it's not, I'm calling the President of Spirit Airlines or even of the United States and telling him to GET ME HOME. And give me more room in my seat because man, they're uncomfortable. And free snacks. Yeah, snacks)

But hey, I'll have a great story to tell. Cause wow that's funny. Can you see how hard I'm laughing. So hard. Oh wait. I'm not laughing. Not at all.

I guess things can only get better. Right? RIGHT???

I'm actually going to South America

I can't believe it's here. I'm leaving so soon. I'm a little nervous, but very excited. I don't know what else to say really, but I'm excited, I'm going to have loads of fun, and just do everything I can.

I'll hopefully be able to give a few updates when I'm gone so you can stay up to date on what I'm doing. Maybe I'll be able to put a few pictures too.

Have a good month!

Ear*

It's hot in Calgary. It's getting a little more bearable, but when I have air conditioning in my hotel rooms on the road and then have to come back to the sauna that is my bedroom, it's tough to sleep. I like the sun, don't get me wrong, but it's getting pretty apparent to me that I should not live in a place where it's hot all the time. In the winter, I bitch and complain about the cold, and in the summer, I bitch and complain about the heat, but at least I get both. If I lived in a hot place all the time, I think I'd slowly melt.

I'm leaving, once again, to work four more days, then I'm home for one day, then I'm back on the road for four more. THEN, it's two days to get myself into gear and then off to South America (with a brief stop in Ontario)!!! It's getting closer and closer! I still don't feel ready, but oh well, what can I do really. If anyone has any last minute tips, I'm all ears. I'm trying to figure out if it's worth taking ridiculously long bus rides and save a bit of cash, or take short little flights that cost way more. I'm thinking that I'll do a little bit of both, but it's a matter of deciding when to do which one. I'll have to play it by ear.

I had a nice but short little visit with Kristen when she made her way back from Paris. She seemed to have had fun! I can't wait until I can go to Europe and have all sorts of europy fun.

I'm watching some kind of real world inferno show, and it's ridiculous. I can't even explain how, but it is. My ears are hurting from listening to stupid people talk about stupid things. Change the channel? Never. It's too addicting.

The time has come to pack up my suitcase and get ready to go. Blech. I wish I could have one more sleep in my own bed!

*I seem to have said "ear" more than normal in this post. I thought I would bring that to everyone's attention.

EAR!

Help!

I'm just listening to The Beatles Love album, and I like it. The song I happen to be listening to is Help!, that's why I wrote that title. I don't actually need help, though some would I'm sure, beg to differ.

I'm in Montreal on a long layover, which will repeat tomorrow as well. All day in Montreal, then two quick flights, one to Toronto and the other back to Montreal, and then the same thing tomorrow. My life is so hard, I know.

I slept in today, walked over to the mall, avoided H&M because I really don't have the money to spend on more clothes, bought a hat for my trip, ran into another flight attendant on my crew, then we walked to the grocery store and got a few things for the next few days. Now I'm in my hotel room, listening to some beatles, and waiting for 6:30 to come when I have to work. Fun times, I know.

On Sunday I had a pre-birthday dinner with the fam since Kristen was in town. It was the last one in my dad's house before he moves into his condo! That's a bit sad to think of. It was weird to receive gifts and a cake that said 23 on it more than two weeks before my birthday, but I've had birthdays in October before, so what's July right? I got an italian charm bracelet from my mum, something I've been wanting for quite a long time, so that was nice, then Kristen got me a skirt that I can bring traveling with me, and my dad and Kevin got me a new camera since my old one just stopped working for no reason. It's a pretty cool camera so I'll be guarding it with my life on my trip. All in all it was a nice dinner (lobster!) and family gathering.

Well, I guess I should head off and do something. Oh wait, I have nothing to do. Maybe I'll iron. That always kills a bit of time.

What do all you can eat tacos, margaritas, beer and wings add up to?

Indigestion. Bad.

Last night I went for all you can eat tacos at this Mexican restaurant that I didn't know about. Apparently it's the best in the city. I beg to differ. Not great, though maybe I shouldn't judge on an "all you can eat" night. Regardless, I had a bit of acid reflux/indigestion before I went, and after tacos and sickeningly sweet margaritas, I felt a lot worse. This morning I woke up thinking my esophagus had eroded away in my sleep, and it just got worse as the day went on. What's the best cure for acid reflux? Wings and beer, duh.

I think I might have to take a page from my dad's book and stick some phone books under the head of my bed so that I sleep somewhat upright and won't have to feel like there's a little man canoeing* in my throat. Maybe tomorrow I'll go lip-synch some kereoke.

*Is that how you spell "canoeing"? The spell checker wants me to write "canoing", but that just looks like "ca-no-ing" to me. Not that the other way looks very much like the pronunciation either, but still. I was sure there was an "e" in there somewhere.

Stampeeeeeeede.

So Stampede is (almost) over, and this year wasn't too bad! Matt and I went down one afternoon and walked around, saw the sights, watched some superdogs, chucks and had some free food (provided by Mum). Friday was our "big day" at the Stampede, where Matt and I, joined by Tyler from Montreal, Jess and Vanessa watched some rodeo, which I haven't done in a while, and went to Nashville North. Between the two events, Matt and I snuck off and rode the big ride you have to pay for, I think it's called the Sky Scraper? The big one that spins around with you in little things on the end that spin too. It was kind of pricey, but totally worth it. I giggled the whole time, and Matt just kept saying "wow!". It was awesome. Nashville North was a good time, but it was SO HOT. The tent was like a sauna, and I was just hot the whole day. It was kind of intense.

The rest of the week wasn't too bad, but I have never wanted a fan more in my entire life. It's hot in my room.

I've realized that my trip is coming up really quickly, so I need to start getting ready. I should head down to MEC soon and get a couple of things, and make sure I have some kind of plan for the first couple of days at least. I'm getting really excited. A little nervous too. But excited.

Life Update

I have been a terrible blogger. Sorry.

The last half of the month has been very interesting. I've been working a lot, I went out to a friends cabin in Vernon for a few days, and I've been "getting in" my last few days with Matt. Working has been super fun for the most part, since I've had pretty good crews, and Matt even came on an overnight to Abbottsford with me, which was pretty cool. We went to the batting cages at Castle Fun Land, and walked around the highway... And he even saw me working twice, which was interesting. He sat right up front and saw everything I did, it was pretty weird to know he was watching me!

Vernon was great, aside from the fact that my sunglasses ended up at the bottom of the lake (which wasn't even my fault), but I rode on a boat lots, sea-dooed once, tubed, and drank the whole time.

This last little while has been just trying to figure out my love life, not that there's much to figure out, more like trying not to think about the fact that Matt was leaving. We have had the greatest time together lately, and it's pretty sad that it's pretty much over. Oh well, if we are supposed to be together, it will happen. Enough about that.

I'm trying to get organized for my trip, though it isn't happening. I don't know why, I'm just in limbo. Maybe I should get my ass into gear. I'm excited for Kristen to go to Paris, though I'm super jealous since I've never been. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Yesterday I spoke with a tattoo artist for the second time, and I finally have enough ideas so that he can start to draw something up. How stoked am I?? Next Friday I'm supposed to go see what he has, and then we book an appointment for the real tattoo or another viewing if we need to morph a few things in the drawing. Eeeeeeeeeee!

I'm working today until Wednesday, and after that I don't work until the twenty somethingth of July. I have ALL my days off in a row, so I get to Stampede it up, and then chill out and have fun. I might make a little trip out to Ontario (I know I know, not a healthy move, but it seems only fair since Matt's coming for Stampede, I should go see him ONE MORE TIME and then say see ya), and then I guess I need to get ready for my trip to South America!

That's it for now, hopefully I'll be a little more regular with the posting.

I'm sick of looking at you, flood post.

No more floods. (Well I hope not, but since there was a rain fall warning for Calgary last night, I might not be so lucky.)

I just got into Toronto from Vancouver and it's 7:36 in the morning here. What is the first thing I should do when walking into my hotel room after working for 8 hours overnight? Turn on my computer, of course! I'm lame.

A few things are floating through my mind in this sleepy stupor;

• I need to get shots soon (read: NOW) if I'm travelling in South America in two months. I didn't really think about that until now.
• I should probably find some kind of backpack and supplies. Sandra, I'm looking at you when I say this.
• My boyfriend moves back to Ontario in two weeks, for good. That's kind of lame. Back to being single I guess... maybe I should re-read those posts from six months ago about how I didn't want a boyfriend.
• I'm going to Vernon on Tuesday to party at a cabin mansion with friends. I'm very excited. I think I'm going to ride a sea-doo for the first time. Fun!

That's all, I should sleep. (The first time I wrote "sleep" I wrote "slepp". Somehow, that's hysterical.

Flood?

Yes, my apartment flooded. You can read all about it here, and I owe Linda a lot since she cleaned it all up before I could even come home from work. I just had to de-dullify the floors, which isn't the easiest task, but will hopefully work. But yeah, Linda cleaned a lot, she's the best, now we need to figure out how to get swampy smell out. Oh, and clean my room. There's stuff everywhere.

On a side note, does anyone know if a TV will work if it was sitting in three inches of dirty water? I'm scared to turn it on.

Judging by your reaction when I got my first tattoo, Mum, you probably shouldn't read this.

I'm slightly obsessed about getting another tattoo.

I was casually talking about how I'd like to add on to the lady bug on my back with a flight attendant the other day, and I was telling her how I'd like it to come up my back a bit and over my right side, and how I'd like it to be some kind of plant/vegetation/organic thing but I have no idea what I actually want, and she was all "we just got profit share, go get one!". Since then, I've been obsessing. I want it. NOW. I just don't know WHAT.

I've been looking on Flickr at people's photos, and I'm thinking I should find some things that I like, bring them in to a tattoo artist, and see what we come up with. My problem is that I know what I don't want, just not really what I want. I wish I could draw well, that way I could just doodle for a while and eventually what is in my subconscious would come out on paper. But that really isn't going to happen. So I just don't know. I want something artistic, that looks really cool, and that I will love forever.

A little background on the ladybug: I went to Montreal in grade 11, and my friend and I thought we'd be super cool if we came back with tattoos. So we got tattoos. I like ladybugs. Lower back isn't visible to chaperones and parents, so why not a ladybug on my lower back. I still like it, and I know it's not some major work of art or anything, but it's the memory of getting it and how rebellious I felt, and how rumours flew around the school while we were still in Montreal that we got penises and skulls on our boobs, and when we came back everyone asked us to see our tattoos and were so disappointed when they weren't penises and skulls on our boobs. (I, on the other hand, am not disappointed that I don't have a penis and a skull on my boob.) I don't want it covered, I just want to take the memory, and turn it into a really cool (and big ish) tattoo that I can look at and say "I have a super cool tattoo". (I've said super cool at least twice this post.)

Anyway, I'm going to continue my search for something that's along the lines of something that I want. So far I've really narrowed it down, can't you tell?

We did it!

Well the race is all over, and I'm pretty happy about it. But we did great. Kristen and I finished in an hour and one minute, me running in two seconds before her, only because I got a "second wind" and figured that if I slowed down at all I would fall so I kept running. She definitely ran a better race than me, in that she wasn't cursing the world for the majority of it. After the first kilometer my knees and ankle were hurting quite a bit, and I was getting pretty discouraged, but there's something about running in a big group that makes you keep going and not want to look like an idiot. Kristen and I mostly ran together except when I thought it would never end, lagged behind, then realized we had one kilometre left and just ran and ran and ran. I had missed the route marker for 7k, and then people started saying "only two kilometers to go!" and I was thinking to myself "what a cruel joke, we haven't even gotten to 7 yet!" Then I saw the 8K marker, got a little happier, then booked it for the last one and was very happy when it was over. It felt really good to finish though, and with a pretty good time too.

Jordan ran his marathon today, and he did incredibly. He beat what he was going for by quite a bit, and if it wasn't for Matt spotting him out of the blue we would have totally missed him. I'm so proud of him! And of us! Yay us for following through on this. After running the 10k, I think I want to try for something more. We'll see.

I can't stand up

Why? I am so incredibly sunburned on my legs. It hurts to stand. Ridiculous. I sent my sister a pretty funny e-mail describing how it all happened and how it took me a few minutes to walk down the hall at Matt's house while holding the wall to keep steady, but I'm feeling uninspired at this moment because I'm worried that I won't be able to run my race on Saturday. Or go to Wonderland tomorrow. I'm thinking I'll just suck it up and go, and suffer through the pain. Is it bad that my bones hurt?

I didn't really get burnt anywhere but my legs, because I put sunscreen everywhere but my legs. Why? Because I thought they could use "a little sun" since they're so pale. "A little sun" turned into a touch more than anticipated, and my legs are seriously more burnt than I've ever seen. Or felt. It's horrible.

That is all. I don't know what else to say about that.

H and M? (blogger isn't letting me put the "and" sign... not sure why)

A store with my initials HAS to be fabulous right? Right. It's awesome. In Montreal, in Toronto, and probably a lot of other great cities. Do you know where is licks testicles? Calgary. Yep. Sucks.

I went in today after hearing from two different sources that it was bad. I kept a positive attitude, decided I would find out for myself if it was good or bad. I had a pair of fabulous jeans that I got in the one in Toronto that I wanted to exchange for a different size, and I thought instead of waiting until I go back to Toronto, I would do it here, since YAY we have an H&M here. Well, it was bad. Very very bad. It is sort of like Le Chateau. So not great. And they didn't even have the jeans I had.

I walked around, looking for all the cool print t's and the graphic hoodies, searching for all the things with skulls all over them and super trendy clothes that can't be found anywhere else. There were none. NONE.

I found a cute tank top and decided to buy it. When I was at the till I decided to ask the worker why it sucked so very badly. He informed me that they only carry a few of the lines that H&M has. So the super cool line with all the super cool clothes? Not at this H&M. BUT, there are supposed to be two more H&Ms opening within the year here in Calgary, so they will have more of the lines. But for now, extreme disappointment. I told him that it was a tragedy, and he looked at me and said "sweetie, you're telling me. I'm stuck wearing a bad american eagle button up knockoff to work!" and I giggled, and felt slightly better since he hated it too.

So now I'll have to resort to eastern H&Ms with more tax until Calgary decides we can be cool too.

Weekend? In Toronto? Yes, it's true.

I know it's almost next weekend, but I'm posting about my last weekend. Matt and I went to Toronto to spend the weekend with his family and friends. Technically he lives just outside Toronto, in a little town that's pretty quaint, yet so close to the city. It's quite convenient.

We flew in pretty late, and I should add that that was the closest I've ever come to not making a flight before... We were literally the last two people on the plane, and not because we were late, but because they didn't think there was room for us. I basically kept harassing the CSA and finally he told us there was room for us. Yay!

We went out to a bar that night, had some fun, drank a beer, and then went home. The next day we slept a lot, then went out to see one of Matt's brother at the golf course that he works at, kind of far away but nice. Then that night we went out in downtown Toronto to this super cool giant pub called Madison, and as a side note I saw Matte Babel from Muchmusic and we're best friends now. Then the next day we went downtown during the day and walked around and saw a bunch of things... We went back to his house, I gave his brother a mohawk, and we went to bed. The next day Matt was working at his job from last summer, so his mum and I went to this warehouse perfume sale. I kind of bought a few perfumes, but they were super cheap so I couldn't resist. After, I went for a run and then cooled off by swimming in their pool. Seriously, my boyfriend ('s parents) has a pool!!!!!! I was like a little kid, so excited that someone I knew had a swimming pool. No one but me and Matt's little brother would go in so early in the season, so the two of us had somersault competitions while everyone else thought we were crazy for swimming in the cold pool. Then on Tuesday morning I left for home, and that's about it.

I had a really great time, and I definitely like Toronto, but I won't compare it to Calgary even though everyone there asked me "so it's better than Calgary hey??". They're just way too different. I'm super excited for the long weekend because we're going back to Toronto, and then near the end of the week we're going to Ottawa to visit with Kristen and Jordan and for the big race!! Eeeps it's coming up pretty soon!

Carts, carts, and more carts

Yesterday was the first day of carts. Carts for pepsi, carts for pretzels, and carts for pringles, licorice and the chicken ciabatta sandwich. It was very different. But not all that bad. Though I really do have to watch for that transition. It's a toughy.

Wherein I use the F word, but I'm just quoting someone else so don't get offended, and also say Open a can of whoop ass, so feel free to make fun.

I haven't been so tired in ages. I just got back from four long days, each one more interesting than the next. And by interesting, I mean shitty.

I had a great crew. I can't complain one bit about that. We laughed, hid maxi pads in various spots throughout the galley, and laughed some more. Good times.

But the guests. Oh my god the guests. The first day wasn't anyone's fault... A guy (an employee actually) had a mini seizure. The lady next to him rang the call button, said "there's something wrong with this guy", and the guy was all spaced out and shaking, and then he snapped out of it and had no idea what had just happened. We were 25 minutes from landing. Hectic. The guy was fine (well as fine as you can be when you've just had your first ever seizure), we landed, got him some medical attention, and that was that. Day one over.

The next day was just really long. LONG long. Across the country twice long.

The next day, we were in the back galley when we heard someone scream "WHORES! FUCKING WHORES!!" We looked around at each other, almost to wonder if we had imagined it, but no, we hadn't, since we had all heard it. I was ready to whip out a can of whoop ass, since I just finished my self defense training and was all eager to test it out on someone, but alas, I didn't get to. We found out who it was, and realized that the guy in fact had Tourette's, and wasn't actually verbally abusing us. I was super awkward though, and it made for an interesting flight.

Today was the weirdest. A girl travelling alone (but who was over the age of unaccompanied minors so had no real care from us) basically spilled her guts to me after I asked her "how are you today?" and told me that yesterday she ran away from home, called CSI on her dad because he said someone was dying and she thought it was him and now she's going to meet her brother who she doesn't know (and doesn't know what he looks like but don't worry he knows what SHE looks like) and stay with him till this thing blows over. (Those are her words). I was obviously concerned that a) she was running away now and her dad didn't know she was flying somewhere and b) that some creeper was going to pick her up and it wasn't her brother and she would get raped and murdered and it was all my fault. It was a huge long ordeal that I won't get into, but in the end we contacted the dad, found out she had behavioural problems, he has health problems and can't deal with her, and her brother who is an adult with his own children is going to help with the situation for a bit. We got the info of the brother, and decided we'd go down and meet the brother with her and check his ID. I basically felt horribly uncomfortable through the whole ordeal, desperately hoped that this guy was going to be a decent human being and that I wouldn't get the "NO!" feeling when I met him. It was ALL good in the end, the brother had two adorable children of his own, thanked us for bringing her down, and I felt really good about it. I just really really hope this girl will turn out ok. She was obviously lacking attention from the adults in her life and needed some guidance. I hope she gets it.

I was so emotionally exhausted by this situation, I just wanted to come home. Lucky for me I got to. So I'm home. And I'm happy about it.

Edmonton is lame.

Sorry to the Edmonton folks, but I just spent two days in Edmonton, and I feel pretty sad about it. I won't get into all these details, but Edmonton, blowy snow, crappy hotel, rainy, and all around blech.

I got home yesterday to glorious weather (ooops) and came home, napped a bunch, got a blizzard for me and Vanessa and we watched the game whilst enjoying delicious ice creamy treats. It was pretty great. And plus we won the game, so really that's great too.

This weekend, not too much is happening. Well, I have to do my taxes (!), and then leave on Sunday for four days. My life is boring.

I got some new running shoes the other day, and so far they're making quite a difference. My runs are long now, and they are harder. Much harder. It's tough. But I'll push it.

That's that.

Go Flames Go.

Weekend Update

It's less of an update of the weekend, and more an update that's occurring on the weekend. But I'm still calling it a weekend update.

This week I had all my annual training, which went quite well. I only got one question wrong on my exam, and my evacuation drills went flawlessly and I had no missed criteria or teaching points. The instructors commented that I was surprisingly loud and shouldn't have a problem getting my voice projected above all the mayhem. (Are we surprised, really?) Oh and that I portrayed confidence in my eyes (aka am bossy) which would lead to compliance. (Again, surprised?) So when I'm screaming for you to cross your arms, jump, and slide, you'll do it damn it. NOW!

Last night I had a little shin dig at my place, which was mainly me and Vanessa, eating, drinking, and painting our nails. To be fair, other people came soon, like Katie, we drank some more, then Matt, his brother, James and their friend came, we drank some more, then we went to Molly Malones in Kensington. Yvette met us there, THEN we went to Amsterdam Rhino, drank some more, and partied our little hearts out. Well I partied my little heart out the whole time really. My friend Andrew came and met us at Amsterdam Rhino which was cool, I hadn't seen him in a while, and all in all it was a good night. This morning, however, was NOT a good time. I haven't felt this terrible since, oh, Montreal in the summer... I honestly thought I would die of head explosion and nausea. I finally crawled out of bed at 3:30. Yes. 3:30 pm. I feel like death.

Tomorrow, I am SO excited, I am going to the Banff Springs Hotel for brunch. I am fasting for the rest of today so I can eat enough tomorrow to last until Monday. This brunch, if you haven't been, is phenomenal. Food as far as the eye can see, and anything imaginable. I am known to eat, ummm, a few cherries jubilee, that is made at a station all fresh and delicious. Anyway, lots of food, good food, and I get to eat it all day tomorrow.

My plans for the day involve sitting on the couch. So I better get back to that. All this typing is making my head hurt.

Sick...

What kind of normal person gets sick three times in three months? Oh right, the kind who is in contact with 500 people a day, breathing re-circulated air. Gross. I feel like death.

On a lighter note, the W network has started playing Veronica Mars. That's always good.

Ouch?

So snowboarding was awesome, but the day ended with be biting it hard on the ski-out at Sunshine, slamming my head on the ground, almost getting my face slashed by a brand new snowboard, and feeling all around like death all in one fellow swoop. I got distracted, did some kind of spinning fall which resulted in impacting my ass, knees, elbows and head all at once. Then Matt skidded and almost hit my face with his board and we both just kind of sat on the ground for a while reflecting on what had just happened and being thankful that my face wasn't slashed open and that I still had the use of my legs and arms. I'm still stiff in the neck and have bruises, but it was so worth it because everything leading up to that was incredible. The weather was great and the snow was awesome, and we had a total blast. I boarded really well (except for that fall) too so I was excited.

Anyway, my weekend after that was pretty alright, I got a free breakfast in Regina (hotel), a free dinner in Ottawa (mum), so that makes it nice. I'm off now for a long while since I have my annual training starting Monday. I just finished four out of the five homestudies, so I'm well on my way. I also got to do a seriously wicked awesome homestudy on our new cart service that included videos and how-to's. I swear I have never wanted to barf more. "Of course", says the sickeningly sweet flight attendant in the video, "we would never deny a guest the use of the lav during cart service, so back your cart into the galley, wait for the guest to pass, and resume service. Oops, careful of that transition!" (referring to the lip on the floor that separates the plastic floor and the carpet. Seriously, it was cheesier than anything I've ever seen. Oh well, I got a laugh.

I also did a homestudy on good body mechanics and wasted one hour of my life learning how to bend my knees. I realize it's important, but seriously. An hour? Give me a break. It was slightly humorous to be doing the homestudy while thinking about how much my neck hurts from snowboarding though... And while slouching on my mum's medicine ball. Maybe I should re-read some of those points...

Tired?

I'm pretty tired. I had a long four days even though they went by quickly... I'm not sure how that works out, but it did.

I think I'm going snowboarding tomorrow afternoon. That excites me.

I have to work again on Saturday for four more days. BLAH. But then I get a whole shwack of days off, so it makes me happy.

How's everyone else doing?

I'll just come out and say it...

I am petrified of anything first aid.

I am trained in first aid, CPR, defibrillators, and all things aidy, and I still am so scared of having to deal with any kind of situation.

I have personally never dealt with too much... The other week there was a small girl choking in the middle seat. Her father was a)hitting her on the back, b)shoving his hand in her mouth to remove the item causing her to choke, and c)grabbing her neck and shaking her. The first two things are what they tell us to NEVER do, and the third one, well, I have no idea what would drive someone to do that but oh well. I stood at the aisle, yelling and the dad to stop it. Well, actually I said "stop! STOP! STOP!!!!" without giving any other instructions than that. After realizing that me yelling stop wasn't really an effective use of my skills, I reached across the dad to grab the girl, and I imagine my idea was to start doing abdominal thrusts when she coughed and what looked like a litre of water came out of her mouth. I stared at the girl, then looked at the dad and said "are you ok now? can you talk?" which is what my mum does any time someone is coughing/choking, since if you can talk your airway is clear, and the dad just said "yeah she's fine." I asked the girl "can you talk? what's your name?" She answered me, so I decided she was ok. Then, I looked at the dad and said "don't DO that!" and walked away. Since that experience I have learned that a)I need to be a more effective communicator in emergency situations, since "stop it" and "don't do that" don't really make my message clear, b)I should trust my instincts and act a little more quickly, and c)some parents have no idea what to do in those situations and just do anything they think might maybe help. Panic I guess?

So this brings me to someone dying. We have things we're supposed to do when someone dies on board, and that article on Kristen's blog really isn't far off. The only thing I would have done differently is perhaps INFORM THE GUEST SITTING NEXT TO THE DEAD BODY AND NOT JUST LET HIM WAKE UP AND FIND IT!!!!! Are you freaking joking me?? There must have been some kind of miscommunication between the flight attendants, that guest, and perhaps the media, because there's no way I'd sit a dead lady down and walk away with no further instruction. We DO have to "secure" the corpse, because if we just left it lying the galley or aisle for example, if we needed to evacuate they would hinder everyone else's evacuation. We're told to be as discrete as possible but really, carrying a dead body isn't easy or discrete. Hopefully they have just died in their seat, because then we can leave them there and call it a day. If someone dies while we're performing first aid, we have to continue until EMS comes to take over since we can't pronounce anyone dead. SO, we have to continue CPR until we land unless it's deemed too dangerous by the captain to do so. (This slightly contradicts the whole securing the body so it doesn't hinder an evacuation, but in that situation we would, and I'm going to use my own words here, huck the body out the door before initiating the evacuation. Or at least that's what I would do.) I've worked with several flight attendants who have had guests die on board, and it's never a good situation, but you just have to deal with it. I would hope that the people sitting in the first row would get up and move so we could put the dead person there since there is more room. I don't think anyone has the right to be mad or upset or judge the crew in the situation from the article, because honestly, how on earth are you supposed to deal with it?? Yes, they should have told the person who was sitting next to the corpse, and I highly doubt they really just plopped her down and left without any explanation, but if they did, well oh well. At least that guy is still alive! That's just me. I wouldn't be exactly rational in a situation like that.

On a more positive note, I'm up for my first aid re-certification, so I'll learn all the new first aid (since it's changed this year) and hopefully become a little more confident. On an even more positive note, every month we get our statistics on medical emergencies on board, and in almost 90% of all situations there is either a doctor or nurse on board. So they can at least help us. We also have a sat phone that is a direct line to a hospital, where they will give us instructions on what to do and we can even administer some of our crazy medical supplies we have in a secret compartment. And we have a defibrillator. So if you get sick on the plane and need an IV and your heart stops, we're prepared.

iPods and ponytails

I've been a blogging slacker recently.

I very much enjoyed the three nights that I got to spend with my sis and Jordan last week. We just hung out and had a good time, saw 300, ate some good food, and just had fun. I miss that.

I went to Puerto Vallarta for an hour. I was really nice out, and I was super jealous that I wasn't staying there. I won't talk more about that. I'm a bitter, bitter person.

Yesterday was my mum's birthday. We gave her an iPod shuffle... Today I have to go give her a tutorial on how to use it. I hope she finds it easier than checking her voicemail on her cell phone, because I've had to give her instructions at least four times on how to get her messages.

I start my annual training soon for my job... I can't believe that I've worked there a year already. Insanity.

This is kind of lame... Sorry my big comeback post is so terrible.

I missed the big St. Paddy's day parties this weekend. I have a Guinness with Kristen, but when everyone else I know was partying hard, one beer isn't really sufficient. I talked to Matt a few times that night, and each time was significantly more hilarious. The highlight for him was being able to fit his hair in a ponytail and looking like an irish fighter. I know you're all wondering how I ended up with such a sexy guy who has hair that can fit in a ponytail, and I wonder the same thing every day, don't you worry.

I will come up with something better soon.

Outside

It's harder running outside than on a treadmill. I miss only having to run upwards while the ground moves under me.