Worst. Flight. Ever. (and by flight I mean getting on a flight)

I'll share with you the terror that was Matt and I getting home from Toronto. When I looked on Saturday, all the flight from Toronto to Calgary were decently open. There were about 5 flights on Sunday after 1:00 pm, so I knew we wouldn't have a problem.

When I checked on Sunday after the race, all of a sudden they were all full. We scrambled to get packed and rushed to the airport in hopes of making it there in time to get a good priority number. We made it there about 2:45 before the flight (when 3:00 is "first in line"), so we checked in, and waited. We found out that one of the flights was canceled because the plane got struck by lightning, so that was the reason all the other flights got busier! So we didn't make it on to 2 flights, and things were looking pretty terrible for the third and fourth. Oh, did I forget to mention that Monday was Matt's first day at his new job, and the new job being an electrician apprentice?? Yeah so we were kind of desperate to get home.

Here's a major side note. Since I am an employee, I can sit up front in the jump seat in the flight deck with the pilots. I told them that I would only do this if there was a seat in the back for Matt, because I didn't really need to get home as quickly as Matt so I'd just wait until he got on a flight and I'd sit in the jump then. On the first flight, at one point it looked like there would be a seat for Matt, so I was going to be sitting jump. As we were excited that we might get on the flight, the crew walked by. I let out this huge gasp and Matt said something like "HOLY SHIT" when we saw one of the pilots. I'm not sure if I enlightened you about our Hawaii extravaganza, but there was a pilot who basically made our life a living hell and has since retold the story over and over again to his crews, antagonizing this terrible flight attendant and her awful boyfriend. This guy is the world biggest prick. I don't normally use that word, but he just is. He's terrible. And if I had to work with him, I would call in sick. He's that awful. Anyway the thought of me sitting in the flight deck with him the whole time was less appealing than getting an old person's nasty gross feet rubbed on me. I also thought that if this captain had a say in it, we wouldn't even get on the flight even if we were next in line. Luckily, we didn't have to make the decision because there were no seats for Matt, but it was scary. I was actually glad we didn't make that one.

The fourth flight was on one of the bigger planes, which hold 166 people. There is a minimum crew requirement on airplanes, meaning the crew/passenger ratio is 1:40. Normally we carry 4 flight attendants on all planes, and if the flights are full on that bigger plane, they'll pull a flight attendant from somewhere else and put them on that flight. That didn't happen for this flight. So there were 6 seats on a plane that had to remain empty, while there were 10 people in the toronto airport DYING to get home. So as a flight attendant, there is a chance that I can work in order to get myself home. That is, if you have a uniform. So I stood at the counter in the boarding lounge and was talking with the Customer Service Agents, who ultimately control my and Matt's fate, and said "well I'm a flight attendant, but I don't have a uniform." So sorry Heather, no uniform, no working. At this point, Matt and I had been at the airport for about 5 hours, Matt had called and left messages with his new boss explaining that he wouldn't be at work for his first day, and we were feeling all in all terrible.

I decided to go up to the counter one more time, just to remind them I was there, yeah, hi, over here, love to get on a flight, when the CSA said "hang on Heather, we might be able to track down a uniform for you." OK LET'S GO! I ran back to my seat, grabbed my pass for the airports, and we ran down to this crazy mystery uniform room. While we were down there, a the CSA got a message via walkie talkie that I needed to call crew sked, who control the crews and are the people you want to be friends with, because if you're on their bad side, you're in trouble. And the last time I spoke with them, I was less than polite. Needless to say, I was expecting them to say "NO! HA!". I called, stated my purpose, and was SO expecting them to say no that when they said yes I just said "ok thanks!" and hung up. I couldn't believe it!

So up I went to the gate in pants that looked like they were crumpled in a ball for the last 5 years, a shirt that was too big and a sweater, with my sandals still on. I didn't have shoes or socks. Well one of the flight attendants working had an extra pair, and the CSA who helped me gave me her own shoes!!! I couldn't believe it! So in another mad dash, I got my stuff, went down to the plane, got all ready to start working. Matt got one of the seats, 5 other standbys got on, plus two more in the jump seats in the flight deck. So I had to work, which was fine, though I was a tad on the tired side since I had gotten up before 5:00am and ran a race and all that jazz, but we got home. Matt got to sit in a comfy seat and watch movies and get service, but don't worry I wasn't jealous. We finally made it home and went straight to bed.

And that was our terrifying adventure. Should I mention that I've never not gotten on a flight before? And we didn't get on THREE. Crazy.

Mmmmmuffins

I made some muffins today. They are pumpkin carrot. I haven't actually tried them yet, so I can't say if they're good, but they smell good! I made them with chickpea flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, ground flax, applesauce, pumpkin, carrot and other normal muffin things. I also made a corn and bean salad to bring with me on the road. I met with my dietitian again today and she told me I don't get enough grains. Well duh! So together we came up with some ways to get more grain in my diet, hence the muffins. These ones, since they're homemade, are much healthier than other muffins and have added sources of fiber. We came up with some other meals that I can eat on the road too, so I have a list of 4 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and a few different snacks. Once I get used to these, we can come up with some others. They aren't too far off from what I eat, but there are a few differences. The addition of grains, (but I can't seem to find gluten free wraps), making sure there's protein, which I try to do but doesn't work super well, and honestly, it's a little more food than I normally eat. Anyway, I'm learning, and Sarah the dietitian is helping.

The race weekend went well. I made my personal record, barely, of 26 minutes. I got 26:57 for my 5Km. I didn't specify that it had to be 26 or UNDER, so in my mind I made it. I've learned I'm terrible at pacing myself. I really need to work on that. Kristen and Jordan did well, but were a few minutes off their goals. Still did great though. I managed to see Kristen, Jordan, and my mum cross the finish lines, so I was really happy about that. We had great spots to cheer them on and every one of them heard me cheering, so I felt very successful. My family met Matt's family as well and we had a great time, so that was another notch in the successful column.

Matt started his job as an electrician apprentice this week after a horrifying trip home which I'll save for another post. The flying wasn't the bad part, but the almost NOT flying was. I'll elaborate later. His second day on the job went swimmingly and the third even better. It started a little rocky, but he loves it now. I hope everything continues to get better and better!

All in all, we've had a great weekend/week!!

Gluten Free = Anything good Free

I have been living Gluten Free for what seems like forever. I don't even know actually, but I think it's something like 2 weeks or a week and a half.

I'll just come right out and say it: It's a whole lot of shitty. Before you all think "come on, it's just food", I know. I know it's just food, I know I don't have cancer, I know I don't have diabetes, I know life could be so much worse, and I'm not pretending that my life is coming to an end. BUT, it's incredibly difficult and I hate it so far.

I was in Community Natural Foods after about day 2 of being gluten free, and I was looking around for snacky foods. You know, when you're running out the door and need something to throw in your purse in case you get hungry, or when you just want as a little something at home. Anyway, I'm looking, and looking, and looking, and all I find are some bar thingys. There is HUGE selection of bars at the store, so I'm thinking there HAS to be something that's got some nutritional value, not too fatty, and reasonably priced. Well, there are three brands that are gluten free. THREE. (I know I didn't look at every single one, but three out 15 I would say). There's the Larabar, which I know and love, but really, not much of a nutritional bar, more of a "I'm craving something sweet so I'll choose this instead of candy or a chocolate bar". And it's also between $1.50-$2.00 per bar. Then there are these Glutino brand bars, which are basically like those Chewy tendres made by Quaker, which are $7.50 per box of five. Lastly, Bumble Bars, which are about $2.50 per bar, and are good, but again more like the Larabar in nutritional content. They are so strange though, made with little tiny yellow dots... I'm thinking by the name maybe they're made out of some kind of bee product. Anyway that's the snack part of the trip.

The baking? I won't bother. A small loaf of bread (and I mean SMALL... like the size of a baker's potato) was $7.50.

On to the sauces. I would like a salad dressing. I looked for about 10 minutes, and finally bought some balsamic vinegar that I can mix with oil. No regular salad dressings are gluten free.

I started to tear up a bit, I know that sounds cheesy, but I did. I held it together, paid $30 for not even a bag full of things, and left. As soon as I got into the car, I cried. Full on cried. I just felt sorry for myself, thought things like "why me?" and "this is stupid"... By the time I got home, I was still crying, and I walked inside feeling really stupid because things are so much worse for so many people in this world, but I just wanted to cry. Matt was here, thought maybe I crashed the car or someone died, but "no", I said between tears, "I can't eat ANYTHING" boo hoo. He was sweet and went online to order some gluten free goods. He found lots, but the shipping ended up being ridiculous, so we decided to hold off. I think there are a few other websites that may be a bit closer to home so we'll give those a shot. Anyway he cheered me up and we made some delicious thai food that we happened to have, and that's gluten free.

My problem, aside from snacks, are the sauces. For the love, why is there wheat in EVERYTHING????? Soy sauce, anything WITH soy sauce, BBQ, salad dressings, peanut sauce, chicken broth, and anything else that has a flavour. This is the tough part.

I saw a new nutritionist who is sweet as pie and we are going to work well together to find things to make, things to bring on the road, how to re-organize my kitchen, since we can't use the same toaster or peanut butter. I'm happy to have someone I can just call and say "can I have this?" and she'll say yes or no. I feel a little bit better, and things I know can only get better, but at the start, to say "you can't eat gluten, and.... GO!" and to be so in the dark and have no one and nothing is not really ideal.

I am off to Toronto for the weekend with my mum, my sister, Jordan and Matt to run a little race in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon weekend. It will be fun! Eating will be interesting, but I'll make it through!

I think I figured it out

I'm pretty sure the whole point of the "er" thing is that everything at bell is better than the rest, so cool is now cooler, sexy is now sexier, etc. It's just putting the emphasis on the superlative. (I think the word is superlative anyway). That's what I've decided anyway.

On a side note, I am now gluten free. My Dr got in touch with the GI specialist and together they decided that since I have no appointment in sight, I should go off gluten, and then I'll have to go back on it for 10 days leading up to the appointment. Apparently those 10 days will be "uncomfortable" but I think it will be worth it for now! Too bad this decision wasn't made 6 months ago...

Bell Commercial

Has anyone seen the new Bell commercials? The company name is Bell, but then the slogan is something like "Friday night's just got better" with the final er highlighted in blue. There are a few others where the final er are highlighted in blue as well, and I seriously don't understand it. What do the letters e and r have to do with Bell? For some reason this is consuming me. Please help.

When I grow up I wanna something blah blah I wanna have boobies!

Does anyone else think that Pussycat Dolls song is ridiculous? I wanna have boobies? But as Matt and I discussed, when I was younger, it's true, all I wanted was boobies. I would go to bed every night thinking "please when I wake up in the morning let me have something more than mosquito bites" and then, after lots of wishing, one day in grade 12 I woke up with glorious boobs and I've been happy ever since. Where they came from, I don't know. So, as much as it's the lamest song ever (and Matt's ringtone), it's accurate.

I had a pretty exciting weekend!

First, I saw Pineapple Express. It was pretty funny at the start, and then half way through it got a little out of hand, but it was still quite funny.

Second, I sang Karaoke!! I have always avoided singing at Karaoke bars. I like to think I'm a decent singer, and the idea of being awful in a bar full of people doesn't really sound like fun. Anyway I decided to bite the bullet and try. So I sang "Saturday Night" by Whigfield, and it was really fun. Before I went up, and thought "oh jeeze, I only know like two lines of that song!" and then after I started, I realized there WERE only two lines in the song so it was all ok. It dragged on a bunch at the end but other than that it was super fun. Matt was a big hit. He started with Purple Rain, then a whole bunch of others, and ended with Ziggy Stardust, and it was hilarious. The night was tons of fun, except when a hearing impaired guy who stank a bunch took off his shirt and got into judo chop position and threatened to kill Katie's boyfriend (who for real didn't provoke him). Actually, that was still kind of fun but a little more dangerous than we were hoping for the evening. When we got home, our neighbours were having a fire in the backyard so we joined them for a little as well. It was quite a long night!

On Sunday we were quite slow going (because when you sing Karaoke, drinks must be consumed prior to, during, and after the singing). What is the best cure for a hangover? Heavy yardwork on the roof! Matt and I gave my mum our services for Christmas, and she chose to redeem them with yardwork. Matt cleaned the eaves troughs, hauled rocks and we both had to clean off the garage roof of branches, pinecones, and nine garbage bags full of pine needles. There were a couple of small trees growing ON the roof as a result of all the needles too, so we got rid of those too. She rewarded us with ribs and corn on the cob and we watched some Olympics after. It was a little rough though.

The last event of the weekend came in the middle of the night last night in the form of a headache. It wasn't my everyday this is annoying and hurts kind of headache. It was the worst headache I've ever had but then ten times worse. It was in my temples, behind my eyes, AND in the back of my head, when normally I get the pain in one of those three places. No matter how I positioned my head, I couldn't get the pain to even ease up a bit. I took drugs, I drank water, and held my head in the toilet for a bit because I thought I was going to throw up for a while, I sat up, laid down, I closed my eyes, opened them, put pillows everywhere and nothing would help. Then I thought of a magic bag, which I don't have, so I went and put my head in the freezer for a little while to recreate the feeling (which upon reflection probably wasn't a good idea). I cried for a while, but then made myself stop because the congestion from the tears made my headache worse. It was awful awful awful. I eventually fell asleep but it took a long time, and when I woke up I still had a bit of a headache. I actually still do, so I'm not too sure what is wrong with my brain but it sure doesn't like me. Ouch!

That's the end of that post I think. And in five more sleeps it's my birthday! Wahoo!

Shoes!

I got new shoes! How fun!

My knees and shins have really been bothering me lately. So much that I have not been running at all because of the pain. It's not great. So I decided I should stop wearing flip flops around and heels at work. I got some new shoes with better support, and I'm going to see if maybe I need orthotics. I went to Gravity Pope to find something great, and they had a buy two sale items get one free sale. How often does that happen? Free shoes? Anyway enough talk, I'll show you the shoes!

First, some simple shoes. I dig em.

Second, some pumas. They're mostly like this but where the picture has grey, mine are black.

Thirdly, some birkenstocks. They're this style but a silver/white/grey colour.

I feel like a rock star kind of. I mean, how often do you get THREE pairs of shoes in ONE day. Bliss.

And all in all it was under 200$. Fabulous. My mum was going to get me some birks for my birthday, so I was trying to get something different, but since there were so many sales, there weren't a lot of shoes left in my size. In the end I didn't have much choice in the last pair. Either way, they were free, so I couldn't really go wrong.

Shoes!!

Still no hair pictures...

I haven't taken any that really do it justice. I'll get some good hair pics on here soon. Don't worry. (Because you're all DYING to see it, I know. All you can think about what my hair looks like and when you're going to see a picture.)

Matt and I are settling in our new place. I'm still trying to find places for everything and trying to organize things, but it's coming along well.

I tried to put a picture as my masthead but I guess none of the ones I tried were the right size. I'm not really sure what size I need, but none of mine were it. I'm bummed.

Last night was SO hot that we had all the windows open in the apartment. It was so hot that Matt got me ice packs to put on my body to make me stop complaining. It got really windy in the middle of the night, and when we woke up it looked like a tornado had hit the place. There were papers and napkins ALL over the living room and kitchen. Funny stuff.

I'm going to attempt to shave Matt's head tonight... We'll see how that goes. Maybe I can post one of HIS hair pics.


Update: * Matt wouldn't wear the cape thing that came with his clippers, so I decided to wear it instead. This is me pouting on the couch because he wouldn't wear the cape. And my extensions aren't in... Sorry.*

I moved!

It went really well. I packed EVERYTHING before moving day, so when it came time to pack up the truck, it took no time at all. The time consuming part was the putting away in the new place. I had lots of help but it still took forever. The new place has significantly less space to put things, so we're still trying to figure out where everything needs to go. It will come, eventually.

I need to upload some pictures of the hair. I haven't done that yet.


I just got a new (and FREE!) blackberry pearl and it's a little bit confusing to figure out, but I'm getting there. First thing was first though, and Matt got me two (FREE!) ringtones, so when he calls me is MIA paper planes and when anyone else calls me is that song by Estelle featuring Kanye West that I really like. It has a cool black and white video and it makes me dance a little bit.

My first Stampede as a volunteer came and went. I had fun and wore cowboy boots and a hat every shift I had. About five people came up and asked when I was in the Stampede Show Band because my cowboy boots, which are the red uniform boots that I conveniently forgot to give back when I left the band. I was only in the band for a couple of months, but I never gave back the uniform and they never asked for it, and now they have a new one so they don't care. The first time I wore them I told Matt that I bet people will know that I have stolen Stampede Band boots, and he laughed at me and told me that NO ONE would ever know, so it made me laugh every time someone recognized them.

It was my sister's birthday on the 11th and I didn't even post a happy birthday post. I am a horrible sister. I just had so much going on, though that is no real excuse. I post happy birthday's to so many other people and I didn't even give one to her. I did call her and sing happy birthday when she was at work, so it's not like I forgot it was her birthday, I just forgot in the blogging world. I'm sorry Kristen. Do you forgive me? She told me I could get her a spread the net net as a present, but I feel like as much as it's a good cause, it's a smidge boring for a BIRTHDAY present. Maybe I can get a net plus something else. Now don't go judging me for not having already gotten her a present. I wanted to know what she wanted, and since I was moving it all just got delayed. (Is "not having already gotten" right? Maybe "having not already gotten" is better? I think the second one sounds better.)

After having so much time off for moving and Stampede I now have to work a bunch. It's a tough life, only having to work half the month. I don't know how I'll ever go to having a real job where I have to work EVERY week day, ALL day. Barf.

I think I need to attempt to get back to a real schedule by going to bed. I've been working red eyes to and from Montreal and Calgary for the last four days. Working all night and sleeping all day gets normal after a day or two, but now that I'm finished, I'm all mixed up. I've only been awake for about 9 hours but it's already 2:00am and if I want to actually DO something tomorrow I should probably try to force the sleep thing. I need to find a little tiny book reading light so that I can read in bed without bugging Matt. On an unrelated note, does anyone know if dry cleaners give away hangers for free? We are in desperate need of more hangers.

How to pack for a month but not actually pack a thing:

1. Have 5 boxes. A large 2 bedroom apartment can fit in 5 boxes, right? Wrong.

2. Throw a bunch of stuff out. If I could, I would throw it all out and start a new. I hate packing THAT MUCH.

3. Decide that you will use EVERY SINGLE THING in your apartment before moving day, so you can't possibly put them away in boxes.

4. Buy MORE STUFF. That way you'll have more things to pack.

5. Have your stuff everywhere. It makes things chaotic and then you won't want to pack because everything is disorganized.

6. Get more boxes, but make sure they are really small so that only 2 or 3 books will fit in each one.

7. Once you finally get appropriately sized boxes, have them all around you while you watch a superstar hair challenge marathon on TV instead of packing.

8. Find lots of other things to do instead of packing THREE DAYS BEFORE MOVING DAY. Suggestions? Make smoothies for your friend who just had her tonsils out, help set up for the stampede, go drinking with friends, go meet your mother and grandmother at the mall for lunch, go to IKEA, and write blog postings...

9. Make lots of appointments for the week before your move. You can't POSSIBLY pack the day of an appointment. You might lose track of time and MISS IT!

10. Practice putting in your new hair extensions 10 times a day. It's important that you get good at this so you have super nice hair in your new place.

As you can tell, I'm avoiding packing like the plague. I'm in trouble.

Ew?

There was just a bug crawling across my screen!!! I really need to clean and then MOVE. Seriously, I can NOT wait to move. I'm counting down the days (17) until I can get the f%$# out of here!

On a side note, it's a nice day out today. I think summer is here.

And then there was water...

My last two weeks were BUSY!

The half marathon was EXHAUSTING. Kristen gave a good depiction of it, you can read it here. I did well, but the mental and physical exhaustion that I went through made it hard to feel great about it. I cried at the end. But yay for us! And I'm so happy it's over!

I came home, worked right away for five days, then had one day off, where my apartment decided to flood again, and then worked again for five days. Fun stuff. Water came out from the sink and the washing machine. I freaked out, said "why me?" repeatedly, cried, almost slipped and fell a bunch of times while I was emptying out the storage room, called my landlord and father in tears, got rescued by the latter (who took me to his place, made me lunch, and did my laundry while I showered! He even hung up my work uniforms! That's what dads are for!) and eventually the problem got fixed. When my place flooded last year, I got a crazy voice mail from Linda who was dealing with it while I was in New Brunswick. I now completely understand the frantic tone that was in her voice on my phone, and don't blame her at all for saying "COME HOME NOW HELP!!!!!!" because that's all I could do when water was pouring non-stop from two places in my apartment. I'm pretty sure I sobbed "make it stop, please make it stop" several times while I was trying to find every single absorbent article in my place. I did quite well though, managed to save the dirty water from going into Linda's room (like last time) and the corner where a lot of Matt's boxes are stacked. I had this tiny mop with a sponge on it, and I stood in ankle deep water and sponged it into a big bucket. After the initial freak out, I snapped into action and sort of made things happen.

ANYWAY.

Now, time to pack, because I found an apartment! Yay! I'm so happy. It's in Mission and has two little balconies and a great view of the city. It even has a second smaller bedroom I can use as an office. I can't wait to move!

I'm finally off for a few days, so I'll have time to organize my life. I can't wait.

Happy Father's Day to all the poppas out there! I hope you get spoiled.

Ottawa!

So I'm in Ottawa... This is the third year in a row that I've been here for race weekend! This is by far the best weather. Not too hot (like the first year) and not rainy like last year. Quite comfortable. Matt and I came out on Friday after a whirlwind of a morning. We were rushing around like CRAZY to make an earlier flight so that we didn't have to get in and take transit to K & J's place at midnight, and on the way to the airport I got pulled over by the police! Matt was on the phone with the standby line booking our flights, and I was thinking "OK I have no idea what I've done here, I'm not speeding because duh there's a cop right there (and I have already gotten 2 photo radar tickets on that particular road so I've sort of learned my lesson, yes it took TWO times to learn) so I pull over, roll down my window, and the officer came RIGHT to my car... normally it takes them a while to come over I think.

Police: "License, registration and insurance", looks at it for one second, "so this is your car, yes?"

Me: I'm thinking "Holy hell does he think I stole it??" so I answer politely "yes, sir, it is" (I don't think I've ever said "sir" in my life)

Police: "So why haven't you gotten it registered?"

Me: "I have it registered"

Police: "No you don't. Would you read the date out on your registration?"

Me: "Sure, February 28, two thousand and oh right ok I see now"

Police: "So that was expired in February. Do you live at this address?"

Me: "No, that's my mum's address, but since I move around I keep that address so I don't lose track of my mail. My mum I guess didn't give me the renewal."

Police: "Correction, you didn't go and get it from your mother."

Me: "Right, I didn't go and get it. You see, when I got this new car, I paid extra to register it for longer instead of paying the transfer fee."

Police: "Right, that was in 2006."

Me: "Yes, I see that now. I obviously lost track of the time."

Anyway, he hummed and hawed and finally said something about working for the company I work for, because even though I know it's completely dorky, I have a license place border thingy that I won in training on my car, and it says the company name. He writes down a name of an other flight attendant and tells me that the next time I see her I should buy her a coffee and let me off!!!! So everyone who makes fun of my for that license plate thing can eat their words, because I knew it would come in handy!

Meanwhile we were on our way to the airport and my car is unregistered. So Kristen helpfully gave me the numbers for the registries that I called on the bus form the crew parking lot to the airport and I figured out how to get it registered through Matt so that he can use my car for the trip he had planned to Banff next weekend with his friend from Ontario. Big kaffuffle that is *hopefully* solved through some quick photocopies and fancy letters.

The race went well for Jordan, though at one point I was going through my first aid training trying to figure out what I know that would help him. As we were walking home, Jordan kept putting on more coats while the rest of us were wearing tank tops. He pushed it to the limit I think but he made his goal and ended up relatively unscathed. Kristen and I cheered so loudly when we saw him, madly screaming his name and snapping pictures! Hopefully next weekend will go as well for Kristen and I (without the cold shakes after perhaps). I'm really excited to run the half marathon. Matt and I are considering doing one in September in Toronto which would be great for me since I completely stopped running after the race last year.

Matt left for Calgary yesterday and I'm here all week! I'm trying to figure out what I will do with myself. So far it's 1:00 and I'm still in my pyjamas, so things are looking productive so far. I did give myself a mani-pedi, so that's one thing to check off the list. My mum wants me to go to the museum of natural history (I think that's what it's called anyway, though it doesn't sound right...), but I'm open to suggestions!

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.