September 1st

September 1st is tomorrow. September 1st is also the beginning of a new chapter for me. Rob is moving into his own apartment, luckily only five blocks away. I will be living alone. With cats. And a dog.

I've always lived with someone. Roommates, boyfriends, family. Except for one time. When I was 19 I got my very own apartment in North Vancouver. It was in a slum area, but it was all mine. I was working at the office during that time, taking home $930.00 a month. Big bucks when you're 19. However, $600 of that went to rent. I didn't have a car and didn't eat much except frozen pot pies, so I made the $330 last the whole month. It was a small apartment, no bedroom but one HUGE closet that I fit my bed into and made it into a bedroom. Nice big kitchen, balcony and a fantastic view of downtown Vancouver. It was mine. All mine.

I loved living on my own. I got to do what I want, watch what I wanted on tv, eat pot pies by the dozen....... Bliss. I even had an awesome cat, Meatloaf who fetched. Well, now, after 17 years I get to experience that bliss again. And I'm excited.

I'm so excited that I am packing up Rob faster than you can say Bob's your uncle (I never understood that saying *shrug*). Tomorrow I'm borrowing my parents truck, going to IKEA and buying him a bed that has a storage space under it. Then going to the storage locker and getting out the table and chairs. I want to start my next chapter and I need to start it now!!!!!!

I Love Sundays

Sundays. Mmmmmmmm Sunday's. I used to HATE Sunday's. The night-before-school sick stomach. Yuck! Cramming in homework that should have been done on Friday. Yuck! Cleaning my bedroom. Yuck! Well, now I love Sunday's. Could be my favorite day, and to name a few reasons:

-No more sick stomach. I love my job.

-It's like a mini New Years Eve every week. New week. New goals.

-Sunday night dinners

-Taking the sheets out of the dryer and making the bed right before I go to bed (lets not forget the delicious smell of vanilla softener)

-Buying flowers for my home (especially on my nightstand)

-Having a bath, going to bed on fantastic vanilla smelling sheets and reading a book

Today (it being Sunday) has been really good. Not only for the reasons above, but I spent a great portion of my day throwing stuff out. Oh ya baby, throwing stuff out. It started yesterday actually, but once you're on the train of chucking, it's really hard to get off. The downstairs of my loft is, well, empty. (I feel as though I have been unpacking for two years. Oh wait, I have!) I even did my upstairs closet. Why the sudden inspiration ? Most people do this in the Spring. Well.....Rob's moving out!

Speaking of which, finding a place to rent in this city sucks. Especially if you have a full-time cat, part-time dog. We've now decided that Sadie will be my full-time dog and a visiting dog for him. Easier.

Today we went to see a place that sounded promising. However, everything on Craigslist is either "promising" or a scam. Don't get me started. Anyway, it was $1050 and they would take both animals. Hrm. How do you spell shithole? Every place we've seen to date has been just that, a shithole. This included.

Feeling a little disappointed, I grabbed my BlackBerry as soon as we got back into the car and just on a whim, looked at Craigslist again. And then there, beckoning me, was a place. Not just a place, but the place. Here are some positives:

-5 blocks from the loft

-They like cats & dogs

-Rooftop garden space

-Did I mention that it was 5 blocks from the loft?

It's $1,100, not sure what it includes, but who cares!!!! We drove by the building and it's awesome. It's five blocks from me AND he can have his cat and Sadie!!!!!! So fingers crossed, we view it tonight (probably along with 30 other people) we get it.

Wish us luck!!!!!

Running + Dog = Interesting

So once again, running has come back into my life. I love to run. I don't know why because it can be hard and boring, but I love it! The key to running is to not have a plan. Don't plan on running every second day, or map out your weekly route, etc. You'll stop running before you begin. Why? Because running is hard on the body and boring and your distance and how often you go completely depends on how your body is THAT DAY!

I usually do a minimum of 5K each run. However, some days I can keep going, so I do! I like to mix it up as well. Treadmill / trail running / seawall / etc. I'll listen to happy upbeat music or sometimes I just like to run and clear my head.

On Saturday I decided to go for a run. So Rob, my sweet sedentary Rob, suggested that I take our dog with me. I protested. He insisted. I protested more. He insisted more. I finally agreed to give it a try. It was a lovely and misty day (perfect weather for running if you ask me) so I threw the dog in the car and off we went. I decided on the Seymour Demonstration Forest. You can't run with the dog on the lovely new road, but if you run from the parking lot to the gate at the graveyard and back, that's 6K. So we did that. This is the dog/run journal entry:

First half KM: Dog was joyful. Happy. Excited to run.
Last half of first KM: Dog was suspicious.
Second KM: Dog realized that we were not stopping. Kept sideways glancing at me.
Third KM: Dog now obviously unhappy. Starting to drag a little.
Fourth KM: I decided to run a KM in the woods. I let her off leash. Dog sort of happy.
Fifth KM: Dog about 20 feet behind me giving me the stink eye.
Sixth KM: Leashed up dog. Dog not happy about pace but we both finish.

Now we're at the car. She's standing in front of her door. Looks at me. Looks at door. Looks at me. Looks at door. I open the door. She slowly crawls in and then completely ignores me. At home, she snored for about four hours. Later that night I had to pick up Rob from a friends. I brought the dog. As soon as she saw the car, she turned around and started heading back to the garage door. I dragged her to the car. The next morning we went to take her to the beach. She saw the car and stood still. Looked at me. Looked at the car. Looked at me. Looked at the car. Rob finally got her. As she passed me, in a soothing reassuring voice, I told her that we were not going for a run. I don't think that mattered. She gave me the stink eye.

Um, ya. I don't think I'll be running anytime soon with pups! She might end up not liking me!
:)

PHEW!

Where has the time gone??!!! It has been awhile since my last post. I just wanted to do a quick entry to let everyone know - I strongly believe I have a thousand followers ;) that I haven't fallen off of the planet.

Tonight I'm throwing a bottle of wine in my bag, hopping onto my bike and peddling to my friend Jen's place on The Drive. I haven't sat my ass on my bike in a few months, so this will be interesting. Yes, "interesting". I know the good old saying is "like riding a bicycle". Um, right. Obviously anyone who has said this clearly hasn't dug out their bike and have gone for a ride somewhere lately.

So hopefully I'll make it there and back in one piece. I'm not nervous riding my Ninja, but yet my bike....strange.