To my fans......

I will be writing in this blog. Soon. I've just been busy which is a good thing because then I'll actually have something to write about. hahahaha

Standing Still

My life has been a bit crazy lately. Good crazy, but crazy nonetheless. I've completely filled up my calendar with fun and exciting sociable events, catching up with friends, making new ones, work, Dog, running..... Anyway, it's amazing what you discover when you stop and stand still for a minute. I did that last night........

My place is a complete disaster. An utter shit show. I stood at the front door and just looked around in disbelief that that was my home. MY HOME! I slowly walked through towards the stairs.... a quietly climbed the stairs preparing myself for what was to come.... I mean, if the downstairs looked like that, what did the upstairs look like..... OH_MY_GOD.

Clothes everywhere. The bed wasn't made. Shoes everywhere. Which pile were the clean clothes? Is that a bottle of wine? WHO LIVES LIKE THIS???? I couldn't believe it. I have been so freakin' busy, running home, running out, enough time to change, to sleep a few hours during the night that I have completely neglected my home. I need to find balance again! The balance between keeping up with social fun things and keeping up my home. UGH.

WTH?

I often have to stop and take pause in my life to wonder a really big question...... why me? Why does really random crap always happen to me? And it always seems to happen when I'm happy. Or at least at any time that I acknowledge I'm happy.

I woke up this past Friday morning happy. Not over the top happy, but happy. I had an awesome weekend planned, starting with dinner out in White Rock with my friend Jessica that night. So after work I hopped in the Subaru and head out to the North Shore to get Dog from daycare. I was at a red light on Great Northern Way, listening to my favorite tunes and thinking to myself "Damn, I'm happy". About five seconds after thinking this lovely thought, my gut wrenched and I got a feeling of doom like something bad was about to happen. Ugh......

I looked around trying to figure out what was wrong.... that's when I saw a skateboarder roaring down the road (he had the green light). I knew right away but had no time to react.... of course his light turns yellow and of course a very impatient man driving an Escalade jumped the light and didn't bother to check first to see if the intersection was clear..... BAM! Smoked the skaterboarder. He landed on the hood, hit the windshield then flew about ten feet. OH_MY_GOD. It was something that I didn't have to see. The worst part? Even though it was rush hour, even though about twenty cars were stopped at the red light, myself, a mini-van and cyclist were the only ones that stayed. I HATE VANCOUVER sometimes. I'm not sure of the condition of the skateboarder, but I hope he's doing ok. AND WEAR A HELMET FOR F*@K SAKE!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I was at my stove, lost in thought about happy I was, stirring some noodles and somehow had boiling hot water land on my belly. Unfortunately I was still wearing my running shirt made of fancy technical material which held the water pretty good. I had to peel it off my belly. Once again, I was thinking about how happy I am....

So I have to stop thinking that I'm happy for a bit and maybe just enjoy that feeling instead of really "acknowledging" it. I might get hit by a train or have a helicopter drop out of the sky and land on me if I do.

Being Happy

I like being happy. I much prefer to be happy over any other feeling. It's easier to be happy than not to be. So it's important to fill your days with at least one thing that makes you happy. A hot bubble bath. A glass of wine. A walk on a sunny Fall day. Seeing friends. You get my drift.

A friend of mine has recently become single as well, after her 11 year relationship came to an end at the end of August. I met Carmen through my friend Heather, a few years back. I would see Carmen at special functions Heather would be hosting, or on one of our girls night out dinners. We have always clicked so I was completely and totally delighted when she sent me an invite a few weeks back to a party she was having. I hadn't seen her in MONTHS so I was looking forward to reconnecting with her. Which we did! So this past Wednesday we had a date :)

I went over to her place armed with mussels to steam and scallops to sear. She was ready with the most delicious array of meats, cheese, olives and of course....... wine!!!!! It was such a great night. A night that I really needed to have. It was wonderful to speak to someone who knows exactly where I'm at and how I feel..... she's there too.

I was telling her how I like to do a minimum of one nice thing a day..... I told her about how I have dance parties with myself at home..... so that's what we did! I played my latest dance party songs and we danced around her living room with our wine and it was awesome!!!!

I left her place feeling really happy. More importantly, I'm still happy. A feeling in which I love..........

Friends

I think one of the most important parts of life are having friends. Friends make you laugh, support you, encourage you, frustrate you, inspire you. I'm extremely lucky to have the friends in my life that I do. Especially Christine. So this blog is about her.

I define a friend in this way: a friend is a person who will come over in the middle of the night and not only help get rid of the body, they would never speak of it again. No one fits this description better than my friend Christine. She is ultimately the one person I would take to a deserted island as we would not only survive way longer than we ought too, but we would have the most incredible journey that would be the most fun that anyone could ever have.

I love the fact that she is willing to do anything, and I mean anything, with me. Take our latest adventure in to pole dancing. I've really wanted to try pole dancing for quite sometime but this isn't something that you do alone. It's important to have a buddy to share this experience with. So of course the first person I thought of was Christine. And of course she was on board with this as well and I have to say.......we are having the time of our lives.

The Friday night before Halloween we attended a Halloween dance party at a firemans hall in Port Kells (sp?). Anyway, at some point during the evening, Christine, myself and her friend Ron went back to my car as they had a couple of beers stashed there (no, I was not drinking as I was driving). While the three of us were hanging out I played some of my favorite songs in which C and I danced and sang as loud as we possibly could too. Even Ron caught himself up in the moment. But the BEST was when I played Comfortably Numb by Scissor Sisters. C and I broke out in a random routine, a complete random routine for us, but to Ron... he had insisted that we had done that before. But we hadn't. That's just how intune we are. I swear I had more fun in the car with C and Ron then I did at the actual dance!!!

Besides having wonderful fun moments with C, the most random things you could possibly imagine also happen to us. Sometimes it's dangerous for us to hang out together!!!! The worst was my birthday camping trip a few years back. For my birthday, I had bought myself a roof rack for my VW Golf, Astro. I had decided for my birthday that C and I should go to Okanagan, camp and ride part of the KVR on my mountain bikes (yes, I have a few). So I packed up, threw the bikes on the car and went to pick up C from her work.

Things started off pretty well, until about 10 minutes into the trip. C knew of a shortcut that we could take to get to the highway. A shortcut that involved a tunnel......Yup, Astro got stuck halfway thru the tunnel thanks to the bikes on the roof. OMG we backed up traffic for a bit while we tried to navigate back out of the tunnel. After we got out we assessed the damage (I took part of the roof rack off...) and decided that it's probably best if we skipped the shortcut.

After a awhile we made it to the #1. It was just before Chilliwack when Astro suddenly stopped having power. She would stutter then get going again. It got pretty bad so we decided that we should spend the night at Cultus Lake that way we could head into the Canadian Tire in Chilliwack in the morning to fix the car. Easier said than done.

When you get to Cultus, there's a little hut that tells you where the campgrounds are (private and provincial). It's getting dark so we thought the best thing to do was ask the dude working there where the nearest campground was. The guy told us that we should try this one campground that was privately run. We pulled up to the hut for the private ground quite pleased with ourselves that we actually made it (Astro will only go to 3rd gear at this point). We hop out of the car and head over to the hut and a lovely lady greeted us. We asked for a spot and she looked at us and said "is it just you two?". We smiled and said yes. "We do not accept singles." C and I sort of looked at each other and said "What?"

"We don't accept singles. Only families. This is a quiet campground".

"Uh, it's 9pm, our car is broken, we just need to sleep somewhere close to Chilliwack".

"Sorry, we don't accept single campers" and slid the glass window shut and walked away.

C and I got back to the car and after a moment of silence I asked her if that really did happen and if we were just discriminated against because we were singles. She confirmed. I started Astro and we quietly drove away. 5K to be exact to the provincial campground where we found a spot, set up in the dark, had one caesar and then went to bed.

In the morning in took forever to get back to Chilliwack as Astro wouldn't get out of 1st gear. When we got to CDN Tire they informed us that there was nothing that they could do, I had to take the car to Chilliwack. OMG.........Long story short and a tow to Abbotsford, Matthew had so kindly lent us Yellow car. So C and I threw our gear into Yellow car and we were off again. However now it's 1pm on a Saturday afternoon....not much time to find a new campground..... we basically went to every campground, provincial and from my Camp Free BC book between Merritt, Kamloops and Cache Creek. All of which were full. By the time we hit Cache Creek it was 7 or 8pm. So we decided to just get a motel room. Well wouldn't you freakin' know it.......a motorcycle tour group were in town and took every last single room available in every motel in Cache Creek.

That being said, the lovely lady at the Sandman Inn felt bad for us and moved some people around in order to give us a room. (thank you!) After a weird dinner at the weird greek restaurant downstairs in the motel, we went back to the room, had a couple of drinks, played cards and fell asleep.

It was most certainly a birthday I'll never forget. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING worked out for us that weekend. But because I was C, it was one of the greatest, fun adventures!!!!!!

Passing of Time

My goodness, how the hell did it get to be over a month since my last blog entry?!!! A lot has happened in a month, more than I ever thought possible. But I'm at work currently and don't really have a lot of time to dive into a full blog, but I have to mention something......

LATE NIGHT ASHAMED EATERS

My building shares the same block as Wendy's. It's the furthest West drive-thru, it's open late and it has a huge parking lot (which some people think they can park in and go shopping across the street but you WILL get a ticket). The drive-thru is open until some ungodly hour, like 3 or 4am. However, it starts getting busy around 10pm. And there's something that I've noticed recently as I return back home from taking Sadie out on her last walk of the evening......

In front of my building, on any given night, you will find parked cars. However, they are not empty, there is always a person inside, behind the wheel, stuffing their faces with a burger or fries or both. And I know they shouldn't be doing it because they take a bite with their head down low, and seldom make eye contact but if they do, their eyes are always filled with guilt....shame......pleading me not to judge.

I find that sad that these single people need to eat their sinful delights parked in their car on a dark lit street....who at home is judging them? Who at home is making them feel bad for stuffing their face?

If you don't believe me, take a stroll on 8th Avenue between Cambie and Yukon and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.........

October

I absolutely love the Fall. September to December are my most favorite months. You get to wear fabulous sweaters, jeans, boots, have an excuse to stay inside on a dark rainy night drinking red wine and watching bad tv.....make a roast on a Sunday, just because you can.

This Fall is no different then any other, except for the fact that it feels different. I can't really put my finger on it, but it just feels different. In a good way. Maybe it's my fun action-packed schedule. Last Thursday we had our first family oyster fest which was fabulous! Everyone had to bring an oyster and cook/present it however which way they liked it. It was amazing!!!! On Saturday night I went to my friends place, Jen & Sheldon's to celebrate Sheldon's second year in Canada. How did we celebrate you ask? Well, Sheldon makes THE most amazing cuisine! Jambalaya, Creole, Gumbo, fried okra and homemade corn bread. OH_MY_GOD. Delicious.

Last night (Monday) I got to dress up pretty and attend a fashion show that my beautiful friend Beatrice was in. AMAZING. Tonight, as is every Tuesday night, dodgeball. Except we finally got our team shirts and we won 9 out of 15 games!!!! That's amazing for us.

That's a lot in one week and there's still more to come! Thanksgiving dinner, pole dancing lessons start Sunday October 23rd, halloween parties..... the list just goes on and on and on.

As I'm typing this, my dog is sleeping by the fire, all curled up and looking cute... except she's burping like I have never heard her burp before! Eeeewwwwww. Anyway, it's late and I need to get to bed. I have more to say but it will have to wait. I don't want to be up all night :)

Camping

I have to say a big THANK YOU to my mom and Oma for teaching me the beauty and love for camping. I LOVE CAMPING. I could easily spend most of my time camping and sleeping in a tent. Rain or shine, it doesn't matter. As long as there's woods and fresh air......

Canyon Hotsprings, Scotch Creek (I think that was the place) and other random campgrounds.... so much fun! DAMN PHONE. I have to go, this is the problem with trying to blog at work.

Marriage

Marriage means a lot of different things to different people. Some people get married because they feel like the should in order to take the "next step" in their relationship. Some people get married because they couldn't imagine spending their lives with anyone else BUT that person and are madly in love. Or some get married for financial reasons or because they think they need to in order to save a relationship. Some people get married for religious reasons or family obligations.

Regardless of the reasons, the common factors for any marriage is to make vows and sign a paper legally tying yourself to another. This is a pretty serious commitment, but no matter what, at the end of the day, you're committing yourself to another. But is that the only way to show commitment to someone? To sign a piece of paper? To declare your vows out loud to your significant other? What about the rest of us that make a commitment to one another, without signing a piece of paper or making out loud vows in front of people?

I'm committed to Rob as if we did do all of that. We share our life, we own a home together, we have a dog, joint bank account, file taxes together, etc. We do everything that married couples do and in most cases, are more "married" in the asset sense then others. Now, owning assets isn't a definition of marriage, but we've hit emotional bumps in the road just like everyone else. Now, if we were just "dating" then it would be easy to simply wash your hands of it and walk away. But it's not that simple (and not just because there's assets to split and we have a dog). But because we've both made a commitment to each other. Our own personal vows. So much so that when we've had hit a bump or two, we've gone to couples counselling. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't just do that if you were simply dating.

I don't need a piece of paper or to stand up in front of people in order for me to be committed to someone. I guess it boils down to what your definition of commitment is.

Anyway, I'd be interested to know other peoples thoughts on their definition of marriage and if you're not really committed to another person unless you have signed a piece of paper and made vows.

Yup, it's true.......

Yup, it's true. I hate people. Hrm, "hate" is a strong word and I can hear my Oma telling me that I shouldn't use that word. So I'll change it to the fact that I strongly dislike people. The last few weeks of working by myself have proven to be quite challenging. BUT what I have learned over the last few weeks has been quite amazing.

#1) I strongly dislike people. I want to hit some of the people I deal with over the head and repeatedly tell them that THEY got themselves into this mess. No one else did, THEY did. Stop for the love of all that's holy, blaming other people for your mistakes!!!!! I can't talk too much about this because I'm referring to work and I don't want people to actually read this. Except for you people.

#2) I've spent the last X amount of years doing the part of the job that I love the most. Not dealing with people directly. However, I have to say that it's been kind of fun brokering with the public again. I've been doing this for 15 years but in the last few years, I haven't had to mingle with the public, just other brokers who submit deals to me directly or investors. So the past little while has sharpened my skills and I'm feeling pretty good about it all. I'm not sure which direction my company is going to go (if Dave will stay or go-possible move to the Island) but no matter what, I'll be fine. That was a comforting thing to realize.

#3) I really like weekends. However I've mostly just slept whenever I have a moment. But weekends actually mean something again.

#4) I don't think I'll ever have kids AND I'm ok with that. I'm reaching the "scary" age of whether or not I should start thinking about popping out children. But I'm not there. There's no clock inside of me ticking away, no voice going "you'll be 38 soon sweetie, might want to start thinking about it....." I went to my beautiful friend Heather's baby shower a few weeks back. I was the only one in the room that hadn't squished out a child (except for Heather of course, but she will soon!). I had a moment of OMG but then I stopped and realized that I was ok with that. I had no longing or envy pouring out of me. It was a neat thing to realize about myself and more importantly, be ok with. I told my mom which of course had a typical mom response "U r a little unusual. Ur heading into the Aunty Dorothy category." -tee hee, I liked it mom :)

My Aunty Dorothy never had children. Not sure if that was a choice or if it was too late for her (her husband has children from his first marriage). But I guess I am. I will be 38 soon. I don't have the healthiest of bodies so maybe my clock will run out. I have to admit that every once in awhile I think about what it would be like to hold my own baby, which lasts about 5 second of happiness, but then that baby suddenly turns to an adoptive child. I've always wanted to adopt a kid so maybe that's still my calling in life. Adopt little kiddies that want a home, stability, love, routine, camp, etc.

Wow, sorry. This blog suddenly turned into a journal entry. hahahahah

On that note, I have to go to bed. It's late and I have five mortgages to submit tomorrow as well as keep on top of the two signing at the lawyers. Night all!

Oh My

I've almost completed the first week on my own at work. So far, so good. Everything seems to be under control. However I wasn't really prepared for the feeling of being a bit lonely. It's weird not looking at David. Thank goodness we have two young receptionists that are fun to talk too. Especially about Dave. hahahaha

Tonight is my actual "Sit outside on the balcony and blog" night so I will just leave you with this for now. Not much. I know.

Triathlons and Baby Showers

My friend Tracy and I signed up for the Bigfoot Triathlon. Our first. This event has reminded me of things I love (biking), and helped me get over my fear of public pools. Ok, maybe not over the fear itself, but I can now tolerate being in the pool. I actually like attending People Soup Fitness (aqua class).

I had everything planned for this weekend. I made a list items to bring, read up on how to properly do transitions, swam, rode my bike, made a reservation at a motel in Harrison Mills..... all for nothing. On Thursday, the motel people called to inform me that the venue had been changed to somewhere in Chilliwack. Um, ok. Thank you motel people for telling me. A few hours later there was a voice mail message from a guy named Ray stating the venue had been changed to Chilliwack Lake, a wetsuit is recommended, you reach the registration desk, then have to drive another 20K to get to the swimming area. WTF??!!!! So many things wrong with this.

I know Chilliwack Lake, it's a glacier lake that is WAY far and gone from Cultus Lake. No one goes there, for any reason. I went to the Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park's website to have a look. The beach and boat launch are currently closed due to high water levels. Um duh, of course! The snow is finally melting and running into the lake. Hence the wetsuit which leads me to the next problem. I go this message Thursday evening. I would have to get a wetsuit on Friday. I don't have time to go find a wetsuit. I'm pissed to spend the money and then swim in a suit, something I've never done before but would if I had proper notice. I don't want my first time to be the day of the race.

By having it at Chilliwack Lake, that would mean staying at home and getting up super early in the morning to drive out there. Something else that I didn't really want to do. I was angry with 24hrs notice for this change. I spoke to Tracy who spoke to Ray and said that the water would be fine because Brent was able to be in the water for 15 minutes. Really? Oh, I'm so glad a 190 pound man could be in the water for 15 minutes. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

My lovely friend Brad had emailed me to wish me luck. I told him what happened and about 5 minutes later he sent me an email. The race had been cancelled on Tuesday by Court Order due to the safety of the peeps not being met and that the event organizers had to notify all 150 of us via email by Wednesday. OH_MY_GOD.

I didn't get an email. I wasn't notified that the race was court ordered cancelled due to safety. I'm so pissed off it's not even funny. Anyway, that's why I didn't get to do my first triathlon. :o(

However the weekend wasn't a total loss, I didn't get to go to my lovely friend Heather's baby shower. I would type about that right now but I have to go back to work plus I'm angry again after typing up my triathlon diabolical mess. ARGH.

Looooong Weekends!

YAYAYAYA! The long weekend is finally upon us. PHEW! Didn't think I'd make it! I never really enjoyed the beauty of weekends before. Not until we moved in to our new office digs and I started to coming to work 8:30am to 4 or 5pm Mon-Fri. I had never worked that many hours at The Cave. I would split my time between there and working from home. But I have to say, the new office has made me way more productive.

Anyway, working so many hours now has made me realize how much I love getting off of work during the week, and my weekends. I appreciate the time that I have now and surprisingly, I'm more productive in my personal life now as well. Go figure!

I don't really have plans this weekend which is kind of nice. Sunday we're going to Hastings Horse Track with some friends, Chris & Holly. I can't wait to go bet on the ponies!!!! Ok, I know they're not ponies, but it's much more fun saying "ponies" then "horses". On Monday I'm making my all famous ribs for some friends, Diesel and Mike. I CAN'T WAITTTTTT!!!!!

I'm at work and that's just what I need to do now, work. My phone is ringing, my BlackBerry is buzzing and Outlook just informed me that I have new mail. Sigh, maybe I won't be able to get out of here early today. :(

Swimming Pools

As some of you may know, I signed up for a triathlon - My First Triathlon. It's a 400m swim, 20K bike ride and a 5K run. It's also in two weeks. Did I mention that I haven't done a single thing to train? Well, that was the case until this week.

My friend Chantal asked me if I would like to ride my bike while she rollerblades around the Seawall. I of course said yes because I figured now is as good time as any to perhaps dust of my bike, find my helmet and gloves and go for a ride. So on Tuesday after work I met her for a lovely ride. We went around Stanley Park back to the Bay Shore where she works. I then took the long way home, making sure to get as much ride time in as possible. It felt good to get back on my bike. So I know that the 20k isn't going to be a problem.

My friend Holly invited me to join her at the new pool located at Nat Bailey Stadium Wednesday night. She would partake in the aqua class while I would do mind numbing laps. I figured that now is as good time as any to get over my fear of water, but mostly public swimming pools.

I can swim. I can swim like no other. But I hate, HATE water where I can't see the bottom. But what do I hate more than that? Public swimming pools. Um, gross. There's something wrong with being in water with strangers. There's cooties, unidentified objects, little kids that pee, etc. I especially stay away from hot tubs. Cooties Soup. Now to be fair to swimming pools and the people that actually enjoy them, I didn't develop this fear over night.....

Back in 1996 I got a job with an internet provider, Internet Direct. I worked in the billing department which was kind of fun. Anyway, when they opened up to Alberta customers, my shift changed to a start time of 7am - 3pm. The greatest shift time ever! <- not being sarcastic. With my new early morning wake-up call, I decided to go swimming before work. I would get up at 4:30, go to the pool for a 5am - 6am swim. Get ready there then head into work. I did this for about 7 months... until May of 1997.....

It was a week before my best friend-at-the-time's wedding. I went to Harrison Hot Springs and went for a dip in the hot pool. I had a great time, for about an hour, until I looked over and saw an old couple sitting on the steps. They were looking at his leg. Upon closer inspection I discovered that they were picking at a scab and stuff was oozing out. Did I mention that the steps were in the pool? arf arf barf vomit OMG GROSS.

Now, you might think that I'm being a tad dramatic but what you don't know is that night I woke up around midnight with a raging fever AND my left eye was swollen shut and full of puss. This was five days before my friends wedding!!! I saw a doctor and they confirmed that it was probably from the pool. If the water is hot and not properly filtered or whatever, you can get infections. Now, many years later, my left eye lid has never fully recovered and I'm suppose to go for an operation to fix it (covered by medical, but not my right eye. Go figure).

Needless to say I didn't go back to a pool for about a year. Then I decided to try again. I went to my rec centre to swim some laps. About lap two I looked over and saw a corn pad float past me. I immediately got out and didn't go back, until last night.

So I shall share some tips of How to Get Back In The Pool if you have a fear like me.

#1. Go with a buddy. At a time like this you need a buddy system.

#2. Whatever you do, DO NOT look at the tile floor on the way to the pool. You're probably in your bare feet and the LAST thing you want to see is your feet touching the copious amounts of hair stuck to the tile.

#3. DO NOT look in the water to see what's below you. I did that mistake last night. Right below me I spied a band-aid. Good thing Holly was there, she kept me focused and calm, slowly moved me away from the area and gave me a ball to float on.

That's all I can think of for right now because just thinking about it makes me tense!!!!

Going for a walk

Yesterday pretty much sucked ass. Yes, ass. I didn't really get any sleep the night before and no, not because of any "fun" reasons. I just_couldn't_sleep. My head was spinning. I was hot. Then I was too cold. Yuck. After three hours of sleep, I dragged my butt into work only to have a crap day. Everything and anything that could go impossibly wrong, did. I went home and did my best to stay up. Napping only screws up my sleep cycle even more so I just don't nap.

One nice thing though, I managed to have the Loft to myself. After a long crap day it's nice being able to sit in front of the tv and watch my bad shows in peace and quiet. No comments from the peanut gallery, just uninterrupted viewing time. A cat on my lap, a gin martini to sip and the Real Wives of OC or MasterChef keeping me company..... lovely. So lovely.

After I finished my shows I took pups for a nice walk. Nothing like fresh air on a beautiful evening in Vancouver to brighten up one's mood. After a few blocks I started to relax. My faith in humanity was coming back. My shoulders started to relax, the tension in my neck lifting.... It had only been a few blocks but I was feeling better already.

Until Sadie and I heard a weird sound then some Seagulls making weird bird sounds. Sadie had stopped dead and was looking up, so I naturally looked up. And there, dangling by one foot, was a Seagull who obviously didn't get the Bird Memo that you're not suppose to touch the transformer part of the pole (I of course attached a picture). His Seagull friends were flying around making sad sounds. :( The tension crept back into my chest and shoulders and I felt, well, sad. So much for a nice relaxing walk.

Reminds me of the horrible Christmas that I once had many moons ago. Ray, my beloved boyfriend at the time, got me a kitten about a week before Christmas. I named him Early because he would meow around 5am every day. I took Early for his free vet visit where the vet informed me that Early had an incurable disease and had to be put down. I was so sad. I loved him. Two days later, on December 19th my step-sister passed away from her long battle with cancer. UGH.

So on the 24th of December, I decided to cheer myself up and walk on over to Safeway to get some Cindy donuts for Ray and I. A nice walk would cheer me up, it usually did. However, about half way to Safeway I heard this horrendous screech. Piercing, awful, made your blood curl. I looked over just in time to see a hawk swoop down and snatch a baby squirrel from the tree it had tried to hide in. It then flew up to a branch and started to kill it.

For those of you who don't know me, this has scarred me for life. I love animals and I don't believe in the food chain. Logically I know we have to have one, but I don't have to be exposed to it. So seeing this event pretty much sent me into a crash. I didn't go to Safeway. I went back to Ray's and I can honestly say that I have no recollection of Christmas that year. I don't know what we did, or didn't do. What we gave or got as presents. Nothing.

So it shouldn't really surprise me that my nice walk that was suppose to relax me would end in horror.

Summer

Summer finally feels like it's here! Thank goodness. I kind of missed the warm weather. I really missed the variety of veggies/fruits that you only seem to get in the summer months. For cheap. :)

I have some friends that live across the street, Steve & MJ and their wonderful dog Jayden. They are lucky because they have a community garden on their roof and they have an extraordinary garden!!!! I got to reap some of the benefits tonight!!! Steve so kindly loaded up a bowl of wonderful garden delights; lettuce, arugula, spinach, radish's, green onions, rosemary the size of me (I'm not kidding).... so many wonderful things!!!! I came home, washed it and now it's drying on my counter. You wouldn't believe the harvest I got!!! It also included two ants, an aphid and a daddy long-leg spider that doesn't seem to want to be rescued from my kitchen. I eat salad daily so this is a complete treat!!!

-SIDE NOTE- As I'm typing this, I'm sitting out on my deck on top of my lovely garden storage box, drinking a gin martini and the best part......... my boy Fred is sitting next to me giving me the look of love and purring. LOVE IT!

My beautiful friend Heather (and I'm not just saying that because she reads my blog) has taken up a fantastic job on-the-side. It mixes her favorite, hrm, hobby is the wrong word, but LOVE for jewellery and is now doing it p/t and making some coin!!! Heather was made to wear jewellery. No matter how big the piece, she can somehow pull it off. Maybe because she's graceful.... Not sure. Anyway, for the past year I've been thinking about doing something in my spare time. As you might recall from previous blogs, I'm bored. I love my job, but I'm bored. I need something else in my life that's fulfilling.

Let me back-up a bit here... Every time I turn a new decade, I come out with new goals for myself to accomplish that year. In my 20's, it was to buy a car, a house and be financially secure. I bought my car by myself, I saved up and bought a house and I was financially secure until the house I was living in previously burnt down and I lost everything. It's really really really really super expensive to start life again. Especially when you went from paying $450 a month to $1500 in a mtg + + + + +. You also had to buy everything again. I didn't even have a toothbrush!!!

When I hit 30, I decided to go back to school, do a triathlon and complete some things on my bucket list (mainly go to PEI and eat a lobster). So I went back to school, I went to PEI and guess who just signed up for her first triathlon???!!!!! OMG. It's August 6th and the only reason I'm freaked is the swimming part. I_do_not_like_water. I can swim like a hot damn but it's the getting into the water part that's hard. 400m swim, 20K bike ride, 5K run. NO SWEAT!

So now I'm doing a ton of research on nutrition and what I should be eating. Being a vegetarian for 14 years, I know all about veggies, fruits, beans, grains, blah blah blah. But when you are running as much as I am and now about to compete in a triathlon (plus my fabulous left kidney that goes on vacation once in awhile) nutrition is at the top of my list. I need protein, I need a certain combo of protein/carbs. I can only eat at certain times, etc. So in the past month I've done so much research.

'Alive' is the most amazing magazine that I have ever read. Truly, I have yet to encounter another or a website for that matter, that has as much info on nutrition, health, environmental studies, etc EVER. Amazing. I found out that they offer a diploma program through their own school which is recognized!!!! THAT'S RIGHT! You could actually get a diploma and USE IT. And one of the diploma programs is on Sports & Nutrition. Well hells bells, I found my calling. My friend Deniege is doing this course already, she brought her books camping in Tofino. Lucky for me, it references a lot of articles from 'Alive' and seeing as how I am completely loyal to this mag, I'm bound to pass with flying colours!!!

After I'm done I can do consultation as a nutritionist, specializing in sports. HELLO. That would satisfy me like nothing else.

So that's my plan. I just need to save the money for the tuition and then I'm off!!!! It wouldn't even seem like school because I research and read all of this anyway while I sit in front of the TV and haphazardly watch Real Housewives of OC. :)

-SIDE NOTE- Some random guy just peed in my alley. Gross.

Well, time to go read more in 'Alive' about Genetically Engineered pigs and Atlantic salmon. It's very interesting. I HAVE NO OPINION. Not enough information yet to form one. But if you get a chance, look it up, it's pretty interesting.

Blogging

I love blogging. I just wish I had more time to do it. I always wake up every morning and think of all the lovely things that I'm going to do after work. Blog, look up a site or two I've been meaning to look up, read my book on the balcony, etc. None of that ever happens. I get home and there's cat puke needing to be cleaned up, dinner won't magically appear, the dog needs to go out, the recycling bin needs to be emptied, etc. So by the time all of that gets done, I'm tired. I go to bed.

So hopefully tonight I will be able to blog. I did just get back from an amazing camping trip in Tofino. AMAZING.

Time to work. *sigh*

Canucks

BOO HISS CANUCKS. Rob's right, they are like the "ex" that sucks you back in, makes you believe that this time will be different and will still dissappoint you in the end. Again.

That's all I can type right now. I'm at work and have to mortgage summaries to prepare and get off to investors.

Later.

It's Been Awhile....

It's been awhile since my last post and I must apologize! Lots has happened... birthday, work, hockey, birds... But it seems that I have managed to snag some time right now to type a few words while my beer can chicken BBQs itself. Yes, beer can chicken again.

Now that I have discovered the wonder of how delicious chicken can actually be, I'm loving it!!! I had leftovers from my last chicken, the same chicken I spoke highly of in my last entry. I never really gave the leftovers a whirl because the chicken wasn't that great to begin with. But there was no way in hell that I was going to toss away these leftovers!!!! So I decided to be creative. I went and got super thin corn sheet wrap things, fresh basil, olives, goat cheese, and jack cheese from Whole Foods. I got home and immediately shredded the chicken, tossed it in sun dried tomato oil and gave it a quick fry. I then laid out a sheet and on one have, sprinkled olives, sun dried tomatoes, basil, goat cheese, chili flakes and chicken. I then sprinkled some shredded jack, cracked some pepper, folded the other half over and put in on the grill.

HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL, amazing!!!! The corn sheet got nice and crispy on the ends, kind of like chips..... I served my weird quesadilla with a fresh spicy mango salsa. It truly was the most delicious thing EVER. YUM!

I also made a fabulous meal for my birthday!!! I had such a great birthday. My bud C came and picked me up. We went and grabbed some Americano's and headed over to my other good buds Heather. She made us breakfast!! HOW AWESOME and LUCKY am I???!!!!! She made these awesome pancakes with some blueberries for the top, bacon (HELL-O, yum) juice and these amazing grape things. I know they were grapes, but I'm not sure of the kind.... concord maybe? It was great having breaky with my two peeps.

After breakfast C drove me home where I kicked Rob and the dog out of the loft, put one of my favorite crap shows on the TV and cleaned the loft. Scrubbed it down! I then went to Save-On on got me some Alaskan King Crab Legs. I make really good spicy fire wok steamed Crab legs. Amazing. Rob and I drank bubbles and at crab in silent. After we BBQ some steak and corn.... total pig fest!!! No dessert though..... I was secretly hoping he got me something sweet, but no. Oh well. He did get me two massages from our friend Rob who gives the most amazing massages!!!! Hurts like a son-of-a-bitch but damn you feel good after.

Work is extremely busy. Some of my broker friends are complaining about being slow but I'm not sure how. Dave and I are slammed. S L A M M E D. It hasn't stopped. We're getting about 5 - 10 applications a day now. Which is awesome, but I'm finding that I don't really have time to do other things, like live. ahahahahha. I haven't been running either. :( By the time I get home, I'm pooped.

Well, I have to toss my veggies around. My next post will be about the bird. Dumb bird.

Suits and Beer Can Chicken

I need more work clothes. Maybe not suits in particular, but I definitely need more office appropriate clothes. Today, a client of Rob's, Dr. Jesse Ho is coming in to go over his mortgage options. I dug out my old black skirt and the nicest top that's ironed, threw on some heels and even did my hair. But this is pretty much it for nice office outfits. So I guess it's time to go shopping. Any suggestions on where to get appropriate office wear without it actually being suits, let me know. :)

Last night I made the best damn beer can chicken ever known. I think part of the reason it was so tasty besides my ability to offer deliciousness is the type of chicken. I've made beer can chicken several times in the past, and it was good, but not over the top good like last night. I decided that if I'm going to eat meat, it has to be happy meat meaning it lived a good happy life. I follow that rule quite closely except when it came to whole chickens. I couldn't fathom spending $20 on a chicken. But last night I decided to give it a whirl. So I went to Whole Foods and carefully selected a chicken. I read the label and the information card and was pleased to see that my chicken lived a happy life. It was free to roam where it wanted, it was on a vegetarian diet, it had sunshine and friends.

I can not begin to tell you how freakin' good this chicken was. The meat was tender, juicy and tons of it, not like the scrawny little birds you get at Save-on. Then I remembered my mom telling me that Stan (her brother) had bought an organic turkey and it was super tasty. So I guess that confirms my decision to eat happy meat: it really does taste better.

PS, I consider myself lucky that I can buy a $20 chicken BECAUSE A) I don't have to feed a family (If I did there's no way in hell I'd get a chicken like that) B) because it's just Rob and I, 1 chicken lasts almost a week for meals and lunches (which actually saves money in the long run) C) Hrm. I had a "C" but now I can't remember.

Anyway, if you can afford to splurge on a chicken, I would suggest a big happy beast from WF. Super awesome.

Hiking!

I'm about to head off to do a fabulous hike with two friends and my doggie!!! Today we're heading to Lynn Peak (in case I go missing) and the weather looks like it's going cooperate! I haven't done this hike before so I'm pretty excited.

One of the friends is an old-new friend. I first met Jessica in 2007 when I went to Vegas for Brandon's birthday. We became Facebook friends, but haven't really chatted until recently. I noticed that she was training for the same Half Marathon, a first for her as well. So we got chatting and today we are now going to do a hike together.... and it will be the first time we see each other in four years!!!! I'm looking forward to it.

Christine, my partner in crime, is also joining us!!!!! I haven't seen C in awhile so I'm stoked that she will climbing a mountain with us.

Anyway, I have to go get dressed, now that I stuffed my face. So remember: LYNN PEAK. I told Rob, but he's a man. He asked when he should expect me back. I said: "When you get hungry, remember that there is a girl that feeds you, then take a look around. If you don't see her, try calling her cell. If she doesn't answer, call her mom". hahahah. Before he left, he tucked me into bed and I said "When should I be back by?" and he answered "When I get hungry". So cute.

BBQ

I love sunny days. I love to BBQ on sunny days!!! Yesterday afternoon, it was really hard to work. Dave and I sat daydreaming out the window, watching all the happy people basking in the sun. So we took off a bit early (4pm, not that early, but early by my standards). I immediately went home and demanded Rob to take me for a motorcycle ride. Which he happily obliged.

I have my own motorcycle, but sometimes it's nice just riding on the back, seeing the sights and smelling summer.... oh yes.... summer. So many freshly cut lawns yesterday. Oh and the flowers!!!! Our city is absolutely one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Yes, the world. Only when it's sunny though :)

After got back I whipped up our favorite summer dinner: perfectly grilled steaks, perfectly grilled corn which was smothered in butter, Parmesan cheese, and fresh basil before it was put on the BBQ, and roasted potatoes with fresh rosemary that Rob is growing. OMG. We then sat down and ate this lovely meal, drank a bottle of yummy wine all the while watching our favorite show, the Good Wife. We polished this meal off with a lemon tart from Whole Foods for me and a pecan tart for Rob.

We headed over to our friend's across the street where they have the most amazing view of the city. We sat there and drank more wine and watched the sunset. After we went inside and watched Wipe Out. All in all, an amazing Tuesday. Just amazing.

Sitting Up Straight

Boy it's hard to try and have good posture. I forget to sit up straight then catch a glimpse of my reflection in the window and I'm almost touching the desk with my head because I'm so slumped over!!!! So today I'm going to try very hard to sit up straight and have perfect posture.

Anyway, that wasn't really why I was posting something here. I know my title is misleading, but whatever.

I watch this show called Sister Wives. I couldn't help but to watch. I was curious about why someone would ever want to get involved in a polygamy lifestyle. Why would anyone want to share a husband? Why would anyone want to help raise other peoples kids? Sounds stupid. Then I started watching it. Maybe my opinion is now just based on this one particularly functioning poly family, but I have definitely changed my tune.

This particular family, the Browns, live in Utah (of course) and there are four wives and one husband. The fourth wife is a new addition to the group which came about while the show was on so it was interesting to see the dynamics of the family adjust for this new wife and her children that she already had. But they did adjust and they are all incredibly happy.

The first three wives have each been married to Cody for more than 15 years, two of them I do believe are children of a polygamy family. And the one thing they all have in common: they love everyone.

They don't all live in one house, sharing one bedroom... each wife has their own "wing" (except Robin who lives down the street because she's the latest wife and there's no room at the Inn). All the wives are just what the title of the show says, Sisters. You know the saying, strength in numbers, well no kidding!!!!

They each raise their own kids, but each wife helps out. It's kind of like if you lived with your aunts and cousins. Your aunts would be there to help out if you need them, but you abide by the rules of your mom and dad.

I'm at work and I have to go, the phone is ringing. If you get a chance, please watch this show. You might become a bit more enlightened. Oh, and now they have to move because .... putting the person on hold..... they are being investigated. (Not all the wives are legally married, but it's causing problems). Ok, have to go.

Remembering

Last night I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned. I tried lying on my side. Then my stomach. Then on my back with a pillow over my head. Then I was too hot. So I dangled a leg over the side of the bed. Then I was too cold. At some point I finally drifted off into dreamland.

This morning when I awoke I realized why I had trouble falling asleep. I was mad. I was disappointed. I was a lot of things, none of which were positive feelings, the kind that you should have before you go to sleep. I can't say if it was over anything in particular, kind of a mixed bag, but either way it didn't allow me to be happy.

I came into work this morning with the same kind of feeling. This tightness in the chest. Nothing is really wrong, I'm just not as happy as maybe I should be. I got my coffee and went to my favorite news sites. I usually do this at home while eating breakfast but because I was running late (didn't get to work until 9am!!!) I took the first five minutes of sitting at my desk to quickly glance.

The first article was about an old teacher of mine in North Vancouver who died Monday night in a fire. His beloved dog Ashley was found next to him. Oh gawd, not helping my looming feeling. The next article was equally depressing. Then I came across an article that stopped me dead in my tracks. "The Last Post".

I started to read this and by the time I got to the end all the air in my body had been sucked out of me taking all feelings with it. I sat quietly still holding my coffee cup (Fluffy's Cafe) and stared out the window, looking down onto Broadway; the rain coming down in sheets..... This man's last entry I think has changed my life. I can't quite explain it.

Derek Miller, may you rest in peace, I can not thank you enough for coming into my life now. Even though you are gone, your words are not. I can't wait to read your archived blogs.

Thank you.

Animals, or should I say pets

Why do we have pets? Please, anyone out there explain to me why we feel the need to have an animal trapped inside with us, thinking that this would be awesome with some sort of positive reward. Where's my R.O.I.????

Some would say unconditional love.... yes, some peoples pets love them unconditionally. Mine do not.

Some would say companionship.... yes, some peoples pets make great companions. Mine do not. Sadie, my dog, won't really run with me. She will however run behind me plotting my death. Sadie won't really walk with me either. She will be ten paces behind sulking. Freckles, my cat, will only be with me if it's around 3am and she wants my pillow. So she will take it.

Some would say snuggles.... yes, some peoples pets snuggle them. Mine do not. Unless forced which never turns out well for me. That usually ends with me feeling rejected and quite possibly scratched and bleeding.

Last week was a super killer awfully busy work week for me. Insane. Roller coaster. Couldn't wait for it to be over. Anyway, on Tuesday night I was completely exhausted. I could barely think straight. Rob and I watched the hockey game at a friends across the street then afterwards we went for some sushi. After I stuffed myself with some sushi I politely excused myself from the table and went home. All I could think about was bed. Sweet glorious bed. I dragged my butt home and promptly went to bed, falling asleep into dreamland.

Only to be awoken by Rob at some point to inform me that Freckles had barfed on the bed, next to my head. I was so_darn_tired... I barely opened up my right eye to take a look to confirm that yes, there was a big pile of unprocessed cat puke right next to my head. Awesome. So then I asked myself: can you sleep with puke next to you..... I was leaning towards the answer of "yes" until I became a bit more awake... to realize that it just wasn't next to me. My freakin' cat puked on my head. It was on my pillow and in my hair. OH_MY_GOD. So I had to get up and clean myself and my bed. I was just too tired to do it..... but it got done.

I found out the next morning that Rob didn't actually wake me up to tell me about puke, but to declare his news of what had just happened to him: he was out innocently walking the dog.... who of course darted into the bush, bit a skunk who in return sprayed her and Rob..... Ugh. He had to walk to the 24hr animal hospital to get skunk stuff, go back to our garbage room where there is a hose, wash him, the dog and our friend Steve who also had the pleasure of getting sprayed, go back upstairs, wash his clothes, have a shower and finally made it to be around 5:30am.

I got up a few hours later to go to work only to find another small pile of puke, but this time on the floor, however it was next to a pile of cat poop. I think the cat barfed and while doing so squished out a log. So I had to spend the first fifteen minutes of being awake, cleaning up animal stuff.

So why do we have pets?

It's Race Day

So, it's 5am on this wonderful Sunday. I'm sitting at my table drinking extremely dark coffee trying to get my tummy ready for some food. I am so excited. I did not sleep last night... well, sort of. I guess I finally got to sleep after midnight but I had to wake up at 4:45am so not much sleep. Hopefully it's enough to run 21K.

I'm so lucky. I have such great friends and family. Mt parents came back from Maui just to see me cross the finish line! My bestest bud Christine and her husband Jason are driving in from Surrey to stand there and also watch!!! Yesterday evening when I was finishing dinner there was a knock at my door. My neighbour Holly was there holding a box from Whole Foods containing my favorite yummiest dessert of all time.... a lemon tart!!! She and her husband purchased one for me to enjoy after I finish the run!!! How freakin' awesome is THAT?! I got so many texts and emails last night offering good wishes and encouragement. Soooo lucky am I!

I guess it's time to finally shove some food into me. Next blog will be in a few hours..... after my first Half Marathon!!!! WOOT WOOT!

Addiction

Everyone has an addiction of some sort. Something they just can't live without. Cooking, drugs, booze, shopping, photography, napping, etc. Mine has finally come to surface; running. I think I'm an addict. I've just spent the last hour looking up all the races in Canada and which ones I would like to go do. I have enough Airmiles that this could possibly be a reality.

PEI in October is having the BMO Marathon. I do believe I'm going to go do that. I even found the place that Rob and I stayed at when we did our cross-country tour. Best part: it would be cheap!!!! I have enough Airmiles to fly for free, a one bedroom cottage is only $60 or $80 a night. I would have to rent a car in Halifax but that wouldn't be much. PLUS who could say no to PEI in the freakin' FALL!!!!!!

I also happened to find out when Maui's marathon is... September 18th. And it amazingly starts in the same town that my parents just bought a condo in. So that trip would be doable.

Is this my new holiday addiction? For awhile it was golfing all over with Matthew. It made going places fun because you had a purpose other than just going there.

And the best part, I don't mind going by myself. Weird, I know. Most people can't stand the thought of traveling alone, but I don't care. If people do come, that's just a bonus in my mind.

But we'll see how next Sunday goes as it is my first Half and I might not want to do it again. Although I highly doubt it. :o)

Breakfast

I got up this morning at 5:45am as I am being picked up by some friends at 7am so we can go for a run. Today we're doing the Half marathon section of Stanley Park. You go around the park and up the hill to Prospect Point then down and around. We thought we should run this because they throw the hill in at the 12K marker. Bastards.

I'm not the biggest fan of eating when I first wake up. My sister April basically rolls out of bed and eats immediately. I admire that. I know you should have breakfast blah blah healthy blah blah stops you from over eating all day blah blah blah. But my stomach seems to be closed for at least an hour if not two after I get up. Which makes these morning runs a bit more difficult. That was until I discovered my favorite breaky that I can eat right away: a poached egg with a dab of hot sauce and HP sauce and one avocado with salt and pepper. Sometimes I can't eat it all, but it seems to work. My friend Dave makes the BEST hot sauce, super hot and yummy on eggs, so I look forward to it especially because the hot sauce's flavour really brings out the flavour of coffee (I always drink a cup or two with breaky).

This morning the sun is shining and it's suppose to be 18 degrees today!!!!! YAYAYAYAYA!!!!! Here's hoping that I don't want an afternoon nap!!!!!

Random

I don't really have anything in particular to type about, so I'll type about different things that come to mind.

As I sit here on this fine, early Sunday morning, my mind starts working overtime and is now freaking me out. My half marathon is two weeks away from today. I signed up for this adventure back in November after my last race. Five full months of training.... no problem!!!! Everything went swimmingly well until I hurt my leg and had to stop training for a month. Three weeks ago I started again so hopefully five weeks of training is good enough :o)

I love the mornings. Especially Sunday morning's. Everything is so quiet right now, even Broadway!!! The odd bus goes by, but that's about it. It's nice to sit here at the table, sipping coffee, listening to my house sleep. Well, everyone is asleep but Fred. He's sitting at the table in the chair next to me, as he always does. Even when I eat dinner Fred takes a seat at the table. It's kind a cute.

Last night was Christine's birthday party. She was so funny I think I almost peed. Almost. She had sprained her ankle and Jay didn't want her to dance. However, C dances. That's just what she does and you can't stop her so it was really funny watching the two of them in the kitchen. (you probably had to be there). Anyway, I love their relationship. They, like most people, hit a small bump in the road awhile back but that bump was probably the best thing that ever happened to them. They seem to be on the same page and madly in love with each other which is super awesome to see. All anybody ever wants (or at least me) is to see their peeps happy. And C is most certainly happy.

Well, I guess I should get dressed. I'm meeting some friends at the park shortly so we can do 16K this morning. Ugh.

Balance

Balance is an important part of life. You must have balance, or the illusion of, in order to not completely collapse into a pile of mush and become part of the earth. Or hold yourself and cry in the corner of a dark room. hahahaha

Lately I've been challenged to find balance. To partake in a juggling act now known as MY LIFE. I've discovered that the number one way to find balance and not lose control is to not lose your mind and just_don't_care about things you have no control over. So much energy can be wasted on reacting to things that you just might not have control over.

Here is an example:

Rob gave his notice at the beginning of March to move out of his apartment by April 1st. Now, if it were me I would have immediately started to pack. A little a time, but gradually get it done. Seeing as how most of the stuff was going into our storage locker I would have done that prior to the end of the month because we are moving the office at the end of the month. Why complicate things by moving two places at once? WELL...... On the evening of March 30th I showed up at his apartment after work to discover that Mr. Mayhew didn't do anything. Nothing. Not one box was packed, not one room was cleaned..... I couldn't believe it. So I did what any loving person would do: attack the bathroom. I had it packed and cleaned within 20 minutes. I would have done more but I had to go to a Strata Council meeting (because I thought I didn't have enough to do, I joined strata).

I left Rob in his apartment, on hold with Telus. The next afternoon, now the 31st, we arrive back at his apartment only to discover that he didn't do anything after I had left. Nothing. Not one box was packed, not one room was cleaned. I couldn't believe it. So once again I did what any loving person would do: attack the entire apartment. His friend Joel came by (thank god) to help load up the van Rob had rented. OH, did I mention that early in the day Robbie went to get a storage locker he upgraded, got us a couple months free (yay!) but the catch: we had to be out of our old locker by 8pm that night. OH_MY_GOD. I could have killed him.

Lots of people would have reacted badly to the above situation. However I didn't because losing my mind wouldn't solve anything. It wouldn't have made us go back in time and have everything done in a neat and orderly way. It wouldn't have changed anything . So why bother? Why waste energy on things that just_wouldn't_change if you did?

Sigh, there's more to type but alas I'm wanted at the old office.

Sigh

This won't be a very long blog entry because I just don't have time right now to blog, but I didn't want my fans to think I was gone forever. Yes, all five of you or whatever. hahahaha. Anyway, stay tuned, I do plan on writing something at some point. Maybe tonight!

Sleep Overs

Once upon a time, when we were very young, it was super exciting having or attending a sleep over. Then as you get older you make up lies about sleeping over at someone's house to your parents in order to actually spend the night with your best buds, whom have also lied to their parents in order to spend the night out, doing random things. Then you stop having sleep overs altogether. Well, that might be the case for some, but not all.

My friend Christine has recently moved far far far away. To Surrey. Yes, Surrey. To some that might not be far, but to me.... it is. There is at least two bridges that I have to cross, maybe three depending on which route I take and that's far!!!! I haven't seen her in a while so we made plans to have brunch on Saturday followed up by some shopping (I suck ass at shopping and need her to assist me; but that's a whole other blog entry). So tomorrow I'm heading out to her place FOR A SLEEP OVER!!!! AYYAYYAYAYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we'll head down town.

She's currently housesitting a friends place for the next 18-24 months. What's super awesome is the fact that I have my own suite (literally, a suite including a small make-shift kitchen, bathroom, living room and the world's most comfy bed), there's a hot tub and the greatest massage chair of all time. So how can you say no to that!!!!

So I'm pretty darned excited. I might even bring PJs this time. Just kidding. I'm a PJ freak. Once again, a whole other blog entry.

A Perfect Sunday

Today so far has been a super fantastic Sunday. Grabbed a coffee and took the dog to the beach. There were so many dogs it was fantastic! Honestly, 50+ pooches with their owners. Sadie was in heaven. I love going out there when there is that many dogs running around. They look so happy!!!

After the beach we went to Barney's Cafe for some eggs benny then off to pot shop. I have nothing but pans; 2 saute pans, 2 frying pans, wok with lid, wok without lid, 1 paella pan, 2 omelet pans, small eco pan, etc. However, my two pots finally bit the dust so it's time to find new ones! I need three: 1q, 2q, and a 3q. So Rob and I went pot shopping. There's just too many options it makes it hard to choose!!!!!! So I ended up with a Le Creuset 6.7 Dutch Oven (it came with a free Le Creuset baking dish). I'm still looking for pots, but it might take a bit longer. They seem to all come in sets. I don't need a set. I don't need any more pans!!!!!

Anyway, we're now heading up to the parental figures for a nice Sunday family dinner. They just got back from another trip and I'm excited to see them!!! They went to Cambodia and Thailand so I'm interested in hearing about their experience!!!!

Lupo Restaurant

I closed a big ass million dollar private deal and got a nice pay cheque for doing so. So I did what every individual would do...... take their man on a date. :o) Rob was telling me a long time ago about a restaurant that he really liked, Villa Del Lupo. They went under some reno's and a name change as it's now called Lupo Restaurant. Anyway, we've been wanting to try this restaurant (or any restaurant really) but we've pretty much have been broke and on a tight budget (paying for two places is a little expensive). So I made a reso for 8:00pm last night and it was amazing!!!

Rob had a bass lesson so he was out of the house until 7:45pm which was nice because after my run I could properly get ready for my date without him being around!!!! So he showed up at 7:45 looking very handsome and off we went to find a cab. When we did, he opened the door for me (true gentleman). We arrived at the restaurant and it was soooooo nice. If you haven't been there before, it's a charming little heritage house on Hamilton Street. We were greeted by a lovely young lady that showed us to our table. Even though it was in the middle of the room, we didn't feel like we were on the spot. It was quiet and romantic. After we settled into our chairs Rob took out his phone and said "I'm turning it off. First time for everything." and OMG he did!!!!

We started off by sharing the meatball appetizer. Holy cow delicious. Four big meatballs in a polenta Gorgonzola cheese sauce that was absolutely delicious. For the main course, Rob got Lamb Osso Bucco and I got the Lamb Sirloin grilled to a perfect medium rare. Both our meals were fantastic. We did get a bottle of wine that we actually have at home but haven't tried yet. We bought our bottle when we went to Vegas so it was exciting to have it. And let me tell you....amazing.

After dinner we sipped some grappa and shared the Grand Marnier Creme Brulee. Tasty tasty tasty. It was positively an amazing date night. It was perfect and I couldn't think of a better way of celebrating my big pay cheque then having the best date with my man. We topped the evening off by snuggling in bed, playing Call of Duty: Black Ops and killing people around the world.

Too Many Directions

I'm being pulled in too many directions. I basically want to find a corner of a room and hide with a warm blanket, a good book and a glass of wine. It's 4:08pm and I've already responded to 67 emails that I've received today. I'm also trying to save a two deals, book three more and take care of my investors who of course need things right now. I didn't get to bed until 2am as I was waiting for a commitment package to come back then I had to get up at 7am to make sure it got to the notary before anyone else's!

I understand that sometimes this is just my job, but I wish other people would understand that they're not the only ones in my life needing me to do something for them! As I'm sitting here, my BlackBerry is going off with probably email 72 & 73 waiting for my reply. Well, I say screw you. I'm putting on my shoes and going for a run. A much needed 30 minute break of uninterrupted time where no one is asking anything from me. Bliss.

Work work work

This won't be a very long entry because I don't really have time to do one. I just needed a moment to tell you about my friend who is a massage therapist. He's awesome. He comes to your house for an hour and a half. He can be nice or he can be hard and tough. I've been having him come to my place because of some scar tissue on my leg. It's been acting up and preventing me from running. A non-running Aryn = a bitchy Aryn. Anyway, today is my last session, I've only had three and I can run again.

So if you're in need of a really good massage therapist who will come to your home (which is awesome because you then get to go straight to the tub after), I recommend him. Contact me for his details. Oh, and if you have Shaw, channel 416 is the Spa music channel. Adds a nice touch. :)

Mmmmmm Coffee!!!

I finally got Rob back into drinking coffee. He figured that he couldn't have coffee because of what it did to his bowels.... turns out that was a wheat thing, not a coffee thing. So he's back to drinking the java and I have to say this is our new hobby instead of collecting wine. Don't get me wrong, we still grab the occasional bottle of vino to try and compare notes, but that was getting expensive not to mention a little unhealthy. So we switched to cups of coffee. Cheaper yet still fun and tasty.

First we started off with whole beans to grind at home and make in a French Press. We tried all sorts of different beans this past six months and we have some favorites (not in any particular order)

1) Doi Chaang Coffee (Beans from Thailand)
2) Kicking Horse (Grizzly Claw, yum yum)
2) Salt Spring Co

I have a french press (bodem) and Rob got a Bialetti for xmas. So we made several cups of coffee using the different beans and the different methods. I can't really tell that much of a difference between the Bialetti and the bodem.....I know his is for espresso style, but I make strong coffee in my bodem.

We also like coffee shops, JJ Bean & Milano's. We won't really do Starbucks; their coffee is crap and it's expensive. Anyway, now that we're on a tight budget we've decided to go out into the world to see what other coffee shops there are. A lot of the cafes use the same beans, but it's how they brew the coffee that makes it delicious and a good deal or not. So here's two:

1) John Henry Bikes in North Van. Yes, a bike store but they have a small coffee shop inside and it's right next to the dog park that Sadie likes to go too. So we bought two regular brewed coffee and it only cost us $2.60. WOW! So far, so good. It was Ethical Bean and usually Ethical Bean is a pretty good bean, but whoever made the coffee that day didn't use enough so it was a little too watered down for my liking. Rob puts cream in his coffee so he tasted mostly water/cream.

2) Heritage General Stores Ltd. in North Van. We both got a large dark drip and it was tasty. For the two large darks + tip it was $5.00. A large is quite huge, I might get a medium next time. Anyway, it turns out to be Milano. hahaha

3) McDonalds. Yes, McDonalds. If you're in a pinch and need a cup of coffee that's good and cheap, I'd suggest McDonalds. I wouldn't want to drink it everyday, but it's good coffee for under $2 a cup.

So that's what we have so far. Stay tuned for further coffee shop explorations.

Snow and Grow-ops

I love it when it snows. I think it makes everything pretty and peaceful looking. However, driving in snow with idiots that don't know how to drive in snow is a whole other thing. Driving back from Kamloops on Sunday was very interesting. Lots and lots of traffic. Lots and lots of people skidding. Lots and lots of idiots in the wrong types of vehicles for the highway. But such is life. Life is full of idiots. My Subaru kicked ass in the snow BTW.

So my broker friend (lets call him RS) and I took off early Saturday morning to have a quick peak at a house we were looking at buying and flipping. ALWAYS go "kick the tires" before you leap in and purchase. This is a prime example as to why.

We are 100% positive that the only things living there for the past few years were/are spiders, wood bugs, the occasional mouse and the pot plants that used to be housed in the master bedroom. Um, ya. Grow-op if I ever saw one. It was never legally declared a grow-op, the guy moved it out before anyone could knock down doors and look. My guess, he too is an idiot and probably didn't know that much about growing it and never ended up capitalizing on the buds and eventually landed in foreclosure.

There was an appraiser that went out there but all he did was snap a couple of photos and write up a lovely "as-is" value ($225K). I don't know if he actually spent time in the house, as in more than five minutes because that's all it takes to figure out what had previously been housed there. So here's a "HOW DO YOU KNOW?" guide of whether or not it's a grow-op:

-When you first pull up to the house, it's usually surrounded by random items. Stuff being, but certainly not limited too: a broken lawn mower, lawn chair, Christmas lights haphazardly dangling from the roof, the odd tire, broken toys like a kids shovel/bucket combo, garden hose unravelled on the front lawn, etc. Not too much stuff so that it completely draws the attention of neighbours, but enough stuff so the place looks somewhat lived in. Oh, and you won't find perfect landscaping. Bushes will need to be trimmed, the lawn will need to be mowed (hence the broken lawn mower).

-Once inside, you will be greeted by a smell that is unpleasant and makes you shiver. Smells just like abandonment. Like no one has made a roast beef dinner or pancakes for breakfast in quite sometime. But don't worry, you unfortunately get used to the smell within the first few minutes.

-All around the door frame of the room in question has staples in the frame. That's from the plastic sheeting that was hanging.

-When a borrower gets money to do renovations, the first room is never the master bedroom. So take note when you find a home like this that the master bedroom, doorway covered in staples, has a brand new floor, fresh primer on the walls, and a hole cut in the ceiling going to the attic which then provides a perfect circular hole to the outside you just might be dealing with a grow-op.

-The house is moisture filled and leans slightly. Never a good sign.

There are many more signs but that's a good start. So is the stuff that's in the basement or shed that was used for growing. Sigh.

After this mess RS and I packed it in and headed back to Kamloops to find a pub that would be showing UFC and a motel within walking distance. RS, being the handy techie guy that he is, found us a pub on his iPhone and made us reservations. We managed to find the pub and a crap-ass motel.

We paid for our own rooms, but asked to be somewhat close to each other. The girl gave us each a key and pointed in the direction of our lovely accommodations. I don't know about you, but LOVE staying in hotels/motels. There's something so exciting about turning the knob on the door and walking through to see what is waiting for you.... a comfy bed, big TV, mini-bar.... Imagine my surprise when I went into my room to find it was no bigger than a storage closet. I kid-you-not. I had a small bed, small table, two chairs and a toilet. My closet was a metal post sticking out of the wall with hangers on it. The TV was older than me and partially blocked by the small table. The microwave had a cigarette burn on it.

Now imagine my further surprise when RS texts me to complain that his couch is blocking a door as is his table. "WTF? What do you mean a couch?" I typed back. I noticed that I too had a door on the inside and figured that was the door adjoining our rooms. Yes, RS got the palace of rooms. Full kitchen, living room, blah blah blah.

Anyway, we went to the pub, ate awesome pub food, drank too much and went back to the motel and got the little man to give us the key to open the door between our rooms (which he reluctantly gave us). RS being the thinker that he is brought a bottle of wine (like we needed more). So I sat in my PJs on the couch and we gossiped about work. Soon that got boring so we watched Walking Dead on his laptop. The only outlet was on the far wall by the bed (did I mention that NOTHING was plugged in at this place? Not even the lamps. You had to plug them in). I of course fell asleep within five minutes. I woke up sometime in the morning facing the wall and had that sudden "OMG Where the F am I???" I remembered I was in a crap-ass motel and rolled over to find a lump snoring. "OMG Who the F is that and how much did I drink last night??" Remembering it was RS I felt better then suddenly awkward. We don't really know each other all that well, especially to be sharing a bed. However we're both madly in love with our significant others but yet, I fell asleep in his bed watching a show and he probably didn't want to sleep in my bed because I had crap all over it that he'd have to move... Do I get up and awkwardly go to my room to sleep? He rolled over, his back to me, and started snoring again. So I rolled back to face the wall and slept. I finally got up and went to my room and finished off the sleeping cycle after my BlackBerry alarm went off (good excuse to go to back to my room without it being awkward).

All in all it was a great trip even if we didn't end up with the house. It's nice to get away sometimes and it was nice getting away with another broker that is a fountain of information on bank deals, loves his dog, loves his girl, loves UFC and bad motels as much as I do. :0)

Road Trip!

I live for road trips. Seriously, I do. My beloved VW who has been in my life for 14 years has 300,000KMs on her.... why? Because I love to drive and I especially love road trips.

I have recently purchased a new Subaru Forester and OH_MY_GOD I love it. The dog now has her own area in the very very very back. No more dog on the backseat. There's plenty of room and a moonroof to boot (practically a convertible when it's open). Heated seats, a stereo that plays out of all the speakers evenly and even a horn that works when YOU want it to.

I'm heading out tomorrow morning for a road trip. I'm going with a broker friend of mine, Rowan, and we're going to view some properties. It's suppose to snow on the Coq so I'm excited to see how the Subaru does. I'm also excited to go with Rowan. He's so freakin' funny.

I LOVE ADVENTURE!

Weather???

What the F is up with the weather?! I can't figure it out. One day it's completely snowing and gross, all day long.... the next there isn't a cloud in the freakin' sky! Normally I wouldn't complain so much except when you own a dog, it's nice to know what the weather will actually being doing.

Speaking of dog.... in the past month or so Sadie has become grumpy. Randomly grumpy. Randomly grumpy at other dogs. She's started two fights at the dog daycare (both victims were golden retrievers...), sent a dog at Ambleside beach flying and charged another dog on a walk. I thought it was because her routine with me got broken when I went to the Island in January for a night. What's one night you say, well in dog world, a 24 hour period is a loooong time. I pretty much have her 80% of the time so I've got a routine down for her. The most important part being the weekends. I take her for incredibly long hikes or to the dog beach for hours or something to occupy her. Well, the weekend I was on the Island, Rob didn't do that. He didn't do anything. So I thought she was acting up because she was bored.

Two days ago Rob and I sat in my office and had a chat about how awesome our dog has turned out to be (some of you know the horrible crap we went thru with her - almost to the point of giving her up). So we hop in the car and take off to pick her up. You know it's a bad sign when she's waiting in a "cell" by herself, she's not still in the play area and Sue the owner is actually coming out to speak to you..... Sadie went after another dog. Again. A border collie. Sigh. Not sure what to do about this because I'm not really sure what the problem is. So much for talking about how awesome our dog is!!!! Damn it.

Budget!

I'm on a tight budget and have been for a long time. However with the new office space and moving, I'm on an even tighter budget. So tonight I decided to start digging through my freezer to find something for dinner. It's amazing how much stuff I have in there and forgot about.

Awhile back Robbie and I bought a vacuum sealer food saver machine thingy. I LOVE IT. So we buy our meat in bulk, cut it up into proper portion sizes and freeze it. It's a cheap and easy way to have meat on hand, already sized out.

So I dug through and found a pork tenderloin. YUM! So now I'm going to stuff it with apple slices, smoked Gouda cheese and crumbled crispy bacon. Last night we had steak, my Mediterranean brussel sprout dish and mushroom risotto. We still have the rice and veggies left over so this will go really well.

I suggest to anyone on a budget to get themselves a vacuum seal food saver machine and start buying in bulk and freezing. Not just meat, but anything. Saves time and money!!!!

Health & Wellness Show

My friend Holly invited me to join her after work to partake in the festivities to be had at the Health and Wellness Show. How could I resist!!! A) a night out with a new friend and B) I love health, I love wellness, I love free stuff. So I picked out my outfit carefully: comfortable yet "nice" shoes (not Adidas) so you can walk around lots and a light yet warm jacket (nothing worse then a big heavy jacket draped over your arm or coat check). Made sure my hair was out of my face, lip gloss on and I was out the door!!!

I met her in the lobby of the new Convention Centre in Vancouver. If you haven't been there yet, go. It really is quite amazing. Seriously, it's amazing. The details... wonderful. Anyway, we got to the front door of the room and we were pleasantly greeted with goodie bags!!! Not just any goodie bags, but BIG HUGE BROWN goodie bags. Like the big brown bags used at Whole Foods (Choices, a branch of Whole Foods, sponsored it). It was full of amazing delightful things. The goodie bag itself was worth the $12.50 entrance fee.

Once we entered the room my stomach started to growl. HOLY COW there were so many delightful things to sample!!! UNREAL!!! Bread, chips, dips, bars, yogurt, chocolates, seeds, nuts, rice dishes, juices..... I went hungry and I left full. I won't go into full details about everything I tried but my top three:

Vitala Yogurt - Blueberry. HOLY SHIT BALLS. One thing people may not know about me is my secret love of Blueberry Yogurt. I LOVE IT. The first time I had real blueberry yogurt was at a super fancy resort in Scottsdale Arizona. The yogurt I had tonight was hands down the best I've ever had. You can take a tour of the farm in Abbotsford that provides the milk: Bakerview EcoDairy.... I'm going.

Second: Bison Pepperoni. OMG. YUM. It's from Alberta and it's freakin' amazing. I don't have a link otherwise I'd add it but you can get it from Choices Market.

Third: BluePom Juice from Bremner's Juice. It's made locally and it's 100% berries. NO sugar added, NO water added, NO preservatives added.... my 946ml bottle of BluePom (Blueberry & Pomegranate) is made from 2.5lbs of blueberries. OMG. YUM.

I also bought some hummus because I LOVE hummus. Tasty.

After the show we went and had a cocktail at the Fairmont Hotel. There was a grand piano being played by such a talented fellow. He played Toto. HUH-LOW!!! I was in heaven. Now I'm at home.....and alone. Yes....alone. I dropped Robbie off today at the ferry (he's heading to Victoria for a weekend of fun with the boys) and I took the dog to the kennel. Sweet baby Jesus..... I'm alone. I don't have to walk a dog or feed a boy or do anything. Except I am because I've designated this weekend to cleaning out the loft. CLEANING OUT THE LOFT. I'm getting rid of stuff. I don't have room for "stuff" so the stuff is going.

Anyway, I'm off to make a martini, sit in my chair in the dark with nothing but the glow of the fire place, one of my cats snuggled on my lap and watch Slice television. Oh_my_yes_life_is_good.

Done and Done

I'm pleased to announce that officially, as of April 1st, I will be working one block away!!! Dave and I signed the lease today. Well, I signed, Dave watched. WOO HOO!!!!!! I'm so excited about this new adventure in work I can hardly contain myself. But there is a ton of stuff to do still. Yesterday I was feeling a bit overwhelmed so I snuck off to Spa Utopia in North Van for a facial. OMG, awesome. It was perfect.

Well, I guess another short entry. I'm off to the bank to transfer some money on my parents behalf to complete the sale of their condo in Maui!!! WOO HOO!!!! Then off to have sushi with some girlfriends. I don't know if life could get any better....

Two Things

First blog topic: Valentines Day.

As I've previously mentioned, I'm not a fan of Valentines Day for several reasons. The last memory I had of my grandpa, whom I love, was of him waving goodbye to me and my mom at his log house. We had made VD cookies and he helped (although I suspect he ate more then helped. Being so young my memory is a little foggy, but I remember him waving). He died the next day of a heart attack. I was 6 going on 7 at the time so this was truly my first memory of death. I got to see him in his coffin and I remember poking him. One trip that I took to visit his grave I gathered a jar of worms to put in the dirt so they would keep him company. I do believe I forgot the jar, but the sentiment was there.

The other incident came in grade 4 or 5 at Douglas Road Elementary School in Burnaby. In school we would make lovely pouches to tape at the end of our desks so kids could plop VD cards in them. When it came time to open the pouches, I had one BIG card. I was so thrilled that I got the biggest card in class. I was new to the school and didn't have a lot of friends so this pleased me. The whole class had signed it..... SMELL. I was so devastated. I cried and went home. I hated that school and I hate VD.

But this VD was awesome! Rob and I celebrated "We hate VD". I made Osso Buco with Saffron Risotto (Rob's favorite). We drank a bottle of wine, listened to music then after dinner we met up with our friend Steve that lives across the street. The three of us went to the Anza Club for drinks. Afterwards Robbie and I went back to my place and played Call of Duty and killed boys around the world until the weeeee hours. All and all, a perfect night.

Second: Moving the Office

OMG! I am overwhelmed. Moving the office is so much work. It's not just a matter of moving a phoneline or desks...... Addresses have to be changed, bills have to be changed or cancelled, insurance, business licenses, FICOM, investors, borrowers, selling office furniture, putting the files somewhere, shredding files, the list can go on and on and on. Dave is becoming a partner so we have to change the corporate structure of MCMC... And to top it all off, I still have to do my day to day broker stuff, it's year end for Masters, I'm closing Masters so there's a ton of work there, plus it's almost year end of MCMC. I'm going to have a heart attack. My neck is tense, my belly is tense....

But I run. Thank god. Running releases every ounce of "tense" for at least three hours of relief. But I think things will be better tomorrow as Dave and I are going to the new office to sign the lease. Once that's signed and squared away, I can really push forward and get this shit done. And do the year end. And the T5's. And broker. And change the company structure. And And And And And And...........

February 14th

Today is Valentines Day. Some people out there are rushing around and making plans with/for their sweeties spending gobs of money on flowers, presents, dinners, wine, etc. I hate this day. I was NEVER a big Valentines Day person. Every boyfriend I've ever had never believed me until the 14th of February rolled around and I didn't do anything or ask for anything.

I personally think it's silly to have a commercialized day to tell someone that you love them. Silly I say! Matthew was about the only guy that liked Valentines Day and it upset me sometimes that I didn't get into as much as he did. One Valentines Day he came home with a card that said "You deserve the best" or something along those lines and told me I had to leave right away because he booked me a Valentines Day massage at Spa Utopia. I was so thrilled!!! I did nothing for him. A year later Cari came over and as she and I sat and sipped delicious cocktails Matthew made for us, he made a four course meal. Not only that but he gave us each a card stacked with scratch and wins (our favorite). Matthew was definitely more the "romantic" in our relationship.

One thing I will give Valentines Day is an excuse to eat a delicious meal. So tonight I'm having a date with Rob. I'm making him his favorite dinner. He's not allowed to come over until 7pm. I'm pretty excited. I like an excuse to cook something elaborate so Valentines Day, I thank you!!!

Soups on!!!

This will be quick and short as I only have a moment.... but I made the best wonton soup EVER the other night!!! It was dark and stormy and very very very cold in Vancouver. I suddenly wanted wonton soup. So off I went to Save-On-Foods to get the goods and the wrappers. Went home and whipped up the best wonton soup known to mankind. I had found a recipe online but of course it looked boring so of course I added my own flare (and hot sauce) and it was so delicious.

There you have it. WOOT WOOT!!!!

Family

My parents are currently away in Maui and after that they are somewhere else for a month. I sometimes dislike it when they are away so long. I miss the phone calls with my mom. I miss Bill answering the phone and using the same line he's had for the past 30 years: "Hello dis place!"

So missing my family got me to thinking about my family which then lead me to asking my sister April if she'd be interested in having dinner at the house, a family dinner. To my delight she was delighted so we made plans for a Tuesday night roast. YUM YUM YUM.

I came armed with a roast an the makings for yorkshire puddings (and my dog tagged along). April and Andrew made the most wonderful tasty mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. Monte bought our favorite dessert of all time..... Pavlova. OMG, my favorite. When the roast was roasting, Monte was playing this crazy song on the piano to which April and I danced to in the kitchen (I think Andrew took pictures). It was just simply awesome. The house smelled like roast, we were laughing and being silly..... fantastic. Andrew even set the table (using trivets which my mom was pleased when she saw the pictures).

Next week I'm going over there and Andrew is going to assist me in making my yummy Beef Wellington. I'll take an afternoon off and hang out with my brother-in-law and at some point (probably when the chicken liver pate is resting) we'll take the dogs for a walk.

It's nice having family around in the city and celebrating a Tuesday night randomly. It oddly makes it seem like mom and Bill aren't that far away. So I leave you with this... take time out to realize what you have right there in front of you and take advantage of it!!! I sure did. I truly had an amazing time with my siblings and siblings-in-law. Makes me smile.