Almost Christmas!

It IS almost Christmas and I am SO EXCITED. Lo, Matt, and I had Christmas on Sunday, which was so fun! Matt got Lo a Magic Bag, I got her a book, and also Seinfeld Scene It. It was hilarious because she got me Seinfeld Scene It as well! We know each other so well, haha. She also gave Matt and me (and herself and a date) tickets to Magic and Miracles, which is on the 27th which Matt and I are super excited about! :)

Nancy and I had supper tonight and exchanged gifts, which was fun. She loved the necklace I got her, which I was happy about; it was sooo Nancy! She gave me some yummy lotions from V.S. which smell so good.

Still working this week. We have a half day tomorrow, and I expect a fairly unproductive day. Christmas Eve is usually a half day, and little gets done, even if we are coming into month end. I am finding it so busy at work, as we are down one employee. I feel like I go non-stop during the day and am just beat when I leave. That's a good thing too though; time goes much much faster when you have stuff to do!

All of my marks STILL aren't up. The History one is though, and I'm pretty happy with it. Plus, I asked my prof to take another look at my exam (I was one percent away from the next letter grade) and he said he would. I was so happy because I was definitely expecting him to say no. Still waiting for one grade though. That is so annoying. I think it should be mandatory for profs to have grades in before Christmas so it can be off of students' minds and they can enjoy the holidays. And I frankly don't care that they may have other stuff from other classes to mark and are swamped. I was swamped all semester from stuff in other classes, and still managed to meet all deadlines. Get the lead out!!

Mary and I went to see Twilight this weekend. I'm too lazy to link today, so head on over to imdb.com and check it out if you'd like. It was pretty good. Lame in parts, but I heard that ahead of time and expected it, although they still made me grimace. I also saw 4 Christmases on Friday (ok, but Vince Vaughn was annoying), and the Secret Life of Bees on Thursday. I loved Bees! I read the book in high school and hated it, but I liked the movie so much that I think I will give it another chance. It's on the "to be read" stack. :)

Merry Christmas to all, and if I fail to post again before the new year, best wishes for a happy and healthy 2009!

<3 <3 <3

Check!

Yes, as Lo pointed out on my comments, all things can now be checked off. I'm happy about that, but not feeling great right now. It's nice to know I don't have stuff to do, but I can't fully relax until the final grades are in and I can make sure I did ok. This is especially true in History, as I went in on 1.5 hours sleep and am not sure my answers were historically accurate. I was still really sick then too, so my mind was foggy, which definitely ISN'T helpful when you are trying to remember the rulers in France during times of religious war. Henry III? IV? Riche-who? Richelieu?

It certainly didn't help that during my studying, my laptop crashed AGAIN and I lost ten pages of study material, or the equivalent of six full straight hours of work. Sigh. I think I'm going to get a desktop for schoolwork soon, maybe on Boxing Day if I decide to brave the crowds.

But, hopefully the profs file the marks away soon and I can say good-bye (and good riddance, kind of) to Fall 2008. 2008 was a crazy busy year! I was only not in school for a month and a half. Out of 12!! Crazy, crazy.

Plans now for Christmas break? I have a few books that I want to read for fun, so I'm looking forward to doing that, plus a few baking recipes I'd like to try as well. Oh, plus the hopefully successful attempts to get rid of this 20lbs (I know, brutal) that I've gained since summer school, or at least start on it. Agh! Maybe I shouldn't combine baking experiments and trying to lose weight... nah! It's all good, as my family helps eats most of my creations!

Last piano lessons tonight until the new year. I got each of my students a small gift that I think they will like, so I'm excited for that! And after piano, Matt is coming over (a first in a while) to watch Tuesday tv with me. He hasn't been over on a Tuesday in so long!

That's about it. Please join me in hoping that grades are posted soon so my mind can be at ease. Matt's parents were just on a cruise and got me some worry dolls from Guatemala, so maybe I'll spill my guts to them tonight and get a good night's sleep.

Until next time!

Counting Down

Unfortunately, I still have those pesky three things on my list. Fortunately, less than ONE WEEK FROM TODAY, they will all be gone! YES!!!

We got our Christmas tree up last weekend, and it looks so pretty! I'm so excited for Christmas! On Sunday when we were decorating it, it was absolutely dumping snow outside, so it was just perfect Christmas decorating weather. I even wrapped a few gifts on Sunday too, which I'm excited about! I have a few more gifts to buy, and don't know what I should buy, so I'm a teensy bit stressed about that, but hopefully I can find time after this SEMESTER! IS! DONE!!

Whew, and it has been a difficult semester. The beginning went alright, but it seemed like all the big due dates were at the same time. Nothing was really staggered; it was all late November/early December. Ah well. Hopefully next semester is good. I'm crossing my fingers for less paper and more multiple choice tests. Oh multiple choice. How I love thee.

Teaching piano tonight, watching the season finale of the Biggest Loser, and unfortunately skipping out on Matt's Christmas party. I'm still sick with this silly cold, and the roads are pretty slippery for me to drive all the way out to the party (probably a 45 minute drive from my house). Plus, my car is a little terrible on ice. I'll just stay home, NOT cancel piano for my 2 students, and chill in front of the tv hopefully! Trying to stay warm and get rid of this cold!

Went to the Christmas party on Saturday. We had a lot of fun! However, sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, my cold moved to my eyes and I had a bright red eye for the party. NOT PRETTY!

Tick tock

Haha, well guess what happened to me last night?! I was working on my term paper at the public library, when my word document crashed. Eek. It closed down on me and when I opened it up again, half of the text had been converted to all these weird characters, including square boxes! I have been pretty stressed over the last couple of months, but this sent me over the edge and all those bottled up feelings totally came to the surface, and I lost it. I feel better now though, the paper is done and handed in (although slightly crappier than the original version), and I'm documenting this story in hopes that I can look back in a year and think it was funny (hmph).

Anyway, now that that is done, I can cross more things off of my list. Woo!!

CNST Argument Paper
CNST Final
HTST Final

Yay! I had a quiz today, and I did really well on it again. I just don't get it! I don't understand the material in that class and haven't been studying for it, but somehow I can BS my way through the test?? Oh well!

Lo and I had an enjoyable ride to school today, listening to the Vinyl Cafe Christmas cd. It is so good! It totally gets me in the Christmas spirit, and I made myself wait until December to listen to it. I'm glad I did, because I had forgotten most of the stories! Also getting me in the Christmas spirit is all the Christmas lights!! I can't wait til Lo, Matt, Lucy, and I have our Twinkle Tour! And I sure know Matt is excited!! [NOT!]

More Christmas spirit... this weekend is my work Christmas party! I am taking two guests (shhh... totally cheated the system), and I'm very excited for Lo, Matt, and I to enjoy a delicious turkey dinner and then go back to my house and watch Elf and possibly Christmas Vacation!!

What else, what else...? I am looking forward to getting some SLEEP this weekend. Ahh, sleep. And then back to the schoolwork... blah! Hopefully getting rid of this terrible COLD!!

That's pretty much the big exciting news with me lately... which seems neither big nor exciting. In light of the Canadian political issues going on lately, I think I would like to do some research into Canadian politics so I can really get a good grasp of procedures, what happens, etc. I would also like to have stronger reasons for supporting the political party that I do. I think I would majorly fail in a debate right now, which is unfortunate. I kind of feel like the public school system failed me with respect to Canadian politics. Maybe, with better understanding, I can better explain why I feel the way I do about the coalition government:



Oh, and did anyone watch the Biggest Loser this week? I can't STAND Vicky!! Ugh! She is such a hateful person!

December 2- 2 weeks to go!

Just a quick update:

CNST Argument Paper
CNST Final
Behav Paper
HTST Final
407 Quiz

Wooohooo! I'm getting there!! :)

Really?

I was registered in two Canadian Studies classes for next semester, and today was kinda galavanting around the U of C website to find some course outlines, to pick which one I would actually take. I couldn't find any (boo), but decided to check out Psyc to see if any of those course outlines were up. And I found one.

This one class I'm registered in has A THIRTY PAGE TERM PAPER!!! Really? Is this REALLY an undergrad course? Because that sure sounds like the start of a Master's thesis to me. Or at least FAR more work than should be assigned in undergrad. So, instead of reading stuff I'm supposed to read this morning, I spent my time looking for another class that would fulfill the stringent requirements that this one does. I did find one, and it will be a lot of work too, but not as brutal (I hope). I'm still registered in both because the second one says that a "major term paper" is an assignment, but doesn't say how long major is. To me, major is 15 pages, and torture enough. 30 is an abomination. Yikes! So, I'm registered in both of these, and am going to go to both on the first day to see which will be less painful. I had to drop one of the previously mentioned Canadian Studies classes, so I dropped the higher level one (400 instead of 300 level), so hopefully that works out ok. The one I stayed in is on a Saturday, but I didn't mind the Saturday classes I took in the past. Hopefully it works out.

I still can't get over the 30 pages thing. I think that that will be the one I drop. Yeesh!

I thought that next semester would be sort of relaxed, as I'll have less courses (since I'll have no labs, and right now I have two) and it's my LAST SEMESTER! Ugh. I'm back to wishing for May 2009. And, the idea of a cruise to treat myself to surviving these 5 long post-secondary years is sounding better and becoming more and more concrete in my head.

Drowning under piles of paperwork and the thoughts of next semester,
Natalie

Oh, and PS: I babysat last night, and one of the girls asked if I could invite Matt over. Apparently they asked their mom to give them baths because "He's so handsome". How cute is that?

Note to Self

I was sitting in the basement this aft, and I heard knocking at the door. I rarely answer the door, but the knocking kept going, so I answered. Two guys were standing at the door:

Them: I assume you're the queen of the castle?
Me: I'm not actually.
T: Oh, well are you over 18?
M: No, I'm not actually.
T: Really? You're really not?
M: Uhh... no...
T: Oh, 'cause I would have guessed 21. [bang on]
M: What do you want from me, anyway?
T: Oh, nothing, nothing, we'll come back.

I still don't know what they wanted. I told everyone in the house that should they come back, I'm age 17. They did come back and say that I told them that my parents are very nice people (what the...?). Anywho, the point of that little story is that I'm disappointed I couldn't pass for underage, and if I do lie about being 17, I'd best do it over the phone.

I wrote a paper last week until 330 am that I thought was absolute trash. Seriously, I handed it in and thought I would get a C for SURE! I got it back today, and I got an A! I really didn't, and still don't fully, believe it. And, to top it off, I had a quiz in that same class today, which I didn't study for, didn't think I understOOd any of the material for etc. and got a B plus! I don't get it... but it's good!

And now I'm sitting here waiting for the Biggest Loser to start.

Annnnd, with a flourish, let me present my list of outstanding assignments for Fall 2008!!!

CNST Argument Paper
CNST Final
Behav Paper
Behav Lab report
HTST Final
HTST Paper
407 Quiz
407 Lab Report

YAY!!!! I can count those on TWO HANDS!

I love when things work themselves out...

I have been having a little difficulty at work lately. I didn't want to mention it because I kind of brought it on myself, but in any sense, an opportunity presented itself today that gave me a chance to fix it and I am SO relieved. Hence the title of this post- I LOVE WHEN THINGS WORK THEMSELVES OUT!! I'm a little uneasy about changes that are going to be happening later in the week, but I guess we'll deal with that when it happens.

I had a pretty good weekend. Friday I didn't do much; spent some quality time with the tv, haha. I actually watched the Barbara Walters special about the "man who gave birth". It is actually so much less controversial than it sounds, because he was born a woman, so much of the necessary equipment is there, but it was still interesting. In part of the show he was listening to voice mails, threatening him and telling him how disgusting he is. I just don't understand how people can have so much hate in their hearts. I guess I just don't really see how he is hurting others, but I know that some people do find it personally offensive. ANYWAY...

Saturday night I joined Lo and some of her friends at a pub near my house. I really enjoyed it! It was nice to hang out with some girls! I kinda wish I had more girlfriends, so it was nice to have an opportunity to get to better know some of Lo's! After that we headed back to Lo's house, bottle of wine and what we thought would be a crappy movie in hand. It really wasn't bad though! The acting might not have been top notch, but it was a nice [predictable] story. It kind of made me think more about one of my fears though. Since being diagnosed with my blood disorder, I've always been afraid that I'm going to die in childbirth. I guess I can only hope that I and the hospital are prepared for the worst possible scenario.

Just so I don't end on that morbid thought, here is a list. I feel like I've been seeing a lot of lists on blogs I read lately, so I guess I'll post one too!

7 (why always 7?) things that made me happy this week:

1. FINISHING MY RESEARCH REPORT!! I thought it would NEVER end. 37 pages later, it did. Thank goodness!

2. On that note, the fact that Lo and I (slightly less than soberly) toasted the professor that assigned that report. Twice. LOL.

3. One of my piano students, who I thought wasn't interested anymore, texting me to ask for lessons again! Yay!

4. The work situation resolving itself, as mentioned above.

5. I feel like something hilarious happened on Thursday that I can't remember. I'm sure many hilarious things happened that I can't remember, so let me just say that Thursday made me happy this week (like every week).
"Our map is all f$%#ed up and useless!"

6. Ok, this is going to be cheesy. Are you ready?


You sure?


Alright... the look Matt gave me when he got home from his army trip. :) <3

7. Last Tuesday, being able to watch all of my favourite Tuesday shows, including the Biggest Loser, House, and SVU, and seeing Brady get voted off the ranch! YES! You had it coming!

I hope everyone has a great week!

November 11

I hope everyone is able to partake in some sort of Remembrance Day ceremony today, whether it is at an actual ceremony, watching it in your living room, or simply taking time to think about what this day means!

Threading and Dat Phan

Haha, I was just reading my entries from November last year, and it was from when the basement was being renovated and we were sitting on lawnchairs watching TV! Haha, such fun.

Friday night, Matt and I were just kind of sitting around after supper, and I decided that I should go get my eyebrows done while we were doing nothing else. They were starting to look like little furry caterpillars, so it was DEFINITELY time. Anyway, I headed over to the place I always go to get them threaded. I don't know why I continue to do this to myself (although actually I do; will explain later). I lay down on the table and she always does my right eyebrow, and while she is doing it I SWEAR I am going to be sick because it hurts so much. Just the SOUND of it is enough to make me feel nauseous. So the tears start running down, and she continually asks me if I'm ok. The worst part is that they make you take part in your personal torture. You have to hold right above and below your eyebrow so that the skin is stretched and they can thread better. Shudder. Anyway, my left is always less painful, but by the time I leave, my eyes are watery and my eyebrows are bright red, making me too embarrassed to be seen in public. But why do I love it?! Why do I keep GOING BACK....

the amazingly crisp lines.

Sigh.

Don't start. You'll get hooked, and it is torturous. But so pretty!

The end.

Also, tonight Lauren and I went to see Dat Phan! We are having great fun going to see stand-up lately. SO FUN! <3

The Office Faves

I found this in the "archives", an entry I never ended up posting for some reason. They made me giggle again, so here they are!

Michael: Bros before hos. Why? Because your bros are always there for you. They have got your back, after your ho rips your heart out for no good reason. And you were nothing but great to your ho. And you told her she was the only ho for you. And that she was better than all the other hos in the world. And then... suddenly she's not your ho no mo.

Jim: It's a bold move to photoshop yourself into a picture with your girlfriend and her kids on a ski trip with their real father. But then again, Michael is a bold guy. Is bold the right word?

Michael: When you know, you just know. Check her out. My little gal over there. Babelectical.
Roy: Which one is she?
Michael Scott: It's the- it's one of those two. [points to the waitresses]
Roy: You don't know?
Kevin: Dude, you should know.
Michael Scott: Yeah, well. It's been hard, they're wearing the exact same uniform. And I've been drinking. And you know how all waitresses look alike.

Michael Scott: I watch The L Word, ok?
Jan: Good! Good.
Michael Scott: I watch Queer as [beep], okay?
Jan: That's not what it's called.

Michael Scott: There's a wishing fountain at the mall. And I threw a coin in for every woman in the world and made a wish. I wished for Jan to get over me. I wished for Phyllis, a plasma tv. I wished for Pam to gain courage. I wished for Angela, a heart. And for Kelly, a brain.

Jan: You already had a party on May fifth for no reason--
Michael Scott: No reason? It was the 05/05/05 party, it happens once every billion years.
Jan: --and a tsunami relief fundraiser which somehow lost a lot of money.
Michael Scott: No that was a fun raiser, I think I made that very clear in the flyers.

A little blue today. I just got a mark back for a quiz, and I did pretty crappy on it. Ugh. I can't seem to focus on any schoolwork so far this year. Must be the last year thing. Ah well, we still have a lab grade, two more quizzes, and a paper in that class, so it wasn't anything too major. Hopefully I can bring 'er back up! :) Focus, focus.

Matt and I had a fun weekend. We babysat for the people I was supposed to the week before last. It was so fun. The oldest girl was terrified about Matt coming over ("I hate boys, I hate strangers! Tell him not to come!") and was hiding behind my legs when he first got there, but at one point I ended up looking over and she was sitting on his lap stroking his hair. Haha. She made for a few awkward conversations too. "Are you going to marry Natalie?" "I hope Natalie gets pregnant!"

...

So cute though! And I love the baby. I think 1 year olds are just the best. They are so cute, yet they can actually do stuff... this guy was sitting in his highchair so happy about the pizza we gave him and sharing with the [huge] dog. The other little girl is so sweet too. She wanted nothing to do with Matt and spent most of the time curled up in my lap while we watched the new Tinkerbell movie (which actually wasn't half bad!).

After we babysat, Matt and I went to Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I thought I would like it; I liked stuff like Superbad and Knocked Up and figured this was in the same vein, but I found it terribly vulgar. Matt liked it, but I thought it was disgusting. Different strokes, I guess. Maybe along with my eyesight going (Lo and I were at Humptey's and neither of us could see the tv screen) my sense of vulgar humour is going? I dunno. I liked Tinkerbell better. Lol.

Sunday we didn't do much during the day... and watched the Amazing Race with Lo that night though! It was so fun, but no matter how much Matt tries to convince us he won't go into "sleeping position" (he always curls up and falls asleep the same way), he always does. Lo and I had fun though! Or, to speak for myself, I had fun! :)

Another update was Lo and I going to the Flames game on Tuesday! We had so much fun, even though they lost. We ate popcorn, drank [heroin] beer, and laughed at the loud guy next to us shout at the team [I love sitting near the rowdy people]. It was a great time, even though I'm pretty sure we weren't going to make it home before we passed out of sleepiness! Oooh, and Tuesday was the first day it snowed, we saw a fire along the train line, and couldn't get out of the parking lot due to traffic, so abandoned my car. Lots of adventures.

Anyway, that's a pretty lengthy update about the minutia of my last few days. If you made it through, WOW!

<3

Canceled!

I knew it would happen, and it did!

I posted about babysitting and was all excited about it and stuff, and I got canceled on. Ah well. It's all good though; I think they might try to have me over next week instead!

Not going to go into too much detail about this, but just for Calgary residents to note, the number for the Calgary Police Station non-emergency line is (403) 266-1234. Do not call (403) 262-1234. That is the Palliser Hotel. :)

Excited to get my presentation mark back today! Hopefully it all went well. I'm looking forward to just sitting there and watching other people present today.

Oooh, and it seems like I talk about Twilight a lot on here, making it seem like I absolutely love it (which I don't really), but when I was talking to my aunt the other night, we were talking about how silly all the hype is about the books and the movie etc., and I found out something interesting! Apparently my uncle's company is the one doing the editing on the whole movie. Kinda cool I guess.

I met Matt for coffee last night after he worked, downtown, while he was still in his uniform and we got this crazy woman who came up to us and started preaching about how useless the war in Afghanistan is, and how useless Canada's leaders are etc etc. I took this opportunity to tell her how important it is to VOTE, but she didn't get it. "All politicians do is argue and spend money!!" Uhh... yeah? Like always? I don't know. She couldn't see any of the points I was making about Afghanistan, not that I necessarily support it, because I'm not entirely sure about how I feel about it, but the way she was talking about it (complete with copious logical fallacies) just made me want to defend it. The uniform is an idiot attractor, that's for sure.

I like updating this week

As you saw from my post last night, I HAVE APPLIED FOR GRADUATION!! I am so excited! I just randomly checked to see if we could do it yet, and we can! So yay for that!

I am excited for it to be Thursday tomorrow. It will be a pretty sweet day I think. My first class of the day is canceled and in another class all we are doing is watching a movie! It will be great to have a break from note taking (which we do pretty much the whole class time - 75 minutes). Plus, in lab I'll get to see how I did on my presentation and just sit and watch other people present. That will be nice for sure. And then time for the regular Thursday festivities with Lo! It will be even more fun this week because we decided to not watch ANTM tonight and watch it tomorrow after Survivor. We always have fun watching and making fun of how self-absorbed Tyra is.

Friday I actually get to see Matt for a while! It seems like it has been so long...

Saturday I don't really have any plans. I told Warren that I would babysit his [adorable] kids, so I guess that's what I'll be up to that night! It really takes me back. I babysat SO much when I was a teenager, but seemed to have been on hiatus the last couple of years, which happens, I guess, 'cause kids tend to grow up. It's kinda nice though, being back at it, and it makes me remember other kids and feel like I just took care of them yesterday.

Sunday is double feature day! Lo and I are going to hit up the cheap theatres for some cheap movies, which I am excited about. We were going to do it last Sunday, but I was recovering from the flu and didn't want to go when I couldn't properly gorge myself on popcorn. Now that I'm recovered, I'm ready to go!

Today at work I had an "innerview". Haha. A bunch of the higher-ups are taking a leadership course, and they had to conduct these innerviews to get to know the employees better. I actually enjoyed mine with Rob. He seemed very interested in what I had to say, and I think learned stuff about me. As hokey as they sound, maybe innerviews are a helpful tool in building relationships and stuff.

Another exciting thing is that my Aunt is coming in November! Hooray!

I didn't realize when I started writing this that it would be a weekend scheduler, but there it is!

OMG...

I just applied for graduation.


!!!!!!!!!!

November (soon anyway)

I was looking at a calender at work today, and have you realized that in less than two weeks, it will be November?! Hooo-ly! Time has been FLYING by recently. I should start Christmas shopping before it's the last weekend before Christmas and I have to brave the insane malls. Another (or two more) reasons to get shopping done early? TWO of the shopping malls in the south (the only two big ones?) have half of their parking lots closed for renovations. Ugh. If that isn't motivation to get shopping out of the way early, I don't know what is!

I was excited today though... I bought a housewarming present for someone. (I think you know her very well!). Lo has been talking a little about moving out lately, and I think I have part of a housewarming gift. Ha. So I'm pretty excited for that. Also JEALOUS! That moving out is in the very forseeable future for her!!! :) <3

And, not to be all romantically gross or anything, but I have to share what Matt did yesterday so I can read back and remember. I hadn't seen him since probably Monday last week and he came over on Sunday night after being out with the army all weekend. He had a shower while I was hanging out and watching tv, and when he came out, he said "Nat, can I ask you something?"
pause "What was THIS..." pulls out the Sex and the City Movie with a flourish "...doing in your bathroom?!" It was so nice. And he definitely surprised me.

Lo and I were talking last week about the Twilight series and about how I didn't really care for it much... but... this weekend I got really into the second book. It was perfect while I was feeling like crap! I think I read (in the last week) the first one and 3/4 of the second one. They are actually quite good! I always am wondering what happens, and they are a nice, light, fluffy read. Which is just great sometimes. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm actually EXCITED for the movie to come out.

What a crappy weekend

First of all, another thanks to Lo, who took her break on Friday and sat with me in the waiting room for my blood test AND got me a juice and some candy for when it was over. <3

Friday night after I got home I absolutely crashed! I slept from about 5 until 845, which was unusual for me; I am just not a nap person. At about 10 o'clock I went to Walmart to get some stuff (how handy is it that they are open til 11!) including some really delicious new tea.

Saturday I woke up and did some stuff, then fell asleep again from about 3 until 8, and felt like death warmed over all night. I couldn't keep anything down. So awful. I hate being sick.

Today I am finally starting to feel a little bit better, just in time to go back to work and school! Ugh! I'm thinking I had some version of the flu, just because of how TIRED I was, and the stomach problems all weekend.

Anyway, that was the crappy part of my weekend, but the good part was that today Lo texted and said that this very hilarious comedian, Dat Phan, is coming to town! She said she will get tickets for us, so I am very excited, especially considering the fun we had at Gerry Dee last week!

Nothing really...

... exciting to update about.

Think I'm getting sick. Taking Hall's Vitamin C Drops like crazy, but as soon as I stop, feel something "sicky" at the back of my throat again.

Out of my head nervous about my presentation tomorrow. Hopefully it goes ok!

Don't feel like sitting in the computer lab for another hour waiting for my class to start. Want to go home and put on pjs and read a book.

Fall is officially here! Had to scrape car this morning for the first time! It is def glove weather too.

Love fall.

Looking forward to watching a new House tonight. And ANTM.

Craving Jello pudding, in chocolate. (Girl next to me in lab enjoying one right now).

Makes me think of the shameless advertising on the Biggest Loser. "What are you guys doing?" "Oh, we're just sitting by the pool enjoying the new Jello! So good, and only 10 calories!" "Well let me make that even better for you with new low calorie Cool Whip in a can!" squirts "Now it's only 30 calories!!!"

Chilly in the computer lab, and I can't finish my homework because my calculator can't do exponents. Ha ha.

Excited for Thursday.

Happy Monday was a holiday- makes the week SO short!

Disappointed (but not surprised) with the overwhelming voter apathy yesterday.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Yes, it is a long weekend for Thanksgiving! I love long weekends.

We had a good start to the weekend last night; Lo and me and her parents went to see the comedian Gerry Dee at the Jack Singer! He was so good and really funny. The two guys who went on before him were really great too. I had a great time! Thanks, Lo! Afterwards Matt came over and the three of us starting watching The Office, season 4. It was really good, but the episodes are super-sized and really long. We only made it through two before Matt had passed out and Lo and I were very close to following his example. I may have to watch the second episode again sometime, just to make sure I got everything!

Today I'm not up to much, working a little bit on a presentation I have to do next week, but I am super stumped so I think Matt and I are going to go to the mall to spend some of my gift cards I still have from last Christmas. We're almost into Christmas season again, so it's high time to spend them.

Tomorrow we are having Thanksgiving dinner at my house, and on Sunday we are off to Matt's. Should be good times! Other than that, a pretty lazy weekend.

A Surprise!!

I looked back for the old entry where I described the situation, but I couldn't find it. I guess I must not have written it in here.

Sometime in the summer (I think it was August), Matt and I decided to go on a bike ride because it was such a beautiful and lovely day out. We got water bottles ready, put on appropriate biking clothes, and went out to the back yard to "saddle up". When we got out there and I looked for my bike, it was nowhere to be seen! We searched for quite a while, all over the yard, garage, shed, etc., but never did end up finding it. I think it was stolen out of the backyard, as there has been a little bit of crime from some teenagers causing trouble in our area. So, we called off the bike ride, and I was a little bitter for a few day

On Saturday, I was in the basement when my dad called me upstairs. He said he had gotten something for me last night [which was Friday night] and it was on the deck. A NEW BIKE!! I was so surprised and not expecting it at all! It was such a nice and thoughtful thing from him to do. I felt so loved. <3 I hit the bike trails right away and had a GREAT time. I think it will take a little while to get used to being back on a bike seat again though. They are so tiny!! (And my bum was/still is so sore!)

Shiny tables and things of that sort

Last night, I was sitting downstairs watching House when I noticed how crazy dirty and disgusting the coffee table was. So, on the commercial, I ran upstairs to grab some cleaning supplies so I could do SOMETHING about it.

I used this stuff, and the results were AMAZING! I'm not usually into domestic stuff like this, but wow! I could see my face in the table! So, I wandered around looking for other wooden surfaces to make shiny. It was a great big Tuesday night. Ah, the things that can be done instead of homework!

Well,

now that I got some comments, I feel motivated to update again! I hate checking my blog and seeing 0 comments, and for some reason it makes me reluctant to update again. I mean, I know it shouldn't matter, this should be for me (and it is), but it's nice to feel some blogging love, ya know? So, take this as an open invitation. Drop me a comment once in a while! Even if you don't know me. I know that some people read this who I may not know in real life, but I'm ok with that. Seriously. Let's be blog friends! :)

Another weekend is upon us! I'm on my own this weekend, with Matt out of town, but hopefully this means that I can get some stuff done! Mostly a novel I have to read for History which I haven't made much progress on.

I don't have a whole lot to say today, so how about some FRIDAY FAVOURITES? (An idea from other blogs I have read).

1. I first of all must list those mini Halloween chocolate bars. This is a love-hate relationship though. I mean, I love them, don't get me wrong, but they are also VERY BAD because you don't feel guilty eating them (because they are tiny) until you look into the mug that you are cramming the wrappers into and are shocked by how many wrappers are sitting in there, as you think back to the additional ones you ate in the kitchen, in the car, at work...

2. My new cell phone. It's an LG. I got it last weekend. I love it.

3. The colder weather. I know, odd to hear, right? I just dug out all my "winter" blankets the other night and am loooving sleeping beneath a huge pile of warm fuzzy blankets. Sigh.

4. I'm trying to think of something else, to make this list a nice list of 5, but all I can think about is going to get another mini Kit-Kat. Yikes. Mini-Halloween-chocolate-bar-itis.

5. Oooh! How about the new season of Survivor? Lo and I watched last night, and it looks promising... (miss you Ash!). And, since I cheated on #4, I'm going to go ahead and add Swiss Chalet in there. I just love that place, especially now that the weather is getting colder. It is such comfort food. Yum.

Oh, and one more thing. The next time I get the bright idea to cut my hair like this:


(taken in May)

remind me of much I will hate not being able to put my hair in a ponytail without all of the back falling out. Argh! I feel like it will NEVER be long again!

Have a great weekend!

New Layout

Two posts in as many days. Go me!

Do you like the new layout? I figure that with winter coming up, it would be a nice change. I took this picture in January 2007, at Emerald Lake. I was there with Matt's family for a wedding. It was just so beautiful, but this is one of the few pictures of just landscape. Anyway, it was so gorgeous there and not as cold as you'd expect. There was SO MUCH SNOW that it seemed to act as an insulator; I remember running with Matt and his brother Mike from one building to another, just in my short sleeved dress with no nylons or anything and not being cold at all. Funny how that works. I love winter, except for the terrible driving conditions and I'm in a very fally/wintery mood, hence the change of layout!

Also, I find I am very resistant to change. I bought a new backpack and I am having trouble switching out of my old one that is falling apart. There are just so many memories! My old backpack is the one I use to smuggle my Nano Cat to school in junior high. That's the backpack Lo and I confused with each other's and took to the wrong class by mistake, before we were really great good best friends. That's the backpack I took to Australia! Haha. The new backpack has been sitting on my floor since Wednesday and by walking into my room and looking at it everyday, I am almost ready to change. But still not quite.

Isn't that SAD?!

<3

Did you know...

... that yoga is a KILLER workout? Seriously. Lo and I went to yoga on Wednesday afternoon and my shoulders are STILL sore from all the movements. It was super fun. We should definitely go again. This was my second time, and I think I was a little better than last time- the TA in the class seemed to have to help me a little less I think. One thing I cannot imagine doing though, is hot yoga. I was sweating furiously in just a regular yoga class. I can't imagine HOT yoga. Maybe someday though. One thing I don't think I will ever get on board with is the chant that they do at the end. I always just feel super awkward. Maybe if I knew what it meant, and how to say it, it might be better but I have yet to have it explained to me.

Last night was Jord's birthday movie. We went to Burn After Reading, which was so different than I expected! I thought it was a shoot 'em up movie that I would find boring, but it's actually a comedy. A very funny comedy!

I think I am going to die under the workload of one paper one prof assigned. He showed examples of previous years papers and they were in the neighbourhood of 39-59 pages. Yikes! I find it a struggle to write 10 pages most times. Ah well. Oh, and the good thing on Thursday after finding out about the terrible paper? Umm... well Lo and I split a really delicious cookie while I was waiting to go to lab? Haha.

I am kind of excited for one project we have to do in lab. It is a self management behaviour modification project. I haven't picked my behaviour yet, but I have been thinking about it! What a good opportunity for someone to quit a bad habit! I'll keep you posted on the status of that.

Also, to sum up, I have the biggest craving for sushi! It started last night and is persisting today, so I may have to head over to Superstore to pick some up. Oh, and by sushi, I mean the fake sushi. California rolls. Still yummy though!

Oh, and another after thought. I have just finished a fantastically wonderful book. Water for Elephants is totally recommended by me. I LOVED it! It is such a sweet story, sad in some parts, but left me with a great feeling. I'm sad I finished it!

Another year is upon us...

... and by that I mean school year. I was looking through some of my posts from last year, and I am just not impressed at the level of whining that took place! So, to help with this, I resolve that I will allow myself to have those whiny posts (cause really, there are just some days you NEED it) but I am going to end that post with something positive about the day. So take that. :)

Started my new position at work today. Did I mention that I am [insert my company's name here]'s newest Project Coordinator? I am super psyched. Today I went in, ready to start, but I didn't have a computer at my new desk. Oh well! I spent the morning cleaning up and personalizing it. I got to order a new pencil holder from the G&T catalogue, and I'm excited about that. I am such a dork. :)

So here's to the start of a new school year, I guess!

Edmonton 2008

Alright, as promised! The four of us went to Edmonton for some waterpark fun. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of us actually at the waterpark (we used an underwater camera which is currently being developed), so you'll have to believe me when I say we had TONS of fun in the actual waterpark!

We left on Sunday morning which was a change for us, it's usually Saturday, but it was great as there was little traffic on the way up. We spent Sunday at the waterpark, breaking for lunch in my car. I kinda expected our hotel room to be ready, like we were so lucky to experience last year, but no such luck, so we ate lunch in the car. Haha. After spending the afternoon at the waterpark, we went for a delicious dinner at BP (they have really great french onion soup as M and I discovered) and then we headed back to our room to play Apples to Apples while we waited for some of the movies at the theatre to start. We ended up having so much fun playing the game that we skipped the movie to play some more! Plus, we had lots of chips to snack on... I bought 2 bags of chips at London Drugs in the mall and the cashier told me to enjoy my chips. Haha. It was kinda odd.

Monday morning we hung out at the mall, shopping, playing mini golf and having lunch until we were ready to go. While the boys visited the huge two floor HMV, L and I checked out the pet store where they had the cutest baby tortoises! I would be so tempted to get one, except that they:
a) cost 1000 bucks
b) live for up to 80 years
c) grow to be 200 pounds

Very cute though!

Check out some pictures of:

L and J having breakfast:


J's creative shot:


My new fav picture of M and me:


L being cute and waiting for her turn:


The best part of the golf game? I got a hole in one at the last hole, the siren went off, and I won a free game! Woohoo!

Oh, and don't ask what I'm doing with my pointer finger in that shot. I have three pictures of M and me, and in each I am pointing. I dunno.

The Spa!!

My work treated the ladies to a FANTASTIC spa trip last weekend. I can't even describe how amazing the place was.

We left on Friday morning at 6 am (eek). The trip there took a while because we had to take a plane to Vancouver, one to Campbell River and a third, a float plane, to the actual spa. The float plane was really fun, and I got to be the co pilot!! It was a lot louder than I would have expected though.



Check out the rooms. I had this HUGE room all to myself, complete with two king size beds, fireplace between the bedroom and bathroom, view of the ocean, and an amazingly huge shower. It was great to live like this for three days!



We arrived Friday afternoon and went for an "Eco-Tour". It was on a Zodiac type boat and we wore head phones so the guide could explain everything we saw. It was great; he had the most excellent voice for tour guiding and you could tell that he looooves what he does. I was really hoping to see some whales, or at least whale tails, but alas, no such luck. We saw sea lions, some seals, and Dall's porpoises! They were so neat to see... they played in the wake that the boat made and kinda chased us around for a while. I was thrilled that we saw something this exciting!

Dinners were an amazing experience, unlike anything I've ever experienced before. They looked like this:



...only five different courses like this and all so gourmet. Most of it was soo delicious except for all the cold soup. I think it's a very gourmet technique to serve cold soup, but I can't say it was one of my favourites. :) Friday I accidently drank a little too much wine (I'm a cheap drunk!!!), which was kinda fun. I actually really liked the wine I was drinking. Also, apparently I talked to one of the girls that night more than I have in three years!

Saturday morning we went fishing for four hours. Our boat was a little crowded for the nine of us, but it was still tons of fun! And I caught a fish!!*



We weren't allowed to keep the fish (it was a Coho, which you can't keep this year), so that was a bummer to everyone, but I was secretly glad we didn't have to kill it!

After we had fished, we went to a "barbeque" on the beach. I use the quotations here because NEVER have I been to a bbq quite like this! On a deserted West Coast beach complete with tableclothes, wine, pasta salad, and your choice of salmon, chicken, or pork. It was so fancy.

Saturday afternoon two of the girls and I went fly fishing in a little trout pond the resort has. It was absolutely crawling with fish, and I caught a trout. I really don't think I'm much of a fisherman though... when I pulled the fish out of the water and saw the hook through his lip (which was :'( bleeding) I felt like a horrible person. Also, I know my uncle (an avid fly fisher) puts the fish back gently in the water and holds them for a minute so they can get their bearings before they swim away. I tried this technique, however, the fish was slippery and flew out of my hands and lay in the water, stunned, for a minute. Again, felt like a very cruel person. Nope, not a fisherman!

Saturday afternoon we had spa treatments. I started with a hydrotherapy bath (a tub with lights and jets), then had a 90 minute massage, and a facial. I really liked my massage; the woman doing it knew so much. So interesting. She kept telling me how loose my muscles were, and how I must not let stress bother me. Lol. The facial was pretty good... facials aren't my favourite, to tell you the truth. They always make me break out after. All of the pictures of me on Saturday night have me hiding behind someone. My face was so shiny!

However cruel I feel in my role as fisherman, I headed out again Sunday morning. Only four of us (five with the guide) went, so it was a lot less crowded. We had fun, though it was rainy and not many fish were biting. It also included the famous "I want him" exchange between T and I. Ha ha. After fishing I had my manicure/pedicure. Pedicure is my most favourite thing to have done at a spa BY FAR. I think I might start treating myself to one now and then (although I believe I said that to myself last year).

Monday we just spent relaxing and wandering around, finding interesting sea life!



Four of us went to peek in a VIP lodge they have (to the tune of 8000 dollars a night!!!) which was amazing. I can't imagine having enough money to stay there. Each room had its own hot tub and they bring in a gourmet chef and personal server just for you. Wow.

The trip was amazing... I had a great time and it was so gorgeous there. To an amazingly genorous boss!! :)

[Next up, Edmonton trip update!! I just had a lot of time tonight to update this loooong entry. :)]

*Professional fishermen seem to just watch the rods fish and then reel them in. So I guess the rod caught the fish, and then I brought him in. They are strong little things!!

The Outcome

My strategy WORKED! I am HEADACHE FREE for the first Saturday in a while. :) :)

Not up to much today, just kinda enjoying the day off. Can't go anywhere too far becuase Matt woke up early to take apart my car and fix the a/c. He grabbed the part out that he thinks is broken, took it with him to get a new one, and went to a bachelor party today. He's just going to the day part of the party... I think it also involves camping later, but M isn't going to that because we are leaving bright and early tomorrow for Edmonton!!! Can't wait. Anyway, I hope the part he took out and is putting back in later is the broken part so we have a functioning a/c on the drive! I hate having the windows open on the highway- much too noisy!

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post when we get back!

I have an idea!

So, I've noticed that I almost ALWAYS have a headache on Saturday mornings. I was trying to brainstorm what could cause this. My first thought was that there is something in the chicken at Swiss Chalet (or the sauce, eek!) that was triggering me (because we usually eat there on Fridays). What an awful thought this was; Matt and I love SC and eat there often. Very often. Anyway, we skipped Swiss for a week and I still woke up on Saturday with a headache, so my next thought is this: maybe sleeping in later than I do the rest of week triggers me. Could it be? It's the best thought I have at the moment, and I will try out my strategy this weekend and keep you posted!

The most exciting thing that has happened to me lately is that my mom washed all* my underwear with these new BRIGHT green towels and all my underwear got dyed this minty green colour. I pretended to be kinda upset, but I actually thought it was hilarious.

Last weekend we spent with L and J doing birthday things! Friday night we saw Pineapple Express (which was quite funny but had too long of a 'fight' scene at the end) and went to the bar for Name that Tune on Saturday night. It was great. I find the game takes a little too long though; I kinda wish they didn't play the whole song after teams guess it because it takes forever! Still sooo much fun though!

Not too much more time 'til Edmonton! I can't WAIT!

*ok, by all I mean a pair or two, but all made for a more interesting story, dontcha think???

Last July 2008 entry

I am so excited for the weekend!!!

Matt called me last night and invited me to go white water rafting with him and his parents this weekend! I am soooo excited, I have never been before! Should be good times for sure!

Truly enjoying being free from school. I just realized that this is my first substantial break since Christmas! Wow! Definitely time to recharge my batteries before my final year!! I am soaking it up by sitting on the couch and watching some Big Brother. Yay!

Also, it's Thursday! L is in school tonight, but I am picking her up from the train later so we can go for dinner, get slurpees and watch some Last Comic Standing. There is nothing better!

Tomorrow at work will be pretty good, I think. All the guys will be gone on their fishing trip (girls get a spa weekend later in August) so my boss is having lunch catered. Yay! This catering company has the most delicious desserts.

Big Brother just experienced an earthquake! How exciting!

We finally...

have a date for the annual trip to Edmonton! Hooray! I had to take a day off work, but I'm sure it will be totally worth it! We are going on a Sunday/Monday this year, instead of a Saturday/Sunday combo... here's hoping the pool will be a lot less crowded on a Sunday!

Honestly, not too much else is going on! Still tired after work, but don't have to worry about keeping up with reading for school, so that's fantastic. I think my class went ok... final grades aren't in yet, but I did ok on the final, so it should be all good. I think he might curve the grades as well... he said he might if the average was too low, and he dropped 12 questions from the final, so I'm thinkin' marks were a little low. Anyway...

Last weekend Matt went to Lethbridge so I just kinda hung out at home. Saturday I had an awful migraine and slept most of the day (uh huh and we saw the weather change yesterday) and Sunday I ended up meeting up with the Australians! It was a good time. We played some mini-golf... the course wasn't fantastic, but there was this one hole that Patricia reached into to grab her ball and a huge siren went off. It nearly gave her a heart attack... but was so funny for us. Another good one was the one that sprayed you in the face with water when you went to get your ball. Great!

After leaving the golf course we went for lunch (delicious) and were on our way home to go to the lake when we got into a car accident! Nice. It was pretty brutal, actually... we were rear ended really hard by a huge Dodge truck. I got a huge bruise on my hip (and my aunt, sitting on the opposite side of the back bench got one on the opposite side of me) and the Jeep (less than a year old) is undrivable, but everyone is ok, save some bumps, sore backs, and bruises, so that's what counts!

Nothing else too much... looking forward to the LONG WEEKEND!! I'll try to get some pictures... I feel like I haven't posted any on here in FOREVER (even though I did around Stampede time).

The good, the bad, and the MONDAY!!

The good: I'm not in class tonight! And not watching the Zimbardo video again! Plus, did you check out the WEATHER today? Wow.

The bad: I'm not in class tonight because there was an accident with the LRT in which a cyclist was hit and the trains WERE NOT MOVING. I figured that by the time I got to school via Glenmore, I would have missed the lecture anyway and been just in time for the video. No thanks!

The Monday: I think the air conditioning in my car is dead. Eeep! Hopefully Matt can have a look at it and fix it up! Of course I discover this lovely turn of events on our first 30 degree day of 2008.

I'm! done class! in 2! days! !!!

:D

Plans for the weekend (free weekend)? First on my list is to be a total square and clean my car out. Man it needs it though. I think my last time would have been in the fall, and I eat breakfast (toast) on my way to work everyday. Yeah. It doesn't take a mathematician to figure THAT equation out.

I'd like to see the Dark Knight, but thinking about it right now, I don't especially feel like lining up for a million hours. Maybe though. Matt and I drove past the line on Saturday and it was crazy! Right around the theatre!

We had a pretty good weekend. Matt and I seemed to have some sort of Blizzard addiction. We hit DQ on Friday and again on Saturday. Good times. Did you know that they do not, in fact, make the Mint Oreo Blizzard with Mint Oreos, but regular Oreos and mint syrup? AND they charge you with an 'extra stuff' fee for getting the syrup! Pshhhh. Good thing they are just so damn delicious.

Also, keeping on the track of complaining about extras, Matt and I went to Swiss on Friday. These days they are charging a whopping $1.20* for white meat. Psshhh. Again, it's really not that bad, but it is up from $0.99** the last time we went there (which was like, two weeks ago). Inflation. It'll get ya!!

Also, to not complain for 2 seconds, Big Brother 10 was watched by Matt and me yesterday, and it is quite good. Hoo-rah!



* Please don't think I'm "extremely careful with money" (thank you Seinfeld). Sometimes I just like to complain. :)

**I have a feeling Lo will give me a hard time for writing 99 cents that way, but I don't know why.

<3

Certain Inevitabilities

Hello. Please indicate how this makes sense:

Migraine trigger for Natalie = weather changes, bright lights (mostly the sun), and strong smells (sometimes).

Natalie's super fantastic migraine treatment = strong smell of rosemary.

Migraine trigger for Natalie + Natalie's super fantastic migraine treatment = migraine for Natalie. And a bad one at that.

Oh dear.

I'm holding out hope that it was mostly the weather change that did it. Matt suggested that I only take the cover off halfway so the smell isn't that strong, which I may just do.

Anyway, certain inevitabilities I have encountered in summer semester:

1. Even if you are allowed to leave work 10 minutes early, traffic will be terrible and instead of having time to grab coffee or food like you intended to (and were excited about!!), you will just make it to class on time, like every other day.
2. While you are waiting for the Northbound train, no less than 3 Southbound trains will come and go. Vice versa for when you are waiting for the Southbound train.
3. There will ALWAYS be a pompous student in your class who has to point out the conclusion everyone else already came to in their heads. This happens in every class, but after 8 hours of work and 4 evenings of 3 hours of school, this happening will be particularly difficult to sit through.
4. I will see the Stanford Prison Experiment video, in my university career, more times than double the years I have been in university. (Next week I'm seeing it again). I feel like I was actually in the damn thing.

Yesterday I was on the train when these guys got on, swearing and cursing about who knows what. The guy next to them was reading his newspaper and he said "Watch your language. There are ladies on this train (one of them was me) and that one has a baby (that one was not me)." I was so impressed! The guys tried to save face by saying stuff like "well, I'd lip off to you if... blah blah" and the best part was that the man was just nodding and reading his newspaper. Another variety of a random act of kindness! The more I look for it, the more I see it! It's nice to know that in such a greedy, rude, and sometimes very unpleasant society that there is decency everywhere. :)

Also, the Australians are in town!! I talked to the little girl (age 6) on the phone tonight and she is just the sweetest thing. I can't wait til my course is over and I can go visit and hang out! I asked her what she wanted to do, and apparently we'll be blowing bubbles. lol.

G'night!

10 things I would rather be doing...

... than attempting to study for my midterm:

10. Sleeping. I have been so wrecked lately and just can't catch up.
9. Baking cookies! It's been far too long!
8. Reading a book that I want to read.
7. Walking the dog in this lovely July evening weather (even though the bugs would probably be brutal)
6. Playing ND with L.
5. Sitting with my favourite blanket on the couch and watching a movie with Matt. I haven't seen much of him lately.
4. Going out for dinner (I'm so hungry!)
3. Sitting on the deck with the warm sun on my face!
2. Having a bubble bath!
1. Picking up my groceries for the week. Hello, frozen dinner for lunch tomorrow!

Matt was working at the Stampede all day yesterday. Seriously, all day. He worked 730 - 1230 and then 4 - 10. I was so happy when he got home though! When we were at the Stampede last Sunday, we saw this aromatherapy stuff in a jar that you open at night in many different scents for many different things! He picked me up the migraine stuff (which is a rosemary scent I believe) and I am so excited to try it out! Anything that may help!

Again, it's been a while!

I just don't ever blog anymore, do I? Two more Monday and Tuesday classes, and 1 more Wednesday and Thursday class- and then I'm done summer semester! It won't be at all too soon, either! I am so TIRED! It is so strange though; I hop on the train after work, go up, have class for almost three hours, and then hop on the train and drive home from the station. Often when I am getting off the train and heading to my car I feel like I didn't go to school at all... like I went to some sort of time sucking space that took my whole evening, but I don't really remember sitting through. It is so bizarre. Anyway, I don't need to say it again, but I'm gonna!! I can't WAIT to be done!

Summer plans for after school? RELAXING! And reading leisurely [nerd alert]. I also hope that L, J, M, and I can head up to Edmonton for our annual trip! It is kinda dependent on L's work schedule at the moment; M and I have weekends off, but L is scheduled til the end of August already! I think J is ok for getting time off too. At any rate, hopefully we can figure out a time to take our summer trip (I believe this will be the third consecutive year) and have lots of fun! :)

M, Andy, Cade, and I went to the Stampede on Sunday! I haven't posted about A and C before, but they are friends M knows from the army. [Side note: I don't know if other people use initials to be annonymous or not, but I use them out of totally laziness. If you read this blog often, you certainly know who M and L and J are. And why type Matt, Lauren and Jordan when I can write M, L, and J?] We had tons of fun at the Stampede. We got to hold chickies (sponsored by Lilydale, sadly enough) and went on some rides and just generally had a good time! The mini donuts are just so delicious. It started absolutely pouring while we were outside though, and A and I were just FREEZING! While I was on a ride with the boys, some random lady donated a shirt to A! She said she just 'looked freezing'. I guess those nice random strangers I mentioned a few posts earlier are everywhere! Anyway, it was a very fun and good time.


After the log ride


He is so handsome sometimes


Bumper cars! I was the photographer for this ride! I hate bumper cars.

I'm registered!

Two posts in one day! What?!

I am just so EXCITED that I am registered for the LAST YEAR of my degree!! And, all it took was two trips to undergraduate programs office, one frantic call to the department of psychology, and one day off work!

I just can't wait to be done.

Also, I dropped my summer classes I was in, and picked up one that is only THREE WEEKS long! That means I have part of July and ALL of August to enjoy summer!

Things are lookin' pretty sweet right now. (knock on wood)

:D

Nice Gestures

It rained a LOT last night, and was still raining quite a bit when I woke up. I was on Deerfoot on my way to school when I decided I should stop at Superstore to buy some windshield washer fluid (it was very wet on the road still and making my windshield all muddy and gross and streaky and difficult to see through).

So, I went in, bought my stuff, went out to my car, opened the hood and was pouring it in when this little old[er] lady came up to me.

"I saw the hood of your car up, and I thought you might need some help. I see you're just refilling though!"

I love random acts of kindness like that, and seeing the thoughtfulness of complete strangers.

It just made my day.

Post 50!!

Us making cupcakes, as promised!


Matt and me on the hayride!

My company summer BBQ was on Sunday; lots of fun! The weather wasn't fantastic, as you probably could tell from the background of that picture. It started pouring while we were on the hayride and got so cold! The good part was that the driver made the horses go faster so we could get back quicker which made for a more intersting ride! It was fun though, and after, we came home, ate popcorn and watched Office Space.

I was looking at my facebook countdown to the end of Spring semester and thinking about how those stupid counters always make me nervous because I just think about how much I have to do and how little time I have left to do it in. Today though, I realized that I put the wrong date on the stupid thing! Instead of having 9 days left, I have 16. What a letdown.

Last night I was choosing my courses for my final year (!!!) of university. It took me a long time, and I don't have my last 3 picked out for sure; I have to make choices among many. I think I'm going to go up to the university on the 24th to see a guidance counsellor and pick the right courses so I graduate. I was looking through the "what you need to do to graduate" list, and it was so silly, but I was teary as I was reading it. I am so excited to be done (which I think is why I was so teary), but I'm also going to miss it in a way. Not the reading outside of class, and not the paper and assignment parts, but the exercising my mind and learning about topics that make me so passionate. I only hope I can find the same thing once I am out of school. Anyway, THINKING about APPLYING to graduate made me teary! Just think of what a wreck I'll be on the day they finally hand me that degree! (which should be next May if everything goes down properly).

I'm also kinda worried about getting out of school.

School has made me see some character traits in myself that I don't really like. The one that stands out most of all is procrastinating. Am I still going to be like that when I get out of school? Will it change from reading my textbook and writing papers to cleaning bathrooms and laundry? Ha, well we certainly know it won't be the latter. I don't mention work stuff here because I think I have a great work ethic AT WORK. Unfortunately, it doesn't carry over. Will I realize that the feelings that I attribute to mid-semester blues are actually not due to school?

Also, in losing school, will I lose positive parts of myself that it helped develop? Will I lose my critical thinking skills, my zeal for learning, my self confidence and other learned skills? Where will I get the "wow" factor that I so often get when in lecture when I learn something truly amazing or life changing? Will I gain something better than all of this?

These are the things that I hope work themselves out.

Remember me?

It's been quite some time again!

The most exciting thing lately was that Lauren and I went to see SATC on Thursday! I absolutely LOVED it! It was great that L went to see it with me, as she had already seen it... so good though. I can't wait to watch it again (and again and again). We also decided that we will be renting the seasons on DVD while we wait for DH to come out on DVD this summer. I'm pretty excited, because I didn't really follow the show, but apparently it is just as good (or better) than the movie!

Other than that, nothing really new to report! How boring of me. I'm just waiting for Matt to come get me (my classes are done for the day) and we are going out with his family for a birthday/Father's day dinner, since his parents will be away next week for both of those. Kinda funny; my parents are going away next weekend too! Maybe they planned a secret vacation with each other together!!!




[That definitely did not happen].

I feel like I had something absolutely hilarious to write about in here, but it couldn't have been that wildly funny if I can't remember. I guess my MUHL teacher was kinda funny today:

[talking about his 1820 guitar]: I was backpacking through Europe and I found this in a little antique shop in Germany [pause for effect].

Nah, totally kidding. I got it off ebay!

I thought it was silly. Also, there was a guy in my class today who came to class, but put on his headphones and watched The Price is Right the whole time! Why even bother to come is my question.

That is all for me! Sorry for the extremely vanilla entry.

Can't I just put my BABY in the theatre?

Well, I must say that I am very impressed with people who get their whole degree while working full time. Wow. Actually, people also included in this category are people who do full time studies and full time school and people who have kids, do school, and work.

I am absolutely wrecked tonight, and I have impending assignments. Gah. I am so tired, and my mentality is that I worked hard all day at work, and am absolutely too tired to do any sort of school work at all. In a perfect world, I would just crawl into my bed right this second and sleep until I have to get up for work tomorrow (which I may just do). All of this is leaving me absolutely craving my degree, so I can be done and go to work and have my evenings to myself. What a thought! I could go to work, come home, have my dinner and do anything, guilt free! All of these thoughts are making me lean towards only taking one class in the summer semester. I still think it will be sorta brutal, but I also don't want to take five classes in any one semester next year. If I only take one class in the summer I will have 4 and 4, which isn't as great as my original plan (4 and 3), but still more manageable! (I did 4 and 5 last year). If anything, doing 4 and 4 means many more lamenting blog entries to come! How exciting for you, reader!

[I read Dear Abby everyday in the paper at work. She calls most people "dear reader" and it was all I could do to resist putting 'dear' in front of reader in that last remark. I also read the funnies everyday now. Did you know that they actually have a storyline that progresses day by day? I didn't, and now keep up with Baby Blues and Dog Eat Doug (sad, I know).]

Not too much happened last weekend. One exciting thing was that Matt, Lauren, Jordan, and I went to see Indiana Jones! It only opened on Thursday I believe, so we went and sat in line outside the theatre. I find this to be a very fun experience. It just makes you SO excited to get in and for the movie to start, even if you aren't that excited for the movie in the first place (like me with this one). When we were sitting in line we saw some total characters as well. There was a guy who wanted to bring his entire shopping cart into the theatre and spent a fair amount of time arguing with a manager who tried to stop him (even I could guess that that goes against every fire code in the place), a guy who just went to the front of the line we were sitting in (luckily the guy behind us told him to hit the back), and a woman with an entire unfolded napkin stuck to the bottom of her shoe (how could she not notice). As for the movie, it was not bad. Not really my type of movie, but watchable, and I wanted to see what happened. The whole ending was kinda strange though. Apparently not typical. Also, throughout the whole movie, Indiana was called 'Dr Jones' and that totally just made me think of that Aqua song.

Anyway, that's enough for me. I was looking through my camera and found some pictures from when Lauren and I made delicious cupcakes! Maybe I'll get around posting them sometime, but def not tonight! I'm off for a bubble bath and bedtime!

Ciao!

PS- L, you still have my mom's containers. :)

I suck at summer posting

Hola! It has been a while since I posted! I don't seem to be spending much time on the computer lately. I guess since I spend much of my day at work on the computer, I'm really not interested in doing so when I come home. However, I still like to check blogs, and as I am always disappointed when others don't update, I'll spare you the disappointment and update tonight!

The problem with that, however, is that I don't have a lot to say!

Last weekend (May long) I started my guitar history class at school. I think it is going to be way cool. I think I convinced Matt to come to one of my lectures with me... rock in the 70s perhaps? We should have lots of fun. We watched a video last Saturday which was a history of the electric guitar and I learned lots of fun facts, but when I went to share them with M, he knew them all! Hmph! I really enjoyed the first class though. Plus the prof felt bad that we were starting on a holiday so he shortened the class by a lot! That is always a good time. I really wish I could be brave enough to tell people to quiet down during movies. There were some girls talking at regular volume right behind me during the movie, and I wanted to tell them to shut up, but I couldn't get my courage up. I don't know why, but I always do that. I think I think that if I ask people to quiet down during a movie, they will just be louder out of spite. Luckily the girl next to me cleared her throat really loudly and obnoxiously, and they got the hint. A tactic I'll have to try!

After my class, M and I had a pretty laid back night! We made a fire and sat out by it roasting hot dogs (or "dogs" as the guy in the line in front of L and me at the Costco food court said tonight) and marshmallows. His parents came home later and kinda hung out with us. Lots of fun! Plus, I read my book by the fire Love the One You're With (which I was really excited for and anticipating fully, but didn't really enjoy), so it was a great night. (Because I got to read leisurely. Not because my book sucked).

Sunday we met up with L and J and walked around Kensington for a while! It was really fun, but sooooo hot! I don't think I drank enough water, because I felt TOTALLY drained! Later L, M, and I went to two movies at the cheap theatre (Leatherheads (such a snore) and The Other Boelyn Girl (really good!)). (Too lazy to link those, btw).

Tonight L and I had our date night because she has to work tomorrow, so we went to Costco for the aforementioned dogs. Delicious. We watched a really crappy movie after, though: Numb (Matthew Perry). It was brutal. A do not see. I had tons of fun though, as usual!
L: Do you know what mothballs smell like?
N: Of course.
L: How do you get their little legs apart?

Haha, there is a basic sum up of my last week or so, which I didn't really mean for this entry to turn into, but oh well! Better a boring update than none at all, correct?

Oh, and PS, I got my hair cut. It was driving me crazy over the weekend, so I got it all chopped off last night. I like it so far. No one seemed to notice at work though, so I felt kinda bad about it. To be fair though, I often wear my hair up at work, so I guess it may be difficult to notice. Maybe I'll post a picture soon!

Additionally, I noticed that it is starting to rain. That's my cue to jump in bed under my warm duvet, open my window, and listen. I love rainy weather. I would do well in Vancouver. I told Matt today that I don't work in the rain, and that reminded me of one of my favourite Seinfeld quotes:

Newman: It's raining. I don't work in the rain.
George: You're a mailman! Not rain, nor sleet... it's the first one!!

(I did work today).

Fly by

Time craaaawls during the semester I find (naturally), but May is absolutely FLYING for me. It's almost the middle of the month? How did that happen?

I am finding going to school at the same time as working pretty difficult, to say the least. After working all day I am NO mood to come home and do schoolwork, so I haven't been, so I am super behind on all my reading. Sigh. Ah well, this is what I have to do if I want to finish my degree next April (which I do). I am so tired after working all day though! Even though my job isn't physically tiring, I am just done by the end of the day. All I want to do is come home and sit on my bottom and watch tv. Which is what I have been doing. See the problem?

I warn you not to buy the new Triscuit flavour; Rosemary and Olive Oil. I thought it sounded like it might be ok (I didn't really know what Rosemary tasted like), but they are NASTY. You've been warned. I was so excited to try them today, and I ate one as I packed my lunch this morning. I thought they were gross then, but it was 8 am, so I figured that any spice wouldn't be especially appealing. Good logic, but incorrect. I tried them again at lunch and I still thought they were nasty, but by that time I was all excited for Triscuits so I had to go buy regular ones.

Not too much else is new here, I just figured it has been a while since I updated, so I may as well post something! I'm looking forward to the long weekend; the temperature is supposed to be 26 I heard! I'm psyched!

Also, I was thinking about this commercial today. Sorry it's Christmas and sorry it's crappy quality, but it has always been one of my favourites. I was wearing a long skirt today and I think I was thinking about how embarrassing it would be to have it accidentally tucked into my undies after leaving the bathroom (which happened at school one time but I was lucky enough to catch before I left the bathroom) and that led me to thinking about this commercial!

Hopefully my next entry is more exciting than the world of crackers. Until then!

"For you, a thousand times over..."

Wow. So I made good on plans to read during my freedom from school! I made short work of The Kite Runner (which has been one of the books sitting beside my nightstand that Matt's mom got me for Christmas) and I thought it was great. Sad, but great. Last night Matt and I rented the movie, and I sobbed through the whole thing. Terribly. I am NOT a movie crier at all, but this movie was just absolutely brutal for me! I don't think I would have found it as sad if I hadn't read the book (they develop the characters a lot more in the book than the movie, as most do) before the movie. SO SAD. Gosh. So, in short, it's a great story, but read the book/watch the movie at your own risk. Maybe pick one or the other. Even the title of this blog (quote from book and movie) makes me teary. Man.

Nothing is too too new with me. I worked my first 40 hour week of the summer this week! Today was kinda an eventful day. We unexpectedly are down one employee now, so I got moved from Accounting to Downstairs (more adminy). I was packing up my accounting desk today into a box to move, and I had a lump in my throat! It was the craziest thing! I really don't mind moving downstairs, and just starting out as I am it is probably good to get knowledge in different positions, but all I could think of was how sad it was to pack up my desk. I hope I never have to do it for reals (like for a permanent transfer out of the company...). Apparently I am just being loaned to downstairs, so I didn't have to pack up my desk (I'll be back in September to accounting I'm told), and thus I guess I made a slight fool out of myself by stripping my desk, but I use all the stuff on a daily basis. Plus, I couldn't very well leave my Cranium calender up there! Also today, work had a barbeque in the shop area, which I was so looking forward to. However, I had a little headache this morning and it turned into a full fledged migraine at about 1130, complete with nausea. Ugh. So I didn't really get to enjoy the barbeque; I hid at my desk with my uneaten burger waiting for the pills to kick in and wanting to die. Luckily by the time the pills did kick in and I felt better, there was still some of the delicious cake left! Which, as we all know, is the most important for me (a total sweet tooth).

Anyway, that's the basic news for me. Sitting here with a cool cloth, waiting for Matt to get out of the shower, waiting for my second set of Tylenol to chase the reminents of my headache away, waiting for my grades to be posted, waiting for L to get back so we can watch this week's Survivor, and wondering why on Earth my COMS professor is starting the class tomorrow when all the other Spring classes (even my other weekend one) don't start for two weeks!!

I'm dooooone!

Yes! Every item on my list can now be crossed off. I have completed another semester (my 9th semester of post secondary I believe) and Winter 2008 is a thing of the past!!!

I am however, completely wiped from that huge list of stuff that I had to complete, and will update again when I have a full night's sleep under my belt.

'til later!

Because I'm so excited I can knock more things off...

Officially, (idea stolen from Lauren's blog), I have this work left in Winter 2008 semester:

Brain final
Theory final
Canadian Studies take home exam

It's so close!!

The Office Faves

I found this in the "archives", an entry I never ended up posting for some reason. They made me giggle again, so here they are!

Michael: Bros before hos. Why? Because your bros are always there for you. They have got your back, after your ho rips your heart out for no good reason. And you were nothing but great to your ho. And you told her she was the only ho for you. And that she was better than all the other hos in the world. And then... suddenly she's not your ho no mo.

Jim: It's a bold move to photoshop yourself into a picture with your girlfriend and her kids on a ski trip with their real father. But then again, Michael is a bold guy. Is bold the right word?

Michael: When you know, you just know. Check her out. My little gal over there. Babelectical.
Roy: Which one is she?
Michael Scott: It's the- it's one of those two. [points to the waitresses]
Roy: You don't know?
Kevin: Dude, you should know.
Michael Scott: Yeah, well. It's been hard, they're wearing the exact same uniform. And I've been drinking. And you know how all waitresses look alike.

Michael Scott: I watch The L Word, ok?
Jan: Good! Good.
Michael Scott: I watch Queer as [beep], okay?
Jan: That's not what it's called.

Michael Scott: There's a wishing fountain at the mall. And I threw a coin in for every woman in the world and made a wish. I wished for Jan to get over me. I wished for Phyllis, a plasma tv. I wished for Pam to gain courage. I wished for Angela, a heart. And for Kelly, a brain.

Jan: You already had a party on May fifth for no reason--
Michael Scott: No reason? It was the 05/05/05 party, it happens once every billion years.
Jan: --and a tsunami relief fundraiser which somehow lost a lot of money.
Michael Scott: No that was a fun raiser, I think I made that very clear in the flyers.

A little blue today. I just got a mark back for a quiz, and I did pretty crappy on it. Ugh. I can't seem to focus on any schoolwork so far this year. Must be the last year thing. Ah well, we still have a lab grade, two more quizzes, and a paper in that class, so it wasn't anything too major. Hopefully I can bring 'er back up! :) Focus, focus.

Matt and I had a fun weekend. We babysat for the people I was supposed to the week before last. It was so fun. The oldest girl was terrified about Matt coming over ("I hate boys, I hate strangers! Tell him not to come!") and was hiding behind my legs when he first got there, but at one point I ended up looking over and she was sitting on his lap stroking his hair. Haha. She made for a few awkward conversations too. "Are you going to marry Natalie?" "I hope Natalie gets pregnant!"

...

So cute though! And I love the baby. I think 1 year olds are just the best. They are so cute, yet they can actually do stuff... this guy was sitting in his highchair so happy about the pizza we gave him and sharing with the [huge] dog. The other little girl is so sweet too. She wanted nothing to do with Matt and spent most of the time curled up in my lap while we watched the new Tinkerbell movie (which actually wasn't half bad!).

After we babysat, Matt and I went to Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I thought I would like it; I liked stuff like Superbad and Knocked Up and figured this was in the same vein, but I found it terribly vulgar. Matt liked it, but I thought it was disgusting. Different strokes, I guess. Maybe along with my eyesight going (Lo and I were at Humptey's and neither of us could see the tv screen) my sense of vulgar humour is going? I dunno. I liked Tinkerbell better. Lol.

Sunday we didn't do much during the day... and watched the Amazing Race with Lo that night though! It was so fun, but no matter how much Matt tries to convince us he won't go into "sleeping position" (he always curls up and falls asleep the same way), he always does. Lo and I had fun though! Or, to speak for myself, I had fun! :)

Another update was Lo and I going to the Flames game on Tuesday! We had so much fun, even though they lost. We ate popcorn, drank [heroin] beer, and laughed at the loud guy next to us shout at the team [I love sitting near the rowdy people]. It was a great time, even though I'm pretty sure we weren't going to make it home before we passed out of sleepiness! Oooh, and Tuesday was the first day it snowed, we saw a fire along the train line, and couldn't get out of the parking lot due to traffic, so abandoned my car. Lots of adventures.

Anyway, that's a pretty lengthy update about the minutia of my last few days. If you made it through, WOW!

<3

Quick (very) update! And things to do!

Officially, (idea stolen from Lauren's blog), I have this work left in Winter 2008 semester:

Stats final paper
Sociology Final Learning Celebration (that's what she calls it, I swear to God)
Brain final
Theory final
Canadian Studies take home exam

Yay! I love how much shorter that list got compared to last time! Stay tuned. Real update to come soon (I hope).

Also, to dress up an otherwise drab entry, check out the Mastercard Kitchen commercial I was talking about in an earlier post. It's finally up and I still think it's cute!