A Quiet Lonely Saturday

Almost forgot to blog today. And now I'm beat so this will be a quick one.

I managed to have a slow paced semi productive day today. Slept in later than I'd planned. Talked to my sister on the phone for a few minutes... Skyped with my boyfriend all the way from Arizona - chatted with his folks a bit too. Made me even more excited to see him! (I will be leaving the airport with him in approximately 24 hours!!!!!) Then I was off to Chinook Centre mall in search of a belated Xmas gift for my brother, which I got. Crossed him off my list. Also got an idea for my dads present but am going to try and source it cheaper before I buy it. I also got the last piece of Doug's birthday present :-) I am pretty excited. I can't wait to go out for his bday dinner/ movie.

While shopping at Chinook I found something that Made. My. Life. See photo below... They have a Lego store!!!! A entire store full of nothing but Lego and Lego accessories! And at the back is an entire floor to super high ceiling of bulk Lego! I was in heaven! Managed to quell the urge to buy some - barely. Very tempting.

The other thing that happened while I was at the mall was that I got the call I've been dreading from my mom. Her best friend died today from Lung Cancer. It is very hard to hear that kind of sadness coming from your mom and not be able to do anything to help. Not even something simple like give her a hug, or make dinner, or tale care of Becky so that mom can go be sad without worrying about her. I feel useless. And I feel like a jerk for not being out there with her. But the winter roads prevent driving and the cost prevents flying. Sigh.

Well tomorrow brings an early start to spring cleaning, more laundry, and getting my as decorations and suitcases out to the garage. And a nap and a trip to the airport!!

The Results of My Boredom

Some days in my life are boring and I will have little to nothing interesting was done to discuss. Today is one of those days. Haha I sound like Law and Order. "... an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."

Work was fairly boring/ slow. Was visited by a couple of reps today. Worked on some designs for sales I hope to close in the next week or two. No new leads. Buddy at work is still childishly mad at me. I don't think I mentioned that the other day and I don't want to get into specifics but he thinks I threw him under the bus. Sometimes what people fail to realize is that even if they were right and I did throw them under the bus, I wouldn't have been able to if they'd been doing their jobs properly. Oh well. He is just a sensitive type and he needs to grow up and take responsibility for his actions and realize that I was helping him.

My boredom is realized at home this week too. With working all 11-8 shifts this week I have pretty much come home and watched tv alone in bed. I haven't really watched much of any tv this year. I was only caught up on Big Bang Theory and Once Upon A Time because they are both awesome. Last night I caught up on Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother... And tonight I've been catching up on Parenthood (more behind on that than the others so it's takin longer). Once Doug gets home I will go back to ignoring tv I'm sure but it's acting as a decent distraction right now.

I have the weekend off and will be alone for the entirety of it. I plan on being productive and get some early spring cleaning done, and some laundry, and some shopping. And a nap on Sunday. That's the plan - no procrastination.

The other part of being alone and weird hours is that when I get home it's too late to want to really cook anything for dinner and too late to eat a big meal anyway. So the below pictures represent this evenings gourmet meal: Uncle Ben's microwave Mushroom Risotto and a cup of Rainbow Sherbet! Yummy and nutritious. Haha or something like that

Staying Warm

You know I've long since thought that once it's past -20 or so out it all kids feels the same. Frackin' cold!!! But I'd also rather the cold than dumps of snow! At least the cold you can bundle up for. I hate having to shovel and scrape my car off when we get lots of snow. Not to mention how it makes the roads that much more treacherous. So not a fan! And I have winter bundling down to a science!!

See picture below for an idea of how silly (and warm!) I look in the following: two pairs of socks, thinsulated winter boots that come up almost to my knees, leggings, pants, a tank top, t-shirt, sweater (with hood up), ear muffs, leather gloves (my first pair in my whole life that I remember actually fitting my tiny elfish hands!), only one scarf today pulled up over my mouth and nose (yesterday it was two, so I guess there must be a slight difference between -35 and -25 after all!), and a heavy down-filled winter jacket that comes down past most of my thighs and a big fur-lined up. The coldest part of me is my knees. Not sure what more I could do in that area but it's not cold enough to worry about really. It may take awhile to bundle up like that, and I'm pretty much only ever walking from a building to my car, but damnit am I warm in even the coldest Canadian temperatures!! I'd happily stay in these temperatures until the end of this winter of it meant no more snow!!! (I may live to regret saying that)

Mother Nature is a Heartless B***h

I must stop waiting for near or past midnight to post these blog updates! I exhausted!

I made some progress today at work on my entry into this months Design Contest. Starting this month there is a Nationwide Contest for the Best Kitchen Designs! I know the odds are very slim of me winning, BUT my odds greatly improve if I actually enter. So I am going to make sure that I do every month! Fingers crossed!

Well you must be wondering what the profanity was about. Not that I know who 'you' are... In fact I'm pretty sure no one even reads this. ANYways, Mother Nature had it in for me today. More freezing temperatures of -35 with windchill for most of the day which is supposed to still continue the rest of the week. But besides that, when I was getting into the shower this evening, I was nearly attacked by a spider! Seriously... A spider?! In January?! Where did this thing come from? And wheres it been hiding? I should NOT have to deal with both spiders and subzero winter temperatures at the SAME TIME!! seriously uncool. And having my boyfriend be 2,500 km away soaking in +20 degree temperatures and not able to save me did NOT help. Sigh. I miss him.

I also miss the luxury of being able to control the heat of my own living space! seriously I think my landlords are trying to cook me alive down here. Seriously tempted to open the door I am so hot. I get that it's cold outside but I can only imagine what it's costing them to heat this place right now. Pant pant pant

Mean Auntie

Ok, enough Jack Frost - we get it! It's winter!! Plans changed tonight due to increasingly frigid temperatures.

We stayed inside and played all day. They let me sleep in until 1030 which I was not expecting. Although apparently Kaydence tried to get me up at 930 but was too quiet (especially with me having one ear plug in to drown out the noisy furnace (sleeping in am unfinished open basement)). I got some good playtime in with both kids which was great. I've missed them. For only being about a half hour away from me it's amazing how easy it is to let life distract you from getting together. I feel like I hardly know Rylund, or at least wish that I was as close with him as I am with Kaydence. They killed my cell phone battery today playing with Talking Tom and Peekaboo Barn. I had a bit of a hard auntie moment this evening trying to teach Kaydence a valuable life lesson. Rylund had been playing nicely with my phone and She cam up to him and grabbed it out of his hands. So, understandably, he ran crying to mom. So after a minute I grabbed it from Kaydence. She immediately started whining "heyyyy I was playing with that!" "well. Now I am." oh did she start bawling. "well you did the same thing to your brother - how do you think it made him feel??" boy was she mad at me!

So I had planned on going home around supper time. Or rather, going to the mall and then home. But by the time it rolled around it was -35, dark and I was advised that the roads were awful! It is also expected to hit -49 overnight with windchill factor (this is insane!!! How is calgary NOT part of the windchill warning that is in effect for most of western Canada?!) Anyways, we decided it would be best for me to stay another night and go home in the morning after rush hour when it's not dark anymore. I don't work until 11 so that was doable. One thing I hadnt taken into consideration though until right when I was getting ready for bed: I had taken my bag and pillow to the car earlier that afternoon when I'd gone to plug it in! So I had to bundle up to go get it. When I got it back inside (still shivering) I discovered that my contact solution was frozen solid!! I've never yet fallen asleep before with contacts in (other than very short naps) and I wasnt sure about how I felt about it tonight. But then I decided to put the little bottle into a mug of hot water to thaw it out. Worked like a charm!! Good thing I'm so smart and can solve my own dilemmas sometimes!

What a Pain in the Neck

Well, it was bound to happen eventually... I missed a day on my blog. This post is for yesterday.

Gawd I felt like an idiot. First I was fifteen minutes late for work just because I couldn't get out of bed on time. Then when I got to work and was putting my purse away in my locker... I tweaked something in my neck and pinched a nerve. I looked like I was walking around all day with a stick up my ass. Could NOT move my neck. So stiff. I spent the next six hours painfully navigating my day and then decided to cut my losses and leave early. Only after filling out a workers comp claim though since, technically speaking, I did injure myself at work. Then I got something to eat and spent a few hours laying in bed at home, resting.

Then I decided to keep with my original plan to go visit my friend Melanie. We had planned for me to spend the night so we could stay up chatting with wine - I figured I would still be up for that even with a bad neck. Then I was to spend the next day with her and her two kids (my pseudo niece and nephew). Wine was good, conversation and catching up was even better. Neck was very sore though.

I was quite saddened by the fact that it was Doug's birthday and I wasn't able to celebrate it with him! His first birthday that we've been together for and I could even give him birthday kisses! I missed him extra much! Oh well, we will have lots more birthdays together and will celebrate his when he gets home.

Tip: never lay down in bed in the middle of the afternoon, fully clothed in black, and crawl under a very sheddy down blanket. See photo for the many sheets of lint roller it took to defeather me!

Day Dreaming of Mexico... Brrr!

Bbbbrrrrr...!!!!! Ok I was SO okay with winter's unexplained absence, and equally NOT okay with it's sudden reappearance! I mean, yes, I'm aware that this is Canada and I should be thankful that it's taken until the middle of January for us to actually get winter - blah, blah, blah. Nope. Never okay with winter. I should move to Mexico. Maybe one day. Sigh.

I had a design appointment today for a couple that I've met with once prior... Making some headway on their design and rapport building. I am confident that they will go with my design once they've finalized details. I also scheduled them for a free consult on their upstairs bath reno. January is off to a good start business-wise. Fingers crossed that we are going to continue in this trend.

After work I went to a lounge for beer and apples with a girl from work. This was for our "social committee meeting". Last year it was a committee of one (just her) basically, with a couple other girls pitching in occasionally with manning some events or ticket sales but not much in the planning or organizing dept. Now it is a committee of two! I definitely brought in some fresh ideas I think and got us pretty fired up about some future ideas. We are planned for monthly events through to April at least. And we started the ball rolling on a HUGE event for Canada Day. My idea, too. I am super excited and hopeful that it will work out. I will be very disappointed if it does not. I am a little worried though that I have just given the two of us a ton of work and am hoping we aren't biting off more than we can chew! Details to follow - I don't want to jinx anything!!

Airport Goodbye... For Now.

I hate good-byes :-(  And while saying good-bye to Doug this afternoon was no exception, it wasn't as bad as I'd thought. I think that mostly it is because I know that it will only be for one week. I will survive that. Usually when I say good-bye to someone at the airport I have no idea when I will see them next, or if I do, the timeframe is usually months, if not more. Plus, absence makes the heart grow fonder right? I miss him already, but am SO looking forward to being his people at the airport late next weekend when I pick him up!  And I am excited for him to get to spend the week with his family, and take in some golfing, shopping and sunning. I am however, quite disappointed that I won't get to spend his birthday with him! Oh well, I will just have to treat him to a special day next week when he comes home.  

Work was busy today, as usual for a Saturday with next to no staff. Kept the day going quickly though. Booked an appointment for a follow up with a client from last week, which is a good sign. Hoping that means they're getting closer to sealing the deal. Time to work my magic and turn on the charm. ;-) 

Did some online shopping tonight. Or... rather.. some text-shopping? haha - my sister said that she would order some boots for me for my belated Christmas gift (we are doing our family "Christmas" in February when we can get together). So I was surfing the website picking out my new boots, and then doing some more shopping of my own... And then texting her my choices so that she could add them to her order.  I am so excited for my treasures!!! I just do NOT want to wait until February now!! Ugg Boots and a Guess Purse!! Saweet!! But even more so, I CAN NOT wait to see my sister!! It has been way too long and I am going through near physical withdrawals. I am also very excited for Doug to meet my remaining two siblings and to get to know my family better. I think the weekend will call for some wine and some cards to get everyone having a fun and relaxed time! =D

I also came across my new favourite Home Improvement show online tonight. HGTV's Income Property with Scott McGillivray  I already watched three episodes (in reverse chronological order, newest to oldest...). I had no idea this was the FIFTH season! I have SO much yummy Scott to catch up on!! haaha. Although to reference one of tonight's episodes. He is so much more than a pretty face. Love his style, talent, PASSION and the watching the dramatic transformations! Gets me fired up (professionally speaking of course).  

Last Night =(

Oh how I love day off lazy days. Although I've had too many of those lately. Must try to do more productive/ active things with my days off. Slept in til almost noon today. But I have some weird left ear pain going on so I was needing my rest... Or something like that. I am very curious and annoyed by my strange pain but am also hoping it goes away soon on its own.

Tonight is Doug's last night in town before leaving me for a week. I don't quite know what to do with myself while he is gone. Besides grocery shopping. I have next to no food at home. It's been awhile since I've been there...

I made him dinner tonight. Which is a bit of a euphemism considering all I did was cut up a deli BBQ chicken, overcook a Lipton sidekick, and serve it with a deli salad.... lol. But after dinner we went out to DQ for sundaes! Yummy! Part of the Sweet Deals promo. 2 for $4! The chick serving us was a bit... Slow though. And I had to remind her that they were part of the promo - she almost overcharged us. Then when it came to $4.20 she says "heh - 420 what a sweet number..." now we know why she is ... Slow.

Surprise!

It's always seemed like a funny customer question: "Can I pay cash?" ... Of course you can. However, it is not very often that someone wants to drop $12,500 in cash money!!! Do you have any idea how long it takes to manually count that much cash?? A good 20 minutes or more at least. He had initially asked if he could pay me in my office... I told him it would probably look pretty bad on the cameras for me to shove $12.5K into my pockets!! 303 - $20 bills, plus one US $20 lol, two $10 bills, 39 $100 bills and 50 $50 bills! Whew. Plus 2 Grand in debit. Awwwright...! Haha I can't believe I remembered those numbers! Gotta like it when customers are still smiling and thanking you for taking that kind of hard-earned money away from them! Must be doing something right! My Assistant Manager shook my hand and went and sought out the new Store Manager to brag about the big sale (I got a high five - maybe it's a Frenchman thing??).

I celebrated with a nice Vietnamese bowl for lunch! The portion sizes never cease to amaze me!! Yummmmmy!!

After work I went home for a little bit then decided to head to my boyfriends to surprise him when he got home from the winning Flames game... Sigh. I am still waiting. Where is heeeee?! I guess that's a chance you take when surprising someone eh? Sometimes you're the one that gets the surprise! Oh well I'm watching HGTV - love it!! I have recently rekindled a love for this network.

I want to get in all of the Doug time that I can before Saturday since he will be leaving for a week!! :'-( He is heading to Arizona to visit his folks for a week. Good trip for him bit he's leaving me in the cold. Sad. Can't wait for him to come back and he hasn't even left yet hahaha!

Ice Cream for Breakfast

I think that adults should have ice cream for breakfast more often. Why? Because they can. I did. It was delicious. Chocolate ice cream with mini peanut butter cups, and ribbons of real peanut butter - then to make it a true Breakfast of Champions - I topped it with aerosol whipped cream and Reese's Pieces! Yum-o!!

What a busy work day!! I started at 1pm and worked almost straight through to 10pm with just one short 15 minute lunch break at 645 in which I scarfed down a sub. And I was stuck dealing with remote IT support help desk on the phone for an hour and 8 minutes of near torture! Ah well I got off of work at my normally scheduled time but with 45 minute of time-and-a-half overtime! Not too shabby. The day went by super quickly! And I helped the other designer get to the point of almost sealing the deal on a $14,000 kitchen/ vanity order (to close tomorrow at 915!) and I closed a $5200 vanity/ vanity top order! Not bad for a days work! Hopefully this will be the start of making a good impression on the new boss! Certainly can't hurt!!

A Tail Waggin Welcome

Todays picture is my boyfriends supercute dog, Laney, welcoming me to Doug's place tonight. She'd been home all afternoon by herself and I was the first one home. She was soooo excited and soooo cute. I love how the picture captures her tail just a wagging away. Such an enthusiastic welcome!

I had a decently productive day today at work. Starting with making a decent sales pitch to talk a couple up from Laminate counters (approx $1500 start) to Silestone counters (approx $4000 start). I know my shit. Don't get me started talking about countertops if you're not prepared to be talked up to something better. Haha.
I also had my design appointment customers from yesterday call me tonight to lock in their deposit, which is usually 99% of the hurdle toward closing the sale. This will be a $15,000 sale, which will be much needed for me, considering the new store manager that I am going to need to impress that started today.
My fun sales story of the day though was about a dishwasher. I had just finished covering a coffee break at the customer service desk and the girl I was covering finished a small return for a guy and asked if she could help him with anything else. He said nahh I'm just going to go look at some dishwashers. So I said ohh that's my area, let's go take a look... Long story shortish he wanted an LG stainless steel dishwasher with a low sound level and steam function... With a $700 pricetag in mind. I politely told him he wasnt going to get all of that. I showed him what $700 would buy and then showed him the pricetag of his wishlist $1498 regular (on sale for $1198!). I told him we even have one in stock and you could save yourself $50 and a weeks delivery time. He was sold! Then he went to grab a few things while I got it and the paperwork ready. When I punched it into the order if rang up at $897!! $600 off the regular price! He was thrilled! I got a hug, and a belated Merry Christmas!! I definitely made him very happy and he still spent $200 more than he'd planned. Go me!! :-)

Last Whine

Today's picture is not from today. It's an oldie but a goodie :-) I chose it to symbolize how much I am still mopey about my sister not getting to visit and how crummy the weekend was as far as feeling like dirt and missing her tonnes. Sad!! We are hoping to get together in february now instead. I was planning on going home for Family Day long weekend with Doug anyway so she is probably going to join us up there too :-) yay! That would be awesome! Fingers crossed that I can get the time off!!!!! Ok I will try to stop whining about her not getting to visit now (at least in blog format. No promises in other media (or verbal) formats!).

Work was good today though. Busy all day which is a nice change of pace after a dead December. I had a productive design appointment that is leaning towards probably turning into a $15K sale. Much needed with a new head honcho on board this week! More fingers crossed!

A NOtaBLE Lunch

Today was probably the busiest day of my sad weekend off without my sister. I had lunch plans with Corina, a friend from my old work in PG. We went to a swank restaurant that I'd never been to (or heard of) before. It's apparently owned and cheffed (pretty sure i just invented that word) by a decorated and somewhat famous chef. The place was covered in his credentials and awards. It was called NOtaBLE. And our meals were delish! She had the Rock Crab Cake, and I had the Lamb Bolognese on Cavatappi noodles (like corkscrews). It was sooo good! Although it looked like a simple dish (if I hadn't known better I'd have assumed it was beef) the flavored were unlike anything I'd ever eaten before. Earthy, and rich with a delectable texture. I was a big fan.

The table next to us were drinking these refreshing looking pink drinks that kept catching our eyes. By their second glass Corina had to ask the waitress what they were drinking. It looked like cranberry juice but lighter. Turned out it was actually an iced tea. I forget what all the flavours were but it was very light, subtle and definitely refreshing.

Then we shared two desserts. (I was very glad to have only ordered the taster size pasta instead of the main.) The entire dessert menu sounded amazing. All very unique dishes with interesting and unusual flavors or ingredients. We decided on the Warm Banana Bread Pudding (with cinnamon gelato) and the Chocolate Walnut Brownie with a centre of Chili Chocolate Mousse (with chocolate gelato and chocolate pavlova). I don't know which one I liked better! They were both amazing. I spent more money than I'd wanted to but expected that outcome when she told me where she wanted to go and a bit about the place. Each individual dish didn't seem that pricy but boy things do sure add up fast!! Oh well it was a great experience.

After lunch we noticed that right next to where we'd parked was an Open House. So of course, we had to go in! It was a nice enough place: Duplex. Four bedrooms and a den. 3 bathrooms. Granite and similar upgrades (brazilian cherry hardwood throughout main floor). 9' ceilings even in the finished basement. Detached double garage. Listed for the low low price of $569,000!! Cough, cough.

Anyways after our visit I came home to make some progress toward taking down the Christmas decorations in my living room. Which is today's picture. I realized too late that I should have taken a picture of my lunch or our desserts. Oh well this picture signifies my evening at least. I got my village all boxed up and all the tree ornaments and lights down and boxed. The tree itself didn't quite get dismantled or boxed yet. I finished and folded two loads of laundry. I watched two movies and the first two episodes of Mad Men tonight as well.

Well that's all she wrote tonight. Off o sleep. Sleeping in tomorrow. Working late tomorrow. Boo.

Lazy Days.

Well today was another nice relaxing day off. Doug and I slept in and lazed in bed for a few hours before making yummy scrambled eggs. Then we lazed on the couch some more. Well and got some laundry done. I think it was 3pm before we got moving for real. But those lazy days are nice once in awhile.

Then we went for Korean BBQ at Bow Bul Go Gi House with two other couples (Dougs friends). I'd never had Korean food before. We got a bunch of different dishes and shared them amongst the group. Pretty tasty I must say. Though I wasn't a huge fan of their squid. Was a bit tough. But the chicken and beef were both to die for! And I had fun making little lettuce wraps. Very tasty. I will definitely try Korean again.

After dinner Doug went to the Flames game with his season ticket friend. We won - which is good considering last game's massacre by the Bruins. And I hear that Jerome Iginla got his 500th career goal tonight! On home ice! Congrats Iggy!! I went home after dinner and watched a movie and then curled up in bed. I've had a headache since this afternoon that just won't quit. Boo.

Well throughout most of the last couple of days in my lazing moments and during my movie etc I have been addicted to solitaire. But not just normal boring old solitaire. The variations found in Solitaire City app! Like Casket, Demon, Alternations, or my new favorite - Fan Games! So my picture today is of the fireworks (spelling out Awesome) that show me having just won a game. I need to kick this habit but it's just so much fun.

Very sad, miserable day.

Wahhhhh...!!! Stupid Rocky Mountain Winter Weather!! Keeping me from seeing my sister! I was so sad to be awoken by Nicoles text and then phone call to say the roads were closed again/ still! She could not get through at all and had to turn around. I spent the morning in bed talking to her on the phone (handsfree of course) while she turned around and drove back to Kamloops :-(

Once she got home we both turned on The Price is Right and watched it "together". It was totally not the same as being together for real but it helped a little feeling like we were in spirit. And it was Celebrity Week with Heidi Klum! AAANNDD this one chick won sooo much stuff!! Ten grand to start off and then she hit $1.00 on her Spin for another $1000 and then on her bonus spin she hit one of the green spaces around the $1.00 for another $10,000!! But wait - theres's more! On the showcase showdown the other chick wen over and then this super lucky chick guessed her showcase within $136!!! So she won them both!!! Total winnings? $106,000!!! Third highest total ever! (or maybe just in Drews reign as host I'm not sure.) but still. It was a fun episode to watch to try and distract us from our misery :-(

After that we went our separate ways. I had a shower and took a nap and then watched Let's Make a Deal. Then I went shopping for dinner supplies for fajitas to make for Doug and I for dinner. And. I went to the grocery store without ANY makeup! Big day. Then we had a nice dinner and watched Crazy. Stupid. Love. Pretty good. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gah today was hard to write a post. Almost made me want to give up already or at least regret choosing such a demanding blog theme! Every day? What was I thinking? I'm not nearly that interesting. Or motivated. But I guess I'm going to have to change the latter (or maybe both) if I'm going to keep up this blog.

Goodnight.

Sadface

My sister was supposed to be coming to visit me today... My photo of today is not a happy one, unfortunately. Once on the road Nicole asked me to check the road conditions for her as she had forgotten to do that last night. Since I was in a time crunch on my lunch break I asked Doug to check them for me. Besides snowy roads east of Revelstoke he also sent the following image.... I tried to warn her but she was already out of cell phone range. She did end up getting as far as the road closure and then decided to turn around :'-( the roads were terrible and she didn't know if or when the roads would open. Understandable need for the delay but disappointing all the same. I was very much looking forward to her arrival in Calgary tonight!! Wahhh. She's staying the night in Revelstoke and getting an (ungodly) early start to the drive tomorrow. She is planning on being on the road at 5-6am. Ouch. But she needs to get here safe. And by 1pm for an appointment. I still can't wait to see her but am really wishing that she didn't encounter this delay.

However, my silver lining was getting to spend the evening with my boyfriend :-) and FINALLY seeing Hangover Part 2. Long overdue. My thoughts? Definitely not as pod as the first (but there was never any doubt of that) but it wasn't as bad as I'd heard it might be. Funny. Outrageous (maybe a little overdone in some parts). Not worth seeing 12 times in theaters (or even once) that's for sure! but still enjoyable for an at home evening of laughs with Doug :-)

Off to sleep now anxiously awaiting the start of my three day weekend with my SSS!! (Super Sexy Sister). But hey at least I get to sleep in now! (Sorry Nicole!)

Boring...

Mmmm I missed being an at-home barista. I sometimes forget about how many cool things I can make with my Tassimo besides coffee! Tonight's bedtime specialty drink? A Caramel Steamer! Steamed milk with caramel syrup, whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkle! Now I am curled up under my spring and winter duvets ready for sleeping.

I cannot WAIT for my sister to get here tomorrow! One more sleep and one more work day! Bahhhh! I dont like not living in the same city as her!

Here's hoping that Nicole's arrival makes for more interesting pictures and more interesting blog posts than this one! (had to post something!!)

Its Official...

Today is a day that will go down in history books... Or, at least thousands (if not millions) of Tweets! (Which is apparently how people get their facts these days anyway - but more on that later.) First year in 11 that Canada will not play for the Gold Medal :-( Sadface.

I finished my shift at work today at 8pm and entered the staff room and saw that Canada was down 2-0 and then Brett Connolly (PG boy!) scored for Canada, making it interesting. I couldn't leave!! Then I watched us get decimated by Russia. Half hour past my shift end time and after Canada had pulled Wedgewood and we let in another goal and were behind 5-1 I decided it was time to leave. That's when the Hockey game started!! I so wish I had stayed to watch the third period! Riveting by the sounds of it! To net 3 goals in 5 minutes and bring the gap from 6-1 to 6-5 and then hit the post in the last minute! That's some good hockey! I don't know where the boys were earlier in the game though! Oh well! Next year we will get them on their home ice! Go for Bronze boys! 6-5 is much easier to swallow than 6-1 and their teamwork and dedication even in the face of almost certain failure makes me proud to be Canadian!

So it's Official #1 - Canada will not be playing for Gold this year. Go for Bronze!!

So - who would have thought that *I* would be blogging a hockey recap?! Not me! Though as far as sports go, hockey has always been my favorite, I've never really been much of a "fan". Until moving to Calgary I didn't have an NHL team (Go Flames!!), but I did always like watching Team Canada! But this year marks a new year for me!

So it's Official #2 - I AM a Hockey Fan! (Sorry, mom)

And now to tie in my third It's Official, my earlier foreshadowing and my Photo of the Day...

It's Official #3 - I'm on Twitter! (@samibubbles)

It is mostly in relation to an attempt at working on one of my New Year's Resolutions. To keep up with the News events. So I am "following" many local News stations, papers, transit, etc. This was mostly a concession to Doug's repeated suggestions that I sign up for this purpose (I'd expressly avoided it until now not wanting to be a Tweeter. I think the terms and culture are a bit silly and obsessive.) What a good day to start following Tweets! They were going crazy tonight with game stats and disheartened and then excited 140 character or less rants! I am going to have to learn more about this ... twitter thing. Will I give in and embrace the Twitter or go back to avoiding it like the plague? Who should I follow next? Any suggestions?

Not Off to the Timeliest of Starts...

Ok, so I'm a few minutes past midnight so this post is going to show up as me having missed a day. Damn. Oh well, I am counting this as Monday still. It's my blog and I can do what I want =P I also making a new rule... And I can do that, since it's my blog...

My "photos" won't necessarily be photos... They can also be random images as long as it is in some way representative of something from my day.

This image is to represent my day at work. Who woulda thunk that Jan 2nd would be a prime shopping day for Hardware stores? Huh... How about half of Calgary?! Busiest day in the last month. Easily. I think that it was because most office type workers have to go back to work tomorrow (my boyfriend included) and most had procrastinated shopping for non-Christmas gifts until today. Lucky me.

Being the Monday of a stat week, staff was expectedly quite thin even if we weren't entertaining hundreds of customers.

But how does the photo tie in you ask? I worked in half the store today! My "native" Kitchen and Bath, as well as Appliances, Plumbing, Electrical, Flooring, and Service Desk. I even worled a half hour of overtime. Phew. Long day on my feet.

But that's not really what made me choose this image. That was all pretty normal. I chose this since I did so well at hopping from task to task and jumping in to help without being asked that I had three or four people ask me to become a supervisor! Lots of complemts today, including of course, Super Woman!

The Beginning

Happy New Year!

I have two New Year's Resolutions for 2012.

1. To take an active interest and understanding of the world around me. I need to become more learned on current and world news events.

2. Do not put off tomorrow what you can get done today. Procrastination and avoidance does not help my problems go away, it just makes dealing with them harder when I do finally get around to them.

So to start with the second one first (see I'm not putting it off until tomorrow, because I can do it today!). My dear friend Sara asked me to start up a blog. I procrastinated it for lack of inspiration. I had an idea to do a Year in Photos. I am going to post a photo a day with a story about what the photo was about, or why I took it, etc...

This photo was taken today at the Calgary Airport. I was unfortunately there to say goodbye to my sister, Becky. She was here for a couple of weeks over Christmas to visit me, and her dad's family. I always have great visits with her when she is here, and it's always hard to say goodbye to her! I can't wait to see her again, already...