I Wish...

I love this photo.
It's the definition of cheeky happiness.
Presents, cake and revelling in the attention.
These things still make me smile.


**click on the picture to get the full effect**

Some Saturday in November

Such a great Saturday - kicking off the Christmas season in a princely manner.
First, Blan (Blake & Dan) and I headed up north to cut our own Christmas trees. My family has always had real trees, but I don't think I can remember cutting down our own. Or more likely, we did, but I was whining about it being cold. We had Mariah Carey's holiday CD and hot cocoa in summer tumblers. Sure, we saw people playing golf and wearing shorts while biking, but we had decided it's Christmas and warm weather wasn't going to stop us.

I had no idea I was so picky when it came to Christmas trees. We wandered around for hours until we found the ones just right for us. Seeing the sad and dead ones reminded me of that Friends episode where Phoebe is saddened that some trees don't get to fulfill their Christmas destiny. Dan did his part to help:



Dan found one that he liked and "I'll just put the saw on it so we'll remember which one it is" was followed by 30 minutes of trying to find that tree again and then promptly dismissing it as "too green".

After finally finding 3 perfect trees, or getting tired enough to settle, we set about cutting them down - this was not as easy as I had imagined. I'm pretty weak and I didn't know how to hold a saw. And Blake didn't really know how to hold the camera.



We dragged them to this shaker thing that rids them of any debris and hoisted them in the truck.


Within hours Blake and Dan had their trees lit and fully decorated. Mine had fallen over in the living room, spilling water everywhere. I eventually had to re-cut it. I love the pine scent that fills my house and I'm curious to see if it lasts longer than pre-cut trees. It was a really fun new tradition, but next year we're bringing helium balloons to tie to potential tree candidates. Yes, this is sure to be a great idea.

The second part of my Saturday involved heading to Toronto for a random concert - Prince. My knowledge of Prince consists of 3 songs and sort of thinking of him as Michael Jackson Lite. But it was Saturday night and I'm always up for any sort of plans. First, my Prince-ly partner and I went to Pizzeria Libretto on ever-hip Ossington. I've heard amazing things about this place which is one of the only official pizzerias that adhere to guidelines set forth by the European Union and the Vera Pizza Napoletana Association. Glad to see the EU is focusing on what matters. Sorry, Greece.


The pizza was really quite good, but different than pizza as Canadians know it. The atmosphere was great and they actually go to the trouble of calling you on your cell when the table is ready.

After a hellish drive through downtown during the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, we arrived at the ACC and found our thrones. Naturally, the stage was shaped as the Prince symbol. The guest of honour arrived in a sea of gold confetti wearing gold glitter pants, a silky top and heels. Let me tell you, Prince fans are hardcore. Since he hasn't put out anything recently, everyone there has loved him since the 80s. I've only mildly liked him since the car ride up.


He was a very lively entertainer (read: he humped the stage) and invited fans to come dance with him. The standing ovation was unlike anything I'd ever seen. After his finale, all the lights came on, the stage was swept and instruments dismantled. The entire arena was on their feet cheering and clapping for at least 20 minutes. Seriously. Not a single person left. It was like Occupy ACC. Was he not going to do an encore? Was he making us 'earn' it? Either way, the crowd went crazy when he returned to dance on the piano. Even after that, the crowd kept screaming for a second encore until the announcer came on and told everyone to leave already.


I've realized that unless I'm a massive fan of the artist and know almost all the songs, I'm not really a concert person. The Spice Girls reunion tour in Vegas was epic, but that was a teenage dream realized. I'd love to see Adele or Mariah Carey in the 90s, but beyond that, *shrug*. Still it was a fabulous Saturday night and I love random plans like this that end eating leftover pizza and humming Raspberry Beret into the next day.

Would Like

These are the most amazing tights I have ever seen. Sexy, unique, very cool.
I think I'm going to buy them online - what's the worst that could happen? They'll be 2 sizes too small for my giraffe legs and I'll have to do what I did when I was 6 years old? That is, wear a second pair of underwear over my tights to hold them up. Less sexy and less cool. I think I'll risk it.

Hmm...

Friend: My new thing is saying 'Yes' to everything. Accepting every invitation, saying 'Yes' to every opportunity - you never know what can come of it!

Me: Oh yeah, I've done that before - it's great. Hey, I have something you might like! Do you want to play in a badminton league with me?

Friend: Maybe.

The Global Blog

I usually don't look at the blog stats because, let's face it, it's mostly just my mom and I who read it. Or at least it used to be! These are the pageviews for the last week - how is this possible?? And who knew that I have such a Japanese following? Canadians fall 3rd? Mom! Start reading again please.

United States 362
Japan 121
Canada 80
India 13
Germany 4
Australia 3
United Kingdom 3
Jamaica 3
Russia 3
Argentina 2

Ok, looking at these numbers, I think I'm going to go back and check. Something's up here.

Angry Birds

For me, a sign of maturity is learning to recognize that disliking someone so strongly in no way improves my life. Harbouring a grudge and fervently clinging to hatred only makes me a negative person. Disliking them does not make me happier, richer, more in love, more at peace, funnier, more successful or more awesome. If anything, it detracts from my ability to find and be all these things.

Life happens - you meet people you like and you meet people you don't, relationships grow and they fall apart, friendships struggle and thrive, things happen to make you happy and also to make you cry. This is life. You're not expected to love everyone and everything, but I think we're expected to approach life with an open mind. And we're not expected to forget everything bad that happens, but I think we owe it to ourselves to move past it.

Being angry is not a 'right' that I think I deserve because of the way the cards have been dealt. I sometimes think it makes me feel better, but this peace feels much better. Letting go of the things that I can't change brings a sort of relief I didn't even realize I needed.

Let's save the anger for more important things - you know, like people who don't signal their lane changes, burnt cookies or when the DVD skips.

Friday Photo Dump

As I meander through my life, I often take pictures of things I see with the hopes of turning these random shots into blog posts. Often, I can't make it happen. So, then I end up with a bunch of photos that I like and that made me smile or something at the time, but don't translate into accompanying text.

To clean up my desktop, I've decided to plop them all here. Can you tell it's a Friday and I'm feeling sort of lazy?
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I took this photo after I got back from my summer picnic in the park - and was rooting around in my bag. I gave a little shriek and automatically starting coming up with a short list of possible culprits. Ryan and Paul top that list.


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This past summer was absolutely wonderful - lots of socializing, being outside and relaxing. I wanted to capture the moments I was enjoying so wholeheartedly.


This one comes back to me so vividly - it was a July night that could only be described as 'sultry' and I was driving to meet a friend-ish person for drinks. I remember the freedom and excitement I felt as I drove over the Skyway Bridge, my arm dangling out the window.

Pink lemonade on a patio with a crossword - near perfection.



The late afternoon Manhattan in the most most idyllic of country houses.
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This was in the airport on my way back from Melebration. As I sat down with my snack I realized how ridiculous the Vitamin Water looked next to the sprinkle donut. Take a guess which one I actually finished.

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Summer dinner party that some how turned into shots and Dance Mix '95. Can't fight the beat.

That Would Be Bad...

Scene - Friday night, sitting at a Starbucks, reading the Globe and Mail and eating a Nanaimo bar - taking some "Me" time, texting with my friend.

Friend: How's your night going? What are you up to?

Me: Just sitting at Starbucks next to a really cute guy. Whoa, he just got a text and LITERALLY bolted out of the place. Weird.

Friend: Were you on a date with him?

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Good to see the faith my friend has in my dating skills.

Ah, e-cards...

Dreary November afternoon - this is what's making me laugh.

There are several gentlemen callers who fall into this category in my phone.


This was my commute anthem 2008 - 2010.


No, I do NOT have a key party story, just think it's funny. Look how miffed he looks.


We all have Facebook friends like this. I might even be one. I'm okay with that.


This cracks me up. And, yes I AM thinking it about you.

"Rats In Cuter Outfits"

It is a wilderness safari in my neighbourhood these days.

The squirrel situation is out of control - they rule the roost and I'm pretty sure there are gangs forming along racial lines. Yesterday I looked out my window to see that a punk squirrel had gotten ahold of an empty pudding cup from my recycling bin.

He just stared at me while he finsihed off the vanilla treat. The annoying part was that I left any pudding for him to eat. I really need to start polishing off my pudding cups more carefully.


His friend also found one and took food remnant stealing to new heights - the roof of my garage. Ok, fine, yes, I have eaten 2 pudding cups this week. Probably just 2. Leave it alone.


When the cheeky bastard was finished he had the audacity to drop the pudding cup in the middle of the lawn! Don't these animals know we're trying to save the environment for them. Well, and for Al Gore.

Speaking of neighbourhood animals, I saw this on Hallowe'en:


I think the white albino cat is 10 times more spooky than a black cat. It's been skulking around for a few days and always gives me the shivers. Plus, I'm pretty certain I heard it whisper "My preeeeciouuuusss..."