We love you Rocket

We said goodbye to our lab, Rocket today. 14 wonderful years of having him in the family (even though i've only been a part of the last 4) We really appreciate all of the support that we have received from those around us. He travelled across the country, spent his summertime weekends in the lake and loved his tennis balls. The house already feels empty, but he gets to spend the rest of his time in heaven with his mom Fancy and Grandma Latour who passed right before our wedding.

Jonathan with Rocket on our Wedding Day

My aunt sent us a great poem, I figured I would post it for you all...


Rainbow Bridge 

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. 

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. 
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together
Author unknown...

Bacon Chocolate

Today is going to be point form (as I do tend to ramble more when tired!)

1. Officially ready for Christmas. All gifts are here, wrapped and under the tree. They are even mostly sorted between where we are going to open them.

2. Sushi Pie. Mikado restaurant shapes the rice into a patty, grills it so the bottom is crunchy, puts spicy mayo on top and then a layer of tuna. It is amazing! I usually vote to go there every time we are in that end of the city. I got my fix today! 

3. Monopoly is not my friend. I'm not sure why I pull it out of the cupboard when there are so many other games in there that I don't suck at! We are even a part of the Edmonton Board Game League, but still, I lose every time. I suppose this time it was for a good cause, Shannon had the photos posted to Twitter and Facebook before I even noticed her doing them! She is used to losing at it all the time, so it made her day to beat me!

4. Geography also not my strong suit! The edition of Monopoly that I have is the world tour one, and we spent a few minutes googling the names of the cities so we knew where they were in the world. Interesting and sad all at the same time.....but really, who out there knew that Gdynia is in Poland?

5. Baby time! Not for me, but one of the bloggers that I read every day just posted the good news! Head over to B is for to see all the happy details!

6. Bacon chocolate.....really does exist! We picked up a few bars today (one for Jon's stocking and one for us both to try ahead of time!) It is surprisingly good, even in my books. I am not a huge bacon fan. Every few months is enough for me. Jon could eat it every day....for every meal and be happy! We picked up our bars at Kerstin's Chocolates, and were treated to tea and hot chocolate while we shopped. They make a bunch of chocolate on site, but also order in some special brands that aren't available anywhere else. The Bacon Chocolate is made by a brand called Zotter. The description for the chocolate one is: Bacon cracklings roasted in a crispy fashion and then caramelised develop nutty flavours. Hazelnut nougat competes for this nutty taste. Refined with cinnamon and coated in noble bitter chocolate. Yum! They also make one called Cheese-Walnut-Grapes that caught my eye. It's description is: Austrian mountain cheese, walnuts, grapes and a touch of balsamic apple vinegar, altogether dipped in fine bitter chocolate. We bought some homemade Nutella for my stocking. I am intrigued. I am allergic to some food dyes and normal Nutella is icky to me, it just tastes like the offending dye. These girls make it from scratch with real hazelnuts (one of my favourite things ever) and fresh cocoa beans. I will let you know the verdict!

What do you think, should I try the Cheese one?

Uneventful yet busy days

I'm sorry about the lack of blog yesterday. I sat here in front of the computer for about 20 minutes and just couldn't think of the words. I had a busy day and apparently my brain was done for the night.
Yesterday was spent at work and nothing eventful happened. The warehouse and I managed to stay in our own corners, so no more battles. We were just busy enough to stay occupied but dead enough to take our normal breaks and for my Mom (the boss) to leave early. As soon as I told the warehouse guy to shut down the lights I had 2 couples come through the door and so we got out of there later than normal. Thankfully they both bought things, so my extra 15 minutes there was worth it.
Jon picked me up from work and we went to Accent European Lounge for the interVivos Holiday Mixer. It was a great event with two speakers running a debate regarding Municipal taxes. Surprisingly, the person advocating higher taxes, Scott McKeen, won the debate. He is the former Edmonton Journal's civic affairs columnist and was a candidate for ward 7 in the last election. Here is his website if you want to read about his ideals and policies. His challenger, Scott Hennig is the Alberta Director and National Communications Manager for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He had good points but he was unable to counter McKeen's harder questions. It made for a really interesting topic and people had some great questions after. We ducked out early because we are too polite to make the hors d'oeuvres our dinner. We chatted with a few people, and then ran to Chili's for dinner. Once again, I was excited to discover that they have a special gluten free menu. I was diagnosed celiac 3 years ago, and at that time most waitstaff looked at you like you were crazy when you asked if the sauce was gluten free. Now they cheerfully grab me a special menu and laugh about how excited I get. Once our tummies were full we headed home for the night. I framed some of our wedding photos that we finally got printed, then bedtime!
Today was supposed to be errand day so tomorrow could be relax day. It turned into another work day when our full time guy called in sick. He called my Mom on her cell phone when she was at the store and her purse was put away. My phone = always in my pocket or on the desk next to me. My Mom's phone = the last number that any of us call to get in touch with her. I got the phone call at 9:50 that he didn't show and got there at 11 to cover the day. We were fairly busy all day, lots of Grandparents coming in to grab little things for Christmas stockings. We also spent a ton of time figuring out our Boxing Week specials and getting the tags made and hung. We are closed on Wednesdays, open 8 hours on Thursday and then have a short day on Friday and then we are closed until Monday (which has short hours for my cousin's wedding) Getting the tags up today saved me a ton of headache on Friday!
Jon did a bunch of my running around for me, so after work we were able to head to the mall, completely finish the shopping and head home. I have a ton of wrapping to do, it will happen tomorrow as I think my brain is tapped for tonight.
See, busy, but pretty boring. What had your week been like?

Sunday & The Local

I love Sunday mornings because I get an email with the days sermon from my church in it, and since I didn't get one today I went onto their website. There have been a few Sundays this month that I have missed, and one that didn't get sent to me. I just read through it and know why I got it today. Yesterday or last week I wouldn't have been ready for it. Click here to check it out. I love his message in it.

It was the 4th Sunday in Advent, so instead of a regular sermon our Minister did the advent readings and we had lots of extra singing and even a play performed by the Sunday school kids. The play really featured all the kid's unique personalities and ended up with them singing Go Tell It On The Mountain as my friend played harpsichord. She had it at her house for American Thanksgiving and we were all joking about her need to learn random things. She did an awesome job playing it, the practice and ignoring of mocking really paid off!
After church I had tea and talks and sorted out some of the emotional mess that has taken over my life. It's not all gone, but footsteps were taken in the right direction and we agreed on each taking a few little steps to help the others heal. We even have books to read to help understand ourselves better so we can communicate better with others. I am pretty excited for the changes and the stronger relationships.

7 Flavoured Beef

Jon came and got me and we headed out for a bite to eat (tea only sustains me for so long). I loved OPM and was very, very sad to learn that they were closing down. There were a few things on the menu that I could eat every day and never get sick of. Recently I found out via Twitter that they kept my favourite dish! So, we checked out The Local. New interior, still pretty cool. Not as private as OPM was (it was almost mazelike) but still conversation friendly. I am pleased to report that the 7 Flavoured Beef is just as amazing as it always has been!

New Book!

When all was said and done and I said I wanted to have a bath, Jonathan let me open up one Christmas present early.....it was the book I have been nagging him for! Book 4 in a series of sappy, predictable, mushy fluff novels. Heaven! Coincidentally, it was the present that I took a photo of because the label was so cute. Deep down inside I must have known it was a good box! Thanks honey!

Kelly vs Warehouse

Here are the stats for today's battle.....

Client comes to pick up bunk bed without calling first. Our warehouse guys are already gone so I get to dig through the disaster and find the 5 boxes. Found 4 with relatively no problem. A bit of heavy lifting to get the boxes over other boxes, but nothing I can't handle. It took me an hour to find the 5th box. Thankfully, the client had to pick some stuff up from another store, so he did that and then came back. He eventually got all the boxes, and even helped me get the last one into the vehicle. Point for me!

Kelly 1, Warehouse 0

The aisle that had most of the bunk bed boxes was blocked off on the end by two large armoires. There was nowhere to move them, so everything had to be lifted over them. They are the same height as me. I got the boxes as close as I could, and then climbed onto the armoire to get the boxes up and over. Had a few successful alley-oops jumping up. Had a few fails too. Jumped just a bit too short and my forearms couldn't hold my body up. Hit the bottom of my rib cage on the edge of the first armoire on the way down. Couldn't breathe for a few minutes and then tried again. Result? Red, angry tummy and really, really good potential for bruising. The best part? I did it 20 minutes later in front of my coworker after summoning his help with the final stupid box. Point warehouse.

Kelly 1, Warehouse 1

While finding the drawers that go under the bunk I bashed my arm on a box. Now missing some skin and it's right below my elbow, so resting my arm on a desk (which is useful to type or write up invoices) hurts like hell. Point for warehouse.

Kelly 1, Warehouse 2

Someone saw the ad we have running for solid birch toy boxes (small note....birch weighs a ton) They love them and buy one. I get to go back into the mess and find it. Easier said then done. 30 minutes later I come across the box, behind a stack of dressers, two cribs and another toy box. I heave it out, pass it over the cribs to my co-worker and venture back out onto the sales floor. I also learn where the other 7 toy boxes that are a different colours are hiding in the warehouse. Point for me!

Kelly 2, Warehouse 2 

While hunting for the toy box I had to climb on top of big dressers to get at the smaller boxes. This is a good theory until you put all your weight onto a box that is stacked high but empty because the warehouse guys took the dresser out of the side instead of the top. Scary 10 foot tumble for me towards cement floors. The bright side? My shin caught a crib rail about 4 feet down and I was able to get my legs back below me before hitting the ground. The dull side? My shin is now sporting a really, really angry section and it kinda hurts to walk, especially in heels. Point for warehouse.

Kelly 2, Warehouse 3

We sold a toddler bed to someone. Fortunately for me he picked the colour that is on the top of the stack. Unfortunately for me it was about 30 feet off the ground. I climbed up on other boxes and made my way to the pile, slowly made my way back down with it and brought it out to him. This time I wasn't hurt, but my pretty new boots obtained a nasty scratch in the leather. Partial points for both of us. 

Kelly 2.5, Warehouse 3.5

I raided the wood touch up paint and found a pen that is almost the exact colour as my leather boots. I got laughed at, but you can barely tell there was a gouge there. Half point for me!

Kelly 3, Warehouse 3.5

A client came in to pick up their nightstand (also a heavy bugger) and decided to buy a glider and ottoman at the same time. Fortunately my coworker helped me with this one. We found the nightstand (surprisingly easy as it was about the same size as the toy boxes so I had already read the label earlier) and dug out the glider. It attacked him instead of me, and made his glasses go flying. I managed to catch them, and other than a red mark, he survived. The ottoman was a bit more of a challenge, sitting atop a wall of bed rails. They are my least favourite thing to climb on as they are tall, skinny and only have about 8" of surface on the ground. Imagine a pallet of lumber in Rona, cut it loose, stand the boards on their ends and put a few inches between each of them. Now, climb up on them in high heels and walk about 4 feet, grab a box that is 24x24 with metal in it and walk back. I was able to pass the box off to receiving hands, but still not pleasant. Got to head back to the sales floor while coworker loaded up the client's truck. Point me!

Kelly 4, Warehouse 3.5

My gel nails have been taken off and will not be replaced until the thumb nail grows all the way back (about half of it ripped off last week) The remaining nails are thin and weak after having the gel there to replace and support them for so long. One of the boards puts a splinter through the top tip of my nail on my middle finger. Ouch. A pair of tweezers and some rubbing alcohol later it is bleeding, but splinter is gone. Point warehouse.

Kelly 4, Warehouse 4.5

As coworker was closing the bay door it hit him in the head. Dumb move, but the warehouse is so full that he couldn't take another step back and thought he had enough clearance. Add a headache to his red mark. Half point warehouse (the attack wasn't on me).

End score: Kelly 4, Warehouse 5

Wow. The warehouse is now dark for the night, smugly thinking about the pain it unleashed on me today. My muscles are angry at me, even my trainer doesn't beat me up this bad in our sessions. I apparently need to lose more weight so I can haul myself up and down the boxes with greater ease.....or maybe we just need to have less stock so the boys can keep it organized and clean.
Went from there straight to a mass birthday party....Happy Birthday to Anthony (the best man at our wedding) His little bro, Miguel (3 years younger, exact same bday), His wife Alycia (whose bday is the 19th of Dec) and his Mom Sandra (whose bday is Christmas day) Always a fun time with that family, and a ton of little ones running around playing with balloons.
Time for a hot bath, some Advil and then bed with a heat pad. Goodnight all.

Me time?

Today came out of the middle of nowhere. This week has been mostly good, lots of laughs and I finally took some me time. I am really bad at taking me time and just relaxing. There is too much to do to relax.  I am usually at work for 8 hours and then head to work with Jon for 4 hours so we can tackle projects together, then home to blog and then sleep. I usually consider me time to be time at home to clean, cook, get ready for work, and if i'm out and about, me time is running errands or meeting my trainer at the gym. I understand that Wednesday's movie snow day just can't happen every week (I mean the movies, not the snow. I would be moving tomorrow if we had that much snow each week!) But that was the first day that i've had to relax since I was sick in October. And, we did errands all morning, the relaxing only happened in the afternoon. 

The wonderful people that train us for Jon's job continually yell at me for not winding down. If I keep going at the speed i'm going they think I will burn out. I am starting to think that they are right. Lately I am so tired that my fuse is about 1cm long. I know that the way to fix it is to rest more and take better care of me. How do I do that? I am the one who gets stuff done around here. I am the one that notices and gets annoyed when the house isn't clean, when my dress pants are all dirty and when the kitty's claws are too long, so how can I expect anyone else to deal with the day to day tasks? Is this just because i'm a newlywed and I haven't learned to delegate tasks yet? Or is it that I am so fussy about the details that nobody around me has that same awareness level. If I notice something it takes others about a week to figure it out. Do I have to buy a ton of these cards from this lovely Etsy shop and leave them in really obvious places with arrows pointing at what has so be done?

via 

To all of you out there, when do you fit your me time in? (or do you not get any either, and if this is the case, how do you cope without it?) Do you have any tricks on raising the awareness levels of the people around me so things will sometimes just get done?

Oh yeah, right, here is my day...

I had a Christmas and clothes shopping morning, but a useless one. Have you ever gone shopping with a specific list and had problems finding everything? New dress pants, no problem, hey, they even have a sale this week, try on 10 pairs, none work. If they fit in the tummy they are too tight on the leg, fit the leg and the tummy is massive, the cute buttons dig in, the wide pockets stick out, you haven't even tried on a shirt yet and your hair looks like a tornado hit it. After the first couple of stores I decided my caffeine level wasn't where it needed to be. Ok, that can be fixed, quick run to the coffee shop, refill on the travel mug I carry around in my purse (yup, i'm one of those people. I have extra bags in there too...) Get the coffee and try again. Back to the same store, pick up a few pairs in different sizes, try them on. None of this grabbing 10 because then you can choose while you are in the room with bad lighting, grab 3 and let the girls who work there figure out the sizes. This turned out to be a better plan for me. I did manage to find a few pairs, and despite having to hem them, they fit quite well. Next stop, Christmas shopping. This didn't go as well, but I still have next week to finish off the list. That was frustrating, but not insurmountable. Next stop, work. Currently the most stressful part of my life as we are hiring new people and the training falls on my shoulders. Usually I am the accountant, payroll clerk, interior designer, receiver, stocker, displayer and customer helper. Adding training into that mix means I can't do 95% of the things I am supposed to get done, which means I get in trouble for not completing my to-do list. It's a vicious circle. The only way to win is to get people trained really, really quickly so I can get back to my other duties. That sounds like an easy thing to do, but when your store is a specific niche market there is a lot of product training. But yeah, finished work, came home. Had tacos (Highlight of my day right here...) and then realized how much I have to get done in the near future. The taco high died down pretty quickly. Movie day next week? Nope, too much to do. Time to get my nails done before my cousin's wedding? Nope, probably not. Walk to the store in the freezing cold snow and darkness to get a few more stocking stuffers? Yup, that's the only way they will get filled. 

But hey, the day is over now. Time to crawl into bed and get some sleep. Tomorrow we have a big birthday party to go to after work! 

Amazing.....

Today rocked! Really, really rocked!
I got to sleep in and both kitties and one puppy were sleeping on me, keeping me warm.
Jonathan got up and made me eggs and toast for breakfast (without me asking...)
We stopped off at Transcend and I had a really, really good Mocha.
The new woman that we hired at work is awesome, positive, smart and fun to train!
We picked up a copy of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas on the way home from work.
We also picked up some candy while we were at the movie store. Without even thinking I picked up runts and Jon grabbed nerds. When we were at the till he glanced at me and said "Well, it makes sense, your a runt and I am a nerd." The sad thing is that it was a very, true statement. The sadder thing is that I am just as much of a nerd as he is! I made him pose for a photo with his box, and he took one of me with mine....notice how short I am compared to him next to the wreath on the door behind us. Also, now that I look again, at the beautiful cleaning cloth that is drying there....and killer stealth ninja behind Jon. Yep, definitely nerds. Oh well.

We ended up doing a Dr.Seuss double header: The Grinch and Horton Hears A Who. Both amazing! I love cartoons and really, really love Seuss! Jon thinks I'm a nut bar (I sing along with the Grinch song) but he loves me anyway....

Speaking of the Grinch song, check out this version of it: Love!!! Straight No Chaser was formed a long time ago while they were all students at Indiana University. They graduated and decided that they loved it so much that they weren't going to stop! These guys have a ton of talent and a ton of fun! I strongly, strongly recommend all of their Christmas tunes (and all of their other music too....) 

I had an awesome dinner of homemade gluten free waffles (once again, Jon's cooking...) 

I got caught up on today's Twitter and learned that the Alberta liquor commission changed it's story from banning the sale of any beer over 11.9% alcohol to raising the prices of all specialty beers that are over 11.9% to reduce teen drinking. I am not sure why this effects me so much. I am allergic to beer unless it's from special gluten free breweries, and there are only 3 stores that I have found in Edmonton that sells beers I can drink. None of the beer that I can have is over 11.9%, so thankfully I won't get a price hike. I think it irks me because the people who are buying these specialty brews are supporting smaller (and local..) breweries, and it's going to hurt their bank account. In my experience, teen drinkers are going to buy the cheap stuff so they can have 12 and get sloshed. They are not the people who buy 1 or 2 specialty bottles to enjoy the taste. I blame Andrew at Transcend Coffeehouse as he is the one who told me about it originally. For more info, click here! 

I also had time to check in on the blogs I follow. There was a great link on K.Law's blog to an online radio segment. It is awesome on so many levels (and was fantastic background music while I read the rest of the blogs I follow. It is a crazy mix of Christmas and normal music that keeps you guessing an singing along at the same time. Please go check it out! You can grab the link through her blog or right here!

And, in case this description of the day doesn't already live up to the title, I took a photo of one of my Christmas gift tags....awesome!

Snow Day

I currently live in Edmonton, AB which is way colder than I would like. There was a snow warning issued early Tuesday  and continued for most of today. We are not a city of lightweights when it comes to nasty weather, so schools were still open and malls were still busy. Shannon and I decided that since we both had the day off, we were going to spend it on the couch watching movies. After some running around in the awful snow we made it back to her parents house where she is dog sitting with the day's provisions and movie selections. The Movie Studio was all out of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (which is my favourite Christmas movie and what I was really looking forward to...) So we rented and watched the following:

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

What a strange movie! They did a good job considering that Heath Ledger died in the middle of the filming, and his character has a big part, but we were confused for most of the movie. It doesn't help that when we have a movie day we also do other things while watching (Shannon was cross stitching, I was backing up my photos onto discs) If you are going to watch this one make sure you can pay full attention to it! My rating: 2 out of 10

The Young Victoria

Overall a pretty cool movie, true to history and I learned a bit about the royal family. I usually love anything that involves period gowns and speech patterns, and this didn't disappoint. It had a chunk of slow scenes that allowed for Twitter time too! My rating: 5 of 10

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

This was way, way better than I was expecting it to be. It was also one that you really had to watch to figure out what was happening, but no where near as confusing as the Dr. Some cool special effects (it always amazes me what they do with sand) and Jake Gyllenhaal shirtless on occasion. We picked it up on recommendation from Karl, and, although not perfect, it was still the best of the bunch. My rating: 7 of 10

So, overall a really good day. Lots of junk food,  way more than should have been consumed after skipping the gym, but hey, one day in awhile isn't bad! And we made a really healthy dinner! Roast with potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips! Yummy! Maybe a bit overdone (we forgot to set a timer), but still decent! But yeah, back at home and ready to sleep due to all the sugar! I did spot a few new packages under our Christmas tree, and they have my name on them....yay!

Today's adventures

This video almost made me pee my pants I was laughing so hard! Someone posted it on my facebook awhile back and I was trying to describe it to Shannon at her cookie exchange. Now that she's following my blog, what better way to get it to her than this? On The Rocks is an a cappella group from the University of Oregon. Can you imagine walking around campus and seeing these guys walking down the street? I love it!

Most of today was spent getting errands done, but there were a few highlights. 

1. I was exploring blogs today and found a book club using the same template as I was. It was free and cute, so I understand, but felt the need to change to something a bit more original. I love this one so far, it reminds me a bit of sparkly Christmas lights on a dark night! I'm sure I will eventually find another person with the same one again, and I will probably change it again. In all fairness most people who know me know that I would re-paint or re-arrange my house weekly if Jon would let me, so changing the blog every few weeks doesn't come as a big shocker.
2. My Christmas cards are totally done and the ones that had to go in the mail have already been dropped into the box! I took the lazy route this year and bought cards instead of hand making them like usual, but since I didn't send any at all last year I don't think people will mind. 

3. My laptop is alive again! Jonathan and I both spend a lot of time on our computers and this last week has been interesting sharing one. We usually have 4 to choose from, his desktop, his laptop, my desktop and my laptop. Well, his desktop was broken (he's at a friend's place right now upgrading it), we lent his laptop to a friend because Jon barely uses it, and then my laptops ram came loose and it started making an ominous beeping noise when you tried to turn it on. All of our photos are on my laptop because his desktop has been acting up for awhile, and I was in major panic mode thinking that the last 10 years of digital photos were gone (including wedding photos) All is well, I have all my pictures back, and will pick up some discs asap to back the photos up!
4. It is my beautiful friend Holly's birthday today, so we paid her house a quick visit and dropped off some goodies. I hate working on my birthday, it just seems like a day that you should be allowed to do anything with- really, it's your day! So, we hung a little gift and card on her front door so when she got home there would be a little surprise for her. 

5. We went to visit my favorite florist today and picked up some pine branches. One of my absolute favourite scents in the world is fresh pine, not the icky fake pine air freshener scent, the actual crushing the needles between your fingers version. The real version is really hard to duplicate, I have found a few convincing candles, but my cat burns her nose when i'm not looking, so I can't light them all the time! There are now pine branches all over our place, and for once, my cats aren't trying to eat my purchases! If you are in Edmonton or know anyone here who should be treated to flowers, please check out Off Whyte Floral. Kristi is so amazingly talented (she also did our wedding) Here is a link to the store's Facebook page so you can see some of the goodies she has in store!

Almost ready! Just need the dress now!

Our wedding flowers were so perfect, and since I have access to photos again, here is a shot of Kristi and I with my bouquet. She stopped in at my parent's house to pin the corsage and bountineer on my parents and to see me in my dress prior to the church. When she does your wedding she is there all day, including 2 locations to do all the pinning, delivering to the church, quickly gluing roses back onto the front of the bouquets when you have a spazzy bride (like me), fluffing your dress before the doors open up to walk down the aisle and bringing all the flowers to the reception afterwards. She (along with a ton of other people) made the day run better than we could of imagined.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the notes on yesterday's post. Your insights were all appreciated and I think I can find a middle ground. This blog will remain true to my life, days and emotions. Wether they are good or bad, they will be posted. I will refrain from specifics when posting the negatives. If you read it and believe that it is in reference to you then call me and we can meet for coffee and talk it out. This blog will help me learn to communicate and get the emotions out instead of bottling everything up. I am used to not saying anything so I don't hurt anyone or get in a fight, but I am learning that you have to say the things that hurt sometimes. If you don't, then the people never realize what you actually feel and the problem just grows and grows.

via

To sugar coat or not to sugar coat?

A dilemma (Greek: δί-λημμα "double proposition") is a problem offering at least two possibilities, neither of which is practically acceptable. One in this position has been traditionally described as "being on the horns of a dilemma", neither horn being comfortable, "between Scylla and Charybdis"; or "being between a rock and a hard place", since both objects or metaphorical choices are rough. 

From Wikipedia

  

via

This is where I am right now, and I need some guidance from you readers. Here are both sides of my coin, which would you pick for yourself?

Side A: No Sugar Added

I started this blog as a way to communicate and get my voice back. I used to be really social and outgoing. As I became more and more outgoing I started to meet really outgoing people and spent a lot of time with them. Now, when I am out in public I barely talk because whoever I am with will do it for me. Ask the waitress how her day is going? Nope, not me, the people I am with will do that. I promised myself that this blog would change me back into who I used to be. I promised to dedicate some time every evening before bed to get talking. Even when I was my only reader I still stuck with it. And no matter what, I was going to tell the whole truth of the days events. Good or bad, with little care about what the world thinks of me. None of us are perfect, and I think that by reading some of my dysfunctions you will associate, sympathize or help to guide me along.  I have never and will never say specific names or relationships when talking about negatives, just generalizations. Do I keep writing about everything, no matter who reads it or what they think because it really doesn't matter what people think of me and my life?

Or...

Side B: Sweet as Pie
When I have had a great day people close to me like to read about it. When I have a bad day the same people get mad when I vent online as it's too public of a venue. I keep being told that the blog can be happy posts and non personal things. Anything that could make the people around me look bad is not to be written about or expressed. And I do understand why, most people close to me know where I am all day, and can associate my moods with my company. So, the more negative I am, the better chance I was hanging out with certain people, and will make them look bad. But, to me this seems like lying. Those of you that read my blog read it because I am real and have issues just like everyone else. If it turned to sunshine and lollipops all the time would you still follow? Do I stop writing about the bad stuff just in case those people see it and get hurt?

Baby Time?

Nope, not baby time yet. When I told my MIL she said the lateness, nausea and permanent tiredness was probably just a side effect of the weeks emotional roller coaster. She is probably right, but I am still a bit disappointed! I know we will have little ones soon, I was just hoping that was the reason I was late. Oh well, we will keep trying, there are worse ways to spend the evening!

Until it happens, these are my babies: Kiki in the back and Firefly up front!

What happens when I try to write anything! 

One more little note. Baby time?

Tomorrow may bring some amazing news into the Latour household. Pregnancy test #1 to see if the last few weeks of nausea and tiredness are baby Jacqueline announcing her presence or just a mean flu playing tricks on me.  I am so excited for the morning! Time to go to bed so it comes faster!!!

Thanks!

I don't have a ton to say tonight, but I do want to say thanks to Misssrobin and Shannon for the comments on my last two posts. They were hard to write and emotional, and I really appreciate the support. To my anonymous poster, please log in so I know who the hostility is coming from.

Things I learned today

So today was an interesting day. I learned a few things about myself.

Biggie #1- I really don't care. If you want to be negative, angry, threatening, or mean take it elsewhere or stop reading. This is me, these are my emotions, this is my life. If that means I never see you again that sucks and I will miss  you, but I refuse to be brought down because you are scared of something.
Biggie #2- Threats make me giggle. I must read too many fantasy novels where the antagonist threatens the protagonist and the protagonist always comes out ahead. Threats don't make me squirm or stop in my tracks, they make me stronger and more resolved to change things or move on.
Biggie #3- My husband loves me a ton. I get messages all day at work that are positive reinforcement because he knows I don't want to be there, but can't leave until I have a replacement trained. He drops me off and I get a big kiss before leaving the car, and when he comes back to get me he lets me vent before unleashing the evening's plans on me. He even spends 45 minutes of our date night in Future Shop alone so I can chat with a friend on the phone. Pure love, right there.
Biggie #4- I love the people who are in my life, but don't want to constantly fight with them. Maybe I'm not mature enough, maybe we are too different in our mindsets and opinions, maybe it's just not meant to be. I don't know. I would love for it to work because this is crappy and awful, especially right before the holidays, but if this, right now, is what our relationship is going to be like forever I don't want it.

So that's it, that's all. No more rants, I promise! I will be back here tomorrow and I promise to be a more delightful read! Thanks for bearing with me!

Coffee Love

via

Today has been one of those 'run you through the grinder' kinda days. Today I need "coffee love".

Coffee love is simple: My husband hates coffee, doesn't like the bitterness or the strength of it, and yet, when he wakes up before me he makes a pot so I can have some right away. That is love, right there. Making the house smell like something you cannot stand because you love the person so much you don't care.

I had a kidney taken out when I was little, and for whatever reason I have always thought it was cancer. Then, when I started to learn more about cancer I unconsciously added more symptoms and treatments onto my list of what had happened to me. I don't know why I did it, I really didn't even realize I was doing it, and this last week we have found out the truth. Yesterday was spent chasing down medical records from 20 years ago (which is way harder than it sounds) and today we got the answers. Turns out I had a poly cystic kidney which just means I am prone to kidney, liver and pancreatic cysts and when the doctors went in to look at the kidney it was so covered in cysts that they just had to take the whole thing out. Definitely better than cancer, but now to deal with the emotional ramifications. I am freaking out, Jon is reassuring and glad that it wasn't cancer. So not excited for that one. Ok, vent over.....I think. But yeah, see why some coffee love would be good?

Christmas Trees & New Hair

Our little Tree

We picked up a little Christmas tree last night after dinner and got it all set up! It feels more like Christmas already having it here, and now I can justify the Christmas Music! I could listen to this music year round- most of it is so happy and fun. I do keep it on my iPod year round, so I do sneak in the occasional tune here and there. 

All of our usual Christmas goodies are in storage waiting for us to move in April, so we had to buy all new goodies. We found ornaments in fun jewel tone red, blue, purple and green. I am loving it because my plan with wrapping this year was plain white paper and then using ribbons leftover from our wedding. Conveniently the ribbons we have are all the same colours, and with the white lights it looks really cool! I wasn't thinking about the ribbons when I was shopping, it just kinda happened that way....on well, it looks great (although kinda blurry in my phone's camera!)

New Purple Hair

Other news tidbit, My hair is short and purple now! 
I love it!

I love my minister!

I just clicked into my church's website for their Christmas sermon time, and they have finally posted the past few sermons he has done. 

The one from November 29th was called Unglued, and is one of my all time favorites!

You can read it here:

Harry Currie, Edmonton Alberta

Subtle....me??? I think not....

So Jonathan's computer had given up. It refuses to turn on, it just keeps making a strange beeping noise. We have hooked up another monitor to it to see if that is the problem, but no, it's dead. We were planning on getting him a new one in April when we move, but we'll get on that sooner....
In the meantime, my Windows loving man is using my Apple. I love it! It makes me giggle! Usually I am the one who can't figure out what the computer is doing, it's so nice to be the knowledgeable one for once!
I have also thought of a brilliant plan to get the cute mittens I posted yesterday. The page is open in Safari, but minimized, so, the next time he goes to use my computer (which will happen while I am at work today) the pretty mitts will pop up.....subtle? No, Greatly Upping my chances of getting the gorgeous mitts? Yes!

My other subtlety for today....I want a mini Christmas Tree for our basement. We moved in with Jon's parents last December and I missed having our own little tree to decorate and pile presents under. With all the chaos of finishing the basement while we were living there they didn't put a tree up either. So, yesterday when I was wrapping presents I was hinting constantly that we should get our own little tree for them to sit under. We'll see what happens, but this is an example of what I would love! So cute! And, for sappy memory's sake, our Christmas tree from our first year as a married couple planted in our back yard. Love!!!

It's Monday and i'm in love....

Dark Grey Gloves with Lace Edge by Afra

I am always cold.....always! When we were in Greece for our honeymoon I still wore a jacket as soon as the sun went down and the temperature dipped below 30 degrees Celsius. At home in Edmonton I live for cozy sweaters and pretty layers, but sometimes the warm things get taken off for convenience sake.

And no matter what I invest in pretty gloves I always take them off to use my iPhone. One day I will buy one of the stylus pens that will let me answer the phone with my mitts on, but in the meantime, I want these!!!! Can you imagine? Warm hands while walking and using my phone??? AMAZING! Plus, they are so cute!!!!

I found these on Etsy and almost bought them for myself, but have made a no-shopping-for-me deal with myself for Christmas. I usually drive family nuts because I see things that I like or need and pick them up as I shop for everyone else. It seems like a fair plan, I am supposed to be shopping for others after all, but when I find that perfect item it's hard to walk away and hope they find it in a week or two when they starts their shopping trips.

The Book of Awesome.
  By Neil Pasricha in April 2010
  AEB/Putnam, a division of Penguin Publishing.

I did go against the rule and buy myself this great book. It is based on a blog that the author started about day to day things that make you smile. I was laughing so hard in Chapters that I had to take it home and read the rest of them. So far my favorite awesomes are:
-When you press the button for the elevator and it is already there.

- Strategic Trick or Treating
- Old, dangerous playground equipment.

So funny and such a great author! I am excited to get the rest of the way through it!

I love Etsy!!!

I just found an awesome Christmas Gift on Etsy and am so excited I need to share!!! It is a Christmas tree ornament, and she custom paints them for whatever portrait or occasion you want! I am so excited to get mine and see the look on Jonathan's face when he opens it!
This is the demo pic for the auction I bought- isn't it cute? She also does family photos, baby's first Christmas and any other photo occasion! I'm thinking this is going to be a yearly keepsake for my little family!!!

Magic Marking's Art Shop

Once I get ours I will post a photo of it, until then I dream and watch the mailbox!!!

Milestones

This week has been hectic, so not as much blogging time as I would like. I am also finding it hard to convince myself to write to myself....If someone else is reading, please follow and comment, then it won't seem so lonely!

Milestones for this week:
- Jonathan's birthday is tomorrow, he will be 26.... We had a party for him last night at Gateway Lanes, did some bowling, played some pool, watched the Oilers lose, spent some quality time with friends. Overall, it was an awesome night!
- We decided to start trying for a baby. Yes, we're young. yes we're moving to a different province in April. Yes, we're newlyweds. But we want a family so bad, and my doctor is worried about me having complications due to past surgeries. If we start trying now we will know what we are up against. We both want a big family (Jonathan has all 5 named already....) so if baby #1 (Jaqueline) is too hard on me or at risk herself we will start the adoption process to fill in the house.
- We are debating moving before we move. I know, doesn't that one sound like fun. We are moving from Edmonton to Victoria in April, which will be awesome! But right now we are staying with Jonathan's parents. I love them a ton and they are great people, but having our own space is so tempting! I haven't lived with parent's in a long, long time, so having someone there to monitor (and comment on) how much sleep we're getting, what we are eating, how much we work etc is new and not my favorite.
- Christmas shopping is officially done! One of the perks of our marketing business is the companies we advertise for need customers for Christmas. We just went through their websites, saved a ton of money and supported our clients. Sweet deal all around! It also gives us a week or so to figure out the house thing before I have to wrap gifts!

Jonathan & I last Christmas with my sister's little one....so ready for our own!

Question, November 28, 2010

Today's Question: Who do you want to win the Grey Cup?

 I am Montreal Alouettes all the way!

It may be because my husband's family is from Montreal, so if I wore green today he would be ready to fight me.
It may be because last year's game was so good and Saskatchwean lost it in such a stupid way, they don't deserve to have it this year.
It may be because I just like red and blue better than green......

Question- November 26, 2010

Today's Question: If money was not an issue what would you spend your life doing?

 
 I would spend my life helping other people. There are so many people on this earth that have completely given up hope. I want to give it back to them. I want my kids to see me giving others hope, and then they will follow my example and do the same! I want to show my kids that one person can make a difference!

Question: November 25, 2010

What is the longest line you have ever stood in?

This is tied for me. There was the killer long line at Disneyland for the Back to the Future ride. There has also been some crazy Christmas at Ikea and Old Navy lines. 


You?

Question: November 23, 2010

What is the most interesting course you have ever taken in school? On the other hand, what is the most boring course you have ever taken in school?

The most interesting course I took in school was English 30. That is saying alot for that teacher because, after 8 years of university I can still remember her lesson plans. We studied an amazing book called Night by Elie Wisel. In the book Elie talkes about his experience with his dad as Jewish people in Nazi German concentration camps. What a powerful book to read! The teacher's theory was that we could apply the subjects in the 100 page book to any diploma exam essay question they could throw at us.Overcoming adversity- check, life and death- check, family relations- check, love- check.....
Because it was so short and we worked on it so long most of us could remember quotes and page numbers, which seemed to impress the exam markers. Our class all passed with honors, which is amazing compared to standard marks for that diploma exam. 


Most boring class would have to be History of Architecture. It had such potential, an amazing textbook and class description, but it didn't live up to it. The teacher for this one was a bit crazy, and instead of talking about architecture we talked about his last few vacations, his kids and his projects at his other job. He marked our final projects by laying them all around his living room and letting his kids and wife choose their favorites. The favorites got the top marks and it went down from there. Shannon and I were in this class together, so we got to see the marking unfairness first hand. My project was crap, I bought Architectural Digest, found a house I liked, used scrap booking stuff and threw the board together. Overall I put about 3 hours into the assignment. Shannon decided to do her parent's house so she could learn some of the history in the process. She spent hours measuring and drafting their home, went to the provincial archives to look up details, found photos of the house over the last 100 years, scrap booked it all together on the board and put about 72 hours worth of work in. I got a 95%, she got a 60%......so not fair! 


Maybe it is the teacher that makes or breaks the class, not the class material itself. What do you think?

Question: November 22, 2010

If you could wake up every morning, open your bedroom blinds and look out a huge glass window at the perfect view, what would that view be?

I would sit up and look out over the ocean in Victoria. The bedroom would be on the top floor so I can see everything happening around me, and enjoy my morning coffee watching the sun come up over the water. 

Emotional Times

So, apparently today was my connect with people and melt down day. Usually at team meetings I am the upbeat cheerleader. Today I was the sappy making myself cry person. Crying is a good thing overall, it means I am releasing emotion instead of bottling it up and it means that my vision and dreams are strong enough to make me keep going no matter what! 

And on that note, with more tears in my eyes....I am going to bed! I will see you all again tomorrow with a big smile because I will be one day closer to my dreams!

Question: November 21, 2010

Today's Question: If, for your next birthday, someone offered to make you the ultimate dessert of your choice, what great concoction would you request? Be deliciously specific!

I would request Smores Cupcakes. Anything with chocolate and marshmallows excites me, and since being diagnosed with Celiac Disease I have been missing cupcakes and graham crackers. Summer campfires just haven't been the same these last few years! This really seems like the best of all the things I can't eat....i've got to get my hands on the recipe and alter it...yum!

Cleaning and such

Yesterday was an amazing day. Here is the highlight reel for you:

I had some great girl time with my best friend, went to see the new Harry Potter (go see it, it's amazing, just don't hold onto your pop, you WILL jump a few times in the movie and spill it!)  I am a book lover, so usually movies made from books irk me a bit. This one had a few moments that made me twitch- they could have done exactly what the book had, but approached the conversation backwards....but for the most part, worth the money! It's also being shown in 3D, which blows my mind.
 _____________________________________________________

 After the movie we went to Edmonton's Homes for the Holidays tour. They take 5 character homes in the beautiful Glenora neighborhood and decorate them for Christmas. Local stores and flower shops work with interior designers to dress up the spaces and the families get to relax in a hotel for the weekend while people troop through their newly dressed up homes. Shannon and I spent as much time looking at the layout of the homes as the decorations, the 'curse' of interior designers. One had a particularily odd layout, the staircase to the basement was in the middle of the house, cutting off the main spaces from each other and turning the main floor into a series of strange hallways. Despite the oddity, the house was done beautifully and they worked the corners into the decorating scheme. It was a blast to go see, and is such a fun charity event to support. All the proceeds go to Kids' Help Phone. Click here for the ticket information!
______________________________________________________


We stopped off at the Mongolie Grill South for dinner, and Jonathan met up with us there! Amazing hot and sour soup and make-your-own stir fries were the perfect dinner for us undecided eaters. You just walk along the buffet, put whatever appeals to you in the bowl and then they cook it up!


______________________________________________________


 After dinner Jonathan I headed home for a relaxing evening of cleaning. Yup, I know, it was just as exciting as it sounds....The only highlight was the strange yellow goo in this photo. We ordered it off of Think Geek (one of Jonathan's favorite websites ever!) It cleans the keyboard for you using it's strange gooey texture. You roll it along the top and it seeps between the keys, picking up dust, crumbs and kitty hair as you go! It's name is Cyber Clean Electronics Cleaning Putty and it is amazing.

Question: November 20, 2010

Today's Question: If you could bring to life any fictional character from a book or movie, whom would you choose and why?


This is a tough one! I have read way too many books and wanted to meet the people! I am also one of the people who goes caroling to see in other people's houses, so I think I would rather go to their world than have them face to face in mine. 


I would love to get immersed in the world of Narnia or Harry Potter. Although that would require me to get  over a slight fear of snakes....which both books used liberally as cast members.

If I HAD to pick one person I think it would be Mary Poppins. Yes, you read me right. She was amazing, got everything  done that she needed to and still had time to sing and dance. Awesome! 

Question for November 19, 2010

If you were a multimillionaire, where would you be and what do you believe you would be doing at this very moment?




I love this one, it fits right into my 'dreamer' mindset. I would be on a beach somewhere warm, with pina colada's and a thing of SPF 50. I love to read, and the new Nora Roberts book Happily Ever After just came out. It is just fluffy enough to recline into the sand with (no serious books for me while tanning) 




What about you?

Why i'm here

I used to be really, really good at engaging people in conversation, but since finishing university and starting working I have found that skill going downhill. So, I am starting a blog. And while I think I will be  talking to myself for the first little bit I will at least be talking!

So, for those that are reading, here is who I am:

- A ball of energy that never gives up (just ask my trainer)

- The loudest cheerleader  for any good cause

- The wife of a great man

- The proud 'mom' of two cute kitties

- An entrepreneur focused on marketing and social media

- A dreamer

I am going to be on here, every day, with a new conversation topic. Please come back and answer them, I will come and see what you are doing too! 

Kelly