Project Firebird

Well, since my car has been causing so much grief, at least DBF's pet project is finally getting launched. It has been a long time coming, but it looks as though Project Firebird may finally get off the ground.

DBF has had this 1969 Firebird since he was a teen. He saw it in all it's glory for the first time when he was about 13 years old, and swore he would own it one day. Sure enough, when it came time for him to have his own car, this one was for sale and he was able to live his dream. He drove it for quite a while, rebuilt it with his Dad at one point, drove it some more.

Somewhere along the way it got a little neglected....you know, you grow up and life starts getting in the way. It sat for a long time unattended. When he moved here almost 5 years ago, he was able to have it running enough to get it on the train for the military to move it....but that was the last time it really saw any action.

It decorated the driveway here at the house for the last few years....sadly rusting away, the interior destroyed, growing moss, providing a home for random raccoons and squirrels. But it remained his pride and joy. He wasn't willing to just let it go....it will live again!

Fast forward to this Spring when he met the boys down the street that do auto-body work as a side business. Turns out they'd been eyeing up the car wondering if he was ever going to do anything with it. So they struck a deal for the boys to work on it while he is away in Halifax. Massive parts were ordered, plans were made, dreams are coming true.

So Sunday I come home to finally find that the boys had inflated the tires and moved the old Bird down the street to their shop. How exciting to have a driveway back again! And how exciting to see the Firebird all happily sitting in the sun just waiting for the boys to tackle her!

Stupid Car Woes

Grrrr....well, happy Sunday to me. Meh.

So I pick my car up from downtown today (cuz I'm a good little girl and left it there after drinkin and stuff). Happily driving along...lalala...and the car bings at me...and an angry little red light comes on. Gah! It's the angry red temperature light....which leads me to look at the temperature gauge....which is all the way into the red and trying to go further. Shit.

Luckily I'm only about 4 blocks from a gas station, so I keep going (with crossed fingers that nothing explodes before I get there) and pull in. It's not a service station so no one to ask for help, so I get out my trusty manual (which was actually wedged in the glove box because I've NEVER needed the damn thing before). I look up the indicator light and yup, it's the Engine Coolant. Great. And it only takes special friggin VW fancy-schmancy coolant that you aren't supposed to fuck with. But, thank God, it says that you can use water in an emergency as long as you take it in and get it all flushed and fixed up as soon as possible.

So I pull over to the water hose, pop the hood, and note that the friggin coolant isn't empty. It's not even low. Gah!!! Which means that it's something else that is causing the coolant to overheat. Well great, it could be one of 20 things and I haven't a friggin clue what those could be.

As you all know, I live in the boonies. DBF is away so I can't call him. Friends I would normally call are all out of town. I'm pretty much screwed. So I opt to try to at least get somewhat closer to home so I can call a neighbor for a ride. Which in hindsight was somewhat stupid, because closer to home means farther away from the VW dealer. But all I could think was that I was gonna be stranded and it's Sunday so VW is closed anyway.

So I carry on towards home....but only make it about 2/3 the distance that I wanted to before my scary Check Engine light came on. The light that means PULL OVER NOW IDIOT. Fargh! So at least it was on a decent road that I could get out of the way, park properly and safely leave the car overnight. And thank God for cell phones so I could call neighbor Jen for a ride home.

Still haven't a fricken clue how I'm gonna get this thing in to be serviced, especially since I really have no way of getting in to town tomorrow. (Neighbor leaves for work at 6am, and the service place won't open til after 8 so it seems pointless to go in that early with absolutely no idea what I'm doing.)

At least DBF thinks it's just a heat sensor or maybe the rad fan, so I shouldn't HAVE to take it to VW. The good little Car Center not far from where I left it should be able to help. Whew...cuz the tow bill to VW would be crazy high. Let's hope DBF is right!!! And they can fix it without me having to be right there. (Wisely, I sent the spare keys with neighbor Jen so that won't be an issue.)

VERY INCONVENIENT seeings as I have appointments and stuff all over the place before I head to Halifax on Thursday. Stupid timing. Grrrrrrr. Happy friggin Sunday. Meh.

Looking for a 12 Step Program

I have an issue. I think I need help. My name is Bi0nic and I am a Shoe-a-holic.

Really. It's getting stupid at this point. They aren't even fancy shoes. They are fun, casual, Summer shoes. I can't even just buy one pair at a time anymore. I'm buying two at a time just because they are Buy One Get One Half Price. Like I need two pairs of almost identical shoes.

Somebody stop me! Seriously, I went shopping for a new denim skirt and came home with shoes. AGAIN. No skirt. Just shoes. Thank God I managed to avoid purses this time. I'll need another 12 step program for purses too.

But, dude, aren't they just so friggin cute?!!!!!

One week til I leave for Halifax!

Woooohoooooo!

That is all.

:)

I know a famous guy!!

OK, not "famous", but he's on a reality show!!! I was flipping channels the other night, and since I'm a sucker for anything reality related these days (I know, I'll smack my own self in the head so you don't have to) I stopped on Slice to check out Superstar Hair Challenge. It's similar to the Design Star Challenge and Handyman Challenge on HGTV.

Anyway, a couple of minutes in I thought "Dude, I know that guy!!". And sure enough I do. Little ol' Jimmy LaPoint that used to come into the restaurant I worked at in my late teens. He worked next door as the shampoo guy for the swanky hairdresser.

He used me as a practice hair model a couple of times. I recall a situation involving a coat hanger in my hair. I think he may have actually cut and styled my hair once or twice during his apprenticeship too....but back then I had about a zillion people do my hair cuz that's what you do at 19 years old working in a trendy restaurant where the boss's best friend is the most popular hairdresser in town.

I heard Jimmy had done well for himself...moved to Europe or something. Well, he's back and here he is.....

Jimmy Lapointe

AGE: 32

HOMETOWN: Nanaimo, B.C., but now located in Vancouver

A HAIR DO: Keep long hair above the breast -- you do not want to cover them up.

A HAIR DON'T: Bald men should not have ponytails -- just let it go.

BIO: Jimmy has been hairdressing for 13 years. He has worked in Nanaimo, B.C.; London, England and now in Vancouver, B.C. Jimmy is the Artistic Director of Axis Hair Salon and Assistant Educational Director for Axis/John Casablanca’s Hair Art Design Program in Vancouver.He has been a two-time featured stylist in Salon Magazine and a semi-finalist and finalist for the Contessa's. He is also founder, host and organizer of his own charity event, Vanity for Charity, a hair make-over event for women and children organization on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Video - Starbucks Challenge

Yaaiieee for the corporate coffee whore!!

Booooo to YouTube for the embedding not working!

Yaaaaaieeee to Mikey for sending me this link!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CwYxuV2dVzw

Recipe - No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake

And what's a recipe challenge without a dessert recipe?! I opted for these no-bake cheesecake bars because they didn't involve too many crazy ingredients and they looked like they would freeze well. Not quite what I thought they'd be but they are a tasty treat for after dinner.

Jollygood Squares (from Crazy Plates)

1 pkg lemon Jello (3 oz)
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups graham wafer crumbs
3 tbsp light butter or margarine (melted)
1 tbsp packed brown sugar
8 oz light cream cheese (room temp)
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon zest (I didn't have a fresh lemon and it's fine without this)
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups light Cool Whip (thawed)

In a small bowl, dissolve jelly powder in boiling water. Refrigerate until slightly thickened, but not set. (It says it takes about 45 minutes, but I had to put mine in the freezer because it was taking forever!)

Meanwhile, prep crust. Combine graham crumbs, butter and brown sugar. Stir well to combine. Press mixture evenly into bottom of sprayed 9 x 13 baking pan. Refrigerate while making filling.

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla (Gah! I just realized I didn't add the vanilla....haha...oh well, they taste fine!) on high speed of electric mixer. Beat until smooth. Add thickened jelly and beat on medium until well blended. Fold in Cool Whip...don't overmix.

Pour lemon mixture over crust and spread evenly to edges of pan. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, until set. Cut into squares and serve. Yum!!

(they recommend serving these with fresh berries or a spoonful of berry pie filling)


WW = makes 24 squares @ approx 3 points per square (depending on your butter, Cool Whip, etc)

Recipe - Chicken & Corn Chowder

Since the weather was ass this last week, I figured it was a good time to try out a soup recipe for the Flamingo challenge. It is better than I had hoped it would be!

Chowdy Doody (from ESBM of course!)

4 slices bacon, chopped
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced red pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp thyme
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 can fat free evaporated milk (370 ml)
1 can diced tomatoes, very well drained (540ml)
1 can creamed corn (400 ml)
2 cups chopped roasted chicken breast (easy way out = buy a roasted chicken at the supermarket)
1 tbsp BBQ sauce
1/2 tsp pepper & 1/4 tsp salt

Cook chopped bacon in a large, non-stick soup pot over med-high heat until lightly browned but not crisp. Stire in onions, celery, red pepper and garlice. Cook and stir until veggies begin to soften...about 5 mins.

Add thyme and flour. Mix well and let cook for a minute. Stir in broth and milk. Bring to gentle boil and stir continuously until soup thickens slightly.

Reduce heat to med-low. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot...yum!


WW = makes 6 servings @ approx 5 -6 points per serving.

Bring on the Sun

Oh, Oh, Oh! Is that blue sky I see out there? Can it be? Oh pleeeeeease let this be the return of Summer. I'm sick of the dreary skies and rain we've had for the last week. Don't they know that it's July and rain is just not allowed?

Bring on the sun dammit!!

DBF is in Winnipeg right now visiting his son, and today the temperature there is supposed to get up to 37. Sounds glorious to me because of the shit weather we've had, but he says with the humidity he's melting. Last night it stayed so warm overnight he was having trouble breathing. Can't seem to win! When it's cold we bitch, when it's hot we bitch that it's too hot.

But it's not too hot here, so bring it on!! Come on sun, I know you can do it!!!

Recipe - Watermelon Salad

For my second new recipe I went with another take on a fruit salad.... I bought a massive watermelon and a friend reminded me about this recipe I'd sent her but never tried myself. (originally copied from a GDT post by Amazon13...thanks!)

Watermelon & Feta Salad

4 cups chopped watermelon
1/2 cup crumbled or diced light Feta cheese
Chopped fresh basil (or thyme or oregano or whatever you like!)
Splash red wine vinegar
Healthy glug of olive oil
Pinch of salt & pepper

Mix it all together and enjoy! Best if let to marinate in fridge for a while (especially if you use dried herbs...give them time to soften up).

I served this with cold leftover roast chicken as a light lunch. Yum!

WW = Makes 4 x 1 cup servings @ approximately 2 points per serving (depending on how heavy handed you are with the oil and feta).

Recipe - Waldorf Salad

First recipe for my Flamingo challenge this past week.... I put this together to take to a potluck (which ended up cancelled...so I just ate this for lunches n stuff)....

Modified Waldorf Salad

2 x Granny Smith Apples (chopped)
2 x celery stalks (diced)
2 cups red grapes
1/4 cup finely diced red pepper
1/4 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 heaping tablespoons Fat Free Vanilla Yogurt
2 tablespoons Low Fat Mayonaisse (or Miracle Whip)
Chopped fresh basil (and/or mint)
Salt & pepper to taste

Chop and mix fruit and veggies in large bowl. Add cranberries, mayo, yogurt, basil and a bit of the salt & pepper. Stir well. Cover and let stand in fridge for at least an hour. Add pecans, stir again and adjust salt & pepper if necessary.

Tastes the best on day 2. :)


WW = this makes approximately 4 heaping cup servings. I figure about 3 points per serving (but figure it out in the recipe builder if you want to be exact....).

Impromptu Night Out

Saturday night I was supposed to go to the Luminara Lantern Festival with some friends....but this shit weather we've been having put a serious damper (literally!) on our plans. Who wants to walk around Beacon Hill Park in the rain and dark and look at soggy lanterns?!

So instead, Tiffaney called me up and said they wanted to go for a nice dinner out. Tanya just bought a new dress and wanted to wear it....and since Tanya never wears anything girly we figured we'd better do it!

I put on my favorite pinstriped dress pants that show how thin my lower half is now...the charcoal gray ones with the silver pinstripes (the best part is that they were only $20!!) and matched them with my new black strapless top and my favorite Aldo stilletos. Looked pretty hot if I do say so myself!! :) As we all sauntered down the street I commented that we had a very Sex and the City thing going on (especially if Andy had been a woman!). LOL.

The four of us (poor Andy had to listen to us chicks blather on all night!) headed downtown to Ferris's Upstairs. I'd never been. Much swankier than the casual downstairs restaurant. We had yummy martinis, decent wine, amazing tapas and super tasty dinners. I highly recommend this place!!

We wanted to try out the new Jellyfish Lounge for a nightcap, but it is so popular that we would have been waiting an hour to get in, so we opted to just head back to Tanya & Andy's instead. Another late night in the Bi0nicLife....good thing the weekend is over so I can recouperate now!

I'll post pics of us hot girls when I get them. Tanya doesn't have an internet connection anymore, so it may take some time.....

Weekly Video Clip - Medellin

Thanks to Erik and downity.com again!! For all you Entourage fans, here's the "Medellin" trailer!

Vincent Chase....*drool

http://www.downity.com/miscellaneous/video-full-medellin-trailer-starring-vincent-chase-leaked-online

Summer Slackers

What? Are you people off enjoying your Summer or what? Doesn't everyone sit in front of their computer every day like me? Don't you know that I am relying on your blogs to keep me sane while I work my days away? Yes, I'm talking to you my fellow bloggers....the ones listed over there ---->>>

Don't you all spend your days thinking of things to blog about? Don't you all have laptops and wireless connections at the ready so you can post every day to keep me entertained? You don't? How selfish are you?!!! Geeze!

If you don't update every day what the hell am I supposed to do? Work?

Fine, you'll see. Just you wait til I go to Halifax. And you will all miss me and my blogs and you won't know what to do with yourselves. You just wait!

Bwwaahahahaha!

Flamingo Challenge

Ooooooh.....this week's Lifestyle Challenge is to try new recipes. 7 new recipes for 70 points (not necessarily 1 per day...just 7 by next Tuesday night). WooT! and 30 bonus points for trying different recipes for different courses. I think I might actually pull this one off.

Time to haul out the cookbooks and stack of little notes on napkins and post-its. I know for sure I'm finally going to do the ESBM Corn Chowder....the weather is cool enough for it. But I need to find a couple of veggie dishes, side dishes and at least one dessert. Woohoo!

This should be fun! I'll post the recipes as I go so you can all be a part of the festivities. :)

Internet Connection

A funny thing happened on the way to the World Wide Web....

With blogs, MySpace, Facebook, forums, chatrooms, whatever I have realized that soon everyone on Earth will know each other. One way or another. Probably not in real life, but as online "friends".

I mean, the first thing that I noticed with Facebook was that I have friends that I know through completely different channels that know each other. I hadn't been signed up for even one whole day when a childhood neighbor found me....and three days later I realized that a high school acquaintence had him on her friends list too. Next, one of my closest friends here in Vic showed up on yet another high school buddy's list. Seriously? How is it possible that they even know each other?? Oh right, it's a small world.

Same thing happened on my Pender weekend. I got there and found that friends of friends were people I already knew through other friends. And if I didn't know them, they knew other friends. But I wasn't surprised. Why? Because I'd seen them all as friends on each other's Facebook pages. It's all so bloody complicated.

Then my Mom joins Facebook. And she's friends with my friends. In fact, she's friends with people that I remember but haven't bothered to add as friends. Then she starts reading my blog...which I appreciate....cuz that way I know at least someone is reading my drivell. But what got me thinking about writing this particular blog is the fact that she actually had an online "argument" with someone else posting on someone else's blog that she found through mine.

Too funny.

I haven't even had the opportunity to meet Duv in person....but sure enough, the internet is also a small world and even my Mom has managed to make contact and start a debate regarding something Duv posted about.

Maybe no one else sees what I'm saying....but I figure if my Mom and I are out there discovering stuff, then basically everyone must be encountering the same situations. How many "online-only friends" do you have? How many people do you feel like you really know just because you read their random thoughts each day? Do you think you might actually meet and become "real friends" with these folks? How have you made it this far not realizing that people you know already know each other? How many more of these "small world" relationships exist that you have yet to discover?

I guess I didn't have anything else to think about today, so this really got my brain in motion.

I knew he would do it!

*C*O*N*G*R*A*T*U*L*A*T*I*O*N*S* *H*O*N*E*Y*!!!

Today DBF passed the first major part of his training. Don't ask me to explain the details, but there are simulators with fake helicopters and landing and laughing and torpedos and stuff. He had pass two out of three simulations, and today he passed his second one.

This is a big milestone! Had he failed, they may have sent him home (which sounds great cuz he'd be here) and he would have had to restart again in December for an additional six months (not what we are after at all!).

Now he can relax for a couple of days before he starts his leave period for the next few weeks. 16 days til I get to see him! Yaaieeeeeee!!! Of course, after that he starts the "MEGA" phase....that doesn't sound much fun. :(

Link - Downity.com

As Erik says.... Do it!

http://www.downity.com/

"Where the upper crust meets rock bottom." Celebrity trashing at it's finest.

(Duv, you will LOVE this!)

SkaFest Victoria

Now I know you wouldn't take me for a Ska girl.... and normally I wouldn't think I was. But low and behold I decided to check out the Victoria SkaFest finale concert....and wouldn't ya know it, but I liked it!!

First, I have to mention the Eves of Destruction RollerGirls. I didn't even know we had roller derby in Victoria, let alone a whole troop of these kick-ass women. They were the primer act before the concert started and seriously, I would have been happy to watch them all night. Dude, if I wasn't such a sissy I would totally get so into that!!!

The concert consisted of five bands from around the world (well, a couple of countries anyway). I hadn't a clue who any of them were, but I had at least heard of one of them. The show opened to a fairly light crowd with The One Night Band (featuring some dude known as JFK.... he had a good reggae voice, but looked like an accountant or something). They were a fun band with a focus on saxophones and cover tune remakes. Good music for having those first couple of beers.

They were followed by The Sainte Catherines from Montreal. Not sure how these boys got onto the play bill, but they were really fun. Not Ska by any means though....punk all the way. Loud, gravelly, screachy and funny as hell. Lead singer was not a small dude, but played half the set running around in his boxer briefs with his studded leather belt and green plastic 80s sunglasses. Oh, and they said fuck a lot.

By the time The Real McKenzies took the stage (these are the ones I'd actually heard of), the crowd was in fine form, with full on crowd surfing and moshing. Being from Vancouver, this band has played Victoria a lot and they have a dedicated following. Their hot lead singer (think Henry Rollins in a kilt) storms the stage shirtless (*drool) as does most of the rest of the huge band (not so drool). They are very Scottish, very punk, and very Ska. Amazingly fun and talented band.....and who doesn't love a rock band with a bagpiper?!

The band my friends had convinced me to go see was Mad Caddies. I get the impression that I may have been the only person in the room that didn't know who these guys were. They sold a lot of T-shirts that night and the crowd was bloody ecstatic when the band took the stage. I can only describe them as a cross between California surfer rock, Ska, reggae and even some pop in their newer songs. Great horn section (because that's what it's really all about!) and a versatile lead singer that apparently can appeal to pretty much any style of music. I'm in the process of downloading some of their music right now....I loved it that much!

We skipped the headline act (Neville Staple) as I am too old for standing on a concrete floor for 5 hours and my back was killing me. I can't remember the last time I was so happy to sit down. LOL. It was totally worth it though... It's good for me to expose myself to something other than the local modern rock radio station.

Robots in Disguise

Dude, that was AWESOME! Last night I saw the new TRANSFORMERS movie, and I have to say that it is one of the best action movies I've seen in a long, long time. I'm probably biased because as a kid, I totally loved the Transformers cartoon and action figures. I always wanted to be Bumblebee when I played with my cousins.

This latest incarnation is definitely for adults. It has Michael Bay and Stephen Speilberg written all over it. Action, aliens and computer graphics at their finest. They stuck true to a lot of the original storyline, but updated it to make it plausible for the newer generations (ie: the robots used the internet to gain information). There was a loveable main character, with a couple of hot, young girls to keep the boys interested (because you know, cool-ass alien robots blowing shit up wouldn't be enough), and excellent humour mixed in with all of the action. Oh, and what girl doesn't love Josh Duhamel all dirty and take charge in his military fatigues fighting the evil robot forces? *drool

If you at all liked the Transformers as a kid, or even just love a good action flick, totally check this out. (Note: it's really fun to go with a 21 year old friend who doesn't have a friggin clue what the Transformers were. Crap, I'm old.)

Home Sweet Home

Thanks to those of you that posted such nice comments yesterday!!

I know I make our house sound absolutely glorious, but I thought I should clarify. And don't get me wrong, part of the appeal to living in the boonies is the awesome fact that we are indeed right on the ocean. A nice little bay next to a marina, where I can watch the sailboats and rental fishing boats head out to sea. The bay opens up wide to the Pacific where I see cruiseships and those huge cargo container ships out near the horizon. It's certainly not a bad view for washing the dishes!

The house itself is your typical 1950's 3 bedroom bungalow. Yup, your average Military PMQ. See, doesn't that explain it now? We live in military housing. So don't get tooooo jealous, we may have the view....but we also have 50 years of paint on our kitchen cupboards and a bathroom just as old. Plus, it's not ours...we rent. We want to own, but man, we live in Victoria and even with two good salaries coming in buying here just seems ridiculous.

It's a 40 minute drive into downtown, but for every con such as that, there is a pro. We can have our dog here no problem (17 houses and at least a many dogs here). We can't get Chinese Food delivered this far out. But the one restaurant near our community makes the best pizza in town. Our "city" friends rarely visit (even though we're only 20 minutes from the Costco they all head to each month). But when they do, we have a sunny little private beach right down the stairs in our backyard.

Some days I love it. Some days I don't. Right now, it's all good because the weather is stellar...but Winter comes and I get snowed in with no power again, I'm thinking the love will fade.

Fan #2 is a go!

....and I'm thinking of buying #3 after work tonight. I think I need a fan in every room of the house now that the heat seems to be here to stay.

I'm not complaining though!! This is what I've been waiting for! Days where I can pop outside for a few minutes between work projects and enjoy an iced coffee in the sun, or read magazines in my lounger, or just enjoy the ocean breeze at our private little beach.

It's just the sitting in my office with no airflow that put a little damper on my love of the sunshine this morning. Good thing I can work in my undies when necessary! Next thing I know I'll be sitting here in my bikini....although sticking to my office chair is definitely not on my list of favorite pastimes. Hence, fan #2 was put into action this morning.

Tonight I'm going to float on the lake with a girlfriend....how Summertime is that?!! I'm totally looking forward to it. Gotta get a floating device right after work though. Yippeee!

Happy Summer everyone!

I quit!

Yup, about a week ago (during the Shrunk denial incident) I quit Weight Watchers online. I'd been thinking about it for a while, but my anger at the whole situation spurred me into actually doing it. I think I'd like my $22/month for wine or ice cream or movies or well, anything but non-existent online support. I get my support from my friends, my sweetie, my Mom and all the posters on the good old GDT (which is free anyway!!).

I can count most of my own points without the tracker and I can guesstimate to within a point of most stuff I don't already know. Since I'm on maintenance it's not extra super-duper crutial that I get it to the exact point every day. 50 calories here and there are not going to hamper my success at this point.

I made myself a cute little spreadsheet to fill in with my tentative daily meal plans. It works just fine! I even made room for a checklist of my daily healthy guidelines....did I drink all of my water? did I eat all of my veggies? did I remember my vitamins? what activity do I hope to accomplish today?

The diet part is over for me. This is my lifestyle change. If I can't do it on my own after a year of working with the website, then I probably won't ever be able to do it on my own. It's all about personal accountability. Here goes nothing!!

There was a wedding....I think!

Have you ever noticed that if your spouse is away you seem to try to fill the void by partying a little harder than maybe you should? That would be me. Gah.

Having said that...it was pretty friggin fun! Except for the waking up and trying to move around part.

On Saturday (7-7-07...lucky!) our friends Nic and Szara got married. It was an outdoor ceremony at Beacon Hill Park and the weather couldn't have been better. Szara's dress was absolutely amazing, the wedding party looked fabulous, and the men cleaned up great in their Navy dress uniforms. Lots of kids with cute knight and princess costumes instead of the traditional suits and dresses.....excellent idea!

The ceremony was lovely and short (my favorite kind!) and there was lots of time for mingling, pictures and chatting. While the wedding party went off to take photos before the reception, a few of us went for ice cream and then a cold bevvie.

The reception was at the Ukranian Cultural Centre...which has your basic event hall (with the bar-nazi proprietor types included). Nic programmed his computer with song playlists for each part of the evening and eliminated the need for a DJ. Dinner was simple, yet perfect for the 50+ guests and the atmosphere was fun and casual. The best man gave about the best wedding toast I've ever heard and had the room in tears he was so funny.

And there was wine. U-brew wine. Although tasty, it was potent (apparently). Oh, and there was champagne for toasting. Oh ya, and the cash bar where my vodka/sodas could be found. And the wine kept coming. And what happens when you hang out with the bride's family? Your wine glass is never left empty. Doh.

Of course, we danced. And drank. And danced. And drank. And this led to the yearn for more dancing. So what do we do? Oh ya, we go to the bar. Where I wisely think we need shooters....and a couple of Strongbows. But then, what the hell, it's already 1am and the bar is closing! We aren't done yet!!! So there are taxis and the brother's house where the rest of the wine lives. Oh god, I think there was wine in plastic cups...and some sunglasses...and cowboy hats.

No wonder my head hurt for 12 hours on Sunday.

Who knew I'd need my Honey to keep me in line. He's definitely never been accused of that one before.

Congrats Szara and Nic!!!!

Maria!!! (x-post)

Girl, never apologize for life happening! (Although I do appreciate it!)

I'm just glad to have you back!! :)

Love you Man!

Big Brother 8

It's gonna fry my brain for sure, but I'm watching it anyway! I got hooked somewhere during Season 6 (I think I was trying to decide whether to love or hate Janelle!) and then just had to watch All-Stars to see the infamous Dr. Will in action. The drama is better than any Arron Spelling show I've ever watched! (oh, and I ended up love love loving Janelle!)

Tonight's premiere episode of Season 8 was pretty good. The twists this year are interesting and I can see those two gay guys totally slapping the shit out of each other at some point. Haha, and I love that they already played the Gonoria card on national TV....ewwwwwwwwwwww!

I've already decided that I don't like that Tommy Lee looking dude or his twinky little daughter. They can go NOW! (It's OK for me to judge them....they are on Big Friggin Brother!)

Not sure who I choose to win at this point. I usually like to get a couple of episodes under my belt before picking my pony. I do like that Kail chick, but I think she'll end up pulling out the religious card at some point and that just won't work for me. Maybe the cute football guy...as long as he combs his hair out of his eyes. Or possibly I'll stick with America's Player because he seems fun and it's always cool to go along with the ones that are under the radar.

All that aside, it's gonna be hard to watch every episode. I might actually have to break out the VCR remote and tape some stuff!!

Pender Bender

Happy Belated Birthday Tanya!
and Happy Belated Canada Day to all!

After I got my sorry hungover ass home on Saturday morning, took a nap, and raced around packing up all my stuff I headed out to meet Tiffaney in Sidney and catch the ferry to Pender Island for a gathering at our friend Tanya's cottage. Friday's weather held on for us and even though a few clouds threatened to overtake our sun, the whole weekend wound up being friggin awesome!

Saturday night we had a BBQ feast! Tanya put together some massive yummy burgers for the whole group, while the rest of us brought along side dishes, desserts, etc. I made a huge potato salad and for the first time ever it turned out exactly the way I wanted it! Yippeee! I brought along some Jell-O shooters too and someone else contributed a bottle of Soho Lychee Liqueur so we could make a drunken fruit salad. By the time the Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake made an appearance I couldn't even look at more food!


Sunday morning Tiff and I were greeted by coffee in bed from Andy (we scored the extra beds in the cottage, while others camped outside). We then had a fabulous omelet breakfast concocted by Tanya. That girl is a superstar! Three pans going at once so everyone (there were 10 of us!) got their own individual omelet.

After breaky and relaxation from all the food, we headed down to the marina for a trip out on Tanya & Andy's boat. Lovely trip over to Saturna Island. The weather was great and it's been eons since I've been out on a pleasure boat (ferries don't count!!). We made a pit-stop at one end of Saturna so I could visit my long-lost step-brother at the pub. It has been two years since I've seen him and we only live about 2 hours apart....this is typical of our relationship. He bought me a beer and I even managed to get our picture before I had to go. :)


We then piled back on the boat and headed to the other end of the island for the annual Saturna Lamb Bake. On the way, we witnessed a huge schoonery-type boat that had run aground the night before and was laying on it's side in the low tide. Poor buggers. The harbour was jam-packed with boats and everyone was motoring, kayaking, or zodiacing out to see the wreckage. It looked like it could just be tipped back up and carry on it's way, but not true in reality. (I actually saw on the news a couple of days later that they were still waiting for a high enough tide to try and get it out.)


I didn't bother ordering anything at the Lamb Bake. I'm not a huge lamb fan and wasn't hungry enough to bother with the $15. I tracked down a hot dog instead and then we all hit the beer garden for a couple of drinks. Unfortunately the whole thing was shutting down at 4:30 or so but we didn't realize that and hadn't even gone until after 2:00. So we boated ourselves back on over to Pender for some more relaxation.


Monday morning we again got coffee in bed from Andy (oh, I didn't mention that it was amazing Italian coffee that he brings back special from Europe!) and Tanya and Tiffaney again concocted fabulous breakfasts for everyone. This time yummy breakfast-wiches on English muffins with eggs, bacon, tomatoes and cheese. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the sun in the oceanfront yard and sipping on Long Island Ice Teas.

Tiffaney and I were the last to leave, and while we truly intended to get only ice cream at the ferry terminal we were sucked in by the fantastic food stand and got MASSIVE grilled hot dogs and fresh onion rings. (This is the only ferry terminal I've ever said has REALLY GOOD food!)

It was the closest thing I've had a vacation in a while and it was totally great. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if my honey could be there with me. *sigh*

Thanks again to everyone that contributed to this great weekend getaway!! (and thanks to all of you that just read this: the world's longest blog!)

Vanilla Frosted Mini Wheats

Not that I don't already have six varieties of cereal in the cupboard, but yesterday I picked up a box of Vanilla Frosted Mini Wheats. They were on sale and totally calling out to me.... I swear!

Recently, Vanilla Almond Special K has been holding the place of my favorite cereal, but since I was a kid Frosted Mini Wheats have always been a staple in the cupboard. I love that they are yummy and sweet, but still healthy (hello fibre!!).

My review: the vanilla is a nice addition to the already yummy frosting. In fact, I think it helps to cut back on the normal sugary sweetness. Besides, who doesn't like vanilla?!!

And of course, this review wouldn't be complete without the world's most annoying (yet cute!) commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPQDrPZG6c0

(Grrr....stupid embedding doesn't work!)

And here's another video I found on YouTube while looking for the commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWvIgwHgWho

(some people eat too much sugar...)

Girls Night Out!

...with a few token boys thrown in for good measure!

Szara's stagette - my first stagette! We dressed her up with a cute purple veil attached to a sparkly crown, wrapped a fluffy white boa around her, made sure you could see her garter, and sprayed her down with scented glitter. She requested we all wear boas so we did, and it was heaps of fun!

We started out with champagne, snacks and Jell-O shooters then headed out to the pub for the rest of the night. Our honorary token boy went early and saved our table so we wouldn't have to stand in line - awwwwww, what a nice boy Keith!! :) Everyone immediatly started in on the rounds of shooters, and within the hour we all had a good glow and lots of giggles. The bride's brother and his friends arrived and that's when the drinks got ugly....Tequila is apparently their drink of choice. Smart bride kept her distance though!

Drinking, dancing, laughing, drinking, more dancing, more laughing and definitely more drinking. We made lots of friends with our feather boas!!

The bar closed....some girls went home, some of us kept going.....not for long....soon it was time for pizza and the cab ride home.

CONGRATULATIONS SZARA!! and THANKS ANGIE for your fantastic planning!

I must sleep before I post....

Just to tide you over....

Friday: Stagette....too many Jello shooters before the bar, too many shooters at the bar, lots of laughs and goofiness all night long, too much pizza after the bar, not enough sleep...but a good time had by all. (more details and photos to come)

Saturday - Monday: Pender Bender....far too much food, just enough Jello shooters, just enough cider and random alcoholic beverages, lots of sun and a way cool trip to Saturna on a boat. Visit with long-lost step-brother also included. (definitely more details and photos to come)

Hope you all had a great long weekend!!!