My Other Blog

Hi all,

By now most of you have probably figured it out, but I'm not really into maintaining two blogs these days. I have been focusing on building up my health blog instead, and most of my regular life happenings are being included there as well.

Embracing Balance

I know you aren't all interested in my menu habits, gym days, or food porn but within that is a lot of fun regular stuff too. :) Check it out.

Monkeying Around

I finally hooked up the scanner, so here's the photo of me and the little resort monkey in Punta Cana. So cute!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!

Today is Arron's birthday! Woooooooooooooo!

Our plans for a little night out on the town got shafted by the Navy (of course!) so instead he had himself a boy's day when he got back from a couple of days at sea yesterday. Beers, chips, F1 on the big TV, Kartbahn (go-carting), and video games. Good times. (I went shopping.)

For a giftie he ordered himself some sort of fancy guitar thingamajig. It's a port thingy to connect his guitar to his computer and it has all sorts of different settings so he can record music and be a rock star in the basement. He'll have to explain it. But that's what I got him. :)

There may be cake or something later today. If he's a good birthday boy.

:)

Tourists Can Finger Paint

OK, so when Lex told me to do the finger painting at our resort I thought maybe she was a little crazy. haha. I mean, finger painting isn't usually an adult activity. Maybe she'd been hanging out in the kids club while on her vacation last year. :)

But low and behold there it was on the daily activities sheet. Finger Painting!

I sort of forgot about it, but one day at poolside a large crowd was gathered so we checked out what it was...and sure enough it was the finger painting class. Of course I was too late for the free first class, so I ended up paying $10 to sit in on the second round (nice setup on their part....get everyone all interested then throw a price tag on it).

The teacher was a hilarious Mexican guy that spoke about a zillion languages. He was funny and completely trashed on everyone's artistic skills. "oh, that's terrible." "geeze lady, give me that." "holy crap, what are you doing?" Totally worth the $10 for the comedy alone. The fun painting was just a bonus. Of course, he touched up everyone's work so we didn't take home a totally amateur piece of trash.

Super cute bathroom art!

Fuzzy Pants

Mr. Stoopy has been feeling a little left out of the blog lately, so here's some current photos of my furry little man...

Punta Cana Vacation Recap - part 4

Obviously we had a great time! I guess I just wanted to comment on how impressed we were with the resort. I've never been to an all-inclusive before, and FH has been to a few but all were in Mexico at least 8-10 years ago. According to him, EdenH was considerably better than any he'd been to and much more reasonably priced. In 2000, he and a buddy stayed at a 2 star resort in Cancun that wasn't even on the beach....and they paid $500 more per person.

We read a lot of negative chatter on TripAdvisor about this resort (having said that it came highly recommended by the lovely Lex and our travel agent) but honestly can't figure out what people are whining about. Everyone we encountered was super friendly. The drinks flowed all day. The food was much better than expected (I reviewed the food on my other blog). They offered entertainment each night and activities every day. The room was nice. The pool was beautiful. The beach was literally a step away, clean, and free from local vendors, etc. There was construction next door (expanding the resort), but it never once bothered us. I think some people just go looking for things to bitch about.

I will say this....if you are 20-something and looking for a party spot, this probably isn't your place. Although we did meet a couple of college girls having a great time just sunning by the pool, and we did see a couple of dozen younger people they definitely were in the minority. Boys, this wouldn't be a place to go meet drunk girls. haha. More of a couples destination for sure. They did have a shuttle to a local disco each night though, so potentially you'd find a good party there. :)

Our second to last day the weather was absolutely perfect....clear blue skies, sunny, hot, with a beautiful breeze:

FH, of course, made buddies with the poolside bartenders. Alexis (left) is somewhat famous on TripAdvisor....we saw him the first day, and he was kind of cranky...but then he must have had his three days off because we he came back on Thursday he was a changed man! Raul (right) was there the entire time and was always full of smiles.

And on the last morning, I was sad to go home:

Is it next year yet? We're ready to go again!

Punta Cana Vacation Recap - part 3

Our Excursion: Tropical Storm "Happy Hour" Sunset Catamaran Tour

Honestly, we chose this one because it was one of the cheapest and because it didn't leave at the crack of dawn. I don't know who the crazy people are that want to be up and ready to sail by 8am while on vacation, but we certainly weren't interested in that. hehe. Besides, the afternoon one has drinky-poos included!

We were picked up just after 3pm by the tour van...lucky us we were the last stop so we didn't have to wait or drive around while they picked up the folks from two other resorts. Got us to the beach down the road within 10 minutes where we met up with the rest of the group. On the boat by just after 330 and sailing away 5 minutes after that. We had a funny, energetic French-Canadian hostess...referring to herself as "froggie"....and a crew of at least 5 locals. "Froggie" was quick to get through safety instructions (basically don't jump off the boat you idiots) and had lots of good jokes for the tourists. We had a full boat and everyone was in a great mood (how could you not be?)!

There was a snorkeling stop. I've never been snorkeling and wanted to try it, but failed miserably. I rarely swim and when I do it's not with good form (whatever happened to all those swimming lessons from when I was a kid?). We were in a designated snorkeling area but it was a bit choppy and there were a lot of us....I think had it been a bit calmer and less busy I would have been able to get it together and stay out there...but as it was I was struggling with a loose flipper and trying to get used to breathing through the mouthpiece and that was just too much....so I called it a day about a minute after I started. Oh well. FH was in a little longer, but he had a crappy mouthpiece and kept sucking in salt water so opted to hop out too. It was fun just watching the others anyway....all those bodies floating face down looked like a shipwreck!

See here...my hair is wet...proof that I was at least in the water!

After snorkeling they really started pushing the booze. This excursion was the one and only time either of us had a true booze buzz going on. We drank a lot on this trip, but we really think the resort drinks are watered down...but not on the boat! The crew gets everyone dancing and singing and goofing around (of course they are trying to get you to buy the $25 video they are making the whole time!). Hilarious. Then they give everyone a shot of "mamajuana"...Dominican Viagra they call it...which is a mix of wine/honey/rum and some crazy tree bark...tastes like ass I have to say. LOL. They are also trying to sell that stuff in bottles with your photos on them...too bad our photo was actually quite nice but we had no interest in the drink.

FH referred to this guy as "little papa bling"...pretty sure his only job as crew member was to get the ladies dancing!

Anyway, carrying on....the ride was smooth, warm and lovely. The sunset was gorgeous. Lots of lovely beach and ocean scenery. Different gorgeous colors of water. Interesting clouds in the sky. So totally perfect. We couldn't have picked a better excursion. There was another stop for a swim in a "natural pool"...calmer water only about hip deep...which I fully intended to do, but we were having such fun on the boat that I decided just to stay on board.






We finished up around 7:15 and were taken back to our resort in the back of one of those big open back canopied trucks...lovely evening. Where we cleaned up and headed to the buffet and then sat in the courtyard for drinks and chitchat with our resort buddies... *sigh

Punta Cana Vacation Recap - part 2

Up until the last day, we actually got up at a relatively normal time...like by 930-10am. I wanted to be up and ready to go when FH woke up so we could head off to breakfast as soon as he was showered. Gave myself extra time to lather from head to toe in sunscreen after that first day of 20 minutes giving me that crazy burn. We'd head down to the pool and stake out chairs (there were always chairs available, even when the resort was at full capacity...but on the first day we waited until after breaky and didn't like the location of our chairs) and then head to the yummy buffet for some good eats and coffee.

the aforementioned burn - see my "dominican tattoo" where my necklace left a mark? ugh.

Admittedly we were extremely lazy. I'd had all these visions of trying out a few of the included activities and dragging FH out on an excursion or two. He had wanted to play tennis and go parasailing. We did none of this. Well, we went on one excursion....to drink on a boat! We mainly just parked ourselves in our poolside loungers and either chatted with other guests, or watched and laughed at the water aerobics, or tried to avoid staring directly at the over-the-hill European men in their speedos. I finished one book and almost finished another. FH traded iPods with a buddy he made on the trip and they compared notes on their musical tastes. Occassionally FH would head to the room for a quick nap and I'd either wander the beach or just read.

Bliss.

Each evening they offered some form of entertainment. Around 7-8pm they would set up a big outdoor screen and either play a movie (like that Scorcese Rolling Stones' movie) or just have music playing...this was in the big courtyard so as long as the weather was clear everyone would sit outside and enjoy drinks and chat. It rained a couple of times, so we'd just move into the lounge bar. At 9:45 each night they would have live entertainment....one night karaoke, one night some "romantic" singers, one night a dance-party with breakdancers, and the best was the "cirque"...really cool. This would go on until 1030 or 11pm, then we would either stay in the courtyard or go into the lounge bar for a few more hours. They have a rooftop club as well, but we only went up a couple of times...it had a DJ who really likes Lady Gaga! We also discovered the Sports Bar on our second to last night...and played some pool. They also have bowling which we thought was cool but never got around to playing. (I told you, we were lazy!)

The Dominican "boy-band" singing the songs of 98 degrees & N'sync. Cheesy but great!

The "cirque" performers. These people are amazing and work their asses off. Many of the performers were dancing in the different shows each night, and/or working at something else on the resort during the day.

On our latest night, I think we were still in bed by about 1am. haha. Sleep is glorious when you can get it!

Punta Cana Vacation Recap - part 1

Just as a reminder, we stayed at EdenH Real Arena Punta Cana.

Amazing bang for the buck. 4 1/2 star resort. All inclusive. We travelled with . One week, less than $3000 for both of us...taxes, fees, etc in. The only extras we paid were our cancellation insurance (we have to, due to FH's crazy job) and the one excursion we took. We don't need travel health insurance as it's covered in our plan. Other than that we turned $500 Canadian dollars into $380 US dollars (ouch) for tips and trinkets. We tipped well, bought a couple small things and came home with some cash.

Day One was fairly exhausting...6am flight had us at the airport just after 3am....then about a 4 hour flight...and another hour or so to get luggage and transport to the resort for about noon. I was pooped but FH managed to get into the mood and got a second/third/fourth wind.

airport arrival

on the bus

Check in was quick and painless...our room wasn't available until 3pm but no biggie because they give you your bracelet right away so you can eat, drink and be merry while you wait. We changed right away (however, due to the silly flight regs regarding liquids my sunscreen was in my big luggage and I forgot to get it before checking our stuff with the bell desk...that'll learn me to put a travel size in my carry-on for next time) and immediately found the pool/bar/beach. :)

first shots of resort/beach

Spent a couple hours getting the lay of the land (by this I mean bar), had some lunch, then about 20 mins in beach loungers (this is where I immediately got my sunburn....grrrr). I was dozing off, so thankfully it was now after 3pm and we headed back to the lobby to get our room info.

glorious first rest on the beach

Ready right on time, they loaded us and our bags onto a little golf cart trolly (FH had a beer delivered to him right on the cart) and took us to our room. I immediately fell asleep....FH went back to the pool (and by pool I mean bar). I slept for a few hours, then went to find him but I think we were circling each other because I couldn't find him.....so ate dinner at the buffet, got a couple of drinks, and just wandered through the courtyard and little bars...eventually found each other back at the room a while later. He had already made some friends so went back for a final drink and I headed back to bed. Bit of a loss of the first night, but it made the rest of the trip much more enjoyable because I wasn't tired anymore!

Waaahoooooo!

One of my bestest West Coast buddies is coming to visit!! Thanks to Westjet and another incredible seat sale, she surprised me out of nowhere by booking a ticket to come out here next month! Oh how fun to have one of my girls out here for a whole week!!

Adios Amigos

Our bags are packed and we're ready to go. And none too soon. Did you see the snow today? Seems like a great time to get outta town!

Hola sun, sand and fun!!

Last Minute Vacay Countdown

Weeeeehaaaaaa! I can't believe we leave tonight for our much anticipated, much needed vacation to Punta Cana! (Not stoked about the 6am flight that requires us to be at the airport for 3am...actually a little earlier to Park n Fly...but if it means I'm going to have sand between my toes in 24 hours then I'm all for it!)

Being the planner that I am, I made myself a to-do list this morning:

Since writing the list I've added in printing Park n Fly coupon, charging my iPod, charging my extra camera battery, stopping by the clinic for my final Twinrix shot, paint my toenails, confirm flight, and shower and blow-drying my hair before our nap (so I'm not futzing around at 2am!). Man I hope that's everything. It's an action packed day that's for sure. Good thing I'll be relaxing for the next seven days.

FH will be out and about this afternoon buying shorts and swimtrunks (nothing like leaving it til the last minute!) and getting us some travelling cash. I'm putting him in charge of bringing home dinner too, since I don't have time to cook and don't want any extra dirty dishes laying around.

See you all in a week!

Plow Follow Up

I guess I should clarify...

This wasn't just slightly annoying, this was downright the world is coming to an end and the entire neighborhood is awake loud. Beyond ridiculous. I'm not just complaining because I'm not used to Winter...this was a new low, even for around here. We've been here two full Winters now and haven't experienced this level of stupidity prior to this.

I will say that our sidewalk guy almost always comes in the middle of the night, but I generally overlook him because A) it's great that we don't have to shovel our own sidewalks B) he's a private contractor and it's impressive that he gets to us at all C) he is only in front of each house for about 2-4 minutes...not 20-30 (and even though I have thought he was loud, I will never think that again!).

As for the roadside issue....it's like I said...we are a totally residential neighborhood...there is absolutely nothing else here...only houses. It's not like people have to pass by here to get anywhere....it doesn't lead anywhere but into the subdivision. The road was more than wide enough....both lanes fully operational. Ya, it's a bit tight if folks are parked on the road, but it's not like it's a crazy high traffic area. Trust me, we'd all rather have a minor slowdown on the road in exchange for our night's sleep.

It just didn't make sense that this job was any kind of a priority that would require the 5 hour middle of the night ruckus.

For those of you that know HRM....what really got us was that there is a TON of snow and ice along the edges of Chebucto Road...so much so that it's actually blocking half a lane...on one of the highest traffic roads in town....but THAT has not been cleared yet!

If you can't vent about the city or the weather, what can you vent about?! :)

Dear HRM

Dear whichever one of you asshats is in charge of scheduling dumptracks and ice plows,

Just a quick note to let you know that midnight is NOT the ideal time to send heavy duty equipment to forcefully scrape months-old ice stores from the edges of our street. Are city employees and planners all nocturnal vampires? If so, that's really neat, but I'd just like to remind you that most of the general public is not. Many of us prefer to sleep during the night hours.

I am sure there is a completely logical reason for needing to remove the ice. In fact, I do applaud the actual idea, just not the execution. I mean, sure...a wider street and clear drainage is certainly appealing...however, I'm pretty sure this could have been done during normal working hours when most people are generally awake anyway. There was no time-sensitive safety issue that I'm aware of so keeping our entire neighborhood awake for hours and hours seems just plain ridiculous to me. If your team is running behind schedule, don't try to make it up by keeping an entire subdivision awake.

If I were to go outside at midnight and start jackhammering my driveway, you can bet your buttons that my neighbors would complain and I'd receive some sort of fine from the city for breaking a noise by-law or some such thing. So why is it OK for a city team to come and make 10 times that amount of noise? It isn't. But you did it anyway.

It's not like Beechville is a community of all-night business or industrial traffic or any other type of situation that might work with this late night work....we are a community of 400 private residences and that is all.

Open your eyes and have a look around the next time you plan one of these midnight events. May your brain prevail and remind you that people need sleep. Show some respect.

Regards,


Sleepless in Beechville

United States of Tara

It's no secret that FH and I like a lot of the less mainstream TV shows. I mean, I still like to watch my occasional episode of ER or Law & Order SVU, but I don't go out of my way to find them. The only regular TV I go looking for on purpose anymore is Amazing Race and I think that's just out of habit and a slight interest in some of the cool places they go.

Anyway, we've burned through all of the most recent episodes of Entourage, Dexter, and True Blood (man do we love Video on Demand)...and the most second season of Mad Men isn't out on DVD yet....so we were looking for something to fill the gap. Conveniently, Movie Central offered up something new at just the right time!

United States of Tara

Love it.

Toni Collette stars as Tara (and others) in this great new show created by Diablo Cody (you know her from such gems as Juno). Tara is a seemingly normal wife & mother...but with a twist...well, three twists actually. Alter egos. Three completely different additional personalities that arrive at the damdest of times depending on her stress level and current situation. Alice gives June Cleaver a run for her money. Buck is a man who loves his beer and boobies. T is a teen who'd rather show you her thong than make meaningful conversation.

Collette makes each personality totally believable and gets you invested in each one as though they are all separate characters. Really, they are...just played by the same actor. She's great.

And who doesn't love a little (big!) John Corbett playing her amazingly understanding and supportive husband? Not to mention her two oddball teenage kids having good storylines of their own, and her attention seeking sister who offers up the option that multiple personalities are bullcrap that Tara has made up and could do away with at anytime.

If you haven't seen it, you should. I bet you'll like it.

fly-by post

Yes, I know I've been very quiet this week....ooooops, sorry! FH is home and we are enjoying a week of hanging out, watching movies, and catching up.

8 days til Dominican! So I promise lots of photos and reports from that. :)

Hurry up!

FH's ship has been alongside for two hours now....and they still haven't been released. Hurry up dammit!

:)

Edit: OK, so half hour later they let him freeeeeeeeeee!

Radio Silence

FH's ship has met up with a task group out at sea and whatever they are doing has caused them to have to go silent for about 36 hours. No contact with outsiders. Boooooo. Emails are what keep us both going when he's away this long.

I guess this is what it was like for families before email became a day-to-day reality.

Ha, look at me. Twelve hours and I'm already comparing myself to folks from ten years ago.

Good thing he's home on Monday.

Seriously?

Do you know that the Twinrix shot is not covered by Nova Scotia MSI?

I don't mean the actual prescription...which by the way costs $67 per shot (and I have to have three shots because we are leaving on our trip within six weeks of my first shot...expedited version).

I mean that doctors' offices actually charge $20 just to stick the needle in your arm.

Yup, you read that right. $20 for the doctor to open the box, wipe my arm with an alcohol swab, and stab me. Takes less than 30 seconds.

And I have to do it three times.

$67 x 3 + $20 x 3 = $261

Oh, and I'll have to get the booster in about 10 months.

Ridiculous.

New Computer

My poor laptop has been dying a slow death for quite some time now...since around September I think. It has been a great machine for the price I paid, but honestly considering I use it for work 5+ days per week, plus blogging, surfing, etc. I probably should have spent a little more at the time. However, I did tell myself it would be good for three years and I think next month I would hit that mark...so not too shabby after all.

I started looking around and asking a few friends what I should be looking for in a new computer a couple of months ago. Things change so much in the world of computers, all of the knowledge I used to have has become pretty obsolescent. To my surprise I had several people recommend ordering a Dell computer. Even my computer savvy programmer friends. So I looked at the website a few times...but I was still a little confused between quad-core, dual-core, blah blah blah....plus I was still trying to prolong the usage of my trusty laptop so I never got around to seriously planning anything.

But a few more months went by and my laptop just continued to get slower and can't seem to do more than one thing at a time...which generally isn't an issue for me, except it always seems to freeze and freak out when I'm doing something for my boss or using it during a conference call. It is apparently quite into bad timing. So a couple of weeks ago I decided that waiting another month was just silly and sucked it up and went on the hunt.

I actually found a machine at Costco that I liked. An HP...quad-core, bigass hard drive, lotsa RAM, big shiny monitor. I even got so far as to put in on a cart and head to the checkout. Then I remembered that Costco doesn't take credit cards, and I hadn't yet transferred money from my business expense account to my day-to-day checking account so I wasn't going to be able to debit it (seeeee Costco, you lost a sale because I couldn't just whip out my MasterCard and get it done). So I put the computer back and came home to do some banking transfers online, with the intention of going back. But you know what? It was snowing that day, and when I got home I just didn't feel like going out again, so I decided to check out Dell online again just in case....

And sure enough, I found a similar computer for about $300 less. Same size hard drive, I think a little less RAM but it's sooo much who cares, a bigger monitor (hellooooo 22"). This one is dual-core instead of quad-core, but I actually had a very knowledgeable friend tell me this would be better for me in a lower end machine...less processing time. Sure, sounds good to me. haha. So I ordered it. Who am I to look a $300 savings gift horse in the mouth?

This bad boy arrived last Wednesday, two days earlier than anticipated. I was pretty stoked, but do you know that I didn't even take it out of the boxes until Saturday and it wasn't until last night that I got around to setting it up. And I still haven't finished setting up the email or software (although it has Works and everything all set up...I'm still debating on whether I will put Office on it) or transferring all of my files, etc. There was a time that I found all of that stuff fun, but now I just want it done and ready to go!!

So far it's pretty cool though. Man, what a difference between that little laptop monitor and this 22" beauty. Maybe now my neck will be in the proper position more often and my arm/shoulder will quit bugging me so much. One can only hope!! And it's much faster and smoother moving, which is a dream! I'm even considering going for the super high-speed Internet access now that I have a machine that can perform.

Fun. :)

Valentine's Saturday

Even though I'm engaged now, I'm still single for Valentine's Day. booo. The thought was actually bugging me throughout the week...I think mainly because it's on a Saturday and it's sad enough to often be home alone on a Saturday night but the idea that I'd be home alone on a Saturday night that also happens to be the most romantic night of the year was bumming me out. Not that FH is much for Happy Heart Day, but it's the thought, ya know?

Anyway, it turned out just fine.

I had a nice sleep in, then when I got up just decided to get ready and go out right away. Took myself to the mall to return the three pairs of Spring shoes that didn't fit, bought myself a tasty coffee, and wandered around. Checked out the book store, browsed the bathing suit store, looked at more shoes. Didn't buy anything...even avoided the dreaded Rocky Mountain Chocolates. Took a bit of a long drive home, stopping at the video store (where I had trouble choosing because there were so many things that I know FH will want to see....I picked Pride & Glory and Nights in Rodanthe). On the route home through the shopping district I decided to try Old Navy for a new bathing suit...no luck...probably not the best thing to be doing while trying to keep myself cheery! ha. Tops are easy, bottoms not so much. Must shop at store that caters to adults who prefer their ass crack doesn't show in their bikini. :) Stopped at Costco where I almost bought myself a Valentine's gift of cheap new yoga capris, but in the end I put them back and only bought the vitamins I went in for.

Came home, read the paper, made myself a little lunch. Did some laundry, got a DVD workout in, watched some TV, made a yummy dinner. Settled in to watch Pride & Glory (meh) and now off to bed.

Not so bad.

Happy Heart Day to all of you lucky enough to be snuggled with yer honey!

Spring Shoe Sale

As was mentioned far and wide in blog world last week, Spring was having a huge online shoe clearance. I don't think I have ever purchased anything from Spring, but with free shipping, cheap prices, and an excellent return policy I decided it was worth a shot.

I picked out four pair of shoes for fun and a couple of bags that I am hoping will be great for the beach/pool during our trip to Punta Cana next month. The issue I had was picking shoe sizes. I wear a 9.5 - 10 depending on the shoes, but I was worried that Spring would have a bit smaller sizing since they are owned by the same company that owns Aldo. I often have trouble with Aldo sizes being smaller, so I opted to chose size 11 for most of these new shoes. This of course has bitten me in the behind. Four pairs of shoes and only one pair fit. C'est la vie. I'm going to return the others and maybe try to get one pair of them in a size 10...I didn't love all three enough to bother reordering.

The bags haven't arrived yet, but one was shipped yesterday and the other today so hopefully when they do arrive I will like them both. Same bag, different patterns. I will wait until these arrive to make sure I don't have to make two trips to the mall for returns.

Oh, I should mention that all of this.... four shoes & two bags.... was only $100.

Sucker for a Deal

Hey Mom...I guess you get your wish. Westjet is having a crazy good seat sale today, and while I was booking another smaller weekend getaway I landed up booking myself a trip home too!

Read-a-thon

I've kind of been out of reading mode since Christmas. I had been reading Friday Night Knitting Club when I went home for the holidays (oh geeze I just found out there is a sequel!), then started The Boleyn Inheritance when I finished, then had to try to cram part of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy into the routine for book club. I have only picked up Boleyn maybe twice since then and I'm still struggling to get going on Hitchiker again. Both are sitting on my bedside table, but I've been going to bed so late I haven't been reading.

If that's not enough, I started looking around the other day and realized the number of unread books I have here. Time to put a kybosh on the Gilmore Girls DVD marathon I've been having since FH left and get back on the reading train. Just look at all of the fun stuff I could be reading instead of staring at the tube!

I asked for the Twilight books for Christmas and was so excited to finally read them and find out what all the craze is about, but the interest waned and I haven't even opened them yet. Must get on that. The other book was just a little extra Xmas giftie from Mom.

This pile of books has been here since Autumn. I picked up the Jodi Picoult book after reading My Sister's Keeper for our first book club meeting and LOVING it...thought I'd jump right into more of her books but still haven't made it to this one. The Memory Keepers Daughter I have actually read...and loved it. The Marion Keyes book is one of three that I picked up at Costco on a whim....very cute, easy reads and I just haven't made it to this one yet. I think the Fern Michaels one I may have picked up at an airport...and the other two were books Mom read while she was visiting and left behind for me to read.

These ones were dropped off by my neighbor. I've wanted to read the Emily Giffin books forever and some girlfriends have been passing them around. Lovely Bones was recommended by those same friends and sounds like a great book (which I want to read before the movie comes out this year).

To top it all off, I will be picking up The Shipping News this weekend to read for book club this month.

Whew.

Good thing we are going on that trip to Punta Cana, where I plan to spend a lot of time reading in the glorious sun!

Monster Retirement

Some time ago....five, six, seven years?... my Mom gave me these hilarious purple monster foot slippers. At the time I laughed and thought they were silly. Well, they are silly but they are also the most comfortable, warmest, coziest slippers EVER. I love them. I live in them all Winter (especially since working at home I tend to be in PJ mode a lot).

Sadly, they were really only supposed to be gimmicky and cost somewhere around the $10 mark. Seriously meant to only last one Winter season and then go on their merry way. But I've managed to keep them going for at least five times that long. Did I mention I love them?!

But lookie here....it's obviously time for retirement. I am now walking on bare ground with no cushiony comfort underneath anymore. :( The crappy little foam bottoms are torn and flip under my feet and make me trip. They have worn out. Boooooooo.

Bye-Bye fun purple monster feet slippers. You will be missed. My lame new boring white slippers just don't compare. Sad.

"Magical Elf" Neighbors

That's right. One of my neighbors is a lovely, fantastic "magical helper elf"!

Halifax had yet another nutty snowstorm yesterday. I shoveled twice and knew that it wouldn't be enough. The big plow hadn't shown up yet...and that thing always causes a grievous pile of HEAVY snow at the mouth of my driveway.

Sure enough, when I woke up this morning the pile was there. Generally not a big deal, but this storm turned to icy pellets last night and everything is extra heavy due to the freezing.

So I got some work done, had a coffee, then went downstairs to put on my shoveling clothes...but what do I see when I peak out the window? Some lovely person has scooped all the heavy stuff from the mouth of the driveway! Yaaaaieeeee!

Thank you magical helper elf neighbor!!

It's About Time

Yaaieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! - ordered new computer!!

Boooooooooooooooooooo! - estimated shipping date Feb-13th!

Money Pit

Is it really a money pit when your car just seems to need a lot of crazy parts fixed? I mean, it's not like it's a new car anymore...it's almost 7 years old. I didn't think that was all that old though. And it's not like it has a lot of miles on it...I haven't even broken 80,000km. That's low.

Took it in for it's mandatory annual provincial inspection today. At the least I expected to be told it needed a couple of new lights (because every time I take it in for anything, something seems to be burned out) and at the very most I was guessing my brakes might finally need doing (the one miraculous thing that I've never had to replace) or potentially there was a problem with my cooling system (my coolant light started flashing this week).

Turns out that there sure is an issue with my cooling system...leak in the thermostat... $350 repair! Thankfully that doesn't make it unsafe just yet...they can't even assess how bad the leak is, but judging by the fact that the light was flashing for a week and the car never overheated it's a pretty tiny leak. Normally I would just go ahead and fix it now, rather than tempting fate...however, I have other fish to fry. The car actually failed inspection because the ball joints are both worn and loose....yippee....$350 for that too....plus I was right about 2 bulbs needing replacing, plus windshield wipers,the cost of the inspection itself, the wheel alignment that has to be done after replacing ball joints and don't forget our lovely HST. Hello $536 bill...not including the thermostat which I have to watch and probably fix within the next month anyway. Argh.

I know every car has these things, but it just seems to me that everything is going one after the other now. I did a mental tally and in the last two years I've spent approximately $4000 on repairs, etc. (almost $2000 of which was the freaking clutch)....and there are still lots of obvious things that could need doing at any time....like the brakes for instance, or the starter that has been hiccuping for over a year now.

Is it time to suck it up and trade-in? I dunno.

(oh, and I don't wanna hear a bunch of comments about VWs needing lots of electrical work or whatever...since none of my issues have anything to do with that.)

Beechville Book Club

Unfortunately, the founding members of our neighborhood book club ended up taking a work transfer to Victoria so we've been floundering a bit this month. We did do a book in December, and since they were leaving we opted to let Marc chose the book since he hadn't had the chance yet and was just dying for us all to read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

His wife tried to poo-poo him...haha...but I backed him up and thought it's probably the only time in my life I would even consider reading the book and wanted to do it. Isn't that what book clubs are supposed to do...get you reading something you might otherwise not? Marc was the only official male member of the group (one of the other hubbies jumps in from time to time) so it was hard for him to have support on this one, but we all rallied and took one for the team.

The problem was actually getting our hands on a couple of copies of the book. Surprisingly it's hard to come by the full size version (it's called a trilogy in five parts and is a fairly substantial book). We had agreed to at least try to do the first two parts...and more if we could swing it. I tried to go to Chapters and buy it right away, but no such luck. I also looked at another book store in the mall (Coles?) and they didn't have it either. Then I went on holiday to Victoria, so I tried looking at the Chapters there...they had it but it was $35...I didn't want it that bad. At that point I decided maybe just to buy the first part in a single edition but of course they didn't have it....they had parts two and three, but not one. My friend even checked a used book store for me and they didn't have it either. Apparently it's popular! Had I known it would be so hard to buy I would have checked it out of the library before I left....haha...except I found out later that one of my other club members did that and she had to wait until like Dec-20th to get it.

So anyway, on New Years Eve I still hadn't found it (our meeting was to be like Jan-6th) so I borrowed Marc's copy. I made it about 3/4 way through the first part by the time our meeting rolled around. I felt so bad for Marc because two people didn't show up, his wife harassed him the whole time (lovingly of course!) and the other two of us hadn't even done half of the reading assignment. The discussion ended up mostly being him telling us what happened.

I was sufficiently interested though. It's quite a funny book...totally nuts really....but it was just starting to get to a good reading place when I ran out of time. My intention is too keep reading. I even got Marc to leave me his copy and promised to mail it back to him...but of course I haven't touched it since. In fact, I haven't read a page of anything in three weeks....weird. Because they were moving and a couple of members hadn't attended we didn't plan another book and even though I have about a dozen other books to read I just haven't been into it.

Time to change that.

I rallied the book club troops and I think we've decided on The Shipping News to be read for the first weekend in March, so I'll have to confirm and pick that one up this weekend. Back to some good old fashioned stimulation of the brain!

Vacation Booked!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Finally. FH and I are going on a real vacation. We've never been on an actual holiday together...ever. The closest we came was when he was here in Halifax for school and I flew out from Victoria for a couple of weeks and we rented a car and drove around between here and PEI. Fun, but not a true holiday. Did I mention "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"?

:)

After much research and debate, we settled on EdenH Real Arena Resort. It was highly recommended by the travel agent, has pretty stellar online reviews, and Lex personally stayed there last year so I was happy to have an actual real life good opinion of it. The website makes it looks beautiful and fantastic, so here's hoping it actually is!

Honestly, I'm just looking forward to white sand beaches, glorious sunshine, pina coladas, and relaxation with my honey. A gorgeous resort is really just icing for the cake. Good food would be a bonus too....apparently they have a great omelette station. haha.

Now, March 7th needs to hurry up and get here!

Decision Made!

But you'll just have to wait until tomorrow when it's officially booked! :) Don't wanna jinx it you know.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and comments. There were a couple of good suggestions...one of which I would have loved to try but alas couldn't get a package in our timeframe...and another of which ended up being highly recommended by the travel agent I consulted so that's the one I'm going for.

Hopefully nothing changes between now and me getting there to book it tomorrow morning! (Waiting on FH's signed leave pass, otherwise I would've been there two hours ago!)

Oh...Mikey...TripAdvisor just made it harder to decide. Too many differing opinions on each place. I'd find something I thought we would like and it would get crazy bad reviews....or I'd look up something else that seemed like a good deal and the reviews would be all over the map. It's too arbitrary. Everyone wants different things...and no review can tell me whether FH and I will be happy with it. I'm glad I got a couple of personal recommendations that jived with what the travel agent suggested.

Punta Cana Resorts??

OK, I'm seriously getting overwhelmed with all of the choices! FH and I are planning a trip to the Dominican for when he gets back from this trip to sea. I have only had one resort recommended to me (thanks Tasha!) and although I would love to go there, it's a couple hundred bucks per person over the amount we want to spend.

I'm wondering if any of you lovely readers have ever been to Punta Cana and have some all-inclusive resort recommendations? We are hoping for at least 4 star, beachfront, a couple of a la carte restaurants, a swim up bar, and a good location near other resorts and touristy shopping.

I thought I had it narrowed down last night, but then FH led me to another site where I've now discovered another dozen or so good choices. Ahhhhhh!

Help! :)

Belated House-iversary!

With all the bad weather, and vacation plans, and being sick, and wedding thoughts....I completely missed our House Anniversary.

As of January 16th we've owned our own home for a whole year! Weeeeeeeeeeeee!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Wedding plans? Have we made any? What's the deal?

The deal is this... FH has himself a deployment he's dying to go on later this year. Of course, in true Navy fashion he has no idea whether he will actually get to do it. So we are in slight limbo. If he goes, he'll leave in November and probably get home in March or April.

So we are aiming for Summer 2010. I actually like the idea of September...Autumn is pretty everywhere and won't be too hot or too cold....I hope!

But it's sooooo far away. Further than either of us would like...neither of us are big fans of the long engagement and that pushes to almost two years....not ideal, but we don't want half-assed plans either. It's truly all up in the air. So be it. At least it provides lots of time for extra savings and arrangements.

It is a bit of a logistical nightmare too. We live in Halifax...and although we have some very important people here, neither of us have any family here so it's really not the ideal place to have the wedding. We don't feel right asking 90% of the guests to travel thousands of miles and spend tons of money. I, of course, would love to have it in Victoria since the majority of my family and friends are there (or at least within a short drive or ferry ride away). FH would love to have it in Winnipeg as he has his son, some family and some very dear friends there. Having said that his Mom is in Ontario, his Dad is in BC, and he also has some great friends on the island. Talk about wide spread!

Simplicity says have a destination wedding. It's the thing to do now, don't ya know? Vegas would be hysterical and memorable. A beach would be lovely. But the con to that is that a lot of people wouldn't attend due to time constraints and finances (which is the same issue we have with a non-destination wedding anyway). Besides, we are really looking forward to a big party! And honestly if we do a destination wedding it means we would probably have to wait another year for the honeymoon... that just drags it all out even further.

We'll work it out! Just brainstorming in black and white here. Many of you have asked for the scoop and this is where it stands just now. It's only been two weeks of engagement though...so we've got time! :)

Holiday Recap

Better late than never, right? I've just realized that I meant to get caught up on my posting from the Christmas season, but what with the engagement and all the hub-bub I almost forgot! But I'm here now and that's what counts right?

I worked the first week I was home visiting, but of course still managed to find fun stuff to do in the evenings. The weather really foiled a lot of plans, but I was still able to get almost all of my visiting in and still had a great time.

One evening three of my girlfriends (Kickboxing girls!!) had planned to go to Butchart Gardens for the Christmas display and a yummy dinner...but the snow was so bad that they actually closed the highway for a bit so we opted to stay in the city (Butchart is out in the boonies). We hit up one of our favorite Italian restaurants and had a great visit....even if our meals for some reason were only mediocre...weird. Our waiter got a good laugh at us all making sure we got our pictures with each other...and even offered to take one of all four of us.






This is pretty much how I had to dress every time I headed outside. Each day I did it to get my coffee fix though!

On the weekend my girlfriend threw her 4th Annual Gingerbread House party. Love it. I would have been sooo sad if I'd missed out but she made sure to plan it while I was home on vacay. What a girl. I stayed in Victoria a day longer than I might have had there been no house to build, but I wanted my house dammit. :)

Worked out perfectly since Saturday night there was a big blizzard and the weather on the Sunday was almost blizzard-like so I would have likely had some serious trouble getting up island anyway. Instead I was able to catch a ride with my hostess and her honey on the Monday, and the roads were lovely and clear for us (until we were about 20 minutes outside of our hometown and there was a crazy long detour due to a bad car accident). It was an adventure, and the view on top of the Malahat highway was incredible. It's not often at all that I've seen the Malahat covered in fresh, beautiful snow.

I took a few pictures of the snow at my Mom's just to show the insanity. This is Nanaimo people! Beautiful Vancouver Island where we rarely got much of a Winter, let alone ANY snow when I was growing up. And this year it just started dumped and is still really showing no signs of stopping. There was about four feet while I was there (and Mom told me that they just had another dump the other day that was so bad she couldn't get her car up her street for two days). I didn't realize that I was travelling all the way from Halifax in order to have to shovel my Mom's driveway. Nutters I tell you.

Oh, and this big bugger was built by our friend's adult son while he was visiting her....

Christmas this year was just the immediate family, and honestly at first I thought it would a bit weird and maybe boring. But it was fantastic! In fact, best Christmas we've had in years. None of my Mom's foster kids, no uncle's girlfriends, no extras...just us. Nice. Maybe we all felt a little closer because my Grandpa is showing signs of dementia recently and we were all glad to have him home, or maybe we're all just finally growing up! Even my younger cousins are both teenagers now and it's nice to have them be a part of the "adults" instead of the little kids just causing a ruckus. Any way you look at it, it was a really nice year.

It was a whirlwind of a trip and I'm glad for the downtime I got with my Mom over week I spent with her. There's something to be said for a couple of lazy, quiet days hanging out with my Mom. :)

I went back to Victoria for one night before my flight, and as much as I had grand intentions of trying to see everyone again before heading out I chose to enjoy a quiet night in just visiting with a bestest girlfriend again. It was what I needed after all of the activity. Next year I won't for as long, even if I have to suck it up and pay extra for my flights. 16 days was just too long to live out of a suitcase and rely on friends and family for rides. I guess these are the things you learn when you move away from home and have to start doing the visits...know your limitations!!

Having said that, I already miss everyone! Thanks to everyone that put up with me and helped me out. See you again next Christmas!!