If your following, yes i'm messing with it.....

Don't be alarmed if you check and my Blog looks completely different (anyone check out the cool shopping bags from yesterday? They looked so awesome on the laptop but when I checked the Blog on the home computer was a teeny bit shocked to see that the shopping bags were sitting on top of the words and I could hardly read them. I must have done something wrong.) Needless to say I am having lots of fun messing with the formatting etc. and will hopefully find one that fits my Blog. For now....pink stripes are kinda fun. Feel free to let me know if you have a favourite.

A Day of Firsts

Short sampling of a day of firsts:

New hairdresser. Yes you read that right. Went to a new hairdresser. Started out great. Turned to panic (think full head of strawberry color). Went back to great. Then turned to "oh my" strawberry fields with blondes running through it. Oh holy blonde chick. I was sitting in the hairdressers chair thinking about my hat collection and whether or not I could get away with dressing up a Corona baseball hat and wearing it to work.

That's not the only first. Get this. A man, yes a man washed out my foils. A MAN. Ok, so I'm a bit of a weirdo but seriously, A MAN and not just any man he was most certainly a straight man (the hairdresser's husband - who I am going to add here is also a hairdresser. Oh, I am now wondering about the straight thing?) Nice fella really. Funny to boot. But really a dude washed my hair? What does one say about that.

Funniest thing... When I left I was a little shell shocked. All I could think about was what the hell am I going to wear with red hair. Then I looked in the rear view mirror - waaaiiitttt a minute. My hair isn't red. What happened? Were the lights red? Ok. Post traumatic hair disorder averted. Holy hair batman. For about 20 minutes there I thought I was going to need to go into therapy. All is again well with the world. Well, the hair world anyway.

Side bar: Bambi, love ya sister but you would have gotten the therapists bill (something about abandonment comes to mind). Statler, love ya to sister but I have to tell you for about 20 minutes today YOU were buying the beer the next time we went out. Your off the hook, unless of course I go out tomorrow and some chick I know sees me and says something about my red hair. Then the beer bill is back to you.

The 'Party' - Part Two

I survived. Oh yes I did. Got myself a little glimpse of our future and my oh my let me tell you it is not pretty. People actually drop off their crazy children, leave them completely unsupervised with which our future leaders proceed to beat the crap out of each other. For. Fun. I was completely, utterly horrified. Listen people, if your going to let your six or seven year olds watch ultimate fighting that's your gig. You deal with the little hellion after he ingests this behaviour and then tries to replicate it. In. Public. Keep them at home please. The rest of us DO NOT want to have to stop your kid from breaking another kids arm or jumping off the top rope onto another six year olds head. Seriously!

The 'Party' - Part One

Tonight I get the pleasure (read: sarcasm right off the bat) of going to one of those crazy ass loud places where some brilliant genius rents himself a big warehouse and throws a jungle gym of sorts into it and invites every germ infested, snotty, smelly rug rat in to run around, yelling and screaming and generally partaking in all the behaviours that us parents highly discourage our youngsters to be involved in. I have begun the pre-party personal preparations:

- Advil infusions started hours ago so that I will be sufficiently medicated before entering the scream fest.

- I have texted my partner in sarcasm to ensure her attendance – think Statler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show – you remember right?

- I have an emergency beverage or two in the fridge to enjoy if I happen to live through this adventure without hurting someone.

- I have been practicing meditation to calm my mind and get the images out of me tripping kids as they run by me like rabid dogs.

- I have my “I’m just his Aunt, I don’t know why he did that, find his mom”, cover story completely formulated just in case the kid I bring acts like a complete idiot and I have to save myself from any embarrassment.

If I live through it, Part Two will follow.

Many Greatful Things

A couple friends have emailed and spoken to me personally wondering where the hell I have been. Well, long story short - still writing, to busy to post. I know, lame excuse. I will try to stay on top of it. For now I am again forced to resort to sappy with a little story that started this evening.

While watching a sporting event of sorts tonight, a friend asked me "How was your weekend?". Standard question, yes. Standard answer, no. I was forced to admit that although this weekend had some very tough moments (not to mention a few tears) it truly was a weekend where, upon reflection, I had to realize how extremely grateful I am for so many things. Friday night I realized that a friend is not just lucky, she is super, crazy, "your not gonna believe this lucky". With many chuckles and some new found great sushi rolls, Friday ended only to bring a very long Saturday. You see on Saturday the neighbours all came together and found a new appreciation for the land, and by this I mean DIRT. Stinky, smelly, cow poo filled dirt. Woo weee. There is nothing like a huge pile of dirt in someone's front driveway to bring out the best in this neighbourhood. Not to mention multiple wheelbarrows, a ton of shovels and more kids than we think actually live in the area. Six hours or so later and a new appreciation for muscles we did not know we had or have not used in at least 15 or 20 years, the smelly pile was gone. It turned out to be a neighbourhood beautification project and perfect timing too. We all seemed to need a break from one thing or another. What started as a determined project to get the sixteen yards of shit off the driveway ended in a huge pile of friends sharing an amazing meal outside while the kids ran around like Mogley from the Jungle Book (think covered in dirt!). Sunday brought a collective moaning that probably could be heard for miles and Advil runs to the pharmacy. Sunday also brought a family birthday dinner, the knowledge that friends who were crazy enough to drive for six days to go on vacation, made it safely home and that special feeling of knowing that tomorrow all the kids would be back at school. Wonderful school.

The answer to the question was "I had an amazing weekend. Thanks. And yours?"

With Great Sadness....

It is with the greatest sadness that I have to write that we have lost one of our most loved, faithful members of the hood. Many tears today and many more to come. There will be the fondest of memories, including glow sticks at halloween, missing tennis balls and a sparkly clean garage floor after every party. Our lives have all been better having met him and our thoughts and love are shouting out for his family. Although his years were not long enough, the love for his mom, dad, brothers, neighbours and friends is never ending. We will miss you dude.

113 Days and Counting

Yes, there are 113 days left. Sounds like a lot of time but really it isn't. Not when you are still eating like a cow and working out only in your imagination. This is my next letter to the Race Commissioner:

Dear Sir:

You have to know that the excitement of the race itself is great and all but I would like to formally request that you provide at least one "Martini Station" mid way and a "Margarita Station" at the end. Come on. A girl has to have something of a reward at the end of this thing. What better than a nice blender drink? Throw a real lime in the blender. We will call it a "fruit drink".

Respectfully yours,
Betty's Best Customer

Oh Come on.

Seriously, I had to sit through weeks of stupid tv and he picks the chick with roots and she can't even pull a whole paragraph of intellect? Oh, I am so mad at myself for wasting hours watching this drivel. Hours I could have spent ummmm reading or having a really great conversation with someone (oh wait... telemarketer....soo gonna mess with her ..... be right back)

I'm back. What was I going on about? Oh yah. Stupid tv. I'm really just going to suffer through Survivor tonight in order to get to Grey's Anatomy. McDreamy is almost as nice to look at as Mr. Michael. Bambi had a crisis this week wondering why I was not first to get tickets to his concert here in our great city. I know myself better. I'm not sure I will be able to become a spy for the FBI or CIA if I have a criminal record. Wait - is it a criminal offence to rush the stage and caveman (or woman) like drag Michael off the stage and bring him home to keep forever? I won't hurt him, I swear. I am now questioning whether the FBI still needs spys. I honestly have a great cover: laid back, easy going Canadian chick then BAM your busted bad guy, i'm really a spy working to eliminate the world of annoying people. Big job but someone's gotta do it.

Happy Canada Day!

Yup, you read it right. Yesterday officially became the next Canada Day. Yesterday was one of those days in Canadian history where, ten years from now, we will be all sitting around moaning and groaning about our aches and pains and then out of no where...... Someone will say "where were you when Canada won the big, huge, life changing hockey game at the best winter Olympics EVER?" Everyone will have a story. A memory. A fond reminder of a hangover. How amazing was that? Not just the "kick ass" hockey game but the humble, smiling athletes who did us all proud, medal or not; the hands down best city ever and a whack of crazy, flag waving, touque wearing fans who will forever remember the past two weeks. I have heard so many people say today that they are sad its over. I have to agree. It was a crazy time but one our country is not soon to forget. A friend and I both agreed that yesterday was a great day for another reason as well. After watching nail biting hockey on tv and watching our Canadian athletes get beautiful, gold bling, we had the pleasure of climbing in our cars, driving to the rink and watching another amazing hockey game. It just doesn't get any better, not to mention Canadian, than that! Go Canada! Go Colts!

And now, Vancouver, back to freaking reality. It had to happen i'm afraid. Time to get back to work. Ah well, I have to tell ya right now i'm not just excited about the awesomeness of the Olympics but my daytimer is once again crazy busy. All the tv shows are BACK BABY! No more repeats. Life is good. Didn't I tell ya 2010 was going to rock? And its only the beginning.....