It's Been Awhile

A long while....

I haven't blogged all summer. Which means I was super busy? I was!

I may as well just pretend that I didn't even have a summer. A lot has happened however.

I met someone in early July, Steve. He is to say the very very least, amazing!
I started a new job in Didsbury...lab supervisor, what up!
I moved to Didsbury for said job, for at least 6 months (maybe more?) I don't even really know!
I went to Miami in August for training for my job, a new analyzer, fun!

That's pretty much up to date.

This week is going to be crazy, I work for three days and then Steve and I are flying off to Winnipeg! We're going to meet the new little gaffer in the family Kaelynne Elizabeth! Daughter to Tyler *my brother* and Gina (sister in law obviously!) Should be awesome. We're also celebrating my mom's *50th* birthday! Lucky her.

After Winnipeg, Steve will fly back to Calgary and i'll be flying to Rochester *barf* for work again. Another new analyzer. Should be a good learning experience though. These things are always good for continuing education credits!

That is the update, I may backdate a few posts and put up some pictures to sum this all up later on....

Baby Chickadees on the Farm!

On Sunday Erin and Jeff brought me out to Jeff's family's place by Longview, AB. His Mom is raising some baby chicks to be chickens for eating. I was just happy to hold them and feed them until one pooped on my hand. What can I say? I think he was a little bit frightened! They were so adorable with their little chirps, but those buggers are hard to catch! Here are some photos from the trip out:

The Most Delicious Candy in the Whole World!

Do you know what those are? Those my friend are PUNKYS! My absolute favourite candy in the whole entire world. I haven't been able to have any since...oh about 2001 (That was 9 years ago) and I still haven't been able to find a candy that I love as much as Punkys. Their made by the Wonka company and unfortunately I found out last night that they are discontinued. This breaks my heart. The last place I remember them being sold was at Carr's Confectionary on 4th avenue SW Moose Jaw. I used to go in there and buy like 3 boxes at a time. They would promptly be demolished by the time it took me to drive to the NW but it was totally worth it. I've looked all over the internet to see where I can buy a case and even emailed a few websites to see if they had any stashed away but no such luck. If I ever get my hands on these little gems in my lifetime i'll be the happiest person on Earth.

In other news, my teeth F$*%&$* hurt today! Mostly just the bottom ones in the front. It might be because they are no longer one in front of the other in an accordian like pattern, but they're all in a straight line. It makes me happy, but at the expense of my pain tolerance that's for sure. It's not like sharp jabbing pains, it's the constant dull pain of toothaches that gets me. Lucky for me I get to go to the dentist tomorrow and have them all cleaned up. I think it'll actually hurt more than usual because they'll have to work around the braces but I'll post on how it goes. I might even take a picture to document the progress of my teeth ( Even though Dad said it was gross and to never do it again). I'm at the 4 month mark already only 1 yr and 8 months to go. In other words....a lifetime. Feels that way anyway. But, it will be all worth it in the end when i have a super wicked smile and big slippery horseteeth! Yay!

Winnipeg, Minneapolis, and Fleurs.

Last week I flew to Winnipeg to meet up with my Mom and do a little road trip to Minneapolis to visit the Albertville Outlet Mall and the MOA (Mall of America!). The shopping was 'insano bananas' as I was constantly repeating on the weekend. The Outlet mall was much more impressive than the MOA, by a long shot because of all the sales! Mind you I did love Macy's they had so many pretty dresses and I was able to find a great pair of jeans there. Mom found a lot of stuff too while shopping, sandals, t-shirts, etc. I kind of blew the $400 limit out of the water unfortunately. But, it's nice to know its all bought and paid for and isn't sitting on my credit card! (thank God!)

I was only able to spend a little bit of time with Dad, Tyler, Gina and Grandma. But, since i'll be back at the end of June, it's ok. Gina looks so cute with her little baby bump! I'm really excited for them, and even though Gina doesn't seem to be enjoying pregnancy she'll enjoy being a mom!

Just before I left on the trip I joined a book club! It's my first time ever in a book club, i'm very excited about it. Our next meeting is June 22, and the chosen book was "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I finished the book within 2 days, which included me reading half the book aloud to Mom on the way home from Minneapolis. I liked it quite a bit and I can't wait to discuss it for book club. I also picked up 'The Alchemist' by Paul Coelho. It was AMAZING! I read it in about a day (most of it was at work today because it was so boring). Even though I have already read it, I hope that it's chosen for our book club sometime. I want as many people to read it as possible, it's sooo good! I'll be reccomending it to everyone for months to come!

Here are some pics from the week away:

Trying out the new Franco Sarto purse...looks like a match!

Flower browsing at the greenhouse:

NEW PAPER!

Uhm yeah I know, this is probably some of the cutest paper ever! I'll be taking it with me this weekend to Canmore to hopefully dolly it up into a nice scrapbook page or two....hopefully I get more than that accomplished this weekend! I just picked it up this afternoon at Scrapbooker's Paradise. They're no stranger to me sitting on their floor sifting through papers, but today I was especially lazy...no exhausted. It was my first day leaving the house since i've been sick. I had to get out and test the waters before I work tomorrow. I'm nervous for it to be busy and me not be able to keep up. But, i'll do my best and hope for the best. It will be nice to relax in Canmore this weekend, scrapbook and nap as I please.

I usually don't blog 2 days in a row, two weeks in a row, or two months in a row. (But, i'm getting better at it!) But, I was really excited about this paper, so I just had to mention it!

FML - I hate being sick!

So, the bucket I was vomiting in this week wasn't near as fancy as this one. But, I thought i'd class it up a little bit by posting a photo of a nice one, instead of the plastic urine hat/bucket I brought home from the hospital!
Still layed out on my couch for now 4 days, this "virus" really grabbed hold of me. What a perfect time to update the old blog, it's been like 4 weeks since I updated here! Last night was maybe one of the worst nights of all. Absolutely no sleep and nausea that I cannot even explain. At least the nights I spent in the hospital I was hooked up to beautiful saline and anti-nauseant meds via IV. I've never had an IV in my life until just the other day, now i've had 4. 2 of them blew (went interstitial or didn't stay in) and 2 were legit. Now my wrists are yellowy-green with bruises and 2 little poke holes in each one. Bummer.
I'm hungry...soooo hungry! There are so many things i'd love to eat right now that would upset my stomach a lot but I can't stop thinking about:
1. Coconut shrimp
2. Fettucine alfredo
3. Salad with cheese and lots of dressing
4. Macaroni and cheese
5. Hummus
6. BBQ potato chips (Old dutch only!)
7. Ice cream (vanilla bean)
8. Banana bread
9. Chicken Pot pie
10. BBQ ribs (don't hold back on the sauce)

I'm going to make it my goal to eat these things over the next 2 weeks once i'm feelin better. I friggin deserve it. I'm pretty sure i've lost at least 5 pounds...I want them back! Most of these items have been featured on episodes on the Food Network which i've been glued to for the last few days :) Worst channel ever to watch when your nauseous and hungry at the same time. Unfortunately i'll never again be able to eat BBQ Crispy Mini rice chips because that was the last thing I remember eating before getting sick.
In other news the Canmore scrapbook retreat is this weekend. I've been waiting months to go to this event. Unfortunately I think that my enthusiasm is tainted from being sick. I'm hoping to feel 100% by Thurs for my shift at the hospital. Even a strong 85% will do i'm sure :) At least it's a pretty relaxing weekend, I know I may not get many pages completed, but i'll try my best. I'll have to hit up the scrap store and walmart before I go to get some supplies for the event. Luckily because we're scrapping in the same hotel we stay at, it will be easy to take naps. (And not naps in my car this time, yay)
That's all for now, i'm actually exhausted from typing :( I've never felt so lame in my life.

Hola Cuba 2010!

Here are the Cuba pictures (a select few anyways!) . It took over an hour to upload all of them because some of them were taken with my dSLR and the files are mammoth! Enjoy!


Noooooooo....don't leave me behind!

Now THIS is how you enjoy your Rum Punch!

My friend Vicki at our first a la carte dinner. The steakhouse. I couldn't eat anything...damn braces!

Me at the steakhouse. We were really trying to do our best with no hair products and no makeup!

The beach! I'm pretty sure this was one of the +35 days!

This was the main pool...so refreshing. But by the third day there the temerature was matching the ocean so it was like a warm bath!

Lounging by the pool. This is only day 2...look at our tans!

I need to find out what this flower is called. When I was trying to take a picture of it, a resort employee came out to me and said, "careful, look" he shook the branch and 3 wasps came flying out from one flower! So then I just HAD to try and get a picture of one!

Hibiscus? This was in someone's yard in the town of Varadero.

The flowers matched my top!

Classic yellow taxi...a little different from the ones I saw in New York!

So many old cars in Cuba, was happy to find this one by the ocean!

This poor puppy looked so hot and hungry. I woke him up from his nap to get this picture. Probably wasn't a great idea to be crawling around the sidewalk in Varadero...oh well the photo turned out really good!

We stopped at Al Capone's house outside Varadero on the way home. Vicki picked up this coconut drink, it wasn't ripe and made me want to throw up

So instead of the rank coconut juice, we got this bartender to put a Miami Vice inside! Delish

Enjoying a slice of personally made pizza! I love pizza!

This is Hector the pizza chef, he always was happy to see us and made us whatever we wanted. Such a friendly guy!

This is the start of the day where is was a little cloudy and a little windy. We tried every drink on the menu...hilarity and heartbreak followed.

This means trouble Drunk.

Drunk

Drunk, yet surprisingly coordinated

At the Cuban a la carte. This was NOT the lobster I'm used to. Can you tell by the look on my face?

Here we go! Jeep Safari!

Swimming in the freshwater cave, you can see my feet! That's nearly 6 feet down! The water was so clear and refreshing!

Cuban lunch on the ranch, amazing!

Us with our crew Shelley and Cody from Nova Scotia. Cody was a great driver!

Dolphins!

He wasn't the best kisser....

Our favourites, Forbes and Alexis (pronounced al-e-see) resort staff. They were so much fun and taught us dance lessons etc. We had lunch with Forbes and another fellow Ivan and learned so much about Cuba and being young in Cuba. We also taught them a lot about Canada and traveling! We were so sad to be leaving all the awesome people!

About 10 minutes before we said goodbye to our sunglasses in the Caribbean :(

Dancing at the show in the theatre. Literally minutes before we had to get on the bus to leave! We had to get one more dance in!

Basketball will put your eye out!

Something to blog about before the scrapbooking day. I nearly lost an eye last night at basketball!

I was going for a loose ball against a competitor and somehow i'm pretty sure his entire hand went into my right eye socket. I was completely frantic and panicking! It was easily the most painful thing I have ever experienced. (Somehow I keep topping my last painful thing lately!) I thought that I was going to black out. My teammates said I was asking them over and over if, "my eye was in my eye" Haha that's funny. My contact lens was folded into 4 and lodged underneath my eylid waaaaay in the back which I was begging for someone to dig out. After I removed it and my teammates helped me to the washroom to rinse the grime out of my eye and got some ice I started to feel a lot less like I was going to pass out. It must have been the whole disgusting hand in the eye thing. My mates were awesome, making sure I was ok, and staying with me in shifts until the game was over. Which after not leading the whole game since by 2 points in the first half, we tied! They had some good players on their team but we came through in the final minutes. (No credit to me who spent the rest of the game rinsing my eye)

Zac and Evan got me back to Okotoks safely and it was already looking better as I was icing it the whole time. After they left and I was getting ready for bed I noticed my tears were bloody. That was scary so even though I only had one truly functioning eye I went to the ER to have it looked at. You don't want to mess around with your eyes! She did a full exam but was inconclusive on where the blood was coming from which was a bit more scary so this morning I got an urgent appointment with the Rockeyview Opthamologist. He was very good and made sure everything was ok. Because i'm so nearsighted my biggest concern right now is retinal detachment so he gave me some things to watch out for over the next couple of days. Overall I have a bruised eyeball (who'd have known eyeballs bruise) and the muscles are inflammed right now too. Pretty sore. In real life, I don't think that it looks all that shabby. I took a couple of photos of the bloody eyeball....gross I know, but it's my blog and i'll post what I want!



My eye looks lazy....but i'm told that will go away. Thank God for that. I remedied my sorrow by shopping at Winners! Yay shopping! (don't worry i'm going to get my eyebrows waxed next week....I know that they're hideous.)

Slowly adjusting to the braces...

I'm starting to get used to this situation known as "having adult braces". I snapped a quick photo before I met my friend Lisa for brunch on monday to show the progress. (I'll try and stay away from taking the wide open mouth pictures that really show the progress! They usually look kinda gross haaha)

(realizing how tired I look, yikes!)

I'm starting to have a bit more confidence with them, but it's slow that's for sure.

Just so I don't leave Meridy out of the blog today, I took a cute pic of her on monday too when she was having a nap on the guestbed (which apparently she now owns):

I think that Meridy thinks she's a model. I know for sure she must think that i'm the paparazzi. Always taking photos of her!

I'm counting the days until Vicki and I leave for Cuba. I'm trying to jam pack the next 10 days so that they go by quickly. I have basketball in Calgary tonight and i was able to snag a spot at the all day scrapbook crop on Saturday. Brandi and Darrel will be at the YYC en route home from a Kelowna boarding trip so i'll try and meet with them there!

I'll be sure to post after the all day crop! (If not before!)

How OLD are you!?

It would appear that i'm having a bit of an identity crisis. I've now had braces for 2 weeks, and I find myself identifying with teenagers the world over. It does make me feel a little bit younger than I am for sure. But, I do have hobbies that may be typically linked to people of older age...

I haven't scrapbooked in months (been busy!) so these pages aren't up to par. But, I still like them. It's hard to scrapbook something that you have so many pictures of. So here is the first little bit of scrapbooking Europe 2009:This would be the mess that is my kitchen table....yikes.

I don't have a scanner big enough to scan in these pages as each one is 12X12 so I had to take a picture of them with my camera. They didn't turn out very well even if I turned off the flash, but you get the idea.

Ok, as for the braces update! Things are moving along nicely. I've become a little bit more adventerous with my food choices. The top wire is almost straight already! It will take a bit longer to see big changes on the bottom but i'm happy to be patient. It will be so worth it!