I made blueberry muffins the other day. Have to say they turned out alright, definitely 'old fashioned' in a way (ie: heavy) but I prefer my blueberry pancakes I think - will post the recipe next time!!

So I have tons to write about but my eyes have all but dried up into my head from staring at a computer screen all day and all night. So I think I'll save my 'woes' about turning 25 for another day. :) (You're all spared for now!)

We took a nice long walk tonight with Myranda and Pogo, which was a co-incidental thing that was nice. We were all set to go take the movies back to Blockbuster on foot (about a 15-20 minute walk to get there I guess) and Myranda came in the front door and asked for the movies. Turned out they were going for a walk too, so we all went together.

One sad thing, they discussed how they're going to look at a house on Saturday. It's a rent-to-own offer (which makes me suspicious - note to self, pull a Ginny-Chonga and investigate thoroughly)... ;) I told them they're not allowed to go too far, because I'd miss them, and I would. For some silly reason, as I hit 25, and I look back on my short life filled with good and bad memories and a pile of 'don't do that again' lessons, I have a strong urge to gather all my friends and family closer. I don't know why, but it seems like I'm crossing the 'threshold' into my late 20's with some regrets about losing touch with various people along the way, or maybe not apologizing for things when I should have, and I don't want to continue the trend.

I guess I have facebook.com to blame for it mostly, as I was happy in my own little universe until I realized how many people are out there, who I have shared some piece of history with, that I still consider a friend and who I never talk to. It's funny to think that one day they might not be there, and where will that leave me? I think strong bonds with friends and family are the 'riches' of life - you can't get better than a good conversation over five cups of coffee and two giant pieces of chocolate cake with a girlfriend, or feel as comfortable and relaxed as you are when you're making dinner with your Mom. I just think we sometimes need to stop and appreciate that we have people in our lives that, no matter what their 'role' is, good or bad, make it colourful and interesting, and I for one tend to neglect it out of shyness, laziness and lack of confidence in myself. People are also wonderfully complicated and often-times disappointing, but it's one of those can't live with em, can't live without em kinds of things I think. I think it's time I try to make a bigger effort, so people watch out, you're about to be hounded! (Or not?)

Speaking of hounded, a weird thing today, someone from a company I've never heard of e-mailed me personally and asked if I was still interested in a Quality Engineer opportunity. I had no clue who they were and really don't remember ever sending something to them, so I wrote them back and asked them for more info, not bothering to mention that I have no clue who they are. Nice to have people do the leg-work for you though I guess! Though I looked at their site and it's like a family-run consulting business or something: http://marlerassociates.com/ Not too sure about that one, and I'm happy where I am. I wonder if they're trying to 'poach' resources from other firms? Gutsy... Wonder how much they pay... ;)

Well, I think I need to get some early shut-eye.. Apparently there's a huge winter storm watch in effect for tomorrow (I have mixed feelings - I love a good storm any time of year, but I'm kind of on this "SPRING" kick now.. ;) ) Anyway, I should take the day off, but there's a guy coming in to look at how we do our jobs and make 'suggestions', wouldn't want mine to be 'should show up for work'... ;)

xo

Well, I feel like I probably should have a lot to say, considering I haven't been on in a few days. But I'm so tired today, it's almost too much effort to try to string coherent thoughts together.

So here are two pictures that I finally was able to take (our camera's batteries are shot, and last only for about 5 minutes, and of course are rarely charged, so picture taking opportunities are few and far between these days). Here is my finished painting of my girl.

And here is my beeeautiful (soon to be properly restored) sterling silver bracelet. :)

Anyway, we had a nice evening last night - the guys had their "guys' night out" at the White Cowbell concert, and we gracious girls drove them into Ottawa and dropped them off, then went back and picked their sorry arses up (even though they were SUPPOSED to have taken a cab).

We rented chick flicks and ate grapes and brie and crackers and strawberries and cookies and popcorn and pretty much anything else we could think of (oh yeah there was french bread and paté)... And all that that was after we ordered pizza. ;) Anyway, astonishingly (and we eventually figured out you have to decide when to make it stop) the one who ate the most food was the 1 1/2 year old little girl that my friend Myranda was looking after. It was actually a bit surprising that, after the first few awkward minutes, I got over my 'fear' of her, and actually had an enjoyable evening playing with her. For once I got to speak French to someone who a) can't speak back so she HAD to listen to me, and b) was pretty much on par with my own vocabulary level. ;)

It was funny too, at one point, not too long after she'd gotten here, Luc came out of his room, looked around the living room and said 'wow, that's a LOT of mess for such a little thing!' - she'd found every cat toy, every stuffed animal, every blanket and pillow, and, along with her own toys and blankets, had tossed them all over the room - it looked like a small tornado had gone through there. ;) Anyway, she was cute, and kept us busy throughout the evening. She was very good with my cats, which impressed me a lot (thanks to Myranda's 'parenting' - her real mother is a 21-year old party-girl that dumps the poor kid off on anyone she can find pretty much, so Myranda tries to look after her as much as she can).

I thought I'd make my own contribution to her young life, so I taught her how to brew a pot of coffee (a useful skill if I may say so myself), ;) but brewing coffee with a 20lb giggling baby on one arm makes the task a bit more difficult. It was funny - I smelled the open can of Tim Hortons coffee, (mmmmm :) ) and she smelled it and wrinkled her nose - so Becky taught her her first English word, which was 'yuck'.

All in all, a fun evening. I certainly don't want kids at the moment, but renting other people's would be a fun idea now and then. ;)

Well, off to take a nap now, I'm exhausted...!

xo

Well, I am in a very good mood today. I just got back from Zellers (see my garden blog to hear all about the neat stuff they have for the garden!). I am getting sooo excited for winter to be over! Becky and I discussed our plans to go rollerblading three times a week along the canal this time. At least now that I have a car, I can make sure we do it, because my only argument against it last year was that I had to take the bus with my rollerblades there and back, which added over an hour of travelling time to my already short evenings.

I also went online and found a TON of things to do on weekends in the summer, from giant community garage sales, to gardening shows, to Tulip Festival and the Festival of Lights. Plus, we're planning to do a lot of short trips this year. We'll be going to Toronto to the zoo in May (baby animals!), possibly to the Rocky Horror Picture Show in Toronto (who doesn't love parading around the streets in lingerie? - Note to self, better get off your ass and start exercising or you'll be the only 'Janet' in 'fat pants'), and hopefully to the East Coast in the summer for a week. :)

So speaking of 'fat pants', today is 'Fat Tuesday' or 'Mardi Gras'. It's the day of 'gluttony' and reckless abandon, where people get to over-indulge in all their sinful-icious behaviours before abstaining from them totally during Lent. I am neither Catholic nor Christian, however I am going to give this Lent thing a try, but I've put in some 'clauses' to ensure I am not going to kill myself here. ;) First, I am going to give up swearing (or at least cut back), and I'm going to give up eating junk food during the week (with the hope that once I've weaned myself off it during the week, I won't crave it on the weekends). I've also started my walks again in the evening, which I love (went by Benjamen Moore's again tonight to drool over the wall-coverings :) ).

So hurry up Spring, I'm done with hibernating!

xo

Oh, I almost forgot, I received the nicest gift I've ever been given for my birthday on the weekend from my Mom and Dad. It's a beautiful silver bracelet (engraved with flowers) that is over 120 years old!! It was given to my great Grandma for her 21st birthday back in 1885. I almost cried when I unwrapped it! My camera's not working right now but once I get it all polished up, I'll put a pic up to show it off. :) Thanks Mom!!

TGIF! So, once again, I'm all dressed up on a Friday where everyone else is in jeans. I have another interview this afternoon with one of our clients. I guess the one okay thing about a Friday afternoon meeting is that people are generally a bit more relaxed because they know the weekend starts pretty much as soon as we leave the boardroom. Anyway, I would have prefered to wear jeans, but what can you do... Actually, I really need to, yet again, update my wardrobe. This is a never-ending cycle for me which I thoroughly resent. I may have mentioned it before, but when I was in PEI, things were so SIMPLE - there was no pressure to wear the latest designer anything, everyone was very casual, very friendly, very laid-back. None of this constant evaluating what I'm wearing that day, how my makeup looks that day, how tall/short I am, whether my footwear truly does match my shirt colour, etc that I put up with on a daily basis here in downtown Ottawa (which, laughably, is known for it's total LACK of 'chick style' that Montreal seems to flaunt effortlessly). Anyway, I hate trying to find the balance between office-preppy (suits, dress pants and frumpy blousses), modern fashion diva (you should see all the nice jeans, cute boots, fabulous woolen coats with pretty designs and cashmere scarves all these girlies are wearing - I keep telling myself they're the ones who make $60,000/year and still live at home with Mom - and I do know a few like that), and then there's my natural 'bum' side where I love to curl up in a pair of faded jeans, a few layered t-shirts and a comfy sweater with a pony-tail. Unfortunately, unless you make $150,000/year I am not sure how you're expected to afford all that. Not to mention we have a closet that is half the size of a normal closet and which is shared by both of us. We also don't own a dresser of any kind so EVERYTHING is piled in the closet. I buy new clothes and the closet 'eats' them - they get swallowed up in the never-ending mess that is my wardrobe. It's frustrating too, that no matter how much I buy, I never have things that 'go' together and it's impossible to see what you own.

~Sigh~... So once again I'm making mental notes about the 'essentials' that I need. Unfortunately, there are about 3 new 'essentials' I come up with each day. My sister says I'm just in a 'I want' phase, and shouldn't buy anything until I snap out of it. Maybe so - last night we went shopping for a b-day present for my Dad. Every store was filled with things that called to me from the shelves - pretty blue dishes (I've been wanting some), all the new gardening stuff and seed-starting kits, paper pots you can plant directly into the ground, flower pots in every different colour (I caved and bought three on sale for $1 each), etc. etc. Then there's the fabric stores, the Home Sense store, Benjamen Moore (I took a walk in -25 the other night just so I could go stare in their window and dream of redecorating our terrible bedroom), and so much more... I can't help it! I think I have held off buying things for too long and now I want/need EVERYTHING!

Anyway, so this weekend I'm staying out of the stores. Good thing for me, I'm going to Napanee, (though my shop-aholic mother is there) to celebrate my Dad's b-day and visit with the family. Should be fun, we haven't had Steve and Luc and the family together for over a year. We're going to yuk yuks too, which is fun. :) Anyway, it's good timing, I think I could use a little fresh country air and 'simple' living for a couple of days. Horsies, here we come! (It is especially welcoming after listening to my boss pitch to yet another person his idea of outsourcing my f***ing job to INDIA. I'm going to buy a potato farm, in PEI, where no one can find me (hard to hide there maybe but who cares) and then at least I won't have to deal with idiots anymore).

:)

Hm, seems that they've released a movie 'Bridge to Terabithia', based upon the novel by Katherine Paterson which was what my site-title was based upon. Here I figured I was being original (I read the book way back in grade 6 and actually remembered it which is unusual), and when I tried various combinations of words with 'Terabithia', all the blog urls were taken already! Well, I tried... :)

Ahhh, sweet February 14th... Just oozing 'wuv' and 'CONSUMERISM'... ;) Luc and I have decided that we are not going to fall prey to the whole Valentines Day brainwashing that the media and retail stores inflict upon us all every year. If you think about it, who have you heard say anything about Valentines Day recently? Bet you saw it in a shop window, in an ad on TV, or maybe the morning news had a segment on 'better not forget to buy those roses' like mine did this morning. I bet you didn't hear coworkers, friends and family going around excitedly whispering their plans to surprise their loved one(s) with some expensive 'sweet nothings'. Why? Because, as I see it, no one really looks forward to Valentines Day. At least not for the sake of the day itself. Sure, people look forward to the gifts that guilt-stricken, peer-pressured partners buy for them, but only because the media works it up to be 'if you receive gifts, and thus are in a relationship, you are a member of some 'elite' group of people' which is of course total BS. As far as I'm concerned, it's not any more special than any other day. Infact, those days where you spontaneously do something nice for someone rank far higher on the scale of importance than all those Feb. 14ths where you went running into the nearest Laura Secord at lunch time to join the mile-long line-up of people who are all scrambling to get something, anything to avoid the 'You forgot! You must not care about me!' episode... I figure that doing anything on V-Day because you 'have to', really undoes any meaning behind the gesture(s).
That's not to say that showing your loved one that you care for them on any given day (including V-Day) is a bad thing. Infact, I did buy some home-made chocolates for us to share, but the proceeds help the Alzheimer's society. We will probably make dinner together too (but we do that often), and maybe watch a movie. I think that, handled properly, V-Day can serve as a special day where you take time out of your busy schedules to celebrate and acknowledge all the special people in your life. With that in mind, making a meal together, listening to a favorite cd together, maybe taking a walk or going to a movie together, in a sense, giving the gift of TIME (which is the most precious of our resources) over some tacky diamond-'whatever' is the best way to both really get something out of the day. If you want to give something tangeable, do the dishes and let your loved one curl up on the couch for an hour, or make them a card (don't let Hallmark do the talking for you). Either way, I'm glad that Luc and I share the same viewpoint about this day. No stress here! ;)

When I listen to Norah Jones, I think green fields, bumble bees, white cotton sun-dress, old weathered back porch, blues music and iced tea. So now I'm sooo excited because she's coming to Montreal in May!! I have her newest CD and it's just as great as all the ones before it (actually I find each one she puts out is a little better than the last). Honestly, I love all different kinds of music, and many different artists, but Norah is my favorite for relaxing in the evening (I'm sure my neighbours wish it wasn't because I usually feel the need to add a howl or two of my own to her songs). Listening to her takes me out of the city and plops me smack in the middle of the deep south (not that I have a clue what the deep south really is like, but it has to be sweet, slow, romantic country compared to busy concrete boring that is the city). Actually, PEI captured a lot of that feeling too. And Saskatchewan. There's just something so beautiful about those places. Like the grass is greener (isn't it always?), the sky is bigger and bluer (and not obstructed), you can actually SEE the stars at night, and when you sit and daydream on a sunny afternoon, time seems like it stops for a moment. I don't find that here. Maybe it's just because I own an house now and there's always something to do, so sitting and doing nothing is usually rudely interrupted with thoughts of 'oh, crap I have to do that, and that, and I forgot about that...' and within minutes I'm running for a day-planner or a scrap of paper to jot down yet another job list... But also there's usually something around - neighbours, kids, dogs, cars, whatever, that break that 'moment'. I need a country home someday!
Anyway, so yet another thing to look forward to in May. Along with that of course is SPRING!! I noticed yesterday, and today, that you can see it in the sunshine. It's shining a little warmer than before maybe, I don't know, but when I look at it, instead of that pale winter sun that makes me want to hibernate, it's a warm yellow sun that whispers 'go buy a pretty skirt for spring'... and maybe some matching shoes... ;)
I can't wait until we can go home and open the doors and windows and let fresh air flow through the house, and eat out on the back deck, and dig around in the garden in the evenings, and take long walks after dinner with the sun still UP... I'm just making myself full of hope and we have two more months to go before it's really any warmer, but I checked the Farmer's Almanac yesterday and they say that it's supposed to be unseasonably hot and dry this spring with a cooler and dry summer. Sounds good to me! We were discussing too that we may be doing a road-trip with our friends to the East Coast again this summer. I hope so!
Anyway, until then, it's back to the daily grind, and hurrying from one building, through the freezing cold, and into the next. But the green is coming, it's definitely in the sun... :)

So Groundhog Day, (or Imbolc for those that care), has come and gone, and passed quite nicely with lots of clouds and snow. This supposedly should mark the end of our Winter and the dawning of a new Spring... Naturally, because we live in the freezing North, winter is only just getting started, and today is proof, after a weekend of a comfortable -6 to -13, we're now sitting somewhere in the -20's with windchill warnings of up to -40.




Anyway, so after my 'down-time month' (January), I tried to get a list together of things I hope to accomplish in the coming year. It's already two pages long and growing all the time. Half of it I probably won't even get to, but at least I've written it somewhere to acknowledge it I guess. :)

This is the 'holiday' where you are supposed to think of a way to introduce something new into your life (because two feet under the snow, supposedly somewhere, there is new life beginning). However, I haven't been able to choose just one thing that I want to introduce into my life really. I figure I have time though, since our spring doesn't really start until April. ;) Yes I'm cheating already. I think I'd like to get back into doing yoga. The studio I used to go to also has classes that teach you how to meditate, which would be neat. Apparently (according to one of those scientific mags that Luc always reads), it actually helps develop parts of your brain that otherwise would never get used when you meditate. I like the 'zoning out' factor. Heavenly.... ;)

Well, back to hibernating for now- maybe I'll go finish massacring my new pants for work.. (ie: attempt to hem them).

xx