Let's get drunk, you can drive us to the harbour.

After another rough (and rushed) morning of us sleeping in, Paul rushing to get dressed and ready and out the door, I can finally breathe. After he left I made coffee, put in a load of laundry, and played with the pups for a bit. But only one thing has been on my mind all morning, and for the last few days.

I'm going to be 24 in less than five weeks. Sure, five weeks is a long ways away still, but... 24??! When did I grow up? How did I become this woman I have? The last four years have been a huge blur, and have flown by faster than I can even convey with words. It's still hard for me to believe, some days, that I'm off living on my own (which I have been doing for 3.5 years), let alone married and turning 24 soon. So wild.

I went from this (2004):

Can't believe how long my hair was - and how horrible I dressed...

To this (2005):

Shorter hair, two nostril piercings...

To this (2006):

Two nostril piercings, two labret piercings, short hair... (Oh Sidekick, I miss you SO much!)

Then this (2007):

Wow, lots of facial piercings and too much make-up?

To 2008:

That was Paul's birthday dinner, that year... 1.5 years ago!

And finally, 2009 (like you need a reminder of that):

Personally, I like the me of 2009 (and 2010) best. But I guess I'm biased...


My birthday weekend also marks three years that my dad has been gone. He passed away on March 29th, 2007 - three days before my 21st birthday.

I remember the day like it was yesterday - they flew me home the Saturday prior, because they knew he wasn't doing well. I didn't get to say goodbye - he was already on life support and not awake. I spent almost a whole week with him, with my mom and my family, in the ICU hospital room, before he passed. That was the worst day of my life. The days the followed were like a nightmare - people at the house, bringing gift baskets and food trays. My best friend and my sister went together and paid for Paul to fly to Thunder Bay to be with me for my birthday, and the funeral. I was soo happy (and surprised) about that. Sunday was my birthday. We all went out for dinner (there was like 20 people!) and then we went mini-putting. Monday was the funeral.

I'm sort of freaking out right now because I can't find any pictures on my computer of my dad. I have lots that would need to be scanned - I'll do that another day. I miss him so much. I doesn't matter than we were never really close, that he disagreed with alot of (most of) the things I did as teenager. He was always there for me, he always listened, or helped, or took me places or picked me up. I'm sad that he wasn't there on my wedding day - but I'm glad that he did get to meet Paul, two months before he passed away. I'm sad that my kids won't have him as a Grandpa, because he would have made a great one.

I stole this pictures from my Aunt's facebook. It's (left to right) my mom, my aunt, my dad and... me. In the hat. I think I was 14.



RIP Daddy. I will always miss and love you...

I so didn't realize this was going to be such a walk-down-memory-lane, tramatizingly (is that really a word?) emotional post. Oh well. What's done is done. Now I don't have to write about in a month from now, when my emotions will really be off the wall. My mom's coming to visit us on March 27th, so we will be together, at least.

That's it. Consider this my Flashback Friday post. Happy Friday everyone!

I'm sweating out excuses that would make your stomach turn.

Holy snow. Seriously, yesterday it was +4 and beautiful out, and our snow was practically all melting. Today, bam! SO much snow. And it's not stopping. I'm not exactly complaining. It feels like winter, it looks like winter and I like that.

I went out and shovelled the driveway (for the first time!) while Paul was getting ready for work. I figured, I'd already packed his lunch, made coffee and I have winter boots (he doesn't). So it took me about 20 mins and I had it all nice and cleared. Then, five minutes later when Paul left for work, it had already all filled in with snow again. I might do it again in a bit. Here's what it looked like right after Paul left for work.



I decided to try on Ruby's snow suit that was given to me by an old neighbour when we lived in the apartment. It was brand new but didn't fit her dog. It didn't fit Ruby then, either (it was too big). Now, oh, look, it fits her.



Which means she's grown and gotten fatter in the last six months. Ha, we already knew that. She didn't exactly like having it on, but when I sent her outside to try it out, I think she appreciated it.



She didn't want to stay outside long, though.



Onto my photo update:

On Thursday (I think), I walked across the street to Sobey's and got what I needed to make Taco Salad for dinner that night, and Rice Krispie Squares for dessert. And here are final results:


Taco salad, made with Veggie Ground Round, taco seasoning, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, taco chips.


Chocolate Rice Krispy Squares with chocolate chips (after three had been eating, apparently).


Hmm, what else? Oh, I decided to bring back one of my nostril piercings... I think it totally needed a comeback. Since I stopped wearing jewelry in my lip piercings, and I only wear a retainer in my septum piercings, my face was feeling a bit empty with only my cheek piercings.

So, the return of the nostril piercing.



I got both of my nostril pierced back when I was 19 (maybe 20?) when I was on vacation in Florida. I only ever wore studs in them and I loved them, but at some point at least a year ago, I decided to stop wearing them. Well, a few days ago when I tried to put jewelry in, the hole was still open! Amazing.

On Saturday night we went out for dinner for a friend's birthday (our wedding photographer, actually) and then we headed to a house warming party for our friends who moved the same day we did (the guy was one of our ushers at the wedding). This got me thinking about whether we should have a house warming party or not. Then it was decided - yes, we should. We are going to wait until March 20th, because the 13th is our friends' wedding reception and any sooner than that is... too soon? We still have unpacking to do, plus more decoration and pictures to hang, and so on. But we are pretty excited about it. If all (or most) of this snow goes away before then, we plan on picking up this amazing fire pit from Walmart:



And so, we will have snacks and drinks inside and then a fire in the backyard once it's dark. I'm SO excited.

Okay, I'm off to get to work on my list for my days off (today and tomorrow). Included is laundry, vacuuming, shoveling again, unpacking a bit and maybe taking the dogs for a walk, depending if the snow calms down. Happy Monday!

Welcome to the the first edition of... Flashback Fridays!

Yep. This idea just came to me, as I was looking through puppy pictures of Ruby, with Paul, this morning. Yes, Fridays are now and will always be Flashback Fridays. I amaze myself sometimes... bahaha. (Plus, it gives me an excuse to post on Fridays, even if I don't have much interesting stuff to say)

For my first edition, I will randomly choose five pictures to post. One of each of the pups, one oldie of Paul and I, and two others... randoms. Maybe I'll do this every week?

1. Baby Ruby (July 2008):


I so miss her little baby-ness. She was so soft and she slept all the time and... *sigh*

2. Baby Olivia, not that long ago (June 2009):


She's only ten months old right now... so still a baby. But I look at her sometimes and think that she's so grown up and I might never have a puppy again (or for a looooong time. :(

3. Paul and I (October 2006):


This is the oldest picture I can find of Paul and I, on my laptop. I know there are others, but this one was taken in my old apartment in Toronto so I know it's one of our first pictures together. Yep, I had bad hair. Don't remind me.

4. Me, at the Jack Johnson show (Aug. 2008):


Not exactly a flashback, but I just randomly chose a photo from an album from 2008, and I like this one alot. That was one of the best days ever - me, Paul, Jack Johnson and about 150,000 people. Crazy.

5. Jack. (same day as above)


Figured I might as well post an actual picture of Jack, as well. He is the only other person in the world I'd want to marry... I totally *love* him.

And there you have it, Flashback Friday begins! I promise to dig up some other good oldies and maybe steal some from Paul... maybe I'll even go back to our teenager (eeek!) and childhood years?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Look in my eyes, I'm jaded now.

I hate rushing out each afternoon to check the mail, and it's empty. Worse.feeling.ever. We are currently waiting for a few certain things and we'll be very happy - and be able to get Olivia's fixed - once these things arrive. I am not a big fan of Canada Post right now. I have been working on changing everything over from our old apartment to our new address this afternoon. This morning we went and checked the mail at the old apartment and there was tons of stuff - Rogers bills, credit card bill, OSAP statement, College Alumni thing and so on. So right away I called Rogers and got the address changed, went online to change the address for the credit card bill and OSAP stuff... and I'm working on the rest. So annoying.

I am also working on getting everything together so Paul's mom can get our income taxes done soon. I printed out my college tuition T4 today, and I got my OSAP interest one in the mail today. Just waiting on my work T4 and I should be good to go. I hope.

Now onto my picture update: Going back to this past Saturday night... we had friends over to watch a movie and Paul and I decided to try out our fondue set we recieved as a wedding gift, for the first time.



First, Paul digging in. And below, our setup - chocolate caramel fondue, marshmallows, strawberries and apples (and beer and wine).



Next, the pups were playing outside the other day, so I snapped some pictures:



Oh, and Skeletor decided to hang out with the empties, yesterday:



A few night ago, I randomly came across a recipes for Chocolate, Oreos and Strawberry Parfaits. I looked it over and realized that I had everything to make them. So, that evening, as a surprise dessert for Paul, I made these:



And, finally, I got this back from Paul's parents' house this weekend. It was our "signed frame" at the wedding, and we decided we'd keep it there until we moved, then put it up in the new house. Well here it is, living on the wall in our office, for now.

Where did the last six months go?

Today is mine and Paul's six month wedding anniversary, though since it's not actually an anniversary, I'll just say that we've been married six months as of today. Six months?! Half a year is a long time. And it's flown by, while at the same time allowing me to still feel like the wedding was yesterday. How is that possible?

In memory of our wedding day (that makes it sound like the wedding is... dead?) today will be just my favourite pictures from the wedding. I haven't looked at wedding pictures in awhile so this will be fun for me - so just go along with it, okay? :P

My brother and I walking down the aisle:



Paul waiting for me at the front (smiling, but not for long - he cried through the whole ceremony!):



First kiss as a married couple!:



Walking back up the aisle:



Me with the girls:



Me and my Mama:



Our reception entrance:



Photoshoot in the Cadillac:





First dance:



Wedding party dance:



Cutting our cake!:



And the last picture of the night, on our longboards:



So there's our wedding in 15 pictures or less (in this case, 13).

I can't wait to spend another six months, then six years, then six decades with my husband and best friend. <3

Smile for the cameras that keep rolling...

So. I totally wrote a quite long post yesterday evening. Then my mom called, I walked away from my laptop and forgot about it, without posting it. I came on my laptop this afternoon and it's still there, waiting to be published. I deleted it.

It was pretty much a downer post, anyway. I wasn't feel good about... I don't know... life, yesterday. Not sure why. But I sure wrote about it. Oh well.

I'm feeling good today, except I don't want to go to work in a couple hours.

I think I've decided not to do the whole Etsy thing. Not being able to sign up because I don't have a credit card is lame. So, screw you Etsy. I don't need you. :P

I'll just post pictures of the hemp jewelry on facebook and leave it at that. For now.

I must go take out my whining pups, then check the mail and start getting ready for work. Boo. I suck at posting non-boring things. Whatever I'm over it.

If this ground gives way, I just hope that you'll catch me.

Today will be a picture post (since I don't have much time to write and write and write... though I'd love to).

Yesterday, my day went like this:

I made this necklace:



(I'm soon going to try to sell hemp necklaces, so I'm getting myself back into it slowly).

Then, I made these, and put them in the fridge to set. We ate them (well, not all of them) as dessert after dinner:



Then I took this (and few others) picture of Olivia:



She's not nearly as photogenic as Ruby is, but she's still pretty darn cute.

And here's the dinner I made, for when Paul got home at 9:30pm:



(It's super creamy garlic and cheese mashed potatoes - thank you stand mixer! - and cold pasta salad).

And here is what Paul surprised me with after dinner. He went and bought them before work yesterday!



And lastly, here's the second necklace I made last night (finished it around 2am):

Life is always hard, for the belle of the boulevard.

We slept in this morning, which put my day off to bad start. I had to quickly wake Paul - since he needed to leave for work in ten minutes! - and then take the dogs out to pee, pack Paul's lunch, feed the cats and the dogs, then send him off to work, all in about 8 minutes. Wild. Then I started the coffee maker (poor Paul didn't get coffee this morning) and played with the dogs for a bit, while it brewed.

I'm glad I have coffee in me now, since I have big list of to-do's for the day, which goes as follows:

- do a load of laundry, including my work clothes (already in the washer)
- vacuum the rest of the main floor, and the upstairs bedrooms
- pick up dog poop from the backyard
- load the dishwasher
- upload Dominican pictures to Walmart photo centre website, and order them (doing curently)
- print off applications for places to apply at this week
- print off resumes
- take the dogs for a walk (this is every day :P)
- make another batch of Oreo cheesecake cups


So I just googled "Pug mug" so I could find a picture of my coffee mug my mom bought me for Christmas. It's big, says "Pug" on the handle and all the way around it, and has different pictures of super cute pugs. I couldn't find a picture of the same mug, but here's some others that I found, that I now want to own.



If I was ever going to get another dog, and I could talk Paul out of a boxer (I love them, but they are too big and need too much excersize), I'd get a black pug. Hands down. Man, I love pugs.

Oh, don't know why I just thought of this (could it be because I just washed my hands in the bathroom and saw it?), but I am so in love with these cloths. As far as I know they are only available in Canada (from Home Hardware). Natura Eco-Friendly wonder cloths are machine washable and have no odor when dry, like most normal dish cloths. They dry like paper (or cardboard, kind of) and then when you wet it, to use it, they feel like a normal cloth. SO cool, and I'm no longer using smelly cloths in the kitchen and bathroom. Wonderful.

Off to get to work on my list for today.

You are my gateway drug, you pull me down, you mess me up.

Got a tetanus shot this morning. Now my arm feels like someone punched me as hard as they could. On the plus side, Paul and I have a family doctor now. We went and met with her this morning. She's young-ish, and nice. She wants me to make an appointment for a pap test and a full medical, which is a good thing, I guess, since I haven't had a pap test in two years and have never had a full medical. But still, I am hesitant. Paul has to go get bloodwork done and then a full medical, as well. She's more hesitant than I am. We're such babies.

I have a new morning routine, and it makes me happy. Usually, we wake about at about 10am, I get dressed, brush my teeth and then go downstairs to pack Paul's lunch and make coffee. He sits around in his PJs and watches Let's Make a Deal, then Price is Right, right up until the first spinning of the wheel. Then, he realizes that he's running late (every morning!) and then hurries upstairs to get dressed and then rushes out the door.

Once he's gone off to work, I usually watch the rest of Price is Right and then make lunch, get some unpacking done (though it's basically done now) and do some facebooking, nesting, blogging, and so on - with my laptop down in the living room. Well, not today. Today, I'm up in the office. Yesterday morning, Paul and I drove 45 mins to pick up my new desk, which someone was selling on Kijiji for $50. The same desk at Walmart is $99 plus tax. Here she is:



Here's Paul's desk, on the opposite wall:



Now I'm sitting here, feeling wide awake (thanks, coffee) and a little bit more like a grown up. And I really like not sitting in front of the TV, even though I barely watch it - I always put on A Baby Story and live vicariously through them for a few minutes each day. And no, I don't want to talk about when we're going to start trying for a baby. Paul changes his mind every day.

Back to all things house-y (did you the like the way I changed the subject, there?). Here's the final picture of the new coffee table, with the baskets underneath. One basket has dog toys, the others are empty at the moment:



And here's a picture I took of our backyard, from inside the house. It's long and narrow, but it's fenched (sort of) and it's ours, which is all that matters. And yes, our snow is fading slowly. When we moved in, the snow in the backyard was up to the top of my boots. Now the back part of the yard doesn't even have snow. Spring soon?



Oh, and Paul let me buy the new laundry hamper that I posted the other day. It was $35 and though technically not an essential item right away, I really wanted it. So, now it lives in our bedroom. I even put it together myself.



I used the new vacuum for the first time last evening. It's fantastic (though anything would be, compared to my old one) and I filled the container by just doing the living room carpet and the couches. Tomorrow's job will be the stairs and the upstairs. I like vacuuming, when it actually works. Who would have thought? On the same note, I'm sick of re-washing (well, rinsing) dishes after they come out of the dishwasher. Does anyone have an insight on this? Better detergent? Kthx.