rain and wine

wow, today i was busy. like BUSY. it was strange, but good.

anyways, i’m still not totally done what i have to do, but i thought it was time to take a bloggy break. (yes, i know, my priorities are staggering)

it’s rainy and grey outside… or in other words, spring in vancity. in my years here i have learned to embrace the grey weather. instead of depressing me, it makes me happy because it’s a great excuse to nest inside my house.

bff – t has been telling me about how she’s drinking a box of wine tonight. see, that’s a great rainy night activity. i just may follow suit. unfortunately wine, especially red wine has been giving me brutal heartburn the last couple months, so i’ve been avoiding it. plus i would never drink box o’ wine, i’d drink a couple bottles though. so it’s possible i might go home tonight and take some heartburn meds and then put back a bottle or two of house red. and like milli vanilli, blame it on the rain.

so, my exciting news for the day is that i was sent this web site tastebook where you create your own cookbook. it costs like $35, but you can add pictures, and they bind it an everything and it looks super cool, so i think i’m going to do one. now, i have to decide if i should spend some time cooking everything and taking pictures of it for the book… or if i should just use random fun pictures of friends and stuff in its place.

so does this mean that i can cross “writing a book” off my to-do list? lol.

srsly.

okay, i was very happy to read in the paper today this story:

Latimer wins day parole

this poor poor guy.  every time i think about his story i get sick to my stomach.  i understand that he’s spent time in jail for a reason… euthanasia is illegal no matter how compassionate it was.  but for him to be denied parol was just ridiculous. 

this man is absolutely no danger to society and will never re-offend.  keeping him in jail is not only a colossal waste of taxpayer money, but it’s just incredibly sad. 

can you imagine being in his place?  i believe that what he did took a tremendous amount of courage.  he basically gave away his life to end his daughter’s suffering.  how tragic is that?  

anyways.  i don’t have too much to say on this beyond that.  thankfully someone finally pulled their head out of their ass and gave him parole.  there’s not many “killers” that i’d welcome into my home, but robert latimer would certainly be one. 

accomplishment?

alright.  i feel good about what i’ve done today.

wedding invites complete. 

well okay.  i’ve made the part that i’m getting printed on photo paper from future shop.  and i’ve emailed one to get done as a test print.  if i like it, then i proceed with printing the other 60 odd ones.  but the design part is complete. 

then i have to cut down my black cardstock to 5×7

then i have to glue the 4×6 photo on the cardstock. 

then stuff in envelopes.

then address envelopes.  (and by this, i mean to print labels off)

also buy stamps.  oh, but i have to bring one of my envelopes in to the post office, since they’re oversized, and figure how much postage it’s going to be.  probably over a buck each.  what a load. 

but really, the big hold up is that i still need to collect everyones mailing addresses.  what a pain.  i mean honestly.  who mails things anymore? 
*sigh*

so my goal is this.  approve photo today.  get all copies printed tomorrow.  cut cardstock to size by friday.  get all addresses by friday.  glue and craft my shit on saturday.  address and stuff by sunday night.  mail monday morning.  seems doable. 

but i gotta say… it’s times like this when i wish i wasn’t such a procrastinator.  i’ve had the cardstock sitting at home since november.  if i had cut just one piece per day, they’d be done by now.  and if i’d gotten addresses months ago… well, then i would have sent everyone a xmas card too, lol. 

ah well.  maybe i’ll stop procrastinating tomorrow.  maybe. 

hooray for me! (and fuck you)

sorry, that’s my favourite bad religion song, so anytime i can work it into my daily life, i feel the need to do so. 

but really.  hooray for me.  i actually rolled my fat ass out of bed this morning and went to gym. 

but god does not want me to work out. 

i was on the treadmill for 25 minutes, and was planning on doing at least 40 minutes… and something happened and the power on the treadmills went out.  all of them.  but no lights went off… it was weird.  the guy on the treadmill beside me went to the fuse box and tried all the fuses, but couldn’t figure out how to get the treadmills back on.  so i did some weights and then left.

see.  god does not want me to go to the gym. 

okay, since i don’t believe in god, i guess that’s not really a reason. 

so i’ll try it all again tomorrow. 

but right now it’s 9:30am, and i’ve been awake for 4 and a half hours.  i am going to be bagged tonight.  which is a good thing because i am el grande insomniac.

so… randomly… i was taking a peek at my blog stats and searches and stuff this morning… usually they’re pretty much the same, i always seem to have one that’s “spandex fucking” for some reason and several for chippendales & thunder from down under…. but there was one today that made me laugh – “what brandon boyd likes in a woman”

ya.  if i could figure that out, i’d be marrying HIM, lol.  (i kid i kid, i love my man)

but really.  who googles that and expects an answer?  and what’s the point?  he’s a rockstar.  you have little chance of ever being in the same room as him, even less of a chance of talking to him beyond a few words, and even less of a chance of ever extending the relationship beyond that.  but hey, i guess a little optimism never killed anyone, lol.  really.  best wishes with that.  i’ve met him twice, and trust me, it got me nowhere despite my best efforts to be charming (er, maybe not.  re: not being able to form sentences)

alright.  on the to-do list for today are my wedding invites.  i must get on this… because as trav pointed out, if i don’t send invites, noone will send gifts, lol.  and let’s face it, i’m gonna want those gifts. 

distraction chicken.

i meant to blog this morning, but i have been terribly distracted by my job (gasp, i know) and by the NHL trade deadline. 

i agree with my friend trav, the deadline day should be the stat holiday in february.  i mean, no one works anyways.  all i have to say is thanks to tsn for their trade tracker that i can minimize to my tray and it updates itself.  very helpful. 

anyways, not much happened.  we traded cooke.  but got a new scrapper in his place.  and apparently the new dude lives in victoria and has always wanted to play for the canucks.  so welcome to the team. 

i still miss ruutu. 

so, i’ve decided that as part of the never-ending quest to be good at life, i’m back on my diet.  i really do need to take care of myself, especially before my surgery for my gallbladder… so enough procrastination.  time to be healthy.  i can do it. 

i also would like to dredge my ass out of bed at least 2 mornings a week and go to the gym.  getting up at 5am will be a challenge, but my guy is up then anyways… so at least i’ll have company. 

alright.  lots of work to do today – see, this is what happens when you save all your work that needs to be done by month end for the last few days of the month, lol. 

return of the ginger elvis

that’s correct.

hold on to your panties.  

QOTSA return for a totally random western canadian tour.

vancouver, then victoria, then calgary, then edmonton and then saskatchewan.

http://www.ticketmaster.ca/artist/730011

tix are reasonable.  $37 + SC. 

so hot right now.

bubble

sometimes it’s so easy to start writing blogs and totally forget that other people will read it… and since there’s no context, they may read things in a way that i hadn’t meant them to.  i really must start being more conscious of this.

in the last week several of my pals have reached out to me in response to my blog about being really depressed.  it was sweet and sincere and i appreciate everyone that called, emailed, left me facebook messages and even took me for lunch.  i have good people around me. 

i will say, certainly, and without using my acting, that i do feel much better. 

about a month ago i decided to go off birth control.  not for any baby-making reason, but because i was getting weirded out that i had been taking these hormones every day for the last 12 years.  that’s a long time.  plus as a smoker, it’s not good for me, as i near my 30’s.  so i decided to take a couple months off and cleanse my body of medications for a bit. 

i suspect these changes have been more major than i expected.  i have felt depressed, had mood swings and basically felt the effect of pms for the first time in my adult life.  it’s been weird and i’m not sure i’m handling it well.  i think i may have to curb this experiment sooner than i thought, which also compounds my theory that maybe i shouldn’t be on hormones for birth control to begin with. 

ugh.  the female body is a wondrous and confusing thing. 

anyways.  i don’t think i can not recognize the role that this change has made on my moods and well being over the last month.  so if i was a dick to you, or took something you said/did to an extreme and/or just generally wasn’t myself and you said, wtf is up, then i apologize. 

so to help pull myself out of this funk, i’ve been trying to get out a bit more.  the sunshine and warm weather has done wonders for me.  on friday night at the bar we sat outside until almost 9pm.  it was amazing.  first patio drinks of 2008. 

on saturday i went for dim sum with a friend and then walked home, taking my sweet ass time.  i stopped in about 10 different places, got groceries and actually spent 45 minutes in michael’s looking for a hobby.  my mom laughed at me and reminded me that i wasn’t really “crafty” so a craft store probably wouldn’t be a good place to start.  she might have a point.  there was lots that i thought looked cool, but i didn’t really know where to start, and also a lot of stuff is quite expensive to get all the stuff and get into it.  so mission aborted. 

the highlight of the wander home was pier one.  which is a store i generally don’t like anything in, and really, there was nothing i wanted to buy, but it was just so awesome to see patio furniture and outdoor stuff.  i hear canadian tire has their outdoor stuff now too.  must go there this weekend.  i’m super stoked about pimping out my patio hardcore this year.  it will be my best triumph in patios yet. 

then after i came home, i went for a walk with my mom for about 45 minutes.  i was BEAT when i got home.  (did i mention that i did all this walking on a hangover?)  so basically once home, we made dinner – chipotle turkey burgers with jalapeno havarti and bacon and jalapeno potato salad in honor of the “summer weather” outside, and watched part one of the battlestar galactica movie and then passed right out.  both of us were asleep by 9pm and slept until 9am the next day.  just wonderful. 

so i’m feeling much happier and well rested.  so this is all good in my world. 

congrats!

to my pals j & c on the birth of their little one – madelyn
born sunday feb 24 at 1:08 pm.
she weighed 7 lbs 13.7 oz

that is huge. 

i hope nothing that large ever comes out of my vagina.  childbirth is terrifying. 

also…

the l word last night was so hot.  and hilarious. 

i can’t believe bette and tina are back together.  so awesome.  screw the deaf chick jody, get her out of there.  bette and tina are so much better together.  and 2 sex scenes with them last night.  holla.  totally hot. 

and the dig at filming scenes that are supposed to be in LA in vancouver totally made me laugh.  i can’t believe the l word films here and i’ve never seen anyone from the show, or any of the filming.  i have to start honing my stalking skills. 

although there’s so much filming in vancouver, i usually don’t even give shoots a second glance.  keep my head down and keep walking. 

oh, but my stalking skills are going to need to be upgraded because that heath ledger movie that was supposed to film here, will now include johnny depp. 

so… uhh… johnny depp will be back in vancouver.

*dies*

for real.  dead.  on the ground.  i would see him and have a fucking heart attack.  and die.  a very happy woman. 

er… i love how i’m always gushing about celebs on my blog, lol.  i am so not like that usually.  i’ve met oodles of famous people that i couldn’t give two shits about.  but there’s a handful of sexy musicians, and even fewer actors that i love.  really tho.  i am not a celeb whore.  although i do read perez hilton 6 times a day.  er… okay.  i might be a tad bit of a celebrity whore.  but only for the ones i care about.  i won’t go gaga over someone just because they’re famous.  i have to actually be a fan.  and even then, usually i’m able to keep myself in check.  after all, i often meet celebs through work contacts, and it’s not cool to be a super fan.  so you have to cool it. 

but sometimes i don’t do well.  case in point.  brandon boyd from incubus.  i have made a total ass of myself both times i’ve met him.  i’m so giddy and excited by his presence that i can’t form sentences.  and i say retarded things because i can’t form thoughts either.  it’s pretty bad, lol.  i’m sure he thinks that i am just effed.  besides that i’ve done alright.  and i figure with brandon that the third time’s the charm.  the next time i meet him, hopefully i’ll be able to keep my shit together. 

but really.  can i be blamed?  i mean, look at the guy. 

could YOU form a sentence?

that’s what i thought. 

wow, i like how i started talking about lesbians and ended up with brandon boyd.  i think that went very well. 

detroit rock city

i am super stoked on tickets i just bought.  no i didn’t get tix to eddie vedder… thought about it, then realized that i didn’t really care that much.  i’ve seen pearl jam.  i’m sure this won’t be nearly as good.  plus if i hear that cover of “hard sun” one more time, i’ll kill a man. 

nope, i bought tickets to the fabulous Von Bondies at richards on richards.  sweet. 

now, some people might only know the von bondies as the band with the singer that jack white punched out a couple years ago.

pretty hardcore.  who knew jack white had that in him?

ps.  isn’t he cute in his mugshot?  *sigh*

anyways, the von bondies have so much more going for them.  they are a totally rocking band.  and their album ”pawn shop heart” is just stellar.  it was one of my top 5 albums from 2004 and certainly is still played on a very regular basis in my house.  (wow, i can’t believe i’ve been rocking the same album for 4 years now, lol.  they really really need another one *edit* i see they have a new one due out on march 4th.  kick ass)

it’s a great album.  highly highly recommended. 

best lyric – “i’m not that social, just a good drinker”

somehow i relate.  lol.

but really.  saw the von bondies a couple years back, maybe around 2005.  they were booked to play at richards on richards, which has a capacity of 300 people.  the show sold out instantly, ’cause this was around the time of the “jack white incident” so they were getting a lot of press.  the same night the stills were scheduled at the commodore.  their show had only sold about 300 tickets.  obviously the von bondies should have been booked at the bigger venue, but the stills show had been booked before, so first come first served. 

some genius decided to combine the shows, as capacity at the commodre is 1,000.  a great idea in theory.  i for one, was a fan of both bands, so i was totally laughing.  the combined show sold out (obviously on the strength of the von bondies draw) but because the stills were the original headliner, they played after the von bondies. 

you can imagine what happened.  700 people there to see the von bondies, 300 to see the stills.  the von bondies rocked it the fuck out, and then the place half emptied out.  a number of people stayed for some of the stills, but most lost interest in the more subdued set of music.  i stayed for a couple songs, then decided to leave.  apparently after the show, the guys in the stills were pretty pissed off and acted like total assholes about it.  classy. 

anyways, that was a bit of a sidebar.  but the von bondies get an A+ from me.  and i suggest you check out this show.  my ticket was $16.50 including all taxes and service charges.  you just can’t beat that for a good night of rock and roll from detroit rock city.