USR Friendly

2008-03-28T12:38:00.000-04:00

Photo Session

2007-10-25T16:01:00.000-04:00

We had our engagement photos done over the weekend. I love them!

http://flickr.com/photos/71748504@N00/sets/72157602701251374/

Happy bday to me!

2007-10-11T11:12:00.000-04:00

Another bday has come and gone. I'm one year closer to 30 how devastating!!! EEK!

I had to work and go vote on my bday. how late. After work, Jimmy took me out to Montana's for dinner and then we headed home for what I thought would be a nice relaxing dinner. Turns out that my parents & bro and sis in law were there to surprise me :)

We had wine & cake and then they gave me my gift. They all chipped in and bought me an awesome 48 bottle wine fridge! I'm soo excited! It's been ordered from DirectBuy and it should arrive within a week. I can't wait to use it!!

Wedding Website

2007-09-21T16:03:00.000-04:00

So I went ahead and created a wedding site for us. It's not completed but most of the sections are up and running!

http://jim-and-jimena.613-flavah.ca/

Big News!

2007-08-23T06:52:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to share with you all that I got engaged on the evening of Aug 22, 2007!! I am now officially a bride to be!!

How it happened

After work yesterday, Jimmy picked me up and told me we were going to the market to go shopping for some paintings for the house. As we were walking around, he stopped in front of a horse drawn carriage and asked if I’d like to take a ride. I said of course said yes.

We took a beautiful 30 min drive through the scenic back roads of downtown Ottawa. All of a sudden, we stopped behind the Supreme Court and the driver said he was going to take a small break. I thought that he was going to take a leak. As he left, Jimmy sat across from me and seemed a bit nervous. At this point I began to get suspicious! He had a speech written down but refused to read it and forgot all his words! He then got down on one knee and presented me with the beautiful ring. He thought I was going to cry but there were soo many other emotions going through me that crying was definitely not one of them!

Of course I said yes and the driver proceeded to take a million and some photos so I’m going to share them with you all!

No date has been set in stone but we’re looking at September 6, 2008.

Yay to me!

Here is a link to the photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/613flavah/EngagementAug222007

T - 3 days

2007-07-31T11:37:00.000-04:00

Yay! Another vacation is fast approaching! I'll be posting updates to my trip on my travelpod account. If anyone is interested in getting updates on it, please post a comment and i'll make sure to add you to the update list.

Cutest Pet Contest

2007-07-20T11:43:00.000-04:00

Hey guys!

I entered both my cats into a "cutest pet contest" online and one of them has been nominated a finalist. I was winning the voting but now I'm behind I think 15 votes in second place!

Can you guys help me win by voting on Zazu (my cat) as your fave? LOL

http://www.brighteyesbushytails.com/contest.htm

You can vote only once a day and the voting lasts until August 15!

Prize includes $500 worth of cat food & toys!

Thank youuuu xoxoxo

What the heck are these used for???

2007-07-16T13:45:00.001-04:00

Vroom Vroom!!

2007-06-28T10:21:00.000-04:00

Jimmy & I went to pick up the car last night after work!!

New wheels!

2007-06-21T16:31:00.000-04:00

I now have my own set of wheels! No more sharing with Jimmy. No more having to call my mom and bus to her place to borrow her car. No more worrying about who will get the car at night.

I have own wheels!!! I ended up getting a used 2004 chrysler crossfire. It's soo sweet. Check it out!

2007-06-15T09:55:00.001-04:00

Yay it's Friday!

I'm heading to some girl's cottage for the weekend to celebrate Kelly's bachelorette. Should definitely be a good time!! It's been over a year since I last went to a cottage.

I received my Tabasco BzzAgent info early last week. I'm really excited about it because for the longest time, I thought Tabasco was only good for Bloody Marys. I guess I was wrong because I received a bunch of coupons in my package and they list some pretty yummy recipes in there! I think I'll be keeping one of the mini tabasco sauces for myself to try that's for sure!

Did you know that with Tabasco you could make Lemon Rosemary Chicken? Yea neither did I check out this recipe it sounds soo good!

4 boneless chicken breasts or 8 thighs
salt & pepper
1 lemon juiced, then quartered
4 sprigs fresh rosemary or thyme
3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thinly
2 tbsp olive oil
4-6 shakes of Tabasco Sauce

Season chicken with salt & pepper. Place chicken in a large bowl. Add garlic, herbs, lemon juice, lemon quarters, oil & tabasco sauce. Toss well and marinate in the fridge for 2 to 4 hours. Remove chicken from marinade and grill. Makes 4 servings! I'm going to try it on Canada Day for my guests!

How about the Bloody Mary Burgers??

1 lb ground beef
4-6 shakes of Tabasco sauce
4 shakes of Worcertershire sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp of horseradish
1 shallot minced
2 tbsp chopped celery tops
salt & pepper

Adjust ingredient amounts to suit your personal taste--just as you would for a Bloody Mary. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Divide into 4 patties and grill. YUM!

Hello to Summer

2007-06-08T11:05:00.000-04:00

TGIF!!!!

Jimmy built a deck in the backyard and I bought a patio set for 6 it looks amazing! I'm going to take some photos this weekend and post them on here next week. We can actually now host parties in teh backyard. It's perfect b/c we're having a bbq on canada day and we now have places to sit outside! I cannot wait! I'm going to buy next week some decorations to put outside with the c-day theme!!

My mom's oldest sister & her husband are in town for a month. They are staying at my cousin's house(their son) who lives in Toronto and they are all coming up this weekend to crash at my mom's. I invited everyone over to our place at 6pm tonight for drinks and appetizers. They haven't seen the house since last summer before I moved in and before we made all the great upgrades to the house! 13 ppl will be over tonight yikes! (my aunt & uncle from peru, my other aunt from toronto, my cousin & his wife and 2 kids from toronto and my mom and stepdad plus my brother and his fiancée and Jimmy of course) busy busy!

Sat we're hosting a bbq luncheon for Jimmy's sister's 35th bday so that will keep us entertained for a good while!

Sunday it will finally be relax. Can't wait.

So I've finally been pushing myself to go to the gym! It's been 2 weeks I've been going almost every day and I've lost 2 pounds. It's not a lot but it's something for me. My goal is to lose asbout 10 pounds and tone up in time for my trip overseas in Aug. Wish me luck!

Happy June!

2007-06-01T19:15:00.000-04:00

Ever since I was introduced to Facebook, I've completely forgotten about blogspot LOL so I apologize!!

Not much new here except I'm getting really psyched for my trip to Europe & North Africa!!! In case I didn't mention it, I'm going to visit one of my best friends who is doing his masters in the Netherlands in August. I'll be travelling around with him for 2 weeks. We're making a 2 day stop in Antwerp cos my little sister lives there and then we're off to Barcelona for a few days. Then we go straight to Morocco where a good friend of mine is working for the embassy for the summer. I love how we can travel around and not really worry about lodging except for one night in Antwerp and 2 nights in Barcelona! Everything else will just be spending money CANNOT WAIT!!! This will probably be my last big trip in a while. I do know that most likely, in Oct, for my bday, Jimmy & I are going to go to Vancouver for an extended weekend. My cousin lives in Richmond Hill so we wouldn't ahve to pay for a place to stay and I have enough airmiles to take us both. I'm going to call airmiles tonight to find out if there are any flights available for us. Keep your fingers crossed! Then in Feb we're thinking of going on an all inclusive. I love them and Jimmy has never been so I would really enjoy taking him. Plus it would break up our winter nicely and let us have a great week alone completely stress-free.

Jimmy is building a small deck for our backyard tomorrow. I can't wait! When he's done, we're going shopping for a patio set. It's perfect timing cos my family is coming over for a bbq dinner on Sunday and then we have Jimmy's family over the weekend after then it's Canada day so it works out wonderfully!!

Changes

2007-05-06T19:40:00.000-04:00

Jimmy and I picked out some new colours to paint the living room & dining room. He's doing the dining room and half the living room another weekend with a different colour here are some photos!

We got these awesome paintings in Peru and recently had them framed here. Check em out!

Long time

2007-04-27T14:00:00.001-04:00

Wow, it's been almost a month since I posted. I got too caught up with facebook that's probably why :P

Well, the bedframe we bought is discontinued so we had to order another one. It's still nice but not as nice as our initial one boo...

I'm going to visit Jason in the Netherlands this summer can't wait! We're going to Spain and Belgium to visit my little sister. Maybe even France if there is $$. I'll be keeping track of my trip via my travel blog that's for sure.

My brother got engaged over easter weekend! Wedding is sometime in June next year and I'm in the wedding party woot!

Things are looking good

2007-03-31T12:24:00.000-04:00

Jimmy and I bought a new king size mattress a couple of weeks ago. It arrived on Thursday and I'm anxious to use it but he doesn't want to until our new bed frame comes in. We ordered it from DirectBuy and will be in sometime by May 5. I hate waiting! I want to use it NOW. So I'm hoping it comes in soon in April and not as late as May 5.

I found a photo of the exact bedframe we're getting.

Life works in mysterious ways...

2007-03-29T09:03:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if I posted about this before but I found out a few weeks ago that our accountant passed away from cancer in December by total fluke. I was looking for his phone number and couldn't find it so I decided to look him up on the net and lo and behold, the first link was a memoriam to him along with his photo. I was in total shock. This accountant had been doing our entire families finances since 1990. He was like a part of the family, being there for my mom when my parents split up and always coming to our house to do our taxes and take the time to explain how finances worked to me and my brother as we began to file our income tax. An amazing and sweet man for sure.

So not only was I in total shock but I was also concerned of where I was going to find another accountant who was just as wonderful. I dove right in looking for one and even though lots of my friends gave me numbers to their own personal accountants, I hesitated calling any of them not sure why.

Yesterday, a girlfriend of mine hosted a "candle party" (partylite.com). I had never been to one and thought I'd give it a shot. I didn't know anyone there besides my friend the host and her younger sister and her mom. Close to the end of the show, I sat next to a girl named Marguerite, we got to talking and for some reason, her parents came into the conversation. She was telling me how her dad had passed away in December and how he had his own business. For some strange reason, I had a feeling I had to ask her dad's name. When she said the name it was my accountant!!! I was so overwhelmed my eyes started watering. She went on to tell me how the funeral was and how he had died peacefully in his sleep. She also said that her dad had a partner and she had taken over all of his clients. It was like a god-send I tell ya. I got her number and I'm going to call her today. It's as if her dad had been watching over us all along.

I may not be an everyday practising catholic but when things like these occur, I get a chill down my back and really fall back to my christian beliefs.

Thanks Bryan!

Lookin' good!

2007-03-21T18:34:00.000-04:00

Now that Jimmy's roomie is gone, the living room and dining room are starting to look awesome! Jimmy spent last night rearranging things around. Since his ex-roommate had all her furniture basically on the entire main floor, now that it's all gone, we can put his basement furniture along with some of my stuff and the things we bought in Peru in the living and dining rooms. It's still a work in progress but here is a photo of how great his 2 couches look with my glass coffee table and my plants along with the alpaca rug we bought in Lima.

We are going to be painting the walls sometime in the next few weeks and fixing up the dining area and putting up decorations on the walls so that's why this is all I'm showing for now. More photos to come as we move along with our decorating!

The day is drawing near...

2007-03-18T13:33:00.000-04:00

Today we move whatever is left in my apartment to the house. I thought I wouldn't be sad but in a way I am. My life as a bachelorette and living downtown all alone is coming to a close! The apartment I had dreamed about and looked forward to finally moving into has come and gone. I can't believe I bought it back in April 2003 and didn't get to move in until June 2006 and now it's March 2007 and I'm in a house now.

I'm not regretting anything of course, but it's still sad to be closing a chapter of my life.

What I'll miss:

- Fireworks on Canada Day from my balcony
- Killer sunsets during the summer from any of my windows
- Walking to and from work
- Next door to LCBO
- Wine & cheeses with my neighbours
- The great party room
- Floor-to-ceiling windows

What I won't miss:

- The elevators constantly breaking down; having to go up 12 flights of stairs!
- Gym always being busy
- Small spaces
- Fire alarm going off at odd hours of the day/night
- Firetrucks/ambulances/police car sirens going off at all hours of the day
- The bums across the street
- Not seeing Jimmy every day

Now that I'm in Orleans permanently, I'm looking at getting my own set of wheels sometime this summer b/c Jimmy has priority over the car and it sucks at times. Like today, he's gone to teach a course at army and I'm home bound all day until he returns. Not that I mind I've got enough to keep me busy today just sucks that's all!

What was your theme song in 1996?

2007-03-18T07:47:00.001-04:00

Your 1996 Theme Song Is: Macarena by Los Del Rio

When I dance they call me macarena
And the boys, they say that I'm buena
They all want me, they can't have me
So they all come and dance beside me

What's Your 1996 Theme Song?

Le weekend

2007-03-16T19:33:00.000-04:00

Do I ever look forward to the weekends! It's nice to know I've got a whole house to roam in rather than a small apartment. It was fun while it lasted but I'm really happy to be back in Orleans.

Jimmy's roommate moves out tomorrow and we're going to pick up the remainder of my furniture (which isn't a lot) from the apartment on Sunday. I can't wait to start decorating the house as I see fit. Pretty much everything in the living/dining room belonged to Jimmy's roommate so it will be nice to finally give it MY touch! I'm hoping to start painting the walls in a month's time. We have our first overnight guests coming up from NY in May so I'd like to at least have the walls painted and the guest room and their bathroom nicely decorated.

Guys i'm completely addicted to facebook!

too funny not to share

2007-03-13T19:21:00.001-04:00

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3e0_1173614039

LTNT!

2007-03-12T13:42:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I posted. Mostly cos when I would remember to post, I wasn't anywhere near internet. :(

Luckily, now that I've moved in with Jimmy, we have finally set up the internet and I just have to get back into the groove of things.

My apartment is almost totally bare!! We're moving everything out on Sunday evening and next week I'm going in to finish painting over my wall holes and clean the apartment for the new tenant who moves on the 24th!

Things at the house have been good, his roommate just came back from being gone for work to Germany for the last month and half so she's got some packing to do before she moves out this coming weekend.

The cats are getting on Jimmy's nerves. I am still pretty concerned that something major will happen and he'll make me give them up :( They've been living at his place fulltime since February and we've already had 3 major incidents with them wrekking things.

They figured out how to jump on top of his side speakers, then jump on top of the big screen TV and then walk across the TV knocking over the centre speaker which for now, sits on top of the TV. The centre speaker fell backwards and created 2 holes in the wall. Luckily the speaker was fine.
We came back from grocery shopping one evening to find that the front entry vase which sits on top of a coffee table had been knocked over. This is a huge vase with luckily, no water in it since it houses fake flowers but there were pebbles in the vase and some of the pebbles chipped the hardwood flooring. He wasn't impressed at all.
Just last weekend, they climbed on top of the centre speaker and knocked it over once again, created 2 new holes, so now we have 4 holes in the wall we have to fix.

He said that was it for chances, one more and he's giving them away. :( So to try to minimize the issues, I'm locking them in the laundry room while we're not home. I hate doing it but I would be devestated if he gave them away. I can't honestly blame him though, they've already broken my computer printer by pulling on the cord, I had to buy a new one cos it was completely busted and cost more to fix than to buy a new one. Jimmy bought me roses a few months back and I put them in a vase and left them as a centrepiece on our dinette table, well the cats completely destroyed it, there were petals everywhere. Cats will be cats, I guess, I just really do not want anything else bad to happen!

2 weeks!

2007-02-22T11:15:00.000-05:00

My move is coming along nicely. I've got most of my clothes and bathroom stuff moved over to Jimmy's. This weekend Jimmy is going to Montreal so I'm staying at my place to pack up all my kitchen stuff and my night stand table. Next week I'll be removing everything from the walls and packing up as much as I can week by week! I've only got about 4 weeks to get all my stuff out of there and paint the place before my tenant moves in the last week of March.

I'm still addited to facebook.com I've found sooo many ppl I highly encourage you to join if you haven't yet!

I'll try to remember to take photos of the new car this weekend as well.

Addicted

2007-02-13T16:28:00.001-05:00

I'm officially addicted to facebook.com !

GOOGLE In Ontario!

2007-02-09T09:33:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading an article in the Ottawa Citizen on how Google has opened an office in Waterloo! There are some photos and the place looks awesome!

They were comparing why the company chose Waterloo over Ottawa. If you have a chance, check it out, it was in yesterday's paper the techweekly section.

Organized

2007-02-08T15:56:00.000-05:00

I've officially changed all the necessary addresses on all my mail. At least I hope. I did this 2 months in advance to keep a close eye on what mail I will still receive end of this month that I missed and must change addresses right away. I've already moved half my summer clothes over to Jimmy's and this weekend I'm putting the remainder of my summer clothes plus fancy dresses and summer shoes in his car. Next week I'll begin moving everything out of my storage room up to my apartment to bring over as well. I really don't want to have too much to move out by end of March. Especially since we have to paint over all the holes I put on the walls before April 1.

Rogers is cancelling my internet and PVR services on March 7. So the day before, I'm disconnecting everything and lugging it into Jimmy's car and setting it up at his place cos the eve of the 7th, Rogers is coming to reconnect me at his place.

OMG News Flash! Anna Nicole Smith is found dead!

You know you're from Ottawa when...

2007-02-06T21:51:00.000-05:00

I found this funny article on facebook.com Ottawa group

YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM OTTAWA WHEN...

You HATE having to dial “613” first before having to call people now in Ottawa

You talk to people from other cities about shawarma and are mystified when they have no clue what the hell you're talking about

There was a point in time (or it is that point in time right now) when you wished you were 18 so you could drive, cab or bus to hull to get alcohol

You've waited 30 minutes for the OC transpo only to realize it came early?

You remember when the Scotiabank Place was still the Corel Centre, or better, Palladium

You've partied on Parliament Hill on Canada Day

You remember going on field trips to the museum of science and tech. every year of elementary school

You've travelled and waited for over half an hour just to get into Zak's Diner in the Byward Market

A winter without going skating on the Rideau Canal just doesn't seem right

You're bilingual... or at least you can parler Franglais

You've swam in Mooney's Bay and had to shower for 2 hours afterwards to get that filthy, filthy water off of you

You don't flinch when asked if you want to eat a beavertail

You've been at the top of the peace tower and thought you were amazingly high just because nothing else is allowed to be taller than it

You've cheered for and a year later, booed Alexei Yashin

You remember the Roughriders, and wish the Renegades would come back

You've watched for yourself on Speaker's Corner on CHRO/The NewRO/A-Channel/Channel 6

You've seriously considered swimming in the Rideau Canal on one of those 30+ degree summer days

You remember a time when Patrick Lalime was kinda good

Everyone you know has some sort of story about how Alanis Morissette babysat their cousin's best friend's dog's original owner's son-in-law

You realize that MPs are you local celebrities

You've taken the O-Train and wondered exactly why they ever built it

You wonder why Bluesfest is even called Bluesfest. Who knew the Black Eyed Peas could sing the blues?

You remember that Tom Green used to be funny

During grade school, you were warned about "The man in the white van." (Or if you grew up in Orleans “the white van”)

The word Vanier strikes fear into your heart, in fact you duck and cover any time you hear it

The dreaded Ice Storm combined with the teachers' strike made 1998 the best school year ever

You listened to ENERGY 1200 AM and remember when 93.9 KOOL FM was still new

You remember RJ's Boom Boom Saloon turning into the Liquor Dome, whose days of serving alcohol to minors ended when it turned into Capital City music hall, which after a few David Usher and Massari shows turned into... well, condos.

You remember the amazing breakfast at the Golden Griddle before it turned into a Hooters and now some pub or something

The Sens earned you some free pizza

You've been cut off in traffic by a car only to realize they had a Quebec plate.

You've gone to Herongate Mall only to realize you need to kill more than 8 minutes.

Head gear!

2007-02-05T21:02:00.000-05:00

Poor Zazu, he has to wear that stupid neck thing for 7 days so he doesn't lick his paws otherwise he'll get an infection!

YAY!

2007-02-05T13:35:00.000-05:00

So I think it's safe to tell you guys that I've rented my apartment! After going through a few applications, I've made up my mind and the new tenant is coming over on Thursday to sign his lease. We've made a deal, I lowered my price a bit in exchange for him to sign a 2 year lease. He is looking for April 1, 2007. Which gives me an extra month to move out! Well, actually I'd prefer to be completely moved out or mostly moved out by mid march. I've already switched all the addresses on my bills the only one remainding is my rogers one which i'm going to try to make sure I don't get that penalty charge cos i'm getting out of the contract early by adding my name to Jimmy's account and adding features to that other account. Keep your fingers crossed that my bargaining skills succeed! hehe

My kitties were neutered and declawed early last week. They were kept at the vet's overnight for 2 nights to make sure everything was healing alright.

Zazu was licking his paws a lot and started developing a small infection so the vet put one of those hilarious v-shaped collars on him for a week. Poor thing keeps running into walls and has a bit of trouble eating so I hand feed the fella. I'm counting down the days when I can remove his collar and he can go back to normal. He keeps wanting to cuddle but the collar makes it so impossible for me to hold him close to me.

I recently got convinced by a girlfriend to join facebook.com and now i'm totally addicted! If any of you are on it please let me know or look for me to add to each others friends list LOL

Peeling

2007-02-01T19:56:00.000-05:00

OMG I'm peeling everywhere wtf!

So one week later, I finally got a hold of all the photos I need to print. I'm going to be printing a combo of my dad's digi photos , my bro's photos and mine. I can't wait!

Oh and I created an online gallery of a lot of our photos combined. It's not all of them but a heck of a lot.

http://picasaweb.google.com/613flavah/Lima2007

bbbbrrrr

2007-01-29T21:49:00.000-05:00

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate winter?? *sigh* well I do. Especially cold days like today. -25 celcius! I had to walk to work in that my kneecaps were frozen! Awful! I'm going to dress way warmer tomorrow.

So I had 3 ppl come to look at my apartment today. 2 were really interested. I'm stuck on who to decide. Jimmy says I should base it on who will be more responsible on paying rent, one is a student from Ottawa U who can afford this place (not sure how?) and the other is a guy who works at Parliament Hill. I'm going to base it on both of their background checks. Whomever makes more and has more stability will get it. They both offered to sign on for 2 yrs which is a bonus for me.

Decisions decisions!!

2007-01-22T16:20:00.000-05:00

Oops!! I forgot to update my blog! Well, I´m still in Peru so here is the link to my travelogue where I will be posting updates on my trip (which concludes on Wed)

tootles!

http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/guest_login.pl?tweb_tripID=peru2007&tweb_UID=613flavah&tweb_PID=tpod

Last day of waiting !

2007-01-09T13:36:00.000-05:00

Wooohoo!

This is my last blog entry until I get a chance to post a small one when I'm in Lima. Today has been a hectic day, what with my focus eye centre appointment (yaya 20/20 in my right eye has been achieved!) and since I had my mom's car, I just paid to park at work. Then I had my first italian course, then I have 10,000 things to finalize before I take off tomorrow, what with wrapping up projects and training my replacement. EEk!

Jimmy had an interview today and he thinks he got the job, he finds out today. I really hope he gets it, it will be a nice pay raise for him and no more stress with his current workplace which he hates. So keep your fingers crossed!

I gotta go pick up some last minute groceries tonight to make sure I leave the apartment fully stocked for my friend who is staying there. Then double check everything is a go in my suitcase and I'm off to spend my last night at Jimmy's before our trip!

Oh and I'm most likely moving on March 1. Jimmy's roommate got an apartment and she moves between March 1-15. So as soon as she's moved all her stuff out, I'm moving in there. Upon my return from Peru I'll have to start changing addresses for everything and cancelling my services as well.

T minus 3 days!

2007-01-07T15:31:00.000-05:00

It still hasn't really hit me that I'm leaving on vacation in 3 days! I'm one of those ppl who doesn't realize it until the night before and then I don't end up sleeping at all and regret it the next day on the flight.

This time I'm prepared. I bought one of those neck pillows, I bought a huge book and have loaded my iPod with all the best tunes to keep me busy. I shouldn't have any problems. It's an 8 hour flight from Toronto alone so here's to hoping!

New Year, New Changes?

2007-01-04T09:10:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm thinking it's going to be a great one too. What better way to kick in the new year than with a raise?! I'm soo happy! Crappy thing is, I'm almost at the end of my pay scale, if I want to make more money, I'll have to apply to a higher level job and to do that, I have to get more experience under my belt, so guess who's going back to school part time this fall? I'm not sure what I'll be taking yet so we'll have to see, but I"m def staying in the techie world.

I leave for Peru in 6 days :D I'll be documenting as much as I can of my trip as possible on my travelpod.com website and on my blog so if any of you would like to be kept up to date on my travel adventures, please email me so I may add your email to my travelpod.com update list.

I've also had a few leads on my apartment. Some guy from Mexico who is coming to finish his PhD at Ottawa U. this spring is coming in feb to check out my pad. So keep your fingers crossed peeps! Once I return from Peru, I'm most likely going to lower my price a bit if it doesn't work out with the Mexican.

Jimmy's roommate looks like she found an apartment and possibly moving for March 1. Which is perfect cos that's when I wanted to move in with Jimmy. So here's to hoping everything goes as planned!

I've also talked to my good friend Jason who is doing his masters in Ultrecht, Netherlands that I'll be going to visit him for 2 weeks sometime in Aug. He's graduating so after that we're planning on travelling through Ultrecht, visiting my sister in Herentals, Belgium and then heading off to either: Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco or Spain & Portugal!! I can't wait!

My kitties are getting so big! I'm going to miss them while I'm in Peru but luckily I found a good friend who will be staying at my apartment while I'm gone taking care of them. It works out for the both of us since she works in the west end and currently lives at her parents in orelans, this will be a nice break for her from them and will be closer to work and will work out if she wants to go out at night she's right in the market!

I signed up for beginner Italian classes and beginner Japanese courses at work LOL we'll see how well I do. Plus I'm doing advanced writing in French as well. yikes I hope I can balance all three language courses heeh.

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-28T11:18:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Christmas Holiday! I know I did, though I feel like it went by too quickly. Why do the weekends and holidays always zip by but the workdays are slow as hell??

Santa was great to me. I received:

New luggage (suitcase & matching carry-on bag) perfect for my trip to Peru
"Say Anything" with John Cusack, Cube & Season 3 of Degreassi Jr. High
Gift certificates for Place D'Orleans
Clothes
Socks
Slippers
Dessert fondue & main meal fondue set
PADERNO 40-set pots & pans (well Jimmy got it from his parents but I'll be the one mostly using it)
Cooking books

I can't wait to leave for Peru in less than 2 weeks. It's starting to get pretty cold here in Ottawa and I'm starting to get depressed by it. It's supposed to only be -6 celcius right now but it's soo damp/humid outside it feels soo much colder. The cold really goes right to your bones :(

My cats have finally figured out that they are able to climb on our kitchen counters. Jimmy and I are not very amused. They have been punished today and are locked in the laundry room until we get home from work. I'm going to invest in some professional deterrent this weekend but in the meantime, I've been told to try putting tin foil on the counters, supposedly cats don't like the feel of tin foil on their paws nor the sound. I'm going to test it out with a small piece when I get home before putting tinfoil on our counter tops.

Does anyone know what they are doing for NYE?? It's Jimmy's turn to pick something and he's leaving it until the last minute I hate that!! We don't have plans yet oh well :(

Ho Ho Ho

2006-12-21T14:16:00.000-05:00

3 days until Christmas Eve. Awesome. I'm all done my gift shopping, everything is wrapped! As Elastica once said "I'm done, I'm ready to go..."

I'm staying at Jimmy's over the xmas holidays but it won't really be much of holidays that's for sure! Jimmy works with the army tonight and so I'm going to take the time to go get us some tanning sessions to get some colour before Peru, pick up some last minute things for the dinner prep for xmas eve & day and mop the hardwood floors in the house. I'm hoping we get out of work early on Friday. I can go home and wash out the kitty litterbox, then JImmy and I are going tanning and I'll head to the gym then we're going to his friend's xmas party. Sat my family from Toronto is up so I'll go spend some time with them before heading to Kemptville to Jimmy's sister's house where his parents are up from Halifax. The 24th I'm going to visit a friend who's in from out of town, go tanning, do the gym thing then head to xmas eve dinner at my parents. the 25th we head to kemptville again and the 26 is Jimmy's bday! I go back to work on the 27th :(

One month!

2006-12-18T08:58:00.000-05:00

It's been a month and a day since I had my laser eye surgery!!!

I can't believe how much time has already passed. My eyes are doing so well I really can't complain. The last time I went in for a check-up, they told me that by mid-january I'd be done my daily drops. I'm looking at my calendar and on Wednesday I reduce my right eye drops from 4 times a day to 3 times. I'm still really glad I had this surgery and I tell anyone I have a chance to, to seriously consider it!

My apartment's been up for rent for a week and some and I've had 2 ppl email me interested but after a few email correspondences, they never got back to me :( One guy called and I returned his call and he never got back either. Then on Friday a girl called me and told me to either call her back or email her, so I emailed her and I haven't heard from her yet either. If I don't hear from her by today after work, I'm just going to call her to find out if she wants to come see the place or not.

I found someone to take care of my kitties while Jimmy and I are away in Peru. My high school friend Emily is going to be staying at my apartment for the 2 weeks we're gone. It's good for me that she'll be at my pad taking care of them instead of having someone come in a few times a day to watch over them. Plus, it's closer to her work as well. She gets a parking spot, food, internet and satellite tv :) I'm really happy. She's coming over this week to pick up her pampered chef stuff and I'm going to remind her to make sure she's still interested in taking care of them!

I finished my christmas shopping on Sunday!!! yay! ALl I have left to do is wrap everything :)

Bad Luck

2006-12-13T18:01:00.000-05:00

Both elevators in my building have died!!!!!! I just went up 12 flights of stairs! HOLY SHIT! I was with a guy who lives on the 20th floor so I feel bad for him haha.

What sucks is I need to go to Chapters tonight to pick up some Christmas gifts and tonight they are having a special 20% off for irewards members on top of your regular 10% off!!! EEK! I'm contemplating being tough and going for it. Hoping that upon my return the elevators will be fixed though for some reason I don't think that will be the case. What sucks even more is that Jimmy is still at work and he's sleeping over and the poor guy will park 2 levels below ground level and then have to walk up basically 14 flights of stairs! I'm praying they will be fixed by then, at least one!!

'Tis the Season

2006-12-10T10:43:00.000-05:00

I am forcing myself to go Christmas shopping today. I hate xmas shopping and especially at the Rideau Centre which is always packed! How I miss the dead mall (Place D'Orleans) *sigh* luckily this is the last yr i'll be shopping around here!

Thursday night as I was getting into bed, I heard a loud bang. I peeled back my bedroom window blind only to find that one of my windows had shattered into a thousand pieces!!! Luckily it was still intact, just all shattered. I'm also very lucky that the windows are double pane ones! Otherwise I'd be freezing and have to find someplace else to sleep! I called the super the next day and they said it would take about a week to order another window. Keep your fingers crossed the second one doesn't shatter!! They think that the window was faulty to begin with. Isn't that awful?? Check out the photos:

APARTMENT FOR RENT!!!

2006-12-05T10:55:00.001-05:00

Well, here is it. My apartment has been officially advertized! Please pass on to anyone who you think may be interested!

- Brand New Loft-style apartment in the Byward Market (George Street).

- This unit has 1 Bedr. and 1 Bathr.

- It is located on the 12th floor faces north and has a balcony with views of Gatineau Hills, Parliament, gorgeous sunsets and fireworks on Canada Day!

- Exposed concrete 9 foot tall ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, hardwood & carpet in bedroom, 6 new appliances (washer, dryer, dishwasher, stove, fridge & range microwave).

- Industrial window blinds included.

- Underground heated parking can be rented at additional $150/month comes with garage door opener

- Internet and cable ready.

- Only unit with a pantry. A large pantry!

- Freshly painted.

- Closet organizer set up in bedroom.

- Very large party room with kitchen area, foosball, pool table, chairs & couches accessible through the 2^nd floor open 24/7.

- Large patio connected to the party room with reflective pool, lounge chairs & gas bbqs.

- Gym facility on the 2^nd floor open 24/7.

- Doorman on-site Monday – Friday 8-4pm

- $1350/month includes all utilities (heat, electricity, water and central A/C) and locker.

- 24 hour LOEB across the street.

- Available March 1, 2007 (or earlier – negotiable).

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/613flavah/1210179GeorgeStreet

Please contact me for more information and/or viewing:

Global Warming?

2006-11-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's currently 16 degrees celcius outside. WTF! Not that I'm complaining or anything it's great! If it stays like this for the next couple of days I'm going to go back to wearing skirts!! Maybe we'll get a nice green christmas for once. Though I'm sure that won't be the case, it's gotta be global warming. The United States and Canada are two of the largest global emitters of the greenhouse gases that contribute to a warming climate which can make our summers disgustingly hot and our winters pretty mild. But do most of us even really know what Global Warming really is? I did a search online and came across an interested CBC article online which gave me all the background info I needed.

1 week post op

2006-11-28T14:27:00.000-05:00

I just got back from my 1 week post-op check up. I'm doing pretty good according to the doctor. I see 20/25 in my right eye and 20/40 in my left. Which explains the trouble I'm having reading the text on my computer screen and in books b/c the difference is so huge between them. He gave me more drops some steroid drops to put in my left eye in hopes of speeding it up to match up with my right eye. I told him I had suuuper dry eyes when I would wake up in the morning and now I have to put this thick paste around my bottom of my eyes before going to bed, sounds so attractive I know.

I'm going back in 2 weeks.

One week later

2006-11-26T18:30:00.000-05:00

I'm seeing better and better each day. Though recovery for reading both books and on the computer screen are still delayed in healing. I'm still having problems. Everything else seems fine. I go on Tuesday afternoon to find out what my vision is at. I think I'm around 20/30 or a bit better, I hope!!

I did barely anything this weekend. Rented the entire first season of Six Feet Under. I'm going to have to now get the other seasons. My friend also lent me Grey's Anatomy season 1 & 2 so I've basically been watching that all weekend.

I was supposed to start my xmas shopping today but I didn't even bother changing out of my jammies. I'm going to be in Orleans the next 2 weekends so I think I'll just do it then. I have to do it at least sometime next weekend!

Details, details and more details (part 2)

2006-11-24T11:22:00.000-05:00

I've already posted details about the surgery day, now I'm going to post details about the few days in recovery.

Day of Surgery - Friday Nov 17, 2006

Once I arrived at my parents place, I was hoping to pass out for a few hours but instead, I was wired awake, probably from all the adrenaline and since I had to keep my eyes closed as much as possible, I had nothing to do. My mom decided to take the rest of the afternoon off and sat on the bed with me and we gossiped until my stepdad came home. My parents were going out so my brother and his gf offered to "babysit" me. They cooked me dinner and brought it up to the bedroom where I ate in low light. My eyes even with the sunglasses provided, were extremely sensitive to any source of light. I watched CSI with them with my eyes closed and went to bed around 10:30pm.

4:30am - I awoke with excrutiation pain in my eyes and my general sinus area. It was soo painful to open my eyes and they were still swollen as well from the surgery. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what was going on since the entire afternoon after surgery I wasn't in pain at all. I finally caved in and woke my mom up at 530am when I couldn't handle the pain anymore. Turns out, that I was supposed to take the oral painkillers (2 of them) every 6 hours and when I was due to take them (at around 1230am) my mom felt bad waking me up so she hoped I'd sleep through it. WRONG! Regardless, she brought me my painkillers, I put my numbing drops in my eyes and put a cold compress on my face and within 20 mins I was sound asleep with all pain recollection long gone.

24 Hour Checkup - Saturday Nov 18, 2006

Saturday wasn't a bad day, I was still scared to open my eyes for long periods of time and plus it stung quite a bit. Kind of like you had been chopping onions for many many hours. That's exactly what it felt like. My vision wasn't clear especially with the protective contact lenses in place. I went in for my 24 hour check up and the optometrist said I had to have my contact lens replaced b/c it was full of protein buildup. I was freaked out that he'd be touching my eye but frankly you don't feel it at all! He put sooooo much lubricating drops in my eyes and then made me close my eyes and told me to look up, down, left and right three times. Then I opened my eyes and he put more drops. He asked me to look towards my nose and he gently pulled the contact away from my pupil and pulled it out. I didn't feel nothing! He did the same process to stick a new one back in. My vision was tested at 20/30!!

48 Hour Checkup - Sunday Nov 19, 2006

Everyday seemed to get better and better. My eyes were still stinging which the doctor said was completely normal. I was taking 2 painkillers orally every 6 hours and 3 different types of drops throughout the day. The cold compress every few hours also helped with the swelling of my eyes and my humidifier helped as well! I highly suggest a humidifier cos your eyes get suuuuper dry! At my check-up, my eyes had worsened 20/60 but the doc said this was completely normal while my cornea was healing, it would go up and down in vision. Only pain I felt this day was again the onion cutting sensation. Was able to watch some tv but not a heck of a lot as focusing for long periods of time gave me headaches. Still wore sunglasses all the time. Even for my showers.

72 Hour Checkup - Monday Nov 20, 2006

I was able to walk around my parents place without my sunglasses without any problems. It was only whenever I went outside that the light bothered me and I had to whip out the glasses. At my check-up, my vision was 20/40. TV watching wasn't a problem at all, though reading a book or anything on a computer screen still was a bit bothersome.

I went back to work on the Tuesday. I've had minimal problems at work. I've stopped using the sunglasses except when out in direct sunlight. I still can't see properly on the screen and I'm hoping within a week I should have that stabilized b/c it's bothering me long term for my line of work to not see super well up close for now. Though I've heard some ppl can take up to a month to stabilize so here's to hoping I won't! I'm down to just 1 type of eye drop 4 times a week. I can now drink alcohol and I"m glad now that it's the weekend.

It's true what everyone says, it is one of the best decisions you could have made. Yes it totally sucks going through the 3-4 days of pain but in the end, when you realize how long you'll have perfect vision for, it's sooooo worth it! I highly recommend it!

Kitties!

2006-11-23T09:48:00.000-05:00

They are growing soo quickly! I can barely remember how small they were when I first brought them home. What sucks is that my slave hdd died and so I've lost most of the photos I took of them when I first got them. I'll have to check my old blog entries for the photos *sniff sniff*

They turned 5 months old on Nov 21!! Next month they will be at the right age for me to get them fixed but Jimmy and I have decided to wait to get them fixed until after our trip to Peru so that's going to be one of the first things I get done upon my return.

I still can't believe I'll be in Peru 2 months from now woohoo! I need to start getting tanning sessions cos I'm as white as a ghost and well, I really don't want to show up that white there b/c that will just be invitation to get burnt in the first few days at the beach. Jimmy finally received his first ever passport in the mail on Tuesday. I'm soo happy now he can officially go anywhere in the world!

My eyes are improving day by day. The only downfall is that I work on a computer all day so I have to continously stare at the screen and well, my vision hasn't completely improved for reading or viewing on a computer screen. Each eye right now sees completely different, though they aren't far apart in vision I can tell the difference whenever I cover one eye with my hand. My left is slightly lagging behind my right in getting 20/20 vision. It makes for working pretty difficult and tiring. The medicated eye drops I have to use until next Tuesday are pretty gooey. I have to put them in 4 times a day and the last time (at bedtime) makes my eyes sticky in the morning. I have to get up a few mins earlier to clear my eyelashes of the gook. Luckily (hopefully) it's just for until Tuesday when I pressume they will tell me to stop taking all meds though we'll see!

Details, details and more details

2006-11-22T14:10:00.000-05:00

A few of you have asked for an in-depth explanation of what went on for me the day of the surgery and the days following the procedure.

SURGERY DAY

I was scheduled to be there between 12:30pm & 12:45pm. I went into a room with my mom and a nurse and she administered the Valium. We chitchatted for about 15-20mins before she led us both to a "waiting" area.

Believe it or not, the surgery room (if you'll call it that) is performed in a room encased in glass. So anyone walking by or sitting outside the room can see the procedure being done. It's pretty neat. I watched the girl before me get done (which actually she told me after it was her second procedure cos her eyes regressed over time). Within minutes, she came out walking and talking, which also reassured me and then wished me luck. I went into the room with my mom and I quickly blurted out to the 2 assisting nurses that I have anxiety and I get nervous very easily. They led me to a chair that is identical to the dentist's chair, they told me they would talk me through the entire process and that it would be over before I knew it. They began to put drops in my eyes. This continued for the next 5 minutes to the point where my eyes were naturally "crying" from the amount of liquid they kept putting in. It was all to numb my eye.

The chair began to go back slowly and the nurse told me that a pillow behind my head would slowly begin to inflate to accomodate me better. Once that was done more eye drops were used. The nurses began to tell jokes to my mom and myself in hopes of relaxing me when the surgeon finally came into the room my anxiety kicked in. I started hyperventilating and trying to talk myself into breathing slowly and more controlled through my mouth. The surgeon told me he would be putting a clamp on my eye to open up my eye some more and that I would not feel anything at all, all I could think about was CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Lucky for me, it's nothing in comparison! You don't even see the clamp coming towards you. He was very gentle and came in through the side so I wouldn't freak out and he opened up both my top and bottom eyelids very slowly and I didn't feel any pressure or pain in the least.

Once my eye was forced open, the surgeon (Dr Edminson) told me that I may smell something burning for a few seconds and to not be alarmed that it was just him scraping off the top layer of my cornea (NOT BE ALARMED!!!!) I once again started breathing very quickly and requested that my mom hold my hand. I was breathing through my mouth so I barely smelt anything at all THANK GOD. But the few seconds I did catch a whiff, it smelt like burnt flesh meets burnt toast. It's kind of hard to explain but seriously, it's only for a few seconds.

A large machine was placed over my head (not touching) and a small red light covered my vision. The surgeon told me to stare continously at the blinking red light, that that was the laser and to try to not move but if I did move my body or my eyes, the laser was so good it would follow my movements or stop completely if I had to cough or sneeze. It's that safe. So that reassured me. The nurses started counting down with me and before I knew it, 30 seconds had passed and they were completely done one eye. The same steps followed for the second eye except this one only took 20 seconds.

AFter they pulled away the big machine, they moved my chair back in the sitting position and told me to close my eyes as they cleaned the leftover tears from the drops from around my general eye area. Then they told me to open my eyes and take a look around. I slowly opened my eyes and couldn't believe how awesome my vision was! I could actually read the time on the clock across the room!! I was then told it was all over and they gave me a glass of water with 2 pills (painkillers) and to go home and rest for the next few days.

I stood up and almost fainted from all the emotions and adrenaline rushing through my system. They gave me "stylish" sunglasses to keep my eyes protected since they would be extremely sensitive to all light sources for the next few days. I then went home and rested.

LOL of the day

2006-11-17T11:39:00.001-05:00

I got this from Wesa's blog hilarious! Thanks Wesa!

On Thursday morning approximately 50 customers were lined up outside the Wal-Mart in West Bend. The customers were waiting to purchase Sony Playstation 3 game consoles.
At 7 a.m. an assistant manager of Wal-Mart announced to the waiting customers that the store anticipated getting only 10 of the game consoles. The game consoles are first available for sale at 12:01 a.m. this Friday.

The assistant manager explained he was going to put 10 chairs out, and the first 10 customers to get to the chairs would be eligible to purchase the game consoles when they go on sale.

The assistant manager then lined up the 10 chairs outside the store and directed the waiting customers to another area outside. He then gave a signal for the customers to run to the chairs.

As the customers ran to the chairs a 19-year-old male ran into a pole and struck his head injuring himself. The 19-year old was conveyed to an area hospital where he is being treated.

The big day

2006-11-17T11:11:00.000-05:00

Today is my laser eye surgery appointment. I AM FREAKING OUT!!

It's 11am and by 1230pm I'll already be at the clinic, swallowing my valium in hopes of it really calming me down. I've already had a few instances where I've wanted to bail out. Picking up the phone and trying to dial the clinic. But I know that deep down inside, this is the best decision I've had to amke and from what everyone has told me, you don't feel a thing and it's over before you know it's begun and you will be thankful you went through with it. Everyone I know who had it done says they would do it all again in a heartbeat.

So, wish me luck and once I'm able to go onthe comp again, I'll update you guys on how it went.

This is a photo of the difference between PRK & LASIK surgery.

The cat is out of the bag!

2006-11-16T12:55:00.000-05:00

I just sent out a mass email to everyone I know giving them a heads up that I'm going to be posting my apartment for rent mid Dec and hoping to score someone for March 1st or even mid Feb if possible. Keep your fingers crossed that I find someone.

I'm still not sure on prices since the places for rent in my building fluctuate from prices I want to make sure I get enough at least to cover my mortgage so we'll see....

Tomorrow is also the big surgery day. I'm soo nervous!

AWESOME

2006-11-14T17:54:00.000-05:00

I just met a girl in my building waiting for the elevator who is moving into my building one floor above mine in about 2 weeks time. You will never believe how much she'll be paying for rent...$1400/month!!!!!!!! I acted really cool but I couldn't get over how much the owners are going to be bagging a month through her! I know what the model looks like, it's much smaller than mine and it doesn't have as nice a view as I do (it faces rideau street). If the owner was able to get such a high price for a small unit, it's making me wonder once again, how much I should charge for my unit. The price includes utilities but I don't know if they have a parking spot and/or a storage room.

Seriously, if any of you in Ottawa know of someone looking for a kick ass pad in the heart of the market please let me know@ I'll be drafting up my apartment blurb early next month and the more interest I get the better for me.

In other news, my kitties are getting so big!! They will be 5 months old in less than 2 weeks and then in Dec, I'll have to start thinking about timeslots to book for them to get fixed and declawed. Today I kinda freaked because Simba started meowing weirdly and rubbing up against everything and all I could think about was, shit what if he's starting to get horny? LOL. I have no idea what the symptoms are! I should really start looking...

Focus Eye Centre II

2006-11-13T13:45:00.000-05:00

I went in to get my mapping of my eyes this morning. I still can't believe that by this time next week, I'll be glasses/contacts lens free!! It seems like a total dream. I'm extremely nervous about the procedure still but looking fwd to not using any aids to see :D

Today is municipal elections in Ottawa, so fellow Ottawans, please don't forget to take a moment out of your busy schedules to vote!!!

We also have the board of directors voting for my condo. I had nominated myself as a candidate but as we got closer to the voting day, I removed myself from the candidate list. I was up against 16 other ppl, some included school board members and even doctors. I just lost all confidence, what do I have to offer? :( Plus, I'm planning on moving out hopefully in March into Jimmy's house and renting out my place, so if I'm not here 24/7 what's the point of being a member of the board of directors?

Sooo if you know someone who may be interested in living in the market let me know! :)

Blast from the past III

2006-11-09T14:56:00.000-05:00

I just got an email from another girlfriend I went to school with while I was still living in Peru!!
Funny part is, her name is Ximena Gonzalez, just like me LOL except her name is with an "x" which is pronounced the same as an "h" sound. I can't wait to see her as well! She looks the same she sent me photos!

I'm really getting pumped for this trip back to Peru!!!

Links of the day

2006-11-08T14:22:00.000-05:00

Real life Borat. From what I heard, he's suing Baron Cohen for stealing his material
Baby Ejected in Hit-Run Crash Later Found -- Under a House!
Two police officers sued Burger King Corp., claiming they were served hamburgers that had been sprinkled with marijuana.
A New Jersey woman who fell off a wet bar and injured herself while dancing in a "Shake-
It-Like-Shakira" contest is suing the Manhattan bar that sponsored the shake-off. Gimme a break!
Awesome photos!
Hahhaa Faith Hill gets owned at the CMAs
The next thing in science... human-cow embryos... WHAAT?
Tanja from Big Brother Croatia falls off a slippery table while trying to dance on it. hahaha

New bed

2006-11-06T13:04:00.000-05:00

Jimmy and I are going shopping on Wed night for a king size bed woohoo!!! My queen is falling apart thanks to my cats and his queen is under 2 yrs old. Since I'll be moving in there next spring, we decided we'd opt in for a king size bed since he's so large and the master bedroom has enough room for one. So he's going to lend me his queen size until I move in there and my old queen is going back to my parents not sure what they'll do with it. His queen will be in one of the spare rooms when I move in there.

I can't wait to have a new queen!

Just For Laughs Comedy Show II

2006-11-05T17:51:00.000-05:00

I got Jimmy and I tickets once again to another JFL Comedy Tour. Though this time I think the extent of the audience participating will be with the comics making fun of certain ppl in the crowd. Regardless, it will be fun!

Talk about odd, my brother bought tickets to the same show and even though he bought his tickets a different day than me, we're actually sitting next to each other haha what are the chances?? So I invited him and his gf over for dinner so that we can all walk over to the show after since it's walking distance from here, that way, we don't have to pay for parking in there.

:: winter ::

2006-11-04T17:10:00.000-05:00

Winter is fast approaching and that means I go back to hibernating!! God I hate winter!! It's so cold and depressing outside. I normally try to avoid going out to events and only enjoy going from point A to point B via car and nowhere else. I think this weekend just proved it.

The wine and food show is this weekend and I really wanted to go and I didn't find out when it was until a few days ago and by then it was too late :( I have noone to go with and plus it's going to be packed oh well!! Next time it comes to town, I won't be living in the market so I probably won't even bother.

So I just found out that my friend across the hall from me is moving in with her bf on Dec 1st and her apartment has been rented out to my neighbour!!! cool for him easy move and to top it off, she's leaving it furnished for him! he's really happy cos he won't have to buy any furiture, just a TV. I hope it's that's easy for me to find someone to rent mine out next year!!

:(

2006-11-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

I think my desktop PC is dead. I went to turn it on 2 days ago and I got a black screen with the words "Press any key to reboot", I'd reboot and get the same screen. I shut her off. When I turned her back on later that day, I would get the boot screen then it would revert to the screen where you choose how to load up windows, either in safe mode or regular mode. I tried both options and they both just would load up the boot screen then revert back to this original screen.

I think my CPU is donzo. *sigh* It's about time, I haven't upgraded my CPU, MOBO nor HDD since 2004. It's lasted me 2 yrs of ups and downs. Jimmy is coming over tonight to try to fix it. If we can't, I'm going shopping this weekend for new parts. How sad.

Blast from the past II

2006-11-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

I recently got an email from a childhood friend I haven't seen/talked to in 20 years! Can you believe that? All thanks to this cheesy website called "Where Are You Now?". It's actually a pretty cheesy website and since I hadn't been on it in years, I logged on to remove my account when I noticed I had messages in my inbox. I clicked and discovered a private message from a girl I used to be best friends with when I lived in Peru!!! We went to preschool, kindergarten and grade 1 together until my dad's job sent us over to Europe and I lost contact with her.

I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE FOUND ME THROUGH THE SITE!!

I'm still in complete shock. So is she. She seems to be doing really well for herself. She's married and is a lawyer, living in a house overloaking the ocean! We're planning on meeting up when I go back to Lima in Jan. I cannot wait. I've tried to reconnect with a few of the girls I hung out with when I was still living in Lima but it's been close to impossible to find them. It's fate that Augusta (that's her name) found me. All I need now, is to find my best friend in Belgium named Astrid. I can't even remember her last name. She was also the child of a diplomat but with the Norwegian embassy and left with her parents to go back to Norway.. wonder what she's up to these days....

2006-10-30T15:41:00.000-05:00

The Common Cold

2006-10-30T08:35:00.000-05:00

I hate having a cold! I wish there was some magical pill I could take and it would make the darn cold go away. No matter what kind of meds I take it doesn't do anything! Though I've heard great things about this COLD FX (sp?) has anyone taken it before?? I'm considering taking it if it really does work wonders.

I spent all weekend at Jimmy's catching up on the entire third season of The O.C. I was never really into that show until just a few weeks ago when I was bored on a weekend and went to the video store and couldn't find anything decent to rent so I ventured over to the TV SERIES section and decided to give this show a go. Everyone had been telling me how good it was. I'm hooked now! Season 4 begins on Nov 4 or 8th I believe. Can't wait! haha. I'm trying to figure out which should be the next show I should get into. I'm thinking of either, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under or Nip/Tuck. Any suggestions?

Focus Eye Centre :: UPDATE

2006-10-25T08:53:00.000-04:00

So I had my Focus Eye Centre consultation yesterday afternoon. It took about 2 hours from start to finish.

You have to go through 2 doctors before you reach the surgeon. While I was with the second optometrist, she put those freezing drops into my eyes, where you don't feel like blinking and she approached my eye with some measuring stick. I started to hyperventilate and my vision started to go blurry. I got woozy and had to ask the doctor to stop because I was going to faint. haha, I'm such a wimp!! I had to have a paperbag and a glass of water to calm my nerves. The doctor left for a few mins to give me some time to collect myself and my mom pulled me aside and drilled me to make sure I knew what I was doing. I'm a sack of nerves, I will admit that, heck, the day I went in to get fitted for contact lenses for the first time, I got so nervous that I fainted in front of my parents and the doctor LOL

When I finally regained my composture, I met with the surgeon who told me I am a good candidate. He told me about the 2 different types of operations you can get, Wavefront PRK & Wavefront Lasik. I'm going for the one that my friend Rahul and my mom went for. PRK. Which is the more expensive one but the safer and the one guaranteed to give you 20/20 vision if not better. While the other one isn't but is the cheaper more affordable option ranging from 500 to 1K per eye as opposed to what I'll be paying ($4200) eek! Luckily they offer financing through the Scotiabank. I'm not going to go through their financing though. I'm probably going to either pay half of it up front and the other half pay it with my line of credit.

I could have booked my appointment as early as Nov 3, but I can't b/c the 5th I have a date with Jimmy to go to Just For Laughs Comedy show. The only other date they have available for a Friday is on the 17th so that's the day I'm going through with it. I'm soo nervous! Luckily, they give you valium before the operation and I'm going to get double the amount b/c i'm such a wimp LOL. The surgeon also told me that the operation lasts longer for ppl with worse vision. Mine is so-so, therefore, it will take between 25secs to 30secs per eye. My mom's took 1min per eye. The recovery is patient specific but they say anywhere from 3-5 days you'll be in bed sleeping most of the time. Hence why I picked a Friday so I would have Sat & Sun to rest and probably have to take Monday and Tuesday off to recup.

Only crappy thing is, I had planned on going to Toronto the following weekend so I don't think I'll be able to go, I'll have to play it by ear depending on when my follow-up appointments are (if they fall on the day I was going to go up to tdot) and how well I'm feeling of course. I know I'm going to be sooo nervous knowing me, but I have to go through with this. I'm sick of switching between glasses & contacts and having to clean them, not seeing the alarm clock in the morning and not being able to see everything in the shower! I also hate going to the beach and not going underwater for fear of losing my contacts. I can't believe in a month's time this will all be over. I'm sooo nervous! It couldn't be better timing either, 2 months before Peru is just perfect! It feels like a dream, I swear... I haven't had 20/20 vision since grade 5! :D

If you are considering going through this, go at least to see a specialist, the consultation is free.

Party photos

2006-10-23T20:48:00.000-04:00

Photos from the event

My party rocked! About 56 ppl showed up including my parents and there were only a handful without costumes. This just prooved to me how awesome my friends are. I've decided that I'm going to host 2 themed dress-up parties a year. One around halloween season (unless I get invited to a party first) and one in the summer/springtime. Now that I see how many ppl are eager to participate it totally gives me incentive. As you can see by the costumes, some were pretty original! I got some great gifts ranging from martini olive picks to body shop gift bags.

Party Crashers

2006-10-22T16:06:00.000-04:00

My party was a complete success though while I was showing my apartment to some friends, a group of 4 or 5 chicks who I have no idea were, showed up at my party uninvited. They knew some ppl there and not even once did they come over to say hi. Let me tell you, it took A LOT to control myself from going over and saying "please get out of my party". So I had the friends of mine who knew them tell them personably. I found out who invited them and let's just say, I'm really not impressed with that person and have lost all rspect for them. Not only for inviting those ppl without consulting me, but they didn't bother to show nor call and invited 2 other ppl at the beginning and I specifically said DON'T INVITE ANYONE ELSE WITHOUT MY CONSULT FIRST. I'm a nice person, but if you're going to be stupid enough to test my patience....

Partytime

2006-10-21T18:47:00.000-04:00

Tonight's the night!

62 ppl have confirmed attendance through my evite. Let's see how many of those show up and how many of those that do show up actually come in costume. I'm planning on throwing a themed dress-up party at least once a year and this party will help me determine who has spirit and who doesn't. Those that don't, will not be invited to my next dress-up gathering simple as that!

FOR RENT

2006-10-20T10:36:00.000-04:00

I'm going to be putting up my apartment for rent sometime in Feb. If you know of someone who would be looking for a pad for anytime after that please let me know! I'll be posting photos and detailed info closer to February. I sure hope I don't have problems finding someone! *crosses fingers*

Updated pics of apartment

2006-10-19T17:43:00.000-04:00

I've been way overdue to update everyone with photos of my pad. Jimmy helped me put up some more photo frames all over and I bought a few more decorations including new shelving units and a neat panel display which we haven't put up yet. It's from Beddingtons and you put it behind your bed to make it look like a bed frame it's really cool! Hopefully I can get it up sometime this weekend before showing off my place to new ppl while hosting my bday party. But we'll see.

Work has been busy which is good. I've been doing enough overtime that I've taken it in time and will be going to Toronto for a weekend end of Nov so I'm taking off the Friday and taking the train down with the overtime I accumulated. Woohoo! :)

I weighed myself the other day and I've lost a few pounds I'm soo excited! I guess cutting down on my food intake, working out more often and taking those energy pills Jimmy told me about really are helping!

I taped the movie DOOM on my PVR last week. I haven't had time to watch it, I'll probably watch it tonight. I wonder if it's any good. Probably not. It will never live up to the game I'm sure!

Etiquette

2006-10-18T16:57:00.000-04:00

Is it bad etiquette when someone invites themselves to your bday party and then you uninvite them giving them some lame excuse only because well, you're not really friends with them and aren't impressed that they had big enough balls to ask if they could come to your bday party.

I initially said yes, but the more I thought about it, the more it annoyed me and so I told them they can't come haha.

Whatever! It's my party and I think it's only fair I celebrate it with those I want there right?

FOCUS EYE CENTRE!

2006-10-18T10:38:00.000-04:00

I've been considering getting laser eye surgery since my mom had it done almost 2 yrs ago. She's recovered very well and the prices have gone down and well, now that I have extra money I figured I should go forth with it. Especially since I'm going to Peru in January and I'd just love to not have to worry about bringing glasses/contacts on my trip!

My consultation is next week. It's 2 hours and I find out if I'm a good candidate and how much it will cost me. My mom offered to help pay for it. So if I'm able to get it done, I'm going to aim for the first week of Nov! eek!!!

Car crash

2006-10-17T07:39:00.000-04:00

I had my annual physical yesterday afternoon. Since my doctor recently moved from Orleans to Kanata, both my mom and I did not want to switch docs since it's close to impossible to find a decent doc these days, so we continued with her. We made our appointments half an hour apart so we'd be able to commute together. We were done by 2pm and on route back to work.

Little did we know, there had been a 10 car collision on the eastbound highway!! It was brutal! Bumper to bumper. It took us literally 45 mins to pass one exit and make it to the next. Since we were in the farthest right lane and it was bumper to bumper, there was no way in hell we would have been able to switch lanes to exit. We would have had to somehow squeeze through 2 other lanes on the left before reaching the exit.

I didn't get into work until a bit past 4 pm!!!

This is what I found concerning the crash.
http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp?cat=1&nid=43675

Sheri & Mel's housewarming

2006-10-15T17:43:00.001-04:00

Halloween

2006-10-12T10:26:00.000-04:00

So I'm having a Halloween themed bday party on the 21st. Jimmy's already got his costume. I haven't narrowed it down but this weekend I'm going to make my final decision. That's what I'm dedicating myself to doing on Saturday. Buying all the decorations/food for the party and finally choosing a costume. I've got some ideas ranging from THE MONA LISA to PUNKY BREWSTER. I'll have to see. I wanted to buy a cool costume but really there isn't a lot of time left for delivery so I scratched that idea off. So I'll just make my costume as best I can!

My parents and my brother and his gf came over for pizza on my bday. Jimmy had to work in the army so he came over later that night. I got a really really nice martini set and a wine decanter with a holder and everything! Some candles and new ice trays. Jimmy also gave me gorgeous roses yesterday aww :) My division is taking me out for lunch tomorrow to KHAO THAI in the market yum!!!

Some old high school friends are coming over tonight b/c they haven't seen my apartment nor my kittens and I told them I have some hilarious old school videos from when we were 16 to show them!! We're going to have soo much fun! Jimmy is gone with the army this weekend so I've got things planned for myself ranging from going salsa dancing on Friday with some friends, to going to a housewarming on Saturday and my mom taking me bday clothes shopping on Sunday.

I talked to my dad yesterday, he just bought a 3 bedroom apartment can't wait to see it when we go down. My brother also just bought a townhome with his gf! They were told move-in date is sometime in Aug. They will be walking distance from where Jimmy and I will be. AWESOME!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2006-10-10T08:37:00.000-04:00

It's my special day today!!

WOOT WOOT!

Fog

2006-10-04T09:58:00.000-04:00

Holy it's foggy today!

My alarm went off and I seriously thought it was still the middle of the night it was so dark! You couldn't see much outside my windows.

My kitties are soo cute when they are well behaved and sleepy.

My bday in 6 days!!

2006-10-02T11:48:00.000-04:00

I'm going to my lawyer's today to hand over the remainder costs I need to pay (lawyer fees, land transfer tax, etc) it's the last big bunch thankfully. After this, finally I'll be paying into my mortgage!!! Before that I was just paying "rent" to the builder until the building was registered.

I went shopping for more goodies for my apartment on Sat and Jimmy and I finally put up more photos up on the wall. I'm out of frames so I'm going to wait until later this week when we put up my shelves and my mirror and then I'll see how much room I have left and go buy more frames and get my remainding photos printed. I've got tons of wall space in my bedroom so I may as well use that up. I'd also like to get a wall clock, I asked for one for my bday so I hope I get one and a funky one for that!

My bday is a week from tomorrow lalala!

Whose Line is it Anyways - Tour

2006-09-29T09:04:00.000-04:00

I went to the "Whose Line is it Anyways" Comedy Tour last night with Jimmy. It had 2 of the main guys from the show doing routines for 2.5 hours. Colin and I forget the other guy's name.. something Sherwood. HILARIOUS! They always call up ppl from the audience to participate and Jimmy & I got picked. We had to make the sound effects to them. They had a skit lined up and we each had to do the sounds for each person. The problem was that the speakers were facing the audience so we couldn't make out every single thing they were saying so we kept screwing up! At one point, my guy was trying to yell to this guy in a burning building I guess to tell him he was going to get help, but I didn't hear that so I thought he was just yelling out to a friend. So I kept saying "HEEEEEEEY" everytime he cupped his hands around his mouth as if he was screaming. Jimmy did really well, he made the audience crack up a lot. Which doesn't surprise me, he's a comic at heart.

I just got another email from a friend who saw me in on stage heheh cool!!

The countdown begins!

2006-09-25T10:05:00.000-04:00

My bday is in 2 weeks so I'm going to begin the countdown now!!

I wasn't going to have a party at all this year but changed my mind because my building has a kick-ass party room so I'm going to take full advantage of it since I'm living there only until the spring. I'm going to host it about a week after my real bday since it always lands on thanksgiving. It's going to be a halloween theme and mandatory costume is in effect!! I'm going to send out the invitations via email later this week as soon as I talk to the property manager to confirm that all the appliances will be in place by then as she specified to me earlier in email.

Speaking of which, our gym is open! Well, it hasn't been officially announced but I've already used it twice last week. It looks like they are still missing a mirror and some paint on part of the walls but most of the equipment is in there already and I may as well use it before it becomes super busy in there! Jimmy is sleeping over tonight so we're going to spend a good hour in there tonight working out. I have to work out now almost every day to get into tip top shape in time for Peru. I've got exactly 4 months to get cracking!@ I've toned down on the wine/beer intake and only do it when I have ppl over for dinner or I go to out or something which isn't often these days.

Another thing I've been talking to my mom about is going to get laser eye surgery. It's something I've been considering since my mom had it done over a year ago. She is so happy and I'd love to have it done before I head to Peru so I have one less thing to worry about while there. I talked to my mom about it this past weekend and she said she'd help out with payments if need be. We're going to have a serious talk about it after my bday. I may ask her to help me out with payments if it's too costly and tell her to give me that money as a xmas present or something. So we'll see! Naturally, I'd aim to have it done in Nov so after my bday, I'm going to most likely book a free consultation to see how much my payments would be. I'm so excited!!

Today the kittens turn 3 months old!! I can't believe how quickly time has gone by! I gotta go get them their second set of shots this Saturday and I'm going to ask the vet to see when is the earliest time I can bring them in to get fixed/declawed.

I rented the first season of The O.C. this past weekend. Now I understand why ppl love that show so much! It's addictive and I'm going to go this weekend to get season 2 hahah.

We are not the same~

2006-09-21T11:02:00.000-04:00

I just read this on my friend Sean's blog and thought I'd share with you guys as well.

... Some asshat MP is trying to turn Canada in to the US where copyright is concerned.

Go here and choose your province and then your MP. The letter against it is all written up to submit to your member of parliament. You just enter your name and address and then send it in to register your stance against americanizing Canadian copyright laws. The main push is to prevent legislation that would make it illegal to circumvent DRM on your legally owned media. This is a step back. It would open us up to being sued a la RIAA. TAKE A STAND!

http://www.onlinerights.ca/
....

He's completely right, I just signed and sent off a letter, now it's your turn to vote and stop the insanity!!

Retroactive pay!

2006-09-21T09:07:00.000-04:00

YAY! I got my retroactive pay from the 2 past years this week! lalalalala!

It was a lot of cash and it makes me a very happy person. It couldn't have arrived at a better time. I had recently bought our tickets to Peru (Jimmy is going to pay me back for his flight soon) and I was worried I'd be in the hole, but alas, I received this huge amount of cash and it's actually just a bit over what our total tickets were combined YAY! So it's as if I got the tix for free.

My kittens are getting sog so quickly!! To think I got them the day they turned 8 weeks old and now they are going to be 3 months old on Monday! I've taken some more photos of them so you can see them growing.

I'm going to my friend's Pampered Chef event this weekend. She booked it through my event which means I'll get discounts at her event because of it! I can't wait the girl picked as a theme "Chocolate". Though I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, I think I'll still have fun especially cos she's making chocolate martinis which I've never had and look forward to trying. I'm also going to most likely order some stuff, partly because i get a discount and partly because I want her to get freebies, she bought stuff at my event so I'll buy some at hers naturally.

I think I'll book another pampered chef event sometime this winter and host it at Jimmy's so that I won't have to deny ppl from showing up. By then also there will be more themes for me to choose from. Can't wait!

Useless Trivia

2006-09-19T08:06:00.000-04:00

Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru, an island nation in the western Pacific.
Blondes have more hair than dark haired people do.
Belgium is the only country that has never imposed censorship for adult films.
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.
Bees kill more people a year than sharks do.
Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow film down so you could see his moves.
A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside.
Brazil is the only country to have played in every World Cup soccer tournament.
Bulls are colorblind, it is the motion of the cape which angers them.
Babe Ruth kept a lettuce leaf under his hat to keep cool during a game.
Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
Cards may not be played in the street with a Native American.
Broccoli and cauliflower are the only vegetables that are flowers.
Certain frogs can be frozen solid then thawed and continue living.
China has more English speakers than the United States.
By age sixty, most people have lost half of their taste buds.
Cheese is the oldest of all man-made foods.
Before 1850, golf balls were made of leather and were stuffed with feathers.
Bill Clinton is the only President ever to be elected twice without ever receiving 50% of the popular vote. He had 43 percent in 1992 and 49 percent in 1996.
Children grow faster in the springtime.
By the time a child finishes elementary school she will have witnessed 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television.
A healthy human eye can distinguish between 500 shades of gray.
Banana plants are the largest plants on earth without a woody stem. They are actually giant herbs of the same family as lilies, orchids and palms.
Casanova wore condoms made of linen.
A man and woman in Mexico city were engaged for 67 yrs and finally married at the age of 82 yrs.
Back in the mid to late 80s, an IBM compatible computer wasn't considered 100% compatible unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator.
A Horse has 18 more bones than a Human.
Barbers are forbidden by law from shaving a man's chest in Omaha, Nebraska.
Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew cannabis sativa (marijuana) on their plantations.
A kangaroo can jump up to 3 meters high and leap up to 8 meters

Stress

2006-09-18T16:27:00.000-04:00

My boss has been gone for 2 weeks. Normally, it's a time to rejoice but this week, has been hell on earth! It's been soo busy at work and I've been trying to balance both taking care of the IT job I normally do, plus dealing with communication department directly aaaaaaaaaah. IT and Comm just don't mix that's for sure!

Anyhoo, I'm hoping I don't have to work overtime tonight cos I made a gym date with a friend. I had to cancel on her twice last week cos I got stuck at work till 630pm which isn't THAT late but it's late enough that I can't make it to the gym :( I seriously cannot wait until the gym in my building is up and running! They said end of this month so one more week hopefully!

My friend Mel called me on Friday night, she's been living in England for the past few yrs and we've been in contact via email/msn the whole time. But seeing her in person since not seeing her ever since we were teenagers has been awesome! Cool thing is, she's staying at her mom's place who lives kind of close to Jimmy's house so super convenient! I'm going to call her tonight to see if she wants to come over tonight or tomorrow for a sleepover since I don't have to rise until later cos I'm getting things fixed in my pad and I need to be there to supervise :)

TGIF

2006-09-15T09:45:00.000-04:00

Another weekend is about to roll in, thank god!

I can't get over how quickly this past summer zipped by and how close the winter is . How depressing. Back to hybernation for me that's for sure!!

The kitties are getting so big! They will be 11 weeks old on Monday wow. They've become very people oriented. Very friendly. I seriously cannot wait until I can get their claws fixed. I'm still not sure if I'm getting them declawed or keeping them with the "soft paws" deal. I want to get them the soft paws for now but unfortunately, they don't offer soft paws for kittens under 4-5 months old DAMNIT!. So I'll just have to keep going to the pet store to have their nails clipped every 2 weeks. I'm also thinking of getting a much larger scratching post/play area for them. The one they have is too small for them. I should have invested in one with at least 2 levels that way they would have more areas to play on. I notice they enjoy being up high at my eyesight level.

I've had to start leaving my bedroom door closed because, even though I don't mind them playing in my bedroom (especially sitting by my floor-to-ceiling windows and ppl watching, they figured out a way to get inside my boxspring by ripping open a small hole. I don't want them in there for fear they will hurt themselves. Plus Simba got stuck in there and was meowing like crazy cos the stupid cat couldn't figure out how to get out hahah. Dumb cat! So I'm going to be bringing home some industrial tape to tape up all the loose ends on the boxspring. Jimmy and I are throwing out that boxspring when we move in together anyways cos it's old!

Last weekend I finally went out to a club with Jimmy and some friends. It had been MONTHS since I'd been out. I really enjoyed it. But Jimmy and I drank way too much and we suffered for it all of Saturday we were bed-ridden LOL

This weekend, I'm having a friend and his fiancée over for a couple of drinks (to Jimmy's since I"m staying there all weekend) and it's Jimmy's nephew's bday on Sat so we're going to his sister's place all day and at night we're heading to my work friend's bday thingy at her apartment. Sunday I'd like to get as much of my errands out of the way as possible.

Oh yea! We bought our Peru tickets! I can't wait! We leave Jan 10 - Jan 25 yay!!!

So look for updates on here :P

Friday of WTF?

2006-09-08T15:09:00.000-04:00

Is that her family name or her profession??

Anniversary

2006-09-07T10:40:00.000-04:00

So this weekend we get to finally celebrate a bit of our long overdue anniversary. We're going to the Velvet Room on Saturday night for a murder mystery dinner theatre. Should be lots of fun! It will be free too cos of the contest I won earlie this summer for 2 dinners inclusive. We'll use up the hotel vouchers probably the weekend of my bday which is a long weekend. I took a cute photo of Jimmy napping with the kitties.

Simba has been using the litterbox more now thank god. I've been rewarding him with treats everytime he does. This weekend I'm going to go buy them a scratching post b/c they are starting to scratch my couch a lot more these days and I have to get them to stay away from that. They're also playing a lot more around my computer which I do not like, so I'll be also buying this spray stuff or sticky stuff that cats do not enjoy and putting it around areas I prefer them to not play around for safety reasons. I think I'll also buy some kitty shampoo and give them their first bath in a couple of weeks. I want my kitties to be used to water :)

Bad kitty!!

2006-09-06T11:44:00.000-04:00

Simba has been a bad kitty lately. He pooped on Jimmy's roommate's off-white couch TWICE over the long weekend. We thought it was probably because the litterbox was too far and he couldn't figure out where it was so we brought it up to the main level.

Then last night, as I'm reading my book in bed and cuddling with Simba & Zazu, Simba decides to take a leak on my bed!!!!!!!! I was livid! My duvet and duvet covers reeked. So I had to get up and wash everything. I was trying to figure out why he'd do something like that, but I guess cos he's still a baby, accidents will happen. I'm going to keep them in an enclosed area (a make-shift playpen) until Simba is fully littertrained. He has to understand where the litterbox is and I need to know that there won't be anymore accidents. I hate having to do this to Zazu as well cos he is good with the litterbox, but I can't seperate them, they'd be miserable.

Everyone pray for me hehe

Back to routine

2006-09-05T09:31:00.000-04:00

Boo, the long weekend is done how depressing. I had so much planned for it but we didn't end up doing much at all. I was supposed to be celebrating my anniversary with Jimmy at that hotel we won 2 nights stay back in the summer but we didn't end up going cos it turns out that all the fun facilities were closed in the hotel so no point :( So we're going to wait to celebrate. Oh well.

I took the kittens to the vet on sat. They are in perfect health and received their first set of shots. I also got Jimmy to finally set up my pantry shelves it looks awesome! I'll take a photo of them once we set up the hooks to hang stuff with. All that I'm really missing is 2 more rugs, hang the rest of my photos and set up my bookshelf on the wall. I'm going to start inviting ppl over for small housewarmings. First one is set for the 15th. I have to start calling ppl to confirm dates.

Can't wait!

HALLELUYAH!

2006-08-31T10:55:00.000-04:00

OMG.. I won't bore you guys with all the emails that went back and forth, but the latest email, which I've saved and printed for proof, the property manager has agreed with us and will NOT be charging visitors for parking. The tokens will still be used but ONLY for overnight stays. She is sending out a new memo to all tenants advising them on the change.

This just goes to show that 1 person (in this case 2) really CAN make a difference. I'm so happy.

And if she goes back on her word, I've got it in writing.

It's a mad mad world!

2006-08-30T14:35:00.000-04:00

My friend who was in the car accident on Monday night sent me a photo of the scene. Her car is the one on the left. I'm so glad she's ok. Her car is a total write-off. So the only good thing is she can now get a new car through her insurance since hers was old.

On another note, I went home for lunch today to play with my babies. They are doing wonderfully. Last night, one of them came and woke me up at 4am by purring and rubbing his face against my cheek (awww!) On Friday I take them with me to Jimmy's place. Poor things will be scared and confused after just starting to settle down in my place! Then on Sat I take them with me to the hotel we're staying at for the weekend (until Monday) they allow pets (yay!) and we don't want to leave them home alone at such a young age so we gladly drag them with us :) Poor things will have to settle into 2 new homes for a weekend.

While at home, I noticed that I had received a notice from the management company of my building under my door. I'm steaming right now. I scanned the letter so you can all read what it says! It sucks it's a long weekend and noone will be around cos I'm planning on getting a bunch of my neighbours to write a letter to the management company to complain about this letter. I'll let you read it now!

Batch of photos - 2 months old (8 weeks)

2006-08-29T15:07:00.000-04:00

Kittens: Day 1

2006-08-29T09:22:00.000-04:00

So far so good!!

I was going to keep them in my bathroom for the day with their food and the kitty litter. But they are already litter trained and they are pretty well behaved. I woke up this morning to a clean litter but so far, so messes in my apartment so I really hope they start using the litter. I'm going to stay freaked out until I finally see messes in the litter cos for now, if they make a mess on my couch, I have nothing to clean it with!! I'm going this weekend to buy some spray stuff just in case they do make a mess on my couch.

I don't know how it works, I've taken them to the litter and so I've basically shown them where it is, but I wonder if they would remember where it is? I don't know if they know where the litter is by the smell of it or something? Regardless, I'm going home for lunch as much as I can until I see that they are using the litterbox regularly.

I've finally named them. Coco & Nala. I still don't know what sex they are I can't figure it out! The male kittens don't get their testes until a few months later I read somewhere. So I'm going to try to book an appointment with a vet this weekend to get their first set of shots and get the vet to tell me if they are male or female.

Now that they are getting comfy in my apartment, I feel bad that I'll have to take them for a few days to Jimmy's house cos I don't want to leave them alone in my place just yet. They will be freaked out at Jimmy's house cos it's bigger but oh well that will be their permanent home come the spring! :)

If anyone has any more tips/suggestions that I should know about kittens please let me know!

I'll try to take photos at lunch or after work.

Oh and my friend from work was supposed to come home with me for lunch to see the kittens but she got into a bad car accident last night on St. Laurent & Hunt Club. I can't find any info online if any of you find anything please link!! Supposedly it was a few car pile up thanks to a truck of some sort losing control and skidding into a car which made a domino effect. She said she was one of the lucky ones, most ppl were taken away in ambulances!!! YIKES! Another friend emailed me to tell me she passed by the scene of the accident and it was brutal with debrie everywhere!... If I find the link, I'll post. I'm just glad she's ok but her car is completely totalled.

Kitten day!

2006-08-28T14:17:00.000-04:00

The day I become a mommie is here!!! I keep looking at the clock. Time is going by way too slow.

I'm registering Jimmy and his friend in their spanish courses after work then we're driving to pick up my little munchkins. I'm going home for lunch tomorrow with a friend from work to play with them and make sure they are ok their first day alone in my apartment.

I'll post photos sometime this week.

I've narrowed down the names to Nala & Coco for girls and Aiko & Symba for boys. I wonder what sex they will be!

The lady who owns them right now emailed me this morning to tell me that they are now litter trained. I had downloaded a bunch of information on how to litter train them if they weren't , but now that they are ready to go, all I gotta do is lead them to where the litter will be :)

I'm also going to call the vet clinic tomorrow to find out if I can make an appointment to bring them in this weekend to get their first set of shots. How exciting!!

#1210 updates

2006-08-24T15:30:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to taking updated photos of my place. You guys probably won't see much difference in the other photos except for maybe the outdoor area is way closer to being completed. The paint I chose for the apartment were very pale colours. Reason being that I'm going to be renting it out in the spring and I don't want to turn potential tenants away by putting dark colours. I also don't want them asking me to paint the place when I just painted. So I'm hoping whomever rents it from me, will be ok with the colours. The only real colours you can notice is the pear green I picked for the kitchen and the bathroom. The others are really very pale you won't even notice them in the photos.

I had problably one of the most useless meetings today. There were 4 of us and 2 of us just kept going back and forth and back and forth. So stubborn, not listening to each other's opinions/suggestions. I came to the realization that if I didn't referee this one, we'd be sitting in the conference room for the rest of eternity not advancing anywhere. Seriously, what is the point of a meeting?? *sigh* The worst part is that I saw this coming because it's always the same with these two people!!

I'm going to get probably my last pedicure of the season tonight. The mornings are starting to be alot chillier and I found myself turning off my a/c more and more now before going to bed. It's kind of sad, I barely got to enjoy this summer as much as I wanted to because I was so busy buying stuff for my apartment. :( Now I gotta take out all my winter gear soon booo....

So I pick up the kitties 4 days omg omg :D I'm super nervous but very excited to be bringing them home. I've already got a list of a few names.

Boys:

Aiko
Bamboo
Symba
Coco

Girls:

Keisha
Nala
Bacci
Kimba

Quick service

2006-08-22T16:21:00.000-04:00

Wow, I only ordered my new iPod on Friday afternoon and lo and behold, I just received it!!

Tonight I have so much to do. The painter is coming to finish the second coat in my bedroom so I need to make sure i'm home for that, Jimmy is sleeping over and I'll be transferring all my iTunes music to my new iPod, while also somehow cooking dinner as soon as the painter leaves then hopefully heading to the gym for 9pm.

I hate going to the gym, I hate working out it's such a hassle lol. I wish we could all just naturally look great without having to work at it! I'm forcing myself to go to the gym as much as possible until I see some results. I even ordered some energy pills so who knows, maybe they will help me work out longer on the eliptical for now I can only last about 30 mins before i'm dead. I'm also trying to eat much smaller portions and drink wine/beer no more than twice a week and only 1-2 glasses of wine and 1 beer.

Updates

2006-08-22T10:56:00.000-04:00

I meant to take updated photos of my apartment but I forgot last night. I'll hopefully remember tonight though! Or maybe I should wait until after labour day weekend when I'm putting up more decorations and my shelves... yea I think I'll do that.

As for the drama from the weekend, the girl did in fact leave the cash with the party host cos I ran into the host in the elevator yesterday. Now hopefully she left me the right amount.

So once I get the cash, I'm going to order the encasing for my hdd.

6 days till kitty pick up!! So exciting! :) I'm also registering Jimmy in Spanish courses on Monday so it's going to be quite the busy day for sure! What with me nervous all day at work and then going to sign him up for his courses then rushing to pick up the kitties!!!

Can't wait!

Links of the day

Cheap babysitter? check out her rates!!

HOWTO: make a bra out of a plastic bag

Man born with two DONGS
Kelly Clarkson gets on stage with Metal Skool, drinks whisky from the bottle, sings G'n'R. I think I have found some respect for this chick! ANd yellowcard!
The Worst "Price is Right" Contestant of All-Time. what an idiot! and she's a brunette!

Weekend of drama

2006-08-21T09:47:00.000-04:00

What a weekend!!

I won't go into too many details but this was probably the most drama I've seen in a weekend so far.

Sat night, I went to one of my neighbour's housewarming party. Things were going great until around 3am when some ppl wanted to listen to salsa music and the host didn't have any so I volunteered to go up to my apartment and bring down my laptop with my external hdd which houses all my mp3s.

At around 330-ish, I was getting ready to leave soon when a girl at the party tripped over my hdd power cord and the entire external hdd topelled to the ground. :( I was really upset and she gave me her number saying she'd pay for the damages and to call her tomorrow.

I went home crying. Maybe to some ppl computer stuff is just hardware, but to me it's more than that. So the next day, my neighbour borrowed my hdd and tested it in his system. it's fine thank god! but the power cord is definitively dead. So naturally, I call the girl to tell her that it's just the case that's busted and i'll need to get a new case. She said it wouldn't be a problem since they only cost around $10. I said "um.. no they don't. They average 40$ and go up to almost 80$ for a super expensive one" That's when she became difficult. Making up reasons to not pay for it. Give me a break, I know it was an accident, you offered to pay the damages and no offence but if i break something of someone's, no questions asked, I'd replace it. She finally gave in after a few mins of arguing and offered to leave the cash with the housewarming host (the apartment she was actually staying at she was from out of town). I called the host of the party and left her a message to make sure that she was aware that her friend would leave the cash with her.

I haven't heard back from her so let's hope there aren't any further problems. *sigh*

My iPod died on Friday as well :( THe battery is dunzo. So I ordered a new iPod lol. This one had lasted me a good 3 yrs that's good enoguh for me!

:(

2006-08-18T20:37:00.000-04:00

My iPod died today. Actually, the battery, which is internal died and obviously once that's dead. The whole thing doesn't work. SUCKS!!!!

I know I know, if I really wanted to, I could go through all the hassle of sending it back to Apple and paying for a replacement battery but naw. Too much hassle. It's easier for me to dish out some cash and just upgrade. I always told myself that once my iPod died, it was a sign for me to upgrade. The price has gone down since the last time I bought mine by at least $100 so that's a bonus.

My dead iPod was a 20GB, 4th generation iPod. The one I just bought tonight online is a black one with 30GB, I guess the lastest generation. With a bigger screen and it's in colour! so i'm quite excited about that :D

I payed the extra 14$ to get it shipped here within a week's time. It's bad enough I have to go a week without any beats to and from work. Thank god at the gym they have TVs so that entertains me!!

Novel

2006-08-17T16:12:00.000-04:00

I love reading and have a list I compile full of novels I need to get. I usually go to Chapters and buy them in pairs. Once I finish those, I go back and get 2 other ones off my list. The two latest ones I've bought were

Dry: A Memoir - Augusten Borroughs
Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk (most known as the author of Fight Club)

Dry was awesome, as expected. It's the continuation of his first best-selling memoir novel titled RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. They are actually making it into a movie I can't wait to see it!

I only just started Haunted last night and boy, it's pretty screwed up! Amazon.ca nor Chapters warned me about how graphic and gross the first chapter was geez LOL.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1400032822/sr=1-2/qid=1155845046/ref=sr_1_2/701-7875731-6490725?ie=UTF8&s=books

New additions to the family

2006-08-16T10:55:00.000-04:00

I went with Jimmy to check out the kittens I have decided I will be taking home in 2 weeks! Check 'em out!

Sooooo cute!

We're picking them up on the 28th!! I can't wait! I've been having problems sleeping b/c that's all I've been thinking about lately haha.

I'm not sure what their sex is, but I've got some ideas on names. If you guys have any original exotic cute names for both males & females, please do post them!

Sick

2006-08-15T12:32:00.000-04:00

I'm staying home today because I don't feel well. Work hasn't been very busy so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. But of course, ironically enough, I just checked my email and got a call from my boss that all this work has come in and she may need me to go in this afternoon. *sigh* I really don't want to have to go in. I'm going to wait until our purchaser returns from vacation and I'm going to ask her if they mind getting me a laptop with internet connection rather than access through a browser to email cos this would prevent me from having to come in to work when I'm sick. It's really annoying *sigh*.

I'm hoping the clients don't get the work submitted on time today so I don't feel obligated to go in when I feel like crap.