Ashamed

Remember the Cookie Scandal of 2006...

Well today I proved that I learned nothing. That I have gained no more character then I had back then.

I made cupcakes for a friends birthday yesterday and there were extras so I brought them to work. These cupcakes are no ordinary thing, they’re a work of art. A yummy chocolate, moist cupcake with pretty piped cream cheese icing on top.

So I pass them out and people are enjoying them. My boss says, “This isn’t Duncan Hines from a box is it?” I shake my head no (It was Betty Crocker so I wasn’t actually lying :). She says, “You can tell, it’s so moist”.

I absolutely let her believe that I made the cake from scratch when it really was from a mix! In my cake mix defense, I was in a hurry, they were last minute and I added some stuff to the mix to make them yummier.

Don’t think less of me...
L

Conversation with a Telus Agent

So she asks when I want the change to take effect

I say immediately. She responds with, “Did you have a date in mind?”

What? A date in mind? I just told you I want it immediately... would that not make my date as today?
L

Golf = Life

When you think of classic date activities, two you normally come up with are bowling and mini golf... two things I happen to be really bad at.

It must have been at least 5 years since I’ve mini golfed and it was an embarrassing experience, I came in dead, dead last. There was no confusion over who lost that game, it was certainly me. So when Dave invited us mini golfing to celebrate Naomi’s birthday the only reason I said yes was because I knew Brad would want to go. I regretted accepting the invitation pretty quick though and was not looking forward to golfing, I wracked my brain trying to come up with reasonable excuses for us to back out. I came up with nothing convincing though so we headed off to golf.

Surprisingly I ended up having a fantastic time! The course was really fun, with little streams and a waterfall. No one took the game too seriously (except the ridiculously annoying kids behind us) and we laughed and visited and loved it.

Possibly the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life...I’ve tried to recreate it in picture form. It was just as impressive as you think it was :)

The biggest shocker of the evening came when we looked at the scores though... I tied for 1st place! Never before have I done that well. I’ve enclosed a copy of the score card so you can share in my victory with me. Notice the three circles, yeah, that’s right... those are three hole in ones! (Guess they made up for all the holes I did horrible on)

7 over par is not to shabby in my books.
L

Discoveries

I discovered something about myself on Monday night and I’m ready to declare it...

I don’t like Dairy Queen!

I know, shocking, me who likes all desserts but I’m ready to declare that I don’t like them. I think they’re super overpriced and I don’t think they use quality products. Their ice cream is okay but it’s the chocolate I don’t like, it’s cheap and waxy. Other products aren’t much better, like their whipped cream and brownie chunks; they’re just not that good. I’d rather go somewhere for a good scoop of quality hard ice cream or maybe some gelato. Even a carton of Safeway ice cream is preferable.

It doesn’t help that the DQ by our house is really, really hot every time we go in. I don’t know how the employees handle that heat all day, it’s awful.
L

A Few Wedding Photos

If these three weren't enough and you're interested in seeing a ridiculous number of our wedding photos you can go here. It really is a crazy number though... even I was a little bored and they're my photos :)
L

Shakespeare in the Park

What a great idea! Some friends of ours invited us on a picnic to Shakespeare in the park at Mount Royal College. There were 5 of us in total. I brought a potato salad, there was some yummy spinach dip and bread and the greatest pita sandwiches, they were seriously so good. Strawberry shortcake for dessert topped it all off. We sat in the outdoor amphitheatre and enjoyed the sun and the 70’s themed play, As You Like It. It was the perfect Saturday activity. After the play Brad and I invited everyone back to our place for some Wii, and we had such a fun time playing and eating candy and visiting.
L

Entertaining Overload

I just can’t seem to help myself, I keep inviting people for dinner! It’s an addiction really...

So far we’ve had two of Brad’s siblings with their spouses
Dave and Naomi
Janine and Chris
(I held off inviting Dave over for tonight)
I’ve already extended an invite to Al and Janae
I want to invite Ian and Jenn
I tried to invite Nathan and Jenn but they couldn’t make it
Ryan was suppose to come over last night but that fell through

There’s still a whole list of others in my head just waiting to be invited. I love having a home with Brad that we can invite into and the new BBQ and the Wii have only made matters worse. If I didn’t mention you on that list, don’t worry... I’m sure your invite will come though I’m trying to pace myself.
L

Great Name Change of 2007

And so it’s started...

The marriage certificate came in the mail the other day. I can begin with my long list of name changes. I started with my name at work, that’s all done.
The list of what I still have left:

1. Social Insurance Number
2. Passport
3. Drivers License
4. Telus & Telus Mobility
5. Our Utilities
6. Our Lease
7. The Bank
8. Air Miles
9. Credit Cards
   

Married ladies out there? What am I forgetting?
L

Scary!

Last night was a night full of crazy and scary dreams.

Before I get into them, one thing I’ve noticed in our new apartment building... in the stairwell there are quite a few spiders. If you know me at all you know that I DO NOT like spiders. I can kill them if no one else is around but if I’m not alone then you bet I’m going to have them do it. I think they’re creepy and disgusting and I hate them. Normally I’m pretty good at leaving outside spiders alone but if they come in my space and my house then consider them dead.

That being said... these spiders in the stairwell haven’t really bothered me. They’re not in my apartment; just the stairs and they’re usually in high corners. The entire time I’ve lived in the building (2 short months) I’ve seen only 1 spider in my apartment and it was by the window which is enough to convince me that these stairwell spiders are not going to make it to my apartment. I can accept that.

Or so I thought...

I had this horrible dream last night... there were these spiders, really big spiders, like bigger than your hand spiders. They were really really flat (and if I’m honest they didn’t actually look all that much like spiders and they had a bit of a plastic look to them, but I’m dreaming here) and they would...

I should warn you... it’s about to get disturbing

These spiders were sneaky, they’d get under your clothes, lay on your stomach and they leached blood out of you... awful I know. So in the dream there’s two of these awful “spiders” on me. Brad knocks them off of me (and I wasn’t freaking out nearly as much as I would have in real life) and then was about to catch and get rid of them when the dream switched.

I was riding on a motorcycle, Brad was driving and someone else was hanging on behind me, we went up a really steep hill, this other guy says, “You ready?” And we do this impossible huge jump... I was terrified! Closed my eyes, held on to Brad and waited for it to be over. Before we landed the dream switched again... I could continue but I think these two examples are enough to give you an idea of last night.

So – lesson learned, no more peanut butter ice cream before bed for me. Hopefully tonight is much more restful.
L

"The Sun and the Moon"

Wasted time.

I cannot say that I was ready for this.

But when worlds collide,

and all that I have is all that I want.

The words seem to flow

and the thoughts they keep running.

And all that I have is yours.

All that I am is yours.

Ohh...

Painted skies.

I've seen so many that cannot compare

to your ocean eyes.

The pictures you took

that cover your room,

and it was just like the sun

but more like the moon.

A light that can reach it all.

So now I'm branded for taking the fall.

Ohh...

So when you say forever,

can't you see you've already captured me.

- Mae

Surprise

Something that actually surprised me this weekend...

I really miss Confederation Park Ward. I didn’t expect to. I thought I’d go to 6th Ward and feel right at home, that was a little naive. I was very comfortable in Confed, I had established myself and knew almost everyone there. While there are quite a few people I know in 6th Ward, they’re all just acquaintances, none of them really know me. This has caused me to feel a little out of place and it’s surprising.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I hate 6th ward, I’m not saying I won’t love it eventually. I’ve always been of the attitude that you can’t expect others to make you feel at home, it’s up to you. I’m will to do what’s necessary it’s just going to take more time than expected.

Top 5 things I miss about Confed.

1. Irena and her hugs
2. Being able to sit by almost anyone in Relief Society
3. The quiet of our old Sacrament meetings
4. Dave
5. Not having to fear that I’ll be called to work in the Primary

L

Overflowing

At Brad's request I'm posting the poem that I read at our wedding.
It was written for us by our good friend Jane Kearl

Overflowing
I watch as water rises over the rim of a glass
And spills down the smooth side
Pooling silently on the table top
You are my water

I sip of your smile and savor the way
I am reflected in your lucent eyes
So clear and comprehensible
So attentive and forgiving

I sure footedly slip in to you
Your warmth encompassed in a kiss
Where I am dissolved
Now I am your water

Every day I drink you in
And, in return, offer a taste
Of perfect imperfection
And an impermeable promise

I shall never thirst again my love

SYTYCD

There’s this tv show... this magical tv show. A show above all other shows. It’s the one and only tv show that I can’t stand to miss.

So You Think You Can Dance

It’s the kind of magic that you can only watch over the summer. It’s a reality American Idol-esque show but features dancers. These really incredible dancers. Every week you get to watch these performances that are so good, these partnerships that work or don’t work. They have judges that are honest but not horribly mean. If someone stunk they’ll tell them but there’s normally some good they can find to mention. They feature all sorts of dances and in the end America votes which couples should be in the bottom 3. The judges take it from there and each week they vote off 1 boy and 1 girl.

So this show that I’m so enamored of... it’s on twice a week. On Wednesdays you get to see the dances and on Thursdays you get to see who’s voted off. So that’s two nights out of a week, that’s not a lot. You’d think we’d be able to arrange it so we can watch this one favorite show but somehow the majority of the time we end up missing it. We forget or we go out. We’ve, pathetically, even set the show to tape yet often forget to make sure the VCR is actually ready to go. It ends up feeling so tragic when I miss Shauna being voted off... but I loved Shauna! I wasn’t ready for her to go. And to finally see them get rid of Cedric. Hopefully as the season continues we’ll be more organized and will find the time to watch this favorite of favorites.

If you have yet to watch, give it a try, you just might love it.
L

Newest Love

It’s in a strange form, one you wouldn’t expect...

We have a new ice cream make so yesterday I decided to make some homemade strawberry ice cream (not the love I speak of). The recipe told me to puree the berries in the blender so I dropped my berries into our new blender and pushed the puree button. I think I had realistic expectations, I was sure I’d get some slightly mashed berries that eventually just bounced around in there, not pureed at all... I could not have been more wrong! These berries came out so smooth there wasn’t a single lump.

I believe there’s nothing this blender can’t do, it crushes ice effortlessly, make the most delicious smoothies and is stylish to boot. Oh how I love and use daily this wonderful blender.
L

Stampede Breakfasts

Over my years working downtown I've discovered that one of the benefits to my central location is the number of Stampede Breakfasts I'm able to attend.

Last year there was the Private one my building threw for us, the one at 5th Ave Place, the one at Petro Canada where we didn't actually eat because the line was scary long and there was the one on 8th ave put on by the Calgary Firefighters. Add that to the 2 church ones I went too, one Stake, one IRC and I had a record breaking breakfast year.

Sadly, this year does not look like it will measure up.
I finally made it to my first breakfast this morning hosted by 1st Calgary, it was a great start too. Eggs, sausage, ham and of course pancakes. Having eggs tips the scales on breakfasts for me though. Because of my honeymoon I've missed the Stake breakfast, because of my marriage I'm not eligible for the IRC one :) I've since moved buildings (only across the street) but apparanty being temporarily the only tenants in the building doesn't warrant a breakfast. I will be heading over to the 5th Ave breakfast tomorrow which is usually a real good one. Last year they had fruit toppings for pancakes and hashbrowns.

2 down from 5... sad really
I suppose there's always next year
L

p.s. I discovered through the course of this blog that I have a difficult time typing/spelling pancakes. I always mess it up and have to go back to fix it... funny

Speed Bumps

Like it or not I'm back at work today.

Now is about the time we'd be napping in Puerto Vallarta, I'm sleepy.

So the biggest thing we noticed while down in Mexico?

All of the speed bumps! There are tons of them! We'll be driving on the freeway and come to a bridge and everyone has to slow down because of the speed bumps. It's like driving on Deerfoot and having to slow down often. So annoying.

They had a two types too... there were your average run of the mill bumps and then there were these




Very large metal bumps screwed into the pavement that would jostle the car and I'm sure ruin things if not taken at the correct speed. Luckily they had signs to warn...




We're happy to be back on normal roads.
I think it will be a long time before we complain about speed bumps here.
L

Puerto Vallarta

Hola!
Well we´re here and loving every minute of it.
We sleep and then decide to eat, then we sit in the pool. Drink something fruity and decide maybe we should eat again. So far we´ve managed to avoid a sun burn.

Tomorrow is our dolphin enounter and the next day is our canopy tour, our resort is a dream. Palm Trees and no cleaning up after ourselves and pools and the ocean. We definitly aren´t cut out for the humidity though. It hits you like a wall when we leave our room, thank goodness for air conditioning. This was the best decision. We love not having to make a single wedding plan. Stay tuned for pictures of our dream honeymoon.

Thanks so much to everyone that helped make our wedding day so wonderful. It was exactly how I wanted it to be, I loved every minute of it and hope you did too.
L&B

As a side note, blogging here is definitly interesting, the blog page is all in spanish. The keyboard is differnt too. It´s a good thing I blog often and know where the buttons are :)