I must say there are some interesting folk that hang out at the bowling alley on a Saturday night! There was this guy:

(I was going to post a photo however I can't for the life of me figure out how to open the ones that were sent via email. I had used a trial of winzip previously however it's expired and these files seem to be compressed.....no idea???) Oh well you'll have to picture a t-shirt with the sleeves cutoff to make it sleeveless, those awful hammer type pants that men sometimes wear to the gym, awesome (sarcasm) tattoos.....etc etc. "TYB" material......


Also a group of young boys that came in all wearing various feminine attire and makeup. Interesting....


I very rarely ever go bowling (twice in the past 15 years) and I always start out well and then go downhill from there. My first frame I got 8 and then a strike and then zippo! I came in 6th place out of 7, clearly not my forte! I was dying to take the shoes home with me though, they were super cute and looked brand new.


We then went to a local watering hole for bday shenanigans #2. Several pints and shots were consumed which lead to a very lazy Sunday. Someone needs to remind me that tequila is not my friend........


I'm hoping to get my butt to the theatre this week to see Alice In Wonderland as well I must must must get my eating in order. I've been slacking terribly and eating out far more than usual and sweets oh the sweets I've been consuming! EEK! I mean there's only so much fruit and yogurt one can eat, I love love love chocolate and ice cream. Any good suggestions for low fat sweet treats.....low fat fudgesicles just don't do it for me. Maybe frozen yogurt......


I've tried those slim chocolate bars which are good but they're like the same price for less. I suppose I could buy a big one and cut it in 3 :)

Goal List Update:

Working On:

Read all of the unread books on my shelf 14/35


I just finished reading Please Stop Laughing at Me by Jodee Blanco. She wrote this book after enduring years and years of bullying as a young girl and well into her teens at the hands of her schoolmates. It was awful to hear how cruel the other kids were to her when she seemed like such a kind soul. It all started out when she was volunteering with children in a special class and her schoolmates taunted her for helping the "retards". It progressed to horrific physical and verbal assaults all throughout her high school years. I couldn't understand for the life of me while I was reading this, why she didn't just pack it in and try homeschooling.....perhaps that was not an option back then....I'm not sure. She currently travels around telling her story as a survivor of peer abuse and if I come across Jodee one day I will reach my arms around her and give her a big hug! She's amazing!



Completed

#14 Take vitamins everyday for 90 days 90/90

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!! That is all :)


#41 Visit 15 of my placements at work 15/15


I visited my 15th placement this month. It's always interesting to put a face to the voice on the other end of the phone. I'll often talk to people 2-3 times a week sometimes daily and many I've never met so I love that I've been able to connect with quite a few of my placement supervisors in person.

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Time seems to be creeping up quickly. I'm considering extending my end date by perhaps a few months. Not to get out of paying, I've already given $120 to various charities thus far, that covers 12 unfinished goals. I'll have to look through my list to see which ones will not be attainable and credit the money appropriately. I just feel like I need a bit more time especially for the warm weather activities. My current end date is supposed to be sometime in May.....

My tummy is sore from eating and drinking so much this past weekend! The birthday shenanigans turned out quite well. I went for a lovely dinner, tapas, sangria and flamenco dancing! I wasn't dancing of course but the restaurant had a flamenco dancer as part of the entertainment. I'm surprised I could move after eating so many yummy dishes, seriously we were there for 2.5 hours.....eating, drinking, watching!

We then met up with some pals at a pub where more drinking ensued. There was also entertainment there, lots of odd people dancing which I've never seen before at this particular place. Everyone got along quite well, not too many embarrassing stories were told thank god so I was happy! I decided it would be a great idea to eat again and ordered the deep fried mars bar I mean hello, how can you not???? Watching the folks dance made me want to go dancing and ohhh close to 1am I decided to take everyone to do just that. It was fun....I fell once of course but not everyone saw so PHEW!! My feet were throbbing come 3am so I thought it would be a great idea to take my boots off and walk barefoot downtown.....ummm yeah looking back not such a great idea granted I didn't step in anything nasty....that I remember anyway :)

I went for a hot stone massage today and was soooo close to falling asleep, seriously it was over an hour of total relaxation. I even spent an extra 20 minutes in the zen room afterwards with my eyes closed sipping fruity water. I forgot how refreshing water with lemon and oranges could be.

Now I'm once again stuffed.....full of sushi and cake this time.....though I did manage to get my butt to the gym today so the whole 400 cals I burned must make up for some of it right??? Ha, doubtful, but whatever it was my special weekend.......

........I'm just glad everything turned out so well :)

My tummy FINALLY felt better today yay!!!! As you know I've been having an off week but a few things took my mind elsewhere today. One was a lovely note from a dear friend of mine telling me how wonderful I am....awww that was sooo sweet and could not have come at a better time. Seriously it was this random you're awesome letter and it made me smile! I also had a good belly laugh at work of all places. My coworker had me in tears (happy tears) I was laughing so freaking hard. For about a half an hour I just laughed and laughed and forgot about all the worries of the week (*which now includes almost backing into a cop) ! It felt great!

I have a 4 day weekend which of course I'm going to take advantage of! There's a certain someone meeting a bunch of my friends which could prove disastrous or fun, time will tell! Oh please please please make them behave! So it looks like my days will be filled with dinner, drinks, reading, clearing out the tivo, perhaps a massage and just taking some me time. I think I need to start some relaxation exercises again. I actually shut my office door today, plopped myself on the floor and meditated for a few minutes. I need to get into that again......

*I needed to turn my car around and entered a driveway. There was no one in sight when I did this however I stared in amazement for a brief moment at this house with 3 yes 3 shopping carts on the lawn, oh my! I pulled out of the driveway and noticed a cruiser like right on my ass. I thought wow, they must be chasing someone. Nope turns out I didn't look when I reversed and almost by like an inch crashed into the police woman. She pulled up beside me and told me that I almost hit her blah blah, be more careful blah blah and "go"! I was like "ohhhhhhh sorry"! Thank god I didn't stop in the middle of the road and whip out my cell to take a photo of the carts as I had wanted to do!

Anyway a funny clip to take you into friday! Enjoy the weekend!

You know for some reason this has just not been a great week for me. It's actually interesting as I recall this exact same time last year feeling the same way. The only reason I remember feeling yucky last year at this time is because my special day is coming up and last year I got some bad news just before. This year I didn't receive any bad news per se but there are some changes going on and decisions to be made that don't make me feel very good.

Perhaps my body knew before my brain did as my stomach has been churning since the beginning of the week. So much so that I was unable to stomach anything other than a bowl of soup one day (and believe me, I like to eat!). I just assumed that I had eaten something bad the night before or perhaps I had a touch of something only the churning has not really subsided. I'm into day 3 of gulping pepto, eating very little (which is good for my ass) and waiting for everything to settle. It feels as though I have crampy, butterflies, constantly turning in my tummy....not a good feeling and really no reason for it. Is it stress? Did I eat something bad? I really have no idea as the rest of my body is perfectly fine.

Ah well, let's hope I kick whatever it is before the weekend as I have plans to whoop it up with my pals and celebrate the birth of moi with dinner and drinks. Perhaps I need a touch of Vitamin D and a 15 minute pick me up in the tanning salon!

That was one hell of an intense game last night, the anticipation was killing me! I was all cocky, meh 20 seconds left on the clock we got it and then BAM the Americans tied it up! Brutal!!!!!!!

I know I know I'm not super into the Olympics but come on, Canada vs US for the gold, I was on the edge of my seat! AND WE WON YAY!!!! (can you believe I'm actually excited about the Olympics, shocking I know!)

Anyway enough about that, back to my original post :)

I'm thinking about buying a new fancy flat screen TV. Now as everyone here is aware, I am the least knowledgeable person on the face of the earth when it comes to picking out such things lest we forget yours truly purchasing a laptop. I get tres confused as everyone has an opinion and of course they all differ. I've been told Plasmas are better except when there's lots of light in the room.......or LCDs are better if you're watching in on an angle.......or LEDs are the new in thing however they are quite pricey. I guess I'll just go to one of the big box electronic stores and pick their brains cause I'm the most indecisive person on the face of the earth......this could take months! And of course any advice is more than welcome around here :)

I didn't get up to a whole lot this weekend which was nice. I met up with a few pals that I don't get to see very often, we had a few beers, watched the game on Friday night and just caught up. I cleaned out my closet and discovered 4 yes 4 pairs of shoes that I've never worn. So ummmm yeah, I also have tags on quite a few jackets, shirts......hmmmm......I think I need to put a limit on such things. If I haven't worn it in a year (starting now of course I need time to wear shoes that I purchased in 2008) then I must donate the items! To be honest with the shoes I think it's A) breaking them in is a pain in the ass so I just leave them in their boxes and B) A few of them are high heeled shoes which are not comfortable. My friend keeps telling me that I have to "deaden" my feet, suck it up and wear them regardless of how uncomfortable they are. I'll give it a shot otherwise there will be some very happy people out there come 2011!

So I was reading a magazine article the other day and I was like "what"? Apparently there's a certain hotel chain over the pond that offers a human bed warming service. If you so wish an employee of the hotel slips under your covers wearing a fleece onsie until you are ready to go to bed, thus keeping your sheets toasty warm until you retire for the evening. I want that job!

Other jobs I would like:

*Dessert Taster

*Host of the Amazing Race "you are team number two!"....see I'm totally qualified!

*Host of the Thirsty Traveler "Kompai" "Cheers" "Salut"

*Island Caretaker



Okay so obviously I just want to be able to eat, drink and travel around for a living! Who wouldn't......

What's your dream job?

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Okay I was just reading Rawbeans blog and she posted this HILARIOUS link to a "show" called Ikea Heights....seriously check it out! It's a "soap opera" that is filmed inside of a real Ikea store
without the stores knowledge. I love it! Scroll down and start at episode 1!

I can't even believe I'm going to say this but I watched the Olympics for quite a while this evening and actually liked them. I watched some bobsledding, skiing and skating. My friend and I were watching the blurbs about the Olympians and I said "you know I never watch the games but now I'm dying to see these two competitors skate". There seemed to be a lot of hype around a Korean skater and a girl from Japan and he wanted to see them too! Hilarious, two Olympic haters dying to see the outcome! We actually sat around waiting for them to skate.

Then there was Joannie Rochette, when she finished, tears were streaming down my face as my heart went out to her. Such courage to go out there days after her mother had passed away, what a moment! I wanted to reach through my TV and hug her.

Sigh I think I'm hooked..........dammit!

Randomness......

*Why is it when people miss or almost miss their exit on a highway do they feel the need to either cut off anyone and everyone behind them in order to cross over 4 lanes to get to their exit or they just stop in the middle of the road until it's clear to go??? Also I saw a genius the other day and I wish I was kidding, drive into a very deep ditch to get to a missed exit. My jaw was literally on the floor, I've never in my life witnessed such a display! Whatever happened to just getting off at the next exit? Shocking concept it seems but that's what I do, I watch the one I'm supposed to take go by and I take the following one and turn around rather than cause mayhem and accidents behind me.

*I had purchased a few items in the States back in November and decided I wanted to return them if at all possible. I realized that like 3 months had passed and it may be wishful thinking and rather than waste my time going all the way over I figured I would call the stores to inquire about their return policies before I made the trek. I was dumbfounded when the Customer Service rep said "Hmmmm that's a good question" when I asked what the policy was at that particular store..."gee I"m not sure...." She didn't tell me to hold on and offer to find out, she just kept saying "hmmmm, I'm really not sure" Okay then! It's interesting because most stores around here have a very limited time frame in which to return an item anywhere from 8 days to 30 and yet both of these stores gave me my moolah back for 90 day old swag. Cha Ching!

*I watched very little of the Olympics...oops! I caught some figure skating and I saw clips of the folks who were on Oprah friday afternoon. I'll try better this week!

Okay okay I know I know I'm like the only person on the face of the earth who is not super into the Olympics even though they are *gasp* taking place in Canada......how unpatriotic of me! I'm actually NOT going anywhere this weekend and vow to watch at least one hour (or more) of the games this year. I am interested in getting a glimpse of these tight inappropriate outfits that some of the athletes are wearing. Apparently our snowboarders have tight tight pants and I've heard cries over some of the figure skating outfits, not to mention a package here or there.

I do quite enjoy skiing so if those events are not over I wouldn't mind checking out some moguls or jumping (though with my luck all that's left is curling *yawn*).

So I'll give them a chance....just this once....it will be like that time everyone was raving about the Star Trek series and I poo pooed it before I had watched an episode.....and then I watched an episode and still didn't get the appeal.

Enjoy your weekend whatever you may be up to, I plan to relax, read and watch EGAD the Olympics!

PS I did see a bit of this guys routine the other night while at a friends house......umm yeah......it was interesting to say the least.

Yours truly has not been getting the sleep she requires. A few late nights (6am and 2am respectively one on a work night no less) make for a very tired young woman. And to think this week I vowed to start getting 8 hours of sleep a night......I'm failing miserably as I got about 8 hours in total over the two evenings. Sigh, there's always tomorrow.......

The weekend was wonderful, I loved loved loved Smiths/Morrissey fest and we danced well into the morning. It was hot as hell in that little room and most of the cute boys were taken by other cute boys but we had a lot of fun dancing and singing along. I ralso an into my high school chum once again and had a quick chat. We always seem to end up at the most random places.

We got in late and were woken up at ohhhh 7am by the people next door to us arguing. The girl was screaming "fuck you" something about a baby and the guy kept telling her to quiet down. This went on for a good 10 minutes before I turned into an 80 year old man and called the front desk to complain. It subsided however I was woken up once again a few hours later to nasty moaning sounds....apparently they were having loud make up sex, ewe! That eventually stopped and a little while later there was some coughing/moaning sounds that eventually trickled out into the hallway. WTF were these people doing? Some sort of choking foreplay in public....no idea, but we never heard them again thank god!

The following day we headed to the John Mayer concert and while he clearly needs to learn to keep his mouth shut while not performing....he has one hell of a voice and put on one amazing show! So we sit down in our wonderful 10th row seats and these two girls go by, one in a velour purple track suit and both wheeling suitcases....huh? The one had braids in her hair, perhaps they just flew back in from some far off vacation....but if that wasn't odd enough the one in the purple was sporting a tshirt that said and I quote "I love boobies"! LD was like "does her shirt say I love boobies???" It sure did........

The opening act was sooo energetic and fun, they're apparently from San Fran and I would go and see them again in a heartbeat. They ran around the venue, brought people on stage, they just had such a good energy about them not to mention some eye candy! LD and I were thoroughly entertained by the one bloke. So thumbs up to Michael Franti and Spearhead for putting on such a great show!

Ah back to Mr. Mayer, he sounded phenomenal, played until 11:45pm and shed clothes as the night progressed. He was hilarious, sang some inappropriate song about Valentines Day and almost had me in tears when he spoke of his friend Issac who was in the crowd. "Issac has to go to the hospital alot...." Awww my heart broke for this cute little boy, who's extremely ill, that part was quite sad. He handed out flowers to the crowd, sang like an angel and played the shit out of his guitar. I had a great time!

We went out dancing (again) afterwards and ended up hanging out until 6am with some people that we met that evening. It was a great weekend, best way to spend Valentines day in my opinon.......I'll take a sweaty John Mayer and time with my gal pal over a romantic dinner anyday.....that's probably reason #567 why I'm single :)

Every time I see a car with dents/scratches/chunks missing from it and I see the driver acting like an asshole I think.....clearly your fault! Case in point I was driving along a very busy road when this boat of a car decided to sneak up much too far from a side street, waiting of course but his bumper was in the middle of my lane. I had to swerve around him and as I did I noticed scratches all over his front end....gee I can't possibly imagine how THOSE got there (insert sarcastic tone)!

I've been quite lax as far as the gym is concerned and then it dawned on me....why do I even bother going. No seriously, it's like I've been going for years and years and years and there are really no results to speak of...or none of great significance anyway. I'm well aware that I'm not working to my potential and of course my eating habits are poor at best...so I get why it's not helping...I just don't understand why I bother going at all. Seems like a big waste of time and money if you ask me.

Ugh oh it seems as though cranky Miss Ash has reared her ugly head. It happens from time to time, I start to evaluate my life and do the "WTF have I done", "where am I going" "what am I doing"......and then things stay the same.....and months/years down the road I evaluate again and the same thoughts pop up. It's a pattern, I'm working on fixing.....

I'm thinking this nasty bleh weather is not helping, it's cold, I certainly do not get enough sleep and therefore I'm tired and of course a bit bitchy. But I mean seriously who goes to bed at 10pm??? I'm lucky if my head hits the pillow before 1am, I'd have to drug myself to be in bed before that time on any given evening.

I was reading an email from someone today and pointed it out to another person and was like WTF..."why can't I be like her" and burst out laughing as did my friend. I was obviously kidding, it was this cutesy "good morning everyone, enjoy the winter wonderland!!!" sort of email. The complete opposite of something I would send, Ha! Perhaps I need an attitude adjustment.......

Anyway all is not lost, I have a fabulous weekend planned away with one of my gal pals as it's a Smiths/Morrissey Fest and the invite reads "Let's be miserable together" ahhhhh finally I will be around my type of people!!!! It reminds me of the "Feeling Gloomy" evening in England that I adored ohhhh so much! Monday is holiday around these parts as well so we're planning on hitting up another night of dancing after our concert on Sunday evening! So cheers to drinks, dancing and letting loose!!! Perhaps those things combined with brighten my spirits! Enjoy the weekend my lovelies!

Claire made a lovely post the other day about simples pleasures and of course it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside so I thought I would post my simple pleasures as well!!

*My delightfully comfortable bed that I sink into every night and despise leaving every morning.

*Condensed milk in tea.....it's a treat and not an every day thing but ohhhhh sooooo good!

*Dry feet on a wet day

*Amazing friends who put a smile on my face every single day whether sharing laughs over a cup of tea or whooping it up on the dance floor I love each and every single one of them. I'm blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life.

*Finding a penny on the street and making a wish (and still having hope that maybe just maybe that wish will come true)

*Receiving a compliment from a stranger

*Getting butterflies.....

*My super warm slippers that look like boots! Not only are they very cute but they are sooooooo toasty as well!

*The smell of cookies baking

*My VERY comfortable lululemon get up, seriously I wish I could wear the pants and jacket every single day to work.

*A beautiful sunset....I took this photo while at a get together up north. Everyone else was drinking and chatting away and I left for a few minutes to sit quietly and take in this amazing view.

*Watching the little ones in my life grow and learn each and every day. To see the world through their eyes is so uplifting. The smallest of things brings a huge smile to their faces, they view the world with such awe! They remind me to stop and appreciate the small things ..... really really appreciate them!

What are your simple pleasures?

Jennifer wanted me to post the 5 second video of me snowboarding or shall I say finishing. It's really not very exciting; had she thought to work the camera ohhhh about 10 seconds earlier she would have caught my fall! Instead it's me already on the ground......yay for slow friends! All you can hear is her laughter and me mumble "I'm done"



I'm once again out of town for the weekend quel surprise. I'm very excited about my dinner plans tomorrow evening as I'll be checking out a restaurant that I've been wanting to try for some time. They have a fixed menu for Winterlicious so a nice 3 course meal at a cheaper price. Someone who I will only refer to as the douche was supposed to come with me....but PP is taking that person's place....yay for good friends!

I'm going to stay a few more days as well, visit with a friend I have not seen in a long time and I have dinner/drink plans with another person Friday evening :) I may even relive my youth (well late teens) and head to one of our old haunts on Saturday night with a few of the gals. So it will definitely be a fun filled, very packed weekend to say the least. Seriously though I'm in desperate need of a good time. I had to leave work early this week due to a horrendous headache brought on by stress ....I'd had it and my body let me know. So enjoy your weekend whatever you may do as I will certainly be enjoying mine!

Goal List Update

Working On:

#14 Take Vitamins every day for 90 days 63/90

Whoa!!! Almost had a slip up this past weekend! I was driving out of town for the weekend when I realized I had forgotten to take my vitamins. I figured I would just grab some at my friends house.....and then I forgot to ask her.....and we left for a few days. Bah! We stopped at a grocery store and I bought some! I WILL complete this goal dammit! I'm going to keep these extra ones in my purse just in case.......

#35 Read all of the unread books on my shelf 13/35

And of course I'm still reading.....slooooowwwlly as I haven't even finished a book at all this month.....for shame!!! I am in the middle of two though.....

Completed:

#6 Try Snowboarding

So J, S and I decided to give snowboarding a go. We didn't have much time so we opted for the quick lesson deal which was a good idea. It was a lot of fun and hilarious and of course difficult but not horrendous as I had imagined. J's board needed some wax and would not glide as it should have, I was good to go until we hit the one hill (and by hill I mean smaller than the bunny hill) I fell hard on my ass and then had a hell of a time getting up. S took out the instructor and smashed her board into his shin......oops!! Way too much fun and definitely something I would like to try again!

#57 Go on a minimum of 5 dates 5/5

You know I must say I'm glad that I decided to make this one of my goals. I wasn't out there per se and was content to keep to myself. I've met some cool people, had some laughs, nice meals and good conversation. I remember that girl with the "mermaid" disease had said she wanted to be a dating kind of girl...it made me giggle as I thought that was sweet of her.....but she knew what she was talking about!! It's fun and hopefully I'll continue to keep myself out there!