Happy New Year!!

I've had an especially great week. I met a delightful behavioural psychologist for children on Friday evening ( I will call him in the New Year) and last night the girls and I had a great night on the town. We went to the casino to see Philp Gagnon. He's an impressionist and sang everyone from Barry White to Mick Jagger spot on. He was also extremely humourous and we were all laughing so hard our cheeks hurt.

We then went for martini's and beer (nice combo i know) to this cozy little bar. We had some more laughs....however the biggest one came at the end of the evening. This guy sits down beside me and starts asking what we are celebrating and what not. Turns out he went to our highschool, but he's older and does not recognize any of us. We however know exactly who he is (once he told me his name). You see in highschool this guy was like the hottest thing around, the Brad Pitt if you will, we all had grade 9 crushes on him. Turns out the years have not been so kind to him, he's now more like George Castanza. When i turned to the girls and introduced him "Hey ladies do you remember so and so" the jaws dropped, someone pointed and was like "you're so and so?" in disbelief. Shock and awe people, shock and awe.

So i will leave you with my New Year's Resolution for 2007.
2007 is the year of taking action. I often say that I am interested in doing something but never actually follow through. I haven't been skiing since i was 14 but every winter the words "i'd love to go skiing this year" leave my mouth....and i still have yet to go. I've been wanting to take a French course .....for years.......still have not. You get the idea, so my friends 2007 is the year of taking action, being a doer, not a talker. Happy New Year kittens!!!!!!!

P.S (we made the Christmas lightmare video, however it's 196 MB and youtube will only let me post 100 MB, does anyone know how to zip the video or to compact it?)

Loving the Time off

So I hope that everyone had a good holiday. I'm not a big fan of Christmas myself, infact my sister commented that i was on TV...when i looked this was on


Glad the hustle and bustle is over, though i've had a fantastic time seeing all of my friends. That's what i enjoy about the holidays, everyone makes time for one another, people fly in from afar and good times ensue with lots of laughter!!

I've also rediscovered my love for Starbucks....groan Jennifer groan if you must but i do love it. I really enjoy the Green Tea Frappucino

and the pumpkin spice latte. It's like heaven in a cup.

I still have another 6 days off of work which is lovely. I imagine i will spend the remainder of time catching up on some reading (i bought a book at the Book Depot i've been wanting to read it for years and it was $3 so i couldn't resist "Black and Blue" by Anna Quindlen), spending more time with friends and just relaxing.

I'm also looking forward to a girls night out on the 30th. We're going to see Philip Gagnon an impressionist at the casino who apparently is amazing. Oh and i bought my ticket to go and visit Sly in England in February .... Life is Great!!!

6 Weird Habits.....

First off i am absolutely loving Esthero's song "Wikked Lil Girls" check it out. As well i've been playing Ryan Adams "Come pick me up" lately.




A few years ago PP and i made a video called "A Christmas Lightmare." It showcased all of the houses we could find that made Clarke Grizwalds' house pale in comparison. Hopefully we will get a chance to do that again soon and will post our masterpiece before the end of the year. Now onto:


6 Weird Habits: Bit of a repost but deal with it :)

1) It horrifies me when others drink out of my glass or bottle or whatever it is i am drinking out of. I think it is terribly unsanitary and at the very least if they want to try my drink, i will turn the glass around so our lip marks do not touch. I don't need someone elses' saliva and food bits in my glass. Same goes for anything else i would put up to my lips.

2) Whenever i am out in public walking past someone and they sneeze, i hold my breath until i pass the area that they were in. This also applies when people cough. Perhaps i have some weird issue with getting sick that i am unaware of, but i certainly do not want their icky germs in my body.

3)I have this obsessive habit of picking at my toenails. I'm not sure why but anyone that knows me has seen me at some time or another whip off my socks and fondle my toenails. Kinda gross....

4)I like to count things. I could be sitting in a room with a bunch of people and i will count how many are there quietly to myself. This accomplishes absolutely nothing but i continuously do it.

5) Whenever I see a dead animal on the side of the road i bless it. My friend Lisa does this and i thought she was a big weirdo the 1st time i saw her do it and now i do it as well.

6) Years and years ago a friend told us while we were out drinking one evening that if you blow into the beer bottle when it is opened, you will not get a hangover. Usually a bit of mist comes out and if you get rid of it you will not feel the pangs of death the next day. Silly and very untrue, but i still do it to this day.

Does anyone really care??

I borrowed this from Jennifer, who borrowed it from Tokyo Tintin

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE ME
1. Insects, mainly spiders and gagillepedes
2. Global Warming now that i've watched An Inconvenient Truth
3. Cancer

THREE THINGS I DON'T UNDERSTAND
1. How this one horn-like hair follicle inbetween my eyes refuses to die. No amount of Electrolysis will get rid of this sucker
2. How racism can run so rampant in the year 2006
3. Math...

THREE THINGS I'D LIKE TO LEARN
1. I would like to be fluent in French
2. How to Salsa ...it looks like so much fun
3. Even though Dan said he felt like a lame-o-dinosaur with his skis, i would like to get back at it and learn to whiz down the hills effortlessly

THREE THINGS I'M WEARING RIGHT NOW
1. Fabulous new calf boots
2. White Blouse
3. Black and Gray striped pants just below my knees

THREE THINGS ON MY DESK
1. Lucky Bamboo...i just bought it, i'll let you know how that goes
2. Papyarazzi Body Lotion
3. Picture of our Vegas trip...and one of bunny!!

THREE THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE
1. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro
2. Travel around the world...I want to see as much as i possibly can
3. Make a difference to someone somewhere

THREE GOOD THINGS ABOUT MY PERSONALITY
1. I'm a very easy going person
2. I'm quite punctual
3. I have a killer sense of humour and love to laugh

THREE BAD THINGS ABOUT MY PERSONALITY
1. I am a terribly selfish person...i know this and am working on it
2. I'm not a very confident person and do not give myself enough credit
3. I see things as Black or White, there is not much of a gray area

THREE PARTS OF MY HERITAGE
1. Romanian
2. German
3. American...ahhhh

THREE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MY BODY
1. My very straight teeth (thanks for the braces)
2. As much as i'd like stick straight hair, i'll admit i like the option of having it curly as well (it's naturally curly)
3. That's about it, can't think of a 3rd

THREE THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT MY BODY
1. My weight
2. The wrinkles that are beginning to peak out from all the years of tanning
3. I'm also not greatly fond of my nose

THREE THINGS MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME
1. I am a rather melancholy soul but hide it well
2. I saw the Easter bunny when i was quite young hopping outside, no joke
3. When i was a kidlet i used to pick up cigarette butts in the park and pretend to smoke them...EWE

THREE THINGS I SAY THE MOST
1. Oh please
2. Whatever
3. Good Lord or Oh Lord

THREE PLACES I WANT TO GO




1. Galapagos Islands


2. Bali, Indonesia



3. Middle East, Egypt, South America...everywhere :)

Low Pile Carpeting VS Disco Bush

Alright i posted about this a long long time ago when i had like 3 readers. So i'm reposting with a few add ins to see what the consensus is this time around. I'm sure it will be the same LOL.

So there has been a lot of discussion lately between a few friends and myself regarding women and their sense of tidiness down there. I will admit that i have let the "carpeting" as Jennifer calls it, get a little untidy now and again. Unfortunately it is at the most inopportune times but i digress. Generally i like to keep in under control. Once i even went as far as to get one of those Brazilian/LA waxes....hmmmm you have no idea the level of pain that accompanied that experience. I think the woman doing it had finished like 2 strips when i tried to get up and say that was fine it was enough i didn't want anymore done to me....afterall why was i paying for the torture? Alas she finished the job and i felt much like i'd imagine a pornstar would feel with my little "landing strip" as they are called. I didn't want to go completely bare or else i'd feel like a 6 year old. It was an interesting albeit painful experience that involved a stranger near my genitals and popsicle sticks....Good times LOL. I also had to slather lotion all over my nether region while she stood and watched.

I told my friend the other day about my unfortunate disco bush story and she told me she has an appointment to get a brazilian. She sent me this in my email and said i should take their advice:

"Sexual intercourse itself doesn't feel any better or worse with a brazilian, but your new-found adoration of your pruned privet heightens your sexual confidence.
As well as sexier, you feel cleaner too. However scarce our English summers, when it is hot outside, you can be sure that you'll feel breezy, cool and fresh inside. So, now that you look neater, feel cleaner and more sexually rampant, why would you ever go back to a steamy, unkempt, full bush?"

Now i know what Jennifer says "low pile carpeting means high traffic area" ....

What does everyone else think....neat and tidy is better or let it grow au natural? And what about the men? Should they go completely bare as well? Funny enough, most of the ones i've seen have been hairless....if we go by Jennifer's theory than i've shagged a bunch of slutty men :P

Is this for Real???

(Click on the photo to enlarge it)

I figured it was time to share a part of me with you, my fellow bloggers. Do you like my house??? We're trying to see if the garbage will touch the roof, a silly game we've been playing since i was quite young...it's almost there, few more years i reckon.

Seriously though, this house has apparently been in my region since i was a kidlet, only i just found out it existed a few weeks ago. I was absolutely flabbergasted when my eyes settled in on the yard. WHO lives like this??? There must be some SERIOUS mental health issues....and why has he/she been allowed to pile so much garbage (treasures) in the yard like that? Take note of the pile behind the blue truck, it's almost as tall as the roof. Apparently the neighbours have been trying to get the place cleaned up for years to no avail. I wanted to knock on the door and pretend i was selling something just to get a better look, however i was unable to locate the door and didn't realize i would need to repel down a pile of garbage in search of one. As well that sign outside was a bit daunting so i snapped the photo from my car and drove off. This place seriously leaves me speechless!!!

Oh My

So apparently there are only a few people out there that care about helping others and World AIDS Day...good to know.

So while i've been out and about i have noticed some rather strange people around lately. The 1st one i did not witness myself but i was with PP when she saw the man. We were at the grocery store in line waiting to pay when PP burst into uncontrollable laughter, so much so that she had tears streaming down her face. Finally outside she composed herself and reinacted what she had seen. Apparently some man in line felt the need to adjust himself, but not at all in a subtle way. He was in a squat like position, knees out to the side, gyrating his hips and digging like he was looking for lost gold at his balls in the middle of the grocery store for all to see. Classy....

Yesterday we were at Costco waiting for someone. PP was telling a story and i drifted off in the middle of it to stare at this woman. She was trying to exit the building through the sliding electric doors at the entrance (They only have a sensor on the outside and open when someone is entering the building). She managed to get her hands inbetween the two doors and was trying to pry them open like superman. Eventually someone came in the entrance and she was able to get out. I was very perplexed by this whole thing as the sliding exit doors are directly beside the entrance......What the fuck was she doing???

Lastly, we went to dinner and PP pointed out this grandmother eating with her family and grandchildren. She must have been about 70 or so with white hair and a pink sweatshirt that read SEXUAL on the front of it...Good times!!!

Has anyone else seen strange goings on out there?

As an addendum i tried fruit cake for the 1st time ever last night. I got a small piece with cherries and raisons and who knows what else, just so i could have the full experience. It was so horrible i spit it into my napkin and gagged. WHO eats this stuff???? Must be the same people that eat Spam...I don't get it at all.

World AIDS Day & Ten Thousand Villages

December 1 is World AIDS Day. The WHO and UNAIDS estimate 39.5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS at this very moment. Please please please remember to wear a condom and keep yourselves safe :)

It is that time of year again where i'm feeling slightly charitable. This is horrible as i know people are in need year round, not just during the holidays, however this is when i choose to give. Last year i supplied a school kit to a child in Laos through Ten Thousand Villages. I struggled with choosing a gift as the live animals (think goats, chickens) could really really help a family in need, provide milk, eggs, protein...you get the idea. I just couldn't get myself to send such an item and decided that education was the way to go and hence sent the school kit.

This year the choices are:

Trees for restoration efforts
Learning materials for preschoolers affected by AIDS
Livestock for hardworking families
Training for inspired artisans
Fill a farm with a four legged charm

Just to give a bit of a background on Ten Thousand Villages they provide vital, fair income to Third World people by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America.

Ten Thousand Villages works with artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed, providing sustainable income through fair trade. This income helps pay for food, education, health care and housing. Thousands of volunteers in Canada and the United States work with Ten Thousand Villages in their home communities.

As well i was made aware of World Vision and their gift ideas which are quite vast. They range from Mosquito Nets, Bee Keeping Kits, Child Immunizations to Clean Water, Mother to Child HIV Prevention and Building Homes and Schools. Phew!!! That link will take you to the catalogue which is quite large and very very cool. I think a lot of us take our lives and our privilege if you will for granted. This is one very small way each and every one of us can touch anothers soul and show that we care.

Weekend in Review

So as most of you know i have a slight obsession with Mr. Jeff Martin formally the frontman of the Tea Party. The first show i ever went to was 14 or 15 years ago so i cannot even muster up a guess as to how many shows i've actually seen. I can say however that the show i saw on Friday was my absolute favorite thus far hands down. He played a solo show in a small venue accompanied by the Toronto Tabla Ensemble. The musicians were amazing and so incredibly talented. They brought together the rhythems of India and meshed it with a Canadian artist. Kathak dancer Joanna de Souza a member of the ensemble was also able to interpret parts of the evening through dance which reminded me of the Indian dance recital i went to see recently. The evening was almost spiritual in nature and i felt goosebumps all over my body more than once over the evening.

Saturday was a little bit different than Friday. M and i decided at 12:30am to hit up the Wrinkle Ranch as us locals call it to see what our life will be like after 30 and single...let me tell you it's not pretty. As you can decipher from the name the crowd tends to be of a more mature nature 30 to 70 give or take. So we go in and sit down and within 5 minutes there is an older gentleman at our table offering to purchase us booze. We politely decline as we had just arrived and purchased our own and continued to watch the car wrecks all around us. There was the 50 something woman, gyrating around and stealing ballcaps off of men's heads while laughing like mad...is this the mating dance of the drunk 50 year old? There was the man my father's age that grabbed my arm while i was merely walking by. I did not entertain that move and grabbed my arm back and kept on walking. M and I decided to get away from the crowd and sit on the patio. Silly girls, we were not safe out there either. A group of men in their late 30's decided to chat us up. We gave in, let them buy us drinks and actually had some really funny conversations but that was it. It was a ridiculous evening, i felt like Gisele Bundchen on the catwalk. If this is what single at 30 looks like....i will stay 28 forever.

Things you don't say...

So i read a few other blogs with this and decided to borrow it.

List things you want to say to people you know, but you never will for whatever reason.

*I wish you felt about me the way you do about her.

*You are the only person in the world who does not judge me and for that i am eternally grateful. You've surprised me in unique ways when my heart has been left for dead. You even accompanied me on a roadtrip that i was competely and utterly embarassed about....and said that you would do it again in a heartbeat! You're an amazing friend and I cannot imagine my life without you.

*I have given up trying to satisfy you. Every single movement i make is under your microscope, infront of your disapproving eyes.

*You suffocate me.

*The distance between us makes me appreciate our friendship even more. I miss the late nights and laughter and I cherish those moments when we make time for one another.

*You are so self-centered...it's not always about you.

*You light up my life!! I never laugh with anyone the way i do with you...tears streaming down my face, snorting, side splitting ridiculous hurt my ab's type of laughter.

*I am envious of your life and would trade places in a heartbeat...even though i know deep down that you are sad.

What up Bitches.....

A few of us went to our old stomping ground on Friday evening. The music was fabulous, we danced and had some beverages and of course played "there's your boyfriend." There was the guy with the bling and the one with his hockey jersey tucked into his jeans....quite the looker. LD pointed out some loose change on the ground (i love picking up change) so she slyly slid it over with her foot so we could crouch down and grab it. I think i made 56 cents. LD was handed a rose from a stranger who then just walked away, I had a cutie try to engage me more than once in witty banter and i giggled at his remarks and continued on. This reminded me of the time Jennifer and i were getting take out in the wee hours of the morning, and the hottest man came up and asked if we would join him and his friend for food. We declined and said we were ordering take-out....silly silly girls, whatever were we thinking?

The charmer however came at the end of the evening. We were at the car gathering our purses and such from the trunk when this guy drove by and said "What up bitches?" We all sort of stood around looking at one another rather confused "did i just hear what i think i heard?" Yes indeed ladies "what up bitches?" It's a wonder we're all single with such talent out there. After the charmer left a woman who was alone in her car summoned our friend Jen over. Apparently she wanted us to smoke a joint with her...yeah ummmmm let me see....no thanks!!

Hope you all had a great weekend. I am off to volleyball this evening and tomorrow morning i get my lady bits frozen off (Well not my actual lady bits but those pesky cells that are causing me grief). Wish me luck !!

Music

Sorry, i've been rather sick and quite busy back at work which has left me little time for much else this week.

Have you ever heard a song and it brings you back to a place, a moment in your life? The song that holds the most significance for me is Angel by Sarah Mclachlan. I could live the rest of my life just fine without ever having to hear that song again. It was played at my Aunt's funeral, and if i happen to be out and it's playing it brings me back to that day and i'd rather not go there. Funny how the mind works.

It happens to me as well for silly reasons. For instance every time i hear Tiny Dancer i think of Almost Famous or when i hear Breathe i think of the bomb episode on Grey's Anatomy. Also, when i was young i sent an ex Jann Arden's Insensitive for a laugh, he didn't find it so funny, i thought it was hilarious albeit immature.

Does this happen to anyone else?

(sorry this is terribly choppy and not at all eloquent i realize this but it's all i have today)

At last...photos...

I had a bit of a day yesterday. I got some news from someone and felt rather hurt and terribly embarassed cause clearly i'm an idiot, then my mother did something i asked her not to do when i was away and i had a lettuce moment (Dan will get that reference). I stood in Jennifers livingroom and just started to cry. I'm not sure if it was the jet lag, no sleep, that time of the month, perhaps reverse culture shock, i haven't a clue but i just started to cry and cry after i got off the phone with my mother which is quite unlike me. Thanks for the hugs Jennifer!! I think i just felt overwhelmed and very tired.

Ahem, so i am all better now and i present to you the photos. I've put about 80 or so into a yahoo photo album that you can check out (click on the West Africa one obviously). I took about 500 so be lucky i've narrowed them down :)

Here are a few of my favs though:

This little girl was at the GAR where we were trying to get a taxi to take us to the village. She just kept staring and staring. I would smile at her and she would just stare blankly at me. It was just so strange as most of the children are overly friendly. We left for the village and returned a few hours later and there she still was. Again she stood right by us and continued to stare. I had Dan take this photo and then i showed her. She looked at the picture, smiled and put her head down. I tried to talk to her as well, but again, she just stared curiously at me.


Worst toilet EVER!!! This was at a bar near K's house, i went to the washroom beside it, i just could not straddle over that thing.


These girls were my first experience with children in Ghana. They were sooooo cute and wanted to take us up a lighthouse. They hugged us, held our hands and were just so incredibly happy and excited.


I was barley able to balance this bucket on my head long enough to take the bloody picture, how the heck is this woman carrying so much while walking....


Cutey Patooty in the Village!!


The coconut boy that Jennifer tried to barter with. She wanted to pay less than the 10 cents he was asking for the coconut.


Come on now. How the heck are they able to A) get all that stuff up there and B)drive like that.


Myself and Dan back in Ghana after wrestling our bags from the people in Lome at the border...so happy to be in Ghana!!

Continuation

So yeah, the fetish market was not my bag at all, and they were scammers in the end trying to get us to buy horribly over priced fetishes. I'll post photos of the elephants foot and such later on. We left Togo and headed onto Benin where the border guards were none too friendly but they let us into their country anyway (Glad i don't speak French as we let Dan deal with the mean lady). We stayed at this amazing place in Grand Popo called Awaleplage on the beach. We were so tired and hot from all the travelling that day, we decided to relax on the beach for the rest of the afternoon which was heavenly. The next day Dan and Jennifer headed off for more sightseeing while K and I soaked up some more sun. We had a hell of a time trying to find a ride to the border to go to Tsevie and stood on the side of the road in the sweltering heat for what seemed like hours. We were grouchy and finally caught a lift in this great Bob Marley car. The driver was cool, had great tunes playing and his car had decals of Bob on the side with psycedelic interior, we could not stay in a foul mood after that ride.

However, our ride to Tsevie was unfortunately not as plesant. The driver had no idea where he was going and instead of taking the main route decided to take us down this "road" to avoid paying the police. This "road" was awful, completely awful. I thought for sure he was taking us out into the boonies to rob us and leave us for dead. There were no lights, pitch black, all mud with potholes and pools of water, not safe at all. My other fear other than robbery was getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere which was completely possible. He stopped to ask a lady about the road and wanted to bring her with us to navigate the road. After much discussion with Dan and the driver, we went it alone. The driver told us he knew the road, so Dan asked why he then needed the lady to navigate the road if he knew it. Dan "either you know the road and don't need the lady, or you need the lady and don't know the road" the driver just continued on. He also told us it would be about 5km, after 15km still in the middle of nowhere Dan asked if it was going to take 10 mins, an hour or 3 days. The driver laughed "3 days hahaha." It was an appropriate question given the circumstances. We came upon a pile of garbage to which K replied "hey this is my neighbourhood" how lovely LOL. We made it out alive. We went for dinner and i went to the bathroom beside the worst toilet in the world. It was so bad i could not even use it, i had to go beside it. I'll post a photo and you'll see why.

On our last day we went to K's friends Village. (While getting ready to go Jennifer and I perfected carrying a large bucket on our head....well for the photo at least as that is how the people carry most of their things and we wanted to try it.) It was not something one would normally see on such a trip and it was wonderful. The people in the village made us lunch Fufu and K's friend took us around to show us the sites which were mostly mud huts. The children were amazing and flocked around us and loved their photos being taken. They laughed and laughed when we showed them the digital pictures and followed us the rest of the way. We bid farewell to K and headed back to Lome for our last evening. Tuesday was insane, we were up at 6am, at the market buying last minute things, getting our fabulous dresses from the amazing tailor and heading to the border to go back into Ghana. The border was absolute mayhem, people were crowded around the car trying to "help" us with our luggage for a fee even though we told them no and not to touch anything. As soon as the trunk opened hands were flying, luggage was being carried off in every direction, i had to wrestle my suitcase out of this man's hands it was brutal. We finally made it over the border into lovely Ghana. It was such a breath of fresh air after the whole melee. People greeting us "hello beautiful ladies, welcome" and one of the guards at the border bought us water...i LOVE Ghana!! After even more shopping and dripping with sweat (Jennifer commented that if we took a shower we would be less wet) we headed to the airport.

Our flight left at 8pm and arrived in Frankfurt at 5:30am. Woo Hoo!! Our connecting flight did not leave until 1pm, we saw a lot of the Frankfurt airport. We travelled for about 40 hours straight on no sleep and have finally arrived home. I'll post some pics soon, i'm off to bed :)

The long dark road

So we left Ghana and travelled onto Lome, Togo. It's actually more impoverished in this country if that's even possible. It was absolute mayhem at the border, trying to get out of the car while everyone was rushing up trying to sell us their wares (a toque??) or carry our luggage. We made it to Chez Leon, dropped our bags and went out for dinner. Great Lebanese food. We all decided to partake in smoking a Huka which was interesting, while eating dinner and having some beer. We met a few of K's friends and had a good evening. The next day we went to meet the tailor who was to make our African Lady Dresses. He was amazing and went with us to the market to purchase more material, we all loved him. Jennifer made a new friend we dubbed the "market lover" and sang a song "Jennifer, where are you, Jennifer, come back soon" when she went to a few stores as he waited for her to return. Dan and i witnessed this and i have Dan on video reinacting the song, it was ridiculous, i was crying i was laughing so hard. We then went to a Fetish market which was quite shocking especially to me as i do not eat meat. Seeing tables and tables full of dead animals, heads, an elephants foot, a hippo skull.It turned my stomach. I"m getting kicked out of here, i will tell more later.

We spent that evening with more