An interesting two days!

A little old lady dinner
A really great concert
High tea
Something pretty disgusting


First off, last night I made myself dinner...one of those yummy, comforting, home cooked meals. As I sat down to eat it, I all of a sudden felt like I was at Swiss Chalet or The Pantry. It was such a little old lady dinner that it made me feel almost sad for a second. It was also a delicious dinner so I didn't stay sad for long. I had meatballs and mashed potatoes with steamed carrots and broccoli. Cooper thought it smelled good too which meant I had to keep him at bay while I ate which then made me feel like little-old-crazy-cat-lady.

I went to see Damien Rice in concert last night at the center. (I'm so excited. I just learned how to link names to sites - you can click on his name to see him now). I saw him a couple of years ago at The Commodore and it was one of the best concerts I have been to. There is something about his music that just hits me. Often when I listen to DR, I am very inspired to write or paint.

One of his songs, The Blower's Daughter, is hauntingly beautiful and quiet. Right near the end of that song (when it is it's quietest) I felt a coughing fit coming on. Having been sore throat and coughy for the past week I was ready for this, so I grabbed a cough drop and quickly tried to unwrap it. Of course, the wrapper was stuck to the drop and made a loud ripping noise as I detached it. My friend (two people over from me) leaned forward and gave me a look. He did it kindly with a laugh, well a scoff or chortle more like...but a look nonetheless. After all, this was his wedding song (that he actually played, on his cello, at his own wedding, last fall). His lovely wife was on the other side of him, teary and emotional and here I am making a racket. I couldn't explain until after the show that it was either that tiny little ripping sound that annoyed 10 people around me vs. a giant, show-stopping coughing fit that would have disrupted the entire audience. He just laughed and said "It couldn't have waited 3 seconds?"


Today I went with two friends for high tea at the Secret Garden Tea Company. It was a lovely, fun experience that I can't wait to do again. I want to go back there with my mom. You pick from a huge selection of teas and get your own little teapot of chosen tea. Then they bring you an elegant three-tiered tray of miniature pastries, sweets, sweet scones, Devon cream, raspberry jam, and sandwiches. It is beautiful and delicious. Plus we just had a fun time, as usual. I have such great friends.

After tea, I went to stock up on drugs to nurse my sore throat and cough. I have been avoiding taking anything since it started last week but I'm feeling pretty crummy today so decided to bite the bullet and medicate myself. I bought neo citron, cough drops, apple juice, advil, dayquil and Buckley's. I have never had Buckley's before and my friend TT, who has the same ailments as me, bought some this week and said it helped. She also said that it really was as disgusting as they say it is.

I shook the bottle, cracked the seal, poured it on to a tablespoon, plugged my nose and went for it. I held it in my mouth for a moment and with my nose plugged, it was hard to tell what it was going to taste like. I could sense that it was almost salty. So I swallowed and kept my nose plugged for another minute. It is hard to explain what happened but I could feel it in my ears. You know when you get a good whiff of hot sauce and it explodes in your sinuses. It was like that in my ears. When I finally unplugged my nose, I just had an aftertaste of how disgusting it was. It tasted like Watkins Medicated ointment which might smell minty fresh but I wouldn't want to eat it.

I am actually trying to not speak at all for the rest of the day. I catch myself talking to Cooper though and have to remind myself to be quiet. I am going to go steep some rooibos and make some soup. Hope you all feel better than me!

In where I get shallow and two-timing

I saw an interview with Bieksa tonight and decided I'd take him back. But I'm keeping Morrison too!

We won!!

WHooo Hoooooo!!!

By the way - I have a new hockey boyfriend. I have ditched Bieksa and picked up Morrison.

Game 7 - Go Canucks!

I made an allegation on Saturday while watching game 6, about my suspicions of the NHL to 'fix' the series so that they often go to game 7s. I even invented some statistic (in a room full of hockey lovin canadian men) that something like 90% of playoff series games go to game 7. It's my own little conspiracy theory. I have since learned other people suspect this as well. I think the NHL likes to squeeze out every dime they can from their fans and seven games is so much more profitable than 4 games.

Well for a couple of heartbeats nobody disputed my statistic. (You can make up anything you want when the only people who have the information to dispute you are completely focused on what it is you are lying about.) It's a lovely, fun trick. I should have tried some other lies out too.

"Did you know they make the uniforms entirely out of hemp." oddly this is the only lie I can think of right now.

I thought I had gotten away with my fake statistic and would wait another couple seconds to confess that I actually had no idea what I was talking about when one of my male friends slowly turned to look at me with one eyebrow raised. He gave a slow, drawn out "uhhh, noooo...." and then proceeded to viscerate my stat with some much more authentic and believable sounding stats.

He may have made his up too but I'm guessing he didn't...he isn't the type. I guess this kinda blows my conspiracy theory out of the water but I think I'll hang on to it for a bit just for the sake of it.

So, game 7 tonight. I hope we win. I love the camaraderie of the playoffs. The city is full of banners and flags, hats and jerseys. It would be a shame to be out of it so soon. I'm not ready for my bandwagon ride to be over yet!

Go Canucks!!

Perfect day planned, if only I felt better

Today is a really good day! Aside from having the sniffles and a slight cough, that is. I slept well. I am up early. I am drinking some sweet symphony tea. I am looking forward to everything I have planned today.

I am going to the art store and kinko's so that I can make a birthday card for my friend. I am going to see a matinee of a movie that I am excited about seeing (review to follow). I am going to my sister's house for a dinner party. I have friends in from Calgary who are coming to the dinner party. The Canucks are playing game 6 at 5 o'clock and my sister and her boyfriend have a big screen tv. I bought a new board/card game that I am excited about trying out (review to follow). I am spending the day with people I love.

I love days like today. Full of sweet, happy plans and sweet, happy people.

Bandwagon jumper and proud of it

Year round when people ask me what sports I like (and it happens more often than you might expect) I always answer that I like playoff hockey. Regulation hockey bores the snot out of me. But playoff hockey is fun and exciting. I love being out in pubs along with other fans (bandwagon or otherwise) and cheering when we get a goal and booing when the other team does. I even watched Tuesdays game all alone in my apartment cheering and hissing through the third period. When we won, I cheered so loud that Cooper jumped off his chair and ran away. I hit mute on my tv so that I could hear all the other cheering fans in my neighbourhood, celebrating and all I heard was the sweet chirp of a chickadee.

That's why I am going out to watch the game tonight. We are up 3/1 so tonight's a good night to be out watching just in case we win it all.

The daily post challenge

I told some friends that I would try and post more often but I have a feeling that it is going to be harder than I think. Recently, on another blog I was reading, the author mentioned a friend of his was doing a "30 posts in 30 days" challenge. At the time I thought "yeah, so?" Right now I'm thinking "ooohhh, that'd be hard!"

I have things that I'd like to post. Very specific things. But they are long, or of a very certain mood or feeling, or I'm not quite sure how I'd word them. And this post right now is already feeling like a little bit of a cop out. I am posting about posting. That's not very interesting. I am going to step away from the computer and come up with something more interesting.

Alright, I'm back. Gotta love the non-time lapse, time lapse. What was an hour to me wasn't even a blip to you. Ok that was such a lie....I actually never even stopped typing.

Here is what I am going to post about today....

I got invited to a dance party and I am supposed to bring my top ten favourite dance songs. Talk about a challenge. I can go two ways on this. I can either have a really hard time narrowing it down to ten, or I can eliminate almost all of them because they are weird or long or only I love them and then I struggle to round out the ten.

Oh the pressure. It's like making a mix tape for someone you like. It's always more about you than it is about the person you are giving it to. You want to show them how cool you are and how interesting and eclectic your musical tastes are.

I was going to do a list here of 'off the top of my head these would be my top ten dance songs...' but it turned out to be way too hard. They are mostly old songs. I kept judging them and taking them off the list and then adding them back on the list. I guess now I owe you that list anyways so here it is...

Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
Rock Your Body - Justin Timberlake
Getting Jiggy With It - Will Smith
Holiday - Madonna
Can I Kick It - A Tribe Called Quest
I Don't Feel Like Dancing - Scissor Sisters
Rock DJ - Robbie Williams
Canned Heat - Jamiroquai
Route 66 - Depeche Mode
Hips Don't Lie - Shakira

I'll let you know what my actual list turns out to be when the party rolls around. It's not until mid May though so you'll have a long wait!

Feel free to give me suggestions of good, fun dance songs.

A Prayer for the 21st Century

by John Marsden

May the road be free for the journey,
May it lead where it promised it would.
May the stars that gave ancient bearings
Be seen and be understood:
May every aircraft fly safely;
May every traveler be found;
May sailors in crossing the seas,
Not hear the cries of the drowned.

May gardens be wild like jungles,
May nature never be tamed.
May dangers create of us heroes,
May fears always have names.
May the mountains stand to remind us
Of what it means to be young;
May we be outlived by our daughters,
May we be outlived by our sons.

May the bombs rust away in the bunkers,
And the doomsday clock be rewound;
May the solitary scientists, working,
Remember the holes in the ground.
May the knife remain in the holder,
May the bullet stay in the gun,
May those who live in the shadows
Be seen by those in the sun.

Tea Pictures

This has somehow turned into a blog about tea. I've turned into such an addict. Here are some pics that I took of my tea collection. They are just such pretty teas that I couldn't help myself.


This is Symphony. It is similar to an orange pekoe.
I love that it has flowers in it.


This one is Coconut.

These are the jars that I bought and nearly killed myself and Cooper painting. It seems that chalkboard paint is particularly toxic. But well worth it in the end. I am a little smitten with my tea collection.

All hopped up on paint fumes

I went to The Kitchen Corner today. I will paint a picture for you in case you've never been to one before. It is a store that is packed and stacked FULL of everything you might imagine. Dishes, cutlery, cleaning supplies, rugs, utensils, toys, hair things, ashtrays, fake plants, umbrellas, sunglasses, candles. Floor to ceiling shelves and super narrow aisles. Even things hanging from the ceiling. It is like a dollar store but better. They actually have some pretty good, useful things. I bought a dozen little glass jars with lids that latch on. As I paid the man working there, he asked me what I was making. I told him that they were for holding all my different loose leaf teas. He replied with a "So you're into to tea now." which is really funny because I've never seen him before.

I came home and washed them all and set them out to dry. I wondered how I was going to label them. I didn't want it to be a permanent label since I'd be mixing up the teas that I put in them as I tried new ones. I considered not labeling them and just letting my nose figure them out but I like knowing the names of them.

Sidenote: Ok, I wasn't kidding about the title to this post. I actually just had to stick my head out the window for some fresh air. I wonder if I should hold Cooper out the window too. It might terrify him though.

Ok back to the post. I remembered that I had some chalkboard paint in my closet. I bought it a couple of years ago and painted it onto some jars for LT and ST for xmas and filled them with different things, coffee, choc chips, mini marshmellows and tealights and then wrote on the chalkboard part what was in them. Anyways, I still have a ton of paint left. You just paint it on let it dry and presto - instant chalkboard on any surface.

I decided to paint the lids of the jars so that they are easier to identify. I painted them all a couple of hours ago and everything was fine. It was a couple glasses of wine and the second coat that did me in. After doing a second coat on all the jars, I decided that I would paint the inside of my pantry door with the chalkboard paint. I just did a panel about 2.5 feet tall and 1.5 feet wide but now I feel all light headed and queasy.

I think Coop and I are going to take a walk around the block.

Fridge, food and tea

I have a fridge again!
And food again!
Yay!

I went grocery shopping today and it was very satisfying to stock up on all new things...plus kinda nice to have a nearly empty fridge that is so clean.

I went back to the Bayswater Tea co. today and bought two new teas. I have found myself not enjoying two of the ones I bought on my last trip there. The Latte Machiatto seemed like such a good idea and it smelled so good but it just tastes like very very weak coffee. My dad really liked it though so it is good for some people. The other one that wasn't doing much for me was the Toffee Ole. It is also quite weak (some may call it subtle). It's not my cup of tea (heh heh). I considered giving them away but decided to hang on to them for the odd time I have company that likes a different kind of tea than I do.

As for the 2 new ones I picked up today. One is a black tea called English Cream. I am drinking it right now. It is a nice, subtle, sweet black tea...quite lovely. I also got a new rooibos tea called Organic Cinnamon Twist that has apple, orange, cinnamon, and almond. I haven't tried it yet but it smells fruity and spicy with just a hint of almond at the tail end. I can't wait to try it later.

Happy Birthday - Simpsons Style

Lisa it's your birthday.
God Bless you this day.
You gave me the gift of a big sister
and I'm proud of you today
Lisa it's your birthday!
Happy birthday Lisa!
Lisa it's your birthday!
Happy birthday Lisa!
I wish you love and goodwill.
I wish you peace and joy.
I wish you better than your heart desires.
and your first kiss from a boy.
Lisa it's your birthday!
Happy birthday Lisa!
Lisa it's your birthday!
Happy birthday Lisa!

Happy Birthday LT!!!!!!
I love you!

I'm back!

I am feeling good again. Really, my feeling blue was just a short stint, which was nice. I kept reminding myself about being so lucky and blessed for my family, my health, my friends, my wonderful lifestyle and for all of the things that I have. It's a good form of therapy when you've got the blues. The trick is that you really have to say it and talk about it to other people. And don't just pay it lip service but really mean it. I am lucky! I am blessed! Don't focus on and talk about the negative - and when you inevitably do talk about the negative - do it briefly and then move on to the good!

Here is a story of what happened to me on Thursday after hearing about my taxes and my fridge and my friend's health.

When I went up to Safeway to buy ice, I got into the express checkout behind 3 women. The woman directly in front of me was visibly in a hurry. She kept looking over at the other checkouts to see if they'd be quicker and sighing loudly. I was just happy to be feeling better and out in the world. The first woman in line was having trouble with her debit card and it wouldn't read so they were trying different ways to swipe it. The woman in front of me actually uttered an "oh geez, come on" and looked at me, I think hoping for some support in this. I gave her my best isn't it great to be alive today smile. To make matters more interesting the woman directly infront of the cranky lady had more than the limit and was a senior and moving slowly.

As we moved forward I felt calm and grateful to just be. We got to the point where the cranky lady was able to unload her groceries onto the belt and she did so with attitude, moving the older woman's groceries to fit hers on. As soon as she set her now empty basket down on the ground, a lovely young man who worked there came over to me and said "I can help you right here miss." To which I smiled and said "oh thank you so much".

I was walking out into the sunshine before the cranky woman even had her first item rung through.

The Secret says that when something bad happens don’t let it change the course of your day. One bad thing doesn’t have to turn into a bad day.

Line ups don't move faster if you are cranky and impatient. In fact they seem to move slower and actually might be slower. Yesterday TT and I were at Loomis buying some art supplies and the guy in line behind us was one of those awful people that I've been talking about and actually lipped off to the sales associate and the other customers waiting in line. All it did was piss everyone else off and fluster the clerk. A flustered clerk does not make a faster transaction.

Patience really is a virtue!

The blues

I am fighting the blues today. I have had one good ugly-cry already today and hoping that's it.

My fridge is broken. I noticed it on Sunday that my freezer didn't seem as cold. I fiddled with the temperature dials and hoped for the best. I should have called my landlady on Monday to let her know but I always wait til things get really bad before I ever do anything about them. I am thinking that this is a lesson in learning how not to do that anymore.

Anyways I called yesterday morning after I ate some cereal and noticed that the milk was luke warm. I was going to be out all day and so they couldn't come until today. The repairman walked in opened the freezer door and said "Oh, yeah. I can't fix this. You need a new fridge. I'll let your landlord know." and then he left. He was in my apartment for less than a minute.

I called my landlady to follow up and left a message and then I called again an hour later and left another message and then I called her emergency number an hour after that. She had okayed the order 15 minutes earlier and told me to call them to figure out delivery times.

Monday.

Today is Thursday.

Then 'ding' I heard an email enter my inbox and found out I owe thousands (yes there is an 's' on the end of that) in taxes. This is when the ugly cry hit me.

I let it all out and even wailed a couple of times. Then I hit that point in the ugly cry when it's over. You're still making the ugly cry face and you take a deep breath but it's done, you've let it all go. You try and squeeze out another sob or tear but it's done. It was over pretty quickly, thankfully.

I sat back down at my computer and started to compose an email and while I did I chattered away to myself. "I am so lucky that I live such a great lifestyle. I have everything I need. I am so fortunate to live in such a great country where I am free to be who I want and do what I want. And I am blessed to be able to give back to my country and be a productive member of society and support Canada in building roads and schools. I am abundant and can afford to pay this money to maintain such a great life style. In the grand scheme of it all this is pocket change for being able to live such a great life."

I said this all out loud a couple of times and though it started out somewhat facetiously, I actually felt way better. Facetious or not, it's all true.

Once I started to feel better I tackled my fridge. Although this brought me back down a bit. I had to throw out so much stuff. I went up to Safeway and bought a couple bags of ice and am trying to treat my freezer like a cooler. I put the ice in there with my milk and a few other things. I am only going to open that door when I really, really need to.

Still, what I really want to do is drink. I want a cold beer or ice-cold crisp, white wine. A shot or two of tequila from the freezer would be nice. An extra-dry apple cider on ice. An extra dry, extra cold, extra olives vodka martini. Something cold - I haven't had anything cold in so long. I do have some lovely room temperature red wine but I am putting off having this until later so that I can have a more productive afternoon than that. Plus you know that whole deal with it instead of numbing the pain thing too.

Then my phone rang and it was my sister with some bad news about a friends health and that put things into perspective. This made me think of another friend who is literally fighting for her life right now and that put things into even more perspective. Then I called my best friend who told me he was so sick from food poisoning that he couldn't stand up.

I really am so so so so lucky.

Ok so I am off to the gym in search of some endorphins. Feel free to invite me over for a cold drink or a nice meal since I have no food left.

a lovely goodnight

I have this memory from when I was around 7 years old. My mother coming into my room after she'd been out on the town. Waking me up to check on me and kiss me goodnight. She would bring in the cold fresh air from outside and she would still be wearing her coat, which was wool and scratchy on my sleepy warm cheek. The smell of her perfume would still be lingering around her. She smelled beautiful and feminine and comforting. The combination of all of these senses; her smell, the coolness, the scratchy coat - would wrap around me and make me feel special and important. It was as though she couldn't wait to see me. She didn't have time to take off her coat and warm up, maybe even wash off her makeup and perfume before coming to see me. It was more important to come right to my room, see me and kiss me goodnight.