Links to really cool things.

While perusing the interweb today, I came across some very cool things that I'd like to share.







These are really beautiful pictures of the earth taken from space. Incredibly humbling and awe inspiring. There are three in a row that I find particularly breathtaking. They are about halfway down the page starting with the dust storm over the Sahara Desert. Truly magnificent!http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/the_sky_from_above.html






Next we have classic photos redone using Lego. I am impressed that someone had this vision and carried it through to the finished product. Very fun to check out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/sets/72157602602191858/detail/


A Cooptown follower and fan sent me a link to this Youtube video of an animated cat trying to come inside. Very cute and funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rb8aOzy9t4
or watch it above!

Well that`s it for today!
kt

Caterpillar

I was watching a movie a couple of nights ago and there was a caterpillar in one scene. It was in the foreground, crawling along a branch and I had a total body reaction to seeing it.

You see, I had completely forgotten that caterpillars exist. Living in the city, you just don't see them. I grew up in the burbs and caterpillars were everywhere. I have a picture of me at 5 years old, cupping one in my hands. I remember walking to school in the mornings and collecting them in empty coffee tins. We'd add grass and twigs and leaves and hope that they would be happy in their new home.

I started to think about city life and what other things are different about living away from the suburbs. Here's what I came up with;

In the city we don't have crickets chirping or frogs croaking. We have less spiders and they are much smaller than their suburban cousins. We have less lawn mowers mowing and by the time you notice them, they are quiet, since lawns here are so tiny. Instead, we have the sound of shopping carts being pushed down the lanes and alleys by the homeless people. I also see skunks on a regular basis which I don't think I ever saw in the suburbs.

As I write this, I can actually very faintly hear a lawn mower in the distance. I can hear a seagull cawing and someone coughing. Later this afternoon my downstairs neighbour will practice his trumpet and I will be grateful that he is kind of good at it.

The movie I was watching was Into The Wild and the caterpillar was only in frame for a second or two but in that short time, I realized that life in the city is very different than life in the suburbs in more ways than I generally think. I felt nostalgic for simpler times, for the days when caterpillars were just a part of my everyday life.

By the next morning, I had forgotten my nostalgia and was busy living my city life again. I came home from having breakfast with girlfriends and as I put my key in the door, I glanced to the left and there on the wall beside me was a fuzzy caterpillar. I stopped short and stared at it in awe. I gave it a little pet and thanked it for being there.

Some might say that because caterpillars were on my mind that I was more likely to notice one in my vicinity but I like to think of it as a gift from God. A fuzzy, little, brown and yellow gift from God.

Shopping Spree

So much fun!

To me, shopping sprees are something you would see on 80's television. They aren't something that happens in real life to people who aren't guests on The Phil Donahue Show. But yesterday, I got to go on my very own shopping spree.

Luckily this wasn't one of those crappy, timed ones, where you get to keep everything you can grab in 2 minutes. I was able to take my time, and take my time, I did! I think my shop lasted almost 2 hours.

The reason for this shopping spree was just really good timing. I have a Shopper's Optimum card and have been collecting points for 5 years now without ever cashing them in. For those not in the Shopper's Optimum know, they have a reward system where you collect points for every dollar you spend at Shopper's and then they have reward levels. You can cash in points and get free stuff. It takes a lot of points to be able to really cash in.

Here I'll give you a low down of the levels.
3,500 points - save $5
7,000 - $10
15,000 - $25
30,000 - $55
40,000 - $75
75,000 - $150

I was very close to the 75, 000 level when they announced that this weekend they were doing a promo where if you have 40,000 points they will bump up your reward to $100 and if you have 75,000 points they will bump up your reward to $200. Since I was so close to 75,000 points I went shopping and stocked up on a bunch of necessities that I would be buying at some point anyways; Deodorant, moisturizer, sun screen, lint roller, shampoo, conditioner, etc.

That got me up to the highest reward level and on Sunday, I went for a 2 hour shopping spree. My goal was to get things that were fun and frivolous. I also wanted to be sure that I would only get things that I would really use and enjoy. So I spent the entire time in the cosmetic department and it was so much fun.

The most boring things that I got were a nail polish and a Lindt 70% dark chocolate bar and even those aren't that boring. The most fun things I got were lipsticks, eyeshadows (in the most fun colours), blush, moisturizers, primers and a brightener.

It's so fun being a girly girl!
And to top it all off, tonight I am going to see the Sex and The City movie!

A break, a dent, a blip.

My car window got shattered today. A seemingly random act of vandalism. I like to imagine that it was a spinning karate kick in the air that took out my driver`s side window. Only because it would mean that my window went out in a blaze of (someone's) glory.

It happened at work and it just is what it is. The police don't really care, it just adds another number to their stats. Campus security shrugged and told me to call the non-emergency police line. As an afterthought, she wrote my name on a scrap of paper to put in their files.

My dear friend Emily was a rock. She took care of cleaning away the broken glass for me while I called ICBC. They also didn't care....at least the recording I listened to didn't seem to care.

Luckily the weather was lovely and I would have driven with my window rolled down anyways. Emily and I shared a blonde moment when I said I wonder what would happen if I tried rolling the window up and Em told me to try it and see. We both stared dumbfoundedly for a few seconds when nothing happened and then Emily clued in, "oh yeah, it already is up." (am I allowed to make blonde jokes? I never know.)

We took my car directly to a repair center. They vacuumed up the glass and did a beautiful job of taping up my window. I was able to make an appointment for tomorrow to get it repaired.

I had been doing a great job of staying zen up until I was told they could put plastic over the window for me. I had a moment though where I turned to Em and said "Now I am one of those people with a plastic window." When I mentioned to Lisa that I had a plastic window, even her initial reaction was "you can take the girl out of Surrey but you can't take the Surrey out of the girl." (I am pretty sure Lisa and I are allowed to make Surrey girl jokes)

To be completely fair, I need to tell you that the plastic/tape job is wonderful. At first glance it isn't remotely obvious that my window is not just a window. It`s much nicer than the safeway bag and silver electrician`s tape I had been imagining.

Now, the crappiest part of all is that it is going to cost me $312 to repair. Three hundred and twelve dollars and I didn't even get to witness the stunning scissor kick that took it out. That's a lot of money for absolutely no reason. Makes me feel like that much more of an adult. I`d like to shake the teenage boy (because come on, we all know it was a teenage boy who did it) and teach him the value of a dollar.

No one was injured, nothing was stolen, and all said and done it`s just a window in just a car. I can choose to get upset or I can choose to let it go. It sucks that I am out $312 but it won`t break me, it`s just a dent in my bank account and in the grand scheme of things it`s just a blip on the radar.

What to write about...?

I am sure that I have something to write about. It's just that nothing is coming to me right now.

I could write about my long weekend - it was great and very full. Or I could write about the book I'm reading - The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs - it's quite fascinating. I could write about the Women's Conference I went to last weekend - it was inspiring and lovely.

You see, I have options here but I am just not feeling overly inspired to write on any of those topics. Hmmmm, I could write about Iron Man. I saw it yesterday with JM and was thoroughly entertained. But really, that is about all I have to say about that.

I have been keeping a list of all the movies I see. I started the list on January 1st because I thought it would be interesting to keep track of what I see and how many movies I see in a year. And really, who am I kidding, I just wanted an excuse to write a list!

My list is actually 2 lists. It started out as 3 lists but I quickly decided to ditch keeping track of movies that I watch that I have already seen. I struggled for about 3 days with this list and then realized that it was pointless and I didn't care about keeping track of movies I've already seen.

So the 2 lists are New Movies in the Theater and New Movies that I Rent. I'm actually not much of a renter I have learned. I really only rent when I'm with TT and very occasionally with ST and then almost never on my own.

I just updated my lists today (since seeing Iron Man yesterday) and so far this year I have seen 15 movies in the theater. That's an average of 3 a month! That's a lot of movies!

As for rentals I am (oddly) also at 15 so far for the year. I guess because, while I am renting movies far less often, we actually rent 2 or 3 at a time.

I really do love movies and I love seeing them in the theater. I love the whole experience and I am so easily entertained that I am never really dissatisfied with a movie.

So there we go, I guess I figured out what to write about after all.
Cheers,
kt

A Love Story

I went shopping today. One of the things that I am always on the lookout for is a purse. Specifically, a purple purse. I have been looking since last November for the perfect purple purse.

Well, today I found it. But there is more to the story than just that....

I went to the store where my mom bought her perfect red purse, to check them out. I have been thinking that I am going to need to invest a little more money into a new purse than I normally would. I want something awesome that is also well made. I want quality, not just something fun that is going to fall apart soon (like my perfect green purse).

Right away I saw a nice purple purse. I took it down off the shelf and the woman working there was doing a hard sell with me. It was a really good shade of purple. It was leather, a good size, good pockets and the right length strap. Something wasn't quite right though. On the top shelf above it was another purse in the same purple leather from the same collection but in a completely different shape. I didn't take it down though, I just admired it from afar. After a long time, I still couldn't decide about the purse and so I told her I was going to do the rest of my shopping and then come back.

I looked in every accessory store and all of the purses I saw, just looked cheap and not well made. After I finished all my shopping I went back to the store and this time reached up to the top shelf and grabbed the bigger purse. There was a different woman working who was helpful and also giving me some space. I was taking turns with both of the purple purses, looking in the mirror from close and then from farther away. The first one I had been looking at, seemed too small and not as nice so that was that. I figured I had made my decision.

Now, I'm not sure how this next part happened but I reached up and grabbed the purse off of the top shelf that had been behind the purple purse. I think it had fallen and the strap was hanging down and so I went to fix it, but I don't really remember. All I do remember, was that in my hands was the most gorgeous purse I had ever seen. (I've read things like this in novels and seen it on shows like Sex and the City but didn't realize that one could actually have a falling in love moment with a purse). It was the exact same purse as the purple one, just in a different colour. It was a rich dark chocolate brown. So brown it almost looked black but not remotely as boring as black.

My heart wanted this purse and my mind wanted the purple purse. I had been looking for 6 months for the perfect purple purse and here it was, in my hands and affordable. Yet, I couldn't seem to put the brown one back on the shelf, pay for the purple one and leave. In the meantime the original hard-sell, saleswoman came back and was instantly on me again. I even had her put them both over her shoulder and walk around for me so I could get a look at them that way.

Both of the saleswomen and even another customer in the store, got in on it - telling me that I should buy the purple purse. They all agreed that the purple was more interesting and so nice, plus I had been looking for one just like it. I felt so torn. I couldn't make the decision on my own and none of these women were telling me what I wanted to hear and I somehow couldn't tell it to myself. I told her I needed to clear my head and think for 5 minutes about it. She put them aside for me and I walked outside and called my mom.

I told mom my dilemma and ended it with "which one should I get?" Without hesitation she said "brown". My heart lept more than it sank and I said "You're right." We discussed it for a minute more and then I walked back into the store. The woman laughed and said "that was fast, let me guess." and she held the brown purse up and I laughed and nodded and that was that.

First post in May

Hi Auntie Shirley!!