moving...

... well moving sites that is. yup, i've switched over to wordpress. not 100% sure why yet, but just go with me on this one. recently i've been finding blogger somewhat... limiting. i've been trying to change my header and add a unique touch to things, but every time i try i end up wanting to toss my laptop out the window. i'm certainly not a computer geek and have absolutely no idea how to edit anything html or coding wise and things were getting a little frustrating. so out of the blue a few days ago i decided to check out wordpress. again, not sure why, but i did. and i found that you could change the header just like i've been trying to do for the past forever-ness on blogger... and it seemed pretty easy. oh, and i liked the little tabby things (you'll see what i mean when you get over there). anyway, i signed up and have been messing around trying to get everything figured out for the past few days. (you'll also note when you get over there that the whole unique individual header thing still hasn't happened, but they have a ton of cool themes that i can live with until i get things set up the way i like em.)

anyway, venture over and see what you think. it's still a work in progress, so don't criticize too much. we'll see how things go. who knows, in a week or two i could be back here a blogger. anything can happen.

you can find me now @ http://leannegiesbrecht.wordpress.com/

bald is beautiful

well, the baby shopping has commenced. and i have only one request... could one of you lovely pregnant ladies please, pretty please, have a girl. please? i must say, that i'm drawn to all the little bitty baby girl clothes. i think it's the pink. i love me some pink. the boys clothes are cute too... how can one resist the little man shirts and little jean overalls?

during my shopping this weekend i came across this little onesie... and all i have to say it, why oh why did they not sell this 25 years ago?

facebook

well, it seems i've now finally, maybe, sorta, kinda embraced the latest internet craze. (do you sense my hesitation in admitting this?) first there was myspace which i never really understood, then there was blogger which i eventually scummed to, and now dun dun dunnnn... facebook. i've been on it for quiet some time now, but refused to accept it. i'm not sure why. perhaps because you have to request to be "friends" with people you've been friends with your entire life. or maybe it's the simple reason that it was the latest trend and i refused to get caught up in it. but alas i now find myself addicted to it. sad, but true! this last week i've caught up with people i haven't seen in years, had an internet food fight, relived a few old memories, and had a much needed reconnection with a dear friend i haven't spoken with in a few months... all because of facebook.
so, if you'll excuse me now, i hear facebook calling my name...

the streets, they are lakes

deerfoot (above) and glenmore (below)

hidden cameras

my dear friend, the cold, has now taken permanent residence in my throat and has left me with the i-have-a-cold-and-can't-really-breathe-and-i-think-i-just-coughed-up-a-lung voice. sounds lovely, doesn't it. and yes, that is the correct medical term.
yesterday while diving home from work i took the opportunity to pop in some sheryl crow (which i must say is one of the best cd's to listen to while you're driving down the highway on a sunny afternoon) and sing along at the top of my lungs. now, i'm not exactly the greatest singer at the best of times, as a matter of fact, i couldn't sing if my life depended on it, but usually i just turn the volume way up so it drowns out my own voice and all is well. however, yesterday, i think i reached a whole other level of cover-your-ears bad singing. i was actually laughing at myself while driving down the highway. yes, it was that bad. remember the above mentioned voice? yeah, it sounded even worse when trying to sing. and did i mention the coughing? but in the middle of my laughing i was reminded of this crazy reality tv show i found while flipping channels about a year ago. it was a show that allowed friends to nominate friends as the worst, craziest and most creative sing-along-to-the-radio-singers. the only thing was, the friends didn't know that they were being nominated. hidden cameras were set up in the nominees vehicles to record them in the action. there was singing, there was dancing, there was screaming, there was even choreographed moves. it was funny stuff man! but in that moment when the chick broke into her signature choreographed routine i realized that i was thankful nobody has ever caught me on tape while driving in my car, cuz goodness knows i'm just as bad as all those people on that reality show. yup, definitely thankful there were no hidden cameras in my car yesterday afternoon. oh the embarrassment!

how will you be defined in the dictionary?

(noun) a person who likes to make ravioli
at least that's what the latest facebook quiz told me.
now, if you'll excuse me, i have to go make some ravioli.

priorities

there's something about having this cold that's got my priorities all messed up. for example, last night i felt it was far more important to make sure that i wash and vacuum my car and watch canada's next top model instead of emptying the dishwasher or doing some laundry. and while i was trying to fall asleep it occurred to me that i was far more concerned that i wouldn't have time to paint my nails tonight than i was about making sure i would be packed for the weekend. hmmm, pretty toes and a clean car or clothes to wear?

my new best friends...

the red neck hick that is within me...

the last few weeks, my sunday afternoons have looked a little something like this... lawn chairs lined up in a row along the bottom of a washed out river bed, beautiful alberta sun shining down tanning my pastey white skin (that is, except for the day that it hailed and rained off an on. gotta love that alberta weather right girls?), seated between some good friends laughing the afternoon away while we shoot at broken skeets, empty pop cans and empty shot gun shells.

this weekend i shall take the next step towards getting-caught-up-with-the-rest-of-the-world. i've enlisted my knowledgeable sister to help me in this venture and i'm confident that our mission should prove to be successful. we're going camera shopping. digital camera shopping. yes, i realize that you're all gasping at the fact that i do not yet own a digital camera and am still living in the dark ages with my old school pentax (which in fact crashed and burned about two years ago). but you see, i have this "thing" where i drag my feet when it comes to purchasing new technology. the only reason i ever bought a dvd player was because i could no longer rent new movies on vhs. honestly! so as always i've done my research. i've read up on all the features of many different cameras , asked around to get people's opinion about which brand they prefer, and have tried to learn a little bit of digital camera lingo... but i still have no clue what camera i'm going to get. actually my secret plan is that i want my oh-so-camera-knowledgable-sister to say "pick this one Leanne, it'll be perfect for you", and then i'll respond "okay, it does look pretty. i'll take it"... she just doesn't know it yet.

gosh!

a memo in phone etiquette and how not to be rude to your underwriter needs to be sent out today. gosh! and all this on a day when we were supposed to be bowling instead of answering the phones.

tip of the day

it's a bad idea to have your laptop on the kitchen table while baking cookies.

okay really, do i have something stuck to my face today? is my hair sticking straight up in a fashion something similar to how alfalfa wore his hair in little rascals? seriously! people keep looking at me weird today. is there a big piece of my lunch wedged between my front teeth? somebody tell me please!

mmmmm...

i treated myself today to some gummy worms...
all that's missing is the pic-a-pop

bah! our computers here at work are bunk. i swear that they have amnesia or something. my previous post, from yesterday afternoon, still has not shown up. blogger says that it's there, but it's not. often a friend will send me an email telling me to check out her blog cuz she's posted some new photos, so i eagerly pull it up only to find that our ridiculous internet hasn't updated (or whatever it thinks it must do) and i can't see them. it's probably because i've had some error message pop up every morning when i log in for the last month or so. i've advised the people that handle these types of situations and they keep telling me that "they're aware of the situation and are looking into it". looking into it. for the past month! bah!

random ramblings

i called home last night and one of the first things my dad said to me was "loni, you're not a very good blogger". true enough. you know you've been slacking when your dad makes a comment regarding your lack of posts. so, i made up some excuse about actually having things to do at work now (which seems to be where i write most my posts. shame on me. double shame, cuz i'm at work right now) and that my last post was in fact only a week ago. it shouldn't matter that it only consisted of one sentence right?
when i entered into this blogging world only a few months ago i wondered how long i would actually keep it up. cuz really, what was i thinking? i hate writing! i hated english class all throughout school. i was the kid that convinced her friends to help her write any assignment involving a poem. i was the kids who couldn't pass a spelling test if her life depended on it. i was the kid that had no clue what was going on when forced to read romeo & juliet. the kid who would call her friend every evening and beg her to "please, pretty please help me with my shakespeare homework. i've read the last page five bazillion times and i have no idea what they're trying to say. please decode it... or i may loose my mind". (i don't think i actually understood what was happening in romeo & juliet until i watched the movie... thank you leonardo dicaprio for helping me pass grade 10 english) and as you can tell, i was also the kid who never really understood proper punctuation. (i think we can all thank mrs. sidall for that one) so with such a distaste for writing why the heck did i start a blog which consists of writing? i honestly don't know. i guess it just seemed like the thing to do.
for whatever reason, when i started this blog i decided that i didn't want it to be a "this is what i did on the weekend" kind of blog. don't get me wrong, those are great. i'll be honest that i check them daily and love reading about what's been happening with everybody. but i just didn't think that you'd all be interested in the fact that i painted my toes a pretty shade of pink last night. or that i spent most of yesterday in psycho-planner mode trying to organize and coordinate the remainder of my holidays for 2007. or that i started searching for a wedding gift that doesn't need to be purchased for another five months. on the other hand, maybe you would like to know those things. maybe you would like to know that my brain spends the majority of the day over analyzing and over organizing every thought that passes through it. but if i told you all that, then you would know for sure that i'm crazy and i'm just not ready for that.
honestly, it still amazes me that people actually read my random ramblings. so bear with my while i wait for something interesting to surface from the analyzing and organizing going on my brain... it sometimes takes a while.

sunburns and a frozen face...

... i had a brief encounter with the dentist today, and an even longer encounter with the sun over the weekend. peachy keen.

i am the pink blob

what is the pink blob you ask. well let's see, i have a long pink coat and a pink umbrella (and at one time i also had pink mittens) that are all surprisingly the exact same shade of pink so when you see me walking down the street i look like a pink blob. something needs to be done about this. i need a new umbrella. but not just any umbrella, and most definitely not a boring old black one (although a black umbrella would probably be better than being the pink blob). i need something funky. my theory is that if you have to deal with a rainy gloomy day, the least you can do is have a really great umbrella to cheer you up. right? so that being said, any suggestions where i can find myself a funky umbrella? a funky umbrella, that will match my pink coat, but not make me look like the pink blob.
(hmmm... do you get the impression that i like pink?)

ever have one of those days where...

you sleep in and end up running around like a chicken with it's head cut off while attempting to leave for work on time?
only to realize moments before leaving that the top you've decided to wear has some something funky on it and the tide pen you just tried didn't get rid of the funky-ness so you're forced to grab the first thing you see hanging in your closet? (which later causes you to ask, "why did i choose this?")
then in the final moments of mass chaos you realize that you can't find your wallet and search the entire house in a matter of seconds while thinking "of all mornings, why couldn't i loose my wallet on a day when i actually woke up when my alarm went off the first time"?
and when you finally dash out the door and back out of the garage you realize that you can't speed to make up some time because you're driving without a license and the way your luck has been going you'd probably get pulled over on the way to work and end up with a unaffordable ticket?
this all happened before 6:45am
can i start today over?

the sky is falling...

you know you're from winnipeg when...

(i found this a little while ago and thought i'd share a few of my favorites)
~ you know of several people who have hit deer more than once
~ you design your kid’s halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit
~ you know all four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and construction
~ you’re bundled up in three sweaters, a parka, ski pants, a toque, two pairs of mittens, boots past your knees in 3 feet of snow in a -35 (-80,000 with the wind-chill) blizzard, your eyelashes are frozen together, your nose is running, you can’t feel your toes, and you still stop at 7-11 for a slurpee on the way home
~ you refer to 7-11 simply as “sev”
~ all directions start with “you take portage…”
~ you know what a social is
~ mosquitoes don’t even phase you anymore
~ you know who dancing gabe is
~ you’ve been to the forks
~ you know about Sunday cruise night, and have been
~ you’ll drive to the smallest town ever to find the best party
~ you tell everyone at home that you hate the peg, but when you leave it’s suddenly the best place in the world
~ you know dairy queen is closed from september through may
~ you know at least 10 people that have moved to calgary
~ you refuse to buy a slurpee from macs
~ you hate the guy from the best sleep centre radio commercials
~ ace burpee is your hero
~ being “stuck in rushhour” means an extra 5 minutes to your ride home
~ you’ve been to the festival du voyageur
~ you don’t ask why there’s plugs hanging out of everyone’s cars
~ you brag that a least we’re not saskatchewan
~ you talk in terms of wind-chill and humidex factors
~ one word: tinkertown
~ every second car you see is either a pontiac sunfire or a chevy cavalier
~ you know what a booter is
~ you go to polo park and see at least 10 people you know, no matter where you live
~ you’re surprised to see a limo, and point it out to all your friends while trying to guess who could be inside

the things we do

i just came in from sitting out on the deck... only thing is, it's not exactly sitting-on-the-deck type weather. only +7 to be exact. i was wrapped in a blanket, feet covered with socks & slippers, hot chocolate in one hand and a book in the other. the things we do to pretend that it's spring.

where did spring go?

i've said it before and i'll say it again... alberta weather sucks!

wanted: nintendo gameboy

does anyone have a gameboy they want to lend me?
i volunteered to go on a broker visit next week, thinking that it'd be a good opportunity to finally meet the people that i talk to multiples times daily. however i failed to realize when i volunteered that it would be about a 3 1/2 hour drive for me, start to finish... one way. goodness gracious, what was i thinking? a co worker has suggested that i bring along my gameboy to pass the time.
how old school is that?

wash your car

i have recently discovered that my father is not the only father who thinks that his daughter’s car must be spotless. at all times. this is comforting to hear, yet i still think my dad has others beat. seriously. does your dad wash his truck to go to town in the pouring rain? (keep in mind that my parents live in the county and must drive down a few miles of gravel roads before they even reach pavement) see? i told you. my dad’s a perfectionist. my sister and i have come to realize that we have inherited this quality… just maybe not as extreme when it comes to our cars.
a few years back i thought i might even be disowned for the state of my car. you see it had rained for a few days straight and my car was covered in a think layer of mud and sludge. one evening, after the rain had stopped, but before my car had been rid of it’s filthiness, we attended a baseball game with some friends. i remember my dad’s request that i wash my car before leaving for the city. i also remember responding that i didn’t have time as i was supposed to meet a friend and spend the day shopping before we attended the game. (seriously. shopping or washing you car? not a hard decision) so upon arriving at the game my car was still covered in the mud and sludge. between the innings, the generous people of the winnipeg goldeye’s decided that they needed to award me with the privilege of having the dirtiest car in the parking lot. as they announced my license plate number for everyone to hear i remember slinking down in my seat as my family and friends turned and laugh, my dad giving me the “i told you to wash you car” look. oh the shame!
to this day, i try to keep my car clean, more for my dad’s sake than my own. i start to feel guilt when i realize that half the shoes i own are scattered across the back seat. i feel even guiltier if i don’t chammy my car after washing it. sometimes i even hear my dad’s voice in the back of my head… “wash you car” he’d yell from the shop as i’d pull up to the house. it all kinda makes me laugh.
dad, just so you know… my car is clean, inside and out… all is well in the world

the giant green ball

way back in september during one of my visits to good ol’ manitoba a dear friend got me to try out her exercise ball. i remember thinking, “this is sweet, all i gotta do is sit here and bounce”. so upon return to alberta i drove to the nearest walmart and picked up my very own giant green exercise ball. the dvd that came with the ball reminded me a bit too much of those annoying ana caban pilates dvds that i had banished, so i discarded this one as well. left without a dvd for guidance i created my own routine… which lasted for about a week. from there i took to balancing on it while watching tv, convincing myself that at least i was sorta kinda doing it… right? from there i found that the giant green ball could double as a very nice foot rest while lounging on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. and then before i knew it, it too had been banished just like the videos. occasionally i’d see it sitting there in the corner and feel guilty so i’d bring it out and try again, which again would last only a week.
recently the dear friend from good ol’ manitoba sent me a few of her dvds to get me motivated again. on the top of the stack was “the ab assault” with a little sticky saying “this is my favorite one! p.s. don’t do this every day, you’ll be very sore”. so i hauled out the giant green ball, popped in the dvd, and shut the blinds so all the retired people walking their puppies wouldn’t be able to see me go crashing into the tv or the couch. it has happened before. first of all i have to say thank goodness gracious that the dude doesn’t annoy the crap out of me like that little miss ana cabana and her look-at-me-i-make-pilates-look-so-freakin-easy dvds. secondly, let me tell you “assault” was definitely the right term for the dvd.
so here’s to hoping that the giant green ball doesn’t get banished to the corner again.
wish me luck.

miscommunication

it seems like there may have been a bit of miscommunication between emails last week. you see, a typical road trip (long or short) includes a bag of licorice (a necessity to get you through saskatchewan), freshly baked cookies (this weekend's choice was peanut butter m&m monster cookies) and a copy of the latest instyle magazine... oh and of course some good tunes. somehow we ended up with a surplus of m&m's this weekend, but no licorice.

try

sorry for the lack of words lately. i've been, well, sorta kinda busy, but not really all at the same time. in all honesty i've had no idea what to write. not much out of the ordinary has been happening away. and the things that have been keeping me sorta kinda busy... well you were probably there with me to experience it, and if not, you probably already heard about it via multiple emails, and therefore it seems totally redundant to retype it all. probably not the kind of post you were expecting, but hey this is my promise to try and keep this thing a little more current. key word here is try.

do you see the similarities?

the younger years

press nine

this is what i heard when i answered the phone just moments ago:
congratulations you’ve just won a free las vegas vacation, press nine to hear more
ummm… no thanks. i know the drill. you press nine and they tell you about this once in a lifetime opportunity; the five star hotel, the shopping, the sight seeing, the oh so wonderfulness of it all. they suck you in by getting you all excited and then while you’re still trying to figure out how you won such an amazing trip they ask for your credit card number. my credit card number? sorry dude, but if it’s free you’re not going to be needing my credit card number.
you see, this happened to us a few years ago. and I do mean us. as in myself, two very close friends, a co-worker’s mom, and the same co-worker’s mom’s neighbor. we had all been at the same rodeo, on the same weekend and filled out our little entry forms at the same booth, all with hopes of winning that dream vacation. only thing was we all won. on the same day. within hours of each other. winner number one showed up to bible study that night ecstatic about the so called free trip she had just one. while winner number one was telling us all the details an unexpecting winner number two got a call from her mom letting her know she’d just won a fabulous vacation. interesting, they both sounded like the same dream vacation. as winner number one told us more details we came to know that she had to give out her credit card number, and it was at this point that we realized they’d been scammed. later that night upon returning home, i received a call winning the exact same dream holiday. i listened to their schpeil and when they asked for my credit card number i told them i didn’t have it with me at the moment (true, it was in the other room) and could we proceed without it. that was also where i announced to the bearer of good news that two of my very close friends had won the same dream vacation just hours before. imagine that. the call ended rather awkwardly after that and left me laughing. only thing was, they already had winner number one’s credit card. long story short, after many lengthy complaint letters, screaming matches over the phone and hang ups out of frustration winner number one got most of her money back.
since that day i look the other way when i see the typical sign trying to luring you in to “enter to win your dream vacation today”. and when i receive the call exclaiming “you’ve been chosen as one of our top 100 to win…” i simply choose to not press nine.

eggs

this post's sole purpose is to make my mom and sister laugh
do you need eggs? E-G-G-S! eggs.
it's kinda easter related, right?

why is it that i feel guilty when i know what was done is right? a co-worker was let go last night and she didn't even see it coming. yes, she she should be responsible for her actions (or lack there of). but at the same time i feel guilty that we as a department made some comments to a supervisor (all very true) that probably influenced managements decision to escort her out. i fell like we're back in elementary school and tattled to a teacher which in turn got someone sent to the principals office. only we're not in elementary anymore and things are a little more extreme when you have no job to pay the rent. she deserved what she got (and i think that more and more as i've spent the last hour correcting her work), but then why do i feel guilty?

unclick

i've been amazed this last week at how much we depend on technology. without it we cease to exist. companies come to a grinding halt as their computer systems go down, retail turns away angry customers when their purchases cannot be processed as the debit and credit card machines have gone wonky, communication stalls when emails cannot be sent or cell phones are out of service. we are utterly dependant on it. and i am guilty as charged. sad things is i never realized i depended on it so much. it stores my thoughts and memories, allows me to communicate with people miles away with just the click of the send key, and organizes my life with day planners and address books. for which i'm grateful. we spend hours on the phone trying to figure out how to get our parents web cam to work only for the computer to be stolen a few weeks later... which brings me to my next point... the light bulb went on this week and i realized how easily it would be for some one to steal a laptop. no cords to unplug, just lift and walk away with all those addresses, passwords, saved thoughts and photos. and it's kinda got me worried. i always click that little check box that says "save my login name and password". it's so convenient, right? yeah, convenient for the punk that swipes you computer and now has access to everything you have ever logged into. i think i'll be unclicking those check boxes this week. although i know i cannot guarantee that i will refrain from keeping info saved on my technology, you can be sure i'll be passwording the heck out of everything.
on that note, i will leave you with a comment that is somewhat related and comes from the underwriter is me... get insurance people.

linking

- design her gals, kinda like paper dolls for big kids... very fun. (you have to set up an account, but i'm pretty sure they'll never email you anything)
- for your shopping pleasure check out ESPE! for some funky wallets and purses or Foxy for some other great accessories.
- if you need a laugh, check out "ace ask's america". ace burpee is the host from the morning radio station i used to listen to back home. he calls up random business in the states and asks the most random questions ever. i promise you'll laugh.
- if you're looking for something to listen to check out pandora. my sister introduced this to me this weekend, i'm still getting it figured out, but it's kinda like a personalized online radio station.
- to satisfy the craftiness in you, check out this site for some great ideas.

booked

my trips back home often turn into a frantic chaos of trying to fit family and friends into a few short days. usually, being the obsessive organizer that i am, i plan everything out before i even leave alberta. a few weeks before the trip i'll start sending emails to see when it'll work to go for lunch or when we can have a girls night or when i can fit in a quick massage. last september we had a breakfast planned almost two months before the actual trip. like i said, psycho planner. today i got an email from a friend back home... i've been booked for christmas already. christmas!

happy spring

spring has sprung, the grass has ris', i wonder where the birdies is

i got my hair did

this is what the dude three chairs down said over and over again last night while everyone sat flipping through random magazines that they weren't really interested in. his phone rang every ten minutes and every time he answered the annoying ring his response was "hey dude, i'm getting my hair did". not done, but did. can you tell that this annoyed me? just a tad. annoyed or not, i got my hair did last night and i like it. personally i didn't think it was a drastic change. i went a little bit darker than usual and tried to get rid of the majority of the blond high lights that i've been sporting since... oh lets say grade 10. nothing too crazy, i'm not one of those super funky crazy haired chicks, i stick to more of the natural tones. (although i did go through a stage where i'd dye my hair blue for a weekend or two) as always, they straightened my hair and styled it in a way that i will never be able to replicate at 5:30 in the morning. so i take advantage of the one day of perfectly straight hair and never wash it the morning after. well little did i know that everybody at work the next day would suddenly stop to ask me about the new style. it seems like all i've talked about today is my hair. yes, i got my hair did. thank you. no it won't be straight tomorrow. yes, it will be the usually psycho crazy curly frizzy mess that you're used to seeing every day. everytime this happens the co-worker sitting behind me laughs and suggests that maybe i should start straightening my hair everyday. well lets see, that'll happen when: a) i have my own personal hair stylist and b) when i don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn

disappointed

i often use my lunch breaks as an opportunity to do some shopping or run some errands. most days i don't have a car so i've become accustomed to walking here, there and everywhere. today i had plans to make my way further downtown to pick up a few things and grab some lunch. those plans were almost squashed by the sudden snow storm, but in typical calgary form it lasted only an hour. the sun was shining and the snow had melted before i even set a foot out the door. so as 1:00 rolled around i packed up my purse (it's contents usually get scattered across my desk throughout the day), pulled out my mp3 player and set out. along the way i was confronted by some odd looking dudes with some very large dogs, i promptly crossed the street to avoid them. upon arriving at the mall i made my few quick purchases and made my way down to the food court area to grab some eats. now, almost always my food court restaurant of choice is new york fries. but today, for some unknown reason, i convinced myself i should have something different than the typical "regular poutine and regular drink please". so i ventured over to the chinese food, placed my order, found a place to sit, and dug in. i must say that was the worst chinese i've ever eaten. as i finished my meal, the only thing i could think of was "why didn't i just go to new york fries as always? change is not always good." then as the time crept closer to 2:00 i again gathered my things and realized that i had not left myself any time for a stop at hmv. so with disappointment i began my trek back to work, only to be confronted by half a dozen homeless dudes trying to chat it up in hopes of getting a dollar. sorry buddy, but not today. and so here i sit, disappointed from a not so wonderful lunch hour, with a stack of papers that i don't want to look at.

advise

this is my advise to anybody working in a office... do not, i repeat do not argue with your boyfriend over the phone on your lunch break. you sit in a cubicle, not an enclosed office, your voice travels, we can hear everything you say... and we're tired of it! thank-you, and have a good day.

those who know me well know that i cannot read the summary on the back of a movie. it's just not in me. all movies i rent are based purely on the previews seen on tv. if i have not seen a preview, i usually base my decision on who the actors or actress' in the movie are and the pictures on the back of the dvd. if the overall appearance of the movie doesn't catch me i'll usually put it down and keep on walking. silly i know. i'm sure there a thousand of movies out there with amazing plots and horrible movie covers if only i would take the time to read the summary. but i just cannot.
i have much the same problem when buying books. only thing is, they don't make previews for books like they do movies. which basically leaves you to read the back of the book. i've tried this. really i have. but i can't. well, maybe it's a little more extreme than that. i refuse. the few times that i have tried to read the back of the book i have to stop myself after the first sentence (if i get that far). those little write ups they put on the back to entice you simply give away far too much information. i don't want to know before i even open the book that tragedy is going to strike in chapter five and "suzie's" life will forever be changed by the decision she has to make before chapter thirteen. i don't want to expect the tragedy. i want to be surprised by it. shocked by how the event will change the direction of the story.
this being said, i usually stick to the same authors and rarely dare to read anything by an author i haven't heard of. however, about a month ago christian pub had a book sale and i decided to be "adventurous" and picked up a few books by authors i didn't know that well. of course i did not read the back of the book, but made a decision purely on the thought of "hmmm, this looks like it could be a gooder". well let me tell you, i picked well. i'm hooked. i haven't enjoyed a book so much in quiet some time. so for those out there who mock my "i can't read the back of the book" theory, all i have to say is... ha, so there! (i realize that's a very poor comeback, but i'm too distracted by this latest book to think of anything more clever)

thoughts from my lunch break...

~ starbucks is yummy!
~ it's weird to see guys walking around carrying yoga mats. i don't know one guy who would even consider doing yoga, never mind going to a class on their lunch break. "each to their own" i guess.
~ i need a hair cut. stat! i wish i had worn it up today. (better yet, i wish i had woken up in time to actually do my hair this morning) gosh it's driving me crazy.
~ i wish my lunch break was longer (or never ending) so i could continue reading my book.
~ i really like the new flat screen monitor sitting on my desk. it's ginormous! but it's kinda hard to be inconspicuous while surfing the net now. i'm sure everyone can see my blog from a mile away. yikes, maybe i should minimize it.
~ the phone should not be allowed to ring on your lunch breaks. make the ringing stop!
~ a friend gave me some rubber boots yesterday, but i wonder when i'll actually get to wear them. soon i hope. how fun to splash in puddles with rubber boots.

this so called warm weather

i am one of the many who did not grow up in alberta, but later followed the masses and moved to the land of mountains and rolling hills. i’ve been here for almost two years and i still don’t understand this whole chinook thing. albertan’s rant and rave about their chinooks like they’re the greatest thing in the world. well, sorry to tell you, but i don’t like em. now i’m sure there was a resounding gasp of horror from that last statement, but let me explain myself. yes, the concept is good… warm weather in the middle of “heckish cold winters”… the only thing is, there is no sun, just a dark ominous cloud covering the entire sky . now, i don’t know about you, but to me warm equals sun, and lots of it. as previously stated there is no sun when these chinooks sweep in, therefore my mind tells me that it is still cold and gloomy. there’s no convincing it otherwise. today was supposedly +13, but here i sit with the fireplace on, wrapped in an afgan, shivering.
this is what i’ve seen the last few mornings driving to work. now does that make you think warm? i think it looks like a scene from a movie where the sky gets all dark and menacing just before the aliens invade…

private jet

it's a standing joke in my family that we own a private jet. someone will call and ask if the other wants to come for supper, and the response is always "sure, just send the private jet". or i'll send a text to my sister saying "gas up the jet and meet me at chinook after work, i wanna do some shopping". (for those who don't know, my family lives 14 hours away... depending on who's driving) a few nights ago i saw the following commercial on tv...

...it was my dream come true. i'm usually more of a westjet girl, but if air canada is going to put a jet in my driveway i'll accept, no questions asked. imagine life with a private jet, oh the places i would go...

crazy frog

just in case you needed a laugh this fine thrusday evening... watch the tall kid in the back, he's my favorite

a glimse into the mind of the giesbrecht sisters

the following is an email i sent to my sister yesterday, followed my her reply, followed by... you get the picture...

"matthew and i go down to the cafeteria and have some coca-colas"
are you laughing? no? how bout now...
"marshal, marshal what are you doing?"
still no?
"bros, brothers, brethren"
it you're not laughing now, it can only mean that you are dead.
harsh i know, but true.

Hahaha! You had me giggling right from the start, but then actually burst out in laughter when I got to the "dead" part. Does that count?

giggling from the beginning is a definite sign that you are not dead. congrats on staying alive.

WOHOO! I'm ALIVE! (Starting singing in 3...2...1) I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it!

the sound of silence

i came home today to silence. pure silence. and i must say it was wonderful. our house can get a little bit "lively" when everyone is home... random chaos at it's finest. i love it. a house full of family and friends... it's laughing and chatting and food galore. but i'm one of those people who after a few days of chaos needs her little bit of alone time to regain some sanity. it's just how i work. so what does a girl do with a quiet empty house? cranks the tunes and sings along at the top of her lungs to lauren hill while making banana bread (so much for silence eh?), and then settles into the couch to watch a little gilmore girls and prison break. delightful.

update: i woke up this morning with "the sound of silence" playing over and over in my head... and couldn't figure out why.

pukatawagan, mb

did your dad ever tell you that you were going to drive "all the way from here to timbuktu"? mine did. i think i was in junior high before i realized that that timbuktu was actually a real place, and not just something that he had made up. he also used to mention a place called pukatawagan. again i thought it was something he made up. well today, while scrolling through a list of canadian cities, i see it... pukatawagan, mb. it does exist. and it's in manitoba. who knew? certainly not i.

cold and boarded

yes i realize that i spelled bored wrong, but it's an old joke that will make my family laugh.
tis true, tis true though, i'm cold and bored. i've been here for nearly an hour and none of us have been able to sign into our system. which means no work can be done. which mean i think they should let us all go home so i can go back to sleep. the only thing i've been able to open is my email and the internet, but the internet is so insanely slow it makes me want to cry. if i start to cry do you think they'd send me home? wishful thinking i know. so i'm left here to type up a draft in my email which will be copied and pasted a year from now when blogger will actually open on my computer. drama, drama. the only thing is, i have nothing of importance to say this morning, so the following post will consist of a bunch of random thoughts. are you intrigued? i know i am.
so to start off, happy march 1st to everyone. it's snowing here in the wonderful land of downtown calgary, which means if i remember correctly from mrs lutz's grade 2 class, that when march comes in like a lion is will go out like a lamb. good deal. i'll be looking forward to the warmer weather to come.
i saw some dude wearing florescent orange shoes this morning. no joke. you could see them glowing from like a block away. that's definitely not a fashion statement i'll be making any time soon. yikes, i remember elementary school when half my wardrobe was florescent green and pink. it makes me shudder.
i've recently found a new favorite tea. tetley wildberry herbal tea. it's delish! i'm actually sipping on some right now.
i wish i spoke another language. yesterday, i sorta kinda tried to write an email in french, but i gave up after the second sentence cuz i only knew how to translate half the words. it went a little something like this "je pense que je change mon mind pour le cadeaux". sorry to anyone who actually speaks french, cuz i know i just killed the language. a friend and i used to pretend that we knew how to speak french. we'd be driving around winnipeg all day shopping and would try to speak only in french for as long as we could. we both would end up laughing our heads off ten minutes later when we realized how ridiculous we sounded. either way, i wish i knew another language.... any language. well, my sister and i always say that we have our own language... does that count?
i'm a horrible speller. as you can tell from the above title. when i was in junior high i had a tendency to lock myself out of the house. first i'd lock my house key insides and then the next day i'd lock the hidden spare key inside. it got to the point where i'd end up sitting in the shop doing my homework until someone came home to let me inside. well on one occurrence, our of pure boredom, i started to write with my finger in the dust on the overhead door... "i'm cold and boarded". it was a very true statement at the time if i could have spelled correctly. my family found this rather amusing and to this day continues to repeat this statement. over and over again. since then the dictionary and spell check have become my best friends.
i hope you have been entertained from my random thoughts this thursday morning.

research

so lately, due to the lack actual work coming into our office, i've been asking my sister and a few friends for "research projects". something to keep me occupied during the never ending days, weeks, months. these research projects have varied from checking out laptops to baby strollers, or reading up on marie antoinette (after watching the recently released dvd). however, today my research has been focused on something that involves a lot more of my hard earned dollars (i realize that "hard earned dollars" doesn't exactly fit my previous statement of "lack of work", but i've worked hard the last few months at keeping up with my emailing and blog checking. ha!) today's research project has been deciding what type of car i should purchase. it's overwhelming. i've got dollar signs, km's, fuel milage, and details that i don't understand running through my brain. and why is it that the vehicle i want suddenly doesn't come as highly recommended as i though it previously did? we spent all day saturday (literally) test driving cars, i've spent the morning checking out consumer reviews, auto traders, and dealership websites and all i have to say is... i'm confused. just when i think i've decided on a cute little car, i hear or read something that almost changes my mind. what to do, what to do? i think i'm better suited for shoe shopping rather than car shopping.

cheerios

i feel like i should be two years old again, sitting in church, munching on dry cheerios from a tupperware container. (i've recently re-discovered that honey nut cheerios are the greatest snack ever... aside from popcorn)

logic from the gilmore girls

a little background: richard gilmore has recently returned home from the hospital after having emergency bypass surgery, emily is felling overwhelmed as their accountant calls continuously asking for tax forms that she knows nothing about, lorelei comes to her rescue and the following conversation begins…

E: it’s like a canoe
L: what’s like a canoe?
E: life
L: okay?
E: you’re just paddling along in a canoe
L: mother have you ever been in a canoe?
E: lorelei!
L: well, i just can’t picture you in a canoe
E: your father and i have been paddling a canoe together for years, only now he’s dropped the paddle, he just dropped it, not only that, but now the canoe’s going in circles, without your father there, i’m paddling on my side, and the canoe is spinning in circles, and the harder i paddle the faster it spins, and it’s hard work, and i’m getting tired
L: dizzy i would think
E: you, are in a kayak, you know how to do all of this
L: how does that put me in a kayak?
E: kayaks have paddles with things on both ends, you steer it by yourself
L: mom you know how to do things by yourself, you are totally capable
E: but you, you provide for yourself, you’re not dependant on anyone, you’re independent
L: i am kayak, hear me roar!

i declare...

nap time should be allowed at work. we should get two months off for summer holidays every year. a week off for spring break. and two weeks for christmas. basically, i want the same schedule i had when i was in kindergarten. is that too much to ask?

thanks for holding...

... umm actually, could i hold a few moments longer, i wanted to hear the rest of that song. ever feel like saying that? i do all the time. well, only when i'm at work. i don't know what it is, but some broker offices have got some good tunes going on when you're on hold. i must say it's a nice break from listening to the clicking of fingers on keyboards or the claims dept arguing with angry insureds. as long as it's not one of those places that repeats the same advertisement for their office over and over and over again until you have it memorized. or if you're on hold with westjet... thank goodness for the invention of booking your plane tickets online. anyway, this is my thanks for those who play good "holding music"... gotta love it when you get to listen to old school sugar ray while you're on hold. (i just want to fly, spread your wing and fly, yo me oh my, spread your love and fly, yo me four eyes, spread your love and fly - yes those are the real words, i just looked them up, and now i'll have it stuck in my head for the rest of the day)

warm summer sun, shine kindly here - Robert Richardson

pillsbury doughboy

i'm thinking about doing some baking this weekend, and i was reminded of this....
it is with the saddest heart that i must pass on the following news. please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. the pillsbury doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. he was 71. doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including mrs. butterworth, hungy jack, the california raisins, betty crocker, the hostess twinkies, and captin crunch. the grave site was piled high with flours. aunt jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. he was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. despite being a little flaky at times he was still a crusty old man and was considered a roll model for millions. doughboy is survived by his wife play dough, two children, john dough and jane dough, plus they had one in the oven. he is also survived by his elderly dad, pop tart.
the funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

booter season

yes, that's right booter season is upon us in downtown calgary. the snowing has finally stopped falling and with that the melting has begun. the streets have turned into slushy lakes and knee high boots are mandatory for a safe and dry crossing. seriously, rubber boots may need to be purchased this weekend. and so, with that being said, this is my warning to you: it's booter season people, please choose your footwear carefully in order to avoid soaking wet socks all day.

who are we?

i recently read an "about me" on a person i have know for quite some time. upon reading their comments declaring to the world "this is who is am", i immediately thought this is not at all the person i know. i realize people change, grow up, and move on... but regardless of all of that... our past, our family, and where we are from make us who we are. i realize some people's lives may not have turned out peachy-keen as they would have liked. i'm sure there were bumps, bruises and hurts along the way. but regardless, it makes us who we are, and we cannot change that or blame it on anyone.
i find that people create images for themselves, pretending to be who they'd really like to be. they put on a face and make it seem like they're calm, cool, and collected. like they've accomplished so much more in life than they actually have. people don't want others to see who they really are.
why do we do this? why do we find it so hard to be real? is it our longing to be accepted? so we create an image we think will be more acceptable to the social circle we want to be included in? are we hiding? hiding from the things that make us who we really are.
i don't know why we do this to ourselves, but it breaks my heart.
and to the person mentioned above, i hope they know that they're loved... and regardless of what they've posted for the entire internet world to see, i know and love the person they really are behind all the images created.

happy valentine's day

(or singles awareness day, as it's also known) in lieu of today's holiday i thought i'd share a few thoughts...
a few years back, two friends and i watched the longest movie in all of eternity, gone with the wind. after staring at a black and white screen for an entire evening, the only thing the three of us could remember from the movie was a line where scarlett o'hara says to some dude, "my hands are cold, may i put them in your pocket?". we decided that this was the greatest pick up line ever, and vowed that we'd use it over and over again. of course we never did, but even if we tried i'm sure we'd have been laughing too hard to even get the words out of our mouths, because for some reason we thought this was the funniest line we had ever heard.
i miss heart shaped pizzas at boston pizza. it was our valentine's tradition when everyone was still young and single.
and lastly, i have recently been educated on a few valentine's facts that got me wondering. apparently, in the states, for every 100 single women in their 20's there's 119 single men of the same age. interesting. if this is true, then why the heck am i'm still single. perhaps they forgot to mention that the other 19 guys were weird and nobody wanted to date them. i've also been informed that the average age for a women to get married is 25.3. this means that i've got .7 of a year to find a guy, get engaged, and plan a weeding. yikes, i better get on that.

i dream of genie

in a moment of pure desperation after looking out the window, i exclaimed "make the snowing stop". a co-worker, without saying anything, promptly folded her arms in an "i dream of genie" form and nodded her head. expectantly we looked out the window... the snow continued to fall. oh well, it was worth a try

crazy

i am slowly going crazy 1 2 3 4 5 6 switch crazy going slowly am i 1 2 3 4 5 6 switch
something seriously needs to be done about this job situation. i spent two freakishly long hours sitting in my car this morning driving (more like inching ahead a few feet, then stoping for a few minutes, inch, stop, inch, stop) to work. only to get here and have absolutely nothing to do. i think i may lose my mind

you say

i've been calling and calling for you,
but you answer and i shut my mouth.
i've been searching and searching for you,
but myself i don't want to be found.

you say, I am.
you say, let go.
you say, believe.
but it's not that easy for me.
you say, wait.
you say, right now.
don't you see you're already one foot in the ground.
you say.

i've been wicked and wild and wrong,
and i've wondered the price of my shame.
i've been hiding my face for so long,
it's a wonder that you know my name.

you say, come home.
you say, I'm here.
you say, there's some thing you just can't control.
you say, let me.
you say, believe.
why do you search for the answers you already know?
you say.

I am the way and the light and the truth.
don't be mislead by the flight of your youth.
have faith in the things you can't see to believe.
what if you had faith in me?

you say, rest here.
this is your home.
don't you see that you knew I was here all along?
you say.

~ saving jane

mobsters

i cannot think of a better way to spend an evening than laughing with friends, eating chocolaty/strawberry/ice creamy goodness, and pretending to be mobsters. thanks for the great evening girls.

update

the noise has not been heard since 8:30ish thursday night... all is well. although i'm still paranoid and sit with my feet up at all times, just as a precaution.

now that's talent

the way i see it

and now, a word from our friends at starbucks...
our lives are inspired by the dreams we have from the earliest stages of our youth. when you combine passion and hard work, then success is always possible. while no road is ever straight, dedication and persistence will always lead you to your dreams. - Arte Moreno, business man

the noise

tonight, while watching my traditional thursday night tv show, i heard a noise.
(just a little background here... for the most part i live on my own, and well, house noises often freak me out. example? i've been known to check every room of the house after hearing a funky sound just to make sure the house is empty before going to sleep at night)
i quickly shut off the tv and the room fell silent. straining my ears, listening for whatever i had heard, i quickly try to convince myself that it was my imagination and turn the tv back on to enjoy my regular scheduled programming. then i hear it again. what the heck. this time i wonder if it's a mouse, but again i hear nothing once the tv falls silent. i cautiously lift my feet onto the couch, just in case, and scold myself for having such an imagination. i get through about ten minutes of my program and then i hear it again. this time (for some odd reason) i think it's a bird. which, let me tell you is just as bad as a mouse, if not worse. again i try to reason with myself, cuz really how could a bird get in the house. this time i convince myself that it's just the wind, but we all know that IT’S NEVER JUST THE WIND. now i'm really wondering what's in my house. but again i return back to the tv, trying very hard to pretend that i didn't hear anything. out of sight, out of mind right? not so much. i spent the next thirty mintues hitting mute every few seconds thinking... that couldn't be a mouse, could it? no never. well maybe. oh my gosh, there's a freakin mouse in my house. no there's not leanne, don't be so silly. well then what the heck was that noise i just heard in the wall behind my head. oh my gosh, there's a freakin mouse in my house. what the heck am i going to do. do we have mouse traps? oh nasty, i so don’t want to have to clean up a dead mouse... you see how this goes on and on.
well it's now been a few hours since the last noise and i'm beginning to wonder if i imagined the whole thing. but i know for a fact that i'll be sleeping with one eye (or ear) open tonight, just in case the noise decides to return. i’m still undecided (more like i’m in denial) if it’s actually a mouse. but here’s to hoping that it’s not. and if it is actually a mouse, lets pray that he somehow realizes that he hasn’t been invited and returns to his home in the great outdoors (or someone else’s house).

48% stupid

i just took one of those random email tests where you answer a bunch of questions, add up your check marks, multiply it by 3, and presto change-o you find out how stupid you are. apparently i'm 48% stupid. good to know i'm 52% smart.

a random thought

i just glanced down at my boots. they are filthy. covered in salt and grime from the slushy, snowy, freezing rain covered sidewalks. so i made a mental note to clean them when i get home tonight. (i've been making this mental note all week, but keep forgetting, perhaps i should actually write it down this time) while making this mental note the following tune popped into my head. it goes a little something like this... green muddy boots, to whom do you belong, me, me, green muddy boots to whom do you belong, me, me. a fellow bus kid made this song up (complete with actions) and we've been singing it ever since. for all of you who attended junior high with me, i hope you're busting a gut laughing right now.

baby baby baby

it seems like every couple of weeks there's another announcement that someone pregnant. i'm officially declaring it the "year of the babies". a few years ago i declared it the "year of the weddings". it seemed like everyone i knew was getting married and i was flying here there and everywhere for weddings every few weekends. i became a pro-wedding-gift-shopper. now i guess i'll have to tweak my shopping skills to baby gifts. no problem there. i look forward spending hours upon hours perusing all the baby stores exclaiming "oh, that is sooo cute".

peg-it

my condolences go out to all of those who live in winnipeg and the surrounding areas, i have just been informed that you're currently enduring -41 weather. try not to freeze to death, i would like to see you all again soon.

i'm in a creativity rut, so to speak. in the last year or so i've re-embraced the craftiness in me in the form of card making. i used to do the whole scrapbooking thing, but found it a little overwhelming. stacks and stack of pictures, years and years of memories, page after page of blankness waiting to be filled. it was just too much. i tend to be one of those people that once they start a project the need to finish it. finish it now. in a short period of time. and will work like a mad man until it's complete... or to the point that i'm so disgusted with my project that i give up. never to be finished. ever. (i recall that i started a cross stitch once, i was probably ten at the time, to this day it remains unfinished, and will remain in that state forever more) i've come to realize that i need to tackle smaller projects. ones that can be accomplished in a few short hours. scrapbooking cannot be accomplished in an evening, and therefore i've moved on to making cards. quick, simple, yet still crafty enough to satisfy the craftiness in me. i went hard core crafty before christmas. in october i made a mini-scrapbook for my sister (key word here is mini), and right after that i went straight into christmas cards, even made a few christmas presents. i was addicted. michael's 40% off coupons became my new favorite thing (cuz heaven forbid that you buy something at regular price). once the christmas crafting had been complete, i carelessly tossed all my stuff back into its box and hid it away in the closet for a much needed break. however, i received many new wonderful crafty things for christmas and upon returning to alberta immediately set out to get my box organized. i bought storage containers, new boxes for all my paper, and any other kind of organizer that i could think of to organize my disarray. i organized the heck out of my stuff. now it sits, all neat and tidy and ready for craftiness... only thing is, the craftiness is not in me. my overly organized supplies just sit on the floor looking at me with longing eyes. sigh. what to do, what to do. but alas, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. a co-worker was gracious enough to lend me some stampin up! books and catalogs today. i plan on spending the weekend perusing the pages, gathering oh so amazing ideas to spark the creativity in me again. just you wait people, the cards making is about to commence. (and for all of you, who's birthdays are just around the corner, you know who you are, i haven't forgotten, your birthday cards should be arriving in a mail box near you soon)

fluffy white stuff is falling from the sky

sigh... it snows! i'm in heaven. i'm sure i'll eat my words the moment we get in the car and try to get out of downtown, but for now i'm loving it. it's been snowing all day. reminds me of a typical manitoba winter day. i love it. co-workers are cursing me and brokers are making fun of me, but really, what do i care. i'm looking forward to going home to make myself a nice cup of tea, turning on the fireplace, and sinking into the couch to vegetate all evening long. delightful.

oh to be young again...

lately i've been playing a lot more dora dominoes than usual. and don't forget the playdough creations, stylin pink and silver (and green and purple and yellow) anklet making, and story book reading. how can you tell i've been hanging out with a three year old? well, gotta go... we just made plans on our pretend cell phones to go to a princess party. what fun!

fire fire fire

late last night, when we were all in bed, old lady leary lit a lantern in the shed, and when the cow tipped it over, she winked her eye and said, it'll be a hot time in the old town tonight, fire fire fire
anyone remember this song? this is what's been playing over and over in my head all morning.

inventions

for any of you who were still questioning if i was crazy, here's confirmation.
i often think up bizarre inventions that i think will assist my current predicament. i have never actually created any of these inventions... but i'm certain that if someone would take my oh so brilliant ideas and make them a reality we'd both be rich. first of all, there was the raspberry picker invention. every summer, while picking basket after basket of raspberries i would declare to my mom that we needed a raspberry picker. some sort of machine that would shake the berries off the bush and collect them in nice neat baskets... the details changed every year as i came up with new and improved ways for it to work. i don't think my mom or sister had the same enthusiasm that i did for my invention. i'm certain that if i hadn't been tangled in a raspberry bush and i could have turn to see their reactions, they both would have been rolling their eyes at me.
today's invention? heated keyboards... my fingers are frozen.

check it out...

i want one...

pink, lego, diamonds

check out this site for more lego jewellery

much thanks to my mom for finding the site

waiting for trains

while checking out some blogs earlier today, a fellow blogger had some good words that i needed to be reminded of. her post talked about counting your blessings instead of complaining about your misfortune. lately i've found myself forgetting to count the blessings and have been more focused on complaining about life. i’ve realized that i really need to make an effort to dwell on the good things. i mean really, when i think about it, i have it pretty darn good. i have family and friends that love me, a forgiving God, and everything that i need to get by from day to day... and then some.
all of this reminds me of statement that was made in our college and career bible study a few years ago... "look for the blessings in the inconveniences". that statement stuck with me and it used to be my daily practice. when i'd get annoyed or frustrated i'd try to stop myself and think "is there a blessing in this", and even if i couldn't see it at the time, later in the day i'd say "yup, there was the blessing in disguise". the example i love to use for this is waiting for trains. most people hate waiting for trains. i on the other hand have come to love waiting for trains. the last apartment i lived in was "north of the tracks", and therefore i spent some time waiting for trains. it drove me nuts. until one day while waiting for a never ending train, i stopped myself and said “okay, Leanne, where’s the blessing in waiting for this train”. i was late for work (of course), and thought “whatever, there’s no way this could be good”. then i noticed the train graffiti. i love train graffiti. (i know it’s vandalism and all, but some of those dudes are amazing artists) i realized then that the train graffiti was my blessing for that moment. waiting for that train gave me a chance to catch my breath from my frantic rush to get to work and appreciate some very creative artwork. since then i have grown to love waiting for trains for this very reason. weird i know, but hey that’s how my brain works. and really what are you going to do about it, it’s not like you have a choice to wait for a train, you have to wait there, so make the best of it. right?

uninspired

i'm feeling rather uninspired today. i have nothing witty to say, no random stories of the "unique" people i see downtown on my lunch breaks, no physco calgary driver stories from my ride home today. the day has pretty much been uneventful. so on that note, i will leave you with this:

Live.
A lot.
Unleash yourself upon the world & go!
Go now!
And fly free in the frowning face of convention.
Giggle.
No, laugh.
No, howl as if you’ve never grown up.
Understand that this is not a dress rehearsal,
this is it!
Take it all in.
Yes, every last rose and every single breath.
And by all means,
whatever you do,
drive a real cool car.

this was an ad that i came across in a magazine years ago. i have this thing for magazine ads, it's weird i know. i love this one cuz the first time i read it i totally didn't expect it to be for a car. (and don't ask what kind of car it was for... i have no idea)

well maybe not

okay.
so, the internet has a mind of its own. my genius "fix" for our wireless was to unplug it and plug it back in (thanks chicky for the oh so wise suggestion), and it did work for a while...
kinda...
when it felt like it.
so i've resorted to hooking it up directly and even then it randomly likes to kick me off.
i wish i was a computer geek so i could figure these things out...
well then again maybe not.

hallelujah thine the glory...

... our wireless internet is finally working again. i think.

pink lego

is it wrong for an adult... if that's what i really am... while shopping a few weeks ago i made a comment to a friend "why didn't we have any of these cool toys when we were kids", she replied very matter of factly "well Leanne, that was over 20 year ago". yikes, that makes me sound old. anyway, back on topic here... is it wrong for an "adult" to buy lego for themselves? pink lego that is. i saw it in toys r us while christmas shopping a few months ago, and just about bought it for my niece, when i realized that she probably didn't want lego for christmas (although i'm positive she would have liked the pink aspect of it), but that i wanted pink lego for christmas. i didn't buy it. but now months later i'm still thinking about the pink lego. seriously, how cool is pink lego.

humdinger

i just spent the evening playing cranium for the first time. (yes, i know, i'm behind the times... i've never played cranium before) for those who haven't played before, there's a section called humdinger where you have to hum a song. sounds easy enough, which it is... the songs ranged from "a spoon full of sugar", to abba's "dancing queen", to the baha men. but after humming almost every humdinger in the box (yes, we went though and pulled them all out) it made me wonder why in the world we knew all theses random songs. the other thing that i realized was that most songs came with a story of "remember when" (or "back in the day..." stories as i like to call them). it's true. probably every song or cd i listen to has a memory attached that takes me back to a place or a time in my life. example? the other day we were driving home from work and blur's "song 2" came on the radio. i just about jumped out of my seat with excitement. that song takes me back to grade 9... don't ask me what any of the words are anymore, but man did we love that song. so as we drove along the other girls in the car carried on their conversation while i silently rocked out to a song from the past and all the memories that came with it. (of course, if i was in my own car, by myself, or with someone that i had gone to school with in grade 9, we would have been singing at the top of our lungs) another song that holds a "back in the day" story for me is (now don't laugh) aqua's "dr jones". i'm serious! that song reminds me of sunny days, driving in my old sunfire, windows rolled down, on our way to the beach. no matter what we were listening to, as soon as we rounded that corner onto the marshy road that lead to st. ambroise we'd switch it to "dr. jones" and sing at the top of our lungs. that summer we had out own "spot" at the beach. we'd float until the sun set and then walk up and down the beach looking for drift wood, because of course we'd always forgot to bring our own. we'd built ourselves a nice little fire and chow down on some world famous smores. there was nothing better. i could go on an on with a bazillion more songs, but i think you get the picture. every song, some way or another, has a story and a memory... a "remember when".
........................................................................................................

Jan 22, 2007: a song that i forgot, and don't ask me how i forgot it, but most definately needs to be mentioned is vengaboy's "we like to party". now this song, well it just makes me want to laugh my head off at the "back in the day" stories it brings. it was our driving song, when my dear cousin would drive us to and from movies or to concerts in steinbach... no matter where we were headed that song was always on the radio. and it reminds me of the youth boys... they had a little dance routine... need i say more?

blame it on the weather

yesterday evening i got a call from my sister: "hey, is your msn working? is your internet working?" i responded that yes, it most definitely was. her reply was: "well why isn't mine?" after spending a few minutes troubleshooting, as best as two computer-illiterate sisters can, we decided to blame it on the weather as it had been snowing all day where she lives.
later in the conversation, we were discussing, in depth, how our hair has good weeks and bad weeks. (what? you don't discuss your hair when you're talking to your sister?) since we both have curly hair which is greatly affected by humidity, we decided to blame it on the weather.
this morning, when i woke up my back hurt. i've been sitting here all morning trying to think if i twisted it or pulled something while at the gym last night, but i can't think of anything i did to cause the pain. so, i've come to the conclusion that the only logical thing to do is... blame it on the weather.

"bus kid"

i don't get this whole alberta weather thing. yesterday it was sunny, warm and melty... now not even 24 hours later everything is covered in a fluffy white blanket of snow. not that i'm complaining, i love love love the snow. i just wish alberta could get this whole "seasons" thing figured out, as they seem to be confused on how it's supposed to work. maybe manitoba could give them some lessons because i know for a fact that they've got it figured out. anyway, i'm holding out for a snow day. very unlikely, but a girl can dream right?
when we were younger and in elementary school kids were classified by where they lived... "bus kids" or "town kids". i was a "bus kid", meaning i rode the bus to and from school everyday. which also meant, i got the advantage of a snow day. as a kid i can remember laying in bed, listening to the blizzard outside my window, praying that the phone would ring, and that it would be my bus driver letting us know that buses were cancelled. those were my favorite words "buses are cancelled". it meant that i got to stay in my warm bed longer, play in the snow all afternoon, and watch the sound of music or anne of green gables or little women... but it also meant that the "town kids" had to go to school and i got to stay home. ha, ha. i loved those days. but when i got older i moved into town and therefore became a "town kid". i loved it. i loved having walmart, the movie store, 7-11 and everything else so close... but my snow days were a thing of the past. there's no excuse why you can't make it to work when you only live four blocks away. since moving to alberta i've classified myself as a "bus kid" again. only thing is... it never snows enough to have a snow day. all i have to say is.. stupid alberta weather, i want my snow days back.

waste of a day

what a waste of a day. it's gorgeous outside. sun shining, snow melting, be-a-utiful kind of weather. and i'm stuck inside, at work, with no work to do. and every minute that passes makes me wish more and more that i was outside perusing my favorite stores downtown, or taking a stroll by the river, or... basically anything that doesn't involve being stuck in a cubical on the sixth floor of some random office building downtown. and of course, by the time i make my long trek home it's going to be windy, dark and frigid. typical. i don't sound bitter now do i?

work?

how do you politely tell your boss that... yes, i have absolutely no work to do... yes, i have spent the entire afternoon writing five paged long emails to everyone i know... and no, i would not like anymore work to do beacuse i would like to spend the rest of the afternoon finishing the five paged long emails... without loosing your job? any suggestions?

"and behold on the ninth day and every holiday thereafter, the merchant did create the shoe sale and the women of the village looked upon it and called it good"

these are a few of my favorite things

sing with me now... raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm wollen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things...
... okay but seriously these are a few of my favorite things:
~ the color pink... honestly, pink just makes me smile
~ snow... there's something about the cold fluffy white stuff... Albertans think i'm crazy... Manitobans understand
~ msn, email, webcams
~ Starbucks
~ laughing so hard you can no longer breathe
~ Westjet and seat sales
~ God's ever constant love and grace
~ old school country music... well old school as in junior high
~ raspberry margaritas and belinis... Stacey i'll meet you @ Moxie's wednesday night
~ walking through the mall carrying my many purchases of the day
~ new shoes... flip flops in every color
~ a clean car with a full tank of gas, the sun shining, windows down and good tunes on the radio
~ popcorn
~ God's patience with me
~ sitting on the dock at Clear Lake... or any lake for that matter
~ a day at the Forks with the girls
~ Special K
~ camping... sitting by the fire at night making world famous smores with Christine
~ sunsets... the Manitoba kind
~ Ko's ice cream... a must stop on the way home from a long day of shopping
~ lego... need i say more?
~ swings at the park
~ God's beautiful creation... it's hard to forget about with the mountains just out your window
~ stocking stuffers at Christmas... co-ordinated wrapping paper
~ graffiti on trains... reminds me to look for the blessings in the inconveniences
~ ballet at the park
~ google
~ inside jokes
~ dutch blitz with the Friesen family... my, my, what a family of cheaters i have
~ my family... for understanding the crazyness in me

the first post...

okay, so here i am. i figured it was about time i started one of my own. we'll see how things go and if this lasts... or even works for that matter. and well, that is all for now. profound first post eh?