Things that go 'thump' in the night....

Well, seeing as it poured rain all day today I opted to stay 'in', doing what I do best - chillin' on the couch with the kitties, my lappie, and some TLC on the tv. After a while I figured I should finish up the laundry because I have a busy few days ahead - with mandatory overtime 2 days in the week, along with going out Canada Day-night and the possibility of Chris' friend Jen needing to crash on the couch tomorrow night. I even got inspired enough to bring out the vacuum and whisk away the dust bunnies that started to crawl up the walls and fan in the bedroom (and it finally hit me that I forgot to get that cobweb in the kitchen -again - damnit). I folded up the clothes that were piling on the floor by the closet. I rearranged the piles of clothes in the closet...it looks pretty good in there, if I don't say so myself.

Just moments ago I traded up the washer stuff and the dryer stuff...folding away...hearing a noticeable 'thump' in the dryer. I looked around, frantically, making sure to eye both cats (it is customary that I never turn the dryer on until both are in sight, and I knew that this time was no different, however the 'thump' had me second guessing myself, especially since moments before I had shoo'd Bosco out of the dryer). As both cats were right beside me, they too looking very curious as to the nature of the 'thump', I figured it must have just been the wet clothes all lumped up to one side in the dryer, so I opened it up, and fluffed them around a bit.

That didn't help.

I knew that Chris' zip-off pants were in there - they have several zipper pulls and buttons, and normally make quite a racket, but it just seemed - louder. I decided to take out the pants, and then turn the dryer on to see if that made the difference. It did. Great - mystery solved!

Yet, still, the simple nature of how loud the 'thump' was still ate at me...

So I then started to go thru the pants pockets (again)...I always check the 'normal' pocket areas - remembering Chris to be known to 'forget' to empty his pockets before he piles the dirties on the floor by the bed. Again, all the upper pockets turned out empty.

But - to my horror -- there was something small, and hard, (hard enough to make a 'thump' inside the dryer, I supposed) in the velcro pocket - the small velcro pocket below the 'regular located' pockets. The small pocket no one uses. They're just for decoration, aren't they?

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak.............

I washed Chris' iPod.

Ooooh he's not going to be happy with me.

I just finished googling said scenario, and the results seem rather hopeful. I hope that we are as lucky.... And I do hope that he recalls how he felt as he came to me to tell me that he accidentally cut our couch on Christmas Eve morning a few years ago.

If it weren't for bad news, there'd be no news at all...

Life is delicate; life is so unknown. People avoid doings they want to do, saving them for a 'rainy day'...they say, "Oh some day I'll get around to doing this or that". They save their nicest outfit or their best china for 'special occasions'. They put off telling people how they feel because they think, "Oh they already know how I feel about them"; or, "Someday I'll sit down and tell them how I feel...". Sadly, sometimes these people don't get the opportunity to follow up on these future promises...

In the past week, there seems to be so much sadness...

~ Last weekend, an acquaintance of mine, and brother to a co-worker, was killed in a car accident. He was on his way to work when it happened. He was 35 years old, and leaves behind a 2 year old son.

~Another co-worker went in to the hospital yesterday to have her first baby. The baby was born completely healthy and is doing well. The mother, on the other hand, is currently in a coma after having a seizure after the birth. The doctors are preparing the family for the worst.

~Another co-worker's daughter was shocked by the sudden death of her boyfriend's father - who had committed suicide. There had apparently been no warning signs.

~A local radio personality just lost his wife - she had been diagnosed with cancer just 9 short months ago. She leaves behind two children.

All of this sadness, this grief, within the span of a week. Their faces spring to my mind - my thoughts...I think of their poor families...the children left without a father or a mother...the void that such a loss leaves. A void that can never again be filled. My prayers go out to their families...I wish them peace, and strength.

Go tell those closest to you that you love them. Don't save things for a rainy day - live each say as though it will be your last so you don't have regrets. Wear the fancy dresses - use the good china...never take anyone or anything for granted...

Nice, but waiting for the other shoe to drop...

In a surprise early announcement, P.E.I.'s regulatory agency has lowered the price of petroleum products several days in advance of the normal end-of-month price adjustment.

Gas prices will fall 3.3 cents per litre at midnight Friday night. Furnace oil will go down by four cents, and diesel by five cents. Propane prices, however, are on the rise: three cents per litre at Superior Propane and 1.9 cents per litre at Irving.

The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission said in a news release that sustained improvements in NYMEX spot market prices over the past week support a reduction in local petroleum product prices, and it opted to implement those before its regularly scheduled adjustment, on Tuesday.

IRAC cited several factors that led to lower prices:

• The announcement of additional OPEC crude production.
• Lower consumption in North America.
• Reduction of fuel subsidies in Indonesia, India and China.
• Favourable U.S. Department of Energy reported inventory levels.

Full story: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2008/06/26/gas-down.html

This announcement doesn't really affect me, for I had just filled the tank at the higher rate around 2 days prior. Aaaand, by the time they make the next adjustment (which will likely be 3.3 cents to cover this 'decrease', plus another 3-4 cents for good measure), it will be at its steady climb as always. I hate to be the pessimist, but....

Why don't you tell us how you REALLY feel?

Ahh....the tell-tale signs of the 'start of summer' in the 'hood.... the sounds of birds chirping; the buzzing of lawn mowers in the distance; the occasional dog bark; the wind rustling the blinds; and, the sound of the screaming little 'hood children.

I know I sound like a hardened, egocentric bitch, but I'm entirely certain that had I not already had my mind fully made up that I was not having children, living in the 'hood would cement that fact.

You may recall a post I had last year about the stellar youth we 'co-habitate' with in our quaint little village. That is merely an example. Chris has caught one of them trying to light a tree on fire with a lighter. It just so happened that this tree was right outside our bathroom window. On another occasion, there was another 'brain giant' pissing on his bike in front of our house. Chris quickly yelled out the front door, 'pack it up, buddy -go on home and piss in your own yard', or some such thing. He also told me about an occasion where he had to go out and talk with one of the youth (might I add right outside the youth's own house) about the importance of not beating on your dog. Had I witnessed such a thing, I'm not sure if I would have been able to hold such 'composure'.

I loathe the little effers. I Bob-Saget-hate them all.

As I sit here and try to concentrate on what I'm doing I hear the pounding of the basketball on the pavement - one of them is making noises like a goat in heat...another is screaming out "boobie" at the top of his lungs and laughing hysterically at himself. All the while I'm contemplating how I can let the air out of their basketball without causing attention to myself.

Just as I was about to post this, I heard retching coming from the next house...might be time to pick up the piles of dog poo, yes? *sigh*

The rich just keep getting richer...

What? ...the tallest tower isn't enough? Now they have to build revolving towers?

(CNN) -- Ambitious plans to build a revolutionary 420-meter shape-shifting skyscraper in Dubai have been unveiled by architects.

Each floor of the tower would rotate independently, architects claim, creating an ever-shifting shape.

The 80-story Dynamic Tower, described as the "world's first building in motion," will also be the first skyscraper constructed from prefabricated units, according to a press statement released by New York-based architect David Fisher's Dynamic Group. Each floor would be capable of rotating independently, powered by wind turbines fitted between each floor.

Apartments will sell for around $3,000 per square foot, making each unit range in price from about $4 million to $40 million. Work on the tower is due to be completed by 2010, according to Dynamic's Web site....

Dubai is currently experiencing a construction boom with the Burj tower set to claim the title of the world's tallest building when it is completed in 2009. It is already home to the world's largest mall and -- despite being in the Middle East -- it boasts the largest indoor snow park in the world.

Full story: http://http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/25/duibai.tower/index.html

Must be nice.

Meanwhile, gas is now $1.40something/litre?

Walk with me, the path of life....

I swear, ever since I got this laptop, I seem to be more concerned with finding and reading new blogs, and playing Scrabulous on Facebook than actually posting on my own blog. My apologies, dear lovelies, please stay with me - like any new toy, the shine oughta get dull eventually ;).

So I already posted about my lunch on Saturday at Castello's, but I should elaborate on the remaining bits of the weekend past.

On Friday night Angela and I met up at PD in Stratford for supper before heading to her place to scrap. We used to do this every Friday, but it seems life keeps getting in the way, so it's been a long time. Supper was just fair...actually, let me rephrase that - supper was crap. I vowed not to go back there ever since they took their vegetarian Greek pasta off the menu...and should have stuck to my word. I ordered the seafood pasta. Whoo-boy was that a mistake. It was a watery, fishy, stinky mess. The cheesecake was good though :). Huge thank you to Angela for the lovely BD gift, too - some body lotion, shea soap from the Body Shop, some tags for scrappin' and a great SU stamp set! You rock, girlie! I had a lovely time :).

Saturday, Chris & I headed into town with intentions of going to Timothys for a coffee, but ended up at Castello's, the new Murphy restaurant on Victoria Row (tab back a few posts for more details). Then we ended up getting coffee and walking through Charlottetown - stopping at a bench at Province House, people-watching til the coffee was gone, and then onward to the Confed Centre to walk through the art gallery there. We stopped back home after that, and I ended up staying in for the night - pretty tired, and Chris wanted to head back into town to take pictures. In retrospect, I probably should have joined him, but I did get a little relaxin' done.

Sunday Chris had to shoot the motocross event in Desable, so I took a solitary jaunt to Charlottetown - stopping for a coffee and then heading to the Confed Centre and surrounding areas of town before heading over to the W's for supper, and a long visit on the deck where we enjoyed the sunny warm day.

While at the Confed Centre, I walked through the outside display put on by PhotoSensitive - who partnered with the Canadian Cancer Society to form Cancer Connections - a pictorial exhibit documenting cancer and how it changes lives - representing both the hope of survivors, and the stillness of those who've lost their battle with the disease. I was very moved by the stories, the pictures, and what they represent. Cancer touches everyone in some way ....please go see this display; it's showing in town until Jul 13, and it will eventually travel across the country over the next 2 years. If you can't visit the actual display, visit their website where you can see the images portrayed at the exhibit. For me, the most poignant of all images is the one labeled "Help me" ... a man lying in a hospital gown, his hand clutching the hand of the photographer (his son), with such a pleading look in his eyes. His eyes haunt me - for I saw that very same, pleading, look in the eyes of my own father.

Lunch - Italian Style

Saturday, Chris took me to lunch at Castello's, Charlottetown's newest Italian Restaurant, on Victoria Row. I'm not overly experienced with "Italian" cuisine, seeing as East Side Marios is the closest to Italian as I've witnessed. The atmosphere was very nice - patrons being able to choose eating inside or outside on their patio. Since the sky was pretty dark, we opted for an inside dining experience. A really nice touch was real roses atop each table. I questioned the brown paper on each table - until the food started being served.

Chris never smiles for a photo - I'm trying to learn to accept that.

A real rose atop of our table.

View of the entrance - to the left of the front door was the outdoor patio.

Wine selection above the bar.

Waiting patiently for lunch.

Table to our left, beside the window looking toward the patio.

The starter - fresh bread with a plate of olive oil & balsamic vinegar for dipping. The bread was sprinkled with sea salt. There were no salt/pepper shakers on the table - which was, according to the waitress, the "Italian way". They suggested not adding any additional spices to the meal, until trying it - because normally the seasoning would be flavorful enough as is. (The lady at the table beside us asked for table salt - this is how I know this - she ended up getting some sea salt brought to her - but I'm pretty sure she didn't even try the meal until it was brought to her, and after that, I think she complained that the meal was "too salty").

We opted for the "Calabrese" pizza - served on a ceramic tile - seasoned with pepper. Italian tradition is for the pizza to be delivered to the patron without being cut. The 'true' experience is to tear it.

Chris tears a piece off.


Bon appetite! It was very enjoyable.

A-Touristing - thru Pics

As I promised, here are some photos of our road trip to NB (the weather was really cloudy and dark; hence, some rather dull-looking photos):


This is a view of the motel where we stayed - The Hopewell Rocks Motel & Country Inn. It was minutes from the Hopewell Rocks.



Chris reading up on the Rocks - we'd stopped at the motel to check out our room prior to heading back to Moncton for some lunch.


We dined at Lonestar - my favourite restaurant. Don't I look happy? :) Chris tolerates the restaurant - for me. Such a gentleman.


This time he decided on getting the ribs - which made his experience there much more enjoyable.


The NB Railway Museum - complete with touring original railway cars, like the one pictured above.


View of the upcoming railway cars we entered. Our personal tour guide, Ed, explained every step of the way.

A CN Caboose.


Steam engine - this was the end of our 'tour' of the railway cars. This, to me, is a 'real' train.


Chris climbed up into the Steam Engine for a neat photo op.


Sunday morning we went to the Broadleaf Guest House for breakfast. They had an all-you-can-eat Sunday breakfast buffet that was incredible - we ate enough there to tide us over until supper time.


After filling our bellies we headed toward Hopewell again, and on the way stopped at a covered bridge.


This is a picture from the inside of the covered bridge.

Hopewell Rocks - at high tide, from the top of the view point at the beginning of our journey down to the ocean floor.

View of the cape - at high tide.

View of the Flower Pot Rocks - at high tide.

The Flower Pot Rocks - still 'high tide', but as you can see, the water is beginning to recede, so we were able to go down to the bottom and walk on the ocean floor.

Another view of the Flower Pots - the water you see under the rocks above would be gone at full low tide.

The little tiny person there is Chris - the rocks are pretty high! - Walking on the ocean floor.

Flower Pot Rocks - high tide.

Posing in front of the Flower Pot Rocks.

Close up of the Flower Pot Rocks -from the ocean floor. I think the rock formations are rather phallic, don't you? :P

Cape Enrage Light - students hard at work, restoring the outside of the lighthouse.

The beach at Cape Enrage - beneath cliffs of 140-150 feet. The stairs were very steep, wobbled as people came behind or passed...and were, in a word, terrifying (spoken from someone who is deathly afraid of heights, that is).

See, Mom...we really were pretty high. I look a little more relaxed now - what you can't see is the death grip I have on Chris as he is taking the photo.

Cape Enrage 's coast had very rocky beaches. Your feet would slip into the rocks almost like they slip into the loose sand of our own beaches.

We happened upon "Ha Ha Cemetery" on our way through Cape Enrage. I can't find any information on this cemetery. It's very old. Chris, ever the comedian, had to "pose" for the camera here.

Why can't everyone have compassion....

I've said it before - nothing angers me more than animal neglect/cruelty. I am completely enraged by this video. I hope they DO find the sonofabitch who did this. What the eff was he thinking? For God sakes, if you have unwanted animals, drop them at your local animal shelter; place an add, "free to good home"; list in your local "Buy/Sell/Trade" magazine... What this person did was horrific, cowardly, unjust, immoral -WRONG! I'm fuming....absolutely fuming. I'm so saddened by the unnecessary loss of Luna's brothers/sisters... :'( I'm glad Luna was found and will have a good home.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/06/16/dnt.kittens.in.road.wsoc?iref=videosearch

To juxtapose the above video and to place a bit of warmth back into your heart, I give you this:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/06/19/dnt.kitten.rescued.wcmh

BD Shawarma :)

What a lovely time I had with Lana at Cedars for my birthday shawarma. We laughed til our bellies ached (and I still think I worked off half of the meal just with the laundry hamper story), and we chatted about everything and anything under the sun, spanning from theology to questionable intestinal ailments and their side effects (true sign of a good friendship when you can talk about your pooper without a second thought).

Thanks girl - you truly do rock :). I very much appreciate the thoughtful prezzie - gift certificate for a pedi at the Cocoon - and can't wait to use it! I will have to give myself my own pedi beforehand, I'm afraid - the tootsies are in rather pre-historic shape *blush*. Thank you, as well, for the cheesecake - I (we) enjoyed every crumb :).

A-touristing we did go - Part III

Finally, a conclusion:

Our drive continued, and we found ourselves heading to Cape Enrage - it's an 'adventure site', complete with rapelling, ziplining, and the like, and the attraction is run by students. Cape Enrage Lighthouse is there also - and it, and the lighthouse keeper's house, were restored by students. "Donation" admission is asked of those visiting there which then goes back into continued upkeep of the site. As we walked around the cape area, we saw a little sign, “stairs to Beach”,…so we followed it…and came upon a steel staircase that went, well, pretty much straight down. Keep in mind, that I am deathly afraid of heights. The steel staircase was not very wide…there was no ‘backs’ to the stairs, and they were like a metal ‘grid’…so you saw right through them to the rocky surface below…they also shook as people came behind you. I thought I was going to die. My legs were like jello…I had to sit down when I got down to the bottom, and I cried like a baby. It was seriously unattractive.

Moral of the story: if you're afraid of heights, stay your fat a$$ at the top of the hill!

From Cape Enrage, we then headed back toward Moncton to grab supper and head home. Exhausted, we couldn't come to a decision on a 'new' place to dine, so we ended up back at Pizza Hut. Chris has a cold, so was feeling pretty miserable by this point, so I figured his favourite spot would be appreciated - and it was so good :). The drive home was pretty uneventful - arriving at about 9:00. The cats seemed to get along ok while we were gone...and it wasn't until last night that Zoe perched herself in my lap for some lovins'. They're so fickle.

Once I have an opportunity to pour through my 300+ photos from the weekend, I'll come back to posts I, II, and III and add some pretty pictures.

A-touristing we did go - Part II

Day 2 of our journey in NB:

Sunday, we awoke early and got on our way - first, though, stopping for a hearty breakfast at the Broadleaf Guest Ranch, which was, in a word, scrumptious! Every Sunday they host an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet... so we certainly lucked out, being a Sunday and all. Aside from the ladies room smelling like a horse barn, our visit there gets 5 stars. We ate enough to tide us over for the entire day. The buffet choices looked entirely homemade, complete with biscuits & jam, 3 choices of juice, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast, hashbrown casserole, Dutch apple baked French toast, along with more "lunch-y" choices, like garden salad, vegetable stew, chop suey, macaroni & beef casserole... I'm sure I'm forgetting something... and that was the first table - further on down the line, there was a full dessert table - a selection of homemade pies, fresh fruit and whipped cream. DIVINE. I'm sure we ate enough to feed a small country. If you're in the area, you must get to this spot - try to wait til a Sunday morning :).

With full bellies, we began the day's journey at the Hopewell Rocks - Unfortunately, it was 'high' tide when we arrived, and 'low' tide would have been after the park closed for the day, but it was still a sight to behold, nevertheless. When I say "high" and "low" bear in mind that it takes 6 hours to fill or empty the area, so even though it was during a 'high' tide time, the water was already starting to recede between looking from the top lookouts to reaching the bottom of the stairs to the ocean floor. The different rock formations, shaped by erosion were very, very cool. We took many photos, and walked thru the information centre. I hope to go back sometime to see a full 'low' tide.

After the rocks, we then headed toward Alma, stopping at a covered bridge for pictures (a kissing bridge - first time I'd seen one). We kept driving around, looking at the scenery, and found a gas station that sold Timothys coffee, so stopped for one. From there, we spotted a sign for a studio -Town's End Studio & Gallery advertising fine art photography, so Chris wanted to stop. The sign indicated, "open by appointment or by chance" - witty! Unfortunately, Brian, the photographer ,was out shooting, so we missed chatting with him, but we did pick up a few note cards with his work on them.

Tune in tomorrow for a conclusion of our journey :)

A-touristing we did go - Part I

As promised, here is the start of a weekend wrap-up - pictures will be added shortly, so be sure to check back:

We awoke reallllly early on Saturday to embark on our journey to NB. The instructions via Google Maps had us taking a different route to Moncton, which was kinda neat. We headed straight to Hopewell to check into our room at the motel, the Hopewell Rocks Motel and Country Inn. In retrospect this was a little silly - seeing as we headed right back to Moncton, and didn't even drop the luggage in the room. Poor planning, and lack of itinerary - but a spontaneous journey, just the same. We dined on Lonestar for lunch (never a trip to Moncton without going to Lonestar for me). Chris had the ribs, so his experience was a little better for him (he hates the place). From there, we stopped at Princess Auto for Chris, and a scrapbook store for me, and then headed back to Hopewell.

Our sole reason for the trip was to visit the Hopewell Rocks - the tides there being the highest tides in the world - where you can walk on the bottom of the ocean floor, and then 6 hours later, the same spot that you walked is covered with 12 meters of water. By the time we had eaten lunch and made it back to Hopewell it was going on 4:00 and the park closed at 5:00pm (again poor planning...whoopsie). We figured an hour wasn't enough time to get down to see the rocks, so figured we'd wait until Sunday. Forgoing the Rocks, we ended up turning into the NB Railway Museum. The tour was much more than Chris & I anticipated - we had a personal tour guide - Ed, and he walked us through a variety of original railway cars, the museum itself and the history of the Canadian Pacific railroad in NB. It was very interesting.

After the museum, we headed back to the motel to clean up a bit and headed back into Moncton for supper, first stopping at Future Shop to buy more memory for my camera since I took so many pictures at the museum! We supped at Pizza Hut, Chris' favourite. I have to admit, the pizza was better than the fajitas. From there, we headed to an NBLC establishment, picked up a few "sociables", and then headed back to the motel - a nice, relaxing end to a busy day :).

Our journey continues soon :)

The Morning Commute...

To the person ahead of me in the line-up at the Tim Horton's drive-thru today *and yesterday:

The bright, newly-painted, yellow lines are there for a reason. If you are attempting to turn left out of the area (and good luck with that by the way), kindly stay the EFF between your own two bright, newly-painted yellow lines instead of parking your sorry a$$ in-between your lines and MY lines. Jebus Chrisco...is the mentality THAT low that there is a necessity for big yellow arrows everywhere? It seemed pretty self-explanatory to me.

Oh, and to the person in the traffic heading toward the highway at the intersection yesterday - thank you for allowing yesterday's Darwin out in front of you. It would appear that you are very adept at lip-reading.

*not the same individual, but of equal mentality

Return to reality

It's amazing what a short reprieve can do to one's brain ... back to work today after being on vacation last week. I forgot login IDs, passwords, and the like. Guess that means it was a good vacation, right? We went away this weekend, so I will post a wrap-up with all the details. In summary, we had a great time and saw many things in the 2 short days we had. I'm still recovering - needing a vacation after my vacation! HA! On the downside, I discovered just how out of shape I really am. I also discovered how afraid of heights I really am (no, I didn't repel, or skydive or something stupid like that - I think I'd have a coronary). Stay tuned! I took about 360 pictures on the weekend also, so I will have a few to add as well.

Brotherly & Sisterly Love

I grew up in a family of 4 kids - 1 older sister, and two brothers, one older and one younger. My older sister left home when I was quite young, so I don't have a lot of memories of her living at home with us - I do remember, though, crying one night when Mom & Dad went out to a party and left her to babysit. She always got mad at me for snooping in her room - really, I did look up to her, and liked to look at all her 'grown up' stuff. I may have tried on her shoes and stuff...but I really don't remember.

I have always gotten along great with my older brother . That is, aside from the day I came home and told Mom that he'd said the F-word on the way back home from school. He insisted it was just , 'frig', and maybe it was, but I insisted it was the other one, and of course, Mom believed me, and he got in sh!t for it. I didn't intentionally want to get him into trouble - I really did think he said the bad word. I can remember 'bonding' with him watching The Six Million Dollar Man, and burping and farting contests with him. He always won, of course.

My younger brother is 2 years my junior. Occasionally, we'd have a squabble or two. Ok, ok - for the better part of our formative years we fought like cats and dogs. It was like a bad relationship, really - when it was good, it was really really good. When it was bad, it was brutal. It's kind of embarrassing to go to school with a black eye and tell people your 'little' brother gave it to you. However, there were other times where we'd played together so well. We had two stuffed bears we called Corduroy and Benji . Corduory was a little blue bear that Todd 'inherited' one day he and Dad were out shopping at Loblaws and the maintenance man had found it and gave it to him. Benji was a dog with a big fat belly and velvety soft ears. Mom & Dad brought him back for me when they had gone on a trip to Ottawa. I used to tie his ears up and pretend he was Fats Domino (on account of his big belly), and make him sing "Blueberry Hill". Todd and I would set up 'house' in two old boxes that we made into their trailers with j-cloth bedding and Barbie-sized food & kitchenware. I think we even made cars for them to hitch up to the trailers. We'd play for hours. Corduory and Benji even had their own radio show where we'd play "DJ" and then play music tapes (usually Journey, Rush, Loverboy and the like), and set up interviews. There are still tapes somewhere of these 'shows'.

In honor of 'brother and sisterly love' I give you this:

http://www.break.com/index/brother-angry-after-mean-prank.html

Birthday pictures

Without further ado, here are some pictures from my birthday:


The lovely Dina surprised me with this bag of goodies! It was so pretty I could not bare to open it, so I left it all done up on my desk - I will be interested to see if someone poked into it whilst I was on vacation this week! (heck, I would have!)

There is a social committee of sorts at work, who will decorate the desks when there is a birthday in the house. It was nice to walk into, I must admit. Mine was over-run with decorations. I told everyone all day that I felt like a supa-star :)

After work, I met up with the girlies for some nachos and laughs at the Gahan. Pictured here from left to right are Erin, Tanya, and Julie. Julie celebrates her birthday on Friday so we gathered for both of our respective days. The subject of the email trail to coordinate the night was Birthday Girls in June. The message entailed meeting up for nachos in celebration. I was the only one to get the nachos. And they were good - really, really good :).

Here are the remaining girls at the Gahan, from left to right: Amanda, me, and Rosanne.

Friday night, after work, Mom took my brother Todd, Chris and myself out to Boston Pizza for my birthday supper. Traditionally, Mom always made me her homemade spaghetti supper for my birthday. She has managed to get out of it the past 3 years running, opting for an evening out, her treat, instead. I would never turn away free food anywhere, of course, but I do miss the spaghetti. I guess it really is a lot less work for her, and she always said she only made it for me because she did not really like it herself (to explain the fact that she only made it once a year). One of these days I plan to catch her at a weak moment for a plate :).

Todd refused to scooch close over with Mom for a picture, so I had to take one of him alone. I think he wanted the limelight all to himself :). He looks more and more like Dad every day - it is almost scary.

Here is my wonderful Mom, with Chris poking in. It took 4 takes for her to look at the camera and smile at the same time.

And this would be my birthday cake - New York style cheesecake with chocolate drizzle. It was really, realllllly really yummy. The chocolate sauce was rich - much different than the usual sauce I seem to get when I order it elsewhere (usually tastes like they pour Quik on top). It was not my first choice - I must admit...I wanted the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake, but they got rid of it.....:( .....not popular enough....I have to admit a little piece of me died inside when the waitress told us that.


This is my new iPod Shuffle that Chris gave me for my birthday. It is soooo teeeny-weeny...and it has a convenient little clip on the back that will clip on virtually anything. I do plan to fill it with some upbeat songs and start my walking routine around the trailerhood. Thanks hunny - I love it :).
This is the cool lamp set that Mom gave me. They have white mini lights inside and are sitting atop my tv stand. They are so cool!

This is some new hand cream, also from Mom. Todd picked it out because the name of it is Amber. It smells soooo nice. I love it!!

And this would be my new lappie - happy birthday tooo me! As I mentioned before, I was able to get it very inexpensively, thanks to a point award credit card that I had accumulated through work over the past year or more. It was kind of like commission. I had a goal to save up my points to buy a laptop - and that is what I did. I only had to contribute $20 of my own cash. So I joke about it being my $20 laptop. I LOVE it; I do not know how I survived without it all this time. It has basically been attached to my lap since I took it out of the box. Zoe is jealous....

This is the inside of the lappie :)


And last, but not least, here is a picture of my new love - Bliss chocolates... (thanks Tanya) ....they are a complete deee-light.