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Sunday 2 October 2011

you may have wondered where I've been...

I've been MIA, but let's face it, who has time to read blogs in the summer? Consider my lack of posting being a gigantic favor to all of you. Now you don't have months worth of posts to try to catch up on. You're most welcome :).

Soooo, yeah, in my absence.....let's try to see what I deem to have been blog-worthy but just didn't hit the blog....
 
What does anyone talk about after a long absence?  Why the weather, of course... Despite getting a slow start, we did have some pretty decent summer weather coming toward the end of the season.  Now it's "fall" according to the calendar.  In the Maritimes, we're in that in-between kind of time when summer just doesn't want to quit, yet Fall nudges its nose to interrupt it from thriving. It's cold in the mornings and it's warm in the afternoons. Programmed A/C gets deactivated for the fall and winter, and Lord help us, we try to look fashionable and don our new fall fashions only to be in a lather by noontime. The stray hairs on my face are blowing in the breeze, tickling my nose and chin (read: driving me effing ape-sh!t crazy), and my eyes are dry as the fan at my desk blows warm, stale air over me. It's warm. And I'm not even dressed for fall - still wearing sandals on my feet despite the fact that I had to drive with the heat on in the car yesterday morning ;).*

Update on Zoe:  I'm delighted to report that Zoe appears to have made a full recovery from whatever had been ailing her.  We're still unsure what made her so sick, but fortunately, she appears to be back to her happy, bright self.  She's back to pushing Bosco out of the way when he tries to scramble for a few crumbs at the food dishes, and she's chatting and playing like her usual self.  Words cannot describe the amount of relief that I'm feeling....

Birthdays!  There's been a few birthdays that have come and gone while I've been on hiatus, and I can assure you all that I was thinking of each and every one of you!!!  A belated but very special greeting going out to Jodi, Nicole, Rhonda, Trudy, Melissa, Angela, Kimberley, Fred & Belinda.  Cheers today to my special friend Tanya, who today turns another year on the calendar.  LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! xoxoxo

Matt!  We had a chance to see Matt Andersen perform on two different occasions this month.  We were one of a few select guests to land tickets to a charity auction that was held at Gingerwood Stables (home of  PEI Tim Hortons' Murphy family).  It was our first experience at such an event, and despite the fact that there was no way we could realistically afford to bid on any of the auctioned items, and our feeling a tad under-dressed, we still had a good time.  I say we owe it all to Matt, but I am a little biased.  He put on a killer show there.  It was also fun prancing through a real-life 'mansion'.  It was surely lovely inside - just lovely.  And by the way, they have a bridge on the main floor.  Yes. A bridge.  A real frickin' bridge over frickin' water.  Inside the house.  I had to suppress a giggle as one of the organizers took one look at Chris and I asked if we'd visited Gingerwood before (uh...of  course we haven't).  We said no, politely.  So he followed up with an invitation to view the auction items downstairs, and we could get there by, "going over the bridge and down the stairs on the right".  Yeah.  Anyway. 
 
In addition to the charity event, Matt wowed TWO sold-out audiences at the Indian River Festival again this year in St Mary's Church. That's right, two.  He was in such a high demand that the festival organizers implored that he book another time, and he graciously ended up booking an afternoon and an evening show on September 18.  Dennis Ellsworth, lead singer of Haunted Hearts, and newly embarking on a solo endeavor, opened up both shows.  Once again, we, and undoubtedly the rest of the audience of the afternoon and the evening performance, left in awe and with big smiling faces. We also had the chance to score a copy of Matt's very latest CD, "Coal Mining Blues", and  I've had it on repeat in the car stereo ever since. SO, so good.  Matt's now on tour to promote the new album and is moving across Canada -- so, be sure to check your local entertainment listings to see when he's near you. And go.see.him.

So there's some good...now onto a bit of bad...

Once again, I'm a klutz.  Last weekend, I had a scheduled 3 day weekend on account of a floating holiday, so when I left the workplace Thursday evening I was MORE than a little stoked to think of what the next 3 days had in store for me.  At approximately 3:30-4:00am on Friday morning, I was nudged awake by the urge to pee (later on to discover that perhaps I had been in a deeper sleep than I thought and the nudge was actually Chris shoving me because I was snoring; I don't remember that part).  So I stumble (literally) out of bed.  My two feet hit the floor and the ample weight of Amber goes down on both legs and appendages.  Problem?  My left foot was asleep.  I did not know that it was (how does one not know that they have a sleeping appendage???)....and, as the weight went on it, my foot bent awkwardly like a wet noodle, and all I remember after that is searing pain and a lot of curse words involuntarily leaving my lips.  Yeah. So.  The weekend was a bust, and it was spent, horizontal on the couch with slight elevation and a lot of ice being placed on the wounded appendage.  Ordinarily, I would have been THRILLED to have a 'do-nothing' weekend with nothing but relaxing and resting to do...tv, book reading, etc...  But throw that on me when I have no choice in the matter... that's a whole different story.

You might have thought that was the only pity-me part of the post; well, you're wrong.  I shall now discuss the problem I've been facing pretty much all summer long.  Adult acne.  I've always had problem-skin.  Never to the point that it was considered "severe", however, always one to have to cleverly use  concealers and cover-up to mask a few unsightly blemishes at pretty much any given time over the course of my entire teen/adult years.  For the past few years I've kept my issues at bay after using the Proactiv skincare regime.  Better, yes, but never 'clear' in the sense that I felt overly comfortable going out with make-up on.  Approaching my *cough* 40's rather quickly, I thought to myself, "enough is enough", and after having watched the infomercial a few times on this new 'wonder acne product by a renowned dermatologist, I thought I'd give Murad a try.

Worst.mistake.of.my.vain.years.  I went from a few bothersome zits to patches of painful, cystic, ugly acne.  The literature all said to have patience - that there was to be an expected 'purge' of the skin where it could be temporarily worse while the impurities were being flushed out of the skin.  I tried.  I had ordered a 2 month supply and gave it about a month and a half before I walked into Shoppers Drug Mart , completely exasperated and in tears, and had the cosmetologist recommend something to help me.  For the past month, I've now been using Neostrata products, and while I'm certainly not fully crystal clear, I can FINALLY say that my skin is at least back to (nearly) the condition it was before the whole Murad debacle.  AND, I'm STILL trying to fight with them to get my money back for their crap product that made my skin worse than it's EVER BEEN IN MY LIFE.  I can only hope that it continues to improve. 

Enough about me, what about YOU?  How was your summer?  Anything new and exciting?  I'm sure I've missed some stuff, and I actually have new stuff to say but will leave it for a new post.  There's your teaser...don't leave me.  And thanks for waiting, ya'll!  xo

*"Yesterday" as in days ago; I started this update post on a work break.  Unfortunately, 15 minute work breaks don't allow enough time to post a complete update :)

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