Update - Finally and some Big News!

You know it's pretty bad when you almost forget how to long into your own blog! Yes I know, I have been terrible with this blog over the past couple of months. The truth is, I was going through a tremendous amount of stress with my job and honestly did not want to blog during that difficult time. Long story short I was left dangling for well over a month as to whether or not I might be laid off from my job due to the current state of the economy. I am currently still employed with the same company and we'll leave it at that. My job will be changing substantially in the new year, but I still have one.

I also was a busy elf trying to get ready for Christmas! What a lot of effort and money goes into that! I always start my Christmas shopping early for both financial and practical reasons, but it also takes of a lot of effort to get all those gifts wrapped, delivered, Christmas cards written and mailed, grocery shopping and tons of baking. I do love baking, so it's not like that was a chore to me, but still a lot of work.

I trust that you all had a nice holiday. I, for one can say that this was hands down the best Christmas that I have ever experienced in my entire life. My parents and brother we so very generous to me and it was so nice to spend the night at my parent's house with the four of us and then to wake up in the morning like we used to when we were little kids, hehe. My parents got me a Kitchenaid mixer which I love (see not above about baking!) DVD's, a CD, books, pajamas, towels, sheets and stocking treasures. My brother got me an awesome stereo system that I can plug my IPOD into.

The love of my life completely spoiled me rotten! We have our Christmas together in the afternoon after we've spent the morning with our family. I definately must have been a good girl this year! He got me purfume, a purse, a gold necklace and earrings, a Fossil watch, goodies from Fruits and Passion and filled my huge stocking.

We finished up unwrapping our presents and that's when my Ryan surprised the heck out of me. He had one last gift for me. He got down on his knee and asked me to marry him! Of course I started bawling and replied "YES I WILL"! There is more to the set up of the story of his perfect proposal, which I will not share here as those close to me will have been told the touching details personally.

Can I Update? Woot Woot!

I know, I know. I'm a terribly slack blogger! The truth is, it's been a little busy at work and I haven't had a lot of opportunities to blog - since I'm the last person on the planet who doesn't have internet at home, lol. Someday when I'm making the big bucks, I'll be able to surf in my bathrobe! lol!

I haven't been up to a whole lot of excitement. I've been shopping a lot for Christmas already. I'm proud to say that I'm about 85% done. Yes, you did read that correctly. I love shopping, but can't stand it at Christmas time. I hate the stress of having to fight for the last parking space. I hate the stress of actually getting a spot to park and then going inside the store, only to find that there are no shopping carts left. I hate the long line ups. I hate that I now have to drag my bounty around W*l-Mart in a make-shift sack that I've created from a bedsheet that I've unwrapped (kidding)! No, I just can't stand the hectic-ness (intesting, I'm going with it, it works) of insanely packed shopping malls. I love to shop - but at my leisure, not feeling stressed out. Also I like to get my Christmas shopping done for cost reasons too. If I start early, I can spread the cost out over time and it's not such a big blow in December. It also allows me to get all the other Christmas preparations (like baking, wrapping, decorating, etc.) done with zero stress.

Ryan and I have been sailing a few times this month. That fun is all overwith for the rest of the year now as it's now too cold and winter is quickly on its way. The boat was taken out of the water last Sunday. The last two times we went sailing, I knew it would be very chilly and that I should dress in layers. Well, I don't have any long underwear, so I just wore a pair of pajamas underneath my clothes. So Ryan and I are rowing in the little dingy that we take out to get onto the actual sail boat. I'm in the front of the dingy, Ryan is at the back. All of a sudden I hear "OMG"!. I said "What"? He goes "Are you wearing pajamas"? I burst out laughing so hard. Apparantly my jacket had ridden just enough north and my jeans had ridden just a tad south that my "jammies" were showing while I was sitting there rowing. I said in between bursts of laughter "Why yes I am...I dont have any long underwear"! HAHA

Thanksgiving was two weekends ago. We literally got stuffed twice. On Sunday my friend Kimberley had us over for dinner and then Monday my parents had us over for dinner. I love turkey dinner, so I didn't mind at all! I was slow moving on Tuesday morning though!

Carrie and Brayden are home right now from Ontario. They're here until Thursday morning. It's been so nice having them here and see how much Brayden has changed since I last saw him a couple of months ago. He's now a young, strapping 10 months old, and just when I thought he couldn't get any more handsome, he does!

October already?

October already, holy cow! Where is the time going? It will be Christmas before you know it!

I haven't been up to too much lately. Stressing about my job mainly, lol. They're making so many cuts to pinch pennies and with the lay offs that happened early last month, it makes me wonder just how much longer I will have my job. Wait and see I guess.

I went to the market last weekend and did some shopping at the new stores we got here in town. It's nice that we're finally starting to get with the times and get some of the stores like Saint John and Moncton have. Now if we could only get a Costco and Old Navy, we'd be all set!

My friend Kimberely is having Ryan and I over for Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday (Monday Ryan and I will be going to my parent's for dinner). I'm very excited! Kimberley moved here from Ontario (pretty close to the area where Carrie is now living) for work, not knowing a soul here. I met her this past summer and we have instantly become fast friends. She's got a heart of gold and keeps me laughing. Exactly what everyone wants in a friend!

I learned over the weekend that my blog-friend Funky lost his mother to cancer. I'm so sorry for you loss Funky. I know how much your mother meant to you.

Catch Up

Mid September already, holy cow! Time flies when you're old! LOL!

The week before last was a busy week for me . It was Frex week and I worked almost as many hours at my aunt's canteen as I did my day job. The season is now over so no more canteen for this year. I really enjoyed working there and the extra cash was great! On the Saturday, our final day/night, we had a big corn and mussel boil with tons of other food and beverages there. After we were finished with that, the bar at the establishment was closing, but let us in for a "staff" celebration. We were there until the wee hours of the morning. I was exhausted because I had worked at the canteen from 11am-10pm and then had been partying hard after that, but I had a great time!

Last weekend I went apple picking with Valerie and the kids. We had a great time climbing trees and filling our apple baskets! After that we took the kids to see my aunt's horse. The kids were very excited to feed Joe (the horse) a couple of the apples that we had picked. From there we did some shopping and then went back to Shane and Valerie's house and made some caramel apples with the kids. Shane was working on Mike's house and came home around five o'clock. Ryan was working last Saturday too, but we all met up at Shane and Val's house and went out for supper to Jungle Jim's. After supper we went back to Shane and Val's and put the kids to bed and played some poker.

Today is my friend Kim B's birthday. We're going out for supper tonight to celebrate. We've just gotten two new restaurants in town, East Side Mario's and Montana's. They're both still super busy and not taking reservations, but we're going to try and see if we can get into one of them.

Kouch!

We did it! We actually did something this past weekend that was a "we should do this sometime" thing. All summer Ryan and I talked about how awesome it would be to go Kouchibouguac National Park and we actually went last weekend. It was fantastic! Both of us had never been there and we were both blown away! We were only there for one night, but it was still very enjoyable with lots packed in there! We'll definately go back again and stay more than one night!

We camped at Cote a Fabien, which was a semi primitive camping area. We couldn't take our vehicle into our site, but it wasn't that bad as it was only a short walk in and there was a trolly there that we could use to help us haul our stuff in. The view was amazing - the Atlantic ocean was right at our feet. I'll be posting pictures on my Facebook page soon. On Saturday when we got there, we set up our site and then headed into the village. Ryan forgot his sleeping bag so we were on the hunt for some bedding for him and also some seafood for supper. We found a fish market with a used clothing store right in the same building (was tres weird) so we had one stop shopping! We got three lobsters and some scallops from the fish market and some steak, potatoes, beer, and breakfast and lunch stuff from the grocery store. We ate very well last weekend!

On the way back to our campsite, we stopped and did the boardwalk at Kouchibouguac that took us to Kelly's beach. We saw lots of sand pipers and herrings on our walk out. We walked the beach for a while and stuck our feet in the water. We then headed over to Ryan's beach to check out the rental station they had there. Our plan was to rent a canoe the next day so we went to see what they had to offer. We then went back to our campsite, cooked supper, cleaned up and then relaxed with a few beers by the fire.

The next morning I got up before Ryan and started breakfast. After we ate, we packed up our site and then the car and headed off to Ryan's beach. On the way to Ryan's beach we stopped and did a short hike on the Pines hiking trail. We then went over to Ryan's beach, rented a canoe and headed out. We canoed over to Kelly's beach and relaxed on the beach for a few hours and had a picnic. It was awesome! We canoed back to Ryan's beach after a couple of lazy hours of beach lounging. The canoe back was much more difficult as the wind was a lot stronger and the ocean's current was a stronger as well. We stayed close to shore while we canoed back and made out just fine.

Our friends Shane and Valerie and their kids were in Moncton for the weekend for a little vacation, so after a day at the beach, Ryan and I headed to Moncton to meet them for supper. We had supper in Moncton at Vito's (delicious italian restaurant but the service there was horrible) and then Shane and Val convinced us to go bowling with them and the kids. We headed back to Fredericton at around 9 - 9:30-ish.

We finally arrive home to Fredericton at 11 that night. We go to unlock the door to get in and my key doesn't work. The lock is turning but not actually unlocking the door. We try Ryan's key. Same thing. We couldn't get in the back door as it was deadbolted with the chain on. Long story short we had to basically break in to get in the house and then buy a new lock. It was not a great way to end our weekend with us exhausted and just wanting to hit the hay when we got home.

Summer's almost gone

Where has the summer gone? It's hard to believe that this is basically the last week of summer. Crazyness! I haven't really done much all summer and I feel like it's been wasted! The weather has been the worst for a summer that I can remember, so that would explain why I haven't been able to do a whole lot this summer. You can always tell that summer is coming to a close when the FREX arrives here.

Speaking of FREX, with my part time gig I've been working with my aunt, I will not only be working my full time job, but also at the canteen next week on the holiday Monday (going in at 11 a.m. and will work til about 10 p.m.), Wednesday evening, Friday evening and Saturday the same deal as Monday. We're having a big bash at the end of the night on Saturday, so I'm looking forward to that. It's going to be a busy and exhausting week! I am anxious to work for my aunt those days as we haven't been able to open the canteen since NB Day weekend, as there haven't been any events since then. Next week will more than make up for the slump, however next week will be it. The grounds will be closed until next spring. It was nice to have that extra cash to put in the bank towards my monsterous heating bill that is yet to come this winter.

Thirty

I'm now thirty...its sucks. I feel old...and depressed...especially when someone says "really you're thirty"? Or "Wow, you're thirty and you're not married yet...or have any kids yet"? The last part I hate the most. I hear it all the time and it drives me nuts. I want marriage and children and it will happen soon enough I'm sure, but it hasn't yet and I'll let you know when it does. Until then, stop bringing it up. Anyway...lol.

My birthday was on Sunday, but I celebrated it on Saturday with my friends. My best friend Carrie and her husband Chris and their son Brayden flew home on Friday, so it was wonderful that they were here for my birthday. Carrie, with some input from Ryan, organized a surprise dinner with friends and I had a great time. We were thinking of going out to the bars after dinner, but now that we're *cough* old, we opted to go back to my place for some drinks and a game of Balderdash. It was fun and I don't regret no going to the bar.

My parents were away to Vermont last week and came back last weekend. I celebrated with them and my brother on Sunday, my actual birthday. We went out for supper (I know, twice in one weekend!) and then back to Mom and Dad's for cake and gifts.

My parents gave me an Ipod for my birthday. I like to go for walks on the trails around town and my mp3 player broke, so it was making my walks less fun. The Ipod was a great gift, except I couldn't get it to work. I spent literally hours trying to get it to work myself and finally after two hours on the phone with Apple tech support, they finally discovered that my actual Ipod needed an update patch installed to it (which made no sense because it was brand spanking new). I was frustrated through the whole ordeal, but it's working now, finally.