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.

Back at 'er

Back to work. It's always so difficult to come back to work after being off for a week. My vacation was horrible timing too. The weather here has been so sh*tty for weeks! Hardly summer vacation like. So yah, there wasn't much I could do while I was off. I worked at the canteen for my aunt on Moday for the New Brunswick day events, I met Ryan for lunch on Tuesday, went to Maugerville for local produce on Wednesday, went shopping the next and cooked all day Friday for a family reunion we had on Saturday for my mom's side of the family.

At work we have to bid for our vacation weeks off in November of the previous year. It's so hard because it's almost impossible to plan for vacations a year in advance. I wish I could have taken next week off instead because Carrie, Chris and Brayden are coming home this Friday for a week! I'm so excited!

My birthday is on Sunday. I'm dreading it. It's the big 3-0. I didn't think I'd have a hard time with turning 30, but I really am. I'm trying not to dwell on it, but it's hard not too. I know that Carrie has something cooked up for Saturday, but no one will give me and details, lol. Ryan is trying so hard to play coy about it all and it's kind of sweet. I know something's up because Carrie asked me if her and Chris could spend Saturday night at my place and that her mother was keeping Brayden overnight. I wanted to test the waters, soI suggested to Ryan that he and I go camping this weekend for my birthday, just to see how he would respond. He goes "Yah maybe". I said "Well, we've talked about going to Kouchibouguac Park all summer, I'll call tomorrow and make reservations". He said "Well...uh...no...not net. Let's hold off and wait and see what it's like on the weekend". I think it's so funny and cute how he's trying to cover, lol.

New Baby In The Family

My cousin Chris and his wife Sharla welcomed a baby boy on Monday, July 28th. Adian Joseph was named after his two great grandfathers and weighed in at just over 7lbs. He's a new little brother for 3 year old Janelle. I went up to see Sharla and the baby on Wednesday night. He's so tiny and so sweet!

I'm on vacation next week and I can't wait. It's been a long wait this summer for some time off. I'm not going away anywhere as Ryan only has two weeks of vacation per year and he used them both up when we were away in Arizona. It'll be nice to just sleep in and do as I please for a week. I'm sure I'll meet Ryan a couple of days next week for lunch and maybe go to the beach or something. My friend Valerie is off next week too, so I may do something with her.

Lazy Weekend

Another weekend overwith. Another weekend with not much accomplished. It was a lazy feeling weekend and also a weekend where I wasn't feeling well.

Friday night I stopped into the grocery store on my way home from work to pick up a few things I needed to make a lasagna with. I was planning the lasagna for Saturday's supper, but was going to put it together on Friday night. Ryan emailed me earlier in the day on Friday and said he had gotten tickets for the Age of Daze show in Oromocto from a co-worker who couldn't got. I thought he said it was for Saturday evening. We were supposed to go camping on Saturday with my brother and his girlfriend, but with rain in the forecast, we abandoned those plans. Great I thought to myself, just when I thought we'd have nothing to do on Saturday, we now have tickets to see Age of Daze!

Anyway, I'm home and starting to get my lasagna together. Ryan comes home and asks me what I'm doing. I told him I was putting a lasagna together for tomorrow's supper. He said "Why did you start it now, the Age of Daze show is in an hour". I looked at him surprised and said "I thought you said it was tomorrow night"? He said "No, it's tonight". I finished the part I was working on for my lasagna, wrapped it up and put it in the fridge. I took off upstairs to get ready while Ryan lounged on the couch.

I came downstairs and sat on the couch beside Ryan. Both of us were yawning and feeling lazy. Ryan said "Shane also invited us over tonight, would you rather go to Shane's then to Age of Daze"? I told him it didn't matter to me. He said he didn't care either and that he wasn't really feeling up to doing much now that he had sat down, lol. I told him I felt the same way and was feeling slightly exhausted, lol. The start time of the Age of Daze show came and went and we were still sitting on the couch. I guess we decided we weren't going to the show. We decided not to go to Shane's either and we ordered a pizza and stayed in for the night, lol. I was also starting to feel like I may be getting sick, but wasn't sure if it was just my allergies or not as they had been plaguing me all week.

Saturday morning I woke up achy and with my throat sore. Yup, I was sick. Great. Man, I seem to get sick often. It seems like every couple of months or so, something is up with me. Luckily I had some of my prescription left from when I was sick in Tucson, so I started taking that on Saturday morning. I managed to put together the rest of my lasagna, Ryan went for a big bicycle ride and I slept in the afternoon while he was gone. We had a great supper and then rented a movie, spending another evening in at home.

Yesterday I woke up feeling better, but throat was still sore, just not as bad. I went to my parent's place to do laundry and had supper with them. I got home early in the evening, watched some Big Brother on TV and turned in early, hoping to fully kick my illness and be refreshed for work the next morning. I woke up in the middle of the night because of the rain pelting outside and from there, tossed and turned for well over an hour. So much for waking up refreshed this morning, lol. My throat is still sore, but getting better. I'd say in another couple of days I should be back to normal.

Lucky Night

My Aunt Nancy runs a canteen on Wednesday nights at local regular sporting event. On Tuesday night she called me and said one of her teens she has working for her wasn't able to come in for her shift and asked if I could give her a hand and cover the shift for her. I told her sure! I can always use some extra cash (I'm trying to save up now for the astronomical heating bills this winter, so straight to the bank I went this morning).

This canteen has always been a family affair so to speak. My mother worked there when I was very young. My Aunt Nancy started working there when my mom was there and has been there ever since, eventually taking it over. My cousin Krissy worked with us last night, my cousin Chris and his wife Sharla and their daughter Janelle were there and my cousin Susan was there also. The later part of the crew being spectators, not working. It was nice to see them as it had been a while. It seems that I only see family at funerals, so this was definately a happier occasion.

I only worked a couple of hours last night, but came home a hundred bucks richer. No, my Aunt doesn't pay that well. What happened was we bought some 50/50 tickets and didn't us canteen girls win! We split our winning and pocketed 75 bucks from the 50/50 and then the 25 bucks I earned, gave me 100 bucks total. I was definately glad to have had the opportunity to work last night!

Happy Birthday Brother!

Today is my little brother's birthday. I guess he's not my little brother anymore, given that he's the ripe age of 27 today. It's hard to believe that 27 years ago, I was staying at my Aunt Patty's house while my mom went to the hospital "to get our baby".

I remember my Dad taking me to the hospital to visit Mom and my new baby brother. I climbed right into the hospital bed with Mom and started putting baby powder all over myself, lol. I remember when my parent's picked me up to take Richard home. My Mom was sitting in the front seat of the car, holding the baby all wrapped up in a blanket. Boy times have changed - I couldn't even imagine someone driving in a car now days, holding a baby in their arms!

Although we used to fight like cats and dogs when we were younger, my brother and I have gotten extremely close over the past 5 or so years. We've been through a lot as a family and I think that although it was tough at the time, there was some good that came from the hard times. We realized how much we meant to each other.

Happy Birthday Rich! I love you and am so proud of the person you've become!

Happy Belated Birthday Canada!

Well summer is now in full swing. I think Canada Day makes summer feel more real. The heat and humidity definately bring you into the summer time feel.

Ryan and I were both off for Canada Day. I was amazed that I actually had it off, because the 8 plus years that I've worked for the company I'm with, I've never had Canada Day off. It's not a holiday where we're sent up a lot of day off slots from corporate. At any rate, I was thankful to be off. I'm finding my job more and more stressful as time goes by. Maybe it has something to do with me getting older, maybe it's that I've been here too long, maybe it's because my job is painfully monotonous, maybe it's because it's super busy and I can't even take a breath between calls, maybe it's a lot of things, lol. Anyway, it was nice to be off.

We didn't do too much to celebrate Canada. We slept in and then had breakfast late. We went out to Ryan's parent's house to get the kayaks to go for a paddle, but his parent's beat us to it, lol. We decided to hop on the bike (Ryan's motorcycle) and head out to visit Phil and Anne, friends of Ryan's. We spent the afternoon on their deck enjoying a couple of beverages and chatting. We went back to Ryan's parent's place around supper time to drop off the bike and get the car and then headed back into Fredericton. We stopped and got some chicken and had that on the back deck once we got home and relaxed for a bit. We watched some tv and then watched the fireworks from upstairs. The advantages of living close to the river!

Weekend In Nictau

So tell me, have any of you honestly ever heard of the village of Nictau? I never had until recently. That's where I spent all of last weekend and had a ball, although I'm still exhausted from the weekend, lol.

This past weekend was the famous "Fiddlers On The Tobique" canoe run. Ryan had run into an old friend, Craig, who he went to school with, a few weeks ago at a Chamber of Commerce meeting and Craig invited us to join him and some friends to partake in "Fiddlers" with them; something they do every year. Ryan and I accepted their invitation and were looking forward to it.

Friday I got off work early at lunch time, finished organizing things and met Ryan out at his parent's house. We were borrowing their SUV to haul up the canoe and our gear and leaving them my car to use for the weekend in its place. We loaded up and headed to meet Craig and the rest of our group of 11 people were going away with.

We had another couple drive up with us in the SUV to help with the cost of gas. Their canoe was being towed up by Lance, on a trailer with two others, so they were good to go to jump in with us. We hit the highway and off Craig goes (the one who knew where the heck Nictau was) out of sight in 10 minutes. We were following Lance as the trailer's lights weren't working, so we thought we'd be fine, considering that Lance has gone to "Fiddlers" before. We're almost to the exit for Perth-Andover and Lance motions for us to come up to him on the highway. He rolls down the window and says "Is this the exit"? We were all "Um, I think so...but shouldn't you know"? lol. Ryan took over and led from there on out, lol.

We had to stop once when our rope holding down the front end of the canoe broke and wrapped around the axle of the truck (lol), but five minutes later we were on the road again. It was starting to get dark at this point and we were anxious to get to the campground, as you can imagine, setting up camp in the dark isn't a very fun task. We're driving along and I see a sign on the ground for the road to the Blue Mountain campground, which we were staying at. We drive up the main road a little further, looking for a spot to turn around to go back to the campground road. We see a road called "Blue Mountain Road". Our campground was called "Blue Mountain Campground" so Lance thinks that this road will take us into the back of the campground. Wrong. This road took us to someone's house, lol. We managed to get turned around in their yard and headed back to the campground. Everyone was surprised that we actually made it there and that I was able to spy the campground's sign lying on the ground. We got set up and settled in for the evening with a few beverages around the camp fire.

Saturday we got up, had breakfast and headed up to Riley Brook (30 minute drive from our campground) to put the canoes in. We left one car at the campground to drive up in to get the trucks with the next morning. We put in the canoes at around noon and set out for our float down down the Tobique River.

I'm guessing there about 1,500 participants in the canoe run, so it was a little chaotic on the river in parts, but tons of fun. There was one incident that put a damper on my fun, but didn't break my spirits. That damper was poison ivy. Given that it took nine hours for us to get down the river and back to our camp site and there are no bathrooms along the banks of the Tobique River, we had to pee in the woods. The first time we went to the "bathroom" I felt a bad pain/stinging in my knee. I came out of the woods and looked down at my knee and didn't see any scrapes or bug bites on it. I waded back out to the canoe and told Ryan about my knee hurting. He looked at it and said "Kelly, that's poison ivy". I freaked out a little bit because I had never experienced poison ivy before and was stuck in the middle of a river. Ryan assured me that everything would be fine and that I would just be in pain for a bit. He was right, lol, but after an hour or so, the pain had gone away (and no it wasn't because of the beer, lol) and the swelling and blisters that the ivy caused, were gone. Then at another stop I felt the same feeling again. Yup, I got poison ivy-ied again. I didn't worry too much about it this time because I knew I survived the last bought of it. I just put up with the pain for another hour and was good to go again.

We got back to our campground (our site was right along the river bank, so we just pulled out there) at around 9 p.m., cooked a big supper and settled in for another great evening around the campfire. We got up the next morning, went and got the trucks, cleaned up camp and headed for home. We were all wiped and couldn't wait to get home. It was a great weekend, but nice to get home and crash in my own bed too.

Still Alive...No Longer Coughing

Wow, it's been over a month since I've blogged. The last entry I had made, I was sick. No, I wasn't sick for over a month and therefore couldn't blog. In actuality we had no internet access at work for literally weeks and therefore I haven't been able to blog. That's right, I still don't have internet at home.

So what have I been up to you ask? It's hard to think way back, but here's a tid bit of things I've been up to. We've gone to Shane and Val's place for a BBQ and poker a couple of Fridays after work, Ryan and I hiked Maliseet Trail and marvelled at the waterfalls on the trail a couple of weekends ago, We spent last Saturday at a corvette show and cruising around in a corvette convertible for the afternoon (one of the perks of dating a car salesman!) and Carrie and Brayden were home last week.

Carrie's husband Chris went to the Nascar race in Michigan last weekend (something he's done for many years with a group of 20 men), so Carrie and Brayden decided to come home to N.B. while Chris was away. They arrived on the 12th and stayed until the 17th. It was so nice to have them here and to see how much Brayden is changing and growing. Carrie and I went out for supper on Saturday night and then went to see the Sex and the City movie. It was a great night, just like old times. I really miss Carrie living here and not being able to have nights like that with here every weekend.

Still Alive and Coughing

So the illness is much better, but I still have a nasty hack. I'm feeling about 95% better, just wish I could shake the cough completely.

Not much is new here. Ryan and I went to Shane and Val's place on Friday evening in honor of Shane's 30th birthday. The plan was a BBQ for supper, but when putting together the new BBQ (a birthday gift I believe) was causing an extreme amount of grief, the BBQ plan went out the window and it was off to Dairy Queen for burgers (hey it was the closest to BBQ we could get at this point)! We did eat the salad though I had brought as my contribution to the BBQ.

My lawn was cut for the first time this season yesterday. Can you believe that? It just seems so early to be mowing lawns!

Squeek!

The past week has been very hectic for me. Wednesday we saw the St. John river swell excessively and send our fair city in emergency measures mode. My house is fairly close to the river. In recent years, I've never been affected by the flooding. Last Wednesday when I got home from work, the water was all the way up to my next door neighbour's house. My dad came down to my place and shut the power off to my basement and I left home for the night, for fear of being stranded at my place. Luckily, the water didn't get any higher on my street and I was able to return home the next night.

Then, I got sick. I got a nasty cold/flu and have been sicker than a dog. My flu symptoms have finally started to subside, however I've since developed laryngitis on Monday. Apparantly it's not uncommon for the flu virus to develop into laryngitis. The only problem is, I work in a call center. I need my voice to work. So, yah, I've been off sick a lot in the past few days. With laryngitis you're supposed to rest your voice for a week. Yah, can't happen here. Here's hoping I can literally squeek by this week and not get any worse.

In closing here's an interesting tidbit to share with you. Did you hear about the surfer that got killed by a shark in San Diego not too long ago? Well, it happened at the exact same beach that we were boogie boarding at last month! How scary is that!

I'm Back!

Did you miss me? I had a wonderful vacation for the past couple of weeks and it was hard to come back to work this week. Ryan and I flew into Tucson, Arizona, where his parents live during the winter, on April 5th. We drove to Portland, Maine on Friday the 4th of April, flew out of Portland to Washington Dulles Airport and then connected on to Tucson International Airport.

Our first day in Tucson we went to church with Ryan's parents and then to the Tanque Verde swap meet, which was interesting, lol. On Monday the 7th, I had to go the hospital. My throat had been sore for a couple of days and I felt like I was developing strept throat. It turns out it wasn't strept throat, I was diagnosed with allergic rhianitis and was given a prescription which cleared me up in a couple of days. We joked and said my diagnosis of allergic rhianitis meant that I was allergic to Ryan, lol. We went to the Casino Del Sol Casino later that evening.

On Tuesday the 8th we went to Old Tucson Studios, where numerous old western movies and tv shows such as Little House On The Prairie were filmed. It was quite the place and we spent all day there.

On Wednesday the 9th, we got up early and hit the road for San Diego, California to visit Angela and Darren. We got into San Diego at around 3:30 and Angela and Darren prepared us a wonderful dinner. We relaxed that evening with a few beverages.

On Thursday the 10th we went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo. That place was awesome! I had a fantastic time walking the grounds and seeing all the animals. After the zoo we went to Balboa Park, which was beautiful. That evening Angela and Darren took us to Rubio's for dinner for a big feed of fish tacos. They sound disgusting, but they were delicious! After supper we drove to La Jolla and saw a bunch of seals beached on the shore and then watched the most beautiful sunset.

Friday the 11th we hiked Torrey Pines Park for a couple of hours and then spent the afternoon at the beach. I tried boogie boarding for the first time, which was super fun! I also saw two dolphins swimming in a wave about 50 feet in front of us - it was spectacular. That evening was our last night in California. We took the trolley downtown and had supper at Henry's Pub. It was a great evening!

On Saturday the 12th we hit the highway, back to Tucson. We stopped in Gila (pronounced Heal-a) Bend, AZ for supper and gas and we spied a beautiful clay outdoor fireplace which we bought for Ryan's parents as a gift.

Sunday the 13th was Ryan's 30th birthday. He started off the day with a round of golf with his dad and his dad's friend Eric. Eric's wife and Ryan's mother and I went to the St. Xavier Mission Church while the boys golfed. St. Xavier Mission was built in the 1700's and it's absolutely stunning. We had a big ham dinner that evening and then cake, ice cream and gifts.

On Monday the 14th we went to the Biosphere. I found this place extremely boring, lol. While I can appreciate what they're doing there, I'm not the least bit interested in science. We stopped at the Tucson Mall for an hour and then drove to an area known as Gates Pass and watched the sunset there.

On Tuesday the 15th we went to Sabino Canyon. This place was nice, but the numerous postings about the high level of mountain lion sightings in the canyon made me a little timid in that area. After Sabino Canyon we drove up to the top of Mt. Lemmon. This was beautiful and we even saw some snow on the top of the mountain, being that we were 8,000 feet above sea level. We didn't get to go to the Grand Canyon while in Arizona, but Ryan's parents said that Mt. Lemmon was just as nice as the Grand Canyon and I believe them, as it really was spectacular. The Grand Canyon is also 8,000 feet above sea level, just like Mt. Lemmon.

On Wednesday the 16th we went to Nogales, Mexico for the day. We got there in the morning, had lunch and did some bartering with the locals. I got two beautiful paintings for my living room for $23, and some decorative clay pots for outside and a silver bracelet for $20 from another vendor. Ryan got a Corono jacket for $10 and a litre of tequilla (which he sampled and deemed was good, lol) for $7. Nogales was quite the experience for me as I'd never witnessed such poverty before in my life. It was difficult to see the numerous children, flithy and begging for money on the streets. It was even harder when you'd see some mothers pushing these children out to you to beg as you walked by. There were blind men begging on the corners, a man with no legs in a wheelchair, etc. It was tragic to see this and also to see the shacks that these people live in, nestled up in the hills. It's make one very thankful to be a Canadian when in a third world country.

On Thursday the 17th we drove to Benson, AZ to the Kartchner Caverns, which we amazing! We weren't allowed to take photos of the caverns due to their fragile state. I highly recommend you check out their website. After the caverns we drove to Tombstone, AZ. This is the town where the famous gunfight at the OK Corral was held and the real Wyatt Earp was the sheriff. That evening Ryan's aunt Bernie and Uncle Dick (who also winter in Arizona) had us over for supper.

Friday the 18th was our last full day in Tucson. We did a bit more shopping and had lunch and then played a round of golf in the afternoon with Ryan's parents. Ryan's parents then took us out to the Olive Garden for a fantastic supper.

Saturday the 19th we were flying back the same route, Tucson to Washington Dulles and then on to Portland, Maine. Our flight to Maine was delayed for 3 hours, so we had to kill three hours in Washington, which wasn't that bad as it's a huge airport with lots to see and do. We didn't get into Maine until late evening and we were exhausted from travelling all day. We drove on to Fredericton the next morning (we did park and fly with a local hotel and left our car there while we were away). We stopped in Houlton before crossing back into New Brunswick and I was on my doorstep at around 7:30 Sunday night. It was a long weekend of travelling.

We had a fantastic trip and would love to do it again sometime, as there is so much to see and do there!

Seven

"All Seven and we'll watch them fall". HAHA, sorry, when I typed the title of this entry, I instantly thought of Prince's song Seven. If you're not familiar with that one, that's the first line of the song that I typed in quotations.

I suck at blogging now. I know this. I've been blog-hopping lately and a lot of people have been posting the "7 weird things about me" meme, so that's what I've decided to do for today's entry. Here goes.

1) I hate (most) condiments. I have been - and think I always will be, a picky eater. This is not limited to just food (mainly vegetables is who I have a bad relationship with) but also condiments. When I order a burger, the only thing I'll eat on it is cheese/bacon/BBQ sauce. That's it. NEVER any ketchup, mustard, relish, BLECH! Same goes for a hotdog. I will eat ketchup on french fries however. You'll never see me eat mayonnaise either.

2) I lock my car atleast twice after I've got home and parked it for the night. Ryan's car got broken into once in my driveway, so ever since then, I've been worried someone will get into mine too. I (usually) lock my car with the key faub as I'm walking up my steps to go into the house, but later on in the night, I am hit with the "did I lock my car" question and will hit the button on my key faub again, just to be sure. Hey, better safe than sorry right?

3) I love 80's music. People close to me know this as I've subjected them to it for countless hours, lol. If I never heard a newly released song again, I would be completely fine with that. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've heard a "new" song in many, many months. But yah, the big hair, cheesier 80's music, the better!

4) I don't have internet at home. Yup. I think I'm about the only one left on the planet without internet at home. I have a computer at my house (my parent's old one) but no internet. I'm poor, so all my surfing is done on my work computer, my parent's computer or my brother's computer.

5) I first drove a car when I was 14. It was my Aunt's and it was a manual transmission. I love driving manuals and both cars I've owned have been manuals.

6) I'm addicted to lip balm. You will never not see me caring lip balm. I've been addicted to the stuff for about 15 years. I can't stand the feeling of dry lips, so mine are always coated in balm, lol.

7) I used to hate the color red. It doesn't bother me as badly now, but I still don't think I'll ever own a red car. To be honest, red clothing actually looks pretty good on me, lol. Go figure.

Springing?

When people keep saying "It'll all be over soon (meaning winter)...Spring is on its way" I roll my eyes and look at them with that "Yah bull$hit" expression on my face. That was until yesterday. No, the massive piles of snow haven't disappeared and no it's not magically 20 degrees outside now. What's making me believe that spring is on its way you ask? Yesterday when I got home from work, I was sticking my key in the lock to go inside the house. I just happened to glance down at my flower bed and saw some flecks of color peaking out from the snow. My tulips are starting to come up! I couldn't believe it! Spring has got to be on its way!

Carrie and Brayden have now gone back home to Ontario. It was so nice to have them home for two weeks and I eagerly await their return in a few months.

I had a nice Easter weekend last week. It started out with some of us heading to Cannon's Cross for some of their famous nachos. After that Ryan and I headed over to Shane and Val's for a little bash they were having. It took us an hour of waiting and calling two different cab companies before we arrived home at 5 a.m.! Needless to say, Saturday was pretty much reserved for sleeping, lol. Sunday Carrie and Brayden came over and we said our farewells. From there we had a big Easter dinner at my parent's place.

Not too sure what's going on this weekend. I'll more than likely be getting things together for our big trip!