Bellini-induced Brain Freeze

A couple of months ago I had the great opportunity to visit Montreal for a weekend and I LOVED it. That makes two massive cities I have visited this year that I have adored. A stark contrast to my lack of heart for Toronto. People predicted, after hearing of how I dislike Toronto (I can't say hate since I have family living there. Hate is too strong of a word.) that I would have a miserable time in New York...even though I've been obsessed with the Big Apple for years. Well, I proved them wrong there. But although I had always wanted to see Montreal as well I was not sure if it would be as cold and uninviting as Toronto only en francais. Good golly I was pleasantly surprised. I have told several friends this but for once I have found a city that could possibly seduce me away from Calgary. And I'd still get to be Canadian, fantastique! What I especially loved about Montreal was how easy it was to get around. I am a huge fan of great subway/metro systems and New Y

Lots of observations and pondering these days with not much "hands on" experience. But given everything that's been going on around me I'd rather stay out of the game for now. I know of two people who have dropped the bomb on me that they have ended their marriages. One ended it years ago, that's how out of touch her and I have been. It's a shame, really. We now live in the same city and yet we still cannot manage to get together on a regular basis. With today's divorce rate being as high as it is it shouldn't be such a shocker that they have joined the ranks of the separated. What piqued my interest/what was common between both their experiences is the fact that they both described their last months/years of marriage as living with a roommate or a good friend. One was married almost 20 years before this "roommate" phenomenon occurred. The other was married...I'm tempted to say 5 years though I can't be sure. With the first coup

Well, the inevitable has happened. My best friend is officially engaged, the wedding date has be chosen, everything is ploughing along. She broke the news to me over the phone. It's true we rarely get to find time together anymore. Life gets in the way like that. "Will you be my maid of honor?" she asked. How could I say "no" to my best friend?! And thus, I fulfilled Civic's prophecy (albeit I fulfilled his prophecy but in relation to a different friend) since he pretty much stood firm on the fact that I would not be able to decline such an "honor" when it comes to a friend...regardless of how much I frown upon the relationship. Talk about trust, huh? She wants me to be right beside her at the wedding knowing full well that if anyone were to say a peep when the priest asks "does anyone object to this union?" I would be the most likely person to speak up. I'm just saying. But I cannot deny the fact that he has done well in becomi

Last week I had admitted to Civic that the weight-loss has been difficult for me to gauge. I still feel like I look the same but when I try to wear some of my old pants it reminds me of just how far I have come. Still, my mind has a hard time registering that I have changed so much. I should be proud of myself for the accomplishment but instead I feel retroactively horrified that I ever lost so much control that I used to fit in those sizes.

2008 has become even better still since the last time I raved about how awesome 2008 has been. I won some super shopping money in a charity lottery, so I think I will go spoil myself with a new gadget of some sort. I ALSO (not in the same lottery) won two tickets to Vegas. Fantastic! I hope to coordinate it with some free nights I have for Anaheim and get myself reacquainted with the Magic Kingdom (it's been over 15 years now) and get my Vegas on at the same time. Maybe even get to meet Mijo finally after all these years! I am constantly shopping these days what with the transition in seasons and my need for clothes that fit and flatter. The summer clearances have been amazing and fortunately the items will transition well into the fall. I am now bordering on high-school-sized depending on the cut of the clothes. It is unreal. It is sad to see the summer winding down. The days are shorter, the evenings are cooler, and weekday outings will become less frequent. I haven'

A fantastic year thus far, to be sure. I have so much to be thankful for and thrilled about I could easily say 2008 has been one of my best years ever. Vegas, baby! New York NEW YORK 35 pounds lighter and still going! Slowly but surely... Fantastic family time in Alaska Montreal, here I come! I met and dated a hawt dancing guy so my confidence has been reaffirmed. (Although I still miss my brainiac not-so-social boy... it's nice to know I can play in the same league as the "beautiful people.") I got to ride in a helicopter. Woohoo! I have seen some bloggers start up "bucket lists" and although I never like to follow trends I thought this was an excellent idea. I thought it would be easy to come up with 1000 things that I have yet to do and would like to do but I am having a bit of writer's block. I haven't even come up with 100! I thought I wouldn't put anything that I have already done on there but I've tossed them in since I would like t

Last week was the traditional Calgary gong-show we all know (and some love) as the Calgary Stampede. And while I still had a great time this year the exhibition grounds left me wanting. I do not usually complain about the price the way others do. I figure it's only once a year and I can't understand the griping over the cost of admission when it is comparable to going to a first-screening movie. But this time I did notice the prices getting gouge-y once you were already in the gates. 9 dollars for a "pizza on a stick" or a "london broil cheesesteak" is simply uncalled for. A 2 dollar increase in my "Whack-A-Mole" -- plus the hunch that the carnies are starting to recognize me and try to keep me off my skilled game -- takes quite a bit of fun out of it. But even things that were still, I suppose, reasonably priced , were not as enjoyable as they once were. After one mini-donut I really did not feel like having any more. The smells of all th

I bought his Evolution CD on Boxing Day last year and now I have misplaced it somewhere. To top it all off I had to get a new computer recently and, although I could have sworn I backed up my iTunes library to my external hard drive, once I had iTunes and everything up and running again I only had a 5th of the music I used to own. For the CDs I physically own this is not such a big deal -- just an inconvenience -- but for everything else, augh! Anyway, finding this one particular CD out of my many has become my obsession. Everyone knows how I have songs that create the soundrack to my life. This year/guy it's Robin Thicke's Lost Without You that reminds me of Salsero. What's different this time around is that it isn't a song I heard playing when I met him, or a song he gave me that always reminds me of him, it's just the feeling I get about him. I love that song and it's sensual and lovey dovey. Good grief. But there you go, that's my song for Salse

30+ pounds gone thus far! Size-wise I have turned back time a whole 10 years. I could not be happier right now, it is insanely encouraging. Of course, with the new improved me comes even more confidence...like I really needed more of that! All the clothing options that I would not have even considered with my previous figure have me itching to go on a mad shopping spree; but all in due time. Already the "interim" pants and capris I bought a month to two months ago are starting to get baggy again. Some pants just look ridiculous on me now, Latina says she has to laugh since she thinks I look amusing in my baggy clothes. Particularly since I have never been one to wear baggy clothes to begin with. I finally went on date number 2 with the dance fan. We'll call him Salsero. Yes, I know, going this long between dates sounds pretty sketchy; I see it, too. But if he's weighing out his other options right now (not saying he is, but it's a definite possibility)

Early October 2007. The setting: a south end Tim Horton's. The characters: Leah, Flag Girl, and Flag Girl's pal, V. A little bit of girl gripes before a little birthday dance-a-thon for darling Flag Girl. (The following may not be word for word but the sentiment is quite vivid in my memory.) ...I don't know what it was. I was not interested in the guy, he was probably not interested in me either, but he treated me with a great deal of respect. A girl who just came in to line up like all the rest just so she could get her caffeine fix. From his accent it was fairly apparent he was not from around here...and yet he had more charm and was more of a gentleman than any homegrown guys I have ever met. Mm hmm, I absolutely know what you are talking about. It is embarassing to think that our own local guys were not raised properly by their mothers. I am sure it is not the case at all, but they certainly do behave that way at times. Yes! As if they have some sort of arrest

My computer is terminally ill, once again...I think. My brother (I think I used to refer to him as "Weird Kid" here) would call it "a piece," I'm sure. By no means am I a computer whiz but it seems to be doing the same thing it did the last time...which in my opinion was not that very long ago. If I have to buy another power supply and that thing with un"popped" capacitors then I may as well junk this old monstrosity and buy myself a new computer. *sigh* An expense I really do not need right now. But everyone loves having new things. I am definitely not an exception. With my (exciting) progress in weight-loss-land I am itching to buy myself some new clothes. However, common sense and my mother tell me to wait a while and not go buck-wild on a wardrobe overhaul. At the very least I need new bottoms. Belts, accessories I have never been a fan of functionally, have become my friend. But they can only do so much. On a recent outing with the big

A tall, dark, and handsome man (cliche, huh?) has been haunting my dreams. Ok, so it has only been two dreams. Two dreams over two months. But it appears to me that it is becoming a mini-series of sorts. Or at least I hope it is. I wouldn't mind. :P In the first dream he introduced himself to me while we were sitting in a classroom. Although I wish that there were potential for deja vu here I have not attended any classes in almost 6 years. Mind you with Civic heading back to university our group has had several discussions as to whether the rest of us have felt like going back to school. And if so, what would we take the next time around? For a lack of anything better coming to mind I always choose accounting. I guess I still think that I have/had the potential for becoming a boring bean-counter. I'm not sure if Mr Dark-and-Yummy and I meet in an accounting class; maybe it's my subconscious' hokey way of trying to tempt me back into school. In the second drea

It was going to happen sooner or later. There was a time in my life when I was anti-diet. I was all for exercise; no problems with that. But tell me I am DENIED food and I will eat it right in front of you just to be defiant. What a miserable life it would be if I could not drink when I wanted, eat what I wanted, indulge how I wanted...I'm sure you catch my drift. A few years back I got to know an uber sweet guy who turned out to be an Atkins-diet success story. He showed me a picture of him back in high school which was a great lot different to the guy who I met in person. I was incredibly impressed and admired his insane dedication, but there was no way you could ever get me to give up my carbs. NO. WAY. Unfortunately, he has also become a cautionary tale of an example. I did not get to see him often but when I did he would be bigger than he was the time before. And the time before that. And the time before that. I have not seen him lately -- and I hope that he has not

- a play on Muskrat Love. Whatever; I'm a dork. I decided recently to organize my purses. If you have known me for some time you ought to know I have a bazillion purses. I thought all women were like me. Apparently not, none of them have as many purses as me, for sure. Most of my friends only have maybe 5 or 10! It boggles my mind! Re-organizing my purses is a massive endeavor consisting of clearing them all out of my handbag closet, emptying them out, and rearranging them in some sort of system that makes sense (at the time). Unfortunately, my handbag closet cannot hold all of my handbags so now my collection is split amongst my two closets. This would be why I forget I own such-and-such a bag for years on end until I unearth it once again during one of my "reorgs." Emptying them out always takes the longest. I pore over every receipt as they spell out their own special page in my life of where I went, when, and what I bought. I peruse over little notes and rem

Eeee, I hope my Spanish is still coherent. This past weekend was the very first Calgary International Salsa Congress ; a labor of love for our favorite dance studio and its instructors. T-Girl and I would have been remiss to skip on the event. Friday night was the pre-congress party held in the ballroom at the Hyatt downtown. I have not gone dancing in months so seeing all the fantastic dancing had me quite intimidated at first. I knew I would be able to hold my own if only I could find a partner who could lead. Unfortunately, the one partner I ended up getting -- a friend of T-Girl's who must have felt bad for me standing solo -- could not keep the beat. I did my best to be gracious and follow his lead and ignore the music, but it just killed the moment for me. My fave partner who is also a TA at the studio was busy getting ready for his performance so no luck there. We'll call him Salsa Boy. When I get the chance to dance with him I feel like the most amazing salsera

Hot or not The Hotness is terminally ill. The Hotness being my favorite cell phone. I jumped on the chance to own The Hotness as soon as she was released in Canada. With all the research I did in my cell phone forums and such it was clear to me that I was destined to own a Sony Ericsson Z520a. We have had a wonderful life together and she has travelled with me to many lands. On my recent trip to the Philippines I bought a companion phone -- a Sony Ericsson Z610i which I christened Bebot -- to take some of the workload off of The Hotness. Don't get me wrong, Bebot is shiny, sleek, and sexy. I love whipping her out whenever I see lemming RAZR owners out on the street. But even with her hot exterior, her bells and whistles just cannot hold a candle to how The Hotness and I were a match made for the ages. Never wanting to be without her for a minute I kept putting off sending her away for a small software glitch, a minor inconvenience, until my extended warranty was (so I thought)

All Good Boys Deserve Fudge. Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always One thing definitely hasn't changed in my blogging style: I always want to start my posts with some kind of musical reference. Another social network has basically taken over my life on the internet. I'm sure there are quite a few of you out there who can easily guess what I am talking about. It is just too convenient for a little snoopy voyeur like myself. It is like the Cliff's Notes of someone's life rather than having to click and read every single blog post. In a minute you can find out where your old high school friend is working now, what their academic achievements have been, whether or not they are seeing someone at the moment or if they have gone in a domestic way and did the whole married-with-2.5-kids thing. They are not kidding when they say this network is like an addiction. I find myself looking up people from my past, people who I don't really care much about, just to see who's d

Old dog... If I looked back on the date of my very first post I would realize that I have owned this little anthology of my life's tidbits for almost 5 1/2 years now. I would also realize that it is such a shame that I have neglected it for so long. I missed my 20,000th visitor even...I used to be so keen on watching my site traffic. It is so nifty that a blogger whom I used to read has written one of the best movies I have seen in the past few years. Heh, I also realized that I still write my blog posts with all the little code of yesteryear even though Blogger has simplified things to the point where all my little codes can all be accomplished by a click of the mouse on the appropriate button. I'm so behind on the times. "Now Blogger saves your drafts automatically!" That would have saved me so much grief back in the day.