Jumping on the bandwagon

Ok, BIG SURPRISE!

i'm jumping on the de-lurker bandwagon because i'm a follower and she did, and she did, and i'm sure some of my other bloggy friends did, but my google reader can be slow to update sometimes and anyway, i want to be just like them as much as possible.

I have to say, i used to lurk around the blogosphere quite a bit myself. One person described how i felt perfectly: "I never thought bloggers thought much about comments from readers they don't know personally. I follow about 25 blogs daily and I don't think I've commented once on any of them. You guys seem so untouchable. Even smaller bloggers seem to know the blog celebrities in the real world. It's like you're all part of the cool club but you let us less cool people listen in on the fun. I guess thats why I've never delurked before. The less cool aren't supposed to interupt the club's conversations..." - "Becky"

That's exactly how i felt. But then i started to feel like i "knew" the blogger and i started leaving small comments like "cool pic" etc. etc. Now i try to comment as much as possible, but i try not to leave fluff. I like to be able to give my opionion or, if it's a really good bloggy friend, encouragement when they need it.

I'm not really putting the pressure on the few people who lurk here. Hell, i know Mat is one of them!! But it would be nice to "meet" you. Don't you want to be my bloggy friend?? No? ok, then *sob*. Just kidding...but i DID make it easier for you to comment. I opened it up to everyone - not just blogger / blogspot people! No excuses people, NO EXCUSES!

p.s. did you see the awesom-o button on my right side bar? isn't it perrrrrrty?

As promised

Here are the pics i promised you yesterday.

Of the Wreath i made:





Wreath detail:






Gardening results:




Our "new" couches:







I was very worried about liking the red couches, but i really like them. It's not typical for me to go with red couches (i would normally choose browns, leather, whites etc.) but i didn't have much choice and i'm glad because it adds life to our otherwise mostly brown house :)

V is for Victory!

Warning: Fromage ahead....

Well, the drama is over. The images are down...thank GOD.

It feels great to know that we are surrounded by people - many of whom we have never met - who support each other and stand up for each other. There truly is a connection out there and i can't quite put my finger on it, but we must all have something in common. Something that's deeper and bigger than the fact that we all blog and that most of us are women and that most of you / us have kids. Something else...it's that uknown *thing* that makes people friends.

SAJ received over 140 comments from her post yesterday and it helped - both in getting the images removed and in keeping her strong. I'm very proud to be a part of this community of people who stand up for each other.

Shame shame, double shame.

Dear Adriana Calderon,

I can't believe what you did. You hurt my friend and you made tons of other people mad. You know what i'm talking about. You know what you stole.

Shame on you. What a poor, poor example you are setting for your children.

What makes you think that you can steal something that doesn't belong to you and then try to make money off of it?

Lame. Really lame.

Funny, how your "contact us" and "feedback and comments" links don't work today......

I wonder what you have to say for yourself? We'll probably never know because you are that flaky.

Wishing the weekend was still here

The weekend rundown:

Did some gardening, made a wreath, rented 2 movies, baked peanut butter cookies.

Waiting for the couches to arrive tonight.

Pics to follow tomorrow :)

buyer's remorse

I have serious issues with commitment when it comes to making purchases.

I am still shocked that i was able to buy a wedding dress in 2 hours.

I can barely buy underwear without worrying that it's too big or too small and that it's a final purchase. I usually buy a couple smalls and a couple mediums so that at least i have a couple that will fit properly.

I've been on the hunt lately for a gym bag. A nice, roomy, gym bag with separate compartments for shoes and wet stuff and pockets because i LOVE pockets. Oh, and of course stylish...i don't want a frumpy ugly gym bag.

So, i went to sport check...they had a couple of Nike bags, but they were mostly the big one-pocket duffel bag. no thanks.

Then, i thought about Lululemon and how they carry exercise / yoga gear. Now, they have some nice bags!

I visited the store, and hummed and hawed over their line up of gym bags. I think they had about 5 or 6 different kinds each in 2 different colour choices. I spent a good 30 minutes inspecting each one and checking all the pockets and imagining where all of my things would go. I finally chose the warm up bag. At first i wasn't crazy about the colours because the colours were crazy (navy all over with purple straps and lining), but it started to grow on me and then i really liked the colours.

I put my things in my new bag and took it to the gym to test it out (i left the tag on). It was ok. All of my stuff fit, and everything had it's own cozy home, but my stuff only just fit so i wouldn't be able to put anything more in it or anything bigger like a bigger towel, or a sweatshirt or sweatpants. PLUS, it didn't have a shoulder strap. Although my arms fit through the handles, it was still a bit awkward because it was quite bulky and my arm had to hang over the side of the bag. AND what about in the winter? with a huge winter coat (and yes, my coat is huge...even my fellow canadiens make fun of it eh?) i doubt i would be able to get the straps over my arms.

So back to the store i went to review the bag options. I had gone back to the website to check out the bags in order to maximize my time spent in the store. As soon as i arrived in the store for a second time i picked up 4 bags. The one i had now (to compare against the other contenders) and 3 others that could work.

Again, i carefully inspected each bag and visualized where all of my stuff would go. The problem was, each one had a different feature about it. 2 had shoulder straps, but one of those only had one big middle pocket with no dividing compartments. Another one had nice divided compartments but no shoulder strap, and mine didn't have a shoulder strap, and was not quite long enough, but i loved the way it looked and all of the compartments.

I could not make up my mind. I wanted one that looked like mine in colour, but was a bit longer like number 2, but has as many compartments as mine, but with a shoulder strap.

Not one had all of the features together. I reluctantly exchanged the funky one i had originally bought for the rollercoaster bag that was slightly longer and had a shoulder strap. It didn't have as many compartments as the one i originally had, but it had a separate compartment for my shoes which was the most important. Oh, and i forgot to mention...it's black...they did have a brown one 2 days ago when i first went to the store, but they have since sold out of brown which is one of my favourite colours.

I know black is the most versatile, but i really don't like black. AND my winter coat is brown, so brown would have been the best. AND the strap is red and i'm not a huge fan of red either. AND i especially don't enjoy the combination of red and black together. But sadly, i had no choice as this was the most practical in terms of function.

So there you have it. It took me 3 days to buy a gym bag and i'm still not 100% satisfied with it, and it only took me 2 hours to buy a wedding dress which is more important and way way WAY more expensive, and non-refundable yet i have no desire to even look at another dress because i am 150% satisfied.

weird eh?

Hurtin'

Hi my lovelies,

I'm sorry for taking off and not saying anything.

I don't really have time for this post, but i miss you guys, so i thought i would just bang this out for now.

Lady x responded by basically saying "thanks for all your work on this, but there are still a lot of items we haven't received for the syllabus so we're going to hand it over to one of our locals so that we can easily go back and forth with her which wouldn't be fair to you." (That was not a direct quote from her, but i summed it up for you). Clearly she was not happy with my recommendation and wanted to do it her way (who knows what the rest of the committee thinks). I'm sure when i see the final product it will have all kinds of 'And's, 'In's and 'Of's . Oh well, it actually doesn't bother me as much as i would have thought. I'm actually pretty proud that i have a high standard and i won't have my name attached to just anything. I mean, what if she wanted me to misspell words just because she wanted them that way even though it's incorrect. idontthinkso.

So...i've been hitting the gym lately. Yay! It's about freaking time. I've been taking advantage of my lunch hour and it's been working out nicely. Although it means my lunch is a bit extended with the short travel time and shower time factored in, i make up for it by eating my lunch at my desk and not taking any other breaks (note: many people here are smokers and take several smoke breaks a day).

I'm taking group classes at the gym (like aerobics, step, weights etc. etc.) It changes every day which is great because i'm working everything (if i go everyday that is....) but MAN, it has not been easy. The first two days i was hurting BAD. My legs and arms are b-u-r-n-i-n-g!

On top of that, i suck with a capital S at coordination. This is a huge surprise to me as i play a ton of sports that require coordination AND i played the piano for 10 years which required that i could follow a beat. But for some reason when i'm trying to do the aerobics and step classes, i can't keep up with what the instructor is doing and i end up looking like an idiot. Where everyone is facing one direction, i end up facing the opposite and i end up looking at people when we shoud all be looking at each others backs....very embarrassing. I'm always totally off and i'm getting really really frustrated.

Well my dears, i'm sorry this is such a lame and quick post, but i have some deadlines hovering over my head that i need to attend to.

Please keep me in your thoughts when i'm at the gym - i need all the strength i can get!

p.s. i need a new gym bag - something cool and roomy and with lots of compartments. Anyone have advice on ones they love?