I Know That I'll Be Living It In Canada

Anyone that knows me, knows I am forever trying to get people to get people to listen to my music, case and point being all of various blogs on this subject, example, here, here, here and here. (Although, you should all listen to The Beatles. Really)

So here is another list, Canadian artists that I love, and you should too.

The Trews—100% Rock and Roll.
Songs to Discover: Yearning, Tired of Waiting

Blue Rodeo—Poignant songs that say the things you never could.
Songs to Discover: Bulletproof, Somebody Waits.

Stan Rogers—I know his songs are about boats for the most part, but wonder folk singer. Much, much better than Gordon Lightfoot. I promise!
Songs to Discover: The Mary Ellen Carter, Forty-five Years

Sam Roberts—I have yet to hear a Sam Roberts song that I have not fallen in love with.
Songs to Discover: Bridge to Nowhere, Every Part of Me

The Tragically Hip—Yes, I do have to thank my brother for this find. Wonderful lyrics that you will be quoting for years to come. Up to Here is an album that should be in every Canadian’s collection.
Songs to Discover: Something On, Grace Too

Sloan—Very Beatlesque. I love the Navy Blues album!
Songs to Discover: Keep On Thinking, I’m Not Through With You Yet.

Soul Decision—Cheesy boy band. More for just a laugh!
Songs to Discover: Kiss the Walls, Faded.

Michael Bublé—He could sing the phone book, and I would still be in love.
Songs to Discover: The Way You Look Tonight, That’s All

Returning Home, Tired and Frustrated

No news or story today.

Here’s to a weekend that is more than just a funny story. I have enough of those. Hopefully the weekend is full of wonder and magic. I feel like I am losing the Choose Your Own Adventure game.

Good luck to us all.
Think what we could do alone.

Meeting Your Requirements

The other day, someone said, “Every time I smell this, I think of you.” At the time I thought it was really cute, but the more I think about it, the more it kinda sounds stalkerish. (They were talking about my perfume, and not rotten bananas or something like that.) But it also made me think about all different products I have that have different smells, and so for someone to pick out my perfume is quite funny, or so I think.

First of all my clothes are washed using a fragrance called “Mountain Breeze” I am not really sure what that is suppose to smell like, but when I close my eyes and smell my clothes, I don’t really think about the mountains. The fabric softener is “Sunshine Fresh” which, again, I don’t really know what the sun smells like, but I think it just cancelled out all the “Mountain Breeze”.

Next, I have Raspberry Almond body wash, which doesn’t really smell like raspberries or almonds. In fact, it isn’t even red. I have coconut shampoo, which I really like the smell of, but then I use my cocoa conditioner which doesn’t smell like much, and definitely not chocolate like I hoped for. I have this mango stuff that I put in my hair, and hairspray, that just smells like hairspray.

My face cream smells like roses, and my other lotion smells like cherries, and the hand cream I have at work is vanilla. And finally, I have my grapefruit perfume.

This is just a normal day of scents that I put on. I am like a whole fruit basket of fragrance. Obviously, the combination seems to work well together, but what happens if I change one of the products? I guess I buy stuff on individual scent, and not how it would work in my mishmash of aromas. All right, I will stop waxing poetic about all the fragrances I have in my arsenal.

I am relatively happy. Thanks to Flick who is a joy to live with even if we are just falling asleep on the couch watching a movie or laughing over cheesy magazines. I never mind coming home. To Jenny, who desperately needs to just move her bed to our house. Thanks for all the late night shopping, cake eating, “trivia” knowledge and fun laughs.

Here’s to Thursday. Who cares what we do this weekend, just that I am with you.

Miss you. Love you, at least on paper I do.

Family Day....A Wonderfully Made Up Holiday

A happy Tuesday to everyone. Aren’t we glad it is a short week? Although it is nice to be back considering the last time I worked was last Wednesday. (I still have uneaten Valentines chocolate in my office! Hooray!)

This weekend we went to see “Music and Lyrics” with the cute as ever Hugh Grant, and Drew Barrymore. Overall, the movie got a thumb sideways by me. No real character development, but come on, it had Hugh Grant, who cares.

This movie taught me a few things:

1. I do secretly, not so secretly have a love of ‘80s pop music. Or “neon jumpsuit, feel good music” as Ashley calls it. The movie starts out with the greatest music video I have seen in a long time. And a song that is so funny, I think it will end up on someone’s ipod before long. We have been singing the song around the house for days.

2. There are two kinds of people in this world. Movie talkers and Non-movie talkers. Anyone who knows me, probably can guess what category I fit into. (Yes, that is movie talker, for anyone who was a little confused.) Thankfully, most of my close friends fit into this category as well.

3. A new Hollywood trend I have seen in movies….messy hair. Okay, maybe I am being a bit too picky about this one, but I noticed in both ‘The Holiday’ and ‘Music and Lyrics’. The lead actress seems to go through the whole movie with stringy, quasi wavy, mess of hair. I understand that my hair is not the pinnacle of perfection at all times, but isn’t that why I go to the movies, to see beautiful people with ornate clothing and immaculate apartments. If I wanted to see someone with a messy room and normal hair, I could just look in the mirror.

4. Chick flicks are best enjoyed with the chicks. Sorry to the guys we dragged to see The Holiday. (Although I know you secretly enjoyed it.) Previews and reviews like to market these movies as “The Perfect Date Movie” but we all know that considering we don’t go on dates all that often, we would wait a lifetime to see these movies. And some of the movies I have seen on dates include, The Matrix, X-Men. Men in Black 2….I don’t think any were named “The Perfect Date Movie”.

Here’s to long weekends, fun with the family and good laughs with friends, more strawberry daiquiris and planning of elaborate road trips. Thanks for a great time.

No Matter What, Lent Starts Today

Someday I'll be happy
Will someone tell me when will that be?

Somewhere I lost track of what's right
And now I'm stuck on the sidelines

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Not gonna take it any longer

It's time to take back control of my life

"We Don't See Things As They Are. We See Things As We Are."

Thanks to Laura, my internet stalker (that is what she called herself at my brother’s wedding…I thought it was funny) for inspiring today’s list. And since she stole it from another site in the first place, I figure it was free game.

I’m a sucker for:

--Hershey Kisses
--Luke Wilson...or any Wilson for that matter
--Lists
--Horoscopes
--Fashion Friday
--Geese/ducks/seagulls
--The Gap
--Hotdogs
--Long summer nights
--FHE Medals
--Macaroni and Cheese
--Nightdrive/Faded/Faith
--Butterflies
--Honeycrisp Apples
--How to Books
--James Taylor
--Mocha Cabana
--Hugh Grant
--Fortune Cookies
--Fireworks
--Movies with the subtitles on
--Pay Day Dinners
--Guys without shirts
--Jimmy Eat World lyrics
--Chocolate Milk
--Late night grocery shopping
--Road trips to Coaldale
--The Beatles

A sad goodbye to our favourite detective and all round crazy guy, Punch Hinkson. The Third Street Mystery Gang won’t be the same without you.

Only two more days until the big Sweetheart’s fiasco. I am just grateful that I don’t have to figure out what I am going to wear, and that I don’t have to wear heals all night. Good luck to all that were asked. Will it match Fall Ball or Preference? No, how could it.

A Happy Valentines day to all, I love you, even if it isn’t February.

Love you. Bizarrely, Miss You.

There's Room To Believe

Chocolate icing does not go well with lemon cake. Remember that.

Today was one of my coworkers birthday, so we got cake at work. I pay $2.00 a month for the privilege to get cake about once a month. But is it really a privilege if it is dry/old lemon cake with some sort of red filling in the middle (I could never decide if it was strawberries or cherries) and thick chocolate icing?

Plus, the birthday person has to cut and serve the cake, which I think is lame. It is my birthday; you serve me…and fan me with palm leaves will you are at it. But she came into my office with the cake and said, “Hey Kiddo (which I guess is my nickname at work) I gave you the extra icing because I know you have a sweet tooth.” I guess that is nice, but my heart feels like it is having trouble getting all the blood around.

Just think about what I can look forward to on my birthday! What kind of cake wonder awaits me? I can only hope for chocolate cake with lemon icing! I can’t wait!

I am sorry to all of you who have birthdays in the winter. Too bad we can’t all have summer birthdays.

A happy big 1-8 to Eric on Sunday. When did that happen?!? Where did time go? When did I get so old?

Congrats to The Beatles for playing on Ed Sullivan 43 years ago today. Sick that I still remember that anniversary. (I have been a fan for 10 years now! Isn’t that crazy?)

Here’s to the weekend, and my excitement for sleeping in, finally. Here’s to girls night, hopefully fun, even if there is crying on my kitchen floor. I love you, even if no one else does. Here is to posts about lamo cake. Thank goodness that is my biggest concern/problem right now.

Love you, miss you.

Now's The Right Time For A Good Song

No real news, just cheers for the day.
Here’s to:
--Thursday, a light at the end of our long week tunnel.

--Braden not dying and being in one piece, well, kinda in one piece.

--Jenny for finally returning from the land of married people and babies. It was too long of a week, and look at all the funny stories you missed!

--Flick for being the best co-author a girl could get. You are the hottest girl in the ward.

--Amy for thinking I am funny, even when I am not.

--Tracy for trying too hard to live in One Tree Hill land, and still trying to find me a date to Sweethearts.

--Travis for pretending I have quiet dignity, when we both know that isn’t true.

--Witchcraft for apparently working, for both the good and the bad.

--More dinners out due to a lack of plates.

--My grandparents, I miss all of their crazy antics, but will never admit to it. Living there gave me a lifetime of funny stories.

--New starts and new friends and good times with old friends.

–-Next week, hopefully not as dramatic as this week, but just as funny.

What's Left After The Adrenaline

Well, if there ever was a day that needed a funny story, I think it is today. Sorry to those who know the story, and it will probably take half an hour to tell it. (Right, Travis?)

A couple of years ago when I lived with my grandparents, my grandpa decided he wanted Kraft Dinner for lunch. So, my grandma got out the box and asked my grandpa how to make it.

Now, those who don’t know my grandparents, should know that my grandfather was blind and my grandmother suffers from mild dementia. Knowing this lunch would turn more into a Gong Show than a good meal, I offered to make the macaroni. I have been making Kraft Dinner my whole life, and could probably do it with my eyes closed. But grandma and grandpa both refused. Grandpa use to make it on his mission all the time, he would tell grandma how to make it.

So grandma got out the pot and boiled the noodles. Now when the noodles were sufficiently cooked, she asked my grandpa what the next step was. My grandpa said, “Well, you need one cup of butter and two cups of milk.” I really do think I gasped. Anyone out there who has had Kraft Dinner knows that those amounts of milk and butter are about 10 times what you should add to your macaroni, however my grandparents carried on.

Grandpa then instructed grandma to add the cheese, however grandma said that it looked like too much to add for just one little box, and then she would only add half of the pouch. At this point I knew I was going to have fake some illness to stop from eating this disaster. Grandma mixed everything together and put our lunch in bowls for me and grandpa to eat.

Well, on top of the excess milk and butter, grandma had also forgotten to drain the water from the noodles. So in my dish was light orange macaroni soup.

Needless to say, I did not ask for seconds and after that, spend a lot of time out of the house around lunch/supper time. Five years of meals like that! Try to imagine!

Well, here’s to better lunches in the future, to less injuries at FHE, and to Braden who remained a lot calmer than some of the girls in our ward. To Vic Park who really knows how to step it up when it is needed, I have never been more proud, and to boys who turn into men right before your eyes, and never look for any recognition. You are too cute. And finally to the Dawson's Creek/One Tree Hill moments of our lifes. Good luck to us all.

Don't You Know, Of Course You Don't

A happy Monday to my own Lonely Hearts Club. I have a plethora of brokenhearted girls that I need to take care of; so far, my own heart feels fine.

Don’t worry ladies, you need to remember I wrote the book on the situation, “We Didn’t Date, But We Sure Broke Up.” We will eat ice cream on my kitchen floor if you want; we will sing ‘Let’s Not Be Awkward’ and watch Down With Love. You can find your own sad U2 and/or Blue Rodeo song. Hopefully everyday gets better, besides it is a new week, and things can’t get much worse.

It is funny to think that my own heartbreak and the inspiration for my book was a year ago..today! I hope you still read my blog, Riles. Considering how many times I have told the Tim Horton’s break up story, it is hard to believe that it was just a year ago. It feels like so much longer. But we all have to admit that it is still a funny story, even though I haven’t channeled anything into jogging.

Sadly, I have decided to get out of the Jr. High Matchmaking Game. Sorry, you are all just going to have to fend for yourself. Go straight to the cow, as I was once told.

Well, let’s share some happier news. Flick and I spent our first weekend alone. Sarah and Ginger left us on Thursday and left us with nothing. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. On Friday we had one plate, and one cup, and a bunch of plastic forks. I have told everyone that it is like when the Grinch comes to steal Christmas and only leaves the wire on the walls, that is what my house looks like. However, me and Flick have yet to hold hand and sing in the living room. We are slowly acquiring things, but so far it really isn’t that bad. Just not very good for entertaining, or cooking.

Happy Monday to you! There are only five major stages you have to go through; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. I hope that you have most of the difficult ones over.
Only a couple more weeks until the Sweethearts Dance. (Be optimistic)
Someday there will be happiness in Nottingham.