Well, this is where I open with another thousand apologies for not writing because I know you're all hanging out just waiting on my next post. Yeah...right! I don't even have a good excuse because I'm unemployed right now. Yeah, no job. That's right. What a bum. Kidding, kinda. I don't have a job again until March 4th and it's awesome. Remember in my last post back in January where I was bragging about big news... Yes, this is it! NEW JOB. I'm really excited about it because at first impressions - it's everything I want. The manager has made a great impression, it's the right size of organization and well, I get to earn a little extra cash and get a few extra days off. ALL WINNING, ALL THE TIME.
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| Arizona Sunrise |
Ok - so back to playing catch up.... I am pretty sure I am still on a holiday induced high and I've been home for approximately 2 weeks now. I don't even know how that happens, but it did and it does. My holidays started with accepting a sweet job offer, shortly thereafter, I boarded a plane and spent 6 glorious days in the Phoenix area golfing and relaxing with my grandpa. My grandpa is seriously the best. We golfed, ate, golfed, ate, slept... I got him turned onto Nutella (he even ate it out of the jar with a spoon), we drank Blackberry Sangria, Moscato wine, Bahama Mamas, had a few food successes, some failures (if anyone ever suggests going to the Golden Corral, for the love of god, refuse - BUFFET HELL IN AMERICA) and just a general good time. Now, I'd like to expand further on why I think my grandpa is awesome outside of the fact that we have some of the same DNA. He is another person in my life who has taught me that life is really all about attitude. He always tells me, "Life is choices." He's really right. Not to get on my high horse, but sometimes it appears that people have a sense of entitlement to happiness, like it's just supposed to happen to everyone. But, really it's all about the lense through which you look at everything. As I've probably shared before, "Change your perspective, change your world." And well, it's a choice to change perspective. I admit, not an easy one, but seriously - take out those rose colored glasses and put them on once in a while! I also loved that we were driving down the road, and out of no where - he just announces that life is good. It just melted my heart. I love my visits with my grandpa - nothing is forced. We can talk or we can not talk - silence is ok between us and there is just a feeling of general acceptance and gratitude of our relationship. So, grandpa if you ever read this - I love you tons! Looking so forward to our next visit! I also would like to say thanks to my dad for paving this relationship with us. He always encouraged visits with grandpa - that was a good move! Oh and golf - it's actually improving! I really like it and when I get really frustrated and swear (yes, sometimes in front of grandpa) I feel like a real golfer!
Now, vacation re-cap PART 2. After relaxing to the max in Phoenix, I boarded yet another plane and flew to Vegas and met up with a ridiculously awesome group of people for some rugby related fun! Lisa and I were lucky enough to join up with a rugby team from Grande Prairie - got a few games in. I was so, so, so excited to play again and even more excited when I got a bloody nose, for some reason...I get satisfaction out of getting beat up. Sick, I know! And I don't mean sick cool. After we played, we watched a whole lot of 7s rugby at the USA 7s. That too, AMAZING. Now, what really made this whole entire trip was the group I was with. You get a good group of people in an already very fun place and it's an explosion of fun, laughter and pure ridiculousness all the time. We were all cranked to the max the whole time! 7 of us girls dressed up as Mounties (AKA Mount-Mes) and the costumes were a hit! I will give Kendra full credit for coming up with this idea. While I only rocked my sweet outfit for 1 day, the girls committed to being on the force for 3 days. Yes, for 3 days they wore mountie hats, moustaches and their mountie issued t-shirts! So fun. Now, you're probably going to ask if I saw anything - well.... if you count the inside of several casinos, Freemont Street, a stadium, some awesome rugby, funny costumes, mucho laughter, and 'The Strip' a good meal at the Bellagio, and a ride on the New York New York rollercoaster...then yes...otherwise - no. This wasn't your typical sort of Vegas vacation. I was there to party and there to play and watch rugby. Also, I was suppose to leave on Sunday, but after realizing every other person was leaving on Monday - I changed my flight for a mere $30 and stayed an extra day. WORTH IT! I came home on Monday, beat up and poor but so happy! Then, I got to go to work the next day and quit my job! It was pretty awesome!
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| Game Time Intermission |
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| Members of the Force |
So, now thanks to the Vegas vacation of the year - I've been seriously considering coming out of rugby retirement. I have gone to a couple practices and feel super rusty but have so much fun and if the old knees hold up through indoor and the start of outdoor practices - I'm going to give things a go! I am pretty excited. I miss the team thing so bad. Like really, really, really bad.
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| Spa Day! |
It's the year of 30th birthdays! Mine as well...but not for several months - this will give you all time to plan your presents for me. Jana is the first of my close friends to turn Dirty 30 so Dale and I worked on a birthday scheme to knock her socks off! I showed up at her house on last Saturday morning unannounced and whisked her off to the spa for the day. There, we had pedicures, manicures and massages and relaxed in the sauna and hot tub. It was SWEET! We decided that a yearly spa treatment would become necessary in maintaining our friendship. After our day of beauty, Jana and I went back to her place where Dale had a party set up for her! She had no idea! It was so cool! I think a good time was had by all. I did my best to stay up until midnight - I was still suffering from Vegas. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY EVERYTHING FRIEND! I love you!! xoxoxoxoxo
Another cool thing I did last weekend - first backcountry trip! My dear friend Stacy aka Radass aka Dr.Radics invited me to cross-country ski last week! It was really beautiful! We went out to Lake O'Hara. The ski in was really hard work - pretty much all uphill for 13 km. Everything was great until about 8 km in when I started getting blisters. I grinned through it and we made it safely to the hut! The hut was SO COOL. It had everything you needed. We shared it with 2 other families. Stacy even brought cake mix and made her friend a backcountry birthday cake! Neat, right!? We did puzzles, played some games and went to bed super early! The ski out was all downhill thankfully because my blister was unbearable! Stacy had a really generous friend who offered her boots to me so I could ski out otherwise I was hiking it. Stacy and I both agreed it was a nice time and that we'd both rather hike it than ski it! Perhaps this summer! :)
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| Handwritten Fortunes! |
Ok - food time! Quarterly Sunday Brunch was held yesterday! It has been 1 year since we instated these brunches and they've been super successful!!! The group always ends up between about 7 up to about 15 and you never know who will show up and never know what people will show up with. My friends have been bragging about these brunches so much that they've even started inviting their friends! I seriously love it. This would be one reason I'd like a new house - hosting guests! The theme this time was countries Once again, the ladies outdid themselves! We ate the following:
- Indian Puffed Rice
- Indian Rice Pudding
- Shredded Pork Tacos
- Hungarian Crepes
- Scones with Jam
- Tim Horton's Coffee
- Swedish Meatballs
- Mini Donuts
- And the winner... Fortune Cookies with Handwritten Fortunes!!
Again, due to pure laziness at this time - I have no recipes to post but I have created the following:
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (with no brown sugar so the cookies look funny and I hate it)
- Mini Donuts - Mexican Chocolate and Pumpkin Spice
- Shredded Pork Tacos
And...I think that's it. There's been a lot of salads and a lot of salmon in an effort to clean myself up!
Apologies for this poorly written entry - I'm exhausted today. I had my first Monday night class, and feel like I haven't been sleeping enough! I promise on the next post - you'll get a recipe out of me! I've got a request for cookies in exchange for some workout programming. GOOD DEAL if you ask me! :)
Till then.... TTYL! xo
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