it's a bird, it's a plane, it's......?

Today’s highlight in the hours of slave labour was the appearance of Captain Q Grill. Yep. For my dad’s birthday and Father’s Day, Jeremy and I got him a Q Grill and today he fired it up for the first time. Apparently it was something of a special occasion as he came out in this ensemble to fire it up for the first time. He pretended it was a space ship. My niece loved it. Lets be honest, so did I.


FYI, we had sausages. They were delish.

ah, babies

So exhausted. I think looking after my nephew for several hours has been the most exhausting thing I’ve done so far this week. It’s also the most fun. As enjoyable as it’s been it’s made me realize I am in NO HURRY to have kids of my own. I do want some some day but I have loads of time. There was a point when my niece was crawling all over me and I was trying to keep my nephew from crying and I thought ‘wow at least I can pass them back to their mother’. Ah the joys of auntiehood.

tired, hot & sweaty - and not in a good way

Ah poodles, I’m so sorry but I can’t possibly post my pride pics today. I’m beat. They’re great tho, I got an awesome one of the Mayor. But you’ll see that later. Right now I’m making nine batches of rice for a wedding dish. I pulled pork for hours today as well as assorted cleaning and such. Jeremy spent the day fixing the gazebo with my dad and brother in-law. It was so cute they all had on their wife beaters and were being all handy. This is going to be a tiring, hectic week so if any of you are picturing me maxin’ and relaxin’ on my vacation, stop it. Seriously, stop. Sorry to disappoint but that’s all for now. Seeing as you’re all so lost without me I’ll give you a little treat to sustain you.

free at last

Next week I’m on vacation. No I’m not going to Cuba. I’m going home to my parents in Niagara Falls. We’ve got a wedding to get ready for and well, attend. I realized that I haven’t been at my parents for a full week since I moved out so I’m quite looking forward to it. I expect I’ll be wonderfully tanned when I return, I just hope I kick this cold before I get there.

I considered taking a blog vacation as well, since I know we’ll be busy, but when I thought about the long post a week would produce I balked at the idea. The work around the yard, painting and whatnot could end up reduced to a mere sentence instead of an entire post complete with pics of Jeremy in shorts and a wife beater!! That would be a travesty and unfair to you, my dear readers. Plus I’ll have to post Pride parade pics and I don’t want to wait a week for that (neither do you I’m thinking). So it may not be daily but I’ll still be here, posting away, while on vacation. There now don’t you feel better?

wiggle! for the sake of your health, wiggle!

Still sick. It has moved into my sinuses which is what I feared. There is nothing more devastating to me than sinus pain. It’s agony and it makes me depressed for some reason. So no cure yet for the common cold, but we’ve a new clue - it will have to wiggle. Those scientists should call these guys:

via the wiggles official site

Seriously. The fate of my sinuses could rest in their jazz hands.

feel sorry for me

I’m sick. And slightly miserable. It could be worse but….it still sucks.

ghetto pop or victory pop?

The other day when Jeremy and I went to the Dufferin Mall, we decided to stop for a drink at one of the vending machines outside. They were so cheap! 50 cents for name brand pop and 25 cents for Great Value Cola. I opted for a Dr. Pepper and when I got it I realized why they were 50 cents. It was really dirty first of all, and it looked like it’d been in a fight. I drank it when I got home (had to wash it off) and it tasted good, even a little victorious. So maybe it had been involved in fisticuffs (canicuffs?), but I bet it won.

lovely weekend

Friday I met Maria for drinks at the Flatiron. Ah, beer. Now that I don’t drink at home it’s so much more fun going out for beer. Anyway we played NTN and I won the BATMAN round. Since I just saw Batman Begins and you all know my feeling about Christian Bale I feel this somehow means we are meant to be together. Ah, it was great fun, we requested “sunglasses at night’ and then danced around in our sunglasses. Maria is convinced that she saw Morgan Freeman. I’m not so sure but it did really look like him and he was wearing a long trench coat and that’s the sort of thing he always wears in movies. After we thought he walked by the window we were both glued to the door for like 15 minutes because we thought he would come into the Flatiron for a beer. No such luck.

more flatiron sights at today's grinchala post

Sat & Sun were spent running around shopping with Jeremy (birthdays and a wedding) we ended up having to go to the Dufferin Mall BOTH days, but on a plus note we got to stop in Toys ‘R Us. Jer got this cool Batman penlight that casts the Batman Logo on the wall. When we got home we went in the bathroom and shut off the light so we could get the full effect. Awesome. He also picked up a cool Vader t-shirt. I found a great InuYasha t-shirt at the Smoke & Shop at Yonge and Bloor for $5!! I forgot to take a pic tho.

Sunday I finally got to have homemade food at the in-laws. It was delicious (rhubard pie for dessert!!) and the highlight for me was definitely perusing through some baby picture albums Denise put together and Jeremy’s baby book. She told me I put to many pictures of her son on here but I’ll have to do this one.

oh christian bale the things I would do to you

Saw Batman Begins last night. Oh. My. Even if you’re not a fan of the dark knight I recommend it. I won’t go into a lot of detail because a lot of you won’t have seen it yet and I think knowing little about the story and actors (so many great ones they didn’t advertise) made it better for me so it will do the same for you. go see it now. Now!! All I can say is that it is hands down the best movie I’ve seen this year and it made me revise my top five things I want to be when I grow up:

1. Astronaut/space cowgirl
2. Vigilante
3. Queen of latin dance
4. Spy/assassin
5. Rurouni

Oh and watching this movie made me even more dedicated to the freekatie movement that elo mentioned, tho I heard they announced their engagement.

In conclusion, here are some pictures of Christian Bale from a site that features wet men (which I have bookmarked, by the way).

He is, by far, the best Batman ever. He is such an amazing actor (if you disagree watch American Psycho) and look at that bod. I mean it, look.

i'm busy today so here's some more filler......

It's somewhat interesting tho, to see how people got here...

Last 21 Searchengine Queries Unique Visitors

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i told you!!! it's starting already!!! just do an image search on google for fauxhawk and you 'll see what i mean...

drive by arguments - the only reason i would ever get my license

naughty piece of baggage

I’m a bad, bad, naughty little girl. Payday today so what do I do? Go shopping on my lunch hour. I did get things I needed but I got a few extras too….and with my sister getting married within this pay period I need to save money for that. Darn. Y’know gifts and shoes for my dress and travel expenses and blah blah bah. Not to mention father’s day and numerous birthdays. Heh. Ah well I got the CUTEST WEEKEND BAG EVER. And technically it’s practical because I have to go home for a week and need the extra carrying room. Oooh, I’ll take pictures of it tonight and show you all tomorrow. Don’t act uninterested I know there are some purse and bag fiends out there, namely binsk and elo but there are more……

the leaker strikes again

Am I the only one who cries every time she watches Armageddon? That scene where the little boy says ‘Mommy that salesman is on TV’ and April O’Neil says ‘That’s not a salesman that’s your daddy’, gets me EVERY time. Jeremy actually got all choked up at that scene too. It’s just so touching. Then some more stuff happens and I cry some more.

When Armageddon was over I switched on the TV and I caught the end of City of Angels. Hoo boy, it was a rough night let me tell you.

fauxhawk

What’s this you see? Yes, it is indeed a fauxhawk sported by our lovely spokesmodel Jeremy. I love it. I want to get him to wear it to my sister’s wedding. In fact I think he should wear it everyday. With snug t-shirts covered in nonsense slogans and a kilt (a real one). It’ll start a whole new trend. The ScotRocker®, coming soon to a Gap near you….

centre island for the very first time

This weekend Jeremy planned a surprise adventure for us. I wasn’t told where we were going. Imagine my joy when we arrived at the Island Ferry Docks. I’ve never been to the island and was very excited. Jer pointed out that I needed to get a swan boat pic for the ice queen, so we might as well make a day of it. The ferry was great, I haven’t been on one since I was very small. I can’t remember my exact age but it was when my family went to Moosefactory. Anyway, we got to the island and I called my mum to tell her where I was (I have a bit of a problem getting out and doing things so I like to tell her when I do, she understands what a big deal it is). On we went to Centreville and I immediately was on the lookout for corndogs (no such luck), we settled for burgers which took forever and were overcooked. Blech. But the food is not why we went and we ventured to the Far Enough Farm where I met all sorts of sweet animals – horses, sheep, emus, pigs, bunnies and baby pheasants in the hatching room. So cute. We took made sure we hit up the giant Adirondack chair and as you can see we quite enjoyed it. I had a hard time getting Jeremy of it. I think he was reliving his childhood a bit. We saw one of those old stone water fountains and he was ecstatic when he found out it still worked. He made me drink from it to ‘taste his childhood’. It was a bit dank but hey whatever floats your boat. I got a surprise bag at the gift shop and it had wonderful things inside – pogs, stickers, candy and a colouring book with crayons. Not a bad deal for $1.95! Next it was on to the hedge maze where Jeremy took great pleasure in ducking around corners and trying to lose me, then jumping out moments later and grabbing me. It doesn’t sound romantic but trust me it was. In fact the whole day felt very much like a date. Awwww. It was a great day and I hope to head back several times this summer. I got some awesome shots of the cityline from the island. Slowly but surely I’m making my way around this fabulous city; with a guide like Jeremy I can’t go wrong.








All the pics can be found at clarapics in the centre island album. I urge you to take a look, there are over 50 more pics I just couldn’t be bothered to put up.

*also some are at grinchala.

grrrrrrr

I’m having one of those afternoons where everything annoys me. I feel like the office mother sometimes, everyone comes to me with the simplest of problems (how do I work this paperclip), or whines to me (I’ve had a flu for a week feel sorry for me - or – I know he’s bad news but I love him anyway) or gets in my space (oh is this your desk? I’ll just rifle through it and take what I want). I also really hate it when people talk to me when I’m on the phone. I realize that I have a headset and it’s hard to tell when I’m on the phone. But there are people who will either whisper or talk louder into the one ear not in use, thinking I can listen and respond to two conversations at once. CAN YOU!!??!?!?!

update* i feel i should clarafy that the needing help and whining is annoying when i barely know you. like 'so do YOU think i should marry him?' (um, what was your name again?)

what i see when i sit at home and look to the left, and up a little

pretty city east

The previous post has spurned a request - James wanted a shot facing east so he could see his building. Can you see it here?

Also in this one you can see my reflection and it looks like I’m some sort of omniscient floating being of the downtown area. I could just pick it up and put it in my pocket. Oohhhhh…….

pretty city

I went to go lock up an empty office when I was struck by the view. Here ya go, your eye in the sky for downtown toronto (well yonge & dundas anyway):


Breathtaking isn’t it?

oh. hi there muse.

I’m working on reviving a short story I began in high school or university (can’t remember which). It’s science fiction; a real pulpy old school feeling piece. I think it may get a bit gruesome by the end and for sure will have some crazy ending that no one will ever see coming. I’ll post it on grinchala when it’s done and I’ll let you know. also I hope to work more on that romance novel, but that’s gonna take awhile because it’s gonna be actual book length hopefully. I have an excerpt on grinchala. I was going through some boxes the other night, Jeremy ran out of game boy games to play and I thought I had some more kicking around; I didn’t find any games but I found a bunch of notebooks, poems and cartoons I had abandoned some time ago. In one of the books was the sci-fi story about team ‘Hades’ and their sad end. It made be realize how little I’ve been writing lately (creatively) and I think I felt something akin to determination. I’m not sure exactly, it was so foreign but I think they may have been what it was. Anyway I’m hoping to finish that short story. Be patient, I’ve worked out some plot points today and maybe I’ll finish it this weekend. It’s just little.
Here's a sneak peek:

immodesty

My anniversary present to Jeremy was a t-shirt featuring a graphic I had made of him. Hayley made the actual shirt for me, wonderful woman that she is. Doesn’t he look cute? I think he’s trying to recreate the face on the shirt, which was taken first thing in the morning. The phrase ‘cheerful self appreciation’ was taken from his favourite Asimov quote. Aren’t I thoughtful?


Oh and Denise emailed me this pic that he drew when he was a kid, I feel it showcases his vivid imagination and bizarre….um, bizarre….bizarreness. Meh. Maybe the dinosaur senses a female in the house. Is that what that is? Is this a mating ritual?

woofstock, mice and spaghetti

This weekend was mine and Jeremy’s one year anniversary. We both realized it on Saturday when we glanced at the calendar and saw my hearts drawn on the day. For celebrations we headed down to woofstock at the distillery then on to the old spaghetti factory for din.

Here you can see people milling about the entrance of woofstock and some buildings that Jer took.

After that it was on to the old spaghetti factory, I wanted to go to red lobster for anniversary food but we were right there and I’d never been there before so in we went. I was a little woozy from the sun (as you can see – easily startled) and Jeremy is faking unhappiness when in reality he was happy as a clam, it’s his favourite restaurant. And look spumoni ice cream!!!! I haven’t had that in since I was nine!


That night we had a little run in with some more of Fievel’s children. The one in the sink got away, but the one in the bathtub Jeremy caught and took outside to day camp. Another one was playing in a pizza box and Jer caught that too. Poor Jer, he was fast asleep and I woke him up TWICE to come and get mice. I know, I have a bit of a mouse babies problem but at least we got rid of a couple….


This morning Margaret was back in the office from vacation and she got me and Ingrid presents – PURSES!! Here’s mine, that’s real leather baby!! I love it….







What a lucky girl I am…hmmm, is she talking about the one year anniversary or the purse……or the spaghetti…..hmmm….