Friday, April 29, 2011

Day 144: Black Ruffles

I wore these socks for Thursday and then into the wee hours of Friday morning for the Royal Wedding.

On Thursday I went to Big Feast for breakfast with Kaitlin. We had such a good time catching up. We basically spent the entire time sharing stories back and forth like we hadn't missed any time at all. It was delicious food, with a fabulous friend! I am looking forward to her coming to visit in Calgary.

I went to my old work with my Mom after that and got to see my coworkers adorable little one-month-old baby, Patrick! What a sweet little guy! It was great to see all the people that I used to see and work with everyday. I definitely miss working with many of those people.

After spending a good three hours there, I headed home to have a family dinner. My Aunt came in from the Island and we all had a delicious BBQ together.

I then went for coffee with Amy, Tara and Laura. So nice to see those girls!!! We had a fun time hanging out at Starbucks for a few hours.

THEN (seriously this was a ridiculously busy day), Amy and I came to my house and we chatted in her car for a bit about what's going on in both of our lives. I feel like I made some really solid friends in BC and it's sad that I don't get to see all of these people consistently.

A bunch of people came over to my Mom's house to watch the Royal Wedding. Seriously, this is what dreams are made of! I was ridiculously excited when I saw Harry and William in the car on the way to Westminster Abbey. Such handsome boys, a certain ginger more so than his elder counterpart. Oh, Prince Harry, he's just delightful. That cheeky smile gets me every time! I thought that the bride was absolutely stunning -- and not just because of my serious love of wedding dresses with lace on them. No, that girl would probably look gorgeous in anything; would you really expect less of the bride of the future King? I know that watching this will be something that I remember forever. That was history right there. I feel like it wouldn't do the wedding justice if I didn't mention how Kate's younger sister, Pippa, rocked her form-fitting maid-of-honour dress. Some families really have all the best genes! So, the girls were very classy and beautiful.

And the boys, well, two words: Military Uniforms.
And after those two words all I have left is: Mmmmm.

Cheers to Prince Harry, the newest most eligible bachelor in the UK!

xo

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Day 143: La-la-la CHRISTMAS!

Soo Mallory lent me some Christmas socks! And I wore them yesterday. Christmas is fun no matter what time of year. Christmas in the sunshine -- yes, please! Although it was absolutely pouring yesterday in BC. In fact, it was warmer in Calgary yesterday than here. Craziness.

I am completely enamoured with the idea of going somewhere hot right now. There is nothing I want more at this moment than to sit on a beach, in a bathing suit, sipping some sort of sugary-fruity-alcoholic beverage, and read. For days. Like, lose myself completely in some little book world. And then swim in warm water. Oh, that would be so nice.

Someone want to go on a trip to Mexico? Oh wait, rephrase that: Someone want to pay for me to go on a trip to Mexico with them?

Thanks!

xo

Day 142: Workout socks

Well, let's be honest, I haven't worked out in a while. So it will come as no surprise that I didn't work out while wearing these fairly typical workout socks.

I was doing really well and every week doing Bellyfit and Deep Water Workout. It was really fun. Then exams came along. Unfortunately, during exams I seemed to focus more on studying and homework than on the classes I had paid for. I actually really enjoyed working out though, so I do miss it. My Dad and Stepmom bought an elliptical trainer, I'm embarrassed to say, about a month ago, that I have yet to use. Hmmm I all of a sudden felt a little bit guilty about that.

Anyways so in the workout socks I flew to BC!! To see my family and friends! And it's amazing!

I wrote my last exam in the morning, flew to BC in the evening.

After landing, my Mom and I stopped at Safeway for a delicious (as always) Safeway deli sandwich and then headed home. I spent some time talking to my family, saw the silly Canucks win against the Blackhawks and then went to bed, ready for spending the next day with my Mom!

xo

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Day 141: Polkadotted Lulu

These socks belong to Mallory and they are super comfortable!

Monday was my last day at the job i've had for the last 7 months while I've been in school. Wow, last semester, when I started, seems like forever ago. I can't believe it's already been that long.

It's fitting that I would wear a pair of Mallory's socks on a day that is my day working with her. I totally enjoyed working there, the people there, all the laughs we all had everyday! And on my last day they got me a delicious cake and a card, which was super sweet.

Goodbyes are always the worst, aren't they? I generally turn into a big soppy mess when having to say goodbyes. Although, work goodbyes where you are not leaving town are not nearly as emotional. I can still stop in and say hello to these people. Leaving BC was much harder because I was saying goodbye to people that I saw everyday, that I no longer get to see everyday. Also when leaving BC, I was saying goodbye to carpooling with my Mom to work. That was always one of my favourite parts of the day. It's totally interesting how quickly things change. And how quickly as humans we adapt to changes.

Here comes another chapter of my life...

xo

Monday, April 25, 2011

Day 140: Hole-y Purple Argyle

These socks have a nice hole on my right foot. Originally I wrote, 'in the right one.' I then realized that doesn't make sense because socks generally don't have a specific foot that they are made for. I realize there are some exceptions to that, but for the most part they are unifoot. Can that be the foot related word for unisex? I made that.

I've been feeling guilty thinking recently that I don't have any idea about politics. I've taken a few politics related quizzes (which are clearly always right) and they generally tell me to vote Liberal, based on my responses. This is strange for someone that has admittedly always voted Conservative because it is the "Christian" vote. I have been feeling though that I really do need to research what party most closely maps to what I believe and what I think would be good for the country I live in. Voting for a party based on everyone else's views is not the way to go. Finding out what they all stand for and mapping that with what I stand for is a much better idea.

So that is my plan. After my exam tomorrow. Well, and after packing my bag for BC. I plan to learn more about politics and the political parties and their platforms. I plan to go to the polls this year with an educated opinion of who I'm voting for and most importantly, why. If I can't stand behind the vote then the vote is pointless. I won't do that this time.

xo

Day 139: The horn, the horn, it sounds so forlorn

Together with my friends we tried to figure out what each of these instruments are. Piano, Guitar, Violin/Cello (still undecided), and a bugle are what we came up with. These socks are pretty rad.

Saturday was my brother Chad's birthday breakfast with the family. I slept in much later than I intended, but I was at a movie late on Friday night and was still feeling sick. Needless to say I was not awake in time to help with the preparation of the birthday breakfast. I earned mine by doing all the dishes after the meal though. Then I studied. Of course. With just one exam left it's hard to focus, but I'm going to make it!

In the evening I went to Krista's house for her Easter Egg Hunt party. I vetoed some of the overly questionable things she had planned for this party. It was a great time!! It was the last party at Krista's house (sniff, sniff) and I celebrated that with wine! And I made my own hummus. Seriously, that is the easiest stuff to make. It turned out a bit too runny and not flavourful enough for my liking, but I will try it again sometime and hopefully it will be even better that time. I will have to over-garlic and over-lemon it the next time. And maybe over-spice it too with the cumin and coriander.

Great last party at Krista's (aside from a serious case of verbal/accusation diarrhea on my part and the loss of my favourite lip gloss somewhere in her home -- these two things are not related!)!!!

Will miss Krista more than she could know.

xo

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Day 138: Somewhere Over The Rainbow

I've realized that I actually miss wearing some of my favourite socks. It's been 138 days of this blog. Well, more actually, considering the few times I've had to make it longer due to my inability to blog everyday when I'm stressed. And yeah, some of my favourite socks I wore near the beginning because they were ones I already owned. I have just under 200 days left of blogging and then I can wear some of my favourites again! I already have two piles of socks: the must keeps and the possible give-aways.

A friend brought up the idea of donating all of the socks to a charity, rather than Value Village or something like that. I'm going to look into that and see if there are any charities that bring socks to people overseas. Wouldn't that be sweet? I was thinking Toms (you know the shoes everyone is wearing now that if you buy a pair, they donate a pair to someone that needs shoes in a third-world country), anyways I was thinking maybe they have something sock related. And if they don't, hopefully I'll find something. Or maybe I'll just start my own sock recycling program to send to those that are in need. Hmmm...I will think about this!

xo

Friday, April 22, 2011

Day 137: Hot Potato Pink

I think that hot pink socks are always a fun choice. Thursday I went to work all day. It was a fairly typical shift. However, I realized while I was there that it was my second last shift at that company. In less than two weeks I start my summer coop placement. Sort of nerve-wracking really. I'm not afraid of the people or the job itself, but in true-to-me fashion, I'm nervous about taking transit downtown. Not because of the people on transit, but because I can't handle feeling powerless over what time I arrive. I will most definitely map everything out as best as I can and most likely do a practice run so I know exactly where I'm walking to once I get off of the train. A week and a half away and I'm already worried about being late. So ridiculous.

Anyways, on Thursday evening I went to dinner with my friend Nathan. He's one of the friends that I kept in touch with while I lived in BC and he even came to visit once while I was out there. Oddly enough, even though I've been back for eight months, I've seen him less than a handful of times. That's pretty much as ridiculous as my fear of being late. We went and had dinner at a restaurant near my house that I'd never been to. It was so yummy! I had tamarind chicken and this is how pretty it looked:
I thoroughly enjoyed that meal. I ate the whole thing, with the exception of the flower. Mmmmm.

After dinner we went to see a movie because I had a two for one coupon. Being a student has made me pretty cheap, which is probably a good thing at this point in my life. The first place we went to use the coupon didn't actually take it so we walked around Chapters for a bit and then went to Nate's house to see his Dad's delicious new car!! Nate gave me the grand house tour (house tours are always my favourite!) and then we came back into town and went to the later movie. We saw 'Your Highness' and let me tell you, it was rude. Nate even said, "are you sure you want to see this? I think it's supposed to be pretty crude." And of course, that was more like a challenge in my twisted little brain. So we went. It was crude. Probably wouldn't see it again, but I sure did enjoy seeing James Franco's ADORABLE smile through the entire movie. That man is so genetically blessed.

So I leave you with this:
You're welcome.

xo

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Day 136: Shades of Easter

Shades of Easter should be the name of some little indie band. I suppose it could be interpreted many ways, actually.

Today has been a fabulous day! I woke up nice and early and went to Starbucks to study. While I only got through one of the bullets on my study sheet, I did have a great talk with Rebecca. She is another one of the many friends that are leaving Calgary this year. Seriously, next semester will be so different without all these people here. Even summer will be different. But anyways, we had a good time and I think she got a bit more studying done than I did. Hopefully so, since her exam is tomorrow and my next one is not until next week.

After studying, I headed to work. At work later in the afternoon I checked my grades online for Stats because I knew they were posting them right away and I almost fell off my chair. In fact I yelled out, "OH MY GOD!" and pushed back on my roller chair from the desk. I ran out to tell Mallory.

"I GOT 100% ON MY STATISTICS FINAL! Oh my gosh. Is that a thing? Do people do that? How did I get 100??"

I called my Mom and started the conversation with, "Mom, you birthed a genius..."

I felt like if I didn't tell the people that faithfully follow my blog about this that I was somehow cheating you out of the best part of my day. I was, and still am, so excited. I know I'm bragging, but I am just totally shocked over it all.

So that would be a final mark of an A+ in Statistics (97% overall). When I got home I checked my mark in my HR class where the last assignment was worth 60% of my mark. I got an A.

Today is an amazing day for my grades. Let's keep going on this roll...

xo

Day 135: Rubik's Cube

Aren't these socks the BEST? Total Rubik's cube socks. These were perfect for the day that I was writing my statistics final exam. I needed to channel my inner nerd in a serious way and figured that socks that looked like Rubik's cubes could do just that.

After a really terrible sleep (nerves, maybe?) I got up and took my sweet time getting ready. I went to school and sat and added a couple more things to my cheat sheet. One girl in my class copied an entire past exam including answers onto her cheat sheet. I was wondering if her way was better than my way of just putting formulas that I would need and some common answers to difficult questions that I had come across while studying. Everyone else seemed to have maxed out their 2 pages front and back cheat sheet allowance. Mine was just one sheet front and back and then on the second page I copied down some examples that, to be honest, I didn't even end up looking at in the exam. Oh well, better to be safe than sorry!

The exam itself was three hours long. That is a long time to be doing calculations and second guessing everything you are writing down. Not to mention this ridiculous cough and sore throat that i've acquired. I coughed a lot in the exam and ate almost an entire package of throat lozenges just to keep my coughing to a minimum. I didn't want to be that annoying person in the exam that was making everyone else mad. Plus, the exam was in the gym and everything echoes in there.

Once it was over I felt a little bit unsure of how I did. I always feel like that with stats. I end up getting good marks usually, but I don't feel confident in the answers that I am writing down.

My only thought when I walked out was, "and now I get to take Stats II, next semester." I felt like the actual being done the first class was rather anti-climactic when I know I just have to go through more stats next semester. But after next semester I will be rid of it forever!

xo

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Day 134: Ninja Kick(s)!

Found these socks in Edmonton at a little store we came across, that I LOVED. My ninja socks.

I wore these on Monday.

This is me ninja fighting the cold that is slowly but surely coming on.

This is me ninja fighting my stats cheat sheet.

This is me ninja fighting my inability to sleep two nights in a row.

This is me ninja fighting to care about my stats exam after all this frustration whilst studying.

This is me ninja fighting my laundry that won't do itself.

Monday: over.

xo

Day 133: Animal Print

So it looks like I have no ankles in this picture. That's pretty adorable.

Sunday was such a boring day. I did so much homework. I went to school at 10am, when the library opened in order to finish a paper due on Monday. My group and I ended up staying there until 4pm doing just that one assignment. It was brutal. Thank goodness it's over.

My original plan was to stay at school after writing the paper to study stats some more. However, after that long working on a paper, I just wanted to be at home. I headed home to recommence studying there. It worked. I ended up working my way through another entire practice stats exam, which was just over three more hours worth of work.

I had a nice relaxing bath after that for about an hour and read some Jane Austen. I needed some down time because I was starting to feel like I was getting some sort of cold. Not good timing right before my stats exam.

Then I was up a ton of the night coughing, feeling generally crappy and in and out of sleep. Not fun.

Whine. Whine. Whine.

xo

Day 132: Always buzzing just like Neon.

Socks of choice for the drive back to Calgary from Edmonton.

After not getting the best sleep at the hotel, we loaded up on coffee and went out for breakfast. The breakfast at Urban Diner in Edmonton was delicious!!! I had scrambled eggs, hashbrowns that were to die for, and homemade bread with jam. I also had sausages. Those that know me well know that I very rarely eat pork. I saw these sage maple sausages on the menu though and I really wanted to try them. They were yummy! Anything with maple is usually delightful in my books, but these were more heavy on the sage than the maple and were still delicious.

We were all nice and full after breakfast and so we headed on our way home. I slept about half the way back and for the other half Tammy and I played games on Andrew's iPad. Those things are pretty sweet!

Once I arrived at home from the drive, I spent the rest of the afternoon studying statistics for my Tuesday exam. I realized while doing the studying that I was really rusty in some areas and would need to spend a lot more time. After a yummy Chinese food dinner, I studied some more. Finally, later in the evening I took a break to watch a movie with my parents. There is only so much studying you can do in one day. We watched the movie Country Strong, with Gwyneth Paltrow. I didn't think that I would like it, but it wasn't all that bad. Inspired me to want to sing country music! I think twang is cute!!!

xo

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Day 131: Pretty in Pink, Cats

Hot pink kitty cats with perfect posture cover these socks!

Friday I meant to study for Statistics. I really did. However, I woke up and found out Ginger was ready to be picked up. So, I went for $2 casino breakfast with about eight different people. Got to hear the story about how Daniel proposed to Ashley, which was definitely a highlight of the day! I am so excited for those two!! After breakfast, I picked up my car. Then, a little while later, some people were going for lunch and I wanted to go. I printed some practice exams off for Stats and then headed off to lunch. Serious procrastination.

After I came back from lunch, I had to shower and pack my bag for Edmonton that evening. I was headed to Edmonton with Krista, Tammy and Andrew (and we met Allie and Matt there). We were going for a night to go to a bar, a gay bar to be precise, to support their friend Greg, who was DJing.

The drive up to Edmonton was SO much fun. Andrew had made some sweet mixes (like 90's songs, dance mixes, and a sing-along CD). We basically danced like fools and sang the entire way there. Once at the hotel we got ready to go out, since we didn't get in until 9ish.

By the time 10:30 or 11 rolled around, we were ready to go out. The bar was right around the corner from the hotel, which was convenient! We didn't have to pay cover because we were on the VIP list, thanks to Greg! We all had a great time dancing and the $3 drinks on Friday nights were a bonus too.

There was one creepshow person there that made me especially uncomfortable...and possibly Krista too...but other than that the dancing was fun and the general partying with some great friends was a really good time.

Strangest thing for me to get over: the notion of bathrooms being basically unisex at a gay bar. It seemed strange to use the men's washroom, but it really didn't matter to anyone at all.

All in all, it was a good night. And our hotel was super sweet too. With the exception of the bathroom door. But that's a whole other story.

xo

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Day 130: Knitted "Ecology"

These socks are AMAZING because my Auntie Dawn knitted them for me! They are super soft and comfortable. She is obviously talented and I love her so much! The colour scheme is called Ecology.

Special socks for a special day too. After work on Thursday I attended a PostSecret event. For those of you that don't know what PostSecret is, you should! A man, Frank Warren, from Maryland, one day decided to give out blank postcards with his address on them and encourage strangers to mail him their secrets. It's turned into quite the huge deal. He has received over 500,000 postcards from people with their secrets on them. At the event, Frank Warren spoke about how PostSecret came to be, why he thinks it's become as popular as it has, and he even shared some of his own secrets. The audience was then encouraged to participate and tell their secrets, if they were comfortable enough to go to the microphones and share. A lot of people did, which was crazy. Sometimes it was cool, other times it was uncomfortable. The whole event was really sweet though. I'm glad I went. And 100% of the proceeds from that evening went to support the Centre for Suicide Prevention.

After the event, Krista and I went to Milestones and had our favourite meals! We always love to get the Goat Cheese and Garlic Flatbread plate as an appetizer. It is SO delicious. And then we also both really enjoy the Chicken Pesto Fettucini. It is creamy and flavourful. Mmmm, I just love those two dishes!

Thursday was a totally fabulous evening! Oh, except that was the day I found out Ginger was costing me $500 to fix her. How wonderful.

Honestly though, the amazing evening more than made up for any black mark that Ginger put on that day.

Ecology is a good thing!

xo

Friday, April 15, 2011

Day 129: Black Lacy Nylon

Throwback to my childhood. These were from Krista.

Lately I have been having extremely vivid dreams. Having vivid dreams is not a foreign concept really, but the fact that as of late I've been mixing up my dreams with reality is definitely a foreign concept. Only once in my life before the last week have I been completely convinced that a dream was true.

That time was at winter retreat with the youth group when I was in grade 11 or 12. I think it was grade 11. I woke up in the morning mad at my best friend Melissa. In my dream she had done something that upset me, I can't even remember what it was now, but when I woke up I was convinced that this had happened. I was giving her the cold shoulder while we all brushed our teeth in the morning. This was totally confusing to her and came down to her eventually saying, "I don't understand why you're mad at me..." and I explained. She said, "ummm...what? That didn't happen." After thinking about it, I realized I had dreamt it happening. It was a strange feeling when I realized I was actually crazy.

This is the problem I've been having this week. Nothing significant has come up where I was mad at anyone, but I have had strange moments where I am convinced that someone told me something, only to find out it's all in my head.

Very disconcerting.

xo

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Day 128: Cinderella, True Love

My Cinderella, True Love socks were just waiting to be worn! I was actually saving these sweet things for a special day! Since I decided in my last blog that I was going to try and find a real prince, I thought these were the appropriate socks for the day.

And the most amazing thing happened. But before I say what it was, you need background information as to how it all came about.

After I was done (my last!) statistics class on Tuesday afternoon, I spent the rest of the day doing homework. I had to write a paper that was a minimum of five pages all about team dynamics and my analysis of the team that I worked with on a presentation and paper. This took me the majority of the afternoon and into the evening. At around 7:45ish, after I had just finished printing my paper and was internally celebrating my small victory, my brother asked if I wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese for Andrew's birthday. Naturally, I said yes. How could someone honestly turn down Chuck E Cheese? I hadn't been since I was a very little kid so I was actually quite excited. While the three guys mostly talked about bands I had never heard of on the ride up there, once we were there it was an awesome time. I completely forgot how much fun those arcade-style games are!

One of the machines made little I.D. cards for you. You put in a token, push the button to say if you are a boy or a girl, and then you lean waaaaaay back, since we're big kids, in order for the machine to take your picture to put on your new photo I.D. There were about 6 different I.D. cards you could end up with for boys. And about the same amount for girls. Kaitlyn went first. She told the machine she was a boy and got an I.D. card for a Pro Skateboarder. That was pretty sweet. Chris went next and got an I.D. card for a Movie Star. Also pretty stellar.

Now I come to the amazing part! I took my turn. I put in my token. I pressed "Girl." I leaned waaaaaay back. The machine took my picture. In about 15 seconds, this popped out:


I laughed really hard and was really excited! This is what the back of my new I.D. card says:

My kiss possesses the magic to spread joy and happiness? That is news to me, but what a delight!

So, while I did not meet a real prince (that I know of!), I did receive confirmation, from the very respectable Chuck E Cheese, that I am, in fact, a Royal Princess.

As if it was ever debatable.

xo

Monday, April 11, 2011

Day 127: Red and Black Checkers

These are the last of the checkered socks that I have right now. And I just realized I should have been doing laundry tonight to catch up on those socks that I need to wear again. Oops. Hopefully I remember tomorrow night!

Today I will delight your eyes with a lovely story to read about how Disney has continuously ruined my perceptions of life and how it works. More importantly of love, and how that works. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Disney. I grew up watching Peter Pan (which is my favourite), The Little Mermaid, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (why is it dwarfs and not dwarves? English majors?!), Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Lion King, Aladdin, etc., etc. I appreciate that they are cartoons. I appreciate the subtle humour that many of them contain. I appreciate that on the surface they were very entertaining as a child. 

But now that I am older, wiser, understand (somewhat) how life works, I am upset that Disney is allowed to continue to portray love in the way that they do. Seriously. Eric, a prince, falls in love with the girl that can't speak, Ariel, and they get married. Prince Charming falls in love with Cinderella and won't give up until he's found her. The Beast falls in love with Belle, but guess what, he's a prince...I could go on, but I'll stop there. You get it. Why are they always princes and princesses? What is this fascination that Disney has with royalty? Girls wait their entire lives for "the one" their "prince charming" -- but how many people actually get a full out prince? Not many. And why the hell not? Because it's completely unrealistic!  

Ever since Kate Middleton showed up in a magazine on a ski trip with Prince William, I actually thought they would get married. I didn't know anything about either of them, really. Just that Prince William is blonde, cute and has a LOT of names (William Arthur Phillip Louis Mountbatten-Windsor...I just googled that). I wasn't a royal follower of any sort, although I felt small twinges of excitement when I heard things like Princess Diana had taken her kids to McDonald's and they were the first royals to eat there. Fist pump for consumerism! But there was just something about those ski trip pictures that brought up feelings of excitement for them. I'm a girl -- dating, love and weddings are exciting to me. Get over it. 

When they finally (what, 8 years later?) announced that they were, in fact, getting married, I was all over that news. I've been reading about it for months. MONTHS. Whenever I see Kate Middleton on a magazine, I immediately want it. So far I don't think I've actually bought any, but I hover and I definitely read more than is allowed in a grocery store check-out line. And I sigh. And I ooohh and aaahh over it. 

Plain and simple: I want a prince. And not a "he's the one for me, he's kind of cute in an awkward, unkempt sort of way and yeah, he's my prince." No. I want a prince. Like, the real thing. Disney taught me that pretty much every girl gets a prince. So where is mine? Tomorrow I will wear my Cinderella socks in hopes of somehow meeting a real prince. Like maybe he'll just show up in my Stats class, never having been there before, and we'll fall madly in love. It must happen. Disney told me so.

xo

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Day 126: White and Black Checkers

The next shade. It's a trend.

Remember two days ago when I wrote about how I wasn't a huge fan of the mac and cheese at a popular local restaurant?

Well, eating it two days later, I stand corrected. The leftovers of the mac and cheese were incredible! The initial 'runny creamy' that I didn't like turned into a thicker cream from sitting for a couple days in the fridge. When I reheated that, it was like heaven in my mouth. Food that is so good because you can taste how bad it is for you. I knew I was clogging my arteries. I knew it was going right to my ass. I knew I shouldn't eat it all. But I did. And I enjoyed every...single...bite. Mmmmm.

I spent another almost 7 hours on that same project today. However, today I finished it. It's not due until Wednesday, but I needed to get it done this weekend in order to be able to write a paper for another class that's due on Wednesday as well. I'm in the home stretch, I can feel it. Two more papers and two exams. Oh, and printing my project because my printer at home has all of a sudden decided it doesn't want to print colour. The ink cartridges are totally full, I have 'colour' selected...I gave up. My printer and my car should be best friends.

xo

Day 125: Pink and Black Checkers

I clearly bought these in a pack that came in all different colours. Genius. I am almost out of socks!!!! This is alarming.

I wore these little pink socks on Saturday. On Saturday I spent a solid 8 hours or so on one project for school. Seriously I was thinking this project would be the death of me. So boring. And SO much work. And I am paying for this. Really! School is so backwards. Someone should be paying me to do that crap. I shouldn't have to pay to be overworked, stressed, apprehensive and have no social life. It takes away from the money I want to spend on the social life I wish I had. Rude.

I also found out on Saturday that Ginger (my car) is being grumpy again. This time she has a hole somewhere because my coolant is leaking. Her low coolant light came on last week so on Thursday we filled her up with coolant again. Well on Saturday my Dad went out to check on her and my radiator was empty again -- no coolant. This is the never-ending saga of my life with Ginger. Poor girl obviously just hated the ridiculously cold winter and decided to show it. But now that it's warming up, coolant is probably even more important. I don't really know if that's true or if that's how it works, but I'm going to think that.

Saturday night Krista, Tammy and I had girls night. It was SO much fun! Tammy made the most delicious margherita pizza! She made the dough and Krista and I cut up the tomatoes, basil and bocconcini. We put it all together with a bit of olive oil, sea salt and pepper. And in just a few minutes we had one of the most delicious pizzas I have ever eaten in my life! To go with the pizza we shared a lot of wine, a lot of stories, and a lot of feelings! Such girls. For real. It was ridiculous fun though and I'm really excited that the three of us are going to be on a road-trip to Edmonton on Friday for the night. Can't wait!

xo

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Day 124: Christmas in April

Yep, I wore Christmas socks yesterday. They were a super bright shade of red. That's just how I do it, friends.

Yesterday after doing a TON of homework and feeling extremely productive, I went out for dinner and drinks with some friends. We decided to try a restaurant called FARM. I have heard rave reviews about this place and wanted to try it for myself. I have been told by many people that their Macaroni and Cheese is 'to die for' and so I definitely wanted me some of that action.

The restaurant itself is really cute. They have white wood-panelling and it's welcoming. The kitchen is out in the open, which I thought was really cool. Just two chefs for the one small restaurant was kind of perfect, actually. I ordered a delicious Chardonnay and was very happy with that. Two of the ladies that I went with ordered a cheese platter to share and so I had two tastes of a goat/gouda cheese that was completely delicious. It was paired with a beet relish that was also really tasty. This bite of cheese gave me high hopes for the macaroni and cheese that was on its way to me.

When we did get our meals, I dug right in. But it was difficult, initially, because they give you a large spoon to eat the macaroni and cheese with, but the macaroni noodles are longer than the spoon. I eventually (read: quickly) gave up on the spoon in favour of a fork. I absolutely loved that there were bread crumbs on top of the mac and cheese. That's one of my favourite things is bread crumbs baked on top of pasta. However, the mac and cheese, to me, was fairly lacklustre. It was honestly just "ok." I am a huge pasta advocate and if I wouldn't weigh 400 pounds, I would eat it every night. I found that while I liked the bread crumbs and liked that there was a tiny bit of a kick to it, it was much too creamy. Now, to be fair, I am semi-lactose intolerant, but that wasn't what was holding me back with this pasta. There was just way too much cream and not enough noodles for all of that cream. There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of enjoying something so much that you completely clean your plate off, but I felt that if I were to do that I would die of a cream-induced heart attack. Needless to say I took half home, but have yet to partake in it again.

I would give the restaurant another try because I thought all the staff were extremely friendly and because the wine and cheese were so good. Next time I'll give a different entree a try.

xo

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Day 123: Tigger's a Wonderful Thing


Day one of styling my new hair was an adventure in itself. I haven't had hair like this so everything is completely new. A bunch of people warned me that I would use too much shampoo, so in my usual style I was extra careful, and I didn't. Challenge number one: conquered. Challenge number two: the actual hair styling. Not so much. I didn't have time to buy hair products last night. Luckily, my dad had some hair 'gum' that I could use. What a foreign concept. Gum that you actually want IN your hair? Very strange. So I busted out the blow dryer. So excited that it would take less than 15 minutes to dry my hair. I kid you not, my hair is so thick, that is how long it would take me. Today was around a total of 4 minutes. Incredible. The blow drying was fine, it was the styling that was harder. I couldn't remember if my hairdresser had put the gum in my hair before she styled it with a flat iron or after. I probably don't have to use a flat iron, I just thought it was really cute!

Anyways, so I flat-ironed it first. I made little curls as well as I could on my own. I even tried to flip out the little edges by my ears again. My hair has been so long, straight and heavy for such a long while that it naturally parts just off centre. Well, with the short hair it is still parting itself in the middle. That's not as cute when you're not a 7-year-old boy in a class photo. I am now realizing that I will have to do a lot of playing around with my hair in order to re-train it that crazy is okay! Apparently even my hair knows I'm a straight-laced individual. How completely boring.

My third challenge was going into the hair product aisle at Shoppers Drug Mart this evening. Honestly, I take forever to make a decision in those places. I knew this from previously buying shampoo/conditioner and body wash. Body wash is almost the worst because I want to smell them ALL before I'll make a decision. Walking into the hair products aisle was walking into a previously untapped world of "must-have" retail purchases. Dangerous for a student that just got a speeding fine. I knew that I wanted a certain type of mousse, as it had been recommended by a couple of people. I headed there first. My eyes lit up when I saw, "SALE. $2.99"! Dream come true. $2.99 -- really? How have I not bought this ever before? Mousse would have been good in my long hair too maybe. It better smell delicious! Tomorrow, at some point, I will need to go and buy some pomade. I have my mind set on trying 'Redken Rewind' since again, many people recommended it, but I have to buy that at a salon. Let's hope the word "SALE" graces that price tag as well.

Please hope that I do not become a total hair product junkie! I can't afford it.

xo

Day 122: Surgery

These are the socks that were given to me by Dr. Liz Zubek. She said the patients at the hospital wear these. I figured it was fitting, since my hair was having surgery today. Please note that they are xxl adult size. The grips went higher than my ankle which was pretty cute. They were surprisingly comfortable though, despite them being much too large for my skinny feet.

Today was a day of firsts. I cut my hair shorter than my chin for the first time that I really remember. I know I had shorter hair as a kid, but I don't really remember the times that it was cut that way. The hair donation was a success. All of the hair was able to be donated! I was worried that some strands wouldn't be long enough, but they all were! And now I have a super cute little pixie cut that I LOVE. All my apprehension about the haircut was gone as soon as it was done. Even when she was still trimming it while it was wet, I just knew I would adore it. I will post a picture on here hopefully tomorrow, but it's much too late right now.

After that, I went to my first 'My Chemical Romance' concert. I definitely enjoyed it. Partly because I enjoy the people I went with so much, and partly because I like to dance/bounce around and their music definitely provides the opportunity for that. Most of the time I couldn't understand the words, like most live concerts if you don't know the songs previously. Also, the bass was too loud and was causing some feedback. Oh wait, I think that was during one of their opening band's sets. Regardless, there were a few annoying things, but overall it was a REALLY fun night!

Once I got home, I received my last 'first' in the mail...my first speeding ticket. :(
After such a fantastic day, that was a crappy thing to come home to. $124 for going 50km/h in a 30km/h zone. Stupid Elbow Drive and its ridiculously long playground zone. How inconvenient for me.

Now I head to bed because it's after midnight and I have to work at 8am.

Thanks again for all of your support for my hair donation. It is so very appreciated!

xo

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Day 121: Orange Towels

There ended up being about 5 pairs of socks that I had worn that I am going to wear again in order to get this blog back on track. Apparently this last month of school has really messed with my personal/social life. Maybe calling a blog a part of my 'social' life is a bit of a stretch. Today I am wearing these orange towel-like socks that Krista gave to me. Apparently when she was quite a lot younger a friend came over one day, I think for a sleepover, and forgot her socks at Krista's house. Krista has since washed them and had them ever since. My friend being somewhat of a klepto is advantageous for me and this blog, so I won't complain. Maybe I'll guard my socks the next time I'm over there though...hmmm.

I am feeling overwhelmed. So many emotions in one head, at one time. I'm feeling excitement.  Excitement to finally cut my hair off tomorrow! After four months of fundraising (and $2220 raised for the Canadian Cancer Society!!!), the time to cut my hair is finally upon me. I'm feeling apprehension. Apprehension of, "what if it looks bad on me?", "what if I can't pull this look off?", "what if I cry?", "what if it ruins my chances of ever getting a man?" -- okay, I know the last one is irrational, but this is what I do to myself when I'm nervous! I'm feeling proud. Proud that I've managed to raise so much money for such a good cause. Proud that my hair will be going to help women faced with the reality of losing their hair because of a disease. The women are the reason that all of my fears/apprehensions/idiotic ramblings are worth it. The women diagnosed with cancer often don't have the choice of if they want to lose their hair or not. This is something that just happens as a reality of going through chemotherapy. If my hair can help and make even one of these women smile, I have done my part.

I was moved deeply by a funeral I went to on Saturday for a couple of my friends' Mom, Mirielle Noel. She was such a bright, sunny person. Always laughing, always smiling. Cancer has taken this lovely lady from us, and that is why raising money is even more important. We need to stop this disease and find a cure. And before a cure even comes, we need to give, to help those that are dealing with cancer. I will miss seeing Mirielle's smiling face at church. I will especially miss her infectious laughter and her sincere bear hugs.


I dedicate this fundraising and hair cutting venture to the memory of Mirielle Noel. May she always be remembered for her overwhelming amount of great qualities -- her energy, determination, fun-loving spirit and her unending love.


I also wish to dedicate this to my Papa, who passed away in 2003 from cancer.


And to all those who have been affected by cancer in any way, I hope to honour each and every one of you and/or your family and friends this day.

I love my hair.
But I love people more.
Bring on the hair-cutting. I'm ready now.

xo

Monday, April 4, 2011

Day 120: Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore grippy socks

Really how does spell check not recognize Tigger and Eeyore as names? Pretty sure both of them have been around since WAY before spell check was even invented. What kind of a silly spell check creator would not put those names in there. Oh wait, that was stupid. I am pretty sure most dictionaries don't contain many names. Oops.

I contemplated deleting that whole paragraph after realizing that I'm an idiot, but it's much funnier to leave it up so you can all appreciate my thoughts and the way I come to my conclusions.

So! I just found out tonight that my friend Mallory just bought a fancy new camera and is going to take pictures of me on Wednesday when I cut my hair!!! I am thinking that since I'm so behind in my blog I should wash a few more pairs of socks and re-wear them. Again. I'd be stretching my blog by a few days, but I will make it to 365 days eventually. It will just take me closer to 380 days by now. :) I was thinking that Wednesday should be my restarting point since it's such a momentous day for me! I have currently raised $2110 for the Canadian Cancer Society to support me cutting off my hair and donating it to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign! This is so incredible! And now I'll have some nice pics to show of it! And my haircut is free because my hairdresser is incredible sweet like that.

I'm getting EXCITED!

xo

Day 119: Comfy, microfiber socks/booties

Most comfortable socks. Seriously. These were like heaven on my feet.

Okay, so last Saturday (not like 2 days ago Saturday, but the one before that. Yes, i'm that behind in my blog). Anyways, so last Saturday it was Andrew's surprise party. It was a total success! We managed to legitimately surprise him! His face was fantastic, and Krista put it best in saying, "Umm Andrew, your surprised face looks a lot like your angry face and I'm not sure how I should feel right now!"

Krista, Randi and Tammy managed to plan a totally sweet scavenger hunt. We went all around the deep south of Calgary (where they all have accents and talk like "thaaaaaas", obviously). We went to places that had to do with Andrew's life, places he worked, places he went to school, etc., and took group photos at each of them. Bonus points were given to those in human centipede formation for many of the photos. Trust me, you don't want to google that.

After the scavenger hunt we went back to Randi's for chili and drinks and 'Pin the iPod on Andrew' -- good times. It was a really fabulous night. Krista spent much of her evening having "moments" with people. I think this is what happens when someone is moving to another country and is trying to spend as much time with her friends as possible. We haven't had our "moment" yet, so I'm sure that will be coming in the next couple months before she goes off to London town.

These socks were not the socks I actually wore on the day of the party, but the ones I did wear, I am actually wearing again today because it was one of those two pairs I forgot to take pictures of. These ridiculous comfortable white socks were worn in the evening after Krista and I waged war on a house cleaning venture. I know this sounds extreme, but the house was extreme. Suffice it to say that it was incredibly dirty and that I can't imagine EVER living like that. We basically cleaned a couple rooms for a family that essentially lives the life of an episode of "Hoarders". My skin crawls thinking about it. Therefore, after scrubbing myself down twice in the shower after we left their place, I put on the coziest socks in my sock drawer and headed off to watch Harry Potter. Thank goodness I had Harry Potter to look forward to on a day like that. Thank goodness I had a brave friend to go into battle with me. Thank goodness my parents keep their houses clean.

xo

Friday, April 1, 2011

Day 118: Pink Stripes

Confession time:

I have totally messed up the days of my socks lately. I was pulling clothes out of my laundry hamper to do some washing and realized that there were two pairs of socks that I didn't even take pictures of, but totally wore. So...I owe you a couple days. I will wash those ones and wear them again. How did I make such a disaster of my photo-taking/blogging? I am normally one of the most organized people I know. I am usually on time. I am usually ahead on homework. I am usually consistent. I am usually over-organized. I just realized the irony of that statement, at this moment, because my iTunes is currently playing "Silver Bells"...in April. Seriously, I'm a mess.

I didn't sleep last night because I stayed up late talking and then tossed and turned until the wee hours of the morning. I missed water workout this morning because I couldn't possibly get my butt out of bed after only 4 hours of sleep. I know how much homework I have. I know how stressed I am because I'm wearing it on my face -- in the form of disgusting pimples. It's like my face decided to be 13 years old and go through puberty all over again. What is going on?! On top of that, my reflux esophagitis is back. That's a fancy word for saying that when I'm stressed, my stomach produces so much acid that it makes me want to vomit. Unfortunately, I never get the sweet release of the act of vomiting. I just feel nauseous. All day. The nausea is made worse by caffeine, which is unfortunate because on days like today I need that stuff just to keep my eyes open.

So to sum this up:
I'm nauseous. I'm breaking out like a 13 year old. I'm running on four hours of sleep. I have a midterm on Monday. A quiz on Tuesday. A group meeting on Tuesday. I'm cutting my hair off for cancer on Wednesday. I have a presentation and a paper due on Friday. Then the week after that, I have a final project due (worth 40% of my mark), two more papers due and then two exams after that.

I want to puke.

xo