It's a long one!

How old are you?
26

Are you happy ?
Yes

Do you honestly care about what people think about you?
Yes, and probably too much

Who is the last person of the opposite sex that you talked to?
My coworker

When was the last time you made someone laugh ?
A few minutes ago. I'm pretty funny.

Who was the last person to make you laugh ?
My coworker. He's pretty funny.

Are you excited for Winter?
Yes...my board awaits.

Are you listening to music right now?
Yes

Who was the last person you talked on the phone to for over 2 hours?
Wow, I haven't done that in a long time...probably my sister.

Do you curse in front of your parents?
Yes, but not the really bad words...unless I'm joking around with my Dad.

What is your current annoyance?
Stupid or ignorant people -- there are too many talking to me right now.

What would you do if your best friend told you they were moving?
I'd pack up my stuff and go with him

Do you have a better sense of style or better creativity ?
I'd like to say both, but I'm not much of a style guru.

Would you rather watch football or baseball?
Football

Looking back, did you ever waste too much time on someone that treated you bad?
I guess, but as long as you learn something or grow in that time, it's never a waste.

Do you know anyone who is pregnant?
Yes...and it seems the whole world is...or is that just me?

Do you believe every one deserves a second chance?
Depends on what happened to the first chance

if you had to have someone's name tattooed on your body, whose would it be?
My own...CHECK!

Have you ever vandalized someone else's property?
Uh, yes.

Who did you last share a taxi ride with?
My sister

Is there anybody you're really disappointed in right now?
No

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Yo mama...okay, not yours.

Do you have anything to complain about?
I really shouldn't but if I must, what's with this week-long migraine and three-day back spasm?!

Do you talk about your feelings or hide them?
Both

Do you want to go to a university ?
Again? Not bloody likely.

What's your favorite season?
Summer into fall.

Are you stubborn?
Yes

Who was the last person you took a picture with?
I think it was one of my girlfriends.

What were you doing at midnight last night ?
Sleeping, thank goodness.

Have you told anybody you loved them today ?
Yes...it's a good way to bookend your day

What do you look forward to in the next 5 months?
Halloween, Christmas, birthdays, snow, perhaps a little vacation or two?

Have you ever been nice to someone who treated you like nothing?
Yes...it's a habit because...see the third question

Would you rather get up early or sleep in?
Most days, sleep in, but there's so much more you can do if you get up early!

What are you excited about?
Halloween!!!

Would you rather smile over a lie or cry over the truth ?
Smile over a lie I think

Do you make a wish at 11:11?
I used to

Are you in a good mood?
I guess so

Be honest, do you like people in general?
Yes

Are you named after a family member?
Nope, but my sisters gave me a nice name :)

Does it annoy you when someone says they’ll call, but never do?
No, most times, I know they probably won't, unless it's work related

Can you make people laugh ?
I think so

Who were you with on July 5, 2008?
Wow! This is a good question! I was with a huge number of family and friends and my new husband, on our wedding day :)

Do you believe exes can be friends?
To an extent

what is in the back seat of your car right now?
Baby wipes...and not because we have babies.

Name 3 people who you talked to today :
My husband, my coworker, my brother

What were you doing at 10 am this morning?
Working

What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Working

What is your favorite board game?
Cranium!!!

What is the last thing you yelled aloud?
I'm not sure, actually.

What are you wearing right now?
A black tee and jeans

What was the last thing you ate?
Oatmeal

Bought any new clothes this week?
No...not yet :) (I haven't gone shopping in months)

What's the last sporting event you watched
Baseball

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Somewhere warm and sunny

Have you ever lost anything down a toilet?
Nope

Do you use smiley faces on the computer a lot?
Yes, and probably too much.

Are you someone's best friend?
Yes

What are you doing tomorrow?
Sleeping and shopping

Where is your mom right now?
Probably somewhere wondering why I'm doing this

Look to your left, what do you see?
Files

What color is your watch ?
Silver and blue

What do you think of when you think of Australia?
Kangaroos...and a vacation

Do you have a dog?
No, but maybe one day.

Last person you talked to on the phone ?
Husband

Have you met anyone famous?
Yes, and I stood there like this :|

Any plans today ?
Go home early :)
Hand out candy
Partay!

Are you happy?
Yes (didn't we cover this earlier?)

Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
My running shoes...that I have to replace soon and they're almost at their max mileage.

Are you jealous of anyone?
Sadly and honestly, sometimes.

Is anyone jealous of you?
Probably. Haha!

Do any of your friends have children?
Yes

What do you usually do during the day?
Work

Do you hate anyone right now?
No

Would you rather die in a fire or be shot?
Oh geez, I think be shot

How many kids do you want to have?
3-5

How did you get one of your scars?
I was running in the winter, slid on ice, and slid beyond the ice onto pavement...it wasn't a pretty knee.

Have you been under the influence today ?
No, not yet.

Pick a word that begins with the first letter of your first name?
Sexay!

Have you ever caught anything on fire?
Yes, a marshmallow

Is there anyone that you care more about than yourself?
Yes

Are you bipolar?
Sometimes I think I can be. Haha!

How long is your hair when it's wet?
A bit passed my shoulders

What was the last thing you bit?
An apple

What are on your feet?
Socks and shoes

How many times do you talk on the phone a day on average?
5 maybe?

Do you usually have weird dreams?
Yes

Do you like your bed?
Yes, but we need a new mattress

Is your profile private? Why/ why not?
Yes because I'm a fairly private person

Do you drink soda?
Rarely

What are you listening to?
Old school R&B

What color is your keyboard?
Black

Marriage in your future?
Another one? No

Do you like your life?
Yes

Are you ticklish?
Yes and don't touch me

Do you believe in love at first sight ?
Sort of

A New Beginning :)

FINALLY.

This picture was actually of him tying his shoelaces last year....then they tricked us with this picture!

Congratulations to one of my best friends, whom I've known for 16 years now, and her new Fiance, now her former boyfriend, and my former co-worker...

I wish you all the best and I hope with all my heart that you enjoy this wonderful time, your engagement. It only gets better from here. I love you guys!

Et voilà!

This weekend's to do list

I've got my work cut out for me this weekend. Husband and I are holding a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. It's an opportunity to bump me up to my goal for the marathon, to thank everyone for supporting me and my family and for some good old Halloween fun!

It's a lot of work, and I'll admit I'm quite tired, but I'm enjoying it all. I'm thinking this might be the last big fundraiser for me for a while, so I want to make it goooood. Here are some things I'll be doing this weekend.

• Bake Halloween cheese cupcakes (as in cheesecake cupcakes, not cupcakes made of cheese, like cheddar *GAG*)
  
• Ice Halloween cheese cupcakes
• Bake chocolate chocolate cupcakes
• Ice chocolate chocolate cupcakes
• Bake chocolate chip - m&m cookies
• Bake Reese's pieces peanut butter cookies
• Make red candy apples
• Finish putting together my costume
• Decorate the house with Halloween decorations
• Clean up the mess that is my house
  
• Pack Halloween decorations for the hall
• Decorate and prepare the hall
• Give away prizes and prizes and prizes!!! (We have a lot of good ones...and I'm not just saying that!)
  
• Celebrate a successful kick-ass fundraiser
• SLEEP

I'm anticipating quite a fulfilling weekend.

If you're free, please come by:

Clean Charlene

Husband and I washed the car this weekend. It was a wonderful experience given I’ve wanted to clean that car inside-out for years.

We started out at Home Depot and Rona to buy a hose and car cleaning stuff, cleaned the garage a bit (i.e. we cleaned what we could clean!) and then began our adventure…of course, this was more of an adventure for me than for him!

I enjoy washing cars. I like washing them more in the summer than now, in the fall, because it’s much warmer outside and getting accidentally wet isn’t so painful. Washing Charlene (yes, that’s the name of our car) was especially fun because I’ve been dying to wash a car (I haven’t since I lived with my parents), I’ve been dying to clean this car (he’s not that big on keeping the car clean and now that it’s half mine [heehee] it’s okay for me to clean it whenever I want!), it’s more efficient than driving through a car wash at the gas station, and I got to wash it with him who’s tall enough to wash the top of the car without a stool! YAY!

Cleaning the inside of the car was just as fun. I used our trusty Dyson and vacuum-cleaned the seats, the floor and the mats, so there aren’t anymore remnants of dead leaves or pebbles hiding in the corners and crevices. He dusted and Armour-Alled everything else so now everything’s clean and shiny, with the exception of the rubber mats because they’re old. My nose is quite thankful (the bits of dust weren’t helping my allergies).

So now the car is squeaky clean. Guess what? Husband’s shift at work has changed for two weeks and so I won’t be riding in it with him as often. Booooo…

Husband material

I had lunch with my husband and one of our best friends today. After my husband went his way back to work, our friend goes to me, "He's such a good husband"...and you know, he really is.

One of the ways I know he is is because when I was trying to nap tonight, I asked him to sing me a song...my request was Miss Independent by Ne-yo (I had it in my head!) -- and he did. And when he didn't know the words, he made them up.

Philosophies

I like to say I lead a pretty good life...so far, at least. I didn't get to be where I am and who I am without some adversity, some loss, some not-so-favourable experiences. I think I could have gone down ugly paths, which probably in many cases could have been the easier paths, but because I've always liked a good challenge and also because I'm incapable of being at peace with war, I enjoy the high road. It may sound like I'm bragging, and I swear I don't mean to, but I encourage everyone to consider your own philosophies about life --those that need some work and those that are well established--and consider adding some new ones or tweaking some old ones...then share them. We can all benefit from a little learning about life.

Here are some of the philosophies I hold close -- some are my own, some are learned:

• A very good way to honour someone you weren't able to honour while they were alive may very well be to do things that would have made them proud while they were still here, and heck, it probably still does anyway.
• Life is too short to hold grudges, have arguments, give silent treatment, or anything along those lines -- communicate and give love, even if it may be difficult.
• Apologize only if you mean it and only if you know what for, not because it seems like the right thing to do or because you want to get it over with.
• Love unconditionally, because that's what real love is -- unconditional.
• Always remember yourself and you'll never get lost.
• Inspire people -- they'll pass it on.
  
• Stay positive and believe in possibilities.
  
• Be a good example -- someone is ALWAYS watching.
• Embrace every new day, even if it's your 47th birthday and you really don't want to keep lying about your age, or even if you have to go to work and you really don't want to -- it's another day of life and another chance to show the world what you've got.
• Take care of yourself -- spend your days being healthy and taking care of the only body you've got.
  
• Set goals for yourself and believe that you will meet them. Work on it and keeping this belief makes meeting your goals that much easier and that much sweeter.
• Make a list of things you'd like to do before you die and consult it often -- it helps you remember what you think is important...and it feels awesome when you get to cross things out.
• Put yourself in other people's shoes.
• Look at the big picture.
• Listen to your body. It's trying to tell you things all the time, and if you ignore it, you'll pay for it later.
• Be grateful, be appreciative -- thank, thank, thank.
• Everyone's level -- everyone's better at something than someone and everyone also needs some work.
• Say what you mean and mean what you say.
  
• When things look down, pause and check out what's up.
• Try your best.
  
• Things work out, no need to worry.
• Work towards being fearless -- take chances, do things.
  

I think that's enough for now. I could go on and on. I'm human, so I don't remember all of these things all the time and I make mistakes, but I try. Now you go try!

Because I don't have the capacity to think right now...

Hi, my name is - Katrina.

When I'm nervous - I feel like I have to pee
By this time next year – I'll have grown even more :)
Last night – I soaked…it was nice.

PART 1: YOU

Were you a planned baby? I’m not sure, but all I know is that everyone thought I’d be a boy
Were you the first? Nope


PART 2: YOUR PERSONALITY

Do you have low self esteem? Nope
Are you happy right now? I am, but I’m also verrrrry sleepy!


PART 3: APPEARANCE

Are you comfortable with the way you look? Usually, but right now I look how I feel!
Describe your hair – Black, short, and dry. Haha!


PART 4: RANDOM

Ever been kicked out of a bar? Nope
Ever been punched? Yes


PART 5: THE OUTDOORS

Do you prefer indoors or outdoors? It depends on the time of year
Do you like walking in the rain? Yes, provided I have my galoshes 
Do you like thunderstorms? Yes


PART 6: FOOD

Are you a vegetarian? Nope
Anything you absolutely could eat forever? Asparagus (sorry, it makes my pee smell)
Can you cook? Yes


PART 7: RELATIONSHIPS AND LOVE

Do you want to get married? No…because I am!
Are you in a relationship? Yes
When did you last hold hands? Earlier today


PART 8: RANDOM QUESTIONS

Where is your cell phone? In my bag
Cheesecake? In my fridge
Your dream last night? I had a LOT of them last night…which means I didn’t sleep very well. :(
Car you want? The kind that seats 5 kids. Haha!
Your fears? Garden gnomes. Stupid things.
Where did you grow up? Toronto
What are you wearing? Purple sweater, jeans
Tattoos? Two
Ketchup? Rarely
Your computer? Has too much stuff on it
Your friends? Are all grown up!
What are you thinking about right now? My warm bed
Last time you cried? A few days ago…it’s that time of the month I guess
Last text? From my cousin
Last received call? My husband


Part 9: LIFE

Who do you blame for your mood today? Myself…it’s not bad so I don’t feel the need to blame anyone!
Have you ever seen a dead body? Yes
What should we do with stupid people? Feed them to pigeons
What is making you sad right now? I’m not sad
What was the first thing you did this morning? Went back to sleep
Last person you went out to dinner with? My husband
Do you drink lots of water? I try
What toothpaste do you use? Crest…and only Crest
The last compliment you received? Something about my jacket I think

*Thanks to my niece*

Thankful II

This is what happens when I have nothing to do on Thanksgiving...

We ran out of eggs--we only had 4 :( so the dessert portion of this was limited to cheesecake. I would have liked to cook more, but there's only so much time to cook, clean, wash and run ;)

Hope yours was a good one!

Thankful

This weekend is Thanksgiving weekend, so what am I doing? Giving thanks! I'm on the last few hours of day 2 of the long weekend and so far, it has been amazing. Other than being thankful for all the things you should be thankful for -- family, friends, health, faith, shelter, food, etc. -- here are some things I'm especially thankful for this weekend:

• Long lunches with my sister
  
• Loafing, lounging, lazing
• Fast food for days when I really don't feel like doing anything, including cooking and washing the dishes
• My husband's thick thighs -- they're good a good pillow for when I fall asleep on the couch at 9PM (and that my husband just points at this line and laughs quietly instead of going, "HEEEEEY!!!")
  
• Sleeping in
  
• Playgrounds close to home that are good for when babysitting and for remembering that we're all still kids
• Mr. Magorium's Wonder Imporium -- I didn't get to watch all of it, but from what I did see of it, it's one of those movies that'll make me wish I was magical (it's films like this or like Harry Potter that make me wish I had an actual magic owl for the birdcage I bought after I watched the first film -- I'm kidding.)
• The smell of newborn babies and the little weight they are that make it easy for me to carry them for hours
• Chocolate chip cookies (since the marathon, I can't get enough of these)
• Celebrating the birth of my sisters even if we're not spending the day together
• Nailclippers
  
• Good sermons at Sunday mass
• Seeing people who are happy to see you
• Take-out...from the parents
• Sunday afternoon dates with the hubby
• Window shopping...like, window shopping-window shopping, like, not being tempted to buy anything
• Popcorn shakers
• Enjoyable Guy Ritchie films
• Good grocery shopping trips
• Extend-a-dates, meaning the date is so good, let's go out even longer!
• Sharpened crayons
• When my brother agrees to help me without complaining (Thanks brother! ;)
• Being awake at 9:51PM and in my pajamas! (i.e. not passing out in my jeans and feeling the discomfort of underwires)
• A full fridge
• Blog readers :)

Tomorrow, I plan to go for my first run since the big one, clean, and cook and bake alllllll day long. Husband has work tomorrow, but we're hoping he'll be able to get off early for our first Thanksgiving together.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Someone's really talking about me

You know that superstition that if you bite your tongue or your lip or your cheek or heck, your eye, someone is talking about you?

Well, just as I was starting to eat dinner yesterday (Yay for Jaye's curry chicken!), I bit my cheek. HARD. I'm not sure why I did it, but I put my napkin in my mouth against my cheek thinking it'd help (I've never done this before, so I don't know what possessed me to do it) and when I took it out, it was bloody. :(

It was bleeding for a bit, and now, I have this nasty what-looks-like a hole in the inside of my cheek...and it swelled a bit, so now, I have to work extra hard not to bite it again because it's in my teeth's way.

If you Google "bit cheek", this is one of the first images you'll see...it's for horses though...so you can harness them. There's today's bit of useless information for you.

Sisters

This weekend begins what I think of as “Sister Birthday Blitz”. My four sisters were all born in the fall – 3 in October, 1 in November. This is the time of year I go buy greeting cards for their birthdays and spend hours in Hallmark trying to find the best ones. It’s quite a challenge to pick out just one, so as luck would have it, I have four sisters and get four good ones, which is easier. When I go to pay, usually, if the staff are girls, they get excited that this customer is buying all the good sister cards and then I tell them I have four sisters, and the conversation goes on and on about how they love those cards and how they consider me lucky that I have 4 reasons to buy them. (AND, usually, I get so many stamps on my Hallmark stamp card, I get lucky enough to qualify for a free card on my next visit!)

I’ve got four sisters. I’m blessed. I’m the baby sister. That’s what I call myself, not necessarily what they call me, because well, they all have at least one little sister and if they say youngest sister, I’m not sure if they mean me or are making fun of our brother (haha!). Being the baby sister doesn’t mean that I get away with anything or that I’m spoiled or that I have no new clothes because hand-me-downs are endless.

One, I don’t get away with anything because well, I’m not trying to. I don’t need to tiptoe around my sisters because of things I’m secretly doing or anything. I learned early on that we’re close enough that I can come to them for anything.

Two, I’m not spoiled by them. Well, maybe I was a little when I was younger, I don’t know. As good sisters, they liked to take my brother and me out every so often and I really valued that. I realize now that maybe there were times they and their boyfriends didn’t feel like spending time with their younger siblings, but they did it anyway, and to me, it was always a treat…and it was always an adventure. Even now, we get together and hang out and it’s nice to know that I’ll always have 4 other homes, and not just my own.

Three, I dodged hand-me-downs for the most part. When I stopped growing at 13, hand-me-downs tapered off but I started getting them from my brother too. I was off to high school soon after, and well, I got many pieces of my uniform from my sisters. I probably had the oldest kilt in the school and people used to ask me why my kilt looked so different. I wish I had a cooler response than “it’s my sister’s…from the 80’s.” If I had known vintage would be in, I would have bragged about having a vintage kilt and worn it 150% more of the time (which would have added up to what, 16 days in the 5 years I was in high school?). By the time I finished high school, my sisters were all married and moved out, and so when I moved on from uniforms, I invested in a wardrobe of my own, seeing as how I was too small for their hand-me-downs anyway.

BUT, I’m not clear of hand-me-downs yet. There exists a box of maternity clothes that span from the 90s onward. I imagine this box contains tons of clothes of various styles, some horrendous and some trendy. My sisters laugh at me when they think of my time for this box. I’ve developed a fear of it and have made a mental note to save all loose-fitting clothes I currently own (hooray for the baby-doll comeback!) for when my time comes.

Anyway,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTERS!!!

For the love of dishwashing

I have learned to love my dishwasher.

GASP!

I don’t use it often. I use it to drain my clean dishes after they’ve been hand-washed, but once in a while, I use it as a dishwasher so that we can make sure it’s working fine and so that the dishwasher stays clean.

I like opening the dishwasher after it’s been used as a dishwasher and seeing all those clean dishes, spotless, and ready to be put away, all because I pressed some buttons. It’s so easy.

I haven’t washed many dishes for a while. The way it’s been working is I prepare dinner and someone else washes the dishes, just to distribute the workload. And, by the time I finish dinner, I’m so tired and sleepy that I don’t wanna get up and wash dishes.

It’s a shame, I know. Oh boy, does this mean I'm getting lazy?

It's simple

I was talking to my sister a few weeks ago and something she said still lingers in my mind every so often.

"Isn't it nice to wake up beside your best friend?"

It really is. I remember back in high school and university when I was all "Jaye-crazy" and we would talk about how we're so excited to get to wake up beside each other every morning and how fun it's gonna be; so fun, morning breath won't even matter! We talked about it last night and we ended up laughing because well, it's happening!

Aaaaaaaaaaand here we are. It's so nice. He may be a blanket hog and I may like my pillows, but otherwise we sleep harmoniously. I enjoy that every morning, I open my eyes and begin my day looking at my best friend either sleeping soundly or looking at me waking up...or making funny faces at me.

My new FLAVOURITE commercial

New, new, new

I've been to two weddings since our own in July (I'm writing this on post-wedding-#2-plus-2-days bliss). I will admit, my wedding fever did not die on our wedding night, nor did it die a week after in Hawai'i, nor did it die when our plane touched down back in Toronto, nor did it die one month or two months later. It still festers inside me and I don't think it'll ever die.

I love weddings. I'm not talking about open bar business either. I hardly drink at weddings because the natural high is enough to keep me giddy all night. I love seeing glowing brides whose facial muscles don't look tired at all after an entire day of smiling. I love seeing grooms who appear relieved that they no longer have to pretend they never want to settle down and just let loose. I love seeing the bride and groom together, so full of dreams and wishes, and eager to sleep off a very busy day but so unable to rest because of the excitement of the life together to come.

Weddings are a celebration of love and new life. I love celebrating love and new life. (I sound like a total dork.) I guess after having a wedding of our own, I've come to appreciate weddings even more than I used to because I know now of all the hard work that goes into planning one. It's not all about the invitations or the food choices or the seating arrangements but more about the patience, the planning both for the day and for life, the communication, and the sharing. It's about the marriage as opposed to the wedding. The wedding's just the beginning.

Hooray for new life and new beginnings!

And speaking of new life, my sister and brother-in-law had their baby! Welcome, Baby Michael!

Quite the night!

Light the night was a success despite the rain, the traffic, and the muddy mud mud. We got to Queen's park as it was pouring and cold but I didn't feel as though anything was going to get me down. We started signing the banner and eating our free pizza and waited for the rest of Team Tini to arrive.

Even though we were all there (with the exception of our friend, Princess and her family), I still felt like we weren't. It didn't feel right that my Ate couldn't be with us and I was actually starting to feel a little sad that she wasn't able to do the walk with us. I had spoken to her earlier in the day and she had mentioned that our email tagging had been quiet in comparison to the days leading up to the walk. I guess for her, where she was, that was among the only communication about the walk that she could get, except for telephone calls, but on the day of, it really was pretty quiet.

So, as we started to get together and take a group photo, this happened:


Courtesy of Ate :)


ATE CAME!!! That was the icing on the cake.

It was so funny because for a while we just stood there, probably all thinking, "That chick looks like Ate...am I hallucinating?"

It was so funny and so cleverly orchestrated. What a wonderful night.

Light The Night

I'm so excited for tonight. SOOOOO excited.

Tonight, my family, extended family and friends will be doing the Light The Night walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada in remembrance of my mother. This year marks her 20th anniversary and so this is something we're doing together to celebrate her life and remember her.

I think of all the things I've done, I've never been excited like this for an event. There's something about sharing the excitement with people you love and doing something TOGETHER to honour someone you all love.

Our team, Team Tini, raised over $1000, which was our goal, and we're totally surpassing it. We get to carry a banner on the walk and we'll all be walking together. It will, no doubt, be an emotional and spiritual experience.

If you would like to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada by sponsoring Team Tini, please click here.