10 years later

Husband and I celebrated our tenth dating anniversary on the 25th. Being that we’re now married, we decided that we’d celebrate this as our last one, since it’s the tenth (and therefore, a big deal, haha) and then we’d move on to our wedding anniversaries. Truth is, we didn’t celebrate the typical way we have every year for the past ten years. Instead we decided to go low-budget and sentimental – we relived our first date.

Keep in mind that at the time, we were only sixteen.

After work, we met up and took public transit to where else but THE MALL. Yes, we had our first date at the mall (took public transit then too!) and watched a movie. Hey, when you’re sixteen, that’s a quality date! So, we went to the theatres, where ten years ago (minus two days – we started going out on a Wednesday and went on our first date on the Friday), it had just opened.

We checked out what movie was playing in theatre #5, the exact theatre where we watched our first movie together – Enemy of the State (there were no “romantic” movies playing at the time). So as we walked into the theatre, we checked out what was playing and saw that among the movies were one Tamil movie, a WWE feature, Twilight (in a gazillion theatres), a horror flick, the new Bond movie, the latest kids movie, the most recent funny-yet-stupid movie and Clint Eastwood’s latest film. Not much to choose from and not very likely that we'd get something decent. As we got closer and searched for theatre #5, we saw that in #4 was the Tamil movie and in #6 was the horror flick. Luckily, we got Changeling which was one of the movies we hoped to get (the other was Quantum of Solace). We bought our tickets for the next showing which was THREE hours later. Just like on our first date, we had several hours to kill before our showing…so we went to the food court.

We didn’t do Taco Bell (oh Heavens, no!) but went to what I guess could be considered the more healthy of the options there and ate…now what? We walked around for a bit and then decided, “Why don’t we just go home and come back?” The mall would have been closed for a while by showtime so we left.

A few hours later, we were back at the theatre, sitting in what were probably the same seats as ten years ago, watching…a very depressing yet very intense movie. I recommend it, just not for a date. (Funny enough we saw lots of guys coming to see it together.)

It was a very low-key night, just like it was 10 years ago.

(STARBUCKS) RED

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We Elfed Ourselves...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

He's here!!!

Guilty Pleasures

Since this post, something's changed...the more you hear something, the more accustomed you get to it I think...

So now, Husband and I are finding that T-Pain is one of our guilty pleasures. We don't own his album but we do enjoy singing with his tracks when we hear them on the radio. Actually, some people might say it's more like we're mocking them...Husband's really good at imitating weird voices and strange sounds, like those uttered by Lil Wayne.

Speaking of Lil Wayne, since last week when our brother-in-law and my sister were talking about this song, we've had it in our head ever since and it's almost like we're itching to hear it...


Something tells me he doesn't pay attention when he gets arrested because I'm pretty sure female cops don't do this stuff.

Labelmaker

That's what I am right now -- a labelmaker.

I decided to add labels to my posts. At first I thought I shouldn't just because knowing me, the list of labels could end up so long that there could be a different one for each post and quite a number or redundancies, but I think I've got a good list here...

...now if only Blogger would display them in my post...

Sicko

Here I am -- day 3 of being sick. My cold has taken on a strange transformation -- my nose is no longer running, however, the skin surrounding it is still dry (I'm not very gentle with tissue when I blow my nose), and my head has taken on the brunt of the pain that was once residing in my muscles. Thank goodness it isn't the flu. It's my "migraine season" -- between seasons, I get really bad migraines due to changes in barometric pressure. I'm so happy it's snowing outside right now.

So, now that I've been home for 3 days, I've learned how it feels to be utterly useless and I've forgotten what it's like to be sick. I'm not good at doing nothing. It was so difficult not to pull out the Christmas decorations, to not wash everything in the house, to not do work-related things that need to be done and definitely not to go out for a run...and now that's it's snowing, I'm wondering when I can go for a run again because I don't know how long the snow will be on the ground.

Ugh, get me OUTTA HERE!!!

Two firsts today

The first first:
I went to my first ever Santa Claus parade (I know, I was born here and in all this time, I've never been to the parade? What's wrong with me?). We stood in the cold and the snow slapped our faces so much so that our skin hurt. I had to pee a storm and wished that I bought real gloves and winter boots before today. All in all though, it was fun!! I wouldn't say I'd do it again next year, but maybe sometime close to 10 years would do.

The second first:
I had my first (and hopefully only) cold of the year. Yes, it's the middle of November, and I lasted this long. GO ME!! I got pretty close to it and had some nights where I swore that the sunrise would bring a stuffy nose and sore throat, but somehow my body always fought it. Today though, I guess after being outside for hours waiting for Santa, my body didn't have any time to fight and it all attacked me at once. My face now bears a close resemblance to Rudolph's except the redness spreads to my upper lip and it hurts. Too bad I didn't have my Puffs tissue when my nose was running like a faucet. Boo to crappy cheap tissue.

Time to sleep off this fever...

Spread love...

Because I believe sharing is caring...enjoy! (Thanks Meech!)

Where I'm coming from

Watch this clip...it begins at 5:00 in and ends at 5:44.

If You're Out There

This is one of John Legend's new songs on his new album, Evolver. It's definitely one of my favourites (I liked it even before I knew it was inspired by change that was promised by Barack Obama) and it seems to be my anthem these days...



If you hear this message, wherever you stand
I'm calling every woman, calling every man
We're the generation
We can't afford to wait
The future started yesterday and we're already late

We've been looking for a song to sing
Searched for a melody
Searched for someone to lead
We've been looking for the world to change
If you feel the same
Then go on and say

If you're out there
Sing along with me
If you're out there
I'm dying to believe that you're out there
Stand up and say it loud
If you're out there
Tomorrow's starting now
Now, now

No more broken promises
No more call to war
Unless it's love and peace that we're really fighting for
We can destroy hunger
We can conquer hate
Put down the arms and raise your voice
We're joining hands today

Oh I was looking for a song to sing
I searched for a leader
But the leader was me
We were looking for the world to change
We can be heroes
Just go on and say

If you're out there
Sing along with me
If you're out there
I'm dying to believe that you're out there
Stand up and say it loud
If you're out there
Tomorrow's starting now
Now, now

Oh now, now

If you're ready we can shake the world
Believe again
It starts within
We don't have to wait for destiny
We should be the change that we want to see

If you're out there
Ooooh
If you're out there
And you're ready now
Say it loud
Scream it out

If you're out there
Sing along with me
If you're out there
I'm dying to believe that you're out there
Stand up and say it loud
If you're out there
Tomorrow's starting now

If you're out there
If you're out there
If you're out there

If you hear this message, wherever you stand
I'm calling every woman, calling every man
We're the generation
We can't afford to wait
The future started yesterday and we're already late

A Christmas run

I’m running a 5K with my husband in the beginning of December. I’m excited for several reasons:

• We’re running in something as close as possible to Santa suits
• It’s another race – I’m planning to do more timed races from now on
• It’s our first race together
• It’s his first race
• It’s in one of my favourite parks
  

The run, “The Santa Shuffle”, is held in support of Salvation Army. Click here to sponsor me and send a little Christmas cheer!

Obamarama

I’m not much of a follower of anything political anywhere unless I have to be. I will admit though, that I did at first join the bandwagon of Canadians following the American election closer than the Canadian one, and even way before one was announced in our country. For the past year or so, I enjoyed watching the race between Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton, and then even more so when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his VP. I think we all enjoyed that…or moreso, enjoyed watching Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.

With all the excitement going on especially in the months and weeks that just passed, I found myself watching the results yesterday, more intently than if Fringe was actually on. As more and more results were announced, I sat on my couch in tears. I was full of hope. So hopeful for the US and for the changes that’ll take place there, that no doubt, will affect the whole world. Positive change is coming and it’s something we’ve needed for a long time.

John McCain and Barack Obama’s speeches were both amazing. Obama’s gave me goosebumps though. It was such a positive speech.

Cheers to change!

The First Screening

I hadn’t seen any footage of our wedding other than photos until a few days ago. We watched my aunt/uncle/cousin’s-in-law video of pre-ceremony happenings as well as bits during the ceremony, including the walk down the aisle. Thankfully, the ugly cry I thought I was fighting wasn't as ugly as I had imagined...the walk itself, however, did show that my legs were like jelly. Everything was beautiful.

As embarrassed as I am seeing myself on video, this was a whole other experience. I wanted so badly to watch it and cry but at the same time, I sat there with my family-in-law, sweating profusely and wishing someone would turn it off because the close-ups of my face were making me blush. Then we watched it all over again. Ha!

Between my episodes of cringing, I found that even watching it was surreal. It was like seeing someone else get married, but they looked exactly like us. I tried to steal a look from Husband since we weren’t sitting together and he looked as though he had equally mixed emotions watching it. We were both trying not to look but trying to look at the same time.

I think it’d probably be different if it was just us watching.

Journaling

I got an email encouraging me to keep a journal and I think I’ve decided to begin – or re-begin (what’s the actual word I’m looking for here?). I’m not talking about blog posting. I’m talking about writing with a pen in an actual journal.

When I was in elementary school, I used to write in a journal nearly every day. I don't mean the "Today is Monday, November 3, 2008. The weather is mild and cloudy..." journal from school. I mean my own. I don’t know where some of them are, but I know the last time I looked back at them, I just laughed at myself. All I wrote about were boys!

And then, in high school, I had a few…this time about A boy…and then he became a man…and then he became my husband. I used to write about him almost every day, at first before we were going out and then after we were going out, and then the writing turned into less of a journal and become a book of letters to him. My writing was less frequent because I was spending more of that time on the phone with him, and then I’d only write about the new things that happened, anything fun and exciting and out of the ordinary. Then we started spending more and more time together and then I only wrote in there when I was mad at him. Hahaha!! Then I gave them to him when we got married and I’m sure one day he’s gonna read them and as he gets to the end, he’s gonna throw something at me. Haha!

I wasn’t all about boys though. Honestly. I had another journal where I wrote down all the dreams I had. I did it for a few years. I didn’t write down every dream, but I wrote down ones that were crazy or confusing. I figured that somewhere down the line, they’d make sense. Some of them did, some of them didn’t.

I had a Mom-journal which also had entries on lined paper that are in a bag. This journal is full of letters I’ve written to my mother, beginning when I was probably around 9 up to now. The first letter I ever wrote was one I used to keep in a cup on the window sill of my bedroom hoping by some miracle, she’d take and read. Maybe she did. It’s kinda funny though because in it, I think I was begging her to come back, kinda like she was on a trip or something.

I had another journal where I wrote strictly when I was angry or frustrated. I didn’t have many entries there (thank goodness), but when I did write, it was very different. If anyone else read it, they’d wonder if it was actually me who wrote it because I keep much of my frustrations close to me.

I also had a travel journal. I wrote in it whenever I went on a trip, but the last time I wrote in it was when I went to Seattle to visit my sister and family. Those were some of the best journal entries ever because it was my first trip without my parents. It was also a very much needed trip seeing as how I’m always missing my sister.

Another journal I had was shared. I have no idea where it is now because the person I share it with hasn’t taken his turn to write in it yet. AHEM!

The last journal I wrote was my T-100 days journal. I wrote in it almost every day from 100 days before I got married. Things got so busy, I missed the last 7 or so days. I have yet to read it all over, but it now belongs to my husband. (I just realized I never did post that post about our wedding day!)

So now, I think I’m gonna buy a nice notebook and write in it. Things about me, about my day, about the good and bad things I did and felt and I’ll make note of my growth over the years. I hope I can keep up with it.

Jason

I thought I’d refrain from using names on my blog, but I’ll make this post an exception.

Husband = Jason

So I’ve discovered that now that we’re married, I like to what we call, “Full-first-name” him when he’s “in trouble”. We never say each other’s full first names (or in my case, middle name), so when he hears “JASON!!” he knows I mean business. Before, it was just “JAYE!!!” I’m not sure when or why the change took place.

Anyway, for the past year or so, I’ve actually been calling him Jason – but the way Spanish people would pronounce it – “YAY-SIN”. Below is what inspired me.

Heaven v. 3.1

I finally found myself in Crate & Barrel today. I've been dying to go since I heard it was opening at Yorkdale last year and hadn't had time to go until this weekend. I don't remember the last time I was at this store in the US, but I know it was at a time when I didn't have my own place yet.

I wasn't really a kid who liked toys and so didn't really enjoy myself in Toys R Us like most kids, but I imagine that today, I had what would be an equivalent experience. Oh boy. After surfing the website at least once every two weeks for the past year or so, being in the store was wonderful.

I was good though and walked around without a shopping basket, so as not to fill it up with souvenirs from my first Canadian visit to what might have been one of God's first versions of Heaven for me. We walked out with only two items, both of which were sensible, reasonably priced and things we have been looking for.

I'm a Halloweenie

EDIT: We ran out of candy twice last night. The kids made their rounds and came BACK to our house. We must've seen Robin (as in Batman and Robin) with the tin pail at least twice. I'm going to have to rescind the offer to give you some candy. Sorry.

I love Halloween. I'm especially excited this year because it's the first time we get to give out candy from a house that doesn't belong to our parents. I'm so excited! (I know, I said that already.)

We have three pumpkins on our porch, one carved by my brother, one carved by some of our friends to "model" one of our other friends/cousin, and another carved by my husband. I'll make sure to post a pic after tonight in all their glory (i.e. when they're lit).

Yesterday, just as I got home and was putting away my coat, I heard some kids outside the house. There are always kids playing outside when I get home, but these voices were much louder...closer.

I sneakily looked out the window of our front door to see the kids gathered around our porch ooohing and aaahing at our Halloween decorations. Yes, we did the whole caution-tape-spiderweb-lights-and-more thing. I was so excited, I wanted to open the door and give them some candy one day early.

Speaking of candy, we have a LOT. Don't bother raiding the stores for the post-Halloween sales...just come over. Seriously.

Anyway, hope you have a happy halloween! Be safe!