SPIT

I just got word that the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon is getting rid of the Leslie Spit portion and moving it towards the beach.

ALLELUIA!

Yes, I’m doing this marathon again this year, provided I’m in good condition to do so ;) and this was one part of the course that I’m dreading.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Leslie Spit, it’s probably the most dismal part of the course. Just take a look. There’s also some information about it here. Just think, they dropped bombs here, remember?

On this part of the course, the path is kinda narrow so you sorta have to go single file. Also, towards the end of the spit, you loop, so the whole time you’re running, you’re looking for that loop and it feels like you’re never gonna get there…meanwhile, those who have looped already are passing you in the other direction. One of the only good things about this is that if you’re running with a team, those ahead of you can cheer you on as they pass you. The ground is really flat and on either side of the path is neglected grass and weeds.

I’m glad this part of the course has changed…but I’ll be there though for the Midsummer Night’s 30K Run.

Sarah

Have I ever talked about Sarah Richardson before? I’m not sure I have but in case you don’t know already, I’m part of a HUGE fan base. I love her. She has so many great ideas, all of which are clean, innovative, stylish yet timeless. She rocks my socks. She’s the reason I even check what’s on HGTV these days. Plus, she’s one of the only females on TV who my husband and I can agree to watch hours of.

So anyway, after a Sarah’s House marathon months ago, I became addicted to all things Sarah Richardson. I don’t know how many repeats I’ve seen of Sarah’s House and Design Inc. but I can’t get enough, and I think neither can my sisters. We’ve driven by Sarah’s “Sarah’s House” (I’ll post pics later…how stalkerish are we?) and we talk about her quite often.

A few weeks ago I saw her and her house on MTV cribs and I (and husband and brother) almost fell off my couch, jaws dropped. I can’t seem to find the bit online, but I found this. The cool thing I want you to see is the secret bar behind one of her book shelves. It’s better when you see it in motion. The whole house is awesome and looks very “her”. I especially love her nursery...it's got the prettiest crib.

And then while waiting for the train, I saw an ad for HGTV with a new Mike Holmes show…and this:

I almost fell onto the tracks to see if there was more information about the show, I was so excited. It airs tonight at 9PM. I’m going to have to take advantage of time shifting when Fringe starts again next week because I am NOT missing this show!

YAY!!!

Life Books

I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting older or something, but I'm finding non-fiction much more interesting. (Wait, is that even something that happens with age?) I've touched on this before... My favourite books are usually found in the Self-Help section of bookstores, things like New Age, Health & Wellbeing, Family & Relationships, Religion & Spirituality and Fitness...things like that. I also enjoy a biography or two every so often (next on my list is Barack Obama -- books about and written by him). I realize how lame loving Self-Help might sound to some people, but really, what's lame about improving yourself?

So, speaking of the book in my other book post, I also wanna read this one:

My cousin told me about it and I'm intrigued. It's about not choosing one career for your entire life, but going from different careers throughout life, doing the things you enjoy, and figuring out what those things are.

I find it's sort of frowned upon to not focus on one thing, and many other people find something like this strange because it's like these do-all-sorts-of-thingers can't stick to one thing. I don't see anything wrong with expanding, dabbling and trying new things. If it means you've tried it and didn't like it, you've learned something either way. If it means you've tried something, liked it and mastered it and decided to move on to master other things, good for you!

Time to dabble.

What do you want?

My coworkers and I had an interesting conversation the other day about the question: What material things do you HAVE TO HAVE before you die?

We then came up with parameters for our answers (because none of the answers I had were actually acceptable). The item(s) had to be:

• Only for you
• Could not exceed more than 3 things
• Something you couldn’t for some reason just go out and get right now…unless you were going to die.

This conversation included all sorts of things – diamonds, jewelry, bags, shoes (yes, my coworkers are women), cosmetic surgeries and then it came to me.

I’ve got NUTHIN’. And still, 4 days after this conversation started, I'm still at nothing.

I’ve got a list of things I wanna DO before I die (many of which I’m happy to say I’ve crossed off – YES!!), but no THING that I want. My coworkers and I think that’s good. But I can't help but wonder if it's normal for me to not have any THING I really want.

What's on your list? (Bloggers, I'm talking to you too!)

Wednesdays are…

...LOST days.

I’m consumed by Lost. Thursdays are almost always devoted to breaking down the Lost episode from the night before and trying to piece it back together to find answers...which almost always results in more questions.

I’ve started compiling a list of questions so that I can keep track of what’s answered and what’s not. And since this’ll be going on for a while, I’ve made the questions a gadget on my blog (waaaay down there ↓). How much of a nerd am I? And if you’re a Lostie too and you have answers or theories, PLEASE tell me. Just comment on my most recent post with the first word being "LOST" (yes, in all caps because it just doesn't look right in lowercase or sentence case).

FB: a love/hate relationship

My name is Katrina and I’m a Facebookaholic.

I love FB. I hate FB. I love connecting with people I haven’t heard from in a while. I hate that my curiousity and what I don’t want to call nosiness drives me to dig deeper into people’s profiles to find out what they’ve been up to since we last contacted each other. I love that I have all this information at my fingertips. I hate that I keep logging in every time I’m bored or feel like I’ve finished the internet. I love that there’s always something to do on there to keep me slightly entertained, even if it’s to find out that if I were a shoe, I’d be a ballet flat. I hate that every time I do have something to do there, it gets posted on my wall and everyone then knows just how bored I am (and I know I can change this on my wall settings, but I feel like I need some variety on my wall instead of status update after status update). I love that I can post pictures on there and limit views and that I can see my friends’ pictures. I hate that sometimes there aren’t any pictures I haven’t seen indicating that I have "finished" Facebook. I love being a part of just one social network. I hate that I’m addicted to it.

In short, I need to do more so I’m not so bored that I run to FB for amusement, and while I know I don't have it in me to just deactivate it and cut it off cold turkey (dang, those of you who do are STRONG!), I think I’ll limit my activity on there for now. WIsh me luck!

It’s, Its...

It’s = It is, e.g: It’s time to run.
Its = possession, e.g. The car lost its bumper in the accident.

Is it grammatically incorrect to use “it’s” for "it has"? e.g. It’s been 3 days since I saw you. Because if so, I’m guilty. GASP!

(Also, there's this but I'm not sure how reliable it is.)

Word.

We were cleaning the room in our house that we call several things...before I get into the names, let me explain what this room is home to. It is our office, our gym, our library, our additional closet, my sewing room, our former wedding room, the kids room (not for our kids since we don't have any yet, but for our nephews and nieces to play, watch DVDs, play on the Wii, crafts, etc.), his get-ready-for-work room (he often has to steam or iron his clothes for work meanwhile my clothes are so small, you can rarely tell I didn't steam or iron them...so I rarely do!). There's probably more, but we'll leave it for now.

We call this room:
The Schmorgasroom - like schmorgasboard but a room...because yeah, it's a schmorgasboard of things
The Danger Room - taken from the X-Men training facility in the X-Mansion.
The Room - because every other room in our house has a name or belongs to someone
You know, that room - because we forget how else to refer to it

ANYWAY, back to the point. We were cleaning the room, trying to get organized since we're doing our taxes and trying to find all our receipts and stuff (this room was a horrid mess before; I'm so ashamed) and I found myself looking at my dictionaries and thesauruses. I got the most recent ones waaaay in elementary school and never had the heart to get rid of any old ones, so I've grouped them all together with our various English-someotherlanguage dictionaries in a little "dictionary nook" (yes, I name EVERYTHING -- you can point at almost anything in our home and it's been named). Looking at these old books, I thought that maybe it was about time to get something new...

Then I got to work today and found the Staples flyer on my desk and found this:

O.M.G. Imagine, this little thing could wipe out our little nook with a few simple buttons...and I love it. And guess what? This is NOT anything new...I'm so ashamed of myself for being so behind in this type of technology! It also speaks, has games, is a translator, has a GRAMMAR GUIDE (I'm gonna have a seizure or something, I'm so excited)... I'm not sure though what happens when there are new words added to the English language (for example "Gangsta Rap" -- it was new when I got my latest dictionary). It would be good if you could download the update or something.

Next time I'm at Staples, I'm SO gonna play with this thing.

Notes to myself

You know how people say, “Note to self:…” and then make a mental note? Well, I actually make notes to myself. I’m sure many other people do too. I find it helps me, especially as a Forgetful Jones (remember him?). Most of the time though, they’re on my phone. So, you can imagine that when my phone was out of commission, I was a mess. I had Post-Its all over my desk, maximized my use of reminders on Outlook (a new one every few minutes. It was driving me crazy to have all these blinking screens on my monitor), tied something around my finger (yes, I actually do that), wrote things down on garbage receipts in my purse…it was a mess. Only recently did I notice that I still had a crapload of these reminders in my purse still and on my computer at work…I should probably delete/dispose of them already.

Adele

I'm a huge fan of British artists. Believe it or not, I pride myself on being one of the first people among people I know who knew who Amy Winehouse was, and this was before she was a trainwreck (What? She wasn't always one? Who knew?). I also still find myself in love with Lily Allen, even after she writes some of the crudest and shameful lyrics.

When Adele came out, I fell in love and for some reason, only now have I listened to her full album (I had some of her tracks on my iPod for a while, but because I didn't have enough space to house all my faves, I forgot to delete some to add her WHOLE album). Here's my choice track for the day (I wish I had discovered it earlier):

When the rain
Is blowing in your face
And the whole world
Is on your case
I could offer you
A warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When the evening shadows
And the stars appear
And there is no one there
To dry your tears
I could hold you
For a million years
To make you feel my love

I know you
Haven't made
Your mind up yet
But I would never
Do you wrong
I've known it
From the moment
That we met
No doubt in my mind
Where you belong

I'd go hungry
I'd go black and blue
I'd go crawling
Down the avenue
No, there's nothing
That I wouldn't do
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging
On the rolling sea
And on the highway of regret
Though winds of change
Are throwing wild and free
You ain't seen nothing
Like me yet

I could make you happy
Make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends
Of the Earth for you
To make you feel my love

"To Make You Feel My Love", Adele, 19

Love hurts?

So if I say either “Rihanna” or “Chris Brown”, you already get the mental picture of him beating the crap outta her. It’s definite, this thing has already taken its toll on their respective careers. You don’t think of their music when you hear their names, you think of their situation.

So apparently she’s taking him back and everyone’s confused. I admit, I am too. After having heard and read the report, with all its detail and gore, you have to wonder one, what she’s thinking staying with him and two, if he’s gonna hurt her again.

And this is the point where I ask you to do a mental exercise and put yourself in Rihanna’s shoes, or at least someone like her. Think of your partner or someone you really love.

1. If they hurt you, would you stay with them? Would you still love them? Would you forgive them?

2. Keeping the answers to the above questions in mind, answer the following: do you really love this person unconditionally? (Answer this question without having the question, “But does this person love me unconditionally?” influence your answer.)

3. And still, keeping your answers to the above questions in mind, does loving someone have to mean staying with them? And if you do stay with them, could that then mean that you may not love yourself?

Again, just something to think about.

World Water Day

Sunday is World Water Day.

World Water Day is an international day of observance and action to draw attention to the plight of the more than 1 billion people world wide that lack access to clean, safe drinking water. Celebrated since 1993, World Water Day was designated in 1992 when the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a resolution. With each passing year, the observance has grown larger and stronger.

In many ways though, World Water Day is still a relatively unknown event. Even with the support of the UN and efforts by leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and committed individuals, World Water Day is today at a similar stage as Earth Day was in the early 1970’s – important but relatively unknown.
-Taken from http://www.worldwaterday.net

For more information about World Water Day, visit www.worldwaterday.org

Please make sure to save as much water as you can – turn off the water when you’re brushing your teeth, lessen the amount of water you use when washing the dishes, use a reusable bottle for your water – little things matter.

On Sunday, as part of my regular runs and training, I'll be running 6K, which is the average distance to walk to get water in the developing world. If you'd like to join me, give me a call or email me!

Have a happy World Water day!

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

What a coinkidink!

I’m sure you’ve experienced coincidences. Everyone has. It just so happens that this and it just so happens that that. But have you ever come across a SERIES of coincidences, with the same circumstances, with the same situation, with the same setting, almost everything is the same except YOU?

Picture this: say, you’ve got the munchies, you go to the store, you buy a bag of chips, you open it and as you start eating, a pigeon craps into your bag. What are the chances of that happening? Very slim, right? THEN, your friend tells you an outrageous story about how she had the munchies, went to the store, bought a bag of chips, opened it and as she started eating, a pigeon crapped into her bag. The ONLY thing differing here is you. Has that ever happened to you?

It seems to happen to me often. Okay, not as coinkidinky (it’s a word) to the extreme as the example illustrated above, but very similar. Is this normal?

Story of our lives.

Morning

On Sunday morning, I woke up much more easily than I do on other days, whether weekday or weekend. It was late enough that the sun was up and it hit my face in such a way that I was reminded of one fateful morning that was like no other, except like this, where the sun hit my face and woke me up the same way.

It was the morning of my wedding day. There are some parts of the day I remember a little blurrily, but other parts that are so vivid. The morning was one of the vivid parts.

I had initially thought that I’d wake up and run around the house screaming but instead, when the sun hit my eyes, I felt humbled. Today was going to be a huge change for me. Yes, it meant a change in my lifestyle, a change in my independence, and of course, a change for us, a step forward in this journey that we’d been on for so long, but that wasn’t long yet at all.

On this particular morning though, I felt a change in my spirit, deep down in my soul. Today would change me so deeply, I couldn’t even imagine.

But Sunday morning was different. I turned over and found my change lying beside me.

It was a good morning.

Before you get into the shower,
Before you worry about your hair,
Baby give me one more hour,
I want you to stay right there,
I don’t wanna lose a moment,
I don’t wanna miss a kiss,
If I could plan the perfect day, love,
Then I would start it just like this,

Good morning,
Good morning love,
It's my favorite love song,
I waited all night long,
For morning,
Good morning love
Before we start the day dear,
I'm whispering in your ear,
Good morning.

-John Legend, "Good Morning" - my morning alarm, sometimes from my cell phone, sometimes sung by my husband

Mission: SUIT

I’m looking for a suit. A nice pantsuit would be nice, and one that fits well. I’d like to have one for work, for meetings and such.

Seeing as how I am small in all aspects, I’ve been having a challenging time finding a suit that fits. I’ve been on a suit search for a few weeks now and I’ve been trying to take advantage of sales going on.

So far, my success rate is zero. ZEE.RO. Of the places I’ve been to, many of them didn’t even carry ones my size. Then, of the ones that did carry my size, for some reason, the size that would usually fit me didn’t. Then of the ones that sorta fit, the shoulders were too wide or the hips were too baggy.

I know the only answer at this point is to either purchase one and alter it or sew one entirely. I don’t have time to do either (I have pants from two years ago that I still haven’t hemmed…although I suppose I need to MAKE time), so I’m determined to find something.

MY SUIT IS OUT THERE SOMEWHERE!!!!!!!!

This Generation's Idea of Music II

(Part I here)

How amusing is this? (Taken from The Straits Times)

CALIFORNIA - A CALIFORNIA Tech student has created a study that shows the IQs of various music choices.

PhD student Virgil Griffith's 'somewhat unscientific' study, reported on Thursday, showed the smartest students listened to Beethoven, Counting Crows and Sufjan Stevens. Radiohead and Ben Folds Five also appealed to big brains.

Griffith matched music preferences to US high school marks, and come up with various correlations said a report on website news.com.au.

If you're a fan of Lil' Wayne, Beyonce or Christian music, the study showed that fans were 'stupid' said the report.

Some of the more interesting choices showed that jazz, gospel and pop were all well down the ladder - and even classical music was behind the general pack, trailing acts like Snow Patrol and Kanye West.

According to Griffith's data, people who listen to 'indie' music were the smartest.

US President Barack Obama - who reportedly has an IQ of around 130 - has said that one of his favourite artists is Bob Dylan, among the top eight performers.

There's more here. And here's something you can take a look at where you stand with your music choices.


Now, to show you an example of how this study's findings are probably legit, I'd like to close with an excerpt of Lil Wayne's contribution to Keri Hilson's song, "Turnin' Me On"...

"Baby, I’m the sh!t and that’s the only thing you smell about me" - Lil Wayne.

Follow up: A Positive Minute

Funny, I just found this in my inbox from a few days ago and didn't open it until now.

A quality you should look for in people to join you on your journey is loyalty. Although this alone does not ensure success in another person, a lack of loyalty is sure to ruin your relationship with him or her. Think of it this way: When you're looking for potential leaders, if someone you're considering lacks loyalty, he is disqualified. Don't even consider taking him on the journey with you because in the end, he'll hurt you more than help you. So what does it mean for others to be loyal to you?

They love you unconditionally. They accept you with your strengths and weaknesses intact. They genuinely care for you, not just for what you can do for them.

They represent you well to others. Loyal people always paint a positive picture of you with others. They may take you to task privately or hold you accountable, but they never criticize you to others.

They are able to laugh and cry with you as you travel together. Loyal people are willing and able to share your joys and sorrows. They make the trip less lonely.

They make your dream their dream. Some people will undoubtedly share the journey with you only briefly. You help one another for a while and then go your separate ways. But a few—a special few—will want to come alongside you and help you for the rest of the journey. These people make your dream their dream. If you find people like that, take good care of them.

* * *

Today, show gratitude to the people who are in your inner circle.

Katrillionaire

(Now I have that Lil Wayne Milli song in my head. Oops.)

This weekend was excellent. Having spent each day of it with most of the people I love dearly (I’m sorry to have missed the rest of you), I found myself counting my blessings this morning. It’s nice to do that and lose count. Try it!

Here are some highlights:

• I can tell my friends and I are getting older – our girl talk isn’t merely about boys anymore (but I’m not saying we don’t talk about boys at all!). Our much-needed and much-missed gabfest put many things in perspective for me and I felt just as nourished as I hoped I would. I also felt that I did some growing up at that table.


• Streetfighter – it’s nice to collectively want to defeat Seth using Ryu. So much encouragement, so much solidarity, so much Streetfighter, so many injured thumbs. Fortunately none of them are mine, and fortunately, there’s Kevin.


• My cousin and her husband are having their baby in a month. We celebrated this weekend with their shower and it was so much fun. I didn’t win a prize, but Husband and I did get a treat for bringing our special dip :) I love showers as most people know, but what I loved even more was pressing my ear to her belly to hear “bubbles”, a heartbeat and feel a little kick telling Tita Trina to wait a little bit longer.


• March birthday blitz shopping with husband rocked…Yay for good deals, seeing things we want but don’t need and having the self-discipline to walk away. AND I found my onesie. AND yes, I bought it, AND it’s got the “trap door”, AND it was on sale, AND I got an extra 20% off, AND it’s red, AND it fits well even though it looked huge on the hanger, AND I have to wash it before I wear it to bed. Cheers to no more looking for ones online!


• Crispy. Ginger. Beef.


• Finally got to watch Watchmen. When I bought the IMAX tickets online on Saturday for Sunday I didn’t realize that they were actually for a Saturday show…until we were walking into the theater yesterday after waiting for 45 minutes in line. The ticket-taker was nice and let us in when I told him I had just noticed that the tickets were for the previous day. Hopefully us being there didn’t mean that there were two other people forced to sit on the floor or something.


• Got to hang out at my sister’s house for my brother(-in-law)’s birthday and although we came late, I thoroughly enjoyed myself (but of course!), especially when the kids saw me when I said hi and were genuinely happy to see me. (“YAY IT’S TITA TRINAAAAAAAAAA!!!”) Ugh, each time, I melt, even when it’s followed by “Can I check how tall I am to you?”. The best part though, was when everyone turned off all the lights and unlocked the front door so that when we arrived and walked in, they yelled SURPRISE! Hahaaha, that’s such a “them thing to do”!


• Beautiful weather.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Side show

I often think about the things I could have done had I known earlier on in life that I’d stop growing at 4’8”.

• I used to want to take up gymnastics but I feared it’d stunt my growth.

• I think I’d be an amazing luger…I’m small and weigh next to nothing, so I’d probably be pretty fast (or fly off, but whatever). I saw some kids at a luge camp on TV the other day and figured if they can do it, so can I!

• I could start a clothing line for petite petite women and could have gone into design. There are so many small women out there who just don’t have access to clothing that’d fit them, and not require cutting off a third of a pantleg.

Anyway, you get my drift.

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately though is the circus. You heard me right. The CIRCUS. I bet if I were a bit smaller, I’d qualify for a freak show. But I’m not talking about that…I’m talking about aerial acrobatics, more particularly, Cord Lisse, Silks or Spanish Web.

When my office was right by the market (ugh, I miss the market!), I had seriously close access during the Buskerfest. There were these acrobats/circus performers that’d come every year and park themselves right by our building and perform right outside my window. They were friggin’ awesome.

Then there’s Cirque. I’ve only been to one show (almost two, but the tickets were sold out while we were in line...darn!) but every time I see corde lisse performers do their thing, I always think,

1. I wonder if that’s hard to do.


2. I think I’d probably kick ass doing that.

Cord lisse involves acrobatic acts using vertically hanging ropes or panels of material, usually cotton. Silks and Spanish Web are very similar.

So, in admiration of these circus acts, I looked into lessons. Did you know there’s a School of Circus Arts right here in Toronto?! Well there is, AND they have lessons for Silks!! How crazy is that? The packages are a little steep, but I think it’s something I might be interested in. The thing is, what would I do with this newly acquired skill after completing the lessons? Join the circus?

Analytics

So I’ve had Google Analytics set up to my blogs for like, ever. Okay well not that long, but I’ve been using it for things like work websites or other sites and had it set up when Google came out with it. I love that it has grown and gives me lots of details about my visitors.

BTW, thank you for visiting. It’s nice to know people like to check in on me every so often.

My old blog (the one before this one) was open only to those who were on my Messenger list and any others who requested it, and then I figured, I have nothing to hide (I’m sure you realize that at this point) and came to Blogspot and "went public".

Whenever I feel like it, I check the statistics for my blogs and various other sites I have it hooked up to. Recently, I noticed that my visitors for this particular blog are expanding internationally! I don’t know people from half of the locations now, and I’m wondering how they found me. Most visits are from referrals from friends’ blogs, so I’m sure there’s some connection, but in other cases, who ARE you people? (Oh, and welcome.) However, there’s also the case of people surfing from other locations, say, while on vacation, while working, while waiting for a meeting in some part of the city I’ve never been to…so I guess my visitors are being loyal to me while travelling or on the road.

DST

Is anyone else knocked out by the “Spring Forward” of Daylight Savings Time? I had just adjusted from pacific time to eastern time and now I have to go back an hour and readjust. Does it ever end? I’m tired of being tired! And, I really could have used that hour for recovery since I’m feeling bogged down by coughs, colds and stomach episodes. Bah.

I already have plans for the Fall Back. Husband and I plan to stay up and watch TV to see what happens to the time slots. What time do they consider the extra slot to be? Do they re-air shows in that extra hour? Do they air something totally different for that extra time slot? So many questions!

If you know, don’t tell us because we wanna find out ourselves. I’m sure it says it somewhere on the Internet, but we’d rather do this the old-fashioned way. He’s thought about it for years but never discovered it successfully (i.e. he fell asleep), so we’re going to motivate each other to stay awake and discover it together.

MY CHARGER IS HOME!!!

Whew, that was one tough week and a half. Please, text me, text me, text me! Hahahaha!

Spent

I think I need this. Here's some of the information from the book found on GOOP.

Smells like Spring!

Today's weather is an anomoly...but I love it. And it smells like spring...which means it smells like mud and wet grass. Usually that would be gross, but after winterhell, I welcome it.

Enjoy!

Something for Mommy and About Me

It has been 21 years. That’s nearly half as long as her time was here on Earth.

Usually, on this day every year, I feel a mixture of sad and grateful. This year is no exception, but I have many more feelings to add to that. They’re still very bittersweet, but at the same time, I have very mixed feelings.

~

I’ve blogged before about how I’ve seen people who look like her, remind me of her, and lately, it’s been happening again, only it’s been versions of her instead of people who look like what she would look like if she was alive today.

Woman in an outfit commemorating the 70’s with slightly-tinted sunglasses and a bandanna, standing outside Shoppers Drug Mart. Woman in her 40s pushing around an umbrella stroller with a cute little boy outside the grocery store waiting for her husband to pull up. Woman with short thick hair and big sunglasses sitting in the back seat at a stop light. Woman in her 30s, pregnant, looking at her watch.

And then…

Mom in the 70’s with the slightly-tinted sunglasses and stylish 70s get-up with her sisters while their little girls run around. Mom in her 40s before she got sick, pushing around a stroller that carried my little brother. Mom with her sunglasses when we drove to Michigan to visit family where she jokingly threatened to scare the people in the car next to us by taking off her wig. Mom in her 30s, pregnant, looking at her watch and maybe close to giving birth to my sister.

~

The strange motherless (and at the same time not motherless) road is taking a turn for me, I can feel it. My sisters have spoken of it, and for some reason, I had hoped that maybe I’d steer clear of this part. I know it’ll pass eventually, but I feel myself slowly approaching it. It is that of becoming and being a “motherless mother”.

Everyone who knows me knows that there’s nothing I’m looking forward to more now than being a mother. Although I have many women whom I love most in this world walking with me on this journey towards motherhood, whether my mothers, mothers/godmothers/grandmothers themselves or mothers-to-be one day, I feel as though I will constantly be searching for the one woman I want to hold my hand the whole way, the one who is longer of this world.

~

It took me 20+ years to call anyone else mom. I finally started calling my stepmother mom after being married to my Dad for over 15 years, and after having helped take care of me for just as long. I knew I’d get around to it eventually, I just never felt ready. And when I was ready, I did it. It was as simple as that, even though in my mind before, it was so complex.

At the same time, I now have a mother-in-law, who I call mom. It obviously didn’t take as long, but I think that was because I reached a point in this where I felt open to it, for good.

My Mom though, is now Mommy to me. If she’s anything like my sisters, which I’m sure she is, she would have liked me never to have switched from “Mommy” to “Mom”…so back to Mommy it is.

One day, back to Mommy, I’ll be.

~

Happy Anniversary Mommy.

Miss you desperately and love you forever,
Treen

Cellexperiment

So I left my heart in San Francisco. Just kidding. Seriously, I left my cell charger in Vancouver. I’m not sure how I did that though because I could swear that I packed it right after charging my phone because I was worried I’d forget to pack it if I didn’t do it right away.

ANYWAY, I finally gave in this morning to asking my contact at our hotel there if I had forgotten it. I was convinced I charged my phone here after I got back and that it was somewhere in our house. I was wrong…and confused because I was getting post-Vegas and post-Vancouver mixed up. So yes, its on its way to me.

My phone has been dead for two days. I know several people with the same phone as me (including Jack Shephard from Lost but whatever) and I’m sure they’d let me borrow their charger, but I’m doing an experiment.

I’m not gonna borrow a charger. I wanna see how well I can do without a phone. This means:

• No calls
• No texts
• No alarms
• No reminders
• No candid pictures
• No calculator

So far I’m a-okay.

West SIIIIIIIDE! – the aftermath

I survived February! Someone give me a prize! So here’s the much needed update about V and V.

Firstly, CONGRATULATIONS to my brother(-in-law) Dave and my new sister-in-law Elisa!

And now, here goes in point form:

Vegas
- What the -- sat separate from my husband and broinlaw, in an aisle seat and ended up with two seemed-like-spoiled-young-women, one of whom went to the washroom every 15 minutes. I later found out that she was yakking every time. Insert fear of getting a stomach flu virus right.....here.
- Vegas = a LOT of walking
- Got up early did a 5K or so run on The Strip. Awesome. Even better, we weren't the only ones.

- Cheers to fatty American food. My blood vessels were screaming for mercy.
- We spotted a PF Changs and automatically, V-Day lunch was found (we've been craving these noodles for about as long as we've been married). Who cared that we had to wait 45 minutes for our table, that it was 5PM eastern time, and that we had nothing else to eat even though we ran this morning?

- ALL the Barte cousins got wasted. Future cousin-in-law and I watched...we were part of the search and rescue team.

-Krispy Kreme for breakfast. Mmmmm...(see 3 points up)

-Lunch with my aunt and uncle - they're just as sweet as ever and why would they ever change? I wish we had more time with them.
-Wedding day - what a beautiful ceremony :) ♥ I think the best part was all the crying -- including brother-in-law
- Camera stops working properly. WHAT THE HEEEEEECK!?!
- Husband wins $60 while waiting for lunch reservation...only took 2 seconds.

- Club night #2 - cheers to...euro trash? Hit the hay early for our morning flight

what i think of euro trash

- Morning flight moved to afternoon flight translating to late evening arrival. Boo.

Vancouver
- Rain...all day, every day
- AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWESOME room, on the executive floor, with treats!

- Dinner with my cousin and her family. I miss them already.
- GPS brought us to East Hastings on the way back to the hotel. Fear. For. Life. NOW!
- Recognition all over the hotel by name. It was like Minority Report.

- Successful meeting, lots of food
- Opted for walk outside vs. run inside (and outside -- I didn't bring a running jacket, ugh stupid me)

- Chillage with my sister
- Couldn't find seats together so then we ended up getting moved to two seats at the front of the plane. SCORE.
- Stopover in Alberta - never been here before!
- Back home...yes!
- Forgot my cell phone charger in Vancouver...and it's on its way back to me free of charge. I love being a VIP.

Blind

You know how they say “Love is blind”?

There are so many things we do and don’t know about people. So many of these things that make us think, “How could he be with her?” or “What does she see in him?” Then we say that love is blind (or in some cases, also deaf and dumb) when we can't understand why people are in the relationships they're in.

Little do we know that perhaps we are the ones who are blind and these lovebirds are the ones who truly see. Think about it.

Most people show their true selves to their partners, maybe right away, maybe over time. And of these people, those who don’t like what they know move on, while the others who do like what they know stick around.

But around other people, we shield and mask bits of ourselves for fear of what they’ll think of us and then if we’re comfortable, we gradually let our guard down…but do we ever do this completely with anyone other than our partner or those who know us best?

Many people would say of someone with a partner that their partner knows them best. I'd definitely say that in my case.

Just something to think about next time you look at someone and their partner and wonder how they came to be and how they are.

Haha

As you already know, the world wide web is not a very easy place to communicate sarcasm and tone. Since most of the time, I’m not serious (some of you may not agree with that statement, which, okay fine, I understand), I find it challenging when I want to joke around but I’m not sure it’ll be clear when I type it all out.

So what do I do?

Follow all statements with “Haha” or some form of it, like “Heehee” or “LOL!”. (Note: sometimes I don’t actually laugh out loud. Sorry!)

I think I do it too much. Sometimes every other line in an email or a Messenger window ends with “Haha”. It’s probably obvious sometimes when I am joking, but I find myself wanting to make sure the recipient of the message knows that I’m joking, just to avoid confusion.

There’s also the case of the happy face. I definitely over use that too. I think I'm a huge "facial expressioner" in person, so when I type, I find I need to add emoticons.

I also use “j/k”. I think subconsciously I like to use it because it's mine and hubby's initials. Just kidding (note that I typed that out, and didn't use "j/k").

Maybe I should just pretend that people understand what I’m saying. Or maybe I should stop being sarcastic. Or maybe I should stop joking...










j/k
:D
Haha!