it's time!

in case you hadn't noticed, i haven't been much into blogging lately. i don't have a solid explanation, but i do have an idea of why... i've been busy. and when you're working an office job that's so boring and frustrating (and doesn't allow blogging) you don't really feel like sitting in front of the computer when you get home, unless it's to play scrabble. :o)

now that i'm working mostly from home, i will be more likely to share all the little things with you - my people, my fans, my voters... oh... right. well, whatever.

recently i've been looking for a new job, and doing some contract work. i've been mostly doing illustrations for product manuals. which is actually really cool, but not enough hours.

and of course The Wedding. oy. the good news is that things genuinely are coming along in that department. yay.

extra good news is that today i'm having a girly day with danielle. we are going to forget all of our woes (this includes my family, and being poor). can i get a whoot?

oh, the irony!

today i got hit by a van. multiple times.

i was walking from the hospital (VGH) to kits. busses should take interac... but that's another story. i decided to walk down arbutus, cause i like that road. i was crossing the road near an elementary school (it was the proper place to cross) when a blood services van stops at the corner (as it should). so i continued crossing and it inched forward, and hit me. then it did it again. i had to yell at him repeatedly but i'd say it's hard to hear a pedestrian when you're on your phone and only looking to your left.

i'm okay. but i'm pissed.

a not-so-subtle sign

today, as i was leaving work (rushing to work-out, no less) i paused in the kitchen and was chatting with a co-worker. there were some chips on the table (everyone leaves food out for sharing) and i was like: sweet! cleanse friendly, i'll just have a couple. then my manager came in and he said, oh you've found the chips too... i'm just going to get a bowl of them. and did.

then the other lady (that we hadn't been talking to, but was also in the kitchen) asked if we wanted any more chips, and i was like, oh no thanks (already feeling bold for having had the few i did) and my manager said something to the effect of: i'll fill up this bowl a bit more when i'm done with this one. then the woman moved the bag to where she was sitting (i thought just so they're closer for her dinner) and my manager was like: oh, were those *your* chips? and she was like: yes. but then proceded to be very kind about the whole us gorging on her chips. but let me tell you... i was mortified. the 1 freakin' time i eat any of the heaps of food the people leave out for everyone, and it's not even for that! we have had potlucks that i haven't participated in, chocolate like crazy at Hallowe'en, fajita day, random cookies left out, birthday cakes, retirement cakes and so forth. no no no.

lesson learned.

now i've got to get that lady some chips...

firm but fair

today a guy at work was annoying me so much i asked him: don't you have something you should be doing? in my defense, what i wanted to say was: 1. shut up, 2. mind your own bee's wax, 3. you really are not being helpful because you don't even know what we're talking about.

also, we were supposed to hear about our contracts being renewed today but we didn't. i've got my fingers crossed that something comes up before i get suckered in to signing anything.

*argh*

a moment of shrek

since my cold cleared up a few weeks ago, i have had this clogged feeling in my ear. i thought it might be cold related so i waited it out a bit. i *finally* went to the doctor today... it's a wax build up - YUCK!! anyway, he was all like: Q-tips are the road to the devil. but i was all like: dude, i have eczema, if i don't use a Q-tip, the moisture will irritate my eczema. he accepted that. or at least pretended to.

now i have to put oil in my ear before i go to bed to soften the wax up, and lay a towel on my pillow so the oil doesn't stain my pillow. in a while i go back and he'll drain it for me. how freakin' gross is that? but i have to admit, i'm desperate to see what it looks like. yuk, awesome!

my self

last weekend gerry and i went to visit my brother in mission. mission, kind of like the name suggests is a part of the bible belt, so really, what happened there, is not 100%, or even 30% unexpected. perhaps my reaction was.

we were driving to the cinema and only by fluke did we end up going past at least 2 kilometers of people lined up along the sidewalk with placards... all oddly dressed in black. it didn't take me long to figure out that these weren't the Conservative Party representatives that i had initially mistaken them for (although, i guess in a way, they probably were... but i think the Christian Heritage Party is fairly popular in those parts, so my thinking they were Conservatives was a jump way left of these much more conservatives conservatives).

well, to finally get the point, they were an anti-choice demonstration. i think (i may be wrong) that it would normally take something 'special' to get me to start yelling at people on the side walk of a fairly busy road. turns out they were special enough. it took about two seconds for me to roll down my window (i wasn't driving) and yell, 'shame on you!' (over and over) to the protesters. one guess thought i was supporting him at first and gave me the thumbs up, then he realised i meant *him* not the ladies exercising their ownership of their bodies. it was fairly comical to see him understand the situation. i did practice self-control... what i really wanted to do was open the door and get gerry to drive really close to them and squish them all down. i was pretty f'ing worked up to be honest (in case you hadn't noticed). it was hard for me to calm down afterwards. and really, i might have been a bit embarrassed about such behaviour normally, but drastic times, drastic measures. i wanted to join the lady and her kid and dog on the other side of the street with her pro-choice sign. but sometimes you can't just join a protest when you've gone to pick up your brother and take to dinner and a movie. maybe i should start carrying poster board and a jiffy marker in my car. you know, just in case.

p.s. this obviously only reflects my views on anti-abortionists. although mikey was ready to join in with me which was pretty cool. gerry, while he said he would, seemed a little half-hearted on it. *but* he didn't roll up my window... i'm sure that says something.

in other body news, my arms getting totally ripped. still chubbiness abounds on the 'wing' part, but that's getting worked on. now, if i could just stick to this food allergy business.

some fun pics

Nicola, Elaine, Me, Gerry out for drinks and dinner at the beach


Ivy (a girl I work with), Elaine, Nicola, and Nick (a guy I used ot work with) outside the Olive Garden in Langley


Elaine, eating in the NerdMobile

Suz, Gerry, Me, Nicola, Elaine: eating and drinking at the beach (do you see a theme here?)

Elaine, Ian, Gerry, Nicola, Suz at the Japanese feast (at the beach)

same again

unfortunately i've been spending most of my time at work, working, and on the road.

i'm still working my top-secret government job and would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that it is much less exciting than the confidentiality agreement suggests. i'm back on the cleanse and struggling (but sticking) with it. and gerry and i are taking a safe boating class. we hope to join the co-op here and get some practice and experience in. other than that, making food for the cleanse and shopping for food for the cleanse takes up a good part of my life. oh! and i've been doing crosswords, usually with gerry.

this is a special weekend though! we saw my brother last night, played a couple of games of cribbage and brought the house some timmy ho's. so now we get to go to vancouver for the night! i'm off to get a massage first, and then it's a quick pack and hop on the bus to spend the night in our fair (but for the first day in ages, rainy) city. one night at the fairmont harbourfront with an evening at the comedy fest. we're going to see a game show! how me is that?! ha ha! and then hopefully a nice organic, vegan and celiac friendly, sugar free, garlic free, cranberry free dinner. my favourite part? open heated swimming pool on the 6th floor. hopefully it's open during the rain.

at last

it's been a very busy few weeks. i'm working full time (boo to the hours, yay to the cash), we've been working on the wedding details, attended a wedding, and had visitors from ireland (elaine, nicola, and suz).

the best was definitely having visitors. and the laughing that went with it. (p.s. suz didn't leave the milk out at all after elaine and nicola left.)

it was mixed weather while they were here, but that was probably for the best since the first day they got here they were shocked at the heat and comments like: are we in africa, abounded.

as is traditional, i've included a recap of funny things that were said:

monkeys / africa: as mentioned above, elaine kept calling the place africa... but to continue on the theme, the first morning they were here, nicola said that the monkeys on the balcony woke her up with their running around and squealing. i think it was actually squirrels running around and seagulls squealing, but i'm open to the idea of monkeys on our balcony.

vagina: one day i picked elain and nicola up after a long day of them in the city, and then we met some work people and gerry at the olive garden (now when will & grace talk about it, they know what it's about). on the drive elaine and nicola asked about this place called vagina that everyone is talking about. they had even heard people discussing it on the bus around stanley park. regina, i explained, is a city in canada. and while people might 'visit' vagina, they were probably talking about regina. these kinds of things are especially funny to me, since my accent issue with tapas/topless bars. good thing i wouldn't mind going to either.

me (naked): it was a pretty warm night, and i had taken a steamy shower for some reason. i plopped on the bed, under the fan to cool off and immediately thought: oh shoot, what if one of the girls gets up, i then decided, and said out loud that they wouldn't. at which point, elaine did. of course we scrambled around to get covered, and totally looked like we were having sexy time. there was much laughing and so on. elaine can't see that well without her glasses on, but still... HELLO! NAKED!

60/50 split the lotto: nicola, having taught maths in ireland decided this was a fair split for the lotto winnings from the ticket she and elaine got. elaine would have split it with all of us.

oh, and my most favourite. elaine, nicola and gerry went to science world. at some point, elaine was standing around, trying to ignore the child asking her a question. finally she looked at the kid and he asked her how far 100 metres is. she pointed to a spot 10 metres away and said to there. this is made extra funny because when we went jet skiing, and elaine took over, she almost hit other boats (you're supposed to stay 100 feet away from other water craft) and had no clue how far she was supposed to stay from the beach. she also probably destroyed that child's chances of becoming anything that has to do with distances.

we hope our visitors had as much fun camping, shopping, eating, making s'mores, jet skiing, eating, shopping, eating, shopping, and of course visiting as we did!

thanks for making the trip!!!

yes, i know

i know that rough times happening in a person's life help you appreciate the good ones even more, but (whoa is me) i think i deserve a break.

and that's all i'm going to say about that. good news now.

wedding dress plans are getting sorted. we have probably found someone to do the cupcakes. more testing (not by me, i'm sticking to my allergy list) will occur in the next couple of weeks. and, although i have found out the florist i wanted to use has sold his business, i'm not too worried (weird) but will definitely start to look into a local one.

i'm still working. and it's still confidential, so there'll be no chit chat about that... except that boring jobs shouldn't be confidential. it makes them worse to not be able to whinge about them. :o)

one week until elaine and nicola come! how exciting is that. i believe events will include shopping, whale watching, shopping, eating, jack johnson at the gorge in george, WA some eating, and some shopping. then suz gets here and we'll do something similar but with dave matthews at the gorge, instead of jack.

whoo hoo!

still going

so, i'm still cleansing. this means things basically suck in the food department around here. what worries me most is that these 'cookies' i made (banana, oats, cinnamon, threw in some nuts for excitement) tasted super gross when i first tried one but by the second day i was like: hey, these aren't that bad!

in other fun news, we got an ikea couch that pulls out into a bed for our guests who will be arriving in less than a month! (by one day, but still!) oh, and on the weekend, with some assistance from my fellah, i made raspberry jam. i've already given a few jars away, so i hope they taste alright. they are, of course, laden with sugar, so i wasn't able to taste it while sweating away over the stove.

lastly, my belly dancing class is going well. um... well, okay the teacher is a good belly dancer, but i don't know that i would say she's a good teacher. it's only one more class, so i don't really mind, and i do feel like i've learned some stuff, and even more importantly, had some nice sweaty work outs.

working 9-5

*shock & horror*

i've been temping this week. and will finish the week with it too. in fact, i've got something (or should have, i'm just waiting for the confirmation email) lined up for the next month after this.

busy me. busy bee.

have i mentioned that i think i can taste one of the medicines prescribed to me? i can't which. they all have a similar weird smell.

control

as many of you, my massive audience of 2, know, i have a serious problem with eczema and psoriasis. both of which can be very painful and fairly disgusting. well, let me clarify... it doesn't bother me to see it on other people, but when you have it, you know people are staring at it, and you know most people think it's disgusting.

it also leads to other things, like arthritis, scarring, hair loss, etc.. basically, it's not the worst thing out there, but it's not super either.

so, in my attempts to get a grip on this thing, i saw a specialist again, on tuesday. i told him where i am having problems and he looked and talked to the other guy there (student or whatever). he rambled off some stuff and filled 3 sheets of prescription paper.

so, i went to the drug store and had to wait *ages* for everything. then when i got to the till the total was $200! and let me tell you, it is hard to figure out what is going on with all this stuff. i will admit, it's a good deal my own fault cause i should have been more demanding, but i can never remember that stuff anyway. and i guess cause i've started a cleanse under rachel's guidance, i was a little more ambivalent about the prescriptions from the MD.

basically, i want to use the prescription stuff to clear up the issues, especially on my scalp and arms and i'm hoping with rachel's help, i'll be able to cure the problem.

also, please take this as a warning that not only am i going to be PMSing, i'm also going to be a psycho needing some peanut butter, chocolate, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, sugar, bread, dairy, etc..

on that note, i will do one more blog and then go to sleep.

get well soon

ugh!!

it's been a good week and a half that i've been sick. bouts of voicelessness, coughing, sneezing and muscle aches have been ruling my world, so i've been staying very close to home lately. except for when i had to go to the doctor... in HOPE!

seriously, it is so frickin' hard to get a doctor around here. in fact:

dear mr. campbell,

please recruit more doctors and while you're at it, increase health care benefits cause the current situation SUCKS!!!

yours truly,
ursula

luckily i already had an appointment for my doctor, for my gimped shoulder, so when i was there she checked out the cold situation and ordered me to rest and fluids.

so what exciting things have i been doing to keep myself busy? reading garbage, getting my butt kicked all over the Wii Friends Network by Jen, Reid and Conor, watching wedding shows and law & order (same thing really, isn't it?) and doing all kinds of fun wedding things like save the date cards and planning website details. and of course, sleeping like crazy. i've also been trying to get off the nyquil now that i have deemed myself not so sick that i need it to sleep.

tonight we have a meeting with a potential photographer and more excitingly, drinks with ang and lief.

whoot, there it is.

staycation

since wednesday i've been home-alone. as you may know from previous posts, when i'm left alone at home i like to stay up late, do housework and especially organize.

this time alone, i've decided to treat it as a vacation, or because i've stayed home, a staycation.

i've been staying up late reading trashy books, having naps in the afternoon, and really not straying far from home. it's been nice. it has of course been spattered with some laundry and food making. an appointment here, and meeting up with some people there. for the most part, a fairly relaxed pace of enjoying the sunshine and letting my body dictate the hours it wants to keep.

tomorrow i have a lesson to give, but that's already planned. and of course, it's saturday, so i'll be visiting my brother. otherwise, i have a dessert to make for the father's day barbeque at rachel's and then i might pull out my sewing machine to make the yoga mat bag i've been meaning to for ages. hmmm... i guess i should make sure the cord is still in there, from when i first got all of the supplies. maybe this project will be delayed until next week. it's less convenient to want to whip something up when there's no longer a fabric/craft store to get your supplies from for free. :o) and since i'm on staycation, i wouldn't want to go out of my way, and have to stop at a store.

a little something like this

not exactly, but the idea is there. oh, and p.s. i don't look like her in it. in case we haven't met.

try this on for size!

tomorrow i have an appointment to try on some wedding dresses. we'll see if the pictures i've ripped from wedding magazines come even close to some resemblance when they're on me.

i'm bringing rachel for this fun escapade, and hopefully she'll be able to take pics. is itbad luck to post wedding dress pictures before you're married? hmm...

sexy time

we saw sex and the city on friday. it was really all i could have hoped for. i loved it. i would like to try to see again while it's at our local.

you know how when you the new indy movie? well, it's not like that all. i wasn't disappointed with s&tc. it was like watching the show again, except longer and even more involving. three thumbs up.

other good movies we've seen lately:
what happens in vegas
iron man
baby mama
made of honour

and a bunch of other ones too... but these are what i remember. did you know you can exchange air miles for movie passes? oh, and on tuesdays at our local, it's only $5.25. rock arm.

hope is the dream of a soul awake.

i'm not sure if it's PMS hormone weird-o issues, or if it's because i recently read the 'when someone's missing' chapter of the wedding book cheryl sent me, or if because on this show last night they dedicated their first dance to this guy's mom who had passed away. in any case, this morning i had a dream. in the dream my mom was alive and living in australia. why not? a lot of the dream involved me being on the plane to go find and see her. i think danielle and gerry were with me.

huh? what?

it's june 1. i guess i'll blog.

oh, and things have been pretty suck-ass lately so i think it's best to blog. :o)

i got a call from the gov't (finally) for a phone interview. i'd say it went well enough. who knows, really... it was so quick! 3-5 talk to test your communication skills. i also asked when they'd let people know about the position. apparently now it's sometime in the summer.

needless to say, i cannot not be working until i find out. so instead of holding my breath, i've decided to do some shallow breathing. i'm going to continue doing temp stuff until i hear either way. then if it's a big ol' NO, i will have still been earning some cash and keeping my eyes peeled for other jobs earning equivalent $ and with similar benefits.

speaking of temp stuff... on friday my placement was at a clinic that does sample testing from animals. i was doing the intake, so i got to wear a lab coat and touch test tubes and jars full of various body stuff. the grossest was something a cat had coughed up. it looked like something between a gall stone and 1.5 cm diametre chunks of phlegm. also gross? sometimes you could get a whiff of poop. oh, and the fact that the guy i was working with had a sever BO problem. like, stink fest 2008! still, if not for the following two incidents, i would have happily gone back there... it's close to me, easy work, and pays well enough. *but*

1. at lunch a lady literally took the paper i was reading and 5 minutes later asked me if i had been reading it. i said that yes, actually i was, and then she launched into a tirade about the article she just had to read (about the vaccine for cervical cancer) and how she would never get that for her daughters, and if she had to do it all over again, she wouldn't get them other vaccines either, etc.. i just let her talk (for ages) and didn't comment until well into it for the second breath. i asked her about polio. i didn't actually care about her answer, but i wanted to say it. heh heh.

2. one of the ladies i was working with decided to share with the class (a muslim lady, the BO dude and me) that she has been pregnant 10 times. you see, she can get pregnant easily, but staying pregnant is the problem. *ha ha ha!* oh, and she used to be a party girl, and she even got pregnant because she drank too much when she was younger. *oh, how silly of her!* now, the weird thing is that she would have been a grand enough person to work with, except for all of her explanations on why she wants to move to Calgary, but hopefully never see one of her many exes from Edmonton. and her crazy pregnancy talk that she just wouldn't let go for AGES!

also exciting is that i had another argument with my sister. she's really pissing me off right now. well, she often does piss me off, but right now she is really really pushing my buttons. i believe i need a break from her. she doesn't read this blog, so unfortunately i'm going to have to articulate this in another way.

oh, today we bought an HDPVR. it doesn't work yet because the first one we bought was broken. and i almost broke myself on our IKEA tv stand where the glass shelving seems to want to fall on me... taking the VCR and such with it. they didn't have anymore, so we had to go to another London Drugs... after calling 3 different ones to find another PVR. so, we drove the broken one to Cloverdale and was expecting the lovely service you usually get at London Drugs. not this time. the guy, Michel, was so condescending it was making me furious. p.s. Michel... i don't care if this is the last one you have in stock, or that you probably feel like you're wasting it, because you feel that i wouldn't have a clue if something is actually working or not. you work at London Drugs, so take it back and replace it. oh, and when i asked if you should put the bar code in somewhere? yeah, you should have. now we can't register the stupid thing, although it does work now (yay!) because you told me we didn't need to register the number. listen ass-face. a little less condescension, a little more help and customer service, please.

also crappy? the forces worked against us today and there was no time for baby sheep squishing. i'll have to take care of that this week... a little cuddle from almost polar bears would be nice after i tell Michel what i think.

and to top it off, i am extra grumpy because i have severe pms.

now, there is some good news, so i can maybe have some nice dreams... S&TC was brilliant. yay. i loved it. i might even get ambitious at some point and watch the entire series and the movie sometime. that would really nice for me. with some popcorn and peanut butter fingers. yup. that'd be nice.

gerry brought me home DQ tonight and chocolate. which really could have been a meal replacement today.

and to finish it, things are moving along well enought for all things wedding.

yay. bed. now.