Jack is adorable

Miranda posted this picture on her blog of Jack and I think it's so increabible cute, Miranda you are so lucky he is so sweet. What a great picture idea.

Jenn has a Blog

Hey everyone Jenn has a blog, and I rearranged my links to add her. Unfortunatley some of the boys were shifted downward due to lack of any posts.

http://jennstheatre.blogspot.com/

Google the color purple

So tonight I was trying to find pictures of paintings with the color purple and it took me forever. One of my more loathed statements in my house is, "did you google it" I think people (especially computer guys) think that google has all the answers. Yes google may have tons of answers but they are spread all over the place and you have to ask google the precise right question or your not going to get the answers you want. So finally after typing purple flower artwork, artwork, flowers, purple I finally found a bit of what I was looking for when I went into the image search and typed purple. Now I know I should have gone to the image search right away, but see that's just apart of what makes google so complicated. Anyways this is a purple wallpaper image item I found somewhere and it was the closest thing I could find to something I'd want to hang in my bedroom. Honestly though I still think it's ugly and boring.

Look look look I'm a decorator right in my very own home. I'm in the midst of trying to transform our bedroom into something more luxurious. Kim I have you to thank 100% for the chocolate brown curtain idea. I've decided that purple will be the be accent tone and I'd like to find a really neat purple hued painting to hang over the bed. I know of one couple who laid down a canvas, covered themselves in body paint, then you know, and then hung it over their bed. I want something creative but we won't be doing that.
Quentin has informed me that he doesn't like the purple pillows but I think I like them still. Next on the list is new night tables and then maybe an actual bed frame. p.s I never thought that new sheets would actually improve the quality of our sleep but in fact both Quentin and I reported sleeping exceptionally well the last two nights on 400 count cotton sheets.

Vanity Fair

I watched Vanity Fair tonight, I wanted to see it again ever since, "Walk The Line" Vanity fair although too slow and torturous for most males to sit through is filled with wit. I love Reese Witherspoon in this movie although my favorite one liner comes from the old rich aunt who says, "come and after dinner we shall sit and abuse the company". In the moment it's really funny. Besides the jokes I like the journey Reese's character takes, money seems to be such a home wrecker and it makes me want to strangle half the characters at one point or another. :) Opps I didn't mean that literally.

Home after Church

This morning Chris phoned at quarter after 10, "wanna go to church". I was a bit grumpy at first cause it meant I had to get myself in gear if I wanted to look presentable enough to show up by 11, but I was able to get out the door in time and funny enough my Mom and brother were going too. So it was a big happy family, except Quentin decided to have some quiet alone time at home since I'm usually always there.

So today Pastor Ross had a pretty big sermon with lots of points and to be honest I followed him to a certain point and then started to analyze that idea and missed everything else he said. Of all the pastors I've ever heard he's one of my favorite, I've been listening to him for years and I always walk out the door inspire and still thinking about what he has to say. He has such a great way of refreshing old sermons.

Today the statement that stuck with me the most was, "I'm a piece of work". He quoted a Jimmy Buffet/Keith Urban song.

I'm a piece of work, I'm iron and lace

I'm shy, I'm right up in your face

I'm all dumbfounded, stubborn as an ass

Sharp as an arrow in a pile of glass.

I'm a sweetheart, genius, reckless jerk.

Lord, have mercy, I'm a piece of work.

Well the Lord made me on a long thin limb

Made sure I'd remember him or her

In the middle of a long dark night

Creation crazy, death-sheet white

Made in the image of a lion shocked lamb

I am who the hell I am

Even better, bad to worse,

Down to the letter, I'm a piece of work.

I'm a piece of work I'm an angels fiend

Bathed in lavender and gasoline

Scared brave, shallow in an ink black well

Lightly browned in the fires of hell

Wicked, holy, full on fake

Best known for my big mistake

I'm zen wise, peaceful, gone berserk

Good God almighty, What a piece of work.

I'm a dreadful sight, I just don't care

Spent all morning pull out my hair

Woke at dawn with a crazy spin

I was half the day trying to glue back in

Mother, bloody mary, please

Wipe that smile right off your knees

I'm the CEO of the mailroom clerks

Lord have mercy, I'm a piece of work.

I'm a piece of work, I'm a love sick boy

Cloth cap, caviar, and corduroy

All over the map, just a lost in space

With a filthy mind and a choirboy's face

Heels up, head down, straight on through

Watch out woman, I'm a get to you

I'm a gladiator with a mind to irk

I'm a see you later, I'm a piece of work.

Pastor Ross only quoted the first little bit but I wanted to read the rest of the song so I posted the whole thing.

So were all a piece of work in our own way, or maybe it's just a fresh way to say,"we're all inherently fallen". So I understand that point, but then the topic switches to how God some how uses that we're a piece of work as a vehicle for us to reflect his creativity. Honestly I don't totally get it, so because were flawed it makes us creative? But isn't God perfect and the ultimate source of creativity. You know how great artists and musicians credit God for their inspiration, "it was just a gift, it was shown to me". Maybe because were flawed it opens us up to his creativity because we need salvation. Like I said I don't totally understand but the notes for the sermon will be posted in a few days so I'll have to check back. I hope this isn't one of those things were I read back in a few days an go on no how did I understand it that way, I was way off.

We'll see. Peace Portal.

Walk The Line

Saw Walk the Line last night, the story of Jonny Cash. It was a really good movie. Joaquin phoenix will probably win an Oscar or at the least be nominated for an academy award and I thought he was fantastic. He seems to have that really sweaty really agitated look down pat.

Reese Witherspoon, how I love her. She's so cute and has a fantastic sense of humor. In her opening scene she says,"oh don't worry I can keep this funny for at least 2 minutes." She wears this fluffy red dress that I think was inspired from old country square dancers. I would love to have a place to wear that red dress it looks like so much fun. Don't I wish I could wear it out on a night on the town instead of the usual shorter tighter whatever. Reeses hair is so perfect too, the color and body is great. I'm glad she can pull off chocolate brown so well, it makes me want to give it a whirl.

The relationship between Jonny and June was crazy, I thought they were both a bit nuts. But in the end it seems like the crazy stories are always the most interesting and rewarding. I'm glad that Jonny was able to clean up and find peace, it was nice to see him happy after all he went through. Okay time to download,"Walk the Line" for the nano.

Happy 27th Birthday Tom

Last night after having a few martini's at the Wag, I asked Tom what the top 5 things he wanted to accomplish being 27 and he took a quick second to ponder.


Looks like Jen was included in those thoughts. :)





We had chocolate fodue at the Washington Avenue Grill and it was to die for. They had an older guy playing an electric guitar on the mini stage and at some point he started to play, "you can't always get what you want" it was so good we all stopped talking turned around and listened.



Chris decided he wanted his picture taken too so he put on my old grad dress from 1996 that was left over from Halloween and showed us some poses he could do.

I will always have to be on a Diet

I went to White Spot today and tried something on the light menu. Chicken burger with fat-free raspberry dressing. For some reason when ever I look at healthy choices on a menu in my mind I think oh no these are the crappy items and they'll taste horrible maybe a bit acidic, hence the fatfree raspberry dressing. No nice soft yummy cheeses in these dishes.
So I ordered the chicken burger that actually had ranch dressing and the raspberry salad dressing and to my surprise I actually like it. The dressing wasn't that acidic and it reminded me of the good old Weight Watchers days.

Later I came home after having a nice little shop in the mall and to my despair the nice white pants that I bought year seemed really tight! So does that mean I got fatter this year or the pants shrunk a bit from the drycleaners or am I just not used to the fit of these pants since it's been a year. Crap it's such a gamble heading into your closet to see how items from the past fit. I mean it's either yippy these things are huge on me I must be smaller or oh no I don't remember it being this snug.

This makes me miss loose fitting clothes, I was noticing a whole bus load of old ladies that were hanging out in the White Spot lobby and I saw these two particular cute old ladies sitting together. They looked so comfortable in their soft toned outfits with matching FLAT shoes and canes. Hmm we'll that's one thing to look forward to when you're old, clothes that are designed strictly for comfort.

Anyways regardless of my experience trying on the pants, I know I need to stop slacking on my healthy eating. I made a huge cabagge vegetable soup this week, so it's time to eat more of that and less chessy yummy foods. Sigh.... why does staying in shape have to be so hard.

NCO Alpine Ski Team

I have a little cousin Jordon who lives back east who's on the NCO ski team. She's in the back row on the left hand side. Wow I think that's fabulous, sking and the moutains have always been big in our family maybe one day we'll be watching Jordan on TV.

Migraines turn me into a stroke victim.

Tonight I'm just hanging out with my"laptop" recovering from a massive huge migraine that blind-sided me today. Dammit, if you've never had one, great fantastic I hope you never do, cause they're a complete waste of time and no one ever really understands you unless they've had one.
Today I had a new symptom something totally different. I was looking at a website reading the letters but I couldn't understand any of the words. I tried to pronounce the word, "Sold" out loud but I couldn't. It was the weirdest experience I felt like a stoke victim. For some reason my brain decided to stop working, but it was actually kind of interesting being able to look at words and reaslize that the actual picture of the words was very familiar, but the letters had no meaning. I tried to read the words 'buyer' and 'seller', and I couldn't for the life of me say them outloud. Anyways I decided to lie down for a bit and then shortly after my head started to throb. Oh and I had massive auras which I never understood until I had one. Damn Migraines!

The ultimate Christmas lights show.

Quentin showed this to me bright and early this morning. It's a house decorated with Christmas lights and it's this whole music light show. I'd like to say that a man definitely did this! This just screams I'm a lighting/sound technician for my regular job but I was very bored on the holidays. The poor wife who had endure her husband outside fiddling with those lights and sound till god know when.
I think this is hilarious!

Mayne Island November 2005.

Okay so for this trip Candice and I will be both posting.

I call this the money shot, "girls with power shot" because most of us are using different versions of the Canon Power Shot, mine is the SD300.

Here we are taking pictures of the boys!



The boys having their moment!



Calvin couldn't help himself and had to take a picture of all of us taking their pictures.

Jump

These are my favorite pics, Calvin had us take 2 steps down this steep slope and then JUMP!!!!

My Poser Brother

My wonderful brother Jon loves to harass and tease me saying I'm a huge poser for pictures. Well I've decided that yes I do like pictures but I think he's the biggest poser of all. There are so many sayings for this, "those who name it are it" I'm sure someone can remember a better way of saying it.

The nano shuffle

As soon as Quentin arrived he immediately dove into a huge, "sort the music on the new nano campaign" here he is phoning his personal technical support line, "Andrew" for tips. p.s The music was wonderful the best it's ever been organized at Mayne, I think everyone would agree!!!

10 people 1 SUV

Video Clip

I thought it was incredible that we fit 10 people in one SUV. It was fun though and surprisingly comfortable. I was a little nervous about Quentin driving slow enough with 10 people in the car but he ended up listening to my back seat concerns, good job honey. :)

Back of Bus

We took my Mom's van and had 10 people it it. Here are Sharon, Sabrina and I sitting in the back.

Candy Apples

They have a shop at BC Ferries that serves the best candy apples. Here Candice and I bought our own and the boys were like, "why didn't you just buy one" ummm how would that work?


Candy Apples.

THE LEONIDS METEOR SHOWERS.

THE LEONIDS: The most famous of all meteor showers, the Leonids, peaks on Thursday, Nov. 17th. A few years ago, the Leonids were storming, filling the skies with bright meteors. But not this year. The 2005 Leonids are expected to be few (less than 20 per hour) and hard to see because of the glaring full Moon.

Nevertheless, if you're an enthusiast, you might want to go outside before sunrise on Nov. 17th and look up. The sparkling stars of northern winter will be on full display, along with Saturn and the full Moon, and you might spot a few meteors, too.

Hey that's tomorrow morning, so if you wake up before sunrise you'll catch a glimpse.

THE DIRTY LITTLE SECRET ABOUT GOSSIP

I read this article today in Pshychology today. Haven't you always found that some people are great at gossiping and you feel you trust them while others are just clued out about it. I love this article because it states the obvious and gives reason and justice to the horrible rath of gossip.
Sorry but the only way I could get this onto my blog was to scan and post pictures which you have to click amd make bigger to read.

p.s Tonight I read clips of this article for Quentin when he came home, I was happy to hear that he had never heard such a theory and after I finished I gleefully put down the magazine and asked him, "so did you hear any gossip today"... it may do wonders for our marriage.:)

Old Celebrities

I just love these pictures, no matter what were all going to get old and wrinkly one day. :)

Neighbour has Triplets

My neighbor has triplets. Here they are 2 identical boys in the back and the little girl in the front. I went for a walk with the Mom and a friend shown here in the picture around the block. Wow the life of having triplets I couldn't even imagine.

Shayna has a shiny new Red Car

Shayna picked me up today and we went for a drive in the new car. Then we went to the mall for a little shopping, it was a perfect afternoon.

I'm tired

Everyone in my family makes fun of me because they think I say this to much, (my Dad is the ring leader) but tonight I don't care. I'm freaking tired I went snowboarding and since I'm feeling muscles I haven't felt in years. My muscles just plain kill and my knees are in particular pain! They have blue bruises from catching a toe edge edge every 20 seconds and my old skating knee is throbbing. I won't be able to do any high impact sport for awhile. Tonight I also had a personal bake off and baking is tiring! I baked for hours and hours and didn't accomplish the results I was expecting, damit. I hate Martha Stewart that stupid lady makes it seem so eay, she's a liar!!! Okay that's enough time to go to sleep.

A Love Song for Bobby Long

Quentin went to River Rock to play his luck at the poker table tonight so I got to watch any movie I wanted.
So for me it was,"A Love Song for Bobby Long" and Scarlett Johansson was the main actress. The more movies I watch with her the more I liked her. In this one she played a very mad crass character. She is able to get mad so well, she reminds me of Julia Roberts.


Another lead actor was Gariel Macht who half way through the movie I thought, wow you look like my cousin Kosta.

Snowboarding at Mt. Baker

Steph bought Drink'n Crunch for breakfast.


The car had a foot of new snow on it when we got back, I could barely open the door.






Here is Tom pointing us to a trail that was beside the cliff. I had a moment were there was a big rock and I almost fell down into the gully, I was scared but I somehow got around it. Besides that, Tom was the only person who really tried to know were they were headed.


Unfortunately 3 different cars didn't make it home so well, I took pictures of 2 of them.

Remembrance Day

Tonight before remembrance Day were watching a TV series Band of Brothers It's about the Battle of Normady which took place during the second world war. Watching this tv series I'm stunned at how intense and inhuman the battles become. At one point you see a platoon kill the unexpected enemy. It's really sad because the ambush becomes more than just to cover their secret location they gain vengeance in their eyes. You can see how the men in the environment turn into something else just to say alive.
Lately I've seen some old men at the grocery store ringing their bells and collecting some change for Remembrance Day. I saw this one particular old guy who had all these medals and I just wondered for a second what he went through to be sitting there.
In my own family my Mothers Mother has horrendous stories of growing up as a child and living many of her adult years in war ridden Germany. I think the one that hurts to hear the most is of her family being dragged in the middle of the night from her house when she was 5 years old. The soldiers took her father and she never saw him again. Obviously I only knew my Oma as an old lady in her eighties but even though she went through so much she still maintained the most positive attitude and was the kindest woman on earth. She would give you anything she had and her faith was remarkable. I've never met anyone since who I think feels God's presence the way she did. When I was babysat in her tiny apartment as a child she would spend hours in her room praying, chanting, speaking in tongues, at the time I didn't understand because I was too young.
Maybe by today's standards you might wonder if she was a bit crazy, but for having to endure the many horrors of the communist government I think her faith actually helped her to hold onto her sanity and not become a frightened scared bitter person. My Mom has told us kids many times of different stories were my Oma prayed and God brought her through to safety. You might wonder if it was luck but regardless I think that because her faith was so strong he granted her a sense of peace and happiness.
So when I think of Remberance Day it's sort of religious for me and I'm reminded of the example of leading a selfless life and the peace and happiness it can bring.

Shop Girl

Candice has a post about Shop girl and it looks good, I want to see it. :)

Listening Skills

Today I was at my offices meeting and one of the mortgage brokers stood up and said he was going to attend a seminar on listening. He asked how many of you have ever attended that kind of seminar. He said one of the common things people do when listening is start thinking about your own response instead of actually really taking the time to listen to what the other person is saying. I think it's very true and I very very often start to think about how to best reply when I'm being communicated too. So for all those who know me, hopefully I'll become a better listener after taking this particular seminar.

I did a Axel today, ah yah.

For those who know skating.

http://www.sk8stuff.com/f_recog/recog_j_axel.htm

Okay so I'm starting to get the skating bug again and if I can I'd love to be able to do all the jumps again. My biggest goal would be able to do a double axel since I've never landed one before. However if I pulled one of those off I think my poor father would fall over and have a heart attack right there.

Parents in NY city

My Dad sent an email with a few pics and the title said, "friends I made in NY". Here's he is pointing.

Your Fashion Style is Trendy

You love fashion and live to shop And keeping up with the lastet trends is what you love best You know what's in, out, about to be in, and about to be out You love to dress your friends and would make a killer celebrity stylist

What's Your Fashion Style?

Sage Brocklebank

Click on this link, my childhood friend who decided to pursue acting has some web presence. I goggled (googled) his name today and he has a portfolio on IMDB. Miranda told me he'll have a regular role as a police officer on Smallville. Good job Sage.

Lou Lou

I found a new magazine that's Canada's Shopping Magazine. I'm in love, this magazine is wonderful it shows me what people are offering at Canadian stores in Canadian dollars. It's so refreshing to look at outfits and know that if I want, I can drive down to Guilford and pick one up, priceless. I need a new trechcoat that's suitable for the rain and hopefully has a hood. So now I don't have to run all over city searching and looking it could be right there in Lou Lou, it's kind of like a treasure map, a map to all the best clothes in the city.

This is totally unrelated.
But right now I'm sitting in front of the tv craving a grill cheese sandwich, I've heard the word GRILL CHEESE 3 times now from the TV and the advertisers won I want one. My problem, I don't feel like getting up. So I've asked Quentin very nicely, or nicely for me, if he will make one, but it's not working. Owell time to get up and make it myself.

ipod Therefore I Am

A book about the great invention of the ipod which they are comparing to sliced bread. "If you're a bit of a nerd you'll enjoy this read."
I want to read more about Steve Jobs since he is an expert marketer. Quentin says he can download the audio version and then I can listen to it on the nano.

Mt. Baker

Oh look at the snow! I haven't been up the mountain for over 2 seasons, and this year I have a new helment that I bought 2 years ago that I'm looking foward to trying out. Last time I went I had a very big fall after we came out of a back bowl on a flat trail. The wind decided to give me a big blow just as I was pushing to my maximum speed and I caught a big edge. Ouch it hurt. So this year I need to conquer my fear of the wind and flat trails again and just have a really good time in soft fluffy abundant snow at Baker.

Craigs List

Tonight we had a reading in the kitchen of the numerous personal adds on Craigs list.
Some of these postings were hilarious, here are some different clips and titles.

sugar daddy wants sugar baby

Dress me up and show me off.
Have you ever thought it might be fun to have a man around that you could dress up and take out as your older sister. Take me with you to hang out with the girls. When I dress women seem to find great safety in my presence. In the day to day work world I have a very masculine job, I love it and am good at it. I love big boy toys and can operate almost any major construction equipment. I love to fix things and can diagnose problems and repair almost anything. I come home from work and the first thing I do is get out of my work clothes and get into a dress. It is so freeing. I love shopping, Value Village is one of my favorite. I have a room full of outfits but can never find anything to wear. One of my favourite hobbies is shopping for womans clothes. I have a collection of underwear and lingerie that is so large I will never wear it all. I have enough dresses for every day of the year. My collection of shoes rivals Emeldo Marcus (sp?). Want to go through my collectios with me? Most of the time though if you saw me you would see me as a casually dressed conservative Canadian male. I might be old enough to be your father, but could play the part of your mother. I love to touch and cuddle. I am kind, gentle and sensitive. I am the kind of gentleman that will always put you first. Want to come and play with me for a short time or forever? Lets get together and see what happens.

Oatmeal'n' Ice Cream
So I got a little damp riding my bike home in the rain tonight, and it's been a long day, with meetings, and deadlines, and too much time in front of a computer, so I stoke a big fire in the fireplace, and make myself a favorite snack: Oatmeal'n'Ice Cream. Have you ever had it? See, when you eat ice cream, sometimes you get to the bottom of the bowl, and there's still this emptiness inside that can only be filled by another bowl of ice cream. And the same thing happens at the bottom of the second bowl, and you start to thinking there might be something wrong with this. By the third bowl, you are thinking there is something definitely wrong with this, but you can't think of what else to do, so you have another bowl of ice cream.Now with Oatmeal'n'Ice Cream, it's not like that. The oatmeal fills your tummy and warms your heart, and every mouthfull is cold and sweet and warm and cozy and melting and sticky all at the same time. Which leads me to thinking:So where's the girl?Yeah, eating Oatmeal'n'Ice Cream in front of the fireplace on a rainy night would be a really nice thing to share with the girl in my life...only I ain't got one. Not one I can call and say, "C'mon over, I'm making Oatmeal'n'Ice Cream." or even, "Hey (insert pet name), I'm sitting by the fire eating Oatmeal'n'Ice Cream, what are you up to?" and chat for a bit.So I'm feeling generally lucky about where I'm at and what I'm doing, but these little moments by the fire would somehow have more meaning if I had someone to share them with.So if you would like little moments like this to be part of your life too, and if you have some little moments you'd like to share with me, send me a note.I have got a huge bag of oatmeal...

Looking for a princess

Barbarella

Okay I'm watching Barbarella on tv with Jane Fonda and I'm laughing my pants off. First of all I didn't realize that space adventure movies in the 60's required the women to wear so little. These outfits are pretty tinny and somehow she keeps getting attacked and opps her stomach is showing. Second the women have humongous hair, you can tell a team of hair stylist must have been sitting in the background of every set just teasing combing and spraying before every scene. Believe me it takes tremendous effort to get hair that big.
Despite my bitching, next year for Halloween you might see me with huge hair and a Barbarella outfit. It will give me a chance to wear white thigh high boots and hold a gun all at the same time. My one liner will be, "come here pretty pretty" or "I'm just not the tube type" the possibilities are endless.
Okay I have to turn this off early but I'm definitely hope I can watch Barbarella another Sunday afternoon.

Gardening in the Rain

I spent a good couple hours in my back yard today trying to reorgainze all the plants. I started early when it wasn't rainng but before long it was pouring. I didn't mind though, I had my nano on and I just kept it up till it was all done. Quentin took a picture when he came home from computer jobs.