State of Mind

So early this morning, I wasn’t exactly in the best frame of mind.  My throat is hurting (really?  Again?  I just got better, finally) and I could find absolutely nothing to wear to work and it’s cold out and it’s dark out and it’s going to be a supremely busy day at the old office (and the wolves are scratching at my door).

Ty and I made the trek downtown (in the cold and in the dark) together in his truck and I think I maybe said ten words the entire ride.  Which is brutal!  We rarely drive in together and when we do, I usually take the opportunity to chat his ear off about important things like Lainey Gossip (oh how I love the captive audience which comes from being in a car together). 

And then I got to my desk and I just felt angry and anxious – two feelings which I strongly dislike.

And then I got even more mad at myself for feeling angry and anxious – I mean, c'mon! It’s Friday!  I love Fridays!  I love the weekend!  I’m going to Motley Crue tonight!  I’m going out for what is going to be a fabulous dinner beforehand!  I can go shopping for new work clothes this weekend! 

And wouldn’t you know it, once I started to think about all of those good things, I started to feel better.  Oh, the positives of being positive.

        "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

                                                                - Abraham Lincoln

Word, Abe.

A Quickie Post

Have you read "Three Day Road"?

If you haven't, you should.

I know little about WWI, I'm ashamed to admit.  This book was enlightening in that regard.  
It also continually made me think about which character I would be if it were me in the trenches.  That's an uncomfortable line of thought.

Further, "Three Day Road" teaches about residential schools.  Another part of Canadian life that I know little about beyond what is reported on CBC news. 

Please read.  I want to talk to you about this book.

Laugh Out Loud Picture of the Day

Full face assault -- an entire glass of red wine straight in the face.  I had a breastplate of red wine covering my hoodie.  Days later, I was still cleaning red wine from my ears.

Feelings in the Gut

Do you get them?  Do you follow them?

I am agonizingly bad at decision-making.  (as an aside – I place the blame for this solely on les shoulders of les parentals.  Healthy to place the blame there?  Probably not.  True?  We’ll never know.  And therefore it’s so damn easy for me to do).

I have heard so many times in my life – “go with your gut”.  The problem is -- I often feel like my gut is being maddeningly silent.  Hello?  Gut?  You there?  Need help.

In some of the decisions of my life where I felt that all fibers of le bod were telling me what to do, including the stomach region, it has occasionally turned out I didn’t make the “right” decision.   So, Gut, what’s up with that?  Were we speaking a different language?  Did I miss your body language? (Hee.)  

BUT, this is the thing.  How would I even know if those decisions were wrong if I didn’t at least try them out firstly?

And about those “mistakes”.  They make me “me”, yes? 

So Gut.  I get it.  I’m a learnin’. 

Word.

 

Seriously - stress level rising quickly.... ah, family law.

Arg.  Zero time to post (many court documents left to draft tonight), so here's a few pictures from the weekend.  Will return on....Wednesday?  Hopefully on Wednesday.

Had dinner at Rob and Lindsay's on Friday and met their new addition -- Cooper. 

Love his hairy ears.

Here I am, lovin' Coop.

Ventured to Toban territory on Saturday night -- West Hawk Lake for a group cross-country ski and dinner with the ladies all in the name of celebrating Nat 29 (as she will be known for the rest of the year).

Ventured out to Blue Rodeo on Sunday night with Tys as my date.

Jim was rockin' it, as per usual.

Gorgeous sunset as we followed the ice road home from skiing.

Taking the Long Way

As I was driving to volleyball on Tuesday night, with Ty in the passenger seat beside me, I asked him -- should I take Wellington or Corydon? 

His answer -- "Corydon.  We always take Wellington". 


I love this answer.  We didn't take Corydon because it got us there faster or because there was less traffic.  We took it because we always take the other route. 


Getting outside your routines is never a bad thing.


Thanks for the reminder, Wirv.

A few oldies for a new year

I will miss the group trips to the outhouse.

Ah, summer.  You can't get here fast enough.  Love you!

a photo journey, part 1

After intensive research, Ty, Es, Mark and I decided on this restaurant in St. Petersburg. 

Cafe Alma. Lovely food, wine and company.

Probably the coldest I've ever been at a football game.  This includes the Grey Cup game I attended 3 or so years ago.  Apparently the 2nd coldest Bucs game in history.  Es and I amused ourselves by randomly yelling the word "punt" often and loud.

Dueling piano bar in Tampa.  We had two dinners this night (one at 4 ish and one at 9 ish) and then many Bud lights (when in Rome...).  Check out the classy sign in the corner.

Ty and I -- utterly defeated by Epcot.  First we were defeated by the Magic Kingdom. 

Did you know that Disneyworld has a maximum capacity?

Dad, Anna and Ty -- exhausted after a serious Pickle Ball game.  Dad is a sniper. 

After being defeated by the Magic Kingdom, we weren't going to be defeated by the Magic.

  We had no choice but to opt for scalped tickets.  Good seats.  On a side note, when you enter "Orlando Magic" into a Garmin, it directs you to corporate headquarters. 

Shockingly, this isn't where the games are actually played.

This picture just made me laugh out loud.  Ty is in desperate need of sunglasses.

Anna and I in our rental helmets.  Andrea tightened hers so much she got a headache. 

Safety First. 

Hee.

Oh, shit. Is it really January 10, 2010, already?

Am I too late to discuss resolutions? 

As always, my apologies for the blog-break.  As always, work weighed me down, as did a number of pre-Florida parties.  And then, of course, I was on a plane, and who wants to blog on their holidays?

Nonetheless, I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised to hear that blogging 3 x per week was on that ever-so-elusive list of resolutions.

So let's start off this year on that foot that isn't the left one, and throw out a "what makes me happy":

Good communication makes me happy. 

A few notes on communication et moi.  I hate talking on the phone because, invariably, I always end up saying something ridiculously inappropriate or out of place, or I accidentally talk over the other person and then there are weird gaps that I feel I have to fill.  I am also deathly afraid of voice messages and often leave them until Rogers makes them magically disappear.  I am also notoriously slow on email returns.


All of the above are problematic.  Because whenever I start thinking about how bad I am at communicating, it upsets me (it is absolutely paining me to write this post) because I know my behaviour is terrible friend behaviour.

I don't mean for it to happen, but sometimes I seem to get stuck on this little old island of mine.  And getting off seems really, really hard.

But good communication?  Good communication makes me feel like a million bucks.

So -- in 2010, I resolve to get off the island more often.