happy blog-day

that's the first photo i ever posted of myself - one year ago today. it's funny, isn't it, what changes a year can bring? (warning - i'm feeling a little emotional 'cause i haven't taken my meds in .. well long enough to feel the effects, but not long enough to have brain shivers)

three years ago in the sanatorium: "this would be my first attempt at this. i am, if you will, a blog virgin. i've been thinking about the wierdness of connecting with people on the internet. it's not like i have trouble meeting people in *real* life-- i am just fascinated by the sheer volume of people that i have no other way of coming in contact with. does this make me a bit of a tart? hmm i wonder."

it's funny, 'cause even as i wrote those words, three years ago, i never thought anything would ever come of this meeting people on line thing. i never really thought i'd develop virtual relationships with like-minded human beings all around the world - people whom, even though i've never really *MET* them, i still miss when i don't hear from them / check in on what's up in their worlds. i wish that i head the means to send plane tickets to him and him, and her and him, and him and everyone else here to have a big party in my house with lots of drinks and stories and drunken teary-eyed confessions and laughter and more drinks. i wish i could, but i can't. the thought is there, though, and the invitation is open - we have an extra bedroom, and some couches, and a kickass purple chaise and they all are open to you, all of you, where-ever you are if you feel like a holiday or a break and head my way.

and, less than a year ago, i met this great guy online. he's incredible, the architect, and, while he may raise an eyebrow if i were to announce that a whole bunch of blog people were coming to visit, would never question it or anything else. he'd just sigh, pat me on the head, and check to see if anyone had bothered to dust the spare room since the *last* time someone came to stay. we're going away on friday. but in the next couple of days i'll try to put together some of my favourite memories of the past year - whether they're good or bad, they are what they are and they made an impact on me. i'd like to hear yours, too, if you don't mind, but whatevs.

xo

and a partridge

what did you get for christmas?
did uncle arthur get drunk and pass out on the lawn again?
did you wake up the whole family puking on christmas day?
did una want to sieve the gravy at the turkey curry buffet?

i want to know it all....

a snapshot of life at raspberry's house...

email exchange between the architect and i this morning:

him: what's this world coming to when i have to defrost desserts in anticipation of my lunchtime sugar jonesing?

me: I am a bad, bad girlfriend. Clearly. How dare I prepare several family's worth of baking and then store it in the FREEZER?! For shame....

him: exactly. you're going to get a spanking tonight young (sizzling-hot) lady.


we like spanking...

i see my heart explode, it's been eroded by the weather here

well i'm glad to hear that i'm not the only one who gets a rash when that song comes on the radio - and picklesack, too! you can be hanged as a traitor in vancity for even implying that you might find nickleback a tad grating.

the winds are going to pick up again here today. we've had some crazy frickin' weather this year - seriously. last week during the windstorm the architect and i were woken up by a massive metallic crashing in the street. i leapt to my window to see what was the matter, but alas the moon on the crest of the rain soaked lawn revealed that my car (the green goblin, itself) was still in place - my wondering eyes spied only a garbage can careening down the block. le sigh - i had really hoped santa was getting me a new FJ for christmas...

oh heh - apparently our esteemed RCMP were called out to a mall yesterday to break up a gaggle of drunk santas. is that the correct word for a group of santas? gaggle? herd? flock? whichevs - drunk santas getting rousted by the cops is comedy gold...

you know you make it hard not to vomit...

it's a miracle that there is any morning at all that i make it to work without ritualistically flaying someone. seriously. the day that i no longer have to go through that fcuking tunnel to get anywhere will be a happy day indeed. four g-darn double long dumptrucks riding bareback REFUSING to let any silly little CAR come between them and their heavy duty truck on truck dance of love. RAWWWRRRRRR!!!!

to add insult to injury they played that fucking hinder song - quite possibly the worst song on the radio today. yes i said worst. seriously - every friday night, in tacky top forty bars all across north america, drunken frat boys are grinding coked up former cheerleaders to that song right before the ugly lights come up, thinkin that they're don juan casanova, when really they are mac'ing to a song about CHEATING ON YOUR GIRLFRIEND.

FYI - not romantic, fellas.


(ps - i might have a little bit of pre-menstrual tension. i'm not sure why i get that sense, but there it is.)

a festivus

oh man i'm starting to think that there is something to this whole bah humbug grinch thing.

bah.

humbug.

i ran my ass off all weekend - shopped like crazy, baked, organized, decorated, stressed myself out, puked my guts out, and for what? seven days before christmas, then i pack it all up and it's like it never happened.

bah.

humbug.

i think i just need to sit back and relax in the lights of my tree (finished decorating at 10.30 last night), gaze upon our newly purchased dining table (bought in a rush at 5.30 last night) and drink a gallon of wine. oh wait i can't cause i still have baking to do, some gifts to purchase, and then i have to wrap the works.

bah.

ok i'm done now. hey the architect and i are going to have a festivus/christmas/housewarming/what-have-you party on the 22nd. if you care to brave the drive to metro ladner, we'd love to have you. send me an email and i'll pass on the topo maps...

oh what fun it is to ride

so on my way to work there is a decidedly dark stretch in a light-industrial area. in the mornings, if i hit it at just the right time, driving along that length of road is akin to running a 'young drivers' obstacle course - all these dark clad targets darting out from between cars, doing that sheepish shuffle-run in front of your car clutching lunchbags and umbrellas. one day a tragedy will occur, some little traffic dodger will be laid out like yesterday's tuna sandwich.

seriously.

a cornucopia of goodness blissfully bursting in my belly (or something like that)

so i've just converted my blogs over to 'the new blogger'. aside from looking slightily... er... shall we say budget i'm not noticing much difference.

i'm unenthused about my job, lately. it's not that i don't *care*... well kind of i don't but i think it's just that the past few weeks have been emotionally trying and i need a holiday. fortunately, i work three days this week, then next is the week before christmas, then i'm off till january 8th. i heart vacations. we are going up the sunshine coast for 4 days for new years with a bunch of people, and off to whistler for boxing day, but aside from that it's going to be a lot of doing nothing, i think. hopefully the weather will be nice so we can do some fun outside type stuff, but i can't be assed to make any more concrete plans than that. plus, lets not kid - no matter how relaxing you think that christmas vacations will be, they always end up being a nightmare of busy-ness. i'm going to attempt to avoid that.

i finally went grocery shopping for the christmas baking yesterday. $250 later, i have almost all the stuff i need. (i say almost 'cause round about 3am i was jerked out of a deep sleep by the realization that i'd forgotten to buy icing sugar. or maybe it was the bedroom door slamming in the wind - who can say?) i've got quite a list of things to put together, but since the architect and i have finally got the house (mostly) sorted out, i can ignore the remaining boxes (can't do anything with'em until i have some shelves) and focus on cranking out at least one shining gem o' christmassy goodness a night.

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in other news, i read this article this morning and found it quite fascinating. the constant evolution (or is it a devolution?) of language is a source of great interest for me. i love reading about how words gain power or lose power through use or lack thereof. say, for example, christmas. now that walmart has 'brought back christmas', does it mean that the term has finally become a generic label for a formerly religous now increasingly secular celebration? what does christmas even mean anymore? for me it's mostly a time of celebrating with family and friends - there is very little religious meaning to it. i wouldn't go so far as to say that it's completely commercialized for me - i think rather that, in my head, it's closer to a time to celebrate love and friendship and caring and giving. does that mean, therefore, that what i do should be called something different? like, does the pc-friendly 'winter holiday celebration' designation stand as more appropriate to use in my case, or has the word 'christmas' gone the way of xerox, jello, and kleenex and come to signify any event (christian or NOT-christian, but not those associated with other religious denominations) celebrated at that time of year?

anyhoo... i'm getting too text-heavy. i'll try and post some pix from the office christmas party which ended up being legend (wait for it! hope you aren't lactose intolerant 'cause here it is..)dairy....

all i want for christmas

so while i was driving in to work today they were talking about the worst christmas songs ever released, and played a snippet of some kid singing about how he (she? who can tell pre-puberty) ate beans and farted on santa's lap.

now if that won't get you into the spirit of the season, i dunno what will.

i'm so not ready for christmas this year. usually i'm done my shopping and my baking by now - this year i haven't even really started the shopping and i DEFINATELY have not started the baking - though the sister has written a wishlist up on my noteboard at home. i do have a 3-day weekend this week and a four day next, so i can get my head above water with the unpacking tomorrow/sunday and then next weekend can bake, wrap & shop.

notice how i left saturday off that for the unpacking madness? see it's my office christmas party on friday night, so we are attending that, then are heading dahn-tahn to see bassnectar at dicks afterwards. i imagine saturday will be a festival of nothingness - lounging in pjs and watching movies in front of the fire... i heart that idea, especially because it is supposed to be ass-esque weatherwise this weekend.

oooo i get a mani-pedi on friday, too. i don't know what dress to wear though - i have a great ann taylor wine coloured silk number that i've never worn, but no shoes that will really go with. or, alternatively, i could wear the floor-length dress i wore to mikeb's christmas party last year, since no one at my office has really seen it. i *do* have shoes to match it, but i kinda want to wear the silk one. what to do, what to do.....

december 6, 1989

Genevieve Bergeron- Nathalie Croteau - Anne-Marie Edward - Maryse Laganiere - Anne-Marie Lemay - Michele Richard - Annie Turcotte - Helene Colgan - Barbara Daigneault - Maud Haviernick - Maryse LeClair - Sonia Pelletier - Annie St-Arneault - Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz

i don't know what to call this post

so yesterday i stayed home 'cause when i got up my eyes were pretty much swollen shut and felt as though they were full of ground glass.

so awesome. mind you we've got a fairly nasty and daunting project for the day here at work, so i'm half wishing that they still felt that way today. though now that i think of it the project involves digging through 1500 files, so they may very well by the end of today. even more awesome.

i've unpacked my kitchen, the bathrooms, and my clothes. i have no idea where anything else is - including my jewellry and my alarm clock. le sigh .

tell y'all a story bout a joker and a thief

so we moved (and when i say 'we' i mean 'he') the architects furniture and boxes to the new place yesterday. i stayed home and had a snow day from work. i love working in my jammies - it rocks. i wanted to wear them again today but figured the new HR lady would look at the poohbear bottoms a touch askance. maybe not - it *is* casual friday, after all.

i think we found a 'just for now' kitchen table at ikea - it's square and has little stools. i like it... it's nowhere near as nice as the one we want to be our 'real' table (from moe's), but it'll do as a breakfast table kind of thing.

oh man listen to me - suzy homemaker over here. hmmm must post a naughty photo to mitigate the boringness....