gazebo lights

gazebo lights
Originally uploaded by Julep67

so it's been a while huh?

I think about writing frequently but recently, I feel like I have the attention span of a goldfish (and trust me, I know from experience, gold fish have a short attention span). Sitting down and writing hasn't been top of my list but I thought I would check in.

Spring arrived very early around this part of the world this year and we've been taking advantage of the nice weather. It feels odd that at this time of the year, the lawn already really needs to be cut and the trees are only days away from being full of leaves again.

Over the easter long weekend, we did a fair bit of work in the back yard. Cleaning up, putting the gazebo together, getting patio furniture out, that kind of thing. We haven't done a thing to the front of the house yet but we use the back a lot more and there was the "poop factor" to deal with so.. yeah.

Work has been really busy lately. It's a good kind of busy but the pace is a little frantic at times. I've been working for the past week on a project which was due to be completed today. I was able to get it together but didn't really have an opportunity to catch my breath because I'm onto a few other things which are quickly creeping up on me. How's that old song go, "some days you're the wind shield, some days you're the bug"? It's a little like that. Lucky for me, I do enjoy what I'm doing so the busy isn't bad.

The dogs are doing great, really enjoying the nice weather and spending most of the day on the deck. They had a busy week last week, a trip to the groomers AND their annual physicals. They look great and are both healthy but boy howdy, we're broke again for a while. They are worth it though, Sam and Gracie are pretty awesome.

Speaking of awesome, Mark had a birthday last week. I say awesome because he is awesome. There, did I say awesome enough? He got his birthday gift two days early (his birthday was on the 14th). On April 12, Roger Water announced tour dates for fall 2010. He's taking the Wall back on the road. Mark saw the Wall in New York in 1980 and in Berlin in 1990, I don't think anything will stop him from seeing it in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa in 2010.

So in a nutshell, that's what is happening with us. Nothing terribly exciting but that's okay with me for the moment.

on christmas day in the morning

Gracie vs the tripod
Originally uploaded by Julep67

So far this morning, I have not seen any ships come sailing in. Our neighbourhood seems very quiet and dark. We are up early by some standards but actually slept in this morning (for us anyway). The dogs are having some kibble as I type this and I think Mark is in his office checking his mail.

In a little while, we'll take our cups of coffee into the living room and watch our DVD of the Pee Wee Herman Christmas special. It's a little tradition we have, it doesn't feel like Christmas unless I've seen Grace Jones perform the little drummer boy!

Later today, we'll head to the train station to collect my brother and then go to my mum & dad's for a holiday dinner. It'll be nice to see everyone and have a visit and eat too much.

On Monday, I got the bulk of my baking done. Did it all in one morning, well most if it anyway. I did one more batch of cookies on Tuesday morning and it all went well. I am either getting better and being organized or am a better baker or something because this year it seemed a lot less chaotic than other years.

Wednesday, my mum and I took a road trip to her home town so we could deliver cookies and have little pre-Christmas visits with her siblings. It was really nice, despite driving through a blizzard on the way there, to have a little girls only road trip day. Normally, we see my mum's family on Boxing Day at a party my Aunt has. This year, she's not having the party so I wanted to be sure to get the cookies to everyone, hence the road trip.

When we got back into town, I had to pick Mark up after he finished work. We needed a few groceries so we bit the bullet and went to the store. It was a nice feeling, not having any pressure or time constraints on us while we shopped. Everyone around us seemed to be panicking, really frantic and frustrated. We were basically shopping like a normal shop, getting enough stuff to keep us away from the stores until at least Monday. Again, being organized this year (and not doing too much) made me feel really liberated from all of the holiday hysterics.

Just peeked out the window, it's still very quiet and dark out there. You can tell that there aren't a lot of little kids in our neighbourhood - I remember when we were kids, the houses with children in them would be all lit up at 5 a.m. on Christmas day.

I hope that however much sleep you go last night, and whatever you do today, if you celebrate, have a wonderful holiday. If you don't, I hope you have an awesome long weekend!!

going in for a kiss

going in for a kiss
Originally uploaded by Julep67

happiness is...

...putting up all of my Halloween decorations at home

...watching Gracie growl at the skeleton in the living room because she thinks he's an intruder

...a cold which is almost gone except for a little cough once in a while

...pretty leaves on the trees and sunshine that lights them up

...smoochy puppies when I get home from work

...work which is busy but really exciting and interesting at the moment

a few tuesday things

Wolfe Island wind farm
Originally uploaded by Julep67

So we had a great weekend 'round here. Absolutely fun and busy and good.

Yesterday, however, we both felt a little yucky. Mark had a migraine, I had a sinus headache and had to take a 1/2 day off from work. Today though, we're both good as can be.

I'm a smidgen bit busy today so I thought I'd just share a few thoughts with you, aren't you glad you're here?

1. RuPaul's Drag Race is awesome. Finally, a Drag Race which is actually a race between men in drag and not a car thingy. I'm a fan of Nina Flowers. Not sure if it's already aired in the US and they know who the winner is. I've been watching it on MuchMoreMusic here in Canada and we've still got one episode left. Go! Nina! Go!

2. Wind Farms are cool. We went to Wolfe Island on the weekend to see the wind farm (eventually there will be 86 turbines I think) before it goes online. Those turbines are huge and impressive.

3. It sometimes takes a bad sinus headache to help you appreciate how good, normal feels. Normal is feeling really nice right now.

jumpin'

jumpin'
Originally uploaded by Julep67

short weeks go by so quickly!

good stuff that happened today:

1. had an excellent performance review at work - I love my new job and the ladies I work with and they seem to love me too so it's a giant love-fest. I'm lucky and I know it.

2. used my brand new purse for the first time. one of those ladies who loves me brought me back a gorgeous purse from NYC. it's blue and fabulous.

3. got a new phone tonight. My contract was up so I could get a new camera and I chose the LG Rumor. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far.

bad stuff that happened today:

1. nothing (not to me anyway)

so yeah, thursday = great day!

happy happy

Boy, it was a gorgeous day here today, the whole weekend was lovely actually.

I had a great weekend. Except for a couple of odd moments, I felt pretty much normal the whole time and never had a relapse of my bug. We got to see some awesome old friends over the weekend, accomplished some projects around the house and just basically had a good time.

Honestly, I'm so happy to see the snow melting that you can't believe it. Last night, we were walking up to a friend's house and you could hear the water from the melting snow, running into the storm drains. It was one of the happiest sounds I'd heard in a good long while.

This week is a short week so that's nice. With all of the snow on the ground, it's almost hard to imagine that next weekend is easter already but it is. I'm happy about the short week and the long weekend for a few reasons, not the least of which is that we'll be seeing my folks next Sunday. We've not seen them in what seems like forever so it'll be good to have a little visit with them.

So yeah, happy weekends all around in this neck of the woods. Tomorrow's St. Patty's day so don't forget to wear your green!! whoot!

he's home!

boy I missed him!!!

Mark is home and he got here in one piece (I have terrible thoughts of dead in the ditch along the 401 scenarios whenever we don't travel together) and he brought home dinner, from Chinatown so yay!!

And he had a good time, he had great visits with friends, saw an awesome show so yeah, good all around.

Me, I got some cleaning done, the laundry finished and just vegged (watched way too many movies but that's another post).

weekend = good

can't believe that it's almost over already though.

another good mail day

another good mail day
Originally uploaded by Julep67

My good parcel of good music arrived today from Good Records in Dallas.

In additon to the CD (which came with this spiffy patch and a DVD), I also received the double LP version of the Fragile Army and a signed poster. I'd forgotten about the poster! it was an awesome surprise.

Today was a quiet day. Mark was up in the night last night, seriously sick to his stomach. I made him stay home from work today and he got caught up on his sleep. He's feeling much better now, thank goodness. I'm sure he'll sleep like a log tonight.

The other night, I took a couple of videos at the spree show. My camera does quicktime movies. Both videos are too large for me to upload on my you tube account. If anyone has any suggestions for free software which can be used to either edit these or convert them into a format that is a little more youtube friendly, could ya leave me a comment?

feels like summer

feels like summer
Originally uploaded by Julep67

are you having fun today? or rather, did you have fun today?

I've had fun today.

the weather was absolutely amazing here, I got my chores done early, got into the pool on two separate occasions and spent some time visiting with friends.

life is good.