What? Celebrities are people too?

This was on the front page of the 24hours paper in Toronto.

Turns out celebrities are not immune to natural disasters.

Couch shopping is traumatizing me

We need a new couch pretty badly. When we moved out of our apartment this past weekend, we actually left ours next to the dumpster. It has some tears in it, and one leg was broken. If we both sat on the couch, one of us was always down hill from the other. Bad situation all around.

So we are in our new home and trying to settle in, but it is difficult to chill out when you have one chair that is doesn't belong at the dining room table. So off to the local mass market furniture emporiums we go.

I have to say that in all the stores we went to, I can't seem to find one with an appropriate level of customer service. Maybe I'm just a bitch, but I don't want to be followed around like a sketchy teenager. Ok seriously, I am not going to be shoplifting from the furniture store so please... Just let me browse in peace! I know where to find you when and if I have a question.

At Bad Boy I actually asked the sales person (politely!) to give us some time to browse alone. He said ok, but then proceeded to follow us around very closely anyways. STOP WATCHING ME SHOP! It made me so anxious hat I just wanted to leave the store. So we did. I can't commit to a large purchase like this when you stress me out.

At The Brick we had the exact opposite experience. Which is funny because their furniture is twice the price. We actually had a sofa and love seat combo that we loved, and when we wanted to get information about their current promo, we couldn't find a sales person. When we did, he said one moment, then went to get us a different person. She came over, we asked our question, she went away, and sent a THIRD person to talk to us. I know we are not middle aged yet but I promise we have currency we want to give you in exchange for goods! I guess the lack of people wanting our money there was good thought because it gave me time to reflect on how much I actually want to spend on a sofa.

The whole process of choosing a couch is traumatizing me. I give up, I'm going to Ikea. Again. Ikea loves me. They understand me.

Posted with Blogsy

Everyone needs goals

I say I'm going to do a lot of things. I have a lot of brilliant ideas that once I start I don't finish. Lately I've had an attitude of wanting to go back and actually accomplish some of my old goals. One of the things I've been saying forever was that I wanted to go to Hawaii, take surf lessons, and the get a tattoo of a hibiscus. I've been in love with this idea ever since the first time I saw the movie Blue Crush.

Have you ever looked the cost of tickets to Hawaii though? It's not a trip that we can just decide to go on one winter, we would have to save up for it. And since we like to go south every winter we end up choosing more affordable options.

But now I'm in my new job and I'm going to be traveling so I have the opportunity to rack up the frequent flyer miles. Aeroplan has a cool app that lets you set goals and shows you how far away from reaching it.

So I am 23% of the way to having enough points to get two round trip tickets to Hawaii. I think I can accomplish this by next winter. If not then definitely I will be there in time to book the tickets for the winter of 2014/2015. Within 2 years I will finally finish something I've been saying for 10 years that I want to do. It feels nice.

I also got a credit card that gives me Aeroplan points to keep my expenses separate from my regular life.

So this is my new hobby, collecting Aeroplan points. I'll keep you posted on my progress!

Posted with Blogsy

My life in boxes

We are moving in 10 days. I think the worst part of moving is packing up all of your belongings. It begs the question "Why do I own so much crap?". I'd like to say that going through my belongings has made me come to some profound realization about myself and consumption, but it really hasn't. But I have had many far less earth shattering realizations.

1) I might be a sock hoarder. I have a lot of socks who's mate has long since left. I think it might be time to let them go. Seriously, I have a knob hill farms basket full of single socks.

2) it might be time to start using the good stationary. I love notebooks and paper and envelopes. Im pretty sure I have more of it then the number of letters I will mail in my entire life. I should, write more letters. (I'm probably not going to do that.)

3) I need to start LOOKING for a cleaning product in the cupboard before going out to buy some. I have discovered 3 bottles of Fantastick all purpose cleaning spray in the bathroom along with the one in the kitchen I normally use. All of them are open.

4) I own a table cloth. Huh... Who knew....

5) When tomato sauce goes on sale, stocking up is not always the best idea. We don't have much storage space, so apparently I have been hiding them. I found about 8 cans of tomato sauce hidden in the back of various cupboards.

6) I started to pack the booze but stopped because I've discovered I need it to get me through the chaos of packing everything else.

Posted with Blogsy

Buying jeans makes me hate myself a little

I need new jeans. Again. Every time I need new jeans the task of acquiring them takes me months. Seriously, months.  I'm pretty sure that the "just-right" pair of jeans for me does not exist.  Sometimes I think I've found the magical pair that meet all my criteria, but soon after something goes wrong and I'm back to needing a new pair.

I don't think I'm asking a lot from my jeans either.  I just want a durable pair that fit me in all the right places, are not faded or distressed, are the correct length, and don't cost a noticeable fraction of my salary.  Is that too much to ask?

I fail to see the value of $120 pair of jeans.  Which I realize makes this even more difficult. My husband will pay whatever it costs to get good jeans since they are the only kind of pants he wears.  Last year we were in Lucky Brand Jeans store getting him some and I was bored so I tried on a pair.  It was like the flowers suddenly bloomed and the birds started singing. These were the most magical pair of jeans I had ever tried on.  My butt looked incredible and they fit perfectly everywhere.  I decided it was time to spend the big bucks on jeans.  Four months later they were garbage.  They had worn a few holes in them in various spots. I was heart broken.  It wasn't like I wore them every day either.  I wear jeans maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Sometimes less.

Whenever I finally do find a pair from a random clothing store that are in the $50 range they fit alright. Never perfect, but well enough that they will do.  Within a few months though the butt is all stretched out and saggy looking. Bringing me back to needing new jeans.

So today I was at the mall trying on jeans.  I went to the Levis store.  The associate tried to explain to me the curve ID, which seems to be fancy marketing speak for "we have different cuts of pants".  With too many different shapes of pants, not a single pair fit me in the right way.  The curvier ones gave me saggy butt, the less curvy ones gave me muffin top.  The whole process made me hate myself a little bit.

Yesterday I was at Winners looking through the jean selection.  That was even more depressing. Every pair of jeans in that store was either made for teenagers or "mom jeans".  Nothing for someone who is neither of those.

Why does buying jeans need to be so difficult?  It's pants.  I give less thought to buying leggings and they show off ALL the flaws.  Jeans are supposed to be the pants you put on with a t-shirt when you don't give a fuck.  How can they be my go-to pants when they cause this much headache?

I probably have rabies

I am a big fan of self-diagnosis. A the first sign of any symptom I am all over the internet trying to figure out what is wrong with me. A few months ago I had gastritis (like legitimately diagnosed as such by a medical professional.), so when months later other symptoms arrised I naturally tried to find a way to link it to that via the Internet.

Allergy season came and went and while everyone was complaining about how bad they were this year, I insisted I actually  had chronic esophagitis. One day in there I was sure it was actually lung cancer.

I play roller derby and I get bruised quite a bit. One day my skates were not fitting quite right and I was wearing really thin socks which caused rubbing on my ankle that bruised really bad. Diabetes. Knee pain from practice - osteoarthritis.

Which brings me to rabies. I was bit by a freaking dog the the other day. And the owner was a complete asshat about it.  I was walking down he sidewalk and there was a lady walking her small dog ahead of me going very slowly. I moved to pass them on the right when the dog growelled and jumped out, biting my leg. I screamed ouch and jumped away. The lady kept walking. I'm like "excuse me!!! Your dog just BIT me!".  The lady told me I shouldn't have snuck up on them and then calmly walked away.  I was stunned. How do you just walk away from a situation like hat without taking ANY responsibility? So to that lady I just want to say a big FUCK YOU.  I reported it to public health, but without a name they can't do much. I don't wish anything bad to happen to the dog. I just want a safe city for all people and animals. What if the dog bites a kid?  I was lucky, it didn't break the skin, just left a big bruise and a lot of anger.

Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges...

There is so much change going on right now in my life and all of it is good.  After a few years full of ups and downs I feel like the universe has picked me up and placed me right where I belong

I got what might very well be my dream job, in an industry I know very well, and it includes travel! (Obviously I will blog every single trip!).  My husband and I are moving out of our apartment that overlooks the highway and we found a cute house to rent. It has a garage for him to do man stuff and a yard for me to plant a big vegetable garden in the spring!  There are lots of good thing happening to my friends and family too and I'll tell you more about those things later. But overall, things are just good and I'm happy.

Change is a constant in life, and a lot of it at once is kind of overwhelming, but I'm excited to see what is next!

Also, I found like $30 in American change while going through the apartment packing. I need to make a trip south of the border to spend it.  I kind of feel like a hobo with a plastic bag full of change.