Addictions

Some of you may know that both J and myself are totally addicted to the tv show 24. Well, since Christmas we now have a competing addiction. Guitar Hero has got to be the best video game ever. But it's getting in the way of Jack!!! At least we bought Season 5 so we don't have to worry about late fees this time.

Gregor Christmas 2006

Merry Christmas! This is our beautiful tree I've wanted to post about for weeks now, it's the first real tree I've had in about as long as I can remember. It's huge! I had to just stick a bow up top because there was no room for a tree topper. Oh and those lights, yeah they've been on continuously since Dec 9. Yay for LED!

Most of the presents you see there were for me, from all the little kids at school. That was fun, I think I have more chocolate than I know what to do with now...

Christmas was awesome! I woke up around 7:30 and was excited to see that Jason too was awake. We got up and did stockings and gifts - I was super excited when he opened up our new playstation 2! I'd had it for a while but couldn't say anything! And he seemed to really like his other gifts. He got me the gift of shopping (at American Eagle) as well as a new sweater that I love from there. Once that was all finished and breakfast was eaten, we went out to my moms for a few more surprises. Jocelyn's gift was hilarious. She got me a whole bunch of DVDs, but she wrapped each of them individually, and in all different kinds of wrapping paper - each kind representing a different genre. Inside her card was a legend that told what type of wrapping paper went with what type of movies. All in all I think there were something like 20 DVDs... It was sweet. But the thing we received that has us most occupied was from our good pal Justin Dekker. He got us Guitar Hero 1 and 2 for playstation. We've been rocking out nonstop since Christmas. Last night we even beat the game on the Medium Setting... there's 2 more to go from there which is extremely hardcore. My hands hurt! But it's a blast. If you haven't tried it yet, you need to.

That afternoon we went over to Jason's parent's house. They gave J a new cordless drill which rocks cuz we don't have one and it's amazing how much you realize you need stuff like that when you don't have it... They gave me a huge wall mirror, it's gorgeous! I love it! Dinner was over at J's grandparent's house with their cousins that are visiting from Nelson. I was exhausted after all that excitement so we called it a night pretty early.

Anyways, I will leave you with some of my favourite Christmas pictures.

This is actually the day we put our tree up, I just thought you could get an idea of how big it is... Maybe I just think it's bigger because I'm used to a small fake tree... Oh well, it's huge to me!

Yes that's me wearing the tree skirt as a cape...

Jason looking happy that he got a toy for Christmas. My mom got us each these little tiny remote control cars that you build and then race... He was thrilled!

People who know me know that I can't cook... I think Mom's trying to get me to learn or something...

Jason wearing the box for his cordless drill on his head. And that's why I married him...

Oh and that jacket he's sporting was my gift to him, he saw it on our honeymoon and I tracked it down and found it for him. Too bad the only good picture I have with him wearing it so far is of him as a robot.

Merry Christmas!

Walk This Way, Talk This Way

Alright so last night was an adventure night and a half. Aerosmith was in town with Motley Crue. I'm not a huge rocker fan, but I would say I'm a moderate fan of some of Aerosmith's stuff. We knew there was a chance of going to the concert but nothing was set in stone (My dad grew up with the guitar player from Aerosmith) But we found out for sure at 4:00 that day that we were getting all-access passes. It was a mad rush to get there quickly, while detouring to Pitt Meadows to pick up my sister. But we made it, and went to the back entrance to meet my dad who was already there with the passes.

I'd been to a show of theirs before, but I was in grade 6... I remember Greg Moore was in their dressing room hanging out with us. And the Barenaked Ladies were in the hospitality room too, which was sweet. We had seen the show from the back area, so I expected the same this time. It turned out that there were actually only 2 tickets to the show itself. My dad said he'd hang back, and Brad Whitford (guitar player) went and got us another ticket so J, myself, and my sister could all see the show. Unfortunately the extra ticket wasn't with the other two. We ran through various scenarios but all ended up with one of us alone... and since none of us were all that comfortable sending my sister alone, or me alone into a mass of crazy drunken rockers, Jason watched the show by himself... We weren't all that far away, and his seat was also pretty sweet! He had row 16 on the floor... I feel guilty though when I talk about how close we were... As I said before, I expected tickets in the back, or up top, since this was a sold out show, and all tickets were really expensive. But the two that were included were row 4, directly beside the catwalk. Yes folks, Aerosmith used a catwalk. I should say they worked the catwalk. It was unbelievable. The show was amazing! They broke into "Boston Blues" as they called it and WOW, those guys are old but they can still rock out. The whole thing was extremely surreal.

And old they certainly were... Jason commented on the way home that Brad looked "haggard"... which is true. When you consider how long they've been doing this, and how much crap they did when they were younger, you understand the haggardness.

Anyways, I was able to get a few pics to share with you...








Steven Tyler rocking the mic. I got a giggle out of the bottom of the mic stand, it says "Yo Mama"




There's Steven Tyler rocking out with Brad...

Kind of a motion shot, but Nikki from Motley Crue came out and rocked out wth them. It was pretty sweet.. Also, check out Steven Tyler's pants... They're purple, sparkly, and they have fishnet patches on the side... Is that for ventilation?

Questions

Well, some of you might already know all this but it's on my mind so I figured I'd blog.

Yesterday I (FINALLY) went to Vespers (I am a good friend, really, I promise)... Heather had prepared a slide show where we were to take a moment (11 minutes to be exact) and pray and reflect on these questions that appeared on the screen. There were 12 in total, I won't include all of them of course, but a few that really stood out to me...

"What has been a triumph?"

Wow, I've been married almost 4 months now... and while I'm not the best wife ever, I don't cook, I'm a terrible mess-maker, I feel that these 4 months have been a triumph of "growing up". I'm learning every day, and I feel blessed to have everything that I have.

"What has felt like a failure?"

Alright, so a little while back I felt God leading me in a different direction. I didn't feel "right" I suppose at CLA, for many reasons, but I definitely felt God leading me elsewhere. I struggled with this for a long time, I had just finished school and now this wasn't where I wanted to be? One word I kept feeling and repeating over and over: Failure. I'm beginning to recognize that this isn't so much a failure as it is a leap of faith so to speak. It's hard to follow where God's leading you, especially if you don't quite understand. And as Heather said, maybe one day I'll just be a really kickass mom.

"What has been a question?"

The last month or so has been a question... What does God want for us? What does God want us to do? I've been struggling with how to write this out (I've told some of you, but it's easier to tell you when I have my happy face on in public, and much harder to write when you're all by yourself in a basement.) Basically J has been discovering that his job and what he's trained for will entail primarily desk jobs. Anyone who knows J knows he's a much more active person than that. Being a permanent "Desk Jockey", as he calls it, would drive him insane. He found this apprenticeship program through BCIT working for Mack/Volvo as a heavy duty mechanic. Everything fell into place and as it turns out, he's been officially sponsored by the dealership in Kamloops. Which, inevitably means we're moving to Kamloops. I'm so torn up about it all, it's so hard and so confusing, but if it's where God wants us, I need to have peace about it. There's so much going through my mind, I'm so overwhelmed. So many more questions pop up all the time. How are we going to do this? With J at school, that means I'm the only source of income. When are we going to move? This could be as early as the summer, or as long as a year and a bit... I hate not knowing. I'm just scared, scared of leaving my family, friends, church.... I know it's not that far, but it's far enough to feel alone. But we'll get through. As I keep repeating to myself, we'll be ok. It's just taking a lot of adjustment, even if only mentally at the moment.

Anyways, sorry about the seriousness of the post, I just had a lot on my mind and find it helpful to get things off my chest sometimes. Now I'm off to wrap some presents in beautiful wrapping paper, and that will make me happy!

Weekend of Christmas

Well my weekend was filled with Christmas... mostly of the cafe variety. Thursday and Friday we rushed off to the church and tried to make it for the first play (I was a singing server) but alas, being in Abbotsford and trying to have dinner before we leave makes for a very rushy night... I was there for all the 2nd performances. It was fun though. We were invited out afterwards on Friday but decided to call it an early night since J had a judo tourney the next day...

Saturday... I didn't really feel like going to J's tourney (they're really long and a little boring in between when he's not fighting) so I asked him to drop me off at my mom's in Pitt, and sent my love and best cheering wishes for him... Unfortunately it wasn't enough and he ended up losing both his matches... He said it was because he didn't have his cheerleader there. Probably true, since he won silver last time when I did go... Oh well, I spent the day with my mom. She made us blueberry pancakes and we watched White Christmas (Snooooww, snooowww, snooowww, snoooww!!! It won't be long before we'll all be there with snoooowww!!) love it! And then we watched One Magic Christmas - a family tradition when we're decorating. It's a fairly obscure movie, but we love it. Then I had a nap. It was a rough day. :) Of course later on was another round of Christmas Cafe! This time I missed the first performance because J's dad made us dinner and it went late. But what can you do when you're given free dinner???

On the way home that night, after dropping off our compassionate friend, we decided to go see what was up on Sumas Mountain... There were some bright lights up there so we went exploring. There are some freakin' HUGE houses up there!!! We drove right over the mountain, going into every cul-de-sac we could find to look at these amazing houses. Absolutely beautiful!! They all seemed to have names like "Foxglove Acres" and the like. We decided if we ever own anything with more than 1 acre, we need to have a nifty name like that. Jason suggested Moversansh Acres (say it out loud) I thought maybe Noisem Acres or Head Acres... I guess we'll decide later.

Sunday... We went to this church in Abbotsford where a friend from our church was performing with this theatre company she's been travelling around with for the last few months. It was an amazing performance, called "Little One", about this program in Zambia (and other countries troubled by poverty and AIDS)... It was about this little girl who loses her mother to AIDS, and these missionaries who come bringing these "Seedbags" that have a educational workbook, a bible, and a toy. The bag itself can be a backpack. It was amazing, and saddening, hearing about the realities over there. People think they can send money, food, clothes, and wonder why nothing changes. But this program is working. They went into this high school that hadn't done this program and over 70% of the kids in that school tested positive for HIV or AIDS... Later they went into this school that had gone through the "Project Seedbag" education and not a single one tested positive. It teaches kids about the gospel, about Jesus, and about making choices that build character. If you want to find out more about the program, the website is here You can adopt an entire school for $100 a month, I think it would be so awesome to have a Seeds Ministry, one fundraising event a month with a goal of just $100 to raise... Anyone else interested?

After this was another round of Christmas Cafe... The last one for the year. All in all it went really well. I wonder how long I'll have the funny feeling song in my head for??

Feels like a Monday!

Alright, so here I am at work for the first time all week... I must say, I do enjoy the snow. However, come Wednesday I was fully prepared to go back to work. Alas, a migraine that left me super-sick decided that another day off was what I needed. We cancelled class this morning but decided to go ahead with afternoon classes as roads aren't as bad as earlier... However we had said we'd meet between 11:30 and 11:45... it's 10 after 12 and still no sign of my boss. (Class starts at 12:30) Hope the class is a small one!!! Too bad I didn't know she'd be late, I would've stopped at Starbucks!! Oh well, I saved some money I suppose...

I realized on my days off how much I miss cable... I really don't watch much tv, but on days like those where there's not much to do, it's really nice to flick through channels and watch stuff I'd never usually watch. Especially channels like TLC and OLN... Ahh I miss those days. It's hard to flick when you only have one channel... I even tried moving our rabbit ears to maybe pick up a signal on another channel. I almost got it, but after a while I just got frustrated. It's not worth paying for it now but I think our next place needs to have that, just as an option.

Speaking of our "next place"... there might be some big changes ahead. I'm a little stressed about it all, but we'll see what God has in store for us... I need to stop worrying and start having more faith. Your prayers on this would be fantastic...

I guess I should go get ready, only 15 minutes left til class... still no other teacher... Maybe all the kids won't show up since it's a snow day for all Langley elementary schools... Here's hoping...

Retail Therapy

Ok so I had these gift cards from Pier 1, but every time I went into the store I wouldn't buy anything at all because I just couldn't decide. I love almost everything in that store, and I just simply cannot afford it all, gift cards or not. One of these gift cards I've had for almost a year. Today, I decided on my way home from work, was the day I was going to spend my gift cards. I was on a mission! After much perusing, I left the store with:



- A magnetic list with pen holder, and 3 pads of paper that say "Week at a glance", "Things to do", and "Just a note" ... super cute! Maybe we'll feel more organized? who knows.

- A pretty agenda/journal thingy... again... maybe I'll feel more organized. At least I'll look cool.

- 2 candle holders with 4 glass votives each for my mantle or anywhere else I feel needs some candle-love

- 2 of the most gorgeous throw pillows ever. So happy. ahh I love these.

- And last but not least, 4 absolutely beautiful martini glasses. I realized we didn't have any (for shame!) and felt this was a necessary purchase. Anyone for hot martinis?

Adventure Weekend

Well I'm on my lunch so I don't have a lot of time to write, but I wanted to update about my long weekend...

Friday
- Had friends and family over for Home & Gift party... went really well and I had fun being hostess. I even had a pot of Starbucks coffee ready and hot water for tea. Jason's grandmas both came to see our place which was nice. All in all, a good night

Saturday
- Did NOTHING all day except sit in my pajamas with Jason and watch 24: Season 2. It was fantastic. I didn't get ready to leave until about 4:30 or so
- Drove out to Jersey Joes in Pitt Meadows to watch the UFC fight... Only to find out that it was actually next week.
- Stopped in at the church and visited with my mom and Heather for a while. Hung around afterwards but decided later that we were too tired from our active day (well we were both sick with colds anyways) so we went home and finished off Season 2.

Sunday : also known as ADVENTURE DAY!!
- Went with Jason to Science World to see that Body Worlds exhibit. It was a very interesting exhibit, especially the babies. I definitely recommend going to see it, however be warned: it's extremely crowded. I sometimes get a bit anxious in crowds and had to take a few moments several times in a corner to calm myself a bit. That part was yucky but overall a good day.
- Later we got invited to the Mellanders for dinner, we had yummy spaghetti and a good visit.

Monday
- Slept in, then went to my mom's to get some stuff that I still hadn't moved. But to reward us for it (that and the fact that my mom still hadn't made me my birthday dinner from back in January) she made us roast beef, roasted potatoes, and yorkshire pudding. MMMMMmmmm... it was tasty.

So that was my fantastic weekend. And now I'm really ready for the next one! This week was insane with our mini-hurricane. But as I watched the roof blow off a portable outside the preschool window (that was crazy) I thought about the people from our church that are working down south... It seemed like a little reminder to pray for them, and the people they're affecting with their hard work and love. Even with all the damage we are all so shocked about, it doesn't nearly compare with the destruction from the hurricane these people went through. I've also heard the team is bracing for a storm there too, which is something else we can pray about.

Anyways, that's my little post for today which turned out to be bigger than I expected. :)

Happy November!!

Alright, well I wanted to post on November 1st, but life being as busy as it is unfortunately that just didn't happen. Anyways, Happy November!!!! It's officially the start of the Christmas season!!! Ok you probably think I'm nuts, oh well. Lindsey loves autumn, and I love Christmas. I love everything about it, how nice people are, the music, the happiness... I really would like to read the Love Languages book, but I'm fairly certain my love language is gift giving, I love finding the perfect thing for friends and family and watching their faces as they open them.

Of course this Christmas is extra special - it's my first as a Gregor. It's a little bittersweet I suppose, (I cope terribly with change) and not waking up with my mom and sister there will be an adjustment. It's all going to be new, a new routine, everything. But I'm so excited for it! Jason's just as into it as me, we've been listening to last year's Starbuck's Christmas album in the car... the best song being "I'm the happiest Christmas tree, ho ho ho, hee hee hee!" Best EVER!

Oh and if you're shaking your head thinking I'm nuts, just you go to Starbucks. Officially as of November 1st, my favourite latte is available. EGGNOG LATTE!!!! hoorayyy! So yummy. Seriously... if you have a long drive to work or somewhere, just put on some christmas music, grab an eggnog latte and you'll have no road rage. You may just wave to passers by joyously.

Alright well it's back to Jack B. I go on this oh-so eventful Friday night. I love Do-Nothing-Fridays.

Dave's Orchard

Well what do you know? Jason finally got himself a blog. It was completely his idea, I think he saw all my blogging friends and was jealous. At any rate, his link has been added (along with a few more new pals!)

Last night I had planned to blog, but I was exhausted and went to bed at 10... I didn't even hear Jason come in, but he didn't go to bed until 12 (He was too busy blogging!)

This week has been crazy... Thursday and Friday were field trip days. We went to Dave's Orchard in Langley and had a blast! We got to pick our own corn off the stalk, pull up our own carrots and beets, pick tomatoes and even broccolli right off the plant. I didn't even know what a broccolli plant looked like until this trip! Apples and pears were picked right off the tree, and we got huge potatoes and pumpkins galore. The best part was I did this 4 times and the lady who owns the farm (Dave's wife) kept giving me more and more! Here's my produce load after just day 1!!



And the next day I got more than double that! By the way, yes that is Hampton, I guess he was hungry. Anyways, we ate corn on the cob Thursday night and it was delicious! Since I came home with 7 cobs the next day we gave some to our landlord and some will go to my mom tonight. I think the plan is today is to slice and freeze up some of the other stuff, like some broccolli and carrots. It's lots of work being a farmer!

Well, I'm off to do some cleaning today, although I kinda wish I was preparing some killer costume for a halloween party tonight. I love dressing up... we were invited to a party downtown but it was over $40 a ticket and that was just too steep for right now... maybe next year!

Shakin, Bakin, and Hotting things up MAC style

Sorry I haven't posted for a bit, I've been completely occupied with Jack. Ok, maybe not really (although I'm proud to say we've now finished disc 4 and only have 2 more discs left of Season 1) Anyways, I haven't updated because I wanted this post to include some pictures I took of the fantastic meal I made recently.
Here's me shakin' and bakin':


And here's the finished product! Mmm mmm good!


Oh! And we have a new addition to the family, his name is Hampton:


We like him, he's yellow and happy. He lives with our favourite orange Ikea suction scrubber:


Today I went for MAC makeovers with my friend Erin, and spent too much money on makeup because I'm a girl and, well, if Rachael can love hot handbags as much as she does I'm allowed to love hot makeup. I tried to take a picture of the hotness but they all looked a little too trampy... My makeup now looks like I was going clubbing tonight or something. It was the best when the girls who were doing our makeup asked us where we were going tonight and we answered "home". At least Jason thought I was hot when he saw me. That's all that matters anyways!

Jocelyn (my sister for those who don't know that) got a new little buddy. I wish I had a picture but I don't, so I'll leave you all in the dark about this for now. You can guess if you'd like to. If you wouldn't like to, then don't.

Anyways I must get some sleep tonight and it's going to be a half hour of scrubbing to get this hotness off my face. Goodnight all!

Jack's the man.

I'm in love. Yes, with Jason of course, but I have a new love in my life. His name is Jack Bauer. And Jason's just as in love with him... ok not with him in particular but his life, or at least this one day of his life. I've heard so much about how great this show was but I'd never seen even one episode. So last night we decided to stay in and rent Season 1, discs 1 and 2. I honestly don't know what I would do if I had to wait a whole week to see each episode. After the first episode we were completely hooked, and ended up watching the entire first disc (4 episodes) that night. Today all I could think about was what was going to happen next... Jason really wanted to go biking but I was still tired and not in the mood for biking so I stayed home and watched 3 more episodes. I would've watched the 8th one but Jason called and said to wait for him. Only when he got home he wouldn't let me just fill him in on what happened, he wanted to see for himself. So I watched from 4:00-7:00 all over again, then from 7:00-8:00... Now we need to rent discs 3 and 4 or I'm going to go insane.

It's just such a good show!! I commented on how it's like if you turned a novel into a movie and didn't leave any detail at all out. It's fantastic. And it's helping to ease the transition to our one-channel television. If there's nothing on Global, we don't watch tv.

Tonight we went to Castle Fun Park with a bunch of people from Maple Ridge Baptist young adults group. It was fun, we went to originally play mini golf but it was so busy that all us girls decided to get refunds and get tokens for the games instead. There's this one game that you hit the button and try to get the jackpot. It's like gambling for tickets and extremely addictive. Especially when the pot gets up to 150 tickets or so... Andrea, Hannah, and myself all won at least once, Hannah won twice, her biggest amount being 150 tickets. We pooled our tickets together and got a ton of candy! Together we had almost 900 tickets. Too bad we were 19,100 short for the 12" television.

Friendly tip: next time you come across a shooting gallery (They have them at the PNE, as well as right here in your very own Castle Fun Park), take a picture with your flash on. Trust me, it's worth it.

Mmm bubble bath, relaxing music, and a good book...

makes for a great night! It's very quiet right now at my place, Jason's out at judo and I ended up with a bit of quiet time for a while until he gets home. It's nice, I kinda forgot what it's like to be alone. I'd never trade Jason for anything, but I really am learning to appreciate time for myself. I talk all day with parents, kids, everyone... and of course with this job it's constant go-go-go. Then usually I get home and it's go-go-go some more whether it's go to Maple Ridge for judo and the gym (didn't go tonight 'cause I had a dinner date with my Mom), or we go to bible study, or whatever. We always seem to have somewhere to go - which is great! We have lots of friends, lots of activities - we really are blessed. It's just nice sometimes to sit in the bathtub and read, with no time limit and no place to be...

Goldmines and Pictures

Alright so I went biking today and even brought my camera, only to have it die after the first picture. It was a good ride with excellent weather. I got to take good old Stinky Dee (my bike - it's a Kona Stinky Dee-Lux) up to the woodlot for the first time. We rode Goldmine, which is way up past the powerlines (it usually takes us about an hour to hike up to the powerlines alone). I found out today that the trail was named Goldmine because it actually used to be a goldmine. Jason showed me where the entrance is, I still can't believe I never knew it was there, I rode past it a bunch of times. It basically looks like a huge puddle about 15 or 20 feet off the trail, but it goes down super far.... we tried putting a really long stick in but couldn't touch the bottom. Apparently Jason and Bill way back in the day put an old tree in it and now it's gone completely, it sunk right in. Crazy!

Anyways, so no pictures from my ride, but how about some of my favourite ones from the wedding photos we got this week? I haven't had a chance to upload them all onto a website or anything, but consider this a little sampler...

Live to the world...

We have connection!! Finally after some craziness, including a morning visit on a Thanksgiving-weekend Sunday by Mr. Telus Worker, we have the internet. Turns out that the room we picked as the office is the only one in our place that has a dead phone line. Any one of our 3 other phone jacks would work except that one. So Mr. Telus Worker gave us a wireless modem instead and we hooked up my old wireless receiver to the computer. Voila! We have internet.

So folks, I will try and be as diligent as possible when it comes to blogging, as I now have no excuse not to.

Today the plan is to go biking and then to GrammO's house for dinner. Not the big thanksgiving one, that's tomorrow at my "DH"'s parents house (hee hee I have a DH now)
I shall bring my camera on our biking adventure. :)

Hooray!

Good news girls and boys, the internet will be up and running by the weekend at the latest! More blogs to come!

Hey it's lunchtime and I've found a few minutes to quickly give all my loyal blog-checkers a little update. We found out a couple days ago that we can get into our new place in Abbotsford this Friday, so this weekend is officially going to be taken up by moving. We're almost all packed so hopefully everything goes smoothly. I'm excited, I was thinking about how glorious it will be to finally take a bath again! Woot!

So the countdown is on, 3 more days! :)

gotta eat before kids get here!

One day ...

I will have internet... first step is to move... this weekend!

blogs will come, sorry folks

Finally! The Post! (it's really long, beware)

Alright so basically the Friday before the wedding was a complete gong show. First we find out that Jason's best man's tuxedo may or may not arrive by Saturday afternoon. (Wedding was scheduled for 1:30) Apparently it had been sent mistakenly to Kelowna... You know, Kelowna, Coquitlam... I guess they're easy to mix up? They both start with a "K" sound... So they put that tuxedo onto a Greyhound, and they also contacted their head office in Toronto and had one shipped from there. Either way, at that point it still wasn't clear if it would be there or not.

Meanwhile, on the bride's end of things, the decorator/rental lady we were renting dishes, cutlery, and table linens from had not sent her the invoice, despite multiple emails requesting this. These emails were typically responded to with something like "I have down that you wanted cloth napkins, do you still want these?" Well hmm... let me think about that, if you have it down, then YES! Anyways, so finally we get the invoice emailed so that we can write her a cheque for that day when she was to drop off all the items (Because having her set them up and take them down is a whole lot more money) When I got the invoice, I burst into tears... It was more than double her quote. Turns out she didn't even quote us a whole lot of what we'd already talked about when we met at my house in April. Yes, 4 months in advance, and she had the nerve to say "we shouldn't have left it to the last minute" Last minute?!? She was the one who wouldn't reply to my messages. Gahh.. Anyways, advice to future event planners: Ask me for her name and DON'T EVER USE HER...

So while I sat outside and bauled, my mom was yelling at her on the phone, trying to make sense of the quote vs. the invoice. It ended up that we had to cut the cloth napkins, we were going to have no mugs (because neither the quote nor the invoice had them, although she put on both of these "coffee spoons"), and we would have no beautiful brown table runners with smaller champagne runners that we painstakingly picked out in April. Still outside on the bench at my moms, I remember thinking I wasn't supposed to be this sad the day before my wedding... My sister came out and actually gave me a hug (she's not all that outwardly affectionate). That's when she offered to sew table runners if we could find some fabric. Off we went to the fabric store... We checked out the clearance section and lo and behold there was some chocolate brown fabric - enough for a bunch of smaller table runners (we decided on smaller ones for ease of sewing) All in all it was much cheaper than renting! That night my sister became my hero, she sewed about 12 table runners until 2:30 or 3 in the morning, and got up at 7 on Wedding Day and sewed the remaining 8 that morning.
Here's Jocelyn sewing so happily...

And here's Erin cutting out fabric all night...

And of course my Heather, overtired and way too enthusiastic for this picture...


They looked beautiful, it was unbelievable. Which leads me to the other behind the scenes happenings! Lindsey and Mike, two of the greatest decorators I know, worked tirelessly to decorate the hall for the reception. It looked absolutely amazing, and I am truly honored to have friends like them that would work that hard to make our special day that much more beautiful.

Here are the table runners in action!

And here's Martha and "Hard-workin" Hemmerling...


As you can see, I had hot hot people involved...

So after the crazy night of sewing, there was a crazy day full of fun. I could add a lot of pictures but I think I'm going to save some for when I get my professional pictures back. I will add a few though, because a) I know everyone is just dying to see them (yeah right haha) and b) I just like looking at them!

Anyways, the day went so quickly! Before I knew it my hair was done and I was putting my dress on... Here's a great pic of my mom helping me get ready...

After I was all tightened up and ready to go it was time for a mamosa toast with the girls. But not before a quick drink to calm my nerves...

Meanwhile, the groom and his boyz were all washing cars and getting the 2 lifted Samurai's looking pretty with pink and white flowers. I will add that picture soon or at least direct you to that pic on a website once I get them all uploaded... But for now you just picture that in your mind if you weren't there.
I remember standing outside the church auditorium in a line with the girls in front of me. My heart was pounding as I heard the music start, sending the cue to the grandparents and Jason's parents to head down the aisle. My mom was on my right, and my dad was on my left, I had my arms in theirs. My dad was telling me I looked "radiant" among other things and I had to tell him to stop or I would be a complete mess. It was all I could do not to cry. I heard Jason's funky music start (The song from Napoleon Dynamite where Uncle Rico first appears... It's fantastic!) and I knew it was almost time. The girls were each sent down the aisle, looking gorgeous. Then the music faded, and Norah Jones started (Love Me Tender was the song) Then I started down the aisle. I was looking at Jason the whole time but it felt like I was spinning. I was so nervous. I remember breathing in gasps, because I was seconds away from sobbing uncontrollably. Everything went wonderfully... We had our first communion together, which was a great moment to reflect and thank God for bringing us together... Then when we were lighting the candles and signing the registry, my dad, Jocelyn, and Heather sang "Your Everything" by Keith Urban, as planned. When that finished, my dad announced that he had a "special gift" for us, and he and Jocelyn sang a song my dad wrote called "Soul to Soul". He framed it for us and it's hanging in our house.

Finally the time came for us to seal the marriage with a kiss. Jason apparently had forgotten our conversation about this step so as he leaned forward to kiss me, I said "oh just a second" and Erin went behind our beautiful forest foliage backdrop and produced a stepping stool. I stood on this to kiss him (we never usually kiss on level ground anyways, he's just way too tall) and I swear it was the talk of the day...


Then it was picture time... as I said, I'll post a link or something to these when I get them. It was a crazy busy time, but somehow I managed to get a bit of meditation in... some quiet time...


All in all it was a fantastic day (though I was rather relieved when it was over, I was exhausted) and what's even more exciting is that now I have a husband who I love more than anything. I'm so excited to grow together, and for all the adventures we get to share together.

Back in Action!

Woot, ok so I'm back and I'm a married woman. There's obviously a lot to update about, but right now I'm at work, and I'd really like to do a full update with pictures, unfortunately I don't have any here...

I'm waiting for 37 booklets to copy... they're taking forever!!! Oh I failed to mention that each booklet has 67 pages of alphabets to trace, dot-to-dots, and number games. Super cute, but a pain in the bum.

People have asked me if I'm bored now that all the wedding planning is over... not bored ... sometimes I'm not sure what to do with some of the extra time I have now (which is splendid, because I actually HAVE extra time) but we've now switched projects. We will be moving soon, but we're not sure where to yet... We're also currently contemplating buying a condo so that our monthly payments are more of an investment rather than giving someone rent... We'll see how that pans out. We're going to look at a rental place tonight.

Anyways the copy machine is telling me it needs more paper, and there are only 2 more packets to go, so I should tend to it... But just in case anyone was wondering, I'm home, we survived the wedding mayhem and honeymoon adventure, and would be more than happy to hear from people. I will post pics soon :)

Ch-ch-ch-changes! (Yeah David Bowie)

So here I am at work, on my lunch break, finally with some time to blog. I just read Heather's blog and was inspired... I started thinking about the paths that God takes us, and how everything changes - sometimes in big ways and other times in subtle, less noticeable ways... In the past few months I've talked to a handful of old friends: at weddings, through email, or just in passing out in "the world". It's so strange to look back and remember how close we once were. In a safe little world - high school, youth group... All of it now seems so safe. Sheltered even. It's like graduation creates some sort of explosion, propelling people all directions. In a way it makes me sad (I've never dealt with change well) and in another way it makes me excited to see where my friends and I might "explode" to next.

Everywhere I look there are people going through significant life changes. Whether it's weddings, babies, jobs, or relationships, life is constantly changing. It boggles my mind how some people can't see God's hand in it all. It's so obvious! And so exciting...

2 weeks from today...

I'm going to be Amanda Gregor. It still sometimes doesn't seem real to me. I think probably because I'm constantly busy, it doesn't sink in. It's real though when I try on my dress... it suddenly hits me... I'm so excited to be Jason's wife. He makes me laugh... we have so much fun together. He's my best friend. So in 14 days, I'm going to tell him how much I love him, be extremely relieved and no longer stressed to the max, and filled to the brim with joy. I can't wait...

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...

A post from Amanda! Well, sorry folks (if anyone even still checks this thing) I have no computer at my house and when I have time to use the computer at Jason's it's usually rushed. Anyways, I'm still rushed but I thought since Heather posted her children-post I'd post something somewhat related.

So this weekend was yet another marriage. Matthew and Christa Robinson are currently in Jamaica lucky poops. Anyways, so we went up to Ashcroft and it was beautiful, absolutely picture-perfect weather, but not temperature perfect... probably hit about 35 or more during the ceremony. At least the pictures will look hot as in Hawt. ... right, quick post... ok fast forward ... I stayed the night with my mom in a motel and we were meeting a lady for breakfast at 8. So my mom opens the door to the parking lot outside our room and what does she find? A baby in a stroller. She got my attention quickly with her "there's a baby here!" comment, so I came to take a look. Sure enough, the cutest little girl was looking at us with the biggest most beautiful eyes... she was lying in a stroller that had a pink tag on it that said "delivery" I half jokingly asked if maybe it was a delivery for me? Could the stork have dropped this off for me? We stood there playing peekaboo for probably about 5 or 10 minutes, still with no sign of people anywhere. I asked my mom what she thought Jason would think if I showed up at home saying "Look what I found!! Can I keep it??" I told my mom about learning in my courses that in places like Belgium people leave their babies in strollers outside stores and whatnot, with no worries at all. Anyways, my mom and the friend we were meeting for breakfast who had arrived and was as astounded as we were decided to go ask the office whose van it was that that baby was beside, maybe for some clues. When they were gone a woman came walking down the stairs from the upper floor. I asked her "is she yours?" and the lady, not looking overly concerned asked if she was bothering me... I said no, I was just wondering where her family was... Just then my mom and our friend came walking back and we asked where they were from.. sure enough, they were from Austria!! My textbooks actually taught me something!! They proceeded to inform the lady about the dangers of leaving a baby unattended like that, which I think freaked her out a bit, but that's probably not such a bad thing.

All in all, I was a tiny bit disappointed that the stork didn't send me that special delivery, but I guess that's probably a good thing... I'm not on that baby bandwagon quite yet.

Celebrities, Wine, and Feedback

Ahh Mondays, how they lack in any type of fun. I had lots of sleep last night but I'm still exhausted... Probably because of my crazy weekend. Friday night I was all set to go to Sylvia's birthday dinner, when I realized that my wallet was no longer in my purse, and it must be sitting in my cubby in my now-locked-up-for-the-night work... Worse yet, I didn't think I had any co-workers phone numbers. Fortunately for me, God loves me and I found my phone list right away and remedied the sitch' ... I managed to get to the dinner, but I had already missed the food portion of the night. (which comes into play a little later in my tale) Anyways, after some pooling of ideas we decide to go downtown to Bar None in Yaletown. We drive there and find out that even hotties like us gals have to pay $12 to get in. So we change locations and try the Blarney Stone. Well, good luck with that at 10:00 or so on a Friday night. Kristen asked the bouncer how long the lineup was and he said something like "oh 18 feet or so', and when she told us that he said that, I laughed, because hey, that's pretty witty. Anyways, so onward we went, this time to Lotus or something. Cover there was $20 and at 11:00 it would be $22!!! Yikes! We contemplated going to Honey, which was right there as well, and the cover was only $7 but the music coming through that doorway was less than appealing.

So finally we decided to go to a club called Celebrities. We just wanted to dance, and at that point, even a gay bar would do. Yes my dearies, I went to a gay bar. I must say though, it was a very nice venue! Very clean, and hey, no guys hit on me or any of us, which was very nice! We just danced, and I think my favourite part was when they played "Everybody Dance Now". It's a toss up between that and the crazy spotlight that was shining on a cowboys crotchal regions as he danced on stage. SKETCH-tastic! woot.

Anyways, I only had 2 coolers, which is were the lack of dinner came into play. They hit me harder than I wanted to be hit that night. But in the end all was good.

Saturday I got a hot-hot haircut, and I've never had more comments on my hair than this one... Hooray for pastor's wives who can cut hot-hot hair!!

We bottled wine on Saturday as well, which was fun, except for the tasting of wine part. EEuuccchh.... gross-tacular. Heather even gave me a gross glass just to see my face. But not to worry, the wine shall taste good by the wedding.

Later that night was the much-anticipated oscar-winning performance of yours truly. Only Heather thought that I was causing the worship team feedback so she turned my mic off... an ok move I suppose, if only it had turned back on before I went onstage. I have never heard the church quieter, I think everyone was afraid of even the tiniest foot-shuffle interfering with my less-than-booming voice. For the record, it was not my mic that caused the feedback... but I guess even hot professionals like Heather screw up sometimes! :p

Sunday was Mothers day and I spent a bunch of quality time with my Mum shopping and watching Survivor. Good times with Mum, go her! I love my Mommy! :)

Anyways, this was a pretty long post (I'm procrastinating cleaning my house... but I guess it needs to be done...) might as well do that tonight... ick. Can't wait to have a husband to clean for me bahh hahaha

Who Cares?

some people basically suck. and to them I say "who cares?". gaaahhh so frustrated.


hooray for vague-ness

My New Ride!

So yesterday evening we decided to go rummaging in other people's garbage... haha ok so not exactly how it sounds, but when it comes right down to it that's really what we were doing... Each year Coquitlam has a "spring cleaning" garbage pick up. This is obviously a big deal there, I realized how big a deal upon the scout. Stop signs were practically plastered in Garage Sale signs. Basically what happens is the garbage pick up will take a dump run's worth of garbage. People put out old couches, tables, etc. You name it, it was probably on the streets of Westwood Plateau last night. Big screen TV (it's the Plateau after all), computers, and enough lawn chairs to host a very comfortable outdoor concert. (an idea Jason and I tossed around after the 20th house with a stack of 5 or so) Anyways, Jason's truck wasn't working very well so we didn't stay long (plus there were a lot of cars coming and going and doing their own scouting.) The only thing we did stop to get was this amazing bike. I'm talking banana seat, high-rise handlebars, chrome back-fender, and kickstand kind of amazing!! It's a bit rusty but otherwise in decent shape. We're going to shine it up and make it pretty and then I'll post a picture. But wow it sure did bring new meaning to "One person's trash is another person's treasure!" Woot woot!

Wedding Updates and a Good Song

Invitations are basically done! (They look amazing, good thing I have a SuperMom) Guest list is currently in the whitteling (how do you spell that?!?) process... But a very good start. I have a really hard time cutting people off the reception list, but as Jason said, it's not like we're crossing friendships off our list... oh well it'll work out.

Good song this weekend at church, thought I would include it.

Is there anyone that fails
Is there anyone that falls
Am I the only one in church today feelin’ so small
Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they’ll soon discover
That I don’t belong
So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the heart again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them

Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone who’s been there
Are there any hands to raise
Am I the only one who’s traded
In the altar for a stage
The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart
But would it set me free
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be
Would your arms be open
Or would you walk away
Would the love of Jesus
Be enough to make you stay

Here's to another fast week.... may the weekend be upon us quickly.

Battleship Beach

Thank goodness it's friday... It's been a long week, but at the same time it went fast. Nonetheless I'm glad it's the weekend. Exhausted as we were, Jason and I decided to go for a walk at our favourite wharf... I actually proposed to him there (after he had already proposed to me... it was actually that I gave him his Christmas present there which was a Titanium ring, and jokingly proposed to him...) anyways, so we were walking along and we found a little beach along the river! We began skipping rocks and watching the sun set behind the Port Mann bridge, and of course keeping an eye out for those flippy sturgeons who like to jump and do flips. (The main reason we love that wharf) When we spotted something drifting along in the water we decided to throw rocks at it.... it was really small though and even Jason with great aim couldn' t quite hit it... eventually it got away, much to our dismay. So Jason threw in a piece of driftwood. We referred to it as the "Battleship" and when a rock hit it we said "you sunk my battleship!" ... We decided Battleship Beach would be a good name for this beach. So if you are ever as bored as we were and feel the need to throw something like I did at the time, I think Battleship Beach would be a good idea.

Jason sure does know how to cheer me up. Good thing I have a bestest friend like him. :)

Gotta love it...

This one little boy at my daycare calls me "Miss Panda" ... the best part is he totally doesn't realize that's not my name.

Sorry People

So I have no computer at me new place ye hearties. yarr i'm a pirate.

I don't update with no computer. sorry.

anyways, Heather is obviously .... shall we say... "frustrated" as she recently asked if I would be interested in joining her "sex party"...

ok... maybe that's a stretch, it was supposed to be my sex party after all, but i don't think she understood the concept of lingerie "sex party" as opposed to the somewhat action related "sex party" she might have had in mind. I was a little disturbed as well, as we were sitting in my mother's room. Surrounded by God books. I think He might've been disturbed too... or laughing? you never know with Heather around.

Time for sun. Bye!

The world hates me

That was my slogan yesterday... and today too I suppose although Heather did just make me feel a lot better. Maybe only half the world hates me. Yesterday though, I fully believe that the world hated me. Saturday night I woke up at 3:00am feeling terrible... I spent the next hour and a half trying desperately to fall back asleep in hopes that the yucky feeling would disappear. It didn't. After my mad dash to the bathroom I did fall asleep again... I kinda had thought maybe it was something I ate, maybe from Frogstone? But alas, I woke up feeling kinda yucky... Thinking maybe I could make it through church I got up and got ready to go but apparently God didn't want me to sing that day, unless it was singing to the toilet. I'll spare you the details of course, but I must say that big props go out to my future husband who came over and stayed with me all day, even went and got me popsicles and made me chicken soup in the evening when I finally felt like I could keep some food down. He even told me how beautiful I was (and if you'd seen me you would know how unbelievable that was) He's a keeper.

Today I came home from work because I realized in the 2 hours I was there just how much energy it takes to work with children. I think I only really realize that when I have NO energy. So I think I'll spend the day packing up the rest of my room and organizing... and maybe later I'll have a nap...

PS. the highlight of my weekend was the walk-off during choir rehearsal, I'm glad I wasn't sick for that. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to Heather's blog. OHh!! and my other highlight was what the Easter Bunny brought me! I got those wicked cheese graters from Ikea, with the grater lid over the container! :) Hooray for house stuff!

For Sara and Rachael

So I opened my fridge today and discovered a jar of kosher baby dills... Not sure where they came from, but I immediately thought of you two...

For those who like quotes...

There are a wealth of hilarious quotes that arise when you take a word that sounds dirty and then place it in sentences that sound even dirtier, all the while making complete sense... For example, it seems that today at school the word of the day was "Masticate" also known as: "To grind or crush with or as if with the teeth in preparation for swallowing and digestion; to chew; as, "to masticate food."

Here are some fine examples:

"I want to masticate right now"
"Everyone loves masticating"
"Hey! We all just masticated together didn't we?"
and the classic,
"I guess squirrels masticate their nuts don't they?"

oh dear, sketch-tastic. That's what happens when you put 6 girls together in a ridiculously boring class!

"Miss Amanda"

Well today marks the first day of an adventure. An adventure some people in the world call a "career". It was my first day being paid to work with children on a professional level. It was a crazy hectic day, and I'm utterly exhausted, but mostly because of all the information I had to take in and try to remember. The kids seem awesome, I'm really excited to get to know them. They call me "Miss Amanda" which is really cute. It's really strange not being a practicum student though. I'm so used to staying out of peoples' way, not knowing information about children, and asking permission to do things like create an aesthetic display. But as my boss told me today, this is mine and one other teacher's area. We can do what we like. I'm a staff member, I am involved in planning, and my opinions matter! It's a great feeling... Makes all this debt I'm in seem worthwhile!!

Overwhelmed...

Well I should probably update I suppose... Well I got a place. It's in Pitt Meadows, about a 5 minute walk from Jason's house. The people upstairs are super nice, it's a young couple and they're really laid back. It's above ground, so it's nice and bright. It has one bedroom plus a den, with insuite washer and dryer. I'll post pictures as I get them, and as I start decorating. I technically get possession on April 1st, so I will probably swing by and take a better look... I'm excited. I'm also a little mixed up too... really stressed out... it's an awesome place, and I'm excited that it's so close to home, especially to the area that I basically grew up in. It's just all happening so fast, and I'm excited about moving on and essentially "growing up" but those who know me well know that I have a hard time with change. The transition to high school from elementary school was ridiculously hard... then I cried my eyes out at grad because I didn't want to leave! I'm nervous about all the responsibility that goes with moving out. I'm sad to leave home. Even when my home is super dramatic with all 3 girls here, bickering and fighting, it's what I know, it's all I've known really. This is a huge step. As Heather said when we were out for coffee and lunch, it makes it all real. I'm really getting married. This is our first home, Jason and I. And as nervous, stressed, and freaked out as I am, I'm also extremely excited to take this step.

Whirlwind

Man things are insane right now. Everything's changing around me and it's hard to keep up!! First I get a new job, I'm still finishing up school stuff and tying up loose ends, and now there's some serious talk of me moving out! I went out place-hunting today which was ridiculously fun, my inner-interior designer sure did come out! I kept imagining how I would decorate and arrange things. I have a couple leads, but I'm going to play it by ear. So if anyone hears of anything coming available, let me know... I'm looking at a maximum of $700 a month (Jason and I are splitting the costs while I live there) and I would prefer a basement suite. Ohhh how exciting it is to think that I will be leaving in a month, maybe even sooner! I feel like ... an adult? (haha) I'm starting to enjoy this whole "growing up" thing... It's strange how everything seems to change so quickly. Strange and exciting all at once. A little scary too...

Update to the last post...

So after writing that last post today I put together some resumes and cover letters and set out to get a job. Well I kinda thought that it would take a little while before I heard anything. Well that wasn't the case. I went to this one place and dropped off my resume. They asked if I had time to have an interview right then!! And then at the end of the interview they asked if I wanted to join the team!! Talk about surprising!! So I start on the 3rd, which is just over a week from now. (Even though I'm not done school yet!! They still want me to start!) I'm so excited. Especially since it's in Maple Ridge. It's full time, Monday to Friday. Which means no more working on the weekend!! Weee!

It's funny how God works things out sometimes...

Happy Birthday to Jazoon yesterday, I finally was able to talk to him about the Canucks game we're going to next monday!! I got him those tickets in January and I've been bursting with the secret... Hooray!! Hopefully they don't lose, I've been to a bajillion games (well over 10) and I've never, not once, seen them win... And they really weren't heading in the right direction at the time that I gave Jason the tickets. Luckily they won 4-1 last night against Edmonton!! Woot woot!

Anyways, I have about 14 hundred things to do today, including finding a job so that I can get the heck outta the theatre! (Wouldn't that be grand?)

Wish me luck!

Granville Island

I went to Granville Island today with my friend Ashlee. We were doing homework. Yes, homework. I guess we could've done this homework anywhere, but we decided since we had a day off, why not spend it at Granville Island? We had to fill out a huge list of a variety of foods for our nutrition class, and the market there has many interesting foods. Did you know you can even get quail, pheasant, buffalo, or deer there? I didn't. But you can! We went to the Kid's market and discovered a wealth of ideas. Seriously, if I'm ever stuck for ideas at a preschool, I'm just going to take a day trip to Granville Island Kid's Market. They have the best puppet store ever where you can find a puppet for basically every subject. It's amazing. They even have finger puppet sets which include the "Axis of Evil" and "Axis of Evil 3" set (not sure if there is a 2) Together the puppets include: George Bush, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong II, Khamenai, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and Dick Cheney. I found them quite amusing, so here are the pictures...














I also found a king's crown and a knight's costume for my prop box that's due in a couple weeks. (Basically a box with dramatic play clothes and props in a specific theme that's given to us by our teacher... It's supposed to be a Shakespeare theme, but I'm just gonna go with fairy tales...)

We saw these 2 street performers, they were playing in the food court of the market. They were amazing!! They were playing old time country stuff, like Johnny Cash and that era. One guy played the acoustic guitar, and the other guy played a stick, bucket, and piece of string as a bass!!! So fun!

All in all we had a great day, and I got a nice leather bound journal to write in, so I think I shall go do that now. :)

In like a frozen lion.

So I heard it was March... I thought that meant spring, but apparently that groundhog saw more winter. At least I got to make a snowman during my class. He was a bit evil looking though, he had red berry eyes and his face basically looked like this : By the time school was over the only indication that there'd ever been snow was a poor little snowman with no eyeballs, melting away.

I watched Walk the Line today, what an awesome movie. I love Reese in it, she's just adorable. Must get the soundtrack!

Deep Thoughts

well my car seems to be working again, thanks to Jason. Although it did overheat again today but there is a possibility that it is because my car was just thirsty and drank all the coolant we first gave it, and it just needed more... we shall see on Monday I guess when I drive to Mission... if I make it home, car's fixed, if not... well, hopefully there are some nice people in Mission.

Lately I've been dealing with a lot of crap on my mind. I realize that a lot of thoughts come from Satan and are intended to pull people away from God, but I didn't realize how extensive that can get. I've heard of spiritual warfare, but I really didn't realize how fierce a war it is. I think ever since I started fighting against the doubts I've had I've been feeling lonely... It's like every insecurity I've ever had is doubled since I've actively started trying to be closer to God. I think the hardest thing is fighting against these insecurities. Because doubts can be fought against, if you are intentional about having a relationship with God, it's really hard to deny that he's there. It's another story when it's about friendships, relationships, and people around you and what they are thinking. I mean, God is good, he is Love, he is everything that is great. And he loves me no matter what. So it really shouldn't matter what people think of other people. And I know this. But yet, these insecurities go through my mind. It doesn't help when people around me are hurting, or otherwise preoccupied. Gah, this post probably doesn't make any sense, I just needed an outlet to get some words out, even if they are totally incoherent...

And not to end this post on that note, because that would be utterly and completely depressing, here are some deep thoughts from the ever so inspirational Jack Handy...

"One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late."

"Too bad you can't buy a voodoo globe so that you could make the earth spin real fast and freak everybody out."

"Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind."

"If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason."

"When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, mmmmmmm, boy."


Ok now that I'm fully inspired, and hopefully you are too, I shall go to sleep. Goodnight!

Stupid car...

it's overheating again. There's a leak somewhere but I have no idea where, and last time this happened, Jason couldn't find anything either. But there is most definitely a leak, and if it's anything other than a hose I'm hooped, because I am so ridiculously poor. I really hope this works out, because I'm not sure I can handle any more stress right now.

I can't believe it's March already. I pretty much only have 4 more weeks of school and then I'm done. That's it. I don't deal well with change so I'm trying to brace myself now. All of a sudden I'm expected to "grow up" ... I mean really within the span of about 4 or 5 months I will go from a "student living at home" to a "wife with a career" .... It's kinda scary. Exciting, very very exciting, but scary too...

I think I'm going to go play some bass and enjoy this time that I have to myself right now....

Just me and my thoughts...

I still don't understand why it's possible to feel so alone in such a populated world.

So apparently what they say about black men is true. **Parental Advisory on this Post!!**

At least at Skybar... what a weird night! Fun, but weird. So the limo picks us up, and the guy demands money immediately. Talk about customer service. Anyways, I really wanted a ride home so we worked it out... But no tip. I said loudly when inside that I would give a tip if and when we made it home safely. Not sure if he heard me, but I am home safe and sound and he is 15 dollars richer, so perhaps he did...

So we arrive at skybar to a bouncer who announces that he "grades" the limos as they pull up, and lets us know that we have a "very nice" limo. Not sure if "very nice" is just above average or freakin' hot, but I'm gonna go with the latter, because that's way more fun. So I get my gift basket that I apparently won, which basically just has coupons or something, but it did have free drink tickets, so that made me happy. (There's also a free month at Fitness World, so maybe soon if I'm feeling motivated I'll redeem that)

We go upstairs to the second (out of three) floors, and no one is there... It's obvious this is where the show will be taking place, but for now we head up to the last floor rather than looking extremely eager by finding a table right away. (despite how eager some of us may have been. and no I don't mean myself... so much) A waitress comes up to us and asks if we'd like some drinks. We ask her if we could have a minute to look over the menu, and she complies. What a nice gal. Not only did she give us a minute, she gave us 20 or so! I guess she got tired or something. Or maybe we were just too freakin' hot for her to talk to us, or even look at us... every time we looked at her and tried to make eye contact she looked away. So the nice man at the bar helped us.

After what seemed like eons we went downstairs for the show, and to our suprise the place was packed full of women ... maybe I won't go into too much detail here, but these women were definitely... well... eager. We managed to squeeze into a spot in front of the stage just as the show was about to start. We were informed that there were 3 stages to the show, the first was a "fantasy stage" where the men come out dressed as something... I believe it was a soldier, a fireman, a paramedic, and a cowboy. Well, none of those have ever entered any of my fantasies, but it did seem to tickle the fancies of some ladies there. The 2nd and 3rd stages have less and less clothing, although fortunately for us all they did keep their briefs on. I giggled like a little schoolgirl, the fireman guy (who they announced as "straight from New York City, here he is, the California Kid!!" How much sense does that make???) apparently had made himself a little happy before going onstage... by a "little" happy I mean exactly that. A little, teensy tiny bit happy. No more details. However, the cowboy ... well I'm not sure the cowboy needed to make himself happy, I'm really not sure where he would've put it....

Wow, anyways so after the show it was "Barcardi Gras" in which girls can go to great lengths to earn themselves bead necklaces, in true Mardi Gras style. I'm proud to say I came in 3rd place, and I did it completely ethically. Basically all 7 of us girls were obtaining beads throughout the night just by talking to people, and they all piled their beads on me at the end of the night in hopes that I might win. But alas, it was a girl with very large upper regions who won, and I suppose that's ok, because I don't really want to go back to Skybar for any reason any time soon, not even $500 at the bar. Ok especially not for that.

So anyways I had a pretty good night... definitely memorable.

That said, maybe I will stop by at a confessional booth later on today... I'm not Catholic but perhaps it wouldn't hurt... haha

Must love wine.

I think that's what Heather and Lindsey think... I really WANT to love wine, it's just not that easy to do!! It makes my face squish after each sip. I just can't help thinking about feet stomping in wine, and then drinking foot-juice. ew. That said, it's not as gross tasting as it has been, so maybe I AM making progress.

So tomorrow is our crazy ladies-night that i won at a wedding fair. Of all the things i could've possibly won at a wedding fair, I win the naked men. Should be interesting.

I love chick flicks. Nothing like that is realistic, (this is coming from the girl who's getting married in less than 6 months) but it sure is cute! Last night we watched In Her Shoes, and it really made me want to go buy new shoes... hmm... maybe for tomorrow night!!

I went to a rock and gem show on Sunday... oh wow I feel like a nerd just writing that... Haha, all I ever think about when I go to those shows is that little short segment/commercial from when I was little that had some guy singing "I collect rocks, I collect rocks, I put 'em in a bag, I put 'em in a box"... It's fun though, there's lots of cute old people whose hobby has something to do with rocks, either carving them, polishing them, or whatever. And they seem to love it when young people are interested! It's great. I got all motivated again after putting my jewellery off to the side for a while, and I even made most of a necklace today with some stuff I bought at the show. Ahh I love reading break.

my mum comes home tomorrow night! hoorayyy! I've missed her... I am actually very surprised though, my sister and I didn't get in any fights! no yelling matches, nothing. That's not to say things went totally smoothly, or that there were no reasons to fight, because there were plenty... It seemed to me like a bit of a patience test, and a 'biting of the tongue' test. I did have to hold back a few choice words every now and then... but I'm proud of myself, I did it!

My poor mum's gonna be in for a shock when she gets off the plane... it's supposed to be something like -15 windchill overnight, likely the same tomorrow... which will feel even colder after being in the tropics!

Tonight I went and played badminton at the church. It was pretty fun, there were only 6 of us there, but it was pretty hilarious, since we all are definitely NOT going to the olympics any time soon... but a good time nonetheless...

I'm not really sure what else to write... I just felt like updating something. It always happens that I'll be out and about and something cool will happen or a thought will cross my mind and I'll make a mental note that "I should write that in my blog!" ... why is it that I always remember that mental note, but not what I was thinking about? Drives me nuts.

I'm going to learn about food tomorrow... My nutritionist of an ECE instructor at school (she has a degree in nutrition) said that after I take that course I won't want to eat anything. I guess it's gross or something... It's the Foodsafe course, the preschool I'm doing my practicum at is paying for me to take that as well as the First Aid childsafe course, which is awesome since I need that to get fully certified! Plus those hours count toward my practicum! Hoorah!

Anyways I guess I'm going to go to bed, maybe I'll actually read or something! :) Goodnight all!

interesting...

I learned something today... I came online and a friend's msn name was "Remember... the bible was written by the same people who thought the world was flat" so I was like, wow I really should say something to him, but what? I needed to find something really smart-like that I could say that wouldn't be offensive, but informative. Unfortunately for me, I'm really uneducated when it comes to this stuff, although I'd love to have more knowledge on the bible, and biblical history, etc. Anyways, so I start looking up information on when it was discovered that the world was in fact round. And well, no one knows exactly when, but Aristotle who was around from 384-322 B.C. apparently wrote that it was common knowledge. So really, it was known before Jesus' time... Which means that the new testament was written with the knowledge of a spherical earth. Which therefore means that this name (which I also learned is a bumper sticker with that phrase on it) is false. Unfortunately by the time I learned this, that guy was offline. But regardless, it was interesting to learn...

Just for Lindsey

Yes this post is now officially dedicated to Lindsey because she says I don't update enough. So here I am, updating. About what you ask? Well I haven't quite gotten as far as figuring out a subject so I think I'll just ramble.
Did you know that planning a wedding is stressful? Now factor in the budgetsotighticanhardlybreathe and add school, work, and the remote possibility of a life and you have one very stressed out Manda. (which basically just shows up as tired Amanda... same thing though) Today I really wanted to work on lots of wedding stuff but time just got away from me so I crammed in a few things in the late afternoon, and hopefully tomorrow we can work on a bit more. Maybe the planning isn't stressful, maybe it's the "oh crap I have to remember...[insert random task/decoration/deadline here]" that's the stressful part. And knowing full well how much of a procrastinator I am isn't helping anything. Oh well, as long as I get married, that's the important thing.
It's funny, I thought that as I started planning I would become more aware of what I want, what flowers I want, what kind of cake I want, all those kinds of details. But it's been the opposite. I'm beginning to care less about the details... Which is good really, especially when you have a really tight budget. All I know is that I've seen so many wedding fairs with ladies who take the whole thing just way too seriously and get lost in the commercial affair. I've found the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, and honestly I don't care if my cake has detail, or if I have some rare breed of lilies in my centrepieces. Of course there are things I want, or would like a lot, but really, when it comes right down to it, it's a day about a promise. And it's the promise I'm looking forward to.

Ok, the promise AND the wedding night.

Wine.

Welllll tonight I had wine. I don't like wine. But Heather and Lindsey thought I should try to like wine, I think Lindsey a bit moreso than Heather, as she kept telling me to hurry up and finish my drink so she could pour me some more. Needless to say I was a little buzzed. But I did learn that I can drink wine if it has 7-up in it. Not too bad. I'll learn, I'm determined that within the next 6 months I will learn to like wine so that I won't have to drink sparkling apple juice at my own wedding. That would not be hot. At least if I only get to the point where I can have wine with 7-up it will still be wine and it will still look like wine! hoorayyy

So I didn't really need another television show to get addicted to (I have enough.... I don't want my schedule to be ruled by television programming...) However as it stands with my two main shows - Gilmore girls on tuesdays at 5, 8, or 10, and Survivor on thursdays at 8 I have room for one more on thursday and apparently that will be filled with the OC. I had never watched a full episode until tonight, and that's mostly because it is difficult to follow the storyline of characters you don't know. Fortunately for me, I have friends who will go to great lengths for someone to understand the OC. So far in fact that I have in my possession a FLOW CHART of marriages (the double lines connecting people), relationships (both kosher - for that nice jewish hottie - and totally illigitimate - as noted by the dotted lines). So now I'm pretty much in the know. And I think I'm going to have to start watching it now.

Anyways, tonight was super fun, I laughed a lot (which I always enjoy)... and I'm one step closer to liking wine. I'm hoping that I can spend LONGER times with those two and have BIGGER glasses of wine...hahahaha yay for hilarious conversations.

Wooohoo!!! My picture is showing up now!! hoorayyy I'm a genius!

I can't figure this out...

I'm having a hard time getting used to this Blogger thing. I am used to livejournal, so making a transition is kinda hard. I prefer the look of Blogger, but livejournal seems to be easier to use. Oh well, I'll figure it out. I just can't seem to get my profile picture to show up on my main page, nor can I download it other than at a tiny tiny size. bahhh

ummm happy birthday Jocelyn yesterday. My little sister is 20. My little sister is no longer a teenager. She said she isn't doing 20 well... well I'm not sure I am either. Where did the time go??? I remember when she couldn't write... I was so proud that I could and she couldn't. (I was a brat ... no smart comments on the 'was' please) She's all grown up. Piercings and all. haha

Anyways, I'm off for coffee with Heather! (Finally! sheesh that girl is busy)

skipping school...

well, ok I'm only kind of skipping school. Just one class. And it's because I woke up with a super crazy headache and decided I would much rather sleep through it than try to drive to abbotsford and sit through my class with it. So I took a couple tylenol and slept for another 3 hours. I still have a little headache but it is much better than it was at 6:30... I'll still go to my other class this afternoon, we're going to be making math toys!! hooray!

So I think my headache might've been due to the election coverage last night (who wouldn't get a headache from all that) ... We now have a conservative minority government. I wonder what's in store for us now...

Right now I am staying in an extremely nice house. I'm house sitting for a few days, taking care of 2 cats. They are super cute, one of them is the fattest cat I've ever seen, named Gus. The other isn't really friendly, although she has her moments. This house is amazing though, it's on the river, with an amazing river view. It has an inground heated pool in the backyard (which is nice because the lady said she needs a housesitter in the summertime too!) The kitchen and living room are beautiful, it really reminds me of "Extreme makeover - home edition" after they're finished with the house. Tonight is my last night, but I hope I get to come back!

Anyways I should get ready for school, in my fancy bathroom :)

Hooray for January

Well I had my birthday the other day so I am officially 23. The age at which I will be married. That is the weirdest thing ever, I never, ever thought I'd be married at 23. Craaaazy.

Which got me to thinking about ages... when I was really little I remember thinking about being older, and how far away it felt. When I think about how I felt back then, I didn't feel little, obviously since I was the biggest I'd ever been! I feel the same now as when I was 6, only with a lot more experiences... I remember vividly thinking "WOW I'm going to be 16 when it's the year 2000!!!!" and how amazingly old that seemed. Now the year 2000 is 6 years ago and I'm getting married, something I used to pretend to do... Gahhh so weird.

Anyways, so yeah apparently I'm updating on blogger right now... I might drift back and forth between the two (this and livejournal) since I now found some good pals who use Blogger!! I just need to figure out how to use this thing.... For example, how do I post pictures? I can't even figure out how to put a picture in my profile, it just says something about a URL, which I don't have for pictures... what is there to use? any ideas?

I'm going to go try and put my lovely friends Heather and Lindsey onto my links page or section or whatever. I need to become more computer literate I think!