We got brave and ventured out today, and yes we got lost! It wasn't as bad as we'd feared though, and it turns out we were only 5 mins away from where we wanted to be (after we'd called Al and told him of our predicament).
We found a lovely little Mall where we stopped and had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's which was so delicious - I totally recommend their Hickory Chicken sandwich.
Today also marks our 3 month anniversary! I lovesha baby!
Yesterday was an amazing day. So relaxing and non-stressful - unless you count what we were going to make for dinner, stressful. It was absolutely gorgeous outside and we spent about an hour or so swimming in the pool.
Yes dear internet, I braved my dilemma in aforementioned post and went swimming. And, I'm pleased to announce, I was neither naked nor in my undies. D threw me a pair of his soccer shorts and I had a teeny little pink tank top that I bought from Victoria's Secret so I wore that. And I'm tickled to announce I got some colour. I'm not as pasty as I used to be! Hooray!
I did forget to put sunscreen on the top part of my chest though, and stomache and face, so those were all a little more red than the rest of my body but I've browned up today already so later on I'm going for another swim. Oh yeah!
We made dinner last night for D's friends, Al and Di, and OMG it was so good. D's first time cooking corned beef, and it came out so well. We also had some brown rice and a giant salad to go with it - man I was so full after I was done eating. So much so that I couldn't eat the fruit salad we'd made for dessert!
Today we're going to take the spare car and wander around the city getting lost. We need to pick up some things (ie: clothes) and D's left ear is all plugged up again so we have to go find a health food store that sells ear candles. Di said last night there is a health food store around here and apparently not too far away - we just have to figure out how to get there.
I look like shit today too. Note to self: No more Coke. Ever.
Well, we're here in sunny Acapulco Phoenix and it's so gorgeous outside right now. I've already taken a bunch of photos of the house we're staying in, D's friend's child, D's friend's dog, and some of plants. Plants!
The flight was good. I was panicking (as usual) before I got on the plane, envisioning all kinds of terroristic attacks, and then I thought, "Who would want to attack Phoenix? There's nothing there except cactus." And suddenly everything was right with the world and I no longer felt the need to panic and over-analyze every look I was given from the passengers around me.
For a 4 hour flight though, it felt so much longer! And OMG it was tedious. I was so bored. Of course, I could have rented headphones for the inflight movie "National Treasures" but at $5 a pop (x2 mind you) I decided that would just be insane, and didn't. Instead, I spent most of the flight alternating between trying to sleep (and kinking my neck) and kissing and verbally teasing my sweetheart. Good times.
My stomache was all a-flutter though and alerting me every so often with giant gurgles of distress mixed with searing pain, but I think that had something more to do with the fact that I ate a hearty meal of Chinese the evening before at the Mandarin All-You-Can-Eat buffet restaurant. OMG so good, but I paid for my insolence yesterday and will continue to do so for most of today, if my gurgling distressed innards are anything to go by.
Why, oh why must I do this to myself?
Anyway. D's friend picked us up at the airport - we landed half an hour earlier than expected - and drove us back to the house we're currently at. It was such a pretty drive, roughly half an hour from Sky Harbour, and full of conversation about hiking and taxes and schools with a little bit of politics thrown in.
They have a delicious looking swimming pool which I am seriously interested in, though without a bathing suit I have only 2 options. 1) I can go naked, and 2) I can go in my underwear. Well, I suppose there can be a third option of driving into town and buying a bathing suit, but that's not nearly as provocative, is it? We'll probably end up doing that anyway since D doesn't have swimmers either, and I need more than the one tshirt I came here with.
Note that I am considering purchasing more clothes, when my large suitcase weighed in at 55lbs, and my small one weighed in at 45lbs. Do I really need to add more weight to my suitcases? Alternatively, I can throw out some stuff I brought with me, like D's rollerblades for example. I'm sure they're a hefty 20lbs all by themselves.
Anyway, I'm here and so far enjoying it, though I just want these 2 weeks to be over with so I can get home already.
That's it from me for now and I'll upload more photos as soon as I can.
We accomplished TWO of the myriad of things that had to get done today:
1) We did the final storage/locker run. Now everything that isn't packed, is in the storage locker, awaiting our return next year.
2) We got the car back. Actually, that's a misnomer. We don't have it back quite yet. And it's a little bit of a story, really (but don't worry, I'll make it as short as I can):
We decided to sell the car instead of leaving at the parents' place for a year. This gives us a little bit more cash for the trip and doesn't leave anything shiny in the parents' driveway to take up much needed space.
We went out and bought nifty little "For Sale" signs, and I went through about 10 stickers just writing out the price tag because I've learned that since I've been online and the invention of email, my handwriting is absolute shit.
A week after doing this, we met up with D's cousin and his girlfriend and had a fabulous time bbqing the back yard, and then going bowling in a neon-lit environment (it was very swank and my high game was 128 or something). Anyway. We mentioned we're selling the car, and D's cousin mentioned he was buying a 2006 Mustang. We told Cousin that he should buy our car instead, because it's family, yadda yadda yadda. He just laughed.
Three days later, Cousin calls up and asks if we sold the car, and if not, he'll buy it.
Cha Ching!
Now, because my darling D is such a darling, and because he takes his family oh-so-seriously (which I just adore), he decided to put the car through emissions and have it certified for his cousin. Nice thought, no?
The car went in on Thursday last week. They call D and tell him they can't pass the inspection unless his dash is fixed (it's curling upward) because apparently it's some kind of safety hazard, with the defrost not being able to reach the whole front window or something silly like that. D informs them he's been driving around like this for 2 years (because Ford won't admit they fucked up and pay for it even though it was recalled) and it has, in no way, affected his ability to drive in cold weather.
This was not good enough for Mr. Mechanic guy. Mr. Mechanic guy basically tells D that unless it's fixed, the car won't pass inspection. Price goes up.
Mr. Mechanic then informs D that his rear brakes need replacing, even though they really don't at this point, and any normal mechanic or garage would pass the car. Price goes up.
Mr. Mechanic then tells D today, when he called about getting his car back, that the wheels need to be aligned and something else needs to be done as well. Price goes up and the car won't be ready until early this afternoon.
We call around 2pm. Car will be ready by 3-4pm. We call around 3:30pm. Car's not ready yet - give it an hour or so (nevermind that they close at 6pm and we still have to get down there to pick the car up). It's 5pm and we haven't heard from Mr. Mechanic. 6pm rolls around, and D calls them back, ready to berate the ever living christ out of Mr. Mechanic if the car still isn't ready, but it turns out that it is. Hooray.
So my love is on his way down there right now to pick up the car, and to find out what the total cost for all these "repairs" is. Needless to say, this has put a great deal of financial stress on him and now whatever that amount was, is less we're going to have when in Australia.
But, it's all good and okay and everything's somewhat peachy. We still have yet to go to one of D's Uncle's house to drop off some stuff, and run one more errand before we drop the car to Cousin's house and then head out to dinner with the parents.
We still have to yoink out my harddrive from this machine, bubblewrap it and pack it along with everything else we've already packed. We have to be up around 630am tomorrow morning to hit the airport and I found out tonight that we actually go through Customs in Toronto before we take off for Arizona, not when we land, and apparently that can take about 2 hours. Hopefully we'll have some luck in the morning, and not get stuck in a 2 hour line waiting to have our shit xrayed and inspected before they let us loose in the departure area.
Is it wrong to have an alcoholic beverage so early in the morning?
We have so much left to do today and we haven't even left the house yet. This time tomorrow we'll be in Arizona - can you believe it? I can't. Even though the past month hasn't really flown by, now on the verge of our travels, it seems like it has.
I'm very excited!!
I was going to write about how I have 2 days left in this country. But I thought you're probably all tired of hearing about that. So then I thought I might write about how my love is toying with the idea of starting his own blog. But then I thought maybe that would turn out all sappy and mushy and not so interesting in the end. Then I thought maybe I'd write about how I'm feeling in general, and how much I love my guy, and how I spent two hours this afternoon rubbing his feet and arms and hands and giving him a wonderfully theraputic massage - and how that led to a conversation about whether or not I should become a masseuse. But that's not really full "blog page" material, is it.
Okay, my love is sitting next to me, burning the contents of my harddrives onto a DVD in preparation of our trip and he's bored senseless. So much, infact, that he whines:
"Pay attention to me. Pay attention to me. Tell them all about me! Me me me me me!"
So now I have mentioned him. He will be happy that I've included him in [yet] another post. Nevermind that he doesn't actually come to the site to read it - I think he just likes to know he's in my thoughts when I'm writing.
"You okay?" he asks.
"I have a lump on my neck," I reply, neck arched back, head resting on the back of my chair, fingers vigorously scrubbing the skin.
"Let me see."
I put my hand down.
"It's a zit!" he proclaims.
"No it feels like a lump...not there, here."
"Yeah, it's a zit."
"Are you sure? Not there...over here."
"Move your finger."
"Well?"
"It's a zit!" He sounds mildly annoyed. "Stop playing with it."
"Well better it's on the outside than on the inside."
"True."
Pause.
"Stop playing with it!"
The final countdown has begun, and I'm terribly nervous. I'm nervous about meeting D's friends next week and spending 2 weeks with them (I hope I don't embarrass myself or him, or break anything of theirs [like their son] or, god help me, drown in their pool or get bitten by a spider or a scorpion).
To attempt to quell my fears, and get my brain out of the mode its been in, we hit Downtown yesterday and wandered all along Queen Street. It was a lovely day, albeit a little bit windy and cold, but lovely all the same. And we got some kickass photos of some of the more interesting storefronts (see Gallery below).
I'm sitting here right now with a mess of butterflies gurgling in my stomache (though in reality it's probably just gas) and trying to force myself to be calm; I've flown before and made it safely and this time will be no different.
Four days til our flight, people. FOUR. Someone assure me our flight will be a safe one and that I have nothing to worry about - except maybe the nasty food.
Yesterday was an amazingly gorgeous day, topping at almost 30 degrees. The sun was warm and spring-like, and there was a cool breeze blowing for most of the day. We sat out on the front patio sipping our coffee and waking up, enjoying the warmth and listening to the birds chirp sweetly as they perched on the feeders next door.
We were supposed to have gone into Downtown but not getting up until 11am sort of put a damper on the whole thing. Instead, we headed over to the storage locker and went through some things, picking out what to sell when his parents have their massive garage sale. It was supposed to have been this coming weekend, but with 80% chance of rain, they've put it off until the weekend following.
So, with a trunk and backseat full of things to sell, and a locker left with a bunch of very large items left to sell, we headed back home to price everything out and get ready. We will head back this week and pick up the big stuff to move it out, and put all the little things not being sold, back into storage.
I can't believe we're leaving in 6 days. Yesterday I began to get alot more excited; little butterflies roamed around my belly for hours. We already have things planned and mapped out for Arizona when we get there, so I think our 2 week period is going to fly by. I just hope we don't feel rushed through the whole thing.
In other news, I relinked my Flickr album with some new pictures of our trip to the Zoo. Everyone loves pictures!
*** Lots of bad words ahead Mum, read at your own risk ;) ***
Drop it Like it's Hot (feat. Pharrell Williams)
[Intro]
Snooooooooooop..
Snooooooooooop..
[Chorus - Snoop Dogg]
When the pimp's in the crib ma
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
When the pigs try to get at ya
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
And if a nigga get a attitude
Pop it like it's hot
Pop it like it's hot
Pop it like it's hot
I got the rolly on my arm and I'm pouring Chandon
And I roll the best weed cause I got it going on
[Verse - Pharrell Williams]
Uh! I'm a nice dude, with some nice dreams
See these ice cubes, see these Ice Creams?
Eligible bachelor, million dollar boat
That's whiter than what's spilling down your throat
The Phantom, exterior like fish eggs
The interior like suicide wrist red
I can excercise you, this can be your Phys. Ed
Cheat on your man ma, that's how you get ahizzead
Killer wit the beat, I know killers in the street
Wit the steel that'll make you feel like Chinchilla in the heat
So don't try to run up on my ear talking all that raspy shit
Trying to ask me shit
When my niggaz fill ya vest they ain't gon pass me shit
You should think about it, take a second
Matter fact, you should take four B
And think before you fuck wit lil skateboard P
[Chorus]
[Verse - Snoop Dogg]
I'm a gangsta, but y'all knew that
Da Big Bo$$ Dogg, yeah I had to do that
I keep a blue flag hanging out my backside
But only on the left side, yeah that's the Crip side
Ain't no other way to play the game the way I play
I cut so much you thought I was a DJ
[scratches] "two!" - "one!" - "yep, three!"
S-N double O-P, D-O double G
I can't fake it, just break it, and when I take it
See I specialize in making all the girls get naked
So bring your friends, all of y'all come inside
We got a world premiere right here, now get live!
So don't change the dizzle, turn it up a little
I got a living room full of fine dime brizzles
Waiting on the Pizzle, the Dizzle and the Shizzle
G's to the bizzack, now ladies here we gizzo
[Chorus]
[Verse - Snoop Dogg]
I'm a Bad Boy, wit a lotta ho's
Drive my own cars, and wear my own clothes
I hang out tough, I'm a real Bo$$
Big Snoop Dogg, yeah he's so sharp
On the TV screen and in the magazines
If you play me close, you're on a red beam
Oh you got a gun so you wanna pop back?
AK47 now nigga, stop that!
Cement shoes, now I'm on the move
Your family's crying, now you on the news
They can't find you, and now they miss you
Must I remind you I'm only here to twist you
Pistol whip you, dip you then flip you
Then dance to this motherfucking music we crip to
Subscribe nigga, get yo issue
Baby come close, let me see how you get loose!
[Chorus]
[Outro]
Snooooooooooop.
Snooooooooooop..
So, in my ongoing effort to battle the whole blemish thing (and honestly, that's putting it mildly) because I'm going to be thirty next year forgodsake, I've taken the advice of 2 people who have suffered more horribly than me. Or, I should say, who used to. They are now completely normal (for whatever normal means, these days) but of course I mean physically - outwardly.
For those of you who suffer this problem, to say it's a shameful thing would be putting it nicely and it barely covers the surface of how it really affects us. Some people cover it with makeup, some with really long hair; myself, I got used to it and just decided I "didn't care" what the world thought.
This is, of course, untrue. I did care, not so much what other people thought, but how I thought about myself. I've never been a particularly vain person, but I would like to like what was reflected in the mirror.
Okay, so... The advice given to me by two people: Cut out the dairy. Specifically milk and cheese. I know, I was skeptical and it sounds really wacky and bizarre.
And in the beginning, I thought, "Yeah no worries, I don't eat much dairy anyway."
Turns out I was wrong. Now I'm looking at ingredients on packages of food, regardless of what it is. I haven't had a piece of chocolate in three days - a record for me. Seriously. I usually eat one or two pieces every single day, either in the form of a cookie of some kind, or the bar kind. Most recently - easter eggs leftover from easter that we bought on sale a week after easter.
But anyway, so I've been on this No-Milk-No-Cheese-Or- Milk-And-Cheese-Byproducts "diet" for three days now (today marking my third). You know what I have discovered? I think there's something to this crazy advice. The pores on my skin have shrunk and my complexion in general is alot more refined. I have almost no more red patches on my skin. What blemishes I had, have shrunk so much I can hardly believe it myself, but have to since I can now look in the mirror and not cringe. I mean ... wow. And I have to believe my love when he looks at me and constantly remarks, "I can't believe how good your skin looks, baby!" I can't say that I've ever heard that in my life. And ontop of that, my face isn't nearly as puffy in the morning when I wake up and I don't feel anywhere near as bloated as I typically did in any given day.
Honestly, it's amazing. I'm so thrilled, and I haven't changed anything else in my diet at all. I still drink soda and I still eat cookies (that have no milk or milk byproducts in them). Yesterday I was looking up information on the web and found this and this and was absolutely astounded. Nothing else has changed in my eating habits or drinking habits, or morning face wash routine either. All I've done is eliminate milk and cheese (and byproducts) from my diet!
(I so seriously could be an infomercial person)
Anyway. I've suffered so ungraciously with such imperfect skin for the better part of my whole life, and it's always been a source of contention and misery for me to the point of hating having my face touched that now I've found something that actually seems to be working. You can't imagine how happy this makes me!
Now, if I could just lose that 15-20lbs...
So we headed out to the Toronto Zoo today. I was apprehensive going, since I have this tendancy to get really violent at the way alot of animals are housed and cared for in such a public venue. It grates on me to no end when animals are couped up in teeny little exhibits and are visibly melancholy. Actually, I lie - it enrages me to the point of tears and maddening frustration at not being able to find someone to take it out on.
I wasn't at all happy with this visit, though on the whole, it was not nearly as bad as it could have been. The exhibits were mostly okay, some of them were far too small in my opinion, but what really aggravated me the most was the fact that 90% of these exhibits did not have any food or fresh water in them. None. And finding someone who worked there, was like digging for gold in a tar pit.
Ontop of that, one of the monkey exhibits, while small, had about 5 or 6 of them in there, all sitting around on the cement grooming - except one who was too busy playing with the cut on his hand, making it bleed much worse than it should have been. To my utter dismay, though I wasn't surprised, I could not find anyone in this entire area who worked at the zoo.
I know it's pretty much off-season right now, with Spring only just starting, but jesus, is this the Zoo's way of saying they don't have enough money to hire employees and veterinarians to take care of their animals? I was horrified.
Oh, and I also have a giant blister on the underside of my right foot where it was rubbing against the fabric of my sandal.
But, on the positive side, I had the entire day outside in absolutely gorgeous weather with the love of my life by my side, and we even have a couple of pictures of us to commemorate the day.
So since when did Waltzing Matilda become the anthem for Australia? (scroll to the bottom paragraph)
This kind of ignorance ranks right up there with people thinking Koalas are bears. For shame, people.
So, you might have noticed I went through the blog and cleaned it up - in the form of removing some posts, anyway. My Ex always told me I give too much information regarding my personal life, and evidently that's still true. So, bearing that in mind, I've decided not to keep documenting certain aspects of my life.
I'm sorry.
Finding Neverland. Have you seen it? You should. Absolutely outstanding movie. At first I thought it was going to be another typical Hook-type flick, but it turns out to be nothing like it whatsoever. And who can resist Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet?
Stunning visuals in this movie, the plot was amazing - very heart-warming and at the same time, very heart-wrenching.
I would have cried alot more in the end, except I was in the same room with D's mum and his brother, so I didn't let myself act like a complete baby (aka Titanic where I bawled for like an hour).
It's such a good movie though, one I highly, highly recommend.
Have you ever had such news you were going to explode into thousands of tiny pieces if you couldn't tell anyone about it?
Well guess what? I'm going to explode into thousands of tiny pieces.
I'm not going to do so well today, I think. I woke up fairly happy, came downstairs and started playing with Pepper, who was meticulously winding her tiny feline self around my ankles. I sat down on the carpeted steps and rubbed her back as vigorously as she let me, before I started thinking of my own kitties, and then my heart gave out as I realized (and not for the first time) how much I really, really, really miss them.
Particularly my kitten. Not that she was a kitten when I left her - she was as fully grown as her brother and sisters, but she is significantly smaller than them, and thus always referred to as the kitten, or "baby". Nevertheless, she was mine. And I miss her dreadfully. It's not enough to just look through the pictures and video footage to see her. I want to touch her and hold her, and kiss her tiny little head and hear her mewl at me again. I miss the fact that she used to jump on my lap as I sat at my computer, and try and wind her skinny little body through the crooks of my knees as I sat cross-legged. I miss that every morning when I got up and had to go potty, that she'd be there and launch herself up onto my lap, purring so loudly I was sure The Ex would hear her from the other room.
For some unexplainable reason, I'm very emotional. It started last night with WoW, actually. Someone called me an idiot, and I burst into tears. I lay in bed next to D, weeping quietly so he wouldn't hear me, and woke up this morning with puffy eyes. The tears came again when playing with Pepper, and again I shielded my face from him, but he knew, and gave me plenty of hugs.
I have no idea why I'm so emotional today, or last night. There's no reason to be, and over silly little things anyway.
I registered a domain tonight.
...And I know you're dying to know what it is.
Also: I have no cigarettes (again! grr!) and I smell like ferret. <3 ferret kisses!
I love TorrentSpy. I am downloading Macromedia Studio as I write this, and it's downloading at an alarmingly fast rate. Just over an hour and I'm halfway done downloading.
Also, I've decided on a really nifty layout for our site, though I still can't think of a domain name that accurately reflects us both. And because I can't seem to get any site properly coded in CSS, I'll probably go back to tables.
Also, I've decided I don't like blogger at all and now remember why I ditched it years ago in the first place. It's too freaking slow and the comments sometimes take days to appear and it takes ages for my profile to update when I update it.
You can see why I need to think of a domain name (well, two) as soon as humanly possible. I curse my lack of creative brain cells, and blame their non-existance on holding my breath 'til I was purple.
And counting until we're in fabulously sunny and deliciously warm Arizona. Indulge me in a brief, yet scintillating scream of "Yeehaw!!"
I want to register two domains. The only problem with this, is that I have no idea what I want to register. One will be exclusively mine (because now I am allowed things that are exclusively mine) and one will belong to both D and I when we embark on our series of adventures together. He decided he wanted to have a website with me, and I believe I've suckered him into wanting to be a part of the blog world.
I should be an Arch Nemisis of some kind. Mwahahaha.
So, any suggestions?
PS: Nothing with the words "moose" and "cock", Trin. ;)
I want junkfood so badly today. I want cake and cookies and chips and chicken tenders with ranch dressing for dipping. And then I want more cake; rich, moist devil's foodcake with cream in the middle and thick whipped chocolatey frosting.
